Sermon Title : Be
Faithful
Key Text NAS Revelation 2:10
'Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast
some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation
ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
The song writer of the SDA Hymnal 100 Thomas O. Chisholm wrote,
1. Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of
turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassion they fail not;
As Thou has been Thou
forever will be.
Refrain:
Great is Thy faithfulness! (2X)
Morning by morning new
mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided,
Great is Thy faithfulness! Lord unto me!
We serve a faithful
God. So be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. These are
the words of the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. This is His promise, and it
stands sure and true. During baptism one takes a vow and at the end the minister
of the gospel charges the one to be baptized that, “Be faithful until death,
and I will give you the crown of life or the crown of glory. Die faithfully in
the Lord and you will have life. It was on the 5th of March 2005,
that glorious Sabbath that I had my baptism. I was a joy for me to have a new
life in Christ.
Be a faithful
Christian, worker, pastor, elder, in all walks of life just be faithful. The work
faithful is an adjective. Adjective describes or qualifies nouns; they are
incapable of independent function. Example of adjective is lovely, beautiful,
wonderful, nice etc. Reviewing this I asked, why do we need to be faithful at all?
It is because we serve a faithful God. He is not like other smaller gods who
are not gods at all. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto
the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 1cor. 1:9 also in NAS 1 Thessalonians 5:24 the word of God says;
Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. Also in NAS
2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the
Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. Yes our God is faithful and he will
perform as he has promised.
Let us look at being faithful in its five senses as in what it means to be
faithful.
1) Faithful means
Being Loyal; having or demonstrating undivided and constant support for someone
or something. Be loyal to your wife, husband. Do not have eyes for other ladies
and men. No double mind about your marriage. NAS Matthew 6:24 "No one can
serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he
will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Adhering
firmly to a person or a course, In this case the person is Jesus Christ and the
cause is Christianity. Hold fast and strong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t let
him go!!! Like Jacob hold to him all
your life. Be loyal whiles a bachelor and a spinster; do not mess around by
fornicating. Be faithful be loyal. 2) Being Faithful means having Faith. KJV Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God
must believe that he is, and that he
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Faith is to Belief or
trust: belief
in, devotion to, or trust in somebody or something, especially without logical
proof. NAS Hebrews 4:2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as
they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not
united by faith in those who heard.
The hearing of the gospel will only profit when it is mixed with faith. When
you hear of the gospel of tithes and offerings as it is required of every Christian
to give, and you do not mix the hearing of the word with faith and do it as you
have been told, you hardly reap the blessings of the giving as the bible puts
it. AS Acts 20:35
"In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must
help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said,
'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
Giving of your body to Christ as a living sacrifice
is also a requirement, because we are just stewards of our bodies. And in being
a steward you have to be faithful. KJV
1 Corinthians 4:2 Moreover it is
required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
3) Being faithful means being reliable, worthy
of trust, dependable, deserving of confidence. Proverbs 14:5 A
faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies. People now
lie over everything. Especially with the use of phones in this age, Lying has
become normal to this generation. But you be faithful, NAS Proverbs 20:6 Many a man proclaims his
own loyalty, But who can find a trustworthy (a faithful) man?
KJV Colossians 1:7
As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant, who is for you a
faithful minister of Christ; be a faithful minister of Christ wherever you find
yourself. Do not be a tale bearer for Proverbs 11:13 says A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he
that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. Also Psalm 101:6 says Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with
me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. This is the promise of
the Lord.
4) Be faithful means being Consistence with reality. The reality of being a
human being, the reality of being a Christian, the realities of the dangers and
numerous blessings of being a Christian and many more realities of life. KJV
Proverbs 28:20 A faithful man
shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be
innocent. KJV Romans 8:28
tells us that, And we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
The prophet Malachi tell us that the
Lord hears the cry of the faithful, Malachi 3:16 Then those who feared
the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was
written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name.
I want you to just know that your faithfulness will be rewarded in Jesus
name.
5) Be Faithful means Engaging in Sexual relations ONLY with one spouse. Do not
enguage in adultory, fornication. I went for evangelism somewhere in Elebo
land, after the preacher man preacher the law one lady came and asked with surprise
how having sex with your boyfriend or fiancé is
a sin. She has never heard of this before. Fornication is becoming the
norm and this generation sees nothing wrong with it. Some say while men are sleeping with men and women
with women and men and women with beasts whats wrong with enjoying your boyfriend
in sex. This should not be the stand of the Christian, the Christian should be
faithful still even though the heavens fall. 1 Corinthians 10:13-14 13 No temptation has overtaken you
but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be
tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way
of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee
from idolatry. And I will add flee from fornication and adulatory. Be a faithful Christian, a faithful husband
and a wife, a faithful worker, a faithful pastor etc. spread the gospel of
Christ by your words and deeds. Matthew 24:43 - 25:1 43 "But be sure of this, that
if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was
coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to
be broken into. 44 "For
this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you
do not think He will. 45 "Who then is the faithful
and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them
their food at the proper time? 46
"Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 47 "Truly I say to you, that
he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 "But if that evil slave
says in his heart, 'My master is not coming for a long time,' 49 and shall begin to beat his
fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards;
50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does
not expect him and at an hour which
he does not know, 51 and
shall cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; weeping
shall be there and the gnashing of teeth.
The hour of Christ coming is not known. Jesus the Lord will say unto you
if you are found faithful. Matthew 25:21"His master said to him,
'Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I
will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master.'
Who want to be faithful today, the Lord is calling you, will you respond to
the master and pray with me,
Lord and master Jesus ,today I give you my self for your service and glory,
I claim your strength and power upon me to keep me faithful to you and my
calling today unto the end of my life. Thank you for calling me and thank you
for keeping me faithful by your power. Amen . God richly bless you . Amen.
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