BE FAITHFUL

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 5^th 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.