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Stewards Must Act

1Corinthians 4:1-2 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

God demands that we each be faithful as stewards of the mysteries of God. The mysteries of God are in the gospel that we are to take to the entire world like pastor preached this morning. God brought persecution on the Jerusalem church because, while they obeyed, they did not have complete obedience. God wants us to use what He gave us for evangelizing the world. Sometimes we must do this directly and sometimes indirectly. PAME does this indirectly by providing support to people who are directly spreading the gospel. The new kitchen and dining facilities will provide indirect support by helping to feed people who are being trained to go out and spread the gospel. Regardless if your work is directly spreading the gospel or indirectly doing so by helping those who are doing the direct work, God wants your time, your talents and your tithe (money) faithfully used as stewards of what He gave you.

A faithful person is full of faith all of the time. In order for us to better understand this, we have a simple 3-point message with lots of Bible to back it.

The warning of faith

Hebrews 12:1-3 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

We are warned that we will each personally be wearied unless we consider Jesus.
We are told that He is the author of our faith which means that He wrote the pattern that we are to follow for living in the flesh using the power of the Holy Ghost. This is found in the Gospels.
We are told the motivation which He gave when our verse says who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. We are to endure all circumstances in this life in order to get eternal reward.
We are told the level of faithfulness we are to have by the phrase consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. Even after being saved we still sin and He is still faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1John 1:9).

Hebrews 12:15-17 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Notice that he despised the work of God at first but later could not get it back even though he sought it carefully with tears. If you reject or even just put-off the opportunities that God gives you today there is no guarantee of another chance tomorrow. The Jews rejected going into the Promised Land one day. They tried to do right the next day and it was too late. All who rejected wandered in the wilderness until they died.
Notice that our reference starts out with Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God. God gives us His grace. But if we fail to use it the way that He wants then we will fail of the grace of God. In fact, we are also warned that if we just aren't Looking diligently then we will fail of the grace of God. We must be constantly looking at what God gives to us and be constantly for how God wants us to use those things or we will fail of the grace of God.
Notice that our reference says lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. We can get a root of bitterness and we can be defiled if we fail of the grace of God.

Hebrews 12:27-29 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.

This is the conclusion of our chapter and of the warning against failing to live by faith. God removed things which were not done by faith. We are receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved if we live by faith. We are warned about losing eternal rewards when we refuse to live by faith. Notice the warning of our last verse which is: For our God is a consuming fire.
We are instructed to use God's grace because we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved.

The Evidence of faith

Hebrews 11:1-2 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.

They obtained a good report which means that God testified about their living by faith.
The phrase faith is means this is a definition of Biblical faith. The word substance means that it can be detected by our physical senses. What is in your head and your heart is a belief and not faith because it has no substance until you act on it.
Almost all of the remainder of this chapter is examples of people acting in faith. Faith is an action verb which produces works. If there are no works then there was no action and no true Biblical faith.
Our definition also says that it is the evidence of things not seen. Evidence can be separated from the person producing it and used in court to prove a claim. What is not seen is a promise of God before someone acts on that promise. Our acting on the promise of God is :evidence even before we produce works or receive the promised blessings. In our chapter we have evidence of people acting by faith even though there is no evidence of the results.
In all of the examples of this chapter we see ways that God expects us to act by faith. Failure to follow the examples is failure to live by faith.
Hebrews 11:3 - It takes faith to separate the spiritual from the physical.
Hebrews 11:4 - Able acted on the spiritual and not the physical religion like Cain did

Hebrews 11:5 - Enoch lived looking at the spiritual and proved the next verse (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. ).
Hebrews 11:7 - Noah acted on a warning.

Hebrews 11:8 - Abraham left a religion of worshipping idols to follow God in a personal relationship.
Hebrews 11:10 - Abraham taught his son and grandson to live the same way.
Hebrews 11:11 - Sarah believe what was physically impossible.
Hebrews 11:12-16 - Faith requires us to keep our eyes on Heaven and ignore things of this life which go against the promises of God.
Hebrews 11:17 - Abraham obeyed to giving up a received promise on the basis of receiving a greater promise. Faith does not rest before the grave.
Hebrews 11:20-22 - Faith lets us see the future.
Hebrews 11:23 - Faith lets us stand for God even when threatened with jail and death.
Hebrews 11:24 - Faith puts the things of God above the best riches of this world.
Hebrews 11:28 - Faith takes us to strange lands and dangers when we know it is God's will.
Hebrews 11:29 - Faith lets us see and experience miracles in this life.
Hebrews 11:30-31 - faith lets us see God's protection and provision
Hebrews 11:39-40 - faith lets us continue even without relief or reward from God because we know that our spiritual reward will be greater for acts of faith which are not rewarded in this life.
All of these people were full of faith all of the time. They were faithful stewards of the mysteries of God. They were willing to suffer ant loss in this world for the advancement of God's kingdom and believed God's promise of reward for their faithfulness. Anyone not wiling to do the same is not a faithful steward of the mysteries of God.

The Reward

Hebrews 4:1-2 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

All of the Jews who refused to enter the Promised Land by faith wandered in the wilderness until they died. Only Joshua and Caleb entered.
Caleb pointed to the mountain where the biggest and meanest giants lived and said I want that mountain. He was assured of victory because of his earlier faith.
Caleb entered God's rest which means that he concentrated on doing God's work and rested from providing his own needs. As a steward of God, he knew that it was God's responsibility to provide for his needs.

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Stewards Must Act

1Corinthians 4:1-2 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

Contact: Webmaster@LJC1611KJV.com. Member of Rochester Hills Baptist Church. Copyright 2009Lord Jesus Christ in the 1611KJV. All rights reserved. Revised: 11/29/23.

Contact: Webmaster@LJC1611KJV.com. Member of Tower Road Baptist Church, Abq., NM, U.S.A., 87121. Copyright 2009 Lord Jesus Christ in the 1611KJV. All rights reserved. Revised: 11/29/23.