https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/On-Being-Faithful.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: I Corinthians 4:1-5<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. If you were a boss, what kind of person would you want working for you?<\/p>\n A. You probably would want someone who performed his duties well, skilled in the\nparticular task that you needed done.\n B. But one thing that I think most bosses would highly desire is someone whom they\ncould completely trust – Nehemiah 13:13\n 1. Even if they weren’t the fastest, or the brightest that the world has to offer,\nif I could trust that they were reliable, I could do so much.\n 2. You don’t have to constantly monitor a faithful employee, as Joseph\nexemplified – Genesis 39:2-6; 20-23\n 3. You could focus on the things only you must handle, knowing that the\nthings left in someone else’s charge would be handled – Matthew 24:45-47\n C. The parable of the talents involves a man who must journey and so leaves his\npossessions in the care of his servants – Matthew 25:14-15\n
1. On his return he asks for an accounting – Matthew 25:19-23<\/p>\n 2. Notice that even though one was not as prosperous as the other, he was\nstill praised as a faithful servant.\n
3. He did his best and was rewarded.<\/p>\n 4. It was the lazy, cowardly servant who faced his master’s wrath – Matthew\n25:24-27\n D. Paul draws a parallel between a trustworthy servant and a child of God – I\nCorinthians 4:1-2\n
II. God sets the standard for faithfulness<\/p>\n
A. God reliably cares for his children – I Corinthians 10:13<\/p>\n
1. He can preserve us – I Thessalonians 5:23-24<\/p>\n
2. He will protect us – II Thessalonians 3:3<\/p>\n
3. He will forgive us – I John 1:9<\/p>\n
B. We can have confidence that God will reward His servants – I Corinthians 1:4-9<\/p>\n
C. Confident in our salvation – II Corinthians 1:15-22<\/p>\n
1. Man’s plans must change at times, but God’s plan is firm<\/p>\n
D. Jesus showed himself to be faithful – Hebrews 3:1-2<\/p>\n
1. He is called the faithful witness – Revelation 1:5; 3:14<\/p>\n
III. Because the Bible is God’s word, like its author, it is found trustworthy<\/p>\n A. It is filled with statements that can be trusted – I Timothy 1:15; 4:8-9; II Timothy\n2:11-12\n
B. Elders are to hold fast the faithful word – Titus 1:9<\/p>\n C. A trusted statement that those who trust God will be careful to maintain good\nworks – Titus 3:8\nIV. The result is that God’s reliability should inspire us to be trustworthy servants of Him –\nHebrews 10:23\n
A. Thomas was offered evidence and encouraged to be faithful – John 20:27<\/p>\n
B. Those with Christ are the called, the chosen, the faithful – Revelation 17:14<\/p>\n
C. A complete trust in a faithful Creator – I Peter 4:17-19<\/p>\n
D. Faithfulness must reach all aspects of life – Luke 16:10-12<\/p>\n
1. It is a lifestyle. It is not something you turn on or off.<\/p>\n
2. All that we do is done faithfully – III John 4-8<\/p>\n
3. The elder or deacon’s wife – I Timothy 3:11<\/p>\n
E. Faithfulness is so important, that the concept becomes a name for the Christian<\/p>\n
1. Letters are addressed to the faithful – Ephesians 1:1; Colossians 1:2<\/p>\n
2. Believing and Faithful are translated from the same Greek word<\/p>\n
3. Paul was made trustworthy – I Corinthians 7:25<\/p>\n
4. Those who are faithful – I Timothy 4:3<\/p>\n
5. Savior of those who believe – I Timothy 4:10<\/p>\n
6. An example to believers – I Timothy 4:12<\/p>\n
7. A believing man or woman – I Timothy 5:16<\/p>\n
8. Believing masters – I Timothy 6:2<\/p>\n
9. Passing on to faithful men – II Timothy 2:2<\/p>\n
F. Reliable servants, the great complement<\/p>\n
1. The Lord found Paul faithful – I Timothy 1:12<\/p>\n 2. Paul found Timothy reliable, calling him his son in the Lord – I\nCorinthians 4:17\n
a. The statement is more than Paul’s reliance on Timothy.<\/p>\n
b. Timothy was faithful to God and so Paul found him trustworthy.<\/p>\n
3. Tychicus, a faithful minister – Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7<\/p>\n
4. Onesimus – Colossians 4:9<\/p>\n
5. Epaphras – Colossians 1:7<\/p>\n
6. Silvanus – I Peter 5:12<\/p>\n
7. Antipas – Revelation 2:13<\/p>\n
V. Be faithful unto death – Revelation 2:10<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Corinthians 4:1-5 I. If you were a boss, what kind of person would you want working for you? A. You probably would want someone who performed his duties well, skilled in the particular task that you needed done. B. But one thing that I think most bosses would highly desire is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[256,1628],"class_list":["post-61150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-faithful","tag-trustworthy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23187,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/worthy-of-trust\/","url_meta":{"origin":61150,"position":0},"title":"Worthy of Trust","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Psalm 15 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It has occurred to me that a core problem in our society is that we don\u2019t trust anyone. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Anyone trust the politicians? What about the news media? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For some there is now a lack of trust of the police. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What is behind this lack of trust?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95780,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-would-i-want-someone-to-say-at-my-funeral\/","url_meta":{"origin":61150,"position":1},"title":"What Would I Want Someone to Say at My Funeral?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 27, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel Download Audio","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62699,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/hebrews-encouragement-to-remain-faithful\/","url_meta":{"origin":61150,"position":2},"title":"Hebrews: Encouragement to Remain Faithful","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Hebrews 10:19-25 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The book of Hebrews interleaves evidence of the superiority of Christ, His covenant, and His church with encouragement to the brethren to remain faithful. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After giving evidence that Jesus is God\u2019s son, the writer said - Hebrews 2:1-4 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jesus was a faithful\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18850,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/preachers-and-their-demise\/","url_meta":{"origin":61150,"position":3},"title":"Preachers and Their Demise","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doug Dingley I recently read on a church leadership lectureship flyer that the church is losing approximately 600 preachers per year while replacing only about 300 over that same time span. Although those numbers initially seemed staggering to me (especially when you factor in that in all likelihood, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/preacher-231x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":86173,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-are-not-your-temptations\/","url_meta":{"origin":61150,"position":4},"title":"You Are Not Your Temptations","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chadwick Brewer Many people believe that what they feel drawn to (tempted) is their true, authentic self. They believe that giving in to all their temptations is just being who they really are. There are several things wrong with that. Desires are never that straightforward and are often opposed.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58827,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/presumptuous-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":61150,"position":5},"title":"Presumptuous Sins","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Carey Scott Take a few minutes to read Psalm 19. Our focus will be on verse 13: \"Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me; then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.\" To presume something\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61150\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}