No Such Thing As Luck

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I want to invite you to open up your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Corinthians, Chapter 4.
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The title of today's message is, 2013, There is no such thing as luck.
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One of the most common words in the modern English language that we hear often is the word luck.
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People use it to describe any and every kind of benefit which a person might encounter.
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If a person experiences a financial windfall, people will often say, Boy, wasn't that a lucky break.
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If a person escapes a near fatal accident, we'll say, He was lucky to have gotten out alive.
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Likewise, whenever wishing a person well on a journey or on a task, we will often say, Good luck.
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I remember a few years ago, I attended a Bible conference and debate with Dr.
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James White, Alpha and Omega Ministries, and he was teaching on the history and reliability of the Bible.
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It was a Bible conference which culminated in a debate with Dr.
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Bart Ehrman, who is an agnostic scholar on that same subject.
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I had an opportunity to talk to Dr.
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White beforehand.
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Dr.
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White, being a man who has had great influence over my own ministry and life, I somewhat get a little bit embarrassed talking to him, somebody that I admire so greatly.
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I got a little mixed up in my words in the conversation with him.
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I think I mumbled something about, you know, you're going to do well in the debate, blah, blah, blah.
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And then I said at the end, Hey, Doc, good luck.
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And he stopped.
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And he just looked at me.
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And he said, You know, I don't believe in luck.
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You know, even though I know that was just a little passing moment in my life, I know there's no such thing as luck.
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And the entire concept of luck puts all things to chance.
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And it robs God of His sovereignty.
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Even the idea robs God of His sovereignty.
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Yet in a moment's notice, I was willing to throw out those words, good luck, because it's such a normal part of the vernacular.
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Now, why am I talking about luck this morning? Why am I concerning us with this topic? Well, as much as people talk about good luck, they also talk about bad luck.
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And as we are coming into a new year, superstitions tend to surround people's attitudes about the turning over of the calendar and the starting of a new year.
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This year is likely going to be worse than years past because this is 2013.
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And 13 tends to bring a negative superstition for many people.
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Some people are actually deathly afraid of the number 13.
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There's actually a documented fear.
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Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13.
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It's why some buildings don't have a 13th floor.
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It goes right from 12 to 13.
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Over in Germany, their license tags start with the year.
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Like in 09, it would have said 09-whatever.
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10 would have been that way.
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But in 2013, the entire nation is changing their tags to say 131 because nobody wanted the number 13 on their license tag.
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It's apparent that the number 13 has some folks spooked.
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And likewise, some folks are looking to 2013 as a time of potential bad luck resulting in doom and gloom and despair.
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But as I've already made in my point in my opening as Christians, we know that there is no such thing as luck.
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Luck is a meaningless word in a universe which is governed by a sovereign God.
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Hear that again.
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Luck is a meaningless word in a universe which is governed by a sovereign God.
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And instead of us concerning ourselves with luck in the new year, what I want us to see is what we should be concerning ourselves with as a church.
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Instead is faithfulness.
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For luck will bear no fruit for the good or for the bad because it doesn't exist.
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But faithfulness, faithfulness will bear fruit because it is God's chosen means to bless His people.
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So that's going to be our study this morning, the study of faithfulness.
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Let's stand and read one verse from chapter 4 of 1 Corinthians.
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And I want to make a point about this in the ESV.
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There are actually two versions of the ESV.
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There's the updated version and there's another version.
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We have here in your text, it uses the word trustworthy.
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And another version, it uses the word faithful.
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I'm going to read it as it is written in the text which we have.
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But I want you to know that this is based on translating this word as faithful.
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It says in verse 2, Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.
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Our Father and our God, we thank you for your word.
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We thank you for this opportunity to study it together.
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We thank you for this opportunity to hear the word preached.
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And I pray, oh God, that you would keep me from error.
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Keep me in the truth.
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Focus my heart on this message.
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And focus the heart of the people to hear, oh Lord.
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And open up their hearts to understand.
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For your Holy Spirit is the teacher, oh Lord.
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And your word is the truth.
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So let it be that your word has its way this morning.
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In Jesus' name we pray.
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Amen.
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When faced with the turning of the calendar into a new year, folks often focus on things in their lives which need to be evaluated and changed.
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It's been rightly said that more diets begin on January 1st than any other day of the year.
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However, as people quickly learn, January 2nd is when a lot of those diets and a lot of those resolutions and a lot of those promises to change quickly fall away.
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Likewise, this is my seventh year, seventh time preaching a New Year's sermon.
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It's the seventh time for me.
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And in the years past, I've always talked about goals for the coming year.
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2008, goal 2008, knowing the word.
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Goal 2010, being committed to the truth.
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There's always some kind of a theme which I wanted to carry on for the year.
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Well, this year, instead of talking about a goal for the year, instead I want to focus on what should be the goal of the Christian life.
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This is not something which I think we should focus on for a year or for a season.
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This is something that should mark us for all time.
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And that is the mark of faithfulness.
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In our text this morning, the Apostle Paul is expressing to the church at Corinth what the requirement is for being a steward.
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Now, as always, it is our responsibility to understand the context of any text that we are trying to understand and read so as not to miscommunicate its truth.
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1 Corinthians chapter 3, which leads into chapter 4.
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Sometimes happens.
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Chapter 3 leads into chapter 4.
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Paul is challenging the improper understanding of the people in regard to their allegiances to certain preachers.
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Many of you remember this portion of 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
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He says, some people say I follow Paul.
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Other people say I follow Apollos.
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Remember that conversation that Paul had in 1 Corinthians? And he's challenging them.
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Some of them were even super spiritual and said, hey, I follow Christ.
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Can you imagine that type? They're saying, well, some people say I follow this guy.
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Some people say I follow this guy.
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Some people, well, I follow Jesus.
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And there was a disagreement in the church over which apostle, which pastor was supposed to be the leader.
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Some had allegiances to one.
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Some had allegiances to another.
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And Paul's point to them was that they were all fellow workers under the same God and same Lord Jesus Christ.
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And he goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 3 that, you know, I did one thing.
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I planted the seed.
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Apollos watered the seed.
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But it was God who ultimately brought the increase.
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We're all workers.
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We're all stewards.
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And that's why in chapter 4, verse 1, he says, this is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
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He's bringing that up in chapter 4 because that's coming on the heels of what he said in chapter 3.
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You guys are concerning yourselves with who's the most important among us.
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Know this.
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We're servants of Christ and we're stewards of the mysteries of God.
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And that phrase mysteries of God there, that refers to the gospel.
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Paul tells us that in other passages that the mystery of God is actually the gospel.
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And the reason why it's called a mystery is because in the Old Testament, it was shrouded.
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But in the New Testament, it was it was opened up for us.
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And that's Paul's explanation is that which was a mystery to the Old Testament prophets, that which was a mystery to the Old Testament people was made open to the New Testament people.
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And this leads us into verse 2, 1 Corinthians 4, 2.
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Moreover, it is required of stewards.
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He had just referred to himself as a steward.
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He just referred to himself as one who was a steward of the mysteries of God.
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And he goes into verse 2 and he says, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
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Now, after this statement in verse 3 and on, Paul goes on to make the point that it really doesn't matter how the world judges him, but rather how the Lord will judge him.
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Ultimately, it will be the Lord who will judge his faithfulness.
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Like he said in Romans 14, who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or he falls.
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That's an important thing about faithfulness.
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We're we're not being faithful to put on a show for others, but we are being faithful to the Lord.
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And we want to hear the Lord at the end of our lives, say those words in Matthew 25 to us.
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Well done.
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What? My good and faithful servant.
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That's that's our goal is to hear the Lord say those words to us.
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And it's all obvious to Paul or obvious from Paul in 1 Corinthians 4 that God is the ultimate judge of our faithfulness.
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But the question arises, how then in looking at verse two, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
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By the way, I do think that that is a verse that is good to commit to memory.
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It's one that reminds us of our responsibility.
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How can it be applied to our lives today? How do we take this understanding of the words of the apostle Paul and apply it to our lives today? Well, first, we need to understand it before we seek to apply it.
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Let's look first at what it says.
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It says it is required of a steward to be found faithful.
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What is a steward? What is a steward? How is that word being used here? What does it mean? Well, a steward is a servant, but much more than a servant.
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A steward is a servant who has been made the manager over the master's estate.
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The word in Greek is oikonomoi, and it simply is the combination of two words.
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Oikos is house.
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Namos is law or regulation.
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So oikonomoi is the regulator of the house.
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He's the manager of the house.
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He's the one who sets the law, the rules under the master.
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He's the first one in charge.
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Some of you who are diligent Bible students probably in your mind already are thinking of an Old Testament character who was made the steward of someone's house.
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Does anybody remember that character that I'm thinking of? Does anybody remember that character in the Old Testament who was made the steward over the house? He had 12 brothers.
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Yes, Joseph.
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Remember, remember he was brought in first as a slave, but then made what? The household manager.
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He was made the steward.
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He was made.
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And then he was what? He was made the steward of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh.
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He was the one whose word was law, second only to the highest of authority.
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Well, that's how the word steward is meant.
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We have been placed as stewards of that which is God's.
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God has given to each of us a portion of what belongs to him as everything belongs to him.
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We own nothing, by the way.
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That's something I think we have to remind ourselves all the time is that we really own nothing.
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Everything in the world belongs to God.
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He created it.
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He established it.
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It is his.
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We simply manage it.
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We are stewards of the property that we have.
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We are stewards of the finances that we have.
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We are stewards of the families that we have.
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We are stewards even of the bodies that we have.
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Everything that we have that we claim is our own is our own only by stewardship, not truly by ownership, because these are God's things which he has placed in our care.
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He is the owner of the cattle on a thousand hills, says Psalm 50 and verse 10.
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We are simply the manager of that property.
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We are all stewards.
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We are all managers of something which belongs to God.
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As such, looking back at chapter four, verse two of First Corinthians.
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What then is expected of us if we are managers of that which God has given to us to be stewards over? What then is expected of us? Well, the text is clear.
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What is expected of us is faithfulness, faithfulness.
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The Greek term there is pistas.
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Pistas is the same root word where we get the word belief, faith and faithfulness, I think is the better translation because faithfulness carries four strong connotations with it.
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And I want to share those four connotations with you this morning.
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The word faithfulness, what we are supposed to be with that which God has given to us is faithful.
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But what does faithful mean? It carries four connotations that we need to apply and we need to think about four things.
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And here they are.
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Number one, faithfulness is trustworthy.
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Hey, wait a minute.
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That's how it's translated sometimes.
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Yes, it is translated trustworthy in ASB.
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It's translated trustworthy in one version of the ESV.
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It's obvious that a person who has been entrusted with the management of the estate of another should be trusted to be dependable by the manager.
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Whenever we arise in the morning and we look at our homes, we look at our families, we should remind ourselves God has entrusted these things to us.
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And he expects us to both understand and to live according to that trust.
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I think for too long and I'm going to I'll throw myself.
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We all for too long.
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We have let ourselves off the proverbial hook by saying to ourselves, hey, God doesn't expect me to be perfect.
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I think we let ourselves off the hook.
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We just say, you know, hey, God doesn't expect me to be perfect.
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Beloved, that should never be our attitude in regard to our stewardship of what God has entrusted us with.
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God has given us a great trust and we are called to be trustworthy with it.
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We should not be satisfied with halfhearted attempts at caring for God's things.
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We should have a heart which is determined to live up to the responsibilities we have been given.
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Rather than setting the bar low and being satisfied with not being perfect, we should be striving for excellence in every area of stewardship, property, family, finances.
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We should strive to please God in all of these areas.
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Pastor, you're putting a heavy burden on us.
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No, I'm telling you what the word says.
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It is required of a steward that he be found faithful.
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It doesn't say it's suggested.
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It says it is required.
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Faithfulness is trustworthy.
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Faithfulness is also, number two, faithfulness is responsible.
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That word's frightening to some folks.
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Nobody wants to be responsible.
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I mean, anytime you come into a room, something's knocked over.
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Who's responsible for this? Nobody wants to be that person.
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Nobody wants to be responsible for anything anymore.
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In fact, the idea of responsibility is so out of vogue.
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We see this when heinous crimes are committed.
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People look for any and everything to be the cause of the crime rather than the person who's actually responsible.
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Right? We want it to be how they were treated when they were a child, how they were treated when they were an adult, if they were bullied, if they were hugged too much or not enough.
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We want it to be something else.
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Because no one wants to be responsible.
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Beloved, a steward is responsible.
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We are ultimately responsible for what God has placed in our hands.
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This is the difference, by the way, between Reformed theology and Hyper-Calvinism.
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You've heard the term Hyper-Calvinism, I'm sure.
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Here's the difference.
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I think Tom Askell hit the nail completely on the head when he said the difference between true Reformed theology and Hyper-Calvinism is this.
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Is that the Hyper-Calvinist says because God is sovereign, we're no longer responsible.
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We don't have to do missions.
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We don't have to do evangelism.
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We don't have to do those things because God is sovereign.
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That is falsehood.
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That's false theology.
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Hyper-Calvinism is false theology.
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But Reformed theology says God is sovereign and we are still responsible for what God has placed in our care.
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We are still responsible.
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God is sovereign and man is still responsible.
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And it's that balance that truly understands right theology.
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God is the ruler of all things, but we are still accountable for how we manage that which God has given to us.
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We will not be able to blame a bad parent.
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We will not be able to blame a bad pastor.
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We will not be able to blame a bad friend, a bad spouse, a bad child.
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When we stand before God and give an account for our lives, we are responsible.
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And we will give an account of ourselves.
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A young man applied for the job of a farmhand.
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And during his application process, the farmer said to the young man, Why should I hire you? And the young man said, Well, sir, I can sleep when the wind blows.
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The farmer didn't really understand what he meant, but he liked the young man and he gave him the job.
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And a few months later, terrific storm hit, bad storm, just wind blowing everywhere.
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And the farmer and his wife got up and they run outside and they start looking to make sure everything is as it should be.
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And it was.
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The storm cellar was closed.
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The door to the barn was locked shut.
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All of the equipment had been put away properly.
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Everything was where it should be.
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And as they went back to the farmhouse, they passed by the young man's estate, his quarters, and noticed he was sound asleep.
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And finally, the farmer understood what it meant.
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I can sleep when the wind blows.
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You see, he was a responsible steward.
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He knew what it meant to be responsible.
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So when the wind blew, he was not afraid.
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He could sleep in peace.
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Beloved, are you a responsible steward of all God has placed in your hands? Do you take seriously the opportunities God gives you to serve him? See, that's part of being a steward.
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We are trustworthy.
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We are responsible.
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Number three, a steward is resolute.
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It's easy to begin well.
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It's harder to end well.
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Amen.
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It's easy to start.
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It's hard to stay the course.
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Faithfulness carries the idea of not only being trustworthy and responsible.
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Some of the time, it's a quality which marks the believer throughout his life.
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And some get quite uncomfortable when I say that, because you begin to fall back on the, oh, well, I'm not perfect.
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Excuse.
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Beloved, we know you're not perfect.
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I'm not perfect.
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Not one of us is perfect.
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But why do we allow that to cause us to stop trying? Why do we allow that to stop us from seeking excellence? Why do we allow our weakness to make us think that it's all right to give up on our commitments, especially to Christ? Why not instead be resolute to be good stewards of that which Christ has given to us? And then when we fail, we get back up and continue the race.
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That's why Paul described the Christian life as a race.
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And what did he say at the end of his life? I have fought the good fight.
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I have finished the race.
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I have kept the faith.
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And beloved, Paul was not a superhuman person.
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Paul was not given some kind of spiritual super fuel, some kind of spiritual steroid, which made him any less imperfect than the rest of us.
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Paul defined himself as the chief of sinners.
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But yet he remained resolute in his faith.
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And so should we.
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Finally, in number four, trust.
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Faithfulness is trustworthy.
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Faithfulness is responsible.
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Faithfulness is resolute.
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And number four, faithfulness is obedient.
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A quality that should always be associated with faithfulness is obedience.
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It does no good for a steward to disobey his master, for in doing so, he is not being a faithful steward.
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We are called as stewards to be obedient to our master.
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We are to be obedient in regard to our families by teaching our children diligently to love and follow God.
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Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church.
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Wives are to submit unto their husbands and to respect them.
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And we are to minister in honor to our aging parents as they begin to have need.
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And we minister in reverse to them as they ministered to us as we were children.
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We are to be stewards of our families.
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We are to be stewards in regard to our finances, not failing to share what we have with one another, contributing to the workers of the Lord which need our support, supporting the needs of the local fellowship.
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This is something we're called to do.
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And we are to be obedient in regard to the church, not failing to use the gifts which God has given us to minister within his body.
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Beloved, our gifts are God given.
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And we need to be good stewards of them as well, using them among his people to build up his body.
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How many of you can say that you not only know what your gift is, but you know you're putting it to use in the body of Christ? When Paul calls stewards to faithfulness, he is calling all of us to be trustworthy, responsible, resolute, and obedient.
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Beloved, some of you have asked me at different times over the years I've been asked this question, or a question like it.
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How can we be more successful as a church? With some of you that was a question about finances, because we sometimes open up our giving report and we say, hey, the giving is less than we had projected in the budget.
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With others, a question about attendance, because, hey, sometimes I look out and see more seats than I see bodies.
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And still with others, there's a question about ministry opportunities, because sometimes a project comes and falls by the wayside and it doesn't get done.
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Beloved, my answer is this.
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We are not called to be successful.
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We are called to be faithful.
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And the reality is this.
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As my friend and brother, Dr.
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Powers, used to say, if we are faithful, we will not be able to help but be successful.
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Because success in ministry is faithfulness.
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It's not the end.
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It's what we're doing to bring about the means.
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The faithfulness itself is the success.
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Beloved, if we all yearned for faithfulness, I do believe we would see some miraculous changes within the body.
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This morning, I talked about luck.
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I began by talking about luck.
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And some of you may be wondering how that fit into this message.
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Well, here's what I want you to consider.
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Luck does not exist.
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And in 2013, it will be no factor in the ministry of Sovereign Grace Family Church.
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But what will be a factor, what is always a factor, is our faithfulness.
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In 2013, we will have a choice.
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Be faithful or not.
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Live understanding our roles as stewards of God's things or make excuses about, well, we're just not perfect.
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It had been a good day in Mosul, Iraq.
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There were five Southern Baptist workers who were making progress towards a water purification project.
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They had met with officials and laughed with their new Iraqi friends.
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And they were headed home for a night's rest before starting again the next morning.
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But they never made it home.
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Karen Watson, 38 years old, along with Larry and Jean Elliott, died that evening as Iraqi extremists attacked their passing truck.
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Later, among her things, a letter was found written by Karen to be opened in the event of her death.
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In the letter, she said, among other things, To obey was my objective.
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To suffer was expected.
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His glory is my reward.
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To obey was my objective.
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That kind of radical faithfulness should be the objective of every Christian.
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The question of the morning is, are we being obedient stewards with all that God has placed in our hands? To obey is my objective.
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O Lord, let those words ring in our hearts.
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Let us seek in this coming year to see a radical obedience overwhelm us.
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A radical faithfulness undergird us and move us forward in our commitment to you.
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We know, O Lord, that ultimately you are sovereign.
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And you will bring the growth, as the Apostle Paul says.
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But we do need to plant seeds.
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We do need to water, O Lord.
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And we pray, O God, that in the coming year, we will be ever more diligent to continue the ministry of Sovereign Grace Family Church.
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In seeking to preach the gospel and ministering the word of God to those in need.
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We thank you.
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We praise you.
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We love you.
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In Jesus' precious name, Amen.
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Beloved, stand and sing with me.
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And if you have a need, please come.