"The Fruits of Faithfulness!"

How often do you hear a sermon preached about faithfulness?  This is a subject that must be preached often in the church of the Living God.  It is one of those Christian principles that should not be neglected or replaced by other topics that might be considered “more important” life principles… principles such as love, joy, forgiveness, or obedience.

While these principles are certainly important, the one I believe we need to spend a lot of time on examining is faithfulness.  It’s a quality that too often is absent from the body of Christ.  And because it is so vital to Christian success in this life, I’d like to spend some time talking to you about its value and why faithfulness needs to be included in your list of “most important” Christian principles.

WHAT FAITHFULNESS PRODUCES

The first thing I want to do is point out a few scriptures that will reveal the benefits of being a faith child of God.  Look first at Psalm 31:23:  “O love the Lord, all ye His saints:  for the Lord preserveth the faithful…”  (KJV).

The word “preserve” means to protect, to build a hedge about, to care for, to keep.  The implication is that if you’re a faithful person, God Almighty will provide the “keeping” power even when you miss it or make a mistake!  If you’re faithful, God will help protect you from any harm.

Next, let’s look at what else faithfulness produces, in Psalm 101:6:  “Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me…”  (KJV).

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say, “I wish I could experience the presence of God in a supernatural way like the way so many others do.”  Well, according to this verse, the presence of God is assured in the life of someone whom God deems faithful.  That is a mighty and wonderful fruit of faithfulness, I am sure you would agree with me.

Let’s look at another scripture in the book of Proverbs 13:17:  “A wicked messenger falleth into mischief:  but a faithful ambassador is health.”  (KJV)  This verse of scripture clearly indicates that physical health and well being is a product of faithfulness - a definite advantage!

I want to show you just one more scripture in Proverbs 28:20:  “A faithful man shall abound with blessings…”  Did you catch that?  A faithful man will abound with blessings!  It doesn’t say might possibly abound with blessings or perhaps could abound with blessings…  It says a faithful man will abound with blessings!  There are not conditions or prerequisites to this promise.  If you’re faithful, you will abound with blessings!

Just from these four scriptures, we see that faithfulness produces supernatural preservation, God’s abiding presence, divine health, and an abundance of blessings!  That’s motivation enough to want to become a faithful man or woman, wouldn’t you say?

Your Pastor

Word for Today:  The Power Of Understanding 

One of the most famous Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”  There is an important Bible truth at the heart of this nugget of wisdom. In Proverbs we’re exhorted to “get wisdom, and in all of our getting, get understanding.”  A former GE chairman, Owen D. Young recognized the power of understanding when he wrote: The man who can put himself in the place of other men, who can understand the workings of their minds, need never worry about what the future has in store for him.  My question of the day for you is, “Are you more interested in understanding, or being understood?”