Stewards Must be Faithful

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Short Summary
The panel discussion explored the biblical concept of stewardship, emphasizing that stewards are entrusted by God to faithfully manage the resources, responsibilities, and opportunities He provides, both temporally and spiritually. Using examples such as union stewards, biblical figures like Jonah, Joseph, and the Apostle Paul, the speakers highlighted that true stewardship involves faithfulness, accountability, and active service in harmony with God’s will. Ultimately, the discussion underscored that every consecrated individual is responsible to use their unique “toolbox” of gifts and opportunities to serve God and others faithfully throughout their lives.

Long Summary
Detailed Summary of Panel Discussion on Stewardship Based on 1 Corinthians 4:1-2

Opening Remarks and Scripture Foundation
– The discussion opens with references to stewardship from various speakers and highlights 1 Timothy 4:16 about taking heed to oneself and doctrine.
– The main scripture focus is 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 (KJV):
> “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.”
– This sets the theme: understanding the role and responsibility of a steward, especially in a spiritual context.

Definition and Practical Experience of Stewardship
– Brother George shares his experience as a union steward in construction:
– The steward was a union representative on the job, responsible for enforcing agreements, managing pay records, ensuring equipment availability, and overseeing the welfare of the craft workers.
– Stewardship involved accountability to a higher authority (union leadership).
– The role was demanding and generally not sought after due to extra work without extra pay.
– Brother Steve adds dictionary meanings:
– Steward as a manager of a household, supervisor of servants, collector of rents, or fiscal agent.
– Also references steward or stewardess on ships or planes—someone responsible for others.
– The common thread is managing resources or responsibilities on behalf of someone else, reporting to a higher authority.

Spiritual Application of Stewardship
– Three key spiritual takeaways from the human steward experience:
1. Responsibility extends beyond oneself to others in the “brotherhood” or community.
2. One must be appointed by a governing authority—spiritually, God appoints stewards.
3. Stewards manage only what is entrusted to them; they are not owners.
– Emphasizes that God owns all things; humans are stewards, not owners.
– Old Testament Hebrew term for steward (Strong’s 8269) implies responsible ownership.
– New Testament Greek term (as in 1 Corinthians) implies overseer and employee in service to God.
– Consecration changes the steward’s status from owner to servant manager of God’s resources.
– Other Bible translations (Williams, ISV) use terms like “trustees” and “servant managers,” reinforcing trustworthiness as essential.

Scope of Stewardship
– Stewardship covers all areas of life:
– Temporal affairs: family, work, health, finances, homes.
– Spiritual responsibilities: serving others, managing God’s word, grace, time, and consecration.
– Luke 16:11-12 (NLT) highlights the connection between faithfulness in worldly wealth and spiritual trust:
> “If you are not trustworthy with worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?”
– 1 Peter 4:10 calls believers “stewards of the grace of God.”
– Emphasizes love and support within the brotherhood without overriding individual stewardship.

Examples and Insights on Stewardship
– The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) illustrates:
– God gives different amounts of “talents” (opportunities, resources) according to ability.
– Faithful use leads to reward; neglect leads to loss.
– Stewardship involves active use of gifts and opportunities, not passive holding.
– Personal testimony shared about encouragement received from Sister Pauline Tresiak, illustrating the impact of faithful stewardship even in small acts.
– The household of faith comprises stewards, though it is unclear at exactly what point one becomes a steward.
– Matthew 16:15-17 shows Peter’s confession of Christ as a pivotal moment of stewardship responsibility.
– Peter’s later denial (John 18) demonstrates human imperfection in stewardship, but also the ongoing opportunity for growth.
– John 4:34 and Psalm 40:8 reflect delight in doing God’s will, tying stewardship to joyful service.

Faithfulness as Essential to Stewardship
– 1 Corinthians 4:2 stresses faithfulness as a requirement.
– Faithfulness means responsibly using what God entrusts daily—work, family, spiritual duties.
– Brother George uses the analogy of a “toolbox” each steward carries, representing the unique tools and resources God gives each.
– Matthew 25:15 confirms God’s wise distribution of talents according to ability.
– Revelation 17:14 and 2:10 describe the faithful as those who make their calling and election sure and remain faithful unto death.
– Hebrews 11:6 states it is impossible to please God without faith, defining faith as substance of things hoped for and evidence of things unseen.

Biblical Examples of Unfaithful Stewardship
– Jonah is highlighted as an example of unfaithfulness:
– Disobeyed God’s command to preach to Nineveh.
– Tried to flee and faced consequences (storm, being swallowed by a great fish).
– Eventually obeyed but with reluctance.
– Lesson: forsaking God’s given opportunities is unfaithfulness.
– Jewish religious leaders in Jesus’ time:
– Given stewardship over the oracles of God and the temple.
– Failed by hypocrisy, neglecting weightier matters like justice and mercy (Matthew 21-23).
– Their failure led to desolation and the rise of the spirit of the antichrist (John 1).

Biblical Examples of Faithful Stewardship
– Joseph (Genesis chapters 37-50):
– Faithful from youth in managing family flocks.
– Maintained moral integrity in Egypt as a servant and prisoner.
– Oversaw Egypt’s storehouses during famine.
– Provided for his brothers and preserved life.
– Apostle Paul:
– Former persecutor turned ardent servant of Christ.
– Immediately committed to God’s will after conversion.
– Missionary journeys spanning years, establishing churches, enduring hardships without complaint.
– Supported himself by tent-making to avoid burdening others.
– Exemplifies complete dedication, sacrifice, and faithful stewardship.

Concluding Thoughts and Scriptural Encouragement
– James 1:22-25 (Phillips translation) exhorts believers to be doers of the word, not just hearers.
– Stewardship demands practical application of God’s law and instruction.
– Everything believers have is a gift from God; stewardship is about using those gifts faithfully.
– Free will means stewards choose how to use their tools and opportunities.
– God’s faithfulness assures that faithful stewardship will be rewarded with the crown of life (Revelation 2:10).
– Faith is broad, encompassing trust, loyalty, and trustworthiness in stewardship.

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Key Bible Verses Referenced:

– 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 (KJV): Stewardship and faithfulness required.
– 1 Timothy 4:16: Taking heed to oneself and doctrine.
– Luke 16:11-12 (NLT): Faithfulness in worldly wealth and spiritual riches.
– 1 Peter 4:10 (KJV): Stewards of the grace of God.
– Matthew 25:14-30: Parable of the talents.
– Matthew 16:15-17: Peter’s confession of Christ.
– John 18: Peter’s denial.
– John 4:34: Jesus’ delight in doing God’s will.
– Psalm 40:8: Delight in God’s law.
– Revelation 17:14; 2:10: Called, chosen, and faithful; faithful unto death.
– Hebrews 11:6: Faith pleases God.
– James 1:22-25 (Phillips): Be doers of the word, not hearers only.
– Matthew 21-23: Jesus’ rebuke of Jewish leaders’ unfaithfulness.

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Summary:
The panel discussion thoroughly explores the biblical concept of stewardship, anchored in 1 Corinthians 4:1-2. Drawing from practical human examples and scriptural teachings, stewardship is defined as faithful management of what God entrusts to each believer—be it temporal resources, spiritual truths, or opportunities. Faithfulness is essential; God expects stewards to actively use their gifts in service to Him and others. Biblical examples reveal the consequences of unfaithfulness (Jonah, Jewish leaders) and the blessings of faithful stewardship (Joseph, Apostle Paul). Ultimately, stewardship is a privilege and responsibility requiring faith, loyalty, and action, culminating in the joy of pleasing God and receiving eternal rewards.

Transcript

Thank you very much, Brother John and Brother George. It’s great to be together again at this convention, and you know, we’ve had a little bit of mention already of stewards and stewardship. I know last night Brother David and Brother Comey mentioned it in their comments, and certainly that verse from First Timothy 4, 16 is, is in a sense about stewardship, taking heed to ourselves and the doctrine.

Brother Ernie this morning mentioned stewardship as far as our consecration goes, and it’s all about stewardship. So we have a scripture here. We’re just going to read the scripture before we get started, and this is from First Corinthians, chapter four, verses one and two.

We’re going to read it from the King James, but in a little while we might read a few other translations. Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required that as stewards that a man be found faithful. George, I want to start with asking you to kind of tell us and tell me what you know, what is a. What is a steward?

You’ve, we’ve shared, you’ve shared some thoughts with me as far as some of your work experience, and maybe you can just in human terms, tell us what you know about stewardship. Brother Steve I’d love to.

First off, when I got this assignment, or when I was first asked to do this assignment, they said, we’d like to have a discussion on First Corinthians, Chapter four, verse two, and I read it and I thought, well, it’s a wonderful Scripture, and I took it at face value and I thought, how are we going to talk about this for an hour? And the reason is, is that typically the term, the term steward, it’s not really something that we use in our everyday language. It’s very uncommon.

But I realized that from my job experience I have practical experience in defining of a steward, and that comes from my work. Now I don’t work anymore, but at my career I worked out of a union in the trades in the construction business, and each union would send a steward whom was appointed by their own local on the job, and they would remain on that job as a steward until the job was complete. Well, stewards had a multiple variety, we’ll say, of responsibilities. First off, the steward was the union representative on the job.

And if it couldn’t be settled on the job, the. It would go to the higher ups and to the offices of each craft. But each steward, he, he received his responsibilities from his individual union, and I Had my turn at it and they usually gave it to the young guys, which at the end of my career I, I was never the steward, but earlier on in my, in my career I did because they. You did it without extra pay and it was a lot of extra work.

Very.

It was very necessary, but it was, it was very underrated and very. I might have lost a word. Nobody sought after the position of steward, let’s put it that way. The stewards responsibilities, at least on our end, focused on what the agreements that the union had already decided with the employers would be. Now we’re talking very huge jobs, very great dollars values worth on these jobs.

So they had to do a lot of this decision prior to it. The steward was, was to there to make sure that the agreements were followed as they had been agreed to on both sides of the, of the fence. But the steward also had some other responsibilities and one of them was, at least in our craft, that you had to keep track of the pays of all the men, and that was for a practical purpose because they had to make sure that the benefits were being paid on their monies. You also had to make sure that the proper equipment to do the job was on the job, that the employer was required to put very expensive equipment on the job so that we could complete the task and, and go ahead.

Yeah, no, I was. So they were. The stewards were managing certain things that were going on. Yes, but they were reporting to a higher authority or group based on what they were managing. Actually, in essence, that’s exactly what the steward was.

He was overseer for the union on that job site. Yeah, in, in the practical experience that I had, the steward was responsible for himself, but everybody that was involved in his craft, all the craft workers, and if we can equate this to the stewardship that we’re talking about for God and in Christ. That’s the first takeaway that I see that does translate over. Yeah, that we’re going to get to that a little bit more as far as, you know, that part of our stewardship now might just add, you know, I was looking at even the dictionary definition of, of a steward and there’s, you know, there’s a number of things says one employed in a large household or a state to manage domestic concerns, you know, such as supervision of servants, collection of rents, keeping of accounts.

Yeah. Kind of similar to what you’re talking about, but just in a little different industry. We’ll. Shop steward was also mentioned in the dictionary and that’s exactly what you’re talking about. Shop steward, a fiscal agent.

In other words, someone that has financial responsibility, which is kind of my background. I was in banking for, for a long time, and, and obviously a bank has responsibility over its, the money of its depositors and, and so forth. So. Right.

And, and then there’s probably the more common thought of a steward or stewardess as, as, you know, being someone on a ship or an airplane or a bus is kind of looking out for the passengers on that. So it’s, you know, it covers a wide area, but it carries the similar thought to what you expressed, that they have a responsibility of managing certain things, but they’re reporting to a higher authority, and that is, as you indicated, that’s sort of an indicator of the spiritual thing. So maybe, you know, just talk a little bit more about the, the, you know, the spiritual aspect of this because, you know, it’s good to have these human definitions and such. But we want to take it to the spiritual.

Sure. In talking about the spiritual, there is lessons that I’m from the thought of man or the perspective of man, and I want to say there are at least three takeaways that I see translate very nicely over to the spiritual side of our Christian walk. The first one is, is that the steward on the job was not only responsible for himself, but he was responsible for the other men and women on the job. Now, how does that translate to being a Bible student?

Well, although I am not steward over anybody else, you are your own steward. But I do have responsibility, and what, what I thought was precious is that each union is described as. It’s actually in the name. It is a brotherhood.

So you have responsibility to your brotherhood as a steward, even in the sights of God. The second takeaway is that you had to be appointed the steward by your governing body, by your. By your union, your. Your. The business agent, as they say.

That translates over as. Well, no one can declare themselves a steward unless God decrees it, and in the household of faith, God decrees that you are indeed a steward. The third one is, and this is important, this is very important, I was always ever steward, and all the union representatives that were named steward on that particular job were only steward over what you were given.

In other words, you are not a steward over what you do not have. Yeah, it’s hard to be a steward if you don’t have any control or ownership in, in what you’re being a steward of, and we can even take that a step further. God has given us stewardship and we’re going to talk about what, what the responsibilities are in Christ. But what God has not given us stewardship over is this world.

We have responsibilities towards his creatures, His, His. His other creations that he has made, and we have to be responsible ste that. But as far as the troubles and the different things coming on here, it is not for us to do anything that is God’s, and that, that, that translates over very nicely too. Tell us some of the.

I know you looked up some of the meanings of the word of the Old Testament, the New Testament, right? Just go into that just a little bit. Well, by no, by no coincidence, the word steward appears in both the Old and the New Testament. Of course we know that the Old Testament, it’s, it’s in the form of Hebrew, and in the New Testament it’s Greek, and in the Old Testament, it is number 8269 in the Hebrew dictionary.

And it implies that you are to be a responsible owner. It implies ownership. Say, for instance, you have a house or you have an automobile or you have something large. You are the steward over that. You are to, you’re the overseer.

You are the administrator over that, and that makes sense. But the Greek, and you already mentioned it, the Greek definition is slightly different and I like it much better. It’s, it’s. You are an overseer, administrator, as an employee and in the service to God.

When we consecrate, which we saw proof of it today, and as we all know whom are consecrated, we give everything that we have to God. So we are only users of what he has now. Right. In fact. In fact, the actuality is we never own anything because he owns it all.

He owns it all, and even if we don’t realize it at some point, we have to admit it. But by God’s Holy Spirit, we get that and we acknowledge that we aren’t owners of everything and we turn it all over to God anyhow, and, and I think that by virtue of that, the Greek definition is more applicable and it was written in Greek. Corinthians was written in Greek.

It’s more applicable to our walk in this narrow way than the, the Hebrew version. In fact, if I was to make an analogy or a connection prior to any of us making a consecration to the, to the Lord and a vow to God, it would be more applicable that the Hebrew definition that we are owners and responsible owners. But once, definitely once we, we make that consecration vow, then it is definitely more of the Greek that we are employees of God. But I want to read this opening scripture first. Corinthians 4:1 and 2 from a couple of other translations that kind of use a couple of different words that, that describe stewardship or being a steward that just sort of, you know, just expand upon this a little bit.

And this is the Williams translation, which we don’t use very often. He says, and I’m just going to read. Well, I’ll read both verses. He says, as for us apostles, men ought to think of us as ministers of Christ and trustees. Trustees instead of stewards.

Trustees to handle God’s uncovered truths. Now, in this, this is verse two. Now, in this matter of trustees, stewards, the first and final requirement is that they should prove to be trustworthy. Yes. So trustee must be trustworthy.

A trustee doesn’t own, and I mean, and you know, having a financial background, I can appreciate that a trustee just manages funds, but he doesn’t own the funds. But he has to be trustworthy to, to, to prove his faithfulness. Let me just read, let me read the International Standard Version. Okay.

Think of us as servants of the Messiah and as servant managers. Now that’s what ISV uses, servant managers instead of, instead of stewards, and that kind of is the thought that you expressed. We’re a servant of God, but we’re also managing certain things in our life on his behalf, and then in verse 2, ISV says, Now it is required of servant managers that each one should prove to be trustworthy.

So he uses that word trustworthy again. So, you know, there’s just a couple of other translations that sort of corroborate exactly what you were saying about, you know, the role of not being the owner of our life. God owns our life, but we’re also a servant manager of our affairs and things associated with it. We’re going to go on to the second part of our discussion and, you know, there’s a question, well, what are we stewards over? And we’ll make a few comments.

And then I know, George, you have some things to add to that. First of all, we, we are stewards, I think you would agree, over our temporal affairs. Oh, yeah, you know, that’s, that’s part of our life. I mean, we’re, yes, we are striving for a spiritual goal, and that’s obviously the most important. But we do have temporal responsibilities in our stewardship.

We have our families or if we have a family, we have our job or work. If we’re working, we have, and you know, there’s scriptures that point out all of these things. We have our health. We’re to be stewards over our health to the, you know, to the best extent that we can be, we’re stewards over our means, our finances, our homes, you know, just.

It’s all of those things. So, and you know, one of the interesting things that, and the Scriptures bear this out, I think that oftentimes the performance of our temporal stewardship can be an indicator of our performance in our spiritual stewardship, and there’s a scripture I just want to read from Luke 16, 11 and 12. This is from the New Living translation, and it was following Jesus.

Parable of the unjust steward. We’re not going to get into the parable because that’s, that’s not really part of the subject. But at the end of the parable, he makes Jesus draws his lesson. He says, if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth. Yeah.

Who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be entrusted with things of your own? So, you know, there’s a pretty good point that Jesus makes there. You know, just, just a couple of comments on the spiritual part of our stewardship, and then, you know, I want to get some of your thoughts here too.

Serving others. Serving the truth of God’s word. We’re stewards over these scriptures right here that we’re. That’s actually implied in, in verse one, it says we’re over the. As ministers of Christ.

Stewards of the mysteries. Mysteries of God. Mysteries of God. In Peter says, First Peter 4, 10. I won’t read the whole verse.

Says we’re stewards of the grace of God. He actually uses the word stewards in the, in the King James. Stewards of the grace of God. We’re stewards over our time. Really redeeming the time.

Were stewards obviously of our whole consecration, the fulfillment of it, working up, working out our salvation, the development of character, likeness to Jesus. That’s part of our stewardship. So there’s, it just involves basically every aspect of our consecration and, you know, so give us your further insights into our spiritual stewardship. We have responsibility to our brother. Yeah, there’s no doubt.

They are our brother. We are to love them. It was one of Jesus’s last commandments to love your brother.

We are, we are not their steward. They are steward over their own calling. They are stewards to work out their own salvation, as you and I are. But our responsibilities do extend an umbrella over them to support them. Yeah.

You’ve had an experience that you mentioned to me. I want you to share it with our hearers here. I, I I truly am. I’m going to get to that. But yeah, go ahead.

You take a. Our responsibilities is not to override our brethren, but it’s to uplift them, to encourage them, to support them, to offer, you know, our Lord. If we’re using his as an example, which we need to. Our Lord laid down his life for us, you know, that is what is expected of us if, you know, we are baptized into his death, and that’s expected of us too.

We are to lay down our life for our brother, and that’s how we serve God is through the brother. So I think that’s very important.

Matthew, 12th chapter, verse 50. I believe it says that the brethren are those whom are doing the will of God now, that’s whom have come to this accurate knowledge and have been blessed by his spirit and called into that service. So that’s important that we know that. But we do have responsibility to the world too, because it says you have to love the world, but to love your brother, you know, more. More particularly knowing when we’re looking at what we are stewards over, I think it’s imperative that we look at the parable of the talents that, that everything I researched, and when I read it, it’s very important and it gives us some really good insights.

It’s in the 25th chapter of Matthew. We won’t go through it, but we’ll just highlight a couple of the things we know that in the parable it says that the master gave his employees or his servants. He uses the term talents and pounds, which is actually a form of money, and I like that because it shows something of great value to the master. That’s important.

And we know that he gave a portion to several of his employees and said he was going to leave and he was going to come back and check on it, and remember, this was based on money, although that was symbolic, and, and when he comes back, the master comes back, he interviews these servants and he says, okay, what did you do? And the first one says, why? I had this amount and I. I increased it by this much.

He says, well done, and the second servant, same thing. I, I had a lesser amount, but I still increased at this amount. The third servant, he come back and he says, what did you do? He says, well, Lord, I was so fearful of losing it.

He says, I buried it. So I have it all here, and, and that anger the master because he did not use it, and in fact, what did he do? If you remember the parable, what did he do?

He says, I’m going to take it from you, I’m going to give it to the one that made the most interest or made the most on it. So I’m ask you. We have. God has given us so much. He gives us everything.

But what is it that he has given us that he can take away at any time? Does he take away our Holy Spirit? No. We. We will lose that.

Does he take away our brother? Well, yes, but he doesn’t take them away. He allows them to finish their course. He. To me, it was like a light bulb moment.

The light bulb went off and I realized he’s talking about opportunity. God gives each of us opportunity in his service, and it’s up to us to use that, and the more we use it, the more we’ll gain for him in it, and we have to keep in mind these opportunities are precious in his sight, so they should be precious in our hands.

Relate that experience. You talked to me about an experience when you had. Yeah, I have a great example. Give us. Give us that quickly.

I surely will. This was going back nearly 50 years ago. I was a very young man, very interested in the truth, attending our local convention in West Newton. I was probably 18 or 19 years old, and I was asked to read the manna at the Bethel service in the morning, and I was a little bit nervous, I have to admit.

I’m getting up in front of these new faces and I got up and I read it and I got through it. The Lord got me through it, and I was happy I did it, and it was at the first intermission that someone had a chance to come up to me, and a sister came up to me and she says, brother George, I have to tell you, you just did a wonderful job, and that sister was Sister Pauline Tresiak, Brother John’s mother.

And I’ll never forget this, she said, I just wanted to thank you for what you did that was so special, and have to tell you, you know, I grew up in Balcoville. Everybody, everybody in our class was family. So I was used to getting help and support from our family, maybe criticism once in a while, sometimes depending. But I was always appreciative of the help my family gave.

But this was the first time that someone outside of our family came up to me in the truth and said, thank you, and I have to tell you, that really impressed me. So the story goes on and I’ll try to make it brief. Years later, we’re having another convention in West Newton. This time I’m asked to offer a prayer.

A little bit nervous. Get through the prayer. Sit down. At the first intermission, guess who walks up to me? Sister Pauline Tresiak.

She’s there again with her husband Ted, and she says, brother George, I have to tell you, you did such a wonderful job, and I just appreciate your service and just thank you from the bottom of my heart. I do appreciate it. I have to tell you, Brother, I did wonders. I sat up a little straighter in the meetings.

I took better notes. I. I was really a part of his brotherhood now. But the tale was that later on in that same convention, we had a testimony meeting. Sister Pauline got up and gave me testimony. She says, you know, she says, I. I love the brother, and I love these conventions.

I love this opportunities to come and be with the brother. She says, my husband, Brother Ted, he gets to do research and give discourses and speak from the platform, God’s gospel. She says, I don’t have that opportunity. But she says, God has given me something, and that is the ability to speak and comfort and help others, and that’s exactly what she did.

And I, and I. That just put it in perspective, and this is almost 50 years ago, and I remember it as I can see her speaking in my mind right now.

That’s how powerful that is. That’s an opportunity. That’s an opportunity that we cannot forsake. It’s precious to us, and it’s precious in a sight of both. It didn’t.

It didn’t take any extra work on her part, not in Ellis carrying out her stewardship in that way. Is the moment to benefit you? Yes, and all. It surely did to honor the Heavenly Father at the same time.

And I remember Sister Pauline, Brother Ted, and this is, you know, we’re not here to. To. To just talk about them, but they were tremendous examples, and I do remember, too, Sister Pauline would. Was always very encouraging, especially to us who were young.

That’s a great experience. It was. Well, talk a little bit about George. Continue on. We’re going to the section, you know, the next section of our.

Of our discussion here. You know, who. Who do we kind of consider as. As stewards? I mean, we’ve kind of talked around it a little bit, but give us, you know, your thoughts as to, you know, from a spiritual standpoint, obviously.

Well, I think everybody realizes and as. As do I and you, that the household of faith, without a doubt, are considered stewards. Now, those are the ones that God decrees. These are stewards over what he has given us. But I have to tell you, I do not limit it, because I don’t know exactly when someone enters into the household of faith.

I don’t know that I know it. That, you know, the consecrated are for sure in that group. But I don’t want to make a decision as to when you enter that or what point in your life. But there’s a. There’s a drawing power that’s not enough, which is scriptural.

I look at my. My own wife, Sister Cindy. She came from an evangelical background. She loves the Lord. Now she.

She’s devoted to the Lord. Brother Obie, Brother Obie, good example. He came from outside the. Of the Bible students, and at what point did he become.

Did you have. Did he have to have a power of faith this high to get in? Where. Where is that level? I don’t know.

I think one of the most telling scriptures that we have, which supports my thought, is that you become a steward over even the smallest amount of what God gives you, not to the point where you’re on trial for life, and I’m going to use the example. It’s in Matthew 16, and I know we’re all familiar with it. Our Lord and the disciples had just disembarked from a voyage, and they landed in a place called Caesarea, Caesarea Philippi, and the Lord took this moment and he said, they’re sitting there, he and the disciples.

He said, whom does the world say that I am? And we know that the discourse, and some said, you’re drawn to Baptist, some Elijah, some Isaiah. But his real focus was on the next question. He said, whom do you say that I am?

And remember Peter, the impetuous Peter that he was. He spoke up quickly. He says, thou art Christ, the son of the living God, and it was the Lord’s response to him which is extremely telling and very fitting to what we’re talking about, and the Lord told him, you have done well, Simon.

But he said, flesh and blood hath not revealed it to you, but my Father, which is in heaven. So in essence, God, our Lord was telling him, God gave you the Holy Spirit to understand him, and I feel firmly that he was now responsible for that for the remainder of his life, and I think the Scriptures prove it, and brother Slavish, J. Slavish gave a great testimony about this in his discourse yesterday.

So I think the Lord had set this up or allowed this to be set up many, many days before. But remember, at the end of our Lord’s life, when, when the, the. The temple guards came to pick up the Lord after he was betrayed, who was it this sliced the ear off of the soldier. It was Peter. It was Peter.

Yeah. He’s still saying his heart, thou art Christ, the son of the living God. I know that. There it goes. So, you know, I think the point of what you’re saying is that Peter had a certain amount of knowledge, one of which very critical was belief.

Jesus was the Messiah. He never. He kept that stewardship perfectly, but he still needed to be developed. Let’s look at the next day. Yeah, the next day after he sliced the ear up when.

Well, that next evening, later on that night, where do we find Peter? He’s coward in the dark, trying to stay warm by fire, and when he’s. When he’s pointing, saying, you’re with him, you know, him, not me, not me. Now, it meant something.

So I think that responsibility God was showing him, you were responsible for that knowledge, that Holy Spirit, and this is what he did. Now, of course, Peter made up for it and was forgiven because he was not consecrated and, and had not been justified and on Trauma’s life. But I think that proves to me that you’re responsible for every amount of Holy Spirit that God gives you.

And I equate the stewardship to God’s Holy Spirit. I think that is a defining moment in, in any way to make him a student. In the case of Peter, and this, you know, this Brother Jay gave a beautiful presentation. I agree with you yesterday.

And you know, we see the. The transformation that took place in Peter on the day of Pentecost and from, and thereafter that his stewardship obviously grew and increased to encompass, you know, helping to establish the early church, and yet even then, we know he wasn’t perfect. He had a couple little glitches along the way, even after that, as we all do.

And that’s the way our stewardship kind of works. It grows little by little, but it blossoms. I think, as you said, when we make that commitment, when we make that consecration to do God’s will. Remember what Jesus said in this is John 4:34. He says, My meat or spiritual nourishment is to do what to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.

You know, that was Jesus. Jesus had a special stewardship which we’ll never have, obviously, but still it was a stewardship. We have a stewardship that is particularly important once we’ve made that decision, once that consecration has been made, and just one more scripture along this line, and this is from the Psalms, and applies prophetically to Jesus, but it also applies to us. It says, I delight to do thy will, O My God, yea, thy law is within my heart.

And it’s really, to me, it’s those who do delight to do God’s will, delight to do it in every aspect of their consecration, and that his law is within their hearts. Those are the ones that truly have, to me, the full extent of this stewardship, which is, as you said, it’s a, It’s a privilege, it’s an opportunity. Yeah. But it’s also responsibility.

Yeah. Let’s talk a little bit now on our next point. You know, the, the scripture that we’re talking about, you know, First Corinthians 4:1 and 2, particularly verse 2, says, moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful, and this is where we will say the rubber meets the road, whatever you want to call it. It’s one thing to be a steward and have a, you know, a title.

You know, you had a title of being a steward and others had a title of being stewards. But if you weren’t a faithful steward, they probably would take it away from you or fire you. I don’t know what they would have done. But, yeah, the remainder that God would suffer because, yeah, the job would suffer and so on and so forth. So, so the faithfulness of stewardship is, Is very important.

And going back again to something you said, God owns everything in our life. Once we have made that, that comm. Each day, you know, when we get up each morning, we have a stewardship. Even if we’re just going to work. Yeah.

That’s a stewardship. Or if we’re doing something for the family, that’s a stewardship. If we’re doing something for the Lord. If I might interject. Yes, go ahead, quickly.

And it’s because of my mentality. I did construction. I did. I worked with my hands all my life, and I still do. Sometimes I talk with my hands, too, but it was.

I did my work with my hands. So I, I make the analogy in my mind that God has given each one of us, each steward. He has given us a tool belt or a toolbox, and that toolbox is we are to carry around and use responsibly in carrying out what he has given us, whether it be an opportunity or responsibility. We use those tools to make this calling and to, to, to.

To work out our own salvation, and I think that’s a nice analogy in my mind, at least. It clicks in my mind, and for each of us, you know, our toolboxes may be just slightly different. Now.

We all have scriptures as the basis of what’s in our toolbox. But for each of us, our opportunities may vary, even our responsibilities may vary, and, and that’s, that’s critical because you know, as again, going back to something you said, we are not. I’m not responsible for your toolbox, you’re not responsible for mine. But we are there to support each other.

And on that thought, I think it’s Matthew 25:15. The Lord says he gave up those talents, those pounds, those talents according to their special abilities. Yeah. So God gives out as he, the all wise God, that he is the Creator. He knows exactly what you can do for him and what he wants you to do.

It may be slightly different for me. It may be slightly different from the other brother. God decides what he wants you to do and he. He benefits you by the opportunities and the tools he gives you, and, and it doesn’t matter how much he gives you or how little, it’s still of great value to the Lord.

I think that’s important for us to remember. The parable of talents is just that way because he gave what, five to one and so many to another, and even the one that had one talent, he could have been faithful with that if he had chosen to do so. I was just thinking of the scripture, Revelation 17:14, and it’s very familiar. Scripture is talking about those that are with the Lamb, those who make their calling.

Election. Sure, and what does, what does the revelator say they are called? Chosen and faithful. Right.

They’re faithful in the use of their stewardship and the use of those opportunities and those responsibilities, and of course, the. Probably even a more familiar verse, Revelation 2:10. Being faithful unto death. Yeah, that’s, that’s the, you know, that’s the whole gamut of it.

Time wise is being faithful onto the end of our course to receive the crown of life, and that’s why we have, you know, we have this period of time. Right. Of our consecrated walk to, to be faithful stewards, and you know, some may that say, you know, once saved, always saved.

That’s not what a stewardship’s about, you know, and, but it’s about using the opportunities and responsibilities that we have. Right. You were going to talk a little bit about, you know, faith from a couple of other standpoints. Right. 11th chapter of Hebrews and maybe some other things with regards, you know, God is a faithful being.

Hebrews 13:5. He will never leave your forsaken. This is part of God’s character. He’s faithful, and as servants he requires us.

He desires us to be Faithful. So now Hebrews 11:6, it says it is impossible to please God without faith. That’s, that’s weighty. We cannot please God no matter what we do. If it’s without faith, it’s not going to please him.

Revelations 2, 10, you brought up. Be thou faithful unto death, and, and I was always under the impression that faith and it, and it’s true, it’s a truism. But the faith that the Bible talks about is believing in God, serving only the one true living God, and then Paul’s explanation in Hebrews 11, one says, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Okay, that, that’s a great explanation. I couldn’t add anything to it or take away. But the things not seen, that’s God. The things hope for, the promises of his blessings, the coming kingdom, the promise. Okay, how does being the faithful steward fit into that?

It really doesn’t fit. It’s a square peg in a round hole. So. But what I realize is faith also means being loyal and trustworthy. So God has given us this stewardship he’s given us.

He has allowed us to take his vow, and it’s the same thing. We take a vow that we are going to do everything we can to complete that vow in a pleasing manner, and like his son and our stewardship, we are going to use the things he gives us in a, in a, in a faithful, trustworthy way to, to benefit our walk in this. In his high, in his highway of holiness.

So faith away. I’m sorry, yeah, no, no, correct in the walking is narrow way. That’s right. Thank you. So when I look at Revelations 2.

10, and I look at Hebrews 11:6, when it says, be thou faithful unto death and God, it’s impossible to please God without faith. I realize he’s talking about an umbrella of faith. Our faith is not limited to, to just being trust. Trust in God and, and, and the hopes and promises. Faith is very large and it hits a lot of different facets, like a diamond.

So when it says you can’t please God without faith, it is this collective group of faith that we have to be loyal to, and, and our stewardship falls under that as well. Yeah, yeah, and I was, I was thinking, and this would be the same as it was with the time. Are you.

Let’s see, we have till 4. 15, brother. Yeah, I think so. You’re early. You can sit down and listen.

You can stay up here if you, you can take my place if you want to. You just pass it by USOjourner. He’s exercising his stewardship.

Oh. Scared me. Yeah, I, Yeah, I wondered at myself. Well, we’re keeping pretty good with our. We are, actually.

We’re. We’re doing pretty good. But what I was thinking is. That’s fine. Don’t worry about it.

Brother John.

You know, when I worked in banking. Yes. I felt like in my career that if I had faith in my superiors, that if I carried out my stewardship of my job properly, that they would appreciate it and, you know, maybe give me a raise the end of the year or whatever, of course, and keep me employed and so that, that fits in because we. We have.

We. We have to have faith in God, that He is. That he’s watching our stewardship, that he’s guiding our stewardship because we want to. We want to do it properly. But He’s a faithful God.

Yeah. If he says faith, if you’re faithful unto death, I will give you a crown of life. We can, no pun intended, take it to the bank. Yeah. So talk about.

We want to get into. You know, we’re going to spend a little time on. On the kind of. The final part of our discussion. Because these are scriptural examples.

Yes. Maybe an example of one who was not so faithful. That’s right, and we’re going to do that first. Okay.

Give us an example, George, of somebody that wasn’t so faithful.

I’d like to do it in that manner because I’d like to end on a high note. So we’ll look at the not so faithful stewards in the Bible, and my example to come to my mind is, is Jonah. Now, Jonah was a prophet and he was called into service. Now, what we don’t know is if Jonah had any prior responsibilities to God other than what we read in the book.

We don’t know. We simply don’t know. But we know that God highlighted and wanted that for us to know about that particular event when he was told to go to Nineveh, a foreign country, the. The. The capital of Assyria, and.

And tell them that they are so wicked he’s going to destroy him unless they repent. So we know that he heard this. He. We know that he heard the call. We know that He.

He. He can’t say, oh, I didn’t hear you. I’m sorry. He got, and we know it by the details of what he did.

So he gets on a boat in the Mediterranean Sea and they. They say a ship, but it was no more than a bigger fishing boat, a wooden vessel, and he gets on his Boat, and instead of going towards Nineveh, towards the east, he’s heading to Tarshish, which is 2,000 miles away. So God gives him this opportunity, and what’s he do? He not only doesn’t want to do it, I’m going to get as far away as I can.

Okay? So we know as this. As the account ensues, God allows this great storm to rise up, and the peoples on a boat are fearing for their very life, their existence. They are ready to perish.

I can only imagine being on a small boat and the way it’s crashing and they’re. They’re all praying to their gods that they worshiped at that point, and where do we find Jonah? He’s laying fast asleep in the bottom of the boat, not a care in the world. But they wake him and they say, Jonah, this.

You know, we need you to pray to your God. Who do you. Who is your God? He. He finally comes clean.

He says, my God is the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, and he says, and I was supposed to do this service, but I ran away. Oh, my goodness. Why. Why would you do that?

But they still in their hearts try to row to shore for him to help him. He said, no, this is not going to help you. He said, throw me overboard because God wants me, not you. So they did. They obliged him.

They threw them over immediately. This says, the sea is calm. Now. I’m gonna. I’m gonna step away from that just for a moment in our thoughts.

Because I have to tell you, it was always my impression when I read that story or when I recounted that account, that when Jonah went over the overboard, for some reason, my. My mind went to that. That great fish that God had prepared was just waiting there, and Jonah just plummeted right down into his gullet, and that was it.

But that’s not how it happened. The greater lesson was that the boat drifted away. Jonah’s out there floundering in the water. Just woke up from sleep, and God allowed him to be in that water, whether it be cold. It was deep.

And he got tired, and Jonah was floundering, and it may be, perhaps, Jonah started sinking under the water. He was getting tired, and he was going under the water, and Jonah was actually literally facing death, and he was starting to go under, and that’s when this great fish came and saved his. Saved his life.

And he stayed in that belly for three days. Then he spits him up on shore. Not in Nineveh. He spits him up on shore where he has to make the same journey, the same task lays in front of him, and he’s faithful all the way after that.

Right. Well, he was quiet. He was, he did what he had to do, but he did it with a grudge on his shoulder, and I cannot figure it out. I mean, there’s, there’s applications to it.

But the point is, the takeaway is Jonah had an opportunity, Right, and he forsook that opportunity. So in, in terms of being a faithful steward, he was not a faithful steward. He did not do and use the talents that God had given him to accomplish what he wants, and I see that as a lesson for us.

Yeah, and you know, we’re left hanging kind of at the end of the book of Jonah. But I think the point is, the lesson for us is regardless of how Jonah turned out the rest of his life, which we don’t know. Yeah. The lesson is for us not to be like him as a, you know, silent, unfaithful steward, at least up to that point.

So, you know, he’s the moment. I was thinking, I was thinking of another example. This is from the New Testament. This was not one person. This was, this was a group, the Jewish leaders of Jesus Day.

You know, they were given the oracles of God. They had a, the, the most, the best stewardship that they could have had at that time as, as Jewish religious leaders, the oracles of God, the Mosaic Law, and according to Jesus, they didn’t do a very good job in their stewardship, and you know, all you got to do is read Matthew chapter 21 through 23 and you know, you have, we’re not going to read it obviously, but you have a whole list of things that they were not good stewards over, and even what they were stewards over were not always the right things.

Right. You know, for example, just, I’ll just give a couple examples. When Jesus goes into the temple, what were they doing? They were turning into a business, a money changing operation. They weren’t, that wasn’t what the temple was for.

They weren’t being good stewards of the temple. It was a holy place, and they, they were making merchandise of and you know, they, they were, they were not proper stewards of even their own words and actions. They were hypocrites. Right.

They were saying one thing and doing another. So, and that kind of gets down to our character. You know, are we good stewards of what we’re saying, what we’re thinking, what we’re doing? And then they were, you know, they tried to be stewards over things like Herbs and mint and spice and you know, things that weren’t really so critical, I don’t think.

And what does Jesus says, say? But they, they forgot the weightier matters of the law, like judgment, mercy and faith, you know, so they were very good, and, and of course Jesus said, you know, finally your house was left unto you desolate. I may interject right there. Think about what developed out of that.

Apostle John said it in, in. I think it was John 1, he said, the spirit of the Antichrist already exists, and that’s exactly what happened. The stewards who were left after the apostles, actually even before, through the, in the guys, through the influences of Satan, started to become bad stewards, bad overseers of what they were given, and, and then they started develop.

Well, we’re, we are overseers not only of this, but we’re overseers of your stuff too, and then we’re going to tell you what’s important, and before you know it, it developed into the, to the beast that, that it became, and that, that’s a very big lesson that how that, that unfaithfulness to what God says to do can really have a bad effect. I want to give you a, a good.

And you give me one. We got five minutes or so. I can’t give. Well, I’m sure there’s many, many examples. I’m going to pick one from the Old Testament.

Joseph. You know, Joseph went through litany of experiences in his life, and as you read through, if you started Genesis 37 all the way to the end of the book of Genesis, he was faithful as far as what we know is recorded. That’s recorded. He was faithful in every aspect of the stewardship that he had.

Starting at the age of 17, he’s tending his father’s flocks with his brothers, and he’s faithful in that stewardship. You know, he. Then he reveals dreams to his brothers which became very important, and he was faithful in that.

But it only gained envy on the part of his brothers. He was faithful, you know, Joseph, I mean, excuse me, Jacob, his father, sent, sent the older brothers to Shechem to take care of his flocks there, and he sent Joseph there to make sure everything was going well, and so he kept that little stewardship faithful, faithfully. Then of course, we know what happened.

He was thrown in a pit and sold as a slave. But then we gets in Egypt, he’s, he’s a, he’s a servant to Potiphar, an officer pharaoh, and he’s faithful in that, and he was faithful in his moral stewardship When Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him, he wouldn’t do that, and of course, he was thrown in prison. He was faithful in prison.

He was made in charge of the other prisoners, and then finally he interprets dreams of the butler and the baker and was faithful in that he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, and he became Pharaoh, appointed him overseer of building storehouses for the seven years aplenty, so that they would be prepared, and that was a temporal thing. But it was very important for Joseph to be faithful in that part of his stewardship and then finally get to the end of the whole experience.

He’s faithful to his brethren. He brings them back. Yes, good point. From into Egypt, where they had laid up plenty of food for everybody, and he was faithful steward for his brethren and of course to God.

So he’s just a tremendous example, and, you know, give us, you know, quickly give us your good example of steward and then we’ll. We’ll wind up here. Sure thing. Of course, there’s no better example of good steward, a perfect steward in our Lord.

Oh, sure, it’s less relatable because we’re far from perfect. Yeah, and he had powers given to him that he had to be a steward over, which we don’t have. But my example of a good steward in the Scriptures, and it really stands out to me, and I have such a great appreciation for. For him now, but even greater since I’ve researched this somewhat, is the Apostle Paul.

You know, my opinion of Apostle Paul, even when he was the Pharisee pursuing the Christians, he was a good man. I feel that he had a very good heart. I don’t think he enjoyed doing evil. I think he was so intensely devoted to God and he had blinders on that he thought he was doing God’s work. As a Pharisee, he was zealous.

Yes, without a doubt. So when the change did come, he was on. He was on a bad course. So when the change came, what did he say immediately, what will you have me do? I will change right now, because I think that shows his heart was good.

So the Apostle Paul, after he’s, and, and to think about this, he was so engrossed in that task of being a Pharisee, and the Lord says, why do you persecute me? It took the Lord himself and that glorified condition just for a nanosecond, and it nearly killed Paul.

But it took that to rip those roots out of him. So now Paul, he’s suffering. He’s. He’s blinded and he, and he has a slow recovery and in just a couple days he recovers, but he’s being tutored on the accurate knowledge of God drop, and then it’s not very long.

And this is what’s impressive. It’s not very long after that that God through the Holy Spirit conveys to him and Barnabas, you’re going to go on a trip. You’re going to go on a missionary journey. So think about it. Apostle Paul is uprooted from his life, his friends, his family, the Pharisees, has no more dealings with them in the way he did before.

He left everything behind, including his money, because Apostle Paul’s family had wealth, and he goes on this journey, this trip with Barnabas, a total stranger, and he doesn’t go for a day, he doesn’t go for a week, he doesn’t go for a month or year. That first missionary journey was two years long. Two years long.

And look what he did. They would go into the, the temples around, in the, in the, in the Greek area and they would first talk to the Jews, knowing that they would have friends in, in the Gentile community, and, and then they would establish classes, and he. Look how many, in his missionary journeys, how many classes he started, how many brethren he brought into the fold by just speaking to them.

Not just tens, not just twenties, hundreds, maybe thousands, and then he would follow up on it, and each time that he went to a different city and he was serving the Lord in this way, in this manner, as he was supposed to, he met a lot of trouble. He was, his life was threatened. He’d have to run out of time.

He and Barna’s many times run out of time over in a basket, over a wall to save their lives. One time, Apostle Paul, in that first journey, he was beaten so bad he was left for dead. Never do you hear in any of his writings does he complain about that. Not once. He used every ability, every talent that God had given him and he, he expended his life promoting this wonderful gospel.

And I think he’s a great example. If I can be just a smidgen, like, came out of being happy, what a good example that was, and that’s, that’s my example. You know, he even went so far as, and this ties into stewardship that when necessary he would go to his tent making business to help, you know, defray some of his expenses. So, so he wasn’t a burden.

So he wasn’t a burden. So, you know, he’s just a, such a tremendous example. Well, you know, we Wanted to make just a couple of closing statements, and, you know, the thing that comes to my mind, I’m reminded of some words of James in James, the first chapter, where he’s talking about being a doer of God’s instructions, which is really what a stewardship is about and not merely a hero, and I want to read James 1:22 25 from the Phillips translation.

And, you know, just to kind of sum up my. My thoughts. He says, do not only hear the message, but put it into practice. Otherwise you are merely deluding yourselves. The man who simply hears and does nothing is like a man catching the reflection of his own face in a mirror.

He sees himself, it is true, but he goes on with whatever he was doing without the slightest recollection of what sort of person he saw in the mirror. But the man who looks into the perfect mirror of God’s law and makes a habit of so doing is not the man who sees and forgets. He puts that law into practice or into a stewardship, and he wins true happiness, and we can substitute. He wins a crown of life.

Yes, for sure. Final. Final state. Well, I appreciate that. That.

That puts a whole new spin on it. Putting it. Putting what God has given you into practice. Not just being a. A watcher of the truth, but being a doer of the truth.

I think it’s important. But my take on this, My. My final comment is that I realize that everything that we have as consecrated followers of God, we have turned everything over to him before. So everything we have is a gift from God, and God expects us to use that.

Being a doer, Being. Being a steward. Yeah, Using what He has given us. The talents, the opportunities. That opportunity is so big.

And I think that no matter how much or how little of God’s spirit you have, you are still a steward over that. You are responsible, and I think Peter is a good example of that. So, you know, it’s not on trial for your life, but you are responsible. It’s up to you.

And I think it follows the thought that we have free will. God doesn’t mandate for us to use it, but he’s not going to be happy if we don’t. So it’s up to us to make that. Those choices, to be the administrator, to be the overseer of what God gives us, and no matter how much he gives you according to your special abilities or how little he gives you, he still gives everyone those opportunities.

And he gives you those tools to use, and it’s up to us to use them. That’s all. Thank you, Brother George, Brother Sean.

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