# Faithful

Category: Faith & Trusting God
Key Passage: 1 Corinthians 4
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: April 21, 2025

Take your Bible. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter number 4. 1 Corinthians chapter number 4. And just one word: faithful, faithful. That’s just one word tonight: faithful. First Corinthians chapter number 4. We’re going to start verse number 1. When you get there, would you please stand as I read God’s word together, 1 Corinthians 4 and verse number one.

1 Corinthians 4 and verse number one: “Let a man so account of us”—this is Paul, his missionary team, I believe he’s speaking of—“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.”

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

The word steward, the first time that word is mentioned in the Bible, is found in Genesis 15 in verse number two. And Abram said, “Lord God, what wilt thou give me, saying, I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?”

The second time it’s used is speaking of Joseph when his brothers came and he was testing them, Genesis 41:19. And they came near to the steward of Joseph’s house. 44:1, and he commanded the steward of his house, saying, “Fill their sacks with food as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth.”

So from those verses, we learned that a steward is a person, an individual that maybe had a larger house, a large family, a lot of things to take care of, and they would make a man a steward, a caretaker of the house, of the riches, of the blessings, of the things they have.

Another passage along that line, 1 Peter 4:10: “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

A steward is someone that you give your riches to. You trust them to manage your affairs. And God says, if I’m going to be able to trust you with my riches, my affairs, God says, one thing I require. Doesn’t say he requires you to be smart, because I wouldn’t be there, amen. Doesn’t require that you have a good personality, because a lot of us wouldn’t be there, amen. It doesn’t require you to have a certain IQ, certain looks, a certain status—none of that.

The Bible says the thing that requires is that a man be found. Now that’s interesting: be found. In other words, we’re going to be tried on this. There’s going to be things that try to pull you from being faithful. Now says, I require that a man be found faithful. That’s what God looks at.

Now, says, if I can trust you with my grace, if I can trust you with answered prayers. Look at it. We talk about soul winning. All of us, as far as soul winning, whether it be on Saturday or during the week or whatever, we all want it. It’s a great godly desire, fruit that remains. Anybody want that right there? Yeah, that’s a godly desire. I’ve watched it over the years. It seems like those that God gives them fruit that remains are those that stay faithful at seeking souls over the years. Just faithful.

I mentioned this many times. My dad, I don’t think he was the best soul winner in the world. My dad, tat, was not in his dictionary. He didn’t know what that meant. I’ve heard him at least a thousand times at grocery stores and restaurants and gas stations across the United States, really, just walk up to somebody and say, “You’re going to heaven when you die.”

I mean, what kind of introduction is that? That’s what he would do. “You’re going to heaven when you die?” I’ve heard him say that a million times. I mentioned this before. We knocked on the door over here years ago. A fellow came to the door, and my dad didn’t say hello or “From Brother Rutherford County Baptist Church.” He didn’t say it. He just came to open the door. Dad said, “You’re going to heaven when you die?” I’m talking, that’s what he’s the first thing he’s saying. I was a big guy too. I’m like, “Oh, Dad, you know, come on.”

And the first thing he said, the guy said, “Yeah, I am.” And he said, “Have you trusted Jesus as your Savior?” “Yeah, I do.” “You go to church?” “Yeah, I do.” “Are you involved in your church?” “Yeah, I do.” I mean, there’s no tag to it. Deal relationships and then when? My dad didn’t know anything about that. I’ll tell you what—I mean, just boom, boom, just one thing after another, you know? “Do you read your Bible every day? Literally, do you have your devotion, something like that?” And I said, “Yeah, I do.” Finally, my dad said, “Were you all right then?”

And then they had a great conversation. I try—the guy would be trying to hit me. I mean, I just, I tell you all, he was the most faithful soul winner I’ve ever met, I’m talking about personally, most faithful. I mean, just faithfully witnessing. And there’s people that he’s led to the Lord that are preaching today. I mean, just, just fruit that remains.

And I’m saying, you might not be the best Sunday school teacher. Don’t worry about being the best Sunday school teacher. Be faithful. I like some lasting fruit in my ministry, whether it be the bus ministry or Sunday school class or nursing homes or wherever it may be. I tell you what, faithfulness. God says if I’m going to—and by the way, God does bring the increase. God says, if I’m going to give you my riches, I require that a man be found faithful. That’s it, friend. You know the good thing about that? I know how long be faithful? Yeah, I mean, just just faithfulness. That’s what God says I require. I want to find you.

You know, it’s interesting. Look over, if you will, in Proverbs 28 and verse number 20. Even in the area of finances. Money, money is not the root of all evil; the love of money’s root of all evil. Some people have a dime in their pocket, but they got a lot of love of money. That’s the root of all evil. Some people have a lot of money. They got a lot of money. They got a lot of money. They got a lot of money. They don’t have a love of money. That’s the root of all evil, love of money. But notice what it says in this area of finance. This is interesting. I’m not faithful. Even in the area of finances. Notice what God says, Proverbs 28. Look at verse number 20. You’re there tonight? Amen. Good deal. A what?

“A faithful man shall abound with blessings,” but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. Be careful this get-rich-quick scheme and get intense and get all this money. Hey, hang all that. Be faithful. A faithful man shall abound with blessings, and it’s talking about money there. Come on now, amen.

Get up and go to work every day. Come on now. Pay your bills. Don’t buy something you ought not to buy. You want to get your house paid off? I know an individual would just say that. At first, all they could do is pay their mortgage. After a while, they pay $25 extra a month. Then after that, $100 extra a month for years and years, but their mortgage is paid off. A faithful man shall abide with blessing. That’s what the Bible says, even in the area of finances. Faithfulness. Faithfulness.

Oh, my friend, our day and time, you know, a lot of churches are closing. The times they close are Sunday night. It starts on Easter and Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and Christmas and all, you know, that’s when they’re closing. And then they start, and it just goes from there. Praise the Lord for the faithful people, even on those days. Easter, you’re here on Sunday night. Faithful. But people don’t like this thing, but God, He blesses faithfulness.

Hey, can I say this? God’s faithful. You know, you’ll never wake up one morning without a faithful God watching over you. Lamentations, you know, Lamentations 3, and where is it at? Verse number 22: “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed because his compassion fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness.”

I love this verse. 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is what? He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You know the order of the universe is amazing. They know 25 years down the road where a certain planet’s going to be. They know the orbit of Saturn. And they know all these things. You know how they know all that? By just the faithfulness of the universe. You know why it’s so faithful? Because God’s faithful.

Oh, you know, God’s so faithful. He’s faithful to forgive, faithful to cleanse. If he’s called you to do something, you say, “I can’t do it.” No, the Bible says, “Faithful is he who calls you, who also will do it.” Faithful. He’s so faithful. Can I say this? If he’s allowed you to be tested, and he will let that happen, hey, he’ll be faithful through that.

Let me read for what he says. 1 Peter 4:19: “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful creator.” Yeah. Second Thessalonians 3:3: “But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you and keep you from evil.” He’s faithful. Oh, no.

Don’t live in fear. You have a faithful God. He’ll never put something on you that he won’t give you the ability to bear it. He’s faithful. He’s faithful. He’ll give you the strength for it. He’s got the grace for every step of every day you ever live your life. He’s faithful. The faithfulness of God. You say, how can I be faithful? By trusting in the faithfulness of God. He’s so faithful.

You know, one day we will all stand before God. I was talking to a fellow Friday morning, and he has tried to give me a little bit hard time. I wasn’t trying to be mean, but I said, “One day you’re going to stand before God, like all of us will stand before God.”

Every one of us. And he’s not going to ask, “How good are you?” Because he knows you’re a sinner like I’m a sinner. He’s going to say, “What did you do with Jesus?” We’ll all stand before him one day. Remember Matthew 25, the talents? Remember, gave one man five, to one man two, one man one. And the five, he gained five more. The two, he gained two more, excuse me. The one, he just hid and buried it into the earth. That faith God’s given in what they want to put it in Jesus, they buried in the earth is what that represents. But then those men came—it’s very interesting what do you say? Let me just read it for you. Matthew 25:19: “And after a long time the lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them.” You know there is going to be a reckoning day.

Every politician will stand before God. There’ll be a reckoning day. Every lawyer, every judge, every, ever a businessman, the rich, the poor, everybody’s going. There’s going to be a reckoning day. And those people that have taken what God’s given them and they’ve been faithful in that, faithful to do the right thing. You know, it’s not always easy to do the right thing, but some people you just say, they’re just faithful. They just do the right thing. They’re not flashing, they’re not all that, but you can count them. They’re faithful to do the right thing. Those are the ones. You know, that reckoning day? Those ones that have been faithful, you know what God says to him? He says, “Well done, thou good and what?”

That’s what matters to God. Now I stand before him. He’s not going to say, “Well, you weren’t flashy enough and you didn’t have enough.” He’s going to say, “Hey, praise the Lord, you were faithful.” It’s what matters. What matters? Faithfulness wherever God has you.

I think my old John Sharp, he was texting a bit today, and he said, he says, “A good service.” He’s watching all that. He’s out of the hospital and just got out to David. He said, “I was watching. He said, but I would have liked to have been there.” That’s right. He was being faithful where God had him. Just faithful wherever God has you.

I think about old Brother Hicks, Milton Hicks. He used to pastor at First Baptist Church in Laverne. Let’s change the name now. They pastor Living Springs Baptist Church for a while. And I don’t know if you know Brother Milton Hicks. Good man. And… but he’s in assisted living now up in Laverne and is having church service every Sunday. They limit him. He can only have service for like 15, 20 minutes. I can’t remember. I think he’s got 12 minutes to preach, but his son tells me, you know, a preacher, he said, “My dad, if the service is up, you know, he’ll call him.” He said, “We had 17 today.” He said, “Faithful.” He ain’t going to stand before God one day. God’s going to say, “Well done, thou good and faithful.”

Just faithful. That’s a big deal to God. God’s concerned about faithfulness. Psalm 31:23: “O love the Lord, all ye his saints; for the Lord preserves the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.” Psalm 101:6: “Mine eyes shall behold the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.” Faithfulness.

July 1981, Bill Broadhurst entered the Pepsi Challenge 10,000-meter road race. That’s about six miles. So in Omaha, Nebraska, 1,200 people, 1,200 people lined up to race in that thing. And, boy, the gun went off. Boy, everybody took off.

And Bill, he didn’t take off. You see, 10 years earlier, he had a brain aneurysm, and it left, for the most part, his right side paralyzed.

And really, it’s just amazing. He would—he had put that left foot out, and then he’d kind of just bring that right one around, you know, and just just it wasn’t graceful like everybody else. But just faithfully, he’d just bring that right, and then he’d just kind of over and over again. It didn’t take but a minute or two. Everybody else left him in their dust. And he just out there stepping, just bringing that foot around. Kind of messed his ankle up that day, but he just just kept bringing that around there, you know, just as fast as he—he was last place. Six miles later, two hours, 29 minutes. He’s still out there just as fast as it could try to bring that leg around, just faithfully bringing it.

Six miles of that. Fine, and made it across the line. Everybody else was all done. He made it across the line like that. And it went over a little bit. Somebody started coming up to him. He recognized him. His name’s Bill Rogers. He’s a famous, famous runner. Everybody knows him. He had won that day.

And Bill Rogers came up and he said, “Hey,” it’s exactly what he said. He said, “You’ve worked harder for this than I have.” And he put it around his neck.

One day we’re going to stand before the Lord, and those people, they’re not graceful. They’re not running as fast as a whole lot of other people. They’re just faithful to do what God’s called us to do. And the Lord’s going to say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes tonight? I want to find me faithful. Father, thank you for the privilege we get to serve you. Thank you for your faithfulness to us. Help us, Lord, to be faithful to you, Lord. Faithful over the years for you. Help us to be that for you. Jesus’ name we pray. Would you please stand tonight? Would you spend some time? Say, “Lord, I want to be faithful.” Thank you for his thankfulness. You want to come to an old-fashioned altar? It’s open.

Let’s be faithful. Wouldn’t it be wonderful the Lord comes back one day and he says, “Man, I just found him faithful.” Not glamorous, not the fastest. I’m dragging that right leg around, but they’re faithful. Just faithful, day in, day out, just faithful. “Well done, thou good and faithful.” He’s looking for that. He requires that. If he can give you, trust you with his riches. Faithful.

Sometimes we’re looking for a worker in a position or a ward to give out. First thing I look at: faithful. Are they faithful? Believe the Lord’s like that. Try to mimic him, just faithfulness. Good days, bad days, but they’re faithful. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Faithful. It’s required.

Any blessing you walk in the house of God, and you know so-and-so is going to be there. They’re faithful. Just encouragement. Wow, they’re faithful. Yeah, he’s faithful. Let’s just be faithful to him.

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂Faithful＂ - Sunday PM 04⧸20⧸2025 [TRfTbEjdNiI]