And the theme that I selected was a faithful steward, a faithful steward. Therefore at the beginning I'd invite you to turn with me to 1st Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 2, very familiar passage. And the context of it is most, I think, arresting, because as we conclude chapter 3, we have what I would call a summary statement. Look at it. Verses 21 through 23. Therefore, let no man glory in men, for all things are yours. Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours. Now notice the connection here in verse 23. And ye, all are yours, and ye, you are Christ, and Christ is God. Let a man so account of us as of the ministers, the representatives, or the ambassadors of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, you could say, as a result of, or in the light of, or hence, it is required, notice the strength of that word, it's not a suggestion, it's not a recommendation, It's not a smorgasbord, it is required that a man be found faithful. And as I take note of that latter part of verse 2, it is individualized. Do you notice that? Moreover, it is required in Stuart's, but then it says that a man, an individual, a woman, young person, that a man be found faithful. Boy, he doesn't want to, you get the message? George, what do you think of that? Yeah, he brought me water, he doesn't want a dry preacher. All right, so you notice, thank you very much, Chip. Look, I want you to take note that it's individualized. So it's not just for pastors or professors. or Sunday school teachers or choir members, it is required of each born-again child of God to be faithful, to be diligent, to be conscientious, to be about the Father's business. Now, with this thought in mind, I would say, if you want an outline, this is a pronouncement. Let's go on over to Acts chapter 1, if you will with me, please. Acts chapter 1. And those of you who were with me some months ago in prayer meeting will recall that we examined the five accounts of the Great Commission. And we have one in each of the four Gospels and in the Book of Acts. So here we are looking at the fifth account of the Great Commission. And where is it? It is on the day of the bodily ascension of Jesus Christ. Now if I read correctly this morning, in the prayer meeting Here in the auditorium, remember the handout that some of us received as we came in? I believe the pastor had the notation that today is Ascension Sunday. Check me out on that, but I believe that I understood that as I read it. So if so, it's appropriate really for us to be looking at this passage. The resurrection, three days after what? The crucifixion? 40 days from the Resurrection to the Ascension, and then 10 additional days, or 50, from the Resurrection to Pentecost. So here we are. Look at this with me, if you will. Notice. But ye shall receive power. Let's begin with verse 6. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? The Jews, the Israelites at this time were interested in what? Deliverance from the tyranny of Rome. And also they were looking for the establishment of a physical earthly kingdom. So they're asking, really, is this the season? Is this the time? What about the data and the dates? And he said unto them in verse 7, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power. That indicates to us, and we know from other scriptures, that no one but the Father knows the coming of the Lord Jesus. All right? So, Notice, but, this is a contrast now, he's saying on the one hand, you can say the negative comment, if you will, hey, it's not important. This is not a priority for you to be interested in the dates and the data. The seasons and all that surround and inherent in it, there's something far more important. The greater priority, if you will, See it there? But ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you. A supernatural endowment through the intervention of God for these who were to become the witnesses at that moment. See it? You shall receive power when, or after, as the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Therefore, we have a pronouncement, don't we? We have a mandate. You and I are to be witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ. And when I think of steward, stewards had masters. A steward had a master. And the master would give certain instruction relative to responsibilities and privileges. He trusted his steward with perhaps all of his property. Maybe it was the crops out in the field, maybe it was his buildings, perhaps everything. But he depended upon him because he considered him reliable, diligent, conscientious. And as I think of that, in the light of Acts 1.8, I get this. That is, I have a master. You know him. I tell you, if you're blood-bought and blood-washed, He's your master too. And he's looking to his stewards to be diligent, to be conscientious, to be faithful. Not derelict. Not lazy. Not depending on someone else. Have you ever heard that in the family of God? Let, you know, let George do it. Let Bill do it. Let Sally do it. Huh? Let Gail do it? It's easy, isn't it, for us to place a given task, responsibility, even a privilege, on the shoulder of someone else. I don't see that here at all. Because as I understand the fact that I'm a steward, my master has given me instruction. And it is to be a witness. Now, why is it that we're sometimes reluctant? Well, I suppose we could describe our feelings as insecure. We may have a sense of inadequacy, failure, a plague of embarrassment. Sometimes this is called an inferiority complex. And as a consequence, we hesitate to share Christ because we fear people, rejection, or failure. And sometimes we have the misunderstanding that every time we witness, you know, when I was a young Christian, I always felt guilty. And really, I blamed myself. I thought, why is this happening over and over again? You'd witness to somebody and they were polite and kind, but they never trusted Christ. And I thought that I was an absolute failure. Not understanding that the Bible hasn't called you and me to be successful. I'm not preaching tonight on a successful steward. What's the title? A faithful steward. That's the directive. That's the pronouncement of Scripture that you and I are to be faithful in sharing and distributing and giving out the Word. And you know and I know that only the Lord can bring forth the fruit. It's not through you, we're the vessel, his representative, his ambassador, but it must be the work of God. So we're reluctant to admit our feeling of inferiority, but we also need to recognize that we are dependent upon God. Now, let's look at a couple examples, shall we? And Bill, you have the alarm set on this? Yeah, yeah, okay, thank you. I want us to look at an example in the Old Testament. And we'll go to the book of Jeremiah, if you will, with me. Jeremiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah. And I'd invite you to look at chapter one, if you would, for me. And this is interesting because, you know, Jeremiah was a young man when God called him. And I want us to look at these initial verses in Jeremiah chapter one. And it says, the words of Jeremiah, the prophet of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah. Now, verse four. Then the word of the Lord came unto me saying, that is to Jeremiah, he was probably about 20 years of age, before I formed thee in the belly. Have you ever thought of that verse? Strauss says that is preparatory sanctification. In other words, hey, God had already called him. He had a plan and a purpose. Look at it, he said, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee. Sanctified, set apart. Exclusively reserved, if you want. I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. So he said, I knew thee, I sanctified thee, I ordained thee. Then said I, Ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. Let me ask you something. Did you ever have an excuse when you felt God wanted you to do something? Yeah, so Jeremiah, hey, he, God has given him a message. He's called him and commissioned him. And he say, oh Lord, I can't do this. I cannot speak. I'm just a young guy. I'm 20 years of age. And you know something? I think of myself. I've told you this before. You know, in my eighth grade class in Quinton, now we went from, we didn't even have a kindergarten in my day. If you failed first grade, you just repeated it, all right? So we went from grade one to grade eight. And we had 12 people in the graduating class. And we all had to give a little speech. Now that wasn't a long program with only 12 people, right? And I can remember, in fact, the teacher of the eighth grade, the principal of the school, had taught my parents. So she had been there for a while. And she required every student to give this speech. And, hey, I was so nervous. She said, now look, you can make some placards and you can hold them up in front of you and show to the audience and maybe that'll help remove some of your nervousness. And then, so I could have said, hey, I'm too nervous. I can't do this. I can't speak. But it wasn't long after that, the Lord had confirmed his call, and I was out speaking to youth groups. So I understand what he's saying here, but you know something? The problem is with us, and we failed to recognize the presence of God. And that's what I see here with Jeremiah. Look at it. The Lord said unto me, verse seven, say not I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee. There's the commission. And whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. I see the presence of God. Be not afraid of their faces. Why? For I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. You know, what God orders, God pays for. Nobody is indebted to Him, right? Then the Lord put forth His hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. So, what is He saying? I'm with you. And not only that, I'm making provision for you to have the message that I've entrusted to you. You are not in this alone. You are under my control and in my hand. So I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day sent thee over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down. Notice, that's negative. One commentator called that destruction. But then, on the other hand, notice construction. Positive, to build and to plant. Now, if we were to take time tonight and review and summarize the life and ministry of Jeremiah, we would recognize that, what, how long did he preach? Extensively. Was he always appreciated? Absolutely not. Persecution. Even imprisonment. Extreme opposition. But in the midst of all of that, God preserved him, his life, if you will. And, as the times got darker, and the opposition stronger, he remained steadfast, unmovable, abounding in the things of God. So take heart tonight. Yeah, we have a pronouncement to bear witness. We have a problem because of our own sense of inferiority and inadequacy, but we have the assurance of his presence and his marvelous provision. His well, friend, never runs dry. All right, if we had time, we could look at Moses, could we not? That would be another Old Testament example. But we're going to go to the New Testament, and then we'll finish. All right, I want to invite you to go with me to Romans chapter 12. The 12th chapter of Romans. And these first two verses, we're quite familiar with, aren't we? Now, the book of Romans follows basically the pattern that we find from other books penned by Paul. In other words, we have the doctrinal section and then we have the deportment or the behavior. You've heard me say this before, we have creed and conduct. We have doctrine, deportment. We have the polemical, the teaching, and then the practical. All right? We see that in Ephesians and Colossians. And there we see it equally. In Ephesians, for instance, the first three chapters would be doctrine. And in the last three chapters, verses chapters 4, 5, and 6, we have the deportment, or the conduct, or the behavior. Now, when we come to Romans, we have that in the first 11 chapters. And there we see the compassion, the mercy of God. Yes, indeed. But we see all that great doctrine. You've read Romans. You've studied it. We've heard messages, countless messages. But now when we come to chapter 12, we have the practical. We have what we would say the conduct. And look how it begins. I beseech you. That's a strong word there. In fact, I believe the Greek would give us the import of, I urge you. And what is it? Therefore brethren, writing to the saints, that ye present, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed, and that's metamorphosis there, by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable or pleasing lifestyle, and the perfect or the complete will of God. So, what are we to do? Notice the importance of the mind here. I need a renewed mind, and that will impact the rest of my being, my conduct, my behavior. And something happens, because as I yield I am transformed more and more into the likeness and image of Jesus Christ. But let's go on, because we want to begin in verse 3 here after that introduction, all right? For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think." So what is the instruction after those two introductory verses? Well, I think Paul notes the problem of pride. And quite honestly, doesn't that sometimes keep us from doing certain things? Yeah, we're too proud, we don't want to make a mistake. We don't want it to appear as if we're failure. And what's he saying here? Look, look at it with me, will you? To every man that is among you, no exceptions, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, that is, with sound judgment. according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. And you know, this reminds me of the fact that on the one hand, we don't want to be proud. You know, we have a lot of scripture dealing with pride, don't we? But you know, I have felt across the years, and more so as I've gotten older, that some of us deprecate The goodness of God in the distribution, the sovereign distribution of spiritual gifts and talents. Natural talents. And you know what we say? I can't do anything. I've had people say, I don't have any spiritual gift. But number one, that indicates spiritual ignorance. Because the Bible says, every believer has at least one spiritual gift. So, don't say it, friend. If you're a believer, don't say it because you're betraying yourself. Right? In other words, who doesn't have some natural talent? So, don't deprecate God's goodness and grace. His luxurious distribution of natural abilities and spiritual gift or gifts. So what is he saying here? Don't think of yourself more highly, but don't deprecate and indicate, hey, I can't do anything. So that becomes an excuse, an escape, if you will. So I have no responsibility in the body of Christ. Now, why is it important for you and me to be a faithful servant or steward? not only in our witnessing, but for the health of the body, the Church, of which you and I are an inseparable part. I have a privileged position and a personal responsibility to exercise my gifts for the health of this body, for your spiritual benefit and encouragement, even as you have that same responsibility to me and to our brothers and sisters in the household of faith. Hey, we're just not gathering here as individuals, are we? No, we're gathering here as a family. Oh, I remember hearing that so many times during the ministry of Pastor Franklin. This is a family. And we've been reminded of it since then and with our own pastor. We're brothers and sisters. We're going to spend heaven together forever. I said in my Sunday school class, hey, there's no place for division. Hey, I know we'll be in our glorified bodies in heaven, but think of it. If we can't get along together here, it's going to be a tremendous change there. Right? Yeah. So we need to love one another, to be agreeable even in our disagreements. Well, let's go on. We got to finish up. All right. So, for as we have many members, in one body, that's what I've been talking about, and all members have not the same office. And we understand that. So we being many, and look around tonight, we're more than one, we're many, our one body, yes, we're still that unity, in the plurality of the many, we have the unity of the one. And who is it? Who is the head of it all? Christ. This isn't your church. And Pastor Turner has mentioned, it's not his church. It's not the deacon's church. It's not mine or yours. This is his church. And I told my Sunday school class this morning, this church building could burn to the ground and we'd still have a preacher. We still have deacons. We still have Sunday school classes and teachers and students. We'd have young people. Why? Because you and I, we're the church. This is the building and we appreciate it and we thank God for it. But this is where we assemble, isn't it? But it's not that, hey, when you came in here this morning, you don't think the spirit of God was just floating around here in the auditorium, do you? I hope you don't. Because it wouldn't even be biblical. No. The Spirit of God is here because you and I are here. We're what? The temple of the living God and the Holy Spirit indwells us. So I didn't come into this building to meet the Holy Spirit. As a believer, you're never separated from the Holy Spirit. If you have Hey, if you have not Him within, you are none of His. Do you agree with that? Nod your head or say something. Yeah, amen? All right. One of the radio preachers would say, do I have a witness? Very good. All right. So here we go. Having then gifts differing, verse 6, according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, prophesy according to the purpose, or ministry, or teaching, or exhortation, or giving, or ruling, or showing mercy with cheerfulness. Look, you do it all for the glory of God and the spiritual benefit of the church. So God has sovereignly distributed the gifts to be exercised by His power and for His glory. So as a child of God, we sing, don't we? I'm a child of the King. Don't belittle yourself. But recognize that you're nothing apart from the grace of God, and that you are an ambassador and representative of Jesus Christ. So here it is, the pronouncement, the problem, the presence, and the prescription, and that is to lean upon him and appropriate all that he has provided for you and me and help us. May God help us to be faithful ambassadors, faithful stewards, faithful representatives in these dark days. We need to shine forth as lights. pointing men to the Lamb who was for sinners slain. Let's pray. Father, we thank Thee tonight for Calvary and for all that was accomplished for us at the cross. And Father, we rejoice in the miracle of the empty tomb. the bodily ascension, and the promise of his return. We're so grateful that you have given us a chart and compass, a handbook, as it were, to live the victorious, overcoming, conquering life, and to be faithful stewards, representatives, and ambassadors. I pray that we shall be diligent as we listen to your directives and seek to win the lost and to minister to one another in your great family. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, God bless you.