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Show FAITHFUL "And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy " ... till I come. Be thou faithful unto give thee a crown lOb) Two come of life. primary words from the same "pistos ". They are " (Luke 19: 13) death, and I will " (Revelation 2: in The Bible root word "pistis". faith and faithfulness. Although they speak in many ways of the same thing, they are very different in essence. Faith is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is to finish what you start. Faith is to trust in God with all you have. 1 Faithful is to end is run on and what the see going to be. depend on God. Faithful is to complete the job. Faith is to rely and have confidence Faith is to lean and the greatest one. Faithful is to be devoted ad whatever you do. This text calls upon us loyal in in to be faithful until death. F or God put us here to "occupy till He returns" and He wants to not just start be strong and fast but to finishthe course. That wise us or ecclesiastical writes wrote: sun, The race is not to the H ••• Under the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, skill: yet favor of but time and chance happeneth to nor 2 to men them all. " (Ecclesiastes 11) 9: In other words, the reward is for the one who is faithful. Jesus said, "A certain nobleman far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return, and he went into a called his ten servants, and delivered them ten talents, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. Here it is, God " has no idleness. The old folks time for the use to say, the idle mind, the idle hand is the devil' s workshop. There is something about nothing to do, something to keep us humans that when we find busy or create us we have and much of the time what we being wickedness. say, when you keep create to do end up My parents use to busy you will not have time to get in trouble. The old proverb put it, the horse 3 that's pulling will have no time for kicking. Work will not save you but when you are saved you will be busy and obedient. The Master is leaving for a trip, for a journey, and He leaves us to carry on in His absence. Everything belongs to Him and we are entrusted as stewards to put it to good use until His return. Occupy till I come. " H Second, He had ten servants and pounds and He gave eah a pound. ten "He called his ten servants and delivered ten talents " ... In other words, everybody got what they could handle and was expected to do something with it. The apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 12 that all of us believers are given gifts and the gifts we have are as unique as the parts of the body and they are given to us 4 by the Spirit of God for the good of all. That is to say you might be able to get along with just one eye or one ear or one hand or one foot but it would be better if you had two. God delivers to us what we good use, and He is counting on us to be productive and accountable. "Occupy till I come. Finally, God gives us all the time we need to do His will. "Occupy till I come." Do not just start or just work hard or just work fast, but pace yourself for the whole journey. I was watching a long distance race not so long ago. I need, what we can put to " watched as one runner the start and turn. Then, staying got out front from in front until the last from behind a runner caught up and passed and won the race because he paced himself. That winning runner 5 ran He did not get anxious. He did not try to be all the over race things to all with patience. people. until he reached the never He stuck with it finishing got too far back and he line. He never got too far ahead. He took His time and paced himself and ran without running out of steam. Isaiah 40: 31 says "They . that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." "Occupy till I come. Jesus was that way. The king tried to like kill Him before His escaped to Egypt. race was done but He The crowd tried to disappeared right The chief priest and elders stone Him but He among them. and the soldiers tried to kill him but He 6 didn't die until he declared, HIt is finished" and when His time came. Although they sealed Him in a brand new tomb, He got us early the First Day of the week with all power in His hands. John wraps it up with HBe thou faithful until death, and I will give thee life. " (Revelation 2: lOb) 7 a crown of |
