Bethesda Church - September 1, 2024 - Be Faithful - Matthew 5:31-37

dark time in our culture and in our nation so Lord we pray that you simply enable us to to be that Shining Light on a hill that others may be again able to to see what it means to follow you Faithfully so Lord we pray for your your blessing on the offering and you pray for your blessing on Bethesda Church Lord we pray too that you be with those who are hurting and struggling Lord we pray that you you be with with Mary and Les in the in the loss of their of her sister Betty Lord we pray that you be with their family as they spend this week in in saying goodbye so Lord we pray that you you walk alongside them give to them the The Hope and the comfort that that they need going forward and Lord we thank you too that when there are times when we do have to say goodbye that so often Lord we we can say goodbye to to those that we know that have walked along side of with you that have placed their faith in you and Lord we we thank you for the hope and comfort that that that gives us Lord we pray too this morning that you that you be with our shuttin Lord we pray that you you be with Dena you be with Sharon to be with Roland to be with George and Kathy that you be with Melinda Lord that you you walk alongside each of them Lord as several of them too have have expressed their their desire to Simply go home to to be with you they look forward to the day when when they will see you face to face and so Lord we pray that you you just be with them in their weight and help them to know that you're already with them and and that you will ultimately bring them through and Lord pray that you also give to them the the patience that they need as they they deal with bodies and Minds that that continue to to fail Lord we pray that you strengthen them and and keep them faithful till the end Lord we ask too that you you be with those who are connected with the schools as the schools get started we pray that you be with the students and the teachers that you watch over them you bless their labors we pray also that you be with the the parents and and The Homeschool kids Lord we pray that you you bless them as the school year gets started we pray that you you be with the the parents that will be able to to guide and direct the kids and the teachers who will do the same Lord we pray that you give to them the wisdom that they need Lord we pray that you be with each of the ch children give to them the gifts and abilities they they need to be able to to learn the materials that they are working on and Lord we pray too that you'll give them a a heart and a desire that that really wants to learn that wants to learn about your world and how it works and how they may may be able to find their place within this world so we pray that you you just bless all of those those interests and Lord we pray that you give to them a a great school year that will finish well next spring so Lord pray that you just pour your your blessing upon them Lord we pray also that you you be with those who are traveling this this holiday weekend Lord we pray that you you give to them the the safety that they need that you uh uh bring them home safely Lord that you give to them uh a blessed weekend that they might be out and about and Lord we pray too that even in their business that they may have time to to be in a church or to find a church or to listen to a church that they that it may not be a weekend that is without you but it is still a time when they when they will look up to you and to to uh take also the time to to praise and worship you as as we seek to do this morning Lord we we pray too that you you be now with our our nation Lord as uh there are many issues that we need to to be worried about even in our own State Lord there's a a a an amendment that is getting put forward to to allow abortion Lord we pray that you help us to to be a people that takes a stand against abortion Lord help us to to be a church Lord uh we pray that too that that as a councel lord as we look to to add a statement our faith statement on life and the importance of life and the gift of life that you'll give to us the wisdom that that wording will come out right and it'll make it a clear stand on where we as your people seek to to follow and that we will take take a stand against it and Lord we pray too that when the election comes near that each of us will see the importance of of us as individual voters and as individual Believers to to go to The Ballot Box and to to vote against that amendment that it may be be thrown off the the aband uh uh ballot and that we may get rid of it all together and Lord we pray too that not just us as a church but that your church in this whole state will do what's right Lord we know there our our churches already in this state that have have wandered and wavered particularly on this topic Lord we pray that you you call them back you call them to faithfulness where they will seek to do what's right and Lord help them too to have a have a a desire and and truly to to cherish children and to cherish life and Lord we pray that we as a as a state will be able to take a stand on that and that will be a good example to to other states that will will be voting on some of these measures also that they too may may do the right thing and Lord we we worry about our nation a nation that would kill its children that would chop up its children all for a a bogus and false ideology Lord we we pray that you will combat this with a with a a true Revival in our land and so Lord we we pray that you'll send your Holy Spirit out that the gospel will go out that it will penetrate hearts that lives will be changed that salvation will come but that also that will impact the culture that we live in that we may have a a culture that looks and seeks to follow you Faithfully that lists that seeks to follow your principles to do what's right and so Lord we we pray for a true change and again Lord we we ask that you help us as a church to to be able to be a part of that that we too might be able to reach out that we might Point others to you that we might challenge the world around us to to uh to not go along with things like abortion and that we may may stand in in the fight and that we might willing to to fight against those forces that want to to bring these things forward now Lord we pray too that you guide us and direct us as as your people Lord help us to live our lives for you Lord it it's easy as we seeing the the message it's easy to to to get caught up in the business of life it's easy for us to to get distracted it's easy for us to to at times set you on the sidelines but Lord I I pray this morning that each of us here may help us to help us to to put you at the the center of our Lives again that our lives may be built around you that our lives may be built around serving you and seeking to be faithful and so Lord we pray for your guidance and your direction on these things and now Lord help us iFly to live out Faithfully before you that we might seek after you in all things and again that we might be a faithful witness we ask this in Jesus name amen [Music] amen Jesus [Music] ring the S th his successive [Music] Jour his kingdom rad f from Shore to Shore till Moon and [Music] no to him shall pray be made andless pra us Crown his head his name like sweet perfume shall rise with everying sa people and Realms of every T dwell on his love and sweetest song and in shall Proclaim there early on his name let him BR rise and bring honor and glory to our King Angels the and with songs [Music] againat the loud [Music] on Dena did you have something to say about the conference yes there was a slide and there's flyers in the mailboxes okay so so are we covered okay thank you so yeah so there's a conference coming up it's a basically a pro-life conference uh Leslie unre is actually here at the the funeral a while back and she's part of this battle against this abortion Amendment and and it's been a real struggle I think it's been trying trying for for her uh so uh it needs to be we need to be in prayer for for them as they do this work this front lines work they uh they take a lot of abuse uh from a world that that hates them and so uh encourage you if you're able to to check out the conference and to if you can make it down there to uh to take part of that so our message this morning is be faith faithful our text is Matthew 531 through 37 Matthew 5 starting at verse 31 it was also said whoever divorces his wife let him give her a certificate or divorce but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife except on the ground of sexual immorality makes her commit adultery and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery again you have heard it say said it was said of those of old you shall not swear falsely but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn but I say to you do not take an oath at all either by heaven for it is the Throne of God or by the Earth for it is his foot stol or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king and do not take an oath by your head for you cannot make one hair white or black and let what you say Simply Be yes or no anything more than this come from Evil so far the reading of God's holy word whether in the world or in the church we find the busyness of life that there is a a shortage of commitment especially ongoing commitment sometimes we people make quick weekend here or day there but ongoing has sort of Fallen by the way wayside at the prison I I heard many of the men declare how they were committed to their their families they would say their their families came first in their in their lives but too often what I saw in their lives was their commitment to their families was but slip service their true commitment was only to themselves and what they could get and we see this with many politicians who are far more focused on upon their own interest than on ours it is amazing how they grow wealthy while at the same time avoiding the big issues it seems like their commitment to the people often times Rings Hollow and then often times the the farm business Sports and other activities come first Today We Live in an age when sacrifice for the good of others is is minimized so it's not that big of a deal again if you help just here or there that's sufficient in place of a commitment to family community or church our culture tells us that we are to be committed to self commitments to others have fallen by the wayside still all of us have probably made commitments to others that when the circumstances changed that we just couldn't keep them maybe we had scheduled something it was planned ahead of time and then something else comes on the scene that we just have to do and our schedule Falls by the wayside and so do our commitments and so even though we wanted to and it wasn't our intent we we had no way of changing that and some have made commitments sadly that even the faith commitments can fall away even even those can fall by the wayside some have made commitments to Christ in their lives but have since neglected that commitment even even avoiding church since they've since they don't want to come any longer they they just want to stay away from it all together sometimes the only time you see them in churches any longer would be things like funerals or or maybe weddings and we see faithfulness to our commitments is no longer a virtue today the idea of a man's handshake or his word being bond has fallen by the wayside just nobody pays attention to it anymore now the the statement sort of is as well if their lips are moving we know they're lying because we we just don't trust people any longer and now our our text focuses on commitments in our relationships and in our speech or promises and as we go we must must also see the principle of commitment goes far beyond these two areas so as we saw last time with the idea of sins being sort of umbrellas that care covered broader areas here too we have to see the the principles cover broader areas that also apply in our lives and that's how we need to to understand them this morning so first one thing that might might point to a lack of commitment in our culture is the need for for no fault divorces making it easier to walk away than it is to to remain faithful yet I we we need to say that we will deal with divorce more in depth when we get to chapter 19 that's not going to be my my focus so heavily here and that's where Jesus really said more about it our Focus today is really faithfulness to commitments and for many people today marriage is one of the biggest commitments that they'll ever make it is sort of a a stepping stone for for many people and now in in Jesus's Day Men could divorce their wives over pretty much anything that did not suit them they even talked about where if she if if she cooked a meal that the guy didn't like he could use that as the basis to sort of send them on their way and that c culture the the woman had little to say about whether the divorce would happen we still still see that practice in some of the Muslim areas where they they can divorce at will and it's really not a a big deal and so if they don't like the wife for some reason they could sort of trade her in and get a better model or something something on that order but so in the past divorce was the husband's prerogative I found this to be kind of shocking but today in your nearly 80% of them are started by women the number was somewhere between 70 and 80% kind of kind of stunned me and when I I read it a little bit more and it said often times the the guy was completely unaware that it was coming that didn't surprise me that guys were unaware but but the reality was most of those men wanted to stay in those marriages and the the women simply did not and so that's probably just a reverse of what it was in in Jesus's day what we have now today but whether men or women we find a lack of faithfulness to each other and it's something who has plagued marriage and plagued culture for for the years over the years for the centuries it's just a practical thing that that we see now when when Israel was in the wilderness Moses had established that men must give their wives a certificate of divorce that's what it's talked about in the text it relinquished the man's rights over his wife and even that sort of explains that culture that the man had the rights over the wife and the wife didn't really have any any rights at all but the certificate of divorce was given to protect the wife from being locked out of society or to be accused of sin so it was given so that it might be protective of the one who was being sent on her way the purpose was to enable women who were cast out for no good cause to try to move on to try to start their lives over to to not be outcasts and it was not to enable men to break their vows it wasn't the idea that Moses set this up so that men could get away with it or divorce at will the Jewish men had turned Moses's command inside out to free themselves from their commitments instead of fixing the the problem the problems after divorce they take it as giving them the right to divorce they saw it as a right then to break their vows and to to break their responsibilities and so Moses had given this command to try fix things and the hearts of wicked men made it so that it would be worse yet they they took it so it was easier just to kick the wife out and to to start over so in that day the the men were hiding their sin under society's legalities they Ed this to to break their Covenant commitments to their wives so we we we see that Moses had this intent and yet the the men saw oh it's an easy way out it's an easy way to undo the the commitments that they had it was a way for them to to get rid of faithfulness and even in our day we we see that legal is not necessarily moral laws are not always about right or wrong they're trying to legalize marijuana but even if they legalize it it doesn't doesn't make a right they they have legalized gambling in our state but that doesn't make the gambling right there's lots of things that are on the books that are legal simply because they didn't know what else to do with it because people did them and they couldn't stop them and so then it's the government's idea if it's if it's if we can't stop it or people are going to do it anyway then we're going to tax it and so then that's what we often times see in our culture is that well we'll pass the law to make it acceptable and then we'll tax and make money off of it and then we'll say it's for the schools and then we'll make it try to look good and and none of that's true none of that makes those things good and that's really the idea of what was happening with with Moses's law they wanted to make this look good even though it was was not good because often times laws are written in order to deal with the messes that sin causes in our world it's it's acknowledgment that there there's a bad thing out there and so now we have to put this rule to deal with the bad thing but that doesn't make the bad thing good and so we have to be careful with that in in cultures because some people want to celebrate the bad things in and of themselves say oh see here's a law that permits it I had a lot of those discussions at the prison oh it's not illegal that doesn't make stuff good there's there's a different standard and we need to to see that so yet these laws do do not make those sins okay and though divorce happens it is not God's will for us God wants us to hold on to the commitments if possible he wants us to to stand strong he wants us to to do what's right but we have to see that in many ways divorce is an acknowledgement that we live in a broken broken world and that's how we we have to understand this because often times divorce comes when one spouse puts their interest before their spouse and their family again too often in in divorce we we see the commitment to self over others is I want what I want and those are those are hard places to be those are hard marriages to to live in it's hard when you you always seem to be at odds and when when you have different purposes of the marriage of how that's going to fit together and here Jesus shows that there's also unintended consequences to to getting a divorce today we see how spouses and children can can face years of hurt and struggle when faithfulness to commitment is set aside and we've all seen that we've we've either experienced divorce have family members that have a divorce or or friends that have divorce and we we see the pain the struggle the the hurt that's that's included in that and that's a part of what Jesus is is is warning us here that that fa unfaithfulness might look like an easy way out but the reality is it's really the harder path and that's the difficulty so many people face and while Jesus spoke of of it causing adultery there are a multitude of of hurtful things that divorce causes and again I think that he brings in adultery not simply because he's want to make some point on adultery but he wants us to see what is going to H what's going to happen that just because you think you are off the hook and that you have taken the easy route you have to see what happens to other people around you that the things we do the decisions we make impact other people and it's not about us and I think that's really what Jesus is challenging here while he has the point of of adultery I think it's bigger than that again I think it's a principle that he's putting in place here that he wants us to be aware that when we break our commitments and when we are Unfaithful it doesn't only impact us it impacts the world around us and often times it impacts those who are are closest to us and I think in part why fewer people make a marriage commitment today is because of what divorce does might not think of it but again being associated with so much prison stuff is is divorce and single parent families is a is a leading sort of determiner of who's going to prison you know why often times too you maybe not so much in this area there's a lot of people sit in in nursing homes and nobody ever visits and it's all tied back to divorces or decisions they made 40 years ago are now kids want nothing to do with them and so we have to understand that our decisions while it might seem like it's the easy way doesn't necessarily make it the easy way and it certainly doesn't always make it the right way we have to understand that without faithfulness trouble normally follows we have to simply be aware of that and now it's shocking even to many Christians that Jesus has only one exception adultery violates the the Covenant commitment to each other and I and I understand with divorce that there's a lot of things that that go into most divorces and a lot of people want a lot of other exclusions and I think primarily Jesus is saying this has to be hard you want an easy way out he said I'm I'm saying there's no no easy way out I want to limit it I don't want to make it easier and yet even that one exception should not demand a divorce sometimes things must and still can be worked through Jesus wants to bring healing when possible he wants those commitments upheld he wants faithfulness to be restored Jesus wants both spouses to work hard at being faithful to their commitments to each other again that that's that's hard because the world so often says if you just got rid of it you could easily just make a new life over here just dump this part of your life and start over and everything will be great and wonderful and the reality is it's not great and wonderful and often times what you end up with is you have destruction back here and you end up with destruction here that you were unhappy back there and and you're unhappy here so Jesus is is really saying in our commitments fight these things out don't look for the the easy way if at all possible stand strong in Malachi 2 the Lord chastised the Jews for breaking Covenant with their first wives and there they even faced God's punishment for that he said you made a commitment you made a commitment before me you made a commitment before the community and now you're just sort of throwing that away and he said it's wrong and I'm going to punish you for that so we have to see that Jesus is saying be faithful and again this is a principle that goes far beyond marriage so we're to strive for God's ideal even within our broken and troubled lives strive to bring biblical principles even to to broken relationships we understand that that's a the reality is we can't always fix things there there are two people and and sometime you may want to be able to do everything to fix it and the other person wants to do do nothing to fix it so this is hard for Christians because often times there's no good answer to the problems and sometimes we must make a commitment to try I help healing after a divorce because sometimes in our broken world we we simply can't fix things no matter how much we want to try but the challenge then for us as churches and family members is where we can try to bring healing and we can try to help things not to beat up on people not to put them down but to try to lift them up and bring healing into the difficult things that that they have faced now part of why this is so serious is because broken marriage relationships point us to Mankind's unfaithfulness to God breaking Covenant with him as as Adam did and so that's really sort of what what this points to that's what marriage points to elsewhere in scripture is is what does our relationship with God look like are we being faithful to Him scripture calls the the church the bride of Christ and not a wonderful picture that we are so United with Christ that we're called his bride and the Covenant relationship that God establishes with his people is portrayed as as a marriage and yet you think about a a long-term marriage and it's one of the the joys of visiting some of the older people and that you can see that that 50 60 70 years of marriage and and all the ups and downs they faced and and all of the tensions and yet they're still together they still seek to be faithful and that should just give us a little hint of of faithfulness to God and what that should look like in Isaiah 50 it pictures God giving Israel Israel a certificate of divorce because of their unfaithfulness they they broke their Covenant vows to God you think about that in our in our day part of our our discussion at Sunday school this morning and and the churches that have wandered and have gone astray that's that's really what they've done they they are in the midst of breaking their Covenant vows to their God they have said we're Christians we carry this name and yet now they're they're closing their Bibles they're opening the doors to sin and they're say we're g we're going to follow the world that's the same idolatry that Israel did Israel said yeah we we'll give lip service to God but we're really going to follow the world and so that was their commitment and that was their unfaithfulness unfaithfulness to the Lord is pictured as spiritual adultery the breaking of our relationship with the one who has given us so much again that's also gives us a picture of how we should see our God right about how much God should should matter to us should point us the the the type of relationship that we should should have with our God again you these long marriages that you see people stay together and and through ups and downs they they stay together that becomes a little testimony of what our relationship with God should look like and sometimes the the greater thing that I've had to to visit with people as they talk about how from early on in their life they have walked with God their life has been marked by by faithfulness certainly they've they've had ups and downs and yet they can't think of a moment when they when they desired to walk away from God see that's really what Jesus is pointing us to here so now more than being faithful to our commitments to others is are being faithful faithful to our commitments to God is that us have we made a commitment to God and and are we standing strong and again life is filled with so many ups and downs there's so many tensions so many things that can go wrong so many excuses to walk away from God and yet we're called to faithfulness to him I think that's what Jesus is really pointing us to divorce and breaking marriages is serious business but Jesus wants us to see I think the the bigger picture when we're faithful to our commitment to God we're more likely to be faithful to others isn't that how things work out the more we seek to do what's right before our Lord the more we can be committed and faithful to those around us because we're not trusting ourselves to bring us through where we're trusting God see because it's not just our side of the commitments it's God's commitment to us as we have made promises to God God has made promises to us as his people and we need to see those promises and hold quite tight to them that becomes Our Hope and that's how we can also then be committed to others then second when it comes to to lying we can see that they all do it I've mentioned this poll once before but one poll said that 65% of people admitted to lying when it was necessary they didn't qualify what the term necessary meant so necessary could mean pretty much anything and so if 65% of people admitted to it how many of the 35% were lying about it that'd be my my question well that again that's my experience at prison you know because the advantage of of of having worked at prison is is you see what the human heart the sinful human heart is really like and so shockingly we read in Psalm 11611 this David I said in my alarm all mankind are liars Jeremiah 17:9 the heart is deceitful of above all things that's the battle that we fate in this world and so now Oaths were given to compensate for the lack of truthfulness by sinful mankind the idea is to to bind someone's conscience to say that if I'm lying you may strike me down for such and such a reason but they gave that because again people are are liars if mankind was faithful to his word then there would be no need for take people taking Oaths you would just accept it and say sure and now you you hear politicians and when they say they're old you say we don't believe them anyway and it gets to be in the broader world too even if people swore on something would you believe them especially if they insisted on it the more they insisted the less likely I would be to believe them because if you need an oath to back up what you're saying you're in trouble already so that becomes the the picture that we we have to get here but as we are faithful in in all our relationships we're to be faithful in in our speech we're not to be dishonest or to lie and so that that's one where most Christians would say yeah I can get a by with that we're also not to be deceitful that's where it gets to be these gray areas where if I give them half of the truth that'll keep me out of trouble so I'm not really lying I'm just not telling them everything how quickly is that to shift to to do that oh that Temptation right it'll keep me out of trouble he doesn't need to know anyway so I'm good with that Jesus is say no we're to be clear in what we say to others I just got rid of 95% of political talk I just got rid of half of the need for lawyers we are to be clear in what we say so that people can know what we say and can test it whether it's right or wrong and we are to stand by what we say to others again it's political season but how many of us haven't had heard of politician on one day say one thing to one audience and then a week later in front of a of another audience he says something completely different that marks our politics today doesn't it but a as Believers we are called to stand by by what we say and again that that's that's difficult and yet that's what Christ is calling us to it's one of the things I I dislike about politics is they have a lot of words they say a lot of words without saying anything meaningful so that they won't have to keep their words word so that whatever they've said it leaves them a way out sort of the idea is clear as mud right again political season that's that's all we see you want to talk to a politician and the answer they give you you go away scratch your head go I don't know what they meant but as Christians that's that's never to be us we're to have Clarity in what we say so that people understand what we say and now I'm challenging the the Jewish leaders for their untruthfulness here Jesus challenged their empty Oaths they they were made to to be broken see the the Jews would use those but then had a A system that they used to wiggle out of them well we'll look at that again further in in Matthew also that Jesus again speaks against against what they're doing because basically the Roes were useless there was no real place for them their vows were nothing but shows for others in other words they made a lot of noise but as soon as they turned away from you you could anticipate that they were going to break that oath so Jesus was demanding that they be faithful through the vows or commitments that they made before God and that's that's us too because the truth is every commitment we make is made before God right we can't say well you know I made a commitment over here I wasn't in the church building and I didn't see any Christians watching me so I can get away with it right no because we believe God is there and we can't go over here and do the same thing because we believe God is there so where we're ever making a commitment where we're ever seeking to be faithful God is always there so whether there's an oath or not we we have to be aware of that and then Jesus warns us that there's many things beyond control that that might stop us coloring one's hair is no longer a reality though right purple hair green hair orange hair slightly less gray hair so that's that's probably not an example for us but the reality is if we cannot determine the the true color of our hair what do we really control Jesus is saying that is such a small thing hey you got no say so in it I've known people who have turned gray at Young ages some have balded at Young ages they no no real say so it just happened and so we have to understand how little we control and this undermines our ability to keep our word because circumstances change things happen and we have to be aware of that used to be a common saying in this land where you you said something and you would add to it God willing you don't hear that anymore it speaks of a of a sovereign God the world doesn't want to hear that but that's what Christians would often times do I I'll give you my word as far as I can because we know that God is able to overrule any of those things so now the challenge for believers is whether we will be faithful to our commitments even to our own harm that that becomes the the the push here to be faithful to our commitments when things go wrong is an act of faith in God to help us saying it's beyond my control but I trust that God will enable me that he will bring me through even if I can't understand the end of things that we seek to be faithful even when it doesn't make any sense to be faithful even when the world tells you to stop being faithful and when maybe your family tells you to stop being faithful and sa but I but I gave him my word and that that's hard to do but if we are faithful to our words no matter the costs people will accept our yes or no with no need for Oaths and this is really the the kingdom standard this is what Jesus was is pointing us to this is what we should strive for this is what that the next life will be like our yes will be yes and and our no will be no but but now there there some confusion our disagreements so now how far do we take what Jesus said some hold that Jesus has banned all Oaths the some of the menite tradition I believe I think other churches have have have said that too said well we're not to have olds at all for under any circumstances and so they that's been a part of their tradition that they they've held to and I wish they would hold to some of the other Traditions better too sometimes when we lift one thing up we fail to to focus and live up to other things and so we have to be be cautious all of all of us do yeah one of the the issues with that is that God has even taken olds because of Mankind's lack of trust in him God God has has sworn on himself not because that of God has done evil or that was evil was impacting God but that because of man's evil man's unloving and uncaring and untrusting heart that God took an old The Source was evil but it was not God's evil it was was man's evil so there are other Traditions within the church others hold that in our fallen World there may be times when civils are still allowed so again this is just disagreements between two sides and civil OES would be squaring an oath in court or maybe taking a government position but this side would would hold them primarily besides that that otherwise Christians should should avoid olds altogether and so that's the disagreement that's within the church but I think with our text I think we have to see that Oaths are no Oaths God requires of each of us to be faithful in our speech or to keep our commitments say so that's the the real point I think to to fight over olds is missing what Jesus is saying the challenge here is will we be faithful in what God what we've spoken before God and others will we keep our commitments that I think is what Jesus is pressing us on and then the the push comes in that even if everyone lies and breaks their commitments Jesus is saying we are to be faithful and again sometimes that faithfulness looks like craziness in our world today but that's what I think his his concern is the oath is the the secondary issue because it's driven because of sinful man's heart but what he wants from us is when we speak when we give her word when we make our commitments that we seek to be faithful in all things and we understand how hard that is and yet this becomes again do we trust God because if we trust God then we can be faithful in what we say and do because even if our faithfulness means something's going to fall apart in our life we can trust that in the end God will bring us through he will lift us up and eventually he'll take us home so we can deal with the issues because we know that God is walking with us and finally both of these sections call on us to be faithful do the right thing even when it's the hard thing it's hard Jesus knows that's hard God God knows knows this this is hard but if we're going to strive to follow him we're going to strive to be Jesus's disciples this too is what we are called to and in both of these examples our faithfulness with others can display our faithfulness to God see there's a mess here and a if I just break my word I can leave the mess behind and everything will be wonderful you know what the world says God says there's a mess there be faithful and I will walk with you through your mess I will stay with you in the mess and in the end I'll lift you out of the mess that's what he's calls us to do even when it's hard sadly there are times in our sinful World in which it seems there are no good options for us maybe maybe you're at that today option A stinks option b is worse but God is saying what whatever those options are we must do what's right before him we we must strive to overcome and so divorce and Oaths remain because people are not faithful in our speech and relationships and life remains messy and if we haven't experienced the mess ourselves there are people right close to us who have and so we have to be aware that this is all there we live this out and people around us live this out and the challenge for Is is how how do we overcome because yet citizens of God's kingdom are called to be faithful already today and we might say well I just just can't do this we might say it's just too hard but when we feel overwhelmed remember Christ's faithfulness before the cross he knew what he faced he knew it was the hard way the devil several times threw before him the easy way out and yet he simply trusted the Father and Jesus says we can do that too sometimes we we go through the storms we go through the hurt and in then sometimes all we have left is I trust the father because sometimes we have nothing else left but that's where Jesus stood when he get to the cross and we saw that God the Father brought him through and we can trust that God the Father bring us through and so whether in our relationships or in our speech we must strive to be faithful to God and others remember that our faith and our faithfulness are are mostly evident when adversity comes our way it's easy to say I've been faithful in all my things when nothing's ever challenged you or to say oh my my faith is strong but we've never faced broken relationships we never faced hardships and hurts we never faced slander it's in that adversity where where we show our faith and faithfulness to God but again that's the hard way it's the difficult way it's the struggle that we that we face get here to be faithful in all things it is easy and difficult situations to think that the unfaithfulness of our world is the better path yet God calls on us that call remains be faithful be faithful in all things Even in our sinful world even when things have gone wrong because it shows our faith in him to others see when when we live out our faith it's a testimony to the world around us again that's that's not easy and yet when we do that others can look at our faith and say that man that man or lady they must really believe that those children must must really believe they're willing to go through this they're willing to face this because of their faith in in their God and our faithfulness with others begins with our faithfulness to God seeking to to follow him so our faithfulness in hard times and busy times and Good Times shows our commitment to God see are we willing to give up one thing or another to be faithful to God because in all likelihood if we're willing to do that in our relationship with God we'll also be willing to do that in our relationship with others because that's a life where it's not all about us that's a life where we place our God and in others first so we must ask ourselves have we been faithful in our relationship with God and our commitment to him when we strive to to see what faithfulness looks like look at God's faithful through to us in Jesus Christ and him crucified for God so loved the world that's God's faithfulness to us and God has not called us to that same level we're tested and we're tried but that's the challenge will we be faithful and then let each of us strive to hear these words from Jesus well done good and faithful servant again some of the the older people that I work with they they look forward to that day when Jesus welcomes them in that should be our goal that whatever this world throws at us whatever the devil throws at us what whatever catastrophes happen that in the end we can come before our Lord and He welcomes Us in arms open and says well done good and faithful servant so let us be faithful to our commitment to him no matter what good or bad comes our way is that us what's the commitment that we have made to our Lord whatever that commitment we have made let us seek to live that out no matter what else seems to be wrong no matter what obstacles there are let us simply trust and entrust ourselves to him amen shall we pray Our Father in Heaven Lord we ask for your help Lord we we see your righteous standard here and Lord we we know how far short we have fallen so Lord we pray that you you give to us your Holy Spirit you enable us to have the strength that we need that you help us through the hard times you let us know that you are always present with us and Lord when when life seems out of control when it seems like we're stretched beyond our limits at that time Lord help us to be faithful because we know that you are faithful to us we ask this in Jesus name amen please stand [Music] living for Jesus a life that is true striving to pleas him in all that I do yielding Alan hearted and free this is the pathway of blessing for me oh Jesus Lord and Savior I myself to thee for thou in th Aton give thyself for me I no other Master my heart shall thy life I live to live Christ for the alone living for Jesus who died in my bearing on Calvary my S and dis such love constrains me to answer his call follow his leading and give him my all oh Jesus Lord and Sai I give for thee for thou in th atonement give thy for me I master my heart shall be thone life I to live oh Christ for thee alone living for Jesus whatever I am doing each Duty in His holy [Music] name Jesus Lord and Savior I give myself to the for thou in [Music] Aton th for me I master heart shall be thy my life to live oh Christ for the [Music] AL please receive God's PR in blessing now may the God of Peace who brought again from the dead our lord Jesus the great Shepherd of sheep by the blood of the Eternal Covenant equip you with everything good that you may do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen [Music] [Music]