A FAITHFUL STEWARD

Sometimes we choose not to praise God when we are unable to see what He is doing. But we who have eyes and have seen what God is doing give Him praise because we see in the Spirit. The apostles spoke of the time that we are in now, the beginning of the end. God is calling forth His true apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, when for years and years these gifts were imitated. The Father has now said, “True apostles and pastors come forth.”

The Father allowed man to tarry for a long time. He allowed them to say He was in handkerchiefs and cloths, the dirt, speaking in tongues and in the dress code. However, when the devil thought he had the church up against the ropes, God said, “Now true apostles, pastors and teachers come forth.” If we cannot see this, then it is the god of this world who has blinded us.

A NEW CREATURE

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Why would God call us new creatures? Because the entrance of His Spirit makes us new. I know we are still in these fleshy bodies, but nevertheless, we are new creatures. We are not the same. We are now in Christ and He is in us. We must believe this, for it is the foundation of our entire Christian walk. When we are re-born of the Holy Ghost, everything about us changes. We take on the character, nature and love of our Father. To be in Christ means, To be a new creature . Old things are passed away, all things are new.

STEWARDS OF THE MYSTERIES OF GOD

1 Corinthians 4:1

Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Let men look and make the judgment that we are the ministers of Christ and the keepers of the mysteries of God. There are certain things we did not know until we came in contact with a steward of the mysteries of God. When we came into the church there were certain negative mindsets we did not know how to break until we came in contact with a steward of the mysteries of God. Do not look at a steward after the flesh. Do not see anyone fall and say he is not a steward. There were years we walked in sin but even then, we were stewards. God spoke before the foundation of the world and called us stewards. If God can use a man who persecuted and killed Christians, He can certainly use a man who was addicted to drugs. A steward is a new creature.

1 Corinthians 4:2

Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

Moreover, in other words, more importantly than what you call me, I have a requirement and that is to be found faithful. Ministry is the gift invested by God as He so chooses, but a steward’s requirement is to be faithful. We are required to be a manifestation of the Word, which is more important than what people call us.

1 Corinthians 4:3

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.

1 Corinthians 4:1

1 So then, let us [apostles] be looked upon as ministering servants of Christ and stewards (trustees) of the mysteries (the secret purposes) of God. 2 Moreover, it is [essentially] required of stewards that a man should be found faithful [proving himself worthy of trust].-2 Amplified Bible

Faithful – 1. Firmly and devotedly supportive: LOYAL. 2. Worthy of trust or belief: RELIABLE (Webster’s Dictionary)

Others’ judgment of Paul herein is of little significance to him. Not that the judgments do not exist but Paul did not regard them. Our lives are the only things that are important to God. Anything we do for God is by the gift He has given to us. Any type of ministering, preaching, teaching, counseling, healing, prophecy, etc., is strictly produced by the gift (The Spirit). Our requirement is to be found faithful.

Our ability to minister the Word of God does not guarantee our entrance into the Kingdom of God. Only those who endure to the end in righteousness and holiness and have a testimony that they overcame the world will make it in. Many can preach, teach and counsel overcoming but if they themselves have not overcome they will not make it in. No one is hidden from God, although they may be hidden from the natural eye. Too, we each know when God is not using us. We have to be found faithful. Our very souls are at stake. We must examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith.

1 Corinthians 4:3-4

3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.

4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.

Paul is telling us that he did not judge his own self. We certainly did not know what to judge until Jesus came into our lives and shined His light on us. We did not know we were full of lust, pride and wantonness until salvation came. Paul did not judge himself by himself because he was not justified by himself. Paul did not hang on a cross for his own sin. He did not redeem himself nor did he give himself the right to call God Father, but Jesus gave him that right and that same Jesus is the One who is judging Paul.Preaching, Teaching, Counseling, Healing and Prophecy are all produced by the gift given by God. Jesus’ testimony was that He had overcome the world. We too must have this same testimony.

Overcome – 1. To defeat in competition or conflict: CONQUER. 2. To prevail over by mental or moral effort: SURMOUNT. 3. To surmount opposition: WIN OUT (Webster’s Dictionary).

John 16:33

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.] St. Amplified Bible

DARKNESS IN THE HEART

1 Corinthians 4:5

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, because He is going to bring light to all those things that have been hidden in the darkness. When we look at where we have come and begin to love the Father, this alone makes us want to live holy. What darkness is Paul speaking of here? The darkness (iniquity, evil) that remains in our heart, for the light has come to expose that darkness. We can preach and teach but God is not going to give us any power until we deal with the darkness in our heart. We can pray and lay hands but if we have darkness in our hearts that God has already shined the light on, and still choose not to renounce those hidden things, people’s lives are going to be on the line because we are not faithful. If we are stewards of the Word of God and one of our requirements is to be found faithful, what good are we if all we can do is minister the Word? Some will need a healing when we are on the scene but how can we give this when we have darkness in us?

THE COUNSEL OF THE HEART, DARKNESS IS NOT GOING TO CAST OUT DARKNESS.

God cannot give us any power when He does not trust us. Why is He unable to trust us? Because He showed us some things about ourselves and we chose to hold on to them instead of renouncing them. This is what will be manifested every time. So do not make any hasty or premature judgments before the time when the Lord comes [again], for He will both bring to light the secret things that are [now hidden] in darkness and disclose and expose the [secret] aims (motives and purposes) of the heart. Then every man will receive his [due] commendation from God.

Matthew 6:23-24, Amplified Bible

23 But if your eye is unsound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the very light in you [your conscience] is darkened, how dense is that darkness!

24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise and be against the other. Youcannot serve God and mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions, or whatever we trusted in)Amplified Bible.

2 Corinthians 4:2

But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

Those things that the minister did not preach over the pulpit but God has shined the light on them and told us to deal with them, must be renounced and dealt with. A spirit of complacency still exists in the church today. People feel it is all right to battle with sin for years and years and believe God is still working with them. This is not God, but rather the “god” of our imagination. The “god” of our imagination justifies everything we do. Many Christians have become complacent regarding righteousness and holiness. We feel God is a partial and passive God regarding sin. However, He is not. He will let us preach and teach, but when it comes to power He will begin to manifest that thing He has been counseling our heart about for years.

God will allow our loved one to die right before us and tell us the reason they died is because we did not live holy and were not faithful. If we would only give God a sacrifice to work with or something to offer up for them, we could then stand in the gap for them. But, the one who stands in the gap has to be holy. The gap is reserved for a faithful steward.

People died until Christ began to walk by them. Women had issues of blood until the One who was faithful began to walk by. We serve one God and He is going to make manifest the counsel of our heart. He will not say something to me about someone that He has not already revealed to that person. I may be a man of God, but I am not going to prophecy something to someone that will be way off and that individual is unable to see where they fit inside the prophecy. God will say things to a man or woman of God concerning an individual but rest assured that He has already revealed that very same thing to that individual personally. Then, whenever we come to that person and say this is what God showed me about you, that person will know God has visited him. When God does this and we say we do not see, we are as Sapphira and Ananais, lying to the Holy Ghost. This is one of those things we must renounce.

We must renounce the hidden things of dishonesty.

Renounce – 1. To give up, esp. by making a formal announcement. 2. To reject: disown (Webster’s Dictionary).

We have renounced disgraceful ways (secret thoughts, feelings, desires and underhandedness, the methods and arts that men hide through shame); we refuse to deal craftily (to practice trickery and cunning) or to adulterate or handle dishonestly the Word of God, but we state the truth openly (clearly and candidly). And so we commend ourselves in the sight and presence of God to every man’s conscience.(Amplified Bible).

WALKING IN THE NEWNESS OF LIFE

I am walking in the newness of life. I don't even know how to explain it. Even when I ask people about walking in the Spirit I get so many different answers because they really cannot explain how they feel. All you know is that it makes you new and you are different. I no longer have the same desires and want to please God in all things. I am in the Spirit and I have the emotions of the Spirit. This Spirit remembers being put in this body of flesh, when He was made subject to vanity, to my corruptible flesh. The creature is waiting to take off this corruptible flesh and be what He is, incorruptible and everlasting.

This is not a new way of thinking or a new custom but an actual life that I am now living called Jesus. Jesus said, except a man deny himself he cannot be Christ’s disciple. Look at everything that came after Jesus: look at Peter, he was a coward. Look at Paul, he was a murderer. All the other disciples were cowards too, but before their ministries were over they looked just like Jesus.

FAMILY RESEMBLANCE

In every family, there is always a bit of resemblance. The Father, however, did not desire that we see Him, so how do we know if we look like Him or not? The Father wanted us to see what He is. He is love, peace, righteousness and holiness. We know we look like Him when we become love, peace, righteousness and holiness. WHEN WE WALK IN LOVE, THE WORLD WILL SEE THE FATHER. The disciples all denied themselves. Everyone who came after Christ, who were truly in Christ, totally denied themselves. They all suffered but they had a testimony that they suffered gladly. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple (St.Luke 14:33). They had a reward that was waiting on them and they each began to miss “home.” Why? Because the Life of the man Jesus was in them, and because Jesus missed home they missed home too.

OUR FAMILY RESEMBLANCE IS we suffered, but we loved. We are persecuted on every side, yet we persevere; We are cast down, but not destroyed. We are in the Father and we love. This is our family resemblance. This is what will cause someone to say, “That is a Son.” They will know us by our love too. Men will hate us just as they hated Jesus. Today, people talk about us on the radio, they talk about us over the phone. We have always been hated and hunted because the world is always trying to stomp out that Life of Jesus Christ but have never been successful.

They killed Him, but He rose again on the third day and not only rose up in one, but in multitudes. Peter, Paul and all the other apostles became new creatures. Man cannot get the credit, it is God who is doing the work. Our family resemblance is the fruit we bear. Humility is a family resemblance. We do not care about being humiliated because Jesus was humiliated. That is why one can be in one location and we can be in another, yet all are speaking the same thing. It is that new creature in us living, speaking through our vessels. We are all one in the Spirit.

WE MUST WALK IN RIGHTEOUSNESS

Do not worry about becoming vulnerable to God’s people. What people think about us is a small thing, for we have to please our Father! We have to fulfill all righteousness. Do you see God work in others’ lives but not working in yours? Remember, if God is for you then who can be against you?

1 Corinthians 4:7-10

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

To love God is to obey Him. Our mindset must be to conform to the revealed will of God in all we think and do. No one is able to hold us back, when we are righteous. Our gift makes room for itself. Just be holy and have a pure heart before God. Abel gave God a righteous offering but God did not receive Cain’s offering. Why was Cain so upset? Cain, possessed with anger and jealousy, killed Abel, his brother. If you are not doing well, are you as Cain, does sin lie at your door? Is this why you are angry, upset and why you war with your brother? Is this why it is hard to come to church or to hear counsel? Is sin lying at our door?

Genesis 4:6-7

6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Let us say you did not see your wrong in a situation, but for the sake of righteousness the son still humbles himself and asks for forgiveness. This is a characteristic of the Son. Whenever right and wrong become important to us, we are walking in flesh. There is only one thing that God is judging and that is righteousness. God said he was going to exalt leadership in this ministry. We cannot come up against God because we see flaws in the flesh of our leaders. Moses was the one God chose to deliver the Hebrew children out of Egypt. It did not matter what Moses did or what happened, Moses was still the man God chose. However, people saw Moses in his season of testing, saw him lose his temper and they began to doubt the man of God. Moses lost his temper right in front of the people, but who did God fight for when the Israelites questioned Moses’ calling?

People do not realize that it is the heavenly Father who has and will continue to exalt leadership in this ministry. If we judge leadership based on their past, we will miss God. The characteristic of the Son is to humble themselves down. The time has come for us to stop playing boxing games with God. We must become as David and rent our clothes, humble ourselves, fall on our faces and ask for mercy. This is the only way we will meet God in power. God resists (oppose, works against) the proud but gives grace to the humble.