Ep. 11 - Fruit Of The Spirit: Faithfulness

Faithfulness sounds simple until life starts pulling at every thread. We go deep into what it actually looks like to stay loyal to God and others when comfort, culture, or fear push back. Starting with Galatians 5 and Proverbs 3, we trace how faithfulness becomes both visible and internal—worn around your neck and written on your heart—so your words carry weight and your actions match your convictions.

We unpack why Jesus’ warning about denial still cuts close, and how courage grows from daily, ordinary obedience. The parable of the talents reframes results and reward: God isn’t asking you to copy someone else’s output, He’s inviting you to steward what He gave you. That means showing up in your lane—parenting, serving at church, doing honest work—as worship. We also look at 1 Corinthians 3 and the sobering idea that only work built on Christ will survive the fire. Along the way, we share real stories—praying over fast food, guarding our yes with our kids, and learning to keep habits that hold when motivation fades.

If you’re hungry for practical steps, we’ve got them: teach Scripture at home the Deuteronomy 6 way, work heartily as to the Lord, build accountability with brothers who carry your mat, and start small with promises you can keep. Daniel’s grit and Jesus’ perfect faithfulness anchor the call, while honest self-checks help you spot where private life and public life need to realign. Hit play to get Scripture, perspective, and a simple plan to grow steady. If this conversation helps you take one faithful step today, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review with the verse that keeps you grounded right now.

Transcript

Intro 0:15

Welcome to the Brotherhood Podcast.

Colton 0:22

What's up, guys? We're back for another episode of the Brotherhood Podcast.

Craig 0:31

We'll get one, yeah.

Colton 0:33

We'll get there.

Craig 0:33

Yeah, that's right. Welcome back to another episode of the Brotherhood Podcast. Um, hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas and uh happy new year. Um, we are back at it here continuing our fruit of the spirit series, and this week we are on faithfulness. So um, what I would like to do actually, we'll continue it the same way we have in the past. I will read for you Galatians 5, 22 so that we know where we've been, where we're at, and where we're going. So that says, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, uh, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law. I guess there's 23 in there as well. We've been on too too long of a break.

Colton 1:36

Um, yeah, we uh we planned to do some stuff over the break and have a couple episodes done, but uh we had such a good break that that did not happen. You know, we got very busy was broke. Yep. That's okay.

Anchor Verses In Proverbs And Galatians

Craig 1:53

We had a very good break. Yeah. So um, yeah, we've already, like you guys have heard, and and if you listen to the other episodes, we've already done love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and goodness. And then uh I guess we only have two after this one. So we'll do faithfulness this week, and then we'll move on to gentleness and then self-control to finish out our series. And man, it's been a good series. There's been uh lots of studying, and and it's uh it's been really good, lots of good conversation, and and you guys have had some input as well talking to us uh out in the wild. And uh, yeah, it's been really good. So our anchor verse for this week is Proverbs three, uh, three to four, I think is what we decided on. And Colton, if you want, you can go ahead and read that since you're the you're the man, you're the brains behind that one. So that's the one you picked.

Colton 3:06

All right, so uh Proverbs 3, uh verse 3 and 4. Let love and faithfulness never leave you. Bind them round your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Nice. I like that verse. I I find it interesting too because I know when we started this series and we were talking about love, I remember we had mentioned how uh love seemed to be um kind of interconnected with all the fruits of the spirit, which is kind of funny that it speaks about love in uh in this sense too.

Craig 3:47

Being a part of yeah, it's uh seems like it's uh a theme that's carried through.

Colton 3:54

Yeah, and I think if you have love, then I think you can learn to you know have the rest of the fruits of the spirit too.

What Faithfulness Looks Like In Public

Craig 4:01

Yep. What uh what's that Beatles song? All you need is love. Love is all you need. It's not really all you need, but it's the basis, yeah. It's the basis for everything else, I guess. Yeah, yeah. So uh kind of in in my studying, I guess, it seems to me, like especially with that verse as well, seems like faithfulness um is something that needs to be chosen and carried, right? It talks about uh binding around your neck and writing it on your heart. Um, so those are it's like an action, and you need to take it up and you need to choose it. Uh it uh I have um a verse here, 1 Corinthians 4 2 that says, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. Um and then I have Psalm 12, 1. If I can get there, it's in the middle somewhere.

Colton 5:32

I like that first one actually. I have a verse later on that I uh we'll touch on that a little bit too.

Craig 5:39

Okay, hopefully I didn't take any from you, but no, no, no, you're good.

Colton 5:44

No, that uh that lines up perfect.

Craig 5:48

And uh okay, so Psalm chapter 12. The heading for that actually says the faithful have vanished. And verse one it says, Save O Lord, for the glory or for the godly one is gone, for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. Um I thought that one was interesting because it's like we live in a world where faithfulness is not um, I guess the world is short on faithfulness, right? Um, it doesn't seem to be a common theme in society, unfortunately, anymore. It's like it's rare to find, but but it's required for trust and for a functioning society, which is um kind of funny. Well, not really, because our society doesn't function very well, to be honest, if you look around. Um yeah, but uh yeah, and so yeah, Proverbs 3 uh shows us, I think that faithfulness is intentional, and then it's also visible. You're supposed to wear it around your neck, right? And it's internal, putting it in your heart. So there's like it's multifaceted, which is interesting.

Colton 7:16

Well, and to be faithful, like you know, like you said, to wear it around your neck. I mean, us as Christians, we're meant to be faithful to Jesus, right? And so I think it's easy for people to tell when we're not, right? If people ask us, oh, are you a Christian? And we say, Yeah, but then they see us, you know, doing things maybe I don't know, a certain sin, or they see us maybe, you know, um not trusting in God fully in a situation, and they can kind of look at you and be like, hmm, aren't you supposed to be like trust God and and trust that He is faithful and you know that kind of thing? And I think it's uh yeah, it's pretty easy to see um, especially when Christians, when you're looking for it, when when we're not being faithful to God either, right? Reading our Bible and praying, and um people really notice when you when you pray in public, or and I mean it's a hard thing to do, but I think that's a big part of being faithful, is uh as the Bible says, you know, not to deny God. How does that go? Not to deny God in front of man, or Jesus will deny us in in front of the Father, I think.

Craig 8:34

I think it's something like that.

Colton 8:35

Yeah, I don't remember exactly how it goes, but I should probably look that one up, but I think that's uh a part of it too, right? Is like not to be afraid to pray in front of people. Um, again, I think that's showing faithfulness. We're called to pray, we're called to love and live like Christ. And if we're faithful in doing that, um people are gonna notice. And um again, you know, kind of later on in some of the the studying that I did, I found a couple things really interesting that'll maybe explain a little more in depth why I think it's important um to be faithful and to show faithfulness. Uh, but that's uh yeah, that's a little bit further down in my notes there. But I'll see if I can find this verse here quick, too.

Cost Of Denial And Courage Under Pressure

Craig 9:23

Okay. Uh while you look for the verse. Um the praying in public thing is interesting because I think sometimes we shy away from that. But we will, if we're eating out, we always will. Whether and like we won't always, maybe, especially if we have like a big group, we won't always have just one person pray over the meal for everyone. Sometimes we'll do it silently by ourselves or table by table or whatever. Um, I'm just thinking because like when we went to the uh it was Taco Bell, right? In uh was it Colorado? Oh we were a big crew.

Colton 10:13

We went through so many states I don't even remember which one it was in.

Craig 10:17

I'm just trying to think because I think that was on our hiking day uh at the Red Rocks. For some reason, that's in my mind. I think you might be right. Yeah, I think you're right. But anyway, I just I also remember thinking that because we prayed there and um we had quite the crew. Oh yeah, and oh yeah, we we almost filled the restaurant, so it was uh I don't know if anyone noticed us doing it, probably, I'm sure they did. Um, but I do remember there was there was one time. Um, I don't remember if it was just Amanda and I or if we had maybe just had Addison. I think it was still when we lived in Grand Prairie. Maybe it was even a food court or something like that. We ended up praying, and then some lady came up to us and and she's like, I seen you guys pray um for your meal. Like, good good job, good for you guys. Like doing it in public. I'm like, Oh, didn't realize you were watching. Thank you. That's cool, yeah. Yeah, so that was encouraging. Um, and on the whole faithful being faithful side of things, that also just made me think of maybe this isn't totally related, but I don't know. Did did you guys go to church the day after your wedding?

Colton 11:50

Oh man, that was a while ago. Um I don't think we did.

Craig 11:57

Okay actually. I uh it's weird because like well, I think it's weird anyway. A lot of people don't. Um but we did, and we actually had people because it was actually our like our regular church in Grand Prairie. We got married up in Worsley, and then we went to Grand Prairie for like our wedding night, and then got married on a Saturday, right? And then Sunday morning, we got up, went to church, and people were like, Oh, you're here? We're like, Yeah, where else are we supposed to be? What else are we supposed to be doing? It's Sunday morning. Yeah, what do you mean? But I had never thought we never we didn't even think of not going, we just went, and not to put anybody down or anything like that, but like you guys didn't go, and I don't like most people don't, seems like if you talk to them, they're like, Oh no, we didn't, but we were like, Well, I think that's a good way to start your marriage off is to go, yeah, yeah.

Persecution, Eternity, And Perspective

Colton 12:56

Well, and I think along the lines of faithfulness, you know, it's being faithful and going to church, right? And I know church does isn't what saves us, and it's not the number one thing, but church is important, and and God says that too, right? I did find this verse here, um, yeah, Matthew 10, uh, verse 33. So I'll kind of explain a little bit after, I'll just quickly read it here. Uh, so this is out of the NIV, and it says, But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my father in heaven. So I know some versions say, Um, whoever denies me, which you know, I don't know that praying would necessarily be, you know, if you don't pray for a meal in public, I'm not saying that you're denying God, but what I am saying is that by being faithful and doing what we're called to do, I think we could impact a whole lot of other people by simply just praying um in a public space.

Craig 14:04

So I I think there is something not every yeah, not everyone's gonna come up to you and say good job and pat you on the back, which is that's not why you should do it anyway. Um that was just I think that was a rare case. Most people don't do that, but uh um I think if I were to see a young couple uh doing that, I would probably encourage them to just because someone else did that for us. But where where was that? You said Matthew.

Colton 14:31

Yeah, Matthew 10 verse 33.

Craig 14:34

Oh, okay. For some reason I thought you said 410, and I went there and like that's not right.

Colton 14:39

Nope, 1033.

Craig 14:43

33. I'll just see. I have ESV um in front of me.

Colton 14:48

So yours might say denies.

Craig 14:52

It does. Yeah, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my father who is in heaven. Um and let's see. We may I'll read the commentary too. Uh everyone who acknowledges me before men, uh a Christian can easily avoid persecution by denying that he or she is Jesus' disciple. But the true disciple does not fear death and will publicly acknowledge and confess Jesus. Um the eternal consequence for those who deny Christ, in fact, will be far worse than the persecution that they sought to avoid. That's pretty deep.

Colton 15:54

That's uh that's a lot to think about.

Craig 15:59

Um I think what you were talking about earlier Oh, go ahead. I was well, I might go off on a different thing, so but I I was just gonna say the persecution side of things just made me think of um what's happening in uh oh man, Nigeria. Okay, and uh like Christians are just being slaughtered there uh because just because of their faith in Jesus and they're not denying Christ. So the um so they're getting yeah, they're getting killed for their faith.

Colton 16:41

Here's something to think about uh along the those lines. Whether whether you're a Christian or not, um I think uh we get too caught up in the things of this world, you know. Uh I mean I'm I'll put it to you this way, I'm 30 years old now, and even now I'm starting to realize how quick life is going by, you know, and I mean I'm halfway to 60, that might not mean anything, but my life could be half over. I I don't know that for sure, only God does. But when you look at it that way, let's say, let's say I was gonna die at 55, that gives me 25 years, right? What am I gonna do for those 25 years work and and try and uh save up money and you know maybe buy a bigger house and uh what a nice truck and a couple toys, like I don't know, in 25 years if I die, what what does that matter, you know? And that's the thing when it comes to denying Christ, if you're gonna if you're gonna deny him and choose to take a punishment worse than persecution. I mean, if our focus is on heavenly things and not the things of this earth, then I don't know. I think persecution should this might sound bad, but persecution in a way I think is almost a blessing, maybe. You know, I I don't know if that's a good way to put it. A lot of people might disagree, but uh the reason I say that is because if if you're being persecuted, obviously you're being persecuted because you do follow Jesus and people see that. I think yeah, I think that part of it would be a blessing. The persecution itself, no, I mean nobody wants to suffer, but what's better to suffer temporarily here, to have an eternity of joy and peace, or avoid persecution here that's temporary, to spend an eternity um, you know, being I don't know if you'd say persecuted in hell, but you know, something along those lines. I mean, I I I think I would definitely choose being persecuted here over being persecuted for eternity.

Defining Faithfulness And Daily Consistency

Craig 19:19

For eternity, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Um while we're talking about uh persecution and and uh like being either killed or or tortured or whatever it might be, that made me think of just a little bit up the page there, Matthew 10, 28, says, do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Um so we need to. We need to our fear of God needs to be greater than our fear of man, basically, I think is what needs to be the case.

Colton 20:11

Yeah.

Craig 20:12

And then there's another one to live is Christ, to die is gain, right?

Colton 20:18

I memorized that verse a while ago, and I'm like, man, that is that is so good. I just I just love it. Absolutely love it. Guys, there's a word that come with being faithful and following God, and I would highly recommend what again, whether you're a Christian or not, I mean dig into the Bible, you know, see see what you find for yourself. But I mean, there's a lot of hope in that. And again, this life is short, and eternity's gonna come sooner than later. And uh, yeah, you only got one shot at it. So, again, that's kind of where faithfulness comes in, right? Being faithful to God and reading the Bible and praying and uh using our gifts that God's given us to expand his kingdom is is really important, and being faithful in that, which I guess kind of leads us into our our first question. Um, what is faithfulness? So I don't know about you, but I did look. What's that?

Craig 21:19

I'm glad you asked. Let me show you.

Colton 21:24

Oh, that's awesome. Just so you guys know, that comes from one of the jobs we did together a while back. We learned some pretty good, uh, some pretty good lines there.

Craig 21:34

It's in my brain, it's never leaving.

Colton 21:37

Anyway, it's just ingrained there. Yeah, yeah. So, what is faithfulness? I found this really interesting. I I looked in the back of my Bible to try and find any verse that would explain faithfulness, like an actual definition. I couldn't really find one. I looked, maybe I didn't look in the right places, but I I couldn't find one.

Craig 22:03

So maybe I didn't either, and maybe the listener, maybe you guys listening, um, maybe you know where to find that. You can let us know if you do. But um what I mostly found was like examples more so than a definition, right? Yeah, yep.

Colton 22:25

Yeah, yeah, I found the same thing. So I think uh basically what I did this time is I just took a definition out of the dictionary, which could work out good, maybe maybe not so good. Uh we'll see. Um, but what I found is uh the dictionary definition of faithfulness is just the quality of being loyal and steadfast. So I'm I think faithfulness is pretty uh straightforward or pretty easy to understand. Basically, you know, you think about being faithful to the gym, just meaning that you know you have a consistency to go to actually do it. Um, you know, maybe a consistency of uh faithfulness to a friend trying to meet up every week, faithfulness and doing this podcast, you know, faithfulness can can be demonstrated in a lot of different ways, but I think basically it just comes down to um consistency and actually you know being loyal to what we are to what we're doing, or you know, who we're doing it with or what activities with that person or whatever, right?

Craig 23:40

Right. I think I I just made a note that um like private consistency, so like consistency behind closed doors produces trust from the ones around you, right? So when you're consistent in doing, well, I guess consistent in being in the word, consistent in prayer, consistent in your your walk with Christ, and like it it is shown, and you can't it's like subconscious, basically, is kind of how I see it. It just flows out from you, and people notice, and um, especially with faithfulness, like being faithful, so you're faithful to God first, obviously, you're faithful to your wife, you're faithful to your family, right? Um consistent in that people are gonna notice that, and it's uh um yeah, there like something to be said about integrity as well.

Integrity, Family, And God’s Character

Colton 24:51

Like I think faithfulness and integrity kind of go together, but yeah, oh absolutely a verse I actually had to go with this too um was Deuteronomy seven seven verse nine to ten. And it says Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments, but those who hate him, he will repay to their face by destruction. He will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him. So one thing that most everybody knows is God is a truthful and honest God, he is faithful, he is trustworthy, and uh I think we should be a little bit scared as a society or even in this generation from this verse because you know it says pretty straightforward there those who hate him, he will repay. And that's uh that's not something you guys want to mess with or that we want to mess with. So um no.

Craig 26:12

And I think uh this might get a little dicey talking about this, but um I think we can see that in um at least in North America anyway, Canada and the US. I think we're seeing something right now, um, especially with um people of Islamic um faith. They they are not loving. And I think I heard someone on a podcast this past week say that is like Islam is basically God's judgment on the West over for uh for denying God, right? And taking taking God and Christ out of our society because the West was founded on Christian values, right? Both Canada and the US were founded on Christian values, and for a long time we have stuck to that, and now we are turning and like as a society, we're turning and going in like the totally polar opposite direction. And I think we're seeing like I I don't know if it if I I don't know too much, or I don't yeah, I don't know too much. I don't know if that would be my words to say that that's like it's God's judgment on us for turning away from him, but maybe it is, I don't know, but it's it's scary to see, especially with today's technology. You see it on Facebook, you see it on YouTube, see reels and shorts and all that kind of stuff. You see all the violence happening and and these um like yeah, I'm just gonna say Islamic uh extremists, I guess you could say, because I'm I'm sure there's people in the Islam Islamic faith that would not um want to do harm to Christians, but from my research, your Quran teaches to kill infidels, and that's anyone who does not follow the teachings of Muhammad, and anyway, so technically we're infidels, and by the judgment of your holy book, we should be killed. So um, anyway, that was a little bit of a rabbit trail, and that might make some people angry, but that's okay.

Colton 29:03

See, and I don't know much about the Quran or about other other religions, it's not something I've really studied much of, but um yeah, might not be a bad thing to look into and read.

Rewards, Talents, And Eternal Responsibility

Craig 29:15

Yeah, I know enough to basically say what I said, I don't know very much, but I have watched some like like street evangelists um debating uh Muslims and and uh using the Quran to basically prove them wrong. It's very interesting, and like I said, I don't know a whole lot about it, but I know enough to to at least make those statements that I made anyway. Yeah, um but I uh I had a couple verses as well for what faithfulness is. Um first uh I have Luke 16, 10, and that says, one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in very little is also dishonest in much. So I think God gives us He tests us, I guess. And like this faithfulness is like it's almost like a muscle. You talked about going to the gym, right? Um He gives us little, it's like okay, how you are you gonna be faithful with this? Are you gonna be dishonest with this? And um the stuff we're faithful with gets multiplied, I guess you could say. Yep. Um, and the stuff we're not faithful with gets taken away, probably.

Colton 30:57

It's funny that you uh say that actually, because one of my verses that I have or part of my study took me to uh to Matthew 25. Um, that's in the next question of our portion here, but um you'll see what kind of why it's funny that you brought that up because it's uh it's a parable that basically explains that exactly what you said there. So yeah. Thanks. I think that'll be uh yeah.

Craig 31:33

I don't know where it is, though. Uh let's see. I didn't do stickies again. I'm really trying to challenge myself.

Colton 31:44

I have uh a couple verses here I might share quick.

Craig 31:48

Sure, you can go ahead while I look for mine.

Colton 31:51

Um yeah. So one of the ones I had was uh in Deuteronomy again, 32 verse 4, and it kind of goes with uh Deuteronomy 7, 9 to 10, like I had read earlier, but it says he is the rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just a faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. So again, it says that God is faithful and uh and upright and you know, God is a God that does no wrong, and he's he's perfect, right? So his faithfulness is perfect, which is why he's such a great example to follow when it comes to being faithful. Um, and I think too, the closer we grow to him, the closer, you know, the more we read his word, and uh the more we practice our relationship with him and and put effort in, I think the easier it's gonna get to be faithful to him in that sense. And then I had one long section here I was gonna read as well. I thought it was pretty fitting, just Psalm 91. It says, Whoever dwells in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you say, The Lord is my refuge, and you make the most high your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent, for he will command his angels, concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra, you will trample the great lion and the serpent. Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him, I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name, he will call on me and I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him with long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. So I think just along those lines, I think that's part of why it's important to be faithful too, because then God will be with us, you know, and he'll protect us um from the enemy and and the things of the world too, and keep our eyes focused on a straight line, um, focused on Christ.

Craig 34:43

Yeah, I think if we are like I think the Bible shows time and time again if we are faithful to him, he is faithful to us. And uh, I mean, does it depend on us? I don't know which one comes first, I'm not sure. Uh yeah, that's that's a different conversation. That's a can of worms to open up. Interesting thought.

Colton 35:16

I don't know.

Craig 35:16

Yeah, like is he okay? So is it if we are faithful to him, he is faithful to us, or is it if he is faithful, he is faithful to us, so we should be faithful to him.

Colton 35:30

See, and I think he's faithful to us because he was made a lot of promises in the Bible that he keeps, right? Yeah, but I think he still calls us to be faithful to him, too, and I think because of that, there will be um how'd you say it? I think there's just gonna be more of a a presence from God in our life by being faithful to him, right? And I think we'll just see more of his works in our life and um yeah, just feel closer to him, more protected. We'll feel like we're kind of covered by his hand, you know.

Craig 36:08

Yeah, and I wonder this is just a thought I had. Um but I wonder too if like I think this is true, he is faithful even in um I don't know if you'd say his wrath, but it like even in our just punishment for our sins, he is faithful in carrying that punishment out, right? Right, yeah, I think so. We might we might think that oh he's not being faithful to us because we only tie that to um good being um I guess things going well for us or things happening that are good, um but God is God is loving, but he's also just and we as sinners have sinned against him, and it is only just for us to um repay the punishment uh if we do not accept um Christ's gift to us on the cross. Yeah, hopefully that made sense. That was kind of uh I just had that thought. Wasn't sure.

Colton 37:47

Nope, that's all good. I think that made sense, absolutely.

Work That Survives The Fire

Craig 37:51

Okay, the other verse I was looking for was Proverbs 20, verse 7. And actually I'll read before that too. Verse 6 says, Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find. That's verse six. And then verse seven says, The righteous who walks in his integrity, blessed are his children after him. So that was uh I had mentioned earlier that I kind of thought that faithfulness and integrity were kind of tied together. That's why I put that one in there. Um, but that that's almost like a promise, too. I'm just reading that again. The righteous who walks in his integrity, blessed are his children after him. So if we walk in integrity, our children are blessed because of it. That's kind of cool.

Colton 38:52

Yeah, that's interesting. It really makes you think about your decisions and stuff too, right? They don't just affect you, but they affect the coming generations too. Right.

Craig 39:03

Um so I think uh just I don't know if you have anything else for what is faithfulness, but my closing points for those, or talking points if you want to talk about them. Um, I also had our our uh theme verse as well, Galatians 5 22. It's a 23. Faithfulness is a fruit of the spirit. We've gotten into that many times, so I don't need to get into that. It's a fruit, it needs to be nurtured and grown. Um, so faithfulness flows from the spirit, it's not I guess it's not our own, and we will like we'll kind of talk about that in the how how do we get it or how do you grow it, whatever we want to call it this time. Um that's not it's not a self effort kind of thing. I mean, there is some aspect to that, but we'll talk about that after. Um Yep. And then like I said, private, private behind closed doors, consistency uh produces uh public trust of the ones around you. Um that also goes with the integrity. Uh and then faithfulness is proven over time, which is like like it's uh a muscle kind of like what we were talking about, or what I said. And it's uh it's proven. It's interesting interesting uh word. It it gets proven. I wonder if you can't exhibit faithfulness unless your faithfulness is tested.

Colton 40:56

Put that on a t-shirt anyway. Yeah, that's an interesting thought too. Chew on that one. Um I might have to.

Craig 41:13

Um so yeah, that that's what I had for uh what is faithfulness. So if you have anything to add to that, otherwise we can move on to why it's important. Yep.

Colton 41:24

No, I didn't have anything else. I think we're good to go.

Craig 41:28

Alrighty. Um so I have this broken up into two sections, kind of. So I have faithfulness before God and faithfulness before men. Um so the two I have two verses for faithfulness before God. Uh let's go to Matthew twenty-five-twenty-one. Um hurry up, get there already.

Colton 42:08

If you want, I can quickly share the what I have for one of my points.

Calling, Gifting, And Quiet Obedience

Craig 42:19

If you want, um I got it now though. Okay, go ahead. But then I have another one, so I'll I'll have to find that one yet too. But uh Okay. Okay. So Matthew 25, 21 says his master said to him, um, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, I will set uh set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. So that is that's in the parable of the talents. So um God rewards uh faithfulness, I think is where I was going with that. And if we go to the coffee book. There it is. Hebrews chapter three Hebrews chapter three, verse five. Uh now Moses Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. Um so Moses in f is faithful. Um it is and Moses had um I don't know what I was trying to say with this. Okay, I guess you know what I'll do? I will read um five and six. Okay. Where is okay? So verse five again. Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son, and we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. What does that mean? Um I think I guess what I would take from that is um Moses was faithful, uh, but Christ was more faithful yet. Um and faithfulness positions us for greater responsibility, like especially spiritually, if we are faithful um to God and be being in his word and being uh having a right relationship with him. Um our responsibility is to um share what we've learned with others and especially with our children, if you have children, teaching them uh things of the Bible and things of God and um trying to train them up in the way that they should go. And I know it's I I think sometimes it's it's probably it's most likely gonna be not because of us, but in spite of us that they that they're able to have a relationship with Christ. I mean we can model what that's supposed to look like best we can, but um ultimately they need to they need to learn for themselves and and make that decision for themselves as well. Um of course we need to we would hope that they do and that they would be strong in that and and uh bold in their faith. And um more I I mean I pray that my children are better Christ followers than I am, so that's what that would be a blessing. Yeah, a very big blessing. I'm not very good at it. I do I do my best, but um honestly I probably don't even do my best. I could I could do a lot better.

Colton 47:05

Um yeah, yeah, it's one of those things I think it's a lifelong uh learning lesson, right? It's something that we're never gonna perfect. Um, something I hear quite often actually is the closer you get to God, the more imperfect you find yourself to be, because the closer you are to him, it's like it's like a friend, right? You can compare yourself when you know somebody on a deeper level. And when you compare yourself to Christ, man, there's we we are far from what Christ is, no matter how hard we try. And uh yeah, we can work all our life to try and be perfect, and it'll never happen, but it's something that we gotta strive for is to be more like him.

Craig 47:55

Right. Uh yeah, I like that. The closer you are to him, the more yeah, the better you know him, and the more you realize um that you're not him.

Colton 48:09

Yep, and no matter how hard you try, you can't be him, right? I mean, you read the Bible, you look at what happened to um to Satan. He used to be an angel, right? That got thrown out of heaven because he thought he thought he could be better than God, and and nobody can be, and so that's uh that's a very dangerous place to be, too, is thinking that you can be better than God, and something I've heard a lot of too is you know, this might be a bit of a side trail, a little bit, but I um I tried to start working out again. Those of you that have been listening for a few episodes now, you'll you'll know that for me, working out was uh something I absolutely love, but something that I needed to humble myself with first. And so I've been slowly getting back into it, and I've been hearing a lot about how um if I'm lazy, I'm basically telling God that everything he's given me is just a waste, it's no good, I can't do anything with it, which has kind of struck me a little bit kind of in the heart because it's like I I feel like I've been lazy lately, sitting on the couch, not doing much, you know, not coming home and just wanting to watch TV, and it's like, man, this is this is bad. God has given me so much more uh to work with than that, you know, than to do nothing with my life. So uh again, bit of a rabbit trail, but I figured I would mention that anyways. Um along the lines of of why it's important, why faithfulness is important. I looked through a few different verses, and again, I I think I think we need to be very cautious and very uh aware of what the Bible says about some of this. Like I have uh Revelation 2, verse 10 written down. I don't read a lot in Revelation just because I have a hard time understanding what it is. Uh speaking of which, actually, Craig and I have discussed that that might be one of our future studies is the book of Revelation. We're gonna see. That's uh that's one of our questionable ones because uh again, it it's uh uh that's a very hard book to understand. And so we don't want to um mislead anybody, but that is something that we are are thinking about. So if you guys maybe wouldn't mind praying about that, uh we would really, really appreciate that. Sorry, I keep getting off track here.

How To Grow Faithfulness Like A Habit

Craig 50:55

Okay, that's okay. I was gonna I was gonna say too, like if that's something you guys want is for us to go through revelations for you and kind of see what we find out about it. Um let us know in the comments, shoot us a text. Um, of course, in the show notes, there's the text us option. Please use it. Please. I want to see how it works. Somebody use it.

Teach Your Kids And Lead At Home

Colton 51:21

And uh, I was gonna mention too, if we get into some of these harder topics and and things that are harder to understand, we might knock it back to every couple weeks of of getting an episode up for you guys, just because we're gonna be seeking a lot of uh a lot of wisdom and counseling through other people, through uh other speakers, other pastors, podcasts, different things, because we're again we we don't want to mislead, but that is something that we've been thinking about. So if you guys uh maybe want to let us know what you think, if that's something you think you would um like to have us do, is uh knock it down to a couple weeks, maybe on some of the harder, harder things like that. If Revelation is something you want us to go through, or if you have another topic you um would like us to talk about, let us know, and and that's something that we can discuss and pray about too. There. Absolutely. So um, okay, so back to our question: why is faithfulness important? I got Revelation 2 10 written down, and that says uh do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor's crown. So faithfulness is important because that's what also leads us to life. I mean, kind of like what you were saying before there, Craig, persecution is gonna come, and God doesn't promise us an easy life. You know, people are gonna make fun of you, people are going to talk down about you for being a Christian, for believing in God. But I mean, you read this verse, and this is part of uh I think well, the heading to this is to the church in Smyrna. So there's uh again, I haven't read in Revelation much, so I don't want to get this wrong, but I think if I'm right, this is I'll read kind of the the start of my Bible here what it says. I won't read the whole thing, but basically it gives me what the theme is supposed to be. Many scholars think the purpose of the book is to provide comfort in the midst of persecution and difficult times, as the form of the book is in the tradition of Jewish apocalyptic literature that is designed to communicate hope through symbolic imagery. So again, when it comes to persecution, I mean God wants us to be faithful, right? And he says he'll give us life in this verse. Again, to the church in Smyrna. I don't know if I'm saying that right or not, but um faithful is important because it gives us life, you know. And he says in this verse to be faithful even to death. And uh again, it all comes back to where is your heart and your mind set on? God tells us to set our hearts uh on the things above and not the things of earth. Sorry, I think that's Jesus who speaks that in the Bible. Um, but not to set our hearts on the things of earth, but on the things above. And I think this is one of those examples, right? I mean, you think about living in the perfect place, no pain, no tears, no hunger, um, no persecution or hatred, you know, to spend an eternity in a place like that, I don't know why. I don't know why you wouldn't want to um take the persecution here rather than in your eternity for that. Right? Um and then the other verse I was gonna touch on, so you did touch on a little bit of it there, Craig. Um Matthew 25. You had verse 21, but I would actually like to read again, it's a bit of a longer uh section, but I would like to read from verse 14 to 30. So basically that whole uh that whole parable. Okay, I found it interesting. Yeah, well, and I think uh like I listened to a couple speakers on it and stuff because I was having a bit of a hard time understanding totally what it meant. Um but we'll read it here and see what it says. Okay, so again, my my Bible says it's the parable of the bags of gold, but I think your translation says something else, right? Yeah, the parable of talent talent. Yeah. Okay. Alright, so starting verse 14. Again, it would be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work, and gained five bags more. So also the one with two bags of gold gained two more, but the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. Master, he said, You entrusted me with five bags of gold, see I have gained five more. His master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness. The man with two bags of gold also came. Master, he said, You entrusted me with two bags of gold. See I have gained two more. His master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness. Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. Master, he said, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you. His master replied, You wicked, lazy servant, so you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags, for whoever has has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them, and throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So here's a question for ya. What or where in the Bible, or what does it mean when it's talking about weeping and gnashing of teeth? Where else have you heard that? In what reference? Hell. Yeah. So I mean that parable makes me think that um I mean, it's talking about God's faithfulness. And so I again I listened to a couple speakers on it, and basically what I came up with is the faithful services or servants that are rewarded with the right to rule many things. If we can rule little what God gave us, then we can rule a lot. And so one of the the blessings of faithfulness is being able to have authority to rule. And uh the one guy I listened to, he was talking about when you get to heaven, not everybody is going to not everyone's gonna be rewarded. Um some people will, but but some won't. And I think I think that might be part of it too, you know, is are we are we doing what we can with what God has given us? Are we Taking that little bit and are we using it to glorify him, to be faithful to him, or are we, you know, burying it in the dirt like um the servant with one bag and just giving it back to God when when our time here is done? Or are we actually using it to multiply people for God's kingdom and for his glory? You know, and that's kind of the conclusion I came to, and and again, I don't know if that's a hundred percent correct, but that's just that's the vision or the the thought I get when I read that, you know, is that um if you're faithful with what God gives you, then we're gonna be privileged with being able to have authority or the right to rule, I guess, is how I have it written down of many things. Um it says here too, or I've written down, not everyone who enters the joy of the Lord will receive a reward, like I was saying there, too. So that's something to think about. I mean, to get to heaven uh and get a reward in heaven from God Himself, I think would be man, that would be incredible. Better than any reward you could receive on earth for anything that you've done. Right. So I hope that makes sense. I don't know. That might have been a little confusing. I that I had to do a bit of studying on that one, but I thought that was like I thought that was a really good parable on on faithfulness and what we were talking about.

Craig 1:01:50

Yeah, I think honestly, that's probably I don't know if there's any other parables about faithfulness, but that is a very good one.

Colton 1:01:59

I think I really liked it, yeah.

Craig 1:02:04

Yeah, and I think yeah, the conclusion that you came to there, I think I had come I come to the same conclusion about that too. If we're if we are faithful with what we're given, we'll get more, and uh if we're not, then it'll get taken away. Same as the the servant that went and buried it and and brought it back. Here's what's yours. It got taken and given to the other guy. So like, well, if you're not gonna use it, then I'll give it to him. He'll use it, he'll put it to good use.

Colton 1:02:39

So I'm just just there's a verse I want to share with this, so you can go ahead and talk. I I need a need to find it.

Guard Your Yes And Walk With Brothers

Craig 1:02:50

Okay, I'll what I'll do then, I'll just go into my faithfulness before men section. Sure, I guess. Yep. Um, so for that I have two verses as well. Proverbs 22 verse 1 says, A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. And then Titus uh two seven and eight says um show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame having nothing evil to say about us. So if we're thinking about those things and faithfulness before men, I think faithfulness builds credibility, which we kind of already touched on. Um and um if we keep our word and if we are uh if we model good works uh and in our teachings show integrity and dignity and sound speech, um that way we are not we cannot be condemned and and then our opponents are put to shame. I think that is something to be desired. Um I think that's a hard thing to do because you gotta know your stuff. Um yeah, and uh it is what we are trying to do here. So uh if we don't know about something, we're gonna say so. And if we don't know if something is totally accurate and it's just our thoughts and we we're not a hundred percent sure, we'll make sure we say that. Um, and we are the reason we have so many verses and we go back and forth with these things is because we want to share what God has said, and uh, I think if we are modeling our sound speech um from what the Bible says, I think that I think that's probably what makes it sound speech, is making sure that our our words are true as God's words are true. Um, and then that before men, anyway, it will give us um, you know, if you're uh if you're you have integrity in everything that you do and stuff like that, people trust you more, and you just especially in the workplace, anyway. I find um if you're more trustworthy, then you definitely get a lot further in life.

Colton 1:05:53

Yep, well you do, absolutely you do.

Craig 1:05:58

Okay, I think that's kind of all I had to say about that. So you can whatever you got there, we can talk about now. Whatever your extra thing is. If you found it.

Colton 1:06:13

Yeah, I did. I'm not sure a hundred percent what to think about it, but um I'm gonna read it and maybe you can tell me what you think. But first Corinthians three, ten to fifteen. By the grace of God uh sorry, by the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care, for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss, but yet will be saved, even though only as one escaping through the flames. So it talks about a reward here too. I'm wondering if this is the heading of this is the church and its leaders.

Craig 1:07:21

So I think so is it talking specifically about leadership, I wonder, or what do you think? It might be. Um But as we've talked about before, we are to be leaders in our household, right? And in our community, so probably still I would think it still applies.

Colton 1:07:55

Well, even on the bottom here, um it gives me a bit of an explanation on chapter 3, verse 13. This is a time when Christ will judge the merits of his servants' work, not whether they receive forgiveness of sin. Likewise, the fire does not refer to the eternal fire of damnation, but to the evaluation of believers' works. So I think what this is is if we've been faithful in doing what God has called us to do with what he's given us, we will receive a reward. If we are not faithful to do what God has called us to with what he's given, I think, and again, I might not be exactly right on this, but um it says if it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss, but yet will be saved. So I think maybe just not receive a reward, but then it goes on to say, even though only as one escaping through the flames. So it almost makes me think that like you're so like you'll be saved, but barely.

Craig 1:09:18

Yeah, I was just gonna say your like your little commentary thing there said it wasn't necessarily talking about the fire of hell, but it almost does sound like it, like you're narrowly escaping the flames.

Colton 1:09:34

So yeah, it says not whether they receive forgiveness of sin. Likewise, the fire does not refer to the eternal fire of damnation, but to the evaluation of believers' works. Who wrote a bit of a tough actually? Yeah.

Daniel, Jesus, And Tested Loyalty

Craig 1:10:01

Um because that I mean, like we've said before, we're not Bible scholars, but that the way they wrote that, that's not how my mind would take that. But um, maybe we're wrong. I don't know. But I think I have heard, um, and like I think we plan on doing uh an episode on salvation at some point. But the I think there is, like you have mentioned, I think several times already in this episode, there's there's different rewards, I think, for different people in heaven. Like where it's not just like, hey, we all get up there, we all get a mansion or whatever it is, right? Um, yeah. Maybe we get like a little hut just by the gate or something. We may we narrowly made it in. But we're there. Um and then there's people who were good stewards of what God gave them and were true um warriors for the faith, and they, you know, put their lives on the line and they made a huge impact for the kingdom of God, and they're gonna have. Um, but then you think the way I think is like, well, why do we need housing in heaven? I don't get it. Why are we talking about mansions?

Colton 1:11:47

Anyway, yeah, that's another thing we might talk about is is do a study on heaven and hell yet. That's something that Craig and I have talked about. We might might do that um at some point too. But one point I want to touch on with this too. So I don't know uh if I'm sure there's other people that think this way too. My thoughts have always been um, you know, how it says there's different rewards for different people, and I'm like, oh shoot, well, I need to be the guy who um you know goes out and talks to hundreds of thousands of people and changes all these lives. You know, I want God to use me that way. Um, and I always believe that by doing what I've been doing, you know, I'm kind of I feel like I'm kind of the low of the low, but then you read uh Matthew 25, 14 to 30, and the guy with two bags who brings two bags back, God says, Well done, good and faithful servant. Same thing he says to the guy with five bags, you know, and that in my mind, um just maybe to give you guys some comfort, it kind of gave me a little bit of comfort too, just realizing that I don't need to um I don't need to be the guy out there talking to hundreds of thousands of people. If that's where God wants me, then great. But if God wants me where I'm at, talking to that one person who needs to hear about God, if that is my purpose on earth, um I think God will reward us for fulfilling his purpose for each of our individual lives, not not trying to be, you know, like Apostle Paul, because we're not all called to be Apostle Paul. We're not all called to be a preacher or a speaker. Some of us are called to work a normal life, uh, and to reach those handful of people, you know, and whatever it is that God calls us to, I think we need to be faithful to that, and I think our reward in heaven lies within that.

Craig 1:14:06

Yeah, I think that as well. We we're all called to something different, like you said. Um we each have different gifts, and we each have a different role to play. Um and we just have to be I think we have to be ready and willing and listening to the Holy Spirit. Um when God's telling us to do something or not do something, we have to be in tune with it so that we are faithful in whatever we're supposed to be doing. I like yeah, I think the same thing because I like before we started doing this too. I'm like, I I want to just quit my job and evangelize. Like, I want to be that's what I want to do.

Colton 1:15:12

I want to get the top reward in heaven.

Craig 1:15:14

Well, that's not even what I was thinking, but I'm like, in a sense, kind of, but like that's not exactly where my mind went. But it's like, what does it matter what I'm working towards here? I go to the office five days a week, you know, 8 to 4:30. Like, what am I doing? What is the point? I need to be out, I need to like, I don't know, I need to grow myself so that I can um preach other people and grow the kingdom. That that should be, I feel like that should be my main goal. But I also like maybe that's where God is has me going because he's placed that desire in my heart. But there's a I think there's a time and there's a process. I think we I've kind of come to the conclusion right now I'm being refined. Like, yep, reef the refiner's fire, right? Like, um, things have been tough, and um, like I don't know, uh what would I say? If you think of like a dandelion fluff in the wind, right? Just have this all over the place. That's kind of how I've felt uh the last while, and and like you know, you like we've talked about this before. You pray about a job, and like my job is great, it's awesome. Like for a worldly job, if that like this is what you want to do, that is the best. I don't know if about the best, but it is about as good as you could ask for, and um it's you know it's stable. Like that's what we're supposed to strive for is a stable, stable job, good benefits, good salary, something you can move up in and work, you know, work your way up. That's what I got. But it the the worldly side of things is just it doesn't fulfill us. Um but yeah, I know we have to wherever we're at, we have to be faithful where we're at and um do what we can do where we're at, and and just be still and listen. Um listen to the Holy Spirit to to guide us in in what to do next. Sometimes it's sometimes it's just wait. You're waiting. It's time to wait. So I don't know. That was a little bit of a rabbit trail, but it was that's all good.

Self‑Examination, Consistency, And Hope

Colton 1:17:57

Yeah, it's good. Well, I think that kind of brings us to our last question. So our last question is uh we're not totally sure how to ask it today because for the fruits of the spirit, we've been asking, how do we get faithfulness? And um I think Craig and I have kind of come to the same conclusion on this. I don't think it's something that you just get. I think faithfulness is something that has to be put into practice. It's one of those things where, again, the the closer you grow grow to God, the more you make it a habit. Um again, I'm I'm gonna relate it to the gym just because that's I don't know, makes sense in my mind, but you're not gonna grow and feel good, you're not going to see progress unless you're faithful to your workouts consistent. Um, and you you gotta put the effort in, you know, uh whether it's getting up early in the morning, if you're gonna do it, then just do it. And I think it's the same with our faith. Um, to be faithful, it takes a lot of work. Yeah, you might have to get up early, read the Bible. It's not that it comes easy, it's not like God wakes you up and says, here, go read your Bible, and you're like, oh, okay. You know, it's it's a thing you have to make a habit of, and it's something that is effort on your part, on my part, that's it takes work. And so, in my opinion, I don't think we get faithfulness. We we need to work it, uh, sorry, work for it. Uh, not only that, we also have to teach that to our kids so that when they grow up, they know that faithfulness is gonna take work. Teach them from a young age that they need to put the effort in, you know. At bedtime, make them maybe not make them, but ask if they want to pray sometimes. That's something I know we've been doing with our kids is um trying to teach them to pray, but not only at bedtime, uh we tell them, you Know anytime throughout the day, if you want to pray, you go ahead and pray. But make a habit of praying at breakfast, lunch, supper, bedtime. Show, show your kids, show your family, show people in public that you're faithful to praying and speaking to God, that we're faithful to having a relationship with Him. Don't just say that you do, but actually do it. Actually try, pray, read the Bible, um, and show other people that and be faithful in that, right? Make it consistent. And so I think that's the conclusion I've come to is we need to work for it. You need to make it a habit, just like anything else. Eating good, working out, um, you know, youth groups with the church, or if you're on a band or whatever, it all takes a little bit of faithfulness to to keep those things going. And so um, yeah, I think it just takes a lot of work on our part.

Craig 1:21:00

I agree. Um, and with what you said, you said we have to teach to our kids. Um, I'll read, I'll read my verse. Sure. Because it does talk about that. Um so in Deuteronomy, you went to Deuteronomy once already, I think. But uh chapter six. I had six to eight wrote down, but you know, I think I'm gonna just read that whole section, the um verses four to I think nine it is. Okay, yep. So um Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four. Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as signs on your hand, and you shall be as and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on your doorposts of your house and on your gates. So that that does talk about uh teaching uh diligently to our children, like you were talking about, and I totally agree with that. Um I think doing these things exhibits faithfulness that like um it shows where your heart is, I guess. Um if you are uh what I say here. Yeah, all those actions actually speak to um what he says to do. Like you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. This says might. Does yours say mind? I when I had memor had it memorized, I thought it said mind. That was Deuteronomy what six um five. Four to nine. Verse five. Yeah, if you read verse five. Strength. Okay, so for some reason I had in my mind that it it's mind, not might. So maybe I heard like me, maybe whoever was teaching me it or they spoke it, they said might, and I heard mind, but I had in my mind that it was with all your mind. That's kind of funny, anyway.

Colton 1:23:59

Interesting, yeah.

Craig 1:24:01

Um, but anyway, doing those things daily, um as you wake up, uh like you know, as you rise, as you lie down, as you walk by the way. Um so these are daily practices, right? So I think faithfulness is a practice we do daily, and we exhibit it um with consistency. Um and I might as well just read my next one too. I have Colossians 3 23. Um do whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men.

Colton 1:24:55

Um let me just I've always loved that verse.

Craig 1:25:05

Yeah, and this is so okay. I might just read this section. It says rules for Christian households. Um, so we're gonna go back to wives. Wives submit to your husbands as is fitting to in the Lord. Husbands, guys, listen up. Love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Bond servants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of high service as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ, for the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. So um yeah, we have to remember who we're being faithful to. Um yeah, I think if we are all there there's uh that thought again, too. If we are working as unto the Lord, we're we're gonna be doing a good job in in what we're trying to do, right? Um I just as a man, as the soul provider, um I just I think of work all the time with these things, like thinking of the bond servant. Um you're when you go to work, you are to work for that person, right? Not to slack off or anything like that. You're supposed to and and to work as unto the Lord. So even if you don't like your boss, even if you don't like what he's telling you to do, um faithfulness to God is, I guess, obeying what you need to be doing uh in your job as well, of course, as long as it doesn't go against your morals or whatever, right? Sometimes you you might get asked to do things that are not right, and you need to be able to refuse those things. So yeah. Anyway, another rabbit trail. That's okay. I guess that was kind of off topic, but out of no worries, that's all good. Yeah, so I think um to put a bow on that, um, how to grow in faithfulness is how I have it in my notes. It's practiced daily, and then what we do repeatedly shapes who we are, I guess, right? If we're if we're constantly doing things that are wrong or constantly going against God, then we're gonna like eventually that's gonna get out and you're gonna live that way out in the world. Whereas if you're if you're in the word and you're in prayer and you have a relationship with the Lord and you're treating your wife right and you're treating your kids right and you're teaching them and you're um growing, then that will also flow out into your work life and into the community as well. So yeah, absolutely.

Colton 1:28:43

I a hundred percent agree.

Craig 1:28:46

One hunnet.

Colton 1:28:48

Oh yeah.

Craig 1:28:49

Oh yeah. Um okay. I think I mean I have I have some other verses, but I might just talk about these things. Um no, hold on a second. I have this written differently than I thought. Okay, so there was there was that. That was uh bind it to your life. Faithfulness is practiced daily. Um write it on your heart, uh, as we're told in the anchor verse as well. Um I think inner, I guess inner faithfulness will sustain outer obedience. Like how we're our heart posture, right? I guess is what I'm thinking there. Is how we are um spiritually, like in inward. I keep I keep kind of going to this, but it's gonna flow out. It turns into it it goes into outer. Um what is the word? I don't know. You know what I'm trying to say. Um I have guard your commitments as well. I won't go there, but Matthew 5, 37 says uh let your yes be yes, uh, and then Ecclesiastes 5 um verses 4 to 5, you guys can go there after too if you want. But that talks about how it's better to not vow at all than to not fulfill the vow that you've made. Um so if we um if we over you know you talk about over-promising and under delivering. Um I think that weakens that weakens our faithfulness. So if it's something you you think you might not be able to hold to, just don't even say you're gonna do it anyway. Yeah, um, I know I'm pretty careful when the kids are asking if we can we go do this or can we go do that or can we um I don't know. Can we go swimming or something? I don't know, but yeah, I I'm very careful to say yes, because I I don't want to break promises, right? I don't want to say, yeah, we're yeah, we can go do it, and then say they're like, Oh, can we go to town and go swimming Saturday? Yeah, we can do that. Something comes up and you can't, or someone gets sick, or whatever. No, we can't do that. Well, you said, Yeah, yeah, something happened and I can't. We can't do it now, or sometimes you know what? I'm gonna be honest, maybe I don't feel like it. Maybe I'm like, no, I don't want to pack everyone up now and go to town and go swimming. Maybe I don't want to do that, but so um I I have a past experience of broken promises from people in my life, and I am very careful to do that. I don't I don't promise anything, I don't say unless I know I can fulfill it. So I think that's kind of how we have to be. We have to um if you know you can fulfill it, okay, say yes, we're gonna do this, but if not, then say, well, we'll see, or we can try that, or we might be able to. Anyway, but I've had it too, especially with my older one. She's yep, she's getting smarter. Like, well, you said you said this. No, I didn't say it that way, I said it this way because I knew you were gonna do this. Yep, I know how that goes. Yeah, um, yeah, yeah. Uh, and then I think it's important as well that we walk with faithful men in our lives as well. If we find some guys that we can um kind of band together with, um, you know, maybe one or two or um Pastor Joby Martin. He I I think he's the first guy, he's the first one I heard talk about four your four mat toters. He's talking about the the you know, the friends who dug through the roof, brought their paralyzed friend down to Jesus, right? You need some guys that are willing to do that kind of stuff for you. And uh, I think brotherhood, which is exactly what we're all about here, I think it strengthens um strengthens resolve, I guess you could say. Um strengthens your um how do I say that? Your uh maybe even your faithfulness. You know, you're working things out together as men, and uh sometimes you need that, sometimes you need to talk to another guy, right? Like, hey, I need to talk man to man with you. Or I don't know. Uh sometimes there's just things that we you know we are not it's not that I don't not that we don't trust our wives or anything like that, but sometimes it's like uh oh, you're not gonna get it. I need to talk to another dude, right? Yeah, so yeah, sometimes that really helps. Yeah, and I think um, so I wrote these down. You guys can go here after. We're getting kind of long, so I'm not gonna flip through and find these and read them word for word for you. But Proverbs 13 20 um says walk with the wise, and um Hebrews 10, 24 or 25 that talks about spurring one another on, so uh accountability also uh sustains consistency. So if you even if I think back to like some times where I've tried to you know lose weight or whatever, um if you're going through a program, it it definitely helps to have someone else going through that with you and someone checking in and like, hey, did you work out today? Or hey, um, I guess if you think about the uh I forget what the app is called right now, but you can log all your all the stuff that you've eaten or drank or whatever for that day, and other people can see it and my fitness pal. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, okay, yeah. So if I think you can have friends and stuff like that on there, and people can kind of see what you've logged, and and uh oh yeah, if you have some I think if you have someone that's going trying to work things out with you, um I've had that a couple times, and it it's definitely helped if they're like, hey, good job, or or they even text you or whatever. Hey, I've seen that you you've I don't know, you've logged your calories for four days straight, or I don't know, whatever. Yeah, yeah, your water intake for the day. It's it's like uh it's encouraging when there's someone else working through it with you, and this is much more important than calories in, calories out. So uh I think you can do this on the Bible app as well if you have friends, like and if you're um I think the Bible app also has like streaks, kind of like um uh it's a Snapchat that does that. I don't know. I'm too old. Anyway, but I think there's streaks, like it'll tell you if you've like if you've been in there every day or whatever, it'll pop up like hey, you've you've logged in four days in a row or whatever. Um, I don't know about that because I I mean it's better than nothing, but I I like the the paper better. Yeah, um, yeah, I'm in the same boat, it's a handy tool, and there's like um uh there's different devotions and stuff like that to go through there too, and I think people can go through that together. So um that is something I'd like to do with some of you listeners, actually. If we can I don't know if through the Bible app, but if we can find something that we could start like a little uh community or whatever, and we can go through some Bible studies or whatever together and get a little more um personal with you guys and and just walk life with you and and grow together in Christ, I think that'd be really cool. Um yeah, absolutely. Yeah, uh, and then I have so much. Uh so some bib biblical examples of faithfulness. Um Daniel um in chapter six, verse four, there's no corrupt no corruption found in him. Verse 10, he's uh faithful prayer uh despite danger. Uh he's faithful before pressure. Um what am I thinking? Faithfulness before pressure. Yeah, okay. This is what I mean. When you have faithfulness before a circumstance where there's pressure, um it prepares you for the testing that you're gonna go through. Um and uh yeah, and then obviously the perfect example, which is Jesus. And uh, I was gonna read this earlier, but I knew I had it later on. But you you talked about um being obedient to death, and that's exactly what Jesus was. In Philippians 2.8, it says he was obedient unto death. Um and Revelation 19 11 says he's faithful and true. Um obviously, Christ uh, like Jesus embodies our anchor verse proverbs 3 perfectly. He's the perfect man, um, and then our faithfulness flows from. Him um or from his faithfulness. Um like like we talked about, we can't get it on our own. Um you can stop me at any point if you have anything to say. I'm just trying to power through the rest of this because I know we're getting long here.

Colton 1:40:18

No, that's all good. No, I'm I'm good.

Craig 1:40:22

Okay. You're just gonna sit back and listen. Not your head. Uh-huh. Yep. Okay. Uh so the Bible also tells us to examine ourselves for 2 Corinthians 13 5, and uh, and then also to be doers of the word and not just hearers um in James chapter 1. So if you you take some time to examine yourself, um where is God calling us to be um more faithful and exhibit greater faithfulness? You think about the circumstances in your life, maybe you're maybe really strong, faithful in one thing and not in another. Um just ask God, you know, just pray and ask God to reveal those things to you if you don't know. And uh and also the consistency thing is huge. Um because people are gonna know if you're fake. So ask yourself Am I consistent in private and in public? Am I the same person behind closed doors as I am um with the people at church or the people at work or the people at the coffee shop? You know, are you consistent through your whole life and your uh all your different dealings and all your different interactions? Um if not, then smart up. No, I'm skidding. Yeah, that's right. Ask God to help you. Uh it's uh I don't know, it can be tough. Um you know, home life can be tough sometimes, and sometimes there's stuff that you're dealing with at home. Maybe you're having you know marital issues or something like that. Just pray, I guess. And also, like if you if you have some brothers, um, like I said, some mat toters, reach out to them, reach out to someone um who you respect as a godly man, a spiritual leader, and and just humble yourself and be like, I need help. I don't know what's going on here. And uh and uh yeah, consistency. It can be hard, and it can be easy to put on a you know, put on a face around others, and uh sometimes we need to just be more vulnerable. I think as men that's a hard thing. Um hard thing to do. Yeah. Um yeah, so there's a those are some self-examination questions that I wrote down. Um I think uh wonder what that fully says. First Thessalonians 5 24, God is faithful to complete his work. Um, I didn't write the whole thing down. Um okay. But yeah, he is faithful to complete the work that he started in you. So if you're you know, if you're struggling, maybe you're like, oh man, I don't know. I think you're think you're wavering. Uh we'll talk about this again in another episode. I think we should do this, talk about salvation. But it's like, oh man, am I saved? Am I not saved? What's the deal? Um just commit to him. And if you've made that commitment already, um, just come back to him, just repent. That's all you gotta do. And uh ask him to reveal the things that need work in your life, and he will be faithful to show those things to you and help you um get through them. Yeah, I think uh that's all I got. I mean, I skipped some stuff in my notes because I I just had I ended up having too much. I was like, I don't know if I'm gonna have enough, but now I have too much.

Colton 1:44:51

So yeah, we could go on and on and on, but yeah, uh it's pretty easy to do when you're doing this.

Prayer And Closing

Craig 1:45:00

Yeah, exactly. Um, so I guess we could uh probably close in prayer and then uh we'll kinda yeah, we'll see. I'll close in prayer and then we'll go from there.

Colton 1:45:19

Do you want me to do that or do you want to do that?

Craig 1:45:22

Uh up to you. I was gonna do it. You you prayed for us before we recorded, so I can I can do it if you want to. Yeah. Uh all right, Father, we um just thank you again for this opportunity to be able to come together and study your word together and uh just learn more about you and and the plans you have for us and the things you have to say um through your word. And Lord, I just pray that uh you would help our help us grow in our faithfulness to you and our faithfulness towards our our wives and our families. And um Lord, just uh pray that again that we would be uh faithful, and I thank you for your faithfulness, and uh thank you for this platform that you've given us, and I thank you for the ones listening, and Lord, I pray that um that if there are people listening that are searching, that that they would just seek you and that they would surrender their lives to you and accept you as their personal savior and and Lord, if they've got questions that you would um just allow them to I guess put down their walls, put down their defenses, and and just reach out to somebody in their life that um that might be able to help them and uh even for us too. I just pray um that if if people are searching, they have questions, just give us the the words to say when people ask, and and uh thank you for the interactions we've been able to have with different listeners and uh and the conversations that have been sparked because of um what you've allowed us to do here. Um I pray that as we prepare for the next episode as well, that you would um just give us the the things that you would have us share and the things that that people need to hear, bring the ears that need to hear, help their hearts to be open, and uh pray that ultimately you it would be you speaking through us and not our own um thoughts. Uh not leaning on our own understanding, we're leaning on you. Um again, just pray for the ones that are listening. Thank you for them. Um and just pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Colton 1:48:30

Amen.

Craig 1:48:32

Okie dokie. Um all right. I guess I will say I don't need to say it. I was just gonna say our next our next fruit is gentleness. So a good one.

Colton 1:48:53

Gonna be a good one.

Craig 1:48:55

Yes. Okay. Alright. Thank you guys for listening. Have a good morning, afternoon, evening, night, whatever time it is.

Colton 1:49:10

We will see you guys next time. God bless. See you later.

Craig 1:49:15

Or I don't know. I'll be in your ear holes at some point.

Colton 1:49:20

Bye. Speak to you later.