What would God say about you at the end of your life? Oh, that's, that's raising the stakes, isn't it? Would he cite the master's words from the parable of the 10 talents in Matthew 25:21? Would he say something like, Well done? Thou good and faithful servant. Whew, that would be quite an honor, right? That's where we're gonna pick it up today from Galatians 5. You've been here, you've been listening to some of this throughout the last couple of weeks. Uh, let's look at Galatians 5:22-23 very quickly again, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Just a great list of characteristics that describe the fruits of the spirit. I don't know how it's going to work after we pass from this life to the next life. I don't have scriptural evidence that we're going to appear before our Heavenly Father before we get to the pearly gates. I don't know, but let's just say for example that we did. And that you pass from this life to the next and you're standing in front of the pearly gates and your Heavenly Father's right there, and he says to you these questions. What do you think he's gonna ask? He's gonna say, so, How many likes on Facebook did you really get? No, he's not gonna say that at all, or he's not gonna say how much, how much money did you leave in the bank when you, no, he's not gonna say that at all. I think if he does ask us questions, it's gonna be like this. It's gonna be, why should I let you into my heaven? Oh, that's a tough question. That's a good one. Would you know how to answer that one? And I think if there was a second question, it would be this How faithful were you? With all the blessings that I gave you. How faithful were you with the talents and the gifts that I bestowed upon you? You see, friends, if you're taking notes, you can write this one down. Faithfulness is the foundation of being a child of God. Faithfulness is the foundation of being a child of God. Contractors understand this. They spend a lot of time putting in a good foundation. A lot of time and money going into that. And here's the crazy part, nobody gets to see it. You don't walk into a beautiful house and you go, wow, this house must have a great foundation, right? Nobody says that. It's not even seen and yet it's such a crucial part, isn't it? Because without it, what would happen? You're at risk of the building crumbling and failing when storms would come. And yet without it, uh, You gotta have it. And if you're taking some more notes, let's go with this one faithfulness is the key to fruitfulness. Faithfulness really is the key to fruitfulness. It says in 1 Corinthians 4 chapter 2, it said, it is required in stewards. That one be found faithful. How many times do you think faith, faithful, and faithfulness are mentioned in the Bible? Would you be surprised to learn that they're mentioned over 340 times in the Bible? Here's the definition of faithfulness. You don't have to write it all down unless you really want it or it'll be on notes later at the on the on the app. Scripture defines faithfulness as an unwavering commitment to truth, promises, and a steadfast relationship between us and God. And here's the key point regardless of changing circumstances. Regardless of changing circumstances, an unwavering commitment. You see, the reality of that statement, and this one you can write down, faithfulness is not perfection, it is persistence. Faithfulness is not perfection, it is persistence. God is not asking us to become perfect and then come to Him. He's not saying, look, you go get your life together, become a perfect human being, and then you can come with me on the journey of life. No, it says Romans 5:8 says, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Think about that. While God looked at us with all our faults and our failures. And our mistakes. And yet his love was unconditional for us. You see, if he didn't love us before we got pure, that would be justice. But because he loves us, even in spite of being sinners, that's called grace. And mercy. Faithfulness is, is like the marriage vows that husbands and wives make when they're on the altar, and they say in sickness and in health for better and for worse. That's persistence, right? That's faithfulness. It comes from making an investment in your faith. How do you make investments in life? Well, can I give you one that I would suggest you don't make? Take all your money and put it in the projection markets, right? That's kind of a big deal today. But I think most of us would agree that's rather foolishness to do that. Making wise investments is built over time, careful planning, daily doses of wisdom coming from qualified investment experts. hey, guess what? We have investment experts right here in the Bible, spiritual investment experts, divinely inspired books of the Bible, qualified spiritual advisors it's, can I just say it, it's a foundation built on God's word. Amen. God's word says it best. It says it's the roadmap for our life. I love Psalm 119:105. You know this one already. You've heard this one before. Your word is a lamp unto my feet. And it's a light into my path. We're living in darkness when we're in sin, and when we come to God, he sheds light on our path. He says, Here, here's how I want you to live. Here's where I want you to go. CS Lewis put it this way, I love this. I'm so Just mad about CS Lewis and his writings. I like, I read everything he writes. God's word doesn't always answer every question about tomorrow. But it always provides enough light to obey him today. Isn't that great? Isn't that great? And there's a wise man. God's word doesn't always answer every question about tomorrow. True. But it always provides enough light to obey him today. So what are some of the ingredients in building up our faith muscles? How do we build up a faith that leads to faithfulness? You see, faithfulness comes from living in faith. So how do we build up our faith? Well, number one, trust. Big part of faith is trust. Trust that God is who He says He is. And trust that God's promises are real and they're true. We're going to study that a little more. Robert Morgan put a book together, I think we've got a picture of it. It's called Great Is Thy Faithfulness 52 Reasons to Trust God When Hope Is Lost, and he goes through and he lists 39 promises of God. We often think of the promises of God as this and this and this. Those are the main ones, and they're all good and they're all true. But he goes through the Bible and he says, here, 39 promises from God. It's a great book. I would, it's an easy read. I'm, I'm telling you, he breaks it down into little small chapters that are just easy to go through. You can use it for devotions or whatever. Highly recommend it. And at the conclusion, he says this, Robert Morgan, he says a person's unfaithfulness will never nullify God's faithfulness. That's the beauty of this two-sided coin. The coin is on one side, it's God's faithfulness, and on the other side it's our response back to God's faithfulness. And let's be honest, it's not. It's not perfect And God doesn't expect faithfulness to include perfection. He just wants it to be persistent, you see. The great preacher Billy Graham used to say, you can't earn your way in, talking about salvation, and more thankfully, he said, you can't sin your way out. Isn't that great? Once your name is written in the book of life, it is in permanent ink, and Jesus has some words to say about it, which we're going to get to in just a second. But you, you can't sin your way out. You've maybe heard it this way. There's nothing you can do in life to make God love you. More, you ever heard this? And I like the flip side of that one even more because I am a sinner. There's nothing you can do to make God love you. Less. Wrap your head around that. Wrap your head around that. There's nothing you can do to make God love you less. Are you kidding me? Does he not see my life? Does he not see the mistakes I made? Does he not see the bad choices I've made? And it doesn't change his love for me one ounce. That's called unconditional love. It's not something humans are capable of. We can get close. We think we can love someone unconditionally, but we really can't, not in our humanness, and yet God does. Irwin Lutzer, one of my, my, my preacher friends from Moody Bible Church when I was at Moody Bible Institute, he used to say it's like it's living with an attitude of gratitude. The other side of that coin is living with an attitude of gratitude, knowing Jesus has already guaranteed the outcome. Oh, yeah, we're in the battle of life. We are and we see it all around us. We see evil all around us. You don't have to go far in the news to see it. And yet Jesus had already said, Look, I guarantee we're going to win. At the end of life. Look at, look at Jesus in John 10:27, how he guarantees this. He says, My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life. And they shall never perish. Watch this now. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. Neither will anyone snatch them out of my hand. We're in it to win it. We are, we are there. We are in Jesus' care now, and, and he says we don't have to worry about it. Look at John 6:37. Jesus again says all that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. I think God is so anxious to save us. God is so anxious and willing to save us that if you just simply utter the words Jesus Christ is my Lord, I think he saves you. Boom. Look at the thief on the cross, you know, he didn't have a religious background. He didn't know anything about Jesus, but as he sat there watching Jesus on the cross, he said one thing. He said, You are certainly the Son of God. And what did Jesus say back to him, you know? He said, Today you'll be with me in paradise. I think God is very anxious to save us and wants to save us. Look at verse 39, 2 verses later, and this is the Father's will who sent me. That of all he has given me, I will lose nothing. But we'll raise him up on the last day. Jesus guarantees the victory. I will lose nothing. Not one sheep will be lost. Warren Weirsby put it this way, I love Warren Weirsby. If you're ever thinking of buying a book on apologetics, get the Warren Weirsby one. It is so good. You can, you can have devotions. You can, you can flop that book down and open it anywhere and within 5 minutes, you'll be blessed. I, I promise you, you won't be disappointed. Warren Wisby says this, he said, it's important to remember. The emphasis is not on a believer's ability to hold on to Christ, but it's on Christ's ability to hold on to the believer. Whew. Isn't that great? The emphasis is not on a believer's ability to hold on to Christ. It's on Christ's ability to hold on to the believer. Do you believe that? Do you actually trust that to be true? I have a confession to you. I hate to fly. I'm not afraid to fly. If I'm 30,000 ft above the earth and God wants to call me home, I figure I'm already closer. I'm already halfway there. So, sure, what a great time to go, but I hate it. I hate the whole process of going to the airports. I hate the whole checking in thing. I hate the fact that they say, hey, get there 3 hours early, OK. Then I get through security and now I have 2.5 hours to sit there wondering, why did I get here 3 hours early. Anybody else experienced that? I hate going through TSA. I just want to get so sarcastic with TSA. I have to fight the urge. My wife's like, don't you say anything. Don't you say anything. I'm so tempted to just throw it back in their face. They're like, uh, excuse me, sir, did you pack your own bags? Why, no, sir, I hired a team of highly trained squirrels. Is that a problem? But I don't do that because I don't wanna be thrown up against the wall and shaken down, right? OK. And did anybody ever realize how dangerous this is? Oh yeah, national security risk, throw it away. I don't know. And then you get to the gate and they want to, you want to upgrade your tickets, sir, because right now you're sitting in a seat that was built for a 4th grader. But then it turns good. Then it does. Because we lift off and we're flying and the seatbelt sign goes off, and now I get to recline. Oh, thank you. I'm sitting here like this, sitting up, and now the seatbelt sign goes off and I push the button. And I recline. Oh, that's so much better. Uncomfortable Comfortable. I'm sorry. I know if you're like me, and I know I am. When you go on the plane, do you take a right or do you take a left? Take a right, really? Left because you want to meet the pilot. You ever do that? You ever want to get thrown off a plane? I wanna go left. Where are you going, sir? I wanna meet the pilot. Uh, no, that's not possible. All right, so let me just get this straight, stewardess. Let me just, let me just, you know. I'm putting my life. Into the hands of a person who you're not even allowing me to meet. Right? Because I trust the airlines. To get me safely to the next destination. Here's the point, why not trust your heavenly pilot? Who guarantees Jesus said, I will lose nothing. No one will perish. I'll make sure everybody gets there. More than that, he promises to go with us on the journey. More than that, he promises to give us what we need when we need it. And on and on and on, you see, we have trust all the time. Why not trust your heavenly pilot who is unconditionally guaranteed to fulfill those promises, you see. 1, trust the God who says he is what he is. He is who he says he is. 2, God's promises are unshakable and unconditional. Did you know that? It's important to remember that a covenant from God is more than a contract. A contract is where two people are involved and you say, I'll do this and they say I'll do that, and then you both fulfill the terms of the contract and it's fulfilled. A covenant doesn't need two parties to be a covenant. A covenant can come from one party saying, I will do this no matter what you do. And that's what God has given us. Let's give a, let's give a technical definition. This actually is a Jewish definition that comes from their writings in the Old Testament. It says a covenant is a sacred agreement that establishes a relationship between God and His people. Sacred agreement. It's both a promise and a commitment from God that nothing he says will be changed or will be broken. That's what a covenant is. Look at Deuteronomy 7:9. He says, know therefore that the Lord your God is God. Sometimes we need to remember that. Know, therefore, that the Lord your God. is God, right? He is what? He is the faithful God and will keep his covenant of love. God's covenant is unconditional. It doesn't depend on behavior. It doesn't depend on us fulfilling half the contract. It's a done deal. Uh, I, I don't know if you understand unconditional love. I, it's, it's, it's hard for a human brain to understand someone who will never love us less, no matter what we do. My wife and I were trying to find a new church. I was going to grad school at Wheaton in Wheaton, Illinois, and we had a little 3 year old in the back seat of the car. I don't know if he had too much sugar on his cereal that morning or what, but it was a time, parents or anybody identify with this? It was a time when the best word I can use, the safe word I can use is that he was obnoxious. You know, I'm talking about a 3 year old who's just on his game of being obnoxious and just fighting everything I say. I'd say red, he says blue. I say yellow, he says. Animal. I don't know. He was just, he's just being obnoxious. And it's the kind of time when you're driving as a dad and you're wondering to yourself, can I steer the car and still smack him in the back seat while I'm driving. And then you threatened to pull the car over, which you never do, but you're like, I'll pull this car over, so I will. Right? So we get to the parking lot where everybody says, go to College Church, you got to try College Church. College Church is awesome. And it was. It's a huge church. In Wheaton, Illinois. Wonderful church. And we get out of the car and we're walking in the parking lot and I say, take my hand. No, I'm not gonna take your hand. I want your hand. I can do this on my own. OK, fine. And then we go down the basement and we go to the kids' ministry and it's this large room just filled with chaos. I mean, it is loud and kids are running around and my little 3 year old boy just totally flips. And becomes this scared, intimidated, frightened little 3 year old boy. And I look down and I see that he's got tears in his eyes. And so I kneel down to him as my as his father, and I say, Not so cocky now, are you? No, I didn't say that. And here's the interesting thing, I didn't even think that. I, not, not even one thought came in like, oh, now we're going to get some payback here. 100% of my heart went out to him. And I kneel down and I hug him and I say, it's gonna be OK and I'm right here. I'm right here and you're gonna be OK. Why Because I'm his father and he's my son. And I love him With all my heart. And I don't want to see him suffer for one second. And the Bible says, hey, earthly Father, sinner that you are. If you know how to do that, how much more don't I know how to do this? Let's look at it. Matthew 7:9. I love this passage. If you then being sinful, that's me. Know how to give good gifts to your children. That's me. How much more shall your Father who's in heaven, give good things to them that ask Him? Wow. And as I'm walking away from that nursery and that kids' ministry, and you know how you peek in the window like one more time, hold on one more time. And OK, he's doing OK. Thank the Lord. We had a really good woman came up and she just took care of him. And as I'm walking down the hall, it just hits me like a brick. I'm the 3 year old boy. I'm the obnoxious, rebellious, no thanks God, I got this. I can do this on my own. Just let me make the choices, Lord, and you just bless what I'm gonna do. And God doesn't seek any payback on me. He doesn't seek any revenge on me. Because he loves me unconditionally and he wants what's best for me. How much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him? Wow. Trust to God who is who He says He is. Trust a God whose promises are unshakable and unconditional. And then third, live a life that reflects what's in your heart. What do you really want in life? What do you really want? We make mistakes and we make stupid choices and we screw up, but I really want to follow God, right? Children of God want to follow God. I want to be faithful. We call this walking the walk, not just talking the talk. But you know what, church? Coming to church doesn't make you any more of a Christian than going to a baseball game and sitting in the stands makes you more of a baseball player. You see, God didn't save us, so we could just watch life pass us by. He wants us in the game. He wants us sharing the gospel and love of Jesus to others. He wants us encouraging others. He wants us to grow in our own spiritual walk with Him. You have to get on the field. You have to get in the game. Yeah, sometimes you bruise your knee because you're sliding into base. Sometimes you strike out when you're trying to hit the ball. Sometimes you're sick of all these sports analogies that I give when I'm standing up front. I'm sorry. Some of you are saying, hey, enough with the sports. OK, I'm sorry. I understand if you're turned off to sports because maybe, maybe you were raised in Michigan. Who would want to be a sports fan in Michigan? I mean, let's be honest. There you go. All right, thank you. I almost went with the Dallas Cowboys, but they, they, they, they're, they're, why kick them when they're down, right? OK. I could make the same analogy if we're talking about playing the piano. I could talk of the same analogy if we're talking about getting exercise. You can't, you can't sit on the couch. And eat the doughnuts and watch people on TV working out on the exercise shows. How'd the exercise program go? Oh, it was really good. People were sweating all over the place. I got so tired watching him lift those weights. No, you got to get in there. You got to participate. I could make the same argument if you're studying to be a doctor. Right? You've got to make the investment. And keep getting, keep going after it. Because you get better at it as you go. That's what faithfulness is. It's about persistence. We're not all gifted equally. We don't share the same passions and the same interests, and that's the beauty, that's the beauty of God's tapestry is that we're each unique. And he has gifted you uniquely. Faithfulness is following God's roadmap. For your life and putting into practice the gifts that he's given you. He wants you to get in there and be part of it. I love this. I love this passage in John 15:5. If you don't have anything lined up for Bible study this week, let me just throw out John 15:5. Study it. It's awesome. It's about being a branch connected to the vine. You know what? It's one of my favorites. I am the vine. You are the branches. This is Jesus talking. He who abides in me and I in Him does what bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. Isn't that great? Producing real fruit that affects the lives of real people in a real way. It's not perfection, it's persistence. It's practical terms. What can I do to get in the game? Well, let me tell you, uh, uh, uh, let me, I'm, I'm so tempted to drop names, but I'm not. I'm just gonna say I've had the privilege of meeting some of the greatest Christians of our time. Just, and I quoted from a lot of them, never met CS Lewis, I missed that one. But I've met a lot of these other people at least once. And I, I'll just, I'll just share this. I only met Billy Graham once. And I'm not kidding, I only got to shake his hand and spend about 30 seconds with him. I promise you, when I shook his hand, heavens moved. It was like, whoa, Holy Spirit. Oh, OK. Whew. That was good. But you know what they all have in common? All these great Christians of God. Male, female, tall, short. Different parts of the world. They all share this. They all made a commitment to doing daily devotions. Coincidence I think not That's where we can start, and then you can get involved in fellowship. Uh, Mission Grove is still growing and we're still putting, you know, branches on the tree. We've got some really good ones already. We've got the Grove gals, which is awesome, and we've got the men's Bible study, uh, with Pastor Dan on Saturdays, which is awesome. And we got Dave Reno's group on Sundays, which is awesome. So we're, we're getting there. We've got other groups like Soul Care and other things where the ministry is wonderful. Uh, just, just connect somewhere. I promise you there's something that we're already doing. We're gonna add more, but there's something we're already doing where I think, I think you can connect the personality that you have, the, the type of person you are, will connect with it, and you'll actually be blessed by it. And think about this, you'll end up blessing others because of it. Get in the game Joyce Meyer, one of my favorite authors, I don't love her as much as my wife. I don't study her as much as my wife does, but she has such a simple way of saying profound things. You know, people like this? She says this, she says, Whatever you water grows. Whatever you neglect withers. Ta da Right? Isn't that simple? Yet so true. Whatever you water grows. Whatever you neglect withers. Remember, weeds don't need to be planted. They'll come in even if they're not invited, and then I love this statement she says many people want the rewards of faithfulness without the routine of faithfulness. Guilty Many people want the rewards of faithfulness without the routine of faithfulness. They want the harvest without the planting. They want the diploma without the studying and the learning. They want the gold medal. Without the training needed to compete in the first place. I'm going to close with a quote from somebody that will shock you Because he's not a theologian, he's a golf teacher. Sorry, people from Michigan, it's another sports analogy. I apologize. I love people from Michigan. I do. Thank you. All right. Martin is a great golf teacher, but he closes every show with this. It's so genius. He says if you keep doing what you're doing. You'll keep getting what you're getting. Ain't that the truth? You want to change your diet? Yet you keep doing what you're doing, you're going to keep getting what you're getting. Want to change the shape of your body? Keep doing what you're doing and keep getting what you're getting. Want to keep wallowing in your faithfulness. Keep doing what you're doing. You're going to keep getting what you're getting. Make the commitment, make the change. And then I started with two questions earlier, and I would be amiss if we didn't go back and answer those questions. If you are standing in front of your Heavenly Father someday. And he says to you, Why should I let you into my heaven? What would your answer be? My friends There's only one correct answer. And that's Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. There's no answer B. There's no answer C or D. There's no back door. There's no tricky way to get in there. There's not doing enough good works, not leading a good enough life, not sinning less than everybody else. The only way God opens the gates for you to join him in heaven is if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And some of you haven't faced that question yet, but you need to. Life has no guarantees. We all will pass from this life into the next life. We all will. Father Time is undefeated. You've heard that. And someday you will be standing there, and he will ask you, why should I let you into my kingdom. Will you live in regret for all eternity? Or will you live with God in heaven because you accepted Christ as your savior? You'll figure out the rest as you go. But accepting Christ is where you need to start. And then he'll say, OK. What did you do with the gifts and the talents that I gave you? Will he be able to say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant? Ah, I hope so. But I can't just want the rewards of faithfulness without investing in the routine of faithfulness. You see, fruitfulness comes from faithfulness. Faithfulness comes from investing in your faith. Simple. And it's necessary. Amen. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you so much. Thank you so much that it's not on us. There's no way, there's no way we could earn our way back into your graces, Lord, because we are sinners, each one of us. If we're honest. We are just flawed individuals in need of grace and mercy. Thank you for providing that through your Son Jesus Christ. Who I accept and declare as my Savior and my Lord, and Jesus, you are the Christ. Now help me to live a life. Of faithfulness. Where people will see my life and they'll see the fruit of my life and they'll thank God. That I became a child of God. And that I live my life in faithfulness to your glory, Jesus, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.