A Faithful Servant

Thank you to the Vocal Trio for the beautiful special music. Very much appreciated. Very on the nose on the camp theme this year, so very much appreciated there. What we've been looking at and thinking about these past few weeks that we've been in West Africa going through this theme with the kids there at the Nigerian youth camp. Well, many of you who have traveled before, you recognize that there's things in other countries that is different, and you might be like, yeah, Mr.

Light, duh. I mean, that's the whole idea of other countries, right? Things that are different. But there's times where the things that are different are things you didn't necessarily expect. And one of the things you may not realize about West Africa, because it's closer to the equator, the sundown times don't change very much throughout the year. Sun goes down quite a bit earlier. In fact, I suspect that's one of the reasons why it's so challenging to adjust once you travel to that part of the world, is not only are you dealing with a nine-hour time difference, you're also dealing with the fact that the sun went down three hours early.

Sun sets about 6.30 p.m., and it doesn't adjust or vary much throughout the year. During the winter, it's about 6, 6.10, and then 6.30 during the summertime when it gets a little bit longer. It's kind of an interesting thing, and it's something you wouldn't necessarily think about. In fact, when you talk to folks from West Africa about it, it's like to them hearing that our sun stays up until 9 or 9.30 in the summer, we might as well be telling them it never sets.

Like, just, it's like us thinking about Alaska and 30 days of sun being up all the time. It's that same kind of concept for them to think about. In fact, Billy, when he was here, remember, it was getting to be towards the first part of June there, and things were starting to get much longer. He's just looking around going, I cannot believe that the sun is still up.

I can't believe it's still going. Well, what that means from a camp standpoint, when we're here in the U.S. for camp, dinner is about, you know, 6, 6.30 or so, and kids are done eating by about 6.45. Sun doesn't go down until 9.15, really officially. You gotta find something to do with those kids for about three hours. Find something to keep them occupied during that time frame. In Africa, the sun goes down before dinner, and so when dinner's over with, everybody still wants to stay up, but it's pitch black outside.

It's dark, and so there was an awful lot of time spent sitting underneath the generator light just talking, which is a cool blessing, too. I mean, it's a really cool blessing as well, to be able to sit and have those conversations around the generator and ultimately enjoy the, you know, over the top of the generator, you know, in the background while you're trying to have those conversations. But it was nice to have those opportunities. One of the evenings we were sitting and talking around, and a number of the Nigerian staff were with us, we were sitting around talking about camp, talking about, you know, their experiences with camp over the years, and we got into some of the history of the camp program in Nigeria.

And as you might imagine with the number of the camp programs here in the US, there's a very long history of camp programs in Nigeria as well, as a number of other countries around the world. For example, in my time in South Africa, they very fondly remembered the SEP camp that they experienced in South Africa in the late 70s and the early 80s in that country.

Franklin E. Ogbe, who was one of our volunteers that came over from Ghana as part of the Youth Corps, he spoke very fondly of his remembrance. He actually grew up and lived on the camp property that they owned in Ghana. And so his family were the ones that kind of took care of the camp, and so his fondest memories were camp time as a kid, because everybody came to their house.

You know, in their minds, in his mind, it was the house, right? But everybody came to the house, they had all this fun at camp, and then everybody went home, and then they had to work, and they had to keep it up, and then everybody came for camp, and it was so much fun, and then everybody went home. And so kind of his memories of his time there on the property in Ghana. But it was really fascinating to hear all of the different stories about their experiences with camp during the Worldwide Church of God years in that region.

What was interesting is a number of the stories that were related, if I didn't know where I was, I would think I was talking to someone about camp ore. I would think I was talking to someone about the camp that took place in ore, Minnesota. I've mentioned to you numerous times before that in that part of the world, in Ghana and Nigeria, the vast majority of people do not swim. In fact, there is an extreme fear of water in that region of the world.

That's one of the reasons we teach swimming at our camps, is to kind of reduce that fear of the water and get them more comfortable with, should they fall in accidentally, how do you kind of rescue yourself? How do you take care of yourself so we don't have the worst possible thing happen? But as we're listening to them tell the stories, many of them spoke of being taught being taught how to water ski at camp in Nigeria. Of all places, camp in Nigeria learning how to water ski, which is just mind-blowing.

Paul and I, we heard that. We both looked at each other like, hmm, we had a moment of like, if the little water taxi boat that we take out to camp, could we get a kid up behind that? Like, I think we could. I totally think we could get a kid up on that. So we'll talk to Hanson's, maybe they can come next time. We'll get them all. There's probably not any crocodiles in the water. It's probably fine. It's probably okay. I mean, I don't know. I'm no expert. Anyway, as we talked to them, as we told these stories, you know, it was it was kind of interesting.

But Nigeria actually owned an SEP property back in the day. They owned a camp property back in the, I guess it was the 80s, I guess 80s into the late 80s, early 90s. In fact, Paul Ogandipe, who was our camp director there at our camp, the UIC camp, remembered going to that camp as a kid. Dari remembered attending that camp as a kid. A number of those at the table remembered attending that camp as teens. The camp was located in the northern part of Nigeria. So when we go to Nigeria, Mr.

Moody and I, we're pretty much in the southern part of the country only. We're down in Lagos, we're down maybe in Benin City or possibly in Owari. All of those are pretty far south. They're mostly jungle biomes, you know, it's not anything too deserty or whatever else. The area where they owned the camp in Nigeria was in a region known as Joss. J-O-S is the pronunciation. If you want to Google pictures of Joss, please do. It's a beautiful, beautiful area. And the reason they held it there, it's a little bit cooler, it's a little higher up, it's got higher altitude, and it's kind of turning less into jungle, and it's kind of an in-between geography known as the Sahel. It's kind of an in-between between the Sahara Desert and the jungle. It's kind of a grassland biome, lots of grasses, succulents, cacti, things like that. But one of the things that's very common in that region are these huge granite boulders that just jut out of the ground. Think Yosemite. So think kind of Yosemite area. Those of you that have been down into the Yosemite area, I mean maybe not that big, but large granite boulders that kind of just jut out of the ground in various places. In fact, in that area, many of those rocks are worshipped by the local tribes, both in the past and even today. Many of those rocks are worshipped as deities.

Unfortunately, the area is unsafe for Westerners today. I've never been able to go up to Joss, actually. Right around 2010, that area became a hotbed for Iswap, which is the Islamic State of the West African province. You're familiar with ISIS. This is the West African version of ISIS. So they are in and around Joss, as well as a group named Boko Haram, which you're probably more familiar with because they've been on the news quite a bit more frequently with some of the violent attacks that they've had up in that area. But moral of the story, it's kind of a no-go. Although the whole country is kind of a no-go according to the US State Department. They actually say, reconsider travel. Don't go here. It's like, it'll be fine. It'll be fine. As they talked, as they told the stories, as they kind of went back over the various things that they had done, Mr. Moody related a story and those that were on the trip kind of had added to it as it went. But it was right around the time when it became unsafe to travel up into that region. So right around 2010 was Mr. Moody's first trip over and he came over with Mr. Mickelson, who was the senior pastor in Nigeria at the time, and he and Mark and Oledaria Kinbo were up in that region looking for and scouting out an area to have a Challenger Camp. Mr. Mickelson was part of the Challenger Camp program here in the United States and the Challenger Camp program at the time was predicated on really difficult backpacking trips, lots of time out in the woods, under the stars, and rock climbing. And so, so this is what we do.

Find me a place. And Dari remembered this place from when he was a kid with these large granite outcroppings that you could climb up. This higher altitude, kind of more difficult area to climb in and to backpack and to sleep under the stars in the cold night air in a sleeping bag and do the whole the whole Challenger experience. So many of the young adults that were in the Lagos congregation, a number of the staff around that table attended that 2010 Challenger program with Mr. Moody in that region. As they were exploring the area and as they were going into the area to look for a place to kind of go through this process, they passed an old man that was going in the opposite direction on the trail. They were going up the trail, the older man was going down the trail, they passed each other on the trail, and Dari stopped. He kind of did a double take and he kind of went, I know that guy! I mean, it was a idea. Joss is 18 hours from Lagos. Lagos is a city of 23 million people. How do you just randomly know a person in Joss?

So he turns around, they chase this guy down. Dari is so certain he knows this guy. They chase this guy down and sure enough, the man was the caretaker of the SEP property that was in Joss. And Dari remembered him, remembered his face from when he was a teenager. So they got to talking to this guy, they got to, you know, kind of catching up and going through things. When he, they explained that they were with the church, this guy got so excited and he's talking and he's he's talking to him about what's been going on and kind of catching up and various things. And he finally asked him, he said, why did the kids stop coming? So why did the kids stop coming? Turns out in 1995, when the Worldwide Church of God ceased to keep the ways of God, they also ceased holding camps in Nigeria. Now during that time frame, right around kind of 1995, a lot of stuff kind of fell through the cracks. They may not have even necessarily remembered that they owned a camp in Nigeria. It's possible the pastor at the time left and went and did something else and sure enough, nobody really remembered any of these things. But basically what they gathered from this man in their conversation was that none of this was ever communicated to him. In 1995, nothing was ever communicated to him. Just suddenly the kids stopped showing up. And so as they were talking, you know, and realizing no communication had taken place, the man said, would you like to go see the property? Of course! Yeah, we want to go see the property. So everybody kind of followed this guy to the location where this SEP camp had been held. So he offered to take him to this property.

They said when they arrived, it was like walking into a time capsule. In the gym on the benches were brochures from 1994 with the Worldwide Church of God. This is 2010, 15 years later. And there's brochures covered in dust on the gym floor.

It's like the doors were still locked. They looked around the grounds. The grounds had been kept up. Now, not perfectly manicured, but the jungle had not taken over. There were no squatters. The property had been cared for. They found out in their discussion with this man that he had continued to take care of the property. He hadn't received a paycheck in 15 years, but he continued to do his job. He continued to do the job that he was hired to do, which was to care for this property and to ultimately ensure that it was protected. He did so out of his own duty, his own steadfastness, his own, you know, recognition of his own conscientiousness, so to speak, as to what his job was. When they discovered that he'd been working essentially for 15 years without pay, Mr. Mickelson took care of him. Made sure that he had received some back pay, you know, in that sense. And he has sent, he released him formally from his responsibility. He said, you no longer need to do this. You know, worldwide, it's either forgotten they even own this property, but they're clearly not concerned about you doing this any further. This man was faithful in what he had been hired to do despite the circumstances, despite the extenuating things which had been taken place. What does it mean to be faithful? What does it mean to be faithful? If you had to describe the concept of faithfulness to someone in some capacity, how would you go about doing it? Would you define it? Would you provide analogies? How would you describe faithfulness? Today, we tend to think about this term and this word in terms of relationships. We tend to think about it in terms of relationships. And we recognize that in a relationship in particular, but also outside of a relationship, it's a virtue that extends beyond just simple loyalty. Right? It is more than loyalty. It's loyalty, yes.

That's an aspect of it. That's a facet of it, but it's more than loyalty.

Faithfulness includes emotional honesty, reliability, integrity, as well as a number of other facets. It describes a quality of someone who is consistent, someone who is steadfast, someone who is assured. Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines faithful in a number of ways. They say, faithful is steadfast in affection or allegiance. In other words, someone who is loyal. That's how they kind of term the concept. Is steadfast in affection or allegiance someone who is loyal. They say that faithfulness is being firm in an adherence to promises.

That you are firm in an adherence to the promises that you made or in observation of duty, aka conscientiousness. So they say it's conscientiousness as well. They say faithfulness is given with strong assurance. It's something that is binding.

Faithfulness is binding. It says that it's true to the facts. It's true to a standard, or it's true to an original. And then the final definition, which I kind of chuckle at, it says this definition is obsolete, is what Merriam-Webster says.

This is the definition, but it's obsolete, and that is someone who is full of faith.

They say, black. That's just obsolete. So those are the way that Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines this idea of faithful. Some synonyms of faithful are loyal, devout, dedicated, steadfast, true, staunch, and constant. And some antonyms, some opposites of faithful, or false, fickle, untrue, disloyal, faithless, and drum roll please. Yep, you guessed it. Unfaithful. That's the antonym of faithful. You know, this gentleman that took care of this property in Jaws, he was faithful. He was faithful. I mean, put yourself in his shoes. At what point when that paycheck didn't show up are we walking away? You know, this gentleman was faithful. He was loyal. He was conscientious of his duty. His word was binding. He said, I will care for this place. And he did. He exhibited a great deal of faithfulness toward what we would say is a physical responsibility. Now, Nigeria is a very religious country. Very religious country. Whether you're Christian or whether you're Muslim, it's a very religious country. And it's very possible that in doing this physical responsibility, he was coming at it from a spiritual place as well. Okay, there's very, very good possibility that that is the case. But that characteristic, that concept of faithfulness, is something that's incredibly important for us spiritually as well. Let's go over to Matthew 25.

Matthew 25, we've been here before, we've been here recently. Matthew 25, if you want to turn over there real quick. In this particular chapter of Matthew, Jesus gives a parable to those who are gathered. He illustrates the importance of being a good steward. He illustrates the importance of being faithful servants. Being faithful servants of what God had entrusted to them. Matthew 25, and we'll pick it up in verse 14. Again, we've taken a look at this particular parable before, and we've also talked about how it describes a variety of different concepts. It illustrates a certain expectation of faithfulness that is contained in the parable, that not only are we to be faithful in that which is entrusted to us, whether it's spiritual gift, whether it's money, whether it's assets, whether it's the truth of God, those are things that have been entrusted to our care that we need to exhibit faithfulness toward. But this parable is about a lot more than just that. Okay, this parable is about a lot more than just that. Matthew 25 in verse 14 says, For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. So he's providing his own assets, the master, to these individuals. Did these people earn this? No, they did not. They are being given these things. Now, it does say that they're being given them according to their ability. Okay, so there's a recognition that there is ability levels that are present here. It says, verse 15, To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability. And then immediately he went on a journey. It doesn't say he says anything else to him.

It's like he dropped a few bags of money and off he goes, right? That's kind of what it seems like. Then immediately he went on a journey. Off he goes. But there was a certain understanding and there was a certain expectation that was present in these individuals of what they needed to do. Verse 16, Then he would receive the five talents, went and traded with them, and made another five talents.

Likewise, he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and he hid his Lord's money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and he settled accounts with them. Okay, so we see the one who received five talents, managed to trade to receive five additional talents. We would say it's a product of their effort, right? A product of the work that they went through and did. The one who received two brought in an additional two. Again, a product of their effort. The work that they put into that process necessarily. What's interesting when we see verse 20, it says, So he who had received five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I've gained five more talents besides them. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant.

You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. In other words, you were faithful over these small things and as a result of that, you're gonna have additional responsibility. You're gonna have extra responsibility because you can be entrusted with more. It's clear that you could be faithful with these things. You can be entrusted with more. I will make you ruler, he says, over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. He also who had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents.

Look, I've gained two more talents besides them. And his Lord said to him, Well, way to go. You should have gotten five. That's not what he said. He said, Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things.

I'll make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Both of these individuals are considered to be faithful servants. They're faithful over a few things and ultimately their reward would be to be ruler over many things.

So we see that there would be an additional responsibility provided to them as a result of their faithfulness. Verse 24, we see an example of a servant that was not faithful. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you've not sown, gathering where you've not scattered seed. He says, verse 25, I was afraid. I went and I hid your talent in the ground.

Look, here you have what is yours. In other words, I buried this. I've now dug it back up and I faithfully kept this one thing for you. Look, here it is. Right?

But as Lord answered and he said to him, you wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I've not sown and I gather where I've not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 says, Take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten.

For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This parable is about a lot more than money. It's about a lot more than assets. It's about more than amplifying God-given gifts and talents. This particular parable is speaking spiritually. It is focusing on the kingdom of God. It is focusing on the efforts of those servants to what God has entrusted to them. And the principle that we see that's provided in this particular parable is that something must be done with what we are given.

Something must be done with what we're given. We cannot just sit on it. We can't just sit on it. Faithfulness is an expectation. 100% faithfulness is an expectation. It says you've been faithful over little, and now you have ruler over many things. Faithfulness is an expectation, but it means a whole lot more than just simple preservation. Just maintaining what we've been given. You know, we were in Africa primarily this year to help with the United Youth Camp program.

We had a youth corps group that came over from Nigeria. Billy Adama was part of that, as well as Franklin Iagbe, and then myself, Mr. Moody, and Mrs. Moody. But one of the things we did this year was we headed over a little bit earlier into Ghana to hold a leadership conference for some of our future leaders in that region. We had couples from Nigeria come over. We had couples from Ghana come together all into Accra, which is where we have the building here or building for the Accra congregation in a number of places where we can hold these types of things.

But Mr. Moody and I spent a couple of days with him in training, providing opportunities to be able to ask questions about what service to the people of God looks like, to be able to go through these various things. You know, in Ghana and Nigeria, we are facing some of the same challenges that we face here in the United States. In Ghana, we have a ministry that's aging. We have a ministry that's experiencing health challenges, and we're on the lookout for faithful men and wives who have the heart of a servant to care for the flock in those regions as those health challenges, as age, and as other factors result in an even more pressing need for additional help.

Many of the men who attended this particular conference are ordained deacons, whether they're in Nigeria or in Ghana, but there are other men who serve the congregations in various capacities, doing a lot like we do here and what we've done here for years, which is driving all over the place, covering congregations as we're able.

I mean, it's kind of a similar model in that sense, traveling from congregation to congregation in Ghana and throughout Nigeria as well to ensure that our congregations are cared for. You know, as I've shared before, Ghana, for example, has 11 different congregations. It's about 300-plus members roughly in that in that range in Ghana, and Accra is the primary hub. The big city of Accra, that's the capital of Ghana. The big city is kind of the primary hub, and most of the members in Accra go back to the Worldwide Church of God.

There are a lot of people that are pre-95 and grew up, were baptized in the Worldwide Church of God. There is a history and a depth of root there in Accra that does not exist in the other congregations. The other congregations were a group of people that came in in the early to mid-2000s from the Remnant Church of God, and they came in in a different way, in a different time, and ultimately make up the majority of those outside of Accra.

But outside of Accra, there's congregations in Konyakko and Winnebuh. Those are about an hour and a half to two hours outside of Accra. There's congregations in Cape Coast, Elmina, Agona, Takarati, and Segundi, which are about two to three to three and a half hours outside of Accra. And then there's a congregation in Kumasi, which is about four hours away, and a congregation in Yedji, which is close to seven. The amount of movement in these areas to be able to care for all of these congregations is it's unreal. Out of that group of men that we had in that room, only one of them is part of the full-time ministry.

Only one. There are some who receive stipends for their service. The rest of those men volunteer their time above and beyond their regular employment to be able to ensure that the congregation needs are met. Paul and I are looking to increase the number of those full-time employed men in Ghana in the coming years to be able to care for the congregations more effectively. You know, Paul and his instructions to Titus were clear on what needed to be done.

Let's go to Titus 1. You don't go to the book of Titus very often, but the book of Titus, Titus 1, it's right after Timothy, between Timothy and Philemon. Titus 1 and verse 5, what we see, Paul explains why Titus remained behind in Crete. What it was specifically that Paul gave him his instructions to remain behind in Crete. Verse 5 of Titus 1 says, for this reason, I left you in Crete. He didn't forget him. He didn't accidentally, you know, jump on the boat and, oh no, where's Titus? Like it wasn't accidental.

He left Titus in Crete on purpose. He said, I left you in Crete that you should set in order the things that are lacking. That you should set in order the things that are lacking and you should appoint elders in every city as I commanded you.

Paul wanted Titus to set in order those things which were lacking. To find those areas where there were clear deficiencies. Areas where there were clear deficiencies and fill those gaps. To fill those gaps. And to do so, Paul told Titus, appoint elders in every city. Essentially, Paul told Titus to provide structured leadership to the congregations. Structured leadership, providing ordained elders who then met the qualifications that he laid out in verses 6 through 9. Verses 6 through 9 of Titus 1, we see those things laid out.

It says, if a man is blameless, the Greek word there means above reproach. It doesn't mean the same thing as we think of that word in English. If the requirement for the ordained deacons and eldership were the blamelessness, there would be no deacons and elders. If perfection was the expectation, there would be none. It means above reproach. It means that there is a reputation of this person, that they are above reproach. It goes on. It says, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of dissipation or insubordination, for a bishop or an overseer must be blameless. Again, that same word that's there. As a steward of God. A steward of God. Not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable. A lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled. Holding fast the faithful word, as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convict those who contradict. Those men that Titus identified, those that Paul had instructed to be placed into these roles, needed to meet the qualifications that Paul laid out. And those same qualifications come up in Timothy. Paul tells Timothy essentially the same thing, but he adds a warning to Timothy. He says to Timothy, don't lay on hands hastily. He tells Timothy, don't rush it. Don't rush it. Yes, it's important. Yes, there's a need. But he says, make sure first. Make certain first. So there's some criteria here, and he lists these criteria. Again, lists them to Timothy. But then he goes on and he says, these men needed to be faithful. They needed to be faithful to the Word as they've been taught, that by sound doctrine they can exhort and they can convict those who contradict. We see a similar instruction if you want to turn just a few pages back to 2 Timothy. As Paul kind of writes this final letter to Timothy that we have preserved from his time imprisoned in Rome, 2 Timothy 2, we'll pick it up in verse 1. We see Paul's words here to Timothy and the devotion and the love that Paul had for Timothy, his mentee. He says, you therefore my son. He says, you therefore my son. Be strong in the grace that's in Christ Jesus. The things that you've heard from me among many witnesses. Commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. So Timothy is instructed to take the things that he heard from Paul. Things that were backed up by the Scripture that Timothy knew from his youth. And he says, commit those things to faithful men. Men who could be trusted with those things. Servants who were not ashamed, who were diligent and rightly divided the Word of Truth. Men who were not out to make a name for themselves or to create a following for themselves, but men who were faithful. Who would ensure that these things were not just preserved, not just preserved, not just put into the ground and buried and here you go Lord look, look what we still have what you gave us, but would ensure that they were invested. That they would develop and that they would grow faithfully passing on the truth of God and the revelation of God to the next generation of faithful men who would do the same. Men who would serve as stewards of the way of God.

Let's go over 1 Corinthians 4 real quick. 1 Corinthians 4. The concept of a steward is an interesting one. We kind of think of a steward. I don't know if you see the same picture in your head. I see a guy in robes wandering around with a clipboard when I think of a steward. I just see a guy with a clipboard like, yes, what does the order of this look like today? Hmm, you know, that's kind of but, I mean, it's not far off of what a steward is. The concept of a steward is from the Greek word oikonomos. Oikonomos, which like many Greek words is a compound word of two different words, oikos for house and nomos, which is the Greek word for law. And so someone who is an oikonomos, which is actually where we get the English word of economy. It's actually where the word economy comes from is oikonomos. But they manage the household, they manage the farm, they manage maybe the finances of a city. They are a steward. The things they are managing are not theirs. But they manage them as though they are. They manage them as though they are. In ancient Greece, a steward was an overseer of an estate.

They were responsible for the financial and day-to-day managerial decisions of that estate, often in the absence of the master of that estate. The steward of a house was second only to the owner themselves. And so there was a characteristic in those individuals that was critical. 1 Corinthians 4 in verse 1.

1 Corinthians 4 in verse 1, Paul writes, let a man so consider us. He says, speaking of himself and those who traveled with Paul, let a man so consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it's required in stewards that one be found faithful. That one be found faithful. Let me ask you a question. If you were going to hire someone to manage your assets, to be second only to you, would you hire somebody that was not faithful? Would you hire somebody that was willing to lie, cheat, and steal? Of course not. Of course not, right? I mean, that would be asinine. That would be crazy. Faithfulness, as Paul writes here in 1 Corinthians 4, is a requirement of a steward. Paul says that him and those who serve Christ are overseers, their managers, so to speak, of the mysteries of God, that they've been entrusted to them, and that they are their responsibility. That a steward, an overseer, a manager, an oikonomos must be found faithful in the servants of Christ. Interestingly, in this section, not the word doulos, which is what we often see in the word servant, doulos, which is slave, bondservant. In this case, it's hyperides, which means officer or assistant or attendant. Paul says he is both a servant and a steward, and a servant is one who obeys, a steward is one who faithfully directs. Servants obey stewards, faithfully direct. You know what's interesting? As we went through the leadership conference, we had about 20 attendees there, both from Ghana and Nigeria, men and their wives, and in that room were men with very different personalities. As you might imagine, you know, that's the case most places where you go, but men with very different personalities. There were some in that room who were very loud, very outspoken, very quick to make decisions. Some might argue in worldly terms, more of a leader, look, he's taking charge, he's telling us what to do and where to go. There were others who were quite a bit quieter, a little more subdued. You could tell they were thinking it through, and they were processing as they go, and then when they opened their mouth, people wanted to listen, versus filling the air with words, wanting to listen when someone said something. Some of the men, I've heard them speak, they're very dynamic speakers, very dynamic speakers, capable of giving very excellent call-to-action type messages. Other men were more soft-spoken and more encouraging, very quietly encouraging. Some of the men were very quick-witted, able to come up with analogies, able to come up with concepts, and able to be able to describe things, to be able to answer a question. Others took more time to think and consider their response before answering. So many different personalities in the room. As stewards of the mysteries of God, they did it their own way. They did it their own way, based on their personalities. They didn't necessarily have to be overly dynamic or do it with pizzazz. They didn't need to have a brilliant analogy that described the way of God. They didn't have to be outspoken and quick to decide and quick to take action. They needed to be faithful. That was the criteria. They needed to be faithful and meet the qualifications in Timothy and Titus. You go through the New Testament, not everyone was Paul. There were the Barnabas, the Silas, the Johns, the Timothys, the Tituses. They needed to be faithful. They needed to be faithful to God. They needed to be faithful to His Word. They need to be faithful to His ways, faithful to their role and to their duties.

And all of the men in that room met that requirement, even if they went about it in slightly different ways from one another. You know, we're facing similar challenges as we're facing in Ghana here in the United States. I don't think this is a secret. If it is, I'm gonna be in trouble. This year and next, in the next couple of years, there are almost a dozen men slated to retire from the full-time ministry. Almost a dozen men in the next two years. Development of the next group of faithful stewards is a priority. It is an absolute priority. In fact, to help with that, the Home Office just concluded their Labor Day leadership weekend.

Right before—I don't know how these guys do it. They came out of the leadership weekend directly into the council meetings. It's like one meeting ended, the next meeting started. Like immediately—I don't know how they do it. I don't know when they sleep sometimes. But they had 46 attendees this year at the leadership weekend from England, New Zealand, Canada, and here in the United States. 46 attendees, which is just awesome. That's wonderful. These weekends have been going on now for close to 20 years, and they provide an opportunity for folks back that way to have an opportunity to get to know people from various areas, from other parts of the world, as Home Office continues to seek faithful servants who will continue to be stewards of the mysteries of God until the time of Christ's return. You know, this coming Sabbath, we're going to commemorate 70 years here in the Salem congregation. You know, two years ago, we commemorated 90 years in the Eugene congregation. You know, as I look out on this congregation and I look out upon you here today, you're still here. You haven't gotten up and left in the middle of my sermon. I'm kidding. You're still here, though. You're still here. Despite everything that the world has thrown at you, despite everything that the church itself threw at you in the mid-90s, you're still here. You have remained faithful to God. You have remained faithful to His Word and to His ways. You've continued in it. You've not let the distractions or the differences separate you from your brothers and your sisters in the faith. You faithfully continued doing what you were taught, what you learned, and what you believe.

Thank you. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your faithfulness, for your example. You know, the Apostle Paul was filled with joy when he remembered those in Philippi, when he fellowshiped with those in Philippi, knowing that God continued to work in each of their lives. The Apostle John in 3 John 3 wrote, he rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you. Just as you walk in the truth, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. I had an opportunity to see the letters that were written by Mr. Mills and by Mr. Stiver in remembrance of their time here. And this theme, this concept is present in all of those. It is so joyful, it is so wonderful to hear that people are walking in the truth, that people have remained faithful. Brethren, let us continue to remain faithful. Let us continue to walk in the truth, to continue to grow and to develop what we've been entrusted with until the time of Christ's return.

Thank you.