I love FAT people!!!
➢ I am always looking to be around FAT people because I know God blesses FAT people.
➢ I want to be FAT
➢ Did you know that FAT people have a better reputation in their community
➢ Did you know that FAT people are more successful and get better promotions at work than non-FAT people?
➢ Have you ever thought 'How can I be promoted or How can I be successful?
➢ Even more: Have you ever said "How can I be used by God to make a difference."
➢ Both those questions are answered by getting FAT.
➢ When you think of FAT you may think of a waist line
➢ You may think of the flavorful part of a New York steak
➢ Maybe you hear the word FAT and you cringe you imagine things like heart attacks.
➢ But the FAT I am referring to is not my fisique or my increaseing weight.
➢ FAT is an acronym for the character qualities that I believe leads to experiencing God's plan for your life.
➢ F= Faithful, A=Available, T=Teachable
➢ Over the next 3 weeks I am going to show you that God want’s you to be FAT
➢ Today we start with F=Faithful
Before we get into it let’s start with a STORY
➢ A contractor who worked for one company for over 20 years – he built many many houses.
➢ He was looking forward to doing some traveling with his wife, etc.
➢ The owner of the company asked him to build one more house.
➢ The contractor reluctantly said yes (tho in his heart he was already checked out.)
➢ Half heartedly he ordered concrete, got subcontractors, looked for ways to speed up the process.
➢ He was so tired of working with people who wouldn’t keep their promises
➢ If things were exactly right –that was ok he would just have them nail it in.
➢ He would cut corners and compromise then when he went to buy supplies he didn’t look for the best quality as he had done in the past – he took whatever they had.
➢ He was finally done and he came to his boss and said it’s done and I am retiring , I am out of here.
➢ The owners said ok thanks for the years of faithfulness and to show my appreciation here are the keys to the house you just built, it’s all yours.
NOW DO YOU THINK HE WOULD HAVE CUT CORNERS IF HE HAD KNOWN IT WAS GOING TO BE HIS HOUSE?
MESSAGE – 10:25
➢ The funny thing is God has a plan for our lives and He wants it to be the best. (Jesus calls it abundant)
➢ The situations and circumstances of life (including the challenges) are the materials used to build us into the person God has created us to be.
➢ I can choose to be faithful in life’s matters or I can choose to take short cuts.
➢ In the end I’m the person it most affects
My friend Wayne Cordero told me “It’s not the events that will create your future – It’s how you respond to the events.”
All of us are going to have highs & lows
You will encounter struggles, trials or setbacks in relationships, carreers, on the job or in general.
➢ How you respond will determine the quality of the house God is building called YOU!
As we look into God’s blue prints we see numerous people who were faced with challenging circumstances and they had the choice to quiit, give-up, take short cuts or respond faithfully
We know that the Bible is full of faithful people.
1. Noah was faithful to do what God had commanded in spite of public ridicule.
➢ Think about this - his project took close to 100 years to complete (good thing he wasn’t A.D.D.)
➢ Look at what the Bible says about him at the end of construction of the ark:
Gen 6:22 (NIV) "Noah did everything just as God commanded him."
➢ What would you call an employee that does exactly what you tell him? FAITHFUL!!!
➢ Because of that faithfulness, Noah was blessed.
2. Later in Genesis we see another faithful man - Joseph.
➢ From his time as a son - to his time as 2nd in command of the ancient world power called Eygpt, he was faithful to his responsibilities.
➢ Here is one short example.
Gen 39:1-4 (NIV) (READ)
➢ Joseph was faithful to work for this pagan Egyptian so much so that the Egyptian prospered.
➢ Because of Joseph's faithfulness, Potiphar trusted him and put him in charge of his entire house.
➢ There are so many we could spend weeks on each: people like Daniel, Nehemiah, the apostles.
➢ But the last one I want us to look at is a faithful woman.
➢ Her name is Ruth.
3. RUTH made such an impact on the world that there is an entire book in the OT named after her.
It is the 8th book just after Judges and before Samuel.
(TURN THERE – MARK IT – THIS WEEK READ IT)
➢ Ruth was faced with numerous challenges and neg circumstances
➢ Because of her faithful response - God took those neg experiences and used them to build this
o foreign Moabite woman – impoverished – a widow
o built her life INTO a sterling future
o She becomes the great grand mother of the greatest king of Israel - David
o She ends up in Matt Ch. 1 in the lineage of the messiah who changed the world.
➢ The first situation defines her faithful character
o In Ch 1 we are introduced to the Naomi and her two sons.
o They married Orpah (not Oprah) and Ruth.
o Soon after that Naomi’s husband and Ruth’s husband died.
o This makes me a little suspsios of these woman. Within 10 years all husbands dead – I think it was the cookin’
o Now there are 3 widows in a house with no one to provide for them.
o Noami decides to send this young women off knowing they can remarry and she decides to go back to her family as a lonely old widow.
o Orpah takes off but Ruth says no I am staying, I have made a commitment to this family and I am not quitting.
o Noami tries to convince her to go:
Ruth 1:15-17 (READ) NIV
➢ It would have been easier to go back to her people – to go with Naomi meant being a foreign widow with no obvious future.
➢ But she chose to be faithful to her commitment – God rewards her faithfulness: Read it this week to see how.
APPLICATION:
➢ When no one is looking and there is no chance of you getting noticed - even when someone else may get the credit for the project will you be faithful to the responsibility - will you be faithful to the calling?
➢ Close with this scripture:
II Chron 16:9
“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
