FAITHFUL
(
“Faithful” (Heb. “emun”, “emunah”, “aman”, “emeth”; Gk. “pistos”) means trustworthy, reliable, stable, steady, and/or true.
Prov. 20:6 How plentiful are
trustworthy (faithful) people?
Would you consider yourself loyal to God and/or
your spiritual leader, and why?
Would you consider yourself faithful/trustworthy/reliable in the
responsibilities that you are given by God and/or those over you, and why?
If not, what can you do to make this a characteristic
of your life, and how soon will you start?
Prov. 28:20 What will a faithful man
abound with?
Are you abounding
with blessings (i.e., prosperity, not just materially but in other ways,
such as in happiness and fulfillment)?
If not, could it be
because you are not a faithful/trustworthy person?
Psa. 36:5 How far does God’s
faithfulness reach?
Figuratively
speaking, how far is that?
How
does knowing this about God’s faithfulness affect you, and why?
Psa. 40:10; 89:1 What has the Psalmist spoken of?
Do
you openly and unashamedly talk to people about God’s
faithfulness/trustworthiness? How often, and why?
Psa. 119:75 What does God sometimes do
in faithfulness?
Why do you think God afflicts/disciplines
believers (vss. 67, 71; Heb. 12:5-8)?
How
do you feel toward God when He does this to you?
How
should you feel toward Him, and why?
Dan. 6:4 In what was Daniel faithful/reliable/trustworthy?
How do we know this from what it says about him?
Would
your enemies say this about you regarding responsibilities you’re given at
work, home, school, and/or church, and why?
If you’re not a
faithful/reliable person, how could you develop this trait (Eph.
Prov.
Do
people have complete confidence in you as being trustworthy enough so as to
share with you the most personal of things because you keep them confidential?
How does a person
gain the good reputation of keeping personal information confidential?
[Personal
information that others disclose to you should only be shared with a proper
person when someone’s life or property is in danger, whether it’s the life of
the person sharing this personal information with you or someone else’s.
Examples of this exception could be: if someone is thinking about committing
suicide, is a kleptomaniac, is demon-possessed, is a pedophile, etc. Also, if
someone comes to you for counseling and wants to share personal information
with you and you’re not a professional or a highly experienced counselor, you
should let the counselee know that if you don’t know what advice to give
him/her regarding the situation, you want the option of getting a qualified
person’s advice about how to deal with the situation.].
Prov.
27:6 What does it say about the wounds of a friend?
Do any of your friends care enough about you to confront you when you
are hurting yourself through sin or areas of weakness in your life?
When was the last time a friend wounded you because he/she loved you by confronting you about some sin you were hurting yourself with?
Though a friend’s telling you the
truth (of what you need to hear) may
hurt, do you appreciate the faithfulness of this wound, and why?
Neh. 7:1, 2 Why was Hananiah put in
charge of
Do
people ever put you in charge of important responsibilities because they
believe/know you are a faithful/reliable person?
If
so, give an example.
If
not, what can you do to develop this trait?
Matt. 24:45-51 Who is (or what constitutes) a faithful and sensible
slave (person)?
Do
you carry out your responsibilities faithfully even when your spiritual leader
or employer isn’t around, and why?
And
if you are over others either spiritually or in a secular setting, are you
faithful to not abuse your authority over them?
How
did you determine your answers?
What
specific steps do you need to take to become a faithful Christian, if you are
not now one?
Matt.
25:14-30 [These talents were of
silver, as the word “money” in vs. 18 is the Greek word “argyrion”,
meaning “silver money”. A talent weighed between 58 and 80 pounds. The talents
here represented responsibilities in service to Jesus.].
What
was the master’s reply to the slave who gained five more talents (vs. 21)?
And his reply to the slave who gained two more (vs.
23)?
And
to the slave who didn’t gain anymore (vss. 26-28)?
Are you faithful in
carrying out the responsibilities that God has entrusted you with [e.g., evangelizing
the spiritually lost, Matt. 28:19, 20; Phil. 1:27; 4:3, 9; Eph. 4:11, 12; 2
Tim. 4:5; building up other Christians spiritually, 1 Thes. 5:11; Rom.
14:19; and living a holy life (separated from sin and the world and unto
God instead), 1 Pet. 1:15; Rom. 12:2; 1 Jn. 2:15]?
In what specific ways
are you personally doing this?
Lk. 16:10-13 What
principle is taught in verse 10?
If we haven’t been
faithful in the use of the unrighteous mammon (riches/money), “that
which is another’s”, what is God’s attitude about giving us true riches (i.e.,
God’s kingdom riches, like reigning/ruling with Christ – 2 Tim.
Are you faithful to
use for God and His glory the little things in life (e.g., finances, time,
skills/abilities, possessions, position/career, knowledge, etc.) that He
entrusts you with? How, and why?
If not, how can you
learn to be?
What has God
entrusted you with to use for Him?
Lk. 19:11-27 [A “mina” is about
three months’ wages, and here, represents a life or responsibility to invest in
service to God.].
What
did the master say to the slave who increased his “mina” ten-fold (vs. 17)?
And
then to the servant who increased his five-fold (vss. 18, 19)?
To
what degree are you using that which God has entrusted you with?
Do
you just try to get by or do you use to your full potential all that God has
given you (i.e., a life or responsibility to invest in service to God),
and why?
If you are not
faithfully using the life that God has entrusted you with to your full
potential, what do you plan on doing to change, and how soon?
1 Cor. 1:9 What is said of God?
What difference does this make to you?
How
would your life be lived any differently if He wasn’t?
1 Cor. 4:1, 2 What is required of God’s
stewards?
Are you faithfully managing for
God all that He has entrusted you with (time, abilities, possessions,
finances, spiritual gift) to use for Him in seeking and saving the
spiritually lost and building up believers spiritually, and how?
1 Cor.
Aren’t
you glad that God won’t allow you to be tried/tested/tempted beyond what you’re
able to deal with?
What
will God’s faithfulness provide for us, and why?
When you are
tempted/tried/tested, do you take God’s way of escape from caving in to the
affliction or solicitation by seeking God’s advice (James 1:5) and utilizing
His enablement (2 Pet. 1:3)?
How
does this aspect of God’s faithfulness strike you, and why?
1 Thes.
And what will God who calls His chosen ones to
salvation/justification do?
How does knowing that
God will bring to pass the Christian’s entire sanctification (i.e., salvation
in heaven) affect you: the security you feel, the way you act, your
devotion to Him, etc.?
2 Tim. 2:2 To whom
is Timothy to entrust the things which he has heard from Paul?
Why
should he entrust them to these kind of people?
Why
is this important?
Are
these the kind of people that you are pouring your life into, and why?
2 Tim.
2:11-13 Even if we are faithless and deny Christ (which
results in Christ denying us the privileges of reigning with Him in His kingdom,
but not denying us of living with Him in His kingdom), what remains true of
Christ (vs. 13)?
[Jesus
remains faithful to His promise of giving eternal life in heaven to those who
believe in Him as the Christ/Savior, Jn. 3:16; 6:47; 11:25-27; 1 Jn. 5:13; 1
Pet. 1:3-5, 9. Jesus can’t deny Himself, as believers, the Church, become
children of God and part of the body of Christ (Himself) upon believing, Jn.
1:12; Col. 1:24; Eph. 1:22, 23; Jn. 17:20, 21; 1 Cor. 12:27 with 3:5 and 15:1,
2.].
How
does knowing this affect you?
1 Jn. 1:9 If we confess our
sins to God (agree with Him that we’ve
committed specific sins), what can we count on, and why?
How
does knowing this affect any guilt you may have, or the way you think, live, or
talk?
3 Jn. 1:5-8 In
what are Christians acting faithfully?
Do
you faithfully support biblically obedient, evangelizing Christian missionaries
you meet/know, and why?
Rev. 2:10 In spite of what
these believers are told will happen to them, what are they told to be?
What
will they receive for being “faithful until death”?
Do
you think that you would have been faithful until death in the midst of these
circumstances in verse 10, and why?
1 Cor.
Could God say this about you, and why?
Are
you asking God to fill/control you with His Holy Spirit, and then choosing to
exercise/apply the fruit/quality of faithfulness as an act of your will (Eph.
5:18; 1 Jn.
What
part does your will play in determining what you want to be (Prov. 23:7)?