BEING A SHREWD SERVANT.

SUNDAY SERVICE

 SERMON:

             BEING A SHREWD SERVANT.

 _INTRO_ : One of the most shrewd animals on Earth - the snake; seems weak and incapable but is not easily beatable. The most challenging thing is that it has no legs, and some say that it has no ears yet it is shrewd. Shrewd is an element of rightful understanding and exhibition of higher wisdom amongst uncertainties. 

 _PROB_ : The problem we have as Christians is that we become totally unwise when there are challenges especially in these evil days . 

 _PURP_ : To enable us be wise in any circumstance of life especially as we wait upon Christ. 

   >>> Christ in his work on Earth was confronted by many challenges. He was looked for at many occasions. But he used wisdom to preach to people even to the most rebellious. Before they understood clearly his point , he was done and disappeared. He showed high levels of how a shrewd servant of God should be. Joseph living in Egypt was not just a matter of waiting upon the Lord to rescue..but he acted in a shrewd manner that enabled him to overcome. When the evil lady approached him, he new the right thing to do at that time. When in prison , he interpreted dreams but told those that left prison to go out and talk about his abilities so that he could find favor among the Royal family. He was shrewd. 

You cannot just live on with life without knowing the rightful tactics that could enable you succeed. You cannot live in the last days of humanity without cleverly understanding your rightful steps. You cannot live on with salvation without being a shrewd servant. 

* Matthew 10:16 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

1. 🔶 SEEK TO BE WISE.

* Proverbs 23:23 Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding.

Being wise is not something anyone is born with. It is something that is developed over time as one grows. It is something that is developed as one encounters more of the realities of life. 

Even when Christ was growing , the Bible says that he started becoming wise. It didn't say he was Born wise. The spirit of wisdom justed started using him as he grew. For that case , wisdom is something that is out there and is sought for. It is something that is out there in the spirit, out there in the world. You need to start a journey of seeking wisdom.

Wisdom is sought through prayer, praying for the spirit of wisdom to rest upon you. It is sought through physical means like reading books to find more about the realities of life. It is sought through reading the word of God to find truth. 

The devil has spread his wings like never before. It needs wisdom to sense all his charming tricks and find the true paths. Shrewdness comes from polished understanding. Taming all your thoughts. 

2. 🔶 SEEK THE TRUTH PERSONALLY.

Many times people that go away from the right paths always don't personally seek the truth. They are driven by the way people explain things. Everyone has their own opinion of whatever subject they encounter. Seeking what is right is always one's endeavor. Don't just be told of something and then decide to go by that.

False prophets have become dominant just because people don't seek to find the truth personally. Even Christians have become too lazy to find the truth. Laziness is one tactic the devil uses to overthrow. It is one of the elements the devil starts with when wanting to backslid a believer. Being lazy is not godly. Laziness is always the devil's trick. Sitting down and not wanting to go out for fellowship..... because you feel lazy is devil's trick. Sitting down and not wanting to read your Bible because you feel lazy is devil's trick.

Never underestimate the power that is in the truth that you seek and find out by yourself. You understand better when you learn something by yourself. You get grounded better when you seek to find out by yourself. God uses you better when you do it yourself....you seek truth personally. Being shrewd is an element that is at personal level. You don't become shrewd because your neighbor has become shrewd. You become shrewd by personal endeavors. Personally seek truth is a journey of a shrewd servant 

3. 🔶 BE WATCHFUL ALL THE TIME.

* Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

The body is weak is the excuse for a man who fails his soul. Weak, weak, weak...is a song sang by failures. Those that backslid sing the same anthem. Even those who fail in financial matters sing the same tone. Weak.Their spirit is never willing. You know where there is a will , there is way. Watchfulness is not done by the person who sings " the body is weak, the body is weak" watchfulness is something that you do with energy and alertness. 

You don't watch while you sleep. You watch while you are awake in the spirit. You don't watch when you are lazy ....no... you watch as a hard-working servant. Watching involves prayer. The Bible's has said watch..... secondly pray. The combination of the two enables you to see temptations clearly and not go near them. It enables you to master them and not be overthrown by them. Now...it doesn't make temptations go away from you. It simply makes you shrewd. It opens all your senses and full awarenesses of them.

The world we are into has made many innovation and many adjustments. Some of which are devil's tricks. It needs you to watch and to pray so that you don't fall in them. In the sense of " watch". Watch is a term that reflects "the eyes of the mind" . Watching is used because it is likened to seeing. The way a watchman watches the house in the night. He is seeing. He is listening with care. He is even smelling. Anything that comes round as odd, he is able to detect and take necessary steps. 

Watching is opening your senses as a believer and letting not your soul be taken by the tricks of the enemy. It now means that you have to have the first element we talked about,...that is "seeking wisdom.". If there is wisdom, anything that comes up to tilt your understanding on some matters will be clearly seen as false. There are senses of the spirit that everyone called son and daughter of God is privelaged to have. It is the super instinct of the spirit. It is a sense that tells you of impending danger. It is something that tells you not to go somewhere or not to accept something. Because the Spirit has seen that as wrong. Such super instinct is achieved by someone who lives a prayerful life. A servant called shrewd has such instinct. 

4.🔶 DESIGNATE STEPS IN ANY PATH YOU TAKE.

* Job 8: 7-10 Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be. 8 “Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned, 9 for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow.

Designation is an element of formality. It is something you know the how bit of everything you do. Planning for the future is designation. Planning for your salvation is designation. Planning for the ministry you run is designation. Knowing how to react when a fellow believer annoys you is designation.

Designation is knowing the know-how.

We have, many times fallen into wrong trucks due to lack of designation. For example , you have an evening to spend relaxing, but you even don't know how exactly you will be relaxing. You find a friend going somewhere and you simply escort them....since you have nothing on plan. You find out that they were heading to a bar. But because you have been caught in the trap...you simply select a corner to sit in and wait for their "enjoyment" to be done. As a child of God anything can happen to you at a bar. Just lacking designation can lead to trouble. 

Even in salvation, one has to have proper paths laid down for their movements. What future do you want to see yourself in salvation...in your church. What steps have you laid down to lead you to that future. 

Job has taken us back to the sense of seeking wisdom. That we were not born knowing...but we have to seek to find out. Finding out from the past generations. You have to learn how those other people used to do the very thing that you are doing. Then build on it. Those written of in the Bible have run a similar race of salvation that we are running. We have to find out how it was done...and how we can do it better. 

Salvation is a journey that needs you to have goals set of how you will be moving. If there is no plan...any wind will toss you to any direction. Designation is an element of a shrewd servant.

CONCLUSION

⚫ Anything nowadays is taken as right. You need to be a shrewd servant to live amongst wolves....to distinguish between right and wrong. Wolves may be all around you. Even with the work you do , there are wolves that seek to bring you down. You need to be sharp.

⚫ The devil has set traps that if no one is watchful, they will fall into them. 

⚫ Watch and pray. Seek to add know-how to all that you think you know. Move a life of salvation that is full of purpose. If you can build on rightful understanding, you are a shrewd servant.

 GOD BLESS YOU.

By Simon Kutosi.

Sunday, 5th March 2023._ 

                            _91th msg_