Sunday AM Recap
August 16, 2026
Link: https://www.youtube.com/live/JQVOJ1zrkzc?si=fcB3E8PTuC3fZE9g
Teacher Sara Ozbun opened the service with an update on Anna Ozbun in Guatemala and a review of the new Hebraic month, Elul.
You can study more on Elul here: Elul
Rachael Gilmore led worship.
Early Childhood Worship
Link: https://youtu.be/vkJo2s2rH8Q?si=WTqfWtM_Xpnt7pjZ
Big Idea: God made everything and it was very good.
Bible story: Creation
Bible verse: 2 Timothy 3:16
Message: Pastor Jeff Spangler
“What is Required?”
1 Corinthians 4:1-2
This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
This has been the basis of our series, and we have learned to not ask “what’s in it for me?” but ask “what’s in it for YOU, God?”
We have mysteries revealed to us that people all around us just don’t understand. The world is in a battle over who they think is telling the truth.
It is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful - which is not a burden. It means we can be trusted.
Today’s Title: “What is required?”
There are things that are required when given power and authority. He measures each one according to what we can handle - He knows us intimately! His thoughts number more than the pebbles of sand in all the earth…His thoughts about YOU!!!
One million pebbles of sand = one cup. How many thoughts a day do you have about God? In one day, we have a hard time thinking about Him a million times, and in a day His thoughts about you number more than all the grains of sand in the world.
There is something required of us - but He always goes above and beyond the requirement. Amazing! We serve a God that always says “I’m only asking this much. I’m not asking for a million thoughts - but know that I have that about you!”
He gives us all the trees in the Garden and keeps just one for Himself.
He asks us for 10% and lets us have the other 90%.
Why do we bristle against authority? It’s part of our sinful nature - we have a hard time with authority. So the word “required” becomes a yoke, a heavy burden - but it was never meant to be that. Whatever He requires is SO much less than what He gives Himself. He outdoes us ALL THE TIME - how can we not worship this God?!
“Do I have your attention now?” There’s so much going on around us- and for you to say “I give you my attention” means so much to the Lord. How did you answer the message: “do I have your attention now?” What was your response? Did you find places where He does NOT have your attention?
Matthew 10:39 - “those who lost their life for My sake will find it”…maybe before you do anything else in a day, start with “I give you my attention, Lord.” Which has your attention first - your phone or God?
Verse 2:
Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
What is required? Don’t just jump to “prove faithful” - that is the way of the world. That you have to prove something all the time.
“Those who have been given a trust.” Who does God give a trust to?
TRUST.
Many people in Jeff’s business world have a trust - something in place so that when you die, your instructions will be carried out. Otherwise, the government will run everything, and someone’s wishes would not be honored.
Wouldn’t it be terrible to have a God that never wrote anything down and we had to guess for His intentions?
Definition of trust:
“A legal agreement where one party known as the grantor gives a trustee the right to hold and manage assets for the benefit of someone else called the beneficiary.”
Three parts:
A grantor
A trustee
A beneficiary
A grantor sets up a trust, grants the land to a trustee (oftentimes himself) and then sets us successor trustees. You write down how you want it to progress.
So who is the trust held for? The beneficiaries. The trustee has the right to manage and hold the asset for someone else as the beneficiary.
So…that would be like Father God being the Grantor…who owns the Earth and everything in it? God the Father, right? And as the Grantor - because He is the only one who owns these things - He names trustees. And their job is to hold and manage the asset. Father God deeded something to Jesus - and Jesus named successor trustees - He has said, as the trustee, that He wants these to come and reign and rule with Him.
“As the grantor, I have given some to be trustees, and by the blood of the lamb, they are to hold and manage for those beneficiaries to come.”
We have been given A TRUST.
You give a trust to someone while they are still alive so they can still ask questions, so you can be crystal clear about what you want done.
So, we have been granted a trust - and the grantor, the Great Grantor, has a plan for you and He wants you to come forward and ask questions - not stay in the back of the church, but come forward and ASK QUESTIONS so we know how to manage the trust!
We’ve been given authority - we have been given a TRUST DOCUMENT. And that document has plans all laid out. And He has named you as a trustee.
Message translation: 1 Corinthians 4:1-4
Don’t imagine us leaders to be something we aren’t. We are servants of Christ, not his masters. We are guides into God’s divine secrets, not security guards posted to protect them. The requirements for a good guide are reliability and accurate knowledge. It matters very little to me what you think of me, even less where I rank in popular opinion. I don’t even rank myself. Comparisons in these matters are pointless. I’m not aware of anything that would disqualify me from being a good guide for you, but that doesn’t mean much. The Master makes that judgment.
It’s your job to be a GUIDE to the mysteries. We’ve all had a guide show us how to find Jesus, and now WE are the guides.
Complete Jewish Bible: 1 Corinthians 4:1-2
So, you should regard us as the Messiah’s servants, as trustees of God’s secret truths. 2 Now the one thing that is asked of a trustee is that he be found trustworthy.
A trustee should be found trustworthy. What’s the job of the trustee? To manage and hold the assets. He has authority over the asset, to do something with it - not bury it, but to do something with it. We have been given a mystery, and He wants you to do something with it, because you are a guide. You are a trustee.
Those who have been given a trust - what is required? Prove faithful to managing the asset.
Those who have been given something - most trustees haven’t earned it, they have been given something. Each trustee shouldn’t get haughty over what we have been given - it’s been given to us to share with BENEFACTORS. That’s everyone in your sphere of influence! God has entrusted YOU in these circles FOR THEM - hold the asset as a treasure FOR THEM.
What’s required of a trustee? To hold and manage for the beneficiaries. It’s not for you. It’s bigger than you. You are in the work for the beneficiaries.
The Lord is saying “I trust you.” People share things with us and trust us. God put something within us, something natural, to connect with others. In trust. We put layers and expectations on top of that, but if we remember that God is the grantor, we will remember we didn’t earn any of this - but what we have, we can freely give, like Peter!
God is the Great Grantor, and He has named us as trustees. And sometimes we feel like pretty bad trustees. We did not earn this. But He sees us through Jesus. He has given us the ability and the authority that goes along with being a trustee.
What has been required of you? To be a trustee to be proven faithful. To be a guide - or a STEWARD. To steward well. We have been entrusted with something, and we are to steward it well.
Think of a guide to a historical house or museum. If they are excited about it and tell the story and tell what it means to them, they can engage others. If a guide just kinda says “well, here it is, whatever,” that’s not being a very good guide. We all have different ways to guide people through different passions, different experiences. To steward the Gospel in the best way to introduce people to the Great Grantor.
Message translation: 1 Corinthians 4:1-4
Don’t imagine us leaders to be something we aren’t. We are servants of Christ, not his masters. We are guides into God’s divine secrets, not security guards posted to protect them. The requirements for a good guide are reliability and accurate knowledge. It matters very little to me what you think of me, even less where I rank in popular opinion. I don’t even rank myself. Comparisons in these matters are pointless. I’m not aware of anything that would disqualify me from being a good guide for you, but that doesn’t mean much. The Master makes that judgment.
We need to do the work. Jesus did the work. We have to do the work He has given us to do. Jesus said “it is finished” or in other words “Oh Great Grantor, I stewarded the best I could and I guided them, and that work is finished.”
There comes a time when the work of the trustee is done. There will come a time when we will come into account for what we do with the trust.
1 Chronicles 28:5-20
5 Of all my sons—and the Lord has given me many—he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. 6 He said to me: ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. 7 I will establish his kingdom forever if he is unswerving in carrying out my commands and laws, as is being done at this time.’
8 “So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever.
9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 10 Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”
11 Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts, its inner rooms and the place of atonement. 12 He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the Lord and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things. 13 He gave him instructions for the divisions of the priests and Levites, and for all the work of serving in the temple of the Lord, as well as for all the articles to be used in its service. 14 He designated the weight of gold for all the gold articles to be used in various kinds of service, and the weight of silver for all the silver articles to be used in various kinds of service: 15 the weight of gold for the gold lampstands and their lamps, with the weight for each lampstand and its lamps; and the weight of silver for each silver lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each lampstand; 16 the weight of gold for each table for consecrated bread; the weight of silver for the silver tables; 17 the weight of pure gold for the forks, sprinkling bowls and pitchers; the weight of gold for each gold dish; the weight of silver for each silver dish; 18 and the weight of the refined gold for the altar of incense. He also gave him the plan for the chariot, that is, the cherubim of gold that spread their wings and overshadow the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
19 “All this,” David said, “I have in writing as a result of the Lord’s hand on me, and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan.”
20 David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.
David, all his life, dreamed of building the temple for the Lord. He wanted to build a place worthy of the Lord.
But God said “it’s not for you because you are a man of war…because you have spilled blood, it would not be right for you to build this temple.” In addition, David had lots of sons, but God said “your son Solomon will be the one who builds the temple.”
We have been entrusted, we have the mysteries revealed, and we must prove faithful. Solomon was the trustee of the temple. “I have named a trustee. It’s not you. I have a will and testament, and I name Solomon as a trustee.”
Verses 9-10
9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 10 Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”
BE STRONG AND DO THE WORK.
Be strong of yourself? How can you be strong? Ask the Lord and He will help you! Seek Him, don't reject Him. Just focus on Him…”do I have your attention now? Ask Me and I will help you...do I have your attention now? I have named you as a trustee…do I have your attention now?”
Every day we wake up and have to build something. Every day we have a trust to prove faithful in.
BE STRONG AND DO THE WORK. Give your attention to God, Solomon, and keep your focus on Him. God is saying to each one of you, “I have chosen you as my trustee - and you don’t have to figure out what that means! Ask Me My desires!”
Verse 12:
12 He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the Lord and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things.
David was modeling for us: there were plans and instructions for what would happen and how to carry out those plans. WE HAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS! It’s in the Book…follow the instructions!
Ask Him! Don’t do the thing before you ASK HIM about the thing!
You’ve been given the opportunity to be a guide into something that has been planned and has instructions. You are a steward to what is in the Book. And many won’t read the Book…but they will read you! So be strong, and do the work!
Go read this in Chronicles and study. There is something for each one of our lives in this. David said “I have the plans and instructions and the resources.” David had gathered everything. He had skilled workers ready to go. He had built up Jerusalem.
In our own church at CCC…Apostle George did the work. He built things up, he gathered plans and instructions. We have records of the work he did…and the gardens are coming. They weren’t George’s to build - you are named as trustees. SO BE STRONG AND DO THE WORK.
God has given you a legal agreement, access to all He has. You are heirs to all of this, and He is saying “be good managers of all of this.”
Culmination of the four parts of all this:
The four things we’ve been looking at:
We’ve been entrusted with something.
He has revealed things to us.
There is a requirement.
We must be proven faithful.
He has given us the plans, the instructions, the resources, the workers. Ask Him - and then be strong and do the work.
We, the trustees, we are taken care of. And now we can freely give what we have been given to the beneficiaries.
Verse 19-21
19 “All this,” David said, “I have in writing as a result of the Lord’s hand on me, and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan.”
20 David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.
And where is the plan? In the WORD.
Jesus was building a temple…IN YOU. It's about YOU as a living temple. Jesus came with plans and instructions and built the temple IN YOU. He was a good steward of that building, in you as a repository of these things. And He trusts us, we are built into the trust.
What’s required of you? To do the work. What’s the work? That which is required. Just obey - it is written. Don’t add to it.
BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS AND DO THE WORK
Each one of us has to ask because each one of us has work to do. So go ask, and do the work yourself. He is revealing the mysteries if you ASK. Prove faithful to give your attention to Him - and He will help you do the work. Give Him your attention, and He will give you the ability to do the work.
End of the 1 Chronicles passage
19 “All this,” David said, “I have in writing as a result of the Lord’s hand on me, and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan.”
20 David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.
This world will come to an end at some point. But He has a plan, and He doesn’t change.
Do I have your attention now?
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