In this sermon, Joshua Daniel focuses on the importance of being ready for the coming of the Son of Man. He emphasizes the need for faithfulness and watchfulness in serving God and feeding His people. Daniel highlights the suffering and oppression faced by the people of southern Sudan, calling for the church to shine the light of God's word and provide nourishment to those in need. He criticizes the negative influence of the media, which often promotes a diet of crime and deceit, and encourages believers to be faithful and wise servants in their communities.

Welcome to the Lord's Challenge, our weekly quarter-hour broadcast, bringing the reality of God's Word to all people everywhere. Stay tuned as Joshua Daniel challenges us to a walk with God and the corresponding impact that will have on our lives, families, and society today. Let us turn to Matthew chapter 24. Let us see 44 and 45. Therefore be you also ready, for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh, who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord has made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season. Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. You know, friends, this principle of watching over the nation, your neighbor, and maybe the community around you, and the nation. God wants people who will faithfully do so. Today, security services are in great demand everywhere. We need a good sound gatekeeper. We need a good storekeeper. We need somebody who will be a pharmacist, who will be in charge of the drugs of the hospital, and see that the doctors don't pilfer. What? You know, my dear friends, these are the great demands of this day. Because in every situation, pilferage, deceit, mishandling of accounts, you know, these are just such horrible days. How can a bank cook its books? How is that possible? You know, the bankers that I know, the managers of banks, they sit and balance the books before they leave. They can't leave the place till they have balanced the day's books. And how come suddenly it is discovered all the country is in huge debt? How are they ever going to pay it? I don't see any possibility. And nobody wants to cut a little cut here or a little economy there. No one wants it. Here, the Lord commends this servant that he was faithfully feeding the people. My dear people, a mother has a very special way of feeding the family. Here is a sick child. She needs a particular type of nourishment. Here is a convalescing person. That person needs another careful diet to recuperate. Now in a household, there are all kinds of people, and here especially, we are told of the servant whom his Lord has made ruler over his household to give them meat in due season. The household of God today is suffering, which is the most recent nation that came into being, southern Sudan. One of those men whose dad was assassinated, being an important politician in the south of Sudan, after hearing the message somewhere, he was interested that the inauguration of the state should have a sound preaching of God's word. But alas, once again, southern Sudan is subjected to a lot of oppression from the north. Unfortunately, we don't see very much of it reported. But when children are dismembered, when hospitals are bombed and strapped, my, you know, it looks as though the people have lost their conscience. They are bereft of a conscience, right under their nose. 43rd verse, but know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Lack of watchfulness. You see, faithfulness and watchfulness go hand in hand. You can't see somebody suffering. See, if someone was bleeding to death right there, and I was nonchalant and said, well, you know, our brother will get well by and by. What does it show? I have no eyes to see. I have no ears to hear his pleas for help. And I don't have the feeling that I should lift him, my neighbor. You know, my dear friends, it's one of those amazing things in history that a small congregation in Yorkshire decided that they could not have freedom of worship in England and moved to Holland, where they did enjoy freedom of worship, but soon they found that the plurality of religious persuasions and moral codes in Holland was a danger and a threat to their families and their growing children. So they said, we're getting out of this place. You know, the authorities in Holland wanted them to stay because they were such exemplary citizens. What did they do? They decided to cross the ocean. What? For the sake of your faith, you'll cross an ocean? Half of them were dead by the first winter. But you see, what were they trying to do? They wanted a faith and a freedom to worship God and no interference by the state. So when America came into being, they said the state shall not make, the Congress shall not make any rules, laws concerning religion because that was the state of England and the oppression in England. They had fled from that oppression. Now, how do the judges in America interpret this historic constitution? They say religion must not interfere with the state. So keep your religion to yourself. Complete private matter. It's a false interpretation. Now today, nobody seems to watch over the faith of the nation. So I say to people, hey, if I go out and marry 22 women, would you call me a prophet? By what authority would you call me a prophet? And would you say that every word that I wrote was dictated to me by Gabriel or someone? And amongst these wives, if one was only nine years old and one was actually the wife of my son, would you call me a prophet? No one took challenge. No one to ask a plain, honest question. Oh, my dear people, we are not causing the light to shine. Have you ever seen a lighthouse with a light burning at ground level? What's the purpose of a lighthouse? It has to send out its beams right across the ocean, right across the perilous coast. We are not causing the light to shine. We are not feeding the people. Look at the mental diet of today. Any commuter train, you see people buried under the newspaper. In most cases, some people sleep. All right. OK, what kind of diet? A horrible diet of awful crime and deceit and scams and dishonesty. Here the Bible speaks of a faithful, watchful servant who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his Lord has made ruler over his household. Let us pray. Oh, Lord, our God, to whom shall we go? We know that faithfulness is not a part of our nature, not mine anyway. Standing fast in the midst of buffeting or the roarings of the lion, our adversary, forgive us, we beseech you. And oh, grant that we too may be faithful. We ask in Jesus' holy name. Amen. The speaker on this program was Joshua Daniel. He would like to know what your response has been to the Lord's Challenge and would be delighted to hear from you. Please write and if you have burdens you want to share and want prayer, do let us know. You can reach us on the World Wide Web at lefi.org or else you can mail us at The Lord's Challenge, PO Box 14, South Lyon, Michigan, 48178. Or in Canada, PO Box 31002, Windsor, Ontario, N9G2Y2. We are continually reaching out to millions in many countries and we appreciate and we need your continuing prayerful support.