Well done, good and faithful servant

12 min read

Introduction

Last service of the year at the Glory of Christ Church in Kobe. Pastor Kitayama Susumu opens his Bible to Matthew 25:14-30, the parable of the talents, and delivers a message whose title echoes the master's own words: "Well done, good and faithful servant." His voice is calm, almost familiar. The pastor begins by counting the graces received that year, then widens the lens: what matters is not how many talents you received, but what you do with them alongside the Lord. And to close out 2025 and step into 2026, he offers you several simple, Word based anchors for living a faithful and fruitful life.

Outline of the message

1. The parable of the talents: Matthew 25:14-30

  • A master goes on a journey. He entrusts his property to three servants, each according to his ability: five talents, two talents, one talent. Then he leaves.
  • The one who received five talents goes right away, puts them to work, and gains five more. The one who received two talents does the same and gains two more. The one who received only one talent digs a hole in the ground and hides his master's money in it.
  • When he returns, the master settles accounts. To the first two, he says the same thing: "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master" (Matthew 25:21, 23).
  • To the third, the one who hid his talent, he says: "You wicked and slothful servant." The talent is taken from him and given to the one who had ten.
  • The question in the parable is not "How much did you receive?" The question is "What did you do with what was entrusted to you?" The master does not compare the servants to one another. He evaluates each one on his own personal faithfulness.
  • The third servant does not lose out because he managed poorly. He loses out because fear paralyzed him. He preferred to bury rather than to risk. Pastor Kitayama sees here a warning for the whole year ahead: do not let fear bury what God has entrusted to you.

2. Live every day with the Holy Spirit

  • The pastor returns to the church's verse for the year, 2 Corinthians 4:6 to 7, and expands on it: "Let us pursue this reality, being with the Holy Spirit." Not as an idea stored away in your head, but as a real companionship.
  • His practice: say out loud, throughout the day, "Holy Spirit, today too, you are with me." When you leave for the office. When you do the housework. When you get in the car. When you go to the supermarket. When you make your sales rounds.
  • This simple statement opens the eyes of your heart. Little by little, you begin to notice God's presence in a thousand small details: a thought that arrives at exactly the right moment, a well placed idea, an unseen hand that spares you an accident on the road.
  • Without the Holy Spirit, all that is left is your own strength. And living out the Bible on willpower alone ends up looking like the religions of the world: sincerity, effort, good behavior, but not the power of God.
  • Jesus himself lived out his ministry with the Spirit: "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power" (Acts 10:38). If Jesus himself walked with the Spirit, how could you do otherwise?
  • What radically sets the Christian apart is not morality, nor religious effort. It is the Holy Spirit with you. Always.

3. Confess life, not fear: the example of Job

  • Job was almost flawless in the Lord's eyes: "There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil" (Job 1:8). An extraordinary compliment coming from God.
  • And yet his life was turned upside down in one night: his children died, his possessions were plundered, his wife turned her back on him.
  • Job himself gives a key: "What I fear befalls me, what I dread comes upon me" (Job 3:25). He had exemplary piety, but his heart constantly carried a hidden fear.
  • Kitayama draws a simple and serious lesson from this: faith does not work only in the positive, it also works in the negative. What you confess often, what you dwell on, you end up drawing toward yourself.
  • Drive out negative faith. Do not say: "I will never manage, my parents were like that, so I will be like that too, I will not be happy." Stand on the Word.
  • Repeat out loud with the pastor: "In the face of difficulty, I am victorious. In the face of trial, I am victorious. In the face of the problem, I am victorious. There will be detours and turns, but my life is a life where victory is guaranteed."
  • God did not put you on this earth to break you. He put you here to bless you, and so that his glory would be shown through you. Pain and injustice are real, but they are not the goal: going through them to give glory to God, that is the goal.

4. Your mouth shapes your life: Proverbs 18:21

  • "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits" (Proverbs 18:21). Your life is shaped by what you confess.
  • Jesus said it differently: "According to your faith be it done to you" (Matthew 9:29). In other words, it will be done to you according to what you confess day after day, according to what comes out of your mouth each morning.
  • We are human, there are days of weakness, days of unbelief. The pastor does not deny it. But come back: realign yourself with the Lord, stand on the promises of the Bible. God's promises are everywhere, they are written for you, for your blessing.
  • In 2026 too, align your mouth with the Word. Not empty positive thinking, but faith confessed out loud, based on what God has already said.

5. Be a peacemaker: in your family, your church, your work

  • Wherever there are people, there is tension. The pastor knows this: it is impossible to live without a problem coming up sooner or later.
  • His principle is simple: "A problem of size 1 is settled at size 1. A problem between two people is settled between two people." Do not blow up what should stay small.
  • If you start bringing in A, then B, then ten others to witness a disagreement that only involves two people, you turn a private disagreement into a collective scandal. That is not Christian wisdom.
  • Jesus says: "Blessed are those who bring about peace, for they shall be called children of God" (Matthew 5:9). In Christ, you are already a child of God. So you are a peacemaker. That is not optional, it is your identity.
  • "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). Wherever the kingdom advances, peace dwells.
  • Proverbs 17:1: "Better a dry morsel with peace than a house full of feasting with strife." Inner peace is worth more than material comfort.
  • In your family, your church, your work, your school, be someone who brings calm. Not a troublemaker. Look at the person sitting next to you and tell them: "You look like a peacemaker." It is a wish, and it is a blessing.

6. Go and carry the gospel: Mark 16 and Romans 10

  • "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation" (Mark 16:15). It is impossible for you to go into the whole world. But your own world (your family, your coworkers, your neighborhood, the places you move through), is already a world.
  • "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:16). And this word: "They will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover" (Mark 16:18).
  • "And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs" (Mark 16:20). This is also your promise: the Holy Spirit works with you as you go.
  • Romans 10:13 to 15: "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!'"
  • This is the verse that, more than sixty years ago, in high school, struck young Kitayama deeply and pushed him to give his life to the Lord: without someone sent, no one hears, without an announcement, no one believes. Even today, you are that one who is sent.
  • Start by praying for your family: "Lord, may all my loved ones come back to you." Many still have someone close to entrust to Christ. Do not let it be just a pious phrase, let it be a daily intercession.

7. Bear the fruit of the Spirit: Galatians 5

  • "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22 to 25).
  • This fruit is not a performance to produce. It is the character of the Holy Spirit appearing in you as you walk with him.
  • Other religions try to tame the flesh through discipline, training, and asceticism. It is sincere, but impossible. Sin cannot be tamed by human willpower.
  • The Holy Spirit's role is to deal with your flesh. Your role is to hand it over to him. "I hand over to you my flesh, my cravings, my self," that is the only prayer that matters. You do not just think it in your heart. You say it.
  • Pastor Kitayama closes with his own personal prayer, offered as a model: "Heavenly Father, Son Jesus, Holy Spirit, good morning. Thank you for the eternal love of the Father, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, the forgiveness of sins, the grace of atonement, and the way of resurrection. Thank you for the sweet fellowship with the Holy Spirit. I welcome you, Holy Spirit. Sit on the throne of my heart. I hand over to you my self, my flesh, my cravings, please take care of them."
  • And this pastoral gem, worth keeping for every decision: "Holy Spirit, today again, let us think, plan, judge, decide, and act together, for the glory of Jesus Christ. And if, on some important matter, I am about to make a wrong judgment, a wrong decision, a wrong move, teach me. Show me. Or stop me." A prayer of assurance: positive, yet protected.

Key takeaways

  • The master does not compare the servants to one another, he evaluates each one on personal faithfulness. Your question is not "How much did I receive?" but "What am I doing with it?"
  • Fear buries talents. The third servant loses out, not through poor management, but through paralysis.
  • Walking with the Holy Spirit is a practice. Say it several times a day: "Holy Spirit, today too you are with me." Awareness of his presence grows through confession.
  • Your mouth shapes your life. Confess victory, not fear. Aligned with the Word, confession becomes living faith.
  • A problem of size 1 is settled at size 1. Do not blow it up. Be a peacemaker, you are a child of God.

Personal application

  1. What "talent" (ability, opportunity, relationship, time, resource) has God entrusted to you this year, and what have you done with it? Is it sleeping in a hole out of fear, or is it at work?
  2. What negative phrases often come out of your mouth? Write them down, then replace each one with a confession grounded in the Word.
  3. In the week ahead, at what specific moment will you say out loud, "Holy Spirit, today too you are with me"? On the road, in the kitchen, at the office, at school, pick a fixed moment.
  4. Is there a "size 2" dispute that you have let grow to "size 10"? What can you do this week to bring it back to its true size?
  5. Who in your family are you praying for to return to Christ? Set a daily prayer, short and specific. Do not give up.

Verses cited

FAQ

How can you practically walk with the Holy Spirit every day?

Pastor Kitayama suggests a very simple practice: say out loud, several times a day, "Holy Spirit, today too you are with me." On the road, at work, while cooking, while driving. This confession awakens your awareness of his presence. Little by little, these are no longer just ideas in your head, but a concrete experience: a well timed thought, an idea that arrives at just the right moment, protection on the road. This is what sets Christianity apart from other religions: we do not serve God by our own strength alone, we walk with his Person.

What should you do if you are living through a year marked by fear, like Job?

Job said: "What I fear befalls me, what I dread comes upon me" (Job 3:25). Negative faith attracts negative fruit. Kitayama invites you to break this habit and to confess life according to Proverbs 18:21: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." Repeat: "In the face of difficulty, I am victorious. In the face of trial, I am victorious. In the face of the problem, I am victorious." Your mouth is not casting magic spells, it is aligning with God's promises, and your faith grows stronger.

How can you keep peace when a conflict threatens to spread?

Pastor Kitayama's principle fits in one sentence: "A problem of size 1 is settled at size 1. A problem between two people is settled between two people." Do not let it grow. If you bring in A as a witness, then B, then ten other people, a dispute between two becomes an affair involving ten. That wastes time and wounds the church. Jesus says: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God" (Matthew 5:9). You are a child of God, so you are a peacemaker. Do not become a troublemaker.

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