Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Spiritual Generational Wealth | Battle for the Family
Ever wondered if your childhood dreams of wealth have overshadowed the true blessings in your life? Join us as we explore the profound concept of spiritual generational wealth, inviting you to shift focus from material riches to eternal values that truly matter. In this thought-provoking episode, we reflect on our aspirations to be as wealthy as Uncle Scrooge from DuckTales and how these desires might detract from the spiritual fulfillment and joy that come from a deeper relationship with God. As we grow, the conversation naturally progresses towards the legacy we leave behind—not just in terms of material inheritance but also the spiritual heritage that shapes future generations.
We are thrilled to welcome guest artist Aaron, who shares the inspiration behind his painting based on the parable of the talents from Matthew. Through his artwork and personal journey as a father and a Christian, Aaron highlights the vital elements of faith and family, reminding us of the importance of nurturing and teaching. Our discussion delves into the steadfast faith of biblical figures like Joshua, emphasizing the power of sacrificial love and the true value bestowed upon us by God, far beyond material possessions. Together, we ponder over the joy of entering into the master’s presence and the transformative power of God’s word in our lives.
This episode also brings to light personal stories of faith and financial struggles during missionary work in France, demonstrating how the presence of God is the ultimate form of wealth. By comparing financial investments to spiritual growth, we encourage a mindset shift towards evaluating our spiritual 'return on investment' and fostering a Christ-like character for future generations. As we break cycles of brokenness and establish a legacy of faith, the sacrifices and commitments we make today can profoundly impact our children and grandchildren. Through prioritizing our relationship with God and being faithful stewards of His gifts, we lay the groundwork for a future filled with true fulfillment and spiritual prosperity.
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to battle for the family. Today, we're talking about this idea of spiritual generational wealth. This week I was thinking about this question about when you're little. How often people ask you what do you want to be when you grow up and different people have different answers. Right, everything was like that. But I could tell you what I wanted to be when I was little. I wanted to be rich. I wanted to be really rich. That's what I wanted to be. When I was little, I wanted to be rich, I wanted to be really rich. That's what I wanted to be. And kids now you know they want to be. I want to be a YouTuber, I want to be an influencer.
Speaker 1:I was like, forget all that, I want to be rich, I want to have deep pockets. I'll be like Uncle Scrooge, because Uncle Scrooge has all the money. How do you know what I'm talking about? And so I would ride my bike home from school and I would get a snack and I would hang out and I would be watching DuckTales and see Uncle Scrooge with all his money. Uncle Scrooge has like 90 feet worth of gold coins. You guys, it's a crazy amount of money.
Speaker 1:And I was thinking about all this in context and it's funny because my parents, man, they came from very humble beginnings and they worked hard and they provided for us and gave me and my brother more opportunities than they had. But in my mind I was only comparing myself to other people that had more stuff than me, and so I was like, oh man, you know, like thinking about so-and-so who had a new bike, or this person who had this opportunity, and I wasn't considering all the blessings that I had, like the fact I could come home and have a snack, because there was a home and there was a snack. You guys know what I'm talking about and I wasn't thinking about it like that. I was thinking about you know, how can I be like Uncle Scrooge and get all the money? That's what I'm talking about. I need all the money. I need.
Speaker 1:You know cubic yards of money underneath my feet, and I think some of us that's kind of where we get stuck too is that we think about this is somehow going to make me happier and better and fulfill me in all these different ways. And we don't take into account all the blessings of God that we already have, and this becomes an interesting thing whenever you think about all the gold that you would try to like stockpile in your life and somehow it was going to make you better and to attain all these things. And what I realized was that the more that you want, the more that you're not happy whenever you get it and you need more. I'm going to stand here awkwardly until you agree with me, but the problem with looking for something that doesn't fulfill you spiritually and in the whole of your life is that you just need more of it. So it doesn't matter that there's piles and piles and piles of gold underneath your feet, because you'll need more, because it doesn't fulfill your life spiritually.
Speaker 1:And so many times we try to fill that hole in our life that's supposed to be a relationship with God with all sorts of stuff. It could be things like money, it could be relationships or other things, and so we're out there chasing this stuff and trying to be something that will attain this thing, when really it's about our relationship with God and the fulfillment that is really only found in Him. Really, the question that we should be asking ourselves is for your legacy, how will you be remembered? And I think we get to this question many of us as we get a little more refined, a little bit older. You guys got the older part right.
Speaker 1:As we get older, we start to think about legacy and what we'll be remembered for. Not just what we will go and be, because maybe we've already become something, but the idea is like what will we be remembered for? Not just what we will go and be, because maybe we've already become something, but the idea is like what will we be remembered for? What will our legacy be? What we're going to hand off to our children and our children's children, what's going to be the heritage of the situation, and not just that, but the inheritance. What am I leaving behind for them? What's the influence? And so often we start thinking about all these things and we start thinking monetarily and things here and trust and all this other stuff. And those are all good things. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's good to look out and be those people who are forward thinking.
Speaker 1:But that's not the only thing we should be focused on. In fact, if we're really truthful about it, then we, as people who are living for God, should have our minds and hearts in heaven about eternal things. When we start having an eternal perspective, then it changes what we're actually going after. It changes the end goal and if we're starting with the end in mind, then it means it's going to change what we focus on about the spiritual generational wealth that we can pass on to not just our children or grandchildren but the sphere of influence around us. And see how it changes it for the better. Friends, that we would battle for the family, that we would be those intentional as living as an example of Jesus. You say amen to that. Amen. Today we have a friend named Aaron who is painting for us. Give a hand for Aaron today. Man, amazing, aaron is painting this. I want to have Aaron come and share kind of a little bit about his art and what it means to him.
Speaker 3:Pardon my mess, pardon my mess. So this painting that I'm working on today is just kind of to me a representation of the parable of the talents in Matthew. And you know, I think me as a father, like it was really awesome to see the baby dedication and everything like that. I really felt this like kind of click with me, even though I already knew what I was going to kind of paint beforehand. But in that parable a master gives his servants money while he goes away to travel and the parable outlines what each one of those servants does with that money. And one of them is fearful of his master and he actually just takes some money and you see this guy's pointing down he just buries it to give it back to him because he's like I'm afraid I don't know what to do with this, so he takes no action at all. And then there's another servant who isn't given that much and this made me think of, like me, how I felt in times of my life where I feel like I don't maybe have much that I can give or offer.
Speaker 3:I'm still working on this here, but he actually has a clock in his hand which is going to represent time, and I think that's something that everyone could find time to give. He also has flowers over his eyes and those flowers are kind of representative of nurturing over time. I think there's a lot of talk in the Bible about gardening and agriculture and stuff like that, and so that makes me think of that there. And there was one servant who was given 10 pieces, 10 coins. One servant who was given 10 pieces, 10 coins, and he took that and he did the most with it, and to me this represents, it could represent someone who is like a teacher. So I said this in first service. A lot of times I use hands as the representation for work. So this guy has mouths in his hands that are teaching and I think too, like seeing the dedication made me think of my role as a father and how both of these things are just like crucial in the household. So, yeah, that's what.
Speaker 1:Amazing. We have a hand of appreciation for Aaron today, using his talent for God. See, that's how we see ourselves very much here. Cornerstone is people who are in need of a savior, people who are not perfect but are following after Jesus. Our ambition is to be more like Jesus, so we use this imagery of Christ walking with his disciples because none of us has arrived anywhere. All of us are still on that journey and people can relate to that and we're on that journey, following after him.
Speaker 1:We talked about in this series this idea of what are you battling for, and we talked about how Joshua made a stand. Even as other people in the children of Israel went in and they started following other gods. Joshua said no, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, and he made this statement of faith that was declarative. It was saying listen, I believe in God and I'm going to stand for that. I'm going to fight for it. We talked about what it means to fight for something and not against something, and how we're fighting for our families. We also talked about last week what it means to take one for the team and to be sacrificial, even in our own selves, so that other people can know the love of God we talked about out of John 15, this verse that says greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down their life for his friends. And so it's that sacrificial love of what it means to say yes to Christ, to have our center of our value in Jesus. It's not around what we own, it's not around what we've accomplished. And because that's true, then if any of that stuff is taken away, we are still the same value, and we know this. That's why it talks about when you turn the other cheek. There's no shame that someone's trying to attach to you, because you know your value, because it comes from God and not from what other people think. And that's the same thing about your cloak and your tunic and giving it to someone else because you can be get those things back. Whereas as we're trying to think about this in our own mind, we're always trying to get ahead and God is saying I have something greater for you if you'll live as an example for me.
Speaker 1:Today we continue in this idea of battle for the family. If your Bible is gonna move to Matthew 25, today I'm going to be looking at the end of the book there, at this parable here, said his master, said to him 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. Lord, we thank you so much for your word today. We pray over it. You would make it alive and be rhema to us, transformative and challenging. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Speaker 1:Battle for the family. And you can think about spiritual, generational wealth in this way that you can't give to someone what you do not have yourself. You cannot give to someone what you do not have yourself. And we understand this about passing things on to them fiscally. If we're someone who wants to pass things on to our children or grandchildren, if we're someone who wants to pass things on to our children or grandchildren, if we want to be a blessing to our community, then we have to be able to have that to give it. How many people know what I'm saying?
Speaker 1:And so if we want to be a person who's generous and is able to give in that way, then we have to live differently so we can live differently. Does that make sense? So you live like no one else, meaning living within your means and all these other things with good investments and good ideas and living within that constraint so that you can live like no one else and be generous like no one else, so that you can set up the future like no one else. Because you are living in that kind of mentality, you think about all the gold that we would try to surround ourselves with, and fiscally. That's all sounds, sounds great. But here's the thing that can all be taken from you. You ever heard of the tax man? See, it doesn't matter how much gold we have piled up, because uncle Sam will come and take a whole bunch of that right. It doesn't matter what country you're in. That's how it works. And so as we start to look at this stuff, we look beyond those things to understand that it's about the investment of, not just for ourselves but for the future.
Speaker 1:See, so much of scripture is focused on that idea. We see it in Luke 1, where we heard this back two weeks ago. Talking about, for his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. Friends, that's what throughout the scripture. A great wealth of theirs was not just what they physically had, but they understood that their family and their namesake, like what they put in motion was a great blessing Today, as we saw this family that was here and all the extended family. What a blessing from God. Each one of these children a blessing from God, each with their own story and narrative of what God's going to do in and through their lives, how he's given them unique abilities and talents to use for him. What a blessing because those things are investments for him in the future. And, as we see it that way, we start to change our mentality.
Speaker 1:So much of the scripture, the things we read. If you read in Psalm and Proverbs, you'll often see it says, lord, that you would save this generation. The prophets would write or Lord, that you would save me from this generation that's evil or Lord, that you would help. So the generations that would follow, lord that I know we've broken your heart, but forgive us, lord. We rend our hearts and not our garments. Lord, we draw near to you so that they can have a future and would not be cut off from the face of the earth. And I think that's how we feel as well. We understand that if we're gonna be those who make a way forward in the future for all of those who are behind us, then we too need to be those that are living that way. In fact, it means that if we're going to be someone who actually has the mindset that's correct, then we need to shift how we see the generations to come and invest in them the way that we too would want to know God, that we draw near to them with everything we have and so as living as an example for our children and our sphere of influence. They see us drawing near to God, and that's the example that they follow.
Speaker 1:How often as a parent or as an aunt or an uncle, or something you've said listen, do what I say, not what I do. And the kids are like like you, dumb, I'm gonna be dumb with you. You know what I do. And the kids are like like you, dumb, I'm going to be dumb with you. You know what I mean? No, that's not what we want. We want them not to have to go through our heartache, not to have to go through our brokenness, not to have to go through our mistakes. We want them to move forward. And here's the thing. If that's not the case and you want to somehow be more powerful or stronger or whatever than your kids, then guess what. That's not the kind of heritage that they deserve. They want a heritage that's gonna be a blessing for the future. And that's the tension that's here with this whole thing, isn't it? Because it's a tension in understanding of the generations to come Like for me, I'll tell you, like you know my folks, you know they gave so that I could have more than they had had every opportunity that they didn't have.
Speaker 1:My dad was working a paper route when he was 12 to make money. You know like he was up, you know, before the dawn, working super hard, working all the time, and they made a way for us to do different than that but, at the same time, still instilled in us this work ethic, this hard work ethic. And I think that's the tension that we experience right, because, as parents, we want to give our kids everything and, at the same time, we give them everything and we ruin them Because they didn't do the hard work that we experienced that made us come to the place that we're in. Does that make sense? So my dad, he would be like JT, you're going to go and change this alternator on the truck and I'm like I'm sorry what? I am not a professional mechanic. He's like cool story, here's some tools Go change your alternator. And I was like okay, so many hours later like many hours later you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like this is me under the truck with a ratchet, banging my hands all over the place because I don't know what I'm doing. But guess what fell off the truck? Other parts, including an alternator. We got there. You know, later my dad would be. He was like come, look at this real quick. You see this, this is a stump of a tree that was really large in the yard. I'm like, yeah, that's wow. Look at that. He's like we need this to get out of the ground. Like we, you like that, we need this to get out of the ground. I was like that sounds great. When do those guys come? And I'll point at it. I'll be like it's right here, I see it, here it is. He's like by we, he meant me and a shovel and a pickaxe coming out of the shed and digging it out of the ground. Anybody, anybody. And so this is my reality is that the way I learned hard work was doing hard work, and it was like a miracle, because later I would go to university in California and my friends who, like, were sponsored by everything right, parents on the chest, everything, everything, parents right. They were like well, how do you know how to do this. I'm like what are you talking about? Did you not have to take an alternator off of a truck? Do you not know how to dig this thing out of the ground? You know how to do your laundry. You know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:And there's a tension between adulting and responsibility and hard work and trying to be a blessing for the generations that follow. See, there's a tension there, and Celeste and I talked about it. It's like man, we want to be a blessing to our kids. See, there's a tension there, and Celeste and I talked about it. It's like man, we wanna be a blessing to our kids but don't ruin them so they're no good as they get to be an adult. And so there's this tension that's followed in all of these pieces that we wanna be those. If we're so intentional about that, then shouldn't we also be intentional about our spiritual life and what we talk to with our children, what we talk to with our grandchildren, what we talk to with our sphere of influence, that we would be those that are also helping others in the journey, in the preparation for what's ahead, If we know that there could be heartbreak ahead, if we know there could be hardship ahead. Better to have the skillset to overcome it than to be those broken by it whenever you could know better Friends. We wanna be those that are proactive, that start with the end in mind and are intentional about it. Look to Daniel. We talked about this before.
Speaker 1:Daniel says this Now. How great are his signs, how mighty are his wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. His dominion endures from generation to generation. This is Daniel.
Speaker 1:Daniel who is from the lineage of all of the great minds and all of the great blessing that God had brought to the children of Israel. This is Daniel who, in his own lifetime, even though he was blessed and he was intelligent, even though he was experiencing all these things, none of that was in Jerusalem, it was as he was being enslaved in Babylon, friends. He was taken away from the great city. They were taken away from all that God had done in their narrative, giving them the land by battle and establishing a kingship and having great names like David and Solomon. But because their hearts turned away from God, who was the source, then they ended up having devastation come to them because God took his hand off of them so they could learn to correct their hearts and turn back to him. That's why so many times when people go and find wealth monetarily here in life, then they don't need God anymore because they have money, but friends that we would understand that our wealth is not in the money. Our wealth is in the source of all things, which is God alone, and so that's why Daniel in truth can give worship to God. God is glorious, he is wondrous, his works are for me. Even in the midst of being someone in captivity in another country, he believes the promise of God, that God is faithful. Whether I believe it or not, whether I see it or not, he's still faithful from generation to generation and friends. That's true for you and for your family, just like it is in his day.
Speaker 1:Here's what I know is that as we talk about these things and we talk about family, that God cares about your circumstance. He cares about your family. He wants you to be united. He wants there to be forgiveness. He wants there to be a coming together in such a way that it's a passionate thing where there's a love there and not a brokenness. He cares for the one who's the prodigal in your family that's away from God. He cares about them, just like you do. He hears your prayers for them and friends. I can tell you, as an example of one of them they are not outside of the hand of God that he can bring them right back into himself that we would be those who are proactive and we are those who invest spiritually in what God has for our family.
Speaker 1:You see this picture of this nice family. They're all sitting here, nice and pretty and perfect. Look how smiley they are and I wonder about how often they really sat there before they got in a fight. You guys know what I'm talking about and that's real deal. That's how families work. Sometimes it's like you're sitting too close to me. Oh, you're gross. You didn't put on deodorant. You get the idea. The idea is that. So that's the thing we get tied up in is the nitty gritty of it, without having the mindset of the end in mind. If we have heaven in mind, we have this mindset for heaven in mind. It goes beyond, just like the way we think about it in paintings. It's like clouds and angels and like this. No, this is the spirit realm. This is the glory of God. It's the revelation of who he is as creator. It's beauty and wonder. It's all these things wrapped together, even John, whenever he has the revelation from the Lord.
Speaker 1:We see it in Revelation. It starts to talk about the new Jerusalem and all the heavens that are there. It says the wall was built of jasper, while the city was of pure gold like clear glass. It says in the 12 gates were 12 pearls and each of the gates was made of a single pearl, and the city, the street of the city, was pure gold like transparent glass. So think about it like this All the gold that we're fighting over here. Really, it's like we're fighting over the asphalt of heaven. We're trying to dig up all the concrete of heaven and fight over that asphalt of heaven. We're trying to dig up all the concrete of heaven and fight over that, and it's so insignificant to God that he just paves the street with it, because the wealth of heaven is not in its gold, it's in the presence of God.
Speaker 1:The scripture continues here and you see what it says. It says I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord, god Almighty, and the lamb, and the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light and its lamp is the lamb. He is the light, he is the truth, he is the glory, he's the wealth of heaven, he is it. All the other things that we have, all the other wealth that we try to attach to a name or to a bank account or some other thing, all of that will be taken or given or spent away. Earth will pass away, but the Lord remains the same. He is eternal, and so our life with him is eternal. And when we have that mindset after God, then guess what? That we are great in wealth because we're great in the presence of God and the purpose of God in our lives.
Speaker 1:I was thinking back to when I was a missionary and Celeste and I were really struggling in France financially. Man, it was tough because the euro at the time trading was somewhere around $1.60 for one euro. So it costs us $1.60 to buy one euro, and prices were very expensive in Paris. And so we, man, we just did without often, and I was doing a life group, and so I needed to take a train into the city, and so I was scrounging together coins to buy my ticket to get into the city. And as I was scrounging together these coins, man, I was like I was complaining to the Lord. I was like God man when I was young. I left a job where I was making way more money at 24 than I am right now, at 30, as a married guy with kids and living in Europe trying to do what you asked us to do.
Speaker 1:All I have is a pocket of coins and I really felt like the Holy Spirit just challenged me and he was just saying you are so much wealthier than you what you think, because it's not about what's in your pocket, it's about the presence that you walk in, which is the Spirit of God. That is something that someone cannot buy, they cannot bargain with and they cannot go and buy the time that it takes to be able to approach a holy God. So he came to us and to embrace the purpose of God for your life. It's so much higher a standard than anything you can put in a bank account or you can stack a mountain of gold, it does not matter, you can't buy it. So there, as a poor missionary with just a pocket full of a few coins, I was more wealthy in what really mattered than those of great wealth in a wonderful city like Paris.
Speaker 1:Friends, that we would change our mentality so that we could be those that battle for the family, have a mindset of Christ. Now, thinking from a business perspective, we often talk about our return on investment, our ROI, and this is something that we want to put our funds into working so that they have a greater yield than what they would do sitting there by themselves, right, and so we talk about this often, and this is something that is logical to do you go and invest your money. Every year. We have what's called inflation, so that means your money is less buying power this next year than it is right now currently. So what we have to do is have an investment higher return on your yield than what actually you invest at the time, so you can offset the amount of money you're losing every year. We following, and so in doing so, we have to be intentional to see what our investments will do, and that's why people track the stock market and they buy the index and they go do this and they go do that, and they try and buy the calls and the puts on different things, trying to invest so they have a higher return than they invested. Now others will go and take their money and they'll use that money as an investment in themselves and in what they're experiencing, and so they'll invest their money that way, and so we see both ends of the same idea.
Speaker 1:But what's interesting is that, whenever you start to really think about it from a heavenly perspective, what's the return on your investment for spiritual things? See, they're so much greater and higher because they don't get taken away by the tax man. They don't get taken away by inheritance tax. It doesn't matter. You don't have to, like, go and do anything to try to jump through hoops, to try to hold on to your pile of gold. No, guess what? Those are things that the Lord gives you as you're obedient to him. That it's a blessing from God. It's the hand of God upon your family here. It's not just that, but in the future, as we go into our eternal reward, it's something the presence of God and all the fullness of who he is is available to us A real return on an investment.
Speaker 1:You know we talk about it too as people who run business. You know, if you manage a team, then you might be someone who wants to look at key performance indicators, your KPIs, and in doing so you start to say, okay, is this person meeting up to the standard of what we're trying to do? Are they performing in this way? We do the same thing with investments, right? I look at my stock. Is it actually doing what I wanted to do, or do I need to reinvest a different place?
Speaker 1:Spiritually speaking, if you were the manager of you, would you keep yourself on your team? Spiritually speaking, how are you doing with your KPIs? How's your daily Bible reading going? How's your prayer? How's your forgiveness going in traffic? See, here's what I know is that we end up pretty quickly on the cutting block spiritually on our own team if we're being very harsh. What I love about this is that God is gracious. God is forgiving. He asks us to be the same, but what he calls us is not to live in that limbo, but calls us to a standard in himself, calls us forward to live for him, to be more like Jesus.
Speaker 1:And if that's what it's going to be doing, then, friends, that we need to look at our own lives and say what are these performance indicators in my life, how I can be more intentional in my spiritual generational wealth and what I'm passing on to those around me, to my children, to my grandchildren and the Lord be praised other generations that follow. What does it look like for me to invest my time with the Lord so that I have the character of Christ? So, where I would normally snap at them, now I have the time to listen to them and it breaks a generational curse off my family because it stops with me and I'm saying no more of this, no more of this stuff. I'm not gonna fall into this addiction like everybody did before. I know how I was treated. I know the abuse I had. Guess what Stops with me.
Speaker 1:It's not gonna go forward into my generations. Guess what. I'm not gonna have brokenness in my life anymore. They're gonna walk forward in this stuff. They're going to understand what it means to go after the hard things of God because they're going to walk by faith and that's going to do something that stretches them and shoots them past what we could even do with all of our planning and our plotting and our graphs. God is greater, god is greater. And so, friends, the sacrifice you make today in your own heart and life, the sacrifice you make spiritually to be someone who says no, I'm gonna show my kids what it means to be in the house of God. I'm gonna show my kids what it means to be a person, a man or woman of God, to put my prayer time at a priority in my life so I can have the character of God. Friends, that's the investment the family will realize, because they get you, but they don't get you. They get the you version of Jesus. That's changing, and so what happens is that our children, our grandchildren, start to experience something different, another level of what God has for them, because you have set them up to take steps that are even greater.
Speaker 1:I tell you this I could never have said yes to Jesus as a missionary if my parents hadn't said yes to Jesus and modeled before me what obedience looks like. Our kids we've prayed over since the time they were little, just like these ones today, prayed over them, gave them to the Lord, and it's so hard not to try to take them back, because I know a plan and a purpose and a thing that I got great ideas. I think you should do this and God is like okay, are they mine or not? Okay? So we just fast and pray and ask the Lord to open up heaven in front of them, open up the doors of heaven in front of them and open the right doors and close the wrong ones, and that he would guide and protect and direct them, and even in the dark places, even in the valley of the shadow of death, he's not gonna lose them because he is with them. He's guiding and protecting them, just like he has for you.
Speaker 1:And so the generational wealth that you experience is greater because you get to see it lived out from those that you influence. By the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in your life and in mine, you can do greater things for you and for your heritage, for the generations to come, friends, that we would be good stewards of what he gave us. He talks about this in the Bible, how Jesus gives this example that Aaron very well put together today and talked about it's. He gives these three servants a piece of money and he says here, here's one, here's two, here's five, go and use it, I'll be back Now. He could have invested it himself, but he doesn't do that. He trusts them with the talent, and so they go and use that talent and they use it for him, and whenever he shows back up, they give back to him what the yield was on what he had given them. And so we pick up here in the scripture and it starts to give us an understanding of what that means.
Speaker 1:We see, the one that he gave five talents to had done something great. He had doubled it. And it said, he who had received the five talents came forward bringing five talents more, saying, master, you delivered to me five talents here. I made five talents more. His master said to him 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. Think about that for a minute. What's his reward? His reward is not the 10. It's the joy of the master. And the joy of the master is so much more than just the 10 because he had the money to give it to all of them, didn't he? So it's so much greater than just the little. And because he was diligent with the little, he put him over much. And we see the converse of that. The same thing happened with the one given two, and he did a good job. And he says the same.
Speaker 1:And so we see the third one comes, and it's just as Aaron explained he goes and he didn't invest it in the market. He didn't go in and even use it. In fact, he just dug a hole and put it in the ground. And so the master comes and says you ought have invested my money with the bankers. At my coming I should have received what was my own interest, like I could have done that. At least he says so. Take the talent from him and give it to him who has 10 talents, for the one who is given more will be given, and who has abundance. From the one who has, not, even what he has will be taken away.
Speaker 1:You think about that spiritually. If God gives you this opportunity, gives you a talent, he gives you these things and we squander it. Well, guess what? He can trust this other person with it, because they showed that they were a good and faithful ie consistent servant of God. And so it's not about the much, it's about doing something with what you started with. Not everybody's given the same talents, I could tell you. I have friends of mine that are. They're like the five talent, 10 talent person and I'm like man, you doing it. I'm going to start down here with what I got and I'm going to be faithful to this and see the Lord bless it and increase it. See, not everybody's given the same talent, but we're all called to be the same kind of investor in it, the same kind of in steward of it.
Speaker 1:That we would see something happen with what God has given us and friends that's true spiritually speaking and what we pass on to those behind us. That we be intentional with what God gives us, that they too can experience spiritual, generational wealth because we've been intentional to say yes, god, I see what you've given to me, I'm gonna be a good steward of it and see you bless not just me but the sphere of influence around me and my children and the generations to come. Friends, that we would be those that battle for the family. Today we have this opportunity to respond to Jesus, to say yes to him, and maybe you're here and you've never made a decision to do that. Today is your opportunity, friends. That's what makes us a Christ follower, is that we believe him, that we wanna be more like him, and so every one of us has had to answer that question have you embraced Jesus? See for us.
Speaker 1:We realize none of us can earn the grace of God. None of us can buy our way into heaven. It's not possible. And because a holy God requires a holy sacrifice. Jesus came and became that holy sacrifice for us. He lived the sinless life and he took the sin, the weight of the world upon himself and paid for it once and for all. In fact, he took your sin, he took mine, he took it upon himself and he died with that sin on him, so that we would not have to die and be separated from God for eternity. But the good news is is that he did not stay dead, but he has risen. He is alive. He's an overcomer over all these things. So we don't worship a dead deity, we have an active relationship with the living God. That's why the symbol of the cross is so transformative for us. It's so empowering, because, though it was meant as a symbol of fear, intimidation and power by the Romans, it actually was turned on its head as Christ took all of the weight and the sin of the world and he took it and he paid for it once and for all upon the cross.
Speaker 1:So for us we say Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are, lord. I believe that you lived this sinless life that you took on the sin of the world. I wanna invite you into my life, not just to be savior, but to be Lord of my life. The apostle Paul writes to the church at Rome and says it like this because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified. With the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Speaker 1:Friends, today it's your day of opportunity, your day to say yes to Jesus. I'm gonna ask everyone in the room if you just stand right where you're at and bow your heads. If you're online, wherever you are, you prepare your heart for what God wants to do. Take a moment, focus in on what he wants to say to you. Today, in this first service, people already making a decision to follow Jesus. I believe the same, for today, as Christians are praying for neighbors around them. Friends, if that's you, his heads are bowed here in the room.
Speaker 1:If you wanna make a commitment to follow Jesus, you wanna invite him into your heart and life. Maybe it's the very first time, or maybe you have made a decision in the past, but then you walked away from making that decision and living for him. Today, you can recommit your heart back to God. His heads are bowed. If that's you, if you'd raise your hand right where you're at today, say, pastor, I just want to be included in that prayer today to invite Christ into my heart and life. Thank you, jesus. See the hand that's there. Thank you, lord.
Speaker 1:Others raising a hand reinforcing their commitment to God, friends online making commitments to God. Thank you, jesus. Going to ask if all of us would just repeat this prayer after me. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you In Christ's name. I pray Amen, amen. Friends, we rejoice with you making a decision to follow Jesus today. What a powerful decision. Amazing If that was you. Hey, connect with us. We want to put some materials into your hand. You can connect to our team back here at the prayer banners, at the cafe or the welcome center. Want to be able to make sure you live this life after Jesus successfully.
Speaker 1:Today, as we come to this altar, we have this opportunity to worship.
Speaker 1:We're going to do so and we challenge you in this.
Speaker 1:If you have your family with you, if you have friends with you that you would come and make an altar with God, asking him to bless you and to open up opportunities for you to live for him and be empowered by his spirit, so that you can be those that pass on spiritual, generational wealth.
Speaker 1:Lord, we thank you so much, lord, as we come to your altar today. Lord, we thank you for your word, which you spoke to us. Lord, we thank you for the example you gave to us and the talents and, lord, the revelation you gave to John about how we should really have. Our focus is on you and on your presence. Lord, we give you glory and we thank you, lord, for helping us be good stewards of all you've put us in charge of, and so that we can be those, at the end of our time, that we hear well done, good and faithful servant. Lord, today, as we come together as friends or as families, lord, to your altar, we do so, lord, asking for an impartation of your blessing, an impartation of your guidance and wisdom, lord, for open doors in the right areas, for closed doors where we do not need to go. But, lord, in all these things, we give you glory and praise, and we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 2:We are so grateful that you've joined us this morning. We are having party with the pastor immediately following this. So if you've been a guest of ours over the last several weeks and we have not had the chance to meet you, our team is going to be in the room that is on the east side of this building, down the hall. Come and join us. It's informal, but we want to say hi, we want to answer any questions that you have and we just want to get a chance to meet you. It'll be just a few moments. If you have kids, grab them first and then come and join us.
Speaker 1:Did you guys enjoy Aaron painting today? What a blessing, so awesome. Thanks, man. If you enjoyed that, please let him know. I love how people are using their gifts and abilities for the Lord. Before we go today, we pray this blessing over us. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. We empower us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us. We pray this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen, amen. Know this. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. God bless you and have a great week.