Invest Faithfully and Productively

This powerful lesson on investing faithfully challenges us to rethink what it means to be stewards of God's resources. At the heart of this teaching is Jesus's Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25, which reveals a profound truth: God has entrusted each of us with gifts, abilities, time, and resources—not for our own glory, but to advance His kingdom. The faithful servants who doubled their master's money weren't praised for the amount they earned, but for their faithfulness in putting what they had to work. This distinction is crucial. Whether we've been given five talents or two, the reward is the same: 'Well done, good and faithful servant.' What matters isn't the size of our portfolio or the impressiveness of our career, but whether we're investing everything—our vocations, our families, our daily work—into eternal purposes. The wicked servant's failure wasn't just laziness; it was fear masquerading as caution. How often do we bury our talents in the ground, afraid of failure or rejection, when God is calling us to step out in faith? This lesson also beautifully connects to Proverbs 13:22, reminding us that a good person leaves an inheritance to their children's children—but that inheritance isn't just money. It's faith, wisdom, character, and a legacy of kingdom investment. When we think eternally, our priorities shift from accumulation to multiplication for God's glory.

Key Points:

• All resources—time, talents, gifts, and money—belong to God; we are merely stewards entrusted with His possessions
• Faithful stewardship is more important than the size of the return; both the five-talent and two-talent servants received the same commendation
• Investment should be strategic and kingdom-minded, asking "What can I do today that will impact my children's children?"
• Leaving an inheritance includes both positive legacies (faith, wisdom, financial security) and negative ones (debt, sin patterns)
• Fear and laziness are closely connected and prevent faithful stewardship
• Any vocation can glorify God when done faithfully—work doesn't need to be "ministry" to honor Christ
• Practical financial wisdom includes using employer 401k matches, obtaining life insurance to protect family from debt, and avoiding accumulation of debt that burdens loved ones
• The eternal perspective should shape present investments—focus on what will matter in eternity rather than temporary wealth accumulation
• Religion becomes dry when reduced to mere ritual; true faith involves active trust and obedience to God

Scripture Reference:

• Matthew 25:14-30 (Parable of the Talents)
• Proverbs 13:22 ("A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous")
• 1 Chronicles (reference to inheritance in the Promised Land)
• Colossians 3:23 (Working unto God, not unto man)
• Ephesians 6:4 (Raising children in the nurture and discipline of the Lord)
• Romans 1 (Natural knowledge of God and moral accountability)

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Transcript

 Welcome back, welcome back.

We've got the fifth lesson for you on financial discipleship.

This one is investing faithfully and productively, or we might even say profitably.

And so we're gonna reflect on

 couple of parables.

So there's a parable in Matthew that Jesus tells and Luke also records it.

They're a little bit different.

We're going to read the Matthew one.

And then we're also going to look at a Proverbs, right?

Leaving inheritance to your children's children.

 And we're going to look at that as it was recorded in Chronicles.

So this is, they're recording this for Chronicles.

This is after the exile, right?

The exilic or the exile of Israel.

So basically recording through all of the kings of Israel.

And so like, okay, why are we going to look back to look forward?

And what is this about?

 And specifically, we're gonna tie this into, yes, we're gonna talk about monetary investment.

We're gonna talk about investing with your land, with the things that you have.

But I think more importantly, we're gonna look at what are all of the ways that we're leaving an inheritance?

And more importantly, what are we investing in

 profitably for the kingdom of God, specifically for the kingdom of God.

And so I'll just start us off and then I'm gonna hand this over to Aswan.

Invest faithfully and productively, multiplying resources for Christ's kingdom.

And obviously we started this with,

 All of this is the Lord's anyways.

All of this is God's anyways.

So that's a great place for us to start is to begin with that.

And we are merely stewards, but we are actually stewards.

And we're actually stewards of the time, the talent, the gifts, the skills, the abilities that God gives us, as well as the monetary material things that he gives us as well.

Jesus commends the faithful servant who puts the master's resources to work.

 He we invest wisely, not out of greed, not because we want to have all this money, but out of faith in Christ so that what God entrusts to us bears fruit for his glory and his eternal purposes.

But that doesn't mean that we can't have faith.

 Much, right?

God takes care of even the beauty of the lilies of the field.

He takes care of the birds and they're out there alone and unafraid in nature.

He makes them beautiful.

So how much more would he give to us?

He's not gonna give us a serpent when we ask for bread.

He's not gonna give us a rock when we ask for bread.

So Aswan, what do you got?

 Well, there's several places I could take this one.

I mean, first of all, we do have to acknowledge that it is lesson number five.

And it has been an incredible, incredible journey to kind of see that we're at the end of it.

Hopefully we can make sure we're staying in touch and figuring out more things as we move forward.

And it's the perfect place to start when you're talking about when you're talking about leaving

 some inheritance and leaving a particular thing that doesn't necessarily have to be money.

It was about two days ago.

Now, for those of you who do not know, I do teach at a school and I'm the sport and fitness coach.

They didn't have that position before I got there.

So I didn't have to go through the teacher certificates and all that.

So I always look at that job as a

 as a blessing because there were things that my colleagues had to do that I didn't just have to do.

But on the flip side, the kids really look up to you.

So when I say they look up to you, they pay attention to you quite a bit, right?

So I had a really scruffy beard a couple of days ago.

I got kind of lazy with it.

And one of the kids said, Mr. Osborne, not to be mean, but are you getting a haircut soon?

No.

 So immediately I went to a barber and it was interesting because I've gone to that barber before, like when I first moved out to Palm Beach.

But I didn't realize that he now has his son cutting hair right next to him.

So I go there and I ask him, hey, do you have cash app or whatever?

He goes, no, I don't got it, but my son can take it.

 And he was about to lose the sale because I didn't have, I mean, luckily I had a card on me and all that, but it's interesting to see that when he started cutting here, he probably didn't know what cash app was.

You have to go to the ATM, get your money out and, you know, do that thing.

But now that his son is working with them and he's able to say, Hey dad, you could take money through cash app where you could use your square.

People got debit cards and things like that.

It's, it's so, and I'm bringing that up because it ties so well into this versus to where

 Sometimes it isn't necessarily money directly.

It's you building something for your kids.

It's you building something to where you could work with your younger generation or work with your son to where who knows what that kid is going to do.

Who knows?

He may not be a full-time barber or cut hair for the rest of his life, but he now has the knowledge to be able to have the skills to do some the way who maybe his working part-time could start up his college fund doing something.

 being productive and giving back to your younger people and to the people that are gonna be coming up after you.

That's what this verse is saying.

And that's what anybody who has a job, anybody that's getting paid, anybody that's getting a paycheck can do.

You do not wanna spend your money and put it into situations where it's not being returned.

One of the things that the book does say as well, the verse that I love is that God's word does not return void.

It does not return void, all right?

And it's the same thing when you're thinking about

 how you are going to whatever money you're getting i'm not here to judge what the number is but there's something you're making and there's something that you could be giving back and understanding if you've listened throughout this entire series none of it is yours anyway none of it is yours anyway so how are you going to make sure you're giving something back so you can have an experience and i mean listen this is a i i haven't seen this barber in a couple years but for him it's probably become the norm but i can only imagine how rewarding it is

 for him to be cutting hair next to his son all day, you know, going through, I mean, it must be an unbelievable feeling to be able to know, Hey, I built this thing for him.

It's thriving in business.

We have a ton of barbers.

We have walk-ins coming in.

It's in an area that's not so friendly, you know, but at the end of the day, we're being productive as it pertains to what it is we do.

So that that's really where I want to go with that person.

 Yeah, no, that's amazing.

Yeah, because I think a lot of times there's kind of two ways you take it.

One, well, so I have to invest and make great returns on my dollars.

I have to build a huge storehouse and then give all of that storehouse away to church or to local ministries or to global ministries or whatever.

So that's one.

Yeah.

 Not saying you can't do that.

You can do that.

That would be God honoring.

But that isn't the only way, right?

What you said is perfect.

And then the other is like, oh, well, I have to go to seminary.

I have to be a preacher.

I have to preach God's word.

I have to do.

And so those are the only two ways that I can invest in what God has gifted me and steward that to his glory.

And it's like, no, plumbing as well could be to God's glory.

Being a barber can be to God's glory.

And you can.

 Through those trades, through those skills, leave an inheritance to your children's children.

And man, how rad is that?

Yeah, I'm cutting hair next to my son who's cutting hair and we both love it, right?

And we are giving, we're serving our community through the cutting of hair.

 Well, that goes back to the importance of percentages, because again, I wouldn't, listen, and we're just, I don't know that he does this personally, but this would be something if you knew that that 10%, hey, you teach your son, hey, 10% goes particularly to tithing church, you know, 10% goes to the church, not to do it to get something in return, but to do it because you want to keep that faith.

You want to understand, hey, I'm serving the community in a certain way.

 you tie that in.

And again, we can't guarantee it, but I know that the church community wants to support people that support them.

Hey, you need a cut.

This is what we do.

And that's the blessing.

I mean, there's so many things I've seen in that.

I mean, I've seen some of the barbers, they have their sons there.

I mean, there's some barbershops, they're like, look, if your son is too young, you're not watching him.

You better figure out a way to get a babysitter.

But I've seen them become kind of like family to say, hey, I know Deuce.

That's like my little boy.

So, you know, hey, he's two years old.

We all gonna watch him, make sure he's not, you know, we don't have to,

 have a barber leave because he doesn't have the babysitting money.

And then you have to go sell dope or sell drugs and do the things that you would be doing it late.

Just get productive.

That's what a lot of these shops are.

And it doesn't have to be glamorous work.

This is what I want to tell people.

It does not have to be glamorous work.

I'm telling you from my heart.

We're in a Memorial Day weekend.

 And there's there's tons of families out there, tons of things going on, especially out here in South Florida.

It does not need to be glamorous work.

I remember, you know, last year I went to Naples and I remember it was like people that were cleaning up that were getting ready for the Memorial Day weekend, you know, making sure things were painted, making sure the streets were OK.

 make all the maintenance work that you hate doing.

But hey, they're making enough money on it from this weekend to where they can leave and give back something that's important.

So that's a really, really important thing to understand, especially on a weekend like this one, where there's a holiday going on, there's barbecues going on, there's all sorts of things going on that you got to really appreciate the fact that you were able to do it.

 Yeah, no, that's, that's a hundred percent.

Yeah.

And so I'll, I'll jump in.

So I've read, we read, we read this during kind of the, the promotion of these lessons and we, we talked about just being a good steward.

And so I want to, I want to kind of adjust the focal ring on this a little bit.

And so

 I used Clyde Snodgrass was kind of a funky name, but he does, he did incredible work in, in exegeting the parables of Jesus.

And so I'll, I'll kind of, I'll nod to him a little bit and we'll, we'll look at kind of what he gleaned from that and, and see if we can carry that forward in our investment.

But, but thinking about this, I,

 Kind of 40,000 foot view looking at this.

The way I see my life, and I would encourage and challenge any Christian to see this in the same way.

Think about what are the...

 yes, day-to-day things that I can do to invest in the kingdom of God, to invest in leaving inheritance to my children's children, to invest in whether it's money to have that money make more money or material goods, have those things make money.

But more importantly, to give to the body of believers that we have, to give to the community that is around those body of believers, to give to

 the lordship of christ because it's all under christ's lordship anyways right as it says out here jesus christ is right now king of kings lord of lords he has authority over all of it right he owns all of it and so what am i doing strategically so what are my like what am i going to invest in in terms of things that i need to learn right to be able to

 grow the kingdom of God to in in honor of God in faith in God's promises that yes this is his but there are people out there that are lost they're confused they believe they're believing lies right they're not turning to the Lord and so what are things that I can do to invest into that is it investing into my church is it investing into a school right as a teacher and I teach as well for the same for for that same reason I'm investing because I believe it's a

 strategic move to invest into the next generation and the generations that come after for God's glory.

 What are things that I can do with my vocations that God has gifted me or the vocation that God gifted me, even if it's plumbing or it's janitor or whatever it is, like you said, it doesn't have to be glamorous so that I'm building the kingdom of God.

And so thinking about it, man, and so think about it, I think the best way to think about it long-sighted, right, far-sightedly is to think, what can I do today that will affect me

 my children's children.

So what can I do today that will touch my grandchild, my grandson, my granddaughter in the future?

And if you don't have grandchildren, if you don't have children, then you're in the perfect position.

You can invest now for that future child and for that future child's children, right?

 And man, when you start to think about it like that, it really does shape and shift what you decide to put work into today.

Wait, so I just said a bunch and I said I was going to read the scripture, but let me turn it back over to Aswan and then I'll read the scripture.

No, you nailed it.

I think...

 You hit it when you said people are lost because when they hear that tithing, then they hear God, too much of it is being pointed in the direction of religion.

Too much of it is pointed in the direction of groups and cliques.

And it's not easy to get out of that place, especially when you've been lost in it, when you are so used to, I mean, I'll give you a perfect example.

I won't put her name out there, but

 There's a lady I used to train her.

I'll put the name of the school out there.

The name of the school is St.

Thomas Aquinas.

And I went to it.

It's a Catholic school, a type of Catholic school that I went to in Maryland.

And they have a rich tradition.

I mean, number one in football for years.

They're out in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

 And I used to be a boxing trainer right around that area.

So a lot of the alumni would come in and it was all St.

Thomas Aquinas Raiders and stuff like that.

And they had they had three girls and she was recently dealing with a separation from her husband.

So I jokingly asked her one day, I said, so are your daughters going anywhere but St.

Thomas?

She goes, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

 I'm like, what if they wanted to maybe, you know, maybe Cardinal Gibbons?

No, they're going the same time.

Then this is when they were like young, young, young.

So it's hard to pull people out of the mindset of, no, they're going to that school because they've already gotten so invested in it.

And that's, again, Catholic school, religion school, those types of things.

So when you're talking about

 being lost.

There's some people that are so far out there to where you can try, but tell that lady she's not sending her daughter to St.

Thomas Aquinas.

It's not happening.

But at the same time, you understand that the power, like the question is not to be angry about it.

The question that you have to ask yourself is,

 what exactly is St.

Thomas Aquinas doing to have that kind of influence over people?

And then you ask yourself, what am I doing?

What am I investing in to make it so what I believe is ethical, what I believe is right, I'm going to be offering the service.

So again, me, the services I was offering, the boxing lessons,

 This is a lady, again, she's been in abusive relationships, she's dealing with a divorce, she's doing all these things.

So just punching and doing these things, that's helping her get through whatever she's getting through.

So and I bring all that up because people are lost and it's almost inevitable for you to be lost at some point.

 Aaron and I, I'm sure during our day can find ourselves lost at some point.

Nobody's just like immune to getting lost.

Question is, how are you making sure you're including God in that relationship with God in your journey to where when you stray off, you're like, hold up, God, come on.

 Bring me back.

Bring me back.

Just yesterday, I almost lost it.

I'm telling you, I deal, I work with a lot of people.

I cannot stand.

And I was this close.

I went to the bath.

I said, God, come on, man.

Bring me back.

Bring me back.

Bring me back.

Come on.

I got a lot.

I got so much to look forward to this weekend.

I have so much things going on.

You're not going to do this.

Came back.

And I just like, look, I'll deal with it Tuesday.

I'll deal with it Tuesday.

So that, that part about being lost is hugely, hugely important to emphasize because it's inevitable.

You're going to, it's going to happen.

 Yeah, that's a fact.

And I don't necessarily think religion is bad, but I think that what you're saying is if the religion is dry bones, right?

So if the religion is merely just, hey, if I just check these boxes, then I'm good.

If I just do my stand up, sit down, kneel, stand up, sit down, kneel, go eat some wafers and drink some wine, and then I'm good.

 I learned that when I went there, it was four years of me doing it.

And if you asked me, would I go back to that same school?

Within a heartbeat, I would go right back.

I lived through the same thing because I don't think that these are...

 ill intended people.

I think it's just a natural progression of human beings to where you got to start somewhere.

Like, I mean, one of my favorite books is Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.

And it was recommended in that school.

If I were to go to a public school, they don't have teachers that

 You know, get into you like that and make sure you read it and make sure you understand and connect it with athletics and everything we're going through.

So you just got it.

You got to take it.

And the takeaway from that book is you got to live in it.

You got to live it.

You can't run from it.

You can't be angry about it.

You just got to accept the fact that this is what it is.

Do not judge people.

OK, this is the big thing.

 Do not judge people like the lady I'm referring to before.

I do not judge her because I understood, hey, you're talking about someone that has had generations go through that school.

So, of course, again, it's not a bad thing that religion, if she's had such a positive experience with it, you're not going to judge people.

But again, somebody with a different experience, who knows?

The big thing is not to judge people.

I cannot overemphasize that one.

 Yeah.

And, and I think, I think in Christ, right.

We're called to have good judgment, to be wise, to be discerning, right.

Wise as serpents.

And, and so, and so in Christ, you know, we can, if we're lost, right.

 uh prayer like you did right um that it's like and and why did why it's not just when we're lost it's when we're overjoyed and experiencing great greatness as well as when we're lost and in the doldrums and like why lord what is happening and we do that because god commands us right to to pray and and uh thank the lord you found a little bit of grace a little bit of patience and you're like hey

 future me is going to deal with this, right?

I'm going to deal with this on Tuesday because right now I'm going to do things that I will probably regret.

Thank you, Lord, for giving me that space.

And so, and so that's why I'm going to turn to this parable.

So this is Jesus's words, right?

Jesus, God incarnate.

He's like, he is the wisest person that has ever tread the earth.

We know that because he is God and,

 the incarnate God.

And he is sharing kind of a hard, kind of a hard parable to hear there, but there's some obvious nuggets that we can pull.

And then there's some, I think more interesting nuggets that we can pull.

And I think we'll get to it.

So Matthew 25, 14 through 30, right at the end, well done, good and faithful servant.

That's what we're all looking to achieve.

We are all believing in,

 in faith, in God's promises, walking toward that well-done, good and faithful servant.

So the parable of the town starts like this.

For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants, you and I, in this case, maybe.

But remember, this is a man traveling to a far country.

This is not God.

 and delivered his goods to them.

And to one, he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability.

Okay, this man is smart.

He knows his servants.

He knows how they're gonna do.

So he, boom, boom, boom.

And immediately he went on the journey.

Boom, so he leaves.

 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents.

And likewise, he who had received two gained two more also.

But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money.

 After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents saying, Lord, you delivered me five talents.

Look, I've gained five more talents besides them.

His Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant.

You are faithful over a few things.

I will make you ruler over many things.

Enter into the joy of your Lord.

 He also who had received two talents came and said, Lord, you have delivered to me two talents.

Look, I've gained two more talents beside them.

His Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful over a few things.

I will make you ruler over many things.

So the one with five, the one with two gets the same reward.

 Note that, right?

That's huge.

Because of their faithfulness, right?

Enter into the joy of your Lord.

Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

And I was afraid.

I went and hid your talent in the ground.

Look there, you have what is yours.

 But his Lord answered and said to him, you wicked and lazy servant.

You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed.

So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers.

And at my coming, I would have received back my own with interest.

So take the talent from him and give it to him who has 10 talents."

 For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will have abundance.

But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away and cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 So that's kind of gnarly.

And I want to adjust our focal ring on this just a little bit.

Because before we talked about stewarding what God gives us, which I think is good.

And I think that's obvious.

So failure to use a gift or a talent results in its loss, right?

 Such statements may be true, but this parable is not about positive thinking and use of abilities.

The quote law of increase with which the proverb Matthew 25, 29 and Luke 19, 26 is concerned in is concerned is the use that one makes of the message of the kingdom.

So the theme of faithfulness must be brought directly into relation with Jesus teaching about the present and future kingdom.

 And so we're all aware of God and morally and accountable to God just by nature, Romans 1.

But then if we encounter the gospel, the kingdom through Christ, knowledge of God's reign and salvation brings with it added responsibility.

To accept the kingdom and its salvation is to accept a trust.

 right?

A trust that God is giving us.

It enlists one as an agent on behalf of the kingdom.

So by its nature, if you are a disciple in Christ, you are now an agent for the kingdom in Christ's army with the indwelling of Christ, who is the Holy Spirit, right?

Who indwells us.

And all those so enlisted will be rewarded or judged in terms of their faithfulness.

 So that's what's happening here.

It's more about faithfulness in what God has gifted you, right?

Than it is about necessarily turning a profit.

But if you are faithful, then you will return a profit on whatever it gives you, whether it's children, whether it's material goods, whether it's money, whether it's whatever it is, and all to God's glory.

 So once again, the theme of responsibility for action is emphasized.

And so it's not a works-based faith.

We don't have to do this in order to be saved.

We are saved in order to do that thing, in order to invest faithfully and invest productively or profitably as we read here in this parable.

 So there's a couple of things that need to be mentioned as well on this, because when you when you try to bring it down to the secular view and you kind of bring it out in the worldview, a lot of people, especially we again, I work in the employee development business.

My platform is all about employee development as a licensed financial people I work with.

 They think by doing more, they're becoming more rewarded.

They think by doing more things and having more responsibilities that somehow you're becoming more valuable to the organization.

But it's like my favorite verse, Colossians 3.23, you're not doing your work unto God, you're doing your work unto man because you're trying to impress human beings.

 What this is saying is just as many talents, if you learn to delegate and you learn to trust people with a system to say, hey, if I know my lane is this and you are good at this, I'm going to trust you to do your job because I'm going to have faith that, hey, that is the job that you're going to do, whether it's more valuable to know that or not.

 That's not up to me.

I know what my lane is.

This is what I see in a lot of your work culture.

A lot of the people that are struggling financially, it's because you're trying to do too much.

You're saying to yourself, OK, let me just go get another job or let me just go get a higher salary.

Let me just go get something that is going to make me more money.

More money is never going to come, guys.

All right.

You're never going to have enough.

I'm just telling you right now, you can never have more than I mean, you can never have enough.

All right.

 Those particular number and the people that have that mindset have developed this thing where they're not being faithful in a system.

And it's because of everything they're saying there is that you're saying, okay, let me, let me just read it out here where it says.

You wickedly, but the Lord, and I was afraid, here it is right.

This line right here.

I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground.

Look there.

 there you have what is yours.

But the Lord answered and said to him, you wicked, lazy servant, afraid and being lazy, very tied in.

It's interesting how that ties together, folks, right?

Being afraid and being lazy.

It's a really close connection because I know I'm hurting somebody when I'm saying this.

Some of you are saying, hey, I don't want to do this because I know you're afraid.

 You're afraid.

You say, oh, I'm too lazy to do this.

No, you're afraid of you can actually go out and run that marathon or you go out and do that workout or you go out and take that race, do that job.

And if you go to that CEO, go to that boss, go to wherever you need to go to, you're afraid that you might get a rejection, which is not a bad thing.

And if you do get rejected, it's just, hey, you know what you got to do.

But the way he answered, you wicked lazy servant, you knew that you knew that.

 I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seeds.

So you ought to have deposited my money with bankers.

And at my coming, I would have received back my own with interest.

So take the talent from him.

See, when people see that side of you, that lazy and being afraid.

 then the people that matter, I'm talking about the people that matter, you start to kind of move them away and they want to work with people that are more so willing to take risks and willing to actually put the money where they know the original thought is.

That's why, and again, you brought up religion earlier, that's one of the reasons where religion actually does become a good thing because that's when I started to learn about original sin, the difference between original sin and some other sins out there and things of that nature to where there's certain things that

 are going to come with human nature but you got to have the faith that when they come up uh you're able to have a god you trust god enough that you're able to move on to the next phase yeah yeah that's that's good and so um and so from from there so if we're we're kingdom minded right and we're seeing this okay we're stewards god owns all of this and i am going to you know

 put my hand to the plow, not look back, right?

Not be afraid of man, but I'm going to fear God, love God, and then start moving in that row, right?

With my plow, so to speak, whether I'm plumber or barber or teacher in fitness or in banking or in commodities or insurance, whatever it is, right?

But now, okay, now I'm doing this unto the Lord.

I'm investing unto the Lord.

 Jump into Proverbs 13, 22, a good man.

I want to be that good man.

I want to be that prince, right?

That has princes and princesses, right?

That have what?

That leaves an inheritance to his children, right?

 And it doesn't stop there.

Children's children.

But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

And so you see, that's the reverse of what's happening.

So the lazy, wicked servant that was afraid, right?

 put it in the ground and then what happened?

Well, his wealth, boom, got taken, the little talent that he had and given to the one that actually was glorifying God in his act toward building the kingdom.

And man, I wanna be that.

And so what are the ways that we can leave an inheritance?

What are the ways that we can invest?

And so we're talking financially, we're gonna look toward things that have stood the test of the longest period of time and turned profit, right?

 We're going to also want to protect assets

 protect our assets, and maybe diversify so we're not just in one spot.

So then if that loses, boom, we lose a bunch of money there.

We don't want to be the one that's merely just keeping all of our money under our mattress or all of our money in a sock or all of our money in a checking account because inflation will eat that away, right?

This is happening today, right now.

And so...

 Let's invest it into things that are at least going to beat inflation and do it not to gain a bunch of money so it's mine, precious, my precious.

No, do it so that I can leave an inheritance to my children's children.

If you're in a company and they do a 401k and they do a match, we'll at least put that

 percentage for the match, right?

Because then you just immediately double your income, right?

On that particular 401k.

And so you don't have to use that to, hey, one day I'm going to be lazy and sit on a beach and drink my tithes.

Like in my mind, it's like, I don't think I'll ever stop working unless the Lord is like, hey, I'm going to chop off your legs.

And even then I'm going to figure out a way to work, right?

To glorify God.

And so

 in some way, shape or form, I'm gonna serve my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

And I'm gonna go try to find lost sheep and tell them the good news that, hey, God's in charge.

Jesus Christ sits on a throne right now and is in charge of all this stuff.

And if you listen and obey, right, if you submit, man, you can be a part of this incredible covenant of grace as well.

So yeah, I'll get off my soapbox, but-

 Well, while you were talking, I looked up the definition of inheritance because I'm big on definitions.

I learned that through Dre Ball when a business coach I hired a couple of years ago.

I'm actually going back to his mastermind in a couple of weeks.

But the definition of inheritance.

All right.

It's the transfer of property titles.

Here's the big one for debts.

 or debts upon the death of an owner or the passing of a genetic trait from parents to offspring.

You can leave an inheritance of debt.

That's right.

Sin and corruption.

We are not promised tomorrow.

We are not promised tomorrow.

We don't know.

We can't predict the future.

But if you rack up a bunch of debt, that is you leaving an inheritance, leaving the people, your loved ones that loved you,

 that's on you all right when people hear inheritance because it's in the mud because it's it's kind of always used in a in a positive positive but you gotta understand it's also can be you can leave debt as well all right yeah don't do it do not do it whatever whoever you brought up behind you does not deserve to have to be dealing with your debt and your decisions that has to be enough to move you it has to be enough for you to make you do something past it past it yeah

 yeah and if you're given children um right like that these children are far more valuable than any money um and we know that because there's a war in the cosmos for their very soul there's not a war in the cosmos for the the most amount of bitcoin or the most amount of money

 Or the most amount of insurance, you know, whatever.

It's for the souls.

And so, you know, Ephesians 6, 4, right?

To raise our children up in the paideia, in the nurture, in the community that is talking about

 the law of God that is talking about the gospel constantly, right.

Raising them up in the discipline and nurture of the Lord.

And so the Lord, who's the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Right.

And so we could do that.

We could do that.

Well,

 or we could do that not well.

And so this is just as much about investment into their lives, investment into these students' lives that you get to see that you said, I mean, they look up to you and then they're like, oh man, you're getting a little, you're getting a little lazy with that buzz, sir.

It's like, hey, noted.

I'm gonna go, I wanna honor you and go clean up, right?

In the same way, like I wear a tie every day when I teach and I'm one of,

 very few teachers that do um and that's not a policy on the school the school's not like you have to wear a tie they're like you can't dress like a bum you know but but uh but you don't have to wear a tie but i wear a tie because it's like man i want to honor you students like your parents have given me 55 minutes of time that i can give you anything and everything that i have give you some sort of an inheritance give you some sort of knowledge give you some sort of

 And so I want to honor you and I'm going to honor you and honor the Lord by dressing accordingly.

I'm not going to be a schlub.

I want to be the best example that your parents could fathom, right.

That gets to stand before them and teach.

So, yeah.

Yep.

All right.

Now the, yeah, go ahead.

 Well, so, yeah, so the application is this, right?

So it's managing.

And so I'll skip the first Chronicles piece, but it's essentially we're going to just hit on the same things, right?

And this is their inheritance in the promised land, right?

 Like, how do you keep it?

Well, you seek out the commandments of the Lord that you may possess the good land and leave it as an inheritance.

Well, that same exact thing applies to us.

Like we're gonna follow his commands.

We're not gonna do anything corrupted and wrong because we wanna leave

 the land, this property, this home, this money, this whatever, these good things, right?

And get rid of the bad things and not leave the debts and not, you know, and get maybe some life insurance to cover your home payment.

If I were to go out and God forbid, you know, I get in a car accident and I die on 95, like I don't want my wife, like they're already going to deal with enough because they're going to mourn

 hopefully, right?

They're going to mourn the loss of me.

My wife is, my children are.

And so the last thing I want to do is, A, also on your morning of my death, here's all of this debt that I've accumulated.

Here's this mortgage.

Here's these credit cards.

Here's whatever.

And it's like,

 Well, so there's ways to, I can get life insurance.

And if that, God forbid that happened, it's not unwise, right?

And that, yeah, maybe the chances of that are low and that's what the insurances are banking on.

That's fine.

But it's like, but if I have this debt, I want it...

 If I'm gone, because right now I can work and I can pay that debt off and I can pay that mortgage and do all of those things.

But if I'm gone, like my wife is right now, she's not in the workforce.

She is doing the hardest work raising our children, right, every day.

And so I want to...

 And so think about this managed savings and investments, prayerfully, ethically, always asking how they, how can they advance the gospel of the kingdom of God and serve others in Jesus name?

Worship doesn't have to be a seminary degree, right?

Uh,

 And so worshiping God with the way that we invest our time, our talents, our gifts, our abilities, and our treasure, like our material goods and monetary goods.

It doesn't have to be a seminary degree.

It doesn't have to be teaching at a Christian school.

It could be plumbing.

It could be personal training.

It could be homemaking.

It could be raising a family faithfully.

Yeah.

 And I'm glad you brought up that example because so many people are living in that way.

And it's not even because they have bad intentions.

They just simply don't know.

This stuff is not taught in the traditional setting.

And this is why I get one of my verses probably repeated every week.

But those who seek the word are the ones who are going to get value out of it.

You got to start seeking the word.

You got to start seeking the word.

Do not seek money again.

 Start seeking it.

And so many things are going to start to become really apparent for you, especially in the application process.

And it's very much very affordable for you to really protect yourself.

You just got to make sure your priorities are where they need to be.

And that's that's what we preach.

That's why we started this class.

That's why we started the session.

That's right.

 I know we're here to just simply show you, again, there's no pressure.

There's nothing that we're asking of you at all, other than to open up your eyes and realize that there's opportunities available for you to keep yourself protected if God forbids what to happen to you today or tomorrow.

 Yeah, that's right.

And, and remember to have that link, you can click, click some time with Aswan, right.

And he can, he can walk you through some of that stuff.

And then shoot.

Yeah, we have, this is investing faithfully and productively and we've got next week, we've got work diligently and honestly serving Christ in our labor.

And then the last, the final one, which is kind of tying a bow on it and, and doing that last point to, Hey, go, go schedule time with Aswan.

He,

 We'll walk you through, but it's seek wise counsel, trust God as, as your provider and keep an eternal perspective.

And so, man, like that's the thing that I want to end with.

Like when you think about this eternally, like for more of your existence eternally,

 you are going to be so much less concerned with money, right?

Because you will be on that side of the glorified state in, in with God in, in paradise.

And then ultimately new heavens and new earth.

Right.

And so you're not going to be, we won't have this thorns and thistles and by the sweat of our brow to even provide for our family, which is what we have to experience right now.

Um,

 this side of glory right but but we get to do it in christ we get to do it faithfully we get to do we get to do these things in in in his promises by looking at his word and and so man when you think about that eternally it's like okay so what am i investing now that will stay with me will stay with my children will stay with my children's children for eternity and and

 That's going to be the thing.

And if you're able to make some money along the way and you're able to give and help with those dollars that you profited, man, good for you.

That is amazing.

But the well done, good and faithful servant comes more from you investing in those eternal things over, you know, making sure that you made a certain amount of profit from that dollar investment.

 Right.

Which is, which again is not a bad thing, but let's, let's not fall in love with money and lose our love for God.

Let's use, use the money that God has given us to glorify him all the more.

 Yeah.

And I always go back to, you know, if like anybody that's listening, go back to when you were a kid and you didn't really know how money worked.

You didn't know at all.

You just woke up.

Parents took care of you or somebody, some adult was hopefully, you know, your guardian.

Hopefully they did a really good job.

Well, well enough job.

 to where you weren't you know nine or ten years old thinking about bills or anything like that um go back to that place and then think about how it would feel to have made the right investments put your money in the right accounts and make sure you're you're secure enough to go back to this place but i don't really need to allow money to consume me the way i see it just really really destroying families and destroying good things i can just again wake up do what i have to do and care about the things that i know i need

 Because number one, I put my faith in God.

And because of that relationship I have with God, I've been able to make the right ethical investments to where I'm making enough that I need to keep my community and my family protected.

And I could just live.

I could just live.

That's a beautiful place to be, guys.

It goes back to being nine or ten years old.

Again, I'm a football guy, so I drive everything to football.

When I was playing youth football, nothing else mattered.

That was it.

That was it.

It didn't matter the way it mattered.

It still didn't matter.

Scholarship.

 None of those things mattered.

It was just you're going out there playing and having fun.

So that's what I'll end with.

And that's a beautiful feeling to have.

Amen.

Great ending.