Don’t Waste Your Life Part 2

One of the biggest things you can be afraid of as a farmer is a famine that destroys your harvest. After all, when you put work into growing crops, the worst thing to happen would be for that work to be wasted! In today’s message, Dr. Timothy encourages you to live a life that produces good fruit for Jesus! God’s Word tells you that if your life doesn’t produce good fruit, He will cut off your branch and toss you into the fire to be burned.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Truth for Transformation with Dr. Timothy Brown. You're about to hear a message from God's Word filled with biblical wisdom, practical insights, and life-changing truths. A message designed to inspire your faith and give encouragement.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

If you are faithful, it will lead to fruitfulness. And if you're not faithful, it's gonna lead to being stagnant. And I want you to think about is there such a thing as a Christian who doesn't produce fruit? The Bible talks about if you abide in Christ, you will produce fruit. So the modern idea of a Christian not producing fruit is foreign to scripture. So if you claim to be a Christian, I say this in a love and a pastoral heart, you should produce fruit. That's just a byproduct.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

One of the biggest things you can be afraid of as a farmer is a famine that destroys your harvest. After all, when you put work into growing crops, the worst thing to happen would be for that work to be wasted. In today's message, Dr. Timothy encourages you to live a life that produces good fruit for Jesus. God's word tells you that if your life doesn't produce good fruit, he will cut off your branch and toss you into the fire to be burned. Prepare your heart, open your mind, and get ready to embark on a journey of faith with Dr. Timothy. In the book of Matthew, chapter 25, as he continues his message, don't waste your life.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

We're in verses 24 through 27. Look at the parable. What happened? The first servant, what did he do? He buried it, right? He buried it and he made excuses. Now I want you to listen to his excuses. Now keep in mind, this is not what God is like. This is what the servant mistakenly thought God was like. And let's see if you know people that think God's like this. The servant thought the master's too strict, too rigid. He uses the word hard. I had to look that up in Greek. It basically means rigid. Is God too rigid? No, he's not. We'll explain that. The master expects too much from his servants. Notice the scripture: you reap where you do not sow. So he's saying, you expect too much of us. You're too harsh. You expect too much out of your servants. Sounds like he's on a complaining trip. The third thing he had a mistaken notions about God is he was so fearful he was paralyzed. This is an unhealthy fear of God. Now the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, but he had an unhealthy fear where he's like, I don't want to, I don't want to know what it's going to be like when he comes back. So I'm just going to hide what he's given me. I'm not going to use it. I'm just going to hold on until Jesus returns. Theology. Survey says, not a good idea. So I want to debunk what his excuses were. But before that, I want you to write this down. A wrong view of God always leads to wasted obedience. A wrong view of God always leads to wasted obedience. So here's the debunking of his excuses. God does have standards, but he's not rigid. So if your view of God is rigid, like God's going to strike me down if I don't do X, Y, and Z, I want you to listen to the words of Jesus. In Matthew 11, excuse me, Matthew 28. Actually, it's Matthew 11, verses 28 through 30. Jesus said, Come to me. Hear the beautiful words of Christ. Come to me, all you who are weary and burden. And he says, I will give you what? Rest. You're so burdened down, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. A yoke is what an oxen, two oxen would carry, a burden, a load. And he said, Listen, what you're carrying, he said, I want you to take my yoke upon you. My yoke is easy. So you're carrying all these burdens, but if you'll just carry my yoke, he says, it's easy. My yoke is easy, my burden is light. And you're like, that doesn't sound like the God I learned about, but listen, if you think about Jesus in the New Testament, when the lawyer came to him and said, which is the greatest commandments? They had 613 of them. Jesus said, Love God, love others. He summarized 613 laws into two. And Paul tells us in Romans that love fulfills the law. And by the way, Jesus fulfilled the law for us. We're now under this beautiful new covenant of loving God and loving others. In John 15, Jesus says, to abide in him. And if you abide in him, guess what? He's going to abide in you. And you're going to produce what? Fruit. So abiding is not struggling, it's not some bondage. It's it's simply being with Jesus. And the spirit-filled life is as you're with Jesus, the Holy Spirit flows through you. His yoke is easy, his burden is light. So I want to encourage you to lay aside your excuses. And I say this with all the love in my heart. Some of us have some pretty lame excuses. And what the servant that was lazy did, he made excuses. So I want to give you the top five excuses modern Christians have today. Are you ready? And if you are one of these excuses, I say this in love, but you've got to get rid of the excuses. Because if it's keeping you from faithfulness, if it's keeping you from investing what God has given you, if it's an excuse not to be faithful, not to be obedient, you just got to get rid of it. All right? First excuse, I'm not gifted enough. That's the excuse of the one talent servant. Listen, I've only got a million dollars, that guy's got five. I'm like, that's crazy, right? No, you are gifted. And the church needs a revival of one gifted servants. You don't need to have gift envy comparing yourself to the five gifted individuals. There's so much more gifted than me. No, no, no. Use the gift that God has given you. And when you look at the value of what a talent was, 20 years of wages, about a million dollars, that's valuable. And I want to look at every person that says I'm not gifted and say, listen, if God's given you one gift, that is amazing. Use your gift to build up the body. And all God's people said, Amen. All right, number two, I'm not disciplined enough. Well, if you're not disciplined enough, what are you gonna do to change that? I know that's hard, right? It's hard to be disciplined. Number three, I don't have the right connections. Well, if you don't have the right connections, it means you need to get connected. Don't use that as an excuse. Get connected to the body. I've heard people say, well, I just don't know the right people. Well, be friendly, get connected. Number four, I don't have enough time. How many of you have used that excuse? Listen, how many years was Jesus' earthly ministry? It was three, three and a half years. If he changed the world in a three, three and a half years, and the spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, lives in you, what's your excuse? You don't need a lot of time to make a big impact. It's not about longevity, it's about legacy. All right, fifth excuse. I have done too much wrong in the past. And I just want to ask you, if you have, have you asked for forgiveness? If you've asked for forgiveness, what does the Bible say? Jesus has forgiven you. The Bible says your sins are remembered no more. It's separated as far as the East is from the West, and those two don't meet. The Bible says if you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive you and to what? Cleanse you. So listen, if God has forgiven you, never use the past as an excuse why you can't be faithful in the present. Alright? So here's the thing: the one talent servant didn't just fail. He froze. He just became lazy. He became just a pew sitter, right? I'm just gonna sit and watch others invest and do ministry. And I'm just gonna cheer them on, right? And Jesus would encourage all of us to be faithful. And it's not because you have to, it's not out of unhealthy fear, it's because you love God. Jesus says, if you love me, you'll what? Keep my commandments. Not only that, but if you love me, you'll serve me. You'll serve him with passion. So I this is a side note. We got some people in the economic world, we got some investors there, we got people bankers in our church. So I did a little research and you can Google this. Let's just say that if this is modern, if notice the master in the parable was going to be gone a long time. So I just said, what if someone was gone for 20 years and a million dollars was invested at 4% rate, which is very conservative, do you know how much return that would that would bring? It would bring a lot of return. It would bring your money would go from 1 million to 2.1 million plus. So the money would have been double, just like the other guys, right? But here's what I didn't understand. That's a modern banking. If you go back to biblical times, and you can Google this, this is fascinating. The money changers back of the day, when it talks about bankers, it's talking about the financiers that would do currency exchanges, that would do business investments, etc., they didn't charge 4%. Are you ready for this? The average going rate was 12 to 24%, sometimes up to 50%. I kid you not, Google it, chat GPT, it search it. So I did a little, if it's 12 to 24% was the low-end range, I just plugged in the number, what at 13%. If you had a million dollars at 13% over 20 years, listen to this, here's the return. It would return, are you ready? Drum roll. The final outcome would be over 11 million dollars at 13%. So think about it. When the master says, hey, if you would have just invested this, you could at least done that. That would be kind of a passive investment. It was saying that it would have multiplied. So it's not about so much the amount as it is being faithful. So I want you to get that. It's not that a doubled and tripled that that is included, but the main idea is faithfulness. If you are faithful, it will lead to fruitfulness. And if you're not faithful, it's going to lead to being stagnant. And I want you to think about it. Is there such a thing as a Christian who doesn't produce fruit? The Bible talks about if you abide in Christ, you will produce fruit. So the modern idea of a Christian not producing fruit is foreign to Scripture. So if you claim to be a Christian, I say this in a love and a pastoral heart, you should produce fruit. That's just a byproduct. It's not out of obligation, you have to. It's because you're abiding in Christ. And if you are faithful, Jesus will help you to be fruitful. And all God's people said, Amen. And that brings us to our fourth necessity. How many of you would say, I don't want to waste my life? All right? Let's say it out loud. Don't waste your life. Say it with me. Don't waste your life. All right? Here's the fourth necessity. Give away your life because of your belief that you can't outgive God. So if you believe that you can't outgive God, what are you gonna do? You're gonna give it away. So when we read in verses 20 through 23 and verses 28 and 29, we see the servant saying, Well done, good and faithful servant.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

You've been listening to Pastor Timothy Brown. We'll be right back with the message. But first, we'd like to share some exciting news with you. We're releasing Dr. Timothy's new book called Go After Jesus. This book is a fresh approach to discipleship and focuses on your identity in Christ as the launching pad for Christian growth. In Go After Jesus, Pastor Timothy paints the picture of the six identities for every follower of Christ. You are a seeker, a disciple, a friend, a fisherman, a warrior, and a lover. We're currently offering two free chapters of this book as a digital download. To get your free chapters, go to Dr. Timothy's website at drtimothybrown.org. Now let's get back to the rest of the message with Pastor Timothy.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

So I just want to highlight a couple at Radiant Church, and uh their names are Jonathan and Shannon Whitson. And I just want to highlight them. Many of you could fit in this category, but they're a young married couple that's raising their family, and they're serving in the local church. They both have marketplace jobs. Jonathan works at a Christian school as a coach. Shannon is in the banking industry, and yet they're both serving in the church. Shannon helps out in the finance department and children's ministry. Jonathan is launching a new small group in their home for 30 and 40 year olds. And I highlight that because some of you are like, why don't I have time? Listen, they're busy. They both work full-time jobs, but because they realize eternity is so valuable and God loves people so much, they invest in the lives of others. So I want to encourage you. We need to be like Shannon and Jonathan in this. Invest your life in what matters. So back to these servants. I want you to see the reward. You know, first of all, the first two servants, they double the investment. And here's the reward. First of all, praise. What does the master say? Well done, what? Good and faithful servant. How many of you want to hear that? I want to hear that at the end of my life when I stand before our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Well done, good and faithful. Notice it doesn't say famous servant. You don't have to be famous. That's an American cultural thing. God is not calling you to be famous per se. He's calling you to be faithful. All right? The second thing we see is promotion. You've been faithful over a little. To me, like five million dollars, two million dollars a million, that's a lot, right? But from God's perspective, that's little. I will make you what? Ruler over much. You've been faithful over little, I will set you over much. That's what the scripture says. I'll set you over much. And it's like, wow, so you can't out give God. If you're faithful here, God will give you opportunities in eternity to serve. Heaven is not floating on a cloud. Heaven is actually more opportunities to serve Him throughout eternity. The other thing is you have this reward. You're like, what is the reward? He says, enter the joy of your master. Let me tell you something. The greatest thing about eternity is being with Jesus. It's being with the Heavenly Father, it's the Holy Spirit, it's the Trinity, it's being in the presence of God. So one of my favorite things to look forward to is just being with Jesus. He is the reward. So I want to encourage you. Yes, heaven has a street of gold. Yes, heaven has pearls. Yes, it's this new city. And it's probably the cubits, when you add it all together, it's like 1,500 miles cubed. Yes, all that's good. But the glory of heaven is not the street of gold. It's not the pearls. The beauty of heaven is looking into the eyes of the one who loved me, who gave himself for me. It's seeing the scars in his hands and his side and saying, thank you, Jesus, you did this for me. That's the glory of the kingdom. That's the glory of heaven, is seeing Christ, the one who loved me and gave himself for me. So I just want to speak to someone today. You may be discouraged. You may say, No one sees what I do. And I would say, you're wrong. Jesus does. And one day, it doesn't matter if you get applause here on earth. By the way, that could be your reward. What matters is the one who loved you and gave himself for you sees everything you do. And the Bible says, even a cup of cold water in the name of Jesus, you're going to receive reward for that. If you do it out of the right motives, for the right purposes, God's going to bless it. So we see the reward. There's one more thing I want to bring up before we close this is capacity. Notice that the talent, the guy who had five talent, he says, take from the one that had one and give it to the guy who had five. And you're like, what does this mean? It's capacity and opportunity for greater service. So if God can trust you with a little, he can also trust you with much. If he can't trust you with the little he's given you, God most likely will not give you more opportunity. So that's a special word for someone. You're like, why doesn't God bless me with this or that? It's like, are you being faithful with what he's given you? If you can be trusted with little, you can be trusted with greater opportunity. So I want you to write this down. Take your if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. This is the big lesson. God rewards faithfulness with fruitfulness and fruitfulness with greater opportunity. So I want to turn our attention to the gospel. For every believer, every Christ follower, I just want to remind you that you're saved by faith. And you don't keep it by works, you don't keep it by just being a good person. No, you're saved by faith through grace. And everything you do is of grace. So the opportunity to serve, guess what? Every gift is a grace gift. And so God calls us to obedience out of love, out of the overflow. And it's empowered not by your flesh, but it's empowered by the Holy Spirit. So as you serve, serve in the power of the Holy Spirit. And I want to talk to the future believer. You're like, what is the future believer? You haven't yet given your life to Jesus. And I just want to challenge you. God wants to do something through you, but before that, he has to do something in you. If you have never asked Jesus to save you, if you've never confessed him as Lord and Savior, Scripture says this that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is the Lord, believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So if you've never invited Jesus to save you, if you've never asked him to forgive you, now's your day. Before God can do something through you, he's got to do a new work in you. You have to accept Jesus as your savior. You've got to ask him to be your Lord. And the Bible says that he will make you into a brand new person if you'll just call upon his name. So I want to summarize this in today's big idea. Here's the big idea today. Don't waste your life. Say it with me. Don't waste your life. Invest it where God multiplies it forever. So here's three next steps. You're like, how do I apply this starting today? Not tomorrow. Let's apply it today. Number one, give away your life. If Jesus has given you a new life, because he gave his life for you, your job is to give it away. Jesus said, if you seek to save your life, you'll lose it. How do I give my life away? Invest it. Use it for gospel purposes. And that brings us to the second big idea. Don't waste your God-given potential. If you know what spiritual gift God has given you, I want to encourage you to develop it and use it. If you don't know what gift He's given you, email the church. We'll send you a spiritual gifts test. We'll help you discover that. And finally, stop playing it safe. The guy that got rebuked, he was playing it safe. He buried the gift. So if you're sitting on the sidelines, I want to encourage you to get in the game. Christianity is not a spectator activity, it's a participator. We're all in the field, we're all playing for kingdom purposes. We're all sharing Christ. We're all called to love God and love others, the greatest commandment. We're all called for the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. So as your pastor, I just want to lovingly say, don't waste your life. If you give your life fully for the purposes of God, your life will not be one that's wasted. And when you stand before God one day, when you stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, what you want Him to hear is well done, good and faithful servant, entered to the joy of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, I'm fired up. Your word is so challenging. And God, I pray that each person heard this out of a heart of love for their lives. I don't want anyone in our church to waste their life. I don't want anyone that professes to be a Christ follower to waste what you've given them. So, Father, I thank you that at Radiant, you've given us all at least one talent, one gift. Some you've given two talents, some you've given five. It doesn't matter how many talents we have, it's what are we doing with what you've given us. So for every believer, I just want to encourage you to lift up a prayer to the Lord. If you've buried your gift, I want you to repent and say, God, I've not been using my gift. I've buried it. I have the gift of hospitality, I'm not being hospitable. I have the gift of mercy, I'm not showing mercy. I have the gift of teaching, I'm not teaching, whatever it may be, just say, God, forgive me for bearing my gift. From now on, help me to develop it and help me to use it for your kingdom. As the believers are praying, if you don't know Jesus, I want you to look up for a moment. Jesus has given you the opportunity of a lifetime. He died on the cross for you. What are you waiting for? Before God can do something through you and He wants to do something great through you, He has to do something in you. And so if you've never believed the gospel that Christ died and rose again for your sins, if you've never repented, I want to lead you in a prayer. There's no magical prayer, it's just you surrendering your life to Jesus. Well the reason why we start with a prayer, it's a way for you to confess Jesus is Lord. The Bible says, whoever Calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Can I give you the privilege of leading you on how to call upon the name of the Lord? If you need Jesus to be your Savior, call upon him right now. Say this prayer. Jesus, I believe in you. I believe that you died on the cross and rose again. And I want to thank you for dying for my sins. So, Jesus, I ask you to save me. I need you to save me. Jesus, I ask you to forgive me. I need you to forgive me of all my sins. Please take it out of the way, nail it to your cross. And Jesus, I invite you into my life, and I pray that you would make me new inside. Give me a new heart. Put your Holy Spirit inside of me so I can live a different kind of life as a new creation in Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. And all God's children said, Amen. So I would encourage you to share this teaching. We don't want anyone to waste their life because the gift that God has given you is precious. It's more valuable than any monetary amount, more than silver or gold. The life that God has given you is a special gift. So don't waste it.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

You've been listening to Truth for Transformation with Dr. Timothy Brown. We hope that this program is a blessing to you as you follow Jesus in a world that is lost in sin. We haven't been left alone in this world without a guide because we have the Word of God to give us the answers for how to navigate the fallen world. Dr. Timothy has spent years studying God's Word, and this program is one of the ways that we are able to pass that wisdom along to anyone who has ears to hear. If you would like to learn more about the Ministry of Truth for Transformation, you can give us a call at 828-684-6780. Again, that phone number is 828-684-6780. You can also visit us online at drtimothybrown.org where you'll be able to find more teachings from Dr. Timothy on every book of the Bible. While you're there, you will also find our Give tab. Our ministry wouldn't be possible without the generosity of our audience. So if you feel led to support the mission of Truth for Transformation, you can do so at that tab. Finally, feel free to find us on social media by searching for Dr. Timothy Brown Ministries on your favorite platforms and drop a comment to let us know where you're joining us from. It's amazing to see how God's word is being spread through social media, even in these dark times. Well, we hope you'll join us again for another edition of Truth for Transformation.