SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us on the CCW podcast.
SPEAKER_00: Make sure you connect with us on social media to stay up to date on ministries and events happening at CCW.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you're encouraged, inspired, and motivated by today's message.
SPEAKER_00: To find out how to connect with us, keep listening after the message ends.
SPEAKER_01: Good morning, CCW.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: We got one.
SPEAKER_01: Good morning, CCW.
SPEAKER_01: Look, we're gonna have to do better at saying good morning, and I don't know what it is, but the first four, the most expensive seats are open.
SPEAKER_01: So if any of y'all don't have a good view back there, come on up.
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you turn your Bible to Matthew 25 this morning?
SPEAKER_01: We're continuing the parables and got a few more weeks of that as we go through summer.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to say a word of congratulations.
SPEAKER_01: I know that they're not here today, but Ian and Brooke McDowell had their secondborn son, Camden.
SPEAKER_01: And so message them if you see them.
SPEAKER_01: It's exciting that uh we are adding to the need for children's ministry around here rapidly.
SPEAKER_01: So we're excited about that.
SPEAKER_01: It's so good to see Miss Elizabeth here today.
SPEAKER_01: I know that uh she is battling that cancer, and we've been praying and praying and praying with you.
SPEAKER_01: So so glad to see you today.
SPEAKER_01: I do want to say a word of um prayer and ask you to pray.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you saw this week um a tragedy in our community, but we need to be praying for the family of Dory Lawrence in the passing.
SPEAKER_01: And so lift that family up so tragic.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but they need our prayers right now.
SPEAKER_01: So be lifting them.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 25.
SPEAKER_01: We are gonna jump in.
SPEAKER_01: And this week is one of the biggest weeks that CCW has all year long.
SPEAKER_01: So I got a number this morning that we had about 90 adults that are registered to volunteer and serve for Samarama Vacation Bible School.
SPEAKER_01: And so we are excited for those 90.
SPEAKER_01: That's the greatest turnout we've ever had.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And and pre-registered, there's 188.
SPEAKER_01: We cut it off on that for children on pre-registration, but there's gonna be more that compiling in today that have not had the chance since last week to pre-register.
SPEAKER_01: So if things turn out the way they look, we already have the largest vacation Bible school we have ever had in church history.
SPEAKER_01: So we are pumped about the opportunity to serve.
SPEAKER_01: And we've talked last week.
SPEAKER_01: I talked about the mission trips and the way that God has opened the door.
SPEAKER_01: It's very timely as we look at the parable today of the talents.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I want you to turn Matthew 25.
SPEAKER_01: I want to look as we start in verse 14 and 15, if you'll turn there with me.
SPEAKER_01: It says, For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.
SPEAKER_01: And to one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, to each according to his own ability, and immediately then he went on a journey.
SPEAKER_01: So everyone this morning has an ability.
SPEAKER_01: The first point this morning is this ability comes from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: James 1 17 says, Every good and perfect gift comes from above, comes from the Father of lights.
SPEAKER_01: We all have an ability.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone in this room today, I want you to understand this thought.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone in this room has been given a management position.
SPEAKER_01: We're all a manager.
SPEAKER_01: And according to 1 Corinthians 12, 11, our management gift, our talent has been apportioned by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: The abilities themselves don't change, but the effect of them and the exercise of them as you practice them can obviously change.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to think about it this way, as far as a manager.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm a Christian, you're Christian today, many of you here, and so as a good Christian, I go to Chick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Well, some of y'all aren't very good Christians.
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's got the gospel bird over at the Chick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_01: And so I thought about at Chick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_01: Say you started out there in the line with your iPad, and they got that, man.
SPEAKER_01: They have they work it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, they've worked all kinds of things.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, it's just chicken, but I'm going to Chick-fil-A because I know they're going to do all they can to get everybody in and out.
SPEAKER_01: And so you might start your way up on the iPad outside.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever seen them in the rain booths?
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's something you got to see them when it rains.
SPEAKER_01: They put on an old-fashioned telephone booth.
SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Anyways, and so you're working out there, and maybe you work yourself to the inside and you work yourself to uh management of the front, the management of the back.
SPEAKER_01: Say you worked yourself all the way to the point of being a manager for Chick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it is your pleasure every day, and you get a big office, you'd be in charge of a lot of things, right?
SPEAKER_01: It would be at your charge to make sure that the cooks are cooking, that the stoves are running, that the refrigerators are doing what they're supposed to do, freezers, you'd be in charge of cashiers and a drive-thru and tables, and you'd probably have a good salary.
SPEAKER_01: But none of those things that I mentioned would belong to you.
SPEAKER_01: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_01: You are a manager.
SPEAKER_01: And in life, this principle that we're going to look at, either you're going to be an owner or you're going to be a manager.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm here to tell you this morning that there is only one owner of all things, and he is placed within your care a life to manage, not to own.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we love you, and we thank you for the opportunity we have today to be here to serve and God to be managers, to be stewards of something that you've given to us for a time and a season.
SPEAKER_01: And God, I pray that you would open our hearts and eyes, ears to what you have to say through your word.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, let us not leave here the same as we came.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So there in verse 14, the letter A underneath of your point one is this the Lord gives of his own principle.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14, I want you to see it again.
SPEAKER_01: For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.
SPEAKER_01: He delivered his goods under his own principle.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what even is a talent, Pastor?
SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about this.
SPEAKER_01: A talent in the pat in the parable is not a skill, okay?
SPEAKER_01: It's not an uh just a skill that you can do.
SPEAKER_01: It's not because you can sing or you can woodwork.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a skill.
SPEAKER_01: One talent is equal to six thousand denarius, and a denarius is one day's wage.
SPEAKER_01: So it would take an ordinary worker 20 years to earn one talent.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: And today's terminology I heard someone else talking about, it's about a million and a half dollars.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So can we recognize this?
SPEAKER_01: If anyone gave you 20 years of wages, that would be a lot of weight.
SPEAKER_01: Am I right?
SPEAKER_01: That would be a lot for you to look at and to try to understand.
SPEAKER_01: And so we need to know this that the talent comes from the one who has the ability to give it.
SPEAKER_01: The talent comes from the owner.
SPEAKER_01: And I need us to understand that our talents, we're going to talk throughout the message, are wrapped up in three things.
SPEAKER_01: Your talent is your time, your talent, your abilities, and your treasure.
SPEAKER_01: That is a talent as we look at this parable.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's all of those things wrapped up.
SPEAKER_01: But our talent comes from the owner of all things.
SPEAKER_01: Psalms 89, 14 says this about the owner out of his own principle.
SPEAKER_01: Justice and righteousness are the foundation of God's throne.
SPEAKER_01: See, what he apportions to us comes from his own principle.
SPEAKER_01: And he is just.
SPEAKER_01: A bedrock of God's character is his justice.
SPEAKER_01: You see, you and I are flawed, and we can never truly understand justice because we will always, if there comes a case where it's me versus someone else, we will always see justice skewed as I need mercy when I've done wrong.
SPEAKER_01: And when someone does me wrong, they need justice.
SPEAKER_01: Am I right?
SPEAKER_01: You've never stood before a judge or done something wrong and thought, I do not deserve mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Just give me justice, lay it down on me.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And so we are skewed looking at justice.
SPEAKER_01: I've been wronged, and justice was the order for the day.
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, they deserve it.
SPEAKER_01: The perpetrator must be punished.
SPEAKER_01: And conversely, when I have done wrong, it was just a slip-up.
SPEAKER_01: It really wasn't who I am.
SPEAKER_01: It was just a mistake.
SPEAKER_01: And so mercy is what I need.
SPEAKER_01: But we need to understand the Lord gives of his own principle based on his being just.
SPEAKER_01: Another name for our Lord is Jehovah Sidkino.
SPEAKER_01: Jehovah Sidkino, and that means the Lord our righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Part of his character and ability, part of who he is, is that justice.
SPEAKER_01: Isaiah 33, 22 says, the Lord is our judge, lawgiver, and our king.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis 18, 25 says he is the judge of all the earth.
SPEAKER_01: So I just I'm laying this groundwork so you understand that when God gives a talent, and for you me time, talent, and treasure, when he gives something to us, it's based on his character.
SPEAKER_01: And he says in this parable that he gave to them according as he saw fit, as according to their abilities, as he saw fit.
SPEAKER_01: So it comes from his principle, letter be, the Lord gives of his own perception.
SPEAKER_01: It was his perception, hear me, that we are all able to manage.
SPEAKER_01: None able to own.
SPEAKER_01: Hear me on that today.
SPEAKER_01: We are all able to manage.
SPEAKER_01: You see, and when we think about management, we're accustomed to judging everything by size.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: We look at everything, and I need you to understand today, when they saw someone get five, someone got two, someone got one, it immediately became a competition of size.
SPEAKER_01: And I need you to know that's faulty perception.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you an example.
SPEAKER_01: There are mega churches today.
SPEAKER_01: And there are many churches today, and there are medium churches today, and people judge churches by their size.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to tell you, by the way, I I love churches.
SPEAKER_01: I love a many, I love a medium, I love a mega, I love churches.
SPEAKER_01: And you know why?
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus Christ is the head of the church.
SPEAKER_01: And so he allows pastors and bishops to oversee and under-shepherd churches, whatever the size.
SPEAKER_01: Size is a measure.
SPEAKER_01: Don't get me wrong, size is a measure of something.
SPEAKER_01: I won't deny that, but it does not mean success.
SPEAKER_01: It is a measure of something.
SPEAKER_01: So if CCW is not growing, if we're not changing, if we're not drawing closer to God, then all we have here is a big social club on Sundays.
SPEAKER_01: And last I checked, the YMCA was open on Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_01: If there's not God work happening in here, then we can create a big, fat, giant social club and fill the walls up.
SPEAKER_01: We can do everything, put on all the bells and whistles and try to draw people for that.
SPEAKER_01: But that's not success.
SPEAKER_01: So God, out of his perception, perceives that a man would be good to manage five, two, or one.
SPEAKER_01: And one man is not better or worse because of the talent that he receives.
SPEAKER_01: One, two, or five.
SPEAKER_01: We are stewards.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody here, we are stewards of an amount.
SPEAKER_01: The amount is based on God's perception.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna free somebody to hear today that God doesn't need you to take over the world with your business.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't need you to be the next biggest thing that there is for there to be success.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to capture all the sales awards, trophies with your name for construction or this and that.
SPEAKER_01: We are called to a place for a season with an amount based on God's perception.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure that guy number one was looking over there at guy number five, and I'm sure he was like, Well, shoot, that ain't right.
SPEAKER_01: Why'd he give five?
SPEAKER_01: What about me?
SPEAKER_01: What makes me just a one?
SPEAKER_01: And everybody knows I'm better than old two.
SPEAKER_01: What about two?
SPEAKER_01: I should definitely have more than two.
SPEAKER_01: You know this is how it goes.
SPEAKER_01: I grew up with a hardworking mechanic father, and I watch people fix things, church, and I go, Lord, why can't I fix things?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Rick, because you break things.
SPEAKER_01: I have jealously looked at my dad, men, and thought, God, that is manly.
SPEAKER_01: What about me?
SPEAKER_01: I've looked at people's wealth and been jealous.
SPEAKER_01: I've looked at people.
SPEAKER_01: I'm confessing, some people here need to think about this today.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all remember the 90s, the great philosopher Ske Lo?
SPEAKER_01: He said, I wish I was a little bit taller.
SPEAKER_01: I wish I was a baller.
SPEAKER_01: I got a girl who looks good, and I call her.
SPEAKER_01: But I've looked at pastors, and man, some of them like, man, that pastor can sing.
SPEAKER_01: He'll be in the middle of his sermon, and I'm like, that ain't right.
SPEAKER_01: I can't sing mid-sermon.
SPEAKER_01: That ain't fair, God.
SPEAKER_01: I've listened to pastors and thought, why can't I say it like that?
SPEAKER_01: Pastor Danny, our previous pastor, I mean, he had a natural passion.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, God, why can't I sell ice to an Eskimo?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he could sell anything.
SPEAKER_01: He'd be talking about the last, you know, food item he ate.
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, well, I want some, I want a Jack's biscuit.
SPEAKER_01: That sounds like the greatest thing that anybody's ever had.
SPEAKER_01: I've listened to John Piper and thought, how come I'm not eloquent like that?
SPEAKER_01: And then I'll stand before a mirror.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, whithersoever is not gonna work, Rick.
SPEAKER_01: I thought, why am I not like that?
SPEAKER_01: God said this to me in my heart.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have their gifts.
SPEAKER_01: Their gifts are tailor-made for them.
SPEAKER_01: But Rick, they don't have your gifts either.
SPEAKER_01: And they can't do what you can do either.
SPEAKER_01: And so, somebody today, you need to know that God wants you.
SPEAKER_01: The you that you are.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to look at a magazine anymore, scroll Facebook and Insta anymore.
SPEAKER_01: That ain't right.
SPEAKER_01: That ain't you.
SPEAKER_01: Don't compare yourself to your former teenage self either.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that ain't fair.
SPEAKER_01: I ain't what I used to be either, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you're not gonna be.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Whether it's one, two, or five, you have a gift that makes a difference on planet earth today, in the circle that God's placed you in.
SPEAKER_01: And it's important that you use your gifts and that you make others better.
SPEAKER_01: Don't waste time on what you're not.
SPEAKER_01: Hear me, church.
SPEAKER_01: God planned in Psalms 1039, it says He crafted, He handcrafted you with a plan and a book before you were in your mother's womb.
SPEAKER_01: He had a plan for your life.
SPEAKER_01: And yet we go look in the mirror, we go look at things, and we go, I don't like this.
SPEAKER_01: And you're looking at your creator and you're betraying him.
SPEAKER_01: You are good.
SPEAKER_01: Look at your neighbor and say, You are good.
SPEAKER_01: Look at the second choice and say, You're you're good too.
SPEAKER_01: You're good too.
SPEAKER_01: You're alright.
SPEAKER_01: You're not bad.
SPEAKER_01: Second thing this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: Accountability comes from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you what happens.
SPEAKER_01: We got the 15, and I'll read 16 through 9.
SPEAKER_01: Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five.
SPEAKER_01: And likewise he who had received the two gained two more.
SPEAKER_01: But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money.
SPEAKER_01: After a long, hear this verse here.
SPEAKER_01: After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
SPEAKER_01: Point two this morning is this accountability comes from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples kept asking, the reason for this prayer, the disciples kept asking, when will you build the kingdom of heaven?
SPEAKER_01: When are you going to build your kingdom?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus was answering them, not with a when, but with a what.
SPEAKER_01: He's answering them with, This is what you need to do.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not answering the when because no man knows the time or the hour, but here is the what.
SPEAKER_01: And he says to them, A man went away on a long journey, and one day he returned.
SPEAKER_01: Are you seeing the parallel on this picture?
SPEAKER_01: The man on the journey is Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ died, was buried, he arose, ascended, and he's been on a long journey.
SPEAKER_01: And one day he's gonna return.
SPEAKER_01: And he left us not with a when, but a what.
SPEAKER_01: He gave you five, he gave you two, he gave you three, he gave you one, but he gave you a what.
SPEAKER_01: He left us with a what, and that what is the form of a weighted measure.
SPEAKER_01: Our talent, time, talent, and treasure, he gave to every person.
SPEAKER_01: All talent stewardship falls under that.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the overarching point of our talent, time, and treasure is that as the kingdom of heaven one day comes back, the great commission was given to us so that we would go into all the earth and give them the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: So whatever your time, talent, treasure is wrapped up, if it's plumber, if it's a president of something, if it's vice president of a company, if it's construction, all of it is wrapped up in the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Go with the three T's of talent, however, you can.
SPEAKER_01: That's what you're to do.
SPEAKER_01: Are you a good manager of what you've been given?
SPEAKER_01: You've been given management to impact the kingdom of heaven right where you are.
SPEAKER_01: So if you've been gifted with the ability to build a house, you're gonna have people around you in that workplace.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a doctor, you've been gifted.
SPEAKER_01: If whatever it is that you do, there's people in your circle, and you've been given this time, talent, and treasure to invest in.
SPEAKER_01: Are you being a good manager?
SPEAKER_01: Because Revelation 20 says this that a day of accountability is coming.
SPEAKER_01: Accountability is coming.
SPEAKER_01: After a time, it says the Lord came and settled the accounts.
SPEAKER_01: Romans 14, 12 says that in each one of us will give an account to God for what we did, how we stewarded.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we're stewards of a couple of things that I want to hit on this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Letter A is we're stewards of a family.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to turn over to Psalms 127.
SPEAKER_01: We're stewards of a family.
SPEAKER_01: It says, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.
SPEAKER_01: Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
SPEAKER_01: It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he gives his beloved sleep.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.
SPEAKER_01: Three times in this passage right here, the word vain is used.
SPEAKER_01: The Hebrew word is shav, and it is in the sense of desolation, meaning, unless the Lord builds the house, then what you're doing is vain, is desolate in the sense of evil.
SPEAKER_01: Figuratively, the word definition of shav is idolatry.
SPEAKER_01: Unless the Lord builds the house that you're involved in, then the house means your family.
SPEAKER_01: Unless the Lord builds that house, it's vain.
SPEAKER_01: It's evil and it's idolatry.
SPEAKER_01: Everything else that the world has to offer, unless the Lord is the foundation, is evil and idolatry.
SPEAKER_01: It hits our house.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it doesn't just hit that in that scripture.
SPEAKER_01: It says they labor in vain who build it, then it hits our work success.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you can build, but you can build in vain.
SPEAKER_01: Evil, idolatry, unless the Lord builds it.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't just hit our work success, it then hits our protection.
SPEAKER_01: He says the watchman stays awake in vain.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you can try to protect all this you have, all your assets, all your things, all your stuff, even your family.
SPEAKER_01: And unless the Lord is building that life, it's vain.
SPEAKER_01: Shav.
SPEAKER_01: It's idolatry, it's useless.
SPEAKER_01: Even says our rest.
SPEAKER_01: It's vain feet arise.
SPEAKER_01: Up early, sit up late.
SPEAKER_01: Your rest without God's hand in it, even your time for vacation and restfulness is vain.
SPEAKER_01: So, men today, I want to tell you, unless you're using one, two, and five and planning with the gift God has given you, then you're spinning wheels.
SPEAKER_01: You're wasting time.
SPEAKER_01: He said, It's vain.
SPEAKER_01: It's a waste of time.
SPEAKER_01: It's a waste of resource.
SPEAKER_01: Parents, we are stewards of our children.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not talking about 18 years until you can boot them out the house.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about a whole life.
SPEAKER_01: We've been given this loan of something precious, life.
SPEAKER_01: He said, it is the reward.
SPEAKER_01: The fruit of our womb is a reward.
SPEAKER_01: And so we've been given this life to steward, grandparents.
SPEAKER_01: You're stewards of grandchildren.
SPEAKER_01: And then you're even a steward of what you leave behind.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 3 said, it is the fruit of the womb that is a reward.
SPEAKER_01: Some have one, some two, some five.
SPEAKER_01: But it is all about management.
SPEAKER_01: How are you managing?
SPEAKER_01: In fact, Proverbs 22, 6 says this.
SPEAKER_01: If the kids in here today they won't like it.
SPEAKER_01: It says, train up a child in the way he should go.
SPEAKER_01: So as a steward, a manager of a household, I am a trainer.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you have been to the gym?
SPEAKER_01: In the gym that I attend, nobody really likes the trainer.
SPEAKER_01: Let's be honest with you.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people go to the trainer, but he doesn't seem like people's friends.
SPEAKER_01: I don't see people coming and shaking his hands like, I'm so happy to see you.
SPEAKER_01: Like they give him some money so he can beat them up, wear them out, and then they walk away with a scowl on their face, sweat coming down, and they leave, and somehow this makes them happy.
SPEAKER_01: He's the trainer, right?
SPEAKER_01: He makes them mad, and then they feel better.
SPEAKER_01: Can I tell you something, parents?
SPEAKER_01: It's not too late to train.
SPEAKER_01: Just because it's been done a certain way and they've got to a certain point in life doesn't mean training has to stop, and we have to say, well, I messed up on that.
SPEAKER_01: Training can change.
SPEAKER_01: You see, the Lord will come to check on the gift that He's given you.
SPEAKER_01: Psalms 127 there, verse 1b, it's important.
SPEAKER_01: I need everybody to hear.
SPEAKER_01: He says, unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
SPEAKER_01: I got thinking about that.
SPEAKER_01: He even said your protection.
SPEAKER_01: Man, there's not a man in here that wouldn't say he'd give all he'd have to give to keep his family safe.
SPEAKER_01: But this verse says, Men, if you're not leading them by loving the Lord, don't protect them.
SPEAKER_01: You might as well leave the doors unlocked, might as well hand the keys to the enemy and say, Come on in.
SPEAKER_01: If I'm not gonna love the Lord, then I might as well not protect.
SPEAKER_01: You hear me?
SPEAKER_01: If you're not loving Jesus, you're locking the front door for the enemy and saying, Come on in.
SPEAKER_01: Come sit at my table.
SPEAKER_01: Is that clear?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm so tired of a world that's looking at men all the time and they're saying they're sorry, they're no good.
SPEAKER_01: These single families are all a mess because of the men, kids with no good daddies, absentee men.
SPEAKER_01: Can we have some men that would say it's time to stand up?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'll fight.
SPEAKER_01: Enemy walks in my house.
SPEAKER_01: I told y'all before, I will blow out a knee.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I'm coming straight for a knee.
SPEAKER_01: A hundred and ninety-pound cannonball right at the knee.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care how big they are.
SPEAKER_01: They better be able to withstand that.
SPEAKER_01: I'll fight.
SPEAKER_01: You're not getting in my house.
SPEAKER_01: You're not getting what God's given to me.
SPEAKER_01: Moms, you're a manager of your families.
SPEAKER_01: How are you using your time?
SPEAKER_01: Husbands, you're a manager of your relationship to your wife.
SPEAKER_01: Wives, you're a manager, a steward of your relationship to your husband.
SPEAKER_01: How are you managing?
SPEAKER_01: Kids, you're not off the hook.
SPEAKER_01: Is your bed made right now?
SPEAKER_01: You're a manager.
SPEAKER_01: Do you set spend time talking to your parents, trying to pick their brain?
SPEAKER_01: You're a manager of a relationship.
SPEAKER_01: You have a side too.
SPEAKER_01: We're managers.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Shav, it's in vain unless the Lord builds it.
SPEAKER_01: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we're stewards of family.
SPEAKER_01: We're also stewards of finances.
SPEAKER_01: I have seven just quick practical principles I want to share with you.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, we're in church, you're going to talk about money.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, pastor.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I believe in the whole counsel of God's word, but I've been here almost two years as pastor, and I have not brought up stewardship one time.
SPEAKER_01: When the Bible brings the text, we're going to talk about it.
SPEAKER_01: So here we go.
SPEAKER_01: Seven practical principles.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, the Lord owns it all.
SPEAKER_01: He's the one who gave.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 24, 1.
SPEAKER_01: Deuteronomy says that God gives the ability to get wealth.
SPEAKER_01: It's his.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew says you cannot serve God in money.
SPEAKER_01: So number one, the Lord owns it all.
SPEAKER_01: Practical principle.
SPEAKER_01: Just have that understanding with your finances.
SPEAKER_01: It's God's, and you may have a lot of it now, and God can take it.
SPEAKER_01: Are you ready for that?
SPEAKER_01: Are you prepared for what happens when that talent takes a twist?
SPEAKER_01: It's his.
SPEAKER_01: All of it's his.
SPEAKER_01: So if he's blessing you, praise God.
SPEAKER_01: Be a faithful manager of it.
SPEAKER_01: Two, live below your means.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 13, verse 11 talks about this.
SPEAKER_01: Just live below your means.
SPEAKER_01: It says, don't gain wealth hastily.
SPEAKER_01: It says, but by laboring.
SPEAKER_01: And the point of that picture is there is to labor and take it as you go and learn to live below your means.
SPEAKER_01: Number three, little to no debt.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 22 says the borrower is slave to the lender.
SPEAKER_01: Number four, give to the Lord's work.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Corinthians 9, 7 says, each one must give as he has decided in his heart.
SPEAKER_01: That's your decision.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to harp on you about your decision, but I'll tell you this: I would obey God.
SPEAKER_01: What he puts on your heart, I would obey.
SPEAKER_01: It says, He, what he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion.
SPEAKER_01: God loves a cheerful giver.
SPEAKER_01: So give in that way.
SPEAKER_01: Number five, save for the future.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 6, 6 through 8 says, Go to the ant, you sluggard.
SPEAKER_01: It says, the ant prepares during the right time and continues to prepare and prepare and prepare.
SPEAKER_01: Go to the ant.
SPEAKER_01: It says, provide for your family.
SPEAKER_01: And then, or I'm sorry, that was save for the future.
SPEAKER_01: Provide for your family as the next thing and leave an inheritance.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Timothy 5.8 says, He who does not provide is worse than an infidel.
SPEAKER_01: And I couldn't stay with just six because that's evil.
SPEAKER_01: So seven is miscellaneous things.
SPEAKER_01: It's better to give than to receive.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to hear this verse in light of all that's been going on, serving these trips, vacation Bible school.
SPEAKER_01: 1 John 3, 17 says, But whoever has the world's goods and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
SPEAKER_01: So people say stuff all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, I don't like for people to talk about tithe or the old test, that's Old Testament, the 10th.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't like to hear that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'll talk to you about Mark 12 and what the Bible has to say in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: The widow woman, there were people who gave, and it said they gave out of their abundance.
SPEAKER_01: Because they were doing well, they gave.
SPEAKER_01: And there was a widow, and she gave two mites, and two mites was all that she had in her savings for the whole future.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, as God pressed on her heart, I'll give all that I have.
SPEAKER_01: Faithful with what God gave her.
SPEAKER_01: I like Dave Ramsey's explanation.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Live like no one else, so that you can give like no one else.
SPEAKER_01: And so being faithful with the talents God's given us.
SPEAKER_01: The third thing is this arbitration comes from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you look at verse 20?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 20 through 23.
SPEAKER_01: So he who had had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents.
SPEAKER_01: Look, I've gained five more talents besides them.
SPEAKER_01: His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_01: You were faithful over a few things.
SPEAKER_01: I will make you ruler over many things.
SPEAKER_01: Enter into the joy of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He also who had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents.
SPEAKER_01: Look, I have gained two more talents besides them.
SPEAKER_01: His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_01: You have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many.
SPEAKER_01: Enter into the joy of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to pause there and look at this.
SPEAKER_01: Letter A is this rewarding for faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: So God tells us, gives us these talents, but then there is a reward for being faithful.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ said to these men, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_01: Not only well done, thou good and faithful servant, he says, You were faithful with a few things, but now you'll be a ruler over many.
SPEAKER_01: What a statement of affirmation.
SPEAKER_01: And then the master extended an invitation, come.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, one day, when God can say to you and me, Come and commune with me.
SPEAKER_01: Come and enjoy.
SPEAKER_01: You were a manager of things before.
SPEAKER_01: I am the owner of all things, and now you can come and enjoy my things with me.
SPEAKER_01: You're a manager of some earth things, some Matthew 16 treasure that comes and fades away.
SPEAKER_01: But one day there's a treasure that's never going to fade away.
SPEAKER_01: Come and commune with me, with my things.
SPEAKER_01: Man.
SPEAKER_01: What an affirmation.
SPEAKER_01: The second slave, no different.
SPEAKER_01: Did you see that?
SPEAKER_01: The one with five did something with the five, and it wasn't that he had five more.
SPEAKER_01: It was that he did something with those five.
SPEAKER_01: The one with the two, he says the same exact thing.
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't the amount, it was the effort.
SPEAKER_01: Are you hearing me, church?
SPEAKER_01: It was not what was being built.
SPEAKER_01: It was how time, talent, and treasure were spent.
SPEAKER_01: Neither one were rewarded for being the largest, grandest, or most spectacular.
SPEAKER_01: But both rewarded for faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: They were faithful with their talents.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it reminded me of a story of Eric Lydell.
SPEAKER_01: Eric Lydell was a sprinter.
SPEAKER_01: We got a couple of pictures you're going to see as I try to explain his story.
SPEAKER_01: There he is there.
SPEAKER_01: Eric Lydell.
SPEAKER_01: And in 1924 in the Olympics, he was notable as going to run the gamut on the 100 meter.
SPEAKER_01: Eric Lydell had it in the bag.
SPEAKER_01: And so Eric Lidell was practicing.
SPEAKER_01: He had done all the qualifications, and it came down to race time, and he found out that the race was going to be held for the 100 meter on a Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: And so this commission gathered before him.
SPEAKER_01: He was strong in consideration of all that was going on.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I am not going to change my mind.
SPEAKER_01: His coaches, everyone were against what Lydell was stating that he was going to do.
SPEAKER_01: He said, if it's going to be on Sunday, then I'm not running the 100 meter.
SPEAKER_01: And that's final.
SPEAKER_01: We're talking about a couple of years of training into this day.
SPEAKER_01: Well, as it happened, Eric Lydell had just, just because coaches had him doing it, he had qualified at Olympic level for the 400 meter relay.
SPEAKER_01: It was not his run.
SPEAKER_01: It was not what Eric Lydell did.
SPEAKER_01: And if you know anything about sprinting, and I've learned since I got a child in track now, 100 meters, 400 meters, way different.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: The 100 meter runners do not want to do 400 meters.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: They just don't.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: And so Lydell said, and you can see this quote up here.
SPEAKER_01: He said, the secret of my success over the 400 meters is that I run the first 200 meters as fast as I can.
SPEAKER_01: And then for the second 200, with God's help, I run faster.
SPEAKER_01: Well, let me tell you what happened.
SPEAKER_01: That trial, that race was set for Monday and Tuesday.
SPEAKER_01: And as Lydell lined up, I mean, we're talking he was guaranteed somewhere between 8 to 10th.
SPEAKER_01: Lydell lined up to race.
SPEAKER_01: He held to his convictions.
SPEAKER_01: He began off on that race, and they said an amazing thing happened the first 200 meters.
SPEAKER_01: It seemed like he was running faster than any man.
SPEAKER_01: And his teammates said, This is not good.
SPEAKER_01: There's no reason he should be coming out like a sprinter.
SPEAKER_01: He's not pacing himself.
SPEAKER_01: Well, the craziest thing happened as he continued on the next hundred, it seemed as if he got faster.
SPEAKER_01: Lydell, 47.6 seconds, set a new world record and won the 400-meter in 1924 Olympics.
SPEAKER_01: You see, he knew what God had told him, and he set off that Sunday while everybody else in the Olympics were running their trials.
SPEAKER_01: He was in worship.
SPEAKER_01: And he went on Monday and did the unfathomable and captured gold.
SPEAKER_01: Well, Lydell returned in 1925.
SPEAKER_01: He returned to China, called on mission, and led many people to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He was captured during World War II and passed away in prison.
SPEAKER_01: See, when I think about the life of Eric Lydell, I think this.
SPEAKER_01: He spent his life managing the talents that he was given the right way.
SPEAKER_01: He managed his talents in a way that it was serving Christ and Christ alone.
SPEAKER_01: His final words written while he was in capture was this.
SPEAKER_01: Three words.
SPEAKER_01: It's complete surrender.
SPEAKER_01: God gave Lydell a talent, and Lydell gave God everything he had.
SPEAKER_01: We see the same thing came to the one with five and the one with two talents.
SPEAKER_01: What about the third man?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 24 through 30 says, This.
SPEAKER_01: And I was afraid.
SPEAKER_01: And I went and hid your talent in the ground.
SPEAKER_01: Look, there you have what is yours.
SPEAKER_01: 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 seeds, so you ought to have deposited my money at least with a bank.
SPEAKER_01: And at my coming I would have received back my own interests.
SPEAKER_01: So take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents.
SPEAKER_01: For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance.
SPEAKER_01: But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away, and cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness.
SPEAKER_01: There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
SPEAKER_01: The third man I want you to see here, this picture is let it be a rejection for unfaithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: There's a reward for faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: There's rejection for unfaithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: As a manager, God wants us to be faithful.
SPEAKER_01: God's given everybody a talent.
SPEAKER_01: But look at this third man.
SPEAKER_01: First, I need you to see his boldly and ridiculous approach.
SPEAKER_01: As he comes back and has to answer to the master, look at his ridiculous.
SPEAKER_01: He begins to charge the problem of his talent unfaithfulness to the master.
SPEAKER_01: He says immediately, Master, I perceive that you are a hard man.
SPEAKER_01: You are a difficult man.
SPEAKER_01: And I was scared.
SPEAKER_01: Because of your expectations over reaping.
SPEAKER_01: Right the way you left it.
SPEAKER_01: Here is your talent.
SPEAKER_01: It's right here, right here for you.
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't want to lose it.
SPEAKER_01: You're scary.
SPEAKER_01: And your expectations are scary.
SPEAKER_01: You want me to be faithful, right, God?
SPEAKER_01: God, you expect me to be the best Christian I can be.
SPEAKER_01: That's scary.
SPEAKER_01: You expect me to be a faithful manager of the things that you have given to me.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all hear me?
SPEAKER_01: He's given it.
SPEAKER_01: He's put it in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: He's put it in your hand.
SPEAKER_01: And we go, ah.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's just easier to do what the world wants me to do.
SPEAKER_01: And it really, I like the pool.
SPEAKER_01: The master's response.
SPEAKER_01: You wicked, lazy servant.
SPEAKER_01: Take that talent from him and cast it out.
SPEAKER_01: The thing I think about servant three is this that he didn't want to go all in on the fact.
SPEAKER_01: Hear me.
SPEAKER_01: This you might not see if you're just reading.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think he wanted to go all in on the fact that one day the master would return.
SPEAKER_01: I think the other two lived and looked at that talent as if one day our master is coming back.
SPEAKER_01: You see, that's a belief system.
SPEAKER_01: To believe that the master one day is going to return.
SPEAKER_01: He was coming again.
SPEAKER_01: But this man had a system that said, I'm the owner.
SPEAKER_01: God is not.
SPEAKER_01: So it is with many today.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not bought on the fact, church, that Jesus Christ is coming one day again and going to return for his bride, you might just squander a lot.
SPEAKER_01: He's coming again.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm telling you, church, that makes me want to be a good manager.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know God is not going to ignore the fact that you ignored your stewardship.
SPEAKER_01: This is a struggle, though.
SPEAKER_01: I think about this, because my flesh, maybe, maybe you're like this.
SPEAKER_01: My flesh is real.
SPEAKER_01: And I and I have to come to terms often with this idea that God does a better job of owning me than I do of owning me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have enough.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not smart enough to own me.
SPEAKER_01: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_01: But my pride, my pride is an inconvenience because my flesh says you could you could try.
SPEAKER_01: You could give it a shot.
SPEAKER_01: But I have to come to terms with I'm not a good owner.
SPEAKER_01: It's like this.
SPEAKER_01: I don't like onions.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you don't like onions?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not an onion guy.
SPEAKER_01: Some of y'all are onion people.
SPEAKER_01: Go ahead and have your bad breath, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not an onion guy.
SPEAKER_01: Onions don't do it for me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't like to have stink breath.
SPEAKER_01: I don't like to taste it four hours later.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't just, if they're if they're on the docket, I'll avoid it.
SPEAKER_01: I'll push it aside.
SPEAKER_01: They just don't do it for me.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: But if you said to me, Rick, if you agree to eat onions every day for a year, I will pay all of your groceries for the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_01: I can tell you my attitude about onions is probably going to change.
SPEAKER_01: My perspective changes because now I'm looking at the long-term benefit instead of the short-term inconvenience.
SPEAKER_01: Are you understanding?
SPEAKER_01: The long term is this that you and I are not an owner of anything.
SPEAKER_01: You can try and struggle and leave here frustrated.
SPEAKER_01: But if you're willing to take the position of faith risk, you'll adapt a worldview as a kingdom steward.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to know that one day the kingdom steward is going to be blessed beyond measure.
SPEAKER_01: If you'll deal with the short-term inconvenience of my pride and pushing things aside, one day you might be able to say, as Paul did, I have finished my course, I have fought the faith.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Enter in now into the joy of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We're excited you joined us for today's message.
SPEAKER_00: Our heart is to connect with others in our community to grow with one another and build a bigger kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: If you accepted Jesus today, we want to hear about it.
SPEAKER_00: Take a moment and text CCWConnect to 94,000.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you'll make plans to join us in person on Sundays.