Thank you for listening to this message from Life House Church.
Good morning, good morning.
Listen, I appreciate so much what Jason said before giving.
I don't know if you know this or not, but everywhere else in scripture the Word of God
says, God says don't test me, don't try me except in the area of finances.
It's the one place he says try me in this.
See if I won't open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that you cannot contain.
So great words, just continue to listen and as testimonies are told and as people speak
out of God's Word and we are going to continue on if you look to the walls, look to the walls,
if you're online just listen up, but we are in the middle of a message series called Bucks
and Stuff.
Turn to somebody telling them Bucks and Stuff.
Do a little twang this morning, do a little twang, put a little country in.
Bucks and Stuff and we took a little break last week for Father's Day, but this is week
three of this message series and we're really finding out what it means to discover or to
know how to live a God honoring life in the area of money and possessions.
It's a big deal.
Jesus talked about it a lot and he talked about how we can manage what God's placed
in our hands.
He talks about what I should do with my bucks and stuff so God receives glory, right?
So it's for your benefit and he receives glory both.
How do I use my bucks and stuff to expand the kingdom of God and benefit my family all
at the same time because there's a biblical order to all of this.
How many know God's word has order?
Always has order with it, right?
And understanding that bucks and stuff is a spiritual matter.
A lot of times we put it off over here and it's not spiritual, right?
It's just a physical thing, but today I want to take you into another slice of Bucks and
Stuff and what it means to be God honoring in our finances and I want to introduce out
of the scripture something called profit, alright?
How many know when you're talking about money what profit is?
Yeah, come on, right?
Nobody else knows.
I'm going to have to, this could be a long message, man.
Alright, thank you.
Alright, a couple of you.
Six of you know, that's enough.
How do I make sure that my bucks and stuff are bringing profit into the kingdom of God?
I know you don't hear that word used much in Christian circles or maybe in spiritual
circles, right?
How do I make sure bucks and stuff bring profit and increase to my family and to myself and
it really is in that order.
We want to bring profit into the kingdom of God and we want to bring it into our families
and into our lives.
Matthew 6.33 says this and really gives the order.
It says, but seek first, there's the order, right?
God loves order, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these
things shall be added unto you.
If you look at this portion of scripture, Jesus is talking about bucks and stuff.
All the scriptures before this, he's talking about the things that we chase after, all
the stuff that we need, right?
Food, shelter, all those things and he says, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness
and then all these things will be added unto you.
Honor God with our bucks and stuff, right?
First profit in the kingdom and then second in our lives because if we put God first,
if we do what God says, if we invest the way God says, if you do this first, the rest is
blessed, alright?
If we put God first, the rest is blessed.
So this morning we're going to go to a parable that Jesus teaches.
We're going to go to Matthew chapter 25.13 is where we're going to start.
If you can head that direction or you get your notes ready, that's where we're going
to begin.
I'm going to pray over the reading of God's word before we start this morning.
So if you bow your heads, Father, we're grateful for this day.
I thank you for your word, God, that is so incredibly amazing in our lives.
Lord, I thank you that you left us the written word, God, that we might dive in, God, that
we might understand you and Lord that we might grow in our hearts and minds in every area
of our life including bucks and stuff.
So God direct us, show us today what you need us to hear and see for each person in the
house, each person listening online, each person at each shore and we'll just give you glory
and praise in Jesus' name.
Everybody said together, amen, amen, that was great amen.
Jesus starts his story off with some clear instruction and some warning.
He says this, this parable, he says Matthew 25-13 says, watch therefore for you know not
neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
Before he starts to tell the story, before he begins to unfold the story, he prefaces
this story with a warning.
He prefaces this with an idea that we need to keep in our head and our hearts, right?
Instruction for the body of Christ.
He says keep watch because one day I'm coming back.
Jesus is going to return.
One day he's coming back.
One day he's going to return to this earth.
One day every knee is going to bow.
The word of God says every tongue is going to confess that he is in fact Lord.
One day all this that you see around you, the governments, how things are running in
the world around us, all that is going to shift.
All that is going to change because Jesus is going to return.
One day all authority and dominion and rule will shift from the current governments, corrupt
or otherwise, right?
That's all going to shift and it's going to go into God's kingdom.
He's going to rule everything.
I think of it this way, Jesus is going to drain the swamps of some governments, amen?
Come on.
He's going to say, yeah, yeah, yeah, all right.
Oh wow, I didn't think I'd get any applause over that.
And he'll take it over.
And I can't wait until he returns.
But Jesus starts off this parable and he says, you need to keep this in mind.
Watch therefore for you neither know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming
back.
We need to be prepared.
We need to occupy and we need to be about the Father's business.
So poke your neighbor right now, tell him he's coming back.
He's coming back.
I want to remind you this morning, Jesus started off that he's coming back, right?
He starts off with the warning and then he starts into the story.
He says this, for the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling into a far country who
called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.
And one, he gave five talents to another two and to another one to each one according to
his own ability.
And immediately he went on a journey.
Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made five other
talents.
And likewise, he who received the two gained two more also.
But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money.
And after a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
Why is Jesus telling this story?
Why this message about the talents and the servants and a man who traveled to a far country?
What's the parallel?
What's the main theme?
What does the subject matter have to do with bucks and stuff?
It's profit.
Now listen, I know God's word is layered.
There's a lot of things we could preach out of this passage.
But if you look at an overall theme in this message, it's about profit.
Profit is increased, realized or attained above an initial investment.
So if I take $10 and I invested in the stock market and it realizes a gain of $10, how
many know I have $20?
My profit is 10 bucks.
I invested an original $10 and then my profit gained is 10 additional dollars, so I have
20 total.
Profit is increased above the original investment.
My grandsons who were eight and five were working on this this weekend.
They started working a deal to gain some profit.
And I don't know where they could come up with this idea.
But they got some paper and they started doing some artwork.
And they do some pictures and they colored them.
And then they brought them over to Mimi and Poppy's house and said, hey, our artwork is
for sale.
All right, they did.
You can have this original for a dollar.
So of course we're all showing out money.
We're buying out papers.
Oh, but they didn't stop there.
They're quite entrepreneurial in nature.
They were thinking all about profit.
We went outside and down by their house, right by the mailbox, they had them lined up along
the road with rocks on them and a jar sitting there.
You can swing by today and pick yourself a copy up for a buck.
They understood profit and they do understand profit.
Do you know how much a piece of paper costs?
Less than one cent.
Come on.
They're going to be millionaires.
It's awesome.
Jesus is telling this parable to tackle the spiritual matter of profit.
He's addressing the idea of profit in the kingdom of God and in this story that the
main the main man, right, the man who represents Jesus Christ is gone for a long period of
time.
He leaves.
It's the parallel of Jesus.
Jesus, listen, two thousand plus years ago, Jesus left this earth.
He is currently sitting at the right hand of the father.
The word of God says he's making intercession for you and I.
He's speaking to the father for us.
Right.
He's right there and he's just waiting to hear the word from the father.
The word of God tells us when when the father decides he's going to return to this earth
and he's just waiting for that time and the servants are left.
Right.
Who are the servants were the servants?
Jesus is the man and the servants here are supposed to be producing profit while he's
gone.
It's why he sent the Holy Spirit to us.
One of the things I believe that we're going to give an account for one of these days when
he returns when I stand before God is what kind of kingdom profit that I secured on behalf
of the king while he was gone on behalf of what the word of God says here is the man.
So I want you to get the picture.
Are you starting to see what's unfolding here?
In this story, Jesus tells he places something in the servant's hands, actually a large amount
of something.
He gives them talents.
Say talents.
A talent was a measurement of something.
It was an amount.
And in the case of a talent or money, you know, Roman talent could be equivalent to
what they call back then 6,000 denarii.
6,000 denarii.
One denarii was a day's wages, roughly a day's wages average.
So let me put it in terms that we might help us out.
Let's pretend that we made $25 per hour, right, in an eight hour day.
That means you made 200 bucks a day.
Take 200 times 6,000 and you'll come up to $1.2 million for one talent.
All right.
That'll give you a rough equivalent of what we're talking about.
He did not leave just a little bit of money to these guys to manage or these people, men
or women to manage.
He left a significant amount of money.
And we're not talking about 10 bucks here.
We're not talking about a dollar for some artwork.
We're talking about 6 million, 2.4 million, and 1.2 million in talents.
Jesus put something of great value into their hands.
Greater than any bag of money, right?
We'll hope.
He placed, and if you want to see the parallel in this picture, what does God put in our
hands?
He placed the gospel of Jesus Christ, right, in our hands.
He's given us physical things, stuff.
He's given us income.
He's given us money and all this.
You know, the money and the bucks and the stuff are over here.
But the gospel message, you can't put a price on that.
It's priceless.
You carry the message of Jesus Christ that has eternal value to anybody that you run
into, right?
It's salvation.
It's life and it's death.
And he places the gospel.
He places stuff.
He places bucks in our hand.
And he says, while I'm gone, I want you to make profit.
Jesus wants us to generate profit while He's away.
He wants us to bring increase into God's kingdom while He's gone.
We're supposed to occupy our time in His physical absence, making sure that we bring profit
into the kingdom of God.
He sent the Holy Spirit to us to empower us to bring profit into the kingdom of God.
And one day when He returns, I believe it's going to be one of the questions He asks of
us.
I think I might stand before God, don't know, but I think He's going to stand, I might stand
before Him and say, how much profit did you bring into the kingdom of God?
What kind of increase, right?
What kind of gains did you realize?
And you've got to understand something about the kingdom of God profit.
It's not like profit in the world.
See, the kingdom of God profit is this.
God sees profit as people.
Okay?
Well, we're going to get to the kingdom of God.
God's not looking for you to come, you know, one day when He returns, drag a big old bag
of money in front of Him.
You're not going to impress Him with your money.
He owns it all.
He wants you to bring people into the kingdom of God.
Profit is kingdom.
Now we use the bucks and stuff to bring the gospel to other people.
It costs money.
You just got back from Tangier.
It costs money to go do all that.
Right?
But it is people, say people.
Everything He puts in our hands is to realize kingdom profit, to bring people into the kingdom,
everything.
Jesus allows us to earn income and to be generous so we bring people into the kingdom of God.
Right?
So ministry happens and people come in.
Jesus allows us to earn income so that our families and ourselves were sustained in all
of this.
And how many know your people?
Come on, raise your hand if you're a people out there right now.
God cares about you just as much as the person next to you.
Right?
Everything Jesus came to do is generate kingdom profit.
Kingdom of God profit.
So why is it so important that I understand this?
If you get this in your heart, in your head, that everything that God placed in your hands
is for the kingdom of God profit, it changes your perspective of what you do with what
God put in your hands.
Everything changes.
How many know when you know the why, it changes what you do?
Right?
If you know the why for something, it changes what you do.
And Jesus said generate profit while I'm away.
Now listen, there's more to this story.
I want to read you.
I want to pick up at verse 20.
And he says this, 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 beside them.
Excuse me.
As Lord said to him, well done good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful over a few things.
I will make you rule over many things.
Enter into the joy of your Lord.
He also who had received two talents came and said Lord, you delivered to me two talents.
Look I've gained two more talents beside them.
The Lord said to him, well done good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful over a few things.
I'm going to make you rule over many things.
Enter into the joy of the Lord.
Then you who received the one talent came and said Lord, I knew you to be a hard man
reaping where you have not sown, gathering where you have not scattered seed, and I was
afraid.
Man, I could stop and preach right there for a while.
I'm not going to for time.
And 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 lazy servant.
You knew I reap where I have not sown, gather where I have not scattered seed.
So you had to have deposited my money with the bankers and in my coming I would have
received back my own with interest.
So take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents.
For to whoever 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 outer darkness where they will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus sends a very clear message to his servants in this story to those who call him Lord.
The kingdom prophet is really not optional.
Jesus said there's no excuse for lack of profit in the kingdom.
There's no excuse for lack of involvement.
There's no lack of there's no excuse for lack of investment in the kingdom prophet.
And God's not cool with laziness in the kingdom of God and getting people into the kingdom.
Jesus is not all right with us just kind of hanging out and waiting until Jesus returns.
Hanging out occupying a chair, occupying a pew and just saying well Jesus saved me.
Man I'm feeling good.
I'm feeling awesome.
I'm going to worship God.
He came and changed my life.
Now I'm just going to keep hunkering down and praying and waiting until Jesus returns
and then I'm going to go get my reward.
That's not what he said to do.
That's not what he told us.
That's not what he instructed us.
He said listen you got to be about the father's business.
This is about bringing profit.
This is about bringing people into the kingdom.
This is about getting people in and the man called the servant who went and hid his talent
who went and took what God put in his hand stuck it in the ground not to steal it.
He was going to give it back right every bit of it but he called him wicked and lazy.
What getting lazy?
And in fact the man hands down the orders he says cast the unprofitable servant into
outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Does that sound optional to anybody?
It's only optional if you're into outer darkness weeping and gnashing of teeth.
If you enjoy that it's optional.
Really.
And God shows us and I know it's sobering right.
This is one of those scriptures that just kind of whack hits you right between the eyes
hits you right in the chest.
But we practically got to think about what God's put in our hands and how can we use
this to reach people in the kingdom whether that's bucks and stuff whether it's your gifts
and your talents whatever God's given you.
And I want to give you something practical this morning because sometimes we can preach
and we can bring the word of God but you need something practical.
And here's something practical that you can do to make sure that you're going in that
direction with everything that God's caught in your hand and it's this.
Predecide all right.
Predecide what you're going to do with your bucks and stuff.
Don't wait till the spur of the moment.
Don't wait till the heat of the moment.
Don't wait till you suddenly get an emotional burst or you know an emotional thing happens
and you're willing to give.
Don't wait for any of that.
Predecide what you're going to do ahead of time.
Make an informed decision out of God's word.
Make a prayerful decision.
If you're married you and your spouse sit down talk about this.
What's this going to look like?
You can pre decide exactly what you're going to do with your bucks and stuff and your gifts
and your talents and how you're going to pour it into the kingdom of God to go to realize
kingdom profit.
Predecide because pre decision always pre pre I guess goes before a plan right.
If you pre decide then you'll set a plan.
Don't make it up as you go.
Don't wait right.
Do you know why most salespeople when you come into a store and you're considering buying
something they don't want you going out the door.
Do you know why they try to keep you in the house.
Because they know you have a most nine out of ten people have not pre decided before
they've gone into a store.
They see something like right.
I think I want that you know and they draw a little closer and they said and then salesman
going who I see commission right and they'll walk up and they don't they don't they don't
want you going out the door because if you go out the door you might actually start to
make some decisions.
You might actually start to contemplate about what you're about to do and how much money
you're about to spend and they know the impulse is going to fly out the door and you're going
to start putting together a plan right.
Pre decide pre decide pre decide what you're going to do.
You know what you got to you should do this in all areas of life right.
How many know you can get all inspired to do some exercise.
How many you bought some exercise equipment while you're watching the infomercial.
Come on nobody's going to read that.
Thank you for being honest.
I got one honest person in the house.
We all do we all have our clothes drying on them right.
Come on you buy those in an impulsive moment right.
But you didn't make a plan to exercise you didn't start thinking about nutrition and
writing down how you're going to exercise what days you're going to exercise.
Pre decide what you're going to do and as you do that God will begin to work in what
you're doing to bring profit into the kingdom.
Now I want to I want to share one last thing as I kind of bring this message towards the
close notice I said towards the close.
What does the Lord do for the kingdom servant who pre decides how they're going to invest
their bucks and stuff for kingdom profit.
Matthew 25 26 let me reread it.
But his Lord answered and said to him you wicked lazy servant you knew I reap where
I have not sown you 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.
Now watch what he says.
So take the talent from him and give it to him who has 10 right for every 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.
Do you know what the man is saying to his faithful servants his profitable servants
to the ones who've invested and invested well and realized profit to every one of them who
has who's proven themselves faithful and brought profit into the kingdom of God.
He says take even what that take the one right the servant who went and hit it take that
and give it to the one who had the 10.
Because whoever has is going to have even more.
How many know you trust you trust more into somebody that that is faithful somebody that
is trustworthy you hand them more if you're in a job somewhere and you just started it
and you get a year up the line and your employer feels like they can trust you they'll still
put more in your hands they'll start letting you manage more and that's what God does.
And the word of God says he says well done good and faithful servant you have been faithful
over a few things a few things I will make you ruler over many enter into the joy of
the Lord.
Listen how we invest has eternal consequences to it or actually eternal reward is a better
way to put it right enter into I'm going to make you ruler over many things God will increase
you I don't think that ends with this life I think God if you find you faithful if you're
bringing profit into the kingdom I think he'll just keep going on you'll profit the kingdom
of God all through this life God will keep putting more in your hands in this life and
I think one day when we get to heaven he's just going to say you know what that's one
of my faithful ones right there I don't know what it's going to look like I got no idea
but I think he's going to say that's a faithful one right there you're going to be ruler over
many things and he's going to put you in place because it's going to be a kingdom it's going
to be a society it's going to be it's going to be it's not a small thing man billions
and billions and billions of people from all time are going to be there and he's going
to just keep going on this is a kingdom principle it is about profit in the kingdom what are
you pre-deciding what are you pre-deciding because it is this means listen if you don't
pre-decide can I throw the other direction just for a second if we don't pre-decide if
we're not worried about profit in the kingdom do you know some people are going to die and
go to hell man right silvering it's about profit in the kingdom bucks stuff gifts talent
seek first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness and then he will add everything
else to you it's all through his word I'm going to ask you to stand this morning this
is a prayerful thing it's a prayerful thing and I'm going to ask you to do the praise
teams coming I want you to make your way up towards the front because we're going to pray
together this communion today it was about being together I want to and I'm going to
ask you to do one thing if you would everybody just make your way out if you can out of your
seats and move up towards the front because here let me ask you to do one thing as you
come I'm going to ask you to begin to pre-decide now some of you might say I've already decided
I've already got a plan I'm already tithing I'm already giving an offering I'm doing all
those things listen that's awesome maybe God will want to expand that in your life maybe
it's you know I have to do with the gifts and the talents this morning but make your
way up you know if you're a couple get together stand beside each other make your way up move
up a little bit closer the whole way up please yeah they're doing baby steps I don't even
know what that means it's going like this move up closer pre-decision if you pre-decide
you will make a plan it is part of the plan pre-decide because here's what will happen
if you don't it'll be like that exercise equipment it'll be like all things that you make an
emotional right inspirational decision some people tell me that like well I just I just
I just give when God moves on me the problem is you can dismiss getting emotional for a
moment and sometimes inspiration doesn't come along very often and that's not really what
God says in his word he's looking for people who are faithful how many know faithful is
when nobody's looking that's what you're doing when nobody's looking right faithful is about
when I used to tell my kids that all the time when they were growing up listen I understand
you're gonna listen when I'm watching but it's about what you're doing when I'm not
looking it matters because he's always watching all right pre-decide what you're gonna do
pre-decide start now we taught our kids from little up listen you you give to God you give
to God and watch what he does put him first right first fruits make sure it's the first
thing out of your checkbook make it's the first thing when you get paid very first thing
and watch what God does and we've watched it I've watched it in thousands of lives thousands
of testimonies you can literally test God on this and he'll say just watch what I'll
do you want to watch God show up and show off just listen to what he says here he'll
do it amen all right so let's bow our heads just to keep you focused it's not sure any
more spiritual your eyes are open or closed but it keeps you focused what are you gonna
pre-decide this morning this is about a decision it's not about emotion and inspiration Father
we come to you today Lord I don't come Lord speak into emotion or speaking in a moment
of inspiration but we come as obedient servants because God we want this house to be profitable
in the kingdom of God Lord God we want people to come into the kingdom of God because of
what we do with our bucks and our stuff Lord everything that you place in our hands you've
trusted us with you've already said I see you as a faithful servant so Lord we want
to invest wisely hey God we want to bring into the kingdom God so that the kingdom of
God expands so souls are reached so mission trips happen God so people young people come
to faith in Christ so people come in and gain health in you Lord they come are saved God
they're filled with the spirit God they're there God all of it Lord it's profit there
are people so God break our heart for people God so much so that we'll be completely obedient
to what your word speaks and says we just give you praise and glory and honor in Jesus
name amen amen young people God just touched my heart just spoke to my heart right there
start now start now you make ten bucks take a tenth and take a buck and give it to God
you make a buck take ten cents give it to God watch what God does okay start this pattern
in your life watch what God does now listen that's just a tie that's just the beginning
point right there's offering goes along with that I'm not gonna preach on that yet I know
people who reverse tithe they give 90% of their income away and live on 10% and God
explodes them now I don't recommend jumping to that all right they did that incrementally
over years but literally they give 90% away and some of them have businesses and their
businesses just go crazy you know and they don't even know what to do with it they just
give money away they just bless ministries all over the place God could do it in you
he really can he's just looking for faithfulness amen sure amen turn to somebody give him a
high five tell him it's all about profit.