Today's the third sermon in the sermon series Blind Spot entitled See the Future. It's the finale of this sermon series.
I'm glad you're here for it. We're gonna have a great conversation
today. Hey
if you are interested in going deeper in the Bible, I want to encourage you to come to a
Tuesday night midweek study that we're gonna be starting called First Thessalonians. I teach this every Tuesday night.
It's a Bible study that meets right here in this class just about 100 to 150 of us and it starts back up Wednesday
Tuesday night September the 5th. It's not a small group. It's a midweek Bible study
and it's gonna go throughout the fall if you want to join us and you're interested in things like the return of
Jesus Christ and the rapture and these sort of things. We're touching on all of that as we go verse by verse for eight weeks through
the book of First Thessalonians every Tuesday night. Now,
See the Future.
That's the title of the sermon today. See the future and I need you to see it before it's too late.
Here's why because I believe that those who see the future own the world.
Those who see the future own the world. What is that thing where
the thing that you pull out and you can see and the pirate thing? What's the pirate? The thing it's a
telescope. It's not a telescope. Somebody said telescope. It's a it's no, it's not a periscope. That's in a submarine.
So it's not a telescope, it's not a periscope. It's a it's a it's a spyglass.
Give this young man a round of applause. He knew exactly what it was. It's a spyglass.
Did she say it too? See like only the children know. Only the children.
It's a spyglass and a spyglass was created and invented years and years ago for the sole purpose of being able to see a
far distance in space.
Certain pieces of glass mirrored up to one another allow you to see a far distance in space.
You can stand here and see a long way away in space. I
wish there was a an invention that we could have that could allow us to see a far distance in time.
To see a long way away.
To be able to stand here and see the future. And what's most fascinating to me in today's story from Jesus is
there is an expectation that his followers can see the future.
Now not everything. You can't know everything of the future and you probably shouldn't know everything.
How many of you are thankful you don't know how you're going to die? Amen?
I've seen that in movies come up. You're like would you like to know? No, no, no, no, no. I don't want to know everything.
But there are certain things that Jesus wants you to know about the future and you can see the future.
And in this passage Jesus wants you to see some very core aspects because those who see the future own the world.
We know this to be the case, right? Don't you wish you could predict the stock market?
Do you wish you could pick which stock is going to triple in the next week and then buy enough now so that you can pay off everything then?
My father is from Las Vegas. I'm from Las Vegas and my grandfather, well, he moved to Las Vegas.
My grandfather is an immigrant to the United States. Any grandkids or children or immigrants to the United States?
How many of you, your grandparents or parents or you immigrated to the United States? Raise your hand. How many of you?
Okay, a lot of us, right? We're a nation of immigrants. My grandfather immigrated from the Middle East and he moved to Las Vegas in the 1940s.
My grandmother was a worker downtown. She was a cashier. My grandfather was a taxi driver. So just in the industry, like a lot of you.
And my grandfather had a friend who was getting into real estate in the 1940s in Las Vegas and he came to my grandfather and said,
Paul, you got to buy some land on South Las Vegas Boulevard. And my grandfather said, there's nothing south of Las Vegas Boulevard. Flamingo's the end.
This is 1948, 1949. He's like, you got to buy. If you do now, I'm telling you, this place is already growing. It's going to explode.
He's like, well, how much? And I don't remember exactly the number, but it was like $6, $700 an acre on Las Vegas Boulevard in 1949.
So my grandfather, being the financial wizard that he was, he went home to my grandmother and they discussed it.
My grandmother said, how in the world are we going to buy land? Number one, we got to pay the bills.
Number two, how in the world are we going to pay for that land whenever it's a piece of dirt, dusty, nothing that nobody will ever want?
So they passed on the deal. And I am poor. No, I'm fine. God takes care of me.
My family and I often do discuss as a broader family, like what direction would have that taken our family?
Like what exactly would our lives be? And though God has a perfect plan or perfect purpose and sovereignty, it doesn't change the concept in my own mind
that investing at the right time does just blow the mind as it relates to what that could have been.
And today, what's going to happen for you is exactly what happened for my grandfather 70 years ago.
Today, I'm going to wake you up to the reality of what will be. I don't want a dollar out of your pocket that other people deal with financial stuff.
I want not a moment of your time, other people want to take your time.
I want the one thing that every single one of us have, and I want you not to give it to me, I want you to give it to him.
The one thing I want from you today is your entire life, like it all, everything.
Because there's one thing that we've all been given, and that's what it's talking about today, the life to invest in the future.
Luke chapter 19 and verse 11 says, the crowd was listening to Jesus and everything he had to say.
And because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told them the story to correct the impression of the kingdom of God that it would come right away.
There's a little background to the story we're about to study from Jesus, and the background is that Jesus and his disciples are traveling.
They're just left Jericho. Remember, they met a small man in Jericho.
Does anybody remember his name? What was his name from last week? What was his name? Zacchaeus.
So they're leaving behind Jericho, and they're heading up a trail, an ancient trail up to the city of Jerusalem.
Now, as they're entering Jerusalem, all of the disciples are thinking, Jesus is coming to become king of kings.
He's going to be the Lord of lords. He's the Messiah that is going to conquer the world.
Now, that's true. He was the Messiah to be king of kings and Lord of lords.
He was going to conquer the world, but Jesus' timetable was misunderstood by the disciples.
They thought that Jesus would be king this week.
And so Jesus knew that was their perception, so to correct their point of view, Jesus tells a story.
That's the story we're about to study. Jesus is telling them the story to look to the future for the moment that the kingdom will be established.
What did Jesus want them to know about the future? Number one, he wanted them to know, number one,
he would claim the throne, number one, he would claim the throne.
I'm going to say, number one, you say claim the throne. Number one, claim the throne. Number one, claim the throne.
Jesus wanted them to know, I'm going to Jerusalem to claim the throne.
Now, the way he would claim the throne is to get to the throne, he had to go through the thorns.
to get to the crown he had to go through the cross. We know that because we've been studying
the book. We know that because we lived 2,000 years later. But the disciples thought Jesus
was just going to go and take the crown and the throne and he'd be king of kings. And so
Jesus tells them this story, verse 12. He says in verse 12, Jesus said, a nobleman was
called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return. Jesus tells a story as
he often does to prove a point. He said, guys, once upon a time there was a nobleman and
the nobleman was called away to a far empire to be crowned king and then he was going to
come back. Now in this story, who do you think Jesus is talking about? Who do you think this
king that is going to be going away to a far country, get crowned and then come back? Who do
you think Jesus is talking about? Who? He's talking about himself. And what throne is Jesus
going to claim? Well, if you were here two weeks ago, and by the way, that's why it's important.
You'll notice today, sermon, every single person in this room today is going to learn and grow.
You're going to love it. I promise. But two weeks ago, all of the beautiful truths that are going
to flourish in today's sermon were planted two weeks ago. Because two weeks ago when I taught,
the Bible talks about this in the early, late part of Luke chapter 18, Jesus referred to him
himself as the son of man that would one day reclaim the vacant throne. You remember this? How
many of you were here two weeks ago? You're starting to remember, amen? If you were, all right,
all right. Okay, the son of man. Remember Jesus called himself the son of man. What is the word
man in Hebrew? Somebody shouted out, what was it? Adam, Adam. When Jesus came, he called himself
the son of Adam. I am here to reclaim the throne of humanity. I am the king of kings. I am the king
of humanity. When we think of Jesus sitting on the throne, we often think that he's sitting on the
throne of God. No, he's sitting at the right hand of the throne of the father in the throne of Adam,
mankind's throne. Jesus came to be the king of humanity. We talked about that two weeks ago.
So now Jesus comes back to that thought and tells the story. I'm going away to reek to be crowned.
Why? Because the way to get to the crown was through the cross. I'm going to get to the throne.
The way to the throne was through the thorns. He's going to die and sit upon the throne. This is
what he's talking about. And that concept of Jesus being on the throne, in fact, let's show that.
Let's show that picture of Christ on the throne. This should bring peace to your heart. You ever
get worried about the future? Like really, you ever think, man, I'm a little concerned. Maybe
it's for your personal health. How many of you sometimes get concerned about not only your health,
but your family, your children, the choices they're making? You ever get concerned about the society
we live in? How many of you are a little worried about the country that we live in? You ever get
concerned about the direction of the world and how the world is going right now? You ever get
worried about your personal finances or your relationship? Maybe there's some seeds of destruction
that have been planted and you're like, what's going to happen with this relationship? Okay,
so here's my question. We all do it. We all do it. All of us at some point or another talk to
ourselves and we say, it's going to be okay. Right? It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay.
All right. When you worry about finances, relationships, problems, work, the society at
large or your own health, when you say to yourself, it's going to be okay. What rationale do you have
behind that? Like really, think about it. Are you just lying to yourself when you look at your
spouse and say it's going to be okay? When you look at your children, you say it's going to be
okay? You say, well, that's what humans are supposed to say to each other. Yeah, but is it?
Like why do you think it's going to be okay? Some of us think it's going to be okay because I've
saved up enough money in my accounts and my retirement. I think I can weather any storm.
Really? Money flies away, the Bible says. It sprouts wings. Have you ever had money sprout wings?
Yeah, we all have. You say, no, I think everything's going to be okay because look at the United
States. We're the strongest, greatest empire that ever was. We're empires rise and fall,
my friend. We might be watching it fall now. If you're putting your faith in your finances,
your faith in your country, I'd be careful about lying to yourself. Everything's going to be okay.
You see, man, everything's going to be okay because I don't trust my country or my finances. I trust
myself. I've always landed on my two feet. I'll be fine. Hey, we all grow old and weary. At some point,
you won't be able to last. So when you look at yourself and say, it's going to be okay, what do
you base that on? Say, okay, Josh, are you telling me it's not going to be okay? No, I'm telling you
it's actually, it's going to be fine. It's all going to be okay. I truly believe that. You say,
how do you know it's going to be okay? Here's how I know it's going to be okay because Christ is on
the throne. Don't you understand? It's not that Jesus one day will be on the throne. It's that
Jesus Christ died, was buried, rose from the grave, talked to Mary, said, don't touch me yet. I'm
about to ascend to my father. For what reason? To be crowned king of kings. He sat upon the throne
and he now rules and reigns over the kingdom of God on earth and is preparing for the kingdom of
heaven to come. The reason everything is going to be okay, hear me, is because God is on his throne
and at his right hand the son of the father sits in power and glory. Now verse 13, before he left,
he called together the ten. Before who left? Oh, it's the story. Go back to the story. You see it
in verse 12. A nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and return. Before
he left, he called together his ten servants. How many were there? How many? Ten. Say it with me,
everybody say, how many were there? That's going to be really important at the end of the sermon.
Don't miss it. How many were there? Ten. And he divided among them ten pounds of silver saying,
invest this for me while I am gone. He said to every single servant, you get a pound of silver,
you get a pound of silver, all ten got one pound of silver. How many of you would like that if
that was our guest gift on the way out today, right? One pound of silver. Everybody gets a pound
of silver. Go invest it and bring it back. Now look at those on. It wasn't just servants who were
in this kingdom. There were also haters. Look at what it says. But some of his people hated him
and set a delegation after him saying, we do not want you to be our king. Oh, interesting. So now
we're introduced to two groups. One is the one group are the servants of the king. The second
group are the haters of the king. Friend, listen to me. In this world, there will always be servants
of the king and haters of the king. Look, look, look, look, look. Some of you are, how many of
you are Christians if you are, say amen. All right. Some of you Christians think to yourself,
I don't understand why this world thinks the way they do because you're a servant of the king and
they hate the king. You're never going to understand their fundamental dynamic because they think
completely differently than you. They are haters of the king. They don't want him to be the king.
Now more on them a little later. They're two groups, servants and the haters, verse 15. After
he was crowned king, Jesus, he returned and called the servants to himself that he had given the
money and he wanted to find out what their prophets were. All right. Two kinds of people. Haters of
the king, servants of the king. Now we're not all perfect, but how many of you say, Pastor Josh,
I'm not perfect, but I'm definitely not a hater of the king. I'm a follower of Jesus. I would call
myself a servant of the king. How many of you are in that camp for this story? If that's you,
raise your hand and say amen. All right, servants of the king. All right. This is what he says.
Jesus says the king's going to come back and he's going to ask his servants, what did you do with
the one thing that I gave you? What is the one thing that God has given you that he has given
to every other servant of God that has ever lived? Your life. Listen to me. God has only given you
one life. How are you investing that? What are you doing with it? This is what I'm doing today.
I'm being your spyglass. I am helping you see the future because just as certain as you're sitting
right here right now, there is coming a day where your life will be over and as a follower of Jesus,
you're going to stand before your king. The question will not be, do you go to heaven or hell? You
are not a hater. Hell is not an option. You're going to go to the kingdom of heaven. The question
will be, what did you do with the life I gave you? So I'm letting you see the future that you will
stand there and the king is going to want to know what you do. Here's what Jesus wants you to see
about the future. He would be crowned king, but number two, number two, he expects an ROI.
He's going to be mind blowing, especially to some of you Christians who have only experienced a
pat on your head Christianity. Say what's pat on your head Christianity? Welcome to Jesus. Everything's
okay. You don't have to, your life is perfect. Every decision you've ever made is the right decision,
and every decision you'll ever make is the right decision. You're just, you're amazing the way
you are and hopefully you know that. Goodbye. This story of Jesus does not fit into that paradigm at
all. Christ through his death upon the cross bought you with a price. That price was his own blood.
He purchased you, he redeemed you. These are all biblical terms that describe what salvation means.
You are not your own, the Bible says. You say it's my life only if you're a hater to the king,
and we'll deal with that later. But if you're a servant of Christ, you've been born again,
you don't belong to yourself, Paul told the Corinthians, and he expects a return on the
investment. Now look, look, look. My job is to simply tell you and help you understand what this
says. That's all I'm supposed to do. My job is not to patronize you or treat you like children.
My job is to say, look, do you see what Jesus told us? What are you going to do with it? Here's what
Jesus expects. He expects an ROI. What is an ROI? Come on my business people, what is an ROI? Return
on investments. So what is a return on investment? You've seen Shark Tank. Who's your favorite shark?
You like Mark Cuban? You like Mark? Yeah, yeah, what's that? I like Mr. Wonderful too,
because he's not wonderful. It's an ironic, it's ironic, right? Like Lori, I like them all.
Like Damien, they're all great sharks. And when you go before the Shark Tank, you're looking for
their money, and what are they looking for? A friend. Right? Damien's in there because he doesn't
have enough friends and he wants to find a friend. And so he's going to pay you to be his friend.
Is that what's going on? Yes or no? They are looking for a return on their investment. The
expectation is really clear. You say, well, what are you saying? I'm saying Jesus is telling his
disciples one week before he dies. My expectations are very clear. I'm leaving my servants behind,
and when I, I'm going to go get crowned, and then I'm coming again. When I come again,
I'm going to see what you did with the one thing I gave you. Expect a return on his investment.
Verse 15, and he was crowned, and he returned, and called the servants together to whom he
had given the money, and he wanted to find out what their prophets were. Now, when Jesus does
sit on the throne, let's go to Jesus on the throne. When Jesus sits on the throne, the only
problem with the picture that you see in front of you is that with this graphic, it gives the
idea that there's a bunch of people there. And though there will be those moments, when you
stand before God, when you stand before the Master, it will only be you and him. It's a one-on-one
relationship here. Now, I don't want you to be confused because our relationship with God,
as beautiful as it is, has many dimensions. God views mankind in multiple ways. For example,
God views men as sinners who need to be saved. Do you remember when you were a sinner who needed
to be saved, amen? Say, Pastor, I still make mistakes. I know you were, you still sin, so do I.
But there was a moment where you rejected God and ran from God, and God saw you merely as a sinner
who needed salvation. And there was a moment in your life where you understood that God loved you,
and your sin was going to curse you, and you needed to call upon Jesus to be your Savior. And right
there at a church or at a coffee shop or with your grandma, you bowed your head and you asked Jesus
to save you. And you went from sinner to saved. Do you remember that moment? If you do say,
amen. Now, if you've never been saved, we can talk about that sometime. Sinner. But God doesn't
just view you as a sinner. Once you get saved, God views you as a son. Yes? Or a daughter,
a child of God. He adopts you into his family, and now you have this like really cool relationship,
don't you? But now we're introduced to a third way in which God interacts with you. Listen,
you were a sinner who now saved. You are a son of God, but you were also a servant of God.
It's strange to have a dual relationship with the same person, isn't it? Anybody ever work with family?
You ever work with family? How'd it go? Don't answer. It went well for me. I worked with my
father for several years. He was a pastor. I was one of his associate or assistant pastors,
and I enjoyed it tremendously. But I found it was really weird because dad would have moments
where dad was not dad, dad was boss. And I saw him in a very different light. And there were moments
it was so weird because sometimes I'd be figuring out a priest. I was a children's pastor, and I
would be figuring out a presentation about a children's program I wanted to start. And I'm
preparing it, and I'm like, this is like I'm in college, and he's like a professor. And I'm going
into my father's office and officially presenting him a game plan, like he's a boss. And you know
why? Because he was my boss. But he was also my dad. And sometimes that relationship works really
well if both parties understand what it looks like. Friend, listen to me. We humans make mistakes
all the time, but God never does. God can be a father who loves you at the same time be a master
who expects results. And he does. He does. He expects results. So here's the question. When you
stand before Jesus, what are you going to show him? Do you see, I want you to see the future.
I don't want you standing before Jesus one day, and he's like, okay, so what'd you do with your
life? And you're like, Pastor never told me, I'm telling you. Like, he's, what are you going to show
him? You say, well, what are you going to show him? Here's what I'm going to show him. I'm going to
show him things like this. Like, Jesus, this is what I did. I spent my time starting small groups
where I could teach men the Bible and they themselves could go teach their families the Bible.
I'm going to show pictures of people like Daisy and Josh, my friends. You say, right, sitting right
here. How they came to know you as Savior Jesus, and then I baptized them, and my wife and I took
them under wing and loved them and mentor them. You're going to be in my young men's mentorship
group next year, aren't you? Yeah. This is what I'm going to do. Don't you understand? I'm literally
going to take them and I'm going to say, Jesus, this is what I, this is what I tried to do for you.
I'm going to show them pictures like, see these people I was telling about Jesus? I'm going to,
I'm going to, I want them to see pictures like, like of the Baptistry where I could show pictures of
Randall and Zeke and Sterling. See, these are men that I led to you. Say, Pastor, aren't you showing
off? No, I'm trying to, the Bible says as a pastor, my job is to be an example of the believer.
And so I'm actually going out of my way, which is very odd for me to say, look, I, I literally,
my whole life has been about this thing. There's going to be a day that I stand before him, and I
owe him everything. He saved me from hell and a really messed up, screwed up life. And because he
did that, I feel like I owe him. And I know what he says. He loves me no matter what, but I want to
pay him back somehow for what he's done. I'm not earning my salvation. I just want to serve him
with my life. And one day when I stand before him, he does tell us, he expects an ROI. And so he's
going to say, so what'd you do with the life I gave you? And I want to show them these things. This
is what I did. It was the best I could do. This is why we take Blake and Lisa and Michael
and Abby in this next pit, and we, we ship them off to take a church and lead it to the next level
across the country instead of trying to hold on to them. This is why we take some of the best
members of our church ever, like, like, no, go back, go back, like, like, like Akeem and Jamie.
And we say, hey, go to Oakland and plant a church. By the way, some of you in this room have been
faithful in your prayers and your financial giving, and you've lost friendship because they live
there now and you live here now. You say, man, that's a big loss. Friend, that's not a loss. That's
an investment. Don't you see the same pictures I'm showing you or the pictures that you can show
Jesus? Because you are part of that. Now, you're not part of that if you just sit here to be blunt.
You're an observer of what servants of God do. Is that too harsh? I'm trying to wake you up and
say you don't have to be a spectator. Get in the game. This is why our church took some of the best
people we have ever had. The Snooks, go to that picture. The Snooks used to sit here every Sunday
for 10 years and God put on their heart. He's a surgeon. She's a nurse to go to Africa and become
missionaries to Africa. Now they work in a hospital there and they minister in the local
churches. Amazing. And you, as a church, sent them. And you, as a church, support their ministry
for like, I don't know, $1,000 a month or whatever. And some of you support them individually, which
is amazing. You say, why do you do that? Why do we do that? Here's why we do that. Because one
day we're going to stand before God and we want to say, this is what we did for you. We do it for
our families. Some of you men and women, you take seriously your family responsibilities. I love
this church, but my number one ministry is not you. My number one ministry is them. And I've
invested my life with that boy and those two girls. And that's why yesterday we spent the entire day
watching volleyball games in, where were we? In, in Bady. Have you ever been to Bady, Nevada?
Don't go. It's, is anybody from Bady, Nevada? No, of course, you didn't escape. There's no
escape from Bady. Watching volleyball games and say, why? Because I want them to know that I love
them. My whole life is about them so that I can lead them to Jesus. So we can have like,
a little scarlet come up here and say, you need to invite your friends to Jesus. Do you see? This
is what we do. What am I going to show Jesus? I want to show, I want to show Jesus Southern Hills.
See, this wasn't here before we were here. And by the way, this wouldn't be here without some of you.
I see some friends sitting in the back. I won't call out your names, but you know, this building
would not be here if you did not help start the church so many years ago. I know what some of
you are thinking. You're like, I don't think I have anything to show Jesus. I think maybe you do.
You have so much that you've done for Christ. Ron and Sheila, all of the people over the years
that you've discipled, you've led to Christ and led small groups, Mark and Jacob, all that you do
to invest your lives here with little thought or little thanks. These are all things that you are
developing so that one day you can stand before Jesus and say, we did this for you. Some of you
just caught on to this in the last 12 months. You're like, we're building a new building program.
I wasn't here on the bottom floor, but I'm ready to go. And you're like, I want to get involved.
This is not a place of spiritual entertainment for you. It's a place of kingdom investment for
you. And the reason you're here is because you're excited about one day going to God and saying,
look at what we did together with Josh and Heather. That's why you're here. Because you see the future.
Look at the story of Jesus as it goes on. He says in verse 16, the first servant reported,
master, I invested your money and I made 10 times the original amount. I love this. The servants
come before the king. I invested your money and I got 10. How many of you would love it if your
investment came back at 1000%? Would you like it? Say amen. So would I. Well, the king likes it too.
Look what the king says. Well done, says the king. By the way, the only thing I'm living for is one
day Jesus is going to look down and say, well done. Well done, Josh. You did all you could do with the
one thing I gave you. You have been a faithful with little that I entrusted you so you will be a
governor over 10 cities as your reward. Huh. As your reward? There is a reward. Say it. There is a
reward. Either that or Jesus is lying. There is a reward. The next servant reported, master,
I invested my money and I made five times the original amount. Well done, said the king. You
will be governor over five cities. Huh. Say it. There is a reward. Say it. There is a reward.
But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, master,
I hid your money and I kept it safe. I was afraid because you are hard man to deal with taking what
isn't yours and harvesting crops that you did a plant. Can you picture them? This fearful believer.
Is he a hater or is he a servant? He's a servant. Is he getting in the kingdom? Yes or no? Yeah.
He'll be in the kingdom. But he's so afraid. Master, I was really nervous. I didn't know what to do.
You know, I'm not the greatest and I only had one life. So because I was nervous about making mistakes,
I just, I did nothing. And the king said, don't worry about it. Sometimes we all make mistakes.
Is that what he says? That's not what the king says. You wicked servant, the king roared.
Look, I just don't want you to get there and be shocked. That's all I'm saying. Do you understand?
Like if you were to go to Edward Jones and sit down with somebody, they would say, okay,
when do you want to retire? Very simple question. You say 72. They say, okay, how much money do
you want to have by the time you're 72? Does that make sense? And they're making you see
something that you're not paying attention to now. Okay, these are the things you need to do
so that when you're 72, you can stop working. Right? I'm doing the exact same thing,
but one day you're going to talk to God. You wicked servant, he proclaimed.
Your own words condemn you if you knew that I am a hard man who takes what is not mine and
harvest crops that I did not plant. Why didn't you deposit my money in a bank? At least I would
have gotten some interest on it. Now this story was not made in America 2023 because there is no
interest in savings accounts at this point. Here's what Jesus wanted them to know about the
future. Number one, he is claiming the throne. Number two, he is expecting a return on his
investment. Number three, your future is rooted in today's choices. Now, if I was a motivational
speaker, I would be talking about your future as in when you're 70. I'm not. I'm a spiritual pastor,
so I'm talking about what happens after you die. Your choices today affect your future. Your future
is rooted in what you choose to do today. I've had a lot of discussions about spiritual matters,
and one of the things I've often heard people say is, pastor, I got a real problem. I got a real
problem with this idea that somebody can curse God and live whatever they want, hurt people,
ignore God, they spend their whole life running from God, and in the last moment, right before they
get saved, right before they die, they pray a little prayer, Jesus forgive me my sins, I repent
of my sins, I'm asking you to save me, and they get saved, and now they go to heaven, and everything's
okay. I got a real problem with that pastor, and I say, me too. Me too. Wait a second. I thought
you believed that all you had to do to get to heaven because Christ died for our sins is repent
of your sin, receive Jesus as Savior, and you'll be born again. You can get into the kingdom of
heaven simply by faith. I do believe that. Well, why do you think everything's just going to be fine
even if they ignored God their whole life? I didn't say that. Just because they get into the kingdom
doesn't mean everything's perfect for them. This is making it very clear here. Very clear.
So pastor, I think I'm a little confused. The reason why we might be confused is though salvation
is by faith, by grace, through faith, and all you need to do to be born again is repent and receive
Christ as your Savior. There's a big misunderstanding as it relates to what heaven is like. You know,
a lot of Americans think heaven is like this. This is what they think heaven is like. If you
can't read the caption, it says, I wish I had brought a magazine. There is a fundamental
misunderstanding about what heaven is actually going to be like. You think you're going to get
to heaven, you get your own cloud, and you get to sit on that cloud with a harp, and you're going
to stay there for 10,000 years, and then you get invited to a worship service. And then the worship
service lasts for 10 million years, then you get to go back to your cloud, and that's heaven.
We totally underestimate what the future kingdom of heaven is actually going to be.
A kingdom of heaven that begins where God deals with his faithful servants by saying you get 10
cities, you get five cities, you get two cities, you get rewarded for serving the king here. You get
rewarded there. You say, but I'll, look, look, look, look what it says. Then turning the others, oh
my goodness, look at this, then turning to the other, standing by the king ordered, take the money
from the one servant and give it to the other that has 10. Now this part is just mind blowing.
Some of you are going to hate it, some of you are going to love it. He says, he says, hey, that guy
who wasted his life, take the one he has, give it to the guy who has 10. And some of you are like,
because you grew up in America, you're like, that's not fair. Well, these people must have been
Americans too, look at what they say. But master, they said, he already has 10 pounds. And then Jesus
replies, yes. And to those who have done well, they will be, they, with what they are given, even more
will be given to them. But those that have done nothing, even the little that they have will be
taken away. Notice in this story, at the beginning, everybody receives equally, equality from the start,
but not equity and outcome. And that's a political talking point. Some of you love for this world,
but it is a kingdom principle that Jesus is talking about. You get one life, and you will get to heaven
if you believe on Christ. But what heaven looks like there is going to be based upon what you do here.
That's what it's saying. And it's something that pastors have stopped preaching. I don't know why,
because they know the secret. That's why they're serving God. I'll tell you what it's like. How
many of you have ever had Chef Boyardee raviolis? You ever have Chef Boyardee raviolis? Have you
ever had, raise your hand. Yes, God bless Chef Boyardee wherever he may be. And raviolis, good
stuff. Have you ever had it? You need to go to Albertsons to get a cup. It's really, they're,
but eat them warmed up. You say, well, of course, warm them up. Well, we, we did it always. My,
my father was a huge family man, wanted to take the family to Disneyland, so we went.
But we didn't have a lot of money. And so instead of buying food in the park, you know,
where a hamburger is $700, you can get a balloon for $300. Instead, he would pack a backpack filled
with food. And one day he decided, hey, we like raviolis. Let's pack seven cans of Chef Boyardee
ravioli and a can opener. This is before that, you know, this was a, you remember, remember the
things? So there we were walking around all day, 12 o'clock, I'm like 11 years old. I'm like, hey,
I'm hungry. Can we eat? And he's like, absolutely. We sat down all like yesterday, I can picture us,
on Main Street, on the curb. Some of you know exactly what the curb I'm talking about. I'm,
we're on that curb, 11 years old, 1991. You could have been there. And my dad sat us all down.
And they, he opened up the backpack, pulled out a can,
gave it to one kid, give it to the other kid, give it to the other kid, all the way down.
Now I'm a 11 year old boy, I could care less. All I could care about was this, get on the ride,
let's go, Space Mountain is waiting. So I'm like, I'm the second born child too. So there's a lot
there. I'm just like, let's go. My brother is different. My brother's two years older. He had
just turned 13. And at 13, you're embarrassed of the world, you're embarrassed of self. You don't
want to be a part of anything. And he's like, what are we doing? We're eating ravioli. I've got like
orange smudge on my face. Let's eat, let's go. He's like, I'm not hungry. He walked around the
corner and he waited by Space Mountain. He's going to be beside these freaks, eating ravioli on the
side of the road. What a weirdos. You say, man, Josh, you must have had a miserable day, quite
the opposite. I had an incredible day. I loved every moment of it. Why? Because I was in the
Magic Kingdom. Don't get me wrong, friend. If you repent and receive Christ as your Savior,
you're going to love the kingdom. It is paradise regardless of where you're staying.
Do you understand? It's amazing. Hell is a whole different place. You made it to the kingdom of God.
But as fun as I had in the Magic Kingdom that day, it was not the same experience of the kids
eating at the Golden Horseshoe. It was just a different experience. It was different. Do you agree?
And that's all I'm saying. That's what Jesus is saying. You can believe in Jesus Christ. Call upon
Him. Follow Him. You can follow, and then just ignore Him the rest of your life. And because of
the grace of God and your simple faith, you got your free ticket. Go into heaven.
But your future is rooted in today's choices. We've got to clean up some stuff before this story ends.
We talked about two groups, the one or the servants and the other were the, anybody remember?
The haters. What about the haters? Jesus deals with them verse 27. He says,
And for these enemies of mine who didn't want me to be their king, bring them in and execute them
right in front of me. Okay. If you're not a believer in Jesus Christ as your Savior,
you're right. Your life is your own. Do whatever you want with it. But if you reject His kingship,
you will not enter His kingdom. You have an opportunity now to repent of your sin and receive
Christ as your Savior, your Master, your Lord, your King. But that choice is yours, and your choice
today will affect your future. Last piece to clean up. You ever watch a movie and you're like,
that was a good movie, but I think I, there's a hole in the plot. You're like, it bothers you
because you're like, they didn't tie together that string at the end. And as I study this passage
over and over, I kept thinking there's something not right. There's something wrong with the story.
There's a hole in the plot. Does anybody else see the hole in the plot? Anybody?
Do you remember how many servants there were at the beginning? Ten.
But how many servants did the king deal with? Three. What happened to the other servants?
So this is an old way that rabbis used to teach. Rabbis would often leave the story
with an obvious hole in it so that you figure out the ending. So you say, well, what did happen to
the other seven? Good question. What happens to the other servant? You're the other seven.
How does your story end? When you stand before God, will he say, well done?
If you've taken the one thing he's given you that he gave these other three, the one life and
invest it for him. Let's pray. Thank you for watching the Southern Hills YouTube channel.
Make sure you subscribe and hit the bell icon to be notified every time we post a new video.
And remember, we exist to make disciples for Jesus Christ. Have a great week. Bye.