WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.000 And we talking around the kingdom of God and we talked last week about the church being a beachhead, 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:10.000 a place that God has put in place to have an impact. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:16.000 I just want to recap quickly just to remind you that if someone... I've had a couple of people ask me. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:20.000 So Greg, what's the vision of the church going forward? 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:26.000 Now just remember our vision is what you see and I want you to know our vision going forward 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:31.000 is simply Jesus, our Lord, our Savior. That's our vision. 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:37.000 Ask me next time what's our mission? Because our mission is to go and plant connect groups 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:42.000 to plant churches as beachheads through South Africa and beyond, 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:46.000 as was prayed in our prayer meeting this last Thursday night. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:52.000 Our goal is to take this gospel to every single person who needs to hear it. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.000 A front footed church in terms of what we do. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:01.000 And those connect groups we're talking about now, those church plants that we're going to be starting, 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:07.000 they're going to contain all sorts of people in different parts of their journey from little ones to mature. 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:12.000 And in a sense a church should be a little bit like a hospital. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:17.000 That's only one expression of the church, but it kind of starts off a little bit like a hospital 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:24.000 where people are in different stages of healing, health growth, receiving treatment, progressively getting better. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:28.000 Please don't criticize broken people for coming to church. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:31.000 Is that alright? They're broken. 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:35.000 Don't criticize a blind person for walking into a tree. 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:40.000 He can't help it, he's blind and his dog wasn't looking. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:47.000 So you need to... What I'm trying to say is people are allowed to come in as they are because... 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:53.000 But then there's a process by which the Holy Spirit is going to work on them called sanctification. 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:56.000 And there needs to be a grace period. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:01.000 You know why a lot of churches don't grow? Because people arrive and they feel I don't belong here. 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:04.000 I'm not like these people. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:09.000 That would be most of us on the 1st of January at the gym. I don't belong here. 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:13.000 I'm not like these people. Look how trim they are. 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:18.000 Some people only eat salad in December because they want to look good on the beach. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:22.000 I think it's a pride issue, but you never know. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:28.000 Don't criticize people. We've got to be welcoming in our hearts for all the kind of people who are coming. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:31.000 Some will be in intensive care, etc. 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:37.000 Some will go out into the world with the stare of purpose in their eyes because the church changes. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:41.000 When you've been with us for a couple of months, the church changes from being a hospital 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:46.000 to a battleship where you get the projection of power. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:51.000 God wanting to take the power of the Holy Spirit from the church into the community. 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:56.000 Jesus said go into all the world. He never said bring them all to church. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:59.000 He said go into all the world. 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:05.000 This is a crucial time for you and I and I bless God that so many of you come out every single Sunday morning. 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:10.000 I'm looking out at the moment realizing it's not long before we got to open the balcony, 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.000 not long before we're going to add a couple more meetings. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:18.000 But I want to say to you that this is great and I celebrate what God is doing. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:23.000 But our effectiveness isn't here. This is our celebration, our training, our equipping, 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:29.000 our being family, coming under the presence of God so he can deal with us and work with us. 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:33.000 Our works of service is Monday to Saturday. 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:36.000 It's being out there as a battleship. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:42.000 If you can picture an aircraft carrier just projecting power into the nations, 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:46.000 sending people from its decks to go out and do the work. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:50.000 When they need fuel, they come back and they get refueled. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.000 It's the imagery I want you to see of the church. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:58.000 It's a front footed community full of people with purpose. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:04.000 We're not a place of perfection. We're a place where we live with one another in love under the power of God. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:08.000 It's the only, think about it. It's the only community in the world 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:13.000 where people from different races, from different languages, different cultures can come together 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:19.000 and lay their lives down for each other because of the love Jesus has put in our hearts. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:22.000 It is a supernatural activity. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:28.000 Which leads to the question I ended off last week with: who does this? 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:34.000 Who carries the load in church life so that the kingdom of God is extended? 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:39.000 Let's re ask it, who's supposed to carry the load? 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:44.000 Let's answer it by doing this. Don't say it loudly, but why don't you whisper to your own body right now 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:47.000 and say who carries the load? 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:52.000 Because I tell you the moment a part of your body doesn't carry the load, 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:57.000 the rest of you knows about it and runs off to a doctor, isn't it? 00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:01.000 You require your own body to carry the load. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:06.000 Every part is useful and so it is in the church and we raise up our people to become leaders 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:11.000 and the kind of leaders that we recognize, raise up and release. 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:17.000 We will determine the effectiveness of this ministry and for how long that effectiveness is going to last. 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:21.000 You got to keep producing key leaders and let me make one more statement. 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:25.000 We don't produce leaders for our church only. 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:28.000 We are producing leaders for the world. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:31.000 We are producing leaders for other churches. 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:37.000 Some people over time feel a calling God to go and support, lift up, strengthen other churches. 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:42.000 Having been equipped with us, we're a going, sending community. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:46.000 Do we understand that God has actually called us to something? 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:51.000 Ephesians 1:4. Ephesians 4:1. My last scripture for last week says, 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:57.000 therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:00.000 because you've been called by God. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.000 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with one another. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:08.000 If you don't know how to be patient, have a kid you don't know how to... 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:14.000 You know, the Bible says, you know love covers a multitude of sins and you forgive 70 times 7. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:17.000 You don't know how to do that. Get married. 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:22.000 There are things God has put in place to help you make allowance for each other's faults 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:24.000 because of your love. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:29.000 Make every effort to keep yourself united in the Spirit, binding yourself together with peace. 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:34.000 For there is one body, one spirit. You've been called to one glorious hope for the future. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:38.000 It's you and I who's called to do this. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:42.000 You and I together are called to reach the world. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:47.000 That's a recap from last week and it took me 6 minutes and 22 seconds. 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:52.000 What I want to do this morning is do part 14. Growth and responsibility. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:55.000 Growth and responsibility. 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:59.000 Book of Genesis, chapter one and verse 27. 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:04.000 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:08.000 He created them. Male and female. He created them. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:13.000 Then God blessed them and said, be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:19.000 Listen and govern it, reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:23.000 and all the animals that scurry along the ground. 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:27.000 We're going to pause here for a moment. Just think about the implication. 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:31.000 You are made in the image of God. 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:35.000 You are made in the image of God. 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.000 Think for a moment if that wasn't true. Don't you think? 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:45.000 We as a human race have demonstrated our insignificance and our ability to be inhuman. 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:50.000 Our base and sinful responses to one another, suffering, death, decrepitude. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.000 Sometimes there is the total absence of love in this world we're living in. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:59.000 The devil has successfully instituted the principle that might is right. 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:03.000 And the sanctity of human life has been thrown away. 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:07.000 If we are left to ourselves without recognizing we're made in the image of God. 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:10.000 It is power over power. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.000 It is each one does what they want to do at the expense of others. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:17.000 It's the hungriest dog wins the fight. 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:22.000 If you take out the fact that we are made in the image of God and subservient to him, 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:28.000 all that's left is I do what I can while I can, getting everything out of self reliance 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.000 and self aggrandizement. 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:37.000 Yet it is the greatest idea in the scriptures that God puts intrinsic value 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:42.000 to every single human being to the extent that in the incarnation of His Son, 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:48.000 the Word becoming flesh, he demonstrates to you and I, through the death, the burial 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:53.000 and the resurrection of Jesus, that human life matters, that we are beautiful in his sight. 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:59.000 And then we began to understand that because God not only loves us, 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:04.000 but because he loves the world so much, the world that is fallen. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:10.000 He saves you and I and then he gives us a kingdom mandate into the world 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:15.000 to restore the fallenness, the brokenness of humanity back to the place 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.000 with the dignity that God intended them to have. 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:24.000 Do you realize that we were made to take charge of a certain amount of things around us? 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:29.000 You were made to take control of areas of your own life. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:32.000 Each of us has a domain. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:38.000 We have a kingdom, if you like, over which we have say, 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:42.000 where things are done the way we've decided to do them. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:48.000 Things like our bodies, our homes, our time, our money, our priorities, our choices. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:52.000 Every human being exercises an area of responsibility. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:56.000 God has given you, if you like, a little kingdom. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:01.000 Each of you can wake up every morning and have a yawn. I'm the king of my kingdom. 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:06.000 It's just how you exercise that little kingdom that we need to talk about this morning. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:10.000 Because God gave humanity dominion over the creation. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:13.000 And he said, I want you to look after this creation. 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:18.000 And nowhere does scripture say that when we sinned, God took the mandate away. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:22.000 He gave it to us and he kept it with us. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:25.000 We have the job of managing the earth. 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.000 We to rule over it, we're to care for it. 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:33.000 But we're never meant to do this in isolation from God. 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:36.000 We work under Him. He leads. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:40.000 It's his kingdom, it's his creation. We are simply stewards thereof. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:46.000 The problem is that our sin and our separation from God leads toward corruption and death. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:52.000 Isn't it sad to know that we have enough resource and money to be able to help 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:56.000 every single human being on this planet to live well? 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:01.000 There need not be poverty, brokenness, the horror of abuse. 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:05.000 It need not be. We have all the resources on this planet. 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:11.000 The problem is there are selfish human beings filled with sinful desire there who have 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:16.000 moved away from the presence of God, gone into isolation from God 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:20.000 and there's a constant struggle and a constant mess because we're uprooted. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:26.000 And then God comes to the church and he says, I expect you to step into the governing domain 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:29.000 in partnership with him. 00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:33.000 So let's hit some points for this morning. Number one, intended to rule. 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:37.000 My subheading is this. Get back to your rightful place. 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:41.000 You were made to rule. You were made to have a say over things. 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:46.000 If you don't believe that you're intended to rule, why don't you try and get in the way 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:50.000 of someone who wants to do what they want to do? 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:55.000 Have you ever tried to convince someone who set on something they want to do 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.000 to do something else without even knowing it? 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:04.000 They exercise their sense of self, rule, try and interfere were the choices 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:07.000 some people have made. 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:12.000 And now I got the larger problem of not only do people make all their own choices, 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:17.000 but we're together in the same space where our goals, our desires and our choices don't match. 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:22.000 And that's why we have problem with social groups, families, nations at war, marriages. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:27.000 And then Jesus came announcing the availability of the kingdom of God. 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:33.000 An invitation for you and I to harmonize our individual kingdoms together 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:36.000 so that we can live together. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:40.000 God didn't want us antagonistic or isolated. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:45.000 He didn't intend that the present little kingdoms he gives us today 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.000 are supposed to be lived in conflict with each other. 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:53.000 We're invited to live together under two great commandments. 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:58.000 Jesus said. One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:01.000 and asked him this question. 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:05.000 Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life? 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:10.000 Jesus replied, what does the law of Moses say? How do you read it? 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:15.000 The man answered, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:20.000 with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.000 and love your neighbour as yourself, right? 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:29.000 Jesus told him, do this and you will live, you will have life. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:33.000 How do you live well in this world? How do you exercise kingdom dominion? 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:37.000 How do you exercise rulership in the space that God's given you? 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:42.000 Shall I tell you how? Love well and you will live well. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:48.000 Can you imagine on Monday morning, traffic in Jo'Burg at half past six, seven o'clock in the morning. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:52.000 Everyone was loving well. Can you imagine? A taxi. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:56.000 Sorry sir, Please, can I help you? Is this alright? Would this be... 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:01.000 Can you imagine we'd be so busy apologizing for each other we'd never get to work 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:06.000 that we'd make sure everything happened. We'd all be happy. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:11.000 And Jesus says, if you want to live well, love well, because what you sow, you're going to reap. 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:15.000 And the church of which we are growing hugely across the world. 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:20.000 Imagine we went into the kingdoms of this world that are in conflict with one another. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:26.000 And we came as one kingdom under one God, with one set of rules working in harmony, 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:29.000 living well because we love well. 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:33.000 People would look at us and say, wow. 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:37.000 So my first point for you this morning is there's an intention to rule. 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:41.000 So take your place back, govern your life. 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:46.000 If things are drifting and falling out of place, we need to start figuring out 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:50.000 how do we get back to what God intended for you and I. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:53.000 Can I say, it starts in the morning. 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:58.000 Your alarm clock goes off. You get up and you sing, oh, what a beautiful night. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:01.000 You don't start swearing. 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:06.000 You get up in the morning and you make your coffee and you open your Bible 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:11.000 and you spend time with Jesus and you get all excited, take control again 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:14.000 over the things that slip. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:18.000 You know what I did this morning with my coffee? I had one biscuit, not three. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:23.000 Look, I decided I'm not doing three Romany creams anymore. It's a sin. 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:27.000 I'm gonna do one for now, till I get a new conviction. 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:30.000 You hear what I'm saying? That's number one. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.000 Number two, faithfulness. Number one, take your place. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:38.000 But where you've got your place, please be faithful there. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:43.000 Faithfulness. Be ever growing. Taking faith risks. 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:49.000 You and I are unceasing spiritual beings created with an eternal destiny in God's universe. 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:53.000 You don't cease to exist when you die. 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:57.000 That's why we said God made us in his image. God doesn't die. 00:15:57.000 --> 00:16:01.000 And when you're born, an eternal spirit is given you. 00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:06.000 And it can be a dead spirit or an alive spirit, but it's still a spirit when you die. 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:09.000 It's not the cessation of all things. 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:13.000 When you close your eyes on this earth for the last time, 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:17.000 you go straight to the judgment of God. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:20.000 You are an eternal being. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:25.000 And the eternal destiny for a Christian is described in Revelation chapter 22 and verse 4. 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:30.000 They will see his face. His name will be written on their foreheads. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:35.000 There will be no nightmare, no need for lamps or sun, for the Lord God will shine on them. 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:41.000 Have you thought for a moment that reigning with God in his universe 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:45.000 is the eternal destiny for which you were created? 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:50.000 There's enough examples in scripture about living well and putting treasure in heaven. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.000 My question to you, sir ma'am, is why do you need treasure in heaven? 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:59.000 Those who rule well on earth will shine like stars in heaven. 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:02.000 There will be rulership given in heaven. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:08.000 Do you understand that these brief 70, 80, 90, 100 years of your life 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:12.000 are simply a trial for living there? 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:17.000 That we have an eternity with which we will live and co govern with God. 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:22.000 That's why he wants us to get over all the small little nitty gritty issues we have in this life. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:26.000 Because do you know, you take your personality with you. 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:30.000 You still you. There will be no sin. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:35.000 But if you have the intellect of a five year old because you've refused to live in love, 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:38.000 that's where you start. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:43.000 Some people have a mindset that when I die, it's just me and Jesus. 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:47.000 I look exactly like him. I behave and think like him. 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:51.000 So therefore I can live like I want in this world. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:55.000 Because with the reset, I just become you, are you. 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.000 Your sin is taken away, but you're still going to have to grow, 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:03.000 you're still going to have to mature into your relationship with God. 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:06.000 There is an eternity waiting. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:11.000 Like some of us, we spend our whole lives putting retirement money in 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:16.000 for those last 10 years when you can't spend it because you can't even bend 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:19.000 to tie your own shoelaces. 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:23.000 And we put away, we put away for those last 10 years. 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:27.000 How about putting away for eternity? 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:31.000 How about being faithful with what God has given you? 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:36.000 You're going to eternally worship, eternally serve and have eternal responsibility. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:40.000 You will receive a similar nature to the angels when you die. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.000 Luke 20:36. They will never die again in this respect. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:47.000 They will be like the angels. 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:51.000 They are children of God and children of the resurrection. 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:56.000 And sometimes we can't see that because we're so busy living in this world. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:02.000 We see very little in our visible landscape that identifies with the power of God. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:07.000 And sometimes, would you agree, even in Christian work, it's like Christians 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:12.000 are pushing and pulling in their own flesh, not allowing the presence 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:15.000 and the power of God to do the work. 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.000 We're not keeping in step with the Spirit enough. 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:23.000 We're still living with our heads in the hole too much. 00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:28.000 This happens when we haven't learned to place our lives at God's disposal. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:32.000 People want to come into church and leave again. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:35.000 I've said this a number of times. I'm going to say it another number of times. 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.000 I stayed there to witness every single water baptism. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:43.000 This morning me and I watched Brett and Steve baptize them. 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:49.000 I did not see one of them get into the water with their wallet, their cell phone or their keys. 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:53.000 They all made sure they left it outside. 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:58.000 Have you seen how in picture form, Lord, I baptize. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:01.000 I go under the waters of immersion. 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:06.000 I just leave my money, my wallet and my possessions unbaptized. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:09.000 I'll come under with that stuff. 00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:13.000 Well, I didn't do it this morning, but I did think to myself, 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:18.000 those who enter, the family members say, give me his wallet, just chuck it in quick, baptize it all. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:21.000 Because really that's what happens, isn't it? 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:26.000 But what we do is people come to church, but they're not saying, 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:29.000 I want to place myself at God's disposal. 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:33.000 I don't want to live and act in faith. 00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:36.000 I got a comment for you this morning. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:41.000 As we learn faithfulness in the small things that make up our lives, 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:47.000 God begins to teach us more about the invisible landscape of his kingdom. 00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:52.000 And when you live in the small things and you're faithful at it, 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:56.000 you've stood in your place, you're faithful. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:02.000 God begins to show you how principles of the kingdom work in and around your life. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:06.000 And as you're faithful with little things, he makes you faithful with even more. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:09.000 It's training for the future. 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:14.000 Point number three, gain your pounds, don't lose them. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:17.000 Think of your long term future. 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:21.000 The way this works out is like this. 00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:26.000 God expects us to take charge over the things around us, including our bodies, 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:30.000 and use them in reliance on him to create good. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.000 So Jesus goes and he wants to show. 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:38.000 So what Jesus does is he picks up an illustration we're going to read. 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:41.000 And his illustration is about money. 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:45.000 And the reason I think Jesus picks on money is because money equals power. 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.000 If you don't have any, you don't have any power. 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:52.000 If you have money, you have power. 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:57.000 I remember I said to a friend of mine once, it's amazing to me how people change when they get money. 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:02.000 And my friend said to me, no one changes when they get money. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:07.000 All money does is enable you to act out what was there originally. 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:10.000 I thought, that's a very good point. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:15.000 And so what Jesus does is he's going to give us an illustration that's actually on stewardship, 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:20.000 but he's going to do it with money because he knows how important money is to all of us. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:25.000 It's a teaching about silver, about minas M I N A S, about talents. 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:28.000 It's actually a teaching about responsibility. 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:32.000 And Jesus takes money to teach a valuable life lesson. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:37.000 In the story we're going to read now, a nobleman gives various people some money 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:40.000 and he goes on a journey. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.000 He leaves it with them to invest and be responsible for it. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:50.000 Jesus tells this story on his way to Jerusalem on his final week before his crucifixion. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.000 Him and his disciples had just eaten at the home of Zacchaeus. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:59.000 Remember, we brought down from the tree, just eaten with them and... 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:04.000 And Jesus is knowing that the Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:08.000 It's his last week before his crucifixion. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:13.000 And he tells the story because as much as he's going to die and rise from the dead, 00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:18.000 he's going to purchase something that his disciples are meant to take into the world. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:22.000 And that's the talents, that's the miners, that's the silver. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:25.000 It's the content of what God gives you. 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:30.000 It's the revelation of the kingdom he gives you that he wants to release to you. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:33.000 Luke 19:12. 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:38.000 If you have a Bible, A nobleman was called away to a distant empire 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:42.000 to be crowned king and then return. 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:47.000 Before he left, he called together 10 of his servants and divided among them 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:52.000 10 pounds of silver, saying, invest this for me while I'm gone. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:56.000 Now you and I look at this today. We don't know what's going on there. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:01.000 What would happen is the emperor of the day would often call a nobleman 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:06.000 or a rich ruler or someone who's had influence would call him to Rome, 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:12.000 would anoint him a king over a province, an area of the empire, and would send him home. 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:15.000 And that's what's about to happen here. 00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:20.000 Jesus is about to go to heaven and be made king of all through his sacrifice. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.000 And he's saying this as I've been called to my father. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:28.000 A nobleman has been called to Rome just for interest sake. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:31.000 Who was the king in that time? Herod. 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:36.000 Herod was king of Judea in the Roman senate, appointed in 40 BC. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:39.000 He had proven abilities. He was loyal to Rome 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:45.000 and so Caesar gave him a Roman army to help him gain control of Jerusalem. 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.000 Jerusalem's always been at war to gain control over Jerusalem. 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:52.000 Establishing his rule over Judea. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:56.000 Herod is known for his huge building projects. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:00.000 He rebuilt the second temple in Jerusalem. He expanded its base. 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:05.000 For those of you who have been to Israel looked at the western wall, the wailing Wall, 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:10.000 that was built by King Herod the Great, his son, another Herod was Herod Antipas. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:15.000 He's the one who killed John the Baptist, allowed for Jesus to be crucified. 00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:21.000 It was his son, Herod Agrippa, who presided over the trial of Paul the Apostle at the end of Acts. 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:24.000 It's an infamous family this. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:29.000 And they all understand what it's like when a nation is under the authority of a nobleman. 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:33.000 So this nobleman goes now and he leaves silver with his servants. 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:39.000 And by the way, each pound of silver was worth roughly a hundred days wages, 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:42.000 almost a third of a year's salary. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:45.000 It's a good bit of money. 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:50.000 And then verse 14 throws in an aside quickly, which is actually quite important. 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:55.000 But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, 00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:58.000 we don't want him to be our king. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:02.000 In other words, this nobleman's gone off to Rome. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:07.000 So they send a delegation, get to Caesar before Herod gets there to say, 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:10.000 we don't want him as king. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.000 What is Jesus saying? He came and turned the known religious world 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:17.000 upside down through his belief system. 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:21.000 And they looked and said, we don't want a God like this. 00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:24.000 We don't want him. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:29.000 You see, if you acknowledge you have a king, you have to acknowledge you're accountable to him. 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:33.000 And verse 15 continues. 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:38.000 After he was crowned king, he returned and called the servants to whom he had given money. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:42.000 He wanted to find out what their profits were. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:47.000 This first servant reported, master, I invested your money 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:51.000 and made 10 times the original amount. 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:54.000 That's a thousand percent earnings. 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:59.000 All the servant had been told was, take charge of it and use it. 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:03.000 Do you notice he wasn't specifically told how to use it. 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:06.000 He wasn't told what to do with the money. 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:10.000 He was given the power of initiative. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.000 What is God saying to us? When you wake up in your life and you understand 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:19.000 your gifts, your talents, your abilities, your supernatural enabling, 00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:23.000 if you look at the physical blessings God has given you, 00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:27.000 he says, I'm telling you to go and invest it. 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:30.000 Growth and responsibility. 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:35.000 The Holy Spirit will show you and will tell you, take what you've got 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.000 and make a thousand fold earnings increase. 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:44.000 Sow your life for the kingdom, forget about you and give yourself for the sake of your king. 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:47.000 We're to be involved in God's business. 00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:50.000 We invest our lives into the gospel. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.000 The question of course is, how do you do this? 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:58.000 This is what you do. You have an opportunity to talk to God about it. 00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:01.000 It's called prayer. 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:05.000 Lord, you've gifted me. I've got talents, abilities, I've got a bit of resource. 00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:08.000 What do you want? 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:13.000 And when you go and secret yourself in your prayer closet and allow the Lord to talk to you, 00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:17.000 it's in the place of prayer that God speaks. 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:21.000 God commissions. God gives you faith. God releases his power to you. 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:26.000 That's why for me, a value in this church is that we pray on Thursday night together 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:30.000 we gather to pray, to worship, to seek the Lord. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.000 I think your prayer life is the most important part of your life. 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:37.000 Thanks for all the Amens. 00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:41.000 There needs to be an understanding. If I go to my father, 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:46.000 the nobleman who gave me the talent of silver, the hundred days worth 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:50.000 Lord, what do you want me to do? Sit at his feet and listen to him? 00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:53.000 He gives you a unique purpose. 00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:56.000 It's called prayer. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:59.000 And in verse 17. Well done. 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:03.000 The king exclaimed. You are a good servant. 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:07.000 You be faithful with the little I entrusted to you. 00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:11.000 You will be governor of 10 cities as a reward. 00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:14.000 That's quite a reward. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:17.000 You've been faithful with the little. 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:21.000 Do you notice the little? Jesus is addressing the people? 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:25.000 Because too often we believe we have very little. 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.000 I can't serve God much in this church. I don't know what influence I could have in Joburg. 00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:32.000 I have too little. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:36.000 Sometimes we assume we get think we have too little. 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:40.000 And then the converse is, and God is asking too much. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:43.000 That's what you're going to see with the last guy now. 00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:47.000 God gave me so little and he expects so much. 00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:50.000 They don't understand. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.000 All God says is where you find yourself in your home, your life, your work. 00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:57.000 Right now. Take authority and reign there. 00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:00.000 Let my will come there. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.000 Don't worry about another guy's kingdom, worry about yours. 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:07.000 Don't worry about your neighbor, worry about you. 00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:11.000 Sort out this kingdom, put it to work. 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:15.000 Your intellect, your talents for the one who was faithful with little. 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.000 The nobleman said, you will be governor over 10 cities. 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:23.000 You see, this governor had 10 cities to give out. 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:26.000 They had just been given to him. 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:30.000 I think being in charge of 10 cities would be a challenge. 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.000 Some of us aren't in charge of the plate of food we eat. 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:38.000 How are we going to be in charge of 10 cities? 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:42.000 People constantly complain about our government. The government. 00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:45.000 The government. The government. 00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:48.000 I look at you sometimes. 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:52.000 I've never said this to you. I just think it. 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:56.000 Sometimes I look at you and you complain about the government. 00:30:56.000 --> 00:31:01.000 And I think, you know, if the government was run like you run your life, 00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:04.000 where would we be? 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:07.000 Would we be any better off? 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:10.000 You experts. I think. I think my own lives mess up. 00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.000 But I think. I think the government. The government. 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:17.000 Do you see that? 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:22.000 The nobleman gave this young man a talent to see if he would be faithful 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:27.000 in governing little in order to advance him by helping him govern much. 00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:31.000 The faithfulness is proved in the little you given before the match. 00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:34.000 This is a wise king. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:38.000 What demand will responsibility make on your character? 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:42.000 I always get overlooked at work. No one ever sees me. 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:46.000 Have you ever looked in a mirror? 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:50.000 Can your character handle growth? Can your character handle responsibility? 00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:55.000 You may feel overlooked, but God has been testing you in small little areas your whole life. 00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.000 There's been little things he's asked you to do for him your whole life. 00:31:59.000 --> 00:32:03.000 And sometimes to serve the bigger. We've neglected the small things. 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:07.000 Then you wonder why God overlooks from time to time. 00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:11.000 I gave you a talent and 10 of you. I gave you the same. 00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:15.000 Not the same gift mix. I gave you the same opportunities. 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:18.000 What have you done with the opportunities you've been given? 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:22.000 Can you be trusted with responsibility and authority? 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:27.000 And obviously, the story goes on, the second servant was given one and he earned five more. 00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:30.000 Not everyone handles the same. 00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.000 And that's what is so beautiful about Jesus story. 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:38.000 Listen, that guy made a tenfold increase. That guy 5. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:42.000 The amount of increase isn't the point. The faithfulness is the point. 00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:46.000 We can all be faithful with what he's given us. 00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:50.000 He has to test him. I want to put you in charge of a city. 00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.000 Can I just put you in charge of something small? 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:58.000 Some of you may think to yourselves, this is the responsibility I've given. 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:03.000 I'm not going to put a whole lot of time and effort into it because I'm looking at the big things. 00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:07.000 This qualifies you for that. 00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:11.000 Do well in this, you'll do well in that. 00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:16.000 I think some people have too high an opinion of themselves 00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:20.000 and other people don't have a high enough opinion of themselves. 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:23.000 Number four. 00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:27.000 The joy of the Lord in your work. 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:32.000 Try and look at your reward not being the responsibility, 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:36.000 but your reward is pleasing your Father in heaven. 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:40.000 In the Matthew 25 version of the story, the Master says this. 00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.000 The Master was full of praise. Well done, my good and faithful servant. 00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:48.000 You have been faithful in handling this small amount. 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:52.000 So now I'm going to give you many more responsibilities. 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:55.000 Let's celebrate together. 00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.000 The NIV says, come, share your Master's happiness. 00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:03.000 The ESP says, enter into the joy of your Master. 00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:07.000 Do good for others. Live in a world where the gospel is being promoted 00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:10.000 and you know what's going to happen. 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.000 God says, when you and I fellowship together, 00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:17.000 hopefully every day in your devotions. 00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:21.000 When you and I fellowship together, come and enter my joy. 00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:25.000 I want to celebrate every morning with you this morning. 00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.000 I hope the Lord was able to celebrate yesterday with you 00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:33.000 tomorrow morning in my devotion. I want the Lord to celebrate today with me. 00:34:33.000 --> 00:34:37.000 Are you hearing what I'm saying? Because you know this is what God does. 00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:41.000 God's joy is to create and to create good. 00:34:41.000 --> 00:34:45.000 When God created the earth, he said, this is good. 00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.000 When he made man and woman, he said this is very good. 00:34:49.000 --> 00:34:54.000 In Luke 15:7, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner 00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:58.000 who repents and returns to God than over 99 others 00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:02.000 who are righteous and haven't strayed away. 00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:06.000 When people respond to the gospel, there's joy in heaven. 00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:10.000 2 Corinthians 5:17. Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.000 The old life has gone, the new life has come. 00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:18.000 God is joyful and he wants to create good in our lives. 00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:23.000 And often he'll do it through others who've been given their talents. 00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:27.000 God has infinite creative will. Yeah. 00:35:27.000 --> 00:35:31.000 He looks at your life and you may think, oh, this year is going to be like next year. 00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:35.000 You know, God is infinitely creative. 00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.000 He looks at your life and he's got so many thoughts he can do with you 00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:42.000 if you just say yes. 00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:46.000 As we learn to be responsible with little, we put in charge of much. 00:35:46.000 --> 00:35:50.000 You never serve in the church for ego or self advancement. 00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.000 You only serve in order to serve more people. 00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:58.000 If you need to grow spiritually, you need to understand 00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:02.000 you're already in charge of some things. 00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:06.000 How are you doing with what you're already in charge of? 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:10.000 And the last one is this the one bag of Silverman. 00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.000 Please don't bury your head in the sand. 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:19.000 In both versions of the story, the master, the nobleman reveals the heart attitude 00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:23.000 of the one guy who did nothing with what he was given. 00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:27.000 In the Matthew account he says, I knew you were a hard man. 00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:31.000 I knew this guy had a wrong view of his master. 00:36:31.000 --> 00:36:35.000 Many people have a very wrong view of God, don't they? 00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.000 The way they grew up, the way they were fashioned, 00:36:39.000 --> 00:36:43.000 things that happened in their lives, stories they've read. 00:36:43.000 --> 00:36:47.000 Please don't get all your knowledge of God from a TikTok. 00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:51.000 Please hear me look at the God of the Bible. 00:36:51.000 --> 00:36:55.000 Not even of your favorite preacher. 00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:00.000 Do you know there's a reason why every single Sunday for years on end now 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.000 every elder and deacon in this church gets a full set of my notes. 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:08.000 Not only to help in the connect groups, but look at it. Is this right? 00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:12.000 We have to measure ourselves by scripture if we want to be a biblical people, 00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:16.000 then let's go to Scripture, not tradition. 00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:20.000 Someone wants to find tradition as peer pressure set by dead people. 00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.000 Tradition is what I say. Peer pressure set by dead people. 00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:28.000 Why do you do that? Remember the story of the woman who gets married as a man? 00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:32.000 The guy looks and she cuts off the end of the chicken. Just the end. 00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:36.000 Has a good meal, but he's checking that peace out. 00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:40.000 This bothers him a bit. OCD bothering him the whole time. 00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.000 He goes to her, he says, why did he cut that off? 00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:47.000 He says, because my mom did. 00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:51.000 So the next meeting he goes to the grandmother, he says, 00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:55.000 mom in law, I'm just curious, why do you cut the end of the chicken off? 00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.000 She says, because my grandmother did. My mother went to the great grandma 00:37:59.000 --> 00:38:03.000 who's still alive, says, great grandma, I've got to ask, 00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:06.000 why do you cut the end of the chicken off? 00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:10.000 She goes, in my day, the pots were so small the chicken couldn't fit in. 00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.000 And sometimes we just do things because we inherited it. 00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:18.000 And because we inherited it, we say that's the way it must be. 00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:22.000 And some people bury their talents because they say that's how it must be. 00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:25.000 I never knew. Oh, I did know you. 00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:28.000 I knew. I know what you like. 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:32.000 If you truly knew what God was like, you knew that he would bless you with talents. 00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:36.000 He will bless you with pounds of silver so that when you serve him, 00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:40.000 he'll give you more to serve him with. 00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.000 God is the most generous God, you can't out give out, grow out anything. 00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:48.000 God, your excitement is palpable. 00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:51.000 This guy's got foot in mouth disease. 00:38:51.000 --> 00:38:55.000 He carries on. Master, I knew you were a harsh man. 00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.000 Harvesting crops you didn't plant, gathering crops you didn't cultivate. 00:38:59.000 --> 00:39:03.000 I was afraid I'd lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. 00:39:03.000 --> 00:39:06.000 Here's your money back. 00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:10.000 What's he saying? Quid pro quo, God, I don't think you gave me much 00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:13.000 and I don't trust you. 00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:17.000 So you know what? The little you gave me, I'm giving right back. 00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:21.000 You gave me a little life. You gave me an insignificant life. 00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:24.000 I'm giving the same back to you. 00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:28.000 This guy's heart attitude is bad from front to end. 00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:32.000 And how does Jesus look at him? Because God won't be manipulated. 00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:36.000 He says, as you've said, on that day when you face judgment, 00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:40.000 don't you come to me and tell me. Look what I'm going to tell you what you did. 00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:43.000 You chose the life you live. 00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:46.000 You chose the decisions you make. 00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:50.000 You chose to take the little and bury it. Not me. 00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.000 I gave it to you to multiply like all your brothers. 00:39:54.000 --> 00:39:57.000 You were all on an equal footing. 00:39:57.000 --> 00:40:00.000 This servant was going nowhere. 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:03.000 The Bible ends now. You've got to put it in. 00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:07.000 The Bible ends the story in Luke 19 with these words. 00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:11.000 Verse 22, you wicked servant, the king roared. 00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:14.000 Your own words condemn you. 00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:17.000 Now, I'd love to sugarcoat that. 00:40:17.000 --> 00:40:21.000 I'd love to go around it and say, but God is so good and so kind, 00:40:21.000 --> 00:40:25.000 it doesn't matter what you do with your life. 00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.000 You can mess it up completely and he's gonna reward us all. 00:40:29.000 --> 00:40:33.000 The master says, this, you made in my image. 00:40:33.000 --> 00:40:37.000 You are created to rule and to reign. 00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:41.000 I have given you a kingdom. I have given you talents and abilities. 00:40:41.000 --> 00:40:45.000 And all I asked you was invest your life in the kingdom 00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.000 in the gospel for my sake. That's all I asked you. 00:40:49.000 --> 00:40:53.000 And out of three servants, two did and you didn't. 00:40:53.000 --> 00:40:57.000 And you that didn't are telling me it's because you misjudged my character. 00:40:57.000 --> 00:41:01.000 Actually, you misjudged your own. 00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:05.000 You determined how your kingship is going to look and you ruled that way. 00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.000 Because everyone in this room rules their own kingdom. 00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:13.000 Unless you're under the age of 10 this morning, nobody told you what to wear. 00:41:13.000 --> 00:41:17.000 I can proudly tell you, I chose these shoes myself. 00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:21.000 It may be true that some of us have teenagers who came out, 00:41:21.000 --> 00:41:25.000 presented themselves. We said, not a chance. 00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.000 Go back, find something clean and ironed. 00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:33.000 It may be, but you chose how much food. 00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:37.000 You hear what I'm saying? You, in your own kingdom, 00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:41.000 determined a whole lot of stuff before you even got here this morning. 00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:45.000 And God is saying, now kick that on for the sake of the kingdom, 00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.000 give your life away or you're going to lose its value. 00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:53.000 He did not value the generosity of his master. 00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:57.000 I close with three comments. You ready? 00:41:57.000 --> 00:42:01.000 Number one, identify your silver, your money, your mental ability, 00:42:01.000 --> 00:42:05.000 your physical ability, your family, your work, your skills, 00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:08.000 your spiritual gifts. 00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:11.000 Identify what God's given you. 00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:14.000 You identify what God's given you. 00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:18.000 If you don't know, then go on a spiritual course, a spiritual gifts course. 00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:21.000 Figure it out. 00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:25.000 Look at your natural talents and abilities. 00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.000 Look at the gifted material we did all that time ago. 00:42:29.000 --> 00:42:33.000 Go and say, okay, I know what... Identify it. I know what I've got. 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:37.000 I may be a one, five or ten talent man, but I know what I've got. 00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:40.000 Number one, identify it. 00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.000 Number two, take responsibility for it. 00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:48.000 I'm responsible for what God's given me. I am no one else. 00:42:48.000 --> 00:42:52.000 This person's responsible for their stuff. I'm responsible for mine. 00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:55.000 Number two. Number one, figure it out. 00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:58.000 Number two. So, number one, identify it. 00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:02.000 Number two, take responsibility for it. 00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:06.000 And then number three, go and invest it. 00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:10.000 Look at people around you. This country of ours is full of need. 00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:13.000 Ask yourself the question. 00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:17.000 How do I invest what God has given me? 00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:21.000 You know what the funny thing is? You start to serve God with the smallest little areas. 00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:25.000 Before you know it, your kingdom grows. 00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.000 Your sphere of influence begins to grow. Suddenly you're influencing others. 00:43:29.000 --> 00:43:33.000 And when your kingdom comes into conflict with another person's kingdom, 00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:37.000 remember the umbrella under which you sit is the greatest commandment. 00:43:37.000 --> 00:43:41.000 Love well in order to live well. 00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:45.000 And when you get that right, the kingdom of God. 00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.000 The gospel increases because you're increasing your kingdom space. 00:43:49.000 --> 00:43:53.000 Because God says, be fruitful and multiply and rule over what I've given you 00:43:53.000 --> 00:43:56.000 and just rule well. 00:43:56.000 --> 00:44:00.000 And you bring the presence and the power of God. 00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.000 The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, 00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:08.000 but of righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:11.000 Bring that everywhere we go. 00:44:11.000 --> 00:44:15.000 And watch how this kingdom of light flips over the dominion of darkness 00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:18.000 on a daily basis. 00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:22.000 Not Sunday, when you're here with me now. Monday through Saturday. 00:44:22.000 --> 00:44:25.000 Let's go out. 00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.000 Servants of the kingdom, stand with me. 00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:32.000 Maybe this morning. You like? 00:44:32.000 --> 00:44:36.000 Do you remember that woman who lost a coin in her house 00:44:36.000 --> 00:44:40.000 and she couldn't find it again and she had to search everywhere 00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.000 till she found the coin. And when she did, she celebrated. 00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:48.000 I wonder how many words have been spoken over you. 00:44:48.000 --> 00:44:52.000 I wonder how many things, little instructions the Lord gave you 00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:56.000 that you didn't pay attention to you so you forgot. 00:44:56.000 --> 00:45:00.000 Would you be okay if I prayed right now that God brings to remembrance 00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.000 the little lost coins, the little things he asked you to do. 00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:07.000 He doesn't hold it against you. 00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:10.000 He'll bring it back to your remembrance. 00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.000 So, Lord, across this room right now, we pray that where you've given instructions 00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:18.000 we didn't do anything about, we actually forgot them. 00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:22.000 We lost it in the room of our minds somewhere. 00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:26.000 We ask you over this next week just to bring to remembrance 00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:30.000 by your Holy Spirit the things you've asked us to do. 00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.000 Because you know what, Lord? We actually want to be obedient. 00:45:34.000 --> 00:45:37.000 We just forget. 00:45:37.000 --> 00:45:41.000 So we ask you to remind us again, help us find the little lost coins 00:45:41.000 --> 00:45:45.000 in our homes, that we just go and do the little things you called us to do. 00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:48.000 We pray. 00:45:48.000 --> 00:45:52.000 Especially someone that's scared, like, oh, what? 00:45:52.000 --> 00:45:55.000 I don't even know what my talent is. 00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.000 And then we pray, Lord, together as a people, 00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:03.000 as we look at you and your generosity and your call in our lives, 00:46:03.000 --> 00:46:07.000 we say to you, Lord, we're going to take what we've got 00:46:07.000 --> 00:46:11.000 and we're going to invest it for the kingdom. 00:46:11.000 --> 00:46:14.000 Give us lives to touch. 00:46:14.000 --> 00:46:17.000 Give us people to impact. 00:46:17.000 --> 00:46:21.000 Give us situations, Lord, these coming weeks where we can take 00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:25.000 the gift mix you've given us and sow it into their lives 00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.000 so that their kingdoms which are broken can be fixed. 00:46:29.000 --> 00:46:33.000 Help our lives, Lord, to be so useful this coming week. 00:46:33.000 --> 00:46:37.000 For the sake of your gospel, we pray, 00:46:37.000 --> 00:46:41.000 lead each of us every step of the way by your Holy Spirit, 00:46:41.000 --> 00:46:45.000 we pray in Jesus name and God's people said Amen. 00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.000 Thank you so much for being a part of our meeting today. 00:46:49.000 --> 00:46:53.000 Can I just ask two things? The first is if today the... 00:46:53.000 --> 00:46:57.000 The message has in any way been useful to you, 00:46:57.000 --> 00:47:01.000 would you mind just maybe liking it or putting perhaps a statement down 00:47:01.000 --> 00:47:05.000 or a comment down that we can know how the ministry has helped you, 00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.000 Maybe a thumbs up, maybe you can subscribe to the channel, 00:47:09.000 --> 00:47:13.000 do whatever, just so we can know what impact this message may be having on you. 00:47:13.000 --> 00:47:17.000 And secondly, you may be someone who's saying, 00:47:17.000 --> 00:47:21.000 greg, I hear you and this hope that Jesus has for us 00:47:21.000 --> 00:47:25.000 can come into my heart and it can change me. 00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.000 But the reality is that I don't even know if I know Jesus. 00:47:29.000 --> 00:47:33.000 I want to say two things to you right away. 00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:36.000 The first is he's near you right now. 00:47:36.000 --> 00:47:40.000 The Bible says if you believe in your heart that he is the Lord 00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.000 and if you confess him with your mouth, you will be saved. 00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:48.000 Which means you just need to where you are, 00:47:48.000 --> 00:47:52.000 turn to the Lord Jesus Christ even now and just say, 00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:55.000 lord, here I am. 00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:58.000 I recognize who you are. 00:47:58.000 --> 00:48:01.000 I confess my sin to you. 00:48:01.000 --> 00:48:05.000 I acknowledge you as Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, 00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:08.000 the Son of the living God. 00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:11.000 And I want to follow you. 00:48:11.000 --> 00:48:14.000 I want to become a disciple of yours. 00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:18.000 I want to, I want to give my life to you, Lord. 00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:22.000 And you can pray that prayer right now between you and the Lord. 00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:25.000 Secondly, you can get hold of us. 00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.000 We could either send you some material, 00:48:29.000 --> 00:48:33.000 we can put you in touch with a really good church near you. 00:48:33.000 --> 00:48:37.000 If you live in our area, you can come to us, 00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:40.000 you can follow us on YouTube. 00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.000 But it is good to get connected into the family of God, 00:48:44.000 --> 00:48:48.000 to get connected into a local church that your life changes 00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:52.000 being surrounded with the family of God. 00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:55.000 Please stay in touch. 00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:58.000 God bless you.