Latest / Reach Church Podcast / This Is The Way Pt 4 - We Give God Our Best | Dave Snyder

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This Is The Way Pt 4 - We Give God Our Best | Dave Snyder · Reach Church Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey everyone, welcome to the Reach Church Podcast. This is
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  Speaker 1: Dave Snyder, pastor here at Reach Church. Each week we
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  Speaker 1: share messages from our Sunday gatherings to help you discover
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  Speaker 1: the love of God, be empowered for purpose, and impact
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  Speaker 1: your world. We pray this message encourages you and helps
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  Speaker 1: you grow in your walk with Jesus. Let's get into
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  Speaker 1: today's message. Today we're talking about the fact that we
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  Speaker 1: give God... our best. We're giving him our best. He
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  Speaker 1: deserves our best, doesn't he? And there's this story in
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  Speaker 1: Matthew chapter 25. I want you to take your Bibles
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  Speaker 1: and turn there. And while you're doing, I need, can
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  Speaker 1: I get three people to help me? And I'll give
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  Speaker 1: you a little incentive. I'm going to do an illustration
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  Speaker 1: and I've got some money I'm going to be passing out.
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  Speaker 2: Does anybody want to help me? Come on up here, sir.
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  Speaker 2: Come on up. I got two. I got three. Come on.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if you were volunteering or just coming
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  Speaker 1: back in, but now can you guys come up on
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  Speaker 1: stage with me? And I want to illustrate this message
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  Speaker 1: with going to Matthew 25 for just a second. Can
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  Speaker 1: you put that up there? The first couple of verses
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  Speaker 1: or the verse 14. He says the kingdom of heaven
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  Speaker 1: can be illustrated by the story of a man going
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  Speaker 1: on a long trip. He called together his servants and
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  Speaker 1: entrusted his money to them while he's gone. I want
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  Speaker 1: you to just focus on that word entrusted, right? That
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  Speaker 1: means I'm trusting you. I'm trusting you while I'm gone.
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  Speaker 1: Go one more verse. And verse 15, he gave five
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  Speaker 1: bags of silver. Unfortunately, I was fresh out of bags
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  Speaker 1: of silver for this illustration. One bag of silver, he
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  Speaker 1: gave them different amounts. One, he gave five. One, he
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  Speaker 1: gave two bags of silver. and one he gave one back. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the story you're familiar with uses the word talent, and
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  Speaker 1: a talent was a unit of measure, right? So it
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  Speaker 1: was a, maybe it was silver, maybe it was gold,
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  Speaker 1: whatever it was, it was a very, very valuable, and unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: I don't have quite that much with me today, something,
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  Speaker 1: but this represents.
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  Speaker 2: This is a $ 10 bill, but.
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  Speaker 1: It represents, I want you to understand the talent, what
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  Speaker 1: the talent might have represented. The talent is would have represented,
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  Speaker 1: five talents could have been something like millions of dollars.
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  Speaker 1: So we're going to call this for our illustration, $ 10 million.
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  Speaker 1: I've got a $ 10 million bill here.
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  Speaker 2: I've got a $ 5.
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  Speaker 1: Million bill here. And I've got a $ 1 million bill.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm going to, it says he gave them each
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  Speaker 1: different amounts, doesn't it? He didn't give them all and say, hey, 10,
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  Speaker 1: you know, 10 free. What I'm doing, I'm trusting you
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  Speaker 1: with something. So I'm going to, Richard, I'm trusting you
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  Speaker 1: With $ 10 million. I'm trusting you with it, Richard.
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  Speaker 2: Okay? Don't lose that. Okay. Mark, come back to you.
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  Speaker 1: Brad, I'm going to trust you with $ 5 million.
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  Speaker 2: Okay? I'm trusting you now. You're an accountant. You can
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  Speaker 2: take care of that money, right? Mark, brother. You'll have
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  Speaker 2: to decide that.
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  Speaker 1: This is my money.
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  Speaker 2: Okay?
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  Speaker 1: I've already tithed on it. Now it's yours that I'm
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  Speaker 1: trusting you with, okay? So I'm trusting you with that money.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm wanting you to catch this because the story
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  Speaker 1: is about, it's about what you've been entrusted with.
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  Speaker 2: You've all got something in your hands.
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  Speaker 1: But I want you to think about this just for
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  Speaker 1: a minute because we'll give you a, what do they.
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  Speaker 2: Call it in the movies? I'm going to spoil, a
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  Speaker 2: spoiler alert.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you what happened at the end
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  Speaker 1: of Of the story, the guy that had the one.
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  Speaker 2: He wasn't super faithful with it, was he?
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  Speaker 1: And I wonder, it doesn't really say this. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: he talks about his fears and all this stuff. But
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  Speaker 1: I wonder if there was a little bit of frustration
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  Speaker 1: on his part. Because he looked at what he had
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  Speaker 1: in his hand. And then he looked over at Richard.
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  Speaker 1: And I don't know how you'd feel if you had
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  Speaker 1: one in your hand. And you're looking at Richard's got tens.
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  Speaker 1: And he might have felt like what I have isn't valuable.
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  Speaker 2: But is that true?
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  Speaker 1: It was, remember, now I know it's only a dollar,
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  Speaker 1: so maybe you'd say it's not valuable, but represents something bigger.
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  Speaker 2: It represents a million. But he's got 10.
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  Speaker 1: Right? So I think in the natural, what we do
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  Speaker 1: sometimes is we look at what we have in our
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  Speaker 1: hands and no matter what it is, we always feel
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  Speaker 1: like it's not enough because there's always someone better. There's
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  Speaker 1: whatever we can do, there's always someone who can do
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  Speaker 1: it better because maybe they've developed that a little bit more.
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  Speaker 1: They've used it a little bit more. They've been faithful
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  Speaker 1: with what they've had and they've developed it to the
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  Speaker 1: point where it's above ours and we look at what's
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  Speaker 1: in our hand and we say it's not much. I'm
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  Speaker 1: just going to hold on to it. But here's what
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to do. I'm going to have you guys
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  Speaker 1: hold on to that. I'm going to trust you with it. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: you can go sit down.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you guys. Give them a hand if you would.
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  Speaker 1: Applause But here's what I want you to understand. God's
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  Speaker 1: trusted you with some things in your life. And I
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  Speaker 1: think the word talent is a little confusing when we
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  Speaker 1: read that word talent. I like the illustration of the
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  Speaker 1: bag of money. Because you hear talent and you think about, well,
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  Speaker 1: my talents. God's given me talents. But it wasn't just
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  Speaker 1: about your talents, although that can be part of it.
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  Speaker 1: Your time is something he's put in your hands. There's
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  Speaker 1: opportunities he's put before you, right? There might be resources
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  Speaker 1: he's put in your hands. And the point is, he's
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  Speaker 1: trusting you to be faithful with what he's given. And
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  Speaker 1: so this morning, I want to talk about this story
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  Speaker 1: just a little bit. And I want to talk about
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  Speaker 1: what it means for us, the fact that we are
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  Speaker 1: called to give God our best. Right? Because again, you've
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  Speaker 1: been given something very And if you've been entrusted with it,
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  Speaker 1: we call this stewardship, right? Because what stewardship means is
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  Speaker 1: this isn't mine to keep permanently.
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  Speaker 2: Do you understand?
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  Speaker 1: What God's given me is not mine to keep because
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  Speaker 1: one day I have to leave this world. One day,
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  Speaker 1: whatever I have, someone else is going to have. But
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  Speaker 1: for the moments that I'm here, he's trusting me with
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  Speaker 1: it to do something. And so this morning, I want
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  Speaker 1: you to think about different things he might have put
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  Speaker 1: in your hands.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe there's spiritual gifts.
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  Speaker 1: You think about a spiritual gift that you have that
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  Speaker 1: he's given you. You think about natural gifts. You think
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  Speaker 1: about the time. You think about all these different things
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  Speaker 1: God's given you. But I want you to think about
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  Speaker 1: what's in my hand. Because again, sometimes we don't value
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  Speaker 1: what he's put in our hands. Sometimes we're comparing it
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  Speaker 1: to what other people have and it just doesn't feel
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  Speaker 1: like it's good enough. And I'm scrolling Facebook and I see,
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  Speaker 1: oh man, I wish I could preach like that. I wish,
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  Speaker 1: but I'm only seeing part of the story, you know,
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  Speaker 1: but I'm comparing what I have to what other people do.
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  Speaker 1: I wish I could sing like the worship team. Well,
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  Speaker 1: you can't, but God's given you something else. Or maybe
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  Speaker 1: you can, but you haven't developed it. Do you know
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  Speaker 1: what I'm saying? But we compare what we have and
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't feel like much. And so this morning, I
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  Speaker 1: want to ask you what's in your hands. You know,
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  Speaker 1: because God's asking for your best. He's not asking for
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  Speaker 1: someone else's best in your life. He's asking for your best.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to keep going with this story. Look
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  Speaker 1: at verse 16.
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  Speaker 2: And he says this.
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  Speaker 1: The servant who received five bags of silver began to
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  Speaker 1: invest the money. and he earned five more. Remember, we're
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  Speaker 1: talking millions of dollars. So he began to make investments,
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  Speaker 1: and it brought back millions. So he doubled his investment.
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  Speaker 1: The servant with two bags went to work. He earned
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  Speaker 1: two more, but the servant who received the one, Mark,
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  Speaker 1: dug a hole in the ground, and he hid the
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  Speaker 1: master's money. I want you to notice this, right? Because
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  Speaker 1: the first two servants, they took what they had and
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  Speaker 1: they used it. And because they used it, it produced
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  Speaker 1: more in their lives. The third guy dug the hole.
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  Speaker 1: So which ones are faithful? You can venture a guess.
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  Speaker 1: It's probably the first two, right? The third one wasn't faithful. Well,
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  Speaker 1: he preserved it. He kept it safely. Nothing happened to it,
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  Speaker 1: but he didn't use it. So in this story, Jesus
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  Speaker 1: is wanting you to understand something. Faithfulness isn't about preserving
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  Speaker 1: what you have. That's for pickling. If you make pickles,
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  Speaker 1: you're preserving. That's not how the kingdom of God works.
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  Speaker 1: In the kingdom of God, you have to use what
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  Speaker 1: you've been given.
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  Speaker 2: That, according to the word, is faithful.
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  Speaker 1: Using what I've been given. There's a story in Genesis
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  Speaker 1: 26 about Isaac. And God came and spoke to Isaac.
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  Speaker 1: There was a time of famine. There was a time
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  Speaker 1: where there was nothing was growing.
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  Speaker 2: It was a drought.
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  Speaker 1: And Isaac was probably thinking about, where am I going
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  Speaker 1: to go get food? Maybe I'll go down to Ozzie's
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  Speaker 1: place in Egypt. Maybe I'll go over here and go
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  Speaker 1: over there. And God told him, I'll you to stay
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  Speaker 1: right where you are. If you'll stay where you are,
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  Speaker 1: I'll bless you. So the word says he went out
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  Speaker 1: and that year he sowed in his fields and he
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  Speaker 1: reaped a hundredfold what he sowed in a time of drought.
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  Speaker 1: That's not how that usually works, but I want you
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  Speaker 1: to understand something. He was faithful with the word he
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  Speaker 1: was given. He was faithful with what God spoke to him,
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  Speaker 1: and the faithfulness is what gets rewarded. So faithfulness in
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  Speaker 1: your life, it looks like sowing.
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  Speaker 2: In a drought, right? It looks like giving when it hurts,
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  Speaker 2: because sometimes it hurts. Is anybody with me?
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes it looks, you look at that dusty wallet and
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  Speaker 1: you think there's nothing in there. You shake it and
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  Speaker 1: nothing comes out and it's hard to give when it hurts, right?
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  Speaker 1: It's like loving. Faithfulness is like loving when I don't
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  Speaker 1: feel like it. When someone hurt me, when someone spoke
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  Speaker 1: bad about me and I still have to love them,
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  Speaker 1: that's faithfulness. When I'm obedient enough to what he told
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  Speaker 1: me to do even when i don't like it hey
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  Speaker 1: faithfulness is like getting up and serving even when you're
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  Speaker 1: discouraged even when you'd rather just pull the covers over
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  Speaker 1: your head and stay in bed all day and hide
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  Speaker 1: faithfulness is getting up and doing it anyway see sometimes
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  Speaker 1: you got to get up and do it anyway don't
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  Speaker 1: you you know There's days, I'll be honest, there's days
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  Speaker 1: where I don't feel much like preaching because I just
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  Speaker 1: don't feel like I got anything in me. And it's
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  Speaker 1: nice to feel like I have something in me, but
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  Speaker 1: faithfulness says I'm going to get up here and do
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  Speaker 1: it anyway. You know, faithfulness means I'm going to get
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  Speaker 1: up and take care of my kids even when they've
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  Speaker 1: been driving me crazy. Does anybody relate to that? Faithfulness
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  Speaker 1: is going back to your job even when sometimes your
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  Speaker 1: boss is a jerk and you're praying for him and
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  Speaker 1: you're loving him and you're serving him well and you're
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  Speaker 1: working well. That's faithfulness. See, God rewards faithfulness in your life.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about this, but it's giving God
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  Speaker 1: our best. See, listen, I'll just be honest. I've been
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  Speaker 1: preaching for a few years now, more than I care
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  Speaker 1: to think about. And sometimes I don't, I don't want
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  Speaker 1: to get up here.
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  Speaker 2: Right. Sometimes I can, if I let.
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  Speaker 1: Myself, I can start worrying ahead of time, what people
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  Speaker 1: are going to think, you know, I'm writing a message
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  Speaker 1: and I'm thinking, well, I wonder what people are going
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  Speaker 1: to say about that.
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  Speaker 2: But you know what?
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  Speaker 1: I gotta, I gotta not care what people say because
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  Speaker 1: faithfulness is saying what God says, even if it is
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  Speaker 1: not popular, even if you all run me out of
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  Speaker 1: here and that's okay. I'll go find somewhere else to preach.
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  Speaker 1: because I know what I'm called to do. Do you
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  Speaker 1: understand what I'm saying? I'm being a little bit funny,
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  Speaker 1: a little bit silly, but you understand, no matter what
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  Speaker 1: happens in your life, if God's called you to do something,
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  Speaker 1: you've got to do it.
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  Speaker 2: That's giving God your best. It's being faithful. But here's
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  Speaker 2: the thing.
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  Speaker 1: Fear will talk to you until you dig a hole.
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  Speaker 1: Dig a hole and bury it, because you don't know
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  Speaker 1: what might happen Right?
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  Speaker 2: You think about this even with.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, Jesus is using a financial illustration, but understand
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  Speaker 1: he's not just talking about finances. But I think finances
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  Speaker 1: is a good illustration because sometimes there's things happening in
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  Speaker 1: the economy that affect your finances.
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  Speaker 2: Am I right?
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  Speaker 1: You know, if you've got money in the stock market...
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  Speaker 1: Every time something happens in the world, that thing jumps
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  Speaker 1: up and down. And if you're fearful, you'll say, I
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  Speaker 1: better pull it all out. And I don't want to
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  Speaker 1: put it back in because I don't know what could happen.
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  Speaker 1: So instead of investing, fear will tell you, I better
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  Speaker 1: hold on to it and tuck it under my mattress.
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  Speaker 1: I had somebody tell me this. They said, I've got,
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  Speaker 1: and they told me how much money, and it was
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  Speaker 1: a lot of money. They said, I've got it hidden
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  Speaker 1: in my house in jars because I think the world
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  Speaker 1: is going to go crazy and everything's going to collapse
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  Speaker 1: and all this stuff.
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  Speaker 2: And it's the same illustration.
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  Speaker 1: Fear is telling me I better hold on to the
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  Speaker 1: little bit I have because I'll never.
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  Speaker 2: See it again.
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  Speaker 1: I'll never have enough. Instead of using, see, but the
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  Speaker 1: kingdom of God is opposite of that. You have to
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  Speaker 1: use what you've been given. And Jesus says, when you
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  Speaker 1: use what you've been given, you get more. When I
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  Speaker 1: use the gifts he has given me, they get developed.
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  Speaker 1: They get developed.
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  Speaker 2: Right?
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  Speaker 1: When I use what he's given, I get more. And
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  Speaker 1: the principle is that as I'm faithful, he blesses it.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I keep looking at Scott, I'm thinking about music.
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  Speaker 1: And I bet you the very first time Scott went
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  Speaker 1: to sing, he probably didn't sing some, how great thou art.
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  Speaker 1: He might've had to start with twinkle, twinkle, little star.
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  Speaker 1: You know, you got to start small, don't you? Anybody
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  Speaker 1: play an instrument and start with Beethoven. I don't think
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  Speaker 1: you do. I think you start with the little, you
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  Speaker 1: pick out the little, I can play the Indiana Jones
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  Speaker 1: theme song on the piano. That's about my extent. You
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  Speaker 1: just play a little, you play. And then as you,
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  Speaker 1: as you build it, it gets bigger. As you're faithful
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  Speaker 1: to practice, it gets bigger. So you see that in
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  Speaker 1: the natural, but it's a spiritual principle too. As you
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  Speaker 1: use what God's given you, it gets bigger, right? And
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  Speaker 1: so we're faithful with what he's given us. Maybe you
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  Speaker 1: feel called to a ministry and you say, I don't
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  Speaker 1: know where to start. I can tell you where to start.
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  Speaker 1: We got toilets that need cleaning. We got carpet that
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  Speaker 1: needs vacuuming. You say, no, no, I'm called to preach.
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  Speaker 1: Where do I start? You start by serving somewhere. You
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  Speaker 1: start by doing the little things and you do them
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  Speaker 1: with all of your heart.
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  Speaker 2: You do them well.
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  Speaker 1: And as you do the little things well, he blesses
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  Speaker 1: you with more responsibility. That's the principle in here. So
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  Speaker 1: learn how to be faithful what you have. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: don't bury what God put in your hand. We're not
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  Speaker 1: people who dig holes and bury things. We're people who
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  Speaker 1: use what we've been given because that's giving God our best.
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  Speaker 2: Let me keep rolling with here.
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  Speaker 1: There's another story in the Bible and it's kind of
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  Speaker 1: opposite of what the story was with Isaac. I just
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  Speaker 1: want to share this for a second because I think
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  Speaker 1: this relates to using and giving God our best. It
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  Speaker 1: was a time in Israel when people's hearts were really
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  Speaker 1: being pulled away from God. And they were serving him
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  Speaker 1: kind of, but not really. And I think it's a
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  Speaker 1: good picture of the church in America. And I don't
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  Speaker 1: mean this church. I just mean like it's people who
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  Speaker 1: they were in routines. They go to church, but it
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  Speaker 1: didn't really mean anything. They serve God, but it didn't
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  Speaker 1: really mean anything. They were offering sacrifices to to God,
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  Speaker 1: but they weren't giving what we would say is their best, right?
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  Speaker 1: They were giving, in fact, they were giving their worst.
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  Speaker 1: They were treating God like goodwill. I don't want this anymore, God,
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  Speaker 1: so you can have it. This is not good enough
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  Speaker 1: for me, so I'll give it to God. And that
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  Speaker 1: was the way they were behaving. And I want you
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  Speaker 1: to look at what it says in Malachi chapter 1,
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  Speaker 1: verse 6.
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  Speaker 2: He says, a son....
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  Speaker 1: Honors his father, and a servant honors his master, and
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  Speaker 1: God says, if I'm a father, where's my honor?
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  Speaker 2: If I'm a master, where's your fear of me?
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  Speaker 1: Yet you ask, and I'm kind of skipping through some
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  Speaker 1: of the verses, yet you ask, how have you despised,
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  Speaker 1: have we despised your name? He says, you present defiled
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  Speaker 1: food on my altar. When you present a blind animal
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  Speaker 1: for a sacrifice, isn't that wrong? And when you give
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: me a lame animal, isn't that wrong? He says, give
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: it to your governor and see if he'll be.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Pleased with you.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Right? In verse 9, and now plead for God's favor.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Will he be gracious to us? In other words, what
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: he's saying is, God, here's my sacrifice of this blind
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: animal that is worthless. Here's my sacrifice. Lord, would you
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: give me favor? Lord, would you bless me? Because I've
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: given you so much. Because I've given back to you.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: He says, you're not doing what's right. I called you
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: to give your best, but you're giving me your worst.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: You're giving leftovers. God says this is a heart issue
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: because what they gave revealed what they thought about God.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: What they gave revealed their heart towards God. See, what
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: I give reveals what I believe he's worth. And here's
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: what we do. Sometimes we look at the checkbook and
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: we say, sorry, God, there's not enough for you.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: Now, can we be honest?
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Sorry, God, looks like there's not enough for you because
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: we put him last instead of putting him first. The
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: one you honor first is the one who will bless you.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: And the mortgage company can't bless you, but God can
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: bless you. And understand, this message is not about your finances,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: but finances is part of it. Because finances is part
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: of our life, right? It represents our work. It represents
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: our efforts. It represents what we're presenting.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: To God.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: And I'm not preaching to take an offering, but here's
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: the thing. If I needed to get this right, I
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: wouldn't wait till next week. I'd be getting on that
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: app and fixing it or doing something. But I'm just
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: telling you what I need to do in my life
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: is give God my best, right? And we could talk
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: about You want to take it out of finances for
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: a minute? Because I can see everybody's just a little
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: on edge.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: All right? Let's talk about our time with Him. Okay?
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: Our prayer time. Our time in the Word. Are you
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: scrolling Facebook while you're praying?
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: Don't answer it.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm praying for people as I... Lord, bless them
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: and bless that. What's this video? Bless that. Or do
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: you give Him your attention? Do you give Him your best? See,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: he deserves our best. Look what it says in Colossians 3, 23.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Whatever you do, do it from the heart as something
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: done for the Lord and not for people. Whatever you do,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: I'm doing it as unto the Lord. From my heart
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: because it's a heart issue. It's about my heart. I'm
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: thinking of this verse in Ecclesiastes 3. just pops in
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: my head, but it says, it says, whatever your hand
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: finds to do, do it with all your might. Have
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: you heard that verse? There's a second part of that
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: verse that we don't really quote very often. It says,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: so it says, whatever your hand finds to do, do
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: it with all your might because there is no work
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: in the grave.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: Where you're going. And that's a little depressing.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: So we won't go, we won't go there right now,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: but we'll focus on whatever you do, do it from
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: your heart. Do it with all your might. Do it
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: from your heart for the Lord and not for people.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Because what I do, what I do as I serve,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: as even the way I talk to you, the way
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: I treat you, it's honoring the Lord. See, I want
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: to treat you. I don't want to treat you any
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: different than I would treat God.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Because if God were standing right here and I would treat,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: I would treat him with so much honor and respect.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: But if I come down to you and I treat
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: you like you're not God, worthy of honor and respect. No,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: the way I treat you is a reflection of what
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: I think about him. So I'm going to speak kind
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: to you, even though sometimes I might not be happy
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: with you. I'm not talking to anybody in particular, but
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: sometimes you don't want to understand what I'm saying. Sometimes
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: you get your feelings hurt by somebody and you don't
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: treat them right. No, I still want to treat you
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: right because the way I treat you, now I might
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: tell you the truth, but the way I treat you
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: is a reflection of what I think about God. I
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: learned this from a guy when I was doing, I
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: was in college doing tree work, tree trimming, tree removal.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: And this guy I was working for, we were working,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: had a long day. We were trimming this tree, a
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: bunch of trees at this property. And it was the
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: last tree of the day. And I said, that looks
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: great to me. Let's go on and call it a day.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: He said, no, it's not good enough for me. He said,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: every tree I trim, I do it as if it
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: was a tree at God's house. And so I don't
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: take any shortcuts because God wouldn't be pleased with me.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: That was a man who understood even the work that
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: I'm doing is honoring God.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: And he taught me that principle.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: So what I do, whatever your job is, I do
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: it as unto the Lord to serve him, not to
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: please a boss, not to get a raise, although that
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: would be nice not to do that.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean? But we do it as
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: unto the Lord as service to him. So.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Let me go to the last part of this verse here.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: I'm getting ready to wrap up soon. Worship team, you
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: can wait just a minute. I'm just announcing. This is
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: the first announcement.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: Okay? Verse 19.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: After a long time, their master returned from his trip,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: and he called them to give an account of how
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: they used his money. The servant, who he had entrusted
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: five bags of silver, came forward. He said, I got
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: five more. And listen to what the master says. He
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: was full of praise. Well done, good and faithful servant.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: You've all heard that verse before. That's where that comes from.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: We want to hear well done, good and faithful servant.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: It comes from this passage where Jesus is saying these
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: people used what they had been given. They were faithful
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: with what they had been entrusted with and they heard
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: handling this small amount, five million dollars. $ 10 million, whatever
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: it was. So now I'll give you many more responsibilities.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Let's celebrate together. Same thing happens with the other guy. Now,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: verse 24, the one who had one bag of silver.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: He came and he said, Master, I knew you were
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: a harsh man. And he goes into this whole spiel
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: about how difficult a man the master is and how
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: hard he is to work for. Nobody likes him. Everybody
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: talks about you behind your back. And they say this
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: about you. They say, You know, you harvest where you
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: didn't plant and you gather where you didn't. Everybody complains
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: about you. So I was afraid of you. And so
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: here's what I did. I took my little that you
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: gave me because you only gave me one.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: The other guy got 10. He got five.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: I only had one. And so I went and I
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: hid it in the ground. Here's your money back. Let
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: me just pause there for a second. Who did I
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: give that money to? Where are you guys at?
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Richard, what'd you do with what I gave you? How
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: did you do that so fast? Hey, okay, well, I
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: don't know if that counts, but well done. You can
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: give it back to me. Well done, good and faithful servant.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: You can sit down.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Who got the other? Let's go to Brad. Brad,
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: what'd you do with what I gave you?
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: I still got it.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: You still got it.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: He wasn't able to multiply it yet, but I'm sure
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: he's going to put it to work and use it. Hey,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: well done, good and faithful servant. You haven't had time.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: We're going to give you a little grace today. I
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: want you to come back next week with five more.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: You can put it in the offering, okay? Mark, I
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: gave you one. What did you do with what I
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: gave you, Mark? No, no, no, no, no, no.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: But you understand the point of what I'm making.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: The master expected something to be done with what he
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: gave them. So there's an expectation that I don't know
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: if we always live with the understanding that one day
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: we're going to stand before God and have to give
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: an account for everything he put in our hands. Because see,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: sometimes we operate with the wrong understanding. We think we're owners.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: You're not owners, you're stewards. Everything you have, the breath
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: in your lungs came from him. Everything you have in
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: your hands came from him. I have a responsibility to
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: use what he's given me because one day I'll stand
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: before him and he'll say, what'd you do?
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: And he's going to name off some stuff. I put
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: some things in your hands. What'd you do?
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: Well, I thought it was mine. I thought I could
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: do what I wanted. I put it in your hands
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: to use it. How did you use what I gave you?
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: And you can listen to what he says about the
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: final servant, you wicked, lazy servant. He says, take it from,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: take this man's money and give it to the one
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: who has 10. They said, well, he's already got 10.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Why would you give him the one? Because he says, whatever,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: to those who use well what they're given, more will
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: be given.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: Are you catching it?
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: What you use well, you'll be given more. And you'll
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: have an abundance because what you're proving is you are trustworthy.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Sometimes we struggle and we say, why is this not growing?
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: Why is my finances stalled? Why is this thing I
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: felt like God put in my heart, this vision, why
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: is it stalled? I thought I would be doing bigger
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: by now. Why is it so small? Maybe what the
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: issue is, and I'm not saying every time, but maybe
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: you have to learn how to use what you have
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: in your hands well. Maybe God's expecting you to start
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: serving well where you are now. Well, I've got dreams
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: to do bigger. Are you serving well now where you are?
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Because that's the principle of the kingdom of God. So
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: this morning, listen, I want us to, as we close this,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: and you can come now worship, I want us to
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: think about this one thing. We're going to stand before
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: God and have to give an account. And I don't
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: mean that you'll be judged for your sins. We talked
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: about that this morning. Jesus paid for your sins, didn't he?
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: Praise God.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: You stand before God sinless as if sin never happened
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: in your life.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: But look at.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: What he says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: We must all stand. He's talking to Christians.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: We must all stand before Christ to be judged and
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: will receive whatever we deserve for the good or the
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: evil that we've done. And again, he's not talking about
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: good or evil sins, but he's talking about in the
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: sense of what did you do? Because it's really about reward.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: You'll receive the reward for what you've done. Is what
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: you did good or is it wrong? Did I use
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: it well or did I misuse it? Did I mishandle it?
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Did I bury it in the ground and sit on
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: it and preserve it like a jar of pickles? Listen,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: because here's the principle. Stewardship always has accountability. And I
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: want you to notice in the story, God doesn't start
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: comparing the one and say, well, okay, this one you
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: got 10, this one you got five. He's just looking
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: for were you faithful with what you were given. God's
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: looking for faithfulness. So faithfulness means doing our best with
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: what he's put in our hands. We give God our best.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Look again at what he says to the faithful people. Servants,
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: you were faithful with a little, so I'm going to
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: trust you with more. Your faithfulness today is preparing you
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: for more tomorrow. Faithfulness with little prepares you for greater responsibility.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: So let me ask you again as we close this,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you what's in your hand. I
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: want you to just think about for a moment, what
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: are some things God has put in your hands to
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: use well? Maybe there's, it might be your family. Are
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: you serving your family well? It might be a ministry.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: It might be resources. It might be some other thing.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: You say, well, I feel like I've put this.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: In my hand.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: The question is, are we using it faithfully? I want
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: you just to bow your heads for a moment. And
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: this morning, as we close, I want to ask you,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: are you living To hear the words, well done, good
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: and faithful servant. See, that means we're giving God our best.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: We're being faithful. We're not giving him our leftovers. We're
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: not giving him the things that we don't want. We're
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: giving him our best. Before we go any further, I
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: just want to stop for a minute because maybe you're
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: here this morning. You say, I've never given my life
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: to Jesus. And this morning we've been talking about what
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: God has placed in your hand. But the truth is
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: before God, God ever asked you to give him something,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: first he gave himself. He didn't give you leftovers, he
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: gave you his son, the greatest gift we could ever receive.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: He came into this world, he went to the cross
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: and died for our sins. Three days later, he rose again.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: And so listen, salvation isn't about me trying harder to
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: become good enough for God, it's recognizing what he's already done.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: done for me this morning if you're here and you
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: say I need to make my life right with God
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: maybe you've never given your heart to Jesus maybe you've
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: you you have but you say I've been away from
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: God and this morning I want to make my life
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: right with God right where you are this morning I
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: want you to raise your hand and wave at me
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: so I can see you I want to pray for
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: you right where you're at.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: Just a moment.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Say, I need to get my life right with Jesus
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: this morning. I'm going to pray a prayer. And I
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: want you to repeat this prayer with me. And there's
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: nothing magic in the words, but what the Bible says
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: is if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: him from the dead, you'll be saved. And so this
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: morning what we're doing is we're speaking with our mouth
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: and we're believing it. Just repeat this prayer with me. Say, Jesus,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: I ask you to come into my heart and forgive
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: me for my sins and make me a new person.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: I give you my life today, Jesus. Thank you for
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: dying for me.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Amen. For the rest of you this morning, I want
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: you to stand up right where you're at. And I
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: want to give you a challenge. I'm not asking you
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: to fix 10 things in your life or something. What
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: I want you to do is ask the Holy Spirit
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: a question. Just bow your heads with me for a
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: moment and ask the Holy Spirit just to speak to you.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: What's one thing in my hand that I need to
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: use well? Maybe there's something in your life that you say,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: I've buried it. I've not been using it. Maybe fear
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: has kept you from using what God's given you. whatever
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: it is I want you to just as we pray
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: commit yourself to the Lord to say I'm going to
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: use what you've placed in my hands would you pray
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: with me Lord I thank you this morning for each
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: person in this place Lord you've given every one of
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: us you've put things in our hands Lord I pray
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: that we would use what you've given us well that
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: we'd use the time that you've given us well, that
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: we'd use the responsibilities and the people that you've put
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: in our lives, the things that you've given us, Lord,
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: that we would do a wonderful job with them, that
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: we would live to hear well done, good and faithful servant.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: So Lord, this morning, I thank you for blessing your people.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: Thank you that you deserve our best. Thanks so much
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: for listening to today's message.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: From Reach Church.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: If this encouraged you, We'd love for you to share
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: this podcast and leave a review. It helps more people
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: hear the good news. For more information about Reach Church,
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: our ministries, or how to get involved, visit us at reachchurch.world.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: We love you, we're praying for you, and we'll see
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: you next time right here on the Reach Church podcast.