You are invited to step out in faith with whatever resources God has placed in your hands, trusting that obedience brings greater blessing. When you prioritize His kingdom over your comfort, you become a vessel for others to encounter Jesus. Start today by identifying one area where you can sacrifice for the sake of advancing His work.
Alright. Lord, I I just thank you, and I praise you for who you are. You're amazing, and you're wonderful. We thank you that you are the healer. Lord, we thank you that you're our deliverer.
We thank you that you're our provider. You're our help in time of need. Thank you, Lord God, that you interrupt our physical lives to bring your supernatural, spiritual, amazing healing, your presence, your goodness, your peace, your joy, that we get to walk in your righteousness, peace, and joy all the days of our life. Lord God, thank you that you're with us. Father, I pray for everyone under the sound of my voice that their paradigm, their worldview, their mindset would shift to be a more *kingdom* style mindset, Lord God, that they would see the world through Yours eye Your eyes, Lord.
They would see people as You see them as a result of today. Father, I thank You for bringing everybody that You've brought here, everybody that's listening right now. Thank You, Lord Jesus. Lord, open up their hearts to hear Your voice. Lord, open up my heart and my mind to feel Your compassion for these people.
We pray for Your wisdom. In Jesus' name. And everybody said? Amen. My name is David John Phillips.
I have the joy and honor of getting to be your pastor or the pastor of this church. If this is your first time or you've been coming here for a long time, we pray that you encounter the love of Jesus in a very real way. Because we know this, when you encounter His love, you will leave forever changed because you will be forced forced into the valley of decision. You can't encounter His love and not be put in the valley of decision. And that decision is, I'm either going to continue pursuing His love, pursuing Him and be transformed by it.
I'm gonna walk in deeper levels of surrender than ever before, or I'm gonna reject it and continue going the way that I'm going. Man, and I love you enough to tell you the truth in the way the best way that I know how so that when you come here, you encounter his real love in a real way that will leave you never the same. If you choose to follow him, you will be never the same. Amen? Amen.
You'll be changed forever for the better. Amen. In Christ, the best is always yet to come, and I always wanna be taking my next step towards, yes, Lord, more more deeply in every area of my life. Amen? Amen.
Alright. So we are starting a new series today. It's gonna be about a 6 week series, and it's gonna be a lot of fun. The name of it is **Beyond Blessed**, and I'll explain. This series is for you.
If you've ever experienced a season in your life like this or maybe you're in this type of season right now. 1 of those seasons where you're like, man, if just 1 more thing happens, just 1 more thing, I'm gonna lose my marriage. Or just 1 more thing piles on what's already happening right now. I may lose my job, or I may lose that savings account, or I may lose that investment, or I may lose whatever you hold dear. It's like that season where it just 1 more thing in my life's gonna pop.
Bankruptcy. I'm gone. It's done. It's over. I can't take it anymore.
You ever been there? Yes. Or maybe you're there right now. You don't have to raise your hand. *God* wants you to live a life that is beyond blessed.
That's so so much of a blessed life that when other people see you and experience the influence of your life, it causes them to want to know Jesus more. This is the way that God created Israel to be in the Old Testament. He created them to be in such a strong relationship with the Creator, following Him in every way that they were supposed to be like a city on a hill, that when the other nations saw their blessing, like in Solomon, when the queen of Sheba came and and the other kings and stuff came to glean at Solomon's wisdom and experience the the beauty of the kingdom, they were supposed to see this city on a hill being Israel, God's people, and God's goodness and his kindness to Israel was supposed to draw all the world into a relationship with the Creator. Now, are children of Abraham by faith now. And in the same way, we are supposed to live a life that is beyond blessed, that's so blessed in every area, in our influence, in in our relationships, in the way that we live, in our peace, in our joy, and even our finances, that when others see us and experience us, we're like a city on a hill that draws them into relationship with the creator.
Beyond blessed. Everybody say beyond blessed. Beyond blessed. That's the life that we are supposed to live. Now, the title of this series, Beyond Blessed, is expired by, I call him, my digital mentor or 1 of my digital mentors.
I read books. I listen to sermons by, a lot of times or sometimes by pastor Robert Morris. Have you ever heard of him? Amazing. So if you want to go more deep or deeper into what we're talking about, I would pick up the book Beyond Blessed and The Blessed Life by pastor Robert Morris and read them in that order.
Beyond Blessed and then The Blessed Life. Because he knows this a little bit more than me. He's the 1 that's been mentoring me digitally on this. Okay? But it all is by Scripture, through Scripture, and points back to Scripture.
Amen? Beyond Blessed and the blessed life. So have you ever been this guy or heard this guy? The guy that says, that whole tithing and offering thing, been there, done that, tried that, got the t shirt, I'm done, I quit, it didn't work for me. If you've been in the church for any amount of time, you've heard that saying by somebody or you were that person.
Amen? If not, cool. I've got news for you. Walking according to the principles of God, in God's way, always works. Always.
There's no exception. It always works, and it always will work. Problem is, with that whole topic of biblical generosity, there's a lot of people that say, the tithes and offerings part, they try it, but they forget the other principle, the other foundation that is undergirding biblical generosity. And I'm gonna say it. Are you guys ready for it?
You can't live beyond your means. You can't spend or give more than you make. I know it kinda sounds simple but very seriously, like you can't spend or give more than you make. Problem is in American society, we live with this, you know, I'm trying to "keep up with the Joneses", whoever the Joneses are. So I gotta have the same kind of house that they have because I live in their their kind of neighborhood.
I gotta have the same kind of car that I that they have because I live in their neighborhood. And and if I don't, then I'm less than when not realizing that by the standards of the world, you make more than $2 a day, so you're rich. Living the beyond blessed life doesn't mean that you have to have millions of dollars, but it does mean that you have to live according to God's principles in God's way. And you have to reorder your life in order to live that way. Living according to God's principles in God's way requires a sacrifice of your flesh.
Following the leading of the Holy Spirit, the flesh is always at war with the Holy Spirit so that you don't do what you want. It's going to require sacrifice being obedient to Jesus. And if love is sacrificing yourself for the sake of another, and the Bible defines loving God as being obedient to God, then loving God with your finances or with the resources He's entrusted to you is going to require some type of sacrifice, sacrificing what you want, what you feel, and what you think you need for what God says is important, what God thinks is important, what God says that you need because he knows you and he created you. Amen? Amen.
So what does that look like? I have to say this too. You've heard that phrase, and it's true. You can't out give God. Amen?
That's true. You can't out give God. And Jesus said, actually, he was quoted in Acts-20:35, that it's better to give than receive. The goal of this whole series is to get you to experience the better that it's talking about, to live a life where you're consistently experiencing the better. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians-9 that we are supposed to be generous on all occasions.
How can you live a generous life on all occasion occasions when we're struggling financially. What is that like, how how do we fix that? Hopefully, this series this series will give you the keys in order to fix that perception, that mindset, so you reorder your life to live a life, the beyond blessed life. Amen? Okay.
First, and this is important, don't get all hippity dippity or like, oh my gosh. I can't believe the pastor's talking about money. It's been about 3 years since I did a series on money, so simmer down. We don't talk we don't do this series every 2 months. Okay?
However, if I'm honest, I should probably apologize to you because I haven't talked about it enough. *Jesus* talked about finances 11 out of 39 parables. It was the topic that he talked about the most. Jesus. And we're supposed to be imitators of Jesus.
So as a pastor, I need to be talking about this more than I am. Why? *Jesus* talked about it that much because he knows where your heart is, there your treasure is also, And God wants all of your heart. He wants every aspect of your life to revolve around him because you trust him as the Lord of your life. And so if that's gonna happen, he's gonna have to talk about your treasure, your money because it takes your time and your talents in order to make that.
So your life revolves around that. So wherever you put that, if you go back and look at your books, if you go back and look the last month or the last year, you'll see what was most important to you, what your life revolved around. Amen? And *God* wants to be first in your life because whatever's first is what's the center in any area of your life. Amen?
Okay. So if Jesus talked about it that much, I should probably talk about it a little bit more because as a pastor, I love you, and I love you more than I love what you think about me. I love you more than you staying here. So I'm gonna love you enough to tell you the truth regardless of whether or not it offends you. I'm gonna do my best to tell you the truth in the way that God would say it because I love you so that you have the ability to receive it, hear it, and then put it into practice so it will work in your life.
Because when you know the truth and you live by the truth, you experience the freedom that comes with it, especially financially. Now, let's talk about that freedom. I want to daydream with you for just a bit. So I wanna ask you, close your eyes, let me paint a word picture for you. Let's see what this would be like.
You ready? Let's picture together how it would feel to live without financial pressure. Imagine that you always have money. Go ahead. Close your eyes.
Imagine that you always have money left at the end of the month. Imagine a life where you've forgotten what it feels like to worry or stress about your finances. When it's time to buy something, you don't think, how can I afford that? Instead, you think, Lord, do you want me to buy that? Imagine a life of total peace, laying your head on the pillow at night with a satisfied soul sleeping like a baby.
If you're married, imagine a life where you never fight about money, but instead, you're thinking about and discussing with your wife about praying about how to budget to reorder your life for kingdom purposes. Imagine a life that's full of energy, purpose, and fulfillment because every opportunity you have, and every opportunity that where the Lord leads, you have You can be generous and to sow into your neighbors, to sow into missionaries, to sow into the person that's on the food aisle that needed something, and you get fulfillment because you know that you're being radically generous, and you're living the life that that Jesus explained, it's better to give than receive. Imagine knowing that in doing so, you're laying up treasures in heaven, but having a blast here on earth. Imagine, I'm almost done. Imagine not getting a sudden sick feeling in your stomach when you think about retirement or saving for retirement or how you can't save for retirement.
But instead, like the woman in Proverbs-31, imagine that when you think of the future, you smile and laugh with joy at good days to come. Sounds amazing. Right? You can open your eyes. How many of guys want that life?
If you don't want that life, what are you doing? Are you serious? A life free from the pressures of money sounds amazing. Now, when I shared this with a friend of mine, she said, does that mean I won the lottery? This kind of life does not come from winning the lottery.
As a matter of fact, after 5 years, a high percentage of lottery winners are bankrupt and worse off than when they first got it. It's not a life from being rich. Most people who are rich are I'm not gonna say most people who are rich, I'll say this. More people there's a higher percentage of rich people that are on antidepressants and anti anxiety medication than of normal working class people. If money bought happiness, then you wouldn't see millionaires and billionaires killing themselves.
But yet that happens all the time. I'm not talking about a rich life. I'm talking about a life where you know what it means. You understand how to live by biblical principles in God's way. This kind of life lives on 2 legs.
The person that says, I tried tithes and I tried offerings, I tried biblical generosity and what that looks like, they were probably just living on 1 leg. There's 2 legs to this type of life. Okay? You ever seen the cartoon that has 1 leg or 1 foot nailed to the ground and they're trying to go forward and they're just like you ever seen that that that cartoon? Got that picture in your head?
That's what it like it's like trying to live according to God's principles in your own way. I tithed. I gave another offering. I didn't get anything in return. What's going on?
Well, first, it's all about you, and you don't understand that. That's your your perception and the way that you're living. But the second thing, the "second leg", is *stewardship*. It's managing your money and your resources that God has given you wisely. Without wise management of what is put in your hands, you're never gonna be able to be consistently generous.
*God wants to give you the wisdom* to be able to manage your your resources, and I'm not just talking about money. Time, talent, and treasure. He has gifted you with time. He's gifted you with talent, and He's gifted you with treasure. And that treasure doesn't isn't just money.
It's relationships. It's ministry. It's your job. It's your children. He's gifted you with resources in order to manage well.
And if you don't manage those resources well, you can give all you want. You're not gonna experience the blessing that's supposed to come along with it because it also has the other leg of wisdom. You're supposed to have wisdom and generosity. Like, what? Pastor, I'm just not good at managing my money.
I I wasn't born with that skill. It's a skill. Skill means that it's something that you can learn and get better at. It's an aspect of wisdom. Proverbs-4:7.
Did I did I give you that verse 4 verse 7? Pull it up. Says the beginning of wisdom is this, get wisdom. The beginning of wisdom is realizing that you don't have it and going after it. If you stink at managing your money, face it, I stink at manage managing my money.
Don't go for the lottery anymore, but start to go after wisdom instead. The bible says, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you'll find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. If you haven't make an honest pursuit of learning how to manage your money well and then begin to put it into practice, you'll start living according to biblical principles with respect to wise stewardship, wise management.
And when you do that, you'll be walking on both legs towards the beyond blessed life in every area of your life. Now what about those that are wise managers of their money but they're not living according to biblical principles? Well, they got the other foot nailed to the ground, so they're walking in the other direction. Sure. They have lots of money.
That's awesome. But there's no purpose. They feel unfulfilled because they're not living living in the way that God created them to live. God entrusted those resources to them in order to expand his kingdom. And if you're not doing it God's way, then you're gonna feel unfulfilled.
And that's why millionaires and billionaires are complaining that money doesn't bring me happiness. They're not using it right. They're using it to build their own kingdom instead of his kingdom. And we were created to be a part of his kingdom, expanding his kingdom with everything he entrusted to us so we can "walk on both legs". Amen?
Amen. Is this helping anybody yet? Yeah. Yeah. Alright.
Let's keep going. There's a biblical word for wisdom with your finances. Do know you what that biblical word is? Somebody said it over here. Say it louder.
*Stewardship*. Stewardship. The problem is stewardship has been mistaught in many settings like this. A lot of people when they hear the word stewardship in a church setting on a Sunday morning, they think, oh, man, they're about to start a stewardship campaign where they're gonna make me give more money to the church, or force, or compel, or pressure, and that's not at all what I mean when I say the word stewardship. At Real Church, when we say stewardship, "get that lie out of your head".
That's not what the church means when it says it. I wanna give you the biblical definition and really the Oxford Dictionary definition. I forget which dictionary I looked it up, but stewardship means the **office duties and obligations** of a steward. So if we have to understand the office duties and obligations of a steward, then we probably need to know what a steward is. Right?
Logical next step. So what is a steward? A steward is a person who is entrusted with protecting, maintaining, nurturing and multiplying someone else's property or financial affairs. Everybody say multiplying. Multiplying.
That's a big deal. A steward is someone who's entrusted with protecting, maintaining, nurturing, and multiplying someone else's property or affair affairs. And stewardship is at the heart of the Bible. We see it in the very beginning. *God* created the world, everything in the world, and then He created Adam and Eve in order to steward it.
And He said to them in Genesis-1:28, be fruitful and multiply. He gave them dominion over everything, told them to to subdue it, meaning bring it under authority, make it beautiful, and multiply it. Adam and Eve were the first *stewards* of the Bible. Now, to live like a good steward, we have to understand that God wants to bless us in our time, talents, our relationships, our ministry, our wealth, and that that requires us to be both a wise steward and a generous giver in all of those areas. And when we learn both and we walk in both, we experience the unique blessings that God has personally designed for each and every 1 of us.
So to live like this, we have to answer these 2 questions correctly. First question. Whose are you? Whose are you? God.
*Jesus*. Yes. If you have now God created you. Right? And there's many people who are lost.
Meaning, they've run from God, they haven't surrendered to God. Right? And they're living like they are their own. When you give your life to Jesus, you're saying, I'm surrendering my life to yours, recognizing that you created me for your purposes and your plans. And, I'm not only believing you died and rose again, but I'm also gonna call you my Lord.
Meaning, I'm gonna follow your way instead of what I feel. I'm surrendering to being your servant. And then God says, no, you're my son, my adopted son. *Jesus* calls you a friend, but we still live with the confidence of a son, but the attitude of a servant. Amen?
So if you've given your life to Jesus, not only did God create you, you are declaring that you are God's. God owns you. And it's actually biblical. 1 Corinthians-6:19-20. What does it say?
Let me get there. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who lives within you, whom you have from God. You are not your own. You were bought with a price so honor God with your body. There it is right there.
You were bought with a price. Honor God with your body. So how do you *steward* what God gave you, specifically your body? By honoring Him with it. That's an example of what it means to be good stewards a good steward.
He entrusted you with this body. So I'm going to honor him with what he gave. And I'll just tell you real practically the way that I do that. I enjoy life, but I'll also eat relatively healthy. My wife might disagree with you with me.
And I I go to the gym 3 or 4 times a week. You know why? 1, sure, I wanna look good for my wife. But that's not why. Number 2, because I wanna be able to live out my purpose in 37 years.
I'm 37 years old. In 40 years, when I'm 87 years old, I wanna still be about His kingdom. And if I'm consistently stewarding the gift, the body body that God gave me, honoring Him with what I eat and what I do and how I use it, day in and day out in the little things, then I will be able, when I'm 87 years old, Lord willing, to be able to continue to do ministry however and whenever God calls me. But if I'm not honoring the gift that God gave me and stewarding it well, then I'm not gonna be able to live the life he's called me to live in 30 and 40 years. Amen?
Is that supposed to be condemnation if you haven't done that? No. It's supposed to be, hey, a reminder. Okay. Let's start stewarding the gift that God gave us because he owns us.
We are not our own. When we get that right, that's the first the first step towards stewardship. Now, second question. *God* created the whole world. Right?
So He owns everything. Right? So he owns all the stuff. Right? More personal question.
Who owns your stuff? Y'all a little more hesitant on that 1. All the stuff that you've written your name on, that you have in your name, who really owns it? You or God? Another question, are you living like an owner or are you living like a steward?
We have to understand that *God isn't greedy. He loves* to give and he loves to bless. That's the character of our father. And he does so in a way that's good. He's a good manager of his resources.
**faithful with a little*, God* gives you more. Now, God entrusted to you your body, your life, your relationships, the things that you have. He entrusted it to you for you to steward it, to nurture it, to protect it, and to grow it, to multiply it. Now, what He's given you, it's like an apple. You take a bite of an apple, there's "meat to eat" and enjoy and there's "seed to sow".
If you only eat it and you eat all the seed, then you're not multiplying it. But if you eat what's meant to be eaten and sow what's meant to be sowed, then you're preparing a harvest and multiplying that apple for years to come. Make sense? So we have to understand that in everything God's given us, he wants us to enjoy it because he's a generous giver. And he wants to he wants us to operate in faith in that way as a son.
And he wants us to be wise, following him in the principles of scripture so we know what is meat to eat in our life and what is seed to sow and live that way. Amen? So *God* being a good manager, if you've been faithful with a little, He entrusts you with more. And if you haven't, He takes what you have and gives it to somebody else that's been faithful. We'll see it in Scripture.
But if what you're dreaming about isn't necessarily happening, then maybe 1 of 5 things is going on. Maybe you're not ready for it. Because as a good manager and as a good father, he's gonna assess what you're ready for and give you what you're ready for because he doesn't want to give you something that you're not ready for and then you squander it or it break you. Makes sense? So if what you're dreaming about hasn't happened yet, maybe you're not ready for it.
Number 2, maybe it's not beneficial for His kingdom. Maybe you're dreaming about something that's not in His character and nature and not who He is, so stop dreaming about it. Number 3, maybe it isn't beneficial for you to live out the purposes that He's planned for you. Maybe what you're dreaming about is somebody else's race. Stop comparing yourself and run their own the race that God's called you to run.
Amen? Number 4. Maybe it isn't time yet. Maybe there's a timing to the thing, and you just gotta trust God in his process to walk out his process to be a good manager and a good father and to give you what he deems is necessary when he deems it necessary. It's a step of trust.
Amen? Number 5, and this is the tough 1, or maybe you haven't demonstrated that you are capable of being entrusted with those things or those relationships? Can you submit to Him your dreams and follow His plan for your life instead of your own? We must settle in our hearts that everything we are and everything we have is God's and entrusted to us by Him, and then follow our Master, We called Him Lord when we gave our life to Jesus. Follow Him and trust Him and His will for all that we have.
If we don't, there's another biblical term for that. Do you know what that term is? Everybody say idolatry. Idolatry. Idolatry is taking the things that He entrusted to you to steward and multiply for His *kingdom* and magnify that magnifying them as more important than God and multiplying them for your kingdom.
That's what idolatry is. Idolatry is saying what I think, what I want, what I feel is more important than what you think, want and feel. Idolatry is assuming that the master is staying gone for longer, so what he gave to me must be mine, so I'm gonna operate as if it's mine and build my own kingdom with it. That's idolatry. Not a good thing.
Amen? Amen. You guys okay? Idolatry is it's so important to understand that that at the end of first John, the end of John the Revelator's letter to the churches, he also the 1 the 1 that understood love better than anybody else, the very last sentence of first John, he said, little above all else, little children, keep yourself from idols. It's a big deal.
So the question is this, an honest assessment. If *stewardship* is being a good *steward* and carrying out the offices and duties of a steward, and being a steward is being entrusted with someone else's resources, God's resources, and being entrusted to protect them, to nurture them, to care for them, and to multiply them, let's give an honest assessment. How good of a steward are you? Like, 1 day, there will be an assessment. And that assessment comes at the end of different seasons of our life.
*God* tests us. And when you pass the test, you go from "glory to glory". He's not testing you in order to to fail you and send you to hell. He's testing you to see if you're ready for the next step of the plan. But there's also a *final judgment*, an end judgment, where there's a there's an assessment to see if you are a good steward or a bad steward.
If you were assessed right now in your life, how you've stewarded what he's entrusted to you, would he promote you? Would he demote you? Would he fire you? Honest question. A bad steward, There's 2 possible reasons for being a bad steward.
Number 1, you didn't know God. So you live for your own kingdom. Or number 2, you were born again, adopted son or daughter of God, but you believed lies about who God is. And so you operated in fear in more ways than you should have. Man, I want God to root out every area of my life where I'm operating in fear so that I can operate in faith because He's a good God, He's a good Father, and I can *trust* Him.
Let's go to scripture so you can see all of this. *Matthew-25*. You guys okay? Yeah. I love you.
Verse 14. This is the parable of the talents. It says, for it will be like just so you know, what will be like? Well, in the parable before, he's talking about the kingdom of heaven. And in the parable after, he's talking about the final judgment.
So some conglomeration of those 2. The kingdom of heaven, living on like we're supposed to live from heaven to earth. So we're an ambassador of the of the King on earth. That's what 2 Corinthians-5 says. So we're ambassadors of Him.
So we're supposed to live in this way now, but also the final judgment will be like this too. So that's what it means when it says that here. For it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. In this parable, it never says the word steward or stewardship, but that is steward stewardship right there. The Master entrusted His property to servants in order to keep and care for.
You see it? This parable is all about stewardship. For it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To 1, he gave 5 talents, to another 2, and to another 1, to each according to his ability. Now watch this.
You have to first understand what a talent is. A talent is approximately 10,000 denarii. Everybody understand? Now you have to understand what a denarii is. A denarii is a day's wage.
So a talent is approximately 10000 days of working. Now, there's about 260 working days in a year if you work 5 days a week. Make sense? So 10000 days of working divided by 260, that's about 38.5 years of work. 1 talent, 38 and a half years of work.
Now, let's assume the average wage in Pinellas County is about $31,000 a year. Didn't know that, did you? I did. I looked it up before I preached the message. Okay.
So if we're going off of today's average salary for 38.46 years, so that's times 31,000 Do it in your head. Salary. Okay. So 1 talent is is approximately $1,192,307. That's a large sum of money.
That would mean 2 talents is 2,380,000.00. That would mean 5 talents is about $6,000,000, just under 6 mil. That's a lot. Right? That bring some context to the scripture?
What's going on here? The the *master* was a wealthy dude, and he was entrusting these talents to these people. Why did he entrust them this much money? Well, it tells you. It says, to each according to his Ability.
Ability, which would mean the master had been watching these servants, and they have a track record of how faithful they were. They had a track record of how well they could manage what was put into their account or into their hand. And so he assessed them, and based on his perception of their history, he assigned to them amounts, entrusted to them, gave them an opportunity to demonstrate even greater faithfulness than what they already had. Now, this is saying it will be like, meaning, it's kinda like the kingdom of God. It works this way, and God's a good manager.
So he's not just giving this willy nilly. **Faithful with the little**, and he gives you more. These 3 had probably been faithful with the little, and he's giving them more. You understand? Alright.
And like to the tune of 1 mil, 2 mil, and almost 6 mil. He who had received 5 talents went at once. Everybody say at once. At once. And traded with them, and he made 5 talents more.
He honored and valued what God gave or what the master gave him. At once, there was no procrastination, there was no fear, he went faithfully, which means full of faith. He trusted his masters trusting him with those things and took it and did stuff with it. So also, verse 17, he who had 2 talents went and made 2 talents more. Verse 18, but he who had received 1 talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.
Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. There will always be a settling of accounts. I've failed tests before and had to retake them. My heart is, Lord, if I ever fail a test, don't give me the next 1. Make me retake it because I wanna have discipline in every way.
I want to reflect your character and your nature. Thank you that you're a good God and you discipline me so that I can be ready for the next test because I wanna reflect your character and nature no matter how hard life gets. Amen? Amen. Okay.
He settled accounts. And he who had received, verse 25 talents came forward bringing 5 talents more saying, master, you delivered to me 5 talents. Here I have made 5 talents more. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over little.
I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. Quick question. Is the master *generous* or stingy? Generous.
How do you know? Because he's invited him. Exactly. He invited him into his joy. But not only that, the servants hadn't that we know nothing.
And the master entrusted the servant with about $6,000,000, 600 $6,000,000 in order to to work and use use his gifts to multiply. Then when he came back and he found him doing good, he brought him into his joy. I mean, that's a big deal. It sounds like God. Jesus has given us based on his sacrifice, his paying for for us, his peace, and his joy.
And He says, do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Why? Because He's given us His peace. Anyway, good answer. Verse 22, and also he who had 2 talents came forward saying, master, you delivered to me 2 talents.
Here I have made 2 talents more. His master said then the same thing, well done, good and faithful, which means full of faith. Servant, you have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Master.
Faithful with a little, God gives you more. Faithful with a little, God gives you more. It's not just there. It's in Luke-16. I'm almost done, guys.
Stick with me. *Luke-16:10*. 1 who is faithful and a very little is all is also faithful in much. And 1 who is dishonest and a very little is also dishonest in much. There's a lie that a lot of people believe.
Oh, I'm just too poor in order to follow God's principles. No, you're not. You gotta be faithful with what you have. Because the Bible just said, if you're not faithful with a little, you won't be faithful with more. So a lot of people say, well, if I just if I get, you know, that next blessing, then I get just a little bit more, then I'll be faithful, then I'll start to tithe, then I'll start to give, then I'll start to manage my money well.
But right now, I'm just, you know, hand to mouth. Stop it. The Bible says if you're not faithful with a little, you won't be faithful with more. Maybe you need to steward what you have well, *sacrifice* some things in order to be able to walk according to the principles of God as an act of faith and been stepping baby step, 1 step at a time, and watch as you pass the test and God entrust you with more because you've demonstrated you can be able. You can be trusted with more.
Amen? Watch this. Verse 24. He who had received the 1 talent came forward saying, master, I knew you to be a hard man. Was the master a hard man?
But this servant believed a lie about the master and operated in fear towards his master instead of faith. It was a fear filled response. There's a lot of people that hear a lot of amazing things about God but they live a life out of fear. The Bible says there's no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear. The 1 who fears has not been made perfected in love because fear has to do with punishment.
There's a lot of people that live a life hiding the time, talents, and treasure that they have out of fear and insecurity when none of that's in the Father. And he's begging you to walk by faith. He's saying, be courageous. Be courageous. Be courageous.
*Trust* me. Trust me. Trust me. And a lot of people are demonstrating that they don't really know the Father by operating in fear instead. *Master*, I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.
Now if this is talking about God, God owns it all. Right? So how can someone who know owns it all reap where he didn't sow and scatter? He he this this dude is blaming God for being a being a tyrant and a thief or blaming the master, which is just talking about kingdom stuff. There's a lot of people that live that way too.
I'm gonna be in charge of my stuff, and I'm doing my thing, and I'll do what, you know, the Bible says as long as it's good for me. But really at the depth of their heart, it's out of fear because they don't really trust God to be in control. They still have to be in control. Verse 25, so I was afraid. Frady cats protect themselves.
Faithful, step out. And I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours. Now, did that servant lose anything? No.
He gave back the master everything in full. Was that rewarded? Let's see what happened. But his master answered him, you wicked and lazy servant. You knew I reap where I have sown and gather where I've scattered no seed.
Like, this is what you knew about me? Well, then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to the 1 who has 10 talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the 1 who has not, even what he has will be taken away, and cast the worthless servant into outer darkness in that place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Gnashing of teeth. Gnashing of teeth means like a grinding of teeth. A lot of times, it's like like you're in deep pain or it's anger thinking, I don't deserve this. Did that servant lose anything? Nope.
But what he didn't do is he didn't multiply what the master gave him. Instead, he hid it out of fear, showing that he did not know God. There's a lot of people that are hiding their time, their talent, and their treasure out of fear showing that they're in control and they haven't really surrendered their life to the Lord. So bad stewards are 1 of 2 people. They either don't know God at all, so they haven't really surrendered to God, or they're really they've been born again but they believe lies showing that they're immature in their walk with Jesus.
For me, even though I'm a pastor and I'm been following Jesus for 32 years, there's areas of my life where God is consistently disciplining me over and over. And when I get better and start following him more in this area as a good steward, "guess what" he does? Praise the Lord. Take a step. And then he shows me this area.
Praise the Lord. Take a step. And he shows And that's how you mature. So don't take this as a message of condemnation. Take this as a message that is an opportunity to, whether you don't know Jesus or you do, to repent, to confess, God, this is me.
I've been a poor *steward* of the resources you've entrusted me with, the time, talent, and treasure. I've lived in such a way to multiply my kingdom or to protect myself instead of investing it for souls, investing it for discipleship, investing it to multiply the things that you gave me so that those around me experience your kingdom more. I repent, which means forgive me. I'm sorry, and I'm turning my life to walk in the way that you've called me to walk because repentance will always result in fruit in your life. There is fruit of repentance.
You can hear this message and say, man, that was a good message and walk away and not change anything about your life, and it wasn't repentance. Make sense? *God loves* you. He cares for you, and this is an invitation to experience the fullness of the life he's called you to, a life that is beyond blessed. And sometimes, that takes change.
It's insanity to expect different results in your life and not change anything. Amen? Amen. So I think we're about to have a baptism. You guys come forward.
As we do, let's just pray this prayer. Excuse me, sir. Could you step out, please? Hey, would y'all Absolutely. Thank you.
Thank you. *God loves* you, sir. Oh, we pray whatever it takes for him to come to know you in a real way. In *Jesus*' name. If you if you're willing, while you're sitting there, would you just lift your hand as a sign of surrender to Jesus?
And just say this with me. Jesus, teach me to be a *steward* of what you've entrusted to me. If I need need to reorder my show me so that I can handle with care and multiply what you've entrusted to me. Teach In me to *trust* Jesus' name. Jesus' name.
And everybody said? Amen. Praise the Lord. God's good. He loves you.
We're about to have a baptism. I'm gonna let Bart introduce this thing. Because here's the deal. Bart got to lead this man to Jesus. And, man, at real church, if you lead someone to Jesus and you're part of disciple them, you should be the 1 to baptize them.
So what a joy.
So last year, probably 9, 10 months ago, Bartley bought a house in Tampa. And he said he felt like God had told him that he was supposed to put guys in the backyard and talk about Jesus. Alright. Okay. Cool.
And so he started working on his yard. If you ever saw his Instagram,
he was
pulling weeds, he's doing all this stuff, got it nice and pretty. And about 6 weeks ago, we had our first bible study for guys in the backyard at Bartley's house.
So
I want you to realize this is fruit from you listening to God, and I'm proud of you.
So
if God's telling you to start a bible study, guess what? Start a bible study. This is Anthony. Anthony started coming to the bible study. He's got a Catholic background, great guy, but he wants to know more about Jesus.
And he started asking questions and and wanting to know more. He gave his life to Jesus. Anthony, is is Jesus your Lord today?
Yes.
And you're gonna follow him the "rest of your life"? I am. Absolutely. Jump in there. Let's go.
That's warm. Warmed it up for him.
I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you. On the confession of your faith, in accordance to the word of God, I baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ for you, the remission of your sins. Amen.
He's gonna pray over him for a second. And we're about to close. This is an example of what I'm talking about. Bartley was led by God to use his resources to advance the kingdom. So he began to reorder his life to prepare for it.
Following in obedience always takes a sacrifice of self. So what did he do? He began to prepare his backyard for what God led him to do. At the proper time, God brought the people, and now there's a multiplication of the kingdom. Amen?
Amen. That's the "perfect picture" of this message. That's what it looks like.