Thank you team. I appreciate you guys. Ladies, men. So I got to tell you, I'm a little shocked today.
This was in the history of city reach. Today is the first daylight saving Sunday that we didn't announce it. And you guys still showed up. I was stressed out.
I thought, if we don't tell anybody, no one's going to be there. But I was telling Seth and Kristen and Evie last night that back in the day, maybe about six or seven or eight years ago, when Katie was leading worship, if you guys remember Katie, I would almost every day like saving time, the Sunday before I would make this big announcement. Hey, don't forget to set your clocks up an hour forward next Saturday night. And see if you back here and be like, nobody sets their clock forward anymore.
And I still have like the old red digital clock by my bed, because I'm old, my wife says. But so I still have to like set the clock. But I guess most people, you know, it's just auto, auto forwards and you don't even think about it. But I still go around the house and I change the microwave and change the bed clock and all those things.
Dave, you understand what I'm talking about? I'm sure. Of all people, you understand. Yeah.
All right. Well, so our series is we're continuing on the series of increase and I'm going to pick up on increasing your capacity from two weeks ago. I brought a message two weeks ago from Isaiah 54 on increasing your capacity for more. And in that message, we talked about how that when things don't really seem the way that we see promises in scripture, that we're living in a certain situation, but we're not seeing the promises of scripture pan out yet, that faith actually increases our capacity to receive what God has for us.
And that whether it's that if you're in a state of barrenness, it's said to shout or that if you're in the tent limited your vision on what you can see, get out of the tent and clear the ground around the tent, extend the cords and lengthen the cords and strengthen the stakes. And so we talked about how faith increases your capacity to receive. And today I want to talk about a little different twist on it. Today I don't want to talk about faith increasing your capacity, but faithfulness increasing your capacity and how that faithfulness and being reliable and being faithful and being a person who can be counted on increases your capacity.
I'm going to preach the same passage that pastors Seth preached from last week. And if you were here last week, he did a great job for Matthew chapter 25. I felt like preaching that two weeks ago. And so I'm still going to do it.
There's not any way one person can ever exhaust a single parable. I have not preached on this parable for probably 10 years. I've pulled pieces from it, but it's been a long time. I don't think I've ever even preached on this parable here, but I really feel like it's what God has for us today.
And it'll be increasing your capacity part two. The three things I want to cover today are this and they'll start with A's to help you out. But so Seth asked me this morning. He said, what's your main point?
I said, I don't know. I've got three points to my message. And I've got four points. We're going to drive home at the very end.
So I guess I've got seven. Maybe. I don't know. We'll see how it goes.
But I have really three things I want to talk about as we go through this parable. And then at the very end, there's just four things I want to summarize it with. I want to give you four points on faithfulness. And abilities is the first thing I want to talk about, abilities.
And then activities and then accounts. Abilities, activities and accounts. That'll be the three main points today. And we're going to read from Matthew chapter 25 verses 14 through 29.
This is commonly called the parable of the talents. And I want to start with the last verse. I want to start with the very last verse 29. So I want to talk about verse 29 first.
And then we'll kind of go back and read through it. And it's a tired and go back and cover those three points. The verse 29 says this. It's very, I don't want to say it's very confusing because it doesn't need to be confusing.
But I just want to read through it. It says to everyone who has more will be given. So the person that has something gets what more, right? We're talking about increase.
But to, and he will have what abundance. But from him who does not have even what he has will be taken away to him who has more will be given and he will have abundance. But to him who does not have even what he has will be taken away. So if you think about that, if somebody has nothing.
How do you take something from somebody that has nothing? How do you take when it says to him that has not even what he has will be taken away? So if somebody has nothing, how do we take away something from nothing? Like maybe maybe I'm the only one ever like thinks about things like that.
Like there should be an answer. And so what I put in the next slide just because in context of this parable, here's what he's talking about. For to him who has in brackets, faithfulness, he will be given more and have abundance. But to him who does not have faithfulness, even what he has will be taken away.
Does that make more sense? So it's not saying the person who doesn't have anything what he has will be taken away. It says the person who has something but doesn't live and demonstrate faithfulness. That thing that he has at that point will be taken away.
So the difference between the two, it's not the haves and have nots in terms of financial things. It's has and have nots in terms of faithfulness. And that's the deciding factor is faithfulness. How faithful argue with what God has entrusted to you?
If you think about it like this, people say, well, what's faithfulness? I like to think of it like this. We might think of synonyms, maybe reliable. Somebody who can be counted on.
Somebody who is loyal. Somebody that demonstrates over time that they're going to do what you ask them to do. So I think of it like this. Faithfulness is me or you continuing to do the last thing God told me to do until he tells me to do something else.
Continuing to do the last thing God told me to do until he gives me other instructions. See, a lot of times people will be given instruction from God whether you get a verse of scripture or the Spirit speaks something to you or you get a prophetic where whatever it is. However you receive instruction from the Lord and you start out and you begin to do it. But then you're like, you know what?
I don't really like what he's asked me to do anymore. I like this better. And so I think I'll do this instead of that. See, it doesn't matter if you obeyed initially or you obeyed for a period of time or but faithfulness is demonstrated that you continue to do what God told you to do until he steps in and says, okay, you've fulfilled that.
You've completed that. Now I want to give you something different to do or I want to add to your plate and drop water on you from heaven. We have an ongoing leak from our steeple. I just got some holy, holy sprinkle water there.
Remind me, this was a Episcopal Church before we took over and I always wanted to take the bird bath. It's their sprinkle bath. I just got sprinkled. So here's the difference between faith.
We talked about faith increasing your capacity and now faithfulness. Faith answers or you could say asks this question. Here's what faith. Can you trust God?
Right? Isn't that what faith is about? Can I believe what God's word says? Faith asks, can you trust God?
Faithfulness asks, can God trust you? I hope so. See, that's what we're talking about. So faith, do you believe what God's word says?
Whether you can see it, whether it's in front of you or not, do you can you trust God? That alone, trusting God will increase your capacity. When you don't have, when you can't see it, when you can't feel it, when it's not there, do you trust Him? That's faith.
Faithfulness, when you have something from God, do you handle it in a manner that actually honors Him? Are you faithful with it? Are you reliable with it? Can God give you something and trust you?
Two different things. Both increase capacity. Both will increase you to actually have the capacity to handle more. Both are important.
And so today I want to talk about faithfulness. So let's read through this passage. Matthew chapter 25, if you have it, I'm going to read directly through it and then we're going to go back and look at those couple points. Verses 14 through 29 say this.
It says, the kingdom of heaven. So this is probably the last kingdom parable, Jesus tells, I think it's 12 or 13 different parables and stories about the kingdom of heaven. And this is, I believe the very last one. He says, the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.
And to one, he gave five talents to another two and to another one, to another one, to another one, to each according to his own ability, and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded them with them and made another five talents. And likewise, he who had received two gained two more also. But he would receive one, went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money.
And after a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents besides them. His Lord said, well done, good and faithful servant.
You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things entering to the joy of the Lord. And he who had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Look, I have gained two more talents besides them.
His Lord said, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things entering to the joy of the Lord. Then he would receive the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, gathering where you have not scattered seed.
I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have, what is yours? But as Lord answered and said to him, you wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and have my own coming.
I would have received it back with my own interest with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents. And here's the verse we started with. For to everyone who has more will be given and he who and he will have abundance.
But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. Father, I thank you today for your word. I thank you that it's applicable even today, that it is relevant today, that it is alive today as the day it was spoken from your lips. In Jesus name, take it, teach us, conform us to Christ.
In your name, amen. Alright, so first thing, the three things, abilities, number one, abilities, activities and accounts, abilities, activities and accounts. So let's look at this for a minute. It says, the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country.
Notice this, who called his own servants. And entrusted to them or delivered to them, what? His goods, right? It's his servants and it's his goods.
So everything, and Seth said this at the very beginning of service. We sang about this and the first song we sang, Psalm 24 verses 1 and 2 said the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Everything in it. So everything in the earth is the Lord's.
Why is that? Because he created it. Right? God as creator created the earth, he created everything in the earth.
He created the people that are in the earth. And because he created it, he's the owner of it. And it says that everything in the earth is the Lord's, not just the stuff, but also the people. And so this, I'm not going to talk about lordship, but I want to tell you this is that lordship to be Lord of something means you own it.
So everybody will say, I accept or I acknowledge Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Lord means to be owner. And so if he's the Lord and he's the owner, guess what? You're not.
You're not the owner. See, you're not the owner. You're what's called a steward or a manager. So he gives you something that belongs to him and he gives it to you for the purpose of stewardship.
See, stewardship is really too faceted. It's protecting and increasing the assets of somebody else. Protecting and increasing the assets of somebody else, whether it's possessions, money, goods, whatever it is. Whatever it is.
You could go all the way back to the Garden of Eden, right? Before sin. What did God do? God created heaven and earth.
He created man in the middle of the earth. He planted a garden and he put man in the middle of the garden and said to him what? He said, I want you to tend it and keep it. I want you to tend it.
That means to work and I want you to keep it. That means to protect it. And then beyond that, he said, I want you to subdue the earth and fill it. So here he takes Adam.
He puts Adam in the garden. He entrust him with something. God owns it. He gives Adam authority over it.
But God still owns it. He puts Adam in the middle of it and says I want you to work it. I want you to work hard. I want you to tend it.
I want you to protect it. I want you to keep it. And oh, by the way, I want you to take what's here in the garden and fill the earth with it. I want you to increase.
And so stewardship is not only protecting the assets of somebody else, but it's increasing or improving them. And so he says this. He says that a man took his own servants delivered to get. Oh, next slide.
It says to one, he gave what? Five talents to another two and to another one. Now, before we talk about that, I want to talk to you about talents. I'm not going to hate on the message Bible.
I know we read that last week. So the message Bible and some other translations say that he gave them $5,000, $2,000, and $1,000. There's some argument as to how much a talent was. I mean, you really won't find any agreement.
Here's where I think it was. I think it was a lot of money. And here's why. First of all, a talent is not ability.
He is not giving abilities based on abilities. A talent is a sum of money. Let's be clear about this sum of money. So a talent, there's a couple of different, a talent is a weight.
It's actually, they took coins of gold and silver and they'd weigh them. And it was a weight of money. And there was either a talent of gold or a talent of silver. I believe this was a talent of silver because later in the story, the unprofitable servant says, here is your money.
You have back what is yours. That word money is the same word as silver coin. And when the master says you could have at least taken my money and invested it with the bankers and I would have got interest. That word money is the word silver coin.
Think of like when Judas betray Jesus, it was for 30 pieces of silver. Same word, right? We're the woman that lost the coin in her house in Luke 15. It was a piece of silver.
So same word. So a talent of silver at that time was equal to 6,000 denari. You ever heard of a denari or a? Now, denari is plural.
Denari us is singular. Kind of like octopus and octopi. Okay, so if you see denari us, that's one. Denari is two or more.
So a talent, follow me now. A talent's worth 6,000 denari. A day's wage at that time was one denari. Think of the story that labors in the vineyard.
He goes out and hires somebody. And at the end of the day, he gives them a day's wage, which was one denari us. So a talent, I believe, was equal to 6,000 denari, which was 6,000 denari would have been 6,000 days of work. The average person at that time would work six days a week.
They would rest on the seventh. So if you take six into six, or six days into 6,000, it comes out to, I'm sorry, 300 days a year into 6,000 is 20 years. So don't feel bad for the guy that got one. He actually was entrusted to sum of money equal to 20 years worth of work.
And that's a good bit of money. If we just do some simple math today that you might make less than this, you might make more than this. But let's just use the wage of $50,000. If you worked for 20 years at $50,000 a year, you know how much money you make in 20 years?
A million dollars. Yeah. A million dollars. And guess what I just happened to have?
I got some million dollar bills today. Anybody ever seen a million dollar bill? You can't cash it, but it's kind of cool. So if you think of it, I want you to think about that.
So the guy, he gives one a million dollars. He gives another guy $2 million, and he gives the other guy $5 million. I want you to think of it like that. It's not an insignificant amount.
It's a substantial amount of money. And he said, now everybody got something, but not everybody got the same thing. I want you to notice that everybody got something. He gave it to each one.
Everybody got something. Not everybody got the same. He didn't take it. And if he had three people, he didn't divide it by three, he gave everybody the same.
Because anybody that manages money knows this term called asset allocation. You ever hear that? Asset allocation is that I'm going to put some of my money here. It's a little bit safer.
I'm going to put some here, maybe in cash, maybe put some in spawns, maybe some in stocks. I'm going to diversify my account. So what he does, he said, I'm going to give you some, and I'll give you some, and I'll give you some. I'm not going to give you the same amount.
If I go and I want to hire somebody to manage my money, am I going to give more or less to the guy that's got the better track record? More? Why? Yeah, he obviously knows something the other guy doesn't.
Now, it doesn't mean I'm not going to give this guy none, but I'm not going to give him as much. And so he says that he gave three or five, two and one based on their what? Abilities. Based on their abilities.
Based on how capable they were. So what happens a lot of times is, is this is not, this is not an issue that if you see somebody that gods entrusted more resources to, that you become jealous of them. Because this is not a competition. We look later in the story, the reward is based on faithfulness.
The reward is not based on quantity. So don't worry about the quantity. The quantity is irrelevant. It's faithfulness that counts.
So that when he gives this person five, it's because they have an ability of five. Right? He gave them a proportion of their ability. And the person he gave two because they have an ability of what?
Two. And the one that got one has an ability of what? One. But what?
It's still an ability. It's still an ability. It doesn't mean that they had no ability. They got one.
They got one. One ability gets one. Two ability gets two and five ability gets five. So he dispenses based on their ability.
Next slide says this. Think of it like this. So here's why this verse doesn't really apply to this, but the principle does. So don't ever feel bad that God gave somebody more resources than he gave you.
Right? Because if I have an ability of two today, if my ability is a two and he gave me five, it would crush me. Right? It would crush me.
If I had an ability of one and he gave me two, it would crush me. So God, the master, he never dispenses resources to destroy you but to develop you. So here's the thing. The same way I think about the same word, it says he gave them according to their ability.
It's the same word in 1 Corinthians 10 when it talks about temptation. It says there is no temptation taking you but such as common demand, but God will not permit you or allow you to be tempted beyond what? You are able to bear, but along with the temptation will make a way to escape. The ESV version says he won't allow you to be tested what?
Beyond your ability. See, God knows what I'm capable of. That's all class week about the master actually had to know something about the servant to know how much to give him. God's not going to allow me to be tempted or tested beyond my ability because he knows it would crush me.
But he does allow me to be tested up to my ability because when he tested me up to my ability as I passed the task, that's what I did. Capacity increased for the next step. The same thing's true when he entrusts resources to you. See, he entrusts based on your ability.
Don't worry if you're one. So what? It doesn't matter because if you're one, you can go to a two. If you're a two, you can go to a five.
You're a five and go to a ten. It's just where you start at is an act of mercy that he doesn't give you too much because if he gave you too much, too soon it would crush you. The same thing happens when people win the lottery. Most of the time they bankrupt in three years.
Why? Because their capacity to carry the resources, they receive more than their capacity to carry. Now sometimes they'll find some smart people in advance, but for the most time they just go out and blow it and three years later they got nothing that they started with because the capacity hadn't been developed. So when God gives you less or more than somebody else, it's not about them.
It's not a comparison. It's that he knows you. He knows your capacity and he doesn't want to destroy you. He wants to develop you.
He wants to grow you. He wants to increase you. Activities are this. So once you're entrusted with something, guess what?
You got to do something with it. Right? We have two guys. The ones that got the five and the one that got the two, they actually went out and did something.
It says they went out and traded. They went, they did business. They took what the master gave them and they put it to work. The other guy that had one, I said because he was fearful, what did he do?
It says he went out and dug a hole and he stuck it in the ground. He buried it. See that happens a lot of times. A lot of times people are like, well, I only got one.
I only got one. Like, you know, obviously God doesn't think much of me. What's my little one got to do with anything? Well, just bury it.
I better not risk it because I might lose it. You know, I don't want to get punished. You realize this guy, he had a wrong opinion of the master? Like he really didn't know him.
He said, I know that you're a hard man. That's not Jesus. Jesus said, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble, lowly in spirit. And you will find rest for your weary soul.
He said, I'm gentle. He's not a hard man. And he says, I know you're a hard man and you reap in harvest where you didn't sow. Now he doesn't.
He's taught sowing and reaping from Genesis chapter eight. There will be seed time and harvest for as long as the earth remains. Jesus taught the parable of the soil and the seed. Paul talked about what you sow is what you reap.
So this guy didn't really understand the nature of the person he was serving. But regardless, he goes out and he said, because I was scared of you, I went out and hid the one thing. Here's what I know the guys did. Look at this in the NASB.
It says the one who received the five pounds and both of them actually went out and looked at this immediately went out and did business with them. A lot of translations have the word immediately right away. They got to work. See, I was telling a group of people a week ago, you know, when was the best time to play in a shade tree?
20 years ago. Yeah, those were there. No, the answer. 20 years ago was the best time to play in a shade tree.
Guess when the second best time to play in a shade tree is right now, right now. See, if you held on to something God gave you for a year, two years, three years. I want to say this. It's okay because he hasn't come back yet.
And you're still alive. There's still time. Don't think that I forfeited what God gave me for so long that I've jeopardized the rest of my life. No, the best time was 20 years ago.
The best time was 10 years ago. The best time was a year ago. If you drop the ball, the best time is today. Get up today.
Do something today because you still have time. Like, you're still breathing. He hasn't come back. The rapture hasn't happened yet.
So put it to work. Do something with it. Ecclesiastes chapter 9 says this. It says, whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might.
That word might, and the Hebrew means ability or capacity. Imagine that. Whatever you find your hand to do, do it with all your ability. Do it with all your might.
It says, I want you not only to have an immediacy of doing something, but I want you to do it wholeheartedly. Do it like you mean it. You know, like somebody needs to hear this. Remember the expression, when the cats away, the mice will play.
I think I'm going to start preaching in nursery rhymes because I feel like more people know them than the Bible. But when somebody's not looking, are you actually working with all your ability? God wants you to. It's integrity.
There's an immediacy that God says, hey, get to work now, but also I want you to have integrity in your work. I want you to have diligence in your work. I want you to do it with excellence. I want you to work, whatever your ability is, one, two or five, if you're a two, you're lazy if you're working like a one.
If you're a five, you're lazy if you're working like a four. Like you need to work up to the ability that God's given you. He says, I want you to do it with all your might. See, the next verse says this in Deuteronomy chapter 2812.
This is a promise under the Old Covenant. So I look at it like this. If this was a promise under the Old, it's even more so unto the New. But we quote this verse a lot, especially the end of it.
It says this. The Lord will open you as good treasure that happens to give you rain in your land and your season and to do what? Bless all the, okay, are you guys awake? To bless, help me out here, all the, what?
Work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations and you shall not borrow. You realize this that God says, I want you to get to work. I want you to work hard.
And when you do, I will bless what you do. See, the two guy is really not that great in himself because God's the one that multiplies his efforts. See, God's the one that gave him the ability. God's the one that gave him the resources.
And God's like the one that multiplies the thing that he does. But here's what I want to tell you. See, the blessing of God, the grace of God, I like to call it this. It's the great multiplier.
Anybody like math? I'm going to give you a math question. You ready for this? Don't think too hard.
100 times 0 equals what? Are you sure? Okay. You're right.
Zero. 100 times 0 0. When you bury your treasure and your talent, God can't multiply it. See, I see people all the time.
They're like, well, I'm just waiting for the grace of God. I'm just waiting for the blessing. Oh, Lord bless me. 100 times 0 is still 0.
So you're lazy and doing nothing and waiting for God to bless nothing. You got to give him something to work with. You need your fishes and loaves. See, when the disciples said, well, these people were hungry, send them home.
And he said, what are you going to feed them? Well, it's a deserted place. We don't have anything. What do you have?
Well, we got five loaves and two little fishes. Bring them here. And when they brought him here, he blessed him and he multiplied him. And those few things fed a whole bunch of people.
See, he says, you got to have something in your hand. When he went to Moses and he said, Moses, I can't talk to people. Moses, what do you got in? Well, just got to rot.
Throw it down. And he threw it down and became a serpent. He picked it up and it became a staff. Like, what's in your hand?
What's God put in your hand? David, he got to fight Goliath, right? What's he got in his hand? He got a sling.
He said, I don't have this. I can't wear the armor. It's not tested. I can't.
But what I've got in my hand is a sling. See, you've got to give God something in your hand. He puts something in your hand. You've got to do something with it.
See, Moses, if he'd have buried the rod, it never would have parted the seat. If David would have buried the sling and never would have killed Goliath, you've got to do and use what God has put in your hand. There's got to be some activity. God will not let him do the miraculous.
Was there anything supernatural about David doing this? No. But when the stone left, it was supernatural. Was there anything supernatural about Moses holding his rod over the Red Sea?
No. But when he did the power of God multiplied and manifested, like you've got to do something. You don't earn it. It's not about works.
You can't earn it. But even the Apostle Paul said this. He said, I labored more abundantly than them all that the grace of God bestowed on me would not be in vain. He said, I recognize it's a gift.
I recognize it's from God. But I'm going to work hard so that what God gave me doesn't become wasted grace. And what happens when God entrusts something to you and you bury it, it's wasted. I feel like people are in three categories.
See, some people take it and do business with it. You do something. You work. Some people bury it.
And then there's other people that are like the unprofitable steward. They blow it. Or they burn it. I'm just going to burn through this.
My God must have really blessed me. I'm going to go shoot it up. I don't know. Whatever you do with it.
You blow it. Burn hell it. Or whatever it is. I don't know.
But he wants you to work with it. Do something with it. So he can actually put his blessing and grace and favor on it and multiply it. Next.
And finally it counts. You realize there's a day that we have to settle up? Yeah? There's a settling day.
There's a settle up day. It says, after a long time the Master of those servants came back and settled accounts. He settled accounts with them. He said, I want to know what you've done with what I've given you.
Like, I didn't overburden you. I didn't give you too much to crush you. I didn't give you too little to insult you. I gave you just enough.
Because I know you. I know what you're capable of. And I'm grading you based on your capability and your faithfulness of that. Not grading against the curve.
I'm not grading you against her against her. I'm grading you against you. What did you do with what I gave you based on your ability? That's the curve.
It's a one person curve. And he says this. Lord said, I put here Matthew 25, 21 and 23 because he gives the identical same answer to the two talent guy and the five talent guy. They get the same answer.
They had different quantities. One had two, we'll call it two million. And the other guy had five. We'll call it five million.
The five turned into ten. The two turns into four. But they get the same reward. They got differing amounts because they had differing abilities.
But because the return of faithfulness was the same, they got the same reward. And when he comes back to settle accounts, he says, well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful. Get this.
The master calls two million and five million a few. That's a few. That tells you he's got more in the tank. Like he isn't tapped out.
When he gave out the five, two and one, that wasn't all he had. Because he went on a vacation. Wherever he went, he went. And when he comes back, he actually has more to give them than what the few they started with.
Imagine that. He says, you are faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler. We'll get back to this later over many things.
So he takes what he's entrusted you is insignificant. It's a lot, but it's insignificant. See, I like to tell people this that that that that's stewarding money. And I know people don't like to talk about it.
You might feel so. But here's the thing. Money is the training ground for the kingdom. Because if you can't if you can't steward the thing, like you can see a dollar bill, right?
You can see a ten or you can see a hundred. You're probably not going to see a million. You might end up in a million. You might end up in jail if you try to pass that.
But if you can't steward the thing that's physically in front of you, how are you going to steward the greater thing? See, in Luke 16, it says this dog says, he that is faithful in that which is least is also faithful in that which is much. Therefore, I say to you, he who is unfaithful in the unrighteous man who will entrust to him the true riches. So he actually says unrighteous man which is money.
He says money is the least. That is faithful in the least will be faithful in much and he that is unfaithful in least will be unfaithful in much. That the money is the least of everything. It's the most insignificant.
But it's the thing that trains you to develop you for the bigger things that God wants to entrust to you. See, it's I look at it like this, like money. People are like, well, when I have more, I'll give more. No, you won't.
You won't. Why? Because God's Word says you won't. See, money, all money does.
Money magnifies the real you. It amplifies who you are. If you are shacking up and shooting up at the motel six and you get a bunch of money, that just means you're going to shack up and shoot up at the Ritz Carlton next week. Like it doesn't change anything.
It just amplifies the you that really is. But if you're actually stewarding and investing and giving and being generous and doing all the things that actually replicate the nature of the master with a little, when you have a lot, you'll do the exact same things with a lot. But don't think your life will change just because you go from less to more. It doesn't.
You have to be faithful with that which is little. He says the master told him you're lazy and good for nothing servant. This is the other one. He says lazy and good for nothing.
You could have at least put my money in the bank so that I could have received interest on it. The guy that had two doubled his money, right? Two to four. And he said, well done, good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful over a few. Now you'll be rule over many. The guy that had five went to ten. He doubled his money.
And he got the same thing. Good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things. You'll now be made rule over many things.
Do you realize the guy that had one had the same potential as the guy that had two and the guy that had five? He had the exact same potential to get the exact same reward. So here's a little financial principle I'll share with you if you ever heard of it. It's called the rule of 72.
You've ever heard the rule of 72? If you've never heard it, you'll love this. It's one of the first things I learned when I was a little guy. The rule of 72 says this.
If you want to know how long it takes to double your money when you invest it, you take the interest rate you're getting and divide it into 72 and that tells you how many years it'll take. So for instance, if you're getting six percent interest on your money, six into 72 is how much? Twelve. That means you're money will double in 12 years.
If you're getting four percent on your money, four into 72 is 18. That means your money will double in 18 years. If you're getting three percent, three into 72 is 24. That means your money will double in 24 years.
Here's what I know about this guy. Even if he had one, even if his ability was one, the master said I still expect increase. You could have at least taken your money and put it in the bank and I could have got interest. And after a long time that I came back, I believe that guy's money would have doubled in the bank.
How do you at least on that? Because money doubles over a long period of time. He could have just put it in the bank with somebody smarter than him. And when the master came back, his one would have been a two and he would have got well done, good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful over a few. Now I'm going to make your ruler over many things and enter into the joy of the Lord. But instead, he buried it and got you wicked and good for nothing. I don't want to hear that.
I don't want it ever here. I don't want you to ever hear that. See, there comes a time when we have to give an account for what we do. See, there's a thing called the Be My Seat Judgment.
Second Corinthians 5, 10, which says this. It's the judgment seat of Christ. It's the place where all believers go to give an account for the things that you do while you're alive. This is not a judgment of your sin.
Your sin was judged at the cross 2000 years ago. This is not the great white pro judgment that when those who have not received Jesus will be cast into the lake of fire. This is the Be My Seat Judgment, the judgment seat of Christ where every believer, it says each one will give account. You give an account for me?
No. You give an account for your spouse? I'd like to sometimes. I've tried.
It doesn't work. It just doesn't work. You give an account for you. See, this is not, this is not, it says that you'll receive for things done in the body according to things done in the body.
So while you're in your body, while you're alive, you have opportunity. You've got, that's the last week. You've got time. You've got time to do something.
And you're going to give an account of what you've done with the time that you have, what you've done with it. See, this Be My Seat was like, think of the Olympics. This is not like, oh, you're terrible. You're, no.
This is like an award ceremony. You like the Olympics and I got like number three and the number one and the number two. You know, like that platform? That's what the Be My Seat was.
It was a platform where they put like the, what's that thing called? Like a, hey, not a halo. Like a wreath. Like the guy that would win the race.
Like who wants to run for a wreath? But that's what they would get. It was the award ceremony. And he says, there's going to be an award ceremony and you're either going to, your stuff's either going to withstand fire, gold, silver, precious stone, or it's going to be wood, hand stubble and it's going to be gone.
You're either going to receive reward or you're going to have loss of reward. That's it. It's not a salvation, an unsavation thing. It's reward and everywhere.
But he said, you're going to stand and he said, you're going to stand and receive things done in the body and get this according, according to what was done. But do you realize not just what you do will be judged, but why you did it? See, the judgment is just not of your works, but it's also of your motives. Imagine that.
Well, I was a bad God, but I didn't want to. But I still obeyed wood, hey, and stubble. See, Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 13, he says, though I give all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profits me nothing. So you can do all the good in the world, but if you're attitude and your motive's wrong, guess what it is?
It's a zero. And 100 times zero is still zero. But I want to encourage you, it's not just getting to work, it's just not being diligent, but you need to do it with the right heart attitude. You need to do it for the right reason.
Like you need to do it because you love Jesus. You need to do it because he's done so much for me. Like, how could I not work hard? How could I not?
Why would I ever be lazy? Was he lazy? Oh, like he did it all. All right, four things.
I want to run through you. This is kind of sum it up. These are from 4am this morning. I laid in bed.
And this is what God said to me. They all start with R. So I got up and wrote them down and changed the end of my message. But let me just run through these with you.
Sum this all up. Faithful stewardship increases your capacity in number one, responsibility. You can handle more on a day to day basis than you could before. Faithful stewardship increases your responsibility.
So you can handle more. You can do more. Think about this. Where's these million dollars?
I like to talk about it. Who doesn't like a million dollars? My gosh. I wish these were real.
Could pay off some debt. But think about this. One, two, three, four, five. The guy that got five got five because his ability was a five.
And he went out. He did whatever. And how many he ended up with? So when he got five because his ability was five.