investing in what God has given you
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intro
intro
Luke 19 verse 11-27
title - investing in what God has given you
How many of you battle laziness?
Your mom tells you to do some chores around the house
it could be as simple as taking out the trash...
-but why can my brother do it ,,,,
so because you dont want to be bothered with bringing it all the way out to the garbage can,
you stick it in the garage
and then you forget about it
and it had old chinese food in it
then your dad goes into the garage and theres the stinky bag of garbage...
He looks at you in disbelief and tells you...
you had one job!!!!
we all battle laziness and distractions
its hard sometimes to be faithful in what we are asked to do.
Think about school — gift of education
Q. but how many of you treasure that gift?
you know in Africa —kids crocodile water school
Today we are going to learn a parable of a king who
entrusts his servants to be faithful with a gift and a mission
lets read
Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately.
Jesus journey to jerusalem
will be killed
one of his intentions of this parable was to let them know
Im not bringing the kingdom to Israel any time soon
pointing to his asencion into heaven
and He will bring His kingdom when He returns
Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’ But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’
Jesus is the picture of the nobelman
His far country is heaven
and He wil return one day.
Before He leaves the nobleman gives his servants ten minas
mina---greek coin worth 100 denari
denari was one days wage --- each mina was 100 days wages
x 10 minas -----thats almost 3 years wage
Thats like someone giving you 200k
What does He say to do with the money?
He says to do business.
This is refering to the mission of the christian
By repenting of your sin and believing the gospel
God has given you a very valuable gift.
salvation
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Q… What are you doing with it?
-If you were given a lambo for the day, would you go put it in the garage ?
God has also given us the gift
Holy Spirit
His word
Himself
special spiritual gifts
We have identified the Gifts of God
He has given us these treasures
and He expects you to do business with them.
However there are people who are on the outside who hate the noble man
they send a delegation —protesters
to overthrow Him
this points to the majority of the Jewish nation who will reject Christ
lets continue in the parable
at verse 15
“And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’ Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’ “Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’
these are Gods servants
professing christians
God has given them the gift of Himself
and upon His return he demands an account.
wether you die or Jesus comes back,
you will give an account to Him
He is going to ask you what you did with the gift He had given you.
at this point you will offer him up your life.
To those who have invested He will say well done
and get a reward
to those whom did not invest
well lets keep reading
For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’
This man claimed to be a follower of the nobleman
but did nothing with the money that was given to him
This is like being given the responsibility to do something
and neglecting your responsibility.
Did you know you have a responsibility as a christian
you have been given a mission
and if you are not investing in that mission
it will be a scary thing for you on judgment day
if you are investing then your judgment day will be glorious
Invest in your relationship with God
Invest in your relationship with God
One way to invest what God has given you
is to pour it back into Him.
He is a treasure trove of wisdom and power.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Jesus is that treasure
the only way to mine it is through relationship that goes beyond sunday.
How do we invest in any relationship?
we spend time.
Imagine if I didnt talk to my wife for a week?
STORY
friend alex… got saved and preached him the gospel
slowly our relationship got weaker.
When we invest in relationship with God
We can know Him better
we were reading about enoch
I want to know God like enoch....
He answered my prayer ,, then spend time with me.
Helpful tip---get an accountability partner to hold you accountable to reading Gods word.
Jessica and I would love to do that with you guys.
another tip---read proverbs everyday..31 proverbs—31 days
as you invest in your relationship,
you will inevitably produce great returns on your investment
Invest in others
Invest in others
God has given you the right to be called His child
and there are responsobilities
obedience to His command
let me share some with you.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
God is concerned with how you treat all people
In one way we can produce fruit by loving others outside of the church.
The bible says outsiders should know us by our love..
Another way we can produce fruit is by using the gifts God gave us to serve the people in the church.
Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
How are you serving in this church?
you all have special gifts that should be used to bless eachother.
if you feel like God is calling you to serve come talk to us and we will find a way to get you plugged in.
I remember when I was first going to church
I was shy
and they put me in the sound system for the band practice.
there I got to meet new people
As I met more people I was able to serve more people
sometimes we fall into this trap where we are seperated from the rest of the church....
I want to see about getting some more bubbly teens on the welcome team.
Invest In The kingdom
Invest In The kingdom
The other two points technically fall under this one
but this is the over arching theme
God is calling us to invest what He has given us into the mission
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Do you know God has a mission for you.
First you need to make the decision to follow Him.
Then it is your job to make disciples
How can we do that --
Sharing the gospel ----what is the gospel?
Jesus died on the cross to pay your sin. He was raised from the dead 3 days later. if you turn away from your sin and follow Him you will will have eternal life.
invite people to church
if you saw your friend standing by a lake with a huge gator coming his way would you tell him to move?
think of a friend you know who does not know God
then think of Him in Hell and you in heaven
and how you never told Him about God.
dont be convinced that your friends are saved just because you go to a christian school.
have conversations with people
Our mission is to work with God to bring people into relationship with Him
We must remember it is always through Him that we are able
If your afraid to share, Ask Him for help.
I get terrefied to share the gospel sometimes
what will they think of me?
its going to get awkward?
But then I think of my Lord and savior that tells me
to tell the world.
This is the kingdom business that we ought to be doing.
This is where we need to invest our life.
everything else needs to be secondary.
Lets see what happened to the unfaithful servant
“And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.’ (But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’) ‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’ ”
The Noble man takes away the mina from the lazy and unfaithful servant.
We saw rewards for those who were responsible
and hardworking with the mina they were given.
To those who have served and were responsible
even more will be given to them
but to those who Hid the gospel in a hankerchief
even the things God gave them were taken away
The man who hid the mina
seems to be a---
nominal christian---by name only
for the bible says some people will be saved yet they built their life with things that will burn up.
worldly things
If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
those ones
stand before God and they are the ones who hid there mina
they may enter but have very little to show for their life
God is expecting us to build on what He gave us
by investing in Him, in Others, and in His kingdom
will you turn to Him today
and invest in building His kingdom
This is not invest or else
This is a call to invest because I love you.
invest because The life in Christ leads to eternity.
this is the destiny for a christian.
turn to God and He will give you the strength to
take what He has given you and use it for the kingdom.
pray