The dividend

Do love this book? Do you love the riches found within its covers? Knowing that this carries the authority of our Good king and creator?

I have learned to love it for within its pages is found life and a light unto my path that I may know the pursuit that is worth living for.

That i may tread upon the straight and narrow

Psalm 90:12 NKJV

So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalms 90:12

Do you know that you are frail? That you are not guaranteed another day. For every breath I take is one closer to the day that I die.

My prayer is that you would ponder the paths you tread and know the ways there of. Where does it lead?

sowing to the flesh or to the spirit for you can be sure that i will reap a crop from the decisions i make.

Proverbs 14:12 NKJV

There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

What if you have been deceived. Christian do you not want to live for what has eternal value and worth. That will not come back void? That will not have you looking back 20 years from now in you nice house your large 401k and say I wish I hadn’t done all that i did for what it cost me was far more than what i thought. For what i lost i cannot get back.

Read .

PRAY.

Recap of three sessions.

Christ revealed to the disciples

The mission of the now revealed christ that is going to die

This didn’t fit peters agenda and what He thought the Christ would be and do.

And Jesus testifies that he is not being mindful of the things of God but rather of the things of men.

Then HE jumps into if anyone desire to come after the way of ME then

HE must deny

He must Pick up His Cross

He must follow me.

Its no longer my passions. It is no longer my wants. Its no longer my desires. its no longer my dreams. But now i am called to utterly forsake these things for the will of God.

I am then to pick up my cross. The instrument of capital punishment. The symbol of death. The reminder that i am under new authority. I no longer serve myself for it is dead and now i serve Christ. I lay my life at the altar because of the mercies of God. This is my reasonable service.

With this forsaking i am also called to follow HIm. He doesn’t take us anyone where he himself has not or will not Go. He leads by example. He is the good shepherd. He doesn’t command and live contrary to the instruction.

Rather it was by his prophesying of his future death by the hands of the religious leaders that it spurred the conversation to his disciples of the cost of following him. It requires a death. It is a total surrender to the will of God and not to man.

This is the life God himself endured for sinners who didn’t deserve it. He humbled himself and became a man, leaving his heavenly throne and was obedient to the point of death…even the death of the cross.

What Jesus calls us to is nothing short of the life he lived…why would you expect to live any differently than the way the king has lived who gave you life?

Do you Desire?

Have you Denied?

Will you Devote?

For the Dividend to be received? What will your bottom line be when you stand before God and He weighs on the heavenly scale the value of your life?

The a business mindset. Here Jesus is appealing to those who have a business mindset.

What brings true profitability and reward for the investment.

Constantly needing to be productive

He gives us a set of glasses, a perspective that we are able to ponder some hard truths on the things that we live for.

He proclaims unto us the life perspective (life goggles if you will) that we are to put on to see whether or not what we are living for has eternal value.

For some of us it may be found out that what we are actually finding our source of life in will be found out as a waste and truly not life at all.

What do i love more than following God?

This in essence is what Jesus is asking. What would a man give in exchange for his soul?

A house with an attached garage and a lamborgini to park under its roof?

A bank account that brings much security against any calamity that may come your way?

Pleasures at my disposal with no one to tell me how to live?

A business that i may find my identity and worth in so the culture knows im somebody?

The ability to go hunting and fishing whenever you want?

Maybe its the retirement that you are entitled to?

Maybe its the comforts you can enjoy.

This is easily answered by asking what are you fearful of losing by living in total surrender to the Lord?

these are just the mirage of things we paint that keep us from enjoying the greater blessings of God.

Satan paints so bad because he does not want our lives to be liberated and God allows it to be painted in such light because He wants us to trust

You may be unhappy in your walk with God this morning because you are seeking life in what God deems as death and unworthy. You are choosing to go your own way rather than His way.

What if you could see the eternal value of everything you did?

Whether or not it had true worth?

This is where our church had come that was newly pastoring.

We are on the verge of extinction

praying for revitalization

He answered our prayers but it was with the stipulation of total surrender. No reservations. Will you do what i want and not what you want?

hind

It was going to cost us.

Hind sight is 20/20 though because what we lost is nothing compared to what was gained.

WE cried out to be used where God was at work.

Like moses when God approached him in the burning bush.

He had a plan to redeem his people and was at work to do so. He invited moses to partake, a ministry Moses didnt conjure up and then pray Gods blessing onto it but rather just followed the Lords leading.

Our ideals of ministry and our next church members were so messed up we had to be retrained in the eyes of God for ministry.

We were a family country church.

The church had been founded since 1842. Had a great heritage. It was a nice place but was out in the middle of nowhere. This is a place where generations had placed.

I remember God settling in my heart that He was asking us to move.

That moment when you argue with God.

Brought before Deacons

Prayed

Brought before church

Prayed

I believed that God was going to supply a building where we He was leading us to minister and it was going to be ready to do ministry

Went and looked at a building that was say more than we could afford.

Asking close to 500,000 and everything was going to go.

They wanted a church that was going to minister to the area to move in there.

The next Sunday our Sunday school attendance was 18 and our tithe was $20.00.

To many mountains to be moved.

To many mountains to be moved.

Yet one by one God began to move them.

He took care of our fears.

What happens if the boiler goes out?

What happens if the roof needs replaced?

What happens if we cannot pay the bills?

Do you not know? have you not heard? The God who we serve? Who parted the red sea. If he can breath the heavenly host into existence then surely he can see us through.

God has a plan and invites us in what He is doing. Many times we think we have to get the plans we have to do the work and pray God on them. But rather if it is the Will of God you have to follow.

IF it is His will then nothing can stop it. No mountain to high no valley to low.

Even the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.

The best part is the people we have coming.

Kids that are hungry for the truth that churches were leaving unfed.

What lies behind our fears are often cries for hope that we cannot hear but God sees.

I cannot say that it is not met with its challenges

Kids fighting in the parking lot

Arguments in the church

But when you are investing in the kids that when you explain they say that is why He came.

It makes it all worth while

When they testify that Boys can get pregnant and their sexuality cannot be known it reveal to them the reality of the truth of Gods word.

When they see their moms as prostitutes and their dads in prison i get to proclaim the glorious riches of Christ and how what our world proclaims as trash the Lord views as treasure.

They don’t have to become what they saw in their parents.

This has brought life into our church. Power to our steps. purpose to our lives.

What the legacy of your life will be?

If it will have lasting effect beyond this life?

If the dividend you receive will actually be what you thought?

Who here would say that they are just on fire for the Lord?

What are the fears that we have when we begin to think about total surrender to God?

hope for our futures.

Excitement to everyday. We dont have to serve the Lord we get to.

Our greatest ministry w

The a business mindset. Here Jesus is appealing to those who have a business mindset.

Are you willing to be expended by the Lord. To follow His will and not your own. To say your way not mine. There is nothing in my life that is not yours, that you cannot touch. Do with me as you see fit.

Your fears may be hindering you from experiencing the greater blessings that God has.

What brings true profitability and reward for the investment.

Constantly needing to be productive

Or is what its going to cost you to much for you to give?

He gives us a set of glasses, a perspective that we are able to ponder some hard truths on the things that we live for.

What good is it if the man gains the whole world but in the end loses his soul?

What will your dividend be?

Matthew 16:24–26 NKJV

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

What if what your living for wont bring the dividend you thought it was going to bring?

He proclaims unto us the life perspective (life goggles if you will) that we are to put on to see whether or not what we are living for has eternal value.

I pray may you live for the king.

1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV

But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

For some of us it may be found out that what we are actually finding our source of life in will be found out as a waste and truly not life at all.

What do i love more than following God?

What do i love more than God? That takes pre-eminence over him?

What securities do i have when i think of total surrender?

What fears do i have?

What reservations?

What if you could see the eternal value of everything you did?

Whether or not it had true worth?

We get so tied up in the here and now and use our God given responsibilities as an excuse to busy ourselves out of our mission he has called us to.

ITs not how big your house and how nice your car its why is it big and nice and how are you using it.

If its so you have the name in the neighborhood as the one everyone wants to be.

If its so you appear before men as someone of notibility.

If you cling to your house as the source of your comfort and joy then you are in the wrong.

I pray that if God chooses to supply you with riches that you use them for him. You are just a steward after all.

I pray that if He has supplied you with a big house it may be full with the work of ministry. Used for the GLory of God. REady to be expended at the fathers will.

I pray that if God has not chosen to bless with riches that you would not waste your life bound by trying to keep up with the Jones. That you would not peirce yourself with many griefs chasing riches. But that you would be content and praise the Lord. Be used at the good kings disposal.

Do you believe that God still moves today? Do you believe that HE is still alive and worth serving.