Well, good morning, church. I love the heart of Taylor and Bailey Woods vibe because they love their kids. They love this community. They love the Lord and they want to see what God can do through them. Well, listen, if you're visiting with us today, welcome. We are on the back half of a series that we're just calling all in. We're calling it all in for a reason because we are looking at, personally, what does it look like for us to do to live a lifestyle that we are all in for Jesus in everything we do. How we live, how we talk, how we, how we work, how we do our family, how we give. We're looking at that personally. But then also, as a church, we are specifically looking at what does it look like as a church for us to go all in for this community, for the next generations.
Almost every week, we've had pieces of our story as a church that from 1973, that we have had this goal, and that is to be a lighthouse of hope, a hospital for the hurting to reach the 114,000 people that live within five miles of this church, which 90% of them do not attend a local church. And we've said every week, and especially in this initiative, that our goal is to move forward because we're running out of space to build a new multi-purpose worship space, to increase our parking, to increase our discipleship space. And then also, one of my favorite parts of it is to double down in our training of the next generation of church leaders, our planting of churches across the region and our international reach. Now, that is a lot, okay? It's a whole lot of stuff in this journal that we've been giving out every week.
There's a lot of explanation. So please grab one today. If you're visiting, grab one. If you've never had a chance to grab one in these last couple weeks, there are some in the lobby. Somebody's walking around with them like they're selling popcorn today. Grab one from them and you can have one of those. But then also, I want to point something out to you. I've been talking every week about a little card that is in the back of this journal. And it's actually the commitment card as we're moving into a season of commitment. Now, obviously, no commitment this morning, all right? Don't get excited about that. But I do wanna point out what this card is and what it does. On the inside of this card, it just explains our number one goal, and that is for every family that calls Bern Hickory home, that walks on the carpet, that drinks the coffee.
You know what I'm talking about? For all of us to go forward and make a pledge from our hearts, from our resources, for the next three years of what this can look like. Listen, I'm not sure there's ever been a church in the history of churches that have had 100% of people jump in and do this, but can you imagine what God would do, uh, if we're able to do that? That's our number one goal. Number two goal is that we're looking to raise $25 million. Now, that sounds like a lot of money. Why? Because it is, all right? It, it is, all right? I'll just be honest with you. It is. But here's the deal. There's a lot of us that can be able to make contributions, all right? And we're gonna ma- raise it for those reasons I just talked about. And here's an exciting thing.
I haven't talked about this yet. Inside the card on the little orange page and the card, there is a way for you and your spouse to begin to pray through this. If you've got a spouse, if you're single, you pray through it. And I wanna explain it to you real quick, because I've had some questions from it. The first box on here is actually what I can do for the next 36 months, for three years. This is what this campaign is, over and beyond my tithing, over and beyond my giving, where I'm already at. What can I do in sacrificial giving? What does that look like? Maybe I could give up a meal a week for my family, all right? A meal a week, which, let's be honest, in today's world, if you got kids, it's like 100 bucks a week, right? I mean, it really is.
So that alone is like 400 bucks if I just eat out of the pantry because I'm gonna throw it away anyway when it expires, right? What can I do monthly to sacrifice? That's the first column, rolls out 36 months into the second column down. And then there's a column in here or a little fill in the blank that's asking me, what can I do from what I would just call my stored resources? From what God has given me in my life, what can I say? God, I'm going to offer this to you. Now, I was talking through this in the 9:30 service and somebody walked up to me afterwards and was like, "Matt, listen, it just hit me. One of the things I can do is I can actually give from some stock that my grandparents gave me a long, long time ago. I'm gonna go sell it and then I'm gonna give that to the Lord." I was like, "No, no, no.
Don't sell it. Give it first to the Lord because then there's no taxes and the dollar, the, the, the government doesn't get a dime of that money to the glory of God, right? Probably just got us cut off of YouTube, but you know what I'm talking about, right?" So what I'm saying is this, what can I do for my daily operating? What can I do from stored resources? And here's what it rolls down into is my total commitment. So here's what I want you to do. Be praying what God can do in your family over these next couple of weeks. For those of you that are leaders, for staff, for some of you, you're coming this evening to an early commitment night. I invite any of you if God's put something on your heart at six o'clock, we'd love to have you, but for all of us on March the 15th.
Now look, don't skip that day. I know you got lots of stuff going on. Tell the travel ball coach, it'll be okay for a week, all right? That day on March the 15th, would you just consider coming and being ready, all right? So that's what's there. So here's what I want to do though. One of the quotes that's been on my mind over the last couple of weeks is this quote right here. Here it is. It says this, "The generosity of God's people has historically and biblically gone hand in hand with the expansion of God's kingdom, serving both fuel for the mission and reflection of God's own character." Now listen, church, here's the deal. This is exactly the heartbeat of why we're doing this campaign because it's showing us that God has given us everything. We'll see that in a minute. It's showing us that we are responsible to reach this community and it's showing us that God's character, God's presence shows up in a mighty way.
When we just go here, I am, Lord. Over the last couple of weeks, we've been biblically walking through some different things. And the first week we walked through Ephesians chapter three, verse 20, where it literally gives us this promise that God will do exceedingly and abundantly more than we ask or imagine. We looked at Noah on week two when he just literally placed his life in the hands of God and said, "Yes, Lord." And then last week we looked at Mo- we looked at Moses coming down off of the mountain in Exodus 35 with his face glowing and looking at the people and saying that we've got to build a dwelling place for who God is. Now every week, we've seen someone that has made a sacrifice. In week one, it was the boy committing his Jewish snack pack, right? His five fish and his two, or his five flows and two fish.
Which way is that? Two fish and five loaves. To the kingdom of God, right? It was to him saying that and then God fed the 5,000. Then we saw Noah committed to his family, and then last week we saw all of the people coming together and offering to build the house of God. Well, this week we're gonna continue in that mode, but what I want us to do at Matthew chapter 25 is I want us to look at this parable that Jesus gives. Now, a parable is nothing more than a heavenly ... It's an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. And in every parable, it usually starts with God and ends with us responding. But in this particular parable out of Matthew chapter 25 today, it actually shows us this principle that looks like, "I, Lord, have been so richly blessed. And what are you asking of me?
" What I wanna do in this parable today is I just want us to walk through this parable and see what I would just say is what it looks like for us to live a life of biblical stewardship. You'll see what I mean in a minute. Let me read you the passage part of it, and then we're just gonna pause at some points and point out some principles. Starting in Matthew 25, here's what it says. Again, it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. All of these parables are talking about the kingdom of God. They're all talking about when God's kingdom comes, this is how we should be living. Just to give you a little context, verse 15, here's what it says, "To one, he gave five bags of gold. To another, he gave two bags.
And to another, he gave one bag. Each, watch what he says here, each according to his ability. And then he went on his journey." Now, I love this because it's speaking of when the kingdom of God comes, how should we be living? And what we're seeing in the text is that this owner or this master or the man that was the Lord over the estate calls in these servants and he begins to entrust them with these bags of gold. Maybe when you have read this or maybe in your version that you're reading of the Bible, it's called a talent, all right? It's the same thing, all right? It's a talent. He calls his servants in and he gives them this money. He doesn't gift it to them forever. He gives them this money to be worked with, to invest in his kingdom, to use it for his estate for a season of time until he returns.
Now, notice in what I just read, it's kind of a little bit odd because one guy gets five bags of gold, right? One guy gets two bags and one guy gets one bag, to which a lot of us are like, "Man, that's not fair. Listen, I get it. You're gonna have to take it up with God. It ain't my story, all right? I get it. But what he says is, is that he does it according to their ability. Now, don't feel sorry for the one bag of gold guy here. Why? Because a talent or a one bag of gold that is described here is actually 20 years of salary, all right? So don't be feeling sorry for our number one guy, right? 20 years of salary is what he's given, all right? Now, what does the master do? The master is going on a journey, all right?
He calls them in so that they can use what he gives them for his estate till his return, which leads me to actually point out what I wanna talk about today, because this parable actually answers the question of how does God view money? How does God view wealth and how does God view our possessions? Because actually, that's what we're seeing in it. And it actually might be a surprise to you if you'll just hang on, all right? And, and it's so close to home because so much of what we deal with in life deals with our possessions, deals with our stuff, and deals with what God has given us. So here's what I wanna do. I wanna give you a couple of principles that you can just kinda go home and begin to think in. And we've actually already saw the first one, but let me point it out to you and explain it.
Here's the first principle that we just read. Here it is. It's the, this, number one, is that God owns everything and he gives us what we have. That's what this whole parable's about, is it not? Who in the story, all right? Who in the story is the master? Tell me, who is it? It's God. It's God. It's great. The kids got it, adults, you didn't get it, all right? It's God, right? Now, let me ask you this. Who in the story are the servants?
Let me do that again. Who in the story are the servants? Us. All right. All right. Hey, we gotta do this. Evidently, we don't know, right? Evidently, we gotta, we gotta slow down a little bit, right? If God is the master in the story and we are the servants in the story, I hope you're beginning to see how this relates to us. So no matter how does it relate to us? It relates in every way to us. Why? Because if God is the master and God has lived here, have lived the life that I should have lived, died to death, I deserve to die, right? Was put on the cross, has risen from the grave and has now ascended back to the Father with the promise that he will return one day, or is it beginning to make sense for you right now? All right?
If he has done that, now, literally, we are in the middle of living the life that these servants have been charged to live. And what I just saw right here is that God is the owner of everything. He gives us what we have. Here it is on the bottom shelf, because evidently that's where I need to put it today, right? Here it is on the bottom shelf. It's that God, God owns everything. Do you realize that the time you have, you only have because God gave it to you? You realize that? In fact, Psalm 31:15, literally, the, the Psalmist says that my times are in your hands, God. Do you realize that all of our money, our property, our belongings, our stocks, everything we got, it belongs to God? Do you realize that? First Corinthians 29:14. It says, "But who am I? And who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this?
Everything comes from you and we have given you only what comes from your hand." It's one Chronicles 29. "Not only is our time and our money, do you realize that you only have your giftedness because God gave it to you? "Have you ever thought about that? The only talent that any of us have are gifts from God. It's a gift from God. Let me, let me give you a verse for it. Romans 12: six, it says this, " We all have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. "What does that mean? That means that we have the gifts and abilities that we have only because God has graced us and given it to us. What about this? Do you realize that you only have the physical body that you have because God has given it to you? L- l- listen to what Paul says in one Corinthians.
He says," Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? "Watch this. You're not your own. You are bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. We, we've almost hit on this every week, but church, listen to me. It is God that has given us. It is God that has entrusted us. It is God that has gifted us everything. Amen, I get it. This is a struggle to think about. Man, I struggle with this sometimes. You know why? Because many times I hold on to things so hard thinking that I did it and it's mine. What's the text telling us right here? It's telling us, no, no, God owns everything. But not only does God own everything, write the second principle down. It's in your notes. Watch this. God is the owner we just talked about.
Here it is. And we are the managers. Now, the biblical word for that, I put it in parentheses for you right there. The biblical word is steward. All right? Steward. Now we don't use that word steward a lot. You're like, " Yeah, we do, man. I was just on a cruise. Don't give me that, all right? That's not what I'm talking about. All right? The word steward here is literally the word manager. What does that mean? God owns it. He is the Lord. And really and truly, when I submitted my heart to him, when I gave my heart to him, when I submitted my heart to his Lordship, I literally said, God, I'm entrusting my soul to you, but I'm entrusting everything to you. "And what we're seeing right here from the text is that now we have all, because God gives us everything, we've all been given these different amounts, these different amounts of time, right?
These different amounts of money, these different amounts of giftedness, these different amounts of bodies. I feel like I get a little bit more of that every year. Can I get an amen? That's what God has done. He has gifted us with this. And from the text, what we're seeing, now we have been called to manage it, to steward it. That's what biblical stewardship is. That's a really big word, but that's all it means. God owns it. He gives it to us to manage for his kingdom. Now, our role in life is to literally live out that life that he has gifted us with till he returns.That's what we're seeing right here. See, our s- our, our, our life goal is simple. It is to steward what God has given us. That's it. That's our life goal, is to manage it from God. Now, I wanna keep going in the text, all right, but I wanna give you the next way God views wealth because not only does he own everything, not only he call us to manage everything, write this down.
You maybe never thought of it before. Write this third principle down, and that is that God sees wealth. You can write the word money there if you have a problem with wealth, right? God sees wealth as a tool. Have you ever thought about this before? God is not against wealth. He's not. And I know, I know, I know you come to church and you're like, " Well, man, I never heard a pastor say that. "No, he's really not against it. He's not against you having wealth. He's not at all. I'll tell you why in just a minute, but let me read the text. Watch what it says right here. How we can see is that wealth is a tool. Watch what it says. Verse 16," The man who received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and he gained five bags more.
"All right? Five bags more. You're like, " Okay, I got you. "Watch this verse 17. "So also the one with two bags of gold gained two bags more. But the man who had received the one bag went off and he dug a hole in the ground and he hid his master's money." To which everybody goes, "Ooh, right?" Now, a couple things here. I gotta notice a couple things. Do you see the immediacy of these first two guys that are good servants? What do they do? They get it and they run to use it. They run to invest it. Second, whose money still is it? It's not their money. It is still the master's money, even though he's gone away. And listen, what we're seeing in those couple of verses is exactly how God sees money. God sees money, or he sees wealth as an earthly tool, as an earthly tool.
He really does. I'm not telling you it's evil. I'm not telling you we should all get rid of it. I'm not telling you it leads to all disaster because it doesn't. He sees it as an earthly tool to serve us and to ready his purposes. That's what we're seeing in the text. And I love this about the text. Why? Because God sees wealth just like he sees any other tool. Any other tool. In fact, God sees wealth just like he sees a knife. Look, probably about a third of the dudes in this room have a pocket knife right now, right? We're in the south. Can I ... You know what I'm talking about? And a pocket knife has so many uses. I mean, so many uses. But listen, when you use that knife the wrong way, it can hurt you. Can it? It can hurt you.
You know what I'm talking about? Like Christmas morning when you were opening that knife? Do you know that's the number one time that people get cut with knives is when they're opening them?
Knives are beautiful, but on this end, they can hurt you. And that's what it means when it's a tool. So the question is this, why does God give us wealth? Why? Let me tell you, let me let you into a little secret right here. God gives us wealth to meet our needs and for our enjoyment. Those two, right? He does. He gives us wealth to meet our needs. He gives us for our enjoyment, but also he gives us wealth to honor him and to bless others. That's why he does it. In fact, listen to this first side of the New Testament. Listen, it's one Timothy chapter six. Watch what, watch what it says, Paul. He says this. Command those who are rich in this present world. All right? You're like, well, whew. Thank goodness that ain't me. Oh, that's you. That's you. You know why?
'Cause you slept inside and you ate your meals this week. All right? So that is us, all right? Command those who are rich in this world to, to do what? To not to be arrogant or to put their hope and wealth, which is so uncertain. In other words, hey, hey, you're wealthy, that's fabulous, but don't put your hope there. Why? Because it's uncertain and it's fleeting. But watch this. But put their hope in God. Who richly provides us with everything. You may have never seen this story too urgent right here. Why? For our enjoyment. Do you realize that, that God gives us wealth? God gives us means. God gives us things for us to enjoy. Why? He is a good Father. He is a good providing Father. But what did the text just say? He gives us everything. What a great verse. It's telling us.
He gives us everything to enjoy. So yes. Yes. Listen, have the meal. Take the vacation. Drive the car. Buy the pair of shoes for the glory of God. Amen. There it is. Buy 'em. Thank God for 'em. Live in the glory of God for it. But here's the deal, church. Here's the deal. But only put your hope in God. And how do you put your hope in God? You put your hope in God by not extending yourself past a point at the expense of investing in his kingdom. You see, that's the difference here, isn't it? That's the difference in what we're seeing. In fact, let me read you the rest of the verses out of one Timothy 6:18. It says this, command those to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way, they will lay up treasures for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life.
Oh, I love this line. That is truly life. In other words, hey, don't put your hope in wealth. Hope will be fleeting. Don't put your hope there. Put your hope in Christ. Put your hope in his glory. Put your hope in the master. And along the way, yes, be generous. Be generous because you're storing up treasures for the kingdom that is real life and not just this fake life that we're here living for a little while. That's what it says. Wealth is a tool. Wealth is a tool, but I wanna keep moving. All right? Wealth is a tool. It's an eternal tool. But also write this down. Here's the next one. Wealth is a test. God sees wealth as a test. He sees it as a test. Now, what are we seeing in the parable? We're seeing a test, are we not? The master has gone away.
He's given one guy five talents. He's giving another guy two talents. They both have invested those things. They're both got these five and two more. And now we've got this one talent guy. He's run off and he's buried it. And now the master is coming back. Let me read you a bunch of verses right here. Verse 19. It says this after a long time. "The master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who to receive five bags of gold brought the other five. Master, he said," You entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more. "Oh, verse 21, master replied," Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things come and share in your master's happiness. "Right? That's the five guy. Let's look at the two guy.
The man with the two bags of gold. Verse 22," Also came. Mastery said, you entrusted me with two bags of gold and see, I have gained two more. "His master replied," Here it is again. Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in a few things and I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness. "Like," All right, all right. Here we go. "Oh, look at verse 24. The man who had received one bag of gold came. Master, he said," I knew you were a hard man. "Harvesting where you have not sown, gathering, where you have not scattered seed. Now, Paul's there because this is not an indictment against the master. He's just going, " Hey, I know that you are master or a guy who have many people that are living out the investments that you have put in them and you're gaining for your glory and for your kingdom.
All of this stuff. "And as a result of that, look at verse 25, it says this, " So I was afraid. "Oh, circle that word afraid. That's a key word. I was afraid, and I went out and I hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belonged to you. The master replied," You wicked and lazy servant. You knew that I harvest where I've not sown and gathered where I have not scattered seed. Well, then you should have ... "He's like, " You should have at least put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned, I would have received it back with interest. "Are you seeing the test? It was a test. Money, wealth is a test to see if our hearts are more about our kingdom or God's kingdom. That's what it's showing us. Money is a thermometer that shows where our heart is.
It's a thermostat that sets the direction and the temperatures of our heart. And what the Bible says over and over and over again is we can't serve both God and money. We can't serve both God and money. It's a tool, but it's also a test because we're the stewards of everything God has given us. Now, this parable, I love it because the first two guys, they come in to give an account for their lives, just like we will, just like we will one day. And the first two guys, they come in, they bring their investment back to God, their returns back to God, their master, and he says," Well done. You have done it. "But then the last guy comes in and he literally sheepishly says," I was afraid. I was afraid to invest it for your kingdom. I was afraid to invest it for you.
"And the master looks at him and calls him wicked and lazy, which is the scariest thing I've read in scripture in a long time. Here's why. Do you realize that the third brother with one talent didn't squander the money on himself? He just did not invest it into the kingdom for the return of the master who has given him and given us everything. Listen, wealth is a test. Our servanthood's a test. It's, it's a response to what God has given me. It is a test of the generosity of the God has been generous to me, and am I gonna invest it back with him? Wealth is a test. It's a tool. It's from God charged to us to manage and to steward. And listen to me, church, write this down. Wealth, God sees wealth as something that we're going to be accountable for. It's what we're seeing in the text.
They all came back to the master in the, in the account, did they not? To do what? To give an account. I got news for you, believers in Jesus. There's gonna be a day where we stand before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and we give an account for every word, for every action, for every talent he's given us, and for every dollar that he has blessed us with. We're gonna give an account. And I love this. Do you know why? I love in the text that the master doesn't compare the returns of the five talent and the two talent guys that were faithful. He doesn't look at the two talent guy and go, "Hey, you coulda learned a lot from the five talent guy and brought me even more." No. Each one of those people are celebrated based on what God had given them.
Each one of them in the Greek, the word is literally were bravoed by the master. That's what it says. That's what they're held accountable for. And that's why the one talent guy, it's so scary when he says, "Hey, I was just scared. I was just scared and I just didn't do it for you. " Do you know what the one talent guy's problem was? He was more concerned with his interest than he was for the interest of the kingdom of God. That's his problem. I know we've never struggled with that, but that was his problem. Man, I hope you're seeing this on so many fronts. So many times, our fear of the future gets in the way of our obedience to God in everything. For students, I'm telling you, for your friend groups, for how you use your time. You adults, it's for how you work to the glory of God, and it's how we invest our monies.
Our fear gets in the way. There's so many areas where we just don't realize that it is God that's in control. So many times in our situations, we look at ourselves even, and we'll look at ourselves as a one talent person even. And we ask God, God, there is no way you're asking me as a one talent person to be faithful. So many times, even in seasons like we're in right now with this whole all- in initiative, we'll look at it and go, "Well, what in the world can my one talent do for your kingdom, God? What in the world can I do to make a difference for you, God? God, what in the world can I do? " Listen, you can do everything because here's what God wants from us. He never asks for equal amounts. He asks for sacrifice. So we're seeing, right?
It's not about equal amounts of us. It is about us being faithful with the talents God has given us. That's why I love this text so much. The, the two talent guy and the five talent God got the same praise from God. But the one talent guy got the same, same, same, same speech that all of us deserve when we just don't live. The kingdom. Man, I love this. It's not about amounts, what the talents God has put in our lives. It's about what God has given us because he's the creator. He's the sustainer. He's the one that has asked me to manage. And just ask for my faithfulness. You know, one of the most beautiful places in all the Bible that this has shown is in Mark chapter 12. In Mark chapter 12, Jesus pulls up, he's sitting in the temple courts and he's actually watching what's going on.
And let me read you one of the most unlikely sources of generosity and stewarding that is in the whole Bible. Listen to this. Mark chapter 12, verse 41 says this. Jesus sat down opposite the place that the offerings were put. And he watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many, many rich people threw in large amounts to which were like, "Yeah, yeah, that's awesome." Oh, hold on. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him because that's what Jesus did. He would just do something and he would call him and debrief it. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others." Watch what Jesus says. They all gave out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, putting in everything, all that she had to live on.
Now, before you discount this and go, "God, are you calling me to throw everything into your kingdom, every resource you've given me? " No, no, no. That's not anywhere close to what I'm saying. But here's what I'm saying. It's not about the amount. It's about the faith and the sacrifice. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying that they're saying right here, I love this when Jesus is going, "Listen, these people with these large sums of money, you think they're the faithful ones. You think they're the faith ones." No, they're tipping God off of their wealth. They're tipping God out of who God has blessed them to be. But this poor little lady over there out of the sacrifice of our heart is offering up every talent she has for God and God is in her life. And what did Jesus say? She gave more. Listen, in Kingdom Economics, it is never amount of dollar amount.
It's about a sacrifice amount. Here's the question I've been asking myself for weeks and weeks and weeks. Here's the question I put in your notes. God, what does faithful stewardship look like from what you has given me? From what you've given me? Again, some of us are five talents, some of us are two talents, some of us are one talent. I get it. It's not about amounts. It's not about amounts. That's why I love the one talent guy's illustration here.
Keep going in the text though. Let me finish it up. So the one talent guy's come in, kind of giving his excuse. Two talent guy have been blessed. Watch how the story ends. Verse 28, it says this. So take the bag of gold from him, that's talking about the one talent guy that didn't do anything with it. And give it to the one who has 10 bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have even what they have will be taken from them and throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, this is like the worst ending parable of any parable, right? This is pretty insane. You know why? Because God is not about like making the rich, richer and the poor poor. That's not what it's saying.
God is not about some prosperity gospel that's out there. No. It's just a simple biblical principle. Write it down. It's the last principle for the day. It's this. When God finds us faithful, remember this with the little.
He will entrust us with more, with more. And it's not just money. All right? So don't think that's what it is. It's a biblical principle. When God entrusts us with a little, when, when, when, when we're faithful with the little, God will trust us with more. It works with his presence. When we're faithful with the presence of God in our lives and we faithfully steward the presence of God in our lives, he will keep pouring himself. He will keep pouring himself. It's about God's power in our lives. When we're faithful with God's power in our lives and we steward it well and we serve him well and we walk that out well in his life, he will give you more power. He'll do it every time. It's about his discernment. Every time we're faithful with a discernment of God that he places in our lives and we walk that out in our lives, he will keep pouring it in and he will keep pouring it in.
It's about his joy. It's about his peace. It's about his presence. It's about all of those things. But don't also discount. It's about our resources and money. It's what the text is showing us. Listen, for some of us, the budget just never seems to work out. There always seems to be more month than gold, right? Could it be? Could it be that out of fear, we just buried it and we haven't stewarded it for God. Could it be? Or the flip side of that, man, I'm gonna get a lot of nods with this one. I know I am. For some of us, when we look at the budget in worldly standards, it should never work out. You know where I'm going with this. But because we've been faithful to the Lord in it, it always does. It always, super naturally, it always does. Let me show you how I'm gonna land the plane.
So the question today is will we just keep saying, "God, I'm gonna honor you with everything. I'm gonna honor you with everything. I'm gonna give back a portion and I'm gonna ... In this season, Lord, I am going to steward for your kingdom. And quite possibly, God, am I gonna take maybe the largest step of faith that I've ever taken when it comes to what you have given me? " Why? Why did we do it? Verse 21. So what I'm gonna leave you with, verse 21, I'm gonna live my life this way because here's what I wanna hear one day with every part of my being. Verse 21, 25, same verse. His master replied, "Well done. Good and faithful servant. You, you have been faithful with a few things. Man, amen. We've been faithful with a few things and I will put you in charge of many things.
Watch what he says. Come and share." What does he say? Share. I want you to underline this in your Bibles. Come and share what? Your master's happiness. Listen, church, there's a reason Jesus says it's more blessed to give than receive. There's a reason. Do you know why? It's not so you'll be enriched on this earth, although it happens. The reason Jesus says it's more blessed to receive is because when we give what God has already given us, you know what it does? It frees us from this world. It links us to the power of God, the presence of God. What do we just read? The master's happiness, the master's joy. It not only does that, but it makes a kingdom difference. And listen, in eternity, restoring up kingdom treasures. And God receives the glory. You don't believe me, try it. Try it. Try it. Three questions and we're done.
Here they are. Number one. Have you ever thought of yourself as a steward for God? As a steward? As just nothing more than a manager of what God has given you. Oh, believers.
I've struggled with this in life. I'm just gonna be straight honest with you. I like to think of myself as a guy who works hard, who goes at it, who earns what he deserves. As a result of that, sometimes, man, I hold onto my stuff like it's mine. But I'm telling you, God says I'm a steward. Second question. What fear is keeping you in all the areas of your life from just saying, "God, I'm all in. " Have you ever felt like a one talent person in this way? Have you ever felt like you're just operating out of fear? And you know you're operating out of fear and not trusting with your time, with your treasures, with your talents, all that stuff. What fear is it for you? Here's the third one. Have you ever thought of making a radical generosity gift for the kingdom of God and seeing what God can do with it?
Here's my name point. This church is made up of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of five talent families. It's just the facts. You wouldn't live here if you weren't. But the question is this, how do we respond with what God has given us? Do we bury it in fear and hope the master maybe never returns, right? Do we invest it in ourselves? Do we token give like the rich people in Mark chapter 12? Or do we just quite simply say in all that I have and all that I am, Lord Jesus, I'm yours. I'm yours. I'm yours in my friendships. I'm yours and my family. I'm yours am I serving you? I'm yours in my workplace. I'm yours in my possessions. What do you need from me?