Come on, make some crazy noise if you're glad to be in God's house this morning.

So glad that you're here. If you are a guest with us, we want to say welcome to Embassy City Church. We are so delighted that you are here at Embassy City. We want you to know that you are loved. We don't even have to know you to love you. We just want you to feel love when you walk through those doors. Just know that you're part of the family. So thank you so much for being with us and those that are watching online. Thank you so much for joining us. This is going to be a fun few weeks, but before we get started, can we put our hands together and show some appreciation to Michael Pittman? Come on for that amazing word that he brought last week. What do you do when God runs late? And what we learned is that God never runs late. He's always on time. Remember that old song, he's an on time God or some of y'all know it. He's an on time God. He may not come when you want him, but he'll be there right on time. He's an on time God. He's an on time God.

Yes, he is

On time.

Yes he is.

Job said he may not come when you want him.

Be there right on time. Some of y'all know it.

On time.

Yes he is. Say it one more time. Well, he an on time God. Yes, He is, Job said he made I come when you want him, but he'll be there right on time. On time God. Yes he is.

You can ask the children of Israel, trapped by the Red Sea, by that middle Pharaoh and his army, there was water all around them and Pharaoh on their back. Just like that, God stepped in and made a highway just like that. Lemme tell you, he's an home time. Oh, you ought to be putting your hands together right now. Oh, y'all acquired, y'all ought to be going to parts right now, Joel, but he'll be there right on time. On time. Yes, he is, you can ask if thousands are hungry, your souls fed by the banks of the river with two fish if I loaves of bread. What a miracle he performed for the multitudes. What he did. Wait, back then he do the same for me and you for the material reason. Oh y'all. Y'all sound good. Yes, he's, what did Joe say? He'll be there right on time. What time? God. Yes he's, and if you believe that, put your hands together and give him some praise. Can anybody testify to the fact that he may not have come when you wanted him to, but what he did, he showed up right on time, right in the nick of time.

Come on, somebody give God some praise that he's never late. He's never early, but he's always, y'all sit down. My goodness, I love those old songs. We can't be sleeping on the old songs. They were birthed out of experience. You know what I'm saying?

Well. We’re kicking off a new series today that we are calling all about the stewardship.

The stewardship. Some of y'all said Benjamins, it's a play on that phrase, but we're going to be talking about money for the next few weeks and some of y'all booty cheeks just got tight. It's funny when you mention money in church, people are like, relax. Somebody say, relax.

Relax.

I'm not going to ask for no special offering. I'm not about to. The Holy Spirit told me that five people about to give a thousand dollars seed. We're not about to have some big marks. I'm not about to pull out a thermometer. Y'all remember that? Them building funds. Why is the temperature never going up? We've been in winter for a long time. None of that's going to happen. We're just going to talk about money because what you'll find out is that money reveals a lot about the spiritual and what you'll find out is people that squander paper will also squander purpose.

I'm already started. Oh my God. But we're going to talk about money. And here's the second part. We're good as a church. I'm not talking about money because we are running low on finances and I'm about to pressure you to give into money. We believe what the Bible says. The Bible says that each should give according to what he has determined in his heart, not reluctantly or out of compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. What you give your generosity is between you and God. It's not between you and me, it's not between you and the church. It's between you and God. And if you've been around embassy for any length of time, you've noticed that we don't pass the offering plate. We don't have the offering March. I am knocking anyone that does it. But here we just believe that if God has stirred you to give, you're going to give. It's just one of those things, right? We trust in the Lord for that. And if you notice, we don't have big containers and offerings around, we have a wooden box that's over there and then over 90% of you all give online anyways. And I want to tell you that we are a generous church. The generosity in this house is amazing because of your generosity. We are right now having service in a paid off building.

And if you were around last year, we paid everything off without selling fish dinners. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but I'm saying is God has blessed us tremendously to the point to where we can give as the Lord has moved on our hearts to give. And as a result, lights are on. AC is working. Praise God for the ac, hallelujah, hallelujah. Staff is paid. We're looking at expansion opportunities. We're looking around to see where God wants us to build or buy. It's coming. So I just want to thank you for that. So then of course the question is then why you talk about money?

Well, I'll tell you why. I'm a preacher of the word of God. I'm not a financial guru. I'm not up here trying to be Dave Ramsey. I'm not going to give you your baby steps. Some of y'all Dave Ramsey fans, y'all know I'm not going to tell you how to invest in the stock market, but I am going to talk about principles that are found in the word of God and just like I'll preach on grace and faith and purpose and love because they're in the word of God. There's over 2000 mentions in the Bible of money. So obviously God thinks it's important for us to talk about money because how we steward money is closely related to how we steward spiritual things. And hopefully by the time we get through the series, you'll be in agreement with that. And here's another thing. The reason why most people get nervous about money talks is because a lot of people are dealing with P T S D from being at a church that mishandled the finances. Can anybody attest to that? I mean, on one end of the spectrum you have the prosperity gospel, name it, claim it, grab it, blabbed.

As long as you're wearing Gucci's and driving a Bentley, you're blessed. But if you drive a Toyota Corolla and shop at Forever 21, even though you're 51, you're not blessed. That's not biblical. But neither is the opposite of the spectrum, which is the poverty gospel.

That's the one I grew up listening to where people idolize poverty as if to have resources and money meant that you have less of the blessing of God. And I am here to preach that it's neither extreme. It's somewhere in the middle. And what it comes down to is stewardship. It's not about how much or how little it's about how are you stewarding what God has placed in your hand. If it's a dollar, great. If it's a million dollars, great. It's all about the stewardship and here's what we're going to do. We're going to do the very opposite in this series than is expected. I'm not going to take up an offering, but lemme just be vulnerable with you. I have been praying about several months I preached a message called Make Room where I felt like the Lord was just leading us to start making some room here. We're looking at parking lot opportunities. We're looking at seating arrangements. We were trying to get everyone that's in overflow down into this space right here. So we're looking at different opportunities and I've been praying specifically, I pray very specific prayers. I ain't got time to waste. You know what I'm saying? I'm not trying to beat around the bush. I said, Lord, I'm asking for $1.2 million for expansion. Your kingdom, your house, $1.2 million. God said, cool, I got it. But in the interim in this series, I want y'all to take a 10th of what you're asking for and give it in generosity. So in the next couple of weeks we're going to give in generosity $120,000. Come on, somebody makes some crazy noise. Anybody excited about giving?

I mean people will run downs about receiving, but we got to get excited about giving that God has blessed us enough that we can sow into other people. How amazing is that? So grab your Bibles. We're going to the book of Matthew chapter 25, Matthew chapter 25, a very familiar passage of scripture that we're going to read and we're going to kind of do some expository teaching today. Is that all right? So expositional teaching basically means we're going to dig into this passage and we're going to kind of exe it, which means to take meaning out of the scripture. Matthew chapter 25, verse number 14, for it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property to one, he gave five talents to another, two, to another one, to each according to his with me ability.

Then he went away. He had received the five talents, went at once and traded with them and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more, but he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them and he who had received the five talents came forward bringing five talents, more saying, master, you delivered to me five talents. Here I have made five talents more as master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. And you also who have the two talents came forward saying, master, you deliver to me two talents. Here I have made two talents more. And his master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much enter into the joy of your master. He also who had received the one talent came forward saying, master, here come the excuses. I knew you to be a hard man

Reaping where you did not sow and gather where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground.

You have what is yours?

Take this offering that I bring.

But his master answered you wicked and soulful servant.

Let me ask you a question. So you knew that I read where I have not sown and gathered where I gathered no seed. Okay, then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers and in my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him. Who has the 10 talents for? To who has will more be given and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness in that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. What a result, huh? So in this first part, this first episode of this series, I want to take my title and my title is Simply Whose Money Is It? Anyways, look at your neighbor and said, neighbor, neighbor, who owns your money? Who owns your, some of you couples switch neighbors real quick.

Oh, whose money is it? Anyways, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you God that you give us truth and grace and faith through your word. I pray that as we consider and ponder your word, you would give us revelation and insights. Give us ears to hear heart, to receive and mind, to understand what you would say to us. We thank you Lord God, for the resources, the money that you've given us. Help us to use it wisely for the furtherance of your kingdom and Jesus name and everybody say amen. Amen. Amen. Hey, before I jump into it one more time, I've got to make mention that we have prayer meeting tonight.

Jesus described his house as my house shall be called a house of prayer. If you know how to pray, join us here tonight. I'm going to be here tonight at 6:00 PM If you don't know how to pray, come into this house and learn how to pray. Prayer is your best friend in your relationship with the Lord and somebody say amen. Amen. Alright, so we're a hot church. So if you're new to embassy, one of our cultural values is that we're hot, which literally means honest, open and transparent. Transparent, which means that we are going to be vulnerable with each other. That being said, let me ask you this question. I want you to be honest. How many would admit that you have, let's call it a sketchy financial history or past some of y'all like no, maybe you currently have that problem. The reality is not a lot of people like to talk about their money problems.

We would rather pose as if we have money than to deal with the fact that we don't know how to steward well our resources. And the truth is when you look at the word of God, the reason why the Bible has so many mentions of money is because you're going to find a very close correlation between how we handle money and how we handle spiritual things. And if you're uncomfortable with the word money, just replace the word money with resources if that makes you a little more comfortable. But the reality is that money reveals the heart. A lot of people will love money more than they do their family members. They'll love money more than their spouse. They'll love money more than God. People will tell you a lot about themselves just by how they handle their money. In fact, I'm going to help some singles out real quick. Instead of worrying about how cute Tyrone is, ask Tyrone for a printout of his bank statement. Some Mary couples, I'll be saying, you right Tyrone may have a steakhouse appetite with steak and shake budget. You know what I'm saying? You're going to learn a lot more about somebody by how they handle their finances than you will. They're in your gram number.

Hey, what's your Enneagram number now? How you spending money fam? What's your philosophy on money? A lot of premarital counseling misses this. You go into premarital counseling, we talk about what's our five-year goal and how many kids do we want and what kind of house do we want to live in? And no, what's your 4 0 1 K looking like? Do you know how to handle your finances? Because this is what Jesus said about finances in Matthew chapter six verse 19, do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there will your heart be also right? You can tell where someone's heart is based on how they spend their money.

Oh Lord, I'm going to step on some toes because here's the thing, you can drive a B M W and be overdrawn in 12 different banks. You know what I'm saying? N S F everywhere, just waiting for it to disappear. What's the statute of limitations? Can't even open a Venmo.

 Try to get cash out of the ATM was like don't even try it, right? But a lot of people won't address money issues or their stewardship or their financial issues because they would rather pose as if they have money to fit into the culture, then deal with their lack of stewardship. So now people instead of going, you know what? I probably shouldn't go buy this because I can't afford it, they'll make back alley deals to get them fake Gucci, put your life in danger. Is this too real?

But the reality is we need to talk about money because Jesus does. And here's the thing, when you understand that money is closely related to your spiritual walk, you will start treating money much differently, right? Because here's what Matthew chapter six, verse 24 says, no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the others. And we would think that the competitor to God is the devil. But how many know when was the last time you met someone that's like, Hey, I served the devil.

Long time since I met somebody, right? But Jesus says, no, my competitor is not the devil. God already knows. The devil is under the Lord's feet, right? What Jesus says is you cannot serve God and money. In other words, the thing that our culture wrestles with the most is not a pursuit of the devil, it's the pursuit of money. So Jesus said, if you want to lay up treasures, you've got to decide are you going to follow after my principles or after the principles of the world? So we're going to talk about this and one of the first things that you got to do when we're talking about finances and resources and money is the biggest question that you have to ask yourself is whose money is it? Anyways? Did you know that most marital issues, this is a lot of times is number one, most marital issues surround the topic of money. And you know why that is? It's because there are two people that are struggling to identify who owns the finances in this house. So because they don't know, they start doing stuff like, well, you go have your account and I go have mine. This is my money and that's your money. Well, here's the problem. According to the scripture that where your money is there shall your heart be also next thing you know got a marriage where there are two hearts in two different places. Oh Lord, am I getting too personal?

You got to establish from the beginning whose money it is. And the first question that you have to ask to identify is this question, who has ownership? So let's go to Matthew chapter 25, verse number 14. Alright, let's get into this word the scripture says, for it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property? Alright, so Jesus, this is a parable. We have to get some context here. Jesus is about to get into this parable of the talents, but before he does, he says, for it will be like a man. Now we have to identify what the word it is referring to. And in order to do so we have to go to Matthew chapter 25 verse number one, because Jesus is, he's talking to some people and he says that Matthew chapter 25, verse number one, he says the kingdom of heaven is like it unto, and then he tells the parable of the 10 virgins who are waiting for the bridegroom to take them to the wedding feast.

And we know the story, there are five wises and five foolish, and the story goes that all 10 of them had oil lamps and they had a wick and five of them fell asleep during the night and they didn't trim their oil lamps and so they ran out of oil, five of them stayed awake and they kept their hustle going and they trimmed their lamps and they were able to stay up through the night. So when the bridegroom came, five of 'em, the five that were wise were able to go, the five who were foolish had to stay. Now here's the principle in this story, it's the principle of stewardship because they all started with the same. Five of 'em didn't utilize their resources wisely. And so when they ran out, guess what they did? They asked the ones who were wise, Hey, won't you give me some of yours? Oh lord, anybody met somebody like that that they won't handle their business and so when they run out, they want your stuff. It's different if you start with a disadvantage, but if you start at the same level, you got the same job, you get paid the same amount of money, but you handle your business wrong,

Why get upset at the one who handled their business wisely? So Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like them too. Two different types of people. One person is going to be wise with the resources they have and the other person is going to be foolish. Then after he gets through with that story, he starts verse number 14. So what the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man going away on a journey. So the story of the talent is really a parable which is an allegory or an analogy of a bigger principle which has to do with the kingdom of heaven. But Jesus decides to use the topic of money because he knows everybody has to use money. Did you know no one escapes the use of money? Now we can argue about that parable that Jesus talks about where he's like a farmer scatter seed.

Well, if you're not a farmer you can't really relate, but when he says money, everybody knows he's talking about money. And so what Jesus does though at the story is at the very beginning he establishes ownership. Jesus says, I'm the master and you are the servants. So there are three recognitions that you have to have if you're taking notes. There are three recognitions that you have to have to establish ownership. The first recognition is you have to recognize your position. Let's look back at the story Matthew chapter 25 verse 14. For it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants. So the word servant is actually the word slave.

Now let's define what the word slave means. Slave is the person who is legally owned by someone else and whose entire livelihood and purpose was determined by their master. In other words, a slave in Bible tires was somebody who had no property of their own. They were owned by the master and everything they had in their possession was actually the possession of the master. They could never go out and have their own stuff. All their stuff was purchased when the master purchased them as property. Now we're uncomfortable with that, but think about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ purchased us with his blood and when you became a Christian, you came under his dominion, which means that everything that you have is not even yours and it belongs to God. That means your money, your car, your house, it's not yours. And the moment that you think that your stuff is yours, you have now repositioned yourself to be equal to the authority of God in your life. Is this too real? The reality is that as a Christian, if you're not a believer, this don't even apply to you. But as a believer, when you come into the body of Christ, the Bible says that we are now servants to God. Paul says that we have become slaves under righteousness. When you became a slave under righteousness, a servant unto righteousness, that means everything in your possession does not belong to you. It belongs to God. So let me ask you what's in your wallet?

It ain't choice. You got to recognize your position. Here's the thing. Often money problems stem from a misunderstanding of our position where managers not masters. The moment you think that you're the master of your own finances is the moment that you position yourself equal to God. Anybody have small children or you've had small children? What is one of the first words that they learn?

Mind before mama, before dadda, they know how to say it is instinctive for little children to say mind. They think they own the house, the car, the food, your time, your attention. This ain't personal at all. Your car, your yard, these little kids think they own everything and you know why they think that? Because they are immature and selfish. You don't have to teach a child to be self-centered. They're born into the world selfish and self-centered. But as they mature and grow up, we expect them to recognize their position in the family. No, this ain't your house. That food you're eating, that's my food. I know you think that this is your room because we plastic your name on the wall and we stepped through to them. But let me tell you something. I brought you into this world and I can

May know you got to remind them little ones sometimes, but the reality is you remind them who's boss, who's master of the house and the same is true in the kingdom of God. We are born into the kingdom of God thinking that we own our own money and I own my own destiny and I own my own purpose and I own my own house. But as you mature in Christ, you start, you should start recognizing your position is you are the servant, he is the master, you are the manager. He is the master. This is not yours. It belongs to God. We say, well, I don't want God to have my stuff. Well then he can't be your master.

Lord have mercy. Lemme move on.

Here's the second recognition. You got to recognize your purpose. Number one is recognize your position. Number two is recognize your purpose. Let's look back at this verse. He says that he gave, he called his service and then he says he entrusted to them that word entrusted is the Greek word para, which means to put into the care or protection of someone. Can I tell you that our purpose is stewardship and not ownership to entrust something, in order for me to entrust something to you, I have to own it. But what is wrong with us that we think that if we have something, it now belongs to us. It's a misunderstanding of our position because when you understand that everything belongs to the Lord, you do realize that everything that's in your hand, you are a steward of not the owner. And here's what's funny. We will give ownership to God of everything negative in our life. Lord, take over my burden. God, take my trauma. God, own my husband. God, take my wife, God, take my children, take 'em out. If you need to just take them, we'll give God all the stuff that we don't want. But when it comes to money, we're like, no, this is mine.

You can have all the stuff, the bad stuff, but this is mine. Can I tell you that Jesus established from the very, before he even gets into the story, he says, first of all, know your position and recognize your purpose. Let me ask you this. Are you chasing paper or purpose? Are you chasing paper or are you chasing purpose? Here's the thing, a lot of times we think that purpose follows paper, but really paper follows purpose. I just freed somebody right now. You've been after the cheddar, you've been after the bag, you've been after the money. But here's the thing, God's like, no, you go after the purpose and I'll bring the paper. I didn't call you to be owner. I called you to be a steward. A steward recognizes that what they have in their hand is not theirs. It belongs to the one that committed it to their hands.

Okay,

Y'all need an example. Alright,

I got a stack.

Just kidding. I just wanted to do that. I have a stack of cash. Okay? This is my money. I'm the owner, I'm the master of all of these green bills. You are like, why do you have hundred ones instead of hundreds? Because that's how I wrote. There's one god, one faith, one baptism here is oh the Lord our God is one. You know what I'm saying? I got Bible for this, but I want to show you Michael, come up here bro. Alright, so I'm calling Michael up here because Michael is going to be the steward of what I own. So I want you to take $3, alright bro, I'll make it a Rainer. I want you to take the $3 and give it to three random people, whoever you choose, but I want you to give it away now. Now is this money belong to Mike? That's my money, right? I've just asked Michael to be a steward of what I own, and now he's coming back. Did you spend all your money? Yeah. No, you spent my money. Here's the thing. He came back because he ran out of what I gave him, but the reality is he never owned it. He just did what I asked him to do with it. So now that he's run out, he can come back to the source because he knows

I got STAs. I got STAs. $3 ain't nothing to me. Hey Mike, take another three and give it away. Give it away. Here's the thing. When you're a steward and not the owner, you don't have to worry about keeping it because the source from which you got it has enough to keep you running. All Mike is doing is being a steward of what he's just doing. What I'm asking him to do, he's not taking ownership. So when he comes back, I'm like, Hey, tick, take three more brother, but this time just keep it for yourself. All right? That's how I roll. You know what I'm saying? But what I'm trying to show you is I got plenty more I can give him as much as he needs to do whatever I ask him to do, and then I'll give him some just to put in his own pocket. Why don't we do that with God? God ain't worried about your 75 K a year. God's not worried about your 4 0 1 k. God just wants you to be a steward. If he owes the cattle of a thousand hills and the potatoes underneath him, if he paved his streets with goat, if he decorates his gates with pearl, if he's seated on a massive throne, what makes you think that he don't have enough to supply your needs?

When you recognize that he is the owner, you realize that money ain't nothing to him. We trip out about mouths. This has nothing to do with a mouse that has everything to do with your perception of who God is in your life. Because if he's really the master, you recognize that you are simply a steward. How are you stewarding his money? Because when you recognize him as the steward, as the master, as the owner, and you as the steward, you won't make purchases without consulting him. Too many people make ownership type purchases and they want God to bail 'em out. When God said, you never even asked me if you should buy that house, you put yourself in a pickle because you thought you were the owner. When you are a steward, you are submitted to the owner. God, how do you want me to spend this? Do you want me to save this or do you want me to go buy this? B m w? Somebody said the B m W. Maybe God does what you to buy if he is the owner and you're the steward. The question that we have to ask is are we stewarding? Well, what God has placed in our hands? Are we consulting the owner? Are we investing? Because you will spend money completely different. When you understand that you're not the owner, you will treat things much differently when you realize that you're not the owner except for rental cars. People get a rental. I don't know what it is about rental cars. People try to, but your mindset has to realize that God is the owner and not The question is who owns your money? Because whoever owns your money also owns your heart.

Here's the third, here's the thing. You got to recognize his ownership. Number one is recognize your position. Number two is recognize your purpose. And here's number three, recognize his ownership. Let's look at this verse again. It says, for it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. Jesus sets out in this story, this parable. Three major things. One is there were servants who had a master. Second is he didn't give them the money. He entrusted it to him. And here's the third thing. It was still his stuff. He still had ownership of it. Jesus was very clear in this story that we don't own it, we only steward it. He is the owner and because he is the owner, he can do whatever he wants to with it. Did you know that as the owner you can do whatever you want to because it's your stuff?

It reminds me of this story of this good old seasoned saint of God who was running low on cash. She had to get some groceries but didn't have the money to get some groceries. So she would go out on her front porch and she was a prayer warrior. So she would go out there and she would pray out loud, Jesus, I need groceries. I ain't got the money to go get it. Things are tight, but I believe that you are a supplier. You've done it before. You an on time guy. Yes you are, and I'm just asking you to supply. She go back in the house and she had this old atheist neighbor beside her, overheard her, and you said, God ain't going to come through because there is no God. So the next day she comes out and does the same thing. Jesus, I need you to come through for me. I need these groceries. I ain't got the cash, but I need you to come through. Goes back in the house. So her atheist neighbor had had enough and he said, I'm going to prove to her that God does not exist. So he went to the grocery store

And he loaded up two baskets full of groceries and he came back. He dropped it off on her front porch. Then he went and hid in the bushes. She came back out. She saw all these groceries. She had a straight up praise break, shouted, thank you Jesus. Yeah, thanking God for all these groceries. Just about the time that you was getting really cranked up, that neighbor jumped from behind the bush and said, ha caught you. What you didn't know is God didn't come through for you. I came through for you. I bought these groceries with my own money. God does not exist. She looked at her neighbor and she said, okay. She looked back at heaven and said, God, I not only thank you for these groceries, but I thank you that you made the devil pay for 'em. How many know that God will use your enemy to pay for your stuff because he owns everything? How many know that God owns everything and because he does, he can do whatever he wants with it. He'll make your haters pay for your stuff because he owns it,

But because he owns it, he can also do whatever he wants with it. That's why he got these three servants. He said, I'm going to give you five, I'm going to give you two. I'm going to give you one each according to their ability. So what the master gave to the servants was dependent on what he perceived their abilities to be. He gave them one five because he perceived his ability to handle five. Two because he perceived him to handle two and him one because he perceived. Now, now we look at this and we think, oh man, he only got one. Lemme tell you something. A talent was a measurement of money, okay? A talent was worth some say about 20 years worth of wages. One talent. So if you do the conversion right to today's, let's say you make it $15 an hour, that's $624,000 per talent. We're not talking, this ain't hum change. This ain't dollars that I was handing out. This is a lot of money. This is $20 worth of wages that the master looks at a servant and said, I trust you enough to give you $600,000 of my money to invest another one, 1.2 million, another 3 million. This is a lot of money that he's given to the servants and he's doing it based on what he believes their ability is to handle that money. Can I tell you, God has given you as much as you can handle now.

Thank you.

I need a raise. I want more money. Have you ever asked a question, God, what am I doing with what I have? Because if you can't handle what God has given you, now, God in his divine sovereignty knows you can't handle more. Some people lose their mind when they get a little more money, they start mistreating people. They start thinking they fancy, right? So when God is the owner, he distributes money based on what he believes. Your ability is to handle that money and sometimes God will keep you in a holding pattern to teach you how to steward well, limited resources.

God gives all of us tangible resources to teach us how to handle intangible resources. Remember what I said at the very beginning that this parable is about the kingdom of heaven, what Jesus was doing, am I still in the book just making sure what Jesus was doing is Jesus said, I'm going to teach you spiritual principles through tangible earthly examples. Because how you steward the resources of money says a lot about how you handle the resources of the spirit because God has gifted us with giftings according to our ability. That's what the Bible says about spiritual gifts. Each has been given gifts according to the measure of faith, right? So each one of us have different amounts of ability. The question is, are you not using your talents wisely because you're looking at somebody else and saying, well, they got more talents than I do. They got a bigger platform than I do. Or are you stewarding your resources that are spiritual? Well, because here's what I can tell you, if you don't budget your owe money, you ain't going to budget your spiritual gifts. If you don't invest your money, you're not going to invest your spiritual gifts. We like to make stuff ethereal. We like to make things spiritual. Jesus says, I'm going to teach you spiritual things, but let me get on something that you know

Have. Well, I'm just waiting until I get a thousand dollars. If I get a thousand dollars, I'm going to give a hundred away. And God's like, but you got $10 and you ain't giving one away.

The principles are the same about spiritual gifts and spiritual talents. Number one, if you're going to handle well, what God has given you in the spirit world, maybe it's preaching, maybe it's teaching, maybe it's the arts. Maybe it's your creative ability. Maybe you have a spirit of generosity. Maybe you have faith. The question is still going to be the same. Whose is it anyways? Does God own your talents? And if he does, are you stewarding? Well, the things that he has given you? Are you investing well? Do you have an instinct for increase in the things that God's given you? Oh, that's a bar. I'm going to have to write that one down myself. Do you have an instinct to increase what God has given you? Because when the master starts to congratulate the servants, he doesn't address how much they made. Now, the servants thought that the master was going to be impressed. Hey, you gave me five. I made five more. Here's you 10. Hey, you gave me two. I made two more. Here's you four. The master doesn't even address the amounts. The master says, well done. Good and faithful servant good speaks to your character, faithful speaks to your ability to utilize what God has given to steward. Well, he says, you're good and faithful. You have good character and you're diligent. And the opposite was true of the joker that hid the talents. You just hid $600,000 in a hole. Now, anybody buried something like as a kid, just me.

I remember my uncle one time told me, Hey, if you bury this money, you'll grow up. There'll be a money tree. I actually believe that, but I was really young. Some of y'all are like, were you 13 or something? I remember bury it and you know what I did? I would go by consistently. Man, when is that tree going to come? Because did you know that you will spend as much time worried about buried treasure?

Making sure nobody got it just going by again, making sure nobody disturbed the plot where I buried it. And people will spend so much time protecting their gifts instead of investing their gifts. Either way, it's going to take your time. Because when the master addressed the guy that buried it, he goes, you are wicked and slothful, same thing. I'm addressing your character. You're wicked fam, and I'm addressing your stewardship. We get to decide what to do with the resources that God has given us, both spiritual and in the natural. And when you recognize that God is the owner, it'll change the way you spend money. You won't spend money thinking it's yours. There's some things that you won't purchase because it doesn't bring glory to God.

It's how you're stewarding God's finances, bringing Him glory or shame. I'm about to get personal, but I got to do it. When you know it's the Lord's money, you won't pay for porn sights. When you know it's the Lord's money, you won't go buy stuff that is detrimental to your health, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. When you know it's God's money, you won't make it rain on. It'll change how you spend your money on Friday night. Oh God, oh God, we better move to a close Amos whose money is it anyways, so when you leave the service and you log into your Chase account or your Wells Fargo, look through the last few weeks and months and ask the question, whose money is this?

Wow.

Am I spending it for my own gratification or am I spending it the way the Lord wants me to spend it? Let me clarify. I'm not talking about tithes and offerings. I'm talking about how you spend money in your everyday life. How are you handling the resources? Because God blesses stewardship.

We're not talking about fat stacks, we're talking about stewardship. And you can mismanage a million dollars just as much as you can. Mismanage a thousand dollars. It doesn't have to do with, has nothing to do with the mouth. It has to do with your heart posture and how you handle your fight. I'm trying to free somebody right now through the word of God. I never got out your book. I'm not Dave Ramsey. These are principles in the word of God. It just makes it way more real when you're talking about your paper. Huh? Who owns it? How are you stewarding it? Because it says a lot about where God is positioned in your life, and this is what I do know. When you steward well, what he has given you, there's more according to this example, right? Man, you were faithful over little $3 million. You came back with six mil. Man, you've been faithful over little. Enter into the joy of your master. Hey, you've been faithful. I gave you 1.2 million. You came back with 2.4. You were faithful. Enter into the joy of your master, bro, you did nothing. I give you $600,000. The least you could have done is put it in a CD or an I r a or something and earned a little bit of interest for me. This is my money. I would've put it in the bank. This is what the master does. He snatches it from him and he gives it to somebody who is going to steward it Well, how many know that God doesn't tolerate unfruitful trees? That's what the book says for a tree that does not bear fruit, it won't just be left alone. It'll be hued down and cast to the fire. How are you stewarding what God has given you? Because if you steward it well, God can trust you with more. And this is not a get rich quick scheme. I'm not saying that if you did a great budget that God's going to give you, but I can tell you if you did a great budget for some reason, you'll have more money to spend. Even though your finances haven't gone up, you just now know how to put money in the right places, right? Won't be going to Starbucks every day with their $65 lattes. Can I tell you one year, this is my testimony of Starbucks. When Janese and I were dating, I would drive from Fort Worth to Dallas about three times a week. Actually, Rockwall three times a week, which was totally worth it. Lemme tell you, I’d do it again. I go four times a week. I go five times a week.

I just loved spending time with her. But I had a habit of getting Starbucks. Cause I'm like, man, I'm got to stay awake. I looked at how much I spent in Starbucks one year, $6,000, but it was worth it because I do it again. You know what I'm saying? But sometimes you got to take inventory of what you're spending, right? Amen. Do you really need Netflix, Hulu, apple tv,

Disney plus? If you've got kids, how many know that Disney Plus is an answer to prayer? Cancel everything. Keep Disney plus YouTube tv, direct tv. You know what I'm saying? Take inventory and say, God, how do you want me to spend this? When was the last time you just consulted God about your next purchase? Oh, we will consult God. Maybe sometimes about big stuff. You know what I'm saying? Don't want the blue or the black SS class, man, God. Which one? What about the small stuff? What about the things that you think are insignificant? Either it's all god's or it's not God's at all. And how you steward that will say a lot about how you steward everything else in the spiritual realm that God gives you. Thank you, God for your word. Thank you, God for your resources. Thank you, God, that you have blessed us with finances, that you've blessed us with resources, with money, with jobs, with the ability to earn. And oftentimes we get maybe sometimes confused or disoriented about ownership, but reality is, God, we couldn't do our job without the brain that you gave us.

We couldn't work the job without the hands that you blessed us with. We couldn't go there without the feet that you've given us. We wouldn't be able to survive to earn those resources without the ability given by you. And so as Christians, we're totally submitted to you in every area of our life. And in particular in this series, we're talking about our finances. So Lord, we submit to you our finances, our thinking about it, and we just realign ourselves, positionally and in purpose, and we recognize you as the owner. So we thank you, God, for what you're going to do in the next several weeks. God, we thank you, Lord God, that you have counted us worthy to be stewards of your possessions. We give you name, the praise, the glory and honor in Jesus name. And everybody say amen. God bless.