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Get your Bibles out!

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Here we go. I had to get mine out this morning and, God, I minister to my soul.

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It's funny how that works of a morning. Sometimes it's just soothing and peaceful and glorious.

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And other times it's Scotty, bend over and grab your ankles, boy.

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But we're going to look at the unjust steward.

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Now, these chapters we've been going through,

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most Bible commentators believe that chapters 14 through

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covers one Sabbath day.

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Now, we've covered a lot of ground in those chapters.

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That's some serious ministry going on.

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That's some serious truth being told.

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And it brings, it sheds a whole new light on John chapter 21, verse 25, where it says,

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and there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one,

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I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

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Amen.

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And we have this incredible God, this incredible Savior that's, uh,

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bigger than our minds can comprehend.

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And yet he came down on our level.

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And he requires some things of us, his people.

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And so we're going to read the first 18 verses of the 16th chapter of the book of Luke.

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I believe there's two stories in this chapter, this one,

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and then the one we'll look at next time.

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But some pretty powerful words from our Lord.

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This first one, this parable of the unjust steward,

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is probably the most difficult,

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as far as interpretation is concerned,

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of all of Jesus' parables.

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So I don't gleefully try to teach through this this morning,

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but I will do my best.

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So bear with this old boneheaded country boy.

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It says in chapter one of, let me try that again.

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It says in chapter 16, verse one, the gospel of Luke,

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he also said to his disciples,

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there was a certain rich man who had a steward.

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And an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.

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And so he called him and said to him,

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what is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship. For you can no longer be steward.

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And then the steward said within himself, what shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship

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away from me. I cannot dig. I am ashamed to beg. I have resolved what to do that when I am put out of the

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stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. And so he called every one of his master's

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debtors to him and said to the first, how much do you owe my master? And he said, a hundred measures of

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oil. And so he said to him, take your bill, sit down, write quickly, write 50. Then he said to another,

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and how much do you owe? And he said, a hundred measures of wheat. And he said to him, take your bill

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and write 80. So the master commended the unjust servant because he had dealt shrewdly, for the sons of this

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world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I

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I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an

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everlasting home. He who is faithful in what is least is also faithful in much. And he who is

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unjust in what is least is unjust in much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the

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unrighteous mammon who will commit to your trust, true riches. And if you have not been faithful in

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what is another man's who will give you what is your own. No servant can serve two masters,

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for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one

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and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. Now the Pharisees who were lovers of money

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also heard all these things and they derided him. And he said to them, you are those who justify

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yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an

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abomination in the sight of God. The law and the prophets were until John, and since that time,

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the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. And it is easier for heaven

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and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail. Whoever divorces his wife and

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marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced.

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from her husband commits adultery. Let's pray. Lord, there is a lot to unpack in these verses.

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And yet it's your truth and your words. They're that powerful, sharp sword that is able to

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bring clarity to the hearts of wicked humanity that needs to be enlightened. Lord,

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I'm convinced not just once in a while, but on a daily basis.

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maybe an hourly basis. We need the light of your word that truly is that the directing of our steps

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and our lamp onto our feet, Lord. We love you and we want to be in good gracious with our king.

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So Lord, teach us the truths that are here in this parable. Or maybe it's a literal story about

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someone who kind of missed the mark in what he was required.

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to do from his master. Lord, may we be sensitive to what you require us to do as you had told us to

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seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto him.

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And so Lord, I pray that our hearts would be open to that this morning in Jesus' name. Amen.

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So Jesus has been sharing with these guys off and on and the lostness.

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in chapter 15 of the sun and the coin and the sheep.

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And now he's talking about somebody who is entrusted with the goods of another.

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And not about you, that's always scared me.

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I haven't really been that great with the goods of others.

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I mess up a lot in my life and have in my life.

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And so to see this guy sideways with his boss is concerning,

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especially when it is probably a picture of our God and us.

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And so he says there was this certain rich man.

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And it seems that here the rich man is a type of the father,

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that this guy is under his authority.

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and he's called to be a manager,

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to manage what the master has given him.

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And an accusation is brought up to him

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about one of his managers.

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This one in particular,

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and he's accused of wasting.

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The word literally means squandering,

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that he was squandering the property of the owner,

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maybe embezzling,

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cooking the books.

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And it's so interesting that the things that people think that they can get away with.

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Really fascinating, actually.

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They honestly believe that they won't be found out by the ones that they're accountable to.

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How do you figure that?

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I believe it's in numbers, right?

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3223. It says, and be sure your sin will find you out. It will. It just, it grows wings like a

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little bird and it flies right into the people, the appropriate people that it needs to

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disseminate that information and you're just found out. And we know that God is omnipresent.

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He's everywhere.

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Hebrews 413 reminds us of that, right after that powerful verse about the word of God and how sharp it is and how discerns the thoughts and the intents of the heart.

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In verse 13, it says, and there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him, to whom?

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We must give an account.

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We just get stuck in bad habits.

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and those bad habits compound and take us to a place that you don't want to be.

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And sin always does that.

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The master must have given him a little time to get all his accounts together because he says there,

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you know, and he called him to say, verse two, what is this I hear about you?

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Give an account for your stewardship, for you can no longer be stupt.

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steward. You're done. Adios. Terminated. And the steward said within himself,

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what shall I do? No, dear, he's wringing his hands. He's in a bad way. He needs a job. He's got to

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feed his family. And so he's, he's cramming for an idea of what to do. And in verse

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verse four there it says I've resolved what to do that when I am put out of the stewardship

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they may receive me into their house he came up with a plan I got a plan don't you know you

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got to have a plan right you and I we need a plan and he sees it coming he knows it's not

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going to be good and and look what he now he's in verse five it says

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so he called everyone of his deaders.

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Let me back up there.

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At first he says,

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he says within himself,

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I cannot dig, so he's a bit lazy.

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He's a little uppity.

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He's afraid to get blisters on his hands, right?

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And I can't beg.

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And he's too proud to beg.

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And man, he's sure.

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should have read that verse. You don't work, you don't eat, right? Go get some blisters on your hands.

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Isn't that a good thing? I think it is a, it is a disservice to American society to go to one-ton

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bales. I'm good, oh, Idahoans know what that means, right? It is a disservice. Every kid must

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learn how to throw hay.

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I mean, everything from them 60-pounders to them 120-pounders.

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Kids that didn't have to learn that have been cheated.

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I see a bunch of hay growers over here.

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Uh-huh.

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However, they like the one-ton bales.

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But you've got to be willing to work.

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You've got to be willing to do whatever it takes.

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And so he's thinking, okay, this is what I got to do.

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For people to be generous to me, and it's a great thought, for people to be generous to me,

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I must, I must be generous to them.

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So here he goes.

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Verse five, so he called every one of his master's debtors, and he said,

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how much do you owe my master? The first guy says, 100 measures of oil.

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Sit down and write 50. Oh, you got it, buddy. Honey, get the checkbook. Right? 50% discount?

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That's incredible. And this is oil. Most believe olive oil. Have you seen the price of olive oil?

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I mean, that fresh, cold-pressed, pure olive oil.

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It's between 50 and 100 bucks a gallon.

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Today.

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Now, there is all kinds of conjecture and ideas of what was a measure.

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Was it a bath?

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And what was a bath?

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It was eight gallons to 30 gallons.

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I mean, it could have been from $60,000 to a quarter of a million dollars.

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He said, sit down.

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cut that in half. I mean, I bet this guy, you know, ran people off the road getting to the,

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getting to the bank, wanting to get this money so he can, or whatever he had to give. So,

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he gives him a great, a great deal. And the second, not quite as value of a commodity, but he

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owed a hundred measures of wheat. And he said, in verse seven, and he said to the other, how much

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you owe? And he said, a hundred measures of wheat. And he said, sit down and take your bill and write

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80. So he gives him a 20% discount. So this guy is hoping that these people will see him in a

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different light, right? Hey, you're a great guy. And so when he comes to him, he says, hey,

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Remember that 50% discount I give you?

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You remember that 20% discount I give you?

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Can you help me out here?

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They would be persuaded, right?

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The whole idea, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.

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And so the guy was maybe a thief, but he wasn't stupid, right?

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He might have been a cheat and a thief and a terrible manager,

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but he wasn't stupid.

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And so the master finds out about this,

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and he gives the guy a commendation.

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He goes, wow, that was thinking ahead.

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That's pretty smart.

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I got to think this master seems like a pretty cool dude, right?

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And if it's a picture of the Lord, obviously,

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we know how gracious God is.

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and why he didn't put this guy maybe in debtor's prison or whatever.

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But he commends him and maybe he's seeing the silver lining in this.

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He's thinking, wow, now my creditors are going to think pretty highly of me.

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I'm a gracious guy.

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Willing to let my manager have that freedom to give a 50 and a 20% discount?

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That makes me look pretty good.

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I mean, if he's seriously looking at it,

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and just not being mad about what he's lost,

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doesn't seem that he's like a money grubber.

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And so the master commended the unjust steward

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because he had dealt shrewdly or with wisdom.

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For the sons of this world, he ends at verse 8.

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For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.

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He makes a comparison.

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He makes a comparison with you and I who would call ourselves Christians to the world.

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He says those people are smarter than you are.

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Right?

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They're smarter.

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They're wiser than you are.

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In that they prepare for the future.

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and really their future is finite, right?

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It has an end.

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They're better at preparing for retirement than you are preparing for eternity.

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Right?

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They're better at, you know, getting their

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portfolio in place and their investments, they're better at that than you are at looking forward

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to heaven.

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Is what he's saying.

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In verse 9, it throws people off.

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And I don't know if I totally got it right, but I think I'm kind of on the right track

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where it says, and I say to you, this is talking to his disciples, I say to you, make friends

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of yourselves, listen, by unrighteous mammon.

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and when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.

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What does this mean?

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Unrighteous mammon.

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Unrighteous mammon.

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Wow.

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You always hear people say, right?

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Oh, money's evil.

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Well, not really.

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Money is amoral.

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So if I take a $20 bill out of my pocket right there,

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and I set it on the table, can it do evil?

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It's the whole gun, right?

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Guns are evil.

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No, if I put my, I can put my 357 right here loaded,

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and it can sit there for eternity.

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Will it do any evil?

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No.

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But the thing about money is,

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is it usually ends up in the hands.

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of those who are unrighteous. Right? It's okay I was going to say something but it would be

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it would really get me in trouble. I'm not going to say it. The old saying is right you can't

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live with it sometimes because it controls you and you can't live without it. You got to

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have it to survive this life. But he says, listen, take your unrighteous mammon, the wealth.

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Mammon can be translated wealth, the wealth that God gives you and make friends, notice it says,

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and make friends that when you fail or when you take your last breath, people that you have impacted

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with your unrighteous mammon will receive you into an everlasting home.

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These are some powerful words here.

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Money is not evil.

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Notice what it says, the love of money.

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Timothy, Paul says it best in 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 9 through 11.

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He says, but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and

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my ink went off there, lust which drown men in destruction and perdition.

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For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have straightened.

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from the faith in their greediness and pierce themselves through with many sorrows.

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But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, Godliness, faith, love,

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patience, and gentleness. And so quite the comparison here. It's the love of money.

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And he tells us to be righteous, to be godly, to be full of faith and love and patience and

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gentleness. Are you that way?

246
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I think we would all like to be that way.

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But I don't know about you, but I look at that list and I go, not even close.

248
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But it woos you, this desire for riches.

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So Jesus is saying here, you take this.

250
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You take this and you make friends.

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You bring friends into eternity.

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There may be people with Jesus right now,

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and they're waiting to tell you, thank you,

254
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when you get there for giving to the Lord.

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I hate talking about money,

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00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:34,880
because I remember being a kid.

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00:22:34,980 --> 00:22:37,480
You used to listen to them to tell evangelists, right?

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Begin me, you've got to give God your money.

259
00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:42,340
But then they give you their address.

260
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Right?

261
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I hate it.

262
00:22:51,260 --> 00:22:53,440
but yet the Bible talks about it so much.

263
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Jesus spoke of no other single subject more than he spoke about money.

264
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:00,020
Why?

265
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:02,960
Because it is vying for your attention and mine.

266
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Right?

267
00:23:06,479 --> 00:23:11,140
And every Christian you have to determine in your heart how much is enough.

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You have to.

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I have enough.

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I've always had enough.

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Even when we were dirt,

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we thought we were dirt poor.

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Compared to the folks in Africa,

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we were living high on the hog.

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He says, listen,

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those things that God gives you,

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you realize you're just like this manager.

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Everything you have, God's given you.

279
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Well, no, I worked hard for that.

280
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Do you really want to go there?

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00:23:50,060 --> 00:23:50,540
seriously?

282
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Who gives you the air to breathe

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and puts the blood in your veins

284
00:23:57,260 --> 00:23:59,300
and it gives you this strength, gives you the wisdom

285
00:23:59,500 --> 00:24:00,380
to do what you do?

286
00:24:01,060 --> 00:24:01,720
It's not you.

287
00:24:04,380 --> 00:24:05,280
It's the one who

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00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:10,440
gave everything to you.

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00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:17,160
Verse 10 there says,

290
00:24:18,419 --> 00:24:22,980
he who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much.

291
00:24:23,380 --> 00:24:26,880
And he who is unjust in what is least is unjust in much.

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How many people I talk to all the time, right?

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00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:32,200
Well, I don't have anything to give.

294
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:33,140
Really?

295
00:24:33,820 --> 00:24:34,640
You got a life, don't you?

296
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:37,280
You know, most people have a job.

297
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:43,800
Some people's jobs are picking up cans on the side of the road and just surviving and scraping by.

298
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Jesus said that's going to happen. The poor is always going to be with you.

299
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That could have been the excuse of the widow, but she gave her two mites.

300
00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:02,080
Right? She gave her two mites. Everything she had. I was all she had.

301
00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:09,260
And Jesus commended her for that.

302
00:25:12,180 --> 00:25:13,360
It's being faithful little.

303
00:25:15,820 --> 00:25:21,200
That woman, if she would have been a millionaire, Lord knows what she would have given, because she was faithful in little.

304
00:25:21,700 --> 00:25:24,760
He says, he who was faithful in little is going to be faithful in much.

305
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:28,360
If you're not faithful in little, well, I don't have anything to give.

306
00:25:28,740 --> 00:25:30,900
That's being unfaithful in little.

307
00:25:32,120 --> 00:25:34,600
So if you get a chance to embezzle a million, you're going to do it.

308
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:37,360
That's just the name of the game.

309
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:39,560
That's the condition of the human heart.

310
00:25:44,780 --> 00:25:48,360
Well, I don't even make average what Americans make.

311
00:25:50,940 --> 00:25:53,200
When I make average, what Americans make, then I'll give.

312
00:25:53,460 --> 00:25:53,920
No, you won't.

313
00:25:54,700 --> 00:25:55,300
No, you won't.

314
00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:58,260
I looked at the American average.

315
00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:01,180
It's between $75 and $100 a year.

316
00:26:05,940 --> 00:26:07,380
Yeah, we're all Idahoans.

317
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:08,860
We don't even come close to that, right?

318
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:26,400
But then people will ask me, well, pastor, you know, it's amazing how technical people get.

319
00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:30,820
Now, I know the Bible says to tithe, how much do I tithe?

320
00:26:30,900 --> 00:26:34,620
Well, that's kind of simple because tithe means a tenth.

321
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:36,300
It means a tent.

322
00:26:38,380 --> 00:26:39,400
That's what a tithe is.

323
00:26:41,180 --> 00:26:46,980
But I don't know that God's that wotted up about giving 10% of what you make.

324
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Some people give more.

325
00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:51,900
Other people give less.

326
00:26:55,340 --> 00:26:58,540
Okay, what should I tie it on in?

327
00:26:58,600 --> 00:26:59,540
The net or the gross?

328
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:05,600
What do you want, blessed?

329
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:07,300
The net or the gross?

330
00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:19,640
I never have anything left over to give.

331
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:24,500
You give God's leftovers?

332
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:27,480
That's what we give God, just leftovers?

333
00:27:31,100 --> 00:27:33,960
When my nephew worked for the thrift store,

334
00:27:34,300 --> 00:27:36,440
he said the stuff that people would give.

335
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:43,720
I mean, I think a good percentage, probably up to 40% of the stuff they went in got, went in the dumpster.

336
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:45,320
Right?

337
00:27:45,740 --> 00:27:46,640
It's all leftovers.

338
00:27:48,100 --> 00:27:55,380
The idea of giving in the scriptures was you were to give your firstborn calf or lamb, the first fruits.

339
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:57,560
That's why it's first.

340
00:27:57,560 --> 00:27:58,680
You give first.

341
00:28:05,039 --> 00:28:06,380
So it's true.

342
00:28:06,500 --> 00:28:09,780
you can get a whole lot more done with 90% blessed

343
00:28:10,460 --> 00:28:13,000
than you can with 100% that you don't give nothing.

344
00:28:16,900 --> 00:28:18,960
You have just convinced yourself that you do.

345
00:28:23,300 --> 00:28:25,180
You're either generous or you're not.

346
00:28:26,820 --> 00:28:29,300
If you're generous when you have a little, you're going to give.

347
00:28:32,120 --> 00:28:34,820
And if you're generous when you have more, you'll give more.

348
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:41,380
just whether it's small or a lot, you're just willing to give.

349
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,440
If you're not that, if this is something that begrudges you

350
00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:49,280
and you're actually upset right now that I'm talking about it,

351
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:51,840
pray that God would change your heart.

352
00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,120
Let him, he'll let you test him.

353
00:29:02,020 --> 00:29:02,620
Pray about it.

354
00:29:04,900 --> 00:29:08,140
these are hard verses and sometimes a bit confusing

355
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:12,680
verses

356
00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:15,000
1,

357
00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:17,520
it says,

358
00:29:19,140 --> 00:29:19,380
therefore,

359
00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,280
if you have been faithful in the unrighteous mammon,

360
00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:26,000
have not been faithful,

361
00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:26,520
excuse me,

362
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:28,020
in the unrighteous mammon,

363
00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:31,820
who will commit to your trust

364
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:32,900
the true riches.

365
00:29:34,700 --> 00:29:36,900
If you can't be faithful to give a little bit

366
00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:39,560
of what God's blessed you with

367
00:29:40,340 --> 00:29:42,260
and recognize it as such,

368
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:43,720
it's the blessing of God.

369
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:48,400
And you, how would he ever

370
00:29:50,700 --> 00:29:51,240
call you

371
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:53,940
to tell anybody about him?

372
00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:57,600
Why?

373
00:29:58,140 --> 00:29:59,300
Why would he entrust you?

374
00:30:00,540 --> 00:30:01,720
You can't even be trusted.

375
00:30:01,780 --> 00:30:02,680
with Abe and George.

376
00:30:07,900 --> 00:30:12,780
If, therefore, if you had not been faithful in the unrighteous man,

377
00:30:13,180 --> 00:30:15,200
who will commit to your trust the true riches?

378
00:30:16,180 --> 00:30:17,680
I was talking to a lawyer the other day.

379
00:30:17,700 --> 00:30:19,100
He's 10 or 12 years younger than me.

380
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,020
He said, I planned way too good for retirement.

381
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:24,900
I said, wow, I wish I had that problem.

382
00:30:28,340 --> 00:30:29,520
I said, when can you retire?

383
00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:30,120
He said, right now.

384
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:32,180
He said, but what would I do?

385
00:30:34,460 --> 00:30:37,200
And this guy is pretty wise and has a knowledge of the Lord,

386
00:30:37,790 --> 00:30:43,100
and hopefully the Lord will move him to use what he's blessed him with

387
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:44,300
to further the kingdom.

388
00:30:46,300 --> 00:30:49,180
Because the bottom line, folks, that's the only thing that counts.

389
00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:56,200
Okay, your boat and your four-wheel drive and your nice home and all those things.

390
00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:57,560
None of that counts.

391
00:30:59,220 --> 00:30:59,680
None of it.

392
00:31:01,060 --> 00:31:04,280
It's an empty hole that we try to fill.

393
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,140
Oh, if I get that, I'll be happy.

394
00:31:06,420 --> 00:31:07,099
No, you won't.

395
00:31:13,620 --> 00:31:17,480
A few years back, my wife and I bought our very first brand new car.

396
00:31:18,460 --> 00:31:19,020
Very first.

397
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:20,840
We're both in our six.

398
00:31:20,940 --> 00:31:21,840
Well, I'm in my 60.

399
00:31:21,980 --> 00:31:22,860
She wasn't 60 yet.

400
00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:27,700
And I'm thinking, this is what this is all about?

401
00:31:29,340 --> 00:31:30,840
I got it, barely got it in the drive.

402
00:31:30,860 --> 00:31:35,880
driveway and started thinking about the payment and think, this is terrible. Why did we do that?

403
00:31:37,020 --> 00:31:43,460
Right? And it just depreciated like $12,000 when I drove it off the lot. That's stupid.

404
00:31:51,700 --> 00:31:57,760
Psalm 49 says something interesting. Versus 16 and 7 says, do not be afraid when one becomes rich,

405
00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:00,340
when the glory of his house is increased.

406
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:03,760
For when he dies, he shall carry nothing away.

407
00:32:04,260 --> 00:32:07,440
His glory shall not descend after him.

408
00:32:07,940 --> 00:32:08,620
Did you notice that?

409
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:09,980
Did you notice that word there?

410
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:11,680
Descend?

411
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:16,140
This guy gets rich.

412
00:32:17,220 --> 00:32:17,620
Glorious.

413
00:32:18,340 --> 00:32:20,260
Everybody thinks, man, he's the talk of the town.

414
00:32:20,820 --> 00:32:22,040
He's super successful, man.

415
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:22,660
Look at that guy.

416
00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:27,780
He's, you know, got a hot truck and a hot house and a hot wife

417
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,940
heat, he don't realize the heat that he's going to.

418
00:32:39,300 --> 00:32:41,600
When the glory of his house is increased,

419
00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:46,680
his glory shall not descend after him.

420
00:32:46,980 --> 00:32:49,440
He's just going to be as crispy as everybody else.

421
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:57,580
I feel like the Lord's being,

422
00:32:58,660 --> 00:33:01,660
he's being pretty serious here about this stuff.

423
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:10,260
Verse 12, and if you have not been faithful in what is another's man, now check this out.

424
00:33:11,420 --> 00:33:18,500
If you have not been faithful in what is another's man's, who will give you what is your own?

425
00:33:20,260 --> 00:33:21,240
This is a hard verse.

426
00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:23,420
What do you mean?

427
00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:28,200
that is what is faithful with another man's.

428
00:33:30,820 --> 00:33:31,400
It's your life.

429
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:34,420
Your life's not your own.

430
00:33:34,900 --> 00:33:35,420
Do you know that?

431
00:33:37,420 --> 00:33:39,340
If you don't know that, please, please understand.

432
00:33:39,500 --> 00:33:41,540
Your life is not your own.

433
00:33:45,060 --> 00:33:46,180
And the scripture tells us that.

434
00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:49,720
Daniel told Belshazzar,

435
00:33:50,060 --> 00:33:52,960
the God who owns all your ways.

436
00:33:53,340 --> 00:33:56,120
He owns you, dude, and all your ways.

437
00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:58,180
And you knew this and you refused to repent.

438
00:34:02,580 --> 00:34:03,320
He owns us.

439
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:04,840
Why?

440
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:08,139
Because he has the final say of your eternal destination.

441
00:34:08,419 --> 00:34:09,320
That's why he owns you.

442
00:34:11,139 --> 00:34:19,760
And it says, if you have not been faithful in what is another's man's,

443
00:34:22,379 --> 00:34:26,040
our life is God's and it's not our own.

444
00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:29,200
And it says that in 1st Corinthians chapter 6.

445
00:34:29,500 --> 00:34:29,940
It says,

446
00:34:30,100 --> 00:34:34,520
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,

447
00:34:34,879 --> 00:34:36,200
whom you have from God,

448
00:34:36,620 --> 00:34:38,060
and you are not your own?

449
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,139
For you have been bought at a price.

450
00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:46,780
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit,

451
00:34:46,980 --> 00:34:47,659
which are gods.

452
00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:50,639
We're pretty good about glorifying.

453
00:34:52,260 --> 00:34:54,040
God and spirit so we think.

454
00:34:55,700 --> 00:34:56,139
But what about

455
00:34:57,860 --> 00:34:59,360
in the resources he gives us?

456
00:35:00,980 --> 00:35:02,060
What do we do with those?

457
00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:05,860
How well are we managing this

458
00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:07,960
life that God has given us?

459
00:35:13,420 --> 00:35:13,760
Who?

460
00:35:14,500 --> 00:35:15,360
Who will give you

461
00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:17,460
what is your own?

462
00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:19,140
Your own what?

463
00:35:19,380 --> 00:35:19,820
Your reward.

464
00:35:20,180 --> 00:35:20,660
Your eternal reward.

465
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:28,640
reward. If you can't manage it well and you squander it, you waste your life. How many people I've

466
00:35:28,700 --> 00:35:35,960
done funerals for that wasted their life? Some, God was very gracious and rescued them right at the

467
00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:42,240
end. No doubt they could feel in their spirit the flames of hell calling to them.

468
00:35:56,300 --> 00:35:58,700
Your spirit and your spirit and your body, which are gods.

469
00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:05,240
Notice the end of verse 12, the guy has glory here, but it will not follow him into hell.

470
00:36:07,260 --> 00:36:09,140
You'll have glory here, but it won't follow you into hell.

471
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:19,920
And Jesus kind of sums it up, verse 13.

472
00:36:20,460 --> 00:36:26,600
No servant can serve two masters, for he will either hate the one and love the other,

473
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,700
or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.

474
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:38,300
You cannot serve God and mammon or wealth or your retirement plan.

475
00:36:48,300 --> 00:36:49,200
verse 14

476
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:51,480
I'm going to read verse 14 through 18

477
00:36:51,780 --> 00:36:53,180
because I think it kind of just flows

478
00:36:53,900 --> 00:36:55,080
and wrap this up

479
00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:57,760
but it says now the Pharisees

480
00:36:57,900 --> 00:36:59,540
who were lovers of money

481
00:37:00,140 --> 00:37:01,620
also heard all these things

482
00:37:02,060 --> 00:37:03,120
and they derided him

483
00:37:03,940 --> 00:37:05,300
that means to turn up the nose

484
00:37:05,300 --> 00:37:05,600
they like

485
00:37:06,380 --> 00:37:08,320
yeah Jesus you don't know what you're

486
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:14,360
talking about. Right? Look at all this glory we have here, us people who know God.

487
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:25,440
They heard all these, they hide at him, and he said to them, you are those who justify

488
00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:32,340
yourselves before men and before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed

489
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:35,440
among men is an abomination in the sight of the Lord.

490
00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:40,200
our stuff, our accumulation.

491
00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:42,580
It's an abomination,

492
00:37:44,260 --> 00:37:47,620
especially when it rivals our relationship with God.

493
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:50,580
God sees it as abominable.

494
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:56,940
The law and the prophets were until John,

495
00:37:57,020 --> 00:37:59,720
and since that time, the kingdom of God has been preached

496
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:01,480
and everyone is pressing into it.

497
00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:02,740
People want to know about it.

498
00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:04,800
They want to know about the kingdom of God.

499
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:08,100
They've been coming and listening, and ever since they heard John preach,

500
00:38:08,410 --> 00:38:10,980
and now they see Jesus do all these things, and they're pressing in.

501
00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:15,100
But many of them, they don't want to hear these words.

502
00:38:15,860 --> 00:38:21,680
They don't want to hear that their wealth that they've accumulated is abominable.

503
00:38:26,340 --> 00:38:28,840
But we know that God's word is not going to pass away.

504
00:38:30,380 --> 00:38:32,080
And that's what he says in verse 17.

505
00:38:32,380 --> 00:38:34,880
And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass.

506
00:38:34,900 --> 00:38:40,820
away than for one tittle of the law to fail. Whoever divorces his wife and marries another

507
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:46,840
commits adultery and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery. That's

508
00:38:47,590 --> 00:38:53,380
odd. Here he is talking about money and then also he talks about divorce. I think they're

509
00:38:53,440 --> 00:39:01,900
tied together though some don't think so but I think so. And so he's challenging these people

510
00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:08,220
who love money. James 12, or excuse me, James 5 verses 1 and 3, come now, you rich, weep and how

511
00:39:08,780 --> 00:39:15,280
for your miseries that are coming upon you. For riches are corrupted and your garments are moth

512
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:21,440
eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be witness against you

513
00:39:22,020 --> 00:39:27,780
and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.

514
00:39:29,460 --> 00:39:31,660
I just read this morning in the reading,

515
00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:40,040
Joshua is when Aiken stole the gold and the silver and the Babylonian garment there in Jericho

516
00:39:40,820 --> 00:39:42,920
and he hit it, right?

517
00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:49,280
His, I mean, a big old bar of gold, you're thinking, hey, honey, what do you think?

518
00:39:50,380 --> 00:39:50,520
Right?

519
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:54,040
I can get you that fur coat and that new house.

520
00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:58,520
But God told him, he gave them instruction, his word, right?

521
00:39:58,580 --> 00:39:59,140
His word.

522
00:39:59,540 --> 00:40:00,520
Don't you violate my word?

523
00:40:00,980 --> 00:40:06,960
I said, you give everything, everything that all the booty you get is to go to the Lord.

524
00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:11,600
No, he wanted it for himself, so he dug a hole, and he buried it.

525
00:40:13,980 --> 00:40:21,520
And it corroded really quick, because within days, they stoned Aiken and his wife and his kids

526
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,900
because of his covich-nish-nish.

527
00:40:33,980 --> 00:40:36,720
Now, Aiken confessed his sin.

528
00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:39,340
He may have got to go into glory.

529
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:40,960
I believe God is that merciful

530
00:40:42,060 --> 00:40:44,640
that he confessed his sin what he had done.

531
00:40:44,810 --> 00:40:46,980
He said, I seen it, and I coveted after it.

532
00:40:47,700 --> 00:40:49,160
And he was just open with it.

533
00:40:49,820 --> 00:40:50,420
This is what I did.

534
00:40:50,900 --> 00:40:51,380
And it was wrong.

535
00:40:56,340 --> 00:40:56,840
And so they,

536
00:40:57,980 --> 00:40:59,540
they killed him for it.

537
00:41:00,240 --> 00:41:01,120
It was a capital crime.

538
00:41:01,540 --> 00:41:01,940
What he did.

539
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:11,760
I don't think we should have a bad attitude towards the Lord

540
00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:19,560
when he follows through on his word.

541
00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:22,820
Some people, I don't think that's fair.

542
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:23,740
I don't believe that.

543
00:41:25,180 --> 00:41:26,480
It really doesn't matter what you believe.

544
00:41:26,540 --> 00:41:33,820
it matter what God's word says, right? That's what matters. I know people don't come to this church

545
00:41:33,980 --> 00:41:40,960
anymore because I've said that to him. Well, I feel, I'm sorry, it doesn't matter how you feel. It matters

546
00:41:41,060 --> 00:41:49,520
what God's word says. That's what matters. So let God's word change how you feel, right? And that would be

547
00:41:50,100 --> 00:41:56,400
that would be much better. And James says there that you,

548
00:41:56,560 --> 00:42:00,680
you have heaped up treasures in the last days, right?

549
00:42:00,860 --> 00:42:02,200
We know that Jesus is coming.

550
00:42:04,260 --> 00:42:05,520
How big is your storehouse?

551
00:42:08,020 --> 00:42:09,320
You just keep heaping it up?

552
00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:10,520
Why?

553
00:42:13,260 --> 00:42:15,100
Now, I don't think people should go into debt,

554
00:42:15,210 --> 00:42:18,320
kind of like what they did in 1988, you know,

555
00:42:18,820 --> 00:42:22,800
when the book, you know, 88 reasons why Jesus is coming back in 88.

556
00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:29,480
There should have been a clue when they looked at the author because his last name was

557
00:42:29,620 --> 00:42:30,360
wise, not.

558
00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:38,840
But people mortgage their homes.

559
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:40,420
They maxed out their credit cards.

560
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:42,140
Jesus is coming back in 88.

561
00:42:42,340 --> 00:42:42,440
Ha!

562
00:42:42,620 --> 00:42:44,080
We don't have to pay any of our creditors.

563
00:42:44,550 --> 00:42:45,200
Oh, except one.

564
00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:50,240
The one who gave you your life, you have to pay him.

565
00:42:51,500 --> 00:42:53,860
You got to give an account for your life.

566
00:42:57,920 --> 00:42:59,520
So don't heap it up.

567
00:43:00,620 --> 00:43:01,240
Use it up.

568
00:43:05,380 --> 00:43:06,800
For the kingdom of God's sake.

569
00:43:08,740 --> 00:43:13,020
If you do, listen, if you do, if you use your resources

570
00:43:14,140 --> 00:43:15,740
sincerely for the kingdom of God,

571
00:43:16,300 --> 00:43:17,560
you'll never run out of resources.

572
00:43:19,720 --> 00:43:20,980
You'll never run out of resources.

573
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:23,520
You can't out of resources.

574
00:43:23,540 --> 00:43:33,320
God. It's the only thing that he tells you and me to test him in. And I haven't been a very good tester.

575
00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:40,980
Bring all the ties into the storehouse, he tells us in Malachi chapter three, verse 10.

576
00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:47,600
Bring all of the ties into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. And try me now in this,

577
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:53,500
says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for me,

578
00:43:53,560 --> 00:43:57,660
you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.

579
00:43:59,980 --> 00:44:09,320
God goes, test me. You tried out, give me. It's impossible. You can't do it. But we just don't

580
00:44:09,380 --> 00:44:10,180
want to take the test.

581
00:44:22,220 --> 00:44:23,480
It is easier for heaven and

582
00:44:23,500 --> 00:44:32,180
to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail. God's word here in Malachi and in the Old

583
00:44:32,380 --> 00:44:37,080
Testament, it's confirmed over and over again in the New Testament. They complement one another.

584
00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:42,740
It's not a different God in the Old Testament as it was in the New Testament. He's the same God.

585
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:50,620
And we need to live in the wisdom that is from above.

586
00:44:54,780 --> 00:44:58,860
And it's much different than the wisdom of the world, this wisdom from above.

587
00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:06,620
And he says here, whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery.

588
00:45:07,700 --> 00:45:12,200
And whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.

589
00:45:13,420 --> 00:45:16,260
I believe that he's talking about the whole money thing here.

590
00:45:17,520 --> 00:45:20,220
He accused Israel of being an adulterer's.

591
00:45:20,540 --> 00:45:24,840
because they would allow idols and different things to come into their life

592
00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:28,440
and it would just swoop their attention away from the God of heaven.

593
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:29,780
That's idolatry.

594
00:45:32,020 --> 00:45:33,000
And so it is with money.

595
00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:38,700
Being a lover of money is spiritual adultery.

596
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:48,260
And people divorce the God of heaven.

597
00:45:50,440 --> 00:45:51,500
for this world's riches.

598
00:45:53,620 --> 00:45:53,980
They do.

599
00:45:59,580 --> 00:46:01,260
God has entrusted you and I

600
00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:03,720
with this life as a manager.

601
00:46:04,540 --> 00:46:05,040
How are we doing?

602
00:46:05,450 --> 00:46:05,900
I know about you.

603
00:46:05,900 --> 00:46:06,720
I need a little work.

604
00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:08,440
Right?

605
00:46:08,540 --> 00:46:09,360
I need some work.

606
00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:13,440
And when he calls us to account,

607
00:46:13,620 --> 00:46:14,560
may he look at us,

608
00:46:15,980 --> 00:46:17,020
and what I mean by that is

609
00:46:17,380 --> 00:46:18,260
when you take your last breath,

610
00:46:18,260 --> 00:46:28,260
breath. We're all getting older here. Some of us seem to be faster than others. But we're all

611
00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:37,320
headed there at breakneck speed. You know, when Del held up that New England primer last week,

612
00:46:37,980 --> 00:46:42,760
he gave me one too. And I started reading it. And all the prayers, even for the kids,

613
00:46:42,860 --> 00:46:48,240
it talks about their death. Even for a kid, it talks about his death. It

614
00:46:48,280 --> 00:46:55,500
prepares him that this life, this life right here is really temporary. It's fleeting. It's like a vapor,

615
00:46:55,540 --> 00:47:03,680
the scripture says. It's like a breath. It's gone. It's here and it's gone. And it's so important

616
00:47:03,860 --> 00:47:11,080
for us to be prepared that we are that day when we stand before our God, we give an account to him

617
00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:15,160
for this life that he's entrusted us with as a manager.

618
00:47:18,860 --> 00:47:19,760
and I don't about you,

619
00:47:22,060 --> 00:47:24,160
but I would take a vow of poverty,

620
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:29,100
and I think in a sense we need to do that

621
00:47:30,620 --> 00:47:33,540
in the sense of keeping money as a servant

622
00:47:34,580 --> 00:47:35,300
and not our master.

623
00:47:36,860 --> 00:47:39,320
It's our servant. It's not our master.

624
00:47:40,240 --> 00:47:42,320
Because when it becomes your master,

625
00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:50,240
you've just forsaken the love of your life, the Lord Jesus, as an act of adultery.

626
00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:59,520
But when we come into account, may he look at us and smile and say, we all want to hear it, right?

627
00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:12,340
Well done. Thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord. And there is nothing in this life, you guys. There is

628
00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:18,120
nothing in what's in front of us, what's behind us, anything in between that can compare with

629
00:48:18,220 --> 00:48:26,000
that. Absolutely nothing. Amen? I'm going to ask the prayer team to come over here. They're

630
00:48:26,000 --> 00:48:30,100
going to be behind the bleachers over here. Let's all stand, and I'm going to close us in a word of

631
00:48:30,240 --> 00:48:36,160
prayer. If you need prayer, if you're just, if you're struggling, maybe this whole worldly stuff

632
00:48:36,240 --> 00:48:41,900
has ran away with you. Come and be prayed for. And let the Lord kind of,

633
00:48:42,700 --> 00:48:45,700
recalibrate you, reprogram you, redirect you.

634
00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:49,400
It's a good thing. Amen? Let's pray.

635
00:48:49,940 --> 00:48:51,420
Father, we thank you.

636
00:48:52,300 --> 00:48:55,320
Thank you that, Lord, you've given us a life to manage.

637
00:48:57,300 --> 00:49:00,140
And, Lord, that you've called us to yourself.

638
00:49:02,220 --> 00:49:05,560
Lord, you've knocked on the door of our hearts just by hearing your word,

639
00:49:07,300 --> 00:49:10,420
knowing that so often when we hear your word,

640
00:49:10,560 --> 00:49:16,680
it's a humbling experience, knowing that we're guilty.

641
00:49:18,240 --> 00:49:20,540
Whether it's knowing to do good and not doing it, Lord,

642
00:49:21,460 --> 00:49:23,920
or even committing the sin of adultery or murder,

643
00:49:26,080 --> 00:49:29,200
Lord, you're the one who can deal with all of the above.

644
00:49:30,480 --> 00:49:31,460
You can wash us clean.

645
00:49:32,180 --> 00:49:33,480
You can give us a clean start.

646
00:49:33,580 --> 00:49:37,080
You can fill our heart with a joy that nothing in this world can give us.

647
00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:39,980
May we find it in you, even this week.

648
00:49:40,380 --> 00:49:46,120
Lord, give us a hunger for your word, that we be men and women who are searching the scriptures,

649
00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:52,520
Lord, to make sure that we're right before our God, Lord, and you're faithful to correct us

650
00:49:52,620 --> 00:49:54,840
and to encourage us, Lord, and to teach us.

651
00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:56,980
We're so in need.

652
00:49:58,300 --> 00:50:01,120
And, Lord, we just want to give all that we are to you.

653
00:50:02,420 --> 00:50:04,860
Lord, help us to keep everything in its proper place.

654
00:50:05,600 --> 00:50:09,940
I pray for husbands and wives to love one another and to be a picture of Christ Jesus.

655
00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:15,860
and the church. And Lord, just a family unit as we love one another and we raise up children,

656
00:50:16,020 --> 00:50:20,300
a generation that loves you and will speak of these things, Lord, that they've learned from your

657
00:50:22,220 --> 00:50:25,420
word. And Lord, we're just praying that you would come quickly as well.

658
00:50:26,140 --> 00:50:34,260
Bless our country, Lord, as we embark on more time. I pray that you would rule and reign in the hearts

659
00:50:34,420 --> 00:50:39,920
of the people in this nation. And God, that we would slowly but surely turn to you.

660
00:50:40,040 --> 00:50:45,020
before you come, that when you come, you'll find faith on the earth. And we pray it in the mighty and

661
00:50:45,200 --> 00:50:49,360
powerful name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. God bless you guys. Have a great week in Jesus.