Man, the part of Luke 12 that I'd like to focus on is beginning there in verse 42 when
the Bible reads,
And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make
ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.
And the title of my sermon tonight is, A Faithful and Wise Steward.
He says there in verse 42, The Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward,
whom his lord shall make ruler over his household?
What does it mean to be a steward?
A steward is someone who is entrusted with something.
Flip over if you would to 1 Peter chapter number 4, 1 Peter chapter number 4.
We're going to come back to Luke 12.
In this example, the Bible is talking about a man who owns a house.
He has a household, and he has a steward over that house.
This is basically the person who runs things at his house, and if you study the word steward
throughout the Bible, that's usually how it's being used, because the master of the house,
he doesn't want to deal with all the day-to-day chores, and he doesn't want to sit there and
sharpen pencils and crunch numbers and keep a count of all his money coming in and money
going out.
So he has a steward that takes care of those things for him, and I have a wife that takes
care of a lot of those things for him, but anyway, he has a steward that will take care
of those things, and obviously this is someone that he has to place a lot of trust in.
An example of this would be Joseph back in the book of Genesis, where Potiphar makes
him the steward of his house, where Potiphar doesn't really know anything about his finances.
He just knows the food that's being put in front of him, but he knows that Joseph has
it all under control, because he's such a good steward.
So a steward is someone who is trusted with something of value, and they are supposed
to do a good job of disposing of those assets and using things for the will of the master.
Now the Bible says here in 1 Peter 4 verse 10, as every man hath received the gift, even
so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
So God is telling us to be good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
You don't have to turn there, but in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 1, the Bible reads, Let a
man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful, and faithful means
trustworthy.
So the Bible is saying that we as ministers of Christ are stewards of the mysteries of
God.
We've been trusted with all this knowledge and all this wisdom and all these mysteries
that are in the Bible.
What are we going to do with our trust?
Are we going to squander and waste that which God has given us, or are we going to be a
good steward of what God has given us?
Imagine entrusting someone with your car and then they destroy your car, they bring it
back wrecked.
They were not a good steward of what you gave them, right?
Let's say you give someone some money and say, hey, go up to the store and buy X, Y
and Z for it, and they come back with all the wrong things.
They bought all the wrong things, they wasted money and they didn't get the best deal.
Then they were a bad steward of what you trusted them with.
So does everybody understand what the word steward means?
Well in this scripture in 1 Peter 4 it says, as every man hath received the gift, even
so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Now flip over to 1 Corinthians 12.
So according to the Bible, one of the things that God has trusted us with as stewards is
that He has given us gifts.
Now there are a lot of things that we've been entrusted with according to the Bible as stewards.
The gospel, the word of God, the oracles of God, the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
There are a lot of things that we've been given and when God gives us these things,
He expects us to be a good steward of what He has given us.
Not to waste it or squander it or misuse it.
Well one of the things according to 1 Peter 4 that we've been entrusted with are gifts.
Now look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 1 about gifts because we
want to be a good steward of the gifts that God has given us.
It says in verse 1, now concerning spiritual gifts brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
So this is a subject that is important enough where God has a verse just to tell us don't
be ignorant about this subject.
Why does God not want us to be ignorant about spiritual gifts?
Because we've all been given gifts and He wants us to be a good steward of those gifts,
not to just be ignorant of the fact that they even exist and then we're definitely not putting
them to use.
What does the Bible say in verse number 4?
It says now there are diversities of gifts, meaning that different people have different
kinds of gifts.
The Bible says there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences
of administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of operations but it is the
same God which worketh in all but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to pray
profit with all.
So God has given us spiritual gifts and these gifts are to bring forth a profit, okay?
We think of someone who invests in something and they want to make a profit, you know,
they have a business, they have employees that work for them as stewards and they want
to turn a profit, right?
Now this particular profit is not money.
When we talk about profit here, we're talking about profiting the Kingdom of God.
We're talking about something that's going to increase the Kingdom of God or edify our
brothers and sisters in Christ or cause the church to be benefited.
That's the profit that we're talking about.
Look down at verse 28 and I'll show you some of these gifts here in verse 28.
It says, And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly
teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities
of tongues, are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles,
have all the gifts of healing, do all speak with tongues, do all interpret, but covet
earnestly the best gifts and yet show I unto you a more excellent way.
So if we look at some of these gifts that are listed here, these have to do basically
with skills that people have in the church, the ability to perform certain functions in
the church.
Not everyone has the ability to preach.
Not everyone is apt to teach, as the Bible says.
Not everyone speaks a variety of foreign languages.
You know, when the Bible talks about gifts of tongues, you know, people that are gifted
with the ability to speak foreign language.
And by the way, this has nothing to do with rolling on the ground and slobbering and all
this nonsense.
You know, when the Bible talks about tongues, it's talking about actual real languages.
You know, read Acts chapter 2, the first time tongues are really shown, and it actually
lists 17 languages.
It lists 17 geographical regions.
So we're not talking about, you know, gibberish here or nonsense or a heavenly language.
We're talking about the languages of the people who live on earth.
And he lists off, you know, the Parthians and the Medes and the Arabs and all the different
languages that were there in Acts chapter 2.
Have you ever noticed how some people are good at picking up foreign languages and then
other people could hardly learn a foreign language to save their life?
Why?
Because some people are more gifted with language than others.
Some people are more gifted with the interpretation of tongues, meaning that even if they can't
speak a lot of languages, they can understand a lot of different languages.
They have an ear to just pick up language.
There are people who are gifted with teaching.
The Bible says here, also in 1 Corinthians 12, it talks about, at the end of verse 28,
governments.
What does that mean?
These are people that are just good at running things, good at being in charge, good at leading,
and basically delegating work to other people and saying, hey, you go here, you go here.
These are people that today we would probably refer to as organizers, people who are a good
organizer.
That's the government.
You say, well, why do we need that in the church?
Because a real church is a church where work is being done for God.
That's a real church.
You know, there are a lot of churches that are just a social club where people just kind
of show up and get together and have their fellowship and so forth.
But church is supposed to be God's tool to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It's supposed to be a place where work is being done.
The church is an institution that God uses to teach people the Bible and also to go out
and reach people with the Gospel, also to baptize those people and teach them all things
that Christ has taught us.
And so we need organization in order to do that.
You know, a church that's really doing something, there's a lot to organize.
And so there are people that are good at that, people who are good leaders and organizers.
We need people to teach.
We need people to preach.
We need people to deal with foreign languages.
Why?
Because there are all kinds of people who speak other languages in Phoenix and elsewhere
in the world.
And they need to be reached with the Gospel.
He talks about gifts of healing.
Now when we think of gifts of healing, obviously the first thing that comes to mind is the
miraculous type healing that we see throughout the Bible where people will sometimes be miraculously
healed through prayer and through laying on hands and so forth.
But this could also be someone who's just a gifted healer in the natural sense.
You know, they know the remedies and so forth.
I think both interpretations are there.
People are just gifted in that area.
But you know, when we see talk about miracles and healings, the sad thing is that there
are so many frauds and charlatans out there that it's kind of made us sometimes just stop
believing that these things are possible.
But you know, God still does perform miracles and people are healed through the power of
prayer and anointing people with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith will
save the sick and so forth.
But because there are so many frauds and charlatans and faith healers and people are
pretending to be apostles and all this stuff, that it kind of just makes us upset about
that subject, sort of like poisoning the well where we don't really even think about it
anymore that there are legitimate cases where people are miraculously healed.
But it's few and far between.
Even in the Bible it wasn't something that happens in all stages of the Bible.
Even as we read the Bible we go hundreds of years without seeing miracles always taking
place.
But there are certain times when a lot of miracles would take place.
Like in the days of the apostles, men like Elisha performed a lot of miracles.
So we see these different gifts.
But these gifts have to do with the work of God.
They have to do with edifying the body of Christ and with getting the Gospel out to
as many people as possible.
According to the Bible, the purpose of the gift of tongues was to get the Gospel out
to people who spoke foreign languages.
That's the perfect.
It was a sign for those that believe not, okay, to get the Gospel out to people that
need to be saved.
People need to be taught.
They need to be preached to.
People that are sick and need healing, organization that needs to take place.
Flip over to chapter 14, just a few pages to the right in your Bible.
First Corinthians chapter 14 verse 1, the Bible reads, follow after charity and desire
spiritual gifts but rather that you may prophesy.
Look at verse number 12, here's a key verse.
Even so ye, for as much as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel
to the edifying of the church.
So what is the purpose of spiritual gifts?
Just to have a spiritual gift.
No, it's to seek to the edifying of the church.
So what I want to talk about here is being a good steward of the gifts that you've been
given, meaning that your talents and your abilities are put to good use for the edifying
of the church and for the furtherance of the kingdom of God.
That's what the Bible is saying here.
Seek that you may excel in these gifts.
Why?
To the edifying of the church.
Flip back to Romans chapter 12, another passage on spiritual gifts.
Romans chapter number 12.
Romans chapter number 12, verse 5, the Bible reads, so we being many are one body in Christ
and everyone members one of another, having then gifts differing according to the grace
that is given to us, meaning that we don't all have the same gifts and abilities.
It says whether prophesy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith or ministry,
let us wait on our ministering or he that teacheth on teaching or he that exhorteth
on exhortation.
He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity.
He that ruleth with diligence.
He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
So these gifts are given to the body of Christ, to the church where different people have
different abilities and here we see a few other gifts.
Him that ruleth is similar to the governments, the one who organizes and administers things.
He that showeth mercy, he that giveth.
Prophecy has to do with preaching.
The Bible used the word prophecy and preaching interchangeably.
But go back to Exodus because there's even more of a variety of gifts that God gives
people than just what is listed in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12.
There's actually a great variety of talents and abilities that God blesses people with
and that he wants them to be a good steward of, meaning that they use it for the kingdom
of God.
Look at Exodus chapter 28 verse 3.
The Bible says, And thou shalt speak unto all that are wisehearted whom I have filled
with the spirit of wisdom.
This is God talking.
He says, I filled these people with the spirit of wisdom that they may make Aaron's garments
to consecrate him that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.
These people had been given wisdom and skill by God to make clothing for Aaron to wear.
Flip over to chapter 31, just a few pages to write in your Bible there, Exodus 31.
And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, verse 2, See, I have called by name Bezalel the
son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah.
And I have filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge
and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold and in silver
and in brass and in cutting of stones, to set them and in carving of timber, to work
in all manner of workmanship.
And I behold, I have given with him Aholiyab, the son of Ahistomak of the tribe of Dan.
And in the hearts of all that are wisehearted, I have put wisdom that they may make all that
I have commanded thee.
Now, obviously in the New Testament, God has not called us to build a great building, has
He?
In the Old Testament, they were called to build buildings such as the tabernacle, and
then later, of course, they built the temple in Jerusalem.
And God gave specific men skill and understanding.
And God refers this as the fullness of the Holy Spirit also, giving them these abilities.
So even though we're not building buildings in the New Testament, God still can give a
variety of gifts is what I'm trying to show you here.
Whatever can cause the church to be edified, whatever can cause the gospel to go forth,
He gives a diversity of gifts from the same spirit, even to the point where in the Old
Testament, when someone needed to do woodworking and metalworking, He gave them that ability.
It wasn't just something that they had in the flesh, but rather it was given to them
by the Spirit of God.
Flip over to Exodus, chapter number 36, verse 1.
I'm skipping some of these for sake of time because they're repetitive.
But in Exodus 36, verse 1, the Bible reads, Then wrought Bezalel and Aholiab, and every
wisehearted man in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all
manner of work.
What does that mean?
Every type of work, all manner of work, for the service of the sanctuary according to
all that the Lord hath commanded.
And Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab, and every wisehearted man in whom the Lord hath
put wisdom, even everyone whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it.
Now what I want to point out is that whether we're in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, whether
we're back in Exodus, when God is giving people gifts, when God is giving people skill
and understanding to do these various tasks, notice it's always for the work of the house
of God.
The purpose is to get work done, is the purpose to show off, impress people, glory in our
gift.
Oh wow, I'm so talented at this and talented at that.
No, the goal is to get some work done.
And let me tell you something, I have no time for gifts that people have that don't have
anything to do with furthering the kingdom of God or edifying the body of Christ or the
work of the house of God.
They are vain.
They're unprofitable.
And remember that word profit?
They're unprofitable if they don't accomplish anything for the kingdom of God.
And often God gives people gifts and abilities and they don't use them for the work of God.
Therefore those gifts are wasted and therefore that person is a bad steward of what God has
given to them.
We want to be a faithful and a wise steward, don't we?
And not just waste our gifts by not working for the kingdom of God with those gifts.
Let me give you an example, and this is a really easy example.
Music is a great example.
There are people who are gifted in music, aren't they?
Talented, they have great musical ability.
Perhaps they've been blessed with a great singing voice or perhaps they've been blessed
with just skill on a piano or skill on other instruments.
And there are basically two choices of what you can do with that ability.
You can use it for the kingdom of God, for the house of God, for the glory of God, or
you can waste it.
And honestly if you're just using it for vanity or using it just for worldly entertainment,
it's a waste because honestly a hundred years from now it's not going to matter.
It's going to crumble to dust, whatever you've accomplished, in a worldly sense.
When it comes to playing piano, a lot of people spend hours and hours and hours learning how
to play classical piano.
Now I'm not saying there's anything wrong with practicing and learning classical piece
on the piano because sometimes just playing a variety of styles of music can just make
you a better piano player, but you know what?
That ought to be the reason and otherwise it's completely vain and unprofitable for
you to excel at playing classical piano because let's face it, you're probably not going to
become a concert pianist.
I mean very few people have that job, don't they?
I mean how many people really make a living for their wife and children by being a concert
pianist?
Now it's rare.
I'm not saying it's not out there.
I'm not saying you can't make a little extra money on the side doing piano lessons or playing
a piano at a wedding or something like that, but you know what is a lot more profitable?
To learn how to play a musical instrument so that you can play in church and use that
ability for God's glory.
See if you learn and listen to me, I grew up playing the piano ever since I was a tiny
little kid.
Now you wouldn't know it because I'm not very good at playing the piano, but honestly I
started playing piano and I was just a little kid.
I was like three or four years old and my older sister, she put tape on the keys so
that I would know which keys to play and my first song was Three Blind Mice when I was
just a tiny little three, four year old kid.
And honestly I grew up, I taught myself how to play piano for years just from lesson books.
I finally got lessons when I was about nine years old and around the time I was nine,
ten, eleven, I took piano lessons for about a two year period and I mainly learned classical
piano.
I mean that was 90 some percent of what I learned how to play classical.
And it was great at a party to impress people, you know, just crank out some songs, but you
know what, that's total vanity, totally worthless.
It doesn't really excel for the edifying of the church.
And I remember when I got into a soul winning independent fundamental Baptist church, which
is basically the kind of church where real work is going on for the kingdom of God versus
just playing church and playing games, okay.
I showed up at a soul winning church and I remember trying to learn how to play the hymns
and it was literally almost like going back and learning how to play piano all over again.
And there was a little bit of crossover, but honestly most of the time that I had spent
learning how to play classical piano, most of it was in vain because I had to go back
and learn a completely different style of piano playing to learn how to play the hymns.
And you know what, as a 17 year old worldly teenage boy with my hair all punked out and
everything in that fundamental Baptist church, I know it's hard to picture, but I lamented
the fact that I had not spent my life learning how to play hymns.
And I wished that I had learned how to play hymns instead of spending so much time learning
how to play songs that honestly do not profit.
They don't profit.
Now again, anytime you practice on the piano, okay you're getting better, but there needs
to be a specificity of training if you want to be good at playing in church because playing
in church is difficult.
You know a lot of people may just take for granted the fact that we have a great piano
player, brother Matt, who can just play any song we throw at him.
But that represents literally thousands of hours of practice, thousands, no joke.
Playing piano is a lot harder than you think, especially at that level.
See, here's the thing about classical piano.
When you play classical piano, you spend a month on one song.
And you get really good at your showpiece, you have your recital, and you play that showpiece
a couple times a year or whatever.
And even a concert pianist, he gets real good at a certain song and he performs that song
all over the world.
He travels around performing that.
Or maybe the Phoenix Symphony, they'll learn certain songs for that season and they'll
play those songs over and over again.
But see, to play in church, you have to learn hundreds of songs.
And you have to be ready to be called upon to play those hundreds of songs at any moment.
Hey, I turned to so and so.
And he just turns there and nobody even thinks about the fact that he had to learn each of
those songs and learn how to play.
This is something where it's a real clear cut example of using your talent and ability
for the Lord versus squandering it.
And so I encourage you, if you are a musician at all, to ask yourself whether your musical
ability is edifying the church, is it something that is a blessing and a glory unto God, or
is it just something that's a parlor trick.
And I'm not trying to be harsh, but honestly, that's kind of the true story.
You can play in church three times a week and be a major asset to your local church
and a major blessing, or you can really wow people with Fur Elise at a party every once
in a while.
I mean, that's the reality because, let's face it, 99% of kids who take piano lessons
don't end up becoming concert pianists because there just isn't a huge demand out there for
concert pianists.
I'll put it this way.
There's a lot more people learning how to play piano than jobs where you play piano
full time and make good money and make enough money to make a living for your whole family.
I've known a lot of people who tried to break into these careers of being a professional
musician.
Well, guess what?
It's kind of hard to get into and actually make money.
There's a lot of starving artists out there, but it's not really a viable way to make money
for most people.
If kids want to grow up and say, hey, I'm going to play in the NBA or whatever, that
might be kind of a pipe dream too, right?
I mean, realistically, you usually make money by being an electrician, a carpenter, a plumber.
Here's the bottom line.
No matter what, though, no matter what, if you learn how to play the hymns on piano,
that's not a waste of your time because every time you sit down to practice, you're glorifying
God and every time you play in church, you're glorifying God.
There's always going to be a use for a pianist in church or someone on the organ.
Look, we're not just limited to these two instruments.
Now, obviously, we're not having a rock band in here.
We play the traditional hymns, but we've had people come in and play a saxophone with the
hymns.
It sounded great.
We've had guitar with the hymns, loved it.
We've had trumpet.
We've had harmonicas.
We've had melodicas.
We've had all kinds of musical instruments.
In the Bible, they use all kinds of musical instruments.
We could think outside the box if people who had the ability would step up and play
these musical instruments for the glory of God so that the church might be edified through
playing skillfully with a loud noise as the Bible tells us to do in the book of Psalms
repeatedly to praise the Lord on an instrument of ten strings, et cetera, et cetera.
That's just one example.
What about people who are gifted with foreign languages?
What about people who can speak Spanish or other languages?
Are you using that gift and ability for the glory of God?
I mean, look, if you can speak both English and Spanish fluently, you are a valuable soul
winner.
Are you out soul winning this week?
Are you going to come on Monday night to the soul winning time?
Are you showing up on Wednesday?
Are you going to the new Friday night time out on the west side?
Are you going soul winning on Sunday afternoons at Gilbert?
Are you coming to the church?
Look, when are you going out soul winning?
Because you know what?
We need people who can speak Spanish because think about how many doors we knock on and
it's just a no habla ingles door and we need you to be there to speak Spanish.
Will you be used by God to preach the Gospel in Spanish and win people to Christ in Spanish?
You know, there have been people in this church who speak Spanish who have been used also
to help translate some of the films and sermons that are out there on the internet to get
them translated into foreign languages and to get them dubbed into foreign languages.
Look, let me just break this down to you.
The most successful film that I've been a part of numerically as far as how many people
have watched it is Paul Wittenberger's film After the Tribulation and that film After
the Tribulation, the English version has been viewed approximately three million times online.
Three million.
That's a huge number.
Let that sink in.
That's three thousand people watching it every day for about three years.
Are you getting it?
I mean that's about three, I believe my math is correct.
That's about three thousand people watching that movie every day for like the last three
years.
That's huge, isn't it?
Three million people.
And at the end of that movie it has a crystal clear Gospel presentation.
You know, come for the Bible prophecy, stay for the Gospel.
Because a lot of people who watch that movie aren't saved.
They're just into conspiracy theory, they're into Christian eschatology, they're into the
end times, whatever the reason they watch it because it's being promoted by Infowars
or whoever.
You know, they're watching it and they're getting the Gospel.
Three million views on that thing.
That's awesome, right?
Okay, guess what?
We put it into Spanish with the help of several people in our church and several people outside
of the church.
You know how many times the Spanish version has been viewed online?
Almost six million.
One upload, Brother Lewis's upload has almost five million views on it.
You know, I mean, that's crazy.
So English version that was wildly successful, you know, three million views.
The Spanish version had six million views.
So there's some people who put some work into that and you know what, their labor was not
in vain.
I mean, who thinks it was a waste of their time?
Who thinks it was a waste of Brother Segura's time to come to LA with me and we recorded
the Spanish audio?
I mean, who thinks that was a waste of time if six million people have seen it?
Think about that.
That's what I'm talking about, my friend.
But if people don't step up to the plate and get things done, then these talents and gifts
are wasted.
You know, we could have a great musical program where we, and look, I know some people just
think it doesn't matter, but they're wrong.
People who think the music doesn't matter, they're wrong.
No, God doesn't care if we sing a capella.
No, God told us to praise him with musical instruments all throughout songs.
And you know what, it brings more glory to God when we're good at it than when we're
bad at it.
That's why he said play skillfully with a loud noise, okay?
When we sing out loud, God's more glorified than when we show up and just, you know.
God wants us to sing out.
God wants us to play well.
God wants us to do our best and to glorify him and to give him our best and that when
people come into this church that they don't think that we're just some fly-by-night, everything's
half-hearted.
You know, he wants to have a church that glorifies him by having a preacher who is prepared with
a sermon and having singers who sing well and do a good job and a piano player and an
organist who are prepared and ready.
You know, these things all glorify God.
And when we reach out to those who speak Spanish, in addition to those who speak English, God
is glorified.
And when we reach out to the French speaker and the Portuguese speaker and the German
speaker and the, you know, God is glorified by that.
Why?
Because he said teach all nations.
Not just those who speak English, but he wants us to reach all nations with the gospel and
who does he use?
He uses people who are bilingual, who can bring the gospel to those nations.
There are people in our church who speak all, who here speaks a language other than Spanish?
Put up your hand.
If you speak, and I'm not talking about English, okay.
Who here speaks a foreign language other than, everybody puts their hand up.
Who here speaks a foreign language besides Spanish?
Put up your hand nice and high.
Yeah, so look at some of the languages that we have here.
You know, what's it called?
Danga?
Arabic.
Yeah, Arabic, Danga, we've got Yoruba, we've got Tagalog, we've got Polish.
Put up your hand.
What other languages do we have?
Korean.
What language do you speak?
Afrikaans.
Afrikaans, wow.
Are you visiting from South Africa?
No.
Oh, okay.
You just speak Afrikaans, huh?
Yeah.
Wow, man, that's great.
What else have we got in the room?
Brother Lewis speaks Australian.
No, I'm just joking.
Sometimes when he talks it seems like it's a foreign language.
I don't think I'm alone on that.
Anybody else speak a foreign language?
Look, many of the people who've raised their hand have already been used by God to help
produce translations and help out, let alone all the Spanish work that's been done.
You know, Brother J. Lee, we created some Korean videos, you know, and it wasn't something
where he's just, yeah, I'm a voiceover artist, sure, let me step in and do that.
You know, he was like, I don't know, and I'm like, come on, it'll be great, let's do it,
and he did an awesome job.
It was great.
You know, that's a talent.
That's one that's even in the list.
The gift of tongues, the gift of interpretation of tongues.
You know, and not only that, even outside of our church, there are a multitude of people
that you don't even know about that translate things for our church and produce audio and
dubbing.
I mean, there's a guy who's been dubbing several of my sermons into German, fully dubbed, and
I mean, I understand how much work that represents, probably most people don't.
I understand that's a crazy amount of work that goes into that.
There's a guy who's been dubbing a bunch of, a couple of guys who are putting all the sermons
into French, you know, and the movies and key sermons, Portuguese, Spanish, German,
there are all kinds of people all over the world who are volunteering to put, you know,
hey, I'll do the Slovakian subtitles, hey, you know, I'll do the subtitles into Bosnian,
I'll do this, you know, and people are using their talents and abilities to reach people
with the Gospel, to get these truths of God's word out to thousands and thousands of people,
and other people are doing nothing with their talents and abilities.
There are people who have a great speaking ability and instead of, you know, becoming
a preacher, instead of being a soul winner, instead of teaching God's word, you know,
they go out and want to make money in the business world or be a politician or some
kind of a worldly use of that skill when that could also be put toward the furtherance of
the kingdom of God.
Think about it.
If you're good with any skill, we're talking, you know, if you're good at computers, if
you're good at speaking, if you're good at teaching, if you're good with languages, if
you're good with music, all of these things can be put to use for the glory of God.
I want to ask you tonight, are you being a good steward of what God has given you?
Are you being a good steward of the time that God has given you or do you waste a lot of
time?
The Bible says redeeming the time because the days are evil, redeeming the time, putting
it to good use or do you just spend hours and hours and hours watching TV, rotting your
brain in front of the television, the hellavision, rotting your brain instead of doing something
for God, sitting around, being lazy, not doing, hey, why don't you show up and go soul winning?
Hey, why don't you build something, why don't you do something, why don't you get involved
in serving God, whatever your talent is.
I mean, there are people who come here and spend hours cleaning the building.
You know, praise God, that's necessary.
There are people who use their ability to organize, you know, events and to organize
meals for those who give birth and, you know, those kind of governments and gifts of helps
of helping people.
Be a good steward is what I'm saying with the gifts and talents and abilities that you've
been given.
Don't waste them.
Don't squander them.
Well, I'm not talented but I'll bet you if we were to stop the sermon right now and go
to each person, which I'm not going to do obviously, but if we went to each person in
this building and just asked them what are your talents, what are your abilities, what
skills do you have, I guarantee you that every single person in this room would have gifts
and abilities that could be put to the use of the edifying of the church.
I know that.
I don't doubt that for one second, that everybody here has abilities and skills that are unique
to them that could be put toward the use of the kingdom of God.
You know, I want to have a part in people being saved.
I want to be a part of a team that's winning people to Christ, that's changing lives, that's
teaching people to buy.
Look, this is not a one-man show.
This is not the Pastor Steven Anderson show.
This is Faithful Word Baptist Church.
It's an assembly, it's a congregation.
You know, there are people pitching in, okay, here's a good example.
How about this portrait project that we're doing where we're putting together this beautiful
yearbook at the end of the year where we can give that out to people.
Hey, that's a blessing.
That book is going to be a blessing because that's a prayer list right there and it will
help you get to know people in the church and know people's names and so forth and it's
something that can be on the coffee table that's a testimony of our church.
And we have people in the church that just happen to be professional photographers.
And what are they doing?
They're using their ability with photography for the kingdom of God.
Yeah, well, I'm a photographer.
I didn't see that in the list, but no, he said all manner of work, all manner of service.
Hey, I'm a photographer.
What can I do to pitch in?
And by the way, sometimes people come and say, hey, you know, put me to work.
But you know, sometimes people, they actually dream up their own ways to help and pitch
into, you know, and just step in and say, hey, Pastor Anderson, here's how I can help
or here's what I can do.
Here's how I can be a blessing.
You know, I want a piece of the action.
You know, that's what it's about.
It's about working, all right.
You know, there are people, you know, who are gifted at reading the Bible, you know,
and basically they're used before the sermon to read the scripture to us.
You know, I'm edified and blessed when I hear the scripture read before the sermon preached
by people that are good at reading, people that are good at reading out loud.
You know, you can read the Bible, but I like listening to the Bible read out loud.
Something special about that, especially when you're in church listening.
Things jump out at you that you don't normally get from the scripture when you're in church
and you're hearing it read before the sermon.
You know, powerful voices, great skill at reading.
And that's a simple skill, isn't it, reading, singing.
These are simple things, but all of these things can be put to good use.
You know, people have good people skills.
Hey, they could be used to greet people and be friendly and meet new visitors, right?
And then here's a bad steward, a good, friendly, outgoing person who just after every service
just talks to the same two people.
And they don't branch out and use their talent and ability.
Look, if you have a talent to make people smile, to welcome people, to be friendly,
hey, why don't you use that talent to greet people after the service?
And you say, well, where's that in the Bible?
Well, the Bible says if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others?
Do not even the publican so?
You know, God says to salute everybody, salute every saint in Christ Jesus, the Bible says.
You know, greeting and meeting and being friendly and making people feel welcome.
People who are gifted with conversation should reach out to visitors and make them feel welcome.
And not just visitors, even if people have been here for a few months, but maybe they're
not really totally plugged in yet, don't have a lot of friends, hey, go to that person.
Meet them if you're outgoing, get to know them if you're gifted like that.
Soul winning, preaching, singing, working with computers.
I mean, our church has just an insane website ministry of just literally reaching millions
of people with these sermons, literally.
I mean, we have a huge online presence.
Hey, if you're a computer guy and there's a way to pitch in, I mean, get on board with
that.
I mean, it's huge.
Why do you think we have visitors every week?
How'd you hear about our church?
Internet?
We're everywhere.
Why?
Because people, it's not just me though, there's other people working on it, helping out with
it.
There are guys who work with the sound, you know, dealing with the sound, dealing with
the visual for the live streaming video, stream worldwide.
There's all kinds of people in this church that are being used because they're being
a good steward of their talents and abilities.
You know, you're not going to get a reward in heaven for being a concert pianist.
There's no reward like that.
You're not going to receive crowns for all the, you know, the worldly use of your talent.
And I understand that we do have to use our talents in a worldly way when it comes to
making a living for ourselves and our family, right?
There's nothing wrong with going out in the world and making money to provide for our
family, but are you also using your talent for the kingdom of God?
Are you also using it for the edifying of the body of Christ and being a good steward?
I believe this is very important, that we be a good steward of what God has given us.
Now there's a lot more scripture on this.
For sake of time, I'm just going to hit a few highlights here, but let's go back to
Luke 12 where we started with the sermon, Luke chapter 12.
Remember God gave you any ability that you have.
The Bible says it's God that gives you the power to get wealth.
You might think that you make money because you're so smart and skilled of your own volition
and you picked yourself up by your bootstraps, but God said, don't forget in Deuteronomy,
don't forget that it's God that gives you the power to get wealth.
God gives you the power to make lots of money.
If you make lots of money, you know, which most people don't obviously, but it's God
that gave you those abilities.
You say, well, what?
God gave me the ability to do landscaping?
Yes.
Yeah.
God gave me the ability to be an electrician?
Yes.
If he gave people the ability to make clothes, he said, they've been filled with the spirit
to make Aaron's clothes, filled with the spirit to carve wood, filled with the spirit to work
with metal, filled with the spirit to bend conduit for crying out loud.
You know, if they can bend metal back then, they can bend metal now.
Why?
God gives us all of our talents and abilities and you know what we need to stop and realize
that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and coming down from the father
of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
So are you being a good steward of what God gave you?
Are you being a good steward of your time?
Are you being good steward of your money or do you just waste your money on stupid things?
Do you just wash money down the toilet or do you use your money to be a blessing to
other people that are in need or a blessing to the church or you know, to provide nice
things for your family or you know, there are people who just waste their money on stupid
things.
I mean, who knows people who waste money on stupid things.
Here's stupid things to waste your money on.
Lottery tickets, cigarettes, right?
I mean these are just stupid.
I mean every time, every time I go to the store to use Western Union money transfer,
I stand there and I'm waiting for them to type it all in the computer and I'm just staring
at a wall of cigarettes and you know what I look at?
The prices, $8.13, $7.59, $7.99, $8.99, $6.99 for the el cheapo cigarettes.
I mean I don't remember seeing any cigarettes that were under $6.
That's a lot of money.
Every day up in smoke, flushing it down the toilet, oh God, please bless my finances.
As you're flushing you know, $7.00 a day down the toilet, $210.00 a month down the toilet
and you know I've done this before, I'll do it again to just really drive the point home.
Somebody I want to show you this, kids, kids in the auditorium, pay close attention, all
right kids?
I'm going to break the law right now.
Live stream to the world, okay?
Here we go.
I got $4.00 here.
Is every kid paying attention?
Raise your hand if you're a child, okay?
Look, see these $4.00?
Look what I'm doing right now.
I'm destroying them.
Look at this, $4.00.
Look at that, trashed, wasted, okay?
Now look, some of you are sickened by that.
What are you doing?
You're wasting your money.
But you know what?
There are people who waste twice that much money every day and they're called smokers.
Now did I just destroy my health right now by doing that?
Did I just give myself lung cancer and emphysema?
Did I just inconvenience all the people around me?
Did I just make my house and my car stink?
No.
But yet many people are more bothered by what I just did than by the fact that you're smoking.
When smoking makes double that every day, at least.
You say you're being a bad steward.
No, because that was $4.00 well spent because I just taught, I just taught people, I taught
children and they're going to remember that.
And they're going to remember that smoking is stupid because you're just wasting money
throwing money in the trash.
And you know what?
If you buy lottery tickets, kids, this is what you're doing.
Why would God bless you if you buy lottery tickets when God said that we should not hasten
to be rich?
If God commanded us not to make haste to be rich but that we should work diligently, then
why would he bless you?
Oh, Pastor Anderson, if I win the lottery, I'm going to give 10% and whatever.
Look, why would God bless you?
You're not obeying him.
And by the way, most people who win the lottery ruin their lives anyway because they can't
even handle that money anyway.
I'm talking about being a good steward of your money and not doing that with your money
and just wasting it on foolishness.
Just wasting it on cheap thrills, junk, food that has no nutritional value that you're
just having a party in your mouth with, cigarettes, lottery tickets, right?
What else do people just waste a lot of money on?
You know, alcohol, of course, yeah.
What good is that doing you or the kingdom of God or edifying the church, you know, drinking
alcohol?
Yeah, go out and buy the movies and the DVDs and spending all this money on junk.
Look, be a good steward.
What's that?
Somebody say something else?
What?
Can you say that in English?
Fashion?
Yeah, that's true.
That's true.
You know, the Bible says, and look, that's biblical what he just, because what does the
Bible talk about?
Women should not be adorned, the Bible says, with costly apparel.
The Bible says that women, every husband's like, yes, amen.
Let me say this again, men, who says I should say it again?
Yeah, amen, amen, that's right.
The Bible says not to have costly apparel.
Every man's like, yeah, I love this church, yeah.
Can we get this on CD, you know?
You know what, because look, it's a waste of money to buy these real fancy gold and
silver and silk and precious stones and costly array.
The Bible says, no, no, no, don't be adorned with costly apparel, be adorned with good
works.
And it goes for the men too.
It's just that men don't really usually have as much of an issue with this.
But women, you know, they have to have the Dooney and Burke, you know?
They have to, and I'm not mad at you if you have the Dooney and Burke purse, but you know,
they have to have the real fancy clothes from Dillard's and Nordstrom, are those the expensive
places?
Somebody help me out.
What's an expensive place to buy clothes?
Barney's of New York.
Barney's of New York?
Wow, here's a guy who knows his upscale clothing.
You know, the Armani, the Neiman Marcus, you know, the Stacey Adams, is that expensive
shoes?
I don't know.
You know why I don't know?
Because I don't buy any of it.
And neither does my wife, thank God.
You see, when I go to buy clothing, I go to the thrift store to buy all my clothing.
Even when I get really nice stuff, that just means that I went to a nicer thrift store.
If you ever see me with something fancy, that just means I went to Turnstyle instead of
Goodwill.
But all of our stuff, why?
Because it's just trying to be a good steward.
And you know what?
Here's another application for this sermon while I'm making the men happy.
You know, the wife, in many ways, is the steward of the house, if you think about it.
Because the things that Joseph did as steward, I joked about it earlier, but that's what
a wife often does.
She's often the one who is spending the money and, you know, buying the groceries, buying
the clothing, paying the bills.
Because the husband's out at work and she's running the household while he's gone.
You know, ladies, you should be a good steward of what your husband provides.
And instead of just saying, you know, you need to ask for a raise, you need to make
more money, you know, you need to be a good steward of what he brings home, right?
Because the Bible says of the virtuous woman, Proverbs 31, that her husband can safely trust
in her so that he shall have no need of spoil.
He doesn't need all this extra money because he can trust his wife not to go down and,
you know, buy all the kids clothes at Baby Gap or at, what's the expensive, come on,
for the kids.
Oh my gosh, I don't know if that, I'm not sure how high end that is, you know, just
go into the mall and, oh well, you know, I need a new wardrobe because, you know, we
just switched from, you know, I don't want to wear white after Labor Day.
Hey, I'm pretty sure that rule doesn't apply in Phoenix, Arizona.
You know, you'd only need one wardrobe here, summer.
We have summer 12 months a year, okay, that's all you need, summer clothes.
But anyway, you know, people buy just expensive clothes.
And here's the thing, you have the thrift store, you'll find plenty of baby and toddler
clothes that have been worn like once because they grow so fast, but people just spend a
fortune on it, you know, be, you know, be a good steward for your husband's sake.
You know, he's working hard, be a good steward of that money, wives.
And also husbands, you should be a good steward too and not, you know, men also tend to blow
money just on different things.
Gambling, why did we forget that?
I guess we talked about lotto tickets, but just going to a casino period, just flushing
your money down the toilet, just total waste of money, you know, just, look, be a good
steward of money.
And by the way, God does require 10% of our money.
The Bible says the tithe is the Lord's.
Now here's the thing about that, if the tithe is the Lord's and the Bible talks about bringing
the tithes into the storehouse that there would be meat in God's house, see, then the
church has to be a good steward of God's money, right?
So after the tithes are brought in, then the question is, well, what does the church spend
the money on, right?
And the church should be a good steward of God's money.
Now here are some ways that a church could be a bad steward of God's money and if you
think of any, help me out, this portion of the sermon is interactive, all right?
Think about some ways that a church could be a bad steward of money.
How about like getting up to their eyeballs in debt and spending a ton of money on interest
to bankers?
I mean, I've been in so many churches where they're way out of control in debt.
And it really makes bad sense.
You know, if God wants us to have stuff, he'll give it to us as a church.
But a lot of people, they just want more than what God's providing and go into debt up to
their eyeballs and they're being a bad steward.
Some people are still worried about this money that's on the front and they're wondering
what's going to happen.
They can't even listen to anything I'm preaching right now because all they're thinking about
is this money in the front row.
Look, you can come and tape it together after the service and the bank will accept it.
You can tape this all together and be a good steward all you want, okay?
I don't regret what I did.
Easy come, easy go, you know?
It came out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither.
And that was my money, by the way.
That wasn't God's money.
I just want you to know that.
That wasn't taken out of the offering plate.
That was taken out of my wallet.
This is where our offering goes.
But you know what?
Look, some people, they do go to church and they feel like, oh man, I'm putting money
in the offering plate, but where does it go?
Because the church isn't a soul winning church.
Because the church isn't reaching people.
The church is not using the money to further the gospel of God.
You know what?
We as a church need to be a good steward of God's money.
Now me personally, and since I'm in charge here, that kind of matters.
Me personally, I think that the best use of God's money is anything to reach people with
the gospel, okay?
Anything to get the word of God out to as many people as possible.
I don't think it's a good use of our church's money to build a palace of a building.
I don't think that's a good use of the money.
I think that's not being a good steward.
I'd much rather see it go towards something that's helping our church grow.
Whether that's helping build relationships in our church through church activities that
can build bonds and relationships and memories.
Whether that's equipment that we can use to broadcast this out all over the world.
Whatever that is, however we use that money, it should be used for the furtherance of the
gospel and the kingdom of God.
You know what?
It's a responsibility that the pastor has, that the church has, to basically be a good
steward of God's money and not to waste it.
You should be a good steward of your money.
Faithful Baptist Church should be a good steward of God's money.
It's God's money.
It's not even the church's money.
It's God's money, right?
Which is why we're not going to go out and buy some palace of a building and go up to
our eyeballs in debt.
We'd rather spend the money on things that are going to preach to God.
I'd rather make a bunch of sermon CDs and give thousands of them away for free.
Give Bibles away for free.
Give DVDs of preaching away for free.
Things that are actually bringing people in and getting the word out, you know, that's
all I care about.
That's what matters.
Be a good steward of your time, your talents, your abilities, your finances.
Look, everything God gives you, use it for God.
Let's look at where we started in Luke, chapter number 12, verse 29, it says, seek not what
ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind, for all these things
do the nations of the world seek after and your father knoweth that you have need of
these things, but rather seek ye the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added
unto you.
So here God's just saying that we shouldn't worry and stress about God providing for us.
As long as we go out and work hard and do our best, you know, God will provide for us.
And by the way, I do not think it is a waste of money to buy quality food for you and your
family to eat.
That is not a waste of your money.
That is being a good steward.
In fact, saving money by buying junk food is not saving money at all because you're
just going to spend it at the doctor.
You're going to spend it at the hospital later when you fill your body with junk.
So I do believe, you know, I buy cheap clothes as long, you know, but even then you can still
buy durable nice things at the thrift store, get a good deal.
But when it comes to food, that's an area where I don't cut corners because I feel that
you're, that being a, first of all, we should be a good steward of our body, you know, take
care of the body, the temple of the Holy Spirit and, and eat.
There's a lot of, look, this wasn't as big of a deal in Jesus's day because there wasn't
a lot of GMO food out there back then and a lot of junk.
But honest, you know, it's not like Jesus and the disciples are constantly driving through
getting fast food, you know, eating Twinkies.
It's not like, Hey, does anybody have any food?
Well, there's this kid here.
He has five Twinkies and two Nesquicks, but what are these among so many, you know, that,
you know, no, uh, back then everybody ate real food and you know, when God promised
in this scripture and others that he would provide us with food, I don't think he's saying,
I'm going to provide you with, you know, junk.
I'm going to provide you with GMO garbage.
I'm going to provide you with McDonald's.
I don't think that's what he's saying.
I think he's, you know, I believe that he's going to provide us with healthful food.
Yeah, he's not necessarily going to provide where you can go eat out every day.
You know, obviously it's cheaper to eat at home, you know, but there are times when it's
great to go out and eat, out to eat for the fellowship with other church members, for
the time with your family, it can be memorable, but you know what, when you're just constantly
going out to eat, constantly going out to eat, there may be a problem in the homemaking
department, you know, because you want to make sure that, you know, you're being a good
steward of your husband's money and that you're cooking meals and not just take me
out to eat.
Take me out.
Now look, when you're in the first trimester of pregnancy, that's an exception to this.
You know, then you got to go run for whatever pickles or ice cream or whatever, you know,
strikes are fancy, but it's cheaper than going to the hospital.
But the bottom line is that we need to be good stewards of these things, good stewards
of our bodies.
God gave you a healthy body.
This is a bad steward.
Bad steward of your body right there.
Bad steward.
Right?
Is everybody listening?
Luke 12, verse 32, fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give
you the kingdom.
Sell that you have and give alms.
Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not
where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth, for where your treasure is, there will your
heart be also.
Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning, and be yourselves like unto men that
wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh,
they may open unto him immediately.
Now why does it say be like servants where when the master goes to the wedding, when
he comes back, they open immediately?
Because here's what happens when you don't open immediately.
Think about this.
If I go out somewhere and I come home and I knock on the door and it's a real long time
before the kids answer the door, that probably means what?
You know, whoa, what's going on in there, you know?
What are they, you know, quick, hide this, put this away, you know, it's like, whoa,
what's going on?
You know, the good steward is eager.
You knock and just the door swings right open, why?
Because they're excited to report to the master, hey, look what we got done.
Look what we've accomplished.
We were working while you were gone.
Let me show you what we've done, not, oh, quick, he's here, oh, no.
You know, I remember when I was a kid, we'd hear the garage door and it was like, quick,
you know, and we'd have to, you know, just, right, we were being bad stewards.
You know, so you had to rush around and fix everything, you know, hide everything.
You know, that's what it means here when it says, you know, where, you know, when he knocks,
they may open unto him immediately.
Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching.
Verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meet and will
come forth and serve them.
That's an amazing verse.
And if he come in the second watch or come in the third watch and find them so, blessed
are those servants.
And this know that if the good men of the house had known what hour the thief would
come, he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
Be therefore ready also for the son of man cometh at an hour when you think not.
Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou unto this, speakest thou of this parable unto
us or even to all?
And the Lord said, who then is that faithful and wise steward whom is Lord shall make ruler
over his household?
And I want to ask that tonight.
Who is that?
Who in this room is that faithful and wise steward who when Jesus comes back, he's going
to make you a ruler?
Where he says, well, I gave that person talents and ability and time and money.
I gave them a wife.
I gave them children.
I gave them faithful word Baptist church.
I gave them a pastor.
I gave them all these blessings.
I gave them the King James version of the Bible so that they had a perfect English Bible
and that guy used it and he reached all kinds of people with the gospel and he was a major
blessing to his church.
He was an asset to his church.
He excelled to the edifying of the church.
I'm going to make him a ruler.
I'm going to put him over all kinds of cities in the millennium or is he going to say, well,
this guy, I gave him so much and he did so little.
Bad steward.
But who is the faithful and wise steward tonight?
That's what I'm asking you.
Where in this room is a faithful and wise steward who's going to use their talents and
abilities for the Lord?
What does the Bible say?
Verse 43, blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Of a truth I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he hath, but and if
that servant say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to beat the men's
servants and maid servants and to eat and drink and be drunken, the Lord of that servant
will come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour when he's not aware and
will cut him in sunder and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers and that
servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his
will shall be beaten with many stripes, but he that knew not and did commit things worthy
of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes for unto whomsoever much is given of him
shall be much required and to whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more.
Listen, the fact that you're sitting in this room tonight means you have been given much.
What have you been given tonight?
You've been given the English language and the King James Bible.
That's a huge blessing.
Why is the English language a blessing?
Because it's the most important language in the world.
It is spoken by, if you count people who speak it as a second language, it's spoken by about
1.5 billion people in this world on some level at some degree of proficiency.
You are blessed to speak the most important language on this planet, the language that
can reach more people with the Gospel than any other language.
You say, oh, there's a billion Chinese.
Yeah, but you're not going to have as easy of a time reaching Chinese people in Communist
China with the Gospel as you will English speakers all over the world that are in places
that have more freedom.
So you've been given the English language as your mother tongue.
That's a blessing.
You've been given the King James Bible.
That's a blessing.
You've been given freedom of religion and freedom of assembly in the United States.
That's a blessing that people in Muslim countries don't have tonight.
You've been given financial prosperity relative to the rest of the world.
That's a blessing.
You've been given a faithful church.
I mean, think about that.
There's some people who are struggling to find a church.
There are people who listen to my sermons from other countries and they are like, wow,
I wish I had a church to go to in my area because I'm living in this, you know, God-forsaken
country literally where there's nobody in my town that has a church like this.
This church is a blessing.
Look around at all your friends.
They're a blessing.
Are you married tonight?
That's a blessing.
You have children tonight?
You're blessed.
Look, I promise you that as God looks down on you tonight sitting in this room, God puts
you in the category of someone who has received much, period.
I don't think God is looking down tonight on anybody in this room saying, oh, that's
one who's received very little, so if they disobey me, I will beat them with few stripes.
No, you are not that guy.
I promise you, every person, now somebody might listen to this sermon somewhere else
might be that guy who's been given very little, but let me tell you something, you tonight
in this building have been given much.
God says, I'm going to require much of you.
You're a bad steward.
You're getting a beating.
You go out and eat and drink with the drunken, I'm going to beat you and I'm going to beat
you hard, he said.
I'm going to whip you.
There's going to be stripes when I'm done with you.
That's what God's saying to you tonight because you've been given much.
If you decide, oh, I'm not going to go soul winning, let somebody else do that.
No, you be a good steward.
Have you been given a throat that works, vocal cords that work, feet that walk?
Who's able to walk tonight?
You know, hey, that's a blessing.
Some people can't walk.
Being able to walk is a blessing, being able to speak is a blessing, speaking English is
a blessing, speaking Spanish is a blessing, Spanish is probably the second most important
language in the world right now.
You know, a lot of Spanish people are like, no, we're number one.
No, you're number two.
But Spanish is huge.
You've been given much and God is not up in heaven saying, oh, as long as you throw me
a little bone every once in a while, I'll be happy.
He says, no, you're my steward.
You work for me.
I own you.
You're bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's.
And then one day he's going to cash in that investment and he's going to say, what have
you done?
What?
I was supposed to do stuff?
Yeah.
I mean, imagine going to work, clocking in, the boss leaves, he comes back eight hours
later.
So what'd you guys get done?
Oh, we're just waiting.
I mean, think about that.
He said, occupy until I come.
Be a good steward of your time, money, energy, talent, ability, gifts.
Be a good steward.
Let's buy a word of prayer.
Father, we pray, Lord, that you would count us worthy, Lord, because we have been given
much, Lord.
I will admit it right now.
I have been given much.
And Lord, I pray that every single person in this room, myself included, would be a
good steward of our talents.
Some of us are good at math.
We're good at language.
Maybe other people are good at whatever skills that they have.
Maybe they're good with their hands.
We're good at different kinds of work.
Lord, help us to use our talents and abilities for you, Lord.
And help us to be a good steward of the families we've been given and the friends and the church
and everything, Lord.
Our blessings are innumerable.
And thank you for everything you've done for us, Lord.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.