Ep. 045 The 3 C's for Growth

Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located

in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship

Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,

discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church

and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bigford and I will be your

host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing

to you and bring you closer to God.

Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House podcast. My name is David Bigford. I'm the

pastor here in Salmon Arm and I just want to welcome you to the podcast. If you're new

or you're listening for the first or second time, thank you for joining us. The message

I have today is the three C's for growth. Create, contribute and care. The text I'll

be using is Matthew 25 verses 14 through 30. So if you have your Bibles you want to follow

Matthew 25:14–30

along, you can turn there today. Alright, perfect. So I found an illustration called

Good Timber. It's a poem that came from Douglas Malick and it's pretty interesting and I think

it'll help us as we jump into our message today.

The tree that never had to fight for sun and sky and air and light, that stood out in the

open plain and always got its share of rain, never became a forest king but lived and died

a scrubby thing. The man who never had to toil to heaven from the common soil, who never

had to win his share of sun and sky and light and air, never became a manly man but lived

and died as he began. Good timber does not grow in ease, the strong wind, the tougher

trees, the farther sky, the greater length, the more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow, in tree or man, good timber grows. Where thickest stands

the forest's growth, we find the patriarch of them both, and they hold converse with

the stars whose broken branches show the scars. Of many winds, of many strife, this is the

common law of life.

So the question before us is, how do we grow to be strong, to be resilient? How do we grow

to be made of the right stuff? And that is never more important than it is today as we

just saw the Olympics kick off in France and the spectacle that's been made and the mockery

that's been made of Christianity on a global stage. And everybody wants to say how brave

it was for these people to do this mockery, but they would never try such a thing with

other faiths, faiths that don't live by the tenets of Christ. No, they would actually

be terrified of the violence that would occur if they were to do anything in regards to

this with the other faith of Islam, especially given the demographics that have happened

in Europe over the last decade or so. But we know that they fear the God that we serve.

They fear Christ. They fear our Lord because that's why they are so drawn to mocking. So

these scraggly little men and women that are on the global stage today, they're afraid

of what it would take to actually grow and be strengthened because to grow and to be

strengthened you need to give your life to Jesus Christ. It takes the servant leadership

of Jesus Christ to create a new heart in somebody and that comes by hearing the good news that

Jesus died for your sins, even the sins of those that mock him. That's also something

that's a good thing for us to highlight at this point with everything wicked that goes

on in the world. One of the things I tell my children is that Jesus prayed for the Roman

centurions as they were crucifying him. As he was being hung on the cross, he prayed

for those people. So as we see in our world today, we see people who, you know, it's been

said that 33% of Democrats in the United States are upset that the shooter who tried to assassinate

Donald Trump missed. The wickedness of their heart leads them to such a dark place that

instead of wishing or praying or crying out that there would be an enlightenment towards

their view of the world. No, no, they would rather see death on those they disagree with.

And that's a very dark and twisted thing. But that is not uncommon in our society today.

But us as Christians, we have to weather these storms. We have to allow these things to change

us in a way that edifies and glorifies Christ. We have to take it and allow it to strengthen

us in light of what our our Father in heaven and our savior, Jesus Christ, would want something

that we would be able to be a blessing unto them. And that comes by accepting the reality

that the world is wicked, but that doesn't give us an excuse to share in their wickedness.

So guard your hearts today as we get jump into this word, but guard your hearts that

you see the wickedness of the world and you do not wish ill on the people, but rather

that you wish that the spirit or the conviction of the whole of God will deal with them in

such a way that they will turn from their wickedness and seek salvation. For we are

a church that strives to see people saved. We are a church that strives to see people

restored and and changed by the the blood of Jesus. So they would go from being a Saul

who's out seeking to kill Christians to becoming a Paul who is going out to the Gentile world

so that they might be saved. Let's jump into our text in Matthew today, which is Matthew

Matthew 25:14–30

25 verses 14 through 30. And it's the parable of the tenants for it will be like a man going

on a journey who have called his servant and entrusted them to or to them his property

to one. He gave five talents to another two and to another one to each according to his

ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with

them and he made five more talents. Also he who had two talents made two talents more,

but he who had received the one talent went and dug into the ground and hid his master's

money. Now, after a long time, the master though of those servants came and settled

accounts with him and he would receive the five talents came forward bringing five talents

more saying, master, you delivered to me five talents here. I have made five talents more.

His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over

a little and I will set you over much enter into the joy of your master. And he said he

also who had two talents came forward saying, master, you delivered to me two talents.

Here I have made two talents more. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful

servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much enter into the joy

of your master. He also who had received one talent came forward saying, master, I knew

you to be a hard man reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered

no seed. So I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what

is yours. But his master answered him, you wicked and slothful servant. You knew that

I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have

invested my money with the bankers and am I coming? I should have received what was

my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents.

For everyone who has, for everyone who has will more be given and he will have an abundance.

But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away and cast the worthless

servant into the outer darkness in the place where there will be weeping and gnashing

of teeth. So this parable explains what Jesus regards as faithfulness. Essentially it involves

using what God has entrusted to you to advance his interests in the world. It involves making

a spiritual profit with the deposits God has entrusted to each disciple. We could see this

more fully explained when we look at James 2 verses 14 through 26. This is a portion

James 2:14–26

of scripture where we get the idea of faith without works is dead because we are saved

by grace and that is all God. But that changed heart that you receive when you give your

life over to Christ and you receive that abundance of grace, it should change you enough that

you should desire to do more. You should be part of the team, part of that community now

striving to do God's will. And it's not immediate, it's not overnight for everybody, but it should

be something. There should be a change in your person. In verse 14 it says, what good

is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save

him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says

to them go in peace, be warm and filled without giving them the things they need for the body,

what good is that? So also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead. But someone

will say you have faith and I have works, show me your faith apart from your works and

I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one, you do well. Even

the demons believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you a foolish person, that faith

apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by the works when he

offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works

and faith was completed by his works. And the scripture was fulfilled that saying that

Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And he was called a

friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone and in the

same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers

and sent them out by another way. For the body apart from the spirit is dead. So also

faith apart from works is dead. We also see the parable of the ten virgins which precedes

our texts that speaks of salvation. But this one emphasizes the importance of our rewards

and judgment. It sets the stage for our understanding of Christian growth. This is not about salvation

as I mentioned but rather our ability to persevere and grow with that relationship of Jesus Christ

and on that path of sanctification. We're not meant to sit idly by letting the judgment

of God come to those who have been saved had they just heard the gospel. So again I touched

on what we see happening in the world today and society as a whole. What's happening at

the Olympics as Christian our cry should be that they would turn to Christ. In 1 Corinthians

1 30 it says and because of him you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from

God righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So this is what we're always supposed to be

looking for as part of our sanctification as we grow in Christ we're supposed to be

seeking redemption of others as well. This brings me to my first point which is create

more. How do we make the most of our time? What practices do we put in place to build

the right habits and the right mindset? We're striving to genuinely feel fulfilled and focused

in our lives and to create something worthy of the sacrifice the Lord made for us on Calvary.

So I've been doing for a while I was doing these things called the morning minutes and

they were one to five minute posts on Instagram. The point of those videos wasn't to become

super popular wasn't to do them long term necessarily or to go viral but the main reason

I started doing those videos was it was a way for me to hold myself accountable for

my prayer life and for putting a use to the reading of the Bible as I was going through

it and I might start those up again. You know we got a different building and so I've been

able to go to prayer at our church building now so it changed a little bit of my morning

schedule but it was it was a method it was something I put in place to just drive me

to be accountable to the body of Christ. So here are the three C's of creativity. The

first one is consume. Feed your brain and your spirit. So we should be purposeful in

what we consume. We should be focusing in on the word of God the Bible and then you're

obviously going to need to be up to date a little bit of what's going on in the world

so that you can be able to reach people. So you should be paying attention to the news

to some extent. So if someone comes up to you and goes hey what did you think of those

the the opening ceremony of the Olympics you at least know what they're talking about and

you can speak to it from a biblical perspective. And then of course there's things that are

like your personal interests. So I am trying to learn the piano and I'm trying to be better

at bass guitar. These types of things are something that I find personally interesting

but it's also something I'm trying to hone or harness for the mission field for the church.

Then we're supposed to be you know the second point or the three C's of creativity is to

create. You got to know who your audience is. This this comes into many facets whether

you're preaching the gospel you need to know you know what's going on in your church to

a certain extent. But even more so your friends at work your friends that you know outside

of work. Someone you bump into the street you want to know your audience so that you

can leverage who you know what's important to them for the purpose of the gospel. Let

your uniqueness show through you don't have to change who you are. Oftentimes your uniqueness

is going to open up doors to somebody's life that someone else might not be able to deal

with. And then as you're putting together you know whether it's content creation like

I was doing with those morning minutes or whether it's work or whether it's you know

the time you're spending with friends you should focus over you know quality over quantity.

You should be concerned with being a quality person. Nobody cares if you're around all

the time. If if when you are around you're not bringing some sort of quality. That that

last servant who had the one talent he was there he was there when the master left he

was there when the master returned but he did not bring any quality he had as one thing.

The others they did bring more but they brought it because of the quality of their character

and consistency is key. So framing learning a language learning an instrument these kind

of things is you learn that you got to do something regularly in order for it to start

sticking in your life. And lastly out of this this second point of creating things of the

three C's of creativity is don't let perfection be the killer good. Oftentimes you'll you'll

see a different. Have you even heard this from different churches. Wait till you learn

a little bit more before you tell people about Jesus Christ or that you got saved. And I

understand the idea behind this for some people it's like don't let don't tell a bunch of

people because you're not strong enough in the Lord but hey I'm sorry but if the conversion

was real if you really gave your life and you really felt a touch from God. We see Jesus

telling people who you know he talked to to go and preach the gospel fairly quickly. The

woman the well he spoke in her life and she immediately went and became the best witness

or the entire town. Probably in the history of the entire town you know even to this day.

In Matthew twenty five twenty four to twenty five which is part of our text. I'm going

to repeat it he says he also who had received the one talent came forward saying master I

knew you to be a hard man reaping where he did not so gathering where he didn't you scattered

no seed. So I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what

is yours. So this the third C of the three C's of creativity is making connections is

to connect making connections witnessing and serving are critical to a Christian's life.

Seeking out like minded believers people who believe in the full gospel Jesus Christ as

laid out in the New Testament and the old. And targeting those whom you seek to help

so we seek to see people converted. So we spend a lot of time witnessing and outreaching

so that those who might not know the gospel or might be backslidden in their life have

the opportunity to hear the gospel again and turn back. Jesus focused on the sick and the

lost we should be focusing on the sick and the lost and then ultimately serve where you

can. You might not be good at certain things but I guarantee you there's going to be a

way you could fit in and serve within the body. In first Peter four nine three eleven

it says show hospitality to one another without grumbling as each has received a gift use

it to serve one another as good steward of God's very grace. Whoever speaks as one who

speaks oracles of God whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies

in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to him belong the glory

and dominion forever and ever amen. My second point which is contribute more. As we get

more mature in Christ we should be looking for more avenues to serve in the body of Christ.

Some of us can teach some can speak some are great with numbers and finances and some are

a huge help in their service and support. One thing is for sure we all have we're all

going to have to give an account for the talents that God has given us. There's a great worth

in the talents that God has given us. That is why the parable of talents is so interesting.

The use of the term talent signifies something of great worth in the scripture. The one talent

that we're talking about here was equal to about 20 years worth of wages for the laborer.

So in terms of American dollars if we're looking at you know 2011 one talent would equal about

$600,000 multiplied by 10,000 the amount the servant owed in 1824 the debt would have been

six billion. Jesus uses this illustration to show us that without forgiveness from God

our debt to him is impossible to pay. So I might have confused you there just for a second

because it's you know mixing two different parts of Matthew. So in our text today the

20 you know we see that each talents worth like $600,000 but in Matthew 1824 there's

the the tale of the servant who owed a lot a great deal and his debt would have been

like the equivalent of today of six billion dollars. So these things are you know huge

amounts of money. So this there's importance there's heaviness to this. He had the ability

to do something and he chose not to. In Romans 14 12 so then each of us will give an account

of himself to God. In first Corinthians four verses one through four it says this is how

one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover

it is required of stewards that they be found faithful but with me it is a very small thing

that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact I don't do not even judge myself

for I am not aware of anything against myself but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the

Lord who judges me. So if we're going to be regarded as servants then we have to be expected

to serve. This does not mean that the salvation depends on works I've already touched on this

that is why you know I included that passage from James earlier. What it does mean though

is that once you're saved by grace and made a new creation in Jesus Christ you should

have the desire to partake in the same ministry that sets you free that set all of us free.

So we often times over complicate the theology when in reality it isn't that complex. If

you were shipwrecked and one of the sailors saved your life and pulled you onto the beach

you would be saved. Now let's say you're a skilled carpenter would you withhold your

talent and shelter building. Of course not. You would gladly help because you were saved.

In first Corinthians 12 11 it says all these are empowered by one in the same spirit who

apportion to each one individually as he wills. Creation and contribution go hand in hand.

There's no purpose of creating for its own sake unless it's either to benefit self or

share it with others. Either option involves contributing to that creation to give it meaning.

The more the creation contributes to the lives of others the more meaningful the creation.

In the world if the creator monetizes his output it will be rewarded commiserate to

how much it contributes to others. Contribution does not have to be of an original creation.

Volunteer work is a contribution. A job is a contribution. If these efforts are meaningful

to you they are useful contributions. So in the Old Testament specifically in the Pentateuch

wisdom was ascribed to the craftsman and the artist. These skills were meant to be shared.

In the New Testament we see there is an equal honor given to those who serve humbly. Our

king Lord Jesus gave the perfect example of servant leadership and this brings me to my

final point which is care more. This is from an article the three C's of continuous improvement

by Jay Tomlinson. It's structured for business so just play along and we'll get to the bottom

of this. While contributing more focuses on benefiting others caring more involves a combination

of external and internal fulfillment. If you personally have no interest in your creation

your sole purpose for creating is the sake of making an income. While money is necessary

for survival the reason behind making money must be established. You are making money

in order to buy freedom. That is what financial independence is all about. If you care about

your productive pursuits you will have less concern over how much freedom you are buying.

If you feel obligated to share your creation with the world the resulting monetary return

is less important than the act of contributing. So like I said this article is focused on

creating business content and making a profit from what you create and contribute. But what

I found interesting in this snippet is how it can be applied to our lives in Christ.

Through prayer reading the Bible bonding together as Christians we should grow in compassion

for one another and for those outside the church. Empathy is something that I struggle

with personally. As a former Marine you know kind of hard nosed kind of guy it's a challenge

for me to fully understand the emotions that I'm not feeling. I know very empathetic people

even sometimes to a fault. But even so through prayer Bible reading and service I find that

God can soften my heart and help me to be more empathetic. I believe that God can also

help you be more pragmatic and more focused as you serve and gain wisdom and maturity.

At the end of the day we should all strive to do as much as we can with what God has

given us. In Proverbs 20 13-14 it says, Love not sleep lest you come to poverty. Open

your eyes and you will have plenty of bread. Bad bad says the buyer but when he goes away

then he boasts. So finally as we close I want to look at three more C's. Conviction, Conversion

and Consecration. The point of this message is to convict us, to fully give in to Christ.

When we are interacting with the world our purpose is to bring conviction of sin paired

with the hope of salvation. We are praying for the conversion of the lost and their subsequent

consecration to God. Everything we do is supposed to be done unto the Lord. In Colossians 3

23-24 whatever you do work hardly as for the Lord and not for man knowing that from the

Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward you are serving the Lord Christ. So

as a person who is born again and starts a new life similar to that of a newborn infant

seven rules that promote good health in babies can be adapted and applied to Christian spiritual

health. Daily food, take in the pure milk of the word through study and meditation.

Fresh air, pray often or you will faint. Prayer is the oxygen to our souls as Christians.

Consider exercise, put into practice what you learn from God's word. Adequate rest,

rely on God at all times in simple faith. Clean surroundings, avoid evil company and

whatever will weaken you spiritually. Loving care, be a part of a church where you will

benefit from a pastor's teaching and his shepherding, his headship and the fellowship

of other Christians in the church body. And then periodic checkups regularly examine your

spiritual health. As we close it's important that we recognize that we need to grow in

our Christianity. We need to grow towards sanctification. We need to be able to take

the talents that God has given us and use them for the kingdom so that we have more

to give back to the kingdom years down the line of being a Christian than we did when

we started out. But maybe as we come to the end of this message, maybe you're not saved.

Maybe you've never given your life to Jesus Christ. That's why this message is for you.

So if I could have every head bowed, every eye closed, wherever you are, unless you're

driving, of course be safe. But I want to give an invitation. If this message is spoken

to you or touched you in some way and you know that you're not right with God but you

want to get right, maybe you're backslidden, maybe you've never given your life to Christ,

I want you to signify that with an uplifted hand wherever you are because I can't see

it but God can. And the reason I always do that is I want something to spur in you. I

want your hand to go up because I want you to signify that this is hitting you. This

is meaning something to you. And if you did that, I want you to repeat after me a simple

prayer. It's just, Dear Lord, I know that you died for my sins and I know that I'm a

sinner. I turn from my sin and I accept you as my Lord and my Savior. In Jesus' name,

amen. The simple remission of sin or the repentance of sin and accepting of Jesus as your Lord

and Savior is salvation by grace. Grace was sitting there waiting for you to accept it.

The way that you accept it is you say, Dear Lord, you're God. Help me as I go and sin

no more. I hope this message has impacted you. I hope that you understand that in order

to be strengthened, even, and I speak to the rest of the audience who's been saved for

a while, you need to move forward in your relationship with Christ. You need to grow.

If you refuse to grow forward, then you'll become weak. I live in British Columbia. A

good portion of who listens is in British Columbia. We have some crazy forest fires

going on right now. We have them just about every year. A lot of that is because we've

had pine beetle infestations in a lot of our forests. What a pine beetle does is go in

and attack a forest doing what it does. But because we as humans don't allow fires to

happen as regularly as nature would like, whenever there's a fire, we put it out as

much as fast as we can because fire is bad, right? The reality is that the fire was always

meant to be part of the ecology because it was meant to clean out the blight of the dead

and unproductive trees and growth. The fire was meant to come through and the healthy

trees would survive it. But because we've allowed the blight of these pine beetles and

we've not allowed people to go in and clean out the debris because we're not letting

fires happen, we've allowed the dead to sit there and be a fuel for when the fires come.

Then when the fires come, not only does it take out the blighted trees and the dead undergrowth

but now it puts at risk the healthier trees. This is why as a Christian you have to move

forward in Christ and you have to persevere and you have to move towards sanctification

in order for you to be healthy because if you don't, not only are you putting your

own life at risk but you're putting the life of those around you at risk. So with that

I just hope that this message has impacted you. I'm going to go ahead and close in prayer

really quickly because I think this is an important message. Dear Lord I just pray that

we as Christians would watch our tongues and be responsible for how we speak to the world.

For when we see wickedness happen in the world, we should be able to call it out for what

it is that it's wicked but we should also say we pray to see them turn to you and renounce

their wickedness. If Manasseh, the worst king of Judah, could after many, many decades of

being wicked turn to you to receive grace, far be it for us as Christians to deny the

opportunity for anybody else to turn to you. But that being said Lord we pray that you'd

help us to grow in our faith and grow in our sanctification towards you as we mature in

our walk with you. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. So again thank you for listening to this message.

I pray or I hope that these messages speak to you and I do ask you to like, share, and

subscribe to the podcast so that we can get it out to more and more people. And of course

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want to get in touch with us also we're on Instagram at the pottershouse underscore salmon

arm and our email is pottershousesa at iCloud.com and you can get in touch with us that way

as well. So again God bless, thank you, and have a great day.