Stewardship

To care of the earth, to keep the earth, to guard it, to protect it, to nurture it, to

cultivate it. Many of those words tie in with the idea of stewardship, and that was His original

intent. And with Christ coming and redeeming us, God has restored us. God has restored

us for stewardship. This topic is more important than we think. We think stewardship has to

do with money, it's true, but it's so much more than that, and it's far more important

than we think. Far more important. It's sometimes what scales a person up or pulls them down,

and God thinks it's super important. So many parables in the Bible are about stewards,

so it's not just about money. So the whole idea of even be fruitful, multiply, replenish, subdue,

it's from the point of view of can I put you in charge of creation? And one of the strange things

about God is He has no plan B, so it's still active. Can I put you, the church, in charge

of taking care of, being accountable for, restoring, guarding, keeping, increasing.

That which I put in your care. Just have a look at that. So God is still asking the question,

can I ask you the church, now that I've redeemed you, can I ask you the church as in a people,

or can I ask Betty, or can I ask John, since they've grown older, can I ask you to take care of?

And here are the other words. Here are the other words. Should I go back?

Should I just stay on the stage? So the idea of taking care, being accountable, restoring,

guarding, keeping, increasing, that which I put in your care. And so it could be something as simple

as my favorite cat Jojo, or it could be something like an amazing garden, or it could be,

Chomi has always waited for this day when I would call her cat my favorite cat. Mission accomplished,

day. Or it could be taking care of a church, it could be taking care of kids, but this idea

is in God's mind and it's super important to him as we go talking about this, you'll realize.

So in granting, even when he's granting Adam and Eve dominion over the earth, in granting dominion

over the earth, what's he saying? He's saying, here's what he's really saying guys, can you

rule on my behalf? Can you rule on my behalf? But if you rule on my behalf, your rule should be

like I would want it.

Can you rule on my behalf? Over what? Over the visible? Over the invisible?

Over the stuff that is material? Over stuff that's temporal? Over stuff that's eternal?

Over stuff that's alive? Over stuff that's not alive, as in trees, creation?

Can you rule on my behalf? That's what he's asking when he talks about stewardship.

That's how important it is to him, because rule is super important to God. That's one of the reasons

he sent Adam on the earth. So try to understand why and how important this is to God, because

we usually don't give it much value. We like using the word steward and stewardship. It sounds really

heavy and it's one of those catch words, but understand why it's important to him. If the

intent of God was to have Adam and Eve have dominion over the earth, it was so that they can rule on

his behalf. And because his plan hasn't changed, it still is the same. Can you rule on my behalf?

Over what? Over the visible? Over the invisible? Over that which is material?

That which is temporal? That which is eternal? That which is alive? That which is not alive?

How do we know that? Because in Colossians 2, 15 to 17, it says that he is Lord over all those things,

over the visible, over the invisible, over the material, the immaterial,

over all creation, that which lives and that which is not. He rules over all of them. And he's saying,

can you, Jacob, rule over it on my behalf? And then he allots different areas for us to pay

particular attention to. Any questions before we go on? I'm hoping that I can grasp and you

can grasp why it's important to God and how it really promotes you or judges you.

Okay.

Like, I'm not a guy who believes that these flowers are living. They are living, but it's not like

they're talking to me or anything. Yeah. So when I say that which is alive, I mean you. And that

which is not alive, I mean these beautiful flowers. That's how I differentiate it. There

must be another word for it. Animate and inanimate. But suddenly if they start moving,

the point is that they are not alive. They're not as alive as you. Yeah.

Any other questions? Okay. And so demonstrating, this is such a

cool line. Demonstrating stewardship. That's a big word, no? Demonstrating stewardship

reveals the nature and intent of the owner.

So, how you steward something reveals the intent of the owner and the nature of the owner.

So you'll find some chauffeurs taking really good care of the owner's car.

And then you've got other chauffeurs who look for every pothole to drive over.

So, when Kamal owned cabs, there was a time when Kamal owned the cabs. When Kamal would

drive cabs, I'm sure because he owned the cab. Now he wasn't a hired hand just driving it rough

shot over things. He would drive it carefully. Why? Because it was something that he stewards.

But if he gave it to me, it would be different.

So, demonstrating stewardship reveals the nature and intent of the owner. And the owner rewards you

accordingly. Because he's the one, and there's not a person in this room who he will not try out.

One of his habits is to try you out with stewarding things that belong to him.

That's crazy, eh? There's nobody here in this room that he doesn't try out. In your different

vocations, in your different callings, in your different giftings, in your different graces,

in your different skills, in your different abilities, in your different capacity supervising

things. He tries you out to see how you'll do with what's placed in your care. And based on that,

there's an increase or there's stalemate or sometimes there's judgment and decrease.

Everybody gets a shot at this.

So, how I steward things reveals the nature and intent of the owner. The nature of the owner,

how? For instance, let's assume I'm supposed to steward this church.

If I start treating you cruelly, if I have no mercy, if my ways with you are ways that shame you,

tear you down, make you feel smaller, make you feel less valued, then I'm reflecting the owner.

Some of us will go away thinking that's what the owner is like. And I can use the word to justify it.

I can use the word to justify it.

People get the impression of the owner from the one who stewards.

So be it parenting, be it pastoring, be it gardening, be it... There's nothing out of

this purview because you're talking about the visible, the invisible, the material,

the temporal, the eternal, the alive, the not alive. And all of us get a shot at this.

So, it is possible to be self-centered in stewarding. It's possible to be self-centered

in stewarding. And I'll explain that. What I mean is you can do something just so people can say

you're a good steward and forget that the owner has a purpose. And the owner has an interest.

Sometimes what happens is people can steward things almost like a job or a duty. And when

they steward things like a duty, they're not interested in the owner's intent. They're not

interested in the owner's purpose. They just want to do what they've been given well. That's a hired

hand. A hired hand will always take on a thing and do it really well, but there's no heart in it.

When it comes to God, ownership and stewardship is so heart related. If you don't put your heart in it,

you can't do it. Let's assume you hired me as your pastor. And what? 100 people, small church,

been preaching for 32 years, time to move on to bigger things, greener pastures. And so I

started looking at 300, 400 people churches, thousand people churches, because I can preach,

can't I? Okay, not a word here. Okay. And so when this becomes a job, then you can still do it well.

You can get crackerjack sermons. You can have people taken care of, but you stop reflecting

the owner's interest and the owner's purpose.

There was a time when I came to Canada where I'd meet men and women who had worked for Sears for

35 years. You asked them why they didn't leave. They'd say, no, this is where I started. This is

where I'll die. There was a loyalty to Sears, which even customer service, I mean, Sears didn't have.

But there's something that comes from the heart when it comes to stewardship.

And there's not a single person here. What's his name? Is a supervisor at work. You think God is

in watching how he stewards things. And he's not looking to see whether he can fix a light bulb.

That's just a skill. How does he deal with a guy who can't fix a light bulb and falls off the ladder?

Any questions?

Okay. So how do we define stewards? Stewards are servants. Stewards are servants with responsibility.

Why? Stewards are servants with responsibility. Why? So there are servants that, we are all

servants, and then there'll be stewards with, there'll be servants with responsibilities.

Stewards are servants with responsibility. Why? Because they've been faithful. With what?

With what? With their time, talent, treasure, strength.

For whom? For the master

and his family

and guests.

What else? They are accountable.

Stewardship always comes with accountability. They are accountable to him

for what has been placed under their care.

Beautiful, eh?

Are we all servants? Yes, we are sons and servants. All of us. If you're born again,

you become a son and a servant. So how are stewards different? Stewards are servants with

responsibility. Not, like if you go to a home where there are many servants, you'll have some that

are given jobs on the spur, like okay, could you do this? Could you do that? And then there are

stewards. Stewards are servants with responsibility. Why have they been given responsibility? Why did

they get selected? And why were they given responsibility? Because they were faithful.

Faithful with what? Faithful with their time, their talent, their treasure, and their strength.

Faithful to whom? Faithful to the master, to his family, and his guests.

So that's one side of it. The second side of it is stewards are accountable.

People love being stewards, but people want to be stewards without accountability.

Give me a responsibility, I'll do it well, but do not ask me to be accountable.

Stewards are accountable. To whom? They are accountable to the master. For what?

For anything he has placed under their care. They do what he asks them and then goes and shows them

what they've done. This is part of it. Any questions on this?

Sorry? Yeah, so let's assume you're the master of the house and Emmanuel's a steward. He's

responsible for all of us that you've invited to your house. Some of us are your family,

the rest of us are guests. His thing is, I've got to make sure that all of Master James's guests

and family are served and taken care of, and that the way he does it will reflect your heart.

And you might say, Don's shoes need polishing, and so he goes, polishes Don's shoes, and then

he brings it and shows to you saying, is this how you wanted it? There's an accountability.

Any questions?

Each one of us must rise to steward things because it's God's desire that the sons of Adam

steward things. Any questions?

I'll keep repeating this one thing. It is important to God. He tries every one of us out.

That's why there's no area that is exempt from it. You steward your children, you steward your

spouse, you steward your marriage, you steward your house, you steward pets, you steward your

garden, you steward the way you appear or present yourself, you steward whatever is put in your care,

taking care of and nurturing. And one of the critical things that we need to do is to be

steward. Whatever is put in your care, taking care of and nurturing, and one of the critical

things about stewardship is can you bring increase. Multiply replenish immediately means increase.

And that's what institutional responsibility is.

Owners have rights.

have responsibilities.

Owners of rights, stewards have responsibilities.

So why am I making that statement? Because at no point should one who is

stewarding think

that because I've done a good job with what I've stewarded, it belongs to me.

It never belongs to you. So when pastors think that the church belongs to them,

they become the bridegroom and the church becomes their bride, not his bride.

Or when parents begin to think

these kids are ours, we have to make them this, that and the other,

that's not stewardship, that's ownership. When you begin to develop your business

and suddenly as it begins to grow and increase and the money begins to flow,

you suddenly move from stewardship to ownership. When you develop a militia

and suddenly people are getting healed and suddenly it becomes

day-day ministries.

Day-day ministries

is the ministry that John will start.

So, yeah.

Yeah. So owners have rights, stewards have responsibilities.

You cannot own that which you're taking care of.

And that begins with your spouse, your children.

You cannot own. Ownership is when one exerts a right

where now there is no other option for anyone to

or God to direct how things will be done because you decide.

Ownership decides. Stewardship works with what the

owner says. Here's the other thing guys. Stewardship is judged by God.

Stewardship is always judged by God.

Stewardship is always judged by God.

1 Corinthians 4 verse 3 says

1 Corinthians 4:3

God judges it. So there are a couple of good things to it. One,

he judges it. Two,

no one else's

judgment really matters

because he knows how to judge correctly. He knows your heart.

1 Corinthians 4, 3.

Paul actually says it doesn't matter. Don't be too hasty in judging me. It doesn't matter what you think of me.

I am responsible as a steward to

my master and he's the one that will judge me. So on one hand

it means that popular opinion is not how stewards are judged.

And when popular opinion begins to come against what you

know you're doing is right because you've received your directions from

God, then don't care much about it. On the other hand,

know that God judges how you steward.

And either that judgment results in rewards

or it results in the fury of God,

the disenfranchisement of the steward as in taking away what he had,

and the casting away of the steward

into places that are not wholesome.

This is not Old Testament. This is New Testament.

Where in Matthew 25, around verse 28-29 it says,

when the master saw that the man went and

hid the talent, one of the things about hiding the talent was

not wanting to increase it. When he went and hid the talent,

some of the words that come out there was that

the master was furious, almost

had disgusted the way the guy operated,

and then decided that what he had would be taken away from him,

and then decided that it would be given to someone else,

and then decided that the guy should be dismissed.

That's pretty harsh, eh?

But at the same time the rewards of stewardship of a job well done

was, hey, you did really well with five, let me give you ten.

And this will continue here and will continue in the life after too.

This is the truth, guys.

Too many scriptures to prove this.

With regard to your money, with regard to your car,

with regard to your home, with regard to your clothes or laundry,

with regard to your spouse, with regard to your children,

with regard to how you do your education, with regard to your vocation,

with regard, there's no area that he has given to you

that he does not look at, and every time I do well,

he causes an increase, and that's his desire.

The father's desire is, can I cause an increase?

We dads and mums do it with our children.

If you do this well, there'll be increase.

You should watch mums baking with their daughters or sons.

The first time, it's like there's flour all over the floor.

Like you don't know whether to say F-L-O-O-R or F-L-O-U-R,

because it's completely all over the place.

And then at some point you realize the child's learning how to do it.

And as the child learns their rewards...

God rewards crazily when stewardship is done well.

Even the way our homes look, he watches.

I'm not talking about clutter.

If you've got two kids, two kids are already clutter.

Forget the stuff that comes with them.

I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about, is there a way that you take care of the home?

It's a nurture of the home.

Please don't think of, oh, I've got to put things everywhere

and there should not be a speck of dust.

That's the opposite of stewardship.

It's called perfectionism, and it's legalistic, and it's sucky,

and it stinks.

And if you are caught up in that, I'll come to your house

and I'll deliberately move your pictures so they look crooked.

But that aside, we're talking about being able to take care of whatever is in your child

and doing it the best you can.

And sometimes your best is pretty bad, but it's still your best, man.

You should do craft and then go sit with me, and your craft will look terrible.

But you still did your best.

Hey, Jonathan, it's not Jeremy.

It's never Jeremy's fault.

It's you, Jonathan.

Till your brother comes, you're the culprit.

Jacob, Dillner's calling it.

Yeah, be perfect as your father is perfect,

and then he solves the problem by putting the perfect one in you.

And before that, he would not say, be perfect as I'm perfect,

because the only way to perfect yourself was to keep offering sin offerings for your imperfection.

But the moment he says, be perfect because your father in heaven is perfect,

he puts the perfect one in you so that any imperfection is compensated by the perfect one.

Amazing, eh?

Otherwise, perfection was through the offering of...

Perfection was through the sacrifice of animals for the imperfections of life.

So...

So...

What sometimes happens is, guys, because stewardship is not important to us...

You know guys like Dillner, this man here in his green-yellow jacket, Joachim,

these accountants are painful stewards.

He used to be like that when I was at Emmanuel Baptist.

Dillner was probably the same way when he was in the other Baptist church.

And if you're a Baptist accountant, you're done.

But there's this thing where accountants have to steward money, they've got to measure everything.

And it can be annoying for the rest of us.

But stewardship is annoying because we do not necessarily think much of stewardship.

So we find it very annoying when people get very picky about stuff.

But we won't do that at work, eh?

At work, you're picky.

Yep.

This room is so echoey that...

You'll have to speak louder and I'll have to come closer. Go ahead.

What do you think about could result in the period God disenfranchised the stewards,

captains, and stewards, just like the setter and gnomes, and the wholesome?

And that doesn't seem like a judge variable with God as a father, and I'm wondering how those two things fit together.

Yeah. So her question is, how can you disenfranchise?

How can you cast into places that are unwholesome?

How can you do that? It doesn't fit with the nature of God.

One of the things we must understand about the nature of God is he is a father,

and he'll always be a father, and you never lose your sonship.

But he's also a master, and when he's a master, servants will be judged on how they perform.

You still remain a son. You do not lose salvation.

1 Corinthians 3 has a beautiful explanation of this.

It says that when you build, build with gold and diamonds and silver and precious stones.

But if you build with stubble and hay and stuff that is a cheap substance,

I will burn it to see whether it burns.

And if it burns, you will escape by the seed of your pants, as in salvation is still fine,

sonship is still fine, but know this, that rewards will be affected.

One of the things that we think is all of us are going to get rewards,

and we're all going to lay before the Lord.

Yes, rewards will be given, but this is not the kind of rewards where,

ah, you came last in the race, but you ran, let me give you a reward.

No, that's not how this will work.

Sonship, you'll never lose, I'll never lose,

but I am judged on how I do things in terms of master and steward,

master and servant.

Our Godfather runs a profitable business.

It's almost like a Christian mafia.

It's a for-profit business, yeah.

So this fury and the disenfranchisement and the putting in an unwholesome place is,

hey, you weren't faithful with what I asked you to do.

And here's the crazy thing, guys,

when he puts you to steward, it doesn't matter whether he's putting you over things that are large or small,

they always involve people.

And if you don't steward people well, it bothers him because he made them.

Judgment and rewards are a measure of stewardship.

So a pattern God has is he gives us, he'll give us responsibilities.

He'll give us responsibilities.

So this is a pattern that you'll see with God, and you'll see it in scriptures too.

I'll give you some examples.

He'll give us responsibilities.

Then he'll hold us accountable.

Then he'll hold us accountable for how we manage it.

And so some examples.

He tells Saul, Saul, I made you king, but this is what I want you to do.

I'm giving you a responsibility to wait till Samuel comes.

You are king. You're the first king that's been chosen.

I'm with you, but I don't want you to offer the sacrifice.

And then he says Samuel will come in seven days, and the seven days becomes seven and a half days.

And suddenly this king decides to become a priest, and he offers a sacrifice.

Very clearly God told him, you are not to do it.

There are other examples in the Bible where God tells, I had a few more.

God tells, with Abraham you find something completely different.

Abraham, when he would be given a responsibility, would make sure that he fulfilled it.

He would take 318 people from his household to go liberate one man called Lot, where he was responsible for his brother or whatever.

He would make sure that he would be accountable to God in terms of what God had told him and responsible too.

I have at least three examples. I can't recall them right now.

But there are scriptural examples of people who were given responsibilities and God watched to see.

Ah, Hezekiah.

God sends, this was a test man.

He sends envoys from a king whose name, don't name your children this, whose name was Evil Merodach.

Like there was no question as to what his background was.

His name was Evil Merodach, and Evil Merodach sends envoys to Hezekiah.

And God is testing him. He leaves Hezekiah alone, and he wants to know what Hezekiah will do.

And Hezekiah takes him and shows him all his treasuries.

And God says to him, why did you do that?

I had given you those things to look after. I asked you to look after them. Why did you show it to them?

And then there's a judgment for that.

Not that Hezekiah loses his life. In fact, he gets 15 years just shortly before that happened.

But the point is, God tests us every time like this.

And why is He testing us? To bring increase.

Please understand, this is where the steadfastness of the heart matters.

Remember I talked about the steadfastness of heart?

As I said this, many of us in this room thought, hmm, so He tests us and then we fail, and then He just casts us away.

That is not a steadfast heart.

Because the steadfastness of heart thinks three things.

Fatherhood, goodness, faithfulness.

So many in this room immediately went the other way.

While the steadfast heart will say, hmm, He tests me so that He can bring increase.

So all I have to do is cause increase so that His fatherhood, His goodness, and His faithfulness can affect many others through me.

That's a steadfast heart.

Just be aware that resentment affects a steadfast heart.

And resentment against God is worse because we don't have the ability to express it.

So it festers silently.

Whenever you feel really resentful with God, write a psalm.

Psalm 151.

Write it. Write a psalm.

Oh God, I'm really feeling like you've let me down.

Look at HIP, he seems to be doing well, but I'm better looking than him and look at my condition.

And so start writing a psalm.

And at some point, you'll feel that the psalm now needs to turn.

You've just lamented, now it begins to turn.

Even though HIP looks better, I, oh God, have a good looking mustache.

And then you start here, the rest of it, and you begin to write well.

And then it begins to praise the Lord for my mustache.

So it ends well, but begin to write your laments when it gets really bitter and resentful.

It's important.

Because resentment in the heart that is not spoken will fester.

And you won't even know that every time a comment is made, you go to a negative picture of who God is.

Like happened just now.

Every test of stewardship is to increase me.

Yes, it does.

Yeah.

Thankfulness, gratefulness does.

Does gratefulness help a steadfast heart?

I think thankfulness and gratefulness opens up the heart to recognize his goodness, his fatherhood, and his faithfulness.

Gratitude is a door opener.

Every time I'm grateful, it doesn't matter how pathetic my situation is,

every time I'm grateful, it opens my eyes and opens my mind and opens my heart to the faithfulness, the goodness, and the fatherhood of God.

Always.

I mean, it would be so easy.

I can pick anyone here, and they'd be able to rattle off at least five things they are thankful for right now.

Anybody.

You won't even have to think.

I'm so grateful that I'm in a church like this.

I'm so grateful for the fact that I get to travel.

I'm so grateful for the singing that happened today.

I'm so grateful for Tuni and the way he leads worship.

I'm so grateful for good coffee.

That's just five, man.

Especially if you go to New York, the coffee is so sucky, man.

Okay.

Stewards in the kingdom

think,

behave,

think, behave,

respond.

Like the Father,

Son,

and Holy Spirit,

Because they want to show the people that this is this is who we belong to our response

Guys, sometimes when you're very irritated and annoyed with the things that you're stewarding go speak to your spouse your cat a

Tree, but after you get it out of your system come back and behave like the Father Son and Holy Spirit

Jesus used to feel frustrated. They please don't think Jesus walked around

Looking at the disciples and how they were absolutely dull and irresponsible and clapped his hand. No there were moments

He was super frustrated. He'd actually express it. He'd say to them. What's wrong with you guys? How long have I had to be with you?

What's why are you so dull? I wasn't talking about bread

I was talking about the leaven of the Pharisees and you guys are saying that I'm not talking about bread

I was talking about the leaven of the Pharisees and you guys are still talking about bread

I just multiplied two loaves and five fish that wasn't coming from a

Unfrustrated place

But at the end of the day he would still end up treating people like the father

So if someone asks you what's the culture of the kingdom? The culture of the kingdom is the culture of the Father Son and Holy Spirit

That's the culture of the kingdom, how do they behave? How do they think? How do they respond? Do they have emotions? Absolutely

Jesus loved Jesus Christ the father loved the father

enjoyed creation

They have emotions that you draw from your emotions are not some

Thing your parents created or that exists in you out of a vacuum your emotions exist because God is emotional

God is an emotional being

God is an emotional being

God is an emotional being

All of us are more emotional beings it's just a question of how we express it

But how does he think respond and behave and sometimes my emotions get in the way and that's when I have to change

Because when my emotions get in the way then people don't get the best of God

The father the son and the Holy Spirit

And so what's a critical part of stewardship?

stewardship

always

fathers

Stewardship always fathers

Fathers F-A-T-A-T-R-S

F-A-T-A-T-R-S

Stewardship always fathers

Poor poor stewardship won't affect salvation, but there will still be loss first corinthians 3 14 and 15

You cannot steward this is a critical

We're not talking about people now. We're talking about anything you cannot steward

The word is cannot you cannot steward successfully

If you are afraid of failure

If you are afraid of failure

You are afraid of failure

You cannot steward

Successfully if you're afraid of failure

If you're always afraid and that's exactly what happened to the third servant he got one

Talent and he said I was afraid that you being a hard master will ask what to me

so I dug a hole and I put the

Talent in the ground and buried it. I've heard it said that in some

Jewish law

not from the

Torah but just

cultural laws if you

Took money and kept it in your house and someone stole it

You'd have to return it

But if you dug a hole and buried it and someone stole it you wouldn't have to return it

This guy was so smart that he actually digs a hole and buries it so that nobody will

Hold him responsible. He was afraid

stewardship

Does not succeed if you're afraid of failure

Stewardship always demands increase

Anything you steward must increase

And so there's no question of increasing stuff

If i'm afraid if i'm afraid of always stay in a safe place safe places never produce increase

Increase

Safe places only produce predictable outcomes they never produce increase

Joshua 1 8 what does god say to joshua listen, I want you to meditate on the word

I want you to be bold. I want you to be courageous because i'm putting you as the leader of a whole bunch of guys

Moses is gone. You've got to take them through

It's impossible without if you're afraid of failing you cannot do it

That's why we make safe choices even with our children we find them the most lucrative

Career or course option that will produce for them

A safe secure stable life

Silla

Stewardship is hollowed stewardship

Is hollowed as in undermined

By my inability

To trust god with my land

Children

Job

Position

Money

Future

And if that happens it leads to

Ownership

Pride control fear

So you've got to be in this constant place of as your business grows as the church grows as the

As your family grows as the land you acquire grows as the houses you acquire grows as your bank account grows

As things begin to grow you have to be in this constant state of I am not an owner. I'm a steward

And so god once again this month I come to you and I say

I now have the ability to trust you with my land my children my job my position my money my future

Again and again and again and then when we do that often enough at some point god says hey, okay, so could you

Take isaac up up the mountain and offer him

As a sacrifice to me and strangely you immediately prepare

Preparation is the greatest

Uh

We don't realize that when it comes to faith preparation is a it's one of the greatest components of faith

Nothing in this church actually happens spontaneously guys

Last week I preached a message last moment. I pulled out i started preaching on juda

This was what I was supposed to preach, but I pre-juda now you might think ah spontaneous. Oh wonderful

He could just off the cuff he could no

I i i i i've read that i have spoken that i have prepared that

So many times that it can flow because of preparation

Any act of faith has this really important component of preparation

Jesus prepared before having the last supper. He said go here do this and you'll find the

Table set jesus prepared before he went down into jerusalem

Go here. You'll find the donkey there when you find the donkey there do this this and this

Jesus prepared before he revealed his ministry

He knew somehow that if he goes into the synagogue that day the reading will be from isaiah 61

Preparation is sometimes either hearing or actually putting in work faith does not work without preparation

Abraham prepared he got two servants. He got donkey. He got wood

He went up the mountain told the servants to remain set up the wood has the dagger has lifted it up

Is going to kill his son and then things change no are prepared. You can't build an ark with faith. You need wood

So

Yeah, absolutely i've heard that quote

And we don't realize how much a part of faith preparation is

Faith that does not prepare is faith that is blind and faith is never blind

Blind

Faith always sees or always hears faith is never blind and if it's not blind it prepares

Here's another one for parents for teachers for pastors

This one's important

when you don't

And I made this mistake man and regretted it when you don't steward

What is placed

In your care when you don't steward what is placed in your care at some point

It will

Exert

Ownership over you

Or rebel against you

When you don't steward what is placed in your care at some point it will exert ownership over you or it'll rebel against you

You're supposed to take care you're supposed to increase you're supposed to grow you're supposed to cultivate you're supposed to keep you're supposed to guard it

So let's assume

um

Let's assume nick is my son

And I do not steward him I let him run

Life however, he wants at some point my lack of stewardship will result either in his rebellion or his exerting

ownership over me

You see this with eli's sons at one point in first samuel 2

God turns up and says to eli why didn't you?

Caution or discipline hoffney and finneas why didn't you?

Look at what they're doing

Jesus says the same in revelations 2 20 to the church. He says why do you tolerate that woman jezebel?

Why do you let her and come and run whatever?

She wants to do in the church. How come how come you're tolerating her?

How come you don't have any filters to keep her from bringing my servants into a place of sexual immorality and idolatry?

Why are you tolerating her?

When things are placed under your care

At some point if you don't take care of it, it'll exert ownership over you rebel against you. It doesn't matter whether it's

An army whether it's a home whether it's a church whether it's a school whether it's a business be aware of this

These are principles of christ teaches us

Any questions

Stewardship must provide consequences and expectations stewardship cannot be done without the context of expectations and consequences

At work it's very natural

You know that these are the things you have to do if you do not do them

Then these are the consequences there are expectations and consequences all stewardship should have expectations and consequences

But in a world which is loosey goosey, we don't

And it ends up in so much unnecessary trouble

A part of the reason we don't is because we don't like

Offending people hurting people feeling like we're exerting

Control the word control is so frightening now that nobody wants to control nothing

It's impossible can you imagine hamari and

Remy

Not exerting any control over her

Not exerting any control upon yaya and juda

What that'll look like

Or arren and renny upon joey

The words that are abused are always words that are true

The words that will be abused will never be words that are untrue

The words that are abused will always be words that are true

And therefore the intent is can a word become so abused that you become scared to use it or practice it

That's even more insidious because in the process an entire principle is lost

Where is the line between control and guidance between what is referred to control against like guidance?

Yeah, where's the line between control and guidance? It's based entirely on relationship

It's based entirely on relationship I can

I can say things to don

That if you hear it might sound like boy

Jacob is controlling him

But it's based on relationship

So

Guidance and control are sometimes just a question of where the person's relationship is

If you know the heart of the person that is talking to you and guiding you you can find that guidance can go

much further

So it depends on relationship there are things that I may not be able to say to dilna

Because he and I

Know each other, but it's not at a place where I can say dilna just shave your hair off man

Like can't do stuff like that

If you speak any lower i'll have to come and sit right next to

Eventually crossing into a more sense of what we call not what people call control

But he doesn't realize this. Okay, so his quest the answer to his question is this

Control is when you take away somebody's free will

Control is when you usurp someone's free will you're not even giving them the choice of choosing you're taking it away

Control

That's when that's when it becomes control when you take away even their rights to exert their free will

When you take it away now you enter into the place of control

And that depends on relationship. I may allow tunie

Into my life to an extent where he can say stuff

That I would not allow

Zia to do

But that's because of relationship

but the moment

Tunie usurps my free will and there are many ways you can do it. You can manipulate you can use emotions

You can use coercion. You can use rewards. You can use threats

You can use different ways of taking away someone's free will you can use emotions. My god. Don't parents do that

In india parents get children to marry people they shouldn't be married

So

Here's something I want to say

You can

Check me on this privately if you think i'm saying something that's wrong

There hasn't been a day in the last 20 years that i've ever used up anyone's free will at x 29

Not once

Not once

You know why i'm passionate about it because it's important that people have their free will

When people chaff with regard to stewardship you only have two choices guys

You only have two choices when people chaff against stewardship one

Discipline and you can't impose discipline if you're not in relationship two problems 130 to 32

Let them eat the fruit of their own counsel

That's it

It's one of the saddest things to see

Where a rich man walks away after asking the most important question in life, what should I do to gain eternal life?

I often think if bill gates came and asked me that would I let him walk away?

You

The crazy thing is guys

All of us are expected to rise to this place of stewardship. Emmanuel's supposed to rise to a place of stewardship

Vibi is supposed to rise to a place of stewardship because every servant is supposed to be responsible faithful accountable

It is it is it is across this room

He wants it. He wants increase all increase comes through only two things guys stewardship and faith

faithfulness

All increase increase doesn't come through prayer

Any blessing given to you increases not because of prayer it increases because of faithfulness

And it increases because of humility the two things the bible says

When you are faithful, I will increase your domain if you lower yourself. I will raise you up

It's the only two things if you think you are getting a promotion at work

Because you sucked up to the boss

You'll only go that far but you'll be faithful and you'll be humble and you will see how god will remove a boss if necessary

So that you go higher

These are kingdom principles that are inviolable. They are as strong as gravity itself

No way around it

And when you steward well, oh my god

He brings an increase not in increments but in five take ten two take four

You can pray for faithfulness and you can pray to walk humble so that god raises you up

But if i'm not faithful and I ask for increase what happens is the squandering of the resources i'm given

You know there's a friend I had

Who supplies chicken to all the restaurants in downtown vancouver?

He's very wealthy

His son used to be in my sunday school

He would make sure that his son would work in the factory plucking feathers

off the chicken

Had him work plucking feathers of a chicken for three years before he gave him a slightly better job

But he would not let his son

Into the office saying you have to learn how to be

faithful

Other than us

Fascinating that this guy's it's his old friend

It's his oldest son. Come on. Give the guy a break. Give him a nice chair to sit in

But no

Yeah

How is how is discipline reward different from threats and rewards and stuff like that

Um

if I asked you to do something and in the church and

Gave you specific instructions and you chose not to do it that way and chose to do it some other way

Part of the discipline would be taking you through a process where you will not be allowed to do it again till you learn

Right. That's what we do with our kids. That's exactly how the church should do

Or let's say I am supposed to be

Be behaving with a certain degree of morality if my morality does not match up to the standards that god expects

Then there is a process of discipline and the bible talks about it

Let the elders come and say jacob

You are really messing up in this and since you're messing up in this

This is what we want to do discipline is not beating or anything

Disciplin is this is the process we need you to go through so that we can restore you back to full functioning

And

That's what these guys sign

In the charter it clearly says if we err in our ways the church has the right to discipline us

We put that very small so that they sign it without knowing

No, i'm kidding

Okay, oh shoot why does time always fly

Okay, let's talk about money and then

We close

When it comes to money

Ah leaders have to be good stewards, but we'll talk about that another time

But I want to ask the leaders here

Are you stewards or are you owners and i'm asking myself that too. How do you deal with rejection?

Rejection

Rejection yeah, how do you deal with rejection?

Samuel had to deal with it. How do you deal with desertion?

Paul had to deal with it. How do you deal with allegiance shifts?

Paul had to deal with that when people started saying I belong to apollos. I belong to safest

How do you deal with it when john starts baptizing some of your disciples?

How do you deal with it when barnabas heads off with john mark?

How do you handle correction in your life?

Joyfully or chaffing

Okay, let's talk about money then we'll end with that

Good stewards

Are kind

And generous when it comes to money stewarding money

Good stewards are kind and generous. That's like 101 if you don't have that

Then you can't even go there good stewards and generous and kind

And here's the other one and this is not easy. Hey guys life is not

measured in possessions

Life is not measured in possessions

So what do you mean life how you might think life is not measured in possession

So here's what I would say god and I was telling myself this many times this week

God against the desire for more

God against the desire

For more

Because it's a slow burn it slowly takes over you won't even notice it

Increases and as your desire for more increases your desire for

Kingdom has to decrease they don't go hand in hand

Just be aware of that, eh, that's what I need to ask myself how am I desire do I have a desire for more?

And

The more can be different for different people it could be clothes it could be flights it could be cars it could be

um

the desire for more

And it's it's a very slow burn. It happens so subtly so subtly

I just want you to know something on the side sometimes

Sometimes your leaders test you out with stewardship

Sometimes leaders in this church test you out with stewardship as in here

Tuni do this

A part of the thing is how is tuning going to do it?

And based on that the increase won't come from the leader increases

And based on that the increase won't come from the leader increase will come from god

Just be aware of it

I once remember going to a lady's

meeting and

I was told to speak and i'm sitting there and the

Group had given me the topic to speak on i'm about to speak and I feel the holy spirit saying speak about this

So I spoke about it's completely different topic when I was done the lady who led the group came and said to me

Why did you change the topic?

so I

Like every good christian said but I just felt the holy spirit telling me to change it and the next question was

Why didn't you tell me?

I

It was a lesson I learned quickly man

And even if the spirit of god asked me to change it I was in someone else's church

Doing someone else's meeting all I had to do

Because these people were good godly people all I had to do was go and tell them listen

This is what I said the spirit of god saying what do you think?

But no you take over

If you think what I'm saying is constraining or restraining

It is good

Because it will allow you to pull the king's chariot

I said this ages ago when they want to get horses to pull

King charles chariot through the streets of london they go get some of the best thoroughbreds

They can all across the uk and then they bring them put them in large rooms

And then they bring them put them in large rooms with

Cannon shots with car exhausts back firing with crowd noises with sudden noises

And they put these horses through fire through water to see the ones

that'll

stay and will not move till they hear the whisper of the

Guy in charge

And then they pick them out and those are the ones that pull the king's chariot queen elizabeth was on a horse

When there was a gunshot nearby and the horse went up on its two feet and came down immediately because it knew better

Because it carries royalty. It was trained that way you can go google it

That's what we are talking about constrained is good you do it with your children

Why won't you do it with what is in your care? And if they're chaff?

again, it goes back to two things either you have the

relationship to

Bring in discipline or you go proverbs 1 30 to 32 and you come back later and say do you want to try again?

It's not a hobby it's a responsibility

So

God against the desire for more and then in proverbs 23

Proverbs 23:2

Verse 2 it says hey jacob

If you are someone who really likes food and gets invited to nick's house take a knife with you

And put it to your throat if you start eating too much bok choy

That's what it says meaning use some form of restraining your appetite

If you are given to more in any areas on all of us know the areas of more

Each of us has different areas of more

Where it's a slow burn you you have a desire for more in that area

Tell somebody about it and then put a restraint

So that every time you begin to get to that place you put a knife to your throat so that your gluttony ends

That's what the bible recommends

And all of us have it

And just while we're on the topic what you spend your time on

Is what you become

Take this to heart in a world where social media just just devours us what you spend your time on is what you become

What you spend your time on is what you become

And so you have to

Determine present priorities and that is part of stewardship

You know one of the passages that really

Sits wrong with me is when and yet it sits right with me is when philip comes and says hey jesus jesus

There are some greeks that have traveled a long way and they want to meet you and jesus says no

Why because he had a new priority. What is the priority? I've got to head to the cross

I can't wait now to talk to the greeks

And then he says unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies it won't produce more

And in that he's also saying what's going to happen the greeks will get to see who I am

But I do not have the time to speak with them right now and he leaves them and he goes to the cross

I've said this before but all time is created by priority

Whatever you prioritize you have time for

Whatever you prioritize you have time for now imagine how much time is spent on social media

We become what we spend time on

So

Any questions

Hey guys, these are our common problems, eh

These are our common problems. We're just dealing with real life problems that we in this room have

And a guy sitting next to me on the flight today he was just endlessly for five hours he watched

those short reels from

Facebook tiktok and something else

I use he looked older than me

Blessed are you if you know how to invest money

Because you don't have the money

Why is investing money important because it increases

Well, Jacob, I don't know how to and I don't have money right now, but have the desire

aren't there times when you see a single mom that needs help or a man that needs a

shower or a room for a night or a person who needs

A shelter for three nights and you so badly want to help but there's nothing you can do because you do not have the money

you

May everybody in this church starting with me desire to increase through investment

Proverbs 4 verse 7

Proverbs 4:7

Proverbs 4 verse 7 it says do anything pay any cost but get understanding

Proverbs 4:7

Whatever it takes

Pays but get understanding

Not understanding you know

Whether silver is going to go up or gold is going to go up or crypto is going to go up and then you invest

At the wrong time and then it falls and then you think to yourself. Oh my god. Did I hear god, right?

That's not the way to go about it. It is

Investment is always long term

And there's no brilliant genius when it comes to that it is just painstakingly

patient

I'm waiting

But may you all may I start may you start some of you may have a head start on all of us great

Go to people that are doing it and ask them. Hey, what do I do? How do I do this? Maybe it's land

Maybe it's some precious metal. You're not playing you're letting it lie

But what then happens is that you now have the ability to help that single mom you have the ability to help someone who's in need

I want this for our church, but I want some of you guys to be able to do it

And then the other thing is guys try doing it corporately whenever people

Pull their resources together. The effect is much greater when individuals begin to help individuals

It's this small

That's why even guys like

Buffett and gates create organizations where people pool in millions and millions of dollars and then spread it out

Okay, next one luke 1612 how you going to deal with this jacob how you going to deal with this church luke 1612

How you going to deal with this church luke 1612

These words are very difficult man if I am not trustworthy I touched on this briefly last time if I am not trustworthy

With someone else's property

Who will give me

Crazy

It's a principle in the bible

Now it is required of us to take good care of peace maronite

We cannot treat it like our own because we pay rent

Jesus said this hey

Jacob

If you are not trustworthy with someone else's property who will give you your own hasn't I can't give you your own

So it's my willingness to manage in a responsible way something that belongs to you actually increases me

So it could be a rented car it could be

Someone else getting a promotion it could be tools that your neighbor loaned you

These are all things that belong to somebody else. What if you return the borrowed tools cleaner and better than when they were borrowed

That becomes a measure

For god giving you your tools. I know it's a terribly simple example, but god is terribly simple when it comes to little knickknacks

That's how increase comes increase rarely comes in you finding that there's oil in your backyard

It comes through incremental increases

It's the same thing to do with ministry church everything guys you must understand that there was a

Is the faithfulness of jacob this guy?

for one and a half years

When there were only two people coming to this church that you are now reaping now

And i'm saying it with absolute modesty

And years from now others will benefit because of your simplicity your trust your faithfulness

Because as the church changes and things happen instead of shunning it you take part of it

I have no I I don't know any other church that moves from place to place so easily

These kind of moves destroy the church

That moves from place to place so easily

These kind of moves destroy the church

You'll end up still having only heidi and chris

But you guys move like you're in the wilderness or something

Your faithfulness will matter

When I was in new york yesterday and watching three groups and the church are growing i'm looking at ed stacy and

Larissa and i'm thinking myself man these guys have been faithful and now they're saying it

It always pays off guys

So

If i'm not trustworthy with someone else's thing, how can god trust me? He wants he's watching he's watching

He's watching don he's watching me. He's watching fuyo

How do these three guys handle stuff when they are given stuff that belongs to somebody else?

and don and jacob seemed to

Know how to preach fuyo may not know how to preach that well, but fuyo seems to know how to handle people's stuff

And suddenly don and jacob are still driving

um

What's your car?

Id4 well fuyo is now

Ferrari

I

Bad example, but the point is that increase comes god is watching god is watching god is watching god is watching

And so next time things are lying around and mark butler comes and says hey guys

We need to pick this stuff up and put it back. Don't get annoyed with mark butler

He's not being a pain. He's just being

faithful

I

Yeah, it grates you

And then just try and walk away. Don't create a scene

And then later on deal with it first in your mind

Then with a third party and then with the party involved

three steps to dealing with things

First walk away and try to deal with your own mind because you really want to throttle mark

then you come and talk to somebody else like

That you're friendly with and that will give you good advice instead of saying throttle mark

And then finally go to mark and say mark. I really wanted to throttle you because of that tone

But i'm over it right now, but can we just talk about it?

Okay

Luke 16 verse 11 and 12

Luke 16:11

True riches guys. This is really

Difficult to stomach true riches

or wealth

Is connected this really bothered me

Is connected to our faithful stewardship

Of money

I'll stop in four minutes. This is the last point I want to make true riches

Is

Luke Luke 16 11 and 12

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much

Whoever is dishonest with very little will be dishonest with much

If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth who will trust you with true riches

And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property who will give you property of your own?

So

Tough one, what are true riches?

Spiritual gifts

Promises

Favor

Insights

Maturity

Anointing

Partnering the impossible

Partnering with god in the impossible

Heaven's purpose

New identities

Participating in glory

New

Making things new

True riches

Toughie

I

I'll read it out spiritual gifts promises favor insights or revelation maturity anointing

Partnering with god in the impossible heaven's purpose new identities

Participating in glory making things new these are true riches

What's jesus saying?

you cannot

Be trusted with these two riches if you do not know how to handle

Money

Really bothered me I thought to myself my god

Maybe there's a disconnect in my life. Maybe there's a disconnect in your life

So

This is what you see in genesis 14

It's it's so well portrayed in genesis 14 and genesis 15

Along comes the king of salem and the king of

Sodom

Standing in the middle is a guy called abraham

The king of sodom offers him

all the wealth

So he could have so much money all the king of sodom wanted was give me the people that you captured

I'll give you all the wealth

And the king of salem is standing there and he's got true riches. He's got bread and wine. He's melchizedek a type of christ

And here's abraham and he knows how to handle the wealth and he says I won't take a strap that comes from you

And he goes and he gives the tenth of all the spoils of war too

Who melchizedek and melchizedek blesses him genesis 14 ends that way genesis 15 opens with true riches

And it opens with the statement from god saying

Abraham

I will be your exceeding great reward

and she

And that begins the rest of abraham's journey

Just keep this in mind guys i'll leave you with this but ponder on it go read 16 verse 11 and 12

Can someone read it loudly one more time

Why make you do it when I can do it

Luke 16 verse 11 and 12 i'll read it from the niv and then the message

Luke 16:11

Luke 16

Luke 16:11

Verse 11 and 12

Here goes

Luke 13 and 14

Whoever starting at verse 10 whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much

And whoever is dishonest with very little

Will also be dishonest with much

So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth who will trust you with true riches

If you're not being trustworthy with someone else's property

Who will give you property of your own?

And it's in that context that jesus says no one can serve two masters

Reading from the message

Jesus went on to make these comments if you're honest in small things

You'll be honest in big things

If you're a crook in small things

You'll be a crook in big things

If you're not in small if you're not honest in small jobs who will put you in charge of the store?

No worker can serve two bosses

He'll hate the first and love the second or adore the first and despise the second. You can't serve both god and the bank

Just ponder on that eh and

I'll just pray that god will bring us not just conviction but give us a way out to now begin to change

Because I know that it's a problem in our midst and

I'm guilty too

So i'm not praying for you. I'm praying for us

Yeah

Jesus I wish you wouldn't say such things

But then you already said it so you there's nothing we can do about it

There's nothing we can do about it

Jesus in this room starting with me

I don't know if I can say that

I qualify based on those

comments those verses

Across this room. There are people that are thinking the same

I can bring in just

Discouragement and the sense of oh well, that's the end of that

That's not how you operate you're showing of these scriptures and saying hey, can you use this as a plumb line and i'll help you

Jesus we need help. We are talking about revival. We are talking about science miracles wonders

We are talking about glory, but we need this to be fixed too

Are we okay with you fixing it?

This plumbing in this house has to be fixed

Please jesus help me help each person here that's struggling with it in any which way

Help us. Oh god

We want to handle true riches

but it begins with handling these

these

lesser things

Spirit of god, I please ask for your own sake and because you love increasing us

Please help me and please help this church. I ask in jesus name

If you need prayer we'll be

You