Speaker 1: Jesus talked more about money than he did heaven or hell.
Speaker 1: Did you know that? He talked more about money than
Speaker 1: heaven or hell. Why? Because we spend more time thinking
Speaker 1: about money than heaven or hell. We spend much of
Speaker 1: our time thinking about how to get it, how to
Speaker 1: make it, how to save it, how to spend it,
Speaker 1: how to invest it, how to protect it, how to,
Speaker 1: you know, insure it, and all the other things. And
Speaker 1: it dominates much of our lives. And so Jesus had
Speaker 1: a lot to say about money management. He also told
Speaker 1: us that money management is a spiritual discipline, that God
Speaker 1: is actually watching how I handle my wealth to see
Speaker 1: what he can trust me with, with true spiritual riches
Speaker 1: in heaven. Jesus, when he told the parables, you know,
Speaker 1: the stories, the famous stories of Jesus, over half of
Speaker 1: the parables Jesus told deal with material possessions. So there's
Speaker 1: a lot of material in the on how to get
Speaker 1: out of debt, how to stay out of debt, how
Speaker 1: to control money instead of having it control you. Now,
Speaker 1: this weekend, before we begin Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, I want
Speaker 1: us to look at Matthew chapter 25. If you have
Speaker 1: a Bible, you might want to open to Matthew chapter 25.
Speaker 1: We're just going to look at the story that Jesus
Speaker 1: told there. If you don't, pull out your message notes
Speaker 1: and all of the verses we're going to look at
Speaker 1: are there. This is called the parable of the talents. Now,
Speaker 1: Many people misunderstand this parable because it has the word
Speaker 1: talent in it. And when we hear the word talent,
Speaker 1: we think of gifts, abilities, your shape, your personality, your
Speaker 1: spiritual gifts, your heart, the things you love to do,
Speaker 1: what you're naturally good at. The word, the English word
Speaker 1: talent actually comes from this chapter in the Bible. Before
Speaker 1: there was this, Jesus told this story, the word talent
Speaker 1: didn't exist. But a talent is actually a measurement of money.
Speaker 1: And while this does have application to your talents, your gifts,
Speaker 1: your abilities, this is actually a parable, a story about
Speaker 1: money management. A talent was a specific weight of gold.
Speaker 1: And there was a Babylonian talent, there was a Greek talent,
Speaker 1: and there was a Roman talent, which was a specific
Speaker 1: amount of money. So we're gonna look at it. Now
Speaker 1: in this chapter, we're gonna start in verse 14. We
Speaker 1: have the story of a rich businessman. And Jesus tells
Speaker 1: the story of a guy who's very, very wealthy. We
Speaker 1: can know that by what he gives his servants to
Speaker 1: take care of. And he says, I'm gonna go away
Speaker 1: on a trip. And I'm gonna be gone for a
Speaker 1: long time, so I'm gonna put you in charge of
Speaker 1: my property. And he divides up his wealth. You know,
Speaker 1: in those days, there weren't any banks. And so you
Speaker 1: didn't keep your money in a bank. So he's got
Speaker 1: all of his wealth at home and he divides his
Speaker 1: wealth up among his three servants. And he says, I
Speaker 1: expect you guys to make the most of this. And
Speaker 1: when I come back, we'll see what happens. And so
Speaker 1: he's gone for a long time. And later the businessman
Speaker 1: comes back home and he says, okay, give me an account.
Speaker 1: What'd you guys do with my money? And they tell
Speaker 1: the story and two of the guys have a good report.
Speaker 1: One of the guys has a bad report. And then
Speaker 1: Jesus draws some spiritual truths out of this. Out of
Speaker 1: this story, We learn seven foundations for financial fitness. If
Speaker 1: you ever needed to take notes, you need to take
Speaker 1: notes this weekend. Because these are foundations that base the
Speaker 1: stability of your life on in order to become all
Speaker 1: God wants you to be. Now let's look at it together.
Speaker 1: They're on your outline. In Matthew 25, verse 14, we
Speaker 1: see the beginning of the story. And it says this.
Speaker 1: The kingdom of heaven, Jesus said, will be like a
Speaker 1: man going on a journey, this businessman. And he called
Speaker 1: his three servants together and he entrusted his property to them. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're taking notes, I want you to circle the
Speaker 1: word his there on that verse. It says he called
Speaker 1: his three servants together and entrusted his property to them.
Speaker 1: It's not the servant's money. It's the master's money, but
Speaker 1: he's giving it to them to take care of. This,
Speaker 1: by the way, is called stewardship. You've heard this word before,
Speaker 1: a steward or stewardship. That's the old English word for manager.
Speaker 1: Any of you who are managers or involved in management
Speaker 1: in a business are actually stewards. A steward is a
Speaker 1: manager and stewardship simply means management. We are called to
Speaker 1: be stewards of our time, manage your time. We are
Speaker 1: called to be stewards of our influence. We are called
Speaker 1: to be stewards of our health, of our minds, of
Speaker 1: our relationships, of our opportunities. Everything you have you were
Speaker 1: to be a steward of or a manager of. Now,
Speaker 1: he says here, he entrusted his property to his servants. Now,
Speaker 1: this is the first law of financial freedom, and it
Speaker 1: is this. The law of possession is this. You might
Speaker 1: write this down. Everything I have belongs to God. I
Speaker 1: need you to settle that one right up front. It's
Speaker 1: not my money. It all belongs to God. You say,
Speaker 1: wait a minute. But I worked for this. Where do
Speaker 1: you think you got your body to work for? Where
Speaker 1: do you think you got your mind to work for?
Speaker 1: Where do you think you got your energy to work for?
Speaker 1: Where do you think you got your intelligence to work?
Speaker 1: Everything you have is a gift from God. So you
Speaker 1: don't really own anything in life. It's all on loan.
Speaker 1: Someday I'm gonna write a book and the first sentence
Speaker 1: of the book will be, what you think you own
Speaker 1: is really on loan. You see, I didn't own anything
Speaker 1: before I was born. I didn't bring anything into the world.
Speaker 1: I've been there at the birth of all my babies
Speaker 1: and grandbabies. None of them came in carrying a satchel
Speaker 1: full of money. You didn't bring anything into the world.
Speaker 1: And I've been there at the other end too at
Speaker 1: the funerals. Nobody takes it out with them. You never
Speaker 1: see a hearse driving a U-Haul with it. So you
Speaker 1: only get to use it while you're here. It's God's money.
Speaker 1: God loaned it to somebody before you. He's loaned it
Speaker 1: to you for 80 years, and he's going to loan
Speaker 1: it to somebody else after you die. You don't own it.
Speaker 1: It's all under management. The master owns it all. God
Speaker 1: is the owner. Now, this is really important because we
Speaker 1: tend to forget it. We forget, and when we forget it,
Speaker 1: you know what is the sign that you've forgotten that
Speaker 1: it's God's and not yours? When you think it's yours,
Speaker 1: you worry about it. Worry is the sign that you
Speaker 1: think it's all yours. Now, let's say you had a
Speaker 1: beach house and you said, Rick, I'm going to Spain
Speaker 1: for a year and we're going to let you and
Speaker 1: Kay use our beach house for a year. So we
Speaker 1: use your beach house for a year. And then you
Speaker 1: call up a year later and go, you know what?
Speaker 1: We think we're gonna stay, we're having a good time,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna stay another year in Spain. Use our
Speaker 1: beach house for another year. And so then on the
Speaker 1: third year, you call up again and say, hey, go
Speaker 1: ahead and use it for a third year. By this time,
Speaker 1: I'm starting to think, this is mine. You come home
Speaker 1: about year four and you say, I'm ready to move
Speaker 1: back in. I say, what do you mean? You're not moving,
Speaker 1: this is my house. You know, possessions, nine-tenths of the law.
Speaker 1: It's mine now. And we tend to think because God
Speaker 1: has loaned it to us for an extended period of
Speaker 1: time that it's ours. It's not. Now, if you would
Speaker 1: remind yourself of this first truth every day, you'd worry
Speaker 1: a whole lot less. Now, in the next verse, verse 15,
Speaker 1: it says, this master, he loans his money out. He says,
Speaker 1: to one servant, he gave five talents of money. And
Speaker 1: to another, he gave two talents of money. And to another,
Speaker 1: it says he gave one talent of money. Now, what's
Speaker 1: he talking about here? Well, a talent... Literally, a Roman
Speaker 1: talent is 71 pounds of gold. Think about that. This
Speaker 1: is not a small amount. He's really trusting. And God
Speaker 1: has made a huge investment in you. We'll talk about
Speaker 1: that later. But the first law, the law God possesses everything.
Speaker 1: It all belongs to him. And then this is the
Speaker 1: second law. And it says he gives five talents to one.
Speaker 1: two talents to another, and one talent of gold to
Speaker 1: another guy, each according to his ability that he left
Speaker 1: on his journey. This is the law of allocation. And
Speaker 1: it is this. God has loaned me money. I just
Speaker 1: talked about that. You don't really own it. He's loaning
Speaker 1: it to you for 30, 40, 50, 60, 80, 90,
Speaker 1: at the most 100 years. Now you notice in this
Speaker 1: story that Jesus tells, everybody gets a different amount. That's obvious.
Speaker 1: We're not all equally wealthy. We're not all equally, you know,
Speaker 1: have the same economic status. It says some guy get
Speaker 1: one talent, some guy gets two talents, some guy gets
Speaker 1: five talents of gold. But the point is this, everybody
Speaker 1: gets something. Now, there are no no-talent people in the world.
Speaker 1: If you're breathing, that is a blessing. If you are alive,
Speaker 1: that in itself is a blessing. Now, everybody gets something.
Speaker 1: And they all began to go out. Now notice the
Speaker 1: next verse, verse 16 there in your outline. The man
Speaker 1: who had received the five talents went at once and
Speaker 1: put his money to work and gained five more talents
Speaker 1: of gold. And so the one with the two talents
Speaker 1: also doubled his money. But the man who had received
Speaker 1: the one talent went off, dug a hole in the
Speaker 1: ground and just hid his master's money. Now there's a
Speaker 1: couple things I want to point out here. And the
Speaker 1: first is this. Money is a tool to be used.
Speaker 1: You put it to work. You use money and you
Speaker 1: love people. Now if you get that reversed, you're going
Speaker 1: to be in trouble. Because if you start loving money,
Speaker 1: you will use people. No. People are to be loved first.
Speaker 1: Money is to be used. You are to never love money.
Speaker 1: You are to use it. It is a tool to
Speaker 1: be used. You say, well, wait a minute. Isn't money
Speaker 1: the root of all evil? Isn't that what the Bible says? No,
Speaker 1: that's not what the Bible says. The Bible does not
Speaker 1: say money is the root of all evil. It says
Speaker 1: the love of money is the root of all evil.
Speaker 1: Money is totally neutral. It can be used for good
Speaker 1: or bad. It can be used by Hitler to bomb Europe.
Speaker 1: Or it could be used by churches to spread good
Speaker 1: news and feed the hungry. You can use it on
Speaker 1: very selfish centered purposes or you can use it for
Speaker 1: very unselfish purposes. You can use it to create businesses
Speaker 1: and products that bless the entire world. Money is a
Speaker 1: neutral thing. It's neither good nor bad. It's what you
Speaker 1: do with it. But he says, put your money to work.
Speaker 1: One of the things we're gonna learn in the next
Speaker 1: several weeks together is how to put your money to work.
Speaker 1: The reason why most people are in debt and the
Speaker 1: reason why most people never get out of debt is
Speaker 1: because they are always working for their money instead of
Speaker 1: having their money work for them. You gotta reverse this.
Speaker 1: This is a whole different way of thinking about money.
Speaker 1: You gotta learn how to put your money to work
Speaker 1: for you instead of you working for money. If you
Speaker 1: work for money, you will always be needing more. You
Speaker 1: will always be in debt. But if you learn how
Speaker 1: to make money work for you, then money becomes your servant.
Speaker 1: Money is a wonderful servant. It is a terrible master.
Speaker 1: It is a terrible master. And you know it's a
Speaker 1: master when it's causing stress in your life. Then it's
Speaker 1: mastering you. It's controlling you. Now, he says he gives
Speaker 1: the money out to these three servants. One goes out
Speaker 1: and invests it, puts it to work. The other goes
Speaker 1: out and puts it to work. The third guy goes
Speaker 1: and hides it in the ground. Here's the point. You
Speaker 1: get to choose what you do with what God gives you.
Speaker 1: You don't get to choose what you're given. Some people
Speaker 1: are given one talent. Some people are given five talents.
Speaker 1: Some people are given 10 talents. Some people are given
Speaker 1: two talents. There's just different amounts. But you do get
Speaker 1: to choose what you do with it. And what you
Speaker 1: do with it is what God is watching. Today I've
Speaker 1: got a quick note from a listener in Minneapolis. His
Speaker 1: name is Bill. And Bill wrote to me, Rick, I
Speaker 1: want to let you know that I prayed with you
Speaker 1: this morning accepting God into my life. Wow, that's great.
Speaker 1: Daily Hope has become the way that I start each
Speaker 1: day listening to your podcast. So much has changed in
Speaker 1: my life over the past year. I had a job loss.
Speaker 1: I had a transition. I had a divorce. My dad
Speaker 1: passed away. Cancer and my faith all in the same year.
Speaker 1: I'm so thankful for all that you do. Well, Bill,
Speaker 1: I want to tell you, I know you've been going
Speaker 1: through some really tough times this past year, but there's
Speaker 1: no greater news than hearing that you've accepted Jesus into
Speaker 1: your life and the fact that God used the Daily
Speaker 1: Hope podcast to lead you to him is such a blessing.
Speaker 1: And I want you to know that as you continue
Speaker 1: to study God's word every day, you're going to find
Speaker 1: that your faith is growing and you'll see God actively
Speaker 1: working in your life. I really am as excited today
Speaker 1: to think about what the next year is going to bring.
Speaker 1: Year two in your life will be very different than
Speaker 1: the last year. And to the rest of you, all
Speaker 1: of our Daily Hope listeners, I just want to thank
Speaker 1: you because we're able to provide the Daily Hope podcast
Speaker 1: to people like Bill because of your generous support. Thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you
Speaker 1: for helping us share the good news all around the world.
Speaker 1: We love you. And imagine what it's going to be
Speaker 1: to get to heaven and see all these people who
Speaker 1: came to know Christ because of your giving. God bless you.
Speaker 1: You can join us in bringing hope to others. Just
Speaker 1: scan the QR code or go to dailyhopetv.com. Now, when
Speaker 1: you get to heaven one day, God is not going
Speaker 1: to say, why weren't you more like your brother? Why
Speaker 1: weren't you more like your dad? Why weren't you more
Speaker 1: like your mother? Why weren't you more? No. You are
Speaker 1: only responsible for the talents you've been given. And I'm
Speaker 1: talking about not just money, but your time and your
Speaker 1: abilities and all these other different things. When you get
Speaker 1: to heaven, God is never gonna compare you to anybody else.
Speaker 1: And you can't say, well look, you only gave me
Speaker 1: one talent, you gave that guy five talents. God isn't
Speaker 1: gonna say, who you talking about? God wants to know
Speaker 1: what did you do with what you were given. What
Speaker 1: did you do with what you were given? Not what
Speaker 1: I gave somebody else, but what I gave you. So
Speaker 1: God says, you get to choose what you do with
Speaker 1: the money I gave you. Now, what can you do
Speaker 1: with that money? You can waste it. And there are
Speaker 1: plenty of ways to waste it. You can spend it.
Speaker 1: You can use it. You can invest it. You know,
Speaker 1: they're all different. You could hoard it. There are lots
Speaker 1: of ways, and God lets you choose which way you
Speaker 1: want to do it. But you will have to give
Speaker 1: an account one day for the reasons you chose to
Speaker 1: do what you did with the money he loaned to
Speaker 1: you while you were alive. This is a test. One day,
Speaker 1: you're going to have to explain it. And that's why
Speaker 1: in verse 19 it says, After a long time, the
Speaker 1: master of the three servants returned to settle his accounts.
Speaker 1: Circle the word accounts. He said he returned to settle
Speaker 1: his accounts. This is the next law, the third law.
Speaker 1: And the third law is the law of accountability. And
Speaker 1: the law of accountability is this. One day, God will
Speaker 1: audit me. One day, God is going to audit me.
Speaker 1: He's going to come and settle accounts. There's gonna be
Speaker 1: a final exam on the life God gave you. It
Speaker 1: will be a life audit, not by the IRS, but
Speaker 1: by the G-O-D. And the difference between the IRS and
Speaker 1: the G-O-D is God has all the records. You don't
Speaker 1: have to bring any to that audit. He's already got it.
Speaker 1: He's seen everything you've ever done with your time, with
Speaker 1: your words, with your money, with your life. The times
Speaker 1: you used it for good and the times you just
Speaker 1: flat out blew it But you will give an account
Speaker 1: one day. And it is foolish to go through life
Speaker 1: thinking that I'm not gonna have an audit at the
Speaker 1: end of life. You think God would create you, put
Speaker 1: you on this planet, and then at the end say,
Speaker 1: now what'd you do with your life? I put you,
Speaker 1: I created you, and I made you for a reason.
Speaker 1: And so there's gonna be this audit. God has made
Speaker 1: an investment in you. He has given you certain gifts,
Speaker 1: certain abilities, certain opportunities. He's given you certain resources. He's
Speaker 1: given you a certain heritage. He's given you certain freedoms.
Speaker 1: He's given you a certain amount of intellect and intelligence
Speaker 1: and energy. And God's going, what'd you do with all
Speaker 1: that stuff? Well, I made a lot of money, retired,
Speaker 1: and died. Ah, wrong answer. You think I put you
Speaker 1: on earth to live for yourself? I mean, come on.
Speaker 1: I mean, really, come on. You think I put you
Speaker 1: on earth to live simply for yourself? And to stockpile
Speaker 1: a bunch of things that you're not gonna take with
Speaker 1: you anyway when you die? Life is not in the
Speaker 1: acquisition of things. You've seen that bumper sticker, he who
Speaker 1: dies with the most toys wins. No, the sticker should say,
Speaker 1: he who dies with the most toys still dies. And
Speaker 1: he wasted his life because life is not about the
Speaker 1: acquisition of things because you're not taking any of it
Speaker 1: with you. It all belongs to God. God has loaned
Speaker 1: it to me. He's watching what I do with it.
Speaker 1: And one day I'm going to give an account of
Speaker 1: how well I used the money, the resources, the time,
Speaker 1: the energy, all things that God gave me. The Bible
Speaker 1: says this here on the screen, Romans 14, 12. Each
Speaker 1: of us will give an account of himself to God. Now,
Speaker 1: you know, it's fun to be irresponsible, but you can't
Speaker 1: be irresponsible your entire life. My guess is that when
Speaker 1: you got out of high school, You either A, went
Speaker 1: off and tried to get a job, or you went
Speaker 1: off to college. And either way, whether you went to
Speaker 1: college or went to work, there's probably a few years
Speaker 1: in there you were just slacking around. You're thinking, I'm
Speaker 1: out of the house, I'm gonna have some fun. And
Speaker 1: you're kind of irresponsible. You sleep in, you don't really
Speaker 1: try to get a job. You're watching cartoons, eating Cocoa Puffs,
Speaker 1: and playing video games, and things like that. But at
Speaker 1: some point, you have to wake up and go, excuse me,
Speaker 1: I gotta get a life. I cannot be irresponsible my
Speaker 1: entire life. It might work for a year or two,
Speaker 1: but the master's gonna come back and I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: an account. And irresponsibility never lasts. It always catches you
Speaker 1: in the end. And that's what happens to people when
Speaker 1: they get in debt. We are financially irresponsible and it
Speaker 1: eventually catches up with us. And the chickens come home
Speaker 1: to roost. Right now, America is really, in the results
Speaker 1: of decades of overspending. And how the most blessed and
Speaker 1: most prosperous and the most wealthy nation in the world
Speaker 1: can be on the verge of bankruptcy isn't amazing, but
Speaker 1: it can happen. All you have to do is just
Speaker 1: spend trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars and keep
Speaker 1: spending it. You cannot be irresponsible forever. At some point,
Speaker 1: you have to kind of man up. Now, the law
Speaker 1: of accountability says that one day God's going to say,
Speaker 1: what'd you do with what I gave you? Now, notice
Speaker 1: these three guys have three different responses. The first guy,
Speaker 1: he's got a good report. He's got a good ROI,
Speaker 1: return on his investment. And in verse 21, 20 and 21,
Speaker 1: it says, the man who had received five talents, okay,
Speaker 1: brought the others. Remember, this is about nine million bucks.
Speaker 1: Brought the other five he had made. And master, he said,
Speaker 1: you entrusted me with five talents. See, I've gained five more.
Speaker 1: His master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. Well,
Speaker 1: I guess so. He's got 100% return. I'd be happy
Speaker 1: for a tenth of that today. Wouldn't you? I mean,
Speaker 1: 100% return. He doubled his investment. I mean, this guy
Speaker 1: bought Google. You know, Okay, he clearly, he got in
Speaker 1: on the front end of Amazon or something and his
Speaker 1: stock has really soared. He doubles investment, 100% return. Same
Speaker 1: thing with the second guy. Second guy has another good
Speaker 1: return and a good report to share. Verse 22, that
Speaker 1: servant who was given two talents of money also came
Speaker 1: and said, master, you entrusted me with two talents. Now, see,
Speaker 1: I have gained two more. He's doubled his. And his
Speaker 1: master replies to him, well done, Good and faithful servant.
Speaker 1: 100% return on investment. Now the third guy does not
Speaker 1: have a good story to tell because he has not
Speaker 1: used what God gave him wisely. And he doesn't have
Speaker 1: a good report. In verse 24, then the man who
Speaker 1: had received the one talent came and said, Master, I
Speaker 1: knew that you are a hard man. Now notice he's
Speaker 1: turning the tables. He's trying to put the blame on
Speaker 1: his boss. Master, I knew that you are a hard man.
Speaker 1: harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you
Speaker 1: haven't scattered seed. So I was afraid. You know, I
Speaker 1: was afraid of losing your money. And I went out
Speaker 1: and I hid your talent in the ground. I buried it.
Speaker 1: Just buried it. Now here it is. Here's what belongs
Speaker 1: to you. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And what is the
Speaker 1: master's reply to the servant? You wicked, lazy servant. Now
Speaker 1: let's just Tear this apart a minute, because this story's
Speaker 1: in the Bible for a reason. This guy buries what
Speaker 1: God has given him. He does nothing with it. He
Speaker 1: doesn't use his talent. And then he blames his master
Speaker 1: for his own mismanagement and for his failure. He says,
Speaker 1: I'm a victim. We've got people doing this today. They
Speaker 1: mess up their lives, and they mess up their lives,
Speaker 1: and they don't know what to do. So they blame
Speaker 1: the government. or they blame the boss, or they blame
Speaker 1: their parents, and they blame everybody else. God didn't cause
Speaker 1: you to put all that money, all those expenses on
Speaker 1: your credit card. God didn't tell you to go buy
Speaker 1: a brand new car when you couldn't afford it. God
Speaker 1: didn't tell you to go buy a house that you
Speaker 1: couldn't afford. The Bible says this, here on the screen,
Speaker 1: Proverbs 19, three. People ruin themselves by their own stupid
Speaker 1: actions and then blame the Lord. You've heard me say
Speaker 1: this before. Anytime I blame, you spell blame, Be lame.
Speaker 1: Every time I blame you for my problems, I am
Speaker 1: being lame. Now, notice the master's response to this guy's whining.
Speaker 1: He says, verse 27, he said, you know, you should
Speaker 1: have at least put my money in the bank so
Speaker 1: I could make some interest. I mean, just put it
Speaker 1: in a passbook account. It's not making anything, but that's
Speaker 1: better than digging a hole in the ground and just
Speaker 1: burying it. You could have at least made some money
Speaker 1: on it. Now, this leads us to the fourth law
Speaker 1: of financial freedom, and it is the law of utilization.
Speaker 1: And the law of utilization is this. I must wisely
Speaker 1: use God's money. God expects me to use what I've got,
Speaker 1: not to hoard it, not to sit on it, not
Speaker 1: to hide it, not to bury it, not to deny it,
Speaker 1: but money is a tool and it is meant to
Speaker 1: be used. It is not meant to be stockpiled. Money
Speaker 1: is like manure, okay? If you spread it all around,
Speaker 1: it helps things grow like fertilizer. But if you pile
Speaker 1: it up, it just starts stinking. God expects me to
Speaker 1: invest what he loans me. Now this third guy, what's
Speaker 1: the problem with him? He's cautious, he's conservative. They said
Speaker 1: nothing ventured, nothing gained. And what's he do? He just
Speaker 1: sits on it. And he takes what his master has
Speaker 1: given him and doesn't do anything with it. And does
Speaker 1: this upset the master? Are you kidding? The master says,
Speaker 1: you wicked, lazy servant. Doesn't that seem a little strong
Speaker 1: to you? Okay. He says, I was afraid of losing it,
Speaker 1: so I didn't do anything with it. And God says
Speaker 1: to him, or the master says to him, you're wicked. Now,
Speaker 1: that's not a word we would usually use for money management, mismanagement.
Speaker 1: But what he's saying here is this. This is a
Speaker 1: serious sin. See, when we think of the word wicked,
Speaker 1: we think of rape. We think of murder. When I
Speaker 1: think of wicked, I think of child abuse. I think
Speaker 1: of sex trafficking. I think of forced slavery and bondage.
Speaker 1: I think of those things as wickedness. But you know
Speaker 1: what God says? He's saying, Rick, it's wicked Anytime you
Speaker 1: misuse or abuse the resources I gave you and you
Speaker 1: don't use them wisely, that's wicked. This is a test.
Speaker 1: I put you on earth to see if I could
Speaker 1: trust you. And if I can't trust you in heaven
Speaker 1: with greater responsibility, if I can't trust you on earth
Speaker 1: with some serious money management issues. He said, doing nothing
Speaker 1: is inexcusable. Now that's true with everything. Doing nothing with
Speaker 1: your talent. You just sit on it. You don't use
Speaker 1: your talent. Doing nothing with your money. You just sit
Speaker 1: on it. You don't use it. Doing nothing with your time.
Speaker 1: You just sit on it and you use it instead
Speaker 1: of using it. You don't invest it. The greatest use
Speaker 1: of your life is to invest it in that which
Speaker 1: will outlast it. Thank you.