Pastor Brian and Jacque Lother
Jacque: God is awesome in this place. Yes. Yes. Yes. We applaud the beautiful piano and the band and we applaud you, father. Holy Spirit, you are awesome in this place. Could you just pray with me now for a moment? Because our daughter-in-law Jessica is really, really sick right now and she is trying to pass kidney stones and she is in super pain. We are going to pray at the end, but I just said to Jeff, could I pray for Jess now? Because she is in so much pain.
So father, we just gather our hearts together. Just looking to you. We just place our Jessica in your arms father and just ask you to touch her body. You know exactly what needs to be done to relieve her of this pain and to correct this problem. We just trust you, God. Just ask for your healing presence, Holy Spirit, to just rest on her right now and just envelop her. May she feel your presence so close. Father, we pray for BJ and Cooper to are so concerned about her because of the history of her other medical problems and father we just pray you wrap that little family in your love in such a special way right now. Thank you, God.
Brian: Father there is nothing too difficult for you. The word impossible isn't in your vocabulary. You never say, oops. You Lord are well able. Thank you for the story of the two spies that came back that said we are well able to take the land because God is well able to go before us. So I thank you, Jesus, that whatever needs we might have, we raised them up to you to the throne of grace today. And we give you everything and everyone to you, Lord, we give you our fears or we give you our families. We lay them at your feet and we put them into your presence because we know that in your presence is where the greatest safety and provision are.
We all have family members that we have concerns with. They have struggles. They have mountains to overcome. They have issues to deal with. Many in our families are struggling with either mental illness or physical illness, Lord, and none of these things are too difficult for you. You, you crossed the stormy sea to get to the demoniac of the Gadarenes and when you finished encountering him, he, has a scripture says, was in his right mind. And so father, I pray for your presence to come to us, to put us in a place of being in our right minds, because there are so much in this world that tries to get us into a wrong frame of mind. There are demonic strategies, and there are people who have bought into those lies who are trying to teach those lies, and they are very persuasive.
Father, today, we need your truth. We need to have the mind of Christ in us today. And we pray that Lord, all these mountains that seem to be so gargantuous for us to climb over, and the cliffs seem to be just sheer. How do we get up and over them? There is always a way with you. And if we just hold onto your hand, you will lead us and you will guide us and you will navigate us into places that we need to go. So I just thank you today, father, for the gift of Jesus and that he has taken all of our sins. He has taken all of our diseases upon him that, Lord, we can bring our frailties to you. We can bring our mortality to you and lay it at your feet. And you understand us, Lord; you understand our weaknesses. You understand the propensities that cause us at times to stumble because you were made no points such as we yet without sin.
I thank you today that we have a high priest that makes intercession for us that knows all of our weaknesses and Lord, you never had a prayer that went unanswered and you are praying for us today. And I thank you that those prayers will be answered. We glorify in your name today. We honor you. Thank you for all your goodness to us. In your precious name we pray. And everybody said, amen.
Thanks for being here today. Thank you for watching by live stream as well. Today is another one of those bittersweet days for us because one of our own is moving to another state. It's not a state of craziness that they are going to, but they are moving to the Carolinas, North Carolina. We just want to pray over Ken and Sherry. Jenna is going to stay here for a little while, so we get to keep her for a bit, but Jenna, you come up too. We want to pray over you guys and just send you out with a blessing from Hope Community Church. Just come down here and stand right here in the center here where people can extend their hands towards you.
We are so thankful for the season we've had with you guys. We are so blessed by all that you've done. I remember when you first came to Hope. We were taking a trip to Israel and Sherry came up and said, "Would you take some newcomers with you to Israel?" And I said absolutely, absolutely. Anyways, we just want to thank the Lord for our time with them and just bless them. They've been such a blessing to Hope community. We just pray now in Jesus, name, that as they go to a new state, that the anointing of Hope Community Church, a place of belonging for people who feel as though they are on the outside looking in, a place of healing for those who are in need of wholeness and a place for all to touch you Lord, that they will take this anointing with them. And that Lord, there are people that are in that state that need what has been deposited in them these last number of years.
And so we just blessed them now, Lord. We just bless them. We thank you for their lives. We thank you for how they have been knitted to our hearts. This will always be home for them. And we just thank you that, Lord, your presence will go before them, that it will lead them, it will guide them and will make provision for them. And that Lord, we send them out with our blessing in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. We love you guys.
Those of you who are watching by live stream, if you are living in another state, why don't you pray about moving to Minneapolis and maybe replace them. We had the Nesters just leave us a few weeks ago to go to South Carolina. They are going to North Carolina. I'm not so sure what's so attractive about the Carolinas, but I've got to go down there and check it out. I'm not sure. We need some of you people are watching by live stream to move to Minnesota and brave the winters and show what kind of people you are, and replace some of these wonderful people that we are missing and we are losing, but Carolina's gained. Amen. Amen.
Well, it's so great to see everybody today. Wasn't last week with AJ great? It was great and we are so thankful for our friendship with AJ. We've just learned so much from him through the years. I'm just so grateful for— I think we've known him for almost 30 years.
Jacque: That's what we figured out with him and he is like a brother from another mother.
Brian: He has taught us so much and some of the things that I want to share today, actually, I feel like I've kind of grafted from AJ through the years. One of the things that God is always working on is trying to help us to see things from his perspective. How many know that? I can just see him now like, why don't you just do it my way? I remember getting this— I can't remember what t was. It was something that needed to be assembled and you know, and most of us, men, we just opened up the box and start putting things together, you know? And usually we end up with like 12 extra parts. I remember this one time opened this box and right at the top of the instructions was this sentence, "Do it our way first." Do it our way first.
I think probably if God had a message to give to us, he would say do it my way first. He is trying to help us see things from his perspective. Aren't we often the same way with our children? We are trying to get them to see things from our perspective. And of course, they have a perspective. If we let our children just do whatever they wanted to do, most of them would end up spoiled brats. They would, but we discipline them. We teach them, we have a different perspective. Generally speaking, we know better than our children. Not always, but generally speaking.
Jacque: We did learn a lot.
Brian: We have learned a lot from our kids, right?
Jacque: Yes.
Brian: Of course they had turned three by that time. My dad tells a story about how I love to play basketball with my dad. He said I used to beat my son playing basketball. And then he turned four. Life on earth in many ways is— there are three things that life on earth is. The first thing that life on earth is in many ways is a test. It's a test for us. Our faith is always being tested. We actually just move on to bigger and harder tests. If a nuclear physicist were to come here and solve a simple arithmetic problem, like what is four plus three, and he said, look, what I just did, nobody would think that was anything significant because he is already passed that test years ago in his life. He learned how to add and subtract simple numbers. Then he went onto much bigger, more complex things.
That's the same way it is with God, that through life, we will never ever come into a place or a time where we are not being tested, our faith is not tested. Our faith continually grows. And the more our faith grows, the greater the test or the harder the test. In the same way that tests that you take as a senior in high school are lot harder than they are when you are in first grade and tests that you take in college and an undergraduate work is a lot harder than you would in high school. And tests that you take in graduate school are a lot more complex and harder than you would in a middle school and so forth. So the longer we walk with God, the greater our faith should grow and the greater our tests are. And yet even when we have been walking with God for many years, how often have we not said, God, what were you thinking? We are in the middle of this circumstances situation. We think we just conquered this area in our life. And yet we find ourselves right back into, to another place of having to have faith, having to trust. And we can say to the Lord, what were you thinking? So life is always about a test with our walk with God.
The second thing that a life on earth is also, it's a trust. And by that, I mean this it's not trust in the sense of word we trust in him, but we do have to do that. But it's what we have been entrusted with. We have been entrusted with time. Haven't we? Not an unlimited amount of time. We have been entrusted with time. We've been entrusted with energy and strength. We have been entrusted with opportunities. We've been entrusted with resources that we all have access to, that God has placed in our hands. We've been entrusted with relationships with other people that God has given to us. You want to say something?
Jacque: We have been trusted with gifts that he has put into us.
Brian: That's right, gifts and talents that he is given to us. We've been trusted with intelligence and creativity. All of these things and more, all of them and more are gifts from God that he has entrusted to us, to our care and our management. We are managers over them. Another way to say it is that we are stewards of whatever God has given to us. We are stewards over that. It doesn't belong to us, but we are stewards over it.
The third thing that life is as well is life on earth is also a temporary assignment. It's not a permanent one; it's a temporary one. I think all of the Memorial services we've had just this past year— I think I've done eight or nine funerals just this year. And of course our mothers are the most significant ones for Jacque and I in the last month. But all of those Memorial services remind us that life is a temporary assignment. I got a couple of verses. I'd like to read about that. The first one is in Psalm 39, 4 through 6. Let's read this.
Jacque: From the NIV. Show me, Lord, my life's end and the number of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere hand breadth. The span of my years is nothing before you. Everyone is, but a breath even those who seem secure. Surely, everyone goes around like a mere Phantom in vain. They rush about heaping up wealth without knowing whose it will finally be.
Brian: What a verse to really get settled in your heart. Isn't it? A couple of verses there. I mean, Lord show me my life's end. Show me the number of my days because oftentimes we live as though our days don't have a limit to them on the earth. Let me know how fleeting my life is. I remember talking to a elderly couple from Soul's Harbor many years ago. He was in the hospital. He was dying and we were there at his bedside as he was dying. We walked out into the hallway with his wife and I said to her, "Sally, how long have you on OJ been married?" She said 65 years. And I said to myself, wow, is that ever a long time? And you know what she said? It went just like that. It went just like that. It just seemed like yesterday we were walking down the aisle, and now 65 years later, I'm letting my husband go into the presence of the Lord.
This verse talks about how fleeting our life on earth is. It's just temporary. There is another one. Psalm 103, verses 15 through 18 is another good one. The life of mortals is like grass. They flourished like a flower of the field. The wind blows over it, and it is gone and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord's love is with those who fear him.
Brian: There is great contrast here because it's really talking about how temporary, even the flowers and the grass and the beauty of our world is, how temporary it is, how fleeting it is, and yet how permanent the love of God is. And that's the contrast here. Finish this first.
Jacque: But from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord's love is with those who fear him and his righteousness with their children's children, with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
Brian: The life of a mortal, and that's who we are, is like grass. We flourished like a flower of the field, but the wind blows over it and then it's no more. We have a little example here.
Jacque: We had so many beautiful flowers. Thank you who gave us flowers when our moms passed away. They were so gorgeous, but you know what? I was throwing away flowers this morning, and Brian said, why don't you bring those as an illustration? Because these are like crispy flowers. They are no longer soft. They are still beautiful and we've dried many, but they don't last. I kept thinking about that old song because I keep thinking of our mom's in heaven "where the roses never fade".
Brian: This is a perfect example of what the scriptures are saying. The Bible really talks about the fact that life is fleeting. Life is temporary. A couple of years ago, I had my 50th high school reunion. I was talking to a fellow that was one of my classmates and his health wasn't the best. He was very anxious about dying. He said to me, I just don't know if I've been good enough. I just don't know if I've been good enough. I had the chance to say to him, "Paul, it's not how good you are. That matters. It's how good Jesus has been that matters. And all you have to do is believe in him, believe in him." So last night we went up to another class reunion, 52 years now. Now we meet every year. As I walked in, he said, "I need to talk to you."
We found a moment to sit down and talk and he said, "I'm afraid to die anymore. I'm not afraid to die." He said, "I'm ready. I received Jesus." It was like, what a wonderful gift. He lived 68 years of his life in fear. His dad died when he was seven. Death was a part of his family. Mum raised the three boys by herself. I had a chance to just plant a little seed two years ago into his life about Jesus is the one that matters in terms of behavior and how, if we receive him, he will cover us with his righteousness. He loves to go out and sit in their cemetery up there and Crosby, because he feels, he feels peace when he goes into the town of the dead, shall we say? But why? Because of what Jesus has done for him. These concepts of stewardship and testing and temporary assignments. They all begin when we understand and recognize that God is the owner of everything. When we really recognize that God is the owner of everything and everyone on earth, that's when this will start to really take place in our lives. Let's look at Psalm 24 verses 1 and 2. That talks about this real clearly.
Jacque: The earth is the Lord's and everything in it.
Brian: That's pretty clear, isn't it?
Jacque: The earth is the Lord's and everything in it.
Brian: So look around the world. It doesn't belong to you. It doesn't belong to me. We are stewards of it, but it belongs to the Lord. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it.
Jacque: The world and all who live in it.
Brian: And all who live in it. Can you imagine that God has a claim as his, every single person who lives on the face of the earth?
Jacque: For he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.
Brian: So we really never own anything during our brief stay here on earth. We never really own anything. God just loans the earth to us while we are here. That's what happens. He loans it to us. It was God's property before we arrived, and God will loan it to someone else after we die. He has been doing that for 6,000 or more years. We do, however, get the opportunity to enjoy it for a while. I think some of us don't enjoy it in the way we should, but there is another scripture in Genesis that I'd like to read really quickly from the Message Bible: Genesis chapter 1, 26 to 28.
Jacque: God spoke, let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea.
Brian: So they can be responsible for them.
Jacque: The birds in the air, the cattle, and yes, earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of the earth.
Brian: So we have a responsibility to all of creation to treat it as though it does belong to somebody else and we are stewards of it.
Jacque: God created human beings. He created them God-like, reflecting God's nature.
Brian: This is why we have value. Jacque and I did a short video series. If you haven't seen it, we'd just give us your email and we'll send it to you. It's why you matter to God, why you matter to God. You know why you matter to God? Because you are made in his image. You are made in his likeness. That's why you matter to God. You are made just like him. And so his word says here that he created them God-like, reflecting his nature.
Jacque: He created them male and female. God blessed them and said, prosper, reproduce, fill earth, take charge, be responsible for fish in the sea birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of the earth.
Brian: So God entrusted the care of his creation to Adam and Eve. He entrusted all of creation to Adam and Eve. In essence, what he did was he appointed them trustees of his property. That's what God, in essence, did. He appointed Adam and Eve and all of those who would come after them as trustees of his property. The first job that God gave to us as human beings was to manage his property. That's the first job he gave to us. This role has never been rescinded. It's never been taken away, and it's part of your and my purpose here.
I'm not just talking about just the earth stuff. Earth is something to be taken care of, but he also says that we are responsible to each other and for each other. That's why hatred and prejudice and all of those things that tear the value of someone else down are so contrary to the essence of who God is, because we all belong to God. And we are all to be taking care of God's creation.
We have some dear friends that we grew up with up in the Crosby area. They built a house many, many years ago. They built it for one purpose. It was a beautiful center lake, and they built it to bless people in the ministry that they could come and just take a week or two and get refreshed and revitalized and not have to pay any money to do it.
Our family was blessed by using their home many years, many years, many, many years. We would get there and we would use that home just as though it was like ours. It was our home while we were there. They didn't come out and look in the windows and see what we were doing. They never even called us other than to say, do you have everything you need? We would just have the greatest time. We'd bring the kids up. And the grandchildren up. Sometimes friends would come with us and we would use it just like it was our own, but we knew it really wasn't our own. We knew it wasn't our own. And because we knew it wasn't our own, we took special care of it. When we left, we would make sure the garage was swept out. Jacque would clean out the refrigerator. We would vacuum the whole place up and down. We would clean the bathrooms. We would dust everything in the place and we would leave it better than what it was when we got there. Because that's what people who followed Jesus do. They understand it's a trust.
Yet today, many people in society say, if you don't own it, you don't need to take care of it. That's why we begin to devalue things. When we begin to devalue things and our people, that's when we can begin to use and abuse those things and or people. Followers of Jesus, we need to live by a higher standard. We don't live by the standard of the world. The apostle Paul says, don't compare yourselves with other people, compare yourselves to Jesus. That's who our comparison needs to be. Not our neighbor. Well, they did it. How many times have our kids said, well, they hit me; why can't I hit him? Well, that's not the standard. The standard is Jesus. And that standard that Jesus sets is because God owns it. I must take the very best care of it.
Let me give you a suggestion. If you ever borrow a vehicle from somebody return it full of gas and clean, don't return it. Like you've been driving on dirt roads and going to demolition Derby with it.
Jacque: And on E.
Brian: And on E that's. Return it clean and full of gas. Even simple chores that we do every day actually have eternal implications to them. Simple chores that we do have eternal implications to them. If we treat everything as a trust, God promises three incredible rewards for us. The first one will be this, that he will give us his affirmation. I want to read that in Matthew 25 verse 21.
Jacque: Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things.
Brian: Can you imagine looking in the face of Jesus, the creator of all, and he looks right into your eyes and he says well done good and faithful servant? Can you imagine? I don't get too many compliments from my piano professor. Maybe it's because of how I play, but every once in a while— recently I played a piece for him and he just kind of sat after I finished, and he said, "After hearing you play that, I changed my mind about that composer. I really like his music." I flew home. Just those kinds of compliments: well done. So good. That was so good. I can't explain it, but that sense that you get when that is spoken to you, especially by God, there is no money that can buy that kind of stuff. There is no money. There is another thing that we will receive. We will receive a promotion.
Jacque: The next part of the promotion.
Brian: So here is the next part of that verse? The middle part.
Jacque: I will put you in charge of many things. We often miss this part. Jacque even said that to me yesterday, when we were looking at the scriptures, because we read this verse like this well done, though. Good and faithful servant, come enter and share to your master's happiness. That's how we read this. But we forget that middle part of this verse that says well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in a few things. Now, I will put you in charge of many things. I will put you in charge of many things. Part of what happens is when we live in a way that pleases the Lord, he is actually going to promote you and I.
As a matter of fact, we are going to read this whole context here in a little bit, but most people's concept of when we die, we go to heaven and he hands us a harp, as we crossed the pearly gates, and that's what we are going to be doing for the next billions of years. Here is your halo, here is your harp and go over there and just worship. And it's like, we are going to be in this billion-year church service or something. And you know what? Frankly, that doesn't appeal to some people. But when we read the scriptures, we see that God has so much more for us and that he actually wants to partner with us throughout eternity.
I'm not sure what we are going to be partner in doing, but you don't partner with somebody to do nothing. You don't need a partner to do nothing. You can do nothing all by yourself. But when you have a partner, that partner is there for a purpose that brings you together for some divine meaning. And even though some of these things are mysteries and we only get little snippets of them, there are some things that we just really need to understand as we move forward, that God is going to say, well done, and I'm going to put you in charge of many things, not just a few things. You were in charge of a few things here, and you did well with it. Now, I'm going to put you in charge of many things. Wow.
Jacque: So how we live now is going to have an effect on our eternity.
Brian: Absolutely. It has a great effect on our eternity. Then there is one more thing that will happen, and that is we will be honored. We will be honored,
Jacque: Come and share your master's happiness.
Brian: Well done. Good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in a few things. Now, I'm going to put you in charge of many things in come and share in your master's happiness. It's God's pleasure to do these things.
Jacque: Come and enter the joy of the Lord.
Brian: Most of us don't really have a sense of what it feels to be honored. We have much more of a sense of what it feels like to be used. We do. Most bosses have a power over mentality, and so you are subject to their authority and they have power over you. The end result of that is a sense of being used. Jesus on the other hand has a different approach. It's a power under, and it's a servanthood and where he lifts us up and he promotes us and he says, this is what makes me happy to do this.
Jacque: He helps us.
Brian: And he helps us. Absolutely. And so in this passage— and we are going to read a good portion of this passage here now. In this passage, Jesus is trying to describe what the kingdom of God is like, because sometimes it can be, be very mystical to us, can't it? It can be, it can seem like it's hard to get our fingers around a wraparound. Jesus told many stories or parables, and this was one of them he told when he was trying to explain to his followers of what the kingdom of God was really like. And he said, the kingdom of God is like this. And this is the description he gave.
Jacque: The kingdom of God is also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities to one. He gave $5,000 to another $2,000 and two, a third, $1,000, depending on their abilities.
Brian: Let's face it. We don't all have the same abilities, do we? I loved basketball and football. I played it in high school. I was with a bunch of my high school buddies last night that we played sports all growing up and I wasn't too bad. I ran a 9900 yard dash. Not a hundred meter, but a hundred yard dash. I was pretty fast. For a white guy, I had a 36 inch vertical jump, which wasn't too bad. I don't know if that compares to what your vertical jump is, Robert, but I made a pretty good vertical jump. But you know what, make no doubt about it. I was not in the league of Michael Jordan, nor when it came to football. I was all of five foot nine and 135 pounds when I played.
My coach said the bigger they are, the harder they fall. So the harder I ran into those big guys, the more it hurt me. It didn't work that way. The fact of the matter is there were guys that were given more talent, natural ability than I did when I played athletics. When I got to be a senior in high school and I could see the handwriting on the wall that the NBA was not going to be a career for me and I wasn't going to be invited to the NFL combine to show off my athletic prowess as a five foot, 935 pounder football player, I decided to do music. Nobody can accuse me of my parents raising a dumb child here. It was a smart thing for me to do: to go into an area that I had some giftings in. I had giftings in music more than other people, but there were some other areas that I loved that I didn't quite have those same levels of giftings.
And so Jesus is talking about this. He says he gave some 5,000, some, 2000, some, 1000, depending upon their abilities. We all have different levels of abilities in different areas. It doesn't make one more important or more valuable than another in God's eyes. It's just that we are different.
Jacque: I love it. We sang it this morning: and be who he made me to be.
Brian: That's right. He made us to be who we are.
Jacque: We all have a purpose. Yes, absolutely. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master's investment. The second did the same, but the man with the $1,000 dug a hole and carefully buried his master's money.
Brian: He was very meticulous about it, but you can be meticulous about a wrong thing and it becomes very displeasing to the Lord. Because we have to do as Pastor Jeff sermon a few weeks ago said. God has certain ways that he wants things done. And it would be who of us to learn God's ways. It would be who of us to learn God's ways for living in this life. Amen. Let's go on.
Jacque: Do it my way first.
Brian: Do it God's ways first. That's right. After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them.
Brian: I remember as a child singing a hymn, especially in our Wednesday prayer meetings, "He is coming soon. He is coming soon." Well, it has been 70 years that I've been singing that song, but the scripture says after a long absence, it seems like Jesus has been gone a long time. And it feels as though it could be any moment now that he is going to return. We don't know that, so what we have to do is we have to live as though he is not going to come back for a hundred years. We have to live as though he is not going to come back for a thousand more years. That's how we have to live. That's how we have to live. We have to occupy until he comes. But in this story, Jesus says, after a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and wanted to settle up with them. And here is what he said.
Jacque: The one given $5,000 showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him. Good work. You did your job.
Brian: How many like to hear that from your boss? Good work. Just like three times I might've heard that from Ernie when I worked with Ernie for about a year and a half.
Jacque: That might've said something about your work.
Brian: Well, of course it had everything to do with my work. I was a terrible concrete person.
Jacque: That wasn't one of your gifts.
Brian: No, it wasn't one of my gifts. I worked as hard as I could, and I was just the worst. I was the worst. You would have fired me if I had worked for you. I worked hard, but it wasn't what I was created to do. So I realized that and went a different way. But he heard this wonderful what his master said.
Jacque: Good work. You did your job well. From now on, be my partner.
Brian: From now on, be my partner. Wow. So many people have started a job, worked for a company. And after doing a really good job, the owner comes and says, hey, you know what? You are doing such a good job. I see how important and valuable you are. I want you to become a partner with me. That's what Jesus is saying here. You've done such a good job of being faithful and dedicated and using your gifts and using your talents to glorify and honor me that I want you to become a partner with me. Let's go on.
Jacque: The servant with the $2,000 showed him how he had doubled his master's investment. His master commended him. Good work. You did your job well from now on be my partner.
Brian: Get this. The guy who had the 5,000 and the guy who had the 2000, they heard the very same thing from God. God, didn't say, well, this guy that doubled the 5,000, he gave me 5,000 more. You only doubled yours. So you only give me 2000, this guy more important. He didn't say that. They both did the very best with the investment that they had, with what they were entrusted with, and God said to both of them from now on, you will become my partner.
The servant given $1,000 said, master, I know you have high standards and you hate careless ways that you demand the best and make no allowances for it. So
Brian: Right off, the guy didn't really understand his master. Right away, the guy here didn't really understand his master because the fact of the matter is we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, so God does actually make allowances doesn't he? What he has done is he has given Jesus for all of our errors and mistakes. He has given Jesus for all of our sins. He actually does make allowances for error.
Jacque: I was afraid I might disappoint you.
Brian: Now, when we live in fear of disappointing, God, we don't understand the measure and level of his love for us. We don't understand the measure level of his love for us. Again, this person did not understand the nature of how this master was, how this property owner was. He didn't understand it. He was afraid. He lived in fear and God doesn't give us the spirit of fear, of course, but he gives us the spirit of love and joy and peace and a sound, mind.
Jacque: And power.
Brian: And power. Absolutely.
Jacque: I was afraid I might disappoint you. So I found a good hiding place and secured your money here. It is safe and sound down to the last sentence.
Brian: Well that didn't please him very well.
Jacque: The master was furious. That's a terrible way to live.
Brian: Now, get that for a second. That is a terrible way to live, being afraid that we are going to disappoint God. And so we just go into hiding instead of letting the giftings and talents that we have. Don't compare your gifts and talents to somebody else. But just the gifts and talents you have, let them have an expression.
Jacque: Don't just do nothing.
Brian: Don't just do nothing. Don't be a do nothing.
Jacque: It's criminal to live cautiously like that. If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least?
Brian: I like how, again, Eugene Peterson translates this. He says, it's criminal to live cautiously like that. You know what? We need to take some risks for God. We need to go out on a limb at times for God. And by that, I don't mean if you have a child that is a diabetic, you take away their insulin to prove you have faith. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about taking a risk, just sharing your faith, sharing your faith, talking to somebody, initiating conversations, doing something where you can invite a neighbor over and start to dialogue with them about their life. I started going back to my reunions. I actually went to the 20th and then the 40th, and then from the 40th. And I did my friend's funeral when like 80% of the class was there for that funeral that we did for my classmate that was in a motorcycle accident. He was in a coma for almost 15 years and he died. He just happens to die right at the time— the funeral was right at the time that our 40th class reunion was. And so we went up and did the funeral for this reunion. I mean, sorry for my friend, who was my neighbor who lived right across the street from me growing up.
80% of my classmates from that class were there at the funeral. Jacque and I sang, I preached, we did the whole service. We talked about how good God was. From that moment on, from the 40th reunion up to last night was my 52nd, and I've gone back virtually every year, I could just see one after another, after another, after another, after another of my classmates have come to know the Lord. I really do believe it started at our reunion when you and I did that funeral, and we talked about how good God was. I had people actually signing up, will you do my funeral when I die?
God takes those little things, those little steps that we do, and God has a big end game in mind. We always want to get a decision right now. We have to understand that the seed of God that's planted will always produce some fruit.
Jacque: And we need to keep moving out of our comfort zone. Brian, I'm going to tell on you, when we were walking into the reunion last night, you said "I'm really nervous"
Brian: I was nervous.
Jacque: I know it's scary to see those people from your youth like pushed right through it.
Brian: We had great conversations with a whole bunch of classmates.
Jacque: We have to keep moving out of our comfort zone and not live in fear.
Brian: We do. Yes. The master here says that's a terrible way to live, live in fear. Don't share your giftings that God has given to you. It's criminal to live cautiously like that. If you know I was after the best, why did you do less than the least?
Jacque: Less than the least, the least you could have done would have been to had invest the sum with bankers where at least I would have gotten a little interest.
Brian: A little inch. I mean, bankers aren't going to give you much, but at least you could have done that, is what he is saying.
Jacque: Take the thousand dollars, and give it to the one who risked the most and get rid of this play it safe, who won't go out on a limb.
Brian: God wants us to go out on a lamp. God wants us to have that kind of faith. At the end of our life on earth, the fact of the matter is you and I will be evaluated and rewarded. We will be, that is part of the whole teachings of Jesus. So I would just encourage us today. Let's not settle for just making it into heaven by the skin of our teeth. Let's not settle for that. We have so much more that God wants to give to us. Let, let's try to love Jesus as extravagantly as he loves us. Let's try to love Jesus as extravagantly as he loves us. God's perspective is always clear and detailed. It's probably because he is at that 40,000 foot view. You know, when you are up in an airplane at 40,000 feet and you look down, you can see for miles around, you can see all the stuff that's happening.
Our view is often blurry and minuscule. It's kind of like— I've got this picture in my mind today. If you go outside of our building, you will see a parking. It's a pretty big parking lot. It handles a lot of cars. But if you were to get down on your face and look right down at the parking lot, all you might see there is a crack. Someone might say, what do you see? I just see a crack. There is nothing but a crack here. But what happens if you get up and you get above the crack? What are you going to see? You are going to see a parking lot. You are going to see a parking lot full of cars. You are going to see a parking lot with yellow stripes to park between where the car she parked. It all depends on your perspective and your view.
While our view is often blurry and minuscule, seeing as he rules from the hip with clear vision, we need to trust his ways. We need to trust him ways with devoted hearts, because his view is so much better than our view. We can trust his ways. Sometimes they don't seem to make sense. Sometimes we might say to ourselves, what was God thinking? You know why? Because our eye is on the crack. Our eye isn't up here seeing everything and what we have to do, because we not only have to understand that we have been given a trust in taking care of being stewards of all that God has given to us. We also have to understand that sometimes we are in a test and that test is to help our faith grow and increase.
I'd like to just take a few moments and I want to take some time to pray. I want to pray for all of you who are watching my live stream and those of you who are here today that we need to lift our vision higher. We need to lift our vision higher. We need to get above and look down rather than be beneath and looking up. So father, I pray in your name, Jesus, that you would help us to begin to see just how high and how wide and how deep your love is. I pray that, Lord, there may be people watching today by livestream, maybe one or two people here today that they are just struggling in their walk with you. They are just struggling in there and they, Lord, just need to say, I trust you, Jesus. I am going to trust you today. I'm going to trust you with all that is in my heart. I am going to be committed to loving you as extravagantly as you love me.
We pray today in Jesus name for those who have waited a long time for the answer and their dreamer has become broken and it's not working right, and it's not sending images of possibilities any longer. But today I pray that, Lord, you will resurrect all of our dreamers that today, Lord, you would extend an invitation for those who have yet to come to know you, to bow their knee before you today. Pastor Jeff, why don't you come and continue to pray as we have people that really need to have a touch from Jesus today.
Jeff: When Jesus was in the synagogue use reading Isaiah 61 spirit of the Lord is upon me because he is anointed me to heal the broken hearted. Just before I came down, I felt like the Lord spoke to me and said, I want to heal heart pain, but it's not the physical heart. It's the emotional heart. If our dreamer is broken, as Pastor Brian just said, if we are feeling lonely, depressed, empty, like failures, that's the type of brokenness that Jesus came to heal. If you've never met Jesus before, if you are watching by livestream and you've never actually trusted your life to him, the healing starts when you open your heart and say, come into my life.
But many of us who have known the Lord for a long time, we need to say that right here and right now again. Those aren't one time words. So if you need a healing in your heart in some way, shape or form, healing in relationships, healing in your memories, just put your hand on your heart and just say these words with me. Jesus, come into my heart. I trust you with my life. I trust you. I give myself to you. I call you my love and I call you my Lord. I call you my friend and I will call you my master. I receive your love now. Heal this heart. I'm just going to pray for you now.
Holy Spirit, come into each of our hearts as we've trusted our lives to you and bring your healing. Begin that process of healing that we can come from this place we are right now into a place of wholeness, a life of meaning, a heart filled with joy. Only you can do that and we trust you for it. Touch us now. Touch us now.
Brian: I just want to say that Jesus is real. Jesus is real. Just like two years ago, when I met with one of my classmates and he was afraid to die, and I just talked just briefly about how Jesus loved him so much, and that all he had to do was received him. And two years later, he has got a smile on his face, 'I'm not afraid to die. I've received Jesus as my Lord and savior," was his exact words. I'm not afraid to die. I have a peace in here. I have a feeling is what he would say. I have a feeling in here that everything is just okay. I'm just telling you, my friends Jesus can do that for you. Jesus can do that for you. All we have to do is take the risk to trust him, take the chance, take the opportunity to trust him because he will make the difference in all of our lives.
So father, take these words today by your holy spirit, amplify them, bless them; put them deep in our hearts, Lord. Put them deep in our hearts. I look forward to the day that we will all hear good job. I want you to become a partner of mine; enter into all of my happiness. What a wonderful gift that God has a waiting for us all. Let's lift our hands together. Jeff, you have something to say?
Jeff: I was just going to say, if you've experienced something the Lord, and even in these moments, if you've never connected with us online, go to our website; you can plug in your email information. You can send Pastor Brian a message. We can start sending you moments of hope, which are inspirational messages that will give you a lot of encouragement through the course of the week. If you are here and the Lord has touched you in some way, let us know. We just want to hear the wonderful stories of what God is doing in the lives of his children.
Brian: Jacque, why don't you come up here? Let's raise our hands together. Now may the Lord bless you, and may the Lord keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, and may the Lord turned his face toward you and give you his peace. And may you love Jesus as extravagantly as he loves you. This, we pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you. Thank you for being here today. Thank you for watching by livestream. Please reach out and connect with us. We would love to hear from you. Have a wonderful day. Enjoy the rain, everybody in Minneapolis. Bye-bye.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 8-8-21. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.