Stewardship Series, Week 1
by Dan MacLeod
June 5, 2024 · New Life Terre Haute (New Life Fellowship)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Psalm 24:1, Deuteronomy 8:18, Colossians 3:23, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Genesis 2:15, Matthew 25:14-30, Acts 1:8, 1 Thessalonians 2:4, 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, 1 Corinthians 15, Acts 2, John 3:8, Matthew 16, Acts 10, Romans 1:16, Romans 10:14, Romans 16:25-26

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/dan-macleod--stewardship-series-week-1
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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We begin a new sanctuary series this night for the month of June on the subject of stewardship and we'll cover a vast variety of areas of this and We have to begin I suppose by refuting the idea Which I'm sure many had when they saw the post today that we were going to talk about Stewardship or when you walked into the sanctuary tonight and maybe saw the word on a screen We have to refute the idea that stewardship is only about finances Psalms 24 it's the first scripture on our handout verse one Psalmist says the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the world and they that dwell therein The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof all that is in the earth belongs to God and So stewardship is so vitally important because of this reason Everything belongs to God Now we'll touch on this in a little more detail next week when we consider The more pragmatic element of

stewardship as it pertains Perhaps strictly to finances or possessions that the Lord entrusts to our care But everything belongs to God the vehicle that you drove to church tonight it belongs to God The house the apartment that you're going to sleep in when you go home tonight It belongs to God. I know in the back of your mind. You thought well I still have a little bit left on that mortgage. I don't I pay a monthly car. No, doesn't that mean the bank owns that? No There's a higher authority than that It belongs to God The clothes we wear belong to God the food we have all that we have belongs to God It comes from God. It is to be used for God This is why stewardship is such a vital topic Because it speaks to how we handle everything in our life In Deuteronomy 8 the scripture would say that we should remember the Lord. It's verse 18. I don't believe

I put it in your handout But Deuteronomy 8 18 says we should remember the Lord Because it is he that giveth power to get wealth Without the breath that comes from God and the strength and the health that God so graciously gives us We have no power No ability to work no means of bringing wealth and so We have to understand this as we launch into four weeks of the subject of stewardship that the reason this topic is so vitally Important is because everything belongs to God all that I have Whether it comes from my work and my wages or by gift of another Ultimately it comes from God The earth is the Lord's in the fullness thereof Now if we were to make a list tonight we could identify a lot of things That God has entrusted to our care in the way of resources that is not just money We have to be stewards of money, but we also have to

be stewards of time We should be stewards of health We should be stewards of relationships stewards of influence And so we're not going to make a long list tonight, but I do want to pause here for a moment and just Really solidify this point that that stewardship is so much more than finances Because if we're not careful and we relegate the practice of stewardship to money alone Then we may return our tithes and think well, I'm freed from Responsibility concerning the remaining 90 percent We may give a generous offering and think that is permission to be reckless or passive and slack concerning other areas of life because We've given to the kingdom and our bills are paid But stewardship reaches so far beyond our budget And it is all too possible that we could have a functioning budget But not have a functioning life Because while we were stewarding our finances We were not stewarding the other areas of life that God entrusted

to our care And so as we launch into four weeks of stewardship We do so by boldly refuting the idea that stewardship is only about money Colossians 3 and 23 The scripture says Whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men That word whatsoever is worthy of underline in your bible or highlight or make note of it how you please What paul is saying Is whatever you do Now this is a unique idea to me because in some ways if it indirectly imposes restriction on our life Now you say well, I don't I don't read restriction in that verse. No But if whatever I'm doing Cannot be done to the glory of the Lord. I cannot be doing it I had a conversation with someone at a church. I had preached in in california a few weeks ago Asked me a question in the altar call and About the nature of their employment And I said well, this

is probably a conversation you ought to have with your pastor But I think as far as the scripture is concerned You probably can't do what you're doing unto the lord And so I think the scripture would impose restriction Based on your inability to steward your life In a way that glorifies god it might be in your best interest to find a new field of employment So there is some restriction in this verse though not directly It merits the question that we take inventory of our lives Because whatever we do It has to be done to the glory of the lord I can't recall if I've shared this story before and I don't Want to make a habit of confessing, but I think a little bit of vulnerability in the pulpit is okay every now and then Several years ago when I was still Uh working by vocationally when we were planning a church in eastern canada I was working at a hilton hotel

that Really was the most profitable hotel in our area of the country Most hampton in and suites are three or four Stories typically they had between 60 and 80 rooms We had a seven-story hotel with 163 rooms and ran at 98 occupancy year after year It's virtually unheard of in the hotel world Here's what we learned by by the location of a hotel and who you market to you can make a lot of money I didn't make a lot of money, but there was an ownership group in canada get that made a lot of money That hotel from wednesday to sunday almost every week 52 weeks a year was filled with sports teams hockey teams basketball teams soccer teams baseball teams school teams during the academic year Summer leagues during the off-season. I mean It it was a money-making business now. That's good for the people that make money For the people that are there You know seven to nine

hours a day dealing with these people and managing the property I tell you it wears on a guy And it was a friday night I didn't typically work friday evenings, but I had covered somebody's shift and I was working a three to eleven And so before you would leave at 11 It was the practice that whoever was supervising that shift would do a floor walk to make sure everything was Okay, that nothing was out of order people weren't being too reckless and I will never forget About 15 minutes before 11 o'clock walking down the seventh floor Of the hallway of that hotel when my eyes caught a piece of garbage on the floor I was tired I was ready to go home And this thought just kind of Fleeted through my mind It's okay The houseman will pick it up Because the houseman's responsibility is to do a floor walk every hour of his shift And i'm telling you before god As

quickly as that thought came in my mind The holy ghost convicted me now I'm accustomed to feeling that conviction here on sunday morning when pastor's preaching about the end of salt I kind of expect conviction in that setting But i'm telling you it rocked my world I was not expecting the lord to show up 15 minutes before I went home And convict me about walking by a candy wrapper in a hotel hallway And the lord asked me this question he said who do you work for Well, I know the name on my paycheck, but I also know what you're asking me I I know I know newcastle hotel and resorts and I know Hampton Inn in suites and I know I know our assistant general manager and I know our general manager They're never going to see this moment. They're not going to know I walk by a piece of garbage There's there's not even a guest in the hallway to witness me

do this Nobody knows But me In god And the lord convicted me in that moment Because that Is stewardship They say well That's really kind of somebody else's responsibility. I mean it is the houseman's job description to do a floor walk every hour Remove the garbage and take the towels down to the laundry Not in my job description. I was I was managing the the front office staff See but stewardship goes beyond that Stewardship deals with our attitude because ultimately even though there was another name on my paycheck. I work for god Now regardless of what name is on your paycheck or what property you drive to to go to work tomorrow morning I want you to hear me you work for god And well you may be able to get away with some things because your boss isn't present and nobody's present And you may take a little shortcut here and a shortcut there listen god is watching And what this deals

with is the concept of stewardship in our lives Ultimately everything comes from god And everything I do must be done to the glory of god And so what did I do? I picked up that piece of garbage and I repented And to this day now i'm not gonna i'm not a superhero by any means and If I if i'm in a public restroom i'm not going to risk getting some disease to pick garbage up off the floor But i'm telling you if i'm walking through an airport and I see something on the floor I pick it up if i'm walking through this parking lot and I see garbage i pick it up If if i'm walking through if I get out of my truck in the mire parking lot and I look down and and there's a cup right there I pick it up. Why because the earth is the lords In now listen, I'm not adding you don't I'm not saying you

got to get muddy and you got to walk through fields But what I am saying is if if god allows it to be put before you It's easy to say well, that's not my area of responsibility. The earth is the lords The principle of kingdom stewardship Goes beyond Your employment responsibilities This is a kingdom thing The earth so all that we have all that is in the world comes from god and our attitude towards these things is the heart of stewardship First Corinthians 10 and 31 Paul said whether therefore you eat or drink Or whatsoever you do Do all to the glory of the lord now this is noteworthy He's writing the same principle To a different group of people The first was to the church at Colossus this to the church at Corinth, but he's communicating the same concept So evidently the apostle paul who wrote the majority of the new testament under the inspiration of god The lord felt it fitting

that this concept being grained in the culture of the early church Whatever you do Do it to the glory of the lord So all that we do is for god because all that we have is from god Our lives are to be completely god-centered because he owns everything It's not my car. It's his car. It's not my house. It's his house I'll touch on this a little bit more next week, but it's it's balance I've met people before that that They're so intense about their stewardship that they wouldn't dare get their car dirty by bringing somebody to church Well, I'm sorry, but but your stewardship serves self and not the kingdom Now I've met other people that they take no care of their car that if someone wanted to come to church There'd be no space in it. So you see there is there is a happy medium. There's a balance that we are striving for here We'll look at this a

little bit more next week and the the pragmatic element, but we have to get this everything in our lives Comes from god and is to be used for the glory of the lord We look at genesis 2 and 15. This is an early perhaps. I think could be argued maybe the first example of stewardship in scripture The lord took The man adam and put him into the garden of eden to dress it and to keep it Now stewardship Is not ownership God did not give adam ownership of the garden The difference between stewardship and ownership is ownership Gives you the final say You have the ability to change what you want to change do as you please, but if you were a steward You were entrusted with responsibility to supervise to manage to oversee under the direction of the owner And so god as the owner the creator the maker of this garden Bestows upon adam responsibility He says adam i'm gonna put

you in this garden And i want you to steward it He uses these words to dress it and to keep it and i think there's some understanding in these words for us tonight The word dress comes from a hebra word, which means to work Now Think with me now we're talking about agriculture. We're talking about earth. God has made the earth To to to reproduce to repopulate nature just regenerates itself A forest fire can come through and burn up thousands of acres of land And life will come again. This is how god has made it Then he says i want you to keep it This comes from a word, which means to guard And so what he's saying Is to dress the garden to work the garden means you are to Work this field care for this vegetation in a way That helps facilitate The regenerative process the growth cycle i have put within creation In other words when you dress the garden

adam when you steward it you are helping it bring increase But i also need you to guard it Implied within this word to guard or to observe to watch Diligently is the idea that While you are also working to bring increase I'm also entrusting you to protect it to ensure that Nothing from the outside gets in Which is precisely Why when adam neglected this responsibility And succumbed to the air and the deceit of the serpent He is removed from the garden and what does the lord do God puts an angel with a flaming sword Because it is always god's desire in stewardship That by proper stewardship We bring both increase and protection And this is what he's telling adam i'm putting you in the garden I've already created the world in a way that growth is just going to happen You don't need any magical chemicals. There's no special formula I have put the reality the cycle of growth the the life of

vegetation It's already in the earth every seed and plant will produce after its kind But if you'll get in the garden and you will dress it and you will pull the weeds and you will till the soil If you will work the field you can help increase this process But I also need you as a wise steward to guard this to make sure that nothing gets in That would bring decrease to the resources that I've trusted you It's important you get this because this is the first time we see stewardship in scripture And this concept is weaved throughout all of the bible The the stories will differ the illustrations will differ But when we talk about stewardship, here's what god's asking for god says i'm putting something in your hand And I expect you to bring increase to my kingdom And with what I put in your hand, I expect you to guard it So no outside influence brings harm or damage or

dilutes what I have given you This is stewardship Let's look at the parable of the talents now we're jumping from the old testament to the new testament Matthew chapter 25 beginning at verse 14 And i'm going to read down through these several verses We're going to look at this passage in somewhat of an expository manner verse 14 The kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country Who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods now It's just it's just so much for a preacher to jump into here kind of sounds like jesus Because this is what the parable is drawing our attention to The master has gone into a far country jesus has gone to where we cannot go But prior to leaving he calls his servants And notice this delivered unto them his goods So everything the servants have just been entrusted with does not belong to them It's his This is the difference between stewardship

and ownership If you were the owner you could do it that whatever you are You could change it to accommodate your preference You could do as you please you're accountable to nobody but you but we are not owners We're not owners of the talents the lord has given us We're not owners of the car we drive the house we live in We are stewards the earth is the lords and the fullness there of they're his goods He gave one verse 15 five talents into another two into another one To every man according to his several ability and straight way he took his journey He gives to every man according to his several ability I know this can be somewhat of a unpleasant reality to consider But I think honesty does us all well We are not all gifted the same We don't all have the same capacity We're not all going to bring the same contribution to the kingdom But you know what

you find as we go through this parable That there's there's no concept of comparison in these verses The the master the owner Disperses to every man according as they have ability And so god bestows talents upon our life now when we read this word talent in the king james version Understand we're we're reading some old english. He's not talking about you know musical talent or speaking talent or Decorating talent or sound talent now we can draw the analogy But in this literal Text what he's speaking of is he's given them money In fact, it's probably probably comparable to many years wages Many historians say that that a talent was Was equivalent to several hundred months income and so what we're looking at this is something like an inheritance This would be you know you you come to the end of your life and you're cashed out of 401k You're you know giving all this to your kids or entrusting this to somebody This

is a large inheritance that he is giving them Three servants three men three individuals One with five talents one with two and another with one God knows what we can be trusted with God knows what we will excel with Now I don't want to jump ahead of myself, but I don't want to lose you on this discouraging point If you're a good steward You can increase what you have But if you're a bad steward you can lose what you have So you could get frustrated that somebody else got five and you got two But if you use your two well, and they use their five bad Ten years from now they may have none and you may have many So we can frustrate ourselves by unnecessary comparison and thinking I wish I could sing like them I wish I could preach like him. I wish I could do this like they do Or we can look at what god hasn't trusted us with

in figure out how to steward that to the glory of the lord Likewise Sorry verse 16. He that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them another five talents Verse 17 he that had received two. He also gained another two And so what we're seeing here Is they did something with what god gave them and I think it's noteworthy now that we just stop and consider We don't know the identity of these servants We don't know their name. We didn't know anything about them And I think that's in the wisdom of god because he's trying to communicate to us That the emphasis is not on the person or the personality. It is on the action of stewardship So he doesn't want us to get caught up with the individual or the name or the the image of one Instead he says I want you to focus on the action. That's the emphasis of the parable In fact,

the emphasis is not even on the metric or the measurement Because when the master returns and bestows rewards upon the stewards He who had five and he who had two and became ten and became four received the same reward And so what that tells me is when the master is measuring the work of the lives He was not measuring the the monetary increase that they brought he was measuring the principle of stewardship This is why this is why when when the lord is standing by the offering basket in the The little lady gives just just a little offering that was so small Based on monetary value compared to so many others. He said she gave so much more Because he measured that not based on what was given in dollars and cents, but what was based or what was left over So if you you give ten dollars, but you have a thousand left over And she gives ten and she's got none

left over Or you give a hundred dollars and you have a thousand left over and she gives ten and she has none left over Jesus said she gave more Because what he's looking at here, he's not he's not measuring this in dollars. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills He doesn't need our money He asked us to give because he's trying to get access to our lives But in this parable, he's not saying well look you brought me ten and you brought me four I'm gonna reward you more than I reward him. No He doesn't bless them or reward them based on the the monetary value of the increase He blesses them and rewards them based upon the principle of stewardship You are a wise steward of what I gave you Here is my reward And so we should not frustrate ourselves. We can unnecessarily frustrate ourselves Demoralize ourselves and defeat ourselves by comparing ourselves among ourselves Well, if I just if

god would bless me like he's blessed him, I'd really do something for the kingdom too No quit thinking like that God has blessed you Just look what you have and figure out How can I be a steward a good steward a wise steward of what he's put in my hand right now Verse 18 He received one when and digged in the earth And hid his lord's money. I like that emphasis again his lord's money. It's not his He's the steward not the owner The bible says after a long time the lord of the servants comes and he begins to reckon with them And I've paraphrased these few already. It's the distribution of the rewards to the one with the five He he turns his increase him and verse 21 the lord says well done thou good and faithful servant Thou has been faithful over a few things. I will make thee a ruler over many things Enter thou into the joy of the

lord. He doesn't even he doesn't talk about five talents He doesn't talk about ten talents. He just focuses on the principle of stewardship So let me let me jump back to money just for a minute for the sake of illustration, you know Whether whether god trusts you with a hundred dollars a thousand dollars or ten thousand dollars When he comes back He's not going to measure Your offering or your income or your sacrifice compared to somebody else's income offering and sacrifice He's looking not at that monetary figure. He's not looking at the number. He's looking at the principle of stewardship And he says well done Thou good and faithful servant he that received the two does the same brings his talents and the increase to the lord And the lord says in verse 23 well done good and faithful servant You were faithful over a few things. I will make thee a ruler over many things So if you want an increase of

talents in your life All you have to do is steward. Well what god has given you now Verse 24 he comes to the man with one talent And says the man says lord I knew that thou art a hard man a harsh man Reaping where you have not sown gathering where that has not strawed and look at this verse 25. He says I was afraid So I went and hid my talent in the earth and lo there the has that is thine Well, the others were busy working with what god gave them This been buried in in the earth and when the lord comes he says to his master I know you're a hard man and I was afraid He had a wrong perception of the master And fear caused him to act in a manner that was contrary to faithfulness Now had he been the owner This should have been no big deal. He could have done whatever he wanted to do

But he's not the owner. He's the steward and part of stewardship is not only protecting what you have But bringing increase when the lord returns It goes back to the garden And so In your handout, I have three things Certainly we could we could draw many but I give you three things from this parable of practical insight on characteristics of stewards that god approves of These are what good stewards have number one is diligence when The lord gave them talents They went to work immediately And it might be assumed that they worked hard They did what they had to do To bring increase They were diligent in their labor for the lord Number two is they had integrity because The master was away Now I just checked into a hotel in the weekend and I stood at the front desk for about seven minutes before The lady came out of the back room I've managed hotels. I know what she was doing She

was sitting back there on her phone And about the time she'd you know stopped doing whatever she was scrolling on looked up at that security camera She realized that there was a guy waiting to check into the front desk See when the master is away if you're a poor steward There is a temptation to slack But these men didn't slack They had integrity They knew that part of being entrusted as a steward Was to work to bring increase And when the master is away that is indicative of his trust towards me An integrity would beckon me to resist the temptation to slack to take the easier way I know you could maybe get away with it because the master's not present I know Nobody's going to see you walk by that candy wrapper on the seventh floor But god He's watching He knows In the heart of a good steward is a heart of integrity It's somebody that recognizes I'm not the owner

of anything I have I'm a steward I know I'll get back to the ownership thing a little later number three Relationship This might seem somewhat you know of unusual thing, but I want to remind you now I'm talking about kingdom stewardship. I know you can get on google and youtube You can go down to books a million and buy yourself a book on financial stewardship That's got nothing to do with with god the kingdom the bible But but we're here on a wednesday night. We're having a bible study. I'm talking about kingdom stewardship And I draw your attention now to that that man with one talent who says Now we're the hard man And I was afraid This tells me he probably did not have much of a relationship with his lord to the heart Of a good steward Demands that you have a relationship with the master How can you remain true to the intention of the lord who has entrusted you

with talents If you don't know what his intention is So part of being a good steward is that when god puts talents in my hands that my heart Feels what his heart feels I'm passionate for what the owner of these talents is passionate for I want to invest in in work for what the owner Is invested in and cares for But you don't have that if you have no relationship with him And I believe the issue Of this third servant with one talent the heart of the issue was he really didn't know what his master was like He believed he was a hard man a cruel master And that misperception of his lord caused him to act in fear when he should have acted in faith Hey, it takes faith to bring increase I can't tell you who because if if I told you who I'd be in trouble But one of my one of my kids we were driving to church here

a couple weeks ago. We just about pulled in the parking lot and He goes from silence to deep conversation How do you even get married anyway? well This has escalated quickly So what that's a that's a big question. He would you just walk up to them and ask them I said Yeah, but you better put a little work before that As we started talking about risk I said hey you You can put in the work You can be pretty confident But when you ask that question It's a risk In fact, there's a lot of risks in life Increase takes risks Risk is another word for faith But this man had a A wrong idea of his lord That caused him to be fearful When faith should have motivated him to work and to risk Fear causes him to hide that and he got one half a stewardship right There was no decrease. He protected it. He gave back what the lord gave him,

but that's not all stewardship is God expects increase With what he's given us Now let's make the jump to what we've really come to talk about tonight Because tonight's focus is not money It's not your car. It's not your house We're going to talk about our greatest resource It's the gospel of jesus christ Stewardship demands knowing both what I have been given and why I was given it And so we have to ask what has god entrusted to the church and for what purpose has he given it to us Acts one and eight. This is this is not new to us. Many of us could quote this by memory But ye shall receive power. This is jesus last words he's Giving this Admonishment to his disciples before he ascends into heaven. He's telling them listen You're going to receive power After the holy ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in jerusalem And all judia and samaria

and to the uttermost part of the earth So stewardship now We have to know what we have been given And why we have been given it Well, we've been given power And it will make us witnesses of jesus christ This is god's desire This is why we have the holy ghost As pastor would say this is not the holy ghost is not fire insurance It's not given to you as a one-way ticket to heaven You need it to get there But It's not just about the destination God has given us this great resource this this great power why that we would be witnesses of him I Want you to look at the next scripture we have here first Thessalonians 2 and 4 Paul is writing this church at Thessalonica And he says As we were allowed of god To be put in trust With the gospel Even so we speak Not as pleasing men But god which trieth our hearts Earlier paul

would tell them how they have faced much opposition in the preaching of the gospel they have come In the face of great adversity and they have not come with guile or deceit, but they have come To preach the truth and look at this now. This is paul the apostle paul He said we were allowed Of god I would submit to us tonight that there is a A humility in that word allowed There's a there's an honor. There's a weight. There's a burden of responsibility. He recognizes that I'm not entitled to this That in the goodness and the grace of god he has allowed me To be put In trust with the gospel Now our idea of a trust is really not a whole lot different than what he's talking about You Put things in trust a legal agreement as a means that Something can be held and stewarded in the passing or the transition of one So what's paul saying? paul's using this

idea of a trust is he's saying i'm i'm legally bound I'm bound by a responsibility that god has bestowed upon me He has put me In trust with the gospel Out of all the people that god could have chosen to bring the truth to the gentile world paul is saying God has he has entrusted me with this most precious truth So what's he saying? Even so we speak Because he knows if you know it You owe it He has not given me this just to write about to think about to hide it under a bushel No, I was not entrusted with this just to keep it for myself I have been allowed to by god to be put in trust with the gospel Even so we speak now listen On the one hand stewardship of the gospel is paul writing in defense and saying hey If even an angel comes to you and preaches any other gospel let him be accursed. I'm going

to defend the truth I've got to guard the garden But that's only half a stewardship He could have walked all through the gentile world Making sure nobody took the truth But even so we speak Why? Because when god trusted him with that most precious gospel in the same way He told adam to dress the garden. He was telling paul I need you to dress the gentile world with the gospel of jesus christ I want you to defend it. I want you to protect it Don't let greek mythology and don't let roman thought dilute my word But paul I need you to stand up in the face of adversity every city you go to Every village you walk into every person you meet I need you to preach the gospel and he would say since I've been allowed by god to be put in trust with the gospel So I speak The only response to stewardship of the gospel is to share it So

if you've been trusted with it Which I assume by our attendants here this evening we have We are bound by the principle of kingdom stewardship You have we have been allowed by god to be put in trust with the gospel And so stewardship demands we speak it We share it paul would write in first corinthians 4 Now he has just finished talking to them There's so much division in that church at corinth Well, I was baptized by this person and I follow this preacher and they they got it wrong See they should have read the parable. It's not about the person It's not about the name. It's not about the image. It's not about the personality It's about the principle of stewardship And so when they're saying well, I was baptized by apollos and I was baptized by this person Paul says none of that matters and then in the next chapter chapter 4 He says let a man so account of us

as of the ministers of christ and note this stewards Of the mysteries of god Of what mystery? Well, we'll get to that in a minute, but this is the mystery which was in the mind of god from the beginning That has been entrusted to paul And he says in verse 2 Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful Now in the world of the new testament this Concept of stewards Now stewardship is the principle, but steward is the role The position of a steward was well known in the ancient world Stewards were hired laborers To serve as household managers Authorized by the master the owner of the house to exercise authority on their behalf and in their absence think now of potipher or sorry joseph and potipher's house It's an ancient concept beginning in the garden itself God entrusted adam and the ancient world would do the same they would bring a steward into their house into their garden

Bestow responsibility and authority upon them not as owners But as stewards and entrust them to manage to both guard But to bring increase to dispense their goods to all the members of the household So if a steward must be found faithful as paul would say I would submit to us On the subject of stewardship of the gospel To be faithful means this it is to remain true to the message That's to guard it 1st Corinthians 15 tells us the gospel is the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ It is that historical fact that literal act that we base our faith upon And when peter preached that gospel on the day of penny cost He said this same jesus whom you have crucified and buried he's raised up He's ascended into the heaven seated on the right hand of the father and poured out the holy ghost the promise which you now see and hear Because when somebody receives the spirit You're going

to be able to see it and hear it because that's what jesus said in john three That there's going to be a language a phoné A sound john three and eight the greek word phoné It means language everyone who is born of the spirit will be evidenced by a language That's why they spoke in other tongues as the spirit gave them the ability on the day of penny cost and acts chapter two But that's not what peter preached That was the experience that incited the question and he preached the gospel He preached that jesus Died on the cross was buried that he rose again and the scripture says they're pricked in their hearts. They asked the question men and brethren What shall we do? I feel compelled to respond. I feel god drawing me But how do I take the historical reality of the gospel of jesus christ and apply it to my life right now? peter says i'm glad you asked because

i have these keys to the kingdom That i was given in matthew 16 that i've just been waiting to open up this door So you can come into the kingdom and what's he tell him you need to repent and be baptized in the name of jesus christ For the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the holy ghost You've got to remain true to the message If you're going to be a faithful steward don't change it You need to repent but that's not where you stop and you need to be baptized, but it matters how you're baptized And when you get the holy ghost, we're going to see it and we're going to hear it And you're going to talk in tongues just like they did in the bible In fact the only reason we're all here tonight is because in ax chapter 10 The jews who would never receive the gentiles heard them receive the holy ghost and speak

in tongues just like they had And now now their little cultural division and ethnic divide Is convoluted by the reality of the kingdom in the outpouring of the holy ghost because they're over there scratching their head thinking Well, god gave him the holy ghost the same way He gave us the holy ghost and can i tell you two thousand years later. He still gives the holy ghost the same way I don't care if you're rich or poor you're black you're white if you're american you're european I don't care if you come from south america or asia africa or anywhere in between When you get the holy ghost you're going to get the holy ghost speaking in other tongues as the spirit gives you the ability I'm gonna stand in defense of the gospel. I don't care who says what I don't care what book says what I don't care what the news said what youtube video listen. I know what the bible says

I know what i've experienced. I know what you experience. I know what god wants everybody to experience If we're gonna be faithful stewards of the gospel, we've got to remain true to the message But guarding the garden is not enough. We've got to dress it We've got to dress With the gospel of jesus christ We have got to dress vego county and clay county with the gospel of jesus christ This is to remain true to the intent and the plan of the lord Which was what that was the next verse in ax 2 the promises unto you and your children and all that are afar off Even as many as the lord our god shall call and here now this year this month this summer in this county god is drawing God is calling I don't know if you know but pastor's got some things on the calendar coming up in a few months. He he's expecting harvest I think he's he's feeling

something in his spirit. So it beckons us We are compelled because we sit here tonight having been allowed by god to be put in trust of the gospel It's not enough to stand for truth though. We must we have to tell the truth Paul would say in romans 1 and 16. I am not ashamed of the gospel of christ It is the power of god unto salvation to everyone that believe it to the jew first and also to the greek Now I don't want to mislead you You might be shamed for the gospel, but that doesn't mean you have to be ashamed of the gospel There are some who will reject they will ridicule and scorn and mock you may be shamed for the gospel But if you refuse to be ashamed of the gospel And you just preach the gospel just share the truth witness of jesus Somebody will be saved But without it Nobody will be saved No one will be

saved without the gospel It is the only message through which people can know and experience god As paul said in romans 10 how can people believe in whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? You may never stand in this pulpit. You may never preach before large crowds But you Could be one of the Slit listen Let me tell you my I think we got to get back to biblical language People often call me an evangelist because I travel from church to church. Listen. I'm not an evangelist I'm very comfortable not being an evangelist But we're not using biblical terminology In fact, I would submit to you that the greatest evangelists In the apostolic movement today are not even known by the majority of people Rarely are they in pulpits like this and I'm not minimizing the role of this pulpit I don't want you to misunderstand me. This is set by god But rarely are our most

impactful kingdom evangelists in pulpits like this They're at tables at lunch breaks And sitting in coffee shops and walking into living rooms and gathering and dining room tables And teaching people the gospel Of jesus christ I pray that that the ministry of the evangelist would be loosed in this church That it would be multiplied Listen, this is set by god this this pulpit and and the role the office our pastor all that set by god I'm not devaluing it. We we need to uphold it. We need to guard it. But what I am telling you Is perhaps the person Who will bring the most people to church who will teach the most bible studies who will baptize the most new believers Maybe they're not even here tonight Maybe they've never heard the gospel yet. Maybe it's the person that you sit with at lunch Maybe it's the person a few desks over at work Maybe it's the lady you met in the grocery

store God is softening their heart preparing them to hear and if you start witnessing and you start telling Who knows how many dozens of people? They may impact My brother-in-law was on death's door a few weeks ago Sad story, but god's working in his life It's a miracle. How many people I've got the holy ghost He started going back to church three weeks ago Inviting all of his friends Ruining their lives on drugs One of them showed up on sunday got the holy ghost in the parking lot before they even got in the building They had a girl standing in the altar just a few days ago hardly any teeth mess destroyed her life But she was praying back through to the holy ghost I'm talking about I'm talking about the ministry of a god called evangelist. I feel something prophetic on me right now Don't I'm telling you you you got to stop limiting yourselves. It's quit quit beating yourself

up I just got one talent. I can't preach like pastor. I'm not like brother shark. I'm not like brother dan I'm not like listen It could be six months from now that you're sitting in a whole section of this church with 30 or 40 or 50 people That you taught a bible study too that you baptized in jesus name And I close with this roman 16 25 Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel The message I proclaim about jesus christ In keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past But now revealed and made known Through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal god So that mystery the stewardship of the mystery. This is what paul says in roman 16 It's the gospel The message he is proclaiming about jesus christ down. I want you to note note this in verse 25 paul says my gospel Kind of sticks out to

me a little bit because it's sort of paul's It's not really your gospel I'll tell you what I think it is And this is what I offer In closing tonight kingdom stewardship Is a my gospel mentality Now you say you've been talking to us all night about the difference between stewardship and ownership. How can you say my gospel? Well This is what i'm going to submit to you kingdom stewardship means you live within An attitude of ownership responsibility But stewardship accountability So you take responsibility for that thing like it is yours Now listen if you're driving home tonight in the house six houses down from yours has a tree that falls on it You're probably going to feel bad, you know, you'll empathize sympathize with that person But you're going to go to sleep tonight and probably sleep. Okay Because it's not your house But if that tree falls on your house your night's going to look a little bit different But but

what would happen if if you did take ownership of that? That's what i'm talking about is It's easy to just treat this thing like well, it's you know No, this is my gospel I've been entrusted with it and I know it belongs to him and I know ultimately these are his talents and this is his kingdom But i'm going to invest myself in it as if it is mine. I'm going to care for it and work it I'm going to dress it and guard it as if it is mine It's an ownership responsibility Because if I own that hotel, I'm not walking by that garbage If that's my property, I'm not letting it lay in waste But you dismiss a lot of that if you don't take ownership responsibility But you can't take so much ownership responsibility that you think you can change it and do it how you want because you have to have stewardship accountability Because while you work as if

you own it You're stewarding it with an understanding that hey the lord's coming back the master's coming back And when he comes back, he's going to expect increase now listen He's not going to beat up on me because I only baptized one and she baptized 10 or he baptized three, but he baptized 17 He's looking for the principle of stewardship. He's looking for increase Stand together with me, you know they have All kinds of diets and fads and exercise plans. I don't know if it still exists I'm not much for exercise, sadly But several years ago this thing called p90x was a big deal A real intense 90 day workout you just do it every day for 90 days, you know, you're gonna Need new suits because you got big arms and six packs and But the lord already took my hair so You know all these fad diets, you know, you clean eat for 75 days. It'll change your life You're gonna

talk to somebody else exercising diets. I refrain my opinion But What would happen If we looked at the next 90 days It's that all right Let's do a p90x Preach for 90 days extreme you know, I was I saw something come up on instagram a few days ago a new christian artist and He had a really unique sound and so I was listening to it and kind of researching who he was and Looking through his social media and there was some posts that just a young guy, I think he's 21 just kind of popped it in nowhere and all over now Looking at his little instagram page there were some posts that he and his wife were tagged in and I started looking at them And she had a post about how I don't know the number I think it was 70 something days or maybe it was every day for the year. I don't recall but she had said all these days

on the calendar and said Every day I'm gonna force myself To tell one person about jesus That's kind of extreme Because a lot of times we wait And i'm not I think we ought to be spirit led. I think we ought to be sensitive and But I would submit to us that there are moments. There are seasons Or sometimes we just have to push ourselves Now i'm not going to impose anything on you tonight, but i'm going to challenge you We've got brother smith coming the first weekend in august and In a september we've got a we're gonna have a tent revival for a weekend I think pastor's got that on the calendar because he's feeling in his spirit that there's There's increase There's revival So so here's here's my admonishment my challenge to us tonight Can we look at the next 90 days? Next 120 days the summer of 2024 In figure out What we're gonna do Is it one a day?

Is it three a week? I don't know, but this is what I do know If we don't set goals We don't have accountability It's not all about the number But a lot of that is part of stewardship The reason the shepherd knew One sheep was missing was because he knew how many were in his flock The burden of a growing church Is that The principle of stewardship Has to be carried by us all Because pastor can't stand in this pulpit And look at 750 or 800 people on sunday And figure out who's not here tonight Or today that was last week But if that person's been sitting by you the three Sundays before And you look over And they're not see this is stewardship I'm challenging us tonight to have an ownership mentality of the gospel This is your gospel You have been allowed by god to be put in trust with it And we have to tell it Now I think one

a day is an ambitious goal If god opens that door gray I'm gonna tell you what my goal is Between now and the end of september I'm telling you this before god before you I'm setting the goal to talk to three people Every week About jesus about new life About what god's doing You know a lot of times I'm out on friday and back on monday so that can be a little bit hard How are you gonna do that I don't know it's gonna get awkward Talk to the lady in the drive-thru stop a person in the aisle at walmart I'm just gonna get a little bit more extreme Than I normally would Because I'm gonna guard it But I've also got to dress it He's coming back And he's looking for increase Would you lift up your hands and let's pray let's ask god To put the names of people faces before us that we wouldn't know who to pray for

who to speak to Lord jesus we're asking you to order our steps God i'm asking you to direct us may the spirit of the lord give us favor Put the word in our mouth that must be spoken Put the compassion in our heart that we must have Lord jesus I'm praying for increase. I'm praying for the transformation of lives I'm praying that we would see people fill with the holy ghost baptized in jesus name Marriage is restored families restored lives put back together. I want to see alcoholics delivered drug addicts delivered In the name of jesus christ In the name of jesus christ help us god To dress this city with the gospel Help us. Oh god to dress our subdivisions our streets our communities Help our places of employment and our social communities to be dressed with the gospel of jesus christ You have put us in trust with this most powerful resource and tonight We are committing ourselves to speak it.

We're going to speak it at walmart We're going to share it at mire when we're sitting at culvers. We're going to share it god I pray lord that the burden of outreach would rise within our hearts. Let us see people as you see them Let us feel as you feel I pray god that we would see past social statuses and see past clothing I pray you would help us discern the longing of the human heart and you would put a word in our mouth For the people that are so desperately in need and searching for something better Thank you lord Thank you lord In jesus name we pray In jesus name we pray you are the light of the world In a city that sat on a hill cannot be hid Why would we Intentionally hide ourselves When he has already put a light in us to bring us out of hiding Listen I know I know sometimes we look at people with

certain personalities. I'm an introvert. I get it But this is what I know if we'll just subdue our self If we'll let self decrease and let god increase It will amaze you At some of the opportunities god will give you So i'm praying At the summer of 2024 In fact, this just comes to my memories. I tell you last october Before week came in this sanctuary I was here talking to pastor And he made this statement to me He's yeah, i'm not really worried about moving in, you know the dedication we've got to get through that He said i'll tell you what i'm really looking for He said i'm looking for september of 2024 I said really he see I learned from the building From the north side to this sanctuary It takes about a year to adjust And then we've got to get back to business So I say we just Get in support of our pastor The vision of our shepherd

The burden of the lord The direction of the spirit And I say let's let the next 90 or 120 days Be some of the greatest increase and harvest that new life fellowship has ever had Amen, let's clap our hands to the lord