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Those Who Do Nothing
In this episode of 'Those Who Do Nothing,' hosts Andy Baylug and Jordan Pine delve into the Parable of the Pounds from the Gospel of Luke. They explore themes of responsibility, faithfulness...
Those Who Do Nothing
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Got 20 minutes?
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Then you have time for a Bible study.
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Hey everyone and welcome again. I'm Andy Baylug.
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And I'm Jordan Pine. Thanks for joining us.
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Today we're in the Gospel of Luke, our topic, the Parable of the Pounds.
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We cited this once before back in 2019 and it's time for a refresher because people often say to us,
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I'm good with the concept of reward for Christians but not the concept of punishment for Christians.
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Does God's Word really support that?
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Please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke and get ready to join us for another 20-minute Bible study.
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A reading from the Gospel of Luke in the New Living Translation, Chapter 19, beginning in verse 11,
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the crowd was listening to everything Jesus said and because he was nearing Jerusalem,
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he told him a story to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away.
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He said, a nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return.
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With an open mind and an open heart, we seek to take out of the Bible what God has put into it.
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And that means that it's time to go to space.
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Space is an acronym that reminds us to identify the SP, A and C, the speaker, audience and context.
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Before we attempt an E or explanation, the speaker, audience and context are all neatly summarized in verse 11.
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Our Lord is speaking to the crowd to correct an incorrect impression they had about the Kingdom of God.
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They thought it would come right away.
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Jesus wanted them to understand it would come later after his work on the cross was complete.
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And now that we've covered the speaker, audience and context of this Bible passage,
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we're ready to continue reading and attempt our explanation.
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Before he left, he called together 10 of his servants and divided among them 10 pounds of silver saying,
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invest this for me while I am gone.
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But his people hated him and said to delegation after him to say,
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we do not want him to be our king.
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Okay, so our first point, let's take this point by point.
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Our first point is that these 10 servants represent 10 saved people.
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And how do we know that?
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Here's some evidence from other scriptures where apostles and disciples were called servants.
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For example, Romans 1-1, Paul calls himself a servant of Christ Jesus.
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In Colossians 4-12, he writes,
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a paffress who was one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus.
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Philippians 1-1, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus.
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First Timothy 4-6,
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if you put these things before the brothers,
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you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus.
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That's Paul writing the Timothy.
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And then we even say Jude 1-1, Jude writes, Jude, a servant of Christ Jesus and brother of James.
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So that's our first point.
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The language of the parable is servants.
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And we know that those who follow Christ, including the apostles and disciples,
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call themselves servants.
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Second point is that each received one pound of silver,
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which by the way is about $10,000 each.
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And a third point to note is that these servants didn't hate the king.
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The people who sent a delegation did,
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and this was directed at the Jewish leaders,
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saying we do not want him to be our king.
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Okay, so if some of you are asking, you know, what is a parable?
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Jordan mentioned that earlier.
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These verses that we're studying today in Luke are a story that Jesus spoke.
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And to simply break it down, a parable is just an earthly story used to illustrate a spiritual lesson.
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Also, we mentioned the word pound.
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A pound in some translations is also called Amina.
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And it's good to note that silver was the common currency of people in that day.
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And silver in typology represents spirit salvation.
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After he was crowned king, he returned and called into servants to whom he had given the money.
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He wanted to find out what the prophets were.
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The first servant reported,
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I invested your money and made ten times the original amount.
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Well done, the king exclaimed, you are a good servant.
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You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you.
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So you will be the governor of ten cities as your reward.
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Yeah, okay, so let's break this section of the passage down.
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Again, I'll just highlight some points here.
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One is that it says after he was crowned king,
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which represents judgment day in typology.
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Another point is that turning 10,000 into 100,000, 10 times,
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is what gets the servant a reward of ten cities.
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A third thing we should notice is that being responsible when the king wasn't around,
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earns the servant much greater responsibility when the king is around.
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And finally, what does faithfulness now really earn us later?
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Is it material gain?
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No, it's greater responsibility.
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And that's an important thing to take away from this section of the passage as well.
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Yeah, Jordan.
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Also, I want to mention to our listeners that this scene here is occurring at the Bimeseed,
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also known as the Judgment Seed of Christ.
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And I'd like to refer to 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 12 to 15.
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So you can kind of see that connection.
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And I'll read it for you guys.
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And it says,
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Now, if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones,
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would, hey, straw,
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each man's work will become evident.
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For the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire.
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And the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.
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If any man's work, which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
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If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer lost.
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And you might want to highlight this in your Bible.
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But he himself will be saved.
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So I just wanted to make that note.
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This is happening at the Bimeseed, which only Christians will be at.
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And even if there are servants that don't produce any spiritual works,
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the Bible teaches us that they will still be saved because of their faith in Jesus Christ.
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The next servant reported,
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,
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''Master, I invested your money and made five times the original amount.
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Well done,' said the king.
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You will be governor over five cities.
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Okay, so now we can start to compare and contrast.
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In the previous section, we heard about the servant who turned $10,000.
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That's the, that's basically the amount he was given into $100,000,
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10 times and he got a reward of 10 cities.
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Here we see this servant was given the same amount, 10,000.
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But there was a different result, which was 50,000 or five times.
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And he also received a different reward,
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responsibility for five cities.
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There's also a slight difference here in how he's praised.
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The former servant was praised,
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''You are a good and faithful servant.''
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He's praised just well done.
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So the reason we're pointing these things out is because as we start to understand
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the representations in the parable,
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we start to see different levels of reward to those people who are given the same,
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basically entrusted with the same thing.
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And for you guys listening,
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I'm sure by now, if you guys have been following us for many years,
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you know that we take every word serious in the Bible.
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I mean, that's our job.
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Jordan and my job is to diligently study the word
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and to do our best using scripture to bring out the truth
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and an explanation with a lot of these difficult verses
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that we like to tackle for you guys.
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And each word means something to God.
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Every word is critical.
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Now, in these verses, the word good spoken by the king of the parable
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is more than just a compliment.
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It actually represents a level of rank that Christian servants will receive
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in Christ Jesus' 1,000 year millennial kingdom.
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In comparison, the very similar sounding parable of the talents
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for those of you who recognize that,
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which is found in Matthew 24 verse 14 to 29,
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has a master calling his servants by a different name.
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They're there called good and faithful.
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So there's a compound there.
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Now, this title adds the word faithful to the word good,
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mentioned in the parable of the pounds that we're studying today.
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However, in the parable of the talents in Matthew,
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it sounds like the almost the same type of parable,
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but it's different.
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The value of goods being traded in that parable is gold instead of silver.
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And the reward is a higher rank in Christ's millennial kingdom.
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That's something we can discuss later.
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But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money
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and said, Master, I hid your money and kept it safe.
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I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with,
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taking what isn't yours and harvesting crops you didn't plant.
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Okay, so again, let's look at some points here.
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And again, we're just breaking these points down.
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Eventually, we're going to tie it all together.
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But in this particular section of the passage,
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I'd like you to notice that this servant didn't lose what he was given.
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He just didn't do anything with it.
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And also, in the original text, it says he literally put the money away
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in a cloth for wiping perspiration from the face.
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So Andy, what's exactly is the metaphor here?
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Well, what we see that this servant has is what we would call today
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maybe a bandana.
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And he wraps the silver and what we would call also a work cloth.
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And that only represents taking God's valuables
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and trying to trade with self-works.
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Self-works, right?
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Imagine a hardworking guy, construction worker working outside.
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He's got a bandana around his neck.
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And when he's sweating, he takes it off and wipes his forehead.
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That kind of represents works of self.
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The correct way to multiply God's valuables, though,
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is to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us.
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And then he produces all the increase.
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That's what Jesus is looking for.
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Our job as Christians is to make ourselves spiritually available for God
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by a few different things.
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Living a righteous life, confessing our sins,
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being rooted in his word, and consistently staying in prayer.
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These are the kind of spiritual lifestyles we need to live.
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Not trying to serve God based on our own motives
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or what we can get out of it, or what we feel that God needs
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from us to serve Him.
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No, it's just having faith and trusting
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that the Holy Spirit that's sealed in us can take over
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and produce all the works that He wants to work through us.
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You wicked servant, the King Rorgh.
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Your own words condemn you.
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If you knew that I'm a hard man who takes what isn't mine
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and harvests crops I didn't plant,
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why didn't you deposit my money in the bank?
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At least I could have gotten some interest on it.
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Here's the key point.
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The servant knew, quote unquote,
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something that wasn't true.
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What was actually true is that this King took what is ultimately his
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and he entrusted it to good servants
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who were then rewarded by being elevated to governors.
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So it actually wasn't true that he's a hard man
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who takes what isn't his and harvests crops he didn't plant.
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He's actually at the exact opposite of the truth in this case
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as evidenced by what the King actually does
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and the fact that he was giving these servants what was actually his.
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And what does Hebrews 11 say?
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It says quote,
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it is impossible to please God without faith anyone
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who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists
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and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.
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Now there's also an interesting point in here about
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why didn't you deposit my money in the bank?
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Here's a question.
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How is depositing in the bank different than let's say investing?
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That is an awesome question.
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I'm sure many deep Bible study
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brethren out there have probably asked that question
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or they should ask that question.
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So my answer to that is subjective.
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I believe the spiritual bank Jesus is referring to
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is trusting the Holy Spirit
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to witness through us whenever the opportunity presents itself.
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For instance, let me give you an example.
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Many new Christians believe they aren't qualified to witness
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until they have a thorough grasp of Scripture.
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I mean, I hear that all the time,
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even my own children mentioned that to me in the past.
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But know that God is aware of that.
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And at the very least,
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He wants us to tell people how we came to believe in Christ
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and then publicly share our story to people that are in our lives.
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So even if you're a new Christian,
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my advice based on these verses and based on this teaching
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in the parable of the pounds,
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don't be afraid if you're not a master theologian
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or if you can't remember Scripture or quote Scripture
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like some people can.
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But at the very least,
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show them the love that God showed us.
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Show them the love that God showed you
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when God opened your heart to accept Him as Savior.
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And if you just give them that testimony,
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that right there is like putting money in a bank.
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Jesus' spiritual bank account.
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Yeah, also within the parable itself,
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it's interesting that, you know,
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the servants who really invested got 10x and 5x returns.
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So if we wanted to draw that sort of metaphor,
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we could say that they were really investing
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by doing more with the money.
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And then the wicked servant who didn't even deposit in the bank,
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he could have gotten at least some small return.
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So instead, as we said,
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he wrapped it in his own works and got zero return.
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So there's even levels within doing something
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with what God gives you.
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There's a set of the complicated level of multiplying 10x,
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even just making it grow a little bit,
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you know, would have been better than what the wicked servant did.
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Amen to that.
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Then, turning to the others standing nearby,
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the king ordered,
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take the money from this servant
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and give it to the one who has 10x.
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But Master, they said,
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he already has 10x,
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yes, the king replied,
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and to those who use well what they are given,
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even more will be given.
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But from those who do nothing,
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even what little they have will be taken away.
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May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word.
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Yeah, we don't have to come in much on this,
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except I just want to reemphasize
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that this is a why saying at the end here for all of us
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to those who use well what they are given,
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even more will be given to those who do nothing,
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even what little they have will be taken away.
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So to recap and to tie this all together,
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we have a king representing Jesus,
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who entrusts his wealth,
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which is the Holy Spirit,
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to three servants,
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save people,
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and we establish that by showing all the apostles
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called themselves servants.
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And then we have two servants who invest it,
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that is they multiply it with the works of God,
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not of themselves,
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and they're rewarded differently,
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more rewards for better works.
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They're elevated from servant to governor,
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which is those who rule and reign.
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On the other hand,
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one servant hides what he's given,
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he buries it in works of self,
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doing nothing for God,
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and he loses what he could have had,
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the chance to rule and reign.
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It's given to the best servant.
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So Andy, what sort of conclusions can we draw from this?
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Well, Jordan, clearly this can't be about gaining
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or losing salvation.
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We know that salvation is by grace through faith,
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not by works.
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Clearly, it must be about reward for Christians.
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That is, reward for good servants
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and loss of reward for bad servants.
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Okay, so with that note,
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I just want to introduce a little bit more about Jordan and I,
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because I truly believe that parables like this
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are the root and the drive of why we decided
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to put this ministry together.
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The purpose of our ministry is to tell the world
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about these Kingdom truths.
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And I'm going to give you some good verses
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that you could highlight or write down.
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So you can understand that these are the building blocks
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that most Christians are missing
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when they think about them wanting to serve the Lord.
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And these are the things that we keep in our heart
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so that we know that we always need to push forward
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to serve God.
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Start in Proverbs 9 verse 10.
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It reads like this,
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the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
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the fear of the Lord.
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And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
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We want everyone to understand
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fearing God is a good thing,
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as long as you fear Him for the right reason.
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And the more knowledge you have of Scripture,
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the more understanding you'll have of God's heart.
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Also, I want us to look at Matthew chapter 13 verse 10 to 12.
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And it reads like this,
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and the disciples came and said to Jesus,
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why do you speak to them in parables?
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Jesus answered them.
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To you it has been granted to know the mysteries
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of the kingdom of heaven,
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but to them it has not been granted.
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For whoever has, to Him more shall be given.
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Kind of reminds me of the parable we heard today.
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And he will have an abundance,
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whoever does not have,
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even what he has,
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shall be taken away from him.
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So there, I mean,
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I pretty much sums up that
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the Lord is choosing you, the listener,
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to learn these truths.
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It is not by mistake that you're listening
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to this message today.
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God is calling you to do bigger and greater things.
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Don't bury in the sand.
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Don't hide this gift that was given to you
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in a hankerchief or a bandana.
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But ask God to use you every single day.
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Even if it's something simple,
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trusting in the Holy Spirit
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to speak through you about His love.
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And you know, it kind of reminds me of a famous quote
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by JFK when he was quoting Edmund Burke.
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And he said this,
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the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil
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is that good men do nothing.
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Keep that in mind.
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That's 20 minutes, and that's our lesson.
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Do you want to listen to this Bible study again?
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On the website, you can also subscribe
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