Thanks for checking out the Anchor Faith Message podcast
from St. Augustine, FL.
Now enjoy this message. I want to share with you some
just some stuffs have been stern in me some things that Pastor
said recently that I thought interesting I need to look into
that so. Been looking into that let's
let's see what and we'll have some other show up and said they
were coming so all right let's pray Father we thank you and
praise you for opportunity to come together and and for the
purpose of we understand this group is wanting to come
together to hear how you operate in the earth and the Kingdom
environment concerning business. Father, I praise you and I thank
you that as we just take a look at a few things in your
scripture this evening that we'll get just get something new
that we'll be able to meditate on.
We'll be able to continue to grow in.
And we want to thank you in advance for the outcome of this
evening. We'll give you praise for it in
Jesus name. Amen.
Pastor made a comment the other
night and he was referring to, and I'm going to be referring to
it if you brought a Bible or your digital device.
You know, I'm still trying to get a campaign started on paper
Bibles. But anyway, the 25th chapter of
Matthew, we have a story that we have heard dozens of time.
You've been with me for any amount of time.
You've heard these this this particular parable that Jesus
told dozens and dozens of times and and he made a comment.
And then I just started looking at some other things that I, you
know I want to I'm going to have a challenge at the end because
you know last month we talked about the fact that.
We've got a whole team going that we need to help going to
India. And I think Pastor told us that
it was $25,000, you know, to buy the airfare for what everybody
he needed to go because they're going to be converting that over
to a Anchor Faith Church India and that they're going to be
doing remodel and different things like that.
So he challenged me to challenge you.
And, you know, and the group that we had last month, you
know, to consider investing in that.
OK, so keep prayerfully considering that and seek the
Lord. I've never had him ever not tell
me if I went to him. And I said, you know, what do
you want me to do about this or what do you want me to do about
that? That he didn't answer me.
And the problem with most believers today and most
business people? They don't spend enough time
asking the world, what do you want me to do other than pay my
bills? OK, and we're going to see.
We're going to see this tonight in this parable.
And then a few things that pastor brought out.
But I'm starting verse 14. Listen to this read along with
me if you're And it says for the Kingdom of God, heaven is as a
man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and
delivered them his goods. He's unto one of them he gave 5
talents to another two to another one, to every man
according as severally his several ability.
And straight way he took his journey.
Then he that received the five talents went and traded with the
same and made them another 5 talents, and likewise he that
had received 2 gained another two.
But he that received one went and dug a hole in the earth, and
he said and he hid his Lord's money.
After a long time the Lord of those servants came back and
reckoned with them. He said, And so he then received
the five talents came, and brought the Lord the other five
talents. Saying, Lord, thou deliverest
unto me 5 talents. Behold, I have gained another
five more. And he said, And his Lord said,
Well done, now, good and faithful servant, you have been
faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many
things. Enter thou into the joy of your
Lord. And he said, He that also
received the two talents came and said, Lord, thou delivers
unto me two talents, And behold, I have gained two other talents
besides them. His Lord said unto him, Well
done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a
few things. I'll make you ruler over many
things. Enter thou under the joy of your
Lord. And then he he said that he that
received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew that you were
a hard man. You report you haven't sown.
You gathered where you haven't strawed.
He said I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the earth
and and low. Is that what is yours?
And he said, the answer. The Lord answered and said unto
him, You wicked slothful servant, thou knewest where I
reap, I reap where I haven't sewn, and gather where I have
not strawed. You should have therefore put my
money with the exchangers. That's.
Old Testament for bank. Anybody relate to that?
OK, bank, He said. Then I would have received mine
own usury, which is interest. OK And he said, for everyone
that has, everyone that has shall be given, and him that and
he'll have abundance, but from him that has not, shall be taken
away even which he had. And he said, he said, cast the
profitable servant into outer darkness, and there shall be
weeping and gnashing a teeth. Several things that I'm going to
cover in here tonight. One of the things that I thought
was interesting. Is that they were all servants.
And one of the things you got to know about a servant is a
servant is well taken care of. A servant doesn't go out and try
to figure out how he's going to get his next meal.
Why? Because his master takes care of
that. So the only job that these guys
had? Was to take whatever the master
gave them and invest it or trade with it to see a profit.
See and and I'm. I'm convinced beyond a shouted
that God's extremely interested in us making profit.
He's extremely interest us making making money upon the
money that we have. But I think it's interesting
because if you do some study on this you'll find out you know a
talent. I've seen so many different
scholars give a a rate to the talent.
OK. And if you got a calculator, we
might play a little bit here just to figure out exactly what
it was. OK.
But they one of the ones that I kind of like that has to deal
with measurements and different things from New Testament times.
A talent basically of silver is £100, OK.
A talent of gold is £200, all right.
So if you took 200, you know and divide it by 16.
All right. Ounces are divided into 16.
How many pounds are in an ounce? All right.
And you get that times. Today we're talking billion, OK.
I mean, a lot of, a lot of lot of money.
Somebody figured that out for me.
OK. Gold price right now, 17, OK.
Seventeen $1800 and you're going to have to flip your phone
sideways. # OK. And he gave them five.
Yeah. Well, times a hundred 500 * 500.
Can you get it? What is it, 21,000 * 500?
Is that right? I mean, you're the dean in
school. You got to know this stuff.
OK, So on five talents. All right.
So he gives it, let's say give him $1,000,000.
All right. This is what I find interesting
because this is how a lot of people at, you know, we, when we
run our businesses and the different things, we're always
looking to find out, you know, what is it, Lord is going to be
our take or maybe we don't find out what is going to be our
take. We just figured that everything
that we have, when we increase it, that's ours.
Okay, I started one time. I started asking the Lord about
that. I said, hey, listen, I've read
enough of your scripture, especially in Matthew chapter 6
where he says don't worry about anything.
He said don't be concerned about, you know, what you're
gonna eat, what you're gonna drink, what you're gonna wear,
he said the the people of the earth or the world they seek
after that stuff, he said. But your Father, your Father in
heaven knows what you have need of before you ask.
Now the the biggest problem we have is that we have, we have
basically succumbed to a culture, all right, all of us,
when we were kids, what did they tell us?
They said go to school, get good grades so that you can get
accepted into college. And when you get into college,
you're going to pick a trade, you're going to pick some kind
of of skill or you're going to do something in college.
You're going to get that degree and hopefully you're going to
find you a job. All right.
That's going to allow you to do that and you can work for that
company and once you get to the age of retirement, they'll give
you a gold watch, throw you a party and you can collect Social
Security. And we've all bought into that.
I mean as far as that's the way we were raised and and and you
know I know my my dad, I know my inlaws, the different they
basically work for a company that had a debt defined benefit
program. Right.
They stopped in 74. They stopped the defined benefit
program. Companies did.
Why? Because people were out living
their money. And so you know the major
corporations today, GM, Cocacola, all these May I BM all
these companies are billions and billions of dollars in debt
because of the benefit program. They promised people to come
work for them that they would have.
My fatherinlaw's in his 90s, hadn't hadn't died yet.
All right, but he's got he he he had a great benefit package from
Occidental or City Service Oil. All right, my motherinlaw.
She worked for Southwestern Bell from 18 to dear Lord, 40 years
that she worked for Southwestern Bell and the telephone got a
great defined benefit package. Right, 174, they stopped that
and said, you know what we're going to do now is that if you
want to invest in your own retirement, we'll match your
dollars. So you have a 401K and it's, you
know, it's a great tool until the market goes and then your
401K turns to a 2O and 1/2, right.
Because I I've, I've talked to so many people about that they
they, you know, they'll come up to me and they'll say man, what
did you do? I said I got out of the market.
I mean, right before it hit, thank you, Jesus.
You know, he goes, man, I lost half my savings.
I go, yeah, you will because it's tied to a market that you
don't have control over. You know, I had one man that he
worked for Pepsi his whole life and he had like 400,000 and and
back in 2008, I guess it was when the the housing market
crashed and everything like that, the market went down.
He lost half of it and it affected him physically.
I mean, I I was, I was shocked. Heart attack, you know, and I'm
thinking, man, you were tied up pretty close to that, you know,
to have that kind of effect on you physically.
I mean, you know, I, he may have been a bad eater, I don't know.
But you know, the thing was it affected him and and to the day
that he died, you know, he was just distraught about that.
And see, that's a violation. Of what Jesus said how we're
supposed to, you know, how we're supposed to consider how we're
supposed to view, how we're supposed to take care of our
finances. And so, you know, when I was
reading this, I said, you know, Lord, I said you got these guys
and when they came to you because it said he came to
reckon with them. That is an accounting term.
I need to see your books. And and and you, you all have
been with me long enough to know that if you don't have a set of
books for your own home. You you are missing out on
opportunities that God could be giving you because if you don't
know where your money is going, why would he give you anything
of substantial amounts? He won't.
And and and years ago I figured it out because for seven years,
the first seven years and next month I'm thinking about having
a party. I want to talk to Duncan about
that. I My business in Oklahoma has
been in business for 40 years, the 1st of October 2023. 40
years still going today. Still got people you know
working it making more money than I did way back because we
just got better systems now. But you know in in taking a look
at you know Lord I'm I'm I'm kind of getting an idea of what
you wanted done when it came to the fact that you gave me a
talent and my talent was sign making.
I mean, I I went to college for semester and a half freaked me
out. I ran away, got out, didn't I?
I I said I can't stay here. I said this is the weirdest
place I've ever been in my life. And I I was gone.
I went and got a job and it was at a commercial screen printing
firm and I learned the trade from them and and then I had
another opportunity right before Melanie and I got married.
We got married in June. We in April.
I went to a another I I needed some money for a honeymoon.
You know, I mean, I'm making $4.00 an hour, man.
That's all that that I was worth back and again 4 bucks an hour
and and so I I met a guy at a Christmas party.
Melanie worked at Southwestern Bell just like her Mama and I
worked at there. And so we went to a Christmas
party and met this young couple that worked with Melanie and he
had a screen printing company and it was called Randy Screen
Printing and he was named Randy. And so he goes, I hear you know,
how to screen print. I said, yeah, I know how to
screen print. And he goes, he goes, you need
any extra work? He says I could use somebody
that would work at night. And I said, yeah, I'll come work
at night. Sure.
You know, so I'm getting married in about 6 months, so I could, I
could accumulate a little bit of money and and go on a great
honeymoon. All right.
I don't know how great it was, but hey, you know as far as he
was in the heels of the Ozark. There wasn't no cruise or
nothing, that's for sure. Anyway, So what was So what was
so interesting is I started working there at night and he
said, man, you really do know what you're doing.
I said, well, I took this in high school and I said I'm just
went from job to job, you know, always looking for the bigger
buck, right? You know, as far as I got a lot
of hobbies, but I don't work. For, for for free, okay I'm
going to, I'm going to look and find those areas that I can I
can excel in. And so anyway he came in the
second night, my second night there and he said, he said how
much would you have to have to come work for me full time.
And I said man you know I love where I'm at.
I mean, you know, and I said I couldn't come for less than 6
bucks an hour and he said. Shoot, we've never paid nobody
those 6 bucks an hour, I said. Well, you asked, you know, next
night he comes in, he said, I talked to my partner and we'll
pay you 6 bucks an hour, but you got to give your notice
tomorrow. I don't want to give no notice.
I said, but 6 bucks an hour. And I went to that man and I
said, can I talk to you? Which he knew something was up
because I never wanted to talk to him.
And I went into the, I went into the the kitchen where we had our
lunches and everything. And I said, man, I've got
another opportunity. He goes, well, really I go,
yeah, tshirt company needs a manager and you know I've been
working at night. There he goes, you're going to
give me a chance to counter. I said if you can pay me 601,
I'll stay. And he goes can't do it.
He said I can't do it, and he said that's way above the
budgets that we have. And I said okay.
He says, let me tell you something, He said I don't care
where you go, you will never, you will never stay there very
long. He says one day you will open
your own place. And I go, who wants to do that?
I have no desire whatsoever. I don't even know what in the
world would be going on. And sure enough, year and a half
later I opened my own place, and it's called Clay Sarah Graphics
at that time. And that is the same company
that's still going today. But I've learned a lot, OK.
I've been everywhere. You can imagine financially.
I have visited with dozens of IRS people.
All right. You know, bank people, all
right. And just you know, and and some
of them visits weren't real good, you know, but you you know
the The thing is is that you've got to trust the Lord.
To take care of those things You can't.
That's why I'm such big on tithing.
If you go to Malachi 310, you've heard me teach it many, many
times before Malachi 310. He goes in there.
He says, bring all the ties into the storehouse, that you might
have meat in my house. And then he said, Now prove me
how. Now if I will not open you, the
windows of heaven pour you out of blessing that you'll not have
room enough to receive it. Then he said, I'll rebuke the
devourer for your sake, and he will not destroy your stuff.
And and so there's something about that tithe that is you
give that tithe, it gives you a protection in the marketplace
that you can't get anywhere else.
Because I asked the Lord, I said, what is that all about?
And he said I will take care of the things you can't take care
of. OK.
He said, you know, and and I remember, you know working for
that, you know that first gentleman there and one time
you've heard me tell it before, you know where Melanie and I
were going out this Friday night and I said I got to go.
And he says, well, listen, we need somebody to stay and we
need somebody to do this one job.
And I said, no, I'm not going to do it.
I got a date and he goes, he get and nobody raises their hand,
man. I raised my hand.
I'll do it, you know, call Melanie.
I'll be late, all right. But I'll be there.
I promise. It's Friday night.
I'll be there. And so I man, I work so fast and
so hard. I mean, I know the boss is
thinking, dude, if we could get this guy to perform like this
every day. We wouldn't have to worry about
it, you know? And I mean, I got to go and the
boss came back and I had just got an understanding about
tithing and and understanding the master requires us.
It's a requirement. It's a standard in the Kingdom
of God to give the 110th. It's a standard, all right.
Don't violate the standards. And so when I gave that, you
know, I started tithing and I started seeing, you know,
because I started out less than $4.00 an hour.
But I tied my way. I said, Lord, I want $4.00 an
hour. So I'm going to give you this
much a week and to get that. And sure enough, got called in,
got the raise that I was wanting, all right?
It just wasn't enough to get married on, I can tell you that,
right? I figured that out real quick.
And I remember that night Boss said he comes back there and he
he he says, man, he says, I so appreciate you Randy staying
tonight because we just didn't have time Monday to get it done.
We have to do it this weekend and if you can just get it
printed, we'll take care of the rest.
And you know, my son Jim, he's over here.
He'll get it all cut down. And it was just a little bitty.
It was a little sticker job is all it was, commercial sticker
job. And so I remember, you know, I'm
cleaning up, I am slinging stuff everywhere, tiles are flying,
ain't being cleaned up. I'm getting it all done.
And what does he do? He comes back there and he says,
he said, hey, I know that you've been dating a little girl in
Sand Springs. He said.
Let me give you something and let it buy you a hamburger and
maybe a movie. Okay.
I I didn't even look at it. I said thanks, I appreciate
that. Put that in my pocket because I
got a date, I got to go and I am cleaning the whole bit.
Well, I'm almost done in the sun.
Jim. He comes over and he says I saw
Dad give you something, what he give you.
And I pulled it out of my pocket and it was a check for 50 bucks.
Now in 1981 you could go a lot of movies and eat a lot of
burgers for 50 bucks. And you know what he said?
He said. Man, I don't believe it.
My dad has never given anybody a bonus check ever, I said.
And the Lord when I got out to the car, reminded me, he said I
will control those things you can't if you'll just tithe.
And I told her I said man and and even when Melanie and I, you
know we got married, she goes. Now why is it again?
Because we were both raised Southern Baptist Okay and and I
never heard in one lesson from birth to 18 before I left.
Because I got filled with the Holy Spirit and wasn't welcome
anymore. And they let me know that I
wasn't and I had. I had never heard one message on
Thailand. Not one.
Every year we got a little red card said put on here what you
think you're giving is going to be this year so we can work on
our budget. Well, my dad, I my dad.
I said what dad? What do I put on here and go put
a quarter? OK.
My dad made sure I had 1/4, and there was nothing about no tie.
There was nothing about 10% of nothing every week.
And you know what? If I hadn't heard the message of
the tie, I'd probably still be given 1/4, you know, every year.
You know, say I'll be giving you 1/4 every week.
I'll give you a quarter, you know.
But that's not how we break through in the financial arena
of what God has for us. So I'm thinking about these
guys, Okay. And think about if you're living
in the master's house, so master's gone, Okay.
So hopefully you got enough sense to behave yourself, all
right. But these guys they were had one
mission in their mind is take the finances that their boss
gave them, their employer gave them, their master gave them and
go and increase it. And here's the thing you don't
see them thinking you know what I got to I got to get me
something to eat and take a little bit of that money and get
them something to eat or go and say, man, you know, I got to
get. I got to get the donkey.
Shoeed. I put them shoes on the donkey.
That that was so funny. What it Titus the other day he
goes, he goes, what does that mean to put shoes on a donkey?
I said donkeys have shoes, horses have shoes.
He goes, they do not. I said they sure do.
I said you got to look underneath.
I said it keeps their hoods from wearing out and that's what they
they came up with and it's a great idea.
He goes, is that true? I said Bob ever lied to you?
He goes, that is amazing, Papa. And I said, well you know those
guys, you know, they probably had something they needed to
shoe or they had something they needed to buy.
But there's no indication that they had on their balance sheet
that they went to the master and said, now listen, I doubled the
Bunny, but I had to spend some of it.
They gave him full accounting. They gave him full rendering of
everything. And they didn't go without
because why? They're servants.
And so I got to thinking to myself, what if we challenged
ourselves with a bit of money, And I've already done this, and
I'm going to let you know how it goes in the weeks to come, in
the months to come. And we took some money, you
know, from a closing that Melanie and I had.
And I said I want the Lord blessed us Okay with this this
particular deal. It was it was it was going South
quick Okay and all of a sudden something changed and the the
sellers became extremely gracious and and we had the we
had the house for a long time and and I hate it when that
happens. Okay.
But I know markets. I know that.
You know over a year ago, you know we couldn't keep.
We could not get the sign in the yard and people were lining up
wanting to buy these houses. Now you want to talk about the
good old days. OK.
That was a good old day. But you know, when the market
cooled down in November when nobody's buying houses.
What are we thinking about? We're thinking about
Thanksgiving and we're thinking about Christmas presents and
we're thinking about you know, buying some warmer clothes and
the whole bit. So houses is just not one of
those things that is winter you know desire and and we had this
one house it kept well all of a sudden you know things start out
you know Florida and you know we we got somebody interested they
called us and they want to see the house and they said we want
this house because you know 2 doors down is our
granddaughter's best friend and and we want this house and it
worked out. I mean it was unbelievable and
you know, and well it is believable because we sure did
pray a lot about that and so we got that done.
But it but the thing was, is that I said, you know, father, I
said you you're giving me a talent so to speak, not a talent
to accomplish something. But you gave me some money and I
said I am going to invest that money and and guess what I'm not
going to invest it in though anything the world has to offer
because this is what I found out.
We got people in our church and I found out about some needs and
I'm going to make investment in the need because he tells us
that, which I think is interesting because these guys,
you know, they when they they came to the master, it was Full
disclosure. Look what we did.
We gained this and they got the pat on the back, right?
He said well done, you are a good and faithful servant.
But then he gets to the guy with the one and what does he do?
He hides it. And he said, you know, you're
just a tough guy. And so you know that the
comparison here is, is the father, right?
The father is who the the man was in the story.
The man is the the man that that was the nobleman or the the guy
that had his servants is our father.
And he is the one that truly blesses us.
And when he gives us instruction, here's the problem.
Catch this. The reason that we don't see
more happen is we don't spend time asking him what needs to be
done. So I made a change and we did
this a long time ago, is that we don't pay our bills until we
seek the Lord and talk to the Lord about there's going to be
stuff we know, man. We get, you know, you got, you
know, payments to make, you got commitments that you've made the
different things there. I mean, the first thing comes
out, always a tie. That's the first thing.
We don't have to ask God, what do you want to do?
We know, all right. But when it comes to offering
and finding out, I said, you know, Father, show us somebody.
Next thing you know, here comes a need that is, is bigger than
what we've usually gotten involved in.
And I told him, I said, I I'm, I'm going to invest that.
We're going to invest it. Because here this guy, the one
that had the one talent, he didn't, he didn't do anything
with it. And I thought it was interesting
that, you know, while he was in, the thing that Pastor said kind
of shook me for he's still living off the master.
The master gave him that. And he said according to their
several ability. So he said, man, you can handle
five, you can handle 2, but you're going to handle one.
Well, there's probably a reason that he got the one.
But the thing was, is that he was afraid because he said, you
know, you're a hard master, you did all that, but he didn't mind
living off of it. And sometimes that's what we
find ourselves doing when it comes to God giving U.S.
financial assignments is that we're more concerned about what
about us. And Matthew 6 is full about what
about us? He said take no thought.
Then he goes on to say take no thought saying because people
they're talking all the time. You know, they're saying well
what are we going to do about this or what are we going to do
about this? What are we going to do about
this? And I, and you know over the
last couple of years I mean I have been at such peace when the
when I had the high times and the low times, I just, you know,
I said he's going to take care of it.
I don't know how. And and you know the the one of
the greatest days of my life was when I stopped trying to figure
out how you're going to do it because I could come up with a
dozen ways. You know, I need to make this
investment here. I need to do this here or I
could go to make this here or whatever the case may be and and
and come up with a way that you know, I'm fairly sharp.
But you know what we need to find out from him what needs to
be done. Now here's the thing that the
guy that with the one missed, he said you should have taken it
and put it in the bank so that when I came at least I'd have
interest on the money. Now hopefully the interest is a
whole lot better than it is now right per you know I don't know
how much it is now to a couple percent whatever.
Even money market funds you know stuff like that.
But he said even if that would have been an increase and he
called that dude wicked and lazy and slothful and and sent him
out and I think it's interesting because he said he said cast him
out and he said and where he's going will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. I love Rick Renner has a he, he
said. He didn't send him to hell.
Okay weeping and gnashing a teeth was a place of torture.
And what they did was on the other side of the wall from the
cities, they had the dump okay where they threw discarded food,
discarded stuff like that. Animals, wild animals would
come. And when they punished, you
know, criminals, they hung them over the wall and and in pitch
black dark they could hear the lions and the tigers and the
bears, all right, eating and rummaging and doing stuff.
And they said that they would be so scared at that that they
would, they would, they would just grind their teeth down.
And they said that's why they said they called it the
gnashing, the the gnashing of teeth is that that that
punishment that they gave them. And the next morning they said
when they took, brought them back up because most of them
didn't get eaten, he said. But when they brought him back
up, most of them had lost their mind from fear.
And he said, he said, And I thought, man, that's that's
pretty heavy duty punishment for messing, you know, messing
around with, you know, the Lord's funds.
And I said, I don't think I want to involve myself with that.
All right. I want to make sure that I'm
doing right. And I think it's interesting
another point that I'd heard when it came down to, you know,
one of Titus Papa, Tell me a story and it's always a Bible.
Tell me a Bible story. And I told him the story of An
and I and Sapphires out of Acts Chapter 5.
You remember this story that there was everybody was selling
their stuff and they were bringing it and laying it before
Bartholomew or Barnabas was one of them.
He was called the Son of Consolation.
He brought, he sold a piece of land.
He was from Cree, the the island, and he sold some land
and brought the money and said it before the apostles.
And the apostles took the money and they divided it amongst
everybody. So everybody there was, there
was some tough times going on in Jerusalem at the time.
And they all came and they what they had, they brought.
And there was a couple that as the the account tells us, they
wanted to, they wanted to get the accolades that apparently
Barnabas got. And so they sold a piece of
properly and they bought it but the property.
But they, they said, they came in and said, you know, we sold
this property and here's the money.
And the Holy Spirit spoke to Peter and said, that's not the
money. He said that's.
And they. And so Peter goes, did you know?
He said, huh, he waits and they come back in later.
And the husband comes in and. And and he said, did you sell
the house from this month? And he goes, Oh yeah, that's
what we sold it for. And he says, why did you decide
to lie to the Holy Ghost? And he dropped dead.
Then his wife came in three hours later and he asked her the
same question. She's kind of probably looking
for her husband, you know, and says, did you all sell up for
this much? Is it?
Yeah, we did. We sold it for that much.
He said, why did you and your husband conspire see these guys
that are just now coming back in?
Well, they buried your husband and they're going to bury you.
And she drops dead. All right.
So Titus is telling this story in class.
People are saying, somebody said, is that true?
I said, yeah. I said I'm glad the Lord don't
invoke that story again. You know, when people were
telling that they're doing certain things with their money
that they shouldn't be doing and being able to find out, father,
what is it that you want us to do now?
If you go back to chapter, let's let's talk about because the
thing that a lot of people are talking about the second coming
of Christ right now, you know and and and you know if the word
does not show up this month. And and what is funny is Pastor
Huffman was talking to some of us one day and he said, listen,
if if the Lord does not show up in during Rosh Hashanah, which
is a feast of the Lord, it's called the Feast of Trumpets.
If he does not show up within you got another year.
That's what he believes and his books talk about that and and so
you know every Rosh Hashanah, man.
I'm wondering is it trumpet going this year?
Because I'm more excited about leaving now than I ever have
been. All right, I said because let's
get on with this, All right. You know you got 7 years coming
and it's going to be bad, you know, and and we got we need to
be praying for some people. But one of the things that years
ago there was a man that wrote a book and the book was titled 88
Reasons Why Jesus is Coming in 1988.
Anybody ever heard of that? Did you hear about that book?
He was on national television about it, you know, some of the
big PTL and different stuff like that.
And he had this all mathematically worked out.
All right, Well, Jesus didn't show up in 88 or 89 or 90 or 91.
I mean, you know what I'm saying?
OK. But the thing was, is that my
pastor, David EMI at the time, he had a he waited.
He never said nothing. He didn't say anything and then
when it all passed and the time and that's when you know, you
know it was September is supposed to happen all this
stuff. And he said, he said what about
the end times and preaches A sermon and I'll never forget it.
I'll never forget the scripture that he used.
It's because it's a it's in the 24th chapter, 45th verse of
Matthew, just just over there. And he said in verse 45.
In in chapter 24, verse 45 he says this.
And and and what did he call? What did he call the guys that
handled the talents, right. He called them good and
faithful. OK, well done.
Now good and faithful. Well Jesus tells you, He said
who is the faithful and wise servant?
Verse 45, chapter 24 Who is the the faithful and wise servant?
Who the Lord has made ruler over his household to give them meat
in their season? Blessed is that servant.
When the Lord comes and finds him, so do we.
The question that we have to ask is that are we more concerned
about our brothers and sisters, fellows, servants, than we are
about ourselves? Are we seeking the Lord to ask
him? What is it that we need to do
what you know? I've told people before, I said,
listen, just walk around with your ears open, you're bound to
hear something. The Lord will let you hear
somebody talking about something that they, you know, something
went out, refrigerator, something, something.
And he said, and I I love this. He said giving meat to them in
their due season. He was talking about, he was
talking about feeding them okay, basically.
It's what that in context is about.
But there's a whole lot of other things that people need just
besides food. And this is what happened one
year. I was having really, really
rough quarter and I I got mad and I told the Lord I said,
listen, I've done everything you said to do.
Don't ever say that. He will correct the for sure.
And I said, listen, I said apparently if you're not going
to answer any of my prayers, that's what I said.
I said, apparently if you're not going to answer any of my
prayers, then I'm not going to pray for myself anymore.
But I know some people that have needs bigger than mine.
I'm going to start praying for them.
Is that Okay? This is this is October of this
given year. Okay notoriously the last two
months of the year are very, very slow.
That year was the biggest harvest financially I had ever
experienced. And and and I go back and I know
exactly why because I was praying for my brothers and
sisters and not concerned about me.
And once I get my mind off of me am I get my mind on my brothers
and sisters. That's what gives God the
opportunity to get us increase and help us.
You know I want to think about those guys that had the talents.
The first question I'd ask myself is how did they know how
to trade that money and gain that kind of money?
I mean, did they just get out there and fling it and hope it
worked? I think they probably were
fairly studious and watch their owner or their nobleman or that
man and how he operated. The question is, is that are we
get spending enough time with the Lord to figure out how he
operates, what he wants to see done.
Because their whole mindset was he's given us this money, we're
going to make more money and we're waiting on that day of
reconciling. We're going to wait on that day
that when he comes, we're going to be able to present that to
him. There was another story that he
talked about. It was 10 guys with £10 and each
guy got a pound. And the guy, the first guy in
line says, look Lord your pound has gained £10 Now 10 times your
money is more than double. That makes sense.
So God has a way and he gave, He told him the same thing.
He said you've done a great job. He said now I'm going to make
you a ruler. Over 10 cities now.
Pastors preached it so many times letting him know
everything we do here is writing a resume for the next phase of
our lives. I just got a book by Perry Stone
and and it's a it's his brand new book.
It's a brand new book but he says it basically talked about
heading toward your eternity and he said what you what you'll be
doing the next thousand years. And it was great.
I mean he had some he had some really really good testimonies
in there and you know and he's he's he's a Bible he's he's
Bible through and through man. He studied everything and and
and has great great you know insight to different different
things that but he knows the millennial rain.
He knows, you know, all the different things.
And I want to pick the book up because I'm found out I'm taking
eschatology this year in school, so one and two.
And so I'm going to, you know, I'm going to glean a little bit
from them. I've already read the book, but
I gleaned a little bit from it, you know, on the millennial
reign that I didn't have when I taught it before.
But when we talk about the Kingdom, all right, and finding
out that the Kingdom of God in in in its form of understanding
that it works differently obviously than what we have
here. I mean we've been trained in the
world system of finance. We know how, you know you can
get somebody to be a passive investor for you bonds, stocks,
bonds, mutual funds, different things like that.
And but The thing is, is that most of the people that I want
to run with are the ones that hurt God specifically for them
on something he wanted them to do and they got they received
the reward for getting it done. And so you know when we have the
opportunity. I didn't.
My challenge was this is that this next this next month set
yourself a goal to listen and find out who needs what and and
ask the Lord say father can you get me that money to be able to
help them out. Like I said I have never I have
never been in a place that once I asked the Lord for it that I
did not get it. I have never never.
I mean I remember when my pastor David he wanted to write a book
and and he said I said well how much is it going to cost to
publish it to get it done. He says $1000.
I went to the Lord. I said, father, can you give me
$1000 thousand dollars is like 1,000,000.
I said can you give me $1000 so that I can bless him and we can
get this book done? And it wasn't too long,
obviously, because we got the book pretty quick.
But I went to lunch with him and I was able to hand him an
envelope with $10100 bills in it.
He was blown away, you know. I know he wanted to ask me where
did you get that? All right.
But the thing was, is that every time I've asked the Lord, the
Father speak to me, talk to me, help me see where you need these
funds. Because once we take care of and
I've said it before and somebody else got it and printed it in a
book. But the Lord told me, He said,
listen, He said if you'll take care of my business, I'll take
care of yours. That's Bible, that's Kingdom.
He's always wanted us to take care of the things that concern
him and he has no problem taking care of the things that concern
us. And he told us don't worry about
it. He said don't take a thought
saying he said the the world system runs after money, they
run after making money. He said don't let that be part
of your life. He said find out from him what
it is that you need to be doing and then when the money comes,
find out what you need to do with the money.
And he said, because I desire to hear the same thing these guys
did. Well done, you did great.
That's what I want to hear. All right.
So when we when we we we talk about that and I was going to
give you a little bit because tomorrow night I'm ministering
and the Lord's giving me some stuff to minister and.
But one of the things that I'm going to do is I'm going to tell
a little bit of the history of me getting here and what
happened because I was I I was diagnosed with cancer in 2000
and and seven in July. And I decided that being the
great man of faith and power that I wasn't, that I was going
to beat this because I had taught healing and faith for 20
years and I'm going to beat this.
Well, I didn't understand how I got it until I understood that
how I got the cancer. Then I realized you ain't as
sharp as you think. Well that that Thanksgiving the
Lord dealt with me as far as because I always liked on Black
Friday to get along with him and find out what is it that you
need me to finish up. What is it that I need to do?
And he told me two things. He said, one, you're not Kingdom
minded enough. And I had no idea what he was
talking about. I said OK, anything else on that
line? Nothing.
Just you're not Kingdom minded enough.
Second thing he says and he says I just want you to prepare
yourself. I'm going to increase your
teaching ministry. Those two things.
That's all he said. Never forget them.
And so I began to study the Kingdom.
I began to try to get an understanding for the kingdoms.
2007. All right, 2008.
All right. And that that's November, right?
7th April, we come here for an anniversary service.
We're over at the old place over on Tree Blvd.
All right. We have a big service.
We're having a couple from Rayma come in.
They're doing the service and Pastor doesn't know what
happened because Pastor is on his face unconscious.
All right. Because he had a word, and he's
read that word to us multiple times on growth, exponential
growth. You don't have 20 years to build
it. Do you all remember hearing
those okay. Well, that came during that
meeting and he was, he the guy with prayed over him in tongues.
His wife gave the interpretation and then he fell out.
And I'm on the front row and I'm.
I'm over here and he's over there and I'm going.
That's awesome. Get him.
Get him Lord and he's. And he's on his knees and he
falls flat on his face and I'm just staring at him.
I'm thinking, what's going to happen, man?
I mean, that's amazing. And I'm standing here.
Next thing I know, I'm not paying attention and the dude is
standing right in front of me and I'm bald by that time, all
right. And he slaps me right in the
head. You can hear it throughout.
The Hulk hits me in the head. And he said, it's about time,
isn't it? And then he starts spraying in
tongues his wife interprets. Nobody, including my wife, knew
what the Lord was dealing with me about.
And and she begins to prophesy not my wife, but the the guest
speaker's wife said it's time to move.
Said there's some things the Lord has been dealing with you
about, and it's now time to start setting that stuff in
motion. Thank you very much.
I thought, oh man. Well, that Thursday night we
went out to eat at Steak and Shake and we had the whole
restaurant, all the kids, everything and pastor.
No, that was the second time we came because we went home and I
didn't say nothing. And everybody was trying to
interpret that word for me. Oh, he must be, you know,
telling you that, you know, there's something in your
company or there's something you're supposed to do, you know,
in the ministry or whatever. It's time to move, you know?
And I knew exactly what he was talking about because he talked
to me about moving down here. And I didn't say nothing because
I was really, I thought, you know, maybe he'll forget about
it. Lord, just forget about it.
Well, I made a mistake and didn't bring my youngest son.
And two weeks later we showed back up down here with him, and
the Lord touched him and he'd always told us y'all ever decide
to move to Florida. You can go alone.
I'll stay with Papa and Grandma here, I said That ain't going to
work for me. I want you coming, man, you
know? And he just and I ain't going.
I ain't going. Well, he comes down here gets
touched by the Lord and and he, he goes down front, talks to the
Lord about some stuff. Then he comes back and he can't
talk. He finally get able to speak
after we get out of church and he says Lord told me that you
guys come down here, I'm supposed to come with you.
I said I'm glad you can listen boy, I'm glad of that.
Well still we had made out and that Thursday we went to dinner
pastor spoke a word over us at dinner and I went to the hotel
room and told Melanie we're moving and she goes, we are, I
go, yeah, we are. I don't know how.
I don't know what we're going to do.
I don't know what to do about the company.
I don't know what to do. We just built a 5000 square foot
house. You know, it was on the market
five years after we moved down here.
Oh, man. I mean, you know, but if I
hadn't moved down here, I'd be dead because, you know, it
wasn't, it wasn't anything but Pastor Earl and the tenacity of
my wife to get me through all of everything that I went through
physically through the cancer and be able to stand here today
to talk to you about it. All right.
But as as we take a look, we have got to be able to spend
time with him on how he wants us to run our companies.
What is it about our company that's better than any other
company? We ought to have the best.
We ought to be the best managers, the best owners, the
best. Why?
Because we have someone living on the inside of us that knows
everything we need to know. Amen.
All right, everybody, good. All right, let's have a word of
prayer. I'll dismiss.
Father, we thank you and praise you that this next month that we
will be sensitive to those around us.
Give us the heart that Jesus had to make sure that as he went
about doing good, as your word says that he was very
philanthropic, that he saw a need.
He just didn't leave them without taking care of
something. Father, we think in praise you
we know had a treasure that was able to do those things.
Father, we just ask right now that you would help us be
sensitive to those around us and and what you have going on and
what you want to see. We want to increase.
If you're going to take care of us, the increase needs to go to
your Kingdom. That's as simple as we can say
it. We know that.
So show us. Show us what we need to do, what
we need to say, where we need to invest, where we need to put
money. And Father, God, you own
everything. It's not ours.
And we want to make sure that we're good stewards because
that's where the accountability comes, that's where the rewards
come as that we take care of what you have given us.
So change our mentality, let us be sensitive to those around us.
Let's be sensitive to your spirit to be able to accomplish
all that you've got for us to do, and we'll give you thanks
for it in Jesus name. Thank you so much for listening
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