We welcome you to Stone's Hill today!

A typical Stone's Hill service has:

* music (so feel free to sing out);

* some announcements (things that are upcoming that you can be a part of);

* a message out of the Bible (God speaks to us through his Word);

* and an opportunity for you to respond to the message (either immediately in the case of a decision that needs to be made OR in the future as you live out the message in your daily life.)

So relax and enjoy your morning! We're so glad you are here!

Message Text: Matthew 25:14-30
The Proposal
Your life is God’s gift to you. What you do with it, is your gift to God. It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with what you have that makes the difference.
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The Question
What are you going to do with your life? I want you to give it to God: your body, your abilities, your possessions, your influence. Use what you have for God’s glory, as long as you can, simply because you love Him. How you handle life’s opportunities and privileges will reveal what you think of the “Opportunity and Gift-Giver.”
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The Stewardship
God has gifted each of you with unique abilities and opportunities and you have to decide what you’re going to do with these assets that He’s entrusted you with. How will you steward what God has loaned to you? Stewardship means to protect and expand the resources of another. All of your life is a stewardship, not an ownership. Everything you have is on loan. Time, talent, and treasures are all on loan. You only have things for so long. There is no tragedy like the tragedy of the unopened gift.
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The Text Setting
Jesus once told a story about at CEO and his three employees. The CEO was going on a world tour trip and didn’t tell them where he was going or for how long he would be gone. So, he called three servants in and entrusted them with large assets to manage in his absence. Most likely, according to Kenneth Bailey, there would have been an implicit arrangement for them to share in profits as well. It’s the chance of a lifetime for these three servants. But each of them had to decide what they would do with these assets and how they would manage them. This story is known as the parable of the talents. The third servant of the three talked about, becomes the poster-child of a wasted opportunity.
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The Application
Jesus drives home three important truths for stewards lest we become “hole-diggers” in life:

Jesus is Lord of the Gift
Jesus is Lord of the Settled Account
Jesus is Lord of the Reward
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What has the Lord of the Gift given to you to steward? Your mind? Fill it with good things and train it in a biblical worldview. Your family? Mentor each child. Your money? Make, save, and give all you can to kingdom things. Your time? You never get it back, so make it count. Your job? Do it for God’s glory. Stewardship is not so much about what you have but how you use it. Stewards are always asking “How can I leverage what I have into something more for God?” In the day the steward stand before His Master and Maker, it will not matter how many people on earth knew his name, how many called him great, and how many considered him a fool. It will not matter whether schools and hospitals were named after him, whether his estate was large or small, whether his funeral drew ten thousand or not a one. It will not matter what the newspapers or history books said or didn’t say about him. What will matter is one thing and one thing only – what his Master thinks of him.

What are you doing for God based on what God has given you?

Money: if you’ve been blessed, are you generous for the kingdom?
Abilities: whatever you can do well, am I doing it well for God?
Authority: if you have been put in charge of things, are you using that authority to promote the kingdom?
Possessions: if you have things, what are you doing with those things to honor God?
Position: whatever your status in life (parent, employee, student), is it being used to glorify the Lord?
Influence: if you have a platform, are you promoting God’s kingdom?

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Closing
What is this saying to us? I think it is obvious. Jesus is like that wealthy man who goes on a journey. The time He left this earth during His Ascension until the time that He comes back in the second coming - we are the servants that He has given talents to; He has made an investment in. And we are to take what He has given us and use it for His glory while we wait His return. “Here is my life Lord. Here is my future. Here are my resources. Here is my time. It is now dedicated to your glory.”