The King Is Coming Back: What Will You Do With What He Gave You?

Well, if you brought your Bibles today, this is our time. We're going to dive right into this. So, if you brought your Bible, hold in the air like you care. Come on. We want to receive a word from the Lord. Keep it up in the air, everybody. I want every person at the sound of my voice. I want you to shout with all your might, believing God's going to give you a word today, believing you can be transformed by this word today. Every person at the sound of my voice, shout word on the count of three. Word on the count of three. One, two, three. Word. We're getting into God's word. So, God's word gets into us. This book is alive and active. The title of today's sermon is The King is coming back. The King is coming back. Say it with me. The King is coming back. Our text today is in Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19 is where we're going to find ourselves today. And today, I don't want you just to write

down the title of that sermon as we learned recently from Montel Jordan. I want you to write this down on your heart. I want it to be written on your heart because if you just come in today and learn something in your head and you leave here the same, then then I haven't done my job. I I want you today to receive the word of God and be transformed by the word of God. I want you to see clearly that God's word does change our hearts. No matter how old you are or how young you are, doesn't matter uh where you came from. Doesn't even matter what you did last night. If your heart would be open to the Lord, I tell you, he has called you into his kingdom. Last week we learned that we are kingdom kids. I want to use your imagination for just one moment. Just use your imagination. Imagine if you will that when you came to church today, you were given an invitation to meet with President Donald J. Trump tomorrow. Tomorrow.

Okay, there were no shouts of amen. So, okay, that elicited some emotions. Okay, let's just say it was Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos tomorrow. All right. Uh or the younger crowd, let's just say uh Mr. Beast. All right, you're going to meet with him tomorrow. For those over 50, let's just say uh Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, I'm just asking you, use your imagination. Somebody with a lot of wealth wants to meet you tomorrow morning and you decide to take up that invitation. You don't even know what it's about. You show up and they hand you an envelope and you open up that envelope and there's $50,000 cash. Now, to that person, that's just a drop in a bucket. When you're talking about a billionaire, $50,000 is really not much. That's like five cents for you, okay?

And you open it up and it's $50,000 cash and they look at you and say, "I'm going to entrust you with this $50,000. I'm leaving. I don't know when I'll be back, but this is my money and I'm going to come back for it. Use it how you will. Invest it. Engage with it. But I'll be back." And whatever wealthy person you imagined and conjured up with your in your mind, they got on their jet plane, they left, and you never heard from them again. In fact, there was no news of them. You check their social media, there's no activity, there's nothing. Days go by, weeks, months, years, even decades go by. What do you do with that money? I did a little research and I just typed this into to Google and I just got to imagine

if it's on the internet, it's got to be true. And and I said to myself, I I said to the internet, I said, "If you if you take $50,000 and you were just to invest it in the stock market, $50,000, just leave it there for 50 years." For the young person in the room, if they took 50,000, put it in the stock market, and didn't touch it, how much would it be in 50 years? And it said it would be anywhere between 950,000 and 14 million. That the average of the stock market, if we were just to look at the market average, realistically, it would be between 6 and 9 million. So $50,000 not touching it, doing nothing but putting it in as an investment. That 50,000 can turn into 9 million in 50 years. Now I no longer want you to use your imagination. I need you to understand that God made you and you are invaluable.

I need you to understand today that God has given you a life to live for such a time as this. Not that you would do nothing with your life, but that you would invest in it. that you would do something with the life that God gave you because he he alone gave you your story. And one day he's going to come back. And much like I asked you in the imagination, you know, not when the wealthy person was going to return, so it is with Jesus Christ. He wants you to be prepared. He wants you to understand that when he made you, he didn't make a mistake. He gave you your personality. He gave you your story. He gave you your life. Not just that you would sit back or shrink back and do nothing with it, but that you would invest it so that when he returns or when you get to see God, he would look at you and say, "Well done.

I'm so glad that you invested your life because you are infinitely worth more than 9 million." And God wants you to tell other people about how valuable they are. made in God's image, created to be a workmanship, a masterpiece, a poem of God. You are meant to be a kingdom kid, to get a great inheritance of God. It's yours if you want it. Today's text comes from Luke 19. We're going to cover quite a bit of text. So, I need you to work with me in the time that we have. Luke 19. We're going to start with verse 11, and we're going to make our way all the way through verse 27. If you're able to today, would you stand for the reading of God's word? We want to receive from God what he has. I'll read you the text and then we'll break down the application after

it's read today. Luke chap 19 starting with verse 11 through verse 27. As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near to Jerusalem and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He said, "Therefore," a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling 10 of his servants, he gave to them 10 minyas and said to them, "Engage in business until I come." But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, "We do not want this man to reign over us." When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained

by doing business. The first came before him, saying, Lord, your men has made 10 menas more. And he said to him, "Well done, good servant. Because you've been faithful in very little, you shall have authority over 10 cities." And the second came saying,"Lord, your Mena has made five menas." And he said to him, "And you are to be over five cities." Then another came saying, "Lord, here's your mena which I kept laid away in a handkerchief. For I was afraid of you because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit and you reap what you did not sow." He said to him, "I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did

you not put my money in the bank and at my coming I might have collected it with interest? And he said to those who stood by, take the minute from him and give it to the one who has 10 minutes. And they said to him, Lord, he has 10 minutes. I tell you that to everyone who has more will be given. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. These are the words of Jesus. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated.

Jesus is teaching us a principle about the kingdom and he wants every one of us to know the king is coming back. The king is coming back. When we look at the timeline of this story in Luke chapter 19, Jesus is just about to enter Jerusalem for the last time. He's on this journey knowing full well what he's about to do. He's been preparing for his death. He's he's just met with a man named Zakius. Some sing the song, Zakius was a wee little man who was in a sycamore tree. Zakius was the one that was willing to do anything just to see Jesus. And when you see Jesus, he transforms your life. Zakius was changed. He realized that this world wasn't about money, but it's all about Jesus. And as his life was changed,

Jesus knows that as he nears Jerusalem, he needs to tell a parable. A parable is a fictional story with a great big truth. It contrasts the things of this world that is the natural, the things that we can understand with the kingdom. Jesus wants us to understand the kingdom. In fact, we read in verse 11, as they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable. So, he's going to tell this story because he was near to Jerusalem. He knows his time is short. And because they supposed they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. I wonder how many times we suppose things about God. We come to a conclusion about God. I wonder how many

times you prayed a prayer and you suppose that God was going to do it exactly the way you thought he would do it. I I love how Bishop Robert Sterns recently reminded us that when you get into this book, the majority always got it wrong. So the crowds don't always have it right. In fact, the majority suppose at this time that if Jesus is Messiah in the Hebrew Hamashiach, if he's the anointed chosen one of God and he enters Jerusalem, which is the holy city known as Zion, the place where the Messiah would come, then clearly they were expecting him to wear a crown, not go to the cross. Clearly, if he was to establish a kingdom, it would have to be greater than the kingdom that was established at the time, the Roman Empire, and he would have to rule greater than Caesar.

Supposing that they had the wrong expectation of what the kingdom looks like, Jesus told them a parable. I love Jesus because he doesn't leave us lingering with the wrong thoughts. He wants to immerse you with the right understanding about the kingdom. Kingdom implies that there's a ruler that is the king. Jesus is the king supreme over all. And the kingdom is allowing Jesus to rule to reign in your life. And he wants us to have a right understanding because his ways are higher than our ways. And he's going to correct any wrong thinking about the kingdom. And he's going to let us know in this story what his kingdom's really about. Romans 14:17, the writer Paul reminds us the kingdom is not ju just full of the things of this world, the things the substance of

things we can see. Listen to how he says it. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. We we suppose that the kingdom will have a a physical king who will rule a physical kingdom and and and the Bible actually teaches us it's more it's about identity. Yes. When you see rightly who the king is, you begin to understand rightly who you are. And it shapes how you live your life. The entire Christian life is built upon these two realities. Number one, the king has come. That's Jesus. Number two, Jesus says the king is coming back. He has come, but we're in the in between right now. And what you do in the in between matters. Amen.

So Jesus tells this story. Verse 12, he said, "Therefore, a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return." He's establishing a kingdom, and he will return. Our first point today might sound simple, but so many still miss it, and that is the kingdom belongs to a king. The kingdom belongs to a king. If you're not careful, you'll become your own king. You'll forget the power of the king. The kingdom belongs to a king. The nobleman in this story, it's really simple, is Jesus. It's all about Jesus. He's not waiting to become a king. He is the king right now. Jesus is king. The Jesus is king. If you wake up knowing that, you're going to submit and surrender to this king because the king is coming back. The world may reject

him. Governments may ignore him. But I'll tell you, heaven has already crowned him the king above all kings. Jesus does not have to run for office. We do not need to vote him in for his authority. Jesus said before he ascended into heaven in Matthew 28, all authority. Somebody shout all. All authority. Do you know what all means? All. All authority in heaven and on earth, Jesus said, has been given to me. He carries all authority because he is the king. The kingdom belongs to a king. Jesus tells us in verse 13, calling 10 of his servants. Everyone shout servants. Servants. When you believe in Jesus, you're now a servant of the king.

You want to serve him as king. You want to honor the king. You want to know his ways. And he gave the 10 servants 10 menas. Now, a MA is is a is a a currency that we don't use today, but it was a currency that was anywhere between three and four months worth of wages. Three and four months worth of wages. So, so it's not a huge amount of money, but it's not terrible either. Now, this story could be contrasted or similar to another parable Jesus told of the talents. In that story, he only gave to three people different amount of talents. Now a talent is a massive amount of money. That's like 20 years worth of wages. In this particular story, he's given three to four months

worth of wages. And he's giving the same amount to the 10 servants. 10 servants, 10 menas. Each of them gets one. And then he says, "And engage in business until I come." He does not tell them when he's coming back. He merely just gives them instruction to engage in business until I come. Every servant receives something from the king. When you're a part of his kingdom and you say Jesus is the king, he doesn't leave you empty-handed. Every servant receives something from the king. Now, I bet every one of us, if we really wanted, we'd come up with some excuse of what we don't have. I don't have enough money. I My health is not as good as I would like it to be. my family has fallen apart or whatever the case might be. All of us could probably come up with an excuse of

what we don't have. But I want you to consider for a moment what you do have that God has entrusted you with your story and no one else has your story. He's given you your personality. He's given you the talents and the strengths that he's only given you. And when you believe in Jesus, he gives you spiritual gifts. Our Lord has given you more than you might imagine. He's given you opportunities. He He's given you resources, influence, time. He's actually, we learned this last week, he's given you a calling. He's called you to do good works which he prepared in advance for you to do. He's given you this gift. So that you would use it. Peter puts it this way in 1 Peter 4:10. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one

another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Not some of you have been given a gift. Each of you have been given a gift. And you're meant to be a steward of what God's given you. Your stewardship, what you do with your life, tells your story. If you really don't believe God's that great, I love what Tyler said today. If you just get used to who God is, if you just get used to your life, you'll just be like, "Ah, it's not that big of a deal." And God's over here saying, "No, you're really big deal. I did not create anybody like you. No one has your fingerprint. No one has your story. No one has what is inside of you." So to God, he says, "You are a pretty big deal to me." And now you're a stewardship of what God's given into this world, which is you. And you determine what you do with your life.

And the instruction of Jesus is engage in business until I come. This is kingdom. Engage in business until I come. Let me just give you some different translations of the same text. I I actually like how the King James version says this text. It says, "Occupy, occupy till I come." That's some kingdom language. Remember in Matthew 11 when Jesus says, "The kingdom suffers violent, but the violent take it by force." It's time for us to occupy in this region. It's time for us to take it back. We're we're we're going to make a stand and say, "No, I'm going to engage in this. I'm not going to sit back and let the devil take our children in our generation. I'm not going to sit back and say, "Oh, the devil gets all the creativity." Come on. God's got to rise up some creatives in this generation.

I'm going to occupy in this gener. I'm not just going to sit back. Let me just tell you friends, we got to get engaged and start occupying. I don't know how you felt about that last election, but I'm just going to say this. God has given you the right as an American to get engaged and occupy. You have the right to run for office. You have the right to vote. But if you sit back and do nothing, you're missing the opportunity to be engaged, to occupy. In the New International Version, the same trans uh the same uh verse in a different translation says, "Put this money to work." If I can just put your name above this or your life, put your life to work. Wake up and do something with your life.

The New Living Translation puts it this way. Invest this for me. Imagine God saying that to you today. Invest your life for me. I made you. I love you. And it's time for you to start making a dividend upon your life. It's time to use your story to save other souls. It's time to let somebody else know what God can do. If he could save someone like me, he could save someone like you. If he could rescue me, he could rescue you. God didn't ask us to sit on our lives. He didn't ask you to hide the light that's inside you. He doesn't want you to drift in this world that we live in. It's time to engage. It's time to occupy. It's time to invest. It's time to build the kingdom of God right here as it is in heaven. Listen, I've lived in Oregon for 21 years. I've lived here long enough to

watch people come in and come out. And one of the common themes I found with Christians is this is a dark place spiritually. People come into Bend, Oregon with all these ideas. They see the mountains. They love the sun rises and the sun sets. They they just love the beauty. This is a fresh start. We're going to do something new here. But then all of a sudden, it's spiritually dark. They have a hard time getting into community with other people. And so what starts to happen is they start to listen to those things and say, "You know what? I need to be with people like me." So they leave and they go to places like Idaho and Texas and Tennessee. And let me just speak to all those people that move to those places. God loves you. He wants you to be a light there. But let me just speak to those who are here in person in the state of Oregon right now. God needs you here. He wants you here. He wants you to be a light in a dark place. If it's not you, then who will it be? Who will be the salt and the light?

We don't need more people leaving this place. We need more people living the kingdom of God in such a time as this. Occupy it. All right. Let me just clarify today. Jesus didn't say, "I just want you to discuss the mena. I want you to talk about this. I want you to debate the minute. I want you to compare your mena with other people. Uh that we don't need to discuss theology. We don't need to argue about theology. It's time for us to live out the kingdom of God. The world doesn't need a divided church. They need one united with Jesus as a head. So to be really clear here, Jesus is contrasting a story. He's not talking about money. He's talking about the kingdom. And the absence of the king reveals the heart of the servants. What you do while we wait for Jesus, meaning one day you're going to see Jesus face to face, determines what you actually believe about Jesus.

See, it's easy if he's right here in the room. It's easy when things are going really well. But when you pray and you don't get those answers to prayer, do you still believe? Do you keep praying? Do you still keep pressing on? Do you still believe that God's going to do something that you couldn't see? Can you stay faithful when it seems like the king is absent from your story? Can you serve when nobody sees you? There was a psychologist at Stanford University in the 1960s that did an experiment that has now become famous. He took children and he he brought them into a room and he gave them one marshmallow and he simply said, "Uh, I'm going to leave the room and if you can just wait patiently and not eat the marshmallow, I'll give you a second marshmallow." This famously became known as the marshmallow test

to see what kind of self-control we have. If you can if you cannot fulfill the instant gratification now, you'll actually get a greater reward later. This test has been done many times. I want to just take a moment with you and just let's just watch some kids who practically this these are some real examples of the marshmallow test. Let's just watch this together. Okay, sit here. All right, here's the deal. Marshmallow for you. You can either wait and I'll give you another one if you wait or you can eat it now. When I come back, I'll give you another one. So then you'll have two. But stay in here and stay in the chair till I come back. Okay. All right.

All right. So, I'm going to leave and then I'll come back. Okay. So, you can either eat it right now or you can wait. Either way. Okay. Okay. How'd you do? Did you do good? You did good. Yeah. You wanted to eat it, didn't you? Yeah. So, did I tell you to give you another one? Okay. Now, you can have both. You need them. Over the last 60 years, here's what they find. And this the study remains the same. Twothirds of kids cannot wait for

the second marshmallow. Twothirds twothirds of the kids. Now, I would love to condemn those kids, but I still feel like a big kid today. I don't know about you, but discipline is hard. The root word of disciple actually means discipline. It means you're going to do something that you ordinarily wouldn't do. Discipline is hard. So when we talk about investing, when we talk about using the life that God has destined for us, we're simply saying, "I've got to hold back from something. I I may not get my instant gratification because I believe something greater is coming." Galatians 6:9 says, "Let us not grow weary of doing good. For in due season, we will reap if we do not give up." I really do believe that God sent me here to tell someone today, don't give up.

You see, a harvest doesn't happen overnight. Sometimes we want to see things overnight. I don't know if you're a parent, but if you're a parent, you you pour into your kids and there's times that you just want to see them changed overnight. But I tell you, parenting is not for You're investing in them every day to make them who God wants them to be. And sometimes that could take decades. Sometimes that could even take a lifetime. Being a preacher, I've preached for many decades and I even just learned recently just my own lack of discipline because often I get so frustrated. I'll preach the word of God which the Bible says is like a seed and your heart is like the soil. So I'm throwing that seed out to you and then what I realize is I'm going and grabbing that seed at the end of the service to see if there's any fruit.

And sometimes it takes time. We can't grow weary and doing good. We got to keep sewing. and we got to keep watering and we're not even the ones that make it grow. It's God. And so we need to use what God gave us. And we see that there's a reward. Jesus calls back the servants. When the king comes back, it says in verse 16, the first person came and said, "Lord, your mena has made 10 menas more." Faithfulness produces multiplication. Faithfulness produces multiplication. The first servant had one mina, but when the king came back, he did not just have one. He had 10. I want you to notice the verbiage. Maybe you could put that verse back up at verse 16. It says, "Your mena." Your mena. Here's what's really

important with kingdom. If Jesus is supreme and king overall, you're just simply a steward. And if you're just a steward, that means everything in your life is not actually yours. It's God's. The psalmist said this poetically and perfectly in Psalm 24:1. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. Everything is actually God's. And that first servant, he he was faithful. He was faithful. And the king rewards him for his faithfulness. He said to him, "Well done, good servant, because you have been faithful." Everyone shout, "Faithful." faithful in very little. You shall have authority over 10 cities. Do you hear this? This is astonishing. This is a kingdom principle. You won't hear this math in school.

Faithfulness is attributed with multiplication. The king did not look at the servant and say, "Look at you multiplied the one minute into 10 menas." The word choice here is you've been faithful. And faithfulness is associated with multiplication. This is the mighty principle of the kingdom. You see, when you sew a seed, it's not one seed. Oh, you didn't get that. You see, that seed could produce a tree, and that tree could produce thousands of seeds. You never know the impact of changing even one soul. You never know what happens when one person discovers that they're loved. You rescue one person from committing suicide. You pray for one person and

they're healed. You never know the impact of your faithfulness actually produces multiplication. But it's a conviction that when when I use what God's given me, I may not even know what going to happen, but God's going to do it. He's a God that blesses and he multiplies and he always has been. See, we have a small view of God, but there's no nothing small about God. He is grander than you could ever imagine. From the first book, the first chapter of the book, we see that we have a God that blesses. Genesis 1:28, "And God blessed them." We have a God that blesses. And this is what God said to humanity. Here's your mission. Be fruitful and multiply. I always expect men to shout amen at that verse.

I don't know. It's okay to be safe at church and just say, "Hallelujah." Do you see that, babe? It says, "Be fruitful and multiply." I just saying that's not a sin. Get married first. Let me just clarify that. Get married first. Anybody single in the house? Just look around now. All right. Just get married. Just be fruitful and multiply. I'm just helping you out there. How could humanity prove God's blessing? How can you prove that you have a God that blesses? I'll tell you how. Multiply. Make much of your life for God's glory. This is kingdom. God gave you your life. And the question then is for you today, what are you doing with what God gave you? What are you doing with what God

gave you? Because the king is coming back. And the reward for your faithfulness is not just retire and do nothing for eternity. You know how many wrong views of heaven we actually have? Jesus didn't say in this parable, "Listen, you've been faithful. Now go ahead and bounce from cloud to cloud with those little baby angelic angels playing the harps." That's not what he said. He said, "Now you get to rule with me over 10 cities. You get to reign and you get to rule." You see, if you actually read the Bible, which you ought to do, when you get to the book of Revelation, you get to see

that heaven will be much more incredible than you could ever imagine. The colors will be more vibrant than you've ever seen on this side of heaven. Oh, the sights, the sounds, the senses that God gave you. Now, when those are glorified, let me just tell you, you're going to be glad that you get to be with God forever. But what you do now also gets to determine what happens later. Revelation 5:10 says, "And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God." Another translation, "You've made them kings and priests, and they shall reign on the earth." The future kingdom belongs to people who are faithful. And the more you're faithful, the more you get to reign. Second Timothy 2:12, Paul is speaking to Timothy at the very end of his life. And what does the wisdom of a teacher saying to a student? If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us.

This is serious. Th this is so real that what you do now matters for eternity. God is looking for fruit, not excuses. If you remember, he gave 10 menas to 10 servants. The first one multiplied 10, the second multiplied five, and then Jesus tells us only of a third. We don't hear about the other seven. But to the third, another came saying, "Lord, here is your menow which I kept laid away in a handkerchief." This is the same terminology in the ancient language of that which you would bury the dead in. I I buried your mena. I pulled it out and it was still in the handkerchief just like I buried it when you first

left. No increase, no multiplication because there was no risk. just preservation. Jesus often when he was speaking these parables, he was speaking to two groups of people and many times he would speak of the religious people because the religious people think they have it right. And what Jesus is sharing with the religious people, the kingdom is not about preservation. It's not about the frozen chosen. It's not about us for and no more. It's not about well, let's just keep this safe. Let's just look this exact same way. Let's go ahead and preserve what we have. You will get no reward if you take no risks. And we learn the motivation of why he did nothing with what the king gave him.

Verse 21, for I was afraid of you. I was afraid of you because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not. So this this guy's not even just making excuses. He's making accusations towards the king. And I don't mean to condemn him because I've made my own accusations. But you've got to understand when you make accusations to the king, that's a pretty big deal. And if you look at the root of the accusation, Jesus says all of this was rooted in fear. Fear will stop you from being faithful. Fear buries the kingdom potential that God has put inside of you. And if you're not careful, fear will sneak into every single one of our hearts and it will forfeit the kingdom inside of you. Fear

of criticism, fear of rejection, fear of man, fear of inadequacy, fear of failure, fear of the future. How many kingdom dreams have not been fulfilled because of fear? How many churches have not been started because of fear? How many sermons haven't been preached because of fear? How many prayers were never answered because of fear? I'm I'm gonna let you in on a secret. Just yesterday, there was a pride festival downtown at Drake Park. I don't know if you were there or not, but there were some people from Journey Church there, and they had one mission to pray. three young women who put their shoulders back, their chin

up, and they said, "This is our city, and we're simply going to pray for the people that God has put here." They saw people with dignity. They saw people with potential. They saw people that were made in the image of God. And these three women went and they were accosted. They were cursed at. They were threatened. They had security come over as if they were carrying Uzi guns with them. But all they carried was a prayer. Let me tell you, we have a large enough church that it probably shouldn't have been just three. Wrote one of them last night and just said, "I stand with you.

I stand by you." But it's not just going to be a pride festival next. is going to be when you walk out of these doors. You're going to be given the opportunity to use what God has given you. And the Bible says God gave us a spirit not of fear. My friends, when you have believed in Jesus, he has given you a spirit of power, of love, and of self-control. And if you're not there yet, that's okay. God's going to do it. You just got to invest in it. And that spirit will grow. That faith will grow. You will be able to say to that mountain, "Be moved in the name of Jesus." And it will move. Fear will always bury the potential of God's kingdom. Fear will always say you have to stay the same. Fear will say you

have to have it figured out to make your next decision. But the kingdom walks by faith, not by sight. And I've just got to say today, Jesus is going to judge our stewardship. He will judge you with what he's given you. This is the part of our modern-day Christianity that we often avoid. This kingdom come theme this year has wrecked me because Jesus preaches so much about the kingdom that I've never even heard before. Why are we not reading this entire book? as my wife calls it, we do this theological gymnastics. We jump over the stuff that we don't want to cover and we only seem to talk about the stuff we want to cover.

Babe, they didn't like that one. The king is coming back. When he returned, we read right in the middle of the story. Jesus said when when he returned, having received the kingdom, it's already his. He's crowned the king. He ordered those servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The king is coming back and he's not going to ask you how many followers did you have. He's not going to ask how famous were you. He's not going to ask you what your bank account numbers were. He's not going to ask you what kind of stock did you have. He's going to ask you what did you do with what I gave you. Every pastor will be account every parent will be held accountable. Every believer in Jesus will be held accountable. This is God's word. Romans 14:12. So then each of us will give an account to himself to God.

2 Corinthians 5:10. For we must all everyone shall all all we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due what he has done in the body whether good or evil. This is a reality. And today if you're here and you're thinking, "Well, pastor, that all sounds good, but you don't know my story. I have so much hurt in my life from the church. I've been misused. You don't know how I was abused as a child. I was molested. I I I was I was told things about me. My My parents walked out of me. Pastor, you don't know my story. And I will just say this. I don't know your story, but God does. And I know this full well. If you read the scriptures, here's what you're going to find. A common thing. God loves the underdog.

Loves the underdog. He loves the overlooked because he doesn't overlook you. God sees you when you've been hurt. He heals. He restores. He redeems. And he goes beyond that. He resurrects the dead and brings them back to life. So don't you let the devil write your story. Let Jesus be the author of your life. Let Jesus be the one that says if he could do it with me, he could do it with you. Listen, the devil probably tried to destroy you because Jesus warned in John 10:10 that he is a thief and he steals, kills, and destroys. You are God's. And you better know it today that he's used your story for his glory. Luke 19:24 and he said to those who stood by take that minute from him and give it to the one who has 10 minutes.

The kingdom always operates on multiplication. The kingdom operates on multiplication and the world does not like it. Because the crowd objects, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You're going to give that one to the guy that's already got a lot? They said to him, Lord, he has 10 menas. This doesn't seem fair. I don't know why we bring our limited perspective into the kingdom. But what is fair? Who is the judge? Jesus clearly explains the kingdom. I tell you that to everyone who has has what? Kingdom. Whoever has kingdom. Everyone who has more will be given. But from the one who has not has not what

kingdom even what he has will be taken away. My friends, the kingdom is always advancing. The kingdom is always increasing. The kingdom's always multiplying. How do we know that? It was prophesied of Jesus in Isaiah 9:7. Of the increase of the government and peace, there will be no end. Oh my friends, we are living in a great time. The kingdom is advancing because the king is coming back soon. And Jesus is looking for some people that will say, "I want to advance the kingdom." What does that look like? Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. We advance this. We increase this. And the great news is one day it gets to be ours forever. God is not looking for some maintainers to leave here and look the same. There's two people in this story. Let me just make it really clear. Their servants and their citizens. The servants are the

ones that were given a stewardship of the master's money. The citizens were the ones that said, "We don't like this king. We don't want him to reign over us." Look at verse 14. We do not want this man to reign over us. This is humanity's rebellion. We should not be surprised when those who do not believe in Jesus do not want Jesus to be king. The greatest sin of humanity is not sin, which is breaking God's rule. The greatest sin of humanity is not letting Jesus be king. Not letting him be the Lord of your life. The Bible says in Romans 10:9, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Not might be, not maybe. But notice here, it didn't say if you make Jesus the adviser of your life.

If you make him the what? Lord of your life, that means he is the king of your life. He's a great savior that will forgive you of all your sins. But you must make him the Lord of your life. And so it's in the seriousness of this moment that I remind you the king is coming back. In Revelation 19:16, we see the first time Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey as was prophesied about him. When he comes back again, he's riding on a stallion with a great big tattoo on his side that says, "The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the King is coming back." And he's coming back for his bride.

The book of Revelation says, "The spirit and the bride say, "Come, come, Lord Jesus. Come, Lord Jesus. Come, Lord Jesus. The King is coming back. My friends, wherever you are in your journey of faith, I want to give you an invitation today. If you came here to church today and you're uncertain if Jesus is the king of your life, I want you to be certain right now. Not another day or a better day. Right now is the moment. The Bible says, "Today is the day of salvation." You know, there are a lot of people that go to church that will face the king one day and they're going to be separated from the kingdom. Going to church does not save you. Being a good person does not save you.

It is receiving the free gift of grace that's given by Jesus that saves you. That and that alone, what the Bible just said in Romans 10:9 is the truth. It's confessing that Jesus is my Lord. And it's believing that what he did for me paid for my penalties. I am a slave to sin until I believe in Jesus. And Jesus said, "It's good that I go." He ascended into heaven. In Acts chapter 1, he said, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and you shall receive power." The Holy Spirit is God. He's omnipresent. The Bible says the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom. So when you have the Holy Spirit, you're set free from all the things you've done wrong in your life, all the things that were done to you. Your identity is no longer in those things. You're no longer a sinner. The

Bible says you are now righteous. You now have peace. And you now have joy in the Holy Spirit. And if you want that today for the first time, it's yours. Hallelujah. You're never too young. You're never too old. You've never sinned so greatly that God's like, "Go take care of that first before you believe in me." No, my friends, salvation is instantly. You don't have to go get your life right first to follow Jesus. You could be a hot mess today. You might say, "My life is trash today." And I'll just tell you, in God's eyes, you are his treasure. You are the apple of his eye. You are his child that he's been seeking and longing for him, longing for you to come home. If you would just close your eyes, I want to just speak to all of us in the room for just a moment. All those at the sound of my voice, I want to just speak to you. This is so serious because this

is a matter of death and life today. If you want to receive Jesus to be the Lord of your life, if you want to be forgiven of your sins, you're given the gift of eternity. That's yours today. If that's you, would you just slip your hand up and keep it up high? Say, "Yes, that's me. I want to receive this. I want this gift of love." Praise be to God. Yes. Praise God. Keep your hand up. We'll give you a little booklet that tells you about the best decision that you're making right now. Praise be to God. Just put your hand nice and high. I want to see you because I want to celebrate with you. I had those close their eyes. I'll tell you why. Just so that you would focus on this decision. I don't want this to be a spectacle. I want this to be between you and God. But I will guarantee you of this. God says there's more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than 99 who need no

repentance. So, just for the one that says yes, God is so happy and heaven is having a party. So grateful for the many that have said yes today. Is there anyone else? Just throw up your hand. Just praise God. In just a moment, I'm going to pray with you. Prayer is talking to God. It's listening to God. You can pray anywhere at any time. You now have access to God in Jesus Christ from this day forward. But I want to talk to those who have believed in Jesus and you've been sitting back on your life. I want to call you. This is a a wartime cry to call you up for such a time as this. I'm not asking you to fake it. I'm not asking you to use your emotions or this isn't about hype. But I'm asking you if if if you have a sense in your spirit that you have not been doing all that God has called you to do, I'm not going

to ask you to confess that or stand up right now. But if you know that you've believed in Jesus, and you're not quite doing, maybe you're not even sure what it looks like, but from this day forward, you want it, would you just slip your hand up and say, "From this day forward, I just repent. I return. I want I want it fulfilled." Just even put it high. Just proud like, "Lord, I want what you want. I want my family saved. I want this city saved. God, I don't want to miss it." Because let me just tell you, it's never too late with God. You might think that moment has passed, but I'm here to tell you if you raised your hand today, God can redeem what the enemy tried to destroy. What the enemy intended for evil, God is going to use it for good. You can put your hands down. I want to pray three prayers. I want to start for the person that's believing for the first time. Join me in praying out loud. And I'm just going to pray a

short prayer. And it's not the prayer that saves you. It's Jesus. So join with me out loud and all those who have believed in Jesus, join with me so that they know they're not alone. Lord Jesus, I believe in you. Forgive me of my sin. I've received the Holy Spirit. Jesus, you are Lord. You died for me. And you rose from the grave. Now help me live for you. I want to just prophesy and pray over those that raised their hands that said they believe that there's even more. So Lord, you are the God of abundance. You are the God that multiplies. You are the miracle working God. And for those that raised their hands today saying yes, I want you to do more in my life. I ask

for some miracles. I ask for some anointing of your Holy Spirit upon their lives. Give them the courage to do what they've never done before. Give them the discipline to pray like they've never prayed before. God, give them the eyes and the ears to hear your word like they've never heard before. And God, we're asking for a movement in our region, not just over Journey Church. We want every church to overflow with your glory, God. We want people to be drawn to you, oh Father. We want prodals to come home. We want addicts to be set free. We want the depressed to have hope in Jesus' name. We want every school to know that every child is made in the image of God. We're just asking today just for a movement of God to stir in our hearts. We're asking God that you who have begun a good work will complete it. Lord, have your way.

And Lord, I pray specifically for Journey Church that God, you would humble us in such a way that we would love like you, Jesus, the son of man that came not to be served, but to serve. So, I'm asking, Lord, as we leave here today, that we would have a little more childlike faith. That God, as we leave here today, that you would stir us up to to love like you. Lord, thank you for your love that's so great today. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.