They're using theirs; You gotta use Yours.

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Introduction:

It seemed like we just got here and really didn’t get to connect with you all as we would have loved to. It seems like since we got here we’ve hadn’t been able to adjust and acclimate like we wanted to without navigating through some challenge.

Even today, we have to leave for Alabama immediately after service, because we lost a dear family member last night, so I don’t intend on keeping you.

Pastor Herbert charged me with presenting a message in keeping with the theme of Being Equip, and he shared last week that he will be presenting how each gift is used to effectively spread the Gospel.

To preface it I want to discuss the importance of using the gift.

So I want to speak on the topic:

They’re Using Theirs, You Gotta Use Yours

If you have your Bibles with you

I want to invite you to follow as I read in your hearing Luke Chapter 16 vs 1-8

[READ]

Luke 16:1–13 NKJV

He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’ “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

This parable has always sparked my interest because Jesus talking to His disciples, is insinuating a controversial point.

When the steward finds out about his master’s decision to fire him for mis-managing the master’s wealth and possessions

he quickly realizes that he’s not built for the real world.

he realizes that he lacks the ability to survive without the comforts of his masters wealth

The servant worries about his future.

He doesn’t want to beg… because he may be too proud for that

He doesn’t want to do manual labor, probably because he became accustomed to having people do stuff for him.

So he devises a plan,

he decides to go to his master’s debtors and not only collect, but to give them a very generous discount.

When the steward returns to his master, and presents to him his collections

the master commends him for how wisely he acted.

The reason this parable was so controversial was because of verse 8

FOR THE SONS OF THIS WORLD ARE MORE SHREWD IN THEiR GENERATIONS THAN THE SONS OF LIGHT.

Jesus shows that many who prosper inn this age are shrewder than those who are believers and do not make the most of the resources that are at their disposal.

The word SHREWD in this parable is translated as wise or acumen

that is the ability to good and quick judgements

Jesus is ultimately saying that the children of this world are wiser that the children of light

They are more successful in using their principles than we are using God’s.

The point of the parable is that just as the shrewd servant was kind to the debtors to make friends with them for the future, so believers must be kind to others.

So what does that have to do with the importance of using our gifts.

There are people who have no ties to Christianity...

No belief of Divine doctrine...

No sense of that the Earth’s history will soon come to a close

but actively use their resources

their abilities

their gifts for nothing more than bringing temporary comfort to those in need.

But we believers who praise and sing of a God who not only makes the most precious stones His foot stool, but has also created this life, hoard our resources

we hide our gifts and talents

and still live as though God will have nothing to say about it.

Hoarding anything that we believe God has blessed us with is contrary to the calling of discipleship.

Recall the parable of the Talents

The parable is of a man who goes to on a journey and entrusts his property to three servants

one receiving five

one receiving two

and the last receiving one

The one with the five goes and gains five more, as does the the one with two

The one with a single talent buries it for safekeeping.

When the master returned to settle the accounts with the servants

the one who hid his chastised, judged as evil and lazy....relieved of his one talent.

Russell Burrill was a former Professor at Southern University in Chattanooga, pastor and evangelist.

Two points I want to share from his book “Waking the Dead”

The first is that it’s more important to discover what your gift orientation.

The servant with the one talent, did nothing with his one talent. Not even a safe attempt to invest it, despite the fact that the master can gain from anywhere.

Step out and trust that no matter what the gift survey says, or what you’re drawn to, God will use you for gain anywhere.

The second is that...

“The problem with Adventist appears not to be in identifying our gifts, but in actually getting involved in ministry that is in harmony with ones giftedness.”

Your gift must line up with the appropriate ministry. If not you’ll certainly experience

Burn out

Frustration

and Disappointment

I attended a Bible Workers Certification class at Oakwood many years ago

and I remember one of my classmates sharing her testimony.

She attended an evangelistic seminar, and was convicted to follow Christ and support the Advent mission

On her own, with no formal or informal training, she went and invited people to worship every Sabbath, and ensured that they came.

After doing that for a year, the church she attended grew from 13 to over 100.

The pastor of that church had smaller churches and asked the young lady if she would be willing to help grow the other churches

By the end of the following year the two smaller churches grew from less than five to over 50 members each.

So impressed with her gift, the churches paid for her to be formally trained as a Bible worker to train others to be what’s now called Bible Instructors for their local church, and made her a jacket… we teased her in class calling her Josephine because she had a colorful coat.

Now the communities that those churches are in benefits from all three churches, and experiences steady growth.

The point is to do with what you have… and God will grant more as needed.

I’m closing...

[gifts the world is using-

Tuba man in Nashville

Fat Sick and Nearly Dead Joe Cross

These are small examples of people using their knowledge and skills to make living slightly easier.

We’re charged to share the source of life.

Since they’re using theirs… it’s time we use ours.