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[0:00] Alright, so today I'm going to talk to you about multiplying our minas.! Multiplying our minas. Now if you don't know what a mina is, don't worry, I'm going to explain it to you.

[0:11] But this comes from the parable in Luke 19 of the 10 minas. A mina is basically an ancient amount of money, approximately like three months worth of wages.

[0:26] And so we're going to dig into what the Lord Jesus says in his parable about the 10 minas. So if you'll turn to Luke chapter 19, starting down in verse 11.

[0:44] Well actually for context, right before Jesus gives this parable, he's talking about, he goes into the house of Zacchaeus, who was a tax collector. And in verse 8, it says that, And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.

[1:03] And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is the son of Abraham.

[1:14] For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. So the context is he meets Zacchaeus, and then he declares that salvation has come to his house.

[1:27] And then in verse 11, picking up from there, it reads, 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.

[1:45] So they were thinking, okay, things are ramping up here. Salvation has come to Zacchaeus' house. They're moving towards Jerusalem. Their perception of Jesus was that he would be crowned king and change Israel.

[1:58] And Jesus has a little word of instruction about the timeline, about what they're anticipating him to be. And then he gives this parable, and this is where I'll mainly be today speaking from.

[2:12] Starting in verse 12, he says, And he said, Therefore a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and then return.

[2:26] Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, 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.

[2:44] 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 mina has made ten more minas.

[2:58] And he said to him, Well done, good servant. Because you have been faithful in the very little, you shall have authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, your mina has made five minas.

[3:12] And he said to him, And he said to him, And you are to be over five cities. And another came, saying, Lord, here is your mina, which I have kept laid away in a handkerchief.

[3:22] For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow. And he said to him, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant.

[3:38] 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.

[3:50] And he said to those who stood by, Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten minas. And they said to him, Lord, he has ten minas.

[4:01] 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.

[4:20] This is an intense parable. Not, you know, this isn't the sunshine and rainbows Jesus. I imagine people hearing this parable were a little alarmed.

[4:36] They were like, okay, it was going good, yeah, the nice servants with the minas did a good job. But then it's like, these enemies of mine, bring them before me and slaughter them.

[4:46] I'm like, wow, wow, that's crazy. And so, there's something really profound that Jesus is speaking. And he speaks in parables to give light on real truth that we can draw from.

[4:58] And, I think it's clear that, you know, this is an analogy, this parable is speaking about Jesus himself, and how his second coming will be the one where he's crowned and he judges.

[5:11] But it speaks a lot about what happens between his first coming and between his second. And I'd like to hone in on the fact that, as Christians, we are the servants that are called.

[5:25] Okay? Our king, Jesus, has called us and he says to us a word. Okay? While he's away, we're supposed to be engaged in something.

[5:35] you know, this might not be the most light sermon in terms of going through this parable because it's not a very light parable. But I hope that as we would hear the words of Jesus, that something in us would be quickened to a more sensitive fear of the Lord, a more in-tuneness to actual reality, and we would be awake and not asleep.

[6:01] And that as a church, we would be able to say with the parable that we can multiply our minus. That's our ambition. And so, Luke 19 is somewhat of a warning to us, but I want to call us to examine our own lives as I read this and we move through it.

[6:22] So, I've got three observations, actually only on verse 13, and then we'll finish with kind of a backdrop of the rest of the chapter.

[6:33] But, what strikes me most about this passage is obviously the severity and importance of, you know, listening to the words of the nobleman or the king.

[6:47] But, also, what do we even think about the king in general? You know, what's our disposition towards the king? What's the disposition we have towards our Lord?

[6:58] Okay? Not necessarily when he comes to us and gives us the instruction, but while he's away. Okay? Like, our manner of life, the content of our life, what we do with our private affairs of life, I think is actually highlighted most here.

[7:20] And so, in verse 13, he says, calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas and said to them, engage in business until I come.

[7:31] So, the first point I want to talk about is the fact that each of these servants received the same word. They received the same instruction. Okay?

[7:41] He says, engage in business until I come. Or, the KJV says, occupy until I come. The NLT renders it, invest until I come.

[7:52] Okay? So, there's this kind of like exhortation or this call to say, okay, here's what you're going to do. I've given you something and I want you to use it for a purpose. I want you to engage in business, occupy, I want you to invest it until I come again.

[8:09] That is to say, what are we called to do with this? We're called to fill. We're called to reproduce. We're called to multiply. Okay? God in Christ has given us many things, many blessings, right?

[8:21] The most, at the top is the fact that he saved us, right? Saved us from our sin and from the wrath of God against our sin. That's no small thing, right?

[8:32] But he also, he's also given us things. He's given us gifts, right? He's given us, he's made us in certain ways, gifted us in certain ways with different spiritual gifts, different skill sets, and all those are pointing to what we're going to do or how we're going to use those gifts to glorify him.

[8:52] They're all for his glory. And so, he says to these servants, occupy, engage, invest, until I come. Reproduce. Immediately, I was thinking about when Jesus says in Matthew 28, go and make disciples.

[9:08] There's that kind of, like, who's he talking to? His disciples, right? So, he's like, all right, I've made you into disciples and now I've commissioned you to reproduce.

[9:20] Go make disciples. Occupy until I come. You know, that same kind of instruction, his last kind of marching orders that he gives to his disciples, he says, go make more.

[9:33] Okay? What I've given you, go and give to others. And, you know, there's, there's at times many moments where we're lackluster in our engagement, in our investing, right?

[9:51] Seasons where it's more of a struggle to remind ourselves about what we're supposed to be doing in Christ. And I think this is a sobering thing to read, to remind us that we have a task, we have a job, right?

[10:05] So, we're not all just saved to sit around, right, and even necessarily just worship on Sundays. It's a part of the, the, the, the thing we're supposed to do.

[10:16] We're supposed to worship God. But God's given us a specific job. And, my question to you is, what is your relationship to the work? What's your relationship to the engagement?

[10:28] Are you engaging in business, so to speak, while he's away? Because he is away right now, right? You can't say, I'm waiting for instructions, right?

[10:42] You can't say, yeah, if he calls me, I'll serve him. If he, if he gives me instructions, I'll, you know, start the business. It's like, well, what if we're already on the other side of that instruction, right?

[10:55] And he's, and he will come. And I think, at our point in history, it would probably be fair to say that he'll be coming soon. And so, all the more, I think this is a serious thing to consider.

[11:09] But as a church, are we engaging in the work? Do we know the work? Okay? Do we know what he's called us to do? I'm hoping to outline a little bit of that today, but this idea of multiplying our minas, multiplying what we've been given, is the thing that God wants us to do.

[11:26] What we have, multiply it. Okay? And so, what is your engagement like? Are you engaged with the right things? You know, there's kind of three categories of people in regards to maybe this type of work.

[11:45] One would be the ignorant type of person who doesn't even know much at all. Like, I need to, I actually need to be discipled. I need to be taught what it means to follow Jesus, what the work actually is, right?

[11:57] And this is just the need to become a disciple, right? But others might not be in the ignorant category, they might be in the immature category. Maybe you've heard what you're supposed to do, maybe you even know the gifts that you have, but you struggle in your execution, you struggle to actually get going with the work.

[12:18] This is also a need for ongoing discipleship, but it's natural to us becoming mature. But then there's a third category of people who actually know what they're supposed to do, they mature, they've been through the gauntlet, so to speak, and been told by other people, but they refuse to do the work.

[12:41] Okay? This is the category of rebellion. And I would just call us to examine our own lives and say, Lord, I know what I need to do.

[12:54] But if I don't want to do it, God, forgive me. Help me. Change my heart to love the things that you love. Change my heart to love you and regard you as king.

[13:07] Okay? Acts 2.36 says that, let all the house of Israel know that God has made him, has made Jesus both Lord and Christ.

[13:19] Okay? So we can't have a partisan church where one half says, I love Jesus because he's Christ. He's Savior.

[13:30] Right? And then another part that says, I love Jesus because he's Lord and he's king. Right? Well, Acts 2.36 says he's both. Right? And so, we're saved by him in a marvelous way.

[13:46] And that's an understatement, really. What God has done for us in Christ on the cross by rising from the dead cannot be overstated. Okay? But make no mistake that he's a king.

[13:58] Right? He's called us to do certain things. And I know, I know, probably as much as you guys do that living in America with the breathing in the air that we do, the American dream sounds good at times.

[14:14] Right? Maybe even in subtle ways, just wanting a nice house, a nice car, a nice career. Right? It's not like these things are bad in themselves. Right? But, we're called to a way of life that's different than the way of the world.

[14:30] Right? And I think that when we read these type of parables, it's good to examine, okay, what's our business? What's our way of life?

[14:42] And, one of the words for this year for our church was labor. It was in addition to two others. And I think that reading passages like this and reminding ourselves of what the labor is, what we're supposed to be engaged in, is humbling.

[15:00] Right? It's focusing. It's sharpening. And so, where are we in our engagement? You know, there's, he says, engage in business until I come.

[15:13] So that's the first point. Second point, it says he gave them ten minus. Okay? You might be like, duh, yeah, we read it. Okay? Well, each received the same amount and he gave it to them.

[15:29] They've got it. Okay? Three months wages, maybe you think that's a lot, maybe you think that's a little, doesn't really matter. The ten receive all the same thing and there was no partiality on the side of the king.

[15:42] Okay? So, if God calls you, if he says, I want you to engage in business and it leaves you alone, that's one thing, right? But he's actually given you something. He's given you what you need.

[15:55] Right? He didn't say, hey, find your own minus. Right? Figure out how to do this yourself. No, he says, here's what I want you to do, but you have enough.

[16:05] Okay? Second Peter one verse three says, his divine power has granted to us to believe all things that pertain to life and godliness. Okay?

[16:16] Do you believe that this morning? That you have everything you need to do what God has called you to do? Or, or is there a nagging voice in the back of your head that says, ah, I just don't have what I need.

[16:30] I just, for all things that pertain to life and godliness, I just, I don't know. It's not really there for me. Maybe some of it is. Maybe I can do part of it. But all the stuff?

[16:42] No. Romans 8, 32 says, this is so good. He who did not spare his only son, his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

[16:59] Okay? That's a good promise. Okay? If God gave everything, like, first of all, that's a crazy thing to think about. God gave up everything. His only son.

[17:11] Then Paul says, how will then he not graciously give us all things? Right? That's a promise. But do we believe it? Right? So he gives these minas, or, I keep calling the servants minas.

[17:26] He gives the minas to the servants, and he doesn't give them nothing. Right? They have something. And I would just ask you guys to pay attention to that.

[17:38] Do you have less of Christ than me? Do you have any less of Jesus than me? No, you don't. Or do you have the full Christ? Do you believe that? Beloved, all of Christ is yours.

[17:53] That needs to encourage some of you today. That there's no part of Christ that is withheld from you. There's no part of Jesus that you can say is not yours. all right?

[18:04] That needs to be something you preach to your own soul. All right? That Christ there's nothing, you have not withheld your son, just like we read in Romans 8. So we have what we need.

[18:17] And you might even think, like the last guy, I think it's clear that the last servant is a clear picture of the unbeliever, okay?

[18:28] Mainly because of the end judgment. But I think it would also be, it would also warrant us to at least take from, although we're professing Christians, take warning from how this man acted.

[18:43] Okay? And what I mean by that is you might think as you look over all the things that God has called you to, all the things that Jesus has said and say to God, maybe subtly, but in your heart, you're a severe man.

[18:58] You're a hard man, you know? Like it's too hard, it's too much, right? But this is an act of defiance, you know, and this is, God is not often as we think Him to be.

[19:12] And the truth is, He gives us what we need. He doesn't withhold anything from us. And then lastly, at the latter part of the verse, basically, He says to engage in business, but for how long it says until I come, until He comes again.

[19:34] So, we're at a unique point in history where, you know, this has been said many times before that the Lord is coming soon, you know, all these things. But I think there's reasons to believe that we're definitely closer than other points of history to the second coming of Jesus.

[19:51] But how much more do we, like, if that's true, should we pay attention, church? Like, do you believe, like, honestly, like, search your own soul, do you believe that one day a trumpet will sound, you know, and that there's going to be a man who comes to judge both the living and the dead?

[20:09] That's crazy. Okay? That's crazy, but it's not if you read, if you believe Jesus, if you believe God above all else, right? But do you believe that that day will come? And you don't have to have fear about that day.

[20:23] If you're in Christ, you don't have to be afraid of the judgment of God or second coming. You're going to have confidence, but even, even that will draw your attention to what, what he said.

[20:35] And this is one of the things that he said. He says, engage in business until I come, occupy until I come. I think as a church, you know, we're committed to the kingdom of God and all of life together.

[20:48] But a lot of times we have cares and worries of the world that slip in. You know, the desire for other things is the parable of the sower says. And have we let, maybe even like in small ways, let the cares and worries of the world slip in a little bit?

[21:06] Like just worrying about tomorrow. Have we forgotten a love for God and therefore forgotten love for lost people, lost souls, people perishing?

[21:16] This is important. If you've lost heart, there's good news for you. That God can fill you up again, fill you up fresh.

[21:32] And we need to remember why. Why even be filled? What's the need to be filled? It's because God is our Christ and our Lord.

[21:44] And so, how do we do that? How do we multiply our minas? I like this phrase. Multiplying minas. Well, Jesus, when he talks in Luke 13, a couple chapters earlier, about the kingdom of God, he speaks of it in this way.

[22:01] He says, it is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden and it grew and became a tree. And the birds of the air made nests and branches.

[22:14] He says a couple of verses later, again speaking about the kingdom of God, that what it's like, it is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened.

[22:27] Someone recently, or not too long ago, told me that three measures of flour was the same amount that Sarah, Abraham's wife, took and what it produced, the amount that a bread that it could make could serve like a small army, which is crazy.

[22:48] And something like 90 loaves or something, I think. I'll have to have somebody fact check me on that. But in other words, it's a very small amount, right? It's not a lot. And so he says the kingdom of heaven is like this.

[23:02] It's like the yeast that works through the dough. It's like the leaven that you put it into three measures of flour and it just grows, right? But who's doing the growth right here?

[23:15] Maybe you could say the yeast or whatever. But all we're supposed to do is put that leaven in, right? Put that yeast in and then it grows by itself. It's really important to understand our job, right?

[23:28] Our job is not to make all these loaves start to finish in our own strength, right? Our job is simply to, where God has called us to, he says, hide that leaven in three measures of flour right there, you know?

[23:44] Or put that seed, that mustard seed, in the ground, right? God hasn't overburdened you, or overwhelmed you with things that he's supposed to do, that only he can do, right?

[23:56] You're supposed to trust in his power to do it. And so, the kingdom of heaven is like this. 2 Corinthians 2, verses 14-15, says, I love that verse.

[24:26] That's so awesome. And it says, for we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one a fragrance from death to death and to the other a fragrance from life to life.

[24:42] We're the aroma of Christ, okay? And it says that that fragrance spreads, that fragrance of the knowledge of him, it spreads everywhere.

[24:55] That's awesome. When you guys are going about your day, do you ever think like, because God dwells in me by his Holy Spirit, that anywhere I go is a possibility that the fragrance of Christ, the fragrance of God, could be spread.

[25:13] You guys think about that? Or do you guys clock out? You know, and clock into your job. We all have jobs. I'm not doubting on jobs, right? But I'm trying to draw our attention to the fact that we have an eternal task.

[25:28] We have a business to engage in. And if you're in Christ, then in you dwells Jesus. Do you believe that? Or are you saying, you know what, I believe that Jesus dwells in people.

[25:44] Like, I believe he dwells in this person and this person. I can see it. There's peace in them. You know, there's peace everywhere else. But does he dwell in you?

[25:56] Is there peace in you? Okay? If there's not peace in you, then we need to remember the gospel. Romans 5 says, since we've been justified by faith, we have peace with God.

[26:09] We have peace with God. Okay? And so, if you don't have peace with God, that's 101. This labor, this work, this engaging in business, you're going to get crushed by that.

[26:21] Because not only are you going to try to throw your seeds out, you're going to try and make it grow. You can't do that. You'll be hitting your head up against the wall every time, right? We have to understand what comes before.

[26:34] And that's really the backdrop. I'm under the assumption that we believe that. Okay? If we believe that, then this work is going to be through a very different lens.

[26:48] So how do we multiply our mind? We multiply by this mindset that God dwells in us, that the fragrance of Him will be spread among us.

[26:59] And also, an anti-individualistic statement, but I think that fragrance is most potent when the church as a whole, as members, do that together.

[27:12] So you can all go home and do that as your individual Christian life, but I think that fragrance, that potency that I'm talking about is actually most experienced at large as a force, as a group of people doing it.

[27:28] And so, you know, I'm not saying go home and do it alone. I'm actually saying do it through the church, which is one of my points I'm about to get into. three points on what it means to engage in kingdom work.

[27:44] And just examine yourself and ask yourself, do I have habits, do I have rhythms that put first the kingdom of God?

[27:57] So point number one, how do we engage and multiply our minas in the kingdom work? Number one, we have to pray. I was really convicted when I did this first point because when you think of like the work, most of the time you don't think of prayer.

[28:13] But if we don't pray, guys, then nothing will change. If we don't come to God and ask, like think about it, if we're the planters and the waterers and God gives the growth and we never ask God to grow things, then what are we trusting in, right?

[28:35] We're trusting ourselves for this growth? We must come to Him in prayer. Ask and ask again. Seek and seek again. Keep on seeking. Knock and knock again.

[28:45] If you've grown weary in praying, today's the day where you start again with fresh eyes, fresh desire, fresh energy. We have to pray. Martin Luther said that prayer is the sweat of the soul.

[29:00] soul. Meaning, when we pray, things happen, right? And it might seem like work, but realize who you're praying to.

[29:12] You're praying to God who actually changes things. Thomas Watson says on prayer and commenting on Acts 12 when Peter was in prison, he says that the angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel.

[29:30] Okay? Number two, how do we engage in kingdom work? By preaching the gospel. Okay, how do we preach the gospel or who do we preach the gospel to?

[29:42] We preach it to ourselves, our spouses, our kids, to one another, to the lost. God, this cannot be overstressed. The lack of evangelistic fervor in the church today is crazy.

[29:56] All right? We have to preach the gospel. We have, and I'm not saying like we have to like go off the hinge and like just say it all the time everywhere. You should be led by the spirit.

[30:07] But make no mistake that we have to speak the message. And your mina that you've been given in one sense is a message. God gave you a mina that transformed your life.

[30:19] And it was through the message of his son. Okay? We're going to multiply that. We need to give that away. Speak it to them. Preach it to them. If you don't know the gospel very well, ask somebody to help you understand it.

[30:33] If you're like, hey, I honestly have heard this many times, but like help me see where this plan lanes like in my life. You know, like I see it other people, it changes their life.

[30:44] But like for me, like what does that mean? Because you need to know, you need to know that without the substitutionary death of Christ, there's going to be no forgiveness for you.

[30:58] Without the obedient life of Christ, there's going to be no standing before God in a righteous way. And without his resurrection, there will be no standing, period. You won't be raised. Okay?

[31:09] These things are like so fundamental. And I would dare say that, well, Paul would dare say in 1 Corinthians 15, he says, this is the gospel in which you stand and in which you're being saved.

[31:24] Okay? This is what you're standing on. And so we have to preach the gospel. Who do we preach it to? You know, like on a practical level. You guys ask yourself this? Like your neighbors, people you run into that are totally lost.

[31:43] You know, sometimes you got to get creative, but the message has to go out. We got to preach the gospel. Number three, engaging in kingdom work. We do it through the local church.

[31:56] And I would say actually probably that this is one that gets sidelined many times. I would say that if a Christian doesn't engage in building up the church and partnering with the church in this uniting way, then there's really going to be no multiplying of minus.

[32:14] There's going to be no, you can do like the personal, you know, on your own thing, but God has appointed that your gifts would be joined to a body and work through the members together as a force.

[32:32] gifts. And that leads me to my next point. Like, you guys each have gifts. If you're in Christ, you have a gift from God. How are you using that gift?

[32:43] Do you know the gifts that you have? Or do you not know? You know, Adi and I were just talking last night about the gifts and how important it is to know. You know?

[32:54] And God wants you to be more confident in the ways that he's made you and gifted you than you probably do because he's called you to something. Don't bury your gift.

[33:07] Do you say my gift doesn't matter or my gift is better than so-and-so's or not as good than so-and-so's so I won't use it? Like, what kind of conversations are you having? Are you saying that you're in an insignificant part?

[33:20] Like, that's nonsense. Don't sit on your mina or hide your mina, so to speak. Use them. Literally, 1 Peter 4 says, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as God's good stewards of God's very grace.

[33:39] The NASB actually says, as each has received a special gift, employ it. Are you employing your gifts? Every part is indispensable. So, um, what is our way of life, church?

[34:01] Do we have a way of life that as its regular rhythm is kingdom work? Or would you say that my regular rhythm of life looks less like kingdom work and more just like work I'm interested in?

[34:18] Work that I tend to enjoy, you know, that I want, you know, you know, this party of people, these citizens that hated the king in this parable, um, had no respect for the king at all, with their desires or anything.

[34:40] And when we, when we look at our own life, are we saying, my choices, my work, my desires, uh, are aimed at him?

[34:53] They're, they're not towards myself, but they're for the king. You know, maybe not in every, I'm not talking about every little inch of your life. You can be like, that's Jesus right there, that's Jesus, right?

[35:03] But generally speaking, does your life and your desires say, God reigns over me? Or, or does it say, maybe subtly, like the citizens, we don't want this man to reign over us?

[35:18] You know, I don't really want him, like, I get, like, this church thing, I get priest and gospel, but I really don't want to do that, right? And I also understand that, because like you, I'm a sinner, and I naturally don't want to do what God requires, but usually the person who's saying that actually needs to encounter the grace of God again.

[35:45] And this actually happened to Martin Luther. I was reading about this earlier this week, and Martin Luther, if you don't know him, was largely responsible for the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation.

[35:58] Big deal. But he was a German monk who had been taught that God required him to live a righteous life in order to be saved.

[36:10] And so he actually grew to hate God as a monk, for first requiring of him what he couldn't do, but then leaving him to fail as he did it.

[36:25] Like, Luther actually says this. He says, I labor diligently and anxiously as to understand Paul's words. And what he's talking about is Romans 1 that says that in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed.

[36:41] The righteousness that is by faith from first to last. Luther says, I labor diligently to understand as to how Paul's word, the expression righteousness of God, blocked the way.

[36:57] Because it's, I took it to mean that the righteousness whereby God is righteous and deals righteously in punishing the unrighteous. Okay, so he was, he was, he couldn't get past this.

[37:09] The righteousness of God for Luther was something he's like, I'm doomed. Like, if God is righteous in this way, like, it's impossible. And although an impeccable monk, Luther says, he says, I stood before God a sinner.

[37:27] Therefore, I did not love a righteous and anchored God, but rather hated and murmured against him. And then he said, it was then I grasped that the righteousness of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy, God justifies us by faith.

[37:47] He says, thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through the open doors into paradise. He says, as I formerly hated the expression, the righteousness of God, and now began to regard it as my dearest and most comforting word.

[38:06] When I'm talking about this work, are you guys like, I hate that? Are you relating to God in the wrong way? What's your relationship to God in your thoughts? Are you relating, are you forgetting about the grace, the abundant mercy of God?

[38:23] Make no mistake, we have to labor, but God has given us everything we need. Okay? In Philippians 1.27, Paul says, only let your manner of life, the way that you live, your conduct, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

[38:48] Warren Worsby, I think his name, commenting on this, says, the most important weapon against the enemy is not a stirring sermon, sorry, Sam, or a powerful book, it is the consistent life of the believers.

[39:06] Okay? Only let your manner of life, what is your manner of life? What is your rhythm of life? Right? Only let it be worthy of the gospel, Paul says.

[39:21] All right, so lastly, this is kind of like a finishing exhortation, I don't have anything very specific, but generally to all of us, I would ask, what hinders you from engaging in the work or in the business that God has called you to?

[39:39] What hinders you? Do you know? Do you know how Satan speaks in your thoughts, how he lies to you in your thoughts, about who God is, about who you are? Do you know what holds you back?

[39:52] Okay? We're lied to all the time. How often do you think that God is a severe and hard man that you can never follow, that he's going to crush you and punish you?

[40:05] Right? How often do you speak back to that and say, no, you're wrong, oh, thoughts, or the devil, right, who's tempting you?

[40:17] Speak back to him. This might encourage someone today. The thoughts that you think about God are wrong. God is not as you say he is, in the sense that God is not going to tell you to do work without giving what you need.

[40:40] He's not going to withhold his only son. You have everything you need in Christ. Okay? So what hinders you from doing the work? Our mission at Christ Church can be pretty much summed up as the kingdom of God and all life together.

[41:04] And there's a lot of sub, like, what that means. Matthew 6 says, seek first his kingdom. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

[41:16] All the things that we worry about, all the things that we need even, because before that he's talking about things like food and clothing, we need all that, and more will be added to us if we seek first his kingdom.

[41:30] Okay? So we're after the kingdom of God. We're doing it together. We're not doing it in isolation. We're doing it in all of life. That means come Monday, tomorrow, when we wake up and go to work, we're not like, yeah, Christianity, man, I pay attention on Sundays, but, you know, that's about it.

[41:49] It's actually that all of our life is going to be for the glory of God, and that will be realized one day. When he comes, that will be realized by all, of all the things that we've done.

[42:03] God, and we can have confidence before him now. So if you're not excited about the work, I would just call us and exhort us to get excited about the work.

[42:17] Okay? You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You need to be filled afresh again to what God has called us to. Okay? If it's only burden, if it's no joy, if it's all but this, but this, but this, God, or God, you feel like you're this way, you feel like you're that way, you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

[42:36] You need to have the dross cleared away in your mind. Okay? You might even need to be delivered from ways that you've thought about God for a long time. Okay? But it must be done.

[42:48] You must leave behind the old self that says those things. Okay? You need to get excited about the work. And if you would say today that, you know, for whatever reason, your commitment to the labors that the king's commissioned to you has waned and maybe even ceased, like you ceased to engage it, God wants to give you, a heart that is captivated with the things that he's captivated with.

[43:24] You know, scripture says pray earnestly for the Lord of the harvest to send out labors. Right? He wants labors. He says pray for it. And so I would ask you guys to consider what our manner of life is, what your manner of rhythm of life is, and to be refreshed today.

[43:44] If you need prayer, Adam, you can probably come up. If you need prayer, we're going to have people up here praying for people. But if you need to be filled, if this idea of all that God has called to you, even as I'm saying this, if it's weighing heavy on you, and if it's too much of a burden, you need to have that burden lifted, and God can lift that burden in your heart.

[44:05] I'm going to close with John 15, verse 5, which says, Jesus says, I am the vine, and you are the branches.

[44:20] If you remain in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit. And then he says, apart from me, you can do nothing. to may may!

[44:35]