Thanks for listening today. I hope today’s episode is a blessing and an encouragement to you, and that the promises in the verses I’ll share today remind you that God is for you, He has good in store for you, and that He will never leave you nor forsake you, because He has engraved you on the palms of His hands and He knows how to keep hold of that which belongs to Him. That’s a great reminder for those of us who follow Jesus. Now, let’s jump right in to episode #197.

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I am going to read a passage from the NT book of Matthew today, more than just one verse on this episode. And let’s look at these verses in the NLT.

Listen as I read aloud -

Matthew 25:14-30 (New Living Translation) -

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last - dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip. The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money. After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ The servant who received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more,’ The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in a bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit upon His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in His presence, and He will separate the people as a shepherd separates sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at His right hand and the goats at His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed Me. I was thirsty, and you gave Me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited Me into your home, I was naked, and you gave Me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for Me. I was in prison, and you visited Me.’ Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You? Or thirsty and give You something to drink? Or a stranger and show You hospitality? Or naked and give You clothing? When did we ever see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these My brothers and sisters, You were doing it to Me!’

Does anything stand out to you, or even jump out at you, from this passage? I am going to encourage you to read it for yourself, or re-read it in the show notes. Highlight, underline or take notes on any portion(s) of this passage that stand out to you. Be an active reader. Read this while thinking about your own life. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you about this passage.

Then, read it one more time.

So, yeah, for a podcast I just asked you to read, and that is not just listening, not the norm for a podcast. Now you don’t have to read this, hearing God’s Word is tremendously powerful and has real benefits to us in our every day lives, so long as we do something with what we are hearing, right? Not just nod our heads and give an amen here and there, but live out what the Word of God is teaching. And honestly, it often is revealing things in us that the Holy Spirit is wanting to work on, to heal, to dismantle lies and strongholds, to restore and bless and move us along on this walk with Him. So be an active reader when you open God’s Word - and also, be an active listener when you hear God’s Word.

But do, for 100% certain, be sure to ask the Lord to speak to you about what His Word says.

Sit quietly before the Lord, maybe with pen and paper in hand, and write what He speaks to your heart about this passage. Ask Him to show you where you are rightly using what He has given you for His glory and His purposes. And, on the more difficult side of the coin, ask Him to show you where you are not.

If you will take the time to do this - to agree with the Lord that He meant it when He said He will ask for an account of the assets He has given to each one of us - He will most certainly reveal something (or several things) to you. Let Him do that! And then honor Him by doing His will with what He has given.

He has something for you in His Word today, that I can promise you.

Let’s look again at this passage, this literal timestamp, a series of events that actually really and truly happened, from the life of the Lord Jesus.

First off, a beautiful reminder that our God is not ever, ever far off. He is not at all similar to man-made, little g gods who are aloof and distant and above mere mortals and all of that. Our God, who is the One True God, is not distant. He is not aloof. And these verses show us how up close and personal Jesus was to people. What makes us think He is less up close and personal with us, right now, today? The Spirit of the Living God indwells all who are in Christ, so how could He be aloof or far off or distant or detached? How do you detach from someone and also indwell them simultaneously? Well, you don’t because you can’t, right?

And I have to just focus on that word WILL - it’s kind of a thing for me on this podcast, and really it predates me ever having a podcast. I have done this for a long, long time, when I see the word WILL in a promise in the Bible, or like this passage where Jesus very clearly states what WILL happen on the day we stand before His throne.

He will separate the sheep from the goats. That is going to happen. And there will probably be some goats we did not realize were goats, if I am being totally honest. I mean, the last few years I have seen a falling away that I never dreamed of. If it is in the Word of God, and here in the NT penned in words of red, well then I surely am not going to argue with whether or not it will actually happen like it says. It will be just as He has said that it will be. Period.

The final judgment will take place, my friends. And based on the parable of the servants that Jesus told just before He began to speak about the final judgment, we are going to have a close examination of what we did with every single thing He entrusted to us. You and I, like it or not, have been entrusted with things - so many varying things. Big things, tiny things - and we are expected, says the King of kings, the One who was and is and is to come, to use them well and be prepared to show Him what we did to grow, to increase, to use wisely what He gave us for His cause. His Kingdom. That’s our truth, whether we live like it is or not. No getting around it, either. Now we can’t go back and change what we did or did not do in the past, even one minute ago, but we can right now get our heads on straight and be about using the talents, giftings, abilities, resources, time and money and platform and all of it for the right purposes. His purposes.

He will sit upon His glorious throne and all the nations will be gathered in His presence.

That is two uses of the word WILL that should be like cold water thrown in our face - wake up! Get with the program! (and it isn’t your program, nor mine - get with God’s program!)

Can I just encourage you, but with some firmness in my tone of voice, like a strong-ish encouragement, to evaluate what you have available to use for the Kingdom of God and to get busy using it to that end?

I do not care if you are five years old and what you have is a heart to pray for your sick uncle to come to know Jesus and to get better. Pray. Jesus sees it and He will reward it. If you are 99 years old and can hardly get out and about, but you like to talk to text your grandkids prayers and Bible ...