Can God Trust You?

But we're gonna get into week three of our series today, and I wanna talk to you about this idea, can God trust you? Can God trust you? As we're in this season believing God for more, we're believing God for more in our lives personally, more in our church, the question has to be asked, can we be trusted with more? If we look at our current job that we have, can you be trusted with that promotion based on what you're dealing and handling right now? When it comes to the influence that you want in your life, can you even be given more? Can you be trusted with what has already been given to you right now? I've got five kids, two of my kids are older girls, they're 11 and 13, and they've been talking to me recently about what happens when you turn 15 and how you can get a learner's permit and start to drive. And as these conversations go, I say, well, who told you you can drive at 15? And they said, well, that's what everybody does. I said, I ain't getting in the car with a 15-year-old. I don't know what, it doesn't matter what the government says is okay. This is not like, I don't understand like a blanket policy in all of this. What we should do is when you want to drive, you should go in front of like a group of people and we should evaluate every area of your life,

your ability to like handle stuff, like are you distracted a lot? The fact that we give driver's license to anybody that can take a test at least three or four times and eventually pass it is scary to me. I told my kids, I said, you're not gonna drive when you're 15, you're gonna drive when I trust you to drive. That's good parenting right there. The reality is is a lot of us think that God just is gonna hand us stuff in our life and really it depends a lot on what you get by how you handle what God has already given you. Are you trustworthy? Now here's what's important for you to understand as we start this. Here's what you need to know. God is trustworthy. I don't know what you've been told, I don't know how you've been let down by other people, but God is trustworthy. People will say they're with you for life and they'll leave you. That guy or that girl will say that they're gonna be by your side and they leave. That business says they're gonna promote you and they don't promote you. People will let you down. God is trustworthy. He will never let you down. The book of Psalm says 140,

and book of Psalm 145 says it this way. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all that he does. I don't know what you've heard about our God, but he is a trustworthy God that you can put your faith in him because he is good even through the hard times. He's good. Even through the difficult times, he's there. People might have walked out of your life. I want you to know God has never left you. He will never abandon you. He is a good and faithful God. He's trustworthy. One of the verses I've been holding onto in this season where there's so much chaos is the book of Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23, and it says, let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful. God is faithful to your life. You might have gone through a hard season and questioned where was God. He was with you. He brought you through it. He's never left you, and he will turn all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes.

Can we give him some praise for the fact that he's a trustworthy God? So then it comes back to the question is, so God's trustworthy. Are you trustworthy? Are you trustworthy with what he's given you? This is called biblical stewardship. Biblical stewardship is this. It's faithfully managing the resources that God has entrusted to us, and God's given all of us different resources, different talents, different levels of influence, and it depends on how you handle with what God has given to you really determines if you're set up to walk into the more that God has for you in the future. So we're gonna look at this in the book of Matthew chapter 25. It's a significant passage of scripture that has shaped my life and how I deal with money, time, property, ministry, influence, and God is calling us in this season to evaluate our stewardship to make sure we are properly prepared to walk into the more he has for us, and in this passage today, it's a challenging passage, that you will all get something out of. It's called the parable of the talents.

Some versions call it the parable of the gold bags, and it's really in an interesting place. because it's really at the end of Jesus's earthly ministry. He's at the Sermon of the Mount. He's about to be betrayed. And as he's in this time, he's giving this parable to challenge his disciples. These last words. And it says like this. He says, again, it'll be like a man going on a journey. Now this is Jesus talking. He's talking about how he was about to leave. And as he's about to leave, look what he says. And he called his servants and entrusted his wealth to him. Now I love this, but anytime you see the word again in the Bible, you want to go, okay, why is it there? The reason that again is there is because the passage before it and the passage after it are two other stories of the end times. Of the times that Jesus would say, I'm going away and you're gonna have to endure a lot of stuff. You're gonna be given a lot of stuff and you're gonna have to really manage a lot of this stuff. And then I'm gonna come back. And that's the hope we hold on to. So it's God leaving, going into heaven, and entrusting his servants. Look what it says. He says he's a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. Okay, so let me give you some points that'll help you when it comes to biblical stewardship and if God can trust you. Number one, you have to understand that God owns everything. He owns everything. This is the central theme of the Scriptures, is that everything that we see and that we have has come from him. None of this we got on our own. It's like my children, they miss this once in a while. I'm like, hey, you know, I want you to clean up your room. They're like, well it's my room. I'm like, no it's not. But they're playing with my toys. I'm like, they're not your toys. Well, but they're mine. No, they're not yours. I bought them. I bought those things. It's mine. I bought that house. You haven't paid for one mortgage payment since you've been born. I don't know what you think is yours. It's like, no, no, no, it doesn't belong to you. It's been a gift for you that you're entrusted with. And by the way, you don't clean that room, you lose that room. That's how it works in our house. And we

have to understand when it comes to our lives that God owns it all. God's in charge of it all. The Bible says in Psalm 24, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. Everything we have comes from him. When it comes to our stuff, our talent, our business, you go, well Aaron, I worked hard to get to where I'm at today. Let me tell you, don't give yourself too much credit. Some of you are like, well, you have to understand what school I had to get into so I can get the degree so that I can make this money. Who even gave you the brains to be in that school? Who gave you the effort to stay up and study? Who gave you the idea for that business? It was from God. It is for God. He is the one that owns it all and he's entrusted us with it. How are you doing with it? It's the Lord's. And so it comes down to the fact that God owns it and as God owns it, we're gonna treat it different and let's look what happens. Matthew 25 verse 15. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and another one bag. Each according to his, come on, help me out, each according to his ability. Okay? Now this word ability, I want you to remember because we're gonna get back to it at the end of the passage. The word ability right there means power. It's the word deutymus in the Bible. It's also, if you grew up in Pentecostal churches, we'd love that word right there. Because it's the same as the Acts 1a. God will give you power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. He's talking about your natural power, your natural ability. There's this and God distributes stuff based off of your ability. Now we're gonna get back to that in a second and give you some hope in that. Because some of you are like, I ain't got no ability. Alright, let's get to it. Alright, then he went on a journey. The man who received five bags of gold went and wanted to put his money at work and gain five bags more. Okay, let's look at what this looks like. Okay, this is very interesting passage. Because one of the guys just received one. There it is. Okay, so some of y'all feel like this. Because you're like, Aaron, I ain't got much. But you got one. Okay, so we, he started with one and then another guy, he gave two. So just gave a little bit more. Okay, so it's not, it wasn't a ton more, but it's just a little bit more. Okay, and then the last one, he gave, man, he

gave a lot. This guy, this guy, he's loaded. Alright, so this is how life works. Okay, the reality is, is some people start with one, some people start with a little bit more, and some people start with a lot. Okay, some people are born in Plant City. Some are in Temple Terrace, and some are at Davis Island. You got what I'm talking about? Some eat at Taco Bell. Some eat at Olive Garden. Some eat at Burns and Roost Chris. Come on, somebody. Listen, you can sing. You can sing. Some of y'all sing pretty good. We can hear you. Some of y'all on Radiant Collective. Come on, somebody. And the reality is, is God distributed these things different, in different ways. And if you're not careful, you will take what you've got, and you'll look at the abundance that everybody else got, and you'll think, I've been mistreated. Because you think that the way you start determines how you're gonna end up. But you don't know how the kingdom math works. Because the kingdom math might be that everybody starts at different levels, but the potential for multiplication can happen at every level. Because the goal of the story was to get to 10. That's the goal. The goal of the story is that the five multiplied and got to 10. And the two multiplied. The one, if he would have multiplied, could have got to 10. Stop using your current situation as an excuse to go, well, you know what? I started with so little, and you've made yourself a victim of the little that you got.

Because you're comparing it to the abundance that they've got. Little did you know that your God specializes at making a lot out of a little. Because here's what I want you to understand. This is the key. Ready? Because none of them got none. I've read this story for years, never realized it. Nobody got zero. God didn't leave you out. You go, well, you don't understand where my family came from, and you don't understand that I don't have these much giftings, and you don't understand what I have to overcome. I understand you might be a one-talent person. You might have just a little bit. But I'm telling you, it's not the American dream that you can get to this place of blessing. It is God's plan that if you'll learn to multiply the influence, multiply the gift, use it for His glory and His honor, you can maximize it to be the 10 that God's called you to be with your life. Let's stop letting the victim mentality run rampant in the church and go, well, I just don't got what they got. You might not have it, but you've got God on your side. And as long as God's on your side, He can multiply whatever you steward well in your life so that you can be the calling that God has for you. To be honest, I genuinely believe this. I genuinely believe I'm a two-talent preacher. So I'm better than some. Praise God. But I see some of these guys, some of these girls, and I'm just like, they're so good. They're so much better than me. And I will live miserable comparing my two talents to their five. You know what?

I'm not responsible for their five. I'm responsible to multiply what God has given in my life. I might not have started, I don't come from the family of preachers. I might not have the whole gift, but I'm going to work as hard as I can with the two talents God's given me. I'm going to maximize it for His glory. I'm going to maximize it for His potential. Because here's your second point, because God expects us to be good stewards. So God owns it all. And God expects us to steward well, because the one man went and took his five talents, and then he put them to work. Work is not a dirty word. Work is a godly thing. We're going to work hard at this thing. And that's what stewardship is. Stewardship is a steward manages someone else's stuff, hear me out, with the owner's goal in mind. So you're stewarding the business that God's given you, not with your vision, but what's God's vision for my business? What's God's vision for my family? What's God's vision for my life? What's God's vision? He's given me this influence. What's God's vision for this? And I'm telling you, it's different than what culture's vision is for it. So that's why as Christians, we lean back and we go, God, you've given me this. What's your vision for it? And here's my question for you. It's the key question in life, is how are you stewarding what God has given you? In every area of your life, how are you stewarding it?

Every time I've prayed for the last 10 plus years that God would give us a South Tampa building, every time, God would be like, well, how are you handling the Britton Plaza? I'm like, well, I don't like the Britton Plaza. I want another church, God. something else because you never get to more without handling well what God's given you now so every time we go okay well let's just paint the walls more again let's clean the carpets a little bit more let's open up another theater let's try to do this thing you've been around long enough you've seen this place change like unbelievable and why because I just I'm a firm believer how you handle what God has given you prepares you for what God wants to do more you go I just want a house I want a house I want to be a homeowner how are you handling that apartment that God's given you I own a new car how are you handling the 82 Corolla you got you got trash and Zaxby's on the floorboard no wonder that God's not blessing you with more okay guess what because when you get the new Tesla you'll throw Zaxby's on the floorboard yet again because how you handle something determines how you'll handle everything so be faithful with a little that God has for you and watch how he'll bring you blessings in your life when you take care of what God's given you in your life let's talk about money because money is wherever it gets really really touching it gets really weird and every people like pray faster about anything else talk about money people like well I don't think the church should talk about it Jesus talked about money and resources and possessions more than any other topic including faith and prayer combined because he understands why what happens when our money is is owning our life and here here's what I've realized with our life is our purchases indicate our priorities you want to know what you care about look at how you spend your money you want to know the conditions of your heart look at what you spent your budget on you know how if your car has an issue and you're like I can't figure out what the issue is you go to your local AutoZone and they plug in that machine you know what I'm talking about and the machine reads it all goes and then all of a sudden it pops up and

goes here's what was wrong you haven't changed your oil in 14 years there's a problem you just didn't know you didn't know you needed something to indicate what the problem is you're like I wish I had that for my life I wish there was a way that I could indicate if there was something wrong in my life and there is it's called your pocketbook it's called your budget and Jesus says where your treasure is that's where your heart is also so you show me how you spend your money it really dictates where your heart is at so you can look at your finances and it can indicate oh there's some greed there I didn't even know that was there you don't know it until you look at it oh I didn't realize there's a there's a lack of contentment there I've got to have the new thing over and over again every time another iPhone comes out nothing's changed but I got to buy it why because there's probably a lack of contentment there oh man she put that that ad up and I I needed that outfit and why there's probably some insecurity there our money indicates a lot about our life so let me just challenge you with this and then we'll we'll end with a great moment here let me talk to you just for a few minutes about financial stewardship because this is an area where people get it so messed up how do we get our money in line to make sure it honors God in such a way that we are stewarding well what God's had for us or so it's four things and I'll give it to you quick number one you start with God which is it was just the tithe you start with God by saying God you're first in my life and you're first in my finances and it's called the tithe it's saying when I get paid God you are first in my life this is what tithing does Deuteronomy 14 21 says the purpose of the tithe is to teach you to put God first in your life that's all it does is it positions your life to say when I get paid God's first when I get an increase God is first in my life so I've got five kids and we like to go to Chick-fil-a a lot this is the only time you will see Chick-fil-a on a Sunday right here at Radiant Church and so I got five kids and my kids are all different okay and they're in different levels of generosity also so when they get Chick-fil-a and they order fries I don't order fries because I'm healthy but how many know there's a dad tax and there's

always a dad tax so when they get that fries I'll lean over to them and I go um can I have a fry so my daughter Lily's here she's so generous she's so kind she wasn't in last service my last daughter was in the other service so I told her she was so kind and so generous see how I speak that which is not over some of them some of them so so I'll go to Lily and I'll go Lily can you give me a fry you know what she does because she's so loving and so kind she gives me the big fry right there on the top she goes oh dad here you go this is for you it's the best it's off the top it's the fry this is how you know that she loves me now I won't name what of my children does this but some of my kids I'll go hey can and I get a fry, and he, I mean, the only, I mean, somebody else will do this. He'll go. Okay, where's that camera? You know what these are in the bottom? You know what I'm talking about? The crumbs in the bottom? It's that one. It's my, one of my children will go, there you go, Dad. I love you so much. How many know they both gave a fry? They both gave. One of them gave the first and the best, and one of them gave the leftover. You see, the tithe is our way of going, God, you're first and you're best in my life. It's the first priority. It's not the leftover, what do I have that maybe I can give God a little bit of the leftover. It's going, God, you're first in my life. That's why we challenge people,

and we do it about once a year. So this is their time, so you don't have to feel like, they're always talking about this, no. But it is important for us to understand, I want God to be first in your life. And I believe if he's not first in your finances, I don't think he's first anywhere. Because you show me where your money goes, that's where your heart is at right there. So that's why we do a 90-day tithe challenge. And if you've never done it, jump into it. Because what it's gonna do, it's gonna challenge your life to say, God, you're first. I put together, it's like 10 different videos, resources, things that go out to you, why? To help you on this faith journey to say, God, you're first in my life, and as you're first in my life, watch how I'm getting my stewardship in line to say, God, I wanna handle more that you have for me, but I wanna take care of what you've got in my life right now. So I'm gonna keep it up for just a second, and we'll take it down to all of our campuses. Put God first in your life. All right, here's your second thing. So it starts with God. Your second one is now you're gonna remove other masters, which is basically you're gonna get out of debt. Debt cripples the call of God on your life.

There's people that wanna do things for God. You wanna go on a mission trip. You wanna serve more, and you can't. You're trapped in debt. So much of our church is under 30 years old. So let me just say this for all of those. Don't get in debt in your 20s. Don't sit there and take out that credit card and go, I can't believe Nordstrom's offering that deal. Like, it will catch up to you one day, and what will happen is you'll get to your 30s and your 40s, and you'll get a call from God on your line. You'll get a desire to do something great for God, and you're trapped by this other master, and that's why the Bible calls debt a master, a slave, that we are slave to it. So get out of it as quick as possible. That's why we offer Financial Peace University and opportunities for you to get out of debt. Third thing is you're gonna create a margin in your life. This is called a budget, meaning you need to know where your money goes. You're like, I just don't know how to do that. Chat GPT it. You can figure it out. You can put in all your expenses. They'll give you a little budget right there. You wanna create a budget. You know why? Because a budget helps you pre-decide

where your money goes. So all your friends are like, we're all going to the Keys to hang out, and you go, oh, I want to, but budget told me no. And then, we're all going in. We're gonna go and do this trip. You go, I want to, but budget told me I can't. Eventually, they're gonna ask you, like, who is this lady that keeps telling you no? Who's this mean aunt budget in your life? And you're gonna go, no, no, no. It's actually just my budget dictates my life. So you're gonna get a budget for your life, and then number four, then this is where it gets fun. Now you're gonna change the world. Now you're gonna be generous. And that's why we do things like the vision offering, because there's people that have done these things, and now go, hey, now I have abundance in my life. I have more in my life. What can we do? Let's change the world together. Let's feed the poor. Let's plant churches. Let's help those who are trapped in sex slavery. Let's help those who are needing and broken, and help our community. Let's do this thing. We can change the world, but we gotta get you in financial stewardship,

handling wealth so that God can trust you with more in your life so that you can be a blessing to the world around you. Can I hear a better amen today, church? All right, so let's look what happened to our passage here today. And you'll never forget that message. We got fries. We got gold coins. What else am I gonna pull out of my sleeve today? Let's have fun with this, all right? So let's just wrap it up here. It says here, verse 20. The man who would receive five bags of gold brought the other five. Master, he said, you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I gained five more. This is what you gave me. This is what I did with it. And look what God responds with. Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with the few things I put in your hand. Come share in your master's happiness. The man who had two bags of gold also came. You entrusted me with two. See, I gained two more. He replied, you insignificant person. Is that what he says? No.

Well, you should have made it more. No. He said, no, you entrusted. Well done, good and faithful servant. You are faithful. Few things, I'm gonna put you in charge of many things. Listen, don't ever despise starting with small and what God can do through your life. Then the man who had received one bag of gold came, said, master, and then look what he says, I knew you were a hard man, harvesting where you had not sown and gathering where you had not scattered seed, so I was afraid and I went out and hid your gold in the ground. First of all, by the way, people that don't walk in generosity, don't walk in biblical stewardship, it's always connected with these two issues in their life. He thought his master was a hard man and he did not know who he was. People that don't walk in biblical stewardship, first of all, do it out of ignorance of the fact that they don't know who their God is. They don't know that you can't out give your God, you can't out put your faith in him, like there's so much that God wants to do through our lives. We gotta have a right view of who God is and then what did he do? Then he went and hid it in fear.

So why is God not first in your life? I'm just afraid, afraid. Let me tell you, we're not called to live in fear, we're called to live in faith. And he hid it in the ground and look what happened. The master replied, you wicked, lazy servant. So you knew that I harvest where I had not sown and gather where I had not scattered seed? Well, then you should have put your money on deposit with the bank and got .0025% return. How many know that's true right there? He says, you should have put, so then when I returned, I would receive it back with interest. So take that bag of gold from him and give it to the guy that had 10. It doesn't make sense, does it? It doesn't make sense why God takes from those who are not faithful with it and gives it to those who have seems to be abundance with it. But here's the reality is number three is that God rewards those that he trusts. So if you aren't faithful with what God has given you, he removes it from your life and then he gives it to those who will be faithful with it. That's why I'm really, and this point, people are asking us all the time, they're like, why are y'all launching another campus? You've done 11 of them, do you really need to do more? Like, this isn't for our egos. This isn't for our name, we don't need this.

It's God's church. He entrusted with us. We're gonna multiply it as much as we can because if we don't take these opportunities, somebody else will and I don't wanna take it away from us and go into somebody else because we're gonna make the most of what God's given us in our lives. And this is so true with every area of your life. And what did he do to the person who had one but hid it in fear? He says, you're wicked. You're wicked. What does God do to those who do not make the most of the giftings and talents and resources? He takes it away from them. He calls them wicked. That's intense. That's intense. Like, if you have the gift of singing, which I do not have, but if you are a five as a singer and you do it to glorify God, God would say, it's a wicked person right there. You have the gift to build a business, to make income that's gonna impact the world and you don't do it to glorify God? He'd say, you're a wicked servant. You hid it in the ground. You have the gift of influence, of impacting your friends and you don't do it?

He says, it's a wicked person because they're doing it, they're not making the most of what God has given them. Hear me out, hear me out. And we're almost done. God doesn't reward good intentions. Everybody's like, well, my intentions are to make the most of it. I'm just, this is what I got. No, no, no. He rewards faithful lives that produce lasting fruit. Lasting fruit. Why do we wanna be good stewards? Why does stewardship matter? Because everything we have comes from God and God expects us to steward it well and maximize it, whether you start it with a little or you start it with a lot. Don't hide it, use it for the glory of God. And the reality is, is that when you use it for the glory of God, he gives you more of it. More influence, more campuses, more impact. And why does he do it? Not for your name, but for his namesake, for the expansion of his kingdom. You go, well, Aaron, what do I do if I've kind of blown it? We all have. Here's the good news, and I'll close with this. It's not too late to become trustworthy. This is the good news for all of us because we've all had those times,

maybe it was in your 20s, maybe it was in your 30s, where you've just gone, Aaron, I have not been a good steward and I haven't been a good steward of my time, haven't been a good steward of my talents, I haven't used it for the glory of God. It's not too late to become trustworthy. I love what Micah 7, verse 18 and 19 says, says, who is like you, God, who pardons sins and forgives the transgressions of the remnant of his inheritance? Do you not stay angry? forever and delight to show mercy. He doesn't stay angry. He wants to show mercy. You will have compassion on us. You will tread, you will tread your sins underfoot and hurl all of our iniquities into the depths of the seas. This is, this is not about your money. This is about your life. This isn't about your talents. It's about your life. That if you've messed up and you've blown it, our God is slow to anger, abounding in love, and if there's still breath in your lungs, here's the good news for you. You might not have started right, but by God's grace you can finish right. You can become a good steward. You can maximize all that God has for your life. I told you at the beginning that that word for ability, he says he distributes it based on their ability, their power, and that's the reality. Some people have a good education. They get, they get a better job than you got, or some people got, you know, their parents stay together and they had a better upper hand than you got. There's, there's moments that there's things that are distributed based on the ability, the upbringing, and you can maximize whatever God's given you, but here's the good news. That is how it works for talents and treasures, but that's not how God distributes forgiveness and grace. You see, God's forgiveness and grace is not distributed in your life based on your abilities, and your talent, and your upbringing, and who your parents were, and what neighborhood you were brought up in. God's grace is presented to all of us

because he went to the cross, he bore our sins, he took all of our, on the cross, and by his grace and his power, he totally forgives us, totally washes us clean. Come on church. He gives us a fresh start. Is anybody grateful for his power and his grace that's distributed on our life? So all over the room, there's people that need God's grace, need his forgiveness, need his fresh start. Just close your eyes all over the room, and I just want you to have a moment with you and God. Nobody moving around. When it comes to your life, when it comes to your finances, when it comes to your talents, some of you just go in, and I haven't been stewarding it well. I haven't been doing it for God's glory. I haven't been doing it for his honor. Just have a moment right now where you just take a moment and let the Holy Spirit convict, change, and heal. Well, thank you so much for watching Radiant Church YouTube channel. Don't forget, if you haven't already done so, subscribe to this channel right now. You can click the button so you don't miss anything. You can support the ministry by sharing this message with a friend or by clicking the Give Now button that you see on your screen so that we can continue to see lives changed for Jesus. Thanks for watching. The best is yet to come.