February 12, 2020

Stewardship #

Prov. 18:9 ¶ He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.

I. Stewardship – slothful, Diligence #

- The Bible gives us provision for rest… matter of fact, God rested on the 7^th^ day as an example to man.
- The law even provided times for the fields to be left to ‘rest’.
- Gen. 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
- Mark 6:31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
- Matt. 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

- We live in a lazy society… $50 an hour, no work.
- People are lazy spiritually… Bible reading… too much work…. They have time for a ball game, friends, and all kinds of other activities. - Preaching to the choir
- If we are not careful, laziness can creep into every one of our lives! - boiling frogs… (Gibbs)
- Rom. 12:11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
- May we not become slothful in our spiritual business.

Waster – one who squanders, consumes or expends extravagantly a prodigal.
Prodigal – given to extravagant expenditure expending money or other things without necessity; recklessly or viciously profuse; lavish; wasteful

Brothers are usually similar in appearance.
Same punishment… Matt 25 Parable of the Talents
- Five talents = 5 gained, 10 total
- Two talents = 2 gained, 4 total
- One talent = none… buried it.
- Matt. 25:26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:

Prov. 18:10 ¶ The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

We don’t know what it is like to live under the constant threat of attack,
Bible times, Massillon, perhaps in danger from the Akronites…
God is able to deliver you from any adversary, problem or difficulty!
How is it we confide in God for salvation, but the day to day stuff… we fret, worry..

Peter, when he walked out on the water to meet Jesus… became afraid of the storm, “Lord, save me.” Matt 14:30
Disciples on the boat that stormy night… Jesus asleep, was awoken by his disciples, “Lord, save us: we perish.”
David cried out to God many times…God delivered
Jonah cried out to God in Jonah 2… God heard him.
Heb. 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Prov. 18:11 ¶ The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit.

People are constantly putting their trust in finances…
Isn’t it ironic that in a country where “In God we Trust” is inscribed on our currency actually put our trust in money.
The Congress passed the Act of April 22, 1864. This legislation changed the composition of the one-cent coin and authorized the minting of the two-cent coin. The Mint Director was directed to develop the designs for these coins for final approval of the Secretary. IN GOD WE TRUST first appeared on the 1864 two-cent coin.
Later, Congress passed the Coinage Act of February 12, 1873. It also said that the Secretary "may cause the motto IN GOD WE TRUST to be inscribed on such coins as shall admit of such motto."
The common solution, is to throw $ at problems

He imagined the wall strong enough
He imagined the city big enough… his trust in his ingenuity and financial ability.
I will place God up against any of your ingenuity and financial ability of the world.