We must have a deep sense of our need for others. It is not okay to be removed or isolated from others. Pride is a major hindrance in the movement of God in our services. If we secretly think we are better and more committed than others, then we will feed a spirit of pride in our midst. If we believe that we, Spirit-filled, brethren have a deeper understanding of God or that we have some type of spiritual hot-line to God that others, even the Body of Christ, do not. Then we sin, and are encouraging a spirit of pride in ourselves; giving place to that selfsame spirit in our church.

Repent.

“For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” Galatians 6:3

Matthew 25:14-40(ASV)
14For it is as when a man, going into another country, called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. 15And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his several ability; and he went on his journey. 16Straightway he that received the five talents went and traded with them, and made other five talents. 17In like manner he also that received the two gained other two. 18But he that received the one went away and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. 19Now after a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and maketh a reckoning with them. 20And he that received the five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: lo, I have gained other five talents. 21His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 22And he also that received the two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: lo, I have gained other two talents. 23His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 24And he also that had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering where thou didst not scatter; 25and I was afraid, and went away and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, thou hast thine own. 26But 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 did not scatter; 27thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back mine own with interest. 28Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath the ten talents. 29For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away. 30And cast ye out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
31But when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory: 32and before him shall be gathered all the nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats; 33and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; 36naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or athirst, and gave thee drink? 38And when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39And when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me.

In verses 21 and 22 the “the joy of thy lord,” which Jesus is speaking about is freedom. That being said the “slothful” servant’s reward would be the exact opposite…bondage!

Let us look again at the words spoken to us through this parable…verses 27-29.

27thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back mine own with interest. 28Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath the ten talents. 29For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away.

This is not saying that the rich will be made richer. This is ultimately about Kingdom blessed gain. How does the word say that we will gain (hath)? Let’s look at Luke 6:36:38.

36Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 37And judge not, and ye shall not be judged: and condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: release, and ye shall be released: 38give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again.

The parable of the talents is not about the world or about world economic system; it is about servants in the Kingdom of God. If we are merciful, judge not, condemn not release those indebted to use either financially or in any other way AND give then we WILL be abundantly blessed and have (hath).

“Give and it shall be given unto you,” is not an attempt to get God’s people to perpetuate a mindset of poverty by giving to the poor. On the contrary! We, God people, are to teach as we give. While giving it is our duty to teach the world the precepts of Godly living—teaching them to look at opportunities to give themselves. But some argue that if I am poor than how am I supposed to give? The Bible says that it is not the amount of the gift that is important it is manner of how we give. Take the story in Mark 12:41-44 about the widow’s mite.

41And he sat down over against the treasury, and beheld how the multitude cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42And there came a poor widow, and she cast in two mites, which make a farthing. 43And he called unto him his disciples, and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, This poor widow cast in more than all they that are casting into the treasury: 44for they all did cast in of their superfluity; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

Being merciful, judging not, condemning not, releasing those indebted to use either financially or in any other way, and giving are Kingdom principles for having an abundantly blessed and secure life.

As it stands at this time, I do not have much, but like Peter, I say…

6But Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but what I have, that give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. (Acts 3:6).

While I may not have much (economically speaking) at this time; I will give out of my lack and the God of Heaven will see what I have done in secret and will reward.

Take heed that ye do not show your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: else ye have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. 2When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward. 3But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee. (Matthew 6:1-4)

All that being said…we have seen that God wants us to use our money (time and skills) to better not only our personal situation, but to uplift others.

We do not want the poor to remain poor! We want them to advance in the Kingdom though Kingdom principles. (Like in Matthew 25:23 and verse 27.)

Jesus said to us in the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20…

18And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. 19Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: 20teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

When we give, we need to make sure that we are also teaching the Kingdom principle of giving, not only, of our money, but of mercy, condemning not, judging not, and release! In doing so, we will fulfill our obligation to prosper as the Good and Faithful Servant of the parable.

One final scripture on the subject..

16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the place where it was written,
18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor:
He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are bruised,
19To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
20And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down: and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21And he began to say unto them, To-day hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears. (Luke 16-21)

Amen.

Feura’s Favorite Story

———————————————

“Well, the story really begins like this…”

“Oh, Crap!” I was falling. Landing with a thud, on my rear, I surveyed the sight before me. There was so much dust and sand in the air that pulled my neckerchief up over my nose, but when the air began to settle I could hardly believe my eyes! The cavernous tomb lit up like Fort Knocks—all around me the walls were covered in gold!

“Travers! You OK down there!”

“Yes, just hurt my pride a bit. It’s about a twenty-foot drop so get the long ladder and a lantern out of my truck and get down here!”

“Be right back!”

Upon closer inspection of the walls, I noticed that the hieroglyphs looked odd. They seemed to stand out from the wall. I pulled my soft inspection gloves from my hip pocket, and began to lightly run my fingers over the glyphs. I was so intent on my inspection that I didn’t hear Jorgensen slide the ladder down and descend, so when he touched my arm I was sure that I had awakened the fabled mummy of Sohag! I screamed, bloody murder and swung around ready to knock the wrappings off old Sohag! Thankfully, Jorgensen has been on a number of these digs with me and he was prepared for my reaction. In one swift move he pulled both of my arms behind my body, and pressed me into his chest, a very nice chest I might add.

“You really didn’t think that I would let ole’ Sohag get you, did you Emma?” He had this very irritating, yet quite accurate Clark Gable voice. You know the kind that makes you want to slap his face, and then kiss it and make it all better!

“Of course not Peter.” I said a bit too breathily for my pride.

“Peter, Emmy you haven’t called me by my first name in over year. I really didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers. You know how you are when you get that intent. I could have been standing there for an hour or more before you even noticed I was there!”

“Jurg, I’m fine, and for your information I was not scared, you just startled me a bit. Now let go of me and look at what I have found.”

When he let go I felt frozen. I took one last whiff of his aftershave and spun around on my heel like a Marine. This man was going to be the death of me! I lead him over to the wall, and showed him the glyphs. He was as impressed as I was.

“Emmy, that couldn’t be what I think it is; is it?”

“Yes I believe it is.”

“I didn’t know that the ancient Egyptians had the technology to carve diamonds!”

“I am not sure that they knew how to carve, but it does look like they at least knew how to break them into smaller pieces.”

Peter moved his flashlight around the small room. Every wall was filled with the story of a long lost Egyptian princess, all in black diamonds. Once I gained my composure over the diamonds; I began to read. She had been hidden at Sohag by her mother, Hatshepsut!

“Did you read that?” I said pointing to the cartouche of Hatshepsut.

“You have got to be kidding! Then this must be the lost tomb of Neferura, the girl who would be king!”

“Yes, I believe it is, and this is the antechamber of her tomb!” I said pointing to the girl-king’s cartouche above the sapphire encrusted door. “Help me open it!”

We worked for the better part of the day, slowly inching the massive door outward. When there was enough room for us both to slip inside we positioned the old lighting mirrors to bounce the sunlight into the room. What lay inside is still to this day my finest discovery. It was even more beautiful than the chamber that I fell into. Everything was just dripping in gold and gems, and in the very center was Neferura.

“Well Emma Travers, I can see that you will be here for many years cataloging, and discovering the secrets that this girl-king left for you. If I ever want to see you or be with you then it will surely be in this place”

I turned and looked a Peter, perhaps and truly for the first time. He was down on one knee.

“Marry me Emma.” When he extended his hand there was a golden band and it had one perfect rough cut emerald set into it. “What say, you, Emma?”

With all my heart I said, “Yes!”

“Tell the story again! Grandma!” Feura said with her golden ringlets bouncing all over her head.

“Ok.” I said. I have never been able to deny my little Feura anything!

This morning is a prime example as to the title.

The morning breaks clean and crisp, full of promise. At least, I thought that was the case until I realized that the chirping of little birds, on the cusp of spring, were in fact my husband and teenage son locked in low-grade battle. Rolling over to cover my head with my still warm fuzzy red blanket, I realize by the, now elevated, tones of the senior party of the first part, that I was indeed hearing the siren song of war in my beloved home.

Upon arising I find the junior party dressed in only underwear sitting on the edge of his bed, looking most pathetically for sympathy toward the now unflappable rolling thunder of his father’s anger.

Jumping head-long into the fray I question the junior party of the second part on the offense committed, and am astounded to find that it is the same issue that I supposedly dealt with just the night before. (Now, I ask you, Parent, how many times has this happened to you?)

Hoping to save the day with my usual panache of gutsy footwork and uncanny memory for every hiding place of missing objects d’famile I begin to look, in earnest, for the errant clothing item that will allow the sun to shine and roses to bloom on this day. Racing around the house like a stock car driver late for the Daytona 500, it occurs to me that the article of clothing cannot and will not be found—because it is not in mi casa!

Turning my, now effervescent, fury upon the young lad I realize exactly what he did with the needed item. It is the same, no the exact, crap that I pulled on my parents. (I am sure that at my moment of enlightenment that my own parents must have felt some strange sense of completeness with the universe!) The dress shoes and clothes that were meant for another teen-dress-up-character-building-experience are hidden in the deep recesses of a long since tidied school locker.

Quickly through clenched teeth and pasted on smile we send the errant youth to his doom on the field trip bus…it is still yet to be seen if he went as-is to his conference d’jour or if he donned the wrinkled items from under his piles of gum wrappers and discarded text books.

Mom and Dad, now, I am beginning to understand the strong temptations that you must have somehow overcome. Thank you for allowing me to live to see the error of my ways, and still loving me in spite of myself. My only hope is that my son will come out of his teen years with the same sense of love, loyalty and family that you instilled me.