Empowering Service: Living Wisely with Time, Talents, and Treasures

And Dream Team Sunday is a special day. It's a day we celebrate the spirit of volunteerism, and every volunteer who serves on a ministry here at Life .Church, they are the ones who make this church the great church it is. So why don't we show some love to every volunteer, every volunteer, every person that serves, every person that serves in the kingdom of God, amen. Praise God, praise God. And today, though, is not just about saying thank you to our teams. It's also about sharing with you all the opportunities that are available for serving and to give you also a chance to speak to some of our team leaders about these opportunities. [00:00:35] (41 seconds)


Bible says to live wisely, we got to do what? Use every chance you have for doing good. See, wise living is directly connected to doing good. Not just being good. Not just thinking good. Not just desiring good. Do. Doing good. [00:04:07] (18 seconds)


Wise living simply means I make the best choices and decisions that allow me to live a life that is more focused, more on purpose, and more targeted than just reactionary, right? Now, today I want to talk about three areas that we all walk in and live in. They're really totally determined if we are living like the wise. You may have heard of them before, this alliteration of words. It's not original with me. I heard it when I was a kid. It's called the three Ts, time, talent, and treasure. [00:06:05] (34 seconds)


And it's important to understand, folks, you might think, well, how you use your time, that's not really a spiritual issue. I beg to differ. Talk to people who are stressed out. Or who would do anything to get one more hour of sleep. Or would do anything to get one more hour a day to spend time with their kids. They'll tell you it's a significant spiritual issue. [00:08:11] (22 seconds)


Jesus made the most of his days, and his pace never seemed to be reckless or hectic. Psalm chapter 90 verse 12 says this, Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Amen. It's important to know how to manage our time. So, let's look at four letters real quick on the subject of time. I read this somewhere, and it's good. It's not original with me, and I want to use this to maybe help you a little bit know how to use your time. You ready? We're going to use the letters of the word time. First of all, T, treasure it. Treasure time. [00:12:44] (34 seconds)


God has given each of you a gift from the veracity of your life. Use them well to serve one another. Look at that last sentence. Use them well to build your own kingdom. Anybody paying attention in the house? Use them well to stockpile your finances. Use them well to make the fortune 500 list. No, he said use what I give you from this great variety of gifts. Use what I give you to serve one another. Amen. Serve. [00:20:02] (34 seconds)


God has created within us natural abilities and he's given us special gifts for a reason. He wants us to use those gifts to serve other people, both in the church and out of the church. That is what every person who serves on a dream team has chosen to do. They have made the decision to say, I am going to give some of my time and some of my talent to serve other people. It might be leading a life group. It might be working in the nursery or greeting at the door, whatever it might be. When people use their gifts to bless other people, it's a blessing to the body, isn't it? [00:20:52] (35 seconds)


Matthew chapter 6 verse 19 says, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moths and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. Look at verse 21, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Say, pastor, why is it so important to measure our treasure? Jesus just said why, because how you spend your money or where you put your treasure reflects the condition of your heart. [00:26:32] (36 seconds)


Eventually they always come together. Jesus said that our things, our finances, our possessions, how we handle them, how we manage, our heart is inevitably going to be drawn in that direction. How you prioritize your treasure or your finances, it reflects our priorities as it pertains to God and family and church and the community. We need to make good choices when it comes to our treasure. By the way, this next semester we're going to be offering some financial classes, life groups. If you're struggling in this area, we want to help you. We want to give you some practical tools. We'll help you with budgeting, whatever it is. We want to help you learn to manage your treasure, amen. [00:27:24] (36 seconds)


One of the keys to prioritizing your treasure is to learn the blessing of biblical giving. And you know what it is? It's not complicated. Give cheerfully. Give in a way that will make you feel like you're giving. Give in a way that will make and give faithfully that's it give cheerfully and give faithfully there's a word in the Bible the word tithe it's used in the Bible it literally means a tenth or ten percent to and we get the opportunity to return or to give that ten percent back to God I personally like the word return better because it reminds me that I'm returning something that doesn't belong to me I'm returning it back to the Lord I'm giving him back and so how do you tithe you take the first ten percent of your income you're returning to God's work in the local church that you're a part of not your favorite charity, not your favorite internet preacher. The Bible says bring it to your storehouse. Amen. [00:28:55] (51 seconds)


God gave us a dream that one day we would have a home that we could use to minister to young ladies who had unplanned pregnancies but did not have a support system to help them keep their babies and get them through their journey. Amen. Girls who needed a place to live, food to eat, help with doctors, counseling, people who would love them and help them when they needed it the most. See, here's what I want to remind you. We understand, Life .Church, that being pro-life is more than just being anti-abortion. Amen? Come on. It also means being pro-foster care, supporting pregnancy centers, being pro-family in every way that we are able to be. We try to do that here at Life .Church. We are one of the biggest supporters of the East End Pregnancy Center, and I'm thankful that we can do that. Aren't you glad? [00:32:23] (54 seconds)