Who Is The Source Of My French Fries? Series

Who is the Sourch of my Fries?

Pastor Glenn Newton Oct. 5, 2003

Text : Luke 16:1-13 Read

Last Sunday I talked to you about the Diamond Life - The different bases that we must touch in order to make it all the way home, the basics... remember? 1st base - Being Born again. 2nd Base - Obedience and Spiritual Growth. 3rd Base - Christian Service/ Surrender.....

For the next couple of weeks I am going to be sharing with you some of the most important Biblical principles that you need to understand and believe in if you want to live the victorious Christian life as God has planned for you.

I want you to ask yourself this question this morning. “Can God Trust Me?” repeat.

Normally I am challenging you to Trust in God right? For most of us here this morning, God has proven himself over and over again and we already know we can trust God.... maybe your still needing to learn that truth.... God is Trustworthy. But this morning I am going to turn the question around, because it’s important..... “Can God Trust Me?”

If I were to take a poll today and ask couples who are going to marriage counseling what the number one issue is in their troubled marriage... what do you think the answer might be? Trust. Trust is important in every relationship, We need to Trust God so that We can serve Him, and put our Faith in Him...... and God needs to be able to Trust us so that He can bless us and use us in His Kingdom work. So today, God asks this question, Can I trust you?

Luke chapter 16 is a interesting parable that Jesus gives to us, it’s one of the most difficult parables to understand in all the Bible. Now Luke 16 is connected to Luke 15, Luke 15 is of coarse the best known and the most loved chapter, the parable of the Prodigal Son, and in Luke 15 as Jesus tells this parable he is teaching about wrong attitudes about PEOPLE.

In Chapter 16 Jesus teaches about wrong attitudes about WEALTH. And he talks to us about our Possessions, what we have, and how are we going to deal with what He has given to us.

It’s very interesting, in your sermon notes I have a paragraph that talks about the Bible and Money. It says, “Jesus talked about Money 16 out of 38 parables; 1 out of 10 verses in the Gospels. The Bible devotes 500 verses on prayer; less than 500 verses on faith; but over 2,000 verses on money and possessions.

Let’s look at what Jesus teaches us in this parable, this story about the Foolish Manager, or Steward.

There are 3 Things that I want to Note from this story, so let’s get going.

1, First, I note the Accountability of the Foolish Steward (v.1,2)

The fact that when the owner came back this unwise manager of the master’s possessions was brought into position of accountability. Read V. 1-2 (Note that this parable was to his disciples)

Now there are two reasons that this manager was accountable to the owner and there are two reasons we are accountable to God, there are two reasons you are accountable to God. Let’s look at them this morning:

1. God is the Owner, I am the Manager - He is the owner, I am the manager.

The first reason that I am accountable to God is because everything that I have today are gifts of God of which I own none. I am accountable to the owner. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord, right? He’s the owner, He blesses me with everything, Your very breath is a gift from God, Your ability to walk and work is a gift from God. Every Gift you have, He gave them to you, Every possession you have, He gave them to you. He’s the owner.

Now friends, this is the number 1 issue, until we can settle this issue were always going to have a problem in this area of management and stewardship. You see, If I believe that Glenn Newton is the owner, then I’m going to be constantly be dealing in conflict with God over what I going to do with the stuff that I have. But the more that I understand that God is the owner, and I’m the manager then all the sudden the conflict begins to disappear because I realize everything that I have, everything, my health, my life, my possessions, my family, everything I have, it’s not mine, God owns it, I manage it.

This whole idea was made clear to me one day I took the girls to McDonalds when they were younger. I took them in and we ordered thier “Happy Meals”, I ordered a sandwich and a drink, I was working on the weight, so I didn’t order any Fries. As we sat down, we prayed for our food, and we began to eat. About half way through... I reached out to get a Fry from one of the girls... and low and behold..... NO DAD, These ARE MY FRIES! I decided to try out the other one..... Same thing.... GET BACK, These are my FRIES..... I was thinking to myself... Don’t they realize I’m the one who bought those fries for them? Don’t they realize that If I wanted too I could go up to the counter and order as many FRIES As I wanted? Can’t they see that the only reason they have any Fries in the First place is because of Me?