Lets Get This Straight - Am I Robbing God Or Is The Chruch Robbing Me?

John 6:19-21 & :28-29,

:28 When the diciples asked Jesus, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Am I robbing God or is the church robbing me?

This is the first sermon that I have preached concerning money, ever. I stayed clear from this subject for the longest time, but one day, one day I was praying and I asked the Lord “Please give me a message to preach” I opened my Bible and started reading this portion of scripture. The Holy Spirit helped me with the interpretation and I penned it according to my life experiences. And I would like to give the Holy Spirit all of the credits.

Robbing God is more than just neglecting to give money:

Let me start by saying this: The truth will set you free but the truth can condemn you!

Are you taking advice from the world?

Let’s take a closer look at the parable of the “Shrewd Manager” you might discover something you never saw before. Just don’t jump to conclusions – look at the hidden spiritual application - check it out! That’s the least you can do!

Jesus called the disciples and He explained a very important principal by means of a parable. according to this parable, the manager wanted a comfortable lifestyle. He wanted to enjoy the salary without working too hard - and he used his Master's resources for his own purposes: (I think it would be wrong for us to show up in heaven, claiming the reward; without being part of the fight!) what do you think?

Luke 16:1-12

He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. 2 So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’

(Remember we are Gods stewards, managing His riches but be careful a day of reckoning is coming).

3 “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me.

Stewardship is not limited to money only. Looking at Matt 16:9 we discover that Jesus expanded this message to include salvation. The verse indicates that the steward needed a way of escape, yes. He needed to redeem himself from the inevitable judgment of His earthly Master. But, this message has a deeper application. It is more than just being saved from His master. This stewards way of dealing with His masters resources are compared to our own responsibility towards Salvation. We are Gods stewards, we must take care of what He entrusted to us and we must be fruitful when it comes to working the works of God and doing what He asked us to. We notice a switcheroo: the emphasis is transferred from the homes of worldly people and it is applied to our eternal Home in Heaven.

So, if we compare this to our Spiritual responsibilities we read that Matthew 5:14"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden …When we read what is said about our generation, we become concerned about Rev 2:4 I am against you; you have left your first love. - repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to remove your lampstand out of its place-- unless you repent...

So, the steward scrambled and He said “I cannot dig; or I am ashamed to beg. How does this apply to us? (We find ourselves in a situation where we can’t to depend on my works and we refuse to A.S.K) (Ask Seek and Knock).

So, he reasoned: 4 I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’

This is just like us (We reason) I know God won’t put up with my rebellion. It is about to come to an end (So, we determine ourselves to work out our own salvation by being slick and become charlatans.)

5 “So, he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures[b] of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

What is happening here? Look what the servant did; He reduced their debt in different ways to divert the master’s attention from his guild.