www.solomonsporchteaching.com

With the World in An Economic Mess,

Would You Be Interested in a New Economic Model?

Did you know that approximately 50% of the parables Jesus taught were about:

1. Work
2. Wealth
3. Attitude
4. Choices

KEY POINT: When you make a foundation of a principles it can be life-changing. We have separated the spiritual and the secular for too long.

About Barry Borthistle

 
Married

 40 years to Margaret, who passed away in 2000; Married to Ruth;

5 children and 15 grandchildren

Education

Bachelor of Business Administration Degree, Marketing Major

Business Background

•         Former president of a $200 million nutritional company

•         Fifteen years as corporate executive with The Bay, Sears and Canadian Tire

•         Twenty-six years self-employed; owned and began several small businesses in retail sector and in direct-selling industry

•         Experienced corporate and personal bankruptcy (1979; interest rates at 23%)

•         Former International President and Co-founder of TriVita, Inc.

•         Six years as a pastor

•         Presently, Presidential Director with TriVita, Inc.

Awards

•       The Price-Waterhouse recognition for new start-up companies, 1996

•       The prestigious Winston Churchill Award, 1997

•       Featured in North America's "Who's Who in Business", 1998 & 2004

•       Leading health professionals award, 2006, Cambridge, England

•       Entrepreneurial Leader Award, 2008, Trinity Western University, Langley, British Columbia

•       Co-Founder Award, TriVita, Inc., 2012

PARABLES DISCUSSED

1.        Laborers in the Vineyard - Matthew 20:1-16

2.       Parable of the Growing Seed - Mark 4:26-29

3.       Parable of the Two Debtors - Luke 7:36-50

4.       Parable of the Great Banquet - Luke 14:15-24

5.       Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector - Luke 18:9-14

6.        Parable of the Unjust Steward - Luke 16:1-14

7.        Parable of the Talents - Matthew 25:14-30

8.        Parable of the Leaven - Matthew 13:33

9.        Parable of the Rich Fool - Luke 12:13-31

10.    Parable of the Minas- Luke 19:11-26

11.    Parable of the Mustard Seed- Matthew 13:31-32

12.    Parable of the Unmerciful Servant- Matthew 18: 21-35

Many of the thoughts and titles come from a book entitled, "Economic Parables: The Monetary Teachings of Jesus Christ" by David Cowan. BUY THE BOOK.

David has studied at:

1.    Cambridge University

2.   Oxford University

3.    Princeton University

David has worked as a bank executive at the World Bank Group in Washington D.C. He has also worked for the Financial Times and Euromoney.

David has been interviewed by:

1.     CNBC

2.    Bloomberg

3.    Wall Street Journal

Go to simpletruths.com - great material

HOW MUCH IS A TRILLION?

Joel Rosenberg

The concept of going more than $17 trillion - that's trillion, with a t - into debt with no end in sight is hard for most people to understand. It is certainly hard for me to get my mind around.

Maybe this will help. According to an interesting website called DefeatTheDebt.com:

• If we were to pay one dollar every second of every hour of every day of every month to pay down our national debt, it would take us almost 32,000 years just to pay off $1 trillion; to pay off $14 trillion would take more than 443,000 years.

•  If we were to spend $10 million a day to pay down our national debt, it would take us about 273 years to get to $1 trillion - so it would take us about 3,822 years to pay off $14 trillion.

• One trillion is more than the number of stars in the Milky Way.

• It would take more than ten thousand 18-wheelers to transport one trillion $1 bills. Our national debt today would fill up 30 of the largest container ships ever constructed, each holding more than 4,100 containers of cash.

• Fifteen trillion $1 bills, laid end to end and side to side, would pave every interstate, highway, and country road in America - twice - with a good amount left over.

Something is not working.

ETERNITY AND ECONOMICS

Ken Frenke, CFP

We must understand what the economy is and isn't. The "economy" is the sum of everyone's individual choices to save, spend, give, invest, borrow, and lend. It is neutral - neither good nor bad in itself. It simply represents our activity.

The study of economics gives us tools to understand and measure cause and effect, and how to fully utilize God's abundance.

Economics does not tell us what we ought to do. Nor does it provide a moral framework for decisions. Our source for that is God.

Our motives, however, are as important as what we do. The Bible makes it clear that there are only two ways to look at the world - two sources of wisdom to understand how things ought to be.

Heavenly Wisdom - James 3:17-18 Worldly Wisdom - James 3:13-16

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Have you ever known anyone who claimed to be wise, but acted foolishly? True wisdom can be measured by the depth of one's character. As you can identify a tree by the type of fruit it produces, you can evaluate your wisdom by the way you act. Foolishness leads to disorder, but wisdom leads to peace and goodness.

"You know, it's said that an economist is the only professional who sees something working in practice and then seriously wonders if it works in theory." - Ronald Reagan

Quote from David Cowan:

Two stark insights need to be kept in mind as we consider Jesus' economic parables.

The first is that they include many more references to economic issues than is often appreciated. The second is that the disciples and the early church lived in communities, founded on generosity and almsgiving. How different the New Testament world and our economic world of today!

However, neither from the parables themselves nor from the practice of the early church can we draw any systematic biblical economic model. What we are faced with in these parables is a challenge to the way we live now - a challenge produced by Jesus' message and by the way the earliest disciples understood how they were to follow him.

Jesus' parables rely on the notion that the natural order of things is divinely ordered in some way, which may explain why he can put nature to work in the parables so vividly. The details given are not independent of the story, although they are not about specific places or the place where Jesus is teaching. They achieve significance only through the story, which the hearers understand because Jesus uses ordinary and readily recognizable elements of the rural economy or life in a small town or neighborhood. There is an affinity between natural order and spiritual dimension that helps us to understand these words of Jesus.

This affinity with the natural order remains today, and our spiritual thirst equally needs to be quenched. We can talk about a material economy and a spiritual economy, both of which demand that we use our resources carefully. As Jesus observed, if we cannot be trusted with the little things, how can we be trusted with the big things?

DID YOU KNOW?

1.   There are approximately 2,200 verses in the Bible about money.

2.   Almost 50% of the parables are about 1. money, 2. work

3.   There is nothing wrong with money. It is the love of money that is the problem. 1 Timothy 6:6-10: Despite almost overwhelming evidence to the contrary, most people still believe that money brings happiness. Rich people craving greater riches can be caught in an endless cycle which only ends in ruin and destruction. How can you keep away from the love of money? Paul gives us some principles: (1) realize that one day riches will all be gone (6:7.17); (2) be content with what you have (6:8); (3) monitor what you are willing to do to get more money (6:9, 10); (4) love people more than money (6:11); (5) love God's work more than money (6:11); (6) freely share what you have with others (6:18). (See Proverbs 30:7-9.)

4.   Jesus appeared 132 times in the New Testament which were recorded, and 122 times it was in the market place.

5.   "The main thing about money is that it makes you do things that you do not want to." do - Wall Street Journal

Quote from David Cowan:

The free enterprise system, for all its faults, works. This reality is important to reflect upon as we progress in our study because it is both a threat and an opportunity. The threat is to blindly bless the system; the opportunity is to utilize it as a tool (though imperfect) to help improve our communities. Capitalism promotes freedom and democracy since these are the conditions under which it works best. It has weaknesses because it is a way of organizing human beings, and therefore, like all things human, it is imperfect. The belief that the government can best direct the economy at the expense of private enterprise - and engineer a more moral society in the process - is ill-founded. Nevertheless, this belief appeals to advocates of a socialist basis to the economy because of the conviction that the state is more moral than the individual.

Jesus employed everyday language and images in his parables to talk about God, the kingdom of God, and the life of faith. Jesus doesn't just use the term "the kingdom of God" and expect his hearers to understand right away. He says, "The kingdom of Heaven is like..." and then adds the image of a farmer sowing seed, a pearl, a mustard seed, and other tangible objects or everyday images. In this way Jesus could get people's attention or make it easier for people to understand different things. The parables contained the grain of truth - "the word" - but the message was wrapped in a story of camouflage because the full impact was not intended for all hearers, as we see in Jesus' quotation of the prophet Isaiah in the passages in Mark 4. The full meaning was for those who had understood and were saved by "the word." The same remains true for us today because Scripture is "the Word of God."

The trouble with Jesus is that he makes you do things you don't want to do! When he spoke to the young man, he knew what stood between the young man and discipleship. Jesus deliberately placed upon him what seems to be an impossible demand because his material things stood between him and God. In our modern economic world, we must ask ourselves the same question: What seemingly impossible demands does Jesus make on us?

By reading through these economic parables and listening directly to the words of Jesus, you can discover for yourself the answers to this question. This journey will surely enrich your faith; and some of the answers will be surprising, in part because Jesus was a more sophisticated economist than he is given credit for by the modern world. He understands the complexities of our world. He knows we can become enslaved to economic realities, but he also knows that we can live in this economic world in the light of the gospel. Many of the kinds of problems we have to face and the decisions we have to make have not changed in two thousand years. Jesus told stories using economic images and ideas because he understood that is how people in all times and places live. What is incredible is that Jesus can look at our complicated problems and address them in simple terms, such as a sower, a rich fool, or workers in a vineyard. All those listening to Jesus then knew what he was talking about, and we too can understand today.

We cannot look at the problems of the world as something that can be solved simply by human integrity and economic manipulation. We have to look at what God intends - what is his economic plan. Remember this: In the divine economy, there is no competition. There is only one Lord. Let's listen to him.

The Power of Choice

We all have the right to choose, We all have the right not to choose,

But none of us have the right to choose the consequences of our choices.

But remember...

Not to choose... is to choose.

Why did Jesus teach in parables?

Key thought: R.T. France

The laws of capitalist economics (capital breeds income; lack of capital spells ruin) serve as a 'parable' of spiritual enlightenment. The 'secrets' of God's kingdom can be grasped only by those who already have the spiritual capacity to receive them, i.e. the disciples as opposed to 'those outside'.

Matthew 13:10-13

10 And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"

11 He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

Key words:

1.     Mystery- secret

2.    Abundance - increase, excess; excel - super-abound

So What is the Kingdom of Heaven?

1.     Mentioned 34 times in Matthew alone.

2.    The Kingdom of Heaven appears to have no international boundaries and appears to be related to the authority and choices we make in our daily lives.

3.    The Kingdom of Heaven appears 13 times in Matthew 13, and it appears in each example the story relates to a situation on Earth.

4.    John Maxwell calls this fact The Law of Empowerment, which multiplies your influence.

5.    King David prophesied why parables must be taught:

Psalm 78:1-4: 0 my people, listen to my teaching. Open your ears to what I am saying,

2,3 For I will show you lessons from our history, stories handed down to us from former generations. 41 will reveal these truths to you so that you can describe these glorious deeds of Jehovah to your children, and tell them about the mighty miracles he did.

Key Words: Open your ears to what will be said in the parables.

6.   Jesus gave instructions to His disciples that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. Matthew 4:17: From then on, Jesus began to preach, "Turn from your sin, and turn to God, for the Kingdom of heaven is near."

John Maxwell:

The Law of Reproduction and Legacy:

Jesus Raised Up Leaders

(Matthew 4:12-25)

As Jesus began His public ministry, He preached (Matt. 4:12-17), then passed yet another test of leadership: He called other leaders to join Him (4:18-22). These twelve men He called disciples. Immediately He began developing them into future leaders for the church.

Jesus passed the acid test of leadership: Could He reproduce His leadership in someone else? At the same time He chose three fishermen, He cast vision for spiritual reproduction: "Follow Me," He said, "and I will make you fishers of men" (4:19). Clearly, He called these men to become leaders as well.

What do we learn about Jesus' selection and development of leaders?

1.    He found them in the course of His everyday world (v.18).

Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee and spotted men close to Him.

2.    He handpicked them (v. 19).

Jesus didn't hold a popularity vote; He chose the ones He knew were right.

3.    He called them to become leaders (v.19).

Jesus called them not only to follow Him, but to influence others.

4.    He used language they understood (v.19).

Jesus plainly challenged them to catch men instead of fish.

5.    He took them on a journey and demonstrated leadership (vv.23-25). Jesus modeled leadership as he traveled through Judea.

6.    The supreme law of the Kingdom of Heaven is THE GOLDEN RULE. Matthew 7:37-40:

37 Jesus replied, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.' 38,39 This is the first and greatest commandment. The second most important is similar: 'Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.' 40 All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets stem from these two laws and are fulfilled if you obey them. Keep only these and you will find that you are obeying all the others."

If you teach your children the Golden Rule, you will have left an estate of incalculable value.

7.   We have been given the keys (administrative authority) to the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 16:19:

And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever doors you lock on earth shall be locked in heaven; and whatever doors you open on earth shall be open                                                                                                                       in heaven!

I do not believe that there are shortages of any kind for our living on Earth. God gave us an abundance. The problem is man's greed - selfishness and misuse of this abundance.

9.   What did Jesus mean by giving us Abundance? The word means: super-abound; to excel; have more; increase over and above. It is also applied to the following words: 1. speech;

2. joy; 3. grace; 4. labor; 5. salvation; 6. eternity; 7. love; 8. finances - both in having wealth and the warning of dangers of wealth; 9. meeting the needs of others; 10. hope; 11. faith. I think it is very obvious that when we understand the secrets or mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth we have a much better idea of the vital importance of understanding and living in the principals of the economic Parables of Jesus.

1.  Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard

Matthew 20:1-16

 Principle:  The essential point of this parable is that God's generosity transcends the human ideas of fairness.

MATTHEW 20:1-16

20 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' So they went. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle,[a] and said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day?' 7 They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.'[b]

8 "So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, 'Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.' 9 And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. 11 And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, 12 saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.' 13 But he answered one of them and said, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?' 16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen."

John Maxwell:

Attitude: Leaders Must Focus on God's Ability, Not Their Own

(Matthew 20:1-16)

Leaders should often read this story. It describes God's grace, illustrated by a landowner and his vineyard workers. The workers show us how leaders look when they take their eyes off God and focus on themselves. Through this parable Jesus attempts to correct wrong attitudes. He is trying to address:

l.   Self-absorption

We grumble and complain about inequities. We focus more on our work than God's.

2.    Comparison

We ignore God's grace, remaining preoccupied with the status of others.

3.     Presumption

We assume too much when it comes to rewards, forgetting that every blessing is a gift.

4.     Distortion

When we judge others as unworthy, we misunderstand that the entire kingdom is built on grace.

Planting, maintaining and harvesting vineyards in first-century Israel was strenuous work requiring hard physical labor in the heat of summer. Often, additional laborers were required to get all the work done. The owner of this particular vineyard went to the marketplace at the first hour of the morning (6:00 a.m.) to find workers for the day. His offered wage was one denarius, a Roman's soldier's pay for a day, was generous indeed. The workers in the first group were more than happy to work for the generous wage.

As the day progressed and more workers were hired, the specific wage was not mentioned, but the landowner promised to pay "whatever is right." Apparently, the workers were sufficiently confident of the landowner's character that they trusted him at his word. Altogether, four groups of workers were hired, the last group just one hour before the end of the day. When the time came for the wages to be paid, the first group of workers saw the last group of workers being paid a denarius and were naturally thinking they would be paid more since they had worked the longest. Their anger against the landowner spilled forth when they saw they would only be paid the same, even thought they got exactly what they had agreed upon when they were hired. The landowner was forced to defend his actions to the first group, even though he had dealt with them in perfect fairness according to the contract.

The landowner, who decision to pay all the workers the same was an act of mercy

Interpretation

The word translated "penny" in the King James Version of this parable is the denarius, a silver coin which was the usual day's wage for a laborer. The hours here are measured starting at about 6:00 AM, so that the eleventh hour is between about 4:00 and 5:00 PM. The workers are poor men working as temporary farmhands during the harvest season, and the employer realizes that they would all need a full day's pay to feed their families. They payment at evening follows Old Testament guidelines:

Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates: At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee. - Deuteronomy 24: 14-15

Quote from David Cowen:

Some of us are "doing better" than others. Some live in better neighborhoods, have better jobs, and earn more money. It seems that some people get better rewarded than others. Is this fair? Why should the economy not be prosperous for everyone? Of course, maybe we're just envious. The Bible tells us that God has provided for us all by challenging our generosity and pride.

The parable of the workers in the vineyard looks like it condones people jumping in line. "The last will be first, and the first will be last." If we look a little closer, though, not all is as it seems. Typically known as the parable of the workers in the vineyard, this parable has also been called the parable of the eccentric employer because the employer pays the workers in such an odd way. The landowner has hired thoughout the day a number of men to work all at the same wage of one denarius - regardless of when they started work. He does not account for the number of hours the men have in fact labored, so those who started early and labored most of the day received the exact same wage as those who came along as dusk fell and worked many less hours. This is not normal economic practice; it is not "a fair wage for a fair day's work."

This parable has been linked directly to economic issues like unemployment, property ownership, and a "just" or "minimum" wage. This last point is the notion of a moral theory for determining wages so that people are paid according to a standard of what is a "fair," "living," or "sustainable" wage. These terms are all somewhat subjective, since the standard of living will be different in America compared to Rwanda, for example. What a large multinational company can pay in wage and benefits is quite different from what a Mom and Pop operation can pay.

The argument can be set against the backdrop of profit. Since wages affect the amount of profit to be had, they will soon enough become a factor in attacks on big business. The moral objection suggests that wages are set at the lowest level that big business can get away with. There is also the idea that surplus profit only goes to the big bosses, not to the workers. Set against this is the argument that higher wages make products more expensive, and if wages are too high then workers will be sourced in places or countries where labor is cheaper. As to surplus profit, the investors take the risks and should reap the reward.

20:13-15. The landowner retorts with a twofold response: (1) he had paid them what he owed (20:13), so he did not commit and injustice; and (2) his generosity to the others is not an injustice to them. He also implies with his question at 20:15b that those who complain are envious.

The landowner addresses one of the workers with the term "friend" (20:13), a vocative in Greek. The term is used in the same form in this Gospel also at 22:12 (where the king addresses the man without a wedding garment) and 26:50 (where Jesus addresses Judas in Gethsemane). The term is therefore not a positive one. It is used in cases where the person being addressed is insolent or deceitful and is being confronted and exposed.

The response of the landowner is what has been called an instance of "reframing." The workers complain about unfairness, but the landowner does not give a direct response to their charge. He does not respond on their terms. Instead he comes up with a new frame of reference altogether, and that is the perspective of generosity. The concepts of fairness of generosity are related sufficiently to make the transition possible from one to the other. But the shift calls for a whole new way of thinking, a new frame of reference for any future relationships.

Application:

1.    The old saying "Life is just not fair" is how I am sure the workers who worked all day must have felt.

2.    I suggest that if the workers who worked all day had experienced a different attitude, things would be much better.

"When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around."

Willie Nelson

"Appreciation is a wonderful thing; it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well."

Voltaire

"Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality."

Earl Nightingale

"You never know when a moment a few sincere words can have an impact on a life." Zig Ziglar

Quote from Mac Anderson:

"Consider this: Five frogs are on a log. One decides to jump off. How many are left? The answer is five, because deciding is not doing. To change habit successfully, we have to act.

Leading businesses all over the world are now using a change process often referred to as kaizen. The word kaizen is Japanese and it essentially means "good change" as part of an ongoing, continuous improvement philosophy. The term kaizen event has become popular in many organizations seeking to implement positive change quickly. The key to running a successful kaizen event is to be focused, committed, decisive and action-oriented. These events are about making changes in days, not months. Another key to running a successful kaizen event is to seek "better, not best." The changes we make will not necessarily be perfect. Habits die hard. The new behavior or process will not be perfect. It will be better, but there will always be room for improvement."

"It is good to appreciate that life is now. Whatever it offers, little or much, life is now - this day - this hour." - Charles Macomb Flandrau

"Without purpose, passion, and a sense that we are making a difference, what meaning does our life really have, and why should we strive to do our best work? The beauty of appreciation is that we can each give to anyone we choose. It costs nothing, except a few moments of our time." - Barbara A. Glanz

2.  Parable of the Growing Seed

Mark 4:26-29

"A farmer sowed his field, and went away, and as the days went by, the seeds grew and grew without his help. For the soil made the seeds grow. First a leaf-blade pushed through, and later the wheat-heads formed and finally the grain ripened, and then the farmer came at once with his sickle and harvested it." Mark 4:26-29

Parable of the Sower

3 "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times." 9 Then Jesus said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear." Mark 4:3-9

 Principle:  We cannot succeed in any area of life unless seeds are planted which is the only area of nature we control.

"God's promise to Noah remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night." Genesis 8:22

Not all seed planting produces guaranteed or even the same result.

Seed was planted or sowed by hand. As the farmer walked across the field, he threw handfuls of seed onto the ground from a large bag slung across his shoulders. The plants did not grow in neat rows as with today's machine planting. No matter how skillful he may have been, no farmer could keep all his seed from falling on the path or among rocks and thorns or from being carried off by the wind. He threw the seed liberally, however, and enough fell on good ground to ensure harvest.

John Maxwell:

The Principle of the Seed

(Mark 4:2-20)

Who is the sower in Jesus' parable? The sower is a person of influence, a leader, anyone who declares God's Word. The sower scatters a lot of seed, and only later determines the character of the soil. Note a few principles all leaders need to know about sowing seed:

1.    A lot of seed must be scattered to produce a crop.

2.    Not all soils produce, but we cannot reap if we do not sow.

3.    We must continue sowing, because one day we will reap a harvest.

4.    The soil that produces will multiply; we will reap more than we sow.

5.    We will reap in proportion to what we have sown.

6.    We cannot do anything about last year's harvest, but we can about this year's.

7.    We must believe in the seed we sow, knowing that some will produce fruit.

8.    Once we see fruit, all our efforts seem worthwhile.

 Meditation:  What do you know about sowing seeds? For a rural community that lived off the land, sowing was absolutely necessary for survival. The mere act of sowing brought great hope in the anticipation of a fruitful harvest. Jesus' story, however, gives a warning. A seed can't mature into fruit without the proper conditions for growth. Even the prophet Jeremiah gave similar advice several hundred years earlier: "Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns." Jeremiah 4:3

Principle:  Consider carefully where you are planting seeds.

There are obviously decisions to be made as to where one sows their seed.

1.    Physically

2.   Emotionally

3.   Spiritually

4.    Financially

Remember, the main economy of the day in which the parables were taught was agriculture. "However, in the Jordan Valley a hundredfold return is possible" Genesis 26:13-14

That year Isaac's crops were tremendous - 100 times the grain was sowed. For Jehovah blessed him. He was soon a man of great wealth, and became richer and richer. He had large clocks of sheep and goats, great herds of cattle and many servants. And the Philistines became jealous of him.

Application:  SEED PLANTING IDEAS

1.  Seeds of compliment

"I can go for a month on one compliment" Mark Twain

Many years ago William James aid, "The deepest principle of human nature is a craving to be appreciated." I truly believe that the need to be validated and appreciated as a worthwhile human being is greater than ever before, especially in our schools, our workplaces and homes. A recent study indicated that last year 65% of our workforce reported they had received NO appreciation for the good work they had done!

"Change your thoughts and change your world." Norman Vincent Peale

2.  Seeds of faith

"The only thing that stands between a person and what they want from life is often the will to try it and the faith to believe it's possible."

Rich Devos

"Without faith it is impossible (impotent) to please God." - Hebrews 11:6

3. Seeds of attitude

-welcome conflict, trials and challenges

"In the middle of every difficulty comes opportunity."

Albert Einstein

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

What we attain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly; it is adversity that gives everything its value." Thomas Payne

4.  Seeds of recognition and praise

"There are two things that people want more than sex and money... recognition and praise."

Mary Kay Ash

"It's not the things you get but the hearts you touch that will determine your success in life."

Mac Anderson

"You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on your life."

Zig Zigler

True story by Mac Anderson:

One snowy February day I walked in the Ladies washroom at O'Hare Airport. There was a woman there who was cleaning. She was all hunched over, glum-looking, and listlessly going through the motions of her job. I walked over, gently touched her on the arm, looked her directly in the eyes, and said, "That you so much for keeping this washroom clean. You're really making a difference for all of us who travel."

She stopped what she was doing, looked at me with wonder in her eyes, immediately straightened up, and began cleaning with a passion. A huge smile spread across her face and by the time I left, she was passing out towels to all the women who were washing their hands!

I left that washroom with tears in my eyes because that interaction had cost me nothing. However, it changed her life, at last for a few moments. My appreciation of her and the value of her very important work gave her a purpose and reason for being. SHE WAS MAKING A DIFFERENCE!

5. Seeds of PASSION

"Belief fuels passion, and ... passion rarely fails"

"People are like sticks of dynamite... the power's on the inside but nothing happens until the fuse gets lit."

"Without purpose, passion and a sense that we are making a difference,

what meaning does our life really have, and why should we strive to do our best work? The beauty of appreciation is that we can give it to anyone we choose. It costs nothing, except a few moments of our time."

Mac Anderson quotes

6. Seeds of enthusiasm

"Nothing was ever accomplished without enthusiasm." Ralph Waldo Emerson

A bellman made my day recently. After checking into an Atlanta hotel, Sam (his name was on his badge) picked up my two bags, gave a big smile, and said, "Isn't it a gorgeous day today?" I nodded and said, "Sure is." He then said, "I just spent the entire weekend with my two grandkids, and I can't remember when I've had more fun. Aren't kids great?" I nodded again, and said, "They are special," and then I added, "Sam, it seems like you're having a great day." He then looked up with a grin I'll never forget and said, "Mr. Anderson, every day above ground is a great day!" I walked into my room feeling recharged by Sam's enthusiasm. It was obvious that he had chosen to live life to the fullest, and given the opportunity to touch someone's life in a positive way, my bet is that he took it, every time.

Every day we all have that same opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of others. We can choose to mope about our lot in life, or we can decide to live in awe, touching hearts along the way. Ah, yes...we all know ducks who make lots of noise, quacking and complaining about their problems in life. And then there are eagles, who go about their business and consistently soar above the crowd. Thanks, Sam, for soaring into my life.

Enthusiasm means "God in us."

I                      I

A                    AM

s               SOLD

M                    MYSELF

7. Attitude and dreaming are vital seeds - Attitude is everything.

"You become what you think about."

Earl Nightingale

"First we make our attitudes. Then our attitudes make us.

Look at everything as though you are seeing it for the first time, with eyes of a child, fresh with wonder!"

Joseph Cornell

DREAMS

If you are one of these dreamers, I want you to know That there's good news.

YOU CAN reshape your dreams. YOU CAN overcome obstacles. YOU CAN live your dream.

John Maxwell

"OWN YOUR DREAMS... discovering your purpose in life." Michael Ellison

8. The Secret to Living is Giving

'It is in giving that we receive." St. Francis of Assisi

HOW GIVING TOUCHES YOUR HEART - Mac Anderson

Looking for a guaranteed road to happiness?

It's really quite simple... give to others. Make a difference in the lives of others and your own heart will be touched in return.

Take the experience of Dr. Howard Kelly in a true story called "PAID IN FULL":

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door-to-door to pay his way through school found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal, he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry and so she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly and then asked, "How much do I owe you?"

"You don't owe me anything," she replied. "Mother taught us never to accept pay for a kindness." He said,"Then I thank you from my heart." As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strengthened also. He had been ready to give up and quit.

Years later, that young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease.

Dr. Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came form, he went down the hall of the hospital to her room. Dressed in his doctor's gown, he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day, he gave special attention to the case.

After a long struggle, the battle was won. Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final billing to him for approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge, and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally, she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She read these words: "Paid in full with one glass of milk." signed, Dr. Howard Kelly

(Dr. Howard Kelly was a distinguished physician who, in 1895, founded the Johns Hopkins Division of Gynecolgic Oncology at Johns Hopkins University. According to Dr. Kelly's biographer, Audrey Davis, the doctor was on a walking trip through Northern Pennsylvania one Spring day when he stopped by a farmhouse for a drink of water.)

Conclusion:

Become a seed planter. Why? It is God's covenant with nature. Genesis 8:20-22

God says that while the Earth remains, there will be seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night. The only thing we have any control over is seedtime.

Remember... BEHAVIOR FOLLOWS BELIEF

"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek."

Joseph Campbell

"If you want to life yourself up, life up someone else."

Booker T. Washington

"When I chased after money, I never had enough. When I got my life on purpose and focused on giving of myself and everything that arrived in my life, then I was prosperous."

Wayne Dyer

"Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go."

Mother Teresa

3. The Parable of the Two Debtors

Luke 7:36-50

36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee's house, and sat down to eat. 37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, "This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."

40 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." So he said, "Teacher, say it."

41 "There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?"

43 Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more."

And He said to him, "You have rightly judged." 44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in.

46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."

48 Then He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

50 Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."

Principle:  The vital importance of forgiveness in our lives.

Rap:

A Pharisee named Simon had Jesus come over For dinner to eat perhaps something leftover Though being a man of much morality

Simon didn't really show much hospitality

But a woman barged in and washed Jesus' feet While Simon was caught up in his own conceit For this woman was a sinner maybe even a whore This woman, Simon thought, Jesus should deplore But Jesus turned to Simon and told him this story

For Jesus knew his thought and so spoke derogatory "Two men owed money to a certain lender

One owed 500, he was a big spender

The other owed 50, but neither could pay back

So he canceled the debts, forgiving their lack

Now which of these two do you suppose would love more" (Would it be Simon or rather the whore?)

"The one who owed more," Simon replied Not understanding what Jesus implied. "You have judged correctly," Jesus said. "But you did not pour oil on my head, Nor wash my feet when I came in

But this woman did, this woman of sin.

So I tell you woman, your sins have been forgiven Before you were dead, but now you're really livin." So those who love little, may not in Christ abide

But their real problem may just be that they are filled with pride.

Quote from David Cowan:

Introduction

The forgiveness of debts, applied to debts owed by poor nations to rich nations, has become a political policy. This idea is based on texts in Leviticus related to the Year of Jubilee. There are problems with viewing forgiveness in this way. This parable and the story surrounding it show us what Jesus really means by forgiveness - that is, that it is a concept outside the realm of economics.

A popular application of forgiveness in the past decade has come from the campaign to erase the debts owed by poorer nations to richer nations. Many groups, both secular and Christian, have put pressure on governments, especially in American and Britain, to "forgive" these debts. The campaign started off overtly Christian, acquiring its name from the concept of the Year of Jubilee in Leviticus. "Jubilee 2000" called for the "one-off cancellation of the unpayable debts of the world's poorest countries by the end of the year 2000, under a fair and transparent process." As the year 2000 passed, and more secular groups joined the effort, the campaign downplayed Jubilee in its name and rallied behind the slogan "Drop the Debt!" Government and bankers resisted the demand but made some concessions, with strings attached. More recently there has been more commitment to dropping the debts, but campaigners complain it is still not enough.

So what's the beef? The contention is that poorer countries are under such a burden of debt that they spend more in debt repayments than on health and education. The argument goes that if their debt was cut these countries could spend much more on these vital areas, saving children's lives and giving the world's poor a new start. To boost their claims, the campaigners employ a few myths. Let's deal with the main two. First, rich European nations allegedly made the poor nations poor through colonial exploitation and the appropriation of cheap raw materials and commodities. Second, in these poor nations the free market system purportedly benefited a colonial power elite to the detriment of the poor.

The first myth conveniently ignores the economic and administrative benefits colonialism gave to these nations. While there were abuses, the problem has to be put I perspective. This argument is built on the notion that the rich nations should feel guilty about the poor nations. However, many former colonies, such as American, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and India, have hardly been exploited!

The second myth reveals the problem of state control and the corruption of power, rather than proving an innate weakness in the free market system. Corruption, bureaucracy, and price controls have stood in the way of poor people making money. The reality is that those with political power have kept the poor powerless and docile. Political decisions have superceded economic ones, thereby preventing economic growth. Positions of power have been filled through political patronage and bribery. Something needs to be done about poor economies, but the solution will never be purely economic, since political power and corruption play such a central part. Free enterprise actually favors the poor having power - "spending power." The free market system is built around expanding the middle class, not the lower class.

Application:

The power of forgiveness

Forgiveness should be part of the emotional life

Jesus, in The Lord's Prayer, taught that we are to forgive others as we are forgiven, and further, if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven. -Matthew 6:9-15

Forgiveness:

Dictionary:

1.  Cease to resent

2.  Pardon

3.   Act of forgiving

What is forgiveness?

1.    Why is it important to forgive:

Forgiveness is important if you want to move on with your life. It does not mean you agree with what the person did to you, just that you will not let it rule your life anymore.

http://answers.ask.com/society/religion_and_spirituality/why_is_it_important_to_forgive

2.    What does Forgiveness mean? To forgive someone means to 'let go' or 'let them off the hook' for something they said or did. True forgiveness means that you forgive and forget. Bury the hatchet, but don't go dig it up later! http://answers.ask.com/society/religion_and_spirituality/what_does_forgiveness_mean

3.    Understanding Forgiveness/ This Emotional Life

What is forgiveness? Forgiveness is one person's inner response to another's perceived injustice. http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/topic/forgiveness/understanding-forgiveness

4.    Forgiveness also involves learning to forgive yourself

Forgiveness:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Forgiveness  is the renunciation or cessation of resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offence, disagreement, or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution.[1][2] The Oxford English Dictionary defines forgiveness as 'to grant free pardon and to give up all claim on account of an offence or debt'. The concept and benefits of forgiveness have been explored in religious thought, the social sciences and medicine.

Forgiveness may be considered simply in terms of the person who forgives including forgiving themselves, in terms of the person forgiven or in terms of the relationship between the forgiver and the person forgiven. In most contexts, forgiveness is granted without any expectation of restorative justice, and without any response on the part of the offender (for example, one may forgive a person who is incommunicado or dead). In practical terms, it may be necessary for the offender to offer some form of acknowledgment, an apology, or even just ask for forgiveness, in order for the wronged person to believe himself able to forgive.[1]

Research

Studies show that people who forgive are happier and healthier than those who hold resentments.[6] The first study to look at how forgiveness improves physical health discovered that when people think about forgiving an offender it leads to improved functioning in their cardiovascular and nervous systems.[7] Another study at the University of Wisconsin found the more forgiving people were, the less they suffered from a wide range of illnesses. The less forgiving people reported a greater number of health problems.[8]

The research of Dr. Fred Luskin of Stanford University shows that forgiveness can be learned. Dr. Frederic Luskin's work is based on seven major research projects into the effects of forgiveness, giving empirical validity to the concept that forgiveness is not only powerful, but also excellent for your health. Dr. Fred Luskin author of the book "Learning to forgive"[9] was presented with a Champion of Forgiveness award by the Forgiveness Alliance[l0] for his groundbreaking work with forgiveness, reconciliation and peace.

Michael Ellison's Blog

Free yourself of toxins - through forgiveness! February 3, 2013

TriVita Wellness Entrepreneurs came from all over North America for training on the new Daily Detox product and program. The Event Auditorium was packed at the new TriVita Wellness Center. What an exciting time for me.

I had the joy of addressing this passionate group of wellness advocates. I spoke of how Daily Detox is more than just physical; it is understanding that the immune system is intelligent and is compromised when it is overwhelmed with physical, emotional and spiritual toxins. We are all aware of toxins in the air, water and food but there are also emotional and spiritual toxins.

I presented a very simple garbage bag illustration: we go through life stuffing our bag with negative experiences, without dealing with their toxic effects. For me, I always thought it was about trying to forget and move on. What I did not realize was that the toxic effect remained there in my subconscious. I just stuffed the experience in my life garbage bag. Most everyone in the audience began to think of some really tough life experiences that they had not dealt with through forgiveness. Sometimes we even need to forgive ourselves for making toxic bad choices. Forgiveness is one of the most empowering things we can do in our lives to eliminate the toxic effects of a bad experience. We can detoxify our lives!

I shared a prayer I have used; it has worked for me and I have witnessed amazing experiences in others who have used it as a way to free themselves of life's toxic effects. The prayer should be prayed until the word YOU has no face or person attached to it but is simply a word. I encourage you to just start this by saying you will read this prayer daily for one week. You will be amazed at its power. It is called a Prayer of Blessing:

I forgive YOU right now - wherever you are - whatever you are doing - whoever you are with - whatever you are thinking - whatever you are feeling about me or anyone else. I forgive you and blessyou and I let go of all resentment, hurt and pain. I pray this prayer of blessing for your life. I know I have been also set free to be blessed in my life. We are blessed!

The more we are free from life toxins, the more powerful we become. The less our immune system is compromised by dealing with toxins, the more vitality we have in life. The more vitality, the more joyful and rewarding is the life we can live! If you want more wellness, relationship and financial rewards in life, you must learn to live a less toxic life!

Forgiveness is God's way for us to cleanse ourselves, so be a host to God and not a hostage to self!

Michael

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Holocaust Encyclopedia

Corrie Ten Boom:

For her efforts to hide Jews from arrest and deportation during the German occupation of the Netherlands, Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983) received recognition from the Yad Vashem Remembrance Authority as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations" on December 12, 1967. In resisting Nazi persecution, ten Boom acted in concert with her religious beliefs, her family experience, and the Dutch resistance. Her defiance led to imprisonment, internment in a concentration camp, and loss of family members who died from maltreatment while in German custody.

The ten Boom family were members of the Dutch Reformed Church, which protested Nazi persecution of Jews as an injustice to fellow human beings and an affront to divine authority. In her autobiography, ten Boom repeatedly cited religious motivations for hiding Jews, particularly her family's strong belief in a basic tenet of their religion: the equality of all human beings before God. Their religious activities had also brought the family a history of personal connections to the Jewish community. Corrie's grandfather had supported efforts to improve Christian-Jewish relations in the nineteenth century. Her brother Willem, a Dutch Reformed minister assigned to convert Jews, studied antisemitism and ran a nursing home for elderly of all faiths. In the late 1930s that nursing home became a refuge for Jews fleeing from Germany.

After World War II began, members of the ten Boom family became involved in resistance efforts. Two nephews worked in resistance cells. Various family members sheltered young men sought by the Nazis for forced labor and assisted Jews in contacting persons willing to hide them. Corrie became directly involved in these efforts when, along with her father and sister Betsie, she decided to hide Jews in the family home in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Using her job as a watchmaker in her father's shop as a cover, Corrie built contacts with resistance workers, who assisted her in procuring ration books and building a hiding place in the family home.

Six people, among them both Jews and resistance workers, hid in this hiding place when the Gestapo (German secret state police) raided the house on February 28, 1944. Those in hiding remained undiscovered. Several days after the raid resistance workers transferred them to other locations. In the meantime, however, the Gestapo had arrested Corrie ten Boom, her father, her brother and two sisters, and other family members. In addition, the Gestapo arrested several resistance workers who had unwittingly entered the house during the raid, as well as many family acquaintances who had been attending a prayer meeting in the living room. Altogether, the Gestapo arrested some 30 people in the ten Boom family home that day.

After holding them briefly in the penitentiary in Scheveningen, a seaside town close to The Hague, the Gestapo released all but three of the ten Boom family members. Corrie ten Boom, her older sister Betsie, and her father Casper remained in prison. Casper ten Boom became sick in prison and died in a hospital corridor only ten days after the arrest. The sisters remained in the Scheveningen prison until June 1944, when officials transferred them to an internment camp at Vught, in the Netherlands. In September 1944, the Nazis deported Corrie and Betsie ten Boom to the Ravensbrueck concentration camp in Germany. In Ravensbrueck, the sisters managed to stay together until Betsie died that December.

The camp administration released Corrie ten Boom in late December 1944. Along with other released prisoners, she traveled by train to Berlin, where she arrived on January 1, 1945. From Berlin, ten Boom journeyed across Germany by train until she reached the Netherlands, where she reunited with surviving members of her family.

After the war, ten Boom advocated reconciliation as a means for overcoming the psychological scars left by the Nazi occupation. She later traveled the world as an evangelist, motivational speaker, and social critic, referring to her experiences in Ravensbrueck as she offered solace to prisoners and protested the Vietnam War.

COPYRIGHT© UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM, WASHINGTON, DC ENCYCLOPEDIA LAST UPDATED: JUNE 10, 2013

Popular Recognition:

The need to forgive is widely recognized by the public, but they are often at a loss for ways to accomplish it. For example, in a large representative sampling of American people on various religious topics in 1988, the Gallup Organization found that 94% said it was important to forgive, but 85% said they needed some outside help to be able to forgive.

However, not even regular prayer was found to be effective. Akin to forgiveness is mercy, so even if a person is not able to complete the forgiveness process he or she can still show mercy, especially when so many wrongs are done out of weakness rather than malice. The Gallup poll revealed that the only thing that was effective was "meditative prayer".[32]

So the question becomes... Is forgiveness a choice?

"The only way to peace is forgiveness. To accept and give forgiveness makes possible a new quality of rapport between men, interrupts the spiral of hatred and revenge and breaks the chains of evil which bind the hearts of rivals."

Pope John Paul II

1.  Parable of the Great Banquet

Luke 14:15-24

15 Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread[a] in the kingdom of God!"

16 Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.' 18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.' 19 And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.' 20 Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' 21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.' 22 And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.' 23 Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"

Principle:  How charitable are we?

The Reflection:

In "the City" in London, England's Wall Street, there is an old saying, "My word is my bond," which indicates that trust and knowing who you are doing business with is core to how the world of finance should work. In that same financial district, there is an annual banquet held in the grand Mansion House, where the key speaker is the British finance minister - a time when politics and finance rub shoulders for an evening. Every day in the City and on Wall Street, business lunches are held to seal a business deal or woo a journalist. Meals are important. We read in the society pages of newspapers and in glossy magazines about charity dinners; and we have fundraising dinners in our local churches. Dinners are set out for thousands of dollars or just a few dollars, allowing people to mix their social life with giving to charitable causes. There are any number ofreasons to "break bread."

The Secret of Great Relationships

Al Ritter

"Would you rather be right, or would you rather be happy and effective?" Relationships surround us, confound us, and sometimes lead us to our defeat. We're immersed in them 24/7. At home, at work and everywhere in between, each encounter with another person is a relationship in which we can present our best self... or not. The truth is, good, effective relationships make almost everything more enjoyable and more advantageous.

Think about the way you interact with others, about the way you approach relationships; about your expectations and assumptions. Are you unconsciously sabotaging yourself? Are you standing in the way of your own success?

This book aims to help you recognize certain relationship pitfalls, learn how to overcome them, and make every relationship great. Not only will you enjoy this book, but our prediction is it will significantly, and fairly easily, change your life for the better!

Written for all members of the human race, no matter your role in this world, or for that matter, your age; you will gain a clear way to improve your personal and professional effectiveness.  Is your relationship with others based primarily on your judgment of them, either positive or negative? If you answered "yes," thank you for being honest. The truth, for most of us, is that our treatment of other people is derived from our judgment of them, that is, whether we perceive them as right or wrong; whether we agree or disagree with them.

Sometimes the tendency to judge others is appropriate. We want to be able to accurately assess others in situations such as the hiring process, giving performance reviews, and being alert to problematic people, to name just a few.

There are many other times, however, when our tendency to judge creates a great disservice to ourselves and others. When it comes to family, friends, family, coworkers and customers, our relationship is more important (in fact, much more important) than our assessment of how right or wrong the other person is. In these circumstances, it behooves us to take 100% responsibility for the relationship, expecting nothing in return.

The genesis of this book comes from 20-plus years of coaching, consulting, writing and speaking. I have learned that the most effective people at all levels and in all walks of life take full advantage of The 100/0 Principle. And you can too.

"Some of the biggest challenges in relationships come from the fact that most people enter a relationship in order to get something: They're trying to find someone who's going to make them feel good. In reality, the only way a relationship will last is if you see your relationship as a place that you go to give, and not a place you go to take."

Anthony Robbins

4 Principles of Listening

•       Listening grants others the power of speaking.

•       Listening is a gift. Be generous with it.

•       What we listen to is more important than what we say.

•       Communication is what is heart, not what is said.

Why is Listening so Difficult for so Many?

Here are some insights compiled by the International Listening Association:

•       Most of us are distracted, preoccupied or forgetful about 75% of the time we should be listening.

•       We listen at 125-250 words per minute, but think at 1,000-3,000 words per minute.

•       Immediately after we listen to someone, we only recall about 50% of what he or she said.

•       Long term, we only remember 20% of what we hear.

Listening has been identified as one of the top skills employers seek in entry-level employees as well as those being promoted. More than 35 business studies indicate that listening is a top skill needed for success in business.

Application:

1.     Many times people will offer excuses which sometimes can be insulting to you

2.    Here is the key:

Do not be like the leader in this story, who became angry before making his next decision, which was to invite others.

3.    The third principle is to go out and not be afraid to invite others.

2. The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Luke 18:9-14

9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men-extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Principle:  Do not let pride disqualify you from discovering your LIFE PURPOSES. John Maxwell

Commitment: The Rich Young Ruler Fails the Test

{Luke 18:18-23)

When a rich young man approached Jesus to ask about eternal life, the Lord gave him a radical imperative: Sell all you possess and five it to the poor, then come and follow Me.

Jesus didn't say this to everyone. In fact, He said it only to His disciples. He knew this man needed the challenge, even though he refused to accept it. Only greed held him back from freedom. Even though he claimed to obey all the commands, he miserably failed at the first one: "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Ex. 20:3).

Jesus went straight to the central issue, preventing him from making a commitment he desperately needed to make. The man walked away, full of sadness. He clung to what he had instead of committing to what he could obtain.

Introduction:

Jesus often used the Pharisees as an example. Their approach is opposite to the everyday appeal of the parables. This parable asks us to examine our pride. It also raises the question of giving and whether doing all the "right" things is what makes us better people. We abdicate our responsibility to others when we feel we are above others and have overcome our sinful nature.

The Reflection:

Augustine suggested that government is merely an act of piracy on a grand scale. He asked, "Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies? For what are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms?" To theologians and church leaders wishing to hitch the gospel to a political agenda, this must sound like the ultimate heresy by the early father. It has become almost an article of faith that welfare and entitlement programs are the means to achieve the Good Society. Thus it is no longer considered correct to think the individual needs to be transformed. It is a little ironic that the state, which put Jesus to death, is seen as the focus of good in our lives.

In modern times, the state has become the instrument of social engineering. The state is in a battle against the "anarchy" of the free market, which can only do good under the benevolent oversight of the state. Perhaps the unfortunate truth is that pragmatic economics and free markets are the most effective because they are based on what we are like. If we function out of rampant consumerism, then this is reflected in the economy. The economy is merely a measure of how self-absorbed we really are, holding up a mirror to our modern civilization and revealing its vanity. We could point to the Genesis narrative and suggest there is an economic effect of original sin, which stops us from enjoying the Planners's garden of Eden and banishes us to the harsh realities of the economic pursuit of gain. Thus we live in the "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" state of existence warned of by the seventeenth-century British philosopher Thomas Hobbes.

The Pharisee, meanwhile, stands tall in his piety, telling God how good he is at keeping the faith. How often we see this pharisaic behavior on our televisions as people tell us how right their actions are and inform us of how we can build a better tomorrow. Humanity is exalted in this moment, and the people stand tall at how we can deliver ourselves. Again we meet one of Jesus' great reversals. For the exalted shall be humbled: the plans of mice and men! How often do we see the great and the good of our society admit to their mistakes or humble themselves as people who are short of God's demands? Jesus tells us of his reversal: The humble shall be exalted.

Those who delight in the praise of their actions, who do good to feel good, will only be exalted in their own eyes and perhaps the eyes of other people, but not before God. Before God, they shall be humbled. This is a text that betrays any idea that we can be saved by our own merit. We cannot work our way to a place at the Lord's table. Those who tread such a path have taken the wrong route. If we want to take the right route, we have to be like the tax collector: humbling ourselves to face God's judgment. Then we shall receive the greatest recognition of all, the gift of grace given to us by God. Like the tax collector, we can then have our prayers answered, our plea accepted. Only then can we take the right path, the one that carries us home to our Lord. As the humbled, we shall be exalted.

The elites of our society are the Pharisees of our modern economy. They "know" what is best for everyone else.

Many people are invited to the banquet in the parable, and initially they accept; but when the final invitations are presented, they have other priorities and so provide nothing but excuses - and not even good ones at that! One says he needs to inspect some land he has bough, but do you think he would have bought such land without seeing it first? A second says he has bought five yoke of oxen, but how many farmers or landowners would buy so much stock unseen? The third one is a little different, saying that he cannot come because he has just gotten married. This excuse takes us back to and Old Testament exemption from military service (Deuteronomy 10:7, 24:5), but does this apply to a generous invitation to a feast? These are excuses that are tied to love of possessions and family and are to be put aside in our love of God.

Conclusion:  I believe the real point of this story is

Do not let pride disqualify you from helping others whether it be in your

1.    Personal life

2.   Family life

3.    Business life

4.    Educational life Remember to PAY IT FORWARD

Application:

"A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle."

Benjamin Franklin

"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give." Winston Churchill

King Solomon Proverbs 16:18-19

18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.

19 Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, Than to divide the spoil with the proud.

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." President Truman

Mother Teresa

"If you judge people, you have not time to love them." "Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."

Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation, which in 2012 consisted of over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries. Members of the order must adhere to the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, and the fourth vow, to give "Wholehearted and Free service to the poorest of the poor." The Missionaries of Charity at the time of her death had 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis; soup kitchens; children's and family counseling programs; orphanages; and schools. For over 45 years, she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries. Her beautification by Pope John Paul II following her death gave her the title "Blessed Teresa of Calcutta." She was the recipient of numerous honors including th3 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. She refused the conventional ceremonial banquet given to laureates, and asked that the $192,000 funds be given to the poor in India.

How About Orphans?

There are an estimated 153,000,000 orphans worldwide. Some of these orphans have lost one parent, some both, and some are "virtual" orphans that have been turned onto the streets by their families, but all are vulnerable and in need of help. Without assistance these orphans continue in the cycle of poverty, HIV/AIDS, trafficking, prostitution and slavery that haunts developing countries.

George Muller Orphanages

The work of Muller and his wife with orphans began in 1836 with the preparation of their own home at 6 Wilson Street, Bristol for the accommodation of thirty girls. Soon after, three more houses in Wilson Street were furnished, growing the total of children cared for to 130. In 1845, as growth continued, Muller decided that a separate building designed to house 300 children was necessary, and in 1849, at Ashley Down, Bristol, that home opened. The architect commissioned to draw up the plans asked if he might do so gratuitously. By 26 May 1870, 1,722 children were being accommodated in five homes, although there was room for 2,050 (No 1 House - 300, No 2 House - 400, Nos 3, 4 and 5 - 450 each). By the following

year, there were 280 orphans in No 1 House, 356 in No 2, 450 in Nos 3 and 4, and 309 in No 5 House. By the end of his life, he had cared for 10, 024 orphans, and educated over 120,000.

Through all this, Millier never made requests for financial support, nor did he go into debt, even though the five homes cost over £100,000 to build. Many times, he received unsolicited food donations only hours before they were needed to feed the children, further strengthening his faith in God. For example, on one well-documented occasion, they gave thanks for breakfast when all the children were sitting at the table, even though there was nothing to eat in the house. As they finished praying, the baker knocked on the door with sufficient fresh bread to feed everyone, and the milkman gave them plenty of fresh milk because his cart broke down in front of the orphanage.

By the end of February 1835, there were five Day-schools - two for boys and three for girls. Not receiving government support and only accepting unsolicited gifts, this organization received and disbursed £1,381,171 (approximately$2,718,844 USD) - around £90 million in today's terms - by the end of Muller's death, primarily using the money for supporting the orphanages and distributing about 285,407 Bibles, 1,459,506 New Testaments, and 244,351 other religious texts, which were translated into twenty other languages. The money was also used to support other "faith missionaries" around the world, such as Hudson Taylor.

The work continues to this day.

3.  The Parable of the Unjust Steward

(sometimes called The Shrewd Manager)

Luke 16:1-14

Principle:  How do we use wealth? Luke 16:1-14

1 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.'

3 "Then the steward said within himself, 'What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.'

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[a] 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.' 8 So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.

9 "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail,[c] they may receive you into an everlasting home. 10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?

13 "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." 14 Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.

 16:1-8  People have offered many explanations for this difficult story. Here are some of them: (1) Don't waste the resources you have because they belong to God, not you. (2) Money can be used for good or evil; use yours for good. (3) Money has a lot of power, so use it carefully and thoughtfully. (4) We must use our material goods in a way that will help us in the next life (see Luke 12:33, 34).

16:10, 11  Our integrity often meets its match in money matters. God calls us to be honest even in small details we could rationalize away. Heaven's riches are far more valuable than earthly wealth - but ifwe are untrustworthy with our earthly wealth (no matter how much or little we have), we are unfit to handle the vast riches of God's Kingdom. Don't let your integrity slip in small matters, and it will not fail you in crucial decisions either.

16:13  Money has the power to take God's place in your life. It can become your master. How can you tell if you are a slave to money? (1) Do you worry about it frequently? (2) Do you give up doing what you should do or would like to do in order to make more money? (3) Do you spend a great deal of your time caring for your possessions? (4) Is it hard for you to give money away? (5) Are you in debt?

Money is a hard master and a deceptive one. Money promises power and control, but it often cannot deliver. Great fortunes can be made - and lost - overnight, and no amount of money can provide health, happiness, or eternal life. How much better to let God be your master.

His servants have peace of mind and security both now and forever.

16:14  The Pharisees loved money and took exception with Jesus' teaching. We too may be fond of our money. Do we also scoff at Jesus' wa

nings against serving money? Do we try to explain them away? Do we apply them to someone else - the Pharisees, for example? Unless we take Jesus' statements seriously, we may be acting like Pharisees ourselves.

16:15  The Pharisees acted pious to get praise from others, but God knew what was in their hearts. Is your spirituality genuine, or is it merely aimed at impressing others? Remember, that which is only a show for the general public is disgusting to God.

Introduction:

This parable calls us to discern the difference between the negative force of greed and the positive force of faithful and honest self-interest. At the end of the parable, Jesus poses one of the most difficult economic points in the Bible; we cannot sere both God and wealth. Money is an inevitable reality of living in the world, and as such it can be used wisely - as long as it comes second to our relationship with God.

The Reflection:

The front-page headlines scream out at us: Corporate greed! Scandal! Enron!

Worldcom! How comforting it must be for the media (and it can be for us, their readership) to be able to point to greed and say, "Aha!That's why it's wrong! It's big business!" Doing this, we place the blame somewhere else and let ourselves off the hook In buying newspaper, we purchase our peace of mind. In mouthing the condemnation, we seek absolution.

Yes, there is corporate greed, but greed is not exclusive to the world of business and finance. There is also greed in governments, charities, interest groups, churches, schools, and universities. There is greed anywhere there are people. It may be greed fOrcareer, for money, for power, for position, or for glory. It is all about us and what we want.

Ever since capitalism developed in the eighteenth century, it has had its critics. Today this criticism takes the form of anti-globalization activism, which is also the basis of intellectual criticism of capitalism. The protestors and intellectuals behave as if their identification and indictment of human greed is something new. But it isn't; it is ancient history. They are simply wrong. Greed is often confused with self-interest, which is the

catalyst for the free market economy. Whether individuals, communities, governments, or businesses, we all act in our self-interest - and we need to understand what this reality means.

John Maxwell:

Lessons from a Lousy Leader

(Luke 16:1-13)

Jesus' story of an unrighteous manager teaches us lessons about shrewd business and a few subtle truths about leadership. This lousy leader...

l.   Violated rule number one: Leadership is not to be used for personal benefit (v. 1). He forgot that leadership is about giving, not getting. Leaders lose the right to be selfish.

2.    Learned that a leader cannot hide his heart (vv. 1, 2).

Leadership rises or falls to the level of the leader's integrity. Leaders are vulnerable.

3.    Was proactive in facing problems (v. 3).

He surmised how he could address the problem. Good leaders aren't afraid to face reality.

4.    Understood the value of relationships (v. 4).

He utilized the relationships he had developed already. He received a return on his investment.

5.    Understood the nature of his influence (vv. 4, 5).

Since leadership is influence, leaders know with whom they have influence - and they go there.

6.     Learned the keys to motivating others (vv. 5-7).

Everyone is motivated in different ways. He found wys to make friends and get results.

7.    Reminds us of the value of godly leadership (vv. 8-10).

In the end, his master praised his shrewdness; but Jesus has a deeper lesson for us.

 Meditation:  Do you make good use of your money and possessions Jesus seemed to praise a steward (a manager entrusted with his master's goods) who misused his employer's money. What did the steward do that made Jesus praise him? The steward was responsible for managing his wealth landowner's property. He very likely overcharged his master's tenants for their use of the land and kept more than his fair share of the commission. When the landowner discovers the steward's dishonest practice he immediately removes him from his job, leaving him penniless and ashamed to beg or do manual work. Before news of his dismissal becomes public knowledge, the shrewd steward strikes a deal with his master' s debts. In discounting their debts he probably was giving up his generous commission. Such a deal won him great favor with debtors since he acted as the landowner's chief financial officer, such a deal made his master look very generous and forgiving towards those who owed him money. Surely everyone would praise such a generous landowner as the town hero! Since the master could not undo the steward's cancellation of the debts without losing face and making his debtors resent him, the praises the steward for outwitting him as a generous and merciful landowner.

Jesus obviously thought that the example of a very clever steward would be a perfect illustration for a spiritual lesson about the kingdom of God! What's the point of Jesus' parable? The dishonest steward is commended not for mishandling his master's wealth, but for his shrewd provision in averting personal disaster and in securing his future livelihood. The original meaning of "shrewdness" is "foresight". A shrewd person grasps a critical situation with resolution, foresight, and the determination to avoid serious loss or disaster. Jesus is concerned here with something more critical than a financial crisis. His concern is that we avert spiritual crisis and personal disaster through exercise of faith and foresight. If Christians would only expend as much foresight and energy to spiritual matters which have eternal consequences as much as they do to earthly matters which have temporal consequences, then they would be truly better off, both in this life and in the age to come.

Application:

This story has a couple of meanings for application to our own personal situation. I suggest that the key point is the generous nature of the businessman.

Kenneth E. Bailey tells the story this way:

When the steward asks the first debtor, "How much do you owe my master?" he is not asking for information. A Middle Eastern estate manager has the accounts in his possession. The question is the opening move in the discussion between the steward and the debtor to insure that they agree on the amount of indebtedness. If the farmer quotes the same figure that is written on the steward's documents, they can proceed. If not, the figure will need to be debated. In a world where documentary evidence is limited, few people can read and oral tradition is honored, such niceties must be observed.

The debts and the reductions are enormous. Fifty measures of oil was worth about five hundred denari, which was the wage for a farm worker for a year and a half. The second renter receives roughly the same reduction even thought the percentage is different. It is in the steward's interest to have the debtors do the writing. He wants the changes in their handwriting recorded so that anyone looking at the accounts will recognize the handwriting and know that the renters have been contacted and have accepted in writing.

Each debtor makes the suggested changes in his rental agreement and returns to the village to share the "public" good news with family and friends. As word spreads in the village a festive mood breaks out in celebration of the most generous man who ever rented land in the history of the village and in praise of his steward who convinced the master to make huge reductions in their rents.

When the interviews are finished, the steward gathers the recently altered accounts and with a cat-that-ate-that-canary smile surrenders them to the master. The master takes the accounts, notes the changes recorded in the handwritings of his closest business associates and quickly considers his options. He is faced with two choices.

First, legally he can go to the village and explain that the reductions were not authorized, the steward had been fired at the time he made them, indeed he had no legal right to do anything, and the original amounts must be paid in full. But such an action would turn the party in progress that was praising his generosity, in to a gripe session attaching him as unreasonable and unfair. Or, second, the master can remain quiet, pay the price of this clever rascal's salvation and continue to enjoy his reputation as a generous man, which is enhanced by this ruse but not created by it. He is a generous man because he dismissed the steward but did not jail him. Furthermore, he could have sold the steward and his family as slaves to recoup his losses, yet he did not. His generous nature led him to refrain from both actions.

In the light of the extraordinary grace that he had just received, the steward decides to risk everything on one role of the dice. He builds his ruse on the basis of his unshakable awareness of the generous nature of his master. He "sins that grace might abound." As we will see, he is condemned for his action and praised for his confidence in his master's gracious nature. The steward succeeds. The community will discover the details and will be amazed at his intelligence and daring. They will not trust him but will nonetheless employ him on the basis that such a clever fellow "must work for us and not them." Abraham Lincoln wanted those in opposition to him to work for him, not for his opponents. He also wanted to keep them in sight and under close scrutiny. He knew that they had ability. In our parable, the community will employ the steward for the same reasons. (After all - he did make them a lot of money - but don't breathe a word!)

The master pays the price of the steward's salvation and commends him for his mental agility.

4.  Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25:14-30

14 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also.18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord's money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

20 "So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.' 21 His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.' 23 His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'

24 "Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.'

26 "But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

29 'For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

 Principle:  Creating abundance requires you to move beyond fear. If you do not you will likely bury your talents.

 Meditation:  What can economics and productivity teach us about the kingdom of Heaven? Jesus' story about a businessman who leaves town and entrusts his money and his workers made perfect sense to his audience. Wealthy merchants and businessmen often had to travel abroad and leave the business to others to handle while they were gone. Why did Jesus tell this story? Most importantly it tells us something about how God deals with us, his servants. The parable speaks first of the Master's trust in his servants. While he goes away he leaves them with his money to use as they think best. While there were no strings attached, this was obviously a test to see if the Master's workers would be industrious and reliable in their use of the money entrusted to them. Third, the master rewards those who are industrious and faithful and he punishes those who sit by idly and who do nothing with his money. The essence of the parable seems to lie in the servants' conception of responsibility. Each servant

entrusted with the master's money was faithful up to a certain point. The servant who buried the master's money was irresponsible. One can bury seeds in the ground and expect them to become productive because they obey natural laws. Coins, however, do not obey natural laws. They obey economic laws and become productive in circulation. The master expected his servants to be productive in the use of his money. What do coins and the law of economics have to do with the kingdom of God? The Lord entrusts the subjects of his kingdom with gifts and graces and he gives his subjects the freedom to use them as they think best. With each gift and talent, God gives sufficient the means (grace and wisdom) for using them in a fitting way. As the parable of the talents shows, God abhors indifference and an attitude that says it's not worth trying. God honors those who use their talents and gifts for doing good. Those who are faithful with even a little are entrusted with more! But those who neglect or squander what God has entrusted to them will lose what they have. There is an important lesson here for us. No one can stand still for long in the Christian life. We either get more or we lose what we have. We either advance towards God or we slip back. Do you earnestly seek to serve with the gifts, talents, and graces he has given to you?

"Lord, be the ruler of my heart and thoughts, be the king of my home and relationships, and be the master of my work and service. Help me to make good use of the gifts, talents, time, and resources you give me for your glory and your kingdom."

The Parable of the Talents

Steve Pavlina

Traditionally, the parable of the talents has been seen as an exhortation to Jesus' disciples to use their God-given gifts in the service of God, and to take risks for the sake of the Kingdom of God. These gifts have been seen to include personal abilities ("talents" in the everyday sense), as well as personal wealth. Failure to use one's gifts, the parable suggests, will result in judgment.

First, we're all given a different starting position. Some of us are born into abundance (five talents). Others are born into scarcity (one talent). But what matters isn't what we're given -   it's what we do with it that matters. So Jesus acknowledges the unfairness of life, but he also suggests that our starting conditions are irrelevant. One person earns five talents, another earns only two, but both are congratulated equally because both achieved a 100% gain. (I'd sure like to know where those servants invested their money!)

This is also a good lesson in how to deal with other human beings. Deal with other people based on their starting positions, and evaluate yourself by your own starting position. If you happen to be one of those who receives five talents, don't pat yourself on the back that you're already above average. If you have abundant talents, you should expect even more from yourself. Similarly, there may be times in your life where you only have one talent and do the best you can with it, and even though your gains appear small from an external standard, by Jesus' standard you've still made a notable accomplishment. I wrote about this previously in Raise Your Standards.

Another interesting aspect of the parable is that our talents are entrusted to us, like a master putting money into the care of his servants. We are stewards of our wealth, and I define wealth very loosely here, well beyond material possessions. For example, if I can write and speak fairly well, those are talents entrusted to me. I can bury them in the ground out of fear, or I can push out of my shell and strive to create increase for all.

One thing I wonder about the parable is this: What would have happened if one of the servants who invested the money realized a loss instead of a gain? There's a clue to how Jesus would have answered this because of how the master addressed the third servant: "You wicked, lazy servant!" Later the master refers to that servant as "worthless" and has him physically thrown out. That's pretty harsh language considering the servant still gave the master all his money back Is Jesus saying that inaction is wicked? Yes, I believe so. In other words, if you do nothing with your talents... if you hide them in the ground and hoard them, you are choosing to be wicked, lazy, and worthless. You are supposed to invest what you've been given. Don't be lazy.

Another clue is how the first two servants are praised. The master praises them for being "faithful." Very interesting. It would have been different if the master praised them for being shrewd or effective or profitable. But the praise is given for their faith, not for their results.

Given the language (and hopefully my points still work with non-English versions of this scripture), I conclude that if one of the servants had invested money and lost some or all of it, they would still have been praised for their faithfulness. However, given that Jesus doesn't directly address this condition in the parable, he may also be suggesting that faith itself is the path to success -   a common theme in his other teachings. So perhaps if you use your talents faithfully, you aren't really going to lose.

Another notable quality of the parable is the lack of competition. The servants aren't competing with each other for their master's favor. It's not a zero-sum game. The first two servants both contribute something of value to their master's estate.

What's the ultimate reward for the faithful servants? Although Jesus doesn't explicitly say it, it seems obvious they don't get to keep the money. The two successful servants aren't even working for their own increase. It's not their money. They're working for the increase of their master, and they share in the increase to his estate. Their true reward is to share in their master's happiness. So happiness is the reward, and happiness comes from serving others.

I know from experience that if I undertake some action to create increase only for myself, there's very little energy to it, and it doesn't usually increase my happiness. But if I focus on creating increase for others (such as by helping people grow), then I feel great joy in doing that, and it ultimately creates increase for me too.

But there's more to it than that. Happiness is a quality that I inject into my work, not something I derive from it. When I work only for myself, I'm looking for happiness outside myself. Trying to achieve happiness that way doesn't work But when I work for others' benefit and turn off WIIFM for a while (What's In It For Me?), I tap into the deep wells of happiness that are already inside me. Instead of trying to achieve happiness, I happily

achieve. Happiness flows outward from me and into the work I do, so I experience it as an outflow, not an inflow.

Happiness is something you exhale, not something you inhale. Are you one of those people who must say, "Yes, Senator, I had a supply of happiness in my gut, but I did not exhale?"

As Jesus implies in The Parable of the Talents, creating abundance requires you to move beyond fear. If you're too fearful or suspicious or distrustful, you're going to bury your talents. And this leads to "weeping and gnashing of teeth," i.e. sorrow and depression.

You might think that fear and suspicion will keep you out of trouble, but really they'll just cause you suffering and pain. You don't need fear to avoid being a gullible idiot; for that you just need common sense. To live a life of abundance, you must ultimately move beyond fear and work to create abundance for others. Otherwise you'll ultimately be cast out as worthless. Jesus doesn't pull any punches here, youse bums.

Serve to create increase for others, and happiness is your reward. Bury your talents, and you get "weeping and gnashing of teeth." The choice is yours.

And that's my parablog for the day.

Application:

This simple story makes some interesting points that are applicable to the pursuit of personal development.

Begin in 2 Areas:

1. The Power of Attitude

Mac Anderson:

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. In many ways, we're alike; however, one little difference almost always makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude.

William James, over a century ago, said, "The greatest discovery of this generation is that a human being can alter their life by altering their attitude." I believe this with all my heart, and over the years have seen it happen countless times. What most people fail to realize is that your attitude not only impacts your happiness and your success, it also can impact the happiness and success of all the people around you... your family, your friends, and your peers at work. Attitudes truly are contagious, and from time to time we need to ask ourselves... "is mine worth catching?"

There is no way to overstate the importance of a positive attitude in your life. However, no one can underestimate the difficulty in maintaining it. It's not easy, and it's a very personal thing, but it can be done.

The Power of Attitude was written with that in mind. I only can share with your what works for me in....

2. "The secret to living is giving."

B.I. Gallagher

I discovered that when I give my time, my attention, my money, my thoughtfulness to another- I feel wonderful.

When I gave my friend the benefit of the doubt, I felt compassionate.

In giving,

we generate warmth.

In giving,

we feel connected;

In giving,

we discover love.

When I gave my subway seat to an old lady,

I felt kind.

When I dropped a dollar

into the street musician's hat, I felt generous.

When I wrote a check to a worthy cause,

I felt virtuous.

When I lent a hand to someone at work,

I felt a part of the team.

When I brought a meal to my grieving neighbor,

I felt empathetic.

When I gave some water to a thirsty dog,

I felt happy.

When I let a harried driver cut in front of me on the road,

I felt patient.

"It's better to give than receive," my mother used to say.

But it took some years to experience

before I fully understood what she meant.

Make it a Purpose to Know Your Purpose:

David Zerfoss

My good friend and author, Kevin McCarthy, wrote two books titled, The On-Purpose Person and The On-Purpose Business. They have both been a key component of my business and personal life. In fact, every new vendor and every new employee I met with in the past ten years received a copy of these books form me. In The On-Purpose Person, Kevin artfully illustrates how each of us has a unique purpose in life. Our purpose is our heart andsoul. It's who we are and why we exist. When we are "on-purpose" we are at our best,  we are in the zone; we feel energized. We have meaning. When we are off-purpose, we can become stressed.

Whether your business life is overly complicate or your personal life (or both),you have chosen this current system of chaos. The world is a tantalizing swirl of getting the next ''fix," tempting us to fit more and more things, people and processes into our lives, personally and professionally. And because we are so busy being busy, it's easy to be lured into the fray, with our lengthy to-do lists. Yet, the greatest achievements have often come from the simplest of ideas and in the simplest forms.

To experience life, we first have to learn to slow down long enough to see through all the clutter.  We need to realize that we are powerful magnets that attracted this life to ourselves - no matter what - good or bad.

Some Questions to Ask Yourself:

1.    If you were designed for a reason, what do you think your unique role is?

2.   What are your truly passionate about? What lights you up?

3.    Do you have a mentor who helps guide you in your work or personal life?

4.    How was holding on to your past put limits on your future?

5.   What might you need to leave behind or let go of in order to move forward into the future?

6.   Is there a situation or a conversation from the past that you need to deal with in the present in order to move on to your future?

7.   What challenges are you facing today?

8.    Is your attitude a powerful match for them?

9.    Who is your hero in life?

The Reflection:

We have often stopped along the path that these parables have taken us to consider what "a rich man" is in reality. In the time of Jesus the rich were a small minority indeed, and the poor were all around. Today's economy is quite different, since in the West the vast majority of us are comparatively rich - even ifwe don't always feel that way! Despite widespread poverty in the less developed countries, there are many who are rich, and there is great potential for increased wealth.

Much of Europe, including the leading capitalist economy of Britain, once had poverty like that of today's lesser developed economies. Today, because economic wealth can be achieved by good economic management, these poor nations themselves have greater possibilities for their tomorrow. Yet it seems so often that state planning or political will are supposed to triumph while commerce is denied its role as the driver of economic success. This is a little like asking your medical doctor to unclog your sink. Perhaps he can do it, but he doesn't have professional skills to offer in this area. Likewise, good economics and commercial management are the way to create economic wealth. Political will can help by not hindering commerce and by not putting red tape and bureaucracy in the way of people trying to be entrepreneurial. Political will in these countries can also help by stamping out corruption in their dealings.

When we see poverty in our communities or elsewhere in the world, we cannot help but contrast this with our own wealth. However, we can also look up the social scale and feel our own lack of wealth compared to others. Perhaps we can sometimes feel that little tinge of envy. If we do not appreciate how wealthy we are in reality, then we feel we ought to have more. To a greater or lesser extent, there is a little envy in all of us. Wealth and poverty touches our feelings in different ways. If we help the poor, then we can feel good about ourselves and feel empowered in some way, perhaps unaware of the sense that the poor have in fact become an object to us. This is not to sound cynical about all our actions; it is to point out that there is an element of these unwanted feelings within us, whether we like it or not.

There was no such struggle in the heart of the rich man in our parable, since he was completely disinterested in the poor man. (I will note here that some Bible interpreters have questioned if this passage truly is a parable. Such issues aren't germane to...

Can it not be that God has given us the mechanism of the market and economics to organize our complex global population, just as he has given us science to cure disease? Such an argument is usually immediately scoffed at, but why? Robert Nozick's suggestion that it is because intellectuals resent the fact that the market economy does not recognize their worth may equally apply to theologians and church leaders. For this reason, theologians and church leaders rally against capitalism, rather than follow the biblical example evident throughout the discussion of these economic parables. Jesus was more pragmatic in his view, but then again he was a carpenter and not a Pharisee or church leader.

In the parables we have studied together, Jesus took everyday examples from nature and mundane life to explain how great and wonderful is the kingdom of God. He would start by saying something like "The kingdom of God is like...," which resonates or strikes a chord in our nature because everything comes from God. Thus, we can see God at work in the economy. In a negative sense, this goes back to the beginning and the banishment of Adam: "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever. So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken" (Genesis 3:22-23).

"Good morals are good economics." Peter Daniels

5.  Parable of the Leaven

"Another parable He spoke to them: 'The kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."

Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:20, 21

Principle:  Leaven is a powerful agent of change. It works unseen and causes a transformation from within. A lump of dough left to itselfremains just that until leaven is added which produces growth when heated, wholesome bread which is the staple of life for mankind...

Definition:  leaven = reserved for the purpose of spreading and transforming influence; leaven produces growth

Noun

1.     A substance, as yeast or baking powder, that causes fermentation and expansion of dough or batter.

2.    Fermented dough reserved for producing fermentation in a new batch of dough.

3.    An element that produces an altering or transforming influence.

Verb (used with object)

1.    To add leaven to (dough or batter) and cause to rise.

2.   To permeate with an altering or transforming element.

Woman - hid (conceal) - three measures. We are made up of three parts:

•       Body (sense conscious)

•      Soul (self conscious; I Thessalonians 5:23)

•      Spiritual (God conscious)

Physical, Emotional and Spiritual

In the baking of leavened bread, leaven, a one-called fungus, is combined with other ingredients (including flour, water and sugar) to make bread dough. When given moisture, warmth and sugar to feed on, the leaven ferments and generates bubbles of carbon dioxide throughout the dough, causing it to rise.

Sometimes it does not take a lot of leaven to bring about change. Story refers to three measures.

Leaven - it takes time to fulfill the process.

The parable of the leaven provides a message of encouragement. Remember, leaven is hidden and takes time to show growth.

Examples:

Physical - dieting to lose weight Emotional - relationships; self-worth Spiritual - time to get to know God Financial - seed planting

Application:

It takes time for leaven to work in all areas of life. Many times it takes just a little leaven (change) to make a huge difference.

"Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened."

I Corinthians 4:6, 7

"A little leaven leavens the whole lump." Galatians 5:9

The Definition of a Goal

"A goal is a specific, measurable, and time-bound end toward which you direct specific effort until achieved!"

Gary Ryan Blair

Rule #1 - Be decisive

Rule #2 - Stay focused

Rule #3 - Write your goals

Rule #4 - Plan thoroughly

Rule #5 - Involve others

Rule #6 - Welcome failure

Rule #7 - Take purposeful action

Rule #8 - Inspect what you expect

Rule #9 - Reward yourself

Rule #10 - Maintain personal integrity

Habits Die Hard:

Mac Anderson

1.     Identify and define the habit

2.    Feel the habit - do not resist

3.    Take measure - know the score

4.    Ask why? Be curious

5.    Imagine and visualize the change

6.    Assess the risk

7.    Be the change

8.    Feel the change

9.    Give thanks and appreciation

10. Maintain the gain

Conclusion: Planting the seeds of change What are your leavens?

6.  Parable of the Rich Fool

Luke 12:13-21

13 Then one from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

14 But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"

15 And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness,[b] for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."

16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.

17 And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'

18 So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.

19 And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."'

20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'

21 "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Principle:  The things that we possess - to whom do they belong?

We all know the saying "You can't take it with you" when you pass on - Have you every wondered why?

John Maxwell

The Law of Navigation: Jesus Charts the Course for His Disciples

(Luke 12:1-59)

Jesus provided good instruction for His disciples on issues such as integrity, anxiety, convictions, problem solving, greed, jealousy, priorities, and trusting God. Why these topics? Because Jesus intended to navigate life for His followers, to teach them how to live successfully.

If we were to condense the Lord's perspective on success in life, we might say that success involves:

•       Decisions: We must know the truth and accept it.

•       Servanthood: We must find a need and fill it.

•       Determination: We must face a challenge and meet it.

•       Sacrifice: We must lose our life to find it.

•       Preparation: We must develop a plan and follow it.

•       Action: We must discover God's will and obey it.

•       A gift: We must find our talent and share it.

Quote from David Cowan:

The setting of the parable is a man asking Jesus to rule on an inheritance dispute between himself and his brother. Most likely this was a younger brother who had a grievance against the oldest son in the family, who typically received double portion of the father's estate (see Deuteronomy 21:17). This younger brother probably wanted to collect his share and become independent, but the oldest had refused because he wanted their father's inheritance to remain together. Such disputes would usually be resolved by appeal to a rabbi. Jesus responds by asking the man where he got the idea that Jesus would resolve the matter. Jesus has in mind a much bigger issue than this one dispute.

Wanting to convey the spiritual dangers of wealth and covetousness, Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool. The rich man in this simple story has a problem: How can he store excess grain from this year's bumper crop? He is not worried about his wealth deserting him because he believes he is set for life. He has every confidence that he can enjoy his wealth, sit back, and rejoice in the plenty. He does this without regard for neighbor or God. This is an attitude of folly! God enters the story and addresses him directly, confronting him with a crisis: "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you."

 Quote from Arland J. Hultgren:

The Parable of the Rich Fool portrays a man who is in many ways exemplary. He is a person who works, plans, saves, and seeks to protect his belongings. He expects to enjoy what he has acquired and to make his future as secure as possible.

Persons who conduct their lives in such a manner, caring for themselves and for those who depend upon them, are considered prudent and good stewards of what has been entrusted to them. Persons who give no thought to the future for themselves and their loved ones are considered reckless. There is no virtue in that manner of living. The plan fact is that some courses of life are better and wiser than others. The way of work, planning, and saving is obviously better and wiser than the way of sloth, failure to plan, and waste. The flaw that beset the rich fool, however, was not a life of work and prudence.

Instead it was that he was consumed by his possessions and that the meaning and value of his life depended upon them. The man and his possessions are so intimately tied together that they are inseparable. In English translations the personal pronoun 'T shows up six times and the possessive "my" five times ("my crops," "my barns," "my grain," "my goods," and "my soul") in the six verses of the parable (RSV, NRSV).

The parable provides an example of what one ought not to be like. The person whose identity is tied up with his or her possessions, status, and/or achievements - and is driven by acquiring them - can so easily end up unaware of the call of God and the need of the neighbor. The alternative is a life that is "rich toward God," one that is devoted to serving God daily, which includes having eyes open to the needs of others.

Jesus' Response to the Question of Covetousness

Luke 19:15

And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."

He proceeds to tell the man the Parable of the Rich Fool. This person was materially blessed by God; his land "produced plentifully" (v. 16). As God continued to bless the man, instead of using his increase to further the will of God, all he was interested in was managing his increase and accumulating his growing wealth. So the man builds larger barns in place of the existing ones and starts planning an early retirement. Unbeknownst to him, this was his last night on planet earth. Jesus then closes the story by saying, "So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."

So the point of the Parable of the Rich Fool is twofold. One, we are not to devote our lives to the gathering and accumulation of wealth. There is an interesting point made in the parable. God says to the man in the story, "and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" This echoes the thought expressed in Ecclesiastes 2:18 ("I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me."). You see it all the time in people who are singularly devoted to the accumulation of wealth. What happens to all that wealth when they die? It gets left behind to others who didn't earn it and won't appreciate it. Furthermore, if money is your master, that means God is not (Matthew 6:24).

The second point of the Parable of the Rich Fool is the fact that we are not blessed by God to hoard our wealth to ourselves. We are blessed to be a blessing in the lives of others and we are blessed to build the kingdom of God. The Bible says if our riches increase, we are not to set our hearts upon it (Psalm 62:10). The Bible also says there is one who gives freely and grows all the richer (Proverbs 11:24). Finally the Bible says we are to honor God with the first fruits of our increase (Proverbs 3:9-10). The point is clear, if we honor God with what he has given us, He will bless with more so that we can honor Him with more. There is a passage in Second Corinthians that summarizes this aptly (2 Corinthians 9:6-15). In that passage Paul says, "And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that having all contentment in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work" We are blessed by God, so we can in turn "abound in every good work" and be a blessing in the lives of others. So if God has blessed you with material wealth "set not your heart on it" and "be rich toward God." That is the message of the Parable of the Rich Fool.

Meditation:  What causes disputes and what's the best means for settling them? In Jesus' time it was customary for people to take their disputes to the rabbis for settlement. Jesus refuses such a case and instead gives the disputant a parable to "mull over". How would you react if Jesus refused to settle your dispute, but gave you a parable instead? What is the point of Jesus' story about a wealthy landowner and why does he call him a fool? Jesus does not fault him for his industriousness, but for his egoism and selfishness. Like the rich man and Lazarus, he had lost the capacity to be concerned for others. His life was consumed with his possessions and his only interests were in himself. His death was the final loss of his soul! In the parable of the rich fool Jesus gives a lesson on using material possessions. His lesson contains a warning to beware of all covetousness. To covet is to wish to get wrongfully what another possesses or to begrudge what God gave him. Jesus restates the commandment do not covet, but he also states that a person's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. In this little parable Jesus probes the heart -- where is your treasure? Treasure has a special connection to the heart, the place of desire and longing, the place of will and focus. The thing we most set our heart on is our highest treasure. What do you treasure most?

"Lord, free me from all covetousness and from attachment to possessions. May I wholly desire you as my treasure and portion. Help me to make good use of the material blessings you give me that I may use them generously for your glory and for the good of others."

Application:

1. How important are your material possessions to you?

2. Could you pass more of them on today?

3. Do you accept the premise that God owns everything and we are but stewards, or managers, as David claims in Psalm 50:10-15?

For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills.

  I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.

  "If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.

  Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats?

  Offer to God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High.

  Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me."

When we acknowledge God's ownership,

every spending decision becomes a spiritual decision. It becomes very easy to spend somebody's money.

7. Parable of the Ten Minas

Luke 19:11-26

 Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately.

Therefore He said: "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas,[b] and said to them, 'Do business till I come.' 14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.'

And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. 16 Then came the first, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned ten minas.' 17 And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.' 18 And the second came, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned five minas.' 19 Likewise he said to him, 'You also be over five cities.'

20 "Then another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. 21 For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.' 22 And he said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will judge you,you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. 23 Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?'

24 "And he said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has

ten minas.' 25 (But they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas.') 26 'For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 27 But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me."'

John Maxwell

Stewardship: Leaders are Brokers of Resources

(Luke 19:11-26)

Jesus told a story about a landowner who gave ten men some funds to spend, save, or invest. Each did as he saw fit, and when the owner returned, he rewarded them according to how wisely they used their resources. Those who multiplied what had been entrusted to them received even more to use. The one who failed had even his little money taken away.

Our Lord wants us to remember that leaders are brokers of the resources they have been given. Those resources may include people, budget, time, wisdom, and talents. When leaders broker those resources well, God rewards them and gives them even more to invest. When they fail, they lose what little they have.

This is a sobering truth, but one that leaders would do well to remember. Do you want more resources? If so, what are you doing with what you already have?

The story is about a businessman who left town to accept another offer or maybe to visit head-office. He was not very well-liked for some reason unknown to us. The businessman gave ten of his employees ten minas - which was about 3 month's wages. He gave them the same instructions:

Do business, or occupy, until I return.

Upon his return from what appears to have been a very successful trip, he asked for a meeting with all ten employees. We get the result from just three of them. It would appear that the leader had political connections as well.

Servant Number One:

Master I have doubled 100% return on your investment. Reward - in charge of 10 cities

Servant Number Two:

Master I have made a 50% return on your investment. Reward - in charge of 5 cities

Servant Number Three:

No return, not even bank interest

Reward - mina taken back and given to Servant Number One

Conclusion: Servant Number Three probably had no goal or ambition; plus the leader had no time for all the complaining.

Application:

The key principle in this story is faithfulness in using what you have or have been given. So this begs the questions:

1.    Do you have written goals for all areas of your life?         Studies show only 3-4% of people ever do.

Someone without written goals - life is just wishful thinking.

2.   Do you follow through on your commitments?

Three principles of success:

1.    Communication

2.   Education

3.    Recognition

8.         Parable of the Mustard Seed

Luke 13:18-19; Mark4:30-32; Matthew 13:31-32

31 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."

Principle:  We reap what we sow

This story is about the planting of a mustard seed, which at this time was the smallest and least seed known to man.

Please realize that in the days of Jesus on Earth, most of the economy was AGRICULTURAL.

The mustard plant is a weed and like all weeds, will grow anywhere. These plants have been known to grow as high as ten feet, sometimes even higher.

Interpretation:

The plant referred to here is generally considered to be black mustard, a large annual plant up to 9 feet tall,[2] but growing from a proverbially small seed[2] (this smallness is also used to refer to faith in Matthew 17:20 and Luke 17:6). According to rabbinical sources, Jews did not grow the plant in gardens,[2] and this is consistent with Matthew's description of it growing in a field. Luke tells the parable with the plant in a garden instead; this is presumably recasting the story for an audience outside Palestine.[2]

There is a "subversive and scandalous"[6] element to this parable, in that the fast-growing nature of the mustard plant makes it a "malignant weed"[6] with "dangerous takeover properties".[6] Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (published around AD 78) writes that "mustard... is extremely beneficial for the health. It grows entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted: but on the other hand when it has once been sown it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once."[9] Ben Witherington notes that Jesus could have chosen a genuine tree for the parable, and that the mustard plant demonstrates that "Though the dominion appeared small like a seed during Jesus' ministry, it would inexorably grow into something large and firmly rooted, which some would find shelter in and others would find obnoxious and try to root out."[7]

We all reap what we so in all areas of life, as there is no growth unless a seed is planted. Seed planting is always a choice that is within our control.

After the flood, God promised eight times these we can count on:

Genesis 8:22 "For as long as Earth lasts, planting and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and winter, day and night will never stop."

1.    Planting

2.    Harvest

3.    Cold

4.    Heat

5.    Summer

6.    Winter

7.    Day

8.     Night

will never stop

The only one of the eight that we have control over is number one, THE PLANTING. Everything else is up to God.

Psalm 104:16 says

The trees of the Lord are full of sap. Sap is the life-blood of any tree.

Function:

Sap is sometimes called the blood of a tree because it circulates inside a tree, carrying nutrients and water throughout the tree. The sap is basically a nutrient transport system inside the tree; a tree would die if sap didn't circulate inside it. Sap is also a nutritious food eaten by many forest creatures such as squirrels.

Benefits:

Tree sap not only benefits the tree, but it also people. Tree sap is extracted and used to make maple syrup, latex, resins, hair removal and other products. Tree sap is sometimes added to natural soaps and bath care products due to its nutrient contents. The sap also helps to hold things together. Fossilized resin from tree sap is made into amber jewelry. Scientists have also found mosquitoes and other small insects inside fossilized tree sap.

So the questions become:

1.    What type of seeds are you planting in your personal, family business, or occupational life?

2.    What type of sap is being applied to seed planting?

After you plant a seed in any part of your life, here are words and actions to consider:

1.    Attitude

2.    Follow-up

3.    Encouragement

4.    Love

5.    Praise

6.    Recognition

7.    Thank you's

9.  Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

Matthew 18:21-35

21 Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"

22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

28 "But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!' 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet[a] and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'[b] 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.

35 "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses."

How should we manage our debts?

 Answer:  We find the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant only in Matthew 18:23-35. The Apostle Peter had asked how many times one should forgive, "Till seven times?" and Jesus answered, "not seven times but seventy times seven" (Matt. 18:21-22). The context of this passage is Jesus teaching His disciples about the "kingdom of Heaven". We can take??

The servant whose lord forgave him much, ten thousand talents, equivalent to several millions of dollars, was unwilling to forgive another servant who owed him a hundred denarii. A denarius was a day's wage and was worth approximately sixteen cents.

Therefore, compared to what the first servant was forgiven, this was a very small amount. The principle here is, "the one forgiven much should forgive much." In other words, the principle of forgiveness is that grace or forgiveness to another is without limit. The disciples are not to count the number of times they forgive. Rather, as the parable teaches, they are to forgive much because God has forgiven much.

Therefore, in the Parable of the Unforgiving/Unmerciful/Unjust Servant, Jesus is teaching His disciples, and us by extension, that forgiveness should be in like proportion to the amount forgiven. The first servant had been forgiven all, and he then should have forgive all. In like manner, a child of God by faith through Christ has had all sins forgiven. Therefore,

when someone offends or sins against us we should e willing to forgive him from a heart of gratitude or the grace to which we ourselves are debtors.

David Cowan in his book, "Economic Parables" states "the Old Testament forbade debt, yet Jesus seems to accept debt in this parable. Today's economy is heavily dependent on debt. Many people get deeply into debt, often ending up battling collection agencies if not declaring bankruptcy. What is the Christian attitude toward debt? Should we be generous in helping people mired in debt?

Have you seen that great Lending Tree ad on TV, where a guy is driving around a large yard on his lawn tractor, telling us all the great things he owns? At the end of the ad he asks the viewer, 'how can I afford this?' Then he looks directly into the camera and says cheerfully through gritted teeth, 'because I'm in debt up to my eyeballs. I can barely pay my finance charges. Somebody help me!"

Debt is something that, in varying measures, nearly all of us have. We may have a mortgage, a car loan, credit card balances or many other kinds of debt. The value of debt is that it can be used to leverage our earnings and investments - by financing big items and freeing up our monthly income for other things while some of the big items accrue in value beyond their original costs. A good example is our house and the improvements we make to it through financing loans, which enables us to use debt to increase our financial security and overall worth. However, debt can also be a liability that contributes to the loss of value in our investments, such as when a crash in the housing market occurs.

British economist John Maynard Keynes suggested that if you owe the bank a dollar you have a problem; but if you owe the bank a million dollars, then the bank has a problem. Brazil's finance minister a few years back added, "And if you're Brazil, then you own the bank!" U.S. banks had sunk so much money into Latin American economies that the reality was they were beholden to the finance ministers. They had to work out a deal to solve the debt crisis.

Individuals also borrow money against their assets, usually their home. And when you deposit your paycheck into the bank, you have created a debt, because the bank now owes you what you deposited. Your asset becomes the bank's liability. Your credit card debts, on the other hand, become the assets of your bank or card issuer. Our financial situation is tied to our reputation for keeping up with these payments because our borrowing power if based on our previous record ofrepaying loans and bills."

"We learn the real value of forgiveness in this parable. We can look round us and see all the wonderful things we have. We can wonder at the world created to sustain us. We can stand in awe at the marvelous things God has given us. We can turn to ourselves land see how little we have to give in return. Yet God does not demand much from us, only that we give ourselves to Him in faith. This is the set of spiritual accounts God keeps with us and we are up to our eyeballs in debt!

"Generosity is relative - like a man with a hole in his shoe is better off than a man with no shoes. We read Romans 13:8: "let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another." We need to look beyond our problems and our self-absorbed view of our situation and in love look to others and how they live. We can easily fool ourselves into being less than generous. We can pretend that someone wealthier, with less money hassles, will help the poor. We can also think that all the solutions will come from someone else because we are too wrapped up in our own problems."

Application:

1.    Obviously to be debt free is the ultimate position to be in.

2.    Pay your debts on time - Proverbs lll3:27-28. When you owe money it is not yours, so pay on schedule.

"One of the biggest rewards of obeying God and paying your debts on time is the freedom to do the right thing when God speaks."     - Robert Morris

To get out of debt or to pay your debt on time, you may have to change your lifestyle - it is called downsizing.

Keypoint:  Be as eager to repay a loan as it was to obtain it.

3.    If you put up security for a personal loan or business loan, be sure it is not a basic necessity like your home - Proverbs 22:26-27

Solomon's sound business advice - "don't sign until you are sure".

Keypoint:  Remember your home is your wife's castle... don't mess with it.

The old English proverb says it best... 'Better safe than sorry'.

3.    Do not be afraid to forgive debts of others.

ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN

Take time to consider and write down what you think your life purposes include.