Reading Plan

If you’re looking to dive deeper into what the Bible says about this topic, here’s a suggested Reading Plan, one passage per day for a whole week, based on the sermon:

1. MONDAY: Matthew 25:14-30
2. TUESDAY: Matthew 6:25-34
3. WEDNESDAY: Luke 12:35-48
4. THURSDAY: 2 Timothy 1:6-14
5. FRIDAY: 1 Thessalonians 2
6. SATURDAY: 2 Timothy 2:1-13
7. SUNDAY: 1 Peter 5

eGroup Discussion Questions – Great for personal reflection/journaling, too!

Sermon Notes: “Flip the Bag” ⤵️

Preacher: Steve Furtick
Passage: Matthew 25:14-28
Title: Flip the Bag
Series: Kingdom Clout
Date: February 2, 2020

Sermon Notes are taken during the 9:30 Experience at the Columbia Campus.

Introduction

• We are surrounded by circumstances that make us feel insignificant.
• Parables show us God is big but also that he cares about the little things
  • The kingdom is about what you care about
  • It’s not just the big epic stuff, it’s the little day-to-day stuff too
  • That all matters to God too, “his eye is on the sparrow” (from a worship song based on Matthew 6:26)
  • The kingdom is invisible, but intimate and close

A. Kingdom Compound Interest

• This parable has always been known as the Parable of the Talents, but the NIV now uses the phrase “bags of gold” to really drive home the point. [“Talent” in that culture isn’t natural talent, it’s a measurement of money, and lots of it, i.e., a bag of gold]
  • Even though the parable is about bags of gold, it’s not really about money. [It’s about what we do with what we’ve been given.]
  • “You entrusted me” (vv. 20, 22) — The faithful servants knew that what they had belonged to the master.
• Pastor Steven shares a message about Elevation making the decision, back in their early days, to go from one service to two.
  • It was a big deal when we started.
  • Sometimes you have to restart the meeting… it wasn’t an if meeting, it was a when meeting.
  • Now we have 20 campuses and an eFam joining us from all around the world.
  • What if we had stayed at one service?
• What is on your side of the decision to double what God gave you?
  • Jesus says “this is what the kingdom is like”: What to do with the one and only life God has given you.
  • Your kingdom investments have compound interest. The little things have big payoffs.

B. Entrusted v. Entitled

• “the man who had received five bags of gold went at once” (v. 16)
  • When God tells you to do something, you got to do it quickly before the devil has a chance to talk you out of it.
• “the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.” (v. 18)
  • The man who hid the gold hid what wasn’t his to hide
  • The flip comes when you realize what you have isn’t yours to begin with
  • The decision to double what God gave us begins with realizing it still belongs to God
  • He entrusted his servants. Is it possible that God has trusted you more than you have trusted him?
• Do you think you’re more like the man with five bags, the man with two bags, or the man with one bag?
  • If you ask me, I see myself as a “one bag man.”
  • But it’s not how many bags you start with that determines how much you can do. It’s how quick you flip the bag.
  • Whenever God speaks to you, you need to snatch the seed and sow it forward, don’t just consume it, share it!
  • You’ve been entrusted, not entitled.
  • God isn’t mad over the time you don’t have. He can speak to you in three minutes and change the next 30 years of your life.
• It’s a blessing just to be here.
• It’s a blessing just to have a bag.
• It’s a blessing just to be saved.

C. It’s Still a Million

• “One Bag Billy” was happy with his one bag until he met “Two Bag Timmy”
  • Or in our modern world, One Bag Billy went on Instagram.
  • Then they both met “Five Bag Freddy”
  • Get this in your spirit: “You’ve got a lot.”
  • People who live to be 71 take 750 million breaths. Don’t waste them!
  • You feel good about your vacation until you see someone else’s.
• One talent = 6,000 days worth of daily wages, hard to convert into today’s currency, but it’s a large amount, like a million dollars.
  • Feeling bad for Billy? It’s still a million dollars.
  • I bet you have a million things to thank God for right now
  • In our world we worship the bag and we don’t see what’s in it
• Would you take a million dollars?
  • The devil makes you see little where there really is a lot.
  • You’re still here.
  • He still loves you.
  • You’re still saved.
  • It’s still a million.
  • The devil keeps you focused on what other people have so that you’re not grateful for what you do have.
• Pastor Steven shares about how his mother raised money for his guitar lessons by selling pine cones dipped in scented wax and his dad would cut the hair of the guitar instructor for free. Years later, the song “Oh Come to the Altar” went Platinum.
  • She turned pine cones into platinum.
  • I didn’t study music theory. I didn’t know a whole lot of chords. But the chords I knew, I put to work.
• Double down on your gift and God will bring you people to do the things that you suck at.
• If you could have one million today or one penny today, but it doubled every day for 30 days, which would you take?
  • If you double a penny every day for 30 days, you would end up with over five million dollars.
  • [Long term kingdom investment in small ways leads to a big pay out.]