In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the parables of the dishonest steward and being faithful with God's gifts. The dishonest steward, knowing he was going to lose his job, cleverly manipulates his master's debtors to secure his future. The preacher emphasizes the importance of making wise decisions in how we use our time, money, and resources, as these decisions ultimately shape our character and determine our relationship with God. The sermon also highlights the significance of recognizing that everything we have is a loan from God, and our duty is to be faithful in giving back to Him.

We come to our last study today on the parables and our subject today is being faithful with God's gifts and we want to turn first of all parable number 35 Matthew chapter 21 and verse 33 to 41. As we've been looking at the parables I mentioned at the beginning that Jesus explained only two of the 40 parables that he spoke and he expected us I believe to understand the meaning of the remaining 38 and that's what we've been trying to do and what I have said in these days and what I'm going to say today is only something to give you a little incentive to go and study the parables yourself and there's a lot more that you can find there which I have not shared there's a lot more that you can discover that God's speaking to your own heart through these parables and if we use what God gives us means if you obey the light God gives us then he will give us more light but if you study the scriptures or the parables just to get more knowledge either for your own satisfaction or because you want to preach that then you are in great danger God has given us his word to apply in our daily life the bible says Jesus said man shall live by every word of God not man shall study or increase in knowledge man shall live by every word that proceeds from the considered our words that proceed to the mouth of God and they are given to us to live not to just study and increase in knowledge please keep that in mind not only in your study of the parables but in all of your study of the word of God so Matthew chapter 21 in verse 33 to 41 it's speaking here about the wicked tenants there's a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and built a tower and I want you to notice one word here rented it he didn't give it he didn't sell it he rented it now you know the difference between a house that you've bought and a house that you've rented a field that you've bought in a field that you've rented a rented field doesn't belong to you it's a loan and he went on a journey and when the harvest time came he sent his slaves to get the the produce the whatever they have grown there and the wine growers took his slaves and beat one and killed the other and stoned a third this is a picture of God having first given his message to the Jewish people to Israel and then he sent his prophets and they persecuted them killed them stoned them then he sent another group of prophets verse 36 they did the same thing then afterward he sent his son that's sending Jesus Christ they say saying they'll respect my son but when the wine growers saw the son they said let's kill him because then we can take over the inheritance because he's the heir they took him through him outside the vineyard outside Jerusalem they crucified him and then what will the owner of the vineyard come do when he comes to these people well he'll bring those wretches to a wretched end and he'll rent out the vineyard to other wine growers that is to the church so now we've been given this field what for the last part of verse 41 to pay him the proceeds at the proper season when we have a field that we have rented if it's your own field you can do what you like but when it's rented to you you have to give the proceeds from your cultivating the field to the owner and that's what we need to see here that everything God gives us on earth material things is alone it doesn't belong to us we have no possession of possessive rights over anything that God has given us it's very important for us to recognize that our body is alone time that God has given us to live on earth is alone money that you earn or material things that you own or possess or that you receive as an inheritance from your parents are not yours they're alone you know sometimes particularly in Christian work people say this is my money and this is the Lord's money actually everything is the Lord's money but sometimes people act in a very possessive way to what they think they have inherited or what they have earned in one timothy chapter six i want you to see a verse here it says here one timothy chapter six and verse seven it's a very important verse it says here that we brought nothing into the world therefore and that therefore is very important so it is clear that we cannot take anything out of it either you know one sentence is dependent on the other sentence why is it that when a man who has accumulated a lot of money in his lifetime and acquired a lot of property when he dies God does not allow him to take even one rupee one paisa anything that he's earned out of this earth if it belonged to him then we'd have to say God is a thief to take it away from him when he dies but God is not a thief what God says to the man when he's dying is listen when you came to this earth you came naked you didn't even have a shirt on you you didn't own anything and so when you go you have to go in exactly the same way that's what it says here because we brought nothing into the world when we were born that's the reason why when we die we can't take anything out so what about all the things that we had when we were on earth during our lifetime of 50 60 70 years that was a loan maybe you thought it was yours people in the world think I own this and I own that but a man a godly man recognizes I own nothing everything is a loan and God loans it to me just like he loaned it to the vineyard people in the vineyard so that I use it for him not for myself and that's the foolishness of the people in Israel in the old testament time they used they thought this is all ours we can do what we like and God rejected them and now he's given it to the church now what do we do with God's gifts people around the world Christians they also make the same mistake oh this is ours I can live my life as I like no you can't your life is alone I can spend my money as I like no you can't it's alone I can spend my time as my like you can't it's alone everything is alone that's what we need to recognize what Jesus is trying to teach in this parable let me show you another verse in 1 corinthians in chapter 10 1 corinthians in chapter 10 and verse 26 now in the king james version it doesn't come out so clearly the earth is the lords and the fullness thereof what it means here in the nasb that I use is the earth is the lords and all that it contains to whom does the earth belong to the lord what about everything that's contained on the earth the gold the silver the property all the wealth of the earth it says here very clearly it belongs to the lord then how do I have it some of it in my name it's a loan it's a loan god has loaned it to me I must never never forget that and my duty is to be faithful in giving to god the produce of this loan this vineyard that he's rented out to me he's not given me anything and god sends god sent his son to receive that produce and now I have to give to Jesus that produce that means what I'm able to produce with my life my time my money I'm to give to his son okay we go to the next parable and that is luke chapter 12 these parables you know and all relating to money and I want you to know one thing that in the gospels if I'm if I recollect correctly an average of one out of every six verses speaks about money that means 16 percent talk about money money is a very very important subject in the teaching of Jesus all these parables deal with that here is another one luke chapter 12 verse 16 to 21 the story of the rich fool a man his land was very productive but he was a fool because he thought it was his he didn't realize it was rented by god and he began reasoning to himself what shall I do because I don't have any place to store my crops this is what I'll do I'll tear down my barns and build larger ones and I'll store all my grain and my goods now there's nothing wrong in a man's business prospering but it's a question of what you do with it when your business prospers verse 19 I'll say to my soul soul you've got many goods laid up for many years to come that's for yourself take your ease eat and drink and be merry but god said to him verse 20 you fool this very night your soul is required of you now who will own what you have prepared so is the man who lays up listen to this this is the most important verse there so is the man who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards god now that expression my dear brothers and sisters think of it all your life being rich towards god it's a beautiful expression we must say lord I want to be rich towards you and I want to say this from this parable anyone who is not rich towards god is a fool god called him a fool anyone who is not rich towards god is a fool what's the meaning of being rich towards god it means that of all that god gives me I want to give him first place with my health and my time and my money and my energies my brain my faculties my ambitions desires everything I want to be rich towards god those are the happiest people in the world those are the wise people a lot of Christians I'm sorry to say they spend most of their time energy money in the pursuit of a lot of worldly things it could be entertainment it could be pursuit of their own ambitions and then they give a little corner to god when they retire they say okay when I'm retired I'll do something for the lord or I'm glad I didn't wait till I retired to do something for the lord and it's wonderful to be able to give ourself to the lord when we are young it's wonderful to say lord let me live a little more simply so that I can be rich towards you instead of spending everything on myself let me use my time not just for that which will make me treasure for which bring treasure for myself but which can make me rich towards you you know why a lot of Christians are discouraged and gloomy and in bad moods why was it Jesus was never in a bad mood even though he was not a rich man why was Jesus always happy because he was rich towards his father and I want to tell you it is not God's will that you should ever be in a bad mood when I discovered that years ago that Jesus was never in a bad mood any day of his life I said lord that's the life I want to live I want to live a life where morning till night I'm never in a bad mood never discouraged never depressed even when I'm tempted to those things that I can overcome them and I saw the secret is be rich towards God don't live for yourself don't lay up treasure for yourself otherwise you live a miserable life you'll be a fool so this man said well eat drink ease take your ease and be and eat drink and be merry but he was not going to be merry if you really want to be merry like it says in verse 19 you got to be rich towards God he couldn't be merry he was miserable like a lot of Christians are you know that prayer that we pray the Lord's prayer our father who art in heaven and you know that one sentence give us this day our daily bread which teaches us that we can ask for material things there's nothing wrong in asking God to give us it could be bread it could be clothes it could be a house to live in it could be education for our children so that they can earn that daily bread all these things are right to ask God for but it's very important health for example I prayed for health for so many years in my life I believe God offers us something better than healing health that's what we should pray for we shouldn't be praying for healing we should be praying for health to serve God and to be fit to serve God wherever we are but before that the request before give us this day our daily bread is thy will be done on earth that's in my life as it is done in heaven how do the angels do it in heaven as soon as God says something they do it that's how I should do it if God tells Gabriel something he doesn't sort of hang around doing something else for half an hour before he does what God says neither should I thy will be done on earth as it's done in heaven as soon as I know God wants me to do something I do it and the next prayer is give us this day our daily bread in other words you put the two together what I'm praying is Lord please give me food so that I can be strong in my body why not to make money oh no not to entertain myself no but to do your will on earth as it is done in heaven that's why I want my daily bread so that's what it means to be rich towards God I want to show you a verse in Luke's gospel chapter 16 verse 11 says here about money Jesus said if you have not been faithful Luke 16 11 in the use of unrighteous mammon that means money and material things is unrighteous mammon who will give to you the true riches let me give you a testimony many years ago I said Lord will you make me your mouth so that I can speak your word every time I get up to speak the Lord said I'll do that if you are faithful with two things be faithful with money and be faithful in the use of your tongue and I said Lord by your grace I want to do that I want to be faithful in the use of my tongue 24 hours a day and I want to be faithful with the money you give me every day now I want to say to you that doesn't apply only to me it applies to you Jeremiah 15 verse 19 says if you're faithful with the use of your tongue take away all the useless garbage in your speech God says you'll be my mouth Luke 16 11 says if you're faithful with money God will give you the true riches you know what the true riches are the nature of Christ divine nature I can't make myself humble God has to give me the nature of Christ I can't make myself pure God has to give it to me I cannot love my enemies God has to give me that love that's true riches and revelation on the word of God those are true riches the fullness of the Holy Spirit those are the true riches what we call rupees it's false riches I don't know whether you folks know of a game called monopoly children play it where they have paper money and they buy property you know you throw a dice and go through a board and they go different places and if you come to somebody else's property you got to pay rent it's very interesting to see children play this they are so if somebody comes to their square they say pay up your rent they're very now think if an older person like me was going to play with a child I'm not going to fight over that paper money because I know it's worthless I'm older but that for that child that paper money is very valuable but I know that that's only worthless there's another money real money now I feel that when the angels look down upon us on earth they see us playing a game of monopoly on this earth buying property collecting rent fighting for money and the angels wonder when are these people going to see that this is not the real riches because one day Jesus will come and fold up this monopoly board and say the game is over now we will now we will see how much true riches you got how much true riches will you have in that day what are the Jesus spoke here about true riches true riches are God's nature revelation on his word that God can open your eyes to understand things in the word which nobody can teach you no bible school no preacher the holy spirit can teach you seek for that how can you get it be faithful with money not just righteous to be righteous with money means I pay my debts I give back what I've stolen that's righteous that's step one step two is faithful with money faithful with money means I don't waste money on myself I'll seek to live simply so that I can be faithful because I recognize this money is not mine it's God's that I can try as best as possible not to be a burden to other people not to go around looking for people to give me gifts no I don't want it I want to live simply so that people don't have to give me gifts I can take care of myself I want to maybe work a little so that people don't have to support me that's how Paul lived that's why he had such tremendous revelation on God's word to try your best not to be a burden to other people be faithful with money and be rich towards God what a wonderful thing you see money is a terrible master it's a very useful servant but it's a terrible master it can destroy you money is very useful make it your servant don't let it be your master okay otherwise you'll be one of those rich fools go to parable number 37 Matthew chapter 25 verse 14 to 30 Matthew 25 verse 14 to 30 we see another parable relating to money it's about a man who traveled on a long journey and he called three servants now there's another parable in Luke we'll come to that later it's not the same so listen very carefully as we look at this here are three servants and he gave one five talents another two talents and another one talent so this speaks about the gifts and opportunities and natural abilities and supernatural abilities that God gives us they're not the same see some of us have got more natural abilities than other people it's true some people have got more gifts of the Holy Spirit than other people it's true it's not all the same one five one two one one you take a man like Paul he was apostle prophet evangelist shepherd teacher everything he had almost all the gifts of the Holy Spirit but not everybody has that some people have got a brilliant brain not everybody has that some some people have got a very good memory but not everybody has that so it's different so you don't have to look at somebody else supposing you've got only two you don't have to look at the man who's got five and say oh I wish I had five no need God decides how much you must have that's what we learn from this parable don't compare yourself with somebody else and say I wish I had his gifts and don't feel jealous of somebody who's got some natural abilities which you don't have you know some people are extroverts they can very easily make friends and they can talk well and you may be a shy reserved type of person that's how I am I'm basically a shy reserved type person and I used to feel when I was young oh I wish I were like that other person who can easily make friends and God showed me that he decided how I should be and I decided okay well that's the way I am but I've got that with that God gives me certain abilities which he doesn't have so you don't have to feel ever feel that you wish you were something like somebody else God made you exactly he decided how much to give you you know you may look at somebody who has more opportunity for a better education more money to buy things which you can't buy and you feel sorry that you're so poor and you got only one because that person's got five times what you get and he can buy so many things so many clothes extra food and so many things like that you think that makes him better no he can be a rich fool if he doesn't know how to share that with other people be content with what God has given you because he's going to ask you for an account only for what he's given you he's not going to ask you for anything for an account for anything else so we see here the man who got one talent that was his problem you see he instead of using it it says here that Matthew 25 and the one who had one talent verse 18 he dug in the ground and he hid his master's money the other people verse 8 16 traded it the fellow who had five traded it and got five more the fellow who had two he traded it and he got two more now that means they used the gifts God gave them now I want you to notice one very important thing that when the master of came back it says here after a long time verse 19 the master came back that's Jesus coming back and settled accounts with them please remember this a day is coming when Jesus is going to settle accounts he'll ask you how much did you receive how much money did you earn every month tell me how much free time did you have every day how many natural abilities did I give you when you were born what did you do with them how much knowledge of the bible did I give you what did you do with it many many things he's going to settle accounts and one man who had five talents he said lord master I got five more I used it 100 and here it is for you it's not for me it's for you master said well done verse 21 good and faithful servant you were faithful in a few things I'll put you in charge of many things enter into the joy of the Lord now the other fellow who had earned only two he did not produce five like the first man he produced only two and I want you to notice that the master said exactly the same words to that man so it's not a question of how much we produce it's a question of how much did God give you only that much you have to produce for example a man who is an evangelist who can travel here and there does not have to you know produce as much as a mother who is doesn't have the opportunity to travel around sometimes you may envy somebody who can travel here and there and do so many things for the Lord but that man may have five but God may have given you only two you be faithful with two and you'll get the same reward God has given one man the ability to heal the sick okay fine he's got to heal the sick but a mother God may give her the ability to bring up her one or two children properly that's her calling both can get the same reward in eternity that world famous evangelist and this poor mother working in a little village where nobody hears he's got more she's got less but both will get the same reward because it's a question of faithfulness and not success you know there's a song we sing in English um how many stars will there be in your crown will there be any stars in your crown and you sing that song and you get the idea that how many souls have you won to Christ do you think you're going to get a reward for the number of souls you want to Christ I'm sorry to disappoint you but you won't get it it's a question of faithfulness naturally that evangelist will have more opportunities traveling all over to win more souls to Christ than a mother who doesn't have that much opportunity or even a teacher like me who's not an evangelist so God's not going to go on the basis of how many souls you want to Christ God's going to go on the basis of how faithful were you with the gifts God gave you so that should comfort you if somebody else has got more gifts than you it doesn't matter you be faithful with what you have now I want to come to this man who had one talent what did he do it says here in verse 18 he dug in the ground and he buried it what's the meaning of that that means he used it for the earth that's what it means to dig in the ground he used all that God gave him for earthly things he dug and kept it there and wasted his life and as far as God was concerned in the kingdom of God was concerned the profit of his life was zero that's a fool and when the master came back he said well verse 24 I knew you're a hard man you know why these people who got few gifts don't do anything with them because they've got a wrong understanding of God they think God is a very hard strict man he's not he's a loving father and when we understand God is a loving father it's very easy to be rich towards him but if we think of God as a very hard task master then we waste our life so that's the meaning of this parable and Jesus said in verse 29 take what this man has one talent and give it to the man who's already got 10 in verse 28 and you know he said because everyone who has more will be given to him that means if you are faithful with what you have God will give you more but if you're unfaithful with what God gives you one day even that will be taken away from you so that's what we see in this parable now we go to parable number 38 is Luke chapter 19 very similar parable but slightly different verses 12 to 27 Luke chapter 19 and verses 12 to 27 here it's not three servants here it is 10 servants Luke chapter 19 verse 13 this man was traveling to a distant country and he called 10 of his servants and here he did not give them all different different amounts he gave them all the same amount one mina you get one mina you get one mina you get all 10 were equal so what does this mean this is talking about an area where we are all equal when it comes to opportunities we are not equal as I said the evangelist has more opportunity to preach than the mother at home when it comes to money we're not all equal most some have more money some have less money even health some have more than the other free time some have more than the other but here it speaks about one area where we all are equal and that is we all have 24 hours a day nobody gets 25 hours nobody gets 23 hours every one of us has got 24 hours a day and I'm not talking about preaching I'm not talking about always giving out tracks 24 hours that may not be the best thing to do if God has called you got to do what God's called you to do I mean a mother was supposed to look after her child children at home shouldn't be going out giving her tracks and neglecting her children a doctor who should be looking after patients in the hospital shouldn't be going out preaching if his patients are dying over there so don't think that preaching is always the best thing you got to do what God's called you to do in the 24 hours that God gives you every day and during those 24 hours you know all of us make many many decisions think of this day for example in this one day you have taken many decisions for example we had read the story of the good Samaritan there was the man lying there and the Levite and the priest walked past that good Samaritan and they took a decision what was the decision I have no time to help him I've got to do something else the Levite said the same thing the good Samaritan came by he also took a decision okay I've got a program but I think I'll postpone that I must help this man all of us are taking decisions every day when I have a lot of money I take a decision how shall I spend this money when I have a lot of free time I take a decision how shall I spend this free time we are taking decisions every day how to spend this one Mina 24 hours and how the decisions you take will determine what you become finally what are you today you are what you are today because of the decisions you took from the time you were born again what is the one thing that Jesus said we must do every day of our life take up your cross Luke 9 23 take up your cross every day and follow me what does that mean that means I give up my will and do God's will and I get plenty of opportunities for that during the day to deny myself to do the will of God to say no to what pleases me and to say yes to what pleases God from morning till night you think that's going to be a strenuous miserable life far from it that's the happiest life you can ever live I believe that good Samaritan was much happier than the Levite and the priest if he lived like that all his life he'd have been one of the happiest people of all see the decisions we take every day determine what you're going to become after 10-15 years here are two people born again on the same day they're both equal now 10 years later one will be way ahead of the other spiritually why because in those 10 years one man denied himself he didn't please himself in the way he used his time he didn't please himself in the way used his money he didn't please himself and take a lazy easy attitude life he worked hard he denied himself helped others and all 10 years later that fellows way ahead of the other person who was lazy and wasted his time and wasted his money so there you see about this man who had one Mina and it says here he kept it in a handkerchief verse 20 and he hid it he didn't do anything with it he wasted his day think of Jesus knowing the scriptures at the age of 12 he didn't come from heaven with all the knowledge of the Bible in his head he was born exactly like any other baby when you see a baby born in a hospital how much knowledge of the Bible does that baby have in its head zero that's how Jesus was born in Bethlehem otherwise he was not like us he was like us and then how did he acquire the knowledge of the Bible by the age of 12 so much that he could he knew more than anybody in Israel it's because you know they didn't have printed Bibles those days they they had to listen in the synagogue they used to teach in the everyday for the children in the synagogue and the synagogue schools and they would listen listen listen and Jesus had to pay attention and he paid attention carefully from the time he started going to the synagogue school in the age of 12 he really knew the scriptures they didn't have a Bible at home how is it that today we have the Bible with us and even after you're born again even after 12 years you don't know the Bible something wrong I want to say to those of you who are still unmarried and young now is the time to use your Mina to use your 24 hours to use the time you have to study the scriptures that's one very good way to use this Mina one day 24 hours you know when I was converted I got converted when I was 19 and a half and I got married when I was 28 and a half I had nine years from the time I was converted to the time I got married in the first one and a half years I didn't take it seriously I didn't even get baptized I was baptized one and a half years after I was saved but from that time for the next seven years I really gave myself to the study of the scriptures after I got married and I had children I don't have so much time but from that time those early years what I studied in the scriptures has helped me through all these years what I speak today is based on the foundation which I had more than 30 years ago since I want to say to all of you you won't get time when you're out in the field and when you got married you have children when you are young use all your spare time to study the word I used to stand in the bus stands here I used to work in the naval base in Cochin and when I stood in the bus stand I'd have a New Testament with me while waiting for the bus everybody just gaping around looking here and there wasting their time I'd read the Bible any spare time I got here and there I take take the scriptures with me to read if I were to go to government office to get something done you know how the government offices are in India you've got to wait a long time take a New Testament with you use the time you know what Jesus said when he distributed the five loaves and fishes he said in John chapter 6 pick up those little fragments that remain pick up the little fragments that remain every day 24 hours that are little fragments of time here and there five minutes here 15 minutes there 20 minutes there you pick it all up you can really be a master of God's Word and then you'll be so rich you can use that to bless other people to serve God to be strengthened yourself to overcome Satan use your time profitably as we see here gather up the leftovers now we come to the next parable in Luke chapter 16 and verses 1 to 8 about the dishonest steward he knew he was going to lose his job and so what did he do he said I'm too old to dig and I'm too ashamed to beg Luke 16 3 so I know what I'll do because you know his master heard that he's been unfaithful with his possessions so he called some of his masters debtors we read in Luke chapter 16 and he asked the first person how much do you owe my master he said a hundred measures of oil he said give me your bill I'll change it make it 50 and then he asked another person verse 7 how much do you owe a hundred measures a week give me your bill I'll write it 80 and those fellows are happy because they had to pay less he reduced their bills and like that he made friends with these other businessmen so that when he gets sacked and fired and thrown out from this job he can go to these fellows whose bill he reduced and say listen can you give me a job and they say sure because he made friends for the future by the money power that he had now see he was the master of the controlling the accounts and all that and he had money power he used money power to make friends for the future so they need to get a job later on when he was sacked and Jesus said that the master when he heard what this man did it says here in Luke chapter 16 verse 8 his master praised him now don't misread it he didn't say Jesus praised him Jesus doesn't praise crooks who reduced bills but it says here his master praised him saying he's a clever fellow and then Jesus said the sons of this age verse 8 last part are shrewd in relation to their own things than the sons of light are in relation to their things now what is the application of that that man's future was in this world you know when he loses his job he's got another 20 years before he retires that's his future I am a son of light you're a son of light our future is in eternity we've got to apply this parable to eternity and Jesus said therefore I say to you verse 9 make friends with money so that when you fit when that money fails they these people will receive you into eternal dwelling places what's the meaning of that my future is not on this earth my future is in eternity so the Lord's telling me now you have money power just like that accountant had money power don't you have money power what is money power if you earn 500 rupees a month you got money power over 500 rupees if somebody earns 2,000 rupees a month he's got money power over 2,000 rupees what should he do with it the Lord said use that money power to make friends for eternity don't just use all that money for yourself use it to bless somebody use it to give a book to somebody to save souls like a lot of people give money for the spread of the gospel they are using money to make friends for eternity here's somebody who gives money and way back way over there the other side of the world somebody uses that money and gets a track distributed or somebody goes out preaching supported by this person and a soul is saved but that soul was saved because of this person who gave some money he doesn't realize it on earth but when he gets into eternity he'll realize somebody gave money and supported a missionary here and this person got saved so when this person is saved and he's in heaven and that person who gave the money comes to heaven he'll come and say praise the Lord and that person's I don't know who you are he's oh yes you sent some money and because of that I heard the gospel they will receive you into eternal dwelling places because you made friends for money some of those friends you'll never meet till eternity but if I've used all my money for myself I get up to heaven and I look around and I find no friends because I used everything for myself Jesus said use your money to make friends for eternity then the last parable Matthew chapter 13 40th parable verse 47 and 48 here the Lord is speaking about the kingdom of heaven being like a dragnet where it's cast into the sea and all types of fish are brought in and then it says the good fish is put into containers the bad fish is thrown away verse 48 and it will be like that at the end of the age when Christ comes again the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from the righteous and the wicked will be cast into the furnace of fire and the righteous will come into the presence of God so we see here that what a day is going to come when there's going to be a final permanent separation of the righteous from the wicked and so that's the conclusion if we got to think of all the parables that we heard finally the righteous will be separated from the wicked and the righteous when they get to heaven are not going to have even though they go to heaven they're not all going to have the same degree of glory it's very important to understand that many people think oh we'll all be like Jesus that's right but do you know the difference between a five watt bulb have you heard of zero watt bulbs which give only five watts of light and a thousand watt bulb this has got light that's got light but there's a lot of difference between five watts and a thousand watts so we can say this person is like Jesus and that person is like Jesus in heaven but this person is only five watts and that person is a thousand watts and this person is ten thousand watts how did this difference come because there were different degrees of faithfulness in their earthly life so don't think that everybody in heaven is going to be the same the Bible says in 1 Corinthians and chapter 15 and verse 41 just like in the heavens when you look up in the skies one star differs from another star in glory all the stars are not the same degree of brightness they are stars they've got light but different degrees of brightness it says here verse 42 so also is the resurrection from the dead that when we are raised from the dead we're going to be with different degrees of glory depending on whether we've been faithful with our minas and our talents and unrighteous mammon here on the earth do you know the story of Lazarus and the rich man you know why I didn't mention that in my list of parables because it's not a parable it's a true story why do I say it's a true story because in no parable in no parable in all these 40 parables did Jesus ever use the name of a man he used the name of a man there Lazarus and that teaches us that that was a true story that was not a parable that there was a real person why didn't Jesus mention the name of the rich man perhaps the rich man's relatives were still living and he didn't want to embarrass them so that was a real story which teaches us that as soon as Lazarus died he went into the Lord's presence as soon as the rich man died he went to hell some people teach that when they die they are asleep in the grave no they went to hell straight away if they're not born again and he realized in hell that he hadn't repented and that's why he said he wanted Lazarus to go and tell his brothers to repent so there is going to be a permanent separation for all eternity and it's very important if you're wise that you live for the things of eternity and not for the things of time and that's basically the message of all the parables let's pray while I heads about in prayer there are many things that you have heard in the last few days these eight studies and the Holy Spirit will bring back to your mind even if you can't remember everything now and when you read those scriptures when your Bible reading you'll be reminded again of the things that you heard in these days but what is required right now is a response are you going to live for time are you going to live for eternity are you going to be rich towards yourself or are you going to be rich towards God are you going to be a fool or you're going to be wise are you going to seek for the true riches or the false riches may God help you to be wise may God help you to take wise decisions every day of your life and not waste a single day Heavenly Father we pray that you'll apply the truths that we've heard in all these parables to each of our lives that we can make use of our lives in our time one life that you give us on earth for eternity so that we don't waste our days but live always and totally for you Lord Jesus we pray amen God bless you all