“AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, ‘VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, THERE IS NO MAN THAT HATH LEFT HOUSE, OR PARENTS, OR BRETHREN, OR WIFE, OR CHILDREN, FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD’S SAKE, WHO SHALL NOT RECEIVE MANIFOLD MORE, IN THIS PRESENT TIME, AND IN THE WORLD TO COME LIFE EVERLASTING.’” Luke 18:29, 30

PRAISE GOD! We do not have to wait for the “SWEET BY AND BY” to receive a reward in the dirty NOW AND NOW!

Today I want to consider two great gifts from the Lord. First and foremost is SALVATION! This, as we all know is ours, full and free — paid for by the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God! This gift we cannot work for, it is by faith in the finished work of Christ and the cross. There is no way to even estimate the value of this gift! It is infinite and eternal and as Paul says in Ephesians 2:9, it is “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” But, as we shall see, there are earthly blessings and rewards based completely on our works and faithfulness to the calling of God upon our lives.

First of all, our theme Scripture is from Jesus’ own words: Our reward for giving up earthly things, “houses, lands, loved ones,” etc., is for NOW in this present time! And not in the same measure — we are to receive MANIFOLD MORE than we gave to Him!

Now here is another little KEY to our giving: It must be for “MY SAKE, AND THE GOSPEL’S” (Mark 10:29), or as Luke says it: “FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD’S SAKE”! Be careful where you give and plant your seed — be sure it is in good ground where souls are coming into the Kingdom and being saved. And if there were any doubt about the rewards we can receive now and also when Christ returns, Jesus settled it in Matthew:

“FOR THE SON OF MAN SHALL COME IN THE GLORY OF HIS FATHER WITH HIS ANGELS; AND THEN SHALL HE REWARD EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS WORKS.” Matt. 16:27

WOW — “ACCORDING TO HIS WORKS”! I don’t know about you, but I know one thing for me: I want to hear His word to me on that great day — “WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT…ENTER THOU INTO THE JOY OF THY LORD” (Matt. 25:23).

Again, Jesus makes it very clear that He expects us to work and give of ourselves and the gifts or “TALENTS” He gives to us. In Luke 19, Jesus gives us the story or parable of the talents which we soon see is an allegory of us, His servants, and Himself. I love the way the Living Bible reports this interesting story:

“A NOBLEMAN WAS CALLED AWAY TO THE DISTANT CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE TO BE CROWNED KING OF HIS PROVINCE.” Luke 19:12

This story should settle all of the arguments of the heresy hunters. They say that we should give, but never with any expectation that we should receive anything now in this time. We can only expect a reward when we get to heaven! Hogwash! Jesus goes on to say:

“BEFORE HE LEFT HE CALLED TOGETHER TEN ASSISTANTS AND GAVE THEM EACH $2,000 TO INVEST WHILE HE WAS GONE.” Luke 19:13

Surely I do not have to say that each of us has been given some kind of talent by God — I’m sure you know what yours is — the question is, are you using it for the Kingdom? And if you are not sure of your talent as yet, there is one that all of God’s children are expected to exercise — the gift of giving. How we love to quote Jesus’ words again:

“FOR IF YOU GIVE YOU WILL GET! YOUR GIFT WILL RETURN TO YOU IN FULL AND OVERFLOWING MEASURE, PRESSED DOWN, SHAKEN TOGETHER TO MAKE ROOM FOR MORE, AND RUNNING OVER.” Luke 6:38 TLB

And as we have taught often, Jesus gives us another KEY to our giving:

“WHATEVER MEASURE YOU USE TO GIVE — LARGE OR SMALL — WILL BE USED TO MEASURE WHAT IS GIVEN BACK TO YOU.”
Could that be clearer? But, back to our story of the talents.

When the king returned, he called all of his servants together to get an accounting of how they had used their talents to gain their reward. The first man reported a gain of ten times the original amount. The king is pleased and grants him to rule over ten cities. The second servant gained five more than the original amount. Again, the king is pleased and rewards him five cities to rule. But the one slothful servant that only hid his money and returned only the original amount to the king was severely chastised and had his talent taken away and given to the servant who earned the most!

As I reread and studied this parable of Jesus, a frightening feeling came over me! If I do not use my talents for Him, I will lose them at the great judgment seat of Christ when we all will stand before Him to give an account of how we have invested His talents. One interesting thing the king says to the man who hid his money or talent —

“THEN WHY DIDN’T YOU DEPOSIT THE MONEY IN THE BANK SO THAT I COULD AT LEAST GET SOME INTEREST ON IT? ” Luke 19:23 TLB

This says to me and all of us — DO SOMETHING — GIVE SOMETHING — so that you will at least receive something in return from the King!

Dear, dear, Partners — I know many of you do give and are surely investing your seed into the good ground of TBN. Jan and I love you and thank you far more than mere words could ever express! But I know there are multitudes that watch TBN, are blessed by TBN, call TBN for prayer, but have never given to help send this glorious light of the Gospel to the world — by last count, 53 satellite signals are beaming TBN to virtually the whole wide world! We know that over 70 million watch TBN each month, but only a little more than one million really support TBN financially!

Please join us now and be blessed beyond measure, “NOW IN THIS TIME”! Get ready to be blessed as Jan and I lead another great week of PRAISE-A-THON — LIVE!

We love you!