Entrusted to us

The idea of being “entrusted” with what we have to do as a church is found, among other places, in the parable of the talents told by Jesus in Matthew 25:14-30. The story is simple enough. A landowner entrusted three of his servants with varying amounts of money while he was away. The assumption is that these servants would use what was given to them to make more money which would then be presented back to their master. Two of them did just that and a third did not, choosing rather to bury the money and return it to the master when the time came. The point of the parable is simple: “To everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” Jesus, of course, is less interested in business principles and more interested in building the Kingdom of God. This parable is about the mission and ministry of the church. It is about professing Christians taking what God has given them and using it to produce more.

That parable will form the basis for a special message this Sunday that will focus on what we need to know as a church as we enter into 2023. Things have changed over the past three years as a result of forces outside of our control. God has continued to entrust our church with so much—in people, in facilities, in financial strength—and the question continues to be: what will we do with what we’ve been given? And the question applies to Harvest as a whole, but only insofar as each of us as individuals answers the question for ourselves since the body is made up of individual members (See 1 Corinthians 12).

Todd Dugard
Message: Entrusted to us: What we need to know as we enter 2023
Harvest Bible Chapel
January 15, 2023

Entrust – to hand over to or to convey something to someone, particularly a right or an authority
L&N 57.77

God will not honor a church with unusual capacity that does not attempt to multiply, plant, and revitalize.
Sam Rainer

5 expectations to meet
• We expect you to give

Jesus on Money series
- https://www.harvestbarrie.ca/series/jesus-on-money/

• We expect to be able to communicate with you
• We expect you to be personally practicing spiritual disciplines

Darryl Dash sermon series
- https://www.harvestbarrie.ca/series/8-habits-for-growth/

• We expect you to care for one another
• We expect you to be a dispenser of grace

4 priorities to embrace
• Don’t miss Sunday
• Get in a group
• Become a member
• Join a team

3 interesting things to be aware of
• We have changed
• We are apolitical

Too conservative for liberals, too liberal for conservatives
= every Christian following the whole Jesus.
Scott Sauls

• We have a history

It's our history. Better or worse, it's our history.
We're not going to lock it in the basement
or brush it with a new coat of paint. It's our history.
Abby Bartlett (The West Wing)

2 BIG emphases to appreciate
• Expository Preaching
• Contemporary Worship

1 mission to accept
• To make more and better disciples of Jesus who love God and love people

Vision and values document - harvestbarrie.ca/visiondocument

The church is not an institution for perfect people. It is a sanctuary for sinners saved by grace, a nursery for God's sweet children to be nurtured and grow strong. It is the fold for Christ's sheep, the home for Christ's family. The church is the dearest place on earth.
Charles H. Spurgeon