{"id":8972,"date":"2026-10-18T21:15:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T04:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/?p=8972"},"modified":"2026-10-18T21:15:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T04:15:32","slug":"pastor-joey-sampaga-stewards-of-the-sovereign-king-luke1911-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/2026\/10\/18\/pastor-joey-sampaga-stewards-of-the-sovereign-king-luke1911-27\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastor Joey Sampaga: Stewards of the Sovereign King, Luke19:11-27"},"content":{"rendered":"<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-8972-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Pastor-Joey-sermon-10-18-0.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Pastor-Joey-sermon-10-18-0.mp3\">https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Pastor-Joey-sermon-10-18-0.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<details class=\"collapsible-quote\" open=\"open\">\n<summary><strong><span style=\"color: #003366;\">Here is<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #003366;\">the full transcript<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>\u00a0[<span style=\"color: #993300;\">Click HERE to close<\/span>]<\/strong><\/span><\/summary>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">&#8211;<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Alright, so last week we looked at one of the pretty magnificent display of the sovereign grace of of God. And this was a salvation of Zacchaeus. So I remember him being short in stature. He had climbed the tree. Now Jesus, he was passing through Jericho, making his way, his final journey to Jerusalem, to be nailed on the cross for our sins. Uh. And in Jericho, he stopped under a sycamore tree, called out a despised, corrupt, incredibly wealthy tax collector by the name of whom Zacchaeus, who, uh, was radically transformed. His heart was transformed. And Zacchaeus went from a greedy extortioner to a generous, repentant child of God in in an afternoon. Now, prior to that, of course, the Holy Spirit was working on him. Now Jesus. He concluded the glorious encounter by stating the very purpose of his incarnation.<\/p>\n<p>In Luke nineteen ten, it says, For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Now you can imagine the electricity in the crowd that day. I mean, it was so packed that Zacchaeus couldn&#8217;t see over people because of his height. So he climbed the tree so that he could see Jesus. And then, uh. And prior to that, um, Brother Zenji preached on the blind beggar. Bartimaeus was his name. And if Jesus had the power to heal the blind beggar, uh, and he had the authority to instantly change the hardest, most corrupt moment collaborator in Jericho, then he surely is the Messiah, right? Because only he can say, only he can give his grace and mercy. And if he is the Messiah, which he is, and he&#8217;s a. And he&#8217;s only about a fifteen mile walk away from Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<p>Then the Kingdom of God must be arriving by. This weekend is probably what the people who were there thinking, well, Jesus the Messiah, this must be him. I&#8217;m thinking it&#8217;s him. Because in the triumphal entry, uh, when Jesus actually walked into Jerusalem, everyone was excited right there. They were waving their palm branches. They were ready to go. And, and what do you think they were expecting him to do? They&#8217;re expecting him to, uh, take out the Roman government to take rule to come in as a military leader. That&#8217;s what they were expecting. That&#8217;s the that the crowd is filled with that anticipation. And they&#8217;re expecting that political revolution. And they expected Jesus to march into the capital and obliterate the Romans to sit on David&#8217;s throne and inaugurate a golden age of prosperity right then and there.<\/p>\n<p>But Jesus, of course, he knows their hearts and he knows their theology is dangerously flawed. And before they take another step toward Jerusalem, Jesus stops and tells them a parable, as he always does, to completely shatter their false expectations and prepare them for the reality of the age to come. Now, just to give you a little context and background here in our passage today, Jesus tells another parable. And he reaches into recent political history, which is a story that every single person in the crowd would have known about pretty intimately, right. If I, if I had mentioned, you know, if I were telling you a parable and said, yeah, it&#8217;s like there&#8217;s two planes that hit a building and these buildings collapse. What what immediately comes to your mind? Well, nine Nine eleven right now that in Jesus he he does.<\/p>\n<p>He does that in four BC, King Herod the Great, he died in his will. He left the rule of Judea to his son Archelaus. But in the Roman Empire, you couldn&#8217;t just simply declare yourself as king, you had to have a title officially granted to you by Caesar himself and Flavius Josephus. Most of you know who he is. He&#8217;s a Jewish historian. He reported that Archelaus, he traveled to the far country of Rome to receive his kingdom from Caesar Augustus and then to return. Right. So Archelaus Archelaus was a brutal, wicked man. And the Jews, they hated him. And while he was traveling the world, the Jewish people, they organized a delegation of about fifty ambassadors and sent them to Caesar with a clear message that we do not want this man to rule over us, right? They sent people ahead of. Us.<\/p>\n<p>Now, despite their protests, Augustus still gave Archelaus rulership. And when Archelaus returned to Judea, empowered. Now with the Roman authority, he took devastating, violent revenge on the citizens who had opposed him and killed them all. You oppose me? You sent these fifty people. All those fifty people are now dead. You sent them. You two will die if you didn&#8217;t kill him. Now, Jesus. He takes this well known bloody piece of local history. And he brilliantly, as he always does, repurposes it to explain his own departure and the world&#8217;s rejection of him and his eventual glorious and terrifying return. And we&#8217;ll get that in this parable. Uh, so turn to Luke nineteen, verses eleven twenty seven. If you haven&#8217;t already, Luke nineteen, verses eleven to twenty seven. It says, and they heard these things.<\/p>\n<p>He proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He said, therefore noble man went into a far country to see for himself a kingdom, and then returned, calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minutes, and said to them, engage in business until I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, we do not want this man to reign over us. When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had been in business for. Sixteen the first came before him, saying, Lord, your Mina has made ten in his home.<\/p>\n<p>And he said to him, well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, your Mina has made five. Minutes. And he said to him, man, you are to be over five cities. Then another came. Lord, here is your Mina, which I kept laid away, for I was afraid of you because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow. He said to him, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit, and reaping what I did not sow. Why then, did you not put money in the bank and my. At my coming I might have collected it with interest.<\/p>\n<p>And he said to those who stood by, take the Mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten. And they said to him, Lord, he has ten minutes. I tell you that to everyone who has more will be given. But from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. This is the word of the Lord. Let&#8217;s pray. Lord God, heavenly father, your word is a piercing sword, father, and it comforts you, but it also afflicts the comfortable. And Lord, as we look at the return of our King Jesus Christ, we ask that you would awaken us from spiritual slumber.<\/p>\n<p>Keep us from the tragedy of wasting the glorious gospel that you have entrusted to us. Give us ears to hear. Lines to understand. And hearts that long for the hearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fill us with your spirit. Give us the revelation. Lord, as always, remove my own self, my own words from this sermon. And by your Holy Spirit, speak to me. Father, we thank you. We love you. We praise you in Jesus name. Amen. So Jesus, in verses eleven and twelve, he corrects their expectation, the crowd&#8217;s expectation. Luke, he gives us the thesis statement for the entire passage. In verse eleven, Jesus tells this parable because they suppose that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. They were thinking he was coming as a ruler.<\/p>\n<p>Someone is going to take down the Roman government and give the Jews their freedom and liberty, right. They wanted the crown without the cross. They wanted all the good things that comes out from heaven. It comes from heaven. And bypass what Jesus had to do on that cross. They wanted glory without the suffering. So in verse twelve, Jesus introduces the nobleman and the king, uh, representing himself. He says, the nobleman must go to a distant country, a distant country. In this case, it&#8217;s heaven to receive a kingdom from the Ancient of Days. He&#8217;s the Ancient of Days from God, God the Father. He&#8217;s going to give it to him. Uh, and then what&#8217;s going to happen? He&#8217;s going to return. Jesus is simply telling them, I&#8217;m not setting up an earthly kingdom this Friday.<\/p>\n<p>As I&#8217;m walking into Jerusalem, what I&#8217;m going to do is I&#8217;m going to die. I&#8217;m going to rise and I&#8217;m. Then I&#8217;m going to ascend to the right hand at the bottom, and there&#8217;s going to be a long, unspecified delay before I return. Glory. I&#8217;m not going to tell you because only the father knows, right? This fundamentally changes how us Christians should live, right? We&#8217;re not living in the final consummated kingdom yet, although we&#8217;re considered to be in the end times right now, we are living in the in-between times, right? The king is absent in body, though present with us by His Spirit, and we&#8217;re waiting for his physical return. And I can&#8217;t wait for that moment. And before the the king or the nobleman leaves, he calls ten of his servants and gives them ten minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Nina m n a in the first century was equivalent to about three months wages for an average laborer, and he gives each servant exactly one Mina. Now, keep in mind that this is a different, uh, different from the parable of the talents in Matthew twenty five, where different amounts are given based on village right here, every servant gets the exact same amount. So what does the Mina represent here? Well, it represents the equal trust given to every single person who calls themselves a Christian. Anyone want to take a guess what that Mina symbolizes? Preaching the gospel. Right. The gospel of Jesus and the Word of God. So every believer has been entrusted with the exact same saving gospel.<\/p>\n<p>Now, it doesn&#8217;t matter if you&#8217;re well known or well known theologian, a pastor or ministry leader, or a Christian who quietly serves, he&#8217;s given one Mina to you, which is the gospel. Now look at the command the king gives here. He says, engage in business until I come. And the Greek word is pragmatic, pragmatic, pragmatic mind, which is where we get the English word pragmatic. It means to do business, to trade, to put to practical use. Now the great reformer John Calvin, commenting on this text, noted that Christ does not leave us in this world to sit idle, staring at the sky while sitting in the pews and doing nothing. He leaves us here to actively invest the truth of the gospel into a bankrupt world. He stewards none of our time. Our money, our gifts, or our breath belongs to us.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s all capital owned by the king, given to us to leverage for his glory while he is away. Now, in verse fourteen, Jesus shifts from the servants inside the house to the citizens outside the house. He says, but his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, we do not want this man to rule or reign over us. Now, this is a perfect, devastating picture of the crowd, right? So the world does not have a passive, neutral indifference to Jesus Christ, right? The unregenerate heart actively despises his authority. They hate the Bible. They hate Jesus. They hate everything he stands for. Jesus told his disciples in John fifteen eighteen, if the world hates you, guess what? Now that it has hated me before, it hated you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.<\/p>\n<p>So if the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before. It hated you. So if you&#8217;re out there and you&#8217;re, you&#8217;re immediately going out and sharing the gospel with people, your friends, your neighbors, your family, your co-workers, and they start to despise you. Well, we&#8217;ve already been warned by Christ himself. Now, if you haven&#8217;t been, uh, been chastised for that, well, maybe you haven&#8217;t really been obedient to share the gospel with people, right? If your Christianity has been has been pretty smooth lately, and you&#8217;re just cruising and everything is good. Maybe you haven&#8217;t been out there sharing gospel. Okay. So we have to make sure we&#8217;re on.<\/p>\n<p>Uh, if you look at the culture around us today, the world does not mind the Jesus who acts like a cosmic therapist or a Jesus who is a mild moral teacher who accepts everyone&#8217;s lifestyle. Jesus&#8217;s love. Right? Love is love. That&#8217;s what they want to hear. That&#8217;s what they want. That&#8217;s the Jesus that people want. But the biblical Jesus, the true Jesus, the sovereign King who demands total repentance, who claims absolute authority over human sexuality, over our finances and over our minds that Jesus is utterly hated by the world. When you talk about God&#8217;s wrath, people hate it when you talk about the hell people hate it. But that&#8217;s truth. And when we share it with people, we share it. When we ought to share it out of love. We don&#8217;t want you to go through this. We don&#8217;t want you to face wrath.<\/p>\n<p>We don&#8217;t want you to go to hell. We want you to experience true salvation, joy, eternal joy, and peace. Right. The cry of the secular culture today is exactly the same as the citizens of verse fourteen. We will not have this man to reign over us. People don&#8217;t want to put Christ as their number one priority. They have other idols, whether it&#8217;s a career or money, their bank accounts, their popularity, their friends, maybe their relationship wife or husband or child. No, God has to come first. But that&#8217;s not what the world teaches us. All the Disney films, all the cartoons that are out there. Follow your heart. Do what&#8217;s good for you. Do you? It&#8217;s all about you. And in verses fifteen fifteen through nineteen, but the king, remember, does return. He comes back. In verse fifteen, the king returns with full authority.<\/p>\n<p>And the time for business is over. It&#8217;s time for the accounting. And I was telling the revelation class this morning that when you study end times and revelations, you start to see that in all the other books that we read, all the other books in the Bible. And here in Luke, he&#8217;s talking about ten minas. And we see in times coming up right here, right? The more you study end times, the more you will see it in the rest of the Bible. That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s important to know this. And that&#8217;s why I encourage you to attend the Sunday School. It&#8217;s going to be time for the accounting. We read about this in second Corinthians five ten, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Every single one of us, whether it&#8217;s the Bema Seat or the White Throne Judgment.<\/p>\n<p>The first sermon approaches and says, Lord, your Mina has produced ten minas. And I love what this verse says because notice his humility, right? He doesn&#8217;t say, look, Lord, I&#8217;m so brilliant in investing that, Nina, that I got ten more. You know what I&#8217;m saying? That he says, Lord, your Mina produced ten minas. All right. He says, your Mina has produced. He recognizes that the power was in the gospel itself, not the messenger. That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s important for us to be able to share the gospel, to articulate it, to know it. Right? I, I, we share this all the time for the pulpit. The gospel is, is pretty clear. It&#8217;s three simple things. God died for our sins. He was buried. And then what? He was raised again. Simple. Right. And what we&#8217;re doing this time. We need to trust in the gospel.<\/p>\n<p>We need to trust in the gospel. If you think, oh, I don&#8217;t know, I don&#8217;t know how to answer the question, that&#8217;s okay, as long as you know the gospel. But I still encourage you to keep studying. So, Pastor Joey, how is Christ died for our sins. He was buried. He rose again. What he say? Well, guess what? It&#8217;s not your job to save anyone. Your only job is to share what you just thought about gospel. Even if you just leave it at that, God, being sovereign as he is, will save you. He wants to sing. And typically it&#8217;s a person repents from their sins and puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, right? So the king. The king&#8217;s response in verse seventeen is breathtaking.<\/p>\n<p>He said, well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities. Right. When you really think about that, you think about ten cities. I think it&#8217;s a parable, but still it&#8217;s it&#8217;s actually it may happen. And when is it, when do you think this is going to happen? What do you think it&#8217;s going to happen during the millennial reign? But we&#8217;re still on this earth and Jesus is ruling this earth. Right? Because we&#8217;re we&#8217;re still going to live on this earth. For when Jesus comes, we&#8217;re going to live on. He&#8217;s going to establish the millennial reign. And we&#8217;re going to be on the in on this earth and just cleaned up perfectly. You know, the law is followed perfectly. There&#8217;s no more politics because Jesus is ruling it perfectly.<\/p>\n<p>And he&#8217;s going to assign people who have been obedient to him to to govern whatever area that he allows us to go. And it&#8217;s based on obedience. In verse eighteen, he repeats this to the servant who made five meetings. And then we have to pause here to ensure we view this through the lens of sovereign grace for a second. Um, because I don&#8217;t want us to fall into the trap of workspace righteousness, right? Does the servant, the servants, a little bit of training in getting the ten or five minas extra? Does it earn him the ten or the five cities? No, it does not. Right. The reward is widely disproportionate to the work. You don&#8217;t earn the government the governorship of ten cities or five cities by making a few months wages in the marketplace. The reward is entirely an Act of God&#8217;s grace.<\/p>\n<p>The great theologian Augustine said it perfectly. He said, When God crowns our merits, he crowns nothing but his own gifts. God gave the servant the Mina. God gave the servant breath to trade. God gave the servant the spiritual life to be faithful. And then God, in his astonishing lavishing grace, turns around and rewards the servant for the very faithfulness that God Himself supplied. So with that said, we know that everything that&#8217;s good comes from where? What right from God himself. The reward is proof of the king&#8217;s generosity, not the servant&#8217;s inherent Worthiness. It gives it to us. We don&#8217;t earn it. And then in verse twenty to twenty six, we meet the the third servant. He brings the original Mina back, wrapped it in a handkerchief. Having done absolutely nothing with it. Oh, let me just take Mina and package it in a handkerchief.<\/p>\n<p>Let me just put it up on the shelf. When he gets back and he asked for it, I can just take it and give it back, right? Look at his excuse in verse twenty one. He says, I was afraid of you because you&#8217;re a severe man. You take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow. So this man&#8217;s fundamental problem is not that not just laziness, because he just stuck it up there and he didn&#8217;t even think about it. His fundamental problem is bad theology here. And he also. He had a completely distorted view of the king, and he used the king as a tyrant, harsh, demanding, greedy and unbelievable. And that&#8217;s what a lot of the world thinks of God, especially when they&#8217;re reading the Old Testament.<\/p>\n<p>Why, oh why would I want to be part of the God or believe in a God that that that terrifies people. The problem is they don&#8217;t really truly understand who God is. Sometimes I say, oh, or maybe I do want to be part of a God that&#8217;s loving. Because love is love. He loves you no matter. He made me this way. He made me gay or lesbian or. Or he made me to be a pedophile, you know? And and God loves me the way I am. That&#8217;s true. God loves you, but he didn&#8217;t create you to do that. That&#8217;s your own choice. I&#8217;m sorry to tell you that. That&#8217;s your own desire to want to sin. Right. And we all, even as Christians, have the desire to sin.<\/p>\n<p>I have a desire to look at other women and possibly cheat on them on my wife, but I don&#8217;t because I want to be obedient. Number one, first in the Lord. And then secondly, to my wife. And for someone who&#8217;s gay, they may have that desire to want to live with, you know, someone in the same sex marriage. But someone says, well, can a gay person be a Christian? Well, they can if they&#8217;re repenting from their sin. They can say no. Even though I have a desire to want to do that, I&#8217;m not going to do it because I want to be obedient to the Lord. We may have desires to do things that aren&#8217;t obedient to the Lord, but God always gives us a way out of that temptation.<\/p>\n<p>The temptation itself is not the sin, it&#8217;s the act of doing or falling in to that temptation. Right. This, this, um, third man, the servant number one, he was lazy. And then secondly, he had a wrong view of God. He believed the king is a taskmaster waiting to crush him for making a mistake. So he leaves the he says, oh, I&#8217;m not going to risk anything. I&#8217;m going to leave it right up there. I&#8217;m not going to touch it because he doesn&#8217;t know the king&#8217;s true character here. He has no love. He has no true love for the King. And because he has no love for the king, he produces no fruit. Right. So the king condemns him from his own mouth.<\/p>\n<p>In essence, the king says, if you really believed I was a harsh, demanding judge, basic self-preservation should have motivated you to at least put the money in the bank to earn a little interest. So when I came back, when I come back and I collect it, at least it&#8217;s more than one meeting. Right. Your laziness exposes that you don&#8217;t even believe your own excuse is what he&#8217;s saying. Right. So Jesus, he commands that the Mina be taken from him, from this lazy servant. The servant represents this someone in the church who has heard the gospel, perhaps even calls himself a Christian, but possesses no same thing. Their life remains completely unchanged. They risk nothing for Christ. And they endure no hardship for the gospel. Now, I&#8217;m not saying that maybe I am alluding to. At least.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not saying that if you have had a very comfortable. Very complacent or very smooth Christian faith that you might say. Well, maybe I am. But really, your salvation is between you and God, right? I can only see what I can see, but ultimately God knows. And so ask yourself, have I received any type of trial and tribulation because of my Christian faith? Because these people who claim to be Christians but aren&#8217;t. They&#8217;re ultimately going to be exposed as frauds in whatever spiritual privileges that they are, that they enjoy in this life on earth will be stripped from them in eternity. Meaning those pretending to be Christians. They may enjoy the fellowship, they may enjoy the worship music, and sometimes they may enjoy the sermon. But when they go out and they live their worldly life, they will live their worldly life.<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;re just enjoying when they come to Sunday worship. But eventually they will be exposed as frauds. And I pray, and I hope that that&#8217;s not any of you sitting in these chairs. Right? We can only pray that you. I can only pray that you&#8217;re not a fraud. Thanks. But again, it&#8217;s not for me to ultimately judge that. It&#8217;s between me and God. And then in verse twenty seven, the final judgment of the realm, Jesus closes this parable by turning his attention back to the rebellious citizens of verse fourteen. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. See statements like this and what the world hates to hear. Why would I worship a Jesus who says to bring them all here and then slaughter them before me? Right.<\/p>\n<p>People who want to strip the Bible of its hard truths. Absolutely hate this verse. They want to present Jesus as a harmless pacifist who would never execute judgment. A pacifist is someone who doesn&#8217;t, who never will take part of the law. Right? But we often remember Jesus is holy. He is the righteous judge of all the earth. And when he returns, he&#8217;s not coming back to debate the atheist, the mockers, and the rebels. He&#8217;s going. He&#8217;s coming back to execute Judge Justice when he comes back the second time, that is the Jesus that the Jewish people were expecting. And they will get that Jesus the second time. And there is no more chance for that person or the people who have not put their faith and trust in Jesus to receive him once he gets here.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s why there&#8217;s that urgency of us sharing the gospel with other people. Invite them to church, invite them to Bible study, sit down with them, share the gospel with them, share God&#8217;s word with. Those who violently reject the grace of God in this life will face the wrath of God in the next. There&#8217;s no middle ground here, right? You&#8217;re either a faithful servant resting in the grace of the King. Or you are a rebel. Who will be crushed under his feet. You will experience the God, the wrath of God. So as we consider this text, there are three practical questions that we have to ask ourselves. Number one, whose kingdom are you building? Whose kingdom are you doing right? Jesus said, engage in business until I come, until I come back. Engage in whose business? His business. Right. Look at your calendar.<\/p>\n<p>Look at your bank account, your hobbies, your social media, your ambitions. Where does it point to? Are you living your life as a faithful steward, preparing for the return of the king? Or are you living as if this world is your permanent home? I&#8217;m not going can bring some conviction in our hearts. Are you leveraging your life for the spread of the gospel, or are you spending all your energy building your own little temporary kingdom that&#8217;s destined to turn to dust? Because that&#8217;s what&#8217;s going to happen. Secondly, what are you doing with the gospel? You&#8217;ve been entrusted with the greatest treasure in the universe. And that&#8217;s the message of salvation. That&#8217;s the good news. That&#8217;s the gospel of Jesus Christ. Right. Are you investing it? Are you going out and sharing it with other people?<\/p>\n<p>Or are you are are you sharing it with your children or your neighbors or your coworkers? Or are you like the wicked servant wrapping it up in a piece of cloth and putting it up on a shelf, keeping it safe and hidden, never risking an awkward conversation or a moment of rejection for the sake of Christ. Is that you? I know there are seasons when I feel like this. Even as Christians, sometimes we act as secret agent Christians. I&#8217;m a secret Christian. I just live out the rest. That&#8217;s easy to say and do. But guess what? As Christians, we ought to be living out the gospel anyway. That&#8217;s a given. But we need to take it a step further as a share. It doesn&#8217;t mean you need to go to downtown Gilbert and get on a soapbox and preach it out loud.<\/p>\n<p>But if that&#8217;s what you want to do, you certainly can do what you&#8217;re called to do. Maybe it&#8217;s sharing it with your family members, friends, your coworkers, your neighbors. Maybe a servant at a server or a server at the restaurant. You can carry around with you this year if you&#8217;re afraid to speak it Which, by the way, we should probably do some tracks that we can take here and just distribute wherever we go. Thirdly, do you have a distorted view of God? Do you know who the true God is of the Bible? Do you know who the true Jesus is of the Bible? Right. The wicked servant failed because he viewed God as a cruel man entirely. Others may view him as a loving teddy bear. Right. In our study today of revelation, we. We.<\/p>\n<p>John the Apostle John gave us a description of the coming Jesus. Yes. Eyes of flame. Flame. What was it? Fire! What was coming out of his mouth was a two edged sword, and he. He had white hair. Right. And we see him. I mean, we would be on our knees. We would probably faint just like the Apostle John did. Jesus comes and we&#8217;re like, oh, we just melt to the ground because of his righteousness and his holiness. But then Jesus is also loving, right? That&#8217;s also partly because when Jesus touched the Apostle John, he gave him comfort and peace, and he was able to regain his strength. Right. How do you view God? Think about that for a second. If you were to describe God to somebody, how would you do that?<\/p>\n<p>You know, I know we want to always just tell the fluffy parts, the good parts of who God is, and Jesus loves you, which is true. He loves you so much. He, he he wants to. He&#8217;ll make your life better. And if you do this and that. Your life is going to be so much better if God is so loving. Yeah. That&#8217;s true. But then if you leave off the other part, you leave off the the Jesus being described in revelation part out. Well, then you&#8217;re only telling a half truth and a half truth is what? It&#8217;s a lie. How do you view God if you see God merely as a cosmic police officer wanting to punish you every time you fail, your religion will be characterized by fear, legalism, and eventually burnout.<\/p>\n<p>And if it&#8217;s on the other side of the spectrum where you just think he&#8217;s a fluffy teddy bear, then you&#8217;re going to live out your life any way you want to, and think that no matter what I do, no matter what my lifestyle is, God is good. That is an Absolute love. Absolute love. We have to understand who God truly is, who Jesus truly is. And if you have that long view of God, you will never serve him joyfully. You have to see him as a gracious, lavish, providing King who equips his people and joyfully rewards him by his grace. And you also have to view him as you know, he is a loving God, but he&#8217;s also a just God that he, he, he wants no one to, to, to not be saved.<\/p>\n<p>But then those who aren&#8217;t saved are going to suffer his wrath. When love is love is involved, there&#8217;s justice. And something that has to be done for righteousness and holiness. I always say, think about a loved one. Someone you love, your loved one, right? You love them. But if someone goes and kills them and brutally murders them and you say, oh, well, I&#8217;m sad, but you know what were I love you. Why don&#8217;t you come here? And you know, things are good. No, we demand justice. We can forgive them. And yes, we can love them in a godly way, but we demand justice, right? Actually, you personally, I personally, if anyone ever heard one of my loved ones, I would want to take revenge. You know, I hope I don&#8217;t do that. But it&#8217;s because I love someone.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll do anything to protect my loved one. Even if it meant to be violent. Because of my love for that person, right? And when God loves and he&#8217;s perfectly righteous and judge, if if people sin and they continue to sin, and they never confess their sins or repent from their sins and never put their faith and trust in Jesus. Guess what God has to do? He needs to punish sin. And if you&#8217;re a Christian, and if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, God will not punish you anymore. Because guess what? He already punished someone for your sins. And guess who he punished Jesus. He brutally poured his wrath on him because of the love he had for us. Did God want to do that? No. But did. And so we have to see him. Gracious. Lavishing.<\/p>\n<p>providing he puts his people in joyfully to the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we&#8217;re honest, when we read verse fourteen, we do not want this man to reign over us. We have to recognize that this is the natural state of every single human heart. Before you were saved, this is what you were. This is what you said. Maybe not out loud, but in your heart. Because every heart is sinful. Every heart is deceitful. Romans eight seven tells us that the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God by nature. We&#8217;re not the faithful servants by nature, we&#8217;re the defiant citizens, and we want to be our own kings. We want to rule our own lives. And because of that, that that treason, every single one of us rightfully deserves a terrifying judgment described in verse twenty seven.<\/p>\n<p>Bring them forth to me And slaughter them. Every single one of them. That&#8217;s what we deserve, right? We deserve to be brought before the holy throne of God and commanded and condemned for our rebellion. But before the king went to the far country, he went to a cross. Here is a glorious truth of the gospel the King of kings. He stepped down from heaven, lived the perfect life of a faithful servant that we could never do, that we could never live. And then he went to the cross of Calvary. And on that cross Jesus took the penalty. And of verse twenty seven upon himself he was treated like the rebel. He had absorbed the wrath, the slaughter, the judgment of God in our place. He was crushed for our iniquities so that we could be forgiven.<\/p>\n<p>We could be transformed and adopted as sons and daughters. So we do. We know, we do not engage in the king&#8217;s business, earn our salvation. We serve him because he has already purchased our salvation with his own blood. We serve because we are saved. We don&#8217;t serve to be saved. If you&#8217;re here today, you&#8217;ve been living in rebellion against Christ. Put down whatever it is, your weapons or whatever it may be, and give it all up to him. Any idols that you may have, any relationships that supersedes the relationship with the Lord. Give it all up to him. Submit to the king. Trust in his finished work on the cross, and you&#8217;ll find that he is the King of Infinite Mercy. But do it today while it&#8217;s still called today. Because once tomorrow comes and he comes, it&#8217;s too late.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/details>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<h2 align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\"><b>Stewards of the Sovereign King<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Engage in Business Until I Come<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b>The Parable of the Minas and the Faithful Life in the In-Between<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #444444;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>A sermon summary on Luke 19:11\u201327 from Pastor Joey Sampaga<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The crowd could almost taste it. Jesus had just healed blind Bartimaeus and transformed Zacchaeus, Jericho\u2019s most despised tax collector, in a single afternoon. Jerusalem was only fifteen miles away. Surely the Messiah was about to march into the capital, throw out Rome, and take David\u2019s throne by the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus knew better. Before they took another step, He told a parable meant to shatter their expectations. Pastor Joey\u2019s sermon on the Parable of the Minas asks what we are doing while the King is away.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>A Story Ripped from the Headlines<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>The Crowd\u2019s Dangerous Theology<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The crowd expected a military deliverer. In Pastor Joey\u2019s words, \u201cThey wanted the crown without the cross\u2026 glory without the suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jesus drew on history as familiar to them as 9\/11 is to us. When Herod the Great died in 4 BC, his son Archelaus traveled to Rome to receive his kingdom from Caesar Augustus. According to Josephus, the Jews sent about fifty ambassadors after him to protest. Augustus confirmed Archelaus anyway, and on his return he took brutal revenge on those who had opposed him. Jesus repurposed this episode to describe His departure, the world\u2019s rejection, and His glorious and terrifying return.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>The Departing King and the Equal Trust<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Verses 11\u201313<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The nobleman is Christ, who goes to a \u201cfar country,\u201d heaven, to receive His kingdom from the Father and then return. He would die, rise, ascend, and return only after a long, unspecified delay. Believers therefore live in the \u201cin-between times\u201d: the King is absent in body but present by His Spirit.<\/p>\n<p>He gives each of ten servants one mina, about three months\u2019 wages. Unlike the talents in Matthew 25, every servant receives the same amount. Pastor Joey identifies the mina as the gospel itself, entrusted equally to famous theologian and quiet servant alike. The command, \u201cengage in business\u201d (Greek pragmateuomai, the root of \u201cpragmatic\u201d), means putting it to practical use. Echoing John Calvin, he insisted that Christ did not leave us here to sit idle and stare at the sky:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c<i>None of our time, our money, our gifts, or our breath belongs to us. It\u2019s all capital owned by the King, given to us to leverage for His glory while He is away.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <b>Pastor Joey Sampaga<\/b><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>The Rebellious Citizens<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Verse 14<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The unregenerate heart is not neutral; it actively despises Christ\u2019s authority (John 15:18). A Christianity that never meets resistance, Pastor Joey warned, may have stopped sharing the gospel. Culture happily accepts a Jesus who is a \u201ccosmic therapist\u201d or a mild moral teacher, but hates the sovereign King who demands repentance and claims authority over our sexuality, finances, and minds. \u201cFollow your heart\u201d is simply the modern version of \u201cWe do not want this man to reign over us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>The Day of Accounting<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Verses 15\u201319: Faithfulness Rewarded by Grace<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>When the king returns, business ends and accounting begins (2 Corinthians 5:10). The first servant reports humbly, \u201cYour mina has made ten minas,\u201d recognizing that the power lay in the gospel, not the messenger. That frees believers: \u201cIt\u2019s not your job to save anyone. Your only job is to share.\u201d Pastor Joey reduced the message to its core: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again.<\/p>\n<p>The reward, authority over ten cities during Christ\u2019s millennial reign, is wildly out of proportion to the work. Guarding against works-righteousness, he quoted Augustine:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c<i>When God crowns our merits, He crowns nothing but His own gifts.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <b>Augustine of Hippo<\/b><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>The Wicked Servant<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Verses 20\u201326: Bad Theology Breeds Barren Lives<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The third servant hid his mina in a handkerchief. His deeper problem was not laziness but a distorted view of the king as harsh and greedy. Without love, he bore no fruit, and the king condemned him by his own words: if he truly feared a severe master, he would at least have banked the money.<\/p>\n<p>He represents the churchgoer who enjoys worship and the sermon but whose life is unchanged and risks nothing for Christ. Leaving final judgment to God, Pastor Joey urged self-examination: such people will eventually be exposed.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>The Final Judgment<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Verse 27<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The parable ends with the King executing His enemies, a verse hated by those who would make Jesus a harmless pacifist. Yet He is the righteous Judge, returning not to debate mockers but to execute justice. Once He comes, there is no further chance to receive Him. That is why the gospel must be shared now.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Three Questions for Every Believer<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><b>Whose kingdom are you building?<\/b><\/span> Your calendar, bank account, and ambitions reveal whether you serve the King or a temporary kingdom bound for dust.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><b>What are you doing with the gospel?<\/b> <\/span>Are you investing it with family, neighbors, coworkers or keeping it wrapped up as a \u201csecret agent Christian\u201d?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><b>Do you have a distorted view of God?<\/b><\/span> The Jesus of Revelation 1, with eyes of flame and a sharp two-edged sword, is also the One who laid a comforting hand on John. Seeing God only as a cosmic police officer breeds fear and legalism; seeing Him only as a teddy bear breeds license. Preaching only His love is a half-truth, and \u201ca half-truth is a lie.\u201d True love demands justice, which is why God must punish sin.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The King Who Went to a Cross<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>By nature, every heart says, \u201cWe do not want this man to reign over us\u201d (Romans 8:7), and every rebel deserves the judgment of verse 27. But before the King went to the far country, He went to a cross, absorbing that very judgment in our place.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c<i>We serve because we are saved. We don\u2019t serve to be saved.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <b>Pastor Joey Sampaga<\/b><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Pastor Joey closed with an urgent invitation: lay down your weapons and your idols, submit to the King, and trust His finished work \u201cwhile it\u2019s still called today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Sources<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>Augustine of Hippo.<\/strong> <\/span>Letter 194, to Sixtus, ch. 5, sec. 19.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>Calvin, John.<\/strong><\/span> Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Comments on Luke 19:11\u201327.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>Josephus, Flavius.<\/strong> <\/span>Antiquities of the Jews 17.9\u201311; The Jewish War 2.2\u20136.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>Sampaga, Joey.<\/strong> <\/span>Sermon on Luke 19:11\u201327, East Valley International Church, Gilbert, Arizona. Transcription. Quotations lightly edited for readability.<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #4a4038;\"><i>The following is a Claude AI Exposition and Supplemental Bible Study of<br \/>\nLuke 19:11-27, from the sermon by<br \/>\nPastor Joey at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/v\/1F747MfMCq\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>East Valley International Church<\/strong><\/a>, October 18, 2026.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><b>Stewards of the Sovereign King<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #444444;\"><i>The Parable of the Minas and the Faithful Use of the King\u2019s Trust \u2014 Luke 19:11\u201327<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><b>Synopsis<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In Luke 19:11\u201327, Jesus corrects His followers\u2019 expectation that God\u2019s kingdom would appear immediately. Drawing on the familiar history of Archelaus, who traveled to Rome to secure his throne, Jesus portrays Himself as a nobleman who departs to receive a kingdom and will return to reign. Each servant receives the same mina\u2014the common trust of the gospel\u2014with the command, \u201cOccupy till I come.\u201d Faithful servants are lavishly rewarded; the fearful servant who buried his mina is condemned by his own distorted view of the master; rebellious citizens face judgment. The parable calls every believer to faithful, fearless stewardship until Christ returns.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><b>The Text<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<blockquote><p><i>11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. 12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. 13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. 14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>15 And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. 16 Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. 17 And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. 18 And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. 19 And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>20 And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: 21 For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. 22 And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: 23 Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>24 And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. 25 (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) 26 For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. 27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Luke 19:11\u201327 (KJV)<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><b>Introduction: Seventeen Miles from Glory<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The road from Jericho to Jerusalem is only about seventeen miles long, but it climbs more than three thousand feet through barren Judean wilderness. Every pilgrim who walked it at Passover knew where it ended: at the Holy City, at the Temple, at the place where the God of Israel had promised to dwell among His people. In Luke 19 Jesus is making that climb for the last time. Behind Him lies Jericho, where a blind beggar has just received his sight and a despised chief tax collector named Zacchaeus has just received salvation. Ahead of Him lies the Mount of Olives, the triumphal entry, the cleansing of the Temple, and the cross.<\/p>\n<p>The crowd surrounding Him is electric with expectation. They have seen the miracles. They have heard Him declare that \u201cthe Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost\u201d (Luke 19:10). And now, as the walls of Jerusalem draw near, many of them are certain that the moment has arrived. The Messiah is going up to the capital. Surely the Roman yoke will be broken, the throne of David restored, and the kingdom of God revealed in visible power before the week is out.<\/p>\n<p>It is precisely into that atmosphere of fevered anticipation that Jesus speaks the Parable of the Minas. Luke is unusually explicit about its purpose: Jesus told it \u201cbecause he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear\u201d (v. 11). The parable is a gentle but firm correction. The kingdom is real, the King is coming, and His reign will be absolute\u2014but there will be an interval first. The King must go away to receive His kingdom, and between His departure and His return His servants have work to do. That interval is the age in which we now live, and this parable is the charter for how we are to live in it. We are, every one of us who bears His name, stewards of a sovereign King.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><b>I. A Story the Listeners Already Knew (vv. 11\u201312)<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><b>The Nobleman and the Far Country<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>\u201cA certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.\u201d To modern readers this sounds like the opening of a fairy tale. To Jesus\u2019 first-century Judean audience it sounded like recent history. Under Roman rule, client kings did not inherit their thrones simply by birth; they had to travel to Rome and receive confirmation of their authority from the emperor. Herod the Great had done exactly this. When Herod died in 4 B.C., his son Archelaus sailed to Rome to have his father\u2019s will ratified and to secure the title of king over Judea.<\/p>\n<p>The first-century Jewish historian Josephus records what happened next. A delegation of Jewish leaders followed Archelaus to Rome to petition Augustus against him, pleading that he not be allowed to rule over them. Augustus compromised: Archelaus received authority over Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, but only as an ethnarch, not as king. When he returned, he dealt harshly with those who had opposed him. And here is a striking detail: Archelaus had built a magnificent palace at Jericho\u2014the very town Jesus has just left. It is not difficult to imagine the Lord\u2019s listeners glancing back toward that palace as He began to speak.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus, then, takes a familiar political memory and transforms it into a portrait of His own mission. But the contrast is as important as the comparison. Archelaus was a cruel and illegitimate ruler whose claim rested on an earthly emperor\u2019s favor. Jesus is the rightful Son of David whose kingdom is conferred by the Ancient of Days Himself. The prophet Daniel had seen it centuries before: one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven to the Ancient of Days, \u201cand there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom\u201d (Daniel 7:13\u201314). The \u201cfar country\u201d of the parable is heaven itself. The journey is the Lord\u2019s death, resurrection, and ascension. The receiving of the kingdom is His enthronement at the right hand of the Father. And the return is His glorious Second Coming.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><b>Correcting a Timetable, Not Cancelling a Promise<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>We must be careful here. Jesus is not telling His disciples that the kingdom is merely spiritual or that their hope of a coming reign is misguided. He is correcting their timetable, not cancelling the promise. The nobleman really does receive a kingdom, and he really does return to exercise it. Christian hope is not a vague optimism that things will eventually improve; it is the confident expectation that the crucified and risen Jesus will return in power to judge the living and the dead. What the parable adds is the reality of delay\u2014and the question of what the King\u2019s servants will be doing while they wait.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><b>II. The Trust and the Command (v. 13)<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><b>Ten Servants, Ten Minas, One Mandate<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Before departing, the nobleman calls ten of his servants and gives each of them one mina\u2014the \u201cpound\u201d of the King James Version. A mina was worth about one hundred drachmas, roughly a hundred days\u2019 wages for a laborer. It was a meaningful sum, but hardly a fortune for a man about to become a king. This is deliberate. The nobleman is testing his servants with \u201ca very little\u201d (v. 17) in order to discover who can be trusted with much.<\/p>\n<p>Readers who know Matthew\u2019s Gospel will immediately think of the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14\u201330), and the two stories are clearly related. Yet the differences are instructive. In Matthew the master distributes vastly larger sums in differing amounts\u2014five talents, two, and one\u2014\u201cto every man according to his several ability.\u201d In Luke every servant receives exactly the same thing. Most careful expositors conclude that Jesus, an itinerant teacher who surely repeated and adapted His illustrations, told two distinct parables on different occasions with different emphases. Matthew\u2019s talents highlight the diversity of gifts and opportunities God distributes. Luke\u2019s minas highlight what all believers hold in common.<\/p>\n<p>What, then, is the one mina entrusted equally to every servant? Interpreters have offered several answers, and the parable is broad enough to touch them all, but the most compelling is that the mina represents the common deposit of the gospel and the life of discipleship that flows from it. Every believer, whatever his abilities, has received the same word of the kingdom, the same saving grace, the same Spirit, the same commission to bear witness. Paul speaks of the gospel as a trust: \u201cwe were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel\u201d (1 Thessalonians 2:4). He charges Timothy to guard \u201cthat good thing which was committed unto thee\u201d (2 Timothy 1:14). The mina is not primarily our money or our talents, though these are included in our stewardship; it is the King\u2019s own treasure placed in our hands.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u201c<b>Occupy Till I Come\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The command that accompanies the gift is brief: \u201cOccupy till I come.\u201d The Greek verb, <i>pragmateusasthe<\/i>, means to do business, to trade, to put to work. The old English word \u201coccupy\u201d once carried that sense of being busily engaged in commerce. The servants are not told to guard the mina, admire it, or bury it for safekeeping. They are told to invest it, to risk it, to set it to work in the King\u2019s interest until He returns.<\/p>\n<p>This single verse dismantles two errors that have plagued the church in every generation. The first is the error of idle speculation\u2014gazing into the sky and calculating dates while neglecting present duty. The angels rebuked precisely this posture at the ascension: \u201cYe men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?\u201d (Acts 1:11). The second is the error of comfortable forgetfulness\u2014living as though the King will never return and the trust will never be audited. The command \u201cOccupy till I come\u201d holds both truths in tension: there is work to do now, and there is a day of accounting coming.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><b>III. The Rebellion of the Citizens (v. 14)<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Woven through the story of the servants is a second, darker thread. \u201cBut his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.\u201d These are not servants who misuse their trust; they are subjects who reject the king altogether. The echo of the Archelaus embassy is unmistakable, but the deeper fulfillment would unfold within days. In this same Jerusalem the chief priests would cry, \u201cWe have no king but Caesar\u201d (John 19:15), and the crowd would shout for the release of Barabbas.<\/p>\n<p>It is important to notice that the citizens\u2019 objection is not intellectual but volitional. They do not say, \u201cWe are unconvinced of his claim.\u201d They say, \u201cWe will not have this man to reign.\u201d That is the heart of human sin in every age. The problem with fallen humanity is not a lack of evidence but a refusal of authority. Psalm 2 portrays the nations raging and the rulers taking counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, \u201cLet us break their bands asunder.\u201d Modern man still sends that message after the departed King. He may phrase it in the language of autonomy, self-expression, or secular reason, but the message is the same: we will not have this man to reign over us.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><b>IV. The Day of Reckoning (vv. 15\u201319)<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><b>The King Returns<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>\u201cAnd it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom\u2026\u201d The delay ends. The nobleman comes back\u2014no longer a nobleman, but a king. His first act is to summon his servants \u201cthat he might know how much every man had gained by trading.\u201d The order is significant: judgment begins at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17). Before the King deals with His enemies, He deals with His own household.<\/p>\n<p>Scripture is clear that believers will give an account. \u201cWe must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad\u201d (2 Corinthians 5:10). This is not a judgment that determines whether a Christian is saved\u2014that question was settled at the cross, and \u201cthere is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus\u201d (Romans 8:1). Rather, it is an evaluation of faithfulness, a reckoning of stewardship, in which the Lord assesses what His servants did with what He gave them.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u201c<b>Thy Pound Hath Gained\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Listen carefully to the language of the first servant: \u201cLord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.\u201d He does not say, \u201cI have gained ten pounds,\u201d or \u201cmy hard work has produced this.\u201d He says, \u201c<i>thy<\/i> pound hath gained.\u201d The faithful servant understands that the capital belonged to the master, the opportunity came from the master, and even the increase is credited to the master\u2019s money. This is the humility of true stewardship. Paul expresses the same spirit: \u201cI laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me\u201d (1 Corinthians 15:10).<\/p>\n<p>The king\u2019s response is lavish. \u201cWell, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.\u201d Notice the staggering disproportion. The servant was faithful with a hundred days\u2019 wages; he is rewarded with the governance of ten cities. The second servant, whose mina gained five, receives five cities. The rewards are proportionate to faithfulness, yet each is wildly beyond anything the servants could have earned.<\/p>\n<p>Several truths emerge from this exchange:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li value=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong><i>Faithfulness, not visible success, is the measure.<\/i> <\/strong><\/span>The king commends the servant as \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cfaithful\u201d before mentioning the result. God does not ask us to be impressive; He asks us to be trustworthy.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong><i>Small things matter.<\/i> <\/strong><\/span>The mina was \u201ca very little.\u201d Most of our stewardship is exercised in ordinary obscurity\u2014in homes, workplaces, conversations, and private devotion. Jesus taught that \u201che that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much\u201d (Luke 16:10).<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong><i>The reward for service is greater service.<\/i> <\/strong><\/span>Heaven is not portrayed as eternal idleness. The faithful are given authority, responsibility, and a share in the King\u2019s reign. As Paul asks, \u201cDo ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?\u201d (1 Corinthians 6:2).<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong><i>There are degrees of reward.<\/i> <\/strong><\/span>Ten cities and five cities are not the same. Salvation is equal for all who believe, but reward in the kingdom corresponds to the faithfulness of our service.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><b>V. The Servant Who Hid the Mina (vv. 20\u201326)<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><b>The Napkin and the Excuse<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Then comes the third servant\u2014representative of the remaining seven, and the dramatic center of the parable. \u201cLord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin.\u201d The word translated \u201cnapkin,\u201d <i>soudarion<\/i>, refers to a cloth used for wiping perspiration from the face. There is a quiet irony in the image: the one cloth meant for the sweat of labor has been used to wrap up an unused coin. This servant has not squandered the money in riotous living. He has not stolen it. He simply did nothing with it, and returns it exactly as he received it, apparently expecting to be thanked for his caution.<\/p>\n<p>His explanation reveals his heart: \u201cFor I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.\u201d The word \u201caustere,\u201d <i>aust\u0113ros<\/i>, describes something harsh, severe, exacting. The servant\u2019s inaction flowed from a distorted view of his master. He saw the king not as a generous lord who had entrusted him with capital and opportunity, but as a hard taskmaster eager to exploit and punish. His fear was not the reverent fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom; it was the servile, suspicious fear that paralyzes.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><b>Judged by His Own Words<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The king\u2019s reply is devastating in its logic: \u201cOut of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant.\u201d He does not concede the servant\u2019s portrait of him; he simply takes the servant at his word. If you truly believed I was so exacting, the king says, then the very least you could have done was deposit my money with the bankers so I could collect it with interest. The servant\u2019s excuse does not excuse him; it convicts him. Even by his own warped standard, he failed to do the minimum.<\/p>\n<p>Here lies a sobering lesson. Unfaithfulness almost always rests on a false theology. When we misjudge the character of God\u2014imagining Him stingy, harsh, or impossible to please\u2014we inevitably bury what He has given us. The servant who believes the King is gracious will gladly risk the mina in His service; the servant who believes the King is a tyrant will hide it and call his paralysis prudence. Is it any wonder the New Testament so insistently directs us to the goodness of God? \u201cHe that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?\u201d (Romans 8:32).<\/p>\n<p>Who does this third servant represent? Faithful interpreters differ on whether he depicts a true but fruitless believer who suffers loss of reward (compare 1 Corinthians 3:15) or a merely nominal follower whose barren life exposes the absence of genuine faith. Luke notably stops short of Matthew\u2019s description of the unprofitable servant being cast into outer darkness; the man here loses his mina but is distinguished from the enemies of verse 27. Yet the king still calls him \u201cwicked,\u201d and Jesus elsewhere makes clear that a life with no fruit at all is a grave warning sign (John 15:2, 6). Whichever reading one adopts, the pastoral point is unmistakable: no one who claims to serve the King should be content to return His treasure untouched.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><b>The Principle of Increase<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>\u201cTake from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.\u201d The bystanders protest\u2014\u201cLord, he hath ten pounds\u201d\u2014and the objection only highlights the principle the King now states: \u201cunto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.\u201d This is not arbitrary favoritism. It is the moral law of the spiritual life. Truth used grows; truth neglected withers. The believer who acts on what he knows is given more light; the one who sits on what he has received gradually loses even that. Jesus had spoken the same principle earlier about hearing the word: \u201cTake heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given\u201d (Luke 8:18).<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><b>VI. The Fate of the King\u2019s Enemies (v. 27)<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The parable closes with one of the most solemn sentences Jesus ever spoke: \u201cBut those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.\u201d Many modern readers recoil from this verse, and some have tried to argue that the harsh king cannot possibly represent Jesus. But such readings mistake the nature of the story. The verse is not a license for human violence\u2014the King does not command His servants to take up arms against unbelievers in this age. It is a prophetic declaration of divine judgment, executed by the King Himself upon those who finally and willfully reject His rightful reign.<\/p>\n<p>The warning would find a near fulfillment within a generation. Only a few verses later Jesus weeps over Jerusalem and foretells that her enemies will cast a trench about her and lay her even with the ground, \u201cbecause thou knewest not the time of thy visitation\u201d (Luke 19:41\u201344). In A.D. 70 the Roman armies did exactly that. But the ultimate fulfillment awaits the Lord\u2019s return, when He who came first in humility will come again in glory to judge. Paul describes that day when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven \u201cin flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel\u201d (2 Thessalonians 1:7\u20138).<\/p>\n<p>This verse forces every hearer to locate himself in the story. There are only three kinds of people in the parable: faithful servants, unfaithful servants, and rebellious citizens. There is no fourth category of neutral observers. Every person who has heard of Jesus Christ has received a message from the King and is, at this moment, either serving Him, neglecting Him, or resisting Him. The good news is that the King has not yet returned. The delay that tests His servants is also the season of mercy for His enemies. \u201cThe Lord is not slack concerning his promise\u2026 but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance\u201d (2 Peter 3:9). Zacchaeus, the rebel turned servant whose story immediately precedes this parable, stands as living proof that the King still receives those who lay down their arms.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><b>VII. Living as Stewards of the Sovereign King<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>How, then, should we live in the interval between the King\u2019s departure and His return? The parable presses several applications upon the church.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><b>Know the Character of Your King<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Faithful stewardship begins with right theology. The third servant failed because he misjudged his master. We will serve joyfully and boldly only when we see the King as He truly is: holy and exacting, yes, but also the One who gave His own life for His servants and rewards their smallest faithfulness with lavish generosity. Spend time beholding Him in His Word. The more clearly you see Christ, the less you will be tempted to bury His treasure.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><b>Put the Gospel to Work<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The mina was given to be traded, not hoarded. Every believer has been entrusted with the message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18\u201320). Practical expressions of this stewardship include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Speaking of Christ to neighbors, coworkers, and family members, even when the opportunity seems small.<\/li>\n<li>Supporting the preaching of the Word and the planting of churches with time, prayer, and resources.<\/li>\n<li>Discipling younger believers so that what we have received multiplies in others (2 Timothy 2:2).<\/li>\n<li>Using our homes, skills, and influence as instruments of the King\u2019s purposes rather than merely personal comfort.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><b>Refuse the Paralysis of Fear<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Many Christians bury their mina not out of rebellion but out of timidity\u2014fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of doing it wrong. Yet the only servant condemned in this parable is the one who did nothing. God has not given us \u201cthe spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind\u201d (2 Timothy 1:7). Better to risk the mina in imperfect service than to return it untouched with a polished excuse.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><b>Live in the Light of His Return<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The phrase \u201ctill I come\u201d sets a horizon over every day of the Christian life. The King will return, the accounts will be opened, and every servant will hear either \u201cWell done\u201d or \u201cOut of thine own mouth will I judge thee.\u201d This is not meant to fill the believer with dread but with purpose. Our labor is not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58). Nothing done for Him is ever wasted, and nothing done for ourselves alone will last.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><b>Questions for Study and Discussion<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why does Luke tell us the reason Jesus spoke this parable (v. 11)? How might the crowd\u2019s expectations have shaped how they heard it?<\/li>\n<li>What does the historical background of Archelaus add to your understanding of the parable? Where does the comparison with Jesus break down?<\/li>\n<li>Compare Luke 19:11\u201327 with Matthew 25:14\u201330. What does the equal distribution of the minas emphasize that the unequal distribution of talents does not?<\/li>\n<li>What do you believe the mina represents in your own life? In what specific ways are you \u201ctrading\u201d with it?<\/li>\n<li>The faithful servant said, \u201c<i>Thy<\/i> pound hath gained.\u201d How does that phrase guard against pride in Christian service?<\/li>\n<li>How did the third servant\u2019s view of his master shape his behavior? What false beliefs about God might cause believers today to \u201cbury\u201d their gifts?<\/li>\n<li>How should the solemn warning of verse 27 shape both our worship of Christ and our urgency in evangelism?<\/li>\n<li>Read Luke 19:1\u201310 alongside this parable. How does Zacchaeus illustrate the transformation from rebel citizen to faithful servant?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><b>Conclusion: Until the King Comes<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>As Jesus finished this parable, Luke tells us, \u201che went before, ascending up to Jerusalem\u201d (v. 28). The Nobleman was setting out for the far country. Within days He would be rejected by His citizens, crucified outside the city walls, raised from the dead, and exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high. He has received the kingdom. He will return.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, He has placed His treasure in our hands. The gospel that saved us, the Spirit who indwells us, the Word that instructs us, and the opportunities that surround us are not ours to bury but His to multiply. The question of the parable is not whether the King is coming\u2014that is certain. The question is what He will find when He arrives. May He find us laboring with joy, trading faithfully with His mina, humbly saying, \u201cLord, thy pound hath gained,\u201d and longing to hear the words every true servant desires above all others: \u201cWell, thou good servant.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><b>Works Consulted<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>Bock, Darrell L. <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong><i>Luke 9:51\u201324:53<\/i><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>.<\/strong><\/span> Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1996.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>Green, Joel B. <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong><i>The Gospel of Luke<\/i><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>.<\/strong><\/span> New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>Henry, Matthew. <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong><i>Commentary on the Whole Bible<\/i><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>.<\/strong> <\/span>Vol. 5, <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><i>Matthew to John<\/i><span style=\"font-size: small;\">. 1706. Reprint, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>Josephus, Flavius.<\/strong> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong><i>Jewish Antiquities<\/i><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong> 17.9.3\u201317.13.2; <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong><i>The Jewish War<\/i><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong> 2.1\u20132.7.<\/strong> <\/span>Translated by William Whiston. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1987.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>Marshall, I. Howard. <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong><i>The Gospel of Luke<\/i><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>.<\/strong> <\/span>New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>Morris, Leon. <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong><i>Luke<\/i><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries.<\/strong> <\/span>Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>Ryle, J. C. <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong><i>Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke<\/i><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>. Vol. 2. 1858.<\/strong> <\/span>Reprint, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1986.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>Snodgrass, Klyne R.<\/strong> <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><i>Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus<\/i><span style=\"font-size: small;\">. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Colophon:<\/strong><\/span> Researched and drafted with the assistance of Claude (Anthropic) as a scholarly research collaborator. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The author<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> retains full editorial authority over the final text.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is\u00a0the full transcript\u00a0[Click HERE to close] &#8211; Alright, so last week we looked at one of the pretty magnificent display of the sovereign grace of of God. And this was a salvation of Zacchaeus. So I remember him being short in stature. He had climbed the tree. Now Jesus, he was passing through Jericho,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[46,172,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christianity","category-e-v-i-c-study-notes","category-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/EVIC-Church.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8972"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8977,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8972\/revisions\/8977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}