🪙 Matthew 25:21 | "...faithful over a little..."

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Happy Monday, {{first_name | everyone}}!

This week, we’re talking about faithfully stewarding the resources God has given you. And to help us do that, we’re excited to be partnering with AdelFi Christian Banking all week!

When I first heard one of their team members on a podcast and learned what they do, I couldn’t believe I had never heard of them. I knew we had to find a way to collaborate with them and share the work they’re doing with more believers.

AdelFi is a biblical banking solution…and I’m excited to share more on what that means this week!

But first, let’s look at our verse for the week: Matthew 25:21.

In today’s email…

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His master said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master."

Matthew 25:21

Your Banking Can Do More

Have you ever considered what your current financial institution actually does with the money you deposit with them? (I hadn’t until I heard about AdelFi).

Quick lesson on how banking works in case you never had a reason to think about it: your deposit doesn't sit in a vault with your name on it. Banks lend deposits out — to homebuyers, to businesses, to whoever they choose — and that lending is how they earn the interest they pay you.

With AdelFi Christian Banking, your deposits serve God’s Kingdom by helping provide affordable loans to churches and ministries.

And at the same time it’s working for the Kingdom, it’s working for you, too.

A Harvest Checking account earns 4% APY* while giving you modern tools to manage your everyday finances. If you want to make your everyday banking part of how you live out your faith and manage God's resources, click below to learn more.

*Terms & conditions apply.

Matthew wrote for a mostly Jewish audience, and he built his Gospel around one central claim: Jesus is the King God promised all throughout Israel’s history.

By chapter 25, that King is only days from the cross.

Here is where he is sitting.

Jesus had just walked out of the temple for the last time and climbed the Mount of Olives, looking back over Jerusalem. His disciples came to him privately and asked when the end of the age will come (Matthew 24:3).

What he says next is not a public sermon to a large group. It is close, urgent teaching for his inner circle about how to live in the long stretch between his leaving and his return.

He tells his disciples three stories in a row, all driving at the same thing.

Each one asks a single question: when the Master comes back, what will he find you doing?

The parable of the talents is the one in the middle and the line we are memorizing this week is the master’s response to the servants who were ready:

Those are the words every follower of Jesus longs to hear.

This week, we’ll sit with what it takes to hear them.

I used to assume “well done” was reserved for the people with the big, visible callings, but as we’ll see this week, it goes to those who are also faithful in the small, unseen stuff nobody claps for.

This week is about what God has handed you, so let’s start by naming it.

📖 Read Matthew 25.

Then write down three things God has actually entrusted to you. Not the ones you wish you had. What are the resources God has given you? Money, skills, time, relationships, opportunities?

Write out the list and put it somewhere you can come back to all week.

🙏 Pray

Father, before I rush into this week, help me take stock of what you have placed in my hands. I have spent so long counting what I lack. Open my eyes to what is already mine to steward, and give me courage to use it for you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Pay-it-forward subscribers, enjoy the song we created below to help you memorize the verse of the week!

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This song leans on the words every faithful servant longs to hear, and turns them into worship. It plays like a daydream, standing in front of Jesus and hearing him say the thing every one of us is hoping for.

Put it on once before you read this email, and once more on Friday when the week has done its work.

Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music | Full Malachi Daily Playlist

Pay-it-forward subscribers, enjoy the song we created below to help you memorize the verse of the week!

His master said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master."

Matthew 25:21