THE PRINCIPAL OF RESPONSIBILITY

Matthew chapter 25




Today we are walking in: The Principle of Responsibility






Psalm 94:10

He that chastiseth H3256 the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?



Today we look to the word- correct H3256 yacar--to chasten, discipline, instruct, admonish, to teach, correct





The Torah testifies...............
******



The prophets proclaim..................

Jeremiah 10:24

O LORD, correct H3256 me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.


The writings bear witness...........................

Proverbs 29:17

Correct H3256 thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.



The Principle of Responsibility




The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

-Donald Kendall Chairman, Pepsi-Cola Company




Responsibility is the key to true freedom. Now we are _ going to break down these wilderness principles to make freedom a reality in your life. If you've been spinning your wheels in the wilderness and are tired of living in oppression, responsibility is the answer to your coming years in life. The prerequisite for freedom is responsibility.




What is responsibility?




Let's look at the word responsibility. I like to divide it up into three parts and look at each one. This is not the official dictionary version of the origin of the word, but this really helps me get a grasp on its meaning.



The first part of the word responsibility is "re," which means "to return to the original, to go back to the source."




The second syllable of responsibility is "spons." This always reminds me of "sponsor," which means "one who assumes responsibility to pay for another or supportanother." A sponsor is a supporter or an upholder. The sponsor is the one who pays for something or who oversees and is responsible for the execution of something. A sponsor is one's source.




The final part in the word responsibility is "ability." Ability means "to have the power to perform whatever is required." So ability is strength, capacity, might and potential.




When we put the three parts of this word together, we get an interesting definition. Responsibility means "submitting, or returning in submission, the power given to you." It is giving account of the ability to the one who sponsored you by maximizing that potential as he demands.




For example, when your mother gave you the responsibility to clean the dishes during your childhood, she knew you had the ability to respond to her demand. So she expected you to respond to her assignment with your ability to manage the assignment. If you ran off when you were called by the kids outside for after-dinner games, when you finally returned, your daddy would probably take you out back with the responsibility to discipline you.But more importantly, you would have been irresponsible because of your neglect to respond to the ability your mother knew you had when she sponsored you to help around the house.




The same would be true with a greater spiritual impact by rejecting Yah's job assignment for your life to establish His will on earth. It is irresponsible to neglect His will. Never forget that Yah gives you the power to do things. He is the source of your abilities-and using them effectively and fully shows you are responsible.




RESPONS-[A]BILITY




When Yah gives you a seed, He doesn't want that seed back; He wants a forest. He wants you to plant and grow that seed with the ability He gave you. When Yah gives you something, it always contains more than is apparent. His seeds have the potential to be more than what initially appears. He gives you His seed of potential with the end product in it, and it is the end product-not the seed-that Yah wants back. This is the emphasis in Yahusha' parable of the talents. He gives you one to manage into many. Let's look at it again.




Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more.

-MATTHEW 25:14-17




In this powerful parable, Yahusha teaches us that Yah is our source. It is Yah who sponsors us freely with our talents, gifts and abilities. It is He who gives us our dreams and purpose. After He imparts them, He doesn't want our dreams and gifts back. He wants us to develop His gifts by responding to the abilities invested in us.




To the servants who managed their dreams and abilities, the master declared, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share yourmaster's happiness!" (v. 23).




The third servant didn't appreciate his master's gift, and he didn't appreciate his invested abilities. So he buried his talent to hide it from all. When his master returned, he was punished severely.




His master replied, "You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."

-MATTHEW 25:26-29




When an investment appreciates, that means it grows. When we appreciate the gifts and dreams Yah gives us, we make them grow. In this parable two grew to four, and five grew to ten. But for the one who tried to give the masterback his seed, his return was death. When Yah gives a seed, He expects a tree.




If the gifts you had last year don't grow this year, if you aren't a little wiser because of trading with your gifts, you will be held accountable for your ungratefulness to Yah for the gift of your talents and for the great brain He gave you.




I have come to understand the gifts and dreams Yah has placed within me more every year. So to help develop them, I read at least fourteen books a year. In my busy schedule, I find time before I go to sleep and at other times to read a few chapters. I have four briefcases, and in each one I have a book that I find time every day to read. I make it a goal to finish each title, so I work it into my schedule. You must constantly refine your gift.




Prioritize, Organize, Discipline




Maybe you're wondering how you could read that many books. I had to discipline myself to sit down, stop watching television, turn the video off, stay up a little later or get up a little earlier to read. I chose to be responsible in order to get the knowledge into my brain. This is the essence of freedom. Freedom demands the three keys to success-prioritize, organize and discipline.




The beautiful thing about it is, the more I learn, the more others benefit because I become a better teacher. When I get more knowledge, I can bless more people. Then more people want to hear me, and I am invited to speak in more places. So my gift expands and grows, and Yah opens more doors. This is the way He designed it to work. I took His talents, and I'm still trading with them.




Yah gave each of us a brain with one billion cells, and according to scientists, we only use 10 percent of it. Now I don't know about you, but I think that's sad. So I have decided that I'm going to make use of 15 percent of my brain. I want to live at a level above the average human being, so I trade with my talents daily. Yahusha said, "To everyone who has shall more be given" (Matt. 25:29, NAS). I grow in my responsibility with every new task. How about you? Freedom makes demands on your ability. It's the nature of freedom.




Just like the servants in the parable, we will have to return to our Source one day and say, "Look at what I did with what You gave me." The servant who received five talents didn't bring five back. That would have been irresponsible. He came back with ten, and his master was thrilled. "But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money" (v. 18). He came back with zip, nadda, nothing.Instead of earning a profit, he earned his master's wrath.




"You wicked, lazy servant!" said the master (v. 26). Then he said, "Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (vv. 28-30).




There are some things Yah hates. And as we've seen, irresponsibly squandering our Yah-given abilities is definitely one of them. Yahusha not only called the servant lazy and wicked, but the man was condemned to eternal damnation. Wow! Not only that, but Yah took the hellbound servant's one talent and gave it-not to the one who had the four-but to the one who had the ten.




Now when I first read this parable as a young believer, I was confused. In my way of thinking then, the needs and math didn't add up. So I said, "Yah, wait a minute. The one who had the ten was loaded. So why didn't he give the unfaithful servant's one squandered talent to the man who had the four? At least then, he would have been a little better off with five. And the one with the ten would have still done OK, because he received two times what the other man had."




But Yah's Spirit is a wise Spirit. He showed me that in Yah's program of management affairs, the people who are busy developing their lives and going forth responsibly will always receive a huge return on their life investment. He showed me that this parable warns us all to be responsible. If you are waiting to get blessed before you start doing something, you are going to lose what you have.




This is management by Yah's book: The more you receive from the Lord, the more demands He places on you. "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (Luke 12:48).




What have you received? If you have a voice but don't sing, you will lose your desire and talent to sing all together. You won't practice, and you won't increase in your gift. Those of you who have been given the ability to do business with an administrative mind, you need to use it. Don't be afraid to exercise it by preparing yourself for promotion-if you don't go to night school because you are too lazy, you won't remain even where you are. You will eventually lose your job. Someone else will step into your position on the way to the top while you're sitting there spinning your wheels in the desert sand of the wilderness. Got the picture?




Responsibility pays great dividends once we choose to walk in Yah's ways. When you begin to exercise and multiply what Yah has given you, He will bless you with more. This is why the people who seem to be getting the most are the people who are doing the most.




A pastor once asked me, "Brother Myles, why are you getting all these invitations and speaking engagements? How come no one calls me?"




"I don't know," I replied. "I never look for any invitations; I'm too busy working."




The spirit of responsibility always attracts Yah's blessing. Second Chronicles 16:9 says, "The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him" (NKJv). If you don't attempt things, you won't attract Yah. But if you try, believe me, Yah won't let you attempt things by yourself. Step out in faith, and you will be amazed at what is waiting for you. Tell Yah, "I believe I can do this thing. You can show Yourself strong through me, because You gave me the strength." I'm telling you the truth, the minute you move, good things come out of nowhere toward you. Take responsibility, and Yah will notice.




A Land Flowing With Milk And Honey- Bees And Cows




I hold out to you the thought at this point of my writing that the twenty first-century church today enjoys slavery more than it does freedom-even if we do so subconsciously. I used to think that slavery was nothing but people controlling my life. Now I know that there is really no greater burden than freedom itself. So many of our brothers and sisters are wearied in a wilderness of their own making, on a long walk to nowhere, because the heavy burden of freedom is too heavy for them to bear. But Yahusha has made the offer to share His freedom yoke.




Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

-MATTHEW 11:28-30




Yah's promise of milk and honey can hold true in Canaan, but there you have to work for them. There you have to trade. You don't just dig them up and eat them like onions and garlic-the foods of slavery. You must trade for them. And when the trading is done, you will hear the master's thanks: "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will give you more."



The milk and honey that await those who choose to enter Yah's promised land of freedom represent work. This is why Yah referred to Abraham's Promised Land as a "land of milk and honey." How do you spell promise? W-O-R-K!

You don't dig milk from the ground. First, you have to domesticate a cow. Then you have to feed and take care of her. Then, once all of that has been done, you are ready to milk. Yah may give you the cow, but the rest is up to you. You are the one who must set your alarm for 4 A.M. in the morning to milk the cows when they're ready.




You are the one who must wash, keep and feed Bossy. There is no sleeping in or slacking off when you want fresh milk. Then one day, you'll need some help as you staff and hire for your dairy because of that one cow. This is how things in Canaan work. Freedom demands work and responsibility.




Yah also promises sweet honey in Canaan, but there you have to fight for it. You have to break through the angry, buzzing hive, possess that hive, put your scooper in and fill your jar. Don't think those little stingers are going to open their hive doors and roll out the red carpet. No. You have to take risks in Canaan. You may get stung on the way in, but you do end up with honey. Freedom demands risk, courage, pain and persistence.




DECIDE TO BE RESPONSIBLE, AND Yah WILL SEE You THROUGH




Yah has tremendous blessings just waiting for people who are willing to take responsibility for their own decisions on the other side of Jordan. He wants you to step out and believe what He has put in your heart, because Yah responds to your responsibility.




Yah is obligated to pay the bills He tells you to create. Do you need another milk machine? Yah will see you through. But if you don't step out in responsibility, He has no reason to finance your nothingness. It is when you create a need by obedience that Yah will meet it, because Yah is responsible for responding to your responsibility. He is obligated to take care of what He tells you to do.




Obedience is the trigger that makes Yah move on your behalf. You may have a business, but you are afraid to expand even though Yah has been saying you have the ability to do it. If the ability is present, there is no reason to worry about the resources needed for expansion. The Source who sponsored you will sponsor the growth. But Yah only sponsors what He tells His middle managers to do. So do it when He speaks, and He will bring the sponsorship.




I know about this personally. I went to the university with nothing but faith. I knew Yah had called me there, but when I arrived, I only had enough money for one semester of college. Once I was there, however, on the other side of the Jordan, things started happening that I didn't plan. I not only received a scholarship, but the school gave me a job. Then, after they hired me, I was given two more scholarships.




When I asked the reason why I had been awarded my scholarships, they told me it was because I had earned a 3.9 grade point average. So I didn't just get blessed because I went to school; I had to study. The next semester I worked a little harder, earning a 4.0 average, and received another academic scholarship for my obedience.




But Yah wasn't through honoring my willingness to grow and be used in my gifts. One day, an elderly white couple asked me if I was financially set for the next year. I told him I wasn't, and that's when Yah really opened His floodgates. This man told me how he and his wife had been praying that they would find a way to help someone. After I shared that night, they were convinced that I was the woman Yah told them to help. So they took care of all of my expenses that next year.




I had never met them before, but money for my schooling had been in their bank account many years. It was just waiting for me to take the responsibility so I could spend it on developing my Yah-given talents.




Responsibility will always attract resources from the Source who is the sponsor, so you can bring back the end result to Him. Responsibility demands a response.




THE DISCIPLINE OF RESPONSIBILITY: INTERNAL CONTROL




Freedom is Yah's blessing. Adam was commanded to have dominion over all the earth. Yah sets the guidelines and gives us room to move. But the choice is always ours to submit to His ways and trade where we choose. When you choose to enter His promised land and trade with your talents in freedom, you are internally controlled. Yah doesn't kick the walls of Jericho down; you must choose to obey, and together you bring them down.




In Egypt, you are externally controlled. But when you grow into the responsibility of freedom, you have to master your own life. In oppression, you have a master over your daily affairs and must obey his external laws. In freedom, you are the master and make your own laws. True freedom is the liberty to dominate the resources of earth through your gifts, self- discipline and internal management. Freedom is self-initiated work.




The wicked slave in the parable of the talents viewed his boss as an oppressor. This wicked, unfaithful servant chose to do nothing out of fear because he probably thought anything he could have made in his trading would have been taken away from him. He not only misunderstood who his master was-but he also misunderstood himself.




Remember, in oppression people are motivated by external threat. In freedom, they are motivated by internal commitment. You can tell if people are coming close to freedom because you don't have to watch them. Instead of doing what is right because of the pressure of others, they live by principles. They obey because it's the right thing to do, not because they're fearful of disobeying. True freedom is self-management.




How Free Are You?




Most of us prefer to have a job rather than to create one, because when you have a job, the pressure of the time clock will wake you up. Do you think the Israelites would have marched themselves to work without the Egyptians' whips? I don't. They had been oppressed in slavery for hundreds of years, so mere survival had become their aim in life. The pressure of a supervisor will make you work. But in freedom, you are not employed; you deploy your own gifts. You have to wake yourself up. You're on your own time. You must be self- disciplined. You must set your own priorities and plan your own schedule. Simply put, in freedom you take responsibility for your own life because you are the one who determines your own destiny.




This is why very few people can sell insurance. I've seen people by the hundreds come to me and say, "I've changed my job."




"What are you doing?"




"Insurance."




I smile to myself, thinking, He's not going to make it. I know him too well. He can't even attend ministry four times in a row without skipping. How will he wake up, set his own schedule, design his own day, set up his own clients, arrive on time to meet them and leave on time to get to the next appointment? This I have to see. You really have to understand freedom to be an insurance agent.




The best test of a successful insurance agent is to pay 100 percent of his income through commissions. Most people would starve to death. So most choose to work for the set salary because they're not free enough in their thinking to work on their own time.




So if you aren't free yet, don't bother with insurance. Save the hopeful agency a lot of heartache, training and money. Wait until you're free as an individual before you take on a job like that, which demands your own planning, scheduling and prioritizing.




That's exactly what Yah was saying to the children of Israel: "You're not ready for Canaan, so I'm going to bury you before you mess up my business." Sinai is Yah's classroom of responsibility. The wilderness is the university of work.




KNOWING YOUR VALUE




Before an individual can show the kind of confidence it takes to go forward with their talents, they must understand Yah's personal investment in their lives and know their self worth. You can't legislate a good self concept or self worth, so I have committed myself to help in the restorative process. Political laws and legislation cannot create self esteem.




People write in to tell us that for the first time in their lives, they feel like somebody. They tell me that my message is different from any they have ever heard. Because I am a person of a darker pigmentation, I encourage those who are grappling with a sense of self worth to understand how truly important they are to Yah.




Religion and regimes sometimes work together in oppressing nations and because of the oppressed sense of self worth many were coerced into believing about themselves, thousands today are wandering in the wilderness with the same slave mentality they had under white separatist rule. But Yah can and will change that, and I'm doing everything I can do to help them move out of the wilderness into freedom.




Real freedom doesn't come from governments. True freedom, according to Yahusha, comes from "knowing the truth." When people discover the truth about themselves in the pages of Yah's Word, they don't need anyone to set them free. Suddenly, they discover they are already free. We need to pray for real freedom, not just the political freedom majority rule has brought, which many don't know quite what to do with yet.




The message I teach gives people a sense of self, a sense of dignity and an awareness that they have a reason for living. I remind people of their importance and purpose in life, and that Yahusha Hamachiach came to restore it.




This is part of Yah's "talent investment" in me. He moved me on to university from the old days of music ministry to train me to reinvest. People who have been oppressed, whether by a regime or a social system, don't need a message of salvation that will only get them to heaven. Heaven will be wonderful, but earth is where we live out our faith. People need the whole gospel-to know they have great self worth and are valuable in the here and now. Yah created man to manage His affairs. So we tell people in Africa, Central America, the Caribbean and around the world that they were born for a reason, and that they are unique and irreplaceable.




Yahusha came to give us back ourselves. That's what we lost. So I preach Hamachiach and Him crucified from the lecterns and pulpits of my calling. But I go beyond His crucifixion. I go to the Resurrection and beyond the Resurrection, because Yahusha was raised so we could discover who we are-that's why He came. I also seek to instill Yah's management principles of good business practice in corporate environments, showing business leaders of the world Yah's principles at work. Not long ago I was able to address the corporate heads of the Sony Corporation using one of their product manuals as an illustration to show the practicality of Yah's "product manual" contained in His Word. It is my entrusted talent to reveal the relevance of Yah's Word in social and political situations. Because I have shown my faithfulness, requests for speaking engagements come in from all around the world.




Yah increases those who have, so when you decide to trade you better get a good schedule calendar. And you better get ready for a battery of continual tests. Freedom is discovery of your true self: your self worth, value and self esteem. You are truly free when you know who you are.




Tried And Tested




As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

-ISAIAH 55:9




When you are on the road to responsibility, Yah will take you through some tests. He will take your bread from you, but He won't allow you to starve. He will hold it just long enough until you rise above your own natural thinking. Then once you have your eyes off people and natural supermarkets, He will give you the resources to buy bread. When you know your self worth in Him, you will also recognize that His ways are higher than the ways of the natural world.




Maybe you've been just trying to make it from one day to another, and you've been wondering why. You've been giving, and praying-yet money is tight. The reason is, you have never recognized Yah completely as your Source. You have never arrived at the place where you say, "If Yah doesn't do it, it won't get done." Until you get there, you aren't free. Once you recognize Yah as owner of everything and your place as His middle manager, your ways will increase accordingly.




True freedom is being like Yahusha, and Yahusha was totally dependent upon His Father Yah. "For I did not speak of my own accord," are His words in John, chapter 12. "But the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say" (John 12:49-50).




Yahusha was, and is, totally dependent on His Father. And we should be, too. He came to earth invested immeasurably with Yah's Spirit and miraculous talents, and He traded with them to redeem mankind. So as we look to Him, He will use us to work with His skill. And like Yahusha, we will be tested to qualify for the next level of ministry Yah is wanting to serve through our hands.




Yahusha was tested in the wilderness, and you should expect the same, too. Don't curse every test as if it's from the devil. No test comes unless Yah allows it. Yah is calling us over the waters ... over the Jordan ... and He can't lead us there until we pass our exams. People in the church have been taught that friction, conflict or challenge is from the devil. But anyone who can read Scripture should know this isn't true, because Adam had his test right there in the Garden-in that perfectly created spot.




Testing is not a result of the Fall. The New Testament tells us to welcome tests, tribulations and challenges as friends. They don't come to destroy us. They are sent to develop and refine our faith. This is why James, Yahusha' natural brother by birth to Hamachiach's mother, Mary, wrote, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" (James 1:2-4).




Yah gives His re-created men and women faith that needs development, and He has designed a testing program to improve, increase and develop it. Therefore tests, tribulations and trials are a part of Yah's program-regardless of whether a man or women is a believer or not. Whether you are in the Garden or outside the Garden, tests are a part of life. You may not have thought about it, but the final test that brought you to faith in Yahusha Hamachiach was the last time you were tested before you believed. And the last time you were asked to show more responsibility in an area, whether in the ministry, in the home or on the job, Yah was handing you a new talent to trade with-so don't bury it. Remember, a ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are for.




Being Disciplined




Finally, in dealing with the talents and responsibility with which Yah entrusts men and women, we absolutely have to deal with the big "D"-DISCIPLINE-because discipline is an integral part of His testing program. It is inevitable once you walk out of oppression that His discipline will start to form you for freedom. When you start trading with your talents, it will form you for success. The Wilderness is the institute of discipline.



The Book of Hebrews tells us that "no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it" (Heb. 12:11). That is so true. WhenYah disciplines you, you may wonder if you did something wrong. But that may not be the case. He may, in fact, be training you for a future event you know nothing about.




For example, I told my son and daughter not long ago about something they shouldn't do.




My son protested, "But we're not doing that. Why are you talking to us about something we're not doing?"




So I told him, "I'm telling you not to do it before you do it so you won't do it."




When I said this, I heard the voice of Yah say to me, "That's discipline. That's how I make people responsible." Yah doesn't want anyone to learn their lessons "the hard way." Someone once said that experience is a good teacher, but the tuition is high. So discipline is positive, not negative. Yah uses it to train you for freedom. Then He continues to discipline you for continued freedom. What is discipline? Discipline is self- imposed standards and restrictions motivated by a desire greater than the alternatives.




I tell my children, "Smoking is bad for your health. Drinking is bad for your liver. Cursing is bad for your communication ability." I want them to know this so they don't smoke and drink. All of my "Don't do this and that's" probably have sounded negative throughout their formative years. But one day I know my children will recognize how positive they really were. Discipline is decisions dictated by a determined destiny. Freedom demands discipline.




You don't find many alcoholics coming out of alcohol free homes. And you don't find too many people dying from lung cancer who grew up in smoke-free homes. So when my children go to school and get exposed to these things, I want my words and lifestyle to speak to them there. Then, when the test comes, they will have a choice to make: to follow the lies of the addicted, or agree with the discipline of their father. Instead of having to learn the hard way how bad those things are, they can agree with the words of their father and tell those dope, booze and cigarette pushers, "I don't do that. I'm partial to intelligent thought. I think regularly to organize and live out my day, and that stuff is designed to make me a stupid idiot who smells like a burnt-out warehouse. Is that what you want me to act and look like? A stupid idiot who smells like a burnt-out warehouse? What's wrong with you? I'm busy living life. I don't want any. Go away."




It is my aim to enable my children to make decisions based on discipline that first seemed like a restriction. Once the discipline is internalized, they will know the difference between nonsense and good sense. Because of discipline, they will be confident in dealing with the foolishness of the world. When they go away to college, I will rest easy in knowing they have been trained by the wisdom of discipline and that they will want Yah's best. Freedom is not the absence of law, but the responsible response to law. True freedom is manifested in self-discipline.




The LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

-PROVERBS 3:12




I can say all of this from my perspective as a mother to interpret Yah's reasons for disciplining His people. When the Hebrews were in the wilderness, they could have heeded Yah's disciplined instruction and made their way to Canaan in thirty- five short days. But they resisted His words and paid the price. You see, freedom is not a reality until we learn what the wilderness is designed to teach. Yah wanted to teach Israel the great love He had for them and to teach them to trust in His provision. But when they received the manna, they complained and wanted quail. When Moses went up on Sinai to receive their lifestyle commandments, the people "sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry" (1 Cor. 10:7).




Don't run away from difficulty-run through it. Don't avoid challenges-take them on. They are only opportunities to handle more freedom. A disciplined man is a free man.




Yah would like to do a lot of things in your life immediately. He has more talents than you could possibly know what to do with. He dispenses them when we're ready to work His redemptive will. He would like to answer that prayer you've been praying for some time now, but you aren't ready for the answer. Remember, true freedom is not a right; it is a privilege that is earned through discipline and responsibility.




Stop to think about it now that you have recognized where you are in your own deliverance from Pharaoh's mud pits. Look around and recognize your purpose at the moment. Don't try to pray yourself out of His will. Stop asking for the garlic and leeks, and stay on that difficult job. Stay faithful so He can affect the lives He sent you there to touch. Don't quit because there is difficulty on the job. Stand up to the pressure. Stay there. Recognize your test. Seek Yah's discipline in prayer and study every day before you report to that factory station or desk, and He will reveal the purpose for your exam. James writes:




If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask Yah, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

-JAMES 1:5-6




Don’t Skip Class In The University Of Yah




Don't skip classes in the university of Yah. Yah will keep taking you back and repeating the same classes, hoping that you will pass. Then, and only then, will He give you another talent. "For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him" (Matt. 25:29). This is why I have learned to embrace every challenge and thank Yah for every friction, problem and conflict. When people say it isn't going to work, I say, "It's going to work! I'm going to irritate this thing until it moves. I won't back off!"




When I accepted the truth that challenges were positive, I began to enjoy life. When I grew to appreciate the fact that life is a classroom, every person I meet is my teacher and every experience is a lesson, my life took a different turn. I became peaceful.




But somehow we have this euphoric dream in the religious movement today that trials are evil and that there will come a day when the tough times will end. If someone tells you they have no trials or tribulations, believe me,they are d-e-a-d. Everyone has them; it's just that some catalog them under the heading of "devil attack" every time. Others see them as challenges and opportunities to grow, develop and stretch.




Everything in life is designed to release the hidden, trapped potential that Yah has placed within you. The only way to bring it out to prove and improve it is by testing. Just getting out of bed can sometimes be a test. On some days, that just may be your talent. When it's raining or snowing outside, many won't show up for work or for ministry. But Yah knows if He can get you there, He has one more opportunity to accomplish His work.




Yah will prepare you for freedom, but it will cost you something-your life. Responsibility returns and submits Yah's dreams and abilities back to Him to accomplish His given tasks. When we do it His way, He gives us more. And before we know it, we are so busy serving His work on earth that the problems of this world get lost along the way. Problems like fear, low self worth, helplessness, ignorance, sickness, strife, jealousy and greed get buried in our victories. Tests are passed, and promotions given; two talents turn into four, and five into eleven; old thinking changes, and new doors open. This is the fruit of responsibility, and we should be running to it. Freedom is your destiny.




What have you been given? It's time to get to work.

To help you push on to that next step up on the wrung of your ladder, in the next chapter we will examine the many misconceptions people have held over the years concerning freedom. This will help you identify any hindering mental roadblocks that have barred your way to success.




You never conquer a mountain. Mountains can't be conquered. You conquer yourself-your hopes, your dreams.

-Jim Whitaker First American to Climb Mount Everest




THE PRINCIPLE OF RESPONSIBILITY




1. Freedom demands the three keys to success-prioritize, organize and discipline.




2. If you are waiting to get blessed before you start doing something, you are going to lose what you have.




3. The spirit of responsibility always attracts Yah's blessing.




4. There is really no greater burden than freedom itself.




5. Freedom demands work and responsibility.




6. Freedom demands risk, courage, pain and persistence.




7. Yah is responsible for responding to your responsibility. He is obligated to take care of what He tells you to do.




8. The Source who sponsored you will sponsor the growth.




9. Responsibility demands a response.




10. True freedom is self-management.




11. The wilderness is the university of work.




12. Political laws and legislation cannot create self esteem.




13. You are truly free when you know who you are.




14. No test comes unless Yah allows it.




15. The wilderness is the institute of discipline.




16. A disciplined man is a free man.




17. Everything in life is designed to release the hidden, trapped potential that Yah has placed within you.




18. Freedom is your destiny.

Matthew 25




Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.




2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.




3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:




4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.




5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.




6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.




7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.




8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.




9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.




10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.




11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.




12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.




13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.




14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.




15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.




16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.




17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.




18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.




19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.




20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.




21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.




22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.




23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.




24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:




25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.




26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:




27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.




28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.




29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.




30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.




31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:




32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:




33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.




34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:




35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:




36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.




37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?




38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?




39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?




40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.




41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:




42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:




43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.




44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?




45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.




46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.