September 11, 2025

Hey guys, 

I hope you’re having a great week. This week’s Thought comes from Luke 20:9&16. Verse 9 says, “A man planted a vineyard, he leased it to tenant farmers, and then he moved to another country for several years.” Verse 16 says, “I tell you he will come back and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.”

If you just read these two verses, you’re probably thinking, “My goodness! He just leased this land to  the farmers, and now he’s going to kill them? What happened in between?”

Well…it was time for harvest and he sent several people back to gather for the harvest. The tenant farmers beat them up and sent them on their way. Finally, the owner sent his son to gather for the harvest. They killed him! The obvious parallels are prophets that God sent to try to draw His people back to Him. Ultimately, he sent his son, Jesus, and they killed Him. That’s the point of the story, but it was the repetition of the word lease that kept sticking out in my mind as I read through this passage. I couldn’t help but ask the question, What in my life has God leased to me?

Leasing means, I’m giving you something for a period of time, for a specific purpose. So, what in my life has been leased to me? This was my short list: my family, my wife, my kids, my influence, my ministry opportunities, people’s trust, my Bible Fellowship/Sunday School class, the international opportunities that we have through our ministry, the prison opportunities, the discipleship opportunities, etc.

Maybe for you it is the teams you coach, the people that God puts in your path daily, your income, your position, the influence that you have…all of those opportunities have been leased to us.

When you realize that it’s just been leased to you — given to you for a period of time, for a specific purpose, it should change your perspective. 

So I want to challenge you in two ways..

• Make a list of the things in your life that God has leased to you. Something that He’s given to you for a period of time, for a specific purpose.

• Ask yourself, am I using those things as if they are mine, or am I using them as if they’ve been leased to me by the Father?

Love you guys,

John