This sermon is about taking control of our own economic life and becoming responsible for our financial future. The era of big government is over and we all must take care to plan and provide for ourselves. Through the parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, God is clear that if we are not good stewards of the finances that God has given to us, what we have shall be taken from us. Billie Holiday says it this way: "them that's got shall get and them's that now shall lose -- so the Bible says -- Mama may have and Papa may have, but God bless the child that has his own." This sermon was preached at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago by the invitation of Pastor Otis Moss, III.