Well, good morning, Heights family. Good morning
to our online family, Pauldin, Baghdad. Love
that you guys are joining us in worship here
this morning. My name is Austin. I get to be
the youth pastor here for our Prescott location.
And thank you. It has been a while. It has been
a while since I've been up here. So I'm just
so grateful, so grateful to be here, so grateful
to worship together as a family this morning.
And if you've been with us the last few weeks,
we are talking about stories as told by Jesus.
And if you didn't know, Jesus tells a lot of
stories. We call them parables. And a parable
is just a short story used to illustrate and
communicate a deeper biblical principle. Sometimes
Jesus uses these parables, he uses analogies
in them to communicate a better and illustrate
better a biblical principle. Or he uses people.
To represent God and humans. And so I would love
to jump right into our story today. It's in Matthew
25. If you want to turn there, click there, whatever
it is. Matthew 25. We're going to read the whole
thing all the way through. Because I need you
guys to grasp and understand just the story from
beginning to end. And then we're going to unpack
it afterwards. So Matthew 25, verse 14. Again.
It will be like a man going on a journey who
called his servants and entrusted his wealth
to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to
another two bags, and to another one bag, each
according to his ability. Then he went on his
journey. The man who had received five bags of
gold went out once and put his money to work
and gained five bags more. So also the one with
two bags of gold gained two more. But the man
who received one bag went off, dug a hole in
the ground, and hid his master's money. After
a long time, the master of those servants returned
and settled accounts with them. The man who had
received five bags of gold brought the other
five. Master, he said, you entrusted me with
five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.
His master replied, 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 in your master's happiness. The man
with two bags of gold also came. Master, he said,
you entrusted me with two bags of gold. See,
I have gained two more. His master replied, 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 in your
master's happiness. Then the man who'd received
one bag of gold came. Master, he said, I knew
that you were a hard man, harvesting where you
have not sown and gathering where you have not
scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out
and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is
what belongs to you. His master replied, you
wicked, lazy servant. You knew that I harvest
where I have not sown and gathered 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. So take the bag of gold from him
and give it to the one who has 10 bags for whoever
has will be given more and they will have an
abundance. Whoever does not have even what they
have will be taken from them and throw that worthless
servant outside into the darkness where there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Would
you guys pray with me as we kind of dive in and
unpack this story? God, we come before you this
morning, thankful for the gift of life, thankful
for just being able to sit here this morning.
God, we come and we ask for you to illuminate
the dark parts of our hearts that we keep hidden.
Would you teach us something new here this morning?
God, we ask these to be your words and from your
spirit. Spirit, we ask you to guide us as we
navigate this passage. It's in Jesus' name that
we ask and we're thankful. Amen. Do you ever
feel inadequate? Do you ever feel inadequate
in your life where you're not good enough? Do
you ever feel angry because maybe something,
an injustice has been done to you? Or do you
ever feel so paralyzed by fear and uncertainty
that you just can't move forward? Or maybe, do
you ever feel like a plastic bag drifting through
the wind, wanting to start again? Do you ever
feel so paper thin, like a house of cards one
blow from caving in? Do you ever feel already
buried deep, six feet under screams, but no one
seems to hear a thing? Do you know that there's
still a chance for you? Because there's a spark
in you. And you just got to ignite the light
and let it shine. And own the night like the
4th of July. Because baby, you're a firework.
The best part is seeing the faces going, why
are they clapping? Why? Who? What just happened?
I'm just trying to keep you on your toes. But
also, I was watching some of you guys who had
no idea that was Katy Perry. All right. Sitting
there and going, oh, my gosh, preach. I am that
plastic bag drifting through the wind, wanting
to start again. Come on, preach it. Man, if that
is you, I'm just going to say I'll pray for you
after service because you just resonated with
Katy Perry. That's all I'm saying. Again, going
back to those, going back to those first, I wanna
take a moment to look at the servant with the
one talent, all right? And you're gonna hear
me say talent. Just know that bags of gold and
talents, those are interchangeable because some
translations use bags of gold, other translations
use talent. A talent is a measure. All right,
it's just a measure of money. And so this servant
had one talent, all right? And so I just had
to ask, why? Why didn't he go out and multiply
it? Why, why? And so we look at verse 25, it
says, master, because I was afraid. And so maybe
it was fear or maybe, maybe it was anger. Maybe
he looked at the other two and he goes, why did
you give him more? Because again, at the beginning,
it said, the master gave each according. to what
he thought they could handle. And so he looks,
he might have gone, you know what, they got more.
And just to spite him, he might've just buried
it in the ground. Or maybe he sat there and he
goes, he felt inadequate. Maybe he felt like
he wasn't good enough because a talent was about
6 ,000 denarii. One denarii is one day's worth
of money, of work. And so that's 6 ,000 days,
which would have taken him about 20 years. It
would have taken about 20 years for one worker
to earn one talent. And so he's given, he's entrusted
this talent, so 20 years worth of money right
here in his hands. So maybe it just felt inadequate
because he goes, I'm not good enough for this.
Like, I'm not good enough to what you gave me.
Or maybe it's fear. Maybe it's what really is
what he said, master, I was afraid of you. And
maybe it's the fear that stopped him, the fear
of failure, the fear of letting him down, the
fear of losing it all. I know that when I was
younger, I fear of failure stopped me from doing
a lot of things because I hated, I hated to lose
and I hated to fail. And so when it came to trying
new things, I would just stop before I even started.
I would just say, I don't want to participate.
I don't want to do it. Not because it didn't
seem fun, but because if I didn't think I could
be good at it instantly, I wouldn't do it. If
there was some possibility of failing or losing,
I wouldn't do it. And so again, because my thought
was, well, if I don't try, then I can't fail.
Right? If I don't do anything with it, then at
least I can't lose because I never started. And
so whatever the excuse was for this servant,
all right, we know that he had a fundamental
misunderstanding of who his master was. See,
he saw his master, as it says in verse 24. He
says, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting
where you have not sown and gathering where you
have not scattered seed. So what is he doing?
He's blaming, he's looking at his master and
he's going, I'm going to blame you for what I
chose to do. Isn't that like a lot of humanity?
We are really, really good at blaming other people
for our mistakes. We are really, really good
at putting the blame and the burden on someone
else, even when it's our fault. right? And so
if you're a teacher in the room, teachers, you
understand this really well. Teachers, isn't
it your fault that the student didn't turn in
their work, right? You told them 10 times, but
the 11th time they would have done it for sure,
right? And parents, you know this. It's your
fault that your child showed up to the sporting
event without their sport equipment. Right, even
though you told them five times to put it in
the car, but hey, that's six times. So it's your
fault. It's your fault that they did that, right?
We see this all the time. We see the blame game
being played out every single day of our life
because again, we are really, really good at
pushing blame to someone else. Just like this
servant did to his master. He's saying he has
a misunderstanding of his master's character
and he uses that to blame his master. And so
maybe, maybe you're sitting here and maybe it's
not blame. Maybe it's going, maybe there are
excuses. It's not blaming someone else. You just
have an excuse. You have an excuse as to why
you can't do something, why you can't, just like
the servant, take the talent and go out and multiply
it. Maybe it's the excuse of time, right? We
all love that one. I don't have enough time,
right? But one day when I get enough time, then
I'll start doing something. But I just don't
have enough time now. Maybe it's money. You're
like, ah, I hear you talking about being generous
all the time. But one day when I get ahead, then
I'll start tithing. Then I'll start being generous.
Can I tell you that if your goals start with
an if and when, you're not going to ever do them,
especially when it comes to following Jesus.
Because again, what is this parable? What is
this story supposed to illustrate? Jesus is talking.
to his disciples in this moment, and he's telling
them about the end of times. He's going, hey,
these are the signs when the end is coming. And
they're like, sweet, when is that? And he goes,
no one knows the day or the hour, which is so
unhelpful. And so then he uses these parables,
these two stories, this one being one of them,
to illustrate his point on going, this is what
being a good steward of what you've been given
looks like. And so we looked at the one. The
one servant who squandered his money, buried
it in the dirt to hide it because he had a misunderstanding
of who his master was. Can I tell you that how
you view God will determine how you live for
God. How you view God will determine how you
actually live for God. If you don't believe me,
let's look at the next servant. So we looked
at the one servant, the two other servants in
verse. 16 and 17. So the man, right, who received
five bags, he went at once. And then 17, so also
the one with two bags, right? So they went at
once. There was urgency. They didn't know when
their master was coming back. They didn't know
when they would see him again. So they just didn't
waste any time. So they went out and they multiplied.
They went out and took the talents that they
had. that they were given, that they were entrusted
with, and they multiplied it. You know, what's
interesting is we look at the response when the
master comes back. The response is the same for
both of them. The master says to both of them,
he says, well done, good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful with a few things. I will
put you in charge of many things. Come share
in your master's happiness. One servant came
back with 10 talents. That's like 200 years worth
of labor and money. The other came back with
four talents. That's like 80 years of labor and
money, two very different amounts. But what does
the master say to both of them? He says, well
done, good and faithful servant. He doesn't look
at them and say, wow, you got so much more. Good
job. I like you better. He doesn't look at the
second one and go, man, you tried. Thanks for
trying. He goes, wow, well done. Why? Because
the point is God is looking at the heart. God
is looking at the motivation behind what you're
doing. I think sometimes we stand here and we
go, gosh, if I only had five talents, then look
what I could do, right? Because maybe you're
standing here and you're going, I only have two
talents worth of time. I only have, you know,
like I just don't have enough time. I only have
two talents worth of time. And so, but you're
going, if, hey, guess what? If I had five, Imagine
how much more I could do. That's when I'll start
using my time for God. I think it's interesting
that Jesus doesn't tell us. We don't know when
the day or the hour when God's coming back. We
also don't know the day and the hour of when
we leave this planet. But we ask, okay, so let's
play this out. Let's say that we knew that Jesus
was coming back one year from today. We knew
that 12 months from now, Jesus would come back.
Some of us would walk away. and instantly change
our lives. We would go, shoot, I only got 12
months. I got to do some stuff. I got to start
following Jesus. But then some of us, probably
a majority of us, would go, well, okay, that's
12 months. I'm going to use about six of those.
I got some things I really, really want to do
in my life. I got some things that I really need
to get done, some loose ends to tie up. And so
I'm going to spend about six of those 12 months
really just living for myself because, you know,
that's... I just got wants and desires. And then
the other six months, remember the if, like when
that comes, then I'll do it. Then the other six
months, I will go and live for Jesus. I guarantee
you that's what happened. But we don't know the
day and the hour on purpose because... What Jesus
is trying to communicate through this story is
he is trying to say the urgency is important
because we don't even know when our last day
and hour will be. And so what are you doing with
what you've been given? Better yet, how do you
view God? If you don't know how you view God,
just look at how you're living for God. Do you
view God as someone who is harsh and greedy and
selfish and someone who is just ready to rain
lightning down at the slightest mistake, like
the first, the servant with one talent? Or do
you view God as someone who is good and gracious,
someone who is ready to forgive, someone who
is ready to take your mistakes and multiply good
out of them that only God can do, like the other
two servants with the five and two talents? Again,
how you view God will determine how you live
for God. So what are you doing with what you've
been given? And so I want to close out with a
story to help illustrate this point. Because
again, I think sometimes we stand here or we
sit here and we walk out and we go, well, you
don't understand. I don't have anything. You
don't understand. I wish I had one talent of
stuff to use. I wish I had what they had because
if I had what they had, then I would be so much
more effective. And so I would love to close
out with this story. It is Senior Sunday and
we, so I want to tell a story of one of our leaders.
His name is Kyle. He's been with us for a long
time. And I met Kyle eight years ago. When we
started our fifth and sixth grade ministry, we
were over in H4 in a tiny, tiny little room.
And Kyle came in one day and introduced himself.
And he said, hey, I'm here to serve. Where do
you want me? And I said, hey, can you be with
these fifth grade boys? And he said, sure. And
so I actually don't find out till later, probably
a year later, that he had told our middle school
pastor at the time, he had said, hey, I want
to serve in youth, but I would really love to
do high school. If I had to, I would do middle
school, but I will not absolutely ever, ever
do fifth grade. I didn't know that, but God did.
And so I put him with fifth graders, not knowing
any of that. And so he shows up. And one thing
you need to know about Kyle is when he showed
up, he was an engineering student at Embry -Riddle.
And if there's two things that Riddle students
do not have, especially engineering students,
they don't have time and they don't have money.
All right? Like, for real. I walk this with him.
Like, they don't have time, that's for sure.
And they for sure don't have money. Loads, mountains
of... student debt. And so Kyle walks in and
he doesn't have any of these things. And so he
shows up. He shows up every single week. We had
four fifth and sixth grade services every single
Sunday. We had one fifth and sixth grade youth
service on Wednesday nights. And Kyle was there
at every single one of them every single year.
And so then it came time for his boys to move
into seventh grade. He had graduated Riddle at
this time. And so now the question was, what
is next? And so he asked God, where do you want
me to go? And God says, I want you to stay here.
And he didn't have a job. He wasn't promised
any job, no engineering, anything. He just goes,
okay, God. I'll trust that you'll provide. And
so he stays here because God told him that I'm
not done with you and with your fifth grade boys
that you started out with. And I want you to
be faithful and continue to multiply what I have
given you. And I want you to stay here. And so
then Kyle then proceeds to walk with those same
group, those same boys. all the way through middle
school. And now eight years later, Kyle is still
here and he gets to watch those fifth grade boys
graduate this week. I asked him, I asked him
if I could share this story and he said, only
if. you make sure that God is the one who gets
the glory. And I said, don't worry, I'll make
sure to tell a bunch of bad stories about you
so they know. Because again, Kyle is not the
hero of this story. All Kyle did was take what
little he had, which was not a lot, and he goes,
God, I'm just going to show up. And God continued
to use him to multiply. And so the same group
he started with as fifth grade boys, not only
did they, most of them stay through their senior
year, we added so many more along the way. Because
again, God is the hero. God is the one who actually
did the work and actually was the one who multiplied.
And Kyle was the one who just said, I'll show
up. And so as I asked what? What are you doing
with what you've been given? Because if you actually
think about it, you've been given so, so much.
It's not compared to the person next to you.
It's not compared to the people on Instagram
because we all know Instagram is real. What has
God given you this morning? What has he gifted
you with, whether it's money or time or all of
the above? Again, what's the step in? Maybe it's,
I need to serve. I need to step in and serve.
I'm gonna make the time because we don't just
have time. I'm gonna give, I'm gonna start giving.
Even if I don't have a lot, I'm gonna start giving
because I know that's what I'm supposed to do
to multiply what I have for the kingdom of God.
Or maybe it's going, man, I just need to commit
to a life group. I need to step into a group
here at Heights and stop just bouncing around
and being, just a floater wherever I'm at. I
just want to be committed because I know if you
ever, if you read the Bible from cover to cover,
you know that faith is not ever done alone. Following
Jesus is always, always done within the context
of community. So maybe it's one of those things,
or maybe it's actually D, all of the above, which
is the right answer because When we read this
parable, Jesus is talking not just about money,
but he's talking about the things you have and
what you've been given, what you've been entrusted
with. That idea of entrust, by the way, it says
it in 14, it says the master entrusted his wealth.
That same word in Greek is the same word used
in the betrayal of Jesus. To entrust means to
hand over, to deliver. And so it's interesting
when we talk about this parable, the master handed
over, delivered his wealth to the servants to
be stewards of it. What we've been given from
God was handed over to us to be a good steward
of what we have, not what they have next to me,
but what I have. And what am I doing with what
I've been given? And so, as I said, It is Senior
Sunday. And this is a hard, hard time because
every year it's just like losing part of the
family. It's good. It's all positive because
they're going out to do things with other parts
of God's family across the globe. But it's hard,
especially for this class. We started with parent
-child dedications and I wanna tell you that
we have one student with us who was dedicated
as a baby here at Heights Church and now she
will graduate here at Heights Church and we can
celebrate that. And so this is important because
again, We just prayed and we just agreed as a
church family, like, hey, we want to help you
raise your kids. Now I want us to pray for those
same kids, the ones that we have gotten to watch
grow up as they go off and they become adults
outside of high school and in the context of
the bigger world. And so I want to pray for them
as we commission them. But first, you need to
know a few things. This weekend, we honor a group
that is near and dear to my heart. Eight years
ago, I started full -time youth ministry here
at Heights with fifth and sixth graders. I walked
into a tiny room in our kids' building because
we didn't have any space elsewhere. I walked
in having no idea what I was doing, and I just
hoped that they didn't smell my fear. There was
a group of fifth graders there. We all bonded
together over that first year of trial and error,
making mistakes and learning from them together.
I'll never forget my first winter camp that year
as being the pastor in charge, the one in charge
of our church. That year, one of our leaders,
Kyle, put a hole in the chapel wall. We had our
boys students. Drink over 50 shots of coffee
creamer. We stayed up until 2 to 3 a .m. with
those same boys who were puking up the coffee
creamer. We had to send some kids home because
they were just homesick. But we had students
give their lives to Jesus. And we created a strong
beginning together. Since then, We have hopped
around to different rooms and buildings here
on our Prescott location. Unplanned, I became
the middle school pastor, and I followed those
same fifth graders up when they entered their
seventh grade year. Their last Sunday as eighth
graders, I remember one of them saying, I'll
see you in high school. And I said, no, you won't.
Two months later, there I was, the high school
pastor. Four years since then, we are here watching
the same 10 -year -olds that I once knew grow
into incredible young men and women about to
graduate high school and move on to the next
chapter of their lives. Eight years since beginning
this journey with these seniors, we have been
through a lot. We have seen a lot. We have grown
a lot together. We've made many mistakes along
the way, said things we shouldn't have, done
things we shouldn't have, but we made it. We
made it together. Together this last Wednesday,
the seniors' final youth night, we were able
to witness over 300 middle school and high school
students worship together in this room. Let me
tell you, it was a party. This time, though,
no coffee creamers, no broken walls, and no puking.
But it was a night we'll never forget. It just
goes to show what can happen when you trust God
and let him multiply what he's given you. And
so four years ago, when I became the high school
pastor, I started this tradition of writing a
letter. writing a letter to the graduating senior
class and reading it from stage. I'm not sure
why I chose to do that. But I'm going to read
it because a lot of them are sitting in front
of me now, their last weekend as high school
students in our main service. And so if you would
just bear with me, here we go. Remember how it
all began. Entering fifth and sixth grade, thinking
the finish line was so far away that you'd never
make it. Seeing the seniors and thinking how
big they were. Now you're here, the big scary
seniors. And time flew by, didn't it? It wasn't
as long as you thought. For me, it doesn't feel
quite real. You've been a part of every ministry
I've led for the last eight years. Every Wednesday
you were there. Every Sunday you were there.
When we came back from summer break, I knew you
would be there just another year older. And now
the time has come for you to move forward onto
the next stage of your journey that we call life.
I've so enjoyed our last years together. Last
first day of school, last turkey bowling event,
last gingerbread house making contest, last winter
camp, and last youth night. Next school year
will be so different. I'm not sure what to expect.
I'm so excited for the classes behind you, but
it won't be the same without you. Over the years,
I've probably done more learning from you than
you have me. I've learned how to persevere. You've
taught me how to move forward even when times
got tough. If you remember, not all of our times
together were perfect. That first year was tough.
Many times I wasn't sure if I had what it took
to lead you. But you guys continue to show up
and believe in our youth family. I've learned
the real definition of family. From day one,
you chose to make youth group your family. Whether
day one was eight years ago in fifth grade or
somewhere along the way, thank you for showing
up and showing me what family is and how to continue
to show up for your family week in and week out.
I've learned the value of honesty. If there's
one thing I know, you guys were honest. even
at my expense. But I always knew what you were
thinking and how you felt, and that brought me
so much comfort. You've taught me to never settle.
You guys were always telling me how we could
get better, how we could be more impactful, and
how we could be more faithful with the gifts
God has given. You've shown me that your real
self is your best self. In a world filled with
facades, you were always great at showing your
real selves. I am so beyond blessed to have been
a small part of your journey, and I'm so excited
to see where the Holy Spirit leads you after
high school. My encouragement to you is always
surround yourself with positive family. Our faith
was never meant to be practiced alone, so find
a community of people who love Jesus and constantly
surround yourself with them. Never settle. Paul
says to run your race to win. Always persevere
and allow God to pick you back up. You're only
out when you quit. So never quit. Always be your
real authentic self and don't settle for anything
less. Forgive often. Forgive yourselves and others
often. Forgiveness is the best path forward,
always. Prioritize your relationship with Jesus
above all else. Jesus is your rock, your God,
and your savior. It's because of him that you
have life and it's because of him that you have
hope. Lean into that hope, always. I love you
all so very much. While we may not see each other
as much as we used to, we are still family and
you will always have a home here. To our senior
leaders, thank you so much for the impact and
faithfulness you have had in these senior lives.
You may not see it now, but trust me, it's there.
Thank you for always showing up and fielding
those late night phone calls and texts from your
students. Your love for Jesus and his kids are
evident through your actions. So thank you. Kyle,
I know you didn't do this for recognition, but
thank you for the bottom of my soul to be on
this journey with me and these senior boys. Thank
you for holding me accountable and calling me
out when I needed it. You have become one of
my closest friends, and I'm so grateful for these
eight years. As I said before, seniors, whether
you've been with us from the beginning or have
joined us somewhere along the way, I'm so grateful
you chose to be a part of our youth family. At
this time, I'd like to close by commissioning
and praying for our seniors. So if you would
just pray with me. God, thank you. Thank you
for this group. that you have brought into our
lives. Thank you for this senior class that you
have made family here. God, we ask for your blessing
and your power to go among them and outward as
they walk out of these walls onto their next
phase of life. And so God, we're just so grateful.
So grateful that we have a church family to surround.
And so God, we ask that you would bring your
church family from across the globe to surround
these students as they take the next steps in
their lives, wherever they find themselves. God,
thank you for the blessing that they are in my
life and the lives of this church family. And
so God, we just pray. We ask that your spirit
would go make their paths straight before them.
Would you continue to guide and lead them? And
Father, I pray for our church family in this
room and online. God, as we go out, as we are
challenged with what we have been given, God,
would you empower us to be better stewards of
what we have? And God, would we stop making excuses
and live fully for you right here, right now.
We ask this, God, in Jesus' name. Amen.