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When I hear that harp music, I feel like I'm transported to heaven until I swallow and

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realize I'm not in the glorified body yet.

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I've got a sore throat this morning.

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I asked Herb to go get me a cup of hot water, which he kindly did, and took my first sip,

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and I think my tongue is somewhere between medium rare and well done.

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With a fiery tongue like I've got right now, this is going to be a great example of oratory

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or babbling this morning.

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I'm not sure which.

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Would you take your Bible, please, and turn to Matthew chapter 25.

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Thank you for praying for grace campus worship.

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We had a larger attendance this morning than last week, and a number of new people there,

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so we're very excited about what God is doing for our ministry to collegiates and high schoolers

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at Ramsey High School Auditorium.

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That's at 9 o'clock each Sunday morning.

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I preach there and finish the sermon, and walk out and come over and come into the service

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here, so I come in late, but it's not because I overslept.

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Normally.

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We are stewards of all that we are given in this world.

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Nothing ever really belongs to us.

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It is entrusted to our care by our creator.

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That perspective on life will affect the way that we live and how we make our decisions.

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This parable that we're going to read helps us understand the importance of making the

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most of what we are giving, and that is the title of my message today, making the most

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of what we're given.

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We're going to begin reading in verse 14.

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For it is just like a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves and entrusted

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his possessions to them, and to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one,

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each according to his own ability, and he went on his journey.

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Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them and gained

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five more talents.

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In the same manner, the one who had received two talents gained two more, but he who received

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the one talent went away and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.

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But after a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them,

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and the one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying,

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Master, you entrusted me with five talents.

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I have gained five more talents.

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His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave.

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You were faithful with a few things.

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I will put you in charge of many things.

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Enter into the joy of your master.

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The one also who had received the two talents came up and said, Master, you entrusted me

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two talents.

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See, I have gained two more talents.

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His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave.

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You were faithful with a few things.

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I will put you in charge of many things.

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Enter into the joy of your master.

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And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, Master, I knew you

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to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.

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And I was afraid and went away and hid your talent in the ground.

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See, you have what is yours.

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But his master answered and said to him, You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where

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I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.

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Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received

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my money back with interest.

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Therefore take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.

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For to every one who has shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance.

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But from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

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And cast out this worthless slave into the outer darkness.

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In that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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It's important, I think, to notice the context of this parable.

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Chapters 24 and 25 form what is normally called the Olivet Discourse.

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That is, it's a lengthy teaching, Matthew records, which Jesus gave to his disciples

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while he was on the Mount of Olives.

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Back in chapter 24, verse 2, we see that they asked him some particular questions in response

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to what he said.

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He answered and said to them, Do you not see all these things?

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Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn

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down.

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And as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying,

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Tell us, when will these things be?

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And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the ages, or age rather?

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You notice that there are three questions that they ask him.

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Beginning in verse 4, Jesus begins to answer the last one.

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What are the signs of the end of the age?

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And he speaks here about the signs that will take place during the tribulation time upon

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the earth.

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That period of seven years, which will conclude the age in which we live now with terrible

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judgments.

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And then in verse 29 through verse 31, he speaks to the second of the questions.

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What about the sign of your coming, Lord?

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And then in verse 32, he begins to give them some illustrations and parables, dealing with

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the third question, when will these things be?

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And Jesus does not directly answer it.

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He gives them, as I say, parables and illustrations as to the kinds of times they will be before

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the end comes.

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But beginning, it seems to me, in verse 45, after warning him that his coming could be

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at any moment, he begins to suggest that there will be a delay in his return.

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For example, in verse 48, we're going to cut into the middle of this parable, he says,

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but if that evil slave says in his heart, my master is not coming for a long time.

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And then down in chapter 25, verse 5, in another parable, he says, now while the bridegroom

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was delaying.

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And then in verse 19, which we read, now after a long time, Jesus seems to be indicating

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in this section of his teaching that there will be the appearance, at least, of a delay

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in his return.

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And then he concludes by saying, beginning in verse 31, that when he does come, there

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will be a judgment of the Gentiles and a great separation of those who are saved and lost

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in that day, who are still alive upon the earth, and only those who are saved will enter

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into his kingdom.

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Now we're focusing our attention upon the parable that is called the parable of the

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talents, verses 14 through 30.

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With that kind of a background and that context, maybe you'll understand some of the emphasis

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that we're going to give this morning.

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I believe that there are four insights that we gain in this parable as to how to make

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the most of the gifts that we receive.

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Four insights.

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Insight number one, what is entrusted to servants actually belongs to the master.

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Do you see that in verse 14?

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Jesus talks about a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves and entrusted his

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possessions to them.

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So insight number one is this, what is entrusted to the slaves nonetheless yet belongs to the

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master.

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Now there are two basic principles of stewardship that I've tried to stress during this month

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of January.

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The first principle is that God is the divine owner of all things.

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I don't care what you name, whether it's in the realm of the material or the immaterial,

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God is the divine owner of everything.

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Principle number two, what he gives to me becomes a sacred trust for which I am held

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responsible to him.

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We see that illustrated in the parable, don't we?

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To each of these slaves, the master gave a certain number of talents.

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These talents do not directly correspond to talents as we think of them today.

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It was a sum of money.

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Some commentators say that one talent was equivalent to 20 years of wages, the average

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person in that day.

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So a talent was not a measly sum.

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It wasn't five bucks or 100 bucks.

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Today it would be equivalent to tens of thousands of dollars.

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And to have five talents, well you can imagine that's like 100 years of earning power.

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And so these slaves were entrusted with a great deal.

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Now how does this apply to us?

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Well, I want to apply it in this way.

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The talents represent what God gives to us.

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And I'm thinking of three realms of gifts.

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Number one, the realm of natural abilities.

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These are abilities that God in his grace gives to all men, regardless of their relationship

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to him.

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As their creator, he gives to all men natural abilities.

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Gifts in speaking, gifts in athletics, gifts in music, gifts of intellect, gifts of cooking,

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you know, gifts, natural abilities.

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You have natural abilities.

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You receive those by your first birth.

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And those natural abilities, which all of us possess, are given to mankind for instruction,

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for entertainment, and for inspiration on the natural level.

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Then there's a second realm I'm thinking of, as I think of what God gives to us.

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I'm thinking of spiritual gifts.

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Spiritual gifts are more exclusive than natural abilities.

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Natural abilities all men possess, the common grace of God.

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But in spiritual gifts we're talking about specific abilities given by God the Holy Spirit

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only to Christians.

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But then on the other hand, all Christians do possess them.

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Whereas natural abilities come to us at our first birth, spiritual gifts come to us at

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our second birth.

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When we are born into God's family, God the Holy Spirit sovereignly chooses what gifts

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he will bring to us in the spirit realm.

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And these spiritual gifts are aimed primarily for the growth of God's people in the church.

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Before Jesus ascended back to heaven, he gave to his followers a commission.

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And that commission says that we're in our going throughout the world, we are to make

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disciples, we're to baptize them and teach them everything that he's commanded us.

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What does that mean?

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It means going throughout the world, preaching the gospel to people that they might be saved

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and when they trust Christ to baptize them and then to establish local churches where

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they are taught all things that he has commanded, including the ordinances of baptism and Lord's

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Supper.

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After his ascension, when he arrived back in heaven, Jesus then sent the Holy Spirit

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to equip his followers to fulfill the commission he gave.

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In Ephesians 4, the apostle says, when he ascended on high, went back to heaven, he

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gave gifts to men.

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And he gave these spiritual gifts in order that the body might be built up, that is the

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body of Christ.

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You if you're a Christian today have natural abilities and you have spiritual gifts.

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And now I want to think in a third realm of what God gives us and that is opportunities.

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And I think really this is probably the best equivalent to what talents are in our parable

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because you'll notice the talents, verse 15, were given according to ability.

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And so I think opportunities relate to that.

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God gives you and me natural abilities, he gives spiritual gifts to Christians, and he

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gives us then opportunities to exercise those gifts and abilities.

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God has given you abilities.

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If you're a Christian, he's given you gifts, spiritual gifts.

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If you are serving him, he gives you opportunities to use those gifts.

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Now insight number two, opportunities are given equal to gifts.

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Again I point to verse 15.

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He says, to the one he gave five talents to another two to another one, each according

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to his own ability.

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The talents were given according to ability.

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God gives you and me opportunities according to our abilities and our gifts.

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Not all have the same opportunities.

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We sometimes quote the phrase that all men are created equal.

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And there is of course a sense in which that is true, but there's a sense in which it is

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not true as well.

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Not all men are equal.

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God sovereignly sees that the opportunities that you and I have in life are equal to our

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gifts.

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Now that's only reasonable.

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For example, if only one talent had been given to the steward here who had the capacity for

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five talents, he would not have been challenged and would have been bored.

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On the other hand, if five talents had been given to the one who had but one talent of

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ability, he would have been more overwhelmed, five times as more overwhelmed than he already

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was.

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And so you see, God gives us opportunities to match our abilities and our gifts.

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I believe that we need to allow God to open doors of opportunity.

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I don't think we should take crowbars to doors and try to pry them open.

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But I do believe this, that God expects us as it were to knock on the doors to see if

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they'll open.

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How can we do that?

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Let me just suggest.

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Start by evaluating what your gifts and abilities are.

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Before a door of opportunity can open to you, you have to know what you can do.

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What can you do well in your opinion?

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I'm not talking about some arrogant idea of what you can do, but what is an objective

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– as objective as we can be – what is your objective analysis of your abilities

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and gifts?

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What do others tell you?

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What's the feedback you get?

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Others can give us insights that we can't have on ourselves sometimes.

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What do you find fulfilling?

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Where have you seen the blessing of God in a particular way?

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Those things can be hints as to where your gifts and your abilities are.

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And once you have isolated what you believe them to be, then begin to stir them up, as

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the Apostle says to Timothy.

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Begin to kindle them.

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Begin to develop them, in other words.

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For example, you may have a natural ability to sing.

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Unless that is a very rare natural ability, you will probably need some training so that

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that gift, that ability, can be developed.

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Suppose you have the gift of teaching, the spiritual gift of teaching.

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You need to develop that spiritual gift.

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There are very few people who have such a natural spiritual gift of teaching that they

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can enter into a classroom and just cause everyone to understand what they're saying.

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We grow the gift, though it's given, of the Spirit of God grows and develops and matures.

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We need to do that.

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And as we do it, we need to look for places to exercise the gifts.

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I remember the story about Dwight L. Moody, who shortly after his conversion was burdened

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for boys and girls on the street in Chicago.

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And he wanted to teach them, and so he went to his congregational church where he attended

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and asked for a place that he might bring these boys and girls.

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And the church was not the least bit interested in having these urchins off the street.

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And he said, no.

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But Moody had the gift of evangelism.

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He had a natural love for boys and girls, and so he went out and started his own Sunday

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school.

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And it wasn't long before his Sunday school outnumbered the whole church where he had

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been denied permission.

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So what did Moody do?

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Well, knowing what God had gifted him to do and called him to do, he exercised, developed

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his gifts, he looked for a place to exercise it, God opened the door.

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He knocked, you see.

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And then when God opens the door, we need to be content with the direction that he gives

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and the opportunities that he gives.

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I remember a gentleman, now in his 70s, who's in a church where I used to pastor.

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A number of years ago, this man taught a Sunday school class, or he thought he did.

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He thought he had the gift of teaching, but the interesting thing was he was the only

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person in the whole church who felt that way.

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And when those who were in leadership wisely counseled him to give up the class, to look

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for another area of responsibility, he resisted that.

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Nonetheless, he was removed from the class.

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He did not have the gift of teaching.

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He did not belong in a classroom teaching.

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Today, he still bears in his heart a grudge against those who removed him and some bitterness.

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He's not content with the door that God did open for him.

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We can learn from examples like that.

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You see, God gives us opportunities equal to our gifts.

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We need to knock on the doors, not pry them open.

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When God opens the door, go through it and use it.

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Part number three.

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Responsibility is followed by accountability.

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What is the responsibility given to these slaves?

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Well, their master went on his journey, and they were to trade.

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We don't do a lot of trading these days, but the idea behind trading is to exchange something

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of lesser value for something of greater value.

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If you do it the other way around, there's not a whole lot of profit in it.

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You don't trade down, you trade up.

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You exchange something of lesser value for something of greater value.

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In the process of trading, these slaves fulfilled their responsibility.

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Then came the day when their master came back and he called them to settle accounts with

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them.

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You see, the responsibility was followed by accountability.

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Friends, you and I are called upon, as it were, to do trading in this life.

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Let me illustrate what I mean.

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You and I have something very, very precious and valuable that's called time.

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I don't think there's anything more precious to any of us than time.

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And yet, you and I can take some of our time and trade it for eternity.

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In doing that, we are taking something that is comparatively of lesser value and trading

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it for that which is of greater value, because eternity is of greater value than time.

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Money is important to us and is precious.

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But we can take money which is of lesser value and trade it, invest it in God's work, so

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that it produces true riches and lays up for us riches in heaven.

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In doing that, we are taking something of lesser value and trading for something of

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greater value.

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That's trading.

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You and I can take an ability and service and invest that for the future privilege of

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reigning with Christ.

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What are we doing?

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We're taking what we've been given in time to serve the Lord with, and we are trading

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it for the privilege of ruling someday in eternity with Christ.

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So the lesser is traded for the greater.

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That's what we're to do with life.

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I want you to notice that this one talent servant did not waste what he was given.

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He simply didn't use it.

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When the Master came back, he presented the talent.

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He said, here is what is yours.

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But that isn't what the Master intended for him to do.

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His responsibility was to gain, and he failed.

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And he was held accountable.

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And we too will be held accountable.

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I remind you of the words written by the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians where he says, judge

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nothing before the time.

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Wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things in the darkness

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and disclose the motives of men's hearts.

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And then each man's praise will come to him from God.

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Friends, that's the examination that counts.

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The praise that you and I may get from men now is nice.

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It tickles our ears.

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But God help us if we seek that and fail to understand how much more important will be

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the praise that will come from the Lord when we're held accountable at the judgment seat.

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In terms of our parable, we are today living between verses 18 and 19.

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Is there enough space there for you?

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Well, there's enough space there for a couple of thousand of years.

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After a long time, the Master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.

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And someday our Lord is going to come and settle accounts with us too.

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And at that time, he's going to be interested in what we've gained by use of our abilities,

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our spiritual gifts, and our opportunities.

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And then insight number four.

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Reward is given to those who make the most of their gifts.

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There are two categories of servants suggested here, the faithful and the unfaithful.

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There were two slaves that could be considered faithful.

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And there was one that is called unfaithful.

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And in this congregation today, there are two kinds of God's stewards.

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There are those who are faithful to make the most of the gifts God gives, and there are

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those who do not do that.

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To those who are faithful, there are some encouragements that I see in the parable that

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Jesus gave.

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Three encouragements.

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First, each of these slaves received the same commendation.

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And notice that they didn't gain the same thing.

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To the one steward or slave was given five talents, he gained five.

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To the other steward was given two talents, he only gained two.

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But that tells me that the Lord gives reward based on proportion of gain, not the portion

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of gain.

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One gained five, one gained two, but they both got the same commendation.

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My friend, God hasn't called us to be successful, He's called us to be faithful.

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God doesn't demand the same results from everybody.

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I have heard some people say, well, you know, when I get to heaven, I know that so-and-so,

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that great servant of God is going to have such a great reward, and I'm not going to

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have very much.

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My friend, here's the way God looks at it.

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That guy that we see up in front who seems to have a lot of opportunities, that fellow

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is going to have a lot more to answer for.

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His opportunities have been greater.

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It may be that he has the five talents, but those who have the two talents, if they are

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faithful in gaining on just their two talents, will receive exactly the same commendation

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from the Lord.

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And what is that commendation?

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Well done, good and faithful slave.

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You notice in verse 21 and verse 23, both of those men got the same commendation.

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And so our Lord gives his commendation on faithfulness, not upon results.

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Faithfulness.

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A second encouragement I see is that they each received the same promotion.

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They each began as servants, but then they became rulers.

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They got the same promotion.

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God does not normally begin people as rulers and leaders.

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God begins us as servants, and as we are faithful in the few things, then he knows that he can

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entrust to us the many things.

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That's how God decides when to promote.

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If he sees a servant who's faithful in few, he gives more, and then finally much.

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That happened with Moses, didn't it?

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Oh yes, he was born into a ruler's family, but I tell you, God took him away to shepherd

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sheep for 40 years.

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When he had learned to really be a servant, then God took him back to lead.

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And what about Joshua, the great general of the armies during the time of conquest in

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Canaan?

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Well, for decades, Joshua was the errand boy of Moses.

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Before David ever became the king of Israel, he was first a servant to his father, shepherding

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the sheep.

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And remember Gideon, before God called him to lead the armies in that miraculous fight

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against the Midianites, God first saw that he was faithful at the threshing floor.

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And Daniel was a faithful son in his home and a servant under the king of Babylon before

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he was ever promoted to be the prime minister of Babylon.

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And the Apostle Paul spent years in isolation learning what it meant to be a servant before

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God called him to a public ministry as the Apostle Paul.

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So you see, God's promotion runs along that line.

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He sees that we're faithful in the few things, and then he gives us the many things.

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And then a third encouragement I see is that they each got the same joy.

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To each of them, the master said, enter into the joy of your master.

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That is, enter into my own joy.

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That is the satisfaction of a job well done, the satisfaction of ruling and reigning, the

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satisfaction of possessing.

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Enter into the joy of the Lord.

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How does this apply to us?

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Here I believe is the application.

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As you and I are faithful right now as servants, employing what God has given to us, making

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the most of our gifts, when Jesus Christ comes back and we are rewarded, we will then enter

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into his kingdom and serve him there, reign with him there according to our faithfulness

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and service right now.

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I believe that is the application.

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As you and I have learned in this life to make the most of our opportunities, that we

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have proven our faithfulness, when the kingdom comes, we will reign with Jesus Christ proportionally.

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But there's another category we have to look at, and that's the category of the unfaithful.

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And to the unfaithful, there are harsh words spoken, and from these we have a warning.

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And the warning is this, that unfaithfulness results in loss and shame.

401
00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:50,960
One of the first things I notice about the one talent slave is that he really did not

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00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:54,620
know his master.

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Notice that he says in verse 24, Master, I knew you to be a hard man.

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There is no indication here at all that this man was a hard man, a severe man.

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In fact, we see him sharing generously with his servants who are faithful.

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So this servant really did not know his master, but what he did know should have motivated

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him to obedience, but rather we find him paralyzed by fear.

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00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:37,160
This slave was not immoral, he was immobile because of laziness.

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He's the kind of a servant who had a defensive mentality.

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00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:44,720
He said, well, I'm responsible for this, I'm going to bury it and protect it, and when

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the master comes back, I'll give it to him.

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The only problem with that mentality is that that isn't what his master wanted him to do.

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He didn't obey.

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He was to gain.

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00:31:55,280 --> 00:32:00,640
There are some Christians who have that kind of a mentality, defensive mentality.

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Circle the wagons.

417
00:32:03,380 --> 00:32:11,200
The enemy's coming, and they're great at defending the faith, but we have more of a responsibility

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than that.

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We are to take the faith to the world.

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We have a commission to obey, and that's where this steward failed.

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As I said before, he didn't lose the talent, he kept it, but he didn't gain on it.

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He knew his master would return, but he did not live in the light of it.

423
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Consequently, when the examination came, he faced reprimand and loss and shame.

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When it says in verse 30, cast out the worthless slave and out of darkness, Jesus is not a

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saying that those Christians who are unfaithful are going to be cast into hell.

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Hell is not pictured in verse 30.

427
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The out of darkness refers to the outer perimeter of where he is, so to speak.

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Throw him out of the castle.

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He says that's a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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The idea of that is that those who are unfaithful when they stand before Jesus Christ will receive

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rebuke when they're exposed, and then will have no part of reigning with Christ in the

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kingdom.

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They will not have the joy and satisfaction of reigning with Christ and the purpose of

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extending His rule and maintaining His rule in the kingdom, but rather for that time they

435
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will be without a job.

436
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:56,920
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, in other words, regret, because they have

437
00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:01,880
gained no place of honor.

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00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:07,760
Warren Wearsby says the greater reward for obedient service is the capacity for greater

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00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:14,000
service, and we see that of the faithful servants.

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But on the other hand, the tragedy of the unfaithful servant is that he lost the privilege

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of even serving.

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I believe that's why John says in his second epistle, watch yourselves that you might not

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lose what we've accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.

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Watch yourselves, he says.

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And Jesus Himself said in Revelation 22-12, Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward

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00:34:45,340 --> 00:34:51,920
is with me to render to every man according to what he has done.

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Friends, our Lord is coming back too.

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Are we ready to meet Him?

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Which of the two words would describe your stewardship today, faithful or unfaithful?

450
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Are you making the most of what you've been given?

451
00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:21,560
The natural abilities you have, the spiritual gifts that you've been given, the opportunities

452
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:27,120
of service, are you making the most of those or are you neglecting them, as it were, burying

453
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:30,040
them, hiding them?

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Don't think any longer that just hiding them is good enough.

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Our Lord wants gain.

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00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:40,000
Are we saying Jesus is coming again?

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00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:43,960
But are we really living in the light of that truth?

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Is it impacting our lives?

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00:35:50,660 --> 00:36:01,340
I think that what I'm talking about today has been pushed into my heart harder by two

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00:36:01,340 --> 00:36:06,040
young boys than by anybody I've ever heard preach.

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00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:11,960
Their names are Butch and Steve, and some of you may have seen them.

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00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:17,860
Butch and Steve, by now I would guess, are in their early 20s.

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00:36:17,860 --> 00:36:25,760
They are residents at Shepherd's Home near Milwaukee, a home for children who are mentally

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handicapped.

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00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:38,000
Butch and Steve have minds equivalent to four and five-year-olds.

466
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:44,760
They travel with the director of Shepherd's Home and put on concerts.

467
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:52,980
Those two young boys with their limited abilities have had unusual opportunities.

468
00:36:52,980 --> 00:36:58,760
They have literally been able to minister to thousands of people.

469
00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:06,440
When they minister, these two boys have the minds of four and five-year-olds, quote, chapters

470
00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:08,440
from the Bible.

471
00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:13,960
Not a verse, chapters at a time.

472
00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:22,560
And they sing songs and choruses, and they answer simple theological questions that they've

473
00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:26,360
understood from their training there.

474
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:32,640
And they always conclude their concerts by singing this song.

475
00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:37,360
And you can imagine these two young men singing it.

476
00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:41,280
Sometimes the days seem long.

477
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:44,560
Our burden is hard to bear.

478
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:49,360
We're tempted to complain, to murmur, to despair.

479
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:56,040
But Christ will soon appear to catch his lambs away.

480
00:37:56,040 --> 00:38:03,480
All tears will then be ended in God's eternal day.

481
00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:11,680
It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.

482
00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:15,600
How will you feel when you see Jesus?

483
00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:19,480
Will you have made the most of your capacities?

484
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:23,280
Let's pray.

485
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:31,320
Lord, as I think about Butch and Steve, I thank you for what they have taught me.

486
00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:42,160
How shamed I am that I have capacities of an adult and opportunities which I have wasted.

487
00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:44,360
Forgive me of those.

488
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:49,360
Lord, I really want to make the most of all that you give me.

489
00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:57,560
And I know there are many here today who would share that deep desire.

490
00:38:57,560 --> 00:39:02,320
I pray that we may be faithful servants of yours so that whether we have five talents

491
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:10,320
or two talents, when we stand before you, we may be called good and faithful.

492
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:15,280
And have promotion and enter into your joy.

493
00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:24,080
Father, if there be some child of yours here today who is quite honestly evaluating himself

494
00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:36,260
and finding unfaithfulness, may there be today a deep repentance and a turning to you.

495
00:39:36,260 --> 00:39:42,400
May there be a new beginning that will be making the most out of what you have given.

496
00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:47,480
Lord, deal with us and speak to us and don't let us escape the point that the Holy Spirit

497
00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:50,120
is making right now to our lives.

498
00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:54,400
And I pray this in Jesus' name.