Introduction:
Jesus Demands Productivity: How to Make Your One Shot Count (Matthew 25:14-30):
- I must to see myself as a Manager . (Matthew 25:14)
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
Matthew 16:24 - Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
Matthew 16:25 - For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
- Must make the Most of what God Entrusted to me. (Matthew 25:15-17)
- I must show Jesus what I Produced for Him. (Matthew 25:21,23,26)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:07-01:29
Matthew chapter 25, we're gonna be picking up in verse 14. While you're turning there, many years ago I ran a senior high wilderness camp for boys, and it would be rock climbing and hiking and canoeing and, you know, outdoorsy things, right?
01:30-01:35
I remember there was this one kid, he complained the entire time.
01:39-01:53
And I'm like, "Why did you sign up for this?" But one time we were hiking and he said, "Why are we doing so much hiking?" And it got to the point, you know what?
01:53-01:56
It was late in the week, I was tired, it was warm.
01:56-02:02
And I just turned around and I said, "You know what?
02:03-02:08
Next year, instead of wilderness camp, we'll have beanbag camp.
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And we'll just go indoors and we'll get beanbags and we'll set up video games.
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And we'll just have beanbag, we'll just lay around all week and play video games.
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We'll have beanbag camp." And as soon as it came out of my mouth, I thought, man, that was so jerky.
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The kid didn't react for a second.
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Then all of a sudden, his face lit up.
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And he goes, that sounds so cool.
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And for years, people would tease me.
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They're like, you haven't beanbag camped this year.
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And you know, that's cute and funny.
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but you know that's what some people imagine Christianity to be like. Let's just make it easy, right? Why are we doing all this work? You know, why can't we just show up in our padded seats and take in and enjoy and see you next week?
03:12-03:51
And listen, that's not offered because a Christianity like that is not Christianity. We've been going through this series in the Olivet Discourse. We've been looking at signs leading up to the second coming of Jesus Christ and five times he said you have no idea when it's going to happen. Yeah, and I echo that to say you know what whether it's your death or the rapture or the coming judgment we don't know when these events are going to happen. So when we get to this portion of scripture, we see Jesus saying, you gotta be ready.
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You gotta stay ready.
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So let's bow our heads for a second.
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I'm gonna ask you to pray for me.
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I'm gonna pray for you as we approach God's word together.
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And all of God's people said, amen, amen.
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We're gonna be looking at the parable of the talents.
04:23-04:25
Today, Matthew 25, picking up in verse 14.
04:26-04:34
And listen, you gotta hear this, because if you miss this, you're gonna miss the whole rest of this.
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But when we talk about talents, that doesn't mean like a unique skill.
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That's not what that means.
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Like the parable of the talent, some people think, well, talent's like, I can juggle chainsaws or I can play the piccolo or whatever.
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It's not talking really just about that.
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And some people wanna make it just about money.
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And it's not just really about that.
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It's all the above.
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A talent was actually a weight.
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and what it was worth was dependent on what it was made of, right?
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Like a pound of gold is worth more than a pound of copper.
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So in this parable, when you see talent, think money, but we're going to see it has a much bigger application than just money.
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Look at verse 14.
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Jesus says, "For it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.
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To one, he gave five talents to another two and to another one to each according to his ability.
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Then he went away.
05:56-07:04
OK, so the man was traveling and keep in mind, in those days, they didn't, you know, jump on spirit air and they were on the other side of the planet and back in a couple of days to travel to do business would have taken months or a couple of years. So he was going to be gone for a while and he called his his servants together and he says, "Look, I want you to take care of business while I'm gone." Right? Verse 16, it says, "He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money." Stop there for a second. Like why did he bury it in the ground? Keep in mind in those days as Jesus was telling the story, that wasn't an uncommon thing.
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That's how they hid their money.
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They would take a spot that only they knew about and they would bury it.
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And that's what this guy who received the one talent did with his.
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Verse 19 says, "Now after a long time, "the master of those servants came "and settled accounts with them.
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"And he who had received the five talents came forward, "bringing five talents more." "Master, you delivered to me five talents. Here, I've made five talents more." His master said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant.
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You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much.
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Enter into the joy of your master." And he also, who had the two talents, came forward saying, "Master, you delivered to me two talents. Here, I've made two talents more." His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant.
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You have been faithful over a little.
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I will set you over much.
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Enter into the joy of your master.
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Stop there for a second, you see, these guys, they they got it.
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They're like they're like, OK, you you trusted me to do something with this.
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And I went and I did something with it.
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Look, I I produced something.
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Like, well, what did they do?
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It says they traded.
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I don't know.
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Did they buy a farm and increase the proceeds that way?
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Did they invest in a carpentry business that took off?
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I don't know, but they somehow took that money and said, "I'm going to use it in a way "that when my master comes back, "I'm going to have something to show him.
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"I produce something." They got it.
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They got it.
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Look at verse 24.
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It says, "He also who had received the one talent came forward saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seeds.
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So I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground.
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Here, you have what is yours.'" This guy didn't get it.
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You see, basically he said, "You trusted me and I produced nothing." And then he attacks his master.
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He goes, "Look, I buried it, okay?
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But you know why I did that?
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It's because you're difficult.
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That's why you're hard.
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You take from others.
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You act like you own and deserve everything.
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It's a little intimidating.
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So here.
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I buried it, here it is.
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Have what is yours.
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Verse 26, "But his master answered him, "You wicked and slothful servant.
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"You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered those seeds, then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers.
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And at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest.
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So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the 10 talents." You could say the master was not thrilled with the lack of effort.
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He says, "Wait, wait, wait, okay, hang on a second.
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You knew that I was a difficult man.
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You knew I was a hard person.
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You knew that I expected some kind of return when I got back.
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You know what?
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If you really believed that, then you would have at least made bare minimum effort.
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Take it to the bank." I mean, that's like, that's a bare minimum effort.
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You know what you're doing?
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You're lazy and you're making excuses.
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That's what you're doing.
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Verse 29, like what's the point of this story, Jesus?
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Here it is, "For to everyone who has, will more be given.
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And he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." Okay, in other words, Jesus said, "If you prove yourself trustworthy, you will be trusted with more.
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But if you prove yourself untrustworthy, you lose." Eternal.
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You lose eternally.
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Look at verse 30.
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"And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.
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In that place, there will be weeping." and gnashing of teeth.
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And I think we know what that describes.
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Here's the sermon today.
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It's three words.
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Jesus demands productivity.
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That is the point of this story.
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I'm gonna say it again, so you need to write it down.
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Jesus demands productivity, not Jesus saying, you know what, it would be really spiffy of you if you did something for the kid.
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No, Jesus demands productivity.
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Jesus doesn't say, "I prefer it when my people serve me." No, Jesus demands productivity.
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And you're like, "Oh, hang on, hang on, hang on, Pastor Jeff, hang on.
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I thought we were saved by grace." And you're talking about works here.
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And I thought we were saved by grace through faith.
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Correct.
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You are saved by grace through faith alone.
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And do you know what Jesus expects from people who are saved by grace?
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Do you know what he expects?
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Productivity.
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He demands productivity.
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That's the point of this story.
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Jesus is going to return someday, and he is going to say to you, "Show me, show me what you produced with what I gave you.
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I wanna see it." and you get one shot.
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This life that you have, this life that you have is your one opportunity to produce something for Jesus.
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So on your outline, Jesus demands productivity, how to make your one shot count.
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Get one shot.
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You need to be swinging to knock that ball into the river with your one shot.
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You're like, well, how do I do that?
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How do I do that?
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Well, Jesus tells us right here, three things we wanna pull out of here.
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Number one, write this down.
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I must see myself as a manager.
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I must see myself as a manager.
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That's where it starts.
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Do you see that in verse 14?
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The man, the master went on a journey, it says, who called his servants and, Look at this entrusted to them.
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His property.
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It has to start here.
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It has to start here, because if you don't get this, none of the rest of the sermon will apply to you.
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It has to start with this.
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Everything I am and everything that I have belongs to Jesus Christ.
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He is my master and he is my owner.
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So in this story, the master handed out talents.
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Again, we're not talking about, you know, juggling.
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We're talking about a unit of money, but what does that represent?
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This is what talents represent here.
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And please don't miss this.
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It represents skill, resources, and opportunity and other things.
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But all your skills, all of your resources, all of your opportunities to do something productive.
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Listen, for the kingdom of God.
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Do something productive for the kingdom of God.
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Okay, so don't mishear this.
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And I don't wanna hear like small group conversation was about, well, you know what?
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I always try to smile at my neighbor.
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That's how I use what God gave me.
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That is not what he's talking about.
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Something productive for the kingdom.
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Like I always try to be nice to people at work.
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Good for you, and you should.
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Something productive for the kingdom.
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That's what he's talking about.
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And the two things that he has called us to do as a church for his kingdom, evangelism and discipleship.
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Those are the two things.
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So when we talk about being productive, it's in that area, evangelism and discipleship.
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So where did the talent come from?
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Where did this currency come from in this story?
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What about you?
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Same source, your life, your skills, your opportunities, your resources, Jesus gave those to you.
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And this is what you use to serve Jesus.
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Everything that you have and everything you are, he gave you and said, now use that to produce something for the kingdom.
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And that means I'm a manager.
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And you know what that means?
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That means this is not my life to live.
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Oh, and the Bible speaks to that concept, by the way.
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Now, 1 Corinthians 6, 19 through 20 says, "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price." Jesus said it in Matthew 16, 24, when he told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
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Deny yourself.
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That is what he calls you to.
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The hardest thing you will ever do, saying no to me and what I want and saying yes to Jesus and what he wants.
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And Jesus said that is bare minimum for following him.
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You have to deny yourself.
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And you're gonna get to that place if you're not there already.
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And I know a lot of you are, And I know a lot of you are not, but you've got to get to the place where you say life is a trust.
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It is a stewardship.
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And this isn't mine, God, this is yours.
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And all this stuff that you've entrusted to me, it's all yours.
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This life that I have, it's God's.
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The money that I have, it's God's.
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The family that I have, it's God's family He's entrusted to me.
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This ministry that I have, it's God's, it's not mine.
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That's why I cringe.
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I hear people say all the time, well, nobody's gonna tell me how to live my life.
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Oh, somebody did.
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Or say, nobody's gonna tell me how to spend my money.
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Hey, that ain't your money.
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That's God's. And I will inform you that he absolutely did tell you how to spend it.
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For people say, "Well, nobody's gonna tell me how to run my family." Oh yes, he wrote it down in a number one bestseller. I suggest you get on board. But you know who says those things? People who don't view everything they have as belonging to Jesus. And listen, if you're living life on your terms, you are squandering what Jesus entrusted to you. And you're like the Mr. One Talent Man. I don't know, his name is in a parable. The Mr. One Talent Man. We'll call him that. Like the $6 million man, like the dollar store version.
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The Mr. One Talent Man, you're gonna be like him ultimately.
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You're gonna lose what you think you have.
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I know Jesus calls me to serve him with this life that he gave me, but you know what?
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I'm just gonna do my own thing.
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And in order to do that, you have to bury what he gave you.
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The opportunity, the skills, the resources, you're gonna bury that.
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And you're gonna lose everything.
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You can go ahead and live your life, bury the talent, do what you want, have no regard for what God wants, have no regard for why God gifted you and entrusted you as he has.
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Go ahead, but I'm telling you, you are going to lose everything.
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You're gonna lose your life.
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And ultimately, according to this story, you're gonna lose heaven.
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You know, we just quoted Matthew 16, 24 a minute ago, very next verse, Matthew 16, 25, Jesus said the same thing.
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He said, "For whoever would save his life will lose it." That's what he's talking about.
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"But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Everything you have has been given to you by Jesus.
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You have to see yourself as a manager.
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All right?
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Secondly, obvious point of the story, right?
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I must make the most of what God entrusted to me.
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Yes, you are a manager.
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And each of you, each of us, given by Christ a certain amount, skills, resources, opportunity.
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We've each been given a certain amount.
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That is what I have to invest in the kingdom.
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And he made it clear in this parable that that's different from person to person, right?
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We all have different skills.
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We all have different opportunities.
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We all have different amounts of resources.
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And you're like, well, what determines, what determines how much I'm entrusted with?
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Well, he tells you in verse 15, did you see it?
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He says, it says, 20 gave five talents to another two, to another one, to each, here it is, according to his ability.
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Each man's ability determined what he received.
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And Jesus' point is this, my friends, God knows your capacity. And God gives you what He knows you are capable of handling. And it's not going to be the same from person to person, because we're not the same. We're just not. And that's It's okay.
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Same as boring.
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We're all different.
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We all have different mental skills.
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We all have different verbal skills.
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We all have different resources.
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That's okay.
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That's how God created us.
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He determined that.
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We have different responsibilities.
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We have different privileges, we have different resources And understand this in this story here, the number doesn't matter.
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All right, you could be a five talent person or a two talent person or a one talent person.
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Jesus is the one who determined that.
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He gives and he gives to each one of us differently.
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So sometimes church, we look at other people, we're like, man, if I had that guy's resources and skills and opportunity, I would really be something.
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God didn't give that to you.
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God gave it to that guy, right?
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You know, I could say, man, if I had a platform like Joel Osteen and that size of church and that kind of building and that TV show and that million dollar smile, I would be amazing.
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God didn't give that to me.
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This is the hand that I was dealt.
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You really didn't need to laugh there.
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Like, you know, smiling Joel has to play the hand that he's dealt.
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I get to play the hand that I'm dealt.
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That's the point of this story.
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Do you think Joel Osteen ever wishes he was me?
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I kind of wish he would have left it that way.
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The point is this, how many talents you get, it doesn't matter, it's irrelevant.
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But what absolutely does matter is what you do with what God's entrusted to you.
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And what you're called to do with what Jesus gave you is to maximize it.
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That's what you're called to do.
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I love that verse 16, the Mr. Five Talent Man, it said he went at once, at once.
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Underline that in your Bible.
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He didn't wait.
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The master's like, here, I'm trusting this to you.
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He's like, well, I hope I get around to that someday.
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At once he took it.
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He goes, okay, he's trusting me.
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I got to get to work.
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Let me get on this right now.
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Yes.
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Faithfulness says, I'm on it.
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Faithfulness says, okay, that was my opportunity.
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On my market set, go.
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I am on it right now.
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And five, and the two talent kid here, they both doubled what they were given.
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And the point Jesus is making here is look, equal faithfulness, not equal results, but equal faithfulness.
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Okay, from the five, you know, talent guy, "Okay, he brought five, awesome, he maximized." The two-talent guy couldn't do that.
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He maximized what he had, both faithful.
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Different results.
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And that's how ministry is.
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That's how ministry is, there's different results.
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You realize there are great Christians and great churches that are leading thousands to Christ.
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Did you know that?
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And at the same time, there are great Christians and great churches that are leading dozens to Christ.
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And both of these churches are faithful if they are making the most of their opportunity.
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The Christians in these churches are being faithful if they're making the most of the opportunity.
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That's what Jesus is saying, "Hey, if you're a five, give ten back. If you're a two, give four back." The issue is making the most of what you've been entrusted with. And let's be clear, Jesus isn't saying here that if you're a one-talent guy, you're a loser.
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That's not the point of the story at all. The point is this, even if you only were given one, you're still responsible for that. The one-talent guy can't be looking into five talent guys saying, "Well, my talent doesn't matter 'cause he's got, he was entrusted with way more than me." You are being entrusted with what he gave you, no matter how much or how little that may look to you.
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That's the point.
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Maximize your opportunity.
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Jesus expects a return on what he gave you.
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because Jesus demands productivity.
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This is conceptual.
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Let's get very specific, shall we?
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If you're sitting here saying, you know what?
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What, okay, what did God give me?
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What are the talents and skills and resources and opportunities?
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What did God give me?
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I don't know.
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I don't know, jefe.
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I mean, I have a, I kind of have a way with kids.
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I love, I love kids.
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Well, that's from Christ.
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So get involved with Harvest Academy, get involved with LifeWise.
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Use that because that's what you've been entrusted with.
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You're like, "Eh, I don't really like kids." I'm like, "Well, you're in the wrong church." But you know what I can do is I can feed people and I can host people and I'm really good at that kind of thing.
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That's from Christ.
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So why don't you host a small group in your home and make your home a place where disciples are made and Christians are encouraged and discouraged Christians can come and...
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That's from Christ.
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You might be saying, you know what, Pastor Jeff, I've been blessed to be able to earn a lot of money.
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That's from Christ.
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That's from Christ.
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He's given you the resources to significantly support missions, local and international.
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That's from Christ.
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You might be like, well, I don't like kids and I don't really have a lot of money, but you know what my thing is, Pastor Jeff?
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I'm kind of an outdoorsy guy.
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You know, when you were talking about wilderness camp, that fired me up because that's the kind of thing that I'm into.
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That's from Christ.
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Run a church camp.
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Like, I don't really like the outdoors, but I'll tell you what, I've been blessed with like athletics.
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I love sports and I just kind of been naturally gifted that way, that's something that he gave me.
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That's from Christ.
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Run a sports outreach in the Dominican, get involved in athletes for action, whatever.
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Use what God gave you.
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I have been so blessed to see people do this.
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I'm not gonna mention names because I don't wanna embarrass people, but I knew two doctors, husband and wife, that if they would have decided to open practice in America, they could have just wrote their ticket for anything.
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You know what they did instead?
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They went to Romania to open a medical clinic as a platform for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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They get it.
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They get it.
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I know two ladies in this church, also medical people, that could go all in for themselves.
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And do you know what they decided to do with that medical training and expertise?
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Work at pregnancy centers to stop abortions and share the gospel.
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And I would say they get it.
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I know people that they're like, "I'm not, okay, I'm not a medical guy, but I can build stuff." I know people that own construction companies that could build themselves an empire here, or they could build churches in places without one, and that's what they've chosen to do.
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They get it.
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They get it.
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What is it that God has entrusted to you?
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And what are you doing with it for God?
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And you're like, man, I hear what you're saying.
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I don't even know where to get started.
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I'm like, this church is a great place to start.
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You know, we're involved in missions.
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We're involved in local outreach.
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Are you getting involved?
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We have a great video recap real quick we wanna show.
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This is the kind of stuff that's happening from our church that you can get involved in.
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God is trusting you to do something with what he gave you.
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You get one shot.
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You could build your own little kingdom, or you could advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
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The question here is, are you making the most of the opportunity that you've been given?
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What impact are you having on the kingdom?
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One more, number three.
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I must show Jesus what I produced for him.
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Jesus demands productivity and there will be a day when he will want to see what you produced.
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Verse 19 says that the master came back to settle accounts.
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Literally that's, look at the books, right?
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Show me the accounting books.
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That's literally what that means.
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Jesus is going to return someday and say, let me see what you've done with the opportunity that I gave you.
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On that day, I just have to ask you, what is it that you are going to be able to point to and say, Jesus, this was for you.
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I poured my life into this, Jesus, for you.
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This is what I did for you.
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"This is what I produced for you, Jesus, with what you gave me." You know, Jesus, before me, this wasn't here.
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Before me, Jesus, this didn't happen.
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This is what I produced for you.
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And that was the problem for Mr. One Talent.
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He had nothing to show.
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And because he had nothing to show, he proved that he was unfaithful.
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So any potential reward he would have received was given to somebody else that proved themselves trustworthy.
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And the one talent man was sent to hell.
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Are you producing for Jesus?
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And if you have nothing to point to and say, here is how I'm using what Christ gave me to advance the kingdom, to get maximum results for him, this is what I'm doing.
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Then you're a phony.
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According to Jesus.
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If the sum total of your Christian walk is beanbag camp, well, I go to church.
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You aren't using what you've been given.
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What you did was you buried your talent, you buried your money, you buried your opportunity.
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And I have to tell you, it's going to be real uncomfortable for you when Jesus returns and wants to see what you produced.
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That's going to be really uncomfortable for some of you.
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I've heard people say, "You know, I like going to big churches." Listen, there's nothing wrong with a big church.
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We just talked about that, right?
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There's nothing wrong with a big church, just like there's nothing wrong with a little church or any size in between.
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There's nothing wrong.
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I'll tell you what is wrong, though, is when people say, "I like to go to a big church because I can go in and out and no one knows me." I've heard that so many times.
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And you know what that person's doing?
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Is they're burying their talent.
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And it's going to be real uncomfortable for them when Jesus wants to see what they produced.
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If you're like, man, I like that, I like that video, that was that was real nice.
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Now, you know, I'd love to get involved in that kind of stuff.
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I'm just too busy to get involved in that church stuff.
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I can't do that kind of stuff.
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You buried your talent.
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And it's going to be really uncomfortable for you when Jesus shows up and says, show me, show me what you produced.
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I feel like, yeah, well, yeah, I love man, love man.
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I gotta take care of me first.
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I gotta take care of me first.
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Go for it.
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You go take care of you.
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But I have to tell you, it's going to be really uncomfortable for you when Jesus comes back and says, show me what you produced with what I gave you.
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Show me.
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you're going to be repaid according to what you produced.
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And hey, hey, hey, that's great news if you produce something.
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That's why we see in this passage five and two, the five talent man and the two talent man, they were excited because they knew they did their job.
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Like, oh, I can't wait till he comes back.
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I can't wait to show him.
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I can't wait to show him what I did with what he gave me.
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and understand they weren't boasting.
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Okay, they weren't bragging.
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This excitement is just a sense of fulfillment.
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Hey, you trusted me.
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Look what I did with what you trusted me.
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Isn't that cool?
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Isn't that cool that I have something to give back to you?
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More than you gave me.
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And if you're producing like them, you're gonna receive commendation.
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Look at the commendation.
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Let's go back to verse 21 again.
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"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.
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You have been faithful over a little.
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I will set you over much.
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Enter into the joy of your master.'" So you get commendation.
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And if you're faithful to produce, you're assigned greater service.
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And you're like, "Whoa, time out, time out, time out, time out, time out, time out, time out." You're telling me that the reward for doing good work is more work.
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Yeah, that is exactly what I'm telling you.
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That's exactly what Jesus is saying.
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And if you're like, "Man, you're doing more work, "means I get more work." That's bogus, man.
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You know what that means?
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You don't get it.
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You don't get it because the greatest joy you will ever have in your life is serving Jesus Christ.
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And every single person who is using what Christ gave them to produce for Christ is gonna tell you that.
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There's gonna be different assignments in heaven.
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And what you do in eternity is determined by your service now.
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For our worship team would make their way forward.
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You know, God has given you skills, resources and opportunities.
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Here you go.
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This is for you.
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And we all have different amounts, but there's one common denominator for all of us.
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We all have one life.
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We all have one opportunity.
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We all get one shot to produce something for Jesus.
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What are you doing with yours?
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Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, we thank you for the gifts that you bestowed upon us.
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Father, as we close this time in your word, I just wanna pray for the person here who maybe took what you gave them and went and buried it in the ground and ignored it and refused to use it.
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I pray today they would run and find it and dig it back up and use it to glorify your name Father, Jesus, all through this passage, we've been looking at, all through this, that is all of it, discourse has been telling us, he is coming back and Father, we believe that.
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And I pray that we would live like we really believe that.
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We know he's coming and he's going to wanna see what it is that we did with what he gave us.
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Father, I pray today is a day of great encouragement because there are many people here who are producing.
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But for those who have just sort of buried it and gone on with their own business, I pray today you would grant them repentance.
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That they would truly understand that a living walk with the living God that we enter into by your grace isn't about sitting around.
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It's about using what you gave us.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 25:14-30
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What do the talents represent (Matt 25:15)? What determines how the Master distributes the talents?
Why was the Master not pleased with the man who buried, and returned, the Master’s talent? What did that servant’s response reveal about that servant’s heart?
Is this parable teaching that you are saved by works? Why or why not?
How are you using what has been given to you by Jesus FOR Jesus?
Breakout
Pray for one another.
Want more eschatology teaching?
Catch up on the previous verse by verse teaching through Revelation
Catch up on the previous verse by verse teaching through 2 Thessalonians