0:07 Good afternoon. Can we pray again? Heavenly Father, please speak to us in Jesus name. Amen. All right. I've been blessed already by a lot of what I heard. I praise God for what he's revealing in 0:24 us. I just want to continue in that. I was thinking about the parables. Uh Jesus taught in parables. I think most of you know that. And I even sent out um yesterday I sent out hey this is the parable or these are the parables we 0:37 want to look at this morning. And just thinking through the parables one thing I appreciate about them. I was really appreciating is that you know the number is very important. You know for example like one talks about a pearl of great 0:50 price. He said there was one pearl of great price and you know there wasn't two pearls. Imagine if the the parable had been hey there were two parables uh parables of great price but kind of change it and so what the number the 1:02 quantity in each of these parables is is important and and and I just see how like perfect it is. So like you know in the the par the the the ones that went to the temple there was a a Pharisee and a tax collector and we get a contrast 1:16 there and then Jesus would start a parable by a man had two sons. Actually there's more than one where there's two sons involved and the one we're going to look at today there were three men three different men receiving a talent or a 1:29 number of talents. And so you know again we needed three. What what if there had been four or two? It would change the essence of it. And I think that's interesting to kind of think about God's teaching and his perfection in it. Four 1:43 types of soil. This is in I think it's in every single gospel talks about this parable of the of the different types of soil and the um and the different things that grew up in there. Like what four is perfect? You know, three wouldn't have 1:56 worked, two wouldn't have worked, five wouldn't have worked. Needed four. And then the, you know, the laborers, the ones that the master comes and pays them to go work in the fields. You know, there's five different groups and it 2:08 needs five. You know, six is too many, four is too little, we need five. And you know, we needed 10 virgins. And and then and then the other parable I asked you to look at, there were 10 uh mas. And so just there's there's something 2:24 wonderful about the quantity. And it's good to kind of imagine it. Well, what if they were a little bit different? And so just thinking about that. So this this parable I want to look at today leads me, you know, there's three 2:35 categories of people that were given talents. And one of the things that I've decided has really been on my heart is I'm a man with two talents. I have two talents. That's me in the story. And actually I actually brought two talents. So I have two uh 2:53 you know dollars used to not be paper in the United States. In 1925, they were they were silver. So, I literally think of I'm holding on to my two talents. So, throughout the story, I put these on my bedside and one of my kids, 3:07 I'm not going to tell you which one, but it's one of the two that are here today, was very curious about these. They said, "What's that, Dad? Why do you have what are those?" You know, because they don't look like uh they don't look like 3:18 dollars, but they're actually worth $1. You could you could go to the store and purchase something for $1. If it's $1, this would work. But they represent I needed a big coin because this represents really everything I am. So 3:30 these two coins, my two talents are everything that I am. And it's in two uh it's in the parable of the talents is in Matthew. It's in Matthew 25. And then there's a very com you know a companion parable of meanness and it's in it's in Luke 19. 3:48 And usually we don't read them together. And so that's one of the things I wanted you to do is like, hey, read one, then read the other and think about both because here's my conviction. I believe that Jesus told these stories over and 3:59 over again. And depending on who was listening, there would be a little bit different detail in each one. And when we read through a Bible, each little detail is important for us. And each little detail reveals something about 4:12 ourselves and reveals something about him. And it's very important. So, I thought, let's just take this opportunity to look at both of them and kind of think, uh, hey, what's the Lord trying to show me? And I'm thoroughly 4:23 convinced that I have two talents. And so, I'm going to hold on to these coins throughout this entire message and just think about what I've been given. So, what is a talent? You know, the the translator when I looked at the Living Bible, it it 4:37 tries to translate it into American currency. It actually doesn't use talents or meanas. it uses uh you know like $1,000, $2,000, $5,000 and it doesn't quite capture I think the essence of it when you translate it try to translate it into English and look at 4:51 it in dollars. I don't think you get it. I think you need to think about talents. And so a talent is basically all my natural abilities combined. Everything I have is represented by these two talents, but it's also the spiritual gifts that I've 5:07 been given. And these two categories, you know, I don't spend a lot of time trying to discern which is which. I know that the military, the Air Force trained me to get up and talk in front of people. It was it was difficult at times. And uh, 5:22 you know, that's a natural uh ability that the Lord gave me through circumstances. But I also know that I'm supposed to speak, you know, we're supposed to seek spiritual gifts, especially that we may prophesy and speak God's word with power. So, some of 5:36 that has to come from him. So I don't waste a lot of time figuring out which is which doesn't matter to me. The objective is what matters to me. And so what in these two talents I have both and then I also have money. Notice I put 5:50 I put money third on the list because I think most people when they read this parable they think of the money that they've been given and they kind of relate it to that. And again, even the way that the Living Bible translates 5:59 that into American dollars, something I think most people think about money, but money is uh just part of the the package. And I would even separate money from the ability to earn money. Like where does that come from? I 6:14 mean, you may have been given an inheritance or your parents may have given you money. Um but even your job, you know, some of some of us make more money than other people. You know, who who decided that? Where did that come 6:25 from? Even the ability to make money is part of my my two talents. But there's other things. There's other things like my physical attributes. How tall I am or how short I am or how ugly I am or how pretty I am. God decided that. How perfect my 6:42 teeth are, how imperfect my teeth are. If I have a unibrow, that was I was used to be very sensitive about my uni brow when I was a kid, when I was a teenager. Now I just recognize it's part of the package. how dumb I am, how smart I am, 6:55 how good a memory I have. You know, all these these attributes, they're all part of this. They're all part of my two talents. My citizenship, this is a big deal in the news. I had no control over this. I was born a US citizen. You know, 7:09 I realize, hey, to some people, that's a pretty big deal. They're facing a lot of life decisions right now based on what country they were born in. I was born in the US. That's part of my two talents. my family, my parents, whether I was 7:22 from a good family, a broken family, dysfunctional family, whether I have a wife, whether I have a husband, whether I have kids, all that, it's all part of this this package, right? My personality, my humor, right? My emotions, my ability to connect with 7:39 people, my charisma, all of that. Where did that come from? It's all part of this package. My work ethic. Let me ask you something, dear brother or sister. I want to ask you this question. I want you to be honest. Don't answer out loud. 7:50 Have you ever thought to yourself, "Wow, that person is really lazy. Am I the only one?" Do you understand that my work ethic came is part of my talents, my two talents? That I should never look down 8:08 on somebody as being lazy. That's part of what's been given to me. What about this? My energy level kind of goes in with that one, right? Some people are seem to be like uh you know they could they just go and go and go. Some of us it's a lot of energy to 8:26 get out of bed, especially as we get older. Where did that come from? It's all part of this part of something I've been given. My life expectancy. I'm 49 years old. David Brainer was a saint of God who lived to the age of 8:39 29. I've been given two more decades so far than he had in his entire life. Even the number of years that you've been given are all part of these this package, these talents. But even this, the failures are all part of my my two 8:56 talents. The the the lessons that I went through where I failed, some of those are the most valuable things that I have today and they make up this package. And then I would add to that trials, things that I went through. I realized like for 9:09 for me growing up poor by American standards was one of the best gifts that God ever gave to me. I still view a a CocaCola as one of the most wonderful things that you can enjoy on this planet. My tastes have remained there 9:22 because I go, man, if I can get a Coca-Cola, that's a pretty cool thing. It's like 35 cents if you can get them in bulk at Costco. But it's still a precious thing to me because I I couldn't always have that. And it's special. And so you look at this total 9:37 package. This is you. This is everything you've been given. Think of your own life. This is everything you've been given. And one thing that's common about it, you tell me honestly, what have you received that God didn't give to you? Which of these 9:50 things are yours totally and which of them came from God? And it's one of the most humbling things to recognize that everything you have came from him. It's one of the most important things to recognize. And I have two talents. And my two talents are wrapped 10:09 up in everything you see here. Some people have more years, some people have less years, some people have more of this these things, some people have less of these things. And so I look at the allocation going back to the 10:20 parable and I see that there were three categories given and again the perfection there needed to be three to tell this story. I love this story. I've been thinking about it a lot and I realized that this is me. Can you hear the jingle? Can you 10:36 guys hear the jingle? I hear it. So I have two talents. There are people, there are brothers and sisters in this church that have five talents. And there are brothers and sisters in this church that have one talent. And actually, I 10:49 would say it like this. There's probably one brother or sister that has five talents. And there might be one brother or sister that has one talent and then everybody else is in the middle just like me. So I admit I have two talents. 11:05 How many do you have? Is there somebody more talented to you than you in this church? And again, I'm just sticking this church. If we go outside of this church, I think everybody in this room has two talents just like me. So, here's where that 11:19 leaves me. There are people that have less talents than I do. They've been given less, and I should never look down on them because it was God that gave them less. And there are people that have more talents than me. And I should never 11:33 feel insecure or ever feel jealous or ever feel anything else because you know it's the Lord that decided. And it says in the parable he gives each you know according to the manner of his ability. God decided this. And so what it leaves 11:47 me with is right in the middle of these two with my two talents and it's perfect allocation. God gave me what he gave me and he did it perfectly. Thank you Lord. Now help me to be faithful. And I go back to this. This is an important part 12:05 of the parable. How did I get my two? How did I get these two coins? By the way, I borrowed these from Amber. And my the one thing she told me, she said, "You can use them, but don't lose them because I guess they don't make 1925 12:17 silver dollars anymore." And she doesn't want to lose it. All right. But how did I get this? Even these coins, how did I get that? Right. Here's where I got everything I have. And it's in the parable. Says Jesus starts. This is 12:29 Jesus talking. This is one of the things that I want you to hear. Like I can have my opinion on it. I can suggest things to you brothers and sisters. But it's him that you got to you got to ask. Is he the one speaking in this parable? And 12:40 he makes it very clear that this man who goes on the journey, it says he calls his slaves. So I ask you that. Let's start there. Are you his servant? Are you his slave or are you your slave? Are you your own man? Or do you belong to Jesus? 12:59 Have you surrendered your life to Jesus? And then it's his talents that he entrusts. He picked this for me and I'm his. Back in my tithing days, I I didn't I wouldn't have necessarily said it like this, but I like, yeah, I give Jesus 10% 13:18 and 90% of it's mine. I don't think like that anymore. The Lord's helping me, helping me to see, and again, I'm not perfect in this, but the Lord's helping to me to see that whether I put money in the offering plate or on the offering 13:31 box or not, everything is his. He decides whether I have a job tomorrow. I could go into the office tomorrow and they say, "Mr. Magcguire, uh, we've decided to let you go. We found somebody much more talented than you." Much more talented. Does he have 13:48 five? I only have two. You found a five talent person? Yeah. He should work at this company, not me. God decides that it's his. Everything is his. And you have to think about this. You have to reconcile. You can you can agree with me 14:01 on Sunday in theory. It's another thing when he'll take you through tests and he'll say, "Now, you said this was mine. Do you really believe it's mine?" So, it comes from him. And here's the question, too. Okay, so I have my 14:14 two talents. What do I do with my two two talents? What should I do with these talents? And the parable, the scriptures tell me, they speak to my heart. Here's what I need to do with it. I put it in bold. My job, I'm a 14:33 businessman. I thought about wearing a suit today, but then I realized that I'd have to wear a suit today, right? Because I wanted to put my suit on and say, "Guys, I'm a businessman. My job is to take these two talents and 14:48 do business with them until my Lord comes back. It's very, very clear instruction. Now, what does that look like? We're always growing and learning what that looks like. But my job, my tendency, if you say, "Hey, Josh, what 15:03 what's your business? What do you do?" I say, "I'm an analyst. I work for such and such company." But more of my thoughts and heart should be I'm actually a businessman. I've been given some talents and my job is to take these talents and do 15:17 something wonderful for my Lord because he gave them to me and he says,"I want you to do business. I want you to be about my business until I come come back." Okay, Lord. And then what's the response? How did they respond? And 15:31 here's where I see that it could actually go different ways. It's perfect that we have three, but when you look at the response, the first the person with one talent disobys. If I said it in one word, the response of the person that had one talent, he 15:46 disobeyed. And if I say in one word, what was the response of the person with five talents? I would say he obeyed. Now, this could have flip-flopped. Absolutely. And I think that the reader can understand this. That guy with five 15:57 talents could have went and buried his talents in the ground or put them in the handkerchief or whatever, which whichever parable analogy you want. And the one with one talent, he could have used that one talent to make business. 16:10 Absolutely. It's not the measure of talent. It's whether you acknowledge where that talent came from and whose it is and what you should be doing with it, what business you should be doing with it. It's not the amount. And this parable allows for 16:24 that. It doesn't need to go into great detail to flip-flop it. You can see that. You know it. You know the essence of it. And where does that leave you? Right in the middle. Now, you know what happens with a person with two talents. 16:37 And I see something wonderful. It's like in Hebrews 6:9 where it says, you know, there's something better for you. Like it assumes that the person with two talents is going to follow the person with with the five talents in action. It 16:47 assumes that you're going to obey two. I love that assumption. I love it, Lord. I read that and I say, I I'm the one with two talents, two talents, and it turns out good for that person with two talents. It assumes the best. It assumes that I'm not going to 17:02 take my two talents and go bury them in the ground. But I'll tell you honestly, I could have and I did. Before I knew the Lord, before I truly knew the Lord, I've always my entire life growing up in Oklahoma considered myself a Christian 17:15 because why would anybody want to go to hell? But I'll tell you what I did. I took my two talents and I went and I buried them in the ground. Now, what on earth are you talking about, Josh? How did you bury those two talents into the 17:30 ground? And so, that's something to think about. What does it mean to bury your talents? And I like this ver I like these two verses in first John because I think this is this is the picture I have of burying my talent. And John, a 17:44 95year-old, he's somewhere around 95 years old. And he's telling people, listen, you young people, young people is anybody younger than 95. And John says, listen, do not love the world or the things of the world. For all that is in the world, the lust 18:01 of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boful pride of life, is not of God, it's of the world. And so what he's saying is, Josh, you have a choice. You have two talents that I've given to you. And there's three options. I can go, you know, it 18:16 says that to not love the the lust of the flesh. I can go spend all my entire life pursuing the lust in my flesh. I can I got two talents. I can buy a lot of fulfillment of those lusts with these two talents. I can use it all for my 18:32 lusts or I can use it for the lusts of my eyes. You know, I can go on Amazon and or I can see, you know, people are driving these really nice cars and they're buying these really nice lands and they're going on these really 18:43 expensive vacations and cruises and I could use my talent to do that for myself. Whatever my eyes see, I could be like Solomon during his reign and I say, "Hey, I got the talent. Might as well do it. might as well use my talents so that 18:58 I can have what my eyes see and want. Or finally, the last category is the, you know, the boastful pride of life. And this is what I noticed with richer people in the world. I know they all they want to use their money to make a 19:12 name for themsel. You know, I I worked really hard. I acquired, you know, you know, more lots of money. I need to get my name on a building. I need something named after me. I want to leave a legacy. In the Air Force, I used to help 19:26 write wills for people because what a will is one more way to control what's going to happen to your money when you die. And I found that people wanted so much. They wanted a legacy. They wanted something, you know, when they when they 19:41 die, they they wanted somebody to remember them. You need to think about me. The boastful pride of life. You can use all your your talent if you want to to build a legacy for yourself. And brothers and sisters, I I fell for this. I'm being honest with 19:59 you. I I used to use my two talents for these things. I did. But the Lord was merciful. And he he but in his in his mercy and his grace, he said, "Josh, go dig those back up. Pull them out of the ground. pull them out of this and come present them 20:17 to me and say, "Okay, Lord, no more. No more. I'll use the talents for you from now on." And this is how merciful our God is. And so, I don't care how long you wasted your life with your talents buried in the ground. Dig them out and 20:33 say, "Lord, here's what's left. From now on, these are yours. Every one of you that hear my voice have that opportunity today." And there's a little there's a few other details in the these two stories when you read them together that I think are 20:46 important. The first is, you know, when you look at the parable of the Minas in Luke 19, he doesn't have a kingdom whenever he gives the talents to people. He doesn't get the kingdom until after he leaves and before he comes 21:02 back. Right now, the world doesn't want Jesus to reign over them. It comes at a cost. They don't know him. I I can't I mean like I got so much light. I can't imagine why you wouldn't want Jesus to be king. Why you would give the kingship to 21:21 anybody else but Jesus. Jesus is the only one worthy of the kingship. Why wouldn't you give him the kingdom? But he's going to receive the kingdom one day. And then he's going to come back and he's going to come to me and he's going to go, Josh, tell me 21:34 about your business. Tell me about those talents that I gave to you. What'd you do? how'd you use them? And I'll say, my king, here's what I did. My king, here's what I did. But he doesn't he didn't start as king. It's 21:51 very interesting. Started as a humble baby and carpenter man. But he's wonderful. Now, here's something else. When we go back to the other one, go back to the parable of town. This is the one. This is the one that I think about a lot. Actually, this 22:09 one bothers me. These two verses, they bother me. And there's some things that I'll point out at him. Point out him. The first is that the way this guy that took his talent and buried it in the ground, the way that he thought about his 22:28 master. And I I want none of these thoughts in me. And to the best of my ability, I don't want any of these thoughts in you where you tell God, you're just a screwdriver. A screwdriver. I use a screwdriver here. There's an idea. 22:46 There's a concept of a boss. Like if uh if one of you come up to me, I say, "Hey, how's work going?" You say, "Well, my boss is a screwdriver." And be like, "I got I understand exactly what you're talking about." Right? He treats you 22:57 like a screw and he just pressure on you to drive you deeper and deeper down. I got it. I hope you don't have that impression of our Lord. He's not a screwdriver. He is more merciful and more loving and more kind and more 23:17 patient and more tolerant than you can ever imagine. And this is what stands out to me. I knew you were a hard man. I knew you were hard to get along with. And then you see projecting in this. You say, "I knew you were just 23:33 like me, man. If I were the boss, I'd be lazy. So you must be a lazy boss, a lazy master, a lazy king. You make us do all the work. You just sit up there on your throne, kick back easy." Is that how you view God? That's how you view him. You don't 23:53 know him. And it's our responsibility that you know him, to know him. And he is not this. Jesus said, "My father has been working until now. He is working and working and working and doing everything. He doesn't want anybody to 24:08 perish. He wants everybody to come repentance and he's jumping through hoops to make it happen. He is not lazy. It's hard. He does whatever he can for salvation for you so much. He would even offer up his son to die like a 24:23 criminal on a cross. He would he would be separated from his son and go through that pain and anguish for you. He is not lazy. He is not a tyrant. He is not a hard man. The devil loves it when people think that God is something he isn't. 24:42 And you see something of Adam. You remember the go remember Genesis 3, the Garden of Eden, the man that buried his talent in the ground. It says, "I was afraid and went away." went away and hid. Does that sound familiar? I was afraid. I went away and 25:01 I hid. Genesis 3. We see something of Adam. And what's being offered to you when when when God gives you these talents, he's offering you this opportunity. He says, "Look, you can continue to be like Adam the rest of your life if that's what you 25:15 want. You can listen to Satan. You can disobey God. And you can you can live how you want. But what I'm offering you is an opportunity through Christ to come out of that way of thinking. So that you don't live a life of fear. So you don't live a life of 25:35 hiding of of a hidden life where people can't see what's inside of you. He's offer he's offering you I'm offering you a way out. And then the attitude at the end I it's so bold. The last sentence here, you have it. It's 25:52 yours. You got what you deserved. It's blaming God. The problem is you you didn't give me enough talents. That's the problem. It's your fault. This woman that you gave me caused the problem in Edom. That's why we got sin because of 26:10 you. I hope in your heart you're not that bold. I'll tell you, I don't know how this is going to turn out. I don't know the accounting I'm going to give for these two talents. My brothers and sisters, I do not want to blame 26:21 God. He was merciful and kind to me. My accounting is not because of him. It's because of me. And I don't want to do what Adam did. And I don't want to do what this guy in the parable does. I don't want to blame God. I want to 26:36 acknowledge that you are kind. You were not hard. You were loving. You were wonderful. Let's take a look at the reward. This is why it's so critical to understand this parable because the guy with the one talent receives 26:54 hell. This is outer darkness. You want to talk about fear? Outer darkness is fear. To finally be out of the presence of God. Right now, none of you are God forsaken. God's mercy and his kindness are upon us. But one day people will be cast into 27:12 outer darkness. And the description is weeping. Real weeping and nashing of teeth. It's hell. To be out of God's presence is hell. And again, it's important how we know him. But look at the reward for the the guy that had 27:31 five. And notice it's the same reward. If you read the story, you know that the guy that had two talents and turned them into four talents got the exact same reward as the guy that had five talents and turned them into 10. Here's the reward. And brothers and 27:46 sisters, more and more in my own life, this is how I live. My reward, Lord, I just want to hear you tell me good job. That's it. I heard bad job and you were 28:05 kind. If I can just hear you say, "Josh, you did a good job." Does that excite you to stand before Jesus and to say, "Hey, I didn't give you as many talents as that person. I gave you more than that person, but boy, you took those two and you did a 28:22 good job." That's heaven. That's heaven. to look at Jesus's face and hear him telling me good job. I don't know how long I'll be there. I mean, I could just I could just sit there for a while while he tells me good job. And 28:40 then he says, "Come come experience the joy of just being in my presence. Enter into the joy of your master. Come here, Josh. Experience joy." That is heaven. It's not streets of gold. It's I mean those are pictures those are true 28:57 pictures of of what the description of heaven but I'm telling you what am I going to do with streets of gold. I'd rather a dirt road honestly as far as I can tell. Give me a dirt road rather than a a street paved with gold. What's 29:10 that to me? But boy to hear Jesus say good job. To hear say enter into the joy of your master. That is wonderful. That's what I want. And again it's left to me. Is it really what you want, Josh? And it kind of leaves me with two talents hanging. 29:29 Which way do I go? Here's the choice. And there's something else that's interesting that happens in the story. It's good to think about. So, in both stories, the master says, "Okay, take the one from him that that buried in the 29:45 ground. Take that and give it to the one who has five." And in Luke 19, you know, the the the people all go, "Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Why? Why are you doing that? Why are you giving it from the one? No. So, so after this story is 30:03 done, you have zero at the top, four in the middle, and 11 at the end, right? Like, it leaves us scratching. Why is that? Here's here's the answer I have. Here's the answer I have. Because the person that has 11 talents could 30:22 care less about the talents. And the person that has four talents could care less that he didn't get the extra talent because the reward well done was so tremendous. Who cares? Lord, if you want to give my brothers more talents, 30:38 give them more talents. Don't care. But Lord, to hear your approval, I care, Lord. To hear I can enter into your joy. That I care about. If you want to give people more talent than me, go for it. And so notice it crosses over the 30:54 guy that went from two to four. Me, right? Crosses over me. You want to give the other Yeah, give them the talent. That's fine. I have you and I have the joy in you. That's enough. I'm happy. So, what's next? Where do we go from here? And I 31:09 would encourage you like I I told you what I was going to be sharing on ahead of time and uh I I I don't want to go into it. I I would prefer you get alone with your Bible and with your Lord and prayerfully read the continuation of 31:23 these stories. And it's designed to continue. I mean, we tend to take verses and passages and we kind of looking at just them. But this is not the whole the story continues. It continues in both Matthew and it continues in Luke. And 31:37 it's interesting because they take two different paths. They take two different paths. And I don't want to, like I said, I'm tempted to go into it, but I want you to go into it yourself. And I'll tell you, if you're unclear about what what it 31:49 means to use your two talents, then this is a parable that gets explained in detail by Matthew. So, if you're not sure what it mean, what do I what is my Lord's business? How do I become a a businessman with talents? Keep reading 32:04 and you'll have your answer and it will be clear to you. But Luke says also like there's a kingdom that we're talking about that people misunderstood when Jesus was talking about a kingdom. They misunderstood. And it says that the 32:17 reason he even told the parable was because they were near Jerusalem. And in that story, I'll tell you this, Jesus breaks down in tears. Now, you go think about this and figure out why Jesus cried. But both of them involve a kingdom and a 32:34 king and a kingdom and a king. Something to think about. That's your homework. All right, summary. This is what we talked about. We looked at the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. And then we looked at the parable of the Minas, 32:48 which is very similar and a few different details that are important for us to learn to reveal things about oursel and reveal things about God. And so we looked at them together this morning and I told you I still have them. By the way, I haven't lost Amber's 33:00 silver dollars, but I still have my two talents. And I have a choice. Do I have to I have to think that I have to reconcile are these mine? Do they belong to me or do they belong to Jesus? Does everything I have really belong to him? 33:17 And then I have a choice. I can I can do business with him like he commanded me to do. I can obey him and say, "Okay, Lord, everything I I have I want to do your business with." Or I can take it and I can bury these in the ground and 33:29 say, "I'm not interested in your business. I'm interested in my business." and I can bury him in the world if I would like to. And then the reward, brothers and sisters, I I challenge you is if there's a better reward that you can think of than these 33:45 two things of Jesus saying, "Well done," and saying, "Enter my door." I' I'd love to I'd love to hear it. Please come come tell me later if there's a better reward than this. That's all I have, brothers and sisters. May God bless you to use 33:58 your talents, your two talents to glorify him. Thank you for that heads up you gave uh 34:17 yesterday and uh the prophetic word uh you shared brother Josh. Uh when I read and meditated a little bit about these two scripture portions mentioned in Matthew 25 and Luke 19, um the Lord reminded me that I have given you two 34:36 daughters. Um and you can live as a disciple and then you can make them as two disciples. Not just that if you do your business very well and you can make multiply that not just two to four and 34:55 many many disciples you can make it not attracting them towards you rather lifting them up closer to the c closer to um Jesus um and um by standing on their shoulders they can see u much 35:12 better the u the sacrifice what he has done and the many things he has given to uh to me. So I'm really encouraged to um not to 35:28 uh promote them and push them to be somebody in the world uh over um to be his disciples at the end to receive that uh uh that statement of hey well done. Well done. you did a good job. That's 35:46 what I'm looking forward to hear from my from my dad that I trusted you and I gave you one talent to start with your wife and then I gave you two children and then you can multiply that. So I have that hope. I believe the Lord will 36:00 help me. Thank you. Thank you brother Josh and uh brother David uh for this exertation. Um in the 36:19 verse 20 um in the chapter 25 verse14 uh it says that um the master distributed the talents um the 5 2 and 1 um each according to their own abilities. um how muchever they could he knew it and uh he gave them according to their own 36:39 abilities he did not give overburden them uh for what they could not do it um that's what I understood the master knew how much this man could do and others but um in verse 24 it talks about the third uh category third uh slave who got 36:57 one talent and he said master I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you did not sow and gathering where scattered. Um what I understood was that um the slave was quite angry that he got only one talent. Um that's that's how I 37:14 could imagine uh because I myself was like that for a long time. Um always comparing myself with others and thinking that why I don't have what the others have. Um but you know eventually um there is a tendency or a temptation 37:32 where we could blame the lord who did not give me the abilities as he has given to the somebody else. But the lord encouraged me from the other two slaves. Um the two slaves um had the same um reaction uh when they received the 37:47 talents. Uh it says the first one in verse 20 it says the one who had received five talents came up and brought five more talents and said master you entrusted five talents to me. He said Lord you gave me you entrusted these five 38:03 talents. Um I see that humility in him that you know he he feels that I don't deserve it but you have given me. And the same thing even with the one who had two talents. He did not compare with the one who got five talents but he was like 38:17 Lord you entrusted me with these two talents and Lord please I take it and he gave two more talents and the reward for the both is the same uh for the one who got five talents and the one who got two talents. And I I can learn from that that um I 38:36 don't have to compare myself with others. I can see what my lot is and I can be thankful for what the Lord has blessed me with. If I can have ears to see, I could see how much God has blessed me. I don't have to be jealous. 38:49 I don't have to compare myself and be angry with the Lord saying that he did not give me what I think that I should that I deserve which I what I deserve is what the guy who got the the first talent sorry the only one talent 39:07 the outward darkness. So praise God that he opened my eyes. Thank you, Josh. Uh, many things 39:27 encouraging and warnings also, but what stands out to me is they all had the same opportunity. They were all given from the wise man with the possessions, our heavenly father. Each gives to us our own. And I think in the past mainly I've 39:45 looked at the talents as abilities, possessions, gifts, but as Josh pointed out, it's everything that we have. It could include the circumstances of our life. It could include the trials and afflictions, limitations that we have in 39:58 our life. And I see in the first two, the one with five and the one with two as it says that they went out immediately in 16 just right away. They didn't waste time. they went out and traded and gained. But as I read this, I don't see any bad attitude. 40:17 I don't see any fear or anxiety. Like you can hear a message like this and you could get worked up and say, "Oh, I better get busy with my talents and I better go do something for God." And that's not the intention of what was 40:27 shared or the passage. there's a a rest that if I'm given five or two that what they had in mind how they were able to be faithful was they kept in mind that this is not these are not my own my life is not my own my gifts the good things 40:44 that I like about my life that's not mine the things that I don't like about my life that I wish I could change that's not mine either but as the master spoke to them in verse 21 and 23 the thing that he said that they did what he 40:58 said is that you were faithful with a few things. You were faithful with what I gave you. The good things that you liked and the things that you didn't like. You were faithful. Enter into the joy of the Lord. It was just a few 41:10 things. And all of us were all different. We have different circumstances. But what God is looking at is are we going to be faithful in what he's his possessions he's taken and he's entrusted to us. And it's not to make us anxious or burdened or oh no, 41:23 how am I going to do this? That's why the last guy failed because he just felt hopeless like I can't do this. this isn't going to it's not fair. He had an attitude of that. But if we just receive it from the Lord that keeping in mind 41:34 that nothing I have is is mine. It's all him. My life is not about me at all. And like it says in Romans 11 that all things are from him and through him and to him. All those things, the good things that you love and you you thank 41:49 you're thankful for and the things that you really hate about your life. All those things are given to us by our loving father. And he's looking to see are we gonna be faithful. That's all. We don't have to be anxious. We don't have 42:00 to compare. Don't compare. Actually, that's another lesson from this. Don't compare. As that was pointed out that one with the guy, first guy got five. The second guy got two. And he didn't say, "Hey, what? Why didn't I get five? 42:12 You think I'm not I'm not as good as the five." No, he didn't. He just was faithful. But it's the one with one comparing maybe bitter that his life he's handed less. And the attitude toward the master. And even as Josh pointed out at the end, just this, you 42:27 hear the bitterness where he talks to the master said, "See here, you have it. Just take it back. I don't I don't even know what you're doing." He says, "See here, you have it back. It's yours." But he didn't act like that. He didn't act 42:38 like it was the master's. He acted like it was his, and it didn't end well for him. And so, the same will be for us. If if we take what was been given to us, if we act like it's our own, then we'll suffer. But if we just keep in mind 42:51 everything is his, this life is not about me. It's from him. It's through him. It's to him. He has a wonderful good plan. This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. As Jesus gave all these parables. This is one little glimpse of 43:02 what the kingdom of heaven, this can be heaven on earth for us if we'll have this attitude that nothing I have is is from me or it's not about me. It's about him. But that at the same time having that rest and that we have a good 43:14 master. He knows what he's doing and I can trust him fully. Thank you brothers for all you shared. Um and uh we learned this morning just 43:38 to summarize and close um that whoever much is given much will be required in Luke 12:48. So according to what God has given each and one of us um we don't have to be proud, we don't have to be uh jealous because we'll be required for what he 43:58 has given us. Um you know when God made in Genesis he made the world day one day two he saw that it was good and when he made you and me he saw that was good. And if we acknowledge that God is the one who decided how much to give, what 44:16 to give to us, that's humility. If you acknowledge that he's a sovereign Lord, um uh one thing that came up to my mind uh while we're taking inventory of what the Lord has given us and it's also the trials. 44:35 We never rarely take trials or difficult situations as a talent, right? And a lot of times we will waste it because we don't think it's a talent. And it's usually those trials, the circumstances, unique circumstances, the difficult 44:51 hardships that the Lord may give you and me that actually opens that helps us to die and helps us to bear fruit in our lives. Without the trial, I would not be here. you would not be here who you are right now and we have to use that talent 45:09 as well trials. Um I know many of us are uh have visas questions will I stay in the US? Will I have to go back especially young one younger folks who came here to work from other countries. um you know when I was young maybe one 45:28 of the the kids I wanted to stay in the US my parents came here for uh work or studying and then they had to go back after three years now I was in the Ohio at the time and I love being in the US compared to being in Korea you could 45:45 party all day and you could get uh by pass by you didn't have to study um I knew that when I have to go back to Korea I would be locked up in a school until midnight and and not see daylight outside the school building. And it was 46:01 just a comparison. I wanted to stay in the US and spend my teenagerhood here. But when I heard the news that we're going home, we're going back to Korea, that was a big trial for me at the time. And but long story short, it was because of 46:17 that time that I met Jesus and I and God squeezed me with the little intelligence that God had given me or I mean the Lord has allowed me. I tried so hard much harder if I had compared to if I had 46:34 started in the US and just maybe take it easy and just enjoy life in teenagehood. So it's the circumstance that God has bring us. It's a talent and I thank the Lord for it. Um and I testify uh so many things to testify. Um but in 46:51 the interest of time we'll we'll all be um accountable for what the Lord has given us and the in comparison to the one two five talents that the Lord has given there's a 10 means we will all given the same opportunity whether it be 47:07 time same thing one life that we all have and God will still be accountable for that so let's think about that as the Lord has reminded us and as we conclude that we don't do just to have successful and tell stories but the 47:22 reward is himself alone himself to be and let's see if that reward is sufficient for us to drive us in our spiritual walk with the Lord let us go Lord that as we knew the memory verse that he'll give us the Holy Spirit or 47:37 baptize the Holy Spirit in the fire to do this without that we don't have to do this by ourselves our heavenly father thank you Lord that you remind us of the servants um that you've in entrusted with the 47:54 talents whether it be our uh life energy tal gifts trials situations um I know you want to see fruit and you have plans for each and one of us Lord let us not waste it and we know that you will give us the 48:13 reward to be with you for eternity and to give a joy to you Lord to please you. That's our desire in our heart. Let it be true. And please give us the Holy Spirit to realize it. Pray in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you family for joining us 48:30 this morning. Thank you for the Zoom uh who joined us Zoom. Please help us to set up for the afternoon fellowship by cleaning out the tables.
