What Are You Doing With God's Talent?

Good evening! Thank you for being here tonight. During his earthly ministry, Jesus Christ often used parables. Now, we've been studying these in Bible study for months now, I think, which if you'd like to join us, we do Bible study every Sunday from 9.15 until 10 o'clock. Parables were a culturally common way of communicating, one that both the average person and the educated religious leader could understand. It was a storytelling format that helped Jesus connect with those around him and gave him the position of a teacher. Now, Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew 13, 11 through 13, that even though people hear, they will not know the full meaning unless it is revealed to them. Parables can sometimes be difficult to understand because Jesus talks on a heavenly level, but we sometimes only understand them on an earthly level. They often have several layers of meaning. The parable of the talents is what we are going to be talking about tonight. It's Jesus' 37th parable out of 38, and I believe it's one of his best illustrations. Up until this point, Jesus' emphasis has been on the importance of watching and being ready, but now he's warning believers about using the things that the master instructed for his glory. There are many different ideas of what this parable is, however, there's one in particular that I believe has been overlooked. It was revealed to our family a few years ago, and after we read it, I'll tell you exactly how that was done. The version we're going to be using today, we're going to be reading out of the New King James Version, Matthew 25, verses 14 through 30. So if you have your Bibles and want to turn with me to Matthew 25, 14 through 30, you can. If you don't, it will be up on the PowerPoint behind me. It says, For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one, he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability, and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. And likewise, he who had received two, gained two more also. But he who had received one, went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received the five talents came and brought the five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents beside them. And the Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things, and I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of the

Lord. He also went to he who had received two talents, and he came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Look, I have gained two more talents beside them. His Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, and I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of the Lord. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid. And I went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours. But his Lord answered him and said, you wicked and lazy servant. You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers. At least I would have received back mine with my own interest. So take the talent from him and give it to someone who has 10 talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." There's a lot to this parable. When Jesus told this parable, he was talking to his disciples on the Mount of Olives, and it was his final week on earth. Now, many people believe that this parable is referring to natural talents and abilities. abilities that God gives us. Some believe that it has to do with entrepreneurship and the proper use of economic resources. Now, I don't disagree with either of those. I believe those are very valid things. And like I said, I believe parables have many, many layers. But some may argue, well, I don't have a natural talent, so it must not apply to me. Or some will just use their lack of knowing what their talent is as an excuse to not do anything. And I believe when Jesus told us, he was speaking to everyone. The idea that many people fail to see

is that Jesus is talking about time. Each of us has a limited amount of time on this earth. Some of us may have 100 years. Some of us may have 20. No one knows how long we have. We have no idea when our master will return, either to take us away or when our time is just up. Therefore, it is imperative that our time on this earth get used wisely. Now, God gave this to our family several years ago. And I want to share with you a quick story. Some of you maybe know my family dynamic. It's a little confusing. So even if you know it, you might not get it. But my husband adopted his oldest son and then had two children with his first wife. And I had two children with my first husband. And so when we got married, kids were something, obviously, we needed to talk about. And I said, I really want two more. I said, I want to have one more child. And I always feel like I've been called to adopt. Now, my husband is 15 years older than me. And so he said, well, let's just take it one step at a time. So we got married. And almost immediately, God blessed us with the most beautiful set of twins you could possibly imagine. And we were just blessed beyond measure. We did not expect that.

I'd wanted twins my whole life. But it didn't come in either of our families. And so it was definitely just a surprise blessing from God. So in my husband's mind, I got my two children. So we're done now. So a few years later when I said, can we talk about adopting now? He said, wait a minute. That's not what we agreed to. And you have to think, he was at a point in his life where his children were almost grown. They were almost out of the household. And he had to start completely over with us. And he was a little bit looking forward to retirement, slowing down, vacations, just taking his boat out for a while. And so the thought of adopting scared him a little bit. Now, he also hated the fact that he was disappointing his wife. And so we both just decided to pray that God would change one of our hearts. And so in the meantime, while we were praying and waiting for God to change one of our hearts, we got involved in some orphan ministry to help children in third world countries that didn't have homes and families. And we got invited to a dinner put on by this organization we were involved with. And while we were there, the speaker happened to be this man who, when he was young,

was an orphan living in Korea. And he was what was called a street child. And that means by the age of five years old, he was selling himself, drugs, whatever he could steal, just to make enough money to find food. Or he had to steal food. His story just brought you to tears. And he talked about one day, he was walking down the road. And this van pulled up, threw a sheet over his head, and kidnapped him. And he thought, this is it. I'm dead. I'm dying. And a few hours later, when he woke up, he thought, well, I must be in heaven. Because for the first time in his life, he was somewhere warm. He was laying in a soft bed. And someone was feeding him. And what happened was this Christian orphanage had kidnapped him, because it was the only way to get him off the streets. And they had brought him into their home. And they brought him back to health. And he ended up being adopted by an American family. And this man went on to lead one of the biggest orphan ministries in the world. And at that time, my husband thought, well, maybe we should. Maybe we should consider adoption. He whispered to me, maybe we'll talk about this. And his heart was starting to change.

But in the back of his head, he still had the thought of how old he's going to be when this child we adopt graduates high school. And the best years of his life he's going to spend raising children, and just all these thoughts. And one day, he was studying the Bible. And he was on this parable. And there was a preacher on TV who was talking about something else, and the talents in that meant money or something else, but God spoke to him and said, Ken, your time is mine. Those talents are your time, and I gave you time on this earth, but that time is not for you. It's not for you to spend on things that you want. The time is mine, and the time is to spend on my things. And I promise you that if you give up the things that you want, I will give you so much more, so much more than you could ever possibly imagine. Well, if you know, we went on to adopt, not one, but two, and while we were there adopting them, my husband tried to adopt their foster sister for a third one also, but unfortunately the country wouldn't let us leave with her. But God spoke to him. He changed his heart,

and he showed him that his time is not his own. Hebrews 2.10 tells us everything belongs to God, and all things were created by his power. So when life was given by God, he formed man from the dust. He breathed into our nostrils, and in return, the time that man gets to spend living should be fully dedicated to God. Now, Jeremiah understood this, because Jeremiah said, Lord, I know that people's lives are not their own. It is not for them to direct their own steps. The first two servants in this parable, they knew their master, and they knew what the master wanted them to do with the gifts that they were given. Christians must also know our master, and we must also understand what God wants us to do with the gift, especially the gift of time, that he has given us. So what is God calling you to do? Many people say, well, I haven't found my calling yet. I don't know what God's calling me to do. Well, if you open your Bible, God tells you exactly what he's calling you to do. One of the biggest thing God calls his people to do is evangelize. The word evangelism comes from the Greek word euangelizo, which means to proclaim the gospel or bring good news. The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus was only 12 years old, he understood this. He told us in Luke 2 49, I must be about my father's business. When a Christian accepts Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior, we must also accept his mission. And Jesus's mission was so important, he recorded it five times in five different ways in five different books of the Bible. I'm going to read each of those to you so that you can see what I mean. The first one is in Matthew 28. It says, and Jesus spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded to you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Go, make disciples, teach. That's what he said. And in Mark chapter 16, he says, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. In Luke. Luke chapter 24, he says, and that repentance and remissions of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

And you are a witness to these things. You are a witness to the things that Jesus has done and those things should be preached everywhere. Again, in John chapter 20, verse 21, it says, peace to you as the Father has sent me, I also send you. And lastly, in Acts chapter one, Jesus said, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the end. of the earth. God gave us a gift by sending his one and only beloved son to die on the cross so that we could be forgiven and live eternally with him. To receive that gift, you know all we have to do is believe it and accept it, right? Romans 10, 13 says everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But we often forget to read on to verses 14 and 15 because 14 and 15 say, how then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? All you have to do is believe. But to believe, you have to hear, and to hear, someone has to tell you. It's kind of like, I think of it like a car accident. Have you ever been driving down the road and there's an accident? And you drive by and you think, well, I should call 911. But you look around and there are hundreds of other cars around and you think, I'm sure someone else called 911 already. I don't want to bother 911. They don't need a thousand different calls. I'm sure someone called, so I'm not going to.

And then you hear a story later about someone dying in the streets because everyone thought someone else called 911. I've heard real stories where that happens because everyone thinks someone else is going to do it. And it's the same with the gospel. We just assume someone else is going to tell somebody the good news of Jesus Christ. We just assume, I don't want to bother them. I'm sure they've heard it before. I'm sure they know about Jesus. How do we know for sure? How do we know unless we tell them? Jesus gives us the great commission on purpose, and it's not just an order. It is an exclamation of the victory that we have in Jesus Christ. In this parable, the first two servants clearly knew what their master was asking them to do, and they immediately got to work making their talents grow. Just like our job is to work making the kingdom of God grow. And they weren't scared of him. They didn't do it out of fear. They did it out of love for their master, out of gratitude for who he was and what he had done. And what I think is really interesting is that Jesus used the same exact words to exalt both of them. He said, well done. He's called them good and faithful servant. It didn't matter that one of them started with five talents and one of them started with two, because it's not the amount that matters. It's the attitude that they were willing to do whatever it took and do the best with what they were given. We need to do the best with what we are given. It might not be the same as someone else.

You might have the opportunity to talk to one lady in line at the grocery store, and somebody else is off talking to millions of people in India. It doesn't matter. Because God says you're equal if your willingness to do what I called you to do is there. If you accept what I told you to do and you do it, it's equal, because it's not about the numbers. It's not about how many. It's about your heart. It's the fact that these servants got to work. They did it promptly. They did it with perseverance. And when their master came back, they were ready to give an account. And that's what God tells us to do. Now, the third servant in the parable, he didn't understand. He said he was afraid, and he hid his talent. He did nothing to help it grow. He made excuses. Many Christians today are happy to take the free gift of salvation from Jesus Christ, but they can't tell someone else about it. They're afraid, or they make excuses. What if that person makes fun of them? What if that person rejects them? What if that person judges them? The parable's pretty clear. The only one whose judgment we need to worry about is our master's. If a Christian fully understood and accepted what Jesus Christ did for us, there would be no fear. Our whole goal and purpose in life would be helping God's kingdom grow. Now, I think that there's a chance that the third servant thought to himself, well, I have so little to offer that it wouldn't make a difference.

Have you ever thought that, I can't do very much, I can't do enough, what I have won't make a difference, what I have won't change anything, it won't make a big enough impact, I can't sing, I can't teach. That's why I don't like the fact that, or I don't agree that this is strictly about your natural talents because it's not about what you can do, it's not about how great you are, it reminds me of the story of the 5,000. Now I know I talk about this in almost every one of my messages, the story of the 5,000, it's one of my favorite stories in the entire Bible, the event is miraculous beyond anything that we could comprehend. I believe that there's another piece of that that fits in with what I'm about to say, with what we're talking about tonight. We agree, right, that there were probably about 15,000 people there that day, because they say it's 5,000, but we know that that's 5,000 men, that the women and children weren't counted in that number, so best guess, we're going to say that there were 15,000 people there that day, okay? And they were hungry, and the disciples said, Jesus, we need to feed them, and Jesus said, go see what you can find for food. Okay, I don't know about you, but I have six children at home, and I have never left my house without a snack, okay, ever, because I know that I need food, I know that my kids definitely need food, am I right? I don't even think about leaving without a snack, I generally keep extra snacks in my car just in case, and I always have a couple dollars on me just in case we have to stop at the gas station because they ate all the snacks that I brought and they're still hungry. I don't think I'm the only person who thinks that way, so there are 15,000 people who went to spend time listening to Jesus, none of them were in a hurry, and you're telling me none of them brought a snack? One little boy, one little boy brought a snack, and 14,999 other people didn't. Oh, I think there were plenty of snacks there that day, I think there was plenty of food, but I think the disciples were going around saying, guys, we need to feed 15,000 people, we need 15,000 people, what food do you have that we can feed these people with?

Who's got bread, who's got fish, we need food, and I think the people were saying, oh, I have a loaf of bread and a fish, but that isn't gonna do much, that's not nearly enough food to feed 15,000 people. Jesus can't use this little bit that I have to make a great impact. One little boy had faith, and the rest of them didn't, because they didn't know what God could do with their little bit, oh, and God can do amazing things with your little bit if you would just have faith in Him. The world that we live in today is selfish, though, it is. Everywhere you look, on TV, on social media, on billboard ads, in the paper, everywhere you look, we see ads and things saying, you worry about you, you focus on you, you make sure you're getting what you need, you make sure that you're set, don't worry about other people, make sure you're happy, make sure you get the things that you need, you deserve these things, you deserve to have all these things. I see it over and over and over, I see friends sharing things on Facebook that say, I'm done worrying about other people, it's time to worry about me, I'm gonna focus on me for a while, and everywhere you look, that's what the world tells you to do, but not in the Bible, the Bible doesn't tell you to do that, Paul tells us in Galatians that while we were called to be free, we are not to indulge in ourselves, but to serve others humbly with love. We're so focused on ourselves. People that don't know Jesus are destined to spend an eternity in hell, but we're worried about how much time we have to get the things that we wanna get done. And I'm not saying this in a condemning way, because I am guilty of this myself. Just two weeks ago was one of the busiest weeks of my life, and we were getting ready to go to a work conference, and I just wanted to get my nails done, and I just didn't have time, and I was busy doing all these other things, and I was mad. I was mad because I didn't have time to get my nails done. And it's not that God doesn't want me to get my nails done, God wants to bless us on this earth, right? But as I'm sitting there getting my nails done, I was thinking, well, God, finally.

I got this done, something for myself, and God says, did you even think about the lady doing your nails and whether she's going to hell or not? And I went, oh, didn't even cross my mind because I was so focused on me and what I wanted and what I needed that I didn't even think about her soul or where she was heading. Didn't even think to ask her if she knew Jesus. I'm sitting there with her. I had 45 minutes, just me and her. She had to listen to what I said, but I was thinking, ah, I have a lot of kids at home. I'm using this time to relax. I'm not talking to anybody. I'm just going to sit back and enjoy this. Do you know that God gives us 1,440 minutes in a day? Okay, that's a 24-hour period, 1,440 minutes. Now, the average person sleeps 480 minutes, and the average person works another 480 minutes. Then, statistically, they say that the average person eats for 68 minutes a day, spends 238 minutes a day watching television, and another 215 minutes a day on their phones or on social media. Now, if you add those numbers together, it actually totals 1,481 minutes, which is more minutes than we have in a day, but that's because we're multitaskers today, and we can drive in our car and look at our phone at the same time,

or watch TV and eat at the same time, right? What I'm wondering is if we're spending 1,481 minutes every day doing the things that I just read, how do we have any time left for God? How many minutes in the day are left to spend time with him, to study his word, or maybe do what he's called us to do, to tell others about him, to serve God? How many minutes a day do we set aside for that? 1 John 2, 15 through 17 says, do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life comes not from the Father, but of the world. My lust to get my nails done, to spend time alone, that came from the world. But it goes on to say the world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. The desire to get my nails done, the desire for Ken to drive his boat around, that is going to pass away. But the time that we invest in God's kingdom will have an eternal impact. We were raised with Christ. Okay, when Jesus Christ died on the cross and raised, we were raised with him. So this, this is not our world anymore. We are foreigners in this world

because our citizenship is in heaven now. So we need to think, okay, Jesus came to this world as a foreigner because he was not of this world. So what did he spend his time in this foreign place doing? Serving others, discipling others, teaching others. We're not citizens of this world either. And that's what we need to spend our time doing. Now, I'm not saying that anything in this world is evil. I'm not saying you can never get your nails done. You can never take a day to yourself. You can never go get a massage or go out on your boat. I'm not saying that. But what I'm saying is that our desires should not be on these things. Those things should not take the place in our hearts and in our lives where the gospel belongs. When Jesus told the parable of the talents, he was speaking to his disciples about the end times. And he was talking about the coming tribulation. And the fact that he was going to be back to judge the world. At the end of this parable, the master returns to see what the servants have done with their talents. It's a clear picture for Christians that we are going to be held accountable for our actions on earth. And the first two servants, they were excited to tell the master about all the things that they had done. And he said to them, well done,

good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things and I will put you in charge of many. Come and share in my happiness. That means bliss of heaven. heaven with our Savior. But the third servant, he had to stand before the Lord and explain to him that he did nothing with the talent he was given. His master called him wicked and evil. Hebrews 4.13 says, nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. Everyone will be called to stand before the great white throne on judgment day. And according to Revelation 20, 11 through 15, we will be judged according to our works. Now, I wanna be very clear now that I'm not talking about a works-based gospel message here, okay? I absolutely believe in faith. I believe there's only one way to get to heaven and that's through Jesus Christ. Okay, that's it. He's the only way. It doesn't matter what you do on earth. You can't be good enough to get into heaven with your actions, okay? There's one way to heaven

and that's believing in Jesus Christ. But one day we have to stand before Jesus Christ and tell him what we did. And I don't know about you, but I don't wanna stand there and tell him I did nothing. I wasted the precious gift of time that he gave me. I hid. I was focused on work and all the things that I wanted to do. I don't wanna stand there and tell him, I'm sorry, I was afraid. I was too busy. No, I wanna stand there and excitedly explain to him all the great things that I did with the gift that he gave me. Oh, I want him to look at me and say, well done. Well done. Jesus spoke in parables in his day because many people were not interested in knowing or understanding the truth. Hopefully that's different today. This parable is one that Christians should study and we should share it because its message is so deep. God gives us the beautiful gift of life, but life is so fleeting. It's so fleeting. It's gone in a moment. So the little bit of time that we have, how we spend it is so important. In our family, we don't have a rule

that our children can only listen to Christian music. The rule is they can listen to any music they choose as long as it's appropriate. Now, about 90% of the time, my children pick Christian music, but sometimes there'll be a secular song thrown in there. And one day we were in the car and they were taking turns picking songs. And one of my kids picked one of his favorite secular songs called Hall of Fame. And the words to Hall of Fame say, you can be the greatest. They say, you can be a hero. It says, the world should know your name. Do great things. Do it for your pride. Be a champion. Get your name put in the Hall of Fame. Now, the very next song that one of my kids picked was a Christian song by Casting Crowns called Only Jesus. And do you know what the words to that song said? It said, the world is gonna tell you to dream your dreams, to make a name for yourself. But I only have one life to live and my life is gonna be for Jesus. And every second that I live, I want my actions to point to Jesus. I don't wanna leave a legacy. I don't want the world to remember me. I only want them to remember Jesus.

And that's the difference between the world and the church today. It's not about us. It's not about us doing great things and people knowing who we are. It's about us doing great things and having people see Jesus when they look at us so that they know those great things are because of Jesus. It's about doing amazing things in his name so that he's remembered. Because 100 years from now, nothing is gonna look the same. None of the people alive are gonna be here. None of the businesses are gonna be here. This building probably won't be here. So really what you do with your life is irrelevant unless you do something for Jesus. Thank you. In biblical times, a talent was a measure of something such as silver or gold. A single talent could represent as much as 50 pounds of a precious metal. It would have been very heavy. And if you could imagine five talents, very heavy. The fact that so many people in this world don't know Jesus should weigh that heavy in our hearts. If we could just get it, if we could just get the importance of this parable, it would change our whole. view on life and time and what we spent our time doing,

but we have to get it. When we went to the RAMP event last winter with the youth group, Karen Wheaton was there. And she's an incredible pastor and she gave just this illustration that just shook me and I just can't get it out of my head. And it was this picture that here's time. Here's heaven, here's hell. And we only get a little bit of time here. That's it, a little bit. And then we have to go here or here forever. And our time, there's people heading to hell. And in this little bit of time we have, we have the opportunity to tell them about Jesus and send them to heaven instead. And she said she could just picture people standing and they're like, oh, I gotcha. Let me tell you about Jesus, go that way instead. Oh, I got another one. And she said she could just picture Jesus in heaven saying that one, that one, get that one. That one's about to die, get that one, quick. Quick, grab that one before he goes. That's what Jesus is telling us. Quick, that lady right there, talk to her. Her time is almost up. Speak to her, reach her. Quick, that guy over there, he doesn't have much time left and no one has told him about Jesus. Quick, there's just this much time left.

There's some urgency here. But you may be saying, Katie, I want to do that. I want to tell people about Jesus. How? What do I do, what's the first step? Well, the first step, number one, most important, is you have to know Jesus. Okay, you have to know Jesus. So your number one focus is digging into his word and spending time with him so that you know him deeply in your heart. There are statistics. And when you first glance, statistics can be looked at so many different ways and they can be manipulated. And sometimes if you don't fully understand, you can get the wrong thing from statistics. But there's a statistic that said that back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, that 92 to 93% of Americans were Christians. But today, only 68% of Americans are Christians. So clearly Christianity is on the decline. And when I first read that, I was devastated. I thought, that's horrible. It's horrible. Until I dug a little deeper and I read a little bit more about it. And do you know what I discovered? I discovered that in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and so forth, that if you believed that there was a God,

you called yourself a Christian. If you thought, well, yeah, there's a God, so yeah, I must be a Christian. And since everybody else called themselves a Christian, even if you weren't sure what you believed, you said, well, oh, they're a Christian? Well, yeah, I'm a Christian too. But today, that isn't true. Today, we understand that if you're going to call yourself a Christian, that you need to know Jesus Christ, that you need to have a relationship with him. And so the 68% of people are people that actually have a relationship with Jesus Christ and want to live their lives for him. They aren't just people saying they're Christian. So I don't know about you, but I'd rather have 68% of real believers than 93 people that just say it because everybody else does. So this shows me that Christianity is on the rise, okay, and that the people who are Christians are doing something. There's a lot of stories out there about millennials, a lot of people bad mouth millennials and say all these things about them, but I don't know about you, but I've met a lot of young people. And the young people that I've met are amazingly dedicated to God in a way that there's no chance

I was like that at their age. When I was a teenager or in my early 20s, Jesus wasn't my focus. But I see teenager after teenager, young adult after young adult, saying I don't care what the world says. I don't care what my peers say. I love Jesus, and I'm gonna stand up here and I'm gonna tell other people about Jesus. And that's not something I did when I was their age. That's not something many people did. We see this generation on the rise of people that want to spread the word of Jesus. I see an explosion about to happen of young people in the world living for God, living for Christ. And I am so encouraged by these numbers. So first and foremost, you have to know Jesus. People are starting to get that. Know Jesus, spend time in his word, spend time praying, spend time with him. And what's the next step? The next step can basically be summed up in three verses. Everything that you need to do, everything that you can do. do to spread the gospel is summed up in three verses in Colossians. It says, there might be five verses, I think I counted wrong. It says, therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bear with each other, forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you over

all of these virtues put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity. You may notice most of my messages come back to love, forgiveness, and selflessness because I think those are the three biggest problems that we face in this world and those are the three most important things that Jesus tells us to have. It continues, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body you were called to peace and be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, songs of the spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him. That's everything right there, everything you need to do. Serve others, serve others, put their needs above yours, show kindness and compassion, pray for the people around you, forgive people, love without any requirements. This is a tough one for us to get, when I was first married someone told me don't forget marriage is 50-50 and I heard a pastor say oh no it's not. Marriage is 100-100, you need to give 100% of yourself to that marriage and so does your spouse. And you know when you do something for your spouse, if it's done out of love it won't be about what you're getting in return. So many marriages fail because it's what I'm going to do this for him so that he does this for me. I'm going to do the dishes for him so that he cleans the kitchen, I'm going to cook for him so that he gives me a massage later, I'm going to do this for him so that he thanks me so that he recognizes what a good wife he has. But if you're doing it to get something in return then you're doing it to get something in return. But if you're doing it out of love then you have a desire to just do it, it doesn't matter how they respond back, it doesn't matter if they thank you or do something for you because you're doing it because your love for them is so great and God wants our love for him

to be so great that it doesn't matter what we get in return. It doesn't matter what somebody else does for us, it doesn't matter if somebody else sees our good deeds and thanks us or appreciates us because we just love him so much that we're driven to do these things. It says remain peaceful in difficult situations. That's not always easy to do in the drama filled world that we live in to remain peaceful. It says be thankful, be thankful for everything. Listen intently to show others that you care. Have you seen those memes that explain that people often listen so that they can respond? They're only half listening to you because they've already started working in their mind what they want to say back to you because it's really about them and what they get to say. How about just be quiet and listen to people talk because some people just need someone to talk to. And guess what? Jesus is there if you want to talk to him. That's what he does. That's the example he sets for us. Just listen intently when someone's speaking to you. Focus on what they're saying. Teach others what you know. You may not know much, but teach them what you know. You may only know this much about the Bible, but you know what? Go tell everybody you know about it and then learn more. Teach others. Give God the glory in every situation. In every situation, God deserves the glory. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5, 16 to let our light shine before others that they may see our good deeds and glorify our father in heaven. It's about him.

Like that song said, it's about him. We should do so many good deeds that people look at us and think, oh gosh, they must know Jesus because they just keep doing good things. They just keep helping people. They're so unselfish. That must be Jesus because otherwise they wouldn't be able to do that because our flesh doesn't want to do these things. It's only through Jesus that we even have the strength to deny our flesh and do these things. This earth, our life, our time is about relationships. First and foremost, our relationship with Jesus Christ, but also our relationship with other Christians and our relationships with non-believers. If you spend your time serving others or spreading the gospel, God will bless you. Luke 638 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It says, give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. You can't out-give God. And I know a lot of people use that to talk about finances, and that's true, but it's also true with your time. You can't out-give God. You can give all your time to God and somehow he will make it up to you. Somehow he will make the things that you do better than anything you could have done on your own. Adopting six kids, that has taken a lot of our time, okay? But there is not one second that wasn't worth it. There's not one second that we look at our family and think, man, I wish I hadn't done that. Think of all the time I'd have to do other things. Oh no, every second of our day we look and think, thank you God for the gifts that you've

given me. And God makes up our time. Guess what? God has made up our time so much, we do get to go out on our boat and we do get to go on vacation. I don't know where that time comes from. Doesn't seem like there are enough minutes in the day. But God says, you give, I will give back. Can't out-give God. He promises to give more than what we give. And I promise you that if you're saying, I'm willing to give my time and then I'm going to start focusing on other people instead of myself, I promise you, you will be blessed beyond measure, beyond anything that I can explain. So tonight I just want to say, as we said, first and foremost, you have to know Jesus. So if you don't know Jesus, then now's your opportunity to know him. As we said, it's simple. There's one way into heaven and all you have to do is say, Jesus, I believe in you. I believe God that you sent your son to die on the cross for my sins. I don't want to live that old way anymore. I just want to live for you. That's it. That's all you have to do. And you get to go to heaven. So if you don't know that, I've just told you, you don't have an excuse anymore. You've heard. Now all you have to do is believe. So if there's anyone here that doesn't know Jesus, we're going to pray in a minute and then you can pray at your seat or you can come up here and we'll pray with you. But that's the most important step. But number two is knowing what God wants you to do with your time.

And I've just told you now, it may be a different way for each person who you talk to, but I'm going to pray that God starts putting people in your path and that he speaks loud enough to your heart that you think, I know God wants me to talk to this person. And I'm going to stop doing whatever it is I'm doing because their soul is more important. So we're going to pray together. But then if anyone wants extra prayer for those things, if anyone here says, I need help with that, I need strength for that, then, then when we're done, feel free to come on up and, uh, and we'll pray with you. Okay. Heavenly father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for your parables, father, for the deep layered meanings that you give us. Thank you for showing us and revealing to us that you care so much what we do with our time, that you have given us this beautiful gift of our time, Lord, but it belongs to you. Help us to realize and recognize that it is your time on earth and that what we do with it is so important that the things that we do with our time can have an eternal impact for forever and ever and ever lives can be changed. This world could be changed. Help us to turn the focus away from the world and worldly things and just get behind you and your mission of teaching people about you. Help us to go into the world and spread the gospel, whether that's another country, whether that's our neighborhood, Lord, speak to our hearts, speak to our minds. Give us the strength to deny our flesh, to deny our eyes and our ears, to deny the things of this world and focus solely on you. Help us to realize, God, deep, deep down inside, how wonderful you are, how wonderful you were to send your son, Jesus, to die for us when we certainly didn't deserve it. Lord, help us to just always focus on you and thank you. Thank you for your word. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for your patience.

Thank you for teaching us every day. Thank you for promising to bless us abundantly. Thank you that you are going to do great and amazing things in Jesus' name, amen.