Transcription
Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.
Good morning. Good morning. How's everybody doing?
>> Doing good.
>> Hey. Okay. Did y'all have a good spring break? Who had a good spring break?
>> Who will be honest if you're like me? You didn't know it was spring break.
>> I drove by the school. You know when your kids are out of the house, I was like, "Where's all the kids?" Like, "It's spring break, old man." It's like, "Yes."
Well, we're glad you're here today. We're going to have a great day of worship and we have a special special speaker today, Dr. Chris Schroeder.
>> What they always put us together. I'm not sure why. It's just like the one-two punch. I'm getting them warmed up, Chris.
All right. Well, we're glad you're here. If you'll take out your worship folder this morning, just want to go over a few things to make sure you're aware of what's coming up. Also, if you're a first-time guest, we want to give you a special welcome. If there's somebody sitting around you and you don't recognize them and you think maybe they're new, I don't think I've met you yet. We're so glad you're here today. Welcome to worship and we hope you have a great day.
So, if you're a first-time guest, you can just tear off that little insert on the side there. And uh you can put that out in the silver drop boxes at each of the foyers. There's these little silver boxes. You can put those in. And uh there's also prayer requests for our members or somebody who's here. If you would like for us to pray with you about something on the back side, you can fill that out. And then staff shares those and we pray for those during the week. And we'd love to do that for you. Also, your your tithes and your offerings go in those boxes. So, we'd be glad for you to participate in worship through giving back to God this week in that way.
So, a few things that are coming up. Our senior adults, maybe the greatest group of people in the church, our senior adults. Yeah, they're on up there. And we have our senior adult get together tomorrow night with Doy Dykes. He's been here several times and I know y'all have probably heard him. If not, you're in for a great treat. He is amazing. World-renowned guitarist. He's going to be with us. That starts at six o'clock in in the atrium tomorrow night. Just uh we provide uh the meat and you just bring a side dish and we'll have a little potluck dinner there at 6 o'clock. So, make sure you're there for that.
Also, this week is TXK Together and that is a citywide student ministry um gathering and then we'll be gathering at our church this time. They move it around to different churches each year. So this year it will be here at First Baptist. And so, uh, all the youth ministries from around the the city come together and they have a great night of worship and praise. So, uh, that starts at 6:30. If you're if you're, uh, want to be there or know more about that, we'll be here. Also, look out on the parking lot. We'll be a little more crowded in the front. If you're one of our normal Wednesday night people, you may see more cars out front, but we're just going to start praying for that, asking the Lord to do great things there. So, would you would you raise your hand? Would you pray for TXK together this week? Just rem just be reminded as you as you have your quiet time this week and to pray for them that God would just do uh great things that night for our students.
We have a ladies prayer walk coming up Saturday the 18th at 9:00. They will meet in the activity center and then they'll work their way around the building praying for our different ministries and they'd love to have you u join them for that. You can register online at the website uh fbctexarkana.org/women.
Membership class is also next Sunday night, the 19th from 5 to 7. So, if you've been visiting or you're thinking about joining First Baptist, we would love for you to join that night or come hear more about it if you're not sure yet. And it's from 5 to 7. We have child care. We have a great dinner. You hear about the vision of the church and different ministries and how you can serve, how you can get plugged in. So, we would love for you to be there for that. Also, also go online to the website and you can register for that. Let us know that you're coming. We would appreciate it.
Uh, Faith in Football on the 26th, just another couple weeks, we'll have hamburgers and fries and good food. Talk about football with Coach Greg Davis from that school down in Austin. Uh, I I I don't I don't go that way. I'm going the uh other way, the red way. Where's my Hog fans? Where's the Razorback? Yeah. Hey, but it's still going to be good. It's still going to be good. God can use anyone, you know, and Jeff's not here. Did I mention that this is going to be a great night, men, we'd especially invite you to bring someone six o'clock on the 26th and uh it'd be a great night. You can go online and also register for that. Tickets are $10 and that'll be a great night uh to hear about football. Yeah.
All right. Um there's something else coming up that's called America Reads the Bible that uh Pastor Jeff's going to be a part of. So jot that website down, americanareadsthebible.com starting next weekend um leading up to the country's 250th anniversary. Um they're going to be reading through scripture out loud in Washington DC. And Pastor Jeff's been invited to be a part of that. I think he's reading 1 Chronicles. So uh you can go online there and you can read the schedule, you can watch online, you can follow along at americanareadsthebible.com. And I think that's a great way as our nation was so founded on scripture as we celebrate 250 years that we keep God's word in the center of that. And our country could use a lot of that right now. Amen. Amen. Can never have enough much enough of that. America Reads the Bible.com. So check that also.
Uh, one last thing I want to mention. Uh, this week was the Four States Fair. I don't know if anybody went to the fair. Where's the funnel cake lovers? I mean, you know, turkey leg, whatever it is you like. Well, also we had uh we had volunteers out there this week handing out wooden crosses. We've done this for the last several years. We have some pictures out there. So, you know, there's hundreds of people coming through the fair and we give away these free crosses and we just want to thank our volunteers this week. Our students came out one night and helped and they gave several thousand crosses away and people just come by. Do you want a free cross? And they say, sure. Most of the people want something free and then they present the gospel. Do you know what this cross is about? Do you know Jesus is your Lord? Over 300 people pray to receive Christ this week at the fair. So, thank you. So, I want to especially thank Kelly Stone for organizing that.
And uh, so, let's let's pray this morning for our time of worship. Let's pray for those 300 people that the Lord would continue to uh work on them and just help them understand uh the commitment that they made, the prayer that they prayed.
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your blessings. We thank you for all these activities that are going on and coming up. Lord, they won't just be activities. It won't just be something to keep us busy, Lord. It will be something will bring glory and honor to you. Every one of them will be centered on you, on Jesus. We thank you so much for for those 300 plus people who came to the fair and and heard the gospel. Some for the first time, some maybe they heard of it, but they didn't really understand it. God, we ask you to just continue to water that seed that was planted. And for those that have that are trying to follow you and know what it means to be a Christian, you would continue to work in their hearts. Thank you so much for our volunteers. Our Gideons were out there and they handed several hundred copies of scriptures. God, we know your word never returns void. And we're so grateful to know that and to rest in that and to be sure in that today. Be with our time of worship this morning. Lord, it would be pleasing to you that we would lay everything that we walked in with, all the burdens, all the worries, anxieties, financial troubles, family troubles, health problems, all these things we were thinking about naturally. Lord, we will put our minds and our hearts on you this morning. we'll put our hearts on our time of worship that you will replenish us and just overflow our hearts with with the love of Christ this morning. Be with Chris just uh be with his words that you've given him. Help us take them to heart and apply what we hear today. And we pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Good morning church. Would you stand with us? Let's begin to worship together. Scripture says that the Lord is our defender. We want to thank him together for that defense. Sing out with us this morning.
You make a way when I cannot see.
You are my strength. Though my heart is weak.
You won't let go. You take my place on this battlefield.
You know before you're my sword, my shield.
I'm not alone. You fight for me.
You always have. You always have my victory.
It's in your hands. In your hands.
The God of heaven is mighty.
No weapon formed will get to me.
The enemy is underneath your feet.
My God, my hope. You won't let go.
You always have. You always have my victory is in your hands. In your hands.
The God of heaven is my you.
You always stand. My victory is in your hands. In your hands.
The God of heaven is my will not fear. I will not fear.
The waters will rise. I will not fear.
For you are on my side. Oh, I will not fear.
The waters will rise. Though I will not fear for you on my side.
You fight for me. You've always. You always have my victory.
It's in your hands. It's in your hands.
My is you for me. Always always my God of heaven is my.
Aren't you glad that this morning? He defends us and we get to serve him. Hey, won't you take a minute, tell somebody around you good morning for just a second. Meet a new friend, greet a neighbor, come back and sing with us in just a minute.
There is a song that calls to my soul.
And there is a friend that won't let me go.
And dark is a stain that I cannot hide.
But I see your arms of love open wide.
I come just as I am. I come just as I am.
Praise. God, grace will grace. Praise. God's grace.
Praise that is greater than all my sin.
There is a hill where pardon was made.
There is a king who died in my gra.
Now I am alive and I am redeemed.
Out of the grave, forgi will praise.
Praise. God's grace. Grace that is greater than all my eyes on the cross forever.
I put my all in the blood of my savior.
All my s and all my sh your grace is g.
I'll fix my eyes on the cross forever.
I'll put my love of my savior.
All my sin and all my shame is gone.
Your grace is ger. Your grace is ger.
Come just as I am. that I come just as I am.
Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that will end within grace.
Praise God. Grace that is greater than all my sin.
Praise God's grace. Praise the Lord and within praise.
Praise God. Grace that is greater than all I see.
Sing this with me.
Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that will harden and cleanse within.
Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all my sins.
>> Aren't you thankful for grace this morning?
>> Won't you go ahead and be seated? We've got one coming to be baptized. We want to celebrate together. So, give your attention to the baptistry if you would.
Well, good morning. This is Jared, a picture of God's grace. So, if you know him, I know he's got a lot of family here, young single adults, Sunday school class. We'd love for you to stand just in his honor. Uh, but Jared, as he shared his testimony, has a godly grandmother that's brought him to church. He's got parents and he talked about mom specifically reading the Bible to him over his life. And so, he's known a lot about God over his life. Um, but it but it took kind of an unusual event. So, if you guys remember a couple months ago, we had the lunar eclipse and the blood moon and and that really just drew him and he just kind of started thinking and looking into some things. And so, that was part of it. Uh, but but that just began conversations. And so, there was a a person that he talks to regularly over at Trinity. And so, she helped you and then he talked to his mom and talked to his uncle Wayne Harmon. And so, just all of this led up to the point where he said, "I heard about Christ." And not just in general, but very specific. And so there's a definite time that you pray to receive Christ in your bedroom. Is that right?
>> Yes.
>> We're so proud of you, Jared. And so I want you to know since then, there's been great uh evidence of that. And so Jared has struggled with social anxiety since he was 12. So it's been quite a long time. Uh but despite that, when God did this in his life, he spoke up in his Sunday school classes. He told him how he got saved. And even today, maybe not the easiest of places for you to be, but he said, "I'm trusting God. He's growing me. I'm less selfish. I'm reading the Bible." And he said, "He wants you to know of God's work in his life." So, we're so proud of you. And why don't we go ahead and do this baptism? Does that sound good?
All right. I want to ask you, Jared, in front of your church family, are you trusting in Christ alone for your salvation?
>> Yes, sir.
>> Praise the Lord. Based on that public profession of faith, it's honor to baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Buried with Christ in baptism. and raised to walk in newness of life. Praise the Lord.
>> What a blessing. Always good to see people going through the baptistry. Amen.
>> Love to see new believers.
We live in an age of anxiety. And these words come from Jesus that counter that. I want you to listen.
For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink, nor your body as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air that they don't sow, and neither reap nor gather into barns, yet your father feeds them. How are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to your life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the liies of the field grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin. Yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all of his glory clothe himself like one of these. But if God so clothe the grass of the field which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? Don't worry then, saying, "What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek these things, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all of these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Peter said, "Cast every worry you have upon him because he cares for you. Pray on it. Pray over it. But most of all, pray through it."
I invite those of you who would to join me at this altar. There's something about coming forward and laying a burden down. Something about that encourages others. You can stand or sit or kneel if you're able. Why don't you join me and let's bring our burdens to the Lord. Let's cast our cares upon him because we know that he cares for us.
Heavenly Father, we are thankful for the grace. Grace and today we shout that grace that comes to us. Oh merciful Father, we come before you as beggars, knowing we deserve nothing, but we're thankful, but by the blood of Christ, we can come. And so we come boldly and we seek your face in this age of anxiety when people are worried and when there's so much misinformation and so much deception and destruction. We cast our cares upon you because we know we believe and we trust that you care for us. So father as we come to this altar is in our hearts where we're seated. We bow before you and we seek your face and we pray your blessings. We pray for our pastor while he's away. Bless him. Give him a good weekend and a safe return home. He and Debbie. Father, we pray for brother Chris as he stands to break the bread of life. Anoint him, fill him, Lord. And when it's all said and done, help us not to be just hearers only, but doers of the word. And for these gathered here, Lord, whatever burden it is, whatever weighs them down when they get up, may it be made lighter. May they be light on their feet because we cast our care upon you. Thank you, Father, that that goes such counter to our day. In a time of war, in a time of uh destruction, in a time of people polarized one against the other, we come together in the name of Christ. And it's in that name we pray for healing. It is in that name that we pray for victory. And it is in that name we trust that you hear us and that you will answer. So thank you, Father, for the riches of your glory. Thank you for hearing us today. Bless this service. Continue to speak through us throughout. And we thank you and we praise you and we give you all the glory in the name of Jesus. And everyone said,
>> "Amen."
>> Amen.
Even as we continue to worship, the altar remains open. If you want to come and continue to pray, continue to respond to the Lord. We lift him up in this place.
If you bought what they sold you just to find out the world's only good, come to Jesus.
If the well that you draw from keeps running dry and the water you're drinking won't satisfy comp every cross the savior
You're waiting with arms open wide.
So he was behind you behind.
Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus.
You don't have to clean up before you come home.
Let the power and the blood turn your sin.
Oh, come to Jesus. Come to Jesus.
For us all at the foot of the cross where perfect love made everybody go.
The Savior is waiting with arms open wide.
So he wants behind you behind.
Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus.
There is therefore now no condemnation.
For all those found in Christ Jesus call his name.
Come be saved. Come be saved.
There is therefore now no condemnation for all those who found in Christ Jesus call his name.
Come be saved. Come be saved.
There's room for us all at the foot of the cross where perfect love paid every prodal cost.
Savior is waiting with arms open wide.
So he wants behind you behind there for us all at the foot of the cross where every go is waiting with arms open wide.
So he was behind you.
Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus.
Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus.
You just find out the world's only good at letting you down.
Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus.
>> Good news this morning is when you make that decision, you come to Jesus. He provides everything that you need from this moment on. Let's celebrate that together.
Well, look at the flowers and all of their beauty.
I don't have to wonder. You know what you're doing.
So why would I worry at all?
Cuz you're faithful to everything I need.
Everything I need, my father has it. My father has it.
Every single time, the Lord will provide it.
My father has it. My father has it.
Look at the sparrow lacking for nothing.
No fear of tomorrow and what it will bring.
If I have you,
>> if I have you, I have enough.
Cuz your love will set his heart.
Everything I need. Everything I need.
My father has it. My father has it.
Every single time. The Lord will proide.
My father has it. My father has it.
So seek first the kingom and its treasures and everything else it will be added.
all that I'm needing.
Well, I know the Lord will provide God's word cuz I know my God's not into heaven.
He gives us blessings upon blessings.
I still believe.
Well, I know the Lord will provide.
See first the kingom and his treasures.
Everything else it will be added to all that I need.
I know the Lord will provide.
I know my God and he gives us blessing.
I want blessings. I still believe.
I know the Lord will provide.
Everything I need. Everything I need.
My father has it. My father has it.
Every single time the Lord will proide.
My father has it. My father has everything I need.
Everything I need. My father has. My father has every single time.
The Lord will provide. My father has a kingom and his treasures.
Everything else will be all that I need.
I know the Lord will survive cuz I know my God hand is a blessing blessing.
I still believe.
I know the Lord will provide.
I know the Lord will provide.
I know the Lord will.
>> Hasn't the Lord been so good to us?
>> Hasn't he blessed us in so many ways? Let's just thank the Lord for his blessings. Let's thank the Lord. Let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for this opportunity to worship you, to praise you in this place, God. You are lifted high in this place and your presence is in this place. And we thank you, God, for sustaining us. We thank you for walking with us, for providing for all of our needs, for taking care of us, for seeing us. You see us. You see each one that's here. You are the loving father and we are your children and you give good things to your children. And we look back and we just are so grateful of all the different ways that you have taken care of us through the years and you've provided for us and you've blessed our lives in so many ways. We are so grateful. We're so grateful. And God, we confess to you that so often we are so needy and we bring our needs to you and you care. But God, sometimes we just forget to say thank you and to focus on all that we have to be grateful for. And so God, we just do that in this place right now. We just we just thank you. Thank you for providing for us as that good father for taking care of all of our needs. You know each one that's here right now. you knew who would be here today. You have a word for each one today because you want to uh speak to us and we want to hear from you, God. So we pray, Lord, that right now you would just soften our hearts, God. We pray against any bitterness, any resentment, any distraction, lacking focus, anything in our life that's uh doesn't allow us to hear from you today. We pray against that, God. God, we pray that you would open our ears. Help us to hear and receive from you and apply these truths to our life. We thank you for your son, Jesus. We thank you for the sacrifice made for us and the eternal life that you give us and the new life that you give us. You're good. You're faithful. You're true. Your word is true. And so, God, we pray that you would just have your way in this place. To you be all the glory and all the praise and all the honor. We pray all this in the strong name of your son Jesus. Amen.
Amen. You may be seated.
What a great time of worship. At some point in your life, you may make some future plans and you may go to see a financial advisor. And the financial advisor will do an audit of your finances. And then you may ask this financial adviser, you may ask this advisor some questions about your finances. And you may ask the question, where should we invest our money? Where should we invest our money? Today, I want to talk to you about something that's even more important than just that, than just our finances. I want to talk to you today about investing your life, your entire life. There's some key questions that we must ask ourselves. The most important questions of life. The most important questions in life are these two questions. Where will you go when you die? Where will you go after life here on earth? And what is the purpose of your life while you are here on earth? What is the purpose of your life? There's no more important questions than that.
There's three things that you can do with your life. You can waste it, you can spend it, or you can invest it. You can waste your life. You could pour all of your time and your energy into your career. You could pour everything you have into uh possessions and hobbies and all these things will never satisfy you. And so you could put all your time into that but they won't satisfy. But Jesus taught us how to invest our lives.
Now we look at Jesus's life and we see what was Jesus all about. Jesus was all about living a perfect life. He lived a perfect sinless life. And then he became the perfect sacrifice on the cross for us. He put all of our sins upon himself as he was on the cross. And so he lived a perfect life and he was crucified and he was buried. But then he resurrected. He defeated death. He had life and he gives us life. And we celebrated that last Sunday. We celebrated the resurrection of our savior Jesus. But we celebrate that every day. And we remember what Jesus has done for us. He also told us about the father. He showed us the father. He showed us who God is by the way that Jesus lived. He shows us who the father is. And he taught us he taught us how to live the Christian life. to live a life that's pleasing to the father. And one of the ways that he taught us was through parables. He told he told stories. Stories about life. Parables about how we are to live this Christian life that's pleasing to God. And one of the parables that he told is a great parable called the parable of the talents. The parable of the talents. And I want to share that story, that parable with you this morning. So, if you have your Bibles, turn to Matthew chap 25. Matthew chap 25 and it's found there, verses 14 through 30 of Matthew chap 25. And it will also be up on the screen. But I want to start by just reading the entire story so you can hear the entire context and then we'll go through and we'll we'll break it down together.
So verse 14 says this says, 'For it's just like a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves and some translations will say servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his own ability. And he went on his journey. Then one who had received the five talents immediately went and did business with them and earned five more talents. In the same way, the one who had received the two talents earned two more. But he who received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, "Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have earned five more talents." His master said to him, "Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter the joy of your master." Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, "Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have earned two more talent talents." His master said to him, "Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter the joy of your master." Now the one who had received the one talent also came up. And he said, "Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, and I was afraid." So I went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you still have what is yours. But his master answered and said to him, "You worthless, lazy slave. Did you know that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not scatter seed? Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival, I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore, take the talent away from him and give it to the one who has the 10 talents. For to everyone who has more shall be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. and throw the worthless slave into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and nashing of teeth."
Great uh parable for us to learn from. And and what I want to share with you today from this parable is seven principles. Seven principles from this parable about investing your life and how we can invest the life that we've been given. So you ready?
Principle one. Principle one is everything we have belongs to God. Every single thing you have belongs to God. See, God made everything. We own nothing. We then must manage the resources that we have been given. It's kind of like the difference between buying a car and renting a car. If you go on a car lot and you decide to buy a car, you're going to sign some paperwork and you're going to drive that car off the lot and that car is now yours. So, anything that happens to that car, it's now on you because you have bought the car. You've purchased the car. It belongs to you. If you rent a car, you'll also sign some paperwork and you'll drive that car off, but the car does not belong to you. It belongs to someone else. And so, you have to bring that car back and you need to bring that car back in the same condition that you took it. There's a difference between buying and renting. So in verse 14 of this passage, it says, "For it's just like a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions, his possessions to them." So whose property was it? Was it the servants, the slaves, or was it the masters? It was the masters. It belonged to the master. God had entrusted it to them. God has entrusted some things to us, but God owns everything. See, it's a it's having a stewardship mindset that everything we have are things that we are called to steward. We don't own, but we steward. So, Pastor Jeff talks to us as a church staff talks to us all the time about the fact that um all the ministries that we have in this church, we don't own the ministries. And so, people will uh give their very best and pour their blood, sweat, and tears into a ministry, but they don't belong to any of us. This church doesn't belong to us. It belongs to God. We are just called to steward the many things that God has blessed us with. So everything we have belongs to God.
Second principle is that God has given you some talents. God has given each one of us some talents. In uh verse 15 of Matthew 25 says to one he gave five talents to another two and to another one each according to his own ability and then he went on his journey. So it says a talent. Now a talent would be a a gift and specifically this would be an amount of money that is given as a gift and one talent would be equal to about 20 years of pay 20 years of wages for one talent. So it's worth a lot. And the owner, which we know is God, says, "I want you to take what I've given you, and I want you to invest it." And so, five talents to one guy, two talents to another guy, and then one talent to the last guy. Now, I want you to understand that every single one of us, we all have forms of talent. We have uh money. We have uh a job. Uh each person has abilities and skills, unique abilities and skills. Um spiritual gifts. That's a good one. So when you receive Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you receive spiritual gifts. What an amazing thing. God has given you spiritual gifts. And there's usually about three spiritual gifts that every Christian has that stands out above any other. God has given you spiritual gifts. But what good is a gift if you don't open it and use it? So God has blessed us with so many things. Even our children for parents, our children are a gift from God. Now sometimes they don't seem like that. But they are they're a gift from God. And you have to hear this, parents. You don't own your children. You steward your children. You take care of them. You provide for them. But they belong to God. They are God's. It's only our job to steward their lives. But anything that God has given you is a blessing. It's a talent, a gift from him. And the amounts differ per person. But everyone has something. Every single person in this room has something, some sort of talent. There is a lot of uniqueness in this room. Every single person is unique. All the billions of people on earth, eight billion people on the earth, every single person is unique. That's what what a beautiful creator that we have in our heavenly father. We have different temperaments represented in this room. So some people are more sanguin. Their temperament is sanguin. So a sanguin person is an extrovert uh people person uh full of joy life of the party. Someone that you want to be around just a real joyful positive person. We have some sanguins in the room. Some are callerics. Callerics are also extroverts, but they're very task-oriented and they are our natural leaders. Callerics are ones that have vision and they have drive and ambition and people just automatically follow them because they're just natural leaders. Those are our calerics. We have some flegmatics. Fllegmatics are they're more introverted, but they're also people-oriented and they're good at going with the flow. They can adapt to different situations, different types of people. Uh they're just real adaptable and good in all kinds of different situations. So we have some flegmatics. We have some melancholy people. Melancholies are more introverted, task-oriented, very uh empathetic. They feel things very deeply. These are the kinds of people that you want in your corner when you're going through something difficult. We have melancholies in this room. We all have all kinds of different temperaments, different kinds of people and we have different kinds of skill sets represented in this room. Some people are really good with music. Some people are really good with uh lead just natural leadership uh administration. Some people are really good at building things with their hands. Uh some people are very artistic, creative. We have all kinds of skills represented in this room. Those are talents that have been given by God. Specific talents given by God. And we have different experiences represented in this room. Good experiences and bad experiences that have given us wisdom about life. And all the different experiences that you have had have grown you and given you wisdom. and you're able to have that experience that one time seemed real painful, but now it's a talent that can be used for God's glory. So God has given every single person some talents. That's the second principle.
The third principle, you have these talents, but now God expects you to use your talents. Now there's the responsibility. God expects you to use the talents that you've been given. In verse uh 19 said, "Now after a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them." So basically, he made an investment in your life and now he wants a return. He wants a return on his investment that he's made in your life. And so it's very important once you've begun a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then you have to ask the question, what is the purpose for my life now? What am I supposed to do? What am I called to do? And every single person has a calling on their life, a calling to be used specifically by God in a specific way. And so, you've got to discover what your calling is, what your purpose is. is when I think back in my own life and I think about the journey that I took kind of a kind of a wild ride journey to get to where I'm at now um in Texarkana, Texas in the position that I'm in. It's been kind of a wild wild ride of the experiences that I've had. But God had a calling on my life a long time ago to bring me to this place. When I was in college, when I was about 19 years old, is when I really heard God clearly calling me into the ministry. Now, I didn't wasn't always obedient and follow that calling right away, but it was then that God called me clearly to ministry. And that's why I believe our our college group, our college ministry, our young adult group are so important, such an important ministry because that is an age where you really begin or you really need to hear from God in what God wants you to do with your life. Such a crucial stage of life. See, the Bible says that one day God will do an audit of your life. He'll do an audit of your life. Are you ready for that? God is going to ask you the question, "What did you do with what I gave you? What did you do with all that talent that I gave you?" Romans 12:6 says, "Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly. We are to exercise our gifts. We are to exercise our talents. We are to use our talents." Um there's a there's a saying that we say in uh in sports. In sports, we say he left it all on the field. Or if you're it's basketball or something like that, he left it all on the court. And I think that's the same phrase that we should say about our Christian life, that we left it all out there. Like a long-distance runner, when a long-distance runner finishes a race, they want to feel like they are on empty, like they have emptied the tank. They have used every ounce of energy, all that training, and they have used it all up. I have a a niece who's a long-distance runner, and when she finishes a race, she'll tell us what her time was on that race. And I'll always ask her the same question. I always say, "Were you on empty? Were you on empty at the end of the race?" Because if you were on empty, that means you did a great job because you managed your resources exactly as you should and you left it all out there. God expects us to live our Christian life in the same way that we use all of the talents, all of the abilities, all the skills that we've been given that we use those all up during the day. That we are exhausted at the end of the day because we have used it all up. We have poured ourselves onto other people. God expects you to use your talents.
Fourth principle, God expects you to use your talents and it is wrong to bury what God gave you. It is wrong to bury the talents that God gave you. In this parable, the first man doubled his money, 100% return. He was a wise investor of the talents that he was given. He invested it and he doubled his return. Second guy did the same. He doubled his. But what the third guy do with the one talent that he was given? In verse 18, it says, "But he who received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. He buried it. He does nothing. He's too conservative." And so he just sat on it. He just sat on that one talent. He he played it safe. And what was his master's reaction to what he had done and just bearing that one talent? In verses 26 and 27 says, "But his master answered and said to him, you wicked lazy slave. You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. So why do we play it safe? Why are we so cautious instead of using the talents that God has given us? I think a lot of it is because of fear. It's because of our own fear. It's Satan's favorite tactic. Satan's favorite
The tactic in coming against us is to make us afraid. And there's three kinds of fear that we have. It's self-doubt, self-pity, and self-consciousness.
There is there is self-doubt and say, "Ah, I can never do that. I can never be used by God." Or because of the things I've done in the past, I've disqualified myself. And so, there's no way that I could do that. We have all kinds of self-doubt. You know, what if I fail? What if I step out there in faith and I fail? So, I better not. I better just shrink back and not do anything because I would hate to fail. And I just I just can't do it.
I remember when I was in seventh grade, and it's crazy that I remember this, but I was in seventh grade in a history class, and I even remember my teacher's name. His name was Mr. Sario. And I was sorry for taking Mr. Sario's class. It was a history class. He was probably a good teacher. I didn't like one of his tactics though. He would uh we'd read a chapter of our history book and then in class we'd have discussion and he would a ask a question and any of the students had to raise their hand and then he would call on you and then you would answer that question. For a shy, introverted seventh grade kid, that was a nightmare. Nightmare. Especially when I when I had trouble uh even knowing the answers. But even when I thought I knew the answer, I wouldn't raise my hand. No way was I going to raise my hand in class and give an answer that was a good chance of not being right. Well, I suffered. My grade suffered because a big part of that class was raising our hand to answer the question. But I had so much self-doubt that I literally took a really low grade just because I had so much self-doubt in my own ability and my own just uh just uh courage to raise my hand and give an answer.
But just think about the Christian life. Think about how much we've had self-doubt. All the negative things that we've spoken to ourselves and then not done what God has called us to do. And so there's self-doubt.
There's also self-pity. Self-pity. This is the worst characteristic in any kind of relationship. It's the worst for a relationship. You know, I I failed so many times in the past. Um, you know, I just I just I don't know. I'm I'm a failure. I'm a loser. I can't do it. There's no there's no way that I am the right one. And then constantly living in regret, self-pity.
And then there's self-consciousness. Self-consciousness is when we say, "Well, what will other people think? What will other people think of me?" You know, who does that guy think he is? Does that guy think he's better than us or something? And if I step out and I start using my talents for God and I step out there a little bit, maybe they will label me. Maybe they'll label me one of those, you know, one of those Jesus freaks, you know, one of those kinds of people. What will be said about me? The Bible says this. The Bible says, "The fear of man is a snare." The fear of man. There's a book by uh one of my favorite authors, Ed Welch, and the title of the book is when people are big and God is small. We get so afraid of what other people think.
Fear keeps you from developing your talents. Here's the sixth principle. Sixth principle, if you don't use it, you lose it. If you don't use the talents that God has blessed you with, you will you'll lose it. And this is this is a great principle. This is a principle that's true of anything in life. Your time, your money, your talent, your ability.
I was talking to someone the other day who's a fantastic worship leader, a fantastic worship leader, great voice, great great musician, great talent, but he hasn't been using that gift. And he said, "You know what? I'll be honest with you now, I'm hesitant to do it. I can't even do it right now because I'm afraid." Because he's been not using that talent. And so now he's got so much fear he doesn't even doesn't even use that talent. If you don't use it, you lose it. It's just like muscles turn to fat if you don't use them. Sorry, that's a bad analogy, but it's true. Atrophy sets in. We've got to use what God has given us.
Verse 28 says, "Therefore, take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has 10 talents." That doesn't seem fair. Doesn't that seem a little harsh? It doesn't seem fair. The rich get richer. The talented get more talented. But it is fair because it comes from God. And God has that right. And if I waste his gift, I will lose the opportunity. And it doesn't matter if you have one gift or if you have five gifts because someone may say, "I don't have much. I only have a little bit. That's okay. Give us that little bit. Doesn't matter if you have one gift or five gifts. One talent or five talent. Use what God has given you. And if you don't use it, you'll lose it.
And here's the final principle. This is a great principle. If you use your talents, you will be rewarded. You use your talents, you'll be rewarded. Verse 23 says, "His master said to him, well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, and I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master." See, this is the test. This is why you are here on earth. And if you use your talents for God's glory, there's some great rewards. some great rewards that are waiting for us as we use those talents.
There's affirmation, great affirmation. God says, "Well done." Don't take that lightly. God, the creator of the universe, our heavenly father, saying to us, "Well done. Good job. Good job, my son. Good job, my daughter. Well done. You used what I gave you. There's affirmation from God himself.
There's promotion. There's promotions. God says, I'm going to give you even greater responsibility. I've blessed you with this and you've used it. I'm going to give you even greater responsibility. You've been faithful with a little and I will give you now much more. There's promotion.
And then there's celebration. There's celebration. God says, "Come, come and share your master's happiness. Come and be with the master and share in the happiness." And there's also great celebration. I think it's one of the best parts of the Christian life and being in the church is when you see people using their gifts for God. Using their great gifts for God. And I was just thinking about that even just this morning. I don't want to embarrass her, but talking to Rachel Crabtree was doing the drums this morning and I said, "That's so cool. Last time I preached, I think you played drums last time." And she has a gift. She has a gift. And she was using that this morning for God's glory. And there's nothing better than seeing someone that has a gift and they use it for God's glory. They have a talent and they use it.
So, let me ask you, what will it be like when God does an audit of your life? Will it be a profit or a loss? Will you hear the words well done or will you hear the words lazy servant? Two different kinds of people that I'm talking to this morning. I'm talking to some right now who you have been investing your life and I just want to encourage you. You're making a difference. You're making an impact on those around you. You're influencing those around you and God sees what you're doing. And keep doing what you're doing. You are investing your life in others and there is great reward taking place. And so keep doing what you're doing.
But there's some of you that you got to start. You've got to start investing your life. Don't waste any more time and start investing your life. And maybe this morning as I'm speaking, as I'm talking about this and from this parable of Jesus and you're hearing this and there's some conviction taking place, conviction is not a bad thing. It's painful, but it comes from the Holy Spirit. He pricks your heart and he says, "I want you to start doing this or I want you to start doing more." He pricks your heart and that conviction leads to repentance and repentance leads to change and that change is needed and it's convicting. But God is speaking to you today. He's speaking to you personally as his son, as his daughter. And so this message is not for those sinners over there or that group of people. That's a lot easier. But this is to you. God is speaking to you. Start investing your life.
And you say, "How do I do that? How do I start investing my life?" Let me give you some some guidance. First of all, invest in your own spiritual growth. Nothing more important than your own spiritual growth. So invest in your own spiritual growth. more than just coming on Sunday morning at 10:30. Every single day, spend time with God. Pray to him. Read his word. Dive into his word. Have deep conversation with him. Spend intimate time with him. Make that a priority in your life. It's great that you come in sun that you come on Sunday morning, but do more than that. Spend time with him all the other days of the week. Another thing you could do is find a small group. Find a small group that you can connect with other people and that you can be open in that group and you can be open about your struggles and your challenges. And so be a part of a Sunday school class. We have great Sunday school classes, great Sunday school teachers in this church. Find a Sunday school class that you can connect with and you can grow in your knowledge and your wisdom and your your your spiritual growth with the Lord. We have connection classes offered periodically throughout the year. Find connection classes that you can be a part of that you can invest in your own spiritual growth. So invest in your own spiritual growth.
And then second, start developing your gifts. You have gifts. And I think it's a shame to go through life as a Christian and not know what your gifts are. Discover what your gifts are. What are your spiritual gifts? Uh there's assessments that you can take online to discover your spiritual gifts. get online and type in spiritual gifts test or spiritual gifts assessment and then take the test and discover what your spiritual gifts are. Uh there's other tools that you can use to discover your personality, how God wired you, uh what type of person you are. There's the StrengthFinder test. There is uh the DISC profile. There's the MyersBriggs. There's all kinds of great tools that you can use to discover who you are, who God created you to be. Do a geneogram. A gene is where you look at your family of origin, and you think and you uh look at the different struggles and successes of your family, the issues that your family has had, the the issues that um that now affect you in your life. You have one life and you have so many talents.
And then third, most importantly is I would love for every single person here who is a born again believer in Jesus Christ who have receive who has received Jesus Christ as savior. Start seeing yourself as a minister. You are a minister. There's vocational pastors but every single believer in Jesus Christ is a minister. And God has wired you, like I've said, with all these talents and abilities and skills and personality to make you the minister that you are. And you have a ministry right away to your family. You have a ministry in your neighborhood. You have a ministry in your workplace. You have a ministry at the grocery store. You have a ministry that God wants you to fulfill. So start seeing yourself as a minister. You have one life.
I want to close with this famous quote. this famous quote. It says, "Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last." Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for each person that's here today and I thank you for your words and this parable that Jesus taught of the talents. And God, we want to invest the talents that we've been given. We want to invest uh with the life that you've given us. We want to live 100% sold out for you. We don't want to bury the talents we've been given. We don't want to be uh spectators. We want to be participants in this Christian life. And so God, words that have spoken today, I pray would stir our hearts, would would stir our our soul, our spirit, that we would know what it is that you want us to do and how you want us to do it. Make us bold. Make us courageous. I pray against fear. I pray against apathy. I pray against any uh spirit that has become stagnant. God, give us a passion for you that we would see ourselves in this way called specifically by you. Thank you for your generosity. Thank you for your blessings in our life and the way that you give to us. God, help us to see our lives in that way. You're good. You're faithful. And we trust you in all things. We pray in the name of your son Jesus.
Would you would you stand to your feet? Maybe something that was said today from this parable impacted your life and there's a stirring going on in your heart right now and you know that you are bearing talents that you are called to be using. And before you leave this place today, don't don't leave before doing business with the father. So myself, other pastors will be up front. We would love to meet with you if you'd like to pray with us or just come up front and pray. Let's do business with the father. Let's start investing with the great talents that we've been given.
Oh, I heard a thousand stories in one day. Think you're light, but I've heard the tender whisper of love in the dead of night. And you tell me that you're pleased and that I'm never alone. You're a good, good father. It's who you are. It's who you are. It's who you are. And I'm loved by you. It's who I am. It's who I am. It's who I am. Oh, I've seen many searching for answers far and wide. But I know that we're all searching for answers. Only you provide motions. one we need before we say a word. You're a good good father. It's who you are. It's who you are. It's who you are. And I'm loved by you. It's who I am. It's who I am. It's who I am. You are perfect in all of your ways. You are perfect in all of your ways. You are perfect in all of your ways to us. You are perfect in all of your ways. You are perfect in all of your ways. You are perfect in all of your ways to us. Oh, this love so unexplainable. I can hardly speak so unexplainable. I can hardly think as you call me. Deeper still as you call me. Deeper still as you call me. Deeper still love. You're a good good father. It's who you are. It's who you are. It's who you are. And I'm loved by you. It's who I am. It's who I am. It's who I am. You're a good, good father. It's who you are. It's who you are. It's who you are. I'm loved by you. It's who I am. It's who I am. It's who I am. You are perfect in all of your ways. You are perfect in all of your ways. You are perfect in all of your ways. To us, you're good. You're a good good father. It's who you are. It's who you are. It's who you are. And I'm loved by you. It's who I am. It's who I am. It's who I am.
>> Can you give the Lord praise this morning? Listen, as we leave here this morning, we leave. If you're a believer in Christ, that is your identity. He's a good father. He loves me. That's who he is. It's who I am. And I want to go out in our community and live that way all this coming week. If you need to make a decision somehow for the Lord this morning, Chris is down front. Others of our pastors will be down front still to meet with you. Our connection room is open right around the corner to your right. We love you guys. Look forward to meeting with you. Remember TSK together Wednesday night. Things will be different, but we're excited about different because the Lord's going to do big things. We love you guys. Have a great week. God bless.