The Parable of the Talents

Doing the job that God has set before us

Matthew 25:14-31

God has given all of us gifts and talents, in order that we may advance his kingdom.

Three primary things to learn from this passage

• Be faithful with what you have, big or small

• Don't compare yourself with other people and their talents

• Do not respond in fear to what God has given you

1. Don't compare yourself with other people and their talents

Often times we like to compare ourselves with other people. Often times many people have a strong desire to be noticed by the work they do and have recognition. But there are always some people that will just get more lime light than others. We have to understand that God created all of us in a unique way. We need to be willing to recognized that and surrender our dreams before the Lord. Envy and jealousy can be a thing that can seep into our hearts and create strongholds in our lives. We must not let this happen. If we allow envy to become a part of our life we will be greatly hindered in being faithful to the call that God has given us.

For instance you might see someone who is a better musician than you, better communicator, or more popular. Although people might marvel at traits like this that's not what God sees. God sees the heart of the person and whether or not they are having a servants heart.

2. Be faithful with what you have big or small

Usually, despite our talents, God might have us get started on something that we might not exactly enjoy for a season. But God calls us to be faithful in the little things and as long as we persevere God will promote us and gives responsibility in bigger things. If we follow the example of the servant with the five and the servant with the two talents God will promote us into doing greater things.

A real life example might be your job situation that you don't like, or a position in the church that you don't really care for. God can work through these situations to bring about greater fruit and character in your life.

1. Do not respond in fear to what God has given you

The reason why the servant with one talent acted so foolishly was out of fear and laziness. He cried to his master saying “ Master, I know you. You're a difficult man, reaping where you haven't sown and gathering where you haven't scattered seed. So I was afraid and hid your talent in the ground.” We are to respond with joy to what God has entrusted us. There should be no hesitation or slacking. We should learn to live a ordered lifestyle. That will help us to face up the challenges that God gives us. But if we refuse he will find someone else who to bring about his will.

As we observe the church today: we observe that usually the people that have the most fruit in their lives are the ones that are active in their local church. They take joy in serving God through serving other people. This is how we should be. The often refers to us as bond slaves. We are bondslaves because we have made that commitment the day we realized that God offered the gift of salvation to us and we gladly received it. When received that gift we also committed our lives to serving him out of love and gratitude for what he has done for us. But if we respond to God in the way that the servant with one talent responded. We're forgetting about our salvation and are not acting out of love towards God. Instead we shy away from him. I know a lot of people who are like this: they have great potential but they aren't willing to move on anything the Lord has given them to use and thus they produce no fruit. It's time that we realized the full potential that we have in serving Christ and what a pleasure it is to serve him. Our master went completely out of his way to save us. Can't we go a little bit out of our comfort zone to serve him? Look at all the people in the bible who started out with almost nothing but were raised into high places of influence (talk a little about David (shephered boy to king), Esther , Gideon (risen up from a nobody to a general, and Joshua)

I post at www.theviolentaustin.wordpress.com

Don't ask why I came up with such a bizzare name

Wow!!! I'm getting blown away down here... I can't get over how easy it is to get involved in this church. Classes haven't started yet and I've only been to church once... But I've already participated in church work today, by helping to pack 2,500 bags of literature + gospel tracks which will be sent to 2,500 homes this up coming weekend. There is also this campus ministry program called Rush which I probably will become apart of come Friday. They are constantly doing street evanglism on not only college campuses but also in the down town centers of the city. I've also met some really incredible people at this church that have such a depth that I've never seen before... I'm just like wow. There's a thing here on Wednesday nights called the "Vision Service." I was for the second time blown away. This time it was by the strong presence of God that came over me during the worship. All I can say is, I am truly blessed and happy to be down here and Jesus Christ is a really amazing dude.

I am now inside the border of North Carolina. No more North Country for me for like several months... It's kind of funny... I don't mind it-

God desires that we become intimate with Him. God desires that we become intimate with Him. God DESIRES that we become intimate with Him... Yet sometimes it seems like it's hard to get ourselves into that place of intamacy with him. It's almost like we have some sort of syndrome that gives us the lazies each time we get the thought of taking time to pray, or read bible. Why does this happen to us? It almost seems like we are holding on to something when we put stuff like that off. It's almost like we are not walking in the spirit at that particular moment. I believe that God really wants us to be filled affresh by the Holy Spirit, and in order for that to happen we have to be willing to let him come and take over ourlives-  We got to be willing to say- I can listen to that CD later- I can go on facebook later-

Yes that is indeed what we have to be willing to say- of course we usually find ourselves saying : I'll pray-read my bible- later.  God provides the water - and yet sometimes we just don't take it... are we like one dry field or what?

 

The last two days I've been working 13 hours a day + getting about 5 hours of sleep- it's amazing how tiring it gets to you in a matter of about 2 days.

Well I feel very pleased about the class dinner. I worried about it so much only to find that I overworried. Phebes turned out to be a good choice. Alas CFA is about to become history for me... I didn't realize how emotional this time was going to be for me... Here are some "emotions" I'm feeling :

Vision was pretty awesome. Total foolishness for Jesus..........AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!