I'm gonna preach from this passage in Matthew 25, and it's been preached on by me and by others. Maybe come at it from a little bit of a different direction tonight, but it's still the same parable and it's still good. Let's stand again and we'll read in verse 14, Matthew 25, verse number 14. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to every man according to his several ability, and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them other five talents. Likewise, he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliverest unto me five talents. Behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord thou deliverest unto me two talents, behold I have gained two other talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good, or rather, well done good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed. And I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, here thou hast that is thine. His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reaped where I sowed not. and gather where I have not strawed. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. That's interest if you don't know. Take therefore the talent from him and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance, but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. and cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. You can be seated. Now last week, the University of Tennessee's basketball coach, who's really a devout Christian, or at least seems to be, I don't know him personally, but he was in the news for something he said. And I'm going to tell you what he said in just a minute. The Lord gave me this thought from it tonight. But college sports now is not amateurish. They actually pay college players on the elite level. But Coach Barnes, that's Tennessee's coach, he benched his star player, the leading scorer of the team. He put him on the bench, and then afterwards, they interviewed him, and they said, why did you put him on the bench? And he explained it this way. What he said to him, he said, well, he said this to the player. If you're not going to shoot when you're supposed to shoot, there was a design play. The play was for him to shoot, OK? He's the leading scorer on the team. And he said, if you're not going to do what you're being paid to do, then you can sit over there. And the reason that caught headlines is because never has a college coach said something like that, because until recently, college players weren't being paid. And it kind of got everybody raised their eyebrows and thought, wow, that's a new day for somebody to say something like that in the college level. But then I began to thinking about this parable. Lord, begin to speak to my heart. And I want to ask you tonight, what are you getting paid to do? Now, there's a kingdom. You are aware of that, aren't you? There is a kingdom, verse 14, the first part, for the kingdom of heaven. It's the kingdom of heaven. There's a kingdom. It's the kingdom of heaven. It's not the kingdom of a country. It's not the kingdom of a continent. It's not the kingdom of a planet. It's not the kingdom of a galaxy. It's the kingdom of the universe. And God Himself is King. And Jesus Christ will be King of kings and Lord of lords. And everything, all the resources, all the mineral rights, all of the possessions, all the things that are within the kingdom, which is everything in the whole world, all the precious stones, all the people, they're all His. Bible says in Psalm 24, verse 1, the earth is the Lord, the Lord's rather, and the fullness thereof. And it goes on to say in the people that dwell therein. And so it's all the Lord's. The Bible says in Isaiah 66, verse 1, that God said, Heaven is my throne. and the earth is my footstool. So, here we are in this story tonight, and the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man traveling into a far country, and he delivered unto his servants his goods. And so the idea, I've said it before, I'm saying it again tonight, that I want to convey to you tonight is that everything belongs to God. Everything belongs to God. And you have a part in this kingdom. In fact, everybody has a part in this kingdom to some degree. Christians especially have a part in this kingdom because we are the children of God. We have a part in this kingdom. We're His servants. It's His kingdom and our part is simply Revelation 4, verse 11, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for Thou hast created all things and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. God made you and I and everything else and sinners for that matter to bring honor, glory and pleasure to Him. It's His kingdom. and everything belongs to God. Everything that you have, you really have nothing that is yours exclusively. You were given it by God. God has endowed you with a certain amount of things in this life to bring glory and honor to Him. Even sinners, you need to understand this tonight, even sinners are created. Now surely, hopefully, God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, that they could bring Him a lot more glory where they'd be saved, but even sinners, created for the purpose of bringing pleasure and glory to God. The Bible says it, the Lord said to Pharaoh in Exodus 9, verse number 16, God said, In very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. And God simply says to Pharaoh, you think you are king because you inherited the throne, or you think you are king because you were able to usurp the throne, or you led a revolt to take the throne. I don't know the history of that Pharaoh, but But God said, I raised you up, I put you at this place for one reason, to bring glory to myself. And so the point is tonight that all of us, and in particular, the children of God who have an authorized position within this kingdom are to bring glory and honor to God. And God has endowed us with things, God has given us some things. God is, if you will, God is paying us. to do things for Him. I like what Paul, the first recorded words of Paul in the Bible, Romans 1, verse 1, that he wrote, Romans 1, verse 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. And so we're his servants tonight. In fact, we're stewards. Steward is a Bible word. Let me read you a little bit about stewards, Luke 12, verse 42. The Bible says, who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household to give them their portion of meat in due season. And so a steward is a servant that's in charge of things and we're stewards. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 4. Let me read you some more about stewardship. 1 Corinthians 4, verse 1. It says, let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. We're stewards. God has given us things of his to take care of and to bring him glory and pleasure with. Over in 1 Peter 4 9, the Bible says, use hospitality one to another without grudging as every man hath received the gift. even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. And so that is a verse, or actually a couple of verses that tells us even the things that we have that are our homes and our possessions and all the, even the things, you know this parable kind of deals with something that's similar to money, but this passage that we're reading tonight tells us that everything that we have belongs to God and it is for the purpose of bringing honor and glory to God. And just as The Tennessee coach drew up a play. He called a timeout, drew up a play, and said, OK, I want you to shoot. I want you to shoot the ball. This play is for you. And it was designed for him. God's designed plays for you. God has designed things in your life. And it might be to score points, it might be to make an assist, if we can borrow some other basketball terminology, or a rebound, or even a steal, and that's not, I know that's not steal, we're talking about basketball terminology here. The point I'm trying to get across to you is, you're getting paid to do something for God. You're getting paid to do something for God. Are you doing what you're paid to do? You see, the statistics will go into your account, but the points are God's, and the victory is the Lord's. And it really doesn't matter what we think or what we desire or what we plan with what we have. God has given you and I everything we have for the purpose of bringing honor and glory to Himself. The Bible says in verse number 14, I'm reading this to you again, For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. You see, the master left on a journey and he left his servants in charge of everything that he had. He's not there. He left them in charge. I noticed, and I had never thought about this before, that he did not micromanage. I don't know if you're familiar with that term micromanage. It's when somebody tells you every move to make, okay? But the Lord here, the Master here in the parable, He didn't say, now here's what you need to do. He just said, okay, this is yours. Here you got five talents. I need you to take care of this. Here you got two talents. Here you got one talent. And of course there's just three that are named in this parable here. But every man according to his several ability and he didn't say that you need to do this and you need to do that and here's how you ought to invest yours and here's how you ought to turn your and make a profit here. No, he just left it to them. Isn't that the way the Lord has done with us? He's given us things and he's left us in charge of his goods. He's gone. He's gone to a far country. But he's coming back. He's coming back. You can call it yours tonight. but it's not yours. Your property is not your property. You may have a deed, you may have a title, it may be in your possession, you may have the combination, but it's God's, it's God's. It's not yours, it's His. He delivered unto them his goods. The Bible says that the one that received one talent, he hid his Lord's money. And when he gave it back to his master, he said, thy talent is in the earth, lo, here thou hast, that is thine. It's his, it's his. What are you doing with it? What are you doing with what God, are you doing what you've been paid to do? Do you understand what I'm trying to say to you tonight? God has entrusted you. You are a steward of the grace of God and He has given you some things to bring honor and glory to Him. Everything you've got, your health, your time, your job, your vehicle, your voice, your hands, your feet, it's all God's. It's all God's. And He set up some place just for you to bring honor and glory to Him. Are you doing what you're paid to do? Now you're not doing any good unless he's getting profit. And so the question would certainly come to us tonight, are we profitable? Are we profitable? I noticed there in verse number 20 that one that had received five talents, he gained five talents more. His Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. Same with the one that had received the two talents. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. They were profitable. They were profitable. But the one that received the one, he gave the one talent back, but there was no profit. And if there's no profit, that makes him unprofitable. Is God getting profit from what He gave you? Is God getting profit? P-R-O-F-I-T, we're not talking about the profits, okay? The Old Testament profits. We're talking about profit, increase. Is God getting profit from what He gave you? Is He getting any profit from the things that you have in your possession that He gave you? You see, true profit is not what you're increasing for yourself, but what you're doing for Him and for His honor, for His glory. Businesses will advertise sometimes that they've been in business for X number of years, or since 19-whatever, or 2000-whatever. How long have you been in business for God? How long have you been in business for the Lord? Over there in Luke 16, there's another parable of a steward. And it starts off, Jesus said there was a certain rich man which had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou must be no longer steward. How long have you been in business? How long have you been a steward for God? How long have you been handling His goods? How much profit has he gotten through those years? These are good questions. Are you doing what you're paid to do? I'm gonna try to get this as close to home as I can tonight. In a business or an organization, an employee who's been around for 10 years or more should be profitable and hard to replace. Wouldn't you think? Somebody that's been on the job working, I mean, in 10 years, in 10 years, they ought to be able to run the place. In 10 years, they ought to be able to have a position of authority. In 10 years, they ought to be doing some good for the one that owns the business. How many years you been in business for the Lord? If you died today, Would there be a ministry that ceased to exist because you weren't there to do it? Well, there ought to be. If you were to suddenly become unable to do anything for God because of your health or whatever, would there be a ministry, a business venture, if you will, that would come grinding to a halt because you weren't there to do it? Or would what you do for the kingdom be done by any newcomer or any other employee? You understand what I'm trying to say? I'm trying to say if you've been saved any length of time, you ought to be turning in a big profit. And you ought to be irreplaceable. Anybody that's been saved and in the Lord's work for any number of years should be irreplaceable by somebody else that's just got saved. But it's sad that most people who have been saved for years and years are still not turning much of a prophet for God. How much does this church depend on your prayers? I remember, and I can't even remember her last name, but I was in a service. Pam is her first name. She was Brother Mutt Lockhart's niece. And I've told you this story before. But she gave a testimony that night. Brother Jesse has preached here a few times, and Brother Ernest, his dad, has preached here as well. And Brother Mutt Lockhart was Ernest's dad and Brother Jesse Lockhart's granddad, okay? And they said that people would go to church to hear the man pray. I can barely remember as a kid hearing him pray, and it was something to listen to him pray. But I remember after he passed away, his niece, whose first name was Pam, and I don't remember her last name, she testified in the service that I was in, and she said, I've been trying to pray for everybody that Uncle Mutt used to pray for because I fear nobody else is praying for them. Could that be said of us? Could it be said of us that we are praying prayers that Listen, I'm not saying that people need to know that we're dependent upon your prayers, but I wonder if you stop praying, would this church just keep going on and not even miss your prayers? Well, am I making sense? I'm having a hard time. Either y'all are having a hard time understanding me or I'm having a hard time explaining it. It ought to be with God's people if we were not, that we ought to be so engaged and so involved and so productive in the Lord's kingdom that if we failed to do what we've been doing that somebody would notice. Somebody would be hurting. You've been given something to do something with. Could it be said that most Christians have never even tried to figure out what they're supposed to be doing, what they got? Could it be possible that churches have people in the church that have been saved for 10, 15, or 20 years that still don't know what they're supposed to be doing? Well, I can tell you what you're supposed to be doing. Whatever he's given you, you're supposed to be doing something with it and turning a profit for him. And that includes your time. That includes your money. If you've got a business, that includes your business. If you've got a house, that includes your house. If you've got children, that includes your children. If you've got whatever you've got. If you've got a tractor, that includes your tractor. Whatever you've got. It's His! And it's supposed to be bringing Him a profit, not you. Somehow or another, God's people have got this idea that God just gives us stuff for our pleasure. Where's that at? Now, I know that the Bible says that God giveth, let the rich man rejoice. I'm in 1 Timothy chapter six, trying to quote it to you in a roundabout way. But he said that God giveth us all things richly to enjoy. Thank God for the things we can enjoy, amen. And God wants us to enjoy the things he gives us. But ultimately, we're supposed to be bringing him a profit. We're supposed to be like the person that enjoys his job. while he's making a profit for his master. And so you've been given something to do something with. And the Bible tells us in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 36, we'll give an account for every idle word we speak. You've been given a voice. How do you use your voice? Do you use it for his honor, for his glory? Does it bring him pleasure? And if we'll give an account for every idle word, surely we'll give an account for our idle time. What are you getting paid to do? What kind of play did God design for you today? You know, we reach a place in the Christian world that when we go to church, we feel like we're doing God a service just going to church. And if we read our Bible, we feel like we're doing God a service. No, we're not doing God a service by being faithful. We're supposed to be bringing honor and glory. We're supposed to be bringing Him pleasure. And so you've been given something to do something with, and we need to figure it out and get busy doing what we're supposed to be doing. I'm saying tonight what you're getting paid to do. The Bible says again, the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country. And he delivered unto them his goods. And then the Bible says in verse 19, after a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh. Well, it's been a long time, hasn't it? Well, he's coming. He's coming. He's coming. And he's not going to be interested by how much money you got in the bank. He's not going to be interested with how many vehicles we got or how big our house is. He's not going to be interested in the things that seem to be interesting to us. He's going to be looking for profit for himself. Now I've preached this this same thought from different directions I Learned years and years ago, and you've heard me say it before I remember when I first kind of started trying to spread fertilize and Found out the benefits of fertilize on hay ground and pasture. I mean this has been a long long time ago and That you didn't hold back you go ahead and and it's money in the bank to spread the fertilize Almost always. And when I first started spreading fertilizer, I would try to hit every little piece of ground. I mean, I made sure that I covered every piece of ground. You know what I found out? I found out that there was some pieces of ground that wasn't worth the fertilize. That I was better off to put double fertilize on a good piece of ground and no fertilize on a bad piece of ground. And that's what happened here in this parable that we read. That man that had the one talent, in the end, God says, give it to him that's got ten. He'll do something with it. You know, we get this idea in our country, we take from the rich to give to the poor. Isn't that what we do? Well, God doesn't operate that way. God takes from the poor that won't do anything with what he's got and gives it to the rich that will. That's the way God operates. He's coming back, church. And we're going to give an account for what we've done with what He's given us to do. I thought as I was reading, He said, I was afraid, and I went and hid thy talent in the earth. Now, it's hard to say exactly. He makes it sound like He was afraid of His Lord. But I sort of see it as He was afraid of losing. He was afraid that his investments might go bad. And so instead of making an investment, trying to make a profit, he was afraid and he figured he was safe just to give the thing he had back to the Lord in the end. And God called him a slothful and a wicked servant and an unprofitable servant. You ever been afraid to witness to somebody? Afraid you'll mess it up? Afraid you'll say the wrong thing? Lord ever laid it on your heart to pray for somebody in their presence and you think, I'll just pray for them silently. I'm afraid I'll mess it up. Well, that's kind of this guy here. God gave you a voice. God gave you so many, he gave you his spirit, he gave us, we have so much that we have, I mean, obviously, I've already said, we've got everything that we have has been given to us by God, but we've got things that saints used to didn't have. We got Bibles. I mean, we got Bibles and Bibles and Bibles. We've got more time than people have ever had. I know it's still 24 hours a day, but we've got, it doesn't take, people are working for more than a living today. We're not just existing, folks. We've got things our forefathers never dreamed of having. And somewhere along the way, I'm afraid that there's no prophet for God. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. I'll close by reading you this over in 1 John 2, verse number 28. And now little children abide in Him that when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. Have you ever, you remember when you were a kid and you were trying to do something special, maybe for mom or dad, and you were so excited because you had something to show them for what you'd been doing and how you'd worked and you'd got it together, however it might have been. That's the way we're supposed to be when the Lord comes back. We're supposed to be excited that he can see what we've done with what he gave us. Another thing I've read to you before, this is the letter from Robert E. Lee to his son. I think his name was Custis. No, George Washington Custis Lee. In regard to duty, let me, in conclusion of this hasty letter, inform you that nearly a hundred years ago there was a day of remarkable gloom and darkness, still known as the Dark Day, a day when the light of the sun was slowly extinguished as if by an eclipse. Now that would have been, he said about a hundred years ago, that would have been in the mid-1700s probably. The legislature of Connecticut was in session, and as its members saw the unexpected and unaccountable darkness coming on, they shared in general awe and terror. It was supposed by many that the last day, the day of judgment, had come. Someone in the consternation of the hour moved an adjournment. Then there arose an old Puritan legislator. Davenport was his name of Stamford. And he said that if the last day had come, he desired to be found at his place doing his duty. and therefore moved that candles be brought in, so that the house could proceed with its duty. There was a quietness in that man's mind, the quietness of heavenly wisdom and inflexible willingness to obey present duty. Duty, then, is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things like the old Puritan. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less. Never let your mother or me wear one gray hair for any lack of duty on your part." Robert E. Lee to his son. Well, I tell you, Church, one of these days, he's going to come back and he's going to find the church No, I can tell these stories, and we're not like this, and I'm thankful that we're not. But supposedly, and this is told to be fact, I forget, I just thought of the name of the church. I wasn't going to tell you the name of the church, and I'm still not going to. There was a church in Nashville where at the closing prayer, the pastor would disappear. He would disappear. He would call on somebody for the closing prayer, and then after the prayer would be over, they'd look and he would be gone. Well, they found out that he had season tickets to the Titans and he would be the first one out the door and in his car driving over to the stadium to watch the ball game. Now, I wonder what the Lord thought about that. I'm starting to wonder what y'all think about that. Let's don't be ashamed that He's coming, amen. He could come this year. He could come this year. And you know what? Things that we might be working for and working towards for ourselves are going to go up in smoke. Let's do something for him, amen. Let's bring honor and glory and pleasure to him. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Lord, I thank you, God, for your word. And Lord, I pray that we've all been challenged tonight, God, to do more for you. Lord, not only have you given individuals talents, God, you've given churches talents. God, you've given this church, God, certain things. God, you put some things in our lap to do things with, and I pray, God, we'll be faithful. Lord, I pray, God, we'd not be slack. LORD, I THINK OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, GOD, WHERE JOSHUA SAID TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, HOW LONG ARE YOU SLACK TO GO INTO POSSESS THE LAND WHICH THE LORD THY GOD HATH GIVEN YOU? GOD, THERE WAS THE LAND, IT WAS CANE AND LAND, IT WAS LAND THAT FLOWED WITH MILK AND HONEY, AND YET THEY WERE SLACK TO POSSESS IT. GOD, HELP US NOT TO BE SLACK TO USE THE THINGS YOU'VE GIVEN US. GOD, HELP US TO BE BUSY. AND GOD, HELP US TO WORK. Be slothful, and Lord, not be fearful, but God, we'd be every day trying to do the best we can, God, to bring honor and glory to you with all the things you've given us. And may you receive glory and honor from our lives, from our homes, from our family, from our church, from our services, and from all the things we have, God, that you've given us. May you receive glory and honor, for you are certainly worthy, and I praise you tonight. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen.