And as great as that song is, it does not even do our God justice. And how blessed we are to know Him. How blessed we are that He has revealed Himself to us. And that has to do something to us. It has to do something to us. It has to take control of our lives. Our great God is. So thankful to be with you. So thankful to get to know many of you. And we also thank you for the cards that have been sent to us. And we rejoice that you have been praying for us. We need you to pray for us. And we're so thankful that you have. We pray that the Lord will bless His word to your lives. You know, I don't know what you need, but I have a God that knows exactly what each and every one of us need. So we trust Him this morning. We trust the power of His Holy Spirit. If you will, turn with me to Matthew chapter 25. We do appreciate the messages that have already been preached and we rejoice in the truth that we have been able to think about and consider and to see in God's Word. Last night, we're going to have a little bit of a paradox today. Last night we heard about Christ redeeming us, Christ purchasing us. So we're going to take another step with that. Why? Why did Christ purchase us? Why did He redeem us? What did He free you to do? And what did He free you to be? It's very important for us to understand this truth. So I've been tasked with the responsibility of proving from the Scriptures that Jesus Christ is our Master and we are His servants. And to be honest with you, that will not be hard to prove. realize every time that we read of or that we speak of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is a declaration of that reality. Every time. Every time we see that in Scripture. The language of servant and master is literally all through God's Word. It's everywhere. It's everywhere. As a matter of fact, believers are called Doulos, that's the Greek word. It kind of loses its power, its punch in the translation. But believers are called doulos, literally slaves. They are called slaves and they give themselves that title more often, actually twice as much as all other titles combined in God's Word. They ascribe to themselves and are given the title of doulos. The New Testament writers, almost all of them want you to know, want us to know, want their readers to know right up front But they are the slaves of Jesus Christ. You look at the New Testament writers and look at the introductions and you'll see this. In our English Bibles it would be servants, but the word behind that is doulos and we'll talk a little bit about that. And that means to be a slave of Jesus Christ. So with that in mind we come to Matthew 25. and verse 14. Matthew 25 and verse 14. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants, there it is, doulos, slaves, 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, his own ability, and straightway took his journey. The master took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them other five talents. And 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 master'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, slave. 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, look, I have gained two other talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, 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 a hard man, reaping where Thou hast not sown and gathering where Thou hast not scrawled or has not scattered seed. And I was afraid and went and hid Thy talent in the earth. Lo, Thou hast, that is Thine. His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, Thou knewest that I reap where I sow not and gather where I have not straw. Thou aughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. 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. So to give us a little bit of context here so that we can actually get to the God-intended meaning of this text, this text is part of the Olivet Discourse. We might say in our day, the Olivet Sermon that Jesus spoke to His disciples just before His death. This text specifically is part of a series of illustrations that Jesus finished His sermon with to emphasize and enforce the truths that He had just taught them. And basically, the truth that He had just taught them beginning back in chapter 24 is basically this. I'm going to really condense it for us. It's this. Jesus is teaching, I am King. I am king, I am the king of the kingdom of heaven and I will most certainly consummate my kingdom. I will most certainly reign upon this earth." And he told them and us through them that the signs there in chapter 24, he tells us that the signs of this coming consummation are literally everywhere. He even told us when this consummation will happen. when He will come and reign upon this earth. And He tells us that it is at the end of this present age. But because He knows us so well, in case we might think, well, we'll just wait it out. We'll just wait and see how all of that pans out. And then get serious about Him being King and us being His servants. He shows us in these illustrations that He is King now. Do you hear me? Jesus Christ is King now. He is King now and there are present responsibilities now for His servants. In other words, listen, Jesus is not just going to be King when He comes, when He returns. To His true servants, He is King. He is Lord today. He is Lord now. So basically, in the previous three illustrations leading up to our text here, our king says, literally, he commands his true servants, his true slaves, he commands them to be ready, to be reliable, and to be rejoicing. After all, isn't it a joy? to be translated by the free and sovereign grace of God into the Kingdom of the Son of God. Is that not a joy? Shouldn't that be a joyous thing for us to learn that this great gift of God's mercy has been bestowed upon us freely? You understand, don't you, what we all deserve? You understand what we've all earned? But He would choose to translate us into His own Kingdom. and reign over us in mercy and grace and goodness. So now, be ready, be reliable, be rejoicing. And now in this illustration that we have before us, that we know as the parable of the talents, I'll go ahead and just sum it up for us, okay? Be ready, be reliable, be rejoicing and, here it is, be living, deliberately and intentionally be living in the reality of His existing and coming Kingdom. That's the big idea of this parable. Be living in the reality of His existing and coming Kingdom. Okay, so how do we do this? How do we live in the reality of the existing reign of God? The existing reign of Jesus Christ and that coming reign? God is king now. He has a kingdom now, but it's not all that it's going to be. There's much more yet to be seen. So how do we do this? How do we live in the reality of His existing and coming kingdom? Well, number one, we must live in the reality of our relationship with our King. We must live in the reality of our relationship with our King. In verses 14 and 15, Jesus here illustrates that relationship, the relationship that you and I have with our King, our Master, and the relationship that He has with us. In verses 14 and 15, He illustrates that relationship by telling us about a Master and His slaves. So notice the personal pronouns in v. 14. It says that this Master calls His own doulos. He calls His own servants, but it's better to be understood in our mind, He calls His own slaves. Do you see that in verse 14? Also notice that He gives them His own goods. Or He gives them, both slaves, His own possessions. So let's understand what this means. This Master, He is the owner of these slaves. Do you hear that? This Master is the owner of these slaves. They are His own slaves. And this Master, He is the possessor of the possessions that He gives to His slaves. Understand, first century Jewish and Roman slavery was very different from the slavery that we hear about and know about as 21st century Americans. But still, still, a first century slave was the property of his master. Let me say that again. We've got to start there. This is the foundation of this relationship that we have. The first century slave, this slave in this text, he is the property of his master. This slave had nothing of his own. This slave, his life and his very existence were lived by the master, to the master, for the master. The master was all his life and all his living. That's what it was to be a faithful slave. And brothers and sisters, so it is with you and me. We should realize, I hope we do, first and foremost, first and foremost, at the very foundation of it all, we are all property of our Creator. We are all property of our Creator. And everything in our life is the property of our Creator. Everything in our life is the property of our Creator. And especially if you are a set-apart saint of God, the Scripture is clear. You are not your own. What do we think that verse means? It means exactly what we're looking at in this parable. When it says you are not your own, that you are bought with a price, you have been redeemed. You have been redeemed first and foremost, child of God. You have been redeemed as a slave. You have been redeemed with a great price. You have been redeemed with something infinitely more precious, more valuable than silver or gold. You have been redeemed with the blood of the Son of God. You have been redeemed by God the Father through the death of His own precious Son. Jesus died so that you might live, and that you might live first and foremost as a slave to God Himself, a slave to Christ Himself. And being that slave, we need to see it here in this illustration, the Master gives of His own possessions. He gives of his own possession. The master gives of what is his, these talents, to his slaves. Now this is not talents here in this parable. This is not talents like singing or playing an instrument or being able to stand before people. This parable here is not just about using your talents or using your gifts or your ability for the Lord. It's included in that. We'll see that in a minute. But that's not what this is. This talent here, when we hear the word talent, We think of, well, that's how we play the piano or do whatever you do, okay? But that's not what this is talking about. This talent is actually a weight of measure. It could be a talent of gold, a talent of silver, or a talent of another weight of measure. So really, what Jesus' point is, these slaves are the master's possessions, and these talents are the master's possessions. Okay? So this is about all that the slave is. This is about all that the slave has. This is about all that the slave does with what he has. It's everything. That's what these talents are. It's everything. This slave, he is completely his master's possession. It's everything. This slave, his whole life and existence, is the Master's possession. That has been given to him, watch this, that has been given to him, the slave, by the Master, notice verse 14, each according to his several, his own ability. Okay, so now is this saying that the master has given to these slaves as he is pleased according to his own ability to govern what he does with what is his? Or is this saying that the master knows his slaves and has given these talents, has given everything according to what he knows about his slaves? Yes. Yes. Yes, the master owns his slaves. Yes, the master knows his slaves. Yes, the master gives to his slave and uses his slaves as he sees fit for his own profit, for his own glory. Listen, it's the master's prerogative. It should be the servant, the slave's pleasure. So that is this reality of this relationship. Our relationship to our Master. There is a Master and there is a slave. And understand, hear what I'm about to say. Think this out. A Master without slaves is no Master. So if God is our Master, that means He has slaves. A slave without a Master is no slave. As a matter of fact, as you chew that up a little bit, right here in this text we see that there's a response to the reality of this relationship. Look at verse 16. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them other five talents. See the response? Look at verse 17. And likewise, he that had received two, he also gained the other two. What's the response? The language is actually immediate obedience. Immediate obedience to the will and the desire of the Master. The slave obeys his Master. The slave does exactly, immediately what the Master has commanded. We've got to get this. We've got to get this. This is our relationship. This is our relationship to, do you believe that God is your Master? We'd better get this. Immediate obedience. Notice there's not any squabbling. There's not any debate. There's no jealousy. There's no complaining because, you know, Joe or Sally, well, they were given more talents than me. They were given more than me. None of that. I wish I could have that. Any of us do that? Every one of us do that. I wish I could be that. I wish I could be that. I don't like what I have. You find none of that here. It's not here. These are faithful. These two that we've just read are faithful, grateful slaves. Faithful, grateful slaves. The reality of first century slaves, much of the time, a slave could have a much better life, a much more glorious life with a good master than he could ever have on his own. That ought to say something to us. Also notice, not only is there not any of this jealousy, but there's also no boasting here. There's no pride because I gained five, you know, I gained five and you only gained two. What's up with you? None of that here either. No, these slaves were their master's slaves. And they were ultimately obedient and accountable only to Him. You hear that? That's us. If your master is the Lord God Almighty, if your master is Jesus Christ, you are ultimately only accountable to Him. Now, He may have arranged your life with other accountabilities, but ultimately it's Him. And accountability to Him is going to be seen in those other responsibilities as well. We are accountable to Him. Ultimately, notice here in this text with these two slaves. These slaves, they only look to Him for commendation. Look, I know. I'm a preacher. I know. It's wonderful to have people pat you on the back, okay? And we can be driven by that. I'm just going to tell you. I struggle. Bible conference is a great place for that to happen. Be driven about You know, I'm going to come out, you know, number one preacher. That's in the mind. I mean, I'm a sinner and I know you other men are too. That stuff happens. But we should only be looking to our master for commendation. Notice, and here's something very important, notice these kind of slaves, they receive that commendation. They received it. Notice actually the very same commendation. In both verse 21 and 23, what is the commendation from the Master? Well done, good and faithful slave. And you notice it's the same commendation. But then notice also there is the response of the third slave. in verse 18. Look at that response. This is how he responded to the Master's command. That he that had received one talent went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. Now what kind of response is that? Well, let me put it like this. You may do that with your own money, but you don't do that with the money of your Master who has told you to use His money as operating capital for His business. You just don't do that with Him, with what He's given you. And this kind of slave, notice in verse 26, the Master says, you wicked and lazy slave. In verse 30, He says, you worthless slave, you unprofitable. That word means you worthless, you good-for-nothing slave. Okay, so let's be sure we get our King's message here. Be ready, be reliable, be rejoicing so we must live in the reality of His present and coming Kingdom. And we do this by living in the reality of our relationship with Him. He is our Master. We are His slaves. And our response to Him is not just words. Our response to Him is action. We must be doers of the Word and not hearers only. James says if you're only a hearer, if there's no action, you're deceiving yourself. You've been deluded. You've miscalculated. But our actions, slaves of God, slaves of Christ, our actions prove whether or not we are really actually living in this reality. Our actions. Saints, at the very foundation of the reality of our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, how many of you know Him as Lord? How many of you speak of Him as Lord, as Lord Jesus? You're acknowledging that you understand this. We are acknowledging when we say that, when we speak that, that we bow to this relationship with Him as our Master and we as His slaves. That's what Lord means. So at the very foundation of our relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord, King Jesus is our Master and we are His slaves. But is that really our mind? Is that really our life? Is that really borne out in our actions? Remember, no matter what we may say, We are not a true slave of Christ unless He really is our Master. Unless He really is our King. Which is revealed in the actions of our life. Which is revealed in the actions of obedience. Don't get me wrong. He is our King. He is our Master. But if we will be a faithful slave, that will be borne out in our obedience to Him. That will be borne out in actions of obedience. This is the message of our King here. You and me, we must understand this. This is at the very foundation of all of it. This is what His blood bought. It bought you. It bought me. to be His slaves. He purchased us out of the slave market of sin and made us His slaves. Okay, let's take another step here. To live in light of the reality of the present and coming reign of Jesus, we must live in the reality of our relationship with Him. And number two, we must live in light of the coming reckoning. We must be living our lives right now in light of the coming reckoning. Look at verse 19. It's interesting, having preached completely through this, it's only in these illustrations that the Lord begins to reveal that there's going to be a gap of time between the disciples that He preached this to and His other disciples. And here's one of those times. After a long time. That's important to understand. After a long time, the Lord of the master of those slaves, He comes. He's coming. And what's He going to do when He comes? And He's going to reckoneth with them. Or literally, He's going to settle accounts with His slaves. So yes, it's been a long time, hasn't it? It's been nearly 2,000 years. But I should say, it's been a long time to us. It's not been a long time to God. I mean, if a day is to the Lord as a thousand years, that's what Peter says. Y'all, he's been gone like two days. He's been gone over the weekend. That's important for us to understand. He's just been gone a couple days. Listen, his plan has not changed. Oh, it's been 2,000 years in our time, but in his time, he's not controlled by time. He controls time. And if we can take Scripture somewhat literally, and I get to what Peter's saying, he's saying that he controls time, he's not ruled by time, but I think there's also, it gives us a little understanding of the mind of the eternality of God. He's just been gone for the weekend. He's not changed his mind. He's not detoured his plan. No, he's still on schedule. He's right on time. And when He comes, listen, we all must understand, there will be a reckoning day. There will be a reckoning day. And here's the thing about this reckoning day that He is revealing to us here. This day of reckoning is going to reveal the truth of me and you. This is going to reveal the truth of our heart, the truth of our motives as the slave of Christ our Master. And it's surprising how much the New Testament has to say about this. It actually has a lot to say about it in a lot of different formats. But it says a lot. Of course, in Revelation 20 it talks about the white throne judgment where the dead or the dead in their sins, where unbelievers will be judged by their works, by the way, All of their works will be cast into the lake of fire. You cannot be saved by your works. You know the only thing that can save you from death, and this is profound, is life. And guess who life is? He's our master. Life, life is what saves us from death. Works can't do it. The Apostle Paul, especially to the Corinth Church, and if you know something about the Corinth Church, it makes sense. He speaks of the judgment seat of Christ where believers, not unbelievers, But believers will give account for their works. Literally, they will give account for what they did with the talents the Master has entrusted to them. Listen to what he says in 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 10. According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus." Listen, this has those talents. The illustration is the talents, but that's here. How we build, the motives are hard in building upon this foundation. And notice verse 12, Now if any man build upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble, Every man's work shall be made manifest. The motives are all going to be known on this reckoning day. It's all going to be out in the open. For the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." Listen, there's got to be some fear right there. There's got to be some self-examination concerning our motives. Why? What are we doing? Why are we doing the things that we are doing? If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss. But notice, he himself shall be saved, so as by fire, because he owns the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But we are responsible as stewards of that righteousness, y'all. We're responsible for that. We're responsible for what we do with what the Lord has given us. And we are responsible because there is a day. Our Master is coming. And there is a reckoning coming. And that day will bear out the truth of you and me, both believers and unbelievers. And it will bear the reality of our works as slaves of our Master. So we just read about rewards on this reckoning day. Well, we see that back here in our illustration as well, back here in this parable. First, you'll notice back in Matthew 25, there will be rewards for the good and faithful slave. And I want you to see what this reward will be. It will be a reward of rejoicing. It's wonderful actually. Look at verse 20. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, Master, you gave me five talents. Look, beside them I've gained five more. I've used what you have given me. I've put it into your business and I've gained more with it. His Lord said unto him, Well done, you good and faithful slave. You've been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things." Notice this phrase. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. See the reward? The reward is the joy of the Lord. Now, what is that? What does he mean? Enter into the joy of the Lord. Let me say it like this. Heaven. Eternity. Glory. It can all be summed up in one word. Joy. Joy! If I could give us just a little demonstration. Think of one occasion in your life that you experienced just joy unspeakable. I mean your heart flooded with joy. Think of that time. Think of that occasion. Think of that event. Well, magnify that by infinity. And that is the reward for the good and faithful slave forever. Joy. Didn't the psalmist say, at your right hand there are pleasures evermore? That's what awaits the good and faithful slave. Joy. Notice this as well. The rewards for the slave who earned just two talents, in verse 23, is the very same reward for the slave that earned five talents. Joy. It's exactly the same. Exactly the same. So what does that tell us? Well, it tells us that this reward from our Master is measured by faithfulness, not results. It's measured by faithfulness. Listen, you just be faithful. The Lord will provide the results. And if there's no results, He'll still be faithful to you. We just need to be faithful. Here's the thing, y'all. This Master, our Master, King Jesus, He's the owner of everything, right? He's the owner and the possessor of everything, so He's not really concerned with the number of talents that you gather. He's not really concerned about the results for results' sakes. His concern is obedience. His concern is faithfulness to Him. Really, His concern is our relationship with Him. His concern is that we know the truth. And you know what the truth is? That He is Lord and we are His slaves. His concern is that we live in light of this truth. His concern is that we are good and faithful slaves and good stewards of His possessions. Everything that we have, it's His! We need to understand that. Everything, His possessions, everything, it's everything that we have, it's everything that we own, it's everything that we are. His concern is that we be faithful so that on this day of reckoning there will be a reward of rejoicing. There will be a reward of joy in our Master, with our Master. We will live in His glory and enjoy Him forever. Joy. on this reckoning day there will also, we need to know this, there will also be a reward of rejection for the wicked and lazy slave. Look at verse 28. Take therefore the talent from him and give it unto him which hath ten talents. That's this wicked, lazy slave. For unto everyone that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance, but from him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which ye have. Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Now this may surprise us. So much so that we may ask, now does this mean that this slave loses his salvation? No. That's not what this means. Let us all realize that Yahweh God, He is the master of all of His creation. As a matter of fact, in the 100th Psalm, he describes himself as the shepherd in all people, as the sheep of his pasture. In other places of Scripture, he calls evil people and even evil nations his servants, meaning that he rules over and he uses all and everything to accomplish his sovereign purposes. So Yahweh is God. Yahweh is Master. Yahweh is even Provider. for people, the unjust as well as the just. People who do not know Him. People who do not serve Him as their God and as their Master. They consider themselves to be their God and their Master. So what Jesus is showing us in this third and last slave is this. To live in the reality of the present and coming Kingdom of Christ, we must live in the reality of our relationship with Him. We must live in the light of the coming day of reckoning. And we must live by the number three. We must live by the light of revelation, not mere reasoning. We must live by revelation, not human reasoning. This third slave here, the Master gives him one talent. Instead of using it for the master's business, he takes it and buries it in the ground. But let's hear again the reasoning for this. Look at verse 24. I don't have much time. I want to bring this out. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew Thee that Thou art a hard man, reaping where Thou hast not sown, gathering where You have not scattered seed. I was afraid. I hid Your talent in the earth. Here it is. Take it. The Master answered and said to them, you wicked and lazy slave. You say you know that I reap where I sowed not and gather where I have not strawn. Then you ought to therefore have put my money to these. You ought to have obeyed me. And then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. There's something we need to know here. When you study this slave's reasoning out here in this text, this is exactly the sort of reasoning that many today still use about God. And here's the thing, many, maybe especially many like you and me, who have been brought up in churches that teach about the sovereignty of God, sometimes we are the ones that use this reasoning. I mean, I have heard people with my own ears Use this very reasoning and blame God's sovereignty for their sinful actions. Blame God's sovereignty for their sinful lives. Well, if God is sovereign, if God is sovereign and He wants me to do something different, if He wants me to live differently, if He wants me to live in another place, well, I will since He's sovereign. God is sovereign. If He wants to save me, I'll be saved. But until then, I'm just going to keep living like I'm living. Here's the thing. We all need to examine ourselves on this because what is obvious from this text is this is the reasoning of someone who does not know the Master. This is the reasoning of someone who does not know their King and who does not know their God. This slave here, he doesn't lose his salvation. No, he never had it. He obviously does not know the Master. We can see by his response, he knows nothing of the relationship between Master and slave. So saints, slaves of Christ, we must live in light of the reality of our relationship with our Master. And we do that in real time, in real life, through our obedient response to Him. We must live in light of the coming day of reckoning, a day of reward, a day of rejoicing, a day of joy, eternal joy for the good and faithful slave. But it will be a day of rejection for the evil, lazy slave. And we must live before our Master through the light of Revelation. Listen, stop trying to reason God out. He is too big for you or me to reason Him out. Listen, that's why He has given us His Word. Read it. Study it. Obey it. Do it. Do it cheerfully. Do it immediately. Obey Him. This is the Word of our God. This is the revelation of Himself. And this is the revelation of His will. If you want to know what His will is for your life, it's here. Follow Him. Obey Him. Immediately, right now, without reservation. If you are His, you are His slave and He is your Master. Be a good and faithful slave to Him. Obey Him. Give yourself to Him. He owns you anyway. Give yourself to Him. Why will you take a beating when He already owns you? Give yourself to Him. Surrender yourself to Him and His Word. Don't try to figure Him out with human reasoning. Our human reasoning will always fall short of Him. We must know Him. And we do that through His own grace and mercy, through this book, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's so simple. But we make it so hard. Disobeying. You say, well, I don't know about this certain situation. It's not in my life. A brother preached last night. Go to him as your father and ask him. He's a good father now. He's a good papa. He's not going to leave you hanging out there in the dark. Just trust him. Trust him. You can trust him. You can trust him with everything. You can trust him. This is how we live in light of His present and coming reign, the reign of King Jesus. Alright, I've got three minutes. Let me sum this message up with a question. By the way, I wish I could talk to you about how this Master, how good, how wonderful, how gracious He is. You know, He calls His slave to be His friend. He lets them come in and get in on an inside relationship with Him, but that ain't all. No. He elevates His slaves as His sons and daughters. And you know what? That ain't all. He elevates His slaves as co-heir with His only Son. That's how good this Master is. Listen. He's the one you want to live for. He's the one you want to give yourself for. So let me ask a question. Who here believes that everything you have Your life, your breath, your health, your wealth, your ability, your strength, people in your life, family, friends, everything. Who here believes that everything that you have has been given to you by God Yahweh Himself? And therefore, therefore, since the chief end of you, the chief end of man, you and me, is to glorify God and enjoy Him, how many of you believe that everything that you have has been given to you by Him and it has been given to you ultimately for Him? How many of you really believe that? I'll ask for hands. How many of you really believe that? But is that your life? Is that your life? Are you then using all of these things, everything, all of these talents? Are you using them that have been given to you by your Master? Are you using everything, your entire life and existence for Him? Are you using your whole entire being for His business, His kingdom, His glory? Are you earning a return on His investment? Brothers and sisters, children of God, we have been redeemed. We have been bought and paid for with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah. The Messiah King of Israel. He shed His blood to purchase you. Will there be a return on your Master's investment, this great investment? Will there be a return on His investment in you when He comes? May God help us to want to know the answer to that question.