Once again, I am standing where I've often stood before. My heart is full of regret. I have felt this pain before. My decisions, they took me. down this lonely road. And I hope he'll grant me one more time to bow before his throne. As I kneel there in repentance, I'm begging for his peace. Then I hear his gentle voice so kind as he's calling out to That was yesterday And I've forgotten all about it I'm sorry but I just don't want to remember anymore It's all gone away Somewhere between the east and west And I know my father knows what's best He took it all the way And I just can't remember anymore Down the road he was watching son he loved so long in his foolish pride he said goodbye to seek a life of his own but the father was still waiting hope he'd come home again just one glimpse of his son down the road he would run hear him weeping as he says That was yesterday, and I've forgotten all about it. Sorry, but I just don't want to remember anymore. It's all gone away Somewhere between the east and west And I know my father knows what's best He took it all away And I just can't remember anymore of the ♪ And I can barely bear the thought ♪ ♪ When my wicked deeds has cost you ♪ ♪ And the pain my sin has brought ♪ ♪ But I'm so glad that I found mercy ♪ ♪ Kneeling at your feet ♪ Yes, yes. ♪ When Satan brings up my past, I found victory at last ♪ ♪ All's forgotten, eat the blood of the lamb ♪ That was yesterday. And I've forgotten all about it I'm sorry but I just don't want to remember anymore It's all gone away Somewhere between the east and west And I know my father knows what's best He took it all away And I just Can't remember anymore Amen. Aren't you glad for a God that took everything away? Took all the wrong I'd ever done. Put it under the blood. Hallelujah! Has anybody got anything on your heart before we get into the text this morning? Colossians chapter 3 Colossians chapter 3 we will be finishing up this chapter this morning, Lord willing. We'll be moving into chapter 4. Colossians chapter 3, we'll read from verse 17 down. That's been our theme through this section of the chapter. It says in verse 17, and whatsoever you do in word or in deed. do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. Whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done. There is no respect of persons. You can go with us also over to the book of Matthew chapter 25 and that's going to be our sort of commentary on this verse. Let's pray. Father, we're thankful for the time together this morning. Thank you for the singing. or just your spirit that has been moving already. Lord, I thank you for just how you have washed my sin. Lord, you've cleansed us. You've made us new people. Lord, we're thankful for that. Lord, I pray that you would be in this next hour, that you would get honor and glory from it. Lord, you'd help me as I try to preach, that you'd fill me with your presence and your power, that your spirit would be known in this place. Lord, I thank you for the privilege of preaching. Help us to stand and deliver what you've given. In Jesus' name, Amen. Over in Matthew chapter 25, you'll see an account that is really, as I was studying, the very definition of verse 25 of Colossians chapter 3. Just as we watched with a reward for those who are in service to their masters and our Savior, God gives us a promise of what we can expect if we find ourselves to be poor servants. Understand what the Bible is saying here is that there are rewards for good service and there are rewards for bad service. Now the rewards for bad service are not things that we would voluntarily sign up for if we were given a list of things, but it is oftentimes what we sign up for by our actions. Here in Matthew chapter 25 rather, Verse 14, we'll read down through verse 30. It says, For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. Unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to every man according to his several ability. And straightway he 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 received two, he also gained other two. But he that 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 him. So he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliverest to 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 a 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. Notice that phrase is repeated there. Then we get into the part of the unfaithful servant. Then that which 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 strewed. I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth, lo there thou hast that is thine. His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant. Thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strolled. Thou oughtest 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 that 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, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Here in this text we see pretty much the exact picture that is being given in Colossians chapter 3. You'll notice there are the two different dynamics that's given there in Colossians chapter 3 about the profitable servant, the one that is serving the master, and then the unprofitable servant. He mentions both in that text. He refers to both and he tells that there are consequences on both counts. Now, we think of consequences as always being bad, but there are consequences for good actions. The servant that is faithful here in this text receives consequences. What are those consequences? He is put in charge of more. He's given more responsibility. There are things that are given to him. But likewise, in the unprofitable servant, there are some characteristics of this man that we're going to look at that are part of being an unprofitable servant. Here in Colossians there is a severe warning, serving as a reminder that what we do here is not a joke. I want you to understand something. One of the hardest things to convince people of in our modern world of church and Christianity is that this thing of coming to church, this thing of serving God is not a joke. This isn't a club. It isn't something that we can just take lightly. This is not the good ship lollipop where everybody just does what they want to do and we come together and do. That's not what this is about. In the service of God, there are some specific things that God is going to require of you and require of me. That if I'm not faithful in my service, there are consequences that come with it. We don't like that, we like easy believing serving of God. We like to do what we want and God's all loving, He's all forgiving. I can act like I won't say what I won't, do what I won't, go where I won't. God, He's just not going to mind it. In Psalm 10, where our next Psalm is at, there's a little portion of that where it talks about, it says, God hath forgotten. It's talking about, I can do what I want and God's not really paying that much attention. But as we see here in Matthew 25, the picture unfolds and it is portraying the two separate sections of servitude. We see the good servant and we see the bad servant. We see the two different characteristics that are listed and there's some actions revolving around this unprofitable servant. That I want you to see in verse 18. These characteristics that we'll go through. The first one being the actions of an unprofitable servant. But he that received the one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. There are some defining characteristics that come with a servant that is described here in Matthew 25. One of the biggest comes in the form of the actions of this servant. Again, here in Matthew 25, you can see two separate and distinct actions being taken by the servants of this master. Here they are in a nutshell, those who do and those who don't. This servant had been given something by the master to put into use, the same as the others were given. Now it might not have been the same amount, but there was still a task that was given. You may say, well I don't have the same task that they have. I wish I had more like they do. I wish I had more authority, more power, more whatever it is, more prestige, more whatever. But the fact of the matter is, what God has given you is what He is desiring to use in your life. One of the things that marks an unprofitable servant. One of the evidences that's very visible, understand an unprofitable servant will not be able to hide these characteristics. Characteristic of his actions. A clear mark of an unprofitable servant is when they begin to try and hide from the tasks God has given them to do. You can watch in folks' lives as they begin to try harder and harder to get away from doing that which God has asked them to do. Is that not what the servant here is doing? It says the one servant that was given the five talents, what did he do? He went out and he put it into use. He took that task that he was given. He took those things that that master had given him. And he went out and he multiplied the things that the master had given him. The man that had the two talents, he took those two talents out, and he put them to work, and he put them to use, he put his time, his effort into it, and he multiplied what was given to him. But you take the unfaithful servant, what is it that happens? There's an action that is done that is very distinctive to an unprofitable servant. He takes what God has given, or his master in this case has given, and instead of putting it to use, he takes it and he hides it. That's what he does. He digged a hole and he put it in it. Now why did he dig a hole? Why could he have not just put this piece of money on the mantle? What difference does it make where the money's at, right? Could it be that he was desiring for folks to think that he was doing something with it when in reality he was doing nothing? The actions... of an unprofitable servant. Have you ever been dealing with someone and they stop trying because of whatever, fill in the blank? They lay down the job that has been given to them because of whatever is broken on the inside of them? I sure have been there. Let me tell you something, when your heart isn't right in service, then your service will not be right. You cannot be a productive servant if your heart is not in the right place. The Bible says there in Colossians that we are to serve the Lord, that's our service is to the Lord, to serve Him heartily and not unto men. It's easy to serve men. It's easy to be a man pleaser. It's not hard to be a kiss up and be a man pleaser. It's not all that difficult, but you try to serve God and there's going to be some challenges along the way that you might not want to face. And if we're not careful, because God's not doing things the way that I want them to be done, I will take and I will hide the task that he has given me and I will try to avoid doing it. The actions of an unprofitable servant. That's what he says in Colossians 3, he says, Do all in the name of the Lord. Do it heartily as unto the Lord, not unto man. This servant here is hiding what the master had given him. There's an action that is taken. Avoidance is an action. Do you know that? Avoidance is an action. Now I'm not going to ask because I pretty well know the answer to the question, but I'm going to ask it in a way to where you have to think about it in your own life. How many times has God given you a task and in your heart you're trying your best to get out of it? You don't want to do it. I've done it. Still fight it some days. God says to do something. God, I don't feel like doing that today. He said, I don't care. It's what I'm telling you to do. Did Jonah not find himself in that very situation? Jonah was told by God, I want you to go down to Nineveh, and I want you to minister to those people, and I want you to carry a message for those people that I'm going to judge them, but I'm giving them a time of repentance. I'm giving them a time to get their hearts right. And what did Jonah do? Jonah tried to hide. He said, God, I don't like those people. They're wicked. They're depraved. They're all kinds of bad. I'm not going down there. I desire to go do something else. And what did he do? He hid in the bow of a ship. He was hiding the talents. But pretty soon everyone else on the boat knew he was hiding it. You might be able to mask it for a little while, but I promise you, upon the authority of the Word of God, it will come out sometime. And it usually does not come out in a private setting, it usually comes out in a very public way. Is that not what happened to Jonah? The men of the boat gathered around him, they said, Jonah, whatever you did, you need to fix it. The actions of an unprofitable servant. Things that we cannot hide, things we cannot mask. They're very evident. You can tell how someone is very quickly by how their heart is in service. You can tell when their heart is not in service very quickly by how they follow through with the tasks they've been given. In this case, the servant buried the money and did nothing to make any sort of value with it. Then down in verse 24 and verse 25, you'll notice not only the actions of the unprofitable servant, but the accusations of an unprofitable servant. Another characteristic, as I was studying this out, as I've been meditating on this this week and praying about it and asking the Lord what it is that I need for my life in terms of warning, in terms of correction, whatever it might be, is that There's an accusation that generally comes from an unprofitable servant. Verse 24 and verse 25, is that not what happens? Then he that 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 strewed. And I was afraid, and went and hid the talent in the earth. What is that? Let me ask you a question. You've read the same text I have. Is there anything in that text anywhere that would suggest that this man is a hard man? Is there anywhere in this text that would suggest that this master is a dishonest man? Not at all. But you begin to call out the unprofitable servant. And they begin to lob accusations against the authority. How often has God messed in your life? And he's begun to try to correct something and you begin lobbing accusations at him about what he's doing. Is that not what happens in this text? Is that not what is being told here? This servant, the master, he just said, where's the money? He come in and the one guy presented him, he said, master, I took the money you gave me and I went out and I multiplied it. The guy that had two, he said, master, I went out and I multiplied. And then all of a sudden, without any provocation, the servant, the unprofitable servant, comes and says, master, it's all your fault. It's your fault I'm not productive. I know, God forbid, any of us have ever done that. But there's some accusations. They will begin to throw out excuses, trying to justify their apathy of service. This man began to accuse his master of being a thief and dishonest. An unfaithful servant will soon begin to lob accusation in the direction of the authority over them. They'll try to pass the blame to everyone else as to why they are the way that they are. Is that not what this servant did in this passage? You can tell an unfaithful servant very quickly by their speech regarding their position. When someone begins to blame everyone else for their own disservice, apathy, and unfaithfulness, mark it down, there is someone who is becoming fast an unprofitable servant. I've heard it through the years. Well, if that preacher would leave, then I would be something different. If I had a different Sunday school teacher, then it would be different. If the committee would have different members, if, if, if, then I would do something for God if they would just get out of my way. But nowhere in Scripture do we find that as a profitable servant. It's no one fault but my own if I become an unprofitable servant. It isn't the preacher's fault, it isn't the Sunday school teacher's fault, it isn't the janitor's fault, and it's not God's fault for you and I to be floundering in our service. The same is true with secular work. No matter what anyone else says, what anyone else does, we are commanded to be right before the throne of God. No doubt, you've dealt with it in the workplace. Well, if Bertha would just do what I wanted her to do, then I'd be a better employee. If so-and-so would just step down and clear that position, then I would be much better in my job because they're just an irritant to me. Understand, what they do has no bearing on what I do. It's not anyone else's fault but mine. if I become unfaithful as a servant. And I better be careful about what I begin to accuse. Because it might be that I'm bringing accusations to try and hide my own failings. Now we get to what is talked about in Colossians 3 and again here in Matthew 25. There's the action of the unprofitable servant, the accusation of the unprofitable servant. But then there's the alienation of an unprofitable servant. Verse 26, His Lord answered and said unto him, Notice he does not pat him on the back for being unprofitable. We expect to flounder in God to be okay with it. Do we not, if we're honest? We expect to have a Sunday morning kind of worship. I'll come, I'll give him an hour on Sunday, and then I'm going to live the rest of my life the way I want to. Notice what he says about this unprofitable servant here in verse 26. His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked? and slothful servant." There's a very strong language, isn't it? He's not letting him off from being an unprofitable servant. I want you to know something, God is not okay with you, with me, being unfaithful and unprofitable. He's not okay with it. Verse 27, "...now oughtest to therefore 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." of being an unfaithful servant is revealed there in Colossians 3. Go back and look at it one more time. Look at what it says, Colossians 3, 25 once again. But he that doeth wrong might receive. That's not what my Bible says. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done. And look what else it says, there is no respect of persons. That means standing behind this pulpit I'd better be very careful. Because God's not a respecter of persons and if I'm screwing it up, there will be the reward for my unfaithfulness. You say, but I've been a member of this church for years. Doesn't matter. There will be a reward for the unfaithfulness of the servant. What is this reward? In Matthew 25 verse 29, or back in verse 28, it says, 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. Cast ye the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." What's he saying? There's an alienation of an unprofitable servant. There is a promise to repay what is owed from the master. With good service comes good reward. With bad service to the master comes a grim, dark, and lonely reward. This is not the reward you want to have your name on. Matthew here talks about him being cast into outer darkness. What is that? There are many symbols that we could pull from this. Certainly we could pull hell maybe from it in a way. But here it's dealing more in the realm of the believer. In Colossians 3, he's talking to the Colossian church. He's not dealing with lost people. He's dealing with saved people. In here, Christ is talking. To the disciples, He's talking to those around Him. And He's giving them instruction on how they are to be as servants. The biggest thing that I notice in this, out of all the symbolism that you probably could pull from this, Is that once we have broken fellowship with the master, there is no way out of our troubles. It breaks fellowship with the master, but also with other fellow servants. And it will bring us to a place of isolation and alienation. It creates a gap that can't be crossed until something changes. Not only does it alienate us, but it also removes the gifts the master had given to us and gives them to someone else in our stead. That's what this is talking about here in Matthew chapter 25 about this unprofitable servant. He says, you remain unprofitable and the things that I have given you will be taken away and will be given to somebody who will actually do something with it. So often we desire to hide from the will of God, so often we desire to get away from the will of God, so often we're disgruntled with the will of God, we're upset with how things are going, I'm not happy with how this thing has turned out, and we'll become unfaithful, we'll become unprofitable, and soon if we're not We'll find ourselves alienated from other believers in the church. We'll find ourselves alienated from God. We'll begin lobbing accusations at everybody else. We'll begin lobbing accusations at God. And we'll find ourselves totally isolated, totally broken apart from the rest of the body. This unprofitable servant could not have fellowship with the other two. Why? Because the master said, he sent the other two, he said, take this, I'm going to put you in charge of more. They're out doing the work of the master while the unprofitable servant is sitting back here being dealt with alone. Alienation. You say, preacher, I come to church but I just feel like I'm totally and completely isolated. Could it be? That there may be something in my life that is causing me to be separated from the rest of the body. Could it be that there's something in me that's messed up that's not anybody else's fault? That's causing me to be alienated from the things of God. When you find yourself being an unprofitable servant, there's a couple of things that will happen. One, you will not be able to hear from the Master. It's cast into outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. It's a place the Master does not go. It says outer darkness. So you're not just in the darkness, you're way in the darkness. I'm talking about an alienation of the unfaithful servant. I've watched it happen so many times over the years. You take somebody and they begin lobbying accusations, they begin hiding from the things God's told them to do. Pretty soon they're going to be isolated from everyone else. And you're going to watch their life go into a tailspin. Spiritually, they may have it all physically. But spiritually, their life's going to go into a tailspin. I've watched it when my dad was pastoring. I've watched it when I was going through school. I've seen it in other churches that I've been a part of. And if we're not careful, we'll find ourselves being in the place of the unprofitable servant. Understand that if you live in a place of unprofitability long enough, the master will move on to a servant that will follow and he will give them the blessings that were meant for you. Is that not what this text says? Take from the one, give to the one with ten. You say, I wish I had what they had. So instead of doing what they did to get it, I'm going to grumble, I'm going to gripe, I'm going to hide. And pretty soon God comes and He removes His hand and He gives it to them anyway. I've seen it. I've been there, my own self, from time to time. You grumble, you gripe, you complain, and pretty soon God uses somebody else that should have been you and you're like, boy, I missed that one, didn't I? Why? Because if I shake my fist in the face of God long enough, He will move on. He won't force me to be a servant. And He won't force you to be a servant. If you live in a place of these characteristics long enough, I promise you, upon the authority of Scripture, God will take His hand off your life. There will be a day to where God says, I'm done with it, you unprofitable, unfaithful servant. God will understand something. I mentioned it earlier, but let me say it again just to make sure it sinks in. They all started out with the same gift, right? The talent was the gift. Now one had ten, one had two. This guy had one. But it did not change that they all had the same gift. They've been given the talent to take and use. Right? Could it be that God has given us all the same goal here? The same talent. What's our talent? Being obedient to His will. His will may be different for you than it is for me, but we all have the same gift of being obedient. What am I doing with it though? Miss Melissa there, she can play the piano, she can sing. Melissa, she can play and sing. Emily has many, many talents that I don't have. And many more. Brother Brian is a great Sunday school teacher and a great expositor. Brother Wyatt is a great teacher and a great expositor. And they have talents that I do not possess. I used to get so mad at my brother when we were kids. Because anything I had to work and work and work at, he could just pick it up and he could do it. And if I'm not careful because I don't have what you have, I can get so bitter because I don't have what you have that I will throw away the one thing God's given me. That's what happened to the unprofitable servant. We better be careful about what God has given us and wasting it. because God can use other people without my help. As a pastor, I had better be very, very, very cautious that I do not get jealous, I do not get uptight about what God is doing somewhere else. Because if I get that way and I become bitter and I become angry and I begin to lob accusations at y'all, I begin to lob accusations at God, then I'm on my way to being alienated from what He does. He will take me out of the loop. You will not experience, nor will you have joy. You will not have satisfaction, you will not have peace, love, comfort, or purpose. It will all be removed from you. And all that's left is misery, anger, turmoil, and trouble. Is that not where this servant finds himself? He's no longer sitting near the Master. He's no longer receiving the provision from the Master. He's no longer receiving the protection from the master. There's a separation that's happened. There's an alienation that's happened. We see that here in verse 30. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. That term there has the idea, if I can use a redneck term to grab them by the britches, grab them by the neck of the neck and chunk them out. You've seen movies, people being thrown out of places. That's the picture, being cast into outer darkness. He's not just set right in the border of it. No, they're thrown into it. And when God the Father chunks me into outer darkness, He's got mighty long arms. And He can take me to a place of total and utter desolation. But there is a chance. If I will repent, if I will come to Him and become profitable. that He will bring me back into the fold and once again be able to use me. Is that not what it says in the Old Testament, if my people which are called by my name, if they will humble themselves and pray, He'll come down, He'll heal the land, He'll restore them. But there first has to be a realization that it's not anybody else's fault but mine that I've become unprofitable. Joseph is getting to the age to where he does this quite often. It's just a kid thing, but he does it quite often. He'll do something wrong. And we'll go to him and we'll begin to question him about it. You know, we'll begin to deal with it. And he'll be like, but it's your fault because you did or you said or no, that ain't the way this game is played. You do wrong for you. Nobody else. You say, but preacher, they made you. No, they didn't make you. You say, but preacher, you don't know the circumstances. It doesn't matter the circumstances. God's told me to be faithful. He's called for me to be profitable. Whether it's one talent or ten. The guy that had two talents got the same reward as the guy that got the ten. Did he not? And I just have, I've just got a sneaky little suspicion that if the servant with the one talent had doubled it to two, had went out and done something with what God had given him, or the master had given him, that the master of the house would have come back and said, faithful servant, I've given you little, and you've made something out of it. I'm going to make you ruler over much. Why could I assume that? It might be because that's what he told the two before him. And the only thing different with this guy was he was unprofitable. God can take your talent that he's given you and he can make something out of it. If you'll let him. If you'll be profitable. These are the characteristics of an unprofitable servant. Paul is closing out this chapter of the letter in Colossians 3. In first part of Colossians 4 he's going to deal with masters. But he's closing out chapter 3 with a warning for us not to be caught in this snare in our own lives. Because there is no respecter of person. It's easy to do. Let me tell you how it happens and I'll close. All we have to do is let the devil get a little hold. And pretty soon it'll all come crashing down. All we have to do is let the devil get a little spot in our lives of unsatisfaction. It might be little. But you ever had a bump or something that gets real, real sore? And your whole body can be just fine. But that one little place, it drives you crazy. Or let me put it this way. You ever had a paper cut? You can't even see it. But you sure know it's there, don't you? That's the way the devil works. One little spot. And he'll keep hitting that one little spot until it grows and grows and grows and grows until pretty soon you're infected like a cancer and you don't know how you got there. We better be careful with unsatisfaction. We better be careful with unfaithfulness. We better be careful with unprofitability. Because the devil will use it, and he'll take something that God meant for good, and he'll turn it to something God can't use. And he'll take you down in the middle of it. And one day you'll wake up and wonder, how did I get here? And it will all go back to that one spot. That's what happened to the servant. He had something in his mind. I don't know what it was. But there was something broken on the inside of that servant that the devil used to make him unprofitable. What about you? Are you a good return on the Lord's investment? I've got a little app on my phone that's a smart investor thing, trying to save a little money for retirement one of these days maybe. And it goes up and it goes down. Sometimes it's down and sometimes it's up, but it just brings to my mind, what about me am I doing to bring a good return for my Lord? That's the exact picture that's being given in this text. He was given something and they brought more back than what they were given. What am I doing to be profitable for the master? We're getting ready to close. She's going to come play. This altar is open. I don't know where you're at, don't know what you're going through, don't know what you're in the middle of, but God does. Are you having trouble with profitability today? Well, He's given opportunity to talk to him about it. Father, we thank You for the opportunity to hear Your Word, to preach Your Word. Thank You that Your Word is alive, it's effective at what it does. Lord, You know I've been convicted about this this week myself and things that I've been unprofitable in. Lord, things I've messed up. I've not brought back the return that I should have in things. Lord, in my dedication to You, my heart, my desires for You, Lord, I've failed so miserably in areas, and I'm sorry. Lord, I thank You for the privilege of being one of Your servants. Lord, I may not have a lot of the things that others do as far as talent, as far as ability, But I do have what you gave me. Help me to use that for your furtherance of your kingdom. We thank you for all that you've done for us and all that you have given us. Thank you for being a good master. Lord, help us in this invitation. In Jesus' name. Amen.