Deal or No Deal? The Choice is Yours!
It’s Not My Talent…It’s His!
We come to the sixth and final sermon of our series entitled Deal or No Deal? The Choice is Yours! And for six weeks, we have talked about making the choice to obey God and not waver from His ideal for your life in the following areas of your life: Your Time * Your Treasure * Your Temple * Your Testimony!
Our theme verse for this series is a verse that summarizes this so clearly and profoundly:
I Corinthians 6:20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
There is even a more succinct verse that captures the same theme:
John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
And I want you to make the BEST CHOICES…not just “ok” choices or “good” choices – but the BEST Choices. This series is all about making a CHOICE on how to use this life of yours. And today, our LAST theme is: “It’s Not my Talent…It’s His!”
Today is a sermon about how talent alone can never bring eternal reward and it can never make an eternal impact, but with God empowering you to do His will with your talents, He can receive great glory in and through you!
Regarding talents - A good two summary verses for today’s lesson is found in
I Peter 4:10-11 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
We use our talents to minister to God and serve others! Even if we feel we have no talents! There is no better passage that depicts the picture of how inadequate and feeble our talents are apart from God’s power to sustain us and bless our efforts than the picture of Moses in Exodus 3 & 4.
Exodus 3 & 4 describe the conversation God had through a burning bush to Moses – telling Moses that he was to go back to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to free God’s people from slavery.
We are going to look at a picture of God telling a normal human being (Moses) “that amid ALL your excuses, ALL your reasons, ALL the rationale you give me as to why I shouldn’t use you to free my people out of the bondage in Egypt…I am still going use you! Because I am going to show you that, “YES, apart from me, you can do nothing…but with me, all things are possible.” In fact, aren’t these the very words Jesus Himself shared in:
Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Isn’t that a great encouragement! Regardless of how you feel about your level of ability – God can still use you – IF you relinquish your goals for doing everything for your own glory and allow him to take over and do all you do for His glory!!
If you try to bring about eternal, God-glorifying impact in your life and in the world you live in, then you must TOTALLY rely on the Lord to empower your talent – otherwise your efforts are fleeting and futile. But, God promises that He will sustain you if you desire to live for His glory! He will extract out of you God-given abilities and impact – IF you desire to use your talent for His glory!
So, let’s look at Four Excuses for not using our talents for the Lord – and Four Responses from our Lord to encourage us to conclude that “It’s Not my Talent…It’s His!”
1) Excuse #1 – We feel UNWORTHY!
Exodus 3:10-11 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
In other words, Moses was saying, “I’m not worthy, God! Do you not know what I’ve done? I used to be the one to oversee the slaves while I was considered a ‘son of Pharaoh!’, I brought about hardships upon them, I killed a man and had to flee, I’m not worthy to be used in this capacity!”
God’s Response – “I will be with you!”
Exodus 3:12So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
2) Excuse #2 – We consider ourselves to be UNBELIEVABLE!
Exodus 4:1 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”
God’s Response (#2) – “You leave it up to me to display the power of the message – you just deliver the message!”
Exodus 4:2-5 So the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.” 3 And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), 5 “that they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
3) Excuse #3 – We think we will be INELOQUENT!
Exodus 4:10 Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
God’s Response (#3) “I am not relying on YOUR eloquence…but YOU are to rely on MY Power!”
Exodus 4:11-12 So the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? 12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”
4) Excuse #4 – We feel we are INADEQUATE!
Exodus 4:13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”
Remember, this is AFTER God proved to Moses over and over again that he ought not to feel inadequate…that God Himself was with him every step of the way!
As an aside: Isn’t it great that God, first, will always be with us and will prove that over and over to us? But, second, isn’t it great that God is patient and longsuffering with us when we need just a little more time to comprehend what God is teaching us? Once again, God took care of Moses’ needs and proved that God always provides the ‘talent:”
Exodus 4:14-16 So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said: "Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. 16 So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God.
Even though Moses still debated God on these issues – God STILL used him…and Blessed Him! You see, my friend, it is not our talent, abilities or strengths that we rely on to build a great life, church, ministry, or family…it is always relying on what God can do through our talents, strengths, and abilities!
Over the last six weeks, we have been revealing case by case the points of each sermon to help us remember that it is not our Life, our Time, our Treasure, our Temple, our Testimony, our Talents…they’re His. They all belong to Him!
Now, I don’t know if you have paying attention to this, but we have opened and revealed all but TWO cases on this stage – CASE #13 and CASE #7. And, as we’ve discussed, week after week, we have been persuaded to pass by all other temptations – to choose God’s Way in every decision in how we use our life, time, treasure, temple, and testimony, and talent. It is usually NOW, after you have demonstrated a level of commitment, endurance, and perseverance in the faith, where temptation seems to always come in like a flood…to take one more opportunity to trip you up.
And if you watch the game (DEAL OR NO DEAL), this call is coming from the banker…whose job it is to get us to settle for less or quit the game early…let’s see what he has to offer us.
Well, the banker’s offer is for us to deviate from our INITIAL choice that we had held onto throughout the entire series (CASE #7)…and swap it for the unknown possibility in CASE #13 (we must decide before seeing the outcome!
a. DEAL OR NO DEAL!?
b. OUR RESPONSE: It has always been our INITIAL decision to follow God and live life God’s Way. With God’s Word, we KNOW that ANY DEVIATION from His way will cause destruction! The number #7 case represents “God’s Way” with our Time, Talent, Treasure, Testimony, and TemplE. “Plus, we don’t need to open that case in order to see what the result would be – because ANY deviation from God’s Word leads to destruction, right?” So, OUR RESPONSE is “No Deal!”
Well, we stuck with our conviction, let’s open up case #13, and see what we passed up !
“1,000,000.00!”
One million dollars? What! You may be thinking: Wait a second, THAT case isn’t supposed to have the million dollar prize because THAT’S THE ULTIMATE! That’s what we have wanted to receive!
Listen my friend, the world may say THIS case contains the best prize! But let me remind you of what Matthew said as a testimony of a man who had everything but still felt lost:
Matthew 16:26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
That may seem like the ultimate prize in this world…but that’s nothing compared to God’s plan:
“Abundant Life”
John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
The only life that truly provides the quality of life, true peace, the abundant life that God intended for us is to STICK TO OUR CHOICE TO LIVE LIFE – GOD’s Way with our Time, Treasure, Temple, Testimony, & Talent!
So, the question is raised one more time – as it has for the last six weeks of this series –
DEAL OR NO DEAL: THE CHOICE IS YOURS! How are you going to live your life? How are you going to use everything that God has placed in your care? Are you going to be a good steward of God’s best in your life?
This is a heart issue. It goes right to the very core of our being. Realizing that this is not my life, it’s His! But you can never truly live that kind of life, make that kind of choice, until you have truly given Him your life. Until you have given Him your heart.
The Bible clearly states in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. In Romans 6:23, we are told that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus. In John 14:6, we are told that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father but through Him.
In Acts 16, Paul says to Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Today, we must believe that Christ’s sacrifice for was enough. His blood paid the price we should have paid. And now, through our belief in Him, we can have the abundant life that Christ wants to give!
If you have never really accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it right now? Do not delay or put it off. If you would like to receive Christ by faith, pray this simple prayer in your heart:
Dear Lord, I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins on the cross, and rose again the third day. I repent of my sins. By faith I receive the Lord Jesus as my Savior. You promised to save me, and I believe You, because You are God and cannot lie. I believe right now that the Lord Jesus is my personal Savior, and that all my sins are forgiven through His precious blood. I thank You, dear Lord, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, God heard you and saved you. I personally want to welcome you to the family of God and rejoice with you.
