Title: Invest in What?
Text: Mathew 25:14-30
Intro: Greet
Have you ever looked up a word in the dictionary and it’s a string of big words that you don’t understand. Well I have many times. So tonight I want to give you my definition of missions.
Missions are when a follower of Jesus Christ crosses a barrier to bring a non-follower to faith and life in Jesus.
Missions! Today when we hear God calling us into the mission’s field we run the other way and fast. The very idea sends shivers down are spines. We try to hide and say not me God is speaking to someone else.
But we are all called! I stand here and say we are all called.
Christ calls each one of us to further his kingdom.
The Bible says go and preach the gospel to every living creature, what part of go do we not understand?
We have been given talents and gifts to use in the mission field. This field is every were we look; it’s in our communities, back yards, and foreign countries. But the question arises this evening are we investing in these things?
*people are always looking for the easy way out of things. Look around @ society today people are always trying to take short cuts. We do the same thing in our relationship with God. We do not allow God to use the gifts He’s given us. Were not willing to invest our time for Him. Because we say we’re too busy or that’s not my calling. We need to step out of our comfort zone and start depositing in the things of God.
*what dose it mean to invest? It means to put something of value {like our time} into something for a better return on what you originally put into it.
Millions of people are investing in their future, but are they investing in things for God. Or are they putting their investment in the wrong things.
When we invest our energy and time into furthering the kingdom of God, it last for eternity, but when we invest in the things of the world, it is then just temporary.
I’m going to share with you out of Mathew 25:14-30
-Read-
-Stop @ vs. 19-
A talent was a measure of weight
1 talent = 1,000 dollars in today’s terms.
The amount isn’t crucial but what is significant is a very wealthy man goes on a long journey and leaves 3 servants, in charge of his money. {What he did was unusual he trusted them}
* We need to put our self’s in the shoes of the servants.
God has entrusted us with responsibilities. He is like the wealthy man in the parable the Bible says that God owns all the cattle on the hills, heaven and earth. Our God is a rich God. He trusts us with a lot, but not with more than we can handle.
* In the parable the wealthy man determined who got how much on the basis of their abilities. He had a 5-talent guy; a 2-talent guy; and a 1-talent guy.
-Read on - vs. 20-30
1. The 1-talent guy told his master he had been afraid to do anything with money. He decided to “not invest” he hid the money to make sure it would not get lost. This servant accomplished exactly what he set out to do. [Nothing]
“If you aim @ nothing, you hit every time.”
2. But there is something about the master that all three of them knew.
Look @ vs. 24-26
You see only one of them came out and said that the master was a man who reaped where he had not planted and gathered harvests where he had not scattered seed.
The master was a man who expected his servants to plant and scatter seed for him. He expected his servants to use what he gave them to get a return.
God has given us a precious gift our salvation. But God expects us as believers to use the gifts he has given us to further his kingdom to scatter and plant seeds of Christ.
You see the third man understood his master’s expectations. But he refused to do what was expected.
Why do some of us refuse to do what God expects out of us?
God has a purpose and plan for everyone. It’s not to live every day standing at the side lines. He has instilled in each one of us gifts and talents. But if their sitting on a shelf collecting dust how can He use them. Each believer has an obligation to the rest of us to use their gifts to fulfill their purpose in the body Christ. We are responsible to use our gifts and if we don’t recognize them we are short changing the rest of the body.
-I have a friend- (share a personal story}
He is missing out on what God has for him.
Do you remember what the difference in attitudes of these servants were?
The 5-talent and 2-talent servants went out enthused and served their master.
The 1-talent servant said “sorry, but I’m not doing it.
Even though I call myself your servant, I’m not going to serve you . I’ll put your gift in a hole and give it back to you later, but I will not use it.
And that’s what got him into trouble.
If you stood before Jesus today, what would you tell him about how you have invested and used all he gave you?
-Please bow your heads-
Quote: “a ship is safe when anchored in the harbor, but that’s not what ships are made for.”
