The aim of this lesson is to let us know that God has deposited great treasures in the life of every believer and it is our responsibility to find out what the treasure are and work with them for God.
We want to discover what hidden treasures means, how to discover them, the benefits of trading with your talents and the consequences of abandoning your gifts.
Outline
1a. Hidden means to keep something or somebody in a place where they cannot be easily found
b. Treasures means collections of valuable things such as gold, silver, diamond etc.
From the above discussion, it means God has deposited valuables in a secret place in the mind of every believer.
c. Who are those that God endow with treasures. I Cor. 12:7: Every Christian are given a particular gift which is to be used in the house of God and for the glory of God. For example, the Samaritan woman in John 4 did not discover any talent in her life until Jesus told her things about her private life and since then she started the work of an evangelist. John 4: 28 – 29
d. The gifts that were bestowed on the Church. I Cor. 12: 8 – 10
I. Word of wisdom
ii. Word of knowledge
iii. Faith
iv. Gift of healing
v. Working of miracles
vi. Prophecy
vii. Discerning of Spirit
viii. Diverse kinds of tongues
ix. Interpretation of tongues
e. Talents: It is the natural ability to do something well. All that were mentioned above are gifts and it is only given by God to anybody that pleases Him while talents are natural ability in the life of everybody, they are within you. No matter how great or small a believer is he / she will have at least one talent if not more
f. How to discover your talent
i. Through prayer
ii. Divine revelation
iii. Direct voice from God
iv. What you like to do always (interest)
v. People may tell you what they notice in you (your grace)
vi. Bible reading
g. Apportionment of talents. Matt. 25:15: God has given everybody talents according to his / her ability, many can do more than five works in the Church without one affecting the other while some cannot do more than one work at a time. God knows our limitation. Don’t be ashamed of your talent, if it is sweeping or cleaning, do it to the best of your ability because you will be accountable unto the Lord Almighty.
h. The reward. Matt. 25: 21, 23, 28 & 30: Anyone who trade with his own talent will be multiplied, blessings here on earth and everlasting joy. Anyone who fail to use his own talent will regret it, the talent will be withdrawn from him and will also end up in the gnashing of teeth
I. Conclusion: Do not fail to use your talent because you will give an account even for all undiscovered talents because it has been given to you.
