(This transcript was generated by AI. Apologies for any inacuracies)

I wanna talk to you today in our teaching series that we have titled Echoes of the King about the time period that you and I live in.

Whenever you read the Word of God, it's very important to understand that God's Word was written over a great expanse of time.

And as His Word was written, it was written at different times.

It's a timeless truth, but it was written at different times to different audiences and different people.

And it's very important for you and I to understand in God's big story, the period that you and I live in.

And we live after the cross of Christ.

We live after Jesus died on a cross.

We live after the resurrection of Christ.

And we live after the ascension of Christ, but we live before the return of Jesus.

Come on, somebody.

So this is the dispensation, the era, the time period that you and I live in.

And God has some important things to say to us, the people of God who live in that time period.

And today we're gonna be looking at a story that Jesus told whenever he was here on earth and he was walking physically before he went to the cross, before he resurrected from the grave and before he ascended into heaven.

He spoke to those early disciples and told them this story, this parable in Matthew chapter 25 about as they waited on his return in the future, what they should be doing.

I love this story and I love this parable found in Matthew chapter 25 because it's really a masterclass, come on.

It's a masterclass to you and me who live in this time period about how to really experience God, engage with God and prepare for the eternal future and hope that God has in store for us who have put our faith in Jesus.

And God wants you to fully experience him, come on.

God wants you to engage with him in that relationship.

It's not just a relationship and God says, hey, I want a relationship for the future with you.

No, no, God wants to engage with you.

How awful would it be to be in a relationship with somebody that wasn't engaged with you in that relationship.

And so God wants to engage with every single person here and then God wants us to prepare for an eternal future because the Bible speaks of, there will be for those who are believers in the finished work of Jesus on a cross and his resurrection and his return.

There will be a great day of reckoning and there will be a great exchange that happens on that day.

And I'm gonna talk a little bit about that today because you need to know what you're gonna be exchanging on that marvelous day that prepares all of us for eternity with our great God.

The Bible speaks of Jesus arriving as a King.

That's what we celebrate this time of the year.

As we celebrate baby Jesus born in a manger, all of those stories that surround that, it's the arrival of the King.

And it speaks of the arrival of the King in Matthew chapter one, verse 21, it says this about Mary.

She will have a son and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Sin being a picture word, missing the mark of God's glorious standard, missing the bullseye of what God has created people to be.

And the Bible says that Jesus came to save people from their sins.

But the Bible also speaks of Jesus ascending into heaven.

And it speaks that he will gloriously show up one day as a ruling and reigning a King.

And that's found in Matthew chapter 25, verse 31.

It says when the son of man comes in his glory, come on somebody.

It says and all the angels with him, it says then he will sit upon his glorious throne.

And so you and I live in between those two time periods.

Jesus has come once, he gave his life on a cross for the sins of humanity, come on.

And we can be forgiven of that sin, be put back in a right relationship with God.

But the Bible says he ascended into heaven and he is returning one a day.

And we're closer to that day today than we were yesterday.

Come on, somebody.

And so at Christmas time, we celebrate his arrival, but this parable, this story we're gonna look at in Matthew 25 today, it challenges our response to prepare for his great return.

And so if you've got your Bibles with you today, I'd love for you to turn it to Matthew chapter 25, and we're gonna go through parts of this story.

It begins in Matthew chapter 25, verse 14, and goes there through the end of the chapter.

And you can read the whole story when you get home.

It's a few paragraphs.

But today, we're gonna talk a little bit about how God wants us as people to be empowered and engaged with Him to prepare for a great eternal future.

It's amazing when you really start thinking about time.

And again, I'm nearing 60 years old, and I'm like, you know what?

It just seems like I was 30 yesterday.

Anybody with me?

Come on.

And how fast 30 years went by.

But you know, as you begin to kind of prepare in life, you begin to think about eternal things.

Is this all that life offers?

This some 60, 80, 120 years this week, next week here on earth.

And it's not.

Life offers so much more.

And God offers us eternal life with him forever and ever and ever.

And he says, you can prepare your heart for that.

And you can begin to do amazing things with your life that's gonna pay what I call eternal dividends.

Come on, somebody.

Eternal rewards.

And again, God's gonna do amazing things in the hearts of his people.

And he's been echoing this same story down through the ages.

So let's look at this story found in Matthew 25 that Jesus told as actually it's against the backdrop to a question that Jesus was asked by his followers.

They were asking, when will your kingdom come?

When would the end of the age that we know end?

And Jesus was asked that question.

He basically says, you know what?

You need to stop worrying about when the end's gonna be and just be responsible until the end gets here.

Come on, somebody.

And so he shares this amazing story in Matthew 25.

He says, the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip.

He called together his servants and he entrusted his money to them while he was gone.

He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another and one bag of silver to the last, dividing it in proportion to their abilities.

He then left on his trip.

So we get here from this passage early on that the master, the one going on the long trip, he wanted every single one of the servants that were engaged with him to experience him.

Come on.

And I want you to know that God wants you and I, every single one of us in this room, across internet land and all across the world, he wants us to experience him in this life.

And so what God does is God dispenses his unmerited favor on humanity through Christ Jesus.

We call it grace.

That's what the word grace means.

It means the unmerited, undeserved favor of our great God.

And grace isn't only undeserved, grace is empowering to us if we begin to unpack what grace does in our life.

So grace is undeserved and grace is empowering to each and every one of us to live the life that God desires for us to live.

And so what we learn from this passage of scripture, every servant here in this passage receives something from the king.

Every servant experienced the generosity of the master.

Every single one of them experienced generosity from their master.

They were given something.

Something they didn't earn, something they didn't buy, something they didn't turn enough back flips to get.

They earn unmerited favor.

They earn something of great value.

Some of your translations would call it a talent.

They didn't earn that.

God generously gave the servants something until he returned.

And I want you to know today that God entrusts every single one of us with something until he returns.

The unmerited favor of God.

Did you know that the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross is the unmerited favor of God?

Anyone who would receive what Jesus did for them, undeserved, on that cross as he shed his blood on that cross experiences the unmerited favor of God.

And God desires that every single one of us experience his unmerited favor.

In this story, they were different gifts given, but the relationship with the master was all the same.

And again, that's the same thing in our life.

The relationship with the master is to all be the same.

We come to a relationship with our great God through the gift that he has given.

His name is Jesus.

It's undeserved favor of God.

It's the whole reason he arrived that first Christmas and was born in a manger.

Listen to what the Bible says about this Jesus in John chapter one, verse 14.

It says, the word, the word of God became flesh, that would be Jesus, and made his dwelling among us.

And the writer here says, we have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the father, look what it says, full of grace and a truth.

So before God will ever entrust you with any responsibility to do great things for his kingdom here on earth, you have to receive the grace of God because God never, he never entrusts responsibility before grace is given.

And so you've got to receive the grace of God to begin to understand how to manage that grace and use that grace for an all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere at one time God.

The reason God came and put on flesh is so that we could experience him in human form.

Come on, Bible says God is spirit, but he put on flesh and his name is Jesus because he wanted you to be in right relationship with him and he wanted you to experience him as a human being.

And God desires for every person in this room to know who he is and experience that right relationship that Jesus came to give.

You see, that's why we do everything we do as a church.

That's why we, that's our desire for every person that walks in and sits in a seat on a weekend is that they would experience God.

But not only that they would experience God, they would engage in that relationship.

And as they engage in that relationship, they would understand that life is longer than some 70, 80, maybe 120 years here on earth.

There's a future and there's a hope beyond death itself.

Come on, somebody.

And so we're intentional with the things we do.

Giving the hope and all.

Why do we do that?

It's not just because we wanna help some people who are a little physically just less fortunate than us here in this life.

And again, it's one of the reasons we do it because you know what?

God has been generous to us and we want people to, we wanna be able to take that generosity and expand it.

But not only so we can be generous and everybody can be equal in life, let's call it.

No, we do it so people can experience God.

In other words, the reason we do Giving Hope Maw and the way we do it is so that families can experience the heart of the Father.

Again, we just finished giving away almost $100,000 worth of presents to kids.

Come on. $100,000 to families in our community.

And again, the way we went about doing that is we do something and we say, hey, parents, you know what, you've had some challenging moments this year and what we would like for you to do is come in and shop for your kids and you take the gifts that you get for your kids and you go home and you put it under the Christmas tree so the kids experience a family environment and they begin to see their parents as the heroes of their family, of their life and we let the parents give the gifts to their kids.

But we were intentional with that for the very purpose of beginning to help children understand that you know what, there is, in the family environment, that there is a father's love that flows through the family environment.

And God, one of the greatest ways you can begin to understand that there is a heavenly father that is beyond, you know what, anything I could do as an earthly father is for us to begin to model that in our families by showing this generosity and that love through the family environment.

And so we're very intentional about what we're doing with Giving Hope Mall.

Yes, we want kids to open up the present, but chances are, you know what, that bicycle's gonna rust, come on.

A screw's gonna come out of the handlebar, and next year they're gonna be forgot about the freaking bicycle, okay?

But possibly they will remember that there was a family that loved them on Christmas, come on, somebody, and they experienced the love of God, and it's being intentional.

God wants you to be, to experience Him, and not only some of us, He wants all of us to experience Him.

That's why He gave His one and only Son on a cross, because Jesus wanted you, me, the next person, the next generation, the people across the globe, to experience His amazing love for God.

So love the world that He gave His one and only Son.

Whoever believes in Him, pay close attention, won't waste away, won't perish, but they will have eternal life.

Come on, somebody.

This passage teaches us that, you know what, God wants every person to experience Him, no matter who they are, no matter what their ability is.

He entrusts things to people.

He entrusts grace to people so that people like you and me can begin to experience that relationship in a powerful, powerful way.

Listen to what Psalm 34, verse eight says.

It says, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

Again, the whole reason we do everything we do, the whole reason, and again, sometimes it's hard work, but there's a whole group of people here that get out here and prepare breakfast for people that come here every single week.

Why do we do that?

Because we like cooking sausage and wrapping up breakfast burritos?

Well, it can be enjoyment, but the whole reason we do it is that people can begin to experience, you know what, something undeserved.

They wasn't expecting that when they came in.

It's something undeserved, and it sets the table.

It sets the environment for people to come in here and begin to hear a message that God is for them and not against them.

Understand, what you do with your life is God wants you to be intentional just like he was intentional so that others can experience his amazing love.

It's why he designed you the way he designed you.

It's why he gave you the gift he gave you.

It's why he has made you a part of his family.

It's not only so you can experience him, come on, but you can engage with him and begin to get this good news about a resurrected Jesus who gives eternal life and empowers people to be everything he has created them to be throughout this life forever and ever and ever.

Remember the time period we live in.

We live after the cross of Christ.

We live after the resurrection of Jesus.

We live after the ascension of Jesus, come on.

But we live in the great day and age right before the return of Christ, come on.

And he's gonna make all wrongs right and he's gonna put all evil in the abyss, come on.

And he gives us work to do until he comes back, which is the next thing I want to gather from this story.

God don't want you to only experience him.

God wants every person to engage with him.

Faithfulness to God is proven by action.

Let me state that again.

Your faithfulness to this relationship that you've experienced to God is proven by action.

Look what the scripture here says in Matthew 25, verses 16 through 18 about this story.

It says the servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and he earned five more.

He says the servant with the two bags of silver also went to work, come on somebody.

He went to work, he began to work the gift that was entrusted to him.

He went to work and he earned two more.

But pay close attention, the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and he hid the master's money.

Two servants acted immediately.

One servant did nothing.

I need you to know today that God has not unleashed His unmerited favor, His grace on your life for you to hide it and put it in a hole until He comes back.

This story is a masterclass on what you can be doing today with what God has entrusted to you.

And the Bible is crystal clear that God has entrusted each of those who are believers in the finished work of Christ on the cross and His resurrection, and that He is going to return, that there is a great God who has entrusted believers with abilities, we call them spiritual gifts, with resources, with tangible things and intangible things.

And what God desires for you to do to experience Him to the full is to engage in His mission here on earth, which is showing His goodness and His love to the people throughout the world.

In other words, the reason God gives us gifts is so that we can put the gifts to work.

I got a gift up here.

Now, imagine as a parent or a grandparent, you gave a young child a gift at Christmas.

And they're like, you know what?

It's pretty wrapping paper.

I think I'll just throw this into the closet until next year.

And I open it up.

None of us would expect a kid not to take the wrapping paper off and see what was in the box, right?

But again, somehow, some way, we think that God, what he's entrusted with us, wants us to just put that in the closet until he comes back one day.

Absolutely not.

This story teaches you so much more.

God says, would you open the gift and begin to use the gift?

Imagine with me, just for a minute, that you gave a kid a bicycle and they're like eight years old.

Brand new bicycle for Christmas, right?

Your expectation is to get on the bicycle and start rolling around the neighborhood, learn how to ride the bicycle, right?

But the kid was like, ah, heck no.

I'm gonna put this in here till I'm 80.

I'll get it back out of the closet and start pedaling when I'm 80.

We laugh at that, but this is how we treat the grace of God.

The empowering gift that God has placed in our hand.

God, I'm just gonna wait.

God, I'm gonna put the gift in the closet.

God, I'm gonna wait till next year till I'm a little bit more spiritually mature.

No, no, no, no, no.

Listen, they went to work.

The two servants went to work immediately.

They began to multiply.

They began to share.

They began to engage with the gift, use the gift, because they trusted the heavenly Father.

They trusted the one who had gone on the trip.

They recognized that they had been entrusted.

Everybody say entrusted.

They had been entrusted with something, and what they were to do with what they were entrusted with was not put it in a hole and hide it.

They were to multiply and do great things and permeate the earth with the gift, let's call it.

You and I are created in the same way.

You're not to just experience a gift.

You're not to just get the gift.

You're to enjoy the gift, come on, somebody, but you're to leverage the gift and make a difference.

Don't be a person who just celebrates Christmas but never engages with the mission of Christmas.

Again, God didn't come in a manger just so every year you'd go, that's a cute little baby in that manger laying on that hay.

Look at that beautiful teenage mother and his earthly father, Joseph, and those three wise men that came from a distance off.

Those shepherds, they came out of a field singing, oh, glorious songs, it's a beautiful picture.

Did you know that God didn't put that baby in a manger just for you to go year after year?

That's a beautiful picture.

No, he put that baby in a manger to later go to a cross so he could resurrect from a grave so you could understand the power of the living God and he was gonna entrust you with something and he was gonna resurrect your life and he was gonna use your life and he was gonna do great and mighty things.

Put the gift to work, my friend.

It's a beautiful picture and God's been echoing this down through the ages, the moment the first man and the first woman stepped out of relationship with God and didn't manage or do what he entrusted with them and went against God, sin entered the world.

Someone asked me this week, why do bad things happen in this earth?

Let me give you a clear answer because humanity, sin, and sin is missing the mark of God's glorious standard.

And the moment that first man and that first woman missed, we have an inherited nature bent towards a sin.

Sin entered the world, but God declared from the very beginning that he would send a seed that would take care of the sin.

He would crush its head.

He would a victory over it.

His name is Jesus.

He would rise from a grave.

And I need you to know today, this Jesus has come once, but he's coming again.

Come on, church.

But what's amazing is, when these things, whenever people receive the gift of salvation, that they think that, you know what?

They're never gonna have any more challenges in life.

That is untrue statement.

Jesus says, in this world, you will have tribulation.

You will have trials.

He says, but take heart.

Come on.

He says, because I have overcome the world.

Understand, just because God's entrusted you and empowered you with his amazing grace, don't mean that life is gonna be trouble-free.

But what it does mean is you're being given all the gifts you need to keep focused on the hope of eternal life in Christ Jesus, and you can keep leveraging your gift through every season and every storm, because you have trusted who God is.

Don't hide your gift.

James 2, verse 17 says this, it says, faith by itself, if it, it says faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead.

So understand this, it's one thing to give your faith lip service.

It's another thing to say, you know what?

I know God has entrusted me with his one and only son and the gift of salvation that he has given me.

I know that everything I have in this life is to leverage for eternal life.

I know that, you know what?

My future isn't at the end of this decade, but my future is eternal and it goes on forever and ever and ever.

And the Bible says that those who trust and put their faith into action, that there's gonna be one day a great reward for those who put their faith to work.

The Bible speaks of two judgments at the end of all time.

One of the judgments is known as the judgment seat of Christ.

Let me explain clearly what that is.

The judgment seat of Christ is at the end of time where God is going to take those who have not believed in the finished work of Christ on a cross in his resurrection and his great return.

Those who have not believed on the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sin.

You can't earn it, you can't buy it.

You can only trust that free gift.

That those who have not believed that, the Bible says they're gonna be put in eternal abyss.

They're gonna be put in eternal flames, in eternal fire with all evil.

And it's gonna be separated from God forever and ever and ever.

That's one side of the great white throne judgment.

The other side is those, and many of us in this room, who are believers in the finished work of Christ.

And we're gonna spend eternity with a real God forever and ever and ever, where there will be no evil, there will be no pain, there will be no more sorrow, and all of these kind of things that go on in the hearts of people today.

And the Bible says that we're gonna spend eternity with a real God forever and ever and ever.

That's known as the great white throne judgment.

But the Bible speaks of a second judgment.

And that's for believers.

Those of us who have believed in the finished work of Christ on a cross.

And it's known in our scripture as the judgment seat of Christ.

And what that says is that every believer, look at your neighbor and say, are you a believer?

Say, well, get ready.

Tell them to get ready because judgment's coming.

Why do I say that?

Because the Bible says that, you know what?

There's gonna be the judgment seat of Christ, not to decide whether we spend eternity with God or without God.

But where we're gonna receive all that's in store for us in all eternity based on how responsible we were with our life as a believer.

And again, Jesus speaks to this in this parable, in this story.

And this is what he says.

He basically says, you know what?

I wanna prepare you for the great exchange because it will be a great exchange.

But here's how he maps it out in Matthew 25, verse 19.

It says, after a long time, their master returned from his trip and he called them to give an account of how they had used his money.

Every servant had experienced the goodness of God.

Matthew 25, verse 21 says, for those who used it, says the master was full of praise.

Well done, my good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful in handling this small amount.

Everybody say small amount.

Small amount.

No matter who we are today, what God has entrusted us with on this side of eternity is a small amount.

This is an eternal story, an eternal parable.

And he says, for those who have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities.

Let's celebrate together.

Judgment seat of Christ.

Look what it says in Matthew 25, verses 26 through 30 about the one who didn't leverage the resources that was given to him.

You wicked and lazy servant.

If you knew I harvested crops I didn't plant and I gathered crops I didn't cultivate, why didn't you deposit my money in the bank?

At least I could have gotten some interest on it.

Then he ordered, take the money from this servant and give it to the one with the 10 bags of silver.

To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given.

And they will have an abundance.

But from those who do nothing, even the little they have will be taken away.

Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Christmas looks back at the manger, the Christmas story.

But this parable looks forward to the day of reckoning, which is the return of Christ.

And I don't want you to mistake anything I'm saying today, but the judgment seat of Christ will reveal to the believer how faithful they really were with what was entrusted to them.

And again, we don't earn our salvation, it's a free gift.

Everybody say free gift.

Free gift.

That comes from God.

And so God gives us salvation through the sacrifice that Jesus made on that cross.

And every one of us who received that free gift of salvation can be forgiven of our sin.

But grace is so much more than that particular just one-time gift.

The Bible says now God lavishes spiritual blessings upon those who believe.

And how you leverage those blessings in this life will determine how you spend all eternity, which is a really important concept because you see, a lot of us think, you know, well, it's all gonna be the same when we get there.

Well, the Bible declares something totally different.

The word of God says something different.

And I wanna show it to you.

It's found in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10.

It says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each of us may receive what is due for us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Revelation 22, verses 12 and 13 says this.

Look, Jesus says, I am coming soon.

Bring in my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.

I'm the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

And so again, if you take the Bible in context and you begin to put things together, you begin to understand that there's gonna be these two judgments to separate the believer from the unbeliever.

But those of us who are believers, there's gonna be a day of a reckoning where we're gonna receive great eternal rewards of how we invested this good life, this grace-filled life that God has given us.

And here's my challenge.

What are you doing with what God entrusted to you?

Are you putting it to work for the kingdom?

And again, you're not working for salvation.

You can only get that through what God did on a cross, His name is Jesus.

But when God lavishes and empowers you with this amazing grace and gives you that amazing grace, His expectation is for you to understand that there is eternal life and go to work and be on mission with Him and help other people know who He is, understand His goodness so that they live in eternity with you and me and we're to put those good gifts to work.

And it's an amazing, amazing concept to get because it changes everything.

I begin to understand that I'm not created to be a spectator, I'm created to be a participator.

Come on somebody, I'm created to put my gift to work.

And here at ous Church, we don't only want everybody to know who Jesus is, we want you to know what Jesus has empowered you to do.

Because when you face Jesus at the judgment seat of Christ as a believer, my heart is for every man, woman, boy, and girl to hear these words.

Well done, my good and faithful servant.

You took what I placed in your hands and you didn't put it in a hole somewhere and hide it to my return, you put it to work.

Come on in, let's celebrate together and spend eternity together.

Thank you.

In closing today, I wanna tell an age-old story about a young teenage boy who belonged to a very wealthy family and it was time for him to graduate from high school and his father had enough money to buy him anything tangibly that anybody could ever want in life.

And so the young boy said, you know what I want?

I want a brand new Chevrolet Corvette.

And he made that known to the father, that's what he wanted for graduation.

And the father was wealthy enough, not only could he buy him a Corvette, he could probably have bought him a tent, he could probably bought him the whole dealership.

Come on, somebody.

And he said, that's what I want.

I want a Corvette, spin my tires, drive fast, do donuts in the street, be cool for the girls, come on.

And that's what he wanted for his graduation present.

And so when it came time for graduation, the father handed him a gift.

My friend, just like the father, your heavenly father, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, has handed you a gift.

It says, here's your gift.

And as the young teenage boy opened his graduation present, he pulled something out that looked a lot like this.

And it wasn't a Corvette.

It was a Bible, it was the word of God that his father had given him.

And the boy got very upset and very mad because all he wanted was a Corvette with shiny bells and whistles.

And it's what he requested and the father could have gave it to him.

So he basically laid the Bible to the side, put it on a shelf and decades went by.

Some 40, 50 years went by.

And the father who gave him the Bible became terminally ill.

And so the boy said, well, I think I'll go see my father because they had been estranged for many years, many decades.

So I think I'll go see my father on his death bed and tell him goodbye.

But before he went to meet with his estranged father, the one he became very upset with because he didn't get a Corvette when he was a young graduating teenager, who the father had given him the word of God.

He says, he pulled the old dusty Bible off the shelf and decided to open it.

When he opened it up and he got to the back cover, he found something that looked a lot like this.

And it was a note with a key that said, here's the key to your brand new 1966 Corvette.

You can pick it up today at the dealership.

The boy threw 40 to 50 years, the gift that he could have been driving around for all of those years on a shelf.

Because you know what he didn't realize, what had been entrusted to him.

The father had given him everything he ever wanted and everything he ever needed.

But the boy in his selfishness threw it on the shelf, forgot about it and never experienced the power of the gift.

Why do I tell you that story, my friend?

Because some of us, all of us are aging and we're getting closer and closer to that day of reckoning.

That day when you're gonna come before your heavenly father and he's gonna say, I entrusted you back whenever you became a believer with everything you ever needed and everything you could ever want.

If you're willing to engage with it and begin to use it and experience me to the fullest, you'll hear these words, well done, my good and faithful servant.

But I don't want anybody in this room, no matter what background you come from, to get to the end of your life and you say, man, it was there all the time and I wasted it and not hear those words, well done, my good and faithful servant.

You need to know today, eternity is a lot longer than your some 70, 80 years here on this planet.

Come on.

Some of us, none of us are promised tomorrow, but what God has promised us is salvation in Jesus Christ and he has entrusted us something for our eternal future.

The question is, are you gonna have the faith to put to work what God has entrusted you as a believer in Jesus Christ?

Can you bow your heads please?

Throughout life, some important people in my life have gone on to be in eternity.

And I do know that some of those people, because they understood what God had entrusted to them, heard when they got to the other side.

Well done, my good and faithful servant.

I know that there's others that have wasted their whole entire Christian life away.

And my friend, I don't want you to waste your Christian life away.

If you're a young person in this room today, salvation is a free gift.

Turn to God today and receive all that he offers you and put it to work.

If you're an old person in here today, a person that has things going on in your body, I invite you today that it's not too late.

Put it to work and begin to hear those words.

Well done, my good and faithful servant.

There's a great God and a good God, and he is for every single one of us.

In this world, you will have trouble, you will have challenges, but you have a good savior, a good God, a God that lavishes every single thing you need and everything you could ever want, but you got to open your eyes by faith and receive it.

And begin to use it and understand that he's the father of all good gifts.

Put your gifts to work.

I don't know what every person's gift is in here.

I don't know what every potential is in here, but I do know that if I've been entrusted with one, two, five, what I've been entrusted with, what God expects me to do is put it to work.

I'm not here comparing my gift to your gift because that's the enemy that wants to get in your soul and say, well, they got more than I got.

Stop looking at what they got and look what you've got.

Because God has given you a good gift to put that gift to work and he will multiply that gift if you'll trust him by faith.

And the question is, have you trusted him as savior?

But not only have you trusted him as savior, are you engaging with the gift?

And are you gonna hear those words at the end of this life here on earth?

Well done, my good and faithful servant.

Eternity is amazing.

And God offers everybody here, not just some few years here on earth, but he offers us eternal life.

And my friend is a gift from God.

And he don't want anybody to walk out of this room today and not experience that.

And so if you're sitting in your seat today and you're saying, man, I've never experienced the grace of God, the unmerited favor of God.

I invite you today to put your faith in Jesus.

The gift of salvation that God gave on that cross for my sin and your sin and everybody else's sin over 2000 years ago.

He shed his blood, he gave his life.

He died a death that he didn't deserve, that I deserved and you deserved.

But God in great exchange says, here is the free gift of salvation.

Would you receive it and receive eternal life?

And my friend, if you've never done that today, maybe you just wanna say, God, today I repent of my sin.

I turn my heart towards Jesus.

And I receive that free gift of grace in my heart and in my life.

And God, I want that empowerment all the days of my life.

And I wanna be in right relationship.

And I wanna hear those words, well done, my good and faithful servant.

Tell God, thank you for that gift.

There's others of us in this room.

We've been journeying with God for a lot of years.

But God's tapping us on the shoulder right now and saying, it's time to stop playing games.

It's time for you to understand, I've entrusted you with a lot.

I've empowered you with good gifts to do great and mighty things for my mission and my kingdom.

I've empowered you to bring up there, down here.

And God's challenging you right now through the power of the Holy Spirit that lives in you and said, would you put that gift to work?

Would you begin to take that gift out of the closet and understand I'm the father of all good gifts?

And would you use it to expand my kingdom, to bring up there, down here?

There's one thing that Jesus said he would build and it's his church.

My question is, are you partnering up with Jesus and helping him build here on earth what he said he would build?

And it's the church.

He didn't promise he would build a national kingdom.

He didn't promise he would build a personal kingdom for you.

But what he did promise is he was gonna build his church and he was gonna be the king of kings and the Lord of lords.

And he is entrusting each of us as his servant to put our gifts to work and make a difference in this world.

The challenge for you and the challenge for me is what am I gonna do with what God has entrusted to me?

I'm not here today to tell you what all your gifts are, but I'm here today to challenge you.

If you have to face Jesus at the judgment seat of Christ tomorrow, will you hear those words?

Well done, my good and faithful servant.

I invite you today to respond to God.

In a moment, we're gonna sing a song together.

The altar is gonna be open.

Maybe today you just need to come meet with God up here at this altar, and you need to pray.

There'll be prayer partners up here to receive you.

There'll be places for you to kneel.

You just move as God moves today.

But God, I pray today that it wouldn't one leave this room during this next song unchallenged by the power of your Holy Spirit.

And God, you would encourage each of us across this room on the internet to put to work what you have placed in our hands.

Jesus, thank you for eternal life.

Thank you for building your church.

We worship you today.

We surrender to you today.

We believe you're the all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere-at-one-time God.

We pray this in your holy and precious name today.

Amen.