In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of experiencing the Gospel and Christianity deeply before teaching others about it. He uses the parable of the talents from Matthew 25 to illustrate his point. The parable tells the story of a man who entrusts his servants with different amounts of talents (money) and goes on a journey. The servants who received five and two talents respectively invest and double their talents, while the servant who received one talent buries it out of fear. When the master returns, he commends the faithful servants and condemns the lazy servant. The preacher warns against laziness and encourages believers to use the gifts and opportunities God has given them to share the Gospel with others.

Close with the word from Matthew chapter 25. It's a long portion, but I'll try just to read it quickly. And we'll start reading from verse 14. Something which the people also said there, that they said, look, we have Christians in our country, but it's a superficial Christianity. Please bring us a Christianity, the gospel that will go deep. But how can we, we can never teach others about a gospel and a Christianity, a faith that goes deep, if we haven't experienced it ourselves first. We'll start reading from verse 14. For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each one according to his own ability. And immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. And likewise, he who had received two gained two more. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents beside them. And the Lord of those servants said, Lord, I have gained five more talents beside them. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. It's gone to verse 24. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid and went and hid your talent. in the ground. Look, here you have what is yours. But his Lord answered and said to him, You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Today is Pentecost, the day where the Holy Spirit was poured out. Many people pray and say, O Lord, pour out your Holy Spirit, fill us with your Holy Spirit. But remember God's word where he says, if you are not faithful in the small things, you won't be entrusted with greater things. You need to be faithful in the small things. One was given five talents, the other two, and the other one. It was not the same. The way God does things is different. Even people of one family will not all have the same gifts and talents. Now one can start a fight among brothers, and the one saying, well I only got one, you got two, or the other one got five, it's not fair. And we start fighting each other because the devil is in us. Eventually the Lord even said the one who had received the one should have that one taken away from him, given to the one who has five. Where he says the one who has, more will be given. The one who doesn't have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away. Why does he give the one five and the other one only one? Does he love the one with the one talent less than the other one? He loves everyone in the same way, for he gave his only begotten son to everyone. God is not evil, or doesn't do an evil thing when he does it in that way, but in his love he realizes that the one is capable of handling five, the other one only two, and the other one only one. So he gives them according to their ability. So don't blame God and say he's unfair, unjust, forgiving in different measures. No, it's only because God realizes that he's only capable of doing that one. And to the one, if he gives the one with the one five, he wouldn't know what to do with it. It would just go wasted. So don't say, oh God, why did you only give me one, I want five. Just a simple example, maybe you want a whole farm, but you've got a plot, or a piece of land, and it's full of weeds. You don't even make use of that. How then do you think you'll handle a farm if you can't even handle that little piece of land that you've got? How can you expect to have more when you're failing to be faithful in that little bit that you've got? Now when the Lord returned, he came and he settled accounts with each one of them. They personally had to give account. So he started with the first one, who had been given five. Now he had been diligent. Soon after the Lord left, he got to work and he multiplied what he had. The one with the two said, Lord, you gave me two, and I managed to double it. Now you received double what you gave me. The third one said, Lord, you gave me one talent, and I know you to be a hard man, and you don't want any mistakes to happen. So I took that talent you gave me and I buried it, so that it doesn't get harmed and doesn't go lost. Here you have what is yours. And the Lord answered and said to him, you wicked, you wicked and lazy servant. You see why he buried it? He was lazy. You knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming, I would have received back my own with interest. And he said, take away what was given him, because he didn't make good use of it. He said, take away what was given him, because he didn't make good use of it. Now here in the first place, we're not speaking about money and about silver and gold, but we're speaking in the first place about that which the Lord has given us, those spiritual gifts which he's given us. That which the Lord has given you, has entrusted to you, he wants you to quickly go and use it. But maybe you say, well what is it that the Lord's given me? He hasn't really given me anything significant enough. But what about that which the Lord did give you? He entrusted something to you, those words, that word which he gave you to share with others. But maybe you were lazy, you didn't want to sanctify yourself, you were lazy in doing that which the Lord has commissioned you to do. But he didn't give you something, he gave you a seven days. But what about what was given you as it is given to you? And what about the one which was given you, as it is given to you? You didn't give it. We're not giving it to God. We're not giving it to false evangelists. We're giving it to Satan. He's given you what was given to you by Satan, and he's given you another seven days. to you. What have you done with it? You've just been lazy and you've been an unprofitable servant. Are you unprofitable for the Lord? Who do you profit then? Are you profiting the devil? If you're not profiting the Lord. The Lord returned and he said, I will call them to account. I'll tell you a secret. Maybe I shouldn't even tell you this, but I will. When I was in the hotel there, there in the Congo, I took my Bible and read it. His Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you rule over many things. And when I read this that the Lord said you have been faithful over a few things or little things, and when I read that my heart broke. I'm not a woman, I'm not a child, but I cried and I said, oh Lord, have I only been able to be faithful in little things? I wept tears, I cried. I said, oh God, forgive me for having done so little for you. Forgive me, God. I've only done so little for you. Such a small thing. My heart broke and I said, oh Lord, have I only been able to be faithful in little things? It's all that I could do in 70 years. And over 70 years, so little that I have done for him and been faithful to him. Now you look at what you have done And that cut very deep where I said, oh Lord, that I've only been able to do so little for you. Help me, Lord, to be faithful, to be faithful that I can do more for you. Don't be distracted. There's something God has entrusted to you. He's given you something. Even though you may think it's small, but the big question is, have you been faithful in it? If you haven't been faithful, then you're on your way to hell. Are we faithful to God? Let us be faithful in that which God has entrusted to us. If we're faithful in that, God will entrust more to us. Now Jesus is amazing. He says, you've been a good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in that, those little things. Now I will make you responsible for greater things. It even says, I will make you ruler over many things. That's going to happen one day when we meet him face to face. But you can have the foretaste here already. Here, in this world, he can put you over many things. So many that you say, oh God, it's only your grace. Why? Being faithful just a little. Is there faithfulness in us? Faithfulness with our tongue in what we say. Faithful in just guarding our heart that we don't sin. All that we've got is what he has given us. Only your sin is yours. That's what you've got out of yourself. The others, it's all that he has given us. And even that servant who only got one. It was the easiest, was the lightest, was the easiest to handle. You just need one more and then you've got double already. He, we could say, was the most blessed of all. The one who had five had such a responsibility that he had to get another five to get double. And the one who had one, just one, maybe it would have just been a kind word. Not gossip, not talking about others. Those are satanic people. But only that which is good. Only small, a nice word. Not a word that hurts and kills and breaks down. Look at your fruit and see whose child you are. Gods or the devils. This servant's problem was that he was lazy. So, if you want the Holy Spirit to fill your life, be faithful in that which God has entrusted to you. God can't put you in charge and make you responsible for greater things. When you are failing to be faithful in a small thing, check your faithfulness. In your speech, what you say, are you faithful? In your prayer life, are you faithful? In your singing, are you faithful? In your worship and serving, are you faithful? When it gets to helping other people, are you faithful? In furthering the gospel, are you faithful? We can go on. Are you faithful? That's what the Lord expects from you. And the Lord said to this man, you wicked servant, you knew that I was a hard man and that I reaped where I have not sown. Why then didn't you go to the bankers, invest the money there? At least when I returned, you could have brought back that talent with interest. And you would have been thanked for that. Now what does that mean? Maybe you say, well, I can't preach. I don't know how to speak before people. I'm too shy. I was just given something small. I can't say it myself. Or maybe you see something. Or maybe you heard something. Or maybe you read something. And when you read it, it was a blessing to you and you thought, well, this could actually be a message. Now what? What you can do is, you can then, with that which you have read, you can go to the bankers. You can go to those who do preach. You can go to people. If you see something that's been a blessing to you and you cannot use it, bring it to me. Maybe I can use it. People can be blessed by it. And then you will get the credit for it. And then you won't be cursed one day when the Lord says you've been unprofitable. The one with the five talents immediately got up and got to work. He was diligent. And the second one, too. But the third one who got one. I don't know. I don't know. But the third one who got the one, he was wicked. He was lazy. His heart was also not right. There was something wrong. Like many people who are hypocritical. They are there, but their heart is not right. Their heart's not in it. They're just following their own aims and ambitions and goals. Their heart isn't in the work of the Lord fully. And there's something wrong inside. You better make that thing right before your Lord comes back and calls you to account for what you've done. And be faithful. Live a holy life. Live a holy life. And I thought, well, in the Congo, you can't just send anybody there. I said, Lord, who will we send here? Because when you're there, there are prostitutes all over. Someone who hasn't died to the lusts of the flesh will never survive there. He'll fall in a short time. Wherever you go, they wait at the gate. They wait at the door for you. And if you are not dead to sin, you're hell bound. If you're not dead to sin, pray and ask the Lord to work in your life. And if you're not dead to sin, pray and ask the Lord to work in your life. And if you're not dead to sin, pray and ask the Lord to work in your life. And he even repeated that. He said, has everybody heard that? These people do not allow sin. And if that's what they like, we want to open the doors for them. And he said, is that really what you believe? I said, that's what we believe. And if anyone doesn't live up to it, send them away. And he said, you can come, do what you like. Now, are you faithful? Now, are you faithful? You can stop praying, asking the Lord to fill you with His Spirit, if you are not faithful. If you don't live a holy life. Because if you pray and ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit and you don't live a sanctified and holy life, then it's like someone trying to pump a bicycle tire or tube and it's got a hole in it. You pump it and the air leaks out straight away. When I asked them there, the people of that organization, I said, are there no charismatics within your ranks? They said, no, they're not. They say, we want people who go deep in their faith. We don't want something superficial. We want people that are faithful and upright. We don't want the Toronto people here that just laugh. We want sincere Christians and genuine ones who practice what they preach. It's not what I say, it's what people outside say. And when you go to be a missionary, you've got to be like that. And I say, even if you're not a missionary, if you're a Christian, you've got to live a spotless life and be a good example and faithful in that. Otherwise, you're furthering the cause of the devil. That's what I say. And if there's sin in your life, you need to repent from it. There are people that say, well, we just never seem to get past that point. But there are people who don't even get to that point. Let us bow our heads. I pray, Lord, that your word will not be in vain. But may, Lord, everyone who calls himself a Christian be a true Christian, a sincere Christian, without spot or wrinkle. That his eyes will be pure. And that his mind, his thoughts, will be sanctified. And that the heart will be pure and clean. And that the lips will be sanctified and faithful, with no deceit and no wrong words coming out of them. Lord, go through our midst with your double-edged sword that cuts on both sides. And if there's someone who hasn't broken totally with sin, that he will break with it. Who hasn't been sanctified, Lord, that he will be sanctified, that he may be holy as you are holy. Amen. God's word says, God was and is and will be forevermore. If you meet up with God, you will meet up with the one who was there when you did those old things. When you meet with God, you meet with your past. And don't say, oh, the past is past. It's not past. If you didn't settle it with God. He's the God of the present. And He's also the God of the future. Those future plans, those ideas you have for the future. You will meet up with Him who, in that moment, will bring together everything that was in the past, that is now, and what you're planning for the future. And suddenly you'll see it in His light. So may everything that is of the past, and even which is of the future, and that which is of now, may it all be sanctified. Let us pray. Lord Jesus, please reveal yourself to us as the one who was there in the past. It doesn't help us if we just try and cover it up and that we deny it. And you being the God of the future as well, you who will be those thoughts, those plans we have for the future. And you are the God of the present, that which is now. Lord, may we know you as that God. Amen.