In this sermon on Matthew chapter 25, the preacher discusses the parable of the talents. He explains that the kingdom of heaven is like a man who goes on a journey and entrusts his servants with his goods. Each servant receives a different number of talents according to their abilities. The preacher reflects on his own talents and encourages the congregation to assess their own talents as well. He emphasizes the importance of being faithful and using our talents wisely, as demonstrated by the servants who multiplied their talents.

This recording is provided by Times Square Church in New York City. You're welcome to make additional copies for free distribution to friends. All other unauthorized duplication or electronic transmission is a violation of copyright and other applicable laws. This recording cannot be posted on any website. However written permission to link to the Times Square Church homepage may be requested by emailing info at timessquarechurch.org. Other recordings are available by calling 1-800-488-0854 or by writing to Times Square Church Tape Ministry, 1657 Broadway, New York, New York, 10019. Today I'm going to speak on the resurrection of the hidden talent. The resurrection of the hidden talent. This is a parable that Jesus spoke in the New Testament. And I was surprised when I began to prepare this message. And I began to look at it in the context of what I felt the Holy Spirit was speaking to me. I felt I was a two-talent Christian. After finishing the message, I feel that I'm a four-talent Christian. I asked Pastor Neil, how many talents do you have? And he said, I'm a three-talent Christian. Others knew it was a trap and they wouldn't answer me this morning when I was asking around. Unless you think that sounds boastful, it is not a boast. I believe that many who are here today, you're going to know before this message is over how many talents you have. You're going to know. It might be just an estimation, but heaven will reveal the exact number, but you're going to have a number. By the time we're finished, you're going to be able to meditatively reflect on a few things and say, yes, I'm a five-talent Christian. Now, that's not boastful to say that, and you're going to see that in a moment. Now, if you turn to Matthew chapter 25, please with me. Matthew chapter 25. I'm going to need my glasses today. My dear daughter went away for the weekend and took my large print Bible with her. And I'm just very thankful that my daughter took a Bible with her away for the weekend. But I'm going to suggest in the future that for the sake of her visually challenged dear father, that she should take another Bible and leave my large print Bible here so I can preach from it on Sunday morning. The resurrection of the hidden talent. Father, I thank you, God, for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Lord, this is not something that was on my heart. It was on yours, and you opened this to me during the week of prayer and fasting here in this church. And it's about your word. And God, I'm asking that you give me the ability that as far surpasses any natural ability that I may have. That you would give me insight and the capability of speaking simply, yet profoundly, of these truths that you've chosen to reveal to us at this time. Father, I pray for ears to hear. I pray for hearts to receive. I pray for faith to arise in every heart. Lord, truly you are wanting to move in the miraculous in our generation. I ask you, Lord God, for a very easy ability to speak this. And I thank you for it in Jesus' name. The resurrection of the hidden talent. Matthew chapter 25 will begin at verse 14. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one. To every man according to his several ability, then straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made with them five other talents. And likewise, he that had received two, he gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. After a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliverest unto me five talents, and behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. And his Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things. Behold, I'll make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. And he also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliverest unto me two talents. Behold, I've gained two other talents besides them. The Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things. I'll make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed. And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth, and lo, there that thou hast is thine. His Lord answered and said to him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received my own with usury or with interest. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it to him which has ten talents. For unto every one that has shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that has not shall be taken away even that which he has. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now before I even start to speak on this, there are some questions. As we look at this particular parable, I think should and probably do come to every one of our hearts. First of all, what are these things called talents? Now, it's been misunderstood, misrepresented, even mispreached over the years that talents are the ability to sing and play the guitar and do all these types of things. Many of you had these abilities before you came to Christ, and that doesn't all of a sudden make them talents once you're saved. You know, we even have stewardship weekends where we say, Give your time, talent, and treasure to the Lord. And the inference, of course, is that these giftings, some of which are not supernatural, they're just natural giftings, and they don't perhaps at least fully qualify as far as what this parable is speaking about. We ask ourselves the question, is God unfair? Why does he just give one man one, or woman, another person two, and somebody else five? And then at the end, when the poor fellow that had one and didn't use it has it taken away, why is it not given to the man who has four? Why is it given to the man who has already ten? Doesn't that seem rather unfair? These are questions we look at. I mean, if we're looking at it strictly from a mathematical sense, we can even come out of this saying, You know, I don't understand the reasoning behind all of this. Now, let's go back to the beginning. He says, The kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. Now, that's exactly what Jesus was speaking about. He was God. He had come from heaven. He had come to the earth. He had taken on a human body and human form. His name was Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. He called those that were going to be not only his ambassadors on the earth, but they were going to rule and reign with him as his bride for all of eternity. Those that he was going to redeem by his own blood. And then the scripture says he delivered unto them his goods. Those things that he had, those things that he brought with him, as it is. He brought this inherent power of God. He brought this incredible compassion, the mercy of God, the resources of heaven, as it is, were in Christ. And if you've been any amount of time in the word of God, you start to know that these resources now belong to those who are Christ's, who have trusted in him for their salvation. And he gave to them his goods. And I see these goods as the promises of his mouth and the power of his life to perform them. I have the goods of God within me if I have Christ in me. I have God's promises when I opened this book. And Peter, the apostle, says it the most clearly, that we are made partakers of this divine nature by these promises that are given to us in the word of God. Now, it's not just the promise, but it's also the power of the indwelling spirit of God who comes and makes these promises that he makes to us a reality in our lives. I've said it how many times from this pulpit. He takes us where we can't go, gives us what we could never possess, makes us a thousand times more than we are. This was the miracle of God's people that those who walked with him in the Old Testament knew. Jonathan, when he climbed up to fight the Philistines with his armor bearer, said it doesn't matter to the Lord to save by many or by few. There have been many throughout even Old Testament history who understood this. That God comes and when he has found a heart of faith, there's an unlimited resource of God's power and life available to those who call out to him and have a believing heart according to his promises. Now, in verse 15, it says he gave one five talents, he gave another two, and he gave another one to every man according to his several ability and straightway took his journey. Now, this is very interesting. If you look at it just for face value, it looks like God gave these resources of his life based on the man's ability or the woman's ability. It almost looks like he came down and he said, okay, you're a good speaker. Therefore, I'll call you to preach in such and such a place. Or you have a compassionate heart. So I'm going to send you down to the Bowery Mission and you're going to spend weeks and days giving food and encouragement to those who are living on the streets as if he took his goods and gave it to men who already possessed an ability. But you see, that's not really the context of this verse of Scripture. When you really tear it apart in the Greek text, the word several means a special relationship. It's the word used in the plural form in John chapter one, verse 11, and it means those that he was familiar with. In John 1, 11, it says he came to his own. Of course, in John 1, 11, it says in his own received him not. It means he came and gave his goods. Let me put it this way. To those that he was familiar with. To those who had a special relationship with him. It's to those whose heads, as it is, are leaning on his chest and listening to his every heartbeat. Those who don't have necessarily a whole lot of natural ability, but they're saying, Jesus, I love you. God, I love you with all my heart. I want to be where you are. I want to be doing what you're doing. Wherever you ask me to go, that's where I want to go. What you ask me to be, that's what I want to be. What you ask me to do. These are people who have a special relationship with God. That's what the word several means. And the word ability in the Greek is dunamis, and it means inherent power. The definition, as I read it, was powers and miracles that come out of the mighty power of God inherent in Christ and which power was lent to his witnesses and ambassadors. Now, this is strictly my translation, but here's the way I see this particular verse of Scripture. He came and he delivered his goods according to those who knew him and were open to receive his power. It really changes it. It's the several ability that comes through relationship. Those like you and I who say, God, I know you. I love you. I know who you are. I know your promises are true. I know you can't lie to me. I know you have the power to make every promise in this book a living reality. And I place no barriers in front of me. I believe that every wall that the enemy has erected in lands that you have destined that I should occupy has to come down. I believe that I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus who loves me. I believe with all my heart that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God, if you have asked me to do it within my life, it can be done. I do not look at impossibility as impossible any longer because it says in your text that with God all things are possible. There are things that are impossible with men but with God all things are possible. I believe this, God, with all of my heart. And God came and he called together these types of servants and he delivered to these servants his goods. Now the Scripture tells us clearly that we are given giftings of the Holy Ghost, that we are given a new mind, we are given a new heart, we are given a new spirit, we are made into brand new creations in Christ Jesus. The inherent purpose of God in Christ in leaving his church on the earth is that first of all the desire of his heart in seeing the lost come to him might be fulfilled. And secondarily that God through Christ might be glorified in the earth through a church that is made by this incredible life of Christ into what we could never even hope to be in ourselves. If we were left to ourselves what a miserable testimony for God this would be. There would be big people and little people and talented in the natural and untalented in the natural. We'd have all these divisions. But what I love about the kingdom of God is that he called all of his servants together and he just gives according to our relationship with him, not according to our natural ability. Thanks be to God. That's why Isaiah talked about this kingdom and he said the lame take the prey. Amazing. Those that are nobody and nothing, the Gadarene demoniac became a preacher in his generation going back into his community and telling them the wondrous things that God had done for him. A man who only dwelt among tombs and broke chains and cut himself with stones because of the terrible inner turmoil that was in his life now became a preacher of the gospel. I thank God with all my heart that the ground is completely level at Calvary. We and I don't bring. God doesn't want our ideas. He doesn't want our natural abilities. Most of these are a hindrance to the kingdom of God. He wants a heart that says, God, guide me, lead me, make me what you want me to be. Take me where you want me to go. And oh Jesus, all I ask more and above all of these things is that you be glorified through my life. God Almighty be glorified through my life. He gave all of these goods as it is to those who had a special relationship and were open to receive his power. Then he took his journey. Paul says in Ephesians 4, 7 and 8 unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore, he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now, in other words, he gave you and I the ability to do everything he's called us to do, to go everywhere he's called us to go, and we can conquer everything he's called us to conquer. This is what makes the Christian life an incredible life, folks. If you're not living here, it must be hard. That's all I can say. It just must be a hard place to be, to be aware of this, but not part of it. Learning, but not coming to the knowledge of what this truth is all about. To never have the Bible studies, but never have the Bible study you. To learn about all this power, but never experience any of it. To be walking around always living in the realm of natural thinking and natural strength and natural power, never ever walking in the realm of the supernatural. To me, that would be an awful, boring Christianity. Now, there were people before us who also had God's promises, and you're going to find that in the book of Numbers. Take a look at the Old Testament to the book of Numbers, chapter 13, and look at the people, of course, the children of Israel, who had all of the promises that we have today. They had the opportunities that we have today. Now, Numbers chapter 13. Now, in Exodus chapter 3, in verse 8, the intent of God was spoken about his people. He said, I've come down, he's spoken to Moses now, of course. He said, I've come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out of the land, that land, the land of captivity, into a good land and a large, a land flowing with milk and honey. That means a land with incredible provision. Exactly the place that you and I have been called into in Christ Jesus. We've been called out of captivity. We've been called out of bondage. We've been called out of this life where all we do is the mundane coming into this place of incredible provision that comes from the hand of God. Under the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. In other words, these are places God says that I'm bringing you into. Right now, they're occupied by other things. But those other things that occupy these places of promise don't have a right to be there any longer because I said I'm bringing you in. Now, God says, for example, you're a believing person. But right now, selfishness and incredibly large and walled selfishness is occupying this place that God says I have for you. But God says, don't be afraid of that. You have something else occupying this place of promise. But I'm going to take you in with my power and my promises in your life. If you have a believing heart, I'm going to take you in and these walls of selfishness are going to come down and you're going to be known for who you are. It requires a heart of faith to say, God, I'm simply going in. I'm going to believe what you say and I'm not going to be satisfied, Lord, until these things that you promised me have become a reality in my life. Now, Numbers chapter 13, verses 21 and 22, there were 12 men, each man a ruler from all of the tribes that were selected to go in and spy out this land that God had promised. Now, I'm a leader of you and I, even today, we're reading the Bible. And in some measure, today, whether or not you're a leader, you are spying out the land. We are going in today and you come with me on this journey and we're going to go into this place that might even be occupied. I realize that it might be occupied in your heart by something else right now, but we're going to go in and see what it is that God is speaking to each one of us today. Now, they went up, Now, we could insert in here in the New Testament, it says here the wilderness of Zin to Rahab, etc. We could say they searched it from Genesis to Revelation. And they ascended by the south and they came to Hebron and all these names are there. The children of Anak were there and Hebron was built seven years before Zion and Egypt. I could say if it was a testimony written about you and I, we could say that they went to the Friday night school of the Bible, they got into the book of Corinthians with Pastor William, they got into the book of Romans with Pastor Neil, they came in, they studied, they had their own devotional time, they went in and searched the land. And this is what we do when we're opening the Bible, folks, I want you to know we're not doing anything different than these 12 spies were doing. If we don't learn from history, that they did. We're going in, we're searching this land, and it says in verse 23, they came to the brook Eshol, and they cut down thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bared between two upon a staff, and they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs. And the place was called the brook Eshol because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel had cut down from thence, and they returned from the searching of the land after forty days. Now they spent a significant amount of time in this land looking at things, and they found this cluster of grapes so large, with so much provision, that they had to cut it down, and they put it on a beam as it is, a wooden beam, and carried it between two men who were in there spying out the land. And you see it the way you want, but I'm telling you folks, I see it as a complete type of Jesus Christ. You see, grapes were symbolic of wine and of provision. Now remember the first miracle that Jesus did is He changed water to wine in the New Testament. He referred to the life of the Spirit as a new wine which cannot be put into old wine skins, but has to be, or in other words, doesn't fit into old religion. It has to be put into a new vessel that has a new mind and a new heart, otherwise the old religion cannot contain this new wine that He spoke of the life of the Spirit in type. I want you to see this. You have two men, you have this incredible cluster of provision, this new wine that is on a board suspended as it is between them. Think of Calvary for a moment. You have two thieves. In between those two thieves is Christ, the provision of God for everything that you and I will ever need. Through Him, the new wine of the Spirit comes into the life and heart of those who reach out to Him by faith and receive Him as Savior. We have all the provision we will ever need in Christ. And you say, well, why was He crucified between two thieves? Assumedly, if these two men carrying these grapes was not Joshua and Caleb, then were they not thieves? Were they not men who had gone into this place of promise? They're carrying this incredible provision. They're aware of the cross. They're carrying it between their shoulders, but they're not partakers of it. They really don't believe it. Everything that God has said is there. They go into the promised land. They look and they say, yes, it's true. It's all true. But they really don't believe it. And folks, if you're in this Bible, especially if you're a pastor or a teacher and you're looking at it, but you really don't believe it, doesn't that make you a thief? Don't you stand before the people of God? And aren't you bringing an evil report of the Word of God to the ears of God's people by saying, yes, it's there, but it's not good enough just to walk by faith? Here, I've got some other methodology whereby we might take over the promised land. Does that not make you a thief? Oh, folks, everything in this Bible points to Jesus Christ. Christ is in every line, from in the beginning in the book of Genesis right through to the end of Revelation. He is in there. It's all about Christ. Everything points to Christ. They went into this land. They were carried. They came back into the camp as it is of the children of Israel. They had this incredible type of the provision of God in Christ suspended on a beam because that's exactly how the provision of God came to you and I. God suspended His Son on a beam and crucified Him in between two thieves. And that's where our provision comes from. That's where our life comes from. That's where the goods of God were released into fallen humanity. That's where the grace of God has come to us and literally makes us more than we could ever hope to be in our entire life. Now, these men came back into the camp in verse 24, verse 26. It says they went and they came back into the camp. And from the wilderness of Paran to Kadeshah, they brought back word to them unto all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told them and said, we came to the land where you sent us and surely it flows with milk and honey and this is the fruit of it. That's the type of a preacher, folks, or a Christian who just says, yeah, I've been in the Bible. Oh, yeah. And everything God says is true. Everything God says. It's a Martha type, whom Christ Himself is standing there and says, your brother shall live. And she says, yeah, yeah, I know you're the resurrection, life, et cetera, et cetera. He'll live at the end of the days. He says, no, you don't seem to understand what I'm trying to say. She doesn't believe it because it's just all in her head. She's they came back and they said, it's everything that God through Moses told us that it is. And then you find in verse twenty eight, this terrible word, nevertheless, the people are strong that dwell in the land. The cities are walled and very great. We saw the children of Anak there. It's like that man who goes to Bible study in Times Square Church and says, oh, it is a phenomenal the promises in the word of God. But nevertheless, I've only got a grade seven education. And I'm not a very good speaker. And I've never cared much about people. I don't like people touching me. I don't like touching people. And there's giants in my life. You know, it's true. It's true. Everything in the word of God is true. But for me, there are just so many giants in my life. There's so many walled cities, so many the Amalekites, verse twenty nine dwell there. And everybody knows how powerful they are in the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, and all the rest of them. And verse 30, it says Caleb still the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it. We're well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, we're not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. And they brought an evil report of the land. Now, this is incredible. You see, folks, it's possible to bring a positive report about what God has spoken, but an evil report about what God is able to do. And folks, that's I think that's in a lot of pulpits today. A positive report. Oh, yes, this is good. But an evil report about God's ability to perform the things that he could. He said he is able to do. And the ironic thing is at the end of all of this, in chapter 14, verse six, it says Joshua, the son of Nun and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes. And this is the passion of of men and women of God who have known the power of God. They have been a recipient of faith as it is. And they literally tore their clothes in exasperation and say, folks, has God brought us this far? Have you seen so much to turn back now to be just we've been brought through the Red Sea. And do you not remember how God brought us out of darkness, how he sent plagues on our enemies, how we followed this very clear pillar of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night? Have we forgotten all of this goodness of God? And now we walk in and see a few walled cities and a few giants and some some remnants of things that that God said he's destined to destroy. And now we're going to turn back and bring an evil report about the things that God has said. Folks, that decision still is as valid today as it was in their day. You and I have the same choices to make. We can come to this church. We can fast and pray and say, God, take me into your word. We can shout and dance and get excited. But ultimately, every man, every woman, every young person has to make their own choice to go into this place of promise to say, God, I'm going in. I'm going to have everything you've got for me and every way you've determined to glorify your life through mine, Lord, I'm going to let you do it. I'm not going to say no to anything. I'd rather die fighting a giant than live in the wilderness of doubt and unbelief. I'd rather die on this journey. And they speak to all the company. Verse seven in chapter 14 of the Children of Israel, saying the land which we pass through to search is an exceeding good land. Oh, folks, I can tell you this today. Pastor Neil can tell you, Pastor Patrick, Pastor William, Teresa, Pastor David, everyone who understands in this pulpit, all the elders you heard this week, this is an exceeding good land. This is not only incredible promises from God, but the promises are a reality. We have lived, we've seen, we've touched, we've tasted, we've known victory. He said, if the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey or flows with the provision of God only. Verse nine, rebel not against the Lord and neither fear the people of the land. They're bred for us. Their defense is departed from them. The Lord is with us. Fear them not. In verse 10, here's an amazing thing, says, but all the congregation bade stone them with stones. Now, if God hadn't appeared in his glory, they would have killed Joshua and Caleb. And it's an amazing thing. They here they are. They're supposed to be doing what David would one day do. They're supposed to be picking up these promises of God and literally casting them into the foreheads of their enemies. They're supposed to be tearing down contrary arguments to truth. They're supposed to be conquering in the name of their God. But yet they're picking up stones and preparing to throw them at the very men who are speaking on God's behalf and encouraging them to go into the promised land. And, you know, folks, these stones are a type of contrary arguments, contrary arguments against truth, excuses. It's an amazing thing. This is always the pattern in this church. We will always encourage you to move into the promises of God. We will always encourage you to become more than you are. We will always encourage you to obey God and let God's life, let the life of Christ be glorified through you. There will be people who will sit here for a season. They will shout with everyone else who shouts. But there comes a time when they will say no to God. No, I'm not going in. There are just too many giants. There are just too many things in my past. There are just too many walled cities. There are too many insufficiencies in my own life and power and character. And ultimately they will pick up stones and begin to throw them at the preachers of the gospel. It happens over and over again. They'll leave the house of God. They'll pick up stones and say, ah, enough of this drivel, enough of this preaching. It it leaves me nowhere. It does nothing for me, does nothing for my family. And they'll cast stones at the preachers and out of the house they go. Now, Matthew, chapter 25, if you'll go back there, please, with me where we started. We're going to talk now for a moment about the man with the one talent. Then he did it, received in verse 24, the one talent. He came and said, Lord, I knew you that you're a hard man. That's Matthew, chapter 25, verse 24, reaping where you've not shown and gathering where you've not strawed. And here, in effect, this man is throwing an stone at Christ. That's what he's doing. He says, Lord, you are the kind of man and I knew it. I knew it. I knew this the kind of man you are. You send me out to harvest and you send me out to reap and you don't you don't you don't even lift a finger to help me. You don't you don't do anything for me. You don't help me. You send me into all these impossible places by myself. And he said, I knew that's the kind of a man you were. I knew one day you were going to have me stand before you and I was going to give an account of of what I did for you. And and here you made no provision for me to do it. You gave me this measly little talent, this little deposit, as it is of your life, this this insignificant little measly talent. And so I just took it. And he said, I buried it in the earth. Now, notice he didn't say I took it and buried it in myself. He buried it in another place. And the word in the King James is he says, and there thou hast is thine. In other words, yeah, you gave me a promise or two. And here here's your promises. That's really exactly what this is speaking. He says, you gave it to me. It meant nothing to me. It didn't help me. So here it is yours. Take it back there. What you have is yours. You can't say here because it's never had an effect on him. He's never come into his heart. It's never become part of his life. It hasn't given him strength. And it was only a one talent. And the Lord answered and said to him, thou knewest thou wicked and slothful servant thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not and gather where I've not strawed. Now, this becomes interesting because this is actually it's not really correctly placed in the King James Bible because it is a it is a sarcastic question. That's in the original text. Here's exactly the way it's written in other translations. Oh, is that how you knew me to be? Oh, that's what you thought I was. You thought I was a man who didn't who called you to do things and didn't give you the power to do it. Is that how you thought I was? And it's really a sarcastic, rhetorical question. He says, well, at least you weren't willing to use what I gave you for my glory in your life. At least you could have given it to somebody who would use it. But you didn't even do that. I mean, you had the revelation of the promise. You didn't believe it. You didn't grip it. You never let it become part of your life. The least he said you could have done is given it to somebody else who could have used it. But you didn't even do that. You just took it. You buried it. And at the end of time, you said, here's here's your worthless promise. You could have it back. That's amazing, because the Lord looks down to this man and he said, take the talent from him and give it to him, which the man that has 10 talents. And he says and then he goes on. And I don't know where it is in here, but he talks to whoever. Oh, yeah. For everyone that has shall be given. Verse 29. And he shall have an abundance. But from him that has not shall be taken away even that which he has another place. It says even that which he seems to have give it to the man with 10. You know, in Numbers 14, 24, the Lord said, my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him and has followed me fully. Him will I bring into the land where into he went and his seed shall possess it. No, folks, I want to tell you something. God will give to those who want his life and there will be an abundance. It's not just in you, but it will affect your seed after you. I see in my spirit a man or woman who rejects the truth of Christ and then fathers a spiritual lineage and a physical lineage after them of just a people who just don't understand God and do little to bless the earth. God is not magnified or glorified to them. But I see another man, another woman. It doesn't matter where you've come from. It doesn't matter what your background is. Doesn't matter what a mess you've made in the past. But you make the choice to say, I'm going into the promised land and I'm going to take everything God has for me on this journey. And by God's grace and strength alone, Jesus Christ is going to be glorified. And God says my seed after me is going to possess it. I'm going to have children, whether they're physical or spiritual children. But nevertheless, I'm going to have children after me. My life is going to have an effect. People are going to look at my life and say, I know that God lives. Hallelujah. And there will be a lineage after me. There will be a hundred, maybe a thousand, maybe ten thousand come after me that will live for God, because I made the choice to honor him and receive everything that he has for my life. You know, folks, I told you at the beginning when I started, I thought I was a two talent Christian. Then I decided I was a four talent Christian. It's possible I'm a 20 talent Christian. Now, listen to me. This is not boastful. It's the weakest that needs the most talent from God, not the strongest. It's the weakest. It's the man. It's the woman who says, I know I can't do this without you, Jesus. I know I can't be what you've called me to be without your power. You have to make a deposit in me or I can't do it. I can't be kind if it's not your kindness that you have to deposit kindness in me. I have no wisdom unless you give me wisdom. I can't preach unless you give me the power to preach. My mind is too narrow. It's too limited. You've got to give it to me. And so really, this is an amazing thing. Like. There are instances in my life, as I was preparing this, where I know I've needed supernatural empowerment to go where Jesus has called me to go. I could not have gone there without a supernatural empowerment. There are no amount of courses I could have taken that would have given me the ability. Firstly, when I was a young Christian, I was saved almost two years. And it was I just could not be a stand up witness for Jesus Christ. I just didn't have the power. I could sing the songs in church and then I'd want to melt through the sidewalk when I see a Christian walking my way. And I was with some of my unsaved buddies at work. I just couldn't do it. And I remember getting so sick of my spirit. I wanted to, but I couldn't. I just could not stand up for Christ the way I wanted to in the first months in the workplace. And I remember driving my police car one day down one of the streets in the city where I was patrolling. And I was so mad, I punched the steering wheel. I was just furious. I said, God, I want to live for you, but you've got to help me in this thing. I can't do this thing. I can't. I can't. I want to, but I can't. And folks, it was just a few days later that I was in a meeting of ex-cons in a halfway house. They laid their hands on me and I was filled with the Holy Ghost. And God gave me my first talent. Not first talent as a deposit of his life in mind. You see, it's not about singing and playing the guitar. It's a deposit of his life in mind where I said, I can't go. I can't do this thing. And so he says, well, I can and I will do it through you because you desired me. I'll give you this. And he gave me his goods. Really, that's an amazing thing. And his life, his power. And folks, this is not a head trip. This is supernatural. Because the day after this happened, I was standing up for Christ. It was amazing, the difference. God had put a love in my heart. And I was standing up in the workplace and standing up everywhere I was going. And a compassion started to flow out of my heart. I was still a patrolman. I would go into places where, you know, the furniture is all busted. People are beating each other up. And I'd sit him down and say, listen, you need God in your life and tell him straight out. I was standing up by the grace and the power of God. And I got me into a lot of trouble. And I needed a I needed a further deposit. I remember as a young Christian, I was driving one day after having had my devotions in the morning. And and I read in Ephesians, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. And I thought, oh, my goodness, how am I going to do this? I mean, first of all, I don't even understand how you love your church. And our marriage in the beginning, Teresa and I was gone through some pretty bad water. And I said, God, I need you to do this. And I can't tell you the moment or the hour, but I can tell you that he gave me his goods and he put a deposit of his heart within mine. A talent. That's my second talent. And I started to love my wife in a way that I'd never loved her ever from the beginning when we it was a deeper love. It was a supernatural love. It was a love that is not conditional on anything that you see or feel with your natural senses. It was deeper. It was something in the heart. And it's amazing the love that God has put in my heart for Teresa and the love that she's he's put in hers for me. And it's an amazing thing to be able to say that I didn't know how to be a father. I was a very, very selfish man, folks. And I'm not exaggerating in saying that I was a very selfish man, very self-focused, self-centered. And to be a father was such a hard thing for me. And I saw it in the scriptures and I began to cry out to God. And I believe that's where another talent came. And he started to enable me to be a father to my sons and my daughter and beyond that now, even nieces and nephews and other kids along the way, just he put something in me which was of his life. And you say, at what point did this happen? I don't know. It happened the moment I cried out and said, you know, this it's my it's my gifting to be a father. But there are Hittites in that land right now and there are Perizzites and there's Amorites and there's other things dwelling there that shouldn't be there. And God says, no, I'm going to take you in there. You just have to have a heart of faith and I'm going to deposit in you a talent, which is another measure of my life and give you the ability to be what you're asking me for. I remember when God called me to preach the gospel and to leave secular security to pastor a church. And it's really not something I wanted to do, but he called me to do it. And I remember crying out to him, so I don't know how to do this. I've never been raised in a Christian home, even a Christian church. I have no idea what to do in this. And I cried out to the Lord and he began to simply guide me and deposit again another talent in my life and enabled me. See, folks, it's not the talented that need talents. It's the needy that need talents. It's the needy that need these deposits of God's life. And then even to come to New York is just so far out of my comfort zone. You have to understand, I was pastoring a little church. And that was a big step for me. You're talking to a guy that used to have panic attacks if I was singled out in the classroom, you know, and all of a sudden, you know, I'm pastoring. I got fairly comfortable with 150 something people on Sunday morning and knew everybody. And we knew each other rather intimately. It's a small country church. We're a very nice, tight knit family. It was actually a very pleasant place to be a pastor. And then I'm called here. And I remember the first time standing on the platform in New York. The lights were so bright, I couldn't see anybody's faces. There's 100 or so cultures in here. And I'm realizing, God, I'm probably stepping on 100 sacred cows every time I open my mouth. And I don't really have a frame of reference for all of this. And the Lord said, just call out to me, I'll put another deposit of my life within you and I'll give you the ability to do. And folks, I want to tell you something. You see, when I used to read this parable, I almost thought it was unfair that God took the talent from the man who only had one and didn't use it. And gave it to the man who had 10. I used to think, well, why didn't you give it to the guy? I'd give it to the guy with four. I mean, give the guy a break. I mean, he's out there. He's plugging away. You know, he's probably a lousy singer and he can play a few chords on the guitar and he's really struggling. And then so this talent becomes available and you give it to the guy that's already got 10. It hardly seems fair. What's the point of it? And then I began to realize this. The Lord opened this up to me. He says, I gave it to the man with 10 because you see, this man has become addicted to honoring me. This man has an open heart. He's got open hands. And he says, God, I'm looking for another opportunity to glorify you. I'm not just standing here, just hanging on to these few little things. But, oh, God, you've been so good. And we've been walking together in the miraculous. And I've known and seen your power. I've seen your glory in the sanctuary. I've known your glory in my life. You've taken me to so many places and you've done so many things through me that I know could never be done apart from your supernatural life in mind. I'm addicted to glorifying you, Jesus. I want more. I want more. I want you to take me more. I want you to broaden the stakes in my tent. I want you to put me in more difficult places. I want you to send me where I have absolutely no frame of reference. God Almighty, the world now has become the vineyard that you're sending me to. And I don't care where you send me. I don't care what kind of people it is. It's no longer. It's not about my might or power. It's by the Holy Spirit. It's the anointing of your spirit in my life. Hallelujah. Folks, the best thing that could happen to you today is you could get addicted to glorifying God through Jesus Christ in this house. Get absolutely addicted. Oh, God, enough of this in my life. Enough of the Hittites in this place. Enough of the Amorites occupying this place. Enough of this. I'm called to glorify God by the power of the Holy Ghost within my life. I have promises from a God who cannot lie. And God, what you said you're going to do in my life, you're going to do in my life. You cannot lie to me. In the last book of the Bible and Revelation, and let me just refer to it for time's sake, because I'm closing with this. There was a church called Ephesus and they were a Bible centered church, really. And to this particular church, Jesus said, you're a working people. I know your labor, your patience, and you cannot bear them which are evil. And you've tried those which are apostles and are not. And you found them liars. In other words, you're in the book and you know the book and you're a discerning body. You turn on the television, you know, a fraud instantly, you know who is speaking for God and who is not. And the discernment is only because you've been in the book. And he says in verse three, you've born and you've patience. And for my name's sake, you've labored and not fainted. But he said, nevertheless, I somewhat against you because you've left your first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen and repent. And he says, and do the first works. In other words, you've searched the land for many days and you've said, you know, things about me. But what about the first things? The first places, you know, we can get so deep in God, we can miss the first places. We can miss those first battles. God says, think back. My first call, the first deposit of my life in you was to rid you from selfishness. The second deposit was to give you a loving heart. The third deposit was to give you courage to be a husband, to be a wife, to be a father, to be a friend, to be a diligent worker in the workplace. I put deposits. But you see, you've you've buried those. Those are the first talents that I gave you. You buried them and you've now gone into knowledge. But he says, if you don't go back and do the first works, you're going to lose your candlestick. And the candlestick is the testimony. The testimony of the Christian is the supernatural life of Jesus Christ in us. That's the testimony. It's not just thrown back knowledge about God. As wonderful as that may be, the true testimony is a supernatural life that you're standing there. And it's not just what you say. It's who Christ has become in you. You're standing in the marketplace. You're standing in your home. You're standing in the workplace. And you're able to say, I am what I am because God has deposited his life in me, has changed me. And you have a candlestick in the midst of a darkened generation. You have a testimony, a vibrant, living testimony of Almighty God. And simple throwing back scripture at people in a darkened room is not good enough. You have to have a testimony. Now, this man had every opportunity at any time to go back and get that talent. But he chose not to. And then one day he stood before the Lord. And as I said earlier, he said, here, here's your talent still on the page. Still in red letter in the Bible, but never became a reality in my experience. But you and I today have the option. I can go back at any time and resurrect that very talent today. That very thing that God first gave to me. That first ministry that I may be neglecting, the power to go into the prayer closet. This very thing that God said, no, I have not forgotten. And I put three talents in you right in the beginning, but you've buried those in another place. Let's get back there. Let's go back there. Let's dig those up. Let's do it now. And I promise you that if you will do this today, you'll become addicted to glorifying God. You will. You become addicted. I mean, I am. Pastor Neal, I know you're addicted. Pastor Patrick, Pastor Williams, I know it. I have the privilege of walking with people who are addicted to glorifying Jesus Christ. Absolutely addicted. And the addiction is, you know, Lord, I don't have the ability to do this, but you do. So come and do it. And one more time, you'll be glorified. In this life. Hallelujah. How does the man with 10 at the end, how does a man with five know he's gained five? How does the man with two know he's gained two? It's easy. At the end of your life, you stand before God and say, God, you gave me the power to love my wife and I love her. You gave me the power to father my children and I believe that I have fathered them. You gave me the power to preach the gospel and I have preached the gospel. You gave me a new heart, a heart of love and compassion, and I have reached out and I've gained honor for your name. Through what you chose to do in me, I believed you. You didn't fail me. It's not presumptuous to one day stand before God and say, God, thank you for what you gave me. Because it honored you in my life. Hallelujah. I'd like to give an altar call today for those in the main sanctuary, the balcony, the annex. We're going to stand in just a moment. If the Holy Spirit today has shown you a deposit of the life of Christ that you have neglected. I'd like you to come and meet me here and we're going to pray that you head out of this sanctuary with a shovel and you dig that thing up and come back to God in that and let Christ be glorified through your life. The first things, the first things that God spoke to your heart, the Holy Spirit has to speak this to you. I can't do it. The Holy Spirit has to do this now. Let's stand. If he's drawing you, come join me here. Balcony, you can go to either exit. Annex, please just stand between the screens. We'll pray together momentarily. The first things. The first things. There's a song called Take Me Back. Take me back to your Lord. Take me back. Let the Holy Spirit just examine your heart right now. Is there something that God called you to do? Way back. And you buried it under a mountain of scriptural learning. It's buried. And the Lord says, I've not forgotten. And neither have you. I want to take you back. If you have the courage, God will do that for you. Pray with me, Lord Jesus. Thank you. For speaking to my heart. And for loving me. In spite of my failure. You've shown me. Where I've left some things. That you've given me. That I'm supposed to be. Walking. In victory. Today. I believe. That you are calling me. To pick up these victories again. Trust you for the strength. Trust you for the power. I believe. That I can do all things. Through Christ. Who strengthens me. The cry of my heart today. Is Jesus. Be glorified. In my life. Be glorified. In me. And I thank you. From the depths of my heart. Amen. I'll just give him thanks. Give him thanks. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Some of the greatest victories we'll ever experience. Is not with a big shout at an altar. It's with a deep inward. Understanding of what God is speaking. Go back. Go back. Times Square Church. Pick up those talents. Dig them up. You find God will be faithful to you. And I promise you. You will become addicted to glorifying Christ. This is the conclusion of the message.