The Parable Of The Talents | Pr Matthew Chang

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We hope this message will light up your day.

The last time I was here, I don't think it

was that far off. I think so, quite a few

weeks ago. You remember what I spoke about? Trinity? Was

it Trinity? Have I preached to you guys about the

parable of ten virgins before? No? I thought I did.

No ah. So I never shared the parable of ten

virgins with you guys before. I thought I did. No ah.

I remember I preached about the Trinity before, yes. Have

I preached about the parable of the ten virgins before? No? Okay,

just a real quick recap. It's a three-part series, okay?

I thought I did because I was checking the Spotify.

I thought I did. But anyway, it's part of a

three-part series from Matthew 25. And it's a three-part series

because there are three key passages in Matthew 25. One

is the parable of the ten virgins. The second one

is the parable of the talents. And the last one

is what? The final judgment. Okay? A lot of times

when we read these three, we always kind of read

it separate, but they are actually kind of connected one. Okay? Connected.

Did I? No. Yes. No. No. I didn't. Okay. It's okay.

I will adjust next time. Okay? I will come and

preach about the 10 full religions another time. But let's

talk about the 10 parables today. Okay? The parable of

the talents is something that we've... read about many times.

But in the context of this, you know, whole chapter,

Jesus is giving what we call the Olivet Discourse. Have

you heard about this term before? Olivet Discourse? Do you

know what is a discourse? Sounds chunky, huh? Never use

the word discourse. It's sort of like a conversation or

a discussion, okay? It's called the Olivet Discourse because Jesus

was sharing it at the Mount of Olives. That's why

it's called the Mount of Olives there. And this is

his last series before he was going to be betrayed

and crucified. Final one. And being the final, what they

call it, discourse, right? He had a very specific agenda, okay?

His agenda was not so much about sharing, you know,

who is he? You know, what are the signs? No,

the agenda is more like preparing the disciples for what

is about to come. Because he has kind of like...

or deferred in the way he appeared to them. People

were looking for a saviour. People were looking for a leader.

But he was different. He was riding on donkey, very humble.

And instead of talking about the rule and the reign

and to bring Israel into glory, he kept talking about what?

How he was going to die. You want to follow

anyone who was always talking about how he was going

to die or what not? I'm going to die already tomorrow. How?

I'm going to die already. You want to follow me?

You want to follow someone like that? You don't want.

You'll be scared. You want to follow me for one weekend?

I'm going to die. Nobody wants to go like that.

But he keeps talking about he's going to die. He's

going to die. And then how he's going to be delivered.

But he still had so much followers because of the

miracles and the teachings that he carried. And so his

final discourse was about preparing them. Preparing them for the

end times. Preparing them for how the world will be

and how they can make it to the end. They

will make it finally to the end. A lot of

people want to enter into the kingdom of heaven. A

lot of people want to follow Jesus. But not everybody

will finish at the end. Okay, and he was trying

to tell you, instead of telling you just teachings, he's

going to share two parables with us to give us

the understanding of how it works. So one of it

was the 10 foolish virgins. Okay, and the other one

is about the parable of the talents. So this is

a very important context. Okay, this parable is not about

you discovering your talents. This, oh, ah, pastor, I can

sing already serving. Oh no, I can draw, I already drawing. Oh,

I can cook. No, this parable is not about you.

It's not about your talents, you know. No, no, no.

It's about you making it to the end. So you

understand this properly, okay? So now let's read it, okay?

So it says, for it will be like a man

going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted

to them his property. To one, he gave five talents.

To another, two talents. to another one, each according to

his ability. Let's just pause there for a while. So

we clearly know that this is a fictional story. It's

a parable. What is a parable? You know what is

a parable? A story, isn't it? Yeah, but it's more

than just a story. It's a story to communicate something.

It's a story to communicate heavenly principles. To earthly hearers.

It's like if you've never been to, say, Paris, okay?

How do I tell you what Paris is like? So

I give you, for example, we eat nasi lemak, they

eat French baguette, something like that. Oh, this is what

they eat. So the parable is to use earthly examples

to give you a preview of what heaven looks like.

So instead of giving you buildings, he gives you a

preview how the father operates, how the principal, how the

king governs. So he uses a story to illustrate how

it works, okay? So it says it's like a man

going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted

to them his property, okay? He says that one he

gave five, the other he gave two, another one. Now,

what is a talent? Any ideas? What is a talent? Money?

When you say talent, what's the first thing that comes

into your mind? Skill set? Yes, technically, you're not wrong.

But the way we came, talk about talented, a person

is talented, or can sing. Actually, the word talent, if

you want to refer to that, is about weight. So,

for example, if you can sing very well, I say, Wow,

you have a lot of weight. Doesn't sound very nice,

does it? You are very weighty. No, but talent means weight.

Because talent, if you, original meaning, it's about a talent

of gold. Talent of gold, you know how much money

is it worth or not? You have any idea? Anybody

want to guess how much money is it worth? One

talent is about 20 years of salary. How many of

you want one talent? One talent, one talent, pretty good already.

One talent is pretty okay already. I think it's about 6,000

denarii worth. One denarii is about one day wage. So

one talent is about 20 years of wages. I'm not

talking about CEO level. I'm talking about average working people.

20 years old. So it's a lot. It's a lot

of money. And it says that the master entrusted a

lot of money to them. It was something unusual that

a master would do. And he entrusted to the people

that he hired, his servants in his house. So, some

of them get five, some of them get two, some

of them get one. Regardless, five to a one, it's

a lot of money. Okay? So, now, in verse 17,

it says, sorry, verse 16, it says, he who had

received the five talents went at once and traded with them. Okay?

And he made five talents more. And so also he

who had the two talents made two talents more. Okay? So,

let's just pause for a while here. This is an

unusual request. Okay? Not very common. Okay? And it's very

rare in your life or in our world that you

will give anyone 20 years worth of your wages and

then to manage. Very rare one. You probably hire someone

who is like very experienced, specialised. investment banker to do

it for you as well. But he clearly trusted them. And,

you know, a lot of times when you give them

to do, there are risks, isn't it? Might fail, they

might squander it, they might steal it, you know, all

the possibilities as well. So as much as it is

a privilege, it is also a test, isn't it? It's

a test. Clearly, the master is trusting it and taking

a lot of risks. And all of us, like it

or not, we have talents. But the talents is also

a test to reveal what's really inside you. You get

what I'm saying or not? And so, what does it

tell you the first thing? That if Jesus is talking

about the end of days, right? What is God looking

for for believers? That you're blessed? Yes. He's looking to

see what's really inside you. You get what I'm saying now?

He's always testing to see what's inside you. And sometimes

He gives you responsibilities, talents, so that to see what

you say you believe, you say you love, you say

you can be faithful, you say that you want purpose

in life. give you to see what's really inside you.

You get what I'm saying or not? And a lot

of times when you have, you say like, oh, have

you heard many times, oh, I want my dream job,

I want my dream job. And once you get your

dream job, you start to become very afraid because you

realise that with a high position, high salary, there's a

high expectation to meet Like, not so dream anymore. True

or not? Not so dream anymore. It's like, oh no.

Then after you work six months, eight months, like, I

don't think this is my dream job. Then nowadays, the

in thing right now for many of the younger generation

is that I don't want to climb up. I want

to remain, you know. True or not? This is what

I'm hearing from HR. They don't want to climb. They

don't want to climb. They just want to remain. Everybody's

like shaking your, yeah, yeah, you're nodding your head. Yeah,

so I just did that. No, I was kidding. But

this is what I'm hearing. I'm hearing from people I

know who are seniors and also people. They don't want

to climb up. They don't want the responsibility. They don't

want the pressure. They can see. They see what happens.

I'm not saying, right, I'm not here to talk about that.

But it is what it is. Okay? Now, then, you

take risk to trade it. And it also says that

the master was away for a long time as well. Okay,

master was away for a long time. It's a long

time for you to succeed, a long time for you

to fail as well. You get what I'm saying? A

long time for you to succeed, a long time for

you to fail. Now, it says in verse 18, I'm

going to come back to this very shortly. Now, after

a long time, the master of those servants came, as

I mentioned, and he settled accounts with them. The next

thing we know is that the master always settles accounts.

Like it or not, he always settles accounts. A lot of,

you might not say, but I thought we, you know,

we preach grace, you know. Yes, preach grace, but somebody

must pay for it. You can say, you are blessed,

your daddy, mommy, but, you know, you get to eat

good food. Wow, you know, let's say, oh, but somebody

must pay for it. You know what I'm saying? You

must understand, somebody must pay for it. Yes, you experience grace,

but Jesus paid for it. There's no such thing as grace,

nobody has to pay anything. No, it came at a cost.

So grace is not, the true understanding of grace is

understanding the cost it took. If not, people squander it.

People trample on the grace. You do not understand the

cost that was paid. So everybody, a lot of times

when we preach, hey, but I thought we're living in grace.

But yes, but did you know the cost? Yeah, but

let's talk about cost, you know, then we go back

to legality. No, there's someone has to pay. Where until

you become a parent? You know what I'm talking about?

Somebody pays. Somebody pays, okay? Now, It's true. You get

to enjoy the tables and chairs. Somebody paid for it.

Somebody arranged for it. You like the espresso? Somebody paid

for it. We didn't pray for grace and suddenly appear

one and all. God was gracious to move the people's

and volunteers' heart to prepare for it, to bring it early.

It didn't appear out of nowhere. You get what I'm

saying or not? And now, it's your turn to be

gracious as well. Ah, there must be a cause for it, okay? Now,

it says in verse 20, And he who had received

the five talents came forward bringing five talents more, saying, Master,

you delivered to me five talents. Here, I have made

five talents more. And his master said to him, Well done,

good and faithful servant. Okay? Very powerful thing. Three parts.

Well done, good and faithful. Okay? Well done means what?

Not medium rare, okay? Ha ha ha! You cannot take it. Pastor,

why did you have to go there? Why did you

have to go there? I love steak, okay, so much, okay?

You know, for me, well done is medium rare, okay? Tune, tune, okay?

Now you have a steak, you know? Well done means

it's where it's meant to be. You are where you're

meant to be. You did what you're supposed to do.

You can't say no. Good is what? Good is what?

Who is good? Only God is good, isn't it? Isn't it?

Because in the Bible, the first time we heard good

is from who? God. Good, good, good. Then came on

the sixth day, very good. Did you notice that or not?

Only humans will declare, very, very good. Different. But good

means what? Good means what? It is intended according to

God's plan. You get what I mean, right? As intended

as God's plan. So God is not defined by me.

Good is defined by God. So when God intends and

declares it good, it meets His plan, His standard. It

is good. So evil is not just evil because you

feel like it. Evil is according to what God says.

It is not intended as that way. He says, well done,

good and faithful. You know, He's like, your heart, I

don't know what, from what you have been given and

what you accomplished for carrying so long It only proves

not just that you are profitable, but your heart is good.

You get what I'm saying? Your heart is good. You see,

when you go back, sometimes when I go back home,

I tell my children, I come back home, make sure

that the house is clean. I say, I don't want

to come back to a crime scene, you know. Sometimes

I go there, I was like, hey guys, so I

asked you guys to clean up, so am I coming

to a crime scene or not? Sometimes I go, Wow,

there's one crime scene here, one crime scene there. I

can tell you exactly what happened. You came in there,

you didn't look at anything, you didn't even go to

your room, you just dropped there, and then you went

to eat something already. I can see the footprint, you know.

I'm a Sherlock Holmes already. Wow, I've got crime scene here,

crime scene there, crime scene there. Okay? What am I

going to say already? What do I want to say already? Ah, faithful. Yeah,

what's it, faithful? Yeah. So, they can take the instruction,

but sometimes, You know, it's like, if I tell you,

I can really see whether you really, really believe it

and you carry it through by observing what you do.

So if you didn't do it, that doesn't mean that

you're a bad person. But the substance of what, you know,

you're called to be, to be my son, to not

just hear, but do, to not just know God's commandment,

but to do God's commandment, is missing. You get what

I'm saying, right? That's why Jesus said, if you love me, what?

Obey my commandments. True or not? He said, if you

love me, obey. So if you love me, don't just

know my commandments. Obey my commandments. Your children saw, if

you love daddy and mommy, obey our commandments. No other way, people.

It's simple because my commandments comes from me. It is

who I am. I desire this. I revealed myself to

you through my commandments. So, if you really love me,

do it. Simple as that. Okay? So, it is a test. Okay? So,

well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful

over a little, I will set you over much. Enter

into the joy of your masters. And he also had

the two came forward saying, Master, you have delivered to

me two talents here, I have made two talents more. So,

he master said the same. Well done, good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful over a little. Master said a little. Actually,

it's a lot. It's a lot. But he says over

a little. I will set you over much. It's not

20 years. It could be so much more. Enter into

the joy of your master. Okay, now, before I go

on to the third servant, which most of you are familiar,

what's a very important thing here to understand? What did

you learn from this? The first principle is that Don't

compare your talents. Don't compare your talents. Like I said,

a lot of times when you compare, your 20 years

of wages, I feel like nothing. True or not? Really,

sometimes what you have becomes diminished just for the fact

when you start to look at other people. True or not?

You got a car, nice car, yes. But then when

you look at your neighbour's car, then you're like, oh,

how come I don't have that car? it's so fast,

you can be so miserable. You had a great retreat,

then you just, oh, I saw Instagram or somebody travelling somewhere,

so I'm like, why can't I not like that one? Sometimes,

you can hang out with friends, you come back, you

can feel, you can pity yourself, you know, because your

friends spend most of the time talking, oh, your life

is hard, you know, I just renovated my house, had

to clean, oh, you renovated your house, what a big

problem in your life, you know. Oh, I miss my

BMW key. Can you find my BMW key somewhere? I

have a friend who loves to flex their BMW key.

Everywhere they walk, they must dangle the BMW key chain.

As if we don't know. But people are like that.

They're all laughing because you probably know somebody like that, right?

They sit with you, mamak. They must put the BMW

in front of you. So my wallet's so heavy, I

must take out and put there. Just to flex to

you one, right? You're laughing, you know, somebody like that.

Hope it's not you, okay? If I offend you, forgive me, okay?

But it's true. we all love to get attention for

ourselves you know one way or another one you know

and sometimes you hang out with them you know after

they tell you all their all their big burdens in

life you go back you know have a pity party

why my life so and then the next day you

already update your linking you want to find another new

job ready You're laughing, but it's true, isn't it? It's true,

isn't it? You know, we had the WCC, you know,

HR was listening and said, you know, they say the

tendency of people, you know, wanting to change job is

because of comparison. Not because of dissatisfaction. It's comparison. Whoa. Interesting, huh?

Imagine in our job right now, we don't have no

social media. No LinkedIn. Nothing to know what everybody else

is doing. No rich class. Do you think that we

will change jobs more or less? That's a good hypothesis.

Should do a research paper on this. Should we do

a research paper on that? Do you think that we

have more job changes or less changes? Difference, isn't it?

But so that, the world's like, wow, I find it interesting.

Biggest reason of change is not dissatisfaction, it's comparison. when

you start to compare, then your boss looks a bit

more evil already. Just kidding. He's like, my boss is

like that, you know, want to press me down, always

pressing me down, my colleague, you know. Because of comparison.

True or not? Unfortunately, that's the case. So first thing,

don't compare your talents. Really. This passage is not about

discovering your talents, but it's to know that you have.

But do you know what it is? Okay? Actually, you

think it's you know, no, it's singing. No, no, no.

Later on, actually, the three-part series, the reason why I

do three-part, because so that you understand what God really

requires from you. If you want the real definition of talents,

it's not measured by you. Talent is always measured by

the master. You want to know what's talent? You ask yourself,

what does the master require by the end of you?

And it's actually revealed in the third, passage, the final judgment.

Then we see what the real treasure, the real talent is.

What matters to God? That's the talent that He's entrusted you. Okay?

Then one another sermon, okay? Okay, then let's go to

the third sermon. Now, 24. He also who had received

the one talent came forward. This is my main message, okay? Master,

I knew you to be a hard man. reaping where

you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.

So I was afraid, underline that, and I went and

hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what

is yours. This is where all the, if you want

to talk about the parable, this sentence, this verse is

all about it. This is the most important verse, the

most revealing. This is the principle that Jesus is trying

to teach and to highlight to us the weakness of

the human heart. The condition, this is not talking to non-believers,

this is talking to disciples, you know. Remember, he's going

to go to the cross already. He's telling, there are

people that I'm entrusting talent to are going to say

this to me. They are going to reply this to me.

In the end of days, there are many people who

I'm entrusting talent are going to reply this to me.

You know what I'm saying? This is what he's saying.

So what did that servant say? who had one, and

hid it in the ground. And he said, Master, I

knew you to be a hard man. What is he saying?

What is a hard man? A hard man means, cannot

talk one, is it? You look at me, I say nothing.

Like gangster. You talk first, you talk first. No, that's

not what a hard man is. The hard man is,

he says, reaping where you did not sow and gathering

where you scattered no seed. What does that mean? It

means the master, he accuses the master as someone who

exploits the servants. That's why he's accusing, you know, that

you are a hard man. You exploit people. I find

you to be a very difficult man. You take what

does not belong to you. You reap and you gather

where does not belong to you. And because you are

like that, I am afraid When someone comes to you,

when you ask them to report, you go to a worker, say,

how's your sales report? How did you manage to do

what you're supposed to do? Did you do the project? Oh, boss, boss,

I was afraid. You know when you start off like that,

you're in trouble already. You know why? What does that mean?

When the person says, I was afraid, they are saying,

I'm a victim. True or not, I'm afraid. You must understand.

I was afraid. Different from the one who have five

and the two talent. Master, this is yours. But this

girl starts his performance report. I was afraid. Totally different setting.

You know what I'm saying? A place of trying to justify.

I was afraid because you are a hard man. And

because of who you are, even though you gave me

to entrust, I can't trust you And so I was

set up. I was set up. And because of this,

because I was afraid, I hid it. You see, it's

all about justifying, you know. It's because of who the

master is, what he did to me or might do

to me, he made me like this, and because of that,

the consequence I do like that. He hid it in

the ground. You know what does hiding in the ground mean,

you know? Hiding the ground, my thing is, hiding the

ground in ancient Jewish law means if you have any treasure,

if you're hiding the ground on behalf of someone, if

it goes missing, technically you're not liable one. Do you

know that? Oh, do you know that? In Jewish law,

if you hide it and it's got stolen, if I

hide it, I'm not liable for it. It is your

getaway card. You get what I'm saying? If I put

it in my house, I don't want to do it.

If it goes missing, I am liable. But if I

dig it in the ground, it's supposedly the most safe thing.

You can show that you did it in the ground

and then it disappears. Nobody can fault you because it's

a coin. It's not money. So he did the most,

what do you call it, the thing that can get

him away the most. I'm not a thief, I don't

want to steal, but I don't want any part of

what to do with you as well. Because you're going

to take from, you know, because it's going to take

my time, it's going to take my energy, and if

I justifiably, you know, earn more profit not because of you,

you're going to take from me also. You see, this guy,

this is the term I use, you know, he's drawing

boundaries with God. You understand what I'm saying? He's drawing

boundaries with God. God, I'm scared. But right, this belongs

to you. Everything else I earn, it should be mine.

You go so long, 20 years, are you going to

claim 20 years of my other income also? It's like

paying God tax like that. We try to ask for deductibles, deductibles, deductibles.

We're drawing boundaries with God. You understand what I'm saying?

That was how he was thinking for so long. And

I tell you, towards the end of this, many people

are going to draw boundaries with God. And they will

say that I couldn't produce because I was afraid. I

was like this. I was disabled. There will be many

people who will come out with thousand and one excuses

why they were afraid. Make sense or not? And you

don't have to look very far. You look in your

workplaces and you look at your homes, you realize that

it's everywhere. We all make the same excuse. Isn't it?

Because we draw boundaries with God. And so this guy

has nothing, want nothing to do. He said, I dig

it in the ground. If it goes missing, even my

master cannot sue me. Wow. How does that look like

in our present days? God, no, I'm going to do

the minimal thing. I will come to church. God cannot

say that I never served Him. I will listen to this.

I will do this. God cannot say that I wasn't there.

You will do the minimal so that God cannot blame you.

but you don't want him in any part of your life. Wow.

Would there be believers who are like that? There will

be many. That's the warning Jesus was trying to warn about.

So this parable is not talking about what's your talent.

It's about your heart. Does it make sense or not?

The revival, so we will talk about revival, is the

way you process God or not. Do you really think

God is a really exploitative God? You see, yeah. We

always think talent is, oh, you're talented in music and yourself. No, no, no.

Talent is much bigger. It's not just about money. It's

the lives. It's the lives. It's the opportunities. Today, not tomorrow. Today,

the opportunities with your family, your brother, your sister, your father,

your mother, your colleagues. That is why when you read

the final judgment, what did God require? When I was poor,

you fed me. When I was in prison, you visited me.

When I was naked, you clothed me. That is only that.

That's what God really requires, you know. But in the

end of days, many people will say, what? I was afraid.

Many people will say that I was afraid. Because Lord,

the people you give to me and everything, it's going

to affect a lot of things. Sometimes it could be

affecting my ministry, my business that I prayed for God

for so many years, my family, you know. There will

be many things that will qualify. Because God, you're a

hard man because I know that when I give my

heart to you, you require a lot. And the truth is,

it will require a lot from you. Make no mistake, people.

It will require a lot from us. You all know,

if you've been working with the Lord, you know it

takes a lot. Really, really. And some of the things

that in your life, you'll be like, you feel so lost.

You know why? Because God has called you. But the price,

the cost is stopping you from stepping out. It's really

stopping you. You're like, wow, God. I want to be

honest with you. When I came into full-time ministry, it

was the hardest thing that I ever did. One of

the hardest things. When pastor asked me, hey, you want

to consider coming to full-time ministry? You know what? I said, pastor,

I will think about it. When I said that, my

mind was like, I don't think pastor can afford me.

Why am I thinking pastor cannot afford me? Because when

I grew up, I had the impression of pastors, you know.

My dad would say, didn't grow up, you know, I

remember so clearly, I was sitting in a coffee shop,

opposite me was my school and my Methodist church, you know.

I was not Christian. I was not Christian until I

was a college student. They said, oh, then we saw

the pastor who was working there. Hey, then my dad

would say, hey, that's the pastor. I said, pastor, tough life,

very hard one. Eat kiam hu, eat kiam cai one.

You know, eat salted fish, eat salted veggie. Oh, I know,

when we played mahjong with him also, sometime mahjong, he

had to borrow money from me also. And I was like, oh, oh, oh, oh.

The dignity of a pastor is like, so it's the,

in terms of career, career choice, that's the last of

my last, okay. So I never, now it comes and

bite me back. It's how ironic it is. It comes

and bite me back. I was like, oh, I'll never

be a pastor. But Pastor Matt, Matt, you want to?

I said, Pastor, I will think about it, you know,

but I don't have a definite time. One day, I

was driving on the LDP drive to Puchon. I said, Matt,

Why are you hesitating? You know, one of the keys,

all of us want to know how to hear the

voice of God. You know, one of my checklists is

that when you hear a voice that ministers in a

way that you can never fabricate it, but reveals something

about you, that's very highly likely the voice of God.

If you know what I'm saying, when it ministers to

you in a way that you could never do, but

it reveals something about you that's very highly likely gone.

Very highly likely gone. When I hear the verse, Matt,

why are you stopping? And it's like, no, why are

you not saying yes? And God meets you in random places.

The times when I hear, God meets you in random places.

It's not in front of the altar. I mean, here

it isn't, but In the most unlikely places, He catches

you probably when you're most happy or when you're most sad.

And that's where He brings up something else. You know why?

Because that's when you're most vulnerable. Funny, huh? It's an

interesting one. This is based on my experience. You're totally

caught off guard. Oh, God brings up a question. Oh,

I didn't expect that. But you felt like you need

to answer it. But God, I need to feed my family, man.

Are you taking my family? It's simple as that. You know,

I'm not ready. And I told God, eventually He said,

I'm just afraid. I'm afraid. And I don't want to

enter into this reluctantly. God, I don't want this. I

don't want to lie to you. I don't want to

lie to myself. I'm not ready. Okay? But to pass that,

I'll say something else, a bit more nicer. You know, different.

But eventually God said, if it's not now, when do you?

Do you have tomorrow? I only need you for today.

I told you, these are things I could never say

to myself. And you know it's the Holy Spirit's prompting.

I will never say this is confirmed 100% God until

I see Him. But always be very careful. I lean

very heavily. I think this is God ministering to me.

It points like your weak muscle. Then you realize it

reveals something about you. This is what I needed to

settle with God. He always points at that one account

that you need to settle with. this is where I

want to meet you. Then I understood what God meant.

You know, you don't have tomorrow. You only have today.

And when you say yes, God remembers. God remembers. Some

of you, many of you have said yes many times.

You have asked before. You've forgotten already. Many of you

have forgotten many things. But I want to let you know,

God remembers. A lot of you think you're waiting for

God to move. No. No. God is waiting for you

to move because you have forgotten. You get what I'm saying? Okay? Now,

let me draw to a close here. So, he said that, so, Master,

I knew to be a hard man reaping where you

did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. So,

I was afraid and I went and hid your talent

in the ground. The last part, this is saying, this

is sadness. He said, yeah, you have what is yours. Sad, ah?

You want to see your parents, hey, dad, thank you

for raising me. You have what is yours. You see,

the love of a parent, the beauty of a love

of a parent for a child is that there's no boundary.

True or not? There is no boundary. You thought there was. Hey, okay,

I cut, I prepare a budget. But you realize, whatever

your child needs, you give. That's the beauty of a,

that's the, that's the, That's the miraculous love of a parent,

you know. It requires more and more of you until

the extent you never imagine it. But you realize that,

my response is, I will give whatever it takes. He

draws no boundaries. But this guy drew the boundary down

to the middle. You have what is yours. And by

him saying that, it reveals his love for the Master

and his relationship with the Master. That was a very

clear-cut boundary. And if you draw a boundary with God,

God draws a boundary as well. The sheep go to

the right, the goat go to the left. Funny, ironic.

What you do unto God, be careful. Be very, very

careful how we draw boundaries. So in the end of days,

there'll be many believers who will draw boundaries with God.

And in our own lives, us ourselves, it's not just

about the talent, but how are we handling the talent?

How are we drawing boundaries? the love that we are

called to have with God, it's really go no bounds.

It will continue to stretch you like children demand from you. Oh,

I plan to have six hours of sleep. Then when

you have your children, you only got two hours. It's like, oh,

tomorrow I don't want to go back already. I'm going

to get into a motel and sleep there. No, you

still have to go back. The love of God is

the same as well. And He did so for you

as well. Boundless people. Okay? Let's finish this. It says there,

but his master answered him, You wicked and slothful servant.

You knew that I reap where I am not sown

and gather where I scattered no seed. The version I

have was a question mark. Okay. You think, you really

think of me like that? Is that you really consider

me to be like that? He said, then, even if

that's the case, if that's the picture of me in

your life, you should have at least invested money with

the bankers. Okay. And at my coming, I shall receive

what was my own with interest. Because he forgets, you know,

the servant still serves the master. He's still paid by him,

live under his house. Even if you do not want

to do anything, you could have put it in the bank,

which was safest. It would not eat your time, but

it would still be profitable for the master. But you

chose nothing. The only thing you cared about was that

even if he disappeared, it was not your fault. When

you say that you have what is yours, you are

saying that you also have what is mine. True or not?

If I tell you, you have what is yours, I'm

also telling, this is mine. Oh, it's very sad, isn't it?

We're still trying to cling on and to keep to

things we want and we're trying to, you know, bargain

with God. So he took the talent from him. That's

a sad thing, isn't it? If you decide to draw,

God takes what is rightfully his. But when God starts

to take what is rightfully His, you realise everything belongs

to Him. Everything in our lives. Our job, our health,

our finances, families and everything, everything good that you ever

had comes from God. So He took the talent from

Him and gave it to him who has ten talents

for to everyone who has more will be given and

he will have an abundance. But from the one who

has not, even what he has will be taken away

and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness and

in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Two last points I share here. So the first point

was Don't compare your talents. Okay? Don't compare your talents.

What's the second point? Don't draw boundaries with God. Don't

draw boundaries with God. Third thing, don't lose your purpose.

Don't lose your purpose. When you lose your purpose and

your identity, you start doing things for yourself. Last one.

Don't be your own rewarder. Now, this is the last part.

How many of you like to reward yourself? I love

to reward myself. I love to reward. Join me here, okay?

Sometimes at night, after service, serving with the tea guests,

we had a winning Sunday. Now, the 8 o'clock until

12 o'clock is my time. you serve a long day,

you deserve this. You deserve it. How many of you know,

you deserve it? Order a nice grab, watch a nice,

catch up a new TV series, or just lay down there,

do nothing, you know, just scroll and doom scroll. You

deserve it. You hear what I'm saying? You deserve it.

And then you spend a little bit more, buy a

little bit more, enjoy a little bit more. We love

to reward ourselves. We love to reward ourselves. But what's

the problem of rewarding yourself always? You pay from your

own pocket, you know. When you reward yourself, everything rewards itself.

You're your own businessman. You're no longer a servant. You're self-employed.

You're an entrepreneur. And it means you're no master anymore.

You reward yourself. You see, it's not that we shouldn't

pursue reward, you know. No. If you look into, biblically,

everything God teaches, from the Old Testament to the New Testament,

It's all about reward system. Enter into the joy of

your master. It's a reward. Jesus talks about the end.

It's a reward, eternal life. God always dangles, you know,

a real reward for us. But the problem is not

the reward system, you know, the reward, the idea of

a reward. The problem is that the world teaches us

to reward ourselves. And once you start to get into

this idea, you know, I deserve, I need to reward, which,

by the way, comes from the Garden of Eden, the

serpent telling you, you know, you will be like God,

being wise, knowing good and evil. Reward yourself with wisdom.

When you start rewarding yourself, you distance yourself from God.

God says there is a reward system, but instead of

rewarding yourself, life's purpose and life's greatest goal is for

God to be your great rewarder. Do you get what

I'm saying? When you start to live your life with

God the great rewarder, instead of me rewarding myself, everything changes.

That is how the parable of the talents is really about.

Parable of the talents is not about the servants rewarding

themselves by drawing a line with God. Parable of the

talents is that God is looking for people who will

look for His reward, not their own reward. You get

what I'm saying or not? And because of that, a

lot of things that we do, we will not see,

we will not understand. Master, we've gone for a long way.

But those who want to reward themselves very quickly, you

will be gratified very quickly, but you will also be

very confused. And you go on longer, you will start

to have a different perception about the Master. Because my

reward versus God's reward. My reward feels more immediate, feels

more tangible, feels more controllable. True or not? Oh, the ma-ma-ma, okay.

But it's true. But the best example we ever had

was Abraham, isn't it? When he was down and he

was there, don't be afraid for I am your shield

and your exceedingly great reward. You see what I'm saying

or not? Abraham kept to that faith because he understood

that God is his shield and his exceedingly great reward.

And so, God's It's Jesus' teaching for us. Look to Jesus, people.

Don't let the world or the things discourage you. But

look to God to be your shield and your exceedingly

great reward. Amen?

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God bless!