19"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'
21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
22"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'
23"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
26"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
Talents - Two months wages.
Today, its not talents = money. Talents = investing their lives.
We all need to look into the word of God and not opinion of people.
Why did the master assign the talents that way? The master assigned to them each according to their abilities.
We are given opportunities according to our abilities. All of us will be given oppo in our lives, we will not ahve the same equal opportunities. Its not because God loves us less, but its because of our abilities, and because if that he entrusted talents to each servant.
1) We will not have equal opportunities
2) We will not have equal abilities
3) We do not handle responsibilities equally
Jesus gave OPPORTUNITIES, RESOURCES & SKILL.
The servant who got one; would think why the rest got more talents and he only has one?
Many of us are not contented with ourselves; we look at ourselves and we desire to be like our "idols".
God knows each and every one of us, he knows our abilities, he believes in each and every one of us. However, our problem is we are not contented with what we are given. Why so and so is so successful , why can't I? and a lot more of such questions.
Its about time, we embrace what God has given us, with contentment and gratitude, and decide what we want to do with our talents.
The servant with the one talent is afraid of losing the talent. The rest took the responsibility, they were faithful adn they went to work their talents. We always want the easy way out - we need to work hard.
Whatever God puts in your hands, put it to work.
It is God's desire to bless you, his desire to transform you.
Jesus is holding your hands, as long as you do not let go. No matter how hard times may be, because if you are holding on to God's hand you will come out victorious.
Five talents were a few things, "few things" and then he got promoted to the "many things".
If you run away from your responsibilities, you will be delaying your promotion.
If you are the person holding on to the one talent, we are given a few thousand dollars, we become afraid that we will lose the money, we hide it as we think its their hard earned money. But when we are called "wicked and lazy servants", how would we feel?
The moral of the story is this; everyone of us has abilities but we choose to bury it.
Mostly we are lazy people... said the bible... if we hide our talents.
Sometimes we cannot see beyond ourselves that we can multiply the talent.
SIdetrack: If I am the master, and i am giving the money why am i labeled a hard man?
In verse 24: 5So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.
If you do not even know what God has placed in you, you will always be afraid and always hiding. The man with one talent, did not feel that the talent belonged to him.
The master took the talent from him and then gave it to the one with five talents.
Is this fair? There are certain principles in life, the more you apply the word of God, the more you receive, the more you use it, the more you will not lose it.
Whatever God has given you, use it. SO that you will not lose it.
The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. This makes the most difference, we procrastinate..
We need to work on our strength, and not on our weaknesses. When we work on our strength, we double up really fast, but if we work on our weaknesses, then its always so much slower, that is not our strength.
The bible says: "You must forgive him 490 times in one day! Not in a whole lifetime." - Luke 17:4
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[a]
23"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
Footnotes:
1. Matthew 18:22 Or seventy times seven
4If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."
"Oh how many times have I broken your heart, but still you forgive if only i ask."
Thank you Lord, and please forgive me for burying the talents that you gave me. and Please forgive me for wasting your talents and that i was not a good steward for the talents you entrusted me.
Please do trust me again.
Amen.
When we want to reach our to people, we need to take care of this body of ours. If God is our everything, honour him, by loving ourselves, respecting ourselves and others.
If we all are trying to change, the work becomes harder when there are some who refuse to.
So we will all work harder!!!
Just a little snap shot of us @ church!
The Parable of the Talents
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