Using Your Talents - Life of Christ Part 66

I want us to play a little word association game.

What I want to do is I'll say a word or two and then you tell me the first thing that pops in your mind. Ready? Here we go. San Francisco 49ers. Winners.

Yes, that's right. San Diego Chargers. Well, I'll tell you what popped in my mind. Sacrificial meat.

How about this one? Washington Redskins. Used to be's.

How's that? Washington Bulls. Bullets.

Never have been's. And so the saga of the bullets goes on. You know, there actually was some light at the end of the tunnel. It seemed like Chris Webber came to town. Marvelous player. But then, of course, he dived for a ball on the ground out in San Francisco and separated his shoulder and now for months and months he's been out.

The bullets are 9 and 27. Lost 19 of their last 22 and off to the worst record in their undistinguished history. But there was a great article in the Post a couple weeks ago. Interviewing Chris Webber. I don't know if you saw it. He talked about his walk with God.

It was a very interesting article. And he also talked about his injury. And here's what he said.

And I quote. He said, it's hard not to feel depressed. All I do is watch television. There's nothing to even sleep for because that's all I do. You feel useless. I don't even want to go to practice.

And it's so hard just to sit around when you can't do anything. Here he is, rising star, franchise player. First round draft pick, rookie of the year last year in the NBA.

All the activity, all the hubbub around him. And in one swift dive for a basketball, it's all gone. Here he is on the shelf for months and months.

Completely sidelined. All those opportunities gone. And as I read that article, I kicked back and I said, you know, there's a spiritual lesson here. It comes from Ephesians 5, verse 16. And there it says that we should make the most out of every opportunity.

While we've got it. Because we don't know how long we're going to have it. To put it in more common language, you've got to make hay when the sun shines because you don't know when it's going to rain. And I got to thinking, you know, it's funny, isn't it, how fast life can change in a flash and suddenly opportunities that you had are all gone and then they're not there anymore?

That's what happened to Chris Webber. Now in our passage for this morning that we're going to study, this is exactly the subject that God wants to talk to you and me about. Making the most of the opportunities we have right now at this moment in time to serve Jesus Christ and make our lives count for Jesus Christ because we don't know how long we're going to have those opportunities. And I hope that as a result of us working our way through this passage that God will really speak to our hearts about the way we live everyday life, about our priorities and how we're using the things that we have for Christ or not using them.

And I hope it will change your life as a result of hearing the Word of God this morning. I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 25, say, Lon, I thought we're studying the Luke's gospel. Well, we are, but I like Matthew's version of the parable better.

Same parable, but I like his version better. So we're going to use Matthew 25. Now while you're turning, let me remind you this is a parable that's for Christians. This is not telling people how to become Christians, but this is telling us as Christians how we are to live between the time of Jesus's first coming and the time of his second coming. In that interval, God wants us to live a certain way.

And that's what this parable is all about. So that when he comes back or that when we die and go to meet him, we're properly prepared for that meeting. Let me just say before I start this morning that if you're here and you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, that God also wants you to be prepared for that meeting with him, except that this parable is not telling you how. The way for you to be prepared is to take the very first step of preparation, and that is to stop trusting anything you've ever trusted that you can do to pay for your own sin and earn eternal life, to junk all of that, and instead put your total trust in what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross. That's preparation number one.

And if you've never done that, then that's what you need to do before anything else. Now, if you have done that, then this parable goes on to tell us as Christians the way we can make preparations for that meeting we're going to have with Christ. So let's look at it together. The parable happens in two scenes, and scene one starts in verse 14. The kingdom of God, Jesus said, will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. And to one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to the man's ability. Then he went on his journey. And the man who had received the five talents went out at once, put the money to work, and gained five more talents. So also the one with two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

Now the man in the parable who's going on the trip represents Jesus Christ, of course, who went back to heaven and is going to return one day. In the meantime, he allocates to his servants, that's us, he allocates to us his resources, and the talent that's used here is not talent like we think of it, like tap dancing is a talent. This is money. It was a measure of money in the ancient world, and it was a lot of money.

A talent of gold in today's prices represents about $450,000 worth of gold. So he left these talents, this money, to his servants with the clear expectation that they would invest them and use these talents for the master's profit until he came back. In other words, he wanted them to act like investment brokers. He did not want them to act like safe deposit boxes.

Well, how did they do? Well, the first guy took his five talents, and he went out and made five more talents with the five that he was given. I mean, this guy was kind of like the Dean Witterstein of the Bible. You understand what I'm saying? And then the guy with two, he went out and made two. But the guy with one went out and buried it in the ground and went about his business living for himself and did not do one blessed thing to try to advance the cause of his master while his master was gone. What's the real issue that separates these three servants? Well, it's this, that while their master was temporarily away, the first two servants dedicated themselves to their master's interest. They invested, managed, and they increased what he gave them for his benefit, for his glory. The third guy, by contrast, spent all of his time while the master was away advancing his own interests, living for himself, and not doing one thing to advance the interests of his master.

You see the difference? Okay, that's the end of scene one. Scene two, verse 19. And after a long time, the master of those servants returned, and he settled accounts with them. He decided to audit his servants. And the man who had received the five talents, boy, he was so excited, he brought the other five with him and said, Master, you gave me five talents, and look, I gained five more. Look what I did for you. And his master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness. He gets rewarded, both with the smile of his master and now with an even increased opportunity to serve his master. I'm going to give you many things now.

I don't know that I would call $2 million a few things, but all right. Now, the second guy, look, verse 22. And the man with two talents also came and said, Master, you entrusted me with two talents, and see, I gained two more. And his master replied, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in a few things.

I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness. You say, Lon, wait a minute, didn't he say the exact same thing the second guy, and that was exactly what he said to the first guy? Yeah, exact same words. Even though the first guy had made five and the second guy had only made two, the master said the exact same thing to them.

He was just as pleased with them. Now, hold on to that. We're coming back to it. How about this third guy? Well, the third guy comes, and in verse 24, he says, Master, I know you're a hard man, and I know you harvest where you don't sow, and you gather where you don't scatter, and I was afraid maybe that I'd lose some of your money if I tried to invest it. So I went out, and I hid it in the ground, and here it is. Here's your one talent back.

I didn't lose any. And the master says to him, You wicked, lazy servant. Say, Well, that seems kind of harsh. No, it isn't, because what he was given, the master was just an excuse. That wasn't the real reason.

The real reason had nothing to do with being afraid of losing any of the money. The real reason had to do with the level of personal devotion and dedication this servant had to the master. You see, instead of using the time while the master was away to advance the master's interest, he used all of that time to advance his own interest.

He didn't do one thing for the master, and that's why the master says, This qualifies you to be called a wicked, lazy servant. And then he goes on to say, Take the one talent this man has, take it away from him. Give it to the guy who has ten talents, because everybody who has is going to have more, and the people who don't have, it's going to be taken away from them even what they have.

You say, Lon, that seems unfair. The first guy already had ten. Why give him another one? He already had plenty.

Ah, but see, that's the point. The point is, the first guy was confident. The master was confident whatever he had, five, ten, eleven, he would use them properly to advance the glory of the master.

That's why the master was happy to give him another talent, because he knew he'd use it right. The guy with one didn't even use the one he had right, so the master took it away from him and said, You don't get any. Now let's see if we can figure out the message of this parable. We've already said the master represents who?

Jesus Christ, right. And the servants represent who? Us, as Christians. Us, that's right.

Christians living during the time between Jesus' first coming and second coming. Now what are these talents? Well, they represent all the things that God has given each one of us that God wants us to use to advance his cause here on earth. Certainly it includes money that we've got, but it's much more than that. It includes our health, our time, our energy, whatever fame or position or influence God might grant us in the world. It includes our skills, whether they're athletic skills, music skills, leadership skills, communication skills, organizational skills.

It includes our spiritual gifts, whatever they may be. And the point is that for those of us who say we are Christians, God's expectations is that we will take all of these things that he's given us, we will dedicate them back not to serving ourselves but to serving him and to trying to advance his cause here on earth. Folks, this doesn't mean that everybody in the world ought to be a missionary. It doesn't mean everybody in the world ought to be a preacher. It simply means that whether you're an architect, a carpenter, a cook, an artist, a singer, a teacher, a military person, a senator, a congressman, a government worker, an athlete, a mother at home, a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker.

It doesn't matter. It means that whatever you are, you've dedicated your life to making it count for Jesus Christ using whatever gifts God's given you. And it doesn't even mean you have to be in the spotlight. You can serve God by making meals for new mothers. You can serve God by praying for people. You can serve God by making hospital visits.

You can serve God in ways that you'll never get the spotlight, but it's still advancing the kingdom of God. And the message of this parable is one day Jesus Christ is coming back, and when he does, he's going to evaluate every single one of our lives to see how we use what he gave us, whether we used it for him or not. The truth is, my friend, as a Christian, you don't have to live this way. You don't have to live this way.

You can live for yourself if you want to. But there will come a day when every Christian will wish that they had lived this way. Now, that's the end of our parable, but, of course, we've got a real important question. And you all know what it is. What's our question? So what? Very good.

So what? I was thinking this week about all the unwritten rules in sports. You ever thought about all these unwritten rules that are in sports?

Here are a few of them, all right? If a guy's pitching a no-hitter, you never what? You never talk about it.

That's not in a book anywhere. You just don't do it. Here's another one. If you're playing pickup football, the losers always take the walk. Why is that after a score? I don't know.

It's just the way it is. Here's another one. Never, ever put your finger in somebody else's bowling ball.

Just a no-no. You just don't put your fingers in my bowling ball. All right, here's another one. If you're on a team bus, the coach always sits in the front row.

And if he's sick or dead, the seat stays empty, but you better not sit in it. Here's another one. Never, ever step on a golfer's putting line, you know, between him and the hole. You just never, ever do that. It's just not in a book. It's just not done. Here's another one. In pickup basketball, how come the offense always calls the fouls? Why doesn't defense ever get the call?

Well, they just don't. Here's one. When the coach ends a long meeting by saying, any questions, nobody better ask one. That's one. That means the meeting's over. Don't ask.

And here's the last one. When you're playing mixed doubles in tennis, you never, ever smash the ball at the woman, if you're a man. Is that really true? I mean, I thought the point of this was to win. And if she can't take the heat, she ought to get off the court. That's kind of how I see it. You understand.

What do you all think of that? All right. I'm actually kidding. I'm really kidding. But you are awake. I did wake you up, didn't I? Uh-huh.

I got you now. I would never, ever do that in mixed doubles unless the game was on the line. If the game's on the line, all bets are off. But if the game's not on the line, you don't do that.

That's not good. And I had a guy come up to me and say, you know, some of us don't play sports, Lon. All of those go right over our head. I said, okay, well, you're a musician. Give me one from the world of music that's kind of one of those unwritten rules. And he said, the conductor is always right. And then he said, but he isn't. I said, okay, well, I'll share that.

So if you're a musician, that's for you. Now, what's the point? Well, you say, the point is that I think when it comes to serving the Lord, you've all heard a message about serving the Lord, serving the Lord, serving the Lord.

And friends, I'll tell you what. I think there's a lot of myths and a lot of unwritten rules that are doled out in those sermons that are not biblically correct and cause people to really make some bad choices and really get in bad places in their life when they try to serve God. Sincere Christians who go out to do this following these myths and unwritten rules and really get themselves chewed up. So I want to spend the rest of our time talking about some unwritten rules about serving the Lord that are not true that we need to be careful of. Now, here's some of them. I have three to give you. Here's the first one.

Ready? The first unwritten rule is don't worry, be happy. In other words, hey, we're covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. We're the children of God. God loves us unconditionally. God doesn't want us to be stressed out in any way. God just wants us to relax and enjoy the world and appreciate all the things He's done for us here.

He doesn't want us to put ourself in any uncomfortable situations. And if something comes along where you can serve God, that's great. But definitely, you know, don't knock yourself out because God loves you and God cares. Now, is that really true?

I don't think so. In fact, I want to show you another verse in the Bible. Would you turn back with me to 2 Corinthians 5? And if you're using our copy of the Bible, it's page 818. 818 or 2 Corinthians 5, I want you to look at a verse with me and see if you think God's saying, don't worry, just be happy when it comes to this. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. And while you're turning, just let me remind you, this verse deals exclusively with Christians.

And look what it says. Verse 10, for we must all, Christians, appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one of us may receive what is due us for the things that we did while we were in our bodies, while we were here in this life, whether good or bad. Now, this has nothing to do with going to heaven or hell.

These people are all in heaven. But it says when we get to heaven, God is going to conduct a performance review for every one of us. He's going to evaluate everything we did while we were here in our bodies, how we used the gifts, talents, and abilities He gave us, whether we used them for ourselves or for Him and with what motive. And He's going to dole out rewards or lack of rewards based on that evaluation.

Now, I don't know about you, but I think that's a pretty scary appointment. Look at the next verse, verse 11. Paul says, since then, we know what it is to fear the Lord. I like the way that King James translates it. It says, therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord.

Fear of what? Fear of getting there and standing in front of God who has x-ray vision and sees right through all the plastic that we throw up for people to the real truth. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you're not going to fool God, period.

And man, when I think of God stripping all of that away and evaluating things the way they really are in my life, that's a terrifying thought. Paul said in light of that, man, we're out here preaching the gospel. We're out here trying to persuade people.

We're out here trying to make our life count because I want to get to that day as prepared as I can possibly get when I have to stand in front of Christ and that happens. You know, I work out three times a week. You say, Lon, you look great. Well, thank you very much.

I appreciate that and God bless you. But anyway, I do and I go to the health club Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And the first thing I do when I walk in as part of the routine is I go get on the scale. I hate that part of the day. That's the worst part of the whole day.

Because, you know, I mean, that piece of chocolate cake you had and, you know, the few, you know, the things you ate around midnight, you know, when you were up kind of just chomping down, you know, man, they show up on the scale. So I always get on with my eyes closed. Do you do this? You know, I make sure nobody's looking because they'll think I'm weird. But I always kind of get on with my eyes closed and then I kind of like peek. Have you ever done that? You know, kind of just barely open them and go, oh, no. Because it's so easy to drift up, huh?

I mean, nobody ever drifts down, but you drift up real easy. And Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I know I have that appointment with the scales. I want to tell you something, knowing I have an appointment Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with the scales really does help me live different Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. When that piece of chocolate cake's put in front of me for dessert and I know tomorrow I'm getting on the scales, it makes it easier to go, I don't really think so.

Because I know I got an appointment with the scales the next day. Now, what I'm trying to say to you, dear friends, is that as Christians, we need to remember that when we get to heaven, there's a big scale waiting for us right there. And every one of us is going to have to get on it.

There's no way we're going to get around it. And God loves us, yes. God loves us unconditionally, absolutely. But friend, that does not mean God is cavalier about our service for Christ. That does not mean that as far as God's concerned, take it or leave it. It doesn't matter the way you live.

Use your gift for yourself. It's cool. Nuh-uh. That isn't what God says. Unwritten rule number two.

Bigger is better. In other words, we live in a world that only knows one definition of success. And what is it? Produce, produce, produce, produce. That's the definition. And we transfer that over into the Christian realm and we say, well, you know, when it comes to God, somehow we know God loves all of us Christians the same, but he's got to be happier with the ones that go out and produce the most.

I mean, he just has to be. The Chuck Swindolls, the James Dobsons, the Billy Grahams, the Amy Grants, the Sandy Patties, the Bill of Hybels, these people who are knocking the ball out the park. Well, he's got to be happier with them than he is with some of us ordinary people.

And they're going to get a lot more reward than some of us ordinary people. That's a lie. That's not true. And sometimes that can defeat us and we get frustrated and we feel like failures.

But friends, that's not true. Bigger is not better with God. Would you notice in the parable that God gave the exact same reward to the guy who only produced two as he did to the guy who produced five?

Why is that? Because in God's mind, it's faithfulness, it's devotion, it's dedication that he rewards, not production. Production is not what he rewards. And if that man was as faithful to his gifts as he could possibly be and produced two, he deserves just as much reward as the other guy who produced five.

And that's what he got. Listen, God doesn't want us worrying about what other people are doing. God doesn't want us envying the results that other people are having.

God wants us to concentrate on using what he's given us. We won't all be equal in results, but we can all be equal in effort. And what the parable is telling us here is that God will honor equal effort with equal reward regardless of outward results. God will honor equal effort with equal reward regardless of outward results. Have you ever thought about the fact that when we get to heaven, some of the people who are going to have the greatest rewards are going to be people that you've never heard of?

I think so. See, I don't really think the Billy Grahams, the Chuck Swindolls, the James Dopsons are probably going to be the people, when we get to heaven, they're going to have the biggest rewards. I think it's going to be some sweet, dear lady who was handicapped or disabled and couldn't get out of her house, but she was a prayer warrior and she was more faithful to being a prayer warrior, which is what God called her to be, than Billy Graham was to preach in the gospel. She never had the spotlight. Nobody ever heard of her.

She never made the newspaper. When she shows up in heaven, she gets greater reward than Billy Graham because she was more faithful and dedicated to using what God gave her. A dear man of God who goes to the jail and hands out tracts and visits nursing homes and visits shut-ins and he never makes the paper and nobody ever hears about him, but he shows up in heaven and, man, you might be surprised who's on top when it comes to reward in heaven. And you say, that's pretty cool, huh?

It is. And what that says is, don't worry about what Billy Graham does, your neighbor does, your husband does, your wife does, Lon does, or anybody else does. You worry about what God gave you and you dedicate what God gave you to serving Christ and God will reward you and it will make a bit of difference what you produce versus anybody else. God will reward you. I think that's kind of neat that God does an individual like that.

Third and final unwritten rule is this. We've got all the time in the world. We've got all the time in the world. So many of us as Christians, I think, and I do this too, we act like our friends are going to be here forever, our co-workers are going to be here forever, our neighbors are going to be here forever, our kids are going to be here forever. Listen, they may move away, they may get transferred, they may die. You say, oh, well, okay, I hear what you're saying, but the church, hey, you know, the church is going to be here forever, Lon. I mean, the collection play will always be here, the children's Sunday school will always be here, opportunities to serve will always be here. All right, so maybe the church will be here, but maybe you won't. That ever occur to you?

Friends, we don't have all the time in the world. I got a call last Sunday and the call told me that a good friend of mine had just died. He was a young guy. I taught him in college career class over at Riverdale Baptist before I came here. He wasn't even 40 years old.

He's one of my best friends over there. They diagnosed him two months ago, two months now, with brain cancer. He died last Sunday, two months, 60 days, poof, gone, not even 40 years old. And, man, when I was talking to his parents this past week and praying with them on the phone, I hung up and I sat back in my chair and I said, you know what, Lon, that could be you. Sixty days, not very long. I mean, Lee Atwater standing up preaching at some banquet speaking on top of the world, falls over with a seizure, boom, gone.

Glenn Brenner on to sports, having a great time, laughing his way, boom, gone. Hey, this happens to real people. There are no guarantees. The Bible says our life is like a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. And that's why Psalm 90 says, so teach us to number our days rightly so that we may live in a wise way.

And living in a wise way, friends, means that we take advantage of the time, the health, the strength that we have now to let our lives count for Jesus Christ as Christians now because there's going to come a time when we're not going to have those opportunities and then it's going to be too late. And, friends, I want to tell you something. Every one of us has just a limited number of days. I don't know what your limit is.

I don't even know what my limit is. But I know we don't have forever. I was sitting and talking to my 17-year-old son a couple weeks ago and we were just kind of talking a little bit and I said to him, Jamie, I said, you know something, son, I want to tell you something. When I was your age, I thought opportunities were endless. I thought opportunities were permanent, that if I turned something down and turned it down again and turned it down again, it would always come back.

It would always be there. But I said, I got to tell you, pal, at 46 years old, having gotten a little wiser, I've come to realize there are some opportunities that don't come back. There are just some things that don't come around again.

I mean, if something comes along, son, and you believe God wants you to grab it and you believe it's for you, you better grab it because there are some things that don't come around a second time. And you need to know that. I know at 17 it's hard for you to understand that. But take it from somebody who's 46.

It's true. And there were some opportunities in my life that I thought I didn't need to take right now because I'd have all the time in the world to take them and they went away and I couldn't get them back. You only get one chance to play high school baseball.

You either take it or you don't. You only get one chance to pick the right college. You only get one chance to pick the right mate.

Man, you better take it while it's there if you think it's the right thing. And friends, isn't that true? Some of us who've grown a little bit, isn't that right? Some things don't come back around. And I'm telling you, every day we let go by without dedicating that day to Jesus Christ and doing everything we can to serve Him is a day that's not coming back around again until it comes around at the judgment seat of Christ. We'll see it one more time. And that's when Jesus runs it in front of us again and says, Well, let's see how you did this day.

We'll see it again. But by then we won't be able to change it. Man, listen. If you plan to make your life count for Jesus Christ, do it now. If you plan to take advantage of your health and your skills and your abilities to serve Christ, do it now. Because you don't have any guarantee of tomorrow. Neither do I.

Do it now. Well, there's one last thing I want to say, and that's kind of one more myth about serving the Lord. We said these are myths. Bigger is not better. God doesn't feel about serving Christ like, Just relax. It's no big deal. And we don't have all the time in the world.

Here's one last one. You should do, when it comes to serving the Lord, you should do whatever job the pastor talks you into. That's another myth when it comes to serving God. Some of us have been there. We've been in churches where the pastor comes up or some staff member comes up or some good friend who's running the Sunday school comes up and says, Oh, oh, I'm so glad to see you. While they slowly back you against the wall.

I'm so glad to see you. We got something we need done. This is so important. The whole church is riding on this and we've really thought about it. And we think you are the right person to do it. Would you do it for us? Would you do it for us?

We really need you to do it. You ever been in that spot? I have. And you go, Well, I'm not sure. Oh, well, we're sure. We're sure. Well, I don't know. Well, we know. We know. Oh, okay. Well, is that a yes? Well, I guess so.

Thank you very much. We'll write you down. And here you are doing something you're not sure you ought to be doing. But you don't want to tell the pastor no.

You don't want to tell your friend no. And so you get pressed into doing something that you have no skills to do. You've got no passion to do. And you end up frustrated and defeated and used and taken advantage of. Because you're not paired up with an opportunity where God wired you to be good at it. And, you know, friends out there in the world of industry, industry spends oodles and oodles of time trying to match up people's skills to their job.

Well, why doesn't the church do that? Say, Well, Lon, I think we should. Well, I do too. He said, But Lon, I don't know what my gifts are. I don't know what my skills are. That's okay.

You say, Lon, I want to be a square peg in a square hole, but how do I discover exactly where God has for me to serve? Ooh, have I got something for you. I do. In fact, it's right inside your bulletin. Did you see this little lighthouse in there? That's for you.

Pull it out. That's for you. It's called Discovery Network. And basically what it does is it takes you as a Christian, helps you identify where your spiritual gifts are, helps you identify where your talents are, helps you identify what your passion is to do ministry, and then tries to match you up with some area of service where you're working within your giftedness, where you're working where your passion is. Now, that's motivational when you're working where you're gifted. And what we want to do is motivate you. We'll map it out for you and we'll match you up.

Motivate you, map you, and match you is what we'll do. And that's good. And listen, I have a bias, friend. My bias is that if you are serving Jesus Christ in the area where you're gifted, in the area where you have a passion for it, you will have a blast serving the Lord.

That's a bias I have. I'll tell you another one. If you're not serving where you're gifted and you're not serving where you have your passion, you will have a drag serving the Lord. And a lot of us have been on that end. I'm telling you, you can have a blast serving Christ if you get matched up in the right spot. I have people say to me, oh, Lon, you know, man, you speak four times on Sunday, maybe soon to be five. I mean, you must go home exhausted.

I bet you, you go home and yell at your wife and slap your kids around, do all kinds of nasty stuff when you get home. Well, no, I don't do that. And I tell you the truth, I'm not exhausted speaking four times. I'm exhilarated. I feel better after I speak four times than I did when I started at seven o'clock in the morning, because I feel terrible at seven o'clock in the morning, I'm telling you. But I feel better.

You say, why? Because I'm serving in an area where I'm gifted, where God has wired me to serve. And when you do that, you get exhilarated.

You don't get exhausted. And that's what we want for each of you folks. If you're a Christian, God has a place for you where you'll be exhilarated when you serve him. We have to help you find that. They're there, but we've got to match you up with where you're gifted.

And the church hasn't done a great job of that. Well, we want to do it. So what I want you to do is a big old yellow sign right out there in the foyer. If you're not already serving in an area where you know you're gifted, but you have a heart to want to serve the Lord, go out there to that yellow sign, talk to the people out there, get some more information. We'd like to see 250 people go through Discovery Network this year and see you placed in areas where you're having a blast serving God. And we want you to be one of those 250 if you're not already wired up like that.

Okay? I hope you'll take advantage of that because I don't think there's anything more rewarding in life than serving Jesus Christ in the area where God gifted you to serve. Man, I'm telling you, that is what life is all about. So we'll leave that with you. Hope you'll take advantage of it.

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I'm so grateful for this opportunity to open the Word of God and to understand what you're telling us about why we're here. We're not here to serve our own interests. We're not here to multiply our own creature comfort.

And it's not that you don't want us to enjoy life, but there's a seriousness and a soberness about what we're doing here. We're here to serve the King of Kings and to make our lives count and to make an impact on this world for the Kingdom of God. And you've gifted every one of us and you have a niche for every one of us where we will have a blast doing that.

Thank you for Jane and for Discovery Network. And I pray for many people here who have a heart to serve God, but they really just have never found that niche. I pray you would use this program to help us match folks up in an area where their passion beats, where their gifts are operative, and where they have a ball serving Christ. Lord, I know the multiplied effect of that will not only be that individuals will be more fulfilled, but that we as a church family will be able to make a greater impact for Jesus Christ on this community.

So, Father, I pray you would motivate lots of people to go out there and check this out, to get involved, go through it. And, Lord Jesus, thank you that you've given us these gifts. Help us use them for your glory. Help us dedicate them back to you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. .