Talent for the Works of the Kingdom of God (Matt. 25:14-30)
Let us bless one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.” May you remain within the unprecedented and never-repeated answers of God today. The title of today’s message is the “Talent for the Works of the Kingdom of God.” We’ll share the grace of God using God’s Word in two issues in Matthew 25.
God is working even now according to His Word, and if you believe in Jesus Christ, then you can block curses and disasters. Even right now, if you believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, then God can work with His power, regardless of our power. All of these are invisible facts, so we need the input of faith, and the Bible tells us that we receive faith by listening to the Word, so depending on what you listen to, your life will change. If you continue to listen to the words of conmen, you will not only be swindled, but you will become a conman.
What were the words you heard most while growing up with your parents? All of those are programmed into your brain, and whatever is programmed into your brain based on your experiences or what you’ve listened to will determine your life. If somebody has received a scar when they were younger and that is not healed by the Word of God, then that scar will determine their life. A scar is like a spiritual virus, and just like we can be infected with the coronavirus, we can also be infected with spiritual viruses, and that is why the good virus of the Word of God must come into us, because that is a good virus that blocks the curses and disasters of our lives.
There are two issues we’ve been given today. The scriptures we read in Matthew 24 and 25 was the response of Jesus when the disciples asked, “When is the Kingdom of God coming?” So, even though the disciples asked about the End Times and about the things that would happen then, Jesus is telling them what is the way we live our everyday life before the End Times.
We don’t receive mental illnesses all of a sudden. This was continually in progress spiritually and one day, revealed mentally. These shootings are not happening all of a sudden. The anger and wrath is in progress for a long time, and then one day, it explodes externally. That is why we should not be worried about meeting the End Times well, but how we live our everyday life determines how we will meet the end. This is true whether you are exercising or studying or running a business, what is the state you have every day? That is what comes as a result.
1. Kingdom of God (Mt. 25:1)
There are two issues we’ll talk about today. The first is, when the Groom Who is Jesus Christ comes, there are ten brides waiting. These are separated into two groups, the first group are the people who were prepared for the groom to come, and the second group of people are not prepared for the groom. This is the tradition of the Israelite weddings, they would have the first wedding ceremony at the bride’s house, and the second wedding ceremony at the groom’s house. As soon as the wedding ceremony at the bride’s house is complete, they must go immediately to the groom’s house. And then, when the groom returns back to his home, he must prepare everything to bring his bride, and live in a happy home with her, and when that preparation is ready, the father of the groom tells the groom to get the bride, and that could be in the middle of the night. Then, the bride does not know when the groom will come to get her, so she must always be awake and prepared.
1) Wise ones (Mt. 25:4)
And when the Lord comes back to earth, He will take us, His bride, and we must be prepared with our lamp and our oil, and that is the first part of Matthew 25. This means that, in our everyday life, we must be awake and have the oil and the lamp prepared to greet the Lord when He comes, and the Bible says that these are the wise ones. But the foolish ones are the ones who are waiting without having prepared the lamp and the oil.
(1) Oil (Mt. 25:4)
The oil represents the Holy Spirit, and the “Lamp” is talking about the light of the Word of God. We are always living our physical life, eating and working, but we must remain spiritually awake, preparing the Holy Spirit and the light of the Word. For those people who are constantly prepared, it doesn’t matter when the Lord comes back. The people who are not prepared like this will have a difficult time, and this is not only talking about that one moment, the end times; those people who are not prepared will be struggling their whole lives.
If somebody is not spiritually awake, connecting with God through His Word and through prayer, then they will have spiritual powerlessness. If you lack spiritual strength, that is connected to your mental state as well. When we get depression, we don’t have the strength to overcome it. One day, we face these different situations or these shocking incidents, and it leaves trauma with us. The reason is because we need to live our lives every day filled with the Word of God and the Holy Spirit through prayer, but we are not prepared, so one day, we have these results. Then, the way to live a wise life is to always be prepared spiritually, as you live your physical life. Otherwise, one day, you will face a situation all of a sudden.
Everybody faces different situations, did you ever experience something unspeakable when you were younger? That cannot be healed. Even as you become an adult, you will live your life as a young child. If that incident happens while you have spiritual strength, then you can overcome it. However, if you don’t have spiritual strength and then you face that incident, then it will completely seize your mental state. If it completely seizes your mental state, you will try everything you can to solve it, and the way you are struggling is using the methods of the world, but this is a spiritual problem so it cannot be solved by the methods of the world. You can only overcome with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
Once you’ve received that fundamental, spiritual strength, then you will be able to overcome the physical things, too. Why is it that so many people are falling into addiction to alcohol or substances? It didn’t happen all of a sudden. They were living their entire lives without preparing the oil of prayer with the Word of God and this was the result. Nobody is born wanting to be like that. Even right now, they lack strength, so they have no choice but to be dragged around, and they don’t even want to live like that. Even though they don’t want to live like that, they have no other choice.
(2) Lamps (Mt. 25:4)
(3) Prepared ones (Mt. 25:7)
The response to that is, prepare your oil and lamp. If you receive strength in your spirit through the Word of God in prayer, then one day, those problems will go away on their own, the problem you cannot tell anyone else cannot be solved. Homosexuality, all of these different problems have a cause, it doesn’t come all of a sudden out of nowhere. It’s all connected to our young childhood. Anybody can face situations, but if you don’t have spiritual strength, you’ll be seized by that situation. When you have that spiritual virus, then even as you become an adult, you’re going to do the same thing, and no matter how much you try to solve it, you won’t be able to. The only answer is that your spirit must be revived by remaining within the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit and prayer.
2) Foolish ones (Mt. 25:3)
The problem of America and the world today cannot be solved by knowledge. Even if you have professional success, it will not solve your problem. It doesn’t matter how well you try to correct your thinking; if you don’t have spiritual strength, you are bound to be dragged around. So, it seems like Jesus is talking about the End Times, but He’s actually talking about our everyday life.
(1) Lamps (Mt. 25:3)
(2) No oil (Mt. 25:3)
(3) Ones who did not prepare
3) Ones who keep watch (Mt. 25:13)
(1) Day by day (Ac. 2:46-47, 5:42)
In Acts 2:46-47, the Early Church that had success did this daily. Day by day, in the Temple Courts and in their homes, they held onto the Word of God and prayed. The one who does this well every day when they face a crisis, they turn it into an opportunity. But if someone is not able to do this day-by-day, when they face a crisis, they fall into that crisis. That is why God is telling us, “Stop living for the End Times, live your everyday well.”
You must have the joy of the Word of God in prayer, then one day, when you face a problem, it’s not going to be a problem to you because, “I’m good; why would it be a problem to me? Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death?’ Why is that a problem to me?” Whether there is another wave of COVID or not, yes, of course, we should be careful, but that’s not a problem for me, and there’s no reason for us to be seized by fear of our future, because the Lord is with me. There is no reason for you to always think two, three steps ahead and predict what the other person will say, because the Lord is with you.
(2) Holy Spirit – Power
(3) Word – Shine the light
In your everyday life, the ones who are with the Lord in prayer will have spiritual strength, then even if you don’t try to solve your problems, one day, they will go away on their own. There is nothing else that will ever work; no method that you use will ever work. Even if it seems like it’s working, because you have a fundamental problem, the problem will be revealed in another way.
2. Talent
The second point we will talk about are the people who are living like this daily, and then we hear about these talents. A “Talent” is a sum of money. Back then, if you worked one day, the wage would be one denarius. One Talent is a sum of money is the amount of money that you would earn if you worked every single day for 20 years. Five talents would be the sum of money if you worked every single day for 100 years.
1) Master (Mt. 25:14)
(1) Entrusted his wealth to his servants (Mt. 25:14)
(2) According to his ability (Mt. 25:15)
(3) Gave 5, 2, and 1 talents accordingly (Mt. 25:15)
One day, when the Master is going off to run his errands, he entrusts his wealth to his servants, and it says, “He gave his servants five talents, two talents, and one talent according to his ability.” There is an ability that God has given to each individual since they were born, and that can also be expressed as our talents, so there’s no reason to compare yourself with others. In the world, you always have to compare yourself with others because we have different levels of power, “Oh, that person is so powerful,” or, “Oh, that person is so athletic. That person is really good at studying; that person is really good at making money,” and the people in the world will say, “That person is so great,” but that is somebody who doesn’t believe in God because the moment God allowed us to be born on this earth, He has given each of us our own talent, and God made it so that we use our talents for God, so there is no reason to compare or compete.
Let’s say someone received five talents and became the president; they need to be able to use that talent and that position for the work of God in order to be happy and joyful. However, if God has given the ability to be the president, but they misuse that ability, they will live a life of suffering. Your life is not determined based on what position you attain, but how you use the things God has given you will determine your life’s happiness.
Some people ask me, “Pastor, how are you a pastor? It’s like walking a thorny path, full of sorrow and tears,” but I don’t think so. Why would I walk through a thorny path? I need to walk with the Lord. Why would I walk on a bleak road? I need to walk with the Lord.So, from my perspective, I think it’s very difficult to become a businessperson, but everyone looks with a different perspective because everyone has their different abilities. And God has given every person their own unique ability in order to maintain this world. For nonbelievers, they use it for themselves, and for the believers, they use their abilities for the Lord, or they use their abilities to kill others.
2) Servants
(1) 5 talents – Went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more (Mt. 25:16)
(2) 2 talents – Gained two more (Mt. 25:17)
Even with these talents, there are two groups. God entrusted these talents to His servants, and the one who received five talents used it immediately to make more money through business. The servant who received two talents from the Lord also used their two talents to make two more.
(3) 1 talent – Dug a hole in the ground and hid the money (Mt. 25:18)
However, on the other hand, there was the servant who received one talent, and we’re not sure why he did what he did, maybe he was comparing himself to other people who had more money, but he was grumbling and buried his talent instead of using it for God.
3) Successful settlements
(1) 5, 2 talents – Good and faithful servants (Mt. 25:21,22)
(2) Faithful with a few things, Put in charge of many things (Mt. 25:21,23)
The servants who had the five talents and the two talents, when the Lord returns, He says, “You are good and faithful servants, and you are faithful with a few things, then I will put you in charge of many things and bless you.” So, who are the ones who are good and faithful from the eyes of the Lord? It’s the one who uses whatever God has given them for God. Whether that is a lot or a little, they use it for the Kingdom of God. Then, God will entrust many things to that servant.
(3) Share your master’s happiness (Mt. 25:21,23)
And he says, “You will share in your master’s happiness.” That is the principle of God’s Kingdom. If you use everything the Lord has given to you for the Lord, then you will gain more and more.
4) Failed settlements
(1) 1 talent – Did not trust master (Mt. 25:24)
But the person who received one talent, what did he say when the Lord returns? In Mt. 25:24, the man who had received one talent said, “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.” So the servant does not trust his master. He is saying, “You are the type of master who only gave me this one talent so that you can gain more from me, so I’m not going to use this for you.” In other words, this servant was only living to take care of himself, “So that I can eat, and wear clothes, and sleep, and go to the hospital.”
(2) Afraid – Hid gold in the ground (Mt. 25:25)
So in Mt. 25:25, the servant says, “I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground.” We do not hide because we face something fearful. If we don’t trust in God, then we will have this spiritual fear. If you don’t believe that the Word is with you in your life, guiding your life, then you will have fear. If you are afraid because you’re facing something fearful, then it will pass with time, but the spiritual fear will remain.
(3) Wicked, lazy servant – Bankers×, Interest× (Mt. 25:26, 27)
This is a servant who has lived his whole life in fear, and when the Lord comes back, he calls the servant, “Wicked and lazy.” What is wicked? It is not wickedness from the perspectives of humans, but from God’s perspective. People might look at you and think, “Oh, they’re living their walk of faith well,” but on the inside, they think they are wicked because they weren’t utilizing the things God had given to them for God; they were continuing to live their physical life, then even what was given to then will be taken away. The master said, “If you had at least deposited this in the bank, you would have received interest, why did you bury it in the ground?”
(4) Talent taken away (Mt. 25:28-29)
So He takes away the one talent from this servant and gives it to the one with ten talents, so in the Kingdom of God, those who have will be given more, and those who do not have will be taken away from. You need to keep on using these. People say, “I can do so little; what could I possibly do?” No, if you’ve been given little, then you can use that little amount. There will be things you can see in the church that need to be done. If you can notice it, it means you should do it. You’ll be able to see things that nobody else is doing, and that means that I should be the one doing that work. Instead of criticizing everyone else, saying, “Why isn’t anyone else doing this, God has given you that work to do, so do that work.
3. Kingdom of God
The business and your academics God has given you in the world, God wants you to use it for the Kingdom, then God will continue to work. However, there are many Christians who think otherwise. They think, “My business is my work.” Then what’s going to happen? They don’t have God there, they are living in a complete state of a nonbeliever. Without a doubt, God says He has given us everything, but for me, my work is my work; that’s why things are so difficult and they’re suffering. Because spiritually, they are not believing in God, they go back to the state of a nonbeliever. Yes, they receive grace when they come into the church, but out in the world, they’re completely a nonbeliever.
Your life is not difficult because your work is difficult, but because your spiritual state is like a nonbeliever, of course, you will face difficulties in the world. All of your intellectual ability, to whom does that belong? Your body, to whom does that belong? You need to determine this with certainty first. The Bible tells us He is the Master and we are the servants, but if you try to act like the master, then you are the one who will struggle. That’s a nonbeliever, there are even nonbelievers who go to church, or even after receiving salvation, they suffer like a nonbeliever and then they pass away. They will realize one day that, “God has entrusted everything to me.” All of the knowledge you study, it will go away; your physical body, it will go away. Every good thing you’ve ever experienced is going to go away. Your money? You have to leave it behind. Your house, properties, you must leave that behind. You don’t know where God will circulate that, and you’ve experienced this.
If you haven’t experienced this yet, when one day, when you’re backed into a corner with no way to escape, that is when you will acknowledge God. When you’re in the hospital and you can pass away any day, that is when you can feel this. “My life is not up to me; I cannot control my life.” At that moment, yes, you can hold onto Christ, but you should hold onto Christ in your everyday life.
When you get married, your marriage should not be a “Home, sweet home.” If your home becomes a place where you can just eat, sleep, and rest, that’s going to be a huge problem. God’s mission must become within your home, therefore, your family must be a family that fulfills God’s mission, and that is how God will work in your family.
Otherwise, what happens? I’m going to marry for me, I’m going to get a house or a family for me, and that’s going to be a huge problem. It is not “a husband for me” or a “wife for me.” even those thoughts are a nonbeliever’s thoughts. You meet the other person for the Lord. Even if your child is not alone, the Lord has entrusted me to this child for a few years. But because you say, “This is my child,” that’s why you keep on suffering, because you cannot control your child; you cannot even control yourself, who you think you’re trying to control? These are all the things God has entrusted to us, and we need to use them well for the Lord.
If you’re very smart, you need to use that for the Lord. Stop criticizing others for being stupid, but use your intelligence for the Lord. Do you have any money? Use it for the Lord. You’ll realize all the money belongs to the Lord when it’s all taken away. While you have these things, don’t bury it into the ground, but use it for the Lord. God has prepared everything and the power that you need to the point of making disciples of all nations, because Jesus promised us, “Go and make disciples of all nations. Then, in order to fulfill His own Word, the Lord must give us power, and He needs to give us the wisdom to do that work as well. He needs to give us health to do that work; He needs to give us the finances to do that work, and He needs to attach people who will bless us to do this work.
The reason you’re living in America is to proclaim the gospel to people of all nations. The people who are inside of this work are bound to see answers. That is how you use your talents for the Lord. The reason you serve the church is to save the world. The reason why you study and work is to save the world. The Lord did not come here to destroy the world, He came here to save the world. What is He saving? The souls. “May all go well as your spirit is going well,” the people of America are spiritual problems, and that is what we must save. We must save it through the Word of God and the power of the prayer and the Holy Spirit, and we must remain awake in this every day.
1) Holy Spirit and Word
(1) Be prepared with the word of the Gospel (1 Pt. 3:15)
1 Pe. 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. “ You must always be prepared with what the problem of the world is, and what the answer is. You must always be prepared with the Word of God, why you’re here in America. That is the person who is living their lives, awake, preparing with the Word of God in prayer. Then, in your everyday life, pray the prayer that will give you strength in your spirit. You cannot gain spiritual strength by studying, you cannot gain spiritual strength by getting plastic surgery. You cannot gain spiritual strength from making a lot of money. Then, how can you gain spiritual strength? God must have worked within me, within my spirit, as power. When you receive God’s power in your spirit, then you will have mental power as well.
When you receive strength in your thoughts, your emotions, and your mind, then you will have healing in your scars, your depression, and other mental illnesses. And that mental state changes your physical life. Are you trapped in a problem that you don’t want? It doesn’t matter how much you try to change it or fix it yourself, you cannot; otherwise you would already have. The more time passes, the more homosexuality will become severe, and you can’t solve that with your own strength. No matter what anyone says, you cannot change that. You have no spiritual strength, and then you face an incident, and you are seized spiritually. And if you stay in that state, you’ll keep on getting sucked in spiritually. Then one day, like Sodom and Gomorrah, everything will be destroyed. Then, what must we do? We must receive spiritual strength. If you gain spiritual strength, then you can overcome and transcend that.
If you have cancer, it didn’t come all of a sudden from out of nowhere. You were already going through the mental process, and the final result is physical cancer. If that is the case for you, then yes, you should receive medical help from doctors in hospitals, but you need to receive spiritual strength as well. If you have not received salvation, then first, you need to pray to receive salvation to receive the strength of God, spiritually. Then, when you pray, God will either heal you, or if this is the end of your mission, then you can go to Heaven.
We cannot determine how long we live our lives; that is in God’s hands. “Oh, isn’t God so unfair, then?” God is moving everything in His hands. There are some people who live over a hundred; there are some children who pass away. So if you believe in Jesus Christ, it’s not that you live a longer life, it’s that God is with you. If you believe in Jesus Christ, then God is with you forever. If you believe in Jesus Christ, does that mean you’re going to become more powerful? You’ll become spiritually more powerful. That is a power that the president cannot have; that is the power that no religion can give you. Your spirit will come to life, and when your spirit comes to life, everything is finished; the problem of America is spiritual, it’s not a political problem. The gun shootings are not happening because of a lack of laws or policies. These are shootings that are resulting from an uncontrollable rage inside of people’s spirit.
If someone is continuously drinking alcohol to the point of addiction, it cannot be solved any other way. All of these things are connected to our early childhood. It’s revealing itself as alcohol addiction now, but it’s connected to this person’s childhood. For children, when they are filled with the Word of God and the power of prayer, they don’t have to experience these things when they get older, that is why our everyday life is so important. May today, this time, be that time. People don’t believe in the spiritual things very well, they just think, “If I believe in Jesus Christ, I just have to go to church on Sunday.” Muslims believe, “If I believe in this, I just need to go to the Mosque.”
(2) Filling and Working of the Holy Spirit – Me, field (Ac. 2:1-4)
The spiritual things are moving, though, and even right at this moment, the Triune God is with me through His Holy Spirit, and when I receive the filling of the Holy Spirit, I will receive power spiritually. When you receive spiritual power, then, one day, it’s not going to be a problem for you. You used to surfer so much because of the scars you’ve received from the past, but one day, you’re not suffering from them anymore. You used to have to drink no matter what, but now, you can live without alcohol. That is the normal, correct Christian. The Holy Spirit does not only work upon me, but the Holy Spirit works upon every field in my life when I pray. Right now, you’re sitting here, but if you’re praying at this moment, the Holy Spirit will work, transcending time and space, and whatever field you pray for. You will eventually go into your field like your job field, your family, or your school, but if you pray for it right now, God will work for that place now. What happens when the Holy Spirit works in that field? Then Satan is broken down. Then, you must study or work. Then, God’s Kingdom must be established there for you to receive answers from there. The Devil steals things away or he guides you in the wrong direction. So, if you want to have victory, correctly throughout the week, you must have victory in this moment. You are going, already knowing what will happen in the future, and for such people, they will not stop the Sunday worship because they know. God always gives you the path you must go ahead for His Word; God never makes you go there in confusion; he tells you in advance, he makes you pray in advance, and God will work now. That is a child of God. That is the power that transcends time and space being revealed through me.
Other religions do that. When they pray, there’s another spirit that works transcending time and space there. Especially in South America, there are these witch doctors that will gain other spiritual strength and heal people, and there was so much of that when I went to South America, and are there none in America? There’s a lot in America. These women are going into the trend of witchcraft, witchcraft uses these other spiritual powers to heal or change somebody. Men will practice sorcery to receive another type of spiritual power. This is something that existed a long time ago in Europe, and that spiritual stream has come to America today. If you go to Asian countries like Korea or Mongolia, they use demon possession or possession of evil spirits. So, if Christians don’t know about the spiritual world and this spiritual principle, and they just work diligently physically, that’s not enough; think about it, these other religions or spiritual organizations are using spaceships, but we’re just trying to drive around, and you’re just diligently driving your car around? When you pray, God gives you the power to proclaim the gospel to all the nations of the world, but if you don’t know that and you’re only praying for yourself, then it’s a loss to you.
There are some people who request prayer topics from me. There are some people who say, “My son is looking for a job; please pray so that he can find a good job and have a good career,” but I don’t pray for that. That’s a prayer topic any religion prays for. You can go to Buddhists, or talk to a fortune teller and ask them to create a prayer talisman for that; that’s not what God requested of us. When somebody asks or gives me the prayer requests, the way I actually pray is, “Lord, give this son the power to do world evangelization.” Everything is contained within that prayer topic. You don’t have to pray these tiny, petty prayer topics, but your eyes will only be opened to see this if you receive God’s grace, isn’t that right?
People eat all the parts of the cow’s head, including the jowl and the beef tongue, but instead of praying, “God, give me the jowl, give me the tongue,” if you just pray, “God, give me the cow’s head,” He will give you all of it. God has already promised to give everything to you, so there’s no need to say, “Pastor, please pray for me to have the cow’s tongue.” If you just pray for the cow head, everything is contained.
If you pray to make disciples and to save all nations, everything is contained within that prayer topic, including spiritual strength, mental power, physical power, and people power. “Pastor, please pray for my health,” don’t ask me to pray for that, I‘m not going to pray for it. “God, please work through this disease or illness so they will receive the mission to save lives.” Then your health is included in that, too. You need to pray correctly.
(3) Life of being watchful (Col. 4:2)
“God, at this time, completely fill me and seize me with Your Holy Spirit.” It’s so hard for you to go to work and have these human relationships, right? You shouldn’t try to resolve that on your own. God, work upon it. Even a three-year old baby will be stubborn with their own will. The mother will fight with their three-year-old child. The baby tries to cry and the mother says, “Don’t cry,” quickly give up because you cannot control anything. If you’re all mature now and you’re going to work and you’re trying to change someone else by criticizing them, they’re never going to change. Why would you try to change someone? Pray for them, “God, work upon my business. God, I hate this person and I can’t stand them, work upon them.” That’s actually how to love them, God has to work spiritually in order for that person to change fundamentally. These are the blessings we have.
I’m not somebody who practices transcendental meditation; even if they’re a Christian, they’re practicing transcendental meditation without knowing what it is. Because they don’t know anything about the spiritual world, they’re practicing transcendental meditation and they started arguing with me, “Can a Christian not practice transcendental meditation? I go to church but I practice transcendental meditation.” Transcendental meditation is centered on you, yourself. You empty yourself, and for yourselves, you’ve taken all the good energy in the universe, then what do you think will happen?
You need to know the spiritual facts and the spiritual science; on the other hand, you need to know the spiritual science of what happens when the Holy Spirit works inside of you. You should not empty yourself; we must fill our Spirit with the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. In Mt. 12:45-47, it tells you what happens when you empty yourself; demons, seven times stronger, will come into you. Demons are evil spirits, they’re invisible when they go into you, then your life will have these results you cannot see of being demon-possessed. So I hope you will not practice the secular transcendental meditation, but instead have holy meditation. May you have the Holy Meditation, meditating on the Word of God so that it is deeply rooted inside of you. Then, in God’s time schedule, you are bound to receive God’s fruits and God’s answers.
2) Business, Academics – Works of the kingdom of God
(1) 237 nations (Mt. 28:19)
(2) Healing (Mk. 16:17-18)
(3) Future generation (Jn. 21:15-18)
And now, make it so that your studies and your work is not your work, but it is the work of God. Because it is the work of God, God has to work upon it. And when God entrusted this to us, He prepared all the strength we’d need to do it. Even the work we do in church is the work of God, then God has prepared the strength you need to do all of this.
3) Answer
(1) Save me, church, field
(2) Future – Future generation
(3) Temple construction
Temple Construction, if you just focus on that, you might go outside of God, because God does not work so that we can look better, but it must be the Temple Construction that will be used to make disciples of all nations. Will this be a temple construction that will be used to proclaim the gospel to all people, to heal them? Will this be the Temple construction that is used to feed the future generations and the children the Word of God and save them? If that is the case, then God is bound to work upon your business or your job. It is not because of this person’s diligence, but because that person is holding onto the covenant Word of God, God is bound to give them answers.
Conclusion
1. Use given talents
2. For the salvation of church and field
3. Day by day, into the power of the Word and prayer
In conclusion, there is a talent or an ability given to every individual, so don’t get it mixed up; use it for the Lord. Use it for the church and salvation of the souls of the world, and that work will take place if every day, you remain within the Word of Christ and the power of prayer in the Holy Spirit. Let us enjoy this blessing every day,
Message Prayer
Let us pray together, holding onto the Word we have received.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. We have returned the material blessings You have given to us to be used for the Kingdom of God. We believe You will work upon all the offering we have given for the temple construction, future generations, missions, and to save the church with the answer of the economy of light for our businesses and studies. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
God, we thank You. We pray that the blessing and the power of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit’s power during prayer will be upon all of the four newcomers so they may receive the answers of the Word of God being fulfilled in their lives. We pray that You will bless them in everything that they do so that their abilities and talents may be revived so that they may use it for the Lord. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Announcements
1. Online zoom early morning prayer (Mon.-Fri. 5:30, Sat. 6AM) – Raise the bartizan of prayer
2. Leader’s Winter Retreat, 12/17 (Sun.), 7PM.
3. Winter Retreat, 12/26 (Tues.) – 28 (Thurs.). Primary registration ends 12/10.
4. Christmas Eve preparation, Sunday 3-4PM.
5. Offering can be given to the church venmo: @Antiochmissionchurch
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the heads of the people of God, the people of all nations, and the future generation that desire to remain awake and alert, holding onto the Word of God and prayer, using the talents they have received from God for the Kingdom of God’s work, be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.