Putting the Talent God Has Given You to Work

Luke 19. What we are saying is that, as much as possible, I have been following a series of sermons in which we spent a great deal of time focusing on one of the great doctrines of the church, which is the Holy Spirit and His ministry, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gifts, and so forth. And what I am doing is bringing these teachings on great truths, great principles of Christian doctrine. The Sunday before last, I had the opportunity to focus on one of the great doctrines of the historic orthodox Christian church, which is the divinity of Jesus. Do you remember that sermon? The divinity of Jesus. Christ as consubstantial with the Father. And we saw how the word of the Lord supports that conclusion and makes it almost inevitable.

And I want to develop that teaching, which is so profound and so essential to the life of God’s people, a little further. I would have liked to do that today, but I want to take this opportunity to plant in your hearts a seed of faith and vision concerning giving generously to the Lord and being diligent in contributing to the Kingdom of God. I am not only going to talk about money; I am simply going to talk about giving our lives, our talents, and our gifts to the Lord. Chapter 19, verses 11 through 27. I will return to the subject of Christ and His deity sometime soon. But this morning, I want to use everything we have done here to educate you, brothers and sisters.

Let me tell you that one of the greatest ways I can bless you is by encouraging you to be generous with God. Say amen, even if it is just to convince yourselves of it. There is nothing more beautiful than giving to the Lord and being faithful. Furthermore, let me tell you that when you are called into the Kingdom of God, you are called to serve and to use your gifts on behalf of the Lord’s Kingdom. Luke 19:11–27 says:

“...As they heard these things, Jesus went on and told a parable, because He was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God would appear immediately...”

In other words, they thought it was going to happen right away, that Christ was about to reveal all His power, His deity, and His messianic character immediately. So the Lord wanted, as it were, to remove that innocence from their minds and better adjust their expectations.

“...The Lord therefore said, ‘A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom and then return. And calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas....’—A mina is an amount of money; let us say he gave them 500 dollars. It was a basic amount of money—‘...he gave them ten minas’—not gold mines or anything like that; it was a coin, understand that clearly—‘...he gave them ten minas and told them, “Do business”....’

Everyone say, “Do business.” That phrase is very important in this text. Do business.

“...Do business until I come. But his fellow citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he ordered those servants to whom he had given the money to be summoned before him, so that he might know what each one had gained through doing business. The first came and said, ‘Lord, your mina has earned ten minas.’ He told him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities’....”

Just in case I miss this later, look there: because you have been faithful in a very little... because you have been faithful in a very little, I will now place you in great authority.

“...Another came and said, ‘Lord, your mina has produced five minas.’ And he also told this one, ‘You too shall be over five cities.’ Another came and said, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept stored away in a handkerchief...’

You can imagine him opening a handkerchief with a very large knot in it, untying it there to take out the coin. I can see it almost perfectly in my mind.

“...stored away in a handkerchief because I was...”—What was he?—“...I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man who takes what you did not deposit and reaps what you did not sow.’ Then he told him, ‘You wicked servant, I will judge you by your own words. You knew that I was a severe man who takes what I did not deposit and reaps what I did not sow. Why, then, did you not put my money in the bank, so that when I returned I might have received it back, if only with interest?’ And he said to those who were present, ‘Take the mina from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’ They told him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas.’ ‘For I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given; but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And as for those enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and behead them in front of me....’”

May the Lord bless His holy word. That is a somewhat severe picture of Christ, isn’t it? That is not little baby Jesus there with a little lamb in His hand, stroking it like this, with blond hair and very delicate little braids. This is a severe being who expects a return on what He is handing over and presenting to His servants. And notice this: one of the interesting things about this passage is the very tone of the passage. It is a serious tone; it is a businesslike tone; to a certain extent, it is almost a military tone. That is the bearing of this lord, this owner, this magnate, a businessman—a nobleman, it says here. Eugenēs means “well-born.” The word translated as “a nobleman” is eugenēs. If anyone is named Eugene, just so you know, his name means that he is well-born, that he is of good birth.

The point is that this man was of good birth—that is, from a good family. He was a nobleman. This nobleman is clearly someone who is very clear about his affairs, and he runs and manages his household—which in this case is the church—in a very conscientious, corporate manner. Notice that, because it is very important for us to understand it.

Clearly, this nobleman is a figure of whom? Who is he? Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus is telling a parable about Himself. This man goes away to a distant country. What is the distant country to which Jesus Christ went? Heaven. He ascended, the Word says, and is seated there at the right hand of God the Father—as those who know the Apostles’ Creed know—waiting to come and judge the living and the dead. He is there waiting.

The Word says that no one knows the day or the hour except the Father, but the Lord is there; He went to a distant place. Look at something else that is interesting here. What is the purpose for which the Lord tells this parable? Why does He tell it? Because the disciples—and many people in Israel—believed that when the Messiah arrived, He would establish the Kingdom of God immediately, immediately place Israel at the pinnacle of the nations, restore the Davidic kingdom to Israel, and then everything would instantly be very nice, easy, and settled.

But the Lord knew that it was not going to be that easy. And afterward, in fact, the apostle Paul, writing in one of his letters to the Thessalonians, once again reminded the church: Look, do not be deceived by this idea that the Kingdom of God is coming immediately, because the Kingdom of God will not come until certain conditions have been fulfilled, certain things that must fall into place before the Kingdom of God comes.

That is very important because, brothers and sisters, we often have an easy and false image of what the Kingdom of God is. Many people think, “Well, if I enter the Gospel, everything will be resolved for me immediately. I will not have any more problems.” Ha, ha, ha, as people say. What a tremendous surprise we get when we realize that things are not so easy, that we enter the Kingdom of God to wage war, that we enter the Kingdom of God—of course, we now enter with new strength; we have power, we have God’s grace, we are more than conquerors—but we have to take swings at the devil, and every now and then we take a few hits ourselves, don’t we? And that is part of the process. God expects a warrior people. God expects a people who, while waiting for Him to arrive, whenever that may be, will remain faithful, and who, while we are in the Kingdom of God, in the Gospel, will always keep our hand on the plow, doing the work of the Lord until He comes.

So the Lord wanted to tell them: This requires effort, it requires patience, it requires persistence. The Christian life is not an easy life, brothers and sisters. It is a life for heroes. Hallelujah! But it is a life in which God promises you victory in every situation in which you find yourself. Yet you have to fight; you have to make an effort. There is an expectation that you will do something to earn—not to earn salvation. No, because salvation cannot be earned, but rather to justify your presence in light of everything God has done on your behalf.

When we enter the realm of the Gospel, we enter it to work, to serve, and to give, brothers and sisters. Many people come to the Kingdom of God so that others will give to them, serve them, do this for them, do that for them, minister to them, meet their needs, pray for them, and, as Chileans say, scratch their little tummy, rub their little belly. And that is not all there is to it. Of course, in the Kingdom of God you receive, but you are also expected to give, to work, to be a strong and courageous man or woman. That is important; that is God’s expectation.

It says here that this rich and noble man gathered his servants because he had to take a very long journey. Imagine a journey in those days. He had to go to a distant country; let us say he had to go to China. In those days, it was not as though you could board a plane, get there in no time, and stay in touch with your employees by email and telephone. No, he was leaving, and while he was over there, there would be no communication; in a sense, there would be no contact. They had to use their own judgment to follow the instructions he had left them.

Now, what instructions does this nobleman leave his servants? He lines them up—I can picture them—he has all ten of them standing there side by side, and I imagine him walking back and forth as he gives them a speech of encouragement and instruction. He tells them, “Look, here you have 500 dollars; you have 500, 500, 500.” And he gives each of the ten a check for 500 dollars and makes them sign a receipt committing themselves to use that money properly, prudently, and profitably. And he tells them, “Ultimately, I do not care how you invest that money, as long as you do it within the overall vision of my corporation. But I do expect that when I return from this long journey, you will give me an account of what you have done with that money. While I am away traveling, doing things, attending to my business there, and settling the matters involved in receiving that kingdom—just as Christ is waiting for the Father to do everything He has to do, with the Holy Spirit here on earth, and so forth—and then for the Father to tell Him, ‘Okay, now I give You the scepter of command and authority over the nations. Go down and take dominion.’” He already has it in a spiritual sense, but humanity has not yet acknowledged Christ’s lordship in its entirety.

But one day, it says, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. One day, all the nations will be given to Jesus at His second coming. In the meantime, what happens? Who is supposed to be working here on earth to make the Lord’s gifts and money yield a return? Who? We are.

Brothers and sisters, stand up for a moment. We are going to do something prophetic. Everyone stand up; everyone stand up. I hate to disturb your comfort zone for a moment. Stand up. To each one of you—and to me as well, standing here in front—the Lord has said to me and has said to you, “Do business; invest until I come.” Imagine right now that the Lord is represented here in my person, and that the Lord is looking at you, at each one of you, and saying, “Do business, invest, strive, work, do everything in your power, invest your energy, your talents, everything you have, your time, your profession—everything. I expect you to do business until I come.” Have you received that commission? If you have received it, you may sit down.

So this nobleman stands his servants there and lays down the law for them; he gives something to each of them. Notice that, brothers and sisters: every one of his ten servants receives something, and in this case each receives the same amount, one mina. Let no one come and tell me, “The Lord did not give me anything.” Look, you may be the poorest, most ignorant person in the world, with fewer resources than anyone else, a person who has never done anything great, constructive, noteworthy, or whatever else. But let me convince you of something: Within you—listen carefully to this and receive it in the name of the Lord—there is a provision of power and life that God has placed there. Say amen.

Within you is the Holy Spirit of God with all His power. That is true for the small and the great, man or woman, child or adult or elderly person, rich or poor, highly educated or illiterate: the power of God is within you. And that is what accomplishes the work. There are no possible excuses. God has placed an endowment of power within you, if only the people of God would internalize that fact and envision the power of God that is within you. You see that little boy there, that young fellow, so sweet, so handsome, so attractive—that young man has the power of God within him. You have the gift of God in you, you have the Spirit of God in you, and you are called to be a powerful man of God; you are called to do great and powerful things for God.

Remember that the Holy Spirit of God is in your life and that you have been called to greatness. You have been called to be a powerful man who will influence society and who will do mighty, wonderful things for the Kingdom of God. You have the gift of God in you. Thank you, and have a seat.

Brothers and sisters, we all have the power of God within us. Every one of us can do something, and if we understood that, if it were engraved on our hearts that when I walk through this world, the power of God is within me. God has given something; God has placed something in my life. It is not only in the pastor who is up here, or in this or that missionary, or in the deacon. No, you have the ability to change the world and to transform it in some way, so that the world will not be the same because you lived in it, so that when you leave this world, you will have left your mark somewhere along the paths of this world, because God has given—God has placed—His power in you. Each of these men received something, and it is important for us to understand that, brothers and sisters: God has placed something within us, and He expects us to do something with it. That is the other part of this matter. When he leaves, he tells them, “Do business”; do business—I would translate it, “Invest until I return.” The question is: What are you doing with your life to do business with the talent God has given you? What are you doing? How are you making the gift God has given you yield a return? Because that coin, or that amount of money, is a symbol, a stand-in for the gifts of the Holy Spirit that God has placed in each of us.

And so, I believe that every one of us should always feel restless, brothers and sisters, asking ourselves: What am I doing to make the measure of grace and life that God placed in me yield a return—the creativity, the energy, the gift, the instrument that God placed in my life? I believe that is the question that should govern our days. Why do I serve the Lord as a pastor? Because the Lord called me, and I had to set everything else aside and say, “Lord, I am going to serve You, because I want my life to count for Your Kingdom. I want my life to be useful to You, and I want whatever You desire my life to accomplish to come to pass.” And every one of us must ask ourselves the same question.

Now, God will not necessarily call you to be a pastor, an evangelist, or a missionary in another country. We do not all have to do that. Many of us will simply be called to be missionaries in our workplaces, in our neighborhoods, at school. Some will be called to be Sunday school teachers. Right now, children are being cared for upstairs. Do you know why it is so nice and quiet in here? Because there are men and women upstairs exerting themselves, investing, and doing business until Christ comes, you see. It may be a Sunday school teacher for the children; it may be the person looking after the parking lot outside, or a Yosmar working and handling the finances. Brothers and sisters, there are dozens—and I would say even hundreds of thousands—of ways to do business until He comes, to make our gift yield a return.

One of those ways—you saw this presentation I gave. Look, perhaps there are people whom God has endowed with the gift of giving. The Bible speaks of the one who gives doing so diligently. Look it up; I believe it is in Romans. There is even a gift of giving and sharing, and whoever does so should do it generously and naturally. There are people whom God has endowed with millions and millions of dollars in reserve, and their gift has been to work and give money to the church for missionaries and foundations. Our church has received funds from various philanthropic foundations and other entities that were endowed by people who made billions of dollars.

The Lilly Endowment gave Copan 650,000 dollars a few years ago through a grant proposal we submitted for the training of Hispanic pastors here in New England. Lilly—this man founded a pharmaceutical company that is still one of the world’s major pharmaceutical companies, and in his estate he left a very large sum of money to a philanthropic foundation, part of which is devoted to religious purposes. And look at that: he was a layman; he was not a pastor or an evangelist. I do not know whether he was a teacher or anything else, but God provided a way for his money—and that money gives hundreds of millions of dollars a year—to advance the cause of the Lord. Glory to God for that. I would like to have two or three people like that here in my church so we could move all of New England. Let us pray that the Lord brings them.

But do you know what? One way you can produce a return and do business is by giving your tithes and being faithful to the Lord. Look at this: some people say, “Lord, take me and let me be crucified in some Latin American country, in some jungle over there.” Look, the Lord is not asking that much of you; simply give your tithe and be faithful to the Lord. Hallelujah! Be generous with God. That is all. That is one way you can do business until He comes.

And look at how merciful God is: He tells you, “For everything you give Me, I will give you a thousand times more.” It is a little game the Lord has. The Lord wants to know—He wants to see—that we love Him and that we are willing to risk something in obedience to Him and in order to bless His Kingdom, and that brings pleasure to His heart. It is like when our little child brings us a tiny flower, all wilted and battered, that he has been carrying from who knows where and has already completely ruined, and offers it to us. Whose heart would not be touched? That is what our Father is like. The things we bring to the Lord are utterly crude and foolish compared with His glory, but He likes to receive those expressions of love and affection from us, brothers and sisters.

Listen to me, and look at how conservative we become. When we go to a restaurant with our friends, “Don’t worry.” We argue: “Me! No, no, I’ll take care of the check.” But when we come to church, we all suddenly become conservative, and we sit here counting the money in our pockets with our hands. Not even a blind man counts it with as much skill as we do before taking it out.

And brothers and sisters, God wants us to be openhanded; He wants us to be generous. It is a way of doing business until He comes. Some people say, “Oh, Lord, I want to be a pastor; I want to evangelize multitudes.” Look, begin with the little you have; give to the Lord. In this passage there is a very important principle, one essential to the Kingdom of God. The Lord tells the first servant, “You have been faithful in a very little.” If you are not faithful in a little, how can you be put in charge of much? says the Word of the Lord. If you cannot even risk something for God, how is God going to bless you? It is a principle.

Many people tell me, “Well, tithing is not in the New Testament.” Look, the principle of tithing is everywhere in the New Testament. The principles underlying that idea are there; in fact, I believe we must give God much more than ten percent, because He has no limits. The more you give to the Lord, the more you are blessed. That is what people do not understand, but you must have the faith to believe it, and you must take risks in the name of the Lord. When there is a cause for God, you must be the first to say, “Present! Here I am. What is needed for the Kingdom of God?” Those are the people God loves; those are the people God blesses.

Look, God wants to use the church. God wants to use minority churches. God wants to use “poor” African American, African, and Latino churches. God wants to use these churches; God wants to use these communities to bless this nation. That is why He has brought us here. The more I have reflected on this lately, the more I have realized that these ethnic communities coming from all over the world to countries such as the United States are coming as part of a missionary calling to revive this nation, which is declining more and more each day because of its attachment to reason, secularism, and humanism. They have gone astray and are like blind people, and they need people who have a healthy fear of God and who know the values of the Gospel to come and inseminate and fertilize this nation with their faith and renew it, because God loves this nation.

God has brought us here to be a people of blessing, to be a source of shalom for this nation. So God has a very great calling for the community—in this case, let us say, the Latino community—and I am also referring to other communities that are here, African communities, for example, or Haitian or Brazilian communities. God has a calling for us. He has one for the white race and everyone else, but here I am referring specifically to those of us gathered here: there is a calling. That requires strong churches; that requires churches with a missionary mindset; that requires entrepreneurial churches; that requires apostolic churches; that requires pastors with the mindset of a businessperson and investor; that requires an aggressive, militant church, always conquering territory, always doing something new for the Lord, always investing God’s resources to advance and establish the Kingdom of God and to carry out the work God has entrusted to us in this nation.

Brothers and sisters, as a pastor, I do not want to feel that I am out there on the front lines fighting the enemy while my congregation is a mile behind me saying, “Yes, Pastor, go on! Hit him hard, hit him hard!” while they sit back there calmly drinking a Coca-Cola. I want my church to be right behind me, there at my side, fighting and conquering territory for the Kingdom of God in New England. I want to feel that I have warriors at my side, brothers and sisters, that I have people who understand God’s call to be battle-hardened people, to be aggressive people, to be militant people, to be enterprising people, to be people who invest in the Kingdom of God and are not afraid of the future because they know that their God is powerful enough to provide everything they need if we are faithful to the Lord.

In order to be the church, we need to... I know that God has great callings for this congregation and that we are only scratching the surface, but do you know what? God is saying, “Look, it is not that easy. The pastor and the other pastors are not going to do everything for you; you are expected to invest too.” This temple, this sanctuary, is crazy. It is one of those things that make me ask myself, “How do I get myself into these high-stakes endeavors?” I have already been building for 14 years, brothers and sisters, and no sooner are we finishing this area here, which has cost us so much work, than we are already thinking about the next one. But look, we do not fit. This is at nine in the morning, and at twelve it fills up again. Every statistical study says that once a church fills its sanctuary to 80 percent of capacity, it stops growing. That has been borne out in thousands and thousands of congregations throughout the United States, because it is uncomfortable. People no longer want to come because they have to sit apart from one another and because of all sorts of other things. Look at how tightly packed you are so we can make the most of the space here.

And we have a very small window of opportunity. If we miss the opportunity to begin work on our sanctuary in the next few months—to at least break ground—if we do not do it within the next year, legally, for reasons that would take too long to explain, we will lose the opportunity to do so. Unless He parts the sea, because we have already asked the city for an extension and, from everything I know, they will not grant us a second extension. We have to begin building that sanctuary. So I do not want us to remain confined in this place. We are a visionary church, brothers and sisters. Do you think I undertake this with complete ease and tranquility, simply out of inertia because I want to see something bigger? I rebuke the devil when it comes to anything involving pride; that is not the idea. The idea is to advance the Kingdom of God. The idea is to have a place where lives can come. I am convinced that when we have a larger sanctuary, we will be able to continue growing and doing more things for the name of the Lord.

One of the churches we visited on this missionary trip was a church in Connecticut, and Pastor Rick Aquiles, a friend with whom we have been working on these matters for some time, has a precious sanctuary, a beautiful church. It was built 120 years ago. It is a renewed Baptist church, and about three years ago they built an entire new wing, a beautiful sanctuary, and he told me, “We have quadrupled in size since we opened the sanctuary.”

I know there are many people waiting, because those are the social dynamics, you see? And it is not that one builds buildings so that people will come.... No, it is that we needed to build a larger sanctuary years ago, so that we can.... I am building for the future; I am building to conquer; I am building to prepare the Kingdom of God. I know that right now, when churches here want to hold some kind of revival event, there are no places available. It is extremely difficult, and the churches that have large sanctuaries often do not even want to lend them or use them for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. I respect them; I love them. Amen. Glory to the Lord. Each one with his God, etc. But visionary churches are needed, brothers and sisters. Churches are needed that feel, “No, God has called me to build His Kingdom and to labor for the Kingdom of God. God has called me to use my gifts and talents to advance the Kingdom of God.”

And those are the people God uses to do great things. I saw Sister Elsie Vergara here, a mother, and I remembered Pastor Juan Vergara, who founded this congregation twenty-some years ago. I imagine that when Reverend Vergara started this church in 1982, he did not imagine—in fact, I do not believe he had in mind—that the church he founded would grow, undergo the developments it has undergone, and go on to do the things it has done.

Sometimes you begin with small things, brothers and sisters, and you do not know how far they may go. In fact, I know that we still do not understand everything God wants to do through this community, everything God has, all the wealth he has here within us; and sometimes, because of our small, limited, and fearful mentality, brothers and sisters... What was it that defeated this man? Fear, fear of the future. He did not know what was going to happen, and he was not sure, and he thought about the dangers, and he thought about the risks: “What if I invest that money and lose it, and then this master of mine, who is so stern and demanding, cuts off my head?” And he became a sea of doubts and questions and risks. He thought about all the risks, but he did not think about all the possibilities. And many times God wants to bless us, wants to use us, wants to move us forward, wants to take us to new levels, to new heights in him, while we are here thinking, “What if...?” and we lose the opportunity to be blessed and to be a blessing.

Let me confess something to you, and I confess it with no pride whatsoever but, on the contrary, with shame. Just so you can see... When Reverend Vergara—we began by spending six months in the South End, at the Emmanuel Gospel Center. We were there; we were a tiny group, a handful of people. After six months, the church building we occupied in Cambridge for fifteen years became available—a beautiful church, a typical New England sanctuary made of red brick, with its high vaulted ceiling, a large, classic sanctuary. It also had several classrooms and other things alongside it. It was a very beautiful facility, and they were giving it to us because the American church that had originally been there had been reduced to a tiny handful of people.

And I have reflected a great deal on that process, which happens often here in New England, but I am not going to get into it. Eventually, they had to hand over the sanctuary, along with a parsonage in Watertown and all the classroom facilities as well. Pastor Vergara spoke to the little group we had at that time and encouraged us: “Wow, look at this great opportunity we have. A building is becoming available over there.” So we went over there to see the building. It was winter, and we went to see the building, and again, they were giving it to us. And do you know what my concern was, and why I was so afraid for us to move in? I said to him, “But Reverend Vergara, how are we going to pay for the heating?” If it had been up to me, I do not think—I probably would not have taken it. I am not sure, but I would not have accepted that great gift God was giving us because I was afraid we would not have the money to pay for the heating.

Thank God Vergara had much more faith than I did at that time. Thank God my faith has grown so much since then. But notice how sometimes we can be so conservative, so fearful, so timid about the things God wants to do in our lives. What a terrible waste it would have been if we had missed that opportunity. We were there for fifteen years, and we never lacked anything. God blessed us in vast, generous, abundant ways. Why? Because we took a step of faith in the name of the Lord, and the sea opened before us. Let us never allow fear, dread, or conservatism to stop us.

In the same way, God often says to us, “Look, give to me,” and we stand there like the widow of Zarephath: “Well, it is all I have, and if I give it to you,” as she said to the prophet Elijah, “then neither my son nor I will have anything, and we are going to starve to death.” She became a whole sea of worry. And what did the prophet Elijah say to her? He said, “Look, give to me first, and I promise you that neither you nor your son will ever lack anything.” And that is what happened. She obeyed him, and it says that all the other households around her went hungry, but in that widow’s house the flour and oil never ran out, because she gave generously to the Lord.

Many times we are like that. “Oh, I am tired. It is Friday night. There is an all-night prayer vigil at church, but I have been working all week, and if I go to the vigil, I will be tired on Monday when I go to work.” And we make a whole sea of worries for ourselves, when God is powerful enough to restore everything you invest and to give you more strength on Monday than you would have had if you had stayed home resting, because God is powerful.

You have to learn to move in the power of God, brothers and sisters. There is an opportunity to come to church and worship in the middle of the week, and we are thinking, “No, tomorrow is Thursday. I have to get up at five in the morning. I am going to be tired.” And we wear ourselves out even when we are not tired, because we make a whole sea of worry for ourselves.

As you move in the power of God, God renews your strength while you are in flight. If you and I learned to move more in the power of the Holy Spirit and less in our own strength—using the resources God provides—God would multiply your possessions, God would bless you, and God would use you in great ways.

To the servant to whom he gave one mina and who brought his master ten minas, the master said, “You know what? I am going to exchange those ten coins for authority over ten cities for you. You are going to be governor of ten cities.” And to the other one, who produced five, he gave five cities.

Look, I will finish with this. Sometimes we think that in the Kingdom of God up there, when we go to heaven, they are going to open a big closet for us with white robes and a harp hanging from each white robe, all the same size and design, and that we are going to spend all eternity playing a harp while sitting on a cloud, singing eighteenth-century hymns in a white robe. To me, that would be hell. I believe the Kingdom of God is going to be something creative. There will be differences; there will be rewards at different levels. The one who worked, the one who made an effort, the one who gave his all here, the one who gave the Lord everything he had, will enjoy glory and authority in eternity. I do not know what God has in the future, but I know it is something wonderful. The Kingdom of Heaven will be a place of investment, of work that does not wear us out or tire us as work does here, of creativity, action, new vistas, and new things that we cannot even understand. And I am certain that much of what happens in eternity will depend on what we do here on earth. Do you understand?

And that is why we make an effort, because I believe that if you live here by faith, giving to the Lord, you are investing in the eternal Kingdom. I am sowing for eternity, and everything I gave to the Lord here, everything I left on this earth—my tithes, my offerings, my work, my sweat, my tears, my blood, my failures, everything—the Lord will one day turn into glory for all eternity. And that is why we work in faith here. Everything we invest in the Lord, God is storing up. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ says, “Invest where there is no mold, where there is no decay, where a thief cannot come and steal your money. Invest in the Kingdom of Heaven, because there everything is gain.” Nothing you invest in the Kingdom of God on this earth will fail to receive its reward.

The Lord says that even a cup of water you give someone because he is a servant of the Lord will not go unrecognized by God. Imagine that. Everything you give, whether others see it or not, God is recording in his book, and it will earn interest for all eternity. Give to the Lord. Invest in the Lord. Live your life with an ethic of service to the Lord, sacrifice for the Lord, and investment in the Lord. Whatever you do, do it in the name of the Lord, for the glory of the Lord, and for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Be a warrior for God here on earth. Invest your life. Dedicate your life to the Lord. Dedicate your gifts to the Lord. Live possessed by a vision of giving to the Lord and making your life count, so that the talent God placed within you may yield the maximum return.

And one day you will be able to hear the approving voice of your heavenly Father saying to you, “Come, good and faithful servant. You have grown tired, you have worked, you have bled, you have made mistakes, you have cried, you have gone without sleep. You have been faithful with little; I will put you in charge of much.” Accept that challenge from the Lord and live for that vision, so that your life may count for the Lord, so that your life may be a blessing and may advance the Kingdom of God.

That is what gives meaning to my life, brothers and sisters. Nothing else matters to me. I believe I can say, as the apostle Paul says, “I count everything as rubbish, that I may know Christ in all his power and in his sufferings.” That is the only thing that gives meaning to my life now. I do not care about glory or money or anything else—only that my life may count for the Kingdom of God and that the gifts God has placed within me may be used and developed for the Kingdom of God. That is my glory; that is my joy. And I hope you feel the same way too. I do not care whether you are a worker, a laborer, a carpenter, an investor, an engineer, a homemaker, or a grandmother. Whatever you may be, listen to me: God has placed something within you, and God expects a return.

God does not want you to return what he placed within you wrapped in a little handkerchief, all sweaty and dirty, and say to him, “Look, Lord, I was too tired. I was too burdened. I had too much work, too many children. It was too hard to study. Nobody helped me. I was never sure whether anything would come of what I was going to do, and so I did not make an effort. The only thing I did was go to church.”

How sad. Many will enter the Kingdom of Heaven ashamed and sorrowful, instead of immediately entering into the joy of the Lord and beginning to enjoy the fullness of God’s glory, because they did not give to the Lord; they produced no return here on earth.

So, brothers and sisters, let us have this sermon engraved on our hearts as a challenge for every one of us, so that you will never again forget this challenge from the Lord. Please, I ask you to write this upon your heart. There are many sermons one preaches time and again, but this is a foundational sermon; this is a basic sermon: you and I are called into the Kingdom... We are saved. God has already placed his seal upon us. Now, brother, you are going to enter eternity and enjoy something you cannot even imagine. And then God says, “But while you are here awaiting your call, I want you to make sure you produce a return for me, that you invest and work as much as possible to advance my Kingdom, because I expect a return from you.”

Stand up for a moment and ask the Lord right now to seal that calling upon your life. We are going to raise up a warrior church. We are going to raise up a church of investors. We are going to raise up a church of businessmen and businesswomen for the Kingdom of God—people who are completely convinced and committed to God. Hallelujah!

Father, move in your power. Pray and ask the Lord to seal your spirit with this teaching. Receive God’s touch upon your life. Father, I release it in the name of Jesus.

Lord, I release the calling, I release the anointing in your people, I release men and women full of the Spirit of God.

I release your anointing, Lord, upon this body, and I ask you to activate your calling in our hearts. Raise up men and women who will not retreat, who will not turn back, who will not take their hand from the plow—men and women who know that the calling is serious and for the long haul, and that meanwhile we must take one step of faith after another until we arrive, until we reach the goal.

Man, woman, young person, child: God is calling you. He wants to enlist you in his army. He wants to do great things through you. He has not called failures. He has not called small people. He has called warriors, eagles, birds of prey, men and women of battle. That is what God wants. And God says to you, “I will be with you wherever you go. See, I command you to be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be discouraged. I will be with you wherever you go. Just place my word in your heart, live it, eat it, establish yourself upon it, and no one will be able to defeat you all the days of your life. They will come against you from one direction and flee from you in seven directions,” says the Lord. “In all your battles I will bring you forth victorious. You will never fail in anything you undertake, because I will support you in everything.”

Thank you, Lord. We worship you, we bless you, we exalt you, Lord. We glorify you. Thank you, Jesus. Seal this teaching in the hearts of your people this morning, Father. Seal it in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Give the Lord a great round of applause. Hallelujah! Glory to the name of the Lord.