[Music]
Good evening everyone. Welcome to Anchor Baptist Church. On the front of our bulletins, if you have one,
is our memory passage of the week, Hebrews chapter 6, verse 19, and once again, this is our church theme verse,
so definitely want everyone to know this and internalize this great truth that Jesus Christ is our anchor of our souls.
On the inside is our service times listed, Sunday morning 1030, Sunday evening 430, and Wednesday evening at 7 o'clock.
And this evening we will have Brother Eric preaching for us this evening, so make sure you give him your full attention and encourage him as he's preaching.
It's something that I know that for me I benefited a lot from Pastor Thompson and Pastor Shelley giving me opportunities to preach when I was a layman,
and so that's something I definitely want to continue doing every once in a while, so make sure you're giving him your attention this evening
and paying attention to what he is providing from the Bible. Our soul winning times also are listed there.
All those meet here at the church building. I had a great day of soul winning today.
Nursing home ministry information is listed there as well as our year to date stats.
Please do be reporting those salvations to whoever is leading the soul winning time, and you can also send those in the signal group that helps as well.
Please be in prayer for Ms. Whitney Reed for their pregnancy.
Also upcoming events, December 20th, which I believe is this Friday, is going to be the ladies' Christmas party here at the church,
so men make sure you're ready to take care of the kiddos for that day so ladies can have a great day of fellowship together.
December 21st, right after that, is going to be our Saturday soul winning rally, our Christmas soul winning push,
and definitely would be great to have lots of soul winners for that day and reach people as they're thinking about Christ.
December 25th, which is a Wednesday, right after our evening service we will have a cookie bake off.
It will be judged and there will be prizes, so I think it's based off of taste and creativity, if I remember correctly on that.
So there's been some awesome ones in the past. Like I'd said in the signal group, someone made a cookie display of the protesters protesting St. Fast Baptist Church one year, which was hilarious.
Very creative for sure, so get creative. Looking forward to that competition.
December 31st is going to be our New Year's Eve party. Our service is going to be, of course, on the 31st, that Tuesday rather than Wednesday.
We'll have a men's preaching night. There is a sign up sheet in the back there as well as food and games afterwards.
Online giving is listed there and on the back as always is our prayer request. Make sure to let me know if you have any prayer requests.
Be happy to add that for you. That's going to be it for announcements this evening. We'll go ahead and go to our third song.
All right, our third song for the evening is 429. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, hymn number 429-429. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.
We'll sing there on the first.
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, hymn number 429-429. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, hymn number 429-429.
Bailed in flesh, the Godhead seeded, Haliant part and deity.
Weased as men with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, glory to the newborn King. Hail the hand-born Prince of Peace, hail the Son of Righteousness.
Light and light to all he brings, Risen with healing in his wings. Mild he lays his glory by, Born that men no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, glory to the newborn King.
Come, desire of nations, come, Fix in us thy humble home. Rise, the woman's thawing seeding, Bruising us the serpent's head.
Adam's likeness now emphased, Step by image in his place. Second Adam from above,
Re-instate us in thy love. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, glory to the newborn King.
Amen. Good singing this evening. As the offering plates are being passed, turn if you would to Matthew chapter 25.
Good evening. Matthew 25 in the Bible reads,
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.
Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.
But the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you. But go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves.
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut.
Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh.
For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods.
And at one he gave five talents to another two, and to another one, to every man according to his several ability, and straightway took his journey.
Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliverest unto me five talents; behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things.
Answer thou unto the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliverest unto me two talents; behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things.
Answer thou unto the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed.
And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, there thou hast a design. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant; thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed.
That was therefore to have put my money to the exchangers; and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents; for unto every one that hath shall be given, and he that shall have abundance from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath.
And cast you, the unprofitable servant, into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divide his sheep from the goats.
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was not hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in, naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee, and hungred, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee, a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee, sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer, and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, And as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Apart ye from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was not hungred, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in, naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee, and hungred, or a thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, And as much as ye did it not to one of these, and as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day, and we thank you for the souls saved, and we just ask that you fill brother Eric with the Holy Spirit, and that you help him to have boldness, and to help him have clarity of mind, and we just ask that you help us to pay attention to what he's preaching, and help us supply to our lives, and we thank you for everything that you've said and prayed. Amen.
Amen, alright, we're there in Matthew chapter number 25. You can go ahead and lose your place there and turn, if you would, to Luke chapter number 12.
Before I begin this sermon, I do want to thank Pastor Oz for the opportunity to preach here this evening. It is definitely a great blessing to be able to do that. It's definitely a gift that I have been given.
And that actually fits in with the title of the sermon today is "Much is Given." So since I've been given this opportunity, I'm required to give you guys a good sermon. And there are a lot of things where we have been given things in life, and we are required to do what we're supposed to do with what we are given.
Now, this is a phrase that my dad would actually use to me growing up. Anytime that I would complain about something, my dad would just say, "Hey, much is given." If I was complaining at the grocery store, if my dad said, "Hey, put this can of pickles back," or "Hey, do this," and I was like, "Why do I have to do it? Why can't my younger brother do it?" And he'd always say, "Hey, much is given." And it's actually a biblical concept that, hey, we've been given a lot of things. We should just do the things that are asked of us. We should be thankful for the things that we have.
And, you know, I should have been thankful that I had two arms, two legs, that I was an able-bodied person. And, you know, putting away a jar of pickles is such an easy thing to do. Not a good thing for me to complain about that.
So I'm definitely glad that my dad did say that phrase to me growing up. It's definitely something that stuck with me, and it's in the Bible. It's actually a phrase that's in the Bible.
You're in Luke chapter number 12. Look down in there, verse number 35. The Bible reads, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves liken to men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately."
Now, this parable always kind of reminds me of, you know, parents being on vacation and leaving you with, like, a list of chores. And they're not really telling you when they're going to get back. So you've got to get all those chores done by the time they get back.
But you don't know when they're coming back, so a lot of times you would just kind of leave off, and then you get the call, hey, we're 15 minutes away from home. And it's like, oh, crap, I've got to do all the chores.
Whereas really what you should have done is you should have said, hey, I'm going to get those chores knocked out right away, so I don't have to deal with that. I should be ready for my parents coming back. And this parable kind of reminds me of that.
Let's keep reading there in verse number 37. "Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them.
And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
Be therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when you think not." The Bible is telling us here that we are like stewards or managers that are entrusted with our boss's goods or his house, and we're supposed to keep that.
And the boss is gone kind of for an unknown period, Jesus Christ. Obviously, he's going to be coming at an unknown period.
Or you could think of it, we're going to end up dying and meeting Jesus Christ one day. We don't know when we're going to die. That could happen really at any moment.
You know, God could take you for any moment or for any reason. And you know, we're entrusted things, and our lives last an unknowable length of time.
We ought to just do those things now, not put them off. We ought to do what God's will is now.
Let's keep reading in verse number 41. The Bible reads, "Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?
And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath."
Verse 45, "But if that servant sayeth in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat the men servants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken, the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers."
So here we see the good steward, if he's ready, if he's watching, and he's ready when the boss comes back. The Bible says that that guy will be blessed, and he's going to be served, and it's going to be great. He's going to be entrusted with even more things, and he's going to get blessings from the ruler.
But the bad steward gets punished, he gets destroyed, he gets demoted, he gets his portion with the unbelievers.
And we want to be the good stewards where we're following God's will, and we're doing what God has required us to do, and we're being a good steward with the things that God has entrusted us.
Let's keep reading, verse number 47, the Bible reads, "And that servant," watch this, "which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes."
So here we see if someone knows the will of the boss, and he's given a list of things to do, and he knows the will, that he's supposed to get those jobs done. And if he doesn't, he's going to get a bigger punishment than somebody that didn't know the will of the father.
Let me kind of go back to that scenario that I brought up, where the parents are on for an undisclosed amount of time, and they have a list of chores. Well, if you have the list of chores and you don't do them, you're going to get punished more than if you didn't have that list of chores, but maybe the kitchen was dirty, and you didn't clean it, but your parents wanted you to clean it.
There's going to be lesser of a punishment than if they say, "Hey, go get the kitchen cleaned up, clean your room, take the trash out, do all these things."
You're going to get a bigger punishment if you know their will. And it's the same thing with God if you know His will, which we do, and we know the commandments of the Bible, much is required of us. We're supposed to keep His commandments and follow His will.
You know, the Bible says, "For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." So, you know, if we know God's will and we disobey it, God's going to come down heavy on us, and the Bible says it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Verse number 48, we'll just read from the beginning, "But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required, and to whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more."
So here we see the phrase that I've plucked out from my sermon, "Much is given. Of whom much is given of him shall much be required." You know, everyone has been given a certain amount from God. Some are given very little, some are given a lot, and you know, some know a little, some know a lot of things.
You know, there's different expectations for different people, and there's different rewards and different punishments. If you know the will and you don't do it, you're going to get a bigger punishment than if you don't know the will and don't do it.
It goes both ways. You know, if you do the right thing, you're going to get blessed. If you do well with what you have, you're going to get blessed.
So the rewards and punishments are all based on what we are given. So that's kind of an introduction to the sermon. Here are seven points that I have of seven things that we're given and what we are expected to do with what we have been given.
Point number one is an opportunity of salvation. Now this is something that everyone has been given, an opportunity of salvation. Turn, if you would, in your Bible, to Romans chapter number two.
Romans chapter number two, the Bible reads in verse number 14, for when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts, the meanwhile, accusing or else excusing one another.
Here we see the Bible is teaching us that the Gentiles, that everyone in the world has the law of God written in their heart. Every single person on this earth knows that stealing is a sin, knows that murder is wrong.
They know that the moral law is something that God is displeased with, and they know that it is sinful. They know that that's wrong to steal. They know it's wrong to lie.
Everyone's kind of born with that nature. It's actually written in their hearts is what the Bible teaches. So the Bible teaches that, hey, everyone knows that they're a sinner, and that's kind of step one to getting saved is admitting that you're a sinner, realizing that you're a sinner, that you need salvation.
That's step one for salvation. And hey, everyone knows that they're a sinner in this life. Every single person in the world knows that.
Now turn back, if you would, to Romans chapter number one. Flip the page. Romans chapter number one, verse number 20, the Bible reads, "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."
The Bible teaches that everyone can see the creation. It's made clearly manifest. The Bible says it's clearly seen. Every single person knows that, hey, there must be a creator out there.
Now yeah, the fool might say that there is no God, but really everyone knows that there is a God. And sure, someone could get brainwashed or hardened super hard to where maybe they don't think that there's a God or that they're saying that there isn't a God. But really, everyone knows that they're a God. Every child knows that there's a creator, knows that there's a creator. Even their parents, obviously, since they created them, someone had to create the parents, someone had to create everything. And that would be God, obviously.
The Bible says it's clearly seen, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
Turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter number seven. So everyone knows that they're a sinner, and everyone knows that there is a God.
Well, if you know that there's a sinner and you know there's a God, the next step would be, hey, I want to know more about that God. I want to seek for that God. I want to know more about him. I want to know how to get saved from any punishments coming in the future.
You're there in Matthew chapter number seven. The Bible reads in verse number seven, "Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
For everyone that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asketh fish, will he give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?
The Bible teaches that those that ask, they will find. Those that seek, they're going to find. Those that knock, those doors are going to be opened.
Everyone that asketh, receiveth. Every single person that wants to get saved, that seeks God, that knows that they're a sinner, knows that there's a God, and they're seeking for God, God is going to show them that truth.
And if they're genuine, if they really have that desire in their heart, they're going to end up getting saved. They're going to believe in Jesus Christ.
There's not a guy in Africa out there that doesn't have a chance to get saved. No, every single person on this earth has a chance to get saved.
Everyone knows that there's a sinner. Everyone knows that there's a God. Everyone that seeks, finds. Those three are facts.
That is what the Bible teaches. Every single person has an opportunity to be saved.
Now, I will admit, there are people that have a higher opportunity to be saved than others.
Turn, if you would, to Romans chapter number three.
You know, some people may not get a sole winner every single year, but there are people, hey, that live in Oklahoma City, that live close to the church, right here on Wilshire.
Hey, some of those get knocked like every year. Some of those apartment complexes, very receptive.
I'm sure there are people that we preach the gospel to multiple times, basically every single year.
Some people get a lot of opportunities to be saved. And then, yeah, you do have people that are living in Africa.
Yeah, maybe they aren't getting a great opportunity to get saved.
They have an opportunity to get saved, but they might not get a clear salvation presentation every single year.
You know, it's a little bit more complicated than that.
You're there in Romans chapter number three. The Bible reads in verse number one.
"What advantage then hath the Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision, much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God?"
The Bible teaches that the Jews here, that they actually had an advantage to the Gentiles because they were born and raised with the Bible being preached.
They're familiar with the Bible. They know the Bible. They know the law. They hear the Bible. They have the oracles of God.
The Bible says that's an advantage, and that is an advantage. If someone's heard the gospel, if they're raised in modern day, if they're raised in a Christian home, they're going to have a much better chance to get saved.
You know, children that come to a Baptist church, that come to this church, are going to have a very high likelihood of getting saved.
Someone that lives in a Muslim house or a Hindu house that's raised in that or Buddhist or whatever, they're going to have a smaller chance of getting saved.
But hey, they still have an opportunity to get saved. Now hey, they might have less of an opportunity.
There's going to be less required in the sense that their punishment in hell wouldn't be as bad to someone who goes to Baptist church every single week, doesn't get saved, continually rejects God, or someone that's a reprobate.
You know, they have been hearing the gospel a lot. They know what the Bible teaches, but they've taken what they've been given and thrown it away and rejected God, and there's going to be a bigger punishment.
The Bible says that they which delivered Jesus to be killed would actually have the greater damnation than the Romans that put Jesus to death.
The Jews would actually have a greater damnation. Turn if you would to John chapter number 12. John chapter number 12.
Speaking of the Jews. John chapter number 12. Look down there at verse number 36. The Bible reads, "While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.
These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them." There are people that had such a great opportunity that they actually had Jesus Christ in the flesh preach to them.
They had Jesus Christ in the flesh do many miracles, and it actually says that in the next verse, verse 37, "But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him."
They've been given that opportunity. They've been given a great opportunity. They're seeing miracles. They're seeing Jesus Christ in the flesh. They're hearing great preaching, yet they believe not on him.
Let's see the results of that. Verse number 38. "That the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, would ye spake, Lord, who had believed our report, and to whom had the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Therefore, they could not believe, because that Isaiah said again, 'He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.'"
These Pharisees, these Jews were given a lot. They were given a great opportunity to be saved. They rejected it. They pushed it away, and you know what? God gave them a big punishment.
He made them a reprobate. They're capable of every sin now, and they're for sure going to hell, and they're not only going to hell, but they're going to have the greater damnation.
They actually saw Jesus Christ. You know, the Bible teaches that the men of Nineveh are going to come and condemn these people that actually saw Jesus Christ, because they saw the preaching of Jonas, but hey, there's a greater than Jonas, Jesus Christ.
And here in the New Testament, we have the Word of God thundering forth throughout the whole world. People are without excuse, but hey, if you're growing up in a Baptist church, if you're going and hearing the Word of God every single week,
you're without excuse, and it's a scary thing, my friend, if you're going to a Baptist church, and you're not saved. It's a scary thought, because unto whom much is given, him shall much be required.
So that's a chance that someone gets a reprobate. That's why you see sometimes reprobates coming out of Baptist churches, and those people are some of the nastiest people that are out there in this world.
So, you know, some people, they get a soul winner every single year. They get a great opportunity. Some people have saved family members. Some people come to a Baptist church.
And, you know, some people have seen a clear presentation, some people maybe not, you know, much is given, though, and much shall be required. And that's for the opportunity of salvation.
So point number two is salvation itself. If you're saved here today, you have been given salvation. The Bible teaches that salvation is a free gift.
So we have been given salvation. Since we've been given that much, we are required to use that salvation and to preach to others.
Turn, if you would, to First Corinthians, chapter number nine. First Corinthians, chapter number nine. First Corinthians, chapter number nine, the Bible reads in verse number 16.
"For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me." It is our duty as saved people to go out and preach the gospel.
It is what God has required of us. We have been given salvation. We are required to go preach the gospel. It is necessary for us to preach the gospel.
It is laid on us. We are supposed to be soul winners. We are supposed to go out and preach the word, get people saved. That is our duty because we are saved.
Let's keep reading. "Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel." We've been given such a great salvation. Hey, woe unto us if we're not preaching the gospel.
Woe unto you if you're not preaching the gospel. If you're saved in here and you're not a soul winner, hey, woe unto you.
That's a scary place to be. We don't want to be in that situation. We've been given salvation. Hey, let's take that and get someone else saved.
Every single person that's saved should be able to preach the gospel. Salvation is easy. It's easy to explain.
And hey, if you're saved, you can preach the gospel. Very easy. John 3.16, you can preach the whole salvation message right there.
Obviously, sharpen your soul winning skills. Get better at soul winning. But everyone can preach a basic salvation presentation. It's not that difficult.
Verse number 17, the Bible reads, "For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me."
The Bible teaches that we have been committed a dispensation of the gospel. We are supposed to dispense the gospel, preach the gospel to the lost.
That has been committed unto us. It is of necessity for us to take what we've been given and spread it out.
Take our salvation, be grateful for that salvation, and try to get other people saved.
If you're saved, your job is to get other people saved. And if you do that, if you go out and soul win, you're going to get a great reward.
You will be rewarded greatly. The Bible says in Daniel chapter number 12, verse number 3,
"And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever."
So if someone takes the fact that they're saved and goes out and preaches the gospel, the Bible says they're going to shine as the stars forever and ever.
That's something that we should try to achieve. That's something that we can achieve because we are saved, we have the word of God, we've been given the opportunity to do it.
Hey, let's go do it. There's soul winning times, three times a week. Let's go out and reach the lost. Let's go out and preach the gospel. Let's go do it.
Not only that, we're saved in the New Testament, so we have a lot more verses that are even clearer on salvation.
We have John 3.16, Acts 16.30 and 31, Ephesians 2.8 and 9. You and I go out soul winning, I'm virtually never using the Old Testament verses.
Maybe the occasional Jonah 3.10, maybe another verse, very rarely though. I'm pretty much always in the New Testament.
We have the New Testament. It's probably a lot more difficult to preach the gospel in the Old Testament when the verses are a little bit more cryptic, a little bit more hard to understand.
We're saved and we're saved in the New Testament. We have the whole Bible to preach the gospel with.
Also, we have the Holy Spirit that indwells us, so we have so many things that we've been given.
Hey, let's use those gifts and let's go preach the gospel. Let's have the Holy Spirit.
Let's have the Word of God and let's go out and thunder forth the teachings of the gospel and get people saved.
Much is given unto us. Hey, much is required. Woe is unto you if you take those things from salvation and you don't spread the gospel to other people.
Necessity is laid upon us to go out and preach the gospel to every creature.
Point number one, opportunity of salvation. Everybody has been given an opportunity of salvation. Point number two is salvation.
Now, salvation is not like a spectrum of you're halfway saved. Maybe you'll get saved. It's not a spectrum. It's a yes or no. You're either saved or you're not.
So this is something that only applies to people that are saved. If you are saved, go get other people saved.
If you're not, well, nothing's required. The only thing that's required is, hey, get saved first and then go get other people saved.
Point number three is forgiveness. Turn if you would to Matthew chapter number eighteen.
Matthew chapter number eighteen.
Matthew chapter number eighteen. The Bible reads in verse number twenty one.
Matthew eighteen twenty one. Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?
Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven.
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which should take account of his servants.
And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
Now to think about how much ten thousand talents is, if you're familiar with the story of Naaman, Gehazi went out and chased Naaman down
because Naaman was offering a gift to Elisha and he was offering Elisha two talents.
I'm sure that wasn't twenty bucks. He was probably offering him a large sum of money for the work that had been done.
And Gehazi, he must have thought it was a lot of money, too, because he's like, hey, I'm going to go chase him down and get that talent.
And that was just two talents. This guy in the story owes ten thousand talents. It's a lot of money.
You know, if one talent was a hundred bucks, that's a million dollars or even more. I actually don't know.
I think it's a million dollars or more. It'd be in the millions of dollars. This is a big sum of money.
And let's keep reading in verse twenty five. But for as much as he had not to pay, so he doesn't have the money,
his lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made.
The servant therefore fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay thee all.
Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt.
This is kind of a crazy situation where someone just forgives somebody of a multimillion dollar debt.
This is a huge debt. And you know what this picture is? This picture is Jesus Christ forgiving us of our sins.
We owe him an innumerable amount of debt. We deserve an eternity of hell.
And Jesus Christ said, hey, that's all right. I'll save you if you just believe on me. I'll forgive you of all of your sins.
And you're hey, that's a great blessing that we've been given. We have been given such a great forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
And this is a great picture of Jesus Christ forgiving us of an massive amount of debt.
Let's keep reading in verse twenty eight. The Bible reads.
But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him in hundred pence.
And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owe us.
Now, one hundred pence is a lot less than ten thousand talents to kind of give a ballpark.
The alabaster box of ointment that Mary anointed Jesus with was worth three hundred pence is what the Bible teaches.
So one hundred pence, you know, could be a few thousand, a few hundred.
It's going to be a lot smaller than the ten thousand talents.
So in this parable, you know, this guy, he owes his boss ten thousand talents. He gets forgiven.
Then he has a fellow servant, just a buddy of his, who owes him a hundred pence.
And he laid took him by the throat and said, Pay me that thou owe us.
He's not being grateful for the forgiveness that he got.
He's just saying, Hey, pay me that thou owe us. Let's keep reading.
Verse number twenty nine, the Bible reads and his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with me and I will pay thee all.
That sounds familiar because that first servant, he actually said that to his lord with the ten thousand talents.
Hey, I'll pay thee all. And you know what? The lord ended up forgiving him.
But in this situation, verse number thirty, the Bible reads and he would not but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt.
So he does not forgive his fellow servant despite the fact that he was forgiven such an insane amount of money.
And he's not forgiving a guy for just a few hundred bucks or a few thousand bucks.
You know, it is a shame. Verse number thirty one.
So when his fellow servant saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
Then his lord, after that, he had called him, said unto him, Oh, that wicked servant.
Look at the first thing that he says. I forgave all that debt. I forgave thee all that debt.
The first thing he tells him is, Hey, much was given. Hey, I gave you that forgiveness.
I forgave you all that debt. Hey, much was much was given. Hey, much was required.
He was supposed to forgive his servant. I forgave thee all that debt because thou desires me.
The very first thing he tells him is that, Hey, I forgave you.
I gave you that forgiveness. And look, you're not taking that forgiveness and forgiving your other brethren.
You're a wicked person. Let's keep reading in verse thirty three. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant?
Even as I had pity on thee and his lord was wrought and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him.
So likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
The Bible teaches that if we don't forgive our brethren, God's going to bring up our sins and he is going to punish us for our sins.
We've been given such a great forgiveness. The least that we could do is forgive our brother for a small wrong that they've done to us.
Because nothing compares to the great long list of sins that we've done to God, who is perfect, who's just, who didn't deserve any of our sins.
But he took them and nailed them to the cross. How much more should we forgive our brother who stole from us or who did something wrong to us?
We should be able to forgive our brethren. And this this parable, again, is a great picture of how Jesus Christ forgave us.
And it did summarize it in that last verse that, hey, my heavenly father will do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Jesus kind of brings it home there and tells us that God the Father, if he sees us not forgive our brethren, he's going to end up punishing us.
Hey, much has been given. We have been forgiven much. We ought to forgive our brethren for when they wrong us. That's what the Bible teaches.
And, you know, if the money values were swapped in this story, it'd be a different story.
If the guy was forgiven, the first guy was forgiven for a hundred pence and then someone else owed him a million or ten thousand talents, that'd be a little bit different of a story.
You know, he wouldn't it wouldn't be as of necessity for him to forgive that debt as someone who's been forgiven such a great amount of debt.
But we as Christians, we're the guy that owed the ten thousand talents. We're the guy that had the innumerable amount of debt.
So we ought to forgive our brethren for the minor trespasses that they have done against us.
We are required to forgive. And if we don't, we're going to have to pay maybe even for prior sins.
You know, when he got punished, he had to go ahead and pay that debt, pay that ten thousand dollar debt that had already been forgiven.
Hey, God might bring back your old sins if you don't forgive your brother. That's what the Bible teaches.
If you forgive, not mend their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses.
So point number one, everyone's been given an opportunity of salvation. Point number two, for much is given, we have been given salvation.
Point number three was forgiveness. Point number four is spiritual gifts. Turn, if you would, to First Corinthians, chapter number 12, First Corinthians, chapter number 12.
First Corinthians, chapter number 12, the Bible reads in verse number four. Now, there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. And there are diverse differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
But the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit with all. For to one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same spirit, to another faith by the same spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
Here we have a list of things that we can be gifted with by God. And you know some people have just a few gifts on these lists. Some people have a lot of gifts. And hey, if you're a person that has a lot of gifts on these lists, hey, much is required to you.
You know, if God's given you knowledge, hey, much is required. You know, if you're gifted with the ability to be able to understand things, to read the Bible and to understand it very well, or just things in this life, God is requiring you to go and use that knowledge.
But if you just scroll away all day and not use that knowledge, hey, God might come down on you like a ton of bricks. He might destroy you for not using the gifts that he's given, or he might just take away that gift.
You know, a lot of people end up getting dementia or really bad health problems to where their brain is injured and have a lot of problems. We don't want to get into that point where God has actually given us dementia or something that's just awful.
I mean dementia honestly sounds like one of the worst things that somebody to get where you just lost your memory, you're out of your mind. I could just imagine how horrible that would be.
Sounds awful. If you don't want to get there, hey, use your spiritual gifts, use the knowledge that God has given you, get people saved, read the Bible, have the knowledge.
I mean there's other gifts here also. There's wisdom, there's faith, prophecy, discerning of spirits. Some people are really good at learning languages.
If that's you and you're really good at learning languages, hey, go learn those languages so that you can preach to other people the Gospel in Spanish or French or whatever kind of language you want to learn.
Or maybe there's a certain language that's really easy for you to learn. Hey, learn that language. Everyone has their own gifts. Those have been given a lot of gifts.
Hey, much shall be required. You're given a gift of prophecy, you're preaching. Hey, preach. And you know, that doesn't mean that if you don't have the gift of prophecy that you shouldn't preach the Gospel.
Everyone is commanded to preach the Gospel. It's necessary for us to preach the Gospel. Everyone is supposed to do it regardless of whether or not you have the gift of prophecy or whether you have the gift of wisdom.
Every single person is commanded to do that. And hey, maybe that gift will end up revealing itself later. Maybe it just takes a few awkward interactions, a few salvations, before you actually get loosened up and before the gears start clicking in the brain and you're actually able to preach the Gospel thoroughly.
And maybe you are a great preacher, but hey, maybe you just haven't tried it. Go out and preach the Gospel. Open your mouth boldly. Make known the mystery of the Gospel. Maybe you are a great preacher of the Gospel.
How do you know if you haven't done it? You know, you ought to go out and preach the Gospel. Use the gifts. Read the Bible. Maybe you do have a gift of knowledge. Read the Bible. And you know, maybe God will reveal to you wisdom, but maybe you just don't read the Bible.
Maybe that's why God hasn't given you any wisdom. Maybe it's because you're not reading the Bible. Make sure you're using your spiritual gifts and doing the things that we've been commanded to, to see if you have some of these spiritual gifts.
Turn if you would to Matthew chapter number 25. Matthew chapter number 25.
Now we read this passage. Zach read this passage for us for the Bible reading.
In the Matthew chapter number 25, we have the parable of the talents.
It starts there in verse number 14.
The Bible reads for the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods.
And unto one he gave five talents to another two and to another one to every man according to his several ability and straightway took his journey.
Everyone's been committed a certain amount of talents from God.
Now a talent here in the Bible, a talent would be a piece of money, but we can just equate this to something like a like an actual talent and ability because the talent could be something that we're entrusted with.
God has entrusted us with certain gifts, certain abilities that we personally have.
And you know, some people have five talents. Some people are really talented.
Some people maybe have a lot of wealth or possessions.
And then there's other people that maybe just have one talent, one gift. Maybe they're not as well off.
People have their own amount of talents, their own amount of abilities that God has entrusted to them.
Let's keep reading Matthew twenty five sixteen.
The Bible reads then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them other five talents.
And likewise, he that had received two, he gained other two.
He also gained other two. So the guy that gained the guy that had five talents, he ends up making five more talents.
He ends up doubling the money as well as the guy who had two.
He also doubled his money as well, but he only made two talents.
The first guy made five, but we're going to see what the reaction is from the Lord here.
Verse number 18, the Bible reads, but he that had received one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money.
After a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them.
And so he had received and so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord,
thou deliver us unto me five talents. Behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
So notice the reaction from the Lord is, hey, well done, thou good and faithful servant.
You took the talents that you had. You went out and used them.
You doubled them. Well done, that good and faithful servant.
Thou has been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things.
Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. He also that had received two talents came and said,
Lord, thou deliver us unto me two talents. Behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
His Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant.
That was been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things.
Enter thou into the joy of the Lord. Notice the reaction is the same for those two guys.
Notice the guy who was given less and he did less.
Notice that he was just as pleased with that guy.
He doubled his money. He did the same amount of percentage and God was just as pleased with him.
He gives him the same language. He says, Hey, you've been faithful over a few things.
I'm going to make thee ruler over many things. He also says, Hey, well done, that good and faithful servant.
If you've been given two talents, hey, double those talents. Quadruple those talents.
Do what you can with those. If you've been given five talents, use those talents.
If you've only been given one talent, hey, use that talent.
Use that talent to the best of your ability. Maybe you aren't a great speaker.
Maybe you're kind of awkward. Hey, still go out and preach the gospel.
Do what you can. Give it your all. And hey, God's going to reward you.
And you know, if the guy that had one talent, if he went and doubled that money and brought another talent,
just one talent, you know, the Lord would have said, Hey, well done, that good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful over that one talent. Hey, I'm going to give you more things.
I'm going to give you more talents, more abilities, and I'm going to give you rewards for using that talent.
Whatever amount of talents or whatever kind of spiritual gifts you've been given,
use those for the glory of God. Use those to the best of your ability.
The Lord is just as pleased with those first two guys.
But let's see the reaction to the guy that had the one talent.
Matthew 25 verse 24, the Bible reads, Then he which had received the one talent came and said,
Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed.
And I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, there thou hast, that is thine.
I think it's interesting in this passage, if you notice the guy, he comes to Jesus or he comes to the Lord
and he says, Hey, I've hid thy talent in the earth.
Look what the next phrase says. It says, Lo, there thou hast, that is thine.
So notice the guy doesn't even have the talent on him.
He's saying, Hey, let's go dig it back up. It's still buried in the ground over there.
Hey, there thou hast, that is thine. He doesn't even bring it to him.
He doesn't even bring him a zero percent increase. He says, Hey, you got to go and grab it. Go get it.
You know, that's this is really bad. He doesn't even have the talent on him.
But he doesn't do anything with that talent. He just buries it.
You know, he doesn't increase it at all. He doesn't even give a one percent increase.
He just buries it in the ground. He takes his spiritual gifts.
He does nothing with them. He's able to preach. Doesn't preach.
He's given wisdom. Doesn't read his Bible. He saved. He's not going out soul winning.
He's not doing any. He's not doing anything that has been required of him by God.
Hey, much has been given unto us. Much has been required of us.
Let's keep reading. Verse number twenty six.
The Bible reads his lord answered and said unto him that wicked and slothful servant.
Thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not and gather where I've not strawed.
Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers.
And then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
Hey, if you have one talent, hey, at least do something with it.
You at least preach the gospel to your kids. At least preach the gospel to a friend.
I mean, hey, if you're saved, at least do something with it.
And maybe don't go soul winning. At least preach it to somebody.
But there's a lot of Christians out there that they're saved.
And they don't preach the gospel to anybody in their whole life.
And this I think is honestly most Christians.
The most that they'll do is say, hey, I believe in a God or I believe in Jesus.
Or I go to church or they go to church like on Christmas or something.
There's a lot of people that are in that camp where they've been given a talent.
And honestly, a lot of these Christians, they've been given a lot of talents.
Maybe they're really wise. A lot of these people, you know,
maybe they're not in church because they have such a great business that they've made.
You know, they've been given a lot of wisdom and talent.
And they've been able to grow this business and a good family.
But honestly, it's all meaningless if they don't do any works for God.
It's all going to be burned up.
And you know, these people, God is very displeased with them.
And you know, the person that had one talent, he'd been given that one.
He did nothing with it. If the person that had five, if he did nothing with it,
God would be just as displeased with that guy as well.
Let's keep reading. Verse number 28, the Bible reads,
"Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance;
but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath."
So if you are given a lot of things, or even if you're given a few things,
and you use those things for God, hey, God's going to end up giving you more talents.
He's going to end up giving you more abilities.
He's going to entrust you with more goods.
And you know, hey, you're going to end up having, maybe you started off with two talents,
maybe you build that up to four talents.
Now that you have four talents, try to make it eight talents.
You build up on that, and you know, just use what you have,
and it's eventually going to grow.
You know, if you just have money, just sitting around and it's not collecting interest,
you just kind of have it sitting around,
you're not going to make any money off of that, and it's going to be useless.
But if you just throw like a hundred bucks into the stock market or something,
you know, oftentimes over time that money is going to end up going up.
And what was a $100 investment ends up becoming a $200 investment,
and then you can use that $200 and invest it into something else,
that's going to end up going up exponentially.
If you have one talent, hey, use that talent.
Maybe God will give you another talent,
and maybe you can go out and use those two talents and get four talents.
Use your abilities.
Hey, much has been given unto us.
We as New Testament Christians, we have been giving a lot of talents.
And, you know, maybe you don't have a lot of spiritual gifts,
but hey, all of us have the King James Bible.
We all have the Holy Spirit.
We're all saved.
Hey, let's use the talents that God has given us,
and let's go out and do what we can with what we have.
And if we don't, we're going to get punished.
You know, this guy who had the one talent and he did nothing,
he ended up getting destroyed.
He lost his talent.
It was a shameful thing.
The Lord took his talent, gave it to the guy with ten talents.
And verse number 30, the Bible reads,
"And cast thee, the unprofitable servant, into outer darkness.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
If you don't use your gifts, God's going to take them away,
and you're going to get cut asunder figuratively, not actually.
A saved person could never end up going to hell,
but, you know, a saved person could end up being useless
and could end up getting destroyed.
If someone doesn't use their talents, hey,
maybe God just might take the talent away,
maybe you'll get dementia, or hey, maybe even worse,
he might just take your life away and go into heaven,
and now you can't get any rewards.
Now you're left with no talents,
and the talent that you had was given to the guy
that was actually soul winning.
The talent that you had was given to the guy who used his talents.
And hey, of whom much is given shall much be required.
If you're given a talent, you're required to use that one talent,
even if it's just one talent.
If you're given five, there's a bigger requirement for you.
Use what you're given.
So point number one is opportunity of salvation.
We've been given that.
We have been given salvation, let's go ahead and use that.
Point number three was we've been given forgiveness.
We ought to forgive our brethren.
Point number four is we've been given spiritual gifts.
Point number five, this one is not as popular,
but point number five, we've been given preachers.
We live in America.
We have Anchor Baptist Church,
and we have been given a preacher from God.
It'd be Pastor Dylan Oz is our pastor.
That is a gift from God.
Turn, if you would, to Ephesians chapter number four.
Ephesians chapter number four.
Turn there myself.
Ephesians chapter number four and verse number eight.
The Bible reads,
This is referring to Jesus Christ.
Obviously, after he was risen again,
he was on the earth for a few days,
and he ended up ascending up into heaven.
This is referring to Jesus Christ.
He ascended up on high.
He led captivity of captive.
He needed death for us and gave gifts unto men.
Now, if you notice, verses number nine and 10
are in parentheses,
and here we have God telling us
about the ascension specifically,
giving us more details on that.
Verse number nine, the Bible reads,
Notice that's in parentheses.
He's talking about the ascension,
how Jesus actually descended
into the lower parts of the earth,
proving that Jesus actually, when he died,
descended into hell for three days and three nights
to pay for our sins,
but then he did end up raising again
and then ascending.
So God gives that detail there.
So in verse number 11,
he's going to continue the thought,
in verse number eight,
where in verse number eight,
verse number 11 says, "And he gave some apostles,"
so these are the gifts
that God is referring to,
this list off right here,
verse number 11,
"And he gave some apostles
and some prophets and some evangelists
and some pastors and teachers,"
because when Jesus Christ ascended up
into heaven, he didn't take Peter with him.
He didn't take John with him.
He didn't take all the pastors.
He didn't take Titus, Timothy.
He didn't take all the good men with him.
On the earth, he gave gifts unto men,
and those gifts were the apostles.
They were the apostle Peter,
the apostle John, the apostle Paul.
Those are God's gifts to us.
And the Bible also says
that he gave some apostles
and some prophets
and some evangelists and some pastors
and teachers.
There's many different types of preachers
that God has given us
to bless us.
Verse number 12 tells us
why he gave us these gifts,
"for the perfecting of the saints."
So notice, we've been given these teachers.
Now that we have the teachers,
God is going to tell us what's required of us.
Watch this.
For the perfecting of the saints,
that's one. For the work of the ministry,
for the edifying
of the body of Christ, we as saints
are supposed to be perfected by the preaching.
We're supposed to take the stuff
that we've been given by our pastor
and we're supposed to grow from that
and be complete Christians.
Point number two was
for the work of the ministry,
pastors, they run the show
and they help the ministry to work out well.
They help with the soul winning ministries
and just help everything to run smoothly.
We should be able to help in that
and grow in that
and work in the ministry the best that we can
and serve God.
And the third four is for
the edifying of the body of Christ.
So we've been given
pastors, teachers,
we had an evangelist here when it was
steadfast, Evangelist Furr,
we've been given that as a gift from God.
We're supposed to use the preaching that we've been given,
the advice that we've been given
from those men, and grow from that.
To be edified by that,
that is required of us.
That is a requirement
from God. We have been given
a lot of good pastors
and preachers, we are ought
to grow from them.
We're not supposed to
backstab, attack,
make conferences against them.
That's not our job.
We're supposed to receive those gifts,
use those gifts, and hey
let's grow. Let's not try to
not only bury the talent in the earth,
let's not burn that talent.
Let's not bring the talent up to the Lord and light it on fire.
No, let's use those gifts
and let's grow with them.
Let's not make an anti-gift
conference where we just talk about how much
we hate the gifts of God.
There are people out there that hate
God's gifts to us.
Great preachers out there, Pastor Anderson,
Pastor Shelley, Pastor Oz,
there's people out there that hate these
men, that don't like them, and what they do,
they hate the gifts so much,
they end up just burning it in fire in front of God,
they disrespect it, they spit in the face of God,
by attacking God's
gifts unto us.
It would be weird enough if we made
like an ex-Jolosteen
listeners conference, that would be weird
enough, that's not something that I don't think anyone
would be interested in doing, but to
make a conference dedicated
on good men, that is
insane. And you're just
asking for God to punish
you when you're going out and saying,
"Hey, Pastor Anderson's wicked,
hey, woe unto you,
be careful, God has given you
that, and hey, much has been required."
And you know, Pastor Anderson
has affected, let's just be honest,
a lot of people in this room, raise your hand
if you were reached by Pastor Anderson,
maybe you got saved by Pastor Anderson, maybe you
were saved already, but you went to
church because of Pastor Anderson, if you want to raise your hands,
go for it, see, we have hands all over
the room, people have been reached by Pastor Anderson,
and hey, that's a great gift,
and if it weren't for Pastor Anderson, I'm going to be honest,
I wouldn't be here right now,
I wouldn't be preaching here, I wouldn't be saved,
I'd be out in Minnesota, there's not
a soul winning church over there, I'd be on my way
to hell, you ought to be
thankful for that, and there's other
great pastors out there, Pastor Shelley,
we have Pastor Oz, a great man,
great preacher, we have to grow from his preaching,
not attack him or backbite
him, definitely not make
a conference of how much we just hate
other pastors, that is just insane
to me, that there are literally
conferences out there, pastors making conferences
just for the sole
reason of hating good men.
It is insane.
It is just crazy to me.
Let's gather all the trashy people that just
hate gifts, all the rebellious
people, and let's just gather them all together
and talk about how much we
hate Pastor Anderson, how much we
hate Pastor Shelley, Pastor Oz,
that's a wicked thing to do, we have to take
what we've been given, and hey, let's
use Pastor Anderson
and grow from Pastor Anderson,
and use Pastor Oz and grow from
Pastor Oz, use the preaching to help
us grow, not try to
destroy it, not try to
spit in the face of God and throw
away those gifts, let's use those
gifts, let's grow from those gifts,
we've been given great preachers,
let's be edified by
them, let's grow, let's not attack,
backbite, or be an
idiot, be a wicked person
that would just attack
great men of God, we should be
followers of good men,
not haters of good men, let's
love the good men.
You know, there are people
and again,
we are living in a time in America
where there are so many good preachers
out there, we have been given a lot
of preachers, imagine
growing up, North Korea, China,
you don't have one Baptist preacher
over there, imagine living over there, those
people don't have any gifts, imagine
living in America in the
age where we have a phone technology
where we can listen to sermons online,
we've been given such great resources
and imagine we take that
and we just throw it away, we've been given
ten talents from God, we just throw
it all away, we discard it, no, we
should use those talents, and hey, let's
grow from those talents, let's grow
from the preachers that God has given us,
not throw them away, and honestly, there are a lot
of great preachers out there, even there's
a lot of great old-eye preachers that people can
grow from, but hey,
honestly, online,
the people out there that are doing great works
for God, that are posting their stuff online,
that are getting a lot of attention and traction,
Pastor Anderson, Pastor Shelley,
Pastor Oz has gone viral multiple times,
and, you know, we ought
to be thankful for that and
grow from that, not attack that
or discard that.
Now this passage in Ephesians,
chapter number 4, specifically
verse number 8 is actually quoting
Psalm chapter number 68, if you would,
turn to Psalm chapter number
68.
Psalm chapter number 68.
Let me find it here.
Verse number 18 is where it's actually
quoting, or Ephesians is actually quoting
Psalm 68.
Let's look at what the Bible says. Why do people end up
turning their backs on the gifts
and throw away the gifts? I mean, just imagine
someone, like, gives you a car
and you just say, "Hey, I don't want
this car," and you just
hate it so much that you just end up making
videos on it, saying how much you hate
the car and how much you hate someone
who gave you a vehicle. I mean, this is
the kind of insanity that's going on
in Baptist churches. People are literally
getting gifted cars, spiritual cars,
and they're just discarding them. They're just
driving them off a cliff, they're destroying
them, they're hitting them with an axe.
It's just insane.
And then they're making videos on why the car sucked
and why the person giving the gift
sucks. That's just weird
to me. I don't know.
Maybe I'm the crazy one, though.
Okay.
Let's look down there in
Psalm 68.
Verse number 18, the Bible reads,
"Thou hast ascended on high,
thou hast led captivity captive,
thou hast received
gifts for men,
yea, for the rebellious
also."
So notice the gift of salvation
where Jesus leading captivity captive,
that is for everyone. Even the rebellious,
that gift is offered for them.
And also the gifts,
"Thou hast received
gifts for men." In Ephesians,
that tells us that those gifts
are pastors and preachers,
but the Bible says
he's given that to us and he's also
given that to the rebellious. That's why you
see pastors standing up
and attacking good men of God
is because God has given these gifts
to virtually everybody.
Now again, these pastors, again, if you live
in China or North Korea, you might not have
that gift of seeing pastors,
but a lot of times if you live in another
country and if you know English and you have their
phone, you can still find
good preaching online.
It might just be more difficult.
But, you know, people are just rebellious.
They'll take the gifts that they've been
given and they rebel against it.
They hate God and they want to just
distance themselves and distance
themselves from gifts that God has given us.
Let's keep reading in verse number 19.
The Bible says, "Blessed be the Lord
who daily loadeth us
with benefits." Even the God
of our salvation daily,
God is willing to give us gifts. He's willing to
give us benefits. He wants us to grow.
He's given us pastors and preachers that
we're supposed to grow from and every
single day you can go out and be blessed
by listening to a sermon online.
You can grow from the Bible. You can open up your Bible
along with the preaching and you
can grow from that.
Daily you can do that.
Daily loadeth us with benefits.
Verse number 20, the Bible reads,
"He that is our God is the God
of salvation and unto God
the Lord, and unto God
the Lord belong the issues from death.
But God shall wound
the head of his enemies and the
hairy scalp of such in one
as goeth on still
in his trespasses." There's a lot of people
that just go on still in their trespasses.
They get the gift and they just
discard it. They don't want anything
to do with it. Soul winner comes to their door.
They hear a clear salvation presentation.
They just discard it. Just
throw it away. And you know, not a lot of people
get a very clear presentation
of salvation. So if someone comes to your door
and gives you a clear salvation message
and you reject it, hey, good luck.
You might be becoming a reprobate.
God might bring the hammer down and destroy
you. And hey, if you're saved,
hey, much is given already
and you've been given great pastors
and preachers, and you end up rebelling
against them, hating them,
preaching against them, doing all manner
of evil against them, and trying
to destroy them, trying to cause division,
trying to sow discord. Hey, God might
end up destroying your
hairy scalp. That's what the Bible
teaches. God shall wound the head
of his enemies. And you know, I personally
believe that Christians can be
an enemy of God in a sense that
the Bible teaches that he that is a friend
of the world is the enemy of God.
There are people that are saved that
I believe could be God's enemies.
Saul, for example,
in the Old Testament, he's killing
the prophets, he's killing the priests of the Lord.
He's trying to kill David.
He's doing a lot of really wicked things.
I think Saul was an enemy of God
in a sense. Now, was he a hater of God?
Was he a reprobate? No, but I believe that
he was an enemy of God. And people
that are saved, hey, I believe can be enemies
of God. And hey, if
someone that's saved is attacking men
of God, preaching against men of God,
trying to destroy men of God, hey, God
might just bring the hammer down.
He might destroy you.
Be careful what you preach. God's been
giving you gifts. Hey, much is given.
Hey, much shall be required.
We've been given a lot in the New Testament.
We've been given salvation, the King James Bible,
the Holy Spirit, pastors and
preachers, great opportunities
to win souls. We live in America, freedom of speech.
We have been given so
much. Much has been given unto us.
Much is required of us.
Let's not backstab
or be rebellious against God,
be ungrateful to God,
be prideful against God, wanting to
lift ourselves up and go out
for attention. You know, we ought to
thank God for the gifts
that we've been given, grow from the
gifts that we've been given. And since we've been given
a lot, we ought to do a lot
for God. We ought to do the best
of our ability. We ought to go out and use
the gifts that we've been given and
actually use them.
That is what we are supposed to do.
We're given Anchor Baptist Church.
We're expected to grow.
That is our expectation
from God, is to grow
in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord. And we ought to just grow,
get better spiritually, become
a better soul winner, be a better Christian,
get sins out of our life. That is required of
us, and we have great preaching here.
We ought to grow and be thankful for that.
I'm kind of running out of time,
so I'm going to skip ahead some of this.
Point number six
is God's working.
A lot of people have been given a lot
of God's working. Turn, if you would, quickly to
1 Kings chapter number 11.
You know, God has
done a great work in our lives already with
salvation, but then there are also
things that God has given us,
whether it be healing.
King Asa actually gets healed
of God, or he gets
surrounded by the Ethiopians, and God
ends up delivering those Ethiopians in his hand.
He ends up getting a great defeat,
and then later in his life, he actually
ends up getting an illness, and then another
army comes and
tries to attack him, and he ends up seeking
the physicians, he ends up seeking Egypt
for help, or whatever country he reaches
out to, and he ends up getting
destroyed, because God had given
him such a great deliverance in the first
part of his life, great army achievement,
God had been with him, Asa saw
the Lord, but in the end of his life,
you know, he didn't seek the Lord as much,
he sought the physicians, and because
God had done a great work for him in the past,
and Asa refused to seek him again,
God ended up destroying King Asa, and he ended up
dying shortly after that.
Now here in 1 Kings chapter number
11, we have Solomon,
the Bible reads in verse 9,
"And the Lord was angry with Solomon,
because his heart was turned
from the Lord God of Israel,
which had appeared unto him
twice." Notice here,
the Bible is telling us that God
did a great work unto Solomon.
He appeared unto him twice.
You know,
none of us here have had Jesus Christ or God
physically appear to us,
and audibly talk to us, that's
not something that happens in the New Testament.
The Bible teaches that's an Old Testament thing.
But Solomon actually had God,
the Lord God of Israel, appear unto
him twice. That's a great work, that's a great
blessing for him.
Let's keep reading in verse
number 10, "And had commanded him
concerning this thing, that he should not
go after other gods, but he kept
not that which the Lord
commanded. Wherefore the Lord
said unto Solomon, 'For as much as this
is done of thee, and thou has
not kept my covenant and my statutes,
which I have commanded thee, I will surely
rend the kingdom from thee, and will give
it to thy servants.'" And you know, that's what
ended up happening. Solomon,
his descendants, Rehoboam,
ended up only getting two of the tribes,
and Jeroboam, his servant,
ended up getting ten tribes
of Israel. Solomon ended up losing
the kingdom, just like Saul.
Saul and Solomon honestly kind of have similar lives,
where they start out strong,
and end up falling strong,
or falling hard,
and when they fall, the
servant ends up taking over. When
Saul falls, David ends up taking
over, and when Solomon ends up falling and
dying, the kingdom ends up getting
transferred over to Jeroboam,
which if you're familiar with the Bible,
Jeroboam was actually a hardworking
man underneath Solomon
earlier in his ministry,
or his rulership.
But Solomon had been
given a great work of God,
he had been given wisdom, and God
appeared unto him twice,
Solomon ends up going after other gods,
and God says, "Okay, you've been
given this, you haven't performed the commandment
of the Lord, I'm going to take those away from you."
And you know, if you've been blessed by God,
if you've been healed of God from something,
or maybe something has happened in your life,
where maybe you did have some kind
of brain injury or head injury, and
now you're doing better and you can understand
things more, you know, you should be thankful
for that, and use that, and
be thankful for God's work in your life,
and grow from that,
and get better, and continue
keeping the commandments of the Lord.
For sake of time, I'm kind of,
I'm not going to go to this passage, but
number seven,
seven thing that
we have been given is money.
And because we live in America,
a lot of us honestly live pretty
good lives, and we are blessed
with the opportunity to only have to work
like 40 hours a week, and still
be able to provide for a family.
Much more so
for me as a single guy, you know, it's really easy
for me to do that. But we have
honestly been blessed, as Americans,
as people that live in Oklahoma, with
financial blessings.
And sure, yeah, some people are going to be more
financially well off than others.
Actually, if you would turn to Mark chapter
number 12, this will be the last passage
that we go to. Some people have been given
more things than others,
but what you are given,
what's required of you is based on
what you've been given.
The Bible reads in Mark chapter
number 12, verse number 41, we'll
read.
The Bible says,
"And Jesus sat over against the
treasury, and beheld how the people
cast money into the treasury, and
many that were rich, cast in much.
But there came a certain
poor widow, and she threw in
two mites, which make a farthing.
And he called unto them
his disciples, and said unto them,
Verily I say unto you, that this poor
widow have cast more in
than all they which have cast
into the treasury. For all they
did cast in of their abundance,
but she of her want
did cast in all that she had,
even all her living."
If you make a small amount of money,
God is obviously requiring a lesser
amount. Someone that's only making
$30,000 or $40,000 a year
is not required to give
a $50,000 check to the church.
That's just not possible to happen.
And this person here,
this widow, she only had
two mites, and she actually gave it all
to God, which is very impressive.
And this is obviously not something that you have to do,
where you have to give all your money,
be holier than thou, and
prosperity preachers will tell you, hey, plant a seed,
and you'll end up
getting a ton of money. Yeah,
it's not going to happen if you're
giving money to those churches. But,
someone that's genuine, that has
a little money, that gives a little,
but is actually a big detriment to their
well-being, and
they're not able to provide food, or
is actually harming them physically,
that person is going to get blessed. Where someone that has
a lot of money and just throws $100
into the church plate, and just
casting in of their abundance, it goes
not as pleased as that, as someone who's
struggling financially that throws in
$100. You know, it's based
on what kind of money that you have,
and honestly, I would
just say a percentage system. This is
why, in the New Testament,
also in the Old Testament, we have the tithe,
where we bring 10%
of the church. That way, however much
money you're given, you require 10%
of that. So, of whom much is
given, shall much be required. If you're given
$50,000, tithe
$5,000. Right? If you make
a couple hundred thousand dollars, obviously
it'd be $20,000 for the tithe. It's
all based on how much money that you make,
it's a percentage. That's God's system, that's
God's economy, because in the Bible,
over and over again, we have this theme of
unto whom much is given, of whom shall
much be required. What we've been given,
we have to use what we've been given,
and grow in
church,
become better people,
and use our abilities, go out
soul-winning. If we have knowledge, if we
have wisdom, if we're able to preach,
let's use those abilities that God has given
us. Let's not bury that talent away,
and let's definitely not bring that
talent up to God and light it on fire.
Let's be appreciative of the gifts, let's be
thankful, humble people
that love to serve God, and use
what we have been given. Let's pray.
Dear Father, thank you for all the things
that you have given us, for the salvation
that you have given us, for the King James Bible,
for the Holy Spirit, for this
church that we have, Lord Anchor Baptist Church,
and thank you also for the preachers that you've given us,
Pastor Oz. Help us to be able to follow him,
and be good preachers
of the Gospel, and help us to just grow
in your word, Lord, and
use what you have given us
to the best that we can, Lord. In Jesus'
name I pray, amen.
To the world,
hymn number
423,
Joy to the World.
We'll sing there, starting
on the first.
Joy to the world,
the Lord is come.
Let her
receive her King,
let every heart
prepare
in room.
Let heaven and nature sing,
and heaven and nature
sing, and heaven
and heaven and nature
sing.
Joy to
the world,
the Savior reigns.
Let men
their song deploy,
walk
fields and floods,
rocks, hills, and plains.
Repeat
the sounding joy,
repeat the sounding joy,
repeat,
repeat the
sounding joy.
No more
let sins and sorrows
grow, nor
thorns infest
the ground.
He comes
to make
His blessings flow,
far as the
curse is found,
far as the curse is found,
far as,
far as the
curse is found.
He rules
the world with truth
and grace,
and makes the
nations prove
the
glories of
His righteousness,
and wonders
of His love,
and wonders of His
love, and wonders
and wonders
of His love.
Amen.