First: Too Talented To Ignore
Pastor Erickson preaches from Matthew 6:33, the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, and Mordecai's words to Esther in Esther 4:14, as part of a midweek series on putting God's kingdom first. He calls the church to stop burying the talents, skills and influence God has given them and to use them to reach the lost.
The message in 6 points
Seek first the kingdom
The midweek series is called First, from Matthew 6:33. Last week Pastor Carpenter taught on time; tonight Pastor Erickson speaks on talent, under the title Too Talented to Ignore.
38:57Esther and the buried talent
He sets Mordecai's warning to Esther beside the servant who hid his talent in Matthew 25. God has given people in the room a calling and the tools to do something great, and some may need the same wake-up call Esther had.
40:18Stewards of what is God's
Talent is given to all, but not in the same amount, and God tests how much he can trust us with. Everything belongs to God, so we are stewards, and skills used everywhere else should also be used in the house of God, not only platform gifts.
44:21Playing it safe and Esther's story
The one talent servant did not lose or steal it; he only hid it, and the master calls that no way to live. Reading past the gallows in Esther, he shows the Jews rising up because Esther and Mordecai used the influence God gave them.
56:15What a calling really is
Some are safe in the palace while others are lost. A calling is not a microphone or a position; it is doing whatever needs to be done to advance the kingdom, and every believer is called to be a disciple maker.
1:09:23Too talented to ignore the lost
Comparison keeps people from serving, so he asks what the church needs, where laborers are needed, what skills you have, and whom you can influence. He says we are too talented to ignore the lost and dying, and urges the church not to bury their talent but double it.
1:20:38
In his words
“I'll tell you what it is, it's doing whatever needs to be done in order to advance the kingdom.”
“Don't try to be [called] to somebody else's ministry, just do the very best thing God has called you to do. Figure out what that calling is and do the very best you can.”
“The least I can do is get up off my seat, the least I can do is take a risk. I'm not gonna bury my talent in sand.”
Taken word for word from the video, with punctuation added. Words in [brackets] were fixed so the line reads clearly.
Scripture
He reads
Matthew 6:33
33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
King James Version.
Esther 4:14
14For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
King James Version.
Matthew 25:24-25
24Then 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: 25And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
King James Version.
Matthew 25:30
30And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
King James Version.
Matthew 25:14-15
14For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. 15And 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.
King James Version.
Psalms 24:1
1The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
King James Version.
Esther 9:1-6
1Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;) 2The Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear of them fell upon all people. 3And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them. 4For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater. 5Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them. 6And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men.
King James Version.
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