First: Too Talented To Ignore | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson
by Chad Erickson
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Matthew 6:33, Esther 4:14, Matthew 25:24, Matthew 25:30, Matthew 25:14-15, Matthew 25:16-23, Matthew 25:24, Matthew 25:26-28, Psalm 24:1, Esther 9:1-4

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/chad-erickson--first-too-talented-to-ignore
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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clap your hands if you're thankful for our worship team tonight oh thank you team for leading us in the worship if you will grab your Bibles and turn with me to Matthew chapter 6. in verse 33 we're going to get right into the word of God tonight once again as senior pastor has already done I want to say Welcome to our midweek Bible study and what a great move of the Holy Ghost that's in this house I I think it's okay for the Holy Ghost to move on a midweek service you think that's okay tell you what it makes get through the week a whole lot easier a week I know some people I you know I know there's probably some churches that don't even really sing worship songs on midweek they probably just come together and open a Bible and that's fine well I sure enjoy worshiping with my brothers and my sisters I sure enjoy coming together amen just a like-minded faith amen There's Hope in the house there's there's joy in the house amen give honor to senior pastor and first lady tonight we love and cherish our leaders don't we love and cherish our leaders our pastoral team hey man we had just uh we had a great dream team meeting tonight with all of our staff that worked so hard here at First Apostolic and I know I'm kind of preaching the choir most of you were here for that and uh just had a had a great time just just hearing what God has in store for our church and just hearing how we're Tethered to the word of God and and I'm glad to be a part of a church that understands we can look forward but at the same time we can look back at the same time as we're moving forward we can make sure we're still Tethered to the Rock and I believe this church I believe this church is Tethered Amen to the rock of our Salvation are you thankful for that amen just shout hallelujah I know you're holding your Bibles Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33 goes along with our midweek Series this month entitled first simply says but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you everyone to shout out the word first seek ye first the kingdom of God last week Pastor Carpenter he taught on the subject of our time he taught it's our choice of what we do with our time he made this point which is so true he said our calendars and our checkbooks document what we do with our time you want to know what you did with your time last month all you got to do is open up open up that calendar on your phone see what all you did in your time all you got to do is open up that checkbook and see where your money went that's what you did with your time amen I believe we're seeking first the kingdom with our time amen and so it is it is my assignment tonight to speak to you on the subject in our series but my subject to speak on is our talent and uh my title is not going to make sense at first but it will by the end of the message my titles is simply is too talented to ignore too talented to ignore you may be seated that's a courtesy I want to read in our scripture text if you'll turn quickly with me to Esther chapter 4 and verse 14. the scripture I've already read that was for our series but now I'm going to kind of get more into our text for this evening for our subject at hand which is which is Talent now uh humor me because Esther chapter 4 is is quite an odd place uh to begin talking about talent I don't know if I've ever heard uh Talent taught or preached out of Esther but look with me in in chapter 4 verse 14 the Bible says but if thou altogether Hold Us thy peace at this time then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place oh look at this right here though but thou in my father's house shall be destroyed everyone say destroy and who know it this is more to chaos speaking to Esther he said who knoweth whether Thou Art come to the kingdom for such a time as this now now with that I want you to turn to Matthew 25 and 24 and this is going to make a whole lot more sense but I want to parallel the whole book of Esther with the story of the talents in Matthew chapter 25. the Bible says then he which had received the one Talent came and said Lord I knew thee that thou art and 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 he says Thou Hast what is thine verse 30 says in cast he the unprofitable servant into outer Darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth and we've probably read that we probably read that 30 40 times throughout our life if you if you read through the Bible that's that's one of those uh one of those chapters and it's enjoyable to read through and but I want to I want to parallel these two um passages of scriptures if you will for more Mordecai warned this to Esther he said if you hold your peace thou in my father's house shall be destroyed in and and with the talents with the story this Parable the talents the unproppable servant hid the talent and he was cast into outer Darkness I want to parallel those two things I I promise you this is not going to be a negative message please please understand but I I just believe I believe there's people in this room today that God has called and God has given you a calling upon your life to do something great he's given you the skill he's given you the talent he's giving you the skill set he he's given you all the tools you need to put the kingdom of God first and maybe just maybe there's people here that are going to have to have the same wake-up call that Esther had and God God put it in Into the Heart of Mordecai her cousin her her older cousin to Simply say listen Esther you've been brought to the kingdom for such a time as this and if you don't step forward if if you don't deliver the people God's given you the talent God's given you the ability he's given you everything you need every tool you need to deliver the people out of annihilation if you don't do it he says somebody's going to come and do it God God's going to deliver his people I promise you if we fail today I promise you the kingdom of God is not going to falter we understand that but I believe at the same time that God puts a call in upon lives to do something great for him and for the kingdom and to put his kingdom first and we as the people of God if we'll respond to the call of God that's what this is all about tonight if we'll respond to the call of God I believe God is going to do Great and Mighty things through us so Talent just like time is given all people you might say I don't know about that I promise you it is Talent just like treasure and that's gonna be next week's topic is given to all people however and this is what we're going to study tonight but the same amount of talent is not given to all people we understand there's there's got to be a process there's got to be a trust factor involved in how much talent someone is given or or what God gives to somebody to be the governor over look with me in Matthew 25 look at verse 14. we're going to keep on reading 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 until one he gave five talents to another two to another one to every man according to his several ability and straightway uh the master he took his journey well let me let me read this from another translation because sometimes we got to hear it we got to hear it in more Modern English uh 25 14 he says it it's also like a man going off on an extended trip he he called his service together in delegated responsibilities 20 gave five thousand dollars to another two thousand dollars two one to a third one he gave one thousand and here's what I'm getting at right here depending on their abilities all right you see that depending upon their abilities he gave them what he thought he could trust them with now now listen Talent can mean money in this in this uh in this translation they have it as as an amount of money however we also understand that Talent is also skills it's abilities here's a big word right here and this is where I'm coming from for most of this message tonight it's also contained in influence all right Talent influence how much influence you have on other people uh there there are people now that consider themselves influencers I don't know if anybody else does but they consider themselves influencers and then of course Talent you know Talent just as we think of of talent uh the talent the skill the ability the influence that God gives us and gives us children is in proportion to the ability they have to handle that talent and don't you know that it's a good thing that everyone doesn't receive the same amount of talent ah because some people it might go to their head and God understands that God uh God has a way of testing us and putting us through life tests in order to see how much he can trust us with I've seen some people they've been given a lot and given much and and they faltered in their walk with God and then things went to their head maybe they had too much influence too much popularity maybe uh I don't know maybe they got too high in the in the billboard Christian music charts or or maybe they preached at a conference and maybe they weren't ready to preach at yet and they got high in mind and they started think of themselves as as though they really weren't and those same people we found where they've their their walk with God is haltered you know what I'm talking about you've seen it happen you you've got friends you you've got relations you've got people from other churches maybe that you might know or ministers or singers musicians that have just gotten way too high in minded in their own talent and have found themselves where they don't need to be and so I believe that God I believe that God will will will will test Us in and as a master it's his job to make sure that we have stewards right because that's what we are all we are stewards the Bible clearly stated that it was the master's talents that he was giving right it wasn't he wasn't giving them he wasn't giving them ownership over the talents right he was just simply saying I need you to Steward over what I'm giving you I'm coming back I'm going to return now listen uh stewardship and the word Steward it's an old word it's kind of like it's kind of like what farmer is becoming today in my generation there's not a lot of farmers and I know uh Pastor Hammond just just wrote a book on gardening and he goes into the the fact that that's kind of a word that's kind of getting outdated even today and uh back I don't know 100 years ago I would say the land was filled that was probably the there was more Farmers than any any other industry anything else but now all of a sudden there's not a lot of farmers today matter of fact we I in my knowledge I think we've had one maybe two children of farmers that have gone through the academy that I can think of um that have gone through the academy whose parents had had great whereas a Dairy Farmer uh they they raise corn or whatever it is there's just there's not a lot of farmers and and stewardship is the same way we don't hear the word Steward matter of fact I don't know about you I I I'm lower middle class than I don't have a steward and maybe you all do maybe I'll have stewards back home keeping track of your stuff no okay maybe we're all in the same boat together so this is kind of an older word um that baby back in the in the days of the Bible I think this would relate but now we've got to kind of kind of go back and understand like Joseph was a steward over Potiphar's house but we understand that there's a lot of the story that's been left out of Joseph we realize that right we don't have a day-to-day log of what happened in his life obviously potiphar had to test Joseph in some ways to make sure he was going to be trustworthy to be over his household now we read the Bible it's awesome we read it brother Joel and we're reading like man he just come right off the slave trade he uh he made he just got to Egypt and potiphar said hey I want you to be over my whole household I don't believe that's how it happened I believe there's some testing there's there's something that went in potiphar said hey if I'm gonna trust you my finances and if I'm gonna trust you of what food to buy and and how to feed my my servants and how to feed my household my my own family my children and keep track of of all the finances in the house I've got to know that I can trust you so with Talent there has to be trust there has to be a certain amount of stewardship where there is Trust for the steward I I personally I want to be a good Steward of talent personally I want to be a good Steward of talent I if God gives me an ability I want to give it back to him in form of worship in form of Duty whether it's here at the church whether it's uh I thank God I love listen all my life I've supported missions I love missions it was the greatest honor uh to be to be asked and appointed to be a world missions a regional field supervisor that was the greatest honor to me because I thought I get to work closely I get to go and see the work going all over the world I get to go to Asia Pacific and see what's happening in the Philippines I get to see what's happening in Papua New Guinea the because of my love because that's where my heart is we talked about uh last week our time and then in checkbook encounter because of my love from missions listen that's why I enjoy going and supporting missions and going to the field and seeing what God is doing on the missions field so personally if God gives me a heart if God gives me a hunger if God gives me a love for something if I feel like God's giving me influence or talent in a certain area I personally want to do everything I can to sharpen that oh God help me God help me to do the very best I can do but but here we are we are stewards of Time treasure and talent it's not ours it's God's he entrusts us with it Psalm 24 1 says the Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the world and they that dwell therein listen everything belongs to God uh I got to to teach last week in our in our disciple makers class our discipleship class and we talked we talked about stewardship I love that topic because I I just understand that everything is God's and we're just here making sure that we take good care of what is his this is his Earth this is his world the people inside these walls the people outside they're all his they're all his children he created them he designed them he made him everything belongs to him I don't know about you I want to be a good Steward of what is God's I believe God is continually testing each of us see he wants to see the amount of talent he can trust us with I believe that if God blesses you with a good voice and you desire to sing on every stage except this one there's something wrong with that if God if God gives you an ability if God blesses you with an ability or a town if you're a skilled woodworker or or an electrician or a plumber or or I mean and you you'll do you go anywhere else and you'll fix your friend you'll go to your neighbors you'll do but my God you're not going to find me in the house of God listen there's something wrong with that because God gives us abilities for a purpose we're going to talk about it he gives us abilities for a person he gives us skills for a purpose he gives us creative minds for a purpose God God help me if I can if I can make money uh working with with creativity in one Avenue and I can't come to church and work in that same Avenue in creativity and it scares me sometimes because with all things with all skills with the mind listen there are times when when I feel creative and there are times when listen creativity can leave like this that's a gift from God gives and I guess I want to get out of the idea that the only callings and the only talents are on our platform talents that's just such a small percentage of the talent that God has given the body you probably read the story The talents in Matthew chapter 25 so many times from the from the King James translation I want to read it I want to read it from a modern language because I got to read it kind of started making sense because again we we don't use a lot of the same terms they use back then but uh the Bible says in Matthew 25 16 it says write off the first servant went to work and doubled his master's investment the second to the same but the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried carefully y'all see that carefully buried his master's money and after a long absence the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them the one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment his master commended him I love how this translation says good work you did your job well from now on be my partner okay what that simply means right there is you went from my servant you went from just just being somebody over what is mine so he said I tell you what you did so good with what I left you with I want you now to be in partnership with me the servant with the 2 000 showed how he had also doubled his master's investment his master commanded him he said good work you did your job well from now on be my partner here we go verse 24 says the servant given one thousand said master I know you have high standards inherit and hate careless ways that you demand the best and make no allowances for error I was afraid I might disappoint you so I found a good hiding place and secured your money he said here it is safe and sound down to the last cent and I want us to notice right here because a lot of times we we feel like this this this last servant that that he's this horrible person did he did he lose the talent did he did he sell it and keep the profit did he misplace it did uh did he steal it that wasn't the case at all the the servant with the one Talent all he did was protected it and hit it but we see in verse 26 the master was Furious he said that's a terrible way to live it's criminal to live cautiously like that if you knew I was after the best why did you do less than the least the least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers where at least I would have gotten a little interest so then he says in verse 28 he says take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most and get rid of this play it safe who won't go out on a limb throw him out into utter Darkness light listen we understand this and light is the symbol of Salvation it's spiritual growth it's discernment and when someone is thrown out of the light and into utter Darkness listen there's no salvation there it's a very scary place to be there's weeping and gnashing of Keith bitterness misery mental anguish in the Book of Esther they called it destruction Mordecai said listen Esther I want to pick up a story I've read the story of Esther so many times but for whatever reason every time that I think of the story of Esther and I'm just gonna I'm gonna open up and and just be very transparent to you I heard the story of Esther when my when my daughter pairs she's got tomorrow she's turning 16. when she was when she was about two years old Veggie Tales we listened and she watched so many VeggieTales DVDs and there was a story of Esther and VeggieTales now listen it was a great story but it stopped when Haman was hung on his own Gallows you know again I apologize I'm being transparent I have had an Esther chapter one through an Esther chapter 7 view of the story of Esther because of VeggieTales but the other night something brother man something did I just I said you know what I began to read the story of Esther and I kept on reading past the Gallows in past came in on The Gallows and I found out that the last three chapters of Esther are mind-blowing and I'm thinking myself VeggieTales well I understand why they left it out because there's a lot of there's a lot of death and bloodshed the kids probably don't need to watch you know I'm saying they probably just kind of cut that out of there but but you know the story the story master I'm going to go through it very quickly because because it's it's just absolutely got a hold of me but the story that Esther is is a Bible times Cinderella Story it really is um she grows up she she loses her parents she's an orphan uh she just she's just this child she's she's a Jew but she's growing up she's grown up in a Persian Empire um doesn't have parents her her older much older cousin had to adopt her had to become her guard her legal guardian because she's gonna she wasn't gonna survive without Mordecai her cousin I which which I'm pretty sure the VeggieTales said was her uncle it wasn't her uncle cousin had raised her and uh it's just it's ruined his modern-day Cinderella because you know you know the story of Cinderella you know how uh the prince is is looking the king is looking for a for a for a princess a wife for his for his son and and it kind of follows those same lines because we know that the queen didn't do exactly what the king asked her to do and so King got rid of the queen and there's an opening that we need a new Queen and so they started bringing all the young ladies of the Kingdom sounds kind of cinderellish all the young ladies of the Kingdom brought them in and and they got them prepared they they went through a year-long preparation to go before the king and then they started marching these women before the king and and did some customary things that we don't do today and don't believe in and all that kind of took place and here lo and behold all these women all these young girls all these women teenagers and young 20s of the Kingdom the King was like ah not really interested in but all of a sudden this Jewish girl which they didn't know was Jewish is this this storyline is awesome she comes in and she is beautiful and she finds favor with the king and the King's like gonna marry her right there's no glass slipper the kind of story kind of ends there with that whole thing um but now we have the queen now but but again their Customs are so odd their Customs are that you cannot present yourself to the king without being invited matter of fact if you present yourself to the king uninvited it's about a 95 chance you're going to get beheaded there's there's a high there's a high chance you're gonna die if you present yourself to the king Uninvited will The Story Goes that that Haman Haman hated Mordecai Haman was high up in the court of the king Haman was the king's best friend he was second in command and Haman would walk the streets and in the gates Mordecai would be just doing whatever Mordecai did in this in in in in the streets in the gate and he would not bow down to Haman and Haman knew he was a Jew and said I'll tell you what I'm gonna go to the king we're going to write up we're going to wrap a law that states that there's going to be a day in the near future when anybody that wants to kill a Jew can kill a Jew matter of fact we want to see every Jew killed in the land total annihilation and not only do we all see every Jew kill the land you you are you are more than welcome to take every one of their possessions and it is now your possessions you clean out their house kill their whole family clean out their house take it home you can have their house it's yours if you'll kill them you can have everything that they own sounds familiar there's a lot of stories in the Bible where the children of God went through that and of course the queen finds out Mordechai tells the queen says Hey listen listen we've got to do something about this you you you have too much influence and this is what I'm I'm bringing talent in because God gave that young girl so much influence it wasn't her her family name it wasn't her mom or dad it wasn't her lineage she has so much influence because God said I'm giving you the influence that you need to save my people and to be a savior for my people so here we have the story of Esther the story of Mordecai as as Mordecai just simply says to Esther says listen Esther uh you better get in there I know that you have an uh there's a there's a chance that you might be killed but you're gonna have to take some chances I'm gonna kind of parallel between this and between our our Parable if you will you're going to have to go out on a limb and take some chances because if you don't he said listen there's going to be another savior that's going to rise up to save the people the Jews but you in your household are going to die you're going to be destroyed he said I promise you God has brought you here for such a time as this he's giving you the talent he's giving you he's giving you the influence he's giving you the skill set he's given you the beauty for such a time as this and so the story goes I'm gonna go quickly because you know this part of the story she goes in she talks to The King The King accepts her in she says I want you and Haman to come to my house we're going to have a banquet together they come the first night the king says you tell me anything you want honey and I'll give it to you up to half the kingdom and she says I I'll tell you what I want I want you to come back tomorrow night they came back the second night and it was on that night that she told she pointed at Heyman and she said he is trying to kill my people and the King said what do you mean he's trying to kill your people and she says I am a Jew and he's trying to annihilate the Jewish race from this Persian Empire and the King he looked at Haman and matter of fact Haven had built these Gallows build these Gallows from it okay I to hang on and he said hey man you're going to be hanging from your very own Gallows that you built and what seems like a win and that's again that's where VeggieTales in that's not where the story ends because uh the thing about a decree that a king would make is you could not cancel a decree in that day and that time in that country there's no such thing as just going out and saying okay we've taken it back King says he doesn't believe that no more that's not you can amend the decree but you could not cancel the decree so long story short what ends up happening is there's still a day that's coming in the day that's coming this is a day when anybody who wants to kill a Jew can kill a Jew could kill a Jew's family could take everything they have and that day has come a matter of fact in Esther chapter 9 and verse 1 it talks about the 12th month that is the month of Adar on the 13th 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 in parentheses it says though it was turned to the contrary that the Jews had ruled over them that hated them oh I love this right here verse 2 says the Jews gathered together in their cities throughout all the provinces of king of hazarus to lay hands on such assault and sought their hurt and no man could withstand them for the fear of them fell upon all the people and all the rulers of the provinces the lieutenants the deputies the officers of the king helped the Jews because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them for Mordecai was great in the King's house and his Fame went out throughout all the promises for this Mordecai wax greater and greater thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword in Slaughter and destruction and did what they would unto those that hated them and in shoes on the palace the Jews slew and destroyed 500 men not only that but the ten sons of Haman they slew every single one of them and this is what I need you to understand about this story that's going to go along well with our talents number one Esther is still the queen Mordecai is second in command of all Persia Haman and his ten Sons along with 500 Wicked Persians are have been put to death and destroyed and number four the Jewish people became the most powerful and feared people people of the land I began to read that and I thought to myself this right here is powerful because what the devil meant for bad and for evil just like with Joseph what the devil meant for evil God meant it forget good the very people they were trying to destroy God gave them power and they rose up and they fought and they destroyed every enemy oh listen listen all because a young woman and her cousin used the talent and influence that God gave him as a calling to fulfill their purpose in God's Kingdom now I'm gonna say that one more time two people rose up and said God you've given us a talent for such a time as this you gave more to KI wisdom and knowledge so much wisdom that one day he took came in spot and now he's second in all command of the whole Kingdom and you gave you gave this young girl Esther the beauty the influence the talent that she could rise up before a king and say my people are about to be destroyed but I've got to rise up and do something about it foreign I want to preach this for a moment because here here we have and I want to bring it into who we are and what the church is today God has given each one of us specific callings he's given us a specific skill set to fulfill the calling that he's called us to do in the vast majority in this Sanctuary tonight you're working right in the middle of your calling and you're living your best life now you go home on a Sunday you feel fulfilled you go home on a Wednesday you feel fulfilled with it's working with kids teenagers whether it's working in the nursery man you just did your job like you're supposed to do your job maybe your fit team or connect team and man you welcome people and you got people signed up for for Welcome Home Series and you feel good about what God has called you to do but there's sadly there's people that are kind of like Esther in chapter four who are living in a palace oh let me Tyson this is a pretty Palace I don't know if you all realize around this is a this is a pretty Palace and if we're not careful see here here's what happened this this is what the Book of Esther you've really got to think about it this is what happened the Book of Esther the fact is that Esther and Mordecai were saved from destruction but the rest of the Jews were not when Haman hung on those Gallows Esther was in the palace she was safe Mordecai became second in command he was in the palace he was safe but that decree did not get canceled and if it had not been for more to chaos and for Esther standing the Bible says that mordecale went from Province to Province from state to City to state to city and he declared no longer I've got an amendment no longer is the case where the Jews are to be killed on this certain day of the month of the year for now they have been liberated that the king says he amends what he has decreed and they went and they worked so hard in a way that people started to fear them because of the power that God was giving them because they were not afraid to step out and use the talent God gave them to save their people from annihilation oh listen to me tonight I believe there's people in this room right now that you are in an Esther chapter four and God is calling you to do things and you're wondering well when how I just don't know if I'm able I don't know if it's the right timing it is the right timing there's no better time than right now for such a time is this how many more people in the world are gonna have to die and go to a devil's Hill because people are sitting in the palace wondering is it time yet Hey listen I don't wanna I promise you I'm not going to preach a negative message but I do want I do want some conviction to hit our hearts if we're just sitting around in the palace sipping the king's tea and and eating steak at the table and being happy than my four oh my kids we're all in the church we're doing good I've received the Holy Ghost I've got salvation I've been baptized in this day by God I understand the Oneness of God I I've got Revelation my family us for a normal we're happy where we are oh God help us realize that every person has been called to be Kingdom Minded and to be kingdom-minded as people that say it's not about me it's not just about my family but it's about getting outside the palace and realizing that everybody is gonna die if I don't rise up calling what what exactly is is a calling I know this might be a new word for for if you're new around here say calling what what do you mean by a calling well maybe I could do somebody a favor and I can I can keep you from a frustrated future what exactly is it calling well let me first explain what it is not and and this is something that we teach to our young people and this is something when I go to leadership conferences I I make a big deal about this because what it is not is it's not being called to be a preacher so please understand and I know our terminology when I was growing up man may we go to youth camp to get called to be preachers that was just the thing brother Schnitzer that was the thing we met how many got called to preach out here how many and you have kids throwing their hands up and I'm not I'm not taken away from any of that but oh my word if you get called to be a preacher all you're doing is looking for a microphone the rest of your life all you're doing is looking for pastors say Pastor isn't my turn to preacher Pastor I feel like I I'm not preaching too much Pastor is it my turn to preach a use Pastor Hammond is it is it my turn to teach Sunday school is it my church oh no no no that's not we're not you don't get called to be a preacher prayer all a preacher does let me tell you something preaching is a solution to a problem the problem is you have too many people to disciple one-on-one and so you have a group of people that you have to disciple all at the same time if we can get people to be called to be disciple makers oh come on somebody if you if you're called that's what Jesus did Jesus was a disciple maker however the 5 000 people showed up and guess what brother Rob he had to preach it's hard to one-on-one with 5 000 people so let's say it's not about a microphone you don't get caught I'm called to be a worship leader no no you're not you're called to be a worship leader and if you prove yourself you're going to find yourself leading people in worship I'm not call I'm not called to be a piano player I'm called to be a worshiper through music and you know what there might be an opening on piano one day because I practice because I've shown myself I've proven myself I'm so glad that you can trust me with talent and so therefore when the piano comes open one Wednesday night they say hey would you come up and play the piano we need you to play the piano we need you to worship through the piano like when I call the positions we're called to be disciple makers we're called to be Soul winners oh God help us get this idea and again uh listen I went to I went to youth campus and I remember I I remember evangelists getting down in our ears and evangelists saying I believe God is calling you to be a preacher and God's calling to be the missioner being an evangelist and I I don't want to take away from that if that happened to you I I'm not taken away from that but I sure wish those evangelists would have got down and said I believe God's calling you to be a Bible study teacher can I tell you what Bible study teachers make good evangelists called to be a missionary if you haven't won any Souls here how are you going to win souls over there you don't speak that language that's not your culture ain't your friends ain't your equ ity my God don't call people into the missions call people to be disciple makers and over time disciple makers get a burden for Missions listen the call you want to know what is it called for my life I'll tell you what it is it's doing whatever needs to be done in order to advance the kingdom seek ye first the kingdom what does the kingdom need if you can fulfill it that's your call it might not be your final calling but it's definitely going to be your initial calling right Pastor Carpenter he tells a story I I said it didn't even know what I was saying in our job interview 20 24 years ago now January I think it was a 15th 1999. he starts going through a list of things are you willing to mow the lawn yes are you willing to pull weeds in them in the bushes yes sir are you willing to be an ACA AC Ace monitor I didn't know what that was and I said yes sir he said he could catch the mic he said I interviewed some day mow the lawn oh no sir that's not that's there ain't no ain't no lawn mower in Bible College I said pastor you're gonna you're gonna have to write it out you have to give me a contract and write it out I'll tell you what I can do and we're gonna follow this right here but that listen that that I was just listen I was glad to be here I said you know what you put me put me in front of a classroom put me in front of youth group hey you want me to drink choir you want me to sing I'll say I'll do whatever you you tell me what to do I'll do it I don't care and I'm just glad to be here God's giving me a talent I want to use my talent if there's not a position open yet I'll wait till the position opens I don't care I'll just do whatever I got to do until I get there I'll be the loudest strongest most powerful tenor there is go ahead pastor whatever it takes to make this church successful the kingdom of God I just want to see the kingdom flourish oh because of the need right the need is the call whatever the need is that's what I want to do the need is a call but here's here's the thing you know what the need is going to be a thing that nobody else wants to do because it's wide open because everybody else is already doing the fun stuff but that's where man that's where more to K.I gotta Advance the kingdom because he was the goddess at the gate and just doing what he did at the gate brother Matt he was at the gate matter of fact matter of fact the store said The Story Goes that he overheard somebody with an assassination plot against the king he wasn't even he wasn't even a person he was a Jew if anything he should have said kill him he reported to the king's court and said hey there's going to be assassination on this day on this time on the king and and listen God puts everything God is brilliant God is a brilliant God he is all-knowing for the sincada he took that fact of him telling about that assassination and put it in a Chronicle and just had it hidden somewhere back over here he didn't even know about it one night the king couldn't sleep and you know hey listen if you can't sleep get the book of Chronicles out get Leviticus out no get numbers out shoe you want it that's the greatest cute insomnia there is like give me the give him the book of chronic give me the chronicles of the kingdom and let me read through this and he'll be going to read he said he said was anything good done for this man who told her this assassination time to go into it but the fact of the matter is God is so good God began to promote this man and listen God will promote you if you do it with the right motive if we if we go into our colonies with the right motive oh listen uh I'm gonna move through this because I'm keeping a timer here I'm not going to go over listen last the last Sunday morning I preached I had somebody come up to me and they said to me they said to me they said brother Erickson what you preached this morning was absolutely amazing he said matter of fact you could have probably preached a series with that I was like he just insulted me brother John I caught that he was saying I preached too long I could have made it into three messages I got that see I'm quick but I think the many years I made him feel like he was complimenting me that's all it made me feel good it's like I got a timer up here but I'm gonna go quickly but what God has called you to do that's your calling what God has called me to do that's my calling the skill said he's given me is my skill set the skill set he's given you is your skill set and I'm afraid that the devil works through something called comparison oh yes he does there'll be more people sitting up you not not doing a bit of service not volunteering not disciple making not doing a thing because they started comparing themselves among themselves and something inside of them well what happened I'll tell you what happened they started looking themselves and say well if he's doing why aren't I doing it and the fact of the matter is he might have a skill set that you don't have listen I I listen it is my privilege pleasure to be on to in my opinion the greatest pastoral team I could ever be on because our pastoral team is so diverse in Ministry and I like it that way because I can carry my senior pastor's vision without having to preach like him Ortiz like him I could I could preach the same Doctrine the same gospel Holiness status everything that's in the word of God I can do that from my skill set man well brother Nolan gets up here he can describe things that he can illustrate things I'm just thinking to myself I wish to God I could do that but then I'm like you know what that's not my skill set I'm I'm not getting up here I ain't brother no and I ain't trying none of none of your tricks he could do that he he can entertain children have him laughing Ham on the floor rolling laughing and the next minute they're getting the holy ghost in the altar I can't do that if I preached Chapel they're probably sleeping and then they're sleeping you know what I'm saying brother hammy gets up here brother gets up here he's he's so theological he's brilliant when he preaches and teaches he's he's brilliant in his thought process listen I thank God for all these things but would it be sad if any one of us were trying to be the other I heard I was listening I was listening to um I gotta find my notes I wanna I wanna quote it correctly but I was listening to a podcast a podcast uh by Chris Hodges it's a leadership podcast it's on leadership it's a great he's got great thoughts for leadership and he made a statement he said that liberated his mind to becoming what God had called him to be he said when I try when I stopped trying to be called into somebody else's Ministry he said he said early in my Ministry he said I came to this conclusion it doesn't matter he said how many TD Jakes videos I watch he said I'm never gonna preach like TD Jakes he said it doesn't matter how many Joel Osteen satellite radio messages I listened to he said I'm not going to be as nice as Joel Osteen he said it just it finally hit me I'm not TD Jakes Chris said I'm not I'm not Joel Osteen I'm Chris Hodges and I think that was really in his ministry a couple decades later I think he's done pretty good he passes the largest phenomenal Church in America he has over 30 000 in attendance every weekend and I'm bad for himself you know why because he got into his Lane he figured out what his talents were and he began to lead with leadership now listen he does have the Holy Ghost I'm proud to say he does have the Holy Ghost he doesn't have full fully he's not he doesn't understand full Doctrine yet but I believe he's coming our way but I'm thankful for a person who's a brilliant leader who can say listen I don't have talents of this guy and I don't have talents of that guy I don't have abilities of this guy I don't have the favor that this guy might have but he said when I realized what God called me to do feel successful in myself and feeling successful listen don't try to be cold 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 do I believe every every calling is unique I I believe every person you ought to look at your calling and say this is my favorite calling I know I'm not the greatest preacher I know I'm not the greatest singer I'm not the greatest choral leader I'm not I know all that I'm not the greatest leader but I love what I do I love that I love what God he said I I'm putting you into a place where I'm going to give you the skills you need to do when I need you to do and I love it I enjoy it I do it with everything that I am your call is going to be the thing that nobody else wants to get their hands dirty with this this need that you see if you're here tonight and and you've given Talent you've been given talent but you you've allowed yourself to bury your talent listen this this is what I want you to do I want I want you to begin to ask these questions number one I want you to start asking what does my church need I want you I want you to start asking questions like what Ministries are struggling because they don't have enough laborers and believe it or not we have lit I know in a Church's size a lot of people probably think oh they have so many people they would never need me oh my word we need you so bad brother brother Darren Cooper came to me not too long ago he's over our production team he said I need workers he said I I he said I'll have people call in and then I'll have to replace him with something that just worked the service before he goes I don't want to do that that person needs to be in the house of God worshiping up you they don't need to be back on a switch or they don't need to be watching a sound meter they don't need to be on a camera they already did that last service they served last service they need to be on the Pew he said I need more workers and I know a lot of people are thinking well what are you kidding me yes we need all children's workers and 15 members and parking lot attendance and I can start naming off Ministries where I know we need more help oh daycare workers we always School teachers we're always leading coaches I always do we need this coach and that listen we need people there are ask the question what does my church need where are laborers need number three what skills do I have that nobody else has oh yes there's people in this room right here you have skills that nobody else in this room have I was talking I was talking to somebody the other day and I believe they're they're an electrician and they said you don't ever need electrician help in the church do you what yes low voltage I mean do you see anything electrical in this room yes you might have a skill that nobody else has we need your skills and the number four what people can I influence that nobody else can influence what people can I influence that nobody else can or let me not say nobody else maybe that not many other people can influence and some of you are some of you are are business owners some of you are in the in the in the commercial world and you might even be in in some of the you might be in town in some of our we have different uh clubs and and Leadership clubs that people are in this community you are touching people that nobody else is touching we need your influence in this church there are people sitting the pews in this house tonight who have been given unbelievable Talent but you're a Queen Esther living in a palace your life is saved but the kingdom is of people they're the out the people outside of these four walls oh my God they're going to spend eternity in a devil's hell unless we wake up and realize if not us who do we say eight seven eight billion 8 billion in the world dear my God who is going to reach 8 billion people if everybody if not a hundred percent of us are not using the talent that God has given us I think in this church and listen I'm not throw it off and and I'm almost done I'm not throwing off because this this church is so above average we just had over 250 people sitting on these pews in our staff meeting now listen you got to think about it now we might have we might have 700 on a Sunday morning but there's probably at least 200 of those that are below the age that even are allowed to serve so you got to take 200 off 700 that's 500. so we have we have at least 50 percent of the age of people that are allowed to get into Ministry that's unheard of most churches is 20 percent that are doing 80 of the work God has given us so many servants in this house God God has given us servant leaders people people that love their church and love their community and love their God I just wonder what kind of church would this be if 100 percent of a safe you know what God has given me Talent God has given me favor God has given me a skill set that I could do something for his kingdom I just want to brother Ammons I wonder what would this church look like would would we even be able to contain the disciples that would come into this house to be discipled from Blunt County if a hundred percent of the people that call themselves saints of God of First Apostolic church if we got in this thing and said what can I do how can I put the kingdom of God first how can I seek first the king oh I don't know about you I believe that this building would be nowhere near big enough these anchors they were all I wanted to be nowhere big enough to house the people of Blount County it would be one to God because people said God has blessed me and 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 I'm not just going to keep my talents safe but oh God I'm gonna do everything I can I'm going to say God if you've given me two talents I'm going to give you four if you give me five I'm gonna give you a ten if you've given me one I can the least I can do is give you two talents back oh God stand to your feet I believe in this place then I listen my title some of you might not quite understand my title listen we're two talented to ignore the Lost In Dying that surround us this is not about that you're too talented to be ignored as in you're sitting there and you have not discovered me yet it's not about you it's not about me it's about the people outside these walls who are lost who are hurted who are discouraged they've given up on life have you read the news have you been on Fox news lately there's people killing people in colleges and universities there's people walking in to top supermarkets and and gunning down people my God there's a lost and dying world out there and if we if we don't get serious about it we're no better than a Queen Esther in Esther chapter three who says I don't know if I'm willing to risk my life in Board of chaos gonna come up and say for such a time is this you better risk your life because you're going to be the next savior of the Jewish people and if you don't save them somebody else will but your family is going to be destroyed oh my god listen I love my family too much I love my father's house too much to think to myself we're going to be destroyed because of our lack of zeal for the kingdom of God ah this is not a threat I told you this is not a negative message I want you to enjoy your talent I want you to enjoy your calling that God has given you this is not about humbling anybody or making you feel bad about what you're not doing this is about the church coming together and saying what if we came together and what if we want our community we're in Blount County what if Maryville is Sevierville in Seymour in Friendsville in Alcoa oh my God what is greenback what if we have people on every street who said I'm gonna do whatever I have to do I'm gonna go to every city I'm gonna go to every part of the county I'm gonna go on the highways and the highways because God has given me a talent he's given me favor he's given me a skill set and because of that I'm gonna do everything I can to work in his kingdom why don't you throw your hands in the after the Holy Ghost in This Place God I believe somebody's being called right now you're rekindling a calling in their life you're rekindling long time there's fire that's starting to move inside of them inside of their bones something's starting to well up got up break call them back to him being a that you called him two years ago it might have been decades ago bring them back let them see Lord God that they're needed in the Kingdom their talent is needed in the Kingdom don't bury it double it don't bury it double it to create a mighty things because God is looking for someone in such a time as this come on say God use me God call me God Minister threw me come on let the Holy Ghost move in this but we don't even need music Let the Holy Ghost just move up and down these aisles let him move in every section every row come on let that tug let that tug you say I don't know if I can line up to the handbook when you want to line up to the handbook you will not even ask that question get lined up get lined up to the word of God get lined up to the ministries of this church into a great work for God how I believe you're calling somebody right now not to be a preacher not to be a missionary I believe you're calling disciple makers right now God I believe you're calling Bible study teachers God I believe you're calling people that are going to come into this community and give hope to our community through their testimony I'll seek first seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and you don't have to worry about the other stuff Mordecai it's going to be added unto you hey Connie just clap your hands I feel I'm so strong I hope you're feeling what I'm feeling I hope you're feeling what I'm feeling oh in Jesus name everyone's say in Jesus name come on call that name out again in Jesus name oh somebody's put a lid on it right there in Jesus name now listen every time I teach on this on this subject I get people lined up want to know what do you need I want to know how do I sign up I'm Gonna Give You easy easy it's 9 o'clock 22 seconds we're out of here Gonna Give You easy way to do it get on your app on your church Center app there's a little there's a little volunteer app on there click that volunteer app when you open that volunteer app it's going to ask for information from you and then it's going to ask what you want to do what do you feel God is calling you to do it's going to ask what what's your what kind of background what are your skills it's good all these things I talked about tonight it's going to ask you for those things come on somebody get involved do great things hey oh I just believe this church listen I believe next year we're gonna have about 400 in our staff meeting I do I believe people are going to catch the vision of talent in the church in the Kingdom of God in Jesus name I love you God bless you are dismissed in Jesus name tonight