The Only Talent You Need

But I'm going to turn your attention this evening in the Word of the Lord to the Book of Numbers, and we're going to read from chapter 12, and I'm going to read also from Matthew chapter 25, Numbers chapter 12. I want to read one verse of Scripture from Numbers chapter 12, and I want to read verse number 3. The Word of the Lord says this, and I want you to really hear this verse. It says, Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. Now to the book of Matthew chapter 25, and I want to begin reading at the 14th verse, just a few verses here 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 straight way 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. I want to speak to you tonight on this subject. The only talent you need. The only talent you need. Could we one more time lift up our voice and ask the grace of God to cover the remainder of this service and the preaching of his word. Lord, I thank you for every precious blessing that you have bestowed upon

us so generously of your great grace. I pray in Jesus name that you would bless the word and the preaching of the word as it goes forth. I ask in the name of Jesus Christ that you will speak to us. Lord, I pray for a holy boldness and a holy anointing to rest upon us tonight as we look into the sacred word of life. Help us in Jesus name, glory help us in Jesus name to receive Lord to receive of your great spirit. We give you praise today in the name of Jesus Christ and everybody said in Jesus name and everybody said amen. Let's clap our hands one more time unto the Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You may be seated in Jesus name. Now, when I use the word talent tonight in its modern context, you understand that I am

speaking of gifts and abilities, skills, talents. And when we read this passage of Scripture from the book of Matthew that deals with this great parable of the kingdom that records a man who went into a far country and called servants, delivered unto them his goods and gave five talents to one, two talents to another, and then one talent to another. We know that those talents are a reference to currency, if you please, to money. But these are actually related concepts. It's the same word. It's not different. It's the same word. And in fact, the word talent has broadened over the years to encompass a greater definition as the economic exchange of society develops

and fluctuates. For instance, a talent really in its origin simply refers to a weight. Yet by the time Jesus spoke this parable, it had already come to represent currency that a weight and the effect the weight would have on an exchange of currency. And it has developed even further to now today when we speak of a talent we are referring to, as I said, gifts and abilities and skills and talents, but it is still the same word. It deals with currency. It deals with marketable abilities, something that you can take to market and get something in return. So the talent that you have, the abilities that you have, the gifts that God

has given you, the knowledge that you have honed and the expertise that you have developed, we refer to those things as talents and it is consistent with this passage of Scripture. These are things you take to market. You work on them. You develop them. You go to school. You go to vocational schools. You go to places of higher education and you develop your talents. And this is a good thing. And the Bible describes this exchange where that the man who was a figure in this parabolic illustration that Jesus provided in Matthew 25 where that he said, this man traveled into a far country and he delivered his servants, his goods, called them to him and delivered into them his goods. To one, he gave five talents.

To another, he gave two talents and to the third man, he gave one measly, little old, good for nothing talent. The man who had five talents received them and went and traded with the same and made them other five talents. And the man that had received two talents, he gained also other two by going and trading with the same, applying them, investing them, using them, taking them to market, making sure they got the most out of them and using them to the best of their ability, maximizing the potential of these five talents in the case of the first servant, two talents in the case of the second servant. And then there was this third man

who had one talent and the Scripture describes how that he had received one talent and he went and digged in the earth and hid, he hid his Lord's money. That is how little he thought of this one talent that his Lord had given him. He said, I don't even know, I don't even know what this is good for. I really have no clue what positive development could come from this one talent that the Lord has given to me. So he went and he digged in the earth and he hid, not his money, he hid his Lord's money. And then of course the Scripture goes on, that's where we stopped, but the Scripture goes on to describe that after a long time the Lord of those servants came and

there was a time of reckoning. There was a day of reckoning where that there was a call to account, what did you do with what I gave you? The man that had five talents, he said, you know, I received the five talents and he said, I went and traded with them and he brought other five talents with him saying, you delivered unto me five and I've gained beside them five talents more. And the Lord said, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Hallelujah, you have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things into thou, into the joy of thy Lord. He that received two talents came to the Lord of the parable and said, you gave me two talents.

I've gained two other talents beside them and the Lord said unto him, well done, don't you want to hear him say, well done. Hallelujah, thou good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things, into thou, into the joy of thy Lord. Then he which had received one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you were a hard man reaping where you had not sown, gathering where you had not strawed. I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the earth. Lo there thou hast that is thine, his Lord said unto him, thou wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I sowed, not gather where I have not strawed. You ought 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, give it unto him which hath ten talents, for unto everyone that shall be given hath shall be given and he shall have abundance, but from him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath. And this one talented servant becomes a caricature, if you please, of an individual who just simply fails miserably. He's wicked. He's slothful. He misses the point. He misses the opportunity. He had been entrusted with one talent and he takes it and hides it in the earth. And it's clear he's the loser of this story. There's no question. But I can kind of relate with this guy a little bit. And I feel kind of bad for him a little bit because in our flesh we understand where he's coming from. We understand what it's like to

feel like we don't have much to offer. I wonder how many times this one talented servant looked across at the five talented servant and said, this is not fair. I could get ten talents too if I had all the advantages that he had. I mean I could do so much more if I had more opportunity. But that's not how it rolls in my life. It seems like I try and I get slapped back down. It seems like nobody's willing to give me a fair shake. It seems like nobody's willing to invest in me. It seems like nobody sees my star, sees my potential. And then the Lord himself decides to give me one measly talent. And he's given folks five talents and he's given folks two talents. And I look over and see people that have so many advantages

and so much opportunity and so many abilities and gifts and skills. And then I look at my set of circumstances and I think it is not fair. There's no question that this weighed on his mind and he decided to cave to those feelings. Feeling like there was simply nothing he could do with the one talent the Lord had given him. But when the Lord arrived, he had a different expectation because he knew the weight of the talent he had given him. He knew the value of the gift he had delivered into his hands. He understood the potency. It may not be five. It might not be two, but that one talent I gave you has so much power. It has so much potential. It has so much capacity. I'm excited to know what you do with the one talent I gave you.

What did you do with the one little advantage I offered you? That one glimmer of light, that one sliver of a hope. What did you do with the talent I gave you? Because I know what you could have done. I know where you could have gone. I know who you could have touched. I know whose life you could have impacted. I know you could have taken it to the exchangers. There's a market for that talent. There's a stop looking at the five talented servant. Stop looking at the two talented servant. You're not too talented. You're not five talented, or maybe you are whatever you're lot. Say the Lord has given me a work. The Lord has given me a gift, and I will do what the Lord has called me to do.

I'm so thankful for the Spirit of God that's in this meeting. There's no competition here. It's been said already. There's no envy here. I thank God for these young men and women of God who labor together in the kingdom of the Lord. I thank God there's no envy among you, and I give God the praise for that. Never let it creep in. Never let it get a stranglehold or a foothold. Be content in whatever state you are. Hallelujah. Understand this might be their season of rejoicing. Rejoice with them. That rejoice. Even if you think you deserved an opportunity that didn't come your way. Rejoice with them that rejoice. God will see your rejoicing, and he will honor your integrity. Come on, somebody. This is the kingdom we're talking about. And if I've got five talents or two or one or nine, I'm going to do whatever the Lord called me to do.

Yes. There's a selfless Spirit of God that rests upon this generation. A selfless Spirit that says it doesn't matter if I'm in the limelight. It doesn't matter if I'm in the spotlight. It doesn't matter if my name is ever written down where people can read it or see it. What matters is doing a work for the Lord. I'm going to take whatever God has given me, and I'm going to do it with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind, and all my strength. And God will bless you, and he will bless your children, and he will bless your children's children, and he will bless your home, and he will give you favor, and he will cover you and comfort you and shadow you with loving kindness. Don't be petty. Don't be petty. Don't be jealous. Don't be envious. Don't be snide. Don't jockey for position. No. I rebuke it in the name of Jesus.

Be excited to do a work for the Lord. It's really, it's really not fair. I got this one talent, and I look around and I see, I see Brother Sonso has five talents, and yeah, he took those five talents, he made five others. What am I supposed to do with this one? And Sister Sonso got two, and she created two others. Of course, you can do that when somebody gives you a little help, a little advantage, and I've got one. How am I supposed to multiply with one? But the Lord said, I know the value of that one. Nothing wrong with one. The Lord our God is one. Nothing wrong with one.

Don't despise the day of small things. One. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Martha, you are careful and troubled about many things, but Mary has chosen that good part. One thing is needful, and she has chosen that good part. One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after. I count not myself as to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, I pressed toward the mark. Nothing wrong with one. My God, Hallelujah. One times God is God. You hear what I'm telling you? It matters what you're multiplying it up against. If you multiply the one talent you've got, if you're multiplying by God, you'll get God. You don't need five talents. There's only one talent you

really need. If God gives you five, that's great, but all you need is one. Hallelujah. I look in the word of the Lord, and I see all kinds of different servants with multiple talents. One that stands out to me is David. Man, this one fair. This is a five talented servant or more. He was a mighty warrior. The man like slew a lion. As like a teenager, he slew a bear, and then he went to the king, and while the entire army of Israel was hiding from Goliath, the uncircumcised Philistine, David said, let me at him.

And it wasn't like he was some big, brute guy that could just wrestle Goliath to the ground. He was an expert marksman. He did it with one smooth stone from a slingshot, and he like wound it up, and he wasn't even afraid. I mean, all of Israel is hiding in the background, and David like struts out onto the battlefield, and he hears Goliath screaming and hollering and insulting him, and he said, I don't come against you with a sword or a spear. I come against you in the name of the Lord or the host of Israel. I'm not afraid of you. I will take you down. He had five talents, and he was about to use one of them. And he wasn't just a warrior. He was like an amazing singer. And I was watching these amazing singers up here tonight, singing for the glory of God, and thank God for those who are blessed with the ability to sing and shout it out.

God bless you. Don't ever stop singing. Sing under the Lord a new song. We need you. We need musicians. God bless you, Brother Howard. We need continued people. Learn the keyboard. Learn the organ. Continue to develop your talents and your skills. We need you in the kingdom. There's a lot of evil spirits troubling a lot of people, and we need skilled musicians who can come and play, play before the Lord, play before the Lord, and drive the evil spirits off of people. We've got prophets that need to prophesy, and they need a menstrual to play. Yeah, thank God for your talent. David was talented. He would sing unto the Lord, and he didn't just sing any old song. He wrote his own song. You know, not everybody did that. Not every great singer writes their own songs.

Elvis didn't write any of his songs. You may have thought he did, but he won nothing but a hound dog lying all the time. He did not write his songs, but he sang. And some of the songwriters, you didn't want them singing the song. You just, God bless you, you write them, and we'll let somebody else sing them. But David wrote them, David sang them, and we're still singing them today, and we're still declaring them. Hallelujah. He was the sweet psalmist of Israel. And if he played every instrument that he told us to play, he played stringed instruments, he played organs, he played loud cymbals, he played high sounding cymbals, he played cornets and flutes and trumpets and harps. This man was a skilled musician and singer, and he actually played before the Lord and drove away the evil spirits from King Saul. He's got so many talents, and he could dance. That's not even fair.

He could sing, he could play, he could dance, he could kill lions, he could kill bears, he could kill giants. He was the light of Israel, they called him. He was the king of Israel. He was an administrator extraordinaire. He was a mentor of mentors. They brought to him the indebted and the destitute and the depraved. He took them in under his wing, and he mentored them until they turned into mighty men. This guy had so many talents. We could go on, we could talk about how Joshua was such a great leader, but he was also such a great follower. We could talk about Nehemiah was the cut-bearer of the king and then like flipped the switch and became this magnificent architect. And he was discreet when he did it. He went nighting, and he had this ability. He must have been this larger-than-life personality too,

because he had like one bad day where he didn't have a smile on his face, and the king was like, what's wrong? Son's wrong. I'm talking about talents just flowing from people. Talents that God showered them with, blessed them with. And then we look at my man Moses here. And I mean, Moses was an amazing man of God, and I'm not going to take anything from him, because I wasn't transfigured on the mountain with Jesus. But Moses was. Yeah, he was an amazing man of God, and he played such an integral role, but Moses had a lot of issues. And I'm not sure how many talents he had. I'm just not sure, because he had a lot of issues. Now he was schooled in the wisdom of the Egyptians, but I don't know how well it translated into practical living or leadership,

because he struggled a lot. The Bible describes that Moses had this really bad temper. He had a bad temper problem. Anger issues. Saw a man, Egyptian man, beating a Hebrew slave, and he ran to help. And before the little exchange was done, the man, the Egyptian, was dead. Moses had blood on his hands. He had anger issues. He had a bad temper problem. And he was actually negligent in his duties. And he overlooked things. He wasn't very diligent. He did not pay attention to detail. He had been talking to God up before the burning bush, and he was receiving all this instruction from God. And he had this, he had this call of God to go into Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let God's firstborn son go, let my people go, that I am have sent me. And he was ready to do it. And as he's making his way back home, God was ready to kill him

because he had forgotten to circumcise his own son. Didn't pay attention to detail. He had anger issues. He could hardly speak. He was not eloquent. He was not an orator. His whole ministry was going to be based on what he was going to be saying to Pharaoh, and he literally could hardly get the words out of his mouth. And he said, Lord, I am of a slow speech. I don't know how to talk like other people. He had a problem with speaking. He had a problem with his temper. He wasn't very diligent. He was not an administrator at all. Jethro, his father-in-law, shows up and sees how he's orchestrating the people of Israel. He's like, whoa, whoa, what are you doing? He said, you don't have a clue what you're doing. He said, you're going to kill yourself and you're going to wear yourself out and you're depriving these people of good, proper leadership. Here, give me, give me the reins of your administration and let me help you figure out how to lead these people the way they need to be led.

He was even disobedient at times when he got frustrated. He tended to be impulsive and disobey God, follow his own impulse instead of the direction of the Lord infamously, famously, or infamously. He was told by God to speak to the rock, but he had already smoked the rock once and so he decided to smite it once and smite it twice. And water came out, but it deprived him of being able to enter into the land of promise himself. He had a lot of issues. He wasn't diligent. He had anger problems. He was impulsive. He couldn't talk hardly at all and yet he parted the Red Sea and he called bread from heaven and water out of a rock and he healed waters that were poisonous. Hallelujah. I'm trying to tell you something, ladies and gentlemen,

this man's ministry, it ranks among the greatest of the scriptures. He delivered the children of Israel out of 400 years of bondage, took them to the Red Sea and literally parted the Red Sea by saying stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And I don't know how he did it because he had anger issues and he disobeyed sometimes and he, and he couldn't speak well and he wasn't a good administrator. I don't know how he did it. He didn't have five talents that I can really see, but he did have one talent and it was the only talent he needed to do a work for God. He may not have been an administrator and he may not have been a good preacher and he may not have been able to really control his temper all the time and he might have gotten

too frustrated at moments, but Moses was the meekest man that ever walked the face of the earth. There was nobody as meek as Moses. Moses was meek, which means he was lowly. It means he was humble and I'm going to tell you something, ladies and gentlemen, if you're humble, you don't have to be a good preacher. If you're humble, you don't have to be a good singer. If you're humble. I've come to tell this generation that the only talent you absolutely 100% must have in your quiver is the talent of humility, the talent of makeness, understanding that it's not you, it's God. It's God. It's always God.

Hallelujah. And I'm going to tell you something. Your good preaching doesn't mean anything if you're not humble and your good musician playing instrument playing doesn't mean anything if you're not humble and your good personality and your good administration and your great education. None of it matters if you're not humble before God. That's one of the things that has moved me about this generation, seeing you in action this week. I love you and I'm thankful for what God is doing among your ranks. It takes humility not to be envious. It takes humility not to compete, provoke one another to good works, yes, but don't compete with one another. Collaborate with one another. Collaborate. Don't compete. Collaborate. Don't compete. Join arms and go forward.

Moses is like, look, they're all yelling at Moses saying, what did you do? What did you bring us out of Egypt? What do we do now? Egypt is behind us and there's water in front of us. And Moses said, I don't know. I don't know what to do. I don't have a clue. Honestly, I don't know what to do. I don't have very many talents, but I've learned this. If I stand still, if I just hold still, hot touch under my eye and let the Lord fight my battles. I'm, oh my God, I'm going to tell you something. Hallelujah. There's something about that meekness. If you let meekness and humility get ahold of you, the Lord will fight your battles, hold your peace and let the Lord fight your battles.

The Lord told Moses, he said, I will go before you. And Moses said, are you sure? Are you really going to go before us? Because if your presence does not go, I'm not going anywhere without you. I can do nothing without him. I would but fail. The greatest talent you can ever have, it could ever hope to have, is to know that everything that you have has come from the Lord and none of it has come from your ability. None of it. Yeah, but I worked hard. He gave you the ability to work hard.

Hallelujah. You better get used to it if you want to be used of God in ministry. You better get used to saying, God did it, God did it, God did it, God did it. That's why I'm happy when you're promoted. God did it. Hallelujah. The scripture says, for by grace, are you saved through faith? For by grace, are you saved through faith? Now, we love that. We love that grace. That grace is God.

That's Calvary. That's the blood that's wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. Grace, that's what God did by grace. Oh, but you got to believe and you've got to act on your belief. By grace, are you saved through faith? This is where it gets tricky for us. This is right about the time we start thinking we played a role. Yeah, but I'm the one that had to believe. I'm the one that had to get in the water. I'm the one that had to speak in tongues. I'm the one Paul said by grace, are you saved through faith and that not of yourself? It is the gift of God. You believing is the gift of God. You getting in the water is the gift of God.

You talking in tongues, that's the gift of God. That promotion is the gift of God, that acceleration is the gift of God, that bonus, it's the gift of God. Not of yourselves, not of works, less than a man should bow. Can I remind a believer that every good and every perfect gift coming down, coming down, coming down, coming down from the father of life. That was a good message. God did it. That was a great song. God did it.

I appreciate your attitude. God did it. Somebody lift your hands to him right now. We've talked a lot about miracles this week and I'm so thankful for that.

This world needs the miraculous. We should always talk about it. It is his will that miracles be done, but the greatest prophet born of woman perform no miracle. John the Baptist never performed a miracle and Jesus said there was not a greater prophet than he. What did you go out to see? Did you expect to see somebody clothed in soft rain? Somebody that was stylish, somebody that was fashionable, somebody that knew how to put on a good presentation? What did you go out to see? A reed shaken in the wind, somebody who understands the political climate, knows what's popular, what's in, what's out, how to play a crowd? What did you go out to see? Did you go out to see somebody who spoke with soft words,

or did you go out to even see a prophet? In any case, you were sorely disappointed. He is much more than a prophet. It was of him that the prophet Isaiah said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Oh my God. Pride will deceive you into believing that if you're not preaching on a Friday night at Wins Conference, there's no sense in lifting your voice. But the greatest prophet that ever prophesied, cried in the wilderness. And his message was simple. His message was, I've got one talent. I will baptize you with water

unto repentance, but there cometh one after me, that's mine, and I, who shoes I'm not worthy to bear, and who shoe laces I'm not worthy to lose. You want to be a great prophet? Here's your life principle. He must increase, and I must decrease. I need some servants of the Lord to come right now. I don't know how many talents you've got. Maybe you don't think you have anything.

All you need is humility. Well, where do I get that, Brother Joel? I was a teenager. It was a prayer meeting Monday night, Zion Tabernacle, Kokomo, Indiana. Monday night prayer. I was laid out between the drums and the organ, and I was crying out to God. And I cried out saying, Lord, make me humble. And then I thought, wait, wait. Hold on. Delete, delete, delete, delete, delete. Swipe, swipe. I had heard a precious saint say, don't ask God to make you humble because he will. And I really, truly got a little fearful in that moment because I was sincere. Lord, make me humble. And I really got a little concerned because I thought, oh, God, I hope you hear my heart,

but don't answer my prayer, but do answer my prayer or something. I don't know what the right combination here is. And the Lord spoke to me as a young man, and this is what he said. He said, don't you ever be afraid to ask me for anything. I can give you humility and not humiliate you. We've got to get away from this idea that God is trying to catch us in our words, that God is trying to look for a way to ha ha, gotcha. Now I'm really going to teach you. No, no, that's not the God you serve. He is for you. He is not against you. He is for you. He will bear you upon eagle's wings. He will cause you to have feet like hind's feet and make you stand upon high places. He is the Lord your God. He loves you with an everlasting love,

and it is he who will give you humility. I'm standing in the pulpit of a man of God who is a five talented servant and more. Pastor David Myers, so many talents. A man at the God's own heart. He'll preach this gospel, and he'll argue the law before high courts. He's a man of God with many talents. He can, he can administrate. He can preach. He can teach. He can discuss law. He can discuss politics. He's a man who God has endowed with many gifts. But the greatest gift he has is the humility and the meekness that goes along with the talents God has given him. God wants to cause you to overflow with talent. He wants you to abound with ability.

But Lord, what do you require of me, oh son of man? Here it is that the Lord does require of you. Love mercy. Do justly and walk humbly before thy God. We've quoted it a lot in COVID 2020. I'm going to quote it again, and then we're going to do it, and I'm going to bring Brother Green to this pulpit. If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves. Do it right now in the name of Jesus. Do that. Do that. Shall humble themselves. Do that. Do that. Come on, child of God. Humble your motives. Humble your agenda.

Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.