# Using Your Talents for the Lord

April 27, 2026

To see you in the house of the Lord on the Lord’s Day. Thrilled to see every single person here. And we have something special today. Our ladies will come up and get ready to show that.

While they are doing that, this is a scary day for me because I have both my sisters in church this morning. That’s kind of scary talking about. One is Ms. Cindy from the state of Washington, and then my other sister from Michigan. I’m in trouble. I’ve got to behave today for sure. We are honored having both with us today. That’s great. Good to see everybody else out.

Our ladies, on Tuesdays—it’s there somewhere. There it is. Good deal. They make these. These are not blankets, even though it’s the Blankets of Love Ministry; these are quilts. I learned that. They do a great job of making these, and we have the privilege of giving them out on Sunday.

We’ve got to be in unison here, all right? Y’all ready? Here we go. One, two, three.

It looks beautiful. If we can see the backside of that, it will show the hearts on it also. I love it. Let me read the card. They make these cards up, and it says: “Our ever-present God, your grace is always sufficient with added strength, as we trust your plan and seek to serve you, Lord, the closer we walk with thee.” Praise the Lord.

Then it has Psalm 33:21: “For our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his holy name.” And this quilt this morning goes to John and Kelly Brewer.

Brother Johnny and Miss Kelly are great people. Brother Johnny’s mom, Ms. Dot, just went home to be the Lord recently, and our ladies made that for them. They did a great job. Let’s give them a hand. Great, great people. Thank you, ladies. Y’all do a wonderful job of making those quilts for people.

Now, we’ve got a couple of announcements. Some of these are special. This next one is a very special announcement.

Next Sunday, we’ve had our pre-groundbreaking service when Brother Frank, before he went home to the Lord, put the first shovel in the ground—just a regular shovel. Then we had our groundbreaking ceremony under the tent. We had the mayor here and all that good stuff. We tried to be proper for one Sunday; that’s hard for us to do. I’m calling this our post-groundbreaking service. Maybe the third time’s the charm.

After service next Sunday, we’re going to go out to the new property. We’ll have the building location staked out. They’ll be staked out. We’re going to surround that new building location, and we’re going to pray over that thing. I’ve thought about having us march around it seven times. I don’t know; we may do it. It’s according to how Uncle Arthur’s doing, but we’re going to pray over that thing. We’ll have heavy equipment out there, and we’re going to move some dirt. I’m excited about that and the starting of the building. The steel building’s already out there, and things are lining up, and God’s working.

I want you to pray. I want you to invite someone with you next Sunday. We’ll get out of here a touch early, maybe three seconds. Well, no, we’ll get out here a little bit early. We’ll head over there briefly. It will not be long; it won’t be a whole service over there. We’re going to go over there and pray and watch as the heavy equipment moves dirt right there on that location. I want you to be there for that. It’ll just be one of those days you’ll say, “Hey, I was there when they started that project.” If the Lord tarries, who knows? If the Lord tarries 100 years, we’ll be gone, but that building will still be there. I pray to be used to see people saved and lives changed. That’s what it’s all about. It will be a special day next Sunday. I want you to be there for that.

Also next Sunday—also next Sunday—we’re the offering. I want you to pray. Here’s the thing: We have a loan ready to go. We could borrow from that loan; it’s all been processed. Everything’s ready to go. We could borrow from that any time, but I don’t want to borrow from that loan because once you borrow, there’s this thing, this little monster called interest. I like to keep those monsters away.

We have a bill in for that steel building. That steel building wasn’t cheap. By next Sunday, we will be around $90,000 short of paying that bill. I’ve asked you to pray for that—just a miracle offering next Sunday. Last night I was up; Brother Adam was up here. He said he checked the mail. Sometimes some of those letters we don’t like to open because they’re complaining about this, that, or the other. But this is one of those letters you like to open because inside of it, there was a check for $10,000. Praise the Lord for that.

I think it said something about for the pastor and assistant pastor, for lunch—no, it’s for the building fund, of course. The Lord’s already working. Don’t say, “Well, God, that’s too much.” It’s not too much for God. Let’s just be obedient to the Lord and just follow Him.

You say, “Well, my…” This is a crazy little story, but it’s true, believe it or not. I’m not preaching yet; I’ve got to tell the truth right now. My wife found $27 a little bit ago, and she grabbed it, and then I grabbed it—no. She said, “I’m going to put it in the building fund.” That’s great. And I found a dollar this week, just $1, and I’m going to put that crazy thing in the building fund, and however else the Lord leads me.

But you say, “Well, that $1 doesn’t matter.” It does if God told me to do it and I don’t do it. Just obey, whatever. You say, “My 50 cents is not going to matter.” I’m still standing. We’re still standing. Nobody shot. We’re good. But it matters if we just obey. We just obey and leave the rest up to the Lord.

Next Sunday, you’d be praying, “God, would you enable me?” You’d just be obedient to the Lord. We’re also praying for this property to sell. If we could use the proceeds from that before we start drawing from the loan—we have had some movement on that. I don’t know; there’s nothing set, so I don’t want to say too much, but there has been movement. You pray about that. That would enable us to hold that monster off a little bit here. Let’s pray about those things. Next Sunday’s offering will be very special. You pray that God would just enable you, and let’s just be obedient to the Lord on that.

Then also Saturday, this coming Saturday, Ladies’ Tea here at 4:30. It’s going to be here at the church. We’ve got a flyer about this thing here. You may want one of these. It says, “Tea at the Four Seasons.” Ecclesiastes 3, May 2, 2:00 to 4:30. The speaker is a beautiful lady named Tammy Chisgar. There we go.

It costs $15. I read that Wednesday night, and someone asked afterward, “Where’s it going to be? Where’s the Four Seasons at?” Rutherford County Baptist Church is going to be the Four Seasons on Saturday. You come here 2:00 to 4:30, and you’ll have a good time. Let me read it all here. Best Dressed Contest, so ladies, you can get your white gloves out or all that. Come on, Miss Marie Kent always has the hat on out here. You’ll have a good time, ladies. You’ll have a good time, door prizes and all those things. That’s Saturday.

Then that following Thursday, May the 7th, that is the National Day of Prayer. We have what we call Prayer on the Square. We go down to Murfreesboro, the Square there, and we have a prayer service there. We do not have Wednesday night service that week; we change everything from Wednesday to Thursday. I would love for everyone—our Sunday morning crowd—to be down there. America needs prayers. The greatest need we have is for a spiritual awakening. You know, all the politics—I like the good things in all that—but all that is beyond what man can fix, but not beyond what God can fix. If we would have a true spiritual awakening in America, God can solve all those problems.

We need to pray. We have a midterm election just right around the corner. You say, “None of them is perfect.” Well, you’re right. None of us are perfect, but there are some that are the lesser of the evils. We want to do our best to get those in there. That will be Thursday, not this Thursday, but the next Thursday.

We have the Heart family coming; they’ll be singing for us. They’ll start at 6:00. I say that because last week I announced the time wrong. Service starts at 6:30, so singing starts at 6:30. They’ll do a good job. Enjoy them singing, and then 6:30 is the prayer service with the Heart family. They are just great, great people. They travel the country singing and preaching for the Lord. Their RV just burned down, and they had to cancel some meetings. We are the first meeting they are back up on schedule. We’ve sent them some blessings, some offering whatnot, but we want to be a blessing to good, good people. That’s on the 7th, not this Thursday, but the next Thursday.

Ushers should have you come for offering. Brother Almas Raymer, our 101-year-old WWII vet, went home to be with the Lord last Friday morning. He’s home. His daughter, Ms. Sandra Beard, took care of him for over 30 years. Can you imagine how she feels? So you pray for her.

The funeral service—we’ll work on this maybe in between—the funeral service is tomorrow. It’s in Jolton; it’s a little ways away. It’s at Anderson and Garrett Funeral Home, and it’s tomorrow, maybe at 11:00, I believe it is. If you’re able to drive over, there will be a blessing for that family. That would be wonderful. Appreciate it.

One more announcement, and then we’ll pray. We are in need of a bus driver. If we had someone that has their CDL or is willing to get the CDL, we need bus drivers. If you’ll be willing to help us on that, that’s great. That is one of the most effective ministries out there. Please see myself or Chip or some of these guys; we need bus drivers.

It’s interesting; we have Brother Ricky Anderson back with us. He drove a bus for us for over 10 years faithfully. Sunday morning, boom, he was there. Good to have him back with us. He drove a bus for ten years, and he would have better health, but he put up with those kids every Sunday. I’m joking about that, but good to have him here with us today.

Pray for the Powers. They have to follow the Lord’s will in starting Million’s Closet at Liberty Station and are about to turn that over to someone else. So you pray for them, please. Brother Powers, if you would, let’s pray for all of it, please, brother.

Thank you so very, very much for that great, great song. You all did a good job with it.

Matthew chapter 25. Matthew 25, if you would please. Matthew 25. Once you find that chapter, would you say, “Glory to God”? Good. Some of you have it already. Let me talk for just a minute, and we’re going to stand here in just a minute. It’s our practice, it’s our tradition—it’s in the book of the Bible—they stood when they read the Bible. So that’s why we do it here, but it’s not a necessity. I’m going to have you stand for a little while longer than typical. We’re going to read a couple more verses than usual. I’ll talk in the midst of it to give an understanding to it. If you’re thinking, “I don’t know if I can stand that long,” don’t worry about standing; there’s no requirement there. But if you are able, would you stand as we read God’s Word together?

Matthew 25, we’re going to start in verse number 14. Matthew 25, starting in verse number 14 of God’s Word. You’re there right now, amen?

Here we go. The Bible says, “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man.” Now, when it says, “is as” or “is like,” typically that’s a parable. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. I believe we have a parable going on right here.

“For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country.” I believe that represents Jesus Christ. He died—it says the Olivet discourse—He’s right at the end of His public ministry. He’s about to die on the cross, and then He’s going to go to the third heaven. He’s going to sit on the right hand of the Father. That’s the far country. Y’all with me out there?

“Who called his own servants.” You may say, “All of us were all His creation.” Some may apply it specifically to Israel, but we are all His creation, His servants, if you will, “and delivered unto them his goods.”

“And unto one, he gave five talents, unto another two, and to another one, to every man according to his several ability.” In other words, what he could handle. “And straightway, he 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.

Let me just pause for a second to explain. I believe this one talent here that he gave him represents faith. The Bible says every man has been given the measure of faith in the book of Romans. Now, we can take that faith and put it in Jesus—that’s what will get you to heaven—or you can put it in things here on the earth: your works, the things you do, a church.

I remember witnessing to a group of boys in the Hickory Hall Mall. Remember back in the day, Hickory Hall Mall? Entering in one of those back doors, a group of boys, skateboarders. They were very kind, and I witnessed to them. But they said, “Well, we don’t have faith at all.” You have faith. They admitted they were putting their faith in each other, their friends; they were putting their faith in science. By the way, be careful. It’s amazing; read science books from 30 years ago and find out how much they’ve changed.

The thing that will save—the only thing that will take you from going to hell to heaven—is taking that talent of faith that God’s given you and placing it in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross. But this man, he had been given a talent, but he said, “No, I’m going to hide it in fear.”

Isn’t it interesting when the Bible talks about Revelation 21? He gives his list of people that are going to make the lake of fire, and he starts off with the unbelieving, and then he talks about the fearful. What a sad thing when someone just won’t put their faith in Jesus. They put it in things down here on the earth. That won’t save. Putting it in Jesus—I think that’s what it represents.

Let’s read on. Verse number 19: “But after a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them.” Reckoning day is coming.

We will all stand before Him. If you are a Christian and put your faith in Jesus, you’ll stand before Him, not for judgment of your sins—Jesus has already taken that judgment on the cross of Calvary—but it will be a judgment of your works, whether you receive rewards or not. But if you hid your faith in the things on earth, what you can do to get you to heaven, or some church can get you to heaven, what not—it will be a sad day. It will be a reckoning day for everyone.

Let’s keep reading. Verse number 20: “And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, ‘Lord, thou deliveredst 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. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Can you imagine Jesus saying that to you? Wow.

He also that had received two talents came and said, “Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents; behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.” Notice the same words. His Lord said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

Then he which had received the one talent came and said, “Lord…” By the way, be careful of this thing of Lordship salvation. You have to make Jesus Lord of your life. If you have to make Him Lord of your life, you’d be doing everything He says, then nobody would make Him fully their Lord. Nobody does everything He says to do, so nobody goes to heaven. You don’t make Him. Over there in Matthew 7, many will say, “Lord, Lord,” and He ends up saying, “I never knew you.” No, putting your faith in Jesus, and not what you do, saves you.

This guy here calls Him, “Lord.” That didn’t mean a whole lot. Look and see what happened. He said, “Lord, I know thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not scattered. And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.” What a sad, sad statement.

I think of a young man that comes sometimes to our church; he’s not saved, and I’ve witnessed to him, and others have. He comes occasionally, but it’s almost like he’s just too fearful to put his faith in Jesus. Such a sad thing. I pray that one day he’ll take—God’s giving him some faith—and he’d take that faith and put it in Jesus. This fellow just buried it into the earth out of fear. What a sad thing.

Notice what happens, verse number 26. His Lord answered and said to him, “Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knowest that I reap where I sowed not and gather where I have not scattered? Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers.” By the way, I think that may have a little bit—when you try to tell someone about Jesus, they don’t want to listen. God’s saying, “Hey, you ought to listen to them. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

This man, he said, “Thou oughtest therefore to have put thy money to the exchangers, and when I came, I should have received mine own with usury.”

“Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.” It’s an amazing statement: “For unto every one 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.” Sad verse right here: “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

But for a bit, I’m not going to focus necessarily on the one-talent one. I want to focus for just a little bit on these two different people that got the two talents and the five talents. For just a bit, would you ask the Lord—I can’t do it like it needs to be done—would you ask the Lord to speak to your heart? How does this verse, this parable, apply to you this morning? Would you ask the Lord to speak to you about that as I pray the same?

Father, Lord, we come to you. Lord, I would love to be used by you. Lord, I know it’s got to be you. We ask for you to speak to hearts, Lord, as only you can. It’s in your Spirit to apply this parable and these truths to our hearts and guide us individually through it. We’ll thank you, Lord, for what you do, and we ask these things in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

Yesterday we were out. We went out just cold turkey knocking on doors, trying to tell people about Jesus Christ. Some might say that doesn’t work today, but actually yesterday a young man bowed and asked Jesus to be his Savior. I beg to differ on that.

We were coming back, and we got on the bus, and one of our good, good people asked this. He said, “Pastor, I have a biblical question for you.” That always scares me. I’m like, “Oh no,” or sometimes I’ll pray, “Lord, help me out here.” It’s a great question. He said, “Biblically, Pastor, what does it mean to be successful?” It wasn’t a seemingly successful day for him, but he asked a good question. You know, you’re praying, “Lord, give me something here.” They can’t know how dumb I really am.

The first thing that came to my mind, I think it was from the Lord, I said, “Faithfulness.” My mind went to that verse: “It is required of a steward.” A steward is someone you trust with your riches. It is required in a steward, so if God’s going to be able to trust you with His true riches, that a man be found faithful. Then I listed these verses here. What did He say at the end of the day? He said, “Well done, now good and faithful.” Faithful.

That’s been going through my mind a little bit. We talked more, and I mentioned something that preachers have said for years: success is finding God’s will for your life and doing it. That’s a pretty good definition of it. But if you’ll just give me a little bit of time, I’d like to talk about that a little bit more. What is success?

That definition we just gave: success is finding the will of God. Let me tweak that just a little bit according to this parable. Success would be finding the talents God has given you and serving Him with those talents.

Now, talent can mean a lot of different things. Automatically, some minds go to a great sports player, a fellow that’s about 6’3" and real muscular and all that, kind of like your pastor. Thank you, my wife was for me. She’s about the only one for me on that. I appreciate that, but we all know the truth: short and overweight and all the rest of it. Anyway, our minds go to so many different things. It may be IQs and all that, and that may be part of the talents. But talents here, or money here, really just represents the resources God has given you.

We have a lot of talents or resources just by living in America. I’ve been amazed to think about it. I’ve questioned several different missionaries, and they typically say that America finances about 90% of the missions of the world. Wow. Just being in America, you have some talents automatically.

Sometimes I think about that individual who owned the mama donkey and the baby donkey that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the day of Palm Sunday. Go over there and just tell them, “Hey, Jesus needs it.” He had resources. I don’t know if anybody has a donkey here or not. I don’t know if you have some chickens. But we all have resources.

I look at Brother Page; he cuts the grass around here and on the new property. That’s his thing. He took the lawnmower home between last summer and this summer and serviced it. I think he waxed that thing; that’s his baby. He did. He had that thing cleaned up. Praise the Lord, he’s using resources for the Lord. There are all kinds of resources or talents God has given. It may not be that you use them here where everybody knows about it, but you use them in your neighborhood. You can use them at your workplace, but everyone’s been given talents from the Lord.

Success is finding—don’t go. We are typically prone to one of two things. One thing is we get proud: “I got all the talents; I’m a talented individual.” We may not say that, but we act like that—a haughty spirit where we’re just kind of condescending towards others. Or we have the attitude, “I can’t do anything.” That’s not true either. Everyone has been given some kind of a resource or talent for the Lord. All of us have. You have.

The Bible talks about spiritual gifts. We did a study years ago on Wednesday night on spiritual gifts. It took a couple of months, and I learned so much, and everyone learned that much about spiritual gifts. But the Bible says if you’re a born-again Christian, everyone has a spiritual gift.

Look over in 1st Corinthians chapter 12, if you would please. It talks about spiritual gifts here in Corinthians, in Romans, and in Ephesians. Look at this one here. I want you just to notice one verse. If you’re a born-again Christian, He is speaking to you. He’s speaking to the Church of Corinth here. Notice what He says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse number 7: “But the manifestation, or the revealing of the Spirit”—the Holy Spirit living inside of you—“the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.”

He’s speaking of gifts here. In other words, He’s saying this: If you’re a born-again Christian, you have a spiritual gift that you can use for the Lord. Everyone does.

Here are some spiritual gifts that automatically come to mind because they are kind of like polar opposites. There is a prophet. In the New Testament, I don’t think he’s talking about someone who tells way ahead of time about something. A prophet is someone that is very focused on truth. They don’t care whose feelings they hurt; they’re going to tell it to you straight just like it is. They are just focused on truth. That’s a prophet.

Then there is a mercy giver. They are just very, very compassionate. Let me show you the difference. If someone has maybe smoked for 30 or 40 years, and man, it’s messed their lungs up, and you hear them cough, you can tell what’s going on. A prophet, here’s what a prophet will think (and hopefully not say): “They shouldn’t have smoked; they’re getting what they deserve.” But a mercy giver will never think that. They’re like, “Oh, that poor soul,” and then they’ll give them a hug. Both are needed at the proper times.

There are the gifts of helps. Some people are gifted with the ministry of helps, and they just like helping the leader accomplish God’s will for their life. They like it when you ask them to do something. Praise the Lord for people who help.

That’s such a blessing to the leader. We have refreshments every Sunday in our Sunday school class. That’s the only reason why I go to the Sunday school class I go to. The teacher, he’s got issues anyway, and we have coffee and all that, and we have creamers. If you’re going to do it, might as well do it right, so we get the liquid creamer. Come on, somebody say amen right there. We try to have something nice. Starbucks ain’t got nothing on us. We don’t charge ten bucks for our coffee, though.

For years, I would battle, “We’ve got to get the creamer in the refrigerator.” Nine times out of ten—probably 11 times out of 10—that creamer will be sitting out there for a week, and we go back to use it the next week, and you pour it in that coffee, and you get the lumps. And they’re like, “Who did this?” And I’m like, “It was me.” We said, “We’ve got to solve this problem,” so we bought a little refrigerator. We got that in there.

And still, after Sunday school class, me or my wife or whoever would always forget to put that creamer in that stinky little refrigerator. And still the same thing: come back the next week, and you got messed up creamer. This little bitty thing—I think it’s little to the individual, but it’s just such a blessing to me; it’s so huge to me. I asked someone, maybe six months ago, “Hey, would you make sure every Sunday after Sunday school that creamer gets put in that refrigerator right there?” It’s so little, but man, it’s huge to me. It’s just peace of mind. It’s peace of mind next Sunday when that person puts creamer in their coffee.

Everybody’s got a talent. They may think that’s so minute; it is not minute. It’s big to me. Everybody has talents. I don’t know what your talent is, but we all have some resources.

Some people have the gift of hospitality. They can meet someone, and man, they just pick up a friendship, boom. They just—you like them; they enjoy talking to strangers. Ever heard them say they’ll talk to a fence post? They probably got the gift of hospitality. Everybody’s gifted a little bit differently in all these things.

Some people have the gifts of giving. We have a man; he came to our church maybe three or four times. The first time he came, he had a newer Bible, and the first time he came to church, a man got saved, and he gave that man his Bible. I’ve watched that man; he’s got the gifts of giving. He’s always giving someone something. He’s not wealthy, but he’s always giving. Hopefully, we’ll have someone here that comes to our church and has the gift of giving. Amen.

We’re all wired differently, and we all have different talents for the Lord. It may be something totally different. The gifts of ruling—the gifts of ruling is a good thing. They can organize, but they want to delegate everything to everybody. If they have the gifts of ruling and you’re around, something’s going on, they’re going to put you to work, friend. They’re just gifted and wired differently.

But if you’re a born-again Christian, you have talents, resources. Success is you finding out. Sometimes you don’t find out your talents for years later. Another interesting thing is when you start using your talents for the Lord, then God gives you more. He’s a wise investor with His talents, says money, and He’s looking for people that use those talents. God has strategically gifted you and placed you in special roles in places where He needed someone just like you, gifted like you are. Success says, “All right, Lord, you have foreordained that I shall walk in them, and I’m going to do them. I’m gifted to do those things.”

By the way, that’s not pride when you admit that God gifted you. No, that’s praising the Lord. “I will praise thee; for I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works.” That’s what David said in Psalms. It’s praising the Lord. Everyone’s gifted in a certain way.

Now, let me say this—this is so important. I’ve got to hurry along here. This is so important. Look, if you will, over in 2nd Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians chapter 10. 2nd Corinthians chapter 10.

We have had PA problems. I think we’ve got most of them working, but it still sounds different to me. Does it sound different to you all? Is it just me? They are like, “No, it sounds normal.” Maybe it’s just me; I’m different. When I lost those fingers, I lost part of my hearing. Someone said it wasn’t hearing; it was brains. Okay, that too.

Second Corinthians, chapter number 10, look at verse number 12. I want you to see this. Second Corinthians 10, look at verse number 12. Are you there, amen? Look at what he says: “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves. But they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise.”

Friend, can I tell you something? He did not give them all the same amount of gifts. He gave one five, one two, another one. It’s not fair; it’s not right; it’s not wise when you start comparing with someone else.

You will never—teenagers, I hope you get this—you will never be content if you compare. Godliness with contentment is great gain. You’re never going to have that great gain if you’re comparing with others. Don’t compare your marriage with someone else’s marriage. You don’t know what you don’t know. You think their marriage is wonderful. Look, friend, the grass is greener on the other side of the fence because the septic tank is over there. You don’t know how good their marriage really is. They may be putting it on for everybody because in private, it’s horrible.

Don’t you compare your children with other kids or other people’s kids. Don’t you ever do that in your own mind, or don’t you ever verbally with your kids. No, no, don’t you do that. By the way, can I just say this? Well, I did everything wrong. Some kids are just harder than other kids. That’s just honest truth.

You know the book of Ezekiel chapter 18? That chapter keeps saying, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” It talks about a good dad and a bad son, and it says the soul that sinneth shall die. Then it talks about a bad dad, and yet the son turns out good, and it says the soul that sinneth shall die. I’m simply saying, hey, don’t you compare your kids with somebody else’s kids. You will not be content. Don’t you compare your talents and your abilities and your resources. You will not be content. You will not be happy. You will not have the peace and joy of God if you spend your life comparing. Amen.

He didn’t give them all the same amount of talents; it was different for each. You find out the talents God has given you, and you say, however big or little it is, “I’m going to take my resources and use them for the Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s success. That’s success.

We had been out in the ministry as a youth director or whatnot, and then we had left that church and got out of the ministry, and I was just welding. I said, “Just welding, if that’s what God has called you to do, that was success.” I was welding, and I remember going into this large factory in East Chicago, Indiana. I remember going and welding—boy, you can have some good prayer meetings inside that welding hood. I would say, “Lord, I’ve been out in the ministry; I’ve graduated Bible college, and so-and-so’s doing this, and so-and-so’s doing this, and so-and-so… You put me on the shelf; I’m just stuck here.”

The Lord said, “Paul, quit all your whining and comparing with everybody else, and you get busy using the resources I’ve given you right where you’re at.” God allowed us to start a Bible study in that factory. God began to use that; people were saved out of that. When we moved from Indiana down here to Tennessee, seven of those men and one of their sons—eight people—showed up. That surprised me. If you see pictures of our first service, you see a bunch of big, burly guys over there, welders from that factory. We made railroad tank cars. It was from the Bible study, and it was simply when God got this old complaining, whining, sucking my thumb off, head about comparing, and God said, “You use the resources where you’re at,” and God began to bless that.

Success is finding your talents, your resources of whatever they may be, and you use them for the Lord. You serve your Master with those talents. That’s success. If God had intended for me to stay there for 40 years, and if I had stayed there and did God’s will for my life, that meant success. Success is finding the resources God has given you, and you use those for the Lord.

Can I say this? Be happy with the talents God has given you. “Well, I wish I had more.” Fooey on that. Use what you got for the Lord. You say, “Well, I only have one.” Well, take that one and use it for your Master and get busy. He says, “I’m going to give you more if you really like to.” But who cares? The matter at hand is you take it, however big or little talents you have, and you’re using those talents. That’s success.

It’s amazing when we get to heaven sometimes. They say sometimes the first shall be last and the last shall be first. That individual just on some corner, God’s given some talent, and they’re using it wherever they’re at.

I’ve used it so much with a little old lady in a nursing home in Chicago. Her name was Viola; we called her Grandma. She was stuck in one corner. Her husband was a pastor for years; he was dead and gone. All her kids were dead and gone. She was stuck in the corner of the world. Her fingers were all gnawed up in pain, but she would shine her light in that corner of the nursing home. That was success.

Us preacher boys, we’d go just to talk with her because she just kind of shone with radiance, bragging on the Lord and what He had done in her life. She was a success because she was using what resources God had given her right there in the corner of the world for the Lord. That’s success. That’s success.

We’ve got to hurry along here. Don’t be afraid to use your talents for the Lord. Don’t be like that guy with one talent, who, out of fear, just buried it. If God has called you, faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it. Just obey. Just use your talents for the Lord.

Let me say this: Faithfulness is the key. Look back in verse number 21. Look back in verse number 21 there, would you please? Notice how many times he says “faithful.” His Lord said unto him, “Well done,” Matthew 25:21, “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.” Same in verse number 23: “His Lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful…” Faithfulness is the key. Faithfulness is the key.

By the way, all of us fall off the bandwagon. Get back in there; get faithful. I’m not just talking about church attendance; I’m talking about just living for the Lord.

I thought about Brother Fontaine. He got saved a little bit later in life. For the last 20, 30, 40 years, he was so faithful. What a blessing he was to our church. I’ll start mentioning names, and I’ll forget so many. There have been so many over the years. I thought about Ms. Ritha, and I thought about Brother Busho, I thought about Larry Rosalowski—just so many over there. Brother Warren, Brother Warren, yeah. Just so many faithful. That’s what God saw: faithful. “Well done, thou good and faithful.”

I thought about Brother Patterson. He got saved when he was younger. Through all these years, there have been ups and downs, I promise you, Brother Patterson, like all of us, but he stayed busy passing out tracts. He’ll go to Walmart and pass out tracts. He was busy passing out tracts this week and fell. He’s still at church, but he said, “I’m sore; can’t raise my arm all that,” but faithful.

I thought about my mom, 81. She’s still teaching Sunday school. She’s still good at getting those kids in headlocks and saying, “Hey, listen to me.” I thought about Miss Louise. I don’t know how old she is, but she gets stuck in the nursery more than she should. She’s always back there. That’s not taking care of the kids; she just wants to listen to me. She gets out of here. But faithfulness—and I’ve missed so many—there are tons of you who are faithful. God says, “I’m looking for someone that’s faithful.”

I thought about the Johannans, the seniors. Ms. Patty made breakfast for the soul winners yesterday, and Brother Johan, senior, was out soul-winning. He’s 104 years old and still out soul-winning. He said the way his knee feels, he feels like 104. But wherever, however, just God sees faithfulness. God emphasizes faithfulness: “Well done, thou good and faithful.” That’s been faithful.

Then let me say this—we’re going to be done. Oh, my goodness. Wow. I didn’t realize it was that late. But let me say this: You say what you’re going to say no matter what. Hey, leave the results up to God. God’s the one that brings the increase. He says in 1st Corinthians 3:8, “He rewards you for your labor, not for the results.” Just be faithful.

You never know what God will do. We won’t know until we get to heaven. I heard a pastor—I think it was a preacher—say this: Of every pastor of a larger number of churches—I say that on purpose because there’s no small gospel-preaching church, no matter how many are running—he said every one of those pastors grew up in small churches.

So think about that pastor of those boys. He may have thought, “Well, I never did anything big for God,” and yet that pastor grew up in that small number of church. You just never know what God’s doing for Him.

I thought about our missionary, Michael Williams. When he was young, God called him to Ghana, West Africa. You just get gospel tracks out and say, “We’re going to preach.” They came. He was working with the team, and they would get hundreds, maybe even thousands, coming. It was a great success. He was there for maybe four or five years. Then God spoke to his heart, said, “I want you to go to Germany.” Will you stand and give gospel tracks out in Germany? They laugh at you and spit on you. They take your tracks and tear them up and throw them on the ground. He didn’t have great numbers there, but he was working just as hard, and in the eyes of God, he was just as successful. By the way, he earned just as many rewards because you don’t get rewards for your results; that’s God’s business. You get rewards for your labor. After that, God called him to help oversee missionaries now because he knows what it’s like to be on both sides of the coin.

Friend, you leave the results up to God. I think often about the man that put that tract in that hospital in Florida, and my mom got saved, and my dad got saved—that man didn’t even know until he got to heaven that he had any success there. You just be faithful doing what God called you to do, and that’s success. You find the talents God’s giving you, whatever they may be, the resources you’re using for the Lord, and that’s success.

One story, and I’m done. Really? I was 12 years old. We were in Lake City, Florida. We went to Lake City Baptist Temple. I remember the name of the church, right? Brother Heston was the pastor. They had a Christian school. We probably had less than 20 kids in that school. Mr. Heston would come in there and click his heels sometimes and get you at attention. We used to call him a little Hitler. God worked at my life there; that’s when I got called to preach at that church, in that little Christian school.

Their church was never big, as people would say. I think when we were there, they were in their heyday. We added on a little bit to the auditorium during that time, but it wasn’t even big then. We were driving through Central Florida, coming back up on 75, I think it is. I told my wife, “How about let’s stop by? I haven’t seen them.” It may have been 45 years. She says, “You’re going to talk forever if we stop.” But we stopped. We talked. I don’t know how long we stayed. She says she’ll probably know down to the second how long we stayed, kind of like you are right now, knowing how late it is.

Brother Heston was still there. Not a big ministry. 45 years later, still there, him and his wife. A lady had broken down, having car trouble, and they were helping that lady. I forgot; my wife remembered so much better. I think I could help him fix that car, but Brother Heston wanted to help that lady so bad, I just stayed out of it. I was like, “Wow.”

The world would look at them as failures, but according to God’s Word, they’re going to stand before the Lord one day, and He’s going to say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

Put your heads bowed and close your eyes. Preacher, God spoke to my heart somewhere along the line. That’s you. God spoke to your heart. He’s speaking to me, into my heart. He spoke to my heart. If that’s you this morning, if that’s you this morning, you just lift your hand up. “Preacher, God spoke to my heart.” Good. Many hands. Thank you for letting the Lord work in your heart. Thank you for that.

You can put your hands down in just a moment here. We’re going to stand and have a word of prayer. I would invite you to just be obedient to the Lord. A great place comes to an old-fashioned altar, but if He leads you to stay there, you stay where you’re at. You just thank Him for speaking to your heart, and you do business with Him. Make a good decision out of Him speaking to your heart. Would you do that?

Maybe you’re here this morning; you’re like that one. God’s giving you some faith, but along with faith, there come worries and fears that are still there. You’ve chosen so far to bury your faith in the things down here on the earth—what you can do, being good enough, or church, whatever. Maybe today’s the day you say, “Jesus, I want to take the faith you’ve given me as far as me getting to heaven, and I want to place it on you, Jesus. I want to trust in what you did on the cross, Jesus, to pay for my sins, be my Savior.”

If that’s you right where you’re at, whether it be here, at home, or elsewhere, if you’re there and you say, “I want to put my faith in Jesus alone,” would you pray something along this line? Would you tell Him: “Dear Jesus, I admit it. I’m a sinner, and I’ll never be good enough to go to heaven. I’m not going to put my faith in things of the earth and what I can do and others can do. Jesus, I’m going to put my faith in you. Would you come into my heart? Would you be my personal Savior?” In Jesus’ name I pray.

Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. No one’s looking around. You said, “Preacher, I just called on Jesus. I just put my faith in Jesus alone to be my Savior, to save me, to take me to heaven. I just trust it. I just called on Him to be my Savior.” If that’s you, would you lift your hand up? Anybody like that? Just call on Jesus to be my Savior. Anybody like that? Anybody like that? I don’t see any hands. I don’t see any hands.

Would you please stand? Let’s spend some time. You spoke to your heart, you raised your hand, you’d be obedient as He’s calling you to do. Let’s pray and you come.

Father, thank you for your goodness. Thank you for loving us. Thank you, Lord, You’ve given us the resources. Help us to use them for you. Help us be faithfully serving you with those, in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Would you be obedient? Would you be obedient to the Lord?

Go for us—I met them about 27, going on 27 years ago. He was using his resources, leading, singing out of church, and then God called him to be a preacher. He pastored a couple of churches, then pastored Fair Havens Independent Baptist Church for 21 years. And then they came for about 20 years to our church. I’m teasing with them a little bit. They’ve been coming for a while. I just praise God for it. They brought Ms. Risa with them, and Ms. Risa is just a spark and a blessing, a heart for the Lord. They would have come and joined Brother Ford Caddy Baptist Church before. Amen. Amen.

I don’t have to ask it; I already know it. If you’re for them coming to be members, would you say, “Amen”? Amen. We’re glad to have sweet people, great spirit, faithful. You’re a preacher. One moment. How long is that moment? One o’clock. Amen. They’re a blessing. Praise the Lord. Ms. Hammond joined last Sunday night. I’m honored to have her; her husband served the Lord. Her dad was a pastor, whatnot. Go for us, Ms. Risa. Praise the Lord for just God’s goodness to us, and we’re thankful for God’s goodness to us. Good to see everyone here this morning. Let’s come by. We’ll dismiss. Come by, shake their hands. We went that way. Okay, so this is the way. If you disagree with that statement, you see my daughter; it’s all her fault. Hey, she’s tough. Good luck with that now. We’ll go this way. Let’s pray and be this. Come by and let them know you love them. You’ll be praying for them. Glad to have them as a part of the family. Praise the Lord. Miss Hammond, you just came on a Sunday night. How about you come? We’ll get you on Sunday morning too. We’re going to get everybody in here. Good deal. We’re going to pray and be dismissed. Good, good to have every single person here this morning.

Original File: 2026-04-27 - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Using Your Talents for the Lord - Sunday AM 04⧸26⧸2026