Encounter @ the Chapel
Pastor Joshua Goodin
Matthew 25:14-30 (NIV)
“Work is Required”
One of the reasons we have become so lazy in the church is because we haven’t been reminded that work is required if you are a child of God. Just coming to church on Sunday and sitting in the pew is not all that God expects of you. The day is going to come when you’re going to have to be held accountable and be called to the seat for your work. If the Lord called you home today, what kind of evaluation would he give you for the work that you have done so far?
*If you’re going to understand that work is required, you must understand that God decides the talent, but you make the choice. If you could choose the talent, you would probably try to give it back, because you have not been using the talents that God has already given you. It’s your choice what you do with the talent God gives you. Learn not to be jealous of other people’s talents and gifts, because God gave it to them according to their ability to work it and the capacity to endure what comes with certain gifts. People don’t understand that what looks easy and good comes with struggle, wrestling, and tears. What happens after you invest and pour into people and they turn around and give you their behinds to kiss? You’re still stuck where you are, because you come to church spending time on your phone and talking to other people, instead of asking the spirit of God to open you up to receive what he’s trying to deposit into you so things can change in your life.
*Work is required, you have to make the choice to do the work. Sometimes you think God has called you to work that he has not equipped you for, but that is not the case. God has not required anything of you that he hasn’t already deposited into you. Sometimes you have to learn how to tap into the potential and possibilities that are in you. It may be scary because you have been doing the same thing and staying in a place of comfortability. Understand that stagnation is a sign that something is dying. If you have a plant that you don’t water and give sunlight you have stagnated the plant to die. Unless you nurture and care for the plant it will die. Some of you are like a plant that doesn’t allow God to water and get sunlight to you, and you are dying on the inside because you are not growing to the fullness of your potential. The worst thing to die with is possibilities. You have dreams, visions, ideas, and ways to transcend and shape the way of the world, but you keep it to yourself. You can’t be so gripped by fear that you avoid the risk of triumph. If people can’t follow you then they can’t connect with you. Sometimes what’s inside of you can only get out of you when you learn how to expose yourself. Too many of you think you’re going to succeed in isolation when you need to understand that connection matters. The problem is that you are connected to the wrong people. If you’re connected to the right people, you wouldn’t be stuck. If your vision, dreams, and ideas are to come to pass you have to be connected to the right people. Stop hanging around people that think it’s ok to be stagnated, and stop being afraid of losing people that don’t deposit into your life. It’s not a loss it’s a plus because now you don’t have to worry about them constantly withdrawing from you, and not giving anything back in return. How much more do you have to lose? You can love people from a distance. Do people really love you if they’re always taking from you and never giving to you?
*You can’t be so grabbed by fear that you hide your talents, for fear of failing, being criticized or unworthy. If God has given you a talent, he has already counted up the cost and qualified you for stewardship over the talent. Sometimes you have to speak into yourself, there is power in words. You use words to hurt, but you have to learn to use words to encourage and uplift yourself. When was the last time you spoke into yourself, “I can do this?” If you spend half the time doing instead of being stagnate doing nothing you would be much further than you are. You got this! Step out on faith, launch it, develop it, create it, work it. You are the devil’s greatest nightmare, don’t be afraid, know who’s working on your side. When you discover and unlock who you are you become a threat to the enemy because what’s inside of you will automatically come out of you. As you run your journey for the Lord and exhale all that God has given you, he’s building up your capacity to endure some of the things that come with what he has assigned you to do. You have no capacity because you keep holding in what the spirit has deposited. If God has put it on the inside of you it has to come out of you. Don’t worry about if people receive it, give them what the spirit has given you, and if they don’t receive it, then they missed out. You do what God assigned you to do. It's time for you to go to a place where you learn how to operate in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. God wants to free you, but you have to free yourself, and work is required. If you don’t know how to cultivate your gift, ask somebody for help. What is it that you need help with and you’re afraid to ask? You’ve become so comfortable with the excuse that you don’t know how, but you will learn today. You will not be your best if you don’t ask for help.
