Well, good morning, Heights family. Good morning to our online family, Pauldin, Baghdad. Love that you guys are joining us in worship here this morning. My name is Austin. I get to be the youth pastor here for our Prescott location. And thank you. It has been a while. It has been a while since I've been up here. So I'm just so grateful, so grateful to be here, so grateful to worship together as a family this morning.
And if you've been with us the last few weeks, we are talking about stories as told by Jesus. And if you didn't know, Jesus tells a lot of stories. We call them parables. And a parable is just a short story used to illustrate and communicate a deeper biblical principle. Sometimes Jesus uses these parables, he uses analogies in them to communicate a better and illustrate better a biblical principle. Or he uses people. To represent God and humans. And so I would love
to jump right into our story today. It's in Matthew 25. If you want to turn there, click there, whatever it is. Matthew 25. We're going to read the whole thing all the way through. Because I need you guys to grasp and understand just the story from beginning to end. And then we're going to unpack it afterwards. So Matthew 25, verse 14. Again. It will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth
to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went out once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money. After a long time, the master of those servants returned
and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. Master, he said, you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more. His master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your master's happiness. The man with two bags of gold also came. Master, he said, you entrusted me with two bags of gold. See,
I have gained two more. His master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your master's happiness. Then the man who'd received one bag of gold came. Master, he said, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is
what belongs to you. His master replied, you wicked, lazy servant. You knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gathered where I have not scattered seed? Well, then you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned, I would have received it back with interest. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has 10 bags for whoever has will be given more and they will have an
abundance. Whoever does not have even what they have will be taken from them and throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Would you guys pray with me as we kind of dive in and unpack this story? God, we come before you this morning, thankful for the gift of life, thankful for just being able to sit here this morning. God, we come and we ask for you to illuminate the dark parts of our hearts that we keep hidden.
Would you teach us something new here this morning? God, we ask these to be your words and from your spirit. Spirit, we ask you to guide us as we navigate this passage. It's in Jesus' name that we ask and we're thankful. Amen. Do you ever feel inadequate? Do you ever feel inadequate in your life where you're not good enough? Do you ever feel angry because maybe something, an injustice has been done to you? Or do you ever feel so paralyzed by fear and uncertainty
that you just can't move forward? Or maybe, do you ever feel like a plastic bag drifting through the wind, wanting to start again? Do you ever feel so paper thin, like a house of cards one blow from caving in? Do you ever feel already buried deep, six feet under screams, but no one seems to hear a thing? Do you know that there's still a chance for you? Because there's a spark in you. And you just got to ignite the light and let it shine. And own the night like the
4th of July. Because baby, you're a firework. The best part is seeing the faces going, why are they clapping? Why? Who? What just happened? I'm just trying to keep you on your toes. But also, I was watching some of you guys who had no idea that was Katy Perry. All right. Sitting there and going, oh, my gosh, preach. I am that plastic bag drifting through the wind, wanting
to start again. Come on, preach it. Man, if that is you, I'm just going to say I'll pray for you after service because you just resonated with Katy Perry. That's all I'm saying. Again, going back to those, going back to those first, I wanna take a moment to look at the servant with the one talent, all right? And you're gonna hear me say talent. Just know that bags of gold and talents, those are interchangeable because some translations use bags of gold, other translations
use talent. A talent is a measure. All right, it's just a measure of money. And so this servant had one talent, all right? And so I just had to ask, why? Why didn't he go out and multiply it? Why, why? And so we look at verse 25, it says, master, because I was afraid. And so maybe it was fear or maybe, maybe it was anger. Maybe he looked at the other two and he goes, why did you give him more? Because again, at the beginning, it said, the master gave each according. to what
he thought they could handle. And so he looks, he might have gone, you know what, they got more. And just to spite him, he might've just buried it in the ground. Or maybe he sat there and he goes, he felt inadequate. Maybe he felt like he wasn't good enough because a talent was about 6 ,000 denarii. One denarii is one day's worth of money, of work. And so that's 6 ,000 days, which would have taken him about 20 years. It would have taken about 20 years for one worker
to earn one talent. And so he's given, he's entrusted this talent, so 20 years worth of money right here in his hands. So maybe it just felt inadequate because he goes, I'm not good enough for this. Like, I'm not good enough to what you gave me. Or maybe it's fear. Maybe it's what really is what he said, master, I was afraid of you. And maybe it's the fear that stopped him, the fear of failure, the fear of letting him down, the
fear of losing it all. I know that when I was younger, I fear of failure stopped me from doing a lot of things because I hated, I hated to lose and I hated to fail. And so when it came to trying new things, I would just stop before I even started. I would just say, I don't want to participate. I don't want to do it. Not because it didn't seem fun, but because if I didn't think I could be good at it instantly, I wouldn't do it. If there was some possibility of failing or losing,
I wouldn't do it. And so again, because my thought was, well, if I don't try, then I can't fail. Right? If I don't do anything with it, then at least I can't lose because I never started. And so whatever the excuse was for this servant, all right, we know that he had a fundamental misunderstanding of who his master was. See, he saw his master, as it says in verse 24. He says, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you
have not scattered seed. So what is he doing? He's blaming, he's looking at his master and he's going, I'm going to blame you for what I chose to do. Isn't that like a lot of humanity? We are really, really good at blaming other people for our mistakes. We are really, really good at putting the blame and the burden on someone else, even when it's our fault. right? And so if you're a teacher in the room, teachers, you
understand this really well. Teachers, isn't it your fault that the student didn't turn in their work, right? You told them 10 times, but the 11th time they would have done it for sure, right? And parents, you know this. It's your fault that your child showed up to the sporting event without their sport equipment. Right, even though you told them five times to put it in the car, but hey, that's six times. So it's your fault. It's your fault that they did that, right?
We see this all the time. We see the blame game being played out every single day of our life because again, we are really, really good at pushing blame to someone else. Just like this servant did to his master. He's saying he has a misunderstanding of his master's character and he uses that to blame his master. And so maybe, maybe you're sitting here and maybe it's not blame. Maybe it's going, maybe there are excuses. It's not blaming someone else. You just
have an excuse. You have an excuse as to why you can't do something, why you can't, just like the servant, take the talent and go out and multiply it. Maybe it's the excuse of time, right? We all love that one. I don't have enough time, right? But one day when I get enough time, then I'll start doing something. But I just don't have enough time now. Maybe it's money. You're like, ah, I hear you talking about being generous all the time. But one day when I get ahead, then
I'll start tithing. Then I'll start being generous. Can I tell you that if your goals start with an if and when, you're not going to ever do them, especially when it comes to following Jesus. Because again, what is this parable? What is this story supposed to illustrate? Jesus is talking. to his disciples in this moment, and he's telling them about the end of times. He's going, hey, these are the signs when the end is coming. And
they're like, sweet, when is that? And he goes, no one knows the day or the hour, which is so unhelpful. And so then he uses these parables, these two stories, this one being one of them, to illustrate his point on going, this is what being a good steward of what you've been given looks like. And so we looked at the one. The one servant who squandered his money, buried it in the dirt to hide it because he had a misunderstanding
of who his master was. Can I tell you that how you view God will determine how you live for God. How you view God will determine how you actually live for God. If you don't believe me, let's look at the next servant. So we looked at the one servant, the two other servants in verse. 16 and 17. So the man, right, who received five bags, he went at once. And then 17, so also the one with two bags, right? So they went at once. There was urgency. They didn't know when
their master was coming back. They didn't know when they would see him again. So they just didn't waste any time. So they went out and they multiplied. They went out and took the talents that they had. that they were given, that they were entrusted with, and they multiplied it. You know, what's interesting is we look at the response when the master comes back. The response is the same for both of them. The master says to both of them, he says, well done, good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come share in your master's happiness. One servant came back with 10 talents. That's like 200 years worth of labor and money. The other came back with four talents. That's like 80 years of labor and money, two very different amounts. But what does the master say to both of them? He says, well done, good and faithful servant. He doesn't look at them and say, wow, you got so much more. Good
job. I like you better. He doesn't look at the second one and go, man, you tried. Thanks for trying. He goes, wow, well done. Why? Because the point is God is looking at the heart. God is looking at the motivation behind what you're doing. I think sometimes we stand here and we go, gosh, if I only had five talents, then look what I could do, right? Because maybe you're standing here and you're going, I only have two talents worth of time. I only have, you know,
like I just don't have enough time. I only have two talents worth of time. And so, but you're going, if, hey, guess what? If I had five, Imagine how much more I could do. That's when I'll start using my time for God. I think it's interesting that Jesus doesn't tell us. We don't know when the day or the hour when God's coming back. We also don't know the day and the hour of when we leave this planet. But we ask, okay, so let's play this out. Let's say that we knew that Jesus
was coming back one year from today. We knew that 12 months from now, Jesus would come back. Some of us would walk away. and instantly change our lives. We would go, shoot, I only got 12 months. I got to do some stuff. I got to start following Jesus. But then some of us, probably a majority of us, would go, well, okay, that's 12 months. I'm going to use about six of those. I got some things I really, really want to do in my life. I got some things that I really need
to get done, some loose ends to tie up. And so I'm going to spend about six of those 12 months really just living for myself because, you know, that's... I just got wants and desires. And then the other six months, remember the if, like when that comes, then I'll do it. Then the other six months, I will go and live for Jesus. I guarantee you that's what happened. But we don't know the
day and the hour on purpose because... What Jesus is trying to communicate through this story is he is trying to say the urgency is important because we don't even know when our last day and hour will be. And so what are you doing with what you've been given? Better yet, how do you view God? If you don't know how you view God,
just look at how you're living for God. Do you view God as someone who is harsh and greedy and selfish and someone who is just ready to rain lightning down at the slightest mistake, like the first, the servant with one talent? Or do you view God as someone who is good and gracious, someone who is ready to forgive, someone who is ready to take your mistakes and multiply good out of them that only God can do, like the other
two servants with the five and two talents? Again, how you view God will determine how you live for God. So what are you doing with what you've been given? And so I want to close out with a story to help illustrate this point. Because again, I think sometimes we stand here or we sit here and we walk out and we go, well, you don't understand. I don't have anything. You don't understand. I wish I had one talent of
stuff to use. I wish I had what they had because if I had what they had, then I would be so much more effective. And so I would love to close out with this story. It is Senior Sunday and we, so I want to tell a story of one of our leaders. His name is Kyle. He's been with us for a long time. And I met Kyle eight years ago. When we started our fifth and sixth grade ministry, we were over in H4 in a tiny, tiny little room. And Kyle came in one day and introduced himself.
And he said, hey, I'm here to serve. Where do you want me? And I said, hey, can you be with these fifth grade boys? And he said, sure. And so I actually don't find out till later, probably a year later, that he had told our middle school pastor at the time, he had said, hey, I want to serve in youth, but I would really love to do high school. If I had to, I would do middle school, but I will not absolutely ever, ever do fifth grade. I didn't know that, but God did.
And so I put him with fifth graders, not knowing any of that. And so he shows up. And one thing you need to know about Kyle is when he showed up, he was an engineering student at Embry -Riddle. And if there's two things that Riddle students do not have, especially engineering students, they don't have time and they don't have money. All right? Like, for real. I walk this with him. Like, they don't have time, that's for sure. And they for sure don't have money. Loads, mountains
of... student debt. And so Kyle walks in and he doesn't have any of these things. And so he shows up. He shows up every single week. We had four fifth and sixth grade services every single Sunday. We had one fifth and sixth grade youth service on Wednesday nights. And Kyle was there at every single one of them every single year. And so then it came time for his boys to move into seventh grade. He had graduated Riddle at this time. And so now the question was, what
is next? And so he asked God, where do you want me to go? And God says, I want you to stay here. And he didn't have a job. He wasn't promised any job, no engineering, anything. He just goes, okay, God. I'll trust that you'll provide. And so he stays here because God told him that I'm not done with you and with your fifth grade boys that you started out with. And I want you to be faithful and continue to multiply what I have
given you. And I want you to stay here. And so then Kyle then proceeds to walk with those same group, those same boys. all the way through middle school. And now eight years later, Kyle is still here and he gets to watch those fifth grade boys graduate this week. I asked him, I asked him if I could share this story and he said, only if. you make sure that God is the one who gets the glory. And I said, don't worry, I'll make sure to tell a bunch of bad stories about you
so they know. Because again, Kyle is not the hero of this story. All Kyle did was take what little he had, which was not a lot, and he goes, God, I'm just going to show up. And God continued to use him to multiply. And so the same group he started with as fifth grade boys, not only did they, most of them stay through their senior year, we added so many more along the way. Because again, God is the hero. God is the one who actually did the work and actually was the one who multiplied.
And Kyle was the one who just said, I'll show up. And so as I asked what? What are you doing with what you've been given? Because if you actually think about it, you've been given so, so much. It's not compared to the person next to you. It's not compared to the people on Instagram because we all know Instagram is real. What has God given you this morning? What has he gifted you with, whether it's money or time or all of the above? Again, what's the step in? Maybe it's,
I need to serve. I need to step in and serve. I'm gonna make the time because we don't just have time. I'm gonna give, I'm gonna start giving. Even if I don't have a lot, I'm gonna start giving because I know that's what I'm supposed to do to multiply what I have for the kingdom of God. Or maybe it's going, man, I just need to commit to a life group. I need to step into a group here at Heights and stop just bouncing around
and being, just a floater wherever I'm at. I just want to be committed because I know if you ever, if you read the Bible from cover to cover, you know that faith is not ever done alone. Following Jesus is always, always done within the context
of community. So maybe it's one of those things, or maybe it's actually D, all of the above, which is the right answer because When we read this parable, Jesus is talking not just about money, but he's talking about the things you have and what you've been given, what you've been entrusted with. That idea of entrust, by the way, it says it in 14, it says the master entrusted his wealth. That same word in Greek is the same word used in the betrayal of Jesus. To entrust means to
hand over, to deliver. And so it's interesting when we talk about this parable, the master handed over, delivered his wealth to the servants to be stewards of it. What we've been given from God was handed over to us to be a good steward of what we have, not what they have next to me, but what I have. And what am I doing with what I've been given? And so, as I said, It is Senior Sunday. And this is a hard, hard time because every year it's just like losing part of the
family. It's good. It's all positive because they're going out to do things with other parts of God's family across the globe. But it's hard, especially for this class. We started with parent -child dedications and I wanna tell you that we have one student with us who was dedicated as a baby here at Heights Church and now she will graduate here at Heights Church and we can
celebrate that. And so this is important because again, We just prayed and we just agreed as a church family, like, hey, we want to help you raise your kids. Now I want us to pray for those same kids, the ones that we have gotten to watch grow up as they go off and they become adults outside of high school and in the context of the bigger world. And so I want to pray for them as we commission them. But first, you need to know a few things. This weekend, we honor a group
that is near and dear to my heart. Eight years ago, I started full -time youth ministry here at Heights with fifth and sixth graders. I walked into a tiny room in our kids' building because we didn't have any space elsewhere. I walked in having no idea what I was doing, and I just hoped that they didn't smell my fear. There was a group of fifth graders there. We all bonded together over that first year of trial and error, making mistakes and learning from them together.
I'll never forget my first winter camp that year as being the pastor in charge, the one in charge of our church. That year, one of our leaders, Kyle, put a hole in the chapel wall. We had our boys students. Drink over 50 shots of coffee creamer. We stayed up until 2 to 3 a .m. with those same boys who were puking up the coffee creamer. We had to send some kids home because they were just homesick. But we had students give their lives to Jesus. And we created a strong
beginning together. Since then, We have hopped around to different rooms and buildings here on our Prescott location. Unplanned, I became the middle school pastor, and I followed those same fifth graders up when they entered their seventh grade year. Their last Sunday as eighth graders, I remember one of them saying, I'll see you in high school. And I said, no, you won't. Two months later, there I was, the high school
pastor. Four years since then, we are here watching the same 10 -year -olds that I once knew grow into incredible young men and women about to graduate high school and move on to the next chapter of their lives. Eight years since beginning this journey with these seniors, we have been through a lot. We have seen a lot. We have grown a lot together. We've made many mistakes along the way, said things we shouldn't have, done things we shouldn't have, but we made it. We
made it together. Together this last Wednesday, the seniors' final youth night, we were able to witness over 300 middle school and high school students worship together in this room. Let me tell you, it was a party. This time, though, no coffee creamers, no broken walls, and no puking. But it was a night we'll never forget. It just goes to show what can happen when you trust God
and let him multiply what he's given you. And so four years ago, when I became the high school pastor, I started this tradition of writing a letter. writing a letter to the graduating senior class and reading it from stage. I'm not sure why I chose to do that. But I'm going to read it because a lot of them are sitting in front of me now, their last weekend as high school students in our main service. And so if you would just bear with me, here we go. Remember how it
all began. Entering fifth and sixth grade, thinking the finish line was so far away that you'd never make it. Seeing the seniors and thinking how big they were. Now you're here, the big scary seniors. And time flew by, didn't it? It wasn't as long as you thought. For me, it doesn't feel quite real. You've been a part of every ministry I've led for the last eight years. Every Wednesday you were there. Every Sunday you were there. When we came back from summer break, I knew you
would be there just another year older. And now the time has come for you to move forward onto the next stage of your journey that we call life. I've so enjoyed our last years together. Last first day of school, last turkey bowling event, last gingerbread house making contest, last winter camp, and last youth night. Next school year will be so different. I'm not sure what to expect. I'm so excited for the classes behind you, but
it won't be the same without you. Over the years, I've probably done more learning from you than you have me. I've learned how to persevere. You've taught me how to move forward even when times got tough. If you remember, not all of our times together were perfect. That first year was tough. Many times I wasn't sure if I had what it took to lead you. But you guys continue to show up and believe in our youth family. I've learned the real definition of family. From day one,
you chose to make youth group your family. Whether day one was eight years ago in fifth grade or somewhere along the way, thank you for showing up and showing me what family is and how to continue to show up for your family week in and week out. I've learned the value of honesty. If there's one thing I know, you guys were honest. even at my expense. But I always knew what you were thinking and how you felt, and that brought me so much comfort. You've taught me to never settle.
You guys were always telling me how we could get better, how we could be more impactful, and how we could be more faithful with the gifts God has given. You've shown me that your real self is your best self. In a world filled with facades, you were always great at showing your real selves. I am so beyond blessed to have been a small part of your journey, and I'm so excited to see where the Holy Spirit leads you after high school. My encouragement to you is always
surround yourself with positive family. Our faith was never meant to be practiced alone, so find a community of people who love Jesus and constantly surround yourself with them. Never settle. Paul says to run your race to win. Always persevere and allow God to pick you back up. You're only out when you quit. So never quit. Always be your real authentic self and don't settle for anything less. Forgive often. Forgive yourselves and others often. Forgiveness is the best path forward,
always. Prioritize your relationship with Jesus above all else. Jesus is your rock, your God, and your savior. It's because of him that you have life and it's because of him that you have hope. Lean into that hope, always. I love you all so very much. While we may not see each other as much as we used to, we are still family and you will always have a home here. To our senior leaders, thank you so much for the impact and faithfulness you have had in these senior lives.
You may not see it now, but trust me, it's there. Thank you for always showing up and fielding those late night phone calls and texts from your students. Your love for Jesus and his kids are evident through your actions. So thank you. Kyle, I know you didn't do this for recognition, but thank you for the bottom of my soul to be on this journey with me and these senior boys. Thank you for holding me accountable and calling me
out when I needed it. You have become one of my closest friends, and I'm so grateful for these eight years. As I said before, seniors, whether you've been with us from the beginning or have joined us somewhere along the way, I'm so grateful you chose to be a part of our youth family. At this time, I'd like to close by commissioning and praying for our seniors. So if you would just pray with me. God, thank you. Thank you for this group. that you have brought into our
lives. Thank you for this senior class that you have made family here. God, we ask for your blessing and your power to go among them and outward as they walk out of these walls onto their next phase of life. And so God, we're just so grateful. So grateful that we have a church family to surround. And so God, we ask that you would bring your church family from across the globe to surround these students as they take the next steps in
their lives, wherever they find themselves. God, thank you for the blessing that they are in my life and the lives of this church family. And so God, we just pray. We ask that your spirit would go make their paths straight before them. Would you continue to guide and lead them? And Father, I pray for our church family in this room and online. God, as we go out, as we are challenged with what we have been given, God, would you empower us to be better stewards of
what we have? And God, would we stop making excuses and live fully for you right here, right now. We ask this, God, in Jesus' name. Amen.