Develop Your Potential Hidden inside You Matthew 25:14-30, NIV "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent 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 the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. 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 your master's happiness!' "The man with the two talents also came.’Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; 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 your master's happiness!' "Then the man who had received the one talent came.’Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are 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 talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' "His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather 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. " 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' This morning I'd like to share a message with you titled, "Develop Your Potential Hidden inside You." One day Jesus spoke to people about the Kingdom of Heaven through a parable of talents. A man was about to travel into a far country. He called his servants and entrusted his property to them. He gave to one five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability, and straightway took his journey. This parable tells us God entrusted His property to us. He gave to one five talents, to another two, and to another one. We are not empty-handed without abilities in this world. After a long time the master of the servants with whom he entrusted different measures of talents returned and settled accounts with them. The first man who had received five talents doubled those five and presented ten talents to his master. The man who received two talents equally doubled his two and brought four talents back to his master. These two servants had worked hard; and the happy master said, “Well done, good and faithful servants! You have been faithful with a few things. I’ll put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness.” But the last man who had only received one talent came, reported, “Master, I knew that you are 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 talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” This man is like one who is born into this world and doesn’t use his abilities, but rather spends his whole life without any return for his maker. The master of this servant became angry with him and replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! You should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have at least received it back with interest.” He threw the unprofitable servant outside into utter darkness, where there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The master took the one talent he had originally given that servant, and gave it to the servant who had ten talents. “For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have in abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” God gave each one of us talents. When we were born we were born with God-given talents. Without exception we have received abilities from God. God had already equipped us with His abilities before we were even born into this world. 1. Be aware of your potential Just as each person was created with a unique face, equally each person was given by God their own measure and quality of potential talents. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We are all created by God. His hand formed us and His breath was breathed into us. We received our body and spirit from Him. God created Christians in Christ Jesus to do good works. As His creation in His image, each Christian has been given heavenly talents. Christians should all be aware of this. God saw the salvation of billions of people in Christ. Although God’s own begotten son, was torn, shed blood, then was crucified on the cross; God did not see Him rejected by man; rather He saw in Christ the billions of people who would receive God’s salvation through Christ. God places a high value on our talent potential. For example when God called me, I didn’t know what happened. I saw myself as only a person, Yonggi Cho, was saved by faith in Jesus Christ. But God saw in me something special. “Yonggi! Through you 700,000 people will turn to me.” When God saw Yonggi Cho, He didn’t see just a person but He saw the spirits of 700,000 people. This is what God requires of us; and His expectations never fail. God is looking for a man through whom the future generations would turn to Him. Ephesians 1:4-5 says, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” Before the creation of this world, before heaven and earth were created, before sun, moon and stars began to shine in the sky, God chose you in Christ. You are precious in the eyes of God. You are God’s treasure. God chose you in Jesus before the creation of the world. He predestined you to be adopted as His children through Jesus Christ. You know? As God’s children, you will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. God is our Father which means we belong to Him. Our heavenly Father is rich beyond our imagination, so we are also rich. We are the children of a rich Father. And because our Father is the ultimate victor; we will be called ‘the children of the victor’. Don’t belittle yourself!. You are not overlooked, rejected or helpless. My grandfather was very rich. My father inherited a large fortune. People around us regarded my father’s children as the members of a rich family. As I was growing up, when my family would go into our local town, people would say, “Hey, there come the children from the rich family.” I was rich because of my grandfather and my own father, I belonged to the ‘rich family.’ Even our dog was called ‘the dog from the rich family’. Brothers and sisters you are children of the omnipotent Creator God. Each one of you is a child of the most High God. You are not rejected, hopeless or defeated. Please repeat after me. “I’m God’s son! I’m God’s daughter.” Our Father has possession of the whole world. We have every reason to be well. We will enjoy good health and all will go well with us, even as our soul is getting along well. We are living in the land of the living. We’ve got an abundant life. This should be the normal Christian life. Have you ever seen our Father’s Spirit fail? Have you ever seen our Father give up? Have you ever seen our Father sick? Is our heavenly Father poor? Is He incompetent ? hungry -begging for something? Our Father God is rich. He is omnipotent. Heavens and earth belong to Him. We see His name in and on everything. Since you have got our Father in Heaven, you should dream a big dream for yourself. He wants you to have victory. He has already given to you abilities for victory. You have His talents in your hand. In this world you are not empty-handed. 2. How can you discover your potential? Therefore you should know what potential is in you. What am I gifted in? I have God-given potential. What does it look like? You need to ask ‘what hobbies do I have’. I should think of what makes me happy; and then I should move forward, trusting that my God-given potential would be revealed. You are good because you are gifted in some areas. There are things which you can do well, and on the contrary, there are things which you can’t do well. You need to find out where your talents are and then you will develop your potential because God has put His talents in you. Alexander the Great, the Greek king of Macedonia received a gift from the king of a neighbor country. It was a pair of hunting dogs. He took those dogs hunting one day, but they were not active in hare hunting. They would just let the hares go by. In fact they were indifferent to the whole process of hunting. Alexander the Great thought ‘they are inactive because of unfamiliar scenery’. After some time, he took those dogs hunting again. But they didn’t even give the hares that ran past them a single glance. This time Alexander the Great got angry. “These are useless hunting dogs. Get rid of them.” One day the king who had presented the hunting dogs visited Alexander the Great. Alexander related to this neighboring king his experiences with the dogs. The king replied, “Oh, Great King! That happened because you don’t know about the training of those dogs. The dogs are especially trained for lion hunting, not for hare hunting. Those dogs are a very rare species. Oh! Hare hunting didn’t bring out their talents.” Brothers and sisters this story also represents us. There are talents and abilities which can only be revealed in certain situations and for special purposes. Each person has that special talent potential. Psalm 139:16 says, “Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” God’s eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in God’s book before one day came to be! Isn’t this great? It is tremendous! God knows all your days on earth, before you were born. His eyes are focused on you. Therefore when we ask God where we should go, God will show us the ordained way for us. God is leading us. If we forsake God’s way but go another way according to our will, we will fail to find the way in which we should go. Proverbs 16:9 says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.” I set a plan in my heart but it is God who determines my steps. Therefore we should pray to the Lord fervently. A woman’s happiness is not guaranteed even though she marries a highly educated man or a high income earner. In this world is a God-prepared spouse for that woman. If you pray to God and follow God’s guidance, God will lead you to a man with whom you can live happily together. We all need God’s guidance. Harry Lieberman was born in Poland and immigrated to the United States. He is a famous painter. People called him ‘an American Chagall’. In his late 70’s he began his career as an artist. He was my age when he started a new chapter in his life. He was first a clothing cutter, then a candy manufacturer, then he retired and joined a Golden Age Club in New York. One day, when his chess partner failed to arrive he took the suggestion to try painting class. A young man saw Harry sitting on a street side, seemingly doing nothing but just looking up at the sky. “Why are you looking up? Why don’t you try painting? It’s an interesting hobby you can enjoy.” Harry Lieberman did, and he became much taken with this new activity he fervently began to pursue. He held 22 exhibitions before he died at the age of 102, and he gained much fame in America. “I do feel painting is my most important work. I don’t believe there is a life ‘Upstairs’.” Since he found his talent in painting Lieberman passionately worked and became a famous painter. Brothers and sisters, you are not yet functioning in your God-ordained destiny. We should look harder for our God-given talents which are inside of each one of us. You can one day be ‘more than enough’. You can be 30 times, 60 times and 100 times more fulfilled than what your life is today. “I’m an aged person…” Age can’t be an excuse. It’s just a number. We don’t know what talents we have received from God. Let’s stop blaming age, circumstances, fate; but rather continue to develop our talents, and do our best until we stand before the Lord. There is so much more God has prepared for us in our future. Long time ago in England there was a religion-related legislation which stated: “Preaching without permission of the government will be punished!” One young man broke that law. During his twelve-year prison sentence, his wife passed away, and his children became orphans. In the middle of his miserable condition he prayed to God. “My pain is beyond words. What can I do? This prison has made me a captive, and nothing is allowed.” One day when he was walking around the prison grounds, God spoke to him. “Write a book. I gave you a writing talent.” This man wrote a book which was entitled Pilgrim’s Progress. Christian, depicting any man anywhere, is the protagonist of this allegory. Christian embarks on a journey from his hometown, the ‘City of Destruction’, to the ‘Celestial City’ atop Mt. Zion. This man began to write this world famous literature in prison. It is today regarded as one of the most significant works of English literature. Once John Bunyan thought he could not do anything but he then chose to rely upon God and set his purposes to develop his God-given talent potential. We should ask God to know what talents He has put within us. We need to discern that God’s hand is holding us. For sure God will show you the way to go and you can gain many more talents than those which God had initially entrusted to you. 3. You must develop your potential: We should each develop our potential. Don’t spend your precious lifetime in regret. Since we made a decision to believe in Jesus, we became God’s sons and daughters. For the Kingdom of God we should bear fruit in our lives through developing our potential. We must not bury our potential like the servant who received the one talent. When he came to his master he kept making excuses, “Master. I knew that you are 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 talent in the ground.” He was afraid and hid the talent in the ground. He didn’t do any work with the talent God gave him. Your wisdom, intelligence, ability, and knowledge should all be used to open you up as a flower in God’s Kingdom. Formal academic education is important. Through education we can unfold our talents. Maybe initially all things may appear dim and faint. As we continue to work and ‘dig’ for what we are reaching we may even get exhausted and discouraged. Today all our children should be educated. Even at the age of 60 or 70, people need instruction. We should shine on earth with God-given talents. Proverbs 9:9 says, Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.” 2 Timothy 3:14-15 says, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” We have known the Bible. It’s not just a decoration on Sunday morning in our hand. Through Bible reading, meditation, and study we can learn and become convinced of what we believe. The bible makes us wise and lets us know God’s grace toward us. At every opportunity study the Word of God. Then as further opportunity comes your way, teach His word. ‘Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another’. So we can serve God as a precious offering. When time comes we should give back to our Heavenly Master our products of blood, sweat, and tears. To bear fruits we need heavenly supply from above. Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-8, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” We need to always be asking, seeking and knocking. We need to work to the best of our abilities to get good results. If we are putting our whole effort into winning souls through our cell group members; we will see good results. If a man relies on God and tries his best in his business, his business will expand. If we can get help from God, we will overcome every obstacle because our abilities come from above. And we should encourage each other constantly. An Italian vocalist E. Caruso became a world famous tenor through the encouragement of his mother. Proverbs 27:21 says, “The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives.” 1 Thessalonians 5:14 says, “And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” Enrico Caruso was born in Naples. Caruso was the third of seven children born to poor parents. At the age of 11 he apprenticed as a mechanical engineer. But by his mother’s insistence, he also contemplated a full-time career in music. His mother was always alongside Caruso, encouraging him. So he tried both, working at a factory and taking music lessons. Then one music teacher told him, “You are not talented at all. Your voice sounds like blowing wind through a worn out wooden door. Forget about becoming a vocalist.” He went home, extremely discouraged after he listened to much criticism. But his mother firmly responded, “You have the most beautiful voice in the world. For sure you will be a world famous vocalist. I believe this of you! Don’t pay any attention to what people say, one day Caruso, you will become a great vocalist!” He gained courage from her encouragement and continued, with faith, to practice every day. One day he sang in a church boy-choir in Naples and found his talent as a tenor. He proceeded to take operatic roles in world famous stages. Many thanks were due to his mother. She empowered him to press on toward his God-given destiny. We had better thank those who encourage us to find our talents. Parents, brothers and sisters can help us through so cheer up! Encouragement from others will help us to work on to develop our God-given potential. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” God has not only given us our talents, but he has also given us the abilities to accomplish them. We should then give full power ahead. We can never be rewarded without doing our best. No one can expect a harvest without sowing seed. We need to devote ourselves completely to develop our God-given talents. Matthew 25:23 says, "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 your master's happiness!'” God will call us faithful when we devote ourselves to do God’s will. There is going to be a fruitful season because we have done our best in spite of all difficulties. Conclusion: You all have precious treasures in you. Please repeat after me. “I’m God’s treasure.” However, many people bury their treasures just like the servant who buried his one talent given by his master. Remember, you are a treasure to God. God wants you to enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. People, who trust in the Lord, will be the head, not the tail. God will make you always to be at the top, never at the bottom. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. Why? It’s because you are the children of God. You are God’s family. You are rich. You are successful. You are the children of Our Creator. You are special. Since we believed in Jesus Christ we became a new creation. Sometimes we forget about this. Know in your heart that the old has gone, the new has come! You are not the old but the new! You are treasures of heaven. Change your mind. Start to think in a new way about yourself. Change your dream. Declare to yourself, “I’m God’s precious property.” Change your small faith into big faith. God trusts that which is in you. Change your words. “I’m valuable. I’m blessed. I’ve got the victory. I’m gloriously created. I can do it. Let’s do it.” Since we believed in Jesus, we are free from the power of darkness and we have moved into the land of the living, wherein the Son of Love has given to us a new citizenship. We are completely changed. Some people just don’t realize it yet. A well-known English psychologist J.A. Hadfield argued in his book called The Psychology of Power that “a person who has confidence would say, ‘I can do it! Whatever I do I am well able’. This man can demonstrate 500% of his ability. But a person whose confidence is shaken would say ‘I can’t do it. I’m nobody. I’m a defective product’. He can’t live up to his full potential. He can only show 30% of his ability.” What about you? Will you prove your worth with 500% of your ability or with 30%? It is all according to your thoughts, your dreams, your spoken work, and your faith. According to a study by Dr. C.F. von Economo, an Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist, the human brain is formed from 13,653 million brain cells. However studies have shown after examining the brains of people who have died; most of the enormous and creative abilities of brain cells had not been used. A German writer J.W. von Goethe used 0.4% of his brain cells. A theoretical physicist A. Einstein used only 0.6% of his ability. Dr. Economo said if we could use 10% of our brain cells, world history must be changed. We are all wonderfully created according to God’s image. Don’t bury your talents in the ground. Since we have wonderful potential in us, we should develop that potential until we have given as much as possible back to our glorious God. You are precious not only before God, but also before yourself and neighbors. You were not born by accident. You came through your parents. God’s eyes saw you even before the creation of the world and your days are already written in His book before one of them came to be. Let’s try to know God’s will. Please, don’t bury your life but pray to God, “God, my Savior! Show me what gift I have received from you. What do you want me to do? Show me the way. Let me know your will. I’ll follow you.” When God shows you the way which He has prepared, walk in that way with confidence. Go forward even though you can’t see anything with your eyes, you can’t hear with your ears, or you can’t catch with your hands. Say to yourself, I can do it, if I do it, it will indeed come true. Let’s do it. Then God’s miracle will take place in your life. You’ll experience God’s wonderful history. There is hope for us. Victory is waiting for you. Rise up high and keep going! In Jesus’ name I bless you. Let’s pray together. Our Father, full of love! You created us all. Thank you, Lord! You called each one of us to your salvation and led us to church. Your hands formed us and set us in your eternity. Father! We are not useless or meaningless. You’re holding us as if we are your precious treasure. Let us not give up or throw ourselves away. Let us recognize how precious we are in your eyes. It is not too late, from now on we want to live a life which gives glory to our God. Please help us to develop our talents and let us give them back to You, with the fullness of return. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. 1