1. Parables, Truths, Implications
Luke 19:11-27 & Matthew 25:14-30

2. Intro
Challenges our…
sensibilities… traditions… Biblical knowledge…
Acts 17:11 & 1 Peter 3:15

3. Application: My prayer is as we trust in the instructions by our Lord we can move away from discouragement and failure and move into lives that are marked by confidence, power in the midst of our weakness, and evidence the fruit of the Spirit.
Exegesis: An attempt to discover the meaning of the text objectively, starting with the text and moving out from it.
Eisegesis: To import a subjective, preconceived meaning into the text.

4. One lost approval, while the others gained approval and gained responsibility.
1 Corinthians 4:5 — …each mans praise will come to him from the Lord.
Romans 14:12 — each one will give an account of himself to God.

5. Application: Rewards are based on faithfulness to opportunity
Differing talents are given unlike Luke where they all got 10 minas.
Corresponds to life as we know it, we all do not have the same talents in life. Some are given 1, others 2, yet others 5 and even 10.
Application: Rewards are based on faithfulness to opportunity

6. Concluding Thoughts…
We should not build our theology on parables but remember that parables were told to illustrate a central point.
Jesus used these stories to alert his disciples to the danger of squandered opportunities.
Two Illustrations…
King and the pauper
Don’t Waste Your Life—John Piper