P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

Risk It All!

CONNIE: What do you have in your hand today? Does God have a use for it? Are you ready to risk it all for the glory of God? Join us today as we consider what use God would make of the talents he has given us.

Giving God’s trumpet a Certain Sound for 75 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE: Hello, I’m Connie Jeffery,

LONNIE: and I’m Lonnie Melashenko, and I’m glad you joined us today. We’re calling our program “Risk It All!”, and we’ll be looking at one of the parables of Jesus—the familiar story of the men who were given the large sums of money to handle for their master. Now, I don’t know if you’ve been given a large fortune, or whether the only thing you hold in your hand today is a little stub of a pencil, but whatever it is in your hand, we’ll be sharing ideas today that can help you turn whatever is in your hand into a blessing for others.

CONNIE: As we look at this parable, we called on one of our old friends to join us. Don McClure is a great example—along with his wife Yvonne—of people who have taken the talents that God has given them and invested them wisely in the Master’s service.

LONNIE: Don was able to join us here in our studios to talk about the Someone Cares prison ministry. Yvonne would have been with us too, except that she had to stay home in the Midwest to conduct a training seminar for others who are interested in becoming involved in the type of ministry they carry on. If you caught our they broadcast a couple of weeks ago, you know she joined us by phone for that program.

CONNIE: If you’re not familiar with the Someone Cares ministry, I think you’ll be excited to hear what’s going on these days. And I think you’ll be excited at the opportunities this organization provides for anyone and everyone to become involved in ministering to the needs of prisoners who are interested in the gospel. For more information about Someone Cares and how you can become involved, be sure to visit our web page this week at VOP.com or the Someone Cares web page at someonecares.org. But right now, let’s listen as Lonnie speaks with Don McClure.

LONNIE: Don, you know, so many people today fell like they were born on the wrong side of the tracks. I don’t have any talents, I’m old, and I was given the short end of the stick. Now, if anyone has gone through life, and had all of those excuses, you have!

DON: I’ll tell you Lonnie, I dropped out of school in the 6th grade, and spent the next 20 years wasting my life on drugs, alcohol, and everything. Fortunately, I met a lady who would eventually lead me to Christ, and we now have Someone Cares Prison Ministry. Even when I started off as a Christian and I started reading the book, my life, the program, the diagram, I said, hey, wow, me do all of this. I was taught by HMS Richards that the best book to help study the Bible is the dictionary. So, looked up talent, I know I have some kind of talent, and that’s what I thought it meant until I found out that it was a monetary thing. I thought, I can’t give, but God has given us all talents, and it’s a gift.

LONNIE: So, the person out there that says, you know, I had to drop out of school, I only have 8 grades of education…you actually ended up in prison, you did hard time, but God gave you an assignment, and laid it on your shoulders to do something with what you have.

DON: When we did the last Someone Cares broadcast, you mentioned that I had been in prison before…the book of James is a wonderful book; it’s such an easy book to understand. One of the big things people can do, and I would invite them to do right now. When the show is over, pray for the Voice of Prophecy, pray for Lonnie. We’re in a world today that is very chaotic, and I know that you are under funded, we’re under funded. But we go out there on faith and carry out God’s work. I used to preach big theological sermons with my 6th grade education, and I had a lady come up to me and say, I heard you on the radio and I know you’re preaching at our church today, but what ever you plan to preach, don’t. Just tell stories, anybody can talk. If you give yourself to Lord, He will give you the talent. He will even give you money, because if you give, the Bible promises to give it back to you.

LONNIE: Let’s have them step out of their comfort zone for a moment. Now, you have a Pen Friend organization that allows people to get involved with writing to an inmate, explain?

DON: We send you a packet full of information that will help you get involved in safe prison outreach. We will just send you the name of a prisoner, and you write that prisoner a letter, but the letter is sent to us, and we put your letter into a letter of ours, with our PO Box, as not to give any of your information to the inmates, it’s perfectly safe.

LONNIE: And what happens when they get that letter?

DON: Oh, they love to receive letters! The excitement that it brings to their otherwise, drab and dark lives is great. I was in prison once, and I was tough. I stabbed people, I hit guards, I punched a warden, but if someone had ever showed me that they cared, took the time to be there for me, it makes a difference, Lonnie,.

LONNIE: And many of these prisoner’s never get letters do they?

DON: No! I know a guy that’s been locked up for 57 years, who can’t read or write. And he has an inmate in the cell next to him respond to his letters for him.

CONNIE: Amen! That peppy reminder to do what Jesus would want you to do is taken from a brand new album by our good friend Steve Darmody.

LONNIE: Connie, I think that’s what really thrills me about Don and Yvonne McClure. When you meet them, you know that you’re talking to people whose lives are really focused on putting the teachings of Jesus into practice.

CONNIE: And not only that, they’re helping a lot of other people do the same, aren’t they?

LONNIE: They sure are, through the Someone Cares organization that they founded and continue to lead out in. The thing that’s so thrilling about this particular ministry is that it’s a two-edged sword. Not that it cuts anyone, but that it accomplishes two things at once. By providing encouraging letters to men and women in prison, it meets a desperate need. But from what I’ve seen and heard, it’s often the people who write the letters—the people on the outside—who get the greatest blessing.

CONNIE: Because it gives them an opportunity to minister to someone else in a way that they can feel comfortable.

LONNIE: That’s absolutely right. And that’s why we like to take time at least once or twice a year on both our weekend broadcast and our daily broadcast to talk with Don and Yvonne. And I want to urge our listeners to have a pencil ready at the end of the broadcast today to write down the information about how they can become involved in the Someone Cares ministry.

CONNIE: Don and Yvonne’s work fits in particularly well with the parable we’re looking at today. Because their organization helps people take their talents and use them to god’s glory. Which, I think, is the lesson we’re supposed to get from the parable of the talents. But to find out for sure—let’s listen to Lonnie’s message for today: “Risk It All!”

Risk it All!

She was known as the richest woman in the world. She was also known as the Witch Of Wall Street. And she’s best known for her miserly ways.

Hetty Green was born into a wealthy family in 1834, and she became interested in money very early in life. It’s said that when she was six years old she would read the financial newspapers to her father every day.

But her interest in money went far beyond just reading about it. She liked to collect it too. But she didn’t like to spend it. In fact, her miserliness has become legendary. It is said, for instance, that she once stayed up most of the night searching for a two-cent stamp that she had lost. That story may be just part of the legend, but one thing is known for sure: When her son Ned injured his leg in a sledding accident, Hetty tried to have him treated at a charity hospital for free. When she found out she would have to pay a fee if Ned stayed in the hospital, she took him home and tried to treat him there. But apparently she wasn’t as good at saving legs as she was at saving pennies, because gangrene set in and Ned’s leg had to be amputated.

In later years, Hetty would go to her bank in New York City every day to check on her money. That’s when she got the moniker “Witch Of Wall Street,” because she always wore the same old black dress, hat, and cloak. When the long dress became dirty, it’s said that she would take it to the laundry and ask that—in order to save money—only the bottom half be washed, since that was the part that was the dirtiest.

If you go on the Internet to a web site called hettygreen.com, you’ll find this slogan: “The money gave Hetty great comfort, to have spent it would have caused great pain.”

But you have to wonder, don’t you, how much true joy Hetty found in all her wealth. By the way, when she died in 1916, her estate was worth well over one hundred million dollars. According to a 1998 article in American Heritage Magazine, in today’s dollars, that would be a fortune worth about $17.3 billion! Hetty was the only woman included in American Heritage’s list of the 40 wealthiest Americans in history.

Did Hetty really enjoy having all that money? Well, perhaps so, but think how much more joy she could have had if she had been willing to share it and invest it in other people’s lives rather than just in making more money for herself. Fortunately, her two children were much more generous than she was, and the Hetty Green website lists many organizations that benefited from Hetty’s children’s generosity.

When I read about Hetty and her hoard of money, it reminded me of one of Aesop’s fables. The old Greek storyteller told of a miser who sold all his property and bought a mass of gold, which he buried in a secret place. Concerned for the safety of the gold, the miser would make regular trips to check on it. It didn’t take long for some thieves to notice his regular trips to the isolated hiding place, and so one day they dug up his treasure and hauled it away. When the miser returned and discovered his loss, he wailed and tore out his hair in a frenzy of grief. Someone who saw him agonizing, after learning the cause, said to him, “Don’t grieve, my friend, just take a stone and bury it in the same place and think of it as gold in the vault. Even when the gold was there, you made no use of it.”

Kind of reminds you of part of the parable we are studying today, doesn’t it? The story, found in Matthew chapter 25, of the man who went away on a long journey and left his assets in the care of three of his slaves. Here’s how the story begins: “ ‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away’ ” (Matthew 25: 14, 15, NRSV).

In the first two sentences, Jesus sets up the story according to the “rule of three.” It’s a well known story form that we still use today—often in jokes and humorous stories. Jesus’ listeners knew what to expect from this type of story. The third man would be the buffoon, or the one who made some mistake.

And Jesus does not disappoint His listeners. The first two slaves “went off at once” and began to invest and do business with the money they had received.

But the third man is the odd man out. He had received only one talent, and Jesus explains that each man had received “according to his ability.” In other words, the slave owner already knew something about the relative abilities of the men he was entrusting with his money. But keep in mind that even the man who received the least was getting a lot of money. Probably about a hundred pounds of silver—enough money to hire twenty servants to work for you for an entire year.

So what did the third man do? Well, you probably know the story. He went out and dug a hole and buried the money—just like the miser in Aesop’s story.

As the story unfolds, the first two slaves do very well in their business endeavors. Incidentally, the words used in the original language indicate that they didn’t just go invest in the stock market or something. They actually entered into business using the money as capital. The man with five talents doubled his money, and so did the man with two talents. When the master returned, the slaves were invited to bring the proceeds from their businesses. And of course the first two were richly rewarded for what they had accomplished.

But now comes the man the story is really all about. The third man in a three-part story. Here’s how Jesus tells it in Matthew 25, verses 24 and 25: “ ‘Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours” ’ ” (NRSV).

This fellow was a bit like Hetty Green, or like the miser in Aesop’s fable. He was going to play it safe.

But how does his master respond to his safe play? Here it is in verses 26 and 27: “ ‘But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest” ’ ” (NRSV).

The master is obviously not pleased. But what, really, did our poor “third man out” do wrong? He didn’t lose the master’s money. The man who went out and went into business with the money certainly could have done that. One can’t help but wonder how the master would have responded to a man who had gone into business and come up short.

But this man didn’t even do that. He didn’t have the courage. In fact all his actions were based on fear. “I knew that you were a harsh man,” he whines. (And so I took the easy way out!)

The master shows absolutely no appreciation for the fact that his slave has at least preserved the status quo. “ ‘ “As for this worthless slave,” ’ ” he says, “ ‘ “throw him in into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” ’ ” (verse 30).

So what, exactly, has the man done wrong? And what is Jesus trying to teach us about the kingdom here?

It’s important to realize that this parable is one in a series of three. The preceding parable tells about the ten bridesmaids who were invited to a wedding. The five women who are commended in this story are the ones who have made adequate preparation by bringing extra oil with them. In the next parable, Jesus tells about sheep and goats and how they are separated in the judgment. The individuals who are commended here are once again those who have done something. They have visited people in prison, they have helped the hungry and thirsty. They have made good use of the time, talents, and resources God has given them by being a blessing to others. They haven’t sat around on their hands fearing God, they have gone out into the marketplace and served Him.

So in essence, what the poor chap in the story of the talents has done wrong is absolutely nothing. He just hasn’t made good use of what the master has given him.

This story challenges me, friend…. As most of the parables do. What is Jesus asking of me? Am I anything like Hetty Green or the miser in Aesop’s fable, or the third man out in the parable?

Sitting around, being fearful of what will happen if I “go into business” with the time and talents God has given me is not the best way to honor God. Psalm 111 says that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” But may I suggest that it is only the beginning—the one-talent man had the first thing he needed: A fear, or righteous respect for his master. But he needed something more. He needed the courage of his convictions. He needed to trust in his master, needed to be able to step out in faith as the other servants did and use the talent that the master had given him. Incidentally our English word talent—which means something far broader than money—is actually derived from this parable. Because preachers through the years have preached about the talents God gives and broadened the meaning of the word from a monetary measure to a measure of all God’s gifts to us.

The one-talent man needed to step out on the courage of his convictions, to realize that the master wanted his courage, not his cowardice. I have a feeling that even if his business venture had ended in apparent failure, the master still would have commended him for getting out there and using what he had been given.

How is it with you, friend? What has God placed in your care? What sort of talent that could be multiplied in His service? Are you afraid to use it? Just remember, Jesus teaches us in this parable that we must “use it or lose it.” And if you’re using it with His guidance, how could you ever truly lose it?

The man we spoke to earlier today—Don McClure—and his wife Yvonne—are two of the most inspiring people you could ever hope to meet. And I have nothing but admiration for them. I spoke with Don for our daily broadcast as well, and he told me the fascinating story of how he and Yvonne stepped out on faith—Don left a good paying job and became a volunteer chaplain at Soledad prison. And Don and Yvonne have kept on with their volunteer ministry, touching thousands of lives for God for more than twenty years now, because they were willing to step out and risk it all to put their God-given talents to good use.

What has God placed in your hand? What has He given you that may be used in blessing others and building up His kingdom?

Don’t sit on it. Don’t bury it. Use it—put it out there in the marketplace to be multiplied in God’s work. Risk it all for the glory of God!

“His Music (Interlude)”, Cynthia Clawson, from The Way I Feel CD.

CONNIE: Thanks to Cynthia Clawson for that reminder to bring even our simple gifts to God to be used to His glory.

LONNIE: Amen! And as we close today, I’d like to remind all of our listeners that if the only thing you have in your hand is a little stub of a pencil and a piece of paper and a postage stamp, you can turn your talents into a blessing through the Someone Cares organization. You can contact them by calling (260) 492-7770, or by visiting their webpage at someonecares.org. You can also write to them at Someone Cares, P. O. Box 15338, Fort Wayne, IN 46885. That phone number again is (260) 492-7770, and the mailing address is Someone Cares, P. O. Box 15338.

CONNIE: On the Internet, they’re found at someonecares.org, and of course you can access all of this information also by going to our own web page at VOP.com, clicking on “Previous Broadcasts” and reading the transcript of today’s program.

LONNIE: Friend, thanks for joining us today. And I hope you’ll join us also in ministering to the needs of others in whatever way God opens up for you. Whether it's through the Someone Cares or some other mode, just be sure to put those talents God has given to you to good use in His work!

CONNIE: And do plan to join us again next week as we look at another of Jesus’ parables. Lonnie’s message will be “Consider Your Options!”

David E. Gonzalez “How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place” from On the Wings of Your Spirit CD.