to the Ephesians, we're in chapter four and verse 28. As we continue our series, Transformed Thinking and Transformed Living, today we focus on transformative behavior, a transformation that reaches deep down into our character. It's the shift from selfishness to generosity. Today is I Love My Church Sunday, and we're gonna encourage you to love what God loves. God loves the church. And who is the church? The church is us, each other, right? We should love one another. This is my commandment, that ye love one another, that your joy may be full. And so we should love one another. And Amy Carmichael said that you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. And when we love one another, we're gonna give of ourselves to each other. To the work of God, which is here at Souls Harbor, we gave through our tithes and offerings, we give through our time, we give through our talent. You heard the kids singing, and they were singing for the glory of God, but it was a blessing to all of us, an encouragement to our soul. And so you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. If you truly love, you will give. And we think of sometimes things in very abstract ways. We think, well, yeah, I love. But if you love, you will show your love. And love has to be demonstrated. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, John 3, 16. Romans 5, 8, But God commendeth His love toward us. That means that He demonstrated, He proved. He commendeth His love toward us. In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God sent Jesus because we needed a Savior, but he loves us and that's why he sent the Savior as we continue We want to look at verse number 28 this morning. We live in a world that is driven by greed And when personal gain is often prioritized above personal integrity, whatever you can do to get ahead, that is the motto, that is how the world is driven, that is how the world lives. But for the Christian, that's the old man, the new way of living is quite different. We get ahead by giving. And by the way, when you give, the Lord blesses you. This is not prosperity teaching this morning at all. We disavow any kind of prosperity gospel that is out there that is a wicked lie, but the truth of God's word is give and it shall be given unto you. And if you give, with the purpose of showing God's love to somebody, God has a way of taking care of us. God is looking out for us. And so we know that if we trust the Lord and we live according to the prompting of the Holy Spirit when God directs us and moves us to give, God takes care of us. We really, He's doing His giving through us. That's what's going on. And we are also a beneficiary of that blessing. And when we bless others, God blesses us. But we live in a world that does not believe that. They are driven by covetousness and greed. The Bible says, let's read the verse here, Ephesians chapter four, verse 28. Since you are all so comfortable, I'm not gonna let you sit. We have to stand, because we're gonna be sitting for a couple more minutes. So let's stand and read this one verse out loud. And if you haven't been here for the last few weeks, you understand that there is more to this passage than this one verse. It's based on several verses before this. I think all the way back to verse 17, you can read on down. We won't take time for that this morning because we've been going through the series. But verse number 28, if you would read it with me out loud together. Let him that steal, steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. This verse presents a clear contrast between the old man and the new man. The old man and the new way of living, the new way of life, amen? And Paul is addressing these verses to believers, to Christians. And these are people who have been redeemed by Jesus, but they still need to put off the remnants of the former ways of our life. We all need to put some things off out of our life, don't we? We need to take off the old garment, we need to put on the new way of living. We have a new way of thinking a new mindset Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus and that whole passage in Philippians is talking about humility And there's a whole new way of thinking now that you're saved. You don't think the same way anymore Amen, and the Holy Spirit is living inside of you. He is he is convicting you and to live a different way and to sow to the spirit and no longer sowing to the flesh. Father, I pray that you bless the preaching as we get into the word. Thank you for your word. We pray that you would bless us as we think about generosity and we go from taking to giving. We go from immaturity immature thinking like a child who takes and takes and does not think about others It has to be trained and taught but lord we that are a mature christian or maturing christians help us to give Instead of taking and god. I know you'll bless us for that in jesus name. Amen. Please be seated The command here is to cease from stealing I have three I's here. Actually, personally, I have two I's, okay? They are blue, but the I's I'm talking about here are an alliterated outline, but you may not have that there. Actually, I did put it in there for you, but the first one is integrity. The first I is integrity. And we did talk, we did discuss this a couple weeks ago with being honest with our words, but today we're gonna talk about being honest with our giving and our taking or giving. The command to cease from stealing here, number one, Paul begins with a direct instruction. Let him that, what? Stole, look at verse 28. Let him that, let's say it out loud, real loud. Let him that stole steal no more. And this issue is prevalent, it's everywhere. The word to steal here, klepto in the Greek means to cheat, to take wrongfully from another person, whether it's legal or illegal. There are actually ways to legally defraud somebody, if there could be such a thing. And we know in our spirit, we need to follow the spirit of what God's saying rather than always just following the letter of the law and everything. What is God really saying? What is the spirit prompting us to do? There's times where it is within our power to do something wrong. according to God's word, but completely legal in terms of our law in our society. So we need to go above and beyond. God told us to go to the second mile, right? He told us to take things to another level, and we should be living at that level and not at the level that we used to live at. There are laws, of men, and we're thankful for a land of laws. We're thankful for law and order, and for there to be consequences for breaking laws, especially when people are breaking laws toward us, and they are trying to harm us or hurt us or defraud us. We're thankful for the law, amen? We're thankful for some justice. I know that some of you have probably experienced a lot of injustice in your life, and you may not have received justice from the law of the land, and I'm sorry. It is not a perfect system, but at least it is a system that works most of the time. We're thankful for that. But the laws of men are not determining the rule governing whether a person is stealing or not. God has another standard. God has a higher standard. Man can sometimes use the law to steal. Man can take from others without even breaking the law. Very simply, the Bible, the nature of the Bible, and what the Bible is stating here in the Spirit is that stealing is taking anything that rightfully or by nature belongs to somebody else. I believe it was last summer or in the last six months in the fall, there was a man I'm not going to give a whole lot of details, but a man that was breaking, or he was actually stealing from a gas station, a corner convenience store, a gas station. And we got called to the store. And they said, this guy has been stealing from us for months and months. And he is now trapped inside the store. And he is trying to get out of the store through the ceiling. And he climbed up into the rafters. And there are ceiling tiles in there. And he climbed up through the ceiling tiles, stepping on everything as he got up in the ceiling. And he began to crawl across the ceiling. And I thought for sure we were going to get there and he was going to fall through the ceiling or something. But as soon as we get there, we pull our squad up. Two other officers are already on scene. And we pull up. And the man is now trying to get out of the building. He's made his way to the edge of the roof. He's still up in the rafters, up in the attic. He's made his way to the soffit, and his feet are hanging outside of the building. And he's trying to get out. And the two officers that are on scene, they are ready to go with their tasers. And I'm thinking, oh boy, what is going to happen here? And he proceeds. He couldn't get out, so he pulls his legs up. And he goes back into the building, and I stay outside. And the other officers go inside, and they bring him out in handcuffs. And he goes to jail. Now, it's a lot easier to just follow the law and to work than it is to steal. I understand there are times where people are driven because they don't have any food, they don't have any shelter, they don't have anything. Many times people do things that they normally would not have done. We're sad with the drug epidemic and how that drugs, many times the control of drugs and alcohol can lead people to do things that they maybe normally would not have done. So we have compassion and empathy towards them, but it is still a sin, it's still wrong to steal. But you don't have to just burglarize, you don't have to just shoplift to be a thief. There are many other ways of stealing. There are dishonest business practices. falsifying records. The Bible says in Proverbs 20 verse 14, it is not, it is not saith the buyer, but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth. There are times where people will defraud a business, or the business will defraud the buyer, and back and forth. There is workplace theft. There are times where people will take things from a workplace. They will take sometimes product, merchandise, or they will take their boss's time. They will steal time from the workplace. What does that mean? That means that they slack off on their job. We as Christians ought to be the hardest working people at our job, period. You say, well, nobody else does their job. So what? What were you hired to do? I know that this is the way we're told to do it, and this is the way we actually do it. It's that way at every single job, I'm convinced. Because every place I've ever worked, there's the rules, and there's the way we really do it, right? Now, there needs to be some wisdom in each of our lives. We need to use wisdom. And that's when we go back to what is the spirit? What is our boss's spirit? What is our boss looking for? And getting to know your boss, getting to understand, you can say, I don't want to get to know my boss any more than I already do. I want to get to know my boss less. And that's probably, I understand where you're coming from. But if you understand what your boss is looking for, you can better do your job. And so what is the spirit of what's being asked of you at your workplace? Do that, and then take it up another 10%. Do your very dead level best at everything that you do. I know somebody that they have had more than probably 60 or 70 jobs. I'm not even kidding. And every time they got a job, they would say, I love this job. This is the greatest job I've ever had. Six days later, seven days into the job, man, this is the worst job. My boss, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, OK. And then they get another job. Same thing. This is the best job I've ever had. It's way better than my last boss. I love him. Another weekend. Man, come on. That's because we approach life emotionally. An immature person approaches things emotionally. You have to understand, going into a workplace is gonna be great because you're gonna make it great. You have to determine yourself, I'm going to love this job and I'm gonna do the very best at this job. I may not like it every day, but I'm going to do what I can to make this workplace a better place. And I'm gonna make an impact in positive ways. Many times, an immature person, they just react. Everything is reactionary. Oh, something bad happens, so now I'm going to have a bad day. Something bad happens, overcome. As we like to say, adapt and overcome. Those are very, very good words. Adapt, figure out what's wrong, figure out what the problem is, and then overcome. So adapt and overcome. Do your very best. Don't steal from your boss. The Bible says, In Proverbs, I'm sorry, Proverbs 14, 23, in all labor there's profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury or poverty. When you work hard, you will have fruit for what you're doing. You're going to have profit. You go to work for a paycheck, right? But the reason you go to work is not just for a paycheck, but to be a profitable member of society, to make an impact in your environment, in your community. I think that we should have more motivation than just money. I think that if you have a motivation to be profitable, you will get promoted. If your only motivation is to go get money, you may get overlooked. And it's not about kissing up to the boss. I know that some of you think, oh, you know, I don't really want to do that. I hate that person over there. They're always like, they're a brown noser. No, our goal is to be productive. If you think I'm going to love this job, I'm going to do my very best, and I'm going to be productive, and I'm going to do it for the Lord, God will bless your effort. In labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. There's a lot of people that talk a big talk. They say, I'm a great worker. I'm going to do a very good job. You know, we go to the interview, right? And I hate the question. Have you ever been asked the question, what are your weaknesses? I don't have any weaknesses. I'm always good, right? You know, I'm perfect. But if I do my dead level best, even my weaknesses can be overcome. I can adapt, and I can grow, and I can learn, but a big talker, They're not going to make a good employee. Work hard. There's profit in that. So we see there's workplace theft. There's tax evasion. There's failing to give what is owed. We're in tax season right now. We need to be honest. Honest. We need to also pay our debts. Pay your debts. If you owe something, pay your debt. Pay your debt. There is no honor in not taking care of your business. If you signed on the dotted line, I heard somebody say one time, well, I got all this school debt and all of this. I've got all of this just weighing down on me. I said, go to work. Pay it off. They said, well, I don't think it's fair that I have all this debt. I said, well, who took the debt out? Who took out the loan? Well, I took the loan out. Sometimes we don't realize what we're doing when we take out that big loan, but that doesn't free us from the responsibility. You say, well, my husband or my spouse, they're a big burden in my life. Well, maybe you need to change your perspective, but maybe you also need to remember that you made a promise to God that you would be faithful and you would be there in sickness and in health Again, integrity. If we agree to do something, we're gonna keep our word. There's a reason our word doesn't mean anything anymore in this society. It's because people just, as soon as things get difficult, they cut and run. Be faithful to your commitments. If you take out a loan, pay it back. Not a lot of amens there, but I understand. I think most of us agree on this. We need to be honest in our business dealings. If you promise somebody that you're gonna do something, follow through. Go above and beyond. God blesses that. God blesses when you work hard and follow through with your commitments. The root of theft is selfishness, wanting what we have not earned or what God has not given. And before we were saved, our nature is dominated by selfishness. Like a child, like an immature child. What does a baby do? What does a baby want? A baby wants to be fed on their schedule, right? They don't care that you have to get up and go to work and you've got all these other responsibilities. A baby wants to be fed when they want to be fed. They are selfish by nature. That's what God, God put that selfishness there because it's self-preservation. And there's nothing wrong with a baby needing to be fed or wanting to be fed. But as a baby grows and matures, as a child grows and matures, hopefully by the time you are an adult, you have outgrown that selfish bent. You are now more a giver than a taker. And that is just growth and maturity. It's sad that in our society, we have a lot of entitlement, a lot of people that think, well, the government needs to just pay my bills. No, they don't. Who is the government in America? You are the government. So what you're saying is, I think everyone else in society should take care of me. That's wrong. That's wrong thinking. That's immature thinking. Mature thinking says, I'm going to take care of my responsibilities, and I'm going to take care of what God has given to me to be a steward of, and I'm going to do my very, very best for God's glory. We need to get away from this bad thinking in our society. Everyone just living off of the government. Wrong. And if you don't want to live in that kind of society, in that type of government where everything is commonly owned and nobody has any kind of gumption or will to do their own job and to work and to own a business and to be able to produce, and to be able to enjoy the fruit of their labor, then maybe you should go to another country that that is okay with, that is where that type of government is already established. We do not want to become that kind of a nation. God has given us freedom here in this country, and part of that freedom, part of that responsibility, we get to enjoy religious freedom, we get to enjoy a lot of things, but part of that is that we are responsible and mature enough to take care of our own business and not expect everyone else to, because a society that lives off of the government eventually becomes a totally atheistic society because government becomes the home, government becomes God, government becomes everything. Letter B, we see the root of stealing, it's a heart problem. Mark 7, verse 21, the Bible says, from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, you think all of those things are bad, but then he adds thefts into that list. Stealing is a heart issue before it is a hand issue. Before you go and take, you already have decided to do that in your heart. This really reflects on a lack of trust in God's provision. God is gonna take care of it. God will take care of you. We need to trust in the Lord, not trust in the government, not trust in our own creative and crafty ways of trying to take care of things. Trust the Lord, do right, always do right. Integrity says I'm gonna do right no matter who's watching, no matter what is at stake, God is always going to take care of me. The transformed life is not merely about stopping sin, but replacing that sin with good things, with righteousness. I heard Adrian Rogers, I think it was this weekend, the program, I heard it last night, I don't know if it'll be airing today, you might hear it again, but Adrian Rogers said, not only do we need to dethrone sin, we need to enthrone the Savior. So we need to stop doing some bad things, but then we need to let God change our thinking and allow God to provide for us and to help us. We need to trust the Lord. When it comes to telling the truth, yes, there may be consequences for telling the truth and doing the right thing and being honest. You might perceive, oh, I'm gonna get in trouble, and I think of kids, right? Kids always, they're always right there. Oh, I want to do right, I want to obey, I want to tell the truth, but I'm gonna get in trouble. And that's how we are sometimes as adults. But there might be some consequences. There's ramifications there, right? But when we do the right thing, God will bless us. Trust Him. We not only need to dethrone sin, we need to enthrone the Savior. Number two, the call to honesty. This is the second I. Not only do we see integrity, second we see in industry. Look at verse number 28 quickly. Verse number 28, the Bible says, In Ephesians chapter four, verse 28, let him that stole steal no more. So we need to dethrone sin. But rather let him labor working with his hands. I always get disconcerted even if somebody works an office job with a man that doesn't have calluses or some kind of callus on his hands. Because I think God created us to labor with our hands. We're not called to just watch other people work. Chip in, help out, be there, be ready to work, to serve. That is Christianity 101, service. If you wanna be great in the kingdom, become a servant, right? A servant of all. Not just what you want to serve in but a servant of all even the littlest child in this church. We are called to serve If God has prompted your heart to work in a ministry, amen But you got to step out and work and do something labor. There's a call to honest labor. There's a value in hard work It's not a curse. Genesis 2, verse 15, this is before the curse, amen? And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it. There was a need for labor in the garden. There was a production line in the garden. There was fruit that was produced on the trees. And God called Adam to keep the garden and to dress it. Proverbs 14, 23, we already looked at verse, so we'll go ahead and look at 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 10. If any would not work, neither should he eat. All right? I understand some people might be out of work, but put your labor into something else. They're like, well, I'm not getting paid for it. Work. Do some projects at home. During COVID lockdown, we didn't just cease from working. This whole room got painted during COVID. We cleaned the whole church building. We filled a 12-yard dumpster three times with all those things. We just cleaned everything and cleaned this building. And there was a lot to do. There was a lot of work. And there was an opportunity to do it. There were people that were out of work, and they came and helped, which was a blessing. And we're thankful for that. all of the work that was done. But just because you're not getting paid doesn't mean you can't work. God designed work as a means to provide for our needs and to be a blessing to others. So you do get paid, you just may not get paid with U.S. currency. A transformed believer does not rely on deception. They do not rely on laziness. but they engage in work that honors God. If you're a lazy person, you will not succeed in the end. You may get by with it for a while, but in the end, somebody else is going to pull ahead, and they're going to be blessed, and they will succeed. If you want to get ahead, and you want to honor God, be a servant, be a worker. Look at verse 28 again. So we saw the first principle is integrity. Let him that stole, steal no more. The second principle is industry. But rather let him labor, working with his hands, the thing which is good. Then the third is investment, that he may have to give him that needeth. Look with me at Luke chapter 19. I don't know if I spelled it wrong in your notes, I did in mine. It says Luke's, but I do apologize if it says that, but Luke chapter 19, the Gospel of Luke 19, verse number 10. And I wanna just tell a little bit of a story about Zacchaeus. We know that the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. Isn't that a blessing? But in verse one, and Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. And what do we know about Zacchaeus? He was a wee little man, right? And he was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he. He was short in stature. Ezechias, which was the chief among the publicans, he was like a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus, who he was and could not for the press because he was of little stature. The press meaning there was a large crowd, a gathering that was around Jesus. And he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him and said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, what, that he, saying that he has gone to be a guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house for as much as he also is a son of Abraham. we know that Jesus came to seek the sinner. And everyone in society knew Zacchaeus was a sinner. He was a bad man. He was a publican. He was an extortioner. He would take money from people. He would take more than what he should have taken. And the fact is, if he had found out his error on his own. I believe the law was that he was supposed to give a fifth above as interest of anything that he had taken. But he says, I'm going to give fourfold, which was the price if you were convicted. This man was convicted by the Lord Jesus in his heart. He knew what he had done was wrong. He said, if I've taken, I will give back fourfold. I'll give half of my goods to feed the poor. And I believe that when the Holy Spirit gets inside a person, when God convicts them, when God comes in and saves us, it changes the way that we think, even about money. It changed the way that we think about possessions. And it causes us to have a whole nother outlook. And it caused this man, Zacchaeus, to change the way that he saw money. And I believe that that is what God wants to do in our lives. He wants us to see not only the value of hard work, but the fact is that all labor, it has profit, but it is not so that we can become rich, because there's a deception there. It is so that we can be a productive members of society and to give to others, but ultimately to bring glory to God in our labor. The purpose of work that he may give, right? That is the purpose of all of it in verse 28 of Luke, I'm sorry, Ephesians chapter four, verse 28. Paul takes it a step further. The goal of our labor is not to be self-sufficient, but to be generous. Instead of taking, we're called to give, to serve, and to bless others with what we have earned. This aligns with Acts 20. The Bible says, it is more blessed to give than it is to receive, amen? That's not just something that's a nice thing that your mom crocheted on some pillow. That is what the Bible says, Jesus said, it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. The world mocks that a little bit. But I think in reality, even this principle followed out you by an unbeliever, they will find blessing in their life. The ultimate thing is that all of us know Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Because even though you might be a great philanthropist, you might be a giver, and there are people that have given millions and millions and millions, and they died without Jesus Christ. They gave it all away, but they lost their soul. They weren't even maybe seeking for worldly riches. The Bible says, what does the prophet of man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul? But you can gain the whole world and still give it away and also still lose your own soul. So the key to heaven is not by even giving, the key to heaven is receiving Jesus Christ as your personal savior. Receiving the very thing that you could not earn, receiving the thing that you could not work for. Jesus gives to all that come to him eternal life. The Bible says that the wages of our sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so if you're not saved this morning, come to Jesus, receive that free gift of salvation, and then learn to give, give to others. And one of the greatest ways that we can give after being saved is to give the gospel to other people, to share that Jesus is their savior too. We see, number three, the heart of generosity. We're reflecting Christ. Number three, investment, the third eye, investment. A life transformed by Christ is a life of giving. 2 Corinthians 8, 9. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. What does that mean? We mentioned Philippians chapter two about Jesus, his mind being in us, right? Paul said, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. who made himself of no reputation, he was made in likeness of men, he came down to earth, he was fashioned like as we are, and he lived like we do, yet he did not sin. And we know that he became poor. God, God's Son, equal with God, part of the Trinity, Jesus, the Son, came to earth, he took on human flesh, he became a man, God in man, 100% God, 100% man. And he became man so that he could die on the cross, he became poor, and he went all the way to Calvary so that for our sakes we could become, he became poor, that we might become rich. Isn't that a wonderful truth? And the Christian life is about reflecting the generosity of Christ. Alexander the Great, I heard this story just this week, Alexander the Great, a conqueror of many kingdoms, he became sick. He fell ill, which led him to his deathbed. Even the great conqueror of the world became ill and died. He gathered his generals and he told them, I will depart from this world soon, and I have three wishes, please carry them out without fail. Alexander the Great asked his general to abide by these Oh, the king, I'm sorry, asked his general to abide by these last three wishes. The king of Macedon, Alexander the Great, said, my physicians alone must carry my coffin. That's his first wish. His second wish was, I desire that when my coffin is transported to the grave, the path leading to the graveyard should display the wealth I collected. Third wish was that both my hands hang out of my coffin. The generals agreed to abide by their king's last wishes and they asked him why he was doing so and Alexander said, I want the world to know the three lessons I have just learned. The king interpreted his wishes and continued, he said, I want physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that no doctor can cure anybody. They are helpless in front of death. The king described a second wish, he said, I spent all my life earning riches but cannot take anything with me. Let people know that wealth is nothing but dust. Thirdly, I wish all to know that I came empty handed into this world and I will go empty handed. A transformed life is a giving life. You're not taking it with you when you go. Nothing goes with us. As my dad used to say, which I think my grandpa used to say, he has never seen a U-Haul trailer behind a hearse. Sad to say, a few years ago, somebody did stage that picture, and they put it all over the internet. And they said, I guess that illustration is gone now, because now they have a U-Haul being pulled by a hearse. But the truth is, nobody's taking it with them. Even the great pharaohs of Egypt, buried with all of their riches, could not take it with them. I think one of the most Interesting things I took away with the Alexander the Great was his hands outside that casket, empty, empty. True story. So examine your heart this morning. Are there areas where we are being, we are dishonest? And we can be dishonest with our words, but we can also be dishonest with how we interact with one another in our business dealings. And we might be justifying it in our mind and say, well, it's not really that big of a deal. It was just a little thing here, a little thing there. Nobody knows and nobody cares. But I think in our heart of hearts, if the Holy Spirit's convicting us about something, we need to just listen to God. We need to listen to the Lord. Sometimes in our mind, we justify a lot of things that we do, but yet we are quenching the Holy Spirit. We need to commit to honest work. If you agree to do something, follow through with your commitment. Do not be lazy. Oh, yes, we all are lazy. Some people say, I'm just lazy. Of course, we are all lazy. There's not one person I know that isn't lazy. But we need to overcome laziness. No excuses. View work as a way to glorify God and to provide for others. It's not just about providing for self. We need to find our calling in what we're doing. You might say, I'm just here checking people out at a register, a checkout. I'm just running that till I just have this little job over here. I'm just straightening up some clothes, or I'm just stocking some shelves. Whatever you do, it's for the glory of God, and it has a purpose. It has great purpose. See, the devil wants to think that you don't serve any purpose. God has something for you. And then we need to become generous, generous. Look for ways to bless those that are in need. It's not always about buying the next big toy, you know, and we always have that thing on the horizon. Oh, if I could just get that thing, then, and we know we might not verbalize this completely. I think we know this isn't true, but we sometimes have this weird way of thinking. If I could just get that one last thing, then I'll be happy. How many of you got that one last thing and you didn't find happiness, right? And it's a great thing to teach our children. I knew of a family, they were pretty well off, and their kids, they had invited somebody over for, or invited a lot of children over for a birthday party, and that kid was just bombarded. You know, just, the gifts were everywhere. And they opened them all up to be kind. to the other kids that came and gave gifts, but they taught their son, we're going to take most of these things, because you really don't need most of them. We're going to take most of these things, and we're going to take them to Children's Hospital, and we're going to give them away. Isn't that a wonderful thing to teach our children? Teach your children to give, not to take. But that's how we are as children, right? Some of us older children, we have the same kind of thinking. We want that next big toy. But that's not going to bring happiness. What brings happiness is learning to give it away. My grandma always said, do your giving while you're living. Amen? And I think she said one time, do your giving while you're living so that when you're dying, they'll be crying, OK? Because you're no longer able to give anymore. And they don't have anything to receive in their inheritance or whatever it is. I don't know. But she always said, do your giving while you're living. And let us learn to be more like Jesus. Transformed thinking leads to transformed living. Father, I pray that you bless us this morning. Thank you for this time in your word. I pray that you would encourage our hearts. God, help us to do the right thing. Help us to have integrity in our words, integrity in our actions. God, I pray that you would help us to realize it's a lot harder sometimes to circumvent your truth. Most of the time it's going to be harder. In the long run, it never pays. It never pays to go our own way. The way of the transgressor is hard. And God, I pray that you help us to just embrace truth and say this morning, I'm gonna do what's right. No matter how hard it might be, how difficult, how much trouble I might get in, I'm gonna do the right thing every time, whether anybody's watching or not. Because God, we know ultimately you do care, but you are watching. And you're the only one that matters. So God, help us to live in integrity before you. so that we can live honestly before others. I pray that you're blessed this time.