Let's take our Bibles this evening and we're going to turn to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16 in your Bibles this evening. Years ago I was taking a leadership course at Bible College here in Virginia and in that course I learned something that I had never known before and that was It seemed very interesting to me, and that is that it had become popular in the world for people to hire a life coach. I've never heard of someone hiring a life coach. But in this leadership class, the professor shared how that people who wanted to live an effective life, who wanted to live a meaningful life, they would hire a life coach. I guess maybe it's part of the trend in the fitness world. It's not enough just to exercise. You've got to hire a fitness coach. And they've got to coach you through and keep you on course and all, I guess. I don't know. But I learned that this life coach was a person who would meet with you and coach you through life so that your life would be meaningful, you'd fulfill your goals in life. And here's how it worked. One of the exercises that a life coach would do, as we were taught, is that he would have you sit down and imagine you're attending your own funeral. So just imagine you're at your funeral, you're stretched out there in the coffin, and people are coming to the podium and they're talking about you. Maybe a spouse, kids, brothers, siblings, sisters, neighbors, church, family, work associates. Just imagine your funeral and people are coming and they're talking about you and they're telling everyone why they appreciated you and what you meant to them in their life. Now once you've sat there and you've imagined you're attending your own funeral, and you think about the people you would want to be there, and you're thinking about the things you would like for them to say about you, then the life coach would say, now take some paper, take a sheet of paper and write the name of each of those people at the top of the page, people that you would want to come to your funeral and say things about you. And then begin to list on that piece of paper under their name the things you would need to do for them to be able to say the things you would like for them to be able to say about you. Now once you've listed under their name the things that you would need to do before you die, For them to be able to say those things, then begin to schedule them in your calendar. The things you need to do, the cards you need to write, the phone calls you need to make, the visits you need to make, the deeds you need to do. Figure out what you would have to do and then schedule them and begin to do them. So that the end of life, you will have done the things that were meaningful in another person's life that would cause them to come to your funeral and talk about what a great guy that you were. A life coach. But one thing I learned from that is that in order to be able to end life and have lived a meaningful life, you've got to live intentionally, caring about other people. Not just to get something from them when you die, but genuinely caring about people. Living wisely and living intentionally. I want you to think about that for a few moments this evening. I want to walk around an event in Jesus' life where Jesus Christ praised a thief. The praise of a thief. You know, I can think of some things to say about a thief that wouldn't be praiseworthy. Particularly if they stole from me. But Jesus Christ praised a thief. And there's some things we can learn from this event in Jesus' life that resonate with those who want to live wisely in their life. Want to live a meaningful life. Here in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 14, the last sentence in chapter 14 says, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And then chapter 15 opens up and says, Then drew near him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And the ones that came to hear him were the publicans and the sinners. And the next verse talks about the Pharisees and the scribes murmuring that Jesus Christ was being listened to by these publicans and sinners. Jesus then told them a parable, verse number 3 of chapter 15, and he spake this parable unto them. under those Pharisees and Sadducees that were murmuring. So get the context here. The context for what we want to look at this evening. Let him that hath ears to hear, let him hear. People listen to Jesus. Publicans and sinners listen to Jesus. Pharisees and scribes murmured about publicans and sinners listening to Jesus. So Jesus told the Pharisees and the scribes a parable. It had three parts to it. You know them well. The parable that had a lost son, a lost sheep, and a lost coin. A lost sheep, lost coin, lost son, in that order. And Jesus Christ was speaking to the Pharisees and scribes who were murmuring against Jesus for allowing public and sinners to come and hear Him and engage with Him. So Jesus Christ talked about lost things and the joy in heaven that resounds when lost things are found. The Pharisees were murmuring because lost things were being found. Lost souls were being saved. People that were wicked people were getting transformed by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. And the Pharisees and the scribes were murmuring against that. So Jesus spent a chapter talking to them about the value of lost things. In chapter 16, Verse 1 begins and says, He said also to His disciples. So now He turns to His disciples. You're going to see that the context carries on and actually ends up back with the Pharisees and the scribes still complaining and murmuring about what Jesus was saying. There is a value in lost things being found, souls being saved, lives being transformed. That is a good thing. That is worthy of praise and honor to God for what He does in the lives of people. And with that context, Jesus turns to His disciples. And He begins to speak to His disciples and He tells them a story. I would assume it's a made-up story. I would assume it's a parable. We don't know that for certain. There was a certain rich man which had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he wasted his goods. And so he begins to tell this story, either a fictitious story or an actual account. But he tells the story about stewardship. Now you have to understand something in order to appreciate the value of what this passage of Scripture shares with us and why it's in our Bible. You need to understand whose stuff you have. Who owns the stuff you've got? Who owns your car and your truck? Who owns your house and your clothes? Who owns the money in the bank? Who owns the investment portfolio? Who owns your stuff? Now there are two different worldviews about the answer to that. A biblical worldview, a worldview that's based on what God says in His Word, we would say God owns all that stuff. He's the owner of everything. He owns, He doesn't just own a tithe of my income. He owns 100% of my income. He owns everything I've got. Everything that's under the power of my signature is owned by God. And he hired me to be his steward to manage his stuff for him here on this earth. And so I'm a steward managing a certain amount of stuff that God has allowed to be under the control of my signature. And I am a steward of God's stuff. God's a good owner and so He actually allows me to use some of His stuff to meet my needs. But the primary purpose of having His stuff and controlling His stuff is to forward His agenda and what He's interested in. But then there's another worldview. It's a secular worldview that says there is no God and your stuff is your stuff. You worked for it. You put in the time. You earned the money. You saved the money. You bought the stuff. It's all yours. That's a secular anti-God worldview. This story that Jesus is going to share is about an individual who is an owner and an individual who is a hired steward. In the understanding of the parable, the owner represents God. This certain rich man that owns everything is God in this story. And the hired servant, the hired steward is me. And this story unfolds some amazing things. Now let me tell you a second thing you need to know. some background truth. You need to understand God's goal in this parable. He has just been talking to publicans and sinners who are hanging on His every word and being converted. He's talked to Pharisees and scribes who are mocking Jesus and the publicans and sinners that are listening to Him. And so Jesus Christ tells the publicans how valuable these people are, these publicans and sinners that get saved. They're like a lost coin that's been found, a lost sheep that's been found, a lost son that's been found. These are valuable people. And then Jesus turns to his disciples to teach them a lesson about their lives that play into this thing of finding lost things. Jesus Christ's goal in this parable is to set up a comparison. A comparison between unsaved, really smart people who are very wise in the way they use stuff. But they're unsaved people and they don't know it's God's stuff. They think it's their stuff because they worked for it. They earned the money, they bought the stuff, it's their stuff. And they're really smart, so they're very careful about how they use what they consider their stuff. They're wise in their use of stuff that they believe is theirs. And then Jesus contrasts that with some really wise people that are saved. who are also very wise in the way that they use stuff. But they don't think they're using their stuff. They're saying they know they're using God's stuff. And so they're very wise in the way they use God's stuff because they know that they're gonna be rewarded and they'll be able to live a certain way for eternity based on how wisely they use God's stuff. where the really wise unsaved people are very wise in the way they use the stuff that they believe is their stuff because they want to live very well in this earthly life. Does that make sense? Do you see that contrast? Wise unsaved people contrasted with wise saved people. Wise unsaved people that are careful how they use stuff because they believe it's their stuff and they want to use that stuff to have a good life on earth. Contrasted with wise saved people who know that everything they have is God's stuff but they're very wise in the way they use God's stuff because they know it's going to enable them to live really well for all of eternity. And Jesus tells a story so saved people can understand the value of living wisely because it impacts our eternity. And so here we have this amazing story. We know that wise people invest commodities to accomplish worthwhile things. And foolish people waste commodities on meaningless things. But this parable is not so much about foolishly wasting. It's about wise people that use their stuff for earth contrasted with wise people who use God's stuff for eternal value. And so we have this story. Let me share with you a little bit about this story. By the way, are you wise? Are you a wise person? Are you wise in your use of your life? Are you wise in your use of your time? Are you wise in your use of the money and the time and the energy and the talents that you have at your disposal? Are you wise in the way you utilize stuff? Wise people use stuff wisely. So we have this story. We started to read in verse number one that there was this certain rich man. He had a steward and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. So we have these two where we meet the characters in the story. There's a wise, there's a wealthy businessman. He represents God in the story that Jesus is telling. He owns everything. He's a rich man. And the other character in the story is a steward. He's an individual hired to manage his boss's stuff. And that represents you and me as Christian people. We're not owners. We're stewards. We manage God's stuff for God on earth for His kingdom purposes. And so we've got this wealthy businessman and he's got an employee. And the employee, the steward, has full control over the decisions, the check signing. The businessman has dealt with him, putting him in an administrative role where he has great power and authority in what he does with the boss's stuff. And so he manages the boss's stuff. And this particular steward worked hard. And his boss prospered well under the wise actions of this steward. But then this wise, this hardworking, wise administrator began to think that the stuff he had control of was his own stuff. After all, I worked really hard. to be able to further my boss's assets. And the boss is wealthy because of my hard work. The boss has all this stuff because of what I've done. And he began to look at the boss's wealth as if it was his wealth. He owned it. And he began to use the boss's money for his own personal benefit. These are the two characters involved. Now I want you to follow the plot. In verse number one, the Bible says, Jesus says that an accusation was made. Someone came to the boss and said, boss, I don't know if you know it. I know you've got a lot of trust in this particular steward. And I know under his stewardship, your portfolio has increased significantly. He's done you good. But what you don't know is he's skimming off the profits for his own use. What you don't know is he's using your money for his own personal benefit in ways beyond his salary, beyond what he's entitled to, beyond what you have given him entitlement to for his personal needs. He's using your stuff for his own personal benefits. And so the boss calls him up. And he sets up a meeting. He says, it's time for you to give an account of your stewardship. Bring your books. Bring your files. I want you to show me what you've done with my stuff. I want you to give an account of your stewardship. And so there was a confrontation in verse number two. And the boss said, for thou mayest no longer, thou mayest be no longer steward. You're fired. Come and give an account, because I'm firing you. And so a count, a confrontation occurs. In verse number three, the guy is fearful. Then the steward said within himself, he's talking to himself, he's thinking while he's looking across the desk at his boss, he's thinking, what am I gonna do? My Lord taketh away from me the stewardship. How am I gonna pay my rent? How am I gonna make my mortgage payment? How am I gonna buy food for the family? What am I gonna do? I've got caught with my hand in the till and I'm fired. What am I gonna do? I can't dig. He'd had two plush of life. To actually get a shovel and go out and work for a living. He said, I can't work for a living. He said, to beg, I'm ashamed. I'm not going to sit out on the street corner and panhandle. I'm not going to beg. And I can't work. What am I going to do? And then he gets an idea. Verse number four, I am resolved what to do. I've got an idea. I know what I'm going to do so that when I'm put out of the stewardship, when I'm fired, they may receive me. They may receive me into their houses. Who's they? Well, he went back to his office. The boss said, go clean out your desk. Get your stuff in order. And you'll be escorted to your car. And your keys will be taken away from you. He's got one last hour. He says, I know what I'm going to do. And he goes back to his office, and he gets out his Rolodex, and he starts going through. That ages me a little bit, doesn't it? You don't have Rolodexes anymore, do you? He starts going through his boss's accounts, and he gets on the phone, and he calls up. He says, Mr. So-and-so said, just checking on some things of the boss's accounts. How much is it that you owe the boss right now? He said, I owe your boss $10,000. He said, well, my boss is in a really good mood today. Half of that, I'll write it paid in full." And the guy said, you will? And immediately he opens up Venmo and he types it. And he transfers the money over, and his account's paid in full. He calls another one of the creditors. He says, by the way, the boss is in a really good mood today. He's trying to clean up some of his accounts. How much is it that you owe the boss? He told him how much. He said, I tell you, the boss is in a really good mood today. If you will pay him back just a portion of it, we'll write it paid in full. And that's what the guy did on his last day in the office. He ripped his boss off. If what he had done wrong wasn't bad enough already, he stole from his boss on his last hour in the office because he was calculating in his mind. I need to make friends with those creditors so that when I'm fired and I can't buy groceries, those people who became my friends will invite me into their homes and provide for my needs." You read that, didn't you? He said, I am resolved what to do that when I am put out of the stewardship they may receive me into their houses. So he called everyone his Lord's debtors. How much owest thou? A hundred measures of oil. Take thy bill. Sit down quickly. Write fifty. Call another. Take thy bill. Write fourscore. And then in verse number eight, And the Lord commended the unjust steward. But I want you to understand that word Lord is not talking about Jesus Christ. He had already spoken of that boss as his Lord a little bit earlier. Go back to verse number three, the steward said, what shall I do for my Lord taketh away Who was this Lord that was commending him? It was his boss. Here's the boss who's been ripped off by this guy. Here's the boss that this guy on his last hour in the office has stolen from him again. And yet the boss turned around and said, man, that guy was smarter than what I gave him credit to be. And he commended, he said, this unjust steward because he hath done wisely. This unjust steward was smarter than I gave him credit for being, because he has been shrewd, he has been careful, he has been wise with an earthly wisdom that said, how am I gonna survive without a job? And he came up with a scheme, he pulled it off, so he could be taken care of after he got fired. Now, what's the moral of this story? What do we learn from this parable, this story in Jesus' teaching? Verse number 8 says that the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. You know, when it comes to using money for your own benefit, unsaved people are sometimes wiser than Christians. Hmm, what can I learn from this? Let me give you four quick lessons. Lesson number one, you need wisdom to survive. This guy was done if he doesn't come up with a plan. Jesus is teaching His disciples, disciples, you're going to need wisdom to survive. You're going to need to be able to be careful in the way you use stuff. You're a steward. You are in control of God's possessions. You need wisdom if you're going to make it through this life. You need to have the wisdom to look ahead and figure out how to use resources for God's benefit. You see, one great advantage people this world have is that they excel us in their shrewdness with which they carry out business. Think of an executive board meeting on Wall Street. Think of the, the boardroom table with these high powered executives sitting around the table trying to figure out what's happening in the world economics. Where to shift the money. How they can best leverage what they have to get the greatest turn, return on investment. And they're thinking, and they're scheming, and they're planning, and they're putting their best brains together. Why? To make money. And they're sharp. They're shrewd. Someone wrote about this story. They said, observe what a definite and firm grasp they take of the subjects at which they aim, how shrewdly they adapt their means to their ends, with what untiring energy, determination, and perseverance they prosecute their purposes. He's talking about that person who wrote what I just read was talking about unsaved businessmen trying to turn a profit, make money on investments. The children of this world are wise when it comes to the best way to use what they have control of to be able to get more money so they can buy a bigger yacht and have a bigger car and a nicer home and a better life on Earth. And they are shrewd, wise businessmen who turn profits to have more stuff on Earth. Jesus says you need to learn a lesson from that, disciples. You're gonna need wisdom. Now, you won't be concerned about using your stuff to make more money to buy a bigger yacht. You're gonna be shrewdly thinking about how to use God's stuff to get more churches planted and more souls saved for eternal purposes. And you're gonna need wisdom to do that. You're gonna need to be sharp. You're gonna need to be a thinker. You're gonna need to think about how to leverage God's resources that he put in your bank account to be able to get the biggest bang for the buck for God's glory and for your eternity. You're gonna need wisdom to be able to survive in the world in which we live. Here's the second lesson. You need to use money to make eternal friends. You need to use money to make eternal friends. Look at verse number nine. I say unto you, now this is Jesus speaking, Jesus says, I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. That word of means out of, or by the help of, or from the use of. Jesus Christ actually says to us, use the money in your bank account to buy friends. What? That's what Jesus said. Jesus said, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteous, old unrighteous money, cold cash. Use your money to make friends. You say, how in the world do I use my money to make friends? You ever heard that song? Said, the person singing in heaven. saying, thank you for giving to the Lord. I was a soul that was saved. It's about a person from the mission field meeting the one who gave the money that funded the missionary that took the gospel and preached to them on the mission field. And now they meet in heaven the one who gave the money to send the missionary to preach the gospel under which they got saved. And they're going to come up and they're going to say, thank you. Thank you for giving to the Lord. I'm a soul that was saved because you wisely use God's stuff for God's purposes. And you know what you did? You took that cold, hard cash in your bank account and you made a friend for eternity. You don't believe that? Read the rest of the verse. Jesus Christ said, make to yourselves friends out of your use of the amendment of unrighteousness that when ye fail, that means when you die, When your heart fails to be pumping blood, when you fail, they, the friends you made with your use of money, they may receive you into everlasting habitations after they hug your neck and thank you for giving to the Lord and tell you they got saved because of the way you used that money. They're going to say, come over to my house for dinner. The story Jesus told was about a shrewd steward who used his boss's money to make him friends, to make himself friends, so that after he got fired, they would have him into their homes and give him meals and take care of him. And Jesus turned that unsavory story of a thief, a downright dirty old rotten thief, and Jesus turned it around and said, you need to learn how to use that cold hard cash in your bank account that belongs to God to be able to make yourself eternal friends in heaven who will one day invite you into their mansion and say, come over to my place. We'll have dinner and fellowship a while. You see, everything I have belongs to God. And I'm just the steward managing God's stuff. And God wants me to use his stuff to forward His agenda, and in the process, I will have eternal friends for all of eternity, because I used God's stuff wisely. I wasn't flippant. I was wise, calculating. How can I get the biggest bang for the buck? How can I use God's resources to further God's purposes in the best way possible? And I used God's resources. God got glorified, and I got eternal friends. out of the deal. Use money to make eternal friends. Pastor, I heard once that a church was in a building program. You ever known of a pastor in a building program? And the pastor was trying to motivate the church family. And the pastor got up and he had told him about what they were building and what the church was building. And he was trying to motivate them. And he said to the church, he said, now listen, church, listen, we need, this church needs to learn how to crawl. And one of the deacons said, amen, preacher, let her crawl. Well, that encouraged the preacher. So he says, now listen, folks. This church needs to learn how to get up and walk. And a couple ladies in the back said, Amen preacher, let her walk. And that encouraged the preacher. He said, I'm telling you, this church needs to learn how to run. And about half the church said, preacher, let her run. And he got so excited. He said, I'm telling you what, this church, this church one day is going to learn how to fly. And about the whole church, they were excited. I mean, the emotion was just reverberating. They said, preacher, let her fly. And the preacher says, you know, if we're going to fly, it's going to take some money. And the deacon says, oh, preacher, let her crawl. Let her crawl. All over the world, God's work is being done. And it's being done because people manage God's stuff wisely. and make available God's stuff for the propagating of God's gospel and God's truth. Here's the third lesson. Be faithful with God's possessions. Look at verse number 10. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. And he that is unjust in least is unjust also in much. You gotta be faithful. You say, I've only got a dollar. Be faithful with that dollar. You gotta be faithful If you're not faithful with little things, you won't be faithful with big things. Think of the little old widow's mite. She gave more than all the rich people. Not because of the amount she gave, but because of the amount she had left over. God's mathematics are a little different than our mathematics, I think, sometimes. Be faithful with God's possessions. He says in verse number 11, if therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? Oh wow, Jesus didn't tell us what that means. The sky's the limit. If you won't be faithful with that little bit of cold hard cash, that, what do you call it? That unrighteous mammon? If you can't be faithful with unrighteous mammon, who's going to trust you with true riches? I wonder what those true riches are. I wonder what's worth a whole lot more than money. I wonder what God's holding back and God's saying, I want to give them some true riches. If they just be faithful and that little old piddly cash they've got. I want to give him true riches. But notice where it goes from there. In verse number 12, and if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? Preacher, I don't think I'm reading too much between the lines when I say Jesus said, If you won't be faithful, which is another man, you're a steward managing God's stuff. Well, if you won't be faithful managing God's stuff, who you don't even own, do you think God's going to give you your own stuff in heaven? Do you realize that on earth you're a steward, but in heaven you're an owner? On earth you're managing God's stuff, but in heaven you're going to have, or at least you could have, your own stuff. We call it being a joint heir with Jesus Christ. I own everything Jesus I may own, I can own, I could own. Everything that Jesus owns in heaven. Because on earth I managed well what was God's stuff. And when I got to heaven, he pulled out all the stops and he gave me true riches. And it wasn't somebody else's stuff like it was on earth. It's my stuff. And in heaven I'm gonna have my stuff that God's gonna give me because I was careful managing his stuff for his glory while I was on earth. Let me give you one final lesson A fourth lesson, verse number 13, says, no servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You can't serve God and mammon. And so the fourth lesson, the final lesson of this story from my study is simply this. Serve God, not money. Serve God, not money. Wise, unsafe people are so careful on how they use money so they can have everything they want on earth, and it's going to all end. Wise, safe people are very careful how they use God's stuff to get God's kingdom work done so that God can be glorified. So instead of serving money, They're serving God. Instead of looking for earthly stuff, I'm looking for eternal stuff. And Jesus Christ is challenging His disciples. I find this amazing, Pastor. He's in the middle of a context of dealing with Pharisees and scribes on the unsaved side and publicans and sinners on the saved side. And He turns to His disciples to teach them a sermon on stewardship of how they manage money. Could it be that our understanding of how we manage God's money is at the core of what God gets done all over the world? I don't imagine that camp could exist out there if it wasn't for a whole lot of money given by people who were wise in their use of God's money that was in their bank accounts And they invested God's money that they had control of. They invested it in something for God's glory that will bear eternal dividends. They were serving God, not the money that was in their bank accounts. And the end result is to God's glory. Someone once said money is merely coined personality. The way we use our money shows who we really are as people. And this story, oh, look at how it ends. In verse number 14, the Pharisees, remember the Pharisees? They're still listening. From chapter 15, the ones who were really ticked off because the Apocalypse and the sinners were getting the ear of Jesus. And so, after listening to this sermon on stewardship, the unsaved people, the Pharisees, who were, what's that word? They were covetous. They loved money. and what money could buy. And they wanted more. They coveted more. Hey, what's the tenth commandment? I mean, this is the top ten sins. God's top ten sins. What's the tenth of God's top ten sins? Thou shalt not covet. And here's these Pharisees, covetous to the core, unsaved people, they need this message because they're covetous to the core. They heard all these things, verse 14 says, and they derided him. And he, Jesus, said unto them, ye are they which justify yourselves before men. Oh, you'll make excuses as to why you're covetous and it's okay. And you'll justify yourself in front of other people. But God knoweth the hearts, for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. Oh, listen to me. This story was given to us in the Bible so we as Christian people would realize I need to be wise in the way I manage God's stuff, which includes my time, my abilities, the resources under my control, My talents? How wise am I in carefully using the commodities that God gives me the power to choose how they're going to be used? How wise am I in using those commodities for the glory of God? And if I'm wise and I invest wisely, and use God's stuff wisely, one day he's gonna give me stuff that's my own for all of eternity. And I'll have a host of friends in heaven that got saved because of how wise I handled God's stuff on earth. And I ended my life serving God, not money. And this is God's challenge to his own followers in front of the unsaved. illustrating the difference unsaved and saved people look at stuff. And we as God's people need to be careful how we look at stuff. Amen? Amazing story. Amazing story in our Bible to challenge us to be wise, calculating, shrewd, figuring out how to get the biggest bang out of the buck. for God's glory and His eternal kingdom. And I know you folks, I just thought I'd preach to the choir tonight, preacher, on a Thursday night. What you all have accomplished, what I've heard about this church and about that camp and what God's doing and how God is using you, I'm preaching to the choir and I'm saying, well done. Jesus Christ praised wise people using God's money wisely. And God bless you for what you're doing. And think of glory and the people that'll be there. and the wealth that we'll enjoy as owners of everything Jesus owns because we were good stewards on earth. Father I thank you for the privilege of being a steward of your stuff and God I pray that you'll help me and help all of us to be wise as we use your stuff for your glory And may you be praised and may souls get saved and may lives be transformed because we have been wise in how we use your stuff for your glory. Now Lord, if this is something that some of us never learned in the past, if this is new to our hearts. God, may it resonate. And I pray for the believers here in this place that may not have understood this before. God, may the Spirit of God drill this deep in their hearts. May they go back and re-read this story over and over again. May the Spirit of God grow them in their stewardship of your stuff. And Lord, may we have the privilege of hearing you one day say, well done, good and faithful servant.