This morning we continue our series on stewardship. And to the third sermon in that series, if you've missed the others, you can find the others online. And this is abnormal for us. Every week you get a new book of the Bible just about. And normally we're going straight through a book. But we're looking today at Matthew chapter six, just three short verses, 19 to 21. It's also printed in the bulletin on page seven. and let us give our attention to God's inerrant, infallible word. Matthew 6, verse 19. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. This is the word of the Lord. Amen, let's pray. Father, we thank you. Your words are so powerful, but a few of them could change our lives. That is my desire, Lord. Lord, I have big desires this morning that you would continue to transform me and you transform all of us. Using your word, I desire by the power of the Holy Spirit to rightly divide your word of truth. Help me, Lord, in that task. Help them in their listening by that same power. We pray in the name of Christ, amen. Amen. Well, I forgot beforehand, but I'm going to need help. And so from a child, I'm not a big prop person. And so I want you to imagine with me. So I'm going to need someone's help in the back row. Can you help me in the back row? That child? All right. So what I'm going to do, I have a big rope here. Okay. It's imaginary. And I'm going to hold one end. I'm going to throw you the other end. Are you ready? All right. All right. So on three, I'm going to throw it and you catch it. All right. All right, she's got the other end. Okay, we're holding a rope. This rope represents my entire life. Don't let it go, okay? All right, so that's my life you're holding on to. All right, so this rope represents my life, okay? I want you to map some certain key events in my life, okay? So I was born here at this end of it. Let's see, I graduated college at 24. I was a late bloomer. All right, so where are you gonna map that? Maybe third row or so. My fourth child was born when I was 35. So maybe another row. I'm 45 now. Maybe if I lived to 90, where would you put that? Maybe in the middle? Okay, so you're mapping my life. That seems reasonable. But think about this. Of this whole rope, this was a trick. You've all fallen for a trick. How much of this rope represents my life here on earth? Oh, I didn't tell you that, did I? Okay, so if this is my whole life, how much of it? I'm guessing like one inch. And what you don't realize is at her feet, the rope goes on forever. One inch is my life on earth, so 90 years, and the rest of it, okay, you're done, you can let go. All right, thank you very much, you did a great job. That's right. Isn't that an interesting picture? Our whole life on earth can be summarized in one inch of an infinitely long rope. So my question to you is, do you believe that you will live forever in the new heavens and the new earth? Forever. That's a really long time. It's a lot longer than 90 years, or as long as you live. You see, I think this picture, this is why I started this way. If you have an understanding of this, that just in your mental model of your existence, you think, oh, I've got like an inch on earth, and then I've got an eternity in heaven. We believe that, we don't think about it. That's a visual term, picture that you could use to think of that. I think it has huge impacts on what you do with your money. Remember, we're talking about, as we talk about stewardship, specifically money. Look on page seven, you see the outline. It's very simple. I've basically just outlined the three verses, as there are three points. Do not lay up treasures on earth, one, two. Lay up treasures in heaven, three. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I need to have credit where it's due. This week I read this book that was given to me a long time ago, The Treasure Principle, by Randy Alcorn. And I read half of it in preparation for this sermon. And I've read a lot of stuff on this topic, and this highly impacted me. It actually moved the needle in my own heart and mind. So much so that I ordered a case of 24 copies for you guys, that'll be at my house this week, and I'll have them next week. And anyone that'll read it, I'll give it to you for free. The reason I tell you all this is, if you read this book, and one of the missional communities is gonna do it, you're gonna hear a lot of stuff that came from this sermon. So I have to give credit, a lot of illustrations, ideas, came from Randy Alcorn. Of course, because what he says fits with what scripture says. So there you go, there's my caveat. All right, our first point. Do not lay up treasures on earth. Look at verse 19. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. And it gives three reasons why not. First, moth will destroy it. Second, rust will destroy it. Third, thieves break in and steal it. Now this was written a long time ago, thousands of years ago. We are far more advanced than this, and we now have moth balls. So your wool coats, you don't need them in South Carolina, but if you did, They would be safe. You don't need to worry about moss eating them. And you know what? We have rust-oleum. It's good stuff, isn't it? Rust-oleum, before any rust can get to your metal, you just spray that stuff on it. Thieves, we got security systems so you can insure your stuff. We have all kinds of stuff to protect. Oh, a safety deposit box. Those are great too. So is this verse any use to us? Can we say, well, that was then, now we have all these protections? No. I think we'd be missing the point of verse 19, wouldn't we? The reality is, even if you have rust-oleum and you have mothballs and security systems, all of your stuff is either gonna end up in a landfill or a junkyard. Let that sink in for a second. Almost all your stuff eventually is gonna end up in one of those two places. Now you might be thinking of exceptions to that and say, you know, my jewelry, you know, this gold, whatever's never gonna end up there. Okay, fair. That's fair, most of your stuff is gonna end up there, your iPhones, your cars, all that other stuff. But the rest of the stuff, either it's gonna leave you, or you're gonna leave it. Either it's gonna leave you, right, it's either gonna get stolen, lost, or you'll replace it with something better, or you're gonna leave it. Eventually, we all die, and we all have to leave our stuff. I think that's the point of it. A great story, John Wesley once toured this vast estate of a proud plantation owner. They spend all morning riding horses and they see just a tiny percent of this guy's plantation. And so finally they get to dinner and the landowner looks to John Wesley and says, what do you think? You know, expecting him to be impressed. And John Wesley says, sir, I think you're gonna have a really hard time leaving all this behind. Isn't that interesting? I think you have a really hard time leaving this all behind. You've amassed for yourself this huge plantation, but John Wesley knew, you're gonna leave this one day, buddy, and I think you're gonna have a hard time leaving it. It's good, Randy Alcorn says this, he says, if your treasure is on earth, that means that each day brings you closer to losing your treasure. Each day brings you, right? So if you spend all your time building stuff here, You're every day, you're one day closer to having to leave it. You remember my dream that I used to have as a kid, right? Where I'd find money in my dream, I'd hold on to it. Every second of my dream, I was one second closer to losing it, right? So it is with life. So how do we know where our treasure is? A big point of this passage, 19 and 20 say, don't lay it up here, lay it up here. So how do we know where our treasure is? I'd like to tell you about four hypothetical people, all right? The first guy, he invests in the stock market very heavily. All his money's in there, his hope's in the stock market, okay? And second guy, he loves real estate. So he is just completely invested in real estate. He owns it, he manages it. Third guy is a small business owner and everything he's invested in is small business. So I ask you, where are those three people's treasure? Pretty obvious, right? The first guy, if you invest everything in the stock market, that's where it is. Second guy, it's real estate. Third guy, it's owning a small business. Now, I did say four guys. You have to wait for the fourth guy. I'll tell you about him in just a little bit. Remember I said last week that money makes promises it can't deliver on, right? It promises joy and pleasure, safety, security, all these things. It just can't deliver on those promises. And so I want to read you a few quotes from some of the richest people that have ever lived. The care of $200 million is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it. W.H. Vanderbilt. I am the most miserable man on earth. John Jacob Astor. He was the richest passenger on the Titanic and maybe one of the richest men in the world at that point. I have made many millions and they have brought me no happiness. John D. Rockefeller. Millionaires seldom smile. Andrew Carnegie. I was happier when I was doing a mechanic's job. Henry Ford. This again is Randy Alcorn. Nothing makes a journey more difficult than a heavy backpack filled with nice but unnecessary items. Pilgrims travel light. Pilgrims travel light. So there's another reason not to lay up treasures on earth. Not only do you have to leave them, but we're a sojourner here. And that brings us to our second point. Lay up treasures in heaven. Look at verse 19 and 20. Kids, see how many words are similar between those two verses. There's a lot, isn't there? Almost all, it's the only thing that's changed is whether it's positive or negative. At the beginning it says, do not, verse 20 says, but do, right? Implied do, but lay up for yourself. So first says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. 20 says, lay up treasures in heaven. 19 says, moth and rust and thieves are gonna steal it and destroy it. Verse 20 says, you're protected from the same things. Okay, so that's, you see that comparison between the two. My grandmother grew up in Paris. And so I want you to imagine that she, she actually married a US soldier. Okay, forget her real story. Let's make up a story. So she comes to America for three months to work. And while she's here, she can't take anything back with her. Okay, so any possessions she buys while she's here has to stay. She only go back with the clothes she has, but she can send money back. Okay, to France where she's going to live the rest of her life. How do you think she's gonna be? Do you think she's gonna buy all these really expensive things for her apartment? No. She knows, I'm only here for a short time. You might have met immigrants that do this, right? Where they're in America, the rest of their family's back somewhere else, Mexico, somewhere else, and they live on as little as possible and send as much back to care for their family, right? It makes sense, right? Why? Their heart is in Mexico, right? Their family is there, right? Same with if you have to go back. So the same is true with us. Do you realize that you can't take it with you, right? We're here, but we're going to go to where we're from. Now, the odd thing is my grandmother knew she was in France because she grew up there. You've never been to your home. Is that odd? Right? Scripture says in Hebrews 11, that you are a sojourner, you're a stranger on earth. Your actual home is someplace you've never been. Your home is in heaven. And so we're here for a short time, but our home is somewhere else. So it says, lay up treasures in heavens. Philippians 3.20 says, but our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Another, this is a quote about, again, John D. Rockefeller. So again, wealthy, one of the wealthiest men, he died. Someone asked his accountant, how much did John D. leave behind? Accountant paused for a second and says, well, all of it. You can't take it with you, right? Everyone leaves everything behind. We can't take it with us. The question is, does God allow us to send our money ahead of us to heaven? Okay, so that's the question I'm gonna answer. I'm gonna give you, I think this passage already says yes, but let me give you some other ones if you aren't convinced. This is Matthew 19. Remember the story, kids of the rich young ruler? Remember that story? And so he comes to Jesus, they have a whole conversation. This is the, I'm gonna read the end of it to you. Jesus says to the man, if you would be perfect, go sell what you possess, give to the poor, and listen to this, and you will have treasure in heaven. come and follow me. So Jesus tells this man, but why did he say this? Because his money had a stranglehold around this man's neck. And he knew this was gonna drown the man. And so he gave him, he offered him the one opportunity to save, right? To say, leave that, this stuff is drowning you. Let go of it. But he also gives a principle and says, you will have treasure in heaven. Okay, do you see that principle? He says, you can actually, just like the immigrant, you can send your money ahead of you to where you're gonna go. After the rich young ruler walks away, he turns to his disciples in verse 29, this is Matthew 19, and everyone who's left homes, brothers, sisters, or father, or mother, children, or lands for my namesake, will receive a hundredfold. Now for you investors, that's a good return, isn't it? A hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. I wanna give you another verse just because I want you to be convinced, not from me or from any little book, that this is what Scripture says. It's the consistent testimony of Scripture. So one more verse. This is Philippians 4.17. Okay, so the Philippians had very generously supported Paul in his missionary work, and so he writes to them, Philippians is basically a thank you letter, right? He says in this 4.17, Paul says, not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your account. Okay, what's the clear teaching of that? You have an account in heaven, and the gifts that they gave to Paul was really to God and really was to their credit, to their heavenly account. Scripture is clear in lots and lots of places about this. We can send our money ahead of us by giving to God in this life, and it goes to our forever home in heaven. And there, neither moth nor rust, anything can destroy it. And so you might be familiar with FDIC insured bank accounts, right? And so it's the assurance that if you put your money here, it's not gonna be lost. Even if the bank goes down, the government will back them up to give you your money back, right? This is better than that. Because what's the problem with FDIC? It's only as good as the government, right? Every nation has risen and fallen in the whole history of the world, right? And so God can make a promise that no bank can promise. What you invest in heaven is insured forever. So remember I said there were four guys. Let's talk about the fourth guy. Now he might invest in the stock market. He might own real estate. He might even be a small business owner. You're like, well, hey, what's the difference between the first three guys? The difference is, is that the fourth guy has generously invested in his eternal portfolio. His eternal investment portfolio. He gives to the Lord's work through the church, through missionaries, through caring for the needy. And so my question to you is, how is your earthly investment portfolio compared to your heavenly investment portfolio? It's something to consider. I mean, these verses read very much like a financial advisor. I've talked to a handful of them through my life, you probably have, and they talk about, you know, hey, you can invest in these high risk stocks, right? And what do they say? Well, there's the risk of making a lot of money, but you also could lose it, it's high risk. But then if you invest in bonds, it's very low risk, but they're not generally, it's not a big return on your money, right? Isn't that how it usually goes? Okay, so let's compare that for this. Okay, in heaven, Is it high in interest? Yes, Jesus said a hundred fold. High interest, how much risk is it? Zero risk. In comparison, if you invest your treasure here on earth, you're guaranteed to lose it and it won't last. Right? And so, isn't that interesting? It's basically the bet, you get to have your cake and eat it too. Right, you get high return on your investment, and it's guaranteed not to lose. Does that comparison make sense between bonds and high risk stocks? This is written very much like that. The challenge is, is that you listen to an investment advisor, but you can look at the stock market, can't you? And you can say, oh, I can match those up. The challenge is, you can't see heaven, can you? We can't see what's there. We'll come back to that in a minute. Do you remember, I'll really test your memory. Do you remember the Vision Banquet back in January? Some of you weren't here yet. I'm at the Vision Banquet and we watched a short video about the life of William Borden. Do you remember that? He was gonna inherit the Borden estate and as a young man, instead of doing that, everyone expected him, he would have been very, very wealthy. Instead, he gave away enormous sums of money to missionaries and he went on the mission field. Remember that? He was in Egypt just three months, he had a heart for Muslims, and he died of spinal meningitis. And it just seemed like such a tragedy. And so, anyway, in, actually he tells the story in this, two missionaries are in Egypt, and their tour guide takes them to his grave. It's this simple, you have to walk through all these little streets, this overgrown graveyard for American missionaries, and there's William Borden's tomb with this simple little gravestone on it. And on it, they read the inscription and it says, after about his love for the Muslims, it says, apart from faith in Christ, there's no explanation for such a life. Right? It makes no earthly sense. The way this guy lived his life, he broke all the rules. He could have been so wealthy and he actually went and served the Lord. And now what he ends up with? This lousy little, you know, grave site in an overgrown graveyard in the middle of Cairo, Egypt. So tour guide takes these two missionaries directly from that and walks them to the Egyptian museum. And guess what the exhibit is, but King Tut. And so he goes straight from that to looking at King Tut. And if you know anything about King Tut, right? He was buried with tons and tons of gold, like a golden casket inside of golden tombs, inside of golden tombs, right? Tons and tons of stuff. Because what did the Egyptians believe? They believed in an afterlife in which you could enjoy your stuff. So they'd bury him with all this stuff. King Tut died at 17. Some of you are close to that age. Died at 17. Okay, so we got King Tut on the one hand, and we have William Borden on the other. Imagine you're that missionary, and you've just gone from his little humble graveyard, overgrown, and then you look at the opulence of King Tut. How would you be feeling? And so I ask you kids, who was the fool? Who was the fool? Was the fool William Borden or King Tut? It's pretty obvious, isn't it? Now, to the world's eyes, and in that day, everyone said that King Tut, he was great, he had all this wealth and he was gonna get to enjoy in the afterlife. He was a fool. I love Randy Alcorn says it this way. He says, storing up earthly treasures isn't simply wrong, it's just plain stupid. Kids, excuse the language. Storing up earthly treasures isn't simply wrong, it's just plain stupid, right? Because what William Borden knew was that rope was really long and only a short bit of it was on earth. So yeah, his life was short, it was 24 years, but he sent lots of money, he set an example. Lots and lots of other people have been inspired by his courage that he lived for another life. He's enjoying that. And assuming that King Tut, no one ever shared the gospel with him, he is not enjoying all that gold that sat in a tomb for 2,000 years. He didn't even leave it to his descendants. He buried it with himself. What a fool. What a fool. Look at verse 21. It says, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Verse 20, lay for yourselves treasures in heaven. You don't just want grave robbers to find your stuff or discoverers 2,000 years later. William Borden was the wise man. He wrote in his Bible these famous words, no reserves, no retreats, no regrets. No reserves, no retreats, no regrets. All right, I've got another illustration for you. Now for my history buffs, I don't know if this actually works out. So you can come tell me later if it doesn't work. Imagine you're at the end of the Civil War, you're in the South, you're a Northerner. Okay, I know I'm stretching your imagination already for some of you. You're a Northerner in the South, you've amassed a bunch of Confederate money, and you know somehow the war's gonna be over soon. And so what do you realize about your money? It's all gonna be worthless very soon. And so you go and you trade it in for US currency. I don't know if you could trade it in or not, but if you could, Is that not our same situation? You currently have currency that very soon will be worthless. It will be. You can't take it with you. You can bury it in your casket with you, but you will not take it with you. We all will leave this earth. And we said this in a recent sermon, right? We came naked into the world, we're leaving that way. You can't even bring anything, we don't take anything with us. And so God has made it possible to transfer assets from this life to the next. And I just want to tell you, as I read this, there's nothing super profound about this, but it really impacted me. I'm just thinking about this. And I'm, I mean, I tell this just to know for any of you that are also like me, I give 10% of my gross income to the Lord's work in this church. And I was convicted that my heart, this is a heart issue, right? Don't just because you already give, don't think this doesn't apply to you. Do you really believe that your treasure in heaven is where your safe assets are, right? This is a heart issue. No matter how much you give, you can give five, 10, 50% of your income, right? But if our hearts don't realize that heaven is where the real treasure is, and this brings us to the third point, the heart issue of verse 21, where your treasure is, there your heart will be. If you think of our four hypothetical guys, think of the first guy. In the stock market, he bought a bunch of Apple stock. What happens when there's a headline about Apple? His heart races. A downturn at Apple, oh, there's problems at Apple? His heart follows that. All of a sudden, he is really interested in that, in whatever company he's invested in. The second guy, you find out about a recession, and he owns all this real estate, right? He's watching that. Oh, interest rates are changing? He cares a lot about that. The third guy, oh, there's a news article about his supplier maybe declaring bankruptcy. What happens in his heart? Right? And then think about the fourth guy. Right? What does he really get excited about? Well, it's his missharing newsletters, whereas he's investing his assets into the kingdom. And so what does he care about? See, your heart will follow where you invest. And that's the point of verse 21. Our hearts naturally care about where we invest. And right now I'm reading another little book with two of my neighbors called Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller. Great book. I'm basically making the point that we're all idol worshipers. I'm hoping it'll do my heart good and their hearts good. And as we're reading it, he opens that book with some kind of jarring stories. Economic downturn in 2008 and nine, you remember that? He tells these stories, these executives who commit suicide. They lose millions, and they end their lives. It's kind of a jarring way to start a book. But he says, why did they do it? Why did they end their lives because they lost their fortunes? Read verse 21, you'll find the answer. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be. Their treasure was on earth, and when they lost their treasure, they had no reason to go on living. Tim Keller also tells a story about a guy who became a Christian three years prior to that. to that economic downturn. His idol was money, he realized later when he became a Christian, and he said, if I hadn't become a Christian, I don't know that I would have had a reason to go on. He said, but now I'm the happiest man because I have a hope that goes beyond my money. Now those are really extreme examples, right? None of you are, I don't know that any of you are executives, and I think you're safe from that, but what does that look like for you? How does this play out for us? When does money become an idol to us? That's the point of this, isn't it? Where your treasure is, there your heart will be. You remember Lord of the Rings, I talked about that, right? When they would touch the ring, right? You remember what happened? When they would let it go, it was almost as if the spell was broken, right? But when they're touching, when they're holding it, the same is true with your money. When you let it go, it breaks the spell. And that's part of the point of this. We'll talk about that more next week. but it does break a spell. It has over us. There's joy to be had. There's joy to be had. So there's actually a double joy. Let me explain this. Okay, so Jesus says it's more blessed to give than to? That's right. I hope you believe that, right? So there's actually joy in giving. If you've ever been generous with your stuff, there's a joy that comes with that, right? Right then, right? And so if you're generous in this life, you get to find joy, both in the appreciation from the people, the knowledge that you've invested in the kingdom of God, right? There's joy in that, right? Really wealthy people discover this. They become philanthropic because they're like, oh, I actually get pleasure from giving stuff away, not just buying huge million dollar houses. They're doing it often just for the selfish reason of this feels good, it feels good to give, to give stuff away. But see, we get a double joy. What do you think I might mean by that, a double joy? Obviously joy now. When else do you get joy? Think about that. You get joy in the giving. Remember the rope? My great friend back there who helped me out? Okay, so not only do you get joy for the one inch while you're here, when else do you get joy? The rest of the rope, right? So when you invest, when you transfer assets from now to the other side, you get to enjoy them. Not only now, you get to enjoy the joy of knowing, hey, I'm actually honoring God. I get to be excited about what God's doing overseas and other stuff. Then you get to enjoy them for the rest of eternity. That's part of the point of this. There's joy now and there's joy. The converse, people who hoard their money. Anyone ever, kids, you ever heard of Scrooge? So he's a make-believe character, he's not real, but he's right, Charles Dickens was correct. When was Scrooge happy? Was he happy in the beginning of the book or the end of the book? Was he happy when he kept it all for himself? This is the fear we all have. If I give it away, it'll all be miserable. And that's the flip, it's the opposite. Many people who hoard their stuff are miserable, hoarding it all and they hold on to it. Right? Scrooge is actually happy, as you know, at the end. When he's actually being generous, the same will be true with you. Look in the bulletin, I printed some bonus text for you. I had such a short text, I could fit some more. Look at Matthew 13, 44. I'll go through this quickly. It's a whole parable in one verse. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. And when a man finds it, he covers it up. Then in his what? His joy. He doesn't go away sad. He's about to sell everything he has to buy that field where the treasure is. He's not sad at all. He's full of joy because he knows as soon as the deal closes, he now has this treasure, right? This is the point Jesus is making. Our treasure should be in heaven, right? There's this double joy. There's another verse right there. Look at verse in 1 Timothy 6. I just want to tell you many times, because why? This is really hard to believe. Like I said, I put money into retirement every month. Many of you do. And I can go look at the balance, right? And so I watch it grow through the years. It goes up and down. I don't look at it very often, but it grows over time, right? You can't, there's no website to log into to see your eternal investment portfolio. You just have to take it by faith. You have to take it by what Jesus said. Take him at his word. He promised and said, if you store up treasures in heaven, you'll be richly rewarded. So it requires faith. And so, but look at another verse. I want to give you as many reasons as I can to actually believe what the Bible says. Just look at the last verse. Verse 19 there, 1 Timothy 6, 19. Thus storing up treasures for themselves as a good foundation for when? For now? No, for the future. So let me take hold of that which is truly life. Let me give you two more. If you say, I'm not really convinced, let me give you two more. You can write down Luke 12, 13 to 34. Luke 12, 13 to 34. James 5, 1 through 6. Two other passages that make this exact same point. This is over and over again. This, as I read this, as I thought about this this week, I said, you know some authors, books that are really popular, and they're really exaggerating some one little verse out of context, and everyone buys the book, and then no one buys it five years later, right? And This isn't like that, right? This is the clear testimony of scripture over and over again. That what we have now, you're foolish if you invest all in this life. Investing in the next life, actually is where you really get to enjoy it. I want to close with this. As I said, it takes faith. You can't see your balance. But consider this. Have you not already entrusted, taken Christ at his word for something far bigger than your money? What else have you just taken as where you've never seen it? You have no tangible evidence of. Could it be where you're gonna spend eternity? You are trusting, you are confident from what you've read in the Bible that he forgave your sins. Why? Because you trusted and asked him to. Simple as that. You put your faith in him and you asked him to pay for your sins and you are now confident that you will live forever in heaven. You're not afraid of hell. because of the word of God. That's what you're holding on to. Are you not? That's what I'm holding on to. The confidence I have that I will spend eternity with him is based only on what he said. Now, of course, there's a bunch of apologetics and a bunch of other stuff. That's all fine. But when it comes down to it, I'm trusting the word of God. And so that's something far, far greater. To trust God about the small thing about your eternal investment account is a far smaller thing than what you've already trusted Him to. So I don't think you've really risked anything for eternity or with your money. And so I close with this verse. This is Numbers 23 and 19 from the old NIV, which I memorized it in. God is not a man. that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should change his mind. Does he speak and not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? As you know, the answer to all those questions is no. He does everything he promises. He's not a man, he never lies. He keeps every promise that he's ever made to you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a trustworthy God. Lord, there's few things we can trust in this world. Many times people have ulterior motives or the promises they make don't turn out to be true. Thank you that you're not like that. Lord, I pray that you would continue the work you're doing in my heart, even at this stage in my life. Lord, that I really would trust you more and that I would just have the joy of investing in eternity and finding that double joy. And I pray that for all of them, Lord, that they would indeed believe you, the words from your mouth, from the mouths of Christ and men led along by the Holy Spirit and Holy Scripture. Oh Lord, do good in all of our hearts so we may have more joy and we would not be like the rich young ruler, strangled and drowning by the things you've given us in this life. We pray in the name of Christ, amen.