WEBVTT 00:01.516 --> 00:04.856 Welcome to the Valley Baptist Church sermon podcast. 00:04.856 --> 00:08.316 We're so glad you're here, and we hope this message inspires you, 00:08.316 --> 00:12.476 builds your faith, and moves you toward a deep relationship with God. 00:12.476 --> 00:15.536 Today, you'll find great insight into the Bible 00:15.536 --> 00:18.276 and learn how you can apply it straight to your life. 00:18.276 --> 00:21.536 So welcome and enjoy the message. 00:21.536 --> 00:26.756 If you have your Bible, please open it with me to Ecclesiastes chapter five. 00:26.756 --> 00:31.076 And we're talking this morning about how to enjoy money. 00:31.587 --> 00:38.667 Now, that seems like a little bit of a strange thing for a pastor to say, but you're going to understand it here as we go along. 00:39.347 --> 00:44.067 Now, there's a lot of reasons that pastors don't get very excited preaching on money. 00:44.167 --> 00:50.587 And it's actually the same main reason that Jesus talked about money so much in the Gospels. 00:50.587 --> 00:55.907 Money is perhaps the greatest rival to Jesus for the human heart. 00:56.410 --> 01:02.270 Now that should make us as pastors want to talk and preach about money a lot, but it turns out we don't like being attacked. 01:03.310 --> 01:04.990 And so it's not very fun. 01:06.090 --> 01:10.770 But that's exactly what happens when you start touching people's idols. 01:11.030 --> 01:12.750 You can start being attacked. 01:12.750 --> 01:16.710 Jesus said in Matthew 6, verse 24, 01:17.521 --> 01:22.941 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, 01:23.021 --> 01:26.441 or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. 01:26.441 --> 01:29.401 You cannot serve God and mammon. 01:30.041 --> 01:33.261 Jesus said, you've got to pick a God to serve. 01:33.381 --> 01:36.061 You can serve money or you can serve me. 01:36.321 --> 01:37.461 You can't serve both. 01:38.277 --> 01:43.397 Now that's caused a lot of people to conclude that it must be wrong to have money. 01:43.477 --> 01:46.217 But that's not at all what Scripture teaches. 01:46.497 --> 01:48.697 Money in the Bible is amoral. 01:49.057 --> 01:53.657 That means it's not right, it's not wrong, it's a thing, it's a tool. 01:54.197 --> 01:57.117 It's what we do with money that matters. 01:57.117 --> 02:01.557 Or more importantly, it's how we view money that matters. 02:01.953 --> 02:04.373 1 Timothy 6, verse 10 says, 02:04.553 --> 02:08.873 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. 02:09.353 --> 02:13.213 Now, it does not say that money is the root of all kinds of evil. 02:13.333 --> 02:17.133 It says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. 02:17.293 --> 02:20.013 It really is a hard issue. 02:20.833 --> 02:22.593 Do you love... 02:23.924 --> 02:27.004 Your money so much that you're devoted to your money. 02:27.404 --> 02:32.084 Does money have your love and your devotion or does Jesus? 02:32.284 --> 02:39.424 Now, we're going to see from Solomon today why money is an infinitely inferior master compared to Jesus. 02:39.884 --> 02:43.704 We're going to learn today that if you devote yourself to money, 02:43.824 --> 02:47.844 your enjoyment for money will actually drop drastically. 02:47.844 --> 02:48.645 Why? 02:48.646 --> 02:55.006 But if you devote yourself to God, your enjoyment of money is going to increase exponentially. 02:55.926 --> 03:01.566 In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon's been on a quest for meaning, for significance, for purpose. 03:01.706 --> 03:03.426 He's tried everything under the sun. 03:03.506 --> 03:06.366 He tried to find meaning in power as the king of Israel. 03:06.446 --> 03:10.926 He tried to find meaning in women having a thousand wives and concubines. 03:10.926 --> 03:17.326 He tried to find meaning in money, the richest man in the world, in every pursuit. 03:18.228 --> 03:26.548 left him empty. And so his conclusion is that life is vanity, life is meaningless without God. 03:27.368 --> 03:32.668 Now in chapters four and, or five and six rather, Solomon returns to the emptiness 03:32.668 --> 03:37.488 that money brings apart from God. He says in verse number eight, 03:38.258 --> 03:44.338 If you see the oppression of the poor and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, 03:44.918 --> 03:50.738 do not marvel at the matter, for a high official watches over high official and higher officials over them. 03:51.278 --> 03:53.738 Moreover, the profit of the land is for all. 03:53.878 --> 03:56.838 Even the king is served from the field. 03:57.158 --> 03:59.518 Solomon is saying, don't be shocked. 03:59.518 --> 04:05.838 Don't let it shake you and disturb you when you see government officials getting rich off the backs of the poor. 04:07.013 --> 04:09.253 I guess some things never change, do they? 04:09.853 --> 04:14.473 Solomon says, for high official watches out for high official. 04:14.573 --> 04:16.193 He's saying they're all in it together. 04:17.093 --> 04:21.293 The bureaucratic system of government often grows corrupt with cronyism. 04:21.993 --> 04:24.993 Now, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't have government. 04:25.153 --> 04:26.653 Government is needed. 04:26.653 --> 04:30.653 But Solomon is saying, don't let some rich government 04:30.875 --> 04:37.255 Government official who's gotten rich unethically stressed you out and take away from your happiness. 04:37.815 --> 04:38.854 Why? 04:38.855 --> 04:44.735 He's going to tell us in the remaining chapters because wealth brings its own set of problems. 04:44.935 --> 04:51.095 It might look like he's, you know, making out with all that money, but he is actually not. 04:51.295 --> 04:53.135 It's not always a good thing. 04:53.695 --> 04:57.335 Here's the truth about money that we see in the next seven verses. 04:57.655 --> 05:00.695 Money will never satisfy you. 05:01.418 --> 05:05.718 It's never going to satisfy, so don't waste your life on it. 05:06.578 --> 05:13.378 79% of Americans say that they believe they would be happier if they just had a little bit more money. 05:14.238 --> 05:19.278 Solomon, who's the richest person in the world, knew that money can't buy happiness. 05:19.878 --> 05:22.458 Oftentimes, it actually just buys problems. 05:22.458 --> 05:25.018 More money, more problems. 05:25.702 --> 05:27.702 Now, I think we all know that. 05:27.702 --> 05:30.442 We all know that money can't make us happy, 05:30.442 --> 05:32.502 but as Zig Ziglar said, 05:32.502 --> 05:36.002 everybody wants to find out for themselves, right? 05:36.002 --> 05:40.402 I mean, can't I just experience it myself and find out? 05:40.402 --> 05:42.082 So we pursue money, right? 05:42.082 --> 05:45.302 In the hopes that somehow it's going to make us happy, 05:45.302 --> 05:46.582 but it never delivers. 05:46.582 --> 05:50.402 It never does what we are hoping it will do. 05:50.402 --> 05:52.602 The poor person who pursues money, 05:52.602 --> 05:55.422 he's left frustrated and jealous. 05:55.418 --> 05:59.598 The rich person who pursues money, he's left disappointed and hopeless. 06:00.698 --> 06:05.018 Now, David Jeremiah outlined five reasons right here from our text 06:05.018 --> 06:08.258 why the pursuit of money will leave you empty. 06:08.338 --> 06:09.397 I think it's a great outline. 06:09.398 --> 06:12.278 The first reason is the more that we have, 06:13.087 --> 06:14.167 the more that we want. 06:14.707 --> 06:15.947 Look what he says in verse number 10. 06:16.047 --> 06:16.346 He says, 06:16.347 --> 06:19.887 He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, 06:20.187 --> 06:23.107 nor he who loves abundance with increase. 06:23.747 --> 06:25.907 This also is vanity. 06:27.207 --> 06:30.047 John D. Rockefeller, America's first billionaire, 06:30.207 --> 06:31.066 was asked one time, 06:31.067 --> 06:32.127 How much money is enough? 06:32.167 --> 06:32.706 And he said, 06:32.707 --> 06:34.047 Just a little bit more. 06:34.906 --> 06:40.386 Isn't that our mindset? The truth is, it's never enough. Solomon was a whole lot richer than 06:40.386 --> 06:46.526 Rockefeller, and he knew that if you love silver, silver is actually not going to satisfy you. If 06:46.526 --> 06:53.466 you love abundance, more is not going to satisfy. He says it's vanity. It's like grasping for the 06:53.466 --> 06:59.706 wind. There's nothing there. Our oldest is 17, and we held out. 07:01.417 --> 07:04.797 on buying a video game console for our family for 17 years. 07:04.917 --> 07:06.377 We broke down this past year. 07:07.017 --> 07:12.237 And the deal is one minute of reading equals one minute of video games. 07:12.317 --> 07:14.137 That's the currency in our house. 07:15.052 --> 07:20.632 Now, we got it for our boys because they really wanted this particular hunting game. 07:20.812 --> 07:23.312 And my youngest was especially persistent. 07:23.512 --> 07:24.912 And so that's all they wanted. 07:24.952 --> 07:26.512 They wanted this hunting game. 07:26.592 --> 07:32.612 Well, it took three days for them to have three different requests to buy new games, three other games. 07:32.972 --> 07:33.984 Why? 07:33.985 --> 07:39.185 Because the more video games a kid has, the more video games a kid wants. 07:39.625 --> 07:41.025 That's what Solomon is saying. 07:41.365 --> 07:42.725 It's like that with money. 07:42.765 --> 07:45.085 The more you have, the more you want. 07:45.945 --> 07:54.585 For the first five years of marriage, Kelsey and I lived in a small apartment with no washer and dryer, no dishwasher. 07:55.231 --> 07:59.651 And so whenever Kelsey and I would dream about maybe owning a house someday, 07:59.991 --> 08:02.171 we would talk about, okay, what's important to you? 08:02.211 --> 08:03.351 What do you want in a house? 08:03.431 --> 08:08.011 And Kelsey would always say, my only request is that I have a dishwasher 08:08.011 --> 08:11.051 and I have hookups for a washer and dryer. 08:11.571 --> 08:13.151 And I thought, well, that's an easy woman. 08:13.451 --> 08:15.631 I think I could handle that. 08:16.071 --> 08:20.651 Well, as soon as we could afford to buy a house, we went looking for a house. 08:20.651 --> 08:23.871 And it took me about three minutes in the first house to realize, okay, 08:24.914 --> 08:25.994 That wasn't true. 08:25.994 --> 08:28.374 There was a whole lot more that she wanted 08:28.374 --> 08:29.754 than just a dishwasher. 08:30.654 --> 08:32.814 And so my question is what changed? 08:33.537 --> 08:38.137 Now we had some money to care about more things, right? 08:38.137 --> 08:41.037 The more we have, the more we want. 08:41.037 --> 08:44.437 Stuff never satisfies. 08:44.437 --> 08:46.377 But Solomon also says in verse number 11, 08:46.377 --> 08:49.497 the more that we have, the more that we spend. 08:49.497 --> 08:54.397 He says, when goods increase, they increase who eat them. 08:54.397 --> 08:56.417 So what profit have the owners 08:56.417 --> 08:59.517 except to see them with their eyes? 08:59.508 --> 09:02.608 I loved watching the Rocky movies when I was growing up. 09:02.948 --> 09:05.128 And Rocky starts out as this poor boxer. 09:05.328 --> 09:07.148 He lives a very simple life. 09:07.268 --> 09:13.328 But by the time we come to Rocky 3 or 4, everywhere Rocky goes, there's this entourage of people. 09:13.808 --> 09:14.808 They're employees. 09:15.568 --> 09:16.427 Mousy's feeding. 09:16.428 --> 09:19.428 The more money that... 09:19.792 --> 09:23.712 He had the more expense he now had. 09:23.712 --> 09:25.552 Now, whenever we get a raise at work, 09:25.552 --> 09:28.132 it's amazing how fast that goes, right? 09:28.132 --> 09:30.112 It's like, where did it go? 09:30.112 --> 09:32.572 Well, we spent it. 09:32.572 --> 09:36.712 I remember when Kelsey and I first bought our first house, 09:38.612 --> 09:41.112 you know, we had a little bit more money, 09:41.112 --> 09:42.492 so that's why we were able to buy a house. 09:42.492 --> 09:44.412 But I remember going to the store with Kelsey 09:44.412 --> 09:46.852 for the first time, we were gonna buy a garden hose, 09:46.852 --> 09:48.012 because we're homeowners. 09:48.513 --> 09:51.473 And our hearts sank at the cost of that little garden hose. 09:51.473 --> 09:52.312 Right? 09:52.313 --> 09:53.593 And it's like, where are we gonna come up 09:53.593 --> 09:56.413 with all this money for being a homeowner? 09:56.413 --> 09:57.252 Right? 09:57.253 --> 09:59.093 The more we have, we have a house now, 09:59.093 --> 10:03.293 the more it costs, the more the expense goes up. 10:03.293 --> 10:05.753 That's what Solomon is teaching us. 10:05.753 --> 10:09.153 Now, the other thing about what happens with a lot of money 10:09.153 --> 10:11.393 is the leeches come out. 10:11.393 --> 10:15.173 When you've got money, everyone wants a piece of you. 10:16.340 --> 10:23.480 Former NFL quarterback Bernie Kosar earned $19 million in the NFL before he retired. 10:23.580 --> 10:25.280 Well, eventually he went bankrupt. 10:26.340 --> 10:30.920 And he later said on ESPN documentary, he said at one point in his life, he said, 10:30.920 --> 10:36.540 I was paying 60 cell phone bills for various friends and family members. 10:37.315 --> 10:38.775 No wonder he went bankrupt, right? 10:39.515 --> 10:45.915 Whenever you're rich, everyone wants to be your best friend, which means you're not sure who your true friends are. 10:45.915 --> 10:50.955 And that's a very sad problem that some wealthy people deal with. 10:51.535 --> 10:55.975 Solomon also says, he says, the more that we have, the more that we worry about it. 10:56.095 --> 11:00.115 Verse number 12, he says, the sleep of a laboring man is sweet. 11:00.113 --> 11:06.313 whether he eats a little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep. 11:06.433 --> 11:09.953 Solomon is saying, the more money you have, the more stress you have. 11:10.253 --> 11:16.293 That laboring man, that working man, that blue-collar man, he punches out at the end of the day, 11:16.613 --> 11:21.633 the clock, and he goes home, he enjoys some time with his family, and he sleeps like a baby. 11:22.810 --> 11:28.330 But the rich CEO, he's always worrying about how he's going to keep it all, right? 11:28.530 --> 11:31.210 What did the stock market do today? 11:31.410 --> 11:33.290 What's happening in the world economy? 11:33.570 --> 11:35.550 How do I keep my business afloat? 11:35.750 --> 11:44.230 And all of those questions consume him, and he's tossing back and forth, turning all night long because he's so stressed out he can't sleep. 11:45.440 --> 11:49.820 Solomon also says that the more that we have, the more that we lose. 11:49.900 --> 11:51.920 In verse number 13, he says, 11:51.920 --> 11:55.360 There's a severe evil which I have seen under the sun. 11:56.000 --> 11:58.580 Riches kept for their owner to his hurt. 11:58.980 --> 12:02.320 But those riches perish through misfortune. 12:03.361 --> 12:09.041 Solomon's describing the person who's got this stockpiles of wealth and riches. 12:09.841 --> 12:15.241 And when he loses it through a bad business deal, maybe a bad decision, maybe it wasn't his fault at all. 12:15.301 --> 12:17.181 Maybe the economy collapsed. 12:17.261 --> 12:18.800 It was a misfortune. 12:18.801 --> 12:23.601 When he loses it all, it delivers this crushing blow deep within him. 12:25.214 --> 12:32.394 In 2008, when the housing bubble burst and we went through the Great Recession, so many of you lost everything. 12:32.794 --> 12:37.874 I know many of you that you lost a great deal and it was devastating to you. 12:38.854 --> 12:42.674 But I'll be honest, Kelsey and I weren't all that affected by the Great Recession. 12:43.474 --> 12:44.373 Why? 12:44.374 --> 12:45.694 We didn't have any money to lose. 12:46.949 --> 12:49.349 We had no assets, right? 12:49.349 --> 12:53.049 And so we weren't really actually hurt by it. 12:53.049 --> 12:57.069 The more money you have, the more money you're able to lose. 12:57.069 --> 12:58.589 Now, there was a time in my life 12:58.589 --> 13:03.229 when I routinely would check my retirement account, 13:03.229 --> 13:05.229 which is mainly made up of stocks. 13:05.229 --> 13:07.329 Years ago, I would check it and it was no big deal 13:07.329 --> 13:09.409 because if it was up, it was up just a few dollars. 13:09.409 --> 13:11.709 If it was down, it was down just a few dollars, 13:11.709 --> 13:14.969 but I had kind of fun seeing what was happening with it. 13:14.962 --> 13:17.362 But a few years ago, I stopped checking it so much. 13:17.542 --> 13:18.601 You want to know why? 13:18.602 --> 13:20.662 It hurt whenever that thing dropped. 13:21.002 --> 13:23.662 Because now there's more dollars I lost, right? 13:24.422 --> 13:26.862 And that was painful. 13:27.402 --> 13:30.622 The more money we have, the more money we lose. 13:30.622 --> 13:38.022 Now, the last reason that Solomon gives us is that the more that we have, the more we leave behind when we die. 13:38.142 --> 13:39.622 Verse number 14. 13:39.633 --> 13:40.392 He says, 13:40.393 --> 13:43.053 When he begets a son, there's nothing in his hand. 13:43.473 --> 13:48.693 As he came from his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came. 13:48.753 --> 13:53.213 And he shall take nothing from his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. 13:53.213 --> 13:55.073 And this also is a severe evil. 13:55.553 --> 13:57.913 Just exactly as he came, so shall he go. 13:58.533 --> 14:01.113 And what profit has he who has labored for the wind? 14:01.413 --> 14:06.933 All his days also he eats in darkness, and he has much sorrow and sickness and anger. 14:07.898 --> 14:14.338 Solomon, he comes back to the theme he's been repeating all throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, 14:14.538 --> 14:16.718 that life without God is vanity. 14:16.978 --> 14:18.057 It is meaningless. 14:18.058 --> 14:18.397 Why? 14:18.398 --> 14:19.418 We're all going to die. 14:20.938 --> 14:22.658 If there is no God, we're all going to die. 14:22.818 --> 14:23.657 It's all going to be over. 14:23.658 --> 14:25.098 There will be no meaning to our life. 14:25.358 --> 14:31.898 And so what he's saying is acquiring wealth also is meaningless because when we die, we have to leave it all behind. 14:31.898 --> 14:33.379 Right? 14:33.380 --> 14:39.260 The successful man who works and works building this great empire of wealth, 14:39.360 --> 14:42.640 he dies the same way that the poor man dies. 14:43.320 --> 14:48.720 His empire is like a sandcastle that a kid spends time building on the shore, 14:48.720 --> 14:51.640 and the waves of the ocean just wipe it away. 14:52.313 --> 14:58.113 The waves of death are going to wipe away every castle that's been built on this earth. 14:58.553 --> 15:01.493 What matters is eternal. 15:02.313 --> 15:10.933 Steve Jobs, the CEO and founder of Apple, was worth estimated $10.2 billion when he died. 15:11.833 --> 15:14.213 You know how much money he left? 15:15.333 --> 15:16.393 All of it. 15:17.052 --> 15:20.612 He didn't take a single penny with him. 15:21.112 --> 15:26.652 Naked we shall come from our mother's womb, and naked we shall return. 15:26.652 --> 15:31.572 Now, in verse number 18, Solomon tells us the secret to enjoying life, 15:31.632 --> 15:35.832 and it's actually the secret also to enjoying money. 15:35.992 --> 15:37.011 Verse number 18, he says, 15:37.012 --> 15:38.832 Here is what I've seen. 15:39.352 --> 15:42.812 It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink. 15:43.124 --> 15:51.104 And to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him. 15:51.464 --> 15:52.644 For it is his heritage. 15:52.864 --> 15:58.264 As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth and given him power to eat of it. 15:58.324 --> 15:59.884 I think that means to enjoy it. 16:00.484 --> 16:03.004 To receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor. 16:03.324 --> 16:04.944 This is the gift of God. 16:05.618 --> 16:13.158 For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart. 16:13.798 --> 16:15.898 Solomon is saying, here's what you do. 16:16.638 --> 16:19.838 You enjoy the life God's given you. 16:21.093 --> 16:25.973 And you live in the moment that God has given you of life to enjoy. 16:26.073 --> 16:29.553 He says the guy who learns how to enjoy the simple pleasure of life, 16:29.633 --> 16:33.993 like eating and drinking and enjoying the money from all of his hard work. 16:34.053 --> 16:38.833 He said that man does not dwell unduly, foolishly on the days of his life. 16:38.973 --> 16:43.593 Because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart in the moment. 16:44.053 --> 16:45.233 He's not living for tomorrow. 16:45.353 --> 16:48.533 He's living right now, enjoying what God has given him. 16:48.613 --> 16:49.833 He's content, content. 16:51.147 --> 16:55.307 Most people go through life either longing for the good old days of the past 16:55.307 --> 17:00.147 or they're thinking the grass is somehow going to be greener in the next stage of life. 17:01.087 --> 17:05.747 You will never be content by dwelling on the past or fantasizing about the future. 17:06.307 --> 17:09.947 Contentment comes from enjoying the life God's given us in the now. 17:10.827 --> 17:13.167 Contentment doesn't come from some future thing. 17:13.267 --> 17:15.987 It comes from what God gives us now. 17:17.590 --> 17:20.110 That's the trap that money brings, right? 17:20.110 --> 17:22.190 Because we think in our mind somehow, 17:22.190 --> 17:25.730 if I just have a little bit more, then I'm gonna be happy. 17:25.730 --> 17:27.030 Well, we get that little bit more, 17:27.030 --> 17:28.150 and then what do we think? 17:28.150 --> 17:30.710 Well, I just had a little bit more than this. 17:30.710 --> 17:33.110 Now I would be happy. 17:33.110 --> 17:35.390 The problem is it's a moving target, isn't it? 17:35.390 --> 17:36.810 It's like chasing the wind. 17:36.810 --> 17:37.709 We never arrive. 17:37.710 --> 17:41.430 We never get to that point of happiness. 17:41.430 --> 17:44.930 Sheryl Crow said, it's not getting what you want, 17:44.930 --> 17:46.470 it's wanting what you got. 17:47.257 --> 17:49.737 Isn't that the challenge of our human heart? 17:49.997 --> 17:53.517 Why? Because we idolize money, and it never delivers. 17:53.937 --> 17:58.597 It's only a relationship with Jesus Christ who can bring the satisfaction to your life. 17:59.117 --> 18:01.337 So many people are living for the next dollar. 18:01.337 --> 18:03.337 They're not enjoying the dollar they have now. 18:04.655 --> 18:08.055 They're living for something that they don't even, it's a hypothetical thing. 18:08.355 --> 18:11.815 So Solomon says, learn to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. 18:12.275 --> 18:14.155 Just enjoy every bit of it. 18:14.215 --> 18:17.155 Learn to enjoy the life that God sovereignly gave you. 18:17.155 --> 18:18.255 So if you're rich. 18:19.437 --> 18:20.977 Enjoy the life God's given you. 18:21.357 --> 18:22.016 That's okay. 18:22.017 --> 18:22.896 Enjoy it. 18:22.897 --> 18:27.097 Now, be generous, all the things that we know about money, but enjoy it. 18:27.197 --> 18:29.837 If you're poor, enjoy the life God's given you. 18:30.257 --> 18:31.357 It's a great life. 18:31.357 --> 18:36.437 I've met a lot of incredibly miserable rich people, 18:36.637 --> 18:39.797 and I've met some incredibly happy poor people. 18:40.497 --> 18:43.357 The difference is how they view money in their life, 18:43.517 --> 18:48.817 and the biggest difference is whether they have a personal relationship with God. 18:49.627 --> 18:54.767 Now, these last verses in chapter 5 that we've been looking at over the last few minutes, 18:55.467 --> 18:59.807 they show us that it is not wrong to have money. 19:00.307 --> 19:00.886 Why? 19:00.887 --> 19:02.427 It's a gift from God, he says. 19:03.027 --> 19:05.987 God gave us the ability to make this money or to have this. 19:06.027 --> 19:07.486 It's a gift from him. 19:07.487 --> 19:12.647 And these verses also show that it's not wrong to enjoy money. 19:13.184 --> 19:14.163 Here's what we learned. 19:14.164 --> 19:18.944 Money can only properly be enjoyed as a gift from God. 19:19.564 --> 19:23.084 To recognize whatever we have, it comes from him. 19:23.904 --> 19:27.764 Solomon is making the point that satisfaction in life does not come from money. 19:28.044 --> 19:32.024 It comes from enjoying God, right? 19:32.704 --> 19:33.824 It's not a lot of money. 19:33.824 --> 19:37.904 It comes from enjoying what we do have, what God has given us. 19:38.665 --> 19:44.985 Now, I proposed to Kelsey just outside of a restaurant overlooking the ocean. 19:45.885 --> 19:50.145 And when I proposed, I gave her this nice diamond ring. 19:50.365 --> 19:55.925 And so she starts jumping around, and she's shouting, and I mean, she's just doing this happy dance. 19:55.925 --> 19:58.865 And everyone around the restaurant was staring at us. 19:59.425 --> 20:02.025 To be honest, it was a little over the top, but if you know Kelsey... 20:02.020 --> 20:06.080 It's exactly what I expected. I wouldn't have it any other way, but she's just like 20:06.080 --> 20:10.640 making this big scene. And well, throughout the night, she kept staring at her ring. 20:11.420 --> 20:17.880 She kept looking at it. She would smile, and there was no doubt she was enjoying the gift that I had 20:17.880 --> 20:24.440 given her. And that made me so happy, right? I was so proud that she was pleased with that. 20:25.105 --> 20:32.605 But as much as she was enjoying the ring, there was not a single moment where I felt like she loved that ring more than me. 20:33.665 --> 20:37.565 All of her excitement and praise was directed not at the ring. 20:37.645 --> 20:42.045 It was directed at me in our relationship of engagement that we're about to get married. 20:42.045 --> 20:46.145 The ring was merely icing on the cake, right? 20:46.585 --> 20:48.785 Now, it was expensive icing, I will tell you. 20:50.131 --> 20:51.991 But it wasn't the main deal. 20:51.991 --> 20:53.691 Our relationship was. 20:53.691 --> 20:56.451 Now, if Kelsey had ignored me all night long, 20:57.431 --> 20:59.891 and if all she could think about and talk about 20:59.891 --> 21:04.891 was that ring, whether she was mesmerized by the ring 21:05.511 --> 21:09.291 or whether she was disappointed it wasn't better, 21:09.291 --> 21:11.191 either way, that would have been hurtful to me, 21:11.191 --> 21:12.251 wouldn't it? 21:12.251 --> 21:14.151 Why? Because it's not about the ring. 21:15.011 --> 21:17.271 It's about our relationship. 21:17.266 --> 21:22.726 it's the same with us and God. When God gives us his bride, remember he's the bridegroom, we are 21:22.726 --> 21:27.246 the bride. When he gives his bride, you and I, when he gives us the gift of money, whatever it is, 21:27.426 --> 21:31.706 whether you think it's a big ring or you think it's a ring that you deserve more, you deserve 21:31.706 --> 21:39.806 something better, whatever it is, we have no right to make the focus the ring. Why? Because God's the 21:39.806 --> 21:41.447 price. 21:41.448 --> 21:45.808 The relationship that Jesus offers us, He is the price. 21:45.808 --> 21:54.708 And it's only when we realize that, that we will know how to appreciate and cherish all the money that He has allotted to us. 21:56.128 --> 22:03.188 He truly is the key to unlocking our ability to enjoy the resources He's given us. 22:03.841 --> 22:11.241 I'm sure that evening Kelsey would have enjoyed finding that diamond ring on the beach as we walked, 22:11.241 --> 22:16.841 but that would have paled in comparison to how much she enjoyed it as a gift from me. 22:17.561 --> 22:21.461 Our relationship is what elevated the value of the ring. 22:21.681 --> 22:23.901 It's what made the ring so special. 22:24.918 --> 22:26.098 I hope that makes sense. 22:26.598 --> 22:30.618 It's our relationship with God, only enjoying the blessings he's given us of life, 22:30.678 --> 22:32.358 of eating and drinking, whatever it might be. 22:32.578 --> 22:37.758 It's only in relation to the relationship he offers to us. 22:38.298 --> 22:43.898 So in these last few verses of chapter 5, Solomon is describing this man 22:43.898 --> 22:48.778 that has this incredible ability, whether he has a lot or whether he has a little, 22:48.778 --> 22:51.698 he has this incredible ability to just enjoy it. 22:53.639 --> 22:57.279 Because he's enjoying it as a gift from God. 22:58.339 --> 23:06.979 In chapter 6, though, he transitions to describing a successful man with incredible wealth and honor. 23:08.039 --> 23:10.959 And this guy's unable to enjoy it. 23:10.959 --> 23:13.196 Verse number 1. 23:13.197 --> 23:15.857 He says, there's an evil which I have seen under the sun. 23:15.997 --> 23:17.177 It's common among men. 23:17.857 --> 23:25.057 A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires. 23:25.197 --> 23:28.097 Yet God does not give him the power to eat of it. 23:28.117 --> 23:29.797 I think it means to enjoy it. 23:30.377 --> 23:32.257 But a foreigner consumes it. 23:32.257 --> 23:35.317 This is vanity and it is an evil affliction. 23:36.738 --> 23:41.778 Solomon's describing the sad state of the man who has got all this money. 23:42.578 --> 23:48.438 He has all the success, all this reputation, and yet God hasn't given him the ability to know how to enjoy it. 23:48.798 --> 23:50.018 He's miserable still. 23:51.938 --> 23:54.358 Sadly, that's the average American, isn't it? 23:55.038 --> 23:57.658 We're living in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. 23:57.658 --> 24:04.078 The vast majority of us are among the top 1% wealthiest people in the history of the world. 24:05.358 --> 24:12.338 And yet the average American is miserable, depressed, and frustrated they don't have more than what they have. 24:13.478 --> 24:17.198 Even the richest among us have all these, maybe multiple houses. 24:17.338 --> 24:19.658 They have all these cars, all of this money. 24:19.758 --> 24:20.577 They're not happy. 24:20.578 --> 24:21.337 Why? 24:21.338 --> 24:22.598 God's not letting them be happy. 24:24.241 --> 24:28.961 That's why God has not given them the gift of enjoying it. 24:29.241 --> 24:30.540 Why? 24:30.541 --> 24:34.681 Because God loves them too much to let them be satisfied in something so fleeting 24:34.681 --> 24:38.421 and insignificant and temporary that's all going to be left behind. 24:38.741 --> 24:42.861 God loves us too much to give us contentment in something so miserable. 24:43.741 --> 24:45.761 C.S. Lewis, he wrote, 24:45.881 --> 24:51.281 It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak. 24:51.501 --> 24:52.681 It means we settle for nothing. 24:52.878 --> 24:58.958 lesser things than God. We're half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex 24:58.958 --> 25:05.938 and ambition. I'd add money. When infinite joy is offered us like an ignorant child who wants to go 25:05.938 --> 25:11.878 on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday 25:11.878 --> 25:15.938 at the sea, we are far too easily pleased. 25:18.730 --> 25:24.750 We think money is going to make us happy, and we have no idea how happy God will make us. 25:25.490 --> 25:28.510 Listen, there is no lasting pleasure in money. 25:29.370 --> 25:31.470 And yet, we make money our pursuit, don't we? 25:31.550 --> 25:34.590 And it fails us every time, and we just keep, it's on repeat. 25:35.050 --> 25:37.510 It didn't deliver, but maybe a little more will deliver. 25:37.670 --> 25:38.830 It's never enough. 25:39.550 --> 25:46.170 The key to enjoying whatever amount of money that you have in life is to first enjoy God. 25:47.030 --> 25:52.910 then and only then are we able to be satisfied with whatever he chooses to give to us. 25:54.090 --> 25:59.690 Pastor Brian illustrated it this way. He said, imagine you have a rich uncle who passes away and 25:59.690 --> 26:04.510 he leaves you this massive inheritance. And his lawyers meet with you and he said, well, we've got 26:04.510 --> 26:10.410 good news and bad news. The good news is that your uncle left you millions of dollars. The bad news is it's 26:11.245 --> 26:16.165 It's secured in a bank, and no one knows the password to the bank account. 26:16.285 --> 26:17.264 The bank won't give it to us. 26:17.265 --> 26:21.305 So you're a multimillionaire, but you can't enjoy it. 26:23.969 --> 26:25.469 That's the average American. 26:25.729 --> 26:28.369 All these riches, but we can't even enjoy it. 26:28.969 --> 26:33.249 That's what riches are without a relationship with Jesus. 26:33.409 --> 26:38.789 You see, knowing God is what makes it possible to enjoy any riches that we do have. 26:39.049 --> 26:40.228 He's the key. 26:40.229 --> 26:46.469 He's the password to unlocking enjoyment and fulfillment in all that God has given to us. 26:47.442 --> 26:54.482 And verse number three, Solomon continues describing the miserable condition of this rich person who's unable to enjoy it. 26:54.822 --> 27:00.402 He says, if a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so the days of his years are many, 27:00.402 --> 27:05.402 but his soul is not satisfied with goodness or indeed he has no burial. 27:05.522 --> 27:08.562 In other words, he doesn't have a great relationship with these hundred kids. 27:09.262 --> 27:11.442 I say that a stillborn child is better than he. 27:12.029 --> 27:16.629 For it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. 27:17.069 --> 27:21.589 Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, 27:21.909 --> 27:26.329 even if he lives a thousand years twice, but has not seen goodness. 27:27.031 --> 27:28.711 Do not all go to one place. 27:29.111 --> 27:32.851 All the labor of a man is for his mouth, and yet the soul is not satisfied. 27:33.431 --> 27:36.231 For what more has the wise man than the fool? 27:36.631 --> 27:38.291 What does the poor man have? 27:38.551 --> 27:40.471 Who knows how to walk before the living? 27:40.471 --> 27:44.871 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire. 27:45.131 --> 27:48.471 This also is vanity and grasping for the wind. 27:49.871 --> 27:53.431 Solomon says, if a rich man... 27:54.233 --> 27:58.673 who lives for 2,000 years, has 100 children, 27:58.673 --> 28:01.453 but he can't enjoy the goodness of his riches. 28:03.650 --> 28:09.070 Stillborn baby is better than he is he's poetically trying to describe that it's better 28:09.670 --> 28:15.070 To have never been born than to experience a long life with no purpose 28:15.770 --> 28:17.530 No meaning 28:17.530 --> 28:24.650 No enjoyment of the good blessings of God and that's what life is if you're chasing the dollar 28:26.380 --> 28:28.300 There is no purpose in it. 28:28.340 --> 28:31.640 You're going to be left empty every time. 28:32.060 --> 28:39.200 You see, money is a very heavy burden if God hasn't given you the ability to enjoy it. 28:40.800 --> 28:46.800 Some of you are thinking, Pastor, you are doing a Jedi mind trick on us today, you know. 28:48.368 --> 28:50.628 You're saying money's a burden? 28:51.328 --> 28:55.728 Some of you are thinking, all right, Lord, please curse me with this burden of riches. 28:56.368 --> 28:57.768 I want to experience it. 28:58.988 --> 29:00.588 Be careful what you ask for. 29:01.328 --> 29:07.728 Jesus said it's more difficult for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to inherit the kingdom of God. 29:08.011 --> 29:08.790 Why is that? 29:08.791 --> 29:16.011 Well, the idol of money that I think is perhaps the greatest rival for the human heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. 29:16.011 --> 29:26.271 That idol of money becomes so big, the richer a person gets, so that many wealthy people choose their money instead of choosing Jesus. 29:29.011 --> 29:30.231 It's a problem. 29:32.092 --> 29:35.972 Alexander the Great was marching with his army to meet the Persian army, 29:36.132 --> 29:38.432 and they had conquered city after city along the way. 29:38.652 --> 29:41.912 And he noticed that every day as they marched, 29:42.012 --> 29:44.272 it seemed like the soldiers were more and more exhausted, 29:44.452 --> 29:47.732 and they could march fewer miles every day. 29:47.832 --> 29:50.132 And then he noticed that their backs kept getting bigger. 29:51.650 --> 29:55.110 the bundles that they were carrying were bigger and bigger, 29:55.210 --> 29:59.050 and eventually he realized and figured out that every city they conquered, 29:59.790 --> 30:03.270 all the soldiers, they were gathering up all the gold and the silver of the city, 30:03.350 --> 30:07.010 and they were gathering all of the wealth, and they were carrying it with them every day. 30:08.190 --> 30:09.870 And so one day after they marched, 30:11.427 --> 30:16.627 He told them, put it all in one big pile, and he set the pile of wealth on fire. 30:16.767 --> 30:18.287 And the guys were frustrated by that. 30:18.407 --> 30:20.187 They were irritated. 30:20.547 --> 30:21.506 They were upset. 30:21.507 --> 30:26.167 But the next day as they marched, they marched with a lightness. 30:26.267 --> 30:27.847 They were refreshed. 30:28.247 --> 30:30.587 And when they met the enemy, they won. 30:31.887 --> 30:33.486 What's the point of that? 30:33.487 --> 30:36.967 The point is that materialism can become a weight. 30:39.490 --> 30:44.070 a heavy weight. The very thing that we think is going to make us happy in life is the very thing 30:44.070 --> 30:51.010 that drags us down. Now, you don't have to be rich for money to drag you down, though. 30:51.710 --> 30:56.590 Poor person can be just as greedy and covetous as the rich person. It really does have to do 30:56.590 --> 31:01.710 with the heart. So let me ask you, who has your heart? 31:04.027 --> 31:06.287 I challenge you to ask the Lord that today. 31:06.967 --> 31:09.627 Maybe you're struggling with evaluating who has my heart. 31:10.327 --> 31:11.766 Ask Him. 31:11.767 --> 31:12.846 Evaluate. 31:12.847 --> 31:13.887 Who has your heart? 31:14.087 --> 31:16.726 Is it money? 31:16.727 --> 31:17.807 Or is it Jesus? 31:19.067 --> 31:22.127 Now one last thought for us today as we wrap up. 31:23.707 --> 31:24.907 God's rich, isn't He? 31:26.504 --> 31:27.744 I mean, he owns it all. 31:27.944 --> 31:28.964 He made it all. 31:29.184 --> 31:30.103 You make it. 31:30.104 --> 31:30.783 You own it. 31:30.784 --> 31:31.844 He owns it all. 31:32.244 --> 31:36.164 And as Christians, the Bible teaches us that you and I were joint heirs with Christ. 31:37.540 --> 31:38.680 That means his inheritance. 31:39.140 --> 31:41.560 Everything that God owns is his. 31:41.860 --> 31:42.539 And guess what? 31:42.540 --> 31:43.760 He says it's yours too. 31:44.500 --> 31:48.500 You're joint heirs with me, which means we're all rich too, aren't we? 31:49.240 --> 31:53.820 There are treasures waiting us in heaven, the treasures of his grace. 31:53.820 --> 31:55.940 Ephesians 1, verse 3 says, 31:56.360 --> 31:59.220 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 31:59.360 --> 32:06.820 who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in heaven. 32:06.818 --> 32:09.657 Christ. 32:09.658 --> 32:10.918 Let me ask you, 32:11.978 --> 32:16.498 has God blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ? 32:18.078 --> 32:21.338 He has not if you don't know Jesus as your Savior. 32:23.693 --> 32:27.673 Let me ask you, have you ever come to a point in life where you've admitted your sin? 32:28.353 --> 32:30.493 I mean, you really came clean with God. 32:30.613 --> 32:31.773 You owned it for what it was. 32:31.933 --> 32:34.973 It wasn't blaming and pointing the finger at someone else. 32:35.173 --> 32:36.673 It wasn't a victim inside. 32:36.853 --> 32:38.613 It was, God, I have sinned. 32:39.273 --> 32:40.313 I've blown it. 32:41.313 --> 32:45.913 And have you ever cried out to God for his mercy and grace and forgiveness 32:45.913 --> 32:48.313 and received the riches of his grace? 32:49.732 --> 32:53.892 If you've never done that, I want to invite you to do that right now. 32:54.012 --> 32:58.992 There is nothing like experiencing a relationship with God. 32:59.772 --> 33:01.892 Let's bow together in an attitude of prayer, if you will. 33:03.672 --> 33:06.052 This is a holy moment in the life of our church. 33:06.792 --> 33:08.452 In just a moment, I'm going to pray. 33:09.312 --> 33:12.192 As soon as I pray, there's going to be pastors and leaders here at the front. 33:12.272 --> 33:15.332 We're going to stand to our feet, and we're just going to sing a song. 33:15.432 --> 33:18.532 We're going to ask you to come and give your life to Jesus. 33:21.625 --> 33:24.545 The title of the message is How to Enjoy Money. 33:25.965 --> 33:28.305 So my question is, how do we enjoy money? 33:28.625 --> 33:31.505 It's a very simple answer. 33:32.065 --> 33:33.405 By enjoying God. 33:36.445 --> 33:37.625 He's the prize. 33:38.785 --> 33:40.425 He's what we were made for. 33:40.665 --> 33:41.825 He's who we were made for. 33:43.951 --> 33:45.651 We focus on these little trinkets. 33:45.951 --> 33:47.491 They have no eternal value. 33:48.431 --> 33:52.411 When the prize is right before us, it's a relationship with the one who made us 33:52.411 --> 33:56.171 and loves us and died on the cross for our sins. 33:57.391 --> 34:02.411 I want to invite you to find your joy and your fulfillment in God. 34:03.222 --> 34:06.342 That's the only way you'll have satisfaction in life. 34:06.462 --> 34:07.642 Solomon is saying it over and over. 34:07.762 --> 34:08.782 He said, I've tried it all. 34:09.002 --> 34:10.581 I've tried it all. 34:10.582 --> 34:13.222 It comes down to relationship with God. 34:13.302 --> 34:16.302 And so I want to invite you into a relationship with God. 34:16.602 --> 34:17.501 It's very simple. 34:17.502 --> 34:21.722 The Bible says, whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 34:21.722 --> 34:24.262 I want to invite you to call on his name right now. 34:25.058 --> 34:27.698 When we stand, there's going to be pastors and other leaders here at the front. 34:27.778 --> 34:29.878 We're just going to invite you to come forward. 34:30.398 --> 34:33.478 Come down one of these aisles and take one of these leaders by the hand and say, 34:33.538 --> 34:34.678 I want to give my life to Christ. 34:34.758 --> 34:35.597 It's time that I know him. 34:35.598 --> 34:42.558 I want the empty void that's been that hole that I've been trying to fill with money and pleasure and stuff 34:42.558 --> 34:45.238 and all these different things that none of it's fit. 34:45.378 --> 34:48.378 I want the hole to be filled. 34:49.298 --> 34:51.278 And the only way to fill it is with Jesus. 34:56.125 --> 35:02.485 Maybe you're a Christian today, but you're not enjoying life like you should. 35:04.465 --> 35:06.445 There's a lack of contentment. 35:08.385 --> 35:11.945 You know, the apostle Paul said in Philippians, he said, I've learned how to 35:11.945 --> 35:19.085 be abased, that means be poor, and I've learned how to abound, that means have stuff. 35:20.054 --> 35:22.294 In all things, I've learned how to be content. 35:22.654 --> 35:26.054 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 35:26.334 --> 35:35.214 I want to invite you as a Christian, every single believer in Christ should seek to come to that point of complete contentment in Him. 35:36.974 --> 35:40.734 And that really comes when we strip away the idols of money. 35:41.994 --> 35:45.274 And He becomes the prize. 35:46.345 --> 35:50.585 Then whatever he chooses to bless us with, whether it's a lot or it's a little, 35:51.405 --> 35:53.725 it's this wonderful icing on the cake of life. 35:57.025 --> 36:01.025 Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 36:01.025 --> 36:08.225 What Jesus was doing was he was helping us discern where our heart is. 36:09.886 --> 36:13.286 Some of you might be listening to the message and you're struggling because you're thinking, 36:13.626 --> 36:17.246 okay, I think God has my heart, but I really want to be honest here. 36:18.206 --> 36:19.666 Money might have my heart. 36:21.726 --> 36:24.246 And so Jesus said, I can only serve one master. 36:24.346 --> 36:25.125 Who's my master? 36:25.126 --> 36:25.925 Who am I serving? 36:25.926 --> 36:27.085 Who am I living for? 36:27.086 --> 36:31.466 And so I would challenge you to really reflect on your time. 36:33.026 --> 36:38.966 Reflect on your resources. 36:41.898 --> 36:44.338 Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 36:44.978 --> 36:51.078 And he also said, he said, don't store up treasures here on earth where rust and moth destroy, 36:51.078 --> 36:57.618 but store up your treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy. 36:58.778 --> 37:00.898 Now, how do we do that? 37:03.718 --> 37:06.278 What is he talking about, treasures in heaven? 37:06.398 --> 37:09.658 There's only one thing that I know about that goes to heaven, that's souls. 37:10.418 --> 37:13.318 It's people. 37:13.319 --> 37:19.219 And so one way that you can reflect, according to Jesus, of where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. 37:19.319 --> 37:21.759 One way you can evaluate it is just look at your bank account. 37:23.759 --> 37:27.199 Is all your treasure wrapped up and going back to yourself? 37:28.059 --> 37:30.879 Or back to those around you? 37:31.199 --> 37:34.179 Building your kingdom, your empire, your sandcastle? 37:36.117 --> 37:40.237 Are you putting some of your treasure that God's given you, are you putting it in heaven? 37:40.657 --> 37:45.117 Are you pouring it into ministry and into people, into souls? 37:45.537 --> 37:48.177 And so that's between you and God. 37:48.537 --> 37:53.057 But that is something I think that's important for you to evaluate here today. 37:54.097 --> 37:55.116 Let's bow together. 37:55.117 --> 37:59.537 Father, thank you so much, Lord, for your love and your grace and your goodness. 38:00.657 --> 38:01.977 You're an amazing God. 38:02.637 --> 38:04.077 You give us stuff. 38:07.184 --> 38:18.364 You give us the power and the ability and the mind and the energy to work and to receive a wage. 38:20.024 --> 38:23.904 Lord, all that's a blessing, but Lord, help us not be focused on the gifts. 38:24.404 --> 38:27.084 Help us be focused on the giver, you. 38:28.544 --> 38:34.184 It is only when we're focused on the giver that we can actually enjoy and appreciate the gifts. 38:36.327 --> 38:42.307 Lord, help our church family understand that in a deep way, deep within them. 38:43.567 --> 38:46.927 That it really starts with this encounter with you. 38:48.292 --> 38:49.652 through faith. 38:49.652 --> 38:53.752 Help people receive your love and experience your grace. 38:53.752 --> 38:56.432 Please do a work that goes way beyond anything 38:56.432 --> 38:59.192 I was able to say, that's a work of your spirit. 39:00.292 --> 39:02.692 Draw people to yourself. 39:02.692 --> 39:06.172 Lord, I pray that your spirit would tear down idols, 39:06.172 --> 39:08.912 if they exist in our hearts, 39:08.912 --> 39:12.372 that you would touch those spots, 39:12.372 --> 39:14.052 and Lord, that we would respond. 39:15.494 --> 39:22.434 I pray, Lord, that we would view the resources that you give us as an amazing blessing from you, 39:22.514 --> 39:27.394 that we would be thankful and we would appreciate and be grateful, 39:27.554 --> 39:30.034 but also, Lord, that we would be a channel. 39:30.034 --> 39:30.832 Amen. 39:30.833 --> 39:36.393 That it wouldn't be just a, we wouldn't be just a reservoir of your blessing, but we would be a 39:36.393 --> 39:42.653 river of your blessing, a channel, Lord, by which you bless the world and store up treasure in heaven. 39:43.493 --> 39:49.653 Help us, Lord, have the right perspective on money, a perspective that allows us to actually enjoy it. 39:50.013 --> 39:56.493 We love you and we give this time to you. Please, Lord, draw people to yourself. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. 39:58.103 --> 39:59.143 Thanks for listening today. 39:59.483 --> 40:00.963 We hope you enjoyed this message. 40:01.203 --> 40:04.343 And if you did, we would be so grateful if you left us a review. 40:05.003 --> 40:07.103 Also, go ahead and subscribe to the podcast 40:07.103 --> 40:09.963 if you would like to be notified when a new sermon is released. 40:10.563 --> 40:13.703 If you feel the Lord calling you to take the next step in faith 40:13.703 --> 40:17.583 through salvation, service, or giving, don't wait. 40:18.202 --> 40:21.662 reach out to us by texting podcast to 88988. 40:21.662 --> 40:25.202 That's podcast to 88988 or connect with us 40:25.202 --> 40:27.582 on one of our social media platforms. 40:27.582 --> 40:30.742 You can also visit our website, valleybaptist.org 40:30.742 --> 40:33.282 to find even more great resources. 40:33.282 --> 40:35.502 No matter where you are in your journey, 40:35.502 --> 40:38.202 know that we love you, we're praying for you, 40:38.202 --> 40:41.242 and we can't wait to see what God will do in your life.