1 00:00:03,233 --> 00:00:05,099 Praise, mercy, and peace be to you from God 2 00:00:05,141 --> 00:00:07,133 our Father, from our Lord and our Savior Jesus 3 00:00:07,133 --> 00:00:07,700 Christ. 4 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,033 Ecclesiastes 5 breaks into two parts. 5 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:14,933 Some verses from part one. 6 00:00:16,033 --> 00:00:18,811 He who loves money will not be satisfied with 7 00:00:18,853 --> 00:00:21,733 money, nor he who loves wealth with his income. 8 00:00:21,866 --> 00:00:24,166 This also is vanity. 9 00:00:25,466 --> 00:00:28,433 There's a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun. 10 00:00:28,666 --> 00:00:31,366 Riches were kept by their owner to his hurt. 11 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,776 As he came from his mother's womb, he shall 12 00:00:36,818 --> 00:00:40,633 go again naked as he came, and he shall take 13 00:00:40,633 --> 00:00:45,166 nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. 14 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:48,166 This also is a grievous evil. 15 00:00:48,300 --> 00:00:51,566 Just as he came, so shall he go. 16 00:00:55,033 --> 00:00:57,947 King Solomon writes Ecclesiastes 17 00:00:57,989 --> 00:01:01,033 probably near the end of his life. 18 00:01:02,666 --> 00:01:05,589 You read Ecclesiastes, you can see King Solomon 19 00:01:05,631 --> 00:01:08,100 is desperate and discouraged, depressed. 20 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:14,676 What he sees in this passage talks about 21 00:01:14,718 --> 00:01:18,633 money and wealth and power that he had. 22 00:01:19,633 --> 00:01:21,198 King Solomon was granted that 23 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:23,066 gift of wisdom, why is this man? 24 00:01:23,633 --> 00:01:27,594 And he was also given money and power and 25 00:01:27,636 --> 00:01:31,733 wealth and influence and women and anything 26 00:01:31,733 --> 00:01:33,066 anybody could have wanted. 27 00:01:35,633 --> 00:01:37,533 And he held onto it. 28 00:01:39,266 --> 00:01:42,883 But now near the end of his life, he begins 29 00:01:42,925 --> 00:01:46,333 to see that death is the great equalizer. 30 00:01:49,366 --> 00:01:53,892 Rich, poor, male, female, lots of power, 31 00:01:53,934 --> 00:01:58,166 little power, young, old, death comes. 32 00:01:59,833 --> 00:02:01,918 You took, brought nothing into this 33 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:03,966 world, you leave with empty hands. 34 00:02:06,966 --> 00:02:11,766 And he uses the word vanity or meaninglessness. 35 00:02:12,700 --> 00:02:15,666 Some would see it as smoke or vapor. 36 00:02:16,633 --> 00:02:19,491 So he holds onto this money, all the gifts 37 00:02:19,533 --> 00:02:22,566 that he has has led him astray from the Lord, 38 00:02:22,666 --> 00:02:24,492 and what he's holding on now is the money 39 00:02:24,534 --> 00:02:26,533 and the wealth and the power and all of that, 40 00:02:26,633 --> 00:02:29,970 and when death comes, poof, and it's 41 00:02:30,012 --> 00:02:32,933 all gone, and his hand is empty. 42 00:02:34,966 --> 00:02:38,133 And evil to his hurt. 43 00:02:39,933 --> 00:02:41,566 It's discouraging, it's depressing. 44 00:02:45,066 --> 00:02:47,767 In the New Testament, the Apostle 45 00:02:47,809 --> 00:02:50,066 Paul says something similar. 46 00:02:52,466 --> 00:02:55,266 1 Timothy chapter 6. 47 00:02:58,266 --> 00:03:00,819 For we brought nothing into the world, and 48 00:03:00,861 --> 00:03:03,333 we cannot take anything out of the world. 49 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:06,251 But those who desire to be rich fall into 50 00:03:06,293 --> 00:03:08,533 temptation, into a snare, into many senseless 51 00:03:08,533 --> 00:03:11,770 and harmful desires that plunge people into 52 00:03:11,812 --> 00:03:14,866 ruin for the love of money is the root of 53 00:03:14,866 --> 00:03:15,433 all evil. 54 00:03:18,266 --> 00:03:21,668 From Solomon in the Old Testament, Paul to 55 00:03:21,710 --> 00:03:25,233 the New Testament to today, the world is the 56 00:03:25,233 --> 00:03:25,966 word is true. 57 00:03:28,066 --> 00:03:33,073 A love of money, a holding onto money, when 58 00:03:33,115 --> 00:03:37,933 money gets a hold of you, it's not for the 59 00:03:37,933 --> 00:03:38,200 better. 60 00:03:38,933 --> 00:03:43,400 It changes us for the worse. 61 00:03:44,933 --> 00:03:50,161 I've done some reading on this, and one research 62 00:03:50,203 --> 00:03:54,933 shows that when people have more money, they 63 00:03:54,933 --> 00:04:01,100 become mean and rude and less compassionate. 64 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:04,766 What they did is they had a game of Monopoly, 65 00:04:04,808 --> 00:04:07,300 and they gave one player twice as much money 66 00:04:07,300 --> 00:04:08,824 to start, and every time that person 67 00:04:08,866 --> 00:04:10,600 went around goal, they got twice as much. 68 00:04:10,966 --> 00:04:13,733 Well, soon that person was winning, and what 69 00:04:13,775 --> 00:04:16,333 they noticed was that person, as the game 70 00:04:16,333 --> 00:04:18,742 went on, would bang his token on the board, 71 00:04:18,784 --> 00:04:21,233 and he'd begin to say things like, I'm going 72 00:04:21,233 --> 00:04:21,833 to have it all. 73 00:04:22,100 --> 00:04:23,366 You have no chance. 74 00:04:23,566 --> 00:04:25,466 I'm going to have the whole board. 75 00:04:28,466 --> 00:04:30,883 Now, unless you think it was just a game, 76 00:04:30,925 --> 00:04:33,500 they took the experiment out to the streets, 77 00:04:34,566 --> 00:04:39,425 and to watch people as they gave room for 78 00:04:39,467 --> 00:04:44,366 a pedestrian in a crosswalk, gave money to 79 00:04:44,366 --> 00:04:48,094 somebody who was less fortunate, cheated in 80 00:04:48,136 --> 00:04:51,733 a game, took candy out of a jar marked for 81 00:04:51,733 --> 00:04:52,300 kids. 82 00:04:53,466 --> 00:04:57,096 And what they found in just about every instance 83 00:04:57,138 --> 00:05:00,433 is that those with the more income were mean 84 00:05:00,433 --> 00:05:03,942 and rude and less sensitive, less 85 00:05:03,984 --> 00:05:07,533 compassionate, more self-entitled. 86 00:05:10,766 --> 00:05:14,433 Money changes us, and not for the better. 87 00:05:16,833 --> 00:05:19,263 Somebody asked one of the richest men from 88 00:05:19,305 --> 00:05:21,833 the last century, John D. Rockefeller, about 89 00:05:21,833 --> 00:05:24,745 money, and he simply said, the rich are afraid 90 00:05:24,787 --> 00:05:27,300 of losing it, and they always want more. 91 00:05:28,133 --> 00:05:31,133 And the poor, well, they just want it. 92 00:05:31,933 --> 00:05:34,666 Never quite satisfied, always wanting a bit more. 93 00:05:34,666 --> 00:05:37,627 And so I read about a study that was done, 94 00:05:37,669 --> 00:05:40,600 and they asked people, how much more would 95 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,866 you need to be content and satisfied with your income? 96 00:05:46,766 --> 00:05:49,833 And the answer was 10%. 97 00:05:49,833 --> 00:05:53,812 And it did not matter if they had $20,000, 98 00:05:53,854 --> 00:05:57,966 $60,000, $200,000, it almost always came out 99 00:05:57,966 --> 00:06:00,066 to be 10%. 100 00:06:00,066 --> 00:06:03,500 And then you know what people said after they got that 10%? 101 00:06:04,833 --> 00:06:09,733 They wanted, Ryan, 10% more. 102 00:06:10,866 --> 00:06:12,600 And the cycle just continued. 103 00:06:12,866 --> 00:06:17,133 Never quite satisfied, always wanting 10% more. 104 00:06:18,133 --> 00:06:21,040 And then I thought, well, how ironic because 105 00:06:21,082 --> 00:06:23,833 scripture talks about a tithe of giving it 106 00:06:23,833 --> 00:06:24,233 away. 107 00:06:24,233 --> 00:06:24,766 Money. 108 00:06:27,866 --> 00:06:34,833 The other thing about money, when it changes us, it hides. 109 00:06:35,866 --> 00:06:37,433 It hides the love. 110 00:06:37,766 --> 00:06:39,866 It hides the hold it has on it. 111 00:06:40,066 --> 00:06:43,600 It hides the hold we have on it. 112 00:06:43,866 --> 00:06:46,478 We'll be able to see, I'm going to use the 113 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,233 word greed, that somebody else has, but it's 114 00:06:49,233 --> 00:06:52,766 difficult to recognize it in ourselves. 115 00:06:57,733 --> 00:07:00,592 A pastor decided to do a sermon 116 00:07:00,634 --> 00:07:03,533 series on the seven deadly sins. 117 00:07:05,266 --> 00:07:15,066 Pride, anger, gluttony, envy, lust, sloth, and greed. 118 00:07:15,700 --> 00:07:17,433 And his wife came in and said, you know which 119 00:07:17,475 --> 00:07:19,133 one of those weeks is going to be the least 120 00:07:19,133 --> 00:07:19,633 attended? 121 00:07:21,333 --> 00:07:22,100 The one on greed. 122 00:07:23,133 --> 00:07:24,300 And she was right. 123 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:27,633 We don't always see it in ourselves. 124 00:07:27,700 --> 00:07:30,633 We don't see the hold it has on us. 125 00:07:32,666 --> 00:07:35,892 So I heard about a conference in which it 126 00:07:35,934 --> 00:07:39,200 brought together civic leaders, government 127 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:43,298 officials, clergy, social workers, psychologists, 128 00:07:43,340 --> 00:07:46,733 community planners, and they had gathered 129 00:07:46,733 --> 00:07:48,518 together to see what they could do 130 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:50,333 about poverty in the urban center. 131 00:07:51,833 --> 00:07:54,521 They brought in a speaker, and the speaker 132 00:07:54,563 --> 00:07:57,100 in his presentation asked this question. 133 00:07:58,233 --> 00:08:02,197 Is it possible to build a house so big 134 00:08:02,239 --> 00:08:05,833 that it would be sinful to live in? 135 00:08:07,833 --> 00:08:10,166 Oh, they're just raising their hands like this. 136 00:08:11,066 --> 00:08:12,466 Now remember, these are leaders. 137 00:08:13,166 --> 00:08:13,933 Fairly well to do. 138 00:08:14,333 --> 00:08:14,966 Nice houses. 139 00:08:16,633 --> 00:08:19,633 So the speaker followed it up with another question. 140 00:08:20,833 --> 00:08:26,800 He said, how big would that house need to be? 141 00:08:27,633 --> 00:08:29,433 And it was quiet. 142 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:37,066 Until one small boy said, a little bigger than mine. 143 00:08:39,900 --> 00:08:42,100 Money changes us. 144 00:08:43,033 --> 00:08:44,233 And not for the better. 145 00:08:45,266 --> 00:08:46,900 And it hides itself from us. 146 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:51,577 Sometimes we can't see the hold we 147 00:08:51,619 --> 00:08:55,866 have on it and the hold it has on us. 148 00:08:58,900 --> 00:09:02,848 When I go to visit in a funeral home, at the 149 00:09:02,890 --> 00:09:06,700 visitation, and I look at the person in the 150 00:09:06,700 --> 00:09:09,766 casket, nice set of clothes. 151 00:09:13,166 --> 00:09:15,966 Face has been nicely done by the funeral home. 152 00:09:16,533 --> 00:09:18,134 Maybe some little item in there 153 00:09:18,176 --> 00:09:19,766 as a remembrance of the person. 154 00:09:20,766 --> 00:09:23,208 But then I look at the person's 155 00:09:23,250 --> 00:09:25,500 hands, folded over the torso. 156 00:09:27,266 --> 00:09:29,000 And what do you notice most often? 157 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:32,566 They are empty. 158 00:09:34,833 --> 00:09:37,860 Naked, we came into this world, and 159 00:09:37,902 --> 00:09:41,566 nothing we hold in our hands when we leave. 160 00:09:42,566 --> 00:09:46,682 When money has that kind of hold on us 161 00:09:46,724 --> 00:09:50,666 and death comes, poof, it's all gone. 162 00:09:52,733 --> 00:09:53,366 Meaningless. 163 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:55,233 And vanity. 164 00:09:58,533 --> 00:10:00,633 Part one of Ecclesiastes 5. 165 00:10:02,533 --> 00:10:03,133 Part two. 166 00:10:06,133 --> 00:10:07,266 Solomon writes, 167 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:12,837 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting 168 00:10:12,879 --> 00:10:17,166 is to eat and to drink and to find enjoyment 169 00:10:17,166 --> 00:10:19,463 in all the toil with which one toils under 170 00:10:19,505 --> 00:10:21,733 the sun the few days of his life that God 171 00:10:21,733 --> 00:10:22,433 has given him. 172 00:10:22,700 --> 00:10:23,833 For this is his lot. 173 00:10:26,266 --> 00:10:29,709 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth 174 00:10:29,751 --> 00:10:33,233 and possessions and power to enjoy them and 175 00:10:33,233 --> 00:10:36,133 to accept his lot and to rejoice in his toil. 176 00:10:36,133 --> 00:10:39,133 This is the gift of God. 177 00:10:40,866 --> 00:10:43,120 He will not remember much the days of his 178 00:10:43,162 --> 00:10:45,566 life because God keeps him occupied with joy 179 00:10:45,566 --> 00:10:46,366 in his heart. 180 00:10:48,833 --> 00:10:50,866 What's the difference between part one and part two? 181 00:10:51,666 --> 00:10:52,566 Did you hear it? 182 00:10:53,333 --> 00:10:53,966 Gift of God. 183 00:10:54,833 --> 00:10:55,933 God giving. 184 00:10:56,533 --> 00:10:57,566 God providing. 185 00:10:58,466 --> 00:11:01,866 God's gift changes everything. 186 00:11:01,866 --> 00:11:05,044 Food and drink and rest and work and 187 00:11:05,086 --> 00:11:08,566 money and wealth, it changes everything. 188 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:13,103 When you hear the word gift of God, your mind 189 00:11:13,145 --> 00:11:15,466 should immediately go to the greatest gift 190 00:11:15,466 --> 00:11:16,333 of all is Jesus. 191 00:11:18,166 --> 00:11:20,488 And what He has done is sometimes 192 00:11:20,530 --> 00:11:22,266 expressed in money terms. 193 00:11:23,533 --> 00:11:25,523 Not with silver or gold, but with His holy 194 00:11:25,565 --> 00:11:27,500 precious blood and innocent suffering and 195 00:11:27,500 --> 00:11:27,833 death. 196 00:11:28,933 --> 00:11:31,193 He sends Judas on his way who will 197 00:11:31,235 --> 00:11:33,733 get 30 pieces of silver to betray Him. 198 00:11:35,666 --> 00:11:37,776 And when Jesus is on the cross, 199 00:11:37,818 --> 00:11:39,700 what's going on beneath Him? 200 00:11:41,133 --> 00:11:43,133 Gambling for His clothes. 201 00:11:46,033 --> 00:11:50,866 Many believe that Jesus died naked on the cross. 202 00:11:52,433 --> 00:11:55,033 He has taken our nakedness. 203 00:11:56,033 --> 00:11:58,613 He has taken the hold that money may have 204 00:11:58,655 --> 00:12:01,400 on us, how tightly we have held on it to our 205 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:02,033 own evil. 206 00:12:06,033 --> 00:12:10,267 And He's replaced it with forgiveness 207 00:12:10,309 --> 00:12:13,233 and life and redeeming us. 208 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:16,900 He has bought us once again. 209 00:12:18,066 --> 00:12:20,100 The greatest gift of all. 210 00:12:21,466 --> 00:12:24,385 But notice, Solomon isn't 211 00:12:24,427 --> 00:12:28,333 talking so much about that gift. 212 00:12:29,466 --> 00:12:32,766 He's talking about the gift of food 213 00:12:32,808 --> 00:12:36,333 and drink and rest and work and money. 214 00:12:38,033 --> 00:12:39,633 All of it is a gift from God. 215 00:12:41,233 --> 00:12:46,533 So this morning, I brought in a gift box. 216 00:12:48,833 --> 00:12:52,000 This is my gift box. 217 00:12:52,933 --> 00:12:58,590 And I want to show you how Jesus has redeemed 218 00:12:58,632 --> 00:13:03,833 for good, for enjoyment, and rejoicing the 219 00:13:03,833 --> 00:13:05,266 simple things of life. 220 00:13:06,766 --> 00:13:11,738 My wife and I have recently begun putting 221 00:13:11,780 --> 00:13:16,433 together jigsaw puzzles in the evening. 222 00:13:16,933 --> 00:13:21,133 No TV, phones put off to the side, maybe some music. 223 00:13:21,966 --> 00:13:22,966 And we just sit there. 224 00:13:23,766 --> 00:13:25,333 It's a simple little activity. 225 00:13:26,433 --> 00:13:28,816 Sometimes I'll say something like, I haven't 226 00:13:28,858 --> 00:13:31,066 put a piece in for the last five minutes. 227 00:13:31,733 --> 00:13:33,642 Or, oh that's that piece I was looking 228 00:13:33,684 --> 00:13:35,333 for sitting right in front of me. 229 00:13:36,366 --> 00:13:39,666 Well, the puzzle we did most recently is this one. 230 00:13:42,333 --> 00:13:43,833 It's a picture of the resurrection. 231 00:13:44,766 --> 00:13:46,266 It's actually a very difficult puzzle. 232 00:13:46,366 --> 00:13:48,415 It had seven different shaped pieces 233 00:13:48,457 --> 00:13:50,433 and they didn't match up very well. 234 00:13:52,333 --> 00:13:54,700 But you know what the easiest part was to do? 235 00:13:56,566 --> 00:13:57,533 The resurrection. 236 00:13:58,133 --> 00:13:59,666 We could find those pieces quickly. 237 00:13:59,666 --> 00:14:01,300 You know what was hardest? 238 00:14:02,566 --> 00:14:06,600 The darkness, the vanity, the death. 239 00:14:08,566 --> 00:14:13,343 In a way, this picture of His cross and resurrection 240 00:14:13,385 --> 00:14:17,566 reminded me that the rest and the relationship 241 00:14:17,566 --> 00:14:21,838 with my wife Sue was a gift of God, 242 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:25,833 redeemed by Jesus, to rejoice in. 243 00:14:31,666 --> 00:14:33,000 I mentioned my wife Sue. 244 00:14:33,633 --> 00:14:36,733 She was a registered nurse for 41 years. 245 00:14:37,866 --> 00:14:40,233 I went out to the box where we keep some of her key safes. 246 00:14:40,300 --> 00:14:42,866 This is her nursing cap from Valparaiso University. 247 00:14:44,066 --> 00:14:45,708 She wore this a couple times, but 248 00:14:45,750 --> 00:14:47,333 nurses don't wear these anymore. 249 00:14:48,266 --> 00:14:51,378 At the end of her career as a nurse, before she retired in 250 00:14:51,420 --> 00:14:54,466 2019, she worked for the Missouri Regional Poison Center. 251 00:14:55,133 --> 00:14:57,366 She worked the late shift and the night shift. 252 00:14:58,566 --> 00:15:02,098 She'd be toiling, as Solomon would say, late 253 00:15:02,140 --> 00:15:05,633 into the night, and when her shift was over, 254 00:15:05,633 --> 00:15:08,133 she would sometimes chart for another two hours. 255 00:15:09,533 --> 00:15:11,000 It would leave her exhausted. 256 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:16,008 But working for the Poison Center where people would call 257 00:15:16,050 --> 00:15:18,800 in because their kids ate something they shouldn't have, 258 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:23,666 or grandpa took his blood pressure medicine twice, 259 00:15:24,933 --> 00:15:26,580 or an emergency room calls in 260 00:15:26,622 --> 00:15:28,600 because somebody did an overdose, 261 00:15:30,633 --> 00:15:33,300 she would sometimes say lightheartedly, 262 00:15:34,366 --> 00:15:37,179 well, it's time for me to log on to the computer 263 00:15:37,221 --> 00:15:39,666 and the phones and go save people's lives. 264 00:15:44,133 --> 00:15:47,666 Now, she meant it as a little lighthearted, but it was true. 265 00:15:49,266 --> 00:15:50,984 She assisted in saving people's 266 00:15:51,026 --> 00:15:52,400 lives. That was her work. 267 00:15:52,566 --> 00:15:55,697 She toiled hard on it, and there is 268 00:15:55,739 --> 00:15:58,733 a certain joy in that gift of God. 269 00:15:59,733 --> 00:16:01,766 And now she's retired for five years. 270 00:16:01,866 --> 00:16:05,833 We have four grandchildren, ages 17 to three. 271 00:16:07,033 --> 00:16:08,796 And when one of those grandkids 272 00:16:08,838 --> 00:16:10,866 gets sick, you know who gets called? 273 00:16:11,966 --> 00:16:12,800 Grandma does. 274 00:16:13,133 --> 00:16:15,000 Hey, can we give this medicine to Vera? 275 00:16:15,300 --> 00:16:16,533 We've already given her this one. 276 00:16:17,966 --> 00:16:20,050 Hey, Grayson isn't feeling well today. Can 277 00:16:20,092 --> 00:16:22,266 he stay at home with you while I go to work? 278 00:16:23,966 --> 00:16:26,275 All those years you toiled are now 279 00:16:26,317 --> 00:16:28,666 coming back as a time of rejoicing. 280 00:16:29,433 --> 00:16:30,966 It's a gift of God. 281 00:16:31,733 --> 00:16:33,833 Our work is a gift from God. 282 00:16:35,366 --> 00:16:39,866 Jesus redeems it. He redeems it. 283 00:16:40,566 --> 00:16:41,966 All right, a simple one. 284 00:16:44,333 --> 00:16:46,066 He mentions food and drink. 285 00:16:47,633 --> 00:16:53,242 So my wife and I don't eat much anymore, but we go 286 00:16:53,284 --> 00:16:59,266 out to Chick-fil-A or Wendy's or McDonald's or Arby's. 287 00:16:59,266 --> 00:17:02,541 Maybe if we're really feeling rich, 288 00:17:02,583 --> 00:17:06,266 we'll go to Cracker Barrel or Bandana's. 289 00:17:08,700 --> 00:17:11,715 But when we're at a restaurant, and at home too, 290 00:17:11,757 --> 00:17:14,500 but we're at a restaurant, the food arrives. 291 00:17:15,866 --> 00:17:19,792 And we hold each other's hands, and we say a prayer 292 00:17:19,834 --> 00:17:23,266 of thanks no matter what restaurant we're in. 293 00:17:24,333 --> 00:17:27,614 It is a moment to remember that 294 00:17:27,656 --> 00:17:30,666 the food is God's gift to us. 295 00:17:31,266 --> 00:17:35,733 It is for us to enjoy and to rejoice in it. 296 00:17:36,566 --> 00:17:40,366 Jesus redeems our eating and our drinking. 297 00:17:43,066 --> 00:17:47,866 And one more. Paul says in Timothy, 298 00:17:50,033 --> 00:17:52,866 Now there is great gain in godliness and contentment. 299 00:17:53,733 --> 00:17:56,401 But if we have food and clothing, 300 00:17:56,443 --> 00:17:58,833 with these we will be content. 301 00:18:00,066 --> 00:18:02,344 As for the rich in the present age, by the 302 00:18:02,386 --> 00:18:04,866 way, here in America we are really quite rich. 303 00:18:06,866 --> 00:18:11,084 Charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty 304 00:18:11,126 --> 00:18:15,266 of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 305 00:18:16,233 --> 00:18:19,007 They are to do good, to be rich in good 306 00:18:19,049 --> 00:18:21,933 works, to be generous and ready to share. 307 00:18:24,333 --> 00:18:26,633 Generous and ready to share with our wealth. 308 00:18:28,966 --> 00:18:30,566 This is a collection basket. 309 00:18:32,100 --> 00:18:35,142 I want this to represent any organization that 310 00:18:35,184 --> 00:18:38,266 helps somebody in need, anybody that's in need. 311 00:18:38,266 --> 00:18:45,175 Toys for tots, Lutherans for life, Lutheran hour ministries, Lutheran Indian, St. Jude's 312 00:18:45,217 --> 00:18:52,166 hospital, Ronald McDonald house, Red Cross, anybody that's doing something to help those. 313 00:18:53,133 --> 00:18:56,337 Disaster relief. Your home church. 314 00:18:56,379 --> 00:18:59,066 Concordia seminary. Whatever. 315 00:19:00,166 --> 00:19:05,933 We now live in an emoji age. So I brought a happy face. 316 00:19:08,366 --> 00:19:10,327 God gives us our riches so 317 00:19:10,369 --> 00:19:12,833 that we give some of them away. 318 00:19:14,366 --> 00:19:16,266 He loves a cheerful giver. 319 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:22,636 And when we give, it is an opportunity to enjoy what 320 00:19:22,678 --> 00:19:27,266 we have and to rejoice in it as we share with those. 321 00:19:28,366 --> 00:19:32,566 Alright, that's my gift box. 322 00:19:34,666 --> 00:19:39,000 What's in your gift box? What's in your gift box? 323 00:19:42,266 --> 00:19:46,166 Ecclesiastes simply said that God's gift 324 00:19:46,208 --> 00:19:50,533 changes everything. Jesus changes everything. 325 00:19:51,500 --> 00:19:52,933 He redeems it. 326 00:19:54,633 --> 00:19:57,900 And when He does, it's no longer meaningless. 327 00:19:57,900 --> 00:20:02,366 It's not vanity. Sure death is going to come and poof. 328 00:20:02,866 --> 00:20:07,354 But what are we holding onto? We're holding 329 00:20:07,396 --> 00:20:11,100 onto Jesus because he holds onto us. 330 00:20:11,900 --> 00:20:17,800 And that changes everything. Amen. 331 00:20:19,233 --> 00:20:23,179 Now may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding fill our 332 00:20:23,221 --> 00:20:27,266 hearts and minds with the gifts of God and our thankfulness and joy. 333 00:20:27,900 --> 00:20:28,366 Amen.