Heavenly Father, Lord, we come before you this morning for we are drawn near to you by your Spirit. Each one of us, Lord, has come not of our own merit, not of our own accord, but because your Spirit draws us in worship. Lord, we gather this day in this place to worship you, the only true and living God, for there is no other. And Lord, we long to be obedient to our King, but we cannot do so without your help. Holy Spirit, strengthen us, quicken us by the word. Renew our minds and our hearts. Make our spirit clean and pure in your truth. Lord, we ask this morning that your people would be edified by the preaching of your word, and that the Lord Jesus, your beloved Son, would be glorified in it. Lord, we confess our sin before you, knowing that you are a righteous and holy God, and knowing where we stand in our wretchedness. But praise be to you, Father, you have cleansed us from all unrighteousness. For upon our confession you are quick to forgive and redeem us as your people. We love you and thank you and ask that in this time you sanctify us in your love and grace and mercy. And we ask this in your son's precious name. Amen. Please turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 3, please follow along beginning at verse 9. Beginning at verse 9. What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceive that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live. Also, that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil. This is God's gift to man. I perceive that whatever God does endures forever. Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it so that people fear before him. That which is already has been. That which is to be already has been. And God seeks what has been driven away. Praise be to God for his word. What is reality? We hear this term a lot, but why? Why is this word reality used in the way it is and so frequently? It is because the world as we live in it is in darkness. Thus, we need to clarify, we need a qualifier to decide what is actually true. The world as we know it and live in it and perceive it resides in a fallen state. That is reality. Reality is defined as the quality or state of being real, actual fact. It is, in essence, truth. The term reality is synonymous with being or existent or substance. Again, something that alludes to being real. And the phrase in reality, or realistically speaking, is again used as a qualifier to tell or convey things that actually are. To shine the light of truth on a darkened world. And this is what this morning's message is all about, the reality of our existence. Now, as we survey this present existence, we're going to review just what is worthwhile regarding the tasks and activities that we perform in this life, the focus of our enjoyment and our good, both by and in what God has given to us, as well as we consider what God has ordained to occur during our life on this earth, and then, of course, beyond. And because of this, we should gain a deeper understanding of who God is, what he is doing, and why he is doing it. Now we're into the second chapter, excuse me, the second half of Ecclesiastes chapter three, and this is a continuation of Solomon's proclamation regarding the sovereignty of God. In Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse one, we read, for everything there is a season and time for every matter under heaven. So it's natural to answer the question in this case when it comes to a season and time for every purpose under heaven that is lived on earth, who is the one that determines and appoints these things that happen? Now it is clearly the one who has created all things, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the true and living God, for there is no other. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verses 2 through 8 lists 14 pairs of times or seasons that occur in life. And in verse 2 we read, there's a time to be born and a time to die. Now of course we perceive that this is the reality in life on this earth. We have a beginning and an end. People are born and people die. Yet that's just a small measurement of our existence, and it's not entirely our reality. Even though it describes life on earth, it does not describe our entire existence. It falls far short of our true reality. For our true reality is our existence in eternity. So we must keep this truth in focus as we proceed through the passage this morning. So let's begin in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verses 9 through 11, which reads, what gain has the worker from his toil? I've seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. So the question asked once again, what gain is there in our labors in this world? What do we get from work? What is attained from toil? As we established previously, it is God that has created us for work. Not only are we created for work, but we are to busy ourselves with work. And it is because our work is made beautiful in the time that God has ordained it. As we read at the beginning of the chapter, there is a time and purpose for all things under heaven. And God is the one that decrees just what comes to pass. And He does all this according to His perfect will, according to His purposes. Furthermore, His creation is eternal. Creation was never meant to end. And it is in this very truth that defines life. Life More specifically, the breath of life, which is our spirit, was established by God, and it was never meant to end. And God exists outside of his creation. He even exists outside of time. Now, we cannot even begin to comprehend an existence before time. We come up with terms that describe our understanding of it. We call it eternity past. We cannot reconcile, however, in our finite minds We cannot fully understand an existence before time was created. Nor can we comprehend time truly without end. Though we also call this eternity. We know that it goes on and on and on without end. And you see, we work and we work every day. And our toil, our labors are not merely just simply our jobs or employment. we also work in many different facets of life, both at home and outside the home and what have you. And Solomon, the preacher here, asks the question, what do we gain from all this? Again, recognizing the context of Solomon posing this question, he is searching to satisfy his soul. And to satisfy the soul means to be at rest, true rest, A lasting rest. The soul is to be at peace. To attain complete rest. Rest from vexation and struggle and toil. This is the rest of true satisfaction. The satisfaction of rest that God himself experienced on the seventh day. That is the rest in view here. perfect rest. And on earth, Solomon asked, what do we gain from all our work, our struggles and our toils? Do we gain anything? Do we gain any ground unto this rest of the soul? Now this is to say that, not to say that the end result of earthly efforts don't bring us anything, for there's clearly earthly benefits to our labors. We accomplish tasks, we check boxes off the list. We move the proverbial ball forward and we progress and we are productive. We earn a paycheck. But what is the eternal benefit of all this work? For Solomon says it's meaningless. It's vanity. It doesn't rest our souls. And why? Because we never truly get rest from it. It doesn't satisfy. It doesn't give us true rest. because it's perpetual, and it continues until we die. Yet it's clear that God has created us to work. And so we are to be busy with work, and this is a good thing, to busy ourselves with the activities of daily living. We're not told to be sluggards or sloths. We're not called to laziness. Rather, we are called to exert ourselves in a productive manner, for there is work to be done. Please understand when I say a productive manner, I don't mean by the world's standards. The context of our work in life, even though it's done on earth, is always in Christ. And our goal as Christians is not to conduct ourselves in the world simply to collect worldly possessions. Solomon already dealt with this in previous chapters. His conclusion again was vanity, that all of these pursuits to gather meaningless materialistic items is worthless and meaningless. But we are called to a productive life. And we do so because our work, as the Lord says, is made beautiful in its time. And why? It is because what we accomplish in life is according to God's purposes that he has ordained to come to pass. And this is highlighted by the fact that God has prepared these things for us, so that we may walk in them, that we may do them. That's Ephesians 2.10. These things are made beautiful because he has ordained them. This hearkens back to what we read earlier in the chapter, that all things have a season. There's a time and purpose for all things under heaven. This clearly speaks to God's sovereignty in time and in history to bring things to pass, all done according to his divine will. He is doing this. Why? What are these things leading up to? Every purpose under heaven is being accomplished moment by moment, and it's building towards something. But what? Eternity. Eternity. All things are pressing onward toward eternity. A time without end. Creation is eternal. It is eternal because it was created by an eternal being. God is eternal. His name is I Am. And he has always been. Thus it follows that our existence was to be created to live forever. When God breathes life into Adam and then Eve, when he created life, life was never meant to end. There is eternity to our existence, and we read here that God has put eternity into man's heart, so much that it is part of our being, that we both understand and have a longing to live and to live forever. Remember, sin brought about death, and death brings about the end of life. That is life on this earth as we know it, but that is only the perception of the world. For you see, our existence does not end at death. It is not the end in reality. Our existence continues after death. There is so much more in the hereafter. And it exists in one of two manners, eternal life or eternal death. And by saying eternal death, we must understand that this is not annihilationism, as the world would believe. That is the belief that we cease to be, we cease to exist, which is complete falsehood. There's no such thing as annihilationism, realistically speaking. But there, however, is such a thing as eternal death and destruction. And the way we understand this, the way to view this, is in the light of eternal life. For eternal life is lived in the complete Sabbath rest of Christ. It is lived in the rest God experienced on the seventh day. It is the satisfied soul at peace. So much that the world has adopted a saying that when someone dies, what do people generally say? rest in peace. This refers to the end of vexation and pain and struggle and suffering, things we experienced in this life on earth. Eternal life, however, is lived in this perfect rest. Even when the work done in eternity is performed in this rest from strife and struggle so much so that there is full enjoyment even in work. Conversely, eternal death is the culmination of all suffering and anguish compounded because it never ends. It is eternal suffering where every moment is excruciating pain and anguish without a moment of rest or relief. The Bible refers to weeping and gnashing of teeth, a horrible, terrible existence that does not end, ever. This eternal existence that God has created us in is part of our being. It's in our hearts so that we know it exists. We can feel it, though we don't fully comprehend it. And we cannot comprehend an existence before time. And we cannot fathom a time without end. But we know it's a reality. We know there's more to this life. Because God has placed it in our soul. The knowledge that this life is not all there is, for there is so much more. And we know that God exists out of time, for he is the one that created it. Yet we cannot comprehend God's existence before time. What did he do? That's always the question. If he existed outside of time, but what did he do before? It doesn't matter because he's outside of time. And so we think in these terms. And that is why we live in this paradigm of beginning and end, of birth and death. But that is such a small measurement of time in comparison to eternity. And that's what we must keep in focus when we consider our life in Christ eternal. We're not living for this life. We're living for beyond. Yet while we have time on this earth, we are to work. And God has given us benefits to working and living on the earth. Now what gift has God given us to work and live life on this earth? In Ecclesiastes 3, chapter 3, verses 12 through 13 tells us, I perceived, this is Solomon, I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live. also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil. This is God's gift to man. This text addresses just what our pursuit of work should be. If you're wondering how you should approach life and what it has to offer living on this earth pertaining to its activities, here's your answer. The best thing in life is joy and to do good. To be joyful in life and its activities and to do not evil, but good. These are the best things in life. To be joyful and to do good. And with that, Solomon highlights a couple things that should be enjoyed regarding this. We are to enjoy eating and drinking. This is not hard to understand. We all, I'm assuming, like to eat and drink. And this is clearly evident in the scriptures because we read about it often. Lastly, we are to take pleasure in all our efforts, our labors. This is not something taught in the world. For the world prefers and promotes a life of ease. This is typically afforded by wealth or money. So that you're always at play. But Christians take pleasure in work because it is God's gift to man. Notice that this gift is given by God. It is not deserved and nor earned. It is given and it is of heaven, not of the world. The world has twisted work into a chore. So let's consider each of these items. The best thing in life is to be joyful and to do good. I've pondered the term joy quite a bit in life, and I've concluded that joy is the ultimate pinnacle of happiness, of being satisfied. It's the ultimate happiness that we experience. It is pure elation. Joy depicts both feeling as well as action. It's celebratory. To take a word from Scripture, it is jubilation. It is both feeling and attitude that is what it means to be joyful. It is a feeling that you are emotionally upbeat, you are happy, you are brimming with gladness. An attitude is in the sense of positivity, but yes, positivity, but also one of thankfulness, of appreciation. And this is conveyed in our conduct. Behaviorally, to be joyful is to be good in mind and action. And joyfulness is born out of a heart of thanksgiving, being thankful to God for the gifts he has given. Remember, every good and perfect gift comes from above. That's James 1.17. God is the giver of all good gifts. And that we are to always have a thankful heart. And in this thankfulness, we have joy. And we are to do good. For Jesus said, if you love me, you will obey my commandments. And good conduct is walking in obedience to Christ. We are all to walk in the good work he has prepared for us to do. This is what causes us to be thankful and joyful because we ourselves cannot cause good to happen. The world's mantras are make a change, or my favorite, be the change. Or you can be anything you want to be, but these are all worthless. They are meaningless when you know the truth. The Christian knows who is sovereign. Thus, we know that we are to strive to walk in the works of God, for these things are indeed good. And we do enjoy eating and drinking and taking pleasure in our work, especially work accomplished. Eating and drinking should be self-explanatory. We should enjoy the sustenance that God provides us each and every day. Of course, in moderation, to not overdo it. But this is why many of us were taught to pray before a meal, growing up, thanking God for our daily bread. We read in the scriptures that wine makes the heart glad, and a full belly satisfies the soul, or excuse me, satisfies the body. But to overdo these things is not only unhealthy, but sinful. To be a glunten or a drunkard, God has given both food and drink to be enjoyed. To nourish the body, yes, but also as a means of fellowship with one another as we gather around the table with others. Notice how this is also tied to joy and thanksgiving. For it is a blessing, and it can be a blessing to sit around the table with others and share a meal. It is a gift also given by God. most exemplified in what we will observe today, the Lord's Table. Fellowshiping with one another and fellowshipping with our Lord. It is a gift of God that we may take pleasure in work, to be productive, to accomplish something in the world is meaningful as long as it is glorifying to God. And a lot of this has to do with our mindset. and how we approach our daily activities and work. It glorifies God when you work every day to provide for your family's needs. For this is good. We work hard as working for the Lord. For that's what we are truly doing, bringing Him glory in every aspect of our lives. There is praise and worship in work. A job provides us what we need to live in this world. Yes, we need money to buy food, to have shelter, transportation, and clothing. These things are necessary for us to live. Likewise, taking care of our home and what has been given us, being good stewards of what God has given us, all good things. And don't be deceived into thinking that menial tasks are worthless or looked down upon. Taking care of a home and taking care of your family, raising and teaching children, emptying the trash, all these things are of vital importance. They are good and they bring God glory because we are to value what God has given us. That is being good stewards of the things that we have in this life. So don't disregard these things as the world does. It is God's gift for us to take pleasure in these things and enjoy the fruits of our labors. And speaking of the one who gives good gifts, when we look at the things in life that occur, it's very important as Christians that we understand God is the one that has done it. Ecclesiastes chapter three verses 14 through 15 says, I perceived that whatever God does endures forever. Nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. God has done it so that people fear before him. That which is already has been. That which is to be already has been. And God seeks what has been driven away. The first thing we must recognize about this teaching is that God's work endures forever. It cannot be changed, added to, or taken away from. And we see this from our individual human perspective as time passes us by. We understand that God has ordained things to come to pass and there's nothing that we can do to change what has taken place. For it is by his divine decree that things happen. Man cannot change nor alter what is to take place or what has taken place. All these things come to pass exactly how God has intended. And Solomon's observation is very clear. God has done it. All things come from him. All things happen by his hand. This is reiterated over and over, time and time again, in the word of God. God is at work in history. He is at work. He is the one who brings things about. All things come from him, and as such, his power, his abilities, They enable him to do all things, and thus people should fear. And rightly so. So as an all-powerful, all-knowing, always-present God should be feared. For he is righteous and holy and perfect in all that he does. And we read this before, we've read this before in Solomon's observances. There's nothing new under the sun. There's nothing new to this in the world. That which is already has been, that which will be has already been. There's nothing new under the sun. The world continues as it is. God is actively seeking that which has gone astray because of the fall. There is a reversal. He's seeking that which was lost, that which was corrupted, seeking that which has been driven away from his presence. This is God's divine act of reconciliation. God is actively working, reconciling all things to himself. So looking at each one of these items individually, first, what God does endures forever. That is to say, God's work is perfect. And as it is perfect, it cannot be improved upon, nor can it be diluted. What God does, he does with ultimate knowledge and wisdom, and he makes no mistakes. There's no better way to do it than God's way. It is done in perfection. And as such, his work endures forever. just as his word stands forever and will never fade away. The scriptures testify to God's endurance throughout eternity. The flower withers, the grass fades, but the word of God remains forever. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Over and over, again and again, in the word of God, we read the phrase forever and ever. Time and time again, we are reminded of how God is not only eternal, but that what he does is eternal. And everything God has ordained, all that comes to pass will, without fail, endure forever. Not to change or be added to or taken from. This is an essential doctrine that Christians must understand. God is the one that has done these things, and as such, they cannot be thwarted. God scoffs at the plans of man. I sometimes wonder or ponder his perspective, especially when Christ walked among us, knowing the hearts of man. God scoffs at our plans. Believing those who craft these ideas in their heads as to what they will do. Believing they have the power to do as they choose. Man's rebellion against God is futile. It is as ridiculous as an ant believing it will stand against a human foot. And that's not even a fair comparison. God's abilities are without bound. and his powers are matchless, for there's no end to what he can do. That should cause us to fear. That should cause all people everywhere to fear. Not only can he do all things, but he knows all things. The word uttered under your breath the act done in secret, the thought in your mind. He knows them all. He sees them all. He perceives all. That should cause all people to fear. And why? Because we are all accountable to our Creator. The world and its ways do not change. That which is and that which is to be has already been. This is a reiteration of what we read in Ecclesiastes chapter 1. There's nothing new under the sun. There's nothing new on earth. All things continue as they have in the past, and they will continue the same way into the future. That is, of course, until Christ returns. For upon Jesus' return, the table of the world will be upended. There will be definitely a change, as recorded in Revelation. But in our current existence, all things remain unchanged, and God seeks what has been driven away. As the earth spins on its axis in this revolution around the sun, God has been at work since the fall, seeking what has gone astray. He has gone after what was lost. This is reconciliation, and in 2 Corinthians 5, we read all this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us, his appeal to a fallen world, to be reconciled to God through the Savior. Thus, we implore you on behalf of Christ. We are to employ and implore sinners to be reconciled in Christ and to be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. And this speaks to reconciliation, the work God is doing to bring all things back into order, to bring things back into the way he created them when he called them good. to reconcile the world, and moreover, to reconcile mankind, and all of this is done by the cross of Christ. And when we consider the plan of redemption, we then understand what God has ordained to happen to this world. In 2 Corinthians it says, He entrusted us with the message of reconciliation. That is the message to the world, to be reconciled to God. We consider this plan of redemption and understand God has ordained things to happen in the world to reconcile us. There's work going on. The triune majesty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ratified this plan of redemption, agreed upon before the foundation of the world was laid. The Father designed this plan that the Son would enter His creation to save it. accomplishing that salvation, that act of redemption on the cross, thus reconciling us all who believe. Jesus, at the cross, exchanging His righteous life, perfect before the Father, exchanging it for our wretchedness, our sin, and our debt. He died the death we could not, paid the penalty. He received our wages of sin, but the sin was not his own. Therefore it had no hold over him, no right over his life. And so he is raised forevermore, conquering sin and death and Satan. He ascended to heaven so that the helper would come to all those for whom his blood was shed. That's us. To those whom he purchased by his blood to those he redeemed, to those he reconciled. The Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost and now applies Jesus' redemptive work on the cross. He applies all of that to those for whom it was meant. This plan of redemption that was designed by the Father was accomplished by the Son and is now applied by the Holy Spirit. This has been at work since before the foundation of the world was laid. This was the plan. And God has worked in time and space and throughout history to bring all these things that he has ordained to come to pass. That is why we read The redeemed have had their names written in his book. Every one of them written in the book of life since before the earth was ever formed. This plan was created and ratified to bring glory to the Godhead eternal. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three in one, perfectly glorifying each other, glorifying God together. And we as believers, now we have the same unity with the Godhead in Jesus. We have unity with God, even though we were once far off, driven away by our sin. And we read of this in the high priestly prayer of Christ in John 17. Christians, we must understand that God is the one bringing us back. He is the one who seeks what was lost. And in John chapter 10, he is called the chief shepherd, the one who is gathering his flock. And his flock know his voice and listen and follow. If you are a professing Christian, you listen to the voice of Christ. And by that, I mean you listen to what his word, the Bible, says. For God does not speak as he did in the past. Divine revelation has been closed. Yes, but God continually speaks by and through his word. And his sheep, his true followers, genuine believers in his gospel, will listen and will follow. Well, this morning we've touched on a number of wonderful doctrines regarding eternity, of God's gift to us in this life and on this earth, as to what we are to enjoy and what we should pursue in life. And furthermore, how we are to conduct ourselves. And also the fundamental understanding and glorious truth that God is indeed at work. That it is God that has done this. God has done all these things to bring about our salvation. And why? For his glory. so that he would receive all praise due for his work. And in reading these things, they should cause us to straighten up and view our lives on this earth, not in the way the world perceives life, the day-in-day-grind, in and out, for a measly paycheck in the pursuit of some pleasure. There's so much more, and our minds should be fixed on eternity, because that is our true home. with Christ forever. But rather, as we started this sermon, to view the world and our existence in its reality, we need to understand and view our existence through the lens of the Bible. Because the Bible is truth. And to aid us in this, this will lead us to this morning's exhortation, which is, look to the unseen eternal things. In 2 Corinthians 4, verses 13 through 18, we read, since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, I believed and so I spoke. We also believe and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. This is reality. This is our reality, for it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God. So do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Reality. We've talked about reality a lot this morning. But it is vitally important to distinguish between the reality of living life in the world and the reality of our eternal existence. We have to get beyond this life because the Bible speaks beyond this life. Last Sunday was Resurrection Sunday, Easter Sunday, and Ryan delivered a sermon titled, The Reality of the Resurrection. It happened. The tomb is still empty. In Christ, resurrection means something. Christians, as we view life in this world, we must view it in its reality. And the reality is spelled out in the Word of God. This world is covered in a thick veil of darkness. A thick veil of darkness. And we in Christ, we are to be the salt and light of the world. As we read of in Matthew 5, We are to speak the truth of the gospel to everyone that we can, praying for opportunities to share the truth of the gospel with others. We are to shine a light in the ever-growing, darker world. Light gives sight. It illuminates the path. It shows the way so that we may see the reality of what surrounds us. Salt is a preservative. Salt delays decay, just like we see the world decaying. You put salt on meat to cure it, to preserve it from spoiling. In fact, salt can even aid in cooking and preparing meat for consumption. And the Lord, in his marvelous wisdom, has given us these examples as to know what we are to be, for he knows what's in the dark world. And there's no mistake, the world is in sin and darkness, and we must remind ourselves of this. The world is very seductive. The powers of darkness know us well. But we have been gifted the truth of the gospel. We no longer walk around in darkness, oblivious to what is happening around us. We have been given the light of Christ so that we may see the truth and the reality of our existence. And here in 2 Corinthians 4, the apostle encourages us to not lose heart in this life. He says, though your body, your flesh is wasting away, your spirit, your inmost being is being renewed day after day after day. This is reality. This is the truth of what's occurring in our existence. Yes, this flesh will die, but it will be replaced and made unperishable, made new at the resurrection, never to perish, but to go on forever. That's our reality. A body like the resurrected Christ and the reality of what Ryan had said last Sunday, what took place over 2,000 years ago, it has a meaning for us today. It guarantees that we too will be resurrected. And until such time, we are being renewed by the Spirit day after day. We are sustained by God's strength and power to continue in this life. Yes, in life we are vexed and we struggle constantly, but this is a light momentary affliction. Think about it. This is a light momentary affliction. Light meaning it is not even severe. Momentary because it's passing away. It is a vapor, a mist. Life is something that is here one moment and then gone. Life is short. Yet our pain, our struggles have a purpose. Our afflictions in this life do serve a purpose. And we're told here because they serve a purpose because they are producing, they are preparing for us an eternal weight of glory. It's intrinsic, it's measurable, and it's correlated to our affliction. This suffering is producing a certain weight of glory, a certain amount of glory beyond all comparison in regard to what we are suffering and going through in our affliction, which is light. Notice the tipping of the scale here. Our current affliction is light, but the glory is of heavy weight. Our suffering is momentary, yet our reward of glory is eternal. Which way does the scale of God tip in our favor? It is by His grace and mercy and steadfast love. That is eternal and never-ending. Therefore, let us not look to the transient things of this world. Let's not focus our hearts on these things that are seen. We must lock our gaze on the things that are unseen, the things that we read of in the scriptures, the things that are eternal, so that we make our pursuits in life, our efforts, our exertions in this world, We make them of eternal value, storing up treasure in heaven. Live life in this world, yes, but live life abundantly beyond the kingdom of this world as that is the reality of our existence in Jesus. To him be the glory forever and ever, amen and amen. Let's pray. Oh Father, these glorious truths are overwhelming. For our minds cannot comprehend what you have in store for those who love you. Father, we confess we fail and falter and stumble in this world. But praise be to you, Father, for you have not abandoned us nor forsaken us. You have given us the gift of yourself in Christ, and you have given us a helper in the Holy Spirit, never to leave us, always sanctifying us. Lord, we know this is true because your word tells us so. And we ask all the more, Lord, that you would increase the measure of our faith daily, that we would feed on the bread of heaven, that we would be washed clean and pure by your word, and that we would abide in Christ always. Holy Spirit, strengthen us. For we know in our weakness, your strength is perfected. We love you and we thank you and fear you. In Jesus' name we ask all these things. Amen.