It's my privilege to introduce now Brother Joe Willis. Why don't you come on up here and appreciate the message that he preached in the Sunday school. And I know he's going to bring a good message for us this morning. Brother, preach a word. Thank you, brother. Some people ask, Brother Willis, why are you so red? Are you embarrassed to be here? No. I was down at Fort Sill, Oklahoma just two days ago, and they had a graduation ceremony for about 450 basic trainees. And we were outside in the sun and the wind for about an hour and a half or so. And I came back, and I'm like, wow. I got some sun out there. I didn't realize you get sunburnt in October, but I guess it's possible. So we're so glad you're here today. Thank you, Pastor, for this opportunity. And I don't take it lightly. Any time a pastor will give up his pulpit for a stranger to come in. But I praise the Lord for this opportunity to get to know you folks and to worship with you. And I praise the Lord for that. And so if you were not here for Sunday school this morning, I basically showed you, told them about what FBFI is all about as a fellowship and the importance of FBFI not only as that fellowship out there but as the a publisher, as Pastor already mentioned, for Frontline Magazine. Let me just encourage you, if you've never seen Frontline Magazine, or if this is the first time you're hearing about it, there are plenty, plenty copies on the table, and if they run out, I've got an entire box underneath. And they do, they hit on very pertinent topics about the day in which we live. And so, and not to replace the Bible, but to go alongside exactly what the word of God would say, and to be able to make the application as it pertains to these particular topics. You know, preaching without an application is not preaching. And so you need to be able to say, how do I apply this word of God to my life? And sometimes the magazines like this can be very helpful to say, hey, you know, they're not to do the thinking for you, but to just give you some thoughts to say this is the truth pertaining to some of these topics. So, and if you say, hey, you know what? I really like this. How could I get something like this into my home? Inside every one of these somewhere is a subscription form and so you could fill that out and send it in or go online and For that small cost have this come to your house multiple times a year also on that back table there's a lot of information regarding the chaplaincy, which I am the endorser for FBFI as well as the national recruiter so we have information about what it takes to be a military chaplain and And then also local community, police department, fire department, hospital, hospice. People say, do you guys have any limits to where you can serve in a local community as a chaplain? I said, we don't make those limitations. That's God's business. But I will tell you this, it's amazing how I see how God works. We got a chaplain right now up in Chicago who is a chaplain for the Secret Service. And so I thought, I didn't know the Secret Service wanted chaplains. They do. And he's being able to serve up there in a tremendous way. And it's quite a blessing. And we have that. And so if there's any questions that you would have about the chaplains, I covered a lot of stuff during Sunday school. But if you have any questions, please just stop by and ask me. And then also, there's a prayer card for us as we're out and about doing this ministry. I really covered your prayers and how the Lord would use us to be in churches and colleges and seminaries and different places so that we're able to share this wonderful opportunity but also to share the word of God, you know, because at the base, at the heart, I'm just a pastor. And so I just want to be able to have opportunities to share the word of God and to preach wherever God would open the door for me to do so. Hey, I hope you'll come back tonight. Tonight, we're gonna be in the word of God again, but this morning I shared about the chaplaincy. This evening, I'd like to share just a little personal testimony of how I got saved years ago in Germany, where I was stationed and how the Lord brought that about, just an exciting time, and then how the Lord just kind of worked in a way that, you know, it's amazing how the Lord works in our lives, right? And sometimes if he was to ever show us the future, I think it would scare us to death, and I'm glad he doesn't do that, but I can now look back and say, Lord, thank you for directing my steps the way that you did, for bringing the people across my path the way that you did, so that I was able to hear the gospel, to hear the truth, to accept that truth, and to make a difference in my life for all eternity, amen? Turn your Bibles this morning, we're going right back to James chapter four, where we left off this morning. We talked about the way up is down, and James chapter four, those first several passages, not gonna go back and re-preach that, but I am going to basically take you to the end of this chapter here, of chapter four, and we're gonna begin in verse 13. And before I do, as you're getting there, let me ask you a question. Does this church support missionaries? Why? Right. But why? Why do we support missions? Why do we allow evangelists to come in and share the truth? Why do we take of our hard-earned money and say, here, we give this to you for the propagation of the gospel? And why do we do it in this time and age? And here's a bigger question. Why do we do it with such urgency? Is it urgent? Is there an urgent message that must be proclaimed? The answer is absolutely. But it's not just to the outermost part of the earth, is it? I mean, Acts 1.8 makes it very clear that we shall receive power and to be able to go into our Jerusalem and to Judea and to our Samaria and to the outermost part of the earth. But can I tell you, regardless of whether it's the outermost part of the earth or whether it's our Jerusalem, we have an urgent message. Is that true? Yeah, I think so, and I think that this passage tells us exactly why it's so urgent. Because he begins in verse 13. Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is but a vapor. that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your boasting. All such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, it is sin. But back to verse 14. What is your life? It is but a vapor. I will tell you this, as I was sharing with them this morning, I've been a chaplain for 25 years. I've been in the ministry pushing over 30 years now. And I have spent my time in cemeteries. I have buried way too many of our fine American soldiers and sailors, airmen. And as I spend time in cemeteries, many times I begin, as I would walk around, I would begin to read those tombstones. Sometimes I actually enjoy it. I know people think I'm a little weird, but I actually like walking into tombstones and reading. It's quite historical, quite frankly. to be standing beside the tombstone of guys like Benjamin Franklin or John F. Kennedy and stuff like that, and to read what's written on those tombstones. And sometimes you will find that on those tombstones, it tells you about their life. This is a loving father, a loving son, a loving mother. It tells us something like maybe their patriotic epitaphs about them, gave the full measure of sacrifice for our country, things of that nature. Sometimes you read those epitaphs and they can be kind of witty, kind of humorous. Remember the one that used to say this? I told you I was sick. But on the tombstones, it isn't ironic because there is something on the tombstone that you find on at least almost every single one of them. You'll find the date that this person came into this life. And you'll find the date that that person went out of this life, out into eternity. And then right in between, you find this little gap, where you find this little dash. And all of a sudden I got to thinking one day, what is that dash? What does that dash represent? And it dawned on me, that dash represents the entirety of your life. And all of a sudden, James 4, 14 came to life. What is your life? It is but a vapor. Let me say it this way. What is your life? It's but a dash. Bottom line up front, now do you understand why missions is so important? Now do you understand the urgency of being able to get that gospel out into the lives of individuals? Because if this verse is true, then we all need to be very urgent about getting the gospel of Jesus Christ to anybody that we can, amen? Truth of the matter is, life is short. I have a cousin, her name is Isla. Isla, 17 years old. April 29th, 2022. Now if you understand anything about Isla, she is a very, very gifted teenager. She went to school there in eastern Kentucky for a while. And in the process of doing so, her grades were of such a nature to where Vanderbilt University gave her a full ride scholarship to be able to go to their law school, undergrad and grad. Wow. She was also a very gifted athlete. She could have probably gotten just as many scholarships on the athletic side as she could on the academic side. And as a matter of fact, there on April 29, 2022, she was at a tennis match, tennis practice. She left from practice, had called her mom, I'm on my way home, but never got home. Two miles from her house. They have no idea why. But her car veered from the one lane over into the other lane right into the path of a semi-tractor trailer and hit it head on. She was on life support for two days when they finally took her off. And she went out into eternity at 17. Now you compare that to my mother, who in December 20th in 2021, 89 years old, and my mother loved the Lord. And I was there with her as she was getting ready to slip out into eternity, singing to her. Humming her favorite songs every once while she would kind of come back to consciousness and She'd hum along or I'd see her lips moving at those songs. I would quote her scripture and read from the Bible there for her and Eventually there that night about six o'clock in the evening. She took her last breath And slipped off gracefully into eternity To this I say praise the Lord 89 people would say you know what she had a good full life, and I would say yeah But let's stop for a second What's the difference comparing somebody like Isla and my mom at 89? Well You'd say that's pretty long for your mom, but let's put it in perspective if you put it in perspective of eternity 17 or 89 is but a dash. So I really come to here this morning to just challenge you with this thought. What are you doing with that dash? Amen? What are you personally doing with that dash? Now, there's a couple things we need to consider about this death. You do know that there's a couple things that, first of all, we don't have any control over. First of all, you don't have any control over the first date on the tombstone of when you came into eternity, right? You came, by the grace of God, your parents said, we're gonna have you, and we're gonna keep you, we're gonna support you, amen? Aren't you glad they had you? You know, I can't believe we live in a country today to where millions of babies never had that chance. What an atrocity in a country like ours today. But I'm so glad that your parents decided to have you. Amen? And then you would say there's something else you don't have control of. You don't have control over the end date either. If I could call it the expiration date. You don't have control over that either. Now some of you in the back of your mind are saying, now wait a second, Brother Willis. What if I chose to commit suicide and to take my life? Question. Are you in charge of that? Or is God? Oh, God may allow it, but to say, I'm the one who did it. I'll give you a perfect example. I lived in Kansas City there for a while in the ministry, finishing up my Bible degree there in seminary, and in the process of doing so, I taught in a Christian school there. We had a family in our church there, and the dad was in finance, in the business world in finance. And in that particular business that he owned, all of a sudden, there came a huge amount of money missing. He knew that he was going to be implicated for embezzlement. And he didn't like the whole process of that. So as he normally did, he went out to the park to have his lunch. But on this particular day, he reached into his glove compartment and pulled out a pistol. And in doing so, he put the pistol at his head and pulled the trigger and went off into eternity, right? No, he didn't. No, I won't tell you his name, but he lived 15 more years. But he was blind because the bullet went right straight through. How it didn't kill him, I have no idea. But it went right straight through and severed both of his optical nerves. And in the process, he was blind, but he lived for 15 years later. Wait a second, who's in control of this thing called death? God is. So we understand, first of all, in this whole thing of death, there's a couple things we don't have control over. However, by God's grace, there are a couple things that we, there are a couple choices that we have to seriously consider. For instance, question, where will you spend eternity? See, we have to, while we're living in this thing called the dash, God gives us, listen, he gives us a choice. Are you ready? He gives you and I a choice of where we will spend eternity. And just so we're, make sure we're on the same page here. There's only two options when it comes to this thing of eternity. There's a place called heaven and there's a place called hell. And you say, brother, you're in a Bible church. You're in a Baptist church. We know that. Hey, but let me tell you something. I'm a chaplain. And I tell you, as I work with all these different soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, it's amazing all of the things that they will tell you as far as their thoughts and ideas of eternity. Matter of fact, some of these guys go to quote unquote churches that teach that there's this place called purgatory. and things of that nature, a second chance, once that you leave here, and that you'll have a second chance in order to get things right, if they weren't right the first time, or this thing called karma, that if you didn't get things right the first time in this life, then maybe you'll come back. So maybe last year, last life, you were a king. Maybe this life, you're a cockroach. I don't know. But can I tell you, that's a bunch of bunk. That's nonsense. And that definitely does not line up with the word of God, amen? The Bible says that there's only two places, heaven and hell. And the truth of the matter is, once you take your last breath, you are going to spend eternity in either one or the other. But God, in his love and his grace and his mercy, gives you and I a choice of where we would spend in eternity, amen? You say, really? Maybe you're here for the first time, or maybe you're just visiting here, and maybe this is something that you're not used to hearing in your church or whatever, but the reality is that you have to give some thought to this idea of where you're gonna spend eternity. And maybe, maybe you would even have somebody ask you a question like this, ready? If you were to die today, or even five years from now, Are you 100% sure? Not 90, not 80, not 99.9. Are you 100% sure all your sins are forgiven and that you do have a home in heaven for all eternity? If God was to personally ask that question, how would you answer it? Are you 100% sure? And if you're not, then you need to listen. Because in this aspect of a choice, God has made it very clear. In order for you to be 100% sure, you have to come to God on His standards, not yours and not the world's. See, God would say something like this. He would identify, He would basically confront each one of us with some truths. The first truth is this, we're all sinners. All of us are sinners. I know you go, I don't like the sound of that. That's okay, but we're all sinners. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. For there is none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God. The Bible is clear. And I'm not being unkind to you, I'm just being truthful. We're all sinners. Let me ask you a question. If that's true of you, would you raise your hand? Now those of you who did raise your hand, we need to talk. Because the reality is, we're all a sinner. And we understand that, but do you also understand that because of that sin that there's a penalty for that sin? And again, unlike what the world, the world would say this, eat, drink, be merry, go out and live any old way that you want to, it doesn't matter. That's not what God says. God says for the wages of sin is death. Wages of sin is death. That which you earn because of your sin is death. Now, I've had many times soldiers come to me and say, well, Brother Willis, no, we're not brother. Chaplain, you know, yeah, that's right, we're all gonna die. That's not what the word death means in that passage. The word death in that passage literally means the word separation. So let me rephrase it. The wages of sin is separation. Now, wait a second, hang on. Because doesn't that beg a question? Separation from what? Wrong question. The right question is separation from who? And now, all of a sudden, it comes crystal clear. Because the wages of sin is separation from God. Because see, if we live in our sin separated from God now, then when we die we will continue to be separated from God for all eternity in this place called hell. How many of you get that? How many of you understand that's not what God's desire is for you though? See, God's desire is that you would have a home in heaven for all eternity. God's desire is that you would spend eternity with him as his created being. And by the way, God made that possible. If we would just come to the realization that, first of all, we can't save ourselves, there's nothing that we can do, there's no power, there's no work, for by grace you save through faith and not of yourselves. It's a gift. God not of works lest any man should boast There is not a single work that you can do to gain any merit with God to gain entrance into heaven How many of you know that? See, the reality is there's a whole lot of people out there who think, well, you know, if I'm good enough, or if I keep the sacraments, or if I do this, or if I do that, I'm okay with God. And God says, no, no, no, you misunderstand. You can't save yourself. That's the whole reason that he sent Jesus Christ. And so the other thing we need to understand is God already paid the debt of our sin. See, our sin comes with a price tag. Our sin has a wage. It comes with a price tag, and that price tag is somebody has to pay this debt called sin. You're either gonna pay it or somebody's gonna pay it on your behalf. Praise God that God had a plan. that his only begotten son would come to this earth, live 33 years, go to the cross of Calvary, give his life, shed his blood so that your sin and my sin could be forgiven. that your sin and my sin could not just be covered over, but the Bible makes it clear that the sin would be washed away. 1 John 1, 7. Aren't you glad for that? So we can understand all three of those things. Listen to me. You can understand all three of those things. You're a sinner, there's a penalty, and Jesus Christ paid the sin for you. You can understand those, ready? And still go straight to hell. What? How can you be so dogmatic about something like that? Because, brother, that was me. I understood every single one of those things. could quote them to people. From the time I was knee high to a tadpole, from the standpoint of how many years I lived in church, heard those truths. But was one thing missing. I had never heard anybody say the truth of the gospel about how I needed to put my personal faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ, this thing called the gospel. See, the Bible makes it clear. For thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ. No, let's start again. For as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. John 1 12. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth that which you believe in thine heart, how that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. See, there's a thing that we have to put our trust and faith in what Jesus Christ has done for us. And when I come to that realization and say, Lord, the Bible says in verse 13 of that same passage, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You ready? I come to the Lord, and I say, Lord, you know what? I am a sinner. And I know that there's a penalty for my sin. And I now realize without any doubt that Jesus Christ gave his life so that I can have life. He shed his blood so that I can have life. And at this very moment, Lord, I wanna put my trust, my faith in you and you only. Lord, would you save me? And God says, absolutely. And the moment we put our trust and our faith in him, then we are a child of God, amen? And we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we have our sins forgiven and a home in heaven for all eternity. See, but it's a choice. And this thing called this dash, we must make this decision before it's too late. See, there are no second chances. The Bible says, for it's appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment. I have never walked into a cemetery. I have never found a tombstone that had a date out here, and then dash, dash, dash, dash, dash, dash. Have you? No. God made a truth that we can even see as an illustration on something like a tombstone that you have one shot at this. And God says, it's your choice. What are you going to do with Jesus? And then those of us who know Jesus Christ, the Lord makes it very clear that there's some things that we need to consider. What is so important about the dash? Real quickly here, I just wanna give us a couple truths from the word of God. Number one, true, that we have to understand what's so important, here it is. We only have one life to live, and it goes by very quickly. It shocks me when I look in the mirror, and I go, whoa, what in the world happened? Shocks me but Ephesians 5 in verse 16 basically makes it clear that we are to redeem the days We're to redeem time for the days are evil We're to redeem each day as if to buy back each day as if it could be our last day. I And sometimes I think we forget that. Sometimes we go through life and we just go, oh yeah, it's flying by. But I don't think sometimes we stop and realize, wow, we need to consider the day. and that we're spending this day to live it for the Lord Jesus, that we are using this day for His honor and glory. I had a pastor up in Ohio, his name was Jim Neighbors. No, not the singer, okay? But his name was Jim Neighbors in Blue Lake Bible Church, and I was his assistant for a couple years before I got called back to active duty. And me and Pastor Neighbors used to meet on a regular basis each morning. And one morning I walked in, and he's sitting there on the desk, and just about the time that I got ready to start talking to him, he said, well, wait, wait, wait, hang on, I gotta do something. And he had these two jars on his desk, and one was full of these kernels of corn. And the other one was somewhat empty, but it had about that many kernels in it. And he reaches over into the full one, grabs a kernel of corn, stares at it, I'm like, What's he doing? And he looks at this, he stops, and then he drops it into the other one. Now I, being inquisitive, looking at him like he's got a duck on his head, go, what are you doing? And he says, I'm redeeming the time. I use this kernel of corn each day to remind me that I've got to be using this day for God's honor and for God's glory. And I pray each time that I take one of these kernels out to say, God, help me to use this day for you. Help me to be a witness for you. Help me that I may honor and glorify you with my life this day. And he drops it in there. And he says, and it'll go by quickly. You know what the truth is? That whole craft over here of these will all of a sudden make their way over to this very quickly. See, God says we only have one life to live for him, and it goes by very quickly. Question, are we living each day for his honor and for his glory? Question, have we even stopped and thought about it? That'll cause us to contemplate going, Lord, how am I spending this day, each day, for you? Second thing that we need to contemplate with this thing called the dash, it's this. Our life is not our own. We have to stop and think about that for a second. But if you are a born-again believer, let's just stop and think. Even if you're not a born-again believer, Your life is not your own. Now that's not what the world says, is it? The world would like you to believe something like this, from the world's philosophy. It's my life, it's my body, I will do with it whatever I want. It's all about self, it's all about pleasure. And unless God intervenes, sometimes there's not a single thought regarding eternity. But proper thinking of life includes God's perspective of why he created us. So question, why did God create us? Why did God create somebody like J.J. Sexton? I mean, for what purpose? Question, did God even have a purpose? Just put your name in there. And ask this, did God have a purpose? Do you know what it is? The Bible tells us very clearly, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31. Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. God created each one of us to bring honor and glory How many of you know that? Question. You don't have to raise your hand. Are you doing that? Are you using each day to fulfill God's purpose in your life. See, if you come to the proper perspective that I'm not my own, I belong unto God, and therefore, because I'm a child of God, I need to be doing what would bring honor and glory to my Father. Amen? Are you? And then the last thing we need to consider as a Christian, I'm reminded that I'm bought with a price. For you're bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's. And then lastly, this third thing that we need to remember. You say, Brother Willis, that's a lot, you know, to consider each day, to be reminded of bringing honor and glory to God. How do I do something like that? I'm glad you asked, I'll tell you. Here's how you do it, you gotta stay focused on the things of God. You must stay focused. There are so many voices, there are so many people, there are so many things out there vying for your attention. But God wants us to put our focus and attention on him. How do I do that? First and foremost, number one, here you go, we need to do this. Matthew chapter six and verse 33 says this. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. Question, what does seek ye first mean? It's not rocket science. Just means seek you first. That could be the first of the day, that could be the first in your priority, but I tell you what, we've got to have time to where we're spending personal time with God on a daily basis. I know it's Sunday, and I'm not trying to be mean, but I wanna ask you a question. How many of you started the day off in the word of God? Raise them high, would you? Now, I'm not trying to be unkind, okay? But you have to ask yourself a question. How important is God to me as a believer? And is this serious enough to say God wants us to be seeking him first? And then also, not only should we seek him first, but he says this, that we need to be submitting ourselves unto him daily. We talked about that in James 4, 7 this morning. Draw an eye unto him and he'll draw an eye unto you. So from that standpoint, we need to be submitting ourselves to him. Next, we need to be walking with him. The Bible says there in Colossians chapter two, in verse six, that we would walk ye with the Lord. What does that mean? To walk with the Lord. I know sometimes we try to simplify that, and yes, it just means that wherever the Lord goes, I go with Him. I'm walking with the Lord. However, think about this. In the old days, especially during the days of Jesus, there was this aspect called education, and it wasn't always done in the classroom. Sometimes education was just you spending time with someone. And here's the reality. Jesus had not just 12 disciples, He had a boatload of disciples, okay? And wherever Jesus went, they would walk with Him. And as Jesus would stop and make an illustration or do something for them, there was always a teaching aspect with the walking. God says, I want you to walk with me today. And by the fact, as you walk with him, you just may learn something else about God or about life or about the word. That's the whole intent about walking with him. Real quickly here, Philippians chapter two, he says, not only are we to walk, but he says, let this mind of Christ be in you. Hey, you can only allow the mind of Christ to be in you as you know what the mind of Christ is. And the only way to know the mind of Christ is to spend time in that word. Amen. That's the only way I know how. So from that standpoint, follow after righteousness, that's the whole book of Romans. Romans chapter 12 says we also should be serving him. You know what? God made us as born again believers to serve. Not to be served, but to serve. Isn't that exactly what Jesus Christ himself said though? I came not for you to serve me, I came to serve. And as his children, God would expect us to serve. How do you do that? Where do you do that? Great question. How about right here in the local church? And that's the whole beauty about the local church. It's a place of service. Come in, be a member, roll up your sleeves, get busy for the things of God. And if you say, I don't know what I can do, ask Pastor Sexton. I bet you there's a lot of things here in this church that can be done. If you would just ask and say, here am I. I'd love to do that. Just tell me what to do to serve all of this, all of this. is found right here in the very Word of God. Stay in His Word. Tell us, you know, what's so important about the Word of God? Because that's where you're gonna find all of these truths. And by the way, it doesn't matter how old or how young you are. You could say, well, you know, I'm quite a bit older. Okay, then get started. I'm the deacon in our church. And my deacon group just so happens to be the 60 and above group. I don't know why they chose me, but they just so happen to be that particular group. I have a lady in our church by the name of Dee, love her to death. Dee came up to me one day and she goes, Brother Willis, guess what? Guess what I did? I just finished reading my Bible through for the year. And I went, okay, good, good, that's good. And I'm like, praise the Lord. She goes, no, you don't understand. This is the first time ever that I've read the entirety through my Bible. She's 60 plus years old. And I said, praise the Lord. I don't care if you're 60, 96, get in the word, stay in the word. And can I say this without being unkind? Stay in church where the word is being preached. I don't know your congregation at all, but I'm just gonna say something, don't throw anything at me. But you know it's okay to come back Sunday night. It's okay to come back Wednesday night. The church is still here. Why do I just, I don't come back, why? I'm just asking, why? What's so important that we're not here every time the doors are open? Somebody say amen. Gets quiet usually about the time I say that. But that's the truth, is it not? We should be here when the doors are open. Serving, let's wrap this up, let's land this plane here. So there is life after death, true or false? Question, where are you gonna spend eternity? For the Christian, we will give an account of how we spent this time, of how we spent this life for God. 1 Corinthians chapter three makes it very clear of whether our works will be classified as wood, hay, stubble, or gold, silver, and precious stones. Which will it be for you? When we stand before the Lord and we give an account of this life, what will our works for Christ matter? It all depends on how we spent this life. how we spent this dash. There's another truth here, and I'll finish with this. When you die, if the Lord doesn't come back, and I pray he'll come back any day, it could be today, Lord, come quickly. Amen? But if he chooses not to and he allows us to go on and you slip off into eternity through this thing called death, I have a question. There's gonna be a time to where there's probably gonna be maybe pastor or somebody else who is standing over your grave and is preaching and hopefully is gonna be saying nice things about you and kind things about you called this thing called a eulogy and he'll say nice things. True or false? You say, I hope so. But you know, here's something that hit me one day. I don't care what any pastor says about me. I don't care what any other man says about me. That matters nothing to me. But what really matters is what would the Lord say about me. See, when we slip off into eternity and we find ourselves face to face with a holy, loving God, the question is, what would he say about this thing called a dash? Would he look at you and say something like this? Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, for I never knew you. I don't think I would want to hear that, do you? I don't think I would want to hear him say something like this. He lived for himself and never for me. Would you? No. But what I would love to hear from him is maybe something like this, like he said about others. He would say like he did about King David. Now there's a man after my own heart. Or maybe he would say like he says in the New Testament. Now there was an example of the believer in word and charity and love and spirit. Now there was an example of the believer. Would you like to hear that? Or maybe you'd just simply like to hear something like this. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. How many would you like to hear that? I gotta tell you. The only way we're going to hear stuff like that is when we take for seriously, when we take into contemplation of how we live our life now. See, the reality is this. It's all about the dash. Question, what are you doing with that dash today? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this time. I pray that you would help us to seriously, seriously take into consideration of how we are spending this thing called life personally. Lord, if there's one here today that does not know you, I pray that this would be the day that they would come to know you. Those of us who do know you, I pray that this would be the day that we would come to the realization that this life is not our own, that it's bought with a price, that we need to be loving you and serving you and doing what would bring honor and glory to you. And Lord, I just pray that if you have convicted any heart here today, that you would help them to make a decision right now. to change their direction. Lord, we love you. We praise you. We thank you. In Jesus' name, would you stand with me?