But I want to give you some things and what I'm going to say this morning would be good for every lost person to read instead of the Lexington Herald or any other newspaper you may read. And I'm not against newspapers. But this is what I've learned the last 57 years. Relationships are more important than fame or things. Fame and things are fleeting, but relationships are what life is made of. Develop and maintain your relationships with the Lord, your spouse, your family, your coworkers, those who serve in the ministry and especially those who don't know the Lord. Matthew chapter 6 verse 19 through 21. The writer said, lay not up for yourself treasures upon the earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there is your kingdom. heart also. It took me a long time to learn that. Number two, nothing anyone can do to me can harm me. Only my reactions will harm me. Write that down in your heart. You can't hurt me if I won't allow you to. So nothing anyone can do to me can harm me, only my reactions will harm me. People can hurt, and they often do. But there is a difference between hurt and harm. When we react, To hurt others, bring into our lives, we allow them to control our future. When we respond with grace and forgiveness and trust in God, we place our future in the hands of God. Over rules are hurt brought by wicked men. Ultimately, only our reactions can harm us. Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work for the good. For the good to them that love God, to them who are the call according to his purpose. Listen as I read this. It's not my typical sermon. And good preachers would say, I wouldn't teach this on Sunday morning. Well, I don't know about good or bad. I just know that God put it on my heart, and I found out when he does that, if I don't do it, he talks to me. What we've learned, that it is more blessed to give, more blessed to give than to receive. We spend our lives living to get our learning to give. Giving brings more joy. I don't think I've ever met anybody that loved giving any more than my wife did. I kid her one day, I said, I'm gonna have to buy double groceries just to feed everybody you're feeding. But that was her. It was her. See, Acts 20 and 35 says, I have showed you all things how they're so laboring are to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And God has blessed me to be around a number of people who practice that. Number four, each person is a creation of God and is unique. We keep looking for somebody like us. There is no other Tony and I know you're thankful for that. I'm one of a kind and so are you. The key to this, remember, there are no insignificant people. Treat everybody you meet as more important than you. As the most important person in the world, and remember, God has a unique purpose for your life as well. Now, according to scripture, you know, Jeremiah chapter one, verse five, you know, he tells us that before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee. And I ordained thee a prophet unto the nation. Jeremiah 1 5. Stop and think about that. God knew exactly what I would be preaching today or teaching today. He knew me in my mother's womb and he called me to preach, knew I would be preaching, knew I would be saying this today before he created this world. When we face happiness, we find disappointment. When we serve faithfully, we find happiness. Stop and ask yourself when this, when one of the happiest times of your life is when you're serving God. You get older and everything creeps in. I love, I love my family. I thank God every day for my two sisters that I still have. I thank God for the last three months almost my daughter has put me before her. Money won't buy that. Just won't buy that. Happiness is a byproduct of faithfulness to God, not a job. When we chase happiness, we find disappointment. When we serve faithfully, we find happiness. I can ask anybody, and some of them have told me, they were disciplined and they will tell me today if I was talking to them, you did what you had to do. But my happiest time was when I was faithful and serving God. but sometimes I didn't think anybody appreciated me. Then maybe you're serving for the wrong reason. But we ought to appreciate each other. We ought to tell them from time to time. I appreciate you. See, when we chase what we want, we find disappointment. But 1 Timothy 6, 6 said, but golliness with contentment is great gain. Golliness with contentment. You know what I get from that verse? I may not drive the car I want or live in the kind of house that I want or I go on and on and on, but man, I'm contented that God takes care of me. Number six, if I'm careful to do the little things well, the big things will take care of themselves. You know, anybody that's got major house repairs, they have told me if I took care of those little things. You know, bad health, if I took care of those little things, like eating right and exercising right and those type things. But what we need to understand, you know, if I am careful to do the little things well, the big things will take care of themselves. Diligence is a lifestyle, not an event. If you are always waiting for the really big opportunity, you've missed thousands of opportunities to glorify God with diligence along the way. And you never know when the little thing will become a big thing. Ask the boy who gave his little lunch to Jesus or the widow who gave her too much. Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verse 10 says, whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest. you know, if it's clean in this church or, and when I was writing down my thoughts, I thought about my brother Lutz. He had cancer and he'd wash the windows and however many windows you have, you almost have to have that many rolls of paper because he would forget where the paper was. I wouldn't have tucked that away from him for nothing. You know why? He even told the person that was mowing around the church, he said, don't you put no weeds up on those windows. You turn that mower around. Why? He believed with everything in him that God gave him those windows to wash. You know when God is giving you something. You know when God is speaking to you. That's why Ecclesiastes, you know, 9, 10 says, Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave where thou goest. Number seven, change is always possible. Neither success nor failure is final. Isn't that right? Neither success nor failure is final. You have a business, man, it reaches the top, but then it reaches the bottom. It's all temporary. And what we need to understand that change is always possible. Change is always possible. Neither success nor failure is final. Well, in Esther Chapter 5, And in six and seven, we found that Heyman was the prime minister of Moscow, was sentenced to death, and he was wearing royal apparel, and Heyman was hung. Don't get too high when things don't go well, and don't get too low and things are going well, neither success nor failure are final. But you know what is? God's sovereignty. He doesn't change the rules for nobody. Matter of fact, 1 Corinthians 10, 12 said, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take he, lest he fall. And when you serve God for a number of years and you say, well, I've done all I'm supposed to do and you just walk away. You think God's going to let you go? You live your life so you got to be disciplined and you blame the church and the members who didn't give you a fair share and all of that. You stay alive a while and God will show you what's fair. He'll strip you right down to where you just glad to be able to say, he's my God, he's my Lord. You know, remember what 1 Corinthians 10 says, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. One of my favorite songs is I Can't Even Walk Without Him Holding My Hand. Me and Brother Bobby used to sing that a lot. It's still true. Can't even walk. Number eight is I Must Not Take Myself Too Seriously. You know, have you noticed at work or you've been in a church where an individual thinks, man, you know, if I leave, this church will fall apart? If any of us leave because we're upset that we didn't get our way, and you think God's going to bless that, you probably ought to start back and ask yourself, am I really saved? This church belongs to God. It doesn't need me. It doesn't need you. It belongs to him. So take the work of God serious, but don't develop a messiah complex. No one can do everything, and God will move his work forward. Relax and enjoy serving the Lord. You know how things have changed. Most of you will remember Sister Reed and Sister Arnold, Sister Wilson. Some of you don't remember. You weren't here, but it took them a long time to do anything because of their age and their arthritis and all that. Nobody enjoys serving God any more than those three ladies did. See, that's what happens when you, I'm here to learn from the Lord. I'm here to praise God. Well, Romans 12 three says, for I say, through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Whether you're successful as a Christian or not depends on one thing mainly, how much faith you got. Faith will cause you to go forward. Faith will cause you to volunteer for something you ain't comfortable, but you do it and God makes it comfortable. You'll find joy in things you didn't think you would ever do or find joy in. Number nine, everyone and everything are my teacher. We are independent. No, we are interdependent. We depend on somebody or something. You know, there was a time just a few weeks ago, you know, I couldn't get in the shower. I couldn't wash myself. This may not be the place to say this, but you know me. If I didn't have somebody to help me wash my armpit, you could smell me all the way to Carlisle. And you may be that way one day. And when you're in the will of God, what you will say, not why me, but why not me? We are independent Baptists in the sense that we have no denominational hierarchy. But as individuals, God has designed us to be not independent, but interdependent. We need each other and must learn from one another. That's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12, 12. For as the body is one and have many members, all members of that one body being many are one body so also in Christ one body and you know All of you, I'm sure, have had, you know, someplace. Steve is learning that, you know. He's got two eyes. But one of them isn't working very good right now. But he needs that other eye. And if that surgery is successful, it's because God still needs him. Not just to work, but to express his love for the church and his pastor and every member. See, we're one, you know, the body is one, but it have many, many members. We all need each other. We just need each other. Number 10, be all that you are wherever you are. Think about that. Are we different when we're with our friends? Well, let me tell you something. God knows you when you're with your friends and when you're by yourself. Everything I do or say impact the kingdom of God positively or negatively. Thus, I must be faithful and fully engaged in every moment and in every situation. We never know the ripple effects of faithfulness in a given moment. Well, as we close, and I thank God for these 10 points. They'll help me through the rest of my life. You look up Esther 4 and read verse 13 and 14. When was it thou commanded to answer Esther? Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, Then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. But thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed. And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? See, I believe. This has nothing to do with this outline, but I believe that my president was spared for such a time as this. The Lord's second coming is near. It's near. And so, if there's something in your life that I don't know, don't need to know, I don't even have to know, make it right. Because the Lord may come today. I don't think there's a subject in this Bible that I've read and studied more than the second coming of God. Whether you still jot them or not, I made two books on the Second Truman of God. I've studied it. I've prayed about it. There's nothing. And the last sign that is so wonderful, they already started on that temple. And when I think about it and I get news and I get online and go to Israel and try to find out, I could even raise this arm up, but I'd only do it now. But you know, if the Lord came right now, I not only could raise this arm, I'd go right through that roof and never make a hole. I'm ready for that day on June. must have a hymn of invitation.