We'll appreciate that. Jim, where'd he go? Hey, I appreciate that. Just, it is amazing what God does in different ways, different places. I think there's a reality where you understand, you know, you might be the pastor of a church, Lamars. I mean, at this point, you know, I'm jealous of Mike. You know, what a beautiful building. We're in a school. Not pulling a trailer anymore, but we're in a school. So I feel like Mike's, you know, ahead of me. But then of course, We're still Nebraska and Iowa and the flyover states. And I think some of that equals you starting to think that your life or your testimony is maybe less than. And one of the reminders here in 1 Corinthians 4 is that there is no such thing as less than. Only the call to be a good steward of what you've been given. Whether that's biological children, no children, adoptive children, any ministry that you have, and ultimately the Lord is gonna look at that, and he's not gonna say, oh wow, you were from Washington, D.C., you were a senator, or you were a person with power influence. That's none of his concerns, he's just wondering, well, whatever I gave you, how did you steward it? And so let's turn back to 1 Corinthians chapter four, and look together, here. Lord willing, we're going to get through the whole chapter. I know we kind of just started to look here at the first five verses and kind of lay that foundation in the first three chapters and what it looks like for the church to be unified. And of course, for the church to be unified, it's going to take the church understanding that they're not owners. It's not their ministry. It's not their church. It's not their work. It's God's ministry. It's God's work. God owns it all, which is the way He sets it up. And if God owns the ministry of the apostles, how much more than does He own all the things that He has given us? And we're simply here to be the caretakers and the stewards. Well, there's kind of a joke in my household that gets told over and over again by my different kind of interests. I think my favorite thing about learning or getting into new different kind of hobbies or studying things is that initial process. And so, I mean, I don't like being bad at things, but I like the process of growing and learning and kind of getting into it. I mean, eventually I like to be proficient at whatever it is, but it's really fun to not know and go, okay, now how do you get good at this? And that process I really enjoy, whether it's in academics or whether it's in just kind of hobbies or different things. And so, does anybody here, this men's conference, I don't know what it is for Lamars, but what's big out here, is it Shields or Cabelas? Shields. Okay. It's kind of Omaha. We have Cabelas and Bass Pro, but honestly, I prefer Shields because they let you touch the guns, right? That's why I like Shields. You pick up the shotguns and throw them around. But a number of years ago, I didn't really grow up hunting a lot. And so, we're talking dogs a little bit yesterday. you know, I really started getting more into it. I have four boys, so 12, 10, 8, and 4, and it just seems like as I had one boy, had another boy, all of a sudden I didn't really camp. I didn't really go hunting. We didn't have dogs. And before you knew it, it said, okay, like just more of that just kind of just come out and say I want to do something with the boys. Let's go outside. Let's go camping. I want to take them hunting. I want them to learn certain things. And so, Starting to learn these things that I kind of had exposure to because I mean, I'm from Nebraska I kind of grew up more you could say in the city But I wanted to learn about these things and what you learn really quickly is okay. What do I need? So just take for example, I tried deer hunting and I just couldn't get into it right the right connections But one day a guy came to church who had a background who's a really big duck hunter in central, Nebraska I was like, okay. Yes. I've always wanted a duck hunt. This is cool and And so, you know, you start to realize, well, what do I need? And of course, you naively think, well, you just need a shotgun and some shotgun shells, right? And to some degree, that's true. But if you go to Shields, right, you start to see the collection of things. And they'll take every dollar that you have. And so, you know, if you really get into it, you'll start to learn there's different kinds of ducks, and there's early season, and there's late season, and there's teal, the little ducks that migrate early, and it's like, oh, you're gonna need teal decoys for those teal ducks. And you're gonna need mallard decoys for those later ducks, and probably some of those brown ducks, like wigeon and gadwall, you're gonna need some of those decoys too. And then, well, you're already there, and goose season's open, so you're gonna need some goose decoys. You're gonna need some floaters for the water, you're gonna need some ones that stand up, some feeders in the field. And I'm talking, you know, most of these are 25, 50 bucks a decoy. And so they're just going, okay, I need all that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you want to shoot them, okay, great. And then you start to learn the world of ammo. And all of a sudden it's going, okay, there's different kinds of ammo. You can shoot steel, but you know what's better than steel is kind of a heavy metal like bismuth, and that's going to have the knockdown power. I know that's $50 for, you know, 25 shells, but you definitely need that, right? You could use your dad's old, you know, 870 Remington Wingmaster, but That new semi-auto Beretta for $2,500. Looks pretty good too, right? And you start to go through that process. And of course, in my world too, it's like, well, I gotta have, I can't go out and get the duck. I need a dog, right? Buy a dog. Every vet bill, go get it. And you just start to understand what is required of it to be a duck hunter. And I even got into, you know, duck calls and all the rest, and then learning those things. And I kind of, like I said, I like that part of it. Thankfully, you know, the Lord's given me a good wife who kind of sets some guardrails. You can't buy all the nice stuff I know. But I enjoy learning. I enjoy kind of going, okay, well, how can I, I can't afford the most expensive thing, but how do I get, you know, high quality in the middle? But it comes back to that just understanding of what is required. What do I need to get into this? What's the bare minimum? What's the nicest thing? And kind of learning all of those different things along the way. And when you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and Paul, there's this kind of same attitude of simply, okay, well then, if we're called to be stewards, so servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, what do I need? Is there a bare minimum? Do I need to buy the most expensive thing? What is this that we're required to go and get? And really I would say it this way as we look at verse 6 through 13. There's really only two things that you really need. To be a good servant, remember we looked at servant last night. The under rower, the lowest slave in the ship. He's not up top, he's not choosing where to go, he's not got his hands on the wheel. He's simply doing what the captain commands when he says row, when he says stop. That's what he's doing. So we'll be a good servant, a good slave, and a steward of the mysteries of God. Paul's gonna say, you just need a couple things Corinth. You just need a couple things men. Then really it's gonna be humility. And secondly, it's going to be, you're gonna need suffering. Humility and suffering. neither of which sound very flashy, neither of which sound super fun, but it's the way Paul's going to call them to unity, because that's where he's driving in 1 Corinthians. How do you come about and have the same mind which he wants in chapter one? It's by humbling yourself, recognizing again that this is all the Lord's, that you have nothing apart from what he has given. And we could go all the way back, we could think about it in different ways, I mean, you think about where you were raised, what home you were born into, how tall you are, or whatever natural skills you have. Even if you're going, well, I built my business. And you go, well, who gave you this brain which had an aptitude for that career field? Who gave you the maybe networking connections? Well, I did that because I got to know people. Well, who made you social? And who gave you a, you know, if you have one, a winsome personality and those things. You go, really, you go, you didn't just make those things happen. Those are things God has given. And probably you had someone come along and teach you many of those things as well. And so this is a call to ultimately to service of one another. And so there's a stewardship that is for us as we think through of masculinity, there is a, a consciousness or a understanding of judgment we looked at last night, ultimately that it's of little what others say. And others might think you're doing really well, looking back to verse three, but to me, Paul says, it's a very small thing that I may be examined by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even examine myself, for I am conscious of nothing against myself, verse four, yet I am not by this acquitted, but the one who examines me is the Lord. And therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will bring to light things hidden in the darkness, make manifest the motives of the hearts, and then each one's praise will come to him from God. And so he's moving here and encouraging them and explaining to them, listen, you, look at me, because he's saying, verse 1, let the man consider us in this way, look at me, look at Apollos, look at our ministry. And then he's going to move in 16 again, we're going to get there later, with imitation. And later even in 1 Corinthians, he's going to imitate me as I imitate Christ. And then here in verse six, the movement to what I will call in this session, a call to servant leadership or the servanthood of true masculinity, that there is strength in service. He's saying, take what I've just taught you and apply these things to myself and to Apollos for your sakes. And so he's specifically gonna apply them to the issues going on, that there were factions, that I am of Apollos, that I am of Paul. And he's saying, look, That makes no sense to say this is the better preacher or that's the worst preacher if you understand what I've just taught you about judgment, what you've just learned about stewardship and you've just learned about ministry. Take those things you've just learned about that it's all the Lord's, that he owns it, it's his work. Apply those things to myself, verse six, and Apollos for your sakes so that in us you may learn not to go beyond what is written so that not one of you will become puffed up. He's saying, Don't become puffed up. Rather, apply these principles of the ministry, of stewardship, of the fact that God owns it all, and realize that you don't go beyond what the master has said. So in this case, what has the master said about ministry? What has the master said about the gospel or the mysteries of God? Don't go beyond that. Don't look at Paul and say, I don't like the way he looks. I don't like the way he speaks. I think he should have preached this part of scripture. I think he should have said that. No, if he's doing what the master has called him to do, praise God for Paul. And whatever Apollos is adding to that, praise God for Apollos. But that principle of humility, understand, humble yourself, what ministry is about. It's not about you. It's not about particularly your preferences. It's about what the master desires. We're simply stewards. We're simply servants. And so we need to humble ourselves. The first requirement then of being a good steward, a good servant here, requiring the thing you need to go do this, to be a good servant, is to have this humble attitude, to not be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. The biggest error, the biggest opposition, the biggest barrier to humility is simply its opposite, which is pride. that you earn your position or your status or influence by your own strength, that you pulled yourself up, that you got here because of what you did rather than acknowledging you are here because God has placed you there. And he could have done it many different ways. When I think about my own life, when I think about life in general, you just realize it could be much worse. I mean, we are so blessed, so blessed to live where we live within a country that we live, and you realize it didn't have to be that way, and you can't help but say the Lord is kind in giving us these things. And even more than that, then say the external things, the material things, the spiritual truth that he has given us. Everything that we have is a gift from God. Verse 7 he goes on to say, for who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? That's that huge principle. What do you have that was not given to you? We live in a strange world where there's a lot of, you know, criticisms of people saying, well it's, you know, you're privileged. And it's like, well we all are to some degree. And maybe though, it's okay to recognize to a greater degree, particularly if you say you were given the gospel at a young age, or the Lord gave you the grace to believe the gospel, what a privilege that is. And you're saying, but realize, who orchestrated that? The Lord did. What do you have that he, you've not been given? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? It's this idea of being puffed up or inflated with pride. Literally, in the Greek, it's a swollen organ. You're puffed up. You're arrogant. You're prideful. It's dangerous. It's just as dangerous as worldly pride, that is spiritual pride. In the case of the church at Corinth, right, one of their issues isn't so much they're even boasting in just the riches of the world, how talented they are, what they're really boasting in, we're gonna see, you know, go to 1 Corinthians 11, 12, 13, 14. It's going to this issue, even within the church, there's a lot of spiritual pride. They're looking at, look at my gifts. I speak in tongues, I speak in this, I do this, I have this gift. prophesy in this way, and he's saying, listen, your attitude is completely coming from the wrong place. You don't recognize that if you have this gift, because you have, that's one of the things about the first Corinthians, is you have those early gifts, those revelatory gifts are still active in the early church. Unlike today, but they're active in when Paul is writing, and he's encouraging them, saying, you need to have unity. If one has this gift, praise the Lord, but make sure it's all done for others. And that's gonna be a big thing in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14, that it's for the edification for others. That is, ministry is not about you, it's not yours, it's about serving others. It's a gift, something you did not earn. You're not a self-made success. Recognize that at the heart of humility, the heart of being a servant and a good steward is a willingness to recognize that you have nothing apart from Christ. You need the mindset of a servant to walk in the way that Christ has laid before us. That he didn't view it as something to be grasped. Philippians 2, that is to be like God, but rather He humbled Himself, taking on the form of a servant. We walk in that same path. If you're not willing to take humility off the shelf and put it on, you're not going to be able to be a servant. And if you're not going to be a servant, you're not going to be a good steward. And if you're not gonna be a good steward, the master ultimately is going to take away that which he has given you. That's the picture given here by Paul. Therefore, recognize all that you have is from God and humble yourself before the Lord and he will draw near. One of the ways the Lord does that in his kindness, and there's more in this really in the second session when he starts to apply himself as a father, because sometimes fathers do things to children that are hard, but they do it because they love them and they know that they need that to be strengthened and for character to be built. But oftentimes when we don't come to humility naturally, because we don't, one of the things that brings about that humility is the second requirement of being a servant, which is ultimately to suffer. The two requirements of servanthood, the two things that you need are humility and you need suffering. He goes on to describe his role really as one of many of these apostles who are a spectacle He's gonna call and there's gonna be an irony because it's gonna look like they are absolutely fools. He's already talked about that first three chapters. He's a fool for Christ, but of course wise in God's economy. But he goes on here in verse eight to say, you are already filled. And this is where Paul starts to kind of write with some irony. In fact, even he's gonna go on to say, I don't write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved. And he's doing so in a way to say, I have a goal for you, and I'm not above saying, let me lay out this in a way where it sounds ridiculous. Do you think that you have a greater ministry than the apostles? Do you think you have greater riches? And that's what he's saying here in verse eight, this idea, this dripping irony. You think you're already filled, you already become rich, you've ruled without us, and I wish that you had ruled indeed, so that we also might rule with you. And he's going like, hey, I wish that was true. Kind of like saying this morning that, hey, I genuinely wish you could be godly and I wish you could be spiritually mature and it would cost you nothing. Me too. That would be awesome. It's not the way it works. I wish it. Paul's going, I wish I would have ruled with you. That'd be awesome. But that's not what it is in this life. For I think, verse nine, that God has exhibited us, apostles, last of all, as men condemned to death because we have become a spectacle to the world and to the angels and to men. The Corinthians had fallen into this dangerous mindset that you can have exaltation without sacrifice. They thought they could simply enjoy every bit of this life rather than look and say, no, that's something we're looking forward into the next. It's this false triumph. They're already acting like they're triumphal kings when it's not the case. It's not to say you won't triumph, it's not to say we aren't more than conquerors as Peter will say, but in this life we're called to mimic the life of our Savior to be ones who are in service. There's this big picture here of what it looks like for a Roman legion to come in and to celebrate and for them to bring in what they would have at the very back. They'd have those who they have conquered who'd be in the very kind of back of the parade. And that's the picture here. The last of all men who would be those who have conquered, who are kind of being put out there as shameful and embarrassed. And Paul's saying, that's us. We're at the back of the line becoming these spectacles to the world, a spectacle to angels and to men. He's saying, I think that's what he has called the apostles too. They're mocked, they're beaten, seemingly expendable. And he's saying, look at us in that way. Understand that if that's the call of an apostle, what do you think your calling is there? He's simply saying we're like being shown off as prisoners of war condemned to die. That's pretty brutal contrast, right? A contrast between who that the Corinthians think they are and who Paul's saying this is who the apostles are and he's kind of, you know, verse 16, imitate me. He's saying it's not the right way of thinking for you to think. All this is is good, happy, go lucky. It's not that you're not rich in Christ. It's not that you're not a steward of something that is imperishable, undefiled, waiting for you in heaven. You are rich in Christ, but it's not the kind of riches that the world says true riches are. There is true servanthood of which the apostles here are going to be the chief example of that. They are fools for the sake of Christ. And again, irony, he says, we're fools and you're prudent. So he's saying, well, you must be the fools for Christ, but you are the wise. And of course, he's already been back here in chapter one. If you remember chapter one, verse 22, for indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ. crucified. To Jews, the stumbling block, and to Gentiles, foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because, he goes on to say, verse 25, chapter one, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Because remember, consider your calling, my brothers. Who did the Lord choose? Not many according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things that are strong, the base things of the world, and the despised God has chosen the things that are not so that he may abolish the things that are, so that no flesh may boast before God. That is to say, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to demonstrate and display his glory. That you could say, you took somebody who was so pathetic, so weak, and you made something out of him, this mirror for the glory of God to be displayed, and God gets all the more glory. If you are prideful, you don't reflect the glory of God in that way. You don't recognize that all that you have been given is from him. I mean, to use the sports analogy, right? It's taking the worst team in the league and making them into the champion in a year and everyone saying, that's the coach of the year. He gets all the accolades, all the rewards because he basically took something that was so terrible and made them so good. They say he traveled the furthest. He gets the most honor, the most accolade, the most reward. And God's saying, listen, that's what I've done with you at Corinth. That's what he's done with us. And that should humble us because he didn't choose the strong. He didn't choose the ones who could be maybe that we might think. I grew up, my dad was involved in Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and one of the things within sports ministries that you often will see is, you know, they like the big name. So if you're gonna have a conference speaker, you wanna get as big as name as possible. So if you got a Christian, you know, Tom Brady's not a professing Christian, but if you can get a Christian Tom Brady, right, that's who you want to do your banquet, that's who you want talking. And you understand that from a human standpoint, but you start to realize that's starting to sneak into this problem, right? We start to view people the way of the world, and why do they have value? Why do they have wisdom? Well, because they're successful. And Paul's starting to get after that even here, saying, no, that's not the right way. We don't celebrate. In fact, you might even find in the end, is kind of what he's hinting at, when the Lord takes away it all, and he takes the big flashlight, and he shines it on everyone's life, that the people who were up front, the people who had the most influence, actually weren't exactly who they thought you were. It's not to say judge them or say we should somehow be negative towards those who have platforms at all. He's saying, don't do that either. Rather trust the Lord and let him do the judge. Don't pass judgment before the time. The Lord will ultimately bring everything to light that is in darkness. He's gonna make manifest all of the motives. And there's probably enough in your heart to be fearful of and to take care of than to be worried about others. Take care of your own heart and let the Lord take care of others. Particularly thinking Apollos and Paul. to the Corinthians, hey, don't worry about Paul. Don't worry about Apollos. Why don't you worry about your own heart and your own life? And if you're gonna be unified in Christ, realize that it's not that you're a fool or that you're shameful, it's we're all fools. We're all weak. That's where we find unity because when we understand we are all weak, then we all need Christ and we find our strength in Christ and what he has done. Rather than this issue of we're fools for your sake, but you are prudent in Christ. Again, irony. We are weak, but you are strong. You are glorious, but we are without honor. What he's saying there is that's what you think and it's maybe irony. So you think of ironic things. But it also might be in some sense this idea of hyperbole, which is to say something that you've said is so exaggerated. That is to say, even as we read this and what we know of the Apostle Paul and you're going, wait, so the Apostle Paul's foolish, but the Corinthians are wise? That might be an exaggeration. Wait, you're weak? Where Paul, the Apostle Paul is weak in Christ, but the Corinthians are strong in Christ. Look at their church, it's a mess. And he's saying these things to kind of exaggerate his point. He's saying, no. He's saying this isn't true. But what you need to understand is you need humility. And if you're not humbled, maybe by this kind of way in which you could almost argue he is, because even he is basically going to preemptively say, I don't want you to stay shamed. I'm not sure he's against all of it. He says, I'm not saying this to your shame in verse 14. But of course he is kind of saying, but I want you to think about it. And if the shoe fits, Paul kind of says, I want you to wear it. I don't want you to stay there. He's saying I want you to adjust. I want you to learn. I want you to grow. And if that embarrassment or that shame causes that change, then all the better. Because this is the contrast that he is bringing out. Because the contrast is the life of the apostles is one of hardship and one of sacrifice and service. And how do you expect to live any other life that is different? Because if you look not only to them, you ultimately have to look to Christ who is the true servant. What it really means to follow Christ. What it really means to follow Christ, verse 11, To this present hour, we hunger, we thirst, and are poorly clothed, roughly treated, and homeless. We labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless. When we are persecuted, we endure. When we are slandered, we try to plead. We have become as the scum. It's kind of the stuff stuck to the boot that's scraped off. We've become the scum, the scuzz of the world, the grime of all things, even until now. So you want to be an apostle. That's what I feel like he's, you know. So you want to be an apostle. Let's talk about it. What's the job description? What's it like? What's the pay? And this is where he's going, I don't think you guys understand what it is. to be an apostle. I don't think you understand what it is to be a true minister of Christ and what it will cost. And that should in itself cause you to be humbled because of how little you have sacrificed relative to how much they have sacrificed, but also should encourage you and remind you that, oh, that's right, when we serve, the nature of service is the nature of letting something cost you something. Very often, Paul was living a life of suffering, rejection, sacrifice, misunderstanding. He's not one that is celebrated. He's not one that gets all the accolades. It's the idea that he is focused on others in such a way that he is doing so, he's going, but that's the point, that he's less concerned about his own safety. It's like the idea of the burning building and the firefighter. They're risking their safety because they want to save or to rescue the one inside the burning building. Why? They do so because they're focused on the person they're trying to save and serve. And so if it costs them a little sleep, if it costs them a little money, if it costs them a little time, it's okay because they're saying, I value that person more. I don't think we're running into burning buildings for people when we meet with them on, say, a Wednesday morning for discipleship or for a Bible study, but the same idea to the lesser is there, right? When you get up at 5.30 to be at a study at 6, you don't have to do that. But when it costs you, then you're going, okay, now you're getting close to service. You're not getting very close to the apostles because you're not being dragged out, beaten to a pulp. But you are starting to understand what it is to serve one another when it says it costs you something. I think it's men, you start to think about it this way, men are not meant, servants of Christ are not meant to run from hardship. The apostles don't. The Corinthians shouldn't and neither should we. You should step into that suffering or step into that hardship for the sake of others. That's the attitude of a true servant. One of my favorite stories, you can flip over to the end of 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel 24. Which is an interesting kind of case study because, you know, David's kind of on a roller coaster at this point in his life and making some poor decisions along the way. He's criticized in chapter 24 because he sins against the Lord after all he's done even though he's a man after God's own heart by numbering the people. And ultimately, he's repentant of that. He goes to erect an altar. And I just, I love the phrase of this. Because he's gonna go erect up an altar. He's repentant to the Lord for what he's, his sin. And so he's gonna buy a piece of land. And so, the one who he's trying to buy the land from, he says, I want to buy this land. And the response is, everything, O king, Arunah gives to the king. And Arunah said to the king, may Yahweh your God accept you. So he just wants to say, listen, the King David wants this land for him to build an altar on, to offer sacrifice to Yahweh, then absolutely, it's yours. I'm not gonna charge the king. However, the king, that is King David, said to Arunah, no. The whole principle behind this I just love. But I will surely buy it from you for a price. For I will not offer burnt offering to Yahweh my God, which costs me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor, the oxen for 50 shekels of silver and he builds the altar and offers burnt offering and peace offering. But I love his attitude, he's going, it's offensive to him that you give this to the king, because David's going, I can't give the Lord something that costs me nothing. He's got a principle in mind that there's just a nature of love that is by its nature self-sacrificial. It's I could do this, but I love you so much, I gave up this to give you that. And just love David, almost just offended. Offended that life would be so easy or that repentance would be too easy. No, I'm not going to do that. Rather, I'm gonna offer what costs me something. Again, this is it. Salvation. There's nothing you can do to earn God's favor. There's nothing you can do to earn God's grace or salvation. Only God can do that, which is why again, the humility starts with recognizing you're a sinner in need of a savior and all you can do is look in faith and to believe in what Christ has done. But then as you grow in Christ and you grow as a servant and a steward, you start to realize, okay, I need to start living in a way that matches the expectations of my Savior and of the words of Paul here. Recognizing that this isn't my life. This isn't my family. These aren't my children. They're simply families, children, ministries that God has given for me to manage for whatever period he has given. Whether that's a little, 10 years, 20 years, 60, 80, 90, and I'm gonna be a good steward of what he's given me until I hand it back to him ultimately in the end. So simply, what do you need? What's the right equipment for you to be a good steward and a servant of Christ? It's humility, and it ultimately is sacrifice and suffering. Now the ultimate model of that, of course, is Christ. He lived that very life. Mark 10 14 says, the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Do you think of ultimately Christ at the Last Supper washing the feet of his disciples? Or touching the lepers or healing the sick? He does so not because he quote-unquote has to, but because he loves them, he wants to serve them. And so then we simply have to ask that question, do we serve in that way? Do we serve in a Christ-like way? And if Jesus, the very Son of God, chose servanthood over status, how can we do anything less? Are we willing to follow his example in everything we do? Now, again, we might have to look and examine our own hearts and own lives to start thinking through in 2025, what does that look like for me? Because you're not Superman and you can't do everything and you can't sacrifice everything. Everything is going to be a choice. Everything is going to be at some point a trade-off. You can't be involved in every ministry. And so you're gonna have to somewhat start to take those things that you're a good steward of, just like you would at work, and have to go, okay, well, I need to be a good steward of this area. How much time needs to be spent there? I think it's a good place to start evaluating in your own heart, in your own life, those things that matter. Not one who has any, I don't have over a dozen kids, but right, but I have the four boys. And there's things I can't do at this stage in life that maybe I can do later. And so I've got to start thinking through, but also I can only steward, taking children as an example, for the period that I have them. I can't go backwards, right? 20 years from now with an empty home, I can't go backwards and get that time back. So obviously I need to give extra special attention to being a good steward there at this time in my life. And you're gonna have some of those things as well. You can't go back and be a good steward of an area that's only for a season. If you're a college student, you have an area to be a good steward in. You can have a Bible study, meet with people within your dorm or within your house and do ministry in that unique way. And you probably will never get that back. in later times. And so you steward that well now. And then again, the Lord might say, okay, you've been stewarded that well, maybe he'll give you more later. But the point is examining your heart, examining your life, examining the things that he's given you as a servant of Christ, as a man, How are you stewarding them well? And if you start to find yourself, you know, life can feel like the spinning of plates and you're just getting out of control, I think you just go back to the basics and you go back to, okay, how do I glorify Christ with my life? What are my responsibilities? What are my ministry? What are the stewardship's the Lord has given? And just start to do the simple things, the little things, be faithful and see what the Lord does. taking up this torch to say, ultimately, I'm looking at not what I can get out of it, but how can I serve others? Stepping into a true servant leadership, the kind that lasts, the kind that you will be ultimately proud of, the one that will last, the one that's the gold and silver, that when the refining fire comes, it's not burnt up. Lord, make us true servants, as your son, not simply seeking status, but seeking to serve, help us to embrace humility, the nature of sacrifice that we would endure hardship or that we would recognize if we have been lulled into being soft men, lulled into the comforts of our culture, that you would use the words of Paul, inspired by your spirit this morning to jolt us out of that, Lord, that things that are difficult are good. And they demonstrate that when we do things that are hard for the right goal, your glory, and for the love of others, that those are good and acceptable sacrifices, Lord, as it were, for you. Lord, help us to be reminded of that That we would reflect Christ in all we do, as we lead, as we follow, as we serve. Lord, I pray that we would be impacted by these truths this morning. I pray this in your son's name. Amen.