Well, it has been a joy to have the Ross with us. As Joe said, it was wonderful to hear all that God has done through them. over the years since they have been been with us. And we are glad to have them back again this morning. And Jim is going to come and open the word for us this morning, which is a great thing because I've been gone all week. So it's going to be nice to sit down in a pew and and listen to the word. instead of rushing around all weekend trying to make sure I was ready to preach. So this is good on both ends here. And Jim, come, please open the word for us, brother. Well, good morning. We're great. We're grateful to be here this morning. As Jim and Joe both mentioned, we were last here in 2005 before we headed out. We spent four years in Asia where I learned Chinese and Tessie learned patience as I shared in the Sunday school class with a husband who couldn't even answer the phone or do groceries. We were there for four years, initially planning to go to Macau. But as it worked out, as the father arranges events, we'll be going back to the same city where we were. And I'll be teaching. I'll have a day job as a math teacher. And then we look forward to continuing to walk alongside leaders in the church there and walk alongside married couples. We're just grateful for your financial support, for your prayers, and also for your encouragement. Those things are really important. I'm grateful that we are an important part of God's program in the world, but the way I look at it, we're just the tip, the blade of the axe. And if you took that blade of the axe and swung it as hard as you could, it would do absolutely nothing unless it had all the rest of the weight of the axe head behind it. And this is the weight of the axe head. And so I'm grateful to be here with the rest of the axe head. So thank you. Well, also we're grateful for your prayers individually and we have in the lobby a sign-up sheet for our prayer list. Many of you have been praying for us and we're grateful for that. And you can sign up and you'll get email updates every month or so. We have new prayer cards where you can see all four of our children and not just the two. And we'd be happy to chat with you afterwards as well. Now, if you would pray with me and we'll begin with God's word. Father, we ask that As we look into your Word this morning, that you would speak to us. Lord, speak through me. Lord, as we look through the lens of our own understandings, our own experiences, God, we ask that the eternal truths you've given to us once for all in your Word would speak to each of us clearly, not reinforcing what we already thought as we walked in, but showing us fresh what is true what we've forgotten and need reminding of, or what we have never yet seen and need you to show us. We commit ourselves to you and to your teaching now in Jesus' name. Amen. In 1989 I graduated college and at that time I joined a group called Teach for America. It was a group that took teachers and placed them in high-need areas. And what inspired me and many of my generation, not the single thing, but one part of that, was a movie that came out around that time called The Dead Poets Society. How many of us have seen that movie? There was a lot that was good in that movie, some that wasn't, but in the movie it focuses on a teacher, John Keating I think his name is, who goes to a prep school and He has the first English class, or first literature class for his students. And he calls them into the hallway. And they have those black and white pictures of the students from years past. And he says, boys, look at those faces. They're just like you were at this time. Full of opportunity. The world is their oyster. And he says, listen. Listen to the legacy that they are whispering to you now. And so he has all the kids lean into the glass as if it were going to speak. And they're all leaning in and listening. And he stands behind them. And he says, Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary. Carpe diem. Seize the day. And what he was saying to those young people was, you boys, you've got money. You're on your way to having education. You have so much opportunity. Enjoy this life. Squeeze all the beauty that there is to be squeezed out of this life. I believe that God is telling us something very similar, but even better this morning. He is telling us that He has brought us to a special time in history. And He has given us not an infinite, but a limited amount of years on this earth in history as it is now. Not to squeeze all the joy we can because of who we are with all of our prep school privilege, but to enjoy the great privilege of knowing and serving and making Christ known, not in the privilege of a New England prep school, but in the privilege of having been adopted as children of the King, as children of the living God. And so in this morning's passage, as we read it throughout our time, I want us to focus on the special privilege of this moment we've been given on earth, and not to sell short who we are as we enter that. Would you turn in your Bibles with me, please, to Ephesians 5, beginning in verse 15. Ephesians 5, verse 15. Paul tells us, be very careful then how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Please join me as we go through this passage, just looking at it word by word, phrase by phrase, to see what God would speak to us about this passage this morning. I'd like to start with the word, then. It's usually a throwaway word, isn't it? Well, then. But here, Paul is saying, be very careful, then. Well, what's the then mean? What he's doing is he's pointing us to all of what he's been saying in Ephesians. See, it's so often Paul's pattern in the letters where he starts with doctrine and then he goes on to our response to that doctrine. If we look at Ephesians, just the In Ephesians, it divides fairly cleanly. Three chapters all focus on eternal truths and doctrine, and then the other three focus on our response to those truths. And there's a great transition right at chapter 4. Paul says, as a prisoner for the Lord then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. And so all of these admonitions, all of these exhortations are based on our calling. And I would love to just take all afternoon or all summer and talk about Ephesians. And I just love the title. I believe it's Ironside's commentary. It's just called In the Heavenlies, his commentary on Ephesians. But what I'll do instead is have us look just at the beginning of chapter two and we'll look at four, just under four heads, who we were, who was and still is around us, who we are, and what is God's plan in this. So if you would follow along with me in Ephesians chapter two, verses one and two, who we were. As for you, You were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air. The spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. That's who we were. Each one of us. The best, most well-polished of us here this morning. The one who's most struggling. We all started there. Who was and is around us? All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. Who we are. But, because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. And what is God's plan in all of this? In order that in the coming ages, He might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. And so as we look at our passage this morning, let us continually bear in mind the gospel truth of who we are now and why. The next thing we'll look at is this first phrase, be very careful then how you live. Now literally you could just say, look carefully then, literally what it would have come from would, look carefully then how you walk. Now the first thing to look, it just means to observe, to think about, and to care about what you're doing. We use the word the same way, look what you're doing, look at that. Well, then the word accurately. It says to be very careful. The more literal rendering would be to look accurately at this. And so what I want us to do is to remember to notice how we live or walk and to see it accurately because often we give little or no thought to the way we're living. Often we are so busy with the weekly rush. Monday morning hits and we're going Monday night, we're home from work and we're getting ready because Tuesday morning it's going to hit again. And if we get any spare time, too often, where's it going? Well, the TV set, or no, no, we're much more enlightened than that. Now it's going to Twitter or video games or, oh wait, RSS, okay, some more news just broke. These technological blessings can give us all kinds of information in a heartbeat, but They can keep us so wired, so distracted by all this new input coming in that we get no time. Unless we very deliberately set it aside, we get no time to think about what's important. And so the first thing we need to do is we need to look. We need to notice how we're living, not be so busy doing it that we don't think about what it is we're doing. And then the second is we need to look at our lives and we need to do so accurately. Often we can look at our lives, but we don't have the right standard. We don't look accurately. We think, wow, I'm a whole lot better than my neighbor. Did you hear what he let out with this morning? Or look at his lawn or whatever. compare ourselves to others. And that's not what God calls us to, is it? He doesn't say, walk before me, Abraham, and be even better than the next guy. He says, walk before me and be perfect, be whole. And so that's what God is calling us to. Paul then goes on and says, not as unwise, but as wise. Now, Paul talks a lot about wisdom. I'll talk about three quick definitions of wisdom. One kind of wisdom is this world's wisdom. And it's a good thing to have. It helps a lot in our jobs. It's very useful. There are some people who are very wise. They've studied lots and they have lots of letters after their names. There are other people who are very wise. When they're in a business situation, they know just what to say. They know exactly what price they'll say yes at and what price will break the deal. Or they're very wise and they're good at their job. Maybe it's because they're a pastor or missionary and they just know exactly what to say to that person or just what's going to defuse that situation or what's the wisest way do this or that to accomplish the church's goals. But those aren't the wisdom that Paul's looking at here. Another kind of wisdom is a wisdom that comes only from God. Paul talks about this wisdom explaining the mystery of the Gospel. That God would fold the church of Gentiles in to His people, the Jews, And that's beautiful, but that's not the wisdom Paul's talking about here. The wisdom Paul's talking about in this verse is the wisdom like we see in the book of James or the wisdom we see in the book of Proverbs. A wisdom that pretty much folds these first two together, that accurately looks at ourselves and understands human life. and at the same time rightly fears and loves God, and puts those two together. That's the wisdom Paul's talking about. And what it means is, it's not just I know this stuff, and it's not just I can make stuff happen, but I know what to do, and I apply it. And so, that is what Paul is saying, that we should not look as unwise, but rather as wise. And then I'll switch the order a little here and say the reason Paul says this is important is because because the days are evil. And so I don't think I need to prove to you this morning that the days are evil. If you're not sure, flip on the news and within the first five or 10 minutes, you'll know, yes, the days are evil. They were evil for Paul, they are evil today. But what I believe we should look at this morning for a minute. is why does the evil of these days make it all the more important that we walk with wisdom and that we seize our opportunities? Well, the first reason is in these evil days, we can be more easily distracted. You see, if I go by what I see on TV, what I hear on most radio stations, by what I read in the newspapers, by what I hear at the lunchroom at work, I will learn a worldview. I will learn that living for God is far too much work, that I need to be the sole master of my destiny. I will learn that nobody has the right to tell anybody else what's true or what to believe. And besides, there probably isn't any single thing that's actually true in the first place. Those are the things that I will learn in these evil days. And so as Pastor Jim read to us this morning, and so I'll be looking for people to tickle my ears. That's what that's what these evil days will give us if I take all my info from the outside. And so I've got a great. A great antidote. And so what I've got for my children is a barrel. And I keep my children in this barrel. And then right when they turn about 12, I'm going to put a cork in the hole so that no bad information comes in. Well, I tried it and Tessie said no. And then the kids started growing too big for it. We can't completely insulate ourselves from the world and we're not called to do so. But we are called to walk with wisdom as far as what comes in. And the biggest thing, I believe, is that we have to have a basis of truth. This needs to be our primary source of input. And then this becomes the standard by which we judge the other things that come in. And so often the proportion is switched the other way around. And then all the garbage comes in and the garbage sets my agenda. And then with that agenda, I try and look at this book and it won't make sense to me. And so we know from Romans that faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of Christ. And so we need God's word to to protect us from that, because in these evil days, it's more easily to get fooled or distracted. Another thing about these evil days is in these evil days, there's more to be lost. I recently learned of one of my best friends for about 10 years before we left for China. And he, over some disappointments, slipped into some bad habits that he had had long before. And he found himself drinking too much and is now homeless. And I haven't seen him because we're living in a different city, but a mutual friend told me, Jim, he looks like he's 55 years old. And there's nothing wrong with that when you're 55. But he's 35. And it's hard. It's hard. My point here is that sin is not very forgiving these days. And alcohol, that one's pretty gentle compared to a lot of the things that are out. The drugs, disease. And we see these, or if we look on the larger scale, war. And when we look at these things, it's awful, it's grievous, it's painful. And yet, it's just the tip of the iceberg. Because the evil of these days where we see how much can be lost in the span of a human lifetime, that is just a little small warning sign of what there is to be lost in eternity. See, the lostness in this life just points to being separated from God and God's good plan. And if that chasm is vast in this life, how vast is it in the next? And so there's so much, there's so much grace and love and beauty in the gospel. but we lose its import and its power if we preach Christ as taking us from being not so good to being better. If we look at the Gospel as just a way to make this life a little better, a little more comfortable, we are missing it. Because the Gospel is one that saves us in this life and transforms us and redeems us in this life. But it is also one that is the only means of escape from eternal punishment and separation, and instead bringing us eternal sharing in God's glory, basking in His glory and experiencing His presence. And so in these evil days, we first saw that we're more easily fooled or distracted. We also see there's much more at stake Based on the evil around us, that reminds us of what's at stake. Those are both tough, but in these evil days, there's also more opportunity. A while ago, I sat on a plane and talked to the woman next to me and we got to talking and I tried talking about the gospel in a couple of ways, and she pretty quickly gave me the Heisman. I could tell she didn't want to talk about it. And I told her I was a missionary. And then she said something shocking to me. She said, I'd like to go to Romania and work with some missionaries. I said, what? And she told me her story. She and her husband had adopted a child from an orphanage in Romania. And they saw the way these Christian missionaries cared for these children, these castaway children. They showed them love and appreciated their value as no one else was. You see, in these dark days, our Christian worldview shines brighter. I mean, it should be an obvious thing that every human being has value as God's image bearer. But in days where it's not seen that way, when we Christians live according to what we know and believe, that light shines brighter. And so in these dark days, we have much greater opportunity We had a good friend in Asia, and we met her because we were introduced to her mother. Her mother had been in the hospital with cancer. And our friend, the first friend we showed you, those in Sunday school, shared the gospel with her. And she trusted Christ and was baptized there in the hospital. And sometimes we wonder about hospital conversions. Well, this woman, Her entire personality flipped around. She had been a hard, tough woman. And when the light of Christ entered her, she started changing. Her husband told us a while, a couple months later, I guess, he said, my wife for 38 years never said the words, I'm sorry. And now every day she's saying, oh, I'm so sorry for this. I'm so sorry for that. And would you forgive me? And I love you. And she completely changed. And what was his response? Where do I get that? And he's trusted Christ. So did so did their daughter, their daughter. was able to heal a longstanding family feud with her great aunt through that same gospel. In these evil days, in these dark days where we so often have so much conflict and anger, there's more opportunity for the gospel because it shines brighter in a dark place. These days are evil, though, and so these opportunities are often shorter or harder to come by. I remember in 1989, the Berlin Wall came down, and Soviet Communism just stopped, crashed, and all these Christian missionaries poured into Russia. And it was a great opportunity, and I'm grateful that many people jumped right into that opportunity, because now, do you know of any missionaries living in Russia? I sure don't. The missionaries to Russians that I am aware of They live in Idaho, maybe Poland, maybe the Ukraine, maybe Israel, but they're not in Russia anymore. See, in these dark days, these doors of opportunity, they open, but you don't know when they're going to close. I mean, who would have predicted what's going on in the Arab world right now? Who would have predicted some of the recent political events we talked about at the end of our Sunday school hour in Asia? Our family, we planned to go to Macau. It was like, oh, good. That's the easy place to get a visa and go. And the visa didn't work out there. See, James warns us, doesn't he? Not to assume, oh, well, and then we'll go into that city and we'll make that money. And no, we can't assume these things. And so we need to be very purposeful and wise about seizing each opportunity. Because in these evil days, these opportunities can come and go. But in these evil days, we can see the evil around us and wonder, why does God let this evil happen? We look at the war and the awful things going along with it in places like the Congo, And we say, why would God allow this? Why does God still allow this stuff? And non-believers come to us and they say, if God's so strong, why does He allow this evil to exist? Seeing the evil around us reminds us of the dispensation of grace in which we live. It reminds us that God sees this evil and He is offended by it. But 2 Peter 9 and 10 tells us, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. We need to bear in mind that every second that Jesus has not yet returned is not to give us a little more time that we can earn a little more money. It's not to give us a little more time to enjoy the money that we've earned, but rather it's to give us just a little more time. to grow more fit for heaven ourselves and to draw others to Jesus, because now is the day of salvation. Now is our time of opportunity. And so in these days, evil days, these days are evil. And so we are reminded that the end is closer. In Second Timothy, chapter three, Paul says, but mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power. We see this description of the last days and what it should remind us is that time in history is a limited commodity. I can demonstrate that right now the end is closer than when I started speaking a few minutes ago this morning. See, the end is getting closer and we don't know how much longer we have, but we have a limited amount of time. whether our days are interrupted because our heart stops beating and we go to glory, or whether our days are interrupted because Jesus Christ returns. That time is a limited commodity. And I still remember when I was in high school, I played sports and I loved that. And two of the sports I played were soccer and lacrosse. And for those sports, you run. And after that, you rest for a sec and then you run. and then you might rest for a sec, but then you run, and you're running and running, and I still remember in the fourth quarter of a game, I'd be thinking, man, I'm so tired, why don't I just kind of slow down a little bit running back on defense, or, you know, I'll just back off and I'll let him get to that ball, because I'm just too tired. And, you know, I'd be tempted to just kind of take it easy in the fourth quarter, but what happens if you do? At a certain point, the game is over. And at that point, I can't say to my coach or the other coach, come on, let's do one more quarter to decide who wins because I'm rested up and I'm ready to play now. That's not how these games work. We need to spend ourselves right until that final air horn goes off to tell us that the game is over. Now, I'm not saying that God is calling us to fix this lack of time by completely burning ourselves out without rest. It's God who instituted the Sabbath. He knows that we're creatures of flesh and that we need rest, and He calls us to enjoy life as well as spending ourselves. But what I am saying is that the purpose of our lives, This might be a shock not to people in here, but to our society. The purpose of our lives is not to avoid inconvenience and to rest and be comfortable. Our lives have a purpose and we should rest in order to have more energy to keep going in this life. And so with these evil days, we see these reasons that we need to act with wisdom. And the next thing that Paul says is we should be making the most of every opportunity. In many Bible versions, it says redeeming the time. Now, the word translated redeem, it means to buy something up at great cost. It's also the same word that would be used of buying someone out of slavery. But and that's what God has done for us as people. But when it comes to us as time, what it's talking about is buying something at great cost because it is of great use or great value. Now, redeeming the time, making the most of every opportunity, the word there for time is the word kairos. And so that doesn't mean redeeming the time. Look, you've got 60 minutes, so redeem it. Yeah, that truth of the limited time is there, but what it's really talking about is this is the time. There are certain times that are more important than other ones. And what Paul is reminding us here is this time of our life is a crucial and important and strategic time. This is the time that God sovereignly decided you would live. And so we need to make the most of this. And so what will it look like for us to make the best use of this time. And I believe as we look back at that piece of Ephesians chapter two, we need to look at ourselves, look at others and look at God's plan in this. And so the first thing we need to do is look at ourselves, know who we are in this time. And we need to, first of all, be clear about both our gifts and our limitations, because far too often we undersell our gifts. We look at ourselves humanly in the flesh and I just think, well, I'm not as good at that as he is, so I'll let him do it. as well as she does, so I'll let her sing and I'll just listen and never sing for myself. And you know, I'd love to try and tell people about Jesus, but I don't have enough training. I used to think actually, you know, I'd like to go to seminary sometime so I could read my Bible and understand it. And I'm so grateful that instead, God brought me to a church where the pastor read it with clarity and I thought, oh, I'm allowed to read that and understand it too? This is great. And too often we sell ourselves short because we misunderstand that our power comes not from us, but through the God who works through us. I love Jonathan's attitude in Samuel where he says, come, let's go over Let's go over to that outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. This is a garrison of Philistines, a whole group of them, just Jonathan and his armor bearer. And he says, perhaps the Lord will work, will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few. It's Jonathan's doing the math. One plus God equals a majority. Hey, I can do this. That's the attitude that we need to take in and not get focused on, oh, I don't think I have enough gift. Well, you don't have enough gift if you don't at least try and use it. Then the other though is we underestimate our limitation. The biggest limitation we have is time. When it comes to time, We would forget that we only have 24 hours in a day. We only have 168 hours in a week. And the solution is not to quit sleeping. I tried that, but the second or third day I had to sleep again. That's not the solution. The solution, however, is focus. Too often, Of those 24 hours at the end of it, I have, honestly, I personally have a terrible time with this. I can get to the end of a day and not know where all the time went. And so I've taken to actually writing down what I'm doing at different times of the day to know, oh, I did that for that long. OK, that needs to change. This is an area where we need to look at how we're spending our time. And there are other things that we take on. Maybe it's an activity or something. We take that on and it eats up so much time and we're not thinking about, wait a sec, this time is a limited commodity. And so we have too little time in a day. And then the other is we have too few years in a lifetime. In Psalm 90, Moses prays, teach us to number our days aright. that we may gain a heart of wisdom. And so because of this limited time, we need to be prepared to act on each opportunity. So as I look at myself, I need to not underestimate my gifts and not assume I've got endless time. As I look at those around me, I need to look at who God's putting in my orbit. Who are the people I do life with? Who's in my family? Those are the first ones I need to reach. Who's in my extended family? Who are my friends naturally? Who are my neighbors? Who am I working with? And then who, perhaps across the globe, is God giving me a heart for? We need to look at those people and look at them with an understanding that they, just like us, are currently cut off from God. And yet, they're just awaiting that, but God, because of His love to transform their lives. And then look at God's plan. And Paul points us to this at the end. He says, therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. And so the first thing is, if we don't understand God's will in this, we are being foolish. No matter how much stuff I know, no matter how well I can stand back and analyze things, if I don't see God's will in this thing, I'm being foolish. And so I need to look at God's will for history, for mankind, for His people, and for me personally. For history, I need to always bear in mind that God's will is that His glory be manifest. That we as people show it and live it out. And therefore, any time that we are loving God, worshiping God, obeying God, telling about God, He is glorified. Regardless of how the other person responds. And then we look at God's purpose for mankind, God's will for mankind. We read before, God is not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Now, Pastor Jim and I share, and I believe many of you, share a great love for the doctrines of grace. I am so grateful that it is a God who is in charge of everything and that it is not down to me, not down to an individual. However, sometimes in my own walk and others that I've known, we get caught in this analysis paralysis kind of thinking, well, if God's in control of everything, should I talk to this guy? I mean, what if he's not part of the elect? Well, it's God's will that I share with Him. And God would want Him to come. And so I don't need to get stuck in that. And I take great rest in that. Especially because if He is to come to Christ, it's not going to be because, oh, well, I'd better do this right or I'm going to blow this deal. Because again, it's God who is doing this. And then God's will for His people. God wants us to imitate Jesus. He wants us pure. He wants us unified. He wants us motivated by love. Go home and read Ephesians 4 and up to here in 5 and it's really clear what God's will for His people is. And then what is God's will for us individually or as a local body here? Well, sometimes we get so hung up on trying to discern God's will as if it's this mysterious thing. How many people here when they were kids, some of you are, had the magic eight ball? Do you remember that? You know, you'd ask it a question. Does that cute girl in my class like me? And you shake it and it says, ask again next week. Or, not likely. You know, sometimes we think of God's will as this mysterious thing where we have to figure out the mysterious place God's going to put us before we can take any steps. Once we figure that out, we can be like McFly in Back to the Future. You're my destiny. We think we have to figure things out ahead of time. But as I was growing up, we lived on a hill, and it was a great place for building snowmen. Because if you could get the snowball going, you could get that snowball rolling down the hill. Now the problem is for a snowman, you need a few snowballs right next to each other, right? Well, if you roll the snowball and there it goes down the hill to here, and you roll a snowball and there it goes down the hill to here, and you did a good job on a day with good sticky snow, well, you've got this huge ball of snow taller than you are. There's no way you're going to move it over to this one, is there? However, if I get the snowballs rolling, or the one at a time, and then I push this one while it's rolling, it was pretty easy to steer a moving snowball. When the thing's sitting still, you can't really move it. When it's moving, you can steer it. I believe it's the same way with us getting slotted into God's plan for us individually. As I obey the light that I have, God steers me to the place He wants me to go. And so God wants me to know Him, so I start reading His Word. God wants other people to know Him, so I start talking about Jesus. Oh, well, now that I'm talking to people about Jesus, boy, I need to learn more. So God gives me a chance to start a new Sunday school class, or join a Bible study, or go to school to get better equipped. Oh, here's a chance. God wants people in other countries to know Him. So I go on some trips. And we take these steps. And the more we're moving forward to obey God according to what we know, the more specifically God can slot us in to what He's calling us to. So it didn't come from sitting around in my room saying, God, tell me what you want me to do. but rather obeying what we know. And so, to conclude, I'd just go back to our passage and look and summarize these points. So Paul says, be very careful then. Are we remembering who we were, who we are, and what God's plan is this? Be very careful then how you live. Are we watching and watching accurately how we live? Not as unwise, but as wise. Are we taking a knowledge of God into that? Seeing things how they are. And knowing that if we're not being wise by taking a knowledge of God into things, we are being foolish. Making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Knowing that the evil of these days tell us that this is the age of grace. And it's an age of great opportunity, but these opportunities come and go quickly. Making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Seizing these moments. And therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. You know, talking about seizing opportunities, it would be... It would be very easy for me to just say, hey, get out there and tell everybody and do more because there are too many people out there who don't know Jesus. Well, that's really true, but I don't believe that that's how God moves His people. I don't believe that the way God moves His people is one of us kicks another one in the backside and says, do more, do better. I mean, it works for coaches in sports sometimes. But I believe that the way God moves his people again and again, is he reminds us of who we are, who we are. And as we see the great privilege we've received by being included in Christ, not because of something we did or some wisdom we brought to the table, but because in His sovereign love, God chose and enlightened us so that we would trust in Christ. As we remember that, and as we remember that we have this short period of time right now, and as we remember that we have eternity to rest, that we have eternity to enjoy, to look back and celebrate what God did during these few years on earth. It becomes much more clear and much easier to get over our feelings of weakness, to get over our feelings of inadequacy, and to get to what God has for us. And so may God bless us as we do so. Thank you.