Read your Bibles this morning if you would. And turn to 1 Timothy chapter six. 1 Timothy chapter six. Just before 2 Timothy. Right after 2 Thessalonians. You have five books in the New Testament that start with T. 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus, all right there in a row. So if you find a book that begins with a T, just go one way or the other, you'll find it. 1 Timothy chapter six. First Timothy chapter six. All right, we all there? All right, let's pray. Father, we do look forward to that day, face to face, see you in all your glory. Lord, what a future we have, if we can just get through this time down here. And Lord, that's why we're here this morning, because while we sojourn in this world, We need help. We need guidance. There's a constant call from the world and a constant attack from the devil. And, of course, our flesh is always contrary. And so, Lord, we need help. And I pray, Father, this morning you'll speak to us and minister to our hearts. I pray if anybody here has never trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior, that maybe this morning They'll turn to you. Lord, I pray you'd bless your children. Your children are sitting at your feet, waiting to hear from our Father. And Lord, I know all you've got to work with is this piece of dirt up here. And we certainly don't want to hear from the piece of dirt. I pray that you'd use this vessel to speak to us this morning. Fill it with your power, your passion, your words, your wisdom, your precious Holy Spirit, minister to us this morning. Lord, I pray that when we leave, it will be a little different than when we came in. And Lord, like I mentioned in Sunday school this morning, church for us many times is a reset. And Lord, we need to be reset every week. And pray, Spirit of God, you would do that for us this morning. I thank you in Christ's name, amen. 1 Timothy 6, and we're going to start at verse 6. It says, But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and certainly we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us therewith be content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a-snaring, into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which, while some covet it after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. Thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in His time which in his times he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the king of kings and lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting, amen. Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. Now twice that phrase is in that context there, lay hold on eternal life. And I'm gonna preach a little bit this morning about laying hold of eternal life. And I've preached this in the past more as a topical kind of a thing, preaching about more about sin and about hell and heaven and what have you. This morning I want to preach this to you out of the context that we find this phrase in twice. Only two times it's mentioned in context and in the New Testament and just verses apart. So I'd like to Preach this morning what that means in the context. It'll be more of an exegetical kind of a message. Exegetical means more verse by verse and stuff like that. Topical messages, you take a topic and you break the topic down and apply verses to that. A couple different ways to preach. Evangelistic preaching. I'll tell you what evangelistic preaching is. Usually the guy's mad at somebody. And he's going to say what he's going to say. And he needs to find a verse that kind of goes along with what he's going to say when he says it. And that's more evangelistic preaching. But this morning we're looking at exegetical preaching. And so let's just go through this this morning. Notice he uses the term lay hold on eternal life or lay hold of eternal life. And the idea of laying hold of something is important that you get that. Don't turn to these verses, but let me give you an example of how it's used in other texts. Deuteronomy 21, 19, in reference to a child that has been terribly disobedient, that he's gonna be taken to the elders. It says, then shall his father and mother lay hold on him and bring him out unto the elders of the city. So they're gonna grab this child and they're gonna take him to the elders of the city, which means the child's probably not gonna cooperate going along. but they lay hold on him to make sure that they get him there. In other words, they get a good grip on it. Deuteronomy 22, verse 28, in reference to a rape, if a man find a damsel that is a virgin which is not betrothed, then lay hold on her. So you get the idea there. 1 Kings chapter 13, right after the kingdom split, God was gonna use Jeroboam. He was gonna make him the king of the 10 tribes of the north. He was gonna bless him and all that. a preacher went up there to speak to him. And it said, it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altered Bethel. I mean, Jeroboam had already messed up. So the preacher goes up there to preach to him and he gets him all upset. And then he put forth his hand, it says, from the altar, this is Jeroboam saying, lay hold on him. In other words, he's saying, get that guy. Lay hold on him, don't let him go. That's the idea. Isaiah five and verse 29 references a lion. It says, their roaring shall be like a lion. They shall roar like young lions. They shall roar and lay hold of the prey. If you've ever seen the videos or what have you of a lion getting hold of its prey, you know what it means to lay hold onto something. But all these references I gave you are of physical things. What we wanna get this morning is more of a spiritual, conceptual idea of getting a hold of something. We might use the word embrace to embrace this thing, embrace this thing of eternal life that we have. Embrace meaning to welcome, to accept, to receive enthusiastically, wholeheartedly, take up, take to one's heart, welcome, receive with open arms, adopt, support, be in favor of, back, champion. You know, words all like that. So what we need to do this morning is to get a hold of this thing, embrace this thing that is called eternal life that you have as a believer. I know you didn't feel that way when you got up this morning as the joints were popping and the head was spinning and all that kind of stuff, but you as an individual have eternal life. And by eternal life, what I'm saying is that you're gonna spend eternity in heaven with Jesus Christ. That's eternal life for a believer. Everybody has eternal life. Some have eternal life and they're gonna spend it in a place they really don't wanna spend it. But we need to lay hold on this. So what does laying hold on eternal life involve? Well, we'll look at the context of the verses we just read. And so go back to 1 Timothy chapter six and kind of stay there. And the first thing we're gonna look at is verse seven, the correct concept of the things of this world. To lay hold on eternal life, you have to have the correct concept of the things of this world. 1 Timothy 6, verse 7 says, for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. I know if you lived in Egypt in the day, The day of the pharaohs. The wealthy Egyptians would have fancy tombs and what have you, and they would be buried with jewelry, furniture, and other valuables, which made them of course targets for tomb robbers. But during the early dynastic period, tombs were filled with the daily life objects, furniture, jewelry, other valuables, stone and pottery vessels. I mean, they're preparing to go somewhere when they die. They assume that, you know, they're gonna go into this next world and they need some stuff with them. They're trying to carry some stuff from this life to the world that comes. Pharaoh himself in the pyramids had food, clothing, jewelry, boats and chariots, oils and ointments, weapons and games. He was all ready for the next world. But the fact of the matter is, none of that stuff went into the next world. And to use a worn out cliche that I could not find who actually first said this, but it's been said time and time again, and it's this phrase right here. I never saw a U-Haul following a hearse to the cemetery. And that's so true. Because you're not carrying anything with you. You're not taking anything with you. You didn't come into this world with anything. I was present at the birth of eight children. I watched them come into this world. And, you know, they come in and mom's, you know, pushing all that. I'm telling her to breathe while I'm watching the ball game and, you know, all that stuff that goes on. But finally the child comes out and the head comes out first, you know, and they're looking around like this. And then the little shoulders come out and the doctor kind of pulls them out, gets them all out of there. And then the next thing that comes out is the placenta. I've cut eight umbilical cords, I believe. and they get the placenta out of there. And you know what? I never saw after that the checkbook coming out, the portfolio coming out, the 401k coming out, the credit cards coming out. Wish I had. I wish I had. But when they came into this world, they came in with absolutely nothing. And when you leave this world, you're leaving with absolutely nothing. And that's what we need to get a good concept of. We need to lay hold on the fact that this life has a beginning and this life has an end. But for the Krishna, not just for everybody, this life has a beginning, this life has an end, physically speaking. But in reality, when everyone's life ends, they simply are transferred to a different world where they'll either be in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ or burning in an eternal hell. So in that sense, we have a beginning, we have an end, and we have another beginning into one of two worlds. And the only things that we possess, now think about this. The only things that we possess in this life that we can take to heaven. You say, Preacher, you just said you can't take anything. Well, think about this. There is something we can take to heaven with us, and that is our children. our children, we can take our children to heaven with us. But that's about it. And we have to be able to draw that fine line between necessity and indulgence in this life, between the toys and the tools. As a Christian, you know, I mean, we read the verse, he'd give us freely all things to enjoy. The Lord wants to bless us. He wants us to have stuff that we can enjoy. Where do we draw the line? Where do we draw the line? I drive a Nissan Rogue. 2018 Nissan Rogue. I like it. If somebody said, if you had the money, would you have bought a Montserrati? Not really. There's no room for crock pots in a Montserrati. We bring crock pots here all the time. Plenty of room in the Rogue for that. But what I'm saying is this. Where do we go? I don't need a Montserrati. I don't need a Tesla. But the door comes like this. Yeah, and I would stumble out of that, whether it opens this way or whether it opens that way, you know, and what difference does it make? I've told people before, you ought to look at your life and the stuff that you have as either toys or tools. And this is where men come, this is more to men than women, but toys and tools. I read a bumper sticker years ago that said, he that dies with the most toys wins. And that's the world's mentality. The fact of the matter is, as a Christian, you don't need toys, you need tools. So what do you mean? Maybe you purchased a new set of golf clubs. Maybe they're good golf clubs. You said, is that a toy or a tool? Depends what you do with them. If all you wanna do with your golf clubs is go out on the golf course and play golf, that's a toy. But if you wanna go to the golf course because you know there's gonna be guys there that you might be able to witness to, and there's leagues you can get involved in on, that you can play with them and witness to them and start a ministry there, that becomes a tool then. That's the idea. But that's, we have to draw that fine line because we brought nothing into this world. We're not taking anything out of this world other than maybe our children. Hopefully we've sent things ahead, treasures and what have you, but that's all we have. So why do we, why do we do so much about possessing things in this world when we understand we can't take it with us? That's the first thing we need to understand to comprehend this thing of eternal life. Secondly, look at 1 Timothy chapter six and verse 10. 1 Timothy chapter six and verse 10. It's amazing how 1 Timothy chapter six seems to be all about material possessions and money and stuff like that. 1 Timothy chapter six and verse 10. For the love of money is the root of all evil. Just stop right there. So, in order to lay hold on eternal life, we have to have the correct concept of money. The Bible says, notice, the love of money. You say, well, those rich people. You ain't talking about the rich people. The rich people that have the money probably realize this is a burden. And there's always, you have to always work to determine, am I gonna lose money on this, am I gonna gain money on that? You're not talking about the rich, you're talking about the poor folk. or the common folk like us. We are the ones that have a love of money. Now think about it, how many times have you said, man, if I just had enough money? If I just had enough money, money would solve all my problems. Somebody wrote, how often do the poor win the lottery? Often, why? Because wealthy people don't buy lottery tickets. The tickets are purchased predominantly by poor people, thus the winner is usually a poor person. So that's good, isn't it? Well, this is also why most of them end up bankrupt a few years later, because they've never had any wealth management experience. I hope you don't play the lottery. If you do play the lottery, I'm going to insult you here. Give me just a couple minutes of insulting you. I've always said lottery is the tax on the stupid. I didn't come up with that, but lottery is the tax on the stupid. English novelist Henry Fielding, who's the guy that authored Tom Jones, if you're a reader, also wrote such plays as The Lottery of Farce in 1732. Lotteries aren't something new. They go quite a ways back. And he said this, a lottery is a taxation upon all the fools in creation. And heaven be praised, it's easily raised. Credulities always in fashion. So what's credulity? It's this tendency to be ready to believe that something is real or true when it probably isn't. A lot of the infomercials that you hear are playing on people's credulity. And if you sit back a little bit and say, really? I mean, you hear the guys on Saturday afternoon radio if you listen to 550. They always talk about how to raise money. Got these two guys on there every week. talking about, you know, they don't have a J-O-B, how many of you know what I'm talking about? And you follow their mentor and their mentor sets you up and you invest a little bit in this and the mentor shows you what stocks to buy and what stocks not to buy and, you know, you'll make more money. He said, Pritchett, sounds too good to be true. And if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. But if you believe that, that's credulity. Credulity is always in fashion. For follies of fun will never lose ground while fools are so rife in the nation. Scottish economist Adam Smith, years back, discussed lotteries in his landmark work, The Wealth of Nations. Smith asserted that a common defect in human reasoning led people to buy lottery tickets. A common defect in human reason led people to buy lottery tickets. And Sir William Petty said that the lottery as a tax on unfortunate, self-conceited fools. Say, preacher, why are you saying that? You realize what the odds are of winning the lottery? How much money? Oh, I won the $500 prize, if there is one. Well, how much money did you spend before you won that? Nobody keeps track of that. So lotteries are a waste of money. So preacher, what do I do with it? Instead of buying tickets, put it in missions. At least if you give it to God, there is a investment there. Now, money is not evil. He didn't say money was evil in the text. He said the love of money. Money is a necessity of life. It's when we fall in love with it, it becomes the problem. Ecclesiastes chapter, I'm gonna give you two verses on Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 10 says this, verse 19. A feast is made for laughter, wine maketh merry, but money answereth all things. He's talking about life under the sun. In this world in which we live, money does answer all things. I mean, try going to the gas station without a way to buy the fuel, which is getting, coming about, isn't it? But money in this life answers all things. It's not the end all that meets all, but money does in this life answer all things. Ecclesiastes chapter seven and verse 12 says this, wisdom is a defense and money is a defense. I mean, you can defend your lifestyle with money, but you can also do it with wisdom. But he says this, but the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. So it's better to have wisdom than to have money. I remember when Lydia was six months old and had fallen out of the bus, and we had the Life Flighter to Emory Clinic in Atlanta, Georgia. And she's laying there in the emergency room bed, little body in this big emergency room bed, and got all these wires and stuff coming out of her. And the thought that came to my mind was this, all the money in the world can't fix this. All the money in the world can't fix this. If this is gonna be fixed, it's gonna be fixed from that direction. And praise God, it was. But there's some things money can't buy. There's some things money cannot do. But money's not bad, it's the love of money. And if you're gonna lay hold on eternal life, you better not be in love with money. People that love money have a tendency to miss church to get more money. Can't be in church this day, preacher. I gotta work Sunday. You gotta work Sunday? Or did they offer it to you? I gotta work overtime, preacher. Is it mandatory overtime or do you just need the money? know I'm all for work I've preached that I don't know how many times I'm for men working John Wesley I think had the right concept of this thing Wesley said this work as much as you can to make as much as you can to be able to give as much as you can but Wesley would have never advocating skipping church to do that So we've looked at coming into this world, you didn't bring anything into this world, you can't take anything out. We looked at the concept of money. Thirdly, look at 1 Timothy 6, verse 11. 1 Timothy 6 and verse 11 says this, but thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness. Now Paul is preaching to a young man in the ministry, but this is fitting for all of us. It's the concept of what is important in this life. When you lay hold on eternal life, you have to look at your life and say, what really is important in this life and what is not important? And he lists some things there that are really important in this life. Notice he starts out that verse with a but. But is known as a disjunctive conjunction. They had been talking about other stuff that was not good, that was not right, and then he says, but thou. When you see the word but, there's a change in course. The car was heading over the cliff, but it turned just in time. So you've got a change in course. He said, but thou, O man of God, flee. In other words, run away from this stuff. Treat it as something dangerous or something evil. Avoid it. Be alarmed by it. And then follow. Follow to go after in the same path or direction. Follow the Lord. Follow the Lord. In this life, flee from all that stuff. The devil will throw every little trinket out there you could want. The world will offer you every little thing you could want. And the Lord says, don't worry about that, just follow me. Kind of like when you take your kid to the grocery store. If you do it right. They're looking at everything on the shelves and just the color, the color of the stuff just blows their mind and they want this and you have to say, hey, just stick right with me. Now if you do it right, and if your kid decides to grab something and stand there and scream and what have you until you get it for him, you've done it wrong. But if you do it right, you won't have that problem. And your child will understand, you know what, I need to follow Mom. When I need some of this stuff, Mom's gonna get that stuff for me. She'll put it in the cart and she'll give it to me when we get home. That's what they understand. And following the Lord is pretty much the same way. The Lord says, don't worry about all that stuff. Don't listen to them, don't worry about it, follow me. And when you need that stuff, I'll give it to you. And when I give it to you, it's gonna be good, because every good gift and every perfect gift cometh from above, from the Father of lights, in whom there's no shadow of turning. That's where it comes from. And then he mentions these things here. Follow after righteousness. We're not talking about the righteousness that you get when you get saved. We're talking about practical righteousness. We talked about that a couple weeks ago on Sunday night. The armor of God, the helmet of salvation, it has the breastplate of righteousness. That's practical righteousness. That's doing what's right. This victory that the Supreme Court seemed to have given the country by reversing the Roe v. Wade thing, at least putting it back to the states, is a victory for our nation. So why is it a victory? It's just a victory for conservatives. It's just a victory for pro-life. No, it's a victory for the country. So what makes you say that? Proverbs 14, verse 34. Righteousness exalteth a nation. Is it righteous to kill a baby or to let a baby live? If you think it's righteous to kill a baby, you're in trouble. It's righteous to let a baby live. Let that child come into this world. If you don't want it, somebody does. There are people all over this country that can't have children, would do anything to have a child, and you want to just kill yours. Bring that child into this world. Somebody will love it. Somebody will care for it. Righteousness exalteth the nation. but sin is a reproach to any people. While Roe v. Wade was intact, that sin was a reproach to the United States of America. Now that it has been reversed, righteousness is beginning again to exalt the nation. I'm gonna tell you something, if there's ever a time this country needed an exaltation, it's now. And God can exalt this nation again by doing righteousness in spite of who's in the White House. And it's kind of tough for the Lord to do that, but he can do it. He says, I've never had to deal with something like this before. Anyway, righteousness, godliness, faith, love. I'm talking about serious love, I'm talking about real love. I'm not talking about this guilt, guilt-ridden love that people do, you know, they're gonna help the homeless and feed the poor and all that stuff. A lot of times it's been their own guilt. But I've told you time and time again, if you don't give somebody food and the gospel, what have you done? We wanna feed people, preacher. People are hungry. And you're gonna send them to hell with a full belly unless you preach the gospel to them and give them the gospel. I'm all for taking care of people that have a need as long as the gospel is preached with it. And if it isn't, it's nothing more than a social thing. Patience, meekness. All of these are things in this life that are a lot more important than the other stuff. So as a Christian, figure out how to lay hold on things that are important, important to God, important based on scripture. That's laying hold on eternal life. Let me give you another one. Go to 1 Timothy chapter six. Look at verse 12. He says, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. Fight the good fight of faith. He refers to us then as being called. You know, we need to figure out who we are. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called. What are you? Well, preacher, I'm just a low down, filthy old dirty sinner. And God pulled out of the miry clay, set my feet on a solid rock. But I'm just a new good sinner, preacher. I believe that. I believe that. But the problem is we emphasize that too much. Let's skip the part about I'm just a low down, good for nothing sinner. and let's focus on pulled out of the miry pit, saved by the grace of God. Just a sinner preacher saved by the grace of God. Well, let's talk about saved by the grace of God. How about we do that? Because we all know what we are. A lot of times these fellows want to give, when they give their testimony, they lived a wicked, rotten life, they kind of emphasize too much the wicked, rotten part of it. And we really don't want to hear that. We want to hear the saved by the grace of God. because that's what we are, saved by the grace of God. I want you to think about something. We just had Father's Day a while back, and I didn't, that was last week, wasn't it? Wow. And almost all over the country, somebody's preaching about the prodigal son. I've done that before, so maybe next year I'll do that. Preach about the prodigal son, and you know the story. The prodigal son goes out, blows all the money that he had, wine, women, and song, the whole bit, and ends up in a pig pen, feeding the pigs, eating what the pigs are eating. And he comes to himself, and he realizes, this is stupid. I had everything I needed with my daddy. I rebelled against him, I decided to live a life of sin. Now here I am, I am gonna repent, I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna tell daddy, I'm sorry, I've sinned against heaven, I've sinned against you. And he does. And the father greets him. And before the kid can even open his mouth, the dad says, I'm just glad you're back. You're forgiven, I'm glad you're back. Gives him a ring to put on his finger, gives him clothes to wear, fixes a meal for him. Let me ask you something. You think the prodigal went around talking about being in the pig pen, or you think the prodigal walked around talking about how good his daddy was? Oh, I'm sure he mentioned, now and then, yeah, I did something real stupid, ended up in a pig pen, but boy, my daddy's so good. My daddy took me back in. My daddy gave me something new to wear. My daddy gave me food. My daddy took care of me. That's where we need to be. Lay hold on eternal life. We know what you were. We know what you were. Whether it was really, really bad or not so bad, we know what you were. Let's emphasize on what he did. I am called, I am saved by the grace of God. I'm a child of God, I'm a son of God. Let's emphasize that. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whene'er thou art also called. Romans chapter one, verses six and seven, Paul says, among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ. And what does that mean? It means I'm saved. And in the process of that, you know, God called me to salvation. I responded with a yes, but I'm called, he called me. Second Thessalonians two and verse 14, or excuse me, Romans one, verse seven, says called to be saints. I'm called to be a saint. 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 14. He called you by our gospel. We heard the gospel and we responded to the gospel. I am called. I'm called. He said, are you special? I'm as special as the Son of God can be. I'm no better than you. You're just as special too. If you're saved, you're a child of God, man. Get a hold of that. Embrace that, if you will. Fight the good fight. We are soldiers for our Lord. Fight the good fight of faith, but here's one thing you wanna know. That last part of verse 12 says, and professed a good profession before many witnesses. That will remind you as you lay hold of this thing, embrace the fact you're a child of God, glorify your father. He said, you have professed this before many witnesses. You've told people what God did for you. Remember, you live in a glass house when you start doing that. You live in a glass house when you start telling everybody you're a Christian. God did this for me and he saved me. You just put yourself in a glass house, they'll be watching you. Maybe that's part of fighting the good fight. But grasp the thing here of what you are. And again, you know, I understand where we came from. But some guys walk around, that's all they talk about. I just said I was saved by the grace of God. Listen, if you were a sinner saved by the grace of God, you'd be shouting. So let's watch how we present that thing. Yeah, I'm a sinner, but I'm saved by the grace of God. Let me tell you what God did for me. Let me tell you how good it is to be a Christian. Let me tell you how wonderful it is to be a child of God. Let's look at another one. 1 Timothy 6, look at verse 14. He says, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to have the correct concept of the duration. Say, what do you mean? That means I need to serve Jesus Christ until he comes. I don't serve Jesus Christ until I retire. Oh, I'm 70 years old, preacher, I'm kind of done going to church. Why? There is no retirement from this thing in this life. Retirement comes when a trumpet blows. or the hearse shows up, whichever comes first. There's a duration, we do that, but let me say this also. We're in this thing until the end, but only until the end. What are you talking about, preacher? C.T. Studd was a great missionary, missionary in China, Africa, and he was a cricket player, well-known cricket player in England. So what is cricket? Beats fire out of me, but they do it with sticks and a ball, kind of like baseball, except they got the sticks going the wrong way. I don't know what it is. It's kind of like croquet on steroids, I guess you would call it. I'm not sure what it is. But he was good at it. He was really good at it. And he was from a well-known family, rich family and all that. In fact, when I was in England a few years ago, Brother Mark Norman and I took a drive and we actually went into the property where C.T. Studd had lived. A famous guy. But at some point in his life, he realized that he needed to be living for Jesus Christ. So he decided to become a missionary. He ended up being a missionary in China, he started with Hudson Taylor, then to Africa, and then to India. That's quite a missionary work. It is C.T. Studd who wrote a poem, I guess somebody put it to music, but he wrote a poem that explained why he did what he did. Because when he decided to serve God, he was in all the way. He jumped in this thing all the way. And he couldn't understand people who didn't. And he wrote, and you've heard this before, only one life shall soon be passed. You've heard that. But that's all you've heard. He wrote a poem, I'm gonna give you just a couple stanzas from that, maybe three or four, to give you an idea of where he's coming from. He said this, two little lines I heard one day, traveling along life's busy way, bringing conviction to my heart and from my mind would not depart. Only one life will soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last. The next stanza, only one life, yes, only one. Soon will its fleeing hours be done. Then in that day my Lord to meet and stand before his judgment seat. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Only one life, the still small voice gently pleads for a better choice. Bidding me selfish aims to leave and to God's holy will to cleave. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. And the very last stanza said this. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. And when I'm dying, how happy I'll be if the lamp of my life has burned out for thee. He understood the duration. Not that he had to be in it to the end, but that he only had a set amount of time before the end. And so he did everything he could, as much as he could, to serve Jesus Christ. And he laid hold on that thing called eternal life. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. You're only in this world for a duration. So I'm gonna live till I'm 85, preacher, you might. You may be dead tomorrow, not to be morbid or anything, but the fact of the matter is you have no guarantees in this life. All you know is you're alive right now. And you ought to get it set in your head, only one life will soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last. That'll be something every day crosses your mind. Another one is this. Go to 1 Timothy 6, verse 15. 1 Timothy 6 verse 15. Which in his times, the Lord's time, he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting, amen. Only potentate. You know why Paul said that? I have an idea why Paul said that. Because the potentate on the earth at that time was a guy by the name of Nero. Nero expected to be worshiped as a god. Not all the Caesars desired to be considered divine. Nero did. He embraced his own divinity. So Paul says, you know what? There's only one potentate. That means all powerful. And that's Jesus Christ. So it directly contradicts Nero's claim to be the big shot. Go to Acts chapter 17. Keep your finger on 1 Timothy chapter 6. And go to Acts chapter 17. Only one King of kings, only one Lord of lords, and that's Jesus Christ. And that's how the world perceived the ministry during the time of Paul. That's how they perceived it. In other words, these people are running around thinking that, you know, their Jesus is the King. Yeah, yeah, that's what we do. Acts chapter 17, look at verse four. Some of them, he had preached to the Jews in Thessaloniki, had been there three weeks. A lot of these Jews are trusting Christ. He said, and some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas and of the devout Greeks, a great multitude of the cheap women, not a few. So you get a lot of folks saved. Greeks are getting saved, devout Greeks. Chief women. These are rich ladies, chief women, women of position. Verse five, but the Jews which believe not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the bracer sort. What in the world are those? You saw them a couple years ago in Portland and you saw them in Seattle when they set up their chop and their chazz and what have you. You saw them in Minneapolis. You see them on the streets in Los Angeles and Phoenix. That's the certain lewd fellows of a bracer sort. Gathered a company and set all the city on an uproar. What did they do? Started a riot. Because that's all those people know how to do. They're like Democrats, all they know how to do when things don't go well, let's start a riot. Well, what is that gonna do? Other than get people more mad at you. Set all the city on an uproar and assaulted the house of Jason, so here comes the violence. They go into Jason's house, they assault him, and they think they're gonna find Paul and the guys there, and they didn't. They sought to bring them out to the people. When they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren under the rulers of the city crying, these that have turned the world upside down are come hither also. Boy, I wish the Lord would say that about Gospel Light Baptist Church. Yeah, there's that church that has turned Mesa and Apache Junction upside down. Wish that was said about us. Verse seven, whom Jason hath received, and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, watch it, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. That's how they perceived it. Did Paul ever say that? I don't think he did. But that's how they perceived it, and that really is the reality. Because you know, whoever runs this world, Jesus Christ is still ahead of it. Satan is the god of this world, but I've told you time and time again, the Lord has him on a leash. You can be the God of this world, but when I tell you to sit, pal, you're gonna sit. When I tell you to lay, you're gonna lay. When I tell you to roll over, you're gonna roll over. God is in control of this place. And I don't care what the Supreme Court says. This time they got the decision right. They got the decision right on the Second Amendment in New York. They did two good things this week. But my basis of morality and my basis of right and wrong is not based on the Supreme Court. It's based on the Supreme God. And America has no Caesar. Amen. Let me give you one final one here. 1 Timothy 6, go back there, look at verse 17. When you lay hold on eternal life, you have to get the correct concept of business. Look what he says in verse 17, starting in verse 17. He says, charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life. Those that are rich in this world. So I know them rich people. They're just born into that. Well John Kerry was. But his father-in-law or grandfather-in-law or whoever it was that started Heinz wasn't. Read the story, the History Channel's done the whole thing on that of how much these guys worked and the risks that they took to make their business and they finally became success. Some of them did, some of them didn't. Yeah, I get it, some are born into this thing. But most of the rich in this world are rich because they work for it. And he's saying, if you're rich in this world, I've got some advice for you. Robert Gilmore, you would know him by R.G. Letourneau, dropped out of high school, began working at an iron foundry at the age of 14, that's in 1901. He had numerous trade kind of jobs later. He discovered a passion for machinery, especially being an auto mechanic, which in those days, how much could you have to know to be an auto mechanic? And later, as the manufacturer of the largest earth-moving equipment on the planet. At the age of 28, he returned from a period with the Navy. serving our country in World War I. He returned to a car dealership, and he was a half owner of that, and steeped in debt because of a partner who was a drunk. So he moved himself from that business. He was jobless and beyond broke. But he jumped at the opportunity to level land for a wealthy rancher. The rancher came in and said, I've got these trees and stuff. I need it cleared off. looked at that opportunity and he did that for him and he claimed that this experience was the most satisfying job he ever had. He loved it. And so his mind is focusing on that and he's gonna get involved in road building. And in the day, in his day, they built roads by having a bunch of guys with shovels make a path. That's how they built the roads back then. And in Michigan, I guess they still do it that way. He, as a Christian, met with his pastor, and he felt called. He felt, God is calling me to something, and he thought, you know, to be full-time in the ministry, you gotta be a pastor, a missionary, an evangelist. And he went and he talked to his pastor, and they spent time in prayer. And Pastor Duvall, he said, said words that guided him for the rest of his life. Pastor Duvall said to him, he said, you know, God needs businessmen, too. And to Letourneau, this was a revelation. And so he immediately began to consider his business to be a partnership with God. Now think about that. God is my partner, not my co-pilot, but he's probably the 51% of the partnership, at least. God is my partner. So for years, Letourneau had sold the machinery that he'd built. Here's what he did. He was clearing roads and clearing highways and stuff, and he would see something that needed to be done, and in his mind, he would think of a machine that would do that. And so he would invent that machine. And that machine would do that particular job. And then he would sell the machine as a sideline. And so his life was based on one job to the next. So he sold the machinery that he'd built for himself when he'd got a little bit behind financially and he still considered himself first and foremost a road construction contractor. And that selling the earth moving equipment was just a sideline. His attorney said to him one time, you know, Why don't you just concentrate on inventing and building these things and selling those things and forget about building roads? And he took his advice. And that turned his life around to making him what he ended up being, multimillionaire. You know, it's amazing, you think about that. Here's a guy struggling, and in fact, his business got so bad at one point, He was $100,000 in debt, which in that day, it might as well be a million bucks. And the loan company was gonna come out. In fact, they came out, they were gonna say, we're shutting you down, we're taking everything you got, you're done. And they showed up. And for some strange reason, they didn't shut him down. But then they couldn't figure out, look, you're so in debt, you're gonna have to work every day. And he said, I don't work Sundays. I said, what do you mean you don't work Sundays? You're so much in debt, you've got to work Sundays. He said, my partner would have it that we don't work on Sundays. And he didn't work on Sundays. And somehow he was able to survive. And the answer to his issue, the answer to his problem was right there in front of him all the time. It was the stuff he was inventing, the machinery that he was making. And finally his attorney said, why don't you concentrate on that? So he did. And he went full force into the manufacturing business. And the revenues resulted from this manufacturing business. I'll give you what he did in 1932. Does anybody know what was going on in the country in 1932? Great Depression. So what's a depression? Wait a couple months, you'll figure it out. But during the Depression, 1932, net profit, over $52,000, net profit. That's big money for the day. 1934, net profit, over $340,000. 1938, net profit, $1.4 million. Quite a business, made a lot of money. But then he remembers, God needs businessmen too. So 1935, and the prophets are rolling in. His wife Evelyn had a thought. She said, you know what? Why don't we do a 90-10 split with the Lord? Well, okay, they're going to give 10%. They're going to give 10%. No, that's not what they're talking about. What they're talking about is this, let's give God, you ready for this? Those of you that have an issue with the 10%, let's give God 90% and we'll live on the 10%. And he said this, this was one of his sayings, he said, it's not how much of my money I give to God, but how much of God's money I keep for myself. And from that point on, They had established the Letourneau Foundation. By 1959, giving $10 million in donations to religious and educational works. In 1959, even maybe today, still worth $40 million or more. He began speaking at churches and other meetings, encouraging other businessmen to partner with God. You can buy the book of his life on Amazon. Christian businessman who laid hold on eternal life. and decided to take the money he had made and invested in the things of God. There have been others. Asa Candler, the guy that started Coca-Cola. Marion Wade, the fellow that started ServiceMaster, the lady that started ServiceMaster. Anthony Rossi of Tropicana. Bo Pilgrim of Pilgrim's Pride. Norm Miller, Interstate Batteries. Truett Cathy, Chick-fil-A. Harry Parsons Cromwell, Quaker Oats. John D. Rockefeller Sr., Standard Oil. Tom Monaghan, used to drive by his place, taking the 23 North. And when you get up there by Ypsilanti, you'd see the big Domino's Farms. David Green, Hobby Lobby, same way. Stanley Tam, Stanley Tam, U.S. Plastics. I've probably driven past his place well over 100 times. Right off of I-75, just north of Finley, and you drive down the road and you see this big building and the building says U.S. Plastics, but there's another sign in front of that building that's just much bigger that really grabs your attention, and it's a sign that says Christ is the answer. Stanley Tam, U.S. Plastics. And I'm sure there are more. Christian businessmen who understood that they got what they got from God, who understood as businessmen making mega amounts of money, they had a responsibility. As Paul said, that they do good, be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. And that's what they do. because they had the correct concept of business. They laid hold on eternal life, and they said, you know, God gave me the ability to make money, and I'm gonna take that money and I'm gonna put it in God's work. Stanley Tam used to always supply churches with Bibles for works in the area, and much more than that, I'm sure. So the idea of laying hold on eternal life, to have a correct concept of the things of this world, to have a correct concept on money, a correct concept of the important things in this life, a correct concept of who we are, and a correct concept of the duration we have in this world, a correct concept of Jesus Christ, and a correct concept of business. All of those things are in the context that say lay a hold on eternal life. In other words, embrace it. Understand what you are, understand who you serve, understand what you're capable of doing, understand that this world will try to fill you with a bunch of junk, understand the devil will try to distract you, understand your flesh ain't gonna like it, but you continue on, and you walk for God, and you follow him, and you've laid hold on eternal life, and you know what counts in this life, and you're waiting for the one to come. Lay hold on eternal life. And the first thing you have to do to lay hold on eternal life, if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you better lay hold on that real quick. Because the only hope you have of getting to heaven is what Christ did 2,000 years ago at Calvary. Have you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior? Have you been born again? I hope you have. If you haven't, we're gonna give an invitation here in just a couple minutes. And you can come forward and somebody will get with you and show you from the Word of God how to trust Christ as your Savior. But that's the first step. To get a hold of eternal life, you start at the cross. You start where the blood was shed that cleanses you of your sins. And then three days later you go to a tomb that's empty because he's risen from the dead. You lay hold on that, and then everything else will start to fall in place. Father, we thank you for your word this morning. We thank you for the idea of laying hold on eternal life. Lord, we are human beings stuck in this world down here, but Lord, we certainly can reason, we certainly can understand from your word that there are some things in this life that we need to lay hold of, some things in this life we need to be careful of. Help us, as your children, to lay hold on eternal life, to embrace the concept that we are sons of God in this world and in the world to come. With that, let's bow to the eyes closed. If you've never trusted Christ as your Savior and we ask you simply to come forward, say, why do you do that? Because everybody Jesus called, he called publicly. We ask you simply to get out of your seat when we give the invitation. When we're standing and singing, just get out of your seat. Walk forward, somebody will meet you up here and help you trust Christ as your Savior. Probably take you to my office, take 10 or 15 minutes and show you from the Word of God how to know for sure that you're saved. Christian, you do as God would lead you to do this morning. If it's a good time this morning, just get along with the Lord and say, Lord, I need to get a hold of this thing called eternal life. As soon as my life is just bogged down in the nasty now and now, and it's all about this life, and it's, Lord, sometimes I get my eyes off of the fact I'm a child of God. So this morning would be a good time to talk to the Lord about that. You do as God leads you to do. Brother Walter, come ahead. All right, let's go ahead and stand. Get your hymnals out and turn to number 55. Number 55, At the Cross. O blessed did my Savior be, and did my Sovereign die. sacred name for such a worm as I am. At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, when the burden of my heart rolled away, it was there by grace I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day. He groaned upon the tree Amazing pity, grace, and wonder