If you would open to Luke 16. Luke chapter 16. We will start in Luke and then I will read this first nine verses and we'll come back to it at the end and we'll spend most of our time in Genesis tonight. But let's start with Luke chapter 16. Jesus says this. He also said to the disciples, there was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called to him and said, what is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you are no longer in my management. And the manager said to him, what shall I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I'm not strong enough to dig and I'm too ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses. So summoning the master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, how much do you owe my master? He said, a hundred measures of oil. He said to him, take your bill and sit down and quickly write 50. Then he said to another, how much do you owe? He said, a hundred measures of wheat. He said to him, take your bill and write 80. The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their dealings with their own generation than the sons of light. And so Father, we pray that as we study shrewdness, that Lord, you would make us more shrewd, virtuously shrewd. So we need you, Holy Spirit, to come and be our teacher. We could twist and turn this and make it into something that is not virtuous, but we pray, Father, that You would prevail, and You would teach, and You would inform, and most of all, You would incline our hearts, Lord, so that we could be virtuous for God-glorifying ends. and that we would be shrewd for God-glorifying ends. And we pray that You would do that for Your namesake and for the good of many. We pray it in Jesus' name, Amen. Will we continue tonight this series on virtue or neglected virtues? And some of y'all are wondering how long is this going to keep going, Pastor? We have studied a lot of virtues and I just, I don't really know how long we're going to keep going. There are a lot of neglected virtues. And I really do feel like we're just scraping the surface already. But this is really important, and let me just, before we get going, remind us why virtue is important. Here's why it's important. It's God's will for you to be virtuous. 1 Thessalonians 4.3 says, this is the will of God, your sanctification, your conformity into the image of Christ, your Christ-likeness, your virtue. That is God's will for you. And there's a few ways that theologians have said this. One would be maybe to put it in two categories. There is a positional virtue, so that you are virtuous in Christ. And then there's the progressive virtue, so that you are being, you need to live out that virtue that you are in Christ. We could say it maybe more simply, to pursue virtue is to pursue becoming fully human. So what is true humanity? What does it mean to be like the second Adam? It means to be kind, meek, self-controlled, loyal, excellent, honoring, having courage, wisdom, lifelong learning, responsibility, patience, on and on and on. All these virtues together in their perfection is Christlikeness. That is being the new man, being the fully human man that we are in Christ. And so virtue matters. And we're not lingering too long here, I promise you that. Today on this particular virtue, this is an odd one, and I'm really attempting to do something kind of difficult in a short amount of time. Really three things that I want to do. I want to, number one, teach on the neglected virtue of shrewdness. Shrewdness. Second, I want to do that through the life of the most shrewd man in the Bible, Jacob. And so we'll cover eight chapters of Genesis and then I want to make sure we're right about how we're understanding the shrewdness of Jacob by going to Jesus in the parable that we just read. in confirming our interpretation through Jesus. So number one, we're gonna define shrewdness as a virtue. Is it even a virtue? We should probably answer that. Study the life of the most shrewd man of the Bible, Jacob, and then let Jesus have the last word on shrewdness and make sure we're understanding this. So what is the virtue of shrewdness? Or maybe we should ask, is it a virtue? Because we tend to think of shrewd people as those who take advantage of others. those who capitalize on situations or people for selfish ends. That's typically how we think of shrewdness. But I wanna help us broaden our thinking here and think of shrewdness as a positive virtue or it could be negative. And so let me give a few different definitions. So positively, shrewdness is marked by a clever, discerning awareness, a hard-headed insight and wisdom. Negatively, a shrewd person is given to devious and deceptive, scheming ways of dealing with people or situations. Positively, shrewdness is an acute perception, sound judgment, far-sightedness that's mentally sharp and clever. or you could, this could be positive or negative, diplomatic skills. So shrewd people are usually good politicians, lawyers, maybe those who work Wall Street or the stock market. And so here's a short definition of shrewdness. Shrewdness is the quality of being able to quickly understand a situation and see how to take advantage from it. And it would depend on the quality of our own heart whether we would take advantage of that situation and use it for good or use it for evil. And we could give so many examples, male and female, in the Bible. I mean, there's like three people, Ruth, Esther, and Rahab. We could do a whole sermon on these women and their shrewdness. For good virtuous reasons, they're very shrewd. But I want to give maybe a contrast here. So take two different types of housewives. Proverbs 31, I believe, lays out a very shrewd woman. in how she's managing her home. She's able to take a certain amount of resources and steward those in ways to not only care for her husband, her own children, but she has enough overflow in how she's managing resources, time, all of these things to then bless and help the poor, help others in need. She's very shrewd in a very virtuous way. But then take another type of housewife. We'll call her what the, popular TV term, a desperate housewife. Which I've never seen the show, and if you have, don't raise your hand or say anything. But I would imagine, I would imagine that a desperate housewife isn't desperate to try to figure out how to be righteous in the light. I would imagine that desperation is how to hide acts of darkness from being discovered. Those are two very, they're both shrewd. The Proverbs 31 woman is shrewd. The desperate housewife is shrewd, but in very different ways and for very different ends. And so, There's nobody that really embodies this shrewdness more than Jacob. And he shows us both the negative and the positive of shrewdness. So I want to look at the life of Jacob for most of our time tonight and see what this looks like when it's for selfish interests and when shrewdness becomes a righteous thing. And there's really six shrewd moves that Jacob makes in his life, or at least that are recorded in Genesis. There's a lot more. His whole life was, I'm sure, characterized by shrewdness. But we have six, and the first one starts with his birth. The man from the womb was already acting shrewdly. So Genesis 25, if you want to flip over there, we'll just kind of walk through quickly the life of Jacob. Genesis 25, 22. It says the children struggled together within her. And she said, this is Rebecca, Isaac's wife. She said, why is this happening to me? So she's feeling in her womb. And the Lord said to her, two nations are in your womb and two peoples from within you shall be divided. The one shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger." So I don't have time to unpack that theologically. You could go to Romans 9 and see there's a lot more going on here. But then it goes on, verse 24, there were twins in her womb. It says, the first came out red in all his body with like a hairy cloak. So they called his name Esau. Afterward, his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel. So his name was called Jacob, which means Jacob means he cheats. So from birth, his shrewdness is already coming out. Then we see the second shrewd act. So fast forward about probably 20 years or so. And we have Jacob stealing Esau's birthright. So we're in chapter 25 verse 27. It says, When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man dwelling in tents. Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Now that is not something to imitate, favoritism among your children. That is not good. Verse 29, it says, once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, let me eat some of the red stew for I'm exhausted. And Jacob said, sell me your birthright and then focus in on the word now. There's a shrewdness. He sees the opportunity, prime opportunity to take advantage of his brother. Verse 32, Esau said, I'm about to die. What is the use of a birthright to me? And Jacob said, swear to me now. So he swore to him and he sold his birthright to Jacob. That's shrewd. He saw a moment, an opportunity to take advantage. And we see this shrewdness developing as he gets older. Now we see the third time Jacob is shrewd. We got to jump forward to chapter 27. and I won't read this whole scene, but remember, Isaac is nearing death, his father, and Isaac is speaking to Esau, his oldest son, and he says something along the lines of, before I die, go hunt some game, come and cook it for me and bring it to me, son, and then I will bless you. And then who overhears this conversation? Rebekah, Isaac's wife, Jacob's mother overhears the conversation and she pulls Jacob aside, her favorite, and says, hey, I just overheard this conversation. We need to devise a plan. I have an idea. And we see where Jacob gets his shrewdness from his mother. And then Rebecca says, your father's nearly blind. Let's make, if you walk in here and try to take this, he's gonna feel your arms and see how you don't have hair. We need to put some skin, animal skin on your arm. We can deceive your father that way and you can steal your brother's birthright. Jacob obviously loves the plan and shrewdly carries it out, successfully tricking his father into the blessing. He takes it from Esau, and when Esau finds out, he is enraged. And everybody in the family knows Jacob is gonna die if he doesn't leave immediately. Jacob flees from his homeland, from his family, and he runs off. And that leads to... Something very ironic that happens. A lot of people don't pick up on this. This is a lot of irony here. The shrewdness that Jacob is now displayed toward his father and his brother is about to be flipped back on him by his uncle, Laban. And And when he meets his uncle Laban, and we're in chapter 29 now, he's fled from Esau to Laban, his mother's brother. And Laban takes him in and gives him a shepherding job. And look at verse 15. Laban says to Jacob, what shall your wages be? Your shepherding wages. And Jacob thinks he's being trued. He says, my wages shall be Rachel. Give me your daughter. And Laban says, fine, work for me seven years. And then the text says that because he loved her so much, he did that. And many people, I mean, people write whole books on that little phrase right there, because he loved her, and now it's a romance story. I don't think this is so romantic. I really don't think that there's a lot of romance here. I see a little more superficiality. He basically just saw her form, it says, her beautiful form and appearance. He doesn't even know her and this is his cousin. It's no longer romantic at that moment when you realize this is his cousin. And he says something so crude to Laban, I'm not even gonna repeat it in mixed company, a very kind of vulgar way to say, give me your daughter. And Laban's shrewdness that wedding night, he and Jacob are back and forth. He knows Jacob is drinking at this wedding. It's dark outside. The bride would be wearing a veil. And so for these and other reasons, Jacob is fooled. He goes into the tent that night and realizes wrong woman. And he has Leah with him instead of Rachel. Now you say, what's wrong with Leah? Nothing is wrong with Leah, except that she's said to have weak eyes. You say, what does that mean? We don't know exactly what that means. Some people say that weak eyes mean she had bad eyesight. I mean, that would be a natural way to read that. The problem is it doesn't say that Rachel had strong eyes and strong ability to see. That's not the contrast. Some people think that she may have been cross-eyed. But here, I think what is clear is that Leah is not attractive and that Rachel is attractive. And that he's had to live, or she's had to live her life in the shadow of her younger, beautiful sister. And Jacob wakes up, he realizes he's been fooled. And he's angry and he says to Laban in verse 25, what have you done to me? I served you for Rachel. You deceived me. And then Laban again, guy is very shrewd himself. He says, this is the custom here. You always give the older daughter before the younger daughter. I didn't do you wrong. This is what we do here. And then he says, if you'll serve me for another seven years, I'll give you Rachel. And then they worked out another deal. He ended up serving Laban for 20 years, actually. He served another six years to get some of Laban's flock. And so 20 years, Jacob, served Laban, and in chapter 30 of Genesis, we get another shrewd interaction here. So verse 31, we're in chapter 30 to 31, Laban said, what shall I give you? All right, what shall I give you? There's the question before Jacob, and here's Jacob. You gotta love this. He says, oh, you don't have to give me anything. But if you will do this for me, So you don't have to give me anything. And then he lays out what he wants and he says, I'll pass you your flock. Let me pass through your flock today and remove any speckled and spotted sheep and they shall be my wages. And then he goes, I'm not going to do anything shady, my own honesty will vouch for me later. And then Laban says, good, verse 34, good. But that day Laban removed the striped and spotted goats and set a distance of three days journey between himself and Jacob. Now you would think Laban has the upper hand. He's finally tricked his nephew, but look at Verse 37, Jacob is more shrewd than Laban. He takes some fresh sticks, it says, he peels back these white streaks in them so that there's some, it's like white paint or chalk or something. When he pulls these back and he puts the strongest flock of Laban in front of these when they're mating so that they'll walk by it and the good sheep will become spotted and speckled and striped. And those will become Jacob. And then he puts the weak sheep to be Laban's. And so Jacob tricks him and gets rich off of his uncle. Now, Genesis 32, everything begins to change, and we see a new side of Jacob. We see this fear beginning to paralyze him. He has money now, he has his not-dream wife and his dream wife, and then he has all these children. He has everything he had wanted, and he's going back home, and it's like it hits him, and he says, Esau's gonna kill me. He's had 20 years to be more embittered and angry at me. I'm going to die as soon as I get home. And so Jacob devises this plan and says, I'm gonna just split everything I own in two, two parties. We'll send one ahead and we'll keep another one back. And if they attack the first party, at least I'll still have one wife and some kids and some property and I won't lose everything. And so he sends them ahead. And this is a question I want to put before us because verse 9, I'm in chapter 32 verse 9, it looks like he turns to God. Maybe. So that's the question. Is this prayer that he's praying here just another scheme of Jacob, only now he's directing it at God and he's trying to one-up God? Or is this genuine? And so many say this is self-preservation. And they would point out the I's, the personal pronouns. They would say, he's saying, I am, I crossed the Jabbok. I have become two camps. Deliver me, Lord. I fear, he's going to attack me. And so they would say, this is just regular Jacob. This is not godly. This is all about him. He's just now scheming against God. And I would say, not so fast. I don't think so. I think this is genuine. I think this is genuine. I do think he's obviously asking God to save his life, but I think there's something more going on here. Look closely at verse 9. He said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, this is personal, return You said to me, Lord, return to your country and to your kindred that I may do you good. And then he quotes God's promise and humbles himself. Look at verse 10. This is huge. I am not worthy. I am not worthy of the least of the deeds of your steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant. That sounds genuine. For with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me and the mothers with the children." But you said, he claims God's promise. You said, I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude. This man is grabbing a hold of the promise of God. Verse 22, it says the same night he took two wives and two female servants and eleven children and he crossed the fort of the Jabbok. He sends them on across the stream with everything he had. And look at verse 24. And Jacob was left alone. This is holy ground. And it says a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. And when the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. And then he said, let me go for the day is broken. But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. And he said to him, what is your name? He said, Jacob. And then he said, your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel. For you have striven with God and with man and have prevailed. And Jacob asked him, Please tell me your name. And he said, Why is it that you ask my name? And he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place, Pineo, saying, I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been delivered. and the sun rose upon him as he passed Peniel limping because of his hip." Church, there is a fight and a shrewdness in that man that few have in our day. He knows the future of his own life and his family life is in jeopardy and he grabs a hold of the promise of God. And he says, I will not let go until you bless me. Who in this generation will do this? Brothers and sisters, I mean, what does God give us promises for? So that we sit back apathetically and just assume it's going to drop in our lap? God gives us promises, but there are means in which we attain those. There is a striving oftentimes that must happen. God, whoever he's wrestling with here says, you've wrestled with God and man and you've prevailed. Would Jacob have got that promise had he not stayed alone and fought that night? I don't think the text suggests that at all. To the contrary, it's because of his striving. You know, some Christians, we look at our lives and we wonder, why do those people have joy? Why do they have victory over that sin? Why does God bless and make their lives so fruitful and not mine? Have you ever striven with God? Do you ever fight with Him and wrestle in prayer? Is there any lingering for a promise that He's given you? Too many are content to sit and be spiritually idle, having so many moral compromises when there are promises for purity, there are promises for holiness, there are promises for fruitfulness. Who will go out and avail themselves and wrestle for those? Jacob was a shrewd man. Look at how this shrewdness changes. I would dare say this, if we could use Old Covenant terminology, I would dare say, or New Testament terminology for the Old Covenant, this is his conversion. Whatever happened to Jacob that night, he leaves different. And he is never the same again. And his shrewdness and that self-centeredness of his shrewdness is forever changed. Something significant happened. And I come from a long line of Puritans and Reformers who believed the person he was wrestling with was the pre-incarnate Christ. I mean, why else would verse 24 say that Jacob was left alone, and then in the next breath it says he's wrestling with someone? I thought he was alone. If you're alone, And you know the Lord, are you alone? No, you're not alone. But if any human person is there, you're not alone. But if God is with you, you're alone, but you're not alone. Who else has the authority to change Jacob's name to Israel? You don't wrestle with an angel and then say, I saw the face of God. And yet my life has been delivered. And look, when you wrestle with God, two things are going to happen. You will eventually get what He promised you. You know, that was a long night, but eventually the dawn did break and the wrestling was over. You'll eventually get what He promised you and you will leave walking with a limp. You don't wrestle with God and come out the same. After Genesis 32, we never see the same self-centered, shrewd Jacob again. We could say his shrewdness has been sanctified. Now don't miss this. Jacob's shrewdness that night has everything to do with his looking forward to the future and making sure that he gets from God what God promised him. That's what his shrewdness is. It's his ability to look forward and say, I won't continue to exist. I can't exist unless you do what you said you're going to do for me. And I want to confirm that this is what true shrewdness is about from Jesus in Luke 16. So we'll end in this parable. Jesus' parable, Luke 16, if you'll flip back there. This is why I think shrewdness is a virtue. The point of this parable, I mean, if you look at the title here, it's a little bit confusing. This is actually one of Jesus' more difficult parables, because especially with this title, it says the parable of the dishonest manager. And then you see him being commended, but he is not being commended for his dishonesty. I can promise you that. He is being commended for his shrewdness. And you say, well, how is the manager shrewd? Well, look at verse five. The manager has just gotten fired. He's basically been given a two-week notice of whatever their equivalent was back then. And it says in verse five, he summoned his master's debtors one by one, and he said to the first, how much do you owe my master? And then the one guy goes, 100 measures of oil. And he said to him, take your bill, sit down and write 50. So he gives him a 50% discount, pretty nice. Verse seven, he said to another, how much do you owe? He said, a hundred measures of wheat. He said, take your bill and write 80. So you see what he's doing? He's about to be jobless. He's just gotten fired. And he sees, I've got, I still have a relationship with these people and have some influence. I'm gonna go to them and try to make friends. How is he gonna make friends? Cut their bill by 50%. You know, give them a 35% discount on what they owe. Now you say, is that, is Jesus saying that's good? No, it's bad. It's unethical, that's wrong. That's not what the parable is trying to teach, that this guy was right to do this. What Jesus is saying is that's shrewd. That's shrewd, and there's something to learn from this man's shrewdness. Look at verse eight. The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light." Now let me lean against a few commentators here to make sure we're on track. I think this is helpful. Robert Stein in his commentary on Luke said, Jesus is speaking of shrewdness in verse 8, urging believers to act prudently with regard to divine things as unbelievers do with regard to earthly things. G. Campbell Morgan in his commentary says, Jesus doesn't commend dishonesty, but the shrewdness of the man. That's the whole point of the story. He was showing his disciples the shrewdness of the sons of this age and said they're better at carrying out their enterprises than the sons of light are at carrying out theirs. And then Campbell Morgan goes on, he says, money used for purely self-centered reasons is what the shrewd of this world do. but they make money for this life only. But when they die, it dies with them and everybody fights for it when they're dead. And he says, the sons of light should be shrewd not to make friends with money that dies in this generation, but advances to future generations because it was used to advance an eternal kingdom. You say, how do you do that? How do you invest in an eternal kingdom? You invest in what will bring about the salvation of sinners. You use your money to purchase friends for eternity. Jesus taught this actually in Matthew 6 as well on the Sermon on the Mount. He said, do not store up for yourself treasures where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourself treasures in heaven. How can I take money given to me and then use the money on this earth so that I'm actually storing up something in heaven? and he calls it friends that will welcome him there when he arrives. Look at verse eight, or verse nine, I'm sorry, verse nine, Jesus says, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth. What did that dishonest guy do, the manager? He made friends with himself by his shrewdness. Jesus says, now to us as his disciples, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth so that when it fails, They may receive you into eternal dwellings. G. Campbell Morgan, to quote him one more time, he asks an important question. He says, are there any who have gone on to glory who are likely to want to see us when we arrive because of the use we have made of money on their behalf? Are we giving to the institutions, to the people, to the causes that advance gospel good on the earth so that people make it to heaven, and when we get to heaven, they welcome us? We made friends in heaven so that when we show up there, we're not alone. Nobody knows who we are. We got in, but nobody knows us. Jesus is saying this. Make friends for yourselves. that may receive you into eternal dwellings. Let me end this in Luke 22, or I'm sorry, Luke 12. We'll end in Luke 12. At the end of the day, this type of shrewdness that Jesus is teaching. I don't think we can have this without a faith. We've got to have a faith in what is to come, a faith in the future eternal kingdom, and we need a wisdom with how we deal with our money and possessions here. And our conventional Western wisdom is just not sufficient for this. Listen to what Jesus says in Luke. Let me just read this to you. It's Luke 12, 15. Jesus says this, be on your guard against all covetousness. For one's life does not consist of the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable saying the land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, what shall I do? I don't know. I have nowhere to store my crops. He said, I will do this. I'll tear them down. I'll tear down my barns, I'll build bigger ones. And there I will store all my grain and all my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for you for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul is required of you and the things that you have prepared, whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasures for himself, shrewd for himself, and is not rich toward God. You see the shrewdness here that Jesus is trying to teach us? To look at, I mean, guys, I was in the new building this week a lot. Just walking through this thing, and I'm just going, this is amazing. if we're shrewd enough to make use of it. If we'll put money, if we'll put time, if we'll use our gifts in ways that are shrewd enough to lay up treasures in heaven. In my heart in preaching this, I see this as an amazing opportunity for us. I think our local church is in a better situation now than we've ever been to store up treasures in heaven rather than on earth. I think that the opportunities are going to multiply. The question will just be how shrewd will we be? How much can we believe that it really is about what is eternal and not about what is temporary and that we can wisely steward our resources, time, especially money, toward those ends? And it's just an amazing opportunity. John MacArthur said it this way. I'm sure many of us would agree with him. The longer I live, the less meaning anything that is to be left, anything has that is to be left here. And the more meaning it has to purchase friends for eternity. So on the final day when my life ends and I'm separated from everything I have, I'm going to find out who is standing on the edge of heaven welcoming me as a friend. What a gift the Lord has given to us. Listen to His tone. This isn't guilt. What a gift! You invest in the local church, God's vehicle built by Him to preach the gospel locally. And then send missionaries globally. Invest in every gospel enterprise that multiplies teachers and preachers and evangelists to spread the Word and to spread the truth around the world. So that you can purchase friends for heaven. If you're going to be there forever, and you have a chance now to prepare that... And here's the last thing I'll say. Jesus says this a few different times. It's recorded in all the Gospels. I'll just read the one in Luke 12. He says, Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. That's a promise. Then He gives a command. Sell your possessions. Give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure in heaven that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys, for here it is, listen, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. We can say all day, I got a heart for the Lord, I love the Lord. You know the test? Where do you spend your money? How do you spend your money? That's horribly convicting for many of us. It's very true. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Emmy Burns wrote those famous words, riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise. Thou, my inheritance, now and always. Thou and thou only, first in my heart. High King of heaven, my treasure, thou art. If God is our treasure, our ultimate treasure, if God is our ultimate treasure, would it not make logical sense that our money would be stewarded to advance His kingdom and to increase His glory now and forever? It would. It would. And so, church, let's go to the Lord, let's bow, let's ask Him to help us be shrewd, righteously, virtuously shrewd, now and in the days to come. Father, oh Lord, it is so easy, Lord, to get caught up, especially in this country, with so many temporary things. So many short-sighted things. I have done it this week. I'm sure most everybody in this room has failed to look out far enough into the future and to live for eternity. We have lived for earthly things this week. And so Lord, we ask you that you would change us and that you would give us more faith to believe that eternity is forever and that what we do now matters then. And Lord, we pray for a righteous and virtuous shrewdness that we could do great good on this earth and that we could bring eternal glory to You. Lord, help us for the sake of this church, for the sake of our families, and most of all, for the sake of Your Son and His eternal kingdom. We pray it in Jesus' name, Amen.