Well, take your Bibles, if you will, this morning and turn to a psalm that's very, very familiar. In fact, many of you probably have this psalm hanging on your wall, or many of you have it memorized. Psalm number 23. Psalm number 23. And when you find your place, you've been sitting for a little bit, if you wouldn't mind just one more time standing with me, and we'll stand out of reverence and respect for God's word and also give you a chance just to stretch your legs for a little bit. And I only plan on preaching about three hours this morning. It shouldn't be too bad, but I'm just kidding. Now, we got barbecue waiting. We're not gonna preach long this morning, but I hope we'll give our undivided attention to the Word of God today. Psalm number 23, and let's begin reading. I tell you what, let's do this. I know many of you, as I said, you know this psalm by heart, but many of you also have your Bible open before you, so whether you quote it or whether you read it, let's just read through this psalm together, okay? Out loud, if you would. Psalm number 23 and verse number one. Ready? Begin. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Heavenly Father, what a joy to be in your house today. Thank you so much for all that you've already done. How our hearts have rejoiced to hear the singing, Lord, And our hearts have responded, Lord, to the stirring of the Holy Spirit, and you have been so good to us, Lord. I'm thankful that you know our name today. You know where we are. You know what our needs are. And, Lord, today I wouldn't pretend to think that I can preach on my own. I wouldn't pretend, I wouldn't be so foolish as to think that I could meet any needs today on my own. But, Lord, your word has what people need today, and so I pray with all of my heart that you'll please just get me out of the way and empty me of myself and fill me with the power of the Holy Spirit. Cleanse me where I've sinned and failed you, Lord. And I pray now that you will help in these next few minutes, Lord, that your word will go forth. And I pray as I try to preach to the ears that you will preach to the hearts. And Lord, that your word will be like an arrow to go exactly to the heart of those that need it today. May we all be helped from your word. Most of all, if there's one here today that doesn't know 100% sure they're on their way to heaven, please, Lord, let today be the day of their salvation. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. You may be seated. Thank you so much for standing. Many of the Psalms were pinned down by David, and this is one of those Psalms. God is the one that wrote the Bible, of course, the Holy Spirit, but he used human instruments. And David was the one that God chose to pin down many of the Psalms. And David, in many of the Psalms, writes down so many things that had to do with our lives here and now. And I'm glad that God doesn't leave us alone. I'm really glad that he is going to be with us no matter what we have to go through. And many of the Psalms, in fact, even in this Psalm here, there are many things that focus on what we have here and now in this life. As a matter of fact, we just read it together. He talks about how in verse one, he's not going to want for anything. And then in verse number two, he talks about those green pastures and the still waters that he can enjoy and that we can enjoy here that God provides for us here in this life. He talks in verse three about God restoring his soul and leading him in those paths of righteousness for his namesake. He talks in verse number four about how he doesn't have to fear any evil in this life because God is with him and how God's rod and staff comforts him. In verse five, he talks about the table that God prepares before him even in the presence of his enemies and how God anoints his head with oil and his cup runs over. But then we come to verse number six And he says, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Aren't you glad that every day that we live, when you know the Lord, you got that goodness and mercy of God following you every day of your life. But then he says there's more than that. We enjoy all these things that God gives us. And I'm thankful for all of the things that God gives us here in this life. But he said, we've got something else that's a lot more important than even that. In the last sentence of verse number six, he says, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Even when this life is over, I'm going to have the blessings of God. And it's not just going to be for this little temporary life that we have here. It's going to be forever. You see, David realized that as important as it is to have the things that God wants to give us here in this life, this life is very short. And one day, if time goes on, all of our lives will end here on this earth. And so there's something a whole lot more important than here and now. You know, a lot of the preaching that we find today in modern Christianity is how to make every day a Friday, and your best life now, and a lot of self-help things here for this life. And I'm glad the Bible has a lot of things that God attaches a command with a promise. He says, if you will do this, then I will do this, and I'll bless you here in this life. And there's a lot of things that you can have and enjoy. And God wants us to have fullness of joy and abundant life here on this earth. But there's something a lot bigger and a lot more important than the here and now. You see, life is extremely short. No matter how long you live on this world, life is extremely short and eternity is extremely long. Today is Super Summer Sunday, and I just want to speak to you for a few minutes on the subject, how to have a super eternity. How to have a super eternity. Life is so short. James 4 and verse 14 says, what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. I remember when I was a kid, I would hear preachers read that verse and talk about that verse. And to me, I thought, I know the Bible is true, but that doesn't seem to make sense. Because I knew that a vapor was like whenever my mom would be boiling potatoes or something on the stove and that steam would come up. That's a vapor, they described it. And they said that vapor, you see it and it comes up off of that hot boiling water and it's here and then it's gone. That's how our lives are. And as a boy, I thought, man, I'll tell you that, that doesn't seem right to me. I mean, somebody obviously lives longer than a few seconds. But as I grew older, although honestly, the older you get, the more time does begin to fly. I mean, man, I'm 40 now, and it seems like I should still be a teenager. Just a couple of years ago, it seemed like I was a teenager. And it's amazing how the older you get, time begins to fly more. But honestly, I believe when the Bible says our lives are like a vapor, it's talking about in comparison of eternity and how long that is. Because if you live a hundred years, not many people live to be a hundred years old, but if you live to be a hundred years old compared to how long eternity is, it's just a tiny vapor, just a snap of the fingers. Here today and gone tomorrow. You see, life is extremely short and eternity is extremely long. That's why it's so important that we focus not just on this life, but we focus on eternity because with the exception of maybe a few little babies or a few really small kids, 75 years from now, every single one of us in this room are going to be somewhere. And wherever we are in that moment is where we're going to be for all of eternity. Life is so short. Eternity is so long. Some people have described eternity. We can't really wrap our minds around it because everything in this life has a beginning and it has an end. But we can't hardly wrap our minds around there never being an end to something. But somebody has described it like this. They said, eternity is like if a bird went to one of the beaches all over the world and grabbed a grain of sand and took that one grain of sand and put it on the moon. And then a million years later, went back to that same beach and grabbed another grain of sand and took it back to the moon. And then a million years later, went and grabbed another one. You get the idea. The amount of time it would take for that bird, every million years, carrying one grain of sand to the moon, for that bird to carry every single grain of sand on every beach in the world to the moon is the first day of eternity. We can't hardly wrap our minds around that. Somebody said it like this, if there was a steel ball that was the size of planet Earth, and every million years a bird came by and rubbed the edge of its wing on that steel ball, the amount of time it would take, every million years, just one brush of the tip of the wing, the amount of time it would take to dissolve that steel ball down to nothing is the first day of eternity. And everybody in this room is going to be somewhere for that length of time. Again, we can't hardly understand how long eternity is, but I want to tell you, the Bible doesn't leave us in the dark. Not only does the Bible tell us how we can have a wonderful life now by obeying God's commandments and knowing the Lord and walking with the Lord, but the Bible makes it very plain and clear how we can prepare for eternity and how we can know for sure that we can have a super eternity forever and forever. First of all, I just want to give you some very practical things from the Bible will be done this morning First of all number one you can have a super eternity first of all and most of all if you'll let Jesus save your soul Let Jesus save your soul, you know, the Bible never says anything whatsoever about purgatory The Bible never says anything about limbo. The Bible never says anything about there being some in-between place. No, the Bible makes it very plain and very clear. Whenever you die, when you take your last breath, you will be one place, one of two places forever, and there's no in-between. There's only heaven and there's hell. And whether you're in heaven or in hell is only determined by one thing, and that's if you've been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. It doesn't have anything to do with what you do. I like what they sang earlier. It's not what I've done, but what Jesus did for me. That's the only way to know that you will be in heaven for all of eternity. You see, heaven is for eternity. 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 17, the Bible talks about the rapture when Jesus comes back to get his people and take them to heaven. And it says, so shall we ever be with the Lord. We're going to be there for all of eternity. Oh, listen, I'm glad. The Bible talks about not temporary life, but the Bible talks about eternal life. John 3.16, the Bible, many of you know it by heart. The Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever, that means anybody. You can put your name in there. that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Somebody put a sticker on the back of their truck. I saw a picture of it the other day. It said, John 3, 16, the offer expires when you do. Hey, the truth is that God's offer is extended to you. And as long as you have breath in your lungs and you desire to know that you have a home in heaven for all of eternity, His arms are outstretched wide, and he says, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Whosoever will, let him take of the fountain of the water of life freely. The Bible says in 1 John 5, 13, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, not that you might wish or that you may hope or that you may be. He said that you may know that you have eternal life, not temporary life, but eternal life forever and forever and forever. I'm talking about 10 trillion years from now. You can know. for a fact that you'll be in heaven for all of eternity. Oh, what a place heaven is. We've talked today about those that have had loved ones that passed away. And I'll tell you what, I'm glad there's a place we can look forward to where there are no more graves. There are no more cemeteries. There are no more funeral homes. My dad often says there will be undertakers there, but they'll all be unemployed. Thank God. Hey, listen, I'm glad for a place. There's no hospitals. There's no need for doctors. There's no need for pharmacies. God will wipe away all tears from our eyes. Hey, listen, it's a place that's made out of solid gold. The walls are jasper. The gates are pearl. It's a place that's not just some kind of a fantasy land. No, it's a real place, just as real as that pew you're sitting on, a place with no more heartaches. There'll be no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear, no more sickness, no pain, no more crying over there. And forever I will be with the one who died for me. What a day, glorious day that will be. Hey listen, it's a real place today. And it's forever. It's forever. You know, they say the worst part of vacation. Everybody likes going on vacation. This is summertime, vacation season. Everybody likes going on vacation, but they say the worst thing about vacation is the last day of it, because you have to leave. You know, you pull up to these places. If you're staying in some kind of a resort or a timeshare or something, you pull up there, even a hotel. Man, you see people all excited at the beginning of the week. They're unloading all their stuff, man. They're all chipper. They're excited, talking about everything that's going to come up. Then the last day, you see those same people, and they're rolling. They look like Eeyore off Winnie the Pooh. You know, they're rolling their suitcases out there. It's like, man, we just got here. Now we already have to leave. And as they say, all good things must come to an end. My mom often says, when we've been together for a while, maybe at a cabin over for Christmas together or something, my mom says, well, the day we're leaving, we're sad. And she says, hey, don't cry because it's over. Just be glad. Smile because it happened. And here on this earth, honestly, they say the worst part of vacation is the only thing bad about it is because it has to end. When you get to heaven, hey, there is no last day of it. It never has to end. You never have to have a tear roll down your cheek and say, I sure wish I could stay longer. Hey, after you've been there a trillion years, it's just getting started. But I'll tell you what, I wouldn't be worth anything as a preacher if I didn't tell you that the other place, hell, is just as long as heaven is. It's for eternity too. And if you die and you go to hell, I'm telling you what, you'll never get out of there. Can you imagine? Oh, can you even imagine what it would be like if I had a fire up here burning? Nobody in their right mind. If I said, hey, I'll give you a hundred bucks, you'll come up here and put your hand in that fire for a minute. Nobody in their right mind would do that and yet there are people that are on their way to a fire much harder than anything I could ever build up here It's a place where the Bible describes it as a place where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched a place where there's weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth You say why in the world would a loving God send somebody there? God doesn't send people there's people choose to go there I'll tell you what God did God gave his only begotten Son so you wouldn't have to go there. I Oh, listen, God gave his son and he hung on that cross and took the sin death that you and I deserve and he paid for every one of your sins and mine and was buried and he rose again and he offers salvation to anybody that will come. But I'm here to tell you something in Revelation 14, 11, the Bible says the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and forever. Can you imagine? Again, our minds can't wrap around it. If somebody has a prison sentence, even if it's a life sentence, somehow, in the back of their mind, they're thinking, maybe, somehow, someway, something will happen where I can get overturned on appeal or something, I can get out of here. Or even if they know they're gonna be there the rest of their life, they know there is a day coming when their life will end. Maybe if somebody's in prison for 20 or 25 years, it seems like an eternity, but they know that every single day is one day closer to getting out. I'll tell you what, my friend, after somebody's been in hell, and after they've been burning for a million years, it's just getting started. I mean, can you imagine somebody going and all of a sudden they wake up and they open their eyes and they're in hell and oh, they begin to scream and they say, oh man, if I could just grit my teeth, maybe I can make it if I just get out in a day. A day would seem like an eternity. Then they've been there for a month. Oh my, I can't believe I've had to be here for a month and maybe there's still a day coming I can get out. But it's just getting started. You say, I came to Super Summer Sunday today. I didn't expect to hear something like this. Let me tell you, it'll be the most super day of your life if you're on your way to hell, if you'll trust Jesus as your Savior today, and you don't have to worry about going to that place. You can know for a fact that heaven is your home for all of eternity, and you'll never have to taste the flames of hell for one second. Oh, let Jesus save your soul today. Number two, once you are saved, how in the world can we have a super eternity? Well, it's super just gonna get to be in the presence of Jesus, getting to be in heaven. But did you know, I believe some people are gonna enjoy heaven more than other people are. Because there's things that we can do here in this life, not to get to heaven, has nothing to do with our salvation. But after we get saved, there are things that we can do that will help us have a better eternity once we get to heaven. Number two, how do we have a super eternity after we've let Jesus save our soul? Live for Jesus every day. day. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse number 11, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. That's the foundation. Nobody can save your soul. You can't get baptized to get saved. You can't sit in a church pew enough to get saved. I can't save you. A priest can't save you. Your grandma can't save you. There's nobody on earth that can save your soul. Only Jesus Christ can do that. That's the foundation. Once we trust Him as our Savior, He says, Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire. So when we get to heaven, Here's what he's talking about is something called the judgment seat of Christ. When we get to heaven, all the things that we have done since we got saved, everything we've done, and I believe why we've done it and how we've done it, is gonna be put in the fire there. And you know if you put gold or precious stones in the fire, it doesn't burn them up, it just makes them better. But if you put wood and hay and stubble in there, there's nothing left but ashes. I got a good friend, Brother Kenny Calloway, wrote a song, he said, don't be left standing in the ashes before the Lord. You see, at the judgment seat of Christ, there's going to be people that they're going to be in heaven because it had nothing to do with what they did. It had everything to do with the fact Jesus died for them and they received what he did. So they're going to be in heaven just like other people are, but they're not going to have the rewards other people have. Remember, whenever I was growing up, my dad was the principal of the school where I was. And I remember whenever awards night would roll around. And well, I'll tell you what, there were people that were there. And they began, I remember we'd go in there and they'd have a program. And they had a big table set up, had all these plaques and trophies and everything lined up across it. They had awards for all these different things not just academics but other things too that really anybody could have gotten even no matter how high their IQ was you know and but there was people sitting out there and you know there was a whole bunch of young people that they were at they were at that school they were just as much a student as somebody else was. But during the school year, they had messed around. They didn't do their homework when they were supposed to. They didn't pay attention like they were supposed to. They didn't put their heart in it like they were supposed to. And when awards night came, they still got to be there. They were still a student. They were a part of that school. They got to go over and have snack cakes, Little Debbie cakes, like everybody else after it was over. But they sure weren't enjoying it as much as the person was that had dedicated themselves and devoted themselves and done everything they could. to try to please the Lord. That's why they were doing it, but also they pleased their parents and pleased the principal and their teacher, and they were carrying around some of those awards. You know what? In heaven, everybody that's saved is gonna get to enjoy heaven. Everybody that's saved is gonna get to enjoy the walls of Jasper and the gates of Pearl and the street of gold, and no more tears and no more death and no more crying. But you know what? I believe with all my heart there's gonna be some people that'll look at the Lord, and they're gonna be filled with regret. They're gonna say, you saved my soul, and I'm here because of you and your blood. I sure wish I'd have done more for you while I had the chance. You know what? If you live for Jesus every day, you can have a super eternity. You can see his eyes locked with yours at the judgment seat of Christ and hear him say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. I'll tell you, I don't know about you, but that's what I want. Oh, I want to have something to give to Jesus one day. You see, we're not just going to have crowns to put on just to walk around trying to balance a bunch of crowns and say, hey, how many crowns did you get? Just two? I got four. Should have done what I did down there. No, that's not what it's about at all. I'll tell you what we're going to do. If we get any crowns at all, and if we get any awards at all, we're not going to walk around holding them and saying, look what I did. We're going to bow on our face and throw them at the feet of Jesus and say, hey, you gave your all for me. You shed the last drop of your blood for me. I'm just glad I was able to do something for you. And we're gonna cast those crowns at the feet of Jesus You talk about having a super eternity if we can look at him and say you gave your all for me It sure wasn't much but I gave you I gave you my all for you to number three What can we do to have a super attorney number one and most important to let Jesus save your soul number two live for Jesus every day number three lay aside the weights that are holding you back and Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1, Hebrews chapter 11 is full of what we call the hall of faith. It's people that live for the Lord and mighty great Bible characters and all that. Hebrews chapter 12 starts off referring back to them and it says, wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." And so he says here there are some things that we need to lay aside to prepare to meet the Lord one day. I'm not talking about to get to heaven. I'm talking about to please the Lord because He already saved our soul when we trusted Him as our Savior. Let me just put it like this in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse number 24, 1 Corinthians 9, 24. The Bible says this, know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. So he's talking about people here on this on this earth. Paul was familiar with the Olympic Games That was a big thing back in his day in the Roman Empire. And so he's talking about there's people they get out there They run the race and they do these athletic contests and he says people that do that are temperate in other words They have discipline they have self-control You know when somebody wants to go and win a championship, they don't go out and eat four boxes of Little Debbie snack cakes They don't go out and grab four or two liters of Mountain Dew and start chugging it all down. You know, when somebody wants to run in a race, they don't put on steel toe boots and a heavy overcoat, you know? I mean, they try to trim down. They try to do as light as possible. Why? Because they don't want anything holding them back. They want to press toward the prize. Did you know there's things in our lives that can hold us back? There are weights. There are besetting sins. And I could go into a list of hundreds of them, no doubt, today. But if you're saved today, the Holy Spirit can put His finger on them. It may be some sinful habit. It may be some kind of inward attitude, some kind of pride, or bitterness, or unforgiveness, or jealousy, or envy. It may be something that you're watching, or listening to, or a place you're going, or some sinful activity. I don't know what it is, but God knows what it is, and He can tell you about that today. You know what? The truth of the matter is, There are things that are weights in our lives. There are things that we need to put aside in order to prepare to have a super eternity, so we can hear Jesus say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. You know what? Some of the things are things that we decide to do. Some of those weights are things that we make up our mind we're going to do. They're sins. They're weights. They're things we shouldn't do. But you know what? There are some things that they're things out of our control. They're burdens. And there are weights that are put on us, maybe by somebody else or by circumstances of life. And it's not of our own making, but it's still weights that we need to have. By the grace of God, we need to somehow get rid of. And I just want to illustrate it this way. Stu Weber was a Green Beret, and he told about this exercise. One of my favorite stories, love reading about it. He said that during basic training, the physical training part of army ranger school, he said, we were out one day and he said, we got up that morning. He said, we were sweating the moment we rolled out of our bunk. He said, I was from, I was from the apple, uh, the apple country of Washington state. So he said, I was down there in the middle of the summertime in Georgia. He said, the heat felt like some kind of a sticky poncho just draped over us. And he said, we've been out before, you know. We've done a run out in t-shirt and shorts and all that. But he said, this was nothing like that. He said, I have no idea how many miles we ran that day. He said, this was going out in full field pack. We had our pack. We had our rifle. We had our boots. We had our helmets. He said, I mean, we were battle ready. And we had to go out and run like that. He said, at first, we started off. He said, man, it was almost exhilarating. We were young. We were strong. We were soldiers. He said, we're going out. And man, we're just getting it. But he said, over as the hours wore on and as the miles wore on, he said, this was no rah-rah run. This was something out of a nightmare. He said, they told us when we went out, you go out together, you stay together, and you come back together. And if you don't come back together, don't bother to come back at all. He said, we're out there running. And he said, our jaws are slack and our eyes are glazed. He said, our legs are like pistons, just thump, thump, thump, one right after the other. He said, in my feverish kind of mind or whatever, he said, through the heat and through the haze, he said, my eye picked up on something as we were running. And he said, it was a big, tall, red-headed, raw bone guy named Sanderson. And he said, I somehow focused my eyes on him while we were running. And he said, I realized he wasn't going to make it. He said, Sanderson was about to go down. His head was starting to go from side to side. He said, I wonder if somebody else had noticed. And he said, all of a sudden, I realized somebody else had noticed. Because the soldier on Sanderson's right reached over without breaking a step and grabbed his rifle. And now he was carrying two rifles. And that simple act right there, it lightened the weight of Sanderson, but also encouraged him. So man, he squared his shoulders, and he kept on running. But after just a few minutes, all of a sudden, his head started going side to side again. This time, the soldier on the left reached over and grabbed his helmet and put it under his arm, and he kept on running. He said that worked for a little while, but he said Sanderson wasn't gonna make it He said he was buckling he was about to go down But he said the two soldiers right behind Sanderson both of them put their hand out and they grabbed the straps of Sanderson's pack and lifted it off his back and both of them carried that pack and he said Sanderson put his head up and he said and thank God they were almost done He said we saw the finish line and we ran back into camp. He said we came in together and And he said, better together is better. You know what I thought about? We're running a race and we've got weights on us. Oh my, maybe it's something of our own making we need to confess and get rid of, but maybe it's some circumstances and heartbreak and whatever that we have to deal with. I'm glad that as they sang, we've got a God we can cast our care upon. He said, cast our burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. And when the going gets tough and the battle is hot and we can't make it on our own, hey, we got somebody with broader shoulders than we've got. We can cast our burden upon him and he will help us to carry that load, and we can make it to the finish line by the grace of God. Number four, and quickly, how can we have a super eternity? Let Jesus save your soul. After you get saved, live for Jesus every day. Lay aside those weights. Quickly, number four, lay up treasures in heaven. Jesus said that in Matthew 6, 19 through 21. We're not gonna belabor this point, because I want to get to the last one and be done today. But the truth of the matter is, Jesus said to lay up treasures upon earth where moth and rust do not corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. You know, there's nothing wrong with having things on this earth. God's one that richly gives us all things to enjoy. But to live for those things is foolish because everything on this earth is going to decay and it's going to burn one day. It really is. That dream house, we can enjoy it while we can, but it's going to burn one day. That dream car that we've lived for, one day it's going to be in the junkyard and somebody's going to walk by and see it smashed and say, boy, I feel sorry for whoever used to own that. It's going to burn one day. The only thing, people talk about making investments, invest in the stock market, invest in gold. Somebody said invest in guns because when it's all said and done, the person that has the guns will have what everybody else has. But anyway, people talk about all these investments. The greatest investment you and I can ever make is to lay up treasures in heaven. Somebody said if you send it on ahead, you'll be a knowing where it's going. And the truth of matter is we ought to lay up treasures in heaven. Then number five and we're done. Let others know about Jesus. Let others know about Jesus. How can we have a super eternity? Let Jesus save your soul. If you're not saved, please don't gamble with hell. Don't gamble with eternity. Trust Jesus as your savior today. Once you get saved, live for Jesus every day. Lay aside the weights that are holding you back. Lay up treasures in heaven. And then number five, let others know about Jesus. This is interesting. Daniel chapter 12 verse number three says this, And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. And they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever, and ever. Some people think that verse means that the more people you bring to Christ, the brighter you'll shine through all eternity. I don't know if that's true. If it is, there's gonna be some people look like spotlights and some people gonna look like little shadow silhouettes walking around. D.L. Moody, we talked about him last week, what a great man of God he was, a special and mightily used man of God. D.L. Moody had just got done preaching on that verse right there, Daniel 12, three, and he went off to Kansas to preach and he died. One of the ones that preached his funeral, one of the preachers that preached his funeral, he gave this testimony. He said, while I was preaching his funeral, it was a cloudy winter day. And he said, right in the middle of preaching that funeral message for D.L. Moody, he said, the clouds broke and the sun broke through and came and a sunbeam hit D.L. Moody's face, his body right there in that casket. And he said, we thought about that passage he had just preached on. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. He said we got done preaching that message. They took him out and he was a short winter. You know days are so short in the wintertime. So it was a bleak wintry day and and just the clouds were covering everything. He said they put DL Moody's body in the ground. But he said as they did that all of a sudden the clouds parted and you could see the northern star right there. And he said, everybody once again thought about that verse he had just preached on. They that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. They were commemorating a man who had seen about a million souls saved through his ministry, people estimate. A man that didn't have a lot of talent, but he just gave his life to winning people to Jesus Christ. Did you know that being a soul winner and winning people to Christ is not just for a pastor? It's not just for a missionary. It's not just for an evangelist. It's for every Christian. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Jesus said ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and all Judea and in Samaria and under the uttermost part of the world. That was not just a command to full-time preachers and pastors and missionaries. That was a command to every Christian. And the good thing is everybody can do it. Everybody can do it. I was reading where brother Curtis Hudson, he gave this, he was preaching at a mighty church there, Forest Hills Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia. They started with about 26 people, I think, and at one point they ran about 8,000 people, and most of it was just because people were winning souls to Christ like crazy. And he said, I was preaching one night on a Sunday night, and I told the people, I said, look, everybody needs to win somebody to Christ, and everybody can do it if they'll let God use them. And he said there were some doctors in the church, and I said, you doctors ought to be ashamed of yourself. You doctors, you have people come, and you work on them, and you know that one day they're going to die, but you don't tell them how they can know they're going to heaven when they die. And so he had taught the people how they could win a soul to Christ. And so one of the doctors came up to him and he said, Brother Curtis, he said, please pray for me. He said, I'm going to witness to the first patient I have tomorrow morning. I'm under conviction that God wants me to win people to Christ. He said, I'll be praying for you. So that doctor the next day he told me the Curtis Hudson later. He's that next day He said I went in and he said a first patient came in he was there for a physical So he said I gave him the physical and he set up on the side of the bed He said as he was buttoning his shirt up He said I went to the back room and he said I was gonna review I was reviewing my notes on how you told us to win a soul to Christ and Curtis Hudson told his people he said the best question you can ask to find out if somebody's saved and to prepare to witness to him is if you died today Do you know you'd go to heaven? So that guy's in there sitting there on the table, just got done with the physical, and the doctor's studying the notes. So he comes back in, he says, cleared his throat, he said, sir? He said, I got a question for you. He said, if you die today, do you know you're going to heaven? He said, the patient looked up at him and went, oh, and just passed out, cold as a cucumber. He said he put the smelling salts a true story put the smelling salts under his nose and the guy came to and he raised Back up. He said doc. He said what he said. Hey, sir. He said you need to calm down You're gonna have a heart attack. He said it's my heart in it doc. He said no. No your hearts behind your hearts fine He said my pastor just told me we need to tell people about Jesus and that's how he told us to do it He came back told Curtis Hudson that he said preacher He said that may be a good question for you preachers, but us doctors that's not the best way to do it. I But Curtis Hudson asked him, he said, were you able to lead the guy to the Lord? He said, yes, sir, like that. That guy got saved sitting right there on that bed. You know, the truth is, that guy wasn't going to die that day, but he was eventually. And every single person we see, if the Lord tarries his coming, they are going to die one day. You know, that's something everybody can do. Everybody can tell people about the Lord. Everybody can hand out a gospel tract to somebody. Oh, I'll tell you what if you want to shine for all the people want to be a star here on this earth They want to win American Idol. They want to win the national championship They want to be a star if you want to be a star for God a star in God's eyes Live for telling other people about Jesus let other people know about the Lord Jesus Christ You know what the truth matter is that none of us are gonna live forever. I unless you're saved. And then you know that you have eternal life forever. But I'll tell you what, even this physical life, one day, if Jesus tears his coming, I'm hoping to go by the way of the rapture, not the grave. And Jesus could come back today. The choir sang it. I believe he's coming back, like he said. But you know what? We ought to live for eternity. Live for eternity. Do you know that you're saved? Do you know there's been a time you've been born again that you put your faith and trust completely in Jesus Christ and nothing you can do? And you called upon him and invited him into your heart. If so, what in the world are you doing to prepare for eternity? Are you living just to enjoy life today? That's fine. God lets us have an enjoyable life here and thank God for it. But oh, how fast this life is going to be over. And then we're going to be with the Lord forever. What are we doing for eternity?