Psalms series

Okay. Psalm 49 starting from verse 1. Here this, all you peoples. Listen, all who live in this world, both low and high, rich and poor alike. My mouth will speak words of wisdom.

The meditation of my heart will give you understanding. I will turn my ear to a proverb. With the harp, I will expound my riddle. Why should I fear when evil days come? When wicked deceivers surround me, those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches, no 1 can redeem the life of another, or give to God a ransom for them, the ransom for a life is costly.

No payment is ever enough, so that they should live on forever and not see decay. For all can see that the wise die, that the foolish and the senseless also perish, leaving their wealth to others. Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves. People despite their wealth do not endure. They're like the beasts that perish.

This is the fate of those who trust in themselves and of their followers who approve their sayings. They are like sheep and are destined to die death will be their shepherd, but the upright will prevail over them in the morning. Their forms will decay in the grave far from their princely mansions, but god will redeem me from the realm of the dead. He will surely take me to himself. Do not be overawed when others grow rich when the splendor of their houses increases.

For they will take nothing with them when they die. Their splendor will not descend with them. Though while they live, they count themselves blessed and people praise you when you prosper. They will join those who have gone before them, who will never again see the light of life. People who have wealth, but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish.

Good evening. It's good to be with you this evening. Well done for those of you who've made it back from Revive. I'm hoping that you are spiritually revived because physically you look knackered, so perhaps not a great, ad for the weekend. I've also discovered this past weekend what happens when the administrator has been away, when 1 comes to photocopy Sunday school craft work on a Friday evening late, 1 discovers that the only paper available is mint green in color.

Fortunately, as the was sloping and they stock white paper. So Dean, you'll be okay. Tomorrow as far as paper's concerned. Alright? It's my blessing to you.

Let's, keep that time open. Psalm 49 as we look to this evening at what I've called the folly of riches without wisdom. Well, I wonder if you've ever felt intimidated by those who are wealthy and, or perhaps more prosperous than yourself. So I'm not talking about being envious of what they have over over and above what you've got, but actually feeling intimidated by their wealth. Ever feel that those who have more money somehow seem to be more important than you or that for some reason they have power over you, power to manipulate you or to do make you do things that you don't want to do.

Some time ago Kim and I, were invited to dinner at the home of a a lord and lady who have a house just behind the Royal Albert Hall. And as you can imagine, a house just behind the Royal Albert Hall is unlikely to be the average 2 up and 2 down terrorist home that you'd find in the rest of London. And, my little Hyundai gets, parked on that particular street was quite conspicuous. It was quite out of place. And, I sort of did the calculation and realized that the light fitting hanging above the vast and very generous covered porch probably was worth more than my car.

Anyway, Kim and I got out the car and we gingerly went up the marble stairs towards the very large front door with complete with, very polished brass fittings. We sort of second guessed what we were wearing. We wondered if a butler might answer the door and who we might how we might introduce ourselves if he did so. Now I don't think this kind of insecurity, when we faced with wealth is unique to me. I think It's a universal truth that people when they are surrounded by opulence, like I've described, feel slightly off guard.

Unless, of course, you are that kind of person. But we're living in a world where money equals power. And when you think about it, people with money are intimidating. People with money give us a sense of insecurity. I don't think you feel the same sort of sense of insecurity when you walk past the rough sleeper.

In Kingston. There's that woman who always sits at the TSB begging. I don't have that sort of same sense of intimidation when I walk past her. As I did on that particular night in London. The reality is that when we are surrounded by opulence in this way, it caused us to feel intimidated.

And that's the subject really of Psalm 49. Psalm 49 is a riddle. It's a riddle which addresses the issue of wealth and prosperity. And the effect that has on those who are less privileged members of society. It's about people being intimidated by the rich and powerful people, and we see this in verse 5 and 6.

The writer says the following, he says, why should I fear when evil days come? When wicked deceivers surround me, those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches. What is it about wealthy people that causes those who are less fortunate than them to fear, to feel intimidated. While they perceive to wield so much power in our society, I've puzzled over this for some time, trying to work out what the Psalm has gone about. And, I sort of found the answer looking at my own life.

I have this weird little ritual when I leave home. I do it every time. I grab the car keys. I grab my wallet. And just before I leave the drive, I check to see that my wallet's there.

And there'll be occasions through the day when I'll just check is my wallet there. There's some sort of weird security. I feel safe if I've got some cash on me or if I've got my credit card on me. If anything comes my way, we can sort it out. My brother says you've got 2 kinds of problems in the world.

You've got real problems and money problems. Real problems or problems that money can't fix. And I suppose most of us in the average day would come across money problems, things that a bit of cash, a quick credit card swipe which solve. And so it really is, as we'll see later tonight, quite a silly confidence ready to have to think that if I've got cash, I'll be okay. But money does produce that, doesn't it?

It produces, you know, some sort of weird self confidence. Perhaps perhaps we might even call it a self dependence. A trusting one's own ability to be able to solve any and every situation. There is, of course, a saying that says that every man has his price, and I think that's true. When you have money, you cannot only buy things, but you can buy people.

You can buy people to do things that you need done. Recent years, we've seen that this is even true in a parliamentary democracy. Rival politicians can be bought in order to secure a majority government. It might cost a billion pounds to do so, but that's okay, especially for taxpayers busy footing the bill for that. It's just a great pity, isn't it?

That the PM wasn't able to use those 10 seats the way she'd like to use them. But money equals power, people can be bought every man has his price. And it's the wielding of that power that causes people who are not so fortunate And you do not do not have access to that kind of finance in order to manipulate people and buy people, it causes them to be intimidated. But I want you to notice carefully this this evening that the Psalm is as the Psalm has been written for everyone. It's not just been written for those who are powerful it's been written for others as well.

So you'll notice what he says there. He says in verse 1, he says, yeah, there's all you peoples. Listen all who live in this world. Both low and high, rich and poorer like, my mouth will speak words of wisdom, the meditation of my heart will give you understanding. I will turn my ear to a proverb.

With the harp, I will expound my riddle. Now you'll be pleased to know that I'm not gonna be using a harp tonight at all. But the Psalmist really is speaking to everybody speaking to those who intimidate others because of their great wealth and those who feel intimidated by those who are wealthy, And he's addressing every single inhabitant on earth. That's how important it is. And, really he identifies himself with those who are feeling intimidated He says that in verse 5, why should I fear when evil days come when wicked deceivers surround me?

Those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches. So he's identifying with those who feel intimidated by those who are wealthy. And yet in doing so, he also speaks to those who wield that power, those who cause him to fear because he's already told us that the Riddle is for both rich and poor alike. So you'll be happy to know that tonight, wherever you find yourself, whatever your bank balance might be, whatever trust funds you have access to, whatever car you drive, there'll be something in the Psalm for you. Perhaps you are someone who is intimidated by wealth.

Perhaps you don't have much. Perhaps you are someone who unwittingly intimidates others. Because of your wealth or social standing. So what's the riddle? What is the riddle?

Well, he's already told us what the riddle is. He told us that the riddle is why is it that people are intimidated by wealth. Why is it? And he gives us 2 answers as to why we should not be intimidated by wealth. The 2 reasons that he gives us, first of all, is that wealth cannot prevent death.

Wealth cannot prevent death. Verse 5. Again, why should I fear when evil days come when wicked deceiver surrounding those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches? No 1 can redeem the life of another or give to god a ransom for them. The ransom for a life is costly.

No payment is ever enough. So that they should live on forever and not see decay. Back when in the days when I was at Bible College, which seems like a a millennia ago, Kim and I were newly married. We were living in South Africa. There's no such thing as the NHS in South Africa.

You pay for everything. And you pay at the point of service, what a joy it is to be in a country with is an NHS. So treasure it while we've got it, And, let me explain to you what happened. Kim and I were going to she was at stained glass classes. She walked past the table and sliced her hand open quite severely.

On a on a key piece of, Raleigh cut glass. She went like this. I saw the wound and passed out. Sorry, that was not meant to be I didn't mean to go that far. Someone took her to the hospital.

I was revived in that time, She called me and said, they want money. I said swipe the credit card. They wanted the equivalent of 50 quid before they'd even look at her. That's just the reality. A number of months later, my father went into hospital because he was having chest pains, It wasn't 50 quid that we're looking for this time.

It was 500 quid before anyone would see him. Now the reality is that there comes a time when no amount of money is enough. No amount of money that you put on the table will allow the doctors to help you. Because they won't be able to help you. That's the point.

On a number of occasions in my ministry, being part of a local church, I I've stood at the dead the bedside of people who are dying. I've stood there as a wife who has just given birth. They had to switch the machines off. And no amount of money can keep the machines on. And no amount of money can give her life.

I didn't watch that, that would be the case of my, our first born child as well. No amounts of money was enough. To keep her alive. There comes a time when the ransom price is far too costly. And while it's true that every single man has his price, death does not have his price.

Death cannot be bought. Death cannot be bribed. Doesn't matter how much money you've got. Steve Jobs couldn't buy an extra minute in life, despite his vast vast wealth. So death comes to all people, and there's nothing that we can do to prevent it.

There's nothing that we can do to buy it off. There's nothing do that we can do to delay it. The time will come when the price is too high. So verse 10, for all can see that the wise die, I mean, you don't need to be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon to work this out, or can see that the wise die. That the foolish and the senseless also perish, leaving their wealth to others.

Isn't that a great sadness that we spend our lives accumulating stuff that we learned up leaving to others. Our neighbor had died recently at the age of 94, And, he died early in May. This the house is still not up for sale because it's still not empty because his son still comes through every single week to wade through all the stuff that his father has accumulated in his life. All these little treasures, he was a collector of antiques everything meticulously labeled in a book and cataloged. So we weren't able to swipe anything when he died.

But, you know, everything meticulously cataloged, and now the sun needs to get rid of all of this. He's gotta wager all this stuff. What's worth something? What's not worth anything? That's what happens.

They leave their wealth to others. So maybe you like me to learn this evening that there is no security in wealth and there is no security and social standing, the foolish and the wise, the rich and the poor alike perish. And verse 11 tells us that their tombs will remain their houses forever their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves. Isn't that ironic? Someone so powerful and so important that a nay a land, not just a building, but an entire land might be named after them, and yet we discover that at the end of their lives, all that they have to their name is a 8 foot by 2 and a half foot holding the ground.

And it's labeled with a little plaque, which far from celebrating their life really just stands as a reminder that they are in fact dead. Verse 12, people despite their wealth do not endure, they are like the beasts that perish. There's a very real sense in which you know, when we're dead, that's it. We are no different from the animals in that sense. So wealth cannot prevent death.

Secondly, will be noticed that we should not fear those who are wealthy or be intimidated by them because secondly, wealth is short lived. Verse 16. Do not be overlord when others grow rich. When the splendor of their houses increases, for they will take nothing with them when they die. Their splendor will be will not descend with them.

If you want to summarize those 2 verses, I suppose you could use the sentence. Herses don't have roof boxes. Do you notice that? You take nothing with you to the grave. Job says naked, I came into this world, and naked I will depart.

John d Rockefeller was a very well known and incredibly wealthy man. After he died, the entire world was curious to know what his net worth was at the point of his death. And his accountant was once asked, how much did John d leave? And he replied he left all of it. That's the point, isn't it?

You will leave all of it. Philip spent his life collecting trinkets, my neighbor. I think he's got something like, well, he had something like 65000 cigarette cards. In collections and albums, an entire room filled with them. He's left it all behind.

Couldn't take a single thing with him. There are, of course, those who try to take their wealth with them, that was certainly true of the pharaohs. They would fill their tombs with all their treasures, and in fact, even their family and their servants sometimes were murdered in order to be with him and to be taken to the afterlife. Story told about a very wealthy man whose pride and joy was his Rolls Royce, And he's in his will, he wrote that he wished to be buried in his Rolls Royce. And so to honor this particular, desire of his, On the day of the funeral, they propped up the corpse in the back seat, and drove him to the cemetery where a massive hole was opened up in order to put the Rolls Royce in.

And as he was parading through the streets, 2 rough sleepers were walking along, and the 1 turned to the other looking at this guy in the back of the rolls And he said, no, that's what I call living. Now it's a silly story, isn't it? But it does illustrate a very serious conception in our world as to what it means to be blessed in this life. You see, good living in this world is you seem to be a state of material blessing. That I've got all that I need or could possibly ever want, a state of prosperity.

But Alzheimer would disagree, look at what he says in verse 18. He says, though while they live, they count themselves blessed, and people praise you when you prosper. They will join those who have gone before them. Who will never again see the light of life. Although people complain to be blessed in this life, they can be living the good life, they will in fact not even see a glimmer of what is called true life.

Once again, people are like beasts. They like the beasts of the field that perish. Now at this point, I need you to say that the bible is not against wealth. It's not against material possessions. We are not called to be ascetic in that way.

But the Bible is against the pride and the arrogance that wealth so often produces. Listen to what Paul writes to Timothy concerning riches in 1 Timothy chapter 6 from verse 17, if you fall if you're making notes, he says, command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain. But to put their hope in god who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment, command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take off hold of the life that is truly life. So clearly, the lord is not against these things.

In fact, it is the lord who provides these things. The lord richly blesses us materially. There's no doubt about that. Every gift that we have is a gift from god. Every promotion at work is a gift from god.

Every paycheck really is a gift from god. So the lord is not against the wealth. It's he's against the arrogance that it so often produces. True life is to be found by placing our trust in the 1 who gives the gifts, not in the gift itself. And we've got to get this right.

So it's not just someone who has riches who perishes. It's someone who has rich riches without understanding who perishes according to verse 20. People who have wealth, but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish. And so if that is the case, then what we need to be looking at this evening is idea of understanding. What does the Thomas mean when he says we need to have understanding?

He's been speaking about this so that we will live and not perish. Where do we find this understanding? What is he talking about? Well, the Psalms has already told us in verse that if we listen to his words of wisdom, then we will gain understanding. That's the point.

And the wisdom which he imparts, he's found in the key verse which is really the pivot around which the entire Psalm is constructed, and that's verse 15. He says, but god will redeem me from the realm of the dead. He will surely take me to himself. So while in verse 7, he says no 1 can redeem the life of another or give to god a ransom for them because verse 8, the ransom for a life is costly. No payment is ever enough.

We are told that it is god himself who will redeem our lives. It is he who will buy us back from death, and he will take us to be with himself. And he will do that so that we will not remain in our tombs forever. You see, the reality is that this life is not all that there is. And yet so many people live as though this life is all that there is.

It would be pretty much like getting on an airplane and someone sits there next to you And they, and they sort of pull out some curtains to put over the over the window and bring some paint out and redecorate the seat, you know, then like color, new color, see, bring some pot plants out, and, you know, order some cushions in and make the thing a lot more comfortable. You sort of think, what are you what are you on about? It's it's a half hour flight mate. You see, he he's on the airplane as though he's gonna live there. It's not forever.

It's a short time. Our lives are but at blink in the perspective of eternity. Why are people living as though this is all that there is? Why are they spending time accumulating things trusting in these things? Financial security.

I don't wanna leave my kids too much money. They might become lazy. Yeah? I'm serious, Emma. You bit us you bit us study hard, and you better better get a good job because old boy is not gonna give you much.

That's how it is. Our confidence is in good. He is the 1 who is able to redeem our lives from the grave. We place our lives in the hands of the eternal all powerful god. Not in the gifts that he gives us, which are so transient.

That's how we will see the light of life. This is the understanding that we need. This is the understanding that the rich fool in Luke chapter 12 didn't have. Do you remember the story of the rich fool in Luke? Jesus tells a story about a man who's doing well.

The business is flowing. It's fantastic. He's thinking himself, let me tear down these bars and we build bigger ones, and I can accumulate so much for myself, and I can put my feet up and won't have to work for the rest of my life. It'll be fantastic. He's got no regard for eternity.

He's only thinking about the world. He's only thinking about money. He's only thinking about his business. He's only thinking about growing things. And what does the lord say?

It says you fool. This very night your life will be demanded of you. How many of us have heard stories about people who spend their life killing themselves at work? And then they retire and plan to sail around the world, And then they visit the doctor and there's a diagnosis and they're dead in 6 weeks. Friends, we spend our health chasing wealth, and then you spend your wealth.

Tracing health. That's the reality. You see, the Bible says that the full season in his heart, there is no god. And yet it says that the wise, those who have true understanding are those who fear the lord because the fear of the lord is the beginning. Of wisdom.

Now in order to understand exactly what it means to place our hope in god and to fear him in the right way, we've got to understand this psalm in the context of the entire book of Psalms. And I think it's very helpful for us to understand Psalm 1 and 2 together as being a preface to the book of Psalms as a whole. And the book of Psalms essentially is describing the blessed life that god's people ought to seek. So you might wanna flip back just to keep your finger in 49, but flip back to Psalm 1 and 2. And there we see a picture of this blessed person.

It's the person who whose delight is in the law of the lord. It's the 1 who meditates on his law day and night. And and while Psalm 1 speaks about the personal response to god, Psalm 2 speaks about the corporate response to god. Okay? And it tells us in Psalm 2 verse 12, it says that the ones who are blessed are all those who take refuge in the lord, in the king whom he has appointed.

So to have a blessed life, we must meditate on the lord And we must take refuge in the king whom he has appointed. So if we can get true understanding this evening, then we need to honor this king. We need to take refuge in him, but who is the king? Who is the 1 in whom we are to take refuge? Well, sure it's the 1 who came to this world, not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Charlie it's Jesus Christ who bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. Can I ask you this evening, do you know this king? Is he your king? Are you trusting in him? Has he ransomed you?

Will he ransomed you? On the day of judgment, will he know you? JP Morgan was a millionaire financier. He, he was very powerful. In fact, there are economic decisions that were taken by him that affected economy of the entire world, towards the end of the first, the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century.

And when he died, he left a vast sum of money, obviously, but he also left a will of 10000 words with 37 articles. And he himself cited this particular article as the most important article of his will. So this is a man with vast wealth. He says the following, I quote. I commit my soul to the hands of my savior in full confidence that having redeemed me and washed me with with his most precious blood.

He will present me faultless before the throne of my heavenly father. I entreat my children to maintain and defend at all hazard and at any personal sacrifice. The blessed doctrine of complete atonement for sins through the blood of Jesus Christ and through that alone. Isn't that astonishing? Such a wealthy man who clearly understood that riches without wisdom, the wisdom that comes from god is folly.

He knew that money would buy him anything, but it would not buy peace, it would not buy love, and it would not buy meaningful relationships. And he knew that money could get him a first class ticket to any destination in the world, and it would get him hotel rooms, in the poshest hotels in the world. But it wouldn't get him to heaven, and it wouldn't give him a room in the heavenly father's house. You see, he got the balance right He understood that the gifts that god had given him were gifts that he was to use for the glory of god. Can I ask you again this evening?

Where is your hope? Beyond the grave. Are you young and vibrant and trusting in your health, hoping to make great wealth, hoping to find financial security, or are you trusting in Jesus? You see, if you are trusting in Jesus, then there is no reason for you to fear when evil days come. There is no reason for you to be overruled when others grow rich.

There is no reason at all because the fate of those who trust only in themselves and who trust in their wealth is only death. Verse 14 tells us that while they like sheep are feeding in their little pastures now, It is ultimately death that will feed on them. There's a little bit of a pun going on there. And in the morning when the new era dawns, it is the upright. Those trusted in Jesus who will rule over them.

Remember Jesus's words? Those who were first will be lost, and those who were lost will be first. And we are the ones who will be redeemed from the grave if we trust it in Christ. We've put our hope in god. We've not put our hope in the gifts that he gives us.

At that time, when death comes, no amount of wealth or status will help those who've trusted in themselves because human wealth, unfortunately, dear friends, has no value beyond the grave. No value at all. It cannot prevent death and it's short lived. Now we have no reason to trust, that to fear those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches. And yet at the same time, I think that we need to take the solemn warning that we get from the psalmist about money and about wealth and about riches.

You see, I think that if we think carefully about this, reliance on money is not only a problem of the mega rich. In fact, it's a massive, massive temptation for those who don't have money. You can spend your life obsessing about how you're going to get more money, especially if you don't have money, especially if you're struggling to make ends meet, or how am I gonna do this? How am I gonna make this? You become obsessive about it.

And reliance on money is a real problem. Now the reality is that in this room, we are we, every single person in this room, I say this with great confidence. Every single person in this room is in the top 8 to 25 percent of the world's wealthiest people. K? Just listen to these stats.

If you have food in your fridge, Clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75 percent of the world. If you have money in the bank, money in your wallet, and a bit of spare change in your pocket, you're among the top 8 percent of the world's wealthy people. That puts things in perspective, doesn't it? So for the rough sleeper, for that lady, as you see her, if you're walking in Kingston, you go past TSB and you see the woman sitting there with her cup. For that rough sleeper, my dear friends, every single person in this room is the intimidating member of society, the wealthy.

So let me ask you again, where is your hope? Are you trusting in wealth? Are you trusting in financial security? Do you feel safe because you've got your wallet on you? Because you've got a good credit score.

In fact, the way that we spend our money shows what we think about money, isn't it? It shows where our hope really lies. Perhaps many of us might spend hundreds of pounds on an evening of entertainment, perhaps for a music concert. Some people, you know, will queue overnight, sleep overnight just to get their hands on the new iPhone. Would you be able to get the ticket for that music concert for a few hours of pleasure, hundreds of pounds spent?

Thousands pounds spent on a holiday, a new car, Rick, they're decorating our homes. Nothing wrong with any of those things in and of themselves. God gives us good gift to be enjoyed, but it's important to keep these things in perspective. How many of us would you know, be be keen at the same time to take the initiative to sponsor a teenager to go to a bible camp or to dig a little bit deepest that we might sponsor our might fund our apprenticeship program at this church. There's the old adage, isn't it?

Put your money where your mouth is. Well, I think what Psalm 49 is teaching us tonight is we need to put our money where god's heart is. That's the gospel. And when you be investing our money and our time and our energy in the gospel and god's kingdom. In practical terms, that may well mean that you need to commit yourself to giving regularly, to the local church if you're not doing so already.

It may mean that, you know, you just sit down and decide, well, where am I gonna cap my standard of living. Where are we gonna where are you gonna draw the line and say, you know what? Enough is enough. I don't always have to get to the next thing. I don't always have to get the next upgrade.

Enough is enough. And why we wanna do that is so we can invest more in ministry. Because when we invest in ministry, that's for eternity. We store up treasure in heaven. That's a far better currency.

Well, are we gonna spend ourself obsessing? It's like like collecting cigarette cards. Change to Philip's son the other day and these cigarette cards, although they're they're probably worth a fortune. They were worth a lot more a few years ago. At the moment, anybody who's interested in cigarette cards is either dead or dying or at the stage in life where they think himself, you know what?

I couldn't be bothered with these cards anymore. It's gonna take 14 months before the auctioneers will be prepared to look at this lot and decide if it's even gonna go to auction. Held on so long and so tightly, but it's now worthless. Said us? Are we clinging so tightly to the things of this world that we'll wake up and discover on our deathbeds that it's worthless?

It's worthless? What about the time spent sharing the gospel with someone? You know, the joy for me this morning was hearing, a new couple that arrived at the church. And the woman told me she said, I came to Christ. Through the teenage ministry at Cambbury Park Church.

Anne knows the woman. What a joy? The people who spent their time and their energy and their money in this very building. 20, 30 years later, have something to show for it. A woman who's married to a lovely Christian guy who got children who were a delight an absolute joy to have in our Sunday school this morning.

Hopefully, they'll stick around. What a joy? You see, friends, that's investing for eternity. Perhaps this evening, it's worth taking a moment to carefully consider where our hope really lies and to reflect on whether we can rejoice with the psalmist when he says god will redeem my life from the grave. He will surely take me to himself.

Because at the end of the day, friends, that's actually all that matters. And that's what the Bible calls rarely living. Well, let's pray. Now father, we do thank you that you are the god who provides so much more abundantly, everything that we need, everything that our hearts desire, that you are the great lord and shepherd in whose care we shall not want for anything. Father, please, would you help us to not be consumed by the things of this world?

That it really clips our vision for what it means to live as a child of god in a temporary existence longing to be with you for all eternity. Father, would you help us to make our lives and our money count for eternity? Father, we pray that you would redeem us from the grave. That you would ransom us. We thank you for Jesus, our man.