The Worlds Time

… Turn with me to the book of Haggai. I understand that the young people are looking at that book in the evening. And I'd just like to read three verses out of this book. Chapter one and verse two. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, These people say, the time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your sealed houses? And this house thy base. I would like to talk tonight about a subject which we find in these three verses. A word which occurs three times. It is the word time. I do not want to say much about Haggai, because I think you had time enough to do that in evenings. But we have read two statements. The first statement is where the people said. People said, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. They made a clear statement about what they thought what the time was used for. And the Lord, in his grace, he doesn't make a statement, he asks a question. In verse three, Then came the word of the Lord Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your sealed houses? And this house thy base. Time is something which we have, which belongs to this creation. Once we are in eternity, time will cease. The Lord Jesus, when he was here on earth, he was also subject to time. And I have noticed one line in this hymn. At the end of his life, God could say, for the work on earth, well done. So, the Lord has used time. He used it well. The work was well done. Now, what about us? What about you and I? You know, when you think about time, Yes, the day has 24 hours, we all know that. But everybody tells me he has no time. Some people have no time to come to the conference here. Others have no time to come to the prayer meeting. Others have no time to look after the children. Others have no time to care for the families. Others have no time, and I could go on and on and on. You all have heard these statements. Now, when you consider time, I would like to make five observations with regard to time. The first observation is, the time which God gives you and me, is a gift of God. Have you ever considered that? And you know, it is a gift which is equal to every one of us here. There are many gifts which are different. But you and I, each one of you, have exactly the same amount of time each day. There are 86,400 seconds God is giving you today, and tomorrow is giving you again 86,400 seconds each day. And the question is, now what are we doing with this present? You know, in James 1, it says, James 1 and verse 17, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. God has been the same. Yesterday, the Lord Jesus, yesterday, today, forever, and everything God gives is a good gift, is a perfect gift. And this is also true for the time. It is a blessing. And you know, when you get a present from somebody, what do you do? You normally thank him for it. Have you ever thanked God for the time he has given you? But you see, we are today the 9th of April. Every day which has passed in your life, you can change nothing anymore. That's gone. The 86,400 seconds are for this day, and once it's midnight, they are gone, and they are gone forever, and you can't change anything. You can waste the time. You can be so busy with many, many things, but you can't change anything anymore. And this is very solemn for us who are older, but fortunately there are a lot of younger people, and you have it in your hands to think about what are we doing with the gift God is giving us. And you know, everything God is giving us, there is a responsibility attached to it. God is giving you that present. But one day he will ask you, what have you done with all that time which I have given you? What have you done? How did you spend the time? Well, the Lord Jesus, when you look at him, he would open this ear every morning. He asked the Father, what do you want me to do? And there were needs, I think of Mark 1, there were needs, there were so many sick, but the Lord says, now let us go to the other villages, because there I have to preach also. Why did he say that? Because he listened to the Father, and at the end of his life, the Father could say, it was well done. It was well done. So we ought to think about our responsibility. The second consideration is that the time God is giving us is limited. You don't have time forever. We don't know what is tomorrow. We don't know how old one gets. So, what are we doing with our lives? I would like to read just one verse from Genesis chapter 47. Genesis 47 and verse 9. And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been. He was a hundred and thirty years old. He is older than anyone who is sitting here. And what does he say? There were few. My days were few. And they were evil. Jacob could not change anything over these hundred and thirty years anymore. They were gone. So the question is, what are we doing with our life today? The day God has given us. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, we have an interesting few verses, and I'll just read a few of them. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born. A time to die. A time to plant. A time to pluck up that which is plant. A time to kill. A time to heal. A time to break down. A time to build up. A time to weep. A time to love. A time to mourn. A time to dance. A time to cast away stones, and so forth, verse 6. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away, and so on, and so on. A time for everything. Now how do you know whether tomorrow is a day where you should build up, or is it a day where you start throwing things out? All the things we have collected in our lives, maybe we should get rid of them. So, for each and every one, the time might be differently used. There is a time for everything. Now who would direct me to do what is the right thing? You know, the Lord has asked the people here in Haggai, now is it time? Is it really time that you look all after your own houses, that you make them all nice, and on the other hand, my house is waste? He just asked a question. I think the answer we all know. And he says, consider your ways. Consider your ways. You only have one life to live. The days are very quickly past. Psalm 90. Psalm 90, verse 10. The days of our years are three-scored years, and ten. And if by reason of strength they be four-scored years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. So here it talks about that the years, the years for us is 70 years when it comes high, 80 years, we know some people get even older than that. But when you look closer, what is our life like? It's full of labor and sorrow. And soon be past. As I said, none of us knows when our life comes to an end. No one. We only have today. And today is almost gone too. And it says we are flying away. Our days are flying. Don't you feel that? Sometimes I have the impression that every year goes faster. We still get exactly the same amount of seconds, but it feels like it's just going further, quicker and quicker and quicker. We're flying along. So it is good to stand still and to consider, what are we doing with our time? The time God is giving you is the time to get saved. Every man and woman in this world is giving, God is giving them a time where they could get saved. Are you saved? You know, we have three days of conference, I think on every day it was mentioned at least once. If you were just a professor, if you're just confessing, yes, I'm going along, everybody thinks, well, you're on the way with us, but you are not. You have not come to Jesus Christ with your sins. You're just pretending. Well, God is giving you today. And I was struck that in that short portion we studied yesterday and today. In Hebrews 3, you have three times the word today. And in today's portion we had it again, two times. Five times God says today, when you hear his words. Have you heard it? Have you done something about it? Or do you just let it pass like so many other opportunities? I tell you one thing. The people who flew from Barcelona and wanted to reach Dusseldorf, none of them thought we would not reach that place. They were sitting nicely in that plane. They've done so many trips already, nothing happens. By the time they realized that it's going to crash, I can tell you there was no more time to confess your sins or to put your life in order. It just crashed. That's how quick it can go. Every one of them had their plans. They knew what they were going to do the next day. We planned our lives as nothing ever would happen. And God is using these incidents to talk to us very solemnly. He says your life can be finished in one second. But he says today. Today is a day of grace. And you know, I like to read from Genesis 19. Also a man, he hesitated. He hesitated. The angels said, come on, let's go, get out of here. Genesis 19, verse 17. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, escape for thy life. It is high time. Now or never. Escape for thy life. And verse 22. Haste thee. Escape thither. Haste. What are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? You know, there was a man, Abraham, who was praying for the Lord. And I guess if there is one here. You have those who are praying for you. Maybe your father or your mother is praying for you. Your grandparents are praying for you. Maybe your brothers and sisters are praying for you. Maybe the whole assembly is praying for you. And you? Have you made haste to escape? Or do you think it doesn't matter? After all the time in the world, no, you haven't. You have today. God said very clearly, you have today. None of us has tomorrow. You have today. A very solemn word. Number four. God gives us time to have the opportunity on a daily basis to communicate with God. Now we are living in a world of the greatest communication. We have everything you need to communicate. When I sit in the airport waiting for a flight, and I look around, everyone is busy. You can't talk to anyone because everybody has got a little thing in his hand. And has to check messages. Has to check messages. I call my wife and she checks her little thing. And she doesn't have messages. You know what she says? Nobody loves me. Nobody loves me. But I can tell you there is one who loves you. The Lord Jesus. God loves you. And he wants to talk to you. He wants to talk to you. Where do we find him talking to us? We had it this afternoon. It's the word of God which is God's word. And behind the word of God is God himself. He has given us a message. And he wants to talk through the Bible to you. Not just at the conference here. But when you go home, he still wants to talk to you. Tomorrow he wants to talk to you. And on Saturday he wants to talk to you. And next week he wants to talk to you. Are we checking his messages? Are we taking time to read? And to see what God wants to talk to us? Look at 1 Samuel chapter 9. I said in the beginning, we are living in a time which is so busy. And I think it is really the devil which makes us so busy that we don't have time. God is still giving the same amount of time. But it is a matter of how we use it. And one other thing to the last point. You know that our life is limited. I was so glad when it was clearly said that not the devil who has the power of death is deciding when our lives are going to be finished. Our lives are in God's hand. Thank God for that. He is the life giver and he also decides how long your life is going to be. Now let's look at 1 Samuel 9 verse 27. Here we find Samuel. He wants to talk to Saul. And Saul is also one who is always busy running around. And you know what he said at the end? But now, stand thou still a while that I may show thee the word of God. Stand thou still because God wants to talk to you. How often do we really take time to stand still? Everything else has priority. But God would like to talk to you. He would like to have a message for you. And this can be personally or commonly. You know I find many, they are so busy and also young people. So busy with their career, with their profession. They say, look we can't make it on Wednesday to the prayer meeting. It's impossible, it's impossible. And on the weekends, yeah, if I can I will be there. He says, stand still. Something is wrong in your life if you run like this. If you don't have time to listen to what he says. Look at Luke chapter 10. There the Lord Jesus comes into the house of Martha. She received him into the house. In verse 39, and she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. Here comes the Lord Jesus. And Mary said, I have got nothing more important to do than listen to what he has to say. And she was not the only one. It says also, there were others who were sitting at the Lord's feet. And when Martha complained, what did the Lord say? But one thing is needful. Mary has chosen that good part. You see, we have to make choices in our life. We have to make choices. You can keep running. And you can keep wasting your time. And you can forsake the assemblies. But one day you will have to give an account to the Lord Jesus, who says, what have you done with all that time I have given you? What have you done? Only for earthly things. Use them up for things which will disappear in the fire that is all gone. And you can't take anything with you either. And we are waiting so much time, looking after earthly things. You know, in 1 Samuel chapter 3, we have an example that God wants to talk to you. And there are some children here, and some young ones. And God decided, I want to talk to Samuel, that young boy. And he called him. And Samuel had no idea that God is calling him. He went to Eli. Eli said, no, I didn't call you. God didn't want to talk to Eli. God wanted to talk to Samuel, the little boy Samuel. So none of us is too young that God can't talk to you. He wants to talk to you personally, each one of you. And so we find in verse 10, after three attempts have failed, finally Eli realized that God wants to talk to him. So he said to him, or now he told him what he has to do, and in verse 10, and the Lord came and stood. He comes very close when he wants to talk to you. He doesn't need any iPhones. He wants to talk to you directly. He wants to give you a message. And he says, and he called again at this time, and he said, Samuel, Samuel, and Samuel said, speak, for thy servant hears. So we find here, first of all, the attention of Samuel. He put everything else away. Nothing was now important except to listen what God had to say to him. And he said, thy servant. He put himself in the right position. He is the high. His God, the Lord himself, wants to talk to you. Has a message for you. And it wasn't an easy message either. But he wanted to give it to someone. God wants to talk to you. Do you have time? It's your decision. Every morning. Every day. God is giving you 86,400 seconds, and you can decide how much of this time I'm going to use that he can speak to me. And the other thing is, a communication is always two ways. So God wants to talk to me, but we can also talk to him. And we find, in the life of the Apostle, Paul, the Apostle Paul in Philippians, for instance, we find many, many passages, but we find there that in verse 3 of chapter 1, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always, in every prayer of mine, for you and for making a request, wish joy. In every prayer, he remembered all those from the assembly in the Philippines, and he prayed for them, one by one. And God listened. God listened. It says in Romans 12, Romans 12, verse 12, verse 12. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. Continuing instant in prayer. We talked about the throne of grace. The throne is there at all times. The high priest is there at any time. He never says, I'm busy, you can't call me now. You have a temptation. On Monday at 10 o'clock. You don't have to wait till the evening before you can put this before the Lord. You can pray right there, instantly. Or the boss comes to you, and he says, look, what should we do? Should we do this or that? What answer do you give? Do you just give your own answer, or do you quickly pray about it? He might say, I need an answer this afternoon. There are hundreds of occasions where we ought to talk to him who knows what is best. We can ask him. But are we doing it? We don't have to wait till we come home at night and we go into our closet. We can do that as well. But to have a continuing instant in prayer, or prayer, pray without ceasing. Of course we cannot pray all day long, but that means to be in that spirit of prayer and knowing that at any time, in any situation, I can always call upon the Lord. And He's always there. He has always an open ear. This is communication. And when you think, with how many people do we constantly communicate? Your friends, they get a new picture now of the conference, and when you drive home, you have another picture, and you send it again. You're constantly in communication with your friends and with everybody else. But what about the Lord? What about the Lord? You know, it's perhaps a technique, or it's perhaps a tactic of Satan to make you so busy that at the end of the day you said, look, I had no time, no time to communicate with the Lord. And it is so essential that we can communicate. Number five, God gives us time to work for Him. To work for Him. We had that last night, very clearly. The Lord calls His disciples, they are with Him, and He sends them out. The Lord has something to do for each and every one. In Luke 19, I think we can use that parable also in relation to time, because there we have in Luke 19, verse 13, And He called His ten servants and delivered them ten pounds and said unto them, Occupy till I come. So what do we see? Ten servants, ten pounds, everyone gets exactly the same. And this also applies to time. You have exactly the same amount as I have. When it comes to other gifts, we know there are differences. And you are responsible for the gifts God is giving you. But here, He says, I'm going to give every one of you. Tomorrow you'll have another 86,400 seconds. I'm going to give you. Occupy till I come. We all wait for the Lord's coming. When He comes, for us, time will be finished. No more time. Time will cease. Then we go into eternity. But now, we live in that time frame of time. What are we going to do? What are we going to do? Are we going to waste it? Are we going to use it? Look at 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. You can read that very often in the missionary bulletin. In the Mitteilungen. Yes, that's a wonderful verse for these missionaries who have gone out. They should be steadfast. They should be unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. But to whom is that verse addressed? Do you look carefully? It says, you my beloved brethren. And we have learned brother, brethren, means brothers and sisters. So each one of us who is a believer is included here. When you look at to whom the epistle of the Corinthians is addressed to, not only to those in Corinth, but all those others as well. You and I are included. Each one of us. We cannot excuse. Are we abounding in the work of the Lord? What are we doing with our time? In Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 11, it has a special word as encouragement I would say. Verse 6, In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. Here it talks about that we should seed. This is one type of work we can do. And it says we should sow in the morning and in the evening we should not withhold. We can apply that in different ways, but I would like to apply it now. First of all in the morning applies to the young people. You are not too young not to be able to sow. You can give out a track. You don't have to be a gospel preacher going around, but you have time at your hand to sow. Are you doing it? But then it says also in the evening, and I think that would apply more to the older of us. You know sometimes when we get older, it says look we have worked enough now for the Lord. Now we can lay back. Now we can sit back. Now we can relax. Let the youngest do with us something. I have worked long enough. They can now fill in the gap. Now it says in the evening, and it speaks to us older ones, withhold not thine hand. It says don't give up. Even if you are getting older, if you are getting weaker, you might not be able to do as much as a young person, but you don't stop it. Carry on because you don't know which will finally bring forth fruit for the Lord. We are only told to sow. The fruit is this. So he encourages the young people and the old people likewise. There are also two different spheres of work. One is without. Colossians 4 verse 5. Colossians 4 and verse 5. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. The Lord has left us here in this scene, in this world where he was rejected. The Lord was faithful. He left us here, but he says use wisdom. Use wisdom in dealing with those who are without. So for instance, when you go back to work on Monday, say, well, I've been at a conference, and so you're back in the office, and then you say, well, I've got to talk to this other person next to me, and during work time, you talk to them about the Lord. Is that right? No, using wisdom. I mean, the boss wouldn't like that at all. He says, you are here to work to earn your money, but maybe you're going out for lunch, at lunch time with that person. Then you can tell him. Then you can use it. You're driving in the bus going to work, and there is somebody, all of a sudden, he asks you a question. Now you can say, well, don't talk to me. You're a stranger anyway. No, I mean, you know, first you get shocked that somebody is talking to you, but perhaps the Lord has sent you on that bus to talk to that person. Just a few words. You don't believe how many opportunities God is giving you and me, every day. Every day. And we have not got our eyes open. We don't even see them. We don't use them. He says, we should walk in the works which God has already prepared for us. He directs all things. He brings people together. You don't have to. But then we should be ready, redeeming the time. Maybe that bus ride is the only time you will see that person. You will never see him again. And you have lost that opportunity. Well, God doesn't need any of us. But he would like to use you and me to serve him and to spread the gospel toward those which are without. And then Galatians 4, verse 18. Galatians 4, verse 18. But it is good to be zealously affected always in good things. Are you zealous to do good things? And this is perhaps towards those who are within. Those in your family. Those in your local meeting. Do you have a mind Do you have a mind which says, I've got my eyes open. Where can I do something good for another person? Well, you say, I've got no time. Do you really have no time? What is wrong with your priorities? The Lord has put you in this family or has put you in this local meeting to be of help. To help. And not just to sit back and let others do everything. You see, are we jealous? And, you know, the Apostle Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, verse 2 and he was a young man and Paul encouraged him and says, preach the word. Be instant in season and out of season. Preach the word. Preach the word. Don't wait for that opportunity. Within season, instant in season and out of season. There are so many opportunities and preaching is not only from here, from the platform. It's just giving a word. Passing on the word of God to somebody else. Of course, you have to know it to be able to pass it on but there are so many opportunities and I think there is no service where we don't need to know the word of God. You say, well, if I just give a tract then I don't need to know the word of God. But you give a tract and he stops and he asks you a question. Oh, and then all of a sudden you should give an answer from the Bible. So, in every case, whether you do Sunday school, whether you are a mother to bring up the children, in any sphere of your life, you will need to know the word of God to be able to pass it on to others. Preach the word. We talk about everything else. We talk about the weather We talk about what happens in America We talk about the election here in England and who is going to be voted in and voted out. And we spend hours doing all these things. And what about the word of God? Sharing the word of God. Helping one another on the way. Now, there are two reactions. Two wrong reactions to time. The one thing is and I must say not everybody is very, very busy. I know people who are lazy. I know people they are saved and don't do anything for the Lord. Is that true? You have the energy You have the health You have the time but you don't do anything. You are wasting your time. You are killing time by doing nothing or doing stupid things. I know people they sit in front of the television and hours and hours and hours are gone. You don't need the television you can have internet or whatever. Hours playing games I'm not saying anything that you are not allowed to do these things anymore but we can be so lazy that we have really no interest in the work of the Lord. That's why the Lord says something in Proverbs also speaking to us about this in Proverbs 6 Proverbs 6 So God knew there are such people. I give them the time, I give them exactly the same amount of time but they are wasting it. They are wasting 86,400 seconds every day doing nothing. So what does it say? There is a verse for us here in chapter 6, verse 6 Go to the end thou sluggard consider her ways and be wise. Verse 9 How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? We can sleep all day. We can sleep all weekend. But the Lord says go and have a look. The ant is an animal you find on every continent. And you know God knows the animals very well. God didn't say go to the lion. You know why? The lion has got the habit to sleep 23 hours of the day. And one hour he is active to get some food. So God didn't say go and have a look at the lion. He says go and have a look at the ant. And I can assure you I have many times looked at these ants. Big ants, small ants, whatever ants. But I have never seen an ant laying around doing nothing. They are all running. They are all running busy, busy, busy. Go and have a look. And then come back with your conclusion. But there is the other danger. The other danger is that we pack our life full of activities. And we have no more time for the Lord. Why do you go five times a week to the gym to have a workout? Do you really have to go five times? Could it be also once or twice a week? I am not saying anything against but for some people that is the most important thing when they come home from work they have to go to the gym and they have to go bodybuilding. Whatever it is you can fill your time with other things and then don't tell me you have no time. Consider your ways. You know in 2 Timothy 2 2 Timothy 2 2 Timothy 2 2 Timothy 2 2 Timothy 2 1 Timothy 2 1 Timothy 2 1 Timothy 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . When these young men go what happens? The first thing is take all your clothes off and send them home and now here is your military clothes. And your hobby? Forget about your hobby. Your family? Forget about your family. Your work? Your profession? Forget about it. Now you're here in the army and we tell you what you have to do. That's the way it goes. So all of a sudden it is possible to put all these things aside and just concentrate on the army and do the training and whatever you have to do. Now we are not in the army of whatever country but here it could well be that it is the Lord. The Lord has called you. The Lord has said from now on I would like to tell you what you should do. And you know entangle means that you get so involved in these affairs and God doesn't say forget about everything what you do in your private life. If you are a mother your obligation is to look after the children. If you have a job you have to be there at 8 o'clock in the morning. Well God doesn't say all of a sudden all this doesn't count anymore. No. But the question is when I have a job is it then just a job or do I want to have a career and I have to give everything to climb up that ladder and you know in many cases I have found that you reach then a level where you are no longer capable of doing that job. And then what happens? They have to work day and night and weekends and so forth to keep that position. So whose fault is it that you don't have any more time for the Lord? Is it the Lord's fault? Did He say you have to climb up that ladder till you get to that position? That was your choice. It's a very serious matter. And therefore we can get entangled. Our hobby can become the content of our life. We do nothing else but that. So the two things are wrong. To do nothing for the Lord or to be so overworked that we have no more time for the Lord. You might have all sorts of excuses. You can say, well you know, I am too young to work for the Lord. The other says, no, I'm too old. I'm too happy. I'm too sick. I'm too tired to work for the Lord. I'm too busy to work for the Lord. You can have all these excuses why you can't do anything for the Lord. You know, I have seen a very remarkable thing. My son, for instance, he was flat out. I said, look, I have to do studies, I have to do this, that and the other. His timetable was full. And then he got engaged. Then I said, Peter, why can you all of a sudden be two hours on the phone but you didn't really have time, did you? How come that you can speak two hours with your fiancé? Where do you get all the time from all of a sudden? Because you told me that you have no time. What does that mean? You see, if something is important to you, you will find time. You can make time. In Haggai, he said, is it time, is it really time to look after your own houses while my house is empty, my house is void? So it is really a question of priority and you can really find time if you want. I like just to finish with a triangle. You know what a triangle is? It has got three points. And this represents the three major areas of your life. Each of us has these three areas. We all have a professional life. Say you go to study, you go to school, you go to university, you finally have a profession, you have a job. So one area is our professional life. The other area is our social life. We all need a social life and you know the social life becomes more and more important now. The social connection and so forth with everybody else is so important. But to the social area of my life belongs my wife, my children, my friends, whatever. You have a social life, I have a social life. The third one is the Lord. The Lord and His Word. Now you see when the most important thing for you is your professional life, then this is on top. And then your social life is down here. And the Lord is also down here. You can turn it around. For me the social life is the most important thing. My family comes first. Where is the Lord then? The Lord is also down here. And maybe your work is not so important. It's also down there. But you know if you set things right and say up here on top should be the Lord and His Word. This should have priority in my life. Then your business life is down here, your social life is down here. But I can't tell you one thing. I can tell you one thing. Then these two other areas will also fall into place. You know that is something you have to put into practice to really find out. You know we sometimes have a big problem with our social life. Maybe because we have it up here and the Lord down here. Or we concentrate totally on our business life and then the family goes to pieces and whatever. Social connections go to pieces. Why? Because the Lord is down here. He hasn't got my first place. And I finish with one verse out of 2nd Exodus Exodus 21 Of course it's a picture of our Lord Jesus. It's the Hebrew servant. You all know that thing. And He says in verse 5 And if thy servant shall plainly say, he made a decision. Haggai also calls you to make a decision. Consider your ways. So this servant, he made a decision. He said I love my Master. Number one. I love my Master. He didn't say I don't love my wife anymore. No, I love my wife, but I also love my wife and my children. So the social life was also intact. But number one was the Master. The Lord Himself. And the third thing He said, and I continue to work here, His profession, His business life was also in order. It was blessed all around. And I think this is what I like to pass on to you. You only have one life. You don't know how long it will last. It's in the Lord's hand. God has given us the same amount of time. But one day at the judgment seat of Christ He will ask the question, what have you done? What have you done with the time I have given you? And it's nice that so many young people are here. You can still direct your lives. For us older ones, these years are gone. We can't change anything anymore. But for you and so I think for all of us we can go home from here and really think about what are our priorities? How are we using our time? That it may be to His glory and honor. Amen. …