Do Everything In The Name of Jesus

Colossians 2.20, and we'll read on into chapter 3 and verse 17. Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body.

But they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Since then, you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourself of all such things as these.

Anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator.

Here, there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free. But Christ is all and is in all.

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. I hope you're starting to really get what Colossians is all about.

In 3 John, you meet a person, a man who didn't get it. 3 John 9 says, He loved to be first.

He loved to be first. And he really missed it. He was the leader in the church, and like so many before and so many after, he took ministry and church as something that was about him.

And he loved the attention. He loved being in front. He loved the accolades. He loved the power. He loved the perks. He loved all the eyes on him. And church was about him.

Ministry was about him and for him. And he lived a small life, building his own little kingdom there, and sometimes building it up and sometimes protecting it, sometimes on the offense and sometimes on the defense.

But it was always about him. Whatever he said, when he boiled it all down, he loved to be first.

He put himself right at the top. And if I'm honest, I know exactly what that's like, because that same sort of sin grows in the dark places of my heart as well.

And so it's not something I just read about in 3 John. It's something that I read on the lines of my heart, that I too want to be first, and I want things to be about me. And so it's the self-sized life, the self-facing life, where I'm looking out and I'm looking in and I'm looking at myself.

It's the self-generated ministry, and it's that coffin-shaped ministry, our life that we are just born into, where we close ourselves in and make it all about ourselves.

But it's not just me. It has to be you too, isn't it? It's you as well. You struggle with those same things. Whatever your ministry is, whatever your service, whatever class you teach, whatever practical help you give, however you husband or wife or your children, your mom, whatever your relationships and all those different places, the natural thing to do is to make it about us, to see it as primarily about how it affects me instead of Jesus.

Now, when you bring that attitude into the church, or when you bring that attitude into any situation, one of two things happens. One is destruction, and the other is paralysis.

And so when you do ministry from yourself, where it's about you, it's self-generated, and you're concerned to bring it all back to you, you end up destroying the church.

You end up destroying your family. You end up destroying your relationship with your spouse, your marriage. And that's what Diotrephes did. He was active. He was confident.

He knew what he was about. He knew what he wanted. He knew he was out there. He was doing something. But everything that he ended up doing ended up ruined. We don't know anything about him except that he loved to be first, and he liked to kick people out of the church.

But you can guarantee that that church ended up ruined in some way because of what he did. He broke things. Like King Midas, everything you touch gets ruined.

It's either that or paralysis where you don't do anything. where you don't do anything hard, you don't do anything uncomfortable, and you're trapped inside yourself. So one, you're really confident, and the other one is you're paralyzed in fear.

You're always saying, well, I can't do that because of this. Or you can't expect me to do that because dot, dot, dot. Either way, it's about you.

The self-sized life. The self-facing life. And that's why Colossians 3.17 is so helpful because it gives us a legitimate alternative to just the natural way that we're going to do life, we're going to do ministry.

It gives us an alternative. And so look at what he says there. Colossians 3.17, And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

So here is an alternative to self. Here's an alternative to that little kingdom of self, that alternative to paralysis or destruction.

And he says, make it about Christ. Christ. So begin to understand what Paul meant when he said, to live is Christ.

Where I'm living out of him and my life is produced by him. And so do it in the name of Christ. Now, the Holy Spirit, through Paul, is teaching us to stretch our lives farther than what we are accustomed to or what we're naturally given to.

He's telling us to stretch our lives, not to fit over ourselves anymore, but to fit over Jesus Christ. And he's stretching us.

And I found, as I have contemplated that, that that is uncomfortable because that, this verse points out a lot of areas where I'm not doing it in the name of Jesus Christ or for him or anything like that.

It's still just about me. And so there's areas in my life where God wants to stretch me to fit Jesus and I'm not comfortable with that yet.

And so we're like that man in the synagogue. You remember he had the withered hand and Jesus says, reach out your hand. And the man had, he reached out and muscles that he hadn't used in a long time and skin that was tight, it got pulled out.

And I don't know if it was anything uncomfortable, but imagine how that would be for us. We're getting stretched out of ourselves, out of our withered lives. And so that's what Paul is saying here.

Stretch out your life, get out of yourself, do everything that you do, do it in Christ. Do it from within him. Not beginning and ending with you, but beginning and ending with him.

So the reasons that you're doing things are different and the ends that you are pursuing are different. They're about him. Now, what we're going to do is look at what that looks like.

What does that look like? What does this mean? And the way we're going to do it is we're going to unpack this phrase, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. And as we unpack this phrase, you're going to see what a Christ-centered life looks like, how it functions, and what God is calling us to.

Where he's saying, now grow out of yourself, now stretch out, stretch out to Jesus Christ. So four things doing something or all that you do in the name of Jesus means or implies what it means.

First, doing everything we do in the name of the Lord Jesus means we do it in his authority. We do it in his authority. Doing something in the name of someone has to do with authority in the word of God.

about recognizing, about registering in our hearts, living in his authority. Where we have a sense that we are here by command.

We are here sovereignly sent by King Jesus, by the Lord Jesus. So it has to do with authority. And you can see this in many examples in the scriptures. So one day, Peter and John, we were on the way to the temple to pray.

And it was three in the afternoon. And the temple had many gates. And they picked the gate that was called Beautiful. And as they were going in through the gate Beautiful, they see a man crippled from birth.

And he's begging. I don't know what he's saying. Alms. Alms for the poor. And Peter says, Look at us. Look at us.

Look at me. And now they're looking eye to eye. And the man is thinking, Yes, I'm going to get money. And you remember what Peter says, Silver or gold, I do not have.

I don't have what you're looking for. But what I do have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. And that man who was crippled from birth stood up and walked.

And then he went further than that. He started jumping and leaping and praising God. Now, why did that man walk? Well, one answer is Peter told him to.

Peter commanded him to. Now, who gave Peter that authority? Where did that authority come from? Where did that authority come to send strength into a crippled man's legs or to make disease go away?

Well, it was the Lord Jesus. Peter was there in the name of the Lord Jesus and with Jesus' authority as Lord of heaven and earth. Peter says, get up and walk. And the things that Jesus did, Peter now does because now Peter is partaking in and sharing in the authority of the Lord Jesus.

He's doing it in the name. And so, doing something in the name of someone else means you do it in their authority. You do it with a sense of I am here because Jesus has sent me and I am here with all the authority that I need to be here.

Now, let me give you another example. Another example that didn't turn out so well. So, Paul was in Ephesus and there were some Jews, seven sons of Sceva.

Seven sons of Sceva. And he was a Jewish high priest or chief priest and these sons of Sceva were driving out demons. And they had figured out what works and so they said, in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.

So, they were trying to do miracles in the name of Jesus in his authority. Now, do you remember what happened? Dale's laughing. It didn't turn out so well for these seven sons of Sceva.

Well, they came to a man with an evil spirit. They said, in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out of him. And the evil spirit has a real cheeky remark.

He says, well, I know about Jesus and I know about Paul, but who are you? And then he beat them all up and they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

Now, listen, Paul is saying whatever you do, do it in Christ's authority. do it out of a sense of Christ's majestic authority that has now come to bear on your life.

Not only telling you what to do, that is definitely part of it, but doing it with a sense of, I have the right to do this because of Jesus. Now, maybe some of you and some of you probably do need to hear this.

Some Christians are so afraid of doing anything. they don't feel like they have the right, the authority to do anything, to serve, to go out and do something, to tell people to repent, to face your children and to stand strong in the Lord against your children's sin or, but they're forgetting.

They're forgetting that they are joined to Jesus Christ. So when they are standing there, moms, when you're standing there in front of your children, you are standing there with Jesus Christ and his authority and you do have the authority to speak to them.

So why do we have the right, the authority to tell people everywhere to give up their gods and to be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit? Not because we carry within ourselves some sort of personal authority or some sense of, I have the right to be saying this, but because Christ has authority.

All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me and as I am partaking in Jesus Christ, I am sharing in some way in that authority. We're his, he's united to us. Now seeing that, seeing that Christ has given us, each of us, given even his church authority to act, will change the way that you serve, it will change the way that you minister, it will change the way you go into situations.

So if anyone speaks, they should do it as one who speaks the very words of God. So do you see the boldness and the hope and the expectation that should give you?

You don't have to be invited to serve Christ. You don't have to be invited to live for Christ. You don't have to get the world's permission. You don't, you have Christ's permission.

You have Christ's authority. You go with his scepter in your hand, so to speak. And so the thing to do, if you are doing something in the name of Jesus, you put away fear. You put away paralysis and you go out and you live for Jesus Christ.

That's the first thing doing, whatever you do in the name of the Lord Jesus means. The second thing is that you do it in his place. In his place. As his representative.

As a representative. Now this is very much related to the first point. Since we are in his place, we go in his authority. Now, this gets played out at my house all the time and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Where we say to one child, go tell the other kids to come in. Go out and you tell them to come in.

Now, they aren't going in their name, they're going in my name, they're going in our name, they're going in our place. And so instead of me going and finding them and saying, now you come in, I am sending my representative in my name to tell my kids to come in.

And when they come in, or when they say come in, the other kids better come in, right? They can't say, well, mom, that's just you.

No. That has the authority of mom and dad. They're coming in my place. with my words, with my authority. So now whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it in the name of Jesus.

Do it as if you were doing it in his place. If Jesus was saying to you, now go to work and you work in my place. Now, be a mom and be a mom in my place.

Or be a husband like I would be a husband. And so in a very real sense, we are, and this has been so overplayed and I don't want to play it out either, but in a real sense, we are Jesus' hands and his feet in this world.

We are his body. We in some way manifest him to this world that we live in. And so we are to go and we are to serve and we are to live and we are to love in the Lord Jesus' place.

So that should change your marriage, shouldn't it? You're not there all by yourself. You're doing this in the name of the Lord Jesus. So we do it in Jesus' place.

And so Paul says to live as Christ. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though Christ was, or as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf.

On Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. Now that wasn't just true of Paul. That wasn't just some sort of special privilege that Paul had. It was especially his as an apostle, but that is true of you.

It's true of every Christian. You too are Christ's ambassadors. Christ is working through you. And so when you are there, Christ should be there.

Christ is there. And that too should give you boldness and joy and hope and expectation and thankfulness as you do what you do.

You're going in the place of the Lord Jesus. You're going in his name. And that should drastically change your expectations for the outcome of what you are doing.

Now, David went down into the valley against Goliath. And humanly speaking, David did not have a chance.

Goliath, you know, was a giant. He wore a coat of armor that weighed 125 pounds. The point of his spear weighed 15 pounds, which I tried to do some research on, and it's at least five times more than normal.

And Goliath sees him and he says, Am I a dog? Are you going to come out here and beat me with sticks like I'm some sort of dog? And David replied, You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.

And so David is going down into the valley in God's name, in God's place. And two minutes later, Goliath is flat on the ground and David is holding a bloody head up for everyone to see.

And the Philistines are running for their lives. Now who saved the day? Who gave the salvation? This day, this is David's words right before he kills Goliath, this day the Lord will hand you over to me and I will strike you down and cut off your head and today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

And all those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord's. David goes down into the valley in God's name, in God's place, and God gives him the complete and utter victory.

The Lord saves. The battle is the Lord's. So do it in a way that he would do it. I don't know what comes to mind when we're talking about do whatever you do and whether in word or deed.

What are the things that come to your mind? But whatever comes to the front of your mind, whatever swims up to the top there and you're thinking, yeah, I need to do that in the name of the Lord, do it in a way that Jesus would do it.

Do it in a way where he could sign his name to it. He could sign off on it and say, yep, this is mine. This belongs to me.

And so be his hands. Be his feet. Be his voice. He calls us the light of the world and we're the light of the world because he is the light of the world.

And so put away fear. Put away dismay. Put away the small hopes. If you're doing something in the name of the Lord, you should expect great Goliath-sized victories.

You are a Christian. You are in Christ. Now in the third place, doing whatever you do in word or deed in the name of the Lord Jesus means that you do it in his strength. You see, these are all sort of, this is like a tapestry.

It's woven together. It's not one separate or the other. It's all wrapped up. And so you do it in his strength. And so if you do it with his authority, you do it in his strength. Now obviously Peter had no inbuilt sort of ability to make a crippled man walk.

But he had Jesus' authority and therefore he had Jesus' strength. Jesus who knew how to sew up broken legs and fix them. And he had the strength to do that.

And so real authority means real strength. And if you're really joined to him, then you don't have to look to yourself for that strength. You don't have to look for yourself to yourself for that strength.

You look to him. And so you don't lean on yourself and on your potential. You look to him and to his potential. And he's the Lord of the heavens and the earth. And you see, you see what God is inviting us to here.

When God calls us to Christ, and we see it especially in this verse, when God, what God is inviting us to, he's wooing us to. It's a different way of living. It's not where you start looking at yourself and saying, well, I can't do that because of this.

No more of that. And no more, I don't have what it takes. Do people ever say that? That's impossible.

I can't do that. I can't do that. Some hard bit of obedience. We say that to ourselves sometimes. People say it to us. Let's just put that on the table.

And let's admit it to be true. A lot of things that we tell people to do, we just are saying, hey, get it together and do it. But let's put that on the table.

You by yourself don't have what it takes. You are accurate in your assumption and your evaluation. So just put that on the table.

Yes, it is impossible. With man, it is impossible. The things that God calls the Christian to are impossible. When someone slaps you across the face, you turn them the other cheek.

That is humanly and naturally impossible. But Jesus says, that's what the Christian life is. No one is denying that it's too hard for you.

And so we aren't doing a positive self-talk, a positive little pep talk, I'm good enough and I'm smart enough and people like me and so I can do this.

that's the world's dead end. That's the cul-de-sac. That's just more of the same old me, me, me, me. But Paul is turning us in a totally different direction.

He says, now quit looking at yourself and looking about how impossible it is and then trying to work up some sort of way of making it happen. Instead, he says, look at Christ. Do it in his name and his strength and his authority and now Paul can say, I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me.

Someone slaps me on their right cheek and I can turn them to the left because I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me. And that's true for you and it's true for the very same reasons that it was true for Paul because Paul was joined to Jesus Christ and so right beside him in every situation was Jesus and Paul lived in that.

And so he said, so then just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted, not going anywhere, just thinking, I'm here, abiding in Christ, built up in him, strengthened, made strong in the faith.

And so it's either me or it's Christ. Tomorrow you're going to be faced with things that you cannot do and I'm going to be faced with things that are humanly impossible for me and it's either going to be I look at me or I look at Christ.

And I've lived long enough to know that me is a pretty dead end and me hasn't worked and me doesn't work. Me leads to destruction.

It leads to paralysis and fear. But leaning on him and his strength, going in the sense that he is able to make me strong and though I feel no strength in me, he can give me strength for that next step, leaning on him will change the way you do things.

If it's all up to you, then all you have is manipulation and fear. See, this changes the way you do things. How are you going to get things done? If all you have is you, then you have to figure out some way of making it happen.

You've got to figure out some way of making that person see your way or get them to do what you want them to do or make this situation happen. And so what ends up happening a lot is we just have manipulation and sort of like craftiness.

I'm going to be tricky. Or you get emotional. You yell and you scream and you argue because you are trying to get what you want.

And so this too plays out. You send a child to get their siblings and they forget. They just instantly think, you know what?

I've got to make this happen. I've got to do this in my own strength. And so they go and they say something and the kids, of course, ignore them. And then there's yelling and there's screaming and there's crying and they're frustrated because they went thinking, I've got to do this.

I've got to somehow make this happen. They forgot that they had all the strength they needed. They forgot they had all the authority they needed. And so if we go in the name of Jesus, there's no need to fight and scream and manipulate and be crafty and all the rest.

There's no reason to get all afraid or angry at whatever that situation is. Why? Because Jesus Christ says, my grace is sufficient for you.

my strength is made perfect in weakness and it's really not up to me. It's up to him. And just like God gave David the victory in the valley over Goliath, God gives the victory.

Now finally, in the fourth place, doing something in the name of the Lord Jesus means you do it for his glory. You do it for his glory. Diotrephes love to be first.

He liked the light shining on him. He liked the glory coming to him. But when you do something in the name of Jesus, you do it with a different flag flying overhead.

You do it with his banner flying over your head. Jesus Christ's banner. And so now it's about his glory instead of going into a situation thinking, how can I get this to make me look good?

And so you do something in the name of the Lord Jesus, you do it to make him look good. Imagine that. Going into a situation and not worrying about what people thought of you. Where you're like, well, they might like me, they might not.

But what I am most concerned about is that they end up with a bigger view of Jesus. And if they don't like me in the process, but in the end they get a bigger view of Jesus, then that's just perfectly alright.

Now, that's what it means. Now, Olympians know something. Olympians, people who are in the Olympics, know something about what it is to compete in the name of someone else. And you hear it when they talk.

And that's why the Olympics are unlike any other event. I mean, the World Cup is sort of like that. Where, yes, it's about them. But have you ever heard the athletes talk?

They're excited about a lot of things, aren't they? They're excited to be there, they're excited to be at this location, they're excited to be competing, they're hoping to win, but so much of it is, and so many of them just, they get it.

They say things like, it is such an honor to run for my country. It is such an honor to be here for the United States.

And so they recognize that they aren't just there as private citizens, they are there for us. And so what do they say? They say, I want to bring home the gold.

Right? They're not talking about bringing home the gold to their house. They're talking about bringing home the gold to this country. And so when they play the national anthem, it's not just him that won, or her that won, or that team that just won.

The whole country won. And so when Usain Bolt wins the 100-meter dash, he puts the Jamaican flag on his shoulders and he runs around the track and Jamaica gets the glory.

And the whole country swells with pride. Now what does it look like when you do whatever you do in the name of the Lord Jesus? Think about how comprehensive that is. Whatever you do, you're doing something right now.

Are you doing it for the glory of Jesus Christ? Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, what we're talking about is you bring home the gold to Jesus.

You bring home the glory to Jesus. And so you aren't looking for the shine to come to you, you're looking for the shine to go to him where you can cast your trophies at his feet because it was all for him and it was all about him for his glory and for his fame.

and with John the Baptist we have to learn to say I must decrease. He must increase.

It can't be about me all the time. Instead, it needs to be about him all the time. And so, Paul says, don't run under your own flag anymore.

That's the old life running under your own flag that you made up. Instead, you're running under the Lord's flag. We've lived long enough living for our own glory. And what did we get for all those things that we're now ashamed of?

Run for Jesus. For his glory. For his fame. And now, do you see why Paul ends with give thanks to God the Father through him? Giving thanks to God the Father through him.

if we're doing it in his authority and his place and his strength for his glory, that's a privilege.

It's an honor to be there. It's an honor to run under the flag of Jesus Christ and to know that he is there with me and I am here in his place.

And so, every moment of ministry, every moment of ministry that goes on here, word and deed, every moment of Christ honoring life is a reason to say thank you to God the Father through him.

Because it's all of grace. It's all of grace. If it were up to me, I'd still be living that dead-end, tiny life with no other concerns except for me.

And mine, and my own. But now, Christ takes us out of that coffin and he raises us from the dead and he says, now here's life.

And we look up and it's not just about me, it's about him, it's about what he's doing, it's about his kingdom coming to the whole earth and filling the whole thing and Jesus Christ getting all the glory and God's angels worshiping him and us participating in that.

He takes us from this very tiny little thing and he says, now here, this is life. That's a reason to say thank you. I had no strength but now I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

And so Christ is day by day by day saving me from myself. Do you need saved from yourself in that little life? That's what Jesus Christ is offering.

And that life, that hope, that dream, that totally different way of living, it started in God the Father's heart. It started because he loved sinners. He had compassion on people who had their eyes closed, who had dead hearts.

He had compassion on them who had their tiny little pathetic worlds. And he had grace. And so what can we do? What can I do except say thank you? Thank you.

The very chance to serve is a reason to say thank you. And all the help he gives in serving is a reason to say thank you. and the glory he gets from my poor service.

That he just owns it and says, okay, I'll take that is a reason to say thank you. Jesus Christ is bringing us into life and what a life it is.

What a kind God. So Thanksgiving, it has to attend every bit of ministry. If you're doing it right, Thanksgiving will come.

If you're doing it relying on Jesus Christ, you will say thank you afterward. Do you want to know the difference? That's a great way of telling the difference whether you're doing something in his strength or you're doing something in your own strength.

At the end of it, do you say thank you? Or do you just say, whew, glad that's over. If you're saying thank you, then that tells you that your heart's in the right direction.

Well, one last word to those who are outside of Jesus. I'm beginning to see more and more that Christ has not only come to save us from hell, not only coming to save our futures, but he's coming to rescue you from yourself.

He's come to rescue you from your tiny, going nowhere life. And that's where we all were. Living for self. But Jesus died so that those who live would no longer live for themselves but live for him who died for them.

And so Jesus offers you through his death real life. Real life right now that we enter into now and then we experience for millions and millions of years to come.

But we are badly mistaken if we think eternal life begins in eternity. Eternal life comes when you are joined to Jesus Christ and then your world is transformed and your life begins.

And so, what is Jesus offering right now? He's offering you a life that's worth living. That's better than anything the world has to offer. Just bottom line, absolutely better.

And so, don't miss it. Don't miss it. So, Jesus had to go through Samaria and he sat down on a well and now Jesus is sitting down on a well right now with you.

If you're lost, he's sitting down on that well with you and he's saying, I will give you water to drink where you will never be thirsty again and that water will well up into you and eternal life.

I'll give you life so you'll never be thirsty again. Don't miss Jesus. Don't miss what he's offering right now. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we do thank you. Thank you for all the things that you give us in Jesus Christ. Thank you for the opportunities for ministry and service. Thank you for this new life we have in him.

and I pray that you would teach us what it means and what it looks like and how that living in Christ is really felt and experienced and lived out.

We want to be practically holy. We want to be everyday godly. Where godliness and Jesus are not something that we just think about on Sunday but on every day of the week.

Where we do whatever we do in word or deed that we do it in the name of the Lord Jesus with him in our hearts with him beside us with a sense of his authority and his grace and his help.

Will you turn us away from ourselves? Turn us away from selfish gain. Put your law in our hearts. Strengthen our faith.

And I pray that you today would open the eyes of some sinner to see that life without Christ is just a miserable business and open their eyes to see that it doesn't have to be that way.

That Jesus stands ready to rescue, ready to love and fill them with all sorts of good things now and in eternity heaven.

Life with God. Show them the things that are really worth living for. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.