(Luke) 47 - Trinity-Parable of the Pound

Our Father, we do thank you again that we can come in this place. Lord, for these moments we ask by your grace that you would detach us from all the cares and proper cares of life, that we might focus for these moments upon the Lord and find in Him our life and our strength. We thank you for all the word of God, but in a special way for this parable in Luke chapter 19.

Guide our meditation that we might behold a wonderful Savior. Thank you in advance that you're going to meet with us this morning because we come claiming it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Luke chapter 19, this morning we're coming to a break in the gospel of Luke. And by that I mean since chapter 9 verse 31 we have been discussing the master teacher, the teaching ministry of our Lord Jesus. And that went all the way to chapter 17 verse 11.

From that time on until now we've been summarizing the message of the master teacher. And now we come to the very last parable, chapter 19 verses 11 to 27, the parable of the pounds. And with this parable God through Luke summarizes all of the teaching ministry of our Savior.

Now if you have a different translation, I'm using the new American standard. And it says mina or myna, M-I-N-A instead of pound. The Greek word, that's actually a transliteration.

The Greek word is three letters, M-N-A. And that's where they get myna. So myna or pound.

I think for our discussion we need to know that it's a weight and a value of money. That's what it was, a pound was a weight of money. It's not really important to know how much it weighed or how much money it was.

I have a note in my Bible that says one myna equals 100 days wages. I don't know if that's accurate or not. Some commentaries didn't agree with that.

But even then, back then, that wouldn't have been a lot of money, 100 days wages. For our standards today, maybe a couple hundred dollars. But we know that it's a parable on the second coming of our Savior.

And in this parable he wraps up the whole section on teaching. Now before we make some general observations about this parable, I'm going to ask you to follow along as we read it together. Begin at chapter 19, verse 11.

While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem. And they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So he said, a noble man went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return.

And he called ten of his slaves and gave them ten mynas and said to them, do business with this until I get back. I like the way the King James says it, occupy until I come. I like that better.

But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, we do not want this man to reign over us. When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves to whom he had given the money be called to him that he might know what business they had done. The first appeared saying, Master, your myna has made ten mynas more.

And he said to him, well done good slave, because you've been faithful in a very little thing. You are to be in authority over ten cities. The second came saying, your myna, Master, has made five mynas.

He said to him also, and you are to be over five cities. Another came saying, Master, here is your myna, which I put away in a handkerchief. I was afraid of you because you are an exacting man.

You take off what you did not lay down, reap what you did not sow, and he said to him, by your own words I'll judge you, you worthless slave. Did you not know that I'm an exacting man, taking off what I did not lay down, reaping what I did not sow. We're in Luke 19 and we're at verse 23.

Then why did you not put my money in the bank? And having come, I would have collected it with interest. Then he said to the bystanders, take the myna away from him, give it to the one who has ten mynas. And they said to him, Master, he has ten mynas already.

I tell you, everyone who has, more shall be given. But from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.

Now let me make a couple of general observations about this summary parable. This is wrapping up now the whole teaching ministry, all the way from chapter 9, verse 11. Up till this point, God is summarizing all the teaching ministry of the Savior.

My first observation is this, don't confuse what we just read. Luke 19, 11 to 27, the parable of the pounds, the parable of the myna, with Matthew 25, 14 to 30, the parable of the talents. Call attention to that because they sound alike.

And in many ways, they are similar. Especially when it comes to the guy who buried his talent in the earth. Might be a little different, one hid it in a hanky, and the other one buried it in the earth.

But it seems to be the same idea. But that parable was spoken at a different time, to different people, and it has a different message. For one thing, in Luke we're talking about a pound.

In Matthew, he's talking about a talent. And what that means practically is the talent is a hundred times more than the pound. The parable in Matthew uses a great deal of money to illustrate the point.

And the parable in Luke uses only a small amount. In proportion, it's a hundred to one. In other words, Matthew illustrates with a dollar, Luke illustrates with a penny.

That's the idea, that's the difference. Our second difference is this. In the parable in Matthew, the parable of the talents, everyone started off with a different amount.

In other words, one had five talents, another one had two talents, another one had one talent. They all started out with a different amount. But in this parable, everybody's on level ground.

They all start off with the same thing. In other words, everyone's given one. One pound each.

Every Christian has a pound. Every Christian has a minor. All of that to say, don't confuse the two parables.

There's a lot that they look alike, but there's a lot of difference. Now in another connection, I'll call attention to the difference in the message between the talents and the pounds. But for now, there's a difference.

In our outline, I've summarized this parable under this title, The Lordship of Jesus Christ. It's a second coming parable, but it's also a parable on the lordship of Jesus Christ. Now, glance if you would again at verse 11.

And look at the occasion of this parable. In other words, why did he give it? It says, while they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable because. Because what? Because he was near Jerusalem and they supposed that the kingdom of God and one thing God accomplishes with this parable is that he clears up the confusion as to when the kingdom is going to come.

Many believe Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and they were wringing their hands. You know, we say at Palm Sunday, like I said, we're one week early because our next lesson will be on Palm Sunday, so we just missed it. But when they said Hosanna, they had the idea.

Come on in, welcome. Some people have the idea that Hosanna just means praise the lord, like hallelujah. It doesn't.

The word means save now. And they expected him to set up a political kingdom right then and there. You see, that was part of the messianic hope that God had promised that the son of David would come and regain the throne.

There would be a political power again in the world and a nation in the world. And they thought he's going to Jerusalem, oh boy, this is the time, going to overthrow Rome and set up the government again. Even after the resurrection of the savior, they didn't catch on.

Even after Jesus came out of the grave, they didn't get the idea of a spiritual kingdom They were therefore coming together and they asked him, saying, Lord, will thou at this time restore the kingdom? It is after the resurrection. They're still expecting that political kingdom. And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the time and the season which God has placed has come upon you.

And you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and in the uttermost parts of the earth. And when he had said these things while they were looking, he was taken up. And the cloud received him out of their sight.

See, they never imagined that there was another kind of kingdom, a spiritual kingdom, is given to show that it's not going to happen right now. There is a time lapse. The promised kingdom will come, but not overnight.

We've been praying, thy kingdom come. It's still coming and it will come. And so verse 12, he says, a nobleman went to a distant country and asked what this parable is about.

They said, is this the kingdom right now? He said, no, I have to go away for a while, but I will return and then it will come to pass. Now there's a couple of things that illustrate the fact that this is not only a second coming parable, but also a parable on the lordship of Christ. I love chapter 19, 13.

The first verse, occupy till I come. You see, he called the slave, that's lordship, and said, I'm going to provide you with something. Now you have the provision, use it until I come.

The second evidence of the lordship is in verse 14, the attitude of the citizens. The citizens hated him, sent the delegation after him and said, we do not want this man to reign over us. Now there's always a group that rejects the lord and they do not want his lordship.

We don't want him to reign over us. And then the third evidence is in verse 15, when he returned after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that those slaves to whom he had given the money be called to him that he might know his accounting when the king returned. And so you see it's all lordship.

He's going away, he's provided his servants, he's told them how to live, some will reject him, he's coming back, and some will all give a strict account and will suffer loss or receive reward. And then verse 27, the sad verse in this parable, his enemies that reject him and so this parable was given not only to summarize all his teaching but to show that there would be a delay in the kingdom. To instruct us how to live under his lordship while he's gone and to call attention to the great day of reckoning when the king returns again.

I don't know of anything that could more summarize what we've looked at since 9-11 than this wonderful parable. Now rather than expound on the parable step by step as Luke does, what I'd like to do is dip into the parable and touch on broad life principles that are suggested by the parable and that touch on either the second coming, it's a second coming parable, or lordship because it's a parable on the lordship of Christ. So I'll mention some wonderful truths and bear with me it's in a random order, they're not in any particular order but just as I've been meditating on this some of the things that have blessed my heart.

I notice again, let's go back to 13, do business till I come, occupy till I come. For years I didn't understand that. I thought it was a great emphasis in my life was busy, get busy, be occupied.

He didn't say be occupied, he said occupied. Especially it's the second coming. It's amazing how many people are occupied with the second coming.

They missed the point of the parable of the second coming, occupied till I come. He didn't say be busy with things, he meant be busy in life, that is live until I come. So many people, I don't know, I used to be in on that, poor Lillian had to put up with it but I was into this prophecy stuff and every time there was a prophecy conference I'd be at the conference and I'd have my charts all over the place and I thought I knew what's going to happen and when it's going to happen and the whole chronology of events.

I think I told you on another occasion that I had the perfect chart. If you came to our house from eternity to eternity I had it all nailed down. Well God scrapped my chart years ago and I think he's going to scrap a lot of charts.

There's a difference between the second coming and the second coming of Christ. I missed the whole point. My eyes were on the second coming rather than the one who's coming again.

I missed the whole emphasis. My attention is on the Lord. I was occupied with Israel and Russia and Antichrist and the false prophet and that strange beast and the confederation of ten nations and the tribulation period and who are the two witnesses and where does America fit in prophecy and all that kind of thing.

He was saying occupy till I come live. I'll illustrate that in another connection. The second comment I want to make has to do with what we're to be occupied with.

I'm amazed at how many people look at this parable and don't see anything in it except some clues on how to manage money. That's the illustration. That's not the point.

This is not a parable on how to compound interest. How to make money make money. That's not what this is about.

You see they read this and say those who invested and got some return on their investment they're going to be rewarded and some people just wasted it and didn't invest it and God was angry with them because they didn't do anything with the principle even the minimal. Didn't even put it in the bank in verse 23. But you know there's a spiritual side as you've seen in all of our studies together.

It's illustrated by the investment of the mind. In the parable of the talents in Matthew they all started with a different amount. I suggested to you one had five talents one had two talents one had one talent.

And though they started with a different amount they all ended up with the same reward. If they were faithful the guy who was faithful was five the guy who was faithful was two they both ended up with the same reward. And you remember that great reward that Matthew quotes.

Well done thou good and faithful servant enter into the joy of the Lord. See the parable of the talents teaches equal faithfulness receives equal reward. That's the message of the talents.

Let me say a word about that reward. Well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of the Lord. I just returned from a weekend conference in Delaware and oh what a time we had.

You know it's always fun when the saints gather together for the purpose of seeing the Lord in the word and it was just a wonderful time. I don't know if I've done it here I may have but I love to encourage the saints to write poetry. I just love to receive poetry.

If you want to give me something give me a poem from your heart. Don't give me a thousand dollars. I don't want your money.

Give me a poem from your heart and you couldn't bless me any more than that. And I encourage people I think that's the poetry is sort of the language of the spirit and you can say things in poetry. I love to vent my heart in poetry.

Anyway a man handed me a poem and he had something on this well done good and faithful servant actually he had eight verses in the poem this is just one so many think that what they do will make God say well done now good and faithful servant is a name they think they want but Jesus is the only one who can be thus adored and we will only hear those words because we're in the Lord and that's tremendous exactly so exactly so I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will on you say, I know what he said. I know what he meant. You might not agree with it, but at least it's clear what I'm saying.

And for years in my Christian life, I was in bondage to the will of God. Please don't misunderstand that. My view of his lordship was that God wanted to micromanage my life.

That God had a will for everything, and it was my job to find it. God had a will for my vocation. I better not miss it.

God had a will for my location. I better not miss it. God had a certain person for me to marry.

I better not miss her. God had everything for me. What friends I had, what church I was to go to, my stewardship, if I was going to give money, who to give it to, how much to give, when to give it.

And I was praying my head off about everything because I didn't want to miss God's will. And Lord guide me. Should I call this person now? Should I write? What should I put in my letter? How long should my letter be? And I was going snaky because my idea of the lordship of Christ was that God wanted to micromanage my life and give every detail about everything.

It's a lot easier than that. You know that wonderful verse? I'll bet if I start it, you'll finish it. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path.

I was looking for God's will, but I wasn't acknowledging him. You realize if you set your heart to know the Lord, you can't miss the way. If you run after the will of God, you're going to lose the will of God.

You're not going to find it. Because every time you go after a byproduct instead of the goal, you miss both the byproduct and the goal together. But if you run after the Lord, if you acknowledge him, try it for 70, 80 years, then look back.

You'll see all the guidance you ever want to see. Just seek the Lord and he will direct your path. I'll tell you, it was a new day for Ed Miller when I started seeking the God whose will it was instead of the will of God.

And this parable sets you free. God has given you liberty to make your own choice. He's given you a rational mind.

And then he says, decide. You don't need to pray about everything. You need to praise about everything.

But you don't need to pray about everything. This principle applies in all of life. You know God's will.

Know the Lord. Honor the Lord. Please the Lord.

Glorify the Lord. And whatever you do, be honest. Be industrious.

Be faithful. But honestly, God doesn't have a preference whether you drive a cab or sell pencils on the street or become some business person. Do what you want to do, but do it unto the Lord and in the name of the Lord.

Verse 13, he called ten of his slaves and gave them ten miners, said to them, do business with this till I come back. I think those ten slaves might represent the whole body of Christ. It's all Christian.

I don't know if you're familiar with seven. You're probably familiar with that. God's favorite number.

But number one, number three, number four, number six, number seven, ten, twelve, forty, seventy. Those mean something when you come to the Bible. Some of that sounds fanciful to me.

I think seven is sometimes used in a symbolic way. I think Job had seven daughters. I think that's six plus one.

I don't think that's the perfect number of daughters necessarily. So sometimes it means something more. But I think the ten slaves here do represent every Christian.

And I call attention to that because if every slave receives the miner, I call attention to the fact that every Christian receives a wonderful gift of the Lord. Now I don't know if you've been through that gift thing. Some Christians are so gift-centered, you know.

What's my gift? I heard one brother say, I found my place in the body of Christ on the appendix. Well, I don't know if that's your place in the body of Christ, but I know this, that every Christian has a miner. Every Christian.

And if you say you don't, it's unbelief because God says you do. When I come to spiritual gifts, no passage has meant more to me than Ephesians four, verses seven to ten. Verse seven, each one of us grace was given according to the measure Christ gives.

To each one of us. And then he comes into what I thought at first was a strange, that Jesus sort of brought it in. Therefore, when he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives and gave gifts to man.

Now this expression, he ascended, what does it mean except that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is he who has ascended far above all heaven, that he might fill all things. Well, what's that all about? Well, quite apart from all the theology.

I one time nailed down, in other words, I studied the commentaries and I found more than fifty different explanations on that verse. So you know, God's people don't agree on that particular passage. But here's common denominator.

The Bible not only teaches that you have a gift, you might think, oh, I don't have a spiritual gift. You have one. And how wonderful is it? It's measured by the humiliation of Christ.

How great a step was it when God became man? See, when he created, he created finite things. But in the incarnation he assumed the finite. He became finite.

If you can measure how great it was for God to become man, you get a little view of how great your gift is. Because he said it's as great as the humiliation of Christ. And then take the other side.

He that descended also ascended. How great is his exaltation? How great was it when he was received back to glory after having accomplished redemption's work? You all have a spiritual gift. And that spiritual gift is just as great as the humiliation of Christ and as the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You say, well, if it's all that great, how come I don't know what it is? You're not supposed to know. You're not supposed to know your gift. You realize this? At any moment when you're looking in simple faith to Christ, any gift or gifts that he's given you are going to be manifested in your life.

You might not even know it. You don't need to know it. But one of the worst things you can do is go on a gift hunt.

Don't try to find your gift. And if you think you know what it is, don't try to develop it. That's ridiculous.

Look to Jesus. Look to the Lord. And when you look to the Lord, your wonderful gift measured by the humiliation and exaltation of Christ is going to be used.

And when you get to heaven someday, there will be plenty of time to realize how wonderfully God used your gift or gifts. In this connection, let me say something about the reward. You can't read this parable and not think about rewards.

First of all, sometimes when the Bible talks about rewards, he talks about eternal rewards. I think when you read Matthew's talents, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things.

Enter into the joy of the Lord. That's eternity. That's heaven.

Those rewards are in heaven. But when you look at Luke, he doesn't say, well done, enter the joy of the Lord. He says, well done, you have authority over ten cities.

Verse 17. That's not heaven. Well done, you have authority over five cities.

That's not eternal reward. That's not heaven. There's no cities in heaven.

You see, that's referring to that time we call the millennium, when Jesus is going to reign on the earth for a thousand years. So there are eternal rewards and there are temporal rewards on the earth. I don't know what it means, authority over ten cities.

I just hope it's not literal. I hope it's figurative. I don't like politics and I don't want to get involved in it.

I suppose by then I'll have a new body and I hope you don't set me over any cities or towns or something. I don't know. But I guess it's pretty wonderful if you read something like that.

All I'm calling attention to is that rewards are used in different ways. Perhaps you've heard this expression or used it, someone dies and you say, they've gone to their reward. They've gone to their eternal reward.

You see, that's only partially true. That's true, but it's only partially true. It's only partially true because of Hebrews 11, verse 39 and 40.

Hebrews 11, 39 and 40 says, All these, having gained approval through faith, have not received what was promised. God has provided something better for us, that apart from us, they should not be rewarded. They're waiting for us.

Paul didn't get his reward yet. He's waiting for me. And you know why he's waiting for me? He didn't receive his reward because he's still earning them.

Those saints who go on, they don't enter into their reward because they're still earning them. Every influence, God alone can keep track of this, but every time you have influenced anyone, God is going to reward you for that influence. And then if they carry that influence, until the last ripple of your life dies out.

Generations from now. See, you talk to your children or you talk to your grandchildren or you talk to your neighbor or some of the sisters and brothers at church or people you work with. You've influenced them and you've touched them and they've touched somebody else and they've touched them.

God keeps track of that. God keeps track of every bit of that and that is going to be rewarded. If you've ever blessed anyone, one of my great passages I'm rewarded is that great 1 Thessalonians 2, 19 and 20.

Who is our crown, our hope, our joy of exaltation in the presence of the Lord Jesus? Is it not you? I have His coming. See, I can't wait to go to heaven and be in the presence of the Lord. But I'm not only going to be in the presence of the Lord.

I'm going to be in the presence of the Lord in the presence of you. You're going to be in the presence of the Lord in the presence of me. And it's better than that.

You're going to be in the presence of the Lord in the presence of everyone you have ever influenced in your whole life. God has kept track of that. And what a day of rewards that's going to be.

For years I lived in fear and trembling. I thought about that reckoning and God coming and I'm going to give an answer and every word that I ever said. I read 1 Corinthians 3, you know, each man's work will become evident.

It will be tried, revealed with fire. Fire will test every man's work. If any man's work which he has built remains, he will receive a reward.

And that scared me to death. Someday I'm going to die and stand before God and there's going to be a reckoning. And first it bothered me because I said, didn't Jesus pay for my sin? Is God going to collect for the same debt twice? He already took the rest.

He already died for me. And I was puzzled how come he's going to judge me again for my sin when Jesus already paid for my sin. And as I began to meditate on that, it might shock you to think that or maybe you think I'm full of presumption and arrogance to say I'm not afraid of the fire anymore.

But I'm not. I tell you, I can't wait for the fire. I'm excited about the fire.

You say, why are you excited about the fire? That sounds scary. No. A day is coming.

This is the glory side of the judgment seat of Christ. A day is coming. Everything I have ever said or done or thought to dishonor my Savior will be burned up.

That's not a sad thing. I can't wait for that day. When everything I've ever done to dishonor him is turned to sinners, you say that's a time of judgment.

No, it's a time of reward. The whole idea of the judgment seat is a time where God is going to reward you and whatever can't be rewarded will just be incinerated. And praise God, that's gone.

Did you ever ask the question, what good are rewards? I don't want a reward. What am I going to do with a reward in heaven? You can't spend it. What are you going to do with a reward in heaven? Well, Revelation 4 suggests the four and twenty elders fell down before him that sat upon the throne, worshipped him that lives forever and ever, and they cast their crown at his feet.

The rewards are not for you. They're for him. They're for him.

And so what he does is he gives you grace. You use that grace. He rewards that grace.

You've gathered these great rewards and someday when you stand before God, you're going to have the privilege to say, here Lord, this belongs to you. And you lay it at the feet of the precious Lord Jesus. So they're not even for us.

The rewards are for him. Of course, the tragedy is that some will be naked and they'll have nothing to lay at his feet. By the way, if I read the scriptures right, it's at that point he wipes all tears from your eyes.

It's right after judgment seat when all this stuff is burned up. We cast our crown. Some of us stand there with one thread of a garment and we're embarrassed and naked and say, uh, sorry about that.

And we just, it's a terrible time. And then he wipes all tears from our eyes. Then we go our everlasting reward.

Let me say a word about this fellow who hit his talent or his pound in the handkerchief. Uh, he did nothing with it. He, he, God gave him grace and he never even tried to apply it to the minimum.

His reason was 1921. I was afraid of you. He claimed, of course, God called him a liar, but he claimed that his vision of God was Lord, my view of you, you were strict and oppressive.

And I was afraid if I tried to invest, you'd get mad. And so I did nothing with it. Now that's not true because Jesus said, if you really believe that you would have at least put it in the back.

You didn't really believe that, but you say you believe that. And so he said, verse 22, by your own words, I will judge you. In other words, God says, I'm not only going to judge you by the vision of Christ you have.

I'm going to judge you by the vision that you claim you have. You think you're claiming certain things about God by your own words. I'll judge you.

That's what happened to Ananias and Sapphira. Uh, God did not judge them because they held back some money. He judged them because they claimed that they gave it all.

And so God judged them out of their own words. Verse 21, that hard view he had, uh, that's sort of the legalistic view of the Lord for seven years after I knew the Savior. I thought he was like that.

God is hard and God is tough and just putting rules on it, do this, do that. And so I became, and Psalm 115 describes idolatry and these idols, they see not, they hear not, they speak not, they're mute, they're deaf, they're blind, they're invalid, they're insensitive. And then Psalm 115 verse 8 says, those who trust them are like them.

You become like what you trust. And, uh, if your view of God is false, if you see a hard God, you're going to become hard. You're going to become just like the God you trust.

And that's why it's so important to have God's vision of God, the Bible's view of God. If this parable teaches anything, it teaches this, that God will never require anything from you that he hasn't first given unto you. God gives you the minor, and then he says, invest it.

He doesn't just come to you and say, do something with your life. No, he gives it to you. And then, uh, if God's going to tell you to dig, he's going to give you a shovel.

And if he's going to tell you to fly, he's going to give you wings. And if he's going to tell you to love your wife as Christ loved the church, he's going to give you the ability to do it. And if he's going to tell you to turn the other cheek, he's going to give you the ability to do it.

And you have a minor. He doesn't tell you to go the second mile until he gives you the minor. First, he gives you the ability.

And then he says, use it. You can go the second mile. You can forgive your enemy.

You can pray for those who despicably use you. You can in everything give thanks. You can rejoice when you fall into diverse temptations and so on.

And so with this, he ends the whole teaching ministry. He's going to be gone for a while. While he's gone, he's given grace.

He says, use the grace I give. And every time you use grace, every time you trust, rewards are being piled up, not for you, for him. Someday there'll be a great gathering and we'll be able to pour that at his feet.

So he wraps everything up. The next time we gather, now we'll not meet for a couple of weeks, but I will ask your intercession. I have another men's conference coming up.

They've been signing up like crazy. There's going to be probably close to 200 men there. So I would really ask your prayer as we meet together.

But then we're going to come back and take the last part of Luke, which is the victory of the son of man. And we're going to go from Palm Sunday all the way. Comments or questions? Okay, let's bow.

Our heavenly father, we do thank you for your precious word. Not what we think or guess we know it means, but everything that you've inspired it to mean, work that in our hearts. Thank you that you've given every one of us the same grace, that you've given every one of us wonderful gifts.

And we just pray that we would not bury those away, but that we would trust you and use it. And thank you also that you have not micromanaged our life, but given us a liberty and a freedom to occupy until you come again. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

We ask in Jesus. Thank you.