WEBVTT

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 So I want you to imagine that it's the middle of the day, your phone rings, and it's a phone

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 call that you weren't expecting. You don't know why they're calling, but it's from your

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 husband, wife, significant other, partner, member of the family, anybody, but somebody

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 that you weren't expecting a call from. And they say, rather nervously, as you take the

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 call, I've got some good news and some not so good news for you. Which would you like

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 first? Think for a moment, how would you answer that question? Because I suspect I know what

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 most of us would do. But imagine this situation that you actually decide to say, actually,

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 give me the good news first. There's a bit of a pause, and then the response comes back.

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 The airbags on that brand new car that we've just bought work really well.

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 Generally speaking, faced in that scenario, we prefer to hear the bad news first, don't

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 we? And I think the reason why we do so is because when we know that something big is

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 coming down the track, we would rather do that which is going to require most processing

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 first. If there's some news coming our way, and it has its, something big about it, we

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 would rather that bit that is going to be more difficult to swallow, that which is going

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 to require more effort to process and to come to terms with, we'd rather hear it first

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 to give us a bit more time so we don't end on that note. I think that's probably why we

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 would generally answer in the way we probably would. When it comes to the whole theme of

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 Christian faith and Christian discipleship, being a follower of Jesus, we give it a gross

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 misrepresentation if we present first everything about it that has about the theme of demands

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 that it makes upon us. Because when it comes to the gospel message, let's not beat about

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 the bush. There's, essentially, it is a message of good news, but it comes with a huge set of

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 challenges. But we misrepresent that message if we effectively isolate away from everything

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 else, everything about it that is particularly challenging. Whether it has to do with a personal

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 cost to do with lifestyle, whether it has to do with the challenging stuff to do with

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 ethics and morality, or whether it has to do with a theme of financial giving. And the reason

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 I want to start off with that, not just today, but at the beginning of this series, is let's

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 be quite clear, we misrepresent the Christian gospel if we think it's all about what we're actually

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 giving. If we make that our starting point, we misrepresent the message.

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 And Jesus told this parable, I think, really to make that point. We only understand it properly

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 and authentically when it's placed within that bigger picture. Imagine, you're walking through

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 a field and you've got a walking pole and it goes down into the ground with every step.

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 And then all of a sudden, there's a thunk. As this thing hits something solid. And because

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 of the noise that it makes, somehow you know it's not just a stone, it's not a chunk of rock

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 that you've just hit.

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 So you stop and you scrape around a bit and you give it a couple more pokes and you sense

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 that there's something a bit different lying beneath the soil. So you get down on your knees

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 and you start to scrape the soil away and you realise that actually what you see there

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 is something that looks like a sort of a chest. You begin to get quite excited, quite intrigued.

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 What is this thing? So you begin to try and pull this thing up. You manage eventually to

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 prise the thing open and inside is a breathtakingly large stash of what appears to be gold.

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 Well, you suddenly can't believe what you've discovered. You're really excited. You want the

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 contents of that chest. The only way you can get it is you don't want to just take it. If you

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 could buy the field, then you could have the chest. But that's going to cost something.

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 And you think to yourself, how can I get it? How can I, how can I, incidentally, before

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 we go any further, let's just make one thing clear. Jesus, in telling this parable, was not

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 suggesting that we acquire stuff by dishonest means. When he told parables, there was one,

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 generally speaking, there was one focal point in each parable. And if you stray too far from

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 that point and start to break it down, the analogy breaks down and you can end up going

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 up any kind of alleyway of interpretation. Now, the point is, is that Jesus was saying, you

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 discover this thing and it's really good, but it's going to cost you if you want to get

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 it. And, and, and, but that's not really the point. Because as you begin to think, if you're,

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 in order to obtain this, this, this field that this treasure is buried in, you're going to

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 have to sell everything else that you've got. Now, in that scenario, your focus could be on

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 everything that you're going to have to get rid of. But actually, the reality is going to be

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 that that is not your focus. Your attention is going to be consumed by the treasure that

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 you've just discovered. That's the point. That's the picture. And Jesus gives us this

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 image to, as a, as a way of getting across that which takes place within us when we get

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 a glimpse of what the message of his kingdom is about. The stuff that God has done for us,

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 that which God is going to give us, that which God wants us to have, wants us to enjoy,

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 wants us to know, that reality of freedom that can only be found when we come to know

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 God as our Lord and our Saviour and our Friend. Only when we grasp that is everything else put

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 in to perspective. Everything that we own, everything that we previously aspired towards,

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 it might still be important, but it's put into a new perspective.

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 perspective. And it's for that reason that we shouldn't be surprised that when we look at the

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 teaching of Jesus, he had so much to say about the subject of money, because it needs to be put

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 into perspective. And it is put into perspective when we discover the reality of God. When we look at

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 the parables of Jesus, roughly two-thirds of his teaching material was on the subject of money.

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 He had more to say about the subject of money than he had to say about faith, than he had to say

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 about prayer, than he had to say about heaven and hell and judgment.

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 Why would he say so much about the subject? Well, think for a few moments about what money claims to

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 offer us. It aims to give us security, to give us peace, happiness, a sense of freedom, a sense of control, a sense of empowerment.

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 All of those things that God promises to give us. And there's a very real sense, therefore, that money represents

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 God's biggest rival.

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 Which is why Jesus said you can be, no one can be slave of two masters.

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 You take your choice.

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 But when we take the choice

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 of God

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 and everything that God represents,

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 and we see that, in fact, he is the source

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 of all things good.

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 He is the source of anything that money could buy,

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 and so much more.

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 Then everything is put into a new perspective.

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 I want to share with you

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 an image that some of you would have heard me shared

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 a few weeks ago.

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 So you would have heard this before, but in thinking through this subject this morning,

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 although I don't like to repeat myself too much,

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 I think this is such an important

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 image. So I share it with you.

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 I got here, you might have noticed, there's a piece of rope

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 stretched across

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 the front of the stage here.

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 And I want you to imagine

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 that although this rope

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 does have an end to it, eventually,

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 I want you to imagine it doesn't.

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 I want, for the sake of this illustration,

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 I want you to imagine that this rope

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 stretches right here around the stage,

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 goes out that door, and then goes on, and on,

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 and on, and then it never ends.

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 Okay.

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 And I want you to imagine that that piece of rope

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 is a timeline of your life

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 that stretches from when you were born

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 right the way into eternity.

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 Now, whether you actually believe in eternity or not,

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 just stay with me,

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 and for the sake of this short message,

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 just imagine that it is a reality.

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 Yeah.

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 So this is a timeline of your life,

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 and it goes on throughout all eternity,

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 forever, and forever, and ever.

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 But this little red bit here

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 represents your few years here on earth.

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 Now, isn't it the truth

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 that most of the time we get so absorbed

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 by the concerns of this life here,

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 and let's be really brutally honest,

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 with our financial concerns,

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 with our planning,

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 that we're so focused on all this.

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 We might believe that all this exists,

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 but our focus is on here.

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 And we can spend our whole lives

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 planning for our retirement,

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 putting things in place,

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 knowing that we can settle in.

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 We work hard through here,

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 through here, through here, through here.

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 So this last little bit just here,

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 we get to enjoy.

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 What about this?

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 What about this?

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 Now, look, before I say anything else,

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 I do know about all the classic critiques

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 of religion

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 that Karl Marx and that entire school of thought brings,

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 and rightly so.

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 Marx, in a nutshell, said,

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 look, the danger of all this

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 is that it's pie in the sky when you die,

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 and if you just detract everyone

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 in this direction,

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 away from this,

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 you can push them around and exploit them.

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 And so he called religion

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 the opium of the people.

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 That was a rightful criticism to make.

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 Of course it was.

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 But that's not what the Christian gospel is about.

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 The Christian gospel doesn't,

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 it's not pie in the sky when you die,

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 it doesn't distract us from this bit here

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 because of this.

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 It's the other way around.

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 It's precisely because of all this

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 that we are empowered

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 for these three score years and ten,

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 or however short or long,

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 it might be here.

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 The difference it makes

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 is beyond words

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 when we see

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 that this

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 here

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 is what matters.

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 And at the start of this series,

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 as we begin to think about this subject

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 and our relationship

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 between

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 what

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 what Jesus described

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 as the worries

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 and the concerns

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 and the hopes

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 of this world,

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 the cares of this world,

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 our finances,

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 and those things that

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 claim to give us security,

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 you know,

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 when we see all of that

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 in the light of this,

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 they're still important.

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 Of course they are,

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 but they're put into

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 a different perspective.

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 We're going to pray

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 in just a moment,

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 but before we do,

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 I just want to tell you

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 one last story.

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 And if you forget

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 about everything else

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 that I've said

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 over these last few minutes,

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 please just remember

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 this one story.

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 If you're in the car tomorrow

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 making a journey somewhere,

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 just think about this story.

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 Don't close your eyes

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 while you're driving,

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 but think about this story.

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 Or maybe over lunch,

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 just think about this,

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 whatever,

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 in the next week,

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 just please, please, please

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 think about this story

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 and what it might mean.

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 In 1937,

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 somebody called

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 John D. Rockefeller

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 died.

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 Rockefeller was

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 widely considered

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 by many people

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 to have been

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 possibly the wealthiest

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 human being

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 that ever lived.

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 He most certainly

00:13:23.700 --> 00:13:25.360
 was the wealthiest

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 human being

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 in modern times.

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 He made it very big

00:13:29.800 --> 00:13:30.879
 in the early days

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 of the oil industry

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 and grew an enormous empire.

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 At one point,

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 it was reckoned

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 that he personally

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 owned something

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 in the region

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 of 1.5%

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 of the entire

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 US economy.

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 That's even bigger

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 than Bill Gates

00:13:47.139 --> 00:13:47.839
 by a mile.

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 So he was a very,

00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:51.519
 very,

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 very rich man.

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 Shortly after he died

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 in 1937,

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 there was a

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 press conference.

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 One person

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 asked

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 Rockefeller's

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 accountant

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 who was there,

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 how much

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 did he leave?

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 the room

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 went silent.

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 The accountant

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 thought about it

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 for a moment

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 and he said this.

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 He left all of it.

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 He left all of it.

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 He left all of it.

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 That's why people

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 were liter

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 in need

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 and the

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 shouldn't

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 go home.

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 Let's go to