Treasure Hunt

Well, grab your message notes that look like this. Jesus journey is the name of our fall series. This whole series ties into a book that we wrote that you can pick up in the lobby. If this is your first weekend with us, perhaps you're a stealth worshipper. You can pick up the book for free if you are. It's all about going back in time to the era of Jesus Christ to discover the often hidden meanings behind the sayings of Jesus.

And this morning I want to talk about the treasure hunt. Because did you know that there is probably more buried treasure in Israel than any other place in the world? Just this last May, archeologists revealed that at the ancient ruins of Megiddo, while unearthing a house in this area, diggers found a clay jar. And when they opened it up, gold and silver rings and earrings and more spilled out. Somebody had apparently hidden these in the jar during an attack on the city some 3,000 years ago. And it stayed hidden there until now, until May.

And what makes me frustrated about this was that our group was in Megiddo in April and it was right under our feet. So next time I go back to Israel, I'm bringing a shovel. But this is just one of the buried treasures that archeologists are still finding all over the country. Even more recently, this past June, excavators digging under a parking lot in Jerusalem discovered a Roman era house with a central courtyard. They noticed one of the paving stones was looser than the others. They looked underneath and found a pile of gold and silver coins and jewelry apparently hidden there during the Jewish revolt about 2,000 years ago and never reclaimed.

It includes delicate earrings in the shape of grape clusters, amazing beautiful rings. And this is just some of the treasure found this year alone. And there is much more there. In fact, an article about this in the Jerusalem Post in 2009 said, "Between 160 to 200 tons of gold and silver potentially lurk under the Judean hills in the Geb Sands. Their estimated worth is over $2 billion today." Now the obvious question is, why? Why is there so much buried treasure in Israel? Well, there's a story behind that.

Back in Jesus' day, what we now think of as money coinage was a relatively new idea. This is the most common coin of Jesus' day, the Tyrian Shekel. But people in that day were just starting to use money in trade instead of bartering goods. And there was not yet anything like our modern banks. There were money lenders, there were temple treasuries, but there were no real banks where you could just deposit your savings for easy withdrawal. And so the problem is, where do you keep your money and other valuables if there's not a bank? This is the problem everybody had.

Well, the answer is, you hide it. You bury it. Usually in clay pots, underground, in secret chambers, in walls, and in caves. This is what virtually everyone did with their money, was they buried it. And again, the whole idea of putting your money on deposit was relatively new. People didn't trust that. You see that reflected in the parable of the talents, right? Where the manager says to the man, "Why didn't you put your money on deposit?" "Well, I thought it would be safer if I buried it." That's exactly what was going on socially at the time of Jesus Christ.

But there's a couple of problems with buried treasure, right? Number one, it gets lost. Grandpa forgets where he hid it. I mean, if you lose your sunglasses and your reading glasses and your cell phone, can you imagine you could potentially lose this? What a disaster. Or other people find it and steal it. It gets lost. Second problem, it gets people lost. It gets people lost. Miss Lead, what am I talking about? Well, there was treasure hunt mania going on in Jesus' day because everyone knew that virtually everyone was hiding their valuable treasure underground and in walls and so on. And so people were trying to find this stuff.

And it got to the point that some enterprising people began making fake treasure maps. In fact, one was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls in the back of one of the caves at Qumran. This mysterious copper scroll from right around the time of Christ contains directions to 64 spots where it claims there is hidden treasure in the land of Israel. And this is very important to understanding the culture at the time of Christ because there are two things this teaches us. First, since this was written around the time of Jesus, we know that the allure of buried treasure was alive and well back then. This isn't just something that popped up during the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. People loved to find buried treasure.

But then second, most scholars believe this is an example of an ancient but fake treasure map. Now it's definitely from the time of Christ; it's not a forgery, but people have followed its directions and have found nothing. In other words, just like most treasure maps, this one leads nowhere. Why would somebody go to this length to make a fake treasure map? Well, just like in our day, the real money to be made in get rich quick schemes is by the people writing the get rich quick books. And it's the same thing with treasure hunting. The real money to be made in buried treasure is by the people selling the maps.

And so buried treasure gets lost and buried treasure gets people lost, led astray to very annoying problems. And so people wanted to know, how can I keep my treasure safe? I mean, I've worked my entire life for this, and how can I find true treasure and not be led astray? And then Jesus Christ comes along and says, I can help you with both those problems. And people must have been riveted when Jesus said, let me teach you how to store your treasure so no one ever steals it ever. I mean, this was a problem with no solution. And Jesus says, I got a solution for that problem. And let me tell you how to seek treasure that will make you super rich.

Okay, Jesus, tell me. And his answer is in Matthew 6:19–24. So turn there in your Bibles if you have them with you, because you and I need to hear this as well. Not just people 2,000 years ago. These are times today, also of economic uncertainty. People today want to know how can I store my wealth so it doesn't lose its value, right? And how can I labor for something that lasts? The elections Tuesday, I was interested that according to a recent poll, these are the top three issues that have people's attention before the election. Number one is the economy. Number two is taxes. And number three is health care, all three related to your money. And so this message directly is relevant.

Here's another reason we need to look at this. You know, so far in this series, we've talked a lot about what Jesus said about religious legalism. That was his main issue, right? His main plank. But was there another problem that Jesus dealt with a lot besides legalism? Well, yes, and it was money. Jesus Christ spoke about money 10 times more than he spoke about the temptations of anything else. Jesus spoke about how to handle money twice as much as he taught about how to pray. Half of his parables involve money in some way. And so if you're going to study the life of Jesus, you have to look at what he said about money because he said a lot.

Now, I just want to drill down really in one passage today, but there's lots of other parallel passages you could look up. In today's passage, though, Jesus has three questions about your treasure hunt. You could call these self-diagnostic questions because your answers to these three questions determine how secure your legacy is. Your answers to these three questions determine how secure your fortune is. And I want to spend the majority of my time this morning on question number one. Jot this down. Question one, where am I storing? Where am I storing? Am I storing in a safe place? Look at what Jesus says in Matthew 6 starting in verse 19, and let's read this out loud together. Let me hear you.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moths and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moths and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal." Jesus here is teaching a very important truth about the transience of wealth. You say, "What are you talking about? Do you have a dollar bill? Do you have your wallet or purse with you? Reach into your wallet or purse and see if you got a dollar. I want to show you something that my stepdad, who was a pastor, showed me one time. You got a dollar with you? Just grab it. Everybody got one? I got one right here. Good. Now the ushers are going to come forward and... No, just kidding. That's not true.

But my stepdad told me once, "René, look at the back of a dollar bill. There's an eagle with wings." I said, "Yeah? What's that all about?" He says, "Let this always remind you, money used to talk and now it just flies away." And I've never forgotten that, right? That's the lesson about money because here's what I imagine wealth will bring. Three things. First, security. Security. I think we all had a stunning reminder of how insecure earthly riches are just this past week with the storm that hit the East Coast. Of course, tragically, many lives were lost. And also, in just a matter of hours, Wall Street was shut down. And I mean shut down. Look at Manhattan. It was almost total darkness after the power outage. Thousands of luxury cars ruined when the parking garages there were flooded. But we can think sometimes that with all our technology, we're immune. But what a stark reminder. Even wealth does not buy security.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't delight in this at all. But this is just the truth. Prosperity doesn't get me security and I can imagine it'll give me satisfaction. If I only had more of what I long for, I'd be satisfied. But is that true? Well, there's a writer in New York named Cynthia Heimel and she wrote an article once for Village Voice newspaper. Now this is the Greenwich Village newspaper, probably the most liberal area of New York City. This is not like a Christian magazine or something like that. She's not a Christian writer. But it's a fascinating article. She says she knew over the years, living there in New York City, a bunch of people who were struggling actors and actresses there in the village. And they longed to become rich and famous. And then some of them did.

And she says when they actually got the riches in fame they'd been looking for, they became, in her words, not just unbearable, but much unhappier than they used to be when they were struggling. Look at this paragraph from her article. She says, "I pity them. They were once perfectly pleasant human beings, but now their wrath is awful. More than any of us, they wanted fame. They worked. They pushed. In the morning after each of them became famous, they wanted to take an overdose. Because that giant thing that they were striving for that was going to provide them with personal fulfillment and happiness had happened and nothing changed. They were still them. And disillusionment turned them howling and insufferable." Fascinating article, isn't it?

In fact, at the end of her article, I didn't put it up here on screen, she makes an interesting little comment. She says, "I suspect that when God wants to play a rotten trick on us, he gives us what we most desire." Isn't that an interesting comment? Sometimes hell is getting what you want. And we can also think that money will give us significance. Maybe people will like me more. It will all be important. But you know what? Let me ask you a question. Can you get what you've been striving for your whole life and still not really be significant? I just have to tell you something. As Aptos Man of the Year, I have learned that lesson. Reach the top of the ladder and I have to tell you it's hollow. It's a hollow trophy, folks.

There's a funny joke about a guy in Silicon Valley. It's an apocryphal story. They say it's true, but I have a feeling it's not. It's a great story there. There's a Silicon Valley businessman who goes to Korea on a business trip to the factory in Korea that makes his company's products. And they have a luncheon for all the workers and the executives of the factory. He tells a very long, boring joke at this lunch. And his translator tells the joke to the Korean audience in about 10 seconds flat and they all roar with laughter. And after the lunch, the Silicon Valley guy says to the translator, "How are you able to shorten my joke so much?" And the translator says, "Well, actually, I gave up trying to translate and I just said the man with the big checkbook has just told a funny story. Do whatever you think is appropriate." Funny does not really make you significant, right?

So what does? How do I store treasures in heaven? Page two, this is huge. Jesus says in the parallel translation in Luke 12, "Sell your possessions and give to those in need." Now, let me stop that right there. "Sell your possessions and give to those in need." This is one of those passages that we go, "Well, Jesus was obviously speaking in some kind of an exaggeration. He doesn't expect us to do this. I can't sell everything." And he doesn't say sell everything. He said that to one guy, the rich young ruler. Here he just says, "Sell your possessions and give to those in need." In the book of Acts, it says, "From time to time, the believers sold some of their possessions and gave to the poor." And that's what he's talking about.

From time to time, sell your possessions. They didn't have really ways to create wealth back then. It was an agriculturally based economy, so they couldn't just go and invent some product and create wealth. They could get wealth by selling some of their possessions and giving to those in need. And you know what I love? Last year, so many of you told me that you did just this for the food drive. And I was so touched to tears when senior citizens emailed me and said, "Well, I don't have a lot of disposable income." But I went into my storage room and I realized I don't need a lot of those books anymore. And so I put them on Craigslist and I sold them and I'm giving it all to the food drive. Can you imagine that? That's awesome.

And other people told me I sold some old furniture I had in the garage on Craigslist, gave it all to the food drive. And I know some people have told me they're considering doing that again. And Jesus says, "That's exactly right. Sell some of your possessions from time to time, give to the poor." He says, "This will store up treasure for you in heaven. And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe. No thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it." Now I want to drill down here. What does he mean, "treasure in heaven"? Well, for one thing, he means nothing, no matter how small, nothing you do will fail to get a reward from God in heaven because he's a gracious God. And so he loves to reward even the smallest thing that you're going to forget about by then.

Jesus says, "Every cup of cold water will earn a reward in heaven." Isn't that marvelous? That means little six-year-old Travis Busey who last year sold a bunch of paper kites for the food drive, he's going to have forgotten about that by the time he's in heaven, but Jesus is going to go, "Here's a crown for those paper kites. What are you talking about? Gold for paper, Travis. Here you go. It's awesome." But listen carefully. I believe this verse is talking about something other than just heavenly rewards. It's talking about treasure that you're going to be laying up in heaven that will never go away. It means when you help the poor with your giving, many of them will have their lives changed for eternity.

And this is very personal for me. I want to tell you a story. You all know the setup for this. I've told you if you've come here any length of time how my own mom was widowed when I was almost four and my sister was one and a half. And for eight years we lived in that tight spot, lived under the poverty line. Mom wasn't a U.S. citizen at the time. After a certain length of time, she couldn't work. And so she had to do kind of under the table childcare after school to just barely squeak by and make ends meet. But I don't know if I have told you the details of one night I will never forget.

When I was about ten, my mom calls me and my sister into our kitchen in the evening and she gets down like this and looks at both of us in the eye and she says I have to tell you something. And I could see streaks on her face. She'd been crying. I mean little kids don't forget stuff like this. She says we have no more money and we have no more food and we have no more milk. And she says I don't know what to do but let's pray and I want to ask God if you would just give my children milk. And so I'm kind of back on my heels okay. And she says let's hold hands and pray right now. And I can remember this like it was yesterday.

Holding hands with my sister on my left hand and my mom on my right hand in our little three person family circle and I'm looking down at the linoleum and I hear my mom pray. I say I hear her pray because honest I wasn't really praying. I was listening to her pray for milk. And I was thinking at ten years old, you know that pre-adolescent cynicism had already started to creep in. And I was thinking to myself I think she's praying to an empty room. Because obviously no one up there cares about us. Nobody around here cares about us. We are really in a tight spot and I don't know how we're going to get out of this. And I went to bed that night angry and afraid. And you know just I remember I was more afraid that night than I was the night my dad died.

I was too little to understand when my dad died. But that night I thought man we are really, really in a bad state. Well, I woke up the next morning and I was the first one out the door on the way to school. And I almost tripped over a paper bag that somebody had left on the front porch. And I looked inside and it was two boxes of milkman powdered milk. How many of you remember milkman powdered milk? Remember that? And somebody had left milk. I mean mom had prayed for one thing for milk and somebody had left anonymously milk on our front porch. My jaw dropped. My eyes popped out. My heart just went klechunk. And I remember screaming mom you've got to see this.

And I'm telling you in that moment my life switched tracks. You know I was on a railroad track toward hardness and cynicism and sarcasm and disbelief and it just switched. When I stumbled over that on the porch it went klechunk. And I thought there's hope, there's faith, and there's love. I thought I want to respond to life's difficulties like my mom not like the boy that I was last night. I want to be like my mother and I want to pray to God who cares. And I thought there are people around me in this neighborhood. We don't know who put that back to this day. I don't know who put that bag on the porch but someone was responsive to the spirit's prompting and they thought maybe their kids didn't like powdered milk but they thought let's go help the widow lady and her kids and they put it on the porch.

And I thought there are people here who care and we're going to make it. It changed my whole view of God and the world and it has lasted to this day. What I'm saying is I don't know how much those people spent on that powdered milk like a couple of bucks a box maybe four dollars for everything that was in the bag. What else could they have done with their four dollars that would still be affecting somebody four decades later? There's nothing they could have done with their four dollars that would have had that kind of an effect. And you know what? That'll still be affecting me into eternity. That's what Jesus means when he's saying you're going to store up treasures in heaven forever.

Somebody once said compared to giving everything else is gambling and that's exactly right. There's an investment that's going to pay off forever and ever and ever. And it's not just me. One in four kids here in Santa Cruz County right now is food insecure. One in four. You don't think some of those kids have prayed God help me? You don't think some of those kids prayed that last night? What is the worth of being able to change their view of God and the world and what is it worth to change the track of their life from cynicism and despair to hope and faith? That's priceless. That's priceless. And we get to be a part of that.

And I know it's not me. A couple of years ago we were loading up the trucks from Second Harvest that came to pick up all the food that you guys so generously gave. And there was a woman who was practically crying in joy and she was loading up and I said it looks like there's a story behind this for you. And she said yeah. She said I'm on the giving end but a few months ago I was on the receiving end. I said tell me your story. It was so good we ran and got a camera and here's your little 60 second testimony. Watch this.

I lost my job and then my boyfriend lost his job too. And then my dad came to see him and lost his job. And then my mom had to take a financial cut on her paycheck and there's no food available because there was no money. And I started to really lose my faith in God for the very first time and this has never happened to me before under the worst circumstances. And being able to come here and just know that I can count on the resources that my church has brought so much hope and love and faith back into my life.

It's interesting what she says there, right? She doesn't mention anything about the food filling her stomach. She says here's the effect: faith, hope, and love. That's what I'm talking about. You give and you reap an eternal treasure that you will see there in heaven. So question number one is where am I storing? Store up treasures like that in heaven. You will never regret it. And then question number two is where am I staring? Where am I staring? What am I focused on? Let me explain this. Jesus says look where your treasure is there your heart will be also.

You know if you bought a hundred shares of Disney stock or a hundred shares of Apple stock a few years ago you'd be super interested in what was happening with those companies right now. The new iPad, the acquisition of Lucasfilm, you'd be devouring all the info on that. Well when you give it changes what you've invested in and it changes what you focus on. And here's why this matters. Next verse. Jesus says the eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy your whole body will be full of light but if your eyes are unhealthy your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness how great is that darkness.

What's that all about? Circle if your eyes are unhealthy. As always Jesus cuts right to the heart of the issue. I read this week that if you're an average American you watch about a thousand hours of TV a year. That means if you live to be 65 you'll have amassed nine and a half solid years of TV viewing. And since every hour of TV is 16 minutes of commercials that's about two and a half solid years of commercials. And that's just TV; that's not even the Internet or radio or magazines. Now of course I'm not saying all media is bad but I am saying it's very easy for your eyes to go bad in this culture because if you're staring at what those ads are telling you, what are they telling you? You're not satisfied now. You need to get more money so you can buy more stuff. Specifically more of our stuff, right?

You see here's the recipe for dissatisfaction in life: dissatisfaction results when my attention shifts from what I have to what I don't have, right? So as Jesus says if your eyes are bad your life is bad. He's saying what are you focused on, obsessed with, staring at? Because here's another truth: you tend to move toward whatever you focus on, right? Ever notice when you're driving you tend to move toward whatever you're focusing on? It's automatic. You look right, you slowly steer your car right; left, left. So what are you focused on? Where are your eyes trained? You will move toward that. So if you want to grow spiritually, give to the things God cares most about and you will move toward God's heart.

This is so important. The answer to greed, the answer to materialism is not to be tight-fisted. You could be a miser and still focus on money. The answer is to be generous and that leads right into the final question which is who am I serving? Who am I serving? Here's one of the most haunting verses in the Bible. The next verse Jesus says no one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Jesus is not saying it's wrong to be rich. He's saying who is your master? Are you a slave to work? Are you a slave to your fears about money? Are you a slave to other people's perception of you and whether or not you're driving the right kind of car or clothes? Here's a good exercise: at the end of every day ask yourself who did I serve today? And at the beginning of every day ask yourself who am I going to serve today? See, unlike most slaves you get a choice. We're all servants of something or someone but you get to choose who your master is. And there's a lot riding on this.

Jesus said in Matthew 16:26 and let's read this verse out loud together too. Let me hear you. "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his soul?" Man, talk about a haunting verse. That's the worst profit loss statement of all time, isn't it? So how can you hunt after profit and lose your soul? Earlier I talked about the copper scroll that apparently fake treasure map from the time of Christ. In fact, the copper scroll is still leading people astray today.

One American guy, a Continental Airlines pilot, for years and years spent all of his vacation time and then all of his retirement time digging in one spot that he believed the copper scroll described. And in fact, he found a cave like this one with elaborate steps carved during the first century by Herod's architects, steps that led deep into a mountain. And for years and years he spent all his money to dig further into this cave only to reach a total dead end and not find one single coin of treasure. The only thing he found at the end of the steps was an ancient skeleton. And scholars now believe that those steps were simply a project designed to keep prisoners of King Herod busy. The prisoners were just carving steps that led nowhere.

What happened to that man? He lapsed into total despair, spent his life in a room not talking to anybody because he'd come to the realization he'd spent everything on a dead end treasure hunt. So how can I be sure I'm not on a treasure hunt that leads to nowhere? See, this message, whenever the Bible talks about money, it's never about what God wants from you. It's about what God wants for you. It's about the abundant life that he wants you to experience. He wants you to escape the treasure trap.

So how do I do that? Three thoughts in closing and these match the three questions in your notes. First, be generous. This is a dramatic way to say to money I don't serve you. You serve me and I serve the Lord. And if you can't do this, it's got you in its grip. That's a direct answer to the first question: where am I storing? You be generous and store in heaven. Second, be grateful. God lavishes his blessings on you. So you just need to notice it all around you. This answers the second question: where am I staring? Don't just stare at it. When other people are more prosperous than you, does that make you jealous? Does that bug you? Can you not rejoice with them? That might be a sign that for you money isn't just a tool. Money is a scorecard. Remember joy isn't getting what you want. It's enjoying what you do have.

And then finally, be God-centered. And this answers who am I serving. Jesus says to seek first the kingdom of God. And this is really the key to the whole issue. This whole thing is really an idolatry question, isn't it? Is money more than a tool to you? Is money your God? Now let me show you what I mean. As we close, I want you to hear from a man who says that he discovered this, not to worship the false idol of prosperity or money or success. And it's a man you probably have heard about in the last couple of weeks here in the Bay Area.

As you probably know, the San Francisco Giants won the World Series last weekend. Any Giants fans in the house here this morning? OK. Well, a little more than a month before the World Series, the Giants held an event called Fellowship Day to give the Christian players on the team a chance to publicly share their testimonies right on the field at AT&T Park after one of their games. I wasn't there, but I watched it online and it was great and so interesting to see among other players Ryan Vogelsong, Jeremy Affeldt, Brandon Belt, Angel Pagan, Santiago Casilla, and others being very straightforward about their faith, right? But I was really riveted by one of the stars of the championship run. It was pitcher Barry Zito.

Zito just became a Christian last September. Now you got to hear from him because this is a man who infamously got a 10-year contract worth one hundred and twenty million dollars and yet found that all that money did not bring him happiness. Now what you're about to see is a cell phone video. So for the first 12 seconds or so you're going to feel like you're in an earthquake but it'll settle down. But I want you to see this because I think you'll really like what he says about our subject today.

I had an unconventional childhood. I was raised in a church that was kind of more of a spiritual metaphysical type church that my grandma had started in the 60s and my mother was a pastor in that church. And so it was not Christianity. It was kind of loosely based around it. But I think that the problem I ended up having with it is that it was too much on my shoulders and not enough on God's shoulders. And that led to great times. But eventually what happened is there was no rock for me to really lean on. There was no foundation. And you know in the Bible it talks about a house of sand. And you know that's eventually what happened is there was not a real structure there for me to really rely on.

I think God has an ability to break us down whether it's mentally or physically at some point. There's always something that turns us and says, you know what, I'm just going to give up control and I'm going to give it to you. And you know if you want to break me down after that I'll accept it much more willingly than I did before. And so yeah, in 2010 or I'm sorry 2011 I committed to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. And you know that was a really important thing because I, you know, there's a thing in the Bible about idolatry, false idols. And that was something that I had focused on my whole life, you know, put more power in myself, other people's opinions, whatever it would be, career, you know, than God. God was kind of like fourth or fifth on the list.

And so I got a tattoo in September, you know, after and it's just it's a golden calf. It's a real basic thing. It's my only tattoo and it'll probably be my only tattoo for the rest of my life. But it reminds me always to not worship those false idols and to remember who's first and that's God. Isn't that great? I love that. Now if you were to put a tattoo of a golden idol on what you're tempted to worship in your life, what would it be? Would it be your car or your workplace or some skill that you've got, you know, your pitching arm? What are you tempted to idolize? Because that's really the big question: what do I treat as my Savior and Lord? Deep down do I think of money as my Savior? I'm in tough times and money's gonna rescue me. Or is making money my Lord, my master? Or is money just a tool? And my Lord and Savior is Jesus.

See, let's bring this to a close and I really want to make this clear. This message is not about you trying harder to like money less because that doesn't work. And this message is not about you trying harder to give more. This message is not about you trying harder to do anything. This message is about you falling in love again with Jesus Christ and realizing what he did for you on the cross. Does it move you to think of what Jesus did for you? As Tim Keller says, when that begins to really move you, amaze you, make you weep, you will move toward Christ and toward loving others and away from idolatry of money.

The only way I know to counteract the influence of money on us in our society is for you to realize that the richest one in the universe, the God who owned it all, gave it all up to seek you, to rescue you out of love for you and you let that just melt you. Let's go to that gracious God right now. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, it is so easy in our culture to seek the wrong treasure and we confess to you that we've fallen into this at one time or another in our lives. But Jesus, we want to say to you today, you are our Lord, you are our Savior. Some of us here for the first time need to pray that prayer. Jesus, I want to make you the Lord and Savior of my life. Thank you for dying for me on the cross. I don't understand it all as much as I do understand I want it. Come into my life as my Savior. Nothing else is my Lord. Nothing else is my Savior. Nothing. You're the only one I need. I lay all of me, all my stuff at your feet and I will seek first your kingdom. God, may we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus. In your name we pray, Amen.