The sermon, titled 'Seize the Day,' delivered by Mike Davenport, is based on Ecclesiastes 11:1-8. It explores themes of uncertainty and how they should shape our approach to life's certainties. The sermon encourages believers to engage in vigorous activity despite an unknown future, urging them to 'give while you can,' 'sow while you can,' and 'prepare while you can.' These actions are illustrated through biblical examples like the widow of Zarephath and teachings from Matthew 25, emphasizing the importance of generosity and stewardship. The sermon warns of the days of darkness and vanity, urging preparation for eternity and highlighting that the uncertainties in life are meant to influence the certainties. It concludes with a call to action to seize the day by being doers of the word and not just hearers.

Our sermon text is Ecclesiastes 11, 1 through 8. For you do not know what evil will be on the earth. If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie. Who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, So you do not know the works of God who makes everything.

In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good. Truly the light is sweet and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the Sun. But if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness for they will be many. All that is coming is vanity." Would you pray with me? Father, it is true that we cannot figure out your works, Lord.

When I think of that, I think of the widow Zarephath. Lord, she did not know your plan, but Lord, along came Elijah asking for bread and for water. And she said, surely if I render to you these things, we will die. But Lord, she trusted you. She rendered the water and the bread, and Lord, she had so much more.

Lord, may it be true of us today, Lord, that we hear your voice telling us to do something that we would trust and Lord that we would obey and Father that we would receive a blessing, Lord, and bless you in return and Father as we come to this time in our service would help us to render our ears Lord, I pray that your spirit would come and give us a clarity of mind and of peace Or remove every distraction Lord help us to listen to your Word today. In Jesus name we pray, amen. In his book, Living Life Backward, How Ecclesiastes teaches us to live in the light of the end. Author David Gibson describes this passage before us this morning in the following way. Now everyone knows there are things we don't know, But the standard advice is to look at what is certain, to look at what we do know, and doing that will help us cope with what we do not know.

But the perspective of Ecclesiastes is different and counterintuitive. The preacher actually tells us to look at the things we know from the perspective of the things we don't know. Once we realize there are certain things we will never know, and once we realize we should stop trying to know them, it changes the way we think about the things we can know. The uncertainties of life are meant to have a shaping influence on the certainties of life. Well, this passage calls us to a life of vigorous activity in the face of an unknown future.

It challenges us to seize the day, to work for the night is coming, to spend and be spent. Here is the challenge for you this morning. Will you allow yourself to be changed, to be shaped by the words you will hear today. Will you be more than just a hearer of the word? Will you become a doer of this word?

Well, I hope to open up this text before us under the following three headings. First, give while you can. Give while you can. Second, sow while you can, in the sense of sowing seed. Sow while you can.

And then third, prepare while you can. Prepare while you can. First, give while you can. We see this in the first verses. Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.

Give a serving to seven and also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be on the earth." Now, commentators differ on the interpretation of the first verse. Some commentators even step away from any attempt to bring about a solid interpretation. So in the company of such men, I will not be so bold to assume that I can unravel what Solomon is here describing. However, almost all of these very same commentators agree on what the verse means, what it is seeking to teach us. Coupled with verse 2, it would seem that verse 1 is encouraging us to give while we can.

Now, note with me the common themes between these first two verses. We are told to cast and we are told to give. Both actions involve something going out from us, something leaving our possession. Both actions are voluntary, and therefore to cast and to give require thought on our part as well as action. We can't cast and we can't give if we haven't thought through what we're doing.

Note as well that to cast and to give, presuppose that we have something to cast and to give. We have something in hand. As Jesus Sends his disciples out into the world. He told them freely You have received freely give Matthew 10 8 Their measure for giving was actually the same measure as that which they had received. As you have received, so give.

We should be generous with what God has blessed us with. And we must do this while we have opportunity. If our Father in heaven has set before us an open door, may we have the spiritual eyes to see it and to respond. That is precisely what we find the church doing in its infant days. Thousands of souls were saved on the day of Pentecost in the weeks that followed.

Acts 2, 44 and 45 say, Now all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions, sold their goods, and divided them among all as anyone had need. Later on in Acts 4 verses 32 through 35 we read, Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul, neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own. But they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked.

For all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the Apostles feet and they distributed them to each one as anyone had need These saints in the earliest days of the New Testament Church, they were casting their bread upon the water. They were going above and beyond, giving and serving as anyone, as anyone had need. Note also the focus of an unknown future, of an unknown future. This is happening in the midst of uncertainty. It says after many days, after many days, you will find it.

And then it says in verse 2, for you do not know what evil will be on the earth. There is uncertainty. There is the passing of days. How many? We do not know.

What sort of evils lie ahead and when will they break forth? We do not know and we are not told. We come away with the feeling that after some amount of days we will have need of that which we have cast forth, that at some point in the future we will experience an evil that will leave us in a state of want and need ourselves. The realization of such uncertainty often makes us slow to the loosening of our grip, to the opening up of our hands, to the sharing of our bounty. In his commentary, Charles Bridges states, the many days are days of special anxiety after days of special anxiety, But the promise is God's own living truth, and it will be found, not the less, for the delay.

And when waiting days have done their work, humbling us in entire dependence upon God and ripening us for the harvest of blessing in due season. In God's good time, we shall reap if we faint not. We shall reap if we faint not. He goes on to say, nothing is lost that is done for God. If it for the time seem to be lost, you will find it after many days, and it may not be, he says, till the days of eternity." You will find it.

We just don't know when it will be. It could be in eternity. Dear ones, if such uncertainty grips us, it is quite possible that our allegiance, that our affections, that our attention is unduly set upon that which we are holding back. Consider the words that our Savior spoke after the parable He shared about the unjust steward. You remember the unjust steward who Found out he was going to be removed from that stewardship and he took all of that money and he went around Making friends with all kinds of people because he was a man who was going to be standing in great need really shortly Christ says and I say to you make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, when you fail, when those days come, those evil days that you don't know are coming, When you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.

He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own. No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

You can't serve God in those things that you hold in your possession. You see, my brother, my sister, we are stewards. We are stewards. Regarding the things that have been entrusted to us, we are stewards no more, no less. And we will give an account of the things God has granted to us in this life.

And we see in verse 3 that Solomon continues his thought of our generosity By now drawing our attention to two pictures in nature pictures that point to the inevitable things of this life as well as to the random the inevitable and To the random verse 3 if the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth. In his commentary on Ecclesiastes, author Stuart Olliot points out that the usefulness of the clouds lies in the fact that they empty themselves. That's their usefulness. All of that rain for what? For the emptying out of themselves.

Solomon calls the tight-fisted, selfish man to a consideration of God's nature, a consideration first of the clouds. In these clouds we see the inevitable. The clouds are full of rain, and with this fullness, with this abundance, they empty themselves, not for the good of themselves, but for the good of mankind. And God sees to it that those empty clouds gather up that moisture again in due time. To what end?

That they may again pour forth blessings from their storehouses. Charles Bridges encourages us to the following, Let me ask then, what blessing am I bringing to my fellow creatures in the family, in the church, in the world? Does my profession attract and recommend my principles? Are those around me enriched by my gifts and graces? Are they benefited by my prayers and good service?

The power to do good flows from the willingness to do it. Splendid services are not always required, but acts of kindness to the weakest and meanest of his people worked out in the true spirit of love to himself. What am I bringing to my fellow creatures? What am I bringing to my family? What am I bringing to this church body?

What am I bringing to my family? What am I bringing to this church body? What am I bringing to my neighbor in the watching world? Around me Well having encouraged us to a consideration of the inevitable, the clouds that empty themselves, Solomon next asks us to consider the randomness, the randomness of life. And if a tree falls to the south or the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie.

Recent rains and wind in our region had quite an impact upon some of the trees in this area. In fact, heading to men's Bible study just a couple of Mondays ago, my sons and I in the darkness of that early morning hour found a large portion of a tree lying across a red road, across both lanes. It prevented us from continuing on, causing us to actually backtrack and take a different route. When such random things occur, there is no use for us wasting our time thinking of what might have been had it fallen some other direction. The fact of the matter is it didn't.

It fell right across the road this particular Monday morning, and we have to face our circumstances head-on. Wherever the tree falls, there it lies. We live in a world of uncertainty. Sometimes the seemingly inevitable does not happen. Sometimes those clouds full of rain don't empty themselves, at least not upon us, maybe further on down the road.

Many times it seems the random happens. Sometimes far too often we feel, what will you do, my brother, my sister, in a world full of such uncertainty? What will you do?" David Gibson sums up these first three verses like this. The perspective of the Bible, the wise perspective, and it sounds so stark because we are so used to thinking in terms of predictability and ease and comfort and our right to life and happiness and because we believe all these things more than we believe the Bible, the wise perspective is that you might be dead this time tomorrow. If so, what would you wish you could have done with your money, with your home, with your time, with your gifts, with your life.

If you were to die this time tomorrow, What would you have wished you had done? So give while you can, for you do not know the worries, the troubles of tomorrow. Second, Solomon calls you to sow while you can, to sow while you can. Verse 4 says, "'He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.'" How easy it is, how natural it is for us to find excuses as to why we should not do something. We seek an appearance, an appearance of wisdom in the midst of our unwillingness to risk something for opportunity or reward.

We claim to be waiting for the right time, for the ideal conditions, for suitable circumstances. How often do we cry out with the lazy man in the book of Proverbs, There's a lion in the streets! If I go out there, I'll die. If we sit back waiting for the perfect circumstances, we will never accomplish anything in this life. We must not wait for opportunity to come knocking at our door.

We must make opportunities. And this passage is not just for the farmer. This sowing and reaping represent anything that we may give ourselves to in this life. Sowing and harvesting do not just occur in our manual labors. It includes that, our manual labors, whatever it is that you do on a daily basis.

It includes those, but it goes beyond that. There is sowing and harvesting in our relationships, in our husband-wife relationship, in our parent-child relationship, in our brother and sister relationship. There is sowing and harvesting to be done in our relationship with Jesus Christ. There is also sowing in regard to our use of the means of grace in our gospel endeavors and in our preaching and hearing this very morning. What I'm doing and what you're doing.

We need to be sowing. We need to be sowing. Me preaching the Word, you sowing as good hearers of the Word. In all of these things, we can actually become risk-averse, afraid to labor much for fear of failure, for a fear of hurt, maybe even a fear of disappointment. Or we can become weak and lazy in our efforts, latching on to any and every available excuse to keep us from doing that duty.

And so doing, molehills become mountains. Days become weeks. Every step seems to contain a hurdle. You've seen it in the Olympics. They run four or five, six steps and they have another hurdle Sometimes in life it feels like there's not even four or five steps in between.

Okay. Every step is a hurdle it seems Something else that May keep us back is our tendency to want to hold the blueprint to as we've described before to to want the hold the the instructions on this Lego project we're working on in order to figure out what is this purpose of God, what's going on, what's the end, what's His designed to know what what God is doing from the beginning to the end. But Solomon reminds us yet again that it is not in God's design to turn over the blueprint to us He calls us to be diligent with each and every piece as he places them in our hands and at his timing. You see, we are meant to be sowing, knowing the vanity that lies under the sun, living as if there were nothing more. It still calls us to sow while we can.

But Solomon here reminds us once again that who we are and who God is. Verses 5 and 6, as you do not know what is the way of the wind or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything. In the morning, sow your seed, and in the evening, do not withhold your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good. As finite beings, we have to grapple with the unknown and not just the uncertain. He's spoken about the uncertain.

Now he's talking about the unknown. We have to grapple with that as mere humans. There are things that we just don't know, things we are not meant to know. Solomon gives us two examples, the way of the wind and the development of a child's bones while in the womb. These two examples are given to stress the greater reality that we don't know the works of God.

We don't know the works of God. If you were to have talked to Joseph in the midst of everything happening in his life, Joseph, what's God doing? I don't know. He's meaning it for good, but I don't know what it is. He wasn't meant to know.

To know. Bridges says, to dare to believe less or to pretend to understand more than God has expressly revealed is equally profane presumption. We should study to be wise, not above Scripture, but in Scripture, not in the things which God has concealed but what he has revealed. Listen to David Gibson once again. Living under the Sun, believers are happy to take comfort in knowing that they do not know.

We learn, perhaps through great pain, to be deeply content with not knowing, To know all there is about everything there is to know, to know it in all in ways and at all the right times so that I have every bit of relevant data in front of me, Well, that is the kind of control, he says, over the world that Ecclesiastes has been teaching me to surrender. I cannot know, he says, and so I don't have to know. Trying to know or pretending to know is foolishness. It's not wisdom. Solomon is here asking us to simply embrace the reality of things.

You see, our decision-making regarding certain things or directions can actually reflect an attitude that suggests that we have some knowledge that belongs only to God. In such a scenario, we may be tempted to overthink, to overanalyze, and to allow the uncertain to control the certain. Just like in the instance of the man sowing, it looks like it's going to rain outside. It's not a good time. The next day he looks outside, looks like it possibly may rain again.

I'm not going to sow. He's allowing the uncertainty to control what is certain. If he doesn't plant, he's not going to harvest. That's what's certain, and he's allowing the uncertainties to stop him from doing what is certain. As I quoted earlier, once we realize there are certain things we will never know, and once we realize we should stop trying to know them, it changes the way we think about the things we can know.

The uncertainties of life are meant to have a shaping influence on the certainties of life. Solomon tells us rather to simply embrace the fact that we are mere creatures dependent on an all-knowing, all-wise, and all-powerful God. So when you wake up in the morning, go out in your field, sow your seed. And because you are a dependent creature who has no control over the inevitable or random experiences in your life. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

In the evening, do not withhold your hand from other endeavors that may be profitable. You cannot know which will turn out prosperous, whether one thing or the other. Perhaps God will bless both, Solomon says, but we don't know. So, so in the morning and don't withhold your hand in the evening. There may be uncertainty in regard to your work, but there is no uncertainty in regard to the work God is doing.

Dear ones, this is the season for sowing. Yes, there are troubles. Yes, there are risks. Yes, there may be seasons of drought. Leave the result of your work in the hands of your gracious God.

Rest your souls in the promises of God. Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually, continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. My friend and brother, Pastor William Hughes, stated the following in one of his sermons. None of you know what your influence will be for Christ in your own family, in your place of work, in your local church.

The law of the spiritual harvest is this, accept the kernel of wheat, fall into the ground, and die. It abides alone. But if it die, it will bring forth much fruit. And you, " he says, may be being called to bury your life like a kernel of wheat in some small remote local church. And you may wonder what's happening in this church?

Why are we continuing to go on in this church? And God is burying your life in that work. You are saying no to other things. No to other opportunities God wants for you to bury your life in the work That he has called you to do it is not glamorous At times it can be painful and it can be very very hard. But there is no suffering in your life.

There is no trial and no suffering that is not productive of fruit. If it dies, it will bring forth fruit, not necessarily in the lives of other people, but it will bring forth fruit for sure in your life. It will do something to you. Give while you can, sew while you can, and now finally prepare while you can. Prepare while you can.

Verses 7 and 8. Truly the light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the Sun. But if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all, Yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that is coming is vanity." Solomon declares that it's a great thing to be alive. It's a great thing to be alive.

Life is a good thing. Just like light in the warmth of the sun, life affords us many opportunities for pleasure and enjoyment. God created us with physical senses to enjoy His creation and grants us many occasions to partake of His goodness. But Solomon here envisions a man who lives many years and his life has been such that he has been able to rejoice in every year that passes, every year he rejoices in them all. Is there even one such person among us this morning?

The rejoices in every year? I doubt it. And Solomon seems to doubt it as well since he introduces this thought with a little word if if a man you see it's describing here a seeming heaven on earth a sweetness and pleasantness unabated But let's just say this is you. Let's say that you can say, I've lived many years and I've rejoiced in every Year of my life and nothing but greatness If that is you Brace yourself for what Solomon is about to say to you Brace yourself The entirety of this thought hinges on that little word yet. Yet.

Yet it is Crucial for such a man to factor in the coming days of darkness the coming days of darkness now Solomon has talked much in his book about days of prosperity and days of adversity that each of us, every one of us, experiences in our lives. But I don't think Solomon is talking here about days of adversity that are sprinkled about here and there Through our life experience here in this world and here's why I say this these days of darkness or something different Than these days of adversity that we've seen already in Ecclesiastes First he's describing a man who has already lived many years. He's already lived many years. This man he's describing has had a full life. Second, this man has had reason to rejoice in all the years of his life.

Third, what would be the point in remembering days of the past when he is already today in a state of rejoicing in all the years that have passed and Then forth Solomon uses here a future tense in regard to these days For they will be Many not they have been but they will be many And then he follows it up with the phrase about all that is coming, all that's coming. Now, as we shall see in chapter 12, this warning is applicable to the latter years of this present life. As we near the end of our lives in this world, the days of darkness and vanity actually increase, and we'll look more at that the next time in this book. But I believe the context of even the very next verse, verse 9, also has us looking past this life into the judgment that's coming. This is the context.

These days are coming. You may taste of some of these in this world, but if not, Judgment Day is coming. Remember, Solomon has been teaching us to learn to die well in order that we may learn to live well. The directive Solomon is giving us is to remember. Remember.

This is something we don't like to think about but he's calling us to remember He wants us to keep in mind the vanity that lies before all men in order that we may prepare ourselves for eternity He told us back in chapter 9 verses 4 and 5, but for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion, for the living know that they will die but the dead know nothing and they have no more reward. My friend, you this morning are sitting here in the land of the living. You are joined to the living. There is hope for you. There's hope.

There is still time to prepare for death and for eternity. Oh remember the eternity. Oh remember the days of darkness for they will be many. All that is coming is vanity. We would do well to heed the warning of Charles Bridges.

Oh, the folly, the presumption of creatures born for an eternal existence and to whom the present life is but the preparation time for a never-ending one and to whom death is but the door of eternity so willfully shutting their eyes to this near approach determining to live life to live for this life only and to let eternity take its chance. The case here supposed, at least mainly so, he says, is one who finds all his good things here and looks for nothing beyond, who has never put forth one hearty effort upon his soul's salvation scarcely spent a solemn thought upon it prepared only to live and not to die. For this reason Solomon encourages us in chapter 9 verse 10, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. Today, today is the day for preparation, not tomorrow, not tomorrow. Tomorrow is always the devil's day.

The Spirit says today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Consider two men. Consider the thief on the cross, and consider the rich man who built bigger and better barns for all of his earthly goods. One day, one day made all the difference in the world between those two men. The repentant believing thief was told assuredly, assuredly, today you will be with me in paradise.

And think about his time of sowing. He had minutes, hours at the most, but he sowed while he could, and he heard those words. But think about the words spoken to that rich man, you fool, you fool. This very night your soul will be required of you. He had done a bunch of sowing for this life and blessed in such a way he needed bigger barns for all he was harvesting, but he was a fool because he did not prepare for this night.

What a difference a day made in the lives of those two men. How can you be prepared? How can you be prepared? Well, first of all by seeing yourself as a great sinner as a great sinner and seeing Jesus Christ as a great Savior a great Savior You must also repent of your sins. You must repent of your sins.

You must see your sins as God sees them, a holy God. And you must call them what they are, sins and trespasses against a holy God. You must embrace without reservation the righteous life of Jesus Christ and His substitutionary sacrificial death in the place of condemned sinners. And then you must die to yourself, die to your will, die to your own ways, And you must embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior, the Master of your life. Prepare while you can today, Today.

As we draw to a close, I would like to ask you to turn to Matthew 25. Matthew 25. I'd like your eyes to follow along as I read. I intended to read the first portion of this chapter as I've been dealing in this last point with prepare while you can Because we read about the Bridegroom who's coming and now's the time to prepare by getting oil in your lamp but then I read on and I realized that one greater than Solomon is here speaking and Christ is calling us to do in reverse order what Solomon calls us to do in Ecclesiastes 11. In reverse order, Jesus is calling us to prepare while we can, to sow, to labor while we can, and to give while we can.

And what's at stake? What's at stake? Well, those days of darkness that are coming, the vanity that's coming, Jesus talks about it here. He talks about those who aren't doing these things being cast out into outer darkness and those days being many because they are everlasting. It won't change.

But listen to the words of Christ and hear the words as well of Solomon. Matthew 25. Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

They prepared. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight, when it's dark, a cry was heard, Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.

And the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise answered, saying, No, lest there should not be enough for us and you, but go, rather go to those who sell and buy for yourselves.' And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Assuredly I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.

And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability, and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them. He sowed them and made another five talents, and likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents saying, Lord, you deliver to me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents besides them. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things.

Enter into the joy of your Lord. He also who had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Look, I have gained two more talents besides them. This Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things.

I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord." Then he who had received the one talent came and said, "'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look! There you have.

What is yours? But his Lord answered and said to him, You wicked and lazy servant, You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents, for to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have even what he has will be taken away and cast the unprofitable servant in to the outer darkness There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food.

I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me." And the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink?

When did we see you a stranger and take you in or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did it, giving while you could, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me. Then he will also say to those on the left hand, depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty, you gave me no drink.

I was a stranger, and you did not take me in, naked, and you did not clothe me, sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me." Then they also will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungrier, thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sicker in prison, and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them saying, Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. May God grant us grace to seize the day, to seize the day to give while we can to sew while we can and to prepare While we can let us pray Father thank you for your goodness to us Lord bless this word to our hearts. May we indeed be doers of this word and not hearers only.

For Lord that would not be profitable to our souls. Oh we pray for the many here who are unprepared for eternity. Have mercy upon them, oh God. Have mercy. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.