The sermon transcript emphasizes the importance of Christian stewardship, specifically the concept of giving one's time to God. The speaker argues that giving one's life to God means giving one's time to Him, and without doing so, one is merely pretending. The sermon also highlights the fleeting nature of life and the need to prioritize God's will in our plans. The speaker references Bible verses such as James 4 and Malachi 3 to support the message of stewardship and the consequences of neglecting it.

My text for this morning is 1 Corinthians 4, verses one and two. I want to talk about Christian stewardship. Christian stewardship. 1 Corinthians 4, verses one and two, we read. Let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ and stewards, there's that word, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards, there it is, second time, that a man be found faithful. Christian stewardship. Don Postema was speaking at a religious service in a nursing home. He wanted to present something comforting to the aging patients. So he began saying very slowly, you belong. He was about to continue when a 90-year-old woman sitting in a wheelchair near him startled him by shouting in her high-wheezy voice with both distress and longing, to whom? You belong to whom? The opening lines of one of the Reformation catechisms goes like this. Question, what is your only comfort in life and in death? Answer, that I am not my own, but belong body and soul in life and in death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Let me read that to you again. Question, what is your only comfort in life and in death? Answer, that I am not my own. That's a good place to start. That I am not my own, but belong body and soul in life and in death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Psalm 24, verse one, we read, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. Ezekiel says, all souls are mine, as the soul of the Father is mine, so the soul of the Son is mine, behold, all souls are mine. We're talking about to whom do I belong? All human beings technically belong, whether they realize or not, belong to God, since he's the creator and all things belong to him. Still again in Psalm 100 and verse three, know that the Lord, he is God, it is he that has made us and not we ourselves, we're aware of that, aren't we? We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. So we're created by God, he gives us breath, in him we live and move and have our being, our very existence, every heartbeat, every breath, every aspect of our life is absolutely 100% dependent on God himself. And it's amazing that any of us are alive when you think how easily we can die, how simple it is for us to be gone into God's presence. Paul states again in Romans 14, verses seven and eight, and I've always thought this was a remarkable passage, no one of us lives and equally no one of us dies unto himself alone. If we live, we live unto the Lord and if we die, we die unto the Lord. Paul's saying no one lives or dies unto himself. And of course, there are those who say, it's my life, what I do with it is up to me and I'm gonna live my life and I'm gonna do what I want to with it and it's nobody's business. Yes, it is, it really is because you cannot live unto yourself. You say, well, if I went off in a mountain and a shack and was a hermit and never saw another human being, I can live unto myself. No, you couldn't because there would be an effect on the lives of the people whom you should have touched. No, you can't. Human beings in our day especially would like to think that they can live their own life independent of all others and they're really not hurting anybody but themselves but everything we do affects other people either positively or negatively. We cannot live unto ourselves. We don't die unto ourselves. That's just not the way we are created. So it is very important when the word of God says that we are stewards of the mysteries of God and God requires us as stewards to be faithful. Now, what is a steward? Well, we don't use the word in our day. It used to be a very commonly used word but in our day, we have other terms for people that do the same thing. But basically a steward is someone who handles another person's possessions on behalf of the owner. A steward takes into his hands the possessions that belong to someone else by their desire and handles those possessions for them as they require. Someone else is actually the owner but the person who is taking care of those things handles them for the person who is the owner and he is a steward. And of course, it used to be that men of wealth all wanted to have a steward who actually took care of their estate and even many times handled their money and their finances and did it all for the actual owner. When we read the story of Joseph in the Bible and we find that after he was sold as a slave into Egypt, he was a slave in Potiphar's house. Potiphar was the captain of Pharaoh's guard, his bodyguard, a very prominent, very important man, both politically, militarily, and Joseph was sold to him and was a slave in his house. But Joseph was so blessed by God that everything he touched just was blessed. Whatever he did was blessed. And so everything he did in the house was blessed and so his master gave him more and more to do. And the more he gave him to do, the more it was blessed until finally Joseph was the steward of that house even though he was a slave, he was a steward. And he said to his master's wife, you know, your husband has put everything in my hands. He doesn't even know where the food comes from that he eats, his finances, the complete running of all his affairs is in my hands as his steward. That's what a steward is. Now, my friends, you belong to whom? You belong to God. You belong to God. You say, how is it that I belong to God? Well, there are three reasons. I'll give you very quickly as I've given them before in this pulpit. First of all, I belong to God because he made me. Genesis 1, 26 and 27. And God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over all the earth and everything upon the earth. Sounds like a steward, doesn't it? God says, I'm going to make man. And it goes on to say, and so he created man in his own image, male and female, he created them. And so God said, I'm making mankind and I'm going to make him my steward. I'm creating him in my likeness so that it's obvious that he represents me. You see that? And then he says, I'm going to give him dominion over everything on the earth. What is God saying? I've created the world. Now I'm creating man, the last being that he created, at least on the earth. Now I'm creating man. I'm making him like me so that he'll be obvious. He is the one who represents me and I'm putting everything I've created into his hands that he can act as my steward. That's really marvelous. Do you know, do you see why Satan wanted to get it back? Why Satan wanted to get control over mankind? Because he wanted control over the earth because God had made man his steward. So he created us and made us his stewards of the earth. Then because we have sinned and had that terrible fall, which has created a human race full of sin of every kind and has in great degree given the control of the earth into the hands of Satan, he had a plan to redeem us. So he not only created us, he bought us. And in 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19, we read for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold from the empty way of life you received from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without spot and without blemish. So we have been bought with the silver of his tears and the gold of his blood. And God gave his life to buy us back from sin and put us back in the driver's seat. So now we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus bought by him so we're his because he created us. So now we're his because he redeemed us and put us back in that position of dominion. It's a wonderful position. 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20 says, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God? You're not your own, you're bought with a price. So he not only bought us back, cleanses from our sins with a precious blood that he shed on Calvary. And I wanna stop right here to say that when Jesus Christ hung on that cross and died there and poured out his life's blood, he did it to make atonement for us as sinners. All of our sins were placed on Jesus. He paid it all, our sins are fully paid for. We are forgiven. If you're here this morning and you haven't received Jesus Christ as your personal savior, I want you to know he not only created you, but he's redeemed you from sin. And if you just turn to him in simple faith and turn away from your sin and invite him to come and live in your heart and life, he will come in and be your Lord and savior and restore you to that place of stewardship. I am a steward of God. Get out of my way, Satan. Well, also I am his because I've given my life to him. He bought me, he created me, he bought me, and now I've given my life to him. Romans 12, one, it says, "'I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, "'that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, "'holy, acceptable unto God, "'which is your reasonable service, "'and do not be conformed to this world, "'but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, "'that you may prove what is that good and acceptable "'and perfect will of God.'" He says, my son, give me your heart. So we not only are created by him and redeemed and bought by him, but we give ourselves to him gladly. Amen? So is that where you are this morning? Is that where you are? His creation, bought by him, you've given yourself to the Lord. Now, if that's true, you belong to God, right? You belong to God. What is your only comfort in life and in death? That you are not your own, but body and soul. In life or in death, you belong to your savior and creator, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what does it mean to belong to God and to be his steward? Well, I am a self-conscious being who experiences life in three directions, and so are you. First, I experience life through relationships with other human beings. That is one of the directions in which I experience life. I experience it through relationships with other human beings. Second thing is, I experience life through material things, which become possessions, material possessions. The third direction in which I experience life is in time. Now, I wanna talk about those three things just briefly. First of all, relationships. Of all the people in my life, not one truly belongs to me. You know that, don't you? They all belong to God. I say my wife, and that's correct, but if I mean that she belongs to me in the sense of ownership or possession, that isn't true. She belongs to God. Some of you men need to realize that. Now, you're gonna have to give me more time than that on Father's Day, or I'm not preaching Father's Day sermon. I'm not gonna have all the men out there running a barbecue while I'm preaching the Father's Day sermon. So somebody take note and change that, or I'll be somewhere else. Gentlemen, you don't own your wife. If she's a good one, think how fortunate you are to have her as a partner, and thank God she belongs to him. Right? She belongs to him. You belong to him. She belongs to him. She is your partner. I don't own my children. See, there are men who think they have a right to treat their wife any way they please because after all, she's mine. Not so. Of course, sometimes the other way around. Get a very strong woman who says, so he belongs to me. No, not really, and our children, they don't really belong to us. It's okay to say they're our children. They may have been born from us and so forth, but actually, they're not our possession. They belong to God, and God in his wisdom has put these wonderful human beings that belong to him in our hands, and we are stewards of the grace of God to our husband, our wife, our children, and all with whom we have relationships. We are stewards. We hold them for God as his representative in their life. Are you getting this? We're talking about Christian stewardship. This is extremely important stuff. Let me give you an example. Genesis 22, and I'm going to read the first three verses and then 15 to 18 about Abraham and Isaac. And it came to pass after these things that God did test Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, behold, I am here, and he said, take now your son, and he called him Abraham's son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and get into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell you of. And Abraham thought it over for a few weeks, and then, no, that's not what the next verse says. And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his ass and took two of his young men with him and Isaac, his son, and cut the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went unto the place of which God had told him. And he, whew, wow, the son of promise, Isaac in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, that's something. And they got to the mountain and Isaac said, my father, and he said, I am here, my son. And he said, behold, the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice? My heart goes out to Abraham. How did he, could he handle that moment? But, you know, he was inspired by God and he said, my son, God himself will provide a lamb for the sacrifice. And they went on up the mountain together and they got to the top and he built the altar. Abraham built the altar out of stone, then he bound his son and laid him on the altar, he laid out the wood on the altar and then he bound his son and laid him on the wood. And then he took the knife and then God said, stop. You'll find in the thicket a ram to be offered for the sacrifice. And he unbound his son and took him off the altar and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering to God. And then you come to verse 15. And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time and said, by myself have I sworn, says the Lord, for because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, that in blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. And it says in the book of Hebrews that Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead from which he had received him in a certain meaning. You see, he said, Isaac does not belong to me. He's my son, my only son, but I don't have a right to decide what's to be done with his life. There are parents that don't want their children to go as missionaries because they want a different life for them. No parent has a right to decide what his child should do for his life because that child belongs to God and only God can lead and direct another human life. So all of those who are close to us, they do not belong to us. Matthew 10, 37, Jesus' disciples were told by him, he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. The truth is that all the people in my life, even if they are the closest and most dependent upon me, I hold those people only for God. I am his steward in their lives. Do you see that? We need to see it. We're talking about Christian stewardship. Now, the next direction is possessions, material things. Well, let me give you just one passage from Acts 4, 32, 34, and 35 and the multitude of this is right after the church had got going and the multitude of them that believed are of one heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that all of the things which he possessed was his own. See, they understood as soon as they became Christians, they understood what was already true but they didn't know it that their possessions or mature possessions really didn't belong to them. We say my house and my car and my money and so forth, but the truth is they really don't belong to us. They can be gone in a hurry, can't they? I'll tell you what, if I was you, I'd be honest with God because if he decides he doesn't like what you're doing, he can get rid of everything you've got just so quick, right? You better believe it. Someday, the bubble in Western Canada will burst. Absolutely. I was talking to a man while I was away. Nita and I were at the Christian Missionary Alliance District Conference in Abbotsford and I was talking to a man that works for Jim Patterson and he's a construction man and he was listening to two of the big financiers in that part of the world and they were talking and somebody asked them how long before the bubble around the Abbotsford area and on this part of the coast will burst and they said, we give it two years. Watch what you do with your money. You know, they said in the early church, now that we've become Christians, we suddenly realize none of this stuff really belongs to us. It's not ours, so whatever God wants us to do with it, that's what we should do with it because it really belongs to God. In Matthew 6, 31 to 33, Jesus said, therefore do not worry saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or where with all shall we be clothed for after all these things to the Gentiles had his unbelievers seek for your heavenly father knows that you need all of these things. It isn't that you don't need them. He knows what you need, right? He knows, said Jesus, why are you so worried about it? You act like God doesn't know you need food and clothes and place to live and all God knows. Yeah, he knows all about that. He hasn't overlooked it. So then he said, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. And I wanna say to you that every Christian I know that's taken that to heart and followed that with all his heart, God has provided his needs. My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. But we have to come to the place where we stop thinking that any of our material things belong to us and see that they belong to God and put them in his hands and do whatever he tells us to do with them and then trust him. Some of you are so deprived because you haven't given God a chance to work miracles in your life. And it's so much fun to watch him do it and you're missing the fun because you're stingy. Say it's mine. Go ahead and be a sad Christian. And that's why, and I will preach on this next Sunday I shouldn't have warned you. Malachi 3, 10 to 12, bring all the tithes into the store. He said, they said, why are we in such trouble? He said, because you've robbed me. And they said, where have you robbed me? And he said, in tithes and offerings. This whole nation has robbed me and you're cursed with a curse. Woo. And then he said, bring all the tithes into the storehouse and prove me now here with sayeth the Lord if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing there will not be room enough to receive it. Why? So you can give some more. Stanley Tam. I have been in his plant in Lima, Ohio. Beautiful plant. Young Stanley Tam had failed in his silver reclamation business. It went under. And even though he had tithes since its beginning he had invented something that would take the silver out of film and so forth. And so why God, why? He prayed as he drove homeward with numb disappointment. Then an inner voice from the Lord seemed to say you don't need to fail. Turn your business over to me and let me run it. Remember the promise, my God shall supply all your need. Finally, Tam replied, take it God. And if you'll make it succeed I'll honor you in every way I can. He returned home and the business grew. You say, well, God doesn't know anything about the silver business. He made it. Of course he does. Many months later, after he had married he wrestled with his conscience once more and told his young wife, you know I feel that God would have us take a bigger step of faith and tithing and make him a senior partner in the business. So I've decided to give 51% of our stock to God. I don't know how she handled that, but she lived through it. So State Smelting and Refining Corporation of Lima, Ohio was reorganized that way legally so that 51% of the stock actually was set aside into a foundation and belonged to God. Soon a new corporation, United States Plastic was added to God's partnership. Growth was so phenomenal that the Internal Revenue Service audited their books 10 years in a row. Cause they didn't think anybody could make that kind of money and be honest. Dividends from God's 51% were put into the Stanita Foundation which helps overseas missionaries mainly. As the business passed a multi-million dollar mark God's share was increased to 60% annually. God said, all right, you're gonna give to missions? Here. And he blew on it. So then one day the ultimate happened and I went through the plant after this. Stan and Juanita Tam turned over the ownership of the entire business to God. They became just salaried employees. And since then a new plant four times its original size has been built and the business has continued to prosper. We just don't believe God has it in him. We just don't understand God. If we would face the fact that our possessions are not ours and do what God wants us to do with them we would find God would get so tickled and excited that no telling what he would do with us. And some of you are sitting there and saying, yeah, well, that's all preachers are all about asking for money. I don't need your money. And I'm not asking for it. Okay. But I'll tell you what, this city needs a church that can pay its bills and get out there and reach this city for Christ. So wake up central. So our possessions, they belong to God. It's Christian stewardship. Then our time. Oh, you say our time? Yeah, our time. No one lives to himself. No one dies to himself. Time and life are one in the same thing. They exist or perish together. That is when I don't have any more time my life will be over, right? Is that right? Think now. Don't go sleep, wake up. If I don't have any more time, my life is over, right? If my life is over, I don't have any more time, right? Have you got that? I said, have you got that? Well, I want to make sure you get it. That's a profound philosophy. So if you say I give my life to God, you mean you give your time to God. Well, that's right. That's what your life is made up of. And if you aren't willing to give your time to God, then you haven't given your life to God. You're just a fraud. You can say you've given your life to God, but you haven't given your life to God. You're still hanging on to it unless you give your time to God because that's what it is. Get it? Talking about Christian stewardship. James 4, 13 to 16. Now, listen, you who say today or tomorrow we'll go to this city or that and spend a year there and carry on business and make money. Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You're a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that as it is you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Someone says, I don't have much time. We all have the same time. As long as you're alive, you have 24 hours a day. That's it, no more. Can't stretch it, can't shrink it. As long as you're alive, you have 24 hours a day, right? Well, then you have as much time as I do. And I have as much time as you do. Someone says, but I don't have as much time as those people do. Yes, you do. You have the same amount of time as everybody else. The only issue is how you use it, right? And you know, there are some of you that really, really need to take a careful look at what you're doing with your time. Always say, I have a lot of work to do. I have to make a living. Amen, and you should make a living. I have to take care of my family financially. Right, and that's proper. And God says you should do that. And so, it all takes up a great deal of my time. Of course it does. I understand that, God understands that. But I'll tell you what, even when you're working on the job, you should be working, not for the money, but for God. I've worked out in the secular world, numerous times even worked out in the secular world while I was pastoring a small church. And every day I went to work, I prayed. And every day on that job, I worked for God. And I did a good day's work because I did it for Jesus Christ and not for the man that was my boss. Are you listening? And then, you know, you have certain amount of time that you're not working on the job. What do you do with that? You know, I am amazed at what Christians do to eat up their time. Some of what they do. You say, well, I need some relaxation. Yes, you do. Say, I need some physical relaxation. Yes, absolutely, it's good for your body. God wants you to do that. But I'll tell you what, there's some of you that don't have time to do the things God really wants you to do. And you've told yourself what you're doing out there in the world, that you're doing it so you can have a testimony for God. But listen, I've asked some of you, have you ever led anybody to Christ in what you're doing and you haven't. So don't be a fraud, don't kid yourself. You're not doing it for God. You're out there doing it because you like to do it. Some of you need to pull in your time from some of the things you're involved in out there in the world, just because you enjoy it and you don't have time to do what God wants you to do. John Wanamaker, someone asked the millionaire businessman, John Wanamaker, how do you get time to run a Sunday school of 4,000 scholars? That's a pretty good Sunday school, huh? In addition to the business of your stores, you had a huge chain of stores across the United States. Your work as postmaster general for the government and other obligations. Instantly, Mr. Wanamaker replied, why the Sunday school is my business. All the other things are just things. 45 years ago, I decided that God's promise was true. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things should be added unto you, huh? Pretty good, huh? He said his Sunday school of 4,000 scholars was his main business. He did the other things to pay expenses. Matthew 24, 14 to 30, and let me read this to you. I'm getting down there, just be patient. Again, the kingdom of God will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one, he gave five towns, to another two towns, to another one, and then he went on his journey. So the man that had the five, he went out, invested it, and he got five more. And the one that had the two, he went out and invested it, and he got two more. The one that had the one, he went out and he was terrified, and he went and dug a hole and buried it. And Jesus said the master came back, and he called his servants to come and give an account. And so they came. And the one that had the five, he had gained another five, and he said, great, you did a great job. Said, enter into the joy of your Lord, and he was promoted. And the one that had two, said, you've done a wonderful job. He had got two more, be promoted. And the one that had the one, he came back and he said, I was afraid, and I went and hid it. And he said, you wicked and lazy servant. See, we say, well, God hasn't gifted me like he has somebody else. God hasn't given me the abilities he's given somebody else. Right, that's right. He's made us all different, right? Some people have tremendous abilities, but I'll tell you, if they do, they have tremendous responsibilities. And God doesn't expect more from us than is right with what he's given us. So God gives us responsibilities commensurate with the abilities he's given us. You see that? Sure, and he doesn't expect, if I have less ability than someone else, he doesn't expect me to do what he expects them to do because God has that all planned out, and it's all even, and he knows what he's doing. But what God does expect is for me to take what he's given me and to use it for his glory. And we should be living for Jesus 24 hours a day. So it doesn't matter whether we're cooking a meal or scrubbing the floor or mowing the grass or whatever we're doing, we should be doing it for the Lord Jesus Christ and doing it for him alone. So what does God want? God wants what belongs to him. What is that? My entire life. In 1989, and that's back there a few years now, not terrible, but it's back a little bit, 1989, the Fortune Magazine carried the following story. This is a good one. About 31 years ago, Ralph Kettner decided to build a supermarket. He had no capital. He visited his friends in Salisbury and talked 87 of them into buying stock in his supermarket enterprise at $10 a share. Not very expensive. Jim Woodson, an attorney, bought 400 shares, hoping that his $4,000 might bring a good return if Mr. Kettner's supermarket did well. So he put $4,000 in and thought maybe someday I'll get something out of it. So 87 people invested in Ralph Kettner's supermarket. Now, 31 years later, that's in 1989, they are all glad they did for they're all millionaires because there are over 475 of these markets throughout the Southeastern United States. Pretty good. All that is but one, and that's Jim Woodson, the attorney, now 72 years old. Shortly after he bought his 400 shares, he decided he needed a riding lawnmower. So he sold his 400 shares and bought a riding lawnmower. And those shares would now be worth $3 million. That's in 1989 when that was a lot of money. In effect, Jim Woodson now has a $3 million lawnmower. Oh, probably the most expensive lawnmower in the world. I'll bet he's kicked that lawnmower many times. You know, I'm afraid there are some Christians who have $3 million lawnmowers because they have not seen themselves as stewards for God and that their entire life belongs to him. I wonder how disappointing it would be to come to the end of your life and stand in the presence of Almighty God and have God say, it's a really nice $3 million lawnmower you have down there. When it could have been so much more for the glory of God. Christian stewardship. The people in my life, the possessions in my life, the time in my life, it all belongs to him. All of it. All of it. I was really feeling burned out. Really burned out. I was a pastor in Regina. I went away for a few days to a cottage to meet with God. And he did meet with me. And I came back with a poem and I'm going to read to you now and let it speak to your heart. Soon now I will see him. Look into his face. Answer all his questions as to how I've run the race. How his gaze will search me. Look into my eyes. Pierce my inner being and all that look implies. What will be his words then? Words that deal with me. Words that shape my future for all eternity. Oh, I want to please him, make his heart to sing, fill his eyes with gladness. When I stand before my King. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the Holy Spirit who is faithful. And so we trust you. Help your people to hear your voice. Fill their hearts with faith to obey. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand and sing. Like to sing a different song than the one that we chose earlier today. Just like to sing, I love you, Lord. And that song, it says, I lift my voice to worship you, but hark back to take my life and let it be. And in that song, we lifted our lives and we lifted our voices. We lifted our gold and silver. We lifted our wills to the Lord. So keep those things in mind as we just sing together, I love you, Lord. Thank you. ♪ I love you, Lord ♪ ♪ And I lift my voice to worship you ♪ ♪ To worship you, O my soul rejoice ♪ Take joy, my King. Take joy, my King. In what you hear, may it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear. Take joy, my King. Let us bow for the benediction. May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will. And may he work in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. God bless you. Have a wonderful day. Tonight, I'm going to speak on raising the dead, a message about how to get people saved. Raising the dead. Be here tonight.