The Wealthiest Place On Earth

Die Empty – R. Neal Gracey May 5, 2019

Where is the wealthiest place on earth? The Cemetery! Why the cemetery?

Because in the cemetery are books that were never written, and cures that were never discovered.

The graveyard is filled with music, we’ve never heard. The cemetery is filled with paintings no one has ever seen. The graveyard is filled with poetry never read. The graveyards are filled with businesses that never got opened and companies that never got started. The cemetery is full of inventions that we never used, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step, and keep with the issue, or stay determined to carry out their dream.”

Friends, all of us, are the next candidates to add to the wealth of, the cemetery. Have you ever written an article or a thesis, or a book? Just one? If you stop at one, the cemetery has robbed us. Why haven’t you written 10 books? Have you ever sung in a choir? If you die before you do, the cemetery will have robbed us all of hearing you sing in a choir just once, here on earth. Because we’re all gonna’ sing in heaven.

Have you ever shared Christ with someone else? Have you ever led anyone to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? What have you wanted to do in this life that you haven’t done yet? Why aren’t you perusing those things?

Friends, when you and I die, we need to die empty.

I want you to die with nothing left to do. I want you to die after you’ve poured out all your dreams, all your talents, and all your strength. I want you to die empty.

Use up your ideas, use up your visions, your energy, and inventions. The goal of life should be to die, empty. Don’t die young, or old, die …empty. Pour out your soul.

The most beautiful statement I ever read was from a young man, you may have heard of Him, that hung on a cross. He said, “It is Finished.” He didn’t say, I am finished, he said, it is finished! His name is Yeshua Christos, a carpenter’s son, a Nazarene, better known as Jesus Christ, he was only 33 years old. He came to pour out all that he had, and at 33 years of age he emptied himself of everything he came to do. Then he died. I know, there is only One Triune God, and nobody could do what He did, but everybody’s goal in life should be, to pour out, everything we have.

Friends, when you get to the cemetery, and you’ll get there, “for it is appointed for all people to die once, then after that the judgement, I want you to disappoint that grave. When you get there, have nothing left for it.

Go like the Apostle Paul went. He said, “I have finished my cause. I have kept the faith. I have been poured out like a drink offering. There’s nothing left.” Friends, I want to finish when I do because there is nothing left to keep me alive. When I’ve done all that God has sent me to do.

The graveyard is the wealthiest place on earth but when you die, may it’s wealth not increase one thin dime.

Whether you’re a baker, a mechanic, a nurse, a secretary, a teacher, or preacher, a student, a carpenter, a construction worker, …your future is not ahead of you, it’s inside of you, and it needs poured out.

The cemetery is full enough. Not of bodies; we’ll all end up there, hopefully later than sooner, but of ---desires and dreams, of talents and contributions never used, of testimonies never shared, of hugs never hugged. Even here in church, you see people walk past each other and never say hello to one another, never bat an eye, and never look their way. I’ve seen people pass each other like two ships in the night. I guarantee not everyone knows everyone in this church family. Yes, I called us a family, because in Christ, we are.

I remember one time many years ago a lady got upset with Carole because she didn’t run over and say hi to her and ask her were she’s been. We all knew where she’d been…not in church, actually, not in church for a month and a half. Carole was busy saying hi to her church family that was sick last week.

A church family is different. It’s hard to miss the people that you don’t see for months, but it’s easy to miss the ones you are used to seeing every week. When you don’t see a regular, that is a concern. When you are here the church grows and you grow. When you’re not here the church doesn’t grow and neither do you.