Good morning. Today we're looking at Jonah 4. This story kind of gives you a first-hand look at what, as a fisherman, what your bait looks like. So, all right, in verse 1, But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord, and said, O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarsus. For I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disease or disaster. Therefore, now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. And the LORD said, Do you do well to be angry? Jonah went out of the city, and sat to the east of the city, and made a booth for himself. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the LORD God appointed a plant, and made it come up over Jeroboam, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah, so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die, and said, it is better for me to die than to live. But God said to Jonah, Do you do well to be angry for the plant? And he said, Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die. And the Lord said, You pity the plant for which you did not labor. Nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night, and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nimma, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons, who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much have." Thank you, John. I want to pray. We have a lot of our church family dealing with sickness and other things that have come up. So I want to pray for everybody. So let's do that. Father, getting texts all week from different individuals struggling with either COVID or bronchitis or other aspects of the flu. And I'm asking God for your healing hand, for your help. Summer is such a busy time too, Father, with different activities and opportunities. And I pray that as we're spending this time together, that Lord, our focus would be on what you desire, your glory. You're so good. And so thank you for this opportunity. As we will read in a little bit about this, the heat that is hitting Jonah, we can relate a little bit to that as this week has gone on. So thank you how even you give us different opportunities to come into the text and apply these items. And so I'm asking Lord that you would use every aspect of our time together for your glory and our good. We pray these things, amen. I've enjoyed this series. I'm also looking forward to this series in Micah. I don't know how many messages you've heard as you've heard Micah preached. A lot of times it comes up for Micah 5.2 with the fact that we know there's a prophecy that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. And then Micah 6, 8 is a very popular verse that is used when it comes to justice. You know these things, old man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you. And so those sometimes are some of the only verses that seem to be coming up, but I'm looking forward to it because it's, it's been, God's been using it on me as I've been preparing these messages. And so I come to this message today and I was thinking about how this was hitting me because of, I want my heart to be a heart of love toward people. And yet there are times where there are certain people that you'll watch them and you'll see what's going on, and you don't get why God is being merciful to them. You get you, we want mercy, but then you'll see other people and you're like, God loves them too. I mean, I can see I'm somewhat lovable, but that person, the way they vote, the way they look, the way they smell, you know, all the different things that would be barriers if we're not careful with people. And sometimes you can get angry. You can really get angry about things. And sometimes it's like, well, this is what I'm mad about. made me think of a comedian, Jerry Clower. If you've never heard of Jerry Clower, I would encourage you to YouTube Jerry Clower. He's a Southern gentleman with the complete accent and that drawl. And even as he's telling stories, it's just hilarious to listen to him talk through things. And he's got a story, when I was thinking about the whole idea of anger, he talks about the maddest man I ever saw. And so if you've never heard this, I'm glad, because this will be the first time, this will be new material for you. But this story hits me as I think about anger. The maddest fellow I ever heard of was riding the train, the Panama Limited Main Line of Mid-America, the Illinois Central Railroad, what runs from New Orleans to Chicago and back. There's a man stepped on the bottom step of that train in Macomb, Mississippi and turned around to kiss his mama goodbye and kissed a bull in the mouth at Hammond, Louisiana. When that thing takes off, it takes off. A traveling salesman got on that train in Chicago headed south. He told the porter, I'm afraid to go to sleep because I may not wake up in time to get off this train in Winona, Mississippi in the morning. The porter said, you ain't got nothing to worry about. That's why I'm on the train to wake you up. I'll be glad to wake you up. Not only will I wake you up, but I'll hand you a good hot cup of coffee. You'll be bright eyed, ready to make your calls in Winona, Mississippi in the morning. The traveling salesman said, sir, you don't understand. I'm hard to wake up. And if you call me and I don't answer and you shake me, I've been known to come up fighting. Porter said, that's all right. I've had this job 40 years. I fight somebody every morning. I don't care how much resistance you give me. I don't care how much you fight. If you tell me to put you off the train, I'll put you off. Well, the man slept good. When he woke up the next morning, the train was sitting still in the station. He raised the drape to see where he was and he saw a sign, Macomb, Mississippi. That's two hours south of Winona. He throwed a fit. The vein stood out on the side of his neck and turned blood red. He grabbed the porter in the throat and choked him. He was so mad he slapped a crippled fellow down on the train. That's kind of funny. Police came aboard, just manned him down. They got out there between them railroad cars fighting with him and him kicking rocks and screaming and hollering. They called the president of the Illinois Central Railroad and said, we got a maniac on our hands. How do you want us to handle him? The president of the railroad said, it's your fault. You're the one who didn't wake him up. You give him whatever money he lost because you didn't wake him up and you put him on the next northbound train now. Well, they calmed the fellow down. The train pulled out to New Orleans and that police reached in his pocket. He took out his handkerchief and he started dabbing the blood and the sweat where that mad fellow had clawed him. He said, you know, that's the maddest human being I've ever seen in my life. Don't you agree? The porter said he was a mad fellow, but I've seen one other man in my life madder than him. He said, who in the world could that have been? Porter said, the man I put off in Winona this morning. Oh, wow. That's funny stuff. Jerry Clower, all right. As you and I come to this scripture, I hope that this, I'm still doing Southern, I hope that this hits you like it hit me. It encourages you. Some of it will discourage you, but some of it will encourage you. Martin Luther is said to have said, God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick. Let me repeat that for you. God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick. You do know that's all of us. And his work is, exact, His work is perfect, and yet He uses imperfect instruments. God's good work, this is a good thing to know, God's good work always transcends the instruments that He uses. The Bible speaks of what is called progressive revelation. We are a work in progress, you and I. At our best, that's the beauty of what Ron was praying for the mission trip group. You will be in the midst of your ministry this week. And there'll be times where, as he said, you're going, what is going on? What time won't work out? And that you have an understanding, but you can draw a straight line with a crooked stick. You will still use me. I mean, is anybody here perfect? So since we aren't, And God wants us to do his work. He somehow does his work with us. It's humbling. Look at this, look at these different verses. Psalm 86 verse 11. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. Now look at that next phrase. Unite my heart to fear your name. See, sometimes I have a divided heart. And so I need God to unite my heart to fear his name. Philippians 1 verse 6, and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you, we'll bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. So God's starting this work in our lives. If we're children of His, if we've bowed the knee, we've acknowledged, I need a Lord and Savior, and then He starts doing His work, and He's gonna finish it. It's His work. Philippians 2, verse 13. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. So he's the one that's doing this work. There'll be times you're in the midst of something, you're going, what are you doing? And he's forming you, he's making you like his son. He's breaking off the parts that don't look like his son, and he's adding the aspects that do look like his son. 1 Thessalonians 5, 23 and 24. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. I'm hoping this is encouraging you as a brother or sister in Christ. You wanna be used of God. You're stepping out. I don't know how to do it. I don't know how to do it with my friends. I don't know how to do it with my family, but I'm gonna trust you, God, and I'm gonna step out. I'm gonna take the initiative and then, God, you gotta show up. And he does. I don't know what that looks like, but he does. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 6, I planted, here's the beauty of it, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. It's not on you and you alone. You and I can't fix the world. We can't even fix ourselves. Let alone there's times where things weigh on us about people that we love dearly and we're trying to orchestrate things that everything will be just right It has to get to the point where like, God, you gotta do this because I can't. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them. Paul sounds like he's bragging almost here. Though it was not I, so he really, oh yes, it's actually, but the grace of God that is with me. So it takes the load off, but I wanna encourage you, here's the burden or the encouragement to you is God wants to use you in this eternal work. sharing the good news of the gospel, serving one another, using the gifts that he has given you for his glory and for, you'll get good out of it, but a lot of times it's not for you, it's for others. Would you be willing to do that? You see, this is hard for us to remember, but God is always doing good even when we are bad. And you'll go, well, okay, then party on, all right? I'll do, if that's the case. No, no, no, no, no. Let's not use that as an excuse. Let's not say, well, if that's the case, then I'll just live. No. but understand with our imperfections, God's still working. He's gonna do His thing. And I wanna be coming alongside Him. I wanna be obedient to Him. I wanna line myself up with His straightness. See, God is faithful. So Jonah, If you've been with us and you've worked through this story, many of you have worked through it for years, Jonah's been obedient, remember? First he wasn't, ran away. God gets ahold of him. He's like in the fish, gets vomited out. Then he goes and he's obedient. And now he's disobedient. Why? Doesn't this sound like us? This rollercoaster of stupidity. And I want you to know that in the midst of that, God's still working. I just want my life to line up with Him, though. I don't want to just use that as an excuse. God, I want to walk with You. I desire to have that in You, in me. So, he's now disobedient in his attitude, and yet God has used him And he, at this point in his life, as we see it, he is against God. And God's not done with him. And so you may even be here today. I don't know your heart. I mean, like I said, every time I see you, you look great, all right? But I don't know all that's going on. That song you sang at the beginning, the whole, When things are going great, basically, I'm how blessed be your name. And then when the suffering comes, that gets me every time. Because that's what I want. I want to be able to praise him in the dark time, in the hard time. Instead of just when it's great. Point number one, if you're taking notes on the back of your bulletin there. when we are displeased with God. See something here. He's displeased. Jonah is displeased and he's angry. Look at this first verse again. Well, actually jump back to 310. When God saw what they did, talking about the population, the people of Nineveh, which is they, look at what he says. He says, how they turned from their evil way God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them and he did not do it. And so that leads us into verse one here. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry. Jonah was angry that one of history's most vicious people, Savage people got saved and they got saved in what's maybe history's greatest revival that has ever been recorded. He cannot shake this anger. I don't know if you've ever been that angry. It's just, you are so angry. Literally, the word here is he is hot. He is angry at a deeply emotional level. This is God's servant. This is God's prophet. And he's steamed. He's cooked. Next time you're in traffic, go, I'm having my Jonah moment. All right. Go to verse two. and he prayed to the Lord. Okay, I just want you to stop and look at that for a second. He is praying, he is angry at God and he is praying. It doesn't say he shouted at the Lord, he's praying. Prayer isn't usually like this, is it? We look at prayer as serene, usually calm, we're kind of lined up with God, but the Bible calls this prayer. because God also hears our complaints. He hears us when we're anywhere talking, but this is specifically, he's targeting God on this one and he's mad. And I don't know if you've ever talked to God like that. You go, no, I've never done that. Amen. But I have. I've been mad at God. He's not doing things the way I think he should do them. And guess what? And I've said this to you before, God's got big shoulders. He can handle it. If you're acting like down deep, something's hurting, something's bothering you, and you're gonna go, I'm gonna act a certain way because this is great, but just so you know, He knows how you're really feeling. Look what he says, and he said, Oh Lord, that's Lord is Yahweh there. That's that covenant keeping God, Yahweh, Jehovah. Oh Lord, person that keeps your promises, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? I said this would happen. That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish. By the way, if you look at that map of Syria here, Assyria is right here in the book. This is Israel. And I want to show you where Tarshish was. About here. This is why I wanted to get this far away from you. Them. This is why, God. I knew this would happen. And then look what he says. For I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful. That's why we sang so many songs about mercy today. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. I knew that you were going to be like this. I knew it. And you think, aren't those words, isn't that like a compliment? That's all compliment and he's saying it with that vein popping in his neck. Red, I knew you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in love. Do you see how silly it looks? He's praying. Forgiveness, you do know, is probably the deepest need of man and the highest achievement of God. We have this picture that the Lord is just waiting for us to mess up. And then he's gonna come down and he's gonna just crunch us. But Jonah knew otherwise. He knew that the Lord in his mercy would forgive the Ninevites if they called to him. And Jonah is angry about this mercy. God is going one direction and Jonah is going the other direction. You did what I thought you would do. And I'm mad. Does it remind you of a story of a couple of brothers that Jesus tells in the New Testament, where one went off and just lived wild. And dad was constantly at the door looking, hoping, sees him, dad runs to him. He starts to confess. He starts to go through a whole line of repentance. And he just, he's putting on the coat. He's giving him a ring. He's putting shoes on his feet. They're gonna kill the fattened calf. My son who is dead, he's now alive. They're fired up about it. He's just excited. And they're having the party and the other son comes in, who's been faithfully working in the field. What's this about? Your brother, he's back. Dad comes out and talks to the other brother. He tries to explain to him, this is why I did this. I worked for you for years and you never threw me a party. This guy goes and uses all your money on this, that, and the other, all sinful things. You don't make sense. It's the same story. Why would you? Look at those people. Look at what kind of people they are. Look at their values. Look at how they've lived in God, who is merciful. He said, I love them. They don't look like us. I love them. Where did Jonah learn about these attributes? I mean, how does he know this about God? Oh, that's right. Jonah knows the word of God. Look at this, Exodus 34, verse six. The Lord passed before them and proclaimed, So the Lord's talking about himself here. The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Psalm 103 verse eight. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Psalm 145 verse eight. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And so as little Jonah is growing up and he comes to the tabernacle, he learns ultimately at the temple, he's learning these things. And he comes and he's looking at it and it says that about God. And I believe these are his Awana verses. This is what he's learned in Sunday school. This is what he's learned in children's church. And so when he's going with the message the whole time, this enemy of Israel and an enemy, and I think I mentioned this before, that Hosea prophesied would later conquer them, he's thinking, I'm helping the future enemy that's gonna conquer us. So he's a patriot. He is a Jewish patriot. And so he thinks, I don't want them to get saved because later God's gonna use them against us. So if we can get them killed, they're taken care of. It's almost like a scene from the Terminator. Go back in time and kill Sarah Connor, all right? If I can just get rid of them, are my grandkids and my great-grandkids, they'll do better. And you do understand, God's in control of all of this. And so here's why he knows this stuff, because Jonah actually believes the Bible. Disgruntledly, but he believes the Bible. Look at verse three. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." Why did Jonah say this? I mean, here's the thing, God's acting in accordance with who he is. God is being God. Jonah is expressing the reality of breaking his vow to God a second time. He's saying, you have ruined my life. I want you to understand, if you and I feel this way, the problem is with us and not with God. We're trying to correct God. Jonah's trying to correct God. Oh, you do also recognize, he's happy when God is merciful to him, but he doesn't want it for anybody else. Is there a word for that? I mean, there's selfishness, but there's also hypocrisy. And you do know the gospel that changed your life can change others' lives. That's why I wanna share it with others and let God do the work, right? Plant a pulse waters, God increase. And so I'm asking you today, are you willing to share the good news of the gospel? I wanna stop from this for a second, just step away, and I want to ask you, when's the last time you shared with somebody the good news of how they can know that they know? And some of you, and I know this, because this is a temptation of mine, I gotta build this great relationship with somebody before I earn the right to speak into their lives. And some of you, by the way, you're their friend. You're their friend. 20 years you've been doing this, and you haven't said a word. You're a good person. But they need to know what makes a difference in you, and that's the gospel of Jesus Christ. And you could say, but I gotta, there's this thing, I gotta be really, really good. And after a certain amount of time, did you notice that a lot of times that doesn't hold any water? Like I came here June of, 2003. And I just started in investing. And there were many of you that were here, some of you weren't. But I didn't go, you know what? I really can't speak the truth to these people until I've been here maybe one, two, three, four years. Because I gotta get a relationship going. And I know all about relationships, okay? That's relationships right there, okay? But you think, it ain't you, it ain't me. Can I get in the way of it with bad attitude and grouchiness and being a jerk? Of course, but you aren't, you're all amazing. And so I'm asking you, would you be willing to stretch yourself and give the gospel? Share what God did in your life and watch what he does. It may be, I've heard of stories, I don't know if you've heard these stories before, where somebody comes back to somebody and they go, you won't believe this. A friend of somebody, they've been friends for years, but they never shared the gospel. You won't believe this, I'm saved. Somebody shared how to become Christian. This is so fantastic. And you go, well, I knew that. Wait, wait, you knew it and you never told me? What's up with that? Don't keep this a secret. If it changed your life, it's like a really good restaurant. It's not like you go, I can't tell people. They might go to my restaurant. You're telling everybody. This is just fantastic. Whatever that thing is, here's my thing. Get to know and then share it. And you might go, you might go, but I might mess it up. God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick. Watch what he does. Verse four. And the Lord said, do you do well to be angry? This verse literally means, is it right for you to be angry because of, Well-doing? Because I did something good, you're mad at me? You ever had that, by the way? You do something good and somebody's mad at you, you're like, what in the world? In other words, God asked Jonah, because I have done something good, should that make you angry? If you remember this with Jesus, he'd heal somebody in the Sabbath, and those guys would be, I can't believe they did this. He healed somebody in the Sabbath. They are healed. This is a good thing. But they're hypocrites. They're focusing on what doesn't matter. And this is what's happened with Jonah. And I want you to notice something here. He's graciously reasoning with Jonah. He could have said this, take my life. I wanna die. Okay. I can do this. Jonah's dead. But he doesn't. God doesn't owe him anything at all. This is grace. This is mercy. So is your anger right, Jonah? You've seen something amazing. There's this huge revival. You do know most preachers, if they were to see this, 600,000 people get saved. This is what they live for. This is it. And so look at how he responds. God asks him a question, point number two, where we decide for God. As you're filling in your blanks there. Look at how, he doesn't even answer, he doesn't answer God. God asks him a question. You ever have that where you ask somebody a question and they rudely turn around and walk away or you text somebody and you wait four weeks? God asks him a question. Verse five, Jonah went out of the city. So it's like he turns his back on him and just walks out. And sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade till he should see what might become of the city. He's sulking, he's pouting, There are 600,000 baby believers within the walls of Nineveh. Jonah should have been in the city teaching and discipling them, encouraging and ministering to them. Instead, he's disengaged himself from people and sat on the sidelines. You want a recipe for depression? Do what Jonah did and distance yourself from people. I hear Christians constantly talking about how they want to get away from people. And by the way, getting a retreat every now and then, good thing, Jesus did it. But he didn't live for that. If I could just be away from people, that is not what God has called us to. Amen? Amen. People are exhausting, I get it. Christianity would be a great thing if it weren't for people, okay? You've heard that. But I want you to understand, God has called us to love people. This is the only thing, His word and people, the only things that are eternal. So 10 steps to overcoming depression. Step one, do something good for someone else. Step two, repeat step one nine times. It's not about you. Jonah had that opportunity. And look what he's doing. Verse 5, And he's not watching for their good. Even after the Ninevites repented, Jonah still hoped God might blast them rather than bless them. You know, we're called to watch out for others. We're called to watch people. and I think it's a sport, all right? And God's called us to watch people. He's called us as pastors, as leaders, to do this. Look at this, Hebrews 13, verse 17. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. This is a verse that is, I'm grateful that grace plays out. I don't know about you, I literally, you are on my mind a lot. I can't turn that off. And many of you that are here, you're that same thing. You just have a heart, not just for your family, but for your church family and the community and beyond. It can be exhausting. I'm not whining, I'm just telling you. You can't check out and go, oh, okay, I'm done. This is the calling of us as brothers and sisters in Christ. And Jonah is watching these people got saved. And he's watching, thinking, hmm, I wonder if they really did get converted. So he's watching and he's hoping for their destruction. Look at verse six. Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. God said, and there's Jonah pouting and he's mad because I saved 600,000 people. I think I'll just go bless him. Boy, isn't this like God? He grows up a plant. This guy's being a jerk. And God in his graciousness grows up a plant over him. Isn't that just like him? Isn't that just like the Lord? Blessings. You do know the blessings we have are not because we deserve them. They're because God is merciful and he's kind and he's gracious and he's slow to anger and he's abounding in love. It's all grace. And when we least deserve it, he blesses us. Have you ever had that happen? It's humbling. It's literally humbling. When you know, I don't deserve this and he's still doing this for me. What's up with that? You see, I want you to notice something else. When Jonah was delivered from the fish, scripture doesn't record him being happy. When 600,000 Ninevites are saved, scripture doesn't record him being happy. It was only when his personal comfort was met in the shade of that plant that for the first time in the whole book, we see Jonah happy. Why? Because it benefits him. I think we're like this, we love comfort. and God gives him comfort, but I want you to notice something else. Verse seven, but when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered. So at last, he's no longer depressed, and then this worm came, and his plant was gone. And so too, something happens when you think, at last, I'm out of my depression, I'm out of my despair, I'm out of my anxiety, it's then that the worm will come. It's important to see and remember that it was God who prepared the worm just as he prepared the plant. The good and the bad, God is doing it. Job 1.21. And he said, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's hard. God, I don't know why you're doing this. I don't know why you're allowing it. You allow this man cave I had, it was good. And then you had something take that away. Verse eight. And when the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, it is better for me to die than to live. You notice Jonah's a little dramatic. I mean, this comes up a lot. It's that person on Facebook, we get it. You're having another bad day and you're telling all of us about it. And God completely takes away his comfort. Verse nine, but God said to Jonah, so now he's mad again, because God took away his plant. He took away all these things. Do you do well to be angry for the plant? Look at this, and he said, yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die. Verse 10, and the Lord said, you pity the plant for which you did not labor. You didn't invest anything. You had a one-day relationship with this plant. Nothing invested at all. You did nothing, and yet this is what you care about? which came up being, came into being in a night and perished in a night. And then this powerful verse, and should not I pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also much cattle. Point number three, what we discover about God. Jonah, you pity, let me get this right, you pity plants? God's love for the people of Nineveh whom he had created is far different from Jonah's indifference to their damnation and greater than Jonah's warped concern for a wild plant for which he had done nothing. This verse here, by the way, when it says 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, he's talking about children. 120 children that you're preaching saved. God, I used you to save and you care more about this plant? I want you to care about people like I care about people, Jonah. People that don't look like you, people that in your mind you're thinking, but the most patriotic thing is to do this and I'm saying, I don't want you to think about that. By the way, I'd never see that the people of Israel are called to not like Israel or to think badly of Israel, but he's more concerned about their obedience and their walk. And then we look at it and the book ends this way. So where's this info come from? Where's this information come from that made up this book? Most likely Jonah. And God has used this crooked stick to draw a straight line. I hope this is encouraging for you because it's encouraging for me. God is patient and God uses me in spite of me. All praise to him. We must share with those around us in spite of us. We must care for those perishing around us. And you and I have the gospel. And so my encouragement to you, even this week, would you please share it? And if you don't know how to, I'd be more than happy to share with you how I share it. We've got tracks over next to the elevator, just to hand somebody, you know, hey, this is something that's on my heart. I'm not that great with words, but this really shares my heart. I've got one called knowing God personally, and I use it as often as I can. to share the gospel. God can use you, you crooked stick. Take it from one crooked one himself, okay, to another. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your goodness and grace. And I'm asking you, Lord, to make us people that love you and love others in deep ways. And Father, we want to be used of you. Thank you for even in our Selfish states, even in our proud state, in our sinful states, you're still willing to use us. Help us to line ourselves up with you. Repent, look for forgiveness, a desire to walk with you. But when we're taking these steps, that God, we will be obedient and trust you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.