Sam, very glad to be here again with you all. And I just want to continue to thank you all for the love that you show my my girls. Tabitha confirmed tonight I am dad too. And that is your recording. All right, so this is this is being recorded. So I have a she has a very special place in my heart as well. And obviously, Gracie does. And, and I got to come down to Kansas for a business trip. And I was able to tack this on as a side trip. So it's my first time out of the state since February. And so it was really, really nice to get out a little bit. We had our first snow last Sunday during service. And I could tell everyone was paying attention really well because they could see it snowing behind me. So they were lots of eye contact. That was great. But no, we also, while I was down here, got to go visit Drury. My oldest son Josiah is Pretty strongly committed to going to jury at this point. So I got to go talk to them and get the tour and meet a coach and all sorts of stuff like that. So pray for pray for that. Pray for him. I was really blessed this morning to be here and just thinking about, you know, Thankful that my daughter is able to be here and of course Tabitha and that Josiah would have a place to come as well. And he understands that that's gonna be an expectation. He's not given a testimony of being saved yet, but I'm so thankful that he has a place that if that's not taken care of by the time he gets here, a place he can continue to hear. the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I'm just was just blessed by that today. And so thank you so much. McKaylin asked that I keep it short. So I told her, wouldn't it be good for your dad to have to sit under a real long message just for him to kind of get sensitive, you know, a little bit. She didn't think that would be a good idea. So. But anyway, I had this thought on my heart before. before I even came this way and been praying and studying. If you want to turn your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 16, I want to read a familiar passage and then keep reading. I don't have a Halloween message for you, but I do in seriousness want to talk about Peter and Jesus and Satan. Peter and Jesus and Satan. And we're going to read here in Matthew 16, very familiar passage starting in verse 13. I just want to read that so we have that context. And we're going to keep on going down through verse 26. When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, whom do men say that I, the son of man am? And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias and others Jeremias or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth, Jesus began to show unto his disciples how that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offense unto me, for thou savest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Then Jesus said unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Now, as I have looked at this passage and studied it, I mean, we often hear parts of this. We don't often think about it all together, as far as everything that's transpiring and the connections between what seem to be three different subjects. The first one here, of course, you've probably heard many, many times. It's an important passage. It's what I'll call the good confession. There on the coast of Caesarea Philippi, these first few verses, 13 through 20, And Jesus and asking him the question, I mean, Brother Mike spoke this morning about the son of man, and that was a reference that Jesus made of himself. But in this passage, he clearly connects with who do they say the son of man am? Who do they say that I am? So he's very clear that he is the son of man he's been talking about. And they tell him most people don't know who you are. There's all these theories about who Jesus was. He was very significant. What's his place in all this? Who is he? I mean, they haven't had preaching like this in anybody's recollection. So, you know, where does he fit as far as what the Old Testament says is coming? And so they gave him all those variety of answers. But here comes the important question. Who do you say that I am? Who do you say that I am? Well, Peter said what I think most of them, what I'd say 11 out of the 12 probably had in their hearts. Peter was the one who would say those things. Peter spoke up, and he said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, that was a big deal statement, the Christ. The Christ is the Messiah, the anointed, the one they had been waiting for. That was a big statement for Peter to make. And he didn't just stop there. He said, you are the son of the living God. So that was a statement recognizing that the divinity of Jesus, in a sense, and although I don't think they really got it, but they got it right. They had a sense where they they knew that. And then Jesus turned to Peter and he said, you are blessed. And he called him Simon bar Jonah. Simon bar meaning, Simon being his given name and bar meaning son of. And Jonah, that was his father's name. So he calls him by his full given name, Simon son of Jonah. Because flesh and blood, nobody told you this. That was not the prevailing opinion. But my father told you this, and I tell you that you are Peter, and that was the name Jesus gave him, that name that meant stone, and upon this rock I will build my church. You know me because God revealed it to you, and I know you. Jesus knew his given name. Jesus knew the name he gave him. There was this connection, this relationship between the two. This was God revealed. That was spoken because he had a direct no so relationship with Jesus. And I think you all have heard that this is the Sunday night crowd. All right. I'm preaching to the Sunday night crowd. I'm going to preach like I'm preaching to the Sunday night crowd. So I'm not going to dwell there. But I think you get it right. What's interesting is right after that this is established in verse 20, he says, then he charged his disciples. That meant he got in their face and said, don't tell anybody that I'm the Christ. We had this discussion and yes, I am. And I know you, but don't tell anybody this. Now, why? Why? I mean, ultimately, they would go and preach that Jesus was the Christ. And we could say, well, it wasn't the time. But why wasn't it the time? Well, we saw little snippets of this throughout Jesus's ministry. I mean, to put that out there, and if people grabbed that and believed it, it would create this nationalistic fervor. I mean, there were times Jesus had to escape because they wanted to go and make him a king. Well, he was born a king, folks. He didn't have to be made a king. He was born a king. But that was gonna be problematic because what they thought Messiah was gonna be, what they thought Messiah was gonna do, was not consistent with who Jesus was and what he was gonna do. And so because the people did not expect the Messiah that the Old Testament had really laid out, but the Messiah that they had built up in their minds, what they thought they needed. Jesus said, don't tell everybody this because it would become a problem in his ministry. Jesus didn't fit the mold of Messiah that they had. And so we see as we go on now to verse 21, another important term, another important phrase. From that time forth, From that time forth, what time? From this interaction they had there in Caesarea Philippi, where they said, we know who you are. And Jesus said, you're right, that's who I am. But don't tell anybody. From that time forth, he began to show to his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. Once they knew, and this was, again, this was not obviously just a mental thing, but it was something they knew in their hearts. Then Jesus began to show them, this is what it means for me to be the Messiah. This is what the work of Messiah is. we're gonna have to go to Jerusalem and there's gonna be a betrayal, there's gonna be an arrest, there's going to be a crucifixion, there's gonna be a trial, there's gonna be a death, and there'll be a resurrection. When Peter heard this, When Peter heard this, again, he's not the only one who thinks these things, he's just the one who speaks these things, right? You all know somebody like that. They'll say what everybody else is thinking, but they're not willing to say. Well, that's Peter. And so Peter pulls Jesus aside. So he didn't do this, it doesn't seem like he did this in front of the other apostles, but he took him aside and began to rebuke Jesus. and saying, be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. Now, this is interesting. I mean, if you think about this, Peter knows who Jesus is. And if you think about it, he knows that he's the Messiah and he is the son of God. He is divine. And now he's taken him and he's rebuking him. I mean, that's kind of crazy. That's really kind of crazy. I appreciate his boldness, but he's kind of insane. And I think this is important for us to understand. Peter understood what Jesus was saying. Jesus was saying, I'm going to be taken and betrayed, and I'm going to be tried, and I'm going to be killed. And so Peter understood that Jesus was talking about this happening to him. And Peter's saying, no, that is not what Messiah It's supposed to be. That's not what Messiah is supposed to do. Here's an important point. What does Jesus say? He turned to Peter and said, get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me, for thou savest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. I tell you, if something's gonna shut you up, that's probably gonna be it coming from the mouth of Jesus. Right? What do you say to that when Jesus looks at you and says, get behind me, Satan? Here's an important point, and this has been helpful to me in life and ministry and church. Sometimes somebody can be used by the Lord and be filled with the Spirit one minute, and then the next minute could be a tool of Satan. And that's an important thing for us to, especially for the young people. I think the older ones, we kind of get that a little bit, but for the younger ones, I mean, sometimes that can get so confusing, because how can somebody be so used of God, and then they do this, and then you just don't know what to do with it, and it can really shake your confidence and all sorts of things. It's like, how does this happen? I mean, does that mean they were never used by God? Does that mean that discount's all that? It was all fake? Not necessarily. I mean, what Peter said, Jesus said, that's from God. And then Jesus told Peter, get behind me, Satan. I mean, both things came out of Jesus's mouth to Peter. And so I think it's an important point for us to, you know, especially younger ones, understand that. That, you know, at any given moment, none of us are above falling into the hands of the enemy. But what Jesus said to Peter is so interesting because Jesus addresses this attitude in the statement of Peter and he says, this comes from the devil. This comes from the devil. Now, if you want to understand God, learn more about God, you're never going to understand him, right? But to understand more about God, what do you do? I think one great thing to do is study the names of God. Study the names of God. He's got so many. We can learn so much about him. And each can become precious to us in different times of our life. I think the same thing is true about the devil. You want to learn more about who we're fighting here? Study his names. He's got several names. He's called lots of things. Some of them not very nice, and then they're probably appropriate. But he's called several things, and this word Satan, this name Satan means adversary. And I find it interesting that the name used of him in a given passage, in a given scripture, is telling us what role he's playing. Sometimes he's called an accuser, because he does that. He accuses the brethren before the Lord. He accused Job. In this passage he's called Satan. An adversary. because he is working contrary to the cause of Christ. He's working cross purposes against what Jesus is trying to do. And remember, when Jesus was being tempted by Satan, Satan offered him a path to kingship that would involve no suffering. Just bow down and worship me and all the kingdoms of the world are yours. Right? Well, here we see Peter, in this satanically inspired rebuke, telling Jesus, you should not go through this. And what Jesus told Peter, he said, you are an offense to me. You know what offense there means? It means stumbling block. The man who had been called the stone by Jesus is now called a stumbling block by Jesus. Still a rock. It's just a different purpose, right? Just a different purpose. He's becoming something somebody would trip over. And he told him, you savorest not the things of the Lord, of God, but you're savoring those things that be of men. You don't have a taste for the things of God. Your taste is for the things of men. Or literally what it's meaning is that your mind, your mind is not set on the things of God. Your mind is set on the things of men. Now, what is Satan doing here? What is the role Satan is trying to play? How does he even work? Now, that's a whole nother message. And I'm going to just be very short and sweet and just say he's a liar. I believe he can whisper lies into our minds. And one of the reasons that I think that we are so susceptible to those things is he's had millennia to watch us. He's has millennia to watch people. He knows how people think. He knows how people act. He understands where we have natural tendencies. Things that even are good that we would have a tendency to exalt to a place of an idol in our life. And so he just simply watches the direction that he sees us moving and he just whispers some lies to try to inflame, to try to create an exaltation, a desire, and just to feed the flame of a sinful tendency. I don't think he can possess a Christian because that soul is possessed by the Lord, but he certainly can afflict us and he certainly can tempt us. And here Peter, a man who I believe knew the Lord. I mean, I think it's as crystal clear as it can be in this passage. He was a saved man, but Satan was somehow influencing him. And where does this come from with Peter? Well, the Messiah is not expected to die. I mean, these apostles were just like everybody else in that time period. They did not expect a Messiah to come and suffer and die. And it was the same thought process these apostles had. This is not what Messiah does. And here's the kicker to it. Here's where I think that Jesus is really honing in with Peter and these other apostles. they had tied their life to Jesus. As Peter would say at one point, we have left everything to follow you. And if Jesus is going to suffer and die, why am I doing this? What's gonna happen to me? Where's my life going if this is gonna happen to you? There was this expectation of kingship. There was this expectation of national healing for Israel. There was this expectation that they would cast off the chains of the Roman rule and would be independent. There was this expectation of success. And they, the apostles, had in them also this expectation that they were going to have these positions of power and prestige and success and influence. They had those desires and they had those expectations inside them. Later in this book of Matthew, the mom of two of these apostles came to Jesus and said, Will you grant it? Will you grant it when you come into your kingdom to let my son sit at your right and left hand? And after that whole discussion, the other apostles got mad at James and John because their mom was butting in and trying to get them first in line. They got mad at James and John. Why? Because they wanted it. How did Jesus respond to their mother when she came and asked for that position of prestige for their sons? You don't know. what you're asking. You don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm going to be drinking from? I mean, again, Jesus understood where his life and ministry was going. He understood where this was going to go for these apostles and what was coming. And they didn't really get it. I'm sure, I mean, any mother here I mean, if you knew what it was going to involve for your sons, your daughters to have that place of prominence and the suffering and the sacrifice. I mean, James was the first martyr of all of them. And John was the last one standing and had to get exiled and all sorts of stuff on Patmos. If you knew what was ahead for your boys, how many moms do you think would be lining up and saying, hey, can my boys have that? As Jesus said, she didn't know what she was asking. She didn't know what she was asking. Because they had these things built into them and they would get in fights and arguments with each other about who was going to be the greatest. But out of 11 of those 12, and I think all 12 had that idea, But in 11 of those 12, that idea was being slowly and painfully burned out, burned off or burned out of the hearts of these apostles. Slowly, little by little, they were changing directions. But there was one in whom that desire was inflaming and burning brighter and brighter and brighter, and becoming the focal point of their thinking, and becoming the way they looked at everything. And perhaps, and this is me being just some conjecture, I'll call it some spiritual guesswork here, I don't know. But when Judas is realizing that he's not going to get some great grand position out of all this and that Jesus is talking about suffering and dying, I mean, maybe he's like, well, I can make a little off the top of this. And we know that he held the money bags. We know he was stealing money from the group. And we know that he reached the tipping point when that woman came to anoint Jesus with that very, very expensive ointment and perfume. And he was so upset because he said, this is worth, I think, I remember studying it once, about a year's wage. I mean, it was incredibly expensive perfume. And he was mad because this could have been taken and sold. We could have had this money. And of course, it came off as this pious, oh, I just want us to have the money for the poor. Jesus knew what was going on, and Judas's desire was to take some of it. And when he couldn't have that, when he couldn't have these things that he hoped for and these desires and these plans he had for his life, and it was all going sideways, he's finally going to the chief priest and saying, what will you give me to give you, Jesus? What will you give me if I give over to you, Jesus? After Jesus rebuked Peter, he said then to his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. That's because Jesus said that in response, a continued response to Peter. This is why I think that Peter's heart wasn't just about concern about Jesus, it was concerned about himself. Because Jesus says, look, if you're going to follow me, If you're gonna follow me, you're gonna have to deny yourself, you're gonna have to take up your cross, and then you're gonna have to follow me. That's what it's gonna look like to really follow me. This is Jesus's continued response to the good confession and then the bad rebuke. And now we have this call to discipleship. And he's hitting right at the hearts of their desire for worldly favor and success head on. He's saying, this is what it's going to look like to follow me. You know who I am. You know where I'm going. And this is what it will mean for you to go with me. You got that? The good confession. You know who I am. And then he told them, now, you know where I'm going. I'm going to the cross. And this, number three, now this is what it's going to mean to follow me. You're gonna have to deny yourself. You're gonna have to tell yourself no. You're gonna have to say no to some of your desires and your plans and the things that you want to do. And you are going to have to take up your cross. And the way Luke records this event, he gives us a little bit more detail where Jesus says, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, daily, every day. Pick it up. Pick up this instrument of sacrifice. And I want you to follow me and come after me. Now, that's going to, in some ways, look different every day. But it's going to have to be a daily thing. Now, go with me to Matthew 26. We saw the beginning of where Jesus began to tell them, after they knew who he was, where Jesus began to tell them where he was going, what it was going to mean, what it was going to mean for them to follow him. And now we come to the end of his teaching on this. Matthew 26, starting in verse 30. This is after the first Lord's Supper. They implemented that ordinance after completing the celebration of the Feast of Passover. It says in verse 30, And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives, Then saith Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. So again, this is Jesus saying, this is what's gonna happen to me. Peter speaks up again. Verse 33, uh-oh. Didn't go so well last time, the first time. Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee that this night before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. Now, this is after Judas Iscariot had left. So the other, all 11 who were left said, we will die with you. We've made some progress. And let's not lose that. We've made some progress. Jesus is again telling them, this is where I'm going. This is what's going to happen. And they say now, rather than, no, this can't happen to you, they are accepting what Jesus has said, and they are saying, we will go with you. We will die with you, even giving up our lives. Nobody rebuked Jesus, and that's progress. How did they make this progress? Now, we know that they're not all the way where they need to be, and we'll get there. But how do we get this far? I don't want to despise the day of small things, in a sense, because this is progress, right? How did we get this far? Well, it came back to that first thing, that first thing. John records in John chapter six, Jesus preaching hard things to people. He had lots of crowds, lots of people following him, preaching hard things, and a lot of other people left. And we read in John 6, 66 through 69, Then Simon Peter answered him. Of course, Simon Peter, man, that guy is gutsy. Lord, To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. It goes right back, right back to what they confess there in Matthew 16. I mean, why are we still here? Because we believe. We know, we know, we know that we know that we know that you are the Christ, you are the son of the living God, you are the Messiah, and where else can we go? Where else could we go? And so they were willing to stick with him through those hard sayings that they didn't understand. They didn't understand what all he was saying. And he said, I am the bread of life, unless a man eats of me. I don't think they understood all that yet, but they were willing to stick with him. And the thing that caused them to stick with him, the things that it caused them to progress to this point is they had that root of relationship with Jesus Christ. And there was this connection that they had with him. And it was that connection that drew them to this place of maturity, of greater maturity than they had been. I enjoyed, I was going to say this before I pass this from my mind, but I so enjoyed talking and visiting with your pastor and just the heart that he has. And I believe this, too, is that there is the greatest responsibility, the greatest duty, the minimum required of us In the pulpit and pastoral work, whatever it is to preach Jesus and to keep Jesus before the people, not just the lost, but the saved. Because as we develop that greater love and that persevering attachment to him, it's going to mature us. Because there are many things, folks, that we don't understand. There are many things that God does. And why this path? And why that? And I don't understand. And what is this costing me? And all of those kinds of things. And why would I still be here? Because where else would I go? Because I have tasted. And I've seen who Jesus is and just being able to come and to be in his presence and to be among a people who know him and love him refocuses me, brings it a little clearer about what's important and what's not. And I tell you, if people are not motivated by Jesus Christ, then you've got to go back to the beginning. You got to go back to the beginning because if you're not motivated by Jesus, when it comes down to it, do you know him? Do you know him? One of the things that Luke records about this event here in Matthew 26, when Peter is telling Jesus, that you know, even if everybody else leaves, I'll never leave. Jesus told Peter, Luke records it in Luke 22, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen the brethren. Now, this was the second time that Jesus had spoken directly to Peter about Satan and Satan going after him. First time, he was, get thee behind me, Satan, right? Peter had the wrong ideas. He had the wrong ideas about what Messiah was supposed to be. Well, now he understood and he said he was ready to go. And he thought things were fine. We've got this whole Satan thing behind us. And Jesus is saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Satan's not done with you yet, boy. He wants you. He's coming after you. And Peter's thinking, well, I'm willing to go with you to death. Jesus is like, oh, no, there's still more. There's yet some more here. Where do we go? What more is there? Well, the next thing we read is that he went to Gethsemane to pray. And we know you're the Sunday night crowds, I'm not going to read it all. You know what happens. Jesus goes there and pulls Peter and James and John. Closer even to him, and he goes off a little bit and prays and asks them to watch and pray. Watch means stay up like a watch of the night. Will you stay up and wake with me and pray? And of course, they fell asleep and more than once. And something that Jesus said to Peter in verse 41 of Matthew 26 is, I think, the crux of the matter. He said, watch and pray, stay up, stay awake and pray that you enter not into temptation. Now, we know that God doesn't tempt people to sin. Who's the tempter? This is tied to that whole thing that Satan's after him. This is how you defeat the enemy. He's still after you, Peter. It's not enough just to have the right idea. You need more. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. We saw the spirit was willing when he said, I'll go and die with you. There was a great conviction, a great desire, but it was not yet spiritually empowered to have success. Right ideas and commitments can only be carried out in the power of God. And how might we have that power? Deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me. As we've looked over all this and we try to bring this to a close, we've seen three ways that Satan has worked. One, he doesn't want people to know Jesus. 11 out of those 12 apostles knew Jesus. One of them didn't. And we know that Satan entered that man. And he did great evil. Satan's greatest victory over you, my friend, if you don't know the Lord, if you were lost, is to keep you from seeing the glory of Jesus. He blinds the minds of the lost that they would not see the glory of Jesus Christ. And he'll give you all sorts of reasons to put away, to delay, to debate, whatever. I appreciated that testimony this morning. All sorts of things. He'll feel your debate. If you want to debate with God, he'll give you some great arguments to try to use. He'll help you, won't he? He doesn't want you to see Jesus, because once you see Jesus, my friend, you'll never be the same. But the next thing that Satan tries to do is to keep us from understanding the commitment. I mean, especially when you're younger. I mean, you look at some others who are older, who their lives seem to be put together and good and peaceful and all those things. And you think, oh, man, this Christianity thing is going to be great. I mean, look how my life is going to be down the road. And, oh, this sounds wonderful. And you don't know the stories. You don't know the sacrifices that have had to be made along the way. You don't know the things that were added to them that they didn't want or taken from them that they didn't want to lose. You don't know the things that they had to release and give up to God to be faithful to the call. You don't understand all that yet. And so Satan would love to fuel in your mind this concept that following Jesus is just a much easier path. You know, one of the things I'm preaching through First Thessalonians at the anchor and Paul had to leave that place quickly. And he wasn't able to finish his ministry there, and so he was writing that letter to fill in the gaps with those people, to tell them about things he hadn't taught them about yet, like the resurrection. But what's interesting to me is to say, what had he already taught them about? He had already taught them about sacrifice and suffering and Satan. That was one of the first things he was very clear with them about, is if you're gonna walk godly in Christ Jesus, you will suffer persecution. It will be real. It's going to happen. He didn't try to pull the wool over their eyes. He didn't try to do one of these Joel Osteen things and say, this is your best life now, folks. Our best life is not now. It is yet to come. Right. There's going to be challenges. But as Paul called it, it's a momentary light affliction. Right. And there is a great heavier weight of glory that will far surpass all this. And these things won't seem like a big deal in the grand scheme of things. They'll seem worth it. But Satan would have us misunderstand the cost so that when a cost is required of us, we get offended and want to run away and argue with God and say, this isn't right. You shouldn't let this happen to me. Only a persevering attachment to Jesus Christ will get you through that. But the third way that he works, I'm afraid this is oftentimes one of his most successful as we understand and we're willing to make a commitment. We've been saved and we say we want to follow Jesus. It sounds like the right thing to do. It is the right thing to do, but we don't understand what it means to walk in the power of God. We don't know what it means to deny ourselves. We're Americans. We're not very good at that. We're taught. by our culture to just fulfill every desire we have. I mean, following Jesus is counter-cultural in so many ways. There's a lot of good things that we want out of life that seem good, but like Mary and Martha, you know, we toil ourselves with so many things that are good that we miss the one thing. We don't make Him a priority every day in prayer. We don't make Him a priority every day in the Word. We don't make him a priority like we should when we're tired and we don't want to make that phone call and have that conversation that somebody that we need to reach out to somebody or or do something or or make a sacrifice that just seems difficult to us to love the unlovable people. That's what Jesus does, right? That's that's what's distinctly Christian, not just loving those who love you, but to love those who don't. And we're not taught to do that by the world, but that's what Jesus calls us to do. That's what it means to deny ourselves and pick up that cross and follow him every day. And if we do that, and if we follow after him, we can overcome this enemy. I don't know how long I've preached. I probably certainly have not met McHalen's goals for me tonight. But I really hope and pray that in some way God uses this to speak to your heart and to blow up the lies of the enemy. Wherever situation you struggle with, if he's after you to keep you from being saved, if he's after you to not understand what this commitment is to Jesus, to follow him, if he is after you on this daily basis to keep you from picking up your cross, he's a liar. He's the father of lies. He is a murderer. He is a shipwrecker of lies. But if you know Jesus, Jesus says, deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me. And it's always worth it to be where Jesus is.