We all are to be spreading the gospel. Father, as we open your book tonight, I have complete confidence that the Spirit of God will speak to your children with the words of this book. with the Spirit's prompting and direct application of the truth, I know you'll do work. And I trust you for that. I trust you for your work in my heart. Even as I speak and proclaim things, I know you'll speak to me as well. Father, give us a burden and a vision and a real focus on what really matters in this life. Bless our study. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Here in Jeremiah chapter 9, look at verse number 23. We'll give some background in just a moment, but I want you to look at two verses of Scripture, verse 23, verse 24 of Jeremiah chapter 9, where the Bible says, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercised lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. And there's a lot to unpackage here in these two verses, but we're going to do our best in the next few moments to do that. The word glory, when he talks about, let him glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me. The word glory means to take pleasure in. You know, if someone's going to glory in their riches, it means they take pleasure. Even the word glory means to boast or to shine. If someone's going to glory, we think of the glory of God, we think of God's radiance, right? And God just, you know, boasting of who he is, not in a proud way. Boasting doesn't have to be a sinful thing. Oftentimes because of our sin nature, it is. But boasting just means you're taking pleasure in, you're excited about it, and it just has a part of your being. You're just glorying in something. God says, don't let the wise men glory in his wisdom. Hey, if God gives you wisdom, which he can give to all men liberally, if we truly want wisdom, but we're not to glory in what we know. Don't glory in how much knowledge you may have or wisdom you may have. And he says, if a man is strong and maybe has some physical strength or maybe even a mental fortitude, don't glory. Don't take glory. Don't boast in your strength. And even if a man has riches, don't glory in it, because you know what? Our wisdom is still foolishness. Our strength is still weak and our riches are still yet in our poverty compared to the king of kings. But he says in verse twenty four, but let him that glorious glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me. That's something to glory in. One hundred years from now, Do you ever do that to yourself? Where will I be in 100 years? Well, I think I can pretty much say for all of us, we're not going to be here, right? And for many of us, 50 years. I'm Kulu. That's old man. Can you imagine that? Under the age of 44, 85% of the nation under 44. When you're around town, you just don't see a lot of old people. I'm up there. I'm in the top 15%. And looking around, some of you would be as well. But it's just life expectancy is short there. But imagine with me 50 years from now, what's going to matter? I remember working at a, we volunteered at a couple of nursing homes when we were in New York. And I would watch these seniors in a nursing home and think to myself, what have they done in life? Now that they're here, their money's gone, their house, their car, I mean, everything is gone. And at that point, all that people typically care about is family, family and friends. And it's sad that we take that long to figure it out in life. That's really what matters. And we invest ourselves in so many things besides what really matters, like people, and most importantly, the Lord himself. But about 50 years from now, what's going to matter in your life? What are you taking pleasure in? What are you glorying in now that has no bearing on eternity? But God says, if you're gonna glory in something, glory in the fact, if you're saved, that you know me and you understand me. And that truly ought to be what we invest ourselves in. Look at Psalm 66 with me. You know, if we're saved, we can glory in the fact that we know the Lord. In Psalm 66, verse 16, it says, Come and hear all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul. We can never lose sight of the fact that as saved people we know God, we understand enough, obviously we'll never understand all of God, but we understand enough of God to come to Him with a heart of repentance and faith, knowing He's a God that is holy, He's a God that is just, and we deserve His judgment, Yet He's a God of mercy, and He won't put that judgment on me. He put it on His Son, Jesus, and He's a God of grace as He extends to me this free gift of salvation. And if you can comprehend and understand that alone, wow, we've got something to glory in. We can know and understand God. Look at Galatians. Actually, while you're in Psalms, look at Psalm 34. Back up a little bit. Psalm 34. I've been saying all night how much this area reminds me of South Africa. And now I'm really starting to feel it, too. It's getting a little warm. We were freezing when we came in, but I'm glad we got some African heat going on here. I was telling Brother Pittman, we don't have, in our building, we don't have heaters, we don't have air conditioning. We have just people. And so it starts out cool, and it gets just a little bit warmer as the day goes on. Amen. He's getting me ready. The Lord's getting me ready for Africa. We'll be there in just a few weeks. Look at Psalm 34. Look at verse number 1. It says, I will bless the Lord at all times. By the way, that word bless means to make happy. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Well, what do I praise God about? How about praising Him for salvation? I mean, a child of God should never be wanting of something to praise God for. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. There's that glory. I'm going to boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. What a great psalm, and it goes on, there's so much more in this psalm. But we're to be boasting and glorying in the fact that we can understand and know God. Look at Galatians chapter six with me. Galatians chapter six. If we're going to glory, let's glory in the things of God. Paul put it this way in Galatians 6 verse 14. He says, But God forbid that I should glory, say, that means accept, in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Paul, in a verse, encapsulating his heart. I'm not going to glory in me. I'm not going to glory in the things of this world. Not in riches, not in might, not in wisdom. I'm not going to glory in anything but in the cross of Jesus Christ because the world has been crucified to me and I give myself to reaching this world for the cause of Christ. Look at 1 John. 1 John 1. I'm running with this idea and this theme that it is an absolute privilege that we can know God. Nothing to be taken lightly. 1 John 1, look at verse number 3, it says, that which John's speaking here, that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, and these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. John writing, hey, I want everyone to have the same fellowship with God that I do, and then we'll have fellowship together, why? Because when we know God, There's great fellowship with him, with God's children. There's great fellowship. Look at First Corinthians. First Corinthians chapter number one. What a privilege. If you're going to glory in something. Glory in that you can understand and know God. 1 Corinthians 118 says this, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved is the power of God. So like Paul said over in Galatians 6, let's glory in the cross where our Savior died in our place. Verse 21 says, For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. See, the world can have wisdom. Let's be honest. The world does have some wisdom. financial wisdom, you know, there's a lot of wise things in this world. Of course, it's nothing compared to our Savior's wisdom. And so God says, even though in the world there is wisdom, and by their wisdom, they knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. You ever stop and think about preaching? Why would you, on a Wednesday night, go down to the church house to listen to someone proclaim the word of God? To your co-workers, that's foolishness. Why would you do that? Why would you go Thursday night and Friday night and again on all day Sunday? You're weird. It's a bizarre, to the world, it's a foolish thing to have preaching. But for those who have been saved, wait a minute, it's through the preaching of the Word of God that I got saved. Someone proclaimed the Word of God to me. You jump down to verse number 24. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, And the weakness of God is stronger than men, for ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things that are despised hath God chosen, yea, and the things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, watch this, verse 29, that no flesh should glory in His presence. We're not to glory over wisdom, over strength. In other words, there's nothing in this world for us to really glory in, except in the Lord. That's why he says there in verse 31, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Where is that written? Jeremiah chapter 9, verse 24. So did Paul know the book of Jeremiah that we're studying tonight? Absolutely. Isn't that amazing to think about? We read about Paul and he reads about Jeremiah and we get to read about both as he's reading about Jeremiah. What a privilege it is to have the Word of God. And we ought to take glory in the fact that we can know God. Now go back to Jeremiah chapter 9. Let's look at the context of what's going on here. In the book of Jeremiah, this is the southern kingdom. Jeremiah's ministry mostly to the southern kingdom of Judah. The northern kingdom had already been judged by God. He used the nation of Assyria to do that. And now the Babylonians are about to judge the southern tribe of Judah. And God sends Jeremiah to preach. Chapter 9 was written approximately at 600 BC, about 14 years before they would ultimately fall to the Babylonians. And Jeremiah begins to write in chapter 9. I want to pick up in verse number 13. where the Bible says here, And the Lord saith, Because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, neither walked therein, but have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Balaam, which their fathers taught them. And so he's writing to a nation of people, people who should know God, people who should be glorying in who God is, because they could, through the law of God, understand the heart of God and the character of God, but they cast God and His word aside and were serving idols. And you would say, man, I'm glad I didn't live then because that seemed like a foolish time where people would bow down and worship statues and idols and things. Well, first of all, there are people right now in the world doing that. Literally as I speak, as you sit there, there are people bowing down and worshiping idols in many places around the world. But don't think that because we're in America, we think we're smarter and wiser. We have our own idols. Sometimes you put it in your pocket, it's called a phone. Sometimes you sit inside of it and drive it to the next place you want to drive to. Sometimes it's the stuff that you, well we used to fold that green stuff up and put it in our wallet, now we just do electronic transfers. But there's a lot of things, a lot of idols, sports, and on down through the list, a lot of things that we worship and we give our hearts to, and we set God at naught because we have our hearts set on something else. And ultimately, I think the biggest idol in 2023 is the idol of self. We live in a generation And everything out there is trying to get you to love and worship yourself. And keep God at nought, keep Him at bay. So you can worship self. We gotta be careful about that. God's people are about to be destroyed. And so God, and even though they're about, because they wouldn't obey His voice, they pushed God away, they walked after the imagination of their own heart. And in the midst of that, God says, hey, don't glory. Don't glory in your wisdom or in your riches or in your might, but if you're going to glory, glory in this, that you understand and know me, that you know my character, that you know what I'm like. You know, every man walking after his own imagination reminds me of the days of Noah. For time's sake, we won't turn there to the book of Genesis, but in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5, it says where the thoughts of men's heart were only evil continually. The imagination of the thoughts of their mind. I mean, that's where, and if you liken that to Matthew 24, where Jesus says, as in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be, then our world is going to arrive at the place where again the thoughts of their hearts and the imaginations of the mind are gonna be only evil continually. And smile, we're not there yet, but you see how quickly we're getting there. I mean, you think back thirty years ago, if you can remember that far back, was there a level of innocence? in the thinking of the average person 30 years ago that we don't have anymore? I see that. And even then we thought it was bad, but what we wish we could rewind 30 years, couldn't we? Man, that'd be great to go back. Can you imagine 30 years from now? as these wicked machinations of the mind are just increasing, and through the video that is at your fingertips, through social media. I mean, more and more I'm seeing what a potential destructive tool social media can be. And yet it can be a great tool for God. I'm not against the idea of using social media to promote the truth, but I kind of have this suspicion that it's being used a lot more for evil than it is for good. It's only going to increase. We're seeing, I mentioned in the video, we're seeing Swaziland, even in my five years there, we're seeing the young people. I mean, just last year when we were there, talking to many young people who don't believe there's a God. And this nation, culturally speaking, absolutely believes there's a Creator God. So how is it? What's changed in five years? Well, I can tell you what's changed over there. Internet became affordable. When we first got there, you buy Internet by the megabyte. Now you can buy it by the gigabyte. And young people are feasting upon social media, and it's not taken but five years for them to realize, wait a minute, we're not so sure about this whole idea of a creator. The wicked imaginations of men are only going to increase. Just like in the days of Noah, Paul writes of Timothy in 2 Timothy, chapter three, that in the last days, perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves. I believe the reason why it's going to get so bad is because people love themselves. And when people love themselves instead of loving God and loving others, they'll do any sin they want. Evil men shall wax worse and worse, Matthew 24. And it's going to get bad, because as people learn to love themselves, they'll do whatever. Look at verse 1 of Jeremiah 9. were waters, and mine eye is a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people. Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people and go from them, for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men, and they bend their tongues like their bow for lies, but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth. for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not Me, saith the Lord." Boy, this sounds like today, doesn't it? And then my point is this, back in Genesis, when people got to that place in their hearts, when the sum total of the world, save eight people, were only evil continually and it rejected God, God sent a flood of judgment. in the nation of Israel, now the southern kingdom of Judah, when they reached the point when their hearts were only going from evil to evil, and they don't want the truth, and they don't want God because they don't know God, guess what? He sent judgment. You see the pattern? And I think that's where we're headed. Now, I have an answer to this, something we can do with this. You know, I like to think that men like Jeremiah and others were preaching God's great character and his great salvation right up until the last possible day. And that ought to be our desire, too. Noah was a preacher of righteousness, I believe, right up until maybe he got in the ark a week before. So up until a week before, then Noah was preaching. The preacher of righteousness was out there preaching. Verse four says, take ye heed every one of his neighbor, and trust ye not in any brother, for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor shall walk with slanders, and they will deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. Man, what a wicked time. We're not there yet. But the seeds, the seeds of this are in our nation. It's being prepared. You can see it coming. And this is the context in which God will judge the kingdom of Judah. And yet it's in this context that verse 23 and verse 24 exist. Now go back to verse 24. This is the point. No matter what's going on in the nation, the nation of Israel, the kingdom of Judah, no matter what's going on there, and no matter what the majority of people are believing, saying, or doing, God gives this ray of hope, this potential that if any man wants to glory, let him glory in this, that he'd understand and know me. And that's what I'm excited about. Because in this day and age, in 2023, all that really matters is that people know and understand God. Say, what does that have to do with me? First of all, do you know God? Do you know His character? And if the answer is yes, then are you proclaiming that to the people around you? That ought to be our desire. It ought to be our desire. What's a missions conference about? It's about giving our lives so that others may know God as well. And they too can glory in who God is and glory that they know God in salvation. But we have a lot of people that don't know God. We've got a job to do. You know, there's eight billion people in the world today. We just hit that in November, according to the World Population Clock. We're at eight billion people in the world. Just for comparison's sake, I was born in 1974, at the time when the world reached four billion. In my lifetime, the population of the earth has doubled. That's crazy to me. When I began in the ministry in 2003, the world was just over 6 billion. The world has increased by 2 billion since I've been in ministry. Man, what are we going to do? And I believe we only hit the 1 billion mark in like the 1920s. It's going fast. We've got a lot to do. There's no time to be saying, Lord, send someone else. It's time for you. It's time for me. There's a generation coming up underneath us. It's already there. In fact, there's now two generations underneath me. I'm Gen X, there's Gen Y, the millennials, and there's now Gen Z. What are we doing to reach them for the cause of Christ? Well, he says here, but let him, let him that glorieth gloriness that he understandeth and knoweth me. Here's my, here's my burden. Here's my desire to convey to you as well, that we would be wanting to reach people who don't know God. Even beginning with the reality of, is there a God? Sometimes, as we've been traveling a lot in the Bible Belt, most of our support's in the Bible Belt, a lot of preachers are struggling, a lot of churches are struggling right now. Struggling in attendance, struggling in not seeing many people get saved. The Bible Belt's finally caught up to the East Coast and the West Coast, sad to say. We didn't want the Bible Belt to catch up with the coasts. But we're seeing a time where many young people are turning to atheism. bypassing agnosticism, just going for atheism. Why? Well, that's what's trending social media-wise. It's also the generation that was raised with the, you know, when I went to school, it was a theory of evolution. It's not taught us theory any longer. It's taught us absolute scientific truth. And creation? What foolishness, they would say. That's changed in my lifetime in our nation. Look at Psalm 19 with me. Here's something, if I could encourage you as you get out there with the gospel. I know there's an organized outreach on Saturday morning. I trust that your witnessing and evangelism is much more than just one hour a week. But something that we do wherever we are. And here's something that I want you to walk away with tonight. I actually have four things. That was the introduction, by the way. These next four will go quickly, trust me. Here are four things I would like the next generation to know. First of all, there is a creator. I can't tell you how many times in Swaziland in 2022, and we're only there the first half of the year, having conversation with atheists, and just saying something as simple as, you see that tree over there? Yeah. How'd that get there? You see the sky up there? Psalm 19, one says, the heavens declare the glory of God. And the firmament, that's where we are, the earth, the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day there is speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. I mean, you could go to any country in the world, and we've got to begin and establish the fact that there is a great Creator who created everything. There is no other logical explanation. for why we exist, why that tree exists, why the sun, moon, and stars exist, why the earth exists, the complexity of the human body. There's such living proof. In fact, when you see how everything has been so perfectly designed and created, there's only one conclusion. There must be a Creator. And this may seem like something so elementary. If you're older than me, if you're Mkulu like me, or if you're a lady, you'd be Gogo. Gogo is her grandma, the old lady. You know, we are like, of course we know there's a Creator. Do you know that there are people on your block, there are people that you know that don't believe that? I challenge you, I challenge you to talk to a young person this week, next week, and see if they believe if there is a creator. And you may be shocked, as I was shocked in Swaziland, to find there are young people there that believe, they'd say, there is no God. I don't believe in creation, I believe in evolution. I was reading an article this last week Science has finally figured out where the matter for the Big Bang came from, which is a question I've always, hey, if there was a Big Bang, who put the matter there? And they finally have explained it. You ready for the answer? They say there was another universe that existed before ours, and that one collapsed, and that was what became the Big Bang. And I'm thinking to myself, okay, if that was possible, who put them out of there for the universe before that? You see, they're just propping themselves up with more lies. And we've got to, as God's people, we've got to go out there strong and let them know there is a creator. There is a God who designed everything. He's the great designer, the first truth, that God is the first cause, himself uncaused. Now, for Christians, we're like, oh, yeah, duh. No, but let me tell you, there's a generation that doesn't believe that. And we've got to declare Psalm 19, 1. We've got to help them see. And besides just the fact that He's the Creator, we've got to help them to see His great character as well. Look at Psalm 78. Psalm 78. This is like a mission of mine. When did this begin? Somewhere after I left America and would come back a couple times to visit. The burden for this nation has increased. Man, we have a generation that needs to hear truth. I said, I say Psalm 70, look at Psalm 71, Psalm 71, verse 18. The psalmist described, Now also when I am old and gray headed, O God, forsake me not until I have showed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to everyone that is to come. Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high. Who has done great things, O God? Who is like unto thee? We've got to get out there and teach them about God's great character as well. He's a God who is holy. He's a God with power. He's a God who is righteous. Look at Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse 190. Verse 90, excuse me. You won't find 190. Psalm 119, verse 90 says, thy faithfulness is unto all generations. In other words, God's great character will be extended to and will go to every generation. We've got to declare how faithful He is. We've got to let His character be known. Look at Psalm 100. Psalm 100 in verse number 5. It says, for the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endureth to all generations. God's truth is still good for Gen Z, the 20 and under crowd. Who's gonna teach them that? The old and gray-headed. You may not be a social media influencer, but you have grandkids that you can influence. You have kids in church that you can influence. You have kids in the neighborhood you can influence for good. And God expects that, I believe, according to Psalm 71, of the old gray-headed people. We have a special privilege. See, I'm working on my status here, being gray-headed. We have a special place to be used of God to teach the next generation. Oh, they won't listen. They're listening. Teach that. Love them. Teach them. Here's your homework assignment. Teach them God's character. Now, you rewind the clock 50 years ago, the average lost person in America knew the character of God. Those days are gone. We have to go to ground zero and build in people's hearts and minds the truth of who God is. Look at Psalm 33. The world may deny the Creator. Logic says otherwise. Common sense says there must be. We gotta teach them who God is, his great character. And look what it says here in Psalm 33, verse 11. It says, The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. God wants you to carry the thoughts of his heart. Well, how do I have the thoughts of God's heart? to every generation. Look back in our text. Notice what God says in the midst, just before judgment, just years before judgment. Look what God says about his great character. Verse 24 of Jeremiah nine, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which exercise loving kindness. You know, oftentimes we think in the Old Testament, God is just mean. People think that. You know what I see in the Old Testament, what God says about himself, he's loving, kind. He has judgment. He's righteous. And he says, and these things I delight, saith the Lord. God delights in being loving and kind. God delights in his judgment. God delights in his righteousness. And we have to give the next generation a balanced view of who God is. They need to know there's a creator. How about this? They didn't know there's a cause. Look at Revelation 4. Revelation chapter 4. This next generation needs to know that there is a creator and there is a cause. Too many young people are just living aimlessly, no purpose in life, no idea what to do, where to go. You know, maybe I'll get some wisdom, maybe I'll get some might, maybe I'll have some riches. But in Revelation 4 and verse number 11, God gives us the cause. It says in verse 11, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Here's the cause. Here's the purpose for your existence. To please God. How do I please God? Well, Hebrews 11, 6 says we please God with faith. Without faith it's impossible to please Him. God is pleased by faith. What is faith? Faith is having confidence in the character of God. But there can't be faith if they don't know God's character. Who's going to teach them that? Oh, these young people, they just don't have any faith. They can't have faith if they don't know who God is. Not possible. Jesus said something sobering in Luke 18, verse 8. He says, nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Why are there going to be faithless times before Christ? Why? Because people don't know who God is. We've got to teach them. There's a purpose for their life. They were created to please God. They please God through faith, trusting His character, and when we trust His character, we'll obey Him. You know, gone also is the generation that, well, if God says it, I just better do it because. That generation's gone. You figure that out yet? That generation needs to know why. I'm not just gonna do it. Tell me why. I have no problem telling them why. Because this is who God is. This is God's great character and we can trust His character. And as we trust His character, guess what? We want to obey Him because it's for our good as well. And we've got to do that. We've got to teach them who God is. There is a cause. How about this? There is a curse. Look at Matthew 7 with me. There is a curse. The curse of sin. Sin is what keeps us from knowing God, from knowing the Creator. Jesus said in Matthew 7, verse 21, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto me that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. There's a curse. The young generation needs to know there's a creator. There's a cause. There's a curse. The curse of sin is that you cannot know God unless you forsake that sin and come to the Savior. Those that will never see God, it's because they never knew God. God did not know them. They didn't have Jeremiah 9 verse 24 fulfilled in their lives because of their sin. But that also leads us to the last thing. There is a Christ. there's a Savior. And God, the Creator, designed the plan of salvation. How that Christ was slain from the foundation of the world according to 1 Peter chapter 1. And that it's through the blood of Jesus that all of our sins can be washed away. They need to hear that. You know, we, I think as Baptists, we, for too long, we're only trying to promote a plan of salvation to a generation that doesn't even know if there's a God. If they don't believe there's a God, why do they care about a plan of salvation? If they don't know there's a cause, if they don't know there's a curse, again, why do they need to know about Christ? But when we go back to ground zero and we establish there is a Creator, and there is a cause, and there is a curse, as you take them through the law, and they see that they're sinners, then we can say, there's a Christ. And then their hearts, I believe, will be ready to receive Christ, and that's where you and I come in, in all of this. to teach them who the Creator is, to teach them the things of God, His great character, to teach them there's a cause and there's a curse, but then ultimately to teach them there is a Christ and to give them the plan of salvation, because repentance and remission of sins needs to be preached to every creature. Let me ask you a question in closing. What's your part? What's your part in God's plan? Can God use you in these things? Can God use you? Something so simple as to find someone younger than you this week and just ask them if they believe in the Creator. And maybe a great conversation will start from there. And you can teach them about Christ. What's your part? God may not send you halfway around the world like He has us. but God could send you halfway around the city, or your neighborhood, or even your own block. Somebody. Eight billion. Certainly there's somebody that you know that is seeking for answers, and God wants to give them answers, and He's looking for someone like you and me to give them some answers, or at least to ask some questions to get the ball rolling. Can God use you? Father, thank you for the time and thank you for the truth.