I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating the Lord's birth and celebrating a entrance into a new year. I'm not going to give you any kind of New Year's resolution type of message because what happens to New Year's resolutions? Normally we don't follow through with them, at least through the whole year. But I am going to give you a challenge from the word. that hopefully will pertain to each of us. I was talking to Pastor yesterday, and I was just telling him something that I have coming up in the near future, and he asked me if I would mention that to you for prayer. Very shortly, I'm gonna have to have my thyroid removed, and that makes a life change when that's done. So I'm just praying that everything will go well. The thyroid is literally right next to the vocal cords. So when they're dissecting your thyroid to get it out, they have to be very careful about that. So just ask your prayers that the Lord will be gracious and allow my voice to recover because sometimes it takes a long time for that to happen. But the Lord knows all of these things and we're glad that we're able to commit them to him I wanna ask us to, as we are turning to 1 Thessalonians chapter three, that before we read it and try to get some blessings from it, that we're gonna go ahead and go to prayer and ask the Lord to guide and bless our time this morning. Heavenly Father, we wanna thank you. Thank you that we could come here to worship you and to hear your word and we pray for the ministry of the Holy Spirit that he'll give us wisdom and understanding into this great portion of your word that has a great emphasis on something that should be very, very important to each of us. I pray that you'll help me to make it clear and just, again, use your word in the hearts and lives of each one who's here. You know all of the needs that are represented. and pray that as the word goes forth that they will be met. Please help Pastor Dave with his illness to get better and that he would be strengthened. And I know there's a lot of people right now at this time that are struggling with many physical conditions. Thank you that we could just bring them before you in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, if you have your Bibles, please look with me 1 Thessalonians chapter three, and we're gonna read verses one through 10, so just follow me. I'm reading in the New American Standard. If you have a different translation, just follow your own. The apostle Paul said, therefore, when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone. And we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so that no man may be disturbed by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. For indeed, when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction. and so it came to pass, as you know. For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you and our labor should be in vain. But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you. For this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction, we were comforted about you through your faith. For now we really live if you stand firm in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account? As we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face and may complete what is lacking in your faith. Did anybody notice a word that was repeated often? It was faith, faith. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 times in 10 verses. Every two verses the word faith is mentioned. And that gives us an idea of how important this is. Let me ask you a question. How is your faith? How is your faith? It's one of the most valuable things you possess as a believer. When Jesus came up to Peter and said, Peter got some news for you. Satan wants to sift you like wheat. I don't know about you, that just doesn't sound too good of an idea. For Satan to be allowed to sift us like wheat. But what did Jesus say? I prayed for you that your faith may not fail. Faith is a very, very important thing. Every believer has faith. If a person says, I don't have faith, I've lost faith, well, they probably were never a genuine believer to begin with. All faith will be tested. Hold your place in 1 Thessalonians, and please turn to 1 Peter 1. I just want you to see from God's perspective how valuable faith is. The Apostle Peter is writing to these saints who were going through tremendous suffering and persecution because of their belief in the Lord Jesus. And Peter tried to encourage them about this wonderful inheritance that we have that is reserved for us in heaven. And he says in verse six, in this, in this inheritance, in this living hope, you can greatly rejoice Even this is verse six, 1 Peter chapter one, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. You know what trials are going to do? They're going to prove to see what kind of faith we have. Verse seven says that the proof of your faith may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. But look at the part that I skipped over in verse 7, that the proof of your faith being what? More precious than gold. Gold is perishable. True faith is not perishable. A person who has true faith will never give up that faith. Now maybe you've heard of people who have given up their faith. Unfortunately, I keep hearing of them. My wife and I recently heard of a couple who gave up their faith. We went to school with them in Kansas City to go to Calvary Bible College. They gave up their faith. One of my friends that was supposedly saved about the same week I was back in 1971, we used to go out witnessing together. We used to go out evangelizing together. Ten years later, he called me and says, Marty, I just need to tell you something. Are you sitting down? I says, well, as a matter of fact, I am. He goes, well, I want you to know I'm no longer a believer in Jesus. I says, well, what are you? Well, he was from a Jewish background, and he decided he wanted to become what was called a Hasidic Jewish person, a hyper, hyper, hyper Jewish person. So what did I tell him? I says, you need to get saved. You're on your way to hell. You were never saved in the beginning. If you were, you could have never done what you're telling me you did. A person who has true saving faith, that faith will endure to the end. But that faith is going to be tested. And it was this very truth in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 that motivated Paul to do what he did. They didn't have texting back then. We text and we just take it for granted. I Skype with a guy in New Zealand. You see his face as clearly as I see your face on my screen. And he's half the world away. 17 hours, I think it's 17 hours difference between us. And they didn't have that kind of communication skills. So when they wanted to find out how somebody was doing, they had to send somebody. So the apostle Paul says in verse one, therefore, when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone. And that word alone is very significant. And it says that we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith. True faith will never be cast aside to the point where you become an apostate. True faith will always remain, but true faith needs to be strengthened. Well, I was saved by faith. I've got enough faith. Well, we are saved by faith, which is a gift of God. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. But faith needs to be encouraged because otherwise we could become weak in faith as a result of more often than not difficulties and trials that come our way. All true faith will be tested to see if it's genuine. If you think about that parable of the sower, remember that parable of the sower with the four soils and so forth? And the first one, the birds just came and ate the seed, which is the gospel. The other two sprang up for a short time. What happened to them? They dwindled away. that wasn't true saving faith. The fourth one that fell on good soil, true saving faith. True saving faith will endure, but it will be tested. Why was it a difficult thing for the Apostle Paul to send Timothy to them, to the church of Thessalonica? Because that meant he would be left alone in Athens. Athens was a despicable place back then. We read that when the Apostle Paul got to Athens, it says in Acts chapter 17 and verse 16, now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, His spirit was being provoked within him, for he was beholding the city full of idols. Athens was a idolatrous, horrible city, yet Paul was willing to sacrifice the fellowship that he was having with Timothy for the important reason of trying to find out how the faith of those at Thessalonica was doing. This was a burden that Paul had. This was a burden that we read throughout his epistles and throughout his ministry. When he was on his missionary journeys, he had the desire to try to go and strengthen the believers. We see this quite often. Romans 1 and verse 11 says, well, he had never visited the church at Rome. He had a burden to go there. Eventually he did. But in Romans 1, 11, he says, for I long to see you in order that I may import some spiritual gift to you that you may be established. Being established in your faith is one of the most important things because faith is going to be tested. And if we're not established, we need to be very, very careful. It says in Acts chapter 15 in verses 40 and 41, but Paul chose Silas and departed being committed by the brethren to the grace of our Lord. And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the churches. We need to be strengthened. That's why Peter tells us in the very last verse of his second epistle, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We need to be continually growing. Now we may retire in some areas in our life. Many of you are retired. Nothing wrong with retiring, but we never retire spiritually. You say, wait a minute, I've been a believer for 50 years. I've been a believer for 60 years. That's wonderful. But you're not finished. You haven't attained. How do we know that? Well, Paul says he didn't attain. I guess if he didn't, none of us have either. Have you attained? No. There's always room for more. There's always room for more. The Apostle Paul said in Colossians chapter 1 verses 28 and 29, we proclaim him, that's the Lord Jesus, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom that we may present every man mature in Christ. That's what we need to set our minds on. And that would be a good thing to do this year, a good thing to do. Again, this is not a New Year's resolution because this is something that we do all throughout the year. every day of the year. It's nothing that we do. Well, I got a few weeks of this New Year's resolution. I think I'll just fix my mind on establishing myself in the faith. No, this is something that we must do all the time. So it was a sacrificial act on the part of the Apostle Paul to send Timothy from Athens to Thessalonica. So another thing that we see, it was the purpose. And what this does is it manifests Paul's concern. Paul's concern for others, Paul's concern for other believers. And one of his chief and main concerns was that he would send Timothy. We see this in verses two through five. We sent Timothy, our brother, and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith. And what will the result of that be? It says right here, if a person is strengthened in their faith, it's gonna help them when difficult times come. Now, how many of you have ever gone through a difficult trial? I should say, how many of you have not? And you won't see it again. We all have. And if things are going pretty smooth right now, if somebody says, well, how are things going? Well, things are going great. Well, that's great if they're going great now. Just hold on, because you know what's going to happen. Things change. Circumstances change by design. God allows them. In fact, it tells us that that's simply something which is going to happen. So Paul says, I don't want anybody to be disturbed, verse 3, by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. Part of God's plan, part of his, the whole area of predestination for us is to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus. We read that in Romans 8, don't we? That every believer, true believer, is conformed, is predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. Guess how that happens? One of the ways that the Lord uses is difficult times, things that cause us to go through suffering. This is something that we were destined to, but it will help us to be strengthened. What does that word mean? What does it mean to be strengthened? It means to make firm, to make solid, It contains the thought of making firm by providing a support. Now all buildings, all of your homes, have certain walls that are support walls, right? So if you want to do some remodeling your home, one of the kinds of walls you don't want to take down is what? One of the supporting walls. You take enough supporting walls down, you know what's going to happen? Your whole house is going to come down. And then you'll really be doing some redecorating. Well, you know what? We as believers need to have support beams. fixed, solid in our life so that when these difficult times do come, they won't cause us to topple. The effect of Timothy's ministry was to encourage them. That's a wonderful, wonderful idea and concept. The goal was not to just simply be there present with them but to allow them to understand that they need to be encouraged as to their faith. It says in verse five of 1 Thessalonians 3, for this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. That's why I ask you again, how is your faith? I need to ask myself, how is my faith? It's gonna be tested. and hopefully we'll discover that it will pass the test. And don't let that verse in 1 Peter escape you. Our faith is more valuable than gold. Now if I had somebody already prepared, because I knew what I was going to be speaking on after I was asked to, and there's a guy outside, and he's going to come in here with a wheelbarrow full of gold. I mean, just heaping over with gold, and you're looking at that wheelbarrow, and you have a choice to make. Somebody said, well, you could have that wheelbarrow full of gold, or you could ask God to strengthen your faith. You know what choice most people would make? Can you think of somebody who made a decision that was the right decision to make when they were told they could ask for anything? Remember what God told Solomon? Ask me for whatever you want. Whatever you want. what would be on your list? What did Solomon ask for? We have the book of Proverbs, he wrote most of the book of Proverbs, which contains some of the greatest wisdom that we have. Solomon asked for wisdom. If we had a choice between a gigantic amount of gold or to have our faith sustained and to grow the wiser choice would be to deal with our faith because faith is more valuable than gold. We just don't see it that way. We're bombarded on TV to get what? Buy gold. Look, there's nothing wrong. If you got some gold in your portfolio, nothing wrong. I'm not saying get rid of all your gold, nothing wrong. But you know, we, When we get to heaven, we're gonna see a different perspective on gold. Because you know what gold's gonna be used for in heaven? To pave the roads. Now today, we pave the roads with asphalt. Do you know anybody who's hoarding asphalt? No, of course not. But in heaven, nobody's gonna be hoarding gold. Gold's gonna be like asphalt in heaven. That puts a perspective on things, doesn't it? That's why the word of God tells us that our faith is more valuable than gold. Our faith is more valuable than gold. Now notice what was the result of Timothy's report. Remember Timothy had to be sent from Athens to Thessalonica just for one reason. Timothy I want you to find out how their faith is and then report back to me. Now look we do live in a wonderful time because if you need to know something we could text, we could email, we could use the telephone. Sounds like the telephone is not being used as much anymore nowadays. So many people are texting and emailing in different but we have instantaneous means of communication. Could you imagine Paul having to wait and wonder and wonder, how are they doing? How are they doing? What's going on with their faith? He couldn't endure it any longer. That was a manifestation of his concern. And he says in verses six and seven of 1 Thessalonians chapter three, here's what he says. But now that Timothy has come to us from you, I don't know, I didn't have time to look up and figure out how long that trip might have taken, but I can only imagine it must have been weeks and weeks and weeks going from one place to another place. But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us good news of your faith. and love and that you always think kindly of us longing to see us just as we also long to see you. That must have been so comforting. That must have been so comforting when Timothy brought back the report. Have you ever been close to a friend maybe when you were in college or whatever the circumstances might be and then your paths went and different directions and maybe it's been 20, 25 years since you've seen that person and somehow you just run into that person and you were close friends with them and you're both believers. As you begin to discuss and kind of catch up and you discover that both of you are still walking with the Lord, That should cause our hearts to rejoice. When I see somebody that I haven't seen for 20, 25 years, and we get around to spiritual conversation, and I say, well, how's, you know, what's going on with the Lord? And they're still walking with the Lord, they're involved, they're active in serving him. That should cause your heart to rejoice, because that's a man of, when you see a person still walking with the Lord after decades, what is that a manifestation of? True faith. True faith endures. True faith doesn't throw in the towel. Five, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years later. True faith endures to the end. Well, if you knew what I was going through, you would know why I abandoned my faith. No, there's no reason. What shall separate us from the love of Christ, Paul says in Romans 8, and he gives a list that would virtually all of us would be able to say, yeah, I've gone through that, I've gone through that, I've gone through that, but I'm not gonna abandon, I'm not gonna believe for one minute that the Lord doesn't love me because he's allowed those circumstances. You ought to read Romans 8 where Paul uses that as an argument. Nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ, nothing. So Paul says, but now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love and that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you. For this reason, notice what Paul says, verse seven, for this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction, we were comforted. about you through your faith. Do you see how this works? Paul was going through difficult times as he sent Timothy off to Thessalonica to find out about their faith. When Timothy comes back and gives the good report in verse six, Paul says, I want you to realize something. When Timothy came back, and gave me a good report about your faith, that did something to me. What does he say it did? It comforted us. We were comforted in all our distress and affliction as a result of your faith. That was still going on. That was good news. That is very, very good news. Almost like the same word that's used for the gospel. That's how, what a tremendous blessing this was. It improved the quality of his life. Before, there had been almost like a dead weight of apprehension. Like I said, we live in a time period where we don't have to wait real long. You know, if we text somebody and they take like, a minute to text back. It's like an eternity. Because we could just do that instantly, instantly, instantly. But they didn't have that capability. So Paul said, now we really, look at verse 8, now we really live if you stand firm in the Lord. It's kind of strange that we, the world tries to find things that have almost no meaning. to give them this kind of excitement. The world searches for things that are so temporary, so fleeting. The world promises a whole lot, but it doesn't deliver what we think it's going to deliver. But when you deal with the spiritual realm, we can get really, really excited when we find out that a close friend of ours is still is still walking and concerning the things of the Lord. They haven't given up their faith. This brought tremendous encouragement for the apostle. Now we really live. You ask the average lost person, what makes you really live? We don't want them to tell us. But in the spiritual realm, this is something which is extremely, extremely encouraging. Look at verse 9. When Timothy came back with the message about the Thessalonians, it spurred him on in his worship of the Lord. Verse 9. For what thanks can we render to God for you in return? For all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account. Paul says, now, you know, this could have not worked out the way it did. What happened if Timothy would have come back to the Apostle Paul and said, Paul, I got some bad news. You know, we had no idea what was going on in Thessalonica. And I hate to tell you this, but most of them have gone apostate. The church is in disarray. You know, you don't always get this kind of good news, do you? Sometimes it's news that we would rather not hear. But in this case, it was exactly what Paul was praying for, I'm sure, that Timothy would come back and just give a good report. So Paul says, what thanks can we render to God? I mean, it's just, do you ever find yourself in a circumstance where thank you just doesn't almost seem like enough? I mean, this was such a monumental thing for Paul to hear. It's almost like, thank you. Several times, it doesn't happen a lot, but it has happened. I'll visit a church, and by the grace of God, they'll invite me back maybe a couple years later. That doesn't always happen. I'm glad when it does. So I go back to this church, And it's been a while since I've been there. And more often than not, it's a dear, old, older lady who will come up to me and say, you know, you were here about three years ago, and the Lord laid it on my heart to pray for you and your ministry every day. Now, what do you say? Thank you? That doesn't even seem enough. But that's all you can say. And I say, thank you. I can't begin to thank you enough. Thank you. Because I'm sure a lot of what has happened is as a result of that. Paul says, I want you to know that I'm at a loss of words. For what thanks can we render to God for you in return of all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account? You know, Paul, this is all an expression of what? Paul didn't say, well, I went to Thessalonica, and I started that church, and some of these people became believers, but I don't worry about them anymore. I'm not concerned about them anymore. I can remember vividly years and years and years ago, this is in the very early 70s, I had a friend, and he invited me to his church. And we went there in the evening, big, on from what they tell you, on fire, we're a moving church, and they had this banner that would go from that point of the wall to that point of the wall, with nothing but the word 1,000. I mean, the number, 1,000. So any visitor's gonna look at that gigantic banner, and guess what they're gonna ask? What does the 1,000 mean? I asked what the 1,000 meant. And they said, well, that represents the 1,000th person that we led to the Lord over our telephone ministry. They led 1,000 people to the Lord. I don't think there were 50 people in that service that night. My question was, well, where in the world are they? You would think that some of that 1,000 might be invited to come to church. A lot of people are just satisfied Well, this person made a profession of faith and they're done. That is not the Apostle Paul. I mean, you just read all throughout his letters and you go through the first several chapters of the book of Acts. They're constantly on Paul's second missionary journey. He's going back to some of the churches that he went to on his first missionary journey. Why? To strengthen the saints. You don't just see a person come to the Lord and say, well, hey, it's really been nice knowing you. And I get to tell everybody that so and so, yeah. You know, sometimes we at the center get letters from well-meaning churches, and they want to know how many people we led to the Lord that year. So you know how many people I led to the Lord in 2022? None. I've never led a person to the Lord. That's the Lord's business. Now what have I done? What can you do? We can plant the seed and we can water the seed, right? We can plant the seed and water the seed, but God brings forth the increase. God has brought a lot of people to the Lord, but I know what they're saying. I know what they're trying to say. So I just let people know, you know, we've had multitudes of opportunities of being able to plant the seed and water the seed. And then when people do come to know the Lord to try to help them grow in their faith, that's our responsibility. But Paul counted it a very, very important aspect of his ministry, very important to help them to get established in the faith. You just read the first several chapters of the book of Acts, the apostles are doing that. Paul in his second and third missionary journey, that's what he was doing. This is why he sent Timothy to Thessalonica, to see how they were doing in their faith and to encourage them in their faith. And this was a means that brought great worship from the apostle Paul to the Lord. Paul rendered his thanks unto God. So verse 10 says this, as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, we want to see you face to face, and may complete What is lacking in your faith? Do you know how many people in this room have things that are lacking in faith? Every one of us. Our faith hasn't come to the place where it no longer needs to be growing and developing. Paul realized that. So we have something that we need to continually be doing for ourselves, and on the behalf of others. So, you got a new year ahead of you, what can you do? If somebody comes up to you and says, you know, I'm a new believer, just got saved recently, and I wanna grow, I wanna grow in my spiritual life, I wanna grow in my faith. If a new believer asks you that, maybe he's talking to some of you that have been saved for decades, what would you tell a new believer that they could do that would help them grow in their faith. I'm just opening that up to you. What would you tell them? What are some things you would tell a new believer to help them grow in their faith? What would you say? Not a trick question. I'm sorry? Stick in the word of God. Read the word of God. Study the word of God. Study. And what else? Pray. Study the word of God. Pray. What else would you suggest? Encourage fellowship. It's like, where are you right now? In church. This is one of the ways that we could encourage one another. This is one of the great opportunities that we have throughout the week, to encourage one another in their faith. So reading the Bible, praying, going to church. Anything else you could suggest? Memorize scripture, Bible studies, okay. Now those, don't those sound kind of basic? To me, those are about as basic as you get. Now, let's say somebody comes across your path, and they've been a believer for 20 years, but boy, maybe for the last five years, things just haven't been the same spiritually, and they realize there needs, Some adjustments need to be made. Or maybe they're 40 years into their faith. What would you tell somebody who's been a believer for decades that if they want to make this a different year than the last five behind them, what would you tell them? How would you encourage somebody that knows the word of God, that's been a believer for a long time, what would you say to them if they were to ask you, I've got to get back to where I was? So get help them to get involved themselves. Mm-hmm. What else would you tell them? Wait a minute, that's what we told the younger people to do So does that mean that we do the same thing for people that are older in the Lord? That's right. So in other words, it doesn't change. It doesn't matter how old you are in the Lord. We always have to get back to basics. We could probably illustrate that with excellent athletes. I mean, top of the line, like pool holes kind, Mahomes kind of athletes. You know, everybody could have a slump, right? So let's say that Albert Pujols goes into a slump. It didn't often happen, but it did. What do you think a wise manager is gonna tell Albert Pujols to do? Get back to the, there you go. Just get back to the basics. Just remember how you hold the bat that made you so successful. That's what a good manager would do in that realm. And that's what we need to consider to do in the spiritual realm. We never grow out of the need for all of those basics that were just mentioned. And if you have the privilege of coming across the path of somebody who's a new believer and they're open to meeting with you and you're open to meeting with them, you go, you take them through the basics. You take them through the basics. Everybody needs the basics. and then everybody needs to continue in the basics no matter how old they are in the Lord. We never grow out of that. That's what Paul was concerned about. He was consumed with his concern. I couldn't wait. I just couldn't stand it any longer. I got to find out how they're doing. He was willing to sacrifice and send Timothy to find out how they were doing. And fortunately, a good report came back and it caused Paul to just express great worship and praise to the Lord because of that. So we could just pray and ask the Lord to help us. Not for the first, it's not like a New Year's resolution that lasts a few weeks and then it's gone. But just make this a year of just continuing to do the basics. Study. Read the Bible. Yes, that's important. But you've got to go beyond sometimes reading it and studying it. There is a difference. You know that. There's a big, big, big difference between reading and studying. That's why Paul said study. in that verse to Timothy, to show yourself approved unto God a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of God. Study, study, study. With that in mind, I always kind of bring a couple of books with me. You say, well, but these are two that you haven't seen yet, and they're outstanding. I always try to find good books that are filled with solid meat. Both of these are by Ron Rhodes, and I've really come to enjoy him a lot. I like him because his books normally have big print. That is an important thing. Because you're more apt to read a book that has, you ever try to read, has anybody ever tried to read the two volumes by Jonathan Edwards? Anybody even open those books up? They're double column on each page, micro print. I'm just telling you they're hard to read. But these are larger print. This is a book called What Happens After Life? That's going to be an event that none of us are going to miss that unless we're raptured up. We're all going to enter into an afterlife event. And so this book deals with the eternal destiny of the saved and what's going to happen to the afterlife for those who are not saved. This is an outstanding book. In one book he deals with that very, very important subject that so many people just simply try to avoid. We don't want to avoid this. If God has privileged us in his word to kind of give us some ideas of what's gonna happen after this life is over. It's gonna be over for all of us sometime. I believe every, the first chapter's worth the book itself. I did read something by Jonathan Edwards one time and it was so good I never forgot it. I can't tell you a lot of what I've read, but I remember that. He said, everybody has a life that has a certain number of days attached to it. And you cannot change that number. We can do nothing. If somebody says, well, if you do that, that'll add 10 years to your life. No, it won't. Nothing can add a day to our lives. Now, we can add to the quality of our lives, but not the quantity. That's a fixed day. And that's what the first chapter is. And he shows it biblically. He uses the same verses that Jonathan Edwards did back in the book of Job. Very, very good. Very, very good book. And then, essential facts that every Christian should know about just the basics of Bible prophecy. But don't let the word basics, yeah, he deals with the basics, but he gets into some detail. So this is one book that if you know somebody who really hasn't been introduced very much to Bible prophecy, this would be a good book to give them, and it'd be a good book for you to read as well. Both books are $10 each. Doesn't matter what it says on the back. One is 16, one's 15, $10. Now I'll give you a deal, $20 for both of them. So. That's a joke. Bad joke, I understand. But I'll have some up over here. No pressure. But if you know somebody that would benefit from books dealing with these subjects, I would strongly encourage you to think about them. Well, Heavenly Father, we want to thank you Thank you for the example of the Apostle Paul who wasn't just concerned about himself. He was so concerned for the faith and the spiritual well-being of the Thessalonians that he sent Timothy to them. And help us to realize how valuable our faith is that you've given to us as a gift. It's more profitable than the thing which is desired by the world, and yet we have a wonderful treasure just with our faith. We pray that you will help us to grow, help us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray in his name, amen.