Please open your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 18. Remember that last time we looked at Acts 17, the end of it, we were looking at the famous speech of Mars Hill. Paul's arguments there. We have Paul leaving Athens. Now he comes to Corinth. So let's read what happens in Corinth. We'll read verses 1 through 11. There's more to read, but we'll read verses 1 through 11. After these things, Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. And he came to them. So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked. For by occupation, they were tent makers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justice, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision. Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent. For I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you. For I have many people in this city. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching, The Word of God among them. We talked about how in Athens there were many many idols over 30,000 of them that are recorded as having been there. And in Corinth. There was still a great deal of idolatry. There were famous temples there to the Greek god Poseidon. The Romanized name would be Neptune, the god of the sea. There's a temple famous there to Aphrodite. The Latin Roman name would be Venus. So we have the god of the sea and the goddess of love. Makes sense given that it is a port town And the port town it have the god of the sea and also Sailors are infamous for having being separated from home for a long time kind of carousing and engaging in infamous infidelity and sexual sin it was The temple to Aphrodite, we have references to temple prostitution and to the wickedness associated with that in the letters to the Corinthians. And so there is sexual immorality in Corinth that is of a high degree. And the word Corinth gets turned into, that's the noun, right, of the town, gets turned into an adjective. and also into a verb in Greek, in the Roman Empire, and to Corinthianize, to go through the process of Corinthianizing, is to be debauched, is to be made to become more sexually perverse. That's the way it gets used. So Corinth is sort of like Las Vegas in its reputation for sexual sin and the prominence that it has in the Roman Empire at this time. So Paul is going from a city that is given over to idolatry and wickedness to a city that is given over to idolatry and wickedness. Now, when he arrives there, he has, across time, an enormous effect. But when he first gets there, he is extraordinarily discouraged. Let's think about what happens. Verse one, after these things, Paul departed from Athens and went out to Corinth. So he leaves Athens and it, you know, he doesn't have a whole lot of converts there. There's this patronizing response. Um, there's the, you're a seed picker and what is this? Yeah, maybe we'll come and listen to you again. And it's so unimpressive, a response that Paul leaves. This is not a place where it's useful for me to spend more time right now. So he moves on. And when he comes to Corinth, verse 2, and he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome, and he came to them. So, After leaving Athens and coming to Corinth, he finds Aquila and Priscilla, who I'm sure would have been an encouragement. But why are they there? They're there because they've been kicked out of Rome by Claudius. Now, when you read about the edict from Claudius to kick out the Jews from Rome, There are two events that occur. There's two different edicts that Claudius gives. Dio Cassius records the edict in which the Jews were forbidden from being able to continue to meet for their religious worship, which led to some of them leaving. And then Suetonius, who's famous for his book, The Twelve Caesars, records that there was a broader kicking out. And what he says is the reason that there's a kicking out of the Jews is because the Jews were indulging in constant riots at the instigation of Crestus. Now this Crestus, we don't know who Crestus is, but it's only one letter off from Crestus. And when you hear a mob chanting and complaining about Christus, you might be forgiven for understanding it to be Crestus. And so as was occurring, and as we have other examples of, for example, what we will see with Ephesus, we're going to see that there is this tendency to have mob action against Christians. And we've seen it before. And so this kind of rioting, chanting, yelling about Christ is causing uproar in the synagogues. And as soon as Paul explicitly goes in to talk about Christ, about Jesus being the Christ, We see that there's uproar immediately in the synagogue here in Corinth. So this Priscilla and Aquila, they are suffering persecution, having left Rome. And I think that this being forced out of Rome is because of the Jewish persecution of people claiming to be Christians. It's the kicking out of them from the synagogues. at any rate, they have been kicked out. And so they are moving across the empire. They're far from home. And so Paul meets them. And Aquila, born in Pontus, which is on the coast of Asia Minor, and then having gone to Italy, being kicked out of Italy, He is now in Greece. Priscilla and Aquila, their news would be difficult, but he would find a certain respite working with them, being people who are of like faith and practice. And in addition to that, they have a certain camaraderie having the same trade, but What we see when we think about the fact that Paul here is doing tent making is something that ought not to be romanticized. He is tent making, but in his tent making, he is finding himself to be weak and discouraged. He is trying to provide for himself, have something to give to other people, and he is finding himself in a situation where he is trying to minister and so he's got to earn enough to do his duties and he's got to at the same time make sure that he is fulfilling his apostolic ministry. And so it looks as though he is essentially working full-time and then on the Jewish Sabbath going to the synagogues and keeping the Christian Sabbath. And so that's what he's doing to begin with here. We are told right here when Silas and Timothy come back. Look at verse 4 and then we'll go to 5. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Gentiles. When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. Well, Silas and Timothy get there from Macedonia. We have reference to this in the book of Philippians. And we have reference to this also with 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Paul would have, at this time, received a financial gift from the Philippians and encouragement to hear about the Thessalonians. Remember, he was kicked out of Thessalonica rather urgently. And so he would have been worried about the state of that church, not having been able to do the work of confirmation, helping to firm them up and have it so they had a good, well-ordered church. So receiving this gift and receiving this encouragement and being able to stop his need to do his tent making ministry. He testifies about this in his letters to the Corinthians. It talks about how he received a gift from the Macedonians there. So there's this, this encouragement that occurs. And so prior to that, he had arrived to them, And we're told in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 3, what his attitude had been. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 3. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. Weakness, fear, and much trembling. He had been engaging with the Jews and had been doing groundwork engagement. He had not explicitly gone after the fact that Christ had come, that Jesus was the Christ. He was compelled by the Spirit to do that when Silas and Timothy came. He is engaging. about things, laying groundwork, probably doing things like saying, hey, have you considered these texts about the Messiah? He would have had to have suffered, right? So removing stumbling blocks by trying to do preparatory work. It's kind of pre-evangelism in the form of showing what must be in the sense of like going through doctrine in the Bible that is not itself the gospel. Going through even the Gospel without the particular fulfillment of Christ, pointing to the seed of the woman, the need for the fulfillment. So he is tired, he is overworked, he is alone except for these new friends of Aquila and Priscilla whom he is working with. And when Silas and Timothy get there, they are the encouragement of friends, bringing good news and bringing resources. And he is compelled by the spirit. Now, this compelling by the spirit. This is something you could take to be special revelation, or you could simply take this to be the conscience. Now, I would suggest to you that we all are compelled by the spirit to do things with the conscience. Let me tell you how you can tell when it's compelling by the Spirit versus not. If your conscience is bothered, that should prompt you to test your conscience against Scripture. And if you can prove from Scripture that you have that duty that your conscience is bothered about, then that is the compelling of the Holy Spirit. If you are a prophet, an apostle, or an evangelist who has received a special calling directly from God, and you receive special revelation, then you could also test it against the special revelation that you are receiving directly from God. But as we read providentially in Daniel chapter 9, that stops after the destruction of the temple, which occurred in 70 AD. So that's the compelled by the Spirit. Whether he receives special revelation or whether it's just his conscience bothering him and he's testing it against existing revelation that has already been given, special revelation given directly to him or special revelation already given in the past. That compelling of the spirit comes down to conscience and objective word. Does the conscience of the individual line up with the objective word? If your conscience is bothering you and you can prove you have the duty from the objective word, that's the compelling of the spirit. So he's compelled and he testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, Your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles. He has Silas and Timothy. He'd have built up some credibility across time as he's waiting for Silas and Timothy, trying to communicate to people, showing his scripture knowledge. He's engaging with things. The more basic to the less basic, there's this slow moving up, it looks like, before Silas and Timothy come. He is not trying to go straight to the point of contention, but laying groundwork. And when they come, there's also the friendship of Priscilla and Aquila. And so Priscilla and Aquila, they remain faithful. Priscilla and Aquila get mentioned in the first introduction here in Acts 18 verse 2. They get mentioned again in verse 18 of the same chapter. And it says of them, let me read that verse. So Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. So they travel with him. Then in verse 26, so he began to speak boldly in the synagogue when Priscilla and Aquila heard him. They took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. That's them talking to Apollos, so they're hearing Apollos. They help to encourage, and we're going to hear about, you know, Paul writes about Apollos' ministry in his letter to the Corinthians, right? He talks about some people saying, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, I am of Christ. Those are the really holy ones, the last group. Sorry, that's one of my hobby horses here. I love it that Paul mocks the people who are claiming to just be of Christ as though they're not partisan while being partisan. Because you find, I'm not going to look, I won't call myself a Calvinist. I won't call myself whatever. I'm just a Christian. Great. Thank you for refusing to use labels. So what do you mean by that? Now we'll have, as opposed to a label that can communicate the same thing like that. Instead of what we're going to have now is a, 15-minute conversation trying to figure out what your distinctives are. I really appreciate your care for me. So we have that reality that Priscilla and Aquila help to get Apollos to have a better understanding of the doctrine. They get mentioned in Romans 16, verse 3. Romans 16 verse 3. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. So apparently they go to Rome. Paul writes a letter to the Romans. They're back there. There's in 1 Corinthians 16 verse 19. The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord with the church that is in their house. So they are, they have a church that's meeting in their house. And they send a greeting there, and Paul is with them. Had been with them and sent that greeting. They get referenced in 2nd Timothy, chapter 4, verse 19. So there's a shortened version of Priscilla's name. And so we have this reality that Paul, they are faithful co-laborers. They're an encouragement to Paul. They're steadying us through and through. They hold the line. They do work. They're advancing the kingdom. They're spreading the knowledge of God. They're encouraging others in the work. They worked with Paul. So Paul arrives alone, but he quickly finds them as allies. And then Silas and Timothy come, and they bring encouraging news, and they bring material aid. And Paul, receiving all of these blessings and encouragement, and having this engagement that he's been having slowly in the synagogue, he now is compelled by the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. Even our solid, happy warriors can get worn down. Paul is not a god. He's a man. The heroes of the faith are men. And the Lord, who is God, is kind to provide encouragement and restoration and means. And so we see Paul, who has been fighting, like David before him, becomes weary. And greater, though, is the fact that he is encouraged and he is given strength to be ready for the next battle. And so, compelled by the Spirit, he engages in battle. And the response is that the battle is hard. Verse six, but when they opposed him and blasphemed, He had 42. Look what he did. He then pushes back. He shook his garments and said to them, your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. He's saying, I have warned you. I, as a watchman, have warned you. of the danger coming, a wrath of God, and you've rejected it, and your blood is on your own hands. It's on your own heads. I am clean of your blood. I'm not responsible for it, because I have given you the counsel of God. Look at the divisiveness of the Apostle Paul. When you shake off your clothes, when you shake off your sandals, what you are saying to that person is, I am shaking off the minor particle remnants of your presence that I have because you're cursed. And I don't want that curse on me. Our time is a time that hates rebuking. that the Bible commands us to instruct, to rebuke, to correct, and to train in righteousness. And Paul, though at times he became weary, was a man who would pick up the sword and fight when he had to fight over and over and over again. He's not a man who loved to fight for the sake of fighting. He's a man who loved the truth and loved to see the people of God walking in truth. And so he fought out of the love of truth and a love for the children of God. This is a constant theme of scripture. The war between the world and the church. the seed of the serpent, the seed of the woman. And we are reminded, we are reminded of what Moses and Joshua were told to be of good courage. I'll show you that in a second here. But he is going through this. They opposed him and they blasphemed. His response to opposing the truth and then speaking false things against God, the denial of the Lord Jesus Christ. He shook his garments and said to them, your blood be on your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. And so he separates, he divides from them. He will not come to them anymore. Other people do this with him. He has Priscilla and Aquila. He has Silas and Timothy. Verse seven, and he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justice, who worshiped God. He's a God worshiper, a God fearer, whose house was next door to the synagogue. Paul is in the First Presbyterian Church of Corinth, and he walks across the street and opens up a church, and he names it First Presbyterian Church of Corinth. Think about this. You leave a church in protest, and you open up a church next door. Think about justice. Great name. This man had the courage to say, yeah, let's meet in my house next door to the synagogue. He's a God-fearer. He's a man who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. Now get this. Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, okay, so he's, he is an elder. He's a rabbi. He goes, Paul's right. It's probably a month away from his pension. from the Presbytery Fund. He believed on the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized. They don't win the synagogue. This guy leaves. So here we have a pastor leaving because he says, Paul's right. Many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized. This might have been one of those 60, 40 votes. Oh, so close. Or maybe many of them believed, but it was in a stream. So there's a steady outflow. But the church is quickly building. The work that Paul was doing ahead of time, when he was going in and showing them things in the scripture before giving them the clear point of contention. He didn't waste his time. He was laying groundwork, going from more basic to less basic. And then when the point of contention came, well, that's clear. Presuppositions control what conclusions you come to. When you help people to understand the prophecy about the Christ, it's easy for them to get there when you see, here's the particular example. Well, Christ did fulfill all those things. Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. They heard the word, they believed the word, and then they publicly covenanted, took public identity with the church, took public identity with the Lord Jesus Christ. Priscilla and Aquila, I've seen where this thing goes. Remember, they were in Rome. What happened there? Riots? By the Jews? Continuously? Incessantly? And then, when the Roman government gets pulled in, it goes bad for everybody. So, next week we'll look at the bringing in of the pro-consul. Because they've seen this. They've seen where this goes. And they're on board still. They've gone through the suffering. They've gone through the church splits. They've gone through not keeping the synagogue. They've gone through getting booted out of the place. The preaching of the Word is necessary for the hearing of the Word. The hearing of the Word is necessary for the believing of the Word. The believing of the Word is necessary for men to get baptized and to pick up the cross. They have to die to self. realize that their own good is not pursuing money, pleasure, power. Those are false gods. Kings are warned against it. Don't multiply chariots and horses. Don't multiply wives. Don't multiply gold. Elders are warned, do not be lovers of wine. Don't be slaves of wine. Pleasure. Don't be lovers of money. Money. Don't be violent. Don't be power lovers. Don't be domineering. There's this reality of these false gods. And you've got to die to those false gods. You've got to die to self. Those are the things that the flesh picks up and looks after. And there's this reality that you have to be willing to suffer because you suffer because you're going to get something worth suffering for. Joy in this life and increased reward in the life to come. So Crispus and Justice, they did that. This is their home, and they split that church. Crispus was pastor there. He split the church. Justice lives next door to it. He said, let's make my house a church next door. Do you think these were encouragements to Paul's soul? I think Priscilla and Aquila, who were willing to leave their homes for the sake of Christ's name, were an encouragement there. Silas and Timothy, when they came, and they brought encouragement about Thessalonica, and they brought from the Philippians that money so he no longer had to do two jobs. The Lord is kind and He provides. He rules everything. And yet, even with all that encouragement, look what happens in verse 9. Now, the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision. Do not be afraid. But speak, and do not keep silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you, for I have many people in this city. Corinth is becoming like a Geneva. There's an accumulation of Christians here. Corinth, the Las Vegas of Rome, is becoming a Geneva. A place where people who are fleeing persecution, Priscilla and Aquila, are going. A place where people are leaving churches that won't stand for the truth, justice, and Christmas. Silas and Timothy are going there. There's a consolidating of resources, a consolidating of Christians. You see, the places where it's obvious that you are going to be attacked, you have to consider, if I'm attacked, will I be harmed? If you think, it's likely I'm going to be attacked, and it's likely I'll be harmed if I am attacked, you've got to worry that maybe you should flee. The Lord Jesus Christ says, when they persecute you in one town, flee to the other. God says, he lays out criteria. This is a very useful criteria text. You won't be attacked and be hurt. And then there's a explanation. For I have many people in this city. The consolidation of Christians into a locale, where there's many of them, helps to restrain the evil. Light and salt. Light to show the evil for what it is, and salt to preserve order and prevent the decay. And so that strength is like the strength in Purim, where the Jews consolidated to defend themselves against the people who were sent to kill them. And so there is, God is telling him, don't be afraid, speak, and do not keep silent. I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you, for I have many people in this city. Those Christians aren't going to attack him. They're on board, and they're going to come to his aid. The consolidation of Christians and of resources is occurring here. capital, laborers, encouragement, and joint work. They are working together. They have unity of the faith. They have a shared hope. They have love, the shared means, law of God. And they are an ecclesiastical union. They have joined themselves together in baptism. They're meeting in the First Presbyterian Church right across the street from the First Presbyterian Church. Now, this language This language, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Numbers 13 verse 20 says, be of good courage. This is when the spies are sent into the promised land. He says, be of good courage and get some of that fruit and bring it back. Let's see how big it is. Bring a report. Only two of the spies had good courage, Joshua and Caleb. Deuteronomy 31, verse six. Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear, nor be afraid of them. For the Lord your God, he is the one who goes with you. He will not leave you, nor forsake you. Let's compare that to the language that we just read in Acts 18 verse 9. Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not be silent, for I am with you. Deuteronomy 31 verse 7 Then Moses called Joshua and said to him, in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of good courage, you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it." That's what Paul is doing. Guess what land the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them? The whole earth. And he's not picking up the physical sword to go and conquer it. What he is picking up is the sword of the Spirit. He was told to take his sword. What is he told? He said, do not be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent. Brothers, there are many things that you can't say today. But do not be afraid. Speak. And do not keep silent. For I am with you. Now, in this city, they might attack you. They might hurt you. Maybe there's not many Christians here. Maybe there are. And you don't know until you seek to gather and you speak. That's why I'm talking to everybody I can find. I'm trying to communicate to them the need to unite, to work together. trying to find Justices and Crispuses, Priscilla's and Aquila's, trying to work together to lay groundwork to see if they will hear, if they will believe, if they'll be baptized. In Joshua, there are seven places where he's told to be of good courage. Be strong and of good courage, for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you." The Lord has sworn to us that we will inherit the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ will inherit the earth. We will subdue the earth under our feet. over and over again in the book of Joshua. The book of Samuel, First Chronicles. Joab, there's this story where in Eman, okay, the king dies and David sends some men as ambassadors to say, we're sorry about the death of your father and we have continued friendship. And those ambassadors get embarrassed. Their heads get shaved, their beards get plucked, their clothes get stripped off, they're sent out to be embarrassed. And David sends Joab and he says, go deal with these people. Send an army out there. Well, Iman got Syria to come in. And that's kind of a big deal. They had two armies. So Joab's there at Eman and on the other side of his army, the Syrian army appears and there's a pincer attack from two sides. So Joab's there and he's got the army of Eman and he's got the army of Syria. They have a coordinated assault coming in two directions on his force from Israel. It's a trap. They're trying to throw off the rule of David. No more tribute here. And Joab takes to his lips and talks to his brother. He says, we're going to have to split our forces. You will take men, and I will take men. I will fight Syria, and you will fight Amman. And if I see that you are overcome, I will begin, and I will send men your way, and we will hold the line. And if you see me being overrun, send men my way, and we will hold the line. Be strong and of good courage. And they win. They defeat a trap. against the Syrian army that's attacking him outside of the walls of that city from which the armies of Amman come forth. This can be abused. Absalom, who sought to overthrow David, when David did not do justice to punish one of his sons, raped one of his daughters. Absalom's furious over this. One of the sons is named Amnon. He hasn't been punished. Absalom says, I will bring justice. And he commands his men to be vigilantes. And he says, to be of good courage. When you follow the law and commandments of men, rather than the commandments of God, and you tell them to be of good courage, there is no good basis for that. Absalom and his army were destroyed. It's like taking the Lord's name in vain. In 1 Chronicles, David is preparing the materials for the temple, and he recounts this commandment, to be strong and of good courage, to not be afraid. In the building of the temple, there's a command that David gives to Solomon, as Solomon's about to take over as king, to be strong and of good courage to build the temple. God will be with him to do the work. So going and taking over the land and building the temple, there's a commissioning command to be strong and have good courage and to go do the work because God's going to be with you. Hey, are we taking the land? And are we building the temple? Do you think those are types that were given for us as examples? For our instruction, it is our duty to take the land. And it's our duty to build the temple. You are called to have strength and good courage and to do the work. When King Asa removed the idols in 2 Chronicles 15, he was reminded and he said to be strong. Be courageous. When Jehoshaphat set up reforms, pulled down the idols and set up judges and commanded them to judge with justice, he said, be strong and be courageous. Don't be afraid. When Hezekiah was fighting Sennacherib, when Sennacherib was outside of Jerusalem and said, don't appeal to your God, Yahweh. He will not save you. Right before Sennacherib, was slaughtered by an angel of the Lord with his over 100,000 men. Hezekiah reminded the people to be strong and courageous and to remember that the Lord was with them. At the work that Ezra commenced, he told the men to be strong and courageous, to not be afraid. The Psalms in Psalm 27 and Psalm 31, they remind us of that. In Isaiah 41, we're reminded to be strong and courageous, to give. And in Mark chapter 15, after the Lord Jesus Christ was dead, Joseph of Arimathea comes and he asks for the body of Jesus. And it's said that he took courage to go and ask. And in the book of Acts, which is that last book of history that we have, At the end of it, in chapter 28, when Paul is in Rome, he's imprisoned, and he's waiting to testify before an emperor, it says that he took courage. Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you, for I have many people in this city. So Paul heard that, and he did not shut up for a year and a half. He seemed to take it pretty seriously. He stays there for a year and six months, teaching Logon Tau Theu. The Word of God. We are commanded to be strong, to be of good courage. The Apostle Paul here, he admitted that he was afraid. Our heroes sin. But the Lord gives strength, the Lord gives encouragement, the Lord provides materials. You're not alone. The Lord is with you. And he sends Timothy and Silas, Priscilla and Aquila, Justice and Crispus. The Lord will gather his church. He makes it so that we can do the work. He gives us strength. He fortifies our souls. He gives us good doctrine. So brothers, let's pick up the sword. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would bless the teaching of your word, that you would encourage us to do our duty, that we would not be afraid, that we would not keep silent, that we would speak the truth. We ask that you would give us the inheritance, that you would help us to build the temple. We pray this in Christ's name, amen. Amen. Comments, questions, objections from the voting members? Mr. Perdomo? Yes, thank you for your teaching, Elder Reese. A question going back to verse 5 and how Paul was compelled by the Spirit to testify about Christ. Not specifically talking about this example, but just what you were stating about being compelled by the Holy Spirit. You know, these days you hear sometimes a Christian saying that another Christian approached him and was told, you know, God told me to tell you this, right? And, of course, we know that is not correct. You know, revelation has ceased. But I wanted to make sure that I'm understanding what you said about being compelled by the Spirit. Aren't we, too, when we are compelled, say to encourage a brother or to share a truth, we are to basically compare that to the truth of the word and see if it's, make sure that it is in an alignment before going to your brother when you have these kinds of thoughts. Is that what you were saying when you were speaking on that? Yeah, when you have a situation and your conscience bothers you and you think, I need to do this thing, You need to compare that sense of compelling of conscience with the scriptures. If there is no duty to do that in scripture, your conscience is wrong. And so you should not be a slave to every impulse that enters your mind. We don't want to, like you said, there are people that come up and say, God told me to tell you. No, he didn't. Blasphemy. No, he didn't. We know that. Daniel 9 clearly teaches us that prophecy ceased with the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. It's done. If you're not quoting scripture to me or giving me a necessary inference from scripture, if you're not showing me an argument why you can show me that scripture says this, no, he didn't. You're lying. And so, That's what needs to happen. That's the kind of rebuking that pastors need to do when their people walk around telling them God said things. They're a false prophet. Stop that. Repent. That's a way of making your own will authoritative. And so, that desire to take your own desires and make it so that God has commanded other people to do what you want to tell them, It's blasphemous. It's important that we not have will worship. We don't want to worship our own wills or the wills of other men. We want to worship God. And he's given us a word and it is sufficient. And I want to put this on the record, okay? 2 Timothy chapter 3, 2 Timothy chapter 3, starting at verse 15. You have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness or training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete. Complete does not mean incomplete. Thoroughly equipped. Thoroughly equipped does not mean insufficiently equipped. For every good work, every good work does not mean some works. Complete, thoroughly equipped, for every good work. Scripture is sufficient for us to be mature, complete. Scripture is sufficient for us to be thoroughly equipped for every good work. There's a triple universal there. Complete, thoroughly equipped, every good work. And we are taught in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 that there's a time when prophecy, words of knowledge, tongues, they cease. And Daniel chapter nine tells us when that is. The destruction of the temple, 70 AD. The Lord Jesus Christ made sure we didn't miss it by telling us that was gonna happen within the generation that was alive when he was teaching in Matthew 24. Scripture's complete. There is no new revelation. Special revelation is complete. It's done. So when somebody does that, they're a false prophet. So I hope I've made it clear how seriously that should be taken. Yes, absolutely. Thank you. Anything else?