Take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Jonah. The book of Jonah, chapter number one. We're going to start reading in verse six. We see Jonah is at the bottom of the boat. He's been running from the Lord. God gave him a commandment in verse 2 to go to Nineveh. Jonah already had plans, his heart was already prepared to do what he did. So he rose up and he fled from the presence of the Lord, going to the city of Tarshish, paying his fare at the boat in Joppa. And he's made his way out. We don't know where in the Mediterranean Sea. Some ways out, but enough that he's gotten comfortable. So he got to the bottom of the boat and fell fast asleep. God prepared a great storm, a tempest, a wind, and overtook the ship. Aren't you glad that God doesn't give up on us. And in verse 5, the mariners tried and attempted whatever they could. They were afraid. They cried out every man to his own God. And they threw out the ship's cargo, the wares. They threw them out, all that precious material that they had been exporting and importing back and forth, their livelihood. And now in verse 6, so the shipmaster came to him, that's Jonah, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, and if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. And they said, Every one to his fellow come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us? What is thy occupation? Whence comest thou? What is thy country? And of what people are thou? And he said unto them, I am a Hebrew. I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because Jonah had told them. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee? That the sea may be calm unto us, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea. So shall the sea be calm unto you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, because the Lord is not done yet. But they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. Wherefore, they cried unto the Lord and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and let not upon us innocent blood lay not upon us. For thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth in the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. And then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and they made vows. Father, I pray as we look at this section of scripture, would you impress upon our heart the truths of the word of God so that we may be obedient to you? Would we be rebuked? Would our hearts be tender and sensitive to your calling and your word this morning? And Lord, would we take heed to this lesson of Jonah. In Jesus' name that we pray, amen. When I was in college, I had a roommate who worked, who had a class first shift or first hour. It was like 7.15 or 7.20. I didn't have a class until second hour. So I got to take me sleep a whole nother hour. At least I thought. Well, he was a pretty hard sleeper. And he got an alarm clock set by his bed. We were across from each other. He was on, I think, the top bunk across the room. I was on the bottom bunk on this side of the room. And so he had his alarm clock and had his clock set right next to his bed on the dresser. And when it came to be, you know, 6 o'clock or 6.15, whenever, you know, it was time, his alarm would go off. And it would beep. And it would beep. And it would beep and beep and beep. It was one of those alarms that just continued on. It wasn't like it stopped. It would beep and beep and beep. And I would, already I was woken up and he was still laying in his bed sleeping and snoring. And finally after about two minutes, what seemed like two hours, I'd get up out of the bed and walk over there and click it off and say, Brian, get up. And I'd go back and try to go back to bed, you know. And then, of course, I'd obviously hit the snooze. And so a little bit later, it would beep and beep and I'd get back up. And after about a couple weeks of this, I told my roommate, Brian, I said, Brian, you're going to have to get a different alarm clock because obviously this one is not working. It worked for me. But it didn't work for him. He needed one of those radios or, you know, that came on with the radio station or something in his ear or he needed to put it on his pillow or whatever it was. But, you know, we went through that whole semester and I ended up waking up my roommate just about every morning so that he could make it to class so that I could get back in bed and five minutes later have to get back up and get ready for my class. That was just the way it was. He was a hard sleeper. He just wouldn't hear the warning signs. That's exactly the type of person Jonah is spiritually. God is getting a hold of his attention or attempting to. Jonah, you need to wake up. Jonah, I need your attention. I've given you a command. You're my son. You're my prophet. I will not let you go. I'm going to continue after you. I'm going to continue to draw you as a son, as a father does his son. I'm going to continue to chasten and scourge you. And as he's using the storm, and often as we talked about last week, God will use storms in our life to get our attention. But sometimes that's not enough. And I believe in this passage when we see what is God using to get Jonah's attention back to him? What is the lengths that God would go, the distance that God would go to get his prophet, his son, back on track on the right path? Not only does he use a storm, but often God will use people in our lives. As I see this story here in verse five and verse six of chapter one, You see the mariners, the sailors. And then in verse 6 you see the ship master, the captain. These were men whom Jonah had surrounded himself with. He'd partnered with them, paid their fare, got on the boat and said, ship me off. That faraway place where there's pleasure, where the world in the opposite direction from the what God wants me to do, where I can just take a vacation and I don't have to worry about this prophecy stuff. I don't have to worry about preaching to the Ninevites. He gets in with these sailors. Now most would contend that these were Phoenician sailors. The Phoenicians from Tyre and Sidon just north in Syria were pretty much the masters of the Mediterranean. We have archaeological evidence that the Phoenicians in that time probably were able to sail into the Atlantic Ocean. Some have even indicated that maybe they found evidence that they are in their ships and the evidence that they have been in Britain all the way down to the south portion of Africa and possibly even a trade route into India. All the way from that little portion just north of Palestine. So these Phoenician sailors, as they had the ship, and they had a direct route back and forth to this place of Tarshish, and Jonah gets in with these guys, and in verse 5, after the storm is going on, they cried, every man his God. They were pagans. They were not God-fearers. They were not Jews. They were not Hebrews. They were pagans. And no doubt these Phoenician sailors, dealing in the trade, knowing the seas, knowing the storms, this was something that they could not handle. This was something that they'd never come in contact with before. And so they cried out and they prayed. Verse 5 says, they were afraid. These were professionals. They knew the seas, they knew their ships. The Phoenicians built some pretty sturdy ships that they had during that time that they could take the storms, they could take the seas. But God had flung out this storm to get to Jonah, and no matter what they do, they couldn't thwart the plans of God, and they were literally scared for their lives. And so the ship master is given the task to go search out. There's one person missing. Everyone else has prayed to their God. But we remember we took on a passenger in Joppa who seemed like he was out of place. When was the last time you saw a Hebrew or prophet want to go down to Tarshish? That's kind of abnormal. He paid a big fare, a big ticket to get onto the ship and go where he needed to go. So there you go, make his way down. And he wakes Jonah up. And he says, Jonah, why, why sleepest thou? What are you doing? What meanest? He's coming down and he's saying, how in the world could you sleep during this storm? And God, I believe, used these sailors to pinpoint in Jonah's life some things that he was ignorant of. I wouldn't say ignorant, he was willingly ignorant of. God used these men. And these men knew right well that Jonah was being a fool. Jonah was being a fool. They knew something was wrong. And God will oftentimes send people into your life who know something is wrong about you, who will confront you about that situation. Jonah was asleep. Now, it's important, interesting in this story that God was sending the storm to get to Jonah, but the sailors, the shipmen, they were affected by Jonah's decision. And our sins affect others, whether we like it or not. We do not sin in a vacuum. And when you run from the Lord, The company that you keep, you better beware. And if you are keeping company with a disobedient, rebellious believer, you better beware, because their decisions are gonna affect your life. That's exactly what happened. Be careful of the company you keep. Proverbs 13 and verse 20 says this. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 33, be not deceived. Paul is saying, you can be deceived by this, and I'm commanding you not to be deceived. Don't be taken off guard. Evil communications corrupt good manners. Who you hang around with. Young people, listen to this. Your friends and the people you hang around with will affect your life. The decisions you make in your life will affect others around you. And you better be careful in the company of a backslidden Christian. You better be careful in the company of a fool. Proverbs 26 and verse 4 says, answer not a fool according to his folly, lest ye be what? Like him. We better beware. The verse 8 of Proverbs chapter 26 says this, As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool. Jonah was a fool. And being a fool, those who were hanging out with him, those who were in the boat, those who were rubbing shoulders with him, were affected by Jonah's foolishness. And these men knew it. And so they came down to the bottom of the boat. They brought this guy back and said, what in the world are you doing? You're a fool. These men were trying to bring out a blind spot in Jonah's life that he was completely blinded by. So they cast lots, the scripture says. These men wanted to make sure that the decision they were going to make was well. And casting lots was something that they pretty much did. They gambled, they drew straws, they drew, I don't know what they did, threw the stones out into the ground or however they did. They cast lots, the scripture says, and the lot fell on Jonah. And they turned around to him and said, what evil is this upon us? Why, Jonah, why has this come down? These men wanted to make sure. And I believe it's important, as we see in Numbers 32 and verse 23, be sure that your sins will find you out, the scripture says. Genesis 3 and verse 8, do you remember when Adam and Eve had sinned against the Lord, and they knew it, and they looked down, they knew they were naked, and they went and hid themselves, and God came as He had come all the other times to walk in the coolness of the day with Adam and Eve, and God looked around. It wasn't that God didn't know, but He cried out and He said, Adam, where are you? And Adam said, we're over here. She said, what are you doing over there? We're hiding because we're naked. And God said, who told you? How do you know? You see, God was pinpointing. It wasn't that God didn't know where Adam and Eve were and they were playing hide and seek. is that Adam and Eve were now ashamed of their sin and attempting to hide from the presence of God. Just like Jonah, he knew he was in sin. He was running from the face in the presence of God. And he was hiding, covering. Genesis 4 and verse 8, do you remember what God told the Cain? Where is thy brother, Cain? It wasn't that God didn't know where his brother was. It's that God was pinpointing Cain to the point where he would recognize his sin, where Cain would realize that he couldn't hide from a holy God. Yet Cain still said, Lord, am I my brother's keeper? Proverbs 28, verse 13, he that covereth his sin will not, shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Notice the questions that the mariners asked him. Look down in verse eight. And they said unto him, tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us? What is thine occupation? Jonah's being interrogated here. It's like the FBI, bring him out. Okay, here, now let's ask him the questions. Let's catch them off guard. They're going to interrogate. They're going to investigate. And every one of these questions is getting deeper and deeper into Jonah's heart. And God is using these men to ask those questions of Jonah. God is using those men around Jonah to pinpoint. What does he say? What's your job? Well, I'm a prophet. Really? You're a prophet? What's the next question says? Where do you come from? I come from Israel. What is your country? What people are you? I'm a Hebrew. Jonah is admitting he's having to come to himself. You remember when Jacob was wrestling with the Lord, God asked Jacob questions, not because God doesn't know the answer to the question, but God wanted to pinpoint Jacob to the point of the darkest places of his heart that he had been holding on, that he had been hiding. He wanted Jacob to recognize his own self. And God was using these men to ask these hard questions. So Jonah was forced to answer them out loud. Why have you done this? Verse 10. When he finally answers, these men recognize, and now Jonah recognizes, I am a complete fool. I'm a fool. And God used these men to get Jonah's attention. Now when we talk about getting our attention, none of us like to be rebuked. None of us like to be reproved. None of us are comfortable when someone comes to pinpoint a blind spot or an area in our heart that we're not quite right with God about. Listen to a couple of the Proverbs. Proverbs 3 in verse 11. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. We talked about that last week. Proverbs 15 and verse 5, a fool despiseth his father's instruction, but he that regardeth with proof is prudent. Verse 10 of Proverbs 15, correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way, and he that hateth with proof shall die. Proverbs 15, 31, and 32. The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise, but he that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul. But he that heareth reproof getteth understanding. Solomon is saying there are times that in our life where we won't listen to the circumstances around us and God may bring someone in our path and on our way and to confront us like Nathan did to David and rebuke us and to reprove us and a wise person will listen to that instruction and hear it no matter how hard it hurts, no matter how deep it gets, no matter what question it's asked, we are forced to answer those situations as those circumstances. Proverbs 27 and verse 6, fateful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. What is reproof? What is rebuke? Someone said that it is caring enough to confront. It is seeing our blind spots where others can help and encourage and correct our misbehavior or our wrong choices. Rebuke and reproof is love and a spirit of humility. There's a need to be confronted. And God will often use others to confront and rebuke us, maybe a wife. No one knows you better than your spouse. And oftentimes the best thing that a spouse can do is to come and say, listen, I've been praying about this, and I've seen this in your life, and I know it may hurt, but here's the truth. Maybe a parent, young people. Children, God has given parents instructions. Scripture says in Ephesians chapter six, to honor and to obey. And a parent is to nurture and to correct and to give instructions and to discipline their children. And part of that is reproving and rebuking certain type of behavior. But adults don't forget that God also brings people in our life to do the exact same thing. Maybe a pastor, maybe a friend, maybe a co-worker, maybe a sailor. What sailor is trying to attempt to rebuke your heart? your decision, where you are in your spiritual life. To reprove is the risk of saying the hard thing, to point out the need that needs to be addressed. And I thank God for those in my life who were strong enough and willing enough and loved me enough to say the hard thing. When you look back on your marriage and you look back in your relationship and the friendship of those who loved you enough to say the hard thing and to tell you the truth. Who cared enough to confront a situation. Is someone trying to get a hold of your attention? When we are away from God, when we need correction, God often will bring people along our path to give us the hints, to warn us, and to say the hard thing in front of us. And it may wound us. Thank God for those who love us enough to tell us the truth. Reproof is not a constant nagging or fault finding or being rude or harshly criticizing or constantly condemning. Chuck Swindoll used this example of a nagging wife. He said a rabbi was approached by a man who said that his wife was poisoning him. Poisoning you, huh? And he asked the rabbi, what do I do, rabbi? What do I do? My wife is attempting to poison me. And the rabbi said, oh, hold on a second. Give me a week and I'll try and see what I can do. The rabbi called a week later to the husband and said, I talked to your wife. We spent over three hours on the phone. And she talked the entire time. You want my advice? Take the poison. Listen, reproof and rebuke is not a nagging, condemning spirit, constantly criticizing or picking out the faults in other people's lives. Rebuke and reproof is a spirit of humility and love for the benefit of the other person. And any one of you parents who know you've got a son or a daughter who've walked away from the Lord, you know the love and the heart that you have to say the hard thing and the truth to them, knowing that it may hurt and it may cause them to wiggle, it may asking them pointed questions, and it may hurt the relationship even, but you're not doing it because of selfish reasons or because of pride. You first looked at your own speck or the beam in your own eye, and in humility you come, and you approach, and you say something in love and care because your heart's burdened and burning for them to follow the Lord. Now, I'm not saying that these sailors are necessarily in that spirit. We're just the best friends, and they just love Jonah all, you know, to the hilt. But I do believe that God was using these men to pin Jonah to the wall. And who is God using to pin you to the wall? And if you are a rebel, and you are being rebuked by someone, do not ignore that rebuke. If you are a son and daughter, if you are a child, if you're a teenager, if you're an adult, and someone is attempting to get a hold of you because they love you and they care for you and they simply are telling you the honest truth, don't ignore, don't close your ears to that situation. because if you won't listen, God will continue after you. Not only does God use a storm in Jonah's life to get his attention, not only does God use people around Jonah to get his attention and ask him the right questions, but eventually God brings a fish. Now in that point, I would like to see the fish as the desperate Last chance opportunity for Jonah. This was Jonah's bottom. Jonah was so hard-headed and hard-hearted that he wouldn't listen to the storm. He wouldn't listen to the people that were trying to get a hold of his attention. Look at verse 11. And then they said they, when it came down, Jonah answers the questions and he tells them that he's fleeing from the presence of the Lord. Then said they unto him, What are we going to do? That the sea may be calmed, for the sea is wrought and tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up and cast me forth into the sea. Now, this is total, absolute rebellion. What were Jonah's options? He had two. His first option, what would you have done in that situation? What would you have done? You know, I would like to think what I would have done is I would have, at this point, already being bent to my knee, asked the question, would have been sensitive enough to say, turn the ship around, go back to Joppa, because I'm going to Nineveh. That's what God wants me to do. There's no doubt that Jonah knew that. That was option one. That was what Jonah should have done. And then we would have jumped right into chapter three. But instead, Jonah picked option two. Anywhere but God. Throw me into the sea. I'd rather take my chances in the sea than follow the Lord. That is absolute rebellion. Jonah just, at that statement, went from a complete fool to an absolute scorner. Interesting, the Scripture would tell us Jonah would rather take his chances in the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea and die than to obey the Lord. When the scorner is punished, Proverbs 21 and verse 11 says, when the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise. Proverbs 21, 24, proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath. Proverbs 19 and verse 29, judgments are prepared for scorners and stripes for the fool's back. How do you deal with a rebel? How do you deal with a scorner? When we think about the story of the prodigal son, the Lord Jesus Christ gave us a story of a father and two sons, and one son was so rebellious that he came to his father and he said, give me the portion that I deserve. What do you do when you have a son or a daughter? What do you do when there's a believer who is a prodigal or one who is completely hard-hearted to the things of the Lord? What do you do? In a desperate situation, in a circumstance like this, life only got worse for Jonah. The men continued to attempt to try, and we don't want to kill Jonah. We don't want to be guilty of murder. We don't want to throw an innocent man over into the sea. And then that's going to be on us. So they say, what are we going to do? So they continue to row. They continue to row. Whatever they did, it didn't work. until these men realized that the only thing that would please God was to get rid of the sinner, get rid of the scorner, get rid of the foolish prophet. They had to separate themselves from this man to find God's pleasure. And what you have to do with a scorner or a rebel, and this is the hardest thing sometimes for a parent, is to cut the ties, to do the hard thing. Notice that a complete separation, a surrender of this corner over to God was the only thing that would make this better. It was the final solution they had confronted. God had been attempting to get a hold of the attention of Jonah and he would not listen. And there are times when a rebellious person is so rebellious and unrepentant to God that they must be separated for God to deal with them alone. And there's only so much that you can do personally. And then you hand them to the Lord. In the local church setting, this would be what we would call church discipline. Proverbs 22 and verse 10, cast out the scorner and contention shall go away and strife and reproach shall cease. In the New Testament, Matthew 18 gives us the follow plan of those who have a disobedient brother. If a brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault. between him and thee alone. And if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." That's the reproved, that's the rebuke, that's the wise person who hears the instruction and obeys the counsel and confesses his sin. But if he will not hear thee, then take thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. And if he shall neglect, notice the third step, the ultimate rebellion. Tell it to the church. But if he can neglect to hear the church, let him then be as a heathen and a publican. Titus 3 in verse 10, a man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition, reject. First Corinthians 5, I wrote unto you an epistle not to take company, but to deliver such a one unto Satan. Purge out, Paul says, the old leaven that you may be a new lump. This is a hard passage for any church that has to go down this process. But as a parent, as a friend, in those situations, this is God's way of putting that person in the fish's mouth. This is separating them as a last resort because they will not repent so that then God can deal with them. That's hard. This is not shunning. It's a different type of thing. This is tough love. And it is difficult. It is not easy. I've not been there, not with my children. But maybe you have. Maybe an encouragement to you is that God always hears and answers prayer. God knows your heart. And sometimes like the prodigal son where the daddy said, Here it is. Go on. He didn't text him every day. He didn't call him up. He wasn't right there at the pigsty watching him to bail him out when it was time. He waited until he came to himself, made his own decision, confessed his own sin, got up from that presence and said, I will go unto my father. And what a father. stand on the other side, and as he would see his son come over the hill, I no doubt he had been praying every day for that moment. He had done the hard thing. And then, over the hill, he came and embraced him and met him in love. Those of you who are in those situations, you long for that day, I recognize that. But if you're out there today, and you're a rebel, and you're a Jonah, you better beware. The bottom is very deep. The pig's thigh is very filthy. And when you come and you live your life and you waste it on riotous living, the King James says, and you come to the point where you have said no, no, no to God, you better beware. And I would plead with you, come to the Lord. If you've been in that situation and you've been to your bottom, it's a hard place to be. Have mercy, compassion for those who are in that same place, pray for them. But notice last as we conclude here in verse 16. Notice what happened when they threw Jonah overboard. And this is often a part of the story that is missed, that we kind of read over very quickly. Then after they threw him, 15, so they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows. When Jonah dropped to the bottom of the ocean, when they threw him out, the sea immediately calmed. These men knew this was from God Jehovah, the one who made the sea and the dry land. And when they saw this miracle happen, this was a miracle, they bent the knee and they feared God. I believe these men became God-fearers. They made sacrifices. What was that? Did they have enough sheep or lambs or what was it? Was it grain? We're not told what kind of sacrifice it was, but they made a sacrifice, a worship, a praise to the Lord. And then they made a pact, a vow together. What was the vow? We don't necessarily know, but I believe this was a positive vow. We're going to follow this God. If he's big enough, and he loves his children this much to get a hold of them, and he's this powerful enough, then we better get in line with this one. Interesting that Jonah, while he's being fish food, God is doing a revival on the boat. And I think God is proving to Jonah, I don't need you. These are the first converts of Jonah, and Jonah hasn't preached a positive message yet. And they've turned to the Lord. And they've been converted. God doesn't need us, God desires to use us. And if we refuse to be used in the hands of the Lord, God can either let the rocks cry out, God can do it himself, or God can send someone else. Listen, to be an instrument in God's hands is a privilege. and it's a privilege you don't want to miss. And Jonah, while he's fighting for his life, taking the chances, in fact, Jonah would choose suicide. It wasn't like he had some great life jackets from Cabela's or anything. He threw him out the boat. Was he gonna swim back to shore? But God chose. to continue to bring people to Him despite Jonah's disobedience. So let me ask you this morning, what is God trying to do to get a hold of your attention? Is He using a storm? Is He using a group of people or a person, a parent, a grandparent, a spouse? Or maybe He's brought you to the point or you've brought yourself to the point of your absolute bottom. And you're in the lowest of lows. and God is trying to shake you up and shake your heart up. Maybe I can ask this question this morning, how are your friends? The worst type of people to hang around with are those who are sinners, who find their seats in the scornful, and those who are fools and disobedient prophets. Don't hang out with them. Don't make your company with them, because they will affect your life. and their choices will affect your choices and you all of a sudden be in the same ship that they're in and in the same storm that they're in and your family may be taken down. Don't be like Achan who thought that he could sin and no one else would be affected and when he stood there in front of Joshua and his wife and his children would be consumed with him. Are you being rebuked? Are you a rebel? Are you ignoring God's warning signs? Let me ask you, maybe you don't even know the Lord Jesus Christ is your Savior, and God is trying to get you to become a child of Him. Repent, open your heart up, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. With heads bowed and eyes closed, we close our service this morning in prayer. Could I encourage you today, whatever decision that you need to make, we're gonna close with a song in just a moment. But before we do that, you need to respond to the Lord. Every time we are faced with the scripture, the scripture demands a response from us. And you, like a scorner or a fool, can walk away and say, not me, that's not me. When God is in His mercy and in His grace is going out of His way to get your attention. Maybe you're a disobedient son or daughter or maybe a spouse or teenager that just has a heart that is so hard to God. Instead of seeing the rules and the regulations, instead of seeing all the things that went wrong in your life and choosing to blame everyone else, would you just look at the people who love you and care for you and are attempting to tell you the truth because they care for you and they want you to follow the Lord? And be willing to say, I'm sorry. And turn to the Lord. And if you don't know Jesus as your Savior this morning, would you accept Christ before it's too late? No one's guaranteed tomorrow. What profit a man if he would gain the whole world, but lose his own soul? Father, as we close this morning service, maybe out there you're dealing with someone's heart. They know, this was from the Holy Spirit, it's in the scriptures, Lord, I pray that they would be wise. And if there's a person that's out there that does not know Jesus as their Savior, would they stop fighting? And would they see your call to them and your ultimate love and sacrifice on the cross to purchase their redemption, and that they can surrender to you and repent of their sins. And it's far better to be a servant in the house of the Father than to be a slave to the world and the pigsty of the world. Lord, I pray that you would just bless our service. In your name that we pray, amen.