Our Father, we just thank you for your word. Thank you for what it can do for us in our lives and the very life that it contains. We ask that you would go with us in the next few minutes and bring these words into our heart that may change who we are and how we think. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. This morning, I'd like to deal with a fairly simple concept that we find in Scripture. And I've titled this Prudence to the Naive. Go to Proverbs 1-4. I've read this verse a lot of times in my life, and it's only been recently that I actually heard it. And it's the introduction to the book of Proverbs of Solomon, and it's telling you what these Proverbs have the power to do, basically. Verse 4 is, to give prudence to the naive, to the youth, knowledge, and discretion. Sometimes you just read it, and you just rip on through it, and you're on to the next verse. I guess the Lord just had me stop on that and start to dwell on it. And I want to flesh this out with you this morning. I want to start by going to some definitions. Merriam-Webster, this is a modern dictionary, and the word na誰ve, marked by unaffected simplicity, definition two is deficiency in worldly wisdom or informed judgment. A deficiency in that, a naive person is deficient in worldly wisdom or informed judgment, number two, letter B, not previously subjected to experimentation or a particular experimental situation. Okay, so experimental or experimentation has to do with experience, right? Something that is happening that you're observing, okay? And then we have some connecting words here that help understand. Made the test with na誰ve rats would be a way to say it, meaning you did some experiment with a rat that had never previously been involved with this before. Or not having previously used a particular drug. So in the modern, if you're na誰ve to marijuana, it means you've never partaken of marijuana. And then in the biological sense, not having been exposed previously to an antigen, meaning to that substance. So if you're naive to chicken pox, you've never had it. Definition three is produced by or is as a self-taught artist. So you would say that's a naive painting. You would say it was self-taught. It's sort of primitive. Naivete, or being naive, if we think about it, where we haven't gained knowledge by experience. And we can think of the main situation where this comes to mind is children. They have had no experience to know this thing that they're coming up against. There are many things in the world that we want our children and us to be naive about. Okay? Stop there. Go on. Prudence. Give prudence Now think of the difference between these two. I just read you the definitions to na誰ve. Now we're going to deal with prudence. Same Merriam-Webster modern dictionary. The ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason. Two, sagacity or shrewdness in the management of affairs. Number three, skill and good judgment in the use of resources. for caution or circumspection as to danger or risk. So, one who is prudent seems to have something that the naive doesn't have. He has an understanding of caution, understanding of risk, knows how to govern by way of reason. So, he's quite different than the naive one. who really has never experienced something before. I went to the 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary that my father loves, and there was not much in there other than I was surprised. But under Prudence, it said this, Prudence implies caution in deliberating and consulting on the most suitable means to accomplish a valuable purpose, and the exercise of sagacity in discerning and selecting them. meaning selecting those most suitable means to accomplish something. Prudence differs from wisdom in that prudence implies more caution and reserve than wisdom. Or it is exercised more in foreseeing and avoiding evil than in devising and executing what is good. Let me read that last part again. Prudence differs from wisdom in that prudence implies more caution and reserve than wisdom or is exercised more, meaning it spends more time in foreseeing and avoiding evil than in devising and executing that which is good. Meaning prudence is really trying to make sure that the way is not evil. It's a very cautionary word, way more than wisdom. Wisdom would be looking for the good way. Prudence is making sure you avoid the evil way. So let's go back to the verse, Proverbs 1-4, to give prudence to the naive, to the youth, knowledge, and discretion. Now, simple words, but let's dig into them a little bit. What this is saying is that it's possible to get prudence without experience. Many of us older people can look back and say, I can't believe I had to learn that the way I did. I had to learn it through experience. I had to experience why drunkenness damaged, condemned lives. I had to experience it. I had to experience why such and such an event hurt me. I know someone who actually had to go at a young age to jail to finally come out and say I don't want any part of that. And that was an event that turned him to avoiding evil, or at least criminal evil. Experience. He had to experience. Now, this promise is just too apparent. It's shockingly powerful. At least to me, it's shockingly powerful. These words have in them the ability to jump all the way to prudence without the pain of experience. That's just beautiful. I mean, that is such an incredible statement. If we get in our thinking back sort of mind of times in our lives where we wish we could have had prudence without experience. We wish we didn't have to say, you know, I know why that's bad, because I'm a sufferer. of the consequences. Now, there's some things we probably can say, you know, I listened to my mom on this one. I listened to my parents, and they drilled into me to avoid this one. And I did! Proven this to the naive, without experience. And their son, we say, you know, I didn't avoid that one. I didn't think they knew what they were talking about on that one. That one didn't stick with me. Or, I thought that the short-term benefit, the feeling, the whatever, was going to be attractive enough to me that I just disregarded the prudent way. Don't high on that verse. I'm really high on that verse. Second part, and to the youth, what are the youth known for? Not a lot of experience, and not a lot of knowledge, and every time we see in their path something that looms because we are wiser at being parents, We immediately, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa Wasted their life with that. Or lost, missed out on a huge blessing with that. Pursuing that. Maybe some of you are sitting there saying, that's just a simple concept. Of course, this Bible has words that if we do them, we get something out of it. Well, I don't know. Something about the promise here, that in these words, that there's prudence can be gained without experience, to me is very powerful. To me, that is earth-shattering information, especially to a parent. It should be to a parent, okay? A parent says, man, how do I get my kids to get more than I got? By avoiding something, right? Scripture ties together many levels, so where you can go to this is many facets. But part of it is, if that's what's here, if prudence is available, then there's a heightened value to the book. Right? I mean, this book becomes really valuable. Let me give you an illustration of value. You're dropped by a helicopter right into a field. Big, open, grassy field. Oh, it's a beautiful place. And a small note pinned to your jacket that says, by the way, you're surrounded by mines. The whole field is mined. What would you pay the guy for the map of the mines? You know, what would you pay the guy for the compass and the map to get through it? Also, you're like, hey, I'm willing to pay a lot of money because I don't think I can make it very far without the map. Meaning, I'm almost willing to give up everything that I have for the map because it's a moot point anyway if I go without it. Right? If I go without it, I'm for sure going to not be able to make it through. I'm willing to risk it all for the math. Because once I get out, I can start over, okay? Say I amassed a certain amount of wealth by that point in time. I mean, it all becomes worthless. I can start over when I get on the other side of the minefield. Well, life, the way it's set up, is a minefield. The world, Satan, it's all minds. It's everywhere. And not only is it minds, they're attractive minds. They're minds that make you want to go for them. Okay? Constantly, everywhere in the world. Go to Proverbs 7, 7. And I saw among the naive, I discerned among the youths, a man lacking sense. A naive one, and a youth, so we know he doesn't have much experience. lacking sense. And I'm not going to read the rest, but he is passing by the house of the adulterous woman. And the rest of the chapter is the enticement to sex outside of marriage by the prostitute, in this case. The naive one, the youth, doesn't know what he's embarking on, doesn't know the dangerous path, doesn't know the mine that's there. You get knowledge of it? Well, he can read the chapter of Proverbs called chapter 7. Many others in Proverbs that deal with that topic. 22 verse 3 of Proverbs. The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, but the naive go on and are punished for it. Now, wait a minute. They didn't deserve that. They were naive. They didn't know. They didn't know. The naive marches on and is punished for it. Wait, that's not fair. That's the way it is. The naive get punished by the consequences, by the pain, whether they know it or not. You want to reach up and touch the 138 KV. KV is 138,000 volt wire. You could do it with the greatest of intentions. Just don't snap. The naive I wonder what that crackling, hissing, hissing noise is? Well, that's high voltage. Kid might not know that. It's a kind of interesting sound. Killed instantly. Catastrophically. You don't escape. 2712. A prudent man steves evil and hides himself. The naive proceed and pay the penalty. What? They pay the penalty. You ever been in that? You know when you get the fine? You just gotta pull the money out! Damn it! Right? You just got bit! Okay? Well in this case, it may be a lot more than money. Okay? It might not be a $200 speeding ticket or whatever. It is a cost that could be catastrophic in your life. Literally ruin your life. Ruin your ability to be happy or content. Ruin your ability to see we all could run through our minds a million ways, right? That we can be damaged morally, physically, by being naive. There's kind of an interesting thing that goes on in Proverbs 9 that I want to deal with. And we're going to jump back and forth here, so try to follow me. The woman of folly is boisterous. She is naive and knows nothing. So, she's naive. This is also a sex outside of marriage, fornication, or possibly adultery situation. She's naive and knows nothing. She sits at the doorway of her house on a seat by the high places of the city, calling to those who pass by, who are making their paths straight. Verse 16, whoever is naive, let him turn in here. OK, stop and go to verse 1 of chapter 9. This is the personification of wisdom as a lady. Wisdom has built her house. She has hewn out seven pillars. She has prepared her food. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table. She has sent out her maidens. She calls from the tops of the heights of the city, whoever is naive, let him turn in here. So, put your finger on verse 4, go back down to verse 6. Whoever is naive, down in verse 16, let him turn in here. What, what? You notice the similarity between those two verses? Winston is saying, hello! I've made a meal, a dinner, in a beautiful house. Whoever is naive, come here, come over here. Other side of the street, A woman who is of folly, naive and knows nothing is yelling, whoever's naive, let him turn in here. Same message. Each wants what? One to come in. One for evil and one for wisdom. Let's see what wisdom then promises. Verse five, okay, I'll read on with the last part of verse four. Whoever's naive, let him turn in here. To him who lacks understanding, she says, come, eat my food, drink of the wine I have mixed, forsake your folly and live, and proceed in the way of understanding. Now we see we have a personification here, right? Of wisdom. So this food and wine and drink that she's serving is this word that can give prudence without experience. Okay, she's going to feed this stuff to the naive one who lacks understanding, the youth, and even us when we we all need this wisdom. Okay, but now across the street is let's see what she says. Whoever is naive, let him turn in here and to him who lacks understanding. She says stolen water is sweet. and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. What does she appeal to? She appeals to pretty short-term thinking. That's what I call it. That's what I always say to my high school kids. Please, please, be a long-term thinker. Short-term thinking is usually really bad. I want, I gotta have now. That looks good to me, I need it. That would feel good, I want it. Right? Long-term thinking is, it looks good, but what are the consequences? What's the cost? What does the Bible say? No, I'm saving myself for my wife. That's a long-term thought. Not a short-term thought. A long-term thought. So she offers some enticement. Stolen water is sweet. Whatever. It's an enticement. I've never had stolen water before. Maybe it is sweeter than regular water. and bread eaten in secret. Ah, she lures into secret to partake of this bread. Last part for her is, but he who does not know the dead are there. Meaning, in this secret place that she's about to take, there's a lot who've gone before, okay, and been ruined. That her guests are in the depths of Sheol, meaning depth. Very strong, strong words. The end of verse 9 is forsake your folly and live. Death for one, life for the other. And proceed in the way of understanding. I'm going to try to say this really quickly. I wrote at the top of my page, and it took me a long time to decide whether I wanted to write this or not. The title is Prudence of the 90s, Sunday, May 3rd, 2009. Goal, families to read the Bible together. The reason that's hard for me to read is it's taken me a long time to do that. Way too long. But we're doing it now. Ignorance of God's Word. Classic example of that is Uthah. Now, this ignorance that comes with the naive. Naive has an innocence about it, right? I mean, he's kids. These young ones are, I mean, they're not innocent, we know that they're sinners from an early age, but in terms of experience, they're young, innocent, okay? We want to protect them from these experiences. So how do we do that? Here's a book that says, here's a way to do it. Here's a book that says, I have the answer for you, okay? It's just calling out in the street, you know? Wisdom says, come in here. Why? Yeah, I've got something really important. Well, how important? Well, like, sounds pretty important. Why? Here's an example of life and ignorance and naivete. First Chronicles 13.7. This is David trying to bring back the Ark of the Covenant to Israel after it was captured. And this is how he did it. And they carried the Ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab and Uzzah Aho drove the cart, and David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and with trumpets. When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to hold the ark because the oxen nearly upset it. So he touched it to keep it from falling off. The anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, so he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark and he died there before God. Boom. There was 138,000 bolts. He didn't know it. Well, you know, how would he know it? Well, that's a good question. How would he know it? Now, he was employed by David. to make this happen and I actually looked it up where it talks about the building of the ark that there's poles that go through the ark that you lift and carry on your shoulders in the wall. And then Deuteronomy 17, 18, now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests and it shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by carefully observing all the words of his law and these statutes." So the kings of Israel were supposed to, after the swearing in, immediately go visit the priests, the scribes, and begin copying the law by hand. Seems like a childish exercise, something you might do in first or second grade, You know, copy this paragraph down. But think of the importance of it. He gets his own copy. He gets it by a painful process. Reading it. I don't know if you've ever heard how detailed the scribes were when they rewrote the scripture. It's shocking. I mean, this was their profession, was being a Xerox machine. This was what they did, okay? And they have procedures they went through. of comparing multiple times, multiple people-reviewed pages. I mean, it was just a terribly difficult process to take a text and create another text from it. And I guarantee if the scribe were involved, which they were in this process, or supposed to be, that it was going to be probably a bit of an initiation into the way they do things. It was going to be a long, difficult process for this king to write this out. It was going to be a perfect copy when he was done. What did he get out of it? He would find out that you can't move an ark, the ark of the covenant, on a cart. He'd find out that 138 KV is really, really dangerous. I'm being a bit trite there, but he would find out, so to speak, what's expected. He would, without experience, get prudence. He would get prudence without having experienced it. I don't know whether or not David copied it down or not. Personally, I don't think he did. Because I don't think this would have happened if he would have. It's just my kind of writing commentaries on it. I just can't imagine that he would not have quite a knowledge of how that was to be moved. Another one. We say in this country, ignorance of the law is no excuse. It isn't. We all accept that. We know it. You gotta know the law. Well, the Bible says the same thing. Ignorance of what you're supposed to do isn't an excuse. Go to Joshua 6.26. Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city, Jericho. This is after it's been destroyed. The walls have come down. The walls of Jericho have fallen. You know the story. March around it. Blow the trumpets. Walls come down. Joshua made them take an oath at that time saying, person before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city, Jericho. With the loss of his firstborn, he shall lay its foundation. And with the loss of his youngest son, he shall set up its gates. Whoa. Joshua says, the guy who rebuilds the city, when he puts in the foundation, his firstborn son will die. And when he puts in the gates of the city, his youngest son will die. You read it and you're, wow, that's kind of interesting. Keep reading through your Bibles. And about 530 years later, 530 years later, in 1 Kings, We have this interesting little verse that comes at the end of the chapter. 1 Kings 16, 33. And Ahab also made the Asherah, thus Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him. The reason why we know it's 530 years. We know when Ahab was king and it says in verse 34, in his days, meaning in Ahab's days, titled the Bethelite, built Jericho. He laid its foundations with the loss of, now we have a name, Abiram, his firstborn, and he set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son, Segob, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua, the son of Nun. Now, you can conjecture and say, did he know it? 500, I mean, do we know what was written 530 years ago? Not really. We don't even know what was written in our Constitution 200 and some years ago, OK? Did he know? We don't know. Was he rebellious and just did it anyway? We don't know. History says, Josephus mentions that Jericho was rebuilt There were other cities rebuilt around Jericho, and it surmised that it was because people respected that curse for a number of years. And then somebody said, no, you can't rebuild Jericho for this reason. And they built a Jericho-like city, you know, two miles away in the valley. There's several cities around that were actually called Jericho. There's one called the Old City and the New City. Well, this is the Old City. Josephus, who was a Jewish historian, mentions, those different Jericho's that were built. Called them Jericho, but it wasn't the original Jericho. Well, here, five hundred and thirty years later, somebody does it, and all we know is that the loss of his firstborn, the loss of his youngest, and we have names now, because it actually happened. Higgins, right? Possibly, we don't know, maybe he did it willfully. Let's go to Psalm 19, verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Similar word, simple and naive. What? This is such a great thing. The simple can get wisdom by reading. Stuff that can make their lives beautiful, wonderful lives. can be gotten from reading the scripture. 119-130, same book. The unfolding of thy words gives life. It gives understanding to the simple. Again. Hosea, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge. I will also reject you from being my priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children. That was at a time in Israel's history. For many days, Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law. It didn't happen. 2 Kings 22 verse 8, And Hilkiah the high priest said to Zaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And we all say, how did that get lost? I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. What? You lost the book of the law. So we almost don't even believe it when we read it, but we keep reading and he'll kind of gave the book to that man who read it. I'm sorry, I'm saying that wrong. Shafin who read it and Shafin the scribe came to the king and brought back word to the king and said, your servants has emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered into the hands of the workmen who have oversight. of the house of the Lord. Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. And it came about when the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. It's as we expected, it was lost. It was lost. It was ignored. It was unread. It was unknown. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Acham, son of Shaphan, Achabor, the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, go inquire, I'm skipping there, go inquire the Lord for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of the book that have been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us. Nehemiah 8, 14. And they found written in the law how the Lord had commanded through Moses, the son of Israel, should live in booths during the feast of the seven months. They found written in the law. So they had it still around, they just got around to reading it. And they found something in there. So they proclaimed and circulated a proclamation in all their cities in Jerusalem, go out to the hills and bring all the branches and wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches, branches of other leafy trees to make booths as it is written. So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof and in the courts and in the courts of the house of God. This was a They call it the Feast of Booths, where you actually went and sort of built a little shelter, a little ramshackle lean-to on your roof, and you went up there and you stayed as a family to sort of remember and simulate when you traveled in the wilderness and that the Lord delivered the nation from that. Verse 17, the entire assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them. The sons of Israel had indeed not done so from the days of Joshua, The son of none to that day. That's David. That's Solomon. Right? They've done it. Hadn't been done. It's just such a great thing, reading the Bible with family. I was told by a pastor, you know, if you start now. This was when Rebecca was two or three years old. He said, you know, if you start now, doing family devotion, knowing that I hadn't done it up to that point, he said, your kids will never remember a time you didn't do it. And I started, and we did it for a little bit of time, a week or two, quite typical. When you find the Bible in your house, has it just been found? Or is it like these people, hey, guess what we found in the book? We didn't know it for 100,000 years, but we just found it. We've got them all over the house, but we just found something that we need to know. If this book has in it prudence for the naive, As parents, Sunday is not enough. My problem was that I always wanted it to be done right. And if it's not done right, then we might as well not do it at all. That was my problem. Because I thought, you know, you're going to have to sell, you're going to have to prepare something. Well, finally I just said, no. I'm not going to do it right. I'm just going to pick up the book and we're going to read it. Talk about it. Okay? Now, some people maybe have enough wherewithal to prepare something. But it was quite liberating for me to just take it, read it, read verses, talk about it. As a parent, if this has what we say it has, and it says it has, and we believe it, and it really is a map that can save from something down in the future, why aren't we in it more? Why aren't we digging stuff out of it more? I want to end shifting gears just a little bit. It may have been that the guy who built Jericho just didn't believe. Maybe he heard something. Oh, that's a curse. I don't believe in that stuff. Somebody pronounces a curse against me? 530 years ago? I don't think so. It's unbelief, right? How powerful is unbelief? How powerful is it? I've never really seen this before, but Luke 23, 39. We know that Christ was crucified with two criminals on either side, correct? Well, here's that account. And one of the criminals who were hanging there was hurling abuses at him saying, you are not the Christ. Save yourself and us. I've heard that a lot or a few times. And I never really said, wait, this guy is like probably within 24 hours of being dead. He's hanging on. He's not one of the guys on the ground saying, you're not the Christ. He's hanging there, gonna die. You know, my thought is, what would be the downside? And we've heard of this concept that is talked about in Baptist churches of believing in Christ for just fire insurance. Just because there's lots of talk that goes around that concept. Well, the thought kind of comes to mind with the guy hanging there on the cross. He's dying! And yet, his unbelief is so strong that he never thinks. What if? What if, I have to answer, what is after death? But the other answers, rebuking him, do you not even fear God? Since you are under the same sentence of condemnation, And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. And then he says, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, truly, I say to you today, you shall be with me in paradise. And the other guy hears that as well. He hears it. How powerful is unbelief? Powerful enough to read my faith. straight from our topic because our topic is naivety and not knowing. But we don't always learn from experience. Meaning we sometimes get experience and there's people that just keep pursuing that experience for whatever reason. Short term pleasure, we know this drug addiction thing that can just go on until death. A very young death. Excesses of whatever. To death. Unbelief. Meaning Here's a guy that, throughout his life, sowed to unbelief, sowed to evil, and here, at the last minute, when he can make a decision for Christ, his unbelief is so strong, so powerful, his arrogance, whatever it is, that even as he's dying, he says, he wants to make a show. You know, if you're the Christ. Which is interesting to me, the statement of Christ. Because Christ has to do with Messiah. That's a religious term. It's not just, you know, if you're Jesus, meaning using his first name or his name. It's saying, it's giving him a title. So he knows the concept of a Messiah. And he's saying, you're not that one. And if you are, get us all down from here. There's the joke. Even as he's done, unbelief is still strong. It didn't carry over. How often is it just Sunday and maybe a Bible study and then the rest of our lives we don't talk about God, we don't read about God, we don't pursue it. It's Sunday. Kids aren't stupid. My dad doesn't stand here and say he was especially moved that his father went to church every Sunday. He was especially moved that at 6.30 he could find his father studying the Bible. That's what stuck with him. The last thing I want to go to is Hebrews 4, 12. You all have heard this verse. For the word of God, I want to take liberty to change that. The words of God. Because sometimes we hear that, the word of God, and it's just a thing to say. The words of God, the stuff that He said, the stuff that He communicated to us in the scripture. The words of God are living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Why, even if you can't comment on the scripture as you read it in your family, this gives a promise that the scripture itself can cut, and convict, and move without a word. Kids, I don't understand this either. Let's just keep reading. The Word itself has cutting and working in it. It doesn't have to have your comments, although possibly valuable. It doesn't have to have it to be effective. What do you have to have to be effective? It has to be heard. It has to come in the ears. And I don't hear it that much on the radio. And they don't see it that much on TV. And really, we don't get that much on Sunday in terms of getting through a bunch of it. So how do they hear it? They hear it by somebody reading it to them, especially when they're young. And then when they're older, they hear it by them reading it. Father, we just thank you for your word. And even I don't want to say that with callousness. It is truly that we would treasure it and read it and pray it. as it should be, as like the map of the minefield, key to eternal life and all the benefits that it proclaims and that we can even observe in the lives of those who do treasure it. And we thank you that it is something that can go straight into the heart and work in conviction and cutting away what needs to be removed from our hearts. So I just ask that you go with us from now and give safety our travels and our week to follow. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.