This is an overview of the Bible overview Helen Ebert Chuck strip matter leading it and Welcome to this session. We're going to have a word of prayer and then we'll get underway So we're looking forward to a good time and we appreciate you all coming here I'll make a few introductory remarks and then Helen will be telling us more about the Bible overview So let's pray father how grateful we are that you understand, you understand who we are and what we're like. We've had a good week, a great week, but we're coming down to the end and some of us are weary and we need a touch of your Holy Spirit to make this time here the most profitable. We realize that in this next hour, hour and a half, the destiny of the souls of men and women are at stake And so we pray in the name of Jesus Christ that your spirit would come and enliven us and help us to understand and grasp all that you have for us to the end that these souls of men and women will find you. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Well, it's my privilege to give some introductory remarks before Helen comes up here. I became acquainted with the Bible overview several years ago. In fact, It was about five or six years ago that we were at a little gathering with Larry and Helen, and Larry and Helen were talking about this, and Larry had a bunch of the tapes. They had taped actual overview presentations, made them available, and my wife was quite excited about them, picked them up, we took them home, and they were moved from one place to another place, and finally into a third place. And several years later, The you know how God does said Bible overview. Oh, yeah tapes So we went tapes read got underway. I phoned Larry told him we were very interested and we got underway with the Bible overview and I've got to tell you that I have never had as much fun in So-called evangelism as I have teaching the Bible overview. It has been the most fun of evangelistic approach that we've ever been involved in, and hope to tell you a few stories about that a little later along the way. And as I've thought about it, I've been around the Navigators on staff for 35 years, and as I reviewed Navigator history, this is what I think. The beginning with Christ was a phenomenal tool that helped us. The lessons on assurance when they came out with the lessons on Christian living. Some of us remember they were the product of Billy Graham crusade back in New York in the late 1950s. The studies on Christian living helped us at a time in the mid 1960s that was just tremendous help. And we've had some other tools and materials that have been helpful. But I think the Bible overview approach is in the beginning with Christ and the Studies in Christian Living class. I really do. I think it's in that class. And it is one of the best-kept secrets in the Navigators. It really is. But the word's getting out. People are finding out about it. We had a session in Des Moines, Iowa. I got Helen and her team to come over last January, and I said, we've got some interested people, and we planned on about 20 or 25 people, and we set up this workshop, and we ended up with 80-some people on a cold, bitter, typical Iowa January day. Eighty-some people, they just started coming, showing some interest that we want to find out more about how to reach out to people, and this sounds like something we could do. So this afternoon, we're going to work our way through this. As soon as I step down and turn things over to Helen, I'll give you a handout to pass out. I'll give you a handout. You can pass out if you want to. And we'll go through and we're going to have time today for questions, for interaction. Later on, we've got a good video, excellent video that will just, man, it'll stir your heart and soul. But I want to turn things over to this young lady that you heard from on opening night. Young lady. Well, yes, you are. OK, I'll go with that. When I look around this room, you are a young lady. We just lost half the audience, Chuck. That's right. I want no position. I'm not running for any office. Helen's going to come, and it's been a real privilege for Nancy and I to get better acquainted with Helen. And she has been such a tremendous encouragement and helped us. And I just wish that the team that she's got back in Chicago with her, I wish they could be here. They are some of the most delightful young couples, so full of energy, zeal, vision, commitment, love to one another. And we've been able to have some time around them. And this is another Behind-the-scenes part that Helen has going on so as she talks about some things here. There's a lot else that's behind this but Helen you come and Tell us a little bit get us going about the overview William, and you're gonna pass this and I'm gonna hand those out, okay? Well, I'm very thankful for Chuck and Nancy and their encouragement kind of championing champion champions of the cause here and Really It's been quite a year for me addition to all the other things that I've been going through it to see the Bible overview blessed and and to see it Increase and in the interest and just the whole thing. It's just been a great testimony of God's hand upon the whole thing I Want to start this afternoon was just talking a little bit about the history of the Bible overview just to give you a kind of the background of this whole thing. Yes? You didn't get a shirt. Well, take Trotsky, I don't take mine. Of course, one of the, we've teased a lot about all the things that could be done in the future with the Bible overview, and one of them is an accessory catalog. where you could get your shirt or you could get your sweatshirt or we're talking about X 2024 is our verse and so we're going to have vision hats with 2024 vision on it. We've got all kinds of things. You have to have a Bible overview bag. When you're around kids the age that I've been working with for these past years, you get into stuff like that, like the shirt and everything. They're so delightful and they're very enthusiastic and just I feel so blessed to be working with them. Well, in the early 80s, Larry, of course, we've always been involved in evangelism. Larry and I have always been trying all the new approaches, the John Studies, the door-to-door. I mean, everything we could think of, we tried. And I think probably the thing that we enjoyed the most as a couple is just being involved with the lost. Around the early 80s. We were looking for something and Larry was observing that our pastor at our church Abner Bauman would use a kind of a Bible overview with visitors Who came who signed up as a visitor guests that came to our church? And then as he interviewed them and talked with them he realized that many of them needed to be caught up before they could even make a decision for Christ and So he started to do this as kind of his follow-up to Larry had heard about and he started attending one of these sessions and after it was over He was so excited. He said Abner. This is terrific. This is a great potential and You know, you ought to be training us to do this and Abner said Larry, you know, that's not my thing. That's your thing. Why don't you do that? And so with Abner's blessing Larry went to work and I think it was about that time that he basically claimed Ezra 710 so that he would just actually study the word and to practice it and then therefore to teach it. And he really set his heart on studying the word from a new perspective. And I saw the difference in him. I saw the intensity that he went after this. And it was a very exciting thing to watch because I could see a new vision and a new heart. As he began to develop this, I think in 1987 we did the first Bible overview. And we began to train couples as we went along. And how we did this was people actually would ask us either to come to their neighborhood or to, we just would work with a couple and we would develop them and then we'd pray for non-Christians and then we'd go through the whole process of training. at one point I became kind of disengaged a little bit because my parents were ill and Larry God gave Larry a bunch of single guys and We laughed and went we said my gosh after all these years in the community ministry God has given Larry a singles ministry and we we got such a kick out of and he just loved it just loved their vitality and so pretty soon as it happens these guys began bringing their girlfriends and hope to be wives and eventually they we went to all their weddings and they developed into our core team and We actually began to work through studying the Bible from an overview perspective Because Lurie had been studying it that way and as a result of that we began to encourage them in doing one with us and so they did they each prepared one of the sessions and studied very hard and then we prayed together and we recruited together and we had our first Bible overview with this team and They were so Struck by the response that they saw and the people and they were so excited about it that we we did it again We did a second one and the same kind of experience where people were coming out of their seats saying where have I been? I have never seen anything like this. I've never understood this. I've always wanted to know and The interest and the curiosity, the intellectual curiosity, through the Old Testament began to change as they got into the New Testament, realizing this is not just for intellectual curiosity. There's a response that's demanded here of me as a result of this. And people were coming to Christ. Many people came to Christ as a result of this. After that was over, we said, well, now, kids, you want to go out and start doing, developing your own groups, you know? We'll meet together periodically, but you need to go on and do this. And we were getting together with them, and I remember the exact place I was sitting in the family room at the time, and they, at one, in one accord, said, you know, we want to help you refine this material so that people, this can be used by a lot of people. Now in 20 years of ministry, we never had a team come to us and say, we want to help you and your vision and expand it. I mean, it was just, they left and Lurie and I were like, wow, you know, this is awesome. This is incredible. You know, God has his hand on this thing. So we went for it. Hours and hours and hours of work. And I want to get into the actual materials in a bit. But before we get into that, I want you to take a look. Take a look at the first page where it has, has the history, but then also it has the mission statement and mission verse. The mission of the Bible overview is to penetrate secular society for the purpose of creating a thirst for God and his word in people who know little or nothing about the Bible. I'd like to go through this. I think we're already aware after this week of just the tremendous need that we have, and the secular society is waiting to be caught up. They are so far behind. I don't know if you're experiencing this in your neighborhood or in your communities, but one of Jimmy's friends came over to the house, and Jimmy had one of those kind of Rolodex things, cards with verses and sports things, and the verses were underneath it. Kevin came over and said Jim look at this this guy recorded the time that he said it He had no idea Non-recognizable that it was from the Bible He grew up in a home where his parents decided when they got married that they were not going to use any Christianity in their home at all kid virtually grew up in a home where he didn't even know what Christmas was and the real reason for Christmas. And Jimmy, as they went out camping, basically told them the story of Mary and Joseph living in a Jewish community. "'Who's the Messiah?' he said. "'Who is that?' And so Jimmy was kind of discouraged when he realized how little Kevin knew, but I said, "'But Jim, you had the privilege of giving this kid the first step.'" So we're seeing more and more how far behind people are. There's a lot of catching up. Before they could even approach the gospel and that's what the Bible overview does to penetrate secular society and of course Larry's thing too was Among the lost versus to the lost, you know, he he feels like we need to be out there Relating to the lost and not just going to them For the purpose of creating a thirst and I want you to note in that that It doesn't say for the purpose of bringing people to Christ. Now, if at the end of a Bible overview, obviously, if we sense that people are ready, we're going to do that. But the mission is to create a thirst, because almost unanimously, they go on. And if they have a thirst, they will go on. But oftentimes, in the follow-up, as we chat with different ones, they come to Christ. in that follow-up meeting, or else with their other Bible study leader or whatever. But this is almost like planting the seeds that eventually bring fruit. Creating a thirst for God and His Word. We are really, during that time, we are correcting a lot of misconceptions that people come in. They come in with some very, very strange ideas and perceptions of who God is. And so we're doing a lot of kind of indirectly correcting those perceptions, and sometimes it's very direct. But we find that that is definitely a part of the process. And also we also, in terms of thirst for God, we're finding that we are also a dumping ground. As you know, when you start getting into people's lives and you find that at some point they have to express The frustration, whether it was that one person who rejected them, that one pastor who did this or that, or whatever it is, they have to get the garbage out. And I've learned to really not look at that as a negative, but just really accept and appreciate the point that that person is at. And really get excited about, boy, this is, if they've gotten to this point, this is exciting. They're feeling the freedom to dump. We're not always going to have the answers. to those questions, but they need to express that. It's important that they express that. Forgotten is word, one of learning, and maybe some of you know where this came from, but one of the things he said often is that we just need to get, we need to let the lion loose. Does anybody, is that from any navigator that you've heard? I don't know, but he used to talk about that a lot. Let the lion loose. If a lion comes in this room, we are going to have to deal with it. We're going to have to do something with that lion. And that's what you do when, in the Bible overview, you open up the Word of God and you let the lion loose. And you don't have to do too much. They have to deal with it. It's a very exciting process to be a part of. People who know little or nothing about the Bible. I talked about people, how far behind they are. And it's a great recruiter. Because as soon as you talk a little bit about, we do these little things called Bible overviews, and we'd love to have you immediately there and say, oh, I don't know anything about the Bible. And you say, great. That's the requirement. You know little or nothing about the Bible. And that goes, oh, OK. As long as they know that the purpose is to be around other people just like you, then they're much relieved. It takes away a lot of the barriers. OK. Let's go on to just want to share with you the acts 2024 verse from the living that the kids we all pick together as a team But life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me By the Lord Jesus the work of telling others the good news about God's mighty kindness and love Okay, are there any questions about that part I'm going to move on then, because the vision and the training goals, you can read that. I would like to move on at this time quickly so that I'd like to show you the materials and give you the essence of it. First of all, before I do that, let's just brainstorm here. In terms of Bible overviews in the Bible, what are some places in the Bible where you will find a Bible overview? Okay, Stephens and Acts. First and Second Chronicles? Yes. Psalms? Psalms 105? Actually, there's bits and pieces. Pardon me? Mm-hmm. Psalms has it all through. You find bits and pieces of it. But there are two. Psalm 105 and what's the other one? I don't know. There's another one. that has the, well, I'll get it for you later because I don't see it right here, maybe. Could be. Okay. Where there's a longer, a greater section devoted to it. But, you know, the Bible overview is not our thing. It's God's thing. This is not new. It's like we were talking before. This is not new. Going from Genesis to Revelation, this is not new. Larry often talked, people refer to the Bible overview as a tool. He used to like to talk a lot about the fact that it's not a tool, it's an approach. A tool comes and goes. This is God's Word. It's enduring. Whatever happens to this Bible overview, that's another thing. But it's an approach to sharing Christ. And he also liked to talk about it as the whole gospel, presenting the whole gospel. Okay. I want to show you basically the Bible overview materials as of now. And these are the last ones we have. We're going to be probably having to print again. We're kind of at that fork in the road where we're going to have to make some decisions about the future in terms of what we're going to do. We need some help in graphics. I'm hoping that some of the creative resources team here with the navigators can help. These are the three things you would get if you came to training, just to preempt this. This is not a training program you're in right now. This is an overview of the overview. Some people have thought that that's what you're going to get this afternoon. We feel very strongly that you need to come to training to have access to the materials. And these are what you would get. These three things are what you would get if you went to a training session with a Bible overview. The main thing that I want to look at first is is this one right here. And I have a lot of them up here for you to look at, but I want you to stick with me for a minute. This is what participants get when they come to the Bible overview. This is what we hand out to people who attend. And this is their own. They have their very own. They take it home with them, and they bring it each week. This is what the non-Christians get. And as you look at it, well, let me just read the intro. You are about to begin a journey through time and history as recorded in the all-time number one bestseller, the Bible. The Bible overview will acquaint you with the key people and major historical events of the Bible in an easily understood chronological format. We hope that during the next few weeks, the storyline of the Bible will come alive and take on a whole new meaning in your life. The goal is that you will walk away with a clear and personal understanding of God's word. If you will look in your handout there, you have the first session in your handout. And the first session is a little different because it starts out with the Bible is unique. So that, we're not getting quite into the Bible yet, but this is the preempt for the whole thing. And then we go into B, which would be on page 4, the structure of the Old Testament, and Five, the historical highway. And the historical highway is a very important part of the whole. We refer back to that many, many times throughout the whole thing. And then we start with the outline on page six. And I want you to note that there are verses that are circled or have the edge around it. Those are the ones that we do memorize. We do memorize. And they're very good about memorizing. This brings me to another thought. People that come to the Bible overview, you can have families come. We've had families come, and the kids, they just show up, the family, in terms of memory, they just love to do that scripture memory, and it just gives me such great thrill to see those kids leave with those verses hidden in their hearts, you know? And then you can do it with just mixed groups. You can do it with two-on-two, one-on-one. We've had four around the kitchen table. We've done it in just about any way possible. But what I'm going to encourage you to do here is just that this is a great beginning for a mission outpost. It's to gather a team to do a Bible overview. I'm so excited. Yes. Yes. Often right into conversion. But we've used this about everything for follow-up. This gets you in the door, but it usually is the door. It usually is the door. I mean, in most cases, that's what happens. There's a big aspect in session one on page 10. Do you have that? Geography. We spend a lot of time in geography, and this is just part of the, what you would call teaching aids that helps give the time. People say, oh, it's a teacher-oriented type thing. Well, it is, but we, as teachers, you want to add as much interest and different kinds of, use as many kinds of creative teaching aids as possible. People love the geography. We review it every week. And they're so proud when they know things and then you can sell it. You know, they just kind of get real, they get real feeling really good about themselves because they know this. In one of the groups, they so much like the geography aspect that as they went into the John study, they wanted to do geography every week. I mean, how many navigator studies have we, we do geography every week? No, it's just, what happened as a result of this? And it was so funny, they had the, they had these big maps and they would, you know, but that's what they liked. And of course, you're going to go with it. So it's just great. Okay, then you'll see on page 11, summary. And so each session has a summary. And so at the end of every session, you review what you've learned. And then at the beginning of every session, you review again. So you're always reviewing just like you would if you were a teacher. Okay? The continuing sessions are just in the same format as you see there. So really and truly, here you have your outline already, correct? You have your outline. Okay, in the training manual, that you get when you come to training. I feel a little bit like I'm trying to sell you something. And I am. No. It's just I'm going to give, in fact, these that you see here, I'm giving to Bob Walls. And he is going to play with it on the campus. They're excited about seeing how it might work out there. Yeah. We're just at the beginning. As you can see on your handout, we're under construction. You're at the beginning of something that is really, I mean, it's flying. I can't keep up with it. I'd like to issue a call here to anybody feels called to the Bible overview and help us out, because I feel like I'm running ahead of an avalanche, about 20 feet. And all my team is with me, because it's just happening so fast. OK, here's the training manual. I wanted you to see that basically what we do is that we're doing some of the same things here, but the actual components of the Bible overview are learning about preparing your heart and mind, preparing the presentation and delivery, recruitment, hospitality, and follow-up. So there's a number of very valuable things in here, including outlines, suggested outlines for each session. So when you leave the training program, you have not only the outline that's here, you have outlines that leaders have used. And then in addition to that, the third component, you have Larry's tapes that don't go exactly according to those, but they cover everything. It's just that he made these so long ago that our materials have changed. So you have a lot to help you, to guide you into preparation for this. One of the reasons I was so excited to share this with you is because navigators, I don't have to convince you to love the lost. You already have that in, you know, you love the lost. You desire people to come to know them. And the second thing is, is that you love the Word. And you have a good handle on the Word. And so this, coming together with some things, you know, filling in this is not going to be a problem for you. It really isn't. You probably have some actual stories that you like and you maybe even include in there to adjust to your personality. That's another thing I want to mention here. The reason that there isn't a scripting or an actual script for this is because we feel that this needs to come out of your walk with God and your strengths. That story that you love, that theme that you feel is so critical to understanding the whole gospel. One of the important sections in here is themes because there has to be the themes that run through the whole thing like take a theme like redemption from beginning to end and so you weave that through and be by they see again the whole gospel or The theme of judgment and grace or the theme of the heart of man, you know, it's you know, they just begin to see it so clear the light bulb just goes on and We also include in here things like, just to mention, prayer walking in your neighborhood. This is what Marian Leach shared with us. It's a great thing to help people, you know, the first thing you need to do is start getting out there and pounding the pavement with prayer. And there's other things in here too as well, but also we talk about different creative ways to invite people to the Bible overview. So that's basically The materials it's we invite people to six weeks But or actually we didn't even say this we invite people to five weeks of the Bible overview and then we add if they'd like to as an optional session church history and By the time they go through the five. They're just so they all come to the six we always begin with some kind of eating together either a soup and salad or whatever works with your group. I mean, but that eating together, that fellowship time, that relating together is very, we feel very critical to the whole picture because it's that aspect of community that we were talking about. Okay, any questions about the materials? The training is a day and an evening. Sure. But, well, we haven't flown anywhere yet. We drove in an ice storm to Des Moines. But we haven't flown anywhere yet. So we're just getting this all together now. Yes? Not just children. I have a friend who is in a mainline denominational church that runs the youth group that would like us to bring it into a youth group. But there's another option. The youngest age that I can think of that was in a Bible overview was 10. They hung in there, but they were in there because they knew the verses and they showed up those adults. Okay, walkthrough for one thing is for Christians. This is designed for non-Christians. This is designed for the lost. And probably if Larry were here, he would say, If you want, this could be a hot thing for a church Sunday school group. I mean, wouldn't they love it? But you won't use these materials for a church Sunday school group because that's not what they're designed for. No preparation. Yes, Chuck. Well, we do have a model out of and I'll tell you about that in a minute a little bit later. Okay, can I? address that later I Wanted to address one other thing right here in that term in terms of I I still say that navigators are Beautifully suited for this whole program. I think that in terms of leader qualifications you need to have an Ezra 710 heart and because this is this is almost a I mean, this is a process for life. You're going to be looking at the Bible and perceiving, as you're preparing for this, in a different light, and it's very exciting. You also, you know, you have to have that learner mentality. You have to love to tell the story. Now, so, I mean, I can't speak for any of you because I've not heard any of you teach, but I think it's Hannah Whitehall Smith that said, It's a sin to bore people with the Bible. Now, you might want to talk to somebody else about your abilities in this area, because I don't know them, but that is something you need to consider. You like to love to tell a story. It doesn't mean you have to be a dynamic speaker and do flip-flops up here, but you have to love to tell a story. You have to enjoy using the aids and different things to make it interesting. It's an hour and a half. I was going to say, at the same time though, it really is a team effort. Yes. So don't automatically think, oh, I shouldn't have come here. I wish I would have known that, because you do need a team with some various parts. That's right. When it's team taught, you're teaching a certain portion of it, maybe session one, and maybe somebody else is teaching session two. Of course, you're all there together, and you're all relating to the lost. Yeah, you divide up the responsibilities. I'd like Chuck to come up and share some war stories with him. Nobody can share a war story like Chuck. And then I have a video that I'd like you to see of a fellow that came through the Bible overview. Okay, Chuck. Well, the second time I went through the Bible overview, we had two couples that we had been in Bible study with for several years. We talked to him about doing this Bible overview, and each one of them got two couples. So Nancy and I, we had seven of us couples that started this Bible overview. And one, John, he got his neighbor across the street, and he wasn't sure about his neighbor. He just moved into a new neighborhood. He wasn't sure about them. And we had a setup meeting where we came and we talked about the whole Bible overview, what we would do and everything. And they were very positive. We passed out the materials, started off a little bit into it. Denny, he had gotten two of his fraternity brothers that he was in contact with. And these couples were probably in their 30s, and then the ones they invited, a couple in their 40s. So we started off in this Bible overview. Three of them were Roman Catholic, and one was from a Methodist background. And we really had fun. We took off into Genesis and had a, fabulous time through Genesis. I remember when we got into Exodus, we had told the story at the first part about how Moses in a very special way was preserved by God instead of being destroyed because of the edict that came down from Pharaoh regarding all the little baby boys. And then how Moses had been banished and then how God met him in Exodus 3 and was talking to him about going back to lead out his people in the Exodus. and how Moses argues with God. And we spent quite a bit of time on that because it shows so much a character of God, how patient he is with us as we argue with God. And they were really biting into this all the way. And finally, you know, he says, well, he says, I can't speak. I can't talk. And of course, God says, well, Aaron, your brother's back there. You go back and Aaron will help you. And one of the wives, I'm going to call her Betty. She said, that's interesting. I said, what? Aaron. I said, what do you mean, Aaron? How'd he do it? How'd he do it? How'd he manage to survive? Survive what? Well, they killed all the baby boys off. What's Aaron doing back there? I thought, she's listening. I mean, I'd never thought of the question before. And you know, you're doing this, you say, Holy Spirit, what's the answer for that? Well, so we, and we are going on a little later. And here we are with getting towards Moses, the end of his life. And I said, now Moses is coming to an end. They're getting ready to go into the promised land, but Moses will not go into the promised land. He's disqualified. Betty says, how come? How come? I said, well, and I'm trying to figure out how to say this to kind of put a little hook into it and the rest. I said, well, he hit a rock. She said, he did what? I said, he slapped a rock and God didn't like that. She said, I don't like that at all either. So I said, well, we better, I said, let's read about it. So fortunately, the text does a lot better job than my answer, but they were ready to find out what it was about by then. So we get all the way through and she said, that's not fair. What was it? Nancy said, that's not fair. I really have a problem with that. So I said, well, I said, hang on. I said, let's go to the last chapter in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 34. I said, it's probably one of the most precious chapters in the whole Bible because God, so we read it. And I said, now you see the story. God takes Moses and takes him up to this mountain, shows him all the promised land, lays it all before him and everything. And then God just takes him right into heaven with him. And then she said, Betty said, that's okay. That's okay. Now, get this. He got to go to heaven. That hit me. Boy, that just banged, because I thought, wow. You know, those of us who have lived in the evangelical subculture so long, we have a mentality and make a decision for Christ. And we talk all about life from there on. Most of us theologically embrace the assurance of our salvation. We don't really revisit that question except with certain people that we minister to. There are a number of our dear brethren in some other parts of Christendom who do not have that orientation, as you know, as well as, now get out of the church and just go out there with people who ever think about life, the hereafter, if there's a God out there and if there's any kind of justice, judgment, will I make it? And I thought, boy, she said it. She really hit it right on the head. Well, can I tell the rest of the story? Sure. Where we are now. Oh, how did Aaron, they want to know the answer to the question. There you go. He was older and we don't really have an answer from the text. The only thing that we can kind of presume on it or assume is that this edict came down, which Moses got caught in. came down after Aaron's birth. But you know, you have to be honest with those kind of questions and you have to tell and say, you know, we really don't have an answer for this. It's the same way when you're in Genesis 3. Where did evil come from? You know, this does not give an answer to this at this point. And we found you have to be very honest with these people of what the scriptures do say and don't say, where you are. Sometimes you say, now we're going to find out more about this later, but right here, this is all we know. Because you take them through the story of what's progressive revelation as you know and and and they stay tuned they stick they keep waiting for the rest of it as God keeps working with his people and how he shows himself and all the rest and it's so exciting to see we finished the first session and they were hooked you know Helen Larry they did this said Sunday night you know every week well I was traveling with the Commission back and forth and we set it up for an every other Tuesday night And then I had some trips, and I think we were five months in doing this study. It did not bother them one bit. They flexed with it. They were there. We rarely had anyone miss. We're not going anywhere. We're here. I mean, they were there. We ended the study. He said, what do you do in Iowa in the evenings anyway? We just enjoy life. Kick back. Have fun. Pop popcorn. Yeah. That's right. We finished this, and when we finished it, I said, now, I have two suggestions. One is, we might like to have a picnic, invite the kids, and come on over and have a picnic. He said, oh, that's a good idea. Everybody showed up at the picnic. We had a great time. Some of you might be interested in doing a study. We've been doing this overview. I tell them we're going to read a book through binoculars. And so sometimes it'll frustrate you like crazy. But I said, we do have a note page, so write down your questions, and we'll go later into something. And they were already signed up for that. But I got caught up in traveling, and we never got that launch. So I finished up in March, and I thought, when are these trails warm, hot, or what? So I went back to Rick. Rick was one of the guys that was just really keen. He was John's neighbor across the street. And he, one night after a session, he came over, sat down by me, says, you know, this is exciting. He said, you know, there's not a day goes by I don't spend an hour in this book. So, so at the end of the study, I take him out for lunch and I said, Rick, give me some feedback. Tell me about, oh, he said, that was fantastic. He said, you know what I'd like to do? He said, I'd like to, I'd like to have you come over to our parish, meet our priest. I'd like to see if you couldn't teach us in the whole parish. And I thought about that, and I said, Rick, that's great. You know what I'd like to do? I said, I'd like to go to your parish, meet your priest, and help you teach this in your parish. I said, that's what I'm about. Wait, oh, he swallowed that one big time. So I went back to Rick, and he said, well, you know, we never got that study, and I felt so terrible we never were able to follow up on the study. He said, so the priest was teaching a study, so he said, we've been going over that. He said, yeah, it's really great. You ought to come over to it. So he tells me all about it. We're standing out in his yard talking, and across the street, Betty and her husband, they're there. So we go over and start talking with them and say, oh, you ought to come to this Bible study. It's really great. So the next Tuesday night, Nancy and I go over with them, and we sit in on the study that the priest leads. And there's about 18 of them there sitting around the table. They all got their Bibles open. The priest opens up with some beautiful prayers. We're warmly welcomed, and they're studying Psalm 6. So they read through it. He asked a question, and we're off. And they're looking into it, and they're trying to figure out what it says. They have no study guide. And this one lady said, you know, boy, I don't know, but this guy really sounds like he's having a hard time. Like he's really struggling with his whole thing about God. He said, I don't know about it. The one lady next to her says, well, I kind of cheated. I read a couple chapters ahead. He comes out okay. This is this is kind of the people And we're and Nancy is it and then Betty Betty's husband isn't there and and she's kind of sitting next to us Is that right? Is that right what they're saying? You know, she's constantly nodging us nudging Nancy and everything that then she says hey, can we go out for coffee afterwards? So we went out to coffee and just got caught up where she is on her spiritual journey And that's another story of this precious woman, but you can just see how the Spirit of God is just bringing her in going I've gone back to the study since another night and really enjoy the group, really enjoy the priest. He's kind of a cake, an evangelical cake with Roman Catholic frosting. How do you like that one? Is that a good word picture? Well, I could go on, but I'm just praying that in some way. Oh, and then I talked to Rick just before I came out because he wanted me to look up evangelical purgatory. And that's an interesting study, if those of you haven't done it. So we dialogue on some of this stuff. I mean, he's just really moving. And so he said, now, when I told him I wouldn't be there. And I said, boy, I really like that study, Rick, and I really enjoy your priest. He's a Dominican priest. And Rick says, you know, they take a vow to study the Bible four hours a day. And this guy's a dear man. He's such a dear man. And he said, well, he really likes you. I thought, boy, if God gives that favor, I don't know where it's going to lead. But, you know, this is just a little You know, we're just underway with this thing, and we got to get back and follow some more. We could tell you more about that. There's a million of them. But isn't that fun? You guys know what you get into with these dear, dear people. It's just so fun. We're going to watch the video. What are we going to do? Do you want to introduce it? Does that give you an idea? And I could tell you all kinds of other comments, too, along the way. We got a video. This is a fellow that came through the Bible overview and then at the last training session we asked him to basically give a testimony on how the Bible overview influenced his life. And this was one of those guys that is just a character. But listen to what he says and we'll talk a little bit afterwards on just some of the things. I didn't put anything structured together to talk to you about because I was Interested kind of in just sharing thoughts with you First of all The The main point in the Bible overview I think is to draw people who aren't very close and aren't making legitimate steps to get closer to who God is to know him personally and Our experience with Helen's overview, I can honestly say was definitely life-changing. Prior to the overview, my wife Sherry and I were occasionally attending church, terribly uneducated in what is in the Bible, and not at all trying to build a relationship with Christ. And the overview was a major stepping stone for us as far as getting started on the right track. It was kind of multi-level. The overview itself was interesting. And I think that the part that really made the difference for Sherry and I was the people. You get involved in a group of people that you like who magically make you feel comfortable. And you want to go back. And when it's done, you want to continue. And they were there for us. They made us feel incredibly comfortable. The first time I met Helen and Larry, I felt, I'm telling you the truth, I felt like I've known them for years. They were so good at sort of bringing down the walls and letting you feel comfortable. It was a great situation. And then with the work afterwards, where we started in the Bible study with Skip and Gail, and we went over the John book, which was very much enlightening. It was the first time I had ever taken a good, strong, solid look at one of the books in the Bible from start to finish. So it's kind of interesting. We started out with the overview, seeing the whole picture, and then went right into the details. And I'm telling you, it was a terrific situation. And the beauty here is that it's ongoing. It's still happening now. Sherry and I have gone from not a lot of interest in knowing God 180 degrees around and have gone to just searching him out daily. And I completely give the credit to the people that we were involved with with this Bible overview. It's very important. By the way, I just want to add this. I came in here and I expected to see a lot of people. But I tell you, it's a wonderful feeling seeing almost all these chairs full. I feel almost like I'm looking at victory. Amen. The other situation that I wanted to share with you on this overview was some of the feelings that it brought out for myself. Prior to the overview, my understanding of God and the Bible Like I say, I didn't know anything about it. I had probably never opened the Bible and read something with intent of trying to remember it. And what it did was it opened my eyes almost in a bad way because I had always assumed that everything in the Bible made perfect sense. If you studied it and you looked at it and you felt you opened your heart, I just had no doubt in my mind that it was It made sense. And as I was going through the overview, I wasn't seeing what I felt was something that made sense. It seemed, especially in the Old Testament, some of the stories where God would guide someone and give them extreme guidance and personal touch, and this person would bang her turn off right in the wrong direction and start going the wrong way. That made me angry. Over and over again, in segments of the overview, I was seeing stories that I just didn't like to hear. I didn't want to hear it. I couldn't believe these people who were touched by God could ignore Him and continue going the wrong way. And it really made me angry. I'm not going to hold back. I'm telling you, there were nights after the overview that I was really steaming. It was about three quarters of the way through, maybe towards the end actually, and I was on my way home with Sherry and I was just kind of letting her have it in the truck on the way home, yelling at her. But actually what was going on in my heart was important because what I was basically saying to her was, nothing I'm seeing makes sense. There's nothing I can hang on to and there's no stories that I've heard yet that I feel started right and ended right in the way I was understanding it. And I went home, this by the way is, I'm kind of changing and I'm going into a story of how God came to get me. I want to share this with you because I was, I was angry and I was on the way home and I was telling God by yelling at my wife, that I needed something to hang on to. All these stories that I've been going through in the Bible and looking and soaking up like a sponge but not really understanding it weren't making sense. So we got home and I said, I went out in the garage and Sherry was inside and I said to God, I went out in the driveway and I said, you've got to give me something to hang on to. You're not giving me enough. And I said this and I meant it, and I'll never say anything like this again. No, I said this. Show me something that's truly right. Show me one thing that's truly right from start to finish, or I'm going to close this door and I will never open it again. And I meant those words. I meant it. And just as I had thought this, I realized that I'm looking at this tree in my yard. And I realized the earth is an exact example of what I was looking for. It's perfection. And of course for a second in my imagination I went off for a little bit and there's water and there's trees and rocks and the atmosphere and the earth is round and there's moons and I just went for a second and realized how right what God made is. Now granted, we're kind of messing it up. But what he made was truly right. And just as this came over me, it started to rain for about 15 seconds. And I'm telling you the truth. If God had stood right in front of me and said, this is my point, he wouldn't have made it more clear to me than what he did. From that moment on, I never doubted what was in the Bible. as right. I thought, and I know that when I misunderstand something, or let me re-say this, I know I misunderstand things in the Bible. There are things that I've read that aren't important for me to understand at that moment when I read them. But I have nothing but faith that what is in there is right and long-lasting, start to finish. I wanted you folks to know this because this all sprouted through Helen and Larry with this Bible overview. Hopefully, you're all going to have a chance to touch people the way that I've been touched. I'm proud to be here. I'll tell you I'm nervous. But I'm proud to be here because what you're in the middle of, you folks are knee-deep in the middle of something extremely important. I've heard Christians say that there's a there's a battle going on. And it's kind of hard to picture this as a battle between Christians and non-Christians. But I think nonetheless there is somewhat of a battle, at least an important difference. And what you're aiming at doing, I'm so proud of you, is going over the front line and pulling people in. And I wish you the best of luck. And I'll always pray for you. I wish my wife Sherry could be here. She just, she's, as Helen said, she's in the middle of recovery over a fairly, a fairly bad operation. I'll fill you in on some details. We've been trying to have kids and she hasn't been, making it. And she went over and had some ultrasounds done and they found a very large cyst on her ovary. And the ultrasound technician wrote it up or put in his report that it was malignant, cancerous. And the reason why this was seen this way is because if these cysts are clear and round and full of just liquid, there's probably no chance of cancer. But if there's hard filling in it, or if it has hardened walls, it's a good chance it's cancerous. And she went down to the x-ray specialist, and they came back with pretty much the same words. It could be cancerous. So she went into the hospital, and the doctors pulled this cyst, and they found out that the hardening on the cyst was, it's like a form of scabbing. And it wasn't cancerous. And we found out from the lab on Tuesday night that it definitely was benign, non-cancerous. So that was beautiful. But what I wanted to share was this. Through about a week and a half of sheer fear that Sherry might have cancer, we were blanketed with thoughts and care and prayers from people all over the area like you. And I can tell you that that feeling was incredible. And again, without the overview, Sherry and I would have never even said anything to anyone except family about the scariness that we're going through and the possible trouble. And again, sprouted from the overview, We went right to our Christian friends and said, frankly, pray for us. And we were just covered with a blanket of comfort. I wanted you to know that, too. So it continues. That's all I have to say. OK, you can turn that off now. Well, I guess all you can say after that is one word and that's amen, huh? First of all, I have to tell you having Bob in a Bible overview was an incredible experience. I probably the first person that we had that swore, I mean, profanity in the house. But the thing is that we all knew, I mean, it was clear that God was really at work and that Satan was really trying to destroy the work. And so we prayed and prayed for Bob and Sherry. And to hear, I went to his baptism, I went to their baptism, just to hear their expressions of, this is just a great example of what can happen in the Bible overview. But I want you to look, I want you to reflect a little bit on what we saw because I think it's significant. What were, what are some observations about his, the things that attracted him? The relationships. Now, did he at all at any time say anything about the way we wonderfully presented the Word of God? No. Did he say anything about, you know, I mean, obviously the Word had an effect. It had a major effect on him. But in terms of All our work on presentation and developing everything, that wasn't the key thing. What else did he say that was significant that would help, be helpful? That he didn't like what he was hearing. That it wasn't a real happy story. Mm-hmm. It was just real conflicted. Mm-hmm. That's right. He didn't get a lot of self-discovery. He was discovering it without being on it. Yeah, that's it. That's it. I mean that's what's so exciting about this That's right It created a thirst for God and his word it also made a groundwork for him to have Just those words that he said, you know, I'll never say those words again, but I mean think of what he was doing I mean just a great guy. This is a great guy The lion got loose and it got a hold of him That's a good question, I think it really is I think he might say that but I mean there's no doubt in you know in terms of I haven't heard the extended testimony yes well he was pretty new yeah he's pretty new but he's I love the way he comes in and says that it's like I see And then he goes, I'm in. You know, and it's like, it's like, you know, he knows a few things. But, but that was, that is what's so refreshing about this, that we can have this on tape because it is so natural. It isn't, he's not, he doesn't have the, all the trappings and that's what's so refreshing about it. This was just in April, two months ago. This is in April. Oh yeah, this is just in April. At a training, at a training, actual training seminar. Right, right. Pete. Mm-hmm one of the team that in fact the couple that recruited him To come they went on with it. There were there were six of them. They all came to Christ Yeah Well the whole thing of telling the story as we were talking about it's just really becoming the hot thing I don't know if you notice even in on Broadway there do it there's a group a Christian theatrical group that has actually gotten a theater that's on Broadway and And all they're doing is reading the word. Yes? Have you heard about this group called the Genesis Approach? I don't know anything about it. There's some group that do this. They share a gospel with the Genesis. No, I'm not familiar with that. Sounds like a great idea. It's from foundations. It's there most of the time. It's so elaborate. Sure Well, it's for the most part. It's not interactive. I mean you try to Because you have to get across a certain amount of material, but there is time Yes, okay Let me just get through this other stuff first, and then we'll do that There's just a few things. I wanted to get through here because we're at The Bible overview is a training environment actually As I almost wish I would have changed that change that because I see the Bible overview is a really a perfect environment for the beginning of a mission Outpost I mean there's some things that are different I you know that I can see some differences or some difficulties, but really basically it's a very a you know recruit a team around you to help you do this and you just pray for the lost and you get involved in people's lives and it's a really a great way to do that. I think it's a great from the I don't know if you guys remember the IOC and the way we did the John studies with instruction observation and critique well basically that's what we did I mean we trained them and this is and that's it's it's like a training program in a sense we did everything with them we prayed with them we reviewed verses we did all the things we Went on retreats. We had fun together. All the things that you think of as inputting and imparting in training. How many people were you talking to? As the training team? In this group that he was in. Oh, in the group that he was in was probably about 15. And we talked about numbers. I've talked with a few of you about numbers. And I'd say 10 to 15. One time we had 24. Larry had to call in a friend, and they split it up and went into two rooms in the house. What's the Christian-non-Christian ratio? Always more non-Christians than Christians. Your Christian friends are going to want to come. If they come, they have to bring a non-Christian. But the most effective environment is more non-Christians than Christians. OK, let me go on here so I can get through this. The present status of the Bible overview is that we have trained over 200, and we've had over 300 participants. We've added one new couple to the team that is really interested in helping us with development We are working on an advisory board. We're finishing refining the materials One of the things I wanted to briefly tell you about as well because we have plenty of time for questions one of the team members is providing a wonderful model in the church for us and What I mean by in the church is that this is a church that is wanting to develop an outreach mentality in their people right from the start. And so right from the pulpit we've gotten a lot of, it's not my church, but from Grace Community Pulpit, they have really been excited about starting the Bible overview. What they do is the different people in the church volunteer their neighborhoods. So there's a host family and they go through a little kind of training program on how to be a host family and they basically have said we have really good Relationships in our environment and in our neighborhood and we want to have something like this happen in our neighborhood So grace now has got to the point where they have a teaching team so the teaching team comes in to the couple's neighborhood and spends the whole six weeks with them and their neighbors and they go through this and then when it's over and The training team kind of pulls out, but the host couple continues the Bible study on, and they're getting help in following up. And I was talking to one of the gals that is involved in this, and of course, one of the couples that's on the team is one of our former training couples. So, I mean, it's really great, the whole attitude. And I said to Sid, Sid, do you have any statistics on how many people are coming to your church as a result of All of these outreach things and she said she looked at me. She said No, we're pretty much thinking kingdom And I said, oh my gosh said you are right on That is so exciting to hear that because it's not an issue. The pressure is not there and not from the pulpit They are totally with it, but they're they're wanting to develop a kingdom mentality isn't I mean praise God? So this is a very special model. I don't know what the future is for the Bible overview out of the church. If you can develop, I mean, if God can develop and bring about some more things like that, that would be incredible. But no Sunday schools. Gotta keep it in the hands of the lost. The future is that we have approximately, in Chicago area, we have nine Bible overviews going on this fall. There's four going out of Grace Community Church alone. We're thinking about, as I said, we're going to print. We have no training this fall because I, and I have a picture here of our training team. I have a responsibility to this group of young couples. And so I am backing off a little bit, as much as everybody's like, over this, you know, give me the materials, we want training, da, da, da. But these kids are my first priority. Even though I'd love for this to go out, I have to guard them. I guard their marriages and and so all we're doing this fall is they're going back into the trenches. We're not doing any training We'll do we'll get together or they're gonna get some developed for that development for them So I want you to understand that because the odd this is a great idea and God is his hand on it But certainly we don't want to sacrifice these delightful loving kids for that we are having a training probably in in April which we is what we're in Chicago and Somebody has already approached me here this week for a training between January and April in Denver, Colorado So that will be for staff Navigator staff And we're very excited about that as I said because I really see this as such a great fit for you all I can't tell you I'm almost I almost levitated right off my seat earlier in the week because of How I saw this is fitting with you. I was very excited I Future probably our biggest prayer request at this time is that God would continue to bless but we need more people to help us train We need to develop some training teams that can go out to different cities and train people So that would be the the prayer the main prayer. There are a couple of other things. I want to share with you here first of all This 30 Days to Understanding Church History is a book that is out of print. And some curriculum up in Littleton has it, but you can't get it unless you order it through mass orders. So I have a few of these. These are $15. It's a great, helpful tool for getting ready for the church history thing. Then this has nothing to do with a Bible overview, but with a very dear friend of the Bible overview. Mike Sabo has just published it. You know Mike. He's sitting back there. He's been here. week and he has just published a book the life I want in Christ and you can't get this anywhere and so His book is available to you. Mike is a dear friend of Larry's so I want to promote it The I have up here cards that that I would like you to fill out I want you to fill them out though if you're very only if you're very serious I mean everybody's curious and this is a great thing, but only if you're really serious about wanting to get training and If you are really serious and or if you are really serious about hosting a Bible overview training in your area So I've got up here. I want you to put your state up here real strong up here in the right-hand corner So that way I can divide these up according to states and find out You know where where people are located and how we can help you and serve you in this in this way So I think we're cheap. We're all we're almost 20 after I let's go into some of those questions that you had and Yes, Jay. No, they just invited us and we're going to do that as soon as we, thanks. As soon as we get back I need to talk to the training team. Mark Johnson and Bob Wilbraham and Bob Lovelace. Oh, well, we have the three extra couples. I mean, I think in terms of leading a Bible overview, you probably want to keep it to, like, two couples would work, three couples. You know, you want to, you're dividing up the responsibilities as far as hosting and who's going to lead. Chuck, do you, I mean, anybody? Yes. Well, we're actually doing the day and a half seminar. Yes. The training for it. Well Because I mean just because in terms of them all receiving the information at the same time. I think It just there's there's a sense of when you're all there together And you're in and on together that it just seems to be is People seem to be more responsive to it rather than one person going back. I didn't maybe people here to the team coming in teachers Okay, I'm sorry Well, we're trying to work that out. I'm sorry I misunderstood you we're trying to reduce the number so that we can maybe just go with three I mean, I guess I think I don't know some of you who have done seminars I think the best number is like two or three It's gonna be very hard for me to hold back these kids. They just they just they want to be a part of it By the way just out of interest I How many of you, how many of this, of you, this really strikes a respondent chord? I mean, you say like, you know, my goodness, this is something I, uh-oh. How many of you want to start, how many of you want to start this, this September? Yeah. What are you looking at me like that for? Well. Right well I think it would be almost easier for us to go to them because then we as a team have to provide the Logistics that you know the train getting people from the airport you know and and the food and the whole thing and that's why it's easier for us to fly in all of these kids have full-time jobs you've got bankers and insurance people and you know all one works full-time for Willow Creek and and I'm not qualified to teach this. I'm not qualified to teach this. If it's in my town, if it's in my town. It's in Iowa. Yes, Sharon. Well, I think so in terms of what we'd like to see develop is you know almost like in the future there could be you know like a not not an official representative, but you know yeah that I would hope that someday we could do that once it once the feeling of You know that you've been through enough where you feel like you could do that that you know we have to work that out But yes, I would hope that in the future that would happen Yes, that's how we started. Yes. Yes, you can do it that way, but we started with three couples in training. Yeah. But yes, that would be the way to do it. The first couple we trained, it was just like that. How about switching back to any questions? I just wanted to get that. I didn't want to sabotage it. But any other questions about the overview? Have you used this at all cross-country? Well in terms of there's a lot of interest on the email. I'm getting by the way my email is on the back here and my Everything is on here except there's we've got a post office box number if you want to write but there's also the email and there's also a phone number on there, but Yes, I worked at this time again trying to create a package for people overseas I mean they can't missionaries have called us, but they can't come to the training Though one of the last things Larry did was when we were in Ghana. He did do a training for for leadership in Ghana, but I See I mean Larry's heart and vision was international so I mean There were so many people that were coming after us, you know, China, you know, because it would be such a great, you know, talk to Bob about Russia and just lots of areas that this would be really, really helpful in different languages. Mary? This is some of the stuff we go on the train. Yes, it's you know, you can do a couple of different things We always had Bibles available. We encourage them to bring a Bible if they wanted to if they I mean we've had everything You know how Leroy Iams used to talk about the Holy Bible. Well, people have come in with their big family Bibles, you know Yeah, it's kind of you know getting through this but then we do have Bibles available. We do have Bibles. Oh Yes if it's an what we have done in the past is this anybody would like to volunteer and we also if nobody volunteers then You the leader usually has somebody ready to read but whenever you can get the person reading it for themselves Again, that's that whole lion thing and you do the you know, you have to be sensitive and You know, that's one of the first things you want to do is create a very safe environment where there's no embarrassment. So You know, we told people, we'll be reading different parts. If there's anybody here who would prefer not to read, you know, just let me know because I don't want anybody to do that. And also, we tell them how to pronounce hard names. You know, the classical, when you come to the hard name, you just say hard name. And, you know, you diffuse things so that, you know, the other thing I wanted to say about that that we really encourage is you saw Bob's word here. Wasn't that refreshing? You know, you strip away all the evangelical jargon and all the Christianese, but when you go into the Bible, you encounter God, sin, evil, and you're talking about, this is the vocabulary of this book. So you're talking the kind of talk you want to talk, but you strip it away from a bunch of that stuff that we talk in this funny language amongst ourselves. And they find that very helpful. Yeah. That's a treasure, it really is. Yeah. Did it take? Not really very much at all. It was just one of those things dance that we just scheduled in Tuesday night We went over there my prep took some time some parts took a little more than other for me to be Familiar with what I was going to I'm a talker I struggle immensely with trying to cover the material and in that one study I got to make a public confession. I cheated and we did an extra lesson We didn't get through the one lesson like we were supposed to, and I apologized, and they said, that's okay, we'll do it next time. Yeah. But in terms of, you say, the way it's going to go the last three hours a week or something? Oh, no, no, no, no. When we were doing it every other week, there was the one Tuesday evening, I mean, it was the whole evening, and maybe, oh, two to four hours prep for that presentation. And we really didn't spend any time with the couples as we were going through it. The people who invited them stayed in touch and stayed in contact. We didn't stay as much. I'm going back now and doing that. And I'm not saying you shouldn't do that. I'm just saying that's. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Time wise. But but hey Yeah, and this is this is one of the things that I learned from the commission and in this whole situation And that is that I will not do a grassroots ministry again without a team I will not operate without a team and that's one of the big things we're praying for right now And hopefully I can get some we can get some people in that team Who when we're gone or have to step out can help continue on and that's where we are in it right now We're back to relaunch starting all over again a grassroots ministry in Des Moines, but that's great. Yes We usually start early on us we well it depends on the group But we usually start on Sunday night, and you're out of there by 8 So that they you know most business people you know they just want to get in Sunday nights of kind of a laid-back night usually and Yes, yes, you do whatever they want to do Well, there's lots of materials if you want to take a look at some of these things up here Chuck and I are going to be here to To talk with you. Let's just end with the word of prayer and and then we'll be done Father we do praise you and thank you for what you have done using your the approach of the Bible overview, that you are letting your lion loose in the lives of people. And Father, I pray that you would give each person here wisdom and discernment as to how they should or could apply this approach to their own ministry. Father, we pray that this Bible overview would be the foundations of many generations that love you and serve you with their whole heart. I thank you for each person here today, for Chuck and his assistance, encouragement, and Nancy. And we just commit the rest of the day to you now, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.