Amen. Well look, so most of us when we read our letters, we just blow by the salutations or the introductions. We kind of read them and then we go through. But there's a lot that we can get from these first two verses in Philippians. I have given you a handout because we're going to go through a few things that I really want to cover. One of which is the typical standard format for letters that were written in the New Testament. Most of us have not been taught formal letter writing in school. I think when I was growing up, they would teach you how to write a letter. I don't think they do that anymore. When I was growing up, they would teach you cursive. I don't think they do that anymore. They taught us geography. They taught us, yeah, Jim did the little typing thing. If you were a boy, you went to the calculators. If you were a girl, you went to typing. That's the way we grew up. We didn't do any of that. that we just didn't, the genders did not mix like that. I did take home economics but only because I was after a girl. And so I sucked it up and went. But I want us to look at this. If you look at your handout, I want to look and generally just kind of cover this. I want to recommend and plug, if you do not have in your home library, your Christian library, you need to start building it up, you can get it digitally, or you can have a hardback. I like hardbacks myself, even though I do have it digitally. But you need a Bible dictionary. Holmans, Easons, there's a whole bunch of them, lexems, you need a Bible dictionary. And the reason for that is because like this outline that I've given you here, you'll see that I footnoted where I got it, and you'll see that on your pages there, but I got it from there. I just kind of paraphrased a little bit of it. And so, I would strongly, strongly encourage you to get a Bible dictionary and have it available when you open and when you read your Bible. It's a great tool. So, most letters that are written at that point at that time, they particularly in the New Testament, and I'm talking about New Testament letters, I'm not looking at the Old Testament letters, but the New Testament letters, they followed the patterns of rhetoric. And what does that mean? Rhetoric is just a way of persuasive speech. So these letters were written at that time, and they have many letters, not just the ones we have in our Bibles, but many letters from that time, and they usually followed three patterns. And if you look at that, If you go down to the 1C, letters were classified according to rhetorical theory, in other words, the theory of persuasion. We had judicial letters aimed at persuading a judge and a jury, deliberative letters argued for particular courses of action in the public square, government, assembly, or even giving advice. And then the epidectic letters used to praise or blame on ceremonial or commemorative occasions. So these were standard forms. We have two older manuscripts or books that kind of dealt with the way you were supposed to do these letters. Why am I sharing this? Because the letters that we have in our Bibles do follow some of this pattern. The letters that we have in our Bible do follow some of this pattern. What was the fancy word that Jim taught you last week for letters? Who said that? Look at you man, epistle, you're an epistle. So epistles, right, that's a fancy word for letters, but the New Testament letters don't follow these patterns exactly, and the letters of that era did not follow these patterns exactly, but they had elements. The letters that we have in our Bible fall into this other category, which are exhortations. Horatory or paranetic. Exhortations. Horatory or paranetic. And it is important that we understand that so that when you open up your Bible, and let's say you pick up Ephesians, or you pick up Romans, or you pick up Hebrews, you understand that there's a form and a thought that went into it. It's not just a random, you know, I'm gonna write a few things down here. It is intentional. So when you start looking at them, you can get the most of what you're reading. And you can interact with the letter. Now, there's something else that I wanted you to understand why I am taking the time to go through this. Look at number three there, right? So, oh, excuse me, number four. 21 out of the 27 books of the New Testament are letters. 21 out of the 27 are letters. And they have a particular format. And it is important that we understand those formats. The other thing I want you to notice up to go up to number two there. Some of them were written by amanuensis. And so those were guys that wrote letters as somebody spoke. But some of them would edit the letters, some of them would use their own grammar, their own way of saying things, some of them would kind of change the wording a little bit to get the best way to convey whatever was being dictated at the time. And so it's important that we understand that, because I have given for you a scripture there, Romans 16.22. If somebody would read that, Romans 16.22, I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. So Tertius wrote the letter, right? But when we talk about the author, who is the author? Paul. Paul is the author. But Tertius did the physical writing, right? But who is the author of the Bible? God is the author. We must never forget God is the author. The other thing that I want you to understand is that the Bible is not one book. It is an anthology. It is a collection of 66 books that were breathed out by God over a period of hundreds of years in three languages, Hebrew and Greek, and the second one being Aramaic, and that it was written on at least three continents by over 40 authors, all saying the same thing. We have it in one book, but it is an anthology. It is a collection. And so it is important that we do that. Now, Jim taught us a hermeneutical principle last week. What is the principle, hermeneutics? It's an explanation, right? And what is the principle that governs us? What interprets what? Scripture interprets scripture. The other thing that I'm just going to put out there, and this is, how many of you guys have heard Sade, your love is king, or something like that? Yeah, there's another one that's much better. Context is king. Context is king. The way you interpret scripture is context. and Scripture interprets Scripture. And Jim did a wonderful, wonderful class on that. I thought personally for me a little short, but that's just me. I would have preferred a week, maybe two, three, but that's just me. But there are some things that I want you to understand. There are some things in the Bible that are mystery. We don't know what is meant, right? But we do know what is not meant. And what do I mean by that? We know what the clear teaching of God is about certain things. So when Paul, for instance, in Corinthians says, I am free to do all things. Is Paul really free to do all things? What can't Paul do? Sin, anything that God says don't do, don't do, right? So that's really, really, really important. All right, so now we've talked about the letters. I want you to go to 6, and I want you to understand the format. what these letters look like. And the reason I'm kind of rushing through this is because I really want to spend a little bit of time on this introduction. And so look at 6. The general format of New Testament letters, the address, that is that first part. The other way, the other way that is called, the other way we know that is the salutation. So it is also known as the salutation. Sometimes I think of it more like an introduction. Now, I'm going to ask you a question. What books of the Bible aren't letters? The Gospels. How many of those are five, right? I'm just checking. Well, the Gospels are not letters, right, in the New Testament. And what else? Which other one? Revelation. But Revelation contains seven letters in it. Just so you know, there are seven letters in Revelation. To who? You guys are genius! Genius! All right, salutation introduction. And I want you to know what's considered, what's in the introduction, the writer and the recipients. Sometimes you don't have a writer listed. Give me an example of a letter that doesn't have a writer listed. It's about coffee. There you go. It's all about the coffee, Hebrews. We know that he was a cafe guy. So anyways, Hebrews does not tell you who wrote it. But, best coffee. It is the best coffee. But we, I think personally, I am down to Paul. I see Paul in it. Early church, as Jim mentioned, believe Paul. The second for me is Luke. I can see Paul or Luke, either one of those guys writing it. But Hebrew doesn't have an author, and so it is unknown. All right, now I want you to notice you have the writer, the recipient, the greetings, the prayer of Thanksgiving. That is all standard in most of these letters. If you were to flip to go to Rome, Read Galatians, open up Galatians and just somebody read the introduction to Galatians, the first few verses. Just read it out loud. Somebody pick Ephesians, somebody go to Ephesians, somebody go to Colossians, and then I want you to read them all at the same time. No, we're not Pentecostal. It would be like everybody speaking in tongues, man. I mean, wait a minute, I better, you are gonna edit this, I hope. I'm just offended like all our brothers and sisters. And I'm not even thinking about the satire, the Lutheran satire on speaking in tongues, which is hilarious if you've never seen it. Ephesians, just go ahead and read the first part of it. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, stop right there. Somebody else read Colt. You go ahead on. I got Galatians. Galatians, go ahead on. Paul, an apostle, not from man, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and all the brothers who are with me, to the churches of Galatia, Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, somebody else read another one? Colossians. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God, our Father. So, go ahead on, who's got the next one there? Yeah, did you want to say something? Yeah, yeah, yeah, go ahead on, brother. From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those temporarily residing abroad, So you see that this format is being implemented across the board. If you were to pick up John, the letter from John, you're going to get the same format. It was a standard thing. We need to realize that, yes, the Bible is a supernatural book. But it was written in a context of educated people that were trained to do things in a certain way. It doesn't take away from the book at all. As a matter of fact, when we start looking at that, it just makes the book that much more beautiful. And so you have that, you have the body, right? Now we go to the body, but I want to go back. Remember, writer and recipients, greetings, prayer of Thanksgiving. You just saw that in all those letters. Now the body, the body varies with the letter. You may have a formal opening or an exhortation. Paranesis means just exhortation, advice. And then you have a conclusion, a final blessing, a greeting, peace, a peace wish, and then you have a postscript, the PS, oh, by the way, I'm planning to come here, or this or that. That is the basic rudiment of the New Testament letters. And so, any questions on that? Okay, so you guys, if I asked you to look at that, you would say, oh yeah, John, I see that. I see how that pattern plays out. And why is that significant? Because it helps to ground the writing in time. That's why it's important. It's important because not only are this form being followed, but you can see that with the extent letters of that time. You see the same kind of form being followed, and that's important. Now, let's talk a little bit about the introduction. Somebody go to Philippians 1 and 2 and read Philippians 1 verses 1 and 2. Oh, here it is. Paul and Timothy, so I'm the subject. Why are you reading this? Alright, so now, since you guys have had a class on hermeneutics, I want you to tell me what you see. Since you guys have had a class on hermeneutics, tell me what you see in that. Oh, I see an introduction. Yes, yes, you do see an introduction. Oh, oh, I see the writer and the recipients. Oh gosh, you guys are on fire, caliente. All right, so what else do you see? Oh, there's a greeting. Oh my goodness, there's a greeting there, okay. And there's a prayer of Thanksgiving, right? So let's talk about that. Who does this claim, who claims to write this letter? Who? Are you sure about that? Are you sure it's Paul? Isn't it Saul? Is it Saul or Paul? Who is it? Are you sure it's not Saul? Yes it's Saul or yes you're not sure? You're sure it's not Saul? Or you weren't here last week, we'll excuse you. Saul and Paul are the same person. Remember that? Paul had his Roman name, and he had his Jewish name, Saul. And where was Paul from? Yes, Tarsus! Gesundheit. God bless you all, everyone. He was from Tarsus. Paul was a Roman-born citizen, right? If I were to read that same letter from Well, that same introduction from this Bible here, which is the Complete Jewish Study Bible, this is the way it reads, "...from Sha'ul and Timothy, slaves of the Messiah Yeshua, to all God's people united with the Messiah Yeshua and living in Philippi, along with the congregation leaders and Shamashim." Right? Shamashim. Those being named, I guess. Grace to you and Shalom. What does Shalom mean? Peace. That's exactly right. Dottie and I watched the movie Shalom Tango. I highly recommend it. It's a C movie. I highly recommend it. It's a rabbi who has been called by God to dance the tango, but he cannot touch the woman he's dancing with because that is forbidden. He cannot look at the woman he's dancing with because that is forbidden, and yet he is called to dance the tango to save something or other. It's a great movie. I highly recommend it. Anyways, so... And so grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. There's something that we need to talk about there. So Paul is writing, who else may, is he kind of crediting there? Kai, Ann, that's the Greek word for Ann, Kai, Timothy. Who pinched that baby? Somebody pinched that baby. All right, so let's ask, now servant, let's talk about this word servant. Right? What does yours say? Mine says slave. Slave. Who has bond servant? I do. Yes. Are there differences in these words? What are the differences? The spelling. Yes, yes, the spelling is different. Yes, yes, yes. You got it. The spelling is different. What else is different? Huh? were Greek? Okay, I like your enthusiasm. I like that you gave an answer boldly and unashamedly, and they might have been Greek, but that doesn't necessarily imply that they were Greek, right? But is a bond... Let me ask you, I wish Thomas was here, because Thomas has a bonding company. What do bond... When you take out... How many people have had a bond taken out on them before? Don't raise your hand. I saw Rebecca go like this. So a bond is when somebody goes and gets arrested, they take out a bond. They take a loan out basically on the individual, right? That's a bond. So what is a bond servant then? Oh, and they sold themselves into indentured, we would call them indentured servants. In other words, when do we have that in our history in America? When do you see that? Well, you see it before, well, there were some say, but you see it when they were coming over from Great Britain. In order to get their passage, they couldn't afford their passage, and the luxury, get nauseous across the ocean, a liner, they would sell themselves into bondage, and that usually had a temporary period of time, and it usually was for serving, as a servant or something like that, so a bond servant, right? What is a servant in our minds? When we hear the word servant, what do we think of? Somebody that waits on you, takes care of somebody. Does a servant have rights? They have rights, right? They get paid, they have rights, they have wages. When you think slave, what do you think of? Your property. are property." I want you to turn to Acts chapter 9 and somebody read what's going on in Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. Start with verse 1. Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, Why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? Saul asked. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, he replied. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do. The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the sound, but they did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind and did not eat or drink anything. Okay, stop. In that account, would you describe Saul as a bondservant? Did he offer himself up to Jesus? Did he say, hey, I'm going to serve you for a little bit of time, and we're going to do this? No. So the reason I'm doing this is because our translations, and this is something we must understand, our English translations, they're good. We have really great translations. But they are translated, and sometimes they take cultural sensitivity into account. And you have to be careful sometimes when you read things to understand. When you read that account, that is not what Paul is doing. As a matter of fact, I want somebody to read verse, let's go to verse 15. Somebody read verse 15, that same chapter 9 of Acts. The Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel. keep going. So let me ask you this, alright, if I were to make a Christian recruiting poster, It would be the best. Nah, it would not. Yeah, thanks. That was a lot of encouragement, Casey. Yeah, it would be the best. Yeah, but it would be, in my mind, it would be the best. Anyways, so, I feel like Nacho Libre. So, yeah, the best. Anyways, so, and I said, you too can become a follower of Jesus Christ and He will show you how much you have to suffer. How many of you guys would go, sign me up? Come on, be honest. No. Notice what he says there. He is my chosen vessel. God chose him. Christ chose him. Paul had nothing to do there. He is not a bond servant. He is not a servant. When Paul writes, I am a slave, he is a slave. Paul considers himself property. Paul considers himself to have only one desire, and that is the desire of his master. Now, we're gonna talk about this word slave a little bit here because there are two words that are being used. The Greek word is doulos, the Hebrew word is evit. The Hebrew word is evit and the Greek word is doulos. We translate them in our translations as servants sometimes, but the other way you can read that text is as a slave. So if I were to ask you, to turn in your Bible to, let me give you scripture here. So I want you to read the way the patriarchs are referred to in the Bible. Turn to Exodus 32, 13 if you would, somebody. Exodus 32, will she stay with me? No, she won't. I'll try. Come on, girl. There you go. Exodus 32. 14, right? Is that what I said? 13. Go ahead on somebody read that, please. All right, so notice that the word there, what does it say? Your servants, right? But that can also be translated as your slaves. So remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you swore by your own self, your slaves. Somebody turn to Deuteronomy 34.5, please. Deuteronomy 34.5. So, your servants, that also can be translated as slave. Right? 2 Samuel 7, 5. And I'm going through the Scriptures because I want to tie this idea of servant, slave, how those two words are used sometimes and translated, but the idea is more in line with the idea of slave. Go ahead, read. 2 Samuel 7, 5. And so you can translate that as well go and tell my slave David and then look at 2nd Kings 21 10 and I'll read it for you And the Lord said to his slaves the prophets also written as servants now I want you to understand and we're not going to go through it. But if you look at your handout there and if you go to Number 16, I want you to notice that you also have there the slave slash servant songs of Isaiah. The slave slash servant songs of Isaiah. And these are the songs talking about the prod. These are the songs talking about Jesus. talking about Jesus. So I want us to look at this idea of slavery then in the New Testament for because I think that sometimes we don't spend enough time explaining what it was to be a slave in that particular Age or at that particular time and I want to tie it back to the Old Testament With why would Paul want to do this call himself a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ I keep losing stuff. Thanks So anyways, so I want you to turn if you would to Exodus 21 Exodus 21 Can somebody read Exodus 21 for me? Exodus 21, beginning in verse 1. He shall be a slave forever. But why is he becoming a slave forever? Why is he doing that, anybody? Notice what he says there, he loves his master. He loves his master. So, oh, this is bad. All right, I'm sorry, the heat went up to 80, that was bad. So, he loves his master, and because he loves his master, he does what? Becomes a slave. So I want you to consider when Paul is describing himself as a slave, why do you think Paul is doing that? Why would Paul describe himself as a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ? Because he loves his master. Why does he love his master? Because his master provides everything that he needs. See, we sometimes in our desire to make Jesus our homie and so approachable, and I don't like that term, but I'm using it, we lose something in that relational dynamic. Yes, he is a brother. Yes, he is a friend. But what doesn't he stop being? We must never lose sight of that. Yes, we are adopted into the family of God. Yes, He is the second Adam, and He is truly human, but He is truly God, and He is our Master. And remember the parable that He teaches, when you come to a feast, what are you supposed to do? What does He tell the Pharisees and the Sadducees He teaches? You come to a party, you've been invited to a party, you're all decked out, what should you do? Talk about seating. Let's talk about seating. Where should you sit? At the head of the table, right? At the best seat, right? Because it's all about us. When you walk in there, it's like the star ball is spinning, the lights are coming in. Yeah, I don't know what else to call it. What is it? Disco ball. I grew up with disco. It's the star ball. I was thinking, now you got me thinking about Carl Sagan, we're all stardust, whatever that means. All right, but disco ball, I've heard it both ways. I just did, I just heard it both ways. So anyways, the disco ball is spinning, you're walking, you're strutting, you go to the head of the table because that's what Jesus says to do, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, no. Because what will happen? The host of the feast will come up and say, friend, this chair is reserved for somebody else. You go sit over here. In other words, this idea of The master chooses and the master has a right over what happens in his house, his table, and I'm gonna put it this way bluntly, in our lives. He never stops being Lord. I want you to notice something in your letter, right? Go ahead on and read Philippians 1, 2 again and see if you pick up on this subtle change Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. But you notice how he introduces himself, a slave of Jesus Christ. Grace and peace is coming from who? God and Jesus Christ, Lord. In that little statement there, what did you just see? What did Paul just do for us? The uncomfortable silence. He just showed us two things. The humanity of Christ, the deity of Christ. In that little verse you see the true humanity of Christ, Jesus, Messiah, the Anointed One, the Chosen One, then you see the deity of Christ, Jesus, Messiah, Lord. What is the title that is given to Jesus in Philippians 2.11? Just turn the page, turn the page, No? Sorry, Bob Seeger, Civil Bullet Band. I do too. I don't know about Metallica. I don't know anything about Metallica. Jesus Christ is Lord. That is the confession that is going to be made. Now, I want you to turn to look at verse 7 there in that same section, chapter 2. What happens to Jesus Christ? He took the form of a bouncer and He was made in the likeness Did he take on the form of a bondservant, or did he take on the form of a slave? It's the same word in Greek. It is doulos. This is for Jim's benefit. So, he took on the form of a slave. So, let me ask you this. When Paul is introducing himself and Timothy as slaves, is Paul introducing himself as someone who has been demeaned? Or is Paul introducing himself as someone who has been exalted to serve? So that's the question I would ask us today. Would you consider yourself a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ? And if so, why? And if not, why not? If you're purchased by him, then yes, you are. Oh, purchased. What was the price that was paid? His life. Ooh, who said that? Very good, Zoe. I'm going to put blood, because it just looks cooler. But it means life, because life is in the blood. But blood just looks cooler. So you were purchased by his blood. Now... Do you consider yourself a slave of Christ? And if you do, are you living in accordance with seeking your Master's will? Can we say that we adhere to what the Apostle Paul says? Whatever you do, do for the glory of God. So these introductions that we're reading, they're not idle. Because even the chicken chapters, the begat chapters, I love those chapters. The begat, begat, begat, begat, begat, they begat, they're just begatting all over the place. I feel like you ought to be out there with some chicken feed. Begat, begat. Even the chicken chapters. important because they tell us of the sovereignty of God in preserving His people to the point of bringing into our time, the sphere of time, the incarnate Word. It's all important, but my question again remains, do you consider yourself a slave of Christ? Anybody want to answer? In the last week, no, let's not even go a week because we know that's not going to happen. In the last 24 hours, have you been about your master's business? Have I been about my master's business? So when Paul says, Paul and Timothy, slaves, not bond servants, not servants, slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ, possessed, owned, saying, I have no other desire, and he writes to what? I want you to notice, who is he writing to? Because there's more that we can learn in this letter. To the saints? The overseers and the deacons. But to the saints... In Philippi. In Philippi, but in Christ. That little prepositional phrase is important. He's not just writing to saints. That's okay. I should have said mama. Wait a minute, is the disco star ball coming? That's free disco? So notice that he is writing to a particular audience, saints. Okay, I want you to turn on your head, your thinking caps. How many letters does Paul write to the sinners? In all the letters that we wrote, the introductions, how many of them were to the sinners? They're all to the saints. This is important. Why is it important? And I harp on it as often as I can. Sinners are under the wrath of God. Saints have been purchased by the blood of Christ. And your sins are dealt with where? On the cross at Calvary. We are all like pilgrim. We walk up, we got a big old sin rucksack, and we keep putting stuff in there and complain about our bags, but we keep putting stuff in there until you get to the Cross of Calvary. At the Cross of Calvary, that sin rucksack goes off. And that's probably one of the best illustrations that I've seen as far as a drawing depicting that burden that is so horrible. But he writes to the saints who are in Christ. The preposition there can be understood as the sphere under the influence. You can even understand it as a genitive, because of Christ. But however you understand that, notice that it's to a particular people, in a particular relational dynamic. And that relational dynamic is with the Messiah. Now, what else can you learn from this letter, from this little brief introduction about church government? Local, yes. Local, so we do not have, and I'm gonna say it, Big Eva, for those of you that know the term. Big evangelism, big, we don't have that. We're not hierarchical in the way we practice our politics. That is a local church that is part of the bigger church, the universal church, the Church of God, Church of Christ. But what else can you learn about government there? Who's he writing to? Saints. Three classes he mentions there. Yeah. Which one are you guys? Saints, saints, yes, yes, yes, you're the saints. You are the saints. Then you have overseers. What's the, I like this word, but I would never use it, but I like the English word. Bishops. I just love it. One day I'll go like this. Yes, and Bishop Jim. That would be so cool. The little pointy hat. The bishops of Trinity salute you. The other, overseers, the office in 1 Timothy is overseer, that's the office. It is populated by overseers, elders, sometimes they happen to be elderly, but they're elders, and pastors. So these are leaders. Then, what's the other one that you see there? Deacons. Different. They're not the same. Deacons are servants. That's all that word really means. Servants. Overseers, servants, and the saints. Who become overseers? Saints. I would make the argument, this is John, Bishop John. I mean, isn't that so cool, man? Bishop John. Get the star ball. That sounds so cool, doesn't it? Bishop John. My name is John, Bishop John, grape juice stirred, shaken, whatever, I don't know. So anyways, I would make the argument that saints, saints, is the most important building block, aside from Christ, right? Christ always, but is the most important building block in the local church. It is the most underutilized And I'm going to call it an office. It is the most underutilized office in the local church, the participation of the saints. Because from the saints come what? The overseers and the deacons. And it's kind of ironic that the way Paul starts this letter is, to the saints in Ephesus. to the overseers and the deacons, to the saints in Ephesus, being in Ephesus, I think it's a present active participle, it's the only verb in that whole thing, the saints being in Philippi, excuse me, not Ephesus, in Philippi, with the overseers and Deacons and notice what he says grace to you and peace Shalom from God the father of us all and the Lord Jesus Christ in those two verses you have some really sound theology being taught you have The fancy word For Church governance is polity. Yeah polity being taught and You have the natures of Christ being emphasized, so you have the humanity of Christ, and you have the deity of Christ. You also have in that letter the first, we call him the first person, but you have Father, God, So you even have the triune nature of Christ being referenced there. The triune nature of God, excuse me, not of Christ, the triune nature of God. And how do you become a saint? You get saved. And who applies the work of salvation to you? God the Holy Spirit. So just looking at that introduction, you can get a lot out of that. What I'm gonna encourage you guys to do is to not blow through these introductions, to take your time in your Bible reading. It's not a contest. Take your time, take a little notebook, and read. and you will see beautiful things. And tell me something about grace. What is grace? How much did you pay for your grace? Who said it wouldn't be grace? Zoe? How dare you to quote Romans? Don't you bring Romans into this? That's what Paul says, if you work for it, it's work, right? It's no longer grace. And if it's grace, it's no longer work. You can't have both. You paid nothing for your grace. You were bought at a price. The price was the life of Christ. And you are a slave because you love your master. And you went and you said, I am yours. And your master has your best interest at heart. And your master has elevated you to son and daughter and elevated you to friend and brother. He has moved you from the worst place at the table to the best place at the table. Isn't that beautiful? All of that from the introduction. Any questions? I did also, I'm going to point you to your handout one more time, and just so that you can look at it. I did break down slavery in that era in your handout. So if you look to page two, slavery in this era, and just kind of went through and gave you a brief summary slavery and if you go to under on page 3 you'll see in number 6, slave labor was used for fields, mines, building projects, domestic servants, civil servants, temples, craftsmen, gladiators, educated slaves were used according to their skills. But I want you to notice in verse 5, I mean in number 5, One out of three were slaves in Italy at this time. That is 33% of the population were actually slaves. And outside of that dominion, 20% of the population were slaves. And so why did people become slaves? Look at number nine, war. They became a conquered people. Debt, voluntarily. That's more along the line of an indentured or bonded servant. Involuntarily being sold by parents, kidnappers, and pirates. Birth to slaves or parents. Criminal convictions. And so you kind of go through there. And this I did not pick up on until I was reading in Holman, not this, Holman Dictionary, which is number 12 there. You know, in Acts chapter 6 and 9, however, some of those who belong to the synagogue of the freed men, these were free Jewish slaves, as it was called. So, you even have a reference there to Jews that had been slaves and had formed a synagogue. Any questions about anything that we covered? But I do not want you to be ignorant of just how much meat are in these greetings. And if you start looking at them and taking your time, you will see beautiful things. If no questions, anybody want to close us out in prayer?