Well, just when the choir gets warmed up. Well, good evening everyone. Thank you for being here this evening. Let's bow for prayer and then we'll get into the last of the songs of degrees, the last of the songs of degrees. And let's bow for prayer and we'll get into that. Our Father, we come before you tonight and pray, Father, that you would speak to us through the Word of God tonight. that we would have ears to hear what you say in the scriptures this evening, and that you would apply it to each person's heart according to their need. We come here tonight, Lord, with people that, well, we've come, each person has come through all kinds of things, and is dealing with all kinds of things in their life, and we know that your word can can, by the work of your Holy Spirit, reach out and touch each heart according to what they need. And we pray that you would do that this evening. We thank you for it. We pray that the Lord Jesus Christ would receive honor and glory tonight and that we would be drawn to him. And we pray in his name. Amen. Well, let's go there to Psalm. Let's go to Psalm 100 and Psalm 113 to begin with. No. I am so sorry I'm not wearing my magic glasses today, so I'm going to have to look at my notes up here where I can see them. Just a quick way of review, Psalm 113 to Psalm 118 are called the Hallel Psalms. Those are the Psalms that are sung in connection with the Passover. And then we have Psalm 119, which is the great Psalm extolling and talking about the wonders of the word of God. And then we come to Psalm 120, 120 through 134. And in our King James Version, those are labeled as the songs of degrees. So I'd like for us to go there to Psalm 120. the songs of degrees. The early usage of the word degrees in English was as steps. I looked at that in the old Samuel Johnson's dictionary, one of the first dictionaries of the English language that was written. And then, again, in the one that folks can get on their phone, the early Noah Webster's Dictionary, the 1828 version, and both of those refer to the first definition is steps. steps, ways to go up. And that really matches, you know, for us, whenever we think of degrees, we think of, well, a bachelor's degree, you know, PhD, or maybe what temperature it is, you know, 98 degrees or something like that. So we've come to use the word degrees in so many ways, but the most common usage of the word degrees in the early uses was simply as steps, means of going up. And that matches the Hebrew the Hebrew word here, that's the songs of Ma'alah, which is ascent. And we see that, if we consider that the Psalms of ascent, that matches other places that we see in the scripture. For instance, in the book of Ezra, and I'm doing a review right now, but in Ezra chapter seven, verses six through nine, we're told that the people of Israel left Persia to go up, to go up to Jerusalem. That's Ma'ala, that's the degrees, the steps, as they were going from where they were there in Persia and then going up to Jerusalem, up to the temple. And here in Psalm 122, one of the Psalms of degrees, if you come with me here to verses three and four, it says, Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together Where do the tribes go up? There it is, Ma'ala, the degrees or the ascents. They go up the tribes of the Lord unto the testimony of the Lord to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. So I just want us to want to clarify exactly what we're looking at here, because that helps set the context of the passage. And the context is people are looking forward to going up to the house of God, looking forward to going up to Jerusalem. And the Lord required that the people of Israel, the men of Israel specifically, go up to Jerusalem three times in the year, and those were for the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, which was associated with the Passover, the Feast of Weeks, 50 days after the Passover, that's the Feast of the Wheat Harvest, and then the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of the End Gathering, at the end of the harvest, the end of the year. And the Lord required that and it's recorded for us in the book of Exodus chapter 23 and other places there. Deuteronomy chapter 16 tells about it as well, that they're to go up to the place that God will designate, the place that the Lord would designate it. And the Lord, well, we're going to have a psalm that deals with that. But after Solomon built the temple of the Lord, The scripture points out that he made offerings to the Lord three times in the year there, and that's recorded in 1 Kings 9, verse 25. So these songs of degrees reflect the thinking, reflect the aspirations, the wishes, the desires of the people of Israel as they're thinking in terms of going up to the house of the Lord. And perhaps they were able to go up, perhaps they weren't, but these psalms of ascent They're called the Psalms of Degrees, or the Psalms of the Steps, or the Psalms of Going Up, because they're associated with, the thought is, going up to Jerusalem, and they mention that. They talk about going up to Jerusalem. They talk about going up to the house of the Lord. So what we find in these Psalms of Degrees, or the Psalms of Ascent, there are 15 of them. 15 psalms of ascent, and there's a definite pattern to the 15. There are five trios. What we have is you'll have three psalms, and the first psalm in that group will express the tribulation or affliction of the people of Israel. The second psalm will reflect their trust in the Lord, and the third psalm will reflect the victory or the triumph of the people of Israel. So as we come to it, Psalm 120 is a psalm that focuses on tribulation. Psalm 121 is one that focuses on trust. And the third one, Psalm 122, focuses on the victory or the triumph that the people of Israel will have. And so we have the five trios that reflect that same pattern. For instance, in the first psalm, the first of the Psalms of Ascent, Psalm 120, verses 1 through 5, we start out in Meshach. It says, woe is me, in verse 5, for I sojourn in Meshach. Now that means they were in captivity up to the north, and I dwell in the tents of that dwell in the tents of Kedar. And that's down in the south. The Kedar was one of the descendants of where the Arabs are. So they were descendants of Ishmael. So what he's describing here is the dispersed diaspora of the Jewish people all over the place. And then he goes on to talk about their distress living among the Gentiles. and how they look forward to returning to Jerusalem, going up to Jerusalem and rejoicing in Jerusalem. In fact, Psalm 122 verse 1 begins with, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go unto the house of the Lord. So they're looking forward to returning to Jerusalem and going to the house of the Lord. Well, what we're going to do this evening is We're going to skip most of the Psalms of degree. And we're just going to go to the last two trios. We're going to take a look at the last two trios. The first trio, 120 through 122, deals with the distress among the Gentiles. Living among the Gentiles was a distressing situation for them. Psalm 123 to 125 focuses on being scorned, being looked down upon, being detested and hated by the people where they are. See, we're talking about those that are, well, they're dispersed from Jerusalem and they experience disrespect among the nations. Isn't that remarkable? Isn't that remarkable? That has been that has been the condition, that has been the experience of the Jewish people throughout their history from, well, from the time that they were removed from Israel the first time, you know, out into Assyria and then into Babylon. And then whenever they were removed again there in 70 AD, whenever the Romans came and and destroyed the temple and the city of Jerusalem. They were scattered all over the world, and their experience has been to be despised. We still see that. Psalm 126 points out the tears in the captivity and the crying to the Lord. to release them from captivity, release them from being separated from Israel. And then we come to the third, the fourth trio, which focuses on being repeatedly afflicted by the haters of Zion. repeatedly afflicted by the haters of Zion, and then the trust in that, and then the triumph in that. And then finally, we come to Psalm 132, 132 to 134, the affliction of David in seeking a house for the Lord. So we're gonna take a look at these last two trios. So come with me to Psalm 129. and we will put in there. So what we're looking at, and you can even see a progression in the trios, can't you? We're looking at this group of Psalms, and the big picture is the first group talks about the distress living among the Gentiles. The second is the tears of living, or the scorn living among the Gentiles, how they are despised. And then the third trio expresses the tears, calling on the Lord to release them from captivity. And they're going back and remembering times that God has released them from captivity before and how they were like those that were in a dream with all of the laughter and happiness, and now they're crying on. But that's another trio. Let's go to 129, the repeated affliction by the haters. of Zion. And let's just read the first one here, Psalm 129. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my back. They made long their furrows. The Lord is righteous. He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. Let them all be confounded and turn back that hate Zion. Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up, wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. Neither do they which go by say, the blessing of the Lord be upon you. We bless you in the name of the Lord. So the first of this particular trio is focused on the continual persecution of the Jews by those who hate Zion. But we have haters of Zion alive and well today, don't we? And I'm talking about this very day, whatever the date is right now, August the 28th. If you just take a look at the news from any news source, you're going to find the nation of Israel is right there. and how they're being beset by enemies all around them. And they're fighting, as I heard today, a seven-front war right now. The haters of Zion, the haters of Zion. And here, the call is for those that are the haters of Zion to become like dry grass on a rooftop. You just wither up. In other words, may you not be successful. May you not achieve your goal. May you just wither up and die. May people not say to you, the blessing of the Lord be upon you. No. And of course, that is in that statement that those who curse Zion, those who hate Zion should be cursed. That corresponds to Genesis chapter 12, doesn't it? Does that bring that to mind? Genesis chapter 12. God's promise to Abraham when he first called him out of out of Ur of the Chaldees. Let's go there. Genesis chapter 12. The Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house into a land that I will show thee. And then in verse two, I will make of thee a great nation. I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing. I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that cursed thee. and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." And that's what's being called forth here in this particular psalm. Those that are continually, time after time, time after time, persecuting, destroying, tormenting. This psalm is calling on, may those who curse them, the nation of Israel, be cursed. May they wither up like grass on a rooftop. Let's go on to Psalm 130. So that's the tribulation. Now here's the trust. And this is so significant, this particular psalm. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive unto the voice of my supplications. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. This psalm marks a major turning point. This psalm marks a major turning point in these psalms of degrees because it's here, it's here that they're calling on the Lord for forgiveness and restoration. So notice what they say here. I cried unto thee out of the depths. Lord, be attentive to my supplication. If you marked iniquities, who should stand? But there is forgiveness. There is forgiveness with thee. Psalm number 32 reflects that same idea there. Let's go there. Psalm number 32, verses one and two. And of course, the apostle Paul quotes this Psalm in the book of Romans whenever he's defending When he's defending the gospel that he preached, the gospel of grace, without the law, he says, Psalm 32 says, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. That's the cry coming forth from this psalm—the cry for forgiveness, the cry to be made right with God, the cry to be one unto whom the Lord does not impute iniquity—in other words, one whom the Lord counts righteous. Of course, we saw that with Abraham when the Lord told us in Genesis 15, verse 6, that Abraham believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness. So the Lord did not impute iniquity unto Abraham. He imputed righteousness unto Abraham because Abraham believed in the Lord. Abraham trusted in God's forgiveness toward him. But in regards to the Jewish people, In regards to the Jewish people, it's a very sad situation right now. It's out there. You can look at the moral condition of the nation of Israel today, and it's very much like the moral condition of the United States. Sexual perversion is rampant. Abortion is rampant. Alcohol, drugs, all kinds of ungodly thinking. About half of the people that live there are agnostic. So it's just a horrible situation. And we look at that and we think, well, how can the Lord fulfill these wonderful promises to those? And the truth is, he can't. The truth is, he can't. The Lord can only fulfill his promises to a people that he considers righteous, to a people who are forgiven, to a people who are accepted by him. So with that in mind, I'd like to look at a few other passages with you regarding the nation of Israel and regarding their forgiveness. and regarding them coming to a place that they are resting in and hoping in the Lord. Let's go to the book of Romans. That's where we're going to find this. Romans chapter 9. Let's go to Romans chapter nine. And it says this, the apostle Paul, of course, he tells us about the continual heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart for his brethren, his brethren, for the people that are the descendants of Abraham. And then whenever we come over here, he says in verse six, not as though the word of God have taken none effect, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel." In other words, just because they are a physical descendant of Israel does not qualify them to receive God's promises. and he goes into an explanation of that beginning in verse 7. He goes on to point out to us that God did make promises to Abraham and to Abraham's seed But then whenever Abraham's descendants came, we see that half of his descendants were not qualified for the promise. Esau went this way, Isaac went the other way, and then with Isaac we have Jacob and Esau, I'm sorry, Ishmael, All right, Abraham had Ishmael and Isaac, but Isaac was the chosen seed. And then Jacob had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob was the chosen seed. So just because you're a descendant doesn't automatically mean you're an heir. And Paul goes on here in chapter nine to explain exactly what the problem was. He says in verse 31, Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, or why, why have they not attained righteousness? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at the stumbling stone. You see, the reason that the nation of Israel is not qualified to receive this inheritance that God has promised to them is that they're trying to qualify themselves by keeping the law. In chapter 10, he points that out at the beginning of chapter 10 in verse 3. They, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. Their own righteousness is insufficient. God can't pour out His promise to someone that is sinful. someone to whom that God sees as wicked, who has not accepted the forgiveness of his sins. God can't pour out his blessing and promises on those. But come with me to Romans chapter 11, verses 26 and 27, takes us to the future. Romans 11, 26. And so, all Israel shall be saved. All Israel, that is all of those who God considers Israel as qualified to receive his promises. And they will receive the promises of God, not because they were righteous in themselves. No, because the ones that will receive the promises are those that submitted themselves to the righteousness of God, the righteousness which is by faith. And so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins. So that's what this passage is. Let's go back to our psalm, Psalm 130. This is the turning point. This is the turning point where they're calling on the Lord for forgiveness. And then in Psalm 131, those that have called on the Lord for forgiveness are now resting in him. They're now resting in him. Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty. Neither do I exercise myself in great matters or in things too high for me. You see the humility there? Yeah, see, I'm not going about to establish my own righteousness. I'm not like the scribes and Pharisees, you know, the Pharisee who went up to the temple to pray, Lord, I thank you that I'm not as other men are, extortioners, or even as this Republican here. I fast in the week and I pray and I do all that kind of, wow, that's a guy that is stuck on himself, right? But the heart that's expressed here in Psalm 131 is, Verse two. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned from his mother. My soul is even as a weaned child. Well, a weaned child is not screaming and crying at mama anymore. You know, the weaned child is the child that has learned to just wait. It's a child that has learned to wait and to trust that mom is going to take care of it. Mom is going to feed it. It's not screaming and carrying on. And those that are resting in Christ, those that are trusting in Christ know that soul rest. You know, as Jesus said, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls." In other words, you'll be able to sit back and just relax and rest in the Lord. And that's the heart that's expressed here. Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and forever. And then we come to the last trio here, and that is the trio about the arrival at Jerusalem. We have arrived. But even the arrival at Jerusalem is associated with the struggle that David had to establish the temple of God at that place. So let's take a look here. Lord, remember David and all his afflictions, how he swear unto the Lord and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob. Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house nor go up into my bed. I will not give slumber to mine eyes or sleep to mine eyes and slumber to mine eyelids until I find out a place for the Lord and habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Come with me, if you would, to Acts chapter 7, verse 46. That's the testimony that Stephen gave of David. Acts chapter 7, verse 46. Here's Stephen. And he has given his great defense of the gospel of Christ to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council, the very people that had pronounced judgment on Jesus. And now they are rejecting the testimony of the apostles. And here's Stephen giving the defense. And what Stephen does here is that he points out how the people of Israel throughout their history had rejected the work of the Spirit of God among them. We come here to Acts 7, verse 46. Notice how he describes David here. Verse 45 says, which also of our fathers that came after brought in with Joshua or with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers unto the days of David, who found favor before God and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. Do you see, what a remarkable thing of everything that he could have said about David, he says one thing. David desired to find the dwelling place, the tabernacle for the God of Jacob. That was David's heart, was to build the house of God. Well, Of course, the Lord made the covenant with David. This is 2 Samuel chapter 7. In 2 Samuel 7, the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David of God's promises to David. So we come here to 2 Samuel chapter 7, and notice what's on David's heart here. He has established the kingdom. He's settled in. to the kingdom, and now here he is. It says, it came to pass in verse one, when the king sat in his house and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies, that the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within covenants, within curtains. And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee. And it came to pass that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, and the Lord gave Nathan some promises for David. Come with me to verse 12 and 13. The promise of the Lord to David. When thy days shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels. And I will establish his kingdom, and he shall build a house for my name. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. So there was David's desire to build a house for the Lord, and the Lord told him that his descendant would. But just for the sake of time, we won't look at all these references, but in 1 Chronicles chapter 13, verses 9 through 12, we see David's desire to take the Ark of the Covenant to a dwelling place, to set it up someplace. It had been captured by the Philistines and was in the house of Obed-Edom, David wanted to bring it up to Jerusalem, but the wrong people were trying to bring the ark up, and Uzzah, one of the wrong people, the Lord struck him down. because he was not authorized to do that. And that was a grief to David. The Bible says that David was afraid of the Lord because of what happened there. But then David learned better. And in 1 Chronicles 15, 1, 2, and 3, David, with great celebration, brings the ark up to a tabernacle that he had prepared for it. And then finally, In 1 Chronicles chapter 21, verses 28 through chapter 22, verse one, we have that great event, great not in the sense of good, but great in the sense that it was big, where David numbered the children of Israel. He yielded to Satan's temptation to number the children of Israel to see how many they had. And the Lord sent judgment. on the nation of Israel because of that. And the Lord came to David and told him that he was going to have to experience judgment for that. And David said, well, let's fall into the hands of the Lord rather than fall into the hands of enemies or sickness. And then as people were dying, David went to the threshing floor, the field of a Jebusite named Ornan, because there the Lord met David, and David was going to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. Let's go to 1 Chronicles chapter 21. So here's David, the death angel of the Lord. I don't know that it was the same one in Egypt, but the angel of the Lord that was destroying the people of Israel. It says here, it says here, Verse 29, the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering were at that season in the high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to inquire for God, for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord. Then David said, this is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel. And that became the place where they built the temple. That's told about in 2 Chronicles 3.1. In fact, let's go over there just to confirm that. What we're talking about is this last psalm that talks about how they finally arrive at Jerusalem. Even arriving at Jerusalem, there is the affliction, the hardship, the difficulty that David went through to finally find the place that the Lord wanted to build the house, build the temple. Let's go there to 2 Chronicles 3.1. 2 Chronicles 3 says, Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah. where the Lord appeared unto David his father in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite. And he began to build in the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign." Yeah, in Mount Moriah. And you know what also is very interesting is that whenever the Lord Going way back, about more than a thousand years before this, going way back, the Lord had told Abraham to take his son Isaac and offer him on one of the mountains of Moriah. And Abraham was going to offer his son, going to put his son to death, expecting that he would be raised from the dead, but the Lord instead had him to offer a ram. And Abraham called the name of that mountain where he was, in the mount of the Lord, it will be provided, or it will be seen. in the Mount of the Lord it will be provided." What was provided in the Mount of the Lord there for Abraham? A sacrifice. This is the Mount of the Lord where the sacrifice is. So, and of course, David's son, ultimately the fulfillment of this is in David's son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever the angel came to Mary and told Mary, he shall be great, he shall be called the son of the highest, right? And he shall rule over the house of Jacob forever. He shall sit on the throne of David. Well, let's quickly tie up the last two. I know that we're at the end of our time here. Psalm 133, let's go back to that. Psalm 133, this is the Psalm of trust. Trust in the sense of this is what they were looking forward to. Here they are. They've come up to the temple, come up to the house of the Lord, out of the places where they had been dispersed. And they're coming up, and what are they looking forward to? Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Here we are. We've come from all over the place. We've come to Jerusalem. We've come to the temple. We've come to the house of God. Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It's like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard. and went down to the skirts of his garments. This unity is like the anointing oil, and it's like the dew of Hermon, that is, the water that comes up on the mountain there, and also as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forever." Just a couple of thoughts about this. The anointing oil. Well, we know from the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 16, that whenever Samuel came and had his horn of oil and he anointed David, It tells us in 1 Samuel 16, verse 13, that Samuel anointed David and the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord, came upon David from that day forward. And that connects for us the idea of the oil and the Holy Spirit. And we're exhorted, we're commanded in Ephesians 4 to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit. in the bond of peace. Behold how good and pleasant it is. But how do brethren dwell together in unity? It's by all of them being yielded to the influence of that Holy Spirit and how beautiful it is. And whenever that happens, that's where life is. That's where life is. Remember what Jesus told the disciples, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. If we have love one to another and we're yielded to the leadership of God's spirit among us, there's gonna be the testimony that we are Jesus' disciples. And that's gonna be a magnet that draws people to the Lord so they can have life. Well, our last Psalm here, We've arrived at Jerusalem and here we are in unity. And then Psalm 134. Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord. The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion. Yeah, the focus is on the house of God, here in the house of God. And what should we be doing here in the house of God, the nation of Israel, as the forgiven people that are resting in the Lord, trusting in him, coming to the place that God had appointed? Blessing the Lord, the focus is on the Lord to lift up his name and to praise and honor him, to say good things about about him. Of course, the book of Psalm 92 verses 1 through 3 tells us to sing praise to the Lord day and night. So not just in the day, but also in the night. Well, I'd like to close here with just a quick thought. Today, in the world, today in the world, 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 15 tells us that the church is the house of God. Paul wrote to Timothy to tell him how he should behave himself or how things should be done in the Church of God, which is the house of the living God in the same way that the people of Israel had a heart to want to go into the presence of the Lord. Wouldn't it be great if we had that same heart about coming into God's house in the church? What joy are we missing out on by holding the assembly lightly? And what a failure to glorify him by holding the assembly lightly. So we as a church, we're missing out on the joy of God's presence and the joy of the Lord whenever we don't hold it in a priority to assemble together you know, to just go ahead and come on in, come on into the sanctuary and worship the Lord in song and give him the honor and praise to worship the Lord together in song and in hearing his word. Amen. Well, what a wonderful group of Psalms. We're looking forward to the fulfillment of those prophecies with the nation of Israel, aren't we? We won't be here to see their turn, because we'll be up there with the Lord whenever they have their great turn to Him. But that day is coming. That day is coming. And may we have the heart that's expressed in these Psalms to love and appreciate the house of God, and to want to come and rejoice in unity with the brethren and lift up the name of the Lord. Anyway, thank you. Brother Brian? Would you like to come close us out?