Before we get into the text, you know I like to do a little bearing check and see how we're progressing. That we are being diligent and understanding the importance of knowing our Bible. So, the book of Philippians written by Saul. Is he Saul or is he Paul? And when was the letter to the Saints in Philippi written? You don't have to give me a year, but an event, something that's taken place in Paul's life particularly. He's in prison. So this is one of the prison letters. Do you remember the other ones? Colossians. Philemon. Anybody else? Ephesians. I'm just bringing these up again because it matters in the narrative of understanding historically what's going on. And some people do try to trip you up. I'm not saying everybody has to be great at apologetics, but having a basic understanding, because sometimes you'll be surprised with the knowledge you remember learning something. And you're like, you know what? Well, you just encouraged my faith even more, because I know that this is accurately historically grounded. In truth, and of course we have the Holy Spirit to testify to this. So the prison letters, and I do want to go over the pastoral letters. Do you remember what those are? Timothy? Timothy? I heard somebody else say something. I put a one and a two there because I know you met both of them, right? Who? Titus. And we will get back to why I ask these as we start going to the text. But understand, this was one of the letters written while Paul was in prison. And again, whether you look at the end of Luke's account, Paul's arrested, goes through his whole trip being tried. We know that it's prophesied that he's going to stand before Caesar. We know Luke gives a very ambiguous ending. So was he released again? If he was, it was around the Rome area, but we call these the prison letters. So his last letters written were his prison letters and then the pastoral letters. And as I say, I just want us to understand that, especially when we start looking at some of the things that Paul will say in these verses. So we're going to be reading from verse 17 in chapter 3 to verse 1. Somebody feel bold enough to read our text? Go once I got a call over here. 17 yeah 3.17 to 4.1. According to the example you have in us. For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly and their glory and their shame. With minds set on earthly things, But our citizenship is in heaven and firmly await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Thank you. There's a lot of good stuff here. Again, this is one of Paul's more intimate, passionate letters to the people where he's not like we look at Corinthians, where it's more corrective than instructive. And here it's an encouraging I love my brothers, and I'm rejoicing in Christ with you in this situation I'm in and where you're at. So it's a beautiful letter. At the top I had the breakdown, but we're going to go through a little bit and hopefully have some discussion. Because he starts out with this familiar Paul phrase of imitating. And he's saying, imitate those who are godly. Join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. All right, so again, in other places, too, Paul says that about imitate me. But we have few criteria for that, the imitating. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice those things is what he says in coming up a little bit more. Corinthians, I urge you then be imitators of me. But the caveat, be imitators of me as I imitate Christ. So imitate me as I'm imitating Christ. And that is what I have on the sheet there. Follow me, follow us as we follow Christ. And when that becomes a point of tension where you no longer need to adhere to this is when he quits following Christ. So that's just implied, it's understood. But Paul is always about, you know, living a godly life. That's what I love about reading Paul's letters. So follow me, imitate me, and imitate these who are also walking in the ways of God. Imitate them as long as they are following Christ. Again, that's his warning, that's his encouragement for them, but also, you know, giving us an example. Who should we follow? All right, so I just, like I said, want to hit some examples here in our lives. What are some godly examples to follow? Somebody can get the kids Sunday school out of the way real quick. Jesus, the Bible. Yes, that's our instruction manual. No, it's so much more than that. Yes, the Bible, the Word of God encourages us and instructs us. It's so much more than that. But what are some godly examples in our lives? And we should follow them blindly. What's the criteria? Because that's not going to be perfect. All right, that's not going to be perfect. Saints, as they follow Christ. The brethren. I like that word brethren, except trying to spell it up here. What are some other godly examples in our lives? Our leadership of our church. That would be brethren, I guess. Well, I'll put down there because that's what Paul's kind of using that, and we'll get into it. And you would hope that if you're blessed to be in a place where there are believers that you work with, that your boss examples, there would also be a godly example. Because I was getting ridiculed the other day for not saying, so the glory of God is one of the reasons I was going to go do something that I didn't want to do yesterday. But that's just understood. That's just like the Jesus Bible answer there. Past theologians? I was really hoping, and I know that if my sycophants were here, they would say, my parents, but Sarah's let me down over here, so. So you stay as long as you're following Jesus. I got you. Slam. Smack. She's dropping elbows. Huh? It fits that? Yes. Past theologians, I'm glad you brought up the past theologians though because I am not alone and I love having met other brothers that agree this is our final authority. The word of God is our final authority. But we do have past theologians and again I recommend going through some of the other courses, class that we had here on the church, history, especially with the heretics. So we do have church fathers and of course I'm particular to a set of books here but This is all based on Scripture. This is the Three Forms of Unity. Or it's the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Confession, and the Canons of Dort. My favorite, of course, is the Second London Baptist Confession. This is not superseding Scripture. I follow this only as long as it's following Christ. That's why we discussed in the class there are some areas where I disagree with wording or what they put in or omitted. So in as much as it is following scripture and following Christ, this is an example to imitate. I love this is basically the corrected version of the Heidelberg Catechism. Hercules Collins said I'm gonna fix the areas where they're in error and has an outstanding the Heidelberg catechism is a valuable outstanding resource as well I just disagree with a handful of questions and answers that I believe from a Baptist perspective and then of course teaches So these are things that we can imitate We love teaching the children. We love to catechize them because we're trying to show them to imitate and as long as it's following Christ. Yes, imitate Christ. We like something tangible, especially in, as we're gonna see, Paul has admonition about holding on to earthly things, so we like to relate to things that are, you know, it's tangible, it's something we can see or grasp, so that's where the imitation comes in, as long as they're following Christ. So, and again, that's not perfectly, because we do have some examples. We were discussing it the other day, some men who were very instrumental in our growth as Christians, but they've either fallen away, they've gone to a predical garbage. So it's like, what do you, you know, what do you do with that? How do you take that? Well, I can follow them as long as they were lining up with Christ, when they were following Christ. Now it's a little bit different, so. And that's always gonna be dependent on situations. And if that's the only thing, as you become imitators of us and of the Lord, we receive the word, so... How's the spiritual biographies, biographies of people in the past, like diaries, like... Diaries and journals? So it's not just theologians, but missionaries, or I guess not theologians, but just... It's about all theologians. Yeah. Well, I love a lot of the... I'm new to hymns as well. There were some classic... I didn't even know Amazing Grace was a hymn. I thought it was a funeral song. Seriously, I did not know. It was a nice bagpipe song. But as I started actually learning and growing and lining up scripture with these songs, and you hear the story behind it, You know, hearing the story behind Fanny Crosby, for example, we spoke about her in one of our classes, too. Like, this is awesome. You know, we've got these other, this is a tragedy, and they turn to God, and this beautiful song came out of it. So, yes, it's not just things, but that's why I love the ref tunes as well, if you're, you know, especially for kids, but I buy all this stuff for me, but ref tunes does a fantastic job of taking scripture and, you know, Importing history so you get here's some John Owen and here's Calvin. Here's George Muller and some different stuff So but it's great examples of godliness Ref tunes, I know that your son's aware of it because he actually bought the Baptist catechism that they did for kids And then it's finished. I didn't just finish the Westminster Shorter. So I They do a lot of good stuff. I got some of the smaller ones hanging up in the office and stuff. So brothers, join imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. But then he goes to the negative part. This is the examples we should have. Again, with that caveat. Always understand that because I know there are some areas where, no, whatever the preacher says is the final law. No, you're supposed to make sure that it's lining up with scripture. You know, well, the pastor said, well, but the scriptures say, all right, that's not an issue here. And that's why I love, especially when John's going around, some people get tired of it. He's gonna ask me, was the, you know, did the message make sense? Say, there's a reason for that. And I'm hoping that it is growing you and sanctifying you and making you more receptive. Wait a minute, he said something that actually, it wasn't clear or didn't make sense. You said this, oh, I misspoke or oh no, here's what I actually said. Okay, that makes sense. That's what is your obligation to do. That's how you make sure that the leaders are walking according to Christ. They're imitating Christ. All right. You'll see, I love that both of us have atrocious spelling. So we come up here and it doesn't matter what we write on the board, we'll tell you what it's supposed to be. We'll translate it for you. But we still do require people, hey, you said this, you know, that's not what I meant to say. Thank you so I can clarify that. Or no, that is what I meant to say, but here's the reason behind that that you weren't privy to. So. Anyway, so Paul's going on, as I imitate us, and then he gives the other side of that. For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you, even with tears. So these, reading this, Paul has a relationship with these people that he's speaking of here, or had a relationship, or knows of them. There's something there that causes this grieving. Even with tears, they walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things." This is... I think we're going to spend most of the time here on this because there's a lot to look at this. First of all, who are these enemies of the cross that Paul is speaking of here? Okay, Judaizers. What are the Judaizers again? I like the other name that Paul gives them. Call them those of the circumcision party. Alright, but the Judaizers. So you will see that though. I believe in Galatians he calls them the circumcision party. Acts might just call them the Judaizers. Maybe it's in both. Okay, that's a possibility. He's talking about legalistic Jews. What's another possibility? These enemies of the cross of Christ. There are lots of answers here, so whatever you want. The ones that feel like they're above, you know... Elitist, we have... I remember there's a big word for, there is no law. Antinomianism. Antinomianism. Just those that, and again, there's that balance we have to look at, but they went to the extreme of, it doesn't matter, this Gnostic view, it doesn't matter what I do, because either the flesh is corrupt or it doesn't matter anyways, or I am so saved that there's nothing that can stop this grace of God, because God's grace is limitless. That's a misunderstanding of God's grace applied, so antinomians. There's a third possibility that I disagree with because of, as I'm actually getting to languages and trying to look at context more, that they were Christians that have fallen away from the faith because Paul kind of gives a different understanding. And it could be a warning. We know the warning verses, right? So, can you lose your position in Christ? Does anybody think you can lose your position in Christ? I hate the term once saved, always saved. But there is a understanding though of if you are in Christ, there is no removing that. All right, so I believe these warning verses, it's not that they were Christians that lost their salvation, but it was those who we hear the warnings about that depart from me, you were never a part of me. And didn't we do all this stuff, Lord? I don't know you. Okay, so there's this balance that Paul looks at here. And I love As much as I sneak some songs in there sometimes knowing that John's going to look at the lyrics though, but like when he was talking last week about saints positionally versus a sinner. But understanding that does not mean you have liberty to sin. That is not what your position in Christ means. But there are some that it's difficult to tell. They have all the outward looks of a brother in Christ. Alright? So when Paul is addressing in his letters, he is, in his opinion, speaking to brothers and sisters. Maybe some more mature than others. But for him to say, now these are enemies of the cross. These revel in their own shame. They are, their God is their own belly. That's not the passion that he's having to reconcile this brother. This is, these are enemies of the cross. So I believe that there are those who are never, never believers. Okay, we do have some examples of that. I'm gonna have a few scriptures read. If you don't mind, if I throw one out there and somebody wants to turn to it to read it, otherwise I'll get them up here. But Matthew 7, 13. Then we have 1 John 2, 19. Say again, sorry. Okay, we'll take Matthew 7, 13, then 1 John 2, 19, and then Revelation 2, 4, and 5. We'll call that good. You said you had Matthew, Julie? Yes, please. Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is broad, but leads to destruction. And many are those who enter by it. who had First John 219? They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. That enduring, that finishing the race, we know that they were never a part of us because they would still be enduring. And that's why I praise God for his patience and his grace and his mercy, because there are times when if he would have given up, what we're talking about today, failing, even waking up this morning failing. And it's difficult to, you have this desire, I hope we have this desire to live for God, but it's difficult because we are still in this cursed state. But, looking at these warning verses, and that's why I like the example of work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. It's not a work salvation, but are you seeking after these things? Are you imitating those who are imitating Christ? Are you availing yourself to the Word of God that we have here for encouragement and instruction? These warning verses, that's why some people do believe, they're addressed to Christians so you can lose your salvation. Well, no, but they can be the means that God uses for that perseverance. So, I know that I trust the Word of God and His promises, but I also know that there are some scary warning verses in here. And we can't overlook them, but we do have, if we are Broken in a contrite heart, He will not turn away. If we are repentant, if there is repentance, there is forgiveness. So, it's just this beautiful warning verse. As we said, they're enemies. Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly. They glory in their shame. And this is just the debauchery we see today. You know, watching the news. Somebody... I know this is wrong. I know this is immoral. But because it's making you mad, I'm gonna do this. And be happy that I'm doing this. Look at me in my sin. It's atrocious, but that's where we're at. Not saying that that's who Paul's discussing here, but that's kind of what I see. The language that he's using, that's how I picture it. So, it's a... It's not out of Paul's character. But then he goes on, though, that their minds set on earthly things. Holding on to earthly things. We've been seeing that in a lot of the texts here lately, whether it's been in the Wednesday or in the Sunday sermons, though, but this holding on to earthly things. I remember some people saying, I don't want to go to heaven. I'm going to miss watching, you know, soccer games. I hear you, there's some fun stuff. I get this like, ooh, I like the way this makes me feel here, I'm happy. I'm not sinning, this is something that gives me joy, but is that gonna give you more joy than an eternity with the creator? You know, what was the comment there that, you know, these are the brothers and sisters I'm gonna spend eternity with. I'm gonna miss this. Yes, I love cheesecake. I'm not gonna miss cheesecake. For all I know, the fruit that comes off of the tree of life, there's going to be fruitcake flavor or cheesecake flavors. I don't know. We'll see what it is, but we hold on to things here. Can somebody go to 2 Peter 2.20? Again, I like whenever I'm showing something from Paul in a lot of his letters. I did read one from John in Revelation, but I try to balance that with some of the other apostles because there's that resurgence, it seems, of getting rid of Paul's letters. Alright, the patriarchal, misogynistic, evil, homophobic Paul. So they're trying to get rid of all of his letters. 2 Peter 2, 20-22. For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last day has become worse for them than the first. What would have been better for them, never have known the way of righteousness. They have to know yet, turn back from the holy name of the river Tupac. What the true proverb says has happened to them. The dog returns to its own line in the saddle. If you're watching yourself, you return to the wilderness of life. Tasting the goodness of God, understanding these beautiful things. And I do like, I don't have it here, but I do like the way the confession works that too. In this idea that there are some that have all the outward appearance of being one of God's people, and they also are partaking in this grace that is given to God's people. That's how much grace that God has given His people that somebody walking next to you, they're just getting an outpouring of that grace. But there were people who they are partaking in all these things and for all appearances they are brethren. But here's Peter now saying they're walking away from that too. They're like a dog returning to the vomit. Anybody who's ever had a dog knows exactly what that looks like. All right, so they tasted the goodness of the Lord and returned to their own vomit. That honestly should be how we look at everything. There are some good things here. I love so much. Uh-oh, I'll take that, buddy. Thank you. Thanks, Sarah. He's good. So what are some things that we hold on to that are not necessarily bad? I get that if you have advice that you know is wrong, that's a different issue. That's a sin issue that you just need to repent of. But there are things like, no, this is a good thing, all right? I mentioned the sports. I used to think that sports were gonna be my hardest thing. Thank God for the pandemic and for all the sports that I held up, let me down. So it was easy to be like, you're gone, all right? All right, no Christmas card for Kyle. We had that conversation, my wife too, like, but I love my family and you're telling me it's not going to matter anymore. My kids are, you know, what? You know what the blessing we have right now, though, is enjoying that here as we are eagerly awaiting for that beautiful consummation. So, spoiler alert, we're gonna get into some eagerly awaiting here, but yeah, that is a, no, that's what I wanna talk about. You're helping to segue into this, that's great, but yeah, well, I love my kids. I love this, I love my spouse, and yeah, now you're saying that it's not gonna matter up there. Well, no, but you're also gonna be worshiping The one who is worthy of worship and it's not going to matter in the long term. You enjoy that. You do what you're supposed to now with these things. The children, I'm not going to get to watch my kids grow up. You are now. Let them imitate you as you're imitating Christ. Share with them these things. I still hate that, and my mom said, why are you taking your kids to church? Wait until they become adults and they can decide if they want to know about God or not on their own. That explains why you just let us run out in the street, play with fire, fireworks, everything else. Knife wounds. Like, yeah, went to your door before you decided that's dangerous or not. No. But we do hold on to worldly things. I think sometimes that we misunderstand money. Our emotions now, our loves and our joys, are really corruptions of true love and true joy. So we will only know genuine love when we are past this. And what you're experiencing is, we really don't have to reflect on it. that even on our best day, when we love as purely as we can, it's still love. It's still love. And, you know, I mean, one day, I mean, you will see love. God is love. You will have that interaction that, you know, we just don't have anything to compare that to. But God needs us, our kids, our spouses, You made me laugh at it. I'm married for a long time. It's for a long time. I have a lot of my sister and my wife. I don't know if I should go to Mississippi. I was going to say. But that is true. There's something that transcends that, because we're going to honor the cross. It is the bridegroom, and we are the church is the bride. I don't know what that looks like. We're going to finally find out who is right on this doctrine. No, you're not. It's not going to matter. You're going to have the revealed everything. It's kind of a prevalent idea that after you die, you have to wear a white robe and have wings and be this spirited being that just sits, just bows down in the temple for all eternity. That seems really spiritual, but in reality, it's not physical. There is a physical resurrection of skin and bones. There is work to be done. There is kingdoms to be ruled. There's a lot more than kind of the picture of an afterlife that we see, which might be closer to a radiant state than an eternal new creation. I think you're right, Tom. I think we need to start realizing the bad theology that's come from the Bible for so many years. If Jesus has a physicality, we're going to have a physicality. If Jesus has a purpose, he's interceding for us, we will have a purpose. You know what I mean? And so, the earth is going to be replaced. And so, there will be stuff for us to do. I don't know about soccer, because I'm not a good soccer player. There might be some MMA, I don't know. I don't even know why I use soccer, honestly. It's like one of my least favorite. I don't know, my favorite. But I mean, what I do think is that there is, we will be serving the purpose for which we were created. And that is to glorify God. His intended purpose for us as humanity. And that's pretty cool. Yeah. The heavy metal harp. I don't know, but now I'm picturing there's a guy who goes around in his kilt and bagpipes with fire coming out of it, playing ACDC's song that's so cool. I'm like, this is awesome. This is awesome. It was the bagpipes that I was referring to, not the band. Anyways, no, I think I was listening to a focus on a family or one of the radio shows and Joe Gibbs was on there and talking about his faith. And I thought that was cool. And he's like, and there's this big, perfectly cut football field in heaven that we're going to have this. You lost me there, Joe. Anyways, we all have an idea and we're going to be so far off that it's great. But we hold on to earthly things here instead of looking at the heavenly things. But even in that, yes, we are looking forward to heavenly things. We are eagerly awaiting. But let me just go on with what Paul says there. But our citizenship is in heaven. He's talking now, they are reveling in their own glory, glory in their shame, their minds aren't earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven. And from it, we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. All right, so we even, you mentioned it, the body. And so here we have an example. We're talking about the awaiting, But I wanted to focus on this Savior part here, too, because this is something that Jim learned, so... Maybe I'll... Maybe I'll share something that was obvious to everybody else, but I'm just now getting it, though. But Paul says, speaking of Jesus, Savior, that we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I found out that this is not a term that Paul uses when referring to Christ. We see it one other time before the pastoral letters, and it's in Ephesians. Alright, so I'm like, I'm curious now, why? Because I know that he knows, and he knows that he knows, and what is this though? Well, do you remember the term for the emperor that got everybody in trouble? I won't do the whole Greek thing there, but All right, Lord. So calling Christ the Lord, calling Jesus Lord, was putting him on par with the emperor. Well, and I should have realized this because I love history, but the emperors often had a subtitle. Go back and start looking at the emperors, right? Gladius, Rome's savior. Octavius, the savior of Rome. So Lord and Savior were titles attributed to the Roman emperor. Paul writes it in two of his prison letters, nothing before, none of the letters before. So again, I'm not going to use my sanctified imagination to say that Paul is doing this because of everything that's going on with him in the trials, but now he's using this other term. It's enough that he's saying Christ is Lord, Jesus is Lord. But now he's writing his letters, and we see it in 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus that he's saying Savior. I don't know why that's important, but to me, I picked that up and I was like, I'm gonna share that little tidbit there. So Paul, while in prison, says it in Ephesians, I think five. Yeah, I don't have it down here. But then in Philippians, and then we see it in the pastoral letters, referring to Jesus as Savior. Again, he is not just now realizing that Jesus is Savior. That would be ridiculous to even imply that. But this is the first time we start seeing that used by Paul referring to Christ. And maybe I threw something out there that we can talk about another time. Going to that, the transforming of our lowly bodies by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself. This reconciliation of all things. What John was talking about in eternity where everything is now brought under the subjugation of the Kingdom of Christ. We say it's happening now, it's now and not yet, but that's going to be the perfectness. There will be no sin and everything is subjected to His rule and authority and everything is made new. Okay, so this is that beautiful thing, that same power, the sustaining power. Just another conversation with Christ. Even in His incarnation is sustaining the world, upholding the world in His divinity. This is just something that we cannot understand. But the same power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself is the same power that's going to give us a glorified body like His glorious body. And we joked about that the other day. Some people have this misconception of playing the harp and getting the wings, or you're all going to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. That's the glorified body. I'm going to be ripped, dude. That's my glorified body. I'd be happy to not have to wear glasses. The knees not creak when you get out of bed, but what does that mean? Well, we see that power. We focus a lot of times on the things that are irrelevant. Alright, here's this after effect, what was the cause? God. That's where our focus should be, the good works of God. And then Paul ends, and I do go on to chapter 4, I say where we have our chapter breaks and verses, that's an after edition, so a lot of times it doesn't line up exactly right. In fact, I had a guy tell me that he doesn't need to get past Genesis 2 to know that the Bible is hypocritical and contradicts itself because the way it ends creation and then it goes back to day one and we can get into a whole lot of other things but some people are tripped up by the numbering and like why am I stopping in verse 1 of chapter 4 because I believe it finishes that thought which says therefore my brothers whom I love and long for my joy and crown stand firm thus in the Lord my beloved Paul is awesome. Even when he's having to correct, he does it in love. But here is just, like I say, a straight, encouraging, warning love for the brethren. And stand firm. Okay. This eagerly waiting our Lord and then standing firm. Somebody go to Galatians 6.9, one of my I say every book, every chapter is my favorite, but I like Galatians. Of Paul's writings, Galatians was always one that I really loved. Part of it is where I encountered that the brethren had fighting amongst themselves, where Paul and Peter and their A little bit of a disagreement and calling a brother into repentance was evident. I was like, this is awesome. Not that that happened, but seeing the aftereffect and the reconciliation. And then later on where Paul is saying yes, or Peter's saying listen to Paul. But anyways, Galatians 6, 9, if somebody would not mind. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the end of the day it will reap a harvest if we do not. And that goes along with John, that we know they were not of us because they gave up. This is not easy. What we heard yesterday, relationships are not easy. They're hard work. And yes, they are. And mainly because of us. My difficulty with relationships can, 99% of the time, be directed right back at a problem with me. So I think we were doing peer reviews the other day, informal peer reviews, and my technical talk was, everybody was, yes, technical, yes, knowledgeable, personality conflict. Oh, Jim's also in the top of that category. I'm like, okay, so. But somebody told me one time, you know, if you're having a problem with these 10 people, maybe you should reflect and see that it's probably you that are the problem. So, you know, I did that, and no, all 10 of them were wrong, so we can move on. That was a major that told me that, so he was great. But standing firm, and again, we can go back to all those means, how we stand firm, what helps us to stand firm. If it's not enough that you're looking, eagerly waiting for that glorious return of the Savior to make all things new, to subjugate everything to Himself, to glorify our bodies, I really don't know what you're waiting for then. That's difficult. So yes, I wake up some mornings and Everything just right down the drain from the start, you know, nothing's working. So you wake up, you know, the toilet's clogged and, you know, Lizzie's running around without, you know, shorts on. This just got really bad what's going on here. But even in those times, how we act, how we react, what we say, what we do, and then where we focus when we recollect because we're going to fail. But stand firm. Well, I failed today. Okay, but you're going to wake up tomorrow with those daily mercies and grace of God. and that spirit of repentance that we have so we can go to our Savior and He'll mediate for us. And where there's repentance, there's forgiveness. So stand firm. I gave up. It's not too late. That's encouraging, hearing stories of brethren that do come back. Because I have some brethren that I have great relationships with, or I had, and they've fallen away. I'm not to the point where I'm, like Paul, going to say they're enemies of the cross. But if I didn't know them, I would say yes. But because I have that relationship with them, my prayerful desire is come back. Endure. Don't give up. or in the mighty Paul, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. So you guys with the insight on how to stand firm, I would appreciate some tips on that. Something about the read your Bible thing, yeah. Was that Deuteronomy? There's a page, dude, D-U-D-E, dudeoronomy. I think that's their big thing. Read your Bible. Hey, you, read your Bible. Rejoice in suffering. Ouch. What does that look like? It looks like, even in, I mean, it's an easy thing to say. Have you been hanging out with John and his recruiting poster for Christ? You want to suffer. You want to be fed to lions. I got a job for you. Rejoice in suffering. What I am so, so grateful for is others who have learn by their mistake to be an example so that I don't have to. And on the flip side, I've been the stumbler who have, I know of a few instances where my failure has been a warning to another brother or sister who has been able to avoid that. And that is, unfortunately, some of the events that we have to go through, but I can't rejoice in suffering. That's not fun. I'm James Clark, James 4-7. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God, who is this the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you God-willing. Be wretched and mourn, and weep, that you are left to return to mourning, and to being. Be full of self, and be pure of heart, and be one with all that you do. I think this idea of Jesus says, pick up the cross and follow me, is this constant idea of really checking yourself against the scriptures. We lie to ourselves all the time. And we think we're better than we are, and think we're stronger than we are. And really, Paul picks up the same idea in Ephesians. Put on the full armor of God. So that you may be able to stand. And it's this idea of like, when I'm struggling with temptation, I have to struggle with the desire to stand firm in myself and my own power and my resistance, as opposed to do what the Bible says, which is submit to God, draw near to Him, thinking of Scripture, and just praying and crying out, and being more like Peter, you know, save me, Lord, you know, as opposed to, I got it, if I need your help, you know, I got something to stand on. I'll rub the lamp. So I rub that genie-on-demand lamp. It's also like suffering in trials. We often think of like persecution, you know, people put on stakes and lit on fire. Rejoicing that, like that would be really hard, but every, like when we're killing our flesh, there is a form of suffering, you know, whether it's misguided or not. Picking up your cross isn't like, isn't... Yeah, there's a... A beautiful thing in the one flesh idea too because I've known through some of our trials where one of us is I'm walking in the truth and hope of God and the other one is like where's the hope at? And because that one flesh we're able to you know because of God's plan so Those who are able to experience that awesome, those who aren't, they're still brethren, they're brothers and sisters, but it is a beautiful thing. Like I said, watching somebody else suffer and how they react to that, they're rejoicing. Like, this is ridiculous. That's an example. I was just crying over a stubbed toe, you know, equivalent, and here you are in this true situation and your mind is truly focused on God. It is difficult. What we were talking about the other day, too, that the path for fleeing these things is there, but we don't always take it. And it still doesn't mean that there's not a scouring or the sandpaper. The sanctification is not always pleasant. But I'm so thankful for examples of other people. I'm thankful for examples that I've been able to pass on. But some of my kids, and I love the example of Okinawa, put mousetraps down. They weren't mice, though. They were, I forget what they were called, shrews? Is that a thing? Or is that a color? Shrews. I heard lavender's a color now, and I thought that it was a flower, but apparently it's both, so I give up. But anyways. So we put these mousetraps down, and I don't remember if it was my son or my daughter, reached down to grab the bait, snap, ah! Yes, of course, it's already bad enough. I'm like, idiot, what are you doing? I think it was our son because I'm thinking, idiot, why'd you do this? To my son, who also broke my guitar there, but we get it out, he's fine, put the mousetrap down. What did I just tell you? You guys need to stay away from, snap, ow! You literally just saw the pain your brother was in. The snack was not worth it, and you go over there and do the same thing. So I like to remember that when I'm thinking about, yes, I've given my example to people, and they've fallen in too. Just like somebody's given me an example, and I've said, no, it's going to be different for me. But I started learning that, yes, look at these examples. Look at the advice from those that are on the other side of Young that have had a couple more trips around the block than I have. And even sometimes it's the kids. where they may not have the experience, but they have the understanding and God uses them to help correct us. Awesome, so you kids are awesome too. We don't care, we'll kill them. So does anybody else have anything to add? I like the way Paul starts off, or this chapter, he starts off rejoicing the Lord for others, and then for a while, I think, probably, if I had a day, He says, stand in the Lord, so he starts off with the voice of the Lord, stand in the Lord, so he starts off with his brothers, this is how you do it, and you're gonna love that. This is such a, I mean, this letter just oozes. Yeah, it's awesome. I still have to remember is it two L's or two P's, but otherwise I have no problems with it. I guess. I just know Philip of Macedonia, so I was always happy with this book. I know anything else there, so I appreciate all the input, feedback, questions. And again, for those who haven't been in some of my classes there, I don't always deliberately set you up to answer wrong. So I know that some people now, they are reluctant to answer questions. You'll know when I'm doing the game, because I'll have the gyms playing a game look on my face. But otherwise, these questions, whether you think it's a dumb question or not, this is how we build each other up. So let's go to the questions. And sometimes, it's just a simple misunderstanding on how I'm hearing you ask the question. But it's good for everybody, because he might have an answer. I loved one of the answers he gave on, I forget what it was about now. But I was like, I'd never hit up Jimmy to find out more on that. But so thank you all. Anything else? Any final words? Well, awesome. So next week is the BFF. And then we have two more weeks of the Philippians. And then we'll be moving elsewhere. And then we're going to do Genesis 1 through 9? Yeah. So if you guys are on the media, you can follow us on Genesis 1. Up to the, right before the calling of Abraham. So, Table of Nations. Awesome. Would somebody like to close us in prayer this evening?