Well, we're back. Familiar scene. Good to be here. Good to see all of you. How about let's let's pray and then we'll jump right in to God's word. Our gracious God. Lord, we are here to rejoice in you through our Lord Jesus Christ, your son, Thank you so much for his gospel, your gospel, Lord, the word of life, the cross, forgiveness, cleansing, the hope of eternal life, the promises that are unshaken and forever true. Lord, shape us and mold us, fashion us according to your will, to the standard, Lord, of holiness and truth. into the image of your son, the Lord Jesus. Lord, help us now as we study your word. Lord, show us your ways. May we walk in your paths and glorify you. Teach us. Help me, help me speak the truth in love. Lord, protect me from error. Bless your people, I pray, and be glorified. In the name of Jesus, I ask, amen. Okay, well, we're back in our study through the book of Ecclesiastes. So turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 5. Kind of hard to imagine, we're almost five chapters into this book, close to halfway. I'll pick up reading today in verse 8. Ecclesiastes 5, starting in verse 8. This is Solomon. He says, if you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter. For the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. But this is gain for a land in every way, a king committed to cultivated fields. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income. This also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them. And what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. There is a grievous evil that I've seen under the sun. Riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother's womb, he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. This also is a grievous evil. Just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind. Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness and much vexation and sickness and anger. Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions, empower to enjoy them. and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil. This is the gift of God, for he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. Amen. What a passage. On the first seven verses of this passage, Solomon had just spoken about guarding your steps when you come into the presence of the Lord. Whenever you come into the place of worship, guard your steps. Remember, do not be a fool or offer a fool's sacrifice. Don't be there just to go through the motions. Don't be making rash vows you're not ready to keep. Don't be chasing after wild dreams. But he ended by saying, one must fear God. Fear God. And part of fearing God means owning and respecting his ways and his laws. of worshiping Him for who He is, right? And as we come, our first responsibility is to listen. That's what He said, come ready to listen, to listen to God, to hear what He has to say. It is vitally important. It's for your life. And there's this underlying theme in Ecclesiastes, I've said it, but I'm hoping you're noticing it, of that of reality. This is reality. This is how it is. This is good and this is vanity. We see that all through Ecclesiastes. And Solomon himself has been blessed with great wisdom, hasn't he? And with great wealth and power. And essentially, he had all the pleasures this life had to give. And in God's mercy, towards the end of his life, most likely, we have this letter. And really, this whole book, it's a sermon. Solomon doesn't address the people as the king. It's not some royal edict. This is a sermon. And he calls himself the preacher, doesn't he? And a preacher's message is a sermon. And that's what the word Ecclesiastes means. It's the preacher's address to the assembly, the Koholit. And so you could say this book is Solomon's last sermon to mankind. And stark reality about this world is something God wants us to take seriously. And so the title of my message today, this morning, is Stuff Gained and Lost. Stuff Gained and Lost. And with the time we have today, my aim's to get through verse 17. Sorry I can't get to verse 18. That was my hope, but I couldn't squeeze it down to fit into the Bible study time allotment we have. Look forward to verse 18. It was such an encouragement. But I have three major headings or points that we're gonna look at in this study this morning. The first one is the reality of government corruption. Big surprise there. Number two, money's inability to satisfy. And number three, it's an illustration of a life spent toiling for the wind. So this is the approach, this is what we're gonna cover today. So, let's look again at verses eight and nine, as we look at this first heading of corruption, even in places of leadership or government. He says, if you see in a province, The oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher and there are yet higher ones over them. But this is gain for a land in every way, a king committed to cultivated fields." Okay, let's pause there. human mindset, apparently from Solomon's day and from the beginning since the fall. And this is especially true in the Western world, in America. In Texas today, the human mindset is typically that human nature and human beings are naturally good, right? That's the default. It's a deception, but that's the mindset. Human nature is good. So there's going to be this ongoing sense of being shocked or surprised or amazed when it's discovered that there's oppression or corruption or wrong behavior, even criminal behavior among government. There's amazement, isn't there? Fox News, CNN, all the major media, they cash in on this every day. not just a little bit, but this I would say is about 90% of what's being talked about, right? You got to admit it. I don't spend a whole lot of time watching the news, but the time I have, I've just noticed, good grief, it's always about the government, the Senate, the president, the Congress, governors, all this stuff and all these issues, right? You know, shocking discovery, bombshell report, breaking news on this. You ought to be amazed by what we're about to tell you. Well, Solomon does not want us, you know, he's not wanting us to be complacent, apathetic about injustices in this realm. He's not saying that. He doesn't want that. He wants us to care about justice, right? And we do, but he wants us to share in his perspective about this reality in a fallen world and not be amazed at the matter. Don't be shocked about this. You know, interestingly, Solomon, as a king and with wisdom, apparently he discovered there are some things going on here that I can't even figure out how to even this all out. But he doesn't give us a remedy, does he? He doesn't say, look, when you see oppression or malpractice or anything, here's what you gotta do. He doesn't go there, not right here. He just wants us simply to see and face the fact of what human nature is really like. And he says, do not be amazed at the matter. He says, for the high official is watched by a higher one, and there are yet higher ones over them. Now this can be taken in two different major ways, and the commentators are kind of on both sides, but I just want to lay them out both briefly here. And in the negative sense, let me start with the negative. You can view this aspect of a higher and a higher and a higher as this is a problem. Why? Well, there's the sense in which justice gets lost in the red tape, so to speak. It gets lost in the bureaucracy, in the web of politics. You know, a poor person who doesn't have much, they have rights, but they're poor and they may face oppression. They may be seeking justice, but they just can't afford to seek it at its highest level. And they will oftentimes go without justice. You know, there can be the idea of a government cover-up, right? Does that ever happen? Where, you know, liability falls to the directives from above, and they point to the directives well above them, and to above them, to finally it gets to the king or the president, and where things just kind of seem to go away. where nothing really comes of it that often, right? This happens throughout the world. Throughout the world stage, Solomon's talking about this, and you know how old this text is? I mean, it is hundreds and hundreds of years old. It's thousands of years old. This is from the ancient world, and this was going on. Accountability at the highest level is rarely executed. It's rare for the impeachment to really happen and go to its fullest extent, so to speak. And sadly, justice does not always take place for the poor. That's the reality. Don't be overly amazed or shocked. And that's the negative sense and the positive sense. There's a positive way to view this. Now, what I just said is true. I'm not saying That's a bad way to view it. There's truth in that, right? Well, positively, it would be this idea. Oversight from higher authorities can bring justice whenever needed, right? This speaks of a level of accountability that can escalate where the lower levels of corruption or oppression, in this case, can be corrected by proper oversight. If necessary, justice can be sought from a higher level of government. And we see this a little bit even in a biblical illustration of the Apostle Paul. Remember what he did when he was on trial? He didn't want to mess with the Jewish council and get justice there. What do you say? I appeal to Caesar. He sought an upper echelon level of justice. Now, whether he got that or not, doubtfully did. He didn't. But that's what he did. He made that appeal. He knew there's enough corruption here. I'm going up a level. I'm going to the top. So there can be this notion that even if it, you know, also, even if it's hidden between the lines here, if it's not explicitly stated, but if you read between the lines in a way you can see that God himself is at the pinnacle. So if this level's not gonna do it, you go up a level. If they're not gonna bring justice, you go up a level. If they're not gonna bring justice, even at the top, there is one higher, the highest of the high, who you can guarantee, he is most certainly gonna bring about justice, imperfect righteousness, guaranteed, going to happen. And it's not just gonna be for the big shots that can afford it, but for the poor. Not just in this town, but every place in the entire history of the entire world. The world stage from Adam till the end, he will bring about perfect justice. And those who are not doing what's right, executing justice, ought to be really concerned about that. So that's a positive aspect of this. There is a highest of the high over the president, over the king. And so they are responsible to do what's right. Well, my own take, and whenever I say my own take, that means it's my take. It doesn't have to be your take. But my own take is that Solomon does not want us to be surprised or shocked or amazed that there is no perfect human government. not in this world. To expect this would be to cause unnecessary frustration for you. The only perfect government will come in the new heavens and the new earth with the Lord Jesus Christ as King of kings and soul head and Lord of all the government. And that is going to be the best. So the fact, this fact here should cause us to long for that. That the Lord Jesus would reign on the earth. He does reign. He reigns. But I mean reign in the earth, in person, eradicating all forms of oppression, all forms of injustice, all forms of sin from this world completely and forever. So we should long for his kingdom to come. That's why he said in the Lord's Prayer, pray this, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. We are not to fall in love with and depend upon this world and its broken systems. Don't be shocked when they let you down, okay? I think that's what Solomon's saying. Remember when John the Baptist was preaching and people were repenting? All kinds of people. And eventually some soldiers came. Remember this? Some military guys. Soldiers were saying, what do we do to bear fruit in keeping with repentance? What do we do? What did John the Baptist tell them? Stop extorting money. How about start there? Why? Because that's been going on. That goes on. There's this extortion. The poor can't do anything about it. Anyway. That being the case, look now at what he says about this aspect of cultivating fields. In verse 9, it's a very difficult verse. Very difficult verse. Ecclesiastes is full of these. You may even have a footnote in your Bible indicating that the meaning of this verse is uncertain. Don't you love it when you get a footnote that says that? The meaning of the Hebrew here is uncertain. What do you do then? Well, I'm just going to skip that. If the Hebrew translators can't figure this out, what am I going to do? No, we don't do that. It only means that we need to puzzle it out. We need to think through why this verse is here and how it may apply in the larger context. And Solomon wrote the Proverbs, didn't he? Most of the Proverbs Solomon wrote, and this is certainly a proverbial statement. And sometimes the challenge for a proverb is that it can, it may or may not fit real neatly within the context of where it is. Have you noticed that? A proverb can land at random times, just like boom, you're reading along and boom, here's a proverb and you think, Okay, that's important, but boy, that came out of, where did that come from? I think that's kind of what's going on with this. And the Proverbs even say, you need to cry out to God for understanding. Some things are not easy to understand. Well, he says, but this is gain for a land in every way. A king committed to cultivated fields. So Solomon started off talking about what you see going on in a province. We may not use language like province. We use languages like state, county, country. And in this context, we have a larger area, a king's province, and you have fields. And fields would be portions of land that are cultivatable. I can't remember what's the right word. I think it's both. You can grow things on them, right? This could be crops of any variety, vegetables, fruit trees, gardens, vineyards, et cetera. So when a king is committed to cultivating fields, the land gains. He says the land gains. In other words, everyone benefits, everyone. He's not saying it's good for the land that you keep growing stuff on it. No, he's talking about the land would be the people. the land, like the land of Israel, the people, everyone gains, why? Because this is the most fundamental and important aspect of any people or economy, right? How is that? Why is agriculture so important? Because without it, no one eats, correct? No one eats and no nothing, no animal, no livestock. And so it's a domino effect. No livestock, and you've got no cattle, you've got no horses, you've got no, you know, no growing and reproducing of the animals either. No milk and honey, so to speak. So without productive fields, there would be no merchants. There would be no grocery stores, no marketplace, no banks. no businesses, no philosophers, no teachers and poets, no army, no king. See how that works? So with any government, good or bad, A wise government will see that agriculture is the backbone. Agriculture comes first among human activities. Remember the fall in the garden? What was the first thing God said? Here's what you're going to have to do. Cultivate your fields. You're going to have to earn your food from the ground. So this affects everyone. The richest billionaire doesn't get far without cultivated fields. They're going to die. Average Joe, so to speak. You're not going to live long. You've got to have it. The most powerful ruler recognizes this. And this made me think of another biblical illustration with Joseph. Remember, he rose to the level of second in command over all Egypt. He was sold into slavery and was in prison, but the Lord showed him what was going to happen. And he gave this dream to the king. There's coming this famine. King's distressed. Joseph gives the interpretation. But he also has the remedy. Remember what the remedy is? Basically, verse nine, you better cultivate your fields. You better farm it good and store it wisely, because this is what's gonna save this nation, and not just this nation, but others around. It's gonna make you actually more powerful in the end. So this is what we're getting at. Now let's move into the second heading here about the love of money and its inability to satisfy. This is where he goes. He goes in at verse 10. He says, he who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income. This also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them. And what advantage has the owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep." So all through the Bible, we are told, aren't we, that money is perhaps the greatest rival to God in regards to worship, when it comes to the human heart, and dependency, trust, faith, and on and on. Money's the number one rival, isn't it? And I think the key words in this verse are the words love and satisfied. Because this speaks to the state of the human heart and what it desires, love does, and satisfied. See, money is not the problem, it's the heart. Money is a good thing. I dare say anyone in here Everyone here needs money, right? We use money to buy food, what we're talking about with the fields. Money's not the problem, it's the heart. Love and satisfied. See, money can be a false god, for sure. And Ian Provan, a commentator, said, and like all false gods, money cannot truly satisfy the person who's devoted to it. That's right, it won't. And profit never fulfills those who pursue it, but only feeds the insatiable desire for more, more. You make this money, you wanna make more. You see this in life. I'm not big on using sports analogies, but that's just what came to mind. This isn't in my notes. But you think of a guy who's on a sports team. You're like, man, this is the leader of the team. And then a few years later, he goes to a new team. And you think, why did he do that? Why betray his team, right? Where's the loyalty? You know why? He's got all this money. Gets more money. And sadly, that's the case on all kinds of levels, even with preachers. Go to a church where you can make more, bigger congregation. Business, that's the driver, see? You make a lot, but you want more and more. So remember, this is a man, Solomon, who probably was the richest human being that ever walked the face of the earth, right? This is who's talking and who's saying this. And by God's revelation and grace, he sees the truth of the matter about money and its inability to satisfy. And we need to hear this, don't we? We need it. We need to hear this. When you love money, trust money, live for money, it will end bad and in disappointment. He's pointing out this general truth that when you have more possessions, more goods, more stuff, Then there are also going to be more people in your life that you'll inevitably be giving this money and these goods to. It's going to happen. These co-dependents suddenly emerge. These friends come out of the woodwork. These hangers-on, these opportunists start showing up. or on a dangerous level, the hacker starts coming, the thieves. And this will in turn occupy your mind and your thoughts, which will in turn affect your sleep. That's what he says, your sleep. He says, but the common laborer, the average Joe, the working man, the one who spends his energy in serving, perhaps, who makes what he needs and has his needs met, he sleeps wonderfully. He says his sleep is sweet. And he may eat to his fill at times, or he may not eat much, but he's gonna sleep good and have peace. Why? There's a general principle here, and it's this. He who has little has little to worry about. That's what he's saying. And the person who has great possessions is always worried about what he has, both in the sense of wanting to keep it safe and wanting to increase and expand it. It just fills your life up with anxieties and worry and trouble, challenges, different things that you stay up at night thinking about. And again, like most proverbs and proverbial statements, this is a general truth. This is certainly about fallen mankind. And perhaps not the case for every single situation, but I believe God wants us to pay attention and careful attention to this principle and ask ourselves the question, which would be my question to you all, is do I really want to be tied down with stuff? And do I really want to be tired all the time? Something to think about. See, peace of mind gives more rest than abundance of things. That's it. When I was in the Air Force, in basic training, I mean, the first six or seven weeks, which is hard. At least the unit I was in was hard. We had a special forces sergeant that was our IT, our instructor. He was a hard nose. He got shot down in the Gulf War and floated in the Mediterranean Sea for over two days. He was a tough guy. And he wanted us to be tough. And I remember that I slept so good in basic training. I sleep good today by God's merciful grace. My wife would smile. I can sleep. But not like then, man. And we went to bed on a strict time. You had eight full hours. You went to bed early, you got up early. But when that reverie went off on the speakers, you know that awful sound? I felt like I've not been in bed but five minutes. How? That's got to be wrong. But what did that mean? I just slept like a rock. I had nothing. I had no money. All I had to do is get up in the morning and do what I was told. That's it. Well, that's a little glimpse of what it's talking about. Matthew Henry says this. Pay attention. This is godly insight. He says, natural desires are at rest when that which is desired is obtained, but corrupt desires are insatiable. Natural desires versus corrupt desires. Natural desires, I need sleep. you'll get it. If you're following the Lord and His ways. I need food. You got it. See, natural, they're going to be satisfied. Corrupt desires, the perversions, the misapplications, the wrong pursuits of like money, insatiable, never fulfilled, never satisfied. That's brilliant. And that's true. You know it's true. and human attachment to material things. This is one of the primary barriers that exists between God and mankind, that human attachment to material things. Remember the words of our Lord in Luke 12, 15? He said, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. That's what Solomon's saying, too. See, it's the Lord Jesus' mind. Again, when you read Ecclesiastes, this is the thought of Christ, too. It's not just some smart king that lived a long time ago. This is God's revelation. The abundance of possessions. Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. He followed that statement with a parable about the guy who built bigger barns and bigger barns and bigger barns, and then he died, and God said, you fool, remember? Well, I'm running out of time, but I wanted to say something about hoarding. It's just bad. You just don't need all that stuff. Stuff especially that's just not useful, it's just in the way. May have some value, yeah, but chuck it. Get rid of it. It won't satisfy. It only causes worry and all the, it just doesn't do any good. Okay. I had a longer speech on that, but I'm done with that one. So, verses 13 and 14. Here's the third category in this illustration. He said, there is a grievous evil that I've seen under the sun. Riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. Okay, we'll stop here. We had this illustration that Solomon calls a grievous evil. It could also be translated sickening. I think the Christian standard Bible calls it a sickening tragedy. And I think it's helpful to keep in mind that this is ultimately God's perspective. This is grievous, this is sickening. And by inspiration, Solomon's showing us this. What is it? This person has kept riches to his own hurt, it says. Kept riches, wealth, hoarded wealth to his own hurt. And you may be thinking, how can someone save and keep wealth to their own hurt, where it's harmful in a way? Well, Matthew Henry, again, I think he has something wise to say here, and this may be part of the answer, that these riches made him proud. That'll do some hurt, some damage. Or they made him have a false sense of security and made him fall in love with the world and the things of the world. And they've drawn away his heart from God and duty. And this makes it very difficult for him to enter the kingdom. Or the hurt may be referring to the hardships and sacrifices that he endured to accumulate it and gain it, like a lifetime of work And all of a sudden he loses it. He doesn't even get to enjoy it or pass it on to his children. So he's got all this wealth, it's his for the moment. So the scene goes on and tells us that he takes this great wealth and suddenly loses it in a bad venture. A bad venture. I believe the King James might say an evil enterprise or something like that. Well, Knowing what Solomon said earlier that riches cannot satisfy, this man wants more. This is the natural job. I want more. So a venture or a big investment opportunity, so to speak, must have come about that he takes part in. But it turns out that he loses all of it in a moment. In a moment. And this happens. It can happen. The Bible tells us in other places that money or wealth or riches can take wings like an eagle, right? Fly away. Poof, be gone. Wealth can suddenly be lost. And in the ancient times, you know, a ship could be carrying your, I don't know, whether it be a bag of money or a pile of merchandise, a ship can be carrying it. A storm hits, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, gone. Sinks, it's gone. Where, you know, piracy gets stolen. Or you hire some guy you think you trust and he sells it, keeps it for himself and lies about it and say, hey, we got robbed. All kinds of ways you can lose it like that. You know, risky investments today or pure gambling like at a casino or something like that. You can just lose it all. And I personally know of someone who a few years ago lost the vast majority of their life savings in their latter days because they invested in a Baptist Investment Association. So you think, it's under the name Baptist, what could go wrong, right? I can rely on them to take care of my investments and have good capital gains. I can live on the interest. But no, it went south. I don't remember the details, whether, I think it was just stupid decisions, bad management, lost it all. And there were, I don't know how many elderly retired people lost everything, everything. Well, this is what we're talking about. And here, the fact that he's a father, he has a child, it poses a critical and another sad reality to this whole thing, right? For one thing, he has nothing to give to his son in a couple of senses. One sense is that he's not able to properly provide for him. And in another sense, if he's older, it was an honor and a blessing to pass on an inheritance, right, to your children. Proverbs 13, 22, a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous. He says children's children, that's grandchildren. May not happen to every single person that they got something to leave over to their grandchildren are also benefiting in some way. But a pretty basic aspect of this is that the good man is not blowing his wealth on bad ventures. Well, as he says, as he came from his mother's womb, he shall go again naked as he came and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. This also is a grievous evil. Just as he came, so shall he go. And what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness and in much vexation and sickness and anger. So he eats whatever he gets now in darkness, it says. Doesn't mean he keeps the lights off. It means he's depressed. He's in depression about this, this loss, sinks him, wrecks him. You simply can't get over this. He cannot get over the fact of this loss. Eating in darkness is contrasted in a big way with the blessing of eating Solomon talks about in several other places already. This is what's good, enjoy your food. Right? Well, this is the contrast, eating in darkness. You just can't enjoy your food. And, you know, he's too frustrated. He's perpetually angry. He's vexed. He's irritated, annoyed at the depths of his heart. Why? Because he's lost his God. That's the trick. That's the bait and switch of an idol. He's sick also it says, and I'm not sure what kind of sickness he doesn't tell us, but ultimately what happens is his health is suffering now. He's not healthy now. It's the idea, I cannot get rid of my stuff or lose my stuff, it will wreck me. That's the worldly mindset. Remember the Christians, the early church, they rejoiced at the plundering of their property. Why? How could they do that? Because they knew their real wealth lied beyond. Job lost everything at a horrifying, tragic level, right? What did he do? He worshiped gods. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. It might be God's grace to wreck your finances. It might be to where you'll be cast upon the Lord properly as you should be. Well, this is a bad state of affairs. It means he's got nothing. It's like he's born into this world with nothing and he dies with nothing. It's tragic, it really is. And he's got nothing for his children. And basically, he's toiled for the wind. He has wasted his life. Go read John Piper's book, Don't Waste Your Life. He has wasted his life. Remember the words of our Lord when he said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Well, this is the end of Solomon's discussion here about possessing and losing stuff. Benjamin Shaw, wonderful commentator on Ecclesiastes, he said this, he sums it up really well, so well I just can't say it any better, so I'll say what he said. He said, stuff cannot be relied upon and cannot be trusted. It is more apt to disappoint than to satisfy. In fact, it never really satisfies even if preserved, because the man who has stuff always wants more of it. Stuff is an evil master. And it is really no profit at all, though it may seem to be at the time. So stuff disappoints, will always disappoint. Why? Because it's not God. God will never disappoint. Stuff can poof, flee away, let you down, leave you helpless. God will never leave you, never leave you helpless. That's the glory of God. And we'll see the next thing that he says, he gets into, which I just love that statement, how God keeps us occupied with joy in our heart. And so if you want to hear that, come next time. Well, at the beginning of the message, I said that stark reality is part of the heart of Ecclesiastes, isn't it? And God's ways are rock solid and uncompromising. And this is God's world, and we're wise to walk in the light that he gives us. In this dark and fallen world, God is the rock upon which we will build our lives, or he's the rock upon which we will be wrecked. So I want to end now. This is it. I came across in my study in preparation this little U.S. Navy communique, United States Navy radio communications. There's two voices, voice one and voice two. So, voice one, please divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision. Voice two, recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision. Voice one again, this is the captain of a United States Navy ship. I say again, divert your course. Voice two, no, I say again, divert your course. Voice one, this is the aircraft carrier Enterprise. We are a large warship of the United States Navy. Divert your course now. Voice two, this is a lighthouse, your call. That's where I'm stopping. This is a lighthouse. You may have all the stuff of a warship in your arsenal. You come up against God, you're toast against his ways. Well, amen. Let's pray. Father. Glory to your name in the highest. Bless this. To your people, nourish them in the truth. Help us shape mold and fashion our lives according to your ways. Forgive us where we sin and fall short. We love you. Bless us now in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen.