But before we get started this morning, I wanna give a moment of silent prayer between you and God, especially with the book we're studying, dealing with fellowship. It's important before we study the word of God, and hopefully you are encouraged to do this every time you personally study God's word, because I believe if you are out of fellowship, you're going to lack the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the author of scripture, the Holy Spirit, also guides us through in understanding what is written. But if we're out of fellowship with God, then we're going to be cut off, if you will, from understanding what He has written because He wants us to be in fellowship. So, go ahead and take a moment to confess any known sin and just ask that God would cleanse you from all unrighteousness before we study His Word. Father, we give thanks for this day. It is a beautiful Sunday. We thank you for the warmer weather. even after a tease from last week and then a hopefully a last winter punch. We pray that the warm days are ahead and that we can look forward to planting season and that the calves that have been born Lord we pray that they would grow to be healthy and strong and we just thank you for life and the time of spring where it's such a great picture of life and this time of year in particular as we start to turn our eyes on the life that you've imparted to those who have believed on your son. We thank you for that sacrifice, and we thank you that it not only is a once-for-all cleansing from sin, but it's a daily cleansing from our daily sin. And we thank you that you have done that so that we might have continual fellowship with you. We pray that you would now open our eyes to see your word, that you would bless our reading and exposition of your word, and we'll ask this in your precious son's name. Amen. If you were to purchase a house or obtain a house, I should say, you have to meet the demands for obtaining that house. So in other words, you're not going to, unless, well, you're not gonna obtain a house if you just want it really, really bad. In fact, it's always fun to have our in-laws here. My father-in-law, that's one of his, I guess you could say as a hobby, loves looking at Zillow or Realtor.com and looking at houses in the area, whether it's an actuality of him looking at with the intent of moving in or just For fun looking at it and apparently there's a house up in Rapid City that that's going for a million and a half That's just it's got a apparently aura told me that has a bathroom the size of our basement downstairs You're not gonna get that house just by wanting it really really bad you have to have the 1.5 million dollars it takes to to obtain it and You're not going to get a house if you buy all the furniture for the house and have everything furnished for the house. If you don't actually buy the house, you won't own the house by having the furniture. You haven't met the demands. You must meet the demands of the current or previous owner, which is to actually buy the house. If you do this, if you meet this demand, you own the house. Does that make sense? You buy the house, you own it. Now, how many of you like to go on vacation? I think all of us like to have an extended period of time where we're away from maybe our jobs, the busyness of life, and we could go see God's creation, the world, or family, whatever it might be. But when you're on vacation, did you stop owning your house? No, you just at that time weren't dwelling or living in the house. You were living somewhere else or laying your head to sleep in another place. I think this is an illustration that perfectly describes what the book of John or 1 John sets out, is that there is a difference between owning the house and living in the house. And in the relation to a spiritual truth, there's a difference from trusting Christ and being saved and living that way. And the call of 1 John is to saved people who own the house, so to speak, to live in it. To those who have trusted Christ and received the free gift of eternal life, to live that way and to not live as if they were out to lunch, so to speak. So you wouldn't say if you're on vacation that you stop being a homeowner. That would be a little bit ridiculous. But what if someone thinks that you don't own the house? Does that mean that you don't own the house? No, if you bought it, you have it. What if you don't look like a homeowner? Does that mean you don't own the house? No, not necessarily. You just don't look like a homeowner and maybe you should do things that look like a homeowner. Now, of course, I think this is again, a perfect picture of life where we shouldn't be too quick to jump and say that someone doesn't have eternal life because they don't show the signs spoken of in 1 John, which some commentators are led to do. But as we looked at last week, John is talking to believers and he's talking to believers who, in other words, own the house. And he's getting them to the point to where they live in Christ, where they live in Christ. In other words, if you have believed the gospel, you have eternal life, but now you need to take the steps of obedience of walking with Christ. So the main idea for this morning is the message of eternal life. The message of eternal life. And it really does go beyond just the initial point of salvation where we believe on Christ and are saved. Our passage this morning is 1 John 1. 1 John 1, verses 1 through 4. And follow along as I read. John says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word of life. The life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life, which was with the father and was manifested to us, that which we have seen and heard we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son jesus christ and these things we write to you that your joy may be full that your joy may be full so the idea in this first passage that we're going to cover as we launch into the rest of the book deals with the message of eternal life the message of eternal life. And really what we established last week, and if you weren't here for that, I'd encourage you to listen to the message, because we lay out a lot of this introductory stuff. But in these first four verses, John gives us the purpose of his message. And we looked at last week that the purpose that John wrote this letter was so that the audience would have fellowship with the apostles, whose fellowship is with God through Christ, and that that fellowship would lead to a fullness of joy. So in other words, I challenged us all, if we struggle with fellowship with God or intimacy, being close to God, then it may be an issue with our fellowship with Him. Or if we struggle with joy in our Christian life, it may be an issue of fellowship in our life. And so that's not something that we press the panic button on, but God created us so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. And so, in other words, some commentators have pointed out that the gospel of John was pointing out how to have life, And first, John, was how to have it more abundantly. And so we as Christians, we have eternal life, we're saved, but how do we have joy in the life? How do we feel close with God as we live out our Christian life? So the first idea we want to look at is the message of eternal life. What was it? What was the message? Or in other words, what is the message? And so to give this kind of, to just give what it is and then build a case for it, the message is the teachings of the apostles concerning eternal life with Christ. It's the teachings of the apostles. In other words, it's doctrine. The message of life is doctrine. The word of God, the message of God, the teachings of Christ passed to the apostles, passed to the church of God. So we can conclude this by looking at some of the things that are listed in the passage. The first thing we see is the message, whatever it is, is something that has been heard, seen, looked upon, handled, manifested, and declared by we slash us, whoever that is. Now, I think it's the apostles that this is referring to because of the list of things that they say happened. They saw it, they heard it, they looked upon it. Well that's only true of the apostles who saw, heard, looked upon, and handled the word or message of Christ. What's interesting here, some scholars have put the date of the book of 1 John towards the end of the century in 90 AD. This would mean all the other apostles are possibly dead. Some list it earlier. In other words, this is a transition book where John is, I think, preparing the church for the time in life when the apostles will not live on the earth. And I want to be clear, there is not a living apostle today, if there was, they would be over 2,000 years old, because the criteria of being an apostle is to have seen the Christ and to be with them from the beginning. Now that was only true of 13, arguably 14 or so individuals in scripture, which Paul was one because Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus. But that being aside, this is the message, whatever the message is, and we're gonna, I think it's doctrine, the teachings of Christ. It was delivered to the apostles who were to deliver it to the church. The word of life or life here or the message is used three times in the first two verses. It's said to be the word of life. It says the life in verse two, and then it says eternal life. And so the first mention there, the word of life as stated above is something that was heard, seen, looked upon and handled. So whatever it is, it's those four things. I conclude that it's doctrine or the teachings of Christ. And look over at the book of Philippians, if you will. Philippians chapter 2, the same phrase, word of life appears only here. Philippians chapter 2, verse 12 through 16. This is Paul talking to, oddly enough, believers who are struggling in the Christian life on how to have joy in the Christian life. That's the purpose of the book of Philippians. So Philippians 2, starting in verse 12, he says, So they're believers. As you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And pay attention to what it says next, because this is crucial. Verse 13, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. And then this is the connection, verse 16, holding fast the word of life so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. And so the way Paul uses that phrase, the word of life, speaks to the teaching ministry of Christ, or the doctrines taught by Christ himself, the truth of God. And so I would argue that John uses it in that same way. The word of life is the teaching of Christ. It is the gospel, absolutely, but it's also the rest of the gospel, that we are to have intimate relationship and fellowship with God. Verse two in 1 John 1 says that the life was manifested. It was manifested. So I think we discussed what the first sentence in 1 John 1 says, that which was from the beginning. We looked at the word beginning. Is that pointing to the beginning of creation? Is it the beginning of something else? Or I think it's talking about the beginning of the earthly ministry of Christ. And part of the reason I think that is because the list of things there, heard, seen, looked upon, and handled, that was an experience of the apostles. Those apostles weren't there in the beginning in Genesis, but they were in the beginning of the teaching ministry of Christ. And so the life was manifested I believe is a reference to the incarnation of Jesus Christ. In other words, when God the Son became man, it was the manifestation of the eternal life that was with the Father and has now come and manifested first to the apostles and now to us. And that's the direction we're heading, is that life is now in us. It was passed to us from the apostles, and it's a faithful witness, because they heard, saw, handled the eternal life. But compare this with, if you go back to the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John, chapter 17, John 17. Some commentators, I think, have rightly called this passage the real Lord's Prayer, whereas this is the actual, the prayer of the Lord, where it's a great example, I think, for a lot of things that we could be praying for as believers. John chapter 17, and notice verse 6 through 8. This is Jesus praying. He says, I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, you gave them to me and they have kept your word. Now they have known that all things which you have given me are from you. For I have given to them the words which you have given me and they have received them and have known surely that I came forth from you and they have believed that you sent me. So this passage is Christ praying, and we understand something that took place. The eternal life, the message of life, of relationship and fellowship with God the Father, was given to the men whom God the Father gave to God the Son, the apostles, the disciples, later to become apostles. These apostles, many of whom wrote scripture so that we might have the same fellowship that they had with Christ. the same fellowship. And so the direction we're going, we can have the same fellowship with Jesus Christ that the apostles had when we understand biblical truth. And I would argue only through biblical truth. Otherwise it's a pseudo intimacy where it might not be real. It might sound right, but the only thing I think we can confidently trust in is the truth of God's word. Because in that same high priestly prayer in John chapter 17, Jesus asked that God the Father would sanctify his disciples through the truth. And then he tells us what truth is. He says, thy word is truth. And so that's a beautiful reminder is we are set apart or we are cut away from the world and connected with God through understanding biblical truth. Now, I think it's much more than just a knowledge. As we've looked in the book of James, it's one thing to know what the Bible says. It's good. That's a precursor. But we also have to do it. As believers, we know what God has said, and then we obey what God has said. And in so doing, we have fellowship with God, or with the apostles who have fellowship with God through doctrine. The message here, so that we've looked at the message, I think is doctrine. It's teachings of the apostles concerning Jesus Christ and the eternal life and relationship and fellowship with God the Father through God the Son. And so with that being said, the message that's being communicated by the apostles is authoritative, is authoritative. And it's authoritative due to apostolic authority, a term used by Paul and some scholars that talk about, we know it to be God's revelation because it has apostolic authority. In other words, those who were with Christ, again, using those four things, who heard, saw, looked upon and observed and handled, they communicated those things as they were moved, as Peter tells us, by the Holy Spirit. So in other words, what we have in our Bible is God's Word. The Holy Spirit coins a new word in 2 Timothy 3.16. when he tells us all Scripture is God-breathed. That was an unknown word, and it was first coined by Paul, who was moved by the Holy Spirit. And what that means is literally, God's breath produced Scripture. So everything in Scripture is of God. It's manufactured by Him. And He used human authors to deliver that message. Those human authors that were used were apostles. So therefore, it's authoritative because it's God's Word as He used His means to deliver the message. So that's the message. That's the what of the message. But what is the why of the message of eternal life? Why did God give this message? And ultimately, we see if we look at verse 3, That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the father and his son, Jesus Christ. So he's talking about that message of life. And he says, we delivered this to you so that you might have fellowship. with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son." So in other words, what he's saying here is our deliverance of teachings of Christ is what creates fellowship with God. And when you understand the biblical truths that we are delivering to you, you have fellowship with God. So there is an intimate link in what God has said and what we should be seeking God. And like I was talking to Rick, we were talking about apologetics. I think one of the flaws of apologetics, or in other words, defending the faith, is sometimes we get into the habit of trying to prove the existence of God. And we can't prove the existence of God because the Bible doesn't even try to prove it. It just assumes it. It says in the beginning, God, And so we have to start from point A, God does exist, not from point A, God doesn't exist, how do we prove that he does? Because if we start from that point, we're never going to get to that point because God simply knows he exists, obviously, and he reveals himself as existing. So that's where we should start as Christians. And we know in Romans 1 it says that we know God exists because creation. His indivisible attributes and divine nature are clearly seen, being understood by what has been made. So we know God exists, but we know God personally through what He has revealed about Himself in His Word. And so this is the why of eternal life. And this kind of pairs, if those who were in contenders, we talked a little bit about being of one mind, or I think the NASB says of one accord. And we talked about what does it take for Christians to be of one mind or one accord? How do we be united? And I think the way that the church is united is when they are united on doctrine, when they're united on the teachings of the word. Now, how in the world does that happen? Because this camp here believes this and this camp there believes that. Well, That's fine. It doesn't mean one's right or everyone's wrong or everyone's right. It means someone's right, possibly. But how do we know? We know if someone's right if they are basing what they believe on what God has said. And so there's an important distinction there that needs to be made is we don't come to scripture and ask the question, what does this mean to me? Because that makes truth relative. Because what it means to me may not be what it means to you. Rather, we must ask the question, what did this mean to God? Or what did it mean to John? What was the author's intent in writing what he wrote? Because he did have an intent. But if we skip that step and we try to read into it, then we could be led astray and believe something that God didn't intend. And in my opinion, that's what's happened with denominations is we think we got what God has said. And I don't say that as saying I have what God has said, but we must endeavor to seek and to be diligent, to study the scriptures, rightly divide the word of truth. And so notice the object of our study is the Bible, and not what men think the Bible says. Not to say that godly men could have valuable contributions, but we must be Bereans in the regard of even the Apostle Paul, one of the greatest Bible students in history, came and delivered the word of God to these men, and what did they do? Okay, that's interesting, Paul, but let us see what God says. And was Paul scared? Was he saying, oh no, no, you don't have to do that. Just trust what I say. I've got it figured out. No, he encouraged them. He said that they were more honorable because of their study of the scriptures. So it was given, the message of eternal life was given so that we might have fellowship. How do we enter into this fellowship? How do we have fellowship with God? Well, it's nothing new because we just got done with James and we get into fellowship when we receive the word of life being declared by the apostles. So in other words, the apostles have delivered a message. If we receive that message as truth, as authority from God on his revelation of himself, his character, his person, his plan, then we are in fellowship with him. And this is what we've just got done looking at in James chapter 1, 21. Practically speaking, it is knowing biblical truth and doing biblical truth. So being a hearer of the word and a doer of the word. If you do those two things, you're in fellowship with God. You have no reason to fear if you are hearing and doing the word of God. And again, I would argue that we cannot know God or follow him if we don't know his word. And anything else is speculation. It may be true, but the fact that it may not be true should lead us to tread very, very carefully or else we're gonna find ourselves in error. In fact, that's the reason John wrote. There was Gnostics at this time. who came in with a hidden knowledge. They were saying, well, this is really how you relate to God. This is really how you have a relationship with God. And so I believe John wrote this book for last and for all to say, no. I know better because I was with Christ, and this is how you have fellowship with Him. We had fellowship with Him through what He taught. And those who accepted what He taught, that He was the Messiah, that He was the way, the truth, the life, they had fellowship with Him. Who didn't have fellowship? Judas. In other words, he didn't receive the message of Christ. And so, that's the comparison there. So fellowship, the word fellowship is literally the act of sharing in the activities or privileges of an intimate association or group, especially used in marriage or churches. That's why those are great examples. Marriage is the idea of fellowship I used last week. Those who are married, you are married to your spouse. You have a relationship with them. But do you always have fellowship with them? In other words, you may love them because you've made the choice to unconditionally sacrifice yourself to be with them and to look out for them. But sometimes we're selfish. A lot of times we're selfish. And in those times, do we have intimacy with our spouse? Do we have close affections with each other? And not all the time. That's the work of a spouse, is to cultivate the affections. When we went through Bible counseling, or marriage counseling, after the fact, it was prepare and enrich. Some of you may be familiar with that. It's either to prepare for marriage or enrich an already existing marriage. And one of the illustrations this pastor uses, sometimes we view marriage as hunting. In other words, we go through all of these things, we buy all these things for the thing we're pursuing, and then we pull the trigger and then we put them up on the wall and that's where they sit forever. Some of us have the attitude of, I said I do on our wedding day, I'll let you know when it changes. Now, there's not gonna be a whole lot of cultivating affection if we have that attitude, but sometimes we have that attitude. And in those times we don't have fellowship. It doesn't mean we're no longer married. Although sometimes the world believes that we fell out of love and that's what leads them to separate. But what it is, is they're just not enjoying fellowship with their spouse the way God intended. And in so doing, that's a perfect picture of our relationship with God. We have a relationship through grace, through faith in Jesus Christ alone. But we have an affection as we read his word. And one thing I would challenge you, I don't know if you've ever thought about this when you've read God's word. But bouncing off that idea that this is the breath of God, think about that when you read God's word. The words you're reading is the voice of God. It's as if he was speaking directly to the world now, which is exactly what his word is. He's revealing himself. And that's what led David in the Psalms to say, your word, O Lord, is like honey. Guess what word he was talking about at the time? He was talking about the law. The book of Leviticus, the book of Numbers, the book of Deuteronomy, the books that we have a hard time reading through was honey to David. Not because he was super spiritual. He was spiritual, but he recognized that it was God reaching down to communicate himself to man. And that's what moved him to want to know as much as possible. of God that he can. And likewise, we have a full picture. God has fully revealed himself in his word. And so when we set ourselves to studying, we set ourselves to knowing God more. And Paul even says in Acts, joy comes not that we know God, but that he knows us. And when we know him more, that joy is cultivated. So that idea of fellowship, it's partnership. It's being united with a common goal. I don't know if you knew this, but during the playoffs, an NFL team does not, or an NFL player does not get their salary. In other words, in the post-season, they no longer get paid except if they they get, excuse me, they get paid by game. So if you're the best player and you're a benchwarmer, you get paid the same amount, in other words. And this last year, the monetary bonus for winning the Super Bowl was $118,000, which maybe for the benchwarmer is great. But what if you're, say, Tom Brady, that would be a huge pay cut. But they're all in fellowship, they're in partnership there. And so every person on the roster of the team that wins the Super Bowl, they all get a championship ring. They all get a Super Bowl monetary bonus, and they all get a White House invitation if they choose to accept it. Some in recent history have denied wanting to do that. But it's that idea of partnership and co-laboring. And it's the idea that even the smallest part of the team is instrumental to the success of that team. And that's something I could appreciate because I was the practice squad hitting bag, so to speak. I was the guy that the starting offense would just pound into the ground so that they could prepare for that week. And I always appreciated my coach because he always made me feel significant because he said, if we didn't beat you up, we couldn't beat up the team that we play that weekend. And I took pride in that position because I was a part of something. And sometimes he would let me on the field if I wasn't too much of a liability. But in the same way, having fellowship is partaking in the same goal that the apostles partook in. And that was to make Christ known to the world. Is that something you have fellowship in? Is that something you've ever said in your life? I want to be and do what the followers of Jesus Christ were and did. And that should be our mission. And so that's my, my exhortation to you this morning is, is be about God's business. Be about the Lord's business. What happens if we receive this message of eternal life? Simply put, verse four says, these things we write to you that your joy may be full. If you have fellowship with God, you will have joy. I can promise you that on the authoritative word of God, you will have joy if you are in fellowship with God. So I wanna explain what I mean by that. But first I wanna explain sort of a complicated topic. Who has heard the word hypostatic union? hypostatic union. That's a theological term theologians have coined to probably make themselves feel smarter than other people. It does help, it does have a meaning, it does have value, but essentially what it means is that God was 100, or Jesus was 100% God and 100% man. And so how do we compute that in our human minds? You can't be 100% this and 100% that. It's 50-50. That's terrible math if we say 100-100 is 100. Or fully, if he's fully this and fully that, he can't be fully both. That doesn't make any sense. So you come up with a really difficult word to explain it. And then when you explain the word, then you can explain what the truth behind it is. Of course I'm kidding, but that's the idea is essentially that Jesus Christ, though he took on the form of man, did not cut any divine nature away from him. He remained fully God. And on the other side, because he was fully God, he was also fully man. Some false teachers in this day said that Jesus Christ, because he was God, was not man. Well, if he's not man, he can't die on the cross. If he can't die on the cross, we can't be saved. And so in God's divine wisdom, there was a divine, sinless nature that Christ had. And if we can explain that and understand that, wonderful. God's word can help us towards that end. If you're not there yet, I'd encourage you to not be discouraged. Continue to study God's word and things will eventually fall into place, whether here or in heaven. There's a pastor that I think really explains this same thing that happens in a believer's life. In other words, you have the nature of Christ in you if you have believed in him for salvation. He says this, he's talking about some who propose that there's a opportunity to reach sinless perfection in the Christian life. He says, sinless perfection is not being taught by the Apostle John. Sinless perfection is not being taught by Paul. But something else is being taught, and what is it? And this is it. This is great. That there is a regenerate nature, and that somehow this regenerate nature shares the impeccability of its source, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. The word impeccability is simply perfect. So in other words, if you have trusted Christ for salvation, there is a nature in you that is incapable of sin. Now, there's also a nature in you where you retain the flesh in you, the sin nature in you. And so there's some verses that kind of connect with this. Paul says in Galatians 5.16, walk by the spirit and you will not satisfy the desires of the sin nature. So in other words, if you are walking in the spirit, you are walking in that new nature that is the seed of Christ incapable of sin. That's how we have victory over sin is by walking in the spirit. Now what happens if you sin? Well, you're not walking in the spirit. You're walking in the flesh. Another passage is John 15. Jesus says, abide in me and I in you, and you will bear much fruit. And then later he says, apart from me, you can do nothing. So in other words, our job as Christians is to walk in that new nature that was created in us when we trusted Christ. When we were born again, it's the same thing that Jesus says to Nicodemus. He says, unless you're born again spiritually, you cannot see the kingdom of heaven. When you walk in the Spirit, you are also abiding in Christ. When you abide in Christ, you are bearing fruit. The fruit of the Spirit... Does any of our Iwana kids know what the fruit of the Spirit is? Emily, do you want to give it off? The fruit of the Spirit is a song that we sing about, like, you can't be okay without the Spirit. And we sing about, like, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, Very good. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, and self-control. What's the second fruit listed there? Joy. Joy. So if you have fellowship with Christ through understanding, knowing, and doing sound teaching of biblical truth, you have fellowship with him. And if you have fellowship with him, you're walking in the spirit. If you're walking in the spirit, you're producing the fruit of the spirit. And one of the fruit of the spirit is joy read with me again verse four and these things we write to you that your joy may be full when we know biblical truth we have fellowship with god and we have joy so in closing i have two questions do you have joy do you have joy in the christian life And you know, one of the biggest ways that you can have joy quenched in your life or a wet blanket over joy in your life is trials. One of the biggest ways that you can lose joy as a Christian is to face trials. Oddly enough, in the divine mind of God, the way we grow as Christians is through trials. And so trials really is where the rubber meets the road in our Christian life, where we really have the opportunity to press into God or not. And when we press into God, when we face trials, and we go back to God's word, and we say, this is what I see from my human perspective, but this is what God says from his divine perspective, I believe God. Even though it's really hard right now, I believe God. In that moment, the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, will come to us. And we have joy. Joy, in other words, it's much more than just happiness. It is happiness, but it's happiness from a result of being encouraged. And in order to be encouraged, you have to first be discouraged. Trials discourage us. But when we remember what God has promised in His Word, we're encouraged, we're strengthened, and we can live to fight another day. Now, we have to know what God has said in order to take encouragement from it. And that's the challenge, is to get into the word. And we could vary the line where we can get into legalism and start to view scripture and the reading of scripture and this and that is, you know, you're more spiritual if you do it for 30 minutes rather than 15 minutes and 45 minutes over 30 minutes. I think it was J. Vernon McGee. He was asked about devotions, how long, when to do it. Some say, well, it's got to be first in the morning. If you don't do it first thing in the morning, do you even love God? You know what happens to me first thing in the morning? I'm not coherent. That would be a bad time to read God's message. Evening time works good to me or late afternoon, late morning, early afternoon, whatever time. works for you, works for God. Anytime you can, and the thing J. Vernon McGee said is, anytime you could set aside the distractions of life and can get alone with God and His message is the best time. And so if you don't do that, I would encourage you not to whip you, but I'd encourage you that that's the way we have fellowship with God. That's the way we know who God is. That's the way we know what He, who He is, what He's doing and what He will do in our lives. And we take hope and encouragement from it. Let's pray. Father, we give thanks for your word and the strength that it gives us, the revelation of who you are and what you're doing, and that you have not left us as orphans. Lord, you haven't left us without knowledge of where you are and what you're doing. We know from your word that you're at the right hand of God right now, and you are our intercessor. You pray for us right now, and we wouldn't know that unless you told us from your word, and we thank you. You do much more And we know all of this from Your Word. We pray that we'd be diligent to study, to rightly divide the Word of Truth, and that You'd be faithful to keep Your promise to give us joy and fellowship. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.