All right. Well, join me today in reading from First Timothy. First Timothy, chapter six, verse 11. First Timothy, chapter six, Verse 11. We're going to read through verse 16. I'll read Nana. It says, but you, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life, which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses in the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Jesus Christ, who, while testifying before Pontius Pilate, made the good confession. I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time. God, the blessed and only ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives an unapproachable light, though no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen. Well, friends, this weekend we've had a chance to celebrate the Fourth of July, but a special Fourth of July that we're at our 250th anniversary as a nation. And 250 years ago, our forefathers wrote a document called the Declaration of Independence. And they made a decision that day to separate from the nation they had been a part of and form a new nation. And at the beginning of that document, they wrote, when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them to another, and to assume among the towns of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitles them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which entail them to the separation. In that document, they would go on to detail why they felt it was necessary to not just reform the nation they were in, not just set up a new set of ideas, but to completely separate to they knew start. And on that day, they didn't just separate, but went in a completely new direction. And I find that interesting as I kind of reflected on this weekend, because it's a helpful way to think about what the Apostle Paul is saying about leadership and salvation as he. As he talks to his young friend Timothy. The verse I read was from First Timothy. And in First Timothy we get a letter from the Apostle Paul to a young pastor in the church in Ephesus. Now, kind of the story here was in Paul's missionary journeys that we get in the Book of Acts, you know, he is making his Way along, and he meets Timothy. Timothy comes to the Lord and Timothy becomes what would be called like the spiritual son to him. And he begins to mentor him, he begins to invest in him. And eventually Paul hears about a situation in Ephesus where they say, hey, there's problems in Ephesus. And what was specifically being taught? We don't know exactly. What we know based on what happens in First Timothy is we know that there are Jewish people who were teaching kind of a legalism, right. Saying that you have to be fully Jewish to be a Christian. And they were putting forth kind of those ideas and also that there were people who were kind of engaging in, you know, just kind of an extreme legalism, telling people they couldn't eat meat at all and telling people that they couldn't do any other number of things. And so Timothy. So Paul sends Timothy to kind of address the situation in Ephesus and specifically all we have to know is that they were spreading kind of wrong ideas about Jesus. So in the book that we call One Timothy, it's a letter to Timothy, but also the church as a whole, and by extension to us as a church here today in Lancaster in the year 2026. And there's kind of an opening and closing where Timothy is commissioned to kind of take on these issues. And the whole middle of the book is just Paul addressing practical issues and practical issues and practical issues. So it's a fairly short read. You could probably read it this afternoon if you wanted to take it on. But the verse we read comes from kind of the back end of those two commissioning statements where he's, hey, Timothy, I want you to kind of get in there and get after it. And so. And it's his closing statement. And kind of something to remember when you're reading biblical letters is that they would have read it together as a group. So it matters because I think sometimes, especially when we're reading scripture, we read the end of a book. And I'm sorry, I'm just going to keep this under here. I was afraid I was going to trip over. So, yeah, so it's important because sometimes when we're reading scripture, we read the end of a book and we think, okay, this is kind of like the non important stuff, right? Like, I just got to get through this because I'm laughing at my reading for the day, or, okay, I want to wrap up this book before I get done. We can't read New Testament letters that way because we have to understand that in an ancient letter you would put the most important Stuff at the beginning and at the end, and especially when he knew that that letter was going to be read in public. If you imagine a letter being read in public, what would you remember? If you would remember the stuff that was said right before you stopped. Right. And it wasn't like today where we all have copies of the Bible. In fact, that's a fairly new thing in history, right? Like the idea of everybody having a personal copy of Scripture. So the stuff that happens at the end is important. And it was put at the end because he wanted to remember it. So kind of with that in mind, let's read again, because I want us to kind of think about that context as we read, because I think it's helpful in understanding. So I know we're read something we just read, but hang with me. So verse 11. But you, man of God, flee from all this. He's talking to Timothy, but also the church as a whole, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness, fighting the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses in the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Jesus Christ, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate, made the good confession. I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time. God, the blessed and only ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and, and who lives an unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see to him be honor and might forever. Amen. If you have a physical copy of your Bible on Friday, you know, the book wraps up pretty quickly after that. Like this is one of the last things he says to Timothy. And so let's look at kind of what this verse says. And as I looked at kind of how to break it down, I came across what one scholar said. He says Paul is telling Timothy to flee, to follow and to fight. Right? Like right in the beginning. He says flee right. He says, but you, man of God, flee from all of this. And I said that when we read the book of first Timothy, we see kind of all the issues in the church. And if you read it, you see just a bunch of nonsense being described that everybody around Timothy is engaging in. And you only actually have to read all of chapter six to see it. Verse three, he talks about people who teach false doctrine. Verse four and five, he talks about controversy, quarrel, strife, suspicion, malicious talk Conceit, lack of understanding, believing this is all about financial gain, which I had to laugh as I kind of did that research, because it's like, what was the upside of financial gain in the first century? You know what I mean? Like, it's not like, I don't think they went on, like, great vacations. You know what I mean? Like, it's not like, you know, it's not like, like they were just taking pay like it was. And it's just funny how we don't really change those people. Isn't that. You know, it's funny how, like, we are always seeking something that makes us, like, slightly better than our neighbors, no matter what that context. Even if it's like, man, that guy, he has a nice chariot. I guess. I. I don't. Again, I don't. I don't know. I don't know what they were up to. I don't know what was happening. But the point is that Paul is calling out these people who are preaching the gospel and seeking to use it as a means of financial gain. And then verse nine and ten, he talks about a desire for money that gets so strong that people hurt themselves and the people around them. And that's where you get kind of that famous verse that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And often it gets said as like, oh, love and money is the root. Sorry, it's. It's. Money is the root of all means. Evil is the way it says. That's not what scripture said. It says the love of money. And what Paul is saying is that around Timothy were people who were so obsessed with financial gain that they were willing to hurt people around them. And it's easy for us to look back and say, oh, yeah, judgment. But like, people do this still today, even when they're well meaning, they say like, oh, you know, I'm just lying a little bit. Like, I'm just stealing a little bit, and I'm going to do it less than other people. And so as long as I stop, it's okay. And people trick themselves into all sorts of evil grounded in what? The love of money. And Paul's telling us that's not new. Paul's telling us that that has happened over and over again. But he says to Timothy 4, flee from all of this. Don't play around Timothy. Get out of there. Stay away from it. But don't just leave. You have to go somewhere. You have to follow, too. Again, to use kind of the flee, follow, fight, you have to follow. You have to Head in a direction. The end of verse 11. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. And I looked a lot at these kind of six traits, and it's interesting the number of ways you could look at them. One scholar said this. He said the first two of these qualities are general characteristics that represent one's relationship with God. The second two are specific attitudes that animate the Christian life. And the third two are specific dynamic character qualities that define correct ways of relating in a hostile world. Together, these six traits draw a silhouette of a person of God. The trio of faith, love and perseverance also veers in Titus 2:2, which is another letter that Paul wrote. So let's think about righteousness, right? This is the idea of, like, kind of observable uprightness, right? Like, it's living a life that is. Right, right. You don't describe somebody as righteous, even if you haven't used the word righteous, right? Maybe you said trustworthy, maybe you've said, yeah, I don't know. Like, that's a good person, right? That's somebody you can count on, right? And that's the idea that he's getting at. But then there's this idea of godliness, right? This is the Christian experience, right? A person of faith. A person who learns about the faith and lives out their faith and then faith, right? It's a trust in God that you see in a person. Love, a selfless devotion to the needs of others. These definitions aren't original to me. I pulled them out from a source. But, like, yeah, I think they're helpful for us to understand what's being said. Perseverance, a faithful continuance through adverse or discouraging circumstance, right? Somebody who hangs in there, right? Somebody who has a person of character. A person who doesn't give up at the first sign of hardship. Finally, gentleness, which the scholar defines as a tender kindness towards others. Another way I've heard gentleness described is leveraging your strength for the good of another person. Which is a really helpful way to think as a Christian. Because I think sometimes we say, oh, well, I didn't do anything bad to that person. But that doesn't mean I have to do anything good to them, right? But, you know, gentleness is about. Gentleness and kindness are kind of about this idea of leveraging our strength for the good of another person. Another definition I've heard of gentleness is the right amount of force for the right situation, right? So that would mean, like. And I heard this illustration once, and it's just so Good. He said, with the same hand, you remove a contact lens and you grab a baseball. And gentleness is knowing the difference, right? I think sometimes you get around Christians who are like, hey, I'm just speaking the truth, man. I'm just speaking the truth. And it's their problem if they have a problem with it. And it's like, no, that's not what it is to be gentle. And so Paul, as he's writing to Timothy, is saying, have gentleness. You're dealing with these people who are into all sorts of behaviors that you don't see as appropriate, that are into all sorts of nonsense. And your job, Timothy, isn't just to scream at them until they stop listening. Your job is to be gentle. Your job is to be appropriately gentle to the situation, to prayerfully in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to know how to care for people in a way that leads them towards godliness, that teaches them also to flee from that same unrighteousness, but not with a hard, clenched fist, but something that comes alongside them and helps them towards the life that they are made for. And listen, there's a number of these types of lists in Stitcher. The goal isn't necessarily to break down the list and say, okay, I did this, I did this, I did this. The goal is for us to ask ourselves the question, am I living a life that reflects how Scripture teaches me to live, or am I not living a life? Right. It's not about the list. It's about the regular practice of putting my life and my actions in alignment with who God has called me to be. And Paul to his. To his young friend. Timothy wants him to do this because he understands that he doesn't just want him to flee the bad stuff, but also to follow the good stuff. That's not all he says. He finally says that he needs to fight. He needs to hang in there. The world is going to give you a lot of reasons to walk away. Timothy's experience was going to give him a lot of reasons to walk away. But he says to him, fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses, right? He says, you have to keep after it. You have to make this a regular part of. Of what you're doing. As we follow Jesus, things can get difficult, but we can't give up. We have to stay after it. And I think, friends, this is a helpful thing for us to remember. We're going to get to kind of how this all affects us in just a minute. But Paul understood something about Timothy because Paul was an older man who administered for many years and done many things. And he understood, listen, Timothy, when it gets hard, you have to expect that it was going to get hard, right? Like, I think sometimes we get these little pithy sayings, and they're not from, from the Bible and they're not helpful, but we say, oh, well, God won't bring you anything he won't bring me through. Or, you know, God won't give you anything you can't handle. And, and the truth is, is that God gives us stuff we can't handle all the time, right? Or if you don't want to say God gives it to you, life sure gives you stuff you can't handle all the time, right? Like, I, I think the life will give you a lot of opportunities to face something you can't handle. But what happens? We make a choice when we face those difficult circumstances. Am I going to really, if we were to use the words we have today, am I going to follow? Am I going to flee and follow, or am I going to walk away from Jesus? Right? Like. And Paul understood that Timothy was going to get many opportunities to either flee and follow or walk away from the calling. And he says, timothy, don't walk away. Just hang in, just stay in. And what Paul knew would happen to Timothy is he understood that if Paul decided that my. I'm sorry, if Timothy decided that my relationship with Jesus, that my connection to Jesus, that my calling to, in Timothy's case, ministry is true, then I have to orient the rest of my life around that. That I have to orient the rest of my life around that. That if I believe that God is good and if I believe that God is, that when I come up against something in my life when the evidence says otherwise, I have to choose, okay, am I wrong to follow God or is God trying to teach me something about himself through this difficulty? Do I have to come to meet Jesus in a new way? Do I have to come to understand what it looks like for Jesus to be with me through this? And friends, it's unfortunate that this is true, but I've learned more about Jesus in my difficult times than I've ever learned about him. My good times. That I. That I have learned more about myself in my difficult times than I ever have in my good times. I always jokingly say to my friends who are struggling with their faith and, you know, joking, inappropriate time, appropriate gentleness, you know, atheism would be easier because if I just believe that the world is chaos, then it's chaos. Like whatever. Then whatever happens, happens. Yeah, I know we're just rolling along and we're just like. But I don't believe that. So I have to wrestle with what God is doing. I have to believe God. I know that you're good. I know that you've called me here. I know that you are with me. I know that you walked alongside me. I know that you comfort me. I don't feel any of that right now. But I'm interested to learn who you are. I'm interested to learn what you have for me. I'm interested to learn what you want would teach me about this. So let's talk about us specifically. Now that we've talked about Timothy. The first idea was flee. And I think this is helpful because with all due respect to us as Christians, I think sometimes we don't flee as often as we need to flee. I think sometimes we can be tempted to toy with sin a little bit, right? Like, oh, it's okay. I got it under control. I. I can do this little. I understand other people get addicted to this. I understand other people have issues with this, but not me. I have self control. I got it. And now it's just like a little side thing, right? And. And the truth is, I said last week I was preaching Grace Queen Church of Willistry, and I said, you know, nobody ever made a stupid decision all at once, right? Stupidity is always a slow process. But I like, you know what I mean? And it's like. And it's when, you know, I think the most classic example, just because it happens far too often, like when people have affairs on their marriage, it's never like they're just sitting in their living room. I mean, Maybe there's a 1%, you know, they're sitting in their living room, they're looking at their children, they're happily just, you know, sitting there on Christmas Eve and they're like, you know what? I think this year I'm going to ruin all of this, right? They're not just like, I think next year I'm just going to completely ruin my life and hurt everyone who cares about me. That's never how that decision is made, right? It's a thousand little decisions, right? It's the decision to say, well, this relationship is appropriate, right? Like, I'm allowed to have friends, right? I'm allowed to, you know, have, you know, private conversations with people who aren't my spouse. And I'm allowed to, you know, do this or that. And then it's like, well, you know, we're just really close, and it's normal to have, like, you know, a close friend of the opposite sex. And it's all doing it. Oh, you know, we're just going out for coffee and, oh, we're going to stop talking. And then before you know it, you've ruined your relationships, you've ruined your children's lives, you've ruined your own life. You've made a decision that you can't come back from. And so when Paul says flee, he understands this about Timothy, he understands this, not us, is that if there is some sin that's kind of on the side, right? Some little, like, TV show you're watching that you know you shouldn't be watching, some little Internet activity you're doing that you know you shouldn't be doing, some little. Stop toying with it. Stop toying with it. It's not something for you to toy with. It is something for you to flee. The example I used to use when I was a youth pastor is it's like, you hear those news stories down in the South. It's not nothing against the South. This seems that it could probably happen here. But like, when some finds, like, a baby alligator or, like a baby bear, and they're like, this thing is cute. I'm going to raise it as a cat. And they bring in their house or even their backyard, and they're, like, raising it and caring for it, and they start giving it steaks or something or whatever. What happens in 100% of those stories? The animal attacks them, and if they survive, it's not good. But in most cases, they don't survive. Do you know why scientifically, a vayner does that? Because it's a bear. That's what bears do 100% of the time. That's what they do. Or, you know, I mean, it's like, oh, why the. Why do you think the alligator turned on? Because it's an alligator. I don't know. They're not. Because they're not cute. Like, they're not like. I mean, it's. And that's what sin does. You know, you can't keep it in your bathtub, right? Like, it is not your pet. It is not cute. It is not meant to be kind of kept going, kept alongside. And if there is something in your life that you're saying, oh, this is fine. This is just like a little side thing. This is my own little thing. This is just a little habit. It's not really addiction. It's just a habit, take care of it. Because the truth is that you're never going to be motivated to flee until it grows and ruins your life. But what Paul would tell you is he'd say, no, flee. Flee from all unrighteousness, fleets from those things. Is there something that you have to get out of? And then the second question, how are we doing with following? How are we doing with following? We went through that list, right? But this is an inventory, right? There's list after list of scripture. And our goal as Christians is to put our lives in front of the life that Jesus would have for us and ask, hey, how am I doing? And we do that in church. That's kind of the main way most of us do it. And when you go to a church where you are hearing from scripture, hopefully that's happening every single week where you are putting your life in front of scripture and you're saying, you know, how am I doing with this particular area? And then kind of as a next step, right, Scripture being a part of your daily life that you would put your, put your life in front of scripture and you would say, how am I doing? Right? And kind of take those regular inventories. Friends, this is what growth in the Christian life is. It's taking a regular inventory of your life and just kind of stepping into the life that God has called you to live. And it is necessary that all of us do this for kind of two reasons. One, God has called you to do it, right, like flee and follow. Like I truly believe God has called all of us to grow to be more like him over time. The second reason is because if you're a Christian and your friends know you're a Christian, then you might be the only Bible that they get right. If you have non Christian friends, the truth of the matter is that they are looking at you and how you live your life and how you work things into your life. So you Christian would benefit yourselves and your friends a lot by saying, you know what? Something that God is working on me right now with is my anger. Because I realize that when I drive and somebody does something that I think is dumb, I just get so mad. And I realized that, you know, as I was praying about it, as I was thinking about it, that God just doesn't want me to get that angry at people. So, you know, as I'm kind of going through life, I'm trying to be less angry or you know, with my kids, I'm trying to not. I'm trying to be more self controlled and Be. Be more intentional about the way that I speak to them. Right? Talk to your friends, Christians and non Christians, about the things you're growing in. Because here's the reality for a lot of people who are not Christians. I had a friend growing up who's still not a Christian today. And he would say, you know, the only Christian I ever knew other than you is my grandmother. And she's one of the worst people I know because, like, his grandmother was mean. Like, she was intense and she was, you know, difficult to be around. And she was tough. She really was. Like, his daughter scared me. You know what I mean? But the truth is that that is the experience for some of our friends who don't go to church is all of their experience with Christians has been a negative one. So us learning to follow Jesus is valuable for us. Yes. But it's also valuable to happen in sight of our friends, because what you are saying to your friends is, you are saying, look, I understand that that person you knew, that was a Christian, that was horrible to you. That is your lived experience. But I need you to understand through my life that I don't believe that person should have lived that way. I don't believe that person should have made the choices that they make. Friends, when we think about salvation, sometimes we think, oh, we just have to explain it to people. We also have to explain to people what it's not. And we also have to explain to people what it looks like when it's in counterfeit. And when we live our lives as Christians in a way that grows and changes and develops, then what we are doing is we are exposing the counterfeit faith that people have been exposed to in other areas of their lives. When I live out what it means to be a Christian father in front of my kids, I am doing it for their benefit and for my benefit. But I'm also doing it for the benefit of a friend who was not. Who was fathered by a man who said he was a Christian but was terrible to them. And so that is the benefit of following. It is not just we don't just follow for our own sake. We follow because we show our friends and neighbors who Jesus is. And I don't ever want it to be true about me that I'm the reason somebody doesn't come to church, because, well, I knew this bastard. Oh, he was something else. And listen, I'm as capable of it as anybody. And that's why we have to take inventory. That's why we have to check ourselves. That's why we Never should assume that we are. We are. You know, we have to be. We. We are just like kind of set and never. And we can just stop working on ourselves. And then finally, the idea of continuing to fight, of continuing to try and work and change. Do we need encouragement to keep fighting? And I kind of hinted at it a few minutes ago, but if you never hear it from anybody else, please know that struggles in your faith are normal. Struggles in your faith are normal. Doubt is normal. Fear is normal. But we keep fighting. We keep fighting the good fight of faith because God showed up in our story and because we are headed somewhere and we made the choice to continue to believe, to continue to hang in there. But, friends, this is another place where community is incredibly important. I think sometimes, you know, I heard this saying once that there's no such thing as uncommon problems. There's just common problems that people don't talk about. There's a decent chance that whatever you're going through, whatever faith struggle you're struggling with, it's not unique. And I don't mean that to hurt you. I mean it to encourage you. If you're struggling with doubt because of, you know, an illness in your body or in your family, it's incredibly wrong. If you're struggling to believe that God cares about you because of some set of life circumstances, that's incredibly. And here's the benefit of community, the benefit of this thing we call church is that you would break silence and talk to the people around you and you would say, hey, this is something that I'm really struggling with. And what's interesting is as you bring it into light, it stops growing. As you bring it into light, it lets somebody come alongside you and deal with it, Right? Like, that conversation will help you to kind of get through it, because you'll say it out loud to a person and they'll go, yeah, man, I feel that way too, sometimes. And all of a sudden, it has a little bit less power, right? Like, there aren't new things, Right. There are just kind of common problems that we don't talk about. And friends, when we talk about fighting, yes, you have to make the decision to fight for your faith. You have to make the decision to continue to hang in there. You have to make the decision to. To continue to follow Jesus. But it is certainly not a decision that you have to do alone. It's not a decision you have to do alone. In fact, the idea of doing it alone would have been completely new in the New Testament. Right. Like, I think sometimes I kind of hinted at this at the beginning. We have a little bit of time, but so I can talk about it. We talk about this idea of personal relationship with Jesus and I think it's valuable because ultimately we all have to decide what we're going to do with Jesus. And we all have to decide if I personally am going to flee and follow. But in the church that this letter was written to, there would have been one copy of the letter, just one, the letter. There wouldn't have been the idea of like personal Bible study because the printing press didn't exist. Right? So only when we get the idea of everybody owning a personal Bible do we get the idea of personal Bible study. Why does that matter? Because your relationship with Jesus was never really intended to be like a one to one thing. It was intended to happen in a community, maybe in a house church, maybe in kind of a larger kind of more regional church. But the idea was that there was a community of people that you were a part of that knew you and you knew them and they knew your struggles and you knew their struggles and you fought alongside each other to grow and develop your faith. And so we talk about this idea of fighting. When we talk about this idea of growing, we're not just saying, hey, you have to try harder. You might be trying as hard as you can. What you need to do is invite somebody else in, be honest with someone, break silence with someone, find someone you can trust. Find someone you could pull in and say, hey man, I'm really struggling with this and I really need you to help me to grow in this area. I really need you to call me this week and ask how I'm doing. Friends, that's the design of the church. We're not meant to fight alone. So we're at the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence where our forefathers made a decision to leave Great Britain, start a new thing and fight to keep it alive. And as we read Paul, he's encouraging Timothy to do the very same thing. He's saying, flee from all unrighteousness, follow the teaching as you know it, and finally fight to keep it alive in your day to day life. So my hope is that on this July 4th we would make the same decision, that we would do the same thing with our faith. So as we close, let's bow our head and close our eyes. I just want to kind of chat for a minute and then, and then we'll get ready to go on the convenience. But maybe you're, I want to kind of Give you a chance to reflect. Maybe you're there and you're saying that, you know, I need to flee some nonsense to my life. I need to, I need to step away from. There's been some stuff in my life and I know that it's not what Jesus wants for me, but, but, but I'm going to step away from that. And, and you know, I. Today needs to be the day that I kind of leave that in the past. Or maybe you're saying, you know, I gotta start taking inventory as a regular part of my life. Maybe it's going to church, maybe it's, you know, some type of regular Bible study, but I have to start making checking in with Jesus a regular part of my life. Or finally, maybe you're saying, you know what, I just need to remind myself to fight because there's been a lot of doubt, there's been a lot of struggles. There's been a lot of difficulty and I just need to make a decision to fight for my faith. I need to make a decision to put faith back at the center of my life and not let myself kind of fall to the side. Wherever you are, I want to encourage you to just take a minute with Jesus before we pray and kind of make that commitment in your heart and your mind and just say, pastor David's going to start playing and just kind of maybe lay before Jesus. This is a decision that I need to make. And Lord, we thank you. We thank you for your goodness and your grace to us. And Lord, no matter what we just talk to you about, Lord, you heard us. And, and Lord, you are with us, Lord, and you and, and you celebrate, Lord, our, our coming to you with these things, Lord, I pray that, Lord, if there's, if there's something that anybody who's here, any of my friends here need to walk away from, Lord, I pray that you give them the strength and the courage to do that, that you would, that you would give them the, the commitment to do it right now, whatever that means, Lord, to not let it say, oh, well, this is a, this is a Monday problem, this is a Tuesday problem, Lord, but they would make this a, a right now decision. And secondly, Lord, for all of us as we, as we follow, Lord, I pray that we would lay our hearts in front of you, Lord, we would take inventory of our day to day lives. And Lord, we would make a concerted effort to follow you more closely. And finally, Lord, anybody who is struggling with, with doubt and fear and challenges, Lord, I pray that they would make the decision to fight, Lord, that they would anchor their hope in their lives in you. And Lord, that they would. They would. They would fight the good fight of faith, Lord, that they would not lose themselves on any of these side things, Lord, that they would hear clearly from your word, Lord, that they are welcomed in And Lord, I just ask that you would do this. And I ask that you would work. I have calls in your name. Amen.