Bible Study: June 25, 2025

Okay, so we're going to continue in Romans 1 tonight. This is our third Bible study in Romans 1, and it really merits all that time because, you know, Paul does put an awfully lot into this book, and it really does give us the foundation of what he's saying. If you'll remember, you know, he did read the book of 1 Corinthians before this and Galatians before that, so we will turn to those, you know, books tonight as we look through Romans because his epistles build on each other, and you can see him growing in the knowledge and what God is leading him to as he writes these epistles and the concepts that he says in Corinthians we see spelled out in Romans a little more clearly and as we get into the book some very, very detailed things on how to live our lives as Christians, how to do things that God wants us to do in all of those areas.

Last time we got up to, I have Mark down here, we got through verse 16, but I think we pretty much fast-forwarded through verse 16, so I'm going to go back and start there tonight just because there's a lot in that verse as well. In verse 15, you know, Paul's talking about he's ready. He's ready to preach the gospel in Rome, and Rome, if you recall, kind of a newer church, some Jews had moved back into Rome after the emperor there had expelled all the Jews from Rome. There are Gentiles coming into the church, so we have a new church with people of two totally different backgrounds that are here. Paul says that's his calling. He plays no favorites. He's not partial. He speaks to anyone, and his job and responsibility as he sees it is to preach the gospel to everyone. And so he said, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. In verse 16, he says, for I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation. And I just want to pause there a little bit because this word ashamed goes up a few times. Christ uses the word ashamed a few times, and it tells us not to be ashamed of his gospel. And sometimes, you know, if we find ourselves in sticky situations, we might be ashamed of what we believe or hesitate and what we believe, wish we didn't believe it for some reason. And God has some things to say about that. Paul, you know, Paul got beaten, he got stoned, he got everything, and he was not ashamed of the truth that he was preaching. People didn't like it. They didn't want to hear it. They wanted to kill him for it. He preached it anyway. Just as God tells us to do his church today, get that gospel out because it is the gospel. It's the power of God to salvation. People need to hear it. Whether they listen to it or not is God's business, but our job is to so I want to just look at, you know, a few of the places where this word ashamed is used.

And I did put together some notes. I'm going to pull up some things here that you can follow along with me if you want. I'm not sure that I share that. No, I didn't share that.

So you can follow along as well. Let's look at Mark 8, verse 38, just to get a sense of how this word is used. And of course, I don't put every scripture here that ashamed shows up in, but just to give us the flavor of where the word is used and the way it's used in the Bible. In Mark 8, verse 38, Christ's own words, as he's speaking to his disciples then, as he's speaking to us today, um, yeah, I will next next time we meet, I am going to have a co-host, I see, just so that I can keep my, um, to admit people and to, um, and everything else. But Mark 8, verse 38 says, For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him, the Son of Man, also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. You know, I mean, we live in an age where people, you know, some people want to hear about the Bible, but a lot of people just scoff, they laugh, they think you're antiquated, you don't know what you're talking about if you believe in the Bible, and it could be a time to think, oh, I don't really want to say what I believe here, but God says, don't be ashamed. We have the truth. They don't. God has called us, and he says, if you're ashamed of me, if you hide away from them, if you're not speaking the words that he has given us to speak, then he's going to be ashamed of us. None of us want Christ to be ashamed of us because, you know, he called us to become strong people who are completely supportive and submissive to him, to do his will no matter what the cost.

If we look at 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy 1, Paul, you know, who uses that word, ashamed, there in the book of Romans. As he's talking to, you know, a young minister, Timothy, he talks about, he talks about ashamed as well. And this is one where, you know, well, just verse 15. Let's read that. This you know, he says, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phyjalis and Hermogenes. Verse 16, the Lord grant mercy to the household of Anissa Forest, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain. So Paul, we know, was put into prison. He was, you know, he was not a favorite among the government there. Could it be reasons like, oh, we don't want to be associated with a criminal and someone who's, you know, the state is against or whatever. But here's Anissa for us. And he wasn't ashamed, but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out zealously and found me. The Lord granted him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that day. So, you know, don't be ashamed of the Gospel. Don't be ashamed of the people that are speaking of the Gospel. Don't be afraid of speaking it boldly, of doing what God says. Make sure you're speaking the truth. Make sure it's the words of God that, and ask him to lead and guide you in what you say. But don't be, don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed. And finally, in Hebrews 2, verse 2, and verse 11, it says, For both he who sanctifies, that's Christ God, for both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified, that's us, are all of one. The unity that Christ talks about are all of one.

For which reason, he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Because we're one. We've become united. We've become the one people united by his truth, united by his spirit, united by our commitment to him to do his will. And when we are that, he's not ashamed of us, because that's exactly what he's called us to be. It takes a lifetime, and it takes a lot of agape and self, well, humility to reach that state. But when we are, he won't be ashamed of us, because we're doing what he has called us to do. Some people will say, well, how can we be ashamed of God?

We could be ashamed, in some of those cases. Everyone's talking about Christmas and how wonderful it is, and boom boom boom, you find yourself in a situation at work, and whatever, and it's like, oh, what are you doing for Christmas? What are you getting? I don't want to answer that question. I just want to fade away, rather than just saying I don't celebrate it because, and not, no, not drawing people away, not driving people away or offending them, but just speaking what you believe. That'd be one way. But you know, the Galatians, the Galatians were ashamed of that gospel when you look at it as well. We go back to the book of Galatians, you know, very early on. You know, Paul writes to them and chides them because they've moved away from the gospel. In Galatians 1, verse 6, you know, he says, I marvel. Like, how did this happen? How did you move away from the gospel you were taught? I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel.

But it wasn't a different gospel as in don't keep Sabbath anymore, keep Sunday, which is not another. It was just a little different. It was just a watered-down version of what Paul was speaking, to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. Kind of mess with it a little bit, kind of make it easier to deal with, a little smoother, a little whatever. That doesn't make it sound like we have to do everything that God says and exactly what his way is. So that would be a shame when we don't preach the word exactly the way God says to preach the word, exactly the way he gives it to us in the Bible.

And as we see in there, we can look at the Laodiceans. You know, the Laodicean church in Revelation 3, they, you know, they feel like they're rich and creased with goods. They have need of nothing. They just, it's okay. They just have a lack of days to go add to it, thing to life. They can do the checkbox. I went to Sabbath services. I tithed. I went to the holy days. Therefore, I'm good. But they don't grasp the conversion, the transformation of mind, the yield and this to God, the ever-continuing growth in God and the knowledge and in his spirit that he wants us to have. So, you know, if we go back to Romans, we see, we see there, you know, quite a bit in that word, ashamed. Don't be ashamed of what God is called to. People may not like it. People may yell. People may want to do whatever people are going to do.

But let's, you know, let's not be ashamed of it, of the gospel, as it says in verse 16, because it is the power of God to salvation. It's the power. And that word power, you know, is the same word, dynamis, that is used when God talks in 2 Timothy 1 verse 7 about, I have been giving you the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind. It's, it's completely different than anything you find in the world. Only, you only receive God's spirit in one way. And you know how that is. God calls, we repent, we're baptized, hands laid on us, we receive the Holy Spirit. That's the power of God that can deliver us from flesh to spirit, that can deliver us from power or from the sentence of death to the gift of eternal life.

And he says, the gospel is here. This is the gospel. It's not something to be ashamed of.

This is the way. This is the way to peace, to longevity. This is the peace, the way to peace, calm, eternal life, happiness, freedom, joy, all the fruits of the spirit that are there. It's the power of God to salvation, to salvation. And then there's that word, believes, that I, I almost every time I read it in services, I have to explain believes because the world has perverted that word so much. It's the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. So we have this word, believes. Today, you know, we can, there's a billion people in the world who say they believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior. At least a billion people would tell you that if you asked him. But all it is is a word. Yes, I believe he's the Savior. But the word, pestoio, that's translated, believe, there is, has a much deeper meaning, as we've talked about many times.

I went to AI and Gemini on Google and just sold them from the Bible. Wherever the word pestoio is used, how did the Greeks use the word pestoio? Because I also, you know, I talk about what it means, and it means much more than just yes, I believe. And this is what they came back with. The word, it says scholars and lexicons consistently emphasize that pestoio, that's believe, when we read the word believe almost every time in the New Testament, in its fullest sense implies trust and reliance. It's not just believing that something is true, like most of the world would say, but believing in or trusting something or someone. It involves a profound reliance and confidence. And then they give an example, think of trusting a doctor with your health. It's not just acknowledging their existence, but in trusting your well-being to their care and following their instructions. And many people do that. They will just do whatever their doctor tells them to do. And sometimes that's good, sometimes it's not so good, and you have to think about it, but they believe what their doctor says. It's more than just believing that he has a degree on his wall. They believe what he says, and they do it. We need to believe what Jesus Christ says and then do it. Number two, commitment and fidelity. The concept often carries an implication of loyalty, faithfulness, and a pledge. It's akin to a covenant or a vow. To pestoio, that is to believe, is to commit oneself to the object of belief, not just intellectually, but with one's actions and life. Live it. If you believe it, live it. Don't just say, I believe it, and live a different way.

Number three, action and obedience. True pestoio is not passive. It naturally leads to actions and a changed way of living. As the New Testament frequently illustrates, and they say James 2 19, because you know what it says there? The demons believe, but they don't believe in the pestoio way because it's not leading them to salvation because that belief isn't transforming the way they think. They are so anti-Christ, it's amazing. Anyway, the New Testament frequently illustrates mere intellectual belief without corresponding conduct as considered dead. They could have put in there James 4, I think it is, where it talks about faith without works is dead. If you believe, you do something about it. It defines your life. It becomes what you do. And then, number four, beyond mere mental ascent, many sources explicitly state that the stoyo is more than just a mental agreement with a concept or idea. It requires a personal relationship and active confidence.

There are many things in the Bible we can look at. We see that God wants a relationship with His people. He wants a relationship with all of mankind. If we believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior, if we believe God is the Father, that we develop a relationship with them. And that it comes from the prayer study and doing the things that they have us. That the Bible tells us to do this gospel that is the power of God to salvation. It's an amazing, amazing thing here that God has given us. So, you know, they finish up here saying, this is kind of way that pistoyo, the word translated, believe in our English Bibles, is used in both secular and religious Greek texts.

So, it's, you know, so every time we read the word believe in the Bible, think of the world. They don't get it. They believe, but it isn't changing. It isn't changing them, and it needs to change them. If there's no change in our life as a result of that belief, then we don't really, they don't really believe. So there in verse 16, you know, we've got shamed the gospel of God to salvation, the power of it, the miraculous power of it. And then at the end of verses 16, he says, for the Jew first, because God did open it up to the Jews first, they rejected it. And then, you know, as we saw in the book of Acts, and as we'll see in Romans, he opened it up to the Gentile world. They had an opportunity to accept God. They rejected it.

The Gentiles, those God called. We have those in the church, and so today we have, you know, no partiality. In Galatians it says, there is no free, there is no slave, there is no male, there is no female, there is no, there's nothing. God is not partial. He calls people of all nations, tongues, and backgrounds. So there's a lot in just that very first verse 16 there that we can look at.

If I can figure out how. And then we go on to verse 17. We see something that is said 60 times, 60 times in the book of Romans. I mean, Romans only has 16 chapters, but 60 times we will see this phrase, the righteousness of God. In verse 17 he talks about the power of gospel, the power of the gospel, don't be ashamed. It says, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, the righteousness of God. Now, the righteousness of God is, His will is that no one would perish. He is a loving God. He created mankind and has done everything that we know for us. He created the earth and made it an incredibly beautiful place. When you look at the differences in all the vegetation, the animals, the foods that we have to eat, everything that works so perfectly together, He did it all for mankind because He loved mankind before we were ever created. And so, as we look at that, He does it for the right reason. It was interesting because in one of the commentaries I looked at, it contrasted God, the God you and I know, to the Greek God. So when the Gentiles were coming in, of course, they had all these gods that you've heard of, Zeus and Artemis and Venus and, you know, Hermes and all these gods. All those gods were superior to mankind and mankind was really slaves to those gods. I mean, humans were there for the gods' benefits and humans served them. But you contrast it to Jesus Christ, you contrast it to God the Father, and they serve us. Jesus Christ didn't come to be served. He came to serve. He sacrificed His life that we might have eternal life, that we might have forgiveness of sins, that we might have the opportunity to serve Him forever and understand what the true meaning of life and what God created mankind to have to be. They did that for us. It's a tremendous contrast to what the Greeks and other Gentiles believed and even pagan, probably gods today, I don't know that much about them, but when you see what the Gentiles were coming and they were beginning to understand this Jesus Christ, this God the Father, the transformation in thinking, here's a loving God, here's a God who's given us everything. He's not here to hold us down and to beat us down and to make us miserable as His slaves. He literally gave up everything so that we could have everything of which we don't deserve because of our actions, but because of His love for us, He did it. And so you see, you know, when we see that phrase many times through this book, the righteousness of God, remember who He is.

Remember how good He is. Remember how loving He is. Remember how patient and kind He is. But He does have expectations for those who He calls, and that is to live according to His way. If we really believe Him, if we really love Him and agape Him, we do what He says. We're not ashamed. We don't look to do things our way. We look to do things His way, whether it's the way we would do it or not, we do it His way. So verse 14, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith from faith to faith. You know, you can look at that from some ways. People say, well, it's from faith. It's been taught from people by people from that have faith to people of faith. And faith, remember, the root word of faith is believe. So when we read, when we see the word faith, it's akin to believe. If you have faith in God, it changes you. It changes you. It changes your whole outlook on life. You become a different person when we receive the Holy Spirit. Your way of life, your goals, your outlook, everything is different from there on out. So faith. But that faith to faith is also, I think, more showing us that as we grow in life, we go from a faith, but that faith is continually growing. It's continually increasing. We see God involved in our lives. Some things He blesses us with and they're joyous things, and we thank Him. And we know that He was there. It can be instances of healing. It could be blessings of relationships. It could be blessings of children and family or whatever it might be. Healings that God gives. And we know that's Him, and we know it was Him who does it. But we also develop that faith through trials, because we know and we believe that God really does love us and is preparing us for eternity and for whatever role He has in mind for us, you know, for the rest of the rest of time. And that faith builds. So when we have something happen in our lives that we don't understand, you know, that take us by surprise, an unpleasant thing, we don't lose faith in God. We know it's for a reason. We may not understand why, but we have faith and we tell Him, no, we have faith in you regardless. Don't understand why this is happening. I believe you anyway. I believe you anyway, and if there's some things that I need to learn from here, let me learn those, because everything that we do in life is for the purpose of perfecting us. So from faith to faith. Just a couple things on that to show, you know, faith continually is to grow in us. Let's just look at a couple scriptures I put down there just to do that.

Some people will say, as long as you have faith, you know, but it's not the same faith that we have the day that God calls us or we begin to believe in Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 6 and verse 1, it talks about the elementary principles, the elementary doctrines of the church, right? The things that we have as God begins to call us. He says, Hebrews 6 verse 1, therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection. It's a continual process from the time God calls us through the rest of our lives until we draw our last breath in this physical life. And then when God resurrects us, I'm sure there's learning that has to happen there unwell. Let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Doesn't mean that we don't repent throughout the rest of our life. Yes, we do. We are people who sin. We have faults. We make mistakes. We repent before God because we are, as we learn from those mistakes and determine and ask Him for His Spirit, to keep us from making those same mistakes again or to help us overcome and give us the power to overcome those sins, that do so easily beset us. We look to Him and we do that. And we have faith. We have faith, of course. But we have that faith that He says is elementary. But when we look at Galatians 5, you see that faith is a fruit of the Spirit. And so we know that those fruits of the Spirit develop over time. They grow. Agape doesn't happen the day we're baptized. It grows over the course of our lifetime. Joy doesn't happen in the full sense of the word on the day we're baptized. We grow in joy as we understand God's way and see all things and have that joy set before us, as Christ said. And the same with faith. So in Galatians 5, 22, which is Galatians 5 here, Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit is agape, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. That word, faithfulness, is really faith. It's the exact same Greek word that's used in Romans 1 there, number 4102. So it's the fruit of the Spirit. It grows over time as well.

2 Thessalonians 1, as Paul wrote later to the Thessalonian church, he specifically says, grow, grow in faith. 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 3, he says, We're bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly. And the agape of every one of you all abounds toward each other. The congregation grows. You can see their faith in God. You can see their agape to one another and their agape to God. You can see them becoming one. Your faith grows exceedingly. This means they're doing, they're living by God's way, that church in Thessalonica and the fruits, the fruits were showing. And finally, if we go back to the book of Romans, you know, when Paul addresses this concept of faith later and how faith, you know, one of the ways that we develop our faith is by hearing the Word of God. You know what Romans 10, 17 says, he, as he's talking in Romans 10, he talks about, well, how, how will people have faith? How will they understand who God is? How can they call on Him? And how can they believe on Him if they haven't heard? And so there has to be the preaching of the Word as God says. They have to hear. It doesn't mean they're all going to do it, but they need to hear it so that they, so that those who God would call, you know, would hear it. They have, they have to hear it. Verse 17, it says, so then faith, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, hearing the Bible, hearing what God, hearing what God says. So we have, you know, this concept then of faith that's there is there. If we go back to Romans 1, again, we see in this first chapter, so many of the things that Paul is going to talk about later on in the book and discuss with us even more, even more about everything and show us how to live that way, how to develop that what we need to do individually and also what we need to do, you know, collectively as God builds his temple in us collectively as well as individually. So if we go back to Romans 1, Romans 1, you know, in it, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. We continually appreciate God more and more as we grow in that faith and we see him working in our lives from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith, live by faith, live with that trust in God, that absolute commitment and trust and confidence in him. Verse 18 for the wrath, the wrath of God is revealed. You know, we'll see, we'll see the righteousness of God revealed as we live his way of life, as we yield to him, as we grow closer to him and all that that means, because sometimes we just say grow closer to him, but we have to do the work to draw closer to him, not just ask him, but to do the things that show we're drawing closer to him. His righteousness is revealed as we live the gospel of salvation, but his wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

So those who aren't living righteous lives, who are living ungodly lives, you know, a lack of reverence I have there on on verse 18, a lack of reverence to God, counting him not maybe as common, but not taking him as seriously as we should. You know, when we talk about, and I know several times I'll talk about the adverbs of the Bible. Now, when God says we should carefully look at things that we should really carefully look at it when he says carefully look at my word, willingly obey my word, you know, exactly or circumspectly as it says in Ephesians, circumspectly walks circumspectly exactly according to his word. Take it seriously, you know, he wants us to grow to that where we're living, as Jesus Christ said, by every word of God. But the ungodly may not be out murdering people, killing people, committing adultery and all this stuff, but just taking God a little bit for granted and with an attitude of it's good enough and not yielding heart, mind, and soul to God the way he would have us do. That's a whole body and a whole life experience to give your heart to God and not just go through the motions so you can check off boxes and say, see we're following God because we do this, this, this. Yeah, we do those things, but it's because we love God and our heart, our heart is in that way. So the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.

One of the ways we're going to look at the word righteous is if we're righteous, we're acceptable or approved, an acceptable behavior to God, and we know what that acceptable behavior is. We know what God expects us to do that, and we do it with our heart. Doesn't mean we do it perfectly, but he sees what's in our heart that we are trying and striving for that commitment to him, that unity with him, that unity with each other. So his wrath is revealed against those who don't live in that way, people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. You know, I say, one thing we have to realize, God hates sin. We absolutely know that he hates sin. And I put some verses up there. He doesn't tolerate sin. In Revelation 22, I'm not going to turn there. You know what the verse says. It says, those who do God's commandments, those who love him with heart, mind, and soul, they will be there in the kingdom with him. But outside, that means they won't be there, are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral and the idolaters and the liars and all those who would tolerate sin. Paul makes it very clear in 1 Corinthians 5, a book that he wrote before, an epistle that he wrote before the book of Romans, if there is sin among you, put it out. Do it because you agape that person and that person should not be allowed to continue in sin. That is not what the church of God stands for. And as you read there in 1 Corinthians 5, 11, he's pretty clear about it. Don't even associate with those who are tolerating sin, who are just sinning. Put them out so that they will come to repentance and come back to what the real reason that we're in the church is, and that is so that we let God perfect us. And of course, Paul says that at the end of the book of Romans, too. The church in Romans right now is pretty unified at the time Paul is writing this, but he knows that there will be divisions come in. There will be people not speaking the same thing as he first says in 1 Corinthians 1.10. That will cause divisions.

And he says, don't participate with division. Stay close to God. Follow His word and do it that way. So we have people who suppress the truth.

You know, from time to time, you know, I think the church has said, oh, this is people in the world who suppress the truth. And yes, there will be people, and there are people in the world who will suppress the truth, right? There will come a time when God says in the book of Amos, there will be a dearth of the hearing of the word. The world will say, we don't want to hear it. We don't want to hear that gospel. We don't want to hear any of your any of the stuff that you had to say. And so they will suppress. But there are people in the church, Paul, Peter, and Jude tell us, that also suppress the truth. And anytime we suppress the truth or try to hold back the truth in any way, that's not a righteous thing. That's not what God would have us to do. The wrath of God is revealed against those who would suppress the truth. We are people who seek truth. We are people who look for truth. We are people who follow truth. And we are people who come to love the truth. That's agape, the truth. You know, 2nd Thessalonians 2, you know, as we live in a world that, you know, constantly changing, constantly changing, it seems. You know, we look at the surprise of the attack on Iran, then we look at the surprise of a ceasefire, then we know that ceasefire is not going to hold. We see kind of now discord in the United States, even among, you know, the parties and whatever. And just where the world is going, only God knows, or how it's going to get to that ultimate. Only God knows. But the thing is, we cling to truth. We cling to truth and not to political parties or not to men, but we cling to the Word of God and stay true to it. 2nd Thessalonians 2 is a verse, is a chapter we really need, all of us need to look at, because God says some really interesting things because He is determined and He will mold us into people who are people who love the truth if we let Him do that and if we're focusing on that. In verse 9 of 2nd Thessalonians 2, it says, "...the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders." We know the beast's power in Revelation 13, the other beast that rides the big beast, you know, the power of signs and lying wonders, obviously the power of Satan.

But Christ says if you don't watch it, and He's going to be so powerful, even the very elect could be deceived. We better know where the Word of God is. We better understand what God said and love that truth. He comes with all power signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous, unrighteous deception among those who perish because they didn't receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Clean to the truth. Don't get washed away by other ideas or little twigs that have no basis in the Bible. And for this reason, God says, the verse we may not look as closely as we should, and for this reason, God wants us to develop a love of the truth, that they might be saved, and for this reason, God will send them strong delusion.

There's one of those adverbs, adjectives, strong delusion. He'll send strong delusion that they should believe the lie. Isn't that interesting? A test from God, not a temptation. What do you believe? Are you following me? Do you have the discernment? Do you know where truth is? Do you know the Bible? Do you understand what it says? Are your eyes focused on me? Or are your eyes focused somewhere else? Keep your eyes on me. For this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie.

And if there's one thing that defines the world we live in today, I think we would all agree, among the many things that define it, immorality and all other ungodly things, but the lies. You have no idea where truth is anymore. There was a recent post on Twitter, you know, not called X, where an author was talking about a lie. Everything is a lie. Everything is a lie. You can't rely on what anyone says anymore because everyone disregards facts. They don't want to hear facts. They want to just eliminate them from their lives.

They just want to believe what they want to believe. And they often believe the lie. You don't know where truth is. I remind you of Isaiah where it says, truth has fallen into the streets. We can't become people like that. We seek the truth. We seek the truth and not suppress the truth in the church and never be ashamed.

Never be ashamed of the truth but to cling to it. So, you know, so when we look at Romans 1 18, you know, Paul will be talking about this more as he talks about in some of his other epistles as well, men who even in the church who would suppress the truth in unrighteousness or whatever unrighteous reasons those might be. Peter, Peter and Jude talk about that as well.

Paul talked about that with the elders at Ephesus back in Acts 20 as well. So he says, you know, for the rest of God is revealed against all ungodliness 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them. He makes himself known. Men don't want to hear God. Men don't want to believe God. Men don't want to follow God.

Romans 8 verse 7 tells us that, right? The carnal mind is enmity against God. We don't want what God has to say. So they'll make up other things like the pagans did before. Oh, they had Zeus instead of the real God. They had, you know, today we have evolution instead of the real God. We have atheists instead of the real God. We have whatever it might be instead of the real God.

No different than the Greeks. We just call it something different. We just don't want God. The natural mind led by Satan and that spirit just doesn't want God. So, but he's made himself known.

All you have to do is look at the world around you. He says in verse 20, it's all evident there. Anyone who says this is all by accident, the perfect ecological systems, the thing that everything that is on earth that magically happens, you know, you put a seed in the soil and it grows into a tree. The food is a variety of food. The way humans are instructed that anyone could think there isn't a God and this all happened by accident. They are simply self-deceiving and it's just it is just rebellion against God is all it is.

And so, because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them. Well, he's shown it to them, too. He's shown it to us, too. So, it's not necessarily just the world that he's talking about. He's shown us the truth. So, we need to remember that as well. And I say in verse 20 where he says, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made.

You know, there's a lot in that verse, too. His invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made.

And I guess the older I get, and I think it's probably a product of age, you appreciate the things around you maybe a little bit more the older you get. You look at creation around you and you marvel at the number of variety of trees that we have. You look at the animals that, you know, decorate our backyards or, you know, if we live by water that decorate the water. And you watch and see how they are, the instincts that they have, and realize God has put all those in them. And you look and see different things, elements of God's invisible attributes that are there as he lovingly created and fashioned the world for us to live in that we were to learn from.

That's why he said, dress it and keep it. Learn about the earth. You will learn of me as you look and see my creation. You know, just like we learn about people as we listen to them speak, we learn about God as we listen to him speak to us through the Bible. And through, you know, when we pray and His Holy Spirit, you know, the thoughts He puts into our minds and the way He opens our minds. But we also learn about God in the creation. So don't, you know, don't neglect.

Don't neglect being outside. Don't neglect not appreciating nature and looking what God has said at what God has done. You know, verse 21 here, we'll talk about being thankful and the gratitude we should have for Him for everything that He has done for us. And that is literally everything. Couldn't even in all our lifetimes name everything that God has done. So His invisible attributes, His character, is clearly seen being understood by the things that are made.

He created them. He created you and me in His image. He created, you know, and as we learn about some of the things that are up in heaven, the faces, the four faces of an angel that have faces of lions and bulls and these things, we realize, look at God's character. Look at what He's done there. Being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. The fact that it has stayed that way forever. God is eternal. Everything in this world is consistent in Jesus Christ. The physical earth itself hasn't existed forever. It was created. It won't exist forever. It will be burned up, as we're told, at the end of time when the purpose for the physical earth is done, even as eternal power and Godhead. So they are without excuse. You and I are certainly without excuse, but even the world, all the world, without excuse. You know, as you look at history in Abraham, for instance, and he was raised in a pagan society where they had a lot of gods. And apparently, according to Josephus, he was an astronomer, pretty smart guy, you know, high up in society there. But as he looked at the skies and looked at the earth, he came to realize there is no way that there's these multiple gods who are keeping all this planet and all the solar system around us all moving in the same direction. That is impossible. He came to understand there was just one God, and he was completely faithful to God when he did that to the point that he would do whatever God asked. And he had faith in him, and because of that faith and that belief in him, you know, changed his life completely. And he became an example to us. He obeyed God, yes, but he did it because he believed in him, the bestoyo. So, verse 20. Let's see where we are. Yeah, verse 21. Because they... I don't see any hands, so I'm just gonna keep talking until I see a hand. I'll stop here in a minute and pause for any questions or whatever. But in verse 21, then, it says, because although they knew God... I mean, everyone... I won't say everyone. I mean, people deceive themselves. Although they knew God, you and I knew God, but we didn't glorify him as God. Didn't glorify him as God. And I think, you know, that's one thing in our prayers and our lives we have to continually do. Just remember to glorify God. And we're here on earth to glorify him. The way we glorify him is the way we live our lives. He's called us. He's given us his Spirit. We know his Word. We learn his Word. And we glorify him by the way we behave in our lives, the way we talk with each other, the way we interact with each other, the way we strive for unity. That's how we glorify God. Then he's not ashamed of us as we...

because he sees us striving. And he knows it's difficult. He knows our frame, it says. He knows that we're weak and frail, but we have to continue doing those things. I've put there 1 Corinthians 10, 31.

You don't have to turn there. I'll read it. It says, really, in everything you do, whatever you eat or drink. In fact, whatever you do, give glory to God in verse 31. Therefore, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Just do it the way he says. And keep him in mind when you're doing things that he would be pleased with what you're doing.

2 Corinthians 3, 23.

Whatever you do, do it heartily, ask to the Lord, and not to men. You know, we all have jobs.

We all go to work, or we all have some responsibilities in life, even if we don't have a job, per se. We have responsibilities to God, whatever we do, do it heartily.

Ask to the Lord, and not to men. Not just enough to get by, but, God, we are really thankful. We are really grateful for what you've done. And we want to be a profitable servant in your hands. We will do more than just the bare minimum to get by. We will yield our whole lives, our whole lives to you. And, of course, Proverbs 3, 5 says, In all your ways acknowledge, In all your ways, In all your ways acknowledge him.

And when you do that, he will direct your paths. And that's what we all want. We want God directing what we do every day as he marches us through this time of the wilderness of our lives, or the wilderness of the society, as he leads us, as he leads us, you know, to his kingdom. So we have, in verse 21 there, glorify God. They didn't glorify God. And then, you know, the next three, four words there, nor were thankful, three words, nor were thankful, you know, there that is a basis. The gratitude toward God, you know, the gratitude toward God needs to be there. That's what God says. You know, I mean, we should begin every prayer just thanking God for everything that he's done for us. And if we start our prayers, and if we start our days with gratitude for what he's done for us, realizing, you know, where we are, what we, what God has given us, the grace that he has given us that we talked about, the spirit that he has given us, the future that he has given us, the purpose and meaning in our lives that he's given us, you know, the knowledge of his word, the peace, the calm, the, you know, peace that surpasses all understanding, as Paul talks about in the Philippians. If we think about all those things and are grateful to him, you know, then we ask for the things that we need, but we pray for others as well. But it puts positions our prayers in a different way with respect for him. The world and so many people just don't even think about what God has given. You know, it's a testament even in life. I, you know, I know, you know, there's articles and things about, you know, children that just aren't grateful for anything. And it's a parent's responsibility to teach their children they need to be grateful. They need to be thankful for the things they have. And it's just not a matter of just saying, hey, look where you live versus look what's happening in other parts of the world. It's look what you have been given. Look at your health. Look at the benefits that you have and whatever. Be thankful for that as a key to life. And I'm gonna... saw a hand up here, but I don't see it now, but we'll get to it in a minute. Let's just, you know, look at a few verses there. 1 Thessalonians 5, 18. I think all it says is, in everything gives thanks. But let me check that that's what that verse says. Yes, verse 18, in everything, right? Everything. We take that word for granted. In everything give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Ah. Want to do things? The will of God? He knows, if we're grateful people, if we're grateful for what he's given us, we will... we keep that in mind. We owe God. Paul talks about that when we get a little bit into Romans 12, you know, verses 1 and 2, when he says, it's our reasonable... it's our reasonable service to give our lives to God, to sacrifice our lives to God, because we are thankful for the future he's given us.

And then, let me see, Philippians 4, 6, I think it says, be anxious for nothing, but offer up your prayer with thanksgiving. So we should always, you know, we should always keep that. We should always keep that in mind. Okay, let's go back to Romans 1. We are going to get through chapter 1 today.

So we'll move through this, you know, but there's an awfully lot in here, and it's a good foundational chapter for the rest of the book, where these things Paul elaborates on a little bit more. Because they didn't do things to God's glory, because they weren't thankful what happened in Romans 1, 21, they became futile in their thoughts. They became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. If we're not staying close to God, if we're not generating that zeal for Him, and that appreciation for our calling, and making our calling and election sure, as Paul says, we can fade away from God, and all of a sudden it's not as important. Other things become more important. Our ideas become more important. What we're going to do that day, because more important than what, you know, our relationship with God, or all sorts of things that can get in the way, and as God sees that, their foolish hearts were darkened. It's either light, it really, everything, the light of God's Spirit come in, or we're looking at the world, or we're looking at our own things, and making life us, rather than focused on what God's will for us is.

At home, at work, at school, at play, and everything that we do. Professing to be wise, professing to be wise, get to you in a minute, Bill, here. Professing to be wise, they became fools. We'll spend a bit on that, but why don't I pause here? I see Bill's got his hand up. Go ahead, Bill, and if anyone else, we'll take a break here, and hear some of your comments.

Romans 1 and verse 20 are very, very important. As you know, I've written a number of articles. I wrote one of them, and we also mentioned earlier about the great lies, and the ultimate lie is that God is a Trinity. The Romans 1.20, the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world, and it ends up saying even His eternal power and Godhead. Elohim is the Godhead.

We know it says in other scriptures, the whole family now that's going to be a family is named of the Father. But God, the Elohim, was a family, and what He has created in His image is a family that King James finally confesses up in Genesis 5, where it says He created a male and female and called their name Adam. And a lot of people don't realize, because they don't know the Hebrew, when Noah got off the Ark, he said, it reads in the Hebrew, whoever sheds Adam's blood by Adam, shall his blood be shed. Adam is mankind made in the image of the Godkind.

And there, in my article, I say, you know, when you go to the zoo, you see green alligators and long necked geese. You don't see any trinities. I'm done. Okay, Jim Peterson. Hi, Mr. Shaby.

I see by your background that you're back in Paradise. Yes, yes it is. It's too bad you can't, yeah. Yes, it is nice to be back in Paradise. Anyway, I just like to go back to Romans 1, 16, 17, because there's something I think that's very important here, because Paul wanted to go to Rome to set up a base, and he wanted that fellowship with the Romans so that he could go to expand, just like he did in Ephesus. He wanted the base there. And so he was bringing the gospel of the righteousness of God. And here is what it says in verse 17. It says, for the gospel that he is not ashamed of, is a righteousness from God which is revealed. So all of a sudden, you have something revealed. The righteousness that probably people didn't know before.

Righteousness that is by faith from first to last. Just as it is written, the righteous lived by faith. And of course, he's quoting Habakkuk here, where they were beset and Nerf is generally under those circumstances, was a survival by having faith in the promises of God. Right? But when we turn over, because this has to fit the context of the righteousness of God, which we get into in chapter 3. So in chapter 3, 21 to 26, is about the righteousness of God revealed through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. In verse 21, it says, but now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed. So this revealing of the righteousness now here, and it is attested by the law and the prophets. The righteousness of God as it is written here in the NRSV, that is a little bit closer to what it is, but says this, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe should read this, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ, the Father's faithfulness to their promise to take a human being's blood, innocent blood, to sacrifice it and pay the debt for the sin.

That's how you have salvation no other way. And so the righteousness of God is the message that Paul wanted to bring to Romans, because Rome, in Rome, they prided themselves on justice. The place to go for justice was wrong, but they didn't have a human sacrifice to pay a debt.

Very good. Okay, very good. Jim, Bill, Wilson.

Thank you, Mr. St that verse 17 comes from the just shall live by faith. But I'd like you to expand a little bit on the back of two and verse four, where the phrase goes, but the just shall live by his faith.

And the word his is there, where it's not in the Romans version. But I'm wondering when it's the his, is the his God's faith or is the his my faith who believes? You know what I mean?

This Habakkuk 2.4 you said? Yes, Habakkuk 2 verse four.

That's where the verse comes from, where he's referring to.

It says, Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith.

Yeah, I mean, again, when they do it, don't do the capitals. It could be referring to God, but the just, the just by definition, would have faith, right? The just live by faith. Like, by his faith, that would be the faith that he, that God has developed in him. I could see it either way, actually. So yeah, yeah. So I mean, I have to, we all have to have a certain amount of faith in us.

And that faith, I hope, will carry us throughout the days that we are going to face, the faith that we have.

We have to say, we don't have God's faith in us as well. We have to have God's faith in us. Well, that's the person's experience. I think it's like a battery, you know, with a little charge in it. We have to have some ability to carry our own weight, so to speak. Yep, we got our part, our pleasure play on it. God gives it, but we have to do something with it. Yeah, so I mean, I think that's what it might mean when it says his faith. It means Bill has to carry on with his own faith, too, and then God takes over from there, where I leave off.

You know? We all have our response. That's right. We all have our fruits that we're supposed to be bearing individually. Hey, Zaeger. Good evening, everyone. Brother Shaby, to go along with our brother Bill and is it Peterson? Jim. It's Galatians 2. We have 2 verse 20, that now we each in God's grace are living by faith, the faith of the Son of God. So it's we get and we grow, we get and we grow.

Exercise what we get, so we don't lose it.

Yep. Been crucified. Yes, very good. Okay. Yes.

I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Very good. Marta, hi. Where you finished, Savior? Yeah, I was just saying, the Greek, just like Peterson just pointed out, it is his faith imputed to each one of us and we exercise it. Okay. Very good. Marta.

Hello. We have the example of the woman that had the blood issue and she had to have faith in order to fight the crowds to get to Christ. But then when she touched the hem of his garment, he turned around and told her, your faith has made you whole. So it's a twosome. It's a tumor.

We have the faith to approach, but then his faith also heals us. So it goes both ways, right?

Absolutely. Absolutely. When we get sick and we're looking for healing, that's exactly what we need to remember. It's his faith in him and he's the one who heals. So yes. Very good.

Okay. Good comments. Let's go back. Let's go back to Romans 1. We were talking about professing to be wise. Okay. We were in verse 22. You know, I'll, you've got some things there. If you want these notes again, just email me and I will, I'll send them out in the group thing that it, and these things are, you know, I put some things together and you can use these and you can add your thoughts to them. You can add scriptures to them and whatever you want as you go through and, and look at this chapter in Romans as well. But wise, you know, we're told that wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. Without the fear of God, we don't have wisdom. If we lose that fear, if we start looking to ourselves, if we start looking to, if we start looking to the world for knowledge on how to understand the Bible, we've lost it. God gives us, God gives us the understanding. You know, let's look at 1 Corinthians. I, I think we need to remind ourselves of this from time to time and not, you know, not rely on our sources. Every once in a while we'll talk about concor- not concorances, but commentaries and whatever. Commentaries are good because they can explain what some of these Greek and Hebrew words mean to us. Give us some of the background of how people lived back then, but we shouldn't be looking to them for doctrinal explanation or whatever because they don't have the truth. God leads us to the truth, and Paul makes that very clear when he's talking about wisdom. If we look at 1 Corinthians 1 and just read through verses 22 to 30 to remind ourselves who we are and how we know what we know. It's not because we're great scholars. It's not because we opened up or went to some seminary school or whatever and learned these things. It's because God gave us his Spirit and it opened our mind to understanding his Bible. Verse 22 says, you know, Jews request a sign, Greeks seek after wisdom. Someone mentioned that Roman, the Romans were about justice, the Greeks were about wisdom. We have to be wise, and they were always seeking wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews the stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. Socrates, for instance, came to believe, I understand, that there was one God. They put him to death. They didn't want to hear it. They wanted to believe in their little series and families of gods they have. That was their belief, and that was the way they were going to be.

We preach Christ crucified, but to those who are called, that's you and me, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. And that's why God says, you see your calling. Not many wise according to the flesh are here. Not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the so-called wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence. So we look at ourselves and we realize everything we have is of God. This is not of us. We weren't the great scholars of the world, the great scholars of the world who call them skilled scholars. How many times in the New Testament does God talk about that when the Pharisees were like, what school did you go to, Peter? Where what seminary did you go to? Well, they were all scholars and had all this physical knowledge of the Bible, but they weren't living by the Bible. They didn't get the meaning of it. They didn't get the fact that it was God's guideline to life. They were just looking at the mechanics of it. You and I can look at the mechanics, but it is a way of life. It is the power of the power. The gospel has the power of salvation. We have to live it, just not be able to pull apart the pieces of it and explain that and to let God lead us into that. If we look at verse 10 in chapter 2, Paul says, God has revealed the truth to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the Spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God, and those are the things we speak. We don't, you know, we speak as God leads us and as God has given us the knowledge of what he wants us to know. So when Paul is talking about wise back there, and he says, you know, professing to be wise, there's so many people in the world, you know, scholars, university professors who have all these alternate lifestyles that they want to profess themselves to be wise, we look at it and think that's just foolish. Society can't be that way, but we can even have those among us who think they are the wise ones and who will even guide others for not being the scholars that they think they might be. Professing to be wise, they became fools. It's like they, but they left the revelation of God behind. And they changed, verse 23, the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man. Instead, here we're, you know, begins talking about idolatry. And idolatry can come in all sorts of forms. It's not just an idol that's erected.

It's not just an idol that's, whoops, sorry about that. It's not just an idol that's erected made out of stone or wood or whatever. It can be anything, right? It can be silver, gold.

God gave Israel in the wilderness that that pole with the with the snake, the serpent wrapped around it. When they would look at it, you know, they would be healed. But then they turned that into an idol. They began to look at that instead of God. So we can look at things and put things in place of God. And anything we put in place of God or say, hey, that replaces God, we'll hide, you know, hide Him behind this. That's an idol. That's kind of what He's talking about here. Might not be a four-footed animal. It might not be creeping things. It could be our own ideas. It could be whatever, whatever it is that we would, we would, that is a corruptible man rather than the purity and the incorruptible nature of Jesus Christ. And because they did that, because they didn't put God first, the first commandment, no other gods, no other gods besides me, God said. Because they didn't follow that, because they let themselves slip away into some form of idolatry, whatever that might be, you know, He says, He gives them up. He surrenders them. Hey, if that's the way you want to go, then I'm going to say, let's just see what your way leads you. You'll remember as we went through the book of Isaiah and also through Ezekiel. And talking about those prophecies when Israel would turn from God, he would say, well, let's just see what your way brings you. What is it going to do in the end? And so he says, I gave them up to uncleanness, because when we depart from God, all of a sudden these works of the flesh are the things that start, that start becoming us, rather than the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5, 22, the love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faith, self-control.

Instead, we begin seeing the works here, and I can see what time it is here. We're going to have to finish this up, I guess, another time. All these other things come in besides. And so, you know, God gives them up to uncleanness, and he talks about the sexual immorality, the perversity even that comes. Not just, I shouldn't say just, not just sexual immorality, but the perversity of, you know, what he says, women with women, men with men, working which was unseemly. The world wants to explain those ways, those verses. You can't. God says that is unnatural. It's a perversion of what he created. If we understood the reason for family, if we understood the reason for man and woman, and the beauty and the sanctity of marriage, we would see just how perverse this is. And we live in a society that almost champions that over everything else.

And we will, we will stop, but let me, you know, in verse 25, they exchange the truth of God. You know, there's the purity of the truth of God. And the Church of God is the pillar and ground of the truth, right? It's the purity of the truth of God that comes from the Bible. And yet, there are those when we begin to slip away from God, when we begin to introduce other ideas or traditions that become more important, like the Pharisees did back in the time of Jesus, or anything else that would interfere with God, or suppress the truth, like Paul has said earlier. You know, exchange the truth of God for the lie. And I will agree that the Trinity is a lie. I think everyone on this webcast and everyone who feels it would say, absolutely, the Trinity is a lie. We all know that. I think that that's, it may be the ultimate lie, but there are other lies that God is talking about when He says they believe the lie, because I don't believe one of them, I hope. Not one of us that are listening to this would say, get to see that the Trinity is real. No matter what man said it, no matter what power was behind it, we know. We know the Trinity is a false doctrine. But there are other lies that we can fall prey to. Now, we have to be very aware of that, because God says, I'll send you delusion Himself. Let me leave it there. Let me leave it there. I really hope. But, you know, we shouldn't rush through Romans 1, because it sets such the framework for the rest of the book, and there's so much in it. There's so much in it that we shouldn't rush through it. So let's finish there, and we'll pick it up in, I guess, verse 24 or 26 next time. Oh, and next time. Let me talk about next time. Timing on this isn't great, but we will be on vacation, if you will, for the next two weeks. We are going on a cruise that was planned all the way back in December with several members and other affiliated people with the Orlando Church. So we're going to be going the next two weeks. Looking forward to those of you who are in Orlando, to seeing you, and we board that vote on Monday. So we won't have Bible studies the next two Wednesdays, but the third Wednesday from now, we will. So no Bible study the next two weeks. I'll have that announcement out there, but then we will reconvene three weeks from tonight. Okay?

Okay, then let me open it up for any comments or any discussion that anyone wants to have on anything, actually.

Go ahead. I'm sorry. Let's do Bill Bruce first. Yeah, back to quoting Herbert Armstrong. It's sad that you have to quote Herbert Armstrong to get people to listen. But Herbert Armstrong used to pound on the table and say, faith is the evidence. And that's what the Scripture says. Faith is the substance of things not hoped for, the evidence. And so when we have all of these false teachers of Satan's out there, what is your evidence when you die, you go to heaven? Our evidence is, no man is ascended into heaven. John 3 13. David is not ascended into heaven on the day of Pentecost.

That is our evidence. And as Herbert Armstrong would pound on the table and say, faith is evidence.

Now, sometimes if you want to discuss it, how does a grain of wheat have evidence? That's another whole thing. But, and then also the sad thing is, those that are of us that are multilingual and deep into the Hebrew and Greek, we get put down. But it's the world that has the Hebrew and Greek scholars that then they, just like when I started to take a class in biblical Greek. And the first thing that comes up is Pericletos, the comforter. And the guy says that's masculine, which is part of the grammar of Hebrew. Pericletos is masculine. He, that's the Trinity. I'm done.

I'm a bit of a Bill Fruz.

You know, I was thinking about when I was in high school from what you said earlier. And I was, they, kids would say, what'd you get for Christmas? And I'd just say, oh, my dad bought me a new Corvette, you know, and they just walked away. So I guess I was embarrassed.

I think we've all been there, right? We've all kind of done things and later thought, why did I say that?

Well, as far as believing, so I'm taking the class with Harris McMeely, and we hit on Simon the Magician, you know, and he believed. And then he tried to buy the Holy Spirit. But anyway, that's all I got to say. Have a nice day. Okay, thanks, Bill. Hey, Tim. Hi, in the Grace booklet, it says on page 42 and 43, to Jesus Christ, no one was too little or too unimportant for his time, even the youngest and tiniest of human beings. He would treat them also with grace and concern just as he treated all others.

They put, they also put grace with concern. I thought that was pretty neat. That is pretty neat. Shows the love of God for everyone. Very good. And I had a comment. Thanks for putting the time in for the notes.

My pleasure. I learn a lot by doing it, too. So, yeah, if they're helpful to someone, I'm glad to do it.

Okay. Okay. Well, that's it. Okay, everyone, have a very good rest of the week. We will see you in one, two, three, three weeks. Okay. Thank you. Have a good trip.