Timothy

Well, good afternoon, everyone! What a wonderful group of people to look at. Huge, large crowd. But that's only a part of it. There's an entire overflow room, which I'm not sure how big it is, but there's a big overflow room. Plus, also we're online talking to many local congregations around the United States and the world, and it'll be visited and seen by so many. The opening of the Council of Elders, the general conference of elders, I should say, conference that we hold annually here in Cincinnati. It's very, very good to see all of you, and also we also welcome our local brethren and visitors who have come here.

We've had a good start yesterday with international meetings in the morning. Many, many outstanding things were spoken and noted, and we have a job ahead of us to put them into action. Also, a very, very outstanding meeting in the afternoon regarding the Ministerial Education Program, which we are very happy to be able to have enrolled and modified and prepared to educate our ministers, our new ministry, and also our ministry that is in existence.

Much of my focus as president, my attention, energy, and prayer is devoted to preparing the future of the church. No matter whether we have a short time or a long time before Jesus Christ's return, we need to be preparing those who will serve the church's next generation. There will never be a call to shut down, to stop performing our mission in preaching the gospel and preparing the people, making disciples.

We will never retreat to a mountaintop or declare that somehow God has finished his work as preparing the bride by having all of us huddled together and waiting for his return. That's been done by people in the past, unsuccessfully. The bride is being prepared by doing and so doing a work that God has commissioned in the last verses of Matthew chapter 28. Jesus Christ and his Olivet prophecy made the statement in talking about all the events that will take place towards the end of this age, said the following in Matthew chapter 24 and verse 6, Blessed is that servant whom his Lord finds doing so when he comes.

And that's what we need to be doing. When Jesus Christ returns to this earth, there will be beyond today articles in the process of being written, probably not to be published. There'll be beyond today television programs that will be worked on and edited but not displayed.

There'll be speaking schedules that will not be fulfilled. And there'll be potluck dinners that will not be realized. We will be needing, though, new pastors, elders, teachers, leaders, and various employees. And the need is becoming acute. We are so thin in so many areas. We have entire languages that are dependent on one person. George DeCampus in the Portuguese language. The very few of us, Natasha, Johnny, with the Russian language.

And other departments that are very, very thin, major languages that are dependent on just a very, very few people. We are going to have to find more people to carry the load, to do the work that we have to be doing. And also, we will be needing competent pastoral staffing of our congregations.

The United Church of God is very strong, overall, in caring for its people with live pastors that visit them at least once a month, twice a month. And we really want to get to the point where there's a live pastor every week in every congregation, which to a degree we have through local church elders. But we do need to have pastors that are very close to the people. That is the strength of the church. And yesterday, as was brought out in one of our presentations, it's the visiting. It's seeing people in their homes and being with them as we have traditionally done that makes a church strong, the relationship between the pastor and the people.

So very important to do that. We need to be identifying people whom God is calling and working with them to prepare them for the biblically defined roles that they need to fulfill. We need the biblically defined role of pastors that is spoken of in Ephesians chapter 4. Teachers. Some of these are gifts. Administrators, people who will administer and manage departments. We need writers. We need those who can speak in tongues, in other words, in foreign languages. We need people who can speak the number of languages that the gospel is being preached and is able to do that work.

We are looking also to work with those who share our same vision. We don't go to the outside to hire people. That's one thing that is very, very unique about our hiring process is that we hire and we look to people, we look for people who are of the same faith as we are, who share the same vision. People that you work with, people that you can discuss whether how you do a website or how you do an article or how you edit something, and you also then go to church with them on the Sabbath.

People who have the same vision. We work together, and our friendship is based on this. Our work is dependent upon people who know each other well. That works usually for the best. Sometimes it doesn't. When people know each other too well, sometimes it goes the other direction. We want to make it go in the proper direction. Today I want to talk to you about an employee that I am ready to hire today.

I can't on the Sabbath, but I will do it maybe after the Sabbath. It's an outstanding employee model in our church's history. If we can find a person like this or a person who can grow into this position, he's got a job. He has a place in the work of God. And this is a kind of person we're looking for. There is always a job opening for this person. His name is Timothy.

And of course, you've heard that name many times. We know 1 and 2 Timothy. We've heard that many, many times. But I'd like to talk about Timothy as an employee and some of his pluses and minuses that made him what he was and his value to the church. Timothy is referred to 64 times in the New Testament, more than anybody else, a person of his work outside of Paul. He was discovered by the Apostle Paul just before Christianity spread into Europe from Asia. Just before the Macedonian call, Timothy was identified in Acts 16 in the first verses. And then the Macedonian call comes a few verses later. And shortly after that, Timothy joined the ranks of Paul's entourage in Greece.

He has the longest recorded work history with Paul, longer than Silas, longer than Aquiline Priscilla, and any others. Timothy was with Paul from Acts 16 on to the end of Paul's life. What made him so appreciated and valued? Well, one thing that it wasn't was his physical appearance. He did not have a powerful macho physical presence, experience, or even impression. This ought to be very encouraging to us because the people that we're looking for are not necessarily the greatest, the fastest thinkers, and the most macho jocks. Not the ones who played basketball a long time ago or have a history of being athletic. Not that these things are bad. But we'll talk about Timothy and see what qualifications he had. First of all, one of the negatives, so to speak, about Timothy was that he was very young. We don't know how young. Some commentaries go and say that he was even a teenager, which I have a hard time believing. Some say as much as 35. But certainly, I would say a safe guess of he was somewhere in his 20s. He was a very, very young person. And the Apostle Paul had to remind him in 1 Timothy 4, verse 12, Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. In those things that are very important, those things that are similar to judgment, mercy, and faith, things that are most important. I want you to be strong in and to be an example in faith, in purity, in love, and the spirit. Be an example.

Paul had to encourage Timothy not to be self-conscious about his age, because where they traveled there were members of the church who were rich, influential, persuasive, very knowledgeable. And here Timothy was sent with Paul, oftentimes away from Paul, to manage and care for churches. And these people could have intimidated Timothy. And Timothy was not a person who struck back. He's of Timothy the person that, well, maybe I shouldn't be doing this job. Maybe, maybe this, I'm too young. Maybe I shouldn't be doing this. Paul says, Let no man despise your youth. Let no man belittle you. Let no man intimidate you or bully you. Paul had to remind him of that. Some people flaunt how rich they are, how influential they are, and how smart they are. But Paul commissioned Timothy to go and to talk to them. Paul had to buoy up Timothy's spirits that may have been easily disheartened in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 6. He says, Therefore I remind you, and he reminds Timothy in both letters about the fact that he was ordained, that hands were laid upon him, and there was a special gift that was given to him in this process. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. And Timothy may have been a person who said, What am I doing here? Paul's in prison. I'm here as a young person. Who am I? And Paul says, Don't let that get to you. Stir up the spirit that was given to you when you were ordained. He buoys him up. Also, Timothy had some sort of chronic ailment, and Paul has to advise him. He was not a strong person physically. It appears there was something that was bothering him. There was some chronic situation that was difficult for him. He says, No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and for your frequent infirmities. Frequent infirmities. Something that was chronic. He says, Here's a remedy.

Take a little bit of wine for your stomach. He encourages him in that. You've always wondered why that verse was in there in the Bible. Is this a kind of a health principle, or what is it? And he's just pointing out, and the clue to us is that Timothy had some health problems. He was young, he had some health issues, and he was self-effacing and sometimes not confident in himself.

Actually, Paul himself was a person who was plagued with some sort of disability, some type of thorn in the flesh. And he really wasn't a person that seemed to be the kind that people looked to as just a real powerful dynamic leader. People made fun of him, of his speech, belittled and criticized him. So Timothy was like any of us with shortcomings, with minuses.

But what are the traits that made him strong and made him the kind of employee that was a powerful figure in our New Testament history and a model to all of us? Very, very encouraging.

First of all, Timothy's background. Timothy's background. Now you might say, well, and as I'm applying it to us here, what can I do about my background? I had no control over who brought me into this world or where I was brought into the world. But we have great opportunities that we can make great changes and we can take lessons from our past and grow into with experiences we've had, into the kind of work that we need to be doing. First of all, Timothy's mother was Jewish and a woman who married a Greek person in Hellenistic Asia Minor. In Acts 16, verse 1, which I had referred to earlier, then he came to Derby in Lystra, this was Paul, and a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. So was a mixed marriage, so to speak, between a Jew and a Gentile.

Timothy's mother and grandmother were believing Jewesses. They weren't just Jewish, they were ones that were believing and faithful to God's truth. And they made a point of passing on their faith to little Timothy. And Paul describes this when he writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1.5, What I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. I am persuaded is also in you. So he highlights this background of Timothy as being something which is a very big positive. He was knowledgeable, he was full of faith. And also he says, Paul, in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15, From childhood you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. This is a huge statement highlighting a few things about the background of Timothy. He was knowledgeable in the scriptures, obviously through his mom and through his grandma, who stayed with him, not only taught him the scriptures, but also passed on their faith to him. As a young man, he is a person who grew in the faith and grew in the scriptures and has known the scriptures. And also, Timothy realizes that these scriptures are those that make him wise to salvation in Jesus Christ. The application was very, very seamless between what he learned and how it applied to the Christian work that he was about to do. Right now, our ministerial education program is making every effort in the training of our new ministers to make them more knowledgeable of the scriptures. There is nothing more important to learn than to be knowledgeable about what the Word of God says. Now, two years ago, a little over two years ago, we started a program within our ministry called Labor in the Word. It was done from a passion of the Council of Elders who held a retreat and said, we have got to make everyone just love the scriptures and learn to use them before they have the right to preach that they've got to know them. They have to rightly divide the Word of God. And all the instruction that we took to create this, I wouldn't call it a program necessarily, but this module to train our ministry in the Word of God was from the two books of Timothy, the two letters that Paul wrote to Timothy. Labor in the Word, 1 Timothy 5, 17.

Rightly divide the Word of Truths in 2 Timothy 2, 15. And then preach the Word in 2 Timothy 4, 2. There's nothing more important, and we are dedicated and committed as part of our training program of the future of the church to train our new ministry in the scriptures, to understand them, to rightly use them, to have a love and interest in them, to become knowledgeable and to be experts. There's nothing more important. When I talked to the ABC class two days ago about preparing for the future, one thing that I emphasized to them, they've been at ABC one full year. They've had hundreds of hours of classes on the entirety of the Bible. I said the most important thing is to know the Word of God, to have an intellectual curiosity about the Word of God that goes beyond ABC, and for all of us to continue studying and learning and drinking in of the Word of God. That's what will make us experts, the kind that we are looking for. This was a very strong point with Timothy. He knew the scriptures. We also have online training for our ministry. We have an entire pastors development program that we are expanding and making it something available, not just for the new hires that we have with the new ministry, but something that we want to expand to refresh our entire ministry, a continuing pastors development program. We are making Ambassador Bible College more focused on preparing people for service rather than just kind of learning things about the Bible, but to take that Word of God and to apply it to where they will be going.

We also have huge resources on our web properties, huge resources regarding what the Bible has to say. Thousands of articles, 70,000 pages of content dealing with biblical subjects.

We want people, and all of us should have a lifelong interest in study of the scriptures. When we started studying the Bible, we didn't just study it and then turn it in and say, I know it. It is something that we have open all the time, and we study it. We try to learn it continually, the applications of those scriptures. So Timothy had a profile that was perfect as an assistant to Paul as he was headed to Europe to evangelize. He was from a family that was Greek, had a Greek father. He understood the Greek culture, the Greek way of thinking, perhaps the Greek way of rationalizing and thinking and reasoning. He had a mother who inculcated and put into him the truth of God, faith in the scriptures, and faith in the true God. And so then when a Macedonian call beckoned Paul, he had someone that would be a trusted servant in helping him.

While we don't control how and through we came in the world, as I've already said, we can maximize the experiences that we've already had. I tell this to our people. People are waiting for some superstar to appear. A superstar will not appear as an employee in the church of God.

A lot of times when you have a super employee, when you have a superstar, they don't last, as I've seen in history. In the history of our church and the history of those who can't come through, it's the people that were ordinary people that God has called to do extraordinary things. Timothy was an ordinary person with shortcomings, as any of us have, but was called upon to do great things with the pluses that were in his life and in his background. So what types of things do you have in your background that can make you useful, that you don't really think much of? Do you speak another foreign language? There's some that speak Spanish and don't think much of it being very positive, but it could be a very big positive. Do you have certain skills that could be used? We have people who are just talented artists and graphics people, and maybe they don't think much of their skill or ability, ah, that's just something I do for fun. It could be very valuable if applied in a very talented way. We're looking for writers and people who have a special skill in turning words and being able to express thoughts with clarity. While I'm a bit reluctant to bring up this example, I just want to tell you a little bit about how my life turned. I was a person who came from a very ordinary family in Minnesota. I came to study the Bible when I was about 14 or 15 years old and sent off for the Bible study course when I was about 16 years old. And then I applied to Ambassador College, and lo and behold, I was accepted, much of the chagrin of my parents. I went to Ambassador College. I spoke the Russian and Ukrainian language, and I had a passion for photography. Always had. Ever since my dad was the person who was an artist and a photographer and did a lot of the film developing and black and white at home, I've always had a big desire for it.

I was at Ambassador College that year, and I felt a little bit like a fish out of water to be very truthful because I didn't go up to the ranks of the church. In fact, the way I felt it was about the church was by applying to Ambassador College. I was visited by a man who said he was a representative of the college. I thought, wow, that's great. And he was actually the pastor of the church in Minneapolis. Well, towards the end of my freshman year, one of the faculty members came to me and said, I'd like to ask you if you'd be interested in helping me. I am going to the Soviet Union for six weeks with my wife and the American Historical Association, and I need a photographer and I need somebody to help me with translation in the Russian language. Do you think your parents would mind? I was still 19 years old at that time. Well, I did go. The life-changing event just so happened that I knew a language, I had an interest in photography, and I was just passionate my first year at Masseter College about the Word of God. That was a life-changing moment to really open the door for other opportunities that came along. That was exactly 50 years ago, because we did five articles for the Plain Truth magazine entitled, The Unfinished Revolution, 50 years ago. We did two covers and five articles. And now, Scott Ashley says, can you do the article about the 100th anniversary? Well, that's exactly what's happening. It was a signed article for me for the issue towards the end of this year. 50 years have passed, but a lot has happened in between. A lot of opportunities have come my way. So, experiences that you have and background things that you have, ask God, use me. Use me as a tool in your service. Take the things that I'm interested in and put them to a particular use. Timothy was just that person. Jew, Greek marriage, knowledge of the scriptures, close to where Paul needed to take off from. He was the right person at the right time to do the right job.

Now, the other thing that was strong about Timothy was the greatest compliment that's been given in my estimation to anyone. This is about his caring nature. In Philippians, in Philippians chapter 2 and verse 19, Philippians chapter 2 and verse 19, we read one of the greatest compliments ever recorded. As Paul notifies the Philippians, and that was the first church that was established in Europe, that he's sending Timothy to them to manage to take care of things for a while. And here's what he says, Philippians 2 verse 19, but I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded, no one. There is nobody who has the natural care for people that Timothy does, and who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus.

But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father, he has served with me in the Gospel. Several things that he mentions here. One is that there was nobody who was as like-minded in service as Timothy. What a great compliment. No one. And also, he was a person that put others needs ahead of his. He prioritized things to what does he need, what does she need, what does this church need ahead of his own comfort. He did what was best for the church, for the work, and for wherever he went. That's why he was so close to the Apostle Paul. And the relationship was between them like a father and a son. Truly interesting dynamic in the work of the Apostle Paul and Timothy.

It was natural for Timothy to be compassionate, kind, and thoughtful. And actually, service to God is that in large part. In large part. And one who displays these traits is well along the path to serving God effectively. If it's not natural, if we're not a person that's naturally as wonderful as Timothy, which very few would be, develop those traits, adopt them, and apply them. And say, help me be caring. Help me be the kind of person who really does take an interest in others. Timothy was not a hireling. He was not a job that he was saying to Paul, okay, how much am I going to make? What are the benefits? How much time off do I get? We saw that Timothy put himself totally into the work of the ministry. Actually, that's the kind of person we're looking for. Now, I've been in the ministry for 48 years. It's not been always an easy ride. I wouldn't want to do some of the things I had gone through before or experienced them again, but it's been a great ride. The people that I've gotten to know, the experiences that I've had, to see the Word of God go out in different languages, in different ways around the world, with different races, to see the establishment and the growth of a new ministry has been absolutely fulfilling and marvelous. It's really been an amazing ride in doing the work of God. I have a hard time sometimes explaining that to new trainees, who we have to bring from other work and put them into the ministry and orient them towards the ministry. And it's hard to explain. I said, there is nothing like the ministry. There is no job. There is no calling. There's no commission. And it is a calling. It isn't something that you just say, hey, I want to do that. It is something that God calls you to. And if you have the right qualifications and you have what it takes, there is nothing more fulfilling than to be in the ministry of Jesus Christ. Also, Timothy was an organizer. He was a person that was the go-to person for the Apostle Paul. He was able to be extremely reliable and do a lot of things well.

Paul had to send or leave Timothy behind to do maintenance work, often dealing with sensitive human relationships. And this occurred in a number of churches in Berea and Thessalonica and Corinth. And we read about the work of Timothy as he's being sent all over Greece, northern Greece, up there in Macedonia, in the south in Achaia, to be with this church and to be with that church.

He says in Acts 19, verse 21, when these things are accomplished about his assignments, Paul purposed in the spirit when he had passed through Macedonia and in Achaia to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. So he sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia. Timothy helped arrange things such as the food, humanitarian air shipment, or not airship and boat shipment, from Greece to Jerusalem, where people were stressed with the famine. Timothy was sent to Thessalonica, where there was church stress, evidently had to do with a number of people who died, and Paul had to encourage them, but he sent Timothy up there because Timothy is one who could really manage that. He trusted Timothy. He knew that if Timothy had to do something that was an administrative job, such as the collection for the saints, or whether it was to comfort the people, Timothy could do it. Can you be a Timothy?

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, I would just like to refer to this, read it, because it really talks about the mission that Timothy was sent on in Thessalonica. Therefore, 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 1, therefore when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone. And he sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to encourage you concerning your faith, that no one should be shaken by these afflictions. And obviously, the afflictions that the next chapter talks about many who had died, a passage that we read about comforting one another, knowing that Christ will return. There will be a resurrection. And then he states in verse 6, 1 Thessalonians 3, but now that Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us as we also to see you. So Paul sent Timothy as a messenger to get good news, not only to encourage the people, but the news that came back with Timothy encouraged the Apostle Paul. Then Timothy also, a lot about what Timothy was and his competence, is inkled at in the two letters that Paul wrote to Timothy. These are two pastoral epistles that were written sometime later into his work, and even though it's instructions on how to set things up and how to ordain people and so forth, you see the relationship that Paul had with this very, very young person, this young evangelist, Timothy. The most compelling glimpse into the scope of Timothy's skills is seen through the two letters that he had written to his son, Timothy. Here are some of the things and some of the jobs that he'd given him to do. These are big jobs. He admonishes him to repress false doctrine. He says, you see things going on, people teaching things that they shouldn't. In fact, let's turn to 1 Timothy chapter 1, because we see how Paul comes out right away in the things that he says about what was important. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, knowing that Timothy was a person who knew the Scriptures, that even though he was young, he knew the Scriptures. He says in chapter 1 and verse 3, 1 Timothy, as I urge you when I went into Macedonia, remain an emphasis that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine. Tell people we don't want to hear this stuff. We have certain things that we believe, certain things that I have been taught, certain things that are from the Scriptures, certain things that are from Revelation, from Jesus Christ. And that we have people who are teach different things, they teach alternates, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes. This is the first thing he tells them, is that keep the church doctrinally pure. Don't allow things to get out of hand theologically and doctrinally. That'll rip apart a church more than anything else. And it's always something cyclical that we have to continue fighting to be united in what we teach and what we believe, and we have a process in determining how we do these things. But give rather than godly edification, which is of the faith.

And throughout 1 Timothy, and even in 2 Timothy, ends with saying, keep the church doctrinally on track, because there are people that come in with their own ideas, their own urban theology, I call it, their urban legends, urban mythology, that they want to infuse into the church.

He tells Timothy to regulate public worship and how it was to be done. How to ordain elders and deacons. In fact, from what Paul wrote to Timothy is the main scripture that we use for qualifications of elders and deacons. And above all, he states not only in 1 Timothy, but also in other places, to be an example to those who are unbelievers. Set a personal example above everything else.

But also, Paul has a number of other things that he commissions Timothy to do. He tells him how to pray, you know, lifting holy hands, you know, and so forth, and pray for people that are leaders. He talks about modesty in Timothy. He talks about honoring the widows, honoring elders.

He talks about greed, people who are greedy in their churches. And he has even a section on instructions to the rich. In fact, the apostle Paul writes really here the first planned giving letter in the New Testament. In 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 17, he writes this, as instructions to Timothy about what to pass on to the people in church, teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good.

They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others.

By doing this, they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life. An amazing letter, a real fundraiser, encourages Timothy to talk to those people who are rich, to talk about the needs that they had in doing the work, and to ask them for a donation. The story of Timothy is so encouraging, because we see a person of character, we see a person of integrity and humility achieve beautiful outcomes in the people he served. We see him from the side of his minuses and the strengths that he had, how trusted he was with the Apostle Paul. He was a person who exemplified judgment in making certain that things in the church were done properly, that proper doctrine was taught, it was done orderly. He was a person who extended mercy, and a person who was also an exemplary of faith in the discharge of his duties. So such was Timothy, and his example to all of us, all of us who are employees, in one sense, all of us as Christians, who are workers and servants, both men and women in the church. We have all this to do.

So we're always on the lookout for Timothy. Do you know of one? If you do, let me know. He's got a job.

One of the finest employees you could ever want to work for you. I'll hire Timothy anytime.

I'd like to end with a request. This was handed to me by Ken Martin, and we don't normally do this, but Ken came to me almost in tears about a local elder in his area who was suffering. I would just like to ask you to pray for him. Urgent prayers for local elder Mike Richardson. I told him that I would do it. He was rushed back to the hospital after removal of an abdominal aorta aneurysm.

He's in critical condition, and he's the real go-to guy in the Columbia church.

In critical condition with a blockage in his intestines, fluid on the lungs, and white blood cells critically high. He needs your prayers. Mike is from the Columbus, Georgia congregation. I might say too that in honoring our elders and honoring those who serve us, while we look for new people, we show the greatest deal of respect and love and prayers. For those of us who are getting older, all of us, all of us are coming to a point in life where we cannot serve the way we had before, but there needs to be a special honor that is displayed. We have other elders and other elders' wives who are hospitalized at the same time.

So I'd like to end with just bowing our heads and ask a prayer for Mr. Richardson.

Our Father in heaven, we come before you very thankful that you are a great God who does hear our prayers. We're very thankful to you for the ministry. Let us not forget those who have not been able to come here because of health, because of inability to come so well. We are rejoicing and having a wonderful time with one another. Let's not forget those who we have left behind. We're asking a special prayer for Mike Richardson, who is hospitalized in critical condition. The go-to, the elder who is the prominent helper in the Columbus Georgia church, we ask you, Father, to heal him, to bring him back, to help him become the continual elder in service to the church and help to Ken Martin. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen.