The Elder Brother Syndrome.mp3

Welcome the Backham family, Vote and Bridget and seven of their children here with us today. I met the family year and a half or so ago. We spent better part of a week together. They were up speaking at the college and then down in Lusaka, and at that point they were just prayerfully considering what God was doing. He was stirring up the nest. And maybe Vodi will. Mention this, but he has served as the lead teaching pastor at Grace Family Baptist Church in Houston, Texas for how many years? Almost ten years, and. Then God called him to leave that ministry and move to Zambia with his family, and so he is now living in Lusaka, and he is the dean of the seminary at Africa Christian University, which is a new university that is just coming together with a number of friends of mine down there. And so Vodi was one of our speakers this year at the conference and I contact him said could you stay an extra day and come and preach for us at Kitwa Church And he was very gracious, said sure, be glad to do that. Immediately after the service, they're going to jump in the van and. Try to be back to Lusaka. Before the sun goes down. So vote is good to have you, Bridget, It's good to have you the kids. It says, the delight to have you here. We welcome you. Would you please come and share the word with us. Well, good morning, it's good to be here with you this morning. We almost weren't here with you this morning. We learned a lot this morning about communication, and I'm sure we'll have many lessons to a from this for years and years to come. But anyway, we ended up at the wrong place, and so Phil calls and you know, I guess it's checking on me and where you're offic like, hey man, we're in the parking lot. And then a few seconds later he goes, I don't know what parking lot you're in, but it's the wrong one. So anyway, we are here. We're excited to be here, grateful to be here. It was right here in kitway that the Lord confirmed his call for us to come. I came to Zambia for the first time in two thousand and six. A dear friend of mine named Paul Washer told me. He said, Hey, there's a guy in Zambia. I think he's your brother from another mother. You need to know him. His name is Conrad and Beway and he told Conrad, Conrad, there's this guy in America. I don't know how about you guys are related. You just need to know him. So, based on that, Conrad inviting me to come and speak at their August conference. I accepted and I came with my oldest son. We have seven children here with us. We have two that we left back in the stage who are grown, and our first grandchild now, who is back in this stage, will be here in twenty days. And so my oldest son and I came, spent two weeks here. It was an amazing time. I went back home. I didn't know how to describe it to my wife, and she asked me, she said how was it? And I looked at her and I said, I think I want to be buried there, at which point she went, uh oh. But it was eight years later that we're here in the same lodge. We had been a week in Kenya, and then we'd come here and you know, ministry here and and Bridget came up to me in that same lodge and she said, I think it's time for us to do this. And right at one year later we're here. So that's the rest of that story. If you have your Bibles with you, would you open them to Luke, to Luke fifteen, Luke fifteen, very for me chapter of scripture there in Luke fifteen, Luke fifteen. And as we come to Luke fifteen, I want us to look at a passage that really, this is something that I have come to revisit again and again with our children. I didn't grow up around Christians. I didn't grow up around Christianity. The first time I heard the Gospel was my first year in university. I was raised by my mother. She was a single mother, and she was also a practicing Buddhist. So Buddhism was the only religion that I knew until I got to university. I wouldn't have necessarily called myself a Buddhist, but it was the only religion that I really knew, and so I came to faith later in life. My children, on the other hand, have had the privilege of growing up in the faith, if you will, They've had the privilege of having that life that sometimes and maybe some of you can identify with this. Have you ever been the person or have you ever known a person who says you know I really don't have a testimony, because the testimonies that we hear in church, it's the testimony of the person who was, you know, way out there somewhere spiritually, you know, the person who was living like just whatever, and there's horrible circumstances and near death experiences and you know, and all these sort of things in the gutter of life, and then they're just saved miraculously and their life is transformed. And everybody's going wow. But those young people who were raised the way the Bible says we ought to raise them, they listen to that and they say, well, I really don't have a testimony, and I'm going, uh, yeah, actually you do, Actually you do. It's magnificent because God actually rescued you from all of that stuff by having you raised in a place where you were brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Many of you come in the church before you were born, being catechized and mentored and taught the Word of God, being enveloped in all of this until one day, instead of this sort of radical, you know, kind of transformation, you realize that you've been believing and there are some of you here like that, and you feel guilty sometimes. Listen, uh uh no, isn't that what we want for our children? But there is a flip side to it, And the flip side to it is that there's a danger there, and that danger is that we can be caught up in what I like to call the Elder Brother syndrome. And so that's that's why I try to remind a children of Luke fifteen again and again and again. You know, we call Luke fifteen the parable of the prodigal Son, and I think it's rather unfortunate. You know, the Bible didn't have chapters and verses until several hundred years ago. It also didn't have these headings. Amen. Yeah, these headings are new. So this is one of those things that's unfortunate. Like the Lord's prayer, you know, actually the Lord's prayers in John seventeen. Amen, that's the Lord too. He's praying, y'all. You want to see the Lord praying, go to John seventeen. It's a blessing what he thought to disciples. I call that the disciples prayer, right, And here we say that this is the parable of the prodigal son. Actually it's not. This is the parable of the elder brother. This is not about the prodigal son, not at all. That's not the point of this parable. And I think many of us sort of missed the point of this parable because we look at it through that lens. But let me try to explain back up with me, if you will, and let's put this in context. One of the difficulties that we have with dealing with the parable of the prodigal Sun, it's the same difficulty we have with other parables. For example, we get a parable like the parable of the soils, and Jesus explains the parable of the soils, right, He explains it to his disciples, and he says, well, you know, this soil is this kind of person, and this soil is that kind of person. And this soil is that kind of person. And then finally, this soil is that kind of person. This one you see nothing. These two you see spring up. This one gets scorched, this one gets choked out, this one bears much fruit. Right, And he explains the elements of the parable. Well, what we then do is we go to other parables where the elements aren't explained, and we try to allegorize the parables, and we try to say, well, this must mean this, and this must mean that, and this must mean the other. Let me just give you a rule of thumb real quick when it comes to the parables. If Jesus doesn't give you the allegory, there isn't one. Let me say it again, If Jesus doesn't give you the allegory, there isn't one. Okay. The parables were not intended to be understood as allegories where every little thing has to correspond to something else unless Jesus gives you that allegory. The parable usually has one singular very simple meaning. Okay, one singular very simple meaning, and you can usually understand that rather clearly if you look at it in its context. So with that in mind, let's back up, and let's go first, go back to chapter eleven, to chapter eleven. Sorry, I got these shade spots. Got to find the right spot where it could be a delight. There chapter eleven, and look at verse thirty seven. While Jesus was speaking, a pharisee asked him to dine with him, So he went in and reclined at table. Right. So you got Jesus going and reclining at table, dining with the Pharisees. Go to chapter thirteen and look at verse ten. Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. So he's teaching, and then he's asked to come recline at table. Here he's teaching in one of the synagogues. Chapter fourteen, verse one, Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. They were watching him carefully. And behold, so again he's teaching in the synagogues, the Pharisees regularly asking him to come and dine with them. Chapter fourteen. Now and look at verse twenty five. Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, So now you have multitudes coming listening to Jesus. Okay, so there's a progression here in Luke's narrative. I remember all of the gospel writers. There's a reason we have four Gospels. They're all telling the same story, but they're telling it from different perspectives, and they're telling it to different audiences and with different desired outcomes. And so here's Luke sort of telling you about this progression and Jesus teaching in the synagogue, reclining at table with the Pharis. But all of a sudden he is sort of growing in popularity and growing in influence. And now you see these crowds, these multitudes. Now get to chapter fifteen and verse one. Now the text collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him, and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. There's the problem. So we're progressing in the narrative. And as we progress in the narrative, you see Jesus teaching and the Pharisees being intrigued by his teaching. Oftentimes they're actually trying to trap him, ask him questions. He's reclining at table with the Pharisees, so he's being accepted by the Pharisees. In fact, the Pharisees are the closest people to him theologically. If you look at the other theological groups, if you look at the the Acecenes, if you look at the Sadducees, if you look at the Zealous, if you look at any of these other groups that were around at the time, Jesus would not have had much in common with these groups. However, the Pharisees are the only one of these groups that really shared his theology. More than likely it was the sect to which he belonged, which would explain why he has some of his harshest criticism for them. Amen, right, I mean, for example, you know, there there's some of us here who are Americans. Right, We're the ones without accents, right, And so there's some of us here who are Americans. Well, there are things that we can say about America that some of you guys wouldn't dare because because we're Americans. Amen, we say things you might have thought, but you're like, yeah, I probably wouldn't say that, but as Americans, we'll just go. Yeah. Some of the things Jesus says about the Pharisees, not a lot of people would have said those things, but he did. He had his strongest and harshest criticism for them, and they were the ones who were most aligned with him theologically. Sadducees, for example, didn't believe in the supernatural, didn't believe in the resurrection. No way he would have been identified with those guys. The Pharisees held to most of what he held to, and so now he's being brought in to recline with them at table, huge honor. By the way, the ruler of the synagogue is going to bring you in to his house and you're gonna recline with him at table. But all of a sudden, there are not only crowds, but in these crowds there are sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors and others in these crowds. And the Pharisees who are inviting Jesus to come recline at table, would never ever invite those people to come and dine at their table. And here's Jesus, who may have allowed into the circle, if you will, who is now socializing and dissociating with those people. That's the context of the parables in John fifteen. The second thing you need to know about the parables in John fifteen is you cannot understand them in isolation. There are three parables here that are meant to be understood together, not separately. There's three parables meant to be understood together, not separately. There is one truth being communicated, and there are three parables being used to communicate the one truth. So let's see what that one truth is. Look at the next verse. So he told them this parable, what man of you, having one hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety nine in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home he calls together his friends. You might want to underline this part. He calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. And in this next part, just so I tell you there is there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over an noinety nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Amen. Now, not only do you have to listen to these parables, but you have to see the parables being told. So Jesus is associating with eating with tax collectors. Sinners. Pharisees are basically saying, man, we invited you into the in crowd, and now you're doing this. This is a problem for us. Jesus says, okay, let me tell you a story. This man he's got a hundred sheep. Now these people understand sheep. Right, man's got a hundred sheep. Yeah, talking our language now, brother on hundred sheep loses one of the sheep, Oh, that's bad. You got one hundred sheep. You lose one of your sheep, that's bad. You go find it, right, yep, go find that sheep. Find that sheep, put it on your you know, your shoulders, and bring him back. You know, in fact, in fact, if he keeps running off, you break his legs and then you put him on his shoulders, he can't walk. You got to carry him around all the time until his legs are mended. But then once his legs are mended, he'll never leave your side again. It's called hobbling, right, you hobble the sheet, put it on your shoulders, right, and so you know, yeah, you get absolutely, they get that absolutely. We know about that. Yep. Uh huh, we get it. And then when you do that, what do you do? You call everybody, my sheep was lost, I found it, and you throw a party. Yep? Good, more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner. Right, Okay, they're tracking with him, right, but wait, there's more. Look at the next one. Or what woman having ten silver coins. If she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep a house and seek diligently until she finds it. And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, rejoice with me, for I have found my coin that I had lost. Does that sound familiar. It's almost the exact phrase from the previous story. Just so I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Now we go from one percent of your sheep to ten percent of your wealth. You follow that, we've gone from one percent of your sheep to ten percent of your wealth. You lose ten percent of your wealth? What do you do when you go find it? This coin was probably like a month's salary right now. You lose a month's salary in your house. Huh? You lose a month's salary in your house? You probably? Yeah, I'm not. Yeah, yeah. Remember we were gonna do lunch today. Yeah, we're not doing lunch today unless you want to come over here and help me look for my money, because I'm not leaving the house till I find my money. Right then you leave. If you find your money, it's ah, who I found my money. Now we can go to lunch. Not only can we go to lunch. Call everybody, we know it's party time. Right again. They're listening to Jesus, they're tracking with him. Heads are nodding, right, you're with me. And they would have said, yes, we're with you. One out of your one hundred sheep gone, you go get it. One of your ten coins gone, gone, you go get it. Great. Now, can I tell you one more story, exactly like the previous two, where I've already got your agreement? He said, there was a man who had two sons. We've gone from one percent to ten percent to fifty percent. We've gone from your sheep to your wealth to your sons. And the younger of them said to his father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. Now you have to understand something. Get this please. Jesus is talking about a sheep who is lost in a coin that is lost, and now he's going to talk about a son that is lost. But the lostness of the sheep and the lostness of the coin pales in comparison to the lostness of the son. We are not just talking about a son who is in a location that you don't know. That's bad enough. We're talking about a son who is not only in a location that you don't know, but a son whose heart is gone far from you. This is not sheep, This is not coins, This is not just a search. There's something far more significant here. Here's a boy who says, I want my inheritance. You only get your inheritance when daddy is dead. You've got a son who says, I wish you were dead so that I could have my portion of the inheritance. He's ungrateful, he's disloyal, and he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country. Text doesn't even say where he went, because that doesn't matter. We all know what that phrase means, a far country. The fact of the matter is he left the Covenant community. He left his father, he left his family, and he left the Covenant community, and he went into a far country, a country that is not his own, And there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine came in that country, and he began to be in need so he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into the fields to feed pigs. It doesn't get worse than this. Not only is there a little Jewish boy feeding pigs, but also throughout the history of the Bible, one of the signs of God's displeasure is famine. So he's in a far country, his money is all gone, a famine has come, and he has now made himself unclean with the pigs. He's lost, y'all amen. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger. I will arise and go to my father. I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, he ain't even gotten there yet. Daddy sees the boy coming a long way off, This boy who is as lost as lost gets not just geographically from his father. His father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son. That's called repentance. Remember, Remember, because we had a party over a sheep. And what was the response, There's more joy in heaven over one lost center who repents. We had a party over a coin. What was the response, There's more joy in heaven over one lost center who repents. Now we have a lost sinner who repents. So there ought to be more joy here than in the two previous parables combined. Right, and all the Pharisees who are listening were doing this right. One hundred sheep, you lose one? What do you do? Man? You go find it? Yes, right, come back, you rejoice? Throw a price? Right, more joy in heaven over one lost centner who repents. That's right, man, we're tracking with you. We get you. Jesus. Lady loses ten percent of her wealth. One of her coin is gone. Sweep the whole house. Finally, God, ask right, I'd help her find that coin, man, you gotta find that coin. Then she throws a party, and she rejoices. Yep, more rejoicing in heaven of one lost center. Yep, guy's got two sons. One percent of your sheep, you party, ten percent of your wealth, You party fifty percent of your sons. What do you do? But the father said to his servants, bring quickly the best road, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring the fat and calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to celebrate. Amen, Hallelujah, praise the Lord. But there's more. Remember the pharisees sitting there like this. Now, his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, your brother has come, and your father has killed the fat and calf, because he has received him back safe and sound. But he was angry and refused to go in. If you've listened to the other parables, here's where this one diverges. This is wrong, This makes no sense. You lose a sheep and find it, you celebrate. You lose a coin and find it, you celebrate. You lose a son and find it, you celebrate. But he would not go in. This is wrong. And Jesus is not only saying to the Pharisees this is wrong. He is saying to them, this is you. This is you, the tax collectors and the sinners, the lost sons, come and you won't come in to this celebration. But why? But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, But he answered, his father, Look, these many years I have served you, and I have never disobeyed your command. Yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted cath for him. And he said to his son, son, you're always with me, and all of that mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this year. Brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found, And there it is there, it is he leaves it at that. Let me draw some applications if I might. It is clear that the point of this story is not the product son. When you look at this in its context, it is like a glaring neon sign. This is about the elder brother, and this is about the Pharisees. They have just been compared to the elder brother. But I want you to understand what the elder brother has lost, because this is what the Pharisees have lost, and this is what we lose when we suffer from elder brother syndrome. The older brother's problem is severalfold number one. His problem is works righteousness. He can't come in because it works righteousness. And this is what's wrong with the Pharisees, and this is what's wrong with us when we suffer from the elder brother syndrome. The elder brother says, I can't believe you're doing this. You never threw a party from me. I've always kept the rules. I've always done right. This is works righteousness. If you want to know if you suffer from elder brother syndrome, here's all you have to do. Just ask yourself, how do I respond either When God blesses someone else who I know is not living as rightly as I am, or when God allows difficulty and hardship to come to me. When that happens, Here's how you know you have elder Brother syndrome because deep in your heart, in that place that you don't talk about at church, you shake your fist at God and you say, I've served you, I've loved you, and this is what I get. Why me, God? Why me? Why did I have to get the bad report from the doctor. Why didn't my car have to break down? Why didn't my job have to fall apart? Why didn't my marriage have to experience difficulty? Certainly I've done enough for you to deserve better than this. That's the elder Brother syndrome. Folks. You believe that your relationship with God is predicated upon you being good and him giving you treats because you're good, and you believe your relationship with God is supposed to be a one to one correlation. I do good things, you give me good stuff. Now, the ultimate manifestation of this is the word faith movement, right, But you don't have to be in the word faith movement to have elder Brother syndrome. All of a sudden there's somebody who's out there and you know they're in sin, and that person is in sin and they get pregnant, but you can't have a baby. Huh. It happens in church all the time. Being in pastoral ministry. I've had the conversation. I've had the elder brother conversation with a woman who couldn't have a baby. Pastor. Here we are, we're praying, we're trusting, we're spending all that we have on treatments and doctors, and you know, we're doing all of the natural cures that people you know. I mean, if somebody tells me I need to stand on one leg and hold my nose while I'll make love to my husband, I'll do it. We just want a baby. And then my niece is out here shacking up, trying not to get pregnant, and she's getting ready to go abort a child. Why why would God do that? Here I am wanting a baby, there she is getting ready to kill one. Why would he give the baby to her and not to me? That's elder brother syndrome. The way the world ought to work is that if I'm a good little girl, God should give me the stuff that I want, and if she's a bad little girl, she's the one who ought to have to suffer. That's elder brother syndrome. But it's even worse than that. It's even worse than that. Why because elder brother syndrome does not allow you to enjoy the blessings that are actually yours. I can't believe that you're killing the fed and calf for him. What does the father say, son, you've been with me, you have me. Everything that I have is yours. Remember he divided up all of the owns, right, What does that mean? Well, the elder brother gets a double portion blessing. Right. So, if you have two sons, you divide what you have into three parts. Oldest son gets two, youngest son gets one. If you have four sons, you divide it into five parts, right, right, So the one fifth more, This guy got two thirds, two thirds if everything is his, His brother left with one third. He stays there with two thirds plus whatever other wealth his father generated. He got all of that, and the other brother got nothing. And yet he is so blind that he cannot comprehend that because his joy is not in his father. His joy is in himself. That's why he can't see it, and this is what elder brother syndrome does. So here you are a child of God in the midst of the community of faith, on your way to Heaven, to experience glory with God. Everything is yours. And some sinner who is going to breathe their last and bust hell wide open, get some small, insignificant earthly thing, and you, who possesses everything, get jealous. It's utterly ridiculed us. But the elder brother syndrome won't allow you to see it. You're blinded by this. You're jealous of people who are on their way to hell. You have God, you have God. You have God. You have God, you have God, and you're upset because they got a nicer car. You have God, and you can't even rejoice in it. You can't even rejoice in it. But it's even worse than this, because ultimately, what we see, at least in this situation is that the elder brother is actually not even a son at all. He doesn't rejoice with the Father because he didn't belong with the Father spiritually speaking, he was as far away from the Father as the other brother was. Do you follow that There's more than one way to be lost Ah. Tim Keller in his book The Prodigal God makes this point so powerfully in every generation that there are people who run away from God in at least two ways. In one way, there are the people who say this is too restricting. I want my freedom, and so they run away from God and go to be free. But then there's another group of people who want to be their own justifier, They want to be their own savior, and so they bury themselves in the law and in the rules, and they are as far away from God as the one who ran away into licentiousness. Legalism and licentiousness are two sides of the same coin. Neither one of them embraces the truth of the Gospel, and they are both lost. This brother is lost, This brother is lost. Not only does tim Keller add a layer to this, but John MacArthur, in his book on this passage, adds another layer to this. Because what John MacArthur does he brings the ending. Wait a minute, isn't that adding to scripture? No? No, not really, because who's the elder brother here? It's the Pharisees. If this is a picture of the heart condition of the Pharisees as it relates to God. How does the story end The elder brother kills the other brother, or more rightly, he kills the father. Regardless of how you slice that part of the story, this story ends with murder by the older brother because ultimately God sends his son to redeem sinners. And in the midst of this redemption, where lost sinners are being brought home, these individuals and others like them, shake their fists at the God who came to save, and they put him to death on a tree. They crucify him. They crucify their only hope, They crucify their savior, and in doing so they absolutely ratify their choice. And instead of ending up with everything, they beg for a party with a fatted calf, and they end up with nothing. This is the older brother syndrome. And this is what we have to be guarded against. We who have stayed home have to make sure that we have actually stayed home and embraced the father, not that we have stayed home and embraced all of his stuff and believed that because of how good we are, we deserve it. And more, what are you trusting in? Are you trusting in not being the licentious younger brother? Are you trusting that that is your hope of glory? Are you trusting in the fact that you've been so good and you've kept the rules so well that when you stand before God there will be celebrating and rejoicing in heaven, not for a sinner who's repented, but for one who doesn't need to. Is that what you're trusting in? Because there is no hope there. There is only hope in Christ. There is only hope in the Gospel. There is only hope in recognizing that Christ died for sin, once for all, the just, for the unjust, in order that he might bring us back to God. There is only hope in recognizing, as I say, says that all we like sheep and gone astray. Each of us had turned to his own way. But God has laid upon him the iniquity of us. All we have to escape. Elder brother Syndrome and say, with the hymn writer, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but holy lean on Jesus's name, on Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand, whether that ground is licentiousness or legalism. It's sinking sand. The cross of Christ is our only hope. Let's pray, Gracious God, our Father, We thank you for your goodness and your mercy and your kindness toward us, and we ask that by your grace you might cause us to holy lean on Jesus' name. Grant by your grace that we would not trust in ourselves, that we would not trust in our works, that we would not trust in the sinfulness of other sinners in comparison to us, but that we would trust only and solely and completely and continually in the finished work of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen. Yeahmen, thank you. I pray that as we sing this closing song, that the spirit of God spoke to our hearts from his word. That you respond to that. Whatever that is. You find yourself the younger brother apart from the father. He's waiting you see that in the story, with open arms, no recrimination, free forgiveness, grace. And if you're the older brother, you know how the father came out and begged him. The father's begging you as well. So if you find yourself on one side, you find yourself on the other side. There's forgiveness in Jesus Christ today today, right where you sit, right where you stand, to bow your head and your heart before God and humble yourself and receive from. Him that grace and that forgiveness. He can be yours and you can have that restored relationship with the Father. And I hope that's the case. And perhaps there's some of us and you look at that and say, you know, I used to be there, and I used to be there. Then stand and sing and rejoice in God's grace that brought you back into fellowship with the Father. Amen, let's stand together and sing You're the word of God, the Father's. Regret and joints. Bass s. The SHOs shot in specto years that into the same. Spasation. Well, thank you for being here today, and thank you for the team that led us in the singing, and Nina, thank you for organizing for us today. Pastor Vote and family, thank you for delaying your return to Lusanka and ministering the word to us. We've heard it and I pray that God will apply that our hearts all week long. And if you're here and God's just been at work in your life and your heart to open your mind and your heart understand truth. And you'd like to talk. About anything, you'd like to get together this week and talk, Just text me. I'm my conference is over and I've got I'm I'm looking forward to connecting with many people. So I'd love to have coffee with you or or pop by and chat with you about whatever, because we're family, and I want to see people come into the family of God, and and there are answers in the Word, and it's just such a wonderful, freeing thing to experience the grace of God that we heard about this morning. So if you've got a burden and you've got or a question, or you need to talk, just reach out to us. We'd love to spend some time with you anytime you're convenience this week. So let's let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word, Thank you for how clearly your servant has opened the text of Scripture. We've tracked. As the Pharisees are nodding their heads, we two are nodding our heads. We see it, yes, yes, and yet we find ourselves so often uncomfortably in that same story. So Father, I pray that you might you might work, continue to work in our hearts and minds. We know that the Word of God is living. It's powerful, it's effective, it does a it does a surgical work. In our in our hearts and minds. Do that work for us. Because because Lord, first of all, we want to know you, and second of all we want to become like you. We want to live for you. I pray that you would use each one of us for your glory. This week, we pray for the burden that they might find in You their rest. This week, we pray for the the one that is downtrodden, Lord, that they might be lifted up. By You this week. And Lord, for those who are still stumbling about in the darkness of sin, that they might come to You for grace and for forgiveness. So bless us as we are dismissed, Give us a great week. We pray in Jesus' name. Lord, we would pray to for the Backham family as they hit the road and head to Lusaka. Give them grace and safety and blessing. We pray in Jesus name. Amen, Thank you, you are dismissed.