Thank you, Becky, and we appreciate your ministry today.
Dave and Renee, wherever you are, there you are.
I was reading this past week an article in the Good News Broadcaster.
I don't know if any of you get the magazine.
It's worth the subscription price.
It's published by Back to the Bible Broadcast.
Then there was an article written by Warren Wiersby on the life and ministry of Samuel
Chadwick, a faithful preacher of the gospel in England in the last century.
There was an anecdote, among others, regarding Chadwick being at the back of his church one
Sunday morning and shaking hands with the people as they went out the door.
One man in the congregation stepped up and handed him a check for the church and said,
I was blessed this morning.
Chadwick reached out and took the check and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said in a
loud voice, Lord, bless him again tonight.
That's my attitude as we come to the service tonight.
I want the Lord to bless us this evening.
Would you join me in prayer that God will speak to our hearts?
Father, we love so much the manna of your Word.
It's refreshing, it's nourishing, and yet it needs to be continually fresh and new.
As we come tonight, I pray that the manna of the Word would feed our spiritual needs,
teach us from the Word tonight, and apply it to our lives.
In Jesus' name, amen.
We're going to look this evening at this theme of the flock of God.
One of the great names given to believers is found in Acts 20 verse 28.
The Apostle Paul met on this occasion with the elders of the church in Ephesus.
Among other things that he wanted to communicate to them, he says in verse 28 of Acts 20,
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made
you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.
I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock,
but from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the
disciples after them.
Therefore, be on the alert.
The Apostle speaks here of that group of believers, the church of God in Ephesus, as being the
flock.
It is difficult for most of us to identify very much with a pastoral kind of life that
shepherds once enjoyed in many places in the world.
We are right now passing through a technological revolution which is transforming in one generation
the world in which we live.
Many years ago we went through an industrial revolution that also transformed the world
of that day into what we have been living in.
The world was in an agricultural kind of lifestyle.
Then it passed to the industrial lifestyle and now the technological lifestyle.
I heard someone say this last week that we went through the industrial revolution in
five generations.
We're going through the technological revolution in one generation and it is yet to be determined
whether or not our civilization is able to adjust to that rapid of a change.
Nonetheless, we are far removed from an agricultural kind of lifestyle, most of us, and yet the
Bible was written with a background of that kind of a culture.
The Bible, though, is not in the least irrelevant to our day, but when we do interpret it, we
need to look at it in its historical and cultural setting.
This title, The Flock of God, is a very wonderful title that brings us to the life of a shepherd.
I have appreciated reading the book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Philip Keller, which
undoubtedly some of you have read as well.
Keller was a shepherd in Africa and brings his experience as a shepherd to this theme
that believers are like sheep.
It's a favorite theme with many Christians.
It was so with Warner Salmon, who has painted the beautiful picture of the shepherd and
his lambs, which many of us have admired.
We believers in Jesus Christ are a flock of sheep belonging to God.
There are three facts about this that I want us to think about.
You'll find those in the outline of your worship folder that will help guide your thinking
with me.
What has our shepherd done for us?
Well, first, he has purchased his sheep.
Some of my earliest memories go back to sales barns in our farm community.
I remember well as a little boy going to the sale barn where animals were sold and bought.
Seeing the crowds of farmers, seeing the large trucks unloading and then loading again, the
pens filled with animals, and the odors, oh the odors, and the sounds of the bleeding
of sheep, the lowing of cattle, the snorting of the pigs, and the melodious voice of the
auctioneer.
He was responsible for obtaining the highest possible price for the animals on behalf of
the owner.
Those who would be trying to buy would be there watching the animals come through the
pen with a nod or the gesture of a hand, perhaps even a shout, they would signal a bid on the
animals.
And then the auctioneer would say, going once, going twice, sold.
And then the animals would be herded off to their future, which was usually pretty short.
I make an application of that to myself as a Christian because I was once like an animal
on the auction block, part of the mass of humanity moving relentlessly, streaming, shoving
toward eternity with no hope, no joy, no meaning to life.
And then Jesus Christ saved me.
He made a selection of me, though I knew nothing of it, nor was there any merit in me that
caused Him to choose.
Nonetheless, He paid the price that I might be purchased from sin, and He bought me, just
as He bought you if you were one of His sheep.
This word, purchase, in Acts 20-28 is a word that simply means to acquire or to secure
or to gain.
Literally it means to make a round.
It's a combination of two words, a verb and then a preposition.
To make a round is the idea of a fence that's put around or perhaps a lariat, a rope that
is used to lasso a cow that is being brought in for a particular purpose.
The rope is put around the neck of that cow and brought in.
So our Lord acquired us, secured us for Himself, and the price of that purchase is said here
to be His own blood.
But of course the theme is found again and again and again in the New Testament.
That we have been purchased with the precious blood of Christ as of the Lamb Himself, without
blemish and without spot.
Jesus said, I am the Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
Isaiah of old pictured human beings as sheep that have gone astray, each one going his
own way.
A graphic depiction of what sheep are like.
For sheep are easily scattered and once they are scattered they are difficult to bring
back together.
And yet Peter says that we have been saved and have returned to the Shepherd and the
guardian of our souls, 1 Peter 2.25.
Our Shepherd has brought us to Himself with the purchase price of His own precious blood.
The second fact that I want us to consider and what our Shepherd has done for us is that
now that we belong to Him, He provides for His sheep.
And to see this theme I would like you to turn with me to Psalm 23.
This is of course the Shepherd's Psalm written by a shepherd, David.
A man who because he was faithful as a shepherd over sheep was made a shepherd over a nation
of sheep, Israel.
Our Shepherd provides for sheep.
One has said that sheep need more care than any other livestock.
I don't know if that's true, but I would tend to think it's so from my limited work
with them on the farm as I grew up.
You have to provide for sheep.
And here David expresses in verses 1 through 3 what his Shepherd, the Lord, provides for
him.
He says, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
That is, I do not lack anything.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul.
He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
We're going to limit our thinking of God's provision for us and His care to four things
that we find in these verses.
First He leads us and provides for us green pastures.
It is a curious thing that sheep raising is often done in arid countries.
One of the reasons for that perhaps is that the climate in those countries curtails parasites
that feed on sheep.
Sheep seem to do well in those dry, arid places.
But sheep need to have green pastures that is vital to a healthy flock.
And while in the rainy seasons of those countries the green pastures can be easily found, more
or less, for most of the months of the year those pastures are normally brown.
For green pastures must be planned by the shepherd.
He is responsible for clearing the brush and the weeds and trees away from those areas
that he once as pastureland.
And then he must prepare the soil and plants, grass seed.
Perhaps even in some countries he must irrigate today, though that was not done, of course,
in the days of David.
But those green pastures must be carefully prepared and planned for.
Now why is that important for sheep to have green grass?
Can they not eat the brown grass?
Well, yes, they can.
They can, but it takes them all day in their foraging to be satisfied.
And that does not help a shepherd who wants his sheep to gain.
He needs to provide green pastures where his sheep can find green grass right at hand and
then lie down and ruminate.
Did you know that sheep were like cows?
They are ruminates.
That is, they have two stomachs.
They chew their cud.
They must go out and fill up that first stomach and then lie down and bring up the whole matter
again and go over it and chew that cud and swallow it into the second stomach.
And as they lie there contented in the green pastures, they gain.
And that is what the shepherd wants.
And so instead of having them walk all day long where they lose whatever they might gain
from their eating, he wants them to be contented and to feed on green pastures.
God is that way with us.
God desires to nourish us, as it were, with green pastures.
He wants us to eat from his Word, where we find our spiritual food.
He wants us to rest and to meditate upon his Word.
Do you know how to meditate?
Do you meditate?
If you would like to learn more about meditation, call the church office this week.
We have some duplicated materials that we can send to you, make available, so that you
can learn more about meditation.
That's such an important part of our diet, that what food we take in, then we properly
digest.
That's what meditation is.
It is digestion.
It is putting into our life what we know of God's Word.
And as we do that, then we will grow, we will gain, we will mature spiritually.
And then a shepherd has to provide for his sheep quiet waters.
I guess I was rather surprised to learn that there are some kinds of sheep that can go
for months without a lot of water if the weather is cool and there is dew on the grass early
in the morning.
There are some fat tail sheep, for example, that something like camels store moisture,
store fluid rather, in the back part, in the tail.
And their tail is quite large and it's flat and fat.
And they draw up on that fluid if they are away from water.
And if they can get enough dew in the early morning hours, they can go for months without
a real drink of water, as we would think of it.
But normally a shepherd looked for a place where he might give his sheep the water they
need.
Sometimes they would go to a deep well.
In some places there are wells that are down in caverns and the sheep are herded down into
the cool darkness there to drink out of the quiet pools.
At other times the shepherds must find pools and streams that run down the hillsides.
And if they cannot find a quiet pool, they should create one, for normally sheep do not
like to drink from rushing water.
Often a shepherd would take rocks, if need be, and create a levee so that he might have
a pool where the water would be quieted and his sheep might drink.
I would compare these quiet waters devotionally to our quiet times with God, where we draw
upon the quiet waters that He makes available to us, where we can appropriate by faith the
very life of Jesus, so that even though our outward man is dying, as Paul says to the
Corinthians, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
If you tonight are thirsty in your soul, or perhaps harried in your spirit, maybe your
need is to go to a quiet pool of water alone with God and there to drink and to draw from
Him that refreshment that you need in your spirit.
He provides that for us sheep, but how silly we often are to rush on and on and on and
not take time to be with our Lord.
Maybe that's been a habit you've fallen into this summer because of the pressure of
the summer schedule and extra activities you've been involved in.
You've gotten away from that quiet time with God.
My friend, you need that quiet time.
I need that quiet time.
Will you reestablish that as a priority, a high priority in your life?
A shepherd also restores the soul of his sheep.
Sheep are nervous animals.
They are easily spooked.
They run from the slightest alarm.
I've seen them many times.
In their stampede, they can even endanger their own young.
Sheep have to be calmed.
So do people.
So do Christians.
For there are times that we get upset and nervous from the anxieties of life.
It is interesting.
I think the first time that Jesus really speaks to his disciples and calls them his flock,
his sheep, he says to them, fear not.
He says, quiet down, men.
Don't be afraid.
Why would you say that to sheep?
Because they are by nature afraid.
Don't we often get caught up in the worries of life?
We get upset and nervous, and we are in stress over this or that when our need is the peace
of God that he can freely give to us and wants to.
If we will come to him, bring our petitions with thanksgiving, let a request we made known,
his peace, will fill our hearts and minds, will guard us so that we will know restoration
of soul.
Maybe that is what you need tonight as a sheep.
Maybe something hasn't gone your way.
Did you ever think that might be a blessing in disguise?
Perhaps you are upset over some situation in your life.
Will you have a big question mark hanging over your head at this point?
Maybe your future is uncertain.
Will you let the shepherd restore your soul tonight?
Will it put it back together to settle you down?
Then the shepherd guides his sheep in the paths of righteousness.
The shepherd gives his sheep not only green pastures, quiet waters, soul restoration,
but righteous guidance.
A shepherd does provide direction for the flock.
That is his job after all.
In part, he is to be out there in front leading the sheep, giving them confidence.
This is the way.
Walk in it.
Sheep will seldom be driven.
They must be led.
Oh, that some pastors could learn that.
I need to learn that occasionally again.
God's people will not be driven.
They will be led.
That is the way the Lord cares for us.
He leads us.
He directs our ways so that they are righteous in his eyes and will bring honor to his name.
That is what it means for his namesake, so that the way that we live pleases him.
He provides for his sheep.
Are you letting him provide for you?
Are you letting him direct you?
I want to come now to the third truth regarding what our shepherd has done for us.
It is this, that he protects his sheep.
I see this as the main theme of the last part of Psalm 23, where he says,
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil.
For thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou hast anointed my head with oil.
My cup overflows.
Holy goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever.
The shepherd protects his sheep.
As I have said, sheep are timid and frightened easily.
Their greatest need is to be calmed so that they will lie down and be a contented flock.
What is it, anyway, that causes alarm?
What is it that disturbs sheep?
Keller has some interesting ideas, which I fall back upon here.
I had a couple, or one rather, myself.
What alarms sheep?
Number one, predators.
Whether they be wolves, or more commonly in the Midwest, coyotes, or bears, or cougars,
sheep are alarmed by predators, and when they smell one, or they hear one, or sense one,
they are on their feet immediately and they are moving, not always in one direction either,
not always knowing where they are headed, but they are moving.
And then sheep are alarmed by hunger.
When sheep are hungry, they are restless.
They are on their feet walking.
I have seen them walking the fence in pens before when they haven't gotten their silage
or their corn or whatever on time.
They begin to walk the fence to look to see what they might be able to eat.
Sheep are alarmed when they have hunger pains.
And then sheep are alarmed by isolation, thirdly.
They are easily separated from others.
In fact, that's one of the tactics used by some predators, to isolate a sheep, get them
off by himself, and then to kill him.
Particularly is that true with little lambs?
Some use delight in having their lambs out in the pasture.
And so a farmer or shepherd must go out into the pasture and find that grassy spot or that
low place where the ewe has decided to give birth.
If not, if he doesn't do that, surely overnight a predator will find that lamb and the lamb
will be dead.
Sheep fear isolation.
When one is by itself, it is alarmed until it gets back with a flock.
And the ironic thing is that sheep have no sense of knowing how to get back with the
flock.
You practically have to pull them by the wool to get them back.
A fourth alarm for sheep is competition.
Just like chickens have pecking orders, a flock of sheep has a budding order.
Usually on a flock of sheep there is a dominant one.
Often it's a female, a ewe, for those of you trying to figure that out.
There seems to be a need for the status of top sheep in a flock.
And when there is that kind of competition going on, there are sheep dancing all over
the place.
I have seen rams budding it out, trying to decide which one was going to be grandpa.
And as they hit heads, you could hear it for hundreds of yards.
Ezekiel interestingly draws on this very picture.
Just turn over there as a matter of curiosity to Ezekiel chapter 34 as he talks about the
false shepherds in his day.
He looked forward to the true shepherd, the son of David, Jesus Christ, who would come
and shepherd the flock of Israel.
And he uses the metaphor here of shepherds and the sheep rather.
And he says in verse 20, the Lord says, behold, I, even I, Ezekiel 34.20, will judge between
the fat sheep and the lean sheep, because you push with a side and with a shoulder and
thrust it all the week with your horns until you have scattered them abroad.
So you get the budding and the pushing and the horns going out in order for top sheep
to be identified.
Friction in the flock alarms the sheep.
And finally, pests alarm the sheep.
I'm not thinking here of small children, although they too can alarm sheep, but I'm thinking
more of the insect variety of flies and ticks and that sort of nasty creature.
Those insects cause irritations, especially in the hot summertime and the very kind of
weather we've been having.
They get into the eyes and the nostrils of the sheep and cause infection, not to mention
frustration and irritation to the animals.
So those are the five things that cause sheep to be alarmed and from which they need protection
so that they will lie down and be contented.
Do you know that there are parallels here for the church?
The church has predators.
There are those who would love to enter in and to destroy the flock of God.
Paul, in speaking to those Ephesian elders, said, Men, be on guard because there are going
to be some who will enter in like wolves seeking to devour the flock.
And some of you also will rise up with perverse—the word means twisted—teachings, seeking to
draw away disciples after yourselves.
That was a sad thing to have to say to those elders.
God's flock has predators.
What about hunger?
Yes.
It is sad that there are some churches that are spiritually starving.
One of the things that I have prayed that God would allow us to do here is to consistently
feed the flock of God.
And by the way, the only food that satisfies is the word of God.
What about isolation?
It happens.
There are some Christians, for one reason or another, that get off by themselves.
They get miffed at this or backslide over that and begin going to bedside Baptists.
And the result is that isolation creates spiritual damage in their lives.
What about competition?
Oh, boy.
Churches still today have those who like diatrophies seek to have the preeminent place.
They want to be top Christians in the church.
What about pests?
Yes.
There are pests in the church.
Full irritations that can creep in, that frustrate the people of God, and can sometimes cause
disease in churches.
There are pests, too.
How does God protect his sheep from these?
Well, of course, he does that supernaturally.
But folks, God does that primarily by appointing over his sheep shepherds or elders.
Turn back to 1 Peter chapter 5 for a moment.
Peter says in verse 1, therefore I exhort the elders among you.
He doesn't mean the older believers.
He's talking here about those who function in the office of the elder.
And notice it's in the plural, as it always is in the New Testament.
I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ,
may partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed.
Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion but voluntarily,
according to the will of God.
Not for sordid gain but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your
charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.
God's method of protecting his sheep is through those that he raises up to be under shepherds,
that is, shepherds under Jesus Christ.
What are shepherds to do about predators?
Paul made that clear in Acts 20.
We are to guard the sheep.
One of the responsibilities that the spiritual leaders of our church has is to guard this
church from spiritual error, from false teaching, and from any entrance of people who would
bring that to our church.
There are so many things that can sidetrack the people of God that we need alert, vigilant
shepherds who will guard the sheep.
What about hunger?
It is the responsibility of the spiritual leaders of the church to feed the flock of
God.
Now true, we are to feed ourselves.
Let's never think that the only feed that we ought to get is on Sunday.
If that is all the food we get, we are going to be pretty hungry by Wednesday or Thursday,
aren't we?
We are to feed ourselves, but there is a special sense in which elders are to feed the sheep
of God.
When Jesus restored Peter after his denial of the Lord, three times he said to him, feed
my sheep.
Actually, two times he said feed.
One time he said shepherd.
It puts the same thought, ten my sheep, Peter, feed them.
I am glad, if I may share my heart for a moment, that the elders of our church have set that
as a priority for my ministry.
As the pastor-teacher of this church, that is my number one priority, to study the word
of God and then to teach it to you in such a way that you are spiritually nourished.
I have a lot to learn in that regard, and I ask your prayers for that, because I want
to be the very best feeder, tender shepherd of God's people that I can possibly be.
I want to be more skilled at that by far than I am now, but I am glad that our men and that
our church, you as a church, understand that to be the primary task that I have.
That is why we have other men on the staff who perform other functions in the ministry
so that the ministry is carried on.
I do visit in the hospital occasionally, but by and large, for example, Pastor McDonald
does that.
When he is there, I have been there.
The church has ministered to that person.
When something needs to be done in the small churches, Dave Sulak takes care of that as
one of our pastors, one of our elders.
When he has done that, our church has ministered there.
I have been there as the pastor-teacher.
I am glad that I have the priority of spending hours a week—and what a privilege that is—to
spend hours a week studying in the Word of God, preparing my heart and the Word so that
you can have it on the Lord's day.
I have said as a priority in my life the feeding of God's sheep.
What about isolation?
In Hebrews 13, the writer says, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep
watch over your souls as those who will give an account.
There had better not be any elder who does not see the last part of that.
For elders will give a special account to God for their eldership, their oversight.
The thing that I want to point out here is that elders, leaders, are responsible for
keeping watch over the souls of God's people, God's sheep.
That word keep watch means to go without sleep, literally.
It's not the word guard here.
It's the idea of going without sleep.
We who are spiritual leaders in the church are responsible to see that if a sheep gets
isolated, if we go after that sheep and bring him back, just like the shepherd does in that
parable of the 99.
Now all of us have a responsibility as well, don't we?
For if we see a brother who's straying, who's gone into sin, we are to, after examining
our own hearts, go to that brother and seek to restore him and bring him back.
But in a very special way, that responsibility rests upon the elders of the church to see
that it takes place.
What about competition?
Peter makes it clear that elders are never to lord it over God's people.
I was talking today with Steve and we were sharing about the attitudes of pastors and
I told him about one pastor whose idea of directing his staff boiled down to this.
He has a great pastor school to which literally thousands and thousands of pastors across
the country have come.
He was teaching them one day how they should control their church and their staff.
He says, I'll show you what I mean.
He pointed down to his music director and he said, you move over there.
The man got up and moved over there.
He said, now you move over there.
He got up and moved over there.
He said, now you move over there.
So the man got up a third time and moved over there.
And he said, man, that's what I mean by controlling your staff.
Well, there's a great theological word for that.
It's hogwash.
That is not God's plan for pastors in controlling their staff, directing their staff, or in
leading the church.
Elders are not to lord it over the church, but the key word would be an example.
How are elders to keep competition from happening in the church by exemplifying humility and
eager service before God's people?
The pastor is not the boss of the church.
The pastor happens to be the chief servant in the church.
And by his spirit, along with the spirit of all the elders, and in our case, I would embrace
also the pastor teachers, our spiritual leaders in this church, we are to set a tone of humility
before God's people.
That will be contagious and which God's people will exemplify so that there's not this
budding order that develops in the flock.
What about pests?
Did you notice David said, he anoints my head with oil?
The thought of that could well be that one of the ways that a shepherd takes care of
insects that get into the eyes and the nostrils of sheep is to anoint their heads with medicinal
oil.
And that keeps away these insects that cause irritation and infection.
And I believe that as we anoint the flock of God with the balm of his word and the ministry
of the Holy Spirit, that will take place.
The irritations that sometimes cause problems in the flock will cease as the Spirit of God
consistently, week by week, day by day, does his work in our hearts.
I want to close.
Let me just point out two dangers other than these that sheep face.
One is casting.
That was a new word for me as I read Keller's book, but I understood when he explained what
it meant because I've seen it.
A cast C-A-S-T, sheep, is one which rolls onto its back and is unable to regain its
upright position.
When that happens, gases build up in the rumen, that is that first stomach.
And the result is that eventual death takes place because of the position itself or because
a predator comes along and kills the animal.
Sometimes sheep look for a hollowed out place in which to lie down.
And as they lie down in that place, their center of gravity slowly shifts.
They don't even realize it.
And as their weight shifts more and more, they suddenly pass the point where they can
get their feet back on the ground.
And at that moment, they're done.
Unless the shepherd comes to straighten them up.
Sometimes it happens because the wool gets too heavy and it gets matted with mud or manure
or thistles.
And the result of all of that is that heavy weight causes that gravity to shift.
Sometimes it's because the sheep are just too fat.
But for one reason or another, the sheep gets on its back, it's fours up in the air, and
it's finished unless it's ministered to by the shepherd.
I wonder tonight if you might be a cast sheep.
You've lost your balance.
How easily that can happen.
We get chasing rabbits or we get sidetracked in this direction and the result is our spiritual
life gets out of kilter.
We begin to compromise our position and before we know it, we've lost our balance.
If you find yourself in that position tonight, you need help.
You need to get back upright.
You need to go to a brother or sister in Christ, to myself, one of the pastors, one of the
elders, your pastor teacher and say, hey, I need to talk to you.
And then another problem the sheep face is bloating.
This is due to diet.
And where I grew up, it was the result of eating wet alfalfa.
When sheep got out of their pen and got into the alfalfa when the dew was still on it,
they would often bloat.
And the result of that bloating was a tremendous distress that led to death.
Led to death.
What have you been feeding on lately?
What have you been taking into your mind, into your heart?
Do you find yourself in spiritual distress because of what you've been feeding on?
My friend, you need to be helped.
Will you go to someone?
Will you come tonight so we can pray with you?
What is a sheep to do anyway?
One thing.
Just one.
Follow the shepherd.
That's it.
That's all a sheep has to do.
Just keep his eyes on the shepherd and follow him.
Are you following the shepherd tonight?
Father, I pray that we sheep might recognize where we are in the flock tonight.
And if there is some danger that we are in, I pray that we will understand that danger
and will seek help.
Father, there may be some of your people who have been feeding on the wrong things.
Their minds tonight, their hearts are filled with distress and they are spiritually sick.
Maybe others have gotten off balance in some area of life or a compromise has set in.
Some sin is dominating.
They've gotten cast.
Father, I pray that wherever we are tonight in our relationship to you as sheep, that
you as our shepherd would kindly and graciously deal with us to get us back with the flock
on our feet, moving along, following you obediently.
In Jesus' name, amen.