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Alright, well we are going to focus on, let me get this mic out of the way here real quick, we are going to focus in on 2 Timothy 1 verse number 7 it says, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of sound mind. Let's pray. Lord we thank you so much for the scriptures this morning, thank you for all these people for a full house here, and God I just pray Lord that you would help me with this sermon, Lord it's a different kind of sermon, I just pray Lord that it be received Lord as what it is, the word of God being preached to the people, and I pray Lord that you would just apply it to our lives, apply it to our hearts, and I pray that you fill me with the Holy Spirit in great boldness in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Alright so the title of my sermon this morning is Lessons from Ruby Ridge, Lessons from Ruby Ridge. So I told a few of you that I was going to be preaching about this, now Ruby Ridge is more of an incident than it was, you know, who knows what I'm talking about, Ruby Ridge. So it wasn't very far away from here where it happened where Randy and Vicki Weaver and their children had like an 11 day standoff with the federal agents, the United States Marshals and I'm just going to kind of read some excerpts from Wikipedia in case you don't know what I'm talking about, it says, so Randy and Vicki Weaver moved from I believe Iowa. Now I just want to make a disclaimer here, I'm not, if I say something factually inaccurate I apologize, I try to do my best research on here but if I accidentally say something wrong try not to crucify me for it, I'd appreciate that, but I'm going to try to tell it as best as I can as much as I've studied, I've watched the documentary a couple times that has his daughter in it and it's pretty informative. So basically there are a couple that they've been attending Baptist churches, they've been attending other kinds of churches and they began to be more fundamental in their beliefs according to Wikipedia, but basically they started reading the book of Revelation and they thought well these things are starting to come upon us and so they got afraid and they moved their family over here to Idaho which in a place called Ruby Ridge they bought the property and so they basically built a cabin there and they were going to wait it out, they were going to wait out the tribulation or whatever they thought was coming upon this world and there is things coming upon this world, they're right about that, but the way that they acted out of fear was not the way that they should have done it and it ended up being a total tragedy to their family and so it says the couple began to harbor more fundamentalist views and Vicki believing the apocalypse was imminent to follow Vicki's version of her family surviving the apocalypse away from corrupt civilization. The Weaver family moved to a 20 acre, 8.1 hectare, property in remote Ruby Ridge, Idaho in the early 1980s and built a cabin there, they paid $5,000 in cash and traded their moving truck for the land valued at $500 an acre. At the time of the Ruby Ridge incident, the Weavers had four children, Sarah 16, Samuel 14, Rachel 10, Elisha 10 months, Vicki home schooled her children there and basically they didn't really come down from the mountain, they kind of became self-sufficient and lived there for a long time, but they began to get lonely. The thing is, and this kind of ties in a lot together with Pastor Mendez's sermon, we need fellowship, we can't just have some secluded place where we live out and hide from the tribulation and from all these things that are going to happen, we got to be out with God's people in places of a population so that we can reach people, right? But this is not what they did, they moved to Ruby Ridge to seclude themselves and basically if you're secluded for a while, you get lonely. You start to get cabin fever and start wanting to talk to anybody that will talk to you. And that's just the truth, if you're secluded by yourself, you're going to want to start talking to other people, you're going to get sick of the people you're hanging around and you're going to want to talk to some other people. So anyway, this is what happens, they started going down and hanging around at the Aryan Nations camp. And although he professes that he was not a racist and he didn't agree with all the things that they believed, they were kind of going to these church services that they were holding there. And so there was various different types of racists down there, but Randy Weaver didn't necessarily hold to those things, I think he just wanted to be there for the fellowship, he just wanted to hang out with somebody. And they kind of threw God into their racist deals or whatever, but what ended up happening is a federal agent, he basically entrapped him into sawing off some shotguns and selling them, and so he sold them to these federal agents and they said, well you're going to work for us now, you're going to help us bring down the Aryan Nations and you're going to help us bring this stuff down, and he was like, no I'm not. And so when they said that, he said, well I'm not going to do that, and they arrested him, shoved their faces down in the snow, took him to jail, and they gave him a court date. Well Randy Weaver didn't show up to that court date. And so the Fed started to watch him, basically he just said, you know what, I'm just going to stay where I'm at, up on my mountain, and I'm not coming back down. And so the Fed started watching him, the Fed started going out there and they were surveillancing him, they wanted to take him but they knew he was heavily armed. There's nothing wrong with being armed. And look, in this story there's a lot of wrongs that are done, and I don't think it's right what the federal agents did at all. I think that some of those guys acted like cowboys and really did some wicked things. So what ended up happening is that after watching him, I think it was about a year and a half or something, and he refused to go and surrender himself. It says, Ruby Ridge was the site of an 11-day siege near Naples, Idaho, the U.S. beginning on August 21, 1992, and Randy Weaver, members of his immediate family and family friend Kevin Harris, resisted agents of the United States Marshals Service and the hostage rescue team of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Kevin and Marshall's service of the Weavers' property pursuant to a bench warrant for Weaver after his failure to appear on firearms charges and initial encounter between six U.S. Marshals and the Weavers resulted in a shootout and the deaths of Deputy U.S. Marshal William Francis Deegan, age 42, and Weaver's son Samuel, age 14. So what ended up happening is, from the Marshals' account, they were just kind of walking up this trail and they didn't expect to run into Randy Weaver and his son Samuel. I think they had their dog with them and then that family friend, and so they came upon each other and then this gun battle happened and the son, Samuel, ended up getting killed at 14 years old. They shot the family dog named Striker and then there was a subsequent siege of the Weaver residence led by the FBI. Weaver's 43-year-old wife Vicki was killed by FBI sniper fire. So as she was holding her child at the front door, an FBI agent sniper shot her in the face, killed her in front of all of her children while she was holding the baby. And so her body laid on the floor in their cabin for a whole week. They had to witness that and view that. So then they kind of felt like they were being mocked because they were trying to get them to come out, but some of the agents didn't realize that they had shot people and they didn't realize that Vicki had been killed and they were saying, come out, we're not going to shoot at you. And so that made them not want to come out even more because they felt like they were mocking them and tempting them. All casualties occurred on the first two days of the operation. The siege and standoff were ultimately resolved by civilian negotiators with the surrender and arrest of Kevin Harris, and he was shot and wounded, and the surrender of Randy Weaver and the surviving Weaver children the next day. And our scriptures that we're focusing on says, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind. And the definition of sound mind is in good condition, not damaged or injured or diseased. So God, when He gives us His Holy Spirit, He doesn't give us the spirit of fear, He gives us the spirit of power and love and of a sound mind. So I'm going to talk about these things today and I'm going to use lessons from Ruby Ridge for us to help us understand how they failed. They failed, obviously the federal government failed, but if they hadn't gone out there in the first place and done what they did, then none of those things would have happened. So I don't know whether these people were saved or not, I'm not 100% sure about that, but say they were. Say they were saved. Is that what God wants us to do? Does God want us to go and escape and go to these places and hide out in these remote places so that we can escape the tribulation? Is that what He wants us to do? Is that what the Bible says? Well when you operate your Christian life out of a spirit of fear, it doesn't come from God. So they were what? Afraid of the apocalypse happening. They were afraid of these tribulations and God's wrath and all this stuff. And in reality, God didn't give them that spirit of fear, so who gave it to them? They got it from somewhere else, it wasn't from God though. Because God doesn't want us to be afraid. Sixty-two times the term fear not appears in the King James Bible. And so I'm going to read through some of these verses about fear not. So if you would, go through some of these with me. Turn to Exodus 20 verse 20, I'm going to read for you in Genesis chapter 15 verse 1. See the Weaver family moved away from society, they moved away from God's plan in their lives. And just like Pastor Jimenez was preaching the other night, he's like, you need to be in a good church. You know, and how are you going to pick a good church? Well, and he said, surprise, you're in one right now and today you're in a good church. But does God want you to move away from here and go to some remote place where there's no church? Do you think that that's his plan for your life? What he says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. How are you going to exhort one another and see the day approaching if you're not even in a church? If you've moved away to a place where there's no church. That doesn't make sense. That's not God's spirit telling you to do that. That is your own brain telling you how to do that or somebody else that's putting fear into your heart. Genesis chapter 15 verse 1, you're in Exodus 20, just stay there, says, after these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision saying, fear not Abram, for I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Did God protect Abraham in the land of Canaan where he told him to go? Now there was many Canaanites, all these other people here, but did Abraham ever get messed with? Not really. He just pretended that he was sisters with his wife and then when they tried to take her as his wife, God cursed their whole place, right? God is looking out for us, but here's the thing. You have to be doing the thing that God wants you to do. You have to be keeping his commandments and then he's going to protect you, but if you're just in open rebellion and saying, hey, I know the Bible says this, but I'm going to do this. Do you think God's going to protect you in those situations? You're going to go, no, you're a disobedient child. I'm going to punish you. God is going to punish his children when they do wrong, but he's going to protect them and bless them when they do right. Being saved doesn't have anything to do with right or wrong. Being saved has to do with believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and trusting him only for salvation. All the Christian life and all that stuff, that is found in God's word and you're supposed to obey God's commandments. Not to be saved, but to be in obedience to God. During Exodus 20 it says, and Moses said unto the people, fear not, for God has come to prove you and that his fear may be before your faces that ye sin not. See, he doesn't want, Moses was saying don't fear, fear not, but he's saying God wants to prove you and that you may fear, that you want to fear God. See, we've got to keep things in proper perspective. God wants us to fear not the things that we are so afraid of hurting us, but a lot of times people don't realize that they should be fearing God instead of fearing all these other things, right? Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 6, I'm going to read for you in Deuteronomy 121. Deuteronomy 121 says, behold the Lord thy God has set the land before thee, go up and possess it as the Lord God of thy fathers has set unto thee, fear not, neither be discouraged. When God says hey, go to battle, we're not supposed to fear because God is with us in that battle, amen? And so, if God's on our side, what do we have to be afraid of? If God is protecting us for obeying his commandments, what do we have to be afraid of? Nothing. You know, and I understand that people still get afraid anyway, but hey, you know what, just pray to God and say hey, please Lord take that fear away from me because I know it's not from your spirit. Deuteronomy 31 verse 6, I had you turn there, it says, be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee, he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Now skip down to verse 8, it says, and the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee, he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee, fear not, neither be dismayed. So these forces that they're going up against, these walled castles and things like that, God is, you know, these people aren't super trained militarily, right? These people have come out of Egypt and they're just being led by Moses, and all of a sudden weapons are being put in their hands and God's just like, hey, fear not, I'm going before thee, I'm going to protect you, I'm going to destroy these people, and basically, like think about Jericho. What did they do? They marched around seven times, and they did that for what, seven days, and then the walls fell down, and then they got smoked, right? Because look, that castle is not going to be fortified enough to keep God from tearing it down, is it? So my point is this, is that we're not, we should be afraid of the things of this world and the people of this world, the principalities and powers and all this other stuff, we've got to be afraid of God and not keeping His commandments. Let's turn to 2 Kings chapter 6, verse number 14, 2 Kings 6, verse number 14. So point number 1 is, when you operate your Christian life out of a spirit of fear, it doesn't come from God, it doesn't come from God. 2 Kings 6, 14 says, therefore, sent he hither horses and chariots and a great host, and they came by night and compassed the city about, now it's talking about Elisha being surrounded by the Assyrians, and it says in verse 15, and when the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth, behold, a host compassed the city, both with horses and chariots, and his servant said unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do? So they're surrounded by this giant army and there's nobody there to protect them, basically. The odds are totally against them, and what does Elisha say? He says in verse 16, and he answered, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. So what's he talking about? Well, see, there's a spirit realm that we can't see. We don't see the angels, we don't see the devils, all we see is what we see with our physical eyes, but we can't see the things of the spirit unless God allows us to see those things. So it says in verse 17, and Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see in the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. So Elisha wasn't worried, he wasn't scared because he knew that God's army was surrounding them and that they weren't going to be able to do anything against him. Look at verse 17, it says, He shall not need to fight in this battle, set yourselves, and maybe I, did I tell you to turn to a verse, hold on a second, I think I might have messed up here. Second Kings 20, I'm sorry, Second Kings 20 verse 17, or did I say Second Chronicles 20, Second Chronicles 20, my bad. Second Chronicles 20 says, He shall not need to fight in this battle, set yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed tomorrow, go out against them, for the Lord will be with you. And basically what happens here is this battle with Jehoshaphat, and he says, hey, you don't even have to fight, I'm going to go out and get all these people by myself. He says, set yourselves, stand still and see the salvation. You shall not need to fight in this battle. He just wanted them to go out and stand, they didn't have to do anything else. And see, God is the same way with us, we just have to stand in the power of God and trust Him to take care of us and we don't have to fear all these things that are coming about. See there's a lot of things in the media and the news that are just making people afraid right now. There's a lot of things making people afraid, but what is going to be your response to it? Well I'm going to move to Texas because Texas, they're never going to get rid of the guns there. I don't know, if it happens in one part of the country, it's going to happen in all parts of the country. It's going to eventually move to all parts that are going to want to take the guns away. There's nothing you're going to be able to do to stop it. You're not going to be able to move to some state and make things different. I talked about this before, not all states are different. California is usually super liberal, Washington, Oregon and New York and some other places over there, but the whole country is being swept away by socialism and by liberalism. We can't stop it. The only way we can make a dent in this thing is that we're doing what God told us to do. Not being afraid like all the other sheeple out there. We've got to be strong and stand up for God's word. I'm not talking about a physical battle, I'm talking about a spiritual battle, but I'll get into that more in just a minute. Let's turn to a couple of New Testament scriptures. Matthew chapter 10 verse 28. Matthew 10, 28 says, and fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. What is Jesus trying to tell us here? He's saying, fear not them which kill the body. Hey, there's going to be people who might try to kill your body at some point because of the stand you've taken, because of what you believe, but the Bible says here, fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. As long as you're saved, you're going to heaven. What are you worried about? It's better to be there than it is to be here, and if you get killed for your faith, then you get a martyr's crown. I don't know if that's a status thing up in heaven or what it is, but it's definitely a crown that you get. You're not going to get a crown for hiding up on some mountaintop, and then the beast gets you anyway with one of his drone strikes or whatever. You know what I mean? It's like people are just so afraid of everything, and Christians need to not be afraid. The Bible teaches the opposite of it. So in Luke 12, 7, I'll just read it for you, it says, but even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you're of more value than many sparrows. So if God says the very hairs of your head are numbered, He knows exactly how many hairs are in each person's head in this room, and mine are getting a little thin. But I think when I get a glorified body that those hairs are going to be back, He knows how many hairs He needs to have to replace back there, and I'm thankful for that. My kids had to tell me, I didn't even know I was going bald back there. I never looked at the back of my hair when I brushed my hair, just look at the front, I just got to make sure it's not tweaked out back there. So for a couple of years, I just didn't know. And then finally one of them broke it to me, and I was like, I'm bald, what? I was looking back there, that was a sad day. But you know the thing is, Randy and Vicki Weaver had a spirit of fear, and they decided to act on that fear instead of going to a great church, living their life for God, they decided to flee to the mountains to hide out from society, and from God's people, and from keeping God's commandments. That's what they did. So if they were saved, they made the wrong choice. That's not what God's called us to do. So instead of fearing God, they feared the coming apocalypse. And you know the thing is, times of trouble and persecution are unavoidable. Time and chance happen to all people. We don't know, we're born into the generation we're born into. We can't stop that from happening. And so if all this tribulation stuff happens soon, and it may very well happen soon, they're kind of tightening the noose, aren't they? With a lot of different things. But all these things you have to understand are precursors. Right now they're forcing children that go to public schools to take vaccinations, so they're going to try to do the same thing with us, but are you going to let them? I don't care where I live, they're never going to hold me down and hold my kids down and give them a shot. I don't even think that that, I think that people fear, fear, fear, fear, they're afraid of it. But why? Why be afraid of it? Just say, I'm not doing it. Come on. What are they going to do? I think it's just more of a fear, I don't think it's going to happen. But you know, even if, so what are you going to do when the mark of the beast comes? Are you going to move to Texas? Are you going to move to Florida? Are you going to move someplace else where they're not doing it yet? It's not going to happen. You can't escape it. These things are things that you can't escape, and the vaccination thing that people are all afraid of right now is something that someone else is putting a spirit of fear in your heart over it. But if you know that it's God's, God's going to protect you if you keep His word, and you say, you know what, my family's not getting vaccinated, that's the end of the story. And when they come to the door with the needle, guess what, they're coming to the door with the needle for everybody. It's not just going to be for you. But do you really think that God's going to let that happen? Have you not read the Bible? All the times when God's people stood up to these tyrants and said, you know what, no, I'm not going to bow down and worship your idols, I'm not going to do these things that you want me to do and betray my Lord? And what does God always do? He always protects His people. He always protects His people. So what are you afraid of, oh ye of little faith? What are you scared of? When they come to give you the mark of the beast, are you going to say, well I better do that because everybody else is doing it? No, you're not going to do that, you're going to say no, chop my head off, get it over with. That's what God calls us to do, right? So why are we afraid of these little things that are just, you know, they're things that are not realistic. It's not going to happen. But you know what, if we don't stand up for the truth, it probably will. See the thing is, is that the thing that you greatly fear the most, if you compromise on God's word, He's going to let that happen to you. And that's what we don't want to have happen, right? So in times of persecution we can't hide from those things. If people are going to kill us because we're Christians, they're going to kill us because we're Christians. There's nothing we can do about that. Either God's going to protect us or He's not going to. So and people have been killed. You know John the Baptist was killed, Jesus' cousin. Jesus was killed. You know, many people, many prophets have been killed, many people of God, but you know what, we have everlasting life. So we should not fear those things that come upon us, right? Turn to Jeremiah chapter 38 verse 14. Jeremiah chapter 38 verse 14. And look, I've gotten into this mindset myself before, well I'm just going to go to the mountains and hide, you know, if this all goes down, I'm going to try to find the best jeep roads, I'm going to have a four wheel drive, I'm going to escape, you're not going to escape. The roads are going to be closed, homie, that's just the way it is. Well I found this one dirt road, we can just, you know, they're going to track you down, they're going to find you. But I'll tell you what, if you're not afraid, then God might not let them find you. You know what I mean? So we should not be afraid of these things. Now Jeremiah 38, this is about Zedekiah, and Jeremiah's trying to tell him, hey, stop being afraid and just do what God says to do, and I'll protect you, I'll spare the city, I'll spare the temple. Look at verse 14, it says, then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the Lord, and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing, hide nothing from me. Now to this point, Zedekiah would not listen to anything Jeremiah had to say. Look at verse 15, it says, then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, if I declared unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death, and if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me? So Zedekiah the king swears secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, as the Lord liveth that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life. Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, if thou wilt, alright, so he's saying, if you do what God says, if thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and thou shalt live at thine house. So here's the other part, look at verse 18, it says, but if thou wilt not, but if thou wilt not, go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall the city be given to the hands of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand. And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid. He's afraid. He's afraid. Who's he afraid of? Of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand and mock me. He's afraid of getting made fun of. He's afraid of losing face in front of his buddies, and so he's just afraid, and you know what happens when you're afraid? He's too afraid to obey. He's too afraid to obey what God said, and so that's the spirit of this Ruby Ridge thing, is that instead of just obeying what God said to do, go out and preach the gospel, go to a good church, fellowship with God's people, live in society. They chose to run off and go someplace else, and what was the end of their family? Destruction. It was. It was destruction. So he says, I'm afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand and they mock me. But Jeremiah said, they shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee, so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live. So what's he saying? Just obey. Obey. But you know, he doesn't obey. He doesn't obey. So look at Jeremiah 52. Turn over to Jeremiah 52. So basically he ends up telling Jeremiah, don't tell anybody that we had this conversation or I will kill you, and that's that. He's not going to obey. He's not going to listen. He's too afraid. Jeremiah 52, verse 8, here's what happens. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all the army was scattered from him. And they took the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon and Riblah, in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him, and the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He slew all the princes of Judah and Riblah, and he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and the king of Babylon bound him in chains and carried him to Babylon and put him in prison till the day of his death. So what ended up happening to Zedekiah, he didn't obey the voice of the Lord, and he got smoked. His family got killed. Everybody was destroyed. The whole city was destroyed. All he had to do was just obey and turn himself over to the princes of Babylon like Jeremiah told him, and all that would have been turned away, but because he was a coward, because he was afraid, because he feared the wrong people, then it destroyed his whole family. It destroyed all of Judah. It destroyed the temple. It destroyed all of Jerusalem. Being afraid can cause a lot of harm, can't it? When we fear other things instead of fearing God and keeping His commandments, like I said, the thing that we fear most is that that's what's going to happen. So this flee to the mountains mentality, people take this out of context. Again I've been one of those people that have been like, well maybe we should just do this or that. I never really seriously did it because it's just not the right thing to do. It sounds good, but when you're washing your own underwear out in the middle of nowhere, reality probably sets in, doesn't it? Turn to Matthew chapter 24. If you ever get a vision to go live in the mountains, just remember you're washing your own underwear. Matthew chapter 24 verse 15. Matthew 24 verse 15 says, When he therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place, whoso readeth let him understand, then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. So when are we supposed to flee? When the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place. Whoso readeth let him understand. Are we supposed to go before that? When does Jesus say to go flee into the mountains? He's saying to Judea. But it's when the anti-Christ is revealed, that's when Christians need to worry, because that's when the great tribulation starts, and that's when they're going to kill multitudes of Christians and cut their heads off. It says, Let them which are on the housetop come not down to take anything out of their house, neither let them that is in the field return back to take his clothes, and woe unto them that are with child and them that give suck in those days, but pray ye that your flight is not in winter, neither on the Sabbath day, for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Are we in the great tribulation right now? No. Has the anti-Christ revealed himself to us? No. Has this abomination of desolation happened? No it hasn't. So why would you flee into the mountains before those things happen? That's not what Jesus said, is it? So why do Christians have this mentality? I just want to be a prepper. I just want to go out and hide all these machine guns and build a grain silo and build all this stuff. You're not going to be able to escape it. As a matter of fact, the more you try to escape it, I think the more you're going to be the first ones gone. Because you're not obeying the voice of the Lord. You're going out and hiding out from society instead of doing what God put you here to do, which is what? Save people. Get people saved. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost, not to save you so you could go to a grain silo or some missile silo and build out some kind of bomb shelter for yourself and for your family, thinking that you're going to escape the tribulation. Not going to happen. It's not going to happen. And all you're doing is just disobeying God's commandments and He's going to take it out on you because you're not obeying the voice of the Lord. Number two, God has given us the spirit of power. God has given us the spirit of power. Back in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 7, it says, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power. So God's given us the spirit of power. See the Holy Spirit isn't the spirit that fears or makes us afraid. He's going to give us power. Right? He's going to give us power. So, the Bible says in Proverbs 28, go ahead and turn to Proverbs 28 verse 1. Now let me just tell you this. If you're running and hiding from everything that's happening, you're not bold. You don't have power. You're weak and you're afraid. Just like Zedekiah. If you're running and hiding now, you're not bold. Yeah, I said it. Proverbs 28 verse 1 says, the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion. Being bold as a lion isn't going and hiding someplace. That's being scared and cowardly. Unlike the cowardly lion. Right? He was always running from everything. But we're not supposed to be that way. We're supposed to be bold. We're supposed to have power. We're supposed to be not afraid to preach. Jesus said, what I whisper to you in your ears, preach from the housetops. Right? But we're not supposed to be afraid of what we're preaching. We're supposed to be bold and powerful. So we need to take a stand for God's word and realize that we're not in a physical battle. Turn to Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10. Ephesians 6 verse number 10. Now this is what God tells us to do. This is the battle that we are supposed to put ourselves in array with. It's not a physical battle. Your AR-15 is going to do zero to the devil. Now I have an AR-15. I like my AR-15. I like my guns that I have. But it's not going to protect us from the spiritual realm. Okay? It's not going to protect us from God who's going to be angry with us for not keeping His commandments. Alright? Ephesians 6 verse 10 says, finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Not your might. Not your AR-15. Not your stockpile of water and food supplies. But you're supposed to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, right? So it also says put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. So what is it we're supposed to put on? What is this armor? It's not something that you have sitting at home in your closet, is it? This is a spiritual armor. And it says that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. So if you want to stand against the wiles of the devil, you better have the full armor of God on. You know what? I'll tell you what. It's not on the mountaintop. That armor is not found on the mountaintop. It's found through God's Word and through faith. Let's read it right here. It says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. So look, there's a whole network and an organized system that the devil has in place that's way more organized than we are probably. It's probably more organized than this church is. But you know the thing is that if we have the whole armor of God on, we can still resist the devil. We can't see the punches coming from him. But if we have that armor on, then we can be able to stop those blows from hitting us. So the Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand in that evil day, and having done all to stand, stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Hey, who are you giving the gospel to up on Ruby Ridge? Who are they giving the gospel to? The deers? The deer? The bear? The antelope? The woodchucks? The rock beavers or whatever? I saw some weird animal here yesterday and I was still not sure what it was. I thought it was a badger at first, but then it like, I don't know, it was some kind of, I don't know, a furry creature, but when the Bible says that we are supposed to preach the gospel unto every creature, it's not talking about the beavers and all that stuff, right? It's not talking about the animals. It's talking about people, okay? And on top of Ruby Ridge, they were giving the gospel to zero people. And so what, when they went for fellowship, so if they would have been going to a good church, they could have had the fellowship, right? They could have had the soul winning, but instead they would go to the Aryan nations to get their fellowship. That's a big mistake because then what happened after that? Then they got entrapped into their federal case. Even though he didn't agree with what they believed, you hang out with the wrong people, wrong things are going to happen to you. So all that cascaded into an avalanche of things that they didn't want to happen. It's terrible what happened to Vicki Weaver. Terrible. That's the worst part of the whole story, and the 14 year old son getting shot. But I guarantee you he probably didn't think that all that was going to happen when he moved out to Ruby Ridge. So the point is here, number two, is that we can't fight a physical battle against the devil and as many as we have to put on God's armor. And that includes soul winning. That includes faith. That includes having the word of God. Verse 17 says take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. If you're getting out of the word of God that you need to go hide in a mountaintop somewhere, then you're not reading it right. I just showed you the verses where it says when you're supposed to flee to the mountains, didn't I? All right, number three. God has given us the spirit of love. God has given us a spirit of love. Now this is my love sermon. This is part of my love sermon for you right now. I don't want to talk about how much negative things we preach about, but this is the love part of the sermon. So pay attention if this is for you. 2 Timothy 1 says, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love. So God loved us. The dirty rotten wretches that we are, He still loved us and saved us, didn't He? But the thing is that He wants us to love other people too. So John chapter 14 verse 15 says, If you love Me, keep My commandments. What are the commandments that God gave us commandments to keep, right? And what are the top two commandments? Well, turn over to Matthew chapter 22 verse 36 and God tells us what the top two commandments are, number one and number two. So Jesus expects us to keep His commandments. We should keep His commandments. But not everybody does that. Matthew chapter 22 verse 36 says, Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law, Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. So we are supposed to love God more than anything else, right? And number two, verse 38 says, This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. So what's more loving than going to somebody's door and sharing the gospel with them so that they can go to heaven too? There's nothing more loving than that. You can show them the God that they're supposed to believe in, so you can show them how to keep the first commandment. You can show them how to be saved and how to go and have eternal life. That's loving, isn't it? That's how the Bible says we're supposed to love. He's given us a spirit of love. The Holy Spirit's given us a spirit of love. He wants us to love our neighbor as ourself, not go hide away someplace. And how are you going to go show people your love when you're hiding somewhere? How are you going to do that? How are you going to show people the love that you have for other people when you won't even go to church? Who's the one that sends you out? The church does. So John chapter 15, turn to John chapter 15. John chapter 15 verse number 8 says, Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. And what's he talking about? He's talking about getting people saved. Helping people through that door. Helping people take that drink of water. Helping people eat that piece of bread that's the Lord Jesus Christ so that they can have everlasting life. But how do we glorify the Father? Bringing forth much fruit. It says so shall ye be my disciples. Are you his disciple if you're not bringing forth fruit? This guy I was talking to yesterday was like, I just think that I have to follow Jesus and believe in Him. Keep His commandments and believe in Him. It's like, you're not even going soloing. How are you following Him? Jesus said, follow Me and I'll make you fishers of men. So if you're not fishing, you're not following. Does that make sense? I stole that from Pastor Perry. Alright, I've got to give credit where credit's due. But it's true. If He says, if you follow Me, I'll make you fishers of men and then you don't go fishing, then you're not following. Doesn't that make sense? So in John chapter 15 verse 9 it says, as the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you, continue ye in My love. If ye keep My commandments ye shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. And look, how can you go soloing on the mountain? Maybe they're taking the fishing part literally. Turn to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter number 10. Romans chapter 10 verse 13 says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him whom they have not believed? How shall they believe on Him whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? How shall they preach except they be sent? That's what God's saying. Hey, you know, what did we do yesterday? We sent you out soloing, didn't we? What are we going to do today? We're going to send you out soloing at one o'clock. And so how are you going to go preach if you're not sent from somebody? Were they sent to the mountaintop to go preach to the bears? No. That's idiotic. It doesn't make sense. It's not what Christians should be doing. So look at verse 15. Again, how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them which preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. See, God wants us out there preaching the gospel. He wants to look at those pretty feet going from door to door, those feet that ache and hurt after the end of the day of soloing and you feel like, I don't know if I can go for one more flight of triple-decker apartments. I don't know if I can do it. Maybe that's just me feeling that way yesterday, but look, soloing is hard work and it's hard on you. But you know, God wants us to be sent. He wants our feet to go from door to door and preach the gospel and we can't do that out in the middle of nowhere. We can't do that if we don't have a church to be sent from. Look, a lot of people are online listeners and they always say, well I just can't get anybody to go soloing with me. You know, I've tried to go a couple times and I just can't do it. You know why they're not doing it? Why they can't do it? Because they're not being sent. They're not going to a local church or they don't have a good church to go to. And I'm not saying you've got to move to this church, but you probably should move to a church where you can serve God in. So you'll never catch me saying, hey you need to move to this church. I won't say that, because then when you come and fail, you're going to say, pastor you told me. I'm not doing that. That's on you. If you fail, it's on you. But God does want you to be in a good church, but you know what He's going to do when you try to move? He's going to make things very difficult for you. Not God, the devil. The devil is going to make things difficult for you. You really want to go to church, huh? And then all kinds of crazy stuff happens. Who's ever had that happen before, when you try to go to a good church? Or you just try to be faithful at the church you're at. The devil's going to come in and work through your unsaved family members, he's going to work through your unsaved friends, and he's going to try to get you to quit. What's your threshold? What can you deal with? If you keep in perspective that you should be obeying God rather than men, if you keep in perspective that you're supposed to serve the Lord your God and Him only, if you put in perspective that God is number one in your life, and everything else, including your family members and your friends and everything else means nothing compared to God, then you'll put things in the right perspective and say, hey God's number one in my life, my wife's number two or my husband's number two or whatever. There's an order that God has things in. He's number one. So whatever your family member is saying like, you guys are in a cult, I can't believe that you teach this and that. Look, they called Jesus Beelzebub, didn't they? They hung Him on a cross. And the Bible says if they hated Him, they're going to hate us too. But if you're not getting hated on by somebody, then maybe you're not a very good Christian. I mean seriously, if everybody loves you like everybody loved Billy Graham, then you've got to step up your game a little bit. So number four, God gives us a sound mind. Second Timothy 1 says, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Sometimes people take these conspiracy things a little too far. Now look, I'm not saying that there isn't conspiracies, but there are. There are conspiracies, but not everything is a false flag attack, okay? I'm somewhere in the middle here. I think that there's people that are way over here to the extreme, and then way over here with their head buried in the sand. I'm kind of in the middle. And I wasn't that way always. When I first found out about chemtrails, I was like Chicken Little, you know, the chemtrails are coming in. You know what people look at you like? Like you're an idiot. They look at you like you're a moron, and look, it might be true that there's chemtrails. I saw some chemtrails yesterday, but do you know what they do? I don't know what they do. I've been trying to find out, but I don't know what they do. But I'll tell you what it doesn't do, it doesn't kill everybody, because we're still here. The first time I actually noticed them, nobody had ever told me about them. This is kind of like right in the beginnings of the internet, there was still dial-up. I still had dial-up. It took forever just to like pull a page up. But I noticed outside these chemtrails that I'd never noticed before, that was in 1999. And so I actually called the news, and they made a report on it. You know, of course they didn't interview me or anything, but they just explained it away. So, who knows what they do, but I'll tell you what, God never told us to be afraid of chemtrails. You know, we're supposed to be afraid of God. The chemtrails are not going to kill us. They might try to kill us with them, but you know, do you think God is going to let us all just die from chemtrails tomorrow? No. He's not. And look, I was freaked out about it when I first started noticing it too. I don't know what it does. Does it change the weather? Does it modify the weather? They're trying to push all this global warming stuff. Look, I honestly don't know what it does. But here's what I do know, that I'm still alive, 1999 was a while back, and I'm still alive. And what I understood though, after a while, is that I can't do anything to stop that. I can't, you know, I could call the news, but they're in on the conspiracy. I thought the news was on my side back then, I was wrong. What can I do about it? And that's the perspective I had to end up putting myself in, is what can I do about it? What can I do about the fact that 9-11 was an inside job? I can't do anything about it. Do I believe it was an inside job? Yeah I do. But some people don't. Is that going to make or break my Christianity, whether it is or not? No. So I did notice, I'll tell you what though, Genesis 8-22 says, while the earth remain as seedtime and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease. So they can try to modify the weather all they want, but God says they're not going to stop it. They're not going to stop seedtime and harvest, they're not going to make the cold and heat flip flop. They're not going to stop the summer and winter from coming. And maybe they start, I don't know what the camp trails do. That's my point. And look, I'm not worried about it. You know what I'm worried about? Getting people saved. You know what I'm worried about? Making God happy. I'm not fearful of these things because look, I've gotten past that. I'm older than most of you in here. Not everybody. There's a few people. I'm looking at some gray hairs here. Not trying to be offensive here. But I've been around the block. I've been a Christian for a long time. I've seen all these things before. I've seen it in a previous generation. And I was one of those people. This guy, I mean I'm serious. I told everybody. I remember going to a mariner's game with my grandpa and my uncle and talked to them all the way back down about the camp trails and about the new world order and all this. They probably thought I was nuts. Maybe I was a little bit. Maybe I was going a little nutso over it. Instead of giving them the gospel on the way down for three hours, I gave them the camp trail gospel. Is that what we're called to do? No. So vaccinations. I've had my bouts with vaccinations and all this other stuff. Josh got vaccinated when he was a baby against my will. One time he almost died from them. He had a seizure. He had to be taken to the hospital. I'm against vaccinations. I hate them and I'm never going to let someone walk in. Josh is 17 so people aren't going to hold my little kids down. I don't have little kids anymore. But I understand that there's people that are afraid of this thing. But look, God's given us a sound mind. Do you think that if vaccinations are here they're going to be everywhere else too? They are. They're everywhere. Vaccinations are everywhere. In some countries they just put a gun to your head and say you're not going to take the vaccination or you're going to die. We're not there yet. It's getting bad. But I'll tell you what, all we have to do is stand up for God's word. He's going to protect us. Why are we so scared? Why are we so fearful? We shouldn't be. And we're so far off the grid, most of us with our homeschooling, that they don't even know who we are. You're just like, you just send that little paper in once a year or whatever and it's like yeah I'm still homeschooling. Stay out of my business. Nobody's come and kicked my door down yet. We fear these things because the media and all this stuff wants to hype everything up and oh they're coming for us, they're coming for us. This guy's falling. Hey, just serve God with your life. Just get yourself into a good church. That's what you need to do. Quit being so afraid of everything. When you've got the God of all heaven and earth and the whole universe on your side and He's got your back, but I'll tell you what, He's not going to have your back if your focus is on something that shouldn't be on. If your focus is on the gospel of chemtrails and vaccinations, I'll tell you what, that's not the gospel God wants you to preach. And we've got to stop being afraid and we've got to stop being duped by the media and we've got to at least stop being duped by conspiracy theorists that are way out there. Some people just take it too far and that is not a sound mind. If you're making your decisions based upon the chemtrails or based upon vaccinations or based upon GMO foods or based upon whatever. That's not the decision we're supposed to be, we're not supposed to be making the decision in that order. We're supposed to be making the decision based upon the order that God wants us to. And look, I'm all for organic food, but do you think, where are you buying your organic food at? The same place you buy the non-organic food. You think those guys are the good guys too? They're just hippies that just like to make, look they're just pandering to, and obviously some of that food I'm sure it is better for you. But is that what you're living your life based upon? Are you going to just starve to death unless you can get an organic sandwich? I understand that the food thing is a complicated thing, but if you're so focused on food all the time that you can't think, you can't get spiritual, then you've got a problem. So again, the prepper mentality is to stockpile weapons, stockpile food, get all your camo, make sure you have the trails of escape, have your bunker out in the middle of nowhere. And look, I'm okay, look if you want to do that and that's like some kind of hobby you have, that's cool. I'm not trying to like rain on your parade, okay? I'm not trying to rain on your prepper parade here, but look who's ultimately going to protect us? I think we should be wise, I think we should store up for times of need, Joseph taught us that in the Bible, but is it something that consumes you so much that you're just not going to church? That shouldn't be your mentality. So God's given us a sound mind, let's use it. God's given us a spirit of love, let's use that. God's given us the spirit of power, let's use that. But the spirit of fear has no business in a Christian's life. No business. So let's see, let me skip over here, I'm trying to run out of time I think. Actually I'm the pastor, I can preach as long as I want, so turn to Matthew chapter 10. I don't think it's been that long has it? Okay, it's not that late. When is the time that we should flee? So I already showed you the time when we should go to the mountains, but when is the time, you know just any other time that we should flee? Matthew 10 21 says, and brothers shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father of the child, and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. And he shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. It's not talking about Calvinism, okay? Saved your life will be saved is what it's talking about, it's talking about the time of the tribulation. But it says, but when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another. For I verily say unto you, you shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man become. The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Hey, if you're a Christian, you're a Bible believing Christian, you're going to get persecuted. The Bible says that all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And that doesn't always mean you're going to get killed, that doesn't always mean you're going to get beaten up, but persecution in one way, shape, or form. Facebook jail is not persecution. Getting Twitter banned is not persecution. Having your YouTube deleted might be persecution, I don't know. But I'll tell you what, at the end of the day, do you think Randy Weaver is sitting, he's alive still, do you think he's happy about how everything turned out? I don't think he is. I don't know where he lives now, I saw a little bit of an interview from him from last year, it doesn't seem like he's very happy. So the Christian that says I'm going to go move out to the mountains and forsake everything, and forsake winning souls, and forsake a good church, and forsake the fellowship that God commands us to have, then that might be your end. That might be your end. Turn to Daniel chapter 3 verse 10, this is the last passage I'll have you turn to. While you're getting there I'm going to start reading. As thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man shall hear the sound of the cornet, the flute, the harp, the sack-foot, the psaltery, the dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down in worship with the golden image, whoso falleth not down in worship, that he should be cast in the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar and his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, the flute, harp, sack-foot, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye do fall down in worship the image which I have made well. But if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were put in a tight spot here. Would they have bowed down and pretended to be worshiping the image? They could have. But see, they made a stand. They already were not doing it. Nebuchadnezzar liked these guys and so he was willing to give them another chance. When that music starts to play, you better do it or I am going to throw you in the fiery furnace. Listen to what they say to him. This should be our attitude as Christians when it comes to trying. When we know it is God's word, we know we need to stand up for it. We know we need to make a stand at that point. This should be our attitude when it comes to being put into those positions. It says in verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. So what was our attitude? I don't care what you say, I don't care what you do to us, that we are not going to worship your golden image. Whatever time the music starts playing, we are not going to do it. And that should be our attitude when it comes to breaking God's word. If the day comes and they are at your door with a needle and they are holding your husband down, what are you going to do? All you can do is just resist to the best you can. But you know what, I will tell you what, if we are just silent and we try to hide and move from state to state, looking for the perfect state to try to hide from all these things. Look, they might be good on one thing, but they are not going to be good on the other. And eventually it is all going to be one world government. Maybe we can't hide from all this stuff that is going to come upon us. This vaccination thing is just the first stage of trying to make us under their control and try to make people take the mark of the beast. Are you going to take the mark of the beast? No. Don't take the vaccination either. It's pretty simple. And look, it does come down to God's word. I preached a whole sermon about vaccinations not too long ago and I don't want to get into the whole subject of it. But it is putting dirty stuff into your body. It is putting animal parts. They used abortion and aborted fetuses, aborted babies to develop these vaccines. So anything that comes from that, I don't trust that. And I never will. And so I believe that putting those in your body is a sin. That you are sinning against God. So I would never tell someone to do that, but can we run and hide from this? We can't. We have got to make a stand. Just like those soldiers that God said, hey, you are not going to have to do any of the fighting. I am going to do it for you. All we have got to do is stand. We have got to stand. We have got to make a stand. We have got to draw a line in the sand and say we are not going past this. But look, it is not a physical battle. It is a spiritual battle. They want to get into your mind. The government wants the people. They don't care about what you have. They want the people. So their attitude and our attitude when it comes to obeying God's word should be the same as these guys here. We are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image that thou hast set up. And just remember this, when all seems lost, isn't it true in the Bible that things got really bad in certain situations and all seemed lost? And God just came and gave them a great victory. You think about the children of Israel, they are backed up against the Red Sea and all the Pharaoh's armies are coming against them and Moses said stand back and see the salvation of the Lord. He put out his staff and part of the Red Sea and they all escaped on dry ground. Remember that story? Do you remember when Hezekiah was surrounded and he went in and he prayed before the Lord and God destroyed the whole Assyrian army and he didn't have to do a thing. He didn't have to do a thing. See, it's up to us to just keep God's commandments, it's up to God to protect us. If we trust in Him, that's what He's going to do. We have to just understand that we are going to get the victory. One day, we are all going to be in heaven and these vile perverters of the flesh and all these wicked people, they are going to be cast into hell and they are not going to bother us anymore. They are not going to be able to chase us with all their garbage and try to make us afraid anymore. But we need to keep going soul winning. We need to keep preaching God's word. We need to keep defending ourselves from these vaccinations. We need to defend against the abortion of children and the murder of children and we need to tell them we are not going to take your mark. That's the way our attitude should be. But it shouldn't be to run and flee and hide into the mountains. That's some lessons that we can learn from Ruby Ridge and from God's word. Rachel Weaver was I believe the oldest daughter and she was in the documentary that I watched about it. This is what she said at the end of the documentary that I thought was really interesting. She said, when you operate out of misinformation and fear, that's when things can go wrong. Things did go wrong because they were operating out of misinformation and fear. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we thank you Lord so much for, Lord just for your word and how plain you make things. Lord that you will protect us, you will take care of us and you are not going to let anything harm us. Lord we have to keep your commandments and I pray that Lord that this sermon would really just resonate and drive home into the hearts of the people here and Lord I just pray that you would be with us as we go sowing this afternoon. Bless the food that we are about to partake of later and I pray that you would just help us to have a great spirit and Lord I just pray that all the people that came from far and wide I pray that you would bless them, protect them, watch over them, keep their vehicles safe, keep their families safe Lord and we just thank you for all that came out for this weekend. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.