Dr. John Goetsch - The Stones that Separate Us from God's Power - Oct. 8, 2017 Sun AM

what a tremendous truth well it's a joy to be here at Keenan Baptist Church and I'm looking forward to these days with you and I hope that you will do as your pastor has asked and be faithful to the meetings the Bible says the faithful man shall abound with blessing and oftentimes we say Lord bless me bless my family bless my church and God says well you'd be faithful I can bless you and so I hope and pray that you'll find yourself here in these services just as often and as best you can and let the Lord speak to your heart it's a joy it's an honor to be with you for these days let's take our Bibles and go to the Gospel of John John chapter 11 the Gospel of John and chapter 11 I'm going to read the first six verses of this chapter and then we'll look at several more in this same chapter as we get into the message but John chapter 11 and I think many of you will recognize the setting and the context of this passage John chapter 11 and starting with verse 1 the Bible says now a certain man was sick named Lazarus of Bethany the town of Mary and her sister Martha it was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was sick therefore his sister sent unto him saying Lord behold he whom thou lovest is sick when Jesus heard that he said this sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus when he had heard therefore that he was sick he abode two days still in the same place where he was God has not lost his miracle-working power the God of the Bible is the god of today and the miracles that God was able to do in Bible times are still able to be done by God today now this passage of Scripture opens with some information about some friends of the Lord Jesus Christ Martha Mary and Lazarus two sisters and a brother the Bible tells us that Lazarus this friend of the Lord became ill well Mary Martha did what you and I would have done they sent word to Jesus why well they knew Jesus had the power to heal the brother they had seen him heal the sick raised the the lame to be able to walk they had watched him touched the eyes of the blind in the ears of the Deaf they knew that Jesus had the power to come and heal their brother so they sent word to Jesus saying he whom thou lovest is sick now they didn't have text message in they didn't have email they didn't have Skype they had to send a literal messenger in person to go and tell the Lord that he was needed but the Bible says that Jesus receives the message he understands the message but he abode still in the same place where he was two days it appears he does nothing then a little bit later we find in verse 14 Lazarus is dead and now Jesus says to his disciples let's go and they come to Bethany four days after the fact let's pick it up in verse 34 Jesus said and he said where have you laid him they said unto Him Lord come and see Jesus wept then said the Jews behold how he loved him and some of them said could not this man which open the eyes of the blind have caused that even this man should not have died Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave it was a cave and a stone lay upon it Jesus said take he away the stone take he away the stone one stone separated these people from a miracle and Jesus said take ye away the stone why didn't Jesus move the stone didn't he have power to move a stone he had created the stone he could have said stolen out of here got work to do he moved the stone in his own resurrection did he not on that first day of the week when the women came to the sepulchre they saw the stone rolled away and an angel sat upon it said why seeking the living among the dead he's not here but it's risen he could have moved this stone so I didn't do that was something the people could do take ye away the stone I wonder what stone separates us from the miraculous power of God today is there a stone between you and a prayer being answered is there a stone between you and a need being supplied is there stone between you and a relationship be mended what stone separates us from a miracle today as I go back in this passage I find there are four miracle stopping stones in this passage let's go up all the way back to the beginning look at verse number seven Jesus gets this word that Lazarus is sick he does nothing he abode still in the same place where it was verse six then in verse seven then after that saith he to his disciples let us go into Judea again his disciples saying to him master the Jews of late sought to stone thee goest thou thither again jesus answered are there not twelve hours in the day if a man walk in the day he stumbleth not because he seeth the light of this world but if a man walk in the night he stumbleth because there's no light in these things said he and after that he saith unto them our friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go that I may awake him out of sleep then said his disciples lord if he sleep he shall do well howbeit Jesus spake of his death but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest and sleep then said Jesus unto them plainly Lazarus is dead and I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent ye may believe nevertheless let us go under him this story takes some twists and turns does it not word comes to Jesus that Lazarus is ill the Mary and Martha they thought Jesus would would respond but he does nothing then after two days he he says to his disciples a we need to go back to Judea we need to go down to Bethany and the disciples said Lord are you sure I mean the last time we were down there they tried to kill you died are you sure you want to go back he said well our friend Lazarus he's sleeping and I go to me I need to go wake him up well the disciples were aware that Lazarus was sick and now Jesus is saying he's sleeping the best thing you can do when you're not feeling well is to get some rest right I mean the best thing to do is sleep and that's what the disciples are thinking they're saying Lord if you sleep he shall do well we don't need to go down there we don't need to risk our lives just to wake a man up and she said no you you misunderstand Lazarus is dead oh well what was the response look at verse 16 then said Thomas which is called didymus unto his fellow disciples let us also go that we may die with him I see the stone of doubt here you know the first thing we do when we face an obstacle is oftentimes we doubt we fear because we look at our own resources when we say well there's nothing I can do we look at a problem that's bigger than us and we say well no sense trying to add I mean there's no sense going there I have nothing I can do about that I don't have the ability I don't have the power I don't have the finances I don't have this or that you know there's there's nothing that can be done oftentimes when we see a problem or we see a difficulty we see a mountain that's bigger than us our first response is one of unbelief our first response is one of doubt we're looking at our resources our strengths our power and it's no match for what we face everywhere I go in this world I hear people say well I just don't see how we're gonna have revival I just don't see it I mean I don't I don't see how in this world the way it is that we could possibly see an awakening or or a revival of spiritual things I I think we're too far gone I I just don't see it you know what you're not supposed to be able to see it faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen can I remind us this morning that without faith it is impossible to please God not improbable not unlikely impossible he's a doubt if his damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith for whatsoever is not of faith is sin doubt feder are we missing some miracles today because of the stone of doubt it's interested in Matthew chapter 13 verse 58 the Bible says that Jesus could not do many mighty works there because of their belief what's sad Jesus comes to this area and he says you know I'd like to do some things here I'd like to do some some miracles here but let's move on there's no faith there would it be a sad thing for God to look at my life this morning or your life and say oh I'd like to bless those people I sure like to provide for them I'd sure like to meet their needs I'd sure like to answer their prayers but let's move on there's no faith there would it be sad for God to look at this church this morning and say oh I'd like to start revival right there I'd like to start a national revival right there in Covington Georgia right at that Keenan bachelors I'd like to start it right there no no let's go on over here because there's no faith there we missing some miracles because of the stone of doubt my oldest son John in college met a young lady named April and they began to become friends and work their way toward dating and finally after graduation they got married and China and April went off to serve the Lord and it was a good thing a wonderful thing God was blessing their lives went to a church in central California as an assistant pastor and then from there into evangelism and God was blessing them and wasn't long after their marriage that a little girl came into their lives had a baby named Katie our first granddaughter wonderful and a couple years after Katie came Annie and Annie another beautiful little girl and boy God was blessed in their family now blessing their ministry and God was being good to them and then that awful word cancer no one likes to hear that word now the surgeries the medications and the treatments and by God's grace the cancer was eradicated from April's body and that for months and months and months the doctor said the cancer is gone we were very thankful very grateful but the doctor said John they pulled down one day and they said now you're cancer-free but because of some of the medications and treatments that you have been through you're not gonna be able to have any more children now that wasn't the most devastating news they had two little girls very thankful for them but they had wanted to have a larger family and so they prayed I said Lord we know what the doctors say we know what science says we know that it's impossible because of the things in April's body for us to conceive another child but you're bigger than all that and if you want us to have another child we would be thrilled and give glory to you and try to raise that child for the Lord and so they began to pray by faith number of years went by but one day April was pregnant and it was exciting I mean they defied the odds they they beat science and and and and April was pregnant and they went to the doctor he was not excited not excited at all I always said this is not good this is not good that this baby cannot survive the things your body are going to do damage to the to the child you you've got to terminate this pregnancy this baby cannot survive full-term you you've got to end the pregnancy oh they said no we're we're not gonna do that this is a gift from God this is what we prayed for and and and and we want this child oh the doctor said listen it has very slim chance of going full-term and if it is born it's going to have handicapped it's gonna be mentally a handicapped it's going to be blind it's gonna be deaf I mean you bring you can't bring a child like this into the world it's just not right you've got to terminate this pregnancy no they said we we believe this is what God wants well John and April weren't evangelism in those days traveling and they were holding a revival in a little town called Cass stay at California it was Super Bowl Sunday and John and April both football fans and April's a Steelers fan uh than that she's pretty good person but they were kind of excited about the Super Bowl and and yet on the west coast the Super Bowl comes on at 3:30 in the afternoon and it's kind of a bad thing you get to watch the first part of it then you go to church and nobody can keep their mouth quiet at church everybody's talking about it and tells you who won after church and and so it's kind of anticlimactic to go home and watch it so it's kind of a it's kind of a bad thing but the pastor there where they were preaching he's a football fan as well he said tell you what he said we're gonna have a bunch of people over to the house after church tonight and we've all vowed to secrecy that no one will turn on their radio or their phone or anything and we're gonna watch the game after church and have a little fellowship the house oh they were excited about that so after church they went over to his house and everybody nobody knew what was going on no one knew who had wanted so they turned to turn the video on and they began watching the Super Bowl and it was a good game they were excited and April got a little too excited I guess and as that game ended April looked at John she said John I think I'm having contractions well the baby wasn't due for several more weeks but April knew what contractions were she'd had two other babies she said John I think this baby's coming well they're in a strange town there they don't know if there's even a hospital and so they asked the pastor and he directed them toward a hospital and they got to the hospital and took April in and and and and and indeed this baby was coming well now they gathered the databases and all this was gonna be one of those babies and so all the specialists began to descend upon that hospital as that little premature little boy was born that night they named him John I called third John hardly weighed three pounds hooked up to all kinds of machines and things to keep his body working and now the tests began they poked and they tested everything that little kid's life finally after several hours the doctor came in he said you know it's pretty amazing he said your baby is is doing pretty well I mean he's small he's gonna be here a long time but we haven't found really anything in his organs or his brain or things like that the only thing that we have found so far that's wrong with your son is these death and he said we've done the test we do it three times to be sure it's right and and and your son has no hearing at all and and it really compared to what could have happened this is a miracle what it was and and we were all very grateful but John looked at that doctor we had never met until that night and he said sir he said we're Christians and we've been praying that God would give us a completely healthy child for his glory and I'd like you to do that hearing test again well the doctor said we don't do it again we do it three times and that's standard procedure John so I understand that but I'm asking you if you could do it again the doctor said young man you don't have insurance I don't know how you're gonna pay for the first three tests much less another one John said don't worry about that we please do the testing yeah doctor said okay John went outside that hospital and he began to walk around the hospital he picked up a rock on one of the flowerbeds he actually stole it he still has it in his office but he picked up a rock and he I guess there's kind of a symbol of God's power as a as he is the rock his work is perfect and he began to pray and say Lord I'm praying by faith that you would heal my son do a miracle went back in the hospital and a couple hours a doctor came in kind of shaking his head he said you know I I did the test again in fact I did it three more times because I couldn't believe the result your son's hearing this fine you know John's almost nine years old now and he's a little guy he's not very big he's still little weighs just over 40 pounds he wants to be the world's first ninja evangelist I I have no doubt about the ninja part the Evangelist part I'm still kind of wondering but as energy as always and and by the way his hearing is fine when he wants to hear he hears just fine folks are we missing some miracles today because of the stone of doubt but I see secondly the stone of disappointment look at verse 17 then when Jesus came he found that he had lain in the grave for days already now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem about 15 furlongs off and many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother then Martha as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming went and met him but Mary sat still in the house then said Martha to Jesus Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died now go down to verse 32 then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him she fell down at his feet saying unto Him Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died isn't that interesting Jesus arrives in Bethany and Martha goes out to meet him Mary stays at the house Martha goes out she falls down before him and says Lord if you had been here my brother not died she she's venting her frustration Lord were worried we sent you word we asked you to help we weep I thought you loved us we're worried you what could have been more important than this if you had come when we asked if you'd come when we had bid you this would not have happened she's been thin well as soon as she finishes she goes back to the house she stays at the house and now Mary comes out to where Jesus was and says the exact same words lord if thou it's been here my brother had not died you know what that tells me it tells me that had been the topic of conversation in the last four nights around the dinner table where was he why did he come he knew the situation he knew the problem we asked we believed in him we had faith we trusted why did he come I'm speaking to people in this auditorium this morning that have no doubt in your mind that the miracles recorded in Scripture actually happened you have no doubt you know that the Israelites crossed that Red Sea on dry land you believe it it's recorded in that book and you take it as true you believe it happened you believe that Jesus took five loaves and two fishes and fed 5000 men plus the women and children and had twelve baskets of leftovers when he finished after everybody was full you believe that you believe that Jesus actually walked on water you believe the miracles of the Bible and you've heard people in this auditorium over the years stand up on a Wednesday night or a Sunday night and give a testimony of a miracle in their life an answer to prayer a healing from a sickness a job provided a relationship restored you've heard of the miracles that have taken place in your time but for some reason he hasn't answered your prayers you prayed you trusted but for some reason God said no and it's left you disappointed your faith is eroding your trust is at a low level you disappointed and you're about to miss a miracle do you remember job in the Old Testament Joel the Bible says was a great man fact it says he was the greatest man in the East now job was great financially materially he had wealth tells us his wealth job was great in the sense of his family he had ten children seven boys and three girls job was great spiritually Joel feared God and eschewed evil Joel grows up early in the morning every day and offered sacrifices according to the number of his children attend sacrifices every morning just in case his kids would send that day thus job did continually job was a great man but one day the rug is pulled out from under his I mean almost that fast all of a sudden word comes that all of his possessions are gone all of his cattle is camels as sheep they're all stolen or destroyed the servants who were tending to them they're all killed or taken captive he gets that word and now another word comes that his children ten of them all in one house they were celebrating they were rejoicing in a and a storm a tornado comes through a wind and it destroys the house and they're all dead and we read on in the chapters and we find that Joel gets sick he has these boils over his entire body he's in tremendous pain and discomfort and and then his friends come and they they're supposed to be encouraging him but instead they said Joel you're backslidden your God is judging you you need to get right with God and then his own wife says Joel curse God and die well I mean that's that's getting down there isn't it but you know what job said in job 1315 he said though he slay me yet will I trust in him and here's the rest of the verse don't miss it I will maintain my own ways before the Lord you know what we do what a little trouble comes we quit you know what happens when we're disappointed we sense it I'm out somebody leaves the church well forget it things don't go our way now lord I tried I trusted but you didn't come through so see you later listen this world is filled with people who tell me I used to be a Christian now the truth is you can't used to be a Christian once you're saved you always say but I know what they mean they tried it it didn't work they used to go to church they used to sing in the choir they used to teach the class they tell me these things I was a deacon once but they're not in church now they don't read their Bible anymore they don't pray they've never told anybody about Christ they no longer tithe they don't they've quit you know why because they're disappointed for some reason God didn't come through for them but not joke joke said no no no no no he can slay me but I'm gonna maintain my ways before the Lord can I encourage you this morning you may be going through a heartache you may be going through a disappointment you may be going through something you don't understand right now and you're wondering God what is going on can I tell you just maintain your way before the Lord who is among you that feareth the Lord that'll be at the voice of a servant let him stay upon his god stay upon your God don't let the stone of disappointment keep you from a miracle I see thirdly the stone of dishonor in verse 39 jesus said take ye away the stone Martha the sister of him that was dead saving him Lord by this time he's taken forth been dead for days Jesus finally arrives at Bethany the body is now laying in the grave for four days the stone has been put over the covering and Jesus arrives and says taking away the stone and and then Martha she's thinking no Lord no don't do that he's been in there for days they didn't have the embalming methods that we use today for the bodies when when someone dies today we can keep a person preserved so to speak for for days weeks I mean we can wait for family to come to a funeral we can do autopsies that take sometimes months to determine the cause of death and so we have we have ways today to preserve the body but they didn't have that in Bible days when someone died they buried them the same day if they died in the evening they buried them first thing in the morning so now this body has been in the grave for four days and Jesus has taken away the stolen and Martha says no Lord please you're gonna embarrass us the Jews have come to comfort us concerning our brother and you're gonna make us look bad it's not gonna smell good lord please the stone of dishonor can I remind you that Jesus has already said this sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God can I remind you that he said to his disciples even though he knew that what he meant by sleeping was that he was dead said I go that I may wake him out of sleep when Martha went out to meet Jesus in in verses 25 and 26 and she vents there she says to Jesus have you been here my brother had not died you know what Jesus response was I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die but all that's going right over Martha right now you know why because all Martha was thinking about was herself Lord this isn't gonna look good you're gonna embarrass me lord please don't take that stone off of there I wonder how many miracles have we missed because we're worried about how it's gonna look for us we're afraid to even bow our head and pray at a restaurant for fear that somebody might see us we're afraid to go up to a door and and knock on the door and invite somebody to church for fear they might cos at us or they might slam the door in our face I wonder are we afraid to even tell our family members about Christ because we're afraid I met a man two weeks ago in Ohio 96 years old a man lost who was married 62 years to a Christian he said we never talked about it Oh listen are we missing a miracle because of the stone of dishonor and by the way this could happen to the best you remember the early part of Acts the the Apostles they were only preaching the gospel to the Jews they thought the message was only to the Jews and so they're preaching and the Jews are being saved by faith but one day Peter gets that vision remember it out of heaven that the beasts come down in this sheet and and some of them repeater soul those are clean we can eat those those are unclaimed we can't eat those and God says call nothing unclean and through that vision he showed Peter that the gospel was to go to the Jews and the Gentiles aren't you glad and Peter he he understands that and so now Peter is preaching to the Gentiles and the ten thousand are getting saved by faith by the way that's the only way you can get saved is by faith and so all these Gentiles are you saved then and after the service one night Peter is with these Gentile believers and their fellowship being over a meal they're having a good time but all of a sudden into the restaurant came some of the circumcised the Jews and Peter he sang to go and he ran over he sat down with the Jews because of fear of what they would say if they saw him eating with the Gentiles and Galatians 2 and verse 11 Paul said when Peter was come to Antioch I withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed I can just about hear that conversation Paul with his finger in Paul's face st. Peter you knew better come on man God showed you that the gospel is for the Gentiles you are the first to understand that and you knew those people were getting saved by faith and yet you got concerned about Peter how many miracles do we miss today because we're concerned about Peter instead of about Jesus Christ how can you believe would seek honor one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only all they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God the stone of dishonor but then I see finally the stone of delay in verse 39 jesus said take you away the stone verse 41 then they took away the stone from the place where the Dead was laid and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said father I thank thee that thou has heard me and I knew that thou hearest me always but because of the people which stand by I said it that they may believe that thou sent me plenty of us that spoke and he cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth and he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was bound about with a napkin jesus saith unto them loose him and let him go Jesus gives the commands take away the stone and it says then they we don't know who apparently more than one they move this stone aren't you glad somebody obeyed the Lord suppose Jesus said take the away the stone he's not talking to me I I don't know anything about moving stones I'd never had any training I wouldn't I wouldn't know how to do it he needs somebody else to do it I it's not it's not my job not my job description well I think we'd better get a permit I mean you can't just be moving stuff there might be a little animals under that we could hurt we we I mean you got to have a permit for this stuff I know let's form a committee let's talk about this No somebody moved the stone I bet Lazarus was happy you know folks the honest truth is your pastor gets up here week after week after week and declares the truth of the word of God and we know what we ought to do but the truth is a lot of times it's the stone of delays it's not that we're against that truth it's not that we're never gonna do that truth it's just we're not gonna do it today and by the way the devil doesn't care what you do as long as you don't do it today God is a present tense God God never in the Bible one time says get saved soon he never says get saved tomorrow he says today if you'll hear his voice harden not your heart behold now is the accepted time today is the day of salvation come now and let us reason together saith the LORD though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow he says remember now that creator in the days of thy youth you see God is a present tense Scott the devil is the master of procrastination and he'll say I understand you know what you need to do but let's let's wait and the stone of delay we know we ought to get baptized we know we ought to join the church we know we ought to start witnessing we know we ought to read our Bible we know we ought to pray and one of these days Felix was a man in the book of Acts who heard Paul preach Bible says Felix trembled under conviction but he said Paul when I have a more convenient season I'll call for thee and I've read the book of Acts many times I never found that Felix ever came to that convenient season there's no record he was ever saved the stone of delay I was preaching in Indianapolis one night it was a Tuesday night and there was a lady in the church I had not met her it's a rather large congregation she was about 65 years old and that morning she had come home from doing some grocery shopping about 10 o'clock pulled in her driveway and just as she did her neighbor lady about the same age pulled into her driveway as the ladies got out of their cars the lady from the church she kind of waved at her neighbor but immediately noticed that she was crying she was obviously upset she quickly ran around the fence line is that are you okay is there something wrong her neighbor said I just came from the doctor they said my cancer is back there's nothing they can do I've got two weeks the Christian lady she said all so sorry she said come on skit you inside she got her inside and they sat down and the Christian lady she said look we've talked about this and you know you need Jesus you need a Savior really said I I don't want to talk about that now she said look why don't you get some rest I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna fix us something to eat and I'm gonna come back over this afternoon we'll have a little meal and we'll talk after you get some rest and then I'd like you to come to church with me tonight we're having a revival I know it would be a help to you lady said I don't think I'm gonna be up for any of that she said listen you get some rest I'll be back at 4 o'clock she went home she fixed a little meal four o'clock went back over lady invited her in they ate together and they came to church they said over here on this side I did not know one thing about what I've just shared they said over here about halfway back on this side was kind of a fan-shaped auditorium and they were in a section over here I preached that night out of Hebrews 9 verse 27 - it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment and I spoke of the brevity of life and how important it is to be prepared to meet God and the only way to be prepared is through Jesus Christ for he's the way he's the truth he's the life and no man can come to the Father except by him I preached the gospel this lady listened very intently just as I was about to close the message a man to my left about five rows in the back in the very far section sitting on the aisle his name was Bob Estes he was 40 years old it was like someone shot him in the pew he just suddenly fell over the people the very few people saw it though there was a commotion in the back as they were back there what happened most of the people were looking this way I saw it happen and as soon as Bob hit that pew a man right across the aisle jumped up to go to his assistance and as he did I saw a stethoscope sticking out of his coat pocket he was a doctor just so happened to be sitting right across the aisle he got Bob laying down there in the pew and wouldn't you know it the Lord had three registered nurses sitting back here with the doctors commands one went to the lobby to call 911 the other two assisted the doctors they were checking now his vital signs well I closed the service just as rapidly as I could and I had heads bowed and eyes closed and the pastor came up he was sitting down here he came up and I covered the mic and I said pastor there's an emergency in the back he quickly surveyed the situation and he said John give the invitation that doctor is the best in Indianapolis he knows what to do let him do it so we gave the invitation and people began to come and some came to be saved that night but this lady did not move by the time we finished the invitation the ambulance had arrived the paramedics were bringing the cart into the auditorium the red lights were flashing through the front doors the pastor explained to the people there was a medical need and we were all to be seated and he began to lead us in some prayer time for Bob as we finished our prayers we could hear the sirens going off into the distance we dismissed the service as we did this lady who had brought her neighbor turned to her neighbor and said look don't you think you ought to get saved I mean this morning you were told you've got two weeks and and and now you've come and you've heard a Bible message about how we've got to prepare to go to heaven we've got to be saved and now we've just watched a man almost half our age we don't know if he's dead or alive don't you think you ought to be saved and this lady looked at her neighbor and she said I'm just not ready when I heard that later I thought when will she be ready but the devil is really good at procrastination he's really good at getting us to put off what we know we ought to do today don't let the stone of delay or the stone of disappointment or the stone of dishonor or the stone of doubt or any other stone keep you from the miraculous power of God in your life today let's bow for prayer

Channel: Canaan Baptist Church

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Length: 43min 47sec (2627 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 10 2017