All right, so this is Luke/Acts for Beginners. This is lesson number two. The title of this lesson is, The Beginning. And we will cover Luke chapter one, verse one, to Luke chapter three, verse 38. In our first lesson I showed you the outline that we're going to use to cover Luke's gospel in this quarter. And since this book, as I mentioned, is way too long to do a line-by-line study, we're going to, kind of, jump through it, hit the high points. Here's the outline, the beginning. Meaning, the beginning of Jesus's ministry, chapters one to three. Jesus in Galilee, His Northern ministry where He actually begins His ministry. Chapter four to nine, Jesus facing Jerusalem. Meaning, on His way to Jerusalem. Many things happened as He was outside of Jerusalem on His way to the city, chapters 9 to 18. Jesus entering Jerusalem, His ministry, the things that take place when He goes actually into the city, His interaction with the people there, and then, the consummation, meaning His trial, His death, His resurrection, chapter 22 to 24. So in this lesson, we're going to cover the beginning chapters, 1 to 3. And we start with the introduction. Luke's gospel is unique, in that it is originally written for an audience of one person. A man named Theophilus. So let's take a look at chapter one, verses one to four, "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished
among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,
it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught." Luke begins by explaining why and how and to whom he has written this gospel. So he starts with the why. What does he say? Well, many others have taken upon themselves to do this very same thing, in other words, recount the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus. Some, we know, were apostles: Matthew and John. Others were simply writing and commenting on the times. And so Luke undertakes a similar mission. How? Well, he's not an eyewitness, as are the apostles, but he does have access to the writings of the eyewitnesses. He has been a co-worker with an apostle, Paul; and one who was a disciple of Peter, Mark. So he had interaction with both Paul and Mark. He's also an educated man and his training has enabled him to research and organize and select material that will lay out his gospel in a clear and concise manner. Now, he doesn't say this himself, but with time, the early church acknowledged that his work was guided by the holy spirit, and thus was added to the canon of the New Testament, as an inspired gospel record. We have the why, the how, and the who. Theophilus is only mentioned here and also in Luke's other book, which is the book of Acts. Theophilus was a gentile who was either a high official or a very wealthy person, since he is addressed with the title "most excellent". So Luke's book is an attempt to provide confirming information to what this man already knew about Christianity. A lot of people think that he was eventually converted, because Luke addresses him using only his name, with no title, in the book of Acts. Something which would have been improper, had he not become a Christian. So, it begins with the birth of John the Baptist. The beginning, we talked about the beginning and the beginning is not the birth of Jesus, but the beginning of - rather, the birth of John the Baptist. He stated in his introduction that his account begins with John the Baptist, who serves as both an embodiment and a bridge of everything that came before up to the birth of Christ. In other words, instead of going back and explaining everything that happened in the
Old Testament, Luke simply tells the story of John the Baptist, because John the Baptist embodies all of what came before. He lived under the law, the Old Testament. He was in the likeness of Elijah, one of the great Old Testament prophets, according to Jesus, Mark 9:13. He, himself, was a prophet. We know that Matthew 11:9. His life and ministry was the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah, in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 3, "A voice is calling, clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness, make smooth in the desert a highway for our God." And then, if you read in John 1:19 "This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" And he answered, "No." Then they said to him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" And he said, "I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as Isaiah the prophet said." So it is logical, therefore, that Luke will begin his narrative with John the Baptist, who summarized all of what came before, and was chosen by God to introduce Christ to the world. So let's read, go back to Luke now, and read chapter one, verse five and six, "In the days of Herod, the King of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years." So a feature of Luke's writing is his historical precision. He does not want his account seen as some kind of fable or mystic tale or hearsay or some sort of gossip - one step beyond gossip. He's very careful to ground his characters in historical accuracy and proper cultural context. For example, the days of Herod, the King of Judah, are an exact time period In history. Zacharias is one who can be traced to a particular Jewish tribe, a particular place, a particular time. His role and function as priest is accurately described according to the law and custom of the times. That they were elderly and childless sets the stage for God's entry into their lives in a miraculous way. Now, we don't have time to read verse eight all the way to 80, but in this section, the birth of John the Baptist is described. Again, in an orderly and detailed way. For example, in verses eight to 25, Luke writes that John's father, Zacharias is visited by an angel, who announces that he and his elderly wife will have a son, who would serve to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. So Zacharias doubts for a moment. And doubting Zacharias is struck dumb, as a sign of his visitation by the angel. A short while after his service in the temple and return home, Elizabeth, his wife, announces her pregnancy. And then in verses 26 all the way to 56, Luke shifts the scene to Mary and the announcement she receives from the same angel, Gabriel, that she also is pregnant with Jesus. Her conception, however, is truly miraculous because her conception is produced directly by God, without human interaction. Whereas Elizabeth became pregnant by union with her husband. In old age yes, but nevertheless in a natural way. Jesus's conception is done in a miraculous way. And so Luke then describes her trip to her cousin Elizabeth's home to help with her pregnancy. Luke's detailed description of Mary's interaction with the angel and her cousin Mary, suggests that his source was Mary herself. Who else? Who else could tell Luke what the angel said and what she answered? Who else could tell Luke what she said to Elizabeth? What Elizabeth said to her? The suggestion is the source was Mary, herself. Let's face it, Mary was still alive after Jesus's death and ascension into Heaven. Luke is the one who mentions that Mary was present in the upper room with the apostles and other disciples in the days leading up to the day of pentecost, Acts chapter one, verse 13. And so, in just a few verses, Luke sets up the time, the characters, and God's presence leading up to the births of both John and Jesus. And then, in verses 57 to 80 Luke provides detailed information concerning John's birth. So Elizabeth gives birth naturally, at the appointed time. Now the custom at that time was to be circumcised on the eighth day after the birth and also name the child at that time, as well. Luke mentions the circumcision, nothing unusual there, since all male Jews were circumcised, because it's the occasion when two other unusual things happen. Let's - now we're going to stop just summarizing. Let's read. We're jumping ahead to verse 59, chapter one. It says, "And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father. But his mother answered and said, "No indeed; but he shall be called John. And they said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who was called by that name." And they made signs to his father as to what he wanted him called. And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, "His name is John." And they were all astonished. And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God." It was customary to name a male child
after his father. In this case, the Angel had instructed Zacharias to name the child John. In the Hebrew, the word, or the name John means, the Lord has been Gracious. And in some way, he had made this known to Elizabeth who believed him, Against the protest of the family and the friends, she insists on giving the child the name John. So what happens? Since it was the father who named the child and Elizabeth spoke for Zacharias, who was struck done by the angel, the family turns from her and they appealed to Zacharias. Really? Listen to what she said. His name is John? Truly, Zacharias? That's not really his name. Come on. They appealed to him. You're the man. You're the one who should be doing this. Maybe your wife is, kind of, overriding you. Tell us. And so, what does Zacharias do? He writes on the chart, or a piece of paper, or something like that, his name is John. At that moment his tongue is loosed, he begins praising God. He demonstrates to the family and friends this was his idea, not hers. So he confirms the name John and immediately receives back his voice. So that's one thing that happens. The second thing that happens is that Zechariah's prophesied. He's a priest, served in the temple. He's not a prophet, but then we read,V "Fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea. All who heard them, kept them in mind saying, 'What, then, will this child turn out to be?' For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him." So after many months of pent up emotion, the old priest bursts forth a Psalm of praise and prophecy for God and the ministry he has given John in the future. So Luke reports that the people were in fear, seeing the hand of God working so powerfully and clearly among them. I mean, think for a moment. It had been four hundred years since there had been a profit among them. So this was a completely new and frightening experience. It's not like, well, ten years ago the prophet spoke. Or 15 years ago, this miracle happened. Four centuries. Four centuries go by with no prophet. No miracle worker. And then, all of a sudden, this takes place. Luke closes this section by simply summarizing John's growth and development, in a few words, saying that he was strong in the spirit. And he lived in the desert awaiting his call to ministry. So there's the beginning of John. Luke now shifts his attention to the birth of Jesus, chapter two, verses 1 to 52. So Mark, the gospel of Mark, Mark and John, the gospel of John, they do not provide any information about Jesus's birth. I mean, Mark starts out, boom, Jesus is the son of God. Right from verse one. He doesn't waste any time. Gets right to the point. So they don't provide any information about Jesus's birth. Matthew details how Mary conceived miraculously and Joseph's initial reaction and subsequent acceptance, after being told in a dream to go ahead and take Mary as his wife. That's what Matthew covers. Luke provides additional information that clearly fixes the historical timeframe for Jesus's birth. Caesar Augustus was the emperor of Rome at that time. There's a clear timeframe. Quirinius was the governor of Syria. He declares a census, something that was new at that time, and then was repeated every fourteen years for two centuries. So Luke provides this information to explain why Jesus came to be born in Bethlehem and not in Nazareth, where his parents lived. We know that this became a, kind of, an issue later on when the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus. They used this excuse to reject Jesus, because they assumed he was born in the city of Nazareth, because that was where his parents were from. And not in Bethlehem, where the prophet said the Messiah would come from. We read about that in John chapter seven, verses 50 and 52. So Jesus's birth, like John's, is accomplished by supernatural things and religious ritual. A little comparison, John was born of aged parents and an angel appeared to his father. Matthew mentions the star guiding the
Magi for Jesus's birth. Luke describes the appearance of the angel guiding the shepherds to Jesus and the heavenly hosts of Angels singing praises. In other words, miraculous things are taking place
accompanying the birth. John was circumcised, the name, and this was followed by a prophecy uttered by his father as his speech was returned to him. Jesus also was circumcised and named at the temple. Bethlehem, not being far from Jerusalem, only about four miles, but He was circumcised at the temple in the eighth day. Luke adds that not one, but two prophecies were made about Jesus. First by Simeon, then by Anna, about Jesus's future ministry. Whereas Zacharias clearly mentions John is the one to fulfill the role of the forerunner of the Messiah, preparing His way, the two prophets declared Jesus as the Messiah, sent by God, to save the people. Even as He is only an eight day old baby. So let's just read a little bit of this here in Luke Chapter two, verses 26. "And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ." This is Simeon, "And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law. Then he took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, 'Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the gentiles,
and the glory of Your people, Israel. At that very moment," now we're talking about Anna, the other prophetess, "At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem." So there are two passages that summarize the prophecies, concerning Jesus, made both by Simeon and Anna. And I'm just showing you, comparatively, the same type of things accompanied the birth of John and the birth of Jesus. Luke records both. So Luke leaves out Matthew's information about the family's time in Egypt. And he fast forwards twelve or so years, to describe the only incident recorded dealing with Jesus's youth. That is, His visit to the temple at the age of twelve. This is verse 41 to 52. Again, no time to read that. I think that's pretty familiar. This was a yearly trip and this demonstrated the piety and the faithfulness of the family, making this - check it out - a hundred and thirty mile round-trip on foot each year for the passover feast. It was a lot. If you think you live far from the church building, you got nothing on that. You got nothing on these people right here, and they did it on foot. His parents, we know the story, his parents lose track of him on the return to Nazareth. They spend three days - not one day, not two days, they spent three days looking for him. And finally find him in the temple area with the teachers who were amazed at His understanding and the way He answered their questions and the questions He was asking. Luke provides this picture of young Jesus, as a preview of His public ministry, His teaching, and His preaching and also, His ultimate goal, which would be death and resurrection. Remember, I said, he was lost to his parents
for three days and then found again. Again, a preview of what was to take place and another strong argument about where Luke was getting his sources. Who would know best about this event here when Jesus was 12? I would think his parents would know about that event. We get a bit of an idea of where he gets his resources. So John's ministry, then he moves ahead, chapter three. This is John's ministry that begins. Let's go to John Chapter three, he says, "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah in the wilderness." Talk about precision. Historical precision. He starts at the top - Ceaser, and he works his way down all the officials. This guy was the head of the empire, this guy was the governor of the whole region, these guys here were in charge of the different sections, and in Jerusalem, Caiaphas, He was the high priest. All the way down to the religious leaders who held office at that time.
So you can precisely pinpoint exactly the time that he is talking about here, about John's ministry. John is true to his calling, echoing his father's prophecy concerning his task of preparing the way for the One to come. Again, we kind of pick and choose some of these readings here. In Luke 1:76-77, it says, "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins." And then in Luke chapter three, "As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah, the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make ready the way of the Lord. Make His paths straight. And all flesh will see the salvation of God." These passages referring to John the Baptist, he is fulfilling the prophecy concerning the one who would prepare the way for the Lord. So Luke provides a good summary of John's ministry, that includes most of what Matthew and Mark give us, and His eventual execution at the hands of Herod. Only Matthew describes the actual execution, all right. So let's look at his message, John's message. John's message, at the time, was for the Messiah. The Messiah was coming. The Messiah was near. And the people had to prepare by purifying themselves. Repent and be baptized. Isn't it strange? John said, repent to be baptized. Jesus comes along, what's His message? Repent and be baptized. And the apostles come along, what's their message? Repent and be baptized. Two thousand years later, we're here in the pulpit Marty, me, Mike, whoever will - Dayton, whoever, but gets to the invitation. What's the invitation? Repent and be baptized. Why is it that so many people reject the idea that you have to repent and be baptized, in order to become a Christian? How many prophets and preachers need to be preaching that, over how many millennia, before people accept that that actually is part of the gospel? Anyways, I digress. His message was that the time for the Messiah was near and the people had to prepare by purifying themselves. Repent and be baptized. The idea of purifying oneself before coming before God. This was not a new idea. This was an old idea to the Jews and
nothing radical here. The priests did it before ministering in the temple. Leviticus, we read about that in chapter eight. People continually did it if they were ceremonially unclean. If they had touched the dead, a dead body or something like that, they had to purify themselves with water.
Nothing new there. John the Baptist's preaching was powerful, because it condemned the entire nation and called on all, high and low, not just the people, the priests and the people, to become ready for the Messiah to come - let's do a little more reading here, Chapter three. "So he began saying to the crowds, who were going out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father.' For I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. Indeed, the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." Luke provides, not only the high themes of John's preaching: the coming of the Messiah; and everybody needs to prepare; and He will baptize, when the Messiah comes, He'll baptize with the spirit. He also provides a glimpse of the details of John's preaching to individuals. Read a little bit more, "And the crowds were questioning him, saying, 'Then what shall we do?' And he would answer and say to them, 'The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food, is to do likewise.' And some tax-collectors also came to be baptized. And they said to him, 'Teacher, what shall we do?' And he said to them, "Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.' Some soldiers were questioning him saying, 'And what about us? What shall we do?' And he said to them, 'Do not take money from anyone by force or accuse anyone falsely and be content with your wages." Practical preaching. Practical teaching. People yes, I believe, yes. I want to be ready, but how do I put that into practice? What does my repentance look like? Well the repentance 2,000 years ago looks very much like the repentance today. Doesn't it? If you steal, stop doing that. If you're impure sexually, stop doing that. If you're a violent person, stop doing that. If you abuse something, stop doing that.
Pretty much the same. So he was there to prepare the way and the Messiah would both bless and judge.
In verses 16 and 17, Luke also describes the excitement of the people and their curiosity whether John was, himself, the Messiah. So John was creating a lot of stir, if you wish,
among the people. This gave him the chance to further describe and contrast each of their work. The work I'm doing and the work that the Messiah will do, he was there to prepare the way, but the Messiah would both bless, in other words, baptized with the spirit, and judge. Let's read a little bit about that, verse 16 and 17 he says, "John answered and said to them all, 'As for me, I baptize you with water, but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." So the preaching is powerful. He also speaks ahead of time of what Jesus, in a large thematic way, what Jesus will be doing. And then Luke closes out his summary of John's ministry by briefly mentioning that Herod, because John had admonished him for his many sins, including stealing his brother's wife, had John imprisoned. We only hear of John a little bit later on, in Luke chapter 7, when from prison he sends some of his disciples to question Jesus. John believed that when the Messiah came, the judgment on the people would also come, at the same time. He was preaching, when Jesus comes, He's going to do this, He's going to do that. And there's going to be a judgment. So in his mind, the blessings, and what Jesus was doing, and the judgment on the people, for the disbelief, that would all happen all at the same time. And so, when Jesus comes along, and part of what John had been speaking of, when part of it was happening - the miracles, the healings - when that was happening, that was good, but when no judgment was taking place, when the sinners and the high priests and when the those who had disobeyed God, when the rot had not been cleared out, he began to doubt. Well, are you really Jesus? I don't see the judgment. And I've explained this before, in prophecy, they give you the events in order, the order that they're going to take place. But the prophets rarely gave the timeframe. If five things were going to happen, you knew the order of them, but you didn't know how much time in between
each event. And this was the problem here. As Jesus's ministry grew, John saw no accompanying judgment on the nation. So he was questioning Jesus. Are you the One? Of course, the judgment on the nation
he spoke of did come, but only several years after John's death in 70 AD, when the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem and it's temple. So he had correctly prophesied the judgment, but his assumption was it would happen right away, when Jesus appeared. And, of course, it did not. After closing out the information about John's ministry, Luke provides a flashback scene to introduce a new section of his narrative. And that is, the ministry of Jesus. The ministry of Jesus begins. Let's read just a little bit of that section. It says, "Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, 'You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased." In you I am well pleased. So Luke gives a brief description of this event and He focuses our attention from the very outset That Jesus is, first of all, the divine Son of God. We don't have to guess what Luke's assumption is of Jesus. Immediately we know what he is inferring, by what he is writing. Secondly, Jesus's ministry is pleasing and from God. And thirdly, He is the one that John spoke of in his preaching and prophecy. So as he has done for John, Luke now establishes Jesus's ancestry, but in a more complete way, going all the way back to Adam and not only back one generation, as was the case for John. For John we knew who his father was and what tribe he came from, when he introduced John. But when Luke introduces Jesus, His genealogy goes all the way back to Adam. He also fixes Jesus's age at about 30 years, which as is his style, gives us another historical marker to view this gospel. Okay, so there's the first section of Luke's gospel. It does not contain specific teachings by Jesus or by John, for those who would be reading Luke's account. However, there are some lessons that we can draw from this preliminary information. Just a couple of lessons. And you say, boy you sure went through that fast. Well, yeah. It's a lot of stuff in Luke. A lot of stuff in Luke. So I'm, as I mentioned to you at the very first lesson, I'm trying to drill down on those passages that are particular to Luke.
Like, only Luke writes about them. And I'm, kind of, going a little more quickly over those passages that are also found in Matthew and in Mark. That's the method here, that we are taking to go through Luke. But it still requires, kind of, a speedy, survey-style. So the first section of Luke's gospel, as I say, there's no - you don't see Jesus teaching or anything like that, but it doesn't mean there are no lessons that we can draw. So lesson number one, Christianity is based in history. That's a lesson. That's an important thought. Unlike most Eastern religions - hinduism, buddhism, sikhism - these type of things and native or primitive religions, North American Indian or in the Caribbean, for example, Voodoo and those type of religions, Christianity has a fixed historical starting point and is populated with people for and against, that can be traced throughout history. You can find the people who were against Christ and against Christianity. You can find those people in the Bible. They're named. Luke tells us who's on our side. Who's on their side, type of thing. So this makes it easy to attack. Because the times, the people, and the teachings, are fixed targets that can be seen and studied and criticized. The advantage, however, is that we can also more easily study, learn, and believe people and historical facts that are permanently fixed. It's history. It's history. It's not hearsay. Its history. And that's important. Lesson number two, Luke's record is clear and exact. Maybe a lesson for those of us who may be writing sermons, lessons, and things like that. Clarity above all else. As far as teaching is concerned, Luke, Acts, are great educational text books. There's little theological speculation or examination of philosophical ideas in his book. Also, Luke does not use theological imagery,
as does John. Or Jewish religious history and practice, as does Matthew. Luke is interested in telling, first, the story of Jesus, and then the story of the establishment and the development of His church, after His ascension. All done in a historical framework that can be related to by anybody who reads it. So the lesson for us is twofold:
one, when sharing your faith, just tell the story in simple objective terms. Some people say, well, I don't know all the things in the Bible. I can't find that scripture. I can't do this. I'm not a teacher. The most powerful lesson that anyone here, including myself, can teach another person is the story of my conversion, and your conversion. That's what I still do. If somebody asks me a question about Christianity or we're talking about religion or something like that, I don't begin by saying well, let me tell you what Revelation 21 means. I don't start there. I don't say, do you know who the man of lawlessness is, that Paul is talking about in Thessalonians? No, I say, well, let me tell you how I became a Christian. Because I know that story. I know that story very well. And I can tell it with conviction, because it's my story. I became a Christian as an adult person and it's probably very much your story. So when sharing your faith, just tell the story. Your story. And then when teaching someone, begin with the simple telling of the story of Jesus, as Luke does. Don't start with the complicated things.
Don't begin with, well I know that you people don't believe in immersion baptism, so let me give you ten reasons why baptism is by immersion. Who cares? You people, you use instruments. Let me tell you why you shouldn't use instruments. Maybe you'll be converted because of that? No. You've just made an enemy. You tell your story, and then tell the story of Jesus, like Luke does. Simple, straight ahead, the facts: who He was, what He did, He died. We're not convinced that the story has power. We think, somehow, we have to give it power, but the story has power all in itself. All we have to do is tell it. The birth, the life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus, and His Message to those who would follow Him. That's it. Just tell that story. And you'd be amazed at how much you already know, but you're not aware of what you know, after you've done that. So I think those are, kind of, lessons we can get from Luke. Let's keep it simple. Let's keep it clear. All right, so here's the assignment, Luke Chapter 4 all the way to Luke chapter 6:16. I would appreciate you reading that ahead of time, so that as we do in the class here, I'll say, okay, we won't read this. Well, I have confidence that you've read it. So you know what I'm talking about, when I'm summarizing the information. Thank you very much for your attention.
