If you haven't yet you
can grab your seats. We do love you and are so glad
you're with us on Facebook Live, on YouTube. We're ecstatic to
have you with us by joining us all around
the world on the podcast, after the fact. And I mean I got a
message to preach today. I am ready, I'm excited. While I organized
my notes let me just tell you that we're
really thrilled that after over a year
being suspended, and not being able to physically
be in the Deer Lodge State Prison, we had our very first
gathering this last week on Tuesday. Just absolutely over
the moon about it. Just thrilled with what
God is allowing us to do. They're rotating the prison
population by 25% at a time, and allowing them to
come into the service. So they'll only be able
to come to the gathering, or be eligible to, once a month. But we're happy
just being at all. We've been sending video
files in, but now to be back and doing this. Even if it takes a whole
month to get them all, that's amazing. Which is not too unlike outside
of the walls of a prison. People showing up
about once a month. I'm just kidding. We hope you come more often
than that, especially right now. God is just speaking
so much to us through this series of messages. And it's been incredible. And if you have a
Bible, Acts, chapter 16. And as you turn in
there, let me just say how excited we are as well
about our movement conference coming up. Students, sixth grade
through 12th grade, from all across our church and
all across the whole country coming together for a
time experiencing God, connecting together. It's going to be amazing. We'd invite you, if
you have students to get them here to prioritize
them being in Kalispell. There are online
options as well. But if you can
and are physically able to get to the
conference in person it's going to be incredible. But Acts 16, I want
to preach to you a message that I'm calling
when God doesn't make sense. When God, if we're honest,
we could say sometimes from our perception he
just doesn't make sense. Have you ever felt that? Maybe was pain you
were experiencing. Maybe was a problem that
you were presented with. Maybe it was just you had
stalled out in something that it seemed like He was in
it, and all of a sudden you're just standing there. If we can be real and take
off our halos for just a minute in this gathering. And just together
acknowledge the fact that there are times
when we're just left going what are you doing? Or even maybe where
are you at all? Acts, chapter 16. We're going to see Paul the
Apostle, who for him things have been going really well. Really well. You're like, how well have they
been going in Acts, chapter 16? Well, in verse 5, it
says, "So the churches were strengthened in
the faith, and they were increasing in number daily." Healthy things grow, right. This is how it should be. And that's the whole point of
the second missionary journey. They wanted to strengthen the
churches they had started. They started
churches on one trip, and now they're coming
back and they're going hey, how is this
that we started doing? And they're working,
there they're pruning, they're weeding. Things have to be tended. Things in your soul can't
just be left to themselves. You got to fight for it. And so that's what Paul and his
crew were doing on this trip. There was some hard moments. There was some crazy
stuff that happened, people stuff, it's just real. Doing ministry,
doing life, stuff you just go sideways with people
you never thought you would. The guy who discipled Paul
the Apostle, Barnabas, they had a falling out
just most recently here. And so things were hard, but in
the midst of it God was there. And it was clear God
was up to something. And that brings us to verse 6,
the ominous dun, dun, dun, dun. "Now when they had
gone through Phrygia"-- she's in the Black
Eyed Peas, I think. "And the region of
Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit
to preach the word in Asia." So we're all clear,
my Bible says they were forbidden, not by
Lucifer, but by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. That same Holy Spirit that Jesus
said was going to come upon us and give us power to
preach the gospel. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,
and then ends of the world. And he didn't say, except Asia. We are just absolutely not
down on preaching there. So Paul has it in his
heart, has it in his spirit, to preach the gospel in Asia. And as he tries to,
he was forbidden. Forbidden by the Holy Spirit
from preaching the word in Asia. "So after they
had come to Mysia, they tried to go in
Bithynia, but the spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia,
see they came to Troas. And a vision appeared
to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia
stood and pleaded with him, saying, come over
to Macedonia and help us. Now after he had
seen the vision, immediately we sought
to go to Macedonia, concluding that the
Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them." I remember-- Oh, I
need my TRX straps. Here, bring those on down. I love to travel with
workout equipment that can fit in my suitcase. And my favorite to bring
with me is these TRX straps. No, go ahead and bring
them on down all the way. These are amazing because
their tension straps that use your body weight in exercise. So you can throw this top
of the strap over the door in your hotel room. And pretty much all
hotel rooms have doors. You can't be sure what
physical equipment there will be at gyms in
hotels around the world, but you can be pretty
sure they all have doors. And once your straps over
them, you can do bicep presses. And I think they call
that a preacher's curl, which is appropriate. And you can do triceps. I mean you have to kind of
find the angle you need to do. You can work your triceps. You can do rows. Bring them down a
little bit more. Yeah, that will be about good. You can do rows. It's amazing. You can work your
back all you want. And you can-- oh, bring them
all the way down to the ground-- you can do planks on them,
which is kind of weird. Because I mean
obviously you can do-- that's good right there. You can do regular
planks on the ground. But if you do a-- hmm can't remember
how you do this. It's been a minute. Oh get over here. You get this. There we go. Nailed it. There we go. So then you can do
a plank and you're having to stabilize yourself. But I was on this website
because some one Sunday I was about to preach. And I was like, I need
to work my chest-- it was chest day. And I was like, I need to figure
out some chest-- now there's normal like you can do normal
push ups on them, of course. And you can do these
like clock things where you do like one at a time. And you can do all that stuff. But then I got on
this YouTube video with this guy like, Oh, I'm sure
the best chest workout there's ever been in history the world. All YouTube videos
start that way. And bam! And then he's like,
smash that bell, hit that subscribe
button, right. And then he's like,
so here's what you do. He said, you put your TRX
straps up to the highest thing you can, and then you kind
of rotate away from them. And then he said, you can do
basically handstand push ups. And I'm watching
this video, and I'm like this guy looks like
the most ripped person in the history of the world. But I could probably do that. That'll be safe. Now, I can't get away
from them-- here, give me a little help. So here's what he was doing. Let's just go a little
higher, and a little higher, and a little higher. OK, there we go that's good. Perfect. So he's doing basically
these handstand push ups, just going for it like crazy. And that's what I
was doing except I got the most wicked, vicious
abdominal cramp I've had in the history of the world. Here, bring me down. This is very good. All right, thank you very much. No, no, no, so check this out. So I'm hanging upside down. And I had this horrific-- I don't know if you ever
had an abdominal cramp, but I felt like
this ab muscle was trying to get out of my
body like it was an alien. It was all knotted up,
and it was protruding. And I'm like Oh, Lord, help me. I'm on one hand, here. And right then, I get
a hamstring cramp. So now I'm hanging upside
down, like contorted. I fear like I'm going to
fall and break my neck my wife's going to
find me and just have so many questions
about what went wrong here. But I thought of that story
when I was reading this passage. It's a Sunday morning and
I'm just all tied up in knots upside down in the air. And that must be a little bit
how Paul the Apostle felt. Trying to preach the gospel,
trying to do a good thing. In fact, many people think he
was trying to get to Ephesus, and then he was going to head
into the region that contained the seven churches that
Jesus would later write to in the book of Revelation. And so his motivation was good. I've been appointed to preach,
that's why God sought me. That's why he touched
me, and saved me, and spoke over my life
what he wanted me to do. And I went through a
whole wilderness period. I mean you think
about what we talked about last week in the message. If you weren't here last
week, we talked about Elisha. And we talked about how
Elisha had to want it so bad, and some of us don't
want it bad enough. And that is we don't
want it bad enough to persevere through the
necessary desert season that God almost always prepares
people with and through. And so a lot of times what God
gives is he gives us a calling, but then he just
makes it seem as though everything in the
world is going upside down besides that calling. So that he can prove
that we still trust Him. He can develop some
muscles of faith in us. You see this in Elijah,
you see this in Elisha, you see it in David. You see it for sure
in Paul, that he was driven by the spirit
into the wilderness. Right. I mean, just the
amazing story we read last week was where
Elisha was watching his master Elijah go up into heaven. Right, and I thought we
could act it out here. So give me a little lift here. Here's Elijah, and he's
just going up and-- I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. We're not going to act that out. Elijah goes up into heaven-- and they told me that winch
she has a 200 pound weight capacity, so we're not going
to see if that's factual today. But basically, Elijah
goes up to heaven. And this mantle falls
and lands on Elisha, and he gets to go to
this great ministry. And it seems like
it's so instantaneous, but first he had to persevere
through a period that may have been as long as 18 years. Where it seemed like the
calling that God had given, the original dream
that God had given him, was never going to come to pass. And Paul similarly had faced a
multiple year long wilderness period. He was able to preach, he
was anointed to preach, he had proven the concept
that he could preach. Went pretty sideways early on. Had to get let out of the
city in a basket, long story. But basically it was
his time to shine. Except the spirit drove
him into the wilderness for a time of pruning, a time of
developing, a time of testing. The reality is many of
us are gifted and skilled far beyond the level
of our character, far beyond the level
of our integrity. And so at times we can
all end up in positions where we could do
things, but God knows that it would
destroy us if it first didn't take some time to
build some deep foundations in our lives. And so that's what
Paul had just endured, and now he's out of it. Right. So now it's like,
finally everyone agrees. The church-- yeah, go! And so he tries to go. He's like, I got this
dream in my heart. I got this vision in my heart. I got this God idea. And what's the God idea? Going to go preach in Asia. How many of you would agree that
sounds like a pretty good thing that God would get behind. I mean we didn't say
make meth in Argentina. You know what I'm saying? Like what part of
this is a bad plan? And I think the times when
we can be the most confused with what God is doing
is the times when we're trying to do something
that He should, by all rights, bless. He should be
getting behind that. Now all of a sudden He's
forbidding-- the Holy Spirit forbade Paul from
preaching in Asia. Here's what I believe. I believe God wants to use
your confusion as navigation. He wants to use your
confusion as navigation. Paul's in a moment where
he is confused here. He's confused
about why God won't let him go into this area. So he's like, find I'll
go into Bithynia, sorry. Right and I'll go over here. And God's not letting
him go in here. Now you're like, how
is God leading him? How is God forbidding him? How is God doing this? The leading of the Holy
Spirit is interesting. It's something that you
have to catch, more than you can be taught it per se. But the more you listen
to the Holy Spirit, the more you wait
for the Holy Spirit, the more you foster
your relationship with the Holy Spirit,
the more in tune you'll get with His leading. So where to start? We'll, start at the beginning. Ask God to fill you,
you could do it today. Ask God to fill you
with His Holy Spirit. If it's been a long time since
you've interacted with God's spirit, ask him to refill you. Ask him to fill you afresh. I've never gotten on the stage
of this church a single time of my life without
asking God to fill me afresh with his Holy Spirit. And the more you're listening,
the more you're waiting, the more you're
pausing, the more you begin your days
with just a few moments to be quiet before Him. Or when you feel
confused in life, it's especially imperative that
you seek Him and look to Him. And I was thinking about
the Holy Spirit this week, and I was getting my
shoes on to go to work. And I noticed that when I put
my foot down on the ground, it just immediately some
sensation hit my brain. That doesn't feel right. And it's because I had put the
left shoe on the right foot. Now the interesting thing is it
went in, it filled the space. It just was wrong. And that's how it is when
God leads you a lot of times. You just know instinctively and
instantly something's wrong. Something and I imagine
Paul was about to go, and just right then it
felt like his left foot was and the right shoe. He just felt, God
you're not in this. And I think when you're
listening to that, you sense that still, small
voice of His is leading that. Because it's like that. It's not necessarily
going to be some big sign, some big omen, some huge word. Someone interrupts you, you
never met at Burger King, like put the whopper down,
thus sayeth the Lord. Right. If it happens, that's amusing. That's a great start
to a story, right. Whether it's right or wrong,
it's amusing at least. But I think a lot of times
it'll just feel like, Oh, wow this isn't quite right. God leads, it's
subtle like that. But the more you pay
attention to Him, like a horse that gets good
at responding to its rider, the more He doesn't have
to use a lot of force. He's not having to
break out the spurs, He's not having to get
out the riding crop. It's just you just feel
a shift in the weight. You can sense the Holy
Spirit leading like that. And Paul had grown, no
doubt, during his years in the desert where we
know nothing about him except that he was seeking God. He was he was growing
strong in his faith. In that desert
season he had come to know very clearly when God
was in something and leading. And he was probably confused
when I can't go here, so I go here. Well, you can't go you
can't go there either. Why am I being forbidden? Why am I being Forbidden
I feel like God told me this week that sometimes the
reason we're told no we can't do things is for freedom. Could it be that God talks
freedom inside of things that he forbids? Forbidden freedom. He's trying to get to
freedom, and so he forbids. Is not that the case
in the Garden of Eden? He knew we would
be separated if we took the fruit from this tree. He forbade it. He said don't touch that tree. Don't eat it. Why? Because he wanted
us to have freedom. Freedom from sin. And when you're not
married yet, right. If you're looking
and living your life according to God's word
and that's your goal. For me and Jennie, I know
that when we were dating we had read in the scriptures
as we were following Jesus, that one of the things
that would honor God in our relationship was to
save this gift of sexuality for when we were married. And so one of the things
we had to say to each other all the time was, it's
not no, it's just not now. It's not no. Because how we feel is good. And God doesn't activate
your sex drive at the altar. It would be nice if
that was how it worked, but it was there, man. I'll tell you what. It was there during our dating,
it was at our engagement, it was there three days
before we got married. It was there when we
were licking the stamps and putting them on
the RSVP envelopes. And we had to keep trying
to stop making out. And it was there
every minute of it. The point we would say to
each other is it's not no, it's not now. Why has God forbidden it? To get us the freedom. To get us to a place today
where as man and wife we're not constantly
wondering, did she cheat on me? Has he cheated on? Does he have affection
for someone else? You see we were showing
each other a long time ago how we feel about
God's standards, and how we feel about
forbidden fruit. And we, with each other, were
the forbidden fruit back then. Now, the forbidden
fruit has changed. There's always forbidden fruit. And whatever God forbids it's
always to get us to freedom. And that's one of the
ways in which God will use your confusion as navigation. For Paul it's trying to get
to Asia, and it doesn't work. So what does he do? He wakes up from a dream
and realizes maybe just maybe the reason
God said no to Asia was because he wanted
me to go to Europe. And I hadn't even
thought of Europe. Europe wasn't even on my radar. Macedonia was not
something I had thought of. I thought if you want to
reach the world you've got to reach the big
influential commercial centers. And man that's Ephesus,
and that's Thyatira, and that's Smyrna. You got to get
into those cities. I want to reach those. That was how he thought he
was going to change the world. But it is confusion he
listened long enough and was receptive enough for
God to smuggle some freedom in to what he had forbidden. And I believe God wants
to do the same for you. So he has this dream. And in his dream a
man from Macedonia, which is a European
area or region. The equivalent would
be our states today. Although, today
Macedonia is a country. And they call it FYROM,
the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. And in his dream, a man
from Macedonia-- and we don't know how Paul knew. Maybe he had a name tag that
just said from Macedonia or something right. But in his dream, a man
who's from Macedonia was just saying please help us. Please help us. They weren't even on his radar. But Paul's confusion
became the catalyst for God to give him some navigation. So he wakes up and he
goes, guys I got it. He says, Timothy,
Timotheus in the Greek. Right, you got to
love that, Timotheus. If you know a Timothy,
just please promise me you will promptly begin calling
them Timotheus because that's the Greek for his name. He was just young
kid too, by the way. 16, 17 years old. Some people think
just this young guy, but God's hand was on his life. Don't you ever let
anybody tell you that you have to be grown up
in years for God to use you. God wants to use you
right now, young people. God wants to use you
to touch the world. God wants to use you when
you're 16, 17, 14, 11 years old. I believe God has His
hand on the students of this generation,
of our church. I believe God is
calling out young people to see that His spirit is in
them now as they follow Him. And that God wants to use you
to impact your high school. Most decisions for
Christ in the world come before people
hit the age of 18. And so who better to
reach them than someone at the same station
of life than them. And some just think,
well, I've got to get out of high school, man. I got to get out of here. You'll never be able
to go back there. You'll never walk into
that school again. You'll never have the chance
to walk into that soccer team again. God wants to use you now
to touch those people. And I can't walk into
a high school campus and just sit down
at the lunch table and start sharing
Jesus with people and living beautifully
around them, but you can. And God wants to
use you to do that, just like he used Timothy. And mom and dad, don't forget
that part of the reason that Timothy became
such a man of God was because when he was
a little kid, his mom and his grandmother they
preached the word to him. They hid the scriptures
into his heart. And so later on, as he was
preaching all around the world, it was because of
these little things that he was being taught when
he was just a little guy. And so I just want to encourage
you then to not miss out on the chance you have to hide
God's word in your children's heart to make sure it's
a part of their lives. I was telling Lennox the
story of Jonah last night. I said, do you want
me to tell you Jonah? He goes, yes, tell me
the story of Jonah, dad. Because he ran from God, who
told him to go to Nineveh. And then he went on a boat,
and when he was on the boat he fell into the water. But he was eaten by
a great fish, dad. And then he got spit
up on the beach, dad. Tell me the story about Jonah,
who when he was on the beach finally did preach the gospel
in Nineveh, and obey God. And then he just smiled at me. And I was like, inception. Well played, sir. You want me to
tell you the story. I said, but you
forgot the worm who ate the covering over his head. He goes, ah, the worm! Right. I still know a little bit
more than him, he's three. But not much, man. The kids bright. So Paul, Timothy, Silas, and
we know Luke's in the crew. How do you know that, Levi? Because of verse 10. Notice verse 10, it says, "Now
after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought
to go to Macedonia,"-- Luke wrote the book of Acts. And this is the first section of
several sections that are "we" sections. And any time Luke
shifts into "we", it means he's including
himself in the story. So at some point along the way,
no doubt in the whole getting Timothy and getting
shut down trying to get into Asia section,
Luke, who's a medical doctor, joins the crew. Now it's a bad sign that
God, in his Providence, included a doctor in the crew. Because it's almost
like, He only gives you things you'll need
for the future. So if one day God's like, you
know what you should probably have a physician around you. I'd be concerned, right. But that's exactly
what God did for Paul. And we're going to see
exactly why he needed that. All right. So verse 11, "So therefore
sailing from Troas, we made a straight
course to Samothrace, and the next day
came to Neapolis, and there we came
to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that
part of Macedonia, a colony." Now I know it's just a couple
of verses, this is 134 miles. So he wakes up with his
dream, maybe it's Macedonia. And he's got, I mean they got
boats and trains and planes and automobiles,
there wasn't Uber. It was thing, it was
a thing to get there. But they would have
enjoyed it and had fun. "And we," he says, "were staying
in that city for some days. And on the Sabbath day we
went out of the city"-- here we go, River Wild-- "to
the riverside where prayer was customarily made;
and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there." "Now a certain
woman named Lydia"-- I love that she's
called a certain woman. When we're introduced
to Timothy it's a certain disciple,
named Timothy. I mean it's not just
some random person. In God's eyes you
are a certain person. He sees you individually. He sees you distinctly. It's not just a bunch
of women were there. It's a certain woman
named Lydia was there. And God sees you,
and He knows you. He has plans for you. Come on put it in the chat,
I'm a certain disciple. I'm a certain disciple. I'm a certain disciple. Come on, say it
to your neighbor. I'm a certain disciple. The certain disciple, whose
name was Lydia, she "heard us. Now. She was a seller of purple
from the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to
heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her
household were baptized she begged us,
saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to
the Lord, come to my house and stay. So she persuaded us." How Paul must have been laughing
when this woman came to Christ. Because first of all, how
unsuccessful things had been and how frustrated he had
been, to try and get to Asia. But had he gotten to Asia,
this woman here in Macedonia never would have
experienced Jesus. The set up this beautiful. And God is just clearly weaving. He's using-- do you see
that he uses confusion at times as an element
of his navigation? He allowed a confusing
season to come. Why? So that he would get here. But a lot of people
don't get to the pay off, don't get to the ending,
because they give up somewhere in the beginning. They give up when
it's confusing. What is your threshold
for confusion? That's really what this
message boils down to. I was listening to an interview
with Bill Gates recently. Because I figured we
talked about Steve Jobs last week so it's
only appropriate we move on to the PCs. Because we got the Mac's,
now we got the PC's. But Bill I have an enormous
respect as a brilliant man, of course. But he said, it
was so interesting. It just hit me so hard, and I
couldn't get it out of my mind. Is that he was being
asked, what do you attribute your success to? And interestingly
enough he said, I'm just really good
at being confused. I'm really good, he
said, at being confused. One of my greatest
assets is, he said, I'm willing to be confused. He said, most adults the
moment they're confused they think something's wrong. He said, so they start
learning new things. They stop attempting new things. Because when they feel confused
by something, they feel like, Oh it's a mistake. And he said, I feel
it all the time. He said, I go into
a new subject. I get interested in a
new thing, whether it's toilets for sanitation crisis. Or it's this to get kids
vaccinated in Africa. He says, when I get
interested in something, he said, there's always
a moment when, he said, I feel like a fraud because
I'm supposedly a genius. But when I'm trying to get
my head around something, I feel like an idiot. And he said, when
I feel confused and when I feel like
a fraud, he said, I realize that's when
a lot of people say, well then forget that. I'm not supposed to be
here because it's hard. Because I don't
get it, because it doesn't make any sense to me. They just think
something's wrong. He said, but that's
when I lean in. And that's when I just
go buy 10 books on it. And that's when I
lock myself away, and that's when I
call 10 people that are brilliant on that subject. And I keep at it,
and I keep going, and I keep studying
until I feel like I have-- he said, honestly I'm not
the smartest guy in the world. He goes, I'm
actually embarrassed that I only speak one language. And how stupid is that? This guy like
invented computers. I mean he thinks I'm so stupid. But, he said, I'm
just some person who's willing to be confused. Let me say something that might
feel a little bit provocative, but I really believe it's true. To the degree that you are
comfortable being confused you determine how much
God can do through you. Because almost always the
greatest things that God does, it start with confusion. It starts with this
doesn't make sense. That's the point of faith. Faith is having to trust God
when it doesn't make sense. Faith is having to
trust God when it feels like things are out of control. And to the degree that
you are comfortable, not walking away, but
saying I'm fully confused I don't get this at all. But you know what you're
not getting rid of me. I'm just going to stay
right here and study. I'm going to keep reading,
keep praying, keep dreaming. You don't let me go to Bithynia? You don't let me go to Asia? Cool, I'll go to Macedonia. I'm willing to be confused. And because of that,
he got to encourage this woman named Lydia. There are three things that are
really beautiful about Lydia. It's her hunger,
her heart, her home. Her hunger, her heart, her home. The text tells us that she
was a seller of purple. You know like
interesting, I didn't know someone could own a color. Well, she sold the dye that
allowed garments and cloth to be made purple. We know purple was, in this
time, the Versace or the Louis Vuitton of its day. We know that from
Jesus, actually. Jesus told a parable about
a man in Luke, chapter 16. And he said this
guy was so wealthy, and to get in people's
minds a picture, He said all he ever
wore was purple. This guy, Luke, chapter 16,
all he ever wore was purple. And if you're only wearing
purple the people in Jesus' day would be like, whoa. All he wore was purple? How could anybody
afford to wear-- because it was this
certain shellfish that you got the dye from and it was
just the most rare thing ever. And apparently Lydia
had the Market? Cornered on purple,
on purple dye. And so she is like the Ralph
Lauren of the New Testament. I mean she is just like whoa. And she's standing
by the riverside when Paul gets to Macedonia
on the Sabbath day. Now what's the deal
with the Riverside? Now, Paul said the gospel
goes to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles. That's how he said
that it worked. Because Jesus was
Jewish, is Jewish, and came from the Jewish
nation and so salvation was offered to them first. And then it would expand
to the rest of the world. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,
then the ends of the Earth. And so what he would do and
he would get to a new city is he would first
go to the synagogue. Now there wasn't a synagogue--
see almost a th-synagogue. There wasn't a th-synagogue. There wasn't a
synagogue in Philippi. And so he knew that if
there were any Jewish people that what they would do,
because during the captivity when there wasn't a synagogue,
they had stood by the rivers. Because it was a symbol
of God's presence. The sound of rushing water. It hearkened back to Eden. It looked forward to the
new heavens and the Earth and the river of life coming
from God's throne that makes everything fresh. And so that's where they
would go stand and have their services. So he figures there's
no synagogue here, but maybe there's a
couple of Jewish people that are down by-- and
sure enough there's a crew, some women,
down by the synagogue. Presumably Jewish women. And among them was Lydia,
who was not Jewish, but she was interested
in and what these Jewish people had to offer. And her presence there
speaks of a hunger. She hadn't fully converted,
the text tells us. She was she was interested,
she was seeking. There was something
in her heart that-- how crazy is that? Wealthy beyond
imagination, we know that. The seller of
purple, just wealthy. So she had everything
you normally would think, if I had that I'd be happy. Some of you, today, you
think well I'm not happy but I don't have-- and I can think of
10 things that if I could have those things
certainly I'd be happy. But I got news for you. There are people who
have those 10 things, and their list includes
some other things. Everybody's looking for peace. Everyone's looking
for forgiveness. Everyone's looking
for eternal life. Everyone's looking
for the same things. And this woman who
had everything. Influence and
success and wealth, she's just standing
there by the river going I wonder if
it's in Judaism. I wonder if it's in this. And so Paul shows up, and
he listens for a while. He listens to the scriptures
that they're discussing, and he does what Jesus did. He says, the scriptures
you're reading, which come from the Old
Testament are all about Jesus. And he explained, that Jesus
came fulfilling the law. That the answers that
Lydia was looking for weren't going to be found in
keeping the Ten Commandments, they weren't going to be found. They could tell you in the
Old Testament who God is, but you'd have to understand who
Jesus is, Paul said, to really have it click in your heart. And so that's the second thing. We move from her
hunger to her heart. Paul didn't tell
her to do anything. Standing right
there by the river. Maybe she was baptized
in that same moment because the text says
that she was baptized. But after she gave her life
to Jesus, she was baptized. She didn't have to first
go and clean up her life. She didn't first have to
go and make any changes. All she had to do was believe
and Jesus came into her. And that's because the gospel is
not behave and you'll be saved. It's believe and receive
salvation in the name of Jesus. And so Lydia finds God
coming into her heart, and what is her
instant reaction? If God's in my heart then I want
Him to use what's in my hands. And what was in her hands
was a very big house. She's has this huge house. We know it's huge
because she's able to say to Paul's whole crew, like
Yeah I got a room for Timothy, I got I got a room for you. Right. I got space for Silas. I got-- even Luke. Get that doctor on over here,
we'll give him his own room, you know. And so she's able
to have them over. And I love this. That in verse 15, it seems like
they resisted because it says, "So she persuaded us." So she wasn't having any of it. She's like, where
are you staying? Well probably a hotel. Which hotel? You have reservation? Have you taken care of it yet? How many stars? How did it do on
the oyster website? No, no, no. You're coming with me. Right. Now all of a sudden she
shifts into like business, you know, just getting
stuff done mode. And so Paul was like,
yes ma'am, Lydia. We're going. We're going to your-- but how beautiful is it? Her hunger led her to
Jesus coming to her heart. Once he's in your heart,
it should immediately pivot where now you want Him
to use what's in your hands. Use my house, use my resources,
use my gifts that I have. I want to build the church. I want to build the kingdom. And I want you to use what
I have to touch people around the world. Next business trip I'm
going on, the people I meet you better be
certain at some point it's going to come up. Well how was your week, Lydia? Well I gave a lot to Jesus. Right. And just this instant
desire for God to begin to work in her life. And for some of you, you might
feel like you've stalled out. And I would ask you, have
you stopped at saved? Did you let him in your
heart, but now you're not letting him use your house? He wants you to begin to
use all the things that He's given to you to begin
to bring Him glory. And you will find such
peace and such purpose and such strength
flowing through you. As you get to wake up
every day feeling like, man I'm on a mission. And I love that
she had a big house so she was able to use it. Someone told me today,
he goes, can you believe that some
Christians have a big house? I'm like, that is such a
small minded, narrow minded, perception. If you have a lot, God
wants to use a lot. If you don't have
a lot, Yeah, God wants to use the
little that you have. But let's just believe that
whatever God blesses us with we can use it
for His kingdom. And that is exactly
what Lydia did. What I'm really trying
to say, second point is, that your lowest
moment might lead you to someone else's
highest moment. Some woman hurting,
someone afraid. But for God to get
Lydia to the highest moment He was
willing to say, Paul, let's go through a low moment. The low moment
was the confusion. The low moment was the valley. The low moment was like, I'm
sort of an apostle and stuff. And I can't seem to be
able to preach anywhere because the Holy Spirit keeps
forbidding me to preach. But it wasn't his freedom,
it was her freedom. God had her freedom
on His mind so he was willing to let Paul
be forbidden a few times. And I believe that
just continues to be something we can
see play out in our lives. For notice what happens
in the text next. Verse 16, "Now it happened,
as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl"-- not just anyone. God had his my mind on
her, His eye on her. He got Paul, nope,
you can't go to Asia. There's a little slave
girl that needs me too, and so I'm going
to get you here. "Possessed with the
spirit of divination"-- the actual translation
is possessed by the spirit of Python,
which connects her to the false worship of the god,
Apollo, from this whole Greek and then Roman
pantheon of worship. But the Bible tells us
that behind every false god is actually a demon
that's masquerading. Basically trying to get
the attention off of Jesus. And so that's what this
girl was held captive by. And somehow, some way,
she was able to tell fortunes because of this
demonic influence in her life. And notice it says she
brought much profit by fortune telling to her masters. "This girl followed Paul
and us, and she cried out, presumably in pain,
saying, these men are the servants of the
Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation. And this she did for many days." As Paul was doing ministry in
the city in the church, which I forgot to even tell
you this, which was started in Lydia's huge house. Which is awesome. So the church that
blossomed in Philippi that he will later write
an entire epistle back to, it was started at the
generosity of this woman. Who used her financial means and
resources to allow the church to continue to be
built. And so I just want to say on the
subject, thank you to every person who has
ever given to this ministry. And helped me preach the
gospel around the world. And it's because
of you that we're able to send this podcast out. It's because of you people
that are coming to know Christ. It's because of you
that certain Lydia's, and certain little girls,
are coming to know God. So thank you for
your generosity that allows us not only to
send outreach dollars by the millions out,
but also to preach the gospel of Jesus
Christ at this moment it's because of you. And I'm grateful. But Paul, this tells me
Paul is a human being like me, greatly annoyed. You think Paul is perfect? Oh, no. He is not. Super irritated is the
actual Greek translation. Turned and said to the
spirit-- this by the way, is the only documented case
of a miracle coming out of someone just being
pissed off in the Bible. "He turned and
said to the spirit, I command you in the
name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And a demon came
out that very hour." You see another
example of Paul, and I imagine Paul just laughed
at the frustration he felt. Because back there and
in Bithynia and Galatia, God you don't make sense. And you know how stupid I
look in front of these Padawan learners who have given
their lives to follow me? Luke's like, I'm all in. I'm coming back with my shield,
or I'm coming back on it. And Timothy, not to be
outdone, was like I'm going to die with my boots on. Right. And Silas was like, y'all
I'm your ride or die, Paul. And Paul was like cool,
we're going to Asia. Man it's going to
be crazy in Asia. You don't know what's
going to happen in Asia. So they're like, all right. So they're all getting
themselves psyched up, warpaint like ready to go. Like full outfits and
uniforms, and so off they go. And Paul's like I've
got the wrong shoe thing happening, guys. And they're like, sure. Cold feet. I mean, just how
it would have felt. Paul would have felt like God,
you don't make sense here. What are you doing? Now, he sees. You allowed me to
be at my lowest so that I would take my
eyes off myself, and see that someone else needed to
be lifted up because they were even at a lower place than me. I love it so much. All right. So we continue on. Because I want you to understand
that what we're seeing here is, in Europe being converted,
and this is a massive moment. Because European converts
in all of history, which is really
where Christianity began to flourish from and then
impacted the whole world from. Which of course it
started in Jerusalem. God knew it needed
to get to Europe so that it could touch the world. The very first convert
to Christianity in Europe was a super successful wealthy
person who had everything. And the immediate
next person the gospel touched, a slave who was
owned and had nothing. And the message is clear. Jesus is the only
hope of humanity, whether you have everything
or you got nothing, you need Jesus. And He is the only one who can
heal you, change you, save you. And it's amazing because,
I want you to see this, this is just
pretty, it's poetry. We started out with a
woman who had everything. And then he now frees from
the enemy's grasp someone who had nothing. But then right there in
between is the next person who represents just
the average person. Who's kind of right there
smack dab in the middle. This blue collar guy, a jailer. There's this jailer in Philippi
who God had his eye on as well. A certain jailer
you can be assured of in heaven's perspective. And you're like
well if God wants to see a jailer get
impacted, you're like, how's He going to do that? Did he come down to
the riverside too? No, God knew that it
wasn't going to work to get the jailer to come out. So God decided to send the
preacher into the jail. And that's the good news bad
news because Paul would need the doctor that he had
brought on the expedition by the time this day is over. And it's going to lead
to our final point. And the final point is this,
good deeds often get punished. But God has a plan for that too. Good deeds often get punished. We worked through our confusion. We worked through
moments where it's low. We worked through hard times. And we get the payoff is,
Oh, I see what you're up too and now we do something good. And we feel like we're going
to be rewarded by heaven, but the cycle just starts
over at that point. And now we're back to the
beginning, back at confusion. You're like, what's going on? Well, jump into verse 19. "But when her masters saw that
their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and
Silas and dragged them into the marketplace
to the authorities. And they brought them to
the magistrates, and said, these men, being Jews,
exceedingly trouble our city; and they teach customs which
are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe." When the Lord does a great work,
the enemy always opposes it. You have to understand that. You got to expect it. There's always
dynamic breakthrough, followed by demonic backlash. And so this person's been free,
the devil doesn't like that. So he's going to agitate. And that's what he does. And so now, verse
20, they brought them to the magistrates--
we already saw that. Verse 22, "Then the multitude
rose up together against them; and the magistrates
tore off their clothes and commanded them to
be beaten with rods. And when they had laid
many stripes on them,"-- so now Paul and Silas,
their backs are ripped apart and they're bleeding. "They threw them into
prison commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received
such a charge, he put them into the inner
prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight Paul and
Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners
were listening to them. Suddenly there was
a great earthquake, so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken; and immediately all
the doors were opened and everyone's
chains were loosed." "And the keeper of the
prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the
prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had
all fled, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with
a loud voice, saying, do yourself no harm,
for we are all here. Then he called for
a light, ran in, and fell down trembling
before Paul and Silas. And he brought
them out and said, sirs, what must
I do to be saved? So they said, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you
and your whole household." "And they spoke the
word of the Lord to him and to all
who are in his house. He took them the same hour of
the night washed their stripes. And immediately he and all
his family were baptized. He brought them into his
home, set food before them; he rejoiced having believed in
God with all his household." Come on, give God praise
because this is beautiful. It's perfection. So what do we do-- what do we do, to
begin where we started, when God doesn't make sense? From these verses
we just read, I want you to jot down
these six things. Number one, we don't
take it personally. You see, when God's
not making sense our immediate responses is I
must have done something wrong. I must be out of step with you. You must not care about me. No, no, don't take
it personally. Because don't take
this the wrong way, it's not all about you. There's something so much bigger
than you and bigger than me. And so when we see
that happening, we forget we're part of an army. And when God's
working in an army, he's doing this over here. He's got to stage
things over there. And sometimes you get something
ready over here for a while, and it's not needed until
something else happens. And then He can bring
something else in. So when you're like, well
God, you're confusing me. You don't make sense. And why would you do this? Just stop and remember
it's not all about me. There's something bigger that
I signed up to be a part of and it's God's kingdom. So don't take it personally. There's, playing chess,
times when you're going to leave a piece unmoved. Why do you love the pawn
so much, what about me? This is going to come
at a time and a place. Don't take it personally
when His hand is off you for a while, or so you think. Secondly, don't
lose sleep over it. I love, and I don't
know if you noticed this, when Paul couldn't
get into Bithynia and couldn't get
to Galatia, that would be just the sort of thing
that would rob us of our sleep. But how did God
get through to him? He was in a dream. The only reason he
was able to dream is because he was still
prioritizing rest. Don't lose sleep over it. Some of you today
feel like God hasn't spoken to me for a while. God has forgotten about me. He's not letting me do
the things I want to do, and I'm calling
on my life to do. And hey, rest. Rest. If you're in a holding pattern
get the rest that you need. Rest. There's going to come a
time of surging ahead, and when that time
comes be ready. And God broke through
because he was sleeping. You're like well,
easy for you to say. Yeah, but Paul. And not just Paul, Peter. There's a crazy
story in Acts 12. Peter's about to
get put to death. James had been killed
by Herod, and he saw that the enemies
of the Christians loved it so much that he
put Peter in jail too. And the text tells
us, look at this, Herod was about to kill Peter. The next morning Herod's
going to kill Peter. And Peter, what was he doing? Was he fretting, or
was he stressing? Was he sleeping, was the
writing last minute appeals? No. The text says that when
the angel came to find him, he was fast asleep. Not even just a
little bit asleep. The message translates and
says, asleep like a baby. And the angel had to basically
strike him to get him up. He's like Oh, sorry. Can you imagine having
such faith in God's plan that even on death row, the
night before your execution, you're just sleeping
like a baby. How could he do such a thing? How could he have such peace? He knew that it was
all in God's hand. If God wanted him
to go home tomorrow, he's going to go home tomorrow. If God wanted to
get him out of jail, he was going to get
him out of jail. But me staying up
all night isn't going to make a difference
about it at all. And neither will it for you. So don't take it personally. Don't lose sleep over it. Thirdly, don't stop singing. Don't stop singing. Paul's back's been
beaten bloody. He's in jail as a reward
for healing a little girl and helping Donna Versace
get to know Jesus. It would be easy for him
to be like you know what-- he doesn't stop singing though. And a lot of times the
mistake that we make is when we don't feel
it, we don't sing it. When we don't feel
it, we don't give it. When we don't feel
it, we don't do it. But we got to free how
we feel from what we do. We got to come to a
place where we realize that our worship is
the most important when it's the most painful. When it's a sacrifice of praise. Come on, is there anybody at
Fresh Life Church today who would say I'm going through it. I don't feel it. Maybe I even feel far from God. Where is He? But God I'm going to praise you. I'm going to worship you. I'm going to open up my
mouth and give you glory because you're good. And when we do that, oftentimes,
the feelings come as a gift. Because worship is not a feeling
expressed through actions. It's an act of obedience
that oftentimes develops feelings on the back end. Number four, don't
get too comfortable. Don't get too comfortable. Paul has a reminder of
this by being in Philippi. Philippi was considered
part of Rome, even though it was far from
Rome, it was in Macedonia. But is considered Rome
because it was a colony, and a colony was
considered Roman soil. Kind of like an embassy. If you went to Nigeria, but
you went to the US Embassy in Nigeria, if there is one. I know there's deposed
princes from Nigeria. I don't know if there's-- because I got emailed
by one on one time. But I know there's embassies,
and if you're in an embassy, you're in American soil even
though you're far from America. Philippi was Rome
away from Rome. And Paul would use
that analogy when he wrote to the Philippians
telling them don't forget, we as Jesus people
are an embassy. The soil of our lives,
the soil of our bodies, is part of heaven. I know we live on this Earth,
but we're a part of heaven. We're an extension of heaven. So don't get too comfortable
here on this Earth. Don't get too
comfortable in this life. Keep your heart set on heaven. Come on stay on your
toes, a light touch. We're going to go home one
day, and then that home is going to come back
down to this world. But that's our real
home, God's kingdom. In the meantime, we're supposed
to be focused on the mission and not just get
lulled into sleep here and get focused on this life. Number five, don't
keep it to yourself. Whatever God's
done in your life, don't keep it to yourself. What to do when God
doesn't make sense? Whatever you've been blessed
with, bless others with. Your experience, your
testimony, the resources. You have a big house,
you have the opportunity to travel to different places. That's different
people you're going to interact with, and sit
next to on airplanes. and do business meetings with. You can do an excellent job
conducting your affairs, but then as God gives
opportunities to bless people by sharing the Jesus story of
what God's done in your life, don't keep it to your self. And the most importantly,
number six, don't give up. Don't give up. Getting shut down here,
going to keep preaching. Shut down here, not
going to stop preaching. I'm going to keep preaching. You put me in a jail, I'm
going to preach the gospel to the jailer. A little demon
possessed girl, I'm going to share liberty
and freedom with her. I'm just telling you, when
things go wrong and go wrong and go wrong, just use
that as motivation. God must have something
different for me. Must have something
great He's preparing. If it's not this,
it's going to be that. But I can't wait to see. I still believe, I still
got faith, I still got-- TRX straps are
interesting because it's such a simple thing,
but a genius thing. And you look at something
like this and you go, who thought of this? Oh, his name's Randy Hetrick. Randy Hetrick is the
founder of the TRX company. He invented a genre,
suspension training. How did he do that? Well, with a jujitsu belt. This
is my friend Travis' and it has seen some miles, my
goodness gracious. He's got like multiple
black belts, anyhow. And I said I needed
one for this prop and he allowed me to use it. But Randy was-- shout
out Straight Blast Gym. He was a part of jujitsu,
but he was also a Navy SEAL. And he, by mistake, brought his
jujitsu belt on a deployment to South Asia somewhere. And he was unpacking his
bag that he had hastily put together. And he realized that
stuck to his flight suit was this jujitsu belt. And
he just laughed to himself. Like I'm far from my jujitsu
gym, I don't have my gi, I'm not going to be
needing this here in war. Right. But he laughed and he
remembered that it was there. And then they were just stuck. There was just a whole period
where he was just stalled out. And a lot of the guys were
frustrated because they couldn't get a good workout. And I mean they were doing
push ups and pull ups, but he just wanted to work
different parts of his body. And so he realized, hold
on I got my jujitsu belt. And so he took some webbing
from a parachute strap, and he tied it to the center. And he tied a big
knot in the webbing. And he threw it over a
door and shut the door. And then he kind of
realized I could-- hold on, I could do this workout,
I could do that workout. He was holding the handles
of his jujitsu belt. He was doing all these
different workouts. And pretty soon the
other Navy SEALs were like, hey, man,
what are you doing? He's like Oh, nothing. Just working out with
my wicked awesome belt that I totally intentionally
brought overseas. You don't have one? And so he said the
guys were like, hey, could you make me
something like that? And so he would
find other webbing, and he would trade them a
case of beer for their own TRX strap. But he was just doing it
for the guys on his unit to stay fit until the
next thing came along. Not having any idea it would
lead to a $70 million a year company. Come on, that's a great story. It's a beautiful story. And in the process
invent a whole company. But it was not just
like that to that. I mean when he got back home and
he realized it was a company, he decided to go to
business school first. And he was laughed at because
here he is kind of older and all the young kids there. And he had a push through
confusion and push through obstacles. And when he would sell
the vision to people they didn't get it
because they had never heard of suspension training. They didn't know
eventually this was going to be in every gym in
the entire country and homes all around the world. And it would sell
out during COVID and no one for the life of
them could get a TRX strap because everybody and their
mother was buying them. So there was confusion
along the way. And I love two things-- and
we're almost done here-- from this story. Is that it started
with him thinking I can't lift weights because
I don't have any weights. And then realizing
hold on, maybe I do have weights because
every one of us have weight and we are weight. So he thought he
couldn't work out because he didn't have
weight, and then he realized the weight he wanted
was with him all along. He just needed the
right leverage for it. And then the second thing. And I love-- we're done here-- is that it started
with something being in the wrong place. That belt didn't
belong in his bag. It was only a mistake that
caused it to be there, but that mistake caused
a door to be opened. And so it is for you. At times it feels like God you
made a mistake, where are you? Why'd you allow this? God what's going on? Have you lost my number? Do you not care about me? Do you not want to work
through me anymore? I'm telling you a mistake in
your life, or so it would seem, always leads to a doorway. And so Paul never did
get to go to Asia. Never did get to
see, on this trip anyhow, people from
Asia come to know God. Or did he? Or did he? A lot of people think that Lydia
was the man from Macedonia. It was just a dream. He was confused. He thought it was a
man, but it was actually Lydia, come help us. But that's not what
the scripture tells us. I think that the man from
Macedonia was the jailer. Lydia, the text tells us, was
a seller of purple from where? A city called Thyatira,
which is Asian. I want to get to Asia. I got a burning for Asians. I want to get to Asia. I want to get to Asia. I want to get to Asia. No, Paul. Forbidden. Forbidden. Forbidden. Because God knew, that
had he gone to Thyatira and started
preaching, the person that he had his eye on reaching
an influential person he wanted to reach first
would have been in Europe. So Paul thought
God was saying no, but God was just saying not yet. She's on a business trip. She's in her second home. She's here right now. I got to get you to
Europe to reach the Asian. And then down the
road once a church is started in this Asian
business woman's home in Europe. Then I'll let you, when
I'm good and ready. You see God's delays are
not always his denials. And God has a way when
we just follow Him, when we just follow
our shepherd, when we're just
following our Savior, of giving us the
desires of our heart. It just won't always be exactly
like we thought it would be. But we can trust Him. Come on, give God a good
amen if you believe it. And so Father, we thank you. We thank you that we can
just trust you, and leave the rest up to you. And sometimes our
experience might feel like it's screaming
at us to doubt you. It's screaming at us to
disbelieve you, to disobey you, to dismiss you altogether. But I pray we would
just simply trust you. On the basis of the
cross, at the cross you proved forever
what lengths you're willing to go to to save us. And how you are able to take
what looks awful and looks bad and use it for good. So give us perspective
in our trials. Give us perspective in
our difficulties, what we feel like we're chained to. Help us to believe that
our singing to you, not only can free us, but can
be used to inspire freedom in those around us. If you would say I
resonate with this message. I have been confused
by God, but I want to see this navigation today. If that's you I'm describing,
could you just raise up a hand. Just raise up a hand to God. Say God, I'm committed. I'm all in. If you feel
comfortable, just say God I want you to use what is
confusing to me for your glory. I see that you're
up to something. You do all things well. Thank you, Father for
the freedom that's flowing in this place
through your spirit. Open our eyes to see
what we can't see. And to trust you. You could put your hands down. And I want to give
an invitation, like was given to Lydia like
was given to the jailer. If you're here today
and watching online, watching this message,
and you've never given your life to Jesus,
there's nothing you need to do. It's all been done by
Christ, who died for you and rose from the dead. And if you trust
Him as Savior he will come in and make you new
and make your heart his home and begin to use your life. All you have to do is accept
his free gift of salvation. It's like this. You just say, God, I need you. You can say that right now. Say it with me if you're
ready to trust Christ. God, I need you. I'm lost without you. Come to live in my heart and use
everything I have in my hands. Because of the Resurrection
and Jesus's death for me, I believe my sins are paid
for and I am born again. So thank you God for new life. I give you mine. And with every head
bowed, every eye closed, if you just gave
your heart to Christ, if you just asked Him to
come to live inside of you. Whether as a dedication,
your first time ever making a decision
like that, or perhaps as a Prodigal Son
or daughter who has come home to your Father. You're rededicating
your life to God. I want to give you
space to nail that down. So I'm going to count to
three, and when I get to three I want you to shoot
your hand up in the air. This is you saying I'm
giving my heart to Christ. Today is my day of salvation. When I get to three,
shoot your hand up. Whether you're watching online,
or at one of our locations. One, two, three. Shoot your hands up! Shoot your hands up! So much fun
preaching God's word. Thank you for allowing us the
honor of ministering to you. Yes, thank you. It is absolutely a pleasure. Thank you for that message. It was powerful. And I pray whatever
your next step is, whether inviting
Christ into your heart. If you've just know that,
come on everyone in the chat let's let them know how
excited, how for you we are. And if it's now beginning
to use your gifts, joining an impact team,
going through a crash course beginning to serve
and make a difference. There's so many ways to do that
right here in the Fresh Life Church house no
matter where you live, no matter what your skills are. Maybe you're a drummer, maybe
you're a graphic designer, a coder, a video editor. Maybe you're really
friendly, maybe you can be a part
of our welcome team. Welcoming people,
following other people. Administrative skills. We want to see your guests
benefit God's kingdom. Yes. To join an impact team,
we'll put information in the chat about crash course. Get into a Fresh Life group. There's groups meeting on Zoom. People meeting up in
person in different cities. You can put in the chat,
hey, I'm in Albuquerque. I'm in North Carolina. I'm in-- Pennsylvania. I was going to say Russia. Pennsylvania is
pretty exotic too. Let us know in the chat
where all the people are. We could get
together in that city and let God's people know they
can become friends right there in the place where you're at. Anyhow-- Hey, we love you. Have a great week. I could go on and
on, and I usually do. See you soon. All right.
