Now let's look at that passage
that Brother Aaron just read in Matthew chapter 16. The ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ
here on earth, as it's recorded in the New Testament, the Gospels,
especially of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and even John. John
is a more doctrinal record of the Gospel. Matthew, Mark, and
Luke, more historical plus doctrinal. It was a fascinating thing. It's fascinating to read it,
isn't it? The Lord going through on a time scale that was set
by God alone. Many people wonder about that
verse 20 when he says, he charged his disciples that they should
tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. And I've heard scholars
say, well, that's one of the proofs that he didn't claim Messiahship
for himself, but he did. What he was saying there is he
is Jesus the Christ, but don't you go publish that yet. Things
had to be done in their proper time, as appointed by God. We
read in Galatians chapter 4, in the fullness of the time,
God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. And so he recognized that, And
he had a time when that was going to be published out and when
that really began to be published out among the land, in the land
of Judea, that's when he was arrested, that's when he was
brought before the civil authorities and the religious authorities
and that was the time of his crucifixion. You know, he kept
telling his disciples in a lot of ways, he'd say, my time has
not yet come. But here is the designation.
in this passage here, of the glorious person and finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, in verse 13, when Jesus
came under the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,
whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? Now the Son of Man
was really about the only designation that he gave and took unto himself. You know, sometimes in the Bible,
in the Old Testament, the term son of man refers to our humanness. For example, Ezekiel is often,
in his conversations under the revelation of God, son of man,
son of man. But son of man in certain context
in the Old Testament and here in the New Testament was a designation
of Messiah. the son of man. And it's speaking
of the two natures of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God. He is
God but He is man. God in human flesh. Very God
of very God in every attribute of deity. And very man of very
man in every attribute of humanity except one. He was without sin. Now we don't know what that's
like. We know the testimony of God that as we stand before Him
in Christ, that we can claim without fail, without embarrassment,
sinless perfection. Isn't that right? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died. In Christ
we have no sin. In Christ, God sees no sin. But
in ourselves, we're still full of sin. Full of selfishness. Full of everything that if God
were to bring it up, as far as charging it to us, we would be
deserving of nothing short of an eternity in hell. That's an
amazing thing when you think about it. But because of the
Son of Man here, This one man, we who are so sinful, can stand
before God, and not only that, have free access into the holiest
of all by the blood of Jesus. That's an amazing thing. So here
he is, fully God, fully man. Well he said, whom do men say
that I am? Verse 14, they said, some say
that thou art John the Baptist. That's probably a reference back
to the book of Matthew chapter 14 where Herod Antipas, he believed
that Jesus of Nazareth was John the Baptist. I don't know why
he believed that. He had a very guilty conscience
when it come to John the Baptist. You know, he was the one who
had John's head cut off. But they said, some say you're
John the Baptist. Well, John the Baptist himself said, I'm
not the Messiah. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. That's what John said. He told
him, he said, I've told you. He said, I'm not he. I'm not
the one. Listen, I'm not your Savior. I'm just a voice. One crying in the wilderness.
And then he says, some say Elijah. Now Elijah, that's from a prophecy
out of the book of Malachi. In the book of Malachi, chapter
3 speaks of a messenger coming to announce the Messiah. But over in Malachi chapter 4,
I'll just read this to you. The last chapter of the Old Testament. So it's just back a few pages
here. In fact, the last two verses of the Old Testament, Malachi
4, verse 5, says, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall
turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart
of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth
with a curse. Now what he's talking about is
somebody's going to come, he says Elijah, and he's going to
point sinners to Christ. That's what he means. He's going
to preach the gospel. He's going to tell you who Jesus
Christ is and what he would accomplish on this earth. But he wasn't
speaking of Elijah personally. He's not saying that Elijah himself
is going to come back and do that. Elijah in the Old Testament
is a way of referring to the school of the prophets, the prophets
of God. The true prophets of God, they're
of the school of Elijah. That's how Elijah became sort
of the name for all of them. And you can see that because
you remember on the Mount of Transfiguration when the Lord
took Peter and John up to show them his glory. You remember
who appeared with him in his glory? Moses. Moses is the school
of the law. Not just the law as a condemning
power, but the law as a schoolmaster to lead sinners to Christ. And
who else is with him? Elijah. The prophets. And of
course the testimony from the Mount of Transfiguration was
that the whole Testament, the law and the prophets was about
Christ. That's what it's all about. So some said Elijah, but
it wasn't talking about Elijah. In fact, the fulfillment of that
prophecy in Matthew four is fulfilled in John the Baptist. He was the
last of the Old Testament prophets. And what did he do? He did what
all the true prophets do. He pointed sinners to Christ.
Then he says others in verse 14 say that you're Jeremiah.
Now, why would they say Jeremiah? Well, there's a lot, there's
a couple of theories about that. You think about, you know, Jeremiah
is called the weeping prophet, isn't he? We studied the book
of Jeremiah. And I think about Christ and
the prophecy of the Messiah in Isaiah 53, he was a man of sorrows
acquainted with grief. So some may have sort of lined
that up and said, well, he's Jeremiah, he's a man of sorrows,
like Jeremiah was a weeping prophet. I don't think that's what it
is, but some say that. What I think it is, there was
a very, very popular belief among the rabbis, the Jewish rabbis
at that time, and I think still today in some of them, that Jeremiah,
when he left Jerusalem, you remember he was the last prophet in Jerusalem
before the Babylonian captivity, which we've been studying. Some
held that when Jeremiah left Jerusalem he took the ark of
the covenant with him and That he was coming back. He was going
to bring that ark back before the new age began. Well now that's
myth That's not scripture And it's not true We don't know what
happened to the ark of the covenant It's useless to even speculate
on it and don't grab a hat and a whip and go after it Not gonna
work, it's gone. That glory departed from the
earthly temple. The glory that would come back
or reappear is the glory of Jesus Christ and him crucified in the
temple of his church. That's what that's all about.
But that was a popular belief back then. And then verse 14
says, some say you're one of the prophets. Well, that probably
comes from Deuteronomy chapter 18 where Moses prophesied of
that prophet who would come. Christ is our prophet, our priest,
our king. That's his mediatorial offices.
And he is that prophet according to the book of Moses. But they
didn't understand even that prophecy. They just said, well, some say
you're just another prophet, one of the prophets. Nicodemus,
you know, when he approach Christ in John chapter three. He said,
well, you know, you, you rabbi, you know, you, that, you know,
and that wasn't a title given out very loosely. Rabbi, we know you're sent from
God. Nobody could do what you're doing
and not be sent from God, but just one of the prophets, all
right? Well, look at verse 15. Well, he pointed to him. He says,
now he saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? Who do you
say that I am? And that's, that's what I would
ask myself today. What I would ask you, who do
we say that he is? What is he to us? I think about
Matthew 22, when they were questioning him, trying to trap him, and
at the end of that chapter, he catches them all up in the one
question of all questions, and that's what think ye of Christ?
Whose son is he? What do you think of him? That's
the issue, isn't it? That's the issue in our salvation.
That's the issue of our church. What think ye of Christ? That's
the issue of issues. That's the only thing that's
going to matter at judgment. What think ye of Christ? Paul said
something about that in Philippians chapter 3. He said, All that
I may know Him, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Jesus Christ. The righteousness of God, which
is by faith. That's the issue here. How do
I stand with Christ? What do I think of him? So he
asked his disciples, who do you say that I am? And incidentally,
the you there is plural. Whom say ye, that's a plural
pronoun. He's not just talking to one
of them. I know Peter's the one that's going to give the answer,
but he's speaking for the rest of them. Well, look at it, verse
16. Simon Peter answered and said,
thou art the Christ. That term Christ, that means
Messiah. That means anointed one. That's
who it's taught. If anybody tells you that Jesus
of Nazareth did not claim to be the Messiah, just turn them
to this passage right here. He did claim to be the Messiah. Thou art the Christ. You're the
one that was pictured even in creation. the light, the life. You're the one who was prophesied
in Genesis 3.15 as the seed of woman. You're the one who was
pictured as the animal that was slain and made coats of skin.
You're the lamb that Abel brought, pleading and begging for mercy
from God. You're the ark. You're the rock.
You see, go all the way down. That's what this means. It involves
all of that that he's talking about. You're the Christ. You're the anointed one. You're
the son of the living God. Old liberal professor says, well,
aren't we all sons of God? Not like this. Not like this. He's the only begotten son of
God. That not only refers to his incarnation,
it refers to his resurrection. But you're the son of the living
God. And then look at verse 17. Now listen to how Christ answered
him. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Oh no, Peter, now don't say I'm the Messiah. I never
claimed that. That's not what he said, is it?
He said, Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah. That means Simon,
son of John. That was Peter's Hebrew name.
For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven." God taught you that, Peter. God taught
you that. Man didn't teach you that. He
may have used a man as an instrument, but God taught you that. Are
you taught of God? You see, the Bible says that
when God brings a sinner to salvation, God teaches him. They shall be
all taught of God. God is the power of this. God
is the revelator. I know people call John the revelator
because he wrote revelation. John is not really the revelator,
he is just the recorder of the revelation. Christ is the revelator. Peter's confession was a divine
revelation from God. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. You've got to be born again or you can't see or
enter the kingdom of heaven. That which is flesh is flesh,
that which is spirit is spirit. This is what it's all about.
And this is a confession from a revelation from God, which
is a revelation to the heart and from the heart. It's a revelation
that brings about faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a revelation
that brings about repentance of dead works and idolatry. And then look at verse 18. Here's
one of the most controversial verses in the scripture, but
it shouldn't be. Verse 18, he says, I say also unto thee that
thou art Peter, and upon this rock, incidentally, that's the
title of this message, upon this rock. Upon this rock, I will
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. He says, thou art Peter. What was Peter's given name? Simon Bar-Jonah. Simon son of
John or son of Jonah, but it's really John as it's translated. Simon son of John. But Christ
gave him the name Peter. Turn back to, turn over to John
chapter one with me. John chapter one. And look at Let's see. This is Andrew, verse 40, John
1. Andrew, one of the two which
heard John speak, John the Baptist, John 1 and verse 40, one of the
two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon
Peter's brother. And he first findeth his own
brother Simon, that's Peter, and saith unto him, we have found
the Messiah. which is being interpreted, the
Christ. And he brought him to Jesus,
and when Jesus beheld him, he said, thou art Simon, the son
of Jonah, thou shalt be called Cephas, the Greek name, which
is by interpretation, a stone. That means a little stone, a
little pebble. That's the same word over here
for Peter. Thou art Peter. That's stone,
all right? Go back to Matthew 16. So this
name Peter means a little rock. It means a little pebble, a stone. And then he says in verse 18,
Thou art Peter and upon this rock. Now, upon this rock, that
word rock is a different word. That word rock means a bedrock. A sure foundation rock. It's the same word that the Lord
used in Matthew 7 when He said, He said, the man who builds his
house upon a rock. The winds will come, the storm
will come, the rains come, but the house won't fall because
it's built upon the rock. And that word, rock, here in
verse 18, in the Old Testament, in the Old Testament form, the
Hebrew form, is never used of men. It's always used of God. It's used of our Lord in 1 Corinthians
10 and verse 4. That rock was Christ. The word
is never used of men. 1 Peter, Peter himself used it
when he described the Lord in 1 Peter 2 and verse 8, as he's
a rock of offense to men. So what's it saying here? Upon
this rock. Not Peter. If he meant Peter, he would just
simply say, thou art Peter and you're the rock that I'm going
to build the church on. I'm going to build the church on you. The
church is not built upon Peter. The church is not built upon
any man. It's built upon Christ. the person and finished work
of Christ. What is the church? The church is the elect of God.
How were we chosen? Before the foundation of the
world in Christ Jesus. Who redeemed the church? Christ
did by his blood, Acts chapter 20. Who calls out the church? Christ through the Holy Spirit.
That's what the word church means, called out ones. We're called
out of the world under Christ. And he says the gates of hell
will not prevail against it. That's what he said. The gates
of hell will not prevail against it. So look at verse 19. He says, and I will give unto
thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatsoever thou
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. The keys of
the kingdom. Now the keys of the kingdom is
not Saint Peter standing at the pearly gates waiting to let you
in. That's not what the keys of the
kingdom are. The keys of the kingdom is what I'm doing right
now. Preaching the gospel of God's grace in Christ. Because
what I'm doing when I preach the gospel to you, the good news,
I'm showing you the only way to get into heaven. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified and risen. His blood and righteousness alone,
no other way. The grace of God alone, no other
way. What's the key to salvation?
What's the key to what people call holy living? What's the
key to eternal bliss in heaven? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There's the key. And when I preach
that gospel, when Peter preached it, or the disciples, or anybody
preaches that gospel, you could say it this way, whatever you
bind on earth is bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth is
loosed in heaven. What does bind mean? That means
to forbid something. That's what it means. Whatever
you forbid on earth is forbidden in heaven. What is it to loose
something? It means to permit it. It means
to allow it. Whatever you permit or allow
on earth is allowed in heaven. You could literally read this
verse like this. Listen to this. It says, whatsoever
thou shalt bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. In
other words, it's not true in heaven just because I say it
down here. It's already true. It's already been settled in
heaven. We're just proclaiming what's already been settled.
And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall have been loosed
in heaven. What's he talking about? He's talking about divine
authority here. The divine authority of God's word as communicated
by his disciples and his preachers in the preaching of the gospel
and in his instructions to the church. When I preach to you
or when anyone preaches to you from the word of God, that's
settled. I'm telling you there's one way
into God's grace and glory in heaven. And that's Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. There's no other way. If you
want to come to God and find salvation, find blessedness,
come to Christ. That's bound in heaven, bound
in earth, loosed in heaven. You are not permitted. You are
forbidden to come to God any other way. That's what that means. You say, I want salvation. The
total depravity of man can be described, I believe, in three
ways. Number one is we have no righteousness before God. We
have no righteousness before God. We fell in Adam. There's none righteous, no, not
one. Number two, we have no way of working righteousness before
God. Our best works cannot gain us
access to God. Our best efforts, our best intentions,
our most sincere dedicated acts of worship, service, charity
cannot equal the righteousness that God requires. So we have
no righteousness. We can't work one. And here's
the third thing that I believe describes the total depravity
of man. By nature, in our fallen state, before we're converted,
regenerated, and converted, we don't want one God's way. We don't want it God's way. We
want it our way. That's described in Romans chapter 3. But what
we tell sinners, and I'm including myself, when we preach the gospel
is, look, you have no permission. So we're talking about loosed,
permitted. You have no freedom or no access into God's salvation,
God's favor, God's blessings, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's permitted in heaven and
permitted here on earth because God said it. But you are forbidden
to come to Christ any other way. So that's divine authority. These
matters have their origin in heaven with God, not in us or
in the earth. We speak that which God has already
spoken, not only which God has already spoken, but which God
has already predetermined and decreed from before the foundation
of the world. We speak it by divine revelation
from him. Our gospel, as Paul wrote, is
the gospel of God concerning the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the power of God unto salvation, as it
is the revelation of the righteousness of God in Christ. Now, look over
at verse 21. We talked about verse 20. Now,
in order to accomplish the work of the Messiah, what did Jesus
Christ have to do? Well, he had to go to the cross. He had to fulfill all that prophecy
that was typified in the blood of animals, in the death of sacrifices. And so, it says in verse 21,
from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how
that he must, now notice it says he must, he must go into Jerusalem,
unto Jerusalem, And you can carry that must all the way through.
He must suffer many things of the elders and the chief priests
and the scribes. He must be killed. He must be
raised again the third day. There it is. Right there in that
one verse is the righteousness of God, which is the power of
God unto salvation. Right there in that one verse
is the remedy The answer, the cure for all sin. Right there
in that one verse is the way into God's heaven. Jesus Christ
and him crucified and risen. But now Peter, he was connected,
like all of us, to his emotions. He was connected to his desires. And what did he say? He said,
then Peter took him and began to rebuke him. Peter, this is an apostle. But he began to rebuke him, saying,
Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. That's
not what I want. That's what Peter's saying. I
want something else. But he said, verse 23, he turned
and he said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan. He said, Peter,
what you're saying is satanic. Now Peter didn't know any better.
He said, Thou art an offense unto me. For thou savest not
the things that be of God, but those that be of men." There
you have one of the many struggles that we as believers have with
Satan. Satan the great accuser, whom
we turn back by the very blood that Peter was rebuking our Lord
over. Isn't that something? That's
an amazing thing, isn't it? But you know what? The Lord told
Peter one time, He said, Peter, I'm praying for you. Somebody
told me one time, said, wouldn't you love to hear the Lord say,
I'm praying for you? I said, well, I've heard that.
Just read John 17. That's the Lord's high priestly
prayer. Oh, my name's not in there, but
I'm in there because he's praying for sinners who are resting in
him. But one time he told Peter, he
said, Peter, I'm praying for you. because Satan desires to
have you and to sift you as wheat. The only protection and preservation
that we have from Satan, from sin, from the world, and from
ourselves is Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen. Isn't
that right? That's why he said, upon this
rock, I will build my church. Let's sing as our closing hymn,
Great is Thy Faithfulness, hymn number 40. Let us stand as we sing, please. Great is Thy faithfulness, O
God my Father! There is no shadow of turning
with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassion
they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever
wilt be. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath
provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above Join with
all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy
and love. Great is Thy faithfulness, great
is Thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath
provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Pardon for sin and a peace that
endureth Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide Strength
for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine
with ten thousand beside. Great is thy faithfulness, Great
is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies
I see. All I have needed, thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Be seated, please. Our Father in heaven, how thankful
we are for Christ our Savior and our Lord, our mercy seat,
who came to this earth and lived and died, was buried and rose
the third day for our justification. The life that he's given us within
our hearts, within our body, that we might glorify thee in
all things, in everything, in our thoughts, in our actions,
our desires, our motives, We pray that you would bless us
with your love and mercy in him, for it's in his name we pray.
Amen. Okay. so so and and Let me just talk to you just
for a little while. I know that many of you have heard things
about me leaving and different things. Some of you may not have
heard anything about it. And I just thought, well, today
would be a good time to just let you know where my thoughts
are and what what my plans are. It's as I've sought the leadership
of the Lord in, uh, in these matters. And I know it's maybe
a shock to some of you and some of you know about it already.
And some of you may have heard rumors, but the, the thing that
I've been kind of wrestling over for several months and, uh, this
really started back several years, but, um, As you know, I've battled
heart disease for over 20 years now. Now I'm battling diabetes
with it. And I know some of you know exactly
what I'm talking about, because you've gone through it too. I'm
only 61 years old, but sometimes I feel like I'm 70-some or 80-some. And I'm not just trying to offer
that as an excuse, but just to tell you that It takes its toll
on you. It does. And I've been trying
to fight it. You know, several years ago,
I had bypass surgery. And before that, I had umpteen
number of stints. I don't even know how much. So
Debbie says 19. She kept a tally of them, I guess.
And I've been fighting fatigue. I fight fatigue every day of
my life now. I have been given an opportunity
at the church in Albany. I know people, they hear that,
to go back there and to scale down my life. My preaching would
not be as rigorous as far as the number of times I have to
preach, but mainly that I could spend my time studying the scriptures
and doing some writing, which I honestly believe that the Lord
has laid upon my heart to do. That didn't just come about with
this book that I've got, but that's part of the catalyst of
this. And so due to my health, I'm
announcing my impending retirement as pastor of 13th Street Baptist
Church. Now, this isn't coming immediately.
Somebody asked me if I was going to leave next month, and no.
I want to give this thing time. I do want you to talk to me.
I hope you give it a couple of days. And I know the emotions. I have them. But in consideration
of the real possibility of even my own death, which I really
thought about when I was going through this bypass surgery,
I thought about who would be the pastor here after me. And
I think that it's derelict upon me for me to just go on as if
things are going to be the same the rest of our lives. You know
that's not true. I look out upon our audience
and I see our older people. Some of you, to be honest, and
I'm not just saying this to be morbid, you're not going to be
around much longer. But I look at our young people. We've got
some young people here. And my prayer and desire is that
the Lord will continue the gospel here. You know, that's what this
church has been identified with and distinguished by, the gospel.
It's being preached, not by the man who preaches it. And we've
been through so much. We've been here 11 years. We've
been through so much together. And I hope and pray that you
can find it within yourself to see that this is something I
need to do. Good night. It's just something
I need to do. And maybe that sounds selfish.
I don't mean for it to. But I'm honestly thinking about
the church here. And you know, it doesn't stand
on any man. And to think that it does is
too much pressure for any man. And I don't want you to despair.
I don't want you to feel abandoned. Christ will never abandon his
sheep. You know that. God's going to bless the gospel.
He's going to bless his people. You know that. And what we need
to do is trust him. And I want most of all for the
gospel to continue to be preached here for my children and my grandchildren.
One thing that's really got me thinking about this is when I
see my little grandson up here. And I thought, well, if the Lord
gives him a heart for the gospel, I want to make sure that it survives
me. And I think it's needed. that we as a church body be thinking
about and pursuing the next pastor. And when we do, we do it prayerfully,
we do it scripturally, not looking for a perfect man because there
are none, but looking for God's man. And when we do, when we
find him, and I haven't set a date for myself, I'll be here, And
we'll work together in prayer and in seeking this. I'll do
what I can. And I want to, when I do leave,
I want to leave on good terms. I want to leave with your blessing.
I want to be able to come back here and sit with you and enjoy
the fellowship. And of course, you know that
we'll be coming back quite often because we've got two grandbabies
up here. So all of these things I want, and like I said, I hope
you can find it in your heart to see that this is something
I need to do at this stage of my life. I know the Lord's will
is going to be done. As one preacher said, the Lord's
will, that's what's going on right now. Somebody asked me
if I'm sure this is the Lord's will. Well, read that article
in the bullet that I wrote. I know God's will in the scriptures.
I don't know it day to day. I just, I'm groping in the dark
like you. But I do know this, when we find God's man, a man
who preaches the gospel, that it's up to you as a congregation,
number one, to pray for him, number two, to support him, number
two, to love him and help him, communicate with him. He'll make
some mistakes, whoever it is. And you may say, well, he's not
like Bill. Well, there may come a time you'll
thank God for that. But it's just one of those things. Nothing stays the same in this
life. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And I hope
that you can see it that way and see that the important thing,
how the Lord has blessed us so much here in the past. He's blessed
me here. There's no way to describe the
blessings that I have had as your pastor, the love and support
you've given me. Given given the state of my health,
I really believe that I need to do this. I told Debbie, I
said, you know, even if I wasn't retiring and going down there,
if I was staying here, I would still say we need to be thinking
about who's coming next, who to call, because it's just it's
just being good stewards of God's grace. And we just can't go on
as if everything's going to stay the same because, you know, better,
you know that, don't you? So you pray for me, and I'll
be willing to talk to any of you. And if you want to call
me, or if you want to come by the office, do that. Like I said,
please give at least a day. And think about it. Pray about it. But I love you
all. And I speak for Debbie, too.
And we hope and pray that the Lord will bless us all throughout
this future. All right? All right. Let's stand
and be dismissed.