I only got two points of a message
this morning out of five, so maybe I can get through the other
three this evening. And I won't go through my introduction
again. You know how that I talked about
giving thanks for you. And I mean that. I mean that. Paul says we're bound, always
bound, to give thanks unto God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because He has begotten you. He hath saved you from the
very beginning, chosen you unto salvation through sanctification
of spirit and belief in the truth, and called you by the gospel.
Then how that we give thanks for the grace of God that's given.
And this grace was given us in Christ, and grace is a gift.
And I told you, I know I've told you this, but Abraham Booth,
I read the other day, and he says that Grace is only for the
unworthy. Only for the unworthy. If there's
any worth in anybody, then it's not grace. It's not grace. It's only for the unworthy. And
so I want to continue tonight and bring another thing about
some things that I give thanks for you for. And we all need
to be thankful to God that He has taught us these things and
made us know these things. But here in 1 Thessalonians chapter
2 and verse 13, it says this, For this cause also thank we God without ceasing,
because when you received the word of God which you heard of
us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in
truth the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you
that believe. This is another thing that we
give thanks to God for. You know how many people do not
know and do not even carry Bibles? How many preachers don't carry
Bibles? And if they carry one, they get
up and read a verse of Scripture and then leave it all alone and
just go on and preach on everything under the sun. But Paul said
here, we thank God that you received the Word of God. You received
it. You took it. You took it as God's
Word. And what did he say here? You received the word of God.
And then he says here, but not as the word of men. You received
it not as man's word. So when you heard a preacher
preach, and God blessed you to hear the word, and you received
the word, the first thing is you didn't receive it as the
word of a man, though you're going to hear it from a man.
And a man's going to do the preaching, and a man's going to take the
scriptures and open them, and hopefully, by the grace of God,
give you some understanding from it. But you didn't receive it
just as words from a man or traditions or logic of a mere man. You received
it as it is, the Word of God, not as just words from a man.
And look over here in 1 Thessalonians 1, 5, talking about receiving
the Word of God, not as the Word of men, though you heard it from
a man. Oh, I thank God I told you this
morning. Thank God for a man who one day
crossed my path with the gospel. I was in a fundamentalist meeting
down in Resaca, Georgia. Used to have a great big camp
meeting down there. Thousands of people go. Pack that place
out. Lots and lots of preachers. And, oh, there's a fundamentalist.
And I was down there one time, and I got a hold of some tapes
by Roth Barnard. Roth Barnard in a fundamentalist
camp meeting. And I got talking about Arthur
W. Pink. Two or three fellas told me, said, Boy, you better
quit reading him. He'll mess your mind up. But I got to listen
to Brother Barnard, and Brother Barnard turned me every way but
loose. You never heard such a gospel as that man was preaching. Scared
me, upset me, and had never heard nothing like it. And then I heard
him here talk about another man that he heard. And that he was
preaching for at that time. Told how much he loved him. And
that man was Henry Mahan. And I went across Henry Mahan
in 1979. Sit right across from him and
start talking to him about what I believed and he stuck his finger
in my face and says, that's not the gospel. Don't have nothing
to do with it. And that was a day that I said, Oh God, what have
I done? What have I done? But I've said
all that to say this. You're going to hear the truth,
you're going to hear the Word of God from a man, but it's got
to be the Word of God, and when a man does it with authority,
he'll get your attention, you'll say, that's the Word of God.
That's the truth. It's too honest, it's too naked,
it's too bare to look at and deal with. But look what he said
here in 1 Thessalonians 1, 5. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but it did come in word, but also in power. And it came in the Holy Ghost,
and it came in much assurance so that you know what manner
of men we were among you, that we were men preaching the gospel
of the grace of God, preaching by the Holy Spirit, preaching
the truth as it is in Christ, and that's why the gospel comes
in word and comes in power. And that's why our Lord says,
take heed, take heed how you hear. And oh beloved, look now,
look what else it says here in our text here. For this cause
we thank God because you received the Word of God, which you heard
of us. You heard it from a preacher.
You heard it from a man. You didn't receive it as man,
but look what he said. But you received it as it is
in truth, the Word of God. As it is in truth, the Word of
God. Now, beloved, there's one thing we can't never do. This
right here is truth, nothing but the truth and the whole truth.
And if we try to go to any place else to find truth other than
this right here, we're going in the wrong place, because this
is the naked word. No, I'm not talking about my
reading books, good books and things, but I'm talking about
the truth, the truth that God uses to speak to us, save us
and cause us to know Christ. This is indeed the word of truth.
So if you ever hear a preacher saying, well, he made a mistake
here, it would have been better for you to put that there, it
would have been better if he said it this way. If it had been better
that way, it would have been that way. That's right, Gary,
it would have been that way. But God gave us His blessed gospel,
and it is in truth the Word of God. Mary said when we got home
Wednesday night, she said, this is one thing, you can come to
a service, you can come tired, you can come weary, You can come
hurting, you can come depressed, you can come with trouble on
your mind, but when you hear the truth, and you hear the words,
talk to any priest, he said, and that word gives you life.
And it brings life to you, and it brings strength to you, and
it brings comfort to you, and it brings assurance to you. It
brings what you need when you need it at any given time. And
look over here in Hebrews 4 with me just a moment, talking about
the Word of God. And it is, the Word is living
Word. How do you think God can use
a Word and plant it in your heart, in Hebrews chapter 4, and plant
it in your heart and cause that Word to be a seed that generates
in your heart and brings forth life? The Word of God, the Word
is a seed, the Word of God that bringeth forth life in you. Hebrews
4.12, look what it says. For the Word of God is quick.
That means it's living. It's living. And it's powerful. Have you ever met anything more
powerful than the Word of God? It's the power of God unto salvation. It's the power to save you. Power
to take the darkness out of your mind. Power to give life to you.
Take out a whole cold, stony heart and put in a heart of flesh
when the Holy Spirit uses it. And it's sharper than any two-inch
sword. And Beloved, that means that
it cuts going and it cuts coming. I mean, Beloved, it pierces even
to the dividing of soul and spirit. It goes between every part of
your beings, what he means. He goes through your heart, through
your thoughts, through your intents, through your motives, and of
the joints and myas, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
your heart. And that's why, because when
the Gospel, the Word speaks, what's what it says? Neither
is there any creature that's not made manifest in His sight.
Why is that? Because it's the Word. All things
are a-open and naked unto Him with whom we have to do. The
Word of God is closed down into the very depths of our soul. It tells you what you're going
to do before you do it. It tells you what you're thinking
when nobody's sitting there. You'll say, Boy, how that, you
know, how people know that? Oh, it's a living word. It's
a life-giving word. It's a faith-giving word. It's
a discerning word. It teaches us to discern between
good and evil, between right and wrong, between error and
truth. And it's a comforting word. And
bless God, it's a hope-giving word. The word gives us such
hope. And then look what else he says
about it. You received it as is in truth, the word of God.
Watch what else it says there. which effectually worketh also
in you, and believe." You know, the word, this is so
wonderful to me, and I wish I could express it. I wish I could express
it the way it is. We all know what an effectual
call is. An effectual call is that, I mean, it gets the job
done. It does what it's intended to do. Well, the Word does what
it's intended to do. It effectively works in you.
And it works in you all the time that you believe. And from the
time you believe, it always works in you. It works in you to continue
to believe. It works in you, your dependence
on Christ. It works in you to trust the
Word of God. It works in you to attend the
Gospel. It works in you to come and make
you see and understand that you need Christ more than you need
anything in this world, and teach you that way. It effectively
works in you. Lord, it shows you your deformities. And then it causes you to turn
to the Lord Jesus Christ and say, Lord, save me from these.
And it's the Word that affects the works in you to cause you
to grow in grace. And no wonder Paul says, we give
thanks to God for you. Why, Paul? Because when I brought
the Word to you, you didn't see it as my Word, but as the Word
of God. You received it as the truth,
and it effectually worked in you. It worked life in you. It
works faith in you. It works perseverance in you.
It works desire in you. It works hope in you. It works
in you. And, oh, beloved, I'll tell you
now, when you get in trouble, when you're in any given situation,
I dare say that most of you, your mind automatically goes
to a scripture. Does that happen to most of you?
When something happens, something going on in your life, you hear
about somebody in trouble, something, your mind automatically goes
to the picture. Surely it does. Because you know
what else you're going to do. What else is your food? Huh? And then look over here with
me in Colossians, back over to your left once. Look in Colossians
chapter one, talking about something else we give thanks. And I mean
it. You know, here you are, here we are, a few people here. And when a preacher comes in
here, whether it's me or whether it's Paul or whether it's Gary
or one of these men get up here and read and they open the scriptures
and we automatically look at what he, we open our Bibles and
we look because we say this is God speaking here. A man's reading
it, but this is God speaking. Do you know if all we did is
read the scriptures and closed the book and went to the house,
we could say God spoke here tonight? I can come, we could say that
because it's God's word. And if God was here and our Lord
was here, he would say no more than what this says right here.
And that's what he said. He said, you receive it that
way. You believe it to be that way. And then look what he said
here in Colossians chapter one. Something else he says, we want
to be thankful for when we give thanks. Verse three, we give
thanks to God, the Father, by our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you. And there's three things he gives
thanks for right here. since we heard of your faith
in Christ Jesus, and the love to all the saints, and the hope
that's laid up before you in heaven." That's something to
be, and I am thankful for that. I am thankful that you have faith,
I'm thankful for your love, and I'm thankful for the hope that
God gave you. And look what he says about your
faith. He says, your faith in Christ Jesus. It's not something
abstract. It's not some pie-in-the-sky
thing out here that is a feeling you had or an experience you
had years and years ago. It's your hope. We heard of your
faith in Christ Jesus. In the Lord Jesus Christ. In
who He is and what He did. You have faith in the word of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You have faith, persevering faith. And I'll tell you what, you know
what it's called? It's called the faith of God's elect. Let
me show you that. You keep Colossians and look
right back over to your right to Titus. Titus, that little
book right before Hebrews. Talking about the faith of God's
elect. Faith of God's elect. That's
what we're talking about. We give thanks for your faith,
the faith that's in Christ. And let me say something about
that. Faith is in Christ. It's not in our faith. You know, our faith didn't die
for us. Christ did. Faith never put away sin. Christ
did. Faith never satisfied justice. Christ did. Faith never died. Christ did. Faith didn't go to
the tomb. Christ did. And because that
God sets him forth in our preaching and in our hearing and sets him
forth for our hearts, God says, he that believeth on Christ,
I'll justify that name. And so when we believe on Christ,
God receives us just like he does his own son. And our faith
always, always runs outside ourselves. And that's why he said your faith,
which is in Christ Jesus. And look what he said here, talking
about the faith of God's elect, which we give thanks for Paul.
a servant of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect."
You didn't know that God's elect someone was Godded, did you? As many as were ordained to eternal
life, what they do, they believed. And that's why Paul said here,
those ones that were in danger of eternal life, they had the
faith of God's elect. And how do you know you have
the faith of God's elect? Well, here's how you know it.
Because you acknowledge the truth. You say, it's true, preacher,
it's true. That's why, and you know that
Philippians, the Ethiopian eunuch said, he was reading the scripture,
said, do you understand what you're reading? He said, how
can I except some man guide me? And he got up in that scripture
and started preaching to him. And he says, well, that's the
truth. What does hinder me right now from being baptized? Because
he acknowledged the truth when he heard it. And we acknowledge
the truth. We acknowledge the truth about
everything. I'm even of it. Even truth we
don't fully understand. Do you understand the Trinity?
No, but we acknowledge it as true. Do we understand the depths
of our own sin? No, but we acknowledge that we
absolutely have no hope except what's in Christ. Oh, we believe
that God cannot lie. And then what else he says, not
only do we give thanks for your faith, for your faith in Christ
Jesus. He didn't say, I just give thanks
for your faith. but your faith in Christ. And then look what
he says, and I give thanks for the love and of the love to all
the saints. Oh, this is one of the most mysterious
things. Oh, this is something the gospel
does that nothing else can do. And this is why you know you
have faith in Christ. How in the world can you have
love to all saints? And we do. How many times have
you been to other places and fellowship with other saints
in other places, and you was just as home and just as comfortable
and enjoyed it as much as you did when you was at home. How
can you do that? And you rejoice and you sit down
with people you've just met and feel like you've known them forever?
And you rejoice? That's what it is. Love. Love. Love for Christ. And I'll tell you, there's people
that love us so much here. and love the Lord's people here.
And that when they even find out that something's wrong here,
like with little Brian, I could not tell you how many pastors
and preachers want to know what's going on and say, tell me about
it and call in there. I want to know because they have
love to the saints and they know how saints go through things.
And they have this great love for one another. They have this
great love, that beloved. That's why we know we've passed
from death unto life, because we love the brethren. We love
them. We love them the way they are.
They may not be like us. They may not have the same loves
and things as far as what they do in the world, but they still,
we love them. We take them the way they are.
We love Christ's Word. We love His Church. We love His
Gospel. And we love one another. Paul
talked about the Ephesians. He says, The those who love the
Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, in sincerity. Oh, love, that's
something that, of all the things you can think, that's one thing
you cannot fake. You can't fake love. You think
you could fake love for your wife or your children? Or your
husband? You think you could fake it? And you think that you can fake
the love of God? That's something that cannot
be counterfeited. The devil can counterfeit a lot
of things, but one thing he can't counterfeit, he can't counterfeit
love. And I'll tell you why he can't counterfeit it. It's because
he is too critical and too self-righteous and too proud. And he's the one
that wants you to do all the love to him, And if it starts
expressing love to somebody else, then he gets envious of that.
And you find folks that's envious of loving one another, then you've
found somebody that's in trouble. The devil came up, counterfeit
life. Oh, you can have tons of angels
and have not charity, a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.
You give everything you own to feed the poor, give it all away
and feed the poor, and have not charity. It'll profit you nothing. You say, I'll tell you what,
I'm going to die for my belief and I don't care if they have
to burn me at the stake. You can even have your body to
be burned. And if you have not charity,
you just died. That's what he's talking about.
And Paul said, that's the kind of love you all have. He said,
I see that love. I see that love. I experience
that love. When I come among you, you show
me that love. You express that love. You're
generous, you're kind, you're tender, you're forgiving, you're
prayerful. And then look what he says, not
only for the love, but look what else he says, and for the hope.
For the hope which is laid up for you. Where is it laid up
for you? It's laid up in heaven. Well done! Oh, beloved, our hope
is for the future. It's a confident expectation.
Abraham says, who against hope believed in hope. Oh, he said,
it's hopeless. There's no way in the world we
can have a child. But against all hope, he believed in hope
and received. And oh, beloved, we have confidence. Oh, our hope is not in anything
in this flesh. Our hope is not in anything we
think, say, or do. Our hope is in the Lord Jesus
Christ, huh? Because He's the only one able
to keep us from falling, to present us faultless before His glory.
And, oh beloved, Paul said, you know, he's confident that he
which hath begun a good work, and you shall perform it. And
I told you this morning, it's a good hope. And how did we get
this good hope? Through grace. Through grace. Grace brought us, and we were
one time without hope. Without hope, I remember years
and years and years ago, I was in a VA hospital in Chillicothe,
Ohio. And I was put in there. It's
a long-term hospital. You go in there and there have
been people who have been in there for years and years. And it's a long-term. They only
put you in there unless you're going to stay six months. And when they put me in there,
And I was in that place, you're talking about hopeless, hopeless. I was the most hopeless human
being that you could ever, I just, there was no hope at all. I dreaded
bed at night. And then when I went to bed,
I dreaded waking up in the morning. And that went on for months and
months and months and months and months and years. And then God in sovereign mercy,
came and gave me a good hope. And how come he done that? Cause
he's gracious. Cause he's gracious. And that's
another world. That's another world. Good hope through grace. And
it's a blessed hope. Oh, what a blessed hope it is.
And it's a sure hope. Ain't nobody can take it away
from us. And not only that, but it's a hope that purifies us.
And you know what? God's people are hopers. If you receive that that you
hope for, why do you yet wait for it? For if you receive that
that you hope for, you don't hope for it anymore, you've received
it. But if you haven't received it, You with patience wait for
it. And we patiently wait for this
hope laid up for us in heaven. This hope that we, like Ruby,
set on our way out this morning. She says, if you hear me going
on to glory, she said, you get up and tell everybody that I'm
looking at the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. That's the hope
she has laid up in heaven. She told me that on the way out
this morning. I just laughed about it. She said, you just
tell them I'm already there. Send the Lord face to face and
glory to glory. That's the hope we have up yonder.
And, beloved, we'll receive the end of our faith, our hope. How
can anybody be happy to leave this world with such joy? Because
you've got a hope laid up for you. And that hope is the anchor of
our soul in this world. Oh beloved, the world can't reach
this hole if it can't take it away from you. Flash can't tame
it or destroy it. Thieves can't break through and
steal it. Moths can't corrupt it. It is laid up like a treasure
that one day we'll receive. And when we receive this hole, oh my, I just can't imagine what
it's going to be like. And look over here in 1 Timothy,
back over to the right. a little bit. Let me show you
what our hope is. 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 1. Look what he says here. Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior,
and Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. See, our hope's not a what, our
hope is a who. The Lord Jesus Christ, and you
can leave out that which is, and just say the Lord Jesus Christ,
our hope. Our hope. Oh my, and we heard
it in the gospel. And then let me give you, give
you my last point over here in Philippians, right back to your
left again. Let me give you my last. See why I say I give thanks
for you. Look at you. You sit here tonight.
It's hard not to tell you this morning that there's folks here
that love me. And they come and hear me preach, want to hear
me preach. And you sit here year after year,
week after week, service after service. And you're here again
tonight. What a blessed thing to give
thanks for. And look what he says here. And
Philippians chapter 1 and verse 3. I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you. Let me ask you all a question
and just give you a little encouragement. When you start praying and when
you pray, just start going through the congregation one by one.
Go by family by family. And as you remember them, you're
going to start going through the church. And you start remembering
people. And you say, when you start praying, you say, well,
boy, I remember that. And you start going through one
at a time, or a family at a time. And all night, you're talking
about blessing you to give thanks, and blessing your heart to pray.
You just start thinking about, there you think about your mother. You remember her? Boy, she's
something to be thankful for. Your children, Gary, they've
got something to be thankful for. Janet told Kelsey this morning,
she said, how does church last so long? She said, Kelsey, you
ought to be thankful. She said, I was raised, privileged to raise
where the gospel is being preached. One of these days, you'll be
thankful that you was raised where the gospel is being preached. Start thinking about Dirk Smith.
I've known him since he was in high school, and here he is.
getting older, then you're all easier since it's an ice cream.
And oh, give thanks for Him. All the things we've got to give
thanks for. And even men and women that's gone on before.
And then the memory of the just is blessed. When you start thinking
about the saints and the people that's gone on, it just warms
your heart and makes you so thankful that you knew them, and their
memory is so blessed through your heart. So that's what he
says, I thank God for my every remembrance of you. So when you
pray, you just start going through the congregation and you talk
about helping you to pray. When you start remembering one
another and what you mean to one another, what a comfort,
what an encouragement that you've been to one another through all
these years. And then he says, always in every prayer of mine,
making prayer of mine for you all, making requests with joy.
When I ask for something for you, I do it with joy. And look
what he says, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first
day until now. He said, I thank God for your
fellowship in the gospel. Now, this word fellowship is
the same word as union and communion. Union. And there is a church
on the face of this earth of the Lord Jesus, which he purchased
with his own blood, They have this church, this body
of Christ that he purchased with his own blood. They have the
most blessed union of anybody else on the face of this earth.
This is a true fraternity to be joined with the saints of
God, to be joined into the church of the Lord Jesus. We have a
union that's indescribable, that we're brought together, and it's
a true fraternity. And I tell you, the most miserable,
frightening thing on earth would be to be excluded from or lose
this fellowship that we have in the gospel. And then Paul
said it's our fellowship in the gospel. And I tell you why, because
it is the gospel. This is a mysterious thing. And
you think about this with me. I've talked about this with a
lot of men. Our fellowship is in the gospel, not because of
personality. Every one of us has got different
personalities. It's not based on our income. Some have a good
income, some don't have very good income. It don't have anything
to do with our position in this world. I know doctors, I know
lawyers, I have preacher friends that's got great educations,
I know men that's got PhDs, and when it's all said and done,
they sit down and listen to the gospel like everybody else does. And those people that was born
feeble-minded, they're going to live feeble-minded, they're
going to die feeble-minded, but still yet, our fellowship's in
the gospel. We have this blessed fellowship.
Wealth don't enter into this fellowship. Grace or intellect
has nothing to do with this. This blessed gospel of the grace
of God brought us all to the same place, brings us all to
the same level, and you know why that is? Because our unity
is in a blessed person. This is just incredible to me. Here we are, all of us, with
all of the things that goes on in all of our different personalities,
and the way we do things, and the ways we like to go, and the
music we like, and the things we like to do, all the different
parts of us, and yet here we are, and we have this blessed
unity. And if we miss it, oh my, you've
just gone here a couple of Sundays and you come back and say, it
seems like I've been gone a month. It's this union we have. And
God brought us all, and we're told, anybody here feel like
they got more, know more, have more, smarter than anybody else? You know what I mean? God brought
us that way. I love it. And I tell you, you
see, our fellowship, all believers have all things in common. We
have this in common. We're all sinners. We're all
weak. But here's what we have in common.
We all have one Lord, one faith, one baptism. We're all in the
same body of Christ. And He's our Head. We all have
the same Spirit. We all have one hope of calling. And we all have one God who is
above all, in all, and through y'all. We've all been saved by
grace through our Lord Jesus Christ. All of us have been elected
and chosen in Him before the world began. All of us have been
bought with the precious blood of Christ. All of us have been
called by the Holy Spirit. All of us have been washed and
sanctified and justified. And that's why we have this blessed
unity. And that's why we give thanks
for your fellowship in the gospel until now. Until now. We know all these wonderful people
that we've known. You know why? Jerry mentioned
Brother Hendon. We mention him all the time.
Scott, our fellowship, it was the gospel that brought us together.
It wasn't personalities, Gary Brodsky, it wasn't. It was the
gospel that brought us together. It was the gospel that brought
me and Scott Richardson together. It's the gospel that brought
me and Bruce Fairfield together. It's the gospel that brought
us all together. It's the gospel that went out there and called
us and brought us and taught us and brought us all together
to where we can all say here's a word. The gospel does it. You see, we're all one. That's
what he's talking about for your union, your fellowship in the
gospel. We all confess our sins, and we have repentance towards
God. All believe that Christ is the only Redeemer and Mediator,
and that we're complete in Him. We all draw faith from one blessed
book, the Bible. We all worship the one true and
living God. And all in this gospel, it causes
us all to love Christ and love one another. And we all desire to walk upright
and live a life honored and glorified to our master. And no wonder
Paul said, brethren, I give thanks. And I'll tell you again tonight. I'm bound to give thanks to God
for you, for you, for you, every one of you. I could call you
all by name and tell you why I give thanks for you and peculiarities
about every one of you, but I won't do that. But I will say I give
thanks for you. From the depth of my heart, I
do. of our Lord Jesus Christ, oh,
what a Savior, what a Savior, how blessed and glorious and
holy is He, that You come and You brought us all together,
brought us from all over, different states, different places, different
backgrounds. All these people that we know
brought us together in Christ, chose us in Him, called us by your gospel, sanctified
us by your Spirit, washed us in your blood, filled us with
grace divine, and filled our heart with faith and love for
the Lord Jesus Christ, and love for one another. And Father,
we do pray for those that we love so much, ask for your blessings
and strength and encouragement upon them, And we pray for Christina
and Jonathan, Marlene and the family, all the family, over
little Briley. Father, we pray that you take
her to yourself. Take that dear family. And Lord,
take her to your heart. Let her rest on your bosom as
John did, the beloved disciple. She's a baby. She's an infant.
She's a child. Can't do for herself. And we're
just as helpless as she is. So we ask you, Lord Jesus, to
take her to your heart. And touch her little body. And
make her whole to your glory. To your glory. And Father, keep
the saints here. And bless Brother Brad when he
preaches Wednesday night. Give him a hearing. Folks, come
out to listen to him. And I pray, Lord, for Bob next
week that you'd bless him and the services until we can all
gather together to worship again. We bless you in Christ's name.
Amen. Amen. There is a name I love to hear,
I love to sing its word. It sounds like music in my ear,
the sweetest thing.