Acts chapter 2 and verse 41. On the day of Pentecost, Peter
stood up and preached a message. Just like I'm attempting to stand
here before you tonight and preach a message. And our text tonight
declares the result of the message which Peter preached. In Acts
2.41, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. They gladly received the word
and were baptized. And the same day they were added
unto them about 3,000 souls. I'm interested in knowing what
message resulted in 3,000 souls being added to the church. I want to know how Peter was
brought to stand up and preach this message. One thing that I see when I look
into the various avenues that we have of hearing
messages these days is I hear all different manner of preaching,
all different things being preached. And I'm sure if you ask anybody,
the end goal of what everyone that's standing up and preaching
would like to see is in addition to the church. My subject tonight
is preaching. That's my subject. But even as
I preach about preaching, I want to make sure that I preach Christ
in all His glory to you. Because that's the message God's pleased
to save His people with. If we're going to be made to
look away from ourselves and truly mortify the deeds of the
flesh, it's going to be by seeing more and more of Christ. If we go to the law to look and
try to mortify the deeds of our flesh, we're looking the wrong
way. We're looking the wrong way.
We've got to constantly hear more and more of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The title of the message is How
3,000 Souls Were Converted. If you could give a how-to lesson
to somebody, to preachers in our day, and say, this is how
souls are converted to Christ. You'd think everybody would listen
and pay attention. That's what we're going to see
as we go through the book of Acts, is how God saves sinners,
how He's pleased to save sinners. I want to look first of all at
Peter's manner of preaching, and then secondly at Peter's
message, and then thirdly, go back and let's look at how Peter
was brought to believe on Christ so that he would stand up and
preach this message on the day of Pentecost. Let's begin here with Peter's
manner of preaching. We looked at this and perhaps
I should have read the whole verse, the whole passage, but
we looked at this last week and I want to just make a few comments
here about what Peter stood up and preached and how he stood
up and preached. He didn't say anything that was
entertaining to the flesh. Nothing. He didn't speak in a
way that was above the people's heads to whom he was speaking.
Anybody there could have heard him and understood what he said. Any one of these children in
this room can read this passage of what Peter preached and understand
what he's saying. And Peter didn't waste these
people's time with history lessons or with any kind of gimmicks
or anything whatsoever that might tickle the ears. Peter used God's
Word. He quoted the prophet Joel. He
quoted the psalmist David. And he commented on it. And everything
that he said was exalting the triune God of glory. and particularly
the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is the fullness of the Godhead
in a body. Peter preached the way he did
because anything, and I'm going to state this, and I want to
be as narrow on this as I can be. But the preaching of Christ and
Him crucified is of no benefit whatsoever to souls of sinners
who have an appointment with the eternal holy judgment of
God. Whatever I say to you tonight,
I need to say to you tonight, anticipating that I won't ever
get to preach to you again at all. And then secondly, in preaching
God's Word, Peter didn't use any kind of fleshly wisdom to
change God's Word and to make natural man, to make sinners
seem any less than what we are. He didn't do that. Sons of Adam,
in our natural state, are God-haters. That's all we are. God haters. No more than spiritually dead
in trespasses and in sins. In Psalm 53, 1, the fool hath
said in his heart, no God. No God. The words there is are
added by the translators. The fool has said in his heart,
no God. Corrupt are they and have done
abominable iniquity. There's none that doeth good
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there were any they didn't understand that that sought God and every
one of them has gone back and they're all together become filthy
and There's none that doeth good not even one Scripture tells us ask this question
in Jeremiah. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? or the leopard his spots, then may ye also do good that
are accustomed to do evil. That's our natural state. And
after we're converted, after God works a work in us, believers
need this same message that exalts Christ before us continually,
because in our flesh, there's nothing good in our flesh. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of
the Spirit is Spirit. The flesh lusts against the Spirit,
the Spirit against the flesh. You find that to be the case,
don't you? So, Peter's manner in preaching
was in no way in any regard what would make men feel good about
themselves. It wasn't designed for that.
And yet the manner in which he preached and the message in which
he preached is the only thing that will cause a believer to
rejoice in joy and know what true joy is. Let's look at Peter's
message. Peter preached all flesh is grass
and he preached thy God reigneth. If you just broke it down, that's
what he preached. All flesh is grass. and thy God
reigneth." What Peter says here in this message that he preached
at the Day of Pentecost is about man. It's about man. But he stood up and facing men
face to face just like I am right now, he used the words, you,
and said, you've done these things. And men today stand up and say,
they did these things. We did these things. Look here,
I just want you to see the opposites of what the flesh is, what man
is, sinful man is. The flesh is. And how opposite
that is to God. Look here in Acts 2.22. Peter
started out and he said, you men of Israel, hear these words.
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God. This is a man that God
approved of. And look at verse 23. But you
have taken him, and by wicked hands crucified him and slain
him. Peter proclaimed man's blatant
rejection of God's choice anointed son by reminding them that they
knew full well this was God's man. He said there in Acts 2.22,
you knew this. You saw the miracles and the
wonders and the signs which God did by him in the midst of you
and you yourselves know these things. You know he was a man
approved of God. Nicodemus came to him and he
said, no man could do these things except he be sin of God. Verse 23 says, And still ye have
taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain him. You
see how God approved of him and we rejected him. Peter proclaimed
that they frustrated the grace of God. And though they rejected
Him who is the fulfillment of God's law, the fulfillment of
righteousness in the believer, still their wicked hands only
did what the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God determined
before to be done. If we do anything that's disobedient
to God, that flies in the face of the truth of God. Do you think that that's outside
of God's will and purpose? To glorify His Son? To exalt
His Son? To bless His people? Anything
wicked that you and I do, we may think we're going our own
way and having our own way and doing what we want to do, and
we may be doing exactly what we want to do. But the wrath
of man Well, praise God. And if it don't praise Him in
some manner, it ain't going to happen. He's going to stop it
from happening. He'll restrain it. Peter declared that man left
in this state put the Lord Jesus Christ down. Put Him down. Rejected Him. Despised Him. had a mock trial. Took him and
nailed him to a cursed tree. Put him in a tomb. And yet, it
says here in Acts 2.24, God raised him up. God raised him up. We put him down. God raised him
up. Peter looked these people square
in the eye. And he proclaimed that though
they set themselves in the seat of God's throne of judgment,
making themselves as gods, and saying, this Jesus of Nazareth,
being a man, makes himself out to be God. That's why we rejected
him. But God says here in Acts 2.27,
as Peter quoted the psalmist, read there 2.27, because thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell." These are the words of Christ.
Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One. We set ourselves up in God's
judgment seat and said, He's unholy and unrighteous. And Scripture
says He's God's Holy One. And then Peter said, boasts that
you follow in the footsteps of the faithful patriarch, David.
He believed on the name of this same Jesus. He bowed to Him.
He prophesied of Him with great joy. He called Him Lord. Acts
2.34 there. This is what David said, The
Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till I make
thy foes thy footstool. But Peter says, that you wicked,
vile, unfaithful, stinking maggots nailed him to a cursed tree. Is that too true of what we are? God calls it abomination. If there was ever a verse of
Scripture which shows the great extremes between God's approval
of His dear Son and our rejection, man's rejection of Him. If there's
ever a Scripture that shows the extreme of God's satisfaction
with the finished work of His Son and man's utter, total inability
to trust Him and believe on Him, outside of God working effectually
in Him. If there's ever a verse that
declares it, look here in Acts 2.36. Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus Lord
and Christ and we Crucified him Now if we're just left alone
And we're left to ourselves. That's what we'll do That's exactly
what we'll do right here right here in the year 2008. That's
exactly what we'll do Things have not changed one bit
when it comes to our utter total dependence upon God. And then
look here what Peter did too. He didn't water this thing. He
didn't try to straddle some kind of theological fence to where
he pleased everybody in the room. He didn't try to do that. He
just told the truth. He didn't use any wisdom of words
to make Jesus of Nazareth seem any less than who he is. He proclaimed
that Jesus is Lord. You know what that means? Lord. He is. This man, Jesus, is God. He's all-powerful. He's the King
of heaven and earth. What do you think of when you
think of God Almighty? What do you think of when you
think of God in three persons? It's Christ. The fullness of
the Godhead bodily. I can't explain it, but that's
the case. Everything we think of God the
Father, we ought to think of God the Son. Everything everything
we think of of he who spirit we ought to think of God the
Son The God man this man. He's God. He's King. He's Lord His shoulders are big
enough to take care of to take on the whole government of God This whole universe and God's
people rest on him who He has the power to give eternal life
to as many as the Father has given Him. He has the power to
do that. When He pleases, where He pleases, because He's God. He's the Lord. And then Peter declared Him to
be the Christ. The Son of God, the Son of Man,
the God-Man is the one chosen, anointed of God to save his people
from their sins. God's anointed. He's God's Christ. He's God's choice. The determinate
counsel and foreordination of God was this, that he would declare
his righteousness by sending forth his son in the person of
his son. He would set his son forth to
be the propitiation, the mercy seat, the place where God and
his people would be brought together in one. He chose to set him forth to
be these things that we might understand that he's just and
the justifier of him that believes. Over in Luke 4.17, Luke 4.17,
the Lord Jesus Christ one day walked into the synagogue. Everybody was gathered there
to worship God. waiting on the Messiah. And he
walked in. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he
gave it again to the minister, and he sat down. And the eyes
of everybody in that synagogue were fastened on him. And here's
what he said. And this day is this Scripture
fulfilled in your ears. Peter preached Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. What does that mean to preach
Jesus Christ and Him crucified? It means to preach who He is.
He's Lord and He's Christ. It means to preach what He did. He fulfilled the eternal, determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. That's exactly what He did
in redeeming a people. It's to preach where He is now.
He's at the right hand of God, Peter said. He's raised up. He's
seated. He's glorified. God's pleased with this one.
We reject it. And it's to preach what he's
doing now. Peter said, he's the one that's poured out this which
you now hear and see. That's why Paul in 1 Corinthians
2, verse 1, look over there with me, 1 Corinthians 2, 1. Paul said the same thing that
illustrates Peter's manner of preaching and the message he
preached on the day of Pentecost. Here's what Paul said to the
Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 2. He said, I,
brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech
or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. I determine
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified
and Paul said and when it came to me personally I was with you
in weakness and in fear and in much trembling and My speech
my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. I'm just
an earthen vessel Paul said but in demonstration of the spirit
and of power I Why? Why would you preach? Why would
you get up and tell sinners the truth? Why on earth would anybody
have the audacity to stand and just tell the truth? That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Look over a
few, over to the 2nd Corinthians and look in verse 4, chapter
4. 2nd Corinthians chapter 4. Look at verse 5. For we preach
not ourselves. If we're not preaching Christ,
who are we preaching? If we're not preaching the Lord
Jesus Christ, who are we preaching? Ourselves. Paul said, we preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves merely
servants for Jesus' sake. Your servants for Jesus' sake.
Why? How? For God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. And it's in
the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure. Is
it a treasure to you? Is Christ a treasure to you? When I sat down to prepare this
message this week, I didn't know What piece of the treasure I
was going to bring tonight. But I knew where the treasure
was going to come from. It's going to come from Christ.
And it's going to be all summed up in Him. And we have it in
earthen vessels. Just jars of clay. that the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. That's why Peter stood up and
preached the way he did and preached what he did. Now, here's my third
point for you. How was Peter brought to believe
that Christ is all and therefore come to Pentecost with this one
message? How was Peter brought to this
point? Let's take a look at what the
Lord Jesus Christ did for Peter and what it resulted in. I won't
have you turn to all these scriptures, but there's a couple I want you
to look at. First off, the Lord Jesus Christ
chooses his people. We were chosen from before the
foundation of the world and put in Christ. And he chooses He's
God. He's the second person in the
Trinity. And when He walked this earth,
people didn't choose Him. He chose them. He came to where
they were. Met them right where they are.
And He worked for them coming right to where they were. He
came to the Sea of Galilee. And there were two brethren.
It was Simon called Peter. And he was a fisherman. And he
was fishing. He was casting a net into the
sea. And the Lord said unto him, and Andrew, his brother, was
there too. And the Lord said unto them,
Follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men. And they straightway
left their nets and followed him. That's power. You know what that would be like
saying? Any of you men who have your
livelihood doing what you're doing now. It would be like Christ
coming to you and saying, leave what you're doing and follow
me. Those nets were their livelihood. Their life depended on those
nets before Christ came to them. But after Christ came to where
they are, where they were, their life didn't depend on those nets
anymore. That's faith. That's what faith is. Faith is
saying, my life is Christ. And they followed Him. And in
time, the Lord reveals Himself more and more in His service.
I do want you to turn to this verse, Matthew 16, 13. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, Peter's there
with him. And he said this, who do men
say that I, the Son of Man am? What's the word on the street?
And they said, well, some say that thou art John the Baptist. Some say you're a lias. Others,
Jeremiah, are one of the prophets. And he saith unto them. Peter
is sitting right there listening to them. Peter is getting his
education right here. Sitting here under the master. And he saith unto them. Now listen
to this. But whom say ye that I am? Who gives a hill of beans about
what this world says of him? Who do you say he is? What do
you think of Christ? And Simon Peter answered, and
he said, Thou art the Christ, your God's anointed, the Son of the living God. And
Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven. He taught you that. He taught
you who I am. And then through trials, the
Lord Jesus Christ brings his servants to know that they don't
have any sufficiency in themselves whatsoever. They were together. And the Lord
said that this night, you're going to all be offended at me. Because the scripture said, I'm
going to smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.
And he told them before he went to the cross, he said, you're
all going to be offended of me, at me this night. Peter walked
with him. Peter had been with him. Peter
believed on him. Peter trusted him. Heard what Peter just said. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. And Peter said, though all men
shall be offended because of thee, I'll never be offended. I'll never be offended. And the
Lord Jesus Christ said, Peter, Satan has desired thee that he
might sift you as wheat. You know, when you sift wheat,
It's kind of like draining chicken stock off of a chicken. You know what you're left with?
That which is not fit to eat. That which is no good. Just the
bones, the husks, is what you're left with after you sift wheat.
Satan wanted to sift out everything that was of any value in Peter
so that there was nothing left but husks. And the Lord Jesus
Christ said, Peter, I prayed for you that your faith fail
not. If I pray for you, it may not
come to pass, because what I pray for you may not be God's will.
But if He prays for you, it's coming to pass. And the Scripture
says, and Peter sitting around that fire, and this lady said,
aren't you one of His? Peter said, No. Somebody said,
I know I saw you with him. No, no, no. You didn't see me
with him. Now aren't you sure? Peter said,
No. And Peter remembered the word
of Jesus which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt
deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. All men, all these my brethren
may offend you, but I won't ever offend you. My faith is strong. Not without Christ. Not unless
Christ sustains us and keeps us. And we had to go through
these trials. Peter was there with the Lord
when they came to arrest him. Before this happened, Peter drew
the sword. And the Lord said, Peter, do
you not know I could just speak and receive more than ten, twelve
legions of angels to come here to my safety. I don't need man. Man needs me. I must go suffer
these things. And Peter is brought here to
weep bitterly. To weep bitterly. If a man is
going to speak to sinners about what we are, And tell sinners
what we are, it's going to be because he knows something about
what he is apart from Christ. If he don't, he's going to tell
sinners lies because he don't know what he is himself. He thinks
he's holy himself. He thinks he's sufficient himself.
That's why he's telling other men they can be sufficient themselves. And then when the Lord has humbled
His messengers, magnified His love toward us, then He gives
His servants for the work at hand. Look over at John 21.15.
John 21.15. Lord, it came back to Peter. after his crucifixion, after
Peter denied him and left and wept bitterly. And he came back
to Peter in verse 15 and it says, So when they had dined, Jesus
saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me
more than these? Peter had gone back to his nets.
Peter had gone back to where his true livelihood was. And
he said, You love me more than these. And he saith unto him,
Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. And the Lord said
unto him, Feed my lambs. This one who just rejected Him,
this one who just denied Him, this one who just forsook Him, And he saith to him again the
second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And he saith
unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. And he saith
unto him, Feed my sheep. If you really love me, go feed
my sheep. And he saith unto him the third
time, The first time he said, you love me more than these.
The second time he said, do you love me? The third time he said,
Simon son of Jonah, lovest thou me? He says it again. And Peter was grieved because
he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? Peter's grieved about it. A little
irritated about it. And he said unto him, Lord, now
listen to what he said, thou knowest all things. You know everything. Lord, thou knowest that I love
you. Now, now he's ready. And he said, Feed my sheep. Go feed my sheep." Well, then
what happened with Peter? Christ's messengers are given
boldness by Him through the power of the Holy Spirit to bear witness
of Christ alone. Look back over at Acts 1, verse
8. The Lord said, Peter's sitting
there, And the Lord said, You shall receive power after that
the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses
unto Me. You're going to go tell people
about Me. You're going to go testify of
Me. Peter, have you learned anything
about Me? The Lord said, Now it's gonna
take the power of the Holy Spirit to give you unction to give you
boldness and you're gonna go to Jerusalem and you're gonna
Tell the people at Jerusalem What you've learned about me
what you know to be so about me Acts 2 4 says and they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost Peter's right there with them Began to
speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance And
in an axe 213 people started mocking these men are full of
new wine but Peter He didn't deny him this time He stood up
with the 11 and lifted up his voice And he said unto them you
men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem Be this known
unto you and hearken to my words I'm about to tell you what I
know I'm about to tell you what is the facts and Christ having
revealed himself in his servants and Christ's ambassadors, His
servants and His handmaids. That's you who believe in Me. His servants and His handmaids.
They give the glory to one and one only for doing all the work.
Peter said, this is that which God spake through the prophet
Joel. In Acts 2.18, There at the end
of that, he says, on my servants, my servants, God said, and my
handmaids, I'll pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall
be witnesses unto me. And then verse 33, after Peter
finished preaching this message, he said, Therefore, being by
the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Ghost, my Lord and my Christ, whom I
serve, hath shed forth this which you now see and hear. He's done
it. If a man's been through Christ's
seminary, that's what he'll get up and tell people. That's what
he'll get up to speak. I got a good friend. I was speaking
to him this week. He kind of was instrumental in
making me think about this message. He went someplace to preach.
And some people there had known him for years. But one of the
fellows walked up to him and he said, I didn't know you were
a preacher. And he said, I'm not. He said, I'm not. He said, but
the Lord I came to represent, he's the preacher. That's a good
answer. I'm not. But the one I'm here
as the ambassador for, he is. He's a good preacher. He's the
prophet, priest, and king. This message is the gospel. It's the gospel by whom Christ gives grace. God gives
His grace through His Son. And it's the gospel by whom we
receive the obedience of Christ through faith. That's what Paul
said in Romans 1, in verse 1. He said, I'm a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of
God. And then he defines it. which
He had promised to for by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures.
Everything He's ever said has to do with concerning this right
here. Concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to
be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead, and by whom, it's by Him,
we've received grace from God and apostleship for obedience
to the faith among all nations. And we received it for His name. For His name. God's servants, His handmaids,
they bear witness of the One they love. Because it's due to
the power of the Holy Spirit they can't do anything else.
They can't speak otherwise. 1 Corinthians 12 speaks of the
gifts of the Spirit. And it says to you, when you're
at your job, or you're at school, or wherever you are, and somebody
begins to talk about Christ and speak of Him as being a helpless,
non-saving thing that can't save anybody unless man does something
for it. You can't stand for that. You
can't agree with that. Look here, verse 1. Now concerning
spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You'd
know that you were Gentiles, carried away under these dumb
idols, even as you were led. Wherefore I give you to understand
that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed. And that no man can say that
Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities
of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administration,
but the same Lord. There are diversities of operations,
but it's the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation
of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with. It's given
for profit. And when the Holy Spirit makes
Christ profitable to us, He makes us profitable to one another
and to those to whom we come into contact with. Look at that.
Finish out that back here at Acts 2 with me. I'm just going
to read this out. But look here. Here's the result. These 3,000 that was added to
the church. through this declaration that
Christ is Lord, that Jesus of Nazareth is Lord and Christ,
approved of God, made satisfaction, seated at God's right hand. Verse
42 says, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. They continued in what Peter
preached there that day. And fellowship. They had brothers
and sisters they didn't know they had until that day. And in breaking of bread, they
observed the ordinances. And in prayers, they now know
who they're dependent upon. And fear came upon every soul.
They referenced this one who was preached. And many wonders
and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together. And had all things common. And
sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all as every
man had needed. Don't brethren take care of brethren.
Brethren take care of brethren. Let's don't wait. Let's don't
say, if you need anything, call me. Let's just take it upon ourselves
to provide for one another. That's better. Because we're
not going to call. I'm not going to burden you with
my burden. I'm not going to call you and
say, and load you down with, you've got enough on you. And
you're not going to do that to me. We just help each other,
take it upon ourselves to help each other. That's what they
did. And they continued daily with one accord in the temple,
of one mind, of one accord, breaking bread from house to house. I
like this here. They continued daily with one
accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house. In
the temple and from house to house, they ate their meat with
gladness and singleness of heart. What's this singleness of heart?
Who's this bread? This one that they fed upon in
the temple is the one that they observed in the breaking of bread
from house to house. The one on whose heart their
hearts were single for, Christ the Lord, the bread from heaven.
Verse 47 says, And they continued praising God and having favor
with all the people. And they weren't the only ones
that continued. The reason they continued was because the Lord
continued. And the Lord added to the church
daily, such as should be said. I've got a picture on my desk
that we took the other day that we have on the web page of our
family here. And I've got that ordination picture frame and the ordination
certificate on this side and I've got the picture framed on
this side of the whole congregation and I like that because when
I sit down at my desk every morning I see what God's entrusted me with And God forbid that I ever stand
up here and say something to just entertain you. The flesh. I want to say something
that's going to bring you joy. I want you to walk out of here
happy. And I believe I can make it to
the next surface now. Believe I can make it to the
next time. Well, I sure do thank you. I hope the Lord will use that
to comfort you. I think that's where we differ
with other messages and other things that are said. We have
one message, one pearl of great price. That's our victorious Redeemer. Amen.