Several years ago, I went down
to preach at Piteville, or up or over, whichever way Piteville
is from here. Many of you know Brother Paul Thacker, who's now
with the Lord, became so burdened for the community in which he
lived, he built the church building there, false property, just a
gully, took one mountain down, filled that one up, built a church
building, a parsonage, and called Brother Mahan and asked him to
come preach. and supply them with preaching
until God sent one, and he did, for the Tom Harding's there now.
I went down to preach one Sunday morning, and there were probably
not more than 15, maybe 20 people who normally attended services.
When I walked out for the morning service, the building's a little
bigger than this one. This whole side was plumb full. I mean, plumb full. All the members
were sitting over here. That man had brought somewhere
in the neighborhood of 75 to 100 people to hear the gospel.
He built the building at his own expense. Gave it to the assembly
to hear the gospel. How come? Because he considered
it vital to the souls of men. Vital. Vital. Worth everything. Used whatever
influence he had. to get folks at least now and
then to come hear the gospel, hoping maybe God would be pleased
to save some, and he did. Now, the title of my message
tonight's a little unusual. I've titled the message, In Preparation
for Our Conference. Back in April of this year, I
brought a message to you from that, which will be our text
in just a few moments, Luke chapter eight, verse 18. And we're going
to return to that passage. As my title indicates, I have
a specific reason for bringing this message to you. We will,
the Lord willing, beginning Friday, have the privilege of hearing
ten gospel messages over a period of three days from ten faithful men. I know each of them. I know each
of them personally except for one, Brother Stephen Bignall,
and I know him pretty well by reputation. We have mutual acquaintances. We're going to have the privilege
of hearing ten faithful men preach the gospel of God's free grace.
What a rare opportunity. Now these conferences, as you
well know, involve a lot of work, a lot of expense. You go to a
lot of trouble and a lot of expense, as well as I do. We do it, I hope, for the glory
of God. best I know how to do anything
for God's glory, for the furtherance of the gospel, for the increase
of his kingdom. Over the last 22 years, I've
seen some folks converted, we have, because of the conferences,
through the preaching of the word. We've seen some preachers
come to find out what the message is, begin to preach it. We've
seen churches establishing the gospel. I want you who are without
Christ to know it. And I want you, my brothers and
sisters, who know our Redeemer, to be comforted, edified, built
up in the faith of the gospel. I want to encourage you, do what
you can, to bring folks under your influence to hear the Word.
You can't save them, but you might get them to hear the Word,
may the God save you. You can't give them life and
faith, but you might give them to hear the gospel. If God's
pleased to speak to their hearts, it will be by the gospel. And
I pray that God will be pleased to grant us a time of refreshing
for our own souls, for the souls of our friends who will be gathered
from around the world, and for the increase of his kingdom.
So I want to talk to you again this evening about hearing the
gospel. I want to give you some plain, simple, but very, very
important words of instruction. The scriptures give us abundant
instruction in this regard. Before we look at our text, I
want you to read two or three passages with me. Turn back to
Ecclesiastes chapter 5. Ecclesiastes 5. There's much instruction in this
book about hearing the word, because much instruction is needed.
It's needed for those who never had the privilege of hearing
it, but it's particularly needed for you and I who have the privilege
often of hearing it. You see, we have a terrible tendency
in our depraved nature to take for granted those things that
are at our hands all the time. We have a terrible tendency in
our depraved nature to presume upon God's goodness when we enjoy
his blessing all the time. The wise man says, keep thy foot
when thou goest into the house of God. That is, when you walk
through those doors, pause a little bit and consider what you're
doing. Be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of
foods. When you come in, stop and ask God to speak to your
heart, rather than being anxious to offer an opinion. Everybody wants to say something.
Everybody wants to be a preacher. Anybody who wants to be too bad,
you don't want him. He doesn't understand what this
business is. For they consider not that they
do evil, speaking things about which they know nothing, sacrificing
foods. Do not rash with your mouth. You're going to hear men preaching
the gospel. Be careful what you have to say. Let not your heart
be hasty to utter anything in this place before God. So God
is in heaven and thou upon earth. Therefore let thy words be few. Turn to James chapter one. I'll wait for you to get there.
James chapter one. Every good gift And every perfect
gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Now
obviously, James is talking about every good thing God does, everything. But in the context, he's talking
about the word of the gospel. Look at verse 18. Of his own
will begat he us with the word of truth. How does God save sinners? If
you've been born of God, God gave you life by the power of
his gospel, the word of truth, the truth, the truth being preached
to you, sent to your heart by the Holy Spirit, that we should
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my
beloved brethren, since this is such a serious thing, Since
this is God's good gift, since this is how God saves sinners,
let every man be swift to hear. Long ago, I read a sermon by
Mr. Spurgeon, in which he told the story of a young boy sitting
right on the front pier. He sat right there in that huge
metropolitan tabernacle. We'd see several thousand people. He sat right there on the front
pier. And he leaned forward, cupped his ears, hands behind
his ears, And he just sat there like that. Listened to Mr. Spurgeon
preach for an hour. And Spurgeon noticed it one morning.
And he met the boy after services and he said, son, are you having
trouble hearing me? He said, oh, no, pastor. I can
hear every word. He said, well, I just noticed
you sitting with your hands cut behind your ears, leaning forward
like that. He said, I was concerned. He said, oh, pastor, mama told
me that if God speaks to me, He gonna speak through you. And
if God speaks, I want to hear Him. Be swift to hear. Swift to hear. Oh, God. Speak to me. Swift to hear. Slow to speak. Don't respond too quick. Listen.
Don't give an opinion too quick. Listen. Swift to hear God. I hear folks say, I go travel
and preach, you know, I get all kinds of responses, some good,
some not so good, and some you just wish for. I hadn't said
anything at all, but often times, well, you gave me something to
think about. I didn't give you something to think about. I gave you something
to hear. I'll give you something to hear. You gave me something
to study now. I'll give you something to hear.
If all I gave you was something to think about and study, consider
how you're going to receive it. I haven't done what I came here
to do. with a message from God Almighty for you, either that
or we got no business here. I'm not here offering an opinion.
I'm here showing you what this book says and what God requires
of us. Be swift to hear, slow to speak,
and don't get too upset when you hear it. Slow to rest. Don't get mad at the preacher.
Don't get mad at the one he represents. Don't get mad at what God says.
Hear it. Hear it. Verse 20. for the wrath
of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart
all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness." All that pride
and self-centered, vain glory that we have by nature, lay it
aside. That which causes men to just
shut out the word of God, lay it aside and receive with The
engrafted word, get it now, which is able to save your soul. What a word. Receive it how? With meekness. Like a child listening
to mama and daddy about something that's serious. The child knows,
mama and daddy know, they're serious about this now. And my
business is to sit here and listen and hear. and then heed what
they say. Be ye doers of the word. Don't just hear it, believe it.
Don't just hear it, do it. Don't just hear it and talk about
it, hear it and believe it. And not hearers only, for if
all you do is listen to it and don't hear it, all you do is
talk about it and don't hear it, all you do is mull it over
and never receive it, you deceive your own souls. Now let's look
at our text, Luke 8, 8. Our Lord Jesus has been speaking
to a great multitude of people. He spoke to them in the parable
of the sower, spoke of a farmer sowing his seed, and as he cast
his seed, he just cast it out, just scattered it across the
field. Doesn't take care to plant it in a row like you plant corn.
Doesn't take care to plant it and stake it like you would a
tomato. He just broadcasts the seed like you're sowing barley
out in the field. Just throw it everywhere. Just
throw it everywhere. Just throw it everywhere. And as he does,
some falls over there on the wayside. Hard, trodden paths. Never takes any root. And some
falls in stony places. And it springs up quickly, but
it doesn't last long. And some is sown among thorns,
and the thorns choke out the word, and then there's some.
There's some that is sown in ground that has been specifically
prepared to receive the seed, good ground. Ground that's been
plowed and fertilized and harrowed and reliced and prepared to receive
the seed. And it takes root and brings
forth fruit. Now our Lord tells us plainly the meaning of the
parable. The preaching of the gospel is sowing the seed of
life. We don't take any care about to whom we preach it. We
just throw it everywhere. If I believed what you do, I'd
just preach to the elect. I wouldn't do it if I knew who
they were. But I don't know who they are. So I just throw it
everywhere. And I know there's some good ground out there somewhere.
The good ground is the heart that's been prepared by the grace
of God to receive the word. And as God works in your heart
by his word, he prepares your heart to receive the word and
it brings forth fruit. But once we've received the good
seed, our Lord teaches us plainly, it is our responsibility to take
care that nothing chokes out the influence of the word. Take
care. neither the deceitfulness of
riches nor the cares of this world. Don't let it happen. Now hear the warning our Lord
gives us in verse 18. Take heed, therefore, how you
hear. If we would profit from the ordinance
of the gospel, if we would profit spiritually and eternally By
the preaching of the gospel, we must take heed how we hear. Now, here's the first thing.
I want to show you just two things, make two statements, and I'll
wrap this up as quickly as I can, but I want you to hear me. First,
we must hear the gospel. We must hear the gospel. I'm
not talking about going to church. I'm not talking about engaging
in religious activity. I'm not talking about all the
things people say and do. I am saying this. We must seize
the opportunity God gives us to hear his word. Now, this book
doesn't give us any specific times, telling us how often we
ought to meet together and so on. But there is a terrible trend
even among those who believe and preach the gospel, to sort
of squeeze as much of the influence of the gospel out of our lives
as we possibly can. Now, I don't mean that's the
intent, but that's the end result. I know many places where the
gospel is preached twice a week, sometimes just once a week, sometimes
less often than that, because it's not convenient. It interferes
with our lives. It interferes with our plans.
It interferes with this, that, and the other. After all, it'd
be better for us to meet just once a week or twice a week than
meet three times and folks be tired. No, it'd be better for
folks to plan not to be tired. It'd be better for us not to
arrange the worship of God and the hearing of the gospel to
fit into our lives, but rather let us arrange our lives around
the worship of our God and the hearing of the gospel. Oh, my
brothers and sisters, I can't tell you how important what I'm
saying to you is. We come to hear the gospel of
God's free grace in this place. You see, it is from the house
of God. Now, this is, this is tremendous, but you mark
it down. It is from this place. that God
commands his blessing upon his people. Psalm 133 says so. It's from this place, from the
house here where God meets with men. I don't doubt that God saves
sinners by the hearing of the gospel in lots of ways. I don't
doubt that at all. But I guarantee you the vast
majority of those who know Christ heard him sitting right where
you're sitting. They learned of him sitting in the house of
God, hearing a man preach the gospel. Not through listening
to tapes, not through reading tracts, not through some witness
on the streets, but because somebody brought him to hear the word
of God in the house of God, and God commended his blessing. Oh
God, command your blessing upon the Word. I never get up here
to preach to you. But what before I preach, I find
some place once more to express this word to God. I write it
down because I don't want to just think something and let
it pass. God command your blessing on
the word. Oh God, don't let me stand up
here. and fill in a few minutes of
time and waste men's time, but rather command your blessing
by the word. Call your word to go forth in
power. If he does, then this will be
true of all to whom the blessing is given. We will sing with the
psalmist, a day in thy courts is better than a thousand anywhere
else. I'd rather be right here for
one day than spend a thousand days anywhere else. I'd rather
be a doorkeeper in the house of God. I'd rather stand right
there by the door, just keep the door, open it and shut it,
than be anywhere else dwelling in the tents of the wicked. This
business of hearing the gospel, It's so important that our risen
Savior has specifically given the ministry of the word by the
gifts of his spirit to his church throughout the ages. When he
ascended up on high, he received gifts from men, yea, for the
rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. The
apostle tells us in Ephesians 4 that those gifts are pastors
and teachers. pastors according to his own
heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding for
the perfecting of your souls. This has always been the case
throughout the ages of the church. beginning with Adam and coming
to this present day. God has always maintained a witness. He has always had men specifically
chosen and gifted of him for the preaching of the word. Different
men with different personalities, with different gifts, with different
characteristics, but men gifted to preach the gospel. Enoch,
Jude tells us, was a preacher. Noah, Peter tells us, was a preacher
of righteousness. When God gave the law at Sinai,
he gave Israel priests and prophets, a special order of men, gifted
and ordained of God with this blessed service, making known
to men the mind and will and character and work of God in
his Son. And throughout the ages of the
Old Testament, he maintained his prophets, though often there
was but a remnant of men who worshipped him, and but a remnant
of those who were called prophets, who were true prophets, like
Ezekiel and Jeremiah and Isaiah in their days. But God gave his
church, his messengers, who had his word. Jeremiah was despised. Men mocked and men derided him,
but he had the word of God. Ezekiel was despised, mocked
and derided, and all the prophets in the land were opposed to him,
but he was God's voice in that day. He was God's voice to his
church. And if God spoke to anybody,
he spoke to them by Ezekiel. That's just all there is to it.
Today, we live in far better days than that. Today, God does
not speak at Sunday times and in divers manners by the prophets,
by the patriarchs, by the priests. But now, God speaks by his preachers
through his word, that which you have in your hands, holding
on your lap so that you can look in the word and you don't have
to wonder, is this man speaking for God or is he not? All you
have to do is look in this book and find out. speaking for God
by the power of his spirit. Now, it's my responsibility. It is the responsibility of these
men who come preach to you to preach the gospel. God's given
commission to his servants. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. And he promises I will be with
you. I'll guide you. I'll strengthen
you. I'll assist you. I'll open the
way before you. I'll make the word to bring forth
fruit. I'll comfort you always, even to the end of the world. And this you can be assured of. If God has sent me here with
his message. If God sends these men here with
his message, message from God Almighty, to preach the message. He didn't
send them here to beat the air. It's your responsibility to hear
it. It's your responsibility to hear it. Better that men had never heard
of a Savior being born than after they've heard of the person and
work of Christ. To despise the ministry of the
gospel. To despise those who are employed
as God's ambassadors. For despising God's ambassador
is despising God's message. Just all there is to it. What
do you mean by despising something? When you despise something, You
don't really care. It doesn't mean you look at it
with anger. It doesn't mean you respond to
it with your fist balled up. It means I've got more important
things to take care of. I've got some things that need
my attention more than this. Be sure you're here. Let me give you six suggestions
for hearing. I'm not going to lay down any
rules or regulations. I'm going to tell you what I
have found personally profitable to my own soul as I sit and hear
the gospel. These are things I've learned
over the last 35 years, and I've learned them over the last few
days. Listen carefully. Don't ever
come to the house of God merely to hear about religious things. Don't ever come just to gratify
curiosity. When we come to God's house,
let us come seeking to know Christ, to learn of Christ, to hear of
Christ, to praying that the Son of God will come and sit down
beside us and make himself known to us. praying that the Son of
God will come to visit us and make his face to shine upon us.
Don't ever come just discussing endless religious, doctrinal,
theological matters, ever learning, never coming to the knowledge
of the truth. Paul warns us plainly. Listen attentively. Now, if all you hear is my voice,
Lindsey, it doesn't matter whether you hear it or don't. It just
doesn't matter. But oh, if God is pleased to
give me a message. Brother Todd stands here Friday
night. I think Brother Tom Hardy is
going to lead off the conference. I'll stand here Friday night, preach
to you. If all you hear is Tom and Todd, it won't matter whether
you're sitting there playing tic-tac-toe or whether you're
not. But if God gives them a message, if God gives them a message,
you dead sure better hear it. Because it's the word of the
king. It's not the word of the president, it's the word of the
king. This is not the word of a governor, this is the word
of a king. This is not the word of some elected official that
men lift up and applaud. This is the word of God Almighty,
the King of Glory! Not only is it the word of the
king, this is the word of the king, and he's promised. He's promised. He's promised. He's promised that he's come
with the word of pardon for desperate criminals. He's come to pardon
sinners. He's come to give life to sinners. He's come to speak and to say
that which is law. You mean preacher. Here I am,
a condemned fellow. Here I am, a man of the sentence
of condemnation. Here I am, a man dead at law. And the King, whose law I have
broken, whose throne I've offended, the King against whom I've been
enraged all my life, is coming to speak a word of pardon to
guilty sinners." That's it. I believe I'll come and say,
maybe he'll speak to me. Maybe he'll speak to me. This is the
word of him who possesses all things. And he comes by his word to give
his last will and testament made public to men. By his word, Bobby, he comes
and tells you what he left you. He comes and tells you what he's
done for you. He comes and tells you what provisions
he has for you. Well, I believe I might come
hear that. I believe I might even come early. I might make
special preparations for that. These men haven't come here,
or they won't be coming here. If I thought they were, I wouldn't
ask them. To deliver dry, insipid lectures
on moral philosophy, legal duty, religious history, or creedal
accuracy. I'm not much anymore. I used
to be invited to such conferences. Preachers get together and read
papers, give papers on church history, papers on what Dr. Gill believed, and Mr. Spurgeon
believed, and Mr. Calvin believed and taught, and
asked me to come and Join them in their conferences. I try to
be gracious. I have no thank you. No, no,
thank you. I'm just not interested. I'm
not interested. I have more important things
to do. I've invited ten men to come here and preach the gospel
of God's free grace to you. The living word of the living
king to declare to you the mystery and glory and greatness of his
person. to declare to you the mystery and richness and fullness
of his grace, to declare to you the wonders of his kingdom and
his glory. Here's the third word. And this is always a danger when
you have a bunch of preachers in an area one time. Satan or
one of his servants, willing or no, one of his servants, will
attempt because of some evil in their hearts to prejudice
your thoughts against one of God's servants. Don't let it
happen. Don't let it happen. It's so sad to see children reflect
what mom and daddy discuss at home. I recall some years ago,
young lady, very dear, sweet child. She'd meet me just like
these girls do here. After every service, hug my neck,
spend all the time she possibly could with Shelby and I, until
her parents got bent out of shape. And their rebellion came to the
front. And that poor little girl to
this day. Last time I saw her, she cussed
me. Just cussed me. And I wept for her. Still do. What happened? She was prejudiced
by the wicked tongue of her own parents. I hope she doesn't go
to hell for it. Don't allow that to happen. Not
with me. Not with any man who faithfully
preaches the gospel of God's grace. If a man preaches the
gospel to you, ignore everything else. I'll tell you what, if
you were real thirsty, I mean, Merle, if you were so thirsty
your tongue was swollen and your jaws were sticking to your teeth,
if that glass right there had crud on it an inch thick, you'd
be tickled to death to get your drink of water. Who cares about
the crud that's got water in it? And if this preacher's got
crud on him, as thick as he is, if there's water in it, drink
the water and forget the crud. You understand what I'm saying?
Don't allow Satan to prejudice your mind and your thoughts against
that man who sent up God to preach the gospel to you. And then,
fourthly, Don't put too much dependence on him. Don't make more of him than he
is. We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. If God is pleased to speak through this dirty rusty, broken, empty pipe to
your heart. Don't hold the pipe up as if
it's something. Paul's nothing, Peter's nothing,
Apollos is nothing, and Don's nothing. We're just folks who sow and
plant and water and wait on God. That's all. That's all. Doesn't
matter whether the vessel is polished and refined, very talented,
persuasive, emotional, or whether he stands stiff as a board. Jonathan
Edwards, that man who was just tremendously used of God, he
could hardly see. He was more blind than I am,
and he didn't have the advantage of putting his notes in 14-point
type. He stood just like this. just like this, and read that
sermon you heard about sinners in the hands of an angry God.
And folks, Smith, he never even looked up, just read his sermon,
just like this. Oh, but preacher, surely, surely
God won't use that. the more unlikely the vessel,
the more personally useless the vessel, the more insignificant
the vessel, the more empty the vessel, the more nothing the
vessel is. Don't depend on the preacher. Don't come here depending on
Don Fortner a home run. Don't come here depending on
Don Fortner to speak to you. Don't come here depending on
Don Fortner to have something for you. Come here calling on
God to speak through this empty vessel. God just might do it. Fifthly, always seek grace from God to
personally apply the message to yourself. I'm guilty. Often, Ron, I'll
sit where you're sitting and I'll think, boy, I wish old Joe
had been here to hear that. I wonder how Bob was going to
receive that. That's not my concern or business
when I'm hearing the gospel. God speak to me. Take every word. as if the sermon were prepared
specifically for you, with you personally in mind. I can't tell
you how many times somebody would meet me at the door and say,
were you talking about me? I'd say, I tried to. I tried
my dead level best to talk specifically to you. That's what I hope God
enabled me to do. Sound like you've been reading
my mail. No, but I've been reading God's book and he's been reading
your mail. Been trying to talk to you. And sixthly, if you would receive
blessing from the Lord when you hear the gospel preached, there's
some things you ought to do before the sermon is preached. Set things
in order so that you can come as best you're able to hear the
word. Alert, awake, pray. That means you can't watch that
special TV show come on 11 o'clock on Saturday night. Just don't
watch it. That means you can't go where you wanted to go Saturday
night. Just don't go. Just don't go. A preacher, you
don't expect that, do you? I dead sure do. I dead sure do. If this is important. If it's
important. Prepare like Cornelius and those
in his house when Peter came to preach to Cornelius. Cornelius
said to him, we are all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded
thee of God. We've come here to hear God speak
to us through you. During the sermon, listen attentively. Seek to hear and retain what
you hear. Pray that God will speak to your
heart and afterward discuss the message with one
another, with your family. Ask God to plant the seed sown
in your heart. How often, how often have you
heard a message that just spoke to your heart? I mean, you felt
like, man, I won't ever forget that. And another week you start
to discuss it. What did he say? Ask God to plant the seed sown
in your heart and make it fruitful. May God give us grace that we
may seriously apply our hearts to the hearing of the gospel.
If we would take heed how we hear, we might yet again see
Satan cast like lightning from heaven. We might yet again see
sinners converted by the power of his grace. We might yet again
see God work in us, with us, and in our midst. We might yet
find the word of God as it is preached sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, mighty
through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Our Lord Jesus
Christ was saying yesterday, today and forever. When I read church history and
read about what God has done in days gone by, I don't read those things and think
about them sort of wistfully, say, oh, what great days those
were. But rather, Bob, I read them
and my mind turns to Daniel chapter 9, what you read back there in
the Oh God, to us belongs confusion of faith. What's the problem? With Him
is righteousness and truth and grace and power. Well, the problem
is not with Him. His arm is not shortened that
it cannot save. I'm convinced the reason why we do not receive
larger blessings from the presence of the Lord is not because God
is not willing to be gracious. It is not because his hand is
shortened, but rather it is because we don't expect him to do anything. I keep praying for grace. I do. I keep praying for grace so that
as I preach, I preach expecting God to do something. When I come in and preach to
you, I seek a message from God. I expect God to do something. I expect Him to. Oh, God give
us grace to expect Him to do great things. Let's look at two
texts and I'll quit. Psalm 81. Psalm 81. I said, but pastor, this is a
sovereign grace conference coming up. We're a sovereign grace church.
You taught us well to believe in God's absolute sovereignty,
predestination, what God's purpose is going to be brought to pass.
You got that right. And I've also taught you, I hope
well, to understand that God works by specific means. You
remember what the apostle said when he was on that ship? He
told us in Jerusalem, he said, God spoke to me. He said, nobody's
going to die. We're all going to get safe to
land. Every one of us, not anybody here is going to die. And they
got in the storm and the soldiers were getting ready to jump overboard.
And Paul called the centurion over and he said, now listen,
now listen, everybody's got to stay right here on this ship
or we're going to die. But didn't God say nobody would?
Yes, sir. And the means by which you're
going to save them is staying right here on this ship through
this storm. Now listen to Psalm 81. Verse 13, the Lord God speaks. Oh, that my people had hearkened
unto me and Israel had walked in my ways. Listen to the next line. I should
soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their
adversaries. What a word. Look in Isaiah 48,
verse 17. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth
thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest
go. Oh, that thou hast hearkened
to my commandments. Then, if you'd have just listened,
oh, if you'd have just listened, then had thy peace been as a
river, and thy righteousness as waves of the sea, thy seed
also, thy seed, not your physical offspring. Oh no, he's talking
now about everlasting seed. Thy seed had been as the sand
and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof. His name should not have been cut off,
nor destroyed, from before they. Take heed how you hear. Amen.