All right, Luke/Acts for Beginners, this is lesson number 23, and it is entitled
Paul's Arrest and Imprisonment, the first part, in this series of lessons, Acts
chapter 21, verse 15 to 23:11. So in our last lesson we left off where Paul,
having completed his third missionary journey, was making his way back to
Jerusalem. He had been warned by several people that trouble in the form of
arrest awaited him there, but despite these cautions, the Apostle
could not be dissuaded from going back. He wanted to go back to Jerusalem. And so,
this then brings us to the section in the book of Acts dealing with his arrest
and imprisonment in Jerusalem. And we'll pick that up in Acts chapter 21. Let's go
there, beginning in verse 15. Luke writes, "After these days, we got ready and
"started on our way up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came
"with us, taking us to Mnason of Cyprus, a disciple of long standing, with whom we
"were to lodge. After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us
"gladly. And the following day Paul went in with
"us to Jerusalem. And all the elders were present. After he had greeted them, he
"began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles
"through his ministry. And when they heard it, they began glorifying God." So note,
once again, the little details that Luke includes about the short trip from
Caesarea, where he was, where he says that they stayed with Phillip, one of the
original seven deacons, and his four daughters. And then he names the people
and the place where they stayed overnight. Just a small little detail,
Mnason of Cyprus. Again, these were not important doctrines or
theological insights, but just a simple set of factual details that give Luke's
account proper historical and social and
cultural credibility for his reader then and for us today. We gain insight into
the small details of Paul's life. Spectacular things happened, we know that,
we've read that. Things like miracles and speaking in tongues, healings, but these
are surrounded by everyday-type details: how they traveled, where they stayed.
So that Luke's writing sounds and feels like what it was meant to be: an orderly
narrative describing the dynamic ministry of both Peter and Paul in
establishing the early church. Another point of interest here is the pattern
established for the work and the cooperation between the missionary and
the churches that had sent him, and the churches that he planted during his
missionary journeys. So we see that it is the church that sends out. Note
that in Acts chapter 13 it was the church that sent Paul and Barnabas out
into the mission field. And we read about that when we were covering Acts chapter 13,
verses one, two, and three. Even though Paul had received this calling directly
from God, he did not act on it until the church blessed and sent him on his way.
Then there is the work of the missionary, whether it be as one person or a team of
missionaries, the goal of those sent is not to do benevolence work or teach
languages or provide medical care, the role of missionaries is to plant
churches. Now these other activities, these other benevolent type activities,
I mean, they're marvelous, they're wonderful, they're serving the people and they can
be part of a larger strategy, but they're not the goal in themselves. If you've
gone out in the mission field and the only thing that you've established is a
medical clinic, great for the people. You're taking care of their bodies, but
you haven't provided anything for their souls. I mean, the work of the missionary,
ultimately, is to plant a church, preach the
gospel. And then there's the church that sends. The church that sends,
also overseas. Note that Paul would return and report on his work to the
church at Antioch, that sent him, and this time the church in Jerusalem. He even
visits the church in Jerusalem to give them a report, because the leaders there
had given their blessing to his work among the Gentiles. So he wanted to go
back to let them know the result of the work that he had done. The
churches that Paul planted were equipped with their own leaders, as they grew in
maturity. We read about that in Titus chapter one, verse five. But Paul himself
continued to report on his work to the churches that had originally sent and
blessed his mission. So this is the pattern we follow with the missionary,
both financially and socially, if you wish. What I mean is, this is what we do
today. This is what they did then and this is what we do today. We have a
missionary that we support in Africa, in Kenya, Geoffrey Karima. We also provide
some partial support to Jean Almera in Haiti, but another congregation overseas
his work, the church at Britton Road. But we are the church that sent Geoffrey,
not to, but sent him to do the work in his home province of Meru. And we support
him financially in this work. And he regularly reports to us about the
progress of his work and the school. There's a school there as well, that he
serves, a preacher training school. So we follow, here at Choctaw, we follow exactly
the same model that we see in the New Testament. So Luke describes the
scene where Paul is carefully detailing the work he has done among the Gentiles,
and this report brings up an issue that has come up among those Christians
converted from Judaism. And so we go to Acts chapter 20 and begin, 21 rather, and
begin reading in verse 20. It says, "They said to him, 'You see, brother, how many
"thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all
"zealous for the law; and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all
"the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to
"circumcise their children, nor walk according to the customs." And so a
problem arises. Many of the early Jewish converts to Christianity continued to
keep their Jewish customs and religious practices. They maintained dietary
restrictions, as was their custom following the Jewish faith. They
practiced circumcision. They went to the temple. They celebrated the feasts.
So these practices were permitted and tolerated in the early church, since the
Jewish religion and culture were so intertwined.
The only restriction, by order of the Apostles that we read about in Acts
chapter 15, was that these things could not be imposed on other Jewish or
Gentile believers, as conditions for salvation, as the Judaizers had attempted
to do. After the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, Christianity began to be
viewed as a distinct religion apart from Judaism, and this kind of dual practice -
that Jewish Christians had begun, began to disappear at that time.
However, as this passage indicates, this practice was quite alive during the time
of Paul's ministry. These Jewish people, who had been converted to Christianity,
continued following in the tradition of the Jewish religion. So the
problem seemed to be that there were some people who were spreading malicious
accusations among these dual practicing Jewish Christians, that Paul was teaching
the churches that Jewish Christians had to abandon these traditions, customs,
and practices. What's interesting is that he was being accused of teaching what
the Judaizers had taught, but in reverse. Let me explain. The Judaizers, what they
taught was you must keep the Jewish customs, especially circumcision, in order
to become a Christian. The accusation against Paul was that he was teaching:
you must abandon Jewish customs, including circumcision, in order to
become a Christian. The truth, of course, was that to become a Christian you
needed to believe that Jesus was the Son of God, and express that faith in
repentance and baptism, Acts chapter two, verse 38. Now whether you kept Jewish
customs after that time, that was irrelevant, because in becoming a
Christian, you became acceptable to God because of your faith in Jesus Christ,
not what religious customs you maintained or abandon. And Paul goes into
this situation, explains this in detail, but in the book of Romans, chapter 14.
But at this particular time, these accusations were causing
problems in the churches that were predominantly made up of these Jewish
Christians. Churches in and around Jerusalem. And so the leaders of the
church in Jerusalem proposed the following solution. So we pick up our
passage back in chapter 21, it says, "What then is to be done? They will
"certainly hear that you have come. Therefore do this that we tell you. We have
"four men who are under a vow, take them and purify yourself along with them,
"and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that
"there is nothing to their things which they have been told about you, but that
"you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the law. But concerning the Gentiles who
"have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat
"sacrificed to idols and from blood and from
"what is strangled and from fornication.' Then Paul took the men and the next day,
"purifying himself along with them, went into the temple, giving notice of the
"completion of the days of purification until the sacrifice was offered for each
"one of them." So their suggestion to solve this problem is for Paul to
join four Jewish Christians from Jerusalem, from the Jerusalem church, who
had, according to Jewish law, a custom, Jewish law and custom. These men had
taken vows, which were about to be completed. Little background on this.
These vows were taken many times as a way of thanking God for answered prayers,
or thanking God for blessings they had received, or perhaps taking a vow and
asking God for a certain blessing. These vows were voluntary, but the law
regulated how they were to be carried out. We don't have time to read this, but
if you're interested, Numbers chapter six, verses one to 21 talk about this.
So during the time of the vow, usually about three months, a person would not drink
alcohol, a person would let his hair grow - his hair, his beard - and remain away from
the dead, would not participate in funerals and things like that. Now if a
person broke the vow in some way, even by accident, they had to start all over
again at the beginning. Once the time for the vow was ended, the person would then
shave his hair and then take that hair and burn it on the altar along with a
sacrifice. And so the proposal of the elders was that Paul join these Jewish
Christian men for the last week of their vow, and then complete it with them, by
paying for and offering the sacrifice for each of them. Since he was
well known and being watched very closely, his actions, participating in and
respecting Jewish customs and laws, would put
to rest the gossip and the accusations being made against him about these
things. So this action would be in keeping with Paul's attitude about such
things, written about in his letter to the Corinthians. And I want to read that.
It's an important idea. We'll flip over to Corinthians,
First Corinthians chapter nine, Paul writes here, "For though I am free
"from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the
"Jews I became a Jew, so that I might win Jews. To those who are under the law, as
"under the law, though not being myself under the law, so that I might win those
"who are under the law. To those who are without law, as without law, though not
"being without the law of God, but under the law of Christ, so that I might win
"those who are without law." So Paul, basically is saying here, I am
flexible. I'm flexible. I respect people's
positions on things, in order to have the opportunity to preach the gospel to them,
so as to not offend them. In other words, if I go to the house of someone who is
very sensitive about meat being sacrificed to idols - in those days
at the marketplace, where you bought produce and meat, some of that meat had
come from pagan shrines and temples, from animals that had been offered in
sacrifice. And now that meat was being sold in the marketplace.
Many Christians in the early times were very sensitive about
this idea. They felt to eat meat that had been used in that way would
be wrong for them. And so Paul, his idea is, well, if I'm going to that
person's house for dinner and someone suggests that we have this kind of meat
that was offered to sacrifice, I won't eat that meat, because I don't want to offend
that individual. I want to win that individual for Christ. On the other hand,
if I go to somebody else's house and they have no qualms about this and
they're serving the meat, well then, I'm going to eat whatever is put in front of me.
So the one who's under the, quote, the law, I'm going to put myself under the law.
The one who feels free to do what he needs to do, feels the
freedom of Christ, well then, I'm going to be free with that person. And so, with
that spirit he enters into this plan given to him by the elders in Jerusalem,
in order to quell the gossip about him denouncing the law.
Alright, well, as we learn, all good plans run into trouble at some point. So let's read what
takes place and go back to Acts chapter 21, it says, "When the seven days were
"almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir
"up all the crowd and laid hands on him crying out, 'Men of Israel, come to our aid.
"This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the
"law and this place, and besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and
"has defiled this holy place.' For they had previously seen Trophimus
"the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him
"into the temple. Then all the city was provoked and the people rushed together
"and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple and immediately the
"doors were shut." So despite his best efforts, Paul is
seized by the crowd in the temple area, falsely accused of doing exactly the
opposite of what he was doing in the temple. Now you have to understand that
Gentiles who were converted to Judaism could enter the temple court area and
only remain in the court of the Gentiles, but they could not go further into the
temple area, because this was reserved for Jewish men and another area reserved
for Jewish women. There were actual signs that were posted warning Gentiles that
to cross the threshold into the Jewish area would be
punishable by death. So as a Jew, Paul would naturally go into the Jewish
section of the temple, along with the four Jewish Christians, to offer
sacrifice and to complete the vows according to the plan
offered him by the elders in the church. Luke writes that Jews from
Asia, well, who are the Jews from Asia? Well, they're the Ephesian Jews
from Ephesus, who had caused trouble there, who recognized the Gentile
Christian Trophimus, who was also from the Ephesian Church and was accompanying
Paul in Jerusalem. Now he was not one of the brothers who had taken the vows,
so he was not - he was seen in the city, but he would not have been in the temple
area. And so these Asian Jews used this as a, well, when I say Asian - from Asia.
Let's not get confused here. So these individuals use this as a pretext for
accusing Paul of not only disrespecting Jewish law and custom, but actually
bringing a Gentile into the forbidden area of the temple. So Luke describes the
seizing of Paul and then the riot that ensues in chapter 21:31 to 36. They began
beating him, but he is rescued by a Centurion and his soldiers who arrest
Paul and begin leading him away. Now Paul, not wanting to miss an opportunity to
speak or to preach to his fellow Jews, asks his Roman guards permission to
address the crowd. Let's pick it up there in verse 37, it says, "As Paul was about to
"be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, 'May I say something to you?'
"And he said, 'Do you know Greek? Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago
"stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the assassins out into
"the wilderness?' But Paul said, 'I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no
"insignificant city, and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.' When he had
"given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his
"hand. When there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect,
"saying the following." So when the Centurion realizes that Paul is not some
Jewish troublemaker, but a Roman citizen - and the significance of that is, you
could not arrest or punish a Roman citizen without due process of Roman law.
He permits Paul to address the audience. Now Paul's speech here is a recounting of
his past life as a well-educated Pharisee, bent on destroying the
Christian faith and those who pursue it. He reminds his crowd that this is who he
is. He goes on to describe his meeting with the Lord on the road to Damascus,
his conversion and baptism, and then the vision he had in the temple where God
renewed the original mission for which he was called. And that is to bring the
gospel to the Gentiles. As a Jew, Paul, naturally returned to Jerusalem
after his conversion, in order to preach to his fellow Jews, thinking that his
past life and conversion would be a strong witness in converting these
people. But God tells him in the vision that the Jews will not accept him. So he
must bring the gospel to the Gentiles, who will. Well, it's at the mention of the
Gentiles that the riot breaks out once again. And we read in verse 22, it says,
"They listened to him up to this statement and then they
"raised their voices and said, 'Away with such a fellow from the earth. For he
"should not be allowed to live!' And as they were crying out and throwing off
"their cloaks and tossing dust into the air, the commander ordered him to be
"brought into the barracks, stating that he should be examined by scourging, so
"that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way.
"but when they stretched him out with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who
"was standing by, 'Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?'
"And when the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him,
"saying, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman." The commander came and
"said to him, 'Tell me, are you a Roman?' And he said, 'Yes.'
"The commander answered, "I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money."
"And Paul said, 'But I was actually born a citizen.' Therefore those who were all
"about to examine him immediately let go of him. And the commander also was afraid
"when he found out that he was a Roman and because he had put him in chains. But
"on the next day, wishing to know for certain why he had been accused by the
"Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the council to
"assemble, and brought Paul down and set him before them." So we see the
importance of Paul's Roman citizenship here, as the commander over the centurion
halts the questioning and illegal torture they were about to inflict on
Paul. Now Paul's citizenship was probably inherited from his father, who was a
citizen of the city of Tarsus, located in the Roman province of Cilicia. His
father probably obtained his citizenship because of his city's service to Rome.
Rome granted, not to everyone, but Rome granted automatic Roman
citizenship to various cities and towns and regions that cooperated with the
Empire: paid their taxes, they didn't put up a fight. So this is probably
the way that Paul's father received his citizenship. And Paul inherited from his
father. So Paul's declaration of his citizenship is enough to stop the
proceedings, since a false declaration of this was punishable by death according
to the law. And let's face it, the soldiers had plenty of time to verify
his claim since he was in custody. If they were wrong about him, then their
arrest and torture of a true Roman citizen would make them
guilty of a serious crime. So they took his word for it, because they knew they
had plenty of time to verify his story. A compromise is found when they decide to
release him from his chains and turn him over to the Jewish leaders for
questioning, since this seemed to be a religious
matter concerning the Jews and their religious beliefs and laws and not Roman
law. Paul had not committed any crimes
against Roman law, so turning him over to the Jews might resolve the matter
without any more trouble, and find out - they wanted to find out why
were the Jews so mad at this guy? Why did they want to kill him? And so now
the scene changes, Paul is before the Jewish Council. In Acts chapter 23 we
read, "Paul looking intently at the council, said, 'Brethren, I have lived my
"life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.' The high
"priest, Ananias, commanded those standing beside
"him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, 'God is going to strike you,
"you whitewashed wall. Do you sit to try me according to the law and in violation
"of the law order me to be struck?" But the bystander said, 'Do you revile God's High
"Priest?' And Paul said, 'I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest, for it
"is written, 'You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people." So note that Paul
is not treated as well by the council. He is struck in the face, as he was by the
Romans. And he was struck in violation of Jewish law at that. Now his response is
to point out the hypocrisy of the one meant to uphold the law, who actually
uses his position to violate the law with impunity. Doesn't that sound
familiar? Nothing new. People in power often abuse their power.
Paul's charge is that God will judge this action. Now when it's pointed out
that the order was given by the high priest, Paul apologizes for speaking out
against the office; Not against the man, but against the
office. He respects the office, because it is a divinely appointed office, and also
because the law said that if an offense is committed by one in office you had to
bear it out, you had to bear it out of respect for the office and trust God to
do justice in a proper way and at a proper time, Exodus chapter 22, verse 28.
Luke only records the beginning of this inquiry. This was not an
official trial, it was only an inquiry called and organized by the Roman
commander to find a possible charge that could be made against Paul, that would be
legal in a Roman court. So Luke only records the beginning of this
inquiry - the slap. And there was some and
the end. He provides no details about the questions and the answers in the
comments, the back and forth discourse. No further information.
So let's keep reading, verse six, it says, "But perceiving that one group were Sadducees
"and the other," this is what happens at the end of the inquiry, how the inquiry
ended. It says, "But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other
"Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the council, 'Brethren, I'm a Pharisee, a son of
"a Pharisee. I'm on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead." As He said this,
"there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the
"assembly was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an
"angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. And there occurred
"a great uproar and some of the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and
"began to argue heatedly saying, 'We find nothing wrong with this man; suppose a
"spirit or an angel has spoken to him?' And as a great dissension was developing. The
"commander was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the
"troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the
"barracks. So Luke reveals how this meeting ends.
He describes how it starts,
between Paul and the high priest, and he describes how it ends.
Now I've pointed out in previous lessons the major theological differences
between the Sadducees, the priests, a party of priests, who only accepted the
Pentateuch. In other words, they only accepted the first five books of the
Bible as authoritative, and thus rejected the prophets and the spirit
beings, the miracles, life after death. All these things, they rejected. While
the Pharisees accepted and believed all of these things. Luke describes how Paul,
as a former Pharisee himself, cleverly exploits these differences, in order to
disrupt the meeting and disarm his Jewish enemy. Remember, he's there and
these people are trying to find a way to charge him with something
that will result in his death. So Paul is using all of his considerable
intellectual strength to figure a way out. Or could we say that the Lord
provides for him? It would be easy to accept that the Lord provides for him this idea
or these words, this strategy. Anyways, the clash between the two groups that ensues
threatens to once again harm Paul, so the soldiers once again rescue him and
detain him for his own safety, thus giving them time to consider their next
move. So we read in verse 11, "But on the night immediately following, the Lord
"stood at his side and said, 'Take courage, for as you have solemnly witnessed to My
"cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.' So Luke provides
information here that could have only come from Paul concerning a vision or
revealing that Paul receives directly from the Lord, concerning his present and
future ministry of the Gospels, amid these circumstances.
So we'll stop right here. A couple of lessons
that we can draw from the material we've covered today. Lesson number one, be
patient with the process. Be patient with the process. Even though the Bible
explains the gospel in few words: Jesus was God made man; He died
to pay the moral debt for your sins; He was resurrected to prove that He is God;
you are forgiven and have eternal life if you believe in Jesus; you are forgiven
and have eternal life if you believe in Jesus and you express your faith through
repentance and baptism. Now, for most people, understanding, internalizing, and
responding correctly to these things can be a long process that takes many years.
I mean, I mentioned some key ideas in the gospel and it only took me,
well, it took me less than a minute to just say these ideas, but it takes more
than a minute to absorb these ideas, to believe them to be true, and then to act
on these things. So even if the Bible describes the mature Christian person in
just a few strokes - Who is the mature Christian person? Well, a person full of
the spirit. If it's a man, he loves his wife as Christ loves the church. If it's
a woman, she's one who fears the Lord. What does the Bible say, "An excellent
"wife whose worth is far above jewels." Those who are faithful and love the Lord.
Different ways of describing people who are mature in Christ. Very
easy, quick to say, to describe these type of qualities of character, but the
process in order to enter into these qualities of character can
take a long, long time. It takes a long time for a man to be a mature spiritual
leader in his home, and then cultivate mature spiritual leadership abilities
in the church. The ideas are easy to understand, but the actual doing of them,
not so much. So Paul's willingness to take vows and
submit himself to the maturity level of those who were weaker than himself,
demonstrated his willingness to be patient with the process of growing
Christians, maturing Christians. If your task in life, if your ministry in
life is to serve the church in some way, to help brothers and sisters grow in
their faith, grow spiritually, you have to be patient with the process. It takes a
long time. Our natural and fleshly reaction to other people's immaturity is
to be angry at them or gossip or ridicule them or avoid them
altogether. Being patient with others as they go through the process of growing
up - listen, growing up as teenagers or growing up in Christ - our patience with
that, will guarantee that the Lord will continue to be patient with us as we
move through the same process, but perhaps at some other point in the
continuum of maturity. So let's be patient with the process. We want God to
be patient with us in the process. We need to be patient with one another as
well. And then another lesson, God's ways are not our ways. I don't think that's
anything new. Paul wanted to appease those in the church who were causing his
ministry trouble. If he could calm the rumors and gossip, he could then have the
opportunity to reach out to his own people, fellow Jews in the city at the
center of Judaism the city of Jerusalem with this problem settled, he could then
go from preaching to his own countrymen in Jerusalem, to proclaiming the gospel
in the city at the center of the Gentile world, and that would be Rome. The riot
and his arrest must have been discouraging, seeing his plan
defeated. That wasn't the plan. The plan was, I get to preach at the temple to my
people. That was the plan. Getting arrested and nearly killed was not in
the plan. So God appears to Paul and reminds him that the goals that he had
were still intact: to preach at Jerusalem and Rome. But this would be
done with God's plan and God's Way, not Paul's way. For example, he got to preach
to a very large crowd in the temple, but he did so because of a riot and his
subsequent arrest. And he will also preach at Rome, but not as a free man, as
a prisoner, which the following years would confirm. Sometimes God
uses trouble and pain in order to advance His will, not only for our life,
but also for the life of other people. Don't be angry and discouraged when bad
things happen. It's better to be still and to be faithful and to be listening,
so you can discern what God is accomplishing through your suffering or
through your inconvenience or through your waiting. Sometimes we have to wait
for things. And we think that waiting is a waste of time, but no, if we are waiting
patiently, depending on the Lord, if we are waiting patiently, offering our
prayers and confidence in the Lord, that type of waiting is not wasted, it builds
tremendous spiritual character and patience into our souls. So don't be
angry, as I say, and don't be discouraged when bad things happen. Better still,
be faithful, be listening, so you can discern what God is accomplishing
through your suffering and inconvenience. I think I mentioned that before, but it's
worth repeating, sometimes simply maintaining your faith
in the storm of life is itself the objective that God has in mind.
You wonder, well God, why did I go through all of this?
What's the result of this? And the answer is, the answer could be, well, I
just wanted to see how you would react to a storm or a trial. Yeah, there's no
other end game. The only end game is, I was testing you. I wanted to see, would
you be faithful through all of this? Would you abandon Me? Would you curse Me?
Would you stop believing Me, if I put you into a storm of life, if I put
you into a trial. Sometimes that's the only thing that that means. Will we be
faithful? So we need to remember that God's ways of achieving spiritual things,
inside and outside of us, is not always ever our own way of achieving
spiritual things. We have good plans, to achieve spiritual things, but we
have to remember that the way God achieves spiritual things in us is not
always our plan. And we have to be patient with that, all right. So our
assignment for next week, Acts 23:12 to Acts 25:12. We really are closing in on
the end. I appreciate you reading up ahead of time, so that we can kind of go through
the material more quickly. Thank you very much. We'll see you next week. God bless you.