Listen, I wanna welcome you today, wherever you're watching from, man, if it's your first time with us, uh, we're so glad that you're here today. If it's your first time back, man, welcome to Venture, whatever that looks like for you. Now, I need to tell you, this is a little different for our folks, particularly at Lincoln Road today, because man, we're bringing the message to you from one of our campuses. Man, I am for the very first time standing on the stage able to stream to you from our Stone County campus, and so we don't get a chance to do this. But yeah, can we just welcome everybody, man?

We're glad you're here. And I wanted you to know, man, this room here is a special place. I mean, each one of our campuses are so unique, but I just love worshiping with this crew. I mean, this, this, this campus worships so well, and I know that's at every campus today. I hope you worshiped well.

But I want to take just a second to tell you, man, what you just heard in that video is real. And when I tell you what is happening in this community is so unique, 300 baptisms. I'm standing on the stage. Seven years ago today, we started this campus, this building became, and you guys have brought life to this community, man. You have seen life change.

You've seen hope, you've seen healing. You guys have developed a community that is so special right here, right next to us. This is crazy because you've passed this campus driving down 49, you're headed down to the beach and, and you've seen over there at the stoplight, right there on the right. You see this campus right here in Wiggins. And what you may not know is y'all, there is a brand new five, a high school that's gonna be basically in our backyard, brand new middle school, brand new elementary school, four miles from this stage, 1400 college students.

So God has put us in such a special place in this room, still doing three services, 8 30, 10, 11 30 Tuesday night, the gathering, Wednesday night, house, churches, and all these different communities. Sunday night, the movement, this room is full of students say all that to say, man, way to go, way to go. You have been a light in this community. I know this, I know this in my heart. And you know this, this community is better because of us.

So I say to you, listen, if you're watching today, I need to thank you. I need to thank you for giving, because when you give you ignite, when you give to the house, not just to your room, not to just your campus or your community, but when you give to this movement, things like this are happening not just at your campus, but all across South Mississippi. So way to go. So excited. We're just getting started.

And we can't wait to see what God does here. Now, the series we're in is called Taste and see, and we plan this series for this season because oh my goodness, there's a lot going on. The election is right around the corner. And if there has ever been a season where we as God's people need to show God's character, it is now. And so we've made it really clear over these past few weeks to begin to give you more resources about what it looks like to live out your faith.

Because your community, your classroom, your office, your team, man, they need to see the character of God now more than ever. So what I hope has happened is that this series has almost been like, like getting a physical. Now, listen, I I, both of my kids play, play a few high school sports. And before they can play, they have to go get a physical. So every year we get a physical.

And, and when you come in to get the physical right, the doctor comes in to, gets in his little seat, rolls up to you, makes you breathe deep, right? Puts a little thing on your chest, and then, and then he checks, maybe takes a little bit of blood, comes back, and you get the results. You know how you need a little iron, you need a little protein, and you kind of figure out where you are. Well, this series, that's the idea, is that as we lay out these nine different characteristics, the fruit of the spirit, the idea is that you're looking in your life to see are those things in you. And listen, how awkward would it be if I got your physical back?

I don't need to know about what you need. I need to look at my life, my tree, and begin to ask, Hey, which one of these fruits, and maybe am I missing? Because if you're a follower of Christ, we know this. These things are in you, we just gotta help you kind of begin to bring 'em out. Why is it important?

Because we'll be known by our fruit. And I'm telling you, man, I love that about this, this area, this community I'm in today, stone County, man, you're known by your worship. I'm just telling you, people know. People know when they walk in this campus, you're gonna be welcomed. You're gonna be greeted, man.

You're known by your faith. You guys right here, you challenge our whole church by the way, that you step out in your faith and you take care of people's needs. But today we're asking you to look at your fruit, to examine the fruit of your life. And I wanna encourage you today, because you may not have known this, life by the spirit looks different. So here we go.

We're gonna join, join me. Come on. Galatians five. We've been in the book of Galatians for a while, um, and we've kind of been reading this key text for a couple of weeks, but I love, I I just noticed this this week when I was getting ready. There's a little subtitle to the text.

So Galatians five, starting in verse 16. Here's what mine says, right above this text. It just says, life by the spirit. And, and that's our goal with this series, is that we begin to do life, not by our flesh, but by our spirit. 'Cause that looks real different, okay?

By the spirit of God in us. So here we go, Galatians five, starting in 16. So I say, live by the spirit and you'll not gratify the desires of the sinful nature for the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the spirit and the spirit, what is contrary to the sinful nature. They're in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want to do. Now we get that we live that battle day in, day out, right?

It happens in parenting, it happens in driving down the road. You're like, my flesh wants me to honk and yell and scream. And maybe not y'all, but mine does. And it's a battle. But we choose to lean into the spirit.

Now, when you begin to lean into the spirit, to the fruit, here's what you can expect to come outta your life. This is incredible list of things starting in verse 22. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Now, this series, we've kind of walked one by one. We've looked at each one of these and we started with love.

And then when you think about life by the spirit, you, you just, you can't help but kind of go there. It's like you see, God loved us so much, he gave his son for us. You know the Gospel. You've heard the Gospel. So you think, man, that that's gotta be in me.

So I've gotta begin to love people differently. Then, then we got to the part about joy. And for some of us, joy comes naturally for others of us. Like we have to kind of dig deep for joy. And I love the message.

It said, where's the joy? Found where? Down deep in my heart, where down deep in my heart. And it was a reminder to us that man, maybe it's not just, it's just happiness. No, no, it's, it's, it's joy.

And it's found deeper in your heart. It's a part of the Holy Spirit. It's a fruit. Last week, we, we talked about a tough one. We talked about peace.

And maybe I, I hope I encourage you just to hear that peace is possible because sometimes we'll get in these, these just like, uh, patterns where we can't find peace, but now we know it's a fruit spirit. Now, this week, this week, we're talking about patience. I'm gonna tell you, I hope I'm not the only one. Can we just do this? Does anybody else struggle with patience?

I mean, I'm, I'm just telling you it's a struggle. Like, uh, just yesterday I was driving down 49, got on over here in Poplarville and was getting back on 49, and the car in front of me did not merge well, and they like came to a complete stop. And I was that guy that blew past them and had two teenage drivers in the backseat, right? Don't do what I do, just do what I say. And it was it, but it, man, it drives me crazy when people don't merge.

I lose patience when I'm standing in line Dollar General Walmart corner market. And the person before me uses coupons. I'm not shaming. I mean, I'm all about saving money too, but I'm like, you know, I'm on the clock. I had to get through there.

And then they start pulling out coupons, and you're like, no, please don't do that. I asked, uh, you know, I asked my house church Wednesday night, we were gathered up, we meet under our garage outside. And, and I asked him, I said, Hey, what about you guys? Like, what, what do you need extra patience for? And almost every one of us said, for parenting, I mean, parenting requires a lot of patience.

And so today, I want to encourage you that just like we talked about last week, that patience is possible. Now, here's the problem. When you begin to dive into this text, when you first come across patience, you're almost like, okay, man, this is a softball. I got what's going on here? I need to be patient with my kids, patient with people with coupons, patient in traffic.

But when you dive into this passage, there's a whole nother side to patience. And I want you to see this definition because this is gonna challenge you. Here's what patience means in this context. It means an active endurance. It means steadfastness, it means perseverance, patient in trial.

It means long suffering. Now, I gotta tell you, by that definition of patience, I, I am nowhere near being patient because I run from those things. I remember, uh, I remember in college, I, I, I had this, this group of guys that I got to know, it was Mississippi State, and there was some older guys that were in my fraternity and I began to get to know these guys. They were from the Delta. Anybody from the Delta got any Delta people, stone County.

We got, we got one down here, Uhhuh. Well, there was something about these guys. They introduced me to a lot of stuff. We went duck hunting for the first time, man, they showed me what that was all about. We went to a restaurant called Doe's have you ever been to?

Doe's Steakhouse was incredible. But I remember walking into their apartment one time, and those guys have been watching college football all day, alright? Now, and listen, I'm not judging you if this is you, but these guys, man, they love to dip and, and chew. Like this is the thing if you're from the Delta, I guess. And they'd been dipping and chewing all day long.

And I walked in with a Coke can. So I just kind of cruising with my Coke can. And, and I sat in my coke can down and I was talking and hanging out and I sat it right next to 'em, one of their cans, Uhhuh. And, and I'm telling you, I still remember it to this day. I picked up what I thought was my Coke can, but instead it was the can.

They'd been spitting in all day, three guys spitting in the same can. And I took a, I took a sip, like, and it hit my lips, warm, nasty, dip, spit. It was awful that I still feel that when I cold this coke. Can I think about that? How terrible that was.

That is my reaction. When I think about patience, long suffering, and an active endurance. I wanna spit that out of my mouth. I wanna run from every season that gets difficult. I wanna run from every conversation that gets hard.

I wanna run. And I'm telling you, that's not what God's called us to do. I wanna spit it out, but I'm learning that I've gotta change my perspective. Now, let me give you a totally different perspective on an active endurance on long suffering. You ready?

This is from James. Here's what James says we're to do when we hit difficult seasons of life. You ready, James? One starting in verse two. Now watch how different this is than my perspective.

Consider it pure joy. Well, we're, we're on different pages already. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance, perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature, complete, not lacking anything. Now, let's start with the very first part of that where it says, consider it pure joy. I'm telling you, when, when, when difficult seasons come in my life, or there's a difficult conversation I do like you do at the dinner table when the, when the gravy comes by and it is just not what it used to be, and I pass it, it just keep passing.

And what he's saying is no, there's a different perspective. When you're walking through something difficult or you see a hard season coming up, you may need to endure that. You may not need to run from that. You may not need to look for the shortcut because it takes those seasons to develop, to build character, to become complete. James isn't crazy, he's not excited about the difficult things, but he does shift his mind.

I stay in the short term. Oh, short term. This is gonna be really hard. James goes to the long term, long term. There could be some really good things that come through me walking through this.

Then he says this, whenever you face trials of many kinds, man, I, I told you it's full of good news today. Many kinds, whenever. Here's the reality, guys. Listen, this is just true. You're either just finishing a trial, you're in a trial, or you're about to step into a trial that is life on this side of heaven.

You say, how do you know that's true? Because that's what Jesus said. Look what Jesus said, John 1633. He says, I've told you these things so that in me, you may have peace. Now, we talked about peace last week.

Man, if you're in that stage, go back and watch that message in him. You can find peace no matter the trial. But in this world, you can expect trouble. Trouble. So what I'm trying to do today is I'm gonna help you because we're gonna have to change our perspective because that's not my perspective.

Sometimes I think, oh, it's all gonna be okay. I'm not gonna face trials. You know, Hey, I've, I'm a Christian. My goodness, I'm a preacher. I shouldn't expect to have difficulties.

That's not the word. My perspective has to change instead, okay, in this world, it is a fallen world. And until I get to heaven, I'm gonna face trials. And in the midst of it, instead of fleeing and running, I've got to endure it. How in the world am I gonna do that?

It's because of the fruit of the spirit. It's 'cause God's gonna give me patience. Now, I want you to repeat after me. And this may be difficult for you. You may even feel like you are lying in church.

But I want you to say these three words with me. You ready? It's real simple. I'm gonna put 'em up here on the screen. Every campus you're gonna repeat after me.

I'm gonna say it and then you're gonna say it. You ready? Say, I, I, I am am. Patient. Patient.

Well, this is going on everywhere. Like, yes, no, no, no. You are how? Because it's the fruit of the spirit. Jesus in you is gonna help you, and he's gonna help me be patient.

Now, to get you there, I'm gonna show you one of the greatest examples of patience that I could find in Scripture. And it's at the very first of your Bible. It's in the very first book and it's in Genesis. And believe it or not, this story lasts for 13 chapters. So Genesis 37, all the way to Genesis 50.

Now we're doing some things different today. So I'm gonna read every verse 13 chapters read. Now I'm not gonna do that, but I am gonna summarize to you the life of Joseph. Because when I tell you Joseph endured some difficult seasons, man, you can read this. Go back and read it.

You're gonna see Joseph, uh, was a part of a dysfunctional family maybe that connects with you. Joseph was a favored child. He was one of 12 sons. You get 13 chapters because it takes 13 chapters to lay out all of the different trials in Joseph's life. Now, you know, maybe the word for you is just complicated.

And when you think about your trial and you think about your life, you're like, man, this story has layers. 13 chapters like Joseph, and with each chapter, it's just complicated. Well, well, Joseph, he understands that that was him. Long story short, Joseph was a dreamer. God gave him a dream and it's 17 way before he was ready.

He shared that dream with his brothers and the part of the dream involved his brothers bowing down to him. Not a great dream to share with your brothers. They reacted the same way. You probably, and I would probably react. They weren't wild about it.

So they began to get, after Joseph tried to kill him, one of the brothers said, let's not kill him. Let's just throw him in a big hole. So they put a pit, they found a pit, threw Joseph in the pit. Joseph stayed in the pit for a season. If you know the story group comes by and they buy him as a slave, he heads over to Egypt, he gets there and there he becomes.

Uh, well, he gets accused of having an adulterous relationship with one of the king's officials from Mary's thrown into prison. Now, this is the part you're gonna connect with as well. He's forgotten about. Don't you feel that? Like, Hey man, don't you remember I went through a trial, I was accused of this.

This is my anniversary of being cancer free. But it's like nobody remembers how hard this was, man, I'm walking through a divorce and everybody's just looking at me, but nobody is consoling me any longer. I feel like I've been forgotten about. I lost my husband, I lost my wife. I lost my child on this date.

And for me, I never forget about it, but it seems like he or she has been forgotten about. Then that's Joseph. He has forgotten about in prison until the dreams come back around. The king has a dream and they think, oh, we remember Joseph was a dreamer. Let's bring him back.

So then Joseph comes back, he interprets the dream. 22 years later, that's not encouraging. 22 years later, 13 chapters of, he begins put in a position of power. The whole country experiences a famine. Remember, I'm just summarizing this story for you.

And guess who shows up in the middle of the famine? His brothers. His brothers come back, they're looking for food. And now Joseph is in power and Joseph has the chance to make a decision to give him food or not. I'll tell you at the end of the message what he does.

Three things we can learn from Joseph. Three things that we can put in our place, that we can put in place in our life to begin to grow in patience. Now, here's the first one. You ready? Be confident in your purpose, not in your place.

Man. The place that Joseph was in was rapidly changing. He was in a place of power. He was the favored son. Then he found himself in a pit.

He was in a pit. Then he found himself as a slave. He was a slave. And then he found himself in favor in one of the king's officials. But then he went from there to jail.

He went from jail to being again in power. The place, the seasons of your life, they're gonna change. I'm looking around this room. There's people in all different stages of life. And when you think about your story and you tell your story, there's highs and there's lows, there's detours, and maybe you're in a detour right now.

What I'm telling you is when you read this story, you can see that God never gives up on him and he's present. It's not a straight line man. At 17, Joseph had it all figured out, just like any 17-year-old. But God was so faithful and he used all of those different seasons. Listen, I know that you can relate.

Here's what's happening. As you hear this struggle, you think about his pit. You're thinking to yourself, I never thought in this season of my life, I wouldn't be able to find good friends. I never thought in this season of my life, I would be getting a job transferred to Columbus or to Wisconsin. Both those things happened this week.

I never thought in this season of my life, I'd be going through a divorce. I never thought in this season of my life I would be widowed. I never saw myself in this season of my life single. I never thought I'd be walking through cancer. I never thought I'd still not be able to get pregnant.

Listen, I just want to encourage you today, find your purpose. Not in the place, not in the situation, not in the circumstances, but in the promise of God. Because there's one little verse that keeps showing itself. One little verse in every one of these trials, four different times, you see this same verse. The Lord was with Joseph.

Man, I'm just telling you, I'm begging you to see that today that the Lord is with you. He hasn't abandoned you, he hasn't forgotten about you. He's still writing your story. It doesn't go in a straight line. I know it's a detour, but man, it's not in light of what God wants to do.

He's gonna recycle that pain. Oh man, I can't wait to see it. I've got someone on the second row right here that just finished walking through cancer. And can I tell you, I just know this, there's gonna be someone else that gets that diagnosis and what's gonna happen, she's gonna wrap her arms around them and love them and pray for them and engage with them and bring food to them and meet their needs. Why?

Because she's been there. And I don't know what your trial is. I don't know what the pit is. I don't know what the details are, but I'm begging you not to give up too soon. I don't want you to miss the miracle.

Look at Psalms 34. Hold onto this verse. The Lord is close to the broken hearted and he saves those who are what Crushed in spirit. That's such a good promise. Number two, be patient in the process.

Listen, I hate both of those words. Patience and process. I'm not good at either one of those. I I I want to. I just want to go then plan.

I wanna react and pray. And that's not good. And, and one of the things I'm just watching, even just in my life, like we we're getting to travel a little bit, like we we're taking advantage of these spring breaks and fall breaks or summer, and we love the national parks. And but to do that, like somebody's got a plan, like it's a whole process. We would never do those things if it was up for me.

But my wife is willing to plan and she's willing to value and see that there's a process to all of this. And I'm, I'm becoming a person that can value those things even though they don't come natural to me. I want instant gratification. I want Amazon Prime. I want the microwave, not the stove.

Just this week I watched my wife and she came in the den and my uh, 13-year-old, she gave her like a catalog and a sharpie. She said, I just want you to know the pain of waiting because we don't live in that world anymore. It's, it's instant. And I'm just telling you, there's something to waiting. It's something we need to learn.

Spiritual formation, growing to look and act and lead like Christ. It's a process. And when you look at Joseph at 17, he gets this dream. He wanted it his way right away. And that's not the right thing.

Instead, he needed a season. He needed to walk through 22 years of trials. Then when he became a man that was in a position of power, that was a different dude than when he was 17, all the things that God did in that difficult seasons, man, it took those trials to begin to have an understanding mind. Man, I'm just telling you, my life at 45 is so different. There's a different level of understanding.

If you've walked through cancer, if you've walked through depression, if you've walked through anxiety, if you've been through a divorce, you're understanding the people who are in that season. It's like you speak their language and God's gonna use that. The problem is we hate to wait. But I'm telling you, there's something to that. It's a process that we have to learn.

Here's the third one. This is the last one. Be faithful to let God do what only he can do. Be faithful to let God do right? Remember, it's not about your strength.

It's not about what you can muster up. It's about you coming to him and seeing the fruit of the spirit come outta you. And then if you just begin to imagine, it's like a clear, a dry erase board. It's like a whiteboard. It's like a dreaming session.

What all could God do on the back end of this trial? Now lemme give you an example because this is gonna blow your mind. I told you we'd look at this and uh, let's go back to Genesis chapter 50. Remember his trials? It was 13 chapters.

Watch how Joseph handles this moment when his brothers that sold him into slavery show back up. But Joseph said to them, don't be afraid. I'm in a place of God. You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what he has now been doing, the saving of many lives. So then don't be afraid.

Something tells me that's just not Joseph's flesh. I will provide for you. I will provide for your children. And he reassured them. And then he spoke kindly to them.

I mean, it was enough for him to just be nice to his brothers. And then he said he was gonna provide for his family, for his brothers after they sold him into slavery. And then he said, I'm gonna provide for your children, your children's children. And the really, the part that really got me though, can I just be honest? And this is petty was the last little part right there where it says he even spoke kindly to them.

I would not speak kindly to them. Joseph was even willing to speak kindly to them. I'm just telling you that is not a work of his flesh. That is a work of the spirit. Now, each one of these things that I've walked you through, I want you to see 'em in Jesus' life.

Because when you begin to experience the fruit, when you experience Jesus, you invite him into your heart, all of a sudden he's gonna begin to come out of you. That's what this whole thing's about. Watch this. The first thing we said was, be confident in your purpose, not in your place. Think about Jesus.

For 30 years, he walked the streets for 30 years. He waited his place and the people he was with ragga up and group of guys for three years, he walked through incredibly difficult season of ministry where he was betrayed. He was disappointed by people. The place was not the thing, it was the purpose that he had to hold onto be patient in the process. That was number two.

Luke 2 52, he grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor. And this was Jesus' life. We see all these things in Jesus. Be faithful to let God do what only he can do. I mean, Jesus was raised from the dead.

God did a work in him that is unexplainable for me. And you. It was beyond us. And we see it in the life of Jesus. When you are patient, you're becoming more and more like Jesus.

Patience is possible because Jesus was patient. It is a active endurance. Do you remember what Jesus said on the cross? This was so, this was so beyond me. Again, there he is on the cross and he says this, remember the praise says, father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

And you see it in Joseph. Forgive them. He spoke kindly to them. I'm telling you, you, you've got this in your life. You've got a relationship, man.

You've got an ex, you've got a child. That's men's just tough stuff. You've got a family member where you are trying to reconcile, and that's not in you. I know, but it is in the fruit of the spirit. He said this, father, forgive them.

That's part of this. An active endurance is being patient. Now, here's the last thing I wanna do. I I wanna encourage you by, by challenging you because I need you to grab a verse to hold onto because I've been in that season before where you're in that pit. Like that's where you are.

You just got the diagnosis. You're just now walking through these things. You need something to hold onto to, you need a verse, not a man. You need a verse to hold onto in this season. And here's mine.

I'm gonna share mine with you. Feel free to claim this one, use this one. But this is gonna help you not odd. Get on the exit ramp too soon. Hebrews 12, one and two.

Alright, watch this. Therefore, since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. Here we go. Let us run with what? Perseverance.

An active endurance the race that's marked out for us. It's not gonna be straight, y'all, I'm just telling you it's gonna feel like a detour, but we're gonna keep running. What is gonna be the thing that keeps us going right there? It is fixing our eyes on Jesus. That's what I'm asking you to do.

From the pit, from the palace, wherever you are today, I want you to fix your eyes on Jesus. It's different. There's a whole nother level of power there. Listen, I love this because I I, I've got a great example for you to see it. Like I, I love when I get the call from an expecting couple man, she's excited from day one and she's telling, oh, I can't wait.

And we're gonna find out it's a boy or girl. But then I make it to the hospital and I get to see that little couple and, and all of a sudden I just don't get to see her excitement. I get to see his excitement and I get to see this dude that was like stone cold. You know, it's gonna be expensive to, to now holding this baby girl, especially when it's a little girl. And all of a sudden he melts, he melts.

I got a, I got a big old burly dad down here of two girls. Don't, you know, he just melts anything they want, man. He's gonna meet that need. And then he, the dad takes that little baby out and presents it to the grandparents. And then you see the big grand, the big old silent, strong granddad melt with that little baby girl.

That's the power of our children. That's the power of our daughters and our sons. Can you imagine how much more powerful Jesus is in you? I mean, if our children can make us do things we never thought we would do. Patience is possible because Jesus is in you.

There's so much more, there's so much more strength. There's so much more there. There's a whole nother reservoir that we've got to begin to live by. Live by the spirit. That's the idea today.

So here's what I want you to do. This is the last thing I want you to stand up at all of our campuses. Go ahead, Lincoln Road, the Ho Club Jones County, down on the coast, you to stand up. And in just a minute, we're gonna worship and we're gonna worship strong man. You can come down to the crosses, you can come down to the altar, you can come take communion.

But here's what I want you to do. While you're standing, just before we sing, I want you to start this way. I want you to start with your fist just like this, just like mine, just, just right in front of you because this is kinda the way that we walk through life. Like we're holding on tight, but then there's a way of, of saying, God, I'm gonna trust you. E even in the pit, I I want you to just open your hands.

And this is you saying, God, I let go of my plans. I let go of my timing. That is so hard to do. God, I I want your covering. And now just right there with your hands open, go ahead and close your eyes and I'm gonna pray for you.

God, I know that this is, this is beyond us. We've said for generations, we're just not patient people. My daddy wasn't patient, my granddaddy wasn't patient. But God, the the word of God is active and it's alive. And we believe that it's powerful.

And God, your word is saying that patience is actually possible. And so, God, I pray for a church that looks different, that it, it doesn't look like our flesh, but rather it looks like the, the fruit of the spirit alive. That there would be communities that are changed because we live in love and enjoy and in peace and in patience. God, whatever we're facing today, help us not give up before we see the miracle. God help us relinquish control and give up on our timeline.

And let us just come to you with open arms and open hands saying, God, we want your covering. God, we trust you. We give you our stories and we pray You would begin to write that you would do what only you can do and you would recycle all the pain. God, we give it to you. We love you, and it's in your name we pray.

Amen. Amen.