Welcome to the Plenteous Redemption podcast, where the cross and the culture are on a collision course for discussion. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign The Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Under the Jews, a stumbling block. Under the Greeks, foolishness. But under them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Now, here's your host, Thomas Ervin. All right, Mark chapter 11. And that means we are moving close to the end of this book. Mark chapter 11. And we'll start in verse one. Read verses one through 11, and then we will begin our study. Verse one. And when they came nigh to Jerusalem at Bethpage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you, and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never a man sat. loose him, and bring him. And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? Say ye that the Lord hath need of him, and straightway he will send him hither. And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door, without in a place where two ways met, and they loose him. And certain of them that stood there said unto him, What do ye, loosening the colt? And they said unto them, even as Jesus had commanded, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him, and he sat upon him. And many spread their garments in the way, and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way. And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. be the kingdom of our father David that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. And Jesus entered into Jerusalem and into the temple. And when he looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve." That's very interesting. Matthew provides a direct quotation of the book of Zechariah when it comes to this parallel passage. Mark just gives a general reference. Mark is written primarily to Gentiles, so you don't need those extra details that are provided in Matthew. Matthew, we understand, to be written primarily, not exclusively, but primarily to the Jews. That's the main context of the passage. And Jesus is presented as the King of the Jews. And so, there's a lot of details left out that would be provided in Matthew because it's written to Jews, and the Jews want to see that connection to the Old Testament, to the prophets. Whereas the Gentiles, they don't have a clue. I mean, They don't have a clue who Zechariah is or what that connection is. And the book of Mark is written with more of a Gentile mindset in view. And we have learned in Romans that Gentiles didn't have the advantage of the law. So how would it help them to know this was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy? They'd say, what is Old Testament prophecy? We don't know what you're talking about. So the book of Matthew written primarily to the Jews, they need to see this connection. It's essential for them. Now the other parallel passages mention that the Lord sat on a wild ass that had never been tamed, never been broken, never been tamed. That's a dangerous thing to do. But it's nearly impossible for anybody else. You'd have to break that animal right there on the spot, which is not going to happen, in order to ride it. It was funny, when we went to family camp, They had these horses out there, and we got to ride the horses. And so the man that takes care of the horses is introducing us to them. And there were three horses. One's name was Seven. One's name was Echo. And then there was a third one. I can't remember that one's name. I don't remember the horse's name. But the one whose name I can't remember was Old. It was about 25 years old. That's an old horse. And he said, that horse is getting ornery. He doesn't like giving people rides anymore. And so when you put the saddle on it, he starts bucking. He don't want to do it anymore. And so I said, well, my kids are not riding that horse. And then Seven was a younger horse. Now, Seven was still 13, 14 years old, something like that, but he was very spirited and loved to run, was wild, was a beautiful horse. And I was like, my kids are not getting on that horse. In fact, several of the teenagers rode him, rode that horse, and they had, that horse had them screaming. yelling for, please stop, stop, stop. And so multiple times they had that issue. That's pretty funny. Then you had Echo. And Echo was also an older horse, but Echo was very docile, very gentle. And so Echo was the only horse I felt comfortable with my kids riding on. And so Our kids got to ride on Echo, and I led them around. I was one of the people that got to lead the horse around the field and let the kids ride him. Now, you imagine getting on a donkey that's never been tamed. Now, the seven was spirited and all that, but he had been broken, and so you could get him under control. It was just, you needed to know what you were doing. And multiple times, that horse took off, and you heard teenagers yelling, stop, stop. And so the Lord gets on that ass, and it does nothing. It just succumbs to him. It's just submissive to him, because he's the Lord. He can do that. I don't suggest you try that. Also, going to somebody's house and taking something, and when they say, what are you doing? You say, the Lord hath need of it. I don't recommend you try that either. That's not going to work out well for you. There was a football player who I'd read a story. He's some kind of charismatic Christian, maybe even prosperity gospel type Christian. And he took his car to get it serviced somewhere. And he goes in, gets the keys, and he just leaves. And they say, hey, you didn't pay. And he said, oh, the Lord will bless you. And he said, well, we appreciate that. Either come back and pay or we're calling the police. You know, that's not available to us. And so the Lord rode down the mountainside through the Kidron Valley and up to Jerusalem, where just a few days later, the same journey would lead to his crucifixion. And what's more mind-boggling to me, what bothers me more, look back at verse 9. Actually, let's go back to verse 9. Go back to verse seven. And they brought the colt to Jesus and cast their garments on him. And he sat upon him, and many spread their garments in the way, and others cut down branches off the trees and strawed them in the way. And they that went before and they that followed cried, saying, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. So you got all these people lining the street. and shouting and screaming, Hosanna, and blessed be the kingdom of our father, David, that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. So they're shouting these praises. They are excited. They're throwing palm branches in the way. They're throwing their clothes in the way. They look at Jesus entering on that colt as the king coming into Jerusalem. That's what it looks like to them. Well, just a few days later, those same people are going to be crying, crucify him. And that's how fickle people are. That's why it's not as important to win people's favor as it is to please the Lord. Sometimes you've got to break relationships because of your faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it just has to be that way. It shouldn't have to be that way, but people, they're with you today, and then tomorrow they don't have a clue who you are, could care less what you're doing and where you're going, and so you just have to stick with the Lord. And those same people, today they're yelling Hosanna. You look at movie stars who ruined their lives because they can't get that crowd back on their side again. They can't get them to yell the way they once yelled, and they can't, win their favor the way they once won their favor. And it's to try and stay relevant in the world today. It's so fleeting and goes so fast. you'll spend the rest of it. And people will do amazing things just to try and maintain that sense of favor and that sense of celebrity. And the Lord rides right through town. And as far as we can tell, the Lord never said anything and never responded to those people's cheers. Now verses 12 through 14, verse 12. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry. All right, now that's a great example of his humanity. They say, how can God be hungry? Well, I mean, there's food in heaven, apparently. So does that mean people in heaven get hungry, or do they just enjoy eating? Who knows? He's God and he's man. In this case, he's man, the servant, and yet he's also God, and he's hungry. Verse 13, and seeing a fig tree afar off, having leaves, he came, if happily. Happily, that word there. I used to use that word all the time. A bit improperly, happily doesn't mean happily. It means by chance. It's kind of a circumstantial term. And so if happily, he might find anything thereon. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, no man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. and his disciples heard it. Now, you know, Jesus is not, I mean, he is a man and he is God. That is very important to remember. And that's why there's so many divisions in what we call Christianity today is because people can't, they struggle to grasp both those realities. And so the Lord returns to Bethany with the 12. All right, so he goes, he has this triumphal entry, or what is called the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He looks round about. It doesn't say anything. And then he goes into the temple and looks round about, and then leaves. It's like, well, that was great. What was that all about? Well, we don't really know. He just, he came in, we got all excited, we cheered, we yelled, it was wonderful. And then he just left. And when he left, he goes back down that mountain, back across that valley, which includes the Garden of Gethsemane, going through back up the other side to Bethany. And it appears that from Bethany, Bethany and Bethpage are close to each other and and from those two towns on the other side So you got two mountains side by side essentially and you've got that valley down down below well Jerusalem and and the temple sit on top of one mountain and you go down that valley and across and on the other side is the Mount of Olives which is where Bethany and Bethpage and and the Garden of Gethsemane is down towards the bottom of that mountain and all that and and you can see Jerusalem from there And so from Bethany and Bethpage. So here he is back in Bethany with the 12 and this whole event gives us a display of both his humanity and his deity. He walks up to the fig tree and says, I'm hungry. He's a man. But then when he finds no figs on it, he says, nobody's going to eat from this tree from now on forever. Well, if he's just a man, those figs are coming back. Those figs are going to grow. But if he's God, that fig tree's not producing any more fruit. Now, there's a deeper issue here. The Lord didn't just get angry at a fig tree for no reason. This is all an illustration, and we'll get to that. But he is hungry because he is a man. But when that fig fails to produce fruit, the Lord, God, curses it. Now if you think about this, you can already start to see what the Lord's trying to present to us here. You should not be, now the idea here I think is more related to Israel, but if you broaden it and make it more generalized for both Christians and the Jews, you should not remain fruitless. There's no excuse in your life. The Lord should be able to come to you and find fruit. And if he doesn't, he doesn't particularly like that. He finds that to be very problematic and it may cause him to do something about it. Now, it appears in this context that Israel is that fig tree. And Israel, if anybody was supposed to bear fruit, it's Israel. You see, at this point, the church hasn't started yet. Now, the principle is still true for you as a Christian. You should be growing, and you should be bearing fruit in your life. And failure to do so is a serious problem that God might have to address, and you don't want the Lord to have to address that. But in this context, it's Israel. Israel is not bearing fruit. In fact, they are fighting against the Lord of the vineyard, the very one who could help them to be fruitful. Their failure to do so left them cursed until the Lord returns. Hold your place there and look at the end of Malachi real fast. Malachi chapter 4, verse 4. And this passage starts with, remember ye the law of Moses my servant. Now, we're at the end of Malachi, and then we don't hear, they don't hear from God again more than 400 years later until we get to the book of Matthew, right? And that 400 year period is often called the silent years. Well, it wasn't silent. God said, you have the law of Moses, do that. I'm not talking to you again until Elias come." And then came John the Baptist and the spirit and power of Elias. So they were not silent years. They didn't hear from God audibly, but all throughout Israel's history, there have been large passages of time when they did not hear directly or audibly from God. They just had to do what God had already told them. And so here, verse 4, remember you the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments. All right, so I've given Israel the law and statutes and judgments, do that. Until when? Verse 5, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a what? A curse. And so here we are back in Mark, and the Lord is standing there looking at that tree and says, it's fruitless. And so he curses it. They had the law and the prophets, which we now know means they had every advantage. And yet they bear no fruit. You have the word of God. I have the word of God. America most certainly has the word of God. The English-speaking world has the word of God. How can we all be so fruitless? How is it the church is so stammering and failing to do what it's supposed to do? It should be producing fruit all over this world. And yet it's... Now, there's two sides to that. It is problematic. The church is not doing great. But there are places where it's doing well. And we want to be one of those places, Lord helping us. All right, Mark 11, verses 15 through 19. Verse 15. And they come to Jerusalem, and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But ye have made it a den of thieves, verse 18, and the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him. Don't point out the fact that we're doing wrong. Otherwise, we might have to get rid of you. You know, not fix the problem? Well, we'll fix the problem. We'll get rid of you, then we can keep doing what we're doing. And that's what people do. They just walk away from God, then they don't have to be held accountable. Or at least they think. For they feared Him because all the people, all the people was astonished at His doctrine. And when even was come, he went out of the city. So he's got this back and forth going into Jerusalem, and then leaving Jerusalem, and then going back into Jerusalem, and then leaving Jerusalem. And so, once again, Jesus was not weak. And also, he was not tolerable of sinful activity. He didn't walk in the temple and just let you live that, you know, do what you were doing, that's ungodly. You're not gonna turn God's house into a den of thieves. You're supposed to be honest and upright with God's house. You're supposed to do things dutifully and with integrity. It's so important for even a church. If it's going to exist, the lines need to be clearly defined, the rules need to be clearly laid out, and people need to abide by them with honesty and integrity. Anytime you start doing something that is misguided, that maybe it's not even wrong, but it appears like something's not right, You got a big problem, and you're going to cause unrest. And we don't want that. That's not acceptable. And in this setting, the people are not amazed by his healing or his miracles. They're astonished at his doctrine. Like, wow, we've never thought of that. I just assumed it was OK to turn God's house into a den of thieves. And if you don't stick with the word of God, that's exactly what you'll do. You'll do that at the temple, you'll do that at the church. If you're not careful, you can turn a church full of people into a business, a money-making opportunity. If you don't keep those lines clearly defined, and they start getting blurred, and people start coming in and looking at you as a consumer instead of a brother and sister in Christ, then people will start taking advantage of each other. And you'll turn God's house into a den of thieves, and that's not acceptable. That cannot happen. When someone shows up who knows how to properly use the Word of God, it'll have a major impact on your heart. It'll start to change things, it'll start to shake things up, and then what's gonna happen is the people who don't want the Word of God are gonna get angry and leave. The people who are doing things improperly or without the proper level of integrity are gonna get mad and leave. Somebody walks in. I worked at CenturyLink for a while. I was one of their communications engineers. And we had this new manager who came in who was not a Christian, but this is a good example of what I'm talking about. But he was very honest and hardworking. He came in and all of a sudden people started getting fired left and right because he found out there was an entire scheme of people banding together doing things they were not supposed to be doing. And then the ones who didn't get fired didn't want to change to do things in an honest way for the benefit of the company that was paying them to make the company profitable. So they left. Well, same thing happens in a church. You come in and you start finding out there's some people doing things that are not right, that are not clear, that aren't being done with the highest level of integrity, and you start making changes and expecting those people to abide by those rules, they're going to get mad and leave. And rarely do they leave and go somewhere else and say, they're just too honest over there. No, they're going to leave, and they're going to bash your name. They're going to talk about your church, and they're going to try and tear you down. But we're not going to compromise on integrity and honesty. People want to invest in their church. They want to invest in the gospel. They need to know that that money is being handled effectively with the Lord Jesus Christ, with the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the spread of the gospel in mind. And if you can't handle that, then this is not going to be the place for you. Verses 20 through 26, verse 20, And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, calling to remembrance, saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursest is withered away. And Jesus answering, saith unto them, Have faith in God. OK. But what about the fig tree? Verse 23. Verse 23, for verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have ought against any, that your Father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father, which is in heaven, forgive your trespasses." Well, that sounds like a bad situation to get yourself into. So the nation is dead now. And what's the source of that death? A lack of faith in God. What's the source of your death? A lack of faith in God. You're going to die physically one day with or without Jesus Christ, but you don't have to die spiritually. You don't have to lift up your eyes in hell being in torment for eternity. You can pass from this life to the next and have yourself right in the hands of Jesus Christ with eternal life. And so the Lord is telling them, have faith in God. That's the lesson. That's what you need to know. The nation is dead, and it will take the events of Ezekiel 37 to bring them back to life, when the Lord breathes on that valley of dead bones and restores life to the nation of Israel. Which is amazing, which means as it stands as a nation, they're cursed, they're dead. They're spread all over the world, they're constantly being tortured and attacked and abused. and all sorts of horrendous things happening to Jews simply because they're Jews. There's no other reason. Israel will abide many days without a prince and without a sacrifice. That's what the Lord said in Daniel. And the Gentiles will continue to reign until the Lord's return. So it seems at this point in Mark 11, Any possibility of the offer of the kingdom that was given them seems to have died right here until the Lord returns. Now again, what would have happened if the Lord, what would have happened if they would have received that kingdom right then and there? We don't know for sure, because they didn't receive it. We do know that it was prophesied the Lord would go to the cross, so whether they received the kingdom or not, Jesus Christ was going to that cross. There was no compromise on that. That has to happen. And the Lord said, I came to die. I didn't come to establish the kingdom. But He did offer them the kingdom. And it was a valid offer. It wasn't a trick. But they rejected it. They didn't want it. And so the Gentiles continued to reign, and the Lord will come back and deal with that in His own time. This passage and its focus on forgiveness is not related to justification. The lesson is simple. Saved or lost, if you desire mercy, then be merciful. If you want forgiveness, then forgive. If you require everyone to pay in full measure every single time they do wrong, then expect God to treat you the same way. When the consequences of your decisions come raining in, don't go to God. When others did wrong and you would not receive their, you would not provide forgiveness for them, then why would you expect God to do the same for you? That's what people like to say. Treat others as you want to be treated. Well, sure. Good. Try it. I mean, it'd work out better than what people currently do. You treat me the way I want to be treated. Yeah, but I'll let you know how I'm going to treat you in the moment. If you want mercy, then show mercy. If you want grace, then be gracious. If you want forgiveness, then forgive. Now, that's easy to stand here and say. It's not always so easy to practice. And I understand that. But we put ourselves at a very serious disadvantage in the Christian life if we refuse to be gracious, merciful, and forgiving. The Bible expects us to be long-suffering. We've talked about it a hundred times. That passage is in 1st or 2nd Corinthians, where the Lord says, I just want you, as Christians, learn to take wrong. I don't want to learn that. But that's what the Lord said, and so sometimes you've got to eat it. We had some things happen in the past year or two, especially in our move here, where some people did us very wrong because of it. And there was a tendency in me to want to do something about it. And so what we did instead was just learn to take wrong and move on. is doing something about it could cause some massive outlandish problem and tear ministries down and harm people that don't need to be harmed. And so, you know, some of this is bigger than you and you just gotta get over it. It's not, you know, you're not some, we act like Americans instead of Christians. And, you know, it's my right for you not to do me that way. Well, it might be, but you're a Christian and so you gotta get over it. These are hard lessons to learn, but they are fundamentally sound and fully expected of you by the Lord. All right, verses 27 through 33, verse 27. And they come again to Jerusalem. So here he is. You see how he's going back and forth and back and forth. And they come again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, and say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? And who gave thee this authority to do these things? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men? Answer me. Verse 31, and they reasoned. You see, this is the problem with human reasoning. Now, you should generally use human reasoning. It's not a terrible thing to do, but not above the Word of God. It's far more important to check with the Word of God, but They reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say from heaven, he will say, Why then did you not believe him? But if we shall say of men, they feared the people. For all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed. And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering, saith unto them, neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things." No problem, we can both play that game. Now they are trying to find a way to manipulate the situation to their benefit. They want to win this exchange, and in order to win the exchange, they can't tell the truth. They have to find a narrative that will facilitate the manipulation. Since they know there are very serious consequences to their response in either direction, they just say nothing. Well, we don't know. We're still trying to figure that out. We cannot tell. And the Lord said, well, then I can't answer your question either. The Lord was not focused on military or government bondage. His focus is the spiritual bondage his people find themselves in. And all they're worried about is him taking their place in this political system that has been established. The Romans have dominated Israel, but they allow the chief priests and scribes to have this place of benefit because it helps keep down the riots. The chief priests and scribes, if they will keep the people under control using the religion that God gave them as a means to do so, then it becomes very beneficial to them. The Lord isn't concerned about any of that. He could care less about the political outcome of doing right, the political consequences of doing right. And so this is a confusing point for many people. They think God wants them living free, happy, healthy. The Lord wants you set free spiritually. Now, that doesn't mean God wants you to have cancer. It doesn't mean God wants you to be imprisoned or politically persecuted. But he did say repeatedly, it's going to happen. Numerous times in the New Testament, the Lord said, you're going to be persecuted. gave no indication that he's going to take that away. That's why he said, pray for your government, pray for the king, pray they leave you alone. So that's how he used his authority when he was on earth. It was for your spiritual benefit, not for your earthly, physical, temporal benefit. And people confuse it. Even the apostles in what, chapter 9 or 10, the Lord says, how hardly can a rich man be saved? How hardly? Morning. One end. And the apostles start looking around, and they're saying, man, then who can be saved? See, in their mind, this connection to being rich automatically helps them understand that, well, I mean, if I'm rich, then I must be right with God. And that is not the case at all. How many rich Christians actually exist? Probably not many in the bigger scheme of things. It's probably a small number of people who are rich and who are actually truly Christians. And then when you get down into Bible believing, fundamental Christianity, that number is even smaller. Now, they exist, but it's rare. But in people's minds, they equate blessing, financial blessing, or health, or happiness. Well, God must be happy with me. I must be right with God because I have money, I have health, and I'm happy. Whatever happy means. That's a fleeting term. If happiness is one of your goals in life, it's going to be a failing goal. You don't want to seek happiness. Happiness changes from day to day. Today, this makes me happy. Tomorrow, I'm bored with it. So now what are you going to do? And so you just, you don't want to seek happiness. Everybody wants you to be happy, but peace and joy and long-suffering, the fruit of the Spirit, these are far more lasting and binding, and that's what you should be seeking after. Happiness is just a, It's a state of mind. You know, people can be locked in prison and make themselves happy. And then people can have millions of dollars and live in the high life and be miserable. So you just happiness is not something you should be seeking after. And the Lord's intent on Earth was to set you free from the bondage of sin, not to set you free from the bondage of, you know, political persecution that that may or may not come. So they reason within themselves. which means they were trying their best to get out of this question. And look, you should use your brain. But the Bible says very clearly to lean not unto thine own understanding. You don't want to rely on your flesh. Flesh is as grass. It withereth away. Their ability to manipulate was hemmed in. They couldn't do it. And they were incapable of squirming out of the situation, though they are trying. Well, if we say this, then those people are going to say that. If we say this, then Jesus is going to say that. So what do we do? Well, just say nothing. Well, that was better than some of the other options that they could have come up with. Oftentimes, if it was Peter, he was like, well, I feel like I've got to say something. And He would have said something, and it would have possibly made things even worse. They didn't say they didn't know. They refused to provide an answer, because their obvious answer would get them in trouble with either the people or with God. And so they're standing there. They got God on one side, and the people on the other. And the people are like, yeah, what are you going to say? And Jesus says, answer me. And so they're looking back and forth like, we cannot tell. You're a liar. You can tell. You just won't do it. This is the modern American Christian. Will you take a stand for Jesus, which might remove you from certain opportunities or upset the worldly-minded individuals in your town? A lot of people struggle with that. What about my reputation? Well, Jesus made himself of no reputation for you. Can you not do that for him? Can you not put your reputation on line for Jesus Christ? We're not asking you to put your reputation on line for theft or embezzlement. We're asking you to put your reputation on line for the Lord Jesus Christ. Very different realities. One is honorable, the other is dirty. We cannot tell. Most American Christians refuse to take a side. They refuse to stand for the Lord. They don't necessarily stand against him. They just become paralyzed by the possibility of potential conflict. I don't want conflict either. I don't like it. But if it comes between standing for the Lord Jesus Christ and doing nothing, we're gonna stand for the Lord Jesus Christ. And if people don't like it, well, I understand, I get it, but we're not going away. We're not going to stop. Jesus didn't mind suffering some conflict for you. Can you stand up for the Lord and deal with a little, just a little conflict for Him? Now here, we haven't had any conflict whatsoever so far. It's been great. People are very responsive. People are very kind. Just a few people, I mean, in a year's time, we've maybe had a half dozen people respond negatively. And even that was very mild. Hardly even worth mentioning. Now in the land, it's very different. They drive by, they yell at you, they cuss at you, they drive by and yell Satan rules or vulgarities in front of children. They say the dirtiest things and do the dirtiest things just to prove that you're a hypocrite. That's their point. They want you to know they think you're a hypocrite as they drive by cursing and yelling and drooling at the mouth in front of children. And it's ridiculous. They'll stop and say, why don't you give to the homeless? We'll say, well, since you're here, let's go find one. We'll give together. Well, no, I'm talking about you. Yeah, that's what I thought. It's amazing the things that people come up, why don't you feed the hungry? Well, there's a Methodist church around the corner that feeds the hungry. Let's go buy some food and take it to them. Well, I mean, I just feel like that's what you should be doing. Well, what should you be doing then? Well, me? Yeah, you stopped and opened your mouth, so do something about it. And so they don't want to do that. But my primary concern are Christians who, it was funny, I was talking to a brother, I'll just say that, about tracts. And I told him that this last second Saturday we went downtown and we were passing out tracts. For the first time ever, there was another church or a group of people down there also passing out tracts. And their tract didn't have, as far as I could tell, any information on who it was. And so I thought they may have been connected with this other church. And so I asked one of the brothers from that church, hey, one of your people down here passing out tracts? And they laughed. I said, what? What's so funny? He said, there's not a chance anybody from our church would be out there passing out tracts. Now, the person I was talking to does. But nobody in his church does. They wouldn't be caught dead out in public standing up for Jesus Christ. And that is the common mentality of most churches. They don't want to do anything for Jesus Christ. They don't want to stand publicly. They don't want to go door to door. They might do the door to door thing once a month on a Saturday. I mean, just, but that's it. You ask the average church, you go to the average church and say, what do you do for evangelism and outreach? And it's not gonna be much if it's anything at all. It's amazing and it's sad. So, all right. We hope you enjoyed this podcast. You can learn more about our ministry by visiting www.plenteusredemption.com. You can hear more Plenteous Redemption podcast audio at www.plenteusredemption.media. Please comment below if this podcast has been a help to you. 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