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Defining Success in My 9-to-5 Job · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, we talked about holiness and good works last time
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  Speaker 1: and why our holy deeds are not filthy rags. That's
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  Speaker 1: a common myth that needs to die. And we're back
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  Speaker 1: on the topic of purpose, looking at what it means
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  Speaker 1: to be successful in our ninety five jobs. That's because
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  Speaker 1: today in our Bible reading plan, we read Proverbs sixteen
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  Speaker 1: three together quote commit your work to the Lord, and
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  Speaker 1: your plans will be established end quote makes me think
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  Speaker 1: about work and I know many of you listen to
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  Speaker 1: this podcast on your drive into work in the morning,
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  Speaker 1: so this seems especially relevant right now. We focus several
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  Speaker 1: podcast episodes on careers and calling overworking, laziness, on purpose,
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  Speaker 1: personal productivity, all those things we've covered, and for that
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  Speaker 1: see the APGA book on pages sixty seven to ninety
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  Speaker 1: four to see all the ground that we've covered. We
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  Speaker 1: get so many questions here because we don't want to
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  Speaker 1: waste our lives, and that means we don't want to
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  Speaker 1: waste our jobs. We invest so much of our lives
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  Speaker 1: at work and as a place to pursue excellence. But
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  Speaker 1: why and how? At what level? What does success look
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  Speaker 1: like here on the job site and in the office.
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  Speaker 1: The question to get us started is from Dylan, Hello,
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John and Colossians three, verses twenty two to twenty four.
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  Speaker 1: Paul exhorts his readers to work heartily as for the
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  Speaker 1: Lord and not for men. Does this mean that any
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  Speaker 1: work not done in excellence is sinful? And how do
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  Speaker 1: we apply God's view of work to cleaning our house,
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  Speaker 1: writing a paper for school, or working a nine to
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  Speaker 1: five job. I have been feeling guilty about the way
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  Speaker 1: I handle these things for months now, and I'm not
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  Speaker 1: sure if I'm just being lazy, self righteous, or am
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  Speaker 1: I disobeying the Lord. Pastor John, what would you say
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  Speaker 1: to Dylan?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the first thing with regard to his guilt or
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  Speaker 2: feeling guilty is that the Bible handles guilt in two ways,
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  Speaker 2: and both are very important, not just. One is the
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  Speaker 2: blood of Jesus that covers all our sin, including how
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  Speaker 2: we do our work, and none of us does our
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  Speaker 2: work as well as we could, We're always falling short
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  Speaker 2: of the ideal. One is the blood of Jesus that
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  Speaker 2: cancels our guilt, and the other is to resolve to
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  Speaker 2: walk and work faithfully before the Lord in the freedom
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  Speaker 2: of that forgiveness. If we try to use the blood
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  Speaker 2: of Jesus as a free pass to walk in sin.
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  Speaker 2: Our conscience will rise up and protest thank God. And
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  Speaker 2: if we try to walk in faithfulness and obedience without
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  Speaker 2: relying on the blood of Jesus for forgiveness and enablement,
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  Speaker 2: we will either fail in despair or we will look
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  Speaker 2: like we succeed and become proud. It's the two together,
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  Speaker 2: the blood of Jesus and the resolve of walking and
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  Speaker 2: working faithfully obediently. That's the key to the peaceful life
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  Speaker 2: of being forgiven before God and being vigilant over our
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  Speaker 2: hearts and minds as we go about our daily tasks.
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  Speaker 2: So what is God's will for how we should do
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  Speaker 2: our ordinary work? And then in particular, what is as
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  Speaker 2: for the Lord working as for the Lord? Meaning Colossians
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  Speaker 2: three twenty three. Let's get the bigger picture first. In
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  Speaker 2: the Bible, God makes total absolute claim on our lives,
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  Speaker 2: all of our lives, including all of our work of
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  Speaker 2: whatever kind. Everything in our lives is to be done
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  Speaker 2: before the face of God in reliance upon God's grace,
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  Speaker 2: according to God's guidance for God's glory. Listen to these
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  Speaker 2: amazing passages. This is Colossians seventeen. Whatever you do in
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  Speaker 2: word or deed, do everything in the name of the
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  Speaker 2: Lord Jesus. Isn't that amazing, Every word, every deed in
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  Speaker 2: the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God
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  Speaker 2: the Father through him. Or for Strinthians ten thirty one.
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  Speaker 2: Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do
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  Speaker 2: all to the glory of God. Or Proverbs three five
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  Speaker 2: and six. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
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  Speaker 2: Do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways,
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  Speaker 2: all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He'll make your pass straight.
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  Speaker 2: Or Proverbs six ' three. Commit your work to the Lord,
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  Speaker 2: and your plans will be established. Or one of my
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  Speaker 2: favorites from Romans fourteen, just because it's so amazingly sweeping
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  Speaker 2: in calling us to live, God word lives. The one
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  Speaker 2: who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: The one who eats eats in honor of the Lord,
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  Speaker 2: since he gives thanks to God. While the one who
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  Speaker 2: abstains abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks
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  Speaker 2: to God. For no one lives to himself, and no
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  Speaker 2: one dies to himself. For if we live, we live
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  Speaker 2: to the Lord. If we die, we die to the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: So whether we live or whether we die, we are
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  Speaker 2: the Lord's for to this end, Christ died and lived
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  Speaker 2: again that he might be Lord, both of the living
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  Speaker 2: and the dead. Amazing. I love it, Oh, how I
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  Speaker 2: want to live to the Lord before the Lord, always
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  Speaker 2: with reference to the Lord. All those texts have one
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  Speaker 2: basic message. We belong to God. We're not on our own.
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  Speaker 2: Everything we do from morning till night is to be
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  Speaker 2: done in a God word, God world way before his face,
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  Speaker 2: in reliance on his grace, guided by his will, aiming
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  Speaker 2: to make him look magnificent and glorious, as are all
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  Speaker 2: satisfying treasure. That's what worked is for. That's what all
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  Speaker 2: of life is for. And I don't know whether Dylan
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  Speaker 2: knows my book Don't Waste Your Life, but there's a
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  Speaker 2: chapter called from eight to five or something like that,
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  Speaker 2: and tries to grapple with how do you go about
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  Speaker 2: doing your daily work so as not to waste what
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  Speaker 2: it's for? Now, just a few words about Colossians three.
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  Speaker 2: Here's the text that Dylan is exercised about. It's got
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  Speaker 2: the phrase in it work as for the Lord and
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  Speaker 2: not for men. It goes like this, bond servants. Obey
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  Speaker 2: in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by
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  Speaker 2: way of eye service as men pleasers, but withinarity of heart,
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  Speaker 2: fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily. Here. It
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  Speaker 2: is as for the Lord, as for the Lord. So
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  Speaker 2: work as for the Lord, and not for men, knowing
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  Speaker 2: that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as
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  Speaker 2: your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. So work
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  Speaker 2: as for the Lord. And Paul modifies this command in
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  Speaker 2: five ways so we can know there's not much doubt here.
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  Speaker 2: How Paul thinks about this, there are five modifiers to
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  Speaker 2: what he means by as for the Lord. Number one,
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  Speaker 2: not to be done with eye service as men pleasers.
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  Speaker 2: That is, you're not just angling to impress others when
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  Speaker 2: you do your work. God, not others, is the one
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  Speaker 2: you have in view. You're working in a godward way first,
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  Speaker 2: not a man word way. Number two, the opposite of
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  Speaker 2: eye service is sincerity, he says, in other words, you
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  Speaker 2: really mean the good that your work is aiming to do.
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  Speaker 2: The work is not to impress others. The work is
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  Speaker 2: what it is. It's for the good of others. Number
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  Speaker 2: three fearing the Lord. In other words, fearing displeasing the Lord,
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  Speaker 2: having a reverential desire to please the Lord in the
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  Speaker 2: way you do your work. Number four working heartily literally
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  Speaker 2: from the soul, that is, not halfheartedly, but putting your
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  Speaker 2: whole self into it. And number five expecting a great
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  Speaker 2: reward from the Lord. Even if man gives you nothing
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  Speaker 2: for it, that doesn't matter in the end. What matters
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  Speaker 2: in the end is you're going to get totally over abundance,
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  Speaker 2: poured down, pressed together, overflowing in your lap reward from Lord. Now,
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  Speaker 2: all five of those guidelines for how we do our
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  Speaker 2: work for the Lord are given to us not because
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  Speaker 2: the Lord needs our work. He doesn't x seventeen twenty five.
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  Speaker 2: God is not served by human hands as though he
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  Speaker 2: needed anything. God doesn't need our work. That's not the point.
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  Speaker 2: Paul gave us these instructions because this will bring the
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  Speaker 2: greatest joy to us when we work this way, and
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  Speaker 2: will show that God is our greatest treasure.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, so so so, good Pastor John, thank you. And
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  Speaker 1: we focused several podcast episodes now on careers, calling overworking, laziness,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: on purpose, personal productivity, all those things we've covered. See
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: the APJ book on pages sixty seven to ninety four
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  Speaker 1: for a long digestive all those many related episodes that
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: put together and thanks for joining us today. If you
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  Speaker 1: have a question to ask, Pastor John, email me nas
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John at Desiring Good dot org. Well, we get
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  Speaker 1: heavy and sad emails from parents who have lost young children,
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  Speaker 1: and the heaviest ones are from parents who feel that
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  Speaker 1: their own negligence may have played a role in the
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  Speaker 1: death of their child. These are super hard, super dark
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  Speaker 1: emails people who are enduring incredible seasons of pain and
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  Speaker 1: pain some of you are facing right now who are
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  Speaker 1: listening that topic is up next time. I'm Tony Ranky
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John, and I will see you on Monday.