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Faith That Endures: Holding Fast When the Promise Is Unseen · Wetumpka Church of Christ Online

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Good morning. We missed you.
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Thank you very much. I hate to interrupt all the
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conversations, but we've got a long ways to go and a short time
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to get there. Are you going to?
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Get. There.
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No, we're not going to get there.
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So Brent, I did learn something this quarter.
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I have to be far more careful when saying yes to which
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quarters I'm going to teach because this 12 week thing just
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doesn't cut it. All right, we are in Hebrews
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chapter 10 this morning. We're going to be picking up in
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verse 32. This will be my last Sunday
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teaching. Since this is the last Sunday of
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the quarter, obviously we had plans to get through the entire
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month or the entire book of Hebrews, but some things this
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month that happened that you have no way of being able to
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forecast kind of derailed the possibility of doing that.
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I do want to say thank you very quickly to Tom and to Benjamin
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for filling in for me the last two Sundays.
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I really appreciate you doing that and I'm sure you had good
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studies with them while I was away.
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We are going to be endeavoring to get through Chapter 11.
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I'm hopeful to get into a little bit of chapter 12 this morning.
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That will be as far as we get. I do also plan though to many of
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you have been utilizing the recordings that have been posted
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up on the the the Church podcast page to go back and re listen to
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them or to pass them along to others.
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So I do plan to make recordings for chapters 12 and 13 to finish
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out the study that can go up there on the platform so that
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you do get the remainder of the information.
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But unfortunately we won't be able to do that in this class
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next week. I have been told that Dwayne is
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going to be teaching something. I'm not sure what the topic is
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yet, so I will let him tell you what that is, but he will be
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taking over in here next Sunday and I'm personally looking
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forward to that. Chapter 10, you have the
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discussion that is ongoing here going back into Chapter 9 and in
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chapter 10 of what Jesus has done by means of his sacrifice.
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Yes, we've, we've mentioned 100 times.
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It's probably the last time it's mentioned in this particular
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sense in our class. We're talking to Jewish
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Christians. We're we're talking about those
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who come from a background of being Israelites.
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They are Christians. They do believe in Jesus.
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They have been questioning, they've been going through
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these, these struggles of whether Jesus is enough, whether
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or not they need to go back to or they should go back.
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They can go back under the old law, under the traditional
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Jewish law of Moses beliefs and practices because of the turmoil
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and the strife and all of the other things that they have
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endured while seeking to be Christians.
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Is it really worth it? Is it enough?
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And in chapters 9 and 10, the the writer of the book of
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Hebrews or the speaker who is giving this particular message
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is imparting to them everything that they have that is so much
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better with Jesus that that the sacrifice is, is so much
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greater. That this covenant that was
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created by means of the blood of Christ is a new covenant.
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It is a greater covenant. It is a better covenant.
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But as we closed a couple of weeks ago in chapter 10, as you
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get to verse 19, in verses 19 through 31, there is this
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admonition that he is going to give about how important it is
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for them to hold fast their confidence, their faith firm to
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the end, to draw near to God with a true heart in full
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assurance of faith, verse 22, and hold fast the confession of
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our hope without wavering. Verse 23 Why?
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Because when we sin willfully verse 26 and then and this sin
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isn't just, hey, I did the wrong thing.
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I made the wrong decision and yes, I even knew it when I when
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I did it in the context, he's talking about walking away from
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God. He's talking about quitting on
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Jesus and giving up your Christianity.
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He says if we sin willfully after we have received the
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knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains A sacrifice for
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sin. And then he follows it up by
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making the comparison between what what the judgment would
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have been under the law of Moses that they've been contemplating
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trying to go back to. And then he says, of how much
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worse punishment, Verse 29 do you suppose he will be thought
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worthy, who has trampled the Son of God under foot, counted the
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blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, a common
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thing, and insulted the spirit of grace.
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For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine.
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I will repay, says the Lord, and again the Lord will judge his
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people. It is a fearful thing to fall
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into the hands of the living God.
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And that's where we stopped a couple weeks ago.
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That phrase, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
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the living God is, is that that final shot across the bow for
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these Christians? You're worried about what
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everybody else is going to think of you, what everybody else is
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doing to you, what everybody else is going to say about you.
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You should be worried about what God thinks of you and what God
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says about you. And so as you come here into
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verse 32, now we're going to have another transition because
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it's going to go from this statement and and this bringing
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in of, of the judgment of God upon those who quit, those that
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give up, those who turn away from his will.
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And it's going to move to what they can do, what they can be
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this, this positive note that they've not yet quit, they've
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not yet given up and they've got to see it through to the end.
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Notice the way he transitions because verses 25 and 26
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especially, but down through verse 31 are a sharp reality
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check to these individuals as they're seeing and hearing and
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being reminded of who God is and what God does.
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But then you come to verse 32, and he says, But recall the
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former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a
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great struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a
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spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while
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you became companions of those who were so treated.
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For you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted
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the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better
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and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.
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Therefore do not castaway your confidence, which has great
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reward, for you have need of endurance, so that after you
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have done the will of God, you may receive the promise for yet
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a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not
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tarry. Now the just shall live by
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faith. But if anyone draws back, my
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soul has no pleasure in Him. But we are not of those who draw
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back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the
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soul. Usually when we study Hebrews
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Chapter 11, we do it in a vacuum.
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We call it the hall of faith. We treat it as though it is the
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righteous man's Hall of Fame. That's not what this is.
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I, I have no problems with calling it the hall of faith
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because there are many very faithful individuals that are
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discussed in Hebrews Chapter 11. And we're going to look at them
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sort of in just a few moments. But the entire purpose of what's
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being done in Hebrews Chapter 11 is to illustrate and to remind
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these Christians of what it means to see it through to the
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end, to not quit, to not give up, to not be ones who are going
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to turn back away from God. But notice how he introduces
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what he's going to talk about in Hebrews Chapter 11.
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He says beginning in verse 232. I want to remind you of the
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former days in which you were illuminated.
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The idea of illuminated is when you first became Christians.
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Many of these individuals have been Christians for a while.
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They're not new converts. They're they're not ones that
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have just started their journey with Christ and, and they're
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just trying to decide whether or not they really believe that
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these things are true or that these things have actually
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happened. I want you to notice what he
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says. He says, remember the former
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days in which, after you were eliminated, you endured a great
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struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle
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both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while
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you became companions of those who were so treated.
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Has life been easy for these Jewish Christians?
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No. I think the reality is, if we're
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truly being honest with ourselves, the majority of us
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have never really experienced the kind of struggles, the kind
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of backlash, the kind of hardship, the kind of issues
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that these Jewish Christians have dealt with striving to be
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faithful to Christ. It has shaken every facet of
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their world. They have been mistreated.
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They have dealt with reproaches and tribulations.
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They have stood side by side with people who have lost their
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lives in the service of Christ. They've had their property taken
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from them. They've lost friends, they've
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lost family members. They have people who won't talk
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to them, people that won't associate with them, people that
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don't want anything to do with them, all because they are
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seeking to serve Jesus. And this wasn't one time.
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This was not just for a moment. This has been a continuous
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source of struggle. Now when you turn over to
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chapter 12, where we're not going to have time to delve in
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in in detail, he does make the statement over in chapter 12,
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verse four. He says you have not yet
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resisted to bloodshed striving against sin.
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So it not hasn't yet come to the point for them that it has
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required loss of life in in for them personally or or bloodshed
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from the standpoint of the things that others have endured.
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But just because they haven't been brutally murdered doesn't
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mean that they have not faced real struggle and that they have
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not faced hardship and that they have not had to deal with the
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mental and the the emotional strain of what it means in order
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to serve Christ. But he says, whoever the author
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is, you had compassion on me in my chains and joyfully accepted
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the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better
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and an enduring possession for yourselves and haven't noticed
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this is what you knew. You knew you were taking this
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on. You knew that you were agreeing
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to this. So what you need is not the
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basic principle of faith. You already have that.
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You need endurance. You need the courage and the
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conviction to see it through to the end.
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That's what you're missing in all of this.
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So what he's going to do beginning in Chapter 11 is he is
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going to give them a series of examples and a series of
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reminders illustrating to them why it is so important, but also
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that this is not something new that God is asking of them.
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This is something that has been illustrated in the life of the
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faithful going all the way back to the beginning.
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But notice the statement before we delve into Chapter 11 from
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verse 39. He says, and I love the
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phraseology here because the positivity that he injects into
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this statement has the ability to become contagious.
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He's told them what the struggles are.
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He's told them and he's laid out the evidences for why they need
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to think about this differently than they have been in the midst
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of these struggles. And then he's given them the
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warnings. But then he says in verse 39,
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but we are not those who draw back to perdition, but of those
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who believe to the saving of the soul.
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Notice he doesn't say I'm not one of those.
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He says we. What has he done in making that
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a plural statement that includes everyone?
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He's showing his confidence in. Them, that's exactly right.
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He is relaying to them the confidence that not only can
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they, but they will remain faithful.
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They will gain the courage that is necessary to hold fast to
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their faith. But now he says, let me remind
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you of what that faith is capable of.
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What we're going to do as we study through Chapter 11 this
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morning is we spend most of our time and I had a couple of
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slides, but they've they've gone by the wayside, it looks like
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this morning. And that's fine.
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But when we go through Chapter 11, what do we spend most of our
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time talking about faithful. All right, the individuals that
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are mentioned, they're mentioned for a reason.
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We're going to go the opposite direction today.
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What I want to do as we go through Chapter 11 is instead of
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spending our focus on the individuals, I want to show you
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the discussion that's happening in the midst of the listing of
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the individuals. And then in our own time, we can
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go through and do those deep dive studies into those
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individuals of faith. Because I want you to see the
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thread running from chapter 10, verses 32 through 39 through to
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chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, because that's actually the the
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shift in the discussion. Again, I want you to see the
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thread of the the argument that he's making, the point that he's
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making in trying to buck up their courage to say strong.
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It begins in verse one. Now faith is the substance of
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things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, For by it
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the elders obtained a good testimony.
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By faith we understand that the world's were framed by the word
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of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things
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which are visible. In these first 3 verses you have
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this reminder of faith. Now I'm going to dive into
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semantics for just a moment. Often times Hebrews 11/1 gets
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described as the definition of faith.
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I don't believe this is the definition of faith.
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Faith is just is listed here as the substance of things hoped
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for, the evidence of things not seen.
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This is the description of faith.
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This is the purpose of faith. It is that substance.
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It is the foundation other translations will put it.
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It is the foundation of the things that are hoped for, and
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it is built on the evidence, the assurance of things not seen.
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This is the description of how faith operates, what its
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function is. The definition of faith is verse
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6. But without faith it is
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impossible to please him, for he that comes to God must believe
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that He is, and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently
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seek Him. Verse one is the description of
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the place that faith holds for us.
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Verse 6 is the definition of what you have to have in order
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for there to be faith. You have to believe in God, yes,
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but believing in God, in and of itself, is not sufficient for
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faith. Faith requires the
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understanding, the recognition, and the acceptance of the fact
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that God is only going to reward those who diligently seek Him.
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Well, why is that important in this discussion?
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Because they're having to decide whether or not they're going to
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continue diligently seeking after Christ.
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You go back into verses, verse two and three.
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He says for by it, that is by faith.
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The elders, the term here for elders.
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He's not talking about elders in the church.
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The term here is, is the term for ancestors, those of old,
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those of days gone by. By it, those of the past
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obtained a good testimony. Faith was the indicator of their
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relationship with God. Why?
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Because faith doesn't wasn't just about whether they believed
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in God, it was about whether or not they were willing to do what
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God said. By faith we understand that the
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world's were framed by the word of God, so that the things which
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are seen were not made of things which are visible.
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Now, based on some of our previous discussions in the book
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of Hebrews and going back to John 1 and various other things,
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I want to point out one other layer in this.
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You might have the inclination to try to make the statement in
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verse three that the world's being framed by the Word of God,
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that this is another allusion to Jesus as the Creator.
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It's actually not because of the terminology that is used in John
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chapter one, verse one and as we talked about in Hebrews chapter
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4, the term is the Logos of God and it carries with it the idea
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of the word or the the divine word as it's sometimes called it
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is it is more singular in nature.
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Here in verse 3, the word is prima and it is the word that
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means a declaration or the word that is spoken.
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And and so it is definitely the case that our Lord is the one
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who created everything by the word of His mouth.
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But here in verse 3, the emphasis is the declaration
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itself. In other words, by speaking it
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into existence as it were. And so by faith we understand
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that the world's were framed by the declaration of God is truly
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the sense of the the phrase so that the things which are seen
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were not made of things which are visible.
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This is not blind faith. This is faith-based on evidence,
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faith-based on the evidence of the world around us, faith-based
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on the evidence of the truth of the Scriptures.
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It is not blinded without purpose.
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Beginning in verse 4 and what you have up on the screen, and I
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appreciate whoever it was that was responsible for that.
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I wasn't paying attention to who was back there in the control
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room. Thank you, Brent.
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Beginning in verse 4, you're going to have this list of
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discussions, starting with Abel and going all the way down
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through most of the chapter. You're going to have this list
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of those who by faith, did all of these various things that
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illustrated the level of devotion that they had to God.
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We're not going to take the time to read each of these verses,
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but I wanted you to have the information.
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These are where these particular Old Testament characters are
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found in the Old Testament, the ones that are explicitly listed
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in this particular text. But I want you to notice the
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thread that's being used to tie it all together.
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So in verse three, he says by faith, we understand that the
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world's were framed by the word of God.
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So going all the way back to creation and then by faith, Abel
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offered to God a more excellent sacrifice, verse 4.
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By faith, Enoch verse 5 was taken away so that he did not
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see death, verse 6. But without faith it is
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impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe
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that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently
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seek him. It's interesting that this is
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placed between the discussions of Enoch and Noah in verses 5:00
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and 7:00. What value does that hold?
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Enoch is going to be the one who was not, for God took him at the
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age of 365 years old. But by the time you come to
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Noah's day, a time later, you have a time when nobody has
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faith in God, where it is so bad that God repented.
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God regretted that he had ever made man.
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But then you have by faith Noah being divinely warned.
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He didn't just believe in God, he was willing to do what God
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told him to do to the letter by faith, Abraham verse 8.
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And there's going to be a lot that is going to be said about
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Abraham by faith. Abraham, when he was called to
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go out to the place where he would receive an inheritance,
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and he went out, not knowing where he was going by faith he
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dwelt in the land of promise and in a foreign country, dwelling
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in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same
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promise. For he waited for the city which
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has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
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He waited for the promise. He waited for all of the things
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that God had promised him to come to fruition.
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Well, guess what? Did all of those things come in
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the days of Abraham? Did he live to see all of those
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things take place? Nope.
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But he waited for it. He looked for it.
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He acted toward it in every respect.
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That's what it means to be faithful.
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That's what God desires and what God is looking for and want you
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to keep verse 10 kind of in your back pocket when we come to the
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end of Chapter 11. Because He's going to pull this
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back out again of what it is that he waited for, what it is
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that he was looking for, as opposed to what these Christians
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in the 1st century now have at their disposal.
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By faith. Sarah verse 11 herself also
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received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when
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she was past the age, because she judged him faithful, who had
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promised therefore from one man. I love the terminology here.
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And him as good as dead. We're born as many as the stars
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of the sky in multitude, innumerable as the sand which is
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by the seashore. Of course, the phraseology here
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being reference to the fact that both of them were of an age
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where this was not the general practice any longer.
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But notice verse 13. He has gone through Abel, Enoch,
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Noah, Abraham, and Sarah for the first time.
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He's going to come back to Abraham in just a moment.
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But in verse 13 he says these all died in faith, not having
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received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were
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assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were
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strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
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For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a
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homeland, and truly, if they had called to mind that country from
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which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to
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return. But now they desire a better,
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that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to
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be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
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What's he emphasizing? All right, the reward of
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faithfulness. They had promises that were
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given to them. And you know what?
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They didn't receive the promises in their lifetime.
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It doesn't mean that the promises weren't given, and it
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doesn't mean that God didn't keep the promises that he made
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to them. As a matter of fact, both the
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the Old Testament history and many of the things in the book
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of Hebrews helped to illustrate He did keep the promises that he
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made to them. Jesus is the fulfillment, the
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culmination of all of the promises that God made to
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Abraham. He kept his promises, but they
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didn't live to see it. When you're talking to people
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that are struggling with their faith, what is one of the most
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important things to be able to get across to them?
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You may not see everything that God has prepared for the
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faithful in your life. Cliff, one of the.
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Blessings that we have today is we have the New Testament and we
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can read there how go back and better understand the promises
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God made to Abraham and others because we we've got God
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blessings now instead of, you know, 1000 years ago or well,
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more than that back to the old. And that's exactly what he's
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pointing out to them, right? These people were all faithful
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and they couldn't see the whole picture.
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They just knew what God had told them about their time and the
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things that were coming. And you know, we look back at
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the things of Scripture and we say why couldn't they see that?
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Well, you tell me how you're going to look at things living
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15102 thousand 2500 years before Jesus is ever born, much less
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before he dies on the cross, much less before there's ever a
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Kingdom of Israel to even talk about.
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Israel doesn't exist. But I know who God is and I know
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what God has always done, and I know what he asks of Maine.
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So that's what I'm going to do, Keith.
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We have a lot of the same issues that they had.
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Then what are we going to? What are we going to base
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ourselves on when we come across things in our lives that will
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challenge us to not state? Of course, I know Christians
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that have gotten into situations that have kept them from ever
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remarrying again. You talk to them and say, well,
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you, why don't you rocket? Because I have to pay jobs
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people have turned away from because where their employees
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are starting to go a certain direction, family members that
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are starting to do certain things and they have to turn
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away from the job. This stuff hasn't changed in
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thousands of years. It's the same by looking here,
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we see, we're able to see the 1st century attrition.
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That's one of our things. They saw the thousands of years
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ago, the first followers of God and what they have given you.
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We're very blessed. Well, in some ways we are very
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blessed. In other ways our challenges are
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just as deadly because we're not talking about physical, we're
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talking about Spirit. So we go back and we look at
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this and we where is your faith? Your faith is to do that.
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When you have a faith in something, it will help you to
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withstand the negative or the times in our lives.
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That is not the popular or the easy thing to do is to challenge
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things to do is he makes it very unpopular.
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People will look at it and say, oh you're and they can give you
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all time today. And I appreciate you bringing
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that up because this is exactly where he goes.
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Want you to notice verse 17 by faith.
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Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, Genesis
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chapter 22. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob
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and Esau concerning things to come, verse 20, By faith.
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Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of
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Joseph and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff.
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By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the
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departure of the children of Israel.
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By faith, Moses, when he was born and hidden three months by
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his parents, because he saw, they saw that he was a beautiful
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child, and they were afraid of the King's command.
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By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the
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son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather than to suffer
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affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing
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pleasures of sin. Verse 27.
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By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king.
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By verse 29. By or verse 28.
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By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood,
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lest he who destroyed the first born should touch them.
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Verse 29. By faith they passed through the
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Red Sea as by dry land. Verse 30.
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By faith the walls of Jericho fell down.
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Verse 31. By faith the harlot Rahab did
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not perish with those who did not believe, when she had
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received the spies with peace. And what more verse 32 shall I
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say, For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Bayrak and
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Samson and Jephthah and David and Samuel and the prophets who
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through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained
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promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of
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fire, escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness, were made
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strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the
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armies of the aliens. Women received their dead,
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raised to life again, but others were tortured, not accepting
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deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection.
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Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes,
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and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn
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in two, they were tempted, were slain with the sword, They
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wandered about in sheepskins and goat skins, being destitute,
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afflicted, tormented, of which the world was not worthy, they
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wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of
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the earth. And all these, having obtained a
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good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise.
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You were talking about our trials, our tests, our
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hardships. You notice all of the ones he
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doesn't mention by name, but he mentions by what happened to
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them, what they went through, what they undertook in order to
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be faithful to God. And he says all these, having
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obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive
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the promise. How much faith does it take to
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be obedient to God when you can't see everything at the end?
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It takes this much faith lived out over and over and over
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again. But here's what I want you to
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see. It's the exact same amount of
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faith that it takes today. Because question, even with all
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of the things that the Bible says and all of the things that
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God illustrates for us in Scripture, have you seen heaven?
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You ever been there? You ever experienced what it's
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like on the other side of this life?
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Is there a sense in which you have not yet received the
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promises? So what are you going to do?
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These were faithful. These had not yet received the
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promises that God had made to them.
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Verse 40. God having provided something
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better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from
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us. In other words, the New
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Testament was necessary for the Old Covenant to be fulfilled.
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That's what he talked about back in chapter 10, is it not?
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Those things were made for us. Now, to this audience of Jewish
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Christians, how could you possibly try to go back to that?
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It's like trying to go back to before the promise was
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fulfilled, after it's already been brought to fruition.
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But he's not done yet. This is why you can't read
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Chapter 11 in a vacuum, because you missed the point that this
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is about their endurance. This is about seeing it through
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all the way to the end. Folks, this is not a list in
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Chapter 11 of all of the people who were so great that they need
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to go up on a pedestal that you can never attain.
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The entire purpose of Chapter 11 is this is the faith of the
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people that you read about that lived beforehand, and you can be
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just like them. God wants you to be just like
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them. God needs you to be just like
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them. And if you're going to have the
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faith that God needs you to have and wants you to have, you have
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to be just like them. David, I am.
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Thankful that their faults are listed in Genesis and in Exodus
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and such. Moses questioned God in a way I
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hope I never do like he did, but I'm just as bad.
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Abraham laughed. Several laughed at God.
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So I have hope when I'm weak and don't feel like I know God the
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way I should know God. I can look back and look at Lot
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lot willing to live with the Sodomites.
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And yet he is referred to not in Chapter 11 here, but he is
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referred to as a just man. Yeah, Peter will refer to him
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that way, that. I can go to heaven without being
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perfect, and I'm so thankful for that.
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Not all these people had problems.
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Some of them may not be listed as thoroughly as David's
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problems are listed, but I can know that a faulty, sinful man
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can be washed clean. Therefore, chapter 12.
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Therefore, because you need endurance, because you
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understand what faith is and what faith requires, because you
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remember your previous days, the things you've already endured
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and their previous lives and the things that they endured and the
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things that they were willing to go through.
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Therefore chapter 12, verse one, we also, since we are surrounded
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by so great a cloud of witnesses.
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What is this cloud of witnesses, everybody that he's just talked
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about in Hebrews Chapter 11. Therefore we also, since we are
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so rounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us, both the
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speaker and the audience, let us lay aside every weight and the
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sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with endurance
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the race that is set before us. You know, while we all run the
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same race, each of our races has different obstacles.
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The obstacles that you have to face may not be the obstacles
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that I have to face. The things that are a struggle,
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that, that are a roadblock, that are, that are a speed bump, or
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that may be a pit in the middle of the road for you, may not be
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the case for me. Our obstacles are all different.
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The race is the same. The only way we get to the end
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of the course is to finish the race.
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We have to run the race with endurance.
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Well, how do we do that? Verse 2 looking to Jesus, the
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author and finisher of our faith and notice the final nail in the
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discussion. He's talked about faith.
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He's talked about following it through to the end.
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Even when you don't have the promises, the way that you need
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endurance, you started out strong.
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You've got to see it through to the end.
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Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of of our faith,
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who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
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despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the
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throne of God. What's your point?
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He finished. He didn't quit.
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We could have all kinds of discussions about what it was
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that Jesus was, was so sorrowful, was so anxious, was
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so upset about in the garden. I have my opinions.
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I know many others have their opinions about it, but what
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level of strength and commitment does it take to face whatever
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the emotional stress and trauma is that he's dealing with at
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this particular time and to still see it through to the end?
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To not quit? To not give up, even in the
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midst of asking, not once, not twice, but three times.
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If it be possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless.
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Not my will, but thine be done. If Jesus can do that for you,
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can you not do the same thing for Him?
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We got as far as I wanted to get this morning.
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We're going to put a plug in it there, Lord willing, in the next
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week or two with the most. I'll have some things recorded
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for chapters 12 and 13, but you just can't study Chapter 11 in
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its context without starting in chapter 10, verse 32 and going
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down through chapter 12, verse 2 because it's the same
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discussion. Thank you so much for your
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comments and for your participation.
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I hope that this class has been beneficial to you and thank you
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once again to Brent and the elders for the opportunity to
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teach this quarter.