Hold to the Promises of God - Anson Quevedo

Good morning. I want to extend Christian greetings teaching every

one of you here this morning. Also want to bring

you greetings from the Blue Mountain Christian Fellowship nestled in

the Walla Walla Valley. You know, it's interesting, I feel

like I have many acquaintances here, but it's been a

few years ago that I haven't grased these pews as

much as I did in the past, and so it's

good to be here this morning. It's very encouraged to

hear that it's a working community and things keep happening,

and as this is a very busy time of the

year that we take a moment and a time to reflect,

come to church and to reflect on things that are

to come. I was encouraged with devotional about impressions, and

you know, it was interesting to me to think of

of King Solomon that God had an impression about him,

and how that changed, and how sobering that is of

different chapters in our lives. Where whatsion impression you or

I made in a situation and I hope that if

it was a bad one, that we could have redeemed

it something to reflect on. Also enjoyed the comments in

the Sunday school hour. And you might find this interesting.

I grew up in a colony. It wasn't a Russian

Mennonite colony. It was a Beachy Mennonite colony, which is

one of a few. But I grew up around two

Russian Mennonite colonies, Bertal and summer Felt, and so I

had the opportunity to work with Russian and it was

very interesting going through this that lesson. Uh we as

a church went through it a few months ago and

understanding things better, understanding some of those differences. Maybe this

might sound sound kind of humorous, but at the same time, sad.

I remember I was chopping silent with a crew with

some Russian man nights and we were the header clogged

and it's ten o'clock at night, and you know, the

trucks gather around this chopper to try to figure it out.

And one of the young guys comes out and says, oh,

with another problem, And I said, oh, what what what happened?

He said a death? And oh, I said, I'm sorry, Yeah,

a death in the family. And I said, oh, who

might it be? And he said my dad's brother, Oh,

your uncle. I said, well, shall we shut down the crew?

And be done for the night, and they were like, no,

let's keep right on chopping. And I think that was

maybe a culture amongst them that there was an importance

to continue. I also spend time with Russian mind nights

working in in in mission work, and I have a

good word for them also, since here people and in

every group, we have every kind. But it's it's interesting

to to to look back at history, and I am

happy that you are able to go through that, and we,

as Anabaptist can look back of the five hundred years

to here, and I pray that we take it soberly

that we have that if the world is still here

in five hundred years, that we would carry on what

what God is asking of us this morning. For a

title for the message, I would like to look into

holding to the promises of God. And maybe that might

sound very cliche. And there are many promises that we

have read in the Bible. We have known of these

promises since we were in school. Maybe we did some

studies on them when we were in Bible school, and

they're very common. I believe we could mention a few

promises that God has given us. And I trust that

most of us here would know the promise that that

we're questioning. You know, promises in the Bible, that's one thing.

They were at times given to specific people or characters,

and we have to be careful, careful of not just

just because God said in the Bible, take it for

ourselves and say this promise was given to me. Maybe

one example of this might be when God promised Moses

that the surrounding nations would be destroyed for his people.

You know, it can be easy to say, well, you

know God promised this verse to or this promise was

made to Moses, surely he would stand behind it for

me too. So there's many promises that we can look at,

and I encourage us to look at those promises and

to look and to reflect on them. You know, in

the Book of John and chapter thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen,

there are a lot of promises were made in a

short amount of time, and that was a time that

Jesus was spending time with his disciples and he was

getting he was preparing to be crucified and to absent

them for a little bit of time. And it seems

pretty intent that he is, that Jesus is trying to

make his disciples understand. And it's also a time that

the disciples are asking our questioning each and every one

of those promises. And as we go through we will

look at those at those promises and maybe try to

understand what the disciples might have been thinking about that promise.

Chapter fourteen is often known as the Upper Room discourse.

The disciples were having had the last meal with Jesus,

and then Jesus is intently talking to them, and I

don't think he's frustrated with them, but he's saying, I've

been here. Don't you understand this promise? This is how

it works. And they retaliate back and say, no, how

do we find the way? Where is the And so

we will look into some of that. We are in

very similar situations as the disciples, often grappling with promises,

wandering if they apply to us personally, and if so,

when when will we get to experience these promises? Are

they for every situation or maybe only in the future,

maybe in the next life. I have to think of

Mary and Martha when Jesus came to see them. Their

brother had died, and Jesus said he will live again.

And I don't know if as Mary or Martha said

we know that in the next life, and actually that

promise implied at that very moment, and very quickly they

did see that, and we can often that can be

a question for us too, you know, when is this

going to happen? As we patiently wait and people that

have very earnestly asked for things asked things of Jesus,

and that's also a promise that we will look into

here in this chapter that it felt like Jesus very

clearly said, if you ask in my name, I will

give it to you. It seems like some of these

petitions that we ask for we adhere to this promise,

and we tend to get discouraged if they don't happen.

Turn with me to John chapter fourteen, and will take

the time to read this whole chapter. And maybe I'll

ask Ernest if you would read the first ten verses,

and Derek, would you read the from eleven to twenty

and Eric if you would read from twenty one to

thirty one. You can go ahead, John chapter fourteen versus

one to ten.

Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God,

believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would have.

Told you I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come.

Again and receive you unto myself, that where.

I am there you may be also. And whether I go,

you know you know?

And the way you know, Thomas saith und the dead Lord,

we know not when it thou goest.

And how can we know the way?

Jesus said them to saith under heavy, I am the Way,

the truth and the light. No man cometh unto the Father,

but by me. If he had known me, you should

have known my father also, And from henceforth you know

him and have seen him.

Philip says, I'm the head Lord.

Show us the Father, and it suffices us Jesus, saith

under Dead.

Have I been so long time with you?

And yet hast thou not know to me the look

he had?

He that has seen me.

Has seen the Father, And I'll says, and he'll sayest.

Thou then show us the Father. Believe this thou not.

That I am in the Father and the Father and

me the words that I speak unto you, I speak not.

Of myself, but the Father.

That's well within me, he do it the words, believe

me that I am the fathers and father and me

or else be for the very day.

To you, he that believe with on mean the.

Word said you sho do all grey the words and

the show people that I got in my father. Must

ever show after my name, not wag that probably grow.

If you show ask anything in my name.

I'll do it.

If you love me, keep my nag and I'll pray

the father and he's over gave you another company that

he may have by you put over even the spiritor

truth in the world. Sam to see you because if

he if and not even want to do email him

for you. How about can you tell us all come

to you get a little while you know when you

see me? Since I lived, he stumbled fall and you

shot me know m and my father and me.

And I am.

Either asked my commandments and keep with them.

He it is that loveth me, He that loveth me so.

Loved with my father, I will love him and manifest

myself to if you just.

Said, and you mean I'm not the scariest or how

is it that thou.

Will manifest myself into us and not into the world.

He's a sensor, and said unto him.

If you damn love me, he will.

Keep my words, and my father will.

Love him, and people will come on you him, and.

They are above with him. Either loveth me, God he

loveth me not. He does not my sayings. And the

word what you hear is not mine, but the Father

which sent me.

These things have I spoken unto you, Being you have

a present with you such a comforter, which is the

Holy Ghost.

When the Father will send him my name.

He shall teach you all things and bring all things

to your rememberance.

Whatsoever I have said unto you peace.

I leave with you my peace I give unto you,

not if the world give it, give eye unto you.

That's why I remark you probable you don't let it.

Get great and give nerved. How I said unto you,

I go over the way and come again unto you.

If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said,

I'd go on to the Father when my father is

greater than I.

And now I have heard before it comes to pass.

When it is that, when.

It is coming to pass, you might believe here.

After I will not talk much with you, for the

friends of this world, with knowing and have nothing in me.

But as the world may know that I love the Father,

when the Father gave me the mandment, even so I

do arrive.

Let us thank you. It is believed that this chapter

has probably one of the most condensed promises in any

chapter in the Bible. I can't truly confirm that, but

we won't be able to go through all of them,

but I do want to highlight through some of them

and maybe put myself in the disciples shoes and also

maybe bring that to our lives in general and things

that we also face. In verse one, it says, let

not your heart be troubled. You believe God, believe also

in me. And this is just right after the last

Supper that He had with them. And what the disciples

might have been experiencing is, how wouldn't our hearts be

troubled if you are saying, the son of Man has

to die, has to die, the death of a cross

will be beat spit on, mutilated. And yet your commandment

here is to not let your heart our hearts be troubled.

I think in a lot of times in life it

seems like very troubling things are happening around us. Maybe

at times in us and within our families, and it's

a little hard to hold on to that promise that

let your heart not be troubled. We know what happens

very shortly after that, and peace does come back to

the hearts of those disciples. They experience peace again. But

I'm just trying to focus on what they might have

been feeling at that moment where Jesus is telling them,

let not your heart be troubled. This is a commandment maybe,

but also a promise. We move on to verse two

and he says, I go to prepare a place for you.

And you know, as a lot of in that time

and era, as the Jews were reading through that scripture,

they felt that a Messiah was coming and he was

going to set up a kingdom on earth. And I

think it was pretty clear to the disciples, and had

been said in many occasions that this is this is

not my kingdom here on earth. But they wouldn't they

didn't lose hope that it would continue. So maybe what

was going through their minds where, well, where, what do

you mean going to go prepare a place? Isn't Jerusalem

the place we should be at? Shouldn't we knock out

the Roman rule, this would be the place. What do

you mean going somewhere else? They the disciples were hoping

that that right where they were at. They had just

had a triumphant entry into Jerusalem a few days before,

and that was the city that should have been the

place Jesus died, resurrected after three days, and then at

his ascension, this same question comes back up. These disciples

come back and are you sure you're not going to

stay here? Isn't this the place to be? I think

it's important for us to put into consideration that this

is not our place. We are sojourners pilgrims, and we

are going to a place that has been promised to us.

In verse four, he says, and whether I go, ye know?

And the way you know? Thomas said, unto him, Lord,

we know not whether thou goest? And how can we

know the way you know? Up until that point, the

disciples follow Jesus. They had had a three years of

following him, and they didn't worry about the direction or

where they were going to go next. They were clearly

instructed where they were going to go and what they

were going to do. It often feels like we need

a direct guidance. But this is a promise that we

will know the way. If we truly adhere to what

God wants for our lives, we will know the way

He will show us. And this is a beautiful promise.

The disciples didn't have to stress about the way because

their Master was leading, and the thought of him being

absent was felt very felt, like, how would we know

the way? How do we continue? Verse twelve says Verily, verily,

I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the

works that I do, shall he do also? And greater

works than these shall he do? Because I go unto

my father. Can you imagine doing greater works than what

Jesus did?

You know?

Jesus said I He didn't say this in word, but

in theory. I've been here with you for three years,

and now I go back to my father, and maybe

I'm I will put words in his mouth here, but

I'm going back to intercede for you, to to to

to help you to the best of my knowledge and

the best of what I can give you, so that

you can continue to do greater things than what I did.

I want to believe here this morning, that that that

Jesus went to his father to intercede for us, to

do his level best that that that this this promise

can can continue. He promised them a comforter, and I

think that's part of it, Jesus interceding the power of

the statement that he is going to the Father, he's

praying for us. And you know, up until this point,

the disciples depended heavily on you know, and watched many

miracles and wonders. And we don't have a clear number

of how many converts might have happened in one situation

while Jesus was on earth and preaching to people. Some

historians say maybe it was about one hundred and twenty

one moment, but that cannot be confirmed. But what we

can confirm is that after Jesus left, and after the

comforter came, after the Holy Ghost came, that in one day,

about three thousand souls were baptized and were added to

the group of believers. I don't know how much attendance

we have here this morning, but let's just think about that.

If three thousand souls were added to this group here,

that's pretty significant. That happened after that, after that promise

had been made. You know, there's a temptation in our

minds to immediately go to the power when we think

of great works, and we know that it did happen.

Great works did happen. But I wonder if Jesus did

not mean, you know, only the power of display at

Pentecost or, but that he was also referring to the

long term, often unseen work of faith and loving your

neighbor when he was talking of greater works. And you know,

Jesus was only on doing his ministry for three years.

You know, many of us have been have chosen to

follow away from for many more years than that.

We have.

We have many more opportunities than what Jesus did.

M M.

I've been here in the valley and specifically at at

Smith's Seed for the past month under apprenticeship to learn something,

to learn something, to learn a new position. And my

instructor is a very friendly gentleman, and at times I

feel puts too much trust in me, but he's very

quick to say, don't worry about it, You'll do better

than myself. And I'm there, maybe four steps behind of

what he is doing, still trying to figure out the

first step of doing a process. And I think to myself,

arriving to that feels dismal and far. But you know,

I think it's the same with what the promise that

Jesus gave to the disciples then, and as they as

they pursued that and continued, those realities did happen. They

came to pass. And striving for what that promise. I

am sure that God has a plan Verses thirteen and fourteen.

And whatsoever you shall ask in my name that I

will do that the Father may be glorified in the sun.

If you shall ask anything in my name, I will

do it. I think this is one of the promises

that has discouraged a lot of people. There's an important

phrase here that we don't often think about. In those

two verses, it mentions in my name. What does that

mean or what does it mean to glorify the Father? Here,

the Greek word would come from the idea of honoring

or to esteem. In the last several verses, Jesus is

pointing out that God is seen in actions and in works,

not just words. Honoring or esteeming the Father is more

than saying in Jesus' name. Sometimes we can subconsciously use

this phrase, almost as a lucky charm. And I'm not

here to say that we should discontinue the use of

that phrase. I'm just challenging us or encouraging us to

maybe think that through a little bit better. We often

tend to think, if we have enough faith and add

that lucky charm, we should be able to dip into

the power of moving mountains. Right. You know, if if

I can give that petition and put in that claw

that in Jesus' name, or let your will be done

or something like that, that that that should that should

cover that, you know, maybe to to simplify it a

little bit more. You know, any any of us that

would put our name to something. Uh, maybe just an example,

my wife and myself run a greenhouse in the Wallalla Valley,

and you know if a business, uh, a prominent business

from wall Walla would come and say, you know, I

would like to take a few of your baskets and

let's let's put the name of your business on there

so that people if they walk past, they could see

it and you know, maybe we can help you promote.

You know, I think that it would be of the

most importance that we drive past that business and see

how those baskets are doing. Are they being tended to,

Are they being watered? Are they being fertilized? Are the

aphids being held back? Is that is that basket showing

its full potential?

You know?

That's that's what we're doing. When we're adding we're adding

a We're adding the entity and the power of God

to what we're saying. I don't think we would like

to add that to just a selfish petition. I think

it's not impossible to arrive at the place in our

Christian life to pray prayers that are aligned with God's

will and purpose. Asking in Jesus name means asking that

the perfect will of God be done or completed. In

the petition, we are asking for maybe something we can

think on before we ask these things in Jesus name,

Verse sixteen. And I will pray the Father, and he

shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with

you forever. Even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world

cannot receive because it seeth him, not neither knoweth him,

but ye know him, for He dwelleth with you and

shall be in you. The Holy Spirit has often been

validated in ways that are questionable. I would interpret here

that the whole. Holy Spirit isn't just a spirit that

you inquire about hard decisions and question, as it clearly

states here, it's something in us with us and is

a constant and you know that is the beauty of

being a brotherhood and a group together here that if

I would say, well, brothers, I feel like the Holy

Spirit is calling me to whatever it may be, and

that the brotherhood here would have the concern and the

love and say, brother, I don't think that this aligns

with the word, with our values, and I question what

you are hearing. I think there's many things that our

mind can deceive us from, and that's the beauty of

having a group and coming together, asking advice and saying

this is and hopefully we can get guidance. It can

be a temptation to view it as something that's sort

of there for the taking, as though we could live

our lives as we wish, then check in every now

and then with the Holy Spirit. I believe the Holy

Spirit is rather like something that begs constant communion, maybe

like an orchid or a fragile plant that thrives under

the right conditions. I don't mean that the Holy Spirit

or any part of the Trinity is fragile, it is powerful.

At times, it descends on people out of nowhere, but

more often than not, it is something that is tended

to and commune with, and by this the communication is strengthened.

You should not just randomly check in when it suddenly

you need guidance. I think the Holy Spirit is something

that something very precious that has been gifted to us,

that has been promised to us. But it definitely takes

our part, and it is not just something that we

check in when we think we are up against something hard.

It is something that takes constant care, constant in tune with.

You know, what can happen when we are not receiving

the promises we thought God gave us. You know, Disillusionment

is something that we all deal with. It seems to

creep in. We don't know what to do with it

and how to make it fit in. In this section

we wrestle with the part of theology I do not

have answers to. I won't even try to go there,

go there too deeply. However, I would like to look

at some examples and in numbers Chapter twenty, verses one

through twelve, and we won't go there for the sake

of time is the story of the infraction that Moses

had that disqualified him for the promised land. And you know,

just reading it come I too often think about the

legalities and fairness and that the balance should be same.

You know, both Moses and Aaron heard those instructions, but

Moses struck the rock. It wasn't Aaron. You know, very

soon after, God asked Moses to take Aarin up this

mountain in front of the congregation and take his son

with and and move his clothing to his son, and

and and that was where Aaron was the end of

the earthly road for Aaron. And I don't think it

was a cruel thing. I think it was just that

was That's what God decided, and that was, you know,

the end of the road for Aaron. And I truly

believe that Aaron did his part and and he but

that's what what God did with Aaron. Both Aaron and

Moses worked with his people, and it was it was hard,

it wasn't easy, and you know, it wasn't personally promised

to them, but just reading through it, it would feel

like it had been promised to them. You know, there

was the golden calf incident in Exodus chapter thirty two,

nine through ten, where God talks about a still people

and and and and God wanted to destroy this people.

And you know, Moses stopped him. He said, it's interesting,

and I'll just read a little bit here. And the

Lord said, unto Moses, I have seen this people, and

behold it's a stiff necked people. And then he goes

on to say, you know, let me alone here. I

will wax my wrath hot, and and and and I

will take them out, and I will build you to

be a big nation. And when he was up in

the mountain and he told Moses, your people are and

so Moses had to go down and deal with with

the people. When Moses comes back to God, he says,

thy people seems like they were handing off ownership about

this these people a little bit here. But God was convinced.

He repented, and he did not do that. According to

the chron chronological Bible, this event happened before the striking

of the rock. That can be questionable, but in my

human way of thinking, I would have been quick to say, well,

why can't we just even this out? You lost your

temper and about took those people out, and I lost

my temper and struck this rock. Why don't we just

call it even and continue? That wasn't the case. Another

person I have to think about is John the Baptist.

You know he was his mission was to proclaim the Gospel,

and in one situation he said, I don't have I'm

not worthy of tying the shoe of the person coming

behind me. And John the Baptist was incarcerated, and we

know what happened to him, and sitting in that pret

and soe he sent one of his disciples back to

Jesus and said, are you the Messiah? And maybe in

my way of thinking, Jesus would have sat down and

wrote an official document back to John the Baptist. You

serve the course. He simply said, well, the blinder singing

and the sick are being healed. That's that. And John

the Baptist later Jesus said, there was no prophet like

John the Baptist give him recognition. And many other examples

of some disillusionment that I don't I can't possibly say

that they did. But I can see into God can

almost seem flippant, easily put into a temper. He can

feel capricious at time, you know, but the story of Moses.

Reading it, I feel in my heart that there was

a different perspective to what God was doing. And you know,

we had the opportunity to hike up the Mount Piske

here in Eugene and a beautiful view. If you have

the time to go, do it sometime. And as we

were going up there, we were talking. My wife and

myself were talking about Moses. What Moses must have felt like,

you know, being on top of a mountain, EBow or

Pisca being one of the peaks there, that God was

showing him this is the land that those people are

going to go to, This is the land that you

were headed to. And maybe in one way we could say, well,

you know, was he taunting Moses, Well, there it is,

but you won't go to it. I don't think so.

I think that God was standing with Moses in a

holy moment and doing the best of his ability to

show Moses and to appreciate him. There was no prophet

like Moses. Moses is considered the meekest man, and God

buried Moses, and you know, it could feel to me

like like like God was mourning with Moses. The event

God buried him and could it be that is what God?

God grapples with us in hardships when we feel like promises.

Aren't mad that He's there with us, He's mourning with us.

It's not his justice, but it was his will. Third section,

I want to talk a little bit about what we

can practically do while we wait on the promises. You know,

we are all living our lives. I must go to work,

Michelle stay's home and takes care of our house and children.

How are ways we can keep our hearts alive during

this sometimes monotonous or grief of waiting on promises. I

want to take a quick look at good a good

starting place, and what are the two greatest commandments God

gives us? And many good commandments that He has given us.

Love the Lord, your God, and love your neighbor as yourself.

You know, I've had the have had a good time

walking the fields and and the edges of the Muddy Creek.

We are staying at one of the warehouses at smith Seed,

and so I can walk back those field lanes and

walk through Philbert orchards and beside the woods there Muddy Creek,

and and I've been really enjoying wildlife. I started doing

this about a month ago, and there have been different

small animals, fledglings. There's a family of foxes and so

the kids are out there and it's interesting to watch

them interact. And one thing that is interesting about the

the kit foxes are that they when I first interacted

with them, they the young ones were bold enough to

bark at me, and I didn't have a fox bark

at me in the past, and it was very interesting.

But they are, they're getting smarter. They they see me

on the trail now and they they make no noise,

they get out of there. I don't know if there

has been some meetings in the fox house telling them

that those mammals are to be feared, but they take

no time to get away. But I've been enjoying them.

They're they're learning and different things. Fawns and birds and

the squirrels industriously up in those Filbert trees doing a

little bit of premature harvesting also, But they are they

are going about their lives and I get to see

them when I walk back that lane early in the

morning and I get back and I interact with a

different kind of mammal a mammal made in God's true image,

and there is cammaraderie, there is negotiation, and things happen.

We can we have with technology, we can interact with

other humans made in God's image, across the ocean and

different continents, and we can. God has given us that

that capability. We are capable of being cognizant of joy

and sorrow. The foxes enjoy their lives, and they too

praise God in that way. But humans are different because

they are not only not only are they aware and

cognizant of God's blessings, but they choose to embrace them.

You know, maybe about mid afternoon when I when I

dare say that those foxes are in their den taking

a good nap, I tend to envy them a little bit,

as maybe we're working through something with a fellow man

or a fellow client that is that that that is

not going through or hardship. It's easy to be to

be envious of them. But we are so blessed to

be made in God's image, and we have the ability

to enjoy what we what we see, and what we do.

We can enjoy relationships to which I don't know if

animals do I'm sure in one way or the other,

but humans made in God's image can enjoy relationships. We

like to be seen and then chosen and appreciated, be

it in a marriage or a friendship, or maybe for

a certain job. That's us as humans and the blessing

that we have to be able to interact with our neighbors,

to interact with our coworkers, and maybe we interact with

people across the globe. We can spark interest, we can

give encouragement to people. And I want to tell a

story about a prison in Missouri. At a South Central

Correction Center, a maximum security prison in Texas County, Missouri,

a small group of incarcerated men formed a quilting circle

inside the prison's restorative justice program. From their fluorescent lit

sewing room, they craft personalized birthday quilts for local foster children.

This is coming from a from an article written about them.

They are very much awaiting their freedom or retrial and

maybe and some of them are facing life. They have.

The way they have learned to find purpose and life

outside of the prison is by quilting quilts for foster children.

They can become creative in their minds of doing this.

It's not simply giving money. These are very artistically designed quilts,

almost like engineered in a way. They can look like

three D printed when finished. Every quilt is made with

intention and pride. The children's names and favorite colors are

often incorporated as a thoughtful detail. Many of the quilters

had histories in foster care themselves, so making these quilts

feel very meaningful to them. Over two thousand quilts have

been made over about a decade, donated to foster children,

autism support groups, and local charities. And there is a

documentary about called the Quilters, And it was very heart

touching to me to see a hardened criminal doing time

inside of concrete walls for the for the injustice that

he served, to be it his community or family, or

whatever whatever crime he did, and spending years in prison

and him saying, the way I feel like I'm outside

of this incarceration is by making these quilts for these

children that are in foster care. How much more for

each one of you and me. We are not living

in a prison. Maybe we are sojourners here, but that

maybe loving our neighbor or our brother or a family

can be our window to Heaven, to another place and

you know these children take the time to write a

simple note back to the person that made this quilt,

that spend days, weeks, hours making this quilt to the

perfection for this foster child, and reading that and just

being filled with emotion. You know our prayers can be

that to God, that heartfelt note that we send back,

thank you for this quilt that you took the time

to make for me. Serving your neighbor with a forethought

and creativity is the way you can bring heaven to

earth as we wait for the promises to be revealed.

Thank you for your attention this morning. God bless you richly.