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Episode 122: Becoming Fulfillers of Prophecies

Double Edged Sword ♱ Assyrian Church Podcast

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  1. In the name of the glorious Trinity, Father and Son and Holy

  2. Spirit, forever Amen. Glory be to the everlasting

  3. mercies which sent you to us, O Christ, the light of the world

  4. and the life of all. Give us wisdom by your law and

  5. enlighten our impulses by Your knowledge.

  6. Sanctify our souls by Your truth and grant that we may be

  7. obedient to Your words and may fulfil Your commandments at

  8. every hour. O You who enlightens the

  9. rational with the knowledge of Your greatness, do enlight, O my

  10. Lord, our thoughts, that we may meditate upon Your holy and

  11. divine Scriptures at all times. O Lord of all, Father and Son

  12. and Holy Spirit, forever. Amen.

  13. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening.

  14. Yes, we're back again. I pray that everyone is well

  15. back to our normal routine, new programs on a weekly basis.

  16. I'm not going to apologize. We've just been very busy.

  17. We had Easter, you know, with the Passion Week, and then we

  18. had the Easter services and, you know, being occupied with a few

  19. other ministries. But here we are again.

  20. Glory to God, back to the double edged sword podcast episodes and

  21. I'd like to take this time to not sure if I did, but to wish

  22. everyone a an amazing blessed feast of the resurrection of our

  23. Lord. This is the fourth week and

  24. we're still celebrating. We celebrate for seven days

  25. because the the event was the greatest event in the entire

  26. history of the world. You know, ancient history,

  27. modern history, and what I call a contemporary history.

  28. Nothing like this has happened before and is happening or will

  29. ever happen unless God has a perfect plan that one man was

  30. resurrected, died, and was buried and resurrected and he's

  31. alive. Yes, Lazarus was resurrected.

  32. He died again. Darius's daughter was

  33. resurrected. She died again, but Christ is

  34. alive. Christ is risen, praise and

  35. glory be to his name. I'd like to go back to our

  36. series on the book of Acts of the Apostles.

  37. The Acts of the Apostles we we left off at the chapter 13,

  38. verse 25, where Saint Paul is preaching to the church in

  39. Antioch. The church is growing.

  40. Now We learned that Saint Paul not only was rebuking, but this

  41. was his first sermon, his first first preaching.

  42. We learned that they continued to go to the synagogue on the

  43. Sabbath. They went to the synagogue on

  44. the Sabbath to partake in the liturgy in the order of worship

  45. in the synagogues, listening to the readings of the prophets and

  46. you know, the, the sermons and obviously the praising.

  47. I was probably singing a lot of Psalms, the the celebration, the

  48. procession of when they read the, the books of the, the

  49. Torah, but at the same time preaching Jesus Christ, you

  50. know, standing up with zeal and telling everyone that what we've

  51. just heard, these prophecies have all been fulfilled in the

  52. Lord Jesus Christ whom you crucified.

  53. And some were then beaten for that.

  54. Some were taken out of the synagogues, but they weren't

  55. reluctant and they preached Christ in the synagogues on the

  56. Sabbath. Acts chapter 3.

    Acts 3 chapter mention

  57. We read Simon and John go to the synagogue on the hour of prayer,

  58. which was at 3:00 PM to go to pray, to go to partake in the

  59. evening or the vespers or the the prayers that were happening

  60. then. But again, they went to preach

  61. Jesus Christ. They were on their mission when

  62. they were going to the synagogue.

  63. They were on their mission to bury those who believed and

  64. accepted Jesus Christ in baptism.

  65. Colossians 212 they were there that to clothe them with Christ,

  66. those who believed and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and became

  67. his followers. Galatians chapter 3, verses 26

    Galatians 3:26–27

  68. through 27. They went to the synagogue to

  69. preach Jesus Christ and to preach the word of salvation

  70. from the bondage of the Mosaic law of the law of the Old

  71. Testament, which was weak in the flesh.

  72. Romans 8-3 and that's the what their mission was when they went

  73. to the synagogue to pray and to worship and to preach Jesus

  74. Christ. Let's pick it up from verse 26

  75. and we'll read I'll read till verse 30 and we'll we'll expand

  76. on those Saint Paul writes, speaks old men and brethren,

  77. descendants of the family of Abraham.

  78. That's one part of the people he's talking about.

  79. And who so ever among you reverences God or believes in

  80. God. That's another type of people to

  81. you is the word of salvation sent for in as much as the

  82. inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now going back to those other

  83. people, inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders did not

  84. understand him, nor the books of the prophets which are read

  85. every Sabbath day. See, there you go.

  86. They were reading the books of the prophets.

  87. They condemned Him, but all the things which were written have

  88. been fulfilled. So by condemning Him they were

  89. fulfilling the prophets, and yet they still did not believe.

  90. And today let's not go there. And though they found no cause

  91. of his death, they asked Pilate that they might kill him.

  92. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they

  93. lowered Him from the cross. This is very important, what

  94. Paul is saying. They lowered him from the cross,

  95. meaning that he was crucified. O beloved Muslim friend, Jesus

  96. was crucified. Jesus was in the Bible says

  97. this, the Holy Scripture says say this and attest to this.

  98. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of them, they

  99. lowered him from the cross and laid him in a sepulcher or a

  100. tomb. But God praise and glory to his

  101. name. God raised him from the dead.

  102. That means He himself in his divinity raised his humanity

  103. because Jesus wants destruct this temple, and I will raise it

  104. up in three days, referring to His body.

  105. Let's go back and let's expand on this verses 26 to 29.

  106. He's talking both to Jews and non Jews, obviously Jews and

  107. Gentiles, the Jews who feared God.

  108. Now it doesn't say that they believed in him and that

  109. accepted him, but they feared God.

  110. They were waiting for the Messiah.

  111. So there is the reason why they go to the synagogues and they

  112. preach to these people that you you're fearing God.

  113. Let us tell you now how God, that you, the God that you fear,

  114. is now manifested in Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ.

  115. However, it seems that when he mentions salvation, you know

  116. he's talking to both types of people.

  117. But when he refers to salvation, it is the Gentiles he's

  118. referring to. And this is evident when he

  119. separates them from those who committed the murder.

  120. For as much as the inhabitants of Jerusalem, he writes, they

  121. weren't Gentiles, they were the Jews, and their leaders did not

  122. understand him, nor the books of the prophets which they read

  123. every Sabbath day. They condemned him, they

  124. murdered him. And again, that follows by those

  125. who lived in Jerusalem. So he's obviously referring to

  126. the Gentiles here. He's not rebuking the Jews.

  127. He's not rebuking because he's saying to them, now you know,

  128. you don't realize that the prophets you were reading, you

  129. fulfilled yourselves in Jesus Christ, so now you need to come

  130. back and believe in Jesus Christ and accept him as the Messiah.

  131. And he continues to say that they did not know him, even

  132. though they read the prophets they did not know.

  133. Now, let's not be too harsh. You know, we can't be too harsh

  134. on people who don't not know. You know, ignorance is a bliss,

  135. right? At times we say ignorance is a

  136. bliss. Well, you can't use it as an

  137. excuse. 2025 years, we cannot be ignorant.

  138. No, no, no. 2025 years ago when it was happening, yes, yes, it

  139. was something new. You know, we can't be harsh on

  140. Thomas. Let's not call Thomas the

  141. doubting Thomas. No, I'm not going to call him

  142. the doubting Thomas. I'm going to call Thomas the

  143. prudent Thomas who through his actions and his words has

  144. proclaimed Jesus to be Lord and God.

  145. Not because he proclaimed Jesus became Lord and God.

  146. No, Jesus is Lord and God. And we now have evidence of one

  147. person who at first was skeptic, divinely inspired.

  148. I believe his skepticism became evidence and became a tool in

  149. our hands as Christians that our Lord is God, praise and glory be

  150. to his name. So they continues, He continues

  151. to say that they, even though they didn't know him, they

  152. didn't know the prophets that were reading on the Sabbath,

  153. They not only read them, but they were fulfilling, fulfilling

  154. them by condemning Jesus Christ because it was prophesied.

  155. Beloved, there are 28 at least 28 prophecies about the death

  156. and the crucifixion of our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ.

  157. Praise and glory be to his name always unceasingly. 28 prophets.

  158. There is no excuse. There is no room for ignorance

  159. anymore. 28 prophecies which were fulfilled.

  160. Now, I'm not going to go through all of them and I'm not going to

  161. read the verses, but let me give you at least 4.

  162. You go and find the other 24. Do some reading work, some

  163. finger work. You know, whether you're

  164. scrolling or you're turning the pages, Read your scriptures,

  165. right? Listening to the podcast and

  166. telling me they're amazing and you know, life has changed.

  167. Great. Glory be to Christ, Amen.

  168. We are puny. We are unworthy glories only to

  169. Christ. But that it doesn't stop there.

  170. Now you need to continue to expand your education and your

  171. knowledge about the Lord Jesus Christ.

  172. Genesis 315 The serpent, it was prophesied the serpent would

  173. bruise the seed of the woman, right?

  174. Bruise the head of the seed. I'm sorry that the seed of the

  175. woman, the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the

  176. serpent. Genesis 315 John 1231 to 33.

  177. You go and read it. There's a prophecy in Zechariah

    Zechariah 13:7

  178. chapter 13, verse 7 Jesus Christ would be forsaken by his

  179. disciples. Mark 1450.

  180. You may know that we, we celebrated it, we read, we, we

  181. revisited, we read the whole gospel during the the passion

  182. week. You know, Mark 1450, the

  183. fulfilment David prophesied, King David prophesied the shame

  184. and dishonor that Jesus would suffer being condemned as a

  185. criminal. Psalm 69, verse 9, Psalm 19,

    Psalms 69:9

  186. verse 20, Matthew chapter 26, verses 55 and verses 66.

    Matthew 26:55

  187. You read those, some of his observers would shake their

  188. heads at him. So, so precise.

  189. You know these these specific details.

  190. Some of his observers would shake his head and there was a

  191. prophecy in Psalm 109, verse 25. Read Matthew chapter 27 verses

    Psalms 109:25 Matthew 27:39–40

  192. 39 to 40. It was fulfilled.

  193. And Paul in verse 28 talks about the crucifixion and again, as I

  194. said, at least 28 prophecies of the crucifixion.

  195. And as I said, it's very important that Paul, St.

  196. Paul mentions this. And I reached out to our Muslim

  197. friends that Christ was crucified.

  198. He is risen, but he was crucified.

  199. You know, even though it was not accepted that a Messiah would

  200. die, as you know, as be as as the way that he died being the

  201. Messiah, Deuteronomy 21, chapter 23, He that is hung is accursed

  202. of God. So it is important for Paul to

  203. mention this to prove to us to reach out to them that he

  204. fulfilled that prophecy. Must be, if you are telling me

  205. that the Messiah could not be hung on the cross, well there

  206. is. He is hung on the cross.

  207. He is the Messiah and he took on our curse.

  208. Go and read the other 24 prophecies that he would be a

  209. curse for us. So he is the Messiah, praise and

  210. glory be to his name. That's what he's saying to the

  211. Gentiles. So you're looking for the real

  212. God, the true God. You're believing you fear the

  213. God. Let me tell you which God is the

  214. true God, the one God that there is none above and none like him.

  215. It is through Jesus Christ say Amen.

  216. Keep your eyes on the road if you're driving.

  217. Thank you, Stephen. But what do we learn from all

  218. this today, beloved? What did we learn from our

  219. processions and our candles? And I always say our crocodile

  220. tears on Good Friday. That one Friday a year we we

  221. shed tears. You know, Friday everyone was

  222. posting for our transgressions. He died, I mean, praise and

  223. glory, which is his name. And then Saturday we're posting,

  224. you know, selfies, going out, doing whatever.

  225. Just that one day, just that one crocodile tear on that one

  226. Friday, we remember Jesus's crucifixion and his suffering.

  227. Shame on us. Shame, pity, shame and pity upon

  228. us. So what do we learn from all

  229. that, beloved? How relevant and and evident are

  230. they going to be with what Jesus has prophesied in the New

  231. Testament? How relevant are these

  232. prophecies being? How relevant are the fulfilment

  233. of Christ's? Are the fulfilment of prophecies

  234. in Christ? How relevant are they today in

  235. the fulfilment of all the warnings and prophecies Jesus

  236. gave us the new prophecies, the new warnings, the new blessings,

  237. the new teachings Jesus gave us. Let's have some example and take

  238. this is now going to rock your foundation and you're going to

  239. be on fire, but not just for this 30 minutes.

  240. No, always on fire for Jesus Christ.

  241. Matthew chapter 10 verse 22. Jesus says to his 12 disciples,

    Matthew 10:22

  242. Now you may say I'm sorry, allergies, Turlock allergies, or

  243. you'll be hearing me cough and you or 12 disciples will be

  244. hated by everyone because of my name.

  245. But whoever will endure until the end, he will live.

  246. You may be saying that's the disciples.

  247. That's got nothing to do with me.

  248. No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

  249. The hatred extended or the hatred that the disciples

  250. experience extends to us being the disciples of the disciples

  251. of Christ to you and I, being the apostles of the apostles of

  252. Jesus Christ. Apostles is a messenger.

  253. We should be preaching the message of Jesus Christ of

  254. salvation. We are the disciples of the

  255. disciples of Jesus Christ, disciplined in faith by the Holy

  256. Scriptures, disciplined by the teachings of the apostles and

  257. the Church Fathers. Very important.

  258. You want to understand the meaning, the interpretation of

  259. the scriptures, go to the early church fathers from the 4th,

  260. from the 3rd century and read those because they were there.

  261. They were there, they had it. It was still hot news, it was

  262. still press releases. It was still being preached and

  263. and spoken. We've been discipled by the

  264. disciples of Jesus Christ and his apostles and their

  265. teachings. We've been disciples by the

  266. discipled by the teachings of the church, the one holy,

  267. Apostolic, universal or Catholic with a small C church.

  268. Congratulations to our brothers and sisters in the Catholic

  269. Church on the on the the election of the the Pope, the

  270. new Pope, the the American Chicago born Pope Leo Revost the

  271. 14th congratulations. So we are the disciples of the

  272. disciples and we too those those sufferings, the hatred, the

  273. resentment is also extended to us.

  274. But glory between his name, we're being fulfillers of the

  275. prophecies of Jesus Christ, those that oppose us today,

  276. those those governments, those legislations, those evil blinded

  277. by Satan friends out there who hate Jesus Christ and hate

  278. Christians because we love Jesus Christ.

  279. We follow the words of Jesus Christ.

  280. Those words that Jesus gave to gave to the world, but the world

  281. hated them because the words were not of the world.

  282. So beloved persecutors, insulters, you know, those who

  283. are oppose us, those who swear and cuss and spit and, you know,

  284. RIP out signs from hands and while preaching the Word of God,

  285. the holy Gospel, pour water on our brothers and sisters who are

  286. out there proclaiming the message of salvation to bring

  287. them from light to dark. You're opposing us.

  288. You're assaulting us. You hate us.

  289. You know why we love you, why we love you?

  290. First and foremost, because Christ loved you and Christ

  291. loves you. And secondly because you are

  292. being an instrument for Christ's prophecies and warnings to be

  293. fulfilled in US. Glory be to his name.

  294. What an honor, what an honor. Now I'm not saying go out there

  295. and become the the cause of insults and what have you know?

  296. Let us not be the cause of the stumbling block for anyone, no,

  297. but when it comes, praise the Lord.

  298. Christ's prophecies are being fulfilled in us through the

  299. rejection of the world. Who is rejecting us.

  300. So you see, when we read the Scriptures, we see that in the

  301. Old Testament the prophecies were fulfilled in both Jesus

  302. Christ and his disciples. You know when the disciples

  303. deserted him, there's a prophecy.

  304. Read the 28 prophecies. They were fulfilling prophecies

  305. without them even knowing. And that's happening today.

  306. Luke chapter 12 verse 11. Jesus says, but whenever they

    Luke 12:11

  307. bring you to assemblies before rulers and authorities, what's

  308. is it the 4th Amendment? That is freedom of speech,

  309. Stephen. Or is it 5th Amendment?

  310. Whichever amendment, unfortunately.

  311. And today, First Amendment. First Amendment.

  312. I'm sorry. Unfortunately, today the 1st

  313. Amendment only applies to evil. You can say whatever you want.

  314. Evil. You can.

  315. You can. You can offend people according

  316. to their religion, what have you.

  317. That's OK. But when you preach Jesus

  318. Christ, they walk up to you in the entire world and tell you to

  319. stop preaching. So what happened to the First

  320. Amendment? Oh, dear.

  321. Politicians only for evil. Yeah.

  322. You know why There's a prophecy. Yeah.

  323. Oh, glory be to your name, Oh, Lord Jesus Christ.

  324. They call evil good and good evil.

  325. So the First Amendment is only good for evil, but no good for

  326. good, but evil for good. Yeah, that should be a maxim.

  327. The First Amendment, good for evil and evil for good.

  328. And Jesus goes on to say you shall not be concerned.

  329. You should not be concerned, first of all, because I told you

  330. it's going to happen, and by these things happening, you're

  331. just confirming to the world, and they are confirming to the

  332. world through their ignorance that I am God because I knew

  333. these things beforehand. Praise be to His name #1 and #2

  334. Don't be concerned how you will give an answer or what you will

  335. say. Christ will be there, the Holy

  336. Spirit will be there. They are fulfilling the warnings

  337. and prophecies of the gospel. But beloved, the greatest

  338. fulfillment is not what happened to Christ is not is not that you

  339. know what happened to Christ fulfilling the 28th also

  340. prophecies. No, no, no, the greatest of the

  341. fulfillments is not when they are being fulfilled in US today,

  342. what's happening to the followers of Jesus Christ, but

  343. what happened to Christ after and what will happen to you and

  344. I after we have persevered in the suffering of what the

  345. Scriptures are telling us that we should wait for.

  346. That is the future. In verse 30 Paul writes, but God

  347. raised him from the dead. Now when it says God raised him

  348. from the dead, yes, the question, well if Jesus is God,

  349. well does it say, yeah, God raised the flesh.

  350. So Jesus in his divinity raised his humanity.

  351. I think I mentioned this. Jesus in his divinity which is

  352. alive would not die, but his humanity that died, he raised

  353. his flesh. Simple 2 + 2 is 4 and that's not

  354. being racist. 2 + 2 is 4 and it cannot be five. 2 + 2 is 4,

  355. right? God raised Jesus from the dead.

  356. That's the glory, beloved, and look at what Jesus is now

  357. telling you and I through His prophecies, through His

  358. teachings, Matthew 1022 But whoever will endure until the

  359. end, He will live enduring until the end.

  360. That is the greatest thing that's going to happen.

  361. Not, you know, I was glorifying God.

  362. Amen to that. For using us for the fulfillment

  363. of His prophecies to use us as the fulfillers of His prophecy

  364. so that those who are persecuting those who are

  365. through ignorance unknowingly fulfilled prophecies that they

  366. may come back to Jesus and the truth of Jesus Christ, praise be

  367. to his name. John chapter 13 verse 31.

    John 13:31

  368. See this is Jesus being God knew this.

  369. Now Jesus says, now the Son of man is is present, is eternally

  370. is glorified, not will be glorified was glorified, may be

  371. glorified. And this is before he went to

  372. his shameful death. This is before he went to

  373. fulfill the prophecies about how they would shake his head, how

  374. they would give him gold to drink, how they would mock him,

  375. how they would Pierce him, how they would beat him to to the

  376. point where there was no no looks for us to look at him.

  377. There was no beauty for us to look at him.

  378. These are all prophecies. These are all prophecies.

  379. But Jesus says, now the Son of man is glorified and God is

  380. glorified in him. You know why?

  381. Because he's going to his glory, He's going to die, but he will

  382. be resurrected. Jesus is resurrected, is alive,

  383. praise and glory be to his name and God.

  384. He's the divinity, the, the, the, the three Norma in the one

  385. divine nature will be glorified because that divine nature has

  386. resurrected the human nature. There's the glory, beloved, and

  387. that's what we have. We have a share in that glory.

  388. We already, we are glorified. We are glorified when we have

  389. believed in Jesus Christ and we have been put to death in his

  390. death. We have a part of his death.

  391. We've been put to death in baptism.

  392. That means we have a part. We have participation in the

  393. death of Jesus Christ. Then we also have participation

  394. in his glory when he returns. Second Timothy 212.

  395. If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.

  396. Wow, if we suffer with him, we will reign with him.

  397. There's our glory. That is what see suffer that's

  398. wide. So that means there's a

  399. prophecy, not only Jesus Christ. Timothy is echoing that there is

  400. going to be suffering rejection. There is going to be, you know,

  401. a persecution continue. There is a glory waiting for

  402. you. But if we renounce him as some

  403. do, he will also renounce us. Renounce him because today

  404. education and technology, technology has so advanced.

  405. It is nothing. It is not a grain of dirt

  406. beneath Jesus feet and the feet of his disciples and the feet of

  407. his apostles and the feet of those who died for Jesus Christ.

  408. Technology, education, academia is not worthy to be a grain of

  409. dirt, sand underneath, beneath Jesus feet.

  410. No, beloved, don't renounce Jesus Christ because you know

  411. more now, because there you know, and there's all these

  412. capitulations and there's these, these words that are being used

  413. like the greater the word, the more effect that word has, you

  414. know. No, no, no.

  415. Let me give you a few words. Jesus is risen simple.

  416. That's it. Glory be to his name, and he is

  417. reigning from heaven on earth. And that rain is awaiting us as

  418. well. Luke chapter 12, verse 37.

    Luke 12:37

  419. Blessings to those servants. Listen to this blessings to

  420. those servants, everyone. We are the servants of Christ,

  421. whom when their Lord will come, He shall find, while they are

  422. watching, serving relentlessly, joyfully, serving, serving Him,

  423. praising Him, preaching Him, worshipping Him, enduring with

  424. Him, persevering with Him. Amen.

  425. I say to you that he shall gird his waste.

  426. This is a promise. And those who are suffering,

  427. causing us sufferings, this is what they are.

  428. They are foreseeing us to. They are, you know they are

  429. pushing us to that. They are, they are bidding us

  430. farewell to this, that the Lord will come and shall gird his

  431. waste, that is, He will reward and grant rest to each and

  432. everyone was individually, and he shall make them to recline,

  433. and he shall go through and shall wait on them, serve them.

  434. Of course, Revelation 7/17 He will wipe away all our tears, no

  435. more suffering, no more persecution, if we persevere

  436. with him. So you see the Jews, Saint Paul

  437. is talking about ignorantly, foolishly doing what they were

  438. doing or fulfilling the prophecies.

  439. Now you can't say. Well then, OK, well then what?

  440. What problem did you know what? What's the issue there?

  441. What fault do they have? Yeah, but they didn't

  442. understand. They didn't accept.

  443. And that's what Jesus was trying to say to them.

  444. I am here. I'm the prophecy.

  445. I am the fulfiller of the prophecy.

  446. I am the Lord, I am the Messiah. So if prophecies are being

  447. fulfilled in us as Christians, as believers of God, worship of

  448. worshippers of God, that is an honor in itself.

  449. But the greatest honor is awaiting us.

  450. Let us continue steadfast. Believe it, beloved, in the

  451. Church. Let us continue steadfast in the

  452. Church, which is a descendant of the early Church which the

  453. disciples and apostles built upon their foundation.

  454. Saint Paul writes to the Thessalonians, You have been

  455. built upon the foundation of the apostles, and Christ is the

  456. cornerstone. And within this Church there are

  457. prophecies, there are warnings, there are teachings that there

  458. will be suffering. Two benefits.

  459. Those who are causing suffering, they are fulfilling prophecies

  460. and only ignorantly proclaiming and confirming.

  461. Jesus is God, praising glory to his name and he will return.

  462. And those who are being persecuted and are suffering,

  463. they have a glory awaiting them. Just as God raised his Son from

  464. the dead, so too he will raise us from the dead to that glory

  465. that is awaiting all who live in the hope of our Lord and our

  466. Saviour Jesus Christ. Praise and glory be to His holy

  467. name now and at all times and forever.

  468. Amen. Christ is risen.

  469. We hope you enjoyed this week's message.

  470. Please don't forget to rate and review this podcast and share

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  473. show notes linktr dot EE forward slash double edged sword.

  474. Until next time, God bless you all.