Hubbard, Donald: 7 Miracles In John's Gospel 10 ~ Being Committed

Good evening. Joy and I want to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of you for the warmth of your welcome and for your graciousness to us in this, our initial visit to Park of the Palms. We want to express to Jim and to Liz and to others on the administrative staff and all those who have served us so well, our deep appreciation. It's really been a privilege for us to be here. We've heard about Park of the Palms for years and years, but our paths just did not cross till this year, and our hearts have really been rejoicing. We just have enjoyed it. Thank you for your kindness, your generosity, and we'll remember you for a long, long time, and we'll look forward to the next time that our paths cross together. I feel a little bit, uh, toward Park of the Palms like that story that I heard about of a rather wealthy fellow in Texas, and, um, his mother was an ardent Christian. She was having a birthday, and he wanted to get something very special for his mother. He knew that she loved pets, so he went down to the local pet store, and he said, look, I know this is kind of an odd request, but he said, my mother's a Christian, she loves pets. Do you have anything that would be helpful as a Christian for my mother? She said, the person at the store said, you know, it's interesting, I do have. He said, I have a minor bird here that we have been training for months. This minor bird can repeat Psalm twenty three, the Lord's Prayer, and um, it will enjoy it, your mother will enjoy it very much. He said, well, that sounds wonderful. You mean it can repeat Psalm twenty three? and the Lord's Prayer? Yes, said the person, and First Corinthians thirteen too. Well, how much is it? He said, it's, well, it's rather expensive. It's twenty five hundred dollars, but it's worth it. Think of all the time that we have spent. Well, he was wealthy, so money was no object. And he says, now look, make sure that my mother receives it on the morning of her birthday, because I'm going to call her that afternoon. He said, I'll take care of it. Her birthday came. This was their telephone conversation later in the afternoon. Hello, mother. Hello, son. Happy birthday, mother. Thank you, son. Mother, did you get my gift? Yes, I did, son. How did you like it? It was delicious. And that's how we feel about Park of the Palms. It's delicious. From the fellowship and from the food and just every part that's here, what a wonderful treat. You know, when you're with God's people, there's always a sense of oneness, isn't there? And we sense that spirit that has brought us together during these days. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Our Father, as we look into your word now, we pray that you would teach us by your spirit, open the truth to our thirsty souls, and we pray that the truth we learn tonight, that we will take it and apply it, live it out, in Jesus' name, amen. Would you turn with me, please, to Luke chapter fourteen. I'd like to close our series this week with an understanding of this passage from Luke chapter fourteen, frankly, a rather enigmatic passage. When you read the literature of exposition about Luke chapter fourteen, these verses, verses twenty five to thirty five, you find that there is not a general consensus other than the importance of counting the cost and following the Lord Jesus. But what I would like to do, and perhaps you've seen the pattern of truth that we've been following, we spent the first seven messages, eight messages really, in examining how to get to know Jesus better. And we've done that by looking at the seven miracles that Jesus performed in John's gospel from chapters two through eleven. As a follow-up on that, once you get to know the Lord Jesus better, then we become disciples, and we studied this morning about discipleship. Tonight, to bring our series to a conclusion, I would like to lead you into a study of understanding commitment, because there is a great need today in the body of Christ to be even more committed to the Lord Jesus in light of the times in which we live. Now, let me begin with verse twenty five. Let me read down through verse thirty five, but let me say at the beginning, this passage is not dealing with salvation. Jesus has already dealt with that in giving the parable of the Great Sup- Supper in verses sixteen down to verse twenty four. The invitation in that parable is given in verse seventeen, come, for all things are now ready. So Jesus is inviting people to the great gospel feast in the parable of the great supper. But at the conclusion of that parable, notice in verse twenty five, and there went great multitudes with them, and he turned and said unto them. Now, one of the remarkable things about Jesus' ministry, different from us today, and that is that when a large crowd began to follow Jesus, he always laid upon them the terms of commitment, and many in the crowd melted away. You will notice it here, beginning with verse twenty six to verse thirty five. Uh, let me also suggest that there are those commentators, and there are a number of them, who divide verses thirty four and thirty five from the passage. Let me be upfront tonight and say I do not. In my series of studies, and I hope to demonstrate it tonight, that this is a normal and a natural conclusion to what Jesus is teaching us. Remember, the theme now is understanding commitment and what Jesus says, in the words of the late Dr. Ellie Maxwell of Prairie Bible Institute, that Jesus is addressing the multitude, and he said, if you want to follow me, good, but before you do, count the cost. Before you do, let it be no quick, impulsive, emotional commitment. Let it be a commitment of life, a commitment of the heart. Before you do, Jesus said, count the cost. With that in mind, let me now read what Jesus said, verses twenty six to thirty five. If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he hath sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Verse thirty one. Or, what king going to make war against another king sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand. Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an embassage and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. May I ask you to write a sentence down at the top of the page of your notes? And this will set a theme before us tonight. Jesus Christ did not come into the world to make life easy. He came into the world to make people godly. And there is a vast difference between the two. We have been infected with a weak, insipid Christianity in the United States that is sapping a lot of the vitality out of many evangelical Christians. Don't forget, Jesus Christ came into the world not to make life easy, but to make people godly. And what Jesus is going to teach us now in verses twenty six to thirty five will be two things, and I want you to write these down. I'd like for you to take notes tonight. If you're not used to taking notes, let me, let me urge you to do so tonight. Use a flyleaf in your Bible if you don't have a piece of paper, or use the back of an envelope or whatever, because there are two things here as we work our way through this passage that become absolutely crucial in our response to the Lord Jesus. Most of us, I say not meaning you, but I mean most Christians, are not taught how to respond to the Lord Jesus. Notice that Jesus is talking about commitment here, a commitment to discipleship, a commitment to following him. Notice, if you would, that this passage gives us three principles indicating commitment. How can I know if I am a committed Christian? It's more than me just saying it. How can I know? What's the reality check that helps me to evaluate where I am in my Christian pilgrimage with my Savior? There are three principles here that indicate commitment. The second thing I want you to write down is that there are three parables here that illustrate commitment. Notice the three parables are building a tower, beginning in verse twenty eight and continuing down to verse thirty. The second parable is a king going to war, that's verses thirty one and thirty two. And then I included as a parable verses thirty four and thirty five, what Jesus teaches about salt. So there are three principles here indicating commitment, and three parables here illustrating commitment. As we go through this passage of scripture, let me call to your attention verses twenty six, twenty seven, and thirty three. I want to read them again because each of them hinges around an identical expression that ties them together. These then comprise what I like to call the three principles indicating commitment. Verse twenty six: If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Look at the next verse now. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. What is the phrase, class, that is repeated in verses twenty six and twenty seven? He cannot be my disciple. Underscore that, because that's the link that ties those two verses together. Notice verse thirty three contains the very same expression. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. You see, what Jesus is saying is that unless this occurs in our lives, don't call yourself a disciple. I cannot say that I am committed to Christ if this principle is not evident in my life. What then are these principles? Well, let's take a look at verse twenty six. Here's the first principle tied in around that expression, he cannot be my disciple. Discipleship or commitment affects the people I love. It does. Notice in verse twenty six, if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. What Jesus is saying is that my commitment to Christ does affect the people that I love. How are we to understand verse twenty six? Well, I know that you, as mature students of the word, I know that you know that Jesus is not stating this in absolute terms, he is stating this in comparative terms. What Jesus is saying is that our love, our absolute loyalty to Jesus Christ should be so great that the loyalty and love that we have toward those who are the dearest to us would be as hate in comparison. We know it does not mean to hate our fathers or mothers, because the scripture indicates that we are to honor our fathers and mothers. We are told in Ephesians five, husbands, love your wives, wives, be submissive to your husbands. So we know that in verse twenty six what Jesus is talking about is a commitment that is so strong, so deep, and a loyalty that is so great to Jesus Christ that it supersedes all of the other relationships that we have in life. When I was in college, I met Joy. I was a learned sophomore. You know what the word sophomore means in Greek? It's from Greek. It's from two words, sophos and moros. It means a wise moron. That's what it means. Sophos is the Greek word for wisdom, moros is the word for moron, or so a wise moron. It was in my sophomore year, and I was every bit of that, a wise moron. And I met Joy on the first day that I was on this secular college campus as a sophomore, and she was there as a freshman. Now, all freshmen are ignorant, you know that, and they need help. And so when I saw Joy, this lovely, uh, dark-eyed brunette, I knew that she needed lots of help, and I'd be very healthy to help her out. So we grew in our relationship toward each other, and, um, I, uh, came to the point where, as a Christian and as a person who was becoming more and more committed to Christ, I came to the point where I had to ask myself, Lord, um, how can I love you, and how can I love Joy? How can I say that I love you more than I love Joy? Do you understand what I'm saying? And I came to somewhat of a crisis experience when I had to surrender Joy to the Lord, and I made an amazing discovery. The discovery that I made as a young man was that when we surrender someone to the Lord Jesus, he gives that love back to us, but in a deeper and far more meaningful way. What I'm saying that Jesus is saying is that if we are committed to him, it does affect the people that we love. Look at the next verse, verse twenty seven. Verse twenty seven says, and whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. This affects the purposes that I set. Has to do with my ambition. Now, back in that day, when the expression doth not bear his cross and come after me, uh, we have glamorized that in our world today. We've taken the cross and we've made it, um, into an emblem of jewelry. It's a piece of architecture in many church buildings. It's on the leather embossment on our Bible. But back in our Lord's day, before Jesus touched it and changed it, he changed it, you know, from an instrument of death to an emblem of faith, that it was the kind of punishment that was meted out only to the foulest of criminals for having committed the most heinous of crimes. So when Jesus is saying in verse twenty seven, and whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me, Jesus is not talking about some of our problems, you know, oh, that's my cross to bear. Have you ever heard that? That's my cross to bear. Jesus, that's not what Jesus is talking about. What Jesus is talking about here is that I'm willing to take all my worldly ambition, and I need to surrender it to Jesus Christ. He does not suffer any competition. He is Lord. And that means then that my goal in life should be to glorify the Son of God. Don't talk about commitment unless we are willing to give our reputations over to Jesus and be considered the off-scouring of the earth. A commitment, you see, a principle indicating commitment is that it affects the people that I love, it affects the purposes that I set. Look at verse thirty three, it also affects the possessions that I have. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Now, please don't misunderstand what Jesus is saying. Jesus is not saying that you cash in all of your life insurance. Some of us may feel led to do that, but that's not what Jesus has in mind here, I don't think. Many times I find that some people will bring to me the rich young ruler, and Jesus said, go sell all that you've got and give it to the poor and come and follow me. The issue with the rich young ruler is that his material possessions have become his god. And what Jesus is doing is, look, you take out of your life that upon which you depend for meaning, and you put me in its place. And that's what Jesus is doing in the rich young ruler. What the Lord is saying in verse thirty three is that you put me central in your place, in your life. Don't be dependent upon possessions. We all give them up sooner or later, don't we? Sure we do. I remember, Joy and I have been blessed with four children and wonderful family. God has blessed us with a great family. We've just enjoyed them down through the years. Uh, when they were very young, we used to go, when I was pastoring in Florida, Bradenton, we would travel up to Ohio where my parents, who were living at the time in Dayton, Ohio, and Joy's parents living in Kings Mills, Ohio, not very far apart, on our vacation. My father, my mom and dad lived in a mobile home in Moraine City, just south of Dayton. My dad would set up a tent with having a center pole, you know what I mean, and then ropes out, and you put stobs in the ground, you get the picture. My children love that tent, just love that tent. They would get in a play. One day we were inside talking with my mother and dad, and we heard screams outside. We rushed outside wondering, oh boy, what's happened? And we found that one of the children had kicked the center pole aside, and the tent had come tumbling down upon them. But, you know, I learned a tremendous lesson from that. What we find is that most people, hear me now, most people have what we call an integrating center. It is that, whatever it may be, around which that life revolves and to which that life gets meaning. For some people, it is money. Money becomes the integrating center for some people's lives. For some people, it is power. Power that is expressed in the ability to control other people. The more people you control, the more powerful that you are. Some people have an integrating center that way. Some popularity. Some will sell their soul. Look at what some of the Hollywood movie stars sell their souls for a moment of fame with their name and lights and so on. What happens is that sooner or later, those integrating centers around which our lives revolve are kicked aside because they are not eternal, they are not permanent, and when they are kicked aside, just like the tent, the whole thing collapses down upon us, and that's why, even in a city like Boca Raton, which is the wealthiest city, more millionaires per capita than in any other of its population size in the United States, you'd be surprised at the number of suicides that we have. What I'm suggesting to you is that what Jesus is saying, put me in as the integrating center of your life. He never fails. So if we talk about commitment, if I am depending on my stock portfolio for my future, if I'm depending on my bank account, if I'm depending on my home, if I'm... Jesus said, look out, don't talk about commitment. Commitment affects, say it with me, the people that I love. What's the second one? The purposes that I set. The third one is the possessions that I have. And when I take those and surrender those to the Lord Jesus, it's amazing how Jesus gives them back, but in a new and in a deeper way. Those are the three principles that indicate commitment. If I love someone more than I love God, you cannot say you're a committed Christian. If you have an ambition that has not been surrendered to the Lord Jesus, don't talk about commitment. Or if you have an integrating center that is something or someone other than the Lord Jesus, don't talk about commitment. This is why that Jesus is saying, look, count the cost. We're talking about serious things, people who take faith seriously. Now, when you come back to verse twenty eight, Jesus is going now to illustrate. Jesus is a master illustrator, and what he does, he uses three illustrations. The first illustration is that of the builders. The second illustration is that of the battlers, the warriors. And the third illustration is the illustration of the blessers, those who are likened unto salt, the builders, the battlers, and the blessers. Now, in verse twenty eight, what Jesus said is, look, which of you? Now he's explaining what it means to count the cost. He's already talked about these principles now, at least two of them. So in verse twenty eight, what he does, and he says, look, which of you going out to build a tower? What kind of tower is that? It is a watchtower for a vineyard. Those of you who've traveled in, in Israel, you will see these where the vineyards are. They are towers that are a few feet high, where individuals can look and survey the vineyards back in Old Testament and New Testament times and see when the thieves might come in and steal. They were there for, uh, watch care purposes. And Jesus said, which of you wanting to build a tower, you sit down first and count the cost, whether you have sufficient to finish it. Otherwise, Jesus says, you will only start the foundation, you'll run out of money, and then people will begin to ridicule you, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. Dare I say it? We have too many half-built lives, not achieving what God wants us to build. Jesus says, count the cost. Don't be impulsive. Don't make your decision after seeing an emotional film, for an example, and then your decision evaporates it. You count the cost, you give it serious thought, because it is serious business. So Jesus says, uh, make sure that you are able to follow through. Look at the next illustration. In verse thirty one, he talks about a king going to war. May I give you another interpretation of this that is very interesting. In verses thirty one and thirty two, this is, this parable has been a particular thorn in the, uh, side of many a commentator. Uh, Jesus says, what king going to make war against another king sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? or else while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an embassage and desireth conditions of peace. Now, the point of the parable is the same as the preceding parable, isn't it? Nod your head yes. Are you still with me? Are you? Nod your head yes. You're still with me? It's counting the cost. That's the point. What is it that Jesus is teaching in this parable? Some have a problem with it. They said, does this mean then that the believer is seeing the enemy come? For the enemy for the believer would be the world, the flesh, and the devil. How can the Christian ensue for an imbesage of peace, even though the enemy outstrips us two to one? Uh, let me make a suggestion to you. In my readings, the first theologian, the first expositor I know that came up with this idea was, um, G. Campbell Morgan. And most recently, Warren Wiersbe has popularized this view. See what you think of it. Verses thirty one and thirty two. What king going to make war against another king sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? This is what Doctor Morgan, and this is what Warren says in verse thirty one, Where it says what king, write your name there. Write your name there. John Doe. Is John Doe present tonight? Or John Doe going to make war against another king, make that Jesus. He needs to sit down first, says Dr. Morgan, and knowing that he is unable to resist King Jesus, and therefore he needs to make peace with King Jesus. An interesting view. Come with me to the third parable, would you please? Verses thirty four to thirty five. The first parable has to do with building. The second parable has to do with battling. The third parable has to do with what, class? Blessing. Talk about salt. What salt is this? Salt from the Dead Sea. By the way, have you ever done a study on the word salt? It's very interesting. It's, um, salt was very, very important in the, uh, in the ancient economy. Did you know that Roman soldiers were paid their monthly wages in salt? We take our English word salary. Do you know what that word salary is derived from? Salt. Comes from the old Roman custom of paying soldiers their monthly wages in salt. So when you go to your employer today and he gives you your salary, that's a derivation from the fact you open it, you've got money. Thank the Lord, it's not salt inside, because that's what the term means, salary, uh, salt. It becomes very, very important. Much of the salt back in that day was mined out of the Dead Sea, and of course the Dead Sea contained a lot of impurities. What Jesus is saying in verse thirty four and thirty five is that as a committed believer, you are the salt of the earth. Salt is good. Now, salt doesn't try to be salt, does it? No. Salt is salt, right? So salt is good, Jesus says. They used it. By the way, what would they have used salt for in the old world? Well, they have u- would have used it for, um, prevention of corruption, wouldn't they? They'd use it, in fact, in Galilee, what they were world famous for was salted fish out of Galilee. They would catch the fish, and they would salt it and send it all around the world. They were world famous for salted fish. And so, you know, you can prevent corruption by salting things, salted meat, so on and so forth. We also know that it's somewhat of an antiseptic, isn't it? Uh, stings when you do it, when you pour salt into a wound sometimes. What else does salt do? I had my heart attack in nineteen eighty two, and the doctor said, I don't want you to have any salt in your diet. Have you ever tried to eat salt-free food? Not very good, is it? So you take a little pinch and see if the doctor's watching. Put a lid on. Salt gives flavor to life, doesn't it? Christians give flavor to life. What's another thing that salt does? Anybody? Makes you thirsty. Somebody said, what is it that old saying about a horse? You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. Now, again, Joy gets nervous. I'm on a farm illustration. Yes, you can. How can you make a horse drink? Salt is oats. He'll drink every time. Jesus is saying, as believers, you and I are the salt of the earth, but if we are not committed, then we can lose our savor. So Jesus says in verse thirty four, salt is good, but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? In verse thirty four, Jesus said it is possible for some believers to be tasteless. That's what he says in verse thirty four, But if the salt have lost his savor. Jesus is talking about when Christians who name the name of Jesus have lost the basis for the reason that they have for serving the Lord Jesus, they become tasteless. In verse thirty five, it is neither fit for the land, that's useless, nor yet for the dunghill, that's worthless, but men cast it out. Do you know the only value to savorless salt back in the first century? The only value to it? Jesus said, flavorless or saltless salt is tasteless, useless, and worthless. The only value to it was that if you had a cold spell in Jerusalem and you had some slickiness on the temple steps, they would take this and throw it on the steps. So what Jesus says at the end, he hath ears to hear, let him hear. What I'm pleading with you tonight is, let you and I take our faith seriously. Seriously. The times demand that we take faith seriously. Let me close by telling you a true life story. When I was twenty nine years of age, I became senior pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Bradenton, Florida. We had a great time there. One of the things that we did was that we used to have a youth camp in association with other churches. We would take a number of our young people, they would bring a number of their young people, and we would go out to one of those beautiful takes, uh, lakes that, um, had, um, cypress trees around them, and you know, if you have cypress trees, enough cypress trees around the lake, you'll not be bothered with mosquitoes. And so we used to go over to what we call a tannic acid lake, where they would leach out from the cypress trees, and the water would be brown and murky, but it would be delightful. We'd have a week of camp meeting. I remember one, one year, because I met the fellow. He was from another church. He was very badly handicapped. I would not even attempt tonight to try to imitate him or in no way ridicule him, not after having a handicapped grandchild. And when he came on the grounds from another church, I noticed that he, he talked with slurred speech, so he had to pay very careful attention to what he said. He had a leather wristband into which, uh, someone would place a spoon so that he could eat his food, and some of the food, in fact, a good deal of the food ended on the table or on the floor. Now, those kids who were attending camp are kids who had gotten there because they had memorized a lot of scripture. They knew scripture forward, they knew scripture backward, but one of the things that I observed was that they totally ignored this boy. If he walked, he walked alone, unless a counselor walked with him. If he swam, he swam alone. I don't think the kids meant to be cruel or unkind. I think they just did not want to be bothered. I was in the dining pavilion one day, a concrete block, or rather a concrete, uh, platform with the picnic kind of tables and, uh, had a roof structure with, uh, screened in, like a screened in porch. Somebody came in, he came in through the, the door, and there were several kids seated at a table. There was room for him to sit down, but they just kind of spread out so that there would not be room for him to sit down. I don't think they meant to be cruel. I don't think they meant to be unkind. I just don't think they wanted to be bothered. It was a hard week. These kids who were supposed to love Jesus, let's just say it was a very hard week. We came up to the Friday night before we were to go home on Saturday. Back in those days, we always closed the week with a bonfire service, and the idea behind the bonfire is that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. There were logs ar- on which the youngsters sat all around the bonfire, and evangelists, the camp evangelists, would get up and give a short message, and then there were a number of sticks, little tiny sticks and things around, and young people who were making a commitment to the Lord Jesus would get up, pick up a stick representing their life, and give a brief testimony and throw it on the fire. I don't remember the evangelist's name, he spoke, and afterward we all bowed our heads, and there was no movement for a while. And then suddenly there was. And I looked up, and frankly, everybody else looked up too. We do that sometimes, you know, during invitation times when we ought to be praying. And here was this youngster, this boy, shuffled out into the middle of the circle, with his gnarled hand, twisted hand, reached down and between his fingers picked up a stick. And then he did something that I'd never forget. That's been a lot of years ago. Never have I forgotten. He went around that circle, and he looked every one of those young people eye to eye. It was one of those situations that you could almost catch your breath, you know? You didn't want to breathe. It was one of those moments. When he finished going around the circle, he turned to the group, and God gave him the ability to speak, I think. And this is what he said. He said, I do not know why God made me the way he did, but I want you to know, he said to these young people, that God can have all of me there is. My friends, that's commitment. We quit making excuses for our limitations, for our hurts, for our pain, for our anger, for our bitterness. We come to the Lord Jesus, and we say, the Lord Jesus can have all of me there is. That's commitment. Let's pray together. With our heads bowed, our eyes closed on this closing meeting of this week, may I just encourage you to renew your personal commitment to the Lord Jesus? If we have a friend tonight and you have never personally trusted Christ as Savior, I hope you'll see one of the leaders here in order to share with them and that they might introduce you to the Savior. But I know that most of us tonight know Christ as Savior, but I urge you, take your faith seriously. Make it into all that God wants you to be. Gracious God, loving Father, give to us understanding hearts. Give it to us, we pray thee tonight, the willingness to apply these truths to our lives, that a new level of commitment might be ours to the Lord Jesus. Thank you for what you mean to us. Thank you for the Lord Jesus. Thank you for these dear friends at Park of the Palms, and we pray for the leadership, the administration, the board, all of those who work in any capacity, all of the guests here, and we commit us all to your love and grace. In Jesus' name we ask it, amen. Before you play.