 Let's read verses 16 and 17 and we'll get into our study. Romans chapter one, verses 16 and 17. Paul writes, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. Now as we've been going through Romans, we stopped last time at verses 14 and 15. Let me remind you what Paul had said. He said, I'm a debtor, both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to unwise. So much as is in me, he said, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. So he's ready to preach the gospel to the citizens of Rome and that's because Paul desired all people to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. He had mentioned in verse nine that he had served God with his spirit in the gospel of God's son Jesus. So as a missionary, Paul had taken the message and had preached it everywhere. That's because he said that he had been called and separated to the gospel of God. In other words, he was aware of his calling and being aware of his calling and we've seen this, I'm just reminding you of a few things. He was obedient to what the Lord Jesus Christ had commanded us. Remember in Mark chapter 16 verse 15, Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. So being called and separated to the gospel inspired him as well as fueled him to preach. He had what you would call a fire that would burn within his soul. He had said in first Corinthians in chapter nine verse 16, when I preached the gospel, I cannot boast for I am compelled to preach and he went on to say, woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. So the proclamation of the gospel, the preaching of the word of God, the going to wherever God called him to go, the obedience of his soul to that mission was driving him, it was a compelling force. People were lost, people needed God, they needed to be saved. And he knew that the salvation that they needed is only gonna come by receiving the message or the gospel of salvation and you do so by faith. And that message again is found in the gospel. In first Peter 1.23, Peter said it like this, he said, being born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible through the word of God which lives and abides forever. And so because of the message, the message of salvation, Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That word ashamed means to shrink back. You can speak of being confounded. You see, Paul knew that the gospel revealed God to man but he also knew that man considered this message that God would send his son, that his son would give certain words, do certain things but end up crucified and dying across and yet be proclaimed as being alive three days later by the power of the resurrection. Paul knew that people would see that as being simply foolishness. And there are those who will not preach that message because they think it's foolish. But he made a statement in 1 Corinthians chapter one verses 17 and 18, he said, Christ didn't send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved, it's a power of God. So through knowing how it was viewed, he did not shrink back from proclaiming it. He didn't hesitate to declare what God had given to him when Jeremiah was called by the Lord Jeremiah at first said, no I can't, I'm but a youth, they're not gonna listen to me. And God began to speak to him, told him that he had ordained him to be a prophet in all but he said to him, do not be afraid of their faces. They're gonna have frowns of disapproval, they're gonna reject the things that you have to say but this is a message that has to be proclaimed. Well in the New Testament Paul said, I don't shrink back. Even though it's a message that people think is a foolish message that we would believe that God would send his son, that his son would be born of a virgin, that he would live 33 years dying across and yet be raised from the dead, that's foolishness but he was willing to pay the price to be faithful to deliver that message even if he was harmed for doing so. He knew that was part of his calling. In Acts 9, 15 and 16, he reads, go your way for he speaking of Paul is a chosen vessel to me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. But he goes on, God says for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. So there's suffering involved in the proclamation of the gospel, there's a rejection, we know that, there's rejection, your friends and your family, people in general, there's a rejection, sometimes there's a physical persecution, he was aware of that and many of us are also. And today, even today in our day, we can become ashamed because it seems that the world is winning, you watch the news and it seems that it is. We can become intimidated, we can become embarrassed to be associated with Christianity and sometimes it's understandable. I mean, if you turn on the television and you see a screaming TV preacher, you see the weird theatrics that sometimes they participate in, it can be a bit embarrassing. And you can watch a movie and the movie can portray a believer as an ignorant, backward kind of bumpkin. And it causes you to shrink back, it makes you kind of embarrassed to wanna be associated with that kind of thing. So what happens, you become silent. And because this is true, there have been pastors, many pastors who have watered down the message of the gospel. They're afraid of offending sensitive hearers. They're afraid to even offend the sensitive hearers that are sitting in the pews of their own fellowships. And so they become quiet. They don't say what the word of God says. So a call for repentance, a call for conversion, a warning of final judgment is often muted or not said at all. God's holiness and man's sinfulness isn't clearly proclaimed because they're finding passages that will actually speak to people where they're at and not call them to be in a different place. The desire for a large church can tempt a pastor to water down the message. So instead of teaching the full counsel of God, the church becomes a theater, the worship team becomes a band, the stage becomes a place for entertainment. Charles Spurgeon, who was a great preacher of another time, said the devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people with a view of winning them. He said the time will come when instead of shepherds feeding sheep, they will have clowns entertaining goats. Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but he never sought to amuse them. And so pastors sometimes, Bible teachers sometimes water it down. They fill their message with stories, victories that they've experienced, outlandish tales of faith. They're always the center of their own message. They're always the hero in their own story. I was on a plane. I was flying from here to Texas. And then it was a storm. And the storm shook that plane. And as it shook that plane, people began to scream. They began to cry. They began to say, oh help. And I stood up and I said to them and they listened and I baptized them in the bathroom. So I've heard such crazy stories because they think the word of God should be changed to entertain the goats. I am thankful that I got saved because someone told me the truth of the gospel. It wasn't something to make me feel good about myself. It was something that showed me what I really was because the word of God is a mirror. And so teaching and encouraging believers, the word of God is what equips them. And if we reject doing that, we're gonna end up with a crowd and not a church. So Paul wasn't ashamed because the gospel is the power of God that results in salvation. It is God revealing how he saves men and it's how God reveals how he gives eternal life because it is not within the power of my own strength to change my nature. God is going to do that through the power of the spirit. Good works alone is simply dressing up as a spiritually dead person. You know, what you are, it's a screen, we'll be seeing this as we go through Romans but we're dead in sins. We're dead in trespasses. We're spiritually dead. And so somebody passes away and they put them in a nice suit or they put the lady in a beautiful dress but you're dressing up a corpse. And good works when you're unsaved is like dressing up a corpse. You're still dead. You're beautiful but you're dead. You look nice but you're dead. And so good works isn't gonna change my life. God needs to empower me by his spirit and that comes through the preaching of the gospel. Again, we can't change our nature by good works. Our nature won't be changed by rituals. Our nature is not gonna be changed by any human means. Change comes to the receiving of the gospel and being born again. Notice in verse 16 how he says the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. Changed lives are what truly reveals the power of God. It's the transformation. And that's why we remain teaching the scripture. Again, because a message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but unto us who are being saved. It is the power of God. Now he says in verse 16 that he's preaching notice to the Jew first and also to the Greek. So before the gospel went to the whole world it was taken to the Jews. In obedience to this command, the apostles first went to Jews. Look at the book of Acts in chapter one verse eight and it speaks concerning the day of Pentecost that was to come. And Jesus was saying you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and unto the other most parts of the earth. To the Jew first and also to the Gentile. And so from the beginning when Paul would enter a city he would first go to a synagogue. After he got saved it's recorded his salvation is recorded in chapter nine of Acts. But after he got saved according to Acts nine verse 20 Paul promptly began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues declaring that he is the son of God. In Acts chapter 17 verses one and two it says when Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia they came to Thessalonica right next door to Chino where there was a Jewish synagogue as was his custom Paul went into the synagogue and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the scripture so it became his habit from the time he got saved to the Jew first but also to the Gentile. And so from there the gospel is taken out to the whole world. Why is that important verse 17 in it in the gospel? The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just shall live by faith. God's plan to make us righteous is revealed in Jesus and his work. In second Corinthians five 21 Paul said God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So God's righteousness his plan for us to be righteous is revealed and this righteousness of God he says in verse 17 is revealed from faith to faith. In other words it's by faith that we receive the gospel and it's from that point of faith that we continue to grow in faith. And then he speaks of the fact that the just shall live by faith. That's an Old Testament book Habakkuk that's chapter two verse four. You see faith in the old covenant was leading to the faith that was revealed in Jesus in the new. And with that in mind the gospel is a message that results in salvation. It is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes. Now we've all heard of Martin Luther. I've heard Martin Luther King so often I have to stop at Martin Luther because I wanna say King but it was Martin Luther. And we know that Martin Luther discovered something in the book of Romans. And I'm gonna maybe I should wait to say this but I'll say it right now I was reading recently concerning revivals and we all are praying for God to awaken. Revival begins with the church. Sometimes when people are speaking of revival the thinking of evangelism that reaches the world and that people are gonna be saved and revived but no revival is really a term that speaks about what God does within the church. He revives the church, he wakes us up. See people who don't know the Lord are called they're dead in trespasses and sins. They're spiritually dead. So what God does is in revival is he awakens the church. And so there are things that are going on right now in some places that people are asking is this the second Jesus revolution? Is this the second Jesus movement? There's been something taking place in a seminary called Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky. Some of you perhaps have read or heard of it. There's a lot of reporting being taken place right now concerning the fact that these students have been going to Chapel Stain and Chapel Prane and it's been going on for days. And people from different portions of the town are coming in, people who don't go to the college are coming because they wanna see what's taking place and it seems that there's an awakening that's taking place in these students in this Methodist University. And some people are even getting on planes and flying there just step in and to try and soak in what's taking place. And I've been asked, do I think that's a genuine revival? And here's the thing, I don't know, we'll see. We'll see because when Josiah in the Old Testament, when Josiah discovered the book of the law and saw that it hadn't been honored, they returned to the Word. And when they returned to the Word, the nation of Israel, when they returned to the Word, they began to act out the things that were commanded and the things that were forbidden. They began to see that so they tore down all the altars and the places of false worship. So revival is always demonstrated by a return to the Word and a changing, a repentance, a destruction of those things that are bad, that are evil, that take you away from God. So I'm gonna wait and see. But I was talking to John just yesterday about this and we did it on our unfiltered program that we do. And I said, I was part of a genuine revival in the Jesus movement, absolutely. I got saved 52 years ago. It didn't wear off because in a real revival, real change takes place. So sometimes you have to take a wait and see kind of view. Let's see what the Lord does in time. But I believe that God can do revival wherever he desires to. And why not hear? Why not wake us up? Why not get us on fire for him? Why not? I believe he wants to. And that's what happened to Martin Luther. Now, there's a guy by the name of Baron Klaus Kuiper and he wrote the book, Martin Luther, The Formative Years. And this is what he quoted Luther as saying, I greatly longed to understand Paul's epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, the righteousness of God. Because I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God is righteous and deals righteously and punishing the unrighteous. Night and day I pondered until I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby through grace and sheer mercy he justifies us by faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of scripture took on a new meaning. And whereas before the righteousness of God had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me the gateway to heaven. So the just shall live by faith, not by works of righteousness, not by attempts to be good for God's sake, not in trying to find several things that I should do to demonstrate to him that I'm worthy. It's just understanding that I'm unworthy, that I'm a wretch and that God showed mercy to me. And do you too by the way, don't look at me as if I'm the only wretch. And he saved us by his love, by his grace, by his mercy. And not only did he save us but he lit us on fire to tell other people what God can do in their lives. And those who knew us best, those are family, our friends, our neighbors, who knew us best became open witnesses to the change they saw that took place in us. I was the crazy guy in the neighborhood, I did crazy things and one of my neighbors who lived about four or five houses down was aware of how crazy I was, she was aware. And even felt sorry for my mom for having a son like me. But when I got saved and went into the military, I came out and I started a home Bible study. She was among the very first who ever came to a Bible study that I taught because she knew she could learn from me because she saw the remarkable change that God brings into the life of a repentant sinner. And I'm sure you can say very similar things yourself. Your friends see you, your family sees you, your neighbors see you, they know what you were. Now they wonder what you are. And then you're able to tell them what I am. I'm just brand new, I'm just brand new in Jesus Christ. It's a grace of God and he has saved us. Moves us from faith to growing faith in him. Well, he goes on in verse 18 and says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Now, taking this in context, in Rome, the average person considered the gospel to be irrelevant. And so what he's doing here is he's beginning to unfold the gospel of God. And he begins first, notice this, by speaking of the wrath of God. Now today, the thought of a God who could be angry is unacceptable. They say, well, he's a God of love. He's loving, he's not judgmental. Well, in verse 18, he says, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. Now, when it speaks of wrath, that word wrath speaks of indignation. It is anger revealed in punishment. It speaks of a settled displeasure. So God's wrath is revealed as being against ungodliness and unrighteousness. It is revealed, it's made known or it's made visible against ungodliness and unrighteousness. Ungodliness is lack of God. It speaks of a lack of reverence for God. And unrighteousness, because there's no relationship with God, unrighteousness will be the result. Now, scripture reveals that God severely will punish all sin. In the Old Testament, and I didn't wanna go through very many scriptures, I only took a handful. But in the Old Testament, God revealed his wrath several times. Genesis three, his wrath is revealed in the garden when he evicted Adam and Eve. Genesis chapter six and seven, his wrath is revealed when he destroys the world through a flood. Genesis 11, it's revealed when he scattered the people and confounded the languages. In Genesis 18 and 19, it's revealed when he destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah, and Adma, Belen, Zebuin, which were other little cities in that area. And then again, in Exodus 14, it's revealed when he destroys Pharaoh's armies in the Red Sea. God's wrath is revealed many times in the Old Testament. The New Testament also speaks of and reveals the wrath of God. In John 3.36, whoever believes in the sun has eternal life, but whoever rejects the sun will not see life. Why? Well, God's wrath, he said, remains on him. In Colossians three, five and six, Paul said, put to death, therefore whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry, then he goes on to say, because of these, the wrath of God is coming. I was asked the question unfiltered the other day, well, if God is a God of love, why would he judge someone for being in love and having sex outside of marriage? Well, Paul made it clear. He said, these are the things that are actually gonna bring the wrath of God. Why? Because of this disobedience to his word. It's a rejection of a God has said. When you look in the New Testament, the greatest example of the wrath of God is the seven year tribulation. In Revelation 6, verses 16 and 17, it reads, they said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath has come and who's able to stand. It's God's wrath. God's wrath has divine origin. It's poured out on those who deserve his wrath. Now, what is it that they're doing that makes them deserve his wrath? Well, he says in verse 18, he says, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all in godliness and unrighteousness of man. Notice who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The word suppress simply means to hold back or restrain. They're holding back the truth, they're restraining the truth. They hold back the truth through wicked efforts and a rejection of what is true. In John 3 19 and 20, Jesus said it like this, this is the verdict, light has come into the world but men love darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. They suppress it. They say, turn the light off, we don't like it shining on us exposing who we are. How does the light shine on them exposing who they are, the preaching of the gospel? When you teach the word, when you share the word, people get upset. Sometimes they squirm, sometimes they'll get up and walk out and then they say, oh, how judgmental, how unloving, things like that. There are those who actively suppress what is true. Very many cults do that. And sometimes even in the nation we live in, it is steeped in Christian tradition. There are those who reject that tradition and wanna suppress the truth. There are those who have wealth and those who have influence and they try to stifle the truth. There are those who resist scripture, who refuse to see value in them and they reject the truth. This is interesting just this last weekend. There was an ad aired in the Super Bowl. I wonder how many of us thought, what was her name? What's her name who did the halftime? Rihanna, Rihanna. That gave me an opportunity to take a nap. So. But there was an ad, all of you are aware of, if you watched it, there was an ad encouraging people to investigate Jesus. Remember that? A lot of controversy. And there were people who say, and I'm not gonna, well, I'll take a moment to do this. I'm gonna have a couple of minutes. There were people who said, that ad cost $20 million. Those ads, that's a lot of money. John, can I borrow? That's a lot of money, $20 million. And who's to say it's not? Well, we could use, it could have been used and then people will tell the church or Christians how they should use their money. They like to tell us that. A lot of controversy. But did you know that Jeff Bezos, you know him, Jeff Bezos has a $500 million super yacht. Let that sink in for a second. $500 million yacht. Have you ever heard anybody say anything about that? Hmm, you should have used that for what? You know, just today, and I happened to like Michael Jordan, I think, and this is my opinion, he's the greatest basketball player who ever lived. That's my opinion. Yours doesn't count. So, he just gave $10 million to a charitable organization. 10 million dollars. And it wasn't to me. And Marie and I were watching the news and they were pointing that out. Michael Jordan. And I said, sounds like a lot and it is. But he's worth $1.7 billion. So when you take that into consideration is 10 million that much? No, but nobody says anything about that. They say how great this is. See, the world is that way. We know that as believers. And so, Paul speaks about this mentality that they make every effort to resist and restrain which is true. They don't want it heard. We saw that just this last weekend. It's amazing to me how people will say that what you watch doesn't affect you. I've heard that argument. Again, this isn't in my notes. I'll say it quickly, but what you watch doesn't affect you. Really, then why did you spend millions of dollars for 30 seconds of airtime if you think that what you're presenting to people doesn't affect them? Why do you do that? The hypocrisy is so obvious and it's very seldom pointed out. Well, Paul is making it clear that all people deserve to be judged. And so what he's doing here, and we'll be seeing this, he begins by making a case against the Gentiles because they're separated from God. That's something that we saw in Ephesians 2, verse 12, when Paul said, remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise without hope and without God in the world. So he begins by making a case that all people deserve to be judged, starts with the Gentiles. From chapter two to chapter three, verse eight, he then reveals that the Jewish nation also is under sin. Then from chapter three, verses nine to verse 20, he then states that both Jew and Gentile, mankind deserve judgment. Now it says in verse 19, he goes, because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them. And so Paul makes it clear that God has revealed himself in the gospel. And the gospel communicates clearly what God wants us to know. That has been called special revelation. But the fact is some haven't heard the complete revelation of God. Even if they haven't heard, he's making the case, they have what is called an innate knowledge of the reality of a God. They have reason, they have moral law, they have conscience, it all awakens them to something greater than themselves and their own failures to live up to those things. Because we're created with an innate knowledge that there's something greater than us and that is God. And this awareness has been given to us by God. It doesn't originate within us. And that's why he gives to us what is called general revelation. You might find it interesting, but you really have to teach your child to be an atheist. You have to teach your child to not believe. Because babies know as they're growing, there's something greater than themselves. They know that. So you teach them and that's suppressing the truth and that's something that is worthy of judgment. You see, God has given to us moral compasses. It's called a conscience. He says that what may be known of God is manifest in them. That's been referred to as natural religion. In Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse 11, it reads, he has also set eternity in the hearts of men. There's an awareness of the infinite. And that's what fuels our lives to seek purpose in our life. And it's the awareness of what fuels social rules and morals. It's what fuels and influences and educates our conscience. But the conscience alone can't save you. The conscience is formed over a lifetime. It reflects the values that were taught and were caught. So when you violate your conscience, you feel guilty but you're not spiritually convicted. Your conscience can accuse you because you had a moral standard, you failed. It can accuse you, but it can also excuse you. You can do something that's wrong but you don't feel bad about it. Some people have blended their conscience and they cease feeling any guilt. In 1 Timothy four two, it speaks of, it says that they are speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. You can do something that doesn't violate your conscience and it's still wrong. Your conscience isn't the spirit and you may still do wrong without any guilt. In Proverbs six, verse 30, people do not despise the thief if he steals or satisfies hunger when he's starving. So he's stealing, but they're not mad at him because they think he should do that. But he says in verse 20, since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead so that they're without excuse. Not only do they have the internal sense but they have an external witness. Nature reveals God's power. There have been atheists, I've heard their testimonies who when they were in the delivery room when their children were being born, they said there's gotta be something greater than me. There's gotta be because the wonder of childbirth arrested them. The Bible says in Psalm 19 verse one, the heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament shows his handiwork. Psalm 104 and 19, he made the moon to mark the months and the sun sets according to a regular schedule. He was three verse four, every house is built by someone but he built all things as God. He says because verse 21, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened, professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. We'll close with a few thoughts about this. We'll be picking up and developing it much further. Notice in verse 21, they knew God but didn't glorify him as God. They have a natural awareness that there is something greater than themselves, it is called God. They have a conscience, internal and nature which is external yet they're rejecting God. And so man reveals his rejection by four things. One, by dishonoring him and proudly rejecting him. Two, by being thankless. They reject giving thanks to the one who provides for them. Three, they become futile in their thoughts concerning him. That's Paul's explanation concerning the creation of false religions. Man's search for meaning outside of God results in confusion and vanity and forth their foolish hearts are darkened. They refuse his light which is spiritual illumination and the result is they live in moral darkness. The heart is the core of our being. It produces thoughts, words and actions. For it to be darkened means that we do whatever we feel like doing regardless. So professing to be wise, they became fools. Instead of giving God glory to his name, they give glory to his creation. There's a commercial where a guy speaks concerning fruit in the natural products of the earth and he says, you can call it mother nature if you like or call it God if you want. That's what Paul is talking about. Mother nature, I don't think so. It's God, God has created all things. Every house is built by some man. You don't drive by an empty lot one day and the next day there's a house there. Every house is built by some man. There are teams of men working in building. If a house is built by a man, why isn't the universe created by God? Why? And that's why he said, you created all things is God. So instead of giving glory to his name, they give honor to his creation. Mother earth worship is alive and well in the United States. So Jeremiah 2, 11 through 13 says, this has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods. But my people have changed their glory for what does not profit. Be astonished, oh heavens at this and be horribly afraid, be very desolate says the Lord. For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters and hewn themselves sisters, broken sisters that can hold no water. When you go to Israel, you discover that it is dry and thirsty land. It relies on the rain and what they'll do in seasons when it's not raining, they have built in the old days, they would build cisterns where they would store water and they would hold hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. So when the drought would come, they were able to drop a bucket in and they were able to drink the water. So they were able to survive. But what happens sometimes is that the cistern would develop a crack, something that couldn't be seen from up there as they look down. And so in a time of drought, they would open up the lid, they would drop down the bucket and it would hit the ground. And they'd climb in and they would see that there was a hairline fracture and all the water had drained out. And God is saying you've committed two evils. You've forsaken me, the one who provides the living water, you hewned for yourself, you dug out for yourself sisters, broken sisters that can hold no water. By chasing after the false, he rejected the true. And so Paul is giving us that I'm gonna develop that much more as we get together. But he says professing to be wise, they became fools. So instead of rejecting man entirely, God reveals himself to us through Jesus. And many of us who at one time didn't honor him, do now because he has revealed himself through him. We'll stop here because it's time for communion.