 Welcome, dear viewers. Welcome and join us as we take you through the eighth lesson of the Cornerstone Connection of the First Quarter 2024. My name is Michael Flex, and on the panel, we have John Nelson, Biaki, and our wonderful teens' teachers. On the sign language, we have Joyce, and on the orchestra, we have Subira and Shema. Thank you. Hello. My name is Amy, and I will be taking you guys through this week's mission story, Papaya Prescription. Joy Lien was seven years old playing blocks with her father in the living room of their home in India. She liked using the yellow, blue, green, and red blocks to build tall towers, and then hitting the towers and watching them fall down. As Joy Lien and father played with the blocks, he told stories about when he was a little boy. He told about how he used to play with his brothers and sisters. It was fun playing with father, but Joy Lien didn't feel quite well. She felt a little warm like she had a slight fever. She also felt tired, but she didn't want to go to bed. It was fun playing with father. Then father's phone rang. He listened to it for a moment. He listened to it for a moment, and it got serious. He turned to Joy Lien. We have to go to the hospital, he said. She didn't realize how serious it was. A doctor had called from the hospital and said that she needed to be hospitalized immediately. She had dengue fever. Dengue fever is an illness that comes from mosquito bites. It isn't difficult to treat the illness if caught early, but the doctor had not noticed Joy Lien had dengue fever. And now it was important to treat the illness quickly. Father called mother for help, and she packed a suitcase with clothes, medicine, kiwi, papaya, and raw beets. Joy Lien didn't like papaya. She thought the red fruit tasted disgusting. She also thought that red beets tasted disgusting, but she liked sweet kiwis. Mother packed papaya, kiwi, and raw beets because the doctor said they were good medicine for Joy Lien. Then Joy Lien, father, and mother got into the car and left for the hospital. Joy Lien felt uneasy when she arrived at the hospital. She was surrounded by people she did not know. She did not like the smell of hospital air. Someone put an IV drop into her arm and it hurt. Then a nurse took her to bed in the hospital ward. Joy Lien looked around. She couldn't understand why she was there as there were children who looked sicker than she was. Mother saw that Joy Lien looked confused and tried to encourage her. You are strong, she said. For the next six weeks, Joy Lien stayed at the hospital. Mother gave her lots of papaya and beets. She did not want to eat the papaya, but she had to. She wrinkled her nose and swallowed them, hoping that she would not be able to taste them as it went down. She also ate lots of kiwi. She enjoyed eating the kiwi much more. Mother and aunt took turns staying with Joy Lien. Many people from church visited and prayed with her. Sometime passed and eventually she was allowed to go home. She was happy. She was tired of lying in the same bed for so long. She was happy to return home. When she arrived home, a teenage cousin was visiting to welcome her with a gift of delicious red pomegranates. Joy Lien was happy that it wasn't papaya. She loved pomegranates. Today, Joy Lien is 14, and she still does not like papaya, even though it helped her get better when she was sick. She said it was God who completely healed her. God healed me, she said. I was too young at the time to realize who had healed me, but I grew up and came to know God more. I realized that he was the one who healed me. He is a mighty healer. Parts of this Quarters 13 Sabbath offering will help construct a church near Joy Lien School in Bengaluru, India. Joy Lien School is on the same campus as Laurie Adventist College and several other Adventist school. Thank you for planning a generous offering. Good morning, good evening, good afternoon. Happy New Year from wherever you are. Karibu Sana, welcome, our dear viewer to our teen cornerstone lesson. And boy, do we have a lesson for you today. All about Good King Asa. But before we start, I'll just invite the rest of our panelists here to introduce themselves. And then at the end, John could pray for us. Go ahead. Yeah, my name is Nelson Yanumba. I'm John Mungai. Hi, I'm Biaki Kibwage. All right, John, say a prayer, my good sir. That's bow heads for a world of prayer. O kind loving Father, we come before you this glorious day, thanking you for everything you've done for us. We ask you to grace us with your presence and to help us to learn more about you and to get a closer and deeper connection with you. His name I pray, amen. Amen, amen, amen. Welcome once again. So the title of our lesson today is Crossroads. Crossroads. And as alluded to earlier, we'll be talking about the Good King Asa and the challenges that he faced as he was reigning in Judah. And all the problems that were there at that time. So just to start us off, we'll just go in quickly into the interactive session and just ask, what do you think? What do you think with John? And John, maybe perhaps you can just take us through that. So the What Do You Think section asks, rank the following spiritual battles from the easiest to the hardest. I believe that believing in God through hard times is very important. And through our tribulations and our problems, for example, examinations, and whatever is going on at home, it's very important to remember God during these hard times. Setting appropriate relationship boundaries. It can be a relationship with your parents. You set certain boundaries that you can't cross. The particular ways that you talk to your parents. These are boundaries that you can't cross. Helping the undeserving. Looking at how Jesus, God sent his son to die on the cross for us. God helped us the undeserving. So I think that it's very valuable for us to help the undeserving as well. Alaskan Elton, what do you think? I think, well, I'm seeing something here saying it was also rank from the easiest to the hardest. I would say the hardest here would be believing in God through hard times. Sometimes when you face something that really rattles you, you almost forget that God is watching over you every step. So I think that could be the hardest. Yeah. Biyaki, what do you think? I think, personally, some of my hardest is refraining from gossip. Like how I grew up, my friends, some of my aunties, my mom. Gossip is very common. It's very, very common. It's something I've grown up with a lot. Refraining from it is hard. And I would say also spending adequate time with God. So for me, those are my two hardest. And my easiest would be refraining from drinking alcohol. So personally, I think maybe managing anger would be something that is a bit hard for me personally. Because when I was younger, I used to have anger issues. But through Christ and growing my relationship with Him, I think it's really helped. And something that's easy is also refraining from drinking alcohol. Yeah, you don't drink. But there are people who genuinely struggle with that almost their whole lives. No, yes. So John, thank you so much for taking us through the what do you think section. These are spiritual challenges that are there that we face in our day-to-day lives. And just as you'll see from into the story, there were other challenges that even from the story that we're going to read today about King Asa, there were challenges that he faced from all over. And it's hard to work out these challenges. It's hard to keep your faith in these challenges. So perhaps maybe I just want to invite Biyaki just to take us into the story and give us some insight on these challenges that King Asa was facing. OK, so I'll just read the story. Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord, his God. He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to obey his laws and commands. The spirit of God came on Azariah, son of Oded. He went out to meet Asa and said to him, listen to me. Asa and all Judah and Benjamin, the Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time, Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. But in their distress, they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him. And he was found by them. Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the Lord's temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben Haddad, king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. Let there be a treaty between me and you, he said, as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Bashar, king of Israel, so he will withdraw from me. Ben Haddad agreed with king Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. When Bashar heard of this, he stopped building drama and abandoned his work. At the time, Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah and said to him, because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing. And from now on, you will be at war. Asa was angry with the seer because of this. He was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time, Asa brutally oppressed some of the people. Ahab, son of Omdri, did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. There was never anyone like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel, his wife. Now this story comes from second chronicles, chapter 14, and also first kings, chapter 16. And he just talks about Asa and how he chose to lose faith in God and put his trust instead in man. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's true. Just perhaps me to give some backstory. Asa at the time was facing two wars, basically. The king of Israel was on his back, Ben Haddad. So, and he was in Ramah, which is right at the border. And so at the time, he's in a war, he's in a war. So you find that he's looking at what can he do, what can he do? And he says, you know, that this guy, king of Ramah, why don't I send him some money and try and see if he can help me on this other side. And so he does that, you know? And then now the prophet comes and then he almost lambasts Asa and tells him, how dare you, you know? But, Biaki, I just wanted to ask, there's some questions here, perhaps. That perhaps maybe you can just help us to enlighten. By Asa giving money to Ben Haddad, did it show that he was fully devoted to God? You know, he did have some challenges, you know? And he was just trying to sort him the best way he knows how. What do you think? Okay, he was in a tough position, yeah? Yeah. And I think at the time, he was trying his best to win the war, I believe. Yeah. Yeah, so for him, he saw, let me just do this. This is a way out of my problems. So that's why he decided to do that. But I think he also forgot about God. He forgot who God is and what he can do. And what he can do for him. Yeah, no, that's very true, that's very true. And just even going back to the, what do you think, Lekshon and John? You know, with all those challenges that we were talking about, that we face, is it possible that sometimes we are like King Asa where we say, you know, just let me try and sort it out myself. And what perhaps would you tell somebody with the perspective of King Asa's story, you know, in trying to live it all to God? What would you tell them in facing those challenges in the, what do you think, Lekshon? Omia, it's understandable to get overwhelmed by the challenges that you're going through. Yeah. Not too facing, but I think it's very important to remember that God who lives as a plan. Yeah. And if you maintain that relationship with him and you keep close to him in the end, you're gonna end up on top. No, that's very true, that's very true. And I think that's brought out very well in our key text, which perhaps maybe you can read it for us, the key text. So the key text today comes from the book of Second Chronicles, chapter 16, verse nine. Second Chronicles, chapter 16, verse nine. And it says, for the eyes of the Lord, range throughout the earth, to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on, you will be at war. Yeah, yeah, those are some tough words from the Prophet, you know, you can imagine it. And he's a king, by the way, he's telling a king this, you know, you've done a foolish thing. You know, you can imagine, even just telling your father, you've done a foolish thing, it's unimaginable. You can say it, you can say it, you know. But, you know, those were the words of the Prophet. And I particularly like the first part, and now I just want to turn to Nelson, perhaps. And, you know, just looking at the promise, you know, in the first part of the key text, that says, you know, for the eyes of the Lord, range throughout the whole earth, and strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him, you know, just in light of that, you know, and just what comfort, you know, cut it from that. And also, if you might read for us the flash, you know, just linking that with the key text and the flash. Yeah, let me just read the flashlight first. Okay, go ahead. Yeah, alas, how are the glory of Israel departed? Never before had the chosen people of God fallen so low in apostasy. Of the prophets of Baal, there were 450. Besides 400 prophets of the Groves, we see this in Fast Kings, chapter 18. Nothing short of miracle, working power of God could preserve the nation from utter destruction. Wow, you know, Israel had voluntarily separated herself from the rover. Yet the Lord in compassion still learned after those who had been led into sin. And he was about to send them, one of the mightiest of his prophets, though who many were led, many were to be led back to allegiance, to allegiance to the God of their fathers. Yeah, I think, see, the Israelites were at one point with God and now they choose to turn away. Yeah. So bad things happen, you know? Without God, you can't really do anything. Yeah. But then now you see in the flashlight, we see a promise again from God. Like the first one where he says, if we trust in him, he'll lift us. Now we see God promising to bring them back. You know, he's showing his mercy to the Israelites. He doesn't want them to perish, but now he's going to send his mightiest prophet to come and save them. Yeah. You know, it's a really good thing. And I want to maybe highlight this part where it says, nothing short of the miracle working power of God could preserve the nation from utter destruction. Yeah. You know, these guys were lost. Yeah. It's just God's mercy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, that's a very important point. And I like how you bring the fact that Israel were lost and that they were lost out of their own doing. You know, it's them who had followed the idol, it's them who had done, you know, they had done the host really, you know. And now it's only a miracle from God. The verse that you've just emphasized or rather the sentence that you've just emphasized from, you know, the spirit of prophecy, you know, that it was nothing short, but a miracle that could bring them back. Nothing short, but a miracle. And you know, I put it to you really, that even in our own lives, you know, because we mess up every single day. We mess up every single day. We've seen every single day. It is nothing short, but a miracle from God that can really bring us out, you know, that can really bring us out. I like the key text that says, you know, that the eyes of God, does it say that? It says that. It says, you know, the eyes of God are all over the world, you know, searching for those who are committed to him, who are really committed to him and he's looking to strengthen them, right? And that's a powerful promise. Go ahead. I wanted to relate this verse from Second Chronicles, the key text to a verse that I read yesterday in Isaiah chapter 56. In Isaiah chapter 56, it says, this is what the Lord says, maintain justice and do what is right. My salvation is closer turned and my righteousness will soon be revealed. Blessed is the one who does this, the person who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it and keeps their hands from doing any evil. Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, the Lord will surely exclude me from his people. Amen. And let no eunuch complain, I am only a dry tree. This is what the Lord says. Yeah. Wow, that's a powerful verse by the Edron that you've just read there, you know, and it's God really repeating that promise, just repeating that promise once again. Yeah. Biaki, there are other verses in the punchline that maybe perhaps you can take us through and tell us which is your favorite. Okay, I'll read some in my friends that will help me. So the first one is from Matthew chapter 16, verse 24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. The second is from John chapter 15, verse eight. This is to my father's glory that you bear much fruit showing yourselves to be my disciples. John, you want to read the next? Yeah, sure. The next comes from the book of Acts chapter two, verse 40. And it says with many words, with many other words, he warned them and he pleaded with them, save yourself from this corrupt generation. Next verse comes from the book of Psalms, chapter 14, verse one. And it says, the fool says in his heart, there is no God, they are corrupt, they are deeds of vile, there is no one who does good. Can allow Nelson to read the last one. Yeah. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever, Hebrews 13, verse eight. So I would say my favorite is the last one. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. I think from what I've been through, I've realized every human being needs a constant in their life, something that doesn't change whatsoever. And that is only God, everything else changes. So for me, Hebrews, amen, amen, amen. Those are very powerful verses, by the way that we have just read. And they are repeating the promise of God that he will be with us forever. And perhaps maybe if we can just read a few more, I've seen there in the lesson, if you can just read Biachi, Matthew chapter seven, verse 13 and 14. John, if you could read Matthew chapter seven, verse 24 to 27. And then Nelson, 30, 28 to 30. Okay, Matthew chapter seven, verse 13 and 14. Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction. And many enter through it, but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life. And only a few find it. And only a few find it. And really this is an admonition by Christ. We have been told there, you look at the verses that Biachi had just taken us through. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 16, verse 24, for example, where he says to disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up the cross and follow me. And in Matthew chapter seven, Jesus is saying that narrow is the gate. Showing that there is only one way that you can come to him. And that indeed you must deny yourself the pleasures of the flesh and follow him up. John, go ahead, please read for us Matthew chapter seven, verse 24 to 27. It says, therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice, like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against the house. Yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice, it's like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against the house and it fell with a great crash. And it fell with a great crash. This is a parable that Jesus is talking about. And you can even relate it, mind you, dear viewer, to the story of King Arthur. He tried to go ahead and make his political machinations, pay, I don't know this guy, to that guy, to be able to quell the war. But then you look at the cast that came upon him after that, that now, he'll always have war, he'll always have war. And really that's the same admonition that we're being given here, to build our house on the rock. That's that when the storm would come, then it would withstand. And this is really just us to trust in God. Ask you 11 verses, 11, 28, and go until 30. And it says, Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. And you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Even when sometimes it doesn't make sense, and he even talking about the aspects, what did you think in the section? When we think that really we're up against the wall, Jesus tells us to come and that he will give us rest. All right, well, having said that, now we want to go into the third day part and just talk about briefly, this warning that King Arthur was given, it's a terrible warning. You can imagine, he was a man of God, it's a terrible warning. You can imagine, he was even angry. He was terribly angry and understandably so. You can imagine, I said earlier, you can imagine telling your dad, dad, how foolish you've done something so foolish. This is the most foolish thing that you've done. You can imagine telling your father that. Now imagine telling it to a king. And I just wanted to invite Nelson. Maybe perhaps just, you can read it again from into the story. And I think it's almost the last paragraph, the third last paragraph. And then tell us what you think about, the warning that King Arthur was given, how receptive he was, how did he react to it? I know he throws somebody in prison, I think. What happened? And what lessons can we learn from that as well? Go ahead. Yeah, he's just saying, in the into the story part, Arthur was angry with this year because of this. He was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time, Arthur brutally oppressed some of the people. Ahab's son of Omri, that's a bit later. But yeah, we see Arthur, he's so, I don't know. He's enraged. Even angry isn't even enough. Yeah. You know? He actually throws someone in prison, which is serious. A prophet. A prophet. A man of God. A man of God, yeah. Chosen. You know? Great. It's serious here, you know? Yeah. Because even if, let's say for example, an older brother is told off by his younger sibling, you know? Even him, he gets angry. Now imagine this. You're the king. And yeah, yeah, yeah. It's something serious. But yeah, what I would say from this encounter that Arthur had, he overreacts. It's quite obvious that he overreacts, you know? This is, he's a messenger of God telling him this. He should take it, you know? He should take it better than this. Even though he's angry, he should learn how to control it. But I think this teaches us that we should think, we should think a lot before we react on others. Yeah. No, very true, very true. And you know, it's incredible, by the way, you know? Because it's so understandable, you know? It's almost human for you to react like that. You know, you can imagine you're the king, you're ruling over everything. And here comes this guy, you know? And he's undermining you. In front of, you can imagine the court of King Arthur. You know, you can imagine all the generals are there. What I usually like doing, it can say it maybe perhaps, it's like Jamhurideh, you know? It's Jamhurideh, you've just inspected your guard of honor. And then here comes this guy, telling you how foolish you are, you know? And it's tremendous, it's tremendous. And King Arthur reacts the way he does. But I just wanted us to read another story from another king who was also told off and perhaps just see how he reacted. And this is the story of King David. And it's found in the book of Second Samuel chapter 12 and Biaki, I see you have your Bible already opened. Now, if you can just read for us, and you can just go to verse six, I'm gonna read from verse seven and then just go to verse 14. Second Samuel chapter 12. Chapter 12, go from verse seven and go all the way until verse 17, yeah. Okay. So then Nathan said to David, you are the man. This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says. I anointed you, King of Israel and I delivered you from the hand of soul. I gave your master's house to you and your master's wives into your arms. I give you all Israel and Judah. And if this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah, the Hittites, with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the word of the Ammonites. Now therefore, this word shall never depart from your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah, the Hittites to be your own. This is what the Lord says. Out of your own household, I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes, I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel. Now 13, and this is the reaction of David. Then David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Nathan replied, the Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. Yeah, and so you can see there, somebody who had done, perhaps even in my view, a bigger sin. You know, and you can see how he reacts. You know, he doesn't put Nathan in prison, you know, and he has this sort of humbling reaction. I don't know what you think about that. He was quite humble. He was quite humble. Yeah, as compared to King Asa. Yeah, actually, I think about two lessons ago, we learned about Jeroboam. And the only reason God has mercy on him is because he's humble. Yeah, he turns back to God. He accepts that he's done bad. Yeah, well, you know, that's actually an interesting aspect about God, you know. Whenever, and we see this, you know, not with Jeroboam, you see this with David, you know, when you're humble, God sort of forgives you, you know. He sort of doesn't punish you as much, right? Which is an interesting case. And so I think it's a lesson for us even as we are here that even when we sin, you know, how do we react? How do we act even after we've sinned? Even after we've done wrong, you know, we have slighted God, we have rebelled. How do we react, you know? Are we the type that says, ah, you know what? I had a reason. I had a reason, you know. What was the reason I had a reason, you know? Or are we the type that says, ah, I have sinned. You know, God, please, created me a new heart. You know that I might not sin anymore. Which is an interesting aspect. Now coming to the final part of our lesson and this really the Friday part and it's really a question for introspection, you know. It's really asking us to look at ourselves, you know, with this whole story for King Asa. You know, King Asa find hard challenges as we all do in this world, you know. Fine, he was fighting, he had a war going on. But unfortunately, we doubt or rather the Bible casts a shadow of doubt on his commitment to God. And indeed his actions, as it were, show that, you know, his commitment to God was not a hundred. You know, it was not at a hundred percent. And that's why we see him doing the deals, you know, with Ben Haddad, you know. That's why we also see that even though his heart, the Bible says that, you know, he was, his heart was committed to God in some way. He never cleared all the places of idol worship, you know. And so really the Friday part is a question for us to introspect, you know. For us to look at ourselves and to really understand, are we committed to God? Even in our daily lives, you know. Are we involved? Are we 100 percent committed, you know? Do we, would we totally, you know, totally say that we are 100 percent ready to give everything that we have to God? Are we, are we really, you know? Can our commitment be described as radical? You know, these are questions that you have to ask yourself, you know. I can't answer them for you, you know. And you really have to ask yourself, you know, what's going on? Am I really committed to God? It's a tough question to ask. It's a tough question to ask. I know a lot of the time we might find ourselves in a position where, you know, that commitment is called into question. But then we have to answer that question. Eat an every day of our lives. All right, having said that, if we can read, perhaps John, you can read for us the Father Insight that is there just to conclude the Father Insight. The Father Insight comes from prophets and kings. And it says, the true Christian will make God fast and last and the best in everything. No ambitious motives will chill his love for God. Steadyly, perseveringly, will he cause honor to be downed to his heavenly Father. The true Christian, the true Christian. What a wonderful, what a wonderful message and a wonderful way to end our lesson, you know, that the true Christian shall leave everything to God. All right, we want to conclude our lesson. I just want to give our panelists just two minutes each, two minutes each, or even less, just to give their parting short, what they learned from this lesson, any insights that they'd have for our dear viewer as we conclude. We'll start at our very right over there. Yeah, I'd just like to say, from this lesson, what I take from it is that we need to have a changing of the heart, you know? We need to turn back to God fully, fully commit to His will. And from there, I think life will be good, you know? We just wait for the second coming. Yeah, amen, amen. For me, I'd say we can look at the way Arthur reacted. We can read actually Revelation, no, Philippians. Mm-hmm, Philippians. Chapter four, from verse four. Philippians, chapter four, from verse four. Amen, it says, rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near, not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and position, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. See, this verse just tells us that if we commit ourselves to God completely, that peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard our hearts and our minds to Christ Jesus. Amen, nice one, very good, very good. I think what I've learned from this story is that in our human lives, trouble is going to come. Some must, it has to be there. And so in knowing that, we have to prepare for it. By preparing, we can do that with God, yeah? We have to learn to trust in Him. And everyone has different experiences in life, and it can teach you not to trust, not to have faith in other people. But with God, He's not going to do that. He's not going to do you wrong the way humans have, yeah? And it says here, if you seek God, He will be found by you. Amen, amen, yeah. Oh, what more can I add to that? That those are insightful, those are robust, and those are thoughts, ladies and gentlemen, that really represent the heart of God, you know? That's really what God wants for us. He wants to lead us in every single thing that we are doing, you know? He wants us to commit our plans to Him, you know? He probably was working a master plan for us, you know? You leave what us, I was trying to do there with Ben Haddad, you know, in Israel. He was, he probably had, you know, a plan that was 10 times better that would have brought peace and prosperity to the region like never before, you know? And all he asked really is that we trust Him, right? And that we commit ourselves to Him, and that we do everything as He has prescribed for us. All right, well, thank you so much again for joining us. It's been wonderful sharing the lesson with you. This week, we can't wait for next week again for you to join us together. And so we can study again. Perhaps now let me just ask Biaki over here to pray for us as we conclude. Okay, let's pray. Dear Lord, we come before you today with thanks for allowing us to come here and do what we do to further the gospel. I ask that with all that we've learned from each other and from your word, we are able to apply it in our lives. Lord, and let us see fruit. Please be with us and guide us and protect us on our ways. Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen, amen. Goodbye, happy Sabbath.