The Study of Spiritual Gifts (Sermon 4 of 14)

Andy Davis preaches an expository sermon on 1 Corinthians 12. This sermon is part four of a sermon series on spiritual gifts.

- SERMON TRANSCRIPT  - 

We're going to continue our look at spiritual gifts tonight. And we're going to go over to 1 Corinthians 12. So turn there if you would. And there's always more we can do in Ephesians, but I want to branch out a little bit and try to understand spiritual gifts from this most extended treatment. 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14, we're not doing it all tonight, that's for sure. But we're going to get started on it anyway. Now from Ephesians 4, we've learned some things about spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts or special abilities given by the Spirit of God, by Jesus Christ. We're going to find out in this passage really given by the Triune God, to each individual Christian, for the purpose of building up the body of Christ. So everybody who's a Christian has a spiritual gift arrangement from God. And all of us have received this and all of us are called to use those gifts for the building of the body.

And so we learned in Ephesians four that spiritual gifts are universally given, but they're not uniform. We don't all get the same gifts, we don't all get the same. We're going to see the same things here in 1 Corinthians 12. They're also called grace from God. We saw that in Ephesians 4 where it says, "But each one of us, grace has been given as Christ measured it out." So spiritual gifts are grace from God. We get more grace than just the forgiveness of sin. We get more things than that. Actually, Ephesians 1:3 says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." So we have them all. Isn't that incredible?

Think about this, where Paul says in one place, "All things are yours." Isn't that amazing? It's all yours, all of it. "The meek will inherit the earth," why squabble over it now? You're going to get the new heavens and the new earth. We don't need it now. We just need to serve now, right? So all things are yours, and that includes this grace called spiritual gifts, those are ours as well. And why is it grace? Because it saves us from a meaningless life here on earth. It saves us from just being time wasters until the Lord comes or until we die. What a waste is that, God wastes nothing. You realize that? Every moment has purpose, every day has purpose. It all means something. And so it's grace from God. Spiritual gifts are grace from God.

Thirdly, they're given us Christ apportioned. Christ measured them out, according to the metron, it says, according to the measurement of Christ, he's measured them out to you. We get the Spirit not by measure, it says in John 3, but we get these gifts measured out to us. And so we are not omnicompetent, you realize that? I know some of you may be tempted to think that you're omnicompetent, but we are not omnicompetent. All of us need each other. I need you, you need each other. We all need each other. And God's done that on purpose, because we're so arrogant, we're so boastful. And we could tend in that direction, but we really do need each other. And so they're given out by measure. We get a certain amount. And they're given out as Christ apportioned it.

Fourthly, we talked about last time that these gifts are given to build the body. And that's so important, isn't it? Are we presently united in Christ? Does the doctrine teach that? Are we one in Christ? Well, yes we are. I know that seems tricky, but it's true. We are to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Maintain is something you already have. We are one in the Holy Spirit. We already are. But are we perfectly one as the Father and the Son or one? No, we are not. In two levels, two senses. Number one is that not everybody's been saved yet. So they're just totally off from us. They're not in the body at all. They don't believe in Christ yet. So we have to go out evangelistically and bring them in, right? And number two: we're not brought up to full maturity in Christ yet, are we? So we're not done being one. We're not done being united. And what is it that God has given to finish that unity work? It's the spiritual gifts, isn't it? It's the evangelism. It's the teaching. It's the exegesis. It's the administration. It's the encouragement. It's all the gifts that are given to build this up until final unity. Says in Ephesians 4:16, "That the body builds itself up in love as each part does its work." That's so beautiful, isn't it? So those are the four things we learned from Ephesians 4 about spiritual gifts.

Let's go over now to 1 Corinthians 12. And as we look at 1 Corinthians 12:1 it says, "Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant." So we're in the right place, aren't we? If we want to learn about spiritual gifts, we want to go to a place that starts out that way. 1 Corinthians 12:1 says you're in the right place if you want to learn about spiritual gifts. Now the word here in the Greek is a little different than the charismata. It's a different word related to Pneumos, related to the Spirit, but it's the same thing. I think it's the workings, the movements, the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual gifts. Now, let's get our sense of context here. Who were the Corinthians? What kind of church was it? What do you know about the Corinthian church? Somebody speak up. What do you know about these folks?           

[Audience speaks]

Factions and divisions, you know what's amazing how often that comes up in Scripture. Do you know that one of the churches that Paul seemed to love the most was the Philippian church and they had the same problem? "I plead with Yodi, and I plead with Cyntiki to a get along in the Lord." Have trouble with that. We're so given to that. But the Corinthians church did. Turn back with me, if you would, to 1 Corinthians 1, and we'll get a sense of the context before we get back to chapter 12.

I. The Corinthian Church

1 Corinthians 1 teaches us that the Corinthians were a gifted church and yet they were a divided church. Gifted and yet divided. How can that be? But that's the way it was. Look at chapter 1:4-7 Paul says, "I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him, you have been enriched in every way, in all your speaking and in all your knowledge, because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore, you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly await for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed." So there it says very plainly, they don't lack any spiritual gift. They're fully endowed, fully equipped. They've got everything they need. And interesting, he says in verse 4, he mentions that it's grace. "I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus." So it's not long before we go to this idea of grace, right on into spiritual gifts. So the idea is that God has given us grace to forgive our sins, the grace of justification. But he's given us more than that by grace. And that includes these spiritual gifts. And he says, “You're fully equipped, you have everything you need.” And he also mentioned something as a strength, which also was for them a weakness. This idea of that they are enriched in every way in all your speaking and in all your knowledge. Now, that was a strength for the Corinthian church. They were great spiritual speakers. And they were filled with this spiritual knowledge. But they had a problem, didn't they? As a result of that, they were very boastful, they were very prideful, very arrogant. And thus ran into problems. And that pride of position, I think, affected their relationships with each other, didn't it? And as a result, you start having these factions in these divisions in the church.

And so they were divided. Look at verse 10, "I appeal to you brothers in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you, and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought." You've heard me mention that before. I believe 1 Corinthians 1:10 is the definition of unity in the church, “perfectly united in mind and thought,” “that you agree with one another.” That does not mean that you sweep differences under the rug. It means you work on things through the Spirit until you do agree, until you come to the kind of unity on earth that there is in heaven on all these things. So you keep working on it. But they were a divided church. Look at verse 11, he says, "My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you." So there are these divisions, there are these quarrels; there are problems in the Corinthian church. So here we have them richly gifted. They've got every spiritual gift, they're fully equipped. But they're also divided and they're quarrelsome. Well, as Brevard mentioned, they're displaying some carnality. Look over in chapter 3:1-4, and he gets to the root of the quarreling that they have. "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly, mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you're not yet ready indeed, you are still not ready, you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, 'I follow Paul,' and another, 'I follow a Apollos,' are you not mere men?" Now, what is the implication of that? That question? "Are you not mere men?" What is he implying by asking that question? You're acting just like everybody else. And behind that, even one more step is, you're not supposed to be like everybody else. You're not supposed to act like mere men. You're supposed to be at a higher level. You're supposed to be spiritual, and that as Christians, you're supposed to attain to a higher level. The bar is not to be low, it's not to be just like the world, we're supposed to be at a different level. And so he says, you're acting like regular people. And you're not regular people, you're spiritually endowed. You have the mind of Christ. You have the indwelling Holy Spirit. We're learning in Romans 6. You're not a slave descent anymore, you're entirely new creation. You should not be behaving this way. And Paul says, “I have to talk to you as though you're not even Christian, sometimes. I have to just ladle out the milk to you,” he's saying.

"You're not supposed to act like mere men. You're supposed to be at a higher level. You're supposed to be spiritual, and that as Christians, you're supposed to attain to a higher level. "

So there were problems in the Corinthian church, fully equipped with all the spiritual gifts, but yet they're dividing, not getting along. Now let me ask you a question. Do you think that that full equipment of spiritual gifts was being used fully in that divided church? Do you think it was being used efficiently with maximum fruitfulness? What do you think? Absolutely not. And so the gifting does not guarantee fruitfulness. There has to be sanctification issues. There has to be church unity issues in order for those things to be used fully. And so there were problems. They were displaying this carnality and they were following human leaders, there were factions. And Paul must correct them. And the way he corrects them is by bringing their minds up to the spiritual level of God. So that they begin to think the way God does about these things. The first thing he's got to attack is this faction kind of thing, where they're following one man, somebody following Paul, somebody following Apollos, or Cephas. He's got to get at that and say, "You should stop thinking about things like mere men. You should stop thinking about human leaders that way." And he says, "Look at yourselves." This is back in chapter 1:26. He says, "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential, not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world, and the despised things, and the things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus." Think about that. It is because of who that you're in Christ Jesus? Because of Christ Jesus, that you're in Christ Jesus. Because of God himself, that you are Christian. So why do you boast? "Why are you boasting?" He’s saying, "So that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus who has become for us wisdom from God." That's going to be a big word in the area of spiritual gifts. They talked a lot about wisdom, that was important to them. And it is an important thing, but not the wisdom of this world. Christ is our wisdom. Christ Jesus, “He has become for us wisdom from God, that is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” So he's correcting them by getting them to think the way that God thinks.

And then he says in 1 Corinthians 2:12, he says, "We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us." We are one. And what is it that makes us one? The indwelling Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1 says that, "We have been marked with a seal, the Holy Spirit of promise, the promised Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our full inheritance until the redemption of God's possession." So all of us are one because of that invisible marking, the Holy Spirit that makes us one. And so he says that Spirit has been given that we may understand what God has freely given us. Another word for what God has freely given us is grace, right? So the Holy Spirit comes and instructs you about what he gave you. And it takes our whole lifetime. He's going to tell you what it means to be justified by faith alone. And he's going to tell you what it means that you're no longer a slave to sin. And he's going to tell you about spiritual gifts. And that's exactly what he does in 1 Corinthians 12. So turn over there. That was just by way of context. But here they were, this church, they were divided. And I think what was going on is, that you had some people in the church that were boasting about their spiritual gifts. He says in 1 Corinthians 4:7, he says, "What do you have that you didn't receive?" By the way that means receive from God, right? "What do you have that you didn't receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" So they're very boastful. He says in chapter 5 in the church discipline chapter about that one that was committing adultery and all that, and that they should have disciplined him. Right in the middle he says, "And you are proud. You're proud. What are you proud of?" And so this is a deep problem with this church that the pride, the arrogance, the boasting. And so I think they were including their spiritual gifts and the boasting. They were boasting about their gifts. And I think especially about the showy gifts, like speaking in tongues and prophecy, those kind of things. And so that's going to receive big play in chapter 12, 13, and 14. Now you wonder, what are we going to say about all those showy gifts? We'll get to that in due time. We're not doing it tonight. If you're all excited about that, we're not getting into tongues and what does that all mean? We're not doing that tonight. We're just talking about gifts in their proper place. But they were boasting about the showy kind of gifts. And I think they felt that one was more spiritual than another. The flip side of that was the people who weren't so endowed with those kind of gifts felt that they didn't belong to the body of Christ at all. They had no place. And so that's what boasting does. Boasting creates, among those that are at least in the running, a kind of pecking order and an ever faster race to boasting. But then it leaves others feeling like they're not even included at all. They're not in the body. And so the whole thing's kind of flying apart. And he said this is not the way it needs to be. And so he is bringing them together. He is saying we need to have that indwelling Holy Spirit teach us about spiritual gifts. And so he brings them back to the teaching.

II. 1 Corinthians 12-14

 So look at verse 1 in chapter 12. He says, "Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant." Now this is so important, isn't it? You just stop right there and say, "How do we begin acting and living properly concerning our spiritual gifts? Where does it all start?" It all starts, apparently, with teaching. “I don't want you to be ignorant about what God has given you.” So you've got this indwelling Holy Spirit, and then the apostle is going to come and tell you about the thing that God put in you, namely the spiritual gift. So he said, "I don't want you to be ignorant about it. I want you to understand. And I want you to understand not just what your gifts are, but how they're to be used in the body." And so he's laying it out, chapter 12, chapter 13, chapter 14. Chapter 12, we've got this beautiful body image. And the main message of chapter 12 is unity in diversity. Diversity in unity. It's the same message we saw in Ephesians. We've got this one body with many members and many parts. And though there is one body, each of the members plays a role. And just because you are not an eye, or a hand does not mean you're not part of the body. And in effect, he actually turns it around and says, "If it weren't for the diversity, we would not be a body." We would actually be a monstrosity. Something bizarre like a huge eyeball rolling down the street. What a strange looking thing is that. If the whole body were an eye, what would we be? That's so odd looking, isn't it? We're not meant to be some grotesque monstrosity. God has given us a picture in the physical realm of something in the spiritual realm. And that is our own bodies, which are so beautifully apportioned and put together. And so just as he did with the question of slavery in Romans 6, he's using an analogy to teach us spiritual things. And that analogy is our physical body. What would you be like if you were just an eyeball? Ladies, how would you dress yourself? I mean, how would you drape? I don't know. Maybe there would be styles for you if you were just an eyeball. But I mean it's just a strange thing. And Paul does that and he's not necessarily reaching for humor, but he's trying to get you to see that the body would be a monstrosity if it weren't for these various functions. And if it's not for these functions, we can't be a body. And if we're not a body, we're not going to grow to the final maturity and unity that God intends. We've got to be, each of us, in our proper place, doing our proper thing. But we're not going to be if we're not thinking rightly about it. So I don't want you to be ignorant. I want you to understand that you have received this thing from God and you already use it in the way that God is given. It's just temporary, isn't it? Isn't it to last until you die or until the Lord returns? These are temporary things that God has given for the building up of the body. So just take your place, use it, realize there's not one more higher than another, or more important, they're all needful to accomplish the end that God has intended. And so that's what he's saying.

"I want you to understand that you have received this thing from God and you already use it in the way that God is given."

So in chapter 12, he's giving you this idea of unity and diversity, but specifically, diversity is necessary for the body not to be a monstrosity. We've got to have this diversity. But then in the middle of it all, we get chapter 13. And he's given that just so that at weddings we can have beautiful poetry and read it, and just we can enjoy that treatise on love. Is that why he is given it? No. It's right in the middle of a discussion on spiritual gifts. Context. And yes, we can take the statements by themselves and learn about love. Love is patient. Love is kind. It doesn't envy, it doesn't boast, it's not easily angered. But it's right in the center of a section on spiritual gifts. And the chapter begins with a discussion of spiritual gifts. "If I speak with the tongues of men of angels but have not love, I'm a resounding gong and a clanging cymbal," he's talking about gifts. I will show you a more excellent way. A more excellent way to what? A more excellent way to use your gifts, use them in love. It's what I've been saying just in terms of controversy and doctrinal difficulty in the church, speaking the truth in love. Well, the speaking the truth is the part of the teachers in the church. They're to do it in love. 1 Corinthians 13, that's the way that you use your gift, is in love. Chapter 13.

What is chapter 14? Well, chapter 14 has long discussions about prophecy and tongues, and specifically, how they are to function in the body. Now we're going to get into that to some degree. I'm not going in deep at that point because that's not my purpose. But the one lesson I get out of chapter 14 is that spiritual gifts are to be used according to the rules and directions that God has given. They're not to run rough shod over the church. For example, the spirits of the prophets are subject to the control of the prophets. And tongues are to be used in a certain way. So just because you have a gift doesn't mean that you can run through every red light, so to speak, relationally. That there is an order. God is not a God of disorder, but of structure of beauty, and there's a way that it's all to be done, and that we already use our gifts according to those rules.

So that's what I get out of that big picture. We've got unity and diversity in chapter 12. We've got the using of the gifts in love in chapter 13. And then we've got, there are certain rules and regulations, and order, and structure about the way the gifts are to be used in chapter 14. Does that make sense? So let's dig in and see how far we can get in this particular chapter. "Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.” You would be ignorant if he didn't teach this." Isn't that true? If God didn't come and tell us about the gifts, we wouldn't know. Just like we would know about the Trinity. You can't discern these things by looking at nature. We must be taught. And so the apostles come to teach us. And then he says in verse 2, "You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other, you are influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus be cursed.' And no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit.” Now what is that about? It seems a little bit odd to begin this way, but I think if you understand the context and what was going on there, he had just gotten done in chapter 10 telling them that they were not to be involved in pagan, idolatrous worship feasts. Just go back one page perhaps in your Bible or two back to chapter 10:14 and following, he's talking about idol feasts and the Lord’s Supper. We celebrated the Lord’s Supper this morning. And he's saying that when you take part in the Lord’s Supper, you are actually participating in the body and blood of Christ. There's a participation in it spiritually. I do not believe what the Catholics believe, that the body and blood are literally physically there through transubstantiation. I don't believe that. But there is a spiritual participation by the power of the Spirit. I really believe that the Spirit moves during the time of the Lord's Supper. And we in a very spiritual way are participating in the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. But he's saying in the same way, when you go to an idol worship, you are participating in something spiritual too, aren't you? And what is it? It's a demonic presence. Look what he says here. In verse 20, he says... 19, he says, "Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?” No, they are not. The sacrifice is just meat. The idol is just stone, or wood, or gold. There's nothing to it, but there is a spiritual reality behind it. That's what he's getting at in verse 20. He says, "No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons." Now stop right there. What he's saying is when you're involved in these idolatrous worship feasts you are participating with a demonic presence, a demonic force.

Now, these were pagan people before they came to Christ, they knew about these things. And so in chapter 12, going back there, he says, "You know that when you were pagan, somehow or other, you were influenced in led astray to mute idols." There was an influence, wasn't there? A spiritual influence and it was demonic. It was demonic. And so what is it that's broken the demonic power? Is it not Jesus Christ? Did he not bind the strong man in Corinth? Did he not come and plunder the strong man's house and rob these people from Satan? Yes, he did. And so yes, they were under the sway in the influence of the devil in the demonic forces, but Jesus was more powerful. “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.” Satan couldn't stop it. And so these folks were rescued from this demonic force. But they understood that there was a sense of spiritual influence at these pagan idolatrous feasts. He's saying that's what there was. There was an influence here. A demonic influence. "Therefore, I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus is cursed.'" Now what is that? I don't imagine that anyone had said those words in the Corinthian church. I don't think that was a problem they were struggling with. It could have been a problem among the pagans though. Perhaps a pagan priest or priestess. Perhaps some of their pagan neighbors would say these kind of things into their ears. And they're saying if you're saying that, and if you believe it, then you're under a demonic influence. You're really under the sway of the evil one. You're still in his kingdom. And so there is a spiritual force there that is causing you to speak. And then it says, "No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit." Now you can say, how can that be? Suppose we get a non-Christian to read this chapter. Would they not say the words, Jesus is Lord, while reading? What does Paul then mean when he says, "No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit?" Well, I think it goes to this. Remember how Jesus said when he was healing the paralyzed man? He said, "Which of these is easier to say, ‘your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘rise and walk?’" The answer is they're equally easy to say. But to say them with meaning and power, now that's something different. Can we say, “your sins are forgiven?” Yes. Is there any power behind it? No. Can we say “rise and walk?” Yes. Is there anything behind it, any spiritual reality? No. Can Jesus say “rise and walk?” Is there any spiritual reality behind it? Absolutely has power. Can he say to you, “your sins are forgiven?” Yes, there's reality and there's power behind it. Is there power behind a Christian saying “Jesus is Lord?” Oh, absolutely. As a matter of fact, in Romans 10, that's part of what it means to make a confession that Jesus is your savior. And when you say it, you're saying it by the Holy Spirit. Isn't that what he just said earlier? It's because of him that you're in Christ Jesus. You can't say, “Jesus is Lord” and really mean it unless the Holy Spirit saved you. Unless you're regenerated, born again by the Holy Spirit. You can't just up and say, “Jesus is Lord,” someday. The Holy Spirit moved in you. And therefore the Holy Spirit indwells you. And so you are speaking by the Spirit when you say, “Jesus is Lord.”

"You can't say, “Jesus is Lord” and really mean it unless the Holy Spirit saved you. Unless you're regenerated, born again by the Holy Spirit. "

Now let's put the whole thing together. What he's saying is the speaking by an influence, the supernatural influence is nothing. What matters is the content of the message, right? So the spiritual gifts don't mean anything except that the center of the content is the exaltation of Jesus Christ as Lord. That's how all these gifts have to function. And so I'm going to take out of these first three verses and elevate a principle in spiritual gifts. And that is that all gifts are given to exalt Jesus Christ as Lord. That's what they're given to do. We are moved by the Spirit. And what does the Spirit do? But to exalt Jesus. And in exalting Jesus, the body of Christ gets built up, through evangelism and through discipleship.

So we don't just speak “Jesus is Lord,” we live it. He is our commanding officer. We cling to him as our Lord and Savior. And we don't just say words as though they meant nothing, but we speak “Jesus is Lord” from the heart because the Spirit's moved it in us. So what is he getting at? Okay, there's going to be some spiritual speaking. Speaking in tongues, prophecy, all those things. We'll get to that in two time. But he said, what does none of that matters except the content of the message, Jesus is Lord. And you can't say it unless the Spirit moves in you. That's what he's getting at. So we're drawing out of this a principle to add to what we learned in Ephesians. The spiritual gifts are given to build up the body, but even more, I believe they're given to exalt Jesus as Lord, to exalt him to the highest place in the body of Christ.

Going on from there in verse 4, he says, "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all them and all men." What is going on there? Well pull it apart, those verses. It's beautiful to see. We've got different, different, different. Same, same, same. You see what he's saying? We've got diversity and we've got unity. But we've got the ultimate unity in these verses, don't we? Look at it. In verse four, who is mentioned? The Spirit. Who is mentioned in verse 5? The Lord, for that you read Jesus. And who do you have in verse 6? We've got God, for that you read the Father. So we've got Spirit, Jesus, the Father. They each have different function in the Trinity, but they are as one as you can imagine. Absolute perfect unity. So we've got diversity among the trinity, but yet we've got perfect unity, don't we? We Father has his role, the Son has his role, the Spirit has his. And the interesting thing is this adds to our understanding in Ephesians 4, who was it that gave the spiritual gifts? It was Jesus. But here we understand He didn't do anything on his own. That shouldn't surprise you. He didn't go off by himself and gift the church. But rather, he does all things at the command of his Father. So all things come from the Father, through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. So the Trinity is the ultimate picture of unity and diversity, diversity and unity. And so, should it surprise us that the body of Christ would be a perfect image and reflection of that same thing, different workings, different servings, different motions, different functions, but one body, just like there is one God. Well, we're out of time. Let's continue looking, God willing, next time at 1 Corinthians. And why don't we close in prayer.