#49 - Lawn Care Devotional Monday (Acts 1:21–26)

[MUSIC] Man, Greg, what's going on? >> Evan, how are you today? >> Oh, I'm pretty good, Greg. I am you and I am how are, and I'm doing well. So, we were salting today with my buddies. So, back in the day, not back in the day, a couple years ago, guys. I picked up about, well, I got into the snow game with a two-stage snowblower. It's a Turro PowerMax OXE. And so, I decided it would be a brilliant idea to start snow-blowing driveways. And I had about 15 driveways. And the next thing you know, it was taking me way too long. Like, Greg, it was taking me 20 hours plus for 15 driveways. And some of them were, you know, half-circles. So, anyways, my buddies who I've grown up with, they have their own lawn care business. They're like, hey, Evan, we'll just help you get your driveways done if you come help us. Next thing you know, I did that and now I'm getting rid of my circle drives, guys. We're just doing the straight pushes and their commercials. Salted with them today for two and a half hours. They paid me really well. Pay me cash, you know, can't complain there. That was just a little two and a half hour run. Because we might be getting some snow coming in later on this week, Greg, right? Yeah, that's what they're saying. We got a little bit today. Did you get any? Yeah, because we went out to-- Yeah, that's why you're salting, yeah. About a half-inch there. So, we just really had to salt some of the senior living complexes that we have. And a couple of doctor's buildings because, you know, what you do when you have a slip and fall is--that's another question we want to ask you guys--email us at Turf Nurse Podcast at Proton Dynamique. Anyone have a slip and fall from not salting if you are in a region where you have to salt? So Greg, you came out and did snow with us a couple of years ago and that was just brutal for you, right? Yeah, but it was actually really tough because we had bad equipment, too. We were using my buddy's equipment and that stuff wasn't very efficient. So-- Yeah, their equipment was terrible. It was--and the funny part was is they had the same equipment that I do or the blower that I do. Oh, yeah. And they were just terrible. Mine--when I saw the--when I first saw those blowers, I thought, "Oh, these are great. I love these." And they did not work. And they were--I don't know if it was a mix or what, but they just wouldn't--they weren't blowing anything. And so finally, we had to wind up shoveling a lot of stuff by hand. And-- Yep. Yeah, that was no fun. And so I made it a long day even longer. But I was really surprised because mine were--it was the same thing as I have and the blower that I have works great. I have no issues with it at all, so. But yeah, we had about a--we have about a half inch. I was going to go finish my last cleanup because one of my clients called me and said, "Hey, can you come over and do a cleanup?" And I've been--I've just not had the right time to be able to do it because even this last week was still kind of wet for me. And everything was frozen. You experienced that when you were able to get out. Everything was frozen, so probably took you an hour longer than you wanted it to. So I said, "Okay." Yeah, I thought, "Okay, Monday is going to be great. Be able to do that." And we got--we got snow yesterday and today. So I don't think I'll be able to get out and do as long again tomorrow. Yeah, I was going to try to get out tomorrow to do one small cleanup. Not really a lot of leaves, guys, but just--it's got a--it's a type of tree. They--it's like a maple tree, but not--and they're more like circular type of--it's--it's--they're circular type leaves and they're--they get really multicolored and they get really pretty. So I might try to do that. The guy basically said he had a budget for $1.50, and I said, "Ironically, his--his name is Greg." There. I'll just say that name. So I-- Not that cheap. Anonymous name was--so I said, "Uh, what the heck? I need some extra side cash. I'll try to get you in for $1.50." So--but hey, guys, we are back. Took a little bit of--sorry, I'm chewing a--chewing a cough drop right now. I'm finally--I think I'm finally, Greg, after the flu, the stomach flu, and then just your common cold. I'm finally drained out and I can breathe and, you know, as we say on the show, guys, got to email Dr. Durbin here if you want Neil Med for, you know, to relieve your sinus pressure. That's a recommendation for Greg. Just the trick, take it in the shower, get about half the bottle down, combined with, you know, both nostrils. It's a saline solution. You honestly want to get either distilled water or boil some water and then have it cool down and then do it because it's supposed to be--what is it, better for your nostrils? I've not done that. Just use tap water, take warm tap water and pour that saline--the saline packet they give you. Shake it up a little bit. Really? And then in the shower. Really? It works, but that--I tell you what, that was the closest I came to puking the first time I used it because I wound up swallowing a little bit of that water. And so you got to adjust your tongue a little bit so the water doesn't try and trickle back down your throat. So--but no, that Neil Med works great and I've used it a couple of times. I've come home this past summer or summer before and I just knew that my allergies were going to--were bothering me and took that and used it and that cleared me right up. It was really nice. Well, speaking of almost puking, I'm sure Matthias did this today, guys. We are back. January 8th with another devotional Monday. We took a break. We finished--well, we finished the book of Acts and now we're going through--well, the Ligonier devotional is going through the--well, sorry, we finished the book of Luke, man. I want to--again, you know, it's just that time of the year. Now they're going through the book of Acts and we're just going to hop right into this guys. Let's do a quick prayer. We'll do a Flare Prayer. Heavenly Father, just be with everyone if they're working, listening to this. If they're not, just open our eyes that we will hold wonderful truths out of your law. In Jesus' name, amen. So this is Acts 1, 21 through 26 and the title of this is "Choosing a New Apostle" and so it goes. Here's the key verse, which is verses 21 and 22. One of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us, one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection. And here's the whole context. Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the baptism of John to the day--to that day when he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. And they proposed to Joseph called Bar Sabbath who was surnamed Justice and Matthias and they prayed and said, "You, O Lord, who knows the hearts of all, show which of these two you have chosen to take part in this ministry and the apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place." And they cast their lots and the lot fell on Matthias and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. And here's what it reads. Well, to start off, don't you find this interesting, Greg? So it starts off saying Psalms. Psalms 69--it's Psalm, right, guys? Yes. I don't know why they--it's like saying Pacific and specific. It's Psalms, but it's Psalm, but they have this as Psalms. Psalm 69, 25 and 109, 8, Peter explains, in Acts 1, 15 through 20 foretold the death of Judas Ascariot and his replacement with another man in the company of the apostles. Thus, we see in Acts 1, 21 through 26, the eleven remaining apostles move to select someone to join them as a foundational leader of the early church. Judas' replacement had to meet two criteria. He had to have been present among Jesus followers from the time of John's baptism and he had to have been an eyewitness of Jesus' resurrection, that's verses 21 through 22. By extension, we can add a third criteria, which Dr. R. C. Sproul notes in his commentary on Acts. The man had to have been directly commissioned by the Lord himself. After all, no one ever became an apostle or saw the resurrection firsthand without first being called by the Lord. Seventy-two men meant the qualifications to be an apostle, "Joseph called Barthas, who was also called Justice and Matthias. The early church historian Asubias of Caesarea reports that Matthias, who was finally selected, was one of the seventy-two men whom Jesus had sent out on a preaching mission during his earthly ministry, but we cannot be certain of this." Greg. Interestingly, Matthias was selected by Lot, probably because he and Barthasabas were equally good candidates, and nothing in particular favored one over the other. Making decisions by Lot was common in the Old Covenant, and that's referenced Joshua 18, 1 through 10, 1 Chronicles 25, 1 through 8, so the practice is understandable. Here the choice was not entirely by chance. For the apostles narrowed down the candidates to two men. Of course, under God's sovereignty, nothing is ever wholly by chance. For the Lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. That's Proverbs 16, 33. Interestingly enough, this is the only time in the New Testament when the apostles make a decision by casting lots. Later, other men who did not meet all the criterion would be selected to join the apostles. Paul and James, the Lord's brother, Galatians 1, 11 through 19. Neither of these men had followed Jesus during his earthly ministry, or had been an eyewitness of the resurrection, but they later received a direct call from Jesus, and that's referenced 1 Corinthians 15, 7. Other apostles who met all the criteria could confirm their calling. In our days, some claim to have received a direct call from God to be an apostle, but we reject these claims because no apostles who fulfill all the criterion of apostleship are living today. In Quorum Dale, living by the face of God, Dr. R. C. Sproul comments, "After the last apostles died, there were still teachers, ministers, preachers, and evangelists, but there were no apostles, no more apostles. The office of apostle has come to an end, and today we find the apostles teaching only in the pages of the Scriptures. We must therefore turn to God's Word again and again as the only infallible and inerrant rule of faith and practice for the Church." You know, this is pretty, to the point, where in the world, Greg, are these some people, you know, today in the Church thinking that they can be apostles too? Like, I know there's apostolic denominations knocking them, but where do they get that? Is it like from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and them thinking that they are blessed with the gift of prophecy, which then makes them an apostle? What are you getting at? I'm not sure. I think it's misinterpretation. I think we see a lot of things out there that I think folks will read, and then they'll determine that I shouldn't say a lot. There's a few things out there that folks will read and misinterpret, and I don't understand fully why they look at it that way, but they're misinterpreting the Scriptures, and that's the only way I can see it. It might also be because of the context, the actual Greek or Hebrew definition, when you look at some words, there's a certain meaning, and people don't understand that that's what that word actually meant, and I'm trying to think of a good example, where you might have one, the word is in the old context one way, but when you look at it in the... One of the Ten Commandments, like, "Thou shalt not murder," right? Don't they get that? People get that wrong? I've not heard that before, how so? I thought I heard something like, "Thou shalt not murder." Some people will try to translate that into "Thou shalt not kill." I've heard people doing that with some denominations, so they'll be like, "Oh, you can't kill animals, or this and that type of thing." So they're vegans. Probably. People eating tasty animals, guys, right? Yes. Well, that would be a matter of, you know, they're looking at the word murder versus kill, and what's the original interpretation of it, and I think that's probably why people don't, you know, they might misinterpret the Bible, because they're misreading what the original context was supposed to be. Yeah, and I wanted to read Mark 3, 13th or 19th, guys, part of this, which this kind of answers our question, because a part of this table talk says, "After all, no one ever became an apostle or saw the resurrection firsthand without first being called by the Lord." And this is Jesus appointing the 12th, and so it goes, "Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, those he wanted, not just me thinking, 'Ey, Apostle Gregor, Apostle Evan,' and they came to him. He appointed 12 that they might be with him, that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons." These are the 12 appointed, you know, Simon, James, Zebedee, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Alpheus, Thaddeus, Simon, the zealot, and Judas. So that's only, I mean, I don't think Paul even, Paul didn't really talk about this diddy unless I'm missing this here. No, I don't, I'm not sure that he did. I don't recall, I don't recall that happening. The, you know, there were 12 chosen, and then apparently we have a 13th with Matthias, but and interesting though about Matthias is we never, we never hear much about him again. I mean, he might, he might have been brought up indirectly, but, but he's never really talked about much after he was chosen. So, oh yeah, yeah, I think Matthias means chosen by God. I actually do know someone, they're really good people and their son is actually named Matthias. And I think that's, you know, chosen one by God. First Corinthians 15-9 guys, Paul says this, he says, "For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." And like, after Paul's call, wasn't that basically it? I mean, you got, you know, the disciples to the apostles, and then Paul was called, and then the church, you know, foundation was right there. I actually have a, you know, Bible commentary here, guys, on Matthias. It's a little paragraph here. This is a Halley's Bible Handbook, which is actually really good. It says, so here we go, "Joseph, also known as Brasabbas, and Justice, and Matthias, were posed as candidates to become the 12th apostle. The apostles began the selection process in prayer, asking for the Lord's guidance in the selection. Then they cast lots to allow God to have a hand in choosing the right man. Matthias was chosen to take Judas' place to keep the number of the apostles at 12. Nothing further is known, nothing further is known of Matthias, as you said, Greg. The number 12 appears to represent God's people, Israel consists of 12 tribes. The church was built on 12 apostles and the foundations of the New Jerusalem, which has 12 gates, bear the names of the 12 apostles." Isn't that kind of interesting? Yeah, the number 12 is apparently used in quite a bit in the Bible, and has its meeting, number seven as well, I believe. There's certain numbers that mean a lot, biblically, and so, yeah, we're seeing the 12, a lot of places everywhere, and the importance of that for us too. It's almost kind of interesting though that when you look back, when they're talking back in 15 through 20, that you were kind of mentioning this a little bit, disciples become apostles, but there were 120 people back in verse 15. In those days, Peter stood up among the believers, this is after Christ, and a group numbering about 120 and said, "Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago," but they had 120 followers that were disciples, it looks like, but not all disciples are apostles, but all apostles are disciples. So it was interesting that I'm almost looking at that 120 and thinking, "Hmm, that's a derivative of 12," so I don't think it means, I don't know what it means, but it just crossed my mind that, "Wow, you got that," and I wonder how much that mattered in terms of the number of the 12 that we were just looking at, but I don't see anything else where it breaks down as a group of 10, for example, 10 of 12, to make 120, but they had to look through and they found, as you go down further, it talks about Judas and where he fell headlong and his intestines spilled out. So that didn't turn out so good for Judas, but. Yeah, that was pretty grim, that's a grim fairy tale right there, guys. Yeah, but it's interesting that I did look up a little bit that a disciple is considered a learner or a student and apostles are messengers and there was one area where I was looking at that broke it down. I like that you said that, Greg, because my Bible here, I didn't read this, it was right in front of my stupid face, it could have hit me in the face. A disciple is defined as in the Bible as a learner, one who entered into the fellowship of Jesus, rabbinic instruction, though the apostles were disciples, not all disciples became apostles, and then an apostle enjoyed a special office in the New Testament church, the term apostle means one who was sent. So I like how we both kind of thought it was both there, right, you know, for us, I always thought it was one who was chosen, which isn't that the same thing sent and chosen, almost? I think the disciples were considered more people who were learners. I think that's what it broke down, that they were students, and then like you said, the apostles were the ones that were possibly more chosen, they were called by him to spread the gospel. I was just looking up something on study.com, and apostles were primarily people who met and followed Jesus during his life and were called by him to spread the gospel. Disciples were simply any of Jesus' followers who devoted themselves to learning from him. So another note from this, it's interesting, I never realized this though. So it says Paul is a special apostle of the Gentiles, Paul's apostleship was a matter of some debate because he did not meet all the requirements for an apostleship, except for the acts. The criteria as we talked about here in the table talk included one being a disciple of Jesus during his earthly ministry, two an eyewitness of the resurrection and three called the commission directly by Christ, which he was called the commission, but I don't think he did any of the previous ones. So he met one of the three. Paul is not a form of disciple in his vision of the resurrection Christ occurred after his ascension. Paul is not an eyewitness of the resurrection the same way the other apostles were. Nevertheless, Paul was directly called to the office by Christ. His call was confirmed by other apostles whose apostleship was not in doubt and was authenticated by the miracles God performed through him, attesting his authority as an apostolic agent of revelation. That's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, the, all the things, the way that things break down are just amazing how, how all this stuff just kind of goes in, in a certain order and how, how there is a purpose for everything. And then we have to remember that and so yeah, we were, there was a purpose at Biblically for everything and we have to remember there's purpose for us in everything. And sometimes we don't get things the way we want or sometimes we have to go through some struggles but there's, there's purpose. It's like the, the old book Purpose Driven Life and, but there's purpose for all the things that happen and the same thing for Paul saw, saw Paul and continuing on. And we always have to remember that God has a purpose for everything for us. And what I also thought was interesting guys, which here's where we can apply this to our lawn care landscaping, I'm actually sitting here, my cat is sitting on the ottoman looking at me with her eyes half slit and that's what I'm preaching to someone, hi Gwen. So verse 24 here, well, let's, let's back up to 23 and they propose to, so they're talking about which apostle they're going to choose next. Joseph called Bar Sabbaths who was surnamed Justice and Matthias and they prayed. So after they proposed it, what do they do guys? They had, they had to make a decision on something and they prayed and I like this prayer. You Oh Lord, who know the hearts of all show which of, sorry, my patron, these two you have chosen to partake in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell that he might go to his own place. And it's interesting. I mean, Greg, I don't think we'd cast lots, but they cast their lots and the lot fell in Matthias and he was numbered with the 11 apostles and you know, to piggyback back to the commentary. You know, it says here that, you know, in this Hellish commentary, it was, it was strange. They cast lots to allow God to have a hand and choosing the right man. They must have really, I don't know, really held on to casting lots as kind of like a, I mean, do they, I always thought casting lots, I didn't really research any of this. Do they stand around the circle and kind of throw something and it was just kind of like luck and fate, right? Which I don't know. I mean, how, how do they give God glory and doing that? Because I mean, if we did that today, that'd be a pretty, that, that, that'd be a red flag for practice like that. Yeah. You know, if you think about it that way, yeah, if you were going to choose, if you're looking for a new pastor for your church, you got two people to choose from, do you cast lots and, and decide, decide if, you know, they said that these guys were basically equal. They saw no difference. Where was it that they said that they saw no difference between the two? There was, were equally good candidates and nothing in particular favored one over the other. That's what it said back in the devotional. And so they kind of looked at it and said, okay, God, we've, we've gotten this far. You help us the rest of the way. And then they, they wound up, they wound up choosing lots and, and God chose Matthias. Well, but would, would a church, would you see a church do something like that? They have two pastor candidates and are they going to, are they going to draw lots to determine who's going to be their next pastor? I don't know. That would be an interesting situation to be able to see. Or like, do we cast lots to determine if we're going to buy Echo brand or, you know, still or red max or something like that, though. But what I really, what's that, that'd be weird, you know, choosing a new pastor casting lots and one of their, my Bible does say this, though, about casting lots, lots are mentioned in the Old Testament as a means of ascertaining God's will. Presumably the Irm and Thumman in them kept by the highest priest had this function. So I know the high priests would do that, but, you know, that's like, as I was joking with you earlier, it's like, you know, betting on sports or gambling, right? I mean, you are kind of casting lots, you know, either going to a casino, you know, you're pulling the slots or, you know, throwing a bet down on a team to win. That's just, that's just, you know, luck. I've been chance. I'm surprised that they held onto this, but the first, I mean, the first thing they did right there was they prayed, they, they had a decision guys to make and we should do this all the time with our, you know, businesses, though, too. And I've done that, though, you know, make it a hard decision, how I want to do my routes, how I want to go about, you know, doing my schedule or just silly things, how, how to deal with clients. And this prayer was just so biblical. You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of, man, I hit that page turn, these two you have chosen. So it's like, well, Lord, I'm waking up today, just, you know, show me through your word and your prompting of the Holy Spirit, just, you know, how you want me to best handle this client today, or best, you know, behave to, you know, give you glory. And I'm saying, you know, darn, I thought I went through most of this episode, not saying you that darn, but what do you think about that, Greg? I was just trying to look up how did they cast lots in the Bible, but one way was using different colored or marked stones, producing binary outcomes had to use that word binary right now, yes or no, good or bad, selected or rejected. So that was one way they did it. And what it does it look, I'm trying to look up the branch from a fruit bearing tree and divided into small pieces, which they mark with certain distinctive signs and scatter at random on a white cloth. So there's a couple of different ways they would do it. They would just use different colored stones or are marked stones and, and determine how they were going to do it and or what, what the outcome was going to be, I guess they would have, they would have a set parameter and okay, if we get, you know, if we get seven colored, if we get seven red ones as opposed to five and what they were 11 of them. So six and five, we had to have six and five casting lots. So not sure how they did it in this case, but it would be interesting to see which way they did, which way they did cast lots. So I'm sorry, what was your question again? Where were we at? Oh, to kind of steer it back, you know, which is funny, this is why people like our podcast. I can stay on topic, but I'm glad you dropped that, you know, truth bomb Greg of casting lots because it's like, I mean, well, they talk about it, God's word, but we really don't know that much about it. But you know, I like when they're, you know, again, anyways, the apostles had to make a decision here and they prayed about it and how oftentimes do we make decisions and not consider God's word or even pray. So that's what I was trying to relate that to business practices here, guys, making tough decisions, you know, contracts, prepay, things like that. Do you guys pray and we should constantly be in, you know, pray without seizing guys and seizing. And do I do that all day? I definitely don't. And we don't have to cast lots like they do, we can just run to God's word, our casting lots should be going to God's word. So that's what I was trying to relate to. Okay. Now, yeah, I don't pray enough probably when I'm making some of my decisions. A lot of times I just, I'll take a look at it and say, okay, this seems like the best way to go. And you know, I think sometimes that's okay, but there are times that we really need to be praying. But when you look back in the Bible, these guys, they prayed about everything and I don't do that enough. I need to pray more about decisions that need to be made. So and in work, in, like you even said, routing, what's the best way to route this? What's praying about keeping my clients happy, pray about our opportunities to talk with our clients, to share with them. So there's a lot of things that we should be praying for that sometimes I, I don't, I don't make those prayers and I, I should be doing that. So. Well, Proverbs 1633 says this, and we, we read this in the devotional, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. So everything, every decision that, you know, we do, I mean, God ultimately establishes our steps because it also says some problems, you know, we make our plans, but the Lord establishes our steps. Many are the plans in the mind of the man, but it's the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Okay, we're obviously not robots, but there has to be a sovereign. So it's interesting that they will, as his other commentary said on Halley's that they probably did this lot casting to glorify God in, you know, such a way, which I'm still, I'm still the shake in my head. I wonder if you guys wonder if the Lord even, you know, approved of that. It's an interesting thing to think on, but I'm glad, well, see, we not, we might not cast lots, but we do other things too, like after praying, we just hop on social media and, you know, do things like that, which is probably worse than casting, casting lots was, but I, I really enjoy this though, Greg. I thought, you know, this is something that we should really practice in passages like this. We need to dwell on and mull over this stuff even while mowing guys and to kind of pivot and transition, which is still applicable for this. What do you guys listen to while you're mowing me? A lot of conservative, good podcast, a lot of biblical stuff, I get political, but what I try to do with the volume low, as Greg was talking about, not to player volume too loud, which is just applicable. I just sit there and listen to the Bible, you know, I'll go through first Peter, Philippians, you know, Galatians, Ephesians, and I put it on 1.5 speed. The Bible app has this guy who kind of talks like this is monotone, but funny thing though, as I had a buddy over yesterday, Greg, you know, in the Bible app, you can change it to an ESV that sings. So it's, it's like, I should try to play this here. That's on Bible gateway. Can you do that? There's, so like, you can listen to this here. Oh, yeah, like, it's the funniest thing. Here it is here. So, well, they have the monotone guy, you know, it might be this new Testament here. Not sure if this is a work or not that anyways, but what do you listen to and we should allow God's word and it's evident through the new Apostles chosen that, you know, they prayed a lot and they knew God's work because this is a really powerful prayer. You say it again. This is the third time. Read this guys. You, oh Lord, who know the hearts of all show which of these two you have chosen to take part in this ministry and the apostleship from which Judas by transgression felt. It's just, I want to pray prayers like that and it's called, we should take God's, you know, word with us though, too, because I think it was Jacob who would pray it was in Genesis. I think it was Jacob pretty sure prayed back God's word because a part of it says for it's a jet. It's in Genesis 33. I think where Jacob quotes, he goes, for you have said, Oh, Lord, and that's what we need to do too. And we could do this by knowing God's word better and especially during the off season. Our buddy Aaron Sutter, Greg with the mulling of the dark podcast, we'll have to get get him, pardon me coughs like a one, one minute, we'll have to get Aaron back on. He was on the show and Ben was the host and he has a podcast, all mulling stuff too, but he does faith Fridays and he's going, it's, it's funny by no coincidence, Greg. He's going through the book of acts, just reading it, first five verses. So we're kind of coat telling him right now, though, too. But I ask Aaron, Hey, what do you listen to? I mean, he listens to stuff. It's just for him. It's just God's word. Just listen to God's word and you, Greg, may not always listen to things, but you can be dwelling on God's word with silence, ear protection with the mower in the background. Right. Well, I've, I've got a reason for not listening to stuff when I'm mulling as I've said on a previous podcast. I'm blind in my left eye. So I'm already compromised. So for me to be able, for me to put something else on, because when you, when you have something going on in your ears, you're slightly compromised and I'm already compromised being blind in the left eye. So I need to make sure I'm paying attention fully. And that's, that's by choice that I don't, I don't listen to anything. And that's, I mean, I've walked out in front of cars before and not even realized it. So if I had music or something going on, I, I would probably get run over by a car. And so that's, that's by choice. And that's for me very purposeful. And I don't like stuff in my ears anyway, but I'll listen to, you know, in between when I'm driving to, to the next, next stop, I'll, I'll have something on, I'll listen. I like Chuck's Windall and Tony Evans. Oh, he's great. Both are really good. Yeah. Both of those guys I really like. And I try and listen to those guys when I'm driving along, I'll just put it on my, run it through my phone and, and listen to whatever else they're working on right now. But, but you going back to what you were saying is, you know, we need to be pray without ceasing in your first Thessalonians 516 through 17 says, rejoice, always pray without ceasing and give thanks in all circumstances. And that's, you know, pray without ceasing. That's what we need to be working on. And through listening to God's word, I think in a sense you're, you're in prayer by listening to that word. And yeah, I don't want to take too much leeway with that, but by, by listening to his words, that's in a, in a sense helping you to be able to pray. But I've, you know, you mentioned also heaven listening to some things and I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Oh yeah. And that's, that's important for us as well. So we, if we can have scriptures that we can, we can run through our head praying while we're going. We've talked about that 15 to 30 second prayer because inevitably we're coming up on a stick or something that we have to pay it. Well, got a turn coming here. I bet it turned. That's funny. So, but that's there. That's the beauty of the 15 second prayer, so those couple of things, those are areas where I think it's just important for us to be able to continue to do. Yeah. And we want to keep hitting this though, guys. I don't think people realize how important this is though, too. Yes, this is a business and lawn care podcast, but Greg and I is, I've even talked about this with Aaron Sutter and our other buddy, Tony Rudolph with lawn care talk. You know, we are not, I mean, by doing a devotional, we're definitely not helping ourselves with the algorithm or within the search. But then yet again, I'll play devil's advocate here, guys. We are. There's a lot of people that are thirsty and hungry for God's word right now, because this is a messed up world. It's, it's, it's the moral revolution right now. I think we're actually in some sense churches are waking up and some of them are getting back to God's truth and Greg and I and Aaron and I think Tony too, we're like, we're taking the stand here by doing something like we could talk about something else though, Greg and probably have a bigger, you know, listenership and things like that. But we're choosing to do the opposite because we're not in this for, you know, followers and things like that. We are in it to try to hopefully, aside from my, you know, as in your occasional us, is give people some hope and truth. You're right. I had somebody approach me the other day and said, you guys should not be talking about the Bible as much and you guys should be really trying to appeal to a wider audience and that's not our purpose and, and they didn't get it. And I said, no, this is what we're doing. This is why we do it the way we're doing it. And, you know, and they said, well, you shouldn't discuss politics either. I said, hey, we can, we can just discuss some political stuff. We're not getting in depth in it, but we can, we can talk about politics if we want. And we can talk about the scriptures because we wouldn't be where we are without God. And, and, and in a, in a sense, it's funny because I was working at our church and I was doing youth work for probably 15 years. And between the, between the couple of churches, two, three churches that I'd been at, I did a lot of youth work, a lot of middle school and high school and even, even the younger kids too. And I just got to the point where a couple of years ago I said, you know what, I don't think my heart's there anymore and decided to step, step away from it. And I was thinking, you know, what else could I do? And then this opportunity came up and I thought, well, maybe this is something that I could do. I can still do stuff at my church, but I've just not, I'm not in the teaching mode at church right now. Occasionally I'll have some stuff pop up and do it, but this is, this is maybe a new ministry for us or for me to be able to do and, you know, I'm glad to have the opportunity to do it. Exactly. This is, this has caused me guys through this podcast, I'm curious to who kind of told you to not do the Bob, so you tell me that later, Greg, or do I know this person? You could. I'm surprised someone even had the Cajonias to come up or whatever to come up and, you know, that kind of, I can be a little fire off the hip guys, that would take me off there a little bit. It's like, Oh yeah, it's like, I would tell them, well, you try to launch a podcast. You try to do this because we could sure be more popular, but back to the main point. Even do these. I mean, I call them lawn care devotional Monday. That's kind of rank low in the algorithm or, you know, Aaron Sutter just has an axe. He calls it Faith Friday. That's not going to get you anywhere, but he actually gets a lot of listeners like his most popular shows are when he does. Faith Fridays and our lawn care devotional Mondays actually do very well and we see we're getting good feedback doing this and part of this though, too, like doing a regular shows where we just kind of shoot the crap, you know, just talk about lawn care and business or have people on. We do have an exciting guest. Hopefully get him on this week when he is done doing snow work. You know, this is really caused me to actually listen back. Paul Jameson on his podcast, a podcast tip guys. He says, go back and listen to your podcast and just try to better yourself though, too. He's a man of faith too, but I sit there like this is tough to prepare for even a devotional guys. It's already set for us and to speak in a way that hopefully I'll build and I just repeat myself all the time. It's sure it's nerves and stuff and word Greg and I are honest, what were the first ones to self deprecate and really make fun of each other on the show, but I've learned so much guys just by even going back and forth here with Greg about devotional Mondays and going through the Bible. It's just been a real refresher here, but you know, this is tough to do even with the off season because it's so easy to get distracted. But we really guys, we just appreciate you guys listening and I don't think I have anything else. Greg, you got anything else? You know, I'm all set, I think we're good. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give thanks in all circumstances, and I'm thankful for the opportunity we've had here. I need to pray more and make sure that I'm following God's word and the apostles were the perfect example of that. They prayed, they chose between two, they weren't sure who to go with and they drew lots to ask God, who do you choose, God, and then they wound up choosing the pious, so that's what we need to do is pray and reach out to God and ask Him which way we want to go. There you go, guys, we'll see you later on this week.