40 Minutes In The Old Testament - Episode 66 (Exodus 3:18-4:17)

Episode Date: December 13, 2016

Chad and Daniel wrap up Moses' conversation with God. Compulsion and striking with miracles don't have Moses feeling great about all this but God isn't asking... He's telling. Check it out!

welcome back to 40 minutes in the old testament i'm daniel emery price joined by chad bird chad how are you doing i'm good hope everybody else is doing good ready to uh check up on our friend moses see what's happening with him yeah he's about to get the uh the marching orders as it were we talked a lot about the divine name and we talked about some milk and honey and uh now god's gonna tell him tell him some stuff about the details of uh of how he's gonna go about doing this thing that's it that's it he kind of lays it all out here in these next few verses. So we'll see how Moses reacts to that, see how gung-ho or not very gung-ho he is about this mission. All right, let's do it. Yeah, so last time we talked about especially the divine

name. Moses is at the burning bush, of course, and Moses first of all says to God, you know, who am I to go and do this great thing that you're asking me to? And God says, well, look, I'm going to be with you. So I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to do this through you. And then Moses follows it up with saying, well, what name am I supposed to give to the Israelites when I tell them that you've sent me? And so God reveals his name. We, we kind of, we talked about that and tells them, you know, here's what you're going to do.

You're going to, you're going to go, you're going to say, Yahweh, the God of your fathers appeared to me. He's concerned about you. He knows what's been done to you in Egypt, and he's going to bring you out of here, and he's going to take you all the way to the land that's flowing with milk and honey. So that's kind of where we left it last time. But God isn't quite finished. We still have a few verses left in this speech that God is giving to Moses. So we'll see now kind of the way he lays out the plan.

Really, in these next few verses, God more or less summarizes everything that's going to happen. And not, of course, not all the details are there, but the basic gist of what's going to go down in Egypt is laid out here about what Moses is going to say, how Pharaoh is going to react, and then finally how they are going to exit Egypt. So that's what we got there. I'm at verse 18 at this point in chapter three of Exodus. So God says, you know, you're going to go to the elders of Israel. So these are the elders of Israel are like many elders in ancient cultures. They're the judicial leaders, the social leaders of the community. So it's not like Moses is going to walk in there and do everything on his own.

He's going to, as much as he can, enlist the elders to stand beside him, to help him, to help persuade the people. so he's going to go to them first and then he's he through them is going to go to the rest of the israelites so uh he and the elders of israel are uh they're gonna they're gonna get together and uh they are uh they're gonna go to pharaoh and they're gonna make this i don't know if you want to call it a request or a demand but this is what they are to say yahweh the god of the hebrews has met with us so now please let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the lord our god now uh of course the question arises here is uh is this is this a three-day journey into the wilderness supposed to be just a three-day journey into the

wilderness and then a return or is it kind of an open-ended request because technically he doesn't to say anything about coming back after they've gone on this three-day journey into the wilderness? Or is this kind of a test to make this request to Pharaoh and then to see how he's going to react? I mean, it's not honestly that burdensome of a request. We do have some ancient Egyptian records of requests such as this being honored by the leadership of Egypt. You know, they have servants, they have slaves, they have various kinds of groups of people in their midst who are allowed to basically what we would call practice religious freedom. And the three days journey actually makes sense because as we hear later on, I think it's in chapter eight, the sacrifices that the Hebrews would have offered would have been an abomination to the Egyptians. So this is kind of, instead of saying, hey, can we celebrate a festival right here in the middle of Egypt in which we make these sacrifices, which would be an abomination to the Egyptians, he's saying, hey, why don't we go out into the wilderness, put some space between us and you, and we'll do our religious thing there so as not to offend the Egyptians.

now i guess we could you know we could we could debate as to uh as to how uh completely uh open and honest this this request is but i think that would that would really uh miss the point here because the way it works out is that pharaoh doesn't honor the request anyway in fact the very next word after god says to moses hey this is the request i want you to make to pharaoh The very next words out of God's mouth are this, but I know, but I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go except under compulsion. So even though this request is going to be made, it's null and void. It's not going to be allowed by the Pharaoh. So if anything, it's an opportunity for this hardness of heart within Pharaoh to manifest itself early on.

He will not even allow them to do this. And so the only way that they're going to be able to get out of Egypt is when God uses a strong hand, as the Hebrew literally says there, when he makes them act under compulsion. That's the only way that the exodus is going to take place. There's a couple of different ways that God causes things to happen. One is when he just sort of speaks things into happening, right? So this is a creation of the world or, you know, blind men getting their sight back, stuff like that, right? And it just happens.

This is how salvation works. He just does it. just regenerates a person, being, you know, the second birth is completely supernatural. I think that that's a little bit different than God saying, like, hey, this isn't going to happen

unless under compulsion. Now, the first thing, where God just speaks things into being and just causes things to happen, just raises dead men to life, you want that. that's something that like we've all had done to us we were all dead and trespasses and sins and he roses from the dead right what you don't want is god to have to roll out compulsion on you

because that's good that's not good that's that's because that means that like he's gonna cause you to change your mind not make you change your mind but bring about some stuff that's gonna to change your mind that's that's a much harder uh thing to deal with yeah when god makes you cry uncle it's it's never good it's gonna it's gonna be ugly by the time by the time it's over yes you know he could he could just say like look pharaoh's not gonna do it so i'm just gonna make him do it because i'm gonna change his heart and that would be that'd be real nice this sounds real good but that's that's not exactly what's gonna happen here was he's like i'm gonna he'll only do it under compulsion and i'm gonna compulse him it's funny that that seems to be the way god

usually works in my life he's under compulsion you know yeah it's like it's like uh whenever i read psalm 23 you know the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he he makes me lie down in green pastors and i always think like yeah sometimes he does make you lie down like yeah i have this picture of god like you know he's got his knees on me pressing me into the ground oh you're gonna lie down you can lie down or you can be made to lie down you know either one yeah either way it's gonna happen yeah this this is this is this could be easy or this could be hard and for some reason i always i always choose the hard way you know you're six years old you know you think i would I would have learned by now, but it doesn't seem to work that way.

You're constantly pulling a pharaoh? Yeah, I've got a little pharaoh that is quiet at home inside my heart, and so God is constantly plaguing him to twist his arm into going his way. I mean, that is actually a great image. a lot of the church teachers throughout the centuries have spoken of the old Adam that we drag around with us, our sinful nature, as a pharaoh, you know. He's only going to do things under compulsion. So, you know, that's the thing about our sinful nature. The only way it's going to cooperate is by force so you know you got you have you still have to have a law which uh which

threatens and cajoles and twist the arm the old adam and forces him to to do what what what god desires so that you know the the new man within us created by faith uh in baptism this this new nature that we have doesn't need any of that it's just like you know it's like the fruit tree that just just bears fruit you know it doesn't have to really think about it or or uh or be forced into it it just does so the it needs no law because it it automatically does what god what god demands but pharaoh on the other hand the old adam within us is is a completely different animal uh he has to be uh constantly forced by the strong hand of god to do things under under compulsion so we got this dual reality going on with us all the time part of us is always willing and

ready to do good works and part of us is always willing and ready to be obstinate and to do only what what it desires yeah yeah yeah i think that's an interesting point that whenever i see that the word compulsion, I'm like, that's not good. No, compulsion is never a good word when God is the subject and we are the object.

It's never going to be pretty in the end. Yeah, like it's like when you have an all-powerful being saying, I'm going to make you a deal you can't refuse. That's not good? No. We know who's going to win.

And as the rest of the as the rest of the history as it's uh as it appears here in these next few chapters makes abundantly clear you know by the 10th plague uh pharaoh has been compulsed quite enough uh he's he's he's lost just about everything and then he finally after all of this finally lets them go you know but the amazing thing about that is even though he has been forced under compulsion to do this you notice what he does and i know we're getting way ahead of the story here but you notice what he does immediately after immediately after he finally says okay just go he changes his mind well he pursues them into the wilderness yeah i think there's a great um

law gospel thing to be said about that and i mean i'm sure we'll talk about it at the time we get there but um it's kind of what like compulsion with punishment and law does it is because it doesn't have any ability to change your heart and and the goal here that that god is god is not for whatever reason he knows why uh he's not attempting to change pharaoh's heart uh he's compulsing him to do this thing and uh you know the the gospel comes in grace comes in and and changes your heart and gives you different desires but compulsion is is a being forced into it doesn't but this is what the law does like it it demands eventually and you and you finally say fine okay um but that but you also do it um begrudgingly you do it angrily i mean i mean

when he does this i mean he's angry he's ticked off he did i mean he and you you see that play out there and like and he's like that and you see that wrath then that he in which he goes after the israelites um that's what that's what happens when um when the law is used i mean it's god using it here to draw out these distinctions for us to see uh but it does tell us something as people as we try to get people to change or or do things the way we wanted to do compulsion won't change that didn't change their heart man it might make them do it but it won't it won't end up yielding good fruit yeah that's the thing about the law you can always get some kind of result from it You know, you can guilt people into it. You can twist people's arms into it.

You can you can do whatever you want with the law and you and you will get some at least temporary results. But it's going to be for all the wrong reasons. And eventually it's going to lead to the opposite of what you desire, because people are acting not by the spirit of God, but but under under compulsion. So in the end, the law ends up, the actions of using the law to accomplish this good actually undermines the very purpose that a person set out with. Yeah. All right. Well, now that we've gotten way ahead, how's this going to work? Yeah, I guess we can just jump to Exodus 16 now since we've covered all these intervening chapters. Yeah, so God says, listen, tell him this, and I know that the king of Egypt won't permit you to go except under compulsion. So here's what I'm going to do.

And this is, like I said earlier, he's kind of summarizing what he's going to, what's going to unfold in this next few chapters. He said, I'm going to stretch out my hand, and I will strike Egypt. Oh, that's never good. I will strike Egypt with all my miracles, which I shall do in the midst of it. And after that, he will let you go. There's sort of a play on words here in the Hebrew that I like, too, this idea of stretching out. Actually, the same verb occurs two times in this verse. It's kind of like, I will send out my hand against him, and he will send you out from Egypt.

So you've got a cause and effect going on here. god is going to stretch out or send out his hand and he's going to smite he's going to strike egypt and after that then pharaoh will uh stretch you out or send you out of egypt as a as a result of it but he says uh not only not only is that going to happen but i will also god says i will also grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians and it shall be that when you go you will not go empty-handed so every woman's going to ask of her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house for articles of silver and articles of gold and for and for clothing and says you shall put them on your sons and daughters and thus you will plunder the Egyptians so

you have this uh remarkable reversal that's going to take place the uh the slaves are going to be enriched by their masters and thus leave their their masters impoverished and there's you know there's some uh there's some justice in this because these people had been enslaved and so this is in some small way a remuneration for all of the uh the servitude they'd suffered and the deprivation that they have they have undergone they are now enriched by by the egyptians as they as they leave so and which you know and that's what happened and actually uh uh come to think of it this this isn't the first time that we that we've heard this because way back in genesis chapter 12 this was this was already prophesied when when god spoke to uh uh when god spoke to

to abraham about you know what was what was going to happen in in future generations uh he talked about how he was going to i don't know if it's exodus 12 or not but how he was going to send his people. Oh, here it is. He says that his descendants are going to be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years. This is Genesis 15. But he's going to judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward, they will come out with many possessions. So this isn't the first time that God has promised this. Already in Genesis 15, this was promised. So it's finally now coming to fulfillment. So we kind of have a whole picture here. Moses is going to approach pharaoh make the request pharaoh is going to stubbornly refuse god's going to strike egypt

it doesn't say how at this point but he says he's going to strike egypt to finally let you go and when you do go you're not going on empty-handed you're going to go out with all this plunder from from the egyptians makes it sound so easy i mean that that's all that's all that's all we got to do right it's all summarized in these few verses but uh yeah things don't things don't go quite that easily. There's going to be a few bumps along the road. But that takes us to the end of chapter 3. Look at that. Yeah, yeah, making

progress here. So, God has been talking a lot. He started talking way before the end of chapter 3. And presumably, Moses has been just standing there listening,

taking all this in. And no doubt, he's uh moses is beginning in his mind to to grasp the enormity of what god is asking him to do he's just now heard of course what pharaoh's reaction is going to be and no doubt moses is thinking okay what is it what does god mean by striking the egyptians and and what all is that going to entail these two were like this phrase is a is a confusing phrase like when we okay when you hear the word miracles you think nice thoughts yeah yeah everybody's happy at the end of a miracle right you think about like when someone says dude it was a miracle they're not

like it was a miracle my aunt got cancer wait what it was a miracle um something felt like an asteroid fell to the sky on my house no you're like that's not a miracle that's that's like a tragedy yeah it's not a curse or something and so and so when you when you and like and that's sort of implied with the word strike so like this phrase like i'm gonna strike them with my miracles is like wait what striking with miracles that that doesn't that does not fit together in our mindset no not at all no like i think because of the you know i mean again i mean like old or new testament most of the time miracles are like are good i mean like we see miracles in the old testament we see miracles in new testament uh by and large they're very good things

uh miraculous uh acts of grace and compassion and but when you hear the word strike like that's never good it was you ever you ever hear about someone being struck with healing no no but yeah i'm glad that you brought it up because that that is a great point and i think it accents something that is often overlooked that that the miracles of god uh serve a dual purpose. One, of course, is what we ordinarily think of. They are there to manifest the grace of God in restoring sight or restoring physical health or even life, like in the case of Lazarus or the widow's son at Nain. Or feeding 5,000. Yeah, or feeding 5,000. I mean, all of these have this positive side to them this is this is god bringing about a restoration of creation

this is him acting really as when jesus does his his miracles of healing and of feeding and all of that these are jesus acting as creator he's uh he's showing to the world that he is the one who spoke everything into being at the beginning and thus he and thus he is the one who speaks into recreation or into restoration as the creator made flesh so that that's that's one certainly one good and positive purpose of the miracles but you notice that uh that they have this they have this dark side too because when you have miracles happen it also provides an opportunity for those who reject christ who reject this gracious action of god to complain and to murmur and to reject Christ. You know, so when the man is healed of his sight in the gospel of John,

it gives an occasion on the part of the Pharisees to attack him and to attack Christ. And even when the multitudes are fed in the wilderness, what do they turn right around and do? They try to make Jesus into a bread king. So the miracles kind of serve a dual purpose. And I guess you could say this about, I don't guess, I know you could say this about any gracious action of God, is it is there to engender faith and thanksgiving in the hearts of people, but it's also there as a sign against unbelief, and it gives unbelievers, those who reject the love of God, it gives them an opportunity to basically to rebel even against this this gracious action so that's that that's that other side of miracles that i don't think that we hear that we hear enough about but which

actually fits with how god works and with how people react anytime anytime that you have a gracious action of god that can be in a miracle that can be in god forgiving someone there is this flip side to it where there's always going to be a negative reaction to that on the part of on the part of sinners in which they they they reject this instead of seeing it as something they should receive with with thanksgiving so yeah the case of uh in the case of egypt to kind of return to the story here that's what it's going to happen i mean this these uh these miracles that god is going to work most of these have a very negative flavor to them of course But it's an opportunity for the Israelites to believe and for Pharaoh and those who follow him to reject.

So they are the decisive action of God that splits people between believing with thanksgiving the miracle or disbelieving with stubbornness and with rejection. yeah and this has got to be this language has got to be something that gives moses pause here that makes him wonder okay what's happening it's okay so we're gonna do compulsion and we're gonna strike people with miracles okay like this this like sounds like this is not going to be a super uh pleasant thing that goes down right and uh and i mean and i think that like to wrap your try to wrap your head around he were saying sort of the enormity of of what of what it is that god is saying he's gonna have him do this isn't like you know uh calling you to to lead 25 people uh you know into the promised land you're talking about millions of people

yeah this is i mean like the entire nation of israel i mean moses gotta be thinking like wait like wait a minute man like how like like how are we gonna like feed all these people how are we gonna shelter all these like what are you like what are you talking about like like this is like i don't want to be responsible for a couple million people right like i'm out tending sheep bro i'm 80 years old yeah yeah so i i think this is finally i mean he's already been hesitant of course, you know, who am I to do this? And what's your name? And all of this. And so rather than actually encouraging him, everything that God has said has just filled him with greater fear about what's going to be required of him. And so because of all that, because of what God has said,

rather than being reassured, Moses is now going to continue his protest against God sending him to do this. And this is where we get to the beginning of chapter four. So after God has spoken, then Moses answers and says, well, what if they won't believe me or listen to what I say? I mean, they may say, the Lord has not appeared to you. So this is another objection. You know, who am I and what's your name? And now it's, well, what if they don't believe me? I mean, yeah, I'm here now.

I'm listening to you. You are in the burning bush. We're having this conversation face to face. So it's one thing for me to believe because I'm hearing it with my own ears. But what if they're not going to believe in what I say? The Lord didn't appear to you. they might say. So what about that? Well, again, I want to accent what I said either in the last episode or maybe even the one before then. God is patient. This whole story has amazed me

about the patience of God. There's a give and take here. Moses will say something. God will say something. Moses will say something. God will say something. God is being extremely patient with him. He's taking into account Moses' hesitation and his fear and his misgivings, and instead of just simply saying, listen, Moses, shut up and go do what I'm saying. He actually answers him. He gives him reasons. He tells him how this is going to work. So this whole narrative is a demonstration of the patience of God with a hesitancy of people. Now, I know he's not always like that in every single narrative in the scriptures, but here he is. He's taking his time.

He's like a very fatherly figure here with Moses. So here's how God responds at this point. So Moses says, how are they going to believe me? And God says, well, all right, I'm going to show you how they're going to believe you. He says, what's in your hand? And Moses kind of, you know, he looks at his hand. And he says, well, a staff, you know, this is a shepherd's crook that he would that he would use for the sheep. And God says, throw it on the ground.

So he throws it on the ground and it turns into it turns into a snake and Moses runs away from it, which which is great. You know, God doesn't tell Moses ahead of time, hey, here's what we're going to do. You know, throw your your your your staff on the ground is going to turn into a snake. He surprises Moses. Moses runs away from it, as we all would. And Moses' reaction is a great optics lesson for himself because his fear is going to be the same fear that the eyewitnesses of this event are going to have later on. And then God says to Moses, stretch out your hand and grab it by its tail. So he stretched out his hand and caught it. And then it becomes, it reverts into a staff once more.

Now, I think that the greater miracle here is not that the staff turned into a snake, but that Moses actually grabbed the snake by the tail. That's that's that's a pretty amazing, amazing feat, if you ask me. But he does. He does it. So we have we have a staff turning into a snake and then back into back into a staff. And then God follows this up by saying, so this is going to happen in order that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has appeared to you. So here is the first miracle, if you will, or as some commentators call it, a magic trick. It's not really a magic trick. It's a divine sign. And God immediately goes into a second one.

He doesn't even give Moses a chance to object or to come up with another excuse yet. He says, immediately says then, now, I want you to put your hand into your bosom. So Moses puts his hand into his bosom, and he pulls it out, and his hand is leprous, like snow. He tells him to put his hand into his bosom again, and he does. And when he takes it out, it's restored like the rest of his flesh. So, of course, the two signs are parallel. You have a change that takes place from something good, from something bad, and then it reverts back. So God is the God who can cause this malady to happen and then who can restore it.

He has this creative power to enable this to take place. And both of these then are signs that Moses is going to be able to use to convince the Israelites. and he says in verse 8 he says and here's what's going to happen if they won't believe you because of the first sign then they'll believe you because of this the second sign so if they don't believe the whole you know serpent staff then they'll believe the the leper's hand but then god isn't done yet he still is not going to let moses set her up because he says look So I'll tell you what, if they don't, if even they won't believe these two signs, if they still won't listen to what you say, because it's almost as if God is saying, listen, I know, I know these people. I know the Israelites.

I know how slow heart they are to believe. And so if if by chance these first two first two signs don't work, then I'll tell you what you what you need to do. then you take some water from the Nile, and you pour it on dry ground, and that water that you pour will become blood. So those are two signs that Moses actually acts out there on Mount Sinai. And then the third sign, of course, he can't yet because he's not in Egypt, but that will be one that he can use once he gets down into Egypt. So this is the way that God responds to Moses' hesitation about whether the people are actually going to believe him. So that's the first objection that we come to in this chapter. But Moses isn't done yet.

And what he comes to next is a complaint about his inability to speak with eloquence. So this is where we're gonna this is where god is finally in the context of this conversation god is finally going to lose his patience with moses because moses then after these signs he follows it up by saying well look god i i have never been eloquent uh not recently not a long time ago not since you've been speaking to me so it's not like i have all of a sudden become eloquent while you're talking to me he says i am uh i'm i'm not an ish davarin in hebrew i'm not a man of words i'm not eloquent he says i am i'm slow of speech and slow of tongue now commentators uh debate as to what exactly moses is talking about you know whether he might have actually had some kind of

speech impediment we don't know that's that certainly is a possibility he could just be making uh an exaggerated claim about his inability to speak with eloquence you know he just not is He's not the man of rhetoric. So he's now really reflecting back upon his own physical limitations. So he was, first of all, worried about the people not believing him, and now he's worried about not being able to speak to them. And God's response is this. He says, Moses, who made man's mouth? Who makes him deaf or dumb or seeing or blind?

isn't it I, the Lord? Now go, and I, even I, he says, will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what you are to say. So this excuse isn't going to work either. Moses is going to be the mouthpiece of God. Just like he said earlier, I will be with you, and now he says, I will be with your mouth. So when it comes time to speak, I'm going to give you the words to say, and it's not a matter of eloquence. It's a matter of power. It's not a matter of you using flowery speech. It's a matter of you actually speaking my powerful words in order to bring about what I desire. And then finally, and this kind of wraps up the excuses that Moses gives. Finally, at this point, Moses can't think of anything else to say. And so he says, please, God, send a message

by whomever you want. In other words, anybody but me. So he's gone through his whole list of excuses. You know, who am I that you should send me? Well, what's your name? What if they won't believe me? Well, I can't speak. So he's exhausted every excuse he can think of. And so finally, he just basically tries to beg off and says, well, just choose somebody else. Send whomever you want just don't make it make it me and it's at this point and only at this point that god gets angry he says then the anger of the lord burned against moses and he was one lucky guy because usually anytime you anytime you hear about the anger of god burning against someone what whatever's going to happen next is not going to be pretty it's going to be it's going to be

catastrophic. But instead of, you know, destroying Moses or something like that, instead, God simply says, well, okay, then we'll go to plan B. He says, look, you've got a brother, Aaron, who's a Levite. This is the first we've heard of Aaron. He's an older brother of Moses. He's three years older, three years older than Moses. And God says, look, I know that Aaron can speak fluently. and and and what's more he is actually on his way out to meet you right now so this is the first we've heard about this i guess this is sort of a you know a backstory that we're just not told about god had must have appeared to aaron in in egypt and told him to come meet moses out in the wilderness so aaron is actually on his way and uh god says look here's what you are to speak to aaron

and put your words in his mouth and I'll be with your mouth and I'll be with his mouth and I'll teach you what you are to do and he will speak for you to the people and it'll come about that Aaron will be as a mouth for you and you shall be as God to him so take your staff in your hand and You can use that to perform the signs, and Aaron will be your mouthpiece. So Moses is not getting out of this. I mean, he's tried everything that he can, and yet nothing is able to break him free of the Lord's assignment. And, you know, this is like so many of the call narratives. God has to push people into fulfilling his mission because they feel themselves unworthy in some way.

But implicit in all of this is that God did not choose Moses because he was eloquent. God didn't choose Moses because he was so persuasive. God didn't choose Moses because he had, you know, this list of credentials a mile long that really, you know, put him at the top as the one who was to deliver Israel. God chose Moses because he was the seemingly wrong man for the job. God was going to use Moses' weaknesses to display his strength. He was going to use Moses' lack of eloquence in order to demonstrate the power of his word. So this is God basically using his own foolishness to show how foolish the wisdom of the world truly is. He's working through that, which is his seeming opposite, in order to bring about this release from captivity for his people, Israel.

Yeah, man. And that's it. That's it. That's 40 minutes. 40 minutes. All right. We covered quite a bit. the conversation between God and Moses is over for now and we're going to see Moses meet up with Aaron and stuff

I believe next time yeah and stay tuned for one of the most unusual narratives in all of Exodus when God meets meets Moses and we have the story of

him and his wife and his uncircumcised son so So some strange stuff coming up here. So stay tuned. Yeah, yeah. Well, guys, hey, I don't know if you've done this yet, but you really ought to by the time this comes out. There's a conference coming up next year.

Seems like a long ways away because it is. It's next October. It's going to be crazy. It's going to be a big, huge party. It's in San Diego, California. A ton of speakers are going to be there. Me and Chad are both going to be there. But there's going to be a lot of stuff going on,

food and music and speaking and if you get in by the end of the year december 31st that's the cutoff date you can get in to this thing for dirt cheap so the the cutoff date for the super early bird uh ticket price is december 31st so uh you should go over to here we still stand dot org and see if you can grab yourself some tickets to that event. Figure out the travel later, but we would love to see you guys there. We're going to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. It's going to be a blast. All right, we will see you guys next week.

Thanks for joining us. Thank you.