Greater Men
by Tim Robinson
June 17, 2026 · Cornerstone Apostolic Church (Chattanooga, TN)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: 1 Chronicles 16:11, Matthew 21:22, Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Philippians 4:6-7, Ephesians 6:12, Ephesians 6:14

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/tim-robinson--greater-men
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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But anyway, uh my uh son-in-law here, he's the one that kind of pushed me into publishing that. He asked me to break down of some lessons I did a few years ago here at the church with our men in a men's class. And uh speaking of where's the man? And and he said, "You could you break that down in 12 lessons?" I said, "Well, I mean, I think if I get Chad GPT to help me, we probably can make it happen." So we did. We made it happen. And then when he he he used it at the his jail ministry and said the guys really kind of got into it and said they they were enjoying it and he said you should make that a you should publish that. So I decided to do that. And so anyway it's out there if you want. It's on Amazon and it's in the uh uh ebook uh audible. I'm doing the audible part of it. So it's got a little southern vernacular in it but you can still understand it. But anyway, uh but where is the man? First, I'm going to talk a little bit about from the lesson six just for a few minutes about the uh diligently seeking, not cas casually checking in. Um key verse is uh 1 Chronicles 16:11. Seek ye the Lord and his strength. Seek his face continually. Uh I'm going to tell a little story here about my daughter Chesnney back a few number of years back when she was about seven or eight years old and she came up to to me and she said, "Dad," she said, "Uh tomorrow in school," she was in elementary school there and she said, "We're going to be playing u I think it was kickball and she said, "I'd like to I'd like to wear sweatpants." Of course, you know, our dress code and girls wear dresses and my wife started her out wearing dresses in school when she started. So I said, "Well," I said, "Uh, can't you wear those sweatpants under a dress?" And what that I really don't want to do that I don't about wearing shorts under a dress and keeping your I know I appreciate you trying to be modest, but she was more, I think, concerned about what everybody else was thinking. And so Ben and I talked about it and I decided to Chasty, she she received the Holy Ghost very young. She was about four years old when she received the Holy Ghost. Pretty pretty sharp kid. She and so she she was really more or less seeking approval. And I told her, I said, "Well, I'll tell you what, Chess." And I prayed about it and asked God to kind of give me direction on how to handle this. And I said, "I'm going to let you decide on this one on this time. I'm gonna let you decide." I said, "Now, mom and I do not agree with it. You wearing the sweatpants. We don't agree with it." Well, boy, she got crying and tore. No. No, Dad. No. No. I don't want to do it that way, Dad. I said, "Yeah, it's because you want dad's approval, and dad's not going to give you his approval on what you're doing, but I'm going to leave it up to you." So, the the time went on and she I mean, she may have wore the sweatpants, I don't know, but she never said a word to me about it again, which made me think that she may have, but then she dealt with it in her own way. And I think she decided that after that, she never asked me about anything I've got again. You know, in the rest of her time in school, she never asked about it anymore. never asked to do any of that. So, I think what I was trying to help her to understand is her to take ownership of what she was asking and not just getting my approval on it, but she needed because I think she was smart enough to understand what it was all about because of how she'd been taught and raised. But anyway, and seek his face continually. And that's a part of seeking God's face continually is following. Don't don't get slack in it. You have to continue to live for God. Uh

and the core aim here is replace convenience with pursuit. God does not reward perfection. He rewards pursuit. Many men want God's protection, peace, and provision without prioritizing his presence. Diligent diligence is consistently consistency when no one is watching. It is choosing God when it's inconvenient, unseen, and uncomfortable. And I think this is where this the part of the diligently seeking him is is is a part of what we're talking about. uh when we're doing things diligently, we're we're trying to make sure we stay on the right track. Uh a a casually connected man cannot sustain sus spiritual leadership in his home and we can't if we don't stand our ground and do what we're supposed to do. We got a lot of little eyes as well as our wife if we're married in here. We are they're watching us. They're watching our every move. Um uh and then constantly pursuing God, wanting him in every part of your life. Our homes will be different when we as men keep God top priority in our lives. And I truly believe that. I believe that. And we've talked about that a lot. I know we're doing the podcast right now talking about that quite a bit about our men. And uh we need to be sure that we make sure that we're in line with God's plan, what God would have for us. And if we as men are diligently seeking God, our wives and children will notice it. The best security you can bring to your family is when you're seeking God diligently. It truly makes a difference. It changes things. And I truly believe it does. There's no doubt in my mind. I believe that that makes all the difference in the world. Even if you feel like you've been failing as a biblical uh husband or father, you can still start making those changes today. You you can make that now. I mean, you can start making those changes now. Um,

Matthew 21:22 says, "In all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive." We can pray and ask God. He hears our prayers. And uh, and I'm skipping over this one quite a bit because I want to get to the the main message that I'm going to be talking about, and it's going to be it it's going to be Where's the man? Lesson seven, winning the war in the mind. But I think before we can win the war in the uh, the winning the war in the mind, we we have to diligently seek after God. Um and uh let's see here and I and I I will ask these questions and uh what com and you can just you don't have to answer these out loud but this is just one of the discussions that was on on my in my book and it said what competes most with God for your attention what is it that kind of messes with you when you're and a lot of times it is things that's necess necessary. A lot of times our jobs don't always line up with church time and and you know when we but there again we have to pick and choose those things. How does your pursuit affect your marriage? What what does diligence look like practically? Practically diligence means applying steady focused energy to complete task thoroughly rather than rushing or cutting corners. But stay on top of it, living it day by day. Um, and I'm going to move on into the winning the war in the mind.

Your thoughts shape your leadership. I truly believe we have to renew our mind daily because the flesh is constantly trying to override the spirit. It's constantly trying to override righteousness. The flesh wants what it wants at any cost. And I think we can all agree to that and relate to that. What we have we have to keep our flesh under subjection to God at all times. We have to um that's why we have to diligently seek God because we can't we can't do it without constantly and daily having a daily prayer time with God and a daily you know dedication to God and talking to God daily. I think quite often I know for myself we sometimes live for the Lord service to service whether it be Wednesday night and Sunday Sunday night and then the rest of the days are like we'll catch back up on those days. But we're living in a day and age and time today to where there's no catching up. We have to do it daily to talk to God daily. We have to. There's no way you can make it from from Sunday to Sunday. It's just too much out there. And the enemy is not letting up. He's not taking any days off. I can promise you that. He's not taking any days off. Um our minds are constantly making choices. And you when I was and I shared this a little bit, I think uh this morning in our men's prayer, but the mind's constantly clicking and making choices.

You know, you ever pull up at a red light and think, should I pull over in that right lane and get to the right lane or should I say to the left? Will I get there faster by going this lane versus this lane? Do any of the rest of you do that? I know I do it. I do. I if I'm in a hurry. Or should I leave a little early or a little later? It's just decisions we're making that's clicking all the time in our mind. Uh should I wear the blue shirt or the green shirt? We talked about that this morning. Uh, should I get gas now or later? Sometimes we wait later. We're on the side of the road because we we we're sitting there guessing. You ever been to the point where you watching that gas and you're going, I wonder how much more I've got on this if I can make it. And so we have to be more mindful when we're making spiritual decisions even more so than these things that we just got that I just got through talking about mentioning. The spiritual decisions is where we're at on this and that's where I'm really aiming at talking about tonight is those particular decisions are the ones that that are lifech changing that changes our lives. Uh moral spiritual decisions. A moral and spiritual decision refers to a choice rooted in a person's core values, ethics, and beliefs about what is truly proper. Rather than being simple everyday choices, these decisions weigh the impact of actions on your own character, your relationship with a higher power and the well-being of those around you. And I mention that quite often about those around you. And I mentioned this in one of our podcast about I remember the time that I remember all the the years back when I was younger and my wife and I first got married and before we got married I just made it a habit to go in my living room and and kneel down and pray is what I that was my place. That's where I prayed and and I continued that after we got married and then continued it after we started having children and just that's just what I did. I mean and never really That was just my time with God. And at times I would hear little feet, you know, running back and forth down the hallway and whispering and be careful, be quiet, dad's praying. You know, I'd hear stuff like that. And even got a picture of two of when they were real real small, probably all three of them at one time on my when I was kneeling down, they was back on my shoulders on my back laying on me while I was down praying. But but the thing that that kind of really hit me is as I got older, my kids started growing up and getting older and stuff. They mentioned the fact that dad, you never know what that did for us as kids to know that you were in there praying every night. And like I said, I was doing it for my, you know, of course I was praying for my family and my wife, my kids, but that visual that visual is so important for them to see their dad and and and we've spoken of it many times about it's it's it's it's God, man, wife, and children. We're in a pretty high ranking position there. And it doesn't mean ranking wise as much as it means of responsibility. And one of the things I remember my uh my bishop telling me from Murersboro one time, brother Dri, he said, and I I didn't, you know, really think much about it or anything, but he said, "Brother Tim, you do know that your wife and your children are watching your every move. I never really give much thought to it. you know, you're just busy trying to do the everyday thing of, you know, working and, you know, and and trying to take care of business and doing what I'm supposed to do, kids getting out of line, you trying to make them get back in line, you know, having to, you know, do whatever and not ever really giving it much thought. But when I started paying a little more attention to it after he said that, quite often I would hear, you know, when there was decisions being made, mom, what did dad say? Mom, what did dad say? What did he say? And it would always be we need to talk. Dad and I need to talk about it. Whatever it may be that we're trying to decide we're going to do. And uh they're watching that. They're watching that every move in us. And as men, that's very important that everything we're doing, they're watching it, you know. And I was even when we're, you know, if the waitress or waiter don't get your order just exactly right, how you react to that, they're watching it. They're learning how to react as well. They're watching us. That's how dad did it, you know. And so those things are important.

Now, we're human and we're going we're going to mess up occasionally. That's going to happen. And there's been a many of times that I've learned to apologize to my children for the way I acted, the way I done, you know. So, it's it's important that we do have that that that visuals there even in the service here, you know, when we're when the music begins or whatever. It's okay for us men to be the first ones to walk up at that altar. Walk up there and worship God. Nothing wrong with that. And you will probably see if that happens, if the men as a whole would do that, you would probably see a whole lot more people up there because they will follow. They will follow. your kids will definitely they'll see dad up there and next thing you know let's go up, you know, and and it's that kind of an example is so important. So important. Um negotiations and choices. This is the thing that's going on in our mind all the time and constantly having to decide what we're going to let stay there that's running around in this little gray matter up here. You know, we have to and we have to come to the realization that we live in a world today where decency is no longer important. How we dress, the lack of clothes we wear, no shame. This is the world we live in. Uh so basically nothing shocks anybody anymore. or the shock factor is gone seems to be in this world today. So that means we have to be mindful within ourselves to to do what we're supposed to do and to be what we're supposed to be and uh asking for God's direction and and and giving given us the you know that conviction there and following that uh in the midst of all the brokenness that's taking place in our world today. We have to make sure we keep ourselves in check making sure that our choices are lining up with God's word. you know, um, we're still talking about the war, winning the war in the mind, and you know, brother Sloan and I were talking and and I don't want to spend a lot of time on this, but if you read the Bible, if you get to studying the word very much, you'll find that the big v downfall a lot of times for the men is lust and the women's is vanity. And those are I mean really you go through and you see different things. You see different stories in the Bible. And what's sad they work hand in hand. You know the vanity is what can get the men in trouble. Uh the way a woman dresses can make away take away a man's power to control if he's not dig diligently seeking God. If he's not keeping himself pure, righteous, and holy before God. Because we're human. It's part of the flesh. It's alive and well. I've said it many times over. I said, "When I want to find out if my my flesh is still working well, I let somebody cut out in front of me in the traffic. Find out real quick that." And then you have to kind of like, you know, remember somebody's watching you. Um, if I look once on you for dressing that way, uh, shame on you for dressing that way. If I look twice, shame on me for looking again. Um that that is the decisions being made right there. That's the negotiations taking place in our minds. That's where we're negotiating. Redirect your thoughts right then and there. Don't wait. You have to, you know, that little song that I remember my wife and I used to work with the little small kids, little lambs I think is what it was called. And my mom, I remember her working with the small kids. Be careful little eyes what you see. Yeah. Be careful little ears what you hear. You know, and that is that stands. I don't know why it's a kids song because it's true for all of us. We have to continue to do that. Take that with us even into adulthood. Man, if we think for a second that we're getting by with the fantasies that are that we're allowing to play out in our minds, we're allowing the enemy to play us his sneaky and conniving games with us. We're t treading on dangerous ground. Um, these are the things that I feel like that our world as a whole is battling and even accepting today. I think it's something that and and what this does is it takes away from what God has for you when you start allowing these things to creep into your life. Um, there will come a day when playing it out in your mind won't be enough. If you're not careful, you will act on those thoughts and it will destroy your walk with God, whatever it may be. Uh this is negotiation taking place in your mind. Uh we have to be careful what we're entertaining in our minds. It's it we we don't have to play it out. We don't um your thoughts shape your leadership.

Romans 12:2 says, "And be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, constantly renewing the mind." And I think we have to do that on a daily basis because it takes off. It goes on goes down down some roads that it don't need to be going down. Understanding the true and and the core aim uh in this particular lesson is understand the true battlefield. Um every compromise begins in the mind. If the enemy influences your thinking, he's influencing your leadership. Men often minimize mental battles, but scripture treats them seriously. A renewed mind protects a family. what you allow to live unchecked in your thoughts will eventually surface in your actions. We just talked about that and it will it and we can and and I think quite often we do think that we can't and I say we uh myself included we we sometimes we have to at that very moment that something is something's going on. And it doesn't matter if you're you're if you're worried about a bill, if you're if you're getting going off on the wrong going off on the wrong track and going in a negative, you know, uh way or whatever, that's the time that you can say, "God, and and redirect up here. Bring my mind back to what the word is talking about. The battlefield is not always visible, but the struggle is real. Many of the greatest victories and many many of the greatest defeats begin in the mind. If we do not read and learn the word of God, the thoughts and influences that in our minds can lead us to make wrong choices. If we do not know what is right, we cannot consistently choose what is right. And as I began to write this particular book and these lessons, it was like God spoke to me and said,"Tim, you've listened and you you you know, you've listened to all these the mentors in your life and you've followed pretty close to it, but have you searched it out for yourself?" And you know, and I've had good leaders in my life and I and that's helped out along along the way. But when I started, you know, I have, you know, I have a son back here, my my biological son. I have, you know, two son-in-laws. And then I have five grandsons. Got a lot of young men that's watching my life. And as I was as I was going through and studying on this, that was what was coming to mind. And I said, "Lord, I've got to make sure that I'm doing what I'm supposed to do and uh to make sure that not only my son and my son-in-laws get it, but my grandsons get it. They get it. They understand what it's all about." Um, we have to ask ourselves an honest question. How important is God's word? uh taking time out to and and you know it's so much easier today. It really it is. It's a lot easier day than it used to be. You know, and I know a lot of people are back and forth about the chat GPT and even the the you know, Google whatever you or Safari researching, but there's a lot of researching you can do to learn a lot and learn it and get it a lot faster than what they used to get it way back years ago when we didn't have all these things that we have today. It's pretty amazing what we have today that we can and I use it. I'll tell you right now, I use it. I use it a lot. And making sure that it lines up with the word of God always, but but still, if you go in and you search in such a way to where you line it up with with the Bible that it will it will line itself up and and you you pray and ask God to give you direction, but you can get a lot of information that will help you to understand better, especially what we're supposed to be as leaders in our homes. We have to ask uh have we truly made it a priority or has it become something we only turn to occasionally talking about the word of God? Something we just pick up every now and then. Sometimes we can feel the presence of God in a powerful way during a a great service and those moments are great. It's great. I mean, I I remember God, you know, kind of dealing with me about that, you know, that sometimes we we were talking about earlier about living from Sunday to Sunday and experiences from Sunday to Sunday as opposed to having a a constant daily walk with God throughout the week. But those services gives you the gooseies or whatever you want to call it. They're great. There's nothing wrong with them, but they will not give you knowledge of the word of God. And as much as you feel like you can go out and conquer the world spiritually and be able to win souls and do it all, you will run out of fuel pretty quick because you need to know the word of God. You need to know it. And one of the things that's so important is to have that word here because it's your ammunition against what's coming against you, the evils that come against you. When you can call on the name of Jesus, when you call on his word, but you call on his name, but when you call on his word and you start quoting his word, it's just something about it. And if you've if you've studied and learned it, you may not be able to just quote it right off the cuff, but it will come. I've I've had it to happen with me to where if there's something that's going on, I'm battling with something that that word will come back to me right then. it to come to me and it'll help me through something that I'm going through. Uh why are we going through so many struggles? Because we don't know the word of God.

And the word of God is our sword. We've heard that. We heard that back in children's church about it being the sword. It's been it's our it's our weapon against what's coming against us. After a Holy Ghost filled service, we may feel strong and ready to live the most holy and righteous life possible. But living right takes more than emotion. It takes understanding. We cannot live according to God's will if we do not first know what his word teaches. We can learn a great deal from preaching and teaching. And we should always be thankful for those who faithfully share God's word. But there's something, I said this while ago, but there is something powerful that happens when a man opens the Bible for himself and begins to study. When we personally read and study God's word, it begins to attach itself to our hearts. It shapes the way we think. It changes the way we respond and it strengthens the spiritual side of our lives. The word of God feeds our spiritual man. Unfortunately, this is often the part of our lives that gets neglected. We work hard to take care of the physical bodies. Oh, I know. I I worked real hard for a while there and had to shy had to kind of cut shy of about 60 pounds where I was really taking care of myself. You know, I was feeding myself a little too much. But sometimes we will allow our spiritual life to become weak because we are not feeding it regularly and feeding it regularly is his word. Feast upon his word. A man cannot be spiritually strong if he is spiritually starving. There will be times when the feel-good moments are not there. There will be days when emotions are not strong and motivation feels low. In those moments, we must rely on the word of God that we have placed in our hearts and minds. What we have studied and learned will sustain us during difficult seasons. When the battle comes to your mind, you will not have to wonder what is true. You will already know. The word will remind you who you are. The word of God will remind you what is right. And the word of God will remind you what God has promised. You know, there's been many of times that, you know, I was in my own business for 30 years and and it was feast or famine. Sometimes it was rolling along and there's a many a time that I just Lord, I hope you see it, I don't. But his word says he'll never forsake me. He'll never leave me nor forsake me. And he never has. He's never let me down. Um, if we want to become the men God has called us to be, we must learn to win the war in our minds. A renewed mind protects a family. What you allow to live unchecked and your thoughts will eventually surface in your actions. Uh, when you renew your mind to the fact that your thoughts matter, you will begin to detox your brain and switch over from fear, worry, and anger to power, love, and sound mind. Begin today to be intentional about paying attention to every single thought that comes into your mind. Keep the good, take the bad captive, and keep your mind fixed on God. And you know, I I was I thought about fixed on God. Fixed is I mean that's secure. It's a it's a secured position and you're constantly getting asked. You know, we won wore these bracelets for years. I think it was that that was WWJD, what would Jesus do or whatever. And I remember that being a big thing for a long time, but that's still true. I think we should ask ourselves, what is it that God would want us to do here? What would he do in this particular situation? Um, your life and faith will go to a new level when you are thinking when your thinking can uh what you are thinking can either hinder or help your relationship with God. We have to immediately call on the name of Jesus. When our minds attempt to pay play out fantasies that are not pleasing to God, we have to call on the name of Jesus right then and there. Don't let it play out. You can stop it in its tracks by calling on the name of Jesus.

You know, there's a particular scripture that I use quite a bit uh on Tuesday night with our uh celebrate recovery for the small group with our men there. And and I've I've actually encouraged these men to to memorize this verse and it's 2 Corinthians 10 and5 casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. And if we will memorize these type of scriptures, they will be the very ammunition we need. It will fight against. And to call on that particular scripture there when you're sitting here and your mind's taken off and going on some tangent that it don't need to be going on. You can in Jesus name redirect. Because a lot of what we do, we have hurts, hang-ups, and habits downstairs. A lot of those hurts, hang-ups, and habits started right here. Right here in the mind. That's where it started. Uh Philippians 4:6 and 7, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus constantly reading his word, applying his word. There's a story that uh or a a testimony. We're good. There's a testimony that uh Brother Mark Morgan, some of you may know him, great minister, love, one of my favorites. Enjoy listening to him. But he he gave a testimony and u and we actually played it at CR a few months ago. And this man probably large huge church in California has pre I don't know where all he's preached. I don't even know. He's just he's just he's just a big- time minister per se by name. But he told a he told a story about himself that happened later in his life to where that he said that fear had gripped him to the point that he was in a fetal position laying in the floor completely paralyzed from whatever it was that had attacked or attacked him or whatever or had gotten on him so to speak or whatever. But he was talking about that and he said the thing that I remember in this testimony is what he what he remembered and I think what he started doing is speaking the word that poured him out of that. He started quoting God the scriptures and then then he said and he pointed he said and I'm going to tell you n 99.9% of what goes on with us in those types of things starts right up here. starts in the mind and and that's exactly where I mean that's what you we're talking about here tonight war in the mind you know it's it's beating that that mental battle um

Ephesians 6 and 12 says for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers and against the brutals of darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places and that's exactly what we're dealing with when these things come against us and this is exactly what brother Morgan was talking about this was a spiritual battle and we can't we can't do it on our own. That's one of the things we we talked a little bit about, you know, how different different uh CR programs do things a little bit differently. And uh the one thing that that I speak of quite a bit with our guys is that all the programs you you go through, no matter what they are, they may help you along the way, but until you find that place with God, you're not going to do it. It's not going to happen because that's that's where it's at. The answer is God. It's not the programs are great. they the state programs and different things they do. But when you find that place with God, that's where it's going to be. Ephesians 6:14 says, "Then stand therefore having your loins girdled about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness." Um there again if you uh read this whole section of this and I think I may have put some of it in here but anyway if uh stand therefore have your loins g about with truth. How do we know it's true? I mean how do we know that the truth? What is the truth? It's the word of God. By studying and reading the word of God, knowing what the word of God says. That's what it's about. knowing what the word of God says. Um,

which thoughts weaken your leadership most? Why do men downplay mental battles? How does renewing the mind protect your family? And then there's there's a challenge on it. It says, "Replace one negative thought with scripture. Limit media that feeds unhealthy thinking." There's a big one, isn't it? And boy, that's just in our face everywhere we go now. It's everywhere. So, because the point I'm getting across tonight is that I think that we have to really be speaking of the mind, be mindful of what's going on inside this gray matter up here and checking in and and praying, asking God to give us direction and giving us the strength to overcome those things that come our way. And you know, I I hesitate at times to say things, but I know enough about what I'm talking about tonight because of what I go through as a man. in us and you know we're all men and and I think the biggest part of what I try to you know get across is that it's important that we keep God constantly in every part of what we're doing every day. Don't get slack in it because there's some that the enemy is out there trying and and trying to destroy families, trying to tear down te family apart. Uh you know, and even your walk and what you're doing is going to make the difference even in those of you who have children here. They're watching your every move as I've al I've already said and they are they're watching your every move. So if for nothing else, do it for that reason. But it's the only way really to live is to live your life righteous before God. But I appreciate you guys coming and I don't know if we're about done or not. I don't know what time it's supposed to be over with. I'm not sure about three minutes. Anybody got anything they want to add? Awful quiet in here. Somebody's got something to say. Surely brother. Yeah. Where is Herb? We need Herb. long story longer. Yeah. Well, I appreciate you guys coming out listening tonight. I appreciate it. And uh but I guess we'll stand to be dismissed and get prepared to head out of here. Brother Don, you want to dismiss us? Jesus, we thank you for your goodness. Thank you, Lord. What a good God we serve. We love you, God. We praise you. We thank you, Jesus. You're so great, Lord. Bless and strengthen our God. Thank you, Lord. Lord God, our lives in Jesus name. What a mighty God we serve. Help us to be armed and arwarding one another, provoking each other to good works. We thank you. What a mighty God, our families. We just want to be in the church. We want to be strong. Yes. In Jesus name. Hallelujah. Lord in Jesus name. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Amen. Amen.