Video Transcript: Culture Clash

And welcome to the ever loving truth. of the course of the next several weeks, we are going to embark on an incredible journey through God's word. We're going to look at questions like whether or not truth exists?. And if that truth does exist, whether or not we can no it? questions like, we believe the Bible, other people believe their holy books. So who's to say that ours is correct and someone else's is incorrect questions about Jesus, who he was, who he is, and what the implications of those truths are, it is going to be an incredible ride. And I'm excited about what God is going to do. As we study these truths together, you by with me. Join me and word of prayer.

Father as the Bible for you, we thank you for the incredible privilege of worship, of entering into this two way conversation, where we say some things to you and about you that we know and believed to be true. And anxiously anticipate those moments where you speak to us clearly and powerfully through Your Word, to the end that our lives will be changed and transformed, for your kingdom sake. And all God's people said, Amen. I don't know if you realize it or not, but we are in the midst of a culture war. And I've no, we've heard that terminology band and about for years now that there's a culture war going on. 

But I want to see if I can sort of make that a little more playing for you. When I got married, I just turned 20 years old. I was in a summer between my sophomore and junior years in college. I was a student at Rice University, I was a student athlete there, I was playing football there. And the only reason that I say that to you is because I need you to understand that because of that. 

There was this little NCAA rule that said that I couldn't have a job during the school year. My wife and I lived off campus. I got a check from Rice University every month for 324 big ones. For me and my wife to live. We were poor. Not poor couldn't afford the onr we would just poor, alright. We had this furniture, you know, this sort of eclectic kind of gathering of stuff in the apartment. And one piece of furniture that we had was this couch thing that my mother had re upholstered and it was a sectional thing with these bars on the back that the pillows. It was hideous. But it was ours. And it was in our apartment and we were just so happy. I mean, it was like Oh! man, it's beautiful. We got a place to sit well, we moved up the socio economic ladder. Got out of school. Life it started teaching. We would no longer poor. Now we would just broke.

When you poor you got nuttin and nothing's coming. When you broke, you got nuttin but it's coming. Amen. So now we begin to gather other furniture in our apartment around this thing that my mother had given us. Eventually, we were able to buy a real sofa. But my mother had given us that sectional thing so we couldn't just throw it out. So we just moved it to another room. We moved it to what was then kind of my study, if you will, and we put it in there away from the rest of our furniture. That was sort of nice. broke people type stuff. 

Eventually, we moved further up the socio economic ladder. And we actually had some stuff. We were no longer poor, we're no longer broke. Now we were just struggling. And that means we had some pretty decent stuff. I'll never forget when the day came, we strat for us to get rid of that sectional thing that my mother had given us. I didn't have a heart to leave it outside. So what I did was I waited until Thursday, which was heavy trash day. And I waited for the trash man to come. And when he came to our street, took that sectional out piece by piece. And I just gave it to him. 

They throw it away, and it was gone. What on earth? You ask, does that have to do with the culture war? I'm glad you asked. Here's what it has to do with the cultural war. At one point, Christianity was considered the cornerstone, the foundation upon which our nation was built, it was the centerpiece, sort of like that sectional when we were poor, however, we've since moved beyond that. And Christianity is now seen as a sort of eyesore as a kind of nuisance in our culture.

 We've gone from a time when Chief Justice John Jay would proclaim this as a Christian nation, to a time when now, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has said that the words under God in the Pledge of Allegiance are unconstitutional, we have moved to the place where now Christianity has been brushed aside where our culture says it's fine for you to be a Christian, just make sure that you keep that in the privacy of your own home, and don't allow that to enter into public discourse. And I would argue that we are not far away from a time when our culture is going to be waiting for heavy trash day, to take Biblical Christianity as we know it to the garbage man. Because it will be deemed to have no value for our culture, and for our society. And we are not far from that point. But don't worry, we're not alone. 

This is not the first time that Christianity has sort of been on the outside looking in. It's a matter of fact, that was the norm for a very long time. And if you'll join me this morning and the book of Acts, Acts 4, I want us to look into the lives of two broke preachers, James and John, or Peter and John rather, as they encounter a pre Christian culture that mirrors in many ways, the post Christian culture in which we live. Now, how do I know these are two brokerages? Because they said so in chapter 3:6, is a man who's outside the gate beautiful time of prayer. He's begging for us. He's been lame since his mother's womb. He's always set outside the gate beautiful to beg for all of us. He's there because evidently, the people who are coming to the temple are more generous than people in other places. And then interesting, kind of like those folks with those signs up, will work for food down on my luck, whatever, what always occurs at the bottom of those signs. God bless you. Why, like make you think about God, you're more likely to give me something. So here's this man outside the gate beautiful.

 These two broke preachers tell him where to grow preachers. We don't have silver ago, but what we have we're freely given the name of Jesus, get up and walk. He didn't follow instructions too well. They said get up and walk. He got up dancing, leaping, jumping around. Testifying, stayed right by them. There was a crowd that gathered. Peter and John began to proclaim the gospel to this gathering crowd. Well, the authorities got a hold of this information. The authorities being the Sanhedrin sort of a religious Senate, if you will. You see, these people were under Roman rule. However, they were given the authority to govern themselves locally, especially in religious matters. But there was a problem, this little thing called the Edict of religion, eliciting, you see in Rome, if you were a concert people, you could practice your religion that you practice before you were conquered. Just make sure that you practiced it before you were conquered and made sure that it existed before the Roman Empire and they would allow you to practice that religion and to govern your shoved in those areas. 

However, if it was something new, they would come down on you and crush you. All of a sudden, these individuals in the Sanhedrin, who have authority over religious issues in their local area, have an uprising where 1000s of people at a time are coming to faith in Christ. 

Now, at first, this is okay, because Christians are considered to be just a sect of Judaism, no problem there with the Romans coming down on them. However, they are beginning to grow in their own right, they're beginning to separate themselves, they're beginning to have their own identity. And if the Roman government finds out about this, it's trouble in Jerusalem, for everybody.

Sanhedrin wants to have a talk with these boys. They bring them in. And that's where we joined the same chapter 4:13. Now as he observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. But when they had ordered them to go aside out of the council, they began to confer with one another, saying, What shall we do with these men, for the fact that a noteworthy miracle is taking place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it, verse 17. 

But in order that it may not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to any man in this name. And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all, in the name of Jesus. We'll pause right there for now. Look at the picture, here in this pre Christian culture, and the way that it parallel parallels our post Christian culture.

 Look at the picture of them bringing these men in because there is this culture war, and the first thing that they do is marginalize these individuals, because they don't think right. Look at that first verse there this, they observed the confidence of Peter and John understood that they were uneducated and untrained men. Interestingly, one of the ways that we could read that is that these men were illiterate. And so a lot of people choose to read this, because on first glance, that's what it looks like. Peter and John come in, and they're illiterate. 

They're not supposed to be able to argue their case before the Sanhedrin. But they're able to argue their case, these illiterate men. However, if that's our interpretation, we've got a small problem. If we interpret this as saying that they're illiterate, we got several small problems, like 1st and 2nd Peter, the Gospel of John 1, 2,3 John. Amen. However, this phrase was also used to refer to individuals who had not been properly trained in rhetoric, and oratory, who had not been to the proper Greek schools, and learned how to present cogent logical arguments. what's being said here is, these men don't have the proper training or understanding, but they're able to stand before us and argue their case. 

The problem was not that they were ignorant or illiterate. The problem is that they were non conformists. That's the issue with us, is it not? How many times do we hear that people who believe Biblical Christianity have checked their minds at the door have committed intellectual suicide? I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with students who are taking a first year philosophy class, amen. Somebody said, I just don't know what I'm gonna do. Scott loves to just pound on people who are Christian. Why? Because you don't think right? You don't think the way our culture says we ought to think. And there are several things that we need to understand if we're going to grasp this concept, as it relates to us several things that our culture expects from us, especially in the area of the way we practice our faith that we need to grasp. 

The first thing we need to grasp is this, that in our culture, we believe in this little thing called religious relativism. This idea that all religions are basically the same. Perhaps you've heard it stated this way. It's as though God were on the top of a mountain and all of us are merely climbing up different sides to get to the same place. And how about this on my favorite, we all worship the same God. We just refer to you him her it by different names. So the idea of religious relativism if you don't believe in religious relativism, you're an outsider philosophically and intellectually in our culture, because that's the norm. Religious relativism has a friend actually is more like a big brother. His big brother's name is tolerance.

Now when I say tolerance, I don't mean the traditional historical dictionary definition of tolerance. I don't mean the kind of tolerance about which Voltaire spoke when he said, I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. Oh, no, no, no, no. The new tolerance moves much further than that. The new tolerance says, Not only must you allow individuals to say whatever they want to say and believe whatever they want to believe, but it is incumbent upon you to celebrate what they believe, embrace what they believe, and ultimately incorporated in your own belief system. That's the new tolerance. The words of one public school educator, superintend superintendent, it is the mission of the public schools, not to tolerate intolerance.

I'm just wondering what you would call the act of not tolerating intolerance? Could it be intolerance? We'll come back to that. 

Thirdly, this idea of religious relativism, this idea of the new tolerance. Thirdly, we have this idea of philosophical pluralism. It's just a big old fancy way of saying there are no absolutes was true for you may not be true for me. What works for you may not necessarily work for me. The fact of the matter is, whatever you believe, whatever you think truth is, it's probably because you were conditioned by your culture, and other people are conditioned by their culture, and they have their own version of truth. 

So the fact of the matter is, absolute truth does not exist. Truth that's true for all people in all places at all time. This doesn't exist. When you put these things together, here's what it sounds like. You know what, we all worship the same God. We just call that God by different names. So what we need to do is learn to be more tolerant of one another, embrace one another. Share one another's beliefs and learn from them. Because after all, there's no such thing as ultimate, absolute truth. Just kind of flows, then it. I'm sure you've heard that before. It's just a few problems with that. 

For example, with the idea of religious relativism, all religions are basically the same. You know, that can work unless there is a religion, or more than one religion that claims to have exclusive truth. Like for example, I don't know, Christianity. When Jesus says I am the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father, but by me, that kind of a religious system cannot coexist with the idea of religious relativism. 

Secondly, what about this idea of tolerance? The only problem with the new tolerance is that it is completely intolerant. It caves in on itself, folks. You know why? Because they won't tolerate Biblical Christianity. Because the minute you say, I believe the Bible, and I believe Jesus is the only way to get to heaven. You are intolerant? You are a narrow minded bigit. By the way, have you ever noticed that they don't call black people in their mind the bigit. I guess membership has its privileges. But Am! and then I just always want to ask, Well, wait a minute. Why can't you tolerate my belief in Biblical Christianity? Because we can't tolerate intolerance. But I'm the intolerant one. Yes. I understand that. How about this other idea? There are no absolutes. 

There are several problems with that statement. The biggest problem with that statement is that it is an absolute statement. You may as well say there are absolutely no absolutes. When people say to me there are no absolutes. I just want to ask them Are you sure? Because if you're sure they're no absolutes, you got issues man.I've been praying to God for a while to conduct the sign difficult experiment, preferably with a philosophy professor. Here's what I want to do for the sake of science. I'll come up to this philosophy professor and I want to say, you know, Professor, you teaching your students that there's no such thing as absolute truth, is that correct? And he says, Yes. And then I punched him in the mouth, strictly for the sake of science, folks. Because here's the deal. If he really believes in philosophical pluralism, if he really believes that there are no absolutes, then whenever he gets up, he got to just look at me and say, that really hurt. But it was true for you at the moment.

Right. But you know, as well as I do, that's not what he's gonna say. He's gonna get up and he's gonna say, That was wrong. Why? Because you're not supposed to hurt other people. See, Doc!, now you got two absolutes. Number one, there are no absolutes. Number two, you're not supposed to hurt other people. Well, no, I mean, it's not necessarily an absolute that you're not supposed to hurt other people. But if society is going to survive, we can't go around shocking other people because we don't like them. 

Absolute number one, there are no absolutes, absolute. 

Number two, you can't go around hurting other people because absolute number three society have to survive. It doesn't work folks. It is logically impossible for there to be no absolutes. That doesn't stop people from standing up in front of classrooms full of people, and saying so. And so when we believe in Biblical Christianity that flies in the face of all of these principles upon which our culture is built, you can see while we're marginalized, just as these men were in their pre Christian culture. 

Next, look at this, saying the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. But when they had ordered them to go aside on the council, they began to confer with one another, saying, What shall we do with these men for the fact that a noteworthy miracle is taking place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it. 

Secondly, we need to understand about our cultural war, first of all, understand that we're going to be marginalized. Secondly, understand, neutrality is not an option. Our culture cannot take a live and let live approach to Christianity. Our culture cannot and will not be neutral to biblical Christianity. We can't Why? Because Biblical Christianity violates the premises upon which our cultural thinking is built. So you cannot, on the one hand, proclaim religious relativism, all religions are the same, proclaim the new tolerance, proclaim philosophical pluralism, and on the other hand, embrace Biblical Christianity, you cannot do it. Neutrality is not an option here. Our culture is not just going to let us alone and allow us to practice our faith. So what must be done? There is an effort afoot to redefine Christianity. So I'm Peter Jennings itthat his primetime special on the search for the historical Jesus. 

By the way, the first problem with that is the title. So using that title, the search for the historical Jesus is based on a presupposition. The presupposition is that there is a Jesus of faith. And then there is a Jesus of history. And people who believe in the Jesus of faith, don't have facts and history on their side. That's the presupposition. Not only was there the problem of his presupposition, but that was a problem of the individuals that he brought on as his quote, experts. Most of them were members of a group called the Jesus Seminar. A group vehemently opposed to biblical Christianity, but all of them have credentials in the area of Biblical studies. But who are these individuals? What's their mindset? What do they believe? Let me just share with you from Marcus Borg, one of the chief principal characters in the Jesus Seminar, listen to what Marcus Borg writes. They're referring to his days in seminary. 

There I learned that the image of Jesus from my childhood, the popular image of Jesus as the Divine Savior, who knew himself to be the Son of God, who offered up his life for the sins of the world was not historically true. So what else he says that I learned was not what the historical Jesus was like. I learned that the Gospels are neither divine documents, nor straightforward historical records. They are not divine products inspired directly by God, whose contents therefore, are to be believed, as I had thought prior to this, nor are they eyewitness accounts written by people who accompany Jesus and simply sought to report what they had seen and heard.

By the way, Mark is born is chair of the department of Christianity and philosophy at Oregon State University. Not just a professor there. He's chair of the department. And he is not an unusual character. So when Peter  Jennings goes in search of the historical Jesus, it is men and women with these kind of presuppositions that he brings on his program. By the way, Borg and the other members of the Jesus Seminar, are not coming forward with new information or new historical findings. 

They're coming forward with presuppositions and don't believe in the supernatural aspects of the gospel. And they presuppose that all of the supernatural aspects of the Gospel were added later by the Christian community trying to cope with the crucifixion of Jesus, who, by the way, according to the Jesus Seminar was never resurrected. 

So when Peter Jennings goes in search of the historical Jesus, when he puts a show on prime time television, and brings forth experts, almost all of them are from this perspective, why would you do that? Because you want to redefine Christianity. You want to say, this is what intelligence scholars believe. It's different than what you hear from the ignorant, narrow minded, closed minded Christians who checked their brains at the church door every Sunday. And if they would put open their minds, this is what they would believe as well. 

Neutrality is not an option. Think about the characters portrayed on movies, and television, as Christian. Neutrality is not an option. Our culture is not going to embrace Biblical Christianity, don't think that that's the case, for a munite, actually become openly hostile. Look at the next part of this passage. But in order that it may not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to any man in this name. And when they had summon them that commanded him not to speak or teach at all, in the name of Jesus does that sound familiar? This pre Christian culture says, do whatever you want to do. But don't use that name. Our post Christian culture says you do whatever you want to do. But don't use that name. 

At the beginning of every school year, there is an influx of cases being brought by students who have been told to turn Christian T shirts inside out who have been told to take crosses off, who have been told that their Christian club cannot have the same access to the PA system as other clubs, who have been told that there are things that they cannot say or do at the school that other people can say and to do. 

For example, one girl named Candace use her last name. She was a sixth grader in Walker County, Alabama. She had crossed pendant on a sixth grader. She was told by the principal of her school that she had to take this cross pendant off that was given to her by her grandparents. Now you would think that the parents came up to the school, had a talk with this principal, and all of a sudden, everything was fine. 

They realized their mistake and they allowed to grow the word that cross No. This case went all the way to the US District Court of Appeals. Principal, Thomas Jefferson Magnet school in Flushing New York, told the teachers during the holiday season to bring in different symbols from different religious celebrations. She told them to bring in things from Hanukkah, bring in things from Kwanzaa specifically, but she also specifically stated that they were not to bring symbols of Christmas. Why? Because Christmas is treated as contraband in our culture. Folks just look at a national television broadcast during Christmas time. 

Where does the Happy Holidays thing come from? Can somebody helped me with that. A lot of times they'll say, Well, no, we just say happy holidays. Because all those holidays are put right there together, you know, you have thanksgiving and then there's Christmas. And then there's new year's and so instead of just saying, you know, whatever we just say happy holidays, because Hanukkah and everything else is right there together. Okay, fine. Let's just take that argument, shall we? Let's take that argument that I've actually heard from folks who work in television. If that's the case, we use the phrase Happy holidays because everything comes together. Why is it that on New Year's Day, we don't say three, two, one,  happy holidays. isn't one of those holidays that scrunched up all close together? 

The problem is not that all of these holidays come together. The problem is that Christmas is considered contraband in our culture. The superintendent of Newton County Schools, the Newton County, Alabama, changed the calendar on a school district. They went from winter break back to Christmas break. Now it had been Christmas break before the wording was changed to winter break. He changed it back to Christmas break. And a certain organization that shall remain nameless. His O U said, that if he followed through with it, he'd be sued. He did. And he was outright hostility. 

How many times have we heard about the idea of prayers being removed from school events? How many times have you heard about valedictorians being told make your valedictory speech, and you can say anything you want? Can I quote Buddha? Of course you can quote Buddha in your valedictory speech that will make you sound very spiritual. Can I quote Lincoln? Of course, quote Lincoln, that'll make you sound very patriotic? Can I quote something? I don't know from Greek mythology? Of course you can. You'll seem very educated. How about if I quote Nietzsche? Absolutely. You'll sound deep and philosophical. How about Jesus? No, you may not. 

That has been the ruling in court systems throughout our land. That the valedictorian when making their speech, cannot mention the name of Jesus. Many of these things have been overturned, but the point remains, there is open hostility toward the name of Jesus in our culture. But why? Let me tell you why. Why do you ever have open hostility toward anybody's name? Nobody has open hostility toward Bob. Nobody has open hostility toward whatever, Hose Hawkman. 

Nobody say the name and they just kind of go ahead looser. But Jesus, all of a sudden things change. Why? There's no power in the name Bob. There is no power in the name Hose. However, at the name of Jesus, one day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's the problem with that. 

There's power in it and healing and salvation in it and there is authority in the name of Jesus. That's why the enemy can't stand that name. In this culture will read marginalized. In this culture, war, neutrality is not an option. And it's culture war, we experienced open hostility. But in this culture war, we must continue to stand firm and proclaim look at what they say, I love this. 

But Peter and John answered and said to them, Do you know how many famous actors and actresses believed the same way we do? Oh, I'm sorry. That's not in there. Is it? Let me try that again. But Peter and John answered and said to them, you just wait until we get a godly man on the Sanhedrin. That's not there either, is it? But Peter and John answered and said to them, we'll just be quiet and witnessed by our lifestyle. Wrong again. 

Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God, to give heed to you, rather than God, you be the judge, verse 24, we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord, do what you got to do. Can I just translate this for you for a moment? Do whatever you got to do. We won't shut up. In the next part of it, it says, Look at Verse 21. I just love this. And when they had threatened them further, they let them go. threaten them further. How does that happen? I don't know I had this picture in my mind. Stop using the name of Jesus. No.

You have stop. We made it. Do whatever you got to do when we can't stop talking about what we've seen and what we've heard. Then they started and further us talking about this Jesus, or we'll kill you, Man, y'all kill him. He came back, what's up, bring it on.Well, well, us using the name of Jesus, I will take your stuff, bro, you better read the rest of chapter four, then read chapter five. We're gonna give our stuff away anyway. Well, well, stop using the name of Jesus, I will put you in jail.

Prison Epistles, some of the best stuff in the Bible. How do you threaten the dead man? You can't. That's the problem here is made it long time ago. They knew they were living on borrowed time. It was all for them. Their life was hidden in Christ. He was the everything. And so no threat was going to be sufficient to move them away from proclaiming what they've seen and what they've heard. 

By the way, this is where the cultural parallel ends. Because unfortunately, we are marginalized, just like they were in their pre Christian culture. Unfortunately, neutrality is not an option for us in our post Christian culture, just like it was not an option for them in their pre Christian culture. Unfortunately, we experienced the same open hostility that they experienced, but our response is completely different. Our response is often just get the right person in the White House. 

Oh, if we can just get enough people in Congress, oh, if we could just get the right famous person to stand up and represent us. We just help you real quick. God is not in the business of borrowing people's fame. He didn't need it. Share another thing with you. It bothers me that what we want to do is get enough people who think like we do to ride into Washington on white horses, and change all of the laws that we disagree with. So that people then are forced not to do the things that we don't like, guess what? That's an excuse not to proclaim the gospel. 

The goal for us is not for people to be well behaved because they fear the government. The goal for us is for people to be radically safe, turned inside out and upside down and do what God says regardless of what the government says, because he's gotten a hold of their lives. That's our goal. And if the government comes along, praise God, if they don't, whatever. God's in control. He's our source. He's our supply. And I'll leave you with this. It is very likely that things will get worse before they get better.

It is very likely that we will come to a place and to a time in our culture where it's illegal for us to proclaim certain truths in the Bible. She's already happening in other parts of the world. Canada, Australia, there are a lot further along than we are with our hate crimes legislation. And I know you hear that and for some of you that may be shocking. Like, wait a minute, I thought that hate crimes legislation about black people like that because it makes sure that people didn't mistreat black people. Yeah, okay. The only use for things like hate crime legislation is to make certain types of speech unlawful. 

Don't be surprised that there comes a time when people start going to jail for saying that homosexuality is a sin. Don't be surprised that there comes a time when people get slapped with lawsuits, because they say that Jesus is the only way from a pulpit. Am I guaranteeing that this is where things are going? No, I'm not. I'm just saying I wouldn't be surprised. But here's the point. If we trust Christ, and had been crucified with him, and now we live, not us, but Christ, who lives within us that how dare we expect anything less than what he experienced in his life? His a promise from the Bible. 

And the next time you're claiming promises from the Scripture, I want you to grab this one and claim it. 2 Timothy 3:12, "all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted". That's a guarantee from God. There is no more secure promise in the entire Bible. We desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, we shall be persecuted. It's going to happen. 

However, we must proclaim what we have seen and what we have heard in spite of the consequences. The next time you're scared to use the name of Jesus in a paper. The next time you're scared to use the name of Jesus in a conversation, do me a favor. Remember your brothers and sisters in the Sudan and Mauritania, who were being slaughtered and sold into slavery because of their faith in Christ.

Do me a favor. Remember your brothers and sisters in Indonesia, who are being persecuted beyond things that we can comprehend because of their faith in Christ. Do me a favor, and remember your brothers and your sisters and places like China who are going to jail because they proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in a place where it is not accepted. So the next time you try to hold on to your status, the next time you try to hold on to your comfort, the next time you try to hold on to the ease with which we live. The next time you look for someone famous to make the gospel cool, instead of you to make the gospel clear. 

Remember them and the price that they paid, and then step back, reconsider, count the cost and move ahead regardless of what comes your way.Make no mistake about it. The culture war is on the battle is at hand. It's one thing for us to be committed to doing whatever it is the Lord requires of us. It's quite another for us to be equipped to do so. So here's my promise to you. You make a commitment to doing the daily work and I will do everything in my power to equip you to give an answer for the hope that I can make.