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[00:00:00] Good morning, St. Paul Lutheran Church. It's Pastor Wolff Mueller for the seventh Sunday after Pentecost Drive to Church podcast. July 27th, year of our Lord, 2025, the Sunday of the Lord's Prayer. Oh, boy, is this going to be fun. Because last week Dr. Peppercorn was here on Saturday doing his conference, how to Listen to a Sermon. And he was telling us about this thing that he used to do when he was a pastor before he went to the seminary. He would get together once a month or so with a group of people, and they'd read the text, gospel text, ahead of time. And he'd say, okay, what questions do you have?
[00:00:31] And he did that a week ago.
[00:00:35] And I got a list of about 15 questions about the Lord's Prayer. So we're going to answer those questions on today's Sunday Drive to Paul. You know, you're supposed to answer them during the sermon, but I want to talk about it.
[00:00:47] I want to talk about something else. A question that didn't come up in the sermon. How Jesus finishes this promise when he gives the Lord's Prayer, he finishes it and he says, so your heavenly Father will give the spirit to all who ask.
[00:00:59] And that's really what I want us to focus on in a few minutes. When you're listening to the sermon, what does it mean to pray for the Spirit? And how is the Lord's Prayer, Prayer for the Spirit?
[00:01:09] I want to think about that question that you guys didn't ask. But, man, would I be a knucklehead if I didn't answer all these other questions. So we're going to see how we do. And then if we have enough time, we'll take a look at the. It's beautiful. Psalm 38:8 this how the Lord protects us against our enemies, Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18, and how Abraham is praying for the people there. And then. I mean, Colossians 2 is about as beautiful as it gets, this continual reading, but I'm not sure if we'll have. We'll see how we go. All right, let's get to it. Here's the collect, and then we'll see what questions you guys have.
[00:01:42] Let us pray. O Lord, let your merciful ears be attentive to the prayers of your servants, and by your word and spirit, teach us how to pray that our petitions may be pleasing before you. Through Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
[00:02:02] Amen.
[00:02:03] All right, I wrote down these questions a week ago, and I haven't looked at them yet. I don't remember them. So I'm about to read them live on air, and we'll see how we go. Question number one, where's the end of the prayer? Oh, I know what this is about. When we read the Lord's Prayer in Luke, Remember, the Lord's Prayer is given to us in two places in the beginning of Matthew, Matthew, chapter six, the Sermon on the Mount, and Luke, chapter 11, what's sometimes called the Sermon on the Plain.
[00:02:32] It's an interesting question if it's one or two sermons. I think the best way to understand it is two different sermons. And in this sermon, Jesus has the Lord's Prayer. He says, father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation. So there's only 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 petitions.
[00:02:59] Thy will be done is not there as well as for thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever and ever. Now it seems like for thine is the kingdom, power and the glory. You can read it in Matthew, but there'll be a little footnote that says this was not included in the earliest manuscripts. It seems like the Lord's Prayer that we pray that has that longer ending should be understood as a liturgical verse.
[00:03:23] So, and I've been thinking about this a lot, actually. We do this, like, with the words of institution. You can't find the words of institution that we use in one particular place in the Bible. You have to have all four. Matthew, Mark, Luke, 1 Corinthians. You got to put them all together. All the words are there, but in different places, and they're kind of edited together. The same is true with a lot of our Canticles. Holy, holy, holy. Lord, God of Sabaoth. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That's weaving together Isaiah 6 and Psalm 118. Glory be to God on high and on earth. Peace, good will to men. We praise you, we bless you. That's editing together of the words of the angels singing to the shepherds, and then some of the Psalms. So the Lord's Prayer that we pray is a liturgical prayer. We weave together the seven petitions that the Lord has given us in the prayer, together with the hymn of praise that the the angels and the elders are singing in the Book of Revelation.
[00:04:22] So that's how we should understand the Lord's Prayer. It probably wasn't part of the original prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. But the church has beautifully woven those two prayers together, and now we have it as one.
[00:04:34] That's why in the small catechism, when Luther says that he gets the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, it's just Amen. It's not for thine is the power, kingdom, power, glory. It just says the Amen. It's that old simplified version that's also the. By the way, you want a little trivia here. If you get out your old Lutheran hymnal, the old red hymnal, tlh, which also came in black and dark blue. If you get out the old red hymnal and you look at the suffrages, you will notice that the Lord's Prayer there doesn't have the doxological ending. It just says, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
[00:05:07] And it was really. We would use that in Colorado. We had tlhs hanging around the pews. We'd use the suffragists now and then. And boy, oh boy, you get to that end and you can hardly stop the momentum of Thine is the kingdom. Okay, next question. How can the Father turn Jesus down?
[00:05:26] I don't know what that means, because he can't. And maybe that's the point.
[00:05:31] The Father is always pleased to answer the prayers of His Son. And that's why we should be so Happy that Romans 8, Hebrews 7. Jesus prays for us.
[00:05:42] He always lives to intercede. He ever lives to intercede for us. That's the verse from Hebrews, chapter 7. He intercedes for us at the right hand of the father. That's Romans 8. So Jesus is praying for us, and the Father can't not answer those prayers.
[00:05:56] In fact, Dr. Kleinig used to teach like this, that we offer our prayers in the Spirit through the Son to the Father, so that we pray in the Spirit. And Jesus takes our prayers and he's like the spell checker.
[00:06:11] He automatically fixes the things we're praying for and presents them to the Father. So the Father is so perfectly pleased with your prayers in mine because of the blood of Jesus. That's amazing.
[00:06:25] How does the beginning relate to the end?
[00:06:28] I also don't know what that means.
[00:06:33] Father, hallowed be thy name. Lead us not into temptation.
[00:06:36] The Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.
[00:06:40] Boy, oh boy.
[00:06:42] I should have maybe written those questions down better. Let's do the next one.
[00:06:47] What does John have to do with this whole thing? Oh, yeah, that's because look at what it says here at the Beginning, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.
[00:06:56] So it seems like one of the things that John was teaching to. To remember.
[00:07:02] James and John were disciples of John the Baptist.
[00:07:06] Andrew was Peter's brother, was a disciple of John the Baptist. So a bunch of the disciples of Jesus remembered the teaching of John. They were under John's instruction for months or maybe even years, and then they transferred to Jesus.
[00:07:23] John transferred them when he said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And. And they're like, okay, you said it, so we're going to this guy. So John sent his disciples over to Jesus, but they remembered this. It's a nice thing. I don't think that we have any evidence of it in the Scriptures, except for this.
[00:07:43] We don't ever have an example of how John taught his disciples to pray, but he must have really emphasized prayer as part of his teaching.
[00:07:53] And so now maybe John or James or Andrew, after Jesus had prayed, says, hey, could you teach us to pray like John did?
[00:08:05] And it's beautiful that they asked this question, because Jesus is now going to teach them this prayer, the Lord's Prayer, which we want to receive the Lord's Prayer as this perfect gift. Luther, when he's in the large catechism talking about the Lord's Prayer, says, there's nothing more precious in the whole world than this prayer because the Lord Jesus has given it to us word for word. Here's how to pray.
[00:08:28] How marvelous is that?
[00:08:30] I mean, it's like when you think about the Lord's Prayer, okay, it's our words to God. We're our Father who art in heaven. We're praying. We're asking God for these things. But before it's our words to God, it's God's word to us. Jesus is saying, when you pray, say pray like this.
[00:08:50] So he gives us the very words that we are supposed to pray. These precious words that are far to be treasured more than rubies or jewels. It's so absolutely wonderful. And when we pray them, we know that the Lord is pleased not only to hear that prayer, but also to answer it.
[00:09:10] We don't have to say, father, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, if it be your will.
[00:09:17] Because we know it's his will for his name to be hallowed, because he told us in the prayer. And so the Lord's Prayer is this.
[00:09:24] If you look at it and you say, is it God's word to man? Well, yeah. Is it man's word to God? Yeah. Well, yeah, exactly. But it is both of these at precisely the same time. There's something I don't. This isn't the right way to talk about it, so you guys will have to excuse me, but maybe it'll help. There's something kind of incarnational about is God putting himself and his will into our words so that we know that when we ask these things, the Lord is so happy to hear it and answer it.
[00:09:57] It's like a father with a son who. Maybe he's got him a new fishing rod or something.
[00:10:02] And he says to the son, hey, you should ask me for something.
[00:10:06] And the son says, can I have five bucks? And he says, no, you should ask me for something else. He says, could I have a baseball glove? He says, no, you should ask me for something else. He says, could I have a haircut? He says, no, why don't you ask me for a fishing rod?
[00:10:22] And he says, can I have a fishing rod? And the Father says, yep. Wham. Gives it to him like that. The Lord is saying, why don't you ask me for my name to be holy? Why don't you ask me for my kingdom to come? Why don't you ask me for my will to be done? Why don't you ask me for forgiveness? Why don't you ask me for daily bread? Why don't you ask me for leading and deliverance? Hey, why don't you ask me for those things? And we're like, deliver us from evil. And he says, here you go.
[00:10:52] So good.
[00:10:54] Anyway, that's what John has to do with it.
[00:10:57] Why are there different petitions?
[00:11:02] This Luke 11 lacks the hour from the Our Father.
[00:11:08] It lacks the who art in heaven that's missing. And it's missing thy will be done. The third petition.
[00:11:15] Otherwise it tracks pretty close to the Lord's Prayer. And it's probably because Jesus is emphasizing different things in different places. But when we pray it, we want to add in everything. So we don't want to pray the Luke 11.
[00:11:30] Straight to the point version. We want to pray the Matthew 6. Got all the adornment versions.
[00:11:36] I keep saying Matthew 6. You know, I have those parts in my memory that are broken.
[00:11:42] And the location of the Lord's Prayer is one of them. I always get nervous that it's in Matthew chapter seven. It's there in the Sermon on the Mount.
[00:11:52] It's like, what kind of. You're going to fire me from being the pastor because I don't know what verse the Lord's Prayer is. All right, here it is. Oh, yeah. Good. Matthew 6:9. After this manner, pray. Our Father, who art in heaven.
[00:12:05] All right.
[00:12:06] And still have a job. Matthew 6. Good.
[00:12:10] Next question. How do we hallow the Father's name? We don't. This is such a good question. Well, first of all, what does hallow mean? And that means to make holy. And here's the point. God's name is holy in itself.
[00:12:24] So that we're in fact not praying that the name would become holy, but like Luther teaches us in the catechism, that it may be holy among us also.
[00:12:40] Hallowed be thy name. What does this mean? God's name is certainly holy in itself, but we pray in this petition that it may be kept holy among us also.
[00:12:50] How is God's name kept holy? God's name is kept holy when the word of God is taught in its truth and purity.
[00:12:58] And we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father, in heaven. But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God's word profanes the name of God among us. Protect us from this heavenly Father. I love how in the explanation, Luther just bursts into a prayer. Defend us from this. Protect us from this. Grant us this, Father. So good. And here we realize that God's name is kept holy by His Word and Spirit. That we hear His Word and we lead godly lives according to it. So we believe it and we follow it. And that believing is the righteousness of faith, and the following it is the righteousness of love.
[00:13:41] That's what it means to keep God's name holy.
[00:13:44] There they are. Here's the question. Next question.
[00:13:50] Why did I. Oh, sorry. What did I do wrong when my prayers are not answered?
[00:13:59] Good question.
[00:14:02] Maybe two quick things.
[00:14:05] First, we want to remember that every prayer starts as an unanswered prayer.
[00:14:15] So if we had the thing, we wouldn't be asking God for it.
[00:14:21] So when we're praying, especially when we're petitioning the Lord for something, it starts as an unanswered prayer. And then the question is simply, how long is best for us that that prayer is unanswered?
[00:14:36] And this is wisdom that only God has.
[00:14:39] And if we are still waiting for an answer to our prayer for those that we love to be baptized, for our grandchildren to come to Christ, for our friends to believe the Gospel, for the job, to have enough money to pay the bills, for the sickness to lift, for the tragedy to be over, or whatever it is that we're asking for, the Lord has determined that it's better for us to be waiting than it is to receive the request. Now, it's never our deter. That's never our determination.
[00:15:17] So we have to receive this by faith because our. I mean, just the very fact that we're asking for the thing is our indication that we need it now.
[00:15:27] Lord, this is. You could do this right now.
[00:15:30] I've never, ever heard anybody pray, Lord, why don't you do this tomorrow? I'm fine today. I'm fine with the sickness today, but tomorrow it would be nice if it was healed.
[00:15:41] Or I'm fine with the poverty this month, but next month you might have to fix things up or whatever. I mean, we're praying because it's the right now that we need help. But the Lord in his wisdom has determined that it's better for us to wait than to get it. Because remember, the Lord can answer all the prayers right now, but he has in his wisdom, determined that we should wait.
[00:16:05] If I would. I don't know if you guys have all been tracking with the Worldwide Bible Class. If you're listening to this podcast, you know that the Worldwide Bible Class is also an audio podcast.
[00:16:17] So if you're subscribed to this one, you can go and subscribe to the Worldwide Bible Class. And it'll be there, oh, an hour every Wednesday morning. You can join us live except for the next two weeks because I'm going to be out of town. But this is what Luther is constantly dealing with in the Genesis commentary, with the life of Jacob, how he suffers. And he's waiting for the Lord to answer his prayers. And it's amazing.
[00:16:41] It's just what it means. So the first thing is we remember that the Lord has not answered our prayers because he has determined that that's what's best. And we have to trust that he knows that's what's best.
[00:16:52] The second thing I want to say about this is that Luther gives some beautiful advice based on Jesus instructions to ask, seek, and knock.
[00:17:03] Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.
[00:17:08] And Luther does not see that as three different ways of talking about what prayer is. Now I'm asking, now I'm seeking, now I'm knocking. But rather he sees it as a progression. And it goes like this. First we ask.
[00:17:20] We feel or know or recognize or see or hear a deep need. And we go and ask the Lord for help for that thing. That's the asking. Then we wait, and we keep asking. We wait and wait and see if the Lord will answer. And if we go for a while of, of the Lord not answering, then we seekand that is, we go to the Bible to make sure that we're asking for the right thing. We say, hmm, maybe I'm asking for something that God doesn't want to give.
[00:17:51] Maybe I'm asking for him to do something that he doesn't want to do.
[00:17:56] So I go back to the Bible and I look for the promises of God.
[00:18:01] I look for the places where the Lord has determined to give this thing or answer this prayer or help in this way.
[00:18:09] And when I find that promise, and it could be in the Lord's Prayer, in the petitions of the Lord's Prayer, in the stories of the patriarchs, in the Psalms, when I find that promise now I keep on asking and I keep on knocking. That's really the whole point when Jesus is teaching about prayer and he says, you gotta keep doing it. You gotta be persistent. You can't get tired of praying. This is the kind of constant refrain of the instructions of Jesus on the Gospels. He gives us all these stories about people with bad manners, like the widow that just goes to the judge, and he says, I don't fear God or man, but I'm tired of this old lady messing with me, so I'm going to give her what she wants. And God says, that's how you should be in prayer. Or the neighbor who goes over to his other neighbor's house and knocks on the door at midnight and he says, I need some bread. I had someone come to visit. And he says, the kids are tucked in bed. It's all quiet in here. Go away. And he keeps on knocking. And he gets up and he gives him some bread just because he's got to shut them up so that once we know that this is what the Lord wants to give, we just keep on going, keep on knocking, keep on pressing God's promises and words into his own ears.
[00:19:31] That's great. All right, those two things.
[00:19:34] Where did I go wrong? When my prayers are not answered, why mention impudence? This is, I think, the same point that we were just making. Jesus wants us to be impudent, rude. He wants us to pray like we've got no manners.
[00:19:51] Can we do that in a bumper sticker or like a T shirt? Pray without manners. I mean, okay, look, it's good that we are dignified and respectful when we come before the Lord, because we're coming before the King.
[00:20:06] And it's not wrong that we think carefully how we should speak to God. I mean, this is a pretty Amazing thing that the Lord is going to hear our petitions.
[00:20:14] But when Jesus gives us these pictures of prayer, of the widow who's knocking, of the guy who's knocking on the door, of the son who's asking the Father for something, it's a.
[00:20:29] He wants that tenacity, like Jacob who won't let go of Jesus ankle. Jacob, yeah, wrestling with Jesus. And he said, I'm not going to let you go till you bless me. That kind of tenacity is what is being called for by Jesus in prayer. We don't have to feel bad about it. That's what Jesus wants.
[00:20:51] How is the. Oh, this is the vicar's question. How is the immutability of God related to prayer?
[00:20:57] It's a fine question, vicar.
[00:20:59] I bet he's not even listening. He's driving up to Fort Wayne or Fort Worth or somewhere.
[00:21:07] Immutability means that God does not change.
[00:21:09] And this is true. God in his simplicity, doesn't change. The Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. But one of the things that doesn't change is his desire to hear our prayers and answer them so that that, in fact is part of his immutability. Now we say, well, does God change his mind? And the answer is in a really profound way that God wants us to pray like it's going to change his mind.
[00:21:38] Now, it turns out that he knew that we were going to pray and that he knew that he was going to answer the prayer. And it looks to us like his mind has changed when he knew all along that was the whole plot. But that doesn't take away the fact that we're praying. In fact, when you read the Bible and you say, okay, why is God doing this nice, good, blessed, wonderful thing over here, rescuing these people, saving these people, delivering these people, why is he doing those things? Well, he's doing it because someone asked him for it. Like Abraham asking the Lord to relent from the plan to destroy Sodom. And the Lord says, all right. Same with Moses. And in fact, with Moses, it works. He said, lord, please don't destroy the people. And the Lord says, all right, this is the whole plan. In fact, one of the reasons why the Lord tells us he intends to destroy us is so we'd pray and he would relent.
[00:22:26] We don't want to get any more. I think deeper than that.
[00:22:30] You can. But here's the danger is the devil wants to use the attributes of God against our praying.
[00:22:36] So the devil will tempt us and say, look, God knows everything you're going to say. He knows what he's going to do.
[00:22:41] Your prayers don't change anything. They don't make a difference. No, we pray because the Bible says prayer changes things. And how that can be in the immutability of God is a mystery. But it might go back to the fact of the Holy Trinity. In other words, there is a way in eternity outside of time. There is a way that Father, Son and Holy Spirit all truly talk to one another.
[00:23:08] And they're not just. Can you imagine, like Father, like the Son, in eternity before creation, the Son says something to the Father and the Father says, I knew you were going to say that.
[00:23:18] I know everything. I knew what you're going to say. No, there's actually a way for there to be true conversation within the unity of God, a true communication. This is a beautiful thing.
[00:23:38] And when Jesus becomes a man, he brings our humanity into that inner trinitarian conversation so that now in Christ, we're part of it.
[00:23:55] That's kind of head exploding stuff.
[00:24:00] How do I know a couple more. How are we doing on time? I am not going to get to this psalm.
[00:24:06] How do I know that the Lord has answered my prayers? Well, sometimes it's obvious.
[00:24:12] I think if the Lord.
[00:24:15] Maybe I should pause on this one a little.
[00:24:20] I think there might be times where, you know, we're praying for something and we're just not sure. Like, for example, we pray for our family to have faith and we're praying, praying, praying, and then maybe one of those family members dies and we're like, well, did the Lord answer my prayer? I don't know. Like, I can't go and test it. Did the Lord give him faith? Maybe even right at the end, we trust that the Lord is hearing our prayers.
[00:24:47] In fact, when Luther is writing the sermon on how to comfort mothers who have lost children before birth, the main comfort that he gives is that these children were prayed for in the prayer of the church.
[00:25:01] And the Lord loves to hear and answer our prayers. How about that?
[00:25:12] What is God's kingdom?
[00:25:14] We can go back to Luther on that one. He teaches, and I think his. Well, this is a secret. I've never heard anybody say this before. Well, I'll tell you. I think that Luther's explanation of the second petition of the Lord's Prayer is based on the words of Jesus right before the ascension, in Acts, Jesus says, they said, will you at this time restore the kingdom of God to Israel? And Jesus says, it's not for you to know the times of the seasons which the Father has in his own hand, but you will receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and the ends of the earth. And so Jesus is saying, look, the win of the kingdom is not important.
[00:25:57] When the kingdom comes is not important. But how the kingdom comes is important. And the kingdom comes when I send my spirit. And you, you preach the word.
[00:26:05] So listen to how Luther explains the kingdom of God. Thy kingdom come. What does this mean? The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also.
[00:26:17] How does God's kingdom come? God's kingdom comes when our Heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit so that by his grace we believe his holy word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.
[00:26:31] So that the kingdom of God is the Word and the Spirit. Where the Word and the Spirit are, there Jesus is king. That's it. That's the point.
[00:26:40] That's great.
[00:26:43] What about this petition? Last one here.
[00:26:45] Oh, wait, there's a whole column over here.
[00:26:49] Okay, let's do one more.
[00:26:52] I don't know if this exercise would be good because every single sermon would be like two hours long, which I'm forgiven. What is this about? Forgive as I forgive. Does that mean that God will forgive me if only if I forgive other people?
[00:27:09] That's how the kind of first read always is. We want to remember that Jesus is going to explain this. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us with the parable of the unforgiving servant. So there was a king, remember?
[00:27:27] And he had a servant who owed him a batrillion dollars. I mean, so much money, it's ridiculous.
[00:27:33] 20,000 talents a talent is a year's wage. 20,000 years wage.
[00:27:41] And the king says, pay me everything or I'm gonna throw you in jail. And he says, give me a little more time.
[00:27:46] And he says, well, you know what? Never mind. It's forgiven. And someone, my friend Pastor Emilius loves to point this out. It's well pointed out, someone had to pay the debt. The king had to absorb that loss. But he apparently was pleased to do it for the sake of the servant who then goes out from the king. And instead of rejoicing at this overabundant, unbelievable mercy that the king had on him. Instead he finds the guy that owes him 200 denarii and wrings his neck and throws him in prison. Pay me everything. As if he had not been forgiven, as if he still owed the king. And this is the point that the Lord's mercy on us and the depth of the forgiveness of sins that he has shown on us sets us free to love and serve and have mercy on those around us.
[00:28:37] So that when we say, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, it's saying, lord, I thank and praise you that you look upon me not with vengeance, but with mercy and kindness, and you've forgiven my sins. Press that forgiveness so deep in my own heart that I am pleased to have mercy and forgive those who have sinned against me.
[00:28:57] And. And we can use our own anger.
[00:29:01] It's one of these very important diagnostic questions. Am I angry or who am I angry with? We can use our own anger as an indication that we have not fully grasped the love and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, so it can serve as a mirror also to show us our own heart. So, Lord, teach me your mercy, the depth and profundity of your love, so that I would know first how much you have sacrificed for me.
[00:29:30] And then let that be reflected in the smallest way through our own sinful lives. Let. Let that be reflected in my showing mercy to other people.
[00:29:40] All right, those are good questions, none of which I will answer in the sermon. But you all have it. All right.
[00:29:48] Probably no Sunday drive to church next week. I'm going to be on vacation with Carey. In fact, if you want to say a prayer for me, I'm teaching at a camp in Denmark. I'll be preaching and teaching on spiritual warfare and prayer.
[00:30:01] That's a good topic. And hope is for the. For the pastors there Thursday, Tuesday and Thursday this week. So leaving if I leave church a little bit early in the late service, that's. That's where I'm going. I got a flight this afternoon, so I'll be there and then Carrie's going to meet me and then we're going to do a little river cruise which will be really cool. So probably no Sunday drive to church next week. But then we'll be back August 10th and that'll be Vicar Dawson's installation day. So that'll be really wonderful if you made it all the way to the end. You no doubt are a voter meeting goer tour. But just don't forget that that's after the second service today. Short agenda but beautiful.
[00:30:44] Extending the call to Dylan to serve part time while he is doing his next four years of study at UT, working on his PhD in Old Testament. So that'll be in the call. And then Bible class will be an interesting one today. I don't want to do this too much, but we're going to do kind of a.
[00:30:59] What is it called? A town hall to catch up on some current events. How things are going with Concordia, Texas versus Missouri Synod. Is it even right that there's a court case happening?
[00:31:08] Is there things that we can do about it? I want to talk about that. And then we'll also do a little work on the doctrine of the call. So that'll be wonderful. So we'll see you soon. Drive safe. God be praised that he hears and answers our prayers.