Serving God in a Hostile World

[Music] [Music] [Music] Well, good morning, Cross Church Phoenix. How are you? Good, good. I want to start by inviting you to open your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And if you don't have a Bible, there's one in the seat back in front of you. Um, unless first service stole one. I'm just kidding. Uh, but, uh, there should be some there and then we'll replenish them, of course. Take that home, make it your Bible. Um, and all I ask is that you bring it back next week and use it, but we will gladly replace them. I saved one announcement um, to just give from the pulpit uh, while I have your uh, your attention, but um, one of the uh, things that we want to ask for is help in the preschool and nursery. um that is a need a direct and important need right now and it's a joy really to teach children about Jesus Christ and um but we are in need of a specific help in that area and so if you are interested um like Brian uh shared we have those those cards you can fill out like the next card or whatever or you can just come find me and I'll connect you but you can fill that out say I'd be interested in that put in the giving box uh in the back. That would be great and I will uh get you connected there. But we are in some in some need of that. Um and then I want to also echo the pizza with a pastor. It's been a couple months and there's some new faces even this morning and then some new ones that I know have been coming over summer. We haven't had one since May. Um and that is our information about the church class. It's our membership class if you are interested in what we are here for. our mission vision, our statement of faith, what we believe as a church, um what you're going to get from me. Uh that is the class for you and you can sign up online or you can scan the QR code on the chair in uh in front of you or on the back of the chair. Um I would love to have you sign up for that. That is August 24th. So still a few weeks, but please please sign up for that. Select Phoenix campus and you'll be good to go. All right. Hopefully by now you're at 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And I'd like to open in prayer. our father, we thank you for this morning. Thank you most of all for who you are, for your love, grace, and mercy, God, that you've given us jars of clay. Uh Lord, um but we have this treasure, the treasure of the gospel in jars of clay, Lord, and you've chosen to do it your way, God. And I pray that we would simply be obedient to showing our the light that we have that is Jesus Christ in our lives. God, I pray that your word would wash over us. That Lord, that you would convict us where we need it. That your Holy Spirit would do the work of the Holy Spirit, God, and do what we cannot do. And I would pray that you would cause us to obey your word and to apply it to our lives in Jesus name. Amen. The world's hostility to God and the gospel of Jesus Christ should not be a surprise. It should not take us by surprise that the world is not a fan of Jesus Christ, a fan of Christianity. Because Jesus told the disciples, if you recall, before he even went to the cross, that the world already hated him. He says in John 15:18 and 19, he says to the disciples, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. You may have seen those stickers on the back of cars, right? Not of this world. The world would love you as its own if you belong to them. But he says, "Because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, therefore, because I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." And he goes on to say, "By the way, a servant is not greater than his master." So if you consider yourself a servant of Jesus Christ, he's your master, then you can expect to be hated and persecuted too simply because your master was. And that can sound sad and depressing, almost uh hopeless and gloomy and troubling. But what is curious and interesting, what I love about Jesus is what he told the disciples before that. Before he ever said, "The world hates me, hated me, and it will hate you." He says in John 14, "Something about the future." He gives the disciples knowledge of the future. Isn't that great? As a Christian, as a Christian, get this, you know the future. You know the future because God has given it to you and God's word has given it to you. And what Jesus says before he talks about the hatred and persecution of the world, he says in John 14 in the upper room as he's talking with his disciples, he says, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms or maybe you call mansions, right? If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, listen. He says, I will come again and take you to myself that where I am, Jesus said, you may be also. So he gives them absolute assurance of the future. Yes, the world will hate you. It hates me, Jesus would say. But in my father's house are many mansions, and one day I'm going to take you to be with me there in eternity forever. And as you might already know, history tells us the disciples suffered persecution and were all martyed for the sake of Christ. We know John wasn't ultimately martyed specifically, but he was exiled on the island of Patmos where he received the book of Revelation, but ultimately being exiled to an island by yourself is is a form of persecution. Of course, my question is, what motivated these men to give their lives for Jesus Christ in the gospel? Because their obedience is why we're here, right? Jesus gave him the great commission. Go make disciples of all nations. That would be America's part of all nations. And baptize them and teach them everything that I've commanded you. and I'll be with you to the end of it, the end of the age. Their obedience is why we are here. What motivated them, their faithfulness to God in the in the midst of a world completely hostile to their message? And we look at social media and things going on and politics and say, "Oh, the world's against Christianity." And it is, but we don't experience persecution here in America the way that they do in other places or in the first century. The first century, this guy, Paul, the writer of 2 Corinthians, was dragging Christians out of their home and killing and persecuting and imprisoning them. It's not happening now in America yet. So what motivates their faithfulness to God in the midst of a world completely hostile to the message? I would suggest to you a few things. Number one, obedience to God's command. But I would also add their complete assurance and conviction of what was coming to them. heaven, eternity, what they know of the future. The disciples knew their future. God, Jesus Christ, my savior, is building me a room in his father's house that I'm going to no matter what happens on this earth. And if you know, if we know and are completely confident in the promises of God for our future, it makes fearing persecution and hatred real small. Real small. As as Brian said, this is momentary light affliction. It's like this is the heaviest thing I've experienced in my in my life. Hey, as a believer, it's momentary in light in light of eternity. momentary in light. And that's what Paul's saying here in 2 Corinthians 5 in the in last week. Yes, we're afflicted. We're perplexed. We're persecuted. We're struck down in chapter 4. But we have eternity to look forward to. The world, this world continues to be hostile to the gospel. But we still preach it. We still teach it. We still live it. Why? Because we know what is true. We know where we're going. So if you have your Bible, let's if you would read along with me, we'll start with the first five verses. Paul says, "For we know that if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands. Indeed, we grown in this tent." And I know some of some of us like, "Amen." We groan in this tent, desiring to put on our heavenly dwelling since when we have taken it off, we will not be found. When we have taken it off, we will not be found naked. Indeed, we grown. There it is again. We grown. Grown a lot. While we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God who gave us the spirit as a down payment. So here in chapter 5 Paul talks about our earthly tent being destroyed. If you look back at chapter 4 verse uh chapter 4 16 he talks about our outer person being destroyed but our inner person is being renewed day by day. But what he's talking about tent, outer person. He's talking about our physical bodies, right? Paul was a tent maker. So he knew what it was all about. But he says a he talks about this earthly tent. Tent speaks of temporariness. Like I said the first service. Yes. Sometimes I make up words. My wife makes fun of me about it, but I don't know if temporariness is a word, but that's what it speaks of. Temporaless. Um it speaks of something that is flimsy that can be blown away by the wind. And he compares and contrasts that with a building from God. A building, right? This isn't a giant tent. This is a building on a firm foundation, right? Hopefully. And it speaks of permanency, strength. It can't be blown away, especially one from God. And so he says, if this body is destroyed, we're fine. Why? Why? Because we have a glorified body, an eternal dwelling made by God for us. And so that's our first point, motivation. The first motivation that we have to serve God in a hostile world is our future heavenly dwelling. Future heavenly dwelling. And if you look at the text, this is something we know, not think, we know. This is something that we can take to the bank. This check will cash right throughout, if you look throughout verse uh these 15 verses of chapter 5 and into chapter 4 before last week, Paul is pointing us to what we know. Verse one, for we know. Verse 6, so we are always confident and know, right? Verse 11, since we know, and if you look back at 4:14, what does he say? For we know, know what? And he says, we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus, chapter 4:14, will also raise us with Jesus. We are so confident in the resurrection that we won't give up. And we are so confident in having an eternal dwelling in the heavens with God that we are willingly uh we are willing to serve him no matter what this world says or does. Because if you remember the overall context of the book is him facing opposition and persecution and false teachers have come into Corinth saying there's something must be wrong with Paul because everywhere he goes he's persecuted and hated something wrong with him. And Paul's like actually you know what that's you're exactly right that means this must be from God. That's the only way that this church exists then is because not because I am strong but because I'm weak and God is strong. And so the context is weakness. The context here is persecution and opposition to the gospel. And he says, "We are so confident in our heavenly dwelling, in what is coming to us in the future that this stuff, we're willing to do what God has called us to, no matter what the world says or does." And so, where does this confidence come from? We see it's the Holy Spirit. God gave you his spirit as a down payment. Other translations will say a guarantee or a pledge. So get this. Your eternal dwelling in heaven forever is as guaranteed as the Holy Spirit living in you right now is as guaranteed as the Spirit gifting you, teaching you, convicting you, guiding you into truth. As sure as the spirit is working in your life right now in this earthly tent, your heavenly dwelling is just as sure because the spirit is the down payment or the guarantee of what's to come. My last pastor, Pastor Gary Derbashar, whom I sat under before I came here to Cross Church, would say this, quote, "God always pays for what he orders." Right? God always pays for what he orders. And if he's ordered you and I, a glorified body, not made with hands, he'll make sure it gets delivered, so to speak. We, you and I, are bought and paid for by the precious blood of Christ. Do you really think that God will let the evil in this world take that away? If the oppression and persecution of this world could steal God's eternal promise to you, we have a problem. We have a sovereignty problem, right? If something can be stolen that God has promised, there's an issue because if he's not in control of something, that's bad news, right? But that's the point. Nothing can be taken from us. None of his promises will not come to pass. This cannot happen. And God's promise of an eternal dwelling far greater than this temporary tent that gets old and causes us to groan will come. And that's motivation to serve him. Now, let's look at verses 6-10. Paul says, "So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. In fact, we are confident and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him. Get this. For we must all appear. All means all. All appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that purpose statement, right? so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. So, our second motivation to serve God in a hostile world is number two, the judgment seat of Christ. Now, I'm sure you've heard verse seven before. For we walk by faith, not by sight. It's popular. We've all heard it. It might even be stitched on your pillow at home, right? But I wonder how many of us have verse 10 stitched on a pillow. How many of us highlight verse 10 and post it on Facebook? We're all going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Yes. Awesome. Amen. But both are completely true, right? We walk by faith and we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. But I want to first break down what does it actually look like then to walk by faith. Right? Okay, it's easy to say. We hear it a lot. Walk by faith, not by sight. What does that even mean? And we'll start with the biblical definition of faith. Right? God gives us a definition. It's in Hebrews 11:1. He says, the writer of Hebrews says this, "Now faith is this, the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Notice the terms assurance, conviction. This is these are guarantees, right? This is guarantee type language. This isn't like hope. Well, I don't know. We'll see. This is assurityity, right? Faith is assurance and conviction, not blind and aimless. For example, when Peter walked on water, remember that story? He walks on water. Every step is by faith. What Peter sees is wind, water, waves, right? And reality will tell you if you step out of the boat, you're going to sink, right? That's what reality would tell you. But he is able to walk on water by faith. Why? And if you remember the story, Peter sees Jesus coming towards him walking on the water. He says,"Lord, if that's you, command me to come." What does Jesus say? "Come." And Peter steps out of the boat and he begins walking on water. How is he walking by faith? He's walking by faith on the water, not because of himself and his great grandness, but because he believes in the one who told him to come. If Jesus Christ says you can come to him on the water, you can come to him on the water. And so Peter, when he's walking on water, what is he showing? What is he putting on display? He's showing assurance and confidence not in himself but in Jesus command to come to him. You see the difference? If Jesus says come, Peter can come even if it means walking on water to get there. But what happened when Peter went from walking by faith to walking by sight? Well, we know that he got a few steps at least, right? We know that. But then what happens? He begins to instead of being completely fixed on Christ and his command and by faith obeying it, he takes his eyes off and he sees the wind and the waves and he sees the strength, it says, of the sea. He sees its strength and he begins to then consider that as more defining than the command of Christ and he begins to sink. Right? He's no longer walking by faith. He's walking by sight. And he cries out, "Lord, save me." And of course, Jesus does. He picks him up. Pop you right in the boat. All right, Peter. Here you go. And if you remember, what does he say to Peter after that? He puts Peter back on the boat. He says this, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" So understand this. Walking by faith is walking in the assurance and conviction of God's commands and promises. Walking by faith is not blabbing things into the air and expecting God to do it. You You don't tell God what to do. He tells you what to do and then you do it. So when God Jesus Christ says, "Come out, Peter. Walk on out." You can. But if you just go out walking on water when God didn't tell you to, then it's not going to work out very well for you. Right? But here's the thing. The moment that Peter walked by sight when he fa when he started to sink and what Paul is saying is that you and I haven't seen heaven. We haven't seen our eternal dwelling promised to us. But we, you and I, can be so assured and convinced of these truths that it should affect our daily walk. So, as sure as Peter can walk on water when Jesus commands him to, as sure as that is, we are just as sure of our eternal dwelling in the heaven. And we're just as sure to appear before the judgment seat of Christ because God's word says it. We live by faith. Meaning we serve God. Make Jesus known. Obey his commands. Why? Because we are sure of what we can't see, which is eternity. But even though we can't see it, we are so sure of it that we go out into the world and do what God has called us to do unafraid. We don't have to be afraid or ashamed or scared of what the world can do. Even if it means hatred and persecution, it that okay, lightweight. That's nothing compared to God and his glory. And so he says in verse 9, our life is a life lived aiming to please God. Why? because of verse 10, appearing before the judgment seat of Christ. Now, preaching on the judgment seat of Christ isn't very popular today, but yes, news flash, Christians will be judged. Remember, Paul is writing to a church of believers, right? This is the church at Corinth. So, these are men and women who know Christ. And Paul says, "We all must appear at the judgment seat of Christ." And in case, you know, there was any sort of hesitation to believe it, he says, "We all," he includes himself. If Paul's going to be there, why wouldn't we? We all must. And it might sound funny, but this is by faith, too. How? You say, "How?" It's by faith that we believe we will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Like, well, what does that even mean? It is by faith. Why? Because God said it and we believe it and we know it. Even though we haven't seen it yet, we are convicted and assured of it. Does that make sense? It is by faith we believe that we will appear at this judgment. We haven't seen it yet, but we're assured of it because God word God's word tells us. So, Christians will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ. And you may have heard it called the Beimma seat. It's the same thing. It's just Greek BMA. But we appear there so that purpose statement, right? So that we would be repaid for what we've done in the body, whether good or evil. So, what I want you to know is this. This is not judgment for sin. That's the great white throne judgment in Revelation and a whole another sermon. Okay? This is judgment for what Christians do while on earth while you live and breathe as a believer right now. What are you doing with the gifts and abilities God has given you? Are you squandering? And are we squandering the opportunities and callings God has given us right here, right now on this earth while we wait for heaven? Christians often wonder, and I have, I've been there, like, what do I do with my life, right? What's God's will for my life? And we spend so much time wondering what to do that we end up doing nothing at all. And for sure, God didn't say sit around and do nothing. Sometimes we look for these big revelations of the will of God when the will of God is revealed through his word. This is the will of God concerning Christ Jesus for you. Pray without ceasing. Go make disciples. You want to know the will of God? Go make disciples. You want to know the will of God? Pray without ceasing. You want to know the will of God? Let your light shine before men and women. That's the will of God. It's not complicated. There's no secret super secret Batman will of God. It's in the scriptures, right? It's called following the commands. And so we will be judged. God didn't say get saved and sit around for nothing. We have a a saying in the pizza with a pastor, which I hope that if you're new here over the past few months, if you've never been to a pizza with a pastor, please sign up. But we have a saying in in in that class that says this quote, "God didn't save you so you can sit, soak, and sour." Uh he saved you so that you can and calls you to serve. In Ephesians 2:10 says, "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for what? Good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." We were created to walk in the good works God has prepared for us and created us in Christ Jesus to do. And if we refuse to, we're wasting opportunities God has given us. We're throwing away gifts and callings from God. You're not going to lose your salvation over it. But don't There's a book called by John Piper. It's just called Don't Waste Your Life. A good book. Should read it. Don't waste your life. But for Paul, this knowledge of being held accountable by God is motivation for him to serve God in this hostile world. He knows he's going to be judged by God. Not for sin, not for sin, but for what he did with his life. And so will we. And I pray that that would motivate us to serve Christ every day. Not just on Sunday. This is great. Showing up, being on a serve team, volunteering for the nursery or the kids ministry is great, right? But Monday through Saturday, waking up every day. God, what do you have for me today? What good works can I go out and do right now today on Monday morning? Help us to do the good works he has you have prepared for us to do. Let's read verses 11 to 15. Paul says, "Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your consciences. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in outward appearance rather than in the heart. For if we are out of our mind, doesn't make sense. It's for God. If we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ, get this, compels us. Since we have reached this conclusion, if one died for all, then all died. And he died for all so that this is the purpose. He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised, Jesus Christ. So our third motivation to serve God in a hostile world is this. The fact not the idea or the hope or the maybe maybe not the fact of Christ's death and resurrection. The therefore of verse 11 points to verse 10. Right? Knowing the fear of the Lord is knowing that your life and ministry will come under God's inspection. This isn't a fear meaning Paul is like in the negative sense scared of God in a bully type way where he's afraid of God in a in the negative or abusive sense. Paul loves God and knows that God loves him. But this is a reverential awe of God that understands that God does care about how we live for him now and that we will appear before this judgment. And Paul, he's hoping the Corinthian church will see this and so will we. And in verse 14, he says, "The love of Christ compels us." Why? Because we've concluded that Christ died for all so that. Another purpose statement, right? When you read so that, this is the purpose. So that those who live, you and I, brothers and sisters in Christ, should no longer live for ourselves, but for the one who died for us and was raised. Your life no longer belongs to you. It belongs to Christ. Paul says, "I am crucified with Christ." What can a crucified man do? Nothing. Nevertheless, I live. But it's not me who's even living. It's Christ in me who lives. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ ought to compel us to serve God in this hostile world. So I want to ask you something. Does the love of Christ compel you to make Jesus known in your neighborhood? Does the love of Christ compel you to make Jesus known in your workplace? Does the love of Christ compel you to make Jesus known in your own family? If you have kids, are you doing family devotions? Are you wanting to make Jesus known to your own children? Or are you do you desire to make Jesus known in your marriage that is either doing great or struggling? Does the love of Christ compel you to do something about it? or are we suppressing it because we're scared of what someone might think or say or do? And my prayer is that every person at Cross Church Phoenix would be so convinced of these truths, eternal dwelling, the sobering fact of the judgment seat of Christ, the fact of Christ's death and resurrection. We are so convinced of this that we go out and we serve God in the midst of hostility, not worried about what men can do. Our closing thought is this. The uh 18th century theologian John Wesley was so confident in God's promise of eternity, he once said this quote, "Until my work on this earth is done, I am immortal." I like that. ask but when my work for Christ is done I go to be with Jesus and what he's saying is no matter what persecution or or or opposition affliction he might face no one can kill me until God's done with me. So no matter what you're going through if you're still alive it means God still has work for you to do. You're immortal and then when you die physically you're still alive. Just go to be with Jesus. Done. Right? Nothing to fear. That's called confidence. Do you believe that? Do we believe that? Because God is in control of how long we live and when he takes us home. And if you believe that, how does that shape how you serve Christ? Now, I hope that you'll think through that and do something. And if you're here and you don't know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, the invitation is wide open right. It's wide open here. We're all about making Jesus known. And I would love to talk with you about him. We want you to know Jesus Christ, not know about Jesus Christ. Two different things, right? You know about Albert Einstein, but you don't know Albert Einstein. He's dead, right? You may know about Jesus, but do you know Jesus who is alive? Serious things to consider. And you can know Christ today. You can come to the I said yes corner. You can chat with me after church. Come find us. Talk to us. Talk to a a friend or another family member who's a Christian, too. And at this time, I want to transition to communion. We're going to celebrate communion this morning. If you haven't yet gone to the back and picked up a communion packet, you can take the take a minute to do that right now. They're on the back two tables. You just grab a little communion packet. And while you guys are grabbing those, I want to give um just some admonitions in regards to this. If you've trusted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you are invited to join as we celebrate the Lord's supper. You're like, "Well, what if I haven't been to pizza with the pastor or if I'm not like a member here or whatever." If you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you're invited to take communion. This is for Christians in general. But if you're here and you don't know Christ, number one, that can change today. And number two, we would say uh we invite you to watch but not partake because we are told in scripture to not do this in an unworthy manner. And my desire as a pastor is to not is to do my best to not let that happen, but ultimately it's between you and the Lord. And what the Bible teaches about communion is this. We look back at Jesus death. We do this in remembrance of him. We look forward. Paul says this is a proclamation of his death until he comes. So we look forward to him coming. But then Paul says this, we look in. Let a man, let a person examine themselves before partaking. So we look back, we look forward, but then we look in. And so I want to invite you take a a minute or two to examine yourself. And by that I mean, are there sins that need to be confessed to the Lord? Is there anything in your life that you need to turn over to him right now? Do that before we partake. And I want to give you a minute to do just that. Go to the Lord in prayer. Just you and him. And ask him to examine your examine yourself and ask him to reveal those things to you. if you would peel back that top layer for the for the bread. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:23 says this, "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night that he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the body of Jesus Christ that the son of God eternal became a man. Emmanuel, God with us and lived a perfect life, fully God, fully man, tempted in every point as we are and yet without sin. perfect life of Christ and went to the cross, Lord, not for your own sin. You had none, but for ours and your body was broken for us. And we thank you for that, Lord. Help us to remember the life that you gave for us, your life each and every day, not just on Sunday, but every day in Jesus name. Amen. Let's partake. And I told first service if you shake the juice a little bit it helps. Um sometimes it settles. It's it this is still good. This has a November date on it. But um if you shake it sometimes it it helps. But as you'll if you'll peel back that second layer for the juice, Paul goes on to say, "In the same way, he Jesus also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." So, this is a proclamation, a proclamation of Christ's death and resurrection because you can't come somewhere if you're dead, right? Until he comes, he's coming. He's alive right now, and he will return. So, let's pray. Father, we thank you for the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. Lord, your body was broken. Your blood was shed, and it washes away our sin. Our sins are as red as scarlet. the stain of sin that we have. We are not perfect. We are not clean, but you make us clean because of the precious blood of Christ. And we thank you, God. What can wash away our sin? Nothing. Nothing. No, no, nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ. And we thank you for it in Jesus name. Amen. Let's partake. All right. All right, at this time I want to invite the worship team back up and I'm going to pray for us collectively once more. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your promises that will never ever fail. No matter what this world does or says or thinks, no matter how dire the situation looks politically or culturally, we have the promise of eternal life waiting for us right around the corner. And until then, you've told us what to do. To go and make disciples, to baptize those disciples, and to teach them everything you've commanded in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And lo, you are with us to the end of the age until it all is said and done. You are with us as we do this. And I pray God that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would impress upon us what it is, what good works we ought to be doing this week in Jesus name. Amen. Let's stand and sing our last song.