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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went into the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogue, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound into Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven, and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but they led him by the hand and brought him unto Damascus. And it was three days without sight, and neither did he eat nor drink. And there was a certain disciple of Damascus named Ananias, and to him said the Lord in a vision. Ananias and he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the street which is called straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he prayeth, and had seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to thy saints in Jerusalem, and there he hath authority from the chief priests to mind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way, for is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house, and putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, had sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales, and he received sight for with, and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus, and straightway preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, and said, Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name Jerusalem? And came hither for that intent, that he might bring them in bound unto the chief priests. But Saul increased the morn's strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him. But there laying away was none of Saul, and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night, and led him down by the wall in a basket. And while Saul was come to Jerusalem, he has said to join himself to the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And he was with them coming in and going out of Jerusalem. And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians, but they went about to slay him. Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and set him forth to Tarsus. Then the churches rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied. And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the Saint who dwelt at Lydda. And there he found a certain man named Annas, which he had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, Annas, Jesus Christ, maketh thee whole, rise, and make thy bed. And he rose immediately. And all that dwelt at Lydda, and sirens saw him, and turned to the Lord. Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas. This woman was full of good works, and out steeds, which she did. And it came to pass in those days that she was sick and died, whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber. And for as much as little was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they said to him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber. And all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them. But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down and prayed. And turning him to the body, said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had told the Saints and widows, resented her alive. And it was known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. And it came to pass that he tarred many days in Joppa, with one Simon a tanner. Blessed be the Lord of God's Word, let us pray. Lord God in Heaven, we thank you, Lord, for the state that you've given to us. I pray that you would give us good weather, and good health, Lord, for this day, and for our soul winning later on. I pray, O Lord, that you would bless us, preacher, in the preaching of your word, Lord, this day. We love you, Jesus, and we pray. Amen. All right, we're here in Acts chapter 9, and we're going to be starting a new series, but this is a little bit different because I'm not going to preach through this series every single week, just maybe every four months, every six months or so. And it's on Bible contradictions. So basically, I'm going to preach about some famous Bible contradictions, or so-called contradictions. And then maybe six months from now, I'll preach on some other famous ones. And so, a couple things of note. Number one, we don't believe there's any contradictions in the Bible. This is not just a book with some good information. It's perfect. There are no errors. And if there's something we don't understand in the Bible, it means we're just not learned enough or educated enough about that topic, but we're wrong because there's no problems in the Bible. There are no errors at all, okay? But there are a lot of verses or passages that people would claim, this is an error, the Bible doesn't line up. I mean, you could go online and just type in, you know, skeptics of the Bible, 100 contradictions. You'll find like 1,000 contradictions, supposedly. Now, let me also say this, though. I'm not just preaching through the most famous ones here today because most of the famous ones are pretty dumb, right? People say, well, the Bible says thou shalt not kill, but there's the death penalty, right? And they're just really dumb and lame so-called contradictions that are very easy to answer. My goal is to preach ones that are a bit more difficult to answer, maybe ones that people in this room have seen or heard, and you don't know what the answer is. So I want to kind of give you those here today. And I'm also preaching through ones that I am fully persuaded I'm correct in my interpretation, but I do understand there's other good people that could kind of see things a little bit differently and interpret it different. The first one I want to look at is the supposed contradiction of the conversion of Paul the Apostle, because there's two different chapters that talk a lot about his conversion, and they'll basically say, well, these chapters contradict with one another, okay? Now, let me also say this as a side point. I'll talk about this a little bit more, but I do not believe that Saul was led to the Lord by the Lord Jesus Christ, though. I believe he was led to the Lord later on by Ananias, but I'll kind of talk about that a little bit. I understand people see that differently as well. But let's just start here at verse number one, and I'll show you what the so-called contradiction is. Acts 9, verse 1, the Bible reads, And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. Now, of course, you know, Saul, before he was saved, before he was Paul the Apostle, he believed in the Lord, but he did not believe Jesus was the Lord. He would have said he believed the Old Testament, and yet he denied Jesus when he came. He didn't understand. So he said, who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus. Well, he did not believe that up until that moment, and he's being told, hey, I am Jesus, I am the Lord. Then it says, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks, and he trembling and astonished. So it makes sense he's trembling, he's shaking, he's like, what is going on? This light from heaven, he's hearing this voice, he's trembling, he's surprised, he's shocked, and said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. Now, of course, what you must do is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's being told to him by Ananias later on what he must do, okay? But verse 7 is the verse that people say there's a contradiction, and it says here in verse 7, and the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. So the Bible says in Acts 9, verse 7, that the people that were with him, they're also astonished, they're speechless, they don't know what to say, and what it says is they heard a voice. So they heard somebody talking, but they didn't see anybody, seeing no man. And let me just say this, I don't believe they saw Paul the Apostle either, because the Bible says a light shined round about Saul, so I believe basically this light is around Saul, and they're outside the light, so they don't even see Saul when this is going on, okay? I believe the Lord Jesus was actually inside there, actually talking to him. I don't believe it was just a voice from heaven, and it'll make sense, you know, why that is later on. But what it says here in Acts 9, verse 7 is they heard a voice very clearly, but they did not see a man, right? Now keep your finger in Acts 9 and turn to Acts 22. Acts 22. And look, as I said, it's okay if you interpret this differently. I mean, obviously people have different opinions about things, I'm just showing you what I believe the Bible teaches, how you can answer this, and I believe it's going to make sense here today why the wording is a little bit different between these chapters. But in Acts 22, verse 6, it says this, And it came to pass that as I made my journey and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. Now, in Acts 22, Paul is getting the chance to basically give his testimony, so to speak. He's getting a chance to answer to a great group of people at the end of chapter 21. So he's getting up and letting them know, you know, basically how he converted and how he got saved. And now in Acts 22, it's not the narrator saying this, this is Paul the Apostle explaining what took place. And he says that, you know what, there's a great light round about him, And I fell unto the ground and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? So when there's this great light, the first reaction of Paul is he falls to the ground because he's shocked, because the light is bright, right? So his first reaction is he kind of just hits the deck and he's speechless, he's trembling, he's astonished. I mean, that makes sense, right, if something like this took place. Then it says in verse 8, And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. Now verse 9 is the one people say is a contradiction. And they that were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. Now go back to Acts 9-7, keep your finger in both places. It's time like these, you know, modern technology like a projector would be very nice. And I'm not actually against that sort of technology, it can be useful from time to time, but you're just going to have to flip back and forth between these chapters, okay? So Acts 9 verse 7, what it said is, And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. So they heard a voice, but they did not see a man, right? But then in Acts 22 verse 9, what it says is, They saw indeed the light and were afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. So number one, what did the people see? Well, the Bible says they saw a light, but they did not see a man, which I believe includes Paul the Apostle, they did not see when this took place. It's a great light, I mean, your first reaction is to basically just shield your eyes, and I don't believe they saw Paul the Apostle when this is taking place, but they saw a light, but they didn't see anybody. That's not a contradiction. But the one they say is a contradiction is that in Acts 9 verse 7 it says they heard a voice, but in Acts 22 verse 9 it says they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. So the question is, well, what exactly took place? Some people, and I'm not against them for saying this, but I believe this is definitely not correct, they'll say, well, you know, they heard something, but they couldn't really comprehend it, so that's why it says they heard a voice, but it says they didn't hear a voice. The problem is when we study the Bible we're meant to cross-reference, and when you cross-reference you can't tell me that the word hear means something completely different when you're meant to compare these chapters, right? I mean, you're meant to cross-reference these together, and if one says hear and it means just hearing anything, and the other one means perceive, I think that's a bad explanation, and I don't think it makes sense. It would be very confusing. It's actually not complicated, though, because in verse 7 they heard a voice. That is clear. But in Acts 22 verse 9, they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. Whose voice did they hear? They heard the voice of Paul. They didn't hear the voice of the Lord. It's not even a contradiction when you read it. I mean, they heard a voice. They heard not the voice of him that spake to me. So whose voice? Well, there's two people talking. When you read those chapters there's a conversation between the Lord and Paul the Apostle, and they heard a voice, but they didn't hear the voice of the Lord. It's not that complicated, right? They heard the voice of Paul the Apostle right before he was Paul the Apostle. So it's obviously not a contradiction when you actually look at it. And look, I think it makes sense because just think about this logically. If this event took place and you just immediately hit the deck, and you're trembling, and you're shocked, and you're surprised, and there's this great light, and you're talking to someone, you're probably going to be talking like this, Who art thou, Lord? Because you're astonished, right? I mean, Paul's probably very loud. And then the Lord's just kind of calmly responding back to him. See, here's the thing. If there's a voice from up in heaven, I believe everybody would hear it unless God prevented that from taking place. So I believe the Lord is actually in there in that light with him, and he's having a conversation. And Paul the Apostle was probably very loud, and the Lord is just kind of calmly talking to him because he has no reason to scream. Whereas Paul the Apostle, I mean, this is a major event. He's like, Who art thou, Lord? And Jesus calmly responds. So it made complete sense why they heard the voice of Paul, but they did not hear the voice of the Lord. So, well, the question would be, why is it that these are worded a bit tricky? I'll admit it's a bit tricky when you're reading over it. It actually makes perfect sense, though, because Acts 9, the narrator is explaining what happened with Paul the Apostle, and he focuses on Paul the Apostle. In Acts 22, Paul the Apostle has a chance to give his testimony, and when he gets a chance to give his testimony, guess what testimony he gives of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Look, if you ever have an opportunity to preach to a large group of people, and they say, Can you just tell us your testimony, you know, about serving God, or whatever they say, just get up and preach the Gospel. Just get up and talk about the Lord, and that's exactly what Paul the Apostle does. So it makes sense that when Paul tells this story, he doesn't focus on himself. Why? Because he's not arrogant. Because he wants to get people saved, so he talks about the Lord, where he says, You know, they saw the light of the Lord, but they didn't hear the voice of him. And he's explaining everything in the reference of looking at the Lord Jesus Christ, because that's obviously what you should do if you get that opportunity. So it actually makes perfect sense why it's worded a bit differently. I mean, if I were to tell the conversion of Paul, I'd focus on Paul, but Paul himself is obviously not going to focus on himself. He focuses on the Lord, because Acts 9-7 is in the focus of Paul. They heard a voice, the voice of Paul, seeing no man. They did not see the person whose voice they heard is what the Bible's trying to say. They heard Paul's voice, but they didn't see him. So they're like, Where's this voice coming from? Because they didn't see Paul. Because, as I said, you know, this light is round about Paul, and so it's basically shielding them, and the Lord is actually inside talking to them. Well, another question you might have is, Why is it that Paul even saw the Lord Jesus Christ? Because there's this great light, and the first reaction is, Paul hits the deck, he's trembling, he's astonished. I believe this is the reason why he has eyesight problems later on in his life, which is a whole other topic. But he sees the Lord, but nobody else sees the Lord. Why is it that Paul saw the Lord, but nobody else did? What actually makes perfect sense? Because we don't really just call Paul, Paul. We call him Paul the apostle. What's one of the requirements to being an apostle? That you've seen the risen Savior, so it makes sense that Paul actually saw the risen Savior, but nobody else saw the Lord Jesus Christ, just Paul. So actually, it's not just that this is not a contradiction. It actually makes perfect sense why it's worded the way it is. I don't actually believe it's that complicated. I will say this. As I said, I don't believe Paul got saved here, because getting saved means you need the gospel explained to you, and having this life-changing event is not the full gospel being explained. So if you believe he got saved here, you would have to think the Lord had a 10-minute conversation with him. I don't really think that fits with what's taking place. I think basically he told him, Go to Ananias, he'll tell you what you must do. It doesn't specifically mention Ananias preaching the gospel, but obviously he did for him to end up getting saved. And so that's my opinion. I don't believe he got saved here on the road to Damascus. I understand there's a tricky verse in Galatians, and I understand all those things, and people have different opinions. But you can see clearly there's no contradiction between Acts 9-7 and Acts 22, verse 9. When they heard the voice of Paul the Apostle, they did not hear the voice of the Lord. Now turn in your Bible to 2 Samuel 6. 2 Samuel 6. 2 Samuel 6. So the first so-called contradiction we looked at is the contradiction of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. What did the people hear? Well, they heard the voice of Paul, they didn't hear the voice of the Lord. Not actually that complicated to explain. And what I found with most contradictions in the Bible is if you closely read it, oh, it's not a contradiction at all. The Bible's just specific what took place. The second one is did Michael have kids or not? Did the wife of King David, did she have children or not? Notice what it says in 2 Samuel 6, verse 20. It says, Then David returned to bless his household, and Michael the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovered himself. And David said unto Michael, It was before the Lord, which chose me before thy father and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore will I play before the Lord. And I will be yet more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight, and of the maidservants which thou has spoken of, of them shall I be had in honor. So we have a big fight between David and Michael, and I don't want to talk about that so much because I've done it in sermons, but they get into a big fight, and the result of that is in verse 23, Therefore, so as a result of this big fight, Michael the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death. So because of this big fight, they did not have any children, and the implication is they were never together as man and wife, husband and wife again. So it'd be impossible to have children if you're never together in that way, right? So as a result of this fight, she does not have any children unto the day of her death, right? Turn to 2 Samuel 21, 2 Samuel 21. And 2 Samuel 21 verse 8, and actually my Mother's Day sermon is on 2 Samuel 21 verse 8, so I don't want to go too much into this, but I do want to explain this contradiction. But in 2 Samuel 21 verse 8, the Bible says, and this is a story where basically because of the bloodshed of Saul, you know, there was basically a punishment given, and the people asked for seven sons to be killed. So seven sons are going to be killed, which are not necessarily the direct sons of Saul but within his lineage or offspring, could be grandsons. But notice what it says in 2 Samuel 21 verse 8, But the king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Ai, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth. And the five sons of Michael, the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel, the son of Barzillai, the Maholothites. Now, this is the same woman, right? If you think, well, maybe it's not the same woman. No, no, no, Saul had one daughter named Michael, okay? And people pronounce this completely different. Michael, Michelle, Michal, I've heard like, I don't know, right? But Michael, you know, this is the same woman, and it was very clear earlier in 2 Samuel 6 that she had no child unto the day of her death, and yet here it's very clear she has five sons. So the question is, how do you reconcile? Did she have children or not, okay? I do not believe she ever gave birth to any children, okay? But what we see in 2 Samuel 21 verse 8 is, it says she had five sons, but notice whom she brought up, whom she raised. These are not children she gave birth to, but she's the one who raised these children, okay? By the way, on a side point, for those that have, I've heard this question a lot, can you call somebody, your son or your daughter, if you raise them but you're not biologically apparent? Yes. Here's an example right here. Another example is Naomi and Ruth, okay? If you raise children, you are the mom or the dad to those children, and they'll look at you as the mom or the dad, right? I mean, that's a whole other side point, and that will tie into my Mother's Day sermon, but here's an example where the Bible says that these are her children, but she did not give birth to any children. She raised these five sons, okay? The question is, who is this Adriel the Moholothite, right? Adriel the son of Barzillai the Moholothite. He's not exactly the most famous name, but it's actually going to make sense once you realize who this person is in the Bible, because she raised these kids for some guy, right? This is a guy, Adriel the son, so this is a man, so who is this guy, okay? Well, turn to 1 Samuel 18, 1 Samuel 18. So it's not saying that she didn't have any children with David, but then she ended up having children with somebody else. It's not what the Bible's saying. It's actually very clear she had no children under the day of her death, and she did not give birth to any children. But who is this guy, Adriel? Well, 1 Samuel 18, verse 17. 1 Samuel 18, verse 17. And Saul said to David, Behold, my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife, only be thou valiant for me, and fight the Lord's battles. For Saul said, Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him. So David has basically the world's shortest engagement to Saul's oldest daughter, Merab. They're supposed to get married, and then, you know, notice what it says here in verse 18. And David said unto Saul, Who am I? And what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king? But it came to pass at that time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David that she was given on to Adriel the meholothite to wife. So Adriel is the brother-in-law of Michael, because Michael is the sister of Merab. And so David was supposed to marry Merab, but he didn't end up marrying her, and Adriel the meholothite ends up marrying Merab. So this is the brother-in-law of Michael. Now, I mean, I suppose you could interpret it that, you know, the sister died, and then she married her sister's husband. I don't think that's the case, because I think it's clear she did not have any children on the day of her death, and it's not really shocking. She's the aunt. These five kids that she raises, she's basically the aunt. Is it really that shocking that an aunt would help raise children? I mean, isn't it true oftentimes that family will help raise? I mean, we don't know what happened to this woman, Merab. Maybe she passed away. That's a possibility. Maybe she was working and she wasn't able to take care of them, and then basically Michael really stepped in and helped. I mean, there's a lot of possibilities, but realizing these are her nephews, it's not really that complicated. It's not complicated for an aunt to help raise kids. And so it calls her the mother. She has five sons because she raised them, right? And look, of course, if you raise kids, you know, from a young age, you could be called the mom or the dad to those kids because you poured your heart into them. You're the one who trained them and taught them. It's not just something we use in our modern day where you could be called the mom or the father by raising kids. It's something, biblically speaking, you could be called the mom or the dad if you raised those children. So basically she's just the aunt to these kids, and it says they're her kids because she raised them. They were brought up for Adriel, okay? Now turn to 1 Kings 11. 1 Kings 11. So once again, I don't think that's a very complicated one either, right? I mean, it says these are her sons because she raised them, right? And even, you know, I think it says they're her sons because she raised them, but the other thing is, you know, terminology-wise, you could call someone a son or a daughter simply because they're part of your lineage. I mean, the Bible will say, well, someone's son, but it's like their grandson, but the Bible would still use that terminology. Or there's times you'll call someone your son and it's your nephew. That's actually throughout the Bible, so it's not actually that complicated if you wanted to go that route. That's a very valid explanation. I think the main thing is just that since she raised them, she's called the mom to them, but she didn't give birth to any children, okay? So once again, that's not complicated either. Now, number three is our math problem, okay? I got to work in a math problem. Here's my question before I do this one. What is ten plus one? Any guesses? Ten plus, yeah, this is like you had that math test and there's like that really obvious answer, and then all of a sudden you're like, it can't be that obvious. Those are always the ones that I would miss, right? It's like two plus three, that equals five, right? I mean, letter C in this, I got to pick something else. It can't be that easy, right? And actually, in this case, it's not that easy because the answer is 12. Ten plus one equals 12, and I'll prove it to you, okay? And I'll explain this. 1 Kings 11, verse 29. 1 Kings 11, verse 29. And the Bible reads, And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem. And let me just explain real quickly, you know, the background on the story. You know, Solomon was a great man of God. You know, he was the leader. He was the son of David. He takes over the kingdom, and then all of a sudden he marries like, what was it, 15 million wives? And then all of a sudden he backslides, and all of a sudden he's not right with God, and basically God tells him the kingdom is going to be removed from you. And basically God raises up various enemies to him, and the big one that's mentioned, although there's a few others as well, is Jeroboam, okay? And Jeroboam was actually one of the men of Solomon. He was one of his chief men, and then basically, you know, he's losing the kingdom to Jeroboam, and this prophet Ahijah will tell Jeroboam about this, which is what we're going to read. Now some people get confused because Solomon's son who takes over is Rehoboam, okay? Jeroboam is the other one, so I get it. The names are confusing. It's hard to remember these things, but basically the prophet is coming to Jeroboam while Solomon is still reigning and letting him know what is going to take place and how he's going to take most of the kingdom, okay? 1 Kings 11, verse 29, And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shiloh knight found him in the way, and he had clad himself with a new garment, and they too were alone in the field. So there's just these two men, and the garment's referring to the clothing, and Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him and ridden it in 12 pieces. So basically Ahijah takes the clothing of Jeroboam and rips it apart into 12 pieces, okay? That's a pretty rude thing to do when that's new clothing, right? Especially clothing was expensive back then. It's like, I'm going to take your new clothing and rip it apart, right? Into 12 pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee 10 pieces, for thus saith the Lord the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give 10 tribes to thee. So out of these 12 pieces, 10 tribes are given to thee, verse 32, but he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. So basically you have 12 pieces, and yet you have 10 plus 1, right? I mean, that's what you're seeing in this story, 10 plus 1, and somehow that has to equal 12, right? You understand the contradiction that is taking place here, or so-called contradiction? Well, realize what's taking place in this chapter. We're learning about the split in the kingdom that is going to take place. This does not happen in the days of Solomon, though. It happens when his son Rehoboam takes place, takes over, and there's that big fight between Rehoboam, he asks for advice, he rejects the advice of the old men, takes the advice of the young men that always want to go to war and just fight and everything like that. And so basically there's this big split in the kingdom as a result. Before that you had the 12 tribes of Israel, and 10 tribes are given to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, okay? Ten tribes. That kingdom becomes the northern kingdom of Israel. Now notice you don't rename that kingdom. It's still the kingdom of Israel. You say, why? Because of those 10 tribes, none of those tribes were more dominant than the other. They're essentially equal. All 10 tribes are essentially equal. There's no dominant one. It'd be like if a big empire split up, but 90% stayed on one side, you might just call it the same thing, and just the other ones get renamed to something else, right? So you've got the northern kingdom of Israel, and the one tribe that's being referred to is the tribe of Judah, because you've got the southern kingdom of Judah. And by the way, on a side point, we get the term Jew not from the 12 tribes of Israel, but from the southern kingdom of Judah. That word Jew you will not find in Genesis or Exodus or Leviticus or Numbers or Deuteronomy. I mean, it's because of this split, and those that would choose to link up with that southern kingdom, which becomes the godly one, those are the Jews, okay? The southern kingdom of Judah, that is the tribe. You say, well, what happened to the other tribe? Well, they weren't by themselves, though. The tribe of Judah was comprised of Judah and Benjamin, but Judah's the dominant one, so he says one tribe. This is where my holy city's going to be. So he's referring to the tribe of Judah. That's what the kingdom is named, but basically it's Judah plus Benjamin. So it says one tribe because there's a dominant tribe, but it's essentially two tribes. And on another side point, during these times, if you wanted to link up with God's people, God was all for immigrating to the southern kingdom of Judah and just serving that god. So if you were from the tribe of Reuben or Gad or Asher or wherever, and you said, I don't want to worship these golden calves at Bethel and Dan, I mean, you could go down and link up with God's people of the southern kingdom, but basically two tribes fully embraced this, Judah and Benjamin, and sided with Rehoboam, but Judah's very much the dominant tribe, which is where we even get the term Jew. So that's why 10 plus 1 equals 12, okay? Now turn in your Bible to Exodus 20. Exodus 20. Exodus 20. I remember reading that a long time ago, and I'm like, am I missing something? I mean, I majored in math. I got a degree. I mean, isn't 10 and 1, am I missing one of the tribes in there? I mean, what's going on, right? It's actually not that complicated. The Bible's just trying to tell you that Judah is the preeminent one of those two, because it's renamed the southern kingdom of Judah. It's not given a name where it's a combination of Judah and Benjamin. It's the southern kingdom of Judah because they're very much the dominant one. So the first contradiction or so-called one we looked at was, let's see, what did we look at? We looked at Paul's conversion story. We looked at did Michael have kids or not. We looked at, you know, basically these 12 tribes, how it's 10 tribes in one tribe, and how that meshes to be 12. Number four is sort of a combination of like a hundred Bible contradictions, and it's basically questions regarding the law of God and should we follow the law of God in 2022, or what parts of the law should we follow. An example of this would be when somebody says, well, do you eat shellfish? Now, for me, it's like, I'm not really a seafood person, so, well, no, not really, right? But it's like, do you eat shellfish? And you're like, well, yeah, and it's like, well, the Bible says don't do that, right? Or do you eat bacon? Do you eat pork or whatever? The Bible says don't do that, right? And there's many contradictions that fall underneath that category, and so I want to take some time to explain it, because I think this is something a lot of people are actually very confused on, of basically what laws do we follow in the New Testament days, okay? Now, Exodus 20, verse 8, I'll give you an example of this. Exodus 20, verse 8, the Bible says in Exodus 20, verse 8, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. So the Bible tells us to remember the Sabbath day. This is the fourth commandment, and was it that important? Well, yes, because somebody got put to death for not doing it, right? So obviously it's very important to God to keep the Sabbath day. And, of course, there's churches today like the Seventh-day Adventists, there's also the Seventh-day Baptists that say we must have church on Saturday, right? We must keep the Sabbath, right? Now, personally, I don't think, I seriously doubt this is really Sunday, because the calendar's been so scrambled up that who really even knows, right? But there's people that would say, no, you must have church on Saturday, and if you do not, then you're not right with God. I was going sowing a long time ago, and I'm explaining the Gospel, and this girl was a Seventh-day Adventist, and it was taking her a while, and, you know, I went through everything, it was a long conversation. I thought she had finally agreed that once you're saved, you're always saved. But she said there's just one thing that would make you lose your salvation, not going to church on Saturday. It's like, so you could kill someone, you could commit suicide, but not going to church on Saturday, you're going to lose your salvation. Anyway, what's weird about this is Seventh-day Adventists, they think it's okay to go to church on Wednesday, just not Sunday. It's like, okay, right? But it's a big deal to religions like that. It's like their pet doctrine, their main doctrine. We'll go to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians 2. Colossians chapter 2. Now, when it talks about remembering the Sabbath day, it was in regards to work. It was not in regards to church service. But let me just say this, like, we don't follow the Sabbath day in 2022. We do not need to follow the Sabbath day. You can work on any day of the week, and that's okay. It is not a sin to work on any specific day, okay? And what I want you to understand to really illustrate this, when you think about the Ten Commandments, because this is one of the Ten Commandments, you think about having no other gods before God. It's obviously inherently sinful to have any god before the true God, right? Having a graven image, idolatry, that is inherently sinful. You're worshiping another god when you do that. Taking the name of the Lord God in vain, it's inherently sinful. It will always be sinful no matter what. Think about thou shalt not kill. It's obviously wrong to murder someone. Stealing, lying, it's wrong to do these things, right? But what about the Fourth Commandment, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy? It's not inherently sinful that a specific day of the week you're choosing to work. And what I mean by that is there's nothing magical about a specific day. Right? Because when you're born, it's born into you, murder is wrong. Right? It's inside your conscience, you know that's true. But there's nothing magical about a specific day. The question is, well, why is it that God had them worshiping on the Sabbath, or why is it that they had to not work on that day? Because it's actually a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And see, we are saved not by our own works, and when you get saved, you enter into the rest found in Christ. Okay? So before the time of Christ, there were certain laws and ordinances that were a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, but when He rose again, those were fulfilled. Because there was nothing magical about the Sabbath day, it was actually just a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because notice what it says in Colossians 2, verse 13. Colossians 2, verse 13. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with them, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of in holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days. So the Bible says, don't let anybody judge you in respect of meat. What does that mean? It means that if somebody says it's wrong for you to eat pork, they're wrong. You can eat whatever you want. You can eat pork, you can eat bacon. I mean, don't let anyone judge you in respect of meat, because it's not sinful to eat pork. But in the Old Testament, it was. Why? Because they were unclean animals, which is also something that's picturing the Lord Jesus Christ, clean versus unclean animals. Now, I will say this. Although there's a lot of laws we don't follow today, I believe all those laws were actually practical and good laws and helpful laws, because the reality is the unclean animals are pretty unhealthy compared to the clean animals. So it's actually good dietary advice. It's not like it was a bad or unhelpful law, but it's not sinful to eat bacon, although I think most of us would agree that's not the healthiest meat to eat. You can eat whatever meat. If you want to eat bacon, go for it. If you want to eat pork, I don't know if spam is meat or not, but I like the taste, so I eat it. I don't know what that is. But you're allowed to eat it. There's nothing wrong with it. Then it says, or of, or in drink. Now, here's the thing. Drinking alcohol is inherently sinful. But there's certain drinks or foods you might not be able to eat because of clean versus unclean. Now, alcohol is just inherently sinful. Obviously, I preached on that. The Bible teaches that. But then it says, or in respect of a holy day, well, a holy day would be our modern day word, holiday. And of course, the holidays in the Bible are always associated with religion, so they're holy days. Nowadays, our holidays are not necessarily related to God. Some are. Easter and Christmas are the main ones, but a lot of the other ones are not. But here's the thing. When Jesus rose again, they didn't have to keep those holidays anymore. It wasn't something that was required, okay? Then it says, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days. So the Bible's saying here, of the Sabbath days, it's not something you have to keep in 2022. After Jesus rose again, that was done away with. Look, you are welcome to go to work later on today and you're not sinning. You can work any day of the week. That's perfectly fine to work, whether it's a Saturday or Sunday, or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Any day you want to work, that's perfectly fine, according to the Bible. There's nothing inherently sinful about working on a specific day, but that was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, of course, they didn't really understand that, right? I mean, people are working and just not realizing, hey, you're destroying the picture of salvation, but they should have just done what God said, even though they did not understand this. Notice what it says in verse 17, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. There are certain laws, certain ordinances, that were just merely a shadow or a picture of what was to come. Now, the way this is often broken down, and I think it's easy to remember this way, is just there's the moral law, right? Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet. There's the moral law, and then there's what's known as the ceremonial law. And I didn't come up with these terminologies, but I think it's a good one to remember. Ceremonial law is like the ordinances and basically things that are done away we don't do in 2022. For example, we don't do a burnt offering in 2022. You say, why? Because Christ died for us, his soul went to hell for three days and three nights, and he already rose again. What would be the purpose of doing a burnt offering? Right now, we still keep the Passover because the Lord's Supper is the Passover, but there's an important part missing from the Passover. That's called slaying the lamb. Why is it we don't kill the lamb anymore? Because of the fact the Lord Jesus Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He already rose again, and when we take the Lord's Supper, yes, the Passover transitioned into the Lord's Supper, but you don't have the lamb anymore because Jesus obviously already rose again, okay? See, there are certain laws that are not inherently sinful, but they were a picture of the Lord, they were a picture of things, and they were merely a shadow. They were never meant to be permanent, but it's still wrong to kill people, right? I mean, that's still wrong, and you know it inside of your conscience. It's inherently sinful, okay? Now, let's look at a few other places. Turn to John 8, John 8, John chapter 8. And look, this is kind of an umbrella contradiction because there's a lot of contradictions that fall underneath this category, and they're all associated with this, and a lot of people have questions about what part of the law do we follow because one extreme that would be wrong is that nothing applies from the Old Testament. It's all done away with the resurrection of Jesus, so nothing applies unless it's specifically stated in the New Testament. The problem with that is there's a lot of laws that are not stated in the New Testament, and it's just like they're obviously still morally wrong, right? You could preach a sermon series on all the laws that are contained not in the New Testament, but of course they still apply, okay? So they don't have to be restated to be gone. It's actually the opposite. For a law to be gone, the Bible would have to be very clear that it does not apply, and it would be something that Jesus Christ fulfilled. So we don't follow everything from the Old Testament, and what's hypocritical is you've got these Seventh-day Adventists. They don't do burnt offerings. Why not? They don't slay a lamb at Easter time. If everything from the Old Testament applies, why aren't you killing an animal, right? Now, I will say this. There was this dispensational Baptist church in America, kind of a famous dispensationalist, and they do kill a lamb, I guess, at Easter. It's like a new tradition they started. It's like I don't even know what to say to that, right? But we don't do that because the Lord Jesus Christ rose again, okay? There were ordinances or certain laws that no longer apply, but there's nothing that's changed in what I would call the moral law. Things that are inherently right or wrong, those things have not changed with Jesus rising again. Look, Jesus doesn't make the laws, you know, less strict in the New Testament. People have that idea, but he actually enforces them even more, right? In the Sermon on the Mount, he says even looking on a woman to lust after you've committed adultery in your heart, so he basically really drives it home. You know, so notice what it says here in John 8. Here's one of the passages where people use this and try to criticize the Bible or say the law doesn't apply anymore. John 8, verse 1, Jesus went under the Mount of Olives, and early in the morning he came again in the temple, and all the people came on to him, and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought him on to a woman taken in adultery, and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now, of course, the big question is, where is the guy, right? I mean, if the woman was caught in the very act, where is the guy? Because, you know, the law of the Old Testament was both would be put to death, and yet the guy is not brought here, right? Verse number 5, Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? And so they're basically trying to get Jesus in trouble because if he says, you know, we're going to stone this woman, well, he's going to be arrested or put to death himself because he's not the law of the land. When Jesus Christ came here the first time, he did not come to basically reign like he did in his millennial kingdom or will one day. When he came, he didn't say, okay, we're changing all the laws, actually he said we're underneath the authority of the government and their rules. And look, it's the same thing for us. Look, there's plenty of guys I see dressing as women all over Metro Manila, and here's the thing, God has not changed his opinion because the moral law doesn't change, but here's the thing, it's not our job to stone those people. And look, we've never promoted that, we've never said to take over the government, we've just claimed that if God was the one that was running this country and it was his laws, those would be the laws. Everything in the Old Testament, those would be the laws if God was the one in charge of this country, but obviously we're underneath the authority of the government and look, you've got to be wise as serpents. If you want to go out and try to enact everything the Bible says, you're going to get arrested and you're not going to be able to serve God. It's like we are underneath the authority of our country that we live in. And it says here in verse number seven, this they said tempting him that they might have to accuse him, but Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, so they're continuing trying to basically get him to do this, he lifted up himself and said on to them, he that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her. And he says basically, if you are sinless, you're able to cast a stone, but if you're not, then you can't do it, okay? Now I believe the reason why he says this is because there's only one who is sinless. It's God. Obviously Jesus Christ is God, but basically God is the only one that's sinless. And what the Bible is trying to tell you is, if you live underneath the government that is not applying the rules of the Bible, it is up to God to do what he decides best in a situation. God's the one who can decide if he's going to do something, right? Because we live in a government and if the government doesn't do it, it's completely up to God and if God decides to show mercy, then that's God's decision, right? And so what Jesus is saying is, hey, you don't have this authority because you don't run this government. And if God chooses to do something, then God will do something. If not, that's completely up to him. Look, he's very compassionate to this woman. This woman ends up getting saved, right? Basically what the Bible is showing you is, we don't take the law into our own hands. The Bible never tells us to do that and Jesus never came to try to conquer and reign. He came as a savior. He came and he suffered and he died and he paid for his sins. Now one day, he will rule and reign and when he does, it's going to be the laws of God. But that day has not come yet. It will come one day. Turn to Matthew 5. Matthew 5. Matthew 5. Because people try to take John 8 to say, well, see, nothing in the Old Testament applies anymore. The death penalty is gone. None of that applies. Well, that's not the case, right? The laws of God have not changed and his opinion about those laws have not changed. But our country is not using the Bible as their only source to determine right and wrong. They're making decisions based on what seems right to them and what their opinion is and so it is what it is. You live underneath the government, you're underneath the government's authority. That's the way it works. But it doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with God's laws or that God's wrong or God's changed his opinion. Look, it doesn't matter how often you see guys dressed as girls. God's opinion has not changed about that. I mean, he says the same thing that he's always said. I mean, even in the Old Testament, he said that, you know, basically a man with his stones cut off is not allowed to enter into the congregation. It's like, well, now with this big transgender, transsexual thing, it's like, okay, now we understand how that applies. Maybe 100 years ago they didn't get it, but that's a real issue in today's world, right? Turn to Matthew 5. Matthew 5. Matthew 5, verse 17. Matthew 5, verse 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the law of the prophets. I'm not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Jesus said, I didn't come here to get rid of everything the law said and everything the prophets said, right? Because there's various religions that have this idea where basically there's a prophet of God, and then basically God has this new prophet that comes in and everything's different because you live under a different time frame, right? Like the Bahá'í faith would say, well, like, Christianity, Judaism was correct, and then Christianity was correct, and then Islam was correct, but now that's done away, and it's just Bahá'u'lláh who is the prophet teaching us. It's not the way it works, okay? When Jesus came, he said, I'm not getting rid of what Moses said. I'm not getting rid of what Abraham said. I didn't come to destroy the law. The law's still good. I came to fulfill. And here's the thing. And here's the thing. Certain things were fulfilled when he rose again. We do not do a burnt offering anymore because he was that burnt offering. We don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore because when we get saved, we enter into that rest, and all the work was done by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's okay to eat the unclean animals. Probably not the healthiest thing, but it's okay to eat them because there's also picturing with the cleanliness and uncleanliness the Lord Jesus Christ. There's many of these things. There's things that people mock about the Bible, like wearing clothing of linen and wool, and yesterday I made the mistake of sort of preaching my sermon coming up in like a minute. I'm not gonna do that today, but there's verses like that. They'll say, well, why does the Bible say you can't wear this clothing of these two fabrics? And a lot of that's underneath that umbrella of Jesus rising again, and it's a picture of that, okay? But notice what it says in verse 18. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass. Now, let me ask you a question. When will heaven and earth pass? Revelation 21, right? Revelation 21, a new heaven and a new earth. That's what the Bible's saying here. It's not just being poetic until heaven and earth pass. No, no, no. Until Revelation 21, right? A new heaven and a new earth is what he's saying. Basically, until that time comes, until heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no rise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. And he said basically everything needs to be fulfilled and some were fulfilled when Jesus rose again, but not everything. Because here's the thing, in heaven there's going to be no sin. Right? People aren't going to be murdering up in heaven. So you don't need those rules anymore. But guess what? You still need those rules in 2022. People aren't going to be stealing up in heaven. But we're not at that day yet. So we need these laws. One day we won't need them anymore. You say, why? Because people won't sin anymore. We're not at that point, though, in 2022. And so until that time comes, these laws are still valid. Right? Turn to John chapter 1. John 1. We'll look at one last place. John 1. We'll look at one more contradiction, I should say. So the first one we looked at the conversion of Paul the Apostle, which the men that were with him, they heard the voice of Paul. They didn't see him when he was talking, but they heard his voice. They did not hear the voice of the Lord. Number two, did Michael have kids or not? She did not give birth to any kids, but she raised five sons for her brother-in-law. These are her nephews. She is the aunt of them, but she did not actually give birth to any kids. Number three, we looked at 10 plus 1, it equals 12. I proved that to you. Now, look, if any kids flunk their next math test, it's not my fault, okay? Number four, we looked at basically contradictions associated with the law of God because honestly, there's so many of like the same contradiction over and over again, I don't want to just preach every single one and just show the same thing. That just kind of sums up like 50 so-called contradictions where basically certain things, yes, they were in the Old Testament, they were done away when Jesus rose again. Certain things were not, though. The moral law was not done away. Lastly, and I've talked about this recently, but I'll cover it because it's a big one listed, have people seen God face-to-face or not? This is a very common one that you see on contradiction lists Well, notice what it says in John 1, verse 18. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. So it says here in verse 18 that nobody's ever seen God. Right? Now, realize when you see the word God in the Bible, it could be referring to God the Father, it could be referring to God the Holy Ghost, it could be referring to God the Son, or it could be referring to God in all totality. And here, I believe what it's referring to is God the Father. Okay? Sometimes the word God I don't think is specific to the Father or the Son or the Holy Ghost. Sometimes it is, though. And I believe here it's in reference to the Father because it mentions the only begotten Son. Well, I mean, the Son of who? The Son of God the Father, which is in the bosom of the Father, which is linking back to no man hath seen God at any time. So, look, nobody has seen God the Father face-to-face. But have people seen the Lord Jesus Christ face-to-face? I mean, that was one of the requirements for Paul the Apostle. I mean, Jesus Christ was here, but they saw the risen Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, when they saw God, it was the Son of God who was appearing to them, and they spoke to God the Son face-to-face, but they never spoke to God the Father face-to-face. And so, have people seen God face-to-face? Well, they've seen God the Son face-to-face. Right? And you don't have to turn there because I looked at this recently, and it's basically, another verse says, not that any man hath seen the Father. So it's more specific to God the Father. But that's what it's saying in John 1.18. It's not saying no one's ever seen God the Son. And look, obviously, we believe Jesus is God. There's no question about that. But people have seen God the Son. They've not seen God the Father, though. Okay, so look, I don't believe any of these are really complicated, to be honest. I think most of these are pretty simple. And as I said, I wanted to preach ones that are not the dumb ones, ones that could be a bit tricky. But I'm fully convinced I know how to explain. I don't think they're complicated. And as I said, you know what, in four months, five months, six months, I'll probably do some more contradictions. Another thing you could do if you have any questions about certain things in the Bible, I'm not going to guarantee I know the answer to it if you have a so-called contradiction that you give me. But you could mention it to me if you're not sure and it's something I could study out and it could be part of the next sermon I ever preach on this. I just don't want to preach this every single week because I think it would be repetitive. But as we said at the beginning, there are no errors None. And look, these are some of the biggest so-called contradictions and when you actually look at them, it's not that complicated. There are things that we're going to read in the Bible and not understand. That does not mean it's a contradiction. It just means we're not figuring it out. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting you to see your word on this topic and understand these verses and passages that are a bit tricky. Help us to know our Bibles and believe it and never doubt anything even if we're not fully sure Help us to learn the deep and secret things in your word. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Let's get our hymns and turn to hymn number 208. Let's sing the song Grace Greater Than Our Sin. We're going to sing all the stanzas but on the last stanza we're going to sing the chorus on a cappella. On the first, ready, sing. Marvelous face of our loving Lord Ways that exceed our sin and our guilt Everybody! The wonder of the world is coming to you Here was the blood of the Lamb was healed Grace, grace, the heart's grace Grace with the Father and friends within Grace, grace, the heart's grace Grace that is greater than all our sins Sin and despair like the sea He waits for Breath and a soul with infinite loss Grace, grace, the Lord Yes, grace, the Lord Points to the raptures of our deep cause Grace, grace, the heart's grace Grace that will pardon and dance within Grace, grace, the heart's grace Grace that is greater than all our sins The heart is the same not within a time working again to wash it away Look, there is glowing at wintertime the way that shall be waiting for you to see the sky Grace, grace, the heart's grace Grace, grace, the heart's grace Grace, grace, the heart's grace Grace that is greater than all our sins The heart's grace, the heart's grace Grace that is greater than all our sins The heart's grace, the heart's grace Grace that is greater than all our sins Grace, grace, the heart's grace Grace that is greater than all our sins God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin. Brother Jun, can you pray for us? I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep. I'm sorry, I think you were asleep.