Dr. Dean Alley PhD: Alright, Chaplain Dean Alley here. I had a moment. I hope you're doing well. The day is ended, and we are going to try to sh get another chapter in. This will be chapter 23. We did chapter 22 earlier. Hopefully, this will be a blessing to you as well. But again, the intent here is to go through Genesis 2. Exodus to kind of spend a little bit of time there line by line, precept by precept, and then the goal is kind of sh to s to shift into the New Testament. My goal is to try to get into Romans and kind of start walking through Paul's letters and just kind of learn from what we're trying to do. So Old Testament Genesis, the Tree of Life, Garden of Eden, Revelations, Tree of Life. And that's gonna be the end at that point. So it's not circular, like it's gonna continue like this over and over, just repeat about no. There's a there's a starting point b and it's it's Genesis, it's called Bershit or Sheet, and then it's Revelation in the old testament. So it gives us that a pretty big spectrum in between there. There's a lot of great stories that tie us to serving and putting our faith, hope, and trust in Jesus. And the whole Bible is about the kingdom of heaven. Okay. Kingdom of heaven and the theme is Jesus. And we see that because it shifts when we have The kingdom of heaven is essentially when God created man and Adam and Eve or the garden, he never expected to have to ch to to take and change you know, take you know, he did he didn't when he even cre he he created hell for Satan but not for anybody else. He wasn't intending anybody to to to die or to or go to hell or have anybody that would not be here on earth and and have that relationship with him. So when we think about the what I'm talking macro bible here, you gotta kind of can't swallow the ocean if you will. And a lot of times we get to that point where we try to put it all into one big sock and try to figure it out. You gotta break that out. And and remember one sentence or one verse could be a thousand years in terms of where we are. I mean think about Genesis itself. I don't think I have it right in front of me. Let me see. I do here. We just pick on Genesis a little bit, and we'll say Genesis 1. This has a better better piece here. So let me pull this for you to see. Alright, so Genesis chapter one starts at 4004 BC. By the time we get to the end, which is we're almost halfway through, it is Genesis 50. So we're almost there. We're at 1689. You see where I'm going with that? So 4,04 years is the start of Genesis 1. By the time we end Genesis and chapter 15, we're gonna be at 1689 BC. So you can see that that whole span of how big Genesis is. That's why it's so important to get that foundation down. Second will be we'll pick up will be in Exodus. It'll be two years later we'll start which what they call the second book about of Moses. And the and the whole point here of bringing this to your attention is to set that ground and foundation. And part of our or my goal is in dite discipleship and and teaching and edifying you is to ground you in the scriptures and give you that foundation so you can build on it. And then understand as we go through There's all kinds of things you're not gonna understand, folks. I don't understand everything. And that's okay. You know why? Because we're finite. God is outside of time, space, and matter, and he has the answers. We'll find out one day. So let's just jump in here. Let me give you just a narrative real quick. So this is going to be chapter 23. This is going to be the proven faith of how to cope with death. This is a death chapter. This is where Abraham is going to lose Sarah or Sarai. And I don't know if you've ever noticed when they went from Abram to Abraham, Ham, and then Sarai to Sarah, the he, ho, the, the He the He, which would be Yahweh and Spirit. So it's got everything has a purpose in the Bible. Everything, every word, they matter. Numbers. We talked about the three days earlier in the other chapter. What does that represent? Everything kind of ties all back into what the theme is, and Jesus is the theme. So we'll give we're gonna learn in this chapter the pin the the beginning of the death. must be taken by everybody. So we're all going to experience some form of death. If you've heard my if you've ever heard me talk about how I feel death will be is kind of riding in the back seat of your parents car, windows roll down, I'm s you know, and and and it's hot, warm, you fall asleep, and you wake up and you're at grandma's house. And you know it takes about a an hour and a half to get there. But when when you wake up, you don't remember that whole hour and a half. You were asleep. Then you wake up and then you're at grandma's house. I know it's corny. That's kind of how I see it. We're gonna fall asleep and then we're going to wake up in heaven. And that's kind of how I describe the death death situation. We all have to go through. It's appointed for once for man to die. We all have to die. However, we will live in eternity, spirit. and soul will live in heaven with God and Jesus. And our bodies will be in the in the dust. And then eventually when he comes back, he comes and he takes the body. he comes and gets the body and everything comes down. You're gonna say to me, well what about those sailors that were thrown off the the ship and out of buried out at sea or my loved one was was was was cremated and we spread them over the ocean. I don't know how God is gonna do the bodily thing above my pay grade. Just know that that's part of what he's talking about in the future. So I don't have all those details. I will be on the welcoming committee. you know, and That's what I'll learn. I'll learn as I go too. So so we learn that basically when a loved one dies, or it even if we die, right? So when we start thinking about life is extremely short, folks. If you think for one moment, it tells us in Proverbs, it tells us in Ecclesiastes, it talks about focusing on the day, the the the The day you're in right now, you can't focus on what he calls the morrow or tomorrow because you don't know if you're going to be here for it. And you go, well, I'm in great shape, I'm this, I'm that. Listen, when it's your time, it's your time. Trust me. And he's gonna call on you. And if it's your time, it'll be your time. And how he chooses, don't know. But I will tell you one thing if you are sinning, living outside living outside of his will. You're exacerbating your chances of leaving this earth sooner than others. Just saying. So it it doesn't mean that you know bad guys don't live to be a hundred, but but it doesn't increase your odds if you're sinning. For the wages, what you get paid of sin is death, right? Romans three twenty three. I think it's three twenty three or six twenty three. Let me make sure I give you the right I I think it's either six twenty three Six twenty. So yeah, so when we think about what we deserve, yeah, it's 623, the wage. It says for the wages, what's a wage? You get paid, you go to work every single day, right? At the end of your one week or your two-week pay period, right? That pay pay period, you are given your wages for those two weeks, right? Once you're paid those and you haven't worked the next two weeks, you've been paid already. You gotta go work two more weeks to get the next wage, right? So the Bible uses the sin is death, but the gift is what? Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And that is a gift. You cannot earn it. No other way. But I can tell you this: that first part of that sentence where it says, For the wage of sin, you will be paid your wage in death. If you sin and keep on sinning and know you're doing it, you should be asking God all the time to forgive you for your sins and have a clean conscience with Him because you never know when He may take you. And we're all sinners. I'm the chief sinner. I am no better than anybody else. I do not put myself above anybody else. I am in the trenches with you. So I'm no better than anybody else. So as we go through here, the fact is that the most shocking facts when we start thinking about brevity of life. when we reach an old age of shortness of life, it starts to strike strike us a little bit, give us a little more shock. Maybe you feel it a little bit more when you get up. I don't know if you got any maybe your candles weigh more than the cake, I've heard somebody say, or somebody's told me, hey, I've had way too many birthdays. You know, you should thank God every single day. If you have nothing to thank God about if you wake up with your eyes open, you thank God for that. Because he's the one that allows you to Wake up. Hundred sixty thousand people die in their sleep every night. Some say, Well, I'd rather go in my sleep. I would agree. So the sense that we know when we're getting older is our body's gonna wear out. You can't live forever. I think of a story. one of the relatives of ours w was he was getting up there, it was in his mid eighties, and he went to the doctor, and the doctor he was having problems with like congestival heart failure. He was you know, he was just having a difficult time sometimes, and and he asked him, he said, Doctor, what's what's going on? He goes, You're wearing out. Your organs are wearing out. You just can't You're not you're not designed to live in this body, it's finite forever. So there's bits and parts of you are gonna be wearing out. So we know that's gonna happen. That's the reality that our body's gonna wear out. it's gonna wear down. that cold dark hand of death is out there. You see the little sickle. but it doesn't have to be that way for us. a lot of people look forward to it. Think of my mom. My mom was happy, ready to go. She was looking forward to it. She was she was just had a great spirit about her as she was on her deathbed and I held her. And I gotta tell you, I I that's where I want to be. I don't want to be fighting it. People all fight now. As a chaplain, I've seen it, people will fight death. The number one thing people are f afraid of is death itself. I can attest to it because when I go in and I'm I'm I'm seeing patients that are what we call comfort measures only, which No food, no water, no nothing, just a little bit of morphine until your body gives out. you struggle. You struggle. You're struggling to breathe, you're you're you're you're you're thirsty, you're hungry, all these things and you fight. You fight, fight. Some people fight right to the last second and then they're then they're taken. Then there's some that just kind of, you know, ease off and go to sleep. But what I'm saying is people I I've seen it, they fight all the way to the end of their death and But we have to remember when we're facing death, it can be much easier and remembering just this experience with Abraham. You know, just as Abraham's faith enabled him to deal with the death of his wife, and he and he loved Sarah, Sarah was a beautiful woman. And so our faith as believers can be empowered as well. We can be in that same camp. so the subject here we're gonna be talking about through here in these first twenty verses. we're gonna talk about the burial of Sarah. we're gonna talk about the proven faith. We're gonna we're gonna talk about how to cope with that. grief, let me just give this to you in a nutshell. everybody grieves differently and some some people never get over it. So just so you know, when people go, you need to cut you need to get yourself together, dah dah dah dah dah dah. Some people grieve themselves to death. You s you you hear the stories, you see So We see that at at times. So let's let's jump into verse one of chapter 23. And the word of God's the word of God says in chapter one, ver or chapter twenty-three, verse one, and Sarah, Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years old. She was a hundred and twenty-seven. There were the years of her life. So she was a hundred and twenty-seven years old, according to the Bible. Sarah died in Kerjerathoma. The same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. So remember we talked about Hebron being an area where they were at, Bathsheba, you know, that whole little area in Canaan, he she dies. And Abraham came and he mourned for her and he to weep for her. And then Abraham, and then so basically he comes and he's he's mourning. So Abraham is expressing the sorrow, right? He's expressing the sorrow, the grief. She was under 27 years old. You say, Well, Javeline, that's a good age. Sure, but everybody wants everybody to live forever. So Abraham mourned and he wept. So we get in the we get the imagery here where he himself is mourning the death. And then how do we deal with that with a loved one? And how do we express the sorrow? by by mourning weeping. And we should weep, you should mourn. For the loved ones. they had professional mourners in in first century antiquity. They would send groups of people to mourn when you lost somebody in your family. and and she was 127. And remember who Sarah was and how great her life was, right? She was willing and followed her husband, Abraham, in his call to God. She was faithful with her husband. She was willing to leave her home. Remember when they moved and they They left and and her home, her family, her friends, she left everything. And she had to follow her husband in her heart. She had willingly traveled all about Abraham's sought to follow God and obey. So Abraham's obeying and following God, and she's following Abraham. What a picture of a great marriage, right there. she was steadfast, right along with her husband. All through those years she was she was steadfast in the following God and in following God and believing God and his promises despite the impossible odds. I mean there were some very difficult things that you would think about back then that they went through a lot of different issues, right? the steadfast years that she stayed with him and and and all the odds that she was dealing with, you know, you could think that she was called the princess by God. She was she was called a princess by God. God called her a princess. And you can find that in Genesis seventeen, fifteen, and he says, and I'll read it for you. And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai, thy wife, thou shalt not call her by her name Sarai, but Sarah, she in her name will be, and she will be blessed, and she will be the mother of nations, kings, and and goes on and on and on. So she is an excellent illustration of what grace of God looks like. She is a dynamic example for Christian wives to follow. I think of First Peter three, six, sixteen, where he talks about let's see, three first Peter three and I want to go one first one through six, and likewise ye wives be in subjection to your husbands. that If any obey not the word they also may all without the word be won by the conversations of their wives. So first Peter you can go back and read that and fact check me on that. But she listened with great great hall of fame or or great hall of faith, I would say, as one of the great believers of faith. She was right there with him. She believed. And we know that because Hebrews eleven eleven We it i it calls it out in using Bible with Bible, through faith also it says, Sarah herself received the strength. So we see this. Hebrews is obviously the faith chapter. You'll hear me say that be many times. She was she was the only woman wh whose age and death were recorded in scripture. That's she's the only one we know that scripture gives us her age. And You know, so she dies in the promised land. she has been with her husband side by side, she's accepted God. No, you can you can you can see why Abraham is weeping. I mean she's been right there, a a faithful person right next to her standing side by side. So there's nothing wrong with shedding a tear for death. lots of people when we were growing up would say, you know, stop your crying, stop your crying. Folks, it's an expression. Cry, let it out. That's an emotion God gave you. That's a way of healing and releasing some of the pain through that through the through the tears. and it's not a sign of weakness as as as our big tough football coaches would tell us. But tears release that pain that we feel. Tears release the broken hearts. Tears show our love. Care and esteem for the lost one. It shows that we love them. Tears are even a testimony to the tribute of the most important love that we had at that time. So let's pick it up at three. And Abraham stood from before the dead and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, And basically, Abraham is responsible. he arose, he did not allow himself to become overwhelmed with grief initially. Abraham confessed his faith. he says it here in four. He says, I am a stranger in a sojourner with you. Talking about his wife, giving me a possession of bury, bury, bury place with you that I may be I bury my dead out of sight. So they immediately did burials right away because there was no fruit refrigeration back then. So they they would bury quickly. So Abraham confesses his faith. he was a stranger is what he's saying and a sojourner in canaan and and he and he and he says that in cha in verse five he picks it up and he says and the children and the children of heth answered abraham saying unto him hear us my lord thou art my mighty prince among us in the choice of our sepulchre which is a grave bury thy dead none of us shall withhold From thee his sepulchre sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead. So they given respect to his father, their father. Abraham was a strong testament in the funeral arrangements, and we learned that Abraham also being of strong testimony, essentially was called a mighty prince. He's called this a mighty prince. so we think of death and sorrow, a few things come to my mind. He was not overwhelmed with grief, right? or sorrow. he in dealing with the death. Abraham was not crushed, he wasn't defeated, he wasn't destroyed. He didn't show he was demoralized, but bewildered, confounded, confused, or even felt des devastated over the death. I don't think you're gonna see that with him. Abraham was not a wreck after Sarah died. yes. I'm sure the pain pierced his heart as it would any. but he was in a place that when he saw it and mourned, he wept because he was releasing some of that stress and that pain that he had. And he went about his daily affairs. One would think that he would be seeing her again in the future. but note the facts here that there was a reason why Abraham was not crushed. He knew Sarah had been following the counsel of. of the Lord throughout her life. Therefore, what the Lord had taken her to glory. He knew she was in heaven, just like I knew the day my mom went to heaven. So Abraham did exactly what the New Testament teaches. He did not sorrow like others sorrow. Others who have no hope, but Abraham believed God in his promise. There is people on this planet right now have no hope. All they say is we live, we die, we go into a hole. That's a pretty bleak Life to think about. when you can have eternity with a heavenly g heavenly father. So very simply, Abraham he knew exactly what his hope was and where he put his hope. That he would he would he would save those who followed him, save them who promised him of of the seed, the savior of the world. He was going to be the seed of the he was bringing the seed of Christ through his lineage. And through and and we know this because we see it all through the Bible. in the archetype of Christ we see several times where we're gonna see with a sea go. So think about this though. We must not always sorrow or grieve to to let us let it overwhelm us. We must not sorrow as those who have had no hope. I'm not saying don't grieve and I'm not saying I've taken plenty of grieving grieving classes. You should grieve. But don't let it take it crush you To sorrow because you do have hope, for we have hope in the greatest of hope. The hope is in Lord in Lord Jesus, our s our Savior. We have the hope of the Lord's return. We have so many good things that we could be thinking about. We have the hope of a far better life. This whole body's gonna go away, and I'm gonna have a better body and a better life. That's not me. That's what it says. And then it says, We have hope in being made just like Christ. You're gonna be made in the likeness of Christ. And I don't know what that looks like, but we have that hope. And we're commanded that. And first John 3:9 to our 3-2 says, Beloved, talk about you and me. Now are the sons of God, and it doeth know yet appear what shall be. So we don't know, and it hasn't appeared, but we know this: when he shall appear, we shall be like who? Him. For we shall see him as he is. So be ready. And We have the hope of being where Christ is and actually receiving and building the home and mansion of the glory that is made by God. We also have the hope of receiving a new and perfect body. All all the folks that are broken up bodies and old and torn down, we have that hope of a new body in in heaven. We know this. And it says for our conversation is in heaven, for once also we look. For the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our what? Bio bodies, this body, that may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, right? According to working whereby he is able. even to subdue all things himself. So we get that we get that capability. I would say the other thing, we have the hope of the peering of the glory. We have the hope of of having all of our pain, our sorrows, our tears wiped away forever. We have the hope of receiving treasures in heaven. We have the hope of an inheritance in the eternal heavens. We have the hope of having heavens and even earth remade into a perfect place. Heaven and earth will be perfect one day. So we see that. And as I was reading, you know, he says, I am a stranger, I'm a sojourn with you. He is basically telling us that he was with Sarah as a testimony and they were witnesses. They were g they were strangers together in a land that was strange to them. And We can see it here where it says, And the children of Heath answered and he said, Okay, Lord, okay, where we go right here, bury the dead. Then Abraham stood, verse seven, and bowed himself even to the people of the land, even the children of Heath. And he and he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat me, or let me for me to bury in or basically Ephron for the son of Zohar. So he's basically talking about where he's going to bury and he wants to be buried in the same place. So Abraham, he gives us a strong testimony, right? He's the mighty prince. Abraham bears a testimony of courtesy and appreciation. He bows. He goes to the Hittites and offers them. Hittites offer him a free tomb. Abraham shows courtesy and appreciation, and he rises and he bows towards the Hittite. as Abraham shows that courtesy, he he bore a testimony of tact. He asked the city officials. To intercede on his bay on behalf that he may purchase a permanent piece of land. So he's asking, Can I have a permanent piece of land or call it grave plots or whatever for the future? Because he knows he wants to be buried with her. That he might purchase that piece of land. Abraham bore a testimony of being fair and just. And people knew who he was, and even in this business transaction. So that verse nine is that. may give me the cave of Malchapah, which he hath which is in the end of it his field, for much money as it it is worth, he shall give it to me for a possession of burying place amongst you. And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth, and Ephron and the Hittites answered or excuse me, Abraham answered Abraham and the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went to the gate of the city, saying, Nay my Lord, Lord hear me, the field I give thee, and I the cave therein, I will give it to you, or give it to thee, in the presence of my sons and my people, I give it to you to bear your dead. And Abraham bowed himself before the people of of the land, and he spake unto the Ephron and the audience of people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee Hear me, I will give thee money for the field. Take me the money and I will bury my dead. There's a reason for that. He doesn't want that be owed. He doesn't want a favor. He wants to buy it right, outright, and have a fair deal because he's a fair businessman. you know, the owner of Ephron at the time offered him to give it to him free, and Abraham wouldn't take it. Abraham refused to accept it. the land of the gift. he lest he be in debt to anybody, even in Ephron. He didn't want to be in debt with anybody. His goal was to be debt-free from that. So Ephron answered Abraham, saying, My lord, hear hearken unto me the lands worth four hundred sh shekels of silver. What is that between me and thee? Bury thy therefore thy dead. And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron, wait at Weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth four hundred shekels of silver, current money with merchants. So everybody watch this. He's paying for this place. Abraham sought this possession, he was willing to pay the high price for it, and the price was about twenty times its verb his value. So he was either he was already getting it for a deal. And the field of Ephron, where which was in the Melkipah, which was in Mamry the field of the cave which therein and all the trees that were in the field that there were in the borders and roundabout were made sure unto Abraham for the possession in presence of the children of Heth before all that went to the gate of the city. So we're getting an imagery here that Abraham he's bear he's boring this testimony, right? He's talking about this being wise in his business transaction. He had a boundary of the land set. So he sets this boundary around what he was purchasing. He he then takes with the city officials at the time, Ephron, and the people to witness this transaction at the gate. He wanted everybody to see it, so there's no secrets and no no funny business here. And after that Abraham buried his wife in the cave of Melchet before Mamre, and the same is in Hebron in the land of Canaan. And the field and cave that therein that were made unto Abraham for a possession, a burying place by the sons of Heth. So he was going to use this in the future. Plus he was going to bury himself. So Abraham he buried the love of his life, folks. One in faith in love. And in this cave of Melchapah near Mamre. And the land was deeded to Abraham as a permanent possession. So he is given this land. after he pays for it. And so when we start thinking about what he's doing here, he is See meaning for so we talked about the death and sorrow. let's see. So his testimony, how do we cope with the a death or a loved one? By being a strong testimony in all funeral arrangements. I'm not telling you be stoic and upright and obtuse and all that. you know, you're you're human too. But we are to be should have a strong testimony, and we should bear that testimony that people can see that and be honest with our transactions and how we handle situations. Courtesy and especially the strike, you know, Abraham was beyond usually courteous, paying far more than what the land was worth. And by doing so, he gave a very strong testimony and and and for the Lord. And this is seen in a few moments. We'll see this in a in a moment. But Abraham had always had a strong testimony for the Lord among his neighbors. People knew who he was. He was an honest guy. And they recognized him as what? A mighty prince. That's what the Bible calls him. In Hebrew, the Hebrew actually the prince of God. So the people knew Abraham was a man favored. He was blessed by God. Abraham had always borne the print princely faith before his neighbors. And bearing princely testimony to his face. So he treated people equally and fair. and in this case, paying more for something than then it was actually worth was the show that it gives a great testimony, not just to him, but to to God. And that's what we should be doing every day. So he bore this testimony of tact. He he asked the city officials to intercede in securing this particular piece of land, and we note in verse 10 and we'll see it in verse 18. essentially we see it. Let me see right over here. Yeah, and 18 he says, let's abram for the possession. So, yes, he wanted people to see that. He wanted to be fair and he wanted to be just. And note that Ephraim offered him to give it to him. Eph Ephron was gonna give it to him, and he said, No, he refused it. And he was willing to pay an exorbitant amount of money for this land, 20 times its value. But what was the point? The point was to have to number one be debt free of this person in this land. Nobody could ever say that while you stole it or he gave it to you or whatever, he purchased it above above and beyond. So think about this. The lesson here is the the the promise of the land of heaven is worth any price. Note that Abraham did not argue over the price of the land. It was unfair and unjust. But Did not complain nor dicker nor counter. Abraham quietly, humbly paid the price. By doing so, he proclaimed that he was living not for this earth and his money. He was living a higher calling in love of the things concerning his family, and his God was more than the things that are on this earth. That's a heck of a testimony right there. Abraham bore that testimony, he was very wise in this transaction. He sets those boundaries around the cave, fixed, he sets, identifies. it's an it's an excellent, it was a it was a preacher said, points out that the strong lesson between the business transaction of Abraham, and I'll I'll read a little bit of that. It was I'll I'll hack it up, but I'll give you a little sense. He basically said Abraham showed the proper prudence in the business affairs. the the the purchase of the secured before many witnesses and he interceded for Ephron and all witnessed the transaction. Unlike Abraham and all of his spiritual children, they embarked on the business in the encounter into the contracts without due consideration. So they the transaction itself, without the order to leave or was any confusion, there was nothing. It was very clear cut. Thus the indiscreet conduct they disc They disgraced their names and ruined their families. So there's none of that going on. So let Abraham's example and give heed to Solomon, who said, Prepare thy work without and make it for thyself in the field, and afterwards build thy house, Proverbs twenty-four, twenty-seven. Lord makes us prudent. So you should be prudent as a Christian. So in we pick up a nineteen where he talks about the death death, faith, and love part here. Is how can we cope with death today? How do we focus on dealing with the death of a loved one? by burying the loved one in faith and love. The event is a great act of faith, and Abraham's part and act was great princely faith. And Abraham believed the promises that God gave him. And God had promised the land of Canaan to Abraham, and the land is referred to as the promised land, remember? Genesis 12, we talked about the promised land. Abraham believed in his seed, which is his descendants, which is everybody. By the way, the church is grafted into Abraham's seed because they were rejected. Israel rejected Jesus. And so we're part of those descendants now. we're received the land in the permanent residence. But note that the land was not yet his, thus, when he sought the permanent burial. ground for his family, he was acting on faith. And I would say that he knew that there were he and his descendants would someday inherit this land anyways and the burial grounds. but now you have to note now we note that there is an extreme importance behind it because Abraham and other patriarchs looked for the land of Canaan to be given to them. So this is something you'll see time and time again going down the history here when we look at this particular burial place. So think of this. When we bury our loved ones in faith and love, we must have faith in who? God. Because God believes the we believe his wonderful promises that God has promised to us in the land of heaven. That's where we're promised. and and believers must bury their loved ones. We must show that we are given them by permanent burial site and declaring their faith in the great promise of the land of heaven. Folks, that is a clear cut piece of how we deal with death. his testimony, Abraham gives us that testimony, gives us you know the the the way we should handle it. You know, our heavenly house is where we're gonna go, right? So when we look at for he looks for a city and hath foundation who's the builder and maker is God. And we we we know that in in my father's house there are many, and if we're not, I would so I would not I would have told you. So I go to prepare a place for you. If I go, prepare a place for you. I will come again, and I will receive you unto myself that where am I, there ye will be also. John 14. Great verse. That's verses two and three. Giving us a clear testimony, folks, that he is coming. Back for us. All my doubters, people don't think it's gonna happen. The Bible is unfolding, it's unraveling, and the prophecies are being fulfilled as it goes through these this time frame. And my only thing is put your faith, hope, and trust in Him. If you need anything or I can help you, please reach out to me. we can look at first First Corinthians 15, 1 through 4. Talks about the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ for salvation. Believe on him, repent, turn away, turn away from that sin. Don't do that sin anymore. Stop doing the thing and ask God to come into your your life to glorify you and to build that holy temple within you and live for him and show him to other people the testimony of the glory of God of what he's done for you. Folks, Chaplain Dean Alley, I had a moment. Take care.