0:01

The. Lord has risen. Men:

0:07

Whatever the origins of

0:10

our word, Easter. and

0:12

apparently they're there to

0:14

ancient and too complicated

0:16

even for Encyclopedia Britannica

0:19

to nail down exactly

0:21

with certainty what Easter

0:23

Men originally. Easter has

0:26

come to function for

0:28

us today as a.

0:31

Two. Syllable designation for Resurrection

0:33

Sunday As good A brief

0:35

May six syllables The and

0:38

to That's what I mean

0:40

by Easter. Resurrection Sunday. They

0:43

Jesus Rose from The Day

0:45

is the highest day in

0:48

the Church Calendar and it's

0:50

the one Sunday. That. We

0:53

specially celebrate the reality that

0:55

we seek. To live in

0:57

light of everyday. It's

1:00

not that he was did yesterday. To.

1:03

Been alive for twenty centuries

1:05

on the throne of heaven.

1:09

On Easter we celebrate the

1:12

Jesus the eternal son of

1:14

God who lived on earth

1:16

in full humanity and died

1:18

on the cross. Person's not

1:21

his own, rose again bodily

1:23

on that Sunday. And

1:27

this year on Easter we find

1:29

ourselves at the midway point of

1:31

the book of Libyans. Here we.

1:33

Are. I know. Middle Philippines on Easter

1:35

Sunday. And

1:39

so and meditating on these

1:41

verses in recent days and

1:43

with Easter in view. At

1:48

words safe. Inverse

1:50

one has really stuck out to me.

1:52

What is the me? What is Paul

1:55

mean when he says that riding the

1:57

same things is safe? How

2:00

did they say it again?

2:02

Say it again. And

2:05

other was pondering Easter safety this

2:07

week. After

2:09

things weren't everywhere. It

2:12

often we use the word safety. Apparently

2:16

where people are very conscious.

2:19

And very concerned about safety.

2:22

Maybe more so than really. We even realize it. Till

2:26

in the news is we're union.

2:28

Is the Boeing safe seen crisis?

2:31

Has headlines and.e D

2:33

C C. New

2:36

York State Task Force has been working

2:39

since Twenty Twenty Two to prepare for

2:41

April eighth. Who mean

2:43

eclipse in a daze? And

2:46

the senator say that matters

2:48

is sucker Burgas slow walking

2:50

child safe. The question. And

2:55

in my own and marked as far

2:57

as the only appeal for safety. The

3:01

city of Minneapolis directed me to get

3:03

an age back safety check. As

3:05

part of. And

3:09

I saw message from Sports Engines

3:11

First for sports parents of our

3:13

kids with a call to action

3:15

Keep your athletes safe. And

3:19

I received on wanted marketing email

3:21

that offered me the option to

3:24

safely unsubscribe if I could find

3:26

it in the small print down

3:28

the bottom and in it. And

3:32

the baseball season started. And

3:35

the word out and

3:37

strike and say. Is

3:40

back in vogue. Some

3:43

of our cost in pursuit

3:46

of safety of course is

3:48

shallow. And

3:50

misguided and overly fearful

3:52

or modern life can

3:54

be filled with petty

3:57

and this order desires.

3:59

For our own sake. And

4:03

that the same

4:05

time there are

4:07

wise, holy reasonable

4:09

desires for safety's.

4:13

Death. With all the talking about

4:15

inverse, one recovers one. Finally,

4:18

my brothers rejoice in the lord's

4:20

to write the same thing. See

4:22

you is no treble to me.

4:25

And is safe. For

4:28

you. As our

4:30

focus is morning Easter safety.

4:34

But before he emphasized that seem,

4:36

let me say something. Martha Stewart

4:38

finally at the beginning of or

4:40

Swine know this is a preacher

4:42

job, right? Although only halfway through

4:44

any fan. Finally, Preachers

4:47

with their finally. However,

4:51

this finally in three one

4:54

is actually a loose connecting

4:56

phrase that can mean finally

4:59

and some context, but other

5:01

times I mean something like

5:03

so then or in addition

5:06

to or about all. The

5:09

key here is it All has

5:12

just mentioned Joy and Rejoicing in

5:14

Vs. Twenty and Twenty Nine Chapter

5:16

Two And right there you see

5:18

right there in the context he

5:21

just mentioned Joy and Rejoicing. And

5:24

before then he mentions

5:27

rejoicing and blindness. Centers

5:31

And Seventeen eighteen. And

5:34

before that, he made double

5:36

mention of his own rejoicing

5:38

in Chapter One verse eighteen.

5:43

And he knows this pattern yet with you. Know

5:46

just how much Poll talks about

5:48

join rejoicing, but how often he.

5:51

Says his wife. he

5:55

doesn't payers we'll see it again

5:57

and chapter former for Rejoice

6:00

in the Lord always. I will say it again.

6:02

Rejoice. It's

6:06

like he just can't say it enough.

6:09

To say it just once doesn't seem

6:11

to do it. It's too important for

6:13

that. He needs to say it again.

6:17

It's like the Lord has risen. Amen.

6:21

Say it twice. And

6:26

Paul seems to be aware of how

6:29

often he's saying it. And

6:32

he's doing it in pairs. So

6:34

after saying rejoice in the Lord in

6:36

verse 1, he

6:38

adds a little bit of a defense for it. He

6:41

wants us to know he's away. He

6:45

might sound like a broken record, but

6:47

he means it in the best of ways.

6:51

He's not being lazy. He's

6:54

not being simple-minded. He's

6:56

not forgotten. He's

6:58

already done this almost a dozen times. He

7:02

doesn't want to bore us. He

7:05

wants to help us. He

7:07

wants us to be safe. So

7:13

the Apostle Paul overcomes

7:15

whatever dislike and displace

7:17

he has for obvious

7:19

repetition. And he says to

7:22

write the same things to you is no trouble

7:24

for me. And

7:26

it is safe for

7:28

you. It is safe to

7:31

keep saying rejoice in

7:34

the Lord. You can't overdo it. There

7:38

are other things that can be

7:40

underdone when we're rejoicing

7:42

the Lord, but rejoicing the Lord

7:45

cannot be overdone. So

7:51

our question this morning is on this

7:53

Easter Sunday, faith

7:56

from what? Let's

7:59

pause. want to make a safe thing.

8:03

What does Easter joy, the double

8:05

joy of Easter, the repeated

8:07

joy, the great joy of

8:10

the resurrection of Jesus, which is the

8:12

beating heart of the joy of

8:14

Christianity, what does joy

8:16

in the risen Christ give safety

8:19

from and how?

8:24

So I see three

8:27

threats in these verses

8:30

and so three safeties

8:33

for us in

8:35

Easter joy, in

8:37

rejoicing in the risen

8:39

Christ, three safeties. Number one,

8:44

Easter joy gives

8:46

us safety from foes.

8:50

In verse two, safety

8:52

from foes. To

8:57

be clear, the foes

9:00

or the opponents, he mentioned the opponents

9:02

in chapter one verse 28 in and

9:04

of themselves are the least concerning of

9:06

these three threats. This is not the

9:08

big threat. It's a

9:10

little bit, it's a real threat, but

9:12

it's little compared to the other ones. So

9:15

Paul says in verse two, look

9:18

out for the dogs, look

9:20

out for the evil workers, look out for

9:22

those who mutilate the flesh. So

9:27

who are these dogs that

9:30

are nipping at

9:32

Paul's heels and the Philippians

9:35

heels? Now

9:38

my family and my good friends

9:40

will tell you I'm

9:42

not a dog person. I

9:46

recognize many people in here are

9:49

dog people. I can respect

9:51

that to a degree. Sometimes

9:57

when dogs come up in

9:59

conversation, I

10:01

like to say with a smile as

10:03

a pastor, you know what the Bible

10:05

has to say about dogs? Let's

10:12

just say the picture is very negative with

10:15

a twist holding

10:18

on that twist. Dogs

10:23

were the scum of ancient cities.

10:26

They were unclean and nasty, like

10:29

we think about rats today. Dogs

10:33

would devour dead flesh. They would

10:36

lick up spilled blood. And

10:39

perhaps related to this, the

10:42

Jewish people came to associate

10:44

Gentiles, that is non-Jews. That's

10:46

the word for non-Jews. That's

10:49

the word for people different than us Jews. They

10:52

came to associate Gentiles with

10:55

dogs. Gentiles

10:59

were unclean according

11:01

to the old covenant. They were

11:03

outsiders of God's people. You

11:08

might recall the interaction Jesus has with

11:10

the Gentile woman where she comes and

11:13

asks for healing, Matthew

11:15

15, Mark 7. And

11:17

Jesus says, I was sent only to

11:19

the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It's

11:23

not right to take the children's bread and throw it

11:25

to the dogs. The

11:27

Gentiles, it's a

11:29

Jew-Gentile contrast. For

11:34

Paul, there is an insightful

11:37

irony in calling

11:39

these foes dogs because

11:43

his foes, the opponents, they

11:45

presume that they're the insiders,

11:49

that the Gentiles, like the

11:51

Philippians and like us, remember

11:53

us, we're Gentiles, unless

11:55

you're a rare exception here, We're

11:59

the outsiders. As

12:02

a deposed resume their The

12:04

Insiders Gentiles are outsiders. We're

12:07

the dogs were unclean.

12:10

We're unsafe they think

12:12

unless we had old

12:15

Covenant law keeping marked

12:17

by circumcision to our

12:20

faith in Jesus. They

12:23

want to add Old

12:25

Covenant Obedience to gentile

12:27

Christian faith. Me

12:30

at we have a word. For. These

12:33

people in Biblical Studies

12:35

called Judy Isis. Married

12:39

or out of an Axis Team

12:41

deletions which we study to springs

12:43

ago was written in contrast. the

12:45

Duty I There's first drawing relations

12:47

as well, glaze syndrome and within

12:49

three. They

12:52

tried to judy eyes Christianity.

12:55

They tried to put Christ

12:57

believing Gentiles that under the

13:00

Old Covenants. Back

13:03

with the baggage of the previous era.

13:06

Rather than. Just letting

13:09

them been since I am Christians in the

13:11

New Covenant. Duty

13:14

Others went around telling gentile

13:16

Christians that in essence, in

13:19

essence, they needed to become

13:21

jews physically in order to

13:23

be truly save. And.

13:26

Save. And

13:29

these new users often dodd

13:31

Paul's ministry. They

13:33

followed him around. He'd

13:36

bring the gospel to the gentiles. Any

13:38

move onto the next town and they

13:40

sweep in and try to get these

13:42

new Jinzhao christians to think they needed

13:45

add Judaism to their faith. So

13:50

when Paul calls him dogs

13:52

here, he philippine three. He

13:56

not aiming to insult them. as

13:59

if they're reading this letter He didn't write this letter to them. He's

14:02

not trying to insult them. He

14:04

wants to use instructive irony

14:06

for the sake of his

14:08

readers. He

14:11

is turning the tables to make

14:13

a point that

14:15

believing Gentiles are

14:18

actually the true Jews spiritually.

14:21

And that these Judaizers

14:24

have become the new

14:26

Gentiles, the outsiders, the

14:28

dogs. Now

14:32

Christ has come and

14:34

been raised and brought in a

14:36

new covenant. And

14:38

so with Easter Sunday old

14:40

is gone, behold, new

14:43

has come for the Gentiles.

14:48

And these Judaizing foes might think of

14:50

themselves as doing all these good works

14:52

or doing such good things. They're obedient

14:54

to the old covenant. They're trying

14:56

to get these Gentile Christians to act like

14:58

Jews. But

15:00

Paul says in fact they are evil

15:03

workers. You're not good workers

15:07

in God's reckoning. You're evil workers. In

15:10

trying to circumcise Gentile flesh

15:12

in obedience to the old

15:14

covenant, they are in

15:17

fact mutilators of

15:19

the flesh. They're ruining people,

15:22

not helping them. They

15:25

have missed how Good Friday and

15:27

Easter have remade the world. How

15:33

then does Easter joy,

15:37

rejoicing in the risen Christ,

15:39

make us safe from

15:41

such foes? These Judaizing

15:43

foes, which may not be a life

15:46

threat in your life right now, and

15:49

a thousand other foes to

15:51

the health of your faith. Specifically,

15:55

rejoicing in the real Jesus

15:58

fortifies our souls. against

16:00

trying to add anything

16:03

to the grounds of our right standing

16:05

with God. In rejoicing

16:08

in Jesus, in who

16:10

he is, what he's accomplished for us

16:12

at the cross, he's

16:14

rising back to new

16:16

life and that he's alive today and he's

16:20

our living Lord on the throne

16:22

in heaven, we come to know

16:24

a fullness of joy that cannot

16:26

be flanked or supplemented by other

16:29

joys at his most basic level.

16:34

Being satisfied in the risen

16:36

Christ keeps us from being

16:38

deceived by other shallow joys.

16:40

It keeps

16:43

us from temptation to try to

16:45

add to our most fundamental bottom

16:48

joy. Rejoicing

16:52

in Jesus has a very practical

16:54

side in our

16:57

Christian lives. Do

17:00

you seek to rejoice in

17:03

him? I mean this

17:05

command, the pulpit keeps saying over and over and

17:07

over, he must think we ignore

17:09

this. Maybe

17:12

there's something in our flesh, there's

17:14

something in being human, there's

17:17

something in our sin that we want

17:19

to ignore this charge. He

17:22

says, that is not safe for

17:24

you. I'm going to keep

17:26

saying it and saying it and

17:29

saying it so you would be safe by

17:33

having joy in Jesus. When

17:35

you open your Bible, what are you looking for? When

17:40

you pray, when you gather with

17:42

Christians, when you come on Sunday mornings, when you

17:44

go to work, when you do everything

17:46

in life, what are you looking for? And Paul

17:51

would say, rejoice in

17:53

the Lord. Always,

17:56

I'll say it again, rejoice.

18:00

So Easter joy gives

18:02

us safety from foes,

18:05

safety from opponents. And second, Easter

18:09

joy gives us safety from our own flesh.

18:13

Just verse 3. This is a

18:15

greater concern. This

18:17

is the danger of self-ruin.

18:21

This is the threat of our own

18:23

sinful hearts, various habits

18:25

and patterns in our lives that

18:28

would lead us to trust in

18:30

ourselves for salvation.

18:34

Or we might say that

18:37

the way that foes are

18:40

a real threat to our souls is

18:42

through our own sin. Foes

18:48

harm us by deception. And

18:53

then, being deceived, we

18:56

move to trust in ourselves. Verse

18:58

3. 4.

19:02

We are the circumcision who

19:04

worship by the Spirit of God

19:07

and glory in Christ Jesus and

19:09

put no confidence in

19:11

the flesh. So

19:14

remember from verse 2, these

19:16

Judaizing foes who claim

19:18

to be God's true people is

19:20

Israel, the circumcision. They're

19:23

actually the dogs. They're the new Gentiles,

19:26

outsiders. Because, this

19:28

is verse 3, because Paul

19:30

says with emphasis, we,

19:34

we are the

19:36

circumcision. We

19:39

Christians, both

19:41

Jews like Paul who

19:43

believe in Jesus and Gentiles

19:45

like us and the Philippians

19:47

who believe in Jesus. We

19:50

are those who, and

19:52

this who in verse 3

19:54

is a very important who.

19:57

How will Paul follow the who? What

20:02

does it mean to really

20:04

be a Christian? Easter

20:09

Sunday is a glorious time to

20:12

clarify what it means

20:14

and doesn't, to

20:17

be a Christian. And

20:23

so we get to the heart

20:25

of the Christian life in this

20:27

sequence of three items that follows

20:29

and the heart is the

20:31

human heart. Get

20:36

this, get this clear, get what it means

20:38

to be God's new covenant people. Circumcision

20:42

of the flesh in

20:44

the old covenant is not

20:46

what makes and defines us.

20:51

Human deeds and efforts and abilities

20:53

do not make and define us.

20:57

Circumcision as we try to make them. Rather,

21:00

what circumcision of the flesh in

21:03

the old covenant was pointing

21:05

to is circumcision of the

21:07

heart. New

21:11

desires, a

21:13

new heart, a

21:16

born-again soul, a new

21:19

creation in us that

21:22

opens the eyes of

21:24

our souls to the wonder of

21:26

His risen Son and He changes

21:28

our heart to marvel at Jesus

21:30

and rejoice in Him. So

21:34

here in verse 3 we get

21:37

three marks of what it means

21:39

to really be a Christian. In

21:43

the next three phrases, right

21:45

at the heart of it, here it is. One,

21:49

we worship by

21:52

the Spirit of God. And His meaning

21:54

there isn't only on Sunday mornings. His

21:57

life is worship, walking, that's...

22:00

The metaphor uses elsewhere, walking by the Spirit,

22:03

serving by the Spirit.

22:06

That is, God has put

22:08

His own Spirit in

22:11

us. He dwells in

22:13

us. We have the

22:16

Spirit. Can

22:19

you believe that? I've

22:21

just been freshly floored by

22:23

this in recent weeks. If

22:27

you were in Christ, you have the

22:30

Holy Spirit. God Himself in

22:32

His Spirit dwells in you. We saw it

22:35

in chapter 2, verse 13. It

22:38

is God who is at work in you,

22:41

not just on you, at

22:43

work in you to will

22:46

and to do for His good pleasure. What

22:50

power you have in us

22:54

against sin. What power for

22:56

rejoicing in the risen Christ. What

22:59

power for taking initiative to love

23:01

and serve others and gladly do

23:03

what Christ calls us to do.

23:09

The risen Christ has poured out

23:11

His Spirit and ushered in a

23:13

new era of history following Easter.

23:16

Now God's people are no longer under

23:18

the tutelage of the old covenant law,

23:21

but have His own Spirit

23:23

at work in us. We

23:26

do not worship and live in the

23:28

old era, but the new with

23:31

God's own Spirit dwelling in us. And

23:33

so, second then,

23:37

we glory in

23:39

Jesus Christ. This

23:42

is more joy language, but

23:45

now it's elevable. History

23:51

here is literally boast.

23:54

We boast in

23:57

Christ Jesus. Now boasting

23:59

is tricky in English. because

24:01

the connotations in English are

24:03

largely negative. And

24:05

so here in chapter 1, verse 26, the

24:08

essay translates this literal boast

24:10

as glory. And

24:14

so we boast. We

24:17

say, the Lord is risen. The

24:20

Lord is risen indeed. Amen. That's

24:22

a boast. That's an

24:24

Easter boast. True

24:27

Christians are those who glory in

24:30

Christ Jesus as the sole grounds

24:32

of our acceptance with God. So

24:36

when someone asks, in

24:39

your family, at the job, in

24:42

the neighborhood, how

24:45

do I get right with God? How

24:47

can I truly be safe? Not

24:51

the little trivialities. I'm talking about

24:53

safe forever. The

24:58

answer is, we

25:00

boast in Christ.

25:04

On my own, I'm ruined. But

25:09

I glory in

25:11

the risen Christ. I boast in the one

25:13

who died for me and

25:15

rose again. He is worthy,

25:19

as we sang. I glory

25:21

in him. So

25:24

boasting is stronger language

25:27

for rejoicing in the Lord.

25:29

This is Easter joy. It's

25:31

double joy. This is

25:34

joy intensified, joy

25:36

magnified, joy heightened,

25:39

joy expanded, joy enriched,

25:43

joy elevated, joy

25:45

resurrected. Which

25:48

means, third in the sequence then,

25:51

by contrast, Christians are

25:54

people who put no confidence

25:57

in the flesh. We

26:00

boast in the risen Christ not

26:02

self for our ultimate safety.

26:04

And if you wonder what flesh means,

26:07

this is one of the best spots for me. This

26:10

is what we're going to linger over next week,

26:12

verses four to six. Paul talks all about what

26:14

it means to put no confidence in

26:17

the flesh. I'll just

26:19

give you a little summary right now so

26:21

we can finish. Putting

26:24

no confidence in the flesh

26:27

means not trusting in

26:30

ourselves or any

26:32

mere human effort or energy

26:34

to get and keep us

26:36

right with God. Not

26:41

any privilege of our birth, nor

26:45

any natural ability, nor

26:48

any hard work, nor

26:50

achievement, nor

26:52

human wisdom. Nothing

26:55

in us or related to us,

26:59

whether who we are or what we've

27:01

done, gets and keeps us right with God. Rather,

27:05

we glory, we

27:07

boast in Jesus,

27:11

which leads into one last

27:13

safety in these

27:15

verses. And it's

27:17

implicit, it's beneath the other two. So

27:22

Easter Joy gives us safety from

27:24

foes and

27:26

safety from our own flesh. And

27:29

number three, Easter Joy

27:31

gives us safety from

27:33

God's righteous fury against

27:36

our sin. This

27:39

is the safest, this is the

27:41

deepest meaning of faith in

27:43

verse one. This is the greatest threat of all. Foes,

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live threat, and

27:51

relatively small. Flesh, more

27:54

dangerous. The wrath

27:56

of God against our sin, that's

27:58

the greatest threat of all. The

28:02

offense of our sin against

28:05

the holy God is the

28:07

final danger beneath the dangers

28:09

of foes and flesh. The

28:13

reason foes are a danger is because

28:15

they might deceive us to put confidence

28:17

in ourselves and our actions. And

28:20

the reason putting confidence in ourselves is

28:22

a danger is that it discounts the

28:24

depths of our sin and leaves

28:28

us unshielded, unsafe,

28:32

before the righteous justice of God.

28:38

When Paul says that rejoicing in

28:40

the Lord is safe for

28:42

you, what he

28:44

means is ultimately safe.

28:49

Eternally safe, the safety of

28:52

your soul, safe from

28:54

the divine justice you deserve

28:57

because of your sin. But

29:03

Easter joy keeps us safe from

29:05

the righteous fury we deserve because

29:09

rejoicing in the risen Christ is

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the way that we take cover from

29:16

God's justice. We

29:19

take cover in the son

29:21

who came and died and

29:23

raised. He was raised. He

29:25

died to deal with our sin and

29:27

usher us safely with him into the

29:29

very presence of God. So

29:33

you might put it this way, the

29:37

safest soul in

29:40

all the universe is

29:42

the one that rejoices in

29:46

the risen Christ. God

29:49

marked this. God

29:52

will not destroy those

29:55

who delight in his son. delight

30:00

in Him is a stronghold,

30:03

it is a fortress, it

30:06

is a refuge, it's a safe

30:08

place because God always preserves those

30:10

who delight in Him. So

30:16

city's church on Easter Sunday rejoiced

30:21

in the risen Christ. To

30:24

say it again is no trouble for me and

30:28

it's safe for

30:30

you. The

30:33

Lord is risen. The

30:35

Lord is risen indeed. Amen. As

30:39

we come to the table, let

30:42

me address a question that

30:44

some in this room might

30:47

have on a high feast like

30:49

Easter. I

30:52

mean we do this little call

30:54

and response. We

30:56

put on our Easter best. We

31:00

want to have joy in our hearts behind our smiling face.

31:04

We got this book like Philippians that's just

31:07

calling us to rejoice at every turn. What

31:13

if you're not feeling it

31:15

this morning? What

31:17

if you're not feeling it tomorrow? What

31:22

if you don't feel happy in

31:25

the risen Christ? Perhaps

31:30

you want to rejoice in Him. You

31:34

want to glory in Him? I

31:37

want my soul to boast. But

31:42

I'm a sinner and my heart is just

31:44

not where I want it to be sometimes

31:48

or a lot of times. And

31:52

one answer among others is

31:54

this table. This

31:58

table is not only a sinner. for

32:00

those who are boiling over with

32:03

Easter joy. This is not

32:05

just for those who are overflowing with

32:08

joy in Jesus. It is also

32:10

for those who feel their hearts

32:13

to be sluggish and

32:15

they know that they're not rejoicing in the

32:18

Lord like they want to or

32:20

like they should. And yet, in

32:22

that acre, in

32:25

that desire is

32:28

the seed

32:30

of joy. In

32:33

the longing, in the wanting is

32:35

the seed for

32:37

Easter joy that we come to

32:40

nourish and come to strengthen

32:42

at this table week in and week out.

32:45

And so, if you would say with

32:48

us this morning, I

32:50

claim the risen Christ. However

32:53

high or low my

32:55

rejoicing, I know

32:57

myself undeserving. I

33:00

put no confidence in

33:02

my flesh. I do

33:04

put my confidence for final safety

33:08

in the risen Christ. Then

33:11

we would have you eat and drink with

33:13

us for joy.

33:18

May God be pleased in the act

33:20

of faith, in the

33:22

eating, in the drinking together

33:25

to nourish the

33:27

seed of joy. So the pastors will

33:29

come, will distribute the

33:31

elements, will

33:35

retain and eat together. His

33:38

body is the true bread. Let us serve you.