We were privileged once again by our gracious God to attend the annual singing at Indian Oaks Primitive Baptist church in Lake Worth TX, this past Saturday. The Spirit was good and the fellowship as well. The singing was remarkable. Elder Larry Webb. Pastor of Indian Oaks PBC, as always was a very gracious host and for this we are thankful. On the [video] below there is an 1 ½ hours of video during this meeting. Please take the time to listen. You will be glad you did.

I received the following email from Elder Martin this morning. He has just returned from a two week visit in Tanzania where he preached two Sundays and spent a great deal of time with the 4 brethren who feel called to preach. They are preparing for a visit from Elder Vernon Johnson in April. He will be teaching and testing these brethren to see how capable they are to teach and defend the truth of God’s word.

As you will see in the [email below], Brother Martin was well pleased with the progress these men are making. They have been in the church for over four years and learned a great deal from Elder Obey. There is such a need for ordained ministers in Tanzania but we do not want to ordain men to quickly. Please pray that these brethren will be blessed in their studies and will soon be ready to be ordained. Ordaining men to quickly has caused many problems in the church through the centuries and we want to avoid that in Africa.

I hope all of you will please keep these brethren in your prayers.

Rejoicing in Christ, I remain

Brother Sam

Dear Elder Sam,

Greetings in the name of our Lord. I hope you and sister are doing fine. Me too and my family are ok. I thank the Lord for delivering me and brother Moses back to Kisii. I rejoiced to re-unite with my family again.

I thank the Lord for his many blessings in our meetings in Dar. The Lord really blessed our meetings beyond measure. The preach brethren really learnt alot out the studies, especially from the questions. All of them have a desire to come and excersice their gifts here in Kenya. Bro. Moses was richly blessed to speak in my church on Wednesday evening. I will drive him tomorrow to preach at Nyarenda PBC in the afternoon. He is preaching on Sunday morning in my church, and in the afternoon at Elder William’s church. Mid week of next week he will be visiting other sister churches to preach. please keep praying for him that the Lord may richly bless his meetings. When I was in Dar we suggested that the Lord willing, brother Charles will come back to Kenya ( with one other brethren to come and study with us and have an opportunity to exercise his gift here, and correct him where neccessary), when he will be visiting Dar end of this month. They requested that Bro. Charles visit them again before Elder Vernon visits Dar next month, to go through the studies and questions once more. The Lord willing I will be leaving for Zambia on 16th of this month to visit the various groups in that country. I have emailed to Elder Vernon about the trip, as I will be going with Bro. Elias who is familiar with those brethren. The trip may be a bit expensive and I suggested that those who may feel burdened towards this trip and help out materially and in terms of prayer will be highly appreciated.

Bro. Sam, I just want to let you know that I was impressed to see the church in Dar growing in the Lord and becoming more united that before. I thank the Lord for that.. The church really rejoiced to see me again visit them as they had been anticipating to see me again after my US visit. I was alos impressed to see how construction is going on. Bro Musian really rejoiced to see me visit their home. and I encouraged them to keep attending the church regulary of which they promised to do so.

Above all I appreciate and thank the Lord for your continued financial support towards our ministry in Africa. It my prayer that the Lord may continue to richly bless you and your family and the church you pastor. Say hallo to your family and the church you pastor.
You and your family and the church you pastor are continually in our thoughts and prayers.

Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bro. Martin

I was very excited to hear that Pleasant Plains Church, Danville, Georgia received a new member last night into their fold. Brother Brent Hall, son of Elder Garry and Barbara Hall, asked to join last evening during their weekly Wednesday meeting. I pray God will continue to lead and bless Brother Brent and that he will find much joy in his new church home.

Brother Brent Hall was baptized this past Sunday at Pleasant Plains Church (Danville, GA) by his father and pastor, Elder Garry Hall. Here’s some photos of the blessed occasion:

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When we insist on viewing life from our mundane, human perspective, we often complain about the complexities we face. When we filter our view of life, giving serious consideration only to the Biblical, God-view of life, it becomes incredibly simple. An old spiritual hymn complains, “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, nobody knows my sorrow.” Country and Western popular songs rather consistently describe the singer’s bad choices, and then the singer’s regrets that can’t be assuaged. However, when we go to the Bible and look at the God-view of life, it becomes a stark choice between two options, one that honors God and godly people, and the other that satisfies our sinful inclinations. Typically in Scripture there is no third option. Now that is simple. I fear that many of God’s children insist on the complex view because they, like Israel of old, have already decided that it is evil for them to serve God. (Joshua 24:15) You see, if you turn away from the straightforward will to serve God, the first thing you must do is make the complicated, and very unclear choice between a nearly endless list of false gods. Which god will I serve? Now that is complicated!

God help each of us to make the right, the simple, choice today to serve God and to serve Him by serving His people. Life doesn’t get any better.

God bless,
Joe Holder

Gospel Suffering

If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God…. (Colossians 1:23–25)

The contemporary “health and wealth” gospel error did not start the idea that serving God will guarantee that you get everything you want out of life, and everything you do will prosper. The idea seems to be as old as fallen humanity. God knows our motives, and He blesses us when our motives, as well as our actions, are right with Him.

By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. (Hebrews 11:24–25)

Notice the contrast that faith draws between two ways of life; affliction with God’s people or the pleasures of sin for a season. Consider Moses’ early situation. Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as a prince. He could have had anything he desired. He lived this life for forty years. What punctuated this first chapter in Moses’ life? Eventually Moses became aware of his tie to the slave people, Israel. Then God revealed Himself to Moses and called him to lead Israel out of Egypt. Still too full of himself and too full of Egypt, Moses thinks that, since God has called him to lead Israel out of Egypt, he can do anything he wishes. He can be God’s surrogate over Israel, as well as their protector. When he murders the Egyptian and later learns that his murder is known, he runs as far as he could go away from Egypt. How typical of God’s children when they try to serve God while full of self.

I suggest that Moses did not come to full “years,” to spiritual maturity, for another forty years. He suffered in the desert for the second forty years of his life while God purged too much of Moses out of Moses. When he returned to Egypt to do what God called him to do, Moses actively rejected any political option that he might have claimed. He openly aligned himself with his people and served as God’s man, not his own man, before the pharaoh. Why did Jesus make self-denial the first requirement of faithful discipleship? Before we can do what God calls us to do, we must walk the Moses path. We must get self out of self, deny self, and learn that we are to serve God because He is God, not because we want to get something for ourselves from God. Notice in the Hebrews 11 passage; neither option included what Moses wanted for Moses. His two options included temporary sin-pleasure or suffering affliction with God’s people. Sin-pleasure maintains some of its luster for the child of God, but the child of God who learns the lessons in Faith’s classroom understands something that those who drop out of Faith’s classroom never understand. Anything that interferes with our serving God, serving Him to the extent of suffering affliction, however entertaining or ego pleasing it may be, lasts for a very brief time. We drift through the seasons of the year in a heartbeat. No sooner than the fresh breath of spring arrives than it fades into the heat of summer. The child of God who learns Faith’s lessons will not allow the self-satisfying, self-serving appeal of sin’s pleasures to detract him/her away from the greater work of serving God by serving His people, even if they are humble slaves in a luxurious world empire.

We should avoid limiting the notion of sin’s pleasures to the indulgence of a few of our more base or vulgar appetites. The inordinate love of money can lead us into sin’s pleasures. The refusal to curb our ego, even in our duties in church, can lead to sin’s pleasures. The admiring look of good people toward us as we do right things can lead to sin’s pleasures. Once a man approached my uncle, Elder J. D. Holder, after my uncle had preached at a church meeting. The man lavished praise on my uncle for the excellent sermon he had preached. My uncle listened silently for a few moments, and finally could hear no more, “Brother, the devil tells me the same thing almost every time I step out of the pulpit.”

Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you…. The Colossian Christians knew of Paul’s ministry and sufferings on their behalf. They rejoiced that Paul so regarded them and blessed them in his ministry. When Paul wrote, “If ye continue…” he had no thought of questioning the Colossian’s salvation, their eternal standing with God. He well knew that they were God’s beloved children.

…and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church…. The first time I read this passage, I was bewildered. Did Jesus not fully suffer for our sins? Did He neglect something when He suffered for our sins? When I finally looked at the passage in its context, the tension disappeared. What does “…behind of the afflictions of Christ…” have to do with our following His example? As Jesus suffered unselfishly for His people during the Incarnation, He calls on each of us to deny self, and to give self in service for His people. Jesus’ suffering for our sins lacked nothing. In that supreme act of unselfish, sacrificial service, He gave each of us the perfect example. He directs us to follow His example. Deny self, reject the self-serving ambitions that attract attention, praise, or any form of recognition to self, and become wholly lost in serving the needs of God’s people. The first thing to suffer when, and if, you take this giant step will be your ego. For the first time in your life, you will realize why Jesus linked denying self and taking up one’s cross daily. In the first century a cross was not a pretty piece of jewelry that you hung around your neck, wore on your lapel, or connected to the zipper of your Bible cover. It represented the Roman method of capital punishment. However, in this case Jesus requires that we become our own executioner! Friends, authentic New Testament discipleship is not for the fainthearted.

Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God…. We do not choose ministry. Notice in this verse that Paul does not refer to his unique position as an apostle, but to his role as a minister of the gospel. When I started speaking in the church, I constantly asked my seniors questions. On one occasion I recall asking a number of different men how they would explain a man’s entering the ministry. Do they simply choose it because they are gifted public speakers, solid thinkers, or exceptional Bible students? To a man, every preacher who answered my question gave the same answer. A man doesn’t choose to enter the ministry. God calls him to it. Otherwise, there is no ministry. Several years ago I was listening to someone on tape or CD preaching on this question. He made a rather startling point. “If you think you are called to preach, but you can be content to not preach, by all means continue to sit and not to preach.” At first, this idea seemed unsettling. However, the more I thought about it the more I understood the man’s point. A man may decide that preaching is the best way for him to gain recognition in the church, to influence and to lead others, something that he enjoys doing and wants to do. So he decides to claim a call to the ministry. Wrong! He’ll never preach, and he’ll never bless people with his attempts to preach.

…according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God… God’s calling burdens a man to serve others, not seek service from others. “…given to me for you…” makes a powerful point. God never calls a man to preach for the man’s personal benefit, but rather for the service and blessing of His children. To the extent that a man focuses on “my ministry,” he will fail–and fail miserably. How can a man preach the gospel of Jesus when he has refused to practice Jesus’ first two and primary steps of basic discipleship, self-denial and cross bearing?

We should not be surprised at the corruption of ministerial service. Look at the titles that corrupt teachers claim for themselves, all titles that magnify the man. What title did Paul claim? “Minister” in this verse comes from a Greek word that referred to a servant, literally a slave.

…to provide continuous and possibly prolonged assistance and help by supplying the needs of someone—‘to provide for, to support.’[1]

The New Testament requirement of a minister of the gospel demands that the man in this position serve others, not demand or even indirectly to seek service to himself. “…he desireth a good work.” (1 Timothy 3:1b) I added emphasis to the word “work.” The God-called preacher who fulfills his ministry works. He serves both God and God’s children. He ministers to God’s children with grace and with patience. He strives to help them grow themselves. When he compromises his calling by striving to grow himself, to gain prestige or anything for the benefit of himself, he has lost the New Testament vision of his ministry. This work is not for the faint-hearted, but what a blessing it is when a man exhibits the selfless service as Paul exemplified it–as Jesus exemplified it to Paul.

[1] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament : Based on Semantic Domains, electronic ed. of the 2nd edition. (New York: United Bible societies, 1996).

Little Hope 4th weekend of August/ Frinday, Saturday, and Sunday

Sand Mt 4th weekend of August/ Frinday, Saturday, and Sunday

Mt Zion 2nd weekend of September/ Frinday, Saturday, and Sunday

Tombigbee 3rd weekend of September / Frinday, Saturday, and Sunday

Wetumpka 4th weekend of September/ Frinday, Saturday, and Sunday

Mud Creek 4th weekend of September/ Frinday, Saturday, and Sunday

Flint River 1st weekend of october/ Friday and Saturday all day

Lower Wetumpka 2nd weekend of November/ Frinday, Saturday, and Sunday

Here are just a few Annual meeting times:

Bethel in Clanton/1st April :Sa, Su

Coosa River in Deatsville/2nd April: Fr night, Sa, Su

New Hope in Montgomery/3rd April: Fr night, Sa, Su

Beluah in Leeds/4th June: April: Fr night, Sa, Su

Liberty in Sumiton/2nd July

Vestavia in Vestavia/3rd April/ 2nd June: Fr night, Sa, Su

Mt Olive in Lawley/2nd May

Five Mile in Akron/ 3rd in june and july

Ebenezer in Westover/ 4th Feb and 3rd Oct

Most of these churches can be found in the Alabama Church Directory. More information of some of these meetings will added throughout the year.

Does God care what we believe about Him? Does He care what we believe about His truth, revealed in Scripture? When challenged with the direct question, few people would dare to deny that what we believe matters to God, but many of them go right on creating their own version of truth that they believe, often distorting Scripture after Scripture to create the illusion that their belief is a long-hidden, now-revealed “new truth” from God, what God wanted His children to believe all along, but they lost their way until this prophet of “new truth” discovered it.

Such notions stand on so many errors in terms of the teaching of Scripture it would be difficult to know where to start, but rest assured, they stand on error. When Paul wrote in our study lesson “If ye continue in the faith…” he declared that what we believe is as essential to our standing in fellowship with God as how we act.

Consider three major views of the salvation teaching of Scripture.

1. Salvation in every aspect, in every dimension of its Biblical teaching is wholly of God. Man has nothing to do in the matter. Your eternal salvation was secured by the Lord Jesus Christ in His atoning death, but your temporal blessings, discipleship, or “time salvation” was no less “effectually” and irresistibly” decreed, and thus secured, by God. You can only explain your failures by understanding that God at times leaves you for a season, during which absence you are capable only of sin. Of course, He does so in order to work a greater good in the end.
2. Salvation in every aspect, in every dimension of its Biblical teaching is wholly of you. God made your salvation possible, he reveals the way to you, and He invites you to accept His terms and walk that path, but it is wholly your decision. Satan rules this world, so God is effectively limited as to what He is able to do or to prevent.
3. Salvation in its eternal, legal aspects is wholly of God. God alone set the necessary requirements, and then God mercifully met every condition He required through the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ and through the immediate, direct, and unassisted work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. Nothing remains for man to do to effect that eternal salvation; it is wholly of and by God. Our salvation in time, specifically the blessings of fellowship with God that grow out of our faith in God and our obedience to the teachings of Scripture, is commanded of God, He sending the Holy Spirit to assist and to guide us, but He requires our continuance both in the spirit of faith in Him and in the body of truth that He reveals in Scripture as conditions that we must meet if we hope to enjoy that “salvation,” that fellowship with Him.

The first view is fatalistic, though often its advocates shun the term. It creates a robotic view of God and of God’s governance of the universe that He Created. It rejects every passage in the Bible that requires responsible faith and obedience of His people. It will eventually and logically blame God, either directly or indirectly, for every act of sin.

The second view is almost godless. It is the laid-bare foundation of the Arminian, salvation by human works populist view of Christian belief.

The third view distinguishes the two aspects of salvation, respecting the Biblical teaching regarding man’s sinful inability and his sinful absence of any desire to please God. It honors the teachings of Scripture that impose specific conditions on us for the receiving and enjoyment of the many temporal blessings of God upon His faithful children in this life, blessings that children of God who fail to fulfill those conditions will never receive. It sets the Bible stage for God’s personal intervention in the lives of His children that we find on every page of Scripture, while avoiding implying that God causes sin, directly or indirectly, and while also avoiding the abominable error of an incompetent God who wishes, but cannot perform His benevolent wishes.

In our study of the verses before us we are examining Paul’s teachings regarding that beautiful aspect of fellowship with God that grows out of a faithful “faith-walk” and that we witness in the lives of both Biblical characters who served God faithfully, as well as in the lives of people we know who truly serve God with their whole heart and mind. They set the mark high for us, they leave us a noble example, and, by their faithful record, they urge us to follow them as they truly have followed their Savior. May we be in action their worthy children.

God bless,

Joe Holder

Significant Discipleship

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister…. (Colossians 1:21–23)

From Paul’s thanksgiving prayer that begins in Colossians 1:12 through his affirmation of our redemption and forgiveness through Jesus’ blood and on through his account of the creation, Paul keeps our minds firmly anchored in the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are no contingencies, no unfulfilled conditions, and no doubt as to the outcome. As we move into the mental state of God’s children, Paul introduces a clear contingency, a condition, onto the outcome he here describes, “If ye continue….” Our peace of mind does not rest solely on our high and holy behavior, though how we act serves as the distinct condition to the peace and joy with God that Paul here describes.

If we attempt to view all salvation as conditional on what man does, we end up with salvation by works, not by grace, and we contradict the consistent teachings of Scripture. However, if we attempt the opposite posture, believing that all salvation in the Bible is unconditional on anything that we do, we no less contradict Scripture than in the first error. Denial of two distinct salvations in Scripture rejects the clear teachings of Scripture that we see in our present study, as well as throughout the Bible. What we see in the pattern of this chapter appears throughout the Bible. Scripture affirms that our eternal salvation, with all the necessary conditions or requirements, God wholly accomplished through the Lord Jesus Christ and applied it in the new birth to God’s chosen people by the Holy Spirit. Scripture equally affirms that the blessings of faithful, obedient discipleship are applicable to regenerated children of God, and that they requires specific mental and behavioral conditions to be performed by His children. We see this pattern in our study chapter. God didn’t proposition matter or negotiate its creation; He sovereignly created it out of nothing. God didn’t consult with the elect or conduct an opinion survey to see if they would agree to the redemption that He secured in the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, as Paul shifts from the creation and our redemption, our eternal security in our Surety, the Lord Jesus Christ, he boldly injects a distinct tone of conditionality, “If ye continue….” All of God’s regenerated children will not always manifest godly conduct or submissive faith. To the extent to which we fail in the measuring up to these specifically stated Biblical conditions, we fail to experience the harmony and joy of our true and legal standing with God in our personal experiences.

We should carefully avoid devaluing the blessings of discipleship, the New Testament’s “faith-walk” lifestyle. We need not link our discipleship to our eternal standing with God, for Scripture does not teach that our eternal standing is contingent on our faith-walk, front door or back door style. Imagine two people going through seventy to ninety years of life, both living through similar trials. One of these people stands firm in the faith, no matter the intensity of the trial. The other person claims the faith, but often drifts and falters in the heat of trial. The first person appears joyful and unflappable. The second person often seems tortured and depressed. If you had the choice of imitating the first or the second person, which person would you follow? Would you choice make any difference in your sense of joy and fulfillment in life? Would it make any difference in how you handled those intense trials that we all face at times? Of course, it would make a world of difference. That is the precise point that Paul is making in our study lesson, a point that he continues to the end of this, one of the longest sentences in the New Testament.

Aside from the finished work of Christ and our security in Him, consider the two mental outlooks that Paul describes in our passage. One attitude lives in angry resistance to God and His way, rationalizing wicked works and more imitating the churning tides of the ocean than stable godliness. The other attitude embraces the reality of Jesus and His loving finished work, applying the joyful victory of that work to life’s difficult moments. The first attitude professes faith, and even makes a reasonable show of faith at times. I will not deny its existence, but I will question its depth. Scripture indicates that the trials of life choke out joyful fruit in many of God’s children, corrupt and overthrow their faith, and leave them blind and forgetful of God’s gracious work on their behalf and in them.

If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel…. Notice the personal tone of Paul’s address here. The people whom he exhorts are not empty, hypocritical, and wicked sinners. They are the same people whom Paul addressed in the beginning of this letter as “…the saints and faithful brethren in Christ….” But faithful saints are not effectually and irresistibly decreed to live out their faith. Rather God commands them to do so throughout Scripture, our present passage included. Manifest your “saint-hood.” Declare your son-ship in your faith-walk, whether in the heat of intense trial or in the peaceful shade of green pastures and still waters. Paul exhorts this precise behavior in our passage.

In our generation a new denomination began in southern California that has gained significant popularity in our culture. A primary tenet of this new religion boasts, “Doctrine divides; love unites. Let’s just avoid preaching doctrine and love one another.” These folks seem oblivious to the fact that this statement is itself a form of “doctrine.” However, when you engage these folks in a conversation regarding what they really believe, you’ll discover that they hold to strong doctrinal beliefs. Their founder wrote an emotional diatribe against the doctrines of grace, while his followers regularly preach the Arminian doctrine of salvation by works. No doctrine? Hardly.

This particular group and its empty assertion of all love and no doctrine raises a notable question. Does it matter what a person believes or teaches? If a preacher is sincere in his beliefs, and if he avoids major moral lapses, should we view his errant and unpredictable doctrinal teaching as wholly insignificant? I offer that Paul addresses and rejects this idea clearly in our passage. If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel…. Paul did not stop with a minimal assertion that we need to avoid major moral slips; just practice loving God and our fellowman. He imposed the requirement that we must “…continue in the faith….’ “…the faith…” strongly identifies a specific faith, a body of doctrines or beliefs that collectively outline the “…faith that was once delivered to the saints.” (Jude 1:3) Paul’s “If,” his condition on our attitude and conduct, categorically includes the substance of what we believe.

The Colossian saints, the “…faithful brethren in Christ…” had heard the gospel. They knew the difference between salvation by works, hybrid salvation part by works and part by grace, from God’s truth. They understood the grave error of Jewish legalism. They were struggling with the new ideas of pagan Gnostic philosophy, a major theme in Paul’s letter to them. If they were to attain the peaceful joy and spiritual stability of which Paul here writes, they must not only practice the moral-ethical principles of the gospel, but they must also continue “…in the faith….”

Their continuing in the faith must also represent a faithful, consistent habit; “…grounded and settled….” They could not embrace the gospel truth today in Paul’s company and embrace another belief, another gospel, tomorrow. Paul exhorts them to “…be not moved away from the hope of the gospel….”

Few evidences more clearly reveal a person’s belief than his/her mental outlook. You will discover no small group of very moral, decent people in most churches who work hard at practicing basic Christian ethics, but their attitude might leave you believing that the practice borders on torture for them. They seldom smile. Their eyes are glazed and dark with sadness. If you really look at them, you more want to cry than smile. Often these people will tell you how important it really is for professing Christians to practice their faith. True enough; but somewhere these sad folks lost their vision of the character of the New Testament gospel. The “hope of the gospel” is unknown–and sadly un-experienced–to them. For them hope is a rather elusive Bible doctrine, not a joyful outlook, a true lifestyle that celebrates God and our standing in Him. They may often preach on the topic of joy in the gospel, but joy becomes another goal, another task to be completed, another impossible dream to be dreamed. Five minutes after they finish their sermon, demanding that their congregation must be joyful, whether they like it or not, you will struggle with depression if you spend any time with such a person. These folks have no sense of the “hope of the gospel,” for they have embraced another gospel, one that enslaves rather than instills joy and hope. They live in the dungeon of depression and self-loathing, while trying to convince themselves more than anyone else that they are on the mountain top. Lord deliver us from ourselves!

Paul’s note of joy, peaceful reconciliation, all culminating in the hope of the gospel, earmarks the fruit of the New Testament gospel. It breaks the chains of our self-imposed prisons and gently holds our hands, leading us into the dazzling light of grace and hope. Does it make a difference? Indeed it does!