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Money changes tables and the stalls of those selling doves. The scriptures say my temple is a place of prayer, he declared, but you have turned it into a den of thieves. Now the blind and crippled came to him

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and he healed them there in the temple. But when the chief priests and other Jewish leaders saw those wonderful miracles and heard even the little children in the temple shouting, "God bless the son of David." They were disturbed and indignant and asked him, "Do you hear

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what these children are saying?" "Yes," he replied. "Didn't you ever read the scriptures? For they say, 'Even little babies shall praise him.'" May the Lord bless to us the reading and hearing of his holy word. Our hymn of praise and consecration is hymn number 94, "At the Cross."

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Hymn number 94, "At the Cross." At last, and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die, would He devote that sacred head for sinners such as I. ♪ At the cross, let us stand at the cross ♪

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♪ All has ended ♪ ♪ My Satan ♪ ♪ And did my sovereign birth ♪ ♪ Would he devote ♪

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♪ That sacred head ♪ ♪ For Satan's sake ♪ ♪ And the cross ♪ ♪ And the cross ♪

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♪ The efforts of life ♪ ♪ And the heaven on the roadway ♪ ♪ It was there by faith ♪ ♪ I received my son ♪

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♪ And now I am happy of this ♪ ♪ 'Cause if a branch ♪ ♪ May I have love ♪ ♪ Be grown upon the tree ♪

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♪ Amazing beauty ♪ ♪ Grace of God ♪ ♪ And the beyond the grave ♪ ♪ At the cross that crossed ♪

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♪ Where I first saw the light ♪ ♪ And the burden of my heart ♪ ♪ No way ♪ ♪ It was there by faith ♪

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♪ I received the sign ♪ ♪ And now I am happy all the day ♪ ♪ World, I'm the son ♪ ♪ Give up this heart ♪

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♪ And show me it's all within ♪ ♪ In Christ the Lord ♪ ♪ Dear Magdalene ♪ ♪ Fall in love ♪

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♪ Rejoice in ♪ ♪ At the cross ♪ ♪ At the cross ♪ ♪ Where I first ♪

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♪ Saw the light ♪ ♪ At the burden ♪ ♪ Of my heart ♪ ♪ Oh, when ♪

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♪ It was there by day ♪ ♪ I received my son ♪ ♪ And now I am happy all the day ♪ ♪ The drops on me ♪

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♪ Can never repay ♪ ♪ Bounded under my own ♪ ♪ Dear Lord, I give myself away ♪ ♪ 'Til all that I can do ♪

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♪ At the cross, at the cross ♪ ♪ There I first saw the light ♪ ♪ And the burden of my heart rolled away ♪ ♪ It was there by faith I received my sight ♪

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♪ And now I am happy all the day ♪ ♪ Beyond the day ♪ ♪ Was a land far ♪ ♪ Where I first saw the light ♪

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♪ And the rhythm of my heart ♪ ♪ Going ♪ ♪ It was there by faith ♪ I received my son, and now I am happy in the Lord.

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Gracious God, our Father. Grant that the word spoken may be your word, that it may be heard by your people, that It may be light and strength. In Jesus' name, amen.

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During the sermon, the Concord Chapel Choir was singing with Sister Lisa Alexander as a soloist, "Give Me a Clean Heart." Sister Lisa Alexander is among those who also recently received honors. I did mention earlier in that she was elected to the All-State Choir.

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The subject of the message, "Pollution in the Temple." Jesus went into the temple of God, cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, through the tables of the money changers and seats of them that sold doves, said unto them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' and you have made it a den of thieves."

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The temple is the central place of worship for the people of God. Beautifully situated high on the holy hill called Jerusalem, called Mount Zion in the city of Jerusalem. It was the highest joy of every God-fearing pilgrim to worship God within the hallowed walls of the temple.

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For there they were on holy ground. The sacred precincts of the temple were recognized by Jewish people all over the world as a scene of sacrifice, sweet-smelling odors of incense and holy oil. For the temple worship was concerned with that which was holy. It was believed

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that it took place in a holy atmosphere. But something has happened. Something has gone wrong. A foul and filthy atmosphere has invaded the holiness of the temple. It is polluted, contaminated by people who are expected to purify it. The house of God is polluted.

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The sacred is profaned. The holy is desecrated. This is a terrible thing. One of the ways of understanding what has happened

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the history of the people of God is always symbolized by what happens to the temple. During a very critical period in the history of the Jewish people, there took place what is known as the abomination of desolation. Antiochus Epiphanes, entered the Holy of Holies,

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sacrificed a pig upon the altar. This was a pollution of the temple. There followed a bloody war in which many human lives were sacrificed before the temple was purified and the people were able to worship there again.

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This is a day that is recognized as the day of the triumphal entry of our Lord into the the holy city. After entering the city, Jesus goes directly to the temple, the house of God. There he observes the pollution that is taking place in the temple. The outer court of the temple, known as the court of the Gentiles, where

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Gentiles were to worship because you see a Gentile could not go into the inner court of the temple only Jews could go there. The court of the Gentiles was inhabited by merchants who operated booths from which they engaged in selling animals to be used as sacrifices in the services. It was a time of the

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Passover. Jews had gathered in Jerusalem from all over the world and as they came to worship in the temple they needed a sacrifice. Many of them were poor. And a poor person could present a sacrifice such as a dove or a pigeon. They could get wine, salt, and oil and use.

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So all of these things were on display and sold to the worshippers who gathered. It was quite a lucrative business. traffic was controlled by the priests. Sadduceean priests controlled the temple at this time. Annas, who had been high

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priest, still maintained his power. He was the power behind the throne. This was quite a lucrative business. They didn't want to see anything happen to it. In In fact, they had become so absorbed in this particular business that this outer court for the Gentiles no longer had any room for the Gentiles.

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They had taken up all that space with booths for the merchants who sold their animal sacrifices. And then they had also, in addition to the merchants who were selling the sacrifices, the oil, the salt, the wine and things that were used in the worship services by the pilgrims who gathered, there were many changes.

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Jews had come, as I said, from all over the world, and they came with coins that were the Roman government. Some had Roman coins, others had Grecian coins, and according to the law it was necessary to have this money changed into the Jewish coins to pay the temple tax, and of course there was a fee attached to that.

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Well these things were considered essentials in the worship. You had to have the sacrifice, you had to have the money changed, but what happened is that the rulers of the temple had become so concerned about how much money they could get that they were exploiting the people. They were not only exploiting the people,

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but they were also corrupting the worship service. Not only was the atmosphere corrupt out there in the outer court, but it had spilled over into the inner court so that all of the noise and the rattle out there in the outer court was affecting what was happening even in the worship services on the inside.

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The temple was polluted. Polluted because you see those who sold in the temple weren't concerned about the worship services. They had really forgotten why the temple was there as far as the ultimate purpose.

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They were only concerned about how much money they could get. Greed and graft. It was corrupt Because sellers were exploiting the people they were exploiting the poor Taking advantage of the people by using their advantage for graft and green pollution in the holy place

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Now pollution has to do with an attitude It's an attitude that we have a way of life and And before you pollute, you have to get an attitude that you don't give a hoot.

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But to pollute, you hear a person always using foul, filthy language, mouth polluted, spirit full of corruption. Well, whenever a person gets like that, they don't care who's there.

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They don't, first of all, they don't care about themselves. So they don't respect themselves, don't expect to respect anybody else. So before you can pollute you have to have an attitude that you just don't give a hoot. Pollution of the mind, pollution of

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the spirit. Well they didn't care. They didn't care about what happened as long as they were getting their share. But on, on, on this day the master enters, and as he enters the temple, he goes into the out of court there and he overthrows the tables of the money changers and the doves scatter here and there as he enters the boots. The Son of God has come to the

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temple in judgment. It's the fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi who said the The Lord whom we seek shall suddenly come to his temple, and he comes to the house of God in judgment. The temple is polluted.

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And he disturbs the vested interests of the ruling class of the nation. And things usually happen when you disturb vested interests. talked to some people this week from Houston. They have in their neighborhood a

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dump yard, dump, dump, where all the trash, the garbage, the filth, pollution, and they want to get it moved. They're trying to live and they want to have a healthy atmosphere around them. And they have gone to the city council members, they've gone to the health board, attorney general and all, so to get some relief.

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So now they are planning a march to Austin to protest. And after talking for some time with them. I said, "How much money is involved in this dump ground?" And they said, "Rev. it's ten million dollars." I said, "Oh, I see." And I asked them about certain people, what did they say? They said, "Well, you can learn to live with it.

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Whatever ten million dollars is involved, you can learn to live with it." And so here is the master coming in, overthrowing the tables of the money changers, driving out those who sell doves there for the worship services, exposing their exploitation and their injustice because the temple is polluted, the house of God is in a mess.

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offensive to God and the sellers here are charging exorbitant prices and they're making an unfair profit. Well you see this business had been encouraged and controlled and maintained by the chief priests and so Jesus not only exposes it but he brings the judgment of God to bear against it. John places

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this cleansing of the temple incident at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. The other synoptic writers, the other writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, place it at the end, the last week. John is giving a theological interpretation of the meaning of Jesus, symbolic as it is, his place.

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And here his concern is shown for pollution and for purity in worship. He says, "It is written, my house shall be called "a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves."

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Whatever we do not give God what he It requires of us, we make ourselves thieves. During this Lenten season, it's a good thing to sort of look at ourselves.

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Look at ourselves in terms of worship. Oh, the temple was beautiful, beautifully situated, glistening in the sun, high on a holy hill, what was really happening on the inside?

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Polluted. Polluted. A den of thieves there. What really happens in worship?

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Is it pure? Is there a pure and clean heart in the worship? They are more concerned about maintaining vested interests. A den of thieves.

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Den of thieves. What really happens in our worship? Is it some people are not really concerned about what really happens in

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relationship to their relationship to God? It's enough to be there. Some really think they compliment God. Or that they should be honored because they have come. rather than to come in humility saying that God is so great and God is so good

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that it's a wonderful for me to have the privilege of worshipping him. I think if some people really understood that, they wouldn't come to church late every Sunday. You know I can understand some Sundays. One worshiper said, "You know, I've been knowing Ebenezer for 30 years, and I've been seeing Brother so-and-so, and he's come late these 30 years."

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If we really understand our reason for being, our reason to worship, that this is the worship of God and not ourselves. the pollution of the temple. We pollute our worship where there's malice. We're going to observe the Lord's Supper today, oh the old-time way the preacher would get up, beginning of the service, and he would say, "If there's anybody here who's not

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really not right with his brother, don't take of this supper." Well, whether a minister says that or not, somehow God looks at our hearts and is not just taking that cup of wine and that piece of bread representing his broken body, but really what happens in our hearts is there an attitude of gratitude to God.

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Whether somehow in the midst of it all, as Jesus comes into our lives and he took that card in the lung ago and drove them out, he needs to come into our hearts today and he needs to drive out certain things. Drive out the old grudges, the malice that's there, drive it out! Drive out the jealousies that's there. Many of these

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things have polluted us in such a way that the temple is so polluted that the real purified worship of God is not occurring. God looks at the heart. Sacrifice of animals, that's not enough. Prophet cried out to the long ago, "What What does the Lord require?

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What does he require? If I give my body to be burned? No, no. If I sacrifice lambs, hundreds of lambs?

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No, no. And though I have 10,000 rivers of water? No, no. What does the Lord require but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with him?

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in worship. Jesus institutes a religious revival, spirit of revolution. This is what happens always where there is purity in worship. David cries out when his life becomes polluted, saturated by a foul and filthy atmosphere, so that he cannot commune with God with purity of heart. He cries out, "Create within me a clean heart,

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O God, and renew the right spirit within me." Isaiah goes to church. Oh, he'd been involved in the politics of his day, and whenever you're involved in politics, many times they say it's dirty and there are certain deals that you've got to be able to engage in. And many times the

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language of politics isn't always so clean. But he was going to church that morning and while he sat there, the heavens opened, and he had a vision of God. He saw the Lord high and lifted up beyond all of that political intrigue he saw not only God but he heard his voice and when he had that experience of God he said, "Woe is me! I'm filthy, I'm polluted!"

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And he said he saw one of the seraphim take a live coal from the altar of heaven and Put it to his lips because I said I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell among the people of unclean lips But he put that life cold and said your lips are cleansed your iniquity is purged You're pure now you can go forth and serve

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This is what happens where there is purity Purity yes, that ought to be our prayer Lord purify me Purify me Who shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place?

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Is it the person who has fine robes to wear, beautiful clothes to come to church when that's nice, but that's not the requirement? Is it the person who is able to get a certain amount of money? That's alright, but that's not the requirement. Who shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord? And the answer comes back, "He that hath clean hands and a pure heart."

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Doesn't matter, doesn't matter about how high that hill is, how difficult that mountain is, and how heavy and how dark may be, how heavy may be that experience, how dark may be that night. You can climb the hill of the Lord if you have a pure heart.

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That's all that God requires. And I'd like for every one of us to make that a prayer. Give me a clean heart. Let the pollution be driven out this morning and let me commune with you.

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Maybe you've been drifting outside the church for a long time. This is the time to get right with God. He'll hear your prayer. If you just ask him for a clean heart,

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then for him to renew a right spirit in you. You come now and unite with the family of God while the choir sings, "Give me a clean heart." For where Jesus comes, he drives out the impurities.

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There's a revolution that takes place. There's renewal. new hope, a new life. For he enters the temple of the impurities and his spirit holds sway.

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Would you come now? Would you come now? [music] [music]

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[music] Would you come now? [music] [music]

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Would you come? Give me a clean heart. He'll answer that prayer if you trust him. Give me a clean heart.

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Won't you come? Won't you come? So I may serve thee. ♪ Lord, fix my heart ♪

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♪ So that I may be used by Thee ♪ ♪ For I'm not worthy ♪ ♪ Of all you blessings ♪ ♪ Give me your peace ♪

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♪ Oh Lord ♪ ♪ And I'll follow thee ♪ ♪ Give me a clear heart ♪ ♪ So I may serve thee ♪

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♪ Lord fix my heart ♪ ♪ So that I may be used by thee ♪ ♪ For I'm not worthy of all this ♪ ♪ Blessing of this day ♪

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♪ Blessings ♪ ♪ Give me a clear ♪ ♪ Heart, Lord ♪ ♪ And I'll follow thee ♪

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♪ I'm not asking ♪ ♪ For the riches of the land ♪ ♪ No, no, no, no ♪ ♪ I'm not asking ♪

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♪ For a man to know my name ♪ ♪ To know my name ♪ ♪ But if you give me, Lord ♪ ♪ Give me, Lord, a clear heart ♪

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♪ So that I ♪ ♪ I may follow thee ♪ Give me a clean heart And I'll follow thee

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Give me a clean heart So I may serve Thee, Lord, 'tis my heart's love that I'm ♪ Maybe you'd like me ♪ ♪ For I'm not worthy ♪

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♪ Of all these blessings ♪ ♪ Give me a clear heart, Lord ♪ ♪ And I'll follow Thee ♪ ♪ Sometimes ♪

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♪ Sometimes I'm out ♪ ♪ And sometimes I'm down ♪ ♪ Sometimes I feel that I'm almost level ♪ ♪ Level to the ground ♪

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♪ Mmm, but give me, Lord ♪ ♪ Give me, Lord, a clean heart ♪ ♪ So that I, I may follow Thee ♪ ♪ Give me a clean heart, Lord ♪

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♪ And I'm a thief ♪ ♪ Give me a thief ♪ ♪ So I can search ♪ ♪ Lord, 'tis my heart's desire ♪

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♪ May it be you, you have me ♪ ♪ For I'm unfailing ♪ ♪ Of all these blessings ♪ ♪ Give me, give me a clear ♪

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♪ Honor ♪ ♪ And a hope in thee ♪ [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]