Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the
Speaker 1: Bible teaching Ministry of Rick Warren. We're so excited that
Speaker 1: you've joined us today. As we continue in this powerful
Speaker 1: series how the Church meets your deepest needs. Together, we're
Speaker 1: uncovering the joy and strength that comes from being a
Speaker 1: part of God's family. And now here's Rick withd part
Speaker 1: one of a message called you Need Others for spiritual support.
Speaker 2: Now, if you take out your message notes, I want
Speaker 2: to begin with a fundamental truth about you. You are
Speaker 2: not just a body. Okay, You're not just a body.
Speaker 2: You're far more than just your physical frame. Your body
Speaker 2: is very important, but you have a soul and you
Speaker 2: have a spirit. Now, the world only focuses on your
Speaker 2: body and your mind, but God also cares about the
Speaker 2: development of your soul and your spirit. And that's why
Speaker 2: He puts you on earth to develop your spirit and
Speaker 2: your soul before you're ready for eternity. I talk about
Speaker 2: in Purpose Driven Life that life is a test and
Speaker 2: life is a trust, and life is a temporary assignment
Speaker 2: before eternity, and God has five purposes for you here
Speaker 2: while you're on this planet. Now, the Bible talks about
Speaker 2: these five purposes in details, and I even wrote about
Speaker 2: them in The Purpose Driven Life. But attached to those
Speaker 2: five purposes for your life are five deep emotional and
Speaker 2: spiritual needs. Your five deepest emotional spiritual needs. Now, next weekend,
Speaker 2: I'm going to go deeper in explaining these, So don't
Speaker 2: worry about writing this down. It's just a little sneak preview.
Speaker 2: But all five of these needs that God placed in
Speaker 2: you can only be met by full participation in God's family.
Speaker 2: God's family, the church is the tool that God created
Speaker 2: to meet your deepest needs.
Speaker 3: So what are they? Well?
Speaker 2: Your deepest emotional and spiritual needs are you need spiritual
Speaker 2: support and emulation you need Number two, you need spiritual
Speaker 2: strength and stability. Number three, you need an empowering sense
Speaker 2: of awe, which actually comes from connecting with the supernatural
Speaker 2: and with the sacred in a relationship with God. Number
Speaker 2: four you need self worth and self expression. Those go together,
Speaker 2: and finally, you need to feel significance and satisfaction. Now,
Speaker 2: these five deepest emotional and spiritual needs are connected to
Speaker 2: God's five purposes for your life, but you cannot fulfill
Speaker 2: them by yourself. You will never satisfy them by yourself.
Speaker 2: You can try, but you'll fail. Only by being connected
Speaker 2: to God's family will these needs ever be met in
Speaker 2: your life now. First, just like a brand new baby
Speaker 2: needs family to care for it, a baby can't care
Speaker 2: for itself. You need to first embrace and connect with
Speaker 2: the spiritual family that gives you spiritual support and spiritual stimulation.
Speaker 2: In other words, you need both comforting. Sometimes you need
Speaker 2: comfort and you need challenging. Sometimes you need to be
Speaker 2: challenged to get off your rear end and get moving.
Speaker 2: And you need these from other people. Now, the Bible
Speaker 2: calls this connection fellowship and membership in the Body of Christ.
Speaker 2: That's your first and deepest need. You need a family
Speaker 2: that's going to give you support and stimulation. Number two,
Speaker 2: you need to establish a solid worldview and I'll explain
Speaker 2: this in the weeks ahead. That gives you a spiritual strength,
Speaker 2: gives you the spiritual strength and stability that you're going
Speaker 2: to have in the storms of life. Life is tough,
Speaker 2: and you have to know how to handle life and
Speaker 2: how to handle all of the trauma and the tribulations
Speaker 2: and the trials that come at you. And you've got
Speaker 2: to be spiritually strong for that. Now, how do you
Speaker 2: grow spiritual strength? Well, the answer is only by being
Speaker 2: spiritually stretched you grow strong. Just like a muscle can
Speaker 2: only grow stronger by being stretched, your spirit and your
Speaker 2: soul must be stretched in order to be strengthened.
Speaker 3: That's part of my job, and.
Speaker 2: The Bible calls meeting this need in your life, the
Speaker 2: need for spiritual strength discipleship number three. You need to
Speaker 2: experience the sacred and the supernatural power of God in
Speaker 2: your life. And what that does is it gives you
Speaker 2: a sense of awe. You need a sense of awe
Speaker 2: in your life. If you don't have any awe in
Speaker 2: your life, you're bland, You're boring, and you're probably not
Speaker 2: very happy in your life.
Speaker 3: Now, what is awe? A sense of awe?
Speaker 2: Awe is a mixture of emotions that combines reverence and
Speaker 2: wonderment for something greater than yourself. Have you noticed that
Speaker 2: human beings are naturally attracted and drawn to awe inspiring
Speaker 2: sites we go see them on vacation. We're naturally attracted
Speaker 2: drawn to ae inspiring sites and are inspiring sounds and
Speaker 2: awe inspiring experiences and awe inspiring feelings. We of the
Speaker 2: feeling of awe. We love being awed. Why because we
Speaker 2: instinctively know that there's something or someone out there that's
Speaker 2: greater than we are.
Speaker 3: And that is no accident. Have you ever thought about it?
Speaker 2: Why is it that every single culture in the world worships,
Speaker 2: every single culture worships because you're wired for worship as
Speaker 2: a human being.
Speaker 3: You can't help it.
Speaker 2: The fact is, you're wired for worship. And if you
Speaker 2: don't worship God, you're going to worship something. You might
Speaker 2: even worship yourself or your boat, or your career or
Speaker 2: a celebrity, but you're going to worship something because we're
Speaker 2: wired for worship.
Speaker 3: Now, it's a paradox.
Speaker 2: I want you to listen to this that without awe,
Speaker 2: which is worship in your life, Without awe in your life,
Speaker 2: your life becomes awful.
Speaker 3: That's paradox.
Speaker 2: Without awe in your life, your life becomes awful.
Speaker 3: But on the other hand, with.
Speaker 2: Awe in your life, if you regular experience moments of
Speaker 2: all in your life, your life becomes awesome. Awesome, and
Speaker 2: awe comes from the sacred.
Speaker 3: That's called worship.
Speaker 2: The fourth need that you have in your life, a
Speaker 2: fourth deep need is express your spiritual gifts in service,
Speaker 2: and that's what gives you self worth. You need to
Speaker 2: feel good about yourself. You need self worth and you
Speaker 2: need self expression. Now, notice I haven't said a word
Speaker 2: about success because status and salary and success do not
Speaker 2: give you self worth, but self expression of being what
Speaker 2: God made you to be does. Let me say it
Speaker 2: another way. You need a place to shine. You need
Speaker 2: a place to sparkle. You need a place of self
Speaker 2: expression that is essential to your spiritual and emotional health.
Speaker 2: And when people don't have a place to shine or
Speaker 2: sparkle and to express the shape the God given spiritual gift,
Speaker 2: heart ability, personality experiences that God gave them, then you
Speaker 2: get bored with life starting out. You need a safe
Speaker 2: place to discover and to develop your spiritual gifts and
Speaker 2: your shape. Now I want you to listen. You can
Speaker 2: develop your natural talents anywhere. You can develop them on
Speaker 2: a football field if you're talent in that area.
Speaker 3: You can develop at work.
Speaker 2: You can develop the natural talents which by the way,
Speaker 2: God gave you those two anywhere. But you can only
Speaker 2: discover the spiritual gifts that God has put inside you
Speaker 2: and given you. The only place you can discover that
Speaker 2: is in a church, family because that's where God gives them.
Speaker 2: The spiritual gifts are given out through his family, and
Speaker 2: that's where He expects you to use them. And if
Speaker 2: you never discover your spiritual gifts, the one he said,
Speaker 2: I don't even know that I've God gifts.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, you do.
Speaker 2: The Bible talks about them a lot. But if you
Speaker 2: never discover them, it's a huge loss, not only here
Speaker 2: on earth, but in the rewards that you're going to
Speaker 2: miss an eternity. You know, it's another paradox of life
Speaker 2: that I said that without awe, your life is awful,
Speaker 2: but with awe, your life becomes awesome. It's also true
Speaker 2: that in your life that self respect and self worth listen,
Speaker 2: come through selflessness. Self respect and self worth actually come
Speaker 2: through selflessness, not by focusing on yourself. It doesn't come
Speaker 2: by focusing on yourself, but self worth comes by focusing
Speaker 2: actually on serving others. God wired the universe in that
Speaker 2: only as you give your life away does your life
Speaker 2: have success of self worth and self awareness. Finally, the
Speaker 2: fifth need that you have in your life is that
Speaker 2: you need to know your God given mission, and that
Speaker 2: gives you significance and satisfaction. You're not put on this
Speaker 2: planet by accident. Now, the way that this series is
Speaker 2: going to work because we're going to cover all five
Speaker 2: of those deep needs needs in your life in the
Speaker 2: next five weeks.
Speaker 3: The way this series is going to work is.
Speaker 2: That in my weekend teaching, I'm going to primarily focus
Speaker 2: on why you have these five deep needs in your
Speaker 2: life and why you need a church family to meet them,
Speaker 2: and why only the church can meet those needs. Business can't,
Speaker 2: government can't, school can't, boyfriend can't. Now today I want
Speaker 2: you to see how you need other people in your life.
Speaker 2: You need a church family for spiritual help. I know
Speaker 2: I'm belaboring this point, but because all the time we
Speaker 2: hear people say, oh I love God, I love Jesus,
Speaker 2: I just don't need a church family.
Speaker 3: That's nonsense.
Speaker 2: It means you have no idea all of the gifts,
Speaker 2: the blessings and the benefits God has prepared for you
Speaker 2: when you're fully involved in His family.
Speaker 3: Now, let me just say it this way.
Speaker 2: Today, all around the world, people are taught to act
Speaker 2: as if they don't need anybody else. We're told do
Speaker 2: your own thing, go your own way, be your own man.
Speaker 2: We idolize the rugged individualists who goes off by themselves
Speaker 2: on a mountain and seems to have no need of
Speaker 2: anybody else. We think many are they're totally independent, and
Speaker 2: we idolize that independence. In fact, in today's culture, quote
Speaker 2: depending on anybody else is often considered to be a weakness,
Speaker 2: and you're never supposed to let on that they need
Speaker 2: anybody else. And people often characterize marriage is like it's
Speaker 2: a prison, limiting your options, when actually, when God is
Speaker 2: at the center of your marriage, marriage is not limiting,
Speaker 2: it's liberating. It actually makes you twice as effective then
Speaker 2: you would be by yourself.
Speaker 3: If you have a godly, God.
Speaker 2: Centered marriage, true love, healthy relationships, real community, and genuine fellowship,
Speaker 2: they bring out the best in you. In fact, you
Speaker 2: can't become all God wants you to be without other
Speaker 2: people in your life. You need them for your spiritual
Speaker 2: and emotional help. And when you have those kind of
Speaker 2: close relationships in a church family, it makes you far
Speaker 2: far better than you'd ever be on your own by yourself.
Speaker 2: The fellowship of belonging to a church family, the community
Speaker 2: like here at Saddleback Church, has liberated and emancipated and
Speaker 2: brought out the best in literally tens of thousands of
Speaker 2: people just in this church, Saddleback Church, and by being
Speaker 2: a part of this family, it's helped them become greater
Speaker 2: and go farther and accomplish more and be happier and
Speaker 2: even live longer than people would have ever lived or
Speaker 2: experienced on their own. Did you know the studies show
Speaker 2: that if you go to church, you're going to live
Speaker 2: on an average about five to six years longer than
Speaker 2: other people if you're in church every weekend. Now you know,
Speaker 2: I've heard people say complete independence is the key to happiness.
Speaker 2: Complete independence is happiness. Well, let me be completely honest
Speaker 2: with you, because after counseling thousands of people, I can
Speaker 2: tell you this that's nonsense. Complete independence from other human
Speaker 2: beings is not happiness.
Speaker 3: It is loneliness. It is loneliness.
Speaker 2: And the quickest way to make yourself completely miserable and
Speaker 2: resentful and fearful and insecure and unhappy is to pretend
Speaker 2: that you have it all together and you don't need
Speaker 2: anybody else in your life, and that you're completely independent
Speaker 2: of needing anybody else's help. Not only is that idea lie,
Speaker 2: it's simply not true. It's provably absurd, and everybody around
Speaker 2: you knows it's not true, and yet we persist in
Speaker 2: wearing masks and pretending that we're self contained and that
Speaker 2: we're not dependent upon each other. Now, you know what's
Speaker 2: really ironic to me. I'm an observer of human behavior
Speaker 2: as a pastor. I had to fly to Washington, DC
Speaker 2: and back. We're in a couple of airports. I just
Speaker 2: watch people, And what's ironic to me is to watch
Speaker 2: how we desperately want and need the attention of others,
Speaker 2: and the approval of others, and the affirmation of others,
Speaker 2: and even the affection of others. We desperately in need
Speaker 2: want these things. We just don't want to admit out
Speaker 2: badly we need it. And that's why everybody wears emotional
Speaker 2: masks instead of being authentic with their true needs. What
Speaker 2: we've been taught is that happiness comes from independence. But
Speaker 2: the truth is real happiness comes from interdependence. God wired
Speaker 2: us that way, and he wants us to be a
Speaker 2: part of his family. In Genesis two eighteen, the very
Speaker 2: first thing God said to man was this, it is
Speaker 2: not good for man to be alone. Now, whether you
Speaker 2: ever get married or not is irrelevant to that verse.
Speaker 2: It is not good for you to be alone, God
Speaker 2: says you need a spiritual family. And in another very
Speaker 2: important Bible verse, God says, in Romans twelve, verse five,
Speaker 2: since we're all one body in Christ, we're all in
Speaker 2: the family of God. We're all in the body of Christ.
Speaker 2: We're all a part of his flock. We notice this.
Speaker 2: We belong to each other. Circle that word belong. We
Speaker 2: belong to each other, and each of us needs all
Speaker 2: the others. In a church family, you don't just belong
Speaker 2: to Jesus. You belong to each other. You're my brother,
Speaker 2: you're my sister. I'm your brother, I'm your sister. And
Speaker 2: the Bible says we need each other. Now, you may
Speaker 2: not feel this, is you feel this, You don't necessarily
Speaker 2: feel like you need other people. You may not feel
Speaker 2: like you belong, but it is absolutely necessary. God says,
Speaker 2: being a part of a member of God's family, a
Speaker 2: community of fellowship, is not optional. A Christian without a
Speaker 2: church family is a spiritual orphan. You know, years ago,
Speaker 2: many of you remember when we did forty Days of Purpose.
Speaker 2: About thirty five thirty six thousand churches in just America
Speaker 2: alone did forty days of Purpose. And in that s
Speaker 2: I shared the big idea that God created you to
Speaker 2: fulfill five purposes on earth. But in this series, I
Speaker 2: want to share an even bigger idea. And the bigger
Speaker 2: idea is this, You cannot fulfill God's purposes for your
Speaker 2: life by yourself on your own. You need other people.
Speaker 2: And each week we're going to look at a different
Speaker 2: purpose and a different emotional and spiritual need that you
Speaker 2: have and how God wants to meet that need in
Speaker 2: your life. Now, what I want to do today, for
Speaker 2: the rest of our time together is just quickly give
Speaker 2: you five reasons you need a church family for your
Speaker 2: spiritual and emotional health. You cannot be healthy unless you're
Speaker 2: connected to other believers in the Body.
Speaker 3: Of Christ, in the family of God. So write these down.
Speaker 2: Number one. First thing I need is this, I need
Speaker 2: others to walk with me. I need others to walk
Speaker 2: with me. That's one of the benefits of a church family.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: The Bible often call your spiritual life your walk, your
Speaker 2: spiritual walk, and then I able says walk in love,
Speaker 2: walk in truth, walk into lightness, walk in joy. Colossians
Speaker 2: two six and seven says, just as you receive Christ
Speaker 2: Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. Now, why does
Speaker 2: God compare life to a walk, Because it's a journey.
Speaker 2: So I said, we're to walk in light and love
Speaker 2: and truth and obedience. We're to walk in the spirit.
Speaker 2: Where to walk like Jesus. God never intended for you
Speaker 2: to walk through life alone. Now, as I said, this
Speaker 2: has nothing to do whether you're single or married. Thousands
Speaker 2: of singles fully walk in the Lord, in the community
Speaker 2: and the fellowship and the family and the membership of
Speaker 2: Saddleback Church. He said, well, what's wrong with walking alone?
Speaker 2: I prefer walking alone. Well, let me give you three
Speaker 2: benefits of walking with others in a church family. You
Speaker 2: might just write this in your margin there or whatever.
Speaker 2: Number One, it's safer. There's safety in numbers. There's less risk.
Speaker 2: You ever had to walk through a dark alley at
Speaker 2: night by yourself when you preferred would have preferred to
Speaker 2: have walked with somebody else. When you're going through dark times,
Speaker 2: it's safer to walk with others. Number Two, it's supportive.
Speaker 2: It keeps you from giving up. If you've ever done
Speaker 2: a marathon, you get a pain in your side and
Speaker 2: you're tempted to quit, it kicks in for you. You know,
Speaker 2: probably I don't know what what mile maybe for me
Speaker 2: about you know, yard fifty. But when you run with
Speaker 2: other people, it keeps you going, It gives you support.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: There's an old African proverb that says, if you want
Speaker 2: to run fast, run alone. But if you run and
Speaker 2: want to run far, run with other people. When you
Speaker 2: run together, you can go so much farther. That's why
Speaker 2: geese fly in v formation so they don't get tired.
Speaker 2: The updraft carries the others along and they change out
Speaker 2: who's at the front of the vib So it's safer,
Speaker 2: it's more supportive, it's smarter. You actually learn more by
Speaker 2: walking with others through life. Proverbs twenty eight twenty six
Speaker 2: is this only fools trust what they alone think. You know,
Speaker 2: if you're walking alone, you might be walking in the
Speaker 2: wrong direction. The Bible says in the multitude of counselors
Speaker 2: are a safety. One of the things you learn when
Speaker 2: you're walking with other people is you learn how to
Speaker 2: get along.
Speaker 3: You learn how to love.
Speaker 2: And one of the great goals of life is learning
Speaker 2: how to love, because God is love. Have you noticed
Speaker 2: everybody walks at a different pace and they all have
Speaker 2: to walk in a different style. Well, when you walk
Speaker 2: with others, it teaches you a very important skill. It's
Speaker 2: called compromise. You just can't go with your patient style,
Speaker 2: you have to share it with others. As I said.
Speaker 2: Genesis to eighteen says, it's not good for men to
Speaker 2: be alone. God hates loneliness, and what's his antidote. Well,
Speaker 2: God's antidote loneliness is two groups, a physical family and
Speaker 2: a spiritual family. Physical family is an antidote for loneliness.
Speaker 2: But even that's not going to last forever.
Speaker 3: Family.
Speaker 2: Physical family split up, they grow up, they divorce, they
Speaker 2: move away, they die. But your spiritual family, which is
Speaker 2: the church, is going to last forever and ever and ever.
Speaker 2: Your physical family isn't going to last forever and ever,
Speaker 2: but your church family is going to Hebrews ten twenty
Speaker 2: five says this, Let us not give up the habit
Speaker 2: of meeting together. Instead, let us encourage one another. That's
Speaker 2: the comfort and the correction or the challenging I talked
Speaker 2: about earlier. The church is God's spiritual safety net for
Speaker 2: you when you're weak, when you're tired, when you feel
Speaker 2: like giving up.
Speaker 3: You know you're created for community.
Speaker 2: Have you ever said you know, well, I don't I
Speaker 2: don't feel like going to worship. Well, of course you have.
Speaker 2: You know, I've thought that a lot myself, and I
Speaker 2: was going to do the sermon. When you're tired, then
Speaker 2: you'd rather just stay home and lay on the couch
Speaker 2: all day. But you know, what I've discovered is that
Speaker 2: when I least feel like worship is when I usually
Speaker 2: need it the most. But when I get with other people,
Speaker 2: all my discouragement and my fatigue and all the other
Speaker 2: things we're going to talk about, they start leaving, and
Speaker 2: so does the loneliness. I want you to write this
Speaker 2: down right now, Salarn your outline. Community is God's answer
Speaker 2: to loneliness. We all need a place to practice relationships
Speaker 2: and learn to love. Community is God's answer to loneliness.
Speaker 2: So what you need to do to walk through life
Speaker 2: is you need a small group of believers. First Corinthians
Speaker 2: fourteen thirty and thirty one. Look at this verse. It
Speaker 2: says when you gather each one of you. He's talking
Speaker 2: about gathering in a small group. He because you can't
Speaker 2: do this in a crowd of five hundred or two
Speaker 2: hundred people. You can only do this as a small group.
Speaker 2: He says, First Corinthians fourteen thirty thirty one. When you
Speaker 2: together in that small group, each one of you be
Speaker 2: prepared with something useful for all. Sing a song, teach
Speaker 2: a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight,
Speaker 2: take your turn, with no one person taking over. That
Speaker 2: way you all learn from each other that could only
Speaker 2: happen in a small group. What's the goal? The goal
Speaker 2: of this fellowship is Ephesians four sixteen. As each part
Speaker 2: does its work, it helps the other parts grow so
Speaker 2: that Christ's whole body is healthy and growing and full
Speaker 2: of love. I want you to write this down under
Speaker 2: this next point, I can't grow without others. If I
Speaker 2: don't have others, I'm going to be lonely. But this
Speaker 2: is the second point, I can't grow without others. One
Speaker 2: Peter four nine says open your homes to each other
Speaker 2: without complaining.
Speaker 3: That's called hospitality. Are you doing that?
Speaker 2: Are you being hospital or you open your home up
Speaker 2: to a small group. If you're not in a small
Speaker 2: group right now, you need to start one. Just get
Speaker 2: a couple of friends to discuss what you learn in
Speaker 2: this series. We say, well, you know, I just haven't
Speaker 2: started a small group. I'm not in a small group. Well,
Speaker 2: let me ask you be honest, what excuse have ben
Speaker 2: You've been using for not being in a small group
Speaker 2: and you know it would be strengthening for your spiritual
Speaker 2: heart and your support?
Speaker 3: What excuse to be in the well?
Speaker 2: You know my house, my house is not clean, or
Speaker 2: my house isn't big enough, or I don't like my neighbors,
Speaker 2: or nobody would want to come to my house. Really,
Speaker 2: you know what the truth is? The truth is everyone
Speaker 2: has a longing for belonging.
Speaker 1: What a fantastic message from Pastor Rick. You know, Daily
Speaker 1: Hope is changing lives every day. Here's Pastor Rick with
Speaker 1: a letter from one of our listeners.
Speaker 2: Hi, everybody today, I want to share a letter from Edam,
Speaker 2: a listener from Canada who talks about the impact Daily
Speaker 2: Hope has had in his life. I love these stories,
Speaker 2: he writes. The Daily Hope Ministry has helped me greatly
Speaker 2: in shifting the lens through which I see life. I
Speaker 2: know now that I was created for God to fulfill
Speaker 2: his purpose. I understand that every trial or every situation
Speaker 2: I face in life is a test of my character
Speaker 2: and is preparing me for Heaven. I started listening to
Speaker 2: Daily Hope at the time when I was confused about
Speaker 2: my existence. This was when times were bad and I
Speaker 2: didn't have a job. I always thought a profession to
Speaker 2: find who I was. But Daily Hope shifted my perspective
Speaker 2: on life and my purpose, and I soon started to
Speaker 2: experience peace in my heart when I least expected it.
Speaker 2: Even though I landed a great job, I understand that
Speaker 2: it doesn't define who I am or my purpose. I
Speaker 2: was created by God and for God, and I want
Speaker 2: to surrender fully to his will. So I want to
Speaker 2: say thanks to you and to the entire Daily Hope
Speaker 2: team for the impact that you've had on my life.
Speaker 2: What an incredible testimony of how God's working through Daily
Speaker 2: Hope to bring about strong sense of purpose in people's lives.
Speaker 2: So thank you everybody for your ongoing support and your
Speaker 2: faithful prayers. More lives like items will be changed in
Speaker 2: Jesus' name because of you.
Speaker 1: Hey, if you'd like to let Rick know how this
Speaker 1: broadcast has blessed you, he would love it.
Speaker 3: Please feel free.
Speaker 1: To send him an email at Rick at pastorick dot com.
Speaker 1: That's Rick at pastorick dot com. Be sure to join
Speaker 1: us next time as we look into God's word for
Speaker 1: our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's
Speaker 1: Daily Hope and your generous financial support.