In this sermon, the speaker reflects on the frustration of witnessing people turning away from sound teaching and seeking out teachers who cater to their own desires. He emphasizes the importance of preaching the word of God and fulfilling the ministry of evangelism. The speaker encourages believers to be ready to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with patience and teaching. He also highlights the need for believers to step out of their comfort zones and engage in actions that may be uncomfortable or scary in order to experience the presence of God and bring about unity among believers.

Let's pray. Not arrogance, but what Gary was saying, when he started to talk about his dad, and he started talking about what his dad's life was like at the end, he didn't own a house. Are you kidding me? David Wilker, you know, like everything that we hear of, that's the stuff I love to hear. It's going, man, at the end of his life, he still believed it, he was still going after it, he was giving everything away, and, you know, didn't that just encourage you? And the fact that he was at 75 years old, going, God, I want more of your glory, I want more of your glory, there's got to be more. Man, I can't tell you how encouraging that is to a person like me, because I'm sitting there going, OK, I'm not crazy, I want to be that way, I want to end that way. Man, who? I mean, is there anyone? Seriously. Is there anyone in this room who wouldn't want to trade places with him right now? To think, man, he made it to the end, he was still aggressively pursuing God at the end, he was still loving people in a physical, tangible way at the end, and you just go, man, I want to make it there. So many don't make it. They don't make it to the end, and I'm listening to that going, God, I want that, I want that, and I'm not saying this because he's here. Man, every time, I've only just spent a few minutes with Pastor Cimbala, just every time, I just spend any time with him, I just leave so encouraged, like, yeah, I've got to keep fighting, I've got to keep going. I don't know of a guy his age who's still doing that much, I like pursuing new things constantly, going, God, I want more of you. I want to have a greater impact. Man, and I mean, you're really old. It's just, seriously, the thing is, because in my life, and please take this the right way, I mean, I have so much respect. I grew up in a culture that was all about honoring your elders, respecting your elders, and so understand where this is coming from, but I meet very few older people whose lives make sense to me, biblically, honestly. I meet very, very few older men that I can look up to because their lives make sense biblically, because I think, man, if you're about to face God, wouldn't you just be, like, taking the craziest risks and just giving it all away and going after it? And because for me, like, every year, I'm thinking I'm getting closer and closer and closer, and I just want to stand before him at the end and hear him say, well done. I mean, do we understand what it's going to be like when we come into his presence and see a holy God on his throne and nothing else will matter, and I've met so few men that are living that way as though that day is really going to come, and it's like the older I get, the more I start thinking about it, the more I'm just evaluating my life. Man, it's not time to play it safe. Man, you know, it's like to believe the lies the world tells you about, you know, saving up and really enjoying those last few years. You know, you earned it. You deserve it. It's like, no. Man, you've got millions of years coming. Man, this end is strong. End it well. Man, and so I'm sitting there just listening to how it ended with your dad, and I'm going, God, please. Please. Please, I want to end that way. Please, I want to still be in love with you. And during worship just now, you know, you guys are saying, I don't even know what we just sang. I'm just, you know, praying to God, going, God, please. Please, I want that. I want to be a man who wants you in greater measure like every year. We do everything backwards, you know, in our country where we do radical things when we're 18, you know, and then we spend the rest of our lives talking about how radical we used to be, you know, and I'm going, that doesn't make sense biblically. You know, if we're getting closer and closer to the end, we should be getting more and more radical, going, man, this earth has nothing for me anymore. Man, I... I don't even know what to talk about after that. You know, I just get so fired up about that that people are still living by faith at the end of their lives because I mainly work with young people because I feel so frustrated with those who are older, like, I'm not going to change them. You know, but they're longing. Man, they want older people in their lives that are still living by faith. They just can't find them. Man, they're looking. They're like, man, can I just find someone that has kids that still lives with some faith? Someone who's older that actually gets that they're about to face God. And these young people go, man, I would cling to a person like that. Man, I want that. But they'll tell you, man, so many of the older people I meet, they're just playing it safe. And the older they get, the safer they want to play it and just feel like their time is done and they're just waiting for it to end. And they go, man, I just want to see people that have faith. And so, man, thank you so much, Pastor Jim. I mean that, man. Sometimes I just feel like, what in the world are we even doing? You know? It's like what you were saying, Gary, about like we work so hard to put on these services and shows that even if the Holy Spirit doesn't show up, it's still going to be great. Man, I attend a lot of those. And I just want the real thing. You know? Where it's like, God, either you just calm down or just forget it. Seriously. You know what I'm talking about? Man, for so much of my life, it's like, man, I'm not seeing this. We're creating something else here. We're not pursuing this. You know, we're not pursuing that. You know, you read Acts chapter 3. I mean, how many of us read the book of Acts and go, oh, that's just like my church. But that's what I want. That's what I want. That's what I'm pursuing. It's like, no, it can be like this. You know, it wasn't just for back then. It's now. Now, I understand there's some things that are culturally different, but you guys, the commitment level that these people had, that's timeless. Their commitment to prayer, that's timeless. The way the Holy Spirit worked in power, that's timeless. He may do different things, but we should still be filled with awe over what He does. Man, and that was part of my journey is just pursuing that and saying, God, I read this book and I believe it. I believe it can happen. You know, I believe those Acts chapter 3 things can happen. I believe, you know, Acts chapter 4, you know, Peter and John, after healing that man, they go to prison. You know, and it's happening in other parts of the world. But I believe it can happen here. You know, I kind of left here, kind of chasing that because I just wanted to see it. You know, a lot of you guys know I left my church about two years ago in Simi Valley because I just felt like I've done everything I can in this city. I don't even know, it's a smaller town. Everyone's already heard my voice. We've got good strong leaders there. You know, there's so many places that I haven't even heard. And maybe I need to just go to one of those places. I've got to live by faith again. I was getting too comfortable. You know, I even asked my wife, I go, what do you think I should do with my life? She goes, well, we shouldn't stay here. I'm like, really? You've been thinking that? I've been thinking that. I didn't want to say anything to you. I don't want to, you know, terrify you. She's like, no, it's just, it's time. It's time. We've done what we can do. There's something new. And she goes, why don't we just sell the house and just go wherever, wherever the Spirit leads us. You know, and we just, all right, you know. I mean, she was pregnant with our fifth kid. And she just goes, let's just have no house. And we'll just go wherever and then we'll just pray as a family wherever we land and go, God, is this it? Is this it? And we'll just stop wherever the Spirit tells us. I go, wow, that's amazing. That's an amazing woman right there. You know, to go for that, pregnant with our fifth kid, we end up going to Asia and just go, let's just go to Asia. You know, I'm Chinese. Let's go. And I keep hearing about the faith of the believers over there. I want to see it. And maybe we'd fit in over there a little bit better. You know, with the passion, the faith, the crazy things. I'm tired of just being looked at as some, you know, weird person. Like, you don't even make sense. You can't do that here. I go, maybe we can't. Maybe we just go over there and let's just see. And so my dear wife and our four kids and, you know, she's throwing up in every country in Asia. But just praying, going, Lord, is this it? Is this it? But we're just seeing this commitment level and going, no, this is it. This is where it ought to be. Man, I remember being with my oldest daughter in this underground church. It was a training center, you know, to send these people out to even more dangerous areas. And, you know, and it was just one of those situations where they go, well, you can't take your whole family, you know, maybe you can take one kid, you know, because we really don't want anyone to know about this place. I'm like, all right. So I take my oldest daughter, figure she's most expendable. And so we go. And the passion in that room, the way they prayed, their testimonies, them talking about, oh, this one time the police came, they started shooting. And these kids just laughing. Just going, man, this is the best. And the joy in that room and everything else. And I remember, you know, just leaving with my daughter. And she was just floored. She was floored. I go, baby, that is so you. If I left you here in that room with those people, you would turn out just like them. I really believe that. I see that fire in you. I said that the concern is I think God wants daddy back in America. And I'm so concerned that by going back to America, you're going to get sucked in to comfort and everything else. And just what everyone will tell you. And that's why it's so encouraging to be with people who don't live like everyone tells them to. And says, no, I want to pursue this. I want to go after this. I want to live the way that they do. Or the way that they did. And so we ended up moving to San Francisco. I thought, let me go somewhere where the gospel isn't prevalent. I don't know if you know San Francisco isn't known for Christianity. And let's just go and see what happens. Let's just try stuff. Let's just try things. I still don't know exactly what I'm doing. You know, we gather on Sunday afternoons, just a small, small crowd. And we'll sing for maybe 10 minutes. I'll teach for maybe 10 minutes. And then we just hit the streets. We go into low-income apartment buildings, door by door, and just start knocking, and see if we can serve anyone. Because to me, that's an act of worship. And go, man, do you guys need any food? We've got a rescue mission down the street. Can I get you some groceries? Need some clothes? What do you need? And then to say, hey, can I pray for you? Is there anything I can pray for you about? Just, yeah, I know you don't believe in God, but I do. Just let me pray for you. And watch what happens when we pray for you. I just want to show you the power of God. Because I'm telling you, crazy things happen when I pray. I go, that's why I'm here, you know? And it's one of these ministries where it's like, Lord, if you don't come through, nothing's going to happen. It's not one of those ministries where, oh, even if you don't show up, this is going to be awesome. No, we'll look like fools. We'll get nowhere. And the best part was after the first Sunday, you know, I'm driving home, you know, not sure what my family thought. And I just ask. I go, hey, what do you guys think? What do you think about, you know, church today? And my oldest daughter goes, Dad, that was awesome. She goes, it felt like we popped out of the Bible. Isn't that a great statement? It felt like we popped out of the Bible. That has been my dream. That's what I've wanted is to read this and go, wow, my life actually makes sense in light of this. I was like, wow, that felt biblical. That seemed biblical to see the growth in my wife, in my children. Two days ago, my daughter, you know, right before I got on the plane, that was yesterday. Yeah, yesterday. Yeah. Okay. Yesterday morning. I'm sorry. I've done so much in the last day. But yesterday morning, I'm driving her to school. And she's asking me questions about Ephesians 1, because she's been sharing with this guy. You know, she just goes door to door, talking to these drug addicts that are 50, 60 years old. And, oh, let me back up. The week before, she calls me up, because I was speaking at another church, and she was at our, you know, Sunday gathering. She goes, Dad, another awesome week. I've got to tell you what happened. She goes, the week before, I met this guy. I knocked on his door, and I saw in the back of his room, I saw a Bible. So I asked him. I go, hey, you ever read that thing? And he goes, no. And she goes, come on, just read. Just read a couple of chapters for me, please, and I'll come back. You know, I mean, picture a little 16-year-old girl coming to your door. You know, you've been on drugs for 20, 30 years. You know, you're living in this SRO run-down apartment. What's a 16-year-old beautiful little girl coming up, telling me to read my Bible, and telling me she's going to come back next week and ask me if I read it or not. I mean, it's just a weird thing. It's a weird situation. But she goes, just read Ephesians 1 and 2. Okay, let me write it down for you. Ephesians 1 and 2. Just read it. Read it, and I'm going to come back, and I'm going to ask you about it. Okay? And anything else you need? Anything I can pray for you about? Anyways, next Sunday, she shows up, knocks on his door, and she goes, did you read Ephesians 1 and 2? And the guy just starts freaking out. He goes, you'll never believe what happened this morning. He goes, I got a weird text on my phone. And he goes, I don't know how it happened, but I pushed on the button. And then, my phone starts reading out loud Ephesians 1 and 2. My daughter's like calling me like, Dad! I mean, his phone just started saying Ephesians 1 and 2. He doesn't know how it happened. It's like a weird thing. And I'm like, are you serious? She goes, yes. He was like freaked out by it, you know, and so I'm driving her to school, you know, and yesterday she's like, Ephesians 1. She goes, help me out. I don't know if I said the right thing, you know, because it says how He's blessed us with every gift in the heavenly realms. And then it says, so that we would be holy and blameless before Him. You know, that so that. So I asked him, you know, because he says, oh yes, God has blessed me. I heard that. God has blessed me, and I just keep thanking Him how He's blessed me in all the heavenly places with all these blessings. And she goes, so I said to him, I go, you know, it says that He blessed you so that you may be holy and blameless. And she says, so I just said, you know, look at you. You're getting drunk all the time. You're smoking pot. Does that verse make sense? If it says that He's blessed you with all these blessings in the heavenly places so that you can get drunk and stoned every day? And the guy said, good point. She says, no, it's so you'd be holy and blameless. And I go, wow, that's really good, honey. You know, that's really good. You know what a rush it is to see your kids doing that, right? You know, where they're experiencing God, where they're just blown away. They're just amazed. You know, I remember when we first started the ministry, she went to In-N-Out. Have you heard of In-N-Out Burger? It's a burger place. You guys don't have a clue. It's kind of like the place to go to, and some friends visited her there in San Francisco from our old church. And so she takes them to In-N-Out, a fisherman's wharf, and as they're going in to eat, there's a homeless lady out front. And so for Rach, it's just kind of second nature. She just turns, starts talking to the lady and says, hey, can I get you a cheeseburger? The lady's like, sure. Goes in, gets her cheeseburger, comes back out, hands it to the lady and says, can I eat with you? You know, my friends are inside, but can I have lunch with you? And the lady's like, sure. So she just sits down, lays out the gospel to this lady, talks to her about her past, talks to her about Jesus. And when she's all done, the lady goes, this is really weird. This is really weird. She goes, a couple months ago, some guy came out here and did the same thing and asked me. It wasn't me. He just said he asked me about Jesus. He started talking to me about Jesus. And she goes, the weirdest thing was when you were walking up to me, I was remembering that guy. And I remember how he told me that there was some pastor that moved up to San Francisco that started a ministry about a mile from here, and how he told me, you know what, you really need to go and find this guy because I'm just visiting, but you need to find him. And she goes, honestly, when you were walking up, I was in my mind, literally thinking back to that conversation from two months ago, trying to figure out his name, because I remember him telling me the name of this guy. And my daughter goes, is it Francis Chan? The lady goes, yes, that's it! And she goes, that's my dad. And she goes, dad, I just looked at this lady, I just go, Kathy, do you think there's any chance in the world that this is a coincidence? Or is God trying to get a hold of you right now? It was the joy of that moment, but it's the joy of your daughter coming home and going, dad, dad, I've got to tell you what happened today. You know, where they're experiencing God. It's like the Lord is showing up in these crazy, supernatural ways. Man, we just had a meeting, me and a few of the guys that I minister with, we just met for hours, just writing down, let's document, because we're going to forget all this stuff. All the things, all the miracles that God has done over the last nine months, let's write them down, let's type them out, because we're going to forget. And we spent hours and we still weren't done. Talking about thing after thing after thing. Man, I could sit here the whole time and just tell you stories. Man, and part of me just wants to. I mean, it's just crazy stuff happening. And I love it. I love it. Amazing stuff happening. And I wish I could tell you. So I've got this massive church now in San Francisco. Thousands of people showing up, all these drug addicts, they've repented because they've seen the power of God. But I'm not seeing it. It's been a hard year. Now I understand what Jesus meant when he said, look, I could have someone rise from the dead and they still won't believe in me. I mean, I'm baffled because I'm going, wait, you saw it too. You experienced it. One lady, you know, just crazy back pain, and I'm talking to her, and I don't even heal her. And we're just talking at her door, just asking if I could pray for her, and she just starts going, what in the world? She goes, I don't feel any pain. And she just looks at me and she goes, you're freaking me out right now. Seriously, those are words. You are freaking me out right now. And I go, what did I tell you? What did I tell you? I didn't even pray for your back. I go, there's a power here. This is real. You see, I want to say, ah, so she gave her life to the Lord. No. No. Like, I don't get it. Like, if I experience this stuff, I'm like, how can you not turn from your ways after experiencing God like that? And so it's frustrating because I'm going, God, I'm seeing so much stuff, and I'm praying with my guys, my team, going, how come we're not seeing it? We're getting so frustrated. And then God revealed to me some things in Scripture. You know, in 2 Timothy 4.3, it says, The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths As for you, always be sober-minded. Endure suffering. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. And he starts saying, man, I charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus who's going to judge the living and the dead by His appearing, His kingdom. Preach the word. Be ready in season, out season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and teaching. He goes, man, because there's going to come a time when people just aren't going to listen to you. They're not going to put up with sound teaching. Man, so often I've wanted to water down the teaching just to get a bunch of people there, just to have some fruit, because there's expectations. There's expectations of all of us in different ways, in weird ways, in weird ways where the world pressures you. And that's why even this morning I appreciate talking to Pastor Jim because, man, I don't even know what I'm doing out there. I'm in this situation. Explain the situation. He's like, just wait on the Lord. He's not giving you clarity. And I see in Scripture David was handing these guys to his parents. Just wait. I don't know what else to do with them yet. Just hold on to them for a bit. It's like, oh, I can do that? I'm allowed to wait? Because everyone wants to know what Francis Chan is doing and how big his church is now that he's been in San Francisco a whole year. Shouldn't there be thousands of converts? And shouldn't we be hearing of something? There's this pressure rather than just going, you know. And there are days, I'll confess, where I go, man, why am I knocking on the doors of these people? Why don't I just go somewhere else where I know they already know my name and I could just open up a church service and people would show up and give the appearance of fruit? You know? They don't want to get off of my back. And I can just go, look, look at this. Isn't it great? All these people left other churches and came to mine. But this whole idea of enduring the suffering and just keep teaching and saying, no, sorry, you really do have to turn from that. You really have to repent and be baptized. No, you can't keep living. I know that's the message that you're hearing everywhere, but that's not the Scriptures. And then encouraging my team and going, man, it says at the end. See, this is the thing that we realized was it says, okay, if this time is coming where they're not going to endure sound teaching, we can either be one of those people who accumulate people by giving them what their itching ears want to hear, that suits their passions. We could do that. Say, you know, just pray this prayer. You don't have to repent. Just pray this prayer. Ask Him into your heart. I'm sure there's a verse that says that somewhere. Just do that. And then just get baptized and Jesus will be your friend. We'll be in heaven together. End of story. Okay, mark that down as a conversion. Man, I could give you some great stats and put together something that looks great. I really believe I could. Just don't preach certain things. Just don't preach repentance. Give them what their itching ears want to hear, which is I can keep living this way and just add Jesus to my life. I just don't see that in Scripture. He says you deny yourself. You pick up your cross and follow me. If you're not willing to give up everything you have, then you're not worthy to be my disciple. Man, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure in a field where you see how great it is and with great joy you're like, okay, fine, here's everything. I'm with great joy. Man, give me that. I can have a relationship with God. Are you kidding me? Here, take it all. That's the kingdom of heaven. And let's keep preaching that. Let's keep laying it out. And guess what? As we do that, we're probably going to lose people. And something we realize biblically is Jesus never promised revival. He promised his presence with us. He promised us power. You have power to be my witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You're going to receive this power. And I was just looking at my team going, Now, we've got to admit we have been experiencing Jesus like crazy. We have been experiencing the supernatural like crazy. We've been experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit like crazy. Now, are people repenting? No. But God never promised they would repent. In fact, he says they would see miracles and still not repent. He promised in the last days they're not going to put up with sound teaching. So we've got to make a decision. Are we going to worship Jesus or are we going to worship revival? Because he didn't promise all of these numbers. What he promises is as you go out and make disciples, I'll be with you always even to the end of the age. That's what he promised. And he's been faithful to that. We've experienced the presence of God. My daughter understands the presence of God. I'm blown away by my family right now. There was an EMT. I ran into a friend of mine, and he says, Yeah, I was just picking up this drug addict that we had to take to the hospital. He was like nearly dead, you know, so depressed, everything else. And I'm driving him back, and he's telling me about his life. And he goes, You know, the one, the brightest point of my week, he goes, There's this 12-year-old girl that knocks on my doors and bakes me cookies and talks to me about Jesus. It's my 12-year-old mercy, you know. And you know what a rush that is to just think, Man, my kids are crazy. You know, like I have to hold them back. Like they're like, Hey, me and Rachel, we're going to go to this. You're not going to that building by yourself. Are you crazy? God will protect us. I'm like, Oh, I know, but don't be stupid, you know. There's plenty of guys here. Take one of the guys. You are never going to that building. You know, it's just, but I love it. I love it. They're experiencing God. You know, all the stats tell us that 60 to 70 percent of our kids are going to walk away from the Lord when they're 18. That's ridiculous. And I wonder if it's because they're not really experiencing God for themselves. And when people don't experience God, man, I ask them, Are you making disciples? Well, I don't experience the presence of Jesus with me. And I said, But Jesus, his presence was, it was tied to go and make disciples. You go, baptize them, teach them to obey everything I command you, and I'll be with you. I'll be with you always, even at the end of the age. People say, Well, you know, I just don't, I don't feel his power. And I go, Are you being his witness? Because the Holy Spirit didn't give you power just to have power. It was to be his witness. When Peter and John here, you know, heal this beggar, it's just as they're going out and preaching this gospel. And chapter 4 is all about them, you know, the leaders trying to shut them up. And they're like, I'm not going to listen to you instead of God, would you? You saw what we just did. Okay, let's just say that. Let's switch positions. And you just heal the guy, and you're seeing the power of God. And then some guy, you know, leader tells you, Hey, stop talking about Jesus. Would you do it? You'd obey that guy rather than God? There's no way. Verse 13 says that people were astonished by them. Why? Because they were ordinary, uneducated men. And they're blown away by their boldness. Look, I get so scared. I get so scared. I hate, I hate how scared I get. I don't enjoy sharing the gospel. If I'm honest, I don't like to. One-on-one with a stranger, trying to tell them about Jesus, there's a, I'd rather do just about anything else on the earth than that. I don't know, it's just my pride. I hate rejection. I hate that uncomfortable feeling of how do I start a conversation about something I know they don't want to talk about? How do I convince them of a way of living that I know that they stand against? I hate that rejection. I hate that looking in your eyes, especially being in San Francisco, where they're just going, Are you crazy? I hate it. I would much rather sit in an office and study for 20 hours, you know, and come up and wow people. To me, you know, but he tells Timothy, Endure that. Endure the suffering. Do the work of an evangelist. See, for years I wanted my church to be evangelistic. I wanted them sharing their faith, and I wasn't doing a whole lot of it. I just didn't like it. And I felt guilty about it. It didn't make sense. I would think, Okay, if that person right there is going to hell, going to hell, and I'm not saying anything, that doesn't make any sense. I remember even as a young pastor, I went to a pastor of a large church, and I just asked him, I go, Hey, do you ever feel guilty for not sharing the faith on your own? Do you ever just talk to your neighbors? Do you ever feel guilty like you haven't walked around the block and talked to your neighbors and just told them? And he goes, No. I have no guilt. He goes, That's not my job. My job is to teach the people, and then they do that. And I went, I like that. I'm going to go with that. Yeah, that's not my job. And then what do the people in the congregation do? They go, Well, I'm not a preacher. Can you come to my work and talk to my friends for me? And everyone's just avoiding this. And I'm saying by avoiding this, we're missing out on the presence of God. It's as we go out and make disciples and we put our life on the line and do some things that scare us. I mean, the crazy thing about Acts chapter 4 is, you know, in verse 13, they're astonished by the boldness of Peter and John, but then what do they do right after they get out of prison? They gather the believers together and say, Pray over us. We need more courage. I'm getting scared again. So in Acts 4 verse 29, it says, Now, Lord, look upon their threats. Grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. While you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. I love that. I love that. Right after, here are two people that the world is astounded, astonished by their boldness, because they're ordinary, uneducated men. They didn't have their doctorate. They probably didn't even have an MDiv. Boneheads. They're just normal people. Uneducated, ordinary. It's like, but look at their boldness. Like, they just know. They just know that God's going to come through. They know this is true. Man, we talked about insecurity a little bit, Gary. Man, I get that. I feel those things where I'm just like, man, why me? I'm not as educated as this guy. I've been in circles where I just feel so dumb. You know, like I can get only so much in this mind. One of my last visits to Chicago was for this thing called The Gospel Coalition. Brilliant men. Really know the word of God. And they asked me to come and speak on a topic. You know, it's in a forum with all these educated men. Dr. Lutzer was there. Others were there. Just, you know, Dr. Carson, Dr. Keller. And then they asked me to present, you know, talking to me on the phone saying, man, we want you to present to us. And then someone's going to debate what you have to say. And I'm like, all right, all right. And I'm just writing notes furiously because I have no idea what he's talking about. What do you want? You know, and I go over to the Bible class. I go, look, I'm supposed to speak on this. I don't even know what it means. You know, will someone write me a paper? You know, seriously. And so one of the, you know, the guys wrote a paper for me. And I go present it in front of these guys pretending like, oh, yeah, I studied this. They start asking me questions. And I'm just like, yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I thought about that. I don't know. It just felt so dumb. I mean, that was the, I just walked away like I'm going to drop out of ministry. I'm too stupid. I don't, there's no point. The world doesn't need me. I just left there feeling so worthless. Seriously. I mean, literally, it was like a low point in my life going, wow, this is ridiculous. I shouldn't be doing this. Satan was starting to get in my head. And then I look at these guys and I go, man, they weren't educated. They were just average guys. They tried their best. I mean, I try. I study the word. But I'm not at a certain level. But this is the mind God gave me. And, you know, I do my best with what I've got. And just keep striving after it. I see leaders that lead way better than I do. And I go, man, I don't have that. I don't, I wish I did. But we can all just start getting in this insecure, which is actually what Satan wants us to do. Rather than looking at God and going, no, you made me. You are a perfect creator and you created me. And there's a task for me. And I can't mess that up. Because you made me exactly for that task. I'm going to fit. It's going to be great. It will be like Peter and John. But what they did was they got together with the believers and prayed for boldness. And when's the last time you did that? When's the last time you just confessed to people and said, Look, this doesn't make sense. My own brother doesn't believe in Jesus, but I'm afraid to talk to him. My own mom is about to die. And for some reason, I don't have the courage to talk to her. Like I feel stupid talking to mom about something. I grew up with her and I know how she's going to ridicule me. I'm looking at my neighbor across the street and living a lifestyle that's totally different. And I'm just so afraid that he's going to die. But I'm not afraid enough to actually say two words to him about the gospel. I mean, I can talk about football or baseball. But, man, I just don't want to bring up Jesus. Like I need something super. When's the last time you just said that to someone and said, Yeah, I'm the pastor. I know this is stupid, but I'm just scared. Would you pray for me? And when's the last time you saw people in your congregation confessing to each other that, man, I'm afraid to speak the word of God in boldness? I mean, if Paul confessed to the Ephesian church and told the Ephesians, Would you guys pray for me so that I might preach boldly as I ought? If Paul asked for prayer? Don't you think it's okay that we do and just admit, Look, I'm scared right now. We're living in a world that's just hostile toward what we believe. Man, I get scared with every step there in San Francisco that I say the wrong thing. It's going to create just chaos. I want to be bold. I want to have tact. I don't know how to do it sometimes. And there's days where the last thing I want to do is knock on someone's door and try to convince them that Jesus is the Messiah. Yeah. I'd much rather do this. I'll do this every day. This doesn't scare me at all. It requires no faith on my part. I know you guys love the Lord. I know you love the word. I know I'm just here to encourage you and praise God. Boom, I leave. Good. But I hate sharing the faith. I hate talking to strangers. And I need to put myself back in a place where my life made sense again. Am I seeing a ton of fruit? I guess in some ways I am seeing a lot. Because, you know, the people that I minister with, you know, you talk about unity. Man, there is crazy unity right now. You know why? Because some of these people who normally annoy me to death, they're out knocking on doors. And so it's like, you know what, I love you. I'm glad you're doing this. I'm glad you're stepping out in faith. And suddenly there's a unity. There's some theological differences in our group. I'm okay with it now. You know, we'll still talk about them behind the scenes, but it's like it's so different because I'm like, man, you're my brother. You're my sister. Man, thank you so much that you're out there trying to save these souls, and you're as terrified as I am, and we're experiencing something together. It's just like any of us that have ever been on a short-term mission trip. You know how unified you feel with that group? You know, the first day of the trip you're looking around going, man, I'm going to hang out with these people in a foreign country for two weeks. You kidding me? You never would have picked that group. And then what happens at the end of it? You're just in love, right? You're crying because you have to say goodbye to someone normally you would never. It's all care. I don't like, you know, miracles, but I want to see. I love seeing you do.