Transcription
If you have your Bibles, the book of Deuteronomy, the 31st chapter. And as you're going there, I want to give honor to the Mayo family. Love and appreciate them. Uh, also I want to give special honor to uh the cornerstone team. Amen. That holds up the arms of their pastor and their pastor's wife. Amen. And who's making this conference such a success. And uh love and appreciate Cornerstone Church. I'm so glad to be surrounded by so many friends uh and even church members from uh East Bay Bible Fellowship, but I'm glad to have my wife and my two daughters with me. Amen. God bless them. Amen.
And I'm I'm running on about 3 hours of sleep and uh I could not sleep last night and uh God's been talking to me and uh I'll be I'll be glad when the service is over. Amen. Uh some of my best friends are in this building and uh I love and appreciate the men of God that have uh invested in me and uh I call them friends but uh they're really investors. Praise God. And uh I love and appreciate them. Uh they have all made uh my journey as a church planner uh a lot easier. Amen. And uh there's a lot of pitfalls I would have fallen into had it not been for some of my good friends in this crowd. And um I love all the preachers that are preaching. Uh they're all friends of mine and I spent the other day praying for every single speaker that God would use them to bless the Northwest. God bless the Northwest. Amen. God bless the Northwest.
Deuteronomy 31 and verse number 27. Say amen when you have it. For I know thy rebellion and thy stiff neck. Behold, I am yet alive with you this day, and you have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death? And with the help of the Holy Ghost, I'm going to preach to you on this subject. Winning the war behind the closed door. Winning the war behind the closed [Applause] [Music] door. Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost in this house. Yes. Heavenly Father, anoint this service. Anoint this congregation. Lord, I pray that from the pulpit to the pew, there would be a prophetic utterance that would go forth for the anointing of your people for the mission in Jesus' name. And someone shout, "Amen." Look at your neighbor. Give them a great big God bless you. And you may be seated. Amen.
It is easy to read the first five books of the Bible and miss the depth and genius with which Moses writes. It is staggering to think how one man wrote and then synthesized a body of work that ranges from spiritual to mathematical. And never mind the fact that he did this in a time when more than half of the world was illiterate and paper and pen were considered a novelty. The brilliance of Moses was not missed on John Adams, the second president of the United States, who relied on the laws of Moses over Greek philosophy for establishing the United States Constitution. Adam said, and I quote, "As much as I love, esteem, and admire the Greeks, I believe the Hebrews have done more to enlighten and civilize the world. Moses did more than all their legislators and philosophers combined." The Swedish historian Hugo Valentine said it was Moses who first proclaimed the rights of men. Indeed, he did. But that's not all he did. Moses also wrote songs, taxonomies, diatribes against paganism, and blueprints for a mobile sanctuary we now know as the tabernacle. Moments before being beaten and bitten to death, Stephen reflected on the life and times of Moses and said in Acts 7:22, "He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds." Not bad for a guy with a speech impediment. His ability to invade a subject and then gain mastery over it is evidence that his gifting was not the product of man but of heaven. It was God's gift to humanity.
If all this were not enough, Moses was gifted at observing what fuels human behavior and in particular how humans behave when no one can see us. I want you to stop and consider the following examples that Moses gives us in Genesis chapter 3. Eve talks to the serpent and then agrees to eat the forbidden fruit knowing that Adam cannot see her. Adam, on the other hand, takes a handful of fruit, thinking that God can't see him. And what do Adam and Eve do when God appears in the garden? Genesis 3:8 says, "They hide among the trees." Why? In hopes that God would not see them. If you remember nothing else I say today, remember this. What you hide will make you want to hide.
In Genesis 4, Cain lures Abel out into a field far away from where their parents can see them. And he kills Abel, thinking that no one sees him. He buries Abel so that no one sees him. But when God appears, Cain tries to hide among the trees, too, just like his old man. But he's more sophisticated. Cain is a keeper of trees who keeps himself so busy earning a living. He doesn't have time to be his brother's keeper. God has no choice but to punish Cain. And he puts a mark on him that everyone will see. And when you want to do things you don't want people to see, this is precisely the kind of punishment you don't want. In Genesis 4:14, Cain has the audacity to tell God, "Everyone will find me." Modern translation, "Everyone will see me."
Genesis 27, Isaac loses his ability to see and his wife Rebecca along with their son Jacob lose their ability to see. That you're not supposed to take advantage of the blind. In Leviticus 19, Moses writes entire laws protecting the blind. Why? Because there's no telling what people will do to other people, including family, when they think no one can see them.
In Exodus, Moses retells how he killed an Egyptian in 2 and 12. He says, "I looked this way and that way, and when I saw that there was no man, I slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand." He didn't just kill him, he caned him. The following day, Moses sees a Hebrew hitting another Hebrew. And he chides him. And to his surprise, the Hebrew responds, "You see me hitting a fellow Hebrew, but I saw you killing an Egyptian. Now leave me alone." Moses not only leaves him alone, he leaves Egypt altogether, knowing someone saw him doing what he didn't want anyone to see.
In Exodus 1 and 10, Pharaoh realizes that he has too many Hebrews in Egypt and that he must control them. Pharaoh tells his advisors, "Let us deal with them wisely." What do wisely dealings look like? Verse 11 tells us he sets taskmasters over them. Not around them, not among them, over them like cameras. Because when the whip can't get you to work, the sensation that you're being watched will have you working when no one's watching. The Bible says the taskmasters afflicted them. This affliction included watching because no affliction would be complete without psychic punishment. These are just a few of the examples of what people do when no one can see them.
In our opening text, Moses tells the Israelites, "You behave badly in my sight, which leads me to believe, you will be worse when I can't see you because I'm dead." For Moses, this is not just heartbreaking, it's appalling. Because in theory, people are supposed to behave better when they know that someone can see them. We know this to be true. In preparation for this sermon, I read a study that was conducted in Europe. There was a particular region that was experiencing high levels of stolen bikes. The scientists put pictures of a man's eyes all around the bikes or where the bikes were parked with a simple little phrase beneath the eyes, "We can see you." And guess what happened? Bikes stopped getting stolen. Everybody complains about how fake the world seems these days. Of course, it seems fake. We're being watched. There's cameras everywhere. They're in this building. They're in department stores. They're in your pocket and they're in your purse. And so people don't behave according to reality or morality. They behave according to their audience. When everyone knows they're being watched, everyone's on their best behavior, even when it's not their behavior. You can say amen or you can say oh me. Anyone will do. [Applause]
But this is not the case for Israel. They've lost the ability to behave when they're being watched. All throughout the Old Testament, God tells Israel over and over again in countless different ways, "Make sure that you are victorious in places where there are no viewers. Make sure that you are moral when you're not being monitored. Make sure that you win when you're not being watched." And so today, with the help of the Holy Ghost, I'm going to preach to you that you can be victorious in the spaces and places where there's no viewers. You can be moral when you're not being monitored. You can win when you're not being watched. I came to preach to you that you don't need to surrender to the war behind the closed door. I came to preach to young people. I came to preach to adults. And I came to preach to aging saints. We can win the war behind the closed door. This Holy Ghost can keep us holy when the pastor's not around. This Holy Ghost can keep us holy when our wives aren't around. This Holy Ghost can keep us holy when the kids aren't watching. This Holy Ghost can keep us holy when our manager is not watching. When the when the boss is not on site, this Holy Ghost can keep us holy. It can keep us from being eye servants and men pleasers. This Holy Ghost works when you're home by yourself. This Holy Ghost works when you're by yourself in front of the computer. This Holy Ghost works when you're by yourself on your phone. This Holy Ghost, this Holy Ghost, this Holy Ghost will keep you holy when the door closes behind you and nobody can see what you're doing. Uh, away with this lie from the devil that you can't live right unless you're in front of a bunch of people. Away from this lie from the devil. Come on, somebody. You better help me preach. I'm tired of living two lives. I'm tired of being duplicitous. I'm tired of shouting in here and then losing behind the closed door. I'm tired. Come on, somebody help me preach. Some Oh, put your hands together. Not for the preaching, but for the victory behind the closed door. For the victory. Oh, Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. We can live holy in 2021. In 2022, in 2023, in 20. Oh, magnify Jesus. Magnify Jesus for the victory. Come on. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, but the violent take it by force. You got to take this thing by force at home. You got to take this thing by force on your internet browser. You got to take this thing by force when nobody's watching. You got to take this thing by Oh, give God a hand clap or praise if you believe that this thing works outside the church, back at the house when nobody's Oh, hallelujah.
Oh, good, good old Moses. Not only did he give us examples of people doing bad when no one can see them, he gave us a plethora of examples of people being good when nobody could see them. No one was watching when Abel selected the firstlings of the flock. Oh, there was a morning when Abel walked out into the flock and he had to make a decision. Which one of these is the best one? That's why Hebrews said that he made a more excellent sacrifice. It was between Abel. Adam wasn't watching. Eve wasn't watching. And as far as he knew, God wasn't even watching. And he had to select the firstlings. Uh, hey, let me just tell you something. You can pay your tithes when nobody's watching. I know I'm going to lose half of you on that one, but that's okay. I'm going to keep on preaching this cuz I want the victory. behind the closed door. I want to win when nobody's watching me write the check. I want to win. Come on. I'm not afraid to preach like this cuz I want God's people blessed. I want the Northwest blessed. And God doesn't bless us just cuz we come in here and lift our hands and patty cake for Jesus. God opens the windows of heaven. Uh, when we reach deep inside uh and we pull out the firstlings uh of of all that God has given us. Come on somebody. [Applause] Firstling does not mean that it was the firstborn lamb. It means it was the fattest. It was the best. Wow. Nobody was watching. Nobody was watching. What the gross in the net was. I'm losing them, brother Brockammani. I'm losing them. Hallelujah. I got about five folks with me right now. Hey, let me just tell you something. Let me just A lot of folks don't even understand the difference between a tithe and 10%. You can give 10% at any time in your paycheck. A tithe is when you get it right off the top and you give God the very best. We're not tippers. We're tithers. We're not Don't be shouting, "God bless my church," and then bring some raggedy thin and demic sheep into the house of God. You better give God what he deserves. Hey, hey, God knows I love every evangelist in this house. I am for you. This man is for you. We are pro-evangelist. We were both evangelists. But let me tell you something. Just cuz you're an evangelist. Just cuz you give flat tires. Just cuz a motor home breaks down every other week doesn't mean you shouldn't be a tither man of God. You tithe, you give, and you watch God open doors that shaking hands can't open. You watch God open doors that you better be a giver. You better have a blessing and an anointing over your life so that when you step in front of the people of God, you're a blessing to the people of God. You're a walking, talking, preaching blessing. Come on. Come on, somebody. I don't know if I should stay on that. I feel like staying on that. [Applause] Somebody said, "I don't believe in tithing." Sir, good brother, good sister, ma'am. Let me tell you something. The first person to ever tithe in the Bible was Abraham. And he gave 10 of all his spoils, Amen. to a man by the name of Melchizedek, a man who had no father and no mother. And the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And if Abraham went out to the world and came back and then gave Melchizedek, Amen, 10% of everything he got out there, Amen. How much more should we do? Amen. For Jesus Christ. Uh, Abraham was such a tither. He taught Jacob how to tithe. He taught Isaac how to tithe it. You've come too late to tell me that. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Do you believe that? I believe that. I'm talking about winning the war behind the closed door. I'm talking about clo [Music] Isaac.
Isaac reached the tippy top of Mount Mariah with his 100 plus year old dad. Nobody could see him. Nobody was watching. And suddenly the old man pulled out a knife. I think I did that too quick. He pulled out a knife. Let me tell you something. Isaac wasn't no five-year-old. He was like 30. I'm 43 and I wouldn't let a hundred-year-old man pull a knife on me. [Applause] Abraham pulled out that. Nobody was watching. He could have manhandled the old man, come down the mountain and said, "I don't know what happened to him." He got winded. [Applause] That's not what he did. I said that's not what he did. Let me let me just talk to you for one second. Nobody needs to be watching for you to honor your mother and father. That's good preaching. I just lost some of you. You could be 30 years old and still honor your mother and father. Your mother and father can be cankerous. Your mother and father might pull a knife on you once in a while, but you can still respect. And you ought to be doing that if they're godly. And you ought to be doing that if they're faithful. And you ought to be doing that if they were preachers and pastors. I know you're thinking to yourself, "You don't know what my mom and my dad did to me." I don't know. But I know what God will do to you if you don't respect them and you don't honor him when no one's watching. Cuz I know some folks that praise pop in public, but thrash them behind closed doors. You got to win this exam. You got to pass this test. You got to do what's right when nobody's watching and when the door closes and the lock clicks. You got to win the battle behind the closed door. You can do it. You can do it. You put up with worse people at work. You put up with worse people at college. You put up with wor Your husband is worse than your dad. You could pray. Somebody give God some praise. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. I'm not going to preach more on that, but I tell you what we're going to do. We're going to hit the pause button right here. We're going to pray cuz the Holy Ghost is talking to people all across this congregation right now. [Applause] There are people under the sound of my voice, you have been assaulting your parents behind the closed door. Amen. Hallelujah. And God sent this preacher to tell you, don't do that. God's not going to bless that. God's not going to honor that. God will honor and bless the person that's able to retain a level of honor and respect towards their parents till the very end. I said till the very end. Till the Yes. Yes. Yes. Come on. Let this get a hold of you. Let this We're going to pray again. I got a lot to preach, but the Holy Ghost said, "Pause right here." And so people pray this in. We're going to pray again. Hallelujah. Listen, I am telling you right now, I know how difficult parents can be. I have them. That's that this is no, this is part of the test. You've got to understand this is part of the exam. This is in there. This is not multiple choice. You have one choice. You do right behind the closed door. Isaac is the only man in the Bible that it says of him three times. He was great, very great, exceedingly great. The man and the woman that can retain honor even after the old man's pulled a knife on them. You're going to be great, great, great, great. That's good preaching. That is good preaching. You need to let that get a hold of you cuz you're going to be an old man one day and you're going to be an old woman one day and you're going to be pulling knives one day and you're going to need somebody to honor you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Obey your mother and your father that your days on the earth may be long. [Applause]
Nobody was watching. Nobody was watching when Joseph was at Potiphar's house being tempted by his wife. And he resisted and he ran. He didn't reason. He ran. [Applause] He didn't stop and think to myself, "This could get me in a lot of trouble." Without a Bible, without the Holy Ghost, without a church, away from his dad, away from his brothers, away from his mother. He had every reason to use his betrayal and bitterness as a reason to sin. He could have inserted done wrong, now do wrong. But any number multiplied it by zero is still zero. So you got to take the zero out of there and you got to say it doesn't matter how bad I've been betrayed, how bad I've been hurt. There's no excuse to change just cuz nobody's watching. And let me talk to all you young men and all you young women. Let me talk to everybody in here. When the door closes, run. And if they get in the way, run them over. And I'm I'm preaching to some folk. You need to learn how to run. I'm just telling you, you need to learn how to run. That's when the do Thank you. You need to learn how to run, brother. You need to learn how to run. I am sick and tired of people trying to tell me, "Well, she came on to me." Run, brother. Run. Well, he was calling me and DMing me. Run. Don't be dumb. Run. Run. And run with everything that's in you. Run when they text you. Run when they call you. Run when they knock on the door. Run when they look at you. Just run. Don't reason. Run. Come on. How you going to run for the choir and not run from sin? How you going to run when they preaching but not run when they're trying to get you to sin? How you going to Come on. Come on. This is Come on, somebody.
Nobody was watching. When Pharaoh's daughter pulled Moses out of the water, she didn't need nobody to see her save a baby. Listen, if nobody sees it, if it don't show up on Instagram, don't go out and feed the homeless and then ask them if you could take a selfie with them. Straighten up. Do good for the sake. Do good for the sake of doing good. Don't you know that doing good is a gift in itself? Don't you know? Don't you don't dehumanize people by taking pictures of them every time you're trying to help them or just do good and do good. Just save them and save them. Just somebody give God some praise for Nobody was watching. Nobody could see him.
When Joshua stood in between Mount Sinai and the sinning Israelites, Moses left him at the foot of the mountain. Poor Joshua, raised in church, didn't even know what the sound of a party sounded like. Moses came down. He said, "I think there's a war going on." Little did he know, it was a rave. But let me tell you something about that young man. He felt that rip through his flesh. He felt that pull between Sinai and sin. And you know what he did? He didn't do anything for the sake of taking a picture later with Moses talking about we did right. He held the line even when his flesh was tearing through him. He held the line even when he heard music that kind of had a beat to it but it didn't sound right. He held the line. He held the line even when his cousins were fornicating. He held the line even when his brothers. He held Oh, come on, somebody. He held the line even when seven members of his youth group were all smoking weed. He held the line even when they legalized weed. He held the line when everybody else was messing around in the Airbnb. He held the line even when everybody else was messing around in the hotel. He held the line even Y'all don't want to hear this. Somebody needs to I'm talking about winning the war behind the closed door. I'm talking about having victory when there are no viewers. Being moral when you're not being monitored. I'm talking about taking the kingdom by force. I'm talking Praise him. Praise him. [Applause] I'm almost done. [Applause]
You know, there's this real interesting verse in the Bible. The Lord speaks to Moses in Deuteronomy and he says, "I don't want any groves near the altar." It was a commandment. No trees, no groves near God. Before the tabernacle ever gets unpackaged, the landscapers got to come out. Did they listen? No. In Judges, there are groves. In 1 and 2 Kings, there are groves. In 2 Chronicles, there are groves. In Isaiah, there are groves. In Jeremiah, there are groves. In Micah, there are groves. There are 40 references to groves in the 39 books of the Old Testament, despite it being prohibited. You know why God hated groves? You go look it up. The Hebrew word there for groves is asherah, which was a female goddess. And her worshippers worshiped in the woods. You northwesterners, listen. [Applause] And wherever they put their temples before you could get in, you put groves. Not for landscaping, not for tree hugging, but for carving out little idols and then ripping your clothes off and dancing around them and doing every lascivious nasty thing under the shade. And God said, "We're not going to have groves near the altar. We're not going to we're not going to grow things in the house of God that allow us to worship and sin at the same time. We're going to deal with this is a church. This is a church. This is a church. This is where you come to get right. This is where you come to straighten it out. This is not where you come to find a honey. This is not where you come to find a man. This is not where you come to sow your wild oats. This is not where you come to test things out before you get married. This is where you come to get yourself together. And I don't stop growing groans near God. Stop, girl. You ain't hurt nobody but yourself. You ain't hurt nobody. [Applause] [Music] God forbid we ever cry like Cain. Everyone's going to see me. You want everybody to see you. [Applause] Don't figure out ways to work the system. Hey, you know what God told the Israelites? He said, "When you go to war, you're going to find two kinds of trees in the enemy's camp. Fruitful trees and fruitless trees." He said, "Don't burn them." I ain't even got time to talk about this, but people in antiquity loved burning stuff. Everybody was a pyromaniac. They just burned everything. Hence the saying, "Rome is burning." Every time they got their hands on something, they just burned it. Jesus even said, "You don't want to be one of them sticks that falls. You're going to be gathered by men and burned." He just burned everything. He said, "Listen, don't burn the fruitful trees. I know you're hungry. I know you've been fighting, but keep that tree and eat it forever. Now, the fruitless trees, don't burn that either. Cut it down and then use it to make ladders to scale walls. [Applause] To scale the walls of the enemy's camp. I want you to put yourself in the enemy's feet for just one second. The worst thing in your house are fruitless trees. You don't know it, but one day they're going to be used against you. Cuz that's how God works. He'll take all the fruitless trees. He'll cut them down and then he'll scale the wall of the city. Why do you think before Jesus came back to take Jerusalem, the first thing he did outside the walls of Jerusalem was curse a fruitless tree? He was making a spiritual message. He was sending a signal. I'm taking over this city. It's mine. You better cut the fruitless friendships. You better cut the fruitless relationships. You better They're going to be used against you one day. They're going to be You better cut that fruitless Instagram account. You better cut that fruitless Facebook account. You better cut that fruitlessness. Oh, somebody praise Jesus if you believe. Why do you think Why do you think John the Baptist his first message was lay the axe to every tree that don't produce fruit? Come on. Wow. Cuz this is what you'll use to scale walls spiritually. This is what you'll use th this is God's plan to cut down the fruitless things and then take all the time that they used to take up and use them for the kingdom and then take all the energy that they used. But we want to grow groves and water fruitless trees. I do it. You do it. We do it, we can stop doing it. [Applause] Because when Jesus comes back and he's coming back, I'm going to finish preaching in just a few seconds cuz God told me to stop. None of us, none of us, no one here was ready for the quarantines and the lockdowns. But let me tell you the psychic punishment that took place during that time even among those who resisted and fought back whatever you listen to me. None of us are prepared for when they when the restrictions lift either. We're I'm watching it right now. I'll leave everybody else out of it. I I'm watching it right now. People I love Feeling like we're out. You ain't out. Hey, anybody here who's ever done jail time, you know the most dangerous time is when you first get out. Anybody here who's ever scaled a tall mountain, you know the most dangerous time is not going up, it's coming down. You got to keep yourself. You got And it all begins. Thank God for our Bible colleges. Thank God for every institution within our ranks that is promoting biblical literacy. Thank God for it. But those those institutions are for open doors. We have a battle that we have to win behind closed doors and institutions can't do that. [Applause] I pray, I cried, I wept, I fasted that somebody would listen to what I have to say today. And even this, even this, there will be people that still, there'll be people that'll walk out of here and water the groves and water the fruitless trees. They're going to laugh about me. They're going to joke in the car. I ain't listening to him. I'm not offended. I'm not offended. There's gonna be He ain't talking to me. I'm talking to you. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. There has to be something in you that says I'm going home. I have people tell me all the time, "Pastor, I've repented so many times and I can't get the victory." Let me tell you something. You don't know if you've repented until you're tempted again. You can confess, you can cry, you can be forgiven and cleansed of all unrighteousness, but God grants repentance. And that repentance needs proof, or as John said it, fruit. And the only way to do this, come here, brother Kenudson. The only way to do this is to say, "Let's go back through that door." That's good preaching. Let's close that door. Don't be afraid, son, when the lock clicks. Amen. We got this. You're not going to take a picture of this. You're not going to post on Facebook about this. This is repentance. We're going to get it right. We're going to You're going to run this time. You're going to run this time. You're not going to reason. You're going to delete the text. You're going to walk out of this door and you're going to change your phone number. You're going to shut down your Facebook account. You're going to Hallelujah. You're going to get it right. You're gonna you're gonna tithe this time. You're going to get that new job. You're going to get married. You're not [Music] gonna
I had a young lady, young woman, young woman in our church, wonderful individual. I'm telling you, the devil has fought her tooth and nail. I can't even go into the details of it. Devil thought he had her. Devil thought he had her and she stepped out and she stepped into the church. And every devil that thought he had her came out furious. And he waited until the doors closed. And the call of the wild started going out, but she didn't listen. And she won little war. Listen, you got to get them little W's. You get them. Folks don't get it. Folks don't get it when they come in the pastor's office crying, talking about they struggling and pastor says, "Listen, I want you to wash your car every week and wake up by seven and they're scratching their head thinking pastor crazy. Pastor's trying to get you that W, friend. Pastor's trying to get you on a roll of doing right cuz anyways, she kept winning these little wars. Pastor Buckton, one after the other, one after the other. And then she got a dream. She called me cry. I called her and she was crying. She said, "Pastor, I can't believe you're on the phone right now." She said, "I'm being attacked." She said, "But God spoke to me a few days ago, and in this dream, I walked through a door and then the door closed behind me." She has three little boys. They're little. She said, "I gathered all my little boys." She said, "And the Holy Ghost spoke to me in the dream and said, "They're coming." She looked at her little boys. She said, "Listen, they're coming." She said, "Mama's going to pray." She said, "Pastor, I started speaking in tongues in my dreams." She said, "And I told my little boys, just pray with mama." She said, "They're coming, but they can't touch us. They're coming, but they won't get us." She said, "My Hey, come on. Come on. I'm telling you, the door is going to close, but you can win the war. Amen. You need to gather your babies. You need to gather yourself. You need to gather your spouse. And you need to begin to pray. They're coming, but they can't hurt you. They're coming, but they won't win. They're [Applause] coming. Pray, pray, pray, pray. This is preparation for the battle. This is preparation for the battle. This is preparation for when the lock clicks. This is prepar This is preparation for the text message. I'm preaching to somebody. You're getting a text message right now. Amen. This is preparation for that. [Applause]