 Good afternoon. It is great to be here with you today. I'm so excited to be able to be a part of this conference and I know just as a pastor, I am thrilled to be able to just sit alongside with you and receive from the Lord, be refreshed and really receive fresh vision from the Lord and that's what we want and that's what we need. We're here to receive from the Lord and to hear his voice and to be encouraged and to be strengthened and to have direction and we know exactly and I hope you're anticipating that that's exactly what's gonna take place over these next few days as we seek the Lord. Because as pastors of the church is that we are pastor, we need Jesus just as much as our people do and the people need Jesus just as much as the people outside the church need Jesus because without him we can do nothing and so what a great time for us to be able to get together and seek the Lord. Now, I wanted to give you just a little bit of an introduction and background to where I am currently at and even standing here today, it's ironic and miraculous. It's ironic in the sense that when I was 18 years old, my mother told me, she said, don't you take that college basketball scholarship? You need to go to Bible college is what she told me because she believed that I was supposed to be a pastor and just as any other loving son would tell his mother, I said, don't you ever talk to me again about going to Bible college or being a pastor or I will never speak to you again. You can only imagine what it was like in my family when I graduated from college after that for your scholarship and felt the Lord calling me to attend the Calvary Chapel Bible college. It was not only ironic but miraculous because I ended up doing one semester in Marietta back in 2002 and I nearly quit three times. I had packed up my SUV with my belongings and I had absolutely had it. I mean, at that point I had already graduated from college, had been living on my own and now I have five roommates in one room with bunk beds and then I have a 17 year old dorm steward that's telling me what to do and I remember my dad telling me growing up that we don't quit anything and it was in seventh grade. I was playing for a team that I didn't wanna be playing on and my dad said, you made a commitment, you're a bealer, you don't quit things. You finish what you start. So I finished that one semester and I said, I've had it, I am done. But another semester rolled around and I completed that one suffering on the beautiful island of Maui. But then I was done after that second semester and I needed to get a job and I packed up and I moved back home to California. I put the suit and tie back on because I had already graduated with a business degree. I had turned down these job offers right out of college to go to Bible college and so I said, you know what, I finished my two semesters and now I'm going to go searching for a job. Now, every single time I lived in Southern California, I lived in Costa Mesa and every time I drove past Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa there was this still small voice that was speaking to me, go to the church and ask for a job as a janitor. At that point, I thought this is the most crazy thought I have ever thought in my entire life. I am not going to go to the church and ask for a job as a janitor, but it never went away. It just kept getting stronger and stronger as if this church had a, it was like a homing beacon. Every time I drove past it, it was like, go ask for a job as a janitor. And so this is what I said to myself, okay, this is what I'm gonna do. I am going to go over there. I'm gonna ask for a job as a janitor. They're gonna say no and then I'm gonna dismiss this as some kind of crazy thought. So I walk into the maintenance office right after I had gotten through with an interview at some other, I think it was a commercial real estate company. And I asked the guy that was in charge. I said, are there any maintenance jobs available? And to my great surprise, the head custodian says, well, yes, absolutely. Would you like to start tomorrow? And dumbfounded, I quickly fired off, well, you know, I'm gonna need to pray about that actually, you know? Lo and behold, I ended up serving at the church cleaning toilets and carpet and junior and senior high lockers. And I don't know if you know how dirty those things are. Painting and working extremely hard for minimum wage, but I had never felt so content and so fulfilled in a job before. See, that summer working at the church inspired me to go back to Bible college for a third semester and a fourth semester. That led me to an understanding that God had actually called me to tell people about Jesus and to commit myself, my life in service to the Lord. And it was at that time that I went to the pastor that I grew up learning the Bible from. Literally, I grew up learning the Bible from this man. I was in utero singing the Lord bless thee. And I met with Pastor Chuck and I told him what God had called me to do and I asked him if there was anything I could do. And so he hired me to start a college Bible study back on October 11th of 2004. And there I was answering phone calls in the front office. In May of 2005, my friend Joey Baran passed the baton of the Monday night Bible study to me and then for nearly nine years, I taught Monday nights which was on K wave. In July of 2013, I had my last conversation with Pastor Chuck as I sat in his office and I said, Chuck, I was 24 and single when you hired me. I'm 33, I'm married, I have two kids and it's time for me to go and plant a church. And in 2014, he prayed for me and I was ready to go. That was the last conversation I had with him before his health took a really bad turn for the worse. And in 2014, we planted Vision City Church in the city of Irvine and we just turned three and the Lord has blessed us immensely. So I'm now 37, I'm still married by the way and I'll be married 10 years this year and so we'll finally get some marital street cred. And I have three kids now. I have an eight year old son, Hudson. I have a six year old daughter Ava and then if you see a very, very beautiful woman pushing a little baby around, I have a two month old son, Harrison. So now for the exciting stuff. Would you please join with me as we pray. Father, we thank you so much Lord for the opportunity that we have to gather together in the name of Jesus and to come and be refreshed. Lord, to come and have our cups overflow. Lord, I ask that today you would give us ears to hear what your spirit would say. Lord, we ask that you would move in a mighty way Lord. Lord, we're here from different cities and different states and different countries. Lord, but yet we're dealing with these things that are very common to those that desire to seek the Lord and to please him. I ask Father that you would give us fresh vision. Lord that you would help us Lord to be those men and those women that you've created us to be. And Lord, we commit this time to you now in Jesus' name and all God's people say amen. Now as I was praying over what the Lord would have me share at this conference there were a few things that were placed upon my heart and by God's grace we'll get through those things today. Now honestly, I had been really discouraged by the things that have been going on with our fellowship of churches. Especially it being how close it's hit to home for me. But through it all the Lord has been so very faithful. So very faithful. He's caused me to keep my eyes focused on him. And a lot of times the Lord will allow us to go through things that cause us to take a step back and to reevaluate and to seek the Lord like we've never sawed him before. And I was thinking about what things truly last? What things last? What things truly matter? What things do I wanna invest myself in? What things do I wanna withdraw myself from? What things can I hold onto that will help me do what God has called me to do? And those are the things that I'd like to share with you today. And I have 33 main points that I'm going to address. Just kidding, just three. And every point that I'm gonna make there's going to be a contrast given because I think it will better help us understand our situation in life. And even more importantly, the life that comes from our situation regardless of how pleasant or how unpleasant it may be. Now today, and I find it so amazing how the Holy Spirit moves in listening to what Pastor Mike said and what Pastor David said before me. Because it's an absolute parallel to what I feel like the Lord is leading me to share with you today. Because across our culture, there is an ever-increasing desire for finding some sort of immediate satisfaction. Immediate. I mean, we still want it all and we still want it now, but unlike ever before, unlike ever before, we're seeing this across pop culture, we're seeing this in subculture, we're seeing it in sexuality, we're seeing it in music. I mean, with the explosion of the types of music that are coming out, you know, trance or dance and electro and all this stuff, I've read these popular magazines talking about this very thing about a generation of music listeners that cannot wait for the chorus but need the rush immediately. Because they want the emotional experience now. See, our society is becoming more and more difficult to please, straight across the board. Entertainment needs to be more graphic, more explicit, more shocking than ever before because people want the rush. They want to be entertained. They want the immediate emotional thrill, the emotional experience and we're starting to see this really take off the church as a whole. Where we can fall into a trap of thinking that we're hype men at a concert rather than a minister of the gospel. But see this, the gospel and teaching of the word of God is not popular in the world but unfathomably confusing and frustrating as it's becoming less and less popular in the church. Don't teach the Bible. It's kind of one of those things where it's like, hey, did you guys bring your Bibles today? Hold them up. Okay, let's put them under here. You won't be needing them anymore today. Where we need to start trying to be more clever and more cliche and market better in order to provide an emotional experience for the congregation and that is a trap for us to fall into. And that's why the first scripture that we're gonna read today is from 1 Peter chapter one, verse 25. It says, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you and that's why point number one this afternoon is this. The word of the Lord endures forever, not the emotional experience. Now when I was deciding what to do with my life I thought I had it all figured out. I was gonna get a good job, have a nice house and was gonna have a picket fence around it. Nice car in the driveway and the national average 2.38 kids. But I had an epiphany and I thought to myself, well if I do all of these things to acquire something for myself what will I be doing that actually lasts after I'm dead? What will I be doing that actually matters in the long run? What can I share with others that never returns void? Sometimes as pastors we can get discouraged. Like when somebody tells you how much they absolutely love your service and how they leave before you teach. Or when you overhear somebody saying that they just wish they could get something out of the pastor Sunday messages and then you realize they go to your church. We may feel like what we're doing isn't making a difference. But what do we know about God's word? In Isaiah 55, 11 it says, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the things for which I sent it. It will prosper. It shall accomplish exactly what it was set forth to accomplish. See you are the ambassadors of the living God who has given you his word that endures forever. You serve the almighty God. You're laboring in the word because you need it desperately and you know that your people need it desperately as well. You can be passionate about God's word. We have the best product known to mankind but if your passion is not for God's word then you might as well be emceeing a Christian gathering. Throw in a few verses here or there. You know, have the crowd flow you, float me, you know whatever it might be. Pump them up. Give them the high that they're looking for. Give them the emotional high that they're craving. Give them the sugar rush that they want without anything to nourish them spiritually and then we'll have a generation of malnourished weak Christians in the church because what happens is trials and tribulations do come. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when and when they do come and the people go to draw on the emotional experience that they had on Sunday morning, it's not there because it ended after lunch that day. The word of God endures forever not the emotional experience. Now I want us to be careful here to understand that I'm not endorsing boring, lifeless, without passion, without creativity, without conviction type of preaching. I'm not saying that you can't give analogies or use props or speak in a tone outside of monotone. Be creative. You are created by the creator. Be passionate because of God's great love for you. Be inspiring because of what God has inspired in you and what he's done in your life. But use all of these things only and might I say that twice only if you're connected and empowered by the Holy Spirit as a conduit to proclaim the unadulterated whole counsel of God. Because as Paul wrote to Timothy in second Timothy four verses three through five, it says for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires because they have itching ears they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. But you, you, me, be watchful in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. Don't fulfill somebody else's ministry or seek to fulfill somebody else's calling. I think with social media today it's such a difficult thing for us to do because we're constantly comparing ourselves to the highlight reels of somebody else. I don't feel good about what God's doing in my church in my life because look what God's doing over there. I mean, how do you compete with that? They had 95,000 professions of faith last month. I had five. Wow. You know what, you had 200 people show up and that's fantastic. Yeah, but they had 65,000 at that stadium. Oh, I guess you stink, don't you? And the greatest, greatest enemy to contentment has been comparison and we start looking all around and we're like, hey, what are they doing and what are they doing over there and how do I stack up to that? And it robs us of our joy. See, we need to be the church that is more concerned with its spiritual state than with its Facebook status. We need to be the church that is more concerned with its spiritual state than its emotional state because if we're in line with the Lord in the spiritual place, our emotions will follow suit. It's not the other way around. That's why it's our job as ministers of the gospel, as pastors, as leaders to lay a firm foundation and to continue to build upon the word of God. In 1 Corinthians chapter three, verses 11 through 14, Paul wrote and said, for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. Now, if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear for the day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work, which he has built on it, endures, he will receive a reward. I love rewards. I hope you do too. You invest in the word of God yourself and deposit the word of God into your church and you will find that on that great day of the Lord when we give an account for everything that we have done that your work endures, you labored in the word that endures and your labor for the Lord lasts. And you'll find that your church is strong because Jesus is building it and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we be held as glory as the only begotten Son of God. It's going to become more and more and it already is increasing, more and more unpopular to teach the Bible. One of the nicest things anybody has ever said about our church is actually from somebody that doesn't attend our church anymore. They said that our church teaches too much of the Bible and they wanted to go somewhere else. We don't want to solicit an emotional response but rather a spiritual response. There's such a huge difference, wouldn't you agree between an emotional experience and a spiritual brokenness before God? See when somebody is touched by the Lord in their spirit, they may or may not have an emotional experience and we need to understand and to teach our people that we walk by faith and not by feelings. We base our relationship with God upon the facts found in scriptures, not how we feel. And in Romans 10, verse 17, it says, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Because our faith gets tested and maybe your faith is being tested right now. In John 16, verse 33, Jesus said, these things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And this actually leads us to point number two this morning. Point number one again is the word of God endures forever, not the emotional experience. Point number two is the mercy of the Lord endures forever, not your current trial or tribulation. This is so vitally important for us to realize not only as Christians but especially as leaders in the church. I don't know if you had seen this floating around the internet. These statistics for men in the ministry where it says 97% of pastors have been betrayed, falsely accused or hurt by their trusted friends. 70% of pastors battle depression, 7,000 churches close each year, 1,500 pastors quit each month. I think Pastor Mike referenced that earlier. 10% get this, will retire a pastor, 80% of pastors feel discouraged, 94% of pastors families feel the pressure of ministry and 78% of pastors have no close friends. And then 90% of pastors report working 55 to 75 hours per week. Now I don't know how accurate these statistics are but looking at my own life and in speaking with other ministers of the gospel and pastors and leaders, I think it would be accurate to say that we all struggle with the same type of things. In 1 Peter 5, verses eight through nine, Peter wrote and said, be sober, be vigilant because your enemy, your adversary, the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, resist him steadfast in the faith knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Did you know you're sitting with a bunch of people today that are going through the same things that you're going through? Maybe you feel the stress and anxiety of providing. Maybe it's paying bills at the church and maybe it's paying bills with your family. Maybe you're like the hinge between them both and you feel like you're getting pulled in two different directions and you have the stress of those responsibilities and you don't know what to do. Maybe you have a fear of failure and maybe your identity is wrapped up in something that you do such as pastor. I remember back in college when you were on fire and if you were putting the ball in the hoop at a high percentage that people just loved it and they would cheer for you and they would sing your praises and it was amazing. But the moment you started missing shots, they're boo! You're in a slump and how fast the crowd turns then all of a sudden you step back and you're like who am I? Is my value based upon this external life that people see is my value based upon how many people are in my church or what kind of building I have or no it's absolutely not. Your value is found and that God knows you and he still loves you. And I know some of you and that's quite the feat. Let's let that simmer for a little bit. He knows us and he understands what we're going through. In Psalm 136, the phrase his mercy endures forever and you guys probably all know this is stated 26 times but for this second point we're gonna be looking at Psalm 136 verse four. Under the heading the mercy of the Lord endures forever not your current trial or tribulation. It says to him who alone does great wonders for his mercy endures forever. Now in 2008 my first son was born. In 2010 we found out that we were going to be having another baby and that that little baby was actually gonna be a girl. And I don't know how many of you dads are here that have daughters but there's a real special kind of thing I think that the Lord does in the lives of dads with daughters. I thought that if I had another son that I would even be more prepared to be a better dad for another son because I had already had one child to try out so to speak and that's why we apologized to all of our firstborn children because they were experimented upon when we were early parents. When Eva was born we started to become very concerned with what was happening with her for the first year of her life. She only slept two hours a day. And the longest stretch she would ever do sleep wise was 20 minutes at a time if that. Eva would cry in pain 20 hours a day and we couldn't figure out why. The doctors didn't know why. Nobody knew why. And there I am as vulnerable as I was as a new dad with his little baby girl and I couldn't help her. And I didn't know what to do. And the hardest part was between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. That shift was she would just cry and cry and cry and all of you parents have the rock down. We still have it. One, two, three, four, one, two. And just crying and crying and crying and it's just ripping your heart out. And I'm not talking about, hey, hey Pastor Garrett, I hate to break the news to you. All babies cry. Wasn't that kind of crying. Oh, have you heard of colic? No, not colic. Come to find out she had esophageal ulcers in her throat that were raw due to her developmental delays. That the valve that separated her stomach between her esophagus wasn't fully formed and so she had constant burning but she couldn't talk and tell us what it was. We started noticing after a short amount of time that she wasn't hitting her milestones like she was supposed to. She wasn't walking and she wasn't speaking. And we were very concerned to say the least. The interesting thing was that we had every test known to man run and she was absolutely normal on paper. I mean, even if you go, maybe if you look up my Instagram, Garrett, you can see a picture of Ava and she looks just like any other child. She's a beautiful little girl, just like her mommy. We had so many highs and we had so many lows but mostly lows. Doctors saying that she could be dead by the time that she was two. Saying that she'll never walk, she'll never live a normal life. She was finally put under this umbrella diagnosis of hypotonic cerebral palsy. And so for those that have cerebral palsy that's hypertonic, you'll see people in a wheelchair, maybe with a little ball that they have to use to get around their hypertonic means restricted muscle tone. Hypotonic is weak muscle tone. So the opposite of that. But we had a brain scan. How can she have hypertonic cerebral palsy? We had a brain scan, it was normal. We did DNA testing, chromosomal testing, it was normal. God, what's wrong with my baby girl? Lord, why are you allowing this to happen to me? I'm serving you, I'm preaching the gospel. People are getting saved. Why would you allow this to happen to my little girl? And you know the enemy. He's right there waiting to encourage you to question God. His plan, your calling, his love and pretty much you name it. And those nights of trying to console my daughter, which by the way my wife Ruth bore the brunt of those things, were so brutal because she was inconsolable and I found myself becoming extremely angry. And words were popping into my mind that I had not employed in a very long time. I'm ashamed to say I used to have a bad temper and a foul mouth. And I felt that the Lord had changed me and I don't struggle with those things anymore. But this anger started welling up inside of me, really an anger that I didn't even know was still there. And I remember going downstairs in the middle of the night after these things were coming up and I was just feeling like I'm at the edge. Lord, and then I was shocked that this stuff was coming out of me and I'm like, I was scared about that and upset that this was happening and it was just a mess and I cried out to God and I said, Lord, take this from me. I didn't even know this was there. I don't want it in my life. You know, and often you'll hear people say that the Lord allows you to go through trials so that he can see what you're made out of. Now I don't think that that's heretical but I think it's more appropriate to say that God already knows what you're made out of and when you go through trials you see what you're made out of. And then we cry out as Paul did, oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? In 1 Peter chapter one verses six through seven, it says in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while if need be you have been grieved by various trials that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. We all know how gold is refined, don't we? We've seen the pictures, we've heard the analogies about the cauldron of gold mixed with other impurities and you heat the temperature just enough, just right so the impurities start percolating to the top, the blub blub blub blub blub and then the goldsmith scoops out the impurities and does it again and again and again. Year after year, for nearly six years, we had dealt with the struggles and heartaches of what was happening with our daughter Eva but all of a sudden looking back at the age of five or so Eva takes seven steps. Then seven steps turns into 12 steps and then 12 steps turns into 27 steps and 27 steps turns into 60 steps all by the little girl who is never supposed to walk. And one year or so after that point where Eva just starts to be able to walk and she's wearing her leg braces and laced up with her Nike's and her training outfit and she's really doing it. About a year after that or so, I made a run to Ikea. Being Swedish, I'm second generation born in America. Ikea is very dear to my heart. And we took a trip from Irvine to Costa Mesa to Ikea and it had to be a quick trip because I actually was going to be doing a premarital counseling appointment that night I needed to get back for. It's actually my worship leader and he was getting married to his amazing wife but we had to get up there and get back fast and anywhere in Southern California at any time of the day there's traffic and that's very unfortunate. That's just the way that it is but in Orange County you get stuck on that 405 at pretty much any time of the day. So we had to run into Ikea real quick, get what we needed and leave but then my son says, Dad, I'm hungry. Can I get some Swedish meatballs? And I said, that's my boy, let's go upstairs. And so we head up to the cafeteria and we proceed to order some Swedish meatballs and as we're sitting there at the table, me and Hudson, I call them huds, me and HUD we're sitting there eating our meatballs and then Ruth has Ava in the shopping cart and Ava's sitting where the kids go and we're sitting right on the walkway and all these people are walking by probably like 40 or 50 people walk by and we're just minding our own business. Ava's being good, she's just sitting there. Ruth's just kind of hanging out and then all of a sudden this older man, elderly man comes walking by with his sweet little wife and my daughter reaches out and grabs him by the shirt and yanks him, yanks him to her. And immediately we go into apologizing, oh, I'm so, so sorry, my daughter has special needs. She has no, I have no idea why she did that. I'm so sorry. I mean, not only did she yank his shirt but it was tucked in and now it was like all out like that. And we were so apologetic and he was so kind, such a kind man. And come to find out, he is one of the leading pediatric physicians on the West Coast. And there in the Ikea cafeteria he proceeds to give my daughter a 25 minute evaluation. Has she had this test? And have you had this done yet? And what did they say about this and what happened with the brain scan? Okay, and then what about this? And then what about that? And then he looks at her and Ava just is smiling at him and looking at him and he says, well, you see how she likes to engage with other people? I can tell you right now, she's not autistic because there's a lot of families that are concerned with that kind of thing right now. And I'm just like blown away. I'm blown away. And he looks at my wife and he says, there are children that have absolutely no medical reason for why they're the way that they are. They're just delayed and they're on their own schedule. And then listen to this, he turns to my wife and he says this exact thing, be patient, mark my words. You need to be patient, but by the time she is nine, she will be completely caught up. And my wife, Ruth, her eyes, I can see it from across the table that her eyes start welling up with tears as this physician and his dear little wife make their way out of the area. And Ruth tells me that she had been reading this book, The Trunk, by Jean McClure, and how it talked about asking the Lord for specific things and that privately she had asked the Lord the day before to please send some encouragement to her because she was having such a hard time. And of all the people in the world that Ava could grab, she grabs the doctor and yanks to her. She grabs the pediatrician. That's why Psalm 136, verse four was selected to him who alone does great wonders for his mercy endures forever. And God has been so merciful to us and he is doing such a great work in our family's lives and I know that that work needed to be brought about through what we're currently facing as a family with my daughter. And I'm so very thankful that God's mercy endures forever and not the trials we face. It doesn't say and your tribulation will endure forever. No, it's the mercy of the Lord endures forever. And the Lord continues to have his merciful hand not only upon my daughter but upon my entire family as well and all these things that the therapist tried to get her to do and she wasn't having, she's starting to do all on her own. Fine motor skills, you know, setting things down when she had no control over that. I mean, pressing a button on a phone to play a video, she could never do that all of a sudden. Ava, what are you doing? Oh, she's watching movies on mom's phone, sweet. Hallelujah, you know, like that kind of thing. And first Peter chapter four, verses 12 through 13, it says, beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings that when his glory is revealed you may also be glad with exceeding joy. In second Corinthians chapter four, verse 17, Paul wrote and said for our light affliction which is but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. That's what we hold on to. The word of God endures forever and I'm investing myself in that. The mercy of God endures forever, not my current trial or tribulation. His mercy, His grace, His compassion. And we find that God even in our difficult times and most difficult times is perfectly righteous in every decision he makes for his children. And that leads us to our third and final point this morning which is the righteous judgment of the Lord endures forever, not the decisions made unrighteously. This really was an interesting thing for me as I was preparing for this message because over and over and over again I felt like the Lord just kept putting it on my heart, judge with righteous judgment. Judge with righteous judgment. In Psalm 119 verse 160 which is our verse for this third point the Psalmist declares to the Lord the entirety of your word is truth and every one of your righteous judgments endures forever, forever. What the Lord says and decides endures forever. This concept of judging righteously or judging with righteous judgment is something that we need to always keep in mind as leaders. We have to have this. It's very easy to show nepotism, favoritism, or make decisions based not upon what is right but what I may gain or what I may lose from the decision that I make. Because the moment we start making decisions with ulterior motives we're trapped. We become more concerned with ourselves than with what pleases the Lord. We become more concerned with what pleases others than we are with what pleases the Lord. In Proverbs 29, 25, you know very well it says the fear of man brings a snare. But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. Safe. We could be more concerned with preserving a position than pleasing the Lord. We could be more concerned with preserving a relationship than pleasing the Lord. But wouldn't you agree that as leaders we need wisdom and discernment from the Lord? Because it's so much easier to discern things when they're just outright evil. Like man, that is evil, I can see it a mile away. I remember back in the day when I was at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, I don't even think I was a pastor more than one month. Where we were all lined up in front of the stage and I was on the left side and there was about eight of us over here and then there was about eight guys over here on the right and people were waiting in line to come and to receive prayer. And one by one, you know the pastors would peel off because there weren't any more pastor or there weren't any more people that needed a pastor to pray with them. And it just so happened that this woman comes up to me and she starts to talk to me and then I have two other guys that are over here and she says, I need you to pray for me because I have an unclean spirit. And I was like, yeah, right, sure you do. And I thought that in the back of my mind, I didn't come out and say that. Sometimes you think things that you don't say and that's good and I was standing there and I proceeded to ask her, you know, what would you believe in Jesus and have you ever given your life? And I was 24 years old, I'll never forget this. And she couldn't tell me that she ever gave her life to the Lord. And then I started to share the gospel with her and I said, well, you know, this is what Romans 3.10 says, there's none righteous, no, not one, all have sin. We all fall short of the glory of God. But you know what? God demonstrated his own love towards us and that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. Did you know that the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And as I started to say these things, she started to really go crazy. And this voice came out of her and said, I am an unclean spirit. And I was like, yes you are. And the guys that were on my right and the two guys, I was like, and they're like joking around, let's go get a coffee in the front office. And I'm like, no, like, and I'll never forget that feeling. When you come face to face with something that's the absolute opposite of what you are. Yeah, laugh it up. That wasn't funny at all. I'm still traumatized by that. And she ended up just running out the door, running out the door. And I'm like, what in the world was that about? And my heart was racing so fast. I'm like, what just happened? What in the world's going on here? And a couple of weeks goes by and guess who I see come walking down the aisle. But this time I thought, well, I'm good. We're a full team up here in the front, you know? And literally it was like I had a homing beacon on me and it was like dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee. But to me and I'm going, you gotta be joking me. And so good thing I had a couple of guys with me and we started praying but when I was praying I was kind of in the left front fighting stance, you know, like this. And I know you usually close your eyes but I wasn't closing my eyes for this prayer. And I was praying and we prayed for her. Back started contorting and all this kind of stuff and it was the weirdest thing that I'd ever, ever dealt with. And little did I know that this kind of thing would start to happen over the nine years that I was at Calvary Chapel where on Monday nights we'd have, you know, a couple of witches that would show up and one of them is possessed and doing all this crazy stuff. And, you know, in one occurrence, I remember speaking with this one person and she said, can you please pray for me? And I started praying for her and she kept interrupting me like every single second that I was praying. And the Lord spoke to me and said, I'm not the author of confusion. I'm like, oh, that's right. Thank you, Lord. I love when the Holy Spirit gives you the word, right? I'm not the author of confusion. So I just said, would you stop just for a moment? Cause I like to pray. And I said, Lord, I know that you're not the author of confusion. And Lord, I know that the enemy seeks to cause disruption and division and confusion. And I asked that in the name of Jesus you would bind the enemy that's seeking to cause division. And this voice came out of her that said, don't you pray to bind me? And I just said, the Lord rebuke you in the name of Jesus. In the back of my head, I was thinking, man, this isn't in the pastor's training manual. What in the world is going on here? Goodness. It got to the point where, you know, me being the youngest guy on staff, all the other pastors were like my big brothers and like to heckle me. And then my name's Garrett Beeler. And they said, well, GB's not for Garrett Beeler. GB's for Ghostbuster. And I was like, you guys don't, real cool, thanks a lot. Where were you when I needed you? You know, like in all this kind of stuff. And they like to, they like to razz me about that. But the point is we need wisdom and we need discernment because evil doesn't come out and say, hi, I'm the devil and I'd like to destroy you. But what if something or someone just doesn't seem right? You know, you have what they say in Christianese, a check in the spirit. What if I find myself confused about the decision that I need to make? Again, God is not the author of confusion. Jesus told the Pharisees in John 7, verse 24, do not judge according to appearance but judge with righteous judgment. This is very similar to what the Lord through Samuel or actually rather what the Lord told Samuel in 1 Samuel 16, 7, he said, but the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as a man sees for man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart. Judge with righteous judgment. I mean, what is it about the optics or the appearance of something that causes us to make compromised decisions? Jesus told the religious leaders of his day and the Lord told his prophet Samuel to not look at the appearance because looks can be deceiving, can't they? I'm actually here with one of my oldest friends and I'll never forget what he said, really stuck with me. He said, Garrett, when I first saw her, I knew there was a God and then after I met her, I knew there was Satan. Looks can be deceiving. Looks are deceptive. Good Christian leaders emulate the only one we should follow which is Jesus Christ our Lord. We're not trying to acquire disciples or followers. We want people to follow Jesus. Our life's work of following after Jesus should be one of loving God's word and loving God's people. As we imitate Christ, we set a great example of how people in our church can lead their wives and lead their children. By judging with righteous judgment, our staff knows exactly where they stand, what is expected of them because we're fair and we're fair straight across the board. Judging with righteous judgment. As Paul told Timothy, be without prejudice, do nothing with partiality. Now there are people outside the movement known as Calvary Chapel and some inside it that are critical to pastor saying, well, Chuck did this or Chuck did that. Personally, I don't have a problem with that. I don't have a problem with people saying, Chuck did this or Chuck did that but I think we need to understand what pastor Chuck did. And I think we also need to understand that now it's time for it to be said of you. Hey, that Joe did this, that Raul did that, that Mike did this, that John did that, that David did this, that Sean did that, that Sandy did this and Don did that. We've been given great role models and every one of them would have the desire for it to be said of them that they imitated Christ and furthermore, may it be said of all of us that we were men that did what was pleasing to the Lord. May that be the case. May each of us in our own way, which is unique to you and your own calling because no one on the face of this earth can do better than you what God has created you to do. May each of us in our own way that is unique to the gifting and calling of the Lord on our own lives leave behind a legacy that people can glean from and learn from. May we leave something behind that is stronger than it was when we were alive. May it be said of all of us that we were men that loved the word of God, loved God's people and were connected to the fresh leading of the Holy Spirit in our personal lives. That's what Calvary Chapel is all about. It's not the name, it's not the buildings but rather it's a group of people who are so in love with the Lord that they can't help but proclaim his good news to a dying world and feed his sheep until the day he takes us home and we hear him say, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord. Do you desire that? Do you want that? Because if you do, that is from the Lord and so pursue it with everything that is within you. So, in closing, which by the way, an old pastor once told me that was the quickest way to get your audience's attention. Great message, I loved it. The word of God endures forever, not the emotional experience. Don't get sucked into thinking that you have to satisfy the craving of an emotional need when what they really need is a fulfilling of that spiritual need. Number two, understand that the mercies of the Lord endure forever, not the current struggle that you're in. His mercies are there, new every morning and he will walk with you every step of the way and you will look back and say, you know what, that brief moment relative to eternity has worked in me such an exceedingly great work of God. And thirdly and finally, the righteous judgments of the Lord endure forever, not judgments or decisions that are made with ulterior motives or that could just be classified as unrighteous. And then finally, the last thing I will leave you with today is blessed is the man who endures. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for your word. We thank you, Lord, that it does endure. And Lord, we ask that you would continue over these next couple of days to give us ears to hear what your spirit would say. Lord, we thank you, God, for this group of people that have gathered together young and old and in between, Lord, that share that desire to please you, a share, a love for your word. Share a desire to see those that do not know you, come to know you. And so, Lord, I ask that you would meet each individual here in a special way. I ask, Lord, that you would continue to just encourage your church, give us fresh vision, help us, Lord, to stand upon those things that we know to be true. And, Lord, to see you build the next level of this movement known as Carve Chapel because, Lord, we need you. Lord, we look at those that have gone before us and the great thing about that that we can see is that they were men that connected themselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The movement known as Carve Chapel, Lord, may it be a movement that is moving with the Holy Spirit's moving. And, Lord, we ask that you would be glorified in our lives, in our churches, for we know that it's your church, Lord. The people that are in those churches are your people and the work that you do is your work and we thank you that when you work, no one can hinder it. And we ask all of these things and commit ourselves to you now in the name of Jesus. And all God's people say, amen. God bless you. You know, I was really,