The New Covenant - Slovakia Conference 2003 (Slovakian/english) — Gary Wilkerson

God has promised it to me. All of us here, gathered in the name of Jesus, in this place, let us welcome our Lord and King, the Master of the Universe, with a strong applause and a cry of glory, all of us, as our praise rises to the heavens.

We call you, Lord! You do great things for us. No one is like you, because you are Lord. You do great things for us. No one is like you, like you. You are worthy of praise and glory. You are Lord. It is a privilege for me to welcome here the servant of God, Gary Wilkerson.

Let us welcome him. It is a real privilege for me to welcome the servant of God, the Lord God. He is not blessed because he is the son of David Wilkerson. Blessedness, as well as salvation, is not inherited.

We receive the blessing of God because we are in His presence, because we look for His face. I am very glad that God speaks through him. Throughout the world, the Church proclaims that He can be the instrument of God's lips.

And so we perceived it yesterday. We were blessed. I am very glad that I can welcome him this morning. I have been introduced to him several times, but today I want us to sing together one song as a prayer.

We asked you to stand up. First of all, Gary will serve. In God's Word, we will sing one song as a prayer. And this song says, Speak to us today. Speak to us today. God always wants to speak to us. When Jesus was walking on this earth, He did not speak to all people.

He had a powerful embassy. But if we want God to speak to us, we need to be prepared for God. Our hearts need to be prepared, quiet. I am convinced that today God wants to speak to us. And I confess, in the introduction of this song, speak to us today.

Can you say amen to that? Speak to us today, God.

Let's pray together. Jesus, we desire to hear Your Word. We have come into this room to worship You. And now we are ready to hear from You. I pray You speak through me this morning. Let the fire of the Holy Spirit illuminate my words.

Jesus, make these words from heaven. Father, touch every heart in this place today. Prepare us, Jesus, to partake of Your Word. To eat Your Word. Let it become a part of us. Stir us, Jesus. Let us not be the same.

We shake off every heavy band, every heart, that we might listen and perceive and know the Word of God. In Jesus' name, amen. It's a very familiar passage of Scripture I want to share with you here this morning.

The Lord’s Supper and the New Covenant

Many of you in this room are pastors. And on a regular basis, you share with your congregation the Lord's Supper. You take the cup and the bread. You pray over it and you present it to your congregation.

You partake of it yourself. It is one of the most precious times in the body of Christ. Don't you understand that there's a real sense of the presence of God when we have communion? There's very few times where I've shared in the Lord's Supper without first knowing and feeling God's presence.

We are always so thankful for what He's done for us. And Paul says this in verse 24, when he'd given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

And in the same manner, he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup in the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let him examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. Now, as Paul is teaching the church about the Lord's table, it's in the context of many chapters in this book.

He is speaking here about the body of Christ. He's speaking about the believers coming together. He's talking about the unity that's in Christ Jesus. You don't have to turn there, but in chapter 10, verse 17, it says, for we, though many, are one bread and one body.

We all partake of that one bread. When he's speaking of this body and this bread and this cup, he's not thinking just exclusively of the man Christ Jesus, but he's thinking of all of us together that are coming into communion with Christ.

So as you study these passages, chapter 10, chapter 11, chapter 12, chapter 13, it's basically one subject he's talking about, and it's the body of Christ and how we function together. It's the church of Jesus Christ, which the Father loves so much, and how that body functions together.

And Jesus begins to speak here about the cup. He says, this cup is the new covenant. Now, I've done a lot of study on what the new covenant is. I've done a lot of study on the new covenant, and there's much theological doctrine about the new covenant.

There are many schools of thought. Some say the covenant means this. Others say, no, it doesn't mean that, it means this. There are whole denominations based on certain aspects of the new covenant. There are various issues wrapped around the theme of the new covenant, and it can get very complicated at times.

But Jesus makes it very clear. It's not just a theology. It's not just a doctrine. It's not just a denominational issue. It's not just for scholars. What He does with His best friends and His brothers is takes a cup in His hand, and He looks at that cup, and He tells His friends, it's not a theological issue.

It's not just a doctrine. It's not just a dead doctrine. This cup is life. This is My covenant. It's right here in this blood. It's the blood of Christ. It represents life. It's not just theology. It's not all that complicated.

It's life. Jesus says, look at this cup. If you want to know what the new covenant is all about, you'll find it right here in this small cup. The blood of Jesus Christ. There is power in the blood of Jesus.

There is cleansing in the blood of Jesus. There is sanctification in the blood of Jesus. There is peace in the blood of Jesus. There is healing in the blood of Jesus. Jesus holds this cup up to His brothers and says, this is the centerpiece.

This is what it's all about. This is My covenant with you. This is My love for you. This is what makes peace with God. This is the greatest power on the earth. My covenant with you. Now every time we take communion in church, we come to a very dangerous moment.

I grew up in church. Well, not literally. I didn't really grow up in the church. I grew up at home, but I attended church a lot. We were in church so much, it felt like I grew up in church. We were in church so much, it felt like I grew up in church.

And every so often, our pastor would present to us the Lord's table with communion. And I thought it was such a wonderful time. Except for a couple things. He began to speak about drinking this cup or eating this bread in an unworthy manner.

He says we should examine ourselves. And then He used these very strange words that really scared me. It says if you do this the wrong way, if you don't examine yourself, if there's sin in your life, He says here, because of this, many of you are weak.

Many of you are sick. And many of you sleep. Some translations say many of you are dead, others say sleep. Now for a little 10-year-old boy, that's a scary thing. I said, wow, this communion thing is really serious.

I better really examine my heart. And they would start passing around the communion elements. And I'd start getting scared. Because I remembered at school that week that I borrowed a pencil from my teacher's desk.

And I didn't give it back to her. And I was thinking, oh no, I stole the pencil. And the cup is already in my hand. And I don't have time to get the pencil back. And if I drink this cup, I'm going to get killed.

It says here, many are sleeping. And so many times when I go to church, I always get sleepy. Sometimes I even fall asleep. It must be because I'm drinking in an unworthy manner. I used to be so afraid to take communion.

I would think about the pretty girl I looked at too long in school. And I began to get worried about communion. I used to know what Sundays the pastor was going to be giving communion. And I would see them start bringing up the cup and the bread.

And I'd turn to my mom, who I was sitting next to. I'd say, Mom, I have to go to the bathroom really bad. And I'd try to walk out of the back of the church. So I didn't have to take communion. Because communion scared me.

Because I knew how sleepy I would get in church. And that must have meant I was a sinner. And so I was afraid to take the cup. I didn't want to die. This sounded like such serious business. I didn't want to bring any of my friends to church.

Because they were worse than I was. I knew they'd be dead for sure. But I began to study this as I got older. And I realized Paul said something here. Jesus is saying something here to us. There is an unworthy manner to partake of this cup.

There is an unworthy manner to partake of this cup. But it's a little bit different than we think. Yes, Jesus is concerned whether we steal or not. He's concerned when our eye looks in the wrong places.

But Paul says when we come to communion, we examine ourselves. And then it says, so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. It's not a warning not to drink and eat. It's just a moment to look at our hearts.

And to receive and thank God for his cleansing. What could be a worthy manner to partake of this cup? To drink the cup and eat the bread. Is it your perfection? Have you done everything perfectly? Do you not drink communion and eat communion if you've done something wrong that week?

Or what if you've sinned and forgot about it and didn't repent of it? And the Bible preaches strong against sin. And we need from our pulpits more strong preaching against sin. But Paul is speaking of something different here.

He's not talking about stealing. He's not talking about alcoholism totally. That's a part of it. But what he's saying here, look at verse 29. Whoever eats in an unworthy manner drinks judgment to himself and then he gives the real reason because he's not discerning the Lord's body.

Let me say that again so I have your attention. The thing we really need to examine is how we are viewing, how we are relating to the body of Christ around us. How we are loving our brothers and sisters.

How the Catholics are loving the Baptists. How the Baptists are loving the Pentecostals. How the Charismatics are loving the Pentecostals. When we come together, Paul says there's an unworthy manner to do this.

And he's not thinking about a kid who stole a pencil. He's thinking of this church and this building. And how we discern the body of one another. How we love one another. How we are unified together in Christ.

How Jesus calls us to love one another. How he says it's by our love for one another that the world will know that Christ is Lord. And when we come to take communion together in our hearts, and the question Jesus is asking you is not how perfect you are.

Did you do everything right? But the question he really wants to know is how well do you love? Love is the centerpiece of the Gospel. It is what Jesus gives to his bride. His great love for us calls us to love one another.

Unity in the Body of Christ

One of my great joys in traveling over these last few months was to be in a country recently and the Archbishop of the Lutheran Church was sitting down with the Bishop of the Pentecostal Church. They didn't know each other.

They had never had any fellowship together. And they spent time together at our conference. They heard each other's testimony. They began to enjoy each other's company. And it was a great joy to hear them talk one day over lunch, the first lunch they'd ever had together.

And the Archbishop of the Lutheran Church said to the Pentecostal Bishop, I'm so glad to be with you here today. I didn't know you knew Christ like you did. I thought all you Pentecostals were crazy. I thought all you did was jump around and spin in circles.

But I see Jesus in you. I see the Spirit of the Living God in you. I'm blessed and I'm proud to call you my brother, the Pentecostal Bishop. Look to the Lutheran. He said the same for me. I didn't even think you were a Christian.

I thought you were just religious. I thought you were in a dead state church and all you did was give chants, just speaking creeds. But now I know you and I see Jesus in your heart. And I'm glad today to call you my brother.

Oh, what a great joy to hear these brothers discerning the body of Christ properly. Now I'm not saying everyone who calls themselves a Christian is our brother. There are wolves among us. There are false doctrines in our church.

There are things we need to separate ourselves from. There are places we can't unify with. I was at a pastor's meeting one time. About 30 pastors in New York City gathered together. And it just didn't feel right.

It was all on the surface, very superficial. Everybody was being nice and pleasant to one another. There was fellowship taking place. But it wasn't around the true Jesus Christ. And they asked one of the elderly black pastors in New York City to get up and share a few words.

They said, challenge us about being in unity with one another. And they made a mistake by asking him to speak. Because he got up and he preached. A powerful preaching. He was on fire. And he said, the kind of unity you're talking about is not the kind of unity I want.

Because you're talking about just having a nice lunch together. Putting on a show of unity. Ecumenical unity. But you're not talking about being brothers with one another. You're not talking about laying down your lives for one another.

You're not talking about sacrificing all for Jesus Christ. And he said, turn to John 17. And in John 17 it says, Lord, make them one. And all this talk about being one. He says, I can't do that with you.

Because some of you in this place aren't even one with Jesus yet. And I want to invite you today to get right with Jesus. Because if you don't get right with Jesus, I can't be right with you. We can't be one until you're one with Him.

And he said, before John 17, 21 calls us into unity. Even before that, in John 17, 17, Jesus Christ sanctified them in truth. He said, we have to be sanctified. We need to be the holy body of Christ. We need to know Jesus.

To walk in Jesus. To be holy in Jesus. And until we have John 17, 17, we'll never have John 17, 21. First comes Jesus. Then comes unity. A false ideal. Just to look good. To put on a good front. But Jesus' unity is different.

He holds up the cup. He says, it's wrapped around this. It's centered in this. My blood. And that's what he's saying here. That's the worthy way to partake of the new covenant. And if we're not doing that, we're doing it in an unworthy manner.

The Church’s Two Forms of Unworthiness

Now I want to speak of two ways that we don't take of the cup and eat of the bread in a worthy manner. You see, the communion passage doesn't stop in Corinthians 11. It goes on into chapter 12 as well.

And the scripture says, still speaking about the body of Christ here. About the family of God, his church. And there are two ways the body of Christ doesn't discern each other in a worthy manner. And it's these two ways that makes the church sick and sleepy, lethargic, lifeless.

The first one, chapter 12, verse 15. Look there with me. Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body. Is it therefore not of the body? The first way to come in an unworthy manner to the body of Christ is to begin to say to yourself, I'm not worthy.

I'm not like other people. I don't belong in the body. A man or woman who's been bought by the blood of Jesus, who's come to the foot of the cross, who has entered through baptism, who is in love with Jesus.

And they come into the body and they say, I'm not worthy. I'm no good. What they're doing is discerning the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner. Jesus told Peter, don't call what I've made clean, unclean.

Jesus has made you clean. When He's washed you, when He's cleansed you, you need to tell yourself, you need to have that godly confession. I am clean. I am clean. I am holy. I am worthy by the blood of the Lamb, by the cross of Jesus Christ.

I'm not worthy because of my works. I'm not worthy because I was perfect this week. I'm not worthy because I'm not worthy of Jesus. But many people come into the body and just like this, because I'm not the hand, therefore I don't belong.

Because I'm not the beautiful part, I don't belong. And we begin to compare ourselves to others. Oh, I don't pray as much as that sister. I don't preach like that powerful preacher. We begin to say to ourselves, we don't belong in the body.

And there are many people in the church who are wounded and broken because you don't feel like you're belonging. You don't feel like you're special in God's eyes. You don't feel like you have the call of God on your life.

But Jesus is saying you belong because of the cup of His new covenant. I spent many years worrying about this issue. I didn't really feel like I belonged in leadership. I told you the other day I wanted to build a church of 20 ,000 people.

I had this great ambition. But I noticed something was happening in my church. We had a great start. We grew very fast. Within the first few years we had 300 or 400 people. Many new believers. But after that it just plateaued.

It just stopped growing. So I got worried about this. I said, my father in New York City, his church keeps growing. Bill Heibel's church in Chicago, it keeps growing. The church in Australia called Hillsong, it keeps growing.

Churches all over the world are growing. But nothing is happening in my church. And I hated to go to conferences. Because I had no good testimonies. All my pastor friends would come to the conference and they would tell our church grew by 100 people this year.

We baptized 50 new converts. We planted 6 new churches. We built a 2 ,000 seat auditorium. Our missions budget doubled this year. And I heard all these stories. And I had no good news. I lost 20 people this year.

I can barely pay the bills. I'm tired of going to church. It's pretty bad news when the pastor of the church doesn't even like the church he's attending anymore. You know something's wrong. It was hard to get up on Sunday mornings.

I was tired and weary. So somebody told me about a conference. So I went to a conference in Chicago. And it was about being a seeker sensitive church. It has a certain methodology of doing church. And I was so impressed by these methods.

They did church so well. The music was just perfect. And the presentations were wonderful. The auditorium was fantastic. And they gave tremendous seminars on how to do church. And how to grow your church.

And how to go to the next plateau. Oh, and I was so excited. And I got all the notes. And I bought all the tapes they had. And I bought all the books that they had. And I had to buy an extra suitcase just to carry everything home.

And I went to church. And I called my elders and my staff together. I said, I am so excited. You can't believe what I've just found. We're going to have to change our church totally. We've been doing all this Pentecostal stuff.

And that's been scaring the sinners out there in the world. So we need to be more quiet. And be more presentable. And do a nice skit every Sunday. And so we trained all our people how to do church like this.

And they got all excited. And we planned a Sunday where we're going to launch this new style of ministry. To bring all your non-Christian friends. Because they're going to love the way we do church now.

But there's a problem. All the people in our church have been Christians for many years now. They got so involved in the church. Everybody they knew was a Christian now. So they had very few non-Christian friends.

So it was the same people. Now we have an evangelistic service. But it was all Christians in the crowd. And the Christians didn't want an evangelistic service. So they started leaving my church. Looking for a church that was deeper.

So I said, this must not be the right way for us. It worked for that church. They're doing a mighty work. But it didn't work for me. But I don't give up easy. I was determined to make this church grow.

So I heard about another conference. This one was even broader. The one was just talking mainly about evangelism. But this one was talking about a purpose driven church. So there's a big church in California.

And they have a powerful book called The Purpose Driven Church. So I went to their conferences. And I learned about this kind of church. And I said, no wonder our church isn't growing. We weren't doing it the right way.

First we were doing that Pentecostal thing. Then we were doing that evangelistic thing. But now we need to be purpose driven. So I took all the notes. And I bought all their tapes. And I bought all their books.

And I took them home in my suitcase. And I got home from that conference. And I called my elders and my staff together. I said, brothers, we've been doing it all wrong. We thought it was seeker sensitive.

But it needs to be purpose driven. And here's the books and the tapes. Learn how to do church this way. Change everything up. Because this is the way we're doing church now. And we were so excited. And we changed our whole strategy.

And our church didn't grow. And more people left. They said we're getting confusing. So I didn't give up though. I was a determined pastor. I was going to reach my goal. So I went to another conference.

This one I went all the way to England for. And I took all the notes. And I bought all the books. And I brought home the tapes. And when I got home, I was even trying to use an English accent. My staff and my elders, I called them together.

I said we need to stop our Tuesday night prayer meeting. Because this is the best thing I've ever seen. We're going to start being an alpha church. And we started our alpha program. And alpha is a wonderful course.

Thousands and thousands of people are being saved. We started it in our church. And very few people came. Only a handful were saved. Only a handful got saved. We kept trying it and trying it and trying it.

And for our church, it just didn't work. So I didn't give up. I went to another conference. This one was a Holy Spirit conference. Because I was getting tired of methods. So this one talked about the wind of the Spirit.

And you can fall down. You can laugh. I went back to my church. Gave them all the tapes. All the books. Here's how we do church. And our church was so confused. People were looking at me. They said, we don't know what kind of church we are.

Are we Baptist or are we Pentecostal? Are we alpha or are we seeker sensitive? Are we purpose driven or are we holiness? Just choose one. Any one is fine. We don't care which one you choose. But just find one.

And stick with it. We're tired of changing. Every time you go to a conference, you come back. Give us all these tapes. And we have to change everything. And it's not working. We're not growing. Whether it's the wind of the Spirit or a new course that's taking place.

One day my elders came to me. They said, Pastor, we need to speak to you. We love you so much. You're a wonderful pastor. But we have one favor to ask you. We'll do anything for you. We'll give you a raise.

Give you a pay raise. We'll buy you a new car. Anything you want. Just promise us this. You won't go to any more conferences. Because they knew they had a pastor who was saying this very thing that Paul was saying.

Because I'm not like Bill Hybels. Because I'm not like the leaders of the Alpha Course. Because I'm not like the one who wrote Purpose Driven Church. Because I'm not like them. I'm not worthy to be in the body.

My church isn't valuable to God. We're not special in God's eyes. And my friends, I want to tell you today. That's an unworthy manner to partake in the body of Christ. Every church of Jesus Christ is special in His eyes.

Every church of Jesus Christ has a divine plan. And you can't borrow someone else's plan. You can't take something else from somebody else. You can't take your foot. You can't take your foot and turn it into a hand.

And some churches look more like a hand. And some more like the foot. And we need to be more thankful about where Jesus has put us. Whether it's a small church in the countryside. Or a large church in an urban area.

Whether it's a church that's reaching many lost people. Or whether it's a church that is strong in discipleship. God has a special purpose for your church. A plan for you that you can't get from anybody else.

You can only get it from Jesus. Amen. But it took me a while to learn that. And I was getting depressed. I was getting discouraged. I wanted to quit. I hated to get up on Sunday mornings and go to church.

Because I wanted to pastor this ideal church. This church of 20 ,000 people. And here was my small church. And it got me depressed and discouraged. I wanted greater testimonies. I wanted stories to tell when I went to the conferences.

And I was so depressed. So ready to give up. But without my elders permission, I went to one more conference. And this conference was beautiful. It was wonderful. It had this beautiful choir. Probably 200 voices or maybe 300 voices in the choir.

Some of the most excellent preaching I've ever heard in my life. And I started to get excited. I said, maybe this is the way. I've got to build a big choir. And I'll work on being the best preacher I can be.

And with good music and good preaching, we can reach our city for Christ. But then I remembered. Nothing works. I've tried everything. And I started thinking about this conference. Try to have a choir like that.

They had more people in their choir than I had in my whole church. So if I wanted to build a choir like that, everybody in my church would have to stand behind me. I'd have nobody to preach to. I'd have to turn around and preach to the choir.

And I just said, God's not going to work. It's not the different programs. It's not the different styles of doing church. It's me. I'm the one who's messed up. I'm the one who's unworthy. I'm not qualified.

I can't do this. I can't lead well. I can't preach well. I'm too confused. I don't know what I'm doing. It's not working. And I'm ready to give up. And I went back to my hotel room. I said, God, it's these guys who know how to put on these great shows.

God, it's these guys who know how to put on these great shows. It's these eloquent preachers. It's these gifted leaders. They're the ones you use mightily. But you're not using me. You've left me alone.

And I started to get not only depressed, but I started to get angry at God. I was so angry at Him. You've passed me by, God. You've poured out your blessing on others. And I've been praying. And I've been weeping.

And I've been on my face before you. And I've tried everything. But you're not blessing me. And I remembered as a child, singing this beautiful song. Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry. While on others thou art falling, do not pass me by.

And I said to Jesus, Jesus, you've deceived me. You tricked me. You called me into ministry. And then you didn't give me the power to do it. And I feel like you've deceived me. You've passed me by. My one cry to you has been as you're falling on others.

Do not pass me by. But you've passed me. You've overlooked me. And then I began to even wonder this. If you pass me by, is it because you don't really love me? Maybe I'm not really loved by you. And I fell on my face on the carpet of that hotel room.

And I began to weep. And I began to weep and weep and weep. With tears in my eyes. Crying almost to the top of my voice. I've become an Esau to you God. Jacob you have loved. Other churches you have loved.

But me you have hated. I'm an Esau to you. What do you have to do with me? What do you want from me? Why did you call me? Why don't you leave me alone? Let me just go get a job somewhere else. Because I can't go another day.

Doing this work. Without sensing your power. And I said Jesus. I give up. And it was at that moment. That the Holy Spirit began to speak to me. He began to do a new work in me. He said Gary it's not because I hate you.

I haven't lifted my hand of blessing from you. But I have withheld the blessing. I have withheld that great outpouring. Because something had to come out of your heart. The selfishness. The self ambition.

The pride. The clever schemes of man. Looking to others as an example. Looking to others to get your methodology. Not trusting in me. Not listening to me. It's not because I hate you. It's because I love you so much.

And because I love you. I'm willing to wound you. There will be scars in your body. Scars in your soul. But when they heal. You'll be strong. You'll be holy. And you'll trust in me. And there'll be new life in you.

And you won't say you're unworthy. He said I don't hate you. And I felt the love of God. And I went back to my church. And I had no tapes. I had no books. I had no staff meetings. I just started praying.

I started crying out to God. I started seeking His face. My church began to change. People began to be added to the church. There was a new clarity of vision. People were being saved like never before.

From Self-Ambition to Obedience

When I was a child I had a call from God. It was from Isaiah 49. He says you'll not only minister to Jacob. But you'll also be a light to the nations. And during that depressed time. I thought I was never going to be able to speak to anybody.

I thought I'd never have any real ministry. But then God broke my heart. And I no longer cared about that. I no longer cared about those things. Take your church of 20 ,000. Take your notoriety and your fame and fortune.

Take your success. Because I no longer care about those things. I want the fullness of Jesus. I don't have to go to every conference. And to get some new wind of the Spirit. Or some new methodology. I hear from Jesus.

He speaks to me because I'm His son. And He loves me. And I can learn things from many different people. But most of all. I learn from Jesus. Most of all. You hear from Jesus. He speaks His love over you.

He speaks direction for your ministry. He pours out His Spirit in your ministry. And God changed my life. I was totally a new man. And it wasn't but a few months later. My father called me. He said, son what's happened to you?

I used to get your sermon tapes. And you were always preaching different kinds of things. But I hear something different in your voice. There's something new in your preaching. There's some life now that I've never sensed before.

He said, what happened to you? He said two things. Number one. God broke me. He totally broke me. He took out the ambition. My agendas. He raised me up. With one desire. Not to please man. But to please the Father in heaven.

To do what Jesus says. And if it's to speak to one person. Or ten people. Or ten thousand people. My goal is not success. My goal is obedience. My father said, I recognize something different in you. And I want to ask you something.

I'm doing pastors conferences all over the world. I'm speaking to tens of thousands of pastors and leaders. And I said, yeah I heard about that. I'm very excited for you. He said, I'm looking for somebody to travel with me.

I need an associate. And I thought he was calling me. To ask my assistant pastor. Who's a great Bible teacher. My father used to brag about his sermons all the time. So I thought he was calling to ask my associate to travel with him.