Calvary Church of Naperville
Welcome to the Calvary Church of Naperville Podcasts! We pray that these podcasts help you know God in a real and powerful way. Here you'll find audio versions of our weekend teachings and daily episodes of our Bible Reading Plan! If you would like to learn more about Calvary Church of Naperville, visit our website: www.calvarynaperville.org. You can watch our live-streamed services on YouTube, or our website above, on Sundays at 9a or 11a.
Calvary Church of Naperville
ON THE HOOK
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The title of this message is On the Hook. On the Hook. And that's going to make sense midway through my message here today. I want to start by showing you a picture of a man in our church. His name is it's coming up right now, the picture somewhere. His name is Sammy. His street name is Sammy the Bull. Sammy the Bull was the head hitman for the Gambino Crime Family. He worked under John under Gotti. And he personally was responsible for 19 murders himself, hits himself, and hundreds of hits that he ordered throughout the Gambino crime family world. He was in federal prison for several decades, and he finally turned state's evidence on the Gambino family, and they uh let him out on early release a few years ago. Uh somebody invited him to a church over in California and recently and he was gloriously saved. God got a hold of his heart. Well, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and uh he began to come to our church. I had no idea who he was. Now he sits every Sunday morning on the front row next to my dad. This this guy who was a former killer. You know, every church needs a Sammy the Bull in the church. I mean what I'm talking about. Uh head of security, Sammy the Bull, you know. But uh I I want to tell you a little bit about his story at the end of this message here today. Um last weekend we celebrated 250 years of uh the greatest nation on planet earth, the United States of America. What a celebration we had last weekend at all of our locations. But there's coming a great celebration. Think about this in the year 2033 that every Christian ought to celebrate even more than the 250 year celebration of America. And that is in 2033 will be the 2000th anniversary of the coming of the Holy Spirit to planet Earth on the day of Pentecost. Man, we gotta celebrate all across the church world in 2033. Let me read you the account. Acts 2, verses 1 through 4. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place, and suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and then came to rest on each of them. 120 in the room, they all had a flame of fire over their head. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now, if you were Almighty God and you wanted to introduce the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to the people of planet earth, how would you do it? Thirty-three years earlier, God introduces the second member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, and places him in a barn lying in a manger in Bethlehem. Not exactly what you call a great fanfare. And now God is going to introduce the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. And so he sends the Holy Spirit to a second floor conference room with only 120 people in attendance. But regardless of how, you know, small the gathering was or how unimpressive the room was, three outrageous things happened simultaneously when the Holy Spirit arrived. First of all, the Bible says there was a sound of a violent wind, and all 120 people heard it. Secondly, there is a fireball that appears in the middle of the room, and then it separates, it disperses, and then every member who was in the room had a little tongue of fire hovering over their head. And then, third, all the people in the room began to speak in foreign languages that they'd never heard or studied before. Now imagine all three of those things happening in this room this morning. Imagine we're here right now, and all of a sudden there's a sound of a violent wind that blows through this place and shakes the rafters. And then all of a sudden, after that, you see a fireball that comes in the center of the room and it disperses, and every one of you has a little, a little flame over your head. And you you see the person next to you say, You got fire over your head. They say, No, you got fire over your head. And everyone has fire over their heads. And then all of a sudden, you find yourself speaking in a foreign language that you've never studied before. And the person next to you, they're speaking in a foreign language that they've never studied before. And all of a sudden you realize the whole room is speaking in foreign languages they've never studied before. I think you turn to the person next to you and say, I'm sure glad we didn't miss church today. Can you say amen to that? This may seem like chaos, but on the day of Pentecost, God sent these three symbols to help people in the upper room and people here today understand how the Holy Spirit was going to impact their lives and their future. So, what's the significance of this sound of a violent whim? This is to let every single believer know. How many believers do we have here today in the house? This was to let every believer know that this new divine power was going to sweep over their lives in a way they'd never experienced before. Let me explain this. During Jesus' three-year ministry, uh uh supernatural power was vested only in him. In other words, he was the one who did the miracles, he was the one that fed the multitudes, he was the one that raised the dead, and everybody else had to stand around and watch Jesus as he wielded his power. Because supernatural power was vested only in him. But on the day of Pentecost, there was a supernatural seismic shift that happened. God sent the sound of a deafening wind, and everyone, everyone say, everyone, everyone in the room heard it. And this was indicating that a new supernatural power was now going to be available to every single follower of Jesus Christ. This had never happened before in human history. This was something new, and it blew the minds of the people as they began to uh see how God made his power available to them in their lives. It was kind of a stretch for them to really believe in that day, and it's a stretch still today that God's power really is available to you. I'm talking to you now, not the person sitting next to you, the person sitting in your seat right now, God's power through the Holy Spirit really is available to you. Can you say amen to that? Um, I have a friend who's uh doing big things in the insurance business, and he was invited back uh to the Oval Office to do a presentation to try to somehow fix this broken healthcare system in America. It's a it's a massive feat, but he was called into the Oval Office to do a presentation. And before he walked in, he dialed my phone and called me, and I was doing something. I didn't answer the phone call. And after his presentation, he called me and said, Where were you? I said, What do you mean? I was going into the Oval Office, I had this massive presentation, and I needed your prayer, I needed your counsel, I needed your encouragement. I'm like, dude, you had the power of the Holy Spirit available to you. He's like, Well, is the Holy Spirit really interested in health insurance and you know, and going into the Oval Office and these things? I said, Yes, that's the job of the Holy Spirit. He wants to empower you, to comfort you, to lead you and guide you. And that all happened on the day of Pentecost. How many are grateful for the power of the Holy Spirit in your life? Amen. Secondly, what is the meaning of these flames of fire? This is where it gets really good. Because the text says the fireball enters the room and it disperses and separates, and every single believer in the room had a four to five inch little flame hovering over their heads. Every man and woman in the room, so this flame wasn't gender neutral. Every old person and young person in the room, the wealthy and the poor had the little flame over their head. And this symbol of flames hovering over everyone's head is packed full of supernatural significance. So I want you to really dial in right now because this will affect your life and your future. For thousands of years, there's been a sharp distinction drawn between normal people of faith and clergy or priests. Priests were the ones who had that special hotline to God. They were the ones who had the special stuff that qualified them to say public prayers and preach sermons and teach lessons and serve communion, counsel the confused, marry and bury people. And that super holy stuff could never ever be done by a non-priest. Severe consequences would follow if someone tried. It's just the way the system worked. Until the day of Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Spirit, when everyone in the room heard the violent sound of winds, symbolizing that now every single person who calls himself a follower of Jesus Christ has access to the power and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. And everyone in the room had a flame hovering over their head, not just the three rock star followers of Jesus, Peter, James, and John, they all had a flame hovering over their heads. And this was symbolizing, catch this now, that every believer was now becoming a priest. Every believer was now becoming a minister. On the day of Pentecost, the distinction between priest and lay people got demolished. So much so that now all of a sudden we see Peter, who goes out in the streets shortly after this, you know, the day of Pentecost, and he he he sees, he hears all these rumors about the resurrected Christ, and he hears rumors about what happened in the upper room. He looks around, he can't find any legitimate priest around. So Peter steps up and he begins to preach. Wait a minute, Peter's not a preacher, he's a fisherman by trade, he's a commercial fisherman. And all of a sudden, this business person stands up and under the power of the Holy Spirit, he begins to preach the gospel. And on that day, 3,000 people heard his message. They were cut to the core, they came into the family of faith, and the first church was born on that day, all because of a sermon given by a non-priest, a non-pastor, a layperson. This is the power of the Holy Spirit given on the day of Pentecost. This is a supernatural shift that turned kingdom history on its ear. Listen, God took the little box of what a minister looked like and he smashed it. And I don't think the church has come to full grips even today with the significance and the potential of the way God intended for ministry to be done in the church. I mean, I get so emotional preaching this sermon because it was out of this great supernatural shift of the in the upper room that the church was born. And Acts 2 says, shortly after this, the church was born, it says they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, this group of little believers, a few thousand people, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and of prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers in this brand new little supernatural community were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their numbers daily those who were being saved. I want you to imagine within just a moment, Naperville, Calvary Church. There was once a community of people who were wholly devoted to God. Every person in this little community was fully devoted to God's word. They were feasting on it. They let the word of Almighty God, the Bible, form and shape their ideas and their words and their lifestyles. And they were committed to God's word. There was once a little community where people prayed really bold prayers, and signs and wonders and miracles followed that little community. There was once a community where people loved each other so deeply that they actually called each other brother and sisters and they meant it. They became their church family, in some cases, like their blood and flesh families. They ate together in their homes, the Bible says. They took off their masks and got real with one another. And they were so full of joy, the Bible says. They would even sell their possessions, the Bible says. They would say, I don't really need this thing. So the others in this little community who had need would not have ongoing need. And the worship in this community was so real and so rich that people on the outside began to peer in and say, Can we be part of that? And daily they were adding to the church. It was exploding all across the world. As I read the account of that Acts 2 church as a pastor, I almost had a heart attack. I said, Why can't that exist today? Why can't there be a church in Phoenix, Arizona full of people who really love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength? People who are wholly devoted to the word of God, where it shapes their mind, it shapes their hearts. Why can't there be people who who uh they're so attractive in their in their in their faith walk that people outside the community say, I want to be part of that. Why can't that exist today? Has the Holy Spirit lost its punch? Has the gospel lost its power to impact human lives? Absolutely not. And some of you are saying, Luke, yes, that's right, there ought to be a community like that today. And some pastor type ought to rise up and start one. Because if this is gonna happen, it's probably gonna happen through some pastor type who gets the burden for it and raises it up. Okay. This church has a rich history of ministry. Our church does too. Our church is 103 years old. Today it's Dream City Church, formerly known as Phoenix First Assembly of God Church. It was began by a Native American pastor named Pastor Berryhill. There's a picture of him on the screen right here. Starting a little church back in 1923. Our church between 1923 and 1979 ran between 40 people and about 200 people up and down that scale. And here's how the system worked: the people of the church every year would hold a business meeting and they would vote to renew the pastor's contract for one year if he was doing the work of the ministry. If he wasn't doing all the work, marrying and burying people, you know, and doing the sermons and the visitations and all these kinds of things, if he was doing a good job at the annual business meeting, they would vote him in for another term. If not, they would fire him and find someone else who would do the work of the ministry. But notice he was the one doing the ministry, and the people sitting out there were being ministered to. They were the recipients of the ministry while the pastor was the one doing the work of the ministry. But in 1979, things changed. A man, my hero, named Tommy Barnett, moved to Phoenix. He became the pastor, and he stood boldly before this crowd of a couple hundred people and shared a vision for a new kind of supernatural community. He said there was once a supernatural community that came out of nowhere 2,000 years ago and it shook the world. And there ought to be a supernatural community that comes out of Phoenix, Arizona that shakes this city. And this small little group of people got so fired up, they said, Yes, pastor, we believe that. That's why we hired you. You're gonna be the guy that raises up the dream team and builds that kind of supernatural community. And then my dad explained to them. He dropped the bomb on them. He said, Look, guys, Acts 2, supernatural churches are not built by pastor types, they're built by ordinary people like you who just love the Lord and they have a heart to do the ministry. Then he explained to them what happened on the day of Pentecost, how there is a sound of a violent wind, and all 120 in the room heard it, indicating that they all hear now the sound of the Holy Spirit in their lives. And then he told them all 120 had a little flame hovering over their head, representing God's desire to do great works through anyone right now with a willing heart. And you don't need seminary training, you don't need a priestly gown or a pastoral license. Those are not the things that qualify you to do great things in the name of Jesus Christ. 99% of the people listening were business people like many of you here today. You were sitting in the in the in the auditorium, they had no interest in pastor stuff. Oh, but my dad began to describe the beauty and the potential of one of these supernatural communities. And when he taught them that on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit empowered each of them and called each of them to do the work of the ministry. And he explained that ordinary acts of great deeds in the name of Jesus can be done by just ordinary people who have a heart to do it. And in fact, God no longer sees a distinction between what he was doing and what they were doing. The people sitting there thought to myself, wait a minute, I thought I was off the hook. But apparently I'm on the hook. And I want to say to every believer here this morning, you're not off the hook. You are on the hook as much as I am on the hook for the ministry that God has called you to do, the great things that God's called you to do in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are all on the hook. And there are so many important, wonderful things that need to be done in this world in the name of Jesus Christ. There's so much ministry that needs to happen in our neighborhoods, in our schools, in our places of business. And many of us see the need and we know the need is there, but we take ourselves off the hook because we're not pastors. And we say things like this let the pastors do the work of the ministry. That's why we bring our tithe and offerings to raise up a staff to do the work. I'm not on the hook because I don't feel like clergy. That's what we say. Well, can I confess to you something this morning? I have never felt like clergy. I have never in my lifetime felt like a pastor. When I go to pastoral functions and there's hundreds of pastors there, I'm like, who are these weird people? You know, I feel like I feel like I'm out of place. Like I was the wrong guy for the wrong for the right job for all these years. I think many Christians have taken themselves off the hook because they don't feel like ministers. But friends, the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost to say to each of us who bear the name of Jesus Christ, my power is available to you, and I've called you to be my minister. In fact, there is no distinction now between the pastors and the non-pastors. You just have to be a fired up follower of Jesus who steps out wherever you are and does what the Holy Spirit says to do in the marketplace, in your school, in your home, wherever you are, where ministry needs to be done. What I'm saying is we are all on the hook. And if we are believers, if we're followers of Jesus, we are empowered by God. And we are called by the whole by God to do the work of the ministry. This is the priesthood of all believers that came into being on the day of Pentecost. And here's what's so cool about this. Ready for the cool news? You're not alone in this. The cool new news is not only has God put all of us on the hook, he's also equipped each of us with that special stuff that we specifically need to carry out the specific ministry that God has called us to. Look at this verse, Romans 12, 6. We all have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it's serving, then let him serve. If it's teaching, then let him teach. If it's encouraging, let him encourage. If it's contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously. If it's leadership, let him govern diligently. If it's showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. This is such a cool verse. Not only has God empowered you, and not only has God called you to be his minister, minister, he's actually empowered you and gifted you with a gift that you need to carry out the specific ministry that he has designed for you to carry out. He's given you spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are God empowered abilities that God entrusts to every believer to enable them to fulfill their calling as ministers. So my my three spiritual gifts one is teaching, one is leadership, and the other gift I have is uh discernment. Now, if I've been given the gift of leadership, what should I do with that gift? I ought to lead, right? If I've been given the gift of teaching, I ought to use that gift to teach. And we've all been given gifts. When I was um 20 years old, I was really struggling with my calling in life. And one day my dad sat me down and said, son, people follow you. And uh you have a gift of leadership in your life. He said, What do you want to do with your life? I said, Well, there's a man in our church who's asked me to partner in his business, and uh he has a big uh landscaping business. He goes, That's great. What a great opportunity! Nothing wrong with that. But he says, son, I see something different in you. I see a young man who has the leadership gift inside of him who sees the power and the potential of the local church in a certain way that could really move things forward and infect the territory. And he said, I think that you'll be selling yourself short if you don't use your leadership gift somehow to impact the kingdom. And if you don't do this, you're probably gonna be miserable in life and you probably look back on regrets, you're probably gonna die prematurely and then stand before Almighty God and give an account of why you didn't use your leadership gift. I said, Well, Dad, how do you really feel about this, you know? And so I went into ministry, amen. And God used my leadership gift that could have been used in the business world, would have been fine. He used it for the for the kingdom's sake. And every person here has been given spiritual gifts. Some of you guys and ladies, you you have the gift of leadership. You know how to run things and build a great business. That's great. You ought to build a great business. But there ought to be a certain amount of that leadership octane that's used to push God's kingdom forward in some way. Others of you may have the gift of teaching in this place. If you have the gift of teaching, that ought to be used. That's your ministry. That's what God has empowered you to do. Some of you have the gift of hospitality. When people come to your house, you can make them feel so welcome, they feel so warm because God put that gift inside of you. You didn't ask for it, you didn't earn it, God gave it to you, and God wants you to use it to build his kingdom somehow. And by the way, one day you and I are gonna stand before Almighty God and give an account of what we did with that gift he gave us. And we need to have a good answer for that. Amen. Just so you know, as I wrap this up, God doesn't care a hill of beans about theological training, about diplomas, or about titles. Because on the day of Pentecost, a supernatural shift happened, and every rank and file follower of Jesus became a minister who had spiritual gifts, and they were expected to minister. All you need is a willing heart, all you need is a love for God, and God says, You'll do just fine. I can use your life. My dad, Tommy Barnett. You know, when he was uh 17 years old, he never he never finished high school. He finished by correspondence, he never went to Bible school. You know why? Because at 17 years old, he had a Jeep station wagon and he was towing an organ and a tent across the southwest of this nation as a 17-year-old doing tent revivals. He'd pull into a little town, set the tent up, and just by faith hold these revivals. So he didn't really have time to go to Bible school during that time. He was too busy winning souls. And when you look at my dad today, even though he didn't finish high school or only by correspondence or go to college, all across his office, he has doctorate degrees from the leading universities all across America. He has so many degrees now, I call him Fahrenheit. He's hard to live with, I want you to know. But God looked down and saw a young man, 17 years old, and he said, I don't have any degrees, but I have a willing heart. And God said, You'll do just fine. Our prayer pastor is named Saeed Hussein. Saeed was an Iranian businessman who came to America. He had about 30 different Domino's pizzas uh stores that he owned. He came to church and he gloriously found the Lord. And you know, in the Muslim, in the uh Muslim background, prayer is very important to them. And so he one day came to my dad and said, I want to start a prayer ministry here in the church. And my dad said, You have a heart to do it, and you love the Lord. Go ahead and start that prayer ministry. So he began this prayer ministry, and today that prayer ministry is called Global 360. Millions and millions of people all around the world are tied into this global 360 ministry. You can check it out online. Millions of people praying all around the world because God looked down and saw an Iranian businessman who had no formal training in the ministry and said, You love me, you have a heart to do it, you'll do just fine. I'll use you. I can tell you about Constance and Luke Meredith. Constance was one of the ringleaders for recruiting girls in Phoenix for human sex trafficking. Her husband, Luke, before they were married, was a was in the uh Afghan war. He came back, and because of PTSD, he found himself on the streets. Uh uh a drug addict on the streets. Both of them, they came to our Phoenix Dream Center. They were gloriously saved. They went through two years of discipleship. And when they got their feet underneath them, they got married. And when our property opened up in Colorado City, which is where Warren Jeffs and that polygamous culture there, we're trying to break the change of that. They moved up there to lead that organization. And today, the girl that was once the ring leader for recruiting girls into sex trafficking is now the one that's emptying these polygamous homes and bringing girls out of sex trafficking into this ministry. No Bible school training, no priestly gown, just a couple people who love the Lord. And God looked down and said, You'll do just fine. I guess what I'm saying this morning is this what would happen today if all of us in this place opened our chest cavities wide and just said, God, I'm no priest and I'm no pastor, but I'm willing to be used by you. Oh, friends, what would happen today if all of us here understood what happened on the day of Pentecost? That every single believer in that room heard the sound of the Holy Spirit, indicating that the Holy Spirit's power really is available to you? What would happen if every one of us understood that everyone in that room had a flame of fire over their heads, indicating that God has called every one of us into ministry and to be his ministers? What if every one of us woke up every single day and went into the schools and went into our places of employment and said, I'm the minister in this place. I'm the one that God has raised up in this place. About a year ago, I was standing in a Starbucks line and in North Scotsto, where I live, and it was a long line, and all of a sudden I felt two hands just reach around me and just start hugging me. I'm like, Whoa, this is weird, you know. And turn around. There was a little older lady. I don't I was I'm getting older myself now, so I'm careful with that. But she was probably about 75 years old, and I turned and said, Do I know you? And she said, No, but I know you. I go to your church. And I've been wanting to do that for a long, long, long time. And she said, Your sermons have been ministering to me because I'm in try I'm in real trouble right now. I I have cancer. And the doctors haven't given me very long to live. And I just wanted to just hug you and just tell you how much you you mean to me. And then I wanted to hug her back, and we I started to cry, put my arm around her in line, and right there in Starbucks, I just began to pray for her. That God would touch her body. And that Starbucks turned into a sanctuary in that moment. God's presence was real in that place. That moment impacted me. I talk about it a lot. Because I walked out of Starbucks and got my car, and I thought to myself, what about the tens of thousands of people all across the Phoenix Metroplex? Almost six million people, who don't live in the neighborhood of their senior pastor. And they face trials and traumas and pain every single day. Because they don't live near me, they don't have access to me in their neighborhood Starbucks. I was preaching this message to our church, and I looked at them like I'm looking at you, and I said, Would you be that minister? Would you be that one who reaches out in a Starbucks in your neighborhood, in your school, and say to yourself, I don't have a pastoral license and I don't have a priestly ground, but what I do have is the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of me. And I do have the calling of God upon my life, and I do have God cheer me along right now as I step out and minister in the name of Jesus Christ. This is the priesthood of all believers that happened on the day of Pentecost. So I'm gonna ask you all to stand to your feet as we close our service here today. And some of you are thinking, there's one more thing that happened on Pentecost, and it's a very significant thing that happened. What's the significance of speaking in foreign languages? Well, this is not this is not speaking in tongues in our personal prayer language, in an unknown tongue. That's a very important part of the believer's life, available to all. And by the way, the day of Pentecost, speaking in foreign languages, was spoken only once about in the New Testament. This foreign unknown tongue speaking in tongues is talked about 21 times in the New Testament. So it's very significant. But on this day, what it was talking about is how these people were speaking the languages of the people who had come to Jerusalem to do business. So when they left the upper room, they could they could they heard it in their own tongue, in their own language. What was God saying? God was saying the gospel is going global. This is not just for Jerusalem, this is for Judea and Samaria and the othermost parts of the world. For God so love the world. God has a heart for our world, amen. And so is this church. Now, I've asked you to stand because I want to do something this morning. Because I believe this in all sincerity. Look at me. You're ministers. Every one of you, if you if you claim to know Jesus Christ, you are a minister. That's how God sees you. Many of you look at me this morning like I'm kind of special because I'm up here in front of the in the lights and I'm teaching the word of God. So somehow I have something that you don't have. I don't have something that you don't have. We all have access to the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And yet to see that today in you, and yet to be seized by the reality that that's how God sees you. And God has empowered you by the Spirit, He's called you by the Spirit, He's given you a spiritual gift to be used in your specific area of ministry, and now He's cheering you along by saying, I want you to go out and minister in my name. So here's how we're gonna end this message and ministry time today. I want to end by commissioning all of you to be ministers. This is our official commissioning service. I want you to imagine right now, this is your very first day of ministry. So when you walk out of these doors in just a moment and you go to Starbucks and you see a need, you're no longer gonna say, Oh, I'm gonna call Pastor Marty or Pastor Sean here. I wish we were here right now. You're gonna say, No, no. I'm the one that God has in this Starbucks right now. I'm the one that God has in this grocery store right now. I don't have a priestly gown, I don't have a pastoral license, but I do have the power of the Holy Spirit and the calling of God upon my life, and I'm gifted to do this. So I'm gonna minister right now in Jesus' name. I told you about Sammy the Bull. Sammy the Bull. Two months ago when I preached a sermon, he before service, he asked my dad, Would you pray for some of my friends who are leaving and moving to Denver after service? My dad said, Sure. After service, they all gathered together. Sammy the Bull just heard this message. And he said, Pastor, I know I asked you to minister to my friends, but I learned something today. I learned that I'm actually a minister. So I would you just let me pray for them because I'm gonna just use my gifting and pray for here. Here is a Sammy the Bull has issues. I don't know what I'm talking about. I mean, he he's killed people. And yet he sees himself as a minister. What are your issues? What are holding you, what's holding you back from ministering in the name of Jesus Christ? Come on. We all have made mistakes, we're all weighing to God's forgiveness, and we can all be you. So I gotta close it up. Let me just say this. I want to commission you right now. Here we go. Would you all raise your hands like this before Pastor Sean comes? I now commission you today as ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, knowing that you have full access to the power of the Holy Spirit, knowing that God has called you to be his minister, and knowing that God has entrusted you with spiritual gifts, I declare you to be fully equipped to fulfill the calling of God on your life as you now move through this world. I commission you to speak the words of God and to be the hands and feet of Jesus to this generation. I exhort you to live in a manner that glorifies Christ and to love in a manner that draws people to Him. I exhort you to overcome temptation, to endure hardship, and above else, to keep the faith. Keep the faith. And as you do this, you will lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven and experience the life that Jesus called life in all of its fullness in this life. And as you do this, you will sense the smile of heaven in this life. And someday you will hear those words from Jesus. Well done, my good and faithful minister. Now, Father, I commission these ministers to go out into Naperville and Chicagoland and to make an impact in the name of Jesus. Bring back great fruit for your glory, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you guys. I love you, Naperville. You're amazing.