Francis Chan: I Am The True Vine - Oxygen, Sydney

I had no idea this morning we were going to hear a testimony like that um and so you just sit there and you go what am i what do you say what do you this is this is a none of us have experienced anything like that I don't even how to process it you just you never ever go somewhere as a missionary and and you get there and you're just so humbled as you thought you were going to teach them something and then you look at their lives and you feel about this big and and and you just you just go I I don't even know how to talk right now I've done that I've been in Africa I've been in India where I just go I don't know what to say I really don't wanna snot trying to be humble I'm just I'm just floored right now and you look at your life and that verb for some reason people lift you up for different things then you you see something so authentic so real so clearly of the Lord and you just go man I just want to soak that in for a second and so it's it's forgive me if I'm a little out of sorts right now um and I was already messed up um no because I I woke up this morning early because I just sensed the Lord wanted me to go a different direction and there were some things that he wanted me to say today um I I I believe the Lord I mean this could be him I could be just because of some conversations I had with some of you yesterday that got me thinking but I believe the Lord wanted me to start off this morning with some confession of sin publicly and so I'm just going to go with it and see how it goes and I believe it ties in perfectly with the passage in John chapter 15 and and and it is motor I talked to a couple friends of mine that I hadn't seen in like 25 years we went to seminary together and one of them made the comment that he felt like he was just now recovering from seminary and and he was saying gosh it seems like you're a little further along in that process I go I know isn't that crazy 25 years and I still have issues from that time and I don't know if anyone just publicly talks about this stuff but I'm going to because I I've lied about some things over the years and my lies the Lord opened my eyes to some of the deception reminded me of some of the deception and showed that I sinned against him it's been hurting my life and it all has also kept others from benefiting from truth because of some of the lies in my life and I have lied for the sake of reputation that's usually why we lie is you want to look good you don't want people to know the truth and and as leaders we can hide more easily than most people I pass ajikko my mind is Revelation chapter 3 when Jesus is speaking to the church in Sardis and he says you have a reputation of being alive but you're dead he says to this church everyone knows about the church and stars oh you're so alive but God Himself says but I know who you really are and you're dead and I think in our passage when I think about us as leaders because we all have a reputation you just do the moment you took the position you took a reputation people assumed when you took that title that you were a godly man they just assumed that your congregation assumes you have this great walk with the Lord you have a reputation and who's going to call you out on it who's actually going to come into your life who when your congregation would really in in love and just question you when your walk with God that's why some of you in this room are in Affairs right now but no one calls you out on it no one no one dares question you because you are pastor some of you are addicted to pornography you hide it but who's gonna call you out because your pastor your reverend you're the leader you're the shepherd you have a reputation of being alive some of you have not had a sincere just like varta in to make time with the Lord in so long but who's gonna bring it up you've got a reputation man I've got a reputation who's gonna question me on my walk with the Lord I wrote crazy love okay of course I'm in love with Jesus right of course I have these amazing intimate times of the Lord we just assume certain things because you have a reputation of being alive and that's what I love that passage because God says look I don't care what everyone thinks about you and everyone assumes about you I know the truth about you and that passage is always one of the ones that's on the forefront of my mind on your Lord I'm here to please you I and yet even so I I fall into this trap of deception sometimes and some of you okay some of you especially at this conference this conference specifically okay this is the oxygen conference and this one is going to be a little bit more scholarly than most and it's going to attract people that maybe a little bit more scholarly than most and you've got a higher IQ then then a lot of people and when your scholarly people don't want to approach you they're intimidated by you because I could be totally wrong I could be totally right about something but if I argue with you you'll still win right I mean it's like the little guy going to the gym and all these guys are just ripped in your school I can't argue thin IAM they'll just beat me up it doesn't matter if I'm right they're bigger than me and so many people will look to you with that mindset doesn't matter where your relationship with God is because your brand that's not your fault I'm not saying yeah why would you be so smart God made you that way that's wonderful that's a great gift I'm just telling you it makes you less approachable by the common person who doesn't want to dare question you because he knows you could put them in their place and you know it too and so we can have a reputation and very few people will call us on it here are some of my confessions the first one is just an admission I don't think it's a sin um I'll get in my sin later uh I'm really bad at comprehending things I've poor comprehension I don't know what you call that but I always have you know in seventh grade you know there you're reading these books and and that teacher says what did that mean to you and all these people will explain what it meant something wow I didn't get that I just thought about it was about a guy that fell off a cliff and flies flew around his head I don't know I don't get it I try to comprehend things and I don't get them now I knew how to take tests I knew how to study I knew how to get aids I was a student in seminary I even calculated in my head what it would take to graduate with one of those those golden cash things um because I remember going to graduations and seeing the guys that didn't have them I thought what losers you know I am going to get one of those golden sashes I will be some sort of laude and I calculated it all out and figure out exactly what I needed to to get one of those and I knew I could do it um ended up missing it like barely which was so late and it was that because of my preaching clot it was not even fair okay it was so not fair because okay I preached this one sermon I got a a on it so my next one and it wasn't that great of a sermon and I thought wow I got an A on that you know so my next one I figure out how to get and I just figured I'll just do it a little bit better and of course I'll get here so I preached a better sermon the next time and it gave me a C and I'm we're going to the professor whoa whoa whoa wait a second I said that how did I get a C on that I go was this one not better than my last one and he goes yeah it was actually and I go I expose it I got I went deeper into the Greek deeper into the Hebrew I did this I I had the prepositional statement like you told me to I did these things you know stuff that you'll never really gonna use but I did it all I go how did I get a C and it goes man yeah I don't know I yeah I go well do you realize that you are gonna keep I told him this miss if you're gonna keep me from getting those golden sashes you're gonna keep me from graduating with honors just because this one grade I calculated this whole thing out they didn't change it um I'm still bitter ah I was one of the losers um okay so I I don't have great retention on certain things I know how to pass a test I know how to get a good grade but I don't really understand what I'm studying most of the time and I don't remember it later I'll remember random things but I can try to remember stuff and I just can't so that's just who I am where the sin comes in is I don't admit that I've never publicly just admitted that I faked it and I pretend I understand things I've always done this always done this I just kind of nod my head because I don't want to be that person that doesn't get it that slows down the class and I just man I don't even belong in this room when I don't understand something in my pride I don't admit and I don't ask questions I remember my very first seminary class very first statement out of the professor's mouth a guy named dr. Mueller came out and he had one a he had an English accent and he got up and he says we will start with some prolegomena Wow and he goes for those who don't know what that means it just means introduction why don't you say that any but he went on I still remember because he said some things where he made this comment about some principle because there's this principle dun da da da he goes which we all learned in bonehead physics and I'm sitting there gone I never took physics I don't know what he's talking about but I'm not gonna raise my hand and go hey I didn't take physics and everyone look at me like wow you're Chinese you didn't take physics I'm not gonna do that so what am I gonna do I'm gonna just laugh with the rest of class oh yeah bonehead physics oh I remember that I remember preaching and are a pastor at our conference from my alma mater my my Bible College and having dinner with the president and a guy named John MacArthur dr. John MacArthur and he had another speaker it was John MacArthur another guy named al Mohler it's pretty smart um and me and uh and we're having dinner and my wife's with me and everything else and they were talking about stuff at the dinner table man I was concentrating I promise you I was listening so I had no clue what they were discussing I mean they're using these words that were just insane and I'm just listening and eating wrong yeah yeah you're just nodding my head and then all that awful question came up what do you think about this Frances and what do I do what would a humble person do say I don't know what you're talking about what this Frances do I just kind of go yeah man I go that is such a hard one I could go either way I need to revisit this sometime and refresh my memory on what are you talking about you know it's just I'm not I got that to me that's so dumb that's so proud of my my wife thank God for my wife was so not that way just kind of goes she goes I don't even know what you guys are talking about and so you know al explains it to my wife and I'm looking her like we've talked about this stupid man that's me you know and you're going to hold Frances that's good you're you're confessing these sins of the past it's not the past okay now three years ago three years ago I get a phone call from this guy I don't know named Don Carson and he asked me to speak at this thing called the gospel coalition I don't know anything about this stuff and he's asking me to lecture like the this this circle of scholars in the gospel : and I'm just writing down all the notes on the phone pretending I know what he's talking about and all that's a good topic yeah yeah okay okay let me let me think about it I run over to my Bible caught believe it or not I started a Bible College and you know hired all these guys and knew more than me and I admitted to some of them look III this is over my head and I went to one of the guys I could look this guy named da cars it's at t Carson called you I'm like yeah who is that he's like he's like maybe the greatest theologian of our time I'm like well he had invited me to this thing called the gospel cult you got invited to the gospel coalition you and I go I know I know don't tell anyone this I said he asked me to present a paper on and I explained like I wrote all the notes out okay it's called dead uh oh do you guys know what that is I guess I know what that is and one of them's like I want to write a paper I go you wanna okay will you write it for me hey Don if you're here I'm just laying it all out right now no okay here I this I lied I cheated I'm 44 and I cheated on a test okay I had someone else write my paper for me and because of my I didn't want to go I didn't want to say I don't know I didn't want to say you guys are over my head I guess a you know my retention was never that good and I and I got through seminary and everything else but that's just me I'm a liar I want to fit in I want to believe that I'm on that same level with you guys that you're not beyond me and and and so I get this paper and I remember just going okay fine I'm going to present it and and you get to the Gospel Coalition and there's an inner circle and there's an outer circle and I was in the inner circle I just want you to know that okay and and you know our junior associates are in the outside circle where all my buddies were and I'm like yeah yeah what's up and and I read this paper that someone else wrote and it was going fine until they started asking questions I know there was question time and and some of the stuff in the paper was wrong but was I gonna do say I didn't write it he did you know I couldn't do it and I just you know at first when I still remember about what's-his-face mark driscoll asked me a question and he used words I literally did not even under I did not understand his question and this time I couldn't even fake it I just stared at him like can you repeat that again and he asked the question and I just had to say I don't know how to answer it and then Don Carson says you know in your presentation I wish you had been more asymptotic that's like I thought about it so it was just this nightmare okay I was just village idiot and I couldn't hide and the more I talked the Dumber I sounded and I could just hear myself and my pride like no I fit in this room I fit in this room and by the end of the conference I went up to Don Carson and we've never even talked about this so I and I just you know I don't think I fit here and he says well the leadership had a discussion oh we don't think you fit either and it's like it was a little awkward it was like okay bye um what just kind of went and laughed and um man I just remember walking away again and it's my pride there was just this I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm just going to study even harder and I'm going to get there and you just can't get there okay and and my fears started overtaking me I start going gosh maybe I just shouldn't even teach I don't match up there's too many things I don't get and then a Brahmin is it all started in seminary where you study study study in your school I don't get this I'll pass the test I'll get migrated but there's no way I can keep up with these guys and you just feel like you're the only person in the room that doesn't really get it but your pride doesn't let you say that you don't get it and then people challenge you through the years and you come up you know you jump on Lagos and you try to find some facts for them and and pretend you knew this all along and you just hide it you fake it um but it really put me in this spiral because you just start going I don't know enough I'm not equipped for this god I'm that workman that's just ashamed I shouldn't be teaching it it affected my courage then I started just feeling like I don't know enough why should I ever open my mouth you start getting insecure you know there's a big thing that's been happening the last few years and especially the monks younger people people are getting depressed because of Facebook we've heard of this the Facebook depression because they'll go on Facebook and they'll see other people post these pictures of how happy they are you know in the most beautiful angles of them you know and oh we had so much fun at this place and people look on it go I'm not having as much fun as her I don't look like her I don't have as many friends as her and they're getting depressed because everyone's putting their best foot forward and and everyone's just going gosh I don't match up to that I'm not that person and they just want to kill themselves and you know we don't talk about this in the church but I believe it happens in this very room this type of envy oh it may not be from Facebook but it comes on the internet you go on the internet and you see what other people are accomplishing in the name of God and you just go I'll never be able to pull off with that I pulled off you can go online right now see all the things that rick warren is doing that you will never be able to do you can go online right now and read everything that Tim Keller understands that you do you will never understand no fault to those guys they gifted blessed in those ways I'm just telling you I've done it and it's it's tough and you get you start stressing yourself out you get all insecure you get anxious and you just start trying to do more and measure up and no one talks about this but it's there there's so much anxiety in this room right now of wanting to build a ministry wanting to understand something wanting to reach some plateau and it goes against everything we've been reading I mean why don't we just study on the shepherd you're a sheep just just follow me I'm gonna I'm gonna make you lay down I'm gonna have you not to drink I'll protect you from your enemies you don't do fear anything we go through the valley shout death I got you I got you I got you and then here's the sheep here we are all stressed out somehow were just stressed out about this worried about this we're anxious when he tells us don't don't you be anxious about anything and then in John 15 he says I'm the vine don't you get this on the vine I'm the true vine you're the branches you're the branches in fact he says look look you don't even have to do anything you're just a sheep you're just a branch all you gotta do all you gotta do is stay connected to the vine this is it simple I mean everything Jesus tells us that the stuff is simple I'm a sheep okay now I follow you okay give me some to eat okay take care of my enemies okay that's all I got to do I'm a branch I just gotta go you know let me just be connect to you a branch doesn't go I'm gonna make some fruit no he just see st. dude just stay connected to the vine it automatically happens and in God my father he's the vine dresser he'll prune you he'll make sure you are fruitful it's a guarantee if if I'm in you and you're in me if you just abide in me that's all I'm asking for simplify this we over complicate things and stress ourselves down and then we start deceiving and lying and pretending or something and Jesus is saying hey guys would you rest you're my sheep I'm the vine I'm the shepherd your sheep you're a branch all you gotta do is abide in me and you will bear fruit and it's fruit that will last it's a promise and so Satan is going to come along and try to distract you from that he knows if you just abide in him stuff's going to happen he's going to try to get you separated from the fruit Jesus I'm separated from the vine Jesus gives an illustration it's the most pathetic stupid picture he goes imagine a branch unattached to the mind trying to produce fruit on its own it was a ridiculous statement there was probably a vine later I could just look at that you he can try all day nothing's going to happen I promise you all you have to do is be connected to him and sometimes we can come to a conference like this and walk away even more insecure going wow I I will never be able to communicate like him I will never know as much as him I will never have a strategy as good as hers I will never do this like this and what was supposed to encourage us actually goddess been going I'm stupid I'm gonna go be a plumber you know I mean not that you know a please huh plumbers are awesome okay it just you know what I'm saying it's oh man I should have picked something else you know Jesus said I you know one of the verses that that was really sticking in my mind in that passage when I was studying this was in in verse 16 when he says you didn't choose me I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give it to you he says you can choose me I chose you and I appointed you and I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give it to you what so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give it to you it's the wording is very peculiar I mean he's saying okay I appointed you I chose you and and and here's when I chose you for that you would go and bear fruit like fruit that's gonna last so I we can't mess this up I mean God picked us for this team and he said this is what I decided I decided on you and I decided that fruit was going to happen through you because you're gonna bide in me so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give it to you so that the plan was that we would abide in Christ and we would ask him for fruit and God was going to answer that prayer he goes yeah and I'm gonna give you fruit because that's what I chose you for it's gonna happen it's like this guarantee I mean there's this this whole thing it's it's like laid out for us it feels like I don't only have to do a lot verse verse 4 abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me I'm the vine you are the branches look it's a promise whoever whoever that's you that's me whoever abides in me and I in him he it is that bears much fruit that's it can I chose you for this what did I want to God choose us - he chose us to abide and you just stay connected to me it's gonna happen fruit happens you only have to work for it your enemies will be defeated by because I'm your Shepherd just just lay down I got this just stay attached to me and yet our own pride the message is from the world the message is from even other believers can sometimes tear us apart from the vine and get us working and not trusting in that simple faith that's all I love the story we heard from our brother from Cambodia just go man there I was in this concentration camp I was in this prison camp and I just God just told me it is it's I got you I got you this isn't the end for you this isn't the end for you I let me give you dreams let me give you visions let me tell you what's going to happen and then it happens and you get to see it and and we just sit back and we don't we don't praise here we go oh God you told him you did that and then I don't know how much how smart he is I've never taught but I just assumed you know here's a guy that's connected to the vine and all the branches you know he was a branch and all this fruit came out and we just sit and we marvel when we go well that that's that's pretty simple I'm just a sheep I'm just a branch I want to thank some of you because some of you have come up and been so gracious to me during the last couple of days and a couple of you might have been weirded out by my response even like you you told me some very kind words about how some of the things I wrote or said had an impact in your life at a certain point and I just look at you with like shock like what well wait so I wrote but you're at smart people's conference well huh what there's just this shock of minima but but you know what I knew that my life doesn't make sense by any means I was that weird kid I wasn't brilliant I wasn't popular but I believed in this God when I was young man I believed in him I'd read those stories about about David and Goliath and go yeah you know what I could do that I'd read about Daniel in the lion's den ago yeah I believe and then the older you get it's almost like the faith starts dying and dying and dying and you get smarter but you just feel like you know less and you start depending on and striving and striving in that childlike faith just slowly dissipates then every once in a while someone comes up T and said you actually had an impact in my life and you're just like what but I he I'm not I'm not smart enough I'm not strategic enough I'm not this now the other thing and it's just well yeah but you you knew Jesus I look at my life and I go gosh Lord not if it makes sense I couldn't have figured this out it was just from knowing you and following your lead and yet in my stupidity and in my pride I want to take credit and pretend that it was because of how educated I am how strategic I've been and the end of the day no I'm just a dumb sheep that happened to follow the shepherd I'm just a branch that happened to stay connected to the vine see this pressure and expectations they can kill you I don't know what it's like in in Australia but they've been doing all these surveys of pastors in the US and about 60% of them admit that if they could find another job that would pay them an equal amount they would quit today who wants to follow who ain't the world looking on and a go oh I want to follow one of those guys who would quit tomorrow or we're doing something wrong and pastors are feeling insecure feeling like they just don't measure up and they're facing the same depression that the world does they don't have that life to where someone walks in and people can see through things they see when we fake it and I just I don't know what it's like here if there's people here that want to quit because the pressure is just too big and you just don't match up my hero on this earth is a guy in in India who's a pastor who's a leader he really humble guy he was sitting in here you won't even know it might be um he's led about 3 million people to the Lord through his ministry he plants on average 17 churches a day hey just like how's that possible he's got over 50 colleges and these are not like casual believers that prayed a prayer and said I want Jesus to be my friend these are people who literally literally dig their graves sometimes before walking into a city to evangelize okay there's some serious serious following of Christ going on on this earth we may not see it in some of our contexts I'm just saying it's going on but this guy is one of my heroes be because he's just so simple so humble just so connected to the Lord and he called me a couple months ago and he was crying he's crying on the phone to me and was over another pastor in the u.s. of a big Church at another moral failure and and that you know it's just he was crying and I'm going why is this guy crying this happens every day but he's weeping over it I it was not in any judgment or anything because I just don't get it he goes I talked to the pastor's in your country I talked to them and and it just seems like they don't really know Jesus like I walk away going i lord i wish he knew you I wish he really knew you Jesus he goes when they when they talk it he goes they took they know a lot about him and they can tell me all these things about him but it just feels like they talk they they talk about him like like an outsider like an outsider looking in and observing him rather having just been with him and again this was not in a judgmental attitude at all it was in tears hidden he made the same he was I feel like the people in your country are happy to hear from Moses when they can actually walk up the mountain themselves and meet with Almighty God but they're not interested they just want to hear from Moses they want to hear from you Francis they want take a selfie with Moses don't they realize they can come before the burning bush don't they realize they can walk up the mountain and it's just them and God and don't they want to be connected to him directly and know him and he's just crying I'm just listening to these words and going wow I think he's nailed it like sometimes we can get so into people so into Moses and not realize you can walk up that mountain yourself and if we're not careful we can get our sheep and we can get the people to listen to us rather than teaching them no this is no big deal you got to go up the mountain you have got to go up that mountain my life and everything good in this life is because of those times I dared walked up that mountain and came in the presence of God and it was just me and him and he spoke to me he led me through his word I was abiding in him and all this fruit came from it just these times I had with Jesus that's where it was and so now you as you're one of my followers looked as don't don't five got to become less somehow I've got a decrease in your eyes okay and you gotta condemn hell trust me you're not ever gonna want to see me again you'll just want to stay on that mountain with him and be connected to him because he is your Shepherd he's your vine just stay connected to him follow him I've got to keep decreasing I've got to keep decreasing you go go go follow that's why I told my staff and my church I could look all of you leave leave leave leave quit being under me there's something amazing when you just go off on your own and it's you and God was talking another pastor from India and he made this statement I love that this was just like a month or two ago he said because I've been studying movements of God and he says you know how movements start movements of God start when the founder knows Jesus deeply because you know when movements die is when the followers only know the founder wow that's so good and we live in a time where we want to attach ourselves to the founder of ministries it's safe that way I want to attach myself to this scholar I want to attach myself to this man who has a great ministry I don't attach myself to this person and it's not me just walking up Mountain and getting into the presence of God and my question to you today is man when's the last time you seriously just walked up the mountain and it was just you and him and you were connected you were abiding in that vine because I'm telling you that's when the fruits going to come oh you can make disciples without it but the question is is I mean do we really want you making disciples I mean seriously if you're not close to Jesus right now why would we want two of you like what are we reproducing stressed-out sheep branches on their own trying to reproduce and get connected again look we can lose it I'm just I'm just laying it out look I I have grown in my walk with the Lord I really have over the years I have learned a lot of things I believe I've grown in my wisdom but I'm also realistic that while I've grown and been on this trajectory and I've been on this process of sanctification there's also areas that I can look in my life where I've been declining actually such as my faith and it hit me last year Easter last year in Easter I was I was preaching at a new place I was preaching this place called the Hollywood Bowl to a congregation I'd never preached to before and I was very excited because it was Easter and I thought this is great these guys have never heard me I don't have to study I can use an old message you know and so I went through all my Easter messages which are your best ones you know so I looked through all my Easter messages and I got to reading some of the old ones and as I read some of the things I said in the early days I'm in here there were those parts don't go wow that was wrong you know because your theology gets better but but there were some things I read in those early sermons where I go I said that that's really bold I haven't said anything like that in a while and you start realizing I'm going gosh I remember I can remember back men in some of those early days where I would get in front of a crowd and I didn't care what you thought about me I cared about his holiness and I care about his presence in the room and I'm gonna look I don't care if everyone walks out Lord I'm saying it I'm saying it and I'm reading these things going man what happened to me was it all the criticism and all the quizzes I'm pretty soon as you're speaking you're going oh I better say this right because I wonder who's gonna email me back who's going to get mad about how I say this just perfectly and if I say this oh I'm gonna get so many you know emails I won't have time so let me say it like this and and you try you tweak things tweak things tweak things because you're thinking about how people might respond and the preaching you're not even a prophet anymore you're just saying what you think will work rather than what he told you to say and I'm reading this and I'm just going to God what happened to me I've gotten weaker I don't want to get weaker I want to be more courageous as I get older but the worst okay here's the worst part of it I read this one sermon and this just sent me over an edge I read this one sermon it was a sermon of my son was born that week because I wrote out the whole story I mean my son is nine years old now so how long ago was it good job at nine um and and I was describing it because I still remember we you know our oldest daughter was about about ten years old and and we're about ready to go to the hospital and my wife's like should we bring Rachel or old his daughter in psychology like 10 you know and we were debating it like one might be good for her to see you know it might be too much then i Cermak oh no let's bring her let's bring her if she sees childbirth it'll keep her from messing around you know and so we bring her along right and she's going to be there in the delivery room and and I remember the when it came time for my son to be born this I already had three daughters so this was my son and there was something so cool about that moment you know like my son is coming out of the womb and and and I love love love my daughters I'm crazy about my daughters but there was something different about the son as he was coming out I'm just thinking wow we're gonna hunt we're gonna you know kill stuff together this is my my man you know and and I remember the doctor looked at my oldest daughter and says would you like to deliver your little brother and she's like oh I can do that and she's like yeah and she's okay and she puts gloves on my little girl puts a gown on her little goggles and she's there waiting for my son to come out then again she's catching my son tears are coming down her face she's just bawling you know just go home you know and I'm as a dad filled with so much emotion my son and my firstborn daughter and I'm describing this whole story and just that moment in the emotions and I'm reading the sermon that I wrote nine years ago and at the end of it you said as amazing as that was it was nothing compared to my times with Jesus this week I wish you could have been there my intimacy with him I just didn't want to leave him it made the childbirth just pale in comparison and I'm reading that ago and I remember that I remember that I remember just going gosh god I can't believe this I'm in your presence it's you and me I just don't want to leave I don't want to leave this is so good and I'd remember the birth and everything everything pales everything is just you know grow strangely dim in that in that presence and I'm reading it and I'm one god when's the last time I felt like that this is what threw me over the edge I realized I used to love Jesus more than I do right now what the heck am i doing then how did I get that I didn't ever want to make a statement like that but all the pressure the insecurities the lies of trying to match up to this person that person and to answer all of these people and I just forgot to stay connected to him and I heard these words from the Lord from revelation 3 strengthen what remains and is about to die revelation 3 you know you have this great reputation but you're dead but there's something that remains you know strengthen what remains and is about to die I mean I know some of you don't come from more I don't know what you call a charismatic vent where you hear from the Lord and and and and so maybe I didn't hear from the Lord and just the verse popped in my head for some reason um it doesn't matter either way the scripture and we all agree on that and but it was that phrase strengthen what remains and is about to die and actually that was not a word of condemnation when I read it or heard it or thought about it it was this word of encouragement from the Lord from my shepherd strengthen what remains and is about to die it was so encouraging to me because it was just God saying you know what Francis it's still in there I know you love me I know you're my prophet I know you'll say whatever I tell you to say that's still in you it's it remains just just build it back up again and friends as I know you love me I know there isn't anything on that earth you wouldn't give up for me just strengthen that side back up again the last year and a half has been just that for me it's like getting back to that simple faith I'm just getting in front of a crowd and going look okay I'm not going to compete with you I I don't I don't match up to some of you I'll never know as much as you but this isn't a competition I need you I need you to help me I need you to fight for me and argue with some people for me because I can't argue with them I need you in the body and it'd be nice every once in a while if maybe you might say to someone who doesn't have your same gift that you need them also and say you've got a completely different gift and there's just things you could I remember that maybe the only time I ever heard that was from John Piper himself just I loved it because he was like one of my hero I mean still it but he I was just like feeling dumb and going gosh I've read your books and I've tried to write like you I've tried to like one of your sentences I got one I think that is like one of yours it took me all day though and yeah you know and what do you think about this sentence you know and I go I'm trying I'm trying and and Iturbide him looking at me and going maybe you're not supposed to I'm like what and he's like I hear you're real good with the young people and maybe this isn't your calling and maybe you're supposed to just work with the youth and communicate to them in a way that they get it and Wow okay I don't have to be like you I always I cuz I always got the sense like now I gotta match up I got a match up and it was just like no you don't have to you got your gift and my gift there's no competition here we need each other let's work together in the world's looking on and we're just arguing about the dumbest things the dumbest things and some of us don't even know what we're saying when we argue you know we just read it somewhere in a book and we're regurgitating it and and it's like come on what are we doing this was supposed to be simple his yoke was supposed to be easy as burden was supposed to be light we're just supposed to be a bunch of sheep following the Shepherd just connected to the vine and fruits just coming out everywhere we go and and it really is that and I've just seen the more arrogant I get and the more I pretend I'm something I'm not the less fruit that comes out of my life and I just caught myself even before the service prayer been praying so much god I miss the old Francis I miss that stupid kid that just read the Bible loved it looked at his friends loved them tried his best to teach him about Jesus before I became Francis Chan author speaker pastor it's like I miss Francis and I think some of you guys know exactly what I'm talking about there was that old you that was full of faith and you're still recovering from expectations and failures and trying to get back and I'm going let's just lay it all out on the table and let's just abide in him let's get real with one another those of you who are brilliant scholars I praise God for you so grateful that I get to be a part of you and that we're in this thing together and and I hope you see value and some of the things that I do I'm funnier than you I you know I it's just this is lay it all out there we just man the world needs to see like this isn't a competition and we're not just a bunch of insecure people striving to be like one another where's a bunch of sheep so blown away a bunch of branches all connected to the same vine it's simple let's go back to the simplicity

Channel: Crazy Love

Views: 101,082

Rating: 4.8171091 out of 5

Keywords: Francis Chan, sermon, church, GOD, Jesus, Crazy Love, Crazy, Love

Id: Akk6MiuvZWA

Length: 52min 14sec (3134 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 19 2015