everybody was all ready to go back, and so we're going to do it again, so amen. So looking forward to that too, and I want to encourage you, if you thought about going but you didn't go this last time, then come this next time, all right? I promise it's a wonderful trip, and just the Lord really blessed. You will fall in love with the people. You'll fall in love with what God's doing there, and it will change your heart for missions, I promise. So thank the Lord for Brother Harris. I do want to mention this. Out on the table, they have wearable prayer cards. All right? They have ties, and on the back, the ties are made by Stephen Harris. So every time you put on one of those ties, you can pray for Brother Harris and his family. Miss Anna has those back there. And you get a free Tie Perfect with the purchase of every tie, if you act now. I told Anna, though, if no one buys them, she'll have to go hungry tonight. So please, buy a tie, right? No, we're kidding, all right? But they're there, and I do encourage you to stop by that table, amen? And Christmas is coming up, right? Yeah, all right? But those are there, and it would be a great blessing, and I promise it'll remind you. And they're awesome ties, too. So, Brother Harris, you come, preach for us. We love you, sir. We're thankful for you, your family, and are looking forward to tonight. Okay, it's good to be here. 1,003, 1,004, and it's on. Are we on? We're on, I believe. I got a green light. I'm getting a blank look. We're on, okay. It's good to be here, good to be back. This is kind of an unplanned trip, but we were halfway here. We were in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is a thousand miles from here, but we were halfway here. Because of my dad's age at 98, my mom turned 82 today. It's her birthday. Her health's not as great as my dad's, even though my dad's 98, so we needed to take the opportunity to come say hi to mom and dad for a few days. So we were there on Tuesday night, and I stayed through Friday morning, and then we'll go back up on our way out of town tomorrow. Well, it's not kinda, you know, it's not on our way, but we'll go that way to go that way, and say bye to mom and dad with the opportunity God's given us. Thanks for coming, all those that came down. And I'm glad to hear that there's another trip planned. Amen. But let me also say that you don't have to wait on a group to come. If you want to come, just give me a holler, tell pastor, get us in touch somehow, and come on down. We'll meet you in the Tucson area. And depending how you're coming in, pick you up, or if you're driving in, we'll meet you in the Tucson area to get you in, and be happy to have you come down for a few days, a couple hours, whatever you want. It'll all be great. We'll have a good time and you'll enjoy being with us and our people will enjoy having you here. And of course, It's been a real privilege to have one of our people here. I just said hi and thanks for coming and being here. I'll probably be doing that a little bit throughout the whole service tonight. Not word for word translating, but just giving her an idea of where we are. Estoy diciendo que por la noche yo voy a traducir un poco, no completamente, pero a veces para ayudar a usted saber dónde estamos en el mensaje. Muy bien. Okay. And I'll do that too. I'll forget what language I'm in. And you'll know I'm in real trouble if I start speaking zongo. So I do appreciate your prayers, people, a place, and a pastor. And thankfully, we're seeing God give us people. And as Pastor I'm sure has told you, we had Antonio and his family come the last Sunday that the group was with us that Sunday. And they've been faithful. They missed Sunday before last because of sickness. But other than that, boy, they're faithful. They're excited to be with us. And we're excited to have them with us. And it's that a whole new dimension to our our church. And so we thank God for Antonio and his family being with us. And God's given us others, of course, Cheto and Yadira. And she's recuperating and she's getting better and she's starting to come back. And Cheto has been stepping up. And so I really see promising signs of the work of grace in his heart and life. And so I thank God for him and his family and his son. Axel, really for a teenager. uh... that's never been in church not know anything about god really sticks close to me and uh... it's a real blessing i pray that god might uh... just do a work of grace in his heart as well he has made a profession of faith but he would grow pray for their daughter uh... she has not made a profession of faith she does need to be saved the two boys that started the whole deal uh... artist is faithful to Moises and Emiliano uh... just always They're a joy. You can't be around them without forgetting your sorrows and smiling, all right? And they'll see you in town and come up to you and just greet you. And everybody in town knows them. And now everybody in town knows I'm their pastor. And that just really is a blessing. But anyway, so thank you. And God bless you. And come down. And I'm really looking forward to when you come over to New Zealand and see us. And I say that seriously. You know, I am happy to be where I'm at. I'm not trying to leave in that kind of a sense. I just know that my job is to start a church and see God lead a man to take it and move on. I just really feel that God has put in our heart a renewed burden for New Zealand. And I believe God has already opened the door. I just haven't seen it yet. But I believe the door is open. I believe the door has been opened. And I believe that we are to walk by faith towards the will of God. And in due time, God will reveal His will to us as long as we're willing to walk by faith, believing that that's there. And that's not some weird name it, claim it, believe it type thing. That's having been given that by God as right out of His word. That's where it comes from, amen? Right out of the word of God. knowing what God wants and just saying, okay, God, if that's your promise to me, then God cannot break a promise. But anyway, continue to pray that God would give us our people and place in a pastor, and then that in his time, God would reveal his open door to us and when it's God's time the pastor will be there and the place will be there and the people will be there and the open door will be there and however that is that God wants to work it out when it's God's time it'll all just be there and But, you know, I tell myself that. So I'm telling you that. But that's the way it is. And thank God for it. Let's take our Bibles and turn to Luke chapter number 22, if you were with me this evening. Vamos a estar en el libro de Lucas, capítulo 22, hoy tarde. Pero primeramente quiero leer un poco del libro de Juan. But before I read Luke chapter 22, I'm going to read a little passage in the gospel of John as well if you want to stand with me as your custom is in Luke chapter number 22 to read the word of God before I read in the book of Luke let me read to you in the book of John and In John 6, verse 66, the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to his disciples. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? And Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve. Many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him, then said, Jesus, son of the twelve, will ye also go away? Let's take our Bibles and look in the book of Luke where you are in Luke chapter number 22. In verse number 31, the Bible says, estamos en Lucas capítulo 22, el versículo 31 y adelante. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have thee O you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. I want to preach this evening on when thou art converted, the necessity of being converted. Let's pray. God, thank you for the opportunity. Dios damos gracias por la oportunidad de estar aquí, to be here, este tarde, this evening. Lord, speak to our hearts. Dios habla a nuestros corazones. Lord, may we make a conscientious decision right now to shut out the carriers of the world. May we allow the Holy Spirit of God to speak to us. May we be ready to move as we are stirred by the Holy Spirit of God. Listos a ser movidos cuando el Espíritu va a hablar con nosotros. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Pedimos estas cosas en nombre de Cristo Jesús, nuestro Señor y Salvador, our Savior and God. Amen. Puede tomar su lugar. You can have, take a seat. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and with thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. This is a verse that I have on my prayer sheet. I have it next to the names Sarah, Simon, Ezra, Abigail, and Anna, along with the names Matt, Autumn, Hannah, and James. Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you. that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Let me go through this passage this evening, first of all, in a expository manner. And then after I go through it maybe in an expository manner, I'm going to go back and just preach a simple three-point message on the need of conversion. So first of all, let's look at this passage in an expository manner. First of all, let's look at the paragraph, or if you will, the context. In the paragraph, in the passage, if you will, of Luke chapter 22, they're preparing for the feast of the Passover. And Jesus tells Peter and John in verse 8, sent Peter and John saying, go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat. Verse 14, and when the hour was come, he sat down and the 12 apostles with him. And this is the last meal that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to partake of with the disciples before his crucifixion. Verse 22, and truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined, but woe unto him by whom he is betrayed. He's told them, one of you will betray me. Is it I? Is it I? Of course, he spoke of Judas Iscariot. that's the passage and then I want us to notice not only the passage but expository or going through the verse the verses that we're looking at and specifically now concerning verse 31 32 and well the Lord said Simon Simon behold Satan had desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren and we find First of all, the position that Peter held. So we find the paragraph for the passage, and now we find the position. And in verse number 32, he says, I've prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. So the conversion that Paul is talking, that the Lord Jesus Christ is talking about to Peter here is not talking about what we commonly think of when we talk about the word conversion. When we talk about the word conversion, usually we're talking about somebody being saved, but Jesus makes it plain. He's talking to the 12 disciples, and He only told us that only one of them is a devil, not all of them, not some of them, but one of them. And He told us who it was, Judas Iscariot. And then He tells them, but when thou art converted, strengthen, present tense, thy brethren. And so we find that the Lord Jesus Christ here is talking to Peter as a believer. Entonces, en el contexto, hermano, encontramos que está hablando Cristo Jesús acerca de su último cena con los discípulos. Y el segundo punto es la posición de Pedro, que él fue, ya era, él un hermano. Es un discípulo. He's a disciple. And then I want you to notice expositionally again that the Lord made this very personal. He didn't say disciples, disciples, I have prayed for thee, but out of the 11 true disciples, he brought it down to one person, Simon, Simon. We serve a personal God, amen. And I'm so glad we serve a personal God, because I need to hear the Lord every day I get up, Stephen. Some reason when I say that name I can hear my mom. And I can hear the Lord. But sometimes I didn't want to hear that name, Stephen, from my mom. And there's a lot of times that Nobody else hears God say it, but boy, I thought he shouted it from the highest. God makes it personal. Then I want to notice another word in the passage. Number four in our expository looking at this passage of scripture we find the word behold we find a perception what he's going to say starts out by saying take a look at this behold Spanish, I would translate it more. It says, eaqui. We would say in English, here then. Let me show you this. Here then. Simon, Simon, behold. Look. Pay attention. Moving on, we find The passion of Satan. Satan hath desired. Desire speaks of a passion. I don't believe I'm so important that Satan has to come personally visit me, but there is no doubt. If I doubted Satan's desire in my own life, I no longer doubt it because I've seen it in my kid's life. Satan had desired. Satan is real. And he has the desire not to help you in any way. His whole purpose is to destroy your life. In some way, He wants to destroy your life. And make no bones about it, it's ever so deceptive. You'll not find in the Bible where Satan presents himself in all his wickedness. but he'll present himself in something that'll get your interest like a snake that talks or any other way. But his passion is to destroy your life. Behold, Satan hath desired. Then we find the process. Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. Y'all probably don't do a lot of sifting. In Africa, we do a lot of sifting because we had to make our own bread and the bread all had critters in it. And so you had to put the bread out in the sun and then you had to take a sifter and you had to sift out the vermin. Then you'd have flour. Of course, down in Africa and Mexico, we don't call the concrete truck. When we go to make concrete, you go down the riverbed and you get some sand and you take a screener, sifter, and you got to sift it all out. What you do is you shake it. You just keep shaking. Satan have desired to shake you. The pastor preached an excellent message this morning on that. And the answer to being shook is to make sure you have the promise of God's Word. So the process. Now I saw all that Satan had desired to have my kids and I kind of looked at this and I saw the process was probably a process of the sins of the flesh. Because that's where he attacked first. I know how I began to pray for my kids because of the sins of the flesh. But I found out that Satan has a lot more things up his sleeve than just the sins of the flesh. And I've seen him attack my kids through the sins of finances. And chasing a dollar. And falling away from the things that are right for things that are good. I've seen Satan sift my kids through family. I've seen Satan's try to sift my kids through fortune. I don't believe anybody ought to be a bum. I believe if a man doesn't work, he ought not to eat. And I taught my kids to work, and I taught my kids to work hard and do well, and they got it. But I'm afraid Satan used it to sift. to think that it's more important to make a fortune than it is to be found faithful. Satan would like to sift us through flesh, sift us through the finances, sift us through family, sift us through fortune, sift us through fame. Many pastors have no doubt moved without the Spirit of God, just for the sake of a little bit of fame. Satan hath desired to sift thee, the process. Then we find the prayer, where Jesus says to Simon, but I have prayed for thee. I mean, you want somebody to pray for you? but I have prayed for thee." But we have an opportunity in prayer to approach that self-same God. And then we find the pursuit of prayer. He says, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. Paul talking to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter number one, verse number 19, he talks about those who have made shipwreck concerning the faith. Because they have put away the faith, they have made shipwreck. Jesus said to Peter, I've prayed for thee, and here's the pursuit of my prayer, that thy faith Again, we can understand that obviously Peter was a born-again child of God because thy faith fail not. But at the same time we recognize that there's this very profound and powerful reality that my faith can fail. That's why The Bible tells us that if we think we stand, we ought to take heed lest we also fall. And I have seen people fall that just, you know some, some have stood in this bullpen and their faith failed and they made shipwrecks. After 30 some years in the ministry, I remember when people used to say, you know, talk about my dad. He was 36 years in Africa. Man. And now I'm there. Almost. But I've seen people fail. I've seen people fall. I've seen people make shipwreck. So we find the pursuit of the prayer was that thy faith fail not in them. This is what this verse, this part of this verse, Jesus says to Peter, and when thou art converted, doesn't say an if, it says in when. when they aren't converted. We can know when we pray in the Spirit of God. If we ask anything according to His will, He hearth us. And this is the confidence that we have in Him. If He hears us, we have the petition that we desire of Him. The answer is yes. if we know the will of God and we pray accordingly and so we find the positiveness and when thou art converted now Christ's statement in no way determined Peter's outcome We're talking about an omniscient God that knows everything. When they aren't converted, we find His position again, and then we find His purpose. Strengthen thy brethren. Let me review. In this paragraph, the Lord Jesus Christ is getting ready to go to the cross. When he goes to the cross, what happens? All men will forsake him. Peter is going to deny him thrice. We find the position of Peter, one of the eleven, Christ makes it personal, Simon, Simon. Stops and says, behold. Simon, pay attention, look. This is important. I'm showing you something. Be aware. Satan. We find the passion of Satan, Satan hath desired to have thee. The process to sift thee, he's gonna shake you to your bones, to the foundation of your feet. But I've prayed for you. That thy faith fail not. That's what the pursuit of my prayer is all about. I want my kids to succeed in life. I want them to have the best. but above all, that thy faith fail not. The positiveness, and when thou art converted, the purpose strengthen thy brethren. I wanna go back and give you three simple thoughts of this passage this evening. Ahora, hermana, disculpe por no interpretar todo, Vamos a regresar en este pasaje y voy a dar tres puntos. Number one, there is the conversion of salvation or discipleship. Now let me stop. Let's not gloss over that point. Let's not assume that point because I am more and more convinced that there are many in independent Baptist churches. I believe it was Brother Pruitt who said years ago in this very pulpit that he believed that the majority of those in Southern Baptist churches were lost. And I believe he's right. But I'm not talking about Southern Baptist churches. I'm talking about independent Baptist churches and I believe that there is a large number. I don't know about here. I don't believe that about here. But I believe that there are some in this pew tonight who have never been converted to become a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm talking about salvation. Now let me tell you why. Because in independent Baptist churches of America, repentance is not preached because an independent Baptist churches in America repentance is even scoffed at we can land blast the cults, the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses whoever they may be for redefining terms but independent Baptists have been very guilty of redefining what the word repentance means in the Word of God We don't need to redefine it. It's been very well defined by the Word of God. Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ and our Lord Jesus Christ. And if you, tonight, have never repented of you as a sinner, let me say, It's not so much repenting of your sins. Now be careful, I'm not done with that phrase, okay? It's more about you repenting of being a sinner. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we're sinners. And there's a big difference there. And if your profession of faith does not have a point of repentance towards God, there cannot be in reality faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance is what God's Holy Spirit, they say, well, repentance is a work. Exactly, it's the work of the Holy Spirit of God in your life. It's God that draws a person to repentance, and therefore, through repentance, the reality of a need of a Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ. And if your little profession of faith that you had and you made sometime back did not have some caliber of repentance in it, I'm sorry to tell you the truth. I'm happy to tell you the truth. You're not saved. You're a lost and dying Baptist church member sinner. And there's no wonder life's so hard. And I challenge you, behold, take stock. You hear it all the time from this Pope, but it's not the membership of this church that's going to get you to heaven. And as much as we believe in the necessity of being baptized because of your salvation, listen, That does no good if you're not a true born-again child of God. And so first of all there's this conversion of salvation and I want to stop. I want to just stop in the middle of the road here. Stop where everybody doesn't expect it or whatever and don't worry about who's going to pile up behind us. Stop! Stop! because if you've never repented of yourself as a sinner in the eyes of God, you haven't come to the faith that the Bible talks about and your faith is vain and you are yet dead in your sins. And I say that because the majority of independent Baptist, you heard it, the majority of independent Baptist churches that you hear about Do not preach salvation by way of repentance. But Jesus said, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Repentance is crucial towards faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you haven't come to repentance, stop, stop, just stop, just stop, stop, stop. and be saved. You say, Brother Harris, don't you believe a child can get saved? Don't you know my testimony? I was saved at the age of five. There's no doubt in my mind that God touched my soul and saved my soul at the age of five, but I also can remember with a clarity that has not diminished of the conviction of the Holy Spirit of God that my life is a five-year-old. You say, well, what in the world does a five-year-old have to repent of, of being a sinner? The same thing you had to repent of. Oh, I didn't know about all these different sins. And I remember going as a teenager, growing up, I was in Africa and I knew, you know, I knew sins like idol worship and human sacrifices and things like that, but I didn't know some of these sins you have in America. Well, I never, well, I got here and I thought, oh, and I started beginning to doubt and thinking, well, I never knew about that. I didn't need to know about that. All I needed to know was that I was a sinner. He said, well, what in the world did you do as a five-year-old? Well, for one, I killed a man. On October the 19th, 1964, when I became a living being, actually nine months before, Jesus died on the cross for me, and I was guilty of killing him. What else did I have to do to become a sinner? Oh, I can give you examples. You know, I was convicted of stealing cookies and I was convicted of hitting my brother and convicted that I ought to hit him some more. Because the Bible says a brother is born for adversity. I was convicted of... I know you all We'll find this hard to believe. Mom and Dad Wilson will vouch for me. Although you'll find it hard to believe. I was a conniving little booger. I loved to throw the blame my brother's way. Watch him pay. Act like I was the innocent one. I'm five years old. God said, you're a sinner. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. And be converted. But your sins may be blotted out. There's the conversion of salvation or being a disciple. Number two, in the conversion that the Lord Jesus Christ is talking to Peter here, Simon, Simon, Behold, is the conversion of a decision, instead of discipleship, a conversion of separation, not salvation. God has called each and every child of God to be converted, be separated. Simon goes on and he says, Lord, I'll die for you. Verse 33, Simon said unto Jesus, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both in the prison and to the death. Jesus says, well, Simon, I hate to tell you this, but this day the cock shall not crow this day before thou hast denied thrice. they'll know it's me but when they aren't converted Jesus is saying Simon I'm not talking about being saved you're already thy brethren but you've not been converted from just becoming a disciple to having made that decision but he's going to make it here in a couple of days he wept bitterly and he was converted so I fear that there's too many that are not converted we're talking salvation but then there's a great majority who have A bona fide testimony of salvation. But sadly, they have never been converted. In this decision, in this separation, completely under the Savior. We practice a form of Christian situation ethics. It's like somebody coming to, somebody who's in financial trouble comes to a financial consultant, somebody that's a top-notch, world-renowned financial consultant. He gets an opportunity to come freely. First of all, he comes, but he doesn't bring all of the data. Well, I won't tell him about this problem. He can't help you. If you're not willing to bring all the information and lay it on the table and say this is... He already knows you're in trouble. Why are you trying to hide? And God already knows you're in trouble. Why are you trying to hide from Him? And then the financial consultant says to him, I believe I can help you. In fact, I know I can help you. But I have a question for you. Would you be willing to do one thing? To which the client says, well, he just answered the question. I don't know. Tell me what it is. You've answered the question. And that's how most of us walk our Christian life. God knows all about all of our life, and yet we try to bring Him just, you know, the nicer parts of our life, and we add a little bit of the bad parts of our life so, you know, it looks like we're being honest, but we're not being honest. God says, just lay it out there. And then God asks a simple question, would you be willing to do whatever it is I tell you? And our answer is, well, tell me and I'll give you my answer. You done did. Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have thee that he may sift thee, but I have prayed for thee. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. There's the conversion of a decision, conversion of just separating myself to God and saying, God, I have decided, we sing it, to follow Jesus. Well, which way is he gonna lead me? Doesn't matter. What's he gonna do with my life? make a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto him, which is your reasonable service. Simon. Simon. Satan hath desired to have thee. Then number three. There is the conversion of salvation. Stop. Don't gloss over that. Don't jump it again. The Holy Spirit dealing with you right now. You know you need to get saved. Jump right now. Last Wednesday a week ago, I was in a missions conference, and I was sitting, oh, a couple, three rows back, and then, what is it? Yeah, on that side of the church, by the middle row. I heard a couple things the preacher was saying, but in reality I couldn't hear him because the Holy Spirit was shouting at me. And I, you know, boy, I thank God. God got a hold of me hard enough that I had to leave my pew before they ever offered an invitation time. Crying so hard I was shaking. Man, I had every excuse to the Holy Spirit saying, you know, I'll wait till the invitation because, you know, I want to make a scene and I don't want to cause problems. And God said, well, do it discreetly then. But just do it. I thought, man, I preach this to everybody else. I guess I better do it. I came down, and the first thing the preacher was preaching was the missionary, and I knew he's like, what's Brother Harris doing? Because I'm now one of the older guys. So first, he thought I was going out. There's a middle way to get out of the building. He thought, well, he's going out. Because I was sitting right there, and I went out that way. But no, I was just coming down here. So then he's kind of watching me come down. Like, am I going to walk up the pulpit or something? I'm just trying to hide myself over here so I don't interrupt everybody else. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. And if you don't know that you're a born-again child of God, just forget about that thing called invitation time. It doesn't matter, man. Just get up right now and say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, and be saved. Then we're talking about conversion, what text, the context is talking about of that decision in life nothing else matters I'm gonna separate myself to God and let God take control a man can receive nothing except that be given him from heaven So that's an interesting saying. I'm just quoting a Bible verse. Do you believe that? Then why in the world are you trying to get it yourself? Why don't we just let God do it? And then number three, and I'm done. Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, number three, strengthen thy brethren. There is a conversion of destiny. There is a conversion of service. But when thou art converted, get busy. What busy does God want us to be? Strengthen thy brethren. There's a conversion of salvation. Stop. Start there. I don't care how many bases you run and how fast you ran the bases. If you didn't touch first, you're out. Did you see me run them bases? Man, they couldn't even catch my dust. But you're out. I can't be out. I hit that ball out of the ballpark and I ran them bases like there was no tomorrow. You never touch first. There's a conversion of separation, just this determination. I will serve God. Then there's a conversion of service. You're not your own. You're bought with the price. Therefore, glorify God. And I am sadly aware that too many have not been converted and not even saved. Will ye also go away? The devil doesn't have a hard time sifting because there's no foundation. So a little bit of finances get thrown their way. The devil has an amazing way of knowing what you want. Back in the day when I went to Peoria, I got a job and then I got a second job. I made $3.25 an hour. And I was making more than that when I worked and lived here with the Wilsons. Valley Machine Tool has been a help to a lot of people in this church for a lot of years, praise the Lord. I went and I got a job for 325. And I tried to get a better job. I really did. And I had my application. I don't know how many places. And I was in Peoria for two years. The week I graduated, I got a call from a company saying, you put in an application for our place of business several years ago. Then they didn't ask me if I was still interested in the job. They knew. I wasn't going to refuse this job. It was a tire service company and they were going to give me my own truck to go out and do tire service. They were going to pay me $17.25 an hour when I was making 3.25. So when can you start? I said, well, I'm sorry. But I'm leaving town on Thursday, because I graduate on Wednesday. Well, what are you going to do? I'm going back to Ohio. What kind of job do you have there? Oh, I don't have a job. But God called me to preach. Oh, we're Christians here, and we can work that in your schedule. And you can serve God in Peoria. Very true, Peoria needed the gospel. I'd been serving God in Peoria. But wasn't it amazing that the very week that I was graduating that all of a sudden this job for $17.25 or whatever it was came up when I was making $3.25 trying to get through college and all of a sudden I get this job and God, the devil just saying, you know, hey, come over here and help us. Satan has the desire to sift you. Salvation and separation. Just determine. Just make a decision. Nope. And then, be converted. To realize, I'm not talking about being a missionary, being a pastor, being in full-time ministry of some sort or some... No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the conversion of service. To recognize that the purpose of God in your life is to serve Him. It's not to make money. It's not. It's to serve God. God will give you the money. Pastor mentioned the offering you're going to take. I don't know what's coming down the road but My kids, when they were younger, we didn't have anything and we sacrificed. Some of you'll never know. My kids can tell you. Anna can't tell you. She don't have a clue. She says, Dad, I want. Yeah, no problem. We even go to Starbucks for her. I wrote my notes on an envelope. Not because I don't have paper. I just used every scrap I got. I got two checks in here. $4,000 right here. You say, what are you saying that for? I don't know how to spend money. I'm honest. I got things I want to buy, and God won't let me buy them. I got things I'm praying for. I've been praying for a couple years for a couple things that I... One of them cost 150 bucks. 150 bucks! I keep saying, God, I can spend 150 bucks. And God says, no. Why don't you wait for me to supply it? But God, I got 150 bucks. And I can go out tomorrow and buy it. But no, I'd rather be converted. And I've determined that, okay, Lord, tell you what I'll do. I'll wait on you. And then when you give me that, I know where my 150 bucks is going, because probably another missionary needs something. I don't need to spend the money. And God just says, well, here's some more money. It's like, what good does the money do me? Just let God take care of it. Just be converted. And just say, God, my all is in your hands. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have thee, that he may sift thee. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, get to work.