Signs of the Time | Sunday, October 4, 2026

Good morning, Cross Connection. You can have a seat. It’s truly a blessing to be with you this morning. If you’re new to the church in the last three weeks, you may wonder who I am. I’m Miles, the pastor of the church here. I am grateful for our team, as I’ve shared many times before.

I want to say, before we get into the text of Scripture today, that my message will be a little bit different than usual. I once heard a story about a Puritan preacher who, in his morning message, reached a point where he said, "And now, 26thly," his 26th point in the message. In the evening message, he told the church, "Since my morning message had 26 points, this evening's message will be entirely pointless." Normally, if you’re here at Cross Connection, I have points I put up on the screens, but I’m not going to do that today because the message I have is a little different than usual.

I want to express my gratitude to our team, as I always do when I’m out of the pulpit. Pastor Jason and Pastor Garrett both delivered great messages while I was gone. Last Sunday, I was able to be here for Pastor Garrett’s second message in the previous section of Luke that we’re going to be advancing from today. It was a great message, and I was encouraged and challenged. I’m sure many of you were as well. Pastor Garrett talked about being ready, being faithful, and being accountable. Such important points! He said, "Readiness is not knowing when Jesus will return; it’s living as if He will return today." I think that’s a really good point.

He finished last week by challenging and encouraging us to pray a prayer, saying, "Would you awaken us? Would you shake us awake?" I don’t know if any of you prayed that. I was certainly challenged by it because of the context of some of the things I’ll share with you this morning. It’s not easy to pray that prayer: "God, will you shake us awake?" Jesus doesn’t even take a breath in this passage before He comes to the next text, which is kind of like a shaking text that we’re going to see. This isn’t just the one we’ll look at this week, but also the text we’re going to go into next week.

Before we read the text, I want to take you back a number of years ago—18 years ago, in fact—to a phone call that I received almost 18 years ago to the day. My wife and I, in 2007, were looking for a home. Maybe you remember the...

The housing market in 2005 and 2006 was going stratospheric. We got married in 2006, and we had a whole bunch of people giving us counsel. They said we needed to buy a house and get into the market. So, we started looking at houses. At that time, all we could afford was a double-wide trailer, or do you remember when they were turning apartments into condos? They would put in new counters and say, "It's a condo, and you can buy it for $280,000." We decided we weren't going to do that.

My parents were working in Phoenix, so we stayed at their home and saved our money. By the end of 2007, we started looking at homes, and this was when the market was starting to downturn a little bit. There were concerns about what was happening. We looked at dozens of homes, many of which were short sales. It was crazy. We would go into some homes, and one of them we visited had all the appliances taken out by the previous owner. They even took the air conditioning unit, which is essential today.

I'll never forget one home where they took the windows. Who takes the windows of a home? You would be buying this short sale and then need to purchase all new appliances and windows. We looked at dozens of houses and put in numerous offers. In April of 2008, I became the pastor of this church, and we had a pressing matter that pushed us to find a home because Andrew was pregnant with our first child, Ethan, who is going to be 18 this month. That kind of freaks me out; this was 18 years ago.

Finally, in September of 2008, we found a home and put in an offer. The offer was accepted, and it was a short sale. They told us it would be a quick process with a 30-day escrow. I'll never forget October 1st, my wife's birthday in 2008. We went and signed the escrow documents at an office off Loma Santa Fe in Solana Beach. The loan was set to fund and close the following Monday.

However, we received an early morning phone call on Friday, October 3rd. They said, "If you don't get to Los Angeles and sign the loan documents by 5:00..."

Today, the loan will not fund, and you will not get this house. So we jumped in the car and drove to Countrywide Mortgage in Los Angeles to sign loan documents. It was the first time I remember hearing the term "time is of the essence," which some of you in that industry know means you have until the end of the day to complete this. We went up and we funded.

While we were driving to Los Angeles that day, it may still stick in some of your minds because that was Friday, October 3rd, the day the market crashed and started the global financial crisis. The market dropped 777 points, which seemed interesting at the time. The following week began all the bailouts, and Countrywide went out of business, along with Lehman Brothers and all that sort of stuff. Despite this, we were able to move into the house, and Ethan was born at the end of October.

That phrase "time is of the essence" reflects the sense in which Jesus is speaking in this passage in Luke chapter 12. I've told you previously that Luke chapter 12 is a pivot point in the Gospel, where the mood and sense of Christ change because time is of the essence. He is preparing his followers and the multitudes for what is coming.

If you have your Bible, would you open to Luke 12, the last section? I'm going to ask you to stand, and we will read the whole section together. Pardon me. Luke 12, beginning at verse 49. Let's stand together. Jesus has basically just told the disciples, "Be awake. Wake up." Then He says, "I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished."

Do you suppose that I came to bring peace on the earth? Well, yes, Jesus is the Prince of Peace, right? Of course, He came to bring peace on the earth. I tell you, not at all. This doesn't sound like the Jesus I normally think of, but rather division. From now on, five in one house will be divided: three against two and two against three. Father will be divided against son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. That's not abnormal.

Her mother-in-law. Then he also said to the multitudes, "Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say a shower is coming, and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say there will be hot weather." And there is. Hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it that you do not discern this time?

God, I pray that you would give wisdom to us and clarity as we consider this text. Help us not only to know what the text says, but what Your Spirit says to us individually and as a church. Open our ears to receive from You. We pray for this in Jesus' name. All those that agreed said, "Amen." Amen. You can be seated.

There's a corresponding passage to this in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 16, where Jesus is saying something very similar. He says, "In the morning, it'll be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening. Hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs." Note that: the signs of the times.

It's a fascinating season. How many of you have been at least a little bit surprised and distressed by how hot it has been lately? Anybody? My air conditioning has been running nonstop, every day. I'm terribly afraid to look at the SDG&E true-up bill. I have solar on my house, which means we have a true-up bill in January, and I'm like, "Oh great, I better start saving now or auction off something at my house to try to pay for it."

I'm even a little bit more distressed because our home was built 25 to 30 years ago, and I'm noticing that several of my neighbors have been putting in new AC units. So, it's like, "Oh, well, mine's probably next to go." They always quit when it's 106 degrees outside, right? Then you call the AC people, and they say, "We can get you in in 12 weeks." Well, that's not going to work. But it's hot.

And why is it hot? Well, if you've been paying attention to the news, you know that the surface temperatures of the water in the Pacific Ocean have been elevated for months, indicating that we are entering...

What does an El Niño mean? It means we have a hot summer and a very wet winter. We've experienced this before. I remember when I was a kid attending this church in 1997. We had an El Niño, and they were building this building. I'll never forget that we had all the footings out here, and we were preparing for a footings inspection. However, it was raining like crazy. I remember being out there as a 17-year-old with the pastors on staff, using big sponges to get all the water out of the footings so they could come and do the inspection.

We've known for a while that this weather condition is coming. We know how to discern the face of the sky, but Jesus's question here is really appropriate: Can we discern the signs of the times? Signs are really important. In fact, I have a sign here I want to show you.

What does this sign say? Do any of you read Arabic? I'm impressed. How about this next one? What does it say? Some of you speak Spanish, so you know what that says. Now, how about the next one? What does it say? You speak Turkish? I didn't know you were so multilingual; that's awesome.

It's not that you read what those signs say; you know the signs. For example, a red octagonal sign with bold white writing means what? All of you know how to discern that sign. Yet, every single one of you doesn't obey it. I know this because we live in California, where we have a stop named after us: the California stop. How many of you have gotten a ticket for a rolling stop? Be honest. There are always a few. Look at you! My wife won't raise her hand, but her first ticket was for a rolling stop. We've all been guilty of that.

It's funny; I have a car that has full self-driving capabilities. It comes to a full and complete stop at every stop sign, and it drives my family crazy. I've gotten used to it now. I'm kind of like, "I'll just let it do its thing; it's going to stop." But that's the only thing that stops at the stop sign.

So, you know how to discern the signs, but you don't obey them. Every single one of us here this morning is guilty of that, and I am guilty of that too. Jesus says, "Hypocrites."

You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it that you do not discern the time? Yes. And why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right?

Now, I'm here this morning against counsel from some mentors and friends. Maybe I shouldn't be here, but I'm here to confess that I don't always obey the signs. For several years, the Lord has been giving me a sign, which is kind of like that red octagonal sign saying "stop." I've just rolled right through. A little more than a week ago, the Lord stopped me and didn't let me roll right through. He basically said to me, "Hypocrite, you are not discerning the sign. I'm trying to get your attention."

So, I'm here today because I have to discern the sign and share with you what the Lord has been speaking to me for more than five years, and I haven't been really paying attention. It took a trip a little more than a week ago in the back of an ambulance to say to me, "You need to discern the sign." If anything, I'm here today to confess that I have a really thick head.

Does anyone else join me in this? Thank you. It's all men who raised their hands, and all the wives are like, "See, I told you."

I want to back up a little bit to give you some context. I grew up at this church, and I can remember as a teenager learning from the pastors who were part of this church. I looked up to them, and they had a certain philosophy about ministry, which is connected to a passage of Scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter 16. Paul talks about the household of Stephanas and says that the members of the household of Stephanas were to be commended because, in the King James Version, it says they "addicted themselves to the ministry." That was put forward as what you ought to do: you need to addict yourselves to the ministry.

The philosophy I was trained under by my pastors growing up here was this simple saying, and maybe you grew up under this as well. Perhaps you heard it before: "See a need and fill it." God has given you gifts and talents.

Abilities, experience, and training are important. You should take that and see a need. If you see a need, maybe you're the only one who sees it, and you should fill it. That was what I was trained under. I would read Paul's words in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, where he speaks about all the apostles. This is the most audacious, bold statement in the Bible. Paul talks about Peter, James, John, Bartholomew, and Thomas. Then he says, "I labored more abundantly than they all. I worked harder than them." Can you imagine saying that?

You might remember the movie The Princess Bride. There's a great scene where that little Sicilian guy says, "Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line." He talks to the man with the black mask about how smart he is and says, "You ever heard of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle? Morons." This is Paul saying the same thing. "You ever heard of Peter, Bartholomew, Thomas? Lazy sluggers." That's basically what he says. I would read that and think, "I labored more abundantly than they all. See a need and fill it." That was how I came into the ministry—seeing a need and filling it.

Over the last 27 years of ministry, I added to that other philosophical ideas that I would share when teaching classes on pastoral ministry or church planting, which I taught for almost two decades at Chapel Bible College. I would tell people that decisions are made by those who show up. Young men would come to me and say, "I want to go into the ministry. What should I do?" I would respond, "Show up here Sunday morning at 6:00 a.m. and follow Pastor Mark, Pastor Jason, or Pastor Nick. Just show up, because decisions are made by those who show up."

After that, I would tell them that responsibility is given to those who show up, and authority flows to those who take responsibility. If you take responsibility for something, you will receive the authority for that. Eventually, you end up being a servant of the Lord. That's exactly how every one of the pastors on our team became part of our team. They showed up and took responsibility for things. I don't think that any of that is necessarily false, but it can lead to becoming addicted to the ministry and not paying attention to signs.

Just kind of blowing through them, the Lord had to say, "Hypocrite." God called me. I started out here seeing a need and filling it. The need that I filled was that I taught myself how to code HTML and CSS when I was 16. They needed a website, so I built the website, which led to me being an intern. Being an intern here eventually led to me becoming a youth pastor and taking on various roles over time.

In January of 1999, God spoke to me when I was asked to teach the junior high ministry. My first impulse was no, but of course, I had to do the spiritual thing, so I said I would pray about it. I did pray about it, and that night, God spoke to me from my devotions in Ephesians chapter 4. The passage says that He gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the equipping of the saints. God ministered to me, saying, "I've called you to equip the saints."

To be honest, one of the things I sometimes fail to recognize is that equipping the saints is for the work of the ministry and for the building up of the body of Christ, as the whole passage states. God also spoke to me in my devotions from 1 Samuel 12, verse 23, where it says, "Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and the right way."

So, God called me into the ministry at 19 here at this church, saying, "I've called you to equip the saints, to teach and preach my word, and to pray for the congregation." For more than 25 years, that is exactly what I have done. I have seen a need and filled it. Anytime there is a need or an opportunity, or someone asks, "Can you help us?" my answer is yes, because I don't know how to say no. Is there anyone here who doesn't know how to say no?

This led me into youth ministry and eventually to moving to Germany in 2004 and 2005 to work with David Guzik and teach at a Bible school there. In 2008, I became the pastor here. Beyond that, after 9/11, I met a friend who became a mentor of mine. He is a bit older than me, but Mickey Stoneier, who pastors at the Rock Church in San Diego with Miles McPherson, became a mentor. He suggested that I should become a chaplain. I replied, "I don't even know what that means," since I was 21 or 22 at the time.

He encouraged me to take classes at the Red Cross and volunteer as a Red Cross chaplain. I saw a need and filled it, becoming a Red Cross chaplain. This opened the door to becoming the Escondido Fire Department chaplain, which then led to becoming a chaplain with the Office of Emergency Services in San Diego. All along the way, it was about recognizing a need or an opportunity and filling it.

You step in and you do it for no pay. All these things were volunteer positions. I was just like, "Lord, what do you want me to do?" Then I became the pastor of the church. As I started to look at the larger movement that we were a part of within Calvary Chapel, I noticed that there were a lot of gaps.

Our team here felt that we could help with this, even though we were a relatively small church in the larger organization called Calvary Chapel. So, we started a program called Calvary Admin Services to help churches with administration because they weren't very good at that. I also noted that a lot of pastors didn't have a plan for the future. Planning for the future in Calvary Chapel for a long time was focused on the rapture, which is not a good plan. As a result, they didn't have retirement plans, so we started the Calvary Retirement Plan.

A friend of mine, who was a part of the church at that time and was a teacher, said, "Hey, there's this really cool thing we can do with online education." So, we started Calvary Online School. Our church initiated all these programs: Calvary Retirement, Calvary Admin Services, and Calvary Online School. Then, I started a church planting network with some friends called the Calvary Church Planting Network. Doors just kept opening with all these different opportunities.

My friend David Guzik, who I worked with at the Bible college, came to me and said, "I need to remake my website. Can you help me with that?" I replied, "Yes, I know how to make websites." In 2014, we started EnduringWord.com as its own nonprofit. In 2015, I built EnduringWord.com and began to see how God was using that. I became the technical director and a board member with Enduring Word. This opened the door for Blue Letter Bible to reach out to me. They had an amazing website and asked, "Will you be on our board and help us?" I said, "Sure." You just always say yes because that's what you do.

Then my mentor said, "You should go do your education." So, my wife and I both enrolled to pursue our master's degrees—she in nursing and I in Master of Divinity—in 2018. After that, the door opened for me to pursue a Doctor of Ministry. While I was in the middle of my Doctor of Ministry, my doctoral adviser said to me, "You should become my PhD student." I thought that sounded great, even though it made my wife cry. But I said yes.

All along the way, I just kept saying yes. In the midst of it all, especially during COVID, it was a very challenging period of time. My wife was working in the critical care unit, and if you know anything about COVID, that was a crisis time. There were times when she would work ten back-to-back 12-hour shifts.

Without a break, she would call me coming home, crying because they saw the third person die that day and they couldn't see their family members. She would hold an iPad so that they could say goodbye. The church world got crazy. Nick and I would stand in here with nobody present and record the messages on video, just going and going.

While we were doing this, we had four kids who are now teenagers, each involved in different activities. What I've discovered in the last ten years is that I effectively work, even though my paid vocation is here, like I have four full-time jobs. They just keep going and going. All the while, the Lord kept flashing this sign. It was very clear in 2022. I just rolled right through the California stuff, but it all came to a head in the last nine weeks, or really less than that.

On August 31st, I started feeling sick. I was scheduled to speak at a conference, and it turns out I had COVID. I was able to get through the last six years without getting COVID until that date. I spoke at this conference to a group of pastors about very much the same things I'm discussing with you now. It was a little bit ironic. A few days later, Andre and I got on a plane to fly to a trip we had been planning for two years, leading a whole bunch of people on a tour with Enduring Word. Most people think, "Oh, Miles, you're on vacation." No, not when you're leading 104 people on a trip. That's a full-time job.

We thought we would fly over three days early because we were celebrating our 20th anniversary and wanted some time for ourselves. So, we left San Diego on September 6th and flew to Heathrow Airport. I don't know if you saw on the news, but the entire air traffic control system at Heathrow Airport and throughout England went down on the day we arrived, turning our trip upside down. We had to sleep on the floor in Heathrow Airport, and the flight they rescheduled us for got canceled at 3:00 in the morning.

We planned train tickets to take the train to Paris to get on a plane to Barcelona to start this trip. That was how our journey began. I was dealing with COVID while walking through all this. It was like, well, you're the leader; you have all these people with you, so you just have to keep going. Once we got on the cruise ship, I couldn't tell them that I had COVID because you know what they do if they find out? They put you in your room and quarantine you. I thought, well, we won't...

Tell them that. I sleep next to a nurse practitioner, so if I'm sick, I figure she can take care of me. We'll just be fine.

We flew home at the end of that week, a week ago Thursday. Then I had a conference on AI in Los Angeles on Friday, so I drove up to LA. When I came home, we had what turned out to be a relatively small thing.

Now listen, I've been trained in critical incident stress and cumulative stress to deal with firefighters and EMS workers when they're going through stressful situations. I know how to identify stress in others, and I'm pretty good at assessing when a relatively small, stress-inducing event creates an overreaction of a stress response. If you're not managing stress well, it can lead to significant issues.

A relatively small thing happened on Friday evening, and I had an overreactive stress response. In the middle of it, I realized I had never experienced this before, but I think I'm having a panic attack. I went and laid in my bed. I've been alongside people having panic attacks before, so I figured I should start regulating my breathing. I could do five-finger breathing or box breathing, whatever breathing technique works. I focused on my breathing to try to calm down.

After it leveled off, I texted my wife and asked her to come upstairs. When she came up, I confessed something to her. This is the first time I've said this in five years, genuinely: "Will you pray for me?" She prayed for me, and as soon as she said amen, I felt this wave of energy go through my body. It felt like I got hit by a baseball in my collarbone, and I got a cramp there. My heart started racing, and I thought to myself, I think this is a panic attack, but it might be worse. If my wife has to do cardiac compressions on the floor while my kids are watching, I'm going to feel like an idiot.

Then I did something I'm not really good at: I asked for help. I said, "I think you should call 911." She was amazingly calm because she's a critical care nurse. She called 911, and in my mind, I was thinking, I'm not just calling 911; I'm calling a group of people who know me.

Humbling. I went and sat down downstairs, and the first people who came through the door were two young EMT paramedics from the Esto Fire Department. I didn't recognize them, and they didn't recognize me because one of them had just joined the staff in the last month. They were looking at a 46-year-old male with chest pains, and they were doing their whole job.

The next person through the door was one of my closest friends in the department. He's a captain for the fire department and the head of our peer support. We work together in peer support, and he is the strongest Catholic I know. Awesome guy, Dominic Pledo. He walked through the door, looked at me, and said, "Dude, what are we doing here?" I replied, "Well, we're probably going to the hospital." The paramedic then said, "Sir," now realizing that I work for the department, "your blood pressure is 220 over 110. I recommend you go to the hospital." I said, "Okay, let's go to the hospital."

I got to see Palomar Medical Center from a perspective I'd never seen before. I knew going there that this was going to be an eight-hour ordeal, and it turned out to be just that. They ran all the blood tests, and thankfully, I did not have a heart attack. They were concerned because I had been flying the day before, and they thought I might have a pulmonary embolism. They wanted to do a CT with contrast, but they ruled that out, thank God. It was what they call a hypertensive crisis, maybe a panic attack—probably a panic attack.

In the midst of all this, the Lord was speaking to me, saying, "You don't know how to ask for help." And I don't. I just keep going and going. I married someone who's my rival; she's just like that too. She keeps going and going. We both work multiple jobs. She manages the lung cancer screening program at Scripps, but she also has a second business and job beyond that. We both have this tendency because we don't know how to say no and we don't know how to rest.

I'm confessing to you that whole thing; it's called the Fourth Commandment, which says, "Six days shall you work, but the seventh is a day of rest." I know nothing of that. I have to learn that one.

So, you may ask, "Why are you here this morning?" I'm here this morning to say two things: I need prayer, and I need your help.

Because God has called me and us to a grand work, I want to share something that many of you may not know. I am not just the pastor of Cross Connection Church; I have a much larger ministry that God has called me to, which often blows my mind. This includes my work with Enduring Word and Blue Letter Bible.

To give you an example, I want to show you a picture from our website at Enduring Word. We recently built a map that illustrates our reach. This morning, at 7:20, there were 4,800 people doing their devotions on Enduring Word's website from 319 cities in 47 countries. The incredible thing is that every morning, between 6 AM and 7 AM, we have about 5,000 users per second engaging in their daily devotions. This is part of our mission. I built this platform to help us reach more people through Blue Letter Bible and Enduring Word.

Additionally, my work in artificial intelligence has opened doors for me to speak with some of the largest church pastors in America about how we, as the church, Christians, and pastors, should think about AI. A few weeks ago, in February, I spoke to a group of about ten pastors who represent churches with a combined total of 180,000 congregants each weekend. They reached out to me, asking, "How should we talk to our church about the concerns surrounding AI? Has anyone seen the fear about AI in the news recently?"

I feel the need to clarify that I am not only called to this church. I am not leaving; I know some people may wonder about that. God's call for me is here, and I am a local church guy. However, I need you to recognize that the calling God has given—not just to me but to our team—is bigger than this local congregation.

That is why Pastor Mark serves as a chaplain with the San Marcos Fire Department, and Pastor Nick and Pastor Garrett are chaplains with the Escondido Police Department. Pastor Jason is coaching with Play as One. God has called us to reach the community. Even though we are a church of about 800 people, if everyone showed up—which would be a miracle—our mission extends far beyond our local gathering.

We punch way above our weight class because of what God has called us to do. Much of that comes from the fact that our entire team was raised under this idea: see a need and fill it. With the urging and blessing of our elder board here, I need to tell you that means you're not going to see me every Sunday. I'm not leaving; this is my primary calling to equip the saints. However, I need to remind myself that it is to equip the saints— you—for the work of the ministry, which is much bigger than just me.

I have this terrible tendency to try to do it on my own. I passed this tendency on to my daughter, who used to say, "I do it all by myself." Some of you have seen the video; it was great. I had this realization on Wednesday of last week. It's a hard one for me, but it goes something like this: I'm going to preach less so that I can reach more. I just need you to recognize that.

So, what does that mean? It means you're going to hear from our team more, and that's a good thing because we have an awesome team who are anointed. One of the things that distresses me, and I want to share something that weighs heavy on me, is that every week we get phone calls, especially on Sundays, asking, "Is Pastor Miles preaching today?" I love Pastor Jason's response to this. Every time someone asks, he says, "The Holy Spirit will be speaking today."

However, the distressing thing to me is that if they say, "Oh no, Pastor Garrett's teaching or Pastor Jason's teaching," people opt not to come. That is so carnal. Paul spoke against this in Corinthians when he said, "Are you not carnal in this?" When you say, "I'm of Paul, and I'm of Apollos, and I'm of Cephas," you're being carnal. You need to grow up and repent; that's not what God has called us to.

So, next week, someone else might preach. It might not be me; I don't know yet. We haven't decided who is going to preach yet. But I'll tell you this: God said in Jeremiah 3:15, "I will give you shepherds according to my heart who will feed you knowledge and understanding." That's what you have here—shepherds who will feed you.

In 1 Peter 5, Peter says, "The elders who are among you," referring to our pastoral staff, our team. He exhorts, "I also am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed." He instructs us to shepherd the flock of God. That's what our team does: they shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly; not for dishonest gain, but eagerly; not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but as examples to the flock.

You have shepherds here: Pastor Mark, Pastor Jason, Garrett, Nick, Anthony, and our whole team. They do this willingly and eagerly, serving as examples as they preach the Word. I want to challenge you and encourage you to recognize that.

I realize I probably shouldn't say this, but I will. We received an anonymous prayer card or comment card a couple of months ago. It said something like this: "We've been here for three years, and Pastor Miles only preaches about 50% of the time, and the other guys are not anointed." Let me just tell you, that's called diabolical, which comes from the Greek "diabos," the word translated as devil. It is the accuser of the brethren. I don't say this to hurt you; I don't even know who you are. You know who you are. But if that was you, repent. It indicates a wrong heart and carnality. It shows that you need to grow up because Garrett's message last week was anointed, and the week before was anointed, and Jason's message was anointed because God is there where His Word is preached.

This brings me to my final exhortations and requests this weekend. The first one is very simple: pray for us. Pray for me. Pray for my wife. Pray for our family. Pray for our pastoral team. Our pastoral team is going through a lot. Pastor Mark and his wife have been walking through his wife's terminal cancer for the last two years. I am grateful for the way you have supported them through that, but we need continued support in that. Paul, in 1...

Thessalonians 5 says, "Brethren, pray for us." It's a simple verse. He says it again in 2 Thessalonians 3: "Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified just as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for not all have the faith."

So the first point is to pray for us. The second is to help us. We need your help, and there are so many needs. Since COVID, we have never had enough people to serve in our children's ministry, in our hospitality ministry, and in all the different areas of ministry here. God wants us to reach more people in this community, but we cannot do it with the team that we have. We need your help.

I am saying we are equipping you, the saints. If you receive the word, you should also give that out to others. It's a reality after COVID, and we just looked at the numbers a few weeks ago. Fifty-six percent of the families in our church come less than one time a month.

Now, I want to say to you, if that is you, you will experience a family crisis, and you have brought it upon yourself because you have not engaged with the body of Christ. Know this: when you have a family crisis and you call the church, these pastors will show up even if you've only been here eleven times in a year. However, you need to recognize that being infrequent in your gathering together with the body of Christ and the saints is the fastest way to a family crisis.

In 2022, I first really hit a stop sign where the Lord was trying to speak to me, and I blew right through it. During a four-month period of time, as I was writing in my journal, the verse that came up most frequently in my discouragement was Galatians 4, where it says, "I am afraid that I've labored in vain." That's what it felt like.

It wasn't until I was at a conference at the beginning of September that another person shared a passage of Scripture where the Lord spoke against that feeling in my heart. It's the passage I want to end with this morning, and it just so happens to be from my favorite chapter of the Bible, Philippians chapter 2.

It's an exhortation for this church. As Jesus says in Revelation 2 and 3, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church."

As I read these words, Paul says, "Fulfill my joy by being likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each of you esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for your own interests, but also for the interests of others."

How? Just like Christ. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. But he made himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a servant by choice, a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Therefore, because of this, God has also highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but also in my absence, here it is: Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and to do His good pleasure.

Do all things without complaining or disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life. So that I may rejoice in the day of Christ Jesus that I have not run and labored in vain.

I love this church greatly, and I know so many of you love me as well. I appreciate it. I would simply say, brethren, pray for us. I encourage you to help us. God has called us to great things, and there is so much more that He wants to accomplish in and through us.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer?

God, thank You for the work that You have called us to and for entrusting us with it. You have counted us faithful, placing us into this work and entrusting us with the ministry. I pray, God, that You would work in and through us to will and to do Your good pleasure and that You would strengthen us.

I thank You for our pastors, our elders, our leaders, and our team here. I thank You for the servants who serve in so many different areas of this work, and I thank You for this congregation. I pray, God, that You would stir in us a heart to serve You, to glorify You, and to see that there are so many people here in this community in North County that You desire to reach with the gospel.

I pray that You would use us to be a light shining in the darkness in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. May we shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life so that we may hear You say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." We rejoice in You, and we are thankful for You.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.