### Quotes for Outreach

1. "No matter how much we dress up sin, it doesn't need a passport. Grace is still going into the darkest. Where sin abounds, grace abounds. So we believe that we're the blessed ones to be able to love the great city of Oakland." [03:05] (11 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




2. "If you follow Jesus long enough, you will come to a moment where he will ask you, how humble are you willing? If I can quote the great Kendrick Lamar, be humble. Sit down. Be humble. Three, I got that. It's alright. The point that I'm making is this. You can't escape it." [06:37] (22 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




3. "Sometimes we overcomplicate the simplicity of following Jesus. In an attempt to be mature, we work out the childlike wonder of what it is to follow God." [15:51] (13 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




4. "The benefits of believing like a child is they're naturally imaginative. Before there was screen time, there was this thing called outside. Outside was crazy. You just go outside. There would be trees. Every once in a while, a bird. It was wild." [25:19] (24 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




5. "When you believe that there's a real God who loves you, you start to imagine what a life would look like. To completely surrender your life, you would start to imagine yourself, seeing yourself in context, even though you've got sin and shame and brokenness and addiction in your life, to be surrounded in confusion and chaos, you could start to imagine, just believe, what if this God who existed, who lives, who works in the mundane and brings the divine into it, what if he could call me out of darkness and I can see myself completely different in the context of his grace?" [26:23] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




### Quotes for Members

1. "Entry in excellence into the kingdom of God is not defined by what we acquire, but by what we are willing to lose. Childlike maturity is about never outgrowing the original call to follow Jesus." [20:29] (12 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




2. "A true testament of a healthy church is what do they do with the kids. So you have to understand it takes a lot of cultural architecture to design not only programs, but spaces designated to see young people encounter the presence of God." [21:28] (17 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




3. "The reason why Jesus said, be like a child is because children just come out trusting. It's a part of the divine nature of God. Just before sin, before screen time, before JoJo Siwa, all of this stuff, just a little bit of divinity in their souls. You have to teach kids not to trust." [23:48] (22 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




4. "What Jesus asked him to do is this. It's the same thing that Jesus has asked me to do over and over and over in my life. The moment that I think that I've arrived, the moment that I think that I've accomplished something." [28:59] (13 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




5. "What is it that you lack? And maybe there hasn't been an intersection between what you know and what he's called you to do. And this morning today is that day. Today is that moment. To take what you know about God and to put it in your heart. And to put your heart in it. And to put your faith in it." [32:59] (18 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

**Oakland, would you welcome Pastor Jules Moore?**

Ladies and gentlemen, come on, does anybody love Jesus in the building this morning? I love it! Go ahead and grab a seat, give somebody a hug, tell them, "Boo thing, you look good today." Give them that In-N-Out gift card that you've been avoiding spending.

Good to see you guys! Hey, I'm Jules Moore, and I'm so glad to be here with you guys. Like Pastor Dave mentioned, man, this is home. You know, I come back and I get to see kids who were in youth ministry, and now those kids are having babies. I know black don't crack; you may be like, "How old is this dude?" But I'm seeing middle school kids who are now adults. We didn't think they were going to make it, but praise be to Jehovah, look what God has done!

I'm really excited, and on the front row, I have my beloved mother, Glinda Moore, and I got my two radical, beautiful peanut butter babies. Can my girls stand up real quick? This is my oldest, Viviana, and my youngest, Elliana. Do I got the daddy "Riz"? No, I don't. Sorry, I don't even know what the "Riz" is, but girl, I gave you them Ritz. As long as I know what the snack is, we're good.

We're going to jump into the Word. Before we do that, though, my wife is leading worship as I speak. They just finished up at our Oakland site right now, and I'm super happy to be with you guys. I wanted to kind of give you an update because four years ago, we were able to take a sabbatical and spend some time back at home. I was feeling refreshed, and when we launched in this year of 2020, there was this little thing called COVID. You may not be aware of it, but it was pretty wild.

We decided to plant a church, and God has done some extraordinary things since then. Number one, God has been able to create probably one of the most complex, diverse groups of people coming together. We have people that have more degrees than a thermostat. We've got people that are getting out of transitional housing. I mean, there's just some amazing things that are happening, and I just feel so lucky to love Jesus and to be right where I am because I feel like I'm the dumbest dude and I have the microphone, so that's awesome. I think that's a good place to be.

Not only that, in the middle of political upheaval and all of the racial stuff that has happened over the last four years, we believe that God is restoring a group of people—some called-out ones bringing light in the dark places. I know you watch the news. I know what you see and hear about Oakland. Some of it is true. But God is still good in the hood. That's all I want to say.

And also, put a little something on you, though. In the Bay, it's just real easy to see where sin is. In the suburbs, you still got your adultery. You still got your tax evasion. Don't let the Lord let you go. He got you. He knows where you are. But no matter how much we dress up sin, it doesn't need a passport. Grace is still going into the darkest. Where sin abounds, grace abounds. So we believe that we're the blessed ones to be able to love the great city of Oakland.

And behind me, you're going to see a couple of pictures of just what God has been doing—bringing a diverse company of people together. You know, our main ambition was to create a place of worship, an oasis, and to take a ladle of the Father's house and what we experience when you come in and out every Sunday. And we're seeing God add to our team. We're seeing people get baptized. Right here is Mike. He was an atheist, found God and a girl. Come on, somebody!

But I just want to point out to you this WWF chokehold. Oh yeah, brother! When you follow Jesus, oh yeah, He will take every demonic possession of your life. Oh yeah. And so he is just getting dunked. He's on our dream team. This guy just went through essentials. He's about to get married in the next couple of weeks. I know some of his family, his beloved fiancée, their family goes to this church. So we're super excited to see what God is doing.

And then we also, this time last year, spotted a building. It's an old funeral home. They used to cremate people here. Actually, my mom was telling me, she was like, "Yeah, I went to a couple of funerals there." But just like Ezekiel, can these dry bones live? Come on, somebody! So we were praying around this building. We couldn't afford it. And some of our prayer team, they went out and started Jericho-ing it.

In the process of doing that, the owner wanted no dialogue with us at all. And almost a full year later, the owner reached out to us and said, "Hey, God's been working on my heart. I don't know what you've been doing, what you've been praying, but I feel like I'm supposed to meet with you."

And so the owner comes in, brings in this big old JBL speaker, and he starts cranking out some worship music. And he was like, "I feel like this building was made for you. We feel like God wants to do something. And so let's talk in agreement." And then come Monday, we're going to begin to talk about potentially purchasing the building.

But one of the things I want to point out to your attention, we knew we couldn't afford the building, but when we walked into these doors, you could see there's a cross. Come on, somebody! The owner is a believer and designed the space to have Jesus in the center. So that's our lobby and café right there with a little bit of a basketball floor. Ain't that crazy? Ain't that crazy? But God's doing some amazing stuff.

So thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your investment of faith and finances into seeing God reach the uttermost parts of Oakland. And we still have more years in us and more ministry to accomplish. I get the ability and the opportunity to preach and continue your series in the book of Mark.

And if you're taking notes, I've got two working titles for you. The first one is "Childlike Maturity." And then the second one, it's "Kiddie Pool." Anybody still got the floaties? Don't let the skin tone fool you. I still know how to swim, just so you know. And some parts of the water I like, but some parts I don't.

But I want to talk to you out of the premise of no matter how far, no matter how deep, no matter how mature we follow Jesus, it will bring us to this undeniable moment of simple childlike faith. You can't escape it. I don't care how many degrees you have, how much Bible college, your theological stance, or political affiliation. If you follow Jesus long enough, you will come to a moment where He will ask you, "How humble are you willing?"

If I can quote the great Kendrick Lamar, "Be humble. Sit down. Be humble." Three, I got that. It's alright. The point that I'm making is this: You can't escape it. And I've known this for the last few decades of serving Jesus. No matter how high I believe that I am, no matter how mature, no matter how much I've grown, no matter how much faith I have, Jesus will come back to this rhythm of faith to say, "Son, can I still call you son? Not pastor, not Bible commentator, but just son. Will you be obedient and do what would seem childish or childlike? Will you do the humble thing?"

And I believe this is the elasticity of the relationship of following God. It pulls, it provokes, it changes, it challenges. And for those that are in the room right now, they'll be like, "Man, Jesus? Well, man, that was my best friend in high school, Jesus." No, I'm talking about Jesus the Christ.

For those that have been walking with Christ for a long period of time and you feel like your faith has grown stale, that the Lord would work on your heart in a fresh way. What we're going to look at in the book of Mark is Jesus begins to graciously confront this man known as the rich young ruler. He's known as the rich young ruler because not only does he have faith and he is a biblical scholar, if you will, but he's got finances. He's got stacks on stacks on stacks, the 401k, he's got all of it. He's dialed. He's ready to go.

Jesus has this interaction with him, and what Jesus does in this moment is what I believe is still the prophetic mandate that He wants to do in your life right now. You may feel, "Pastor Jules, I'm feeling pretty secure about life. I got my girl, I got my car, my new Ford F-150, I got my RAV4, went camping last week, got my Patagonia shirt on, I'm good." You may be feeling really good about life. Ain't that you should, my friend?

But there could be something drastically missing from your life. Something that you can't replace. And what Jesus is trying to do is to make sure that eternity displaces all of the things that we would consider the primary objective of our lives. That eternity would be centered in His heart.

So it says this: now, as He's going out on the road, being Jesus, there came one running and knelt before Him and asked Him, "Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus begins to have dialogue with this man and explaining to him about the Ten Commandments. And Jesus goes on and He says, "Why do you call me good? For only God is the one that is good."

Let me tell you this: if you're going to be in a relationship with somebody and they may not know God right now in this moment, but I tell you, before you go into a greater level of commitment, they will not be good to you unless they know a good God. Their point of reference is not going to be accurate.

And there are some Christians that are trifling. I'll be honest with you. I know a few of them. But you're betting a better bet of probability that someone that orients their life around the teachings and the message of a good, faithful Father who loves His children while they are sinners, pulling them out of darkness, than someone that is completely irreverent to the things of God.

And Jesus says, to know God is to know what is good. And Jesus begins to ask this man, He says, "Do you know the commandments?" He says, "Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother." And all the parents said, "Amen."

And he answered and said to them, "Teacher, all these things I have kept since I was a child." Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go your way, sell whatever you have and give it to the poor. And you will have treasure in heaven. And come, take up the cross and follow me."

But he was sad at this word, and he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God." Just for a moment, wouldn't it suck to be this guy? He comes in, he's like, "Jesus, what do I need to do?" He's like, "Give all of your stuff away. Come and follow me."

And then as he's walking away all dejected, Jesus is like, "Don't be like this dude." It's like, "Jesus, you got no chill, my friend. That's crazy." And He goes on and He says, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God." And the disciples were astonished at His words.

But Jesus answered again and He said to them, "Children," highlight that. "How hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God. For with God, all things are possible."

Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word today, and we ask, God, that You would let Your Word resonate and bring truth and hone in everything that is peripheral, everything that would distract us from the radical simple obedience. We pray, Lord, this would be a holy moment and You would speak to Your children in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, "Amen."

During an anniversary a few years ago, my wife and I went to Puerto Rico. Hola, como estas, señorita? Como estas? Bien? Y tú? Muy poquito español? Baños, papas fritas? Cerveza? That's all I got. That's all I got.

We went to Puerto Rico, and one of our friends, they're Puerto Rican, and they were reminding us and telling us, "Hey man, whatever you need to do, you need to go see the plankton, the luminous plankton." This is the stuff. Not from Spongebob. These are real creatures, and it was awesome.

So we travel, we go at 11 o'clock at night, get on a boat, and the instructor is teaching us the difference between scuba and snorkeling, but I could care less. I want to see the glowy things in the dark in the water. And I'm not really paying attention, so I jump in the water, I got my mask on, all of the gear, but at this point in time, I have no real reference of what the difference is between scuba diving and snorkeling. This will become a very important factor as I continue in this story.

I plunge headfirst into the water, and I am mesmerized. All these glowing little creatures. Something happens on a biochemical level, and I don't know. They glow. That's all I know. All your boy knows is they're glowing, and it's dark, and it's in water, and I'm here with my wife. That's awesome. That's all I got.

And as I'm glowing, or they're glowing, and I'm noticing something like I haven't taken a breath in a while, and I go deeper. I just continue to submerge myself in this experience. And I continue to have not inhaled at all. And something in me is like, "Hey, my guy, you need a little oxygen."

And I'm at least two or three feet deep in the water. And I inhale. I take the biggest drag of oceanic water that I could ever have hoped for. And to my surprise, all that Mother Nature had to offer, all the sediment, crustacean, Spongebob, everything destroyed the back of my esophagus. And I burst through the ocean like Ursula from The Little Mermaid. They have to drag me out of the water, like, "Get in the chopper! Get out of here!"

Because if you know me, I'm all about, "Let's see how far we can take it. Let's go deep. Let's do the most. Let's max out. Level 99." But if I really wanted to enjoy this enriching experience, all I had to do was just stay at the surface and keep it simple.

You see, there's something in us as we mature that we equate to the more that we have, the more knowledge, the more things that we know, the more connected we are, that that equates to maturity. And what Jesus is trying to radically teach us is how to live a life of perpetual maturity but never losing that childlike innocence and dependency.

And what He's doing is this: He's like, "Man, you're so focused on the deep. You're so focused on all of the theological nuance of sexuality and the ethics of it, and you're wanting to get a little bit of Jordan Peterson and some Joe Rogan and call yourself a cultural theologian. But when was the last time you talked to your neighbor?"

Oh, you're right, it's closed on Sunday. Dang it! Got me in my own joke. The point that I'm making is this: Sometimes we overcomplicate the simplicity of following Jesus. In an attempt to be mature, we work out the childlike wonder of what it is to follow God.

You see, one of the things that Jesus is trying to teach in His context is, and it's a little bit different than the context in which we live in and which we have families. You see, the Jewish culture at this time, Jesus is promoting this childlike faith in the midst of these Pharisees who are really trying to trip Jesus up on some theological things. They're like, "Jesus, what do you think about divorce and how do we do this?"

And Jesus is like, "No one is going to be married because you won't need that. You won't need tongues or prophecy. These were all gifts and experiences and expressions to translate the love of God between two people, but it will no longer be necessary because you'll stand before God in His fullest glory."

Gotcha. They're like, "You want to be religious? Where are the children at?" And He looks at these children and says, "The greatest in the kingdom of God is a seven-year-old, nine-year-old, and ten-year-old."

You see, at that time, to be a child wasn't the greatest occupation. You were supposed to be silent, seen, not heard. There was an expectation that you were always to be ready to learn and ready to serve. You were to grow up in the narrative with whatever was brought over your family. If your daddy was a carpenter, guess what you're going to be doing? Carpeting. If your father was an accountant, guess what you're going to be doing? Counting. You didn't really have an option.

You just knew blind obedience trusts those that are above you. And they would follow, and then one day at your bar mitzvah, if you were a young man, you would be recognized as an adult capable of making your decisions. But the word and the life of God would have been grafted into you. It was very family-centric.

You see, in American culture, we're very kid-centric or child-centric. And there may be some nuance to that, but let me just break it down to you. It's more than just linguistics. What I'm saying is this: Look at your garage. How much kid stuff do you have? They don't rollerblade. No, you don't rollerblade. Your ankles are fragile. Remember in Vietnam when you cracked? You don't rollerblade no more.

You got canoes, gizmos, and gadgets aplenty. You got all this stuff. And these kids are on screen time. They ain't gonna play basketball. But you're running. You're running to each game, running to the track meet. If only you had that same intentionality of bringing your kids into the house of God.

And it ain't because Oakland don't got extracurricular activities. There's a lot of extracurricular activities. The point that I'm making is this: We are so child-centric. We're doing everything to give our kids what we didn't have that maybe we miss out on prioritizing the relationship between a husband and wife.

Some of you right now, you're so fixated on what your kids need and what they need to have. Y'all ain't went on a date. You ain't talked to her. And what happens is when them kids are gone, so is the love. Now that may be a little scripture to go along with that, but we've seen that statistically.

Why? It's because somehow we've elevated children in such a way that we miss out that our responsibility for the children. And there's a demonic force that is attacking and targeting kids. If you look at every policy, it centers around children. Why? Because if we can rob them of their youthfulness, their innocence early, it creates a world of darkness.

And Jesus is saying, remain in this perpetual state of maturing till one great day, your bar mitzvah, your place of sonship, of daughtership, where you will fully recognize who you are in context of God.

And Jesus encounters this rich young man who seems to have it all together. It seems like he is living out the truest version of a blessed life. And isn't that what we want? A blessed life? Think about it. When you think of a blessed life, what does that equate to? Is that more vacation time? A bigger boat? A nicer car? When you think of a blessed life, does that mean more money? More finances? More opportunities?

And what Jesus is trying to orient our lives is redefining a blessed life that is not for those that acquire more, but those that are willing to lose. Those that are willing to let go. What Mark is trying to help us through the teachings of Jesus is this idea: Entry in excellence into the kingdom of God is not defined by what we acquire, but by what we are willing to lose.

Childlike maturity is about never outgrowing the original call to follow Jesus. So we must ask ourselves a few clarifying questions. Why did Jesus feel it so important to encourage a childlike approach to faith?

Let's look in 10:13. It says this: "Then they brought little children to Him, that He may lay His hands on them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased, and He said to them, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them.'"

A true testament of a healthy church is what do they do with the kids. So you have to understand it takes a lot of cultural architecture to design not only programs but spaces designated to see young people encounter the presence of God.

Don't get it twisted. It's a lot of money. Pastor Dave, let's just have a conversation, you and I. Because they don't know. They told me, "Church plant. Go ahead, plant a church." They didn't realize, I didn't realize that church planting is probably one of the most insane things that you can do. I feel like I'm in Hell's Kitchen. I feel like I'm trying to stop Fifty Shades of Grey.

I feel like I'm living out every show on Netflix. Lust Island. I feel like I'm just in the middle of just trying to establish culture and help people to love God in the midst of economic turmoil and all of this stuff. But at the end of the day, it's really just creating a table for people to encounter the presence of God.

Inviting little children to come. Never, never lose sight of that. Never lose sight of serving in kids ministry. Never lose sight of what you see happening in the lives of young people. Because it wasn't too long ago that I was just a little fifteen-year-old kid that didn't go to church for God. Came to church because there were girls at church, and I heard they speak in tongues, and I thought that may be fun.

Man, they rebuked me in the middle of worship because I was in there like, "You all weird Christians." But they were doing youth group, and something started to happen in my heart. Truth be told, my mom thought I was going to a cult. She was like, "All these white people, I don't know if you should do that, baby." There was no Nikes, no Kool-Aid. I was like, "We're good, we're good, we're good."

But who would have known? Who would know? There were some disciples still on the earth creating a place, a runway for kids to encounter Jesus face to face. My heart was changed. And I was willing to do whatever. Because that's what kids do.

You see, the reason why Jesus said, "Be like a child" is because children just come out trusting. It's a part of the divine nature of God. Just before sin, before screen time, before JoJo Siwa, all of this stuff, just a little bit of divinity in their souls. You have to teach kids not to trust. You have to give them a palette of understanding so that they don't fall into dark places. It's a part of the divine nature.

That childlike trust. You know, I struggled teaching my kids about Santa Claus because I was like, "I don't want them to figure out Santa Claus ain't real and put that on the same level of Jesus." But maybe it's just in our context.

But if any big red dude coming down your chimney to give you gifts in Oakland, he ain't coming to give you no gifts, my friend. I don't know if that translates different in Vacaville, but...

Anybody... The Tooth Fairy, what's up with these people coming into our house in the middle of the night? That's weird, y'all! The kids are naturally trusting. They just follow.

Now, I had to tell my wife this, too. I said, "When my first, my oldest was born, I said, 'Look at that beautiful center.'" My wife said, "Negro, shut your mouth." Because even though you don't have to teach a child how to trust, you have to teach them how to share.

It's this dichotomy that's already in them, prone to live unto God, like God, without anyone teaching. You can see the nature of God. You can also see the sin nature. And what Jesus is teaching us is a child trusts so easily.

The benefits of believing like a child is they're naturally imaginative. Before there was screen time, there was this thing called outside. Outside was crazy. You just go outside. There would be trees. Every once in a while, a bird. It was wild.

In 1990, they started doing research on children, and they realized that with the introduction of all this technology, their imaginations began to wane and deteriorate. See, imagination is one of the key ingredients of faith. See, when you believe that there's a real God who loves you, you start to imagine what a life would look like.

To completely surrender your life, you would start to imagine yourself, seeing yourself in context, even though you've got sin and shame and brokenness and addiction in your life, to be surrounded in confusion and chaos, you could start to imagine, just believe, "What if this God who existed, who lives, who works in the mundane and brings the divine into it, what if He could call me out of darkness and I can see myself completely different in the context of His grace?"

And I'm talking to somebody right now that's going through all of that. They're naturally imaginative. But what happens is this: We get a little bit of maturity. A little sophistication. A little education. A little class.

What happens is, is many times we start to add to Jesus. We start to add homeschool to Jesus. We start to add a political affiliation to Jesus. We start to add what a life looked like, a blessed life, with what we deem as quality and good.

This young man, he brings all of his religion, he brings all of his deep understanding of God to Jesus. And he comes to Jesus with all of his financial security. He comes to Jesus with all of his education. He comes to Jesus knowing Him and studying about Him and anticipating His potential arrival.

He says, "What must I do to be saved?" Notice this, that when this man comes to Jesus, Jesus begins to give him the Ten Commandments, and he interrupts Jesus after the Sixth Commandment.

I don't know if you're comfortable with interrupting somebody, but interrupting is probably one of the clearest indicators of pride and arrogance. Because what it says is this: "I know where you're going. You don't have to speak anymore. I got it."

And his arrogance, his education, he's like, "Not only do I know the Ten Commandments, I can quote them. I've lived them my entire life. Can't you see, Jesus? All I really need from you is you to co-sign on a blessed life. I just need a pat on the back. I just need to know some sense of security that what I've done up to this point is good enough."

And Jesus says to him, "My friend, my son, my child, there's one thing that's missing in you. Sell everything that you have and give it to the poor."

Now maybe Jesus, if He would have asked this young man when he was 15, maybe he wouldn't have been so secure in his theology. Maybe he didn't have all of the financial trappings that he would be more willing to serve God in that capacity.

The disciples are astonished because in their mind and their understanding, having all of this stuff equates to spiritual maturity, to know God, to know Scripture, and to be financially secure. Oh, that's what it means to be deep. That's what it means to know God.

What Jesus asked him to do is this. It's the same thing that Jesus has asked me to do over and over and over in my life. The moment that I think that I've arrived, the moment that I think that I've accomplished something.

You know, there was this moment in my life when I left the Father's house, and not knowing what I was going to do, I started getting a couple of phone calls here and there to come and preach. Your boy felt good. Man, that leadership in college is starting to pay off. Feeling like a rich young ruler.

I get to travel here and there. Doors to other nations begin to open up. And I remember I was getting on my flight to go to Japan and spent there a time in a month and thought I was going to teach Jesus and eat sushi for the rest of my life. Little tsunami.

You know, I go back to my home church in Oakland at the time, and the pastor meets with me, and after serving years in youth ministry, I love kids, but I ain't never leading the kids' small group ever again.

There was this moment. The pastor met with me and he said, "Pastor Jules, we love who you are. We know that you're a great communicator. Are you willing to start a middle school small group for us?"

Before he didn't know that, but God had told me, "Whatever they ask you to do, you do it." And at that moment, it was a divine moment, and all of my maturity and all of my eloquence and all of my education had to remove all that I've accomplished—the kiddie pool.

Oh, it looked foolish. "What that big old man doing in that little pool? What that big old dude driving those kids around?" They had no idea that this was a marking moment for me.

And every time there's moments where I accumulate pride and success and I think I got it and I think I've arrived, God will have me come back and visit the kiddie pool—the moment of just foolish, radical, simple surface obedience to God. And you cannot get away from it. You cannot escape it.

I haven't got it all together. All I know is that He told me to give up everything. Just get in the pool. For some of you, the kiddie pool, you need to get baptized, and you think it is foolish, but your intellect is robbing you from experiencing the greatest fulfillment change in your life through...

You know what David said is this: David sounds like a Gen Z or a millennial not trying to leave his mama's house. He said, "Better is one day to stay in the Father's house than anywhere else."

You know when my daughters do this, it's really weird, but I love it. In the morning, sometimes they'll just jump in the bed. In the beginning, in the first few years, I'm like, "Get the heck out of my bed. We finally got you out of here."

But that's the childlike maturity that God is looking for from you. What is it that you lack? And maybe there hasn't been an intersection between what you know and what He's called you to do.

And this morning, today is that day. Today is that moment. To take what you know about God and to put it in your heart. And to put your heart in it. And to put your faith in it. And all across this room...