Ron Dunn Podcast - Campus Crusade Training - God is the Answer

Episode Date: July 10, 2024

Ron teaches from Jeremiah 29 about living a life acceptable to God. The acceptability of any gift is determined by the giver.

Jeremiah chapter 29. We have a little bit more juice to squeeze out of this passage. I want to finish what I started yesterday. Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 13. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Every word in that verse is important. It is one thing to live a life that is acceptable to God. And be not deceived. Simply because my life may be acceptable to others does not necessarily mean that it is acceptable to God. And the one thing that you and I as Christian ministers and servants need to understand above all things else

is this very important principle that the acceptability of any gift is determined by the acceptability of the giver. The acceptability of any gift, and I'm speaking now from God's standpoint, the acceptability of any gift, of any act of worship, of any act of service, the acceptability of that in the sight of God is determined by the acceptability of the giver, of the worshiper, of the servant. When I bring a gift to the Lord, or I bring my act of worship before Him, or I bring

my service to Him, God does not primarily, first of all, look at the gift, or the worship, or the service. First of all, He looks at the giver, at the worshiper, at the servant. And whether or not God accepts my gifts or accepts my worship or accepts my service is determined by whether or not he accepts me. Let me give you just two illustrations of this to start with. In the Old Testament, the illustration of the priest, he had to keep himself ceremonially clean before he could minister before the Lord. If he became contaminated by touching a dead body or even a bruised body, he was unable to minister before the Lord. Now, why do you suppose that was so? That in no way affected his efficiency at ministry. Merely coming into contact with a dead body would in no way, would in no way hamper his efficiency, his ability to handle the instruments of worship,

to hold that sacrifice. And yet God said he was unable, unqualified, unacceptable in worship. Why? Because the acceptability of any act of worship, of any gift, is determined by the acceptability of the giver. And if the person is unacceptable, then all he does is unacceptable. Now, there's an illustration of this found in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 5, where Jesus says,

Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee. Leave thy gift before the altar, go thy way. First, be reconciled to thy brother, then come and offer thy gift. That's an amazing thing. You know why most people believe the Bible? Because they don't know what it says. I was in a church not long ago, and they took offense at what I'm about to say.

I told them, I said, listen, if you sung in the choir this morning, I'm certain you thought that God was well pleased with your service. But if you sung in the choir this morning and there was aught between you and anybody else, your service, your singing was an abomination to God. They took offense at that. And yet it's true. It's absolutely true. We believe the Bible because we don't know what it says,

and when we find out what it says, we don't particularly care for it. And yet Jesus says this. You know, every church has its order of worship. And I wonder what comes first in your order of worship, our order of worship at MacArthur Boulevard, the first thing on it is choir opening. Would you be interested in seeing what Jesus' order of worship is? What's first on his order of worship? He says, first be reconciled of thy brother, then come and offer thy gift.

Jesus said, if you come to the altar to bring your gift, to bring your act of service, to bring your worship, and you remember that something is wrong between you and another brother, he said, I don't want your gift. Leave your gift before the altar. Go thy way first, first, before anything else be reconciled of thy brother. Then you come and offer your gift. You see what Jesus is saying? He's saying the acceptability of any gift is determined by the acceptability of the giver. It is the life that God blesses, not the program, not the method. It is the life that God blesses. And the quality of my service is dependent

upon the quality of the life that I live before God. Let me share with you, and this is all under the heading of we are to seek the Lord exclusively, because God judges us and the acceptability of all that we do hangs upon what God's judgment of us is in our service. Let me give you what has been to me a life-changing and a life-transforming truth. Have you noticed how much is mentioned in the New Testament in particular of our lives being lived in the sight of God? I want to read just a few verses of Scripture

because I want you to get the impact of this concept, of this attitude, of this viewpoint. Most of the time, we live our lives and we minister in the sight of others. And we're conscious of the presence of others and conscious of the sight of others. Therefore, we want the acceptability and the approval of others. But the emphasis of the New Testament is that our life is lived in the sight of God. For instance, in Acts chapter 4 and verse 19, when these brought before the Sanhedrin, but Peter and John answered and said unto them,

Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you, more than unto God judge you. You see, the thing of it is, is not whether or not it was right in the sight of men, but the thing is, whether it is right in the sight of God, that determines their activity. Listen to what Paul says in Romans chapter 15, verse 16. This ought to be interesting to every one of us

who are ministers of the Lord in any way. He says, In order that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ of the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God. Now get this, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

Notice the language Paul used. It is temple language, sacrificial language. He says that the offering up of the Gentiles, when Paul goes out and preaches and wins a Gentile to faith in Jesus Christ, you know what he's doing? He is a priest who is coming into the temple of God and he's offering up a sacrifice to his God. You know what he's doing? He is a priest who is coming into the temple of God and he's offering up a sacrifice to his God.

You know what that sacrifice is? It's that Gentile he has led to faith in Jesus Christ. He's not offering that Gentile to his director. He's not offering that Gentile to his district superintendent if he's a pastor of some church. This convert, this new believer, is a sacrifice. Lord, I am a high priest. My body is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and you have saved me and made me a priest that I might offer up sacrifices to the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is

what I want, that my sacrifice of this new believer might be acceptable in thy sight. You see, acceptable to God, not acceptable to anybody else. Listen to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 2. But we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,

commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. in the sight of God. In the sight of God. Paul says we live with a Godward consciousness. We walk in the presence and the sight of God. Listen again in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 12. Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong,

nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that I care for you in the sight of God. Paul just can't get away from it. That I care for you in the sight of God. God is watching. God is observing my care for you. And I wanted to make certain that my care for you in the sight of God was as it ought to be. Here's another one, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 3. He says, Our work of faith is done where?

In the sight of God. Our labor of love is done where? In the sight of God. Our labor of love is done where? In the sight of God. You say, well, I'm stuck way off over here at the jumping off place of the world, and nobody sees what I do. Nobody takes any notice, and nobody takes any account. Listen, your work of faith, your labor of love is done in the sight of God. Here's another one. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 21. He says, May the Lord make you perfect in every good work to do His will working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight

through Jesus Christ. There are many others that we could read. But what I wanted to try to impress upon you is the emphasis of the Bible upon our living with a Godward aspect and a Godward consciousness. And I want to give you what I think has been to me a life-changing, transforming concept in this matter of service. Let's look at this situation that we have here this morning. I'm the performer and you're the audience. And so when I come this morning to preach, I preach to you.

When I come this morning to speak, I speak to you. When I come this morning to minister, I minister to you. I'm the performer, I'm the preacher, I'm the speaker, and you are the audience. No, that's not it at all. That's not it at all. I'm the preacher, I'm the speaker, I'm the worshiper, I'm the performer, but God is the audience. You're simply eavesdropping. And the Bible says we minister unto the Lord. And I am to have this concept and this vision that when I stand this morning

there is only one in the audience and that's my Lord and I must look upon His face for the approval. I must catch the look of approval in His eye, not in yours. What a change that makes in the way we minister. What a change that makes in the way we sing our song. We sing unto the Lord, the Bible says. And so the desire of our heart is to seek the Lord exclusively.

Not to seek man's approval, not to seek man's approbation, but to seek the Lord exclusively to please Him. That our offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable in the sight of God. You see, fellas, this will eliminate all competition. Our offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable in the sight of God. You see, fellas, this will eliminate all competition. Let me ask you a question this morning. You don't mind if I get a little personal, do you? Nobody here but us.

Do you feel free to fail? Can I tell you what has been one of the greatest liberations in my life and my ministry? It's discovering that I'm free to fail. Can I tell you what has been one of the greatest liberations in my life and my ministry? It's discovering that I'm free to fail. Do you know, I know some pastors, now listen, I know some pastors who will pad their yearly church report in order to please their district superintendent. They don't feel free to fail. Now, you must forgive me. to please their district superintendent. They don't feel free to fail. Now you must forgive me,

I have just had a terrible, perverse thought. You know, I just had the wildest, craziest thought. I just had the thought that, this is ridiculous. Do you suppose that any crusade staff member would ever pad his weekly report? That's ridiculous to even mention it. Do you feel free to fail this morning or to seek the Lord exclusively nothing else but Him

what freedom there is what emancipation what liberation there is you know here's an amazing thing I can't please you but I can please the Lord isn't that amazing that is absolutely amazing It's an amazing thing. I can't please you, but I can please the Lord. Isn't that amazing?

That is absolutely amazing. Even God can't please you. Why should I try to do something that even God Himself can't do? But the miracle of all miracles is that I can somehow, by my faithfulness and by my sincerity and by my coming before God with a clean heart and seeking only the Lord's face, I can please Him. And the motivating and the compelling desire and motive of my life must be this,

that I am to seek the Lord in all things. And the Bible says in Psalm 37, 5, as I was reading this morning, He said, The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. So we're to seek the Lord exclusively. But let's move on now to the second point in this, and it's this, that we should seek the Lord earnestly. We're to seek the Lord earnestly.

Every word, every phrase in that 13th verse is important. He says, we're to seek the Lord with all our heart. With all our heart. Not half-heartedness. God heart. Not half-heartedness. God never blesses half-heartedness. And I'm convinced the reason some of us are not discovering the Lord and meeting the Lord every day in a fresh new experience is that our searching and our seeking of the Lord is only half-hearted. We're to seek the Lord earnestly with all of our heart. Now this means basically two things. Number one, we're to seek the Lord earnestly with all of our heart. Now this means basically two things.

Number one, we're to seek the Lord out of desperation. Now I want you to listen very carefully because this is so important for us in understanding our daily situation. The Lord wants from us more than anything else our seeking of Him. He wants to be the object of our affection. He wants to be the center of our attention. He wants to draw us to seek Him, and therefore God will negotiate circumstances, will maneuver situations, will engineer certain things in order to bring us to the place where the only way out is up and where we have to seek the Lord.

For instance, in this context you have the captivity. And God says, I know what I'm after. I know what I'm doing. I know the thoughts that I think towards you to bring you to an expected end. He said, I have caused you to go into this place, He says in verse 14. I'm the cause of the captivity, not the Babylonians, not the Chaldeans. I'm the cause of it. Ignore the secondary causes. Look to the ultimate cause. I'm the cause of your captivity, not the Babylonians, not the Chaldeans. I'm the cause of it. Ignore

the secondary causes. Look to the ultimate cause. I'm the cause of your captivity. Why? Because I want you to seek me. And he said, you're going to stay there until this word is performed. And it'll take 70 years to get you to the place of desperation, where in desperation you will turn from seeking everything else, and you will turn your eyes upon me and come and seek my face. You see, one of the amazing things is this, that they have been ripped up from their land, torn from their possessions, and yet God does not tell them to seek their land, does not tell them to seek restoration, does not tell them to seek their freedom. He says, I want you to seek me.

And one way that God has of causing us to seek him and get our viewpoints right is by depriving us of all of those other things that we highly prize. He has to wean us from all else besides so that along with Jesus we can be satisfied. And so he used the captivity to bring his people to the place where they would seek the Lord. Now, I want to tell you something. I don't believe a man will trust in God until he has to. I remember a couple of years ago, I made a mistake of reading a book about George Mueller. And, you know, I just caught fire.

Lord, I prayed in my office teach me to live by faith Lord teach me to trust you Lord teach me to live every moment independent upon you now I don't know I suppose I expected the Lord to put a holy zap on me and just to wave a magic wand

and say well bless your heart son here's all the faith you'll ever need. I got up off my knees, confident that God had heard my prayer. And you know what happened about a week later? Somebody pulled a rug out under me. I mean to tell you my life went into a tailspin. You talk about difficulties. I'd never had them before until then. I'd never in my life been in such financial straits. Everything, I got back on my knees. I said, Lord, help me out of this. Lord, what's going on? Help me out of this. And the Lord seemed to say, now, son, make up your mind. Now, you asked me to teach you faith and to teach you to trust me. He said, there's no other way. Where do we ever get the idea that God gives us these things just like this?

Do you ever want patience? I mean, would you ever like to just to be able to wait on the Lord just to be patient? Well, be careful about how you pray because the Bible says in Romans 5 and James chapter 1, tribulation produces patience. You see what I'm saying? I have a very dear friend who has three terminal illnesses. He's supposed to be dead, but he's not. He was in the hospital for a solid year.

Three rare terminal diseases. So weak he couldn't even lift his head off the pillow. Lying on his back in that hospital, God taught him how to trust Him. so weak he couldn't even lift his head off the pillow. Lying on his back in that hospital, God taught him how to trust Him. His income for that year in the hospital tripled anything he'd ever had before. I was with him on a conference program. He shared his testimony of how God had blessed him

and how he had learned to trust the Lord. And a bunch of my people were there and they came up afterwards and they said, oh man, if I could just have his faith. I ate with him after the service and I said, you know, everybody there wanted your faith but nobody wanted to go to the school you went to to learn it.

I tell you, and we laugh about it, but I tell you in all honesty this morning, you will never trust God until you have to. As long as there's any other way out, you'll take it. You see, this is why God chose us, because we would never have chosen Him. This is why God always takes the initiative in the Christian life. At the beginning of salvation, He's the one that comes seeking.

All the way through, He's the one that must initiate any step in His direction. If God simply left us to ourselves, we would never take one step towards Him. And so I want you to know this morning that God is determined that you seek Him, and He will maneuver things, He will engineer circumstances, He will allow difficulties and adversity to come into your life, to shut you up to faith, to put you in a corner so that the only way out is up, so that you'll stop looking to everybody else, and you'll finally focus your eyes upon the Lord, and you will seek the Lord. We are to seek the Lord earnestly, earnestly.

You know, God meets a man at the point of desperation. I love that verse in 2 Chronicles chapter 20. I believe it's verse 20. It's when Jehoshaphat, of course, his nation and his people are threatened by this formidable enemy,

grossly outnumbered. Jehoshaphat prepares to seek the Lord, proclaims the fast and calls the people together. And this is his prayer. He says, Lord, we have no might

and we don't know what to do. Even if we have no might and we don't know what to do. Even if we had the might, we wouldn't know what to do with it. Lord, we have no might. We know not what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. He's at the point of desperation. He said, we have no might. We don't know what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. Jesus said, if any man thirst, how thirsty are you this morning? God meets us at the point of desperation. That woman that had the issue of blood came and pressed through the entire crowd.

She said, If I can just touch the hem of his garment. The Syrophoenician woman that wanted Jesus to minister to her family, Jesus called her a dog. He said, It's not meat. It's not fit for me to take the bread

that was intended for children and give it to the dogs. He called that woman a dog. He said, it's not meat. It's not fit for me to take the bread that was intended for children and give it to the dogs. He called that woman a dog. He was seeing how desperately she wanted his help. And she said, but Lord, even the dogs get crumbs that fall from the table. Oh, he said, I've not seen such faith like this. How desperate are you? Blessed are they that hunger, that are starving after righteousness. I want to tell you something. If your hunger after God can be satisfied with a mid-morning snack, you may as well forget it. God is wanting people that are starving, hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Desperation, desperation. I've got news for you today. God's going to work it out so that you seek Him.

He's going to work it out so that you seek Him. We're to seek Him earnestly. This means we seek Him out of desperation. But it also means something else. It means we seek Him with determination. He says you seek Him with all your heart. You throw your whole being into it with all of your heart. You're going to be determined to seek the Lord.

You see this as the pearl of great price. You see this as the treasure hidden in the field, and so you sell all that you have that you may have this. Now, I want to make three suggestions about this matter of determined to seek the Lord's face, determined to know Him better, determined to walk in a deeper fellowship with Him. I have three suggestions that I've gleaned from this passage

and from other passages in the Word of God that relate to seeking the Lord. There are three things, I think, that are imperative for us to seek the Lord. Number one is this. It necessitates that we be still. That we be still. That we be still. Now I know that this is an un-American activity. It could be dangerous to your health. If anybody sees you still for more than three minutes,

they're liable to bury you thinking that you're dead. But there are a number of passages in the Bible that encourage us, command us, instruct us to be still. One of the most familiar is Psalm 46.10. Have you read that psalm lately? It's a tremendous one. The 10th verse says, Be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am God.

I used to read that verse and I thought it was, you know, just really great. Such a great sentiment. And then I discovered something. I discovered the context of that verse. Have you ever read that 46th chapter? He says that the waters are roaring and troubling. The earth is being removed. The mountains are being carried into the midst of the sea. Man, there's turmoil. There's catastrophe. This is no time to be still. This is the time to act. This is the time to work. This is the time for action. What are you doing? I'm being still. This is no time to be still. Get up and do something practical. You're wasting time. The earth is being removed. The waters are roaring.

They're trouble. The mountains, everything that we've looked upon as being stable is being swept away in this world in which we live. This is no time to be still. But in the midst of this turmoil, in the midst of this catastrophe, when the whole world is moving, God says, you be still. You be still. I'll tell you, the wisest thing you can do when all the world is crumbling around about you is not running around trying to put band- can do when all the world is crumbling around about you is not running around trying to put band-aids on all the cracks in the earth. It's to be still. He says, be still and know that I am God.

Fellas, you'll never know that He is God until you get still. Now, literally the Hebrew says, be still and know that it is I, God, who is doing all these things. Oh, that's tremendous. I want you to know there have been times in my life when the mountains have been carried away, when the earth has been removed, when the foundations of my life just seem to be shattering. And I've said, Lord, the devil is after me. And I've said, Lord, the world is persecuting me. And God said, I want you to be still and you'll find out something.

And I got still. And as I got still, I realized that it was the Lord that was doing these things. Somebody came up to me not long ago and related an experience that had happened to him. They said, now, was that the devil or was that God? I said, it was both. I said, friend, the devil is simply God's messenger boy. And the devil can't do anything without God allowing him to do it. And so you get your eyes off the secondary cause and look beyond it to the Lord. You know, one of the amazing things that you'll see is if you study the book of Job, you'll find that he was afflicted by the devil, right? Does Job ever give the devil credit for it? Job never, never, never mentions the devil. And by the way, let me ask you another question. Who initiated that? Was it the devil or was it the Lord? It was the Lord. The devil showed up one day,

turned in his staff report. Whoa, man, I didn't realize the association that made. I apologize. Man, I beg your forgiveness. There was no, nothing intended there. Anyway, the devil showed up. And notice, the Lord said, hast thou considered my servant Job? The Lord is the one that initiated that conversation. He's the one that brought up the subject of Job. And the Lord gave, gave the devil permission to afflict Job. But in all of

that suffering, Job never, never mentioned the devil. He said, though God slay me, yet will I trust him. Fellas, you've got to get a God viewpoint in your life. Be still and know that it is I, God, who are doing all these things. First thing is to be still, just to be still. I mean, get off, get along, and be still. Some of us can never get still long enough to have God to get through to us. Fellas, I tell you, it makes all the difference in the world when you know that it's God who's doing these things instead of the devil, instead of the world. Because, you see, I know that my life is in the hand of a God who loves me

and has demonstrated that love by giving me His Son to die on the cross. He is a God that's too good to do anything bad. He's a God who's too wise to make a mistake. He's a God who's too powerful to ever lose control of anything. It is God that's doing these things. Be still. Second thing is this. Be silent.

Be silent. Now, this is another thing that's extremely difficult for us. In Psalm 61.1, Psalm 61.5, he says, Wait thou upon the Lord. The Hebrew meaning of the word wait is to be silent unto the Lord. To be silent unto the Lord. Now, I want to tell you something. You're going to have to change your lifestyle if you're going to seek the Lord.

You're going to have to take time. Now You're going to seek the Lord. You're going to have to take time. Now listen carefully. I know how busy you are. I've had several of you talk with me about this, how busy you are. I know how busy you are. I know how busy I am. I'm scheduled to take a bath this Thursday morning. I've got it on my calendar.

I know how busy I am. I know how busy I am. I know how busy you are. But I want to tell you something. You are going to have to make time to be still and to be silent and get along with God. You're going to have to do it. You say, I don't have time. Well, then I guess you finally found a verse that God didn't write for you. Why don't you just take your pen and pencil out by the margin of that Bible where it says, Be still and know that I am God.

Where it says in Psalm 61, Wait thou upon the Lord. And that means just stop what you're doing and be silent. Just shut up and quit talking and just wait until I work. Why don't you just write out beside there then, Lord, please excuse me, you just don't know my schedule. You see, I know you can do it or else God would not have said to do it. It'll mean a change in your lifestyle, but as I said earlier, if you consider this the pearl of great price,

there'll be no cost too great to pay for it. A PhD student came to me a year or so ago, and he was interviewing pastors. And one of the questions that he was to ask these pastors is this, what do you consider to be your primary responsibility as pastor of this church? What is your primary responsibility? I answered him this way. I said, my primary responsibility as pastor of this church is not to the members of this church, and it's not to the lost of this community. My primary responsibility as pastor of this church is to make certain that every day Ronald Dunn is filled to overflowing with the fullness of Christ. Because my people are blessed and ministered by the overflow of my life.

And the people in this community are blessed and ministered to by the overflow of my life. Have you noticed what Jesus said? Jesus said, if any man thirsts, let him come to me. Seek me exclusively. If you thirst, put your heart into it. If any man come to me, seek me exclusively. If you thirst, put your heart into it. If any man come to me, let him drink, and out of his innermost being shall what? Flow rivers of living water.

Rivers of living water. Listen, he says, you provide the riverbed, I'll provide the river. And you know why so many people are not being ministered to and satisfied? Because they just can't get any drink out of an old, dry, crusty riverbed. Brother, we've got, crusty riverbed. Brother, we've got a lot of riverbeds that are standing in pulpits on Sunday morning trying to quench the thirst of people. You see, God must minister through your life. I hope that if we don't get anything else this week, we'll get this, that God ministers

not through my ministry, not through my method, not through my program. He ministers through my life. I am the channel through which the life of Jesus flows to other people. Therefore, I must be silent. I must take time to get along and just to wait on God and allow Him to speak to me. You say, why must I wait on the Lord? Because as a matter of fact, you really don't find the Lord. He allows Himself to be found.

That's what it says in verse 14. And I will be found of you. You see, you can study and do everything else you want to do. You say, I'm going to find the Lord, but until God's ready for you to find him, you won't find him. Until you get desperate enough and come to the place where you're willing to be still and to be silent

and just to quiet your heart before the Lord as you read his word, as you meditate on His Word, then He says, I will be found of you. Not only must we be still, not only must we be silent, we must also be submissive. That phrase, with all thy heart, is a Hebrew phrase that means willing to obey.

We must be submissive. Willing to obey. Lord, I'm here I'm still I'm silent I'm waiting on you speak Lord for thy servant heareth I come with an obedient heart

ready to obey and point number three is this we are to seek the Lord expectantly he says I will be found in you you will find me Point number three is this. We are to seek the Lord expectantly. He says, I will be found in you. You will find me when you search for me with all of your heart. Fellas, I want to tell you something. If you prepare your heart to seek the Lord, if you are desperate enough to know Jesus in all of His fullness day by day,

and you are determined, you are determined that whatever the cost, whatever you have to give up, if it's late night television, which ought to be no trick to giving that up in order to meet the Lord in the morning, whatever it takes for you to have a time a day when you get alone with God, I don't care how busy you are, the busier you are, the more desperately you need to get away and get along with God. And say, Lord, I'm going to be still. I'm going to be silent. I'm going to be submissive. I'm going to come to you. I want you to know something, fellas. You will find the Lord.

You will find the Lord. And there is no greater thrill, no greater joy than to walk away from that place, that altar with the Lord having met God. And I'll tell you something. You ought to get along with God and stay there until you meet Him. You say, that's a

waste of time. No, it isn't. I'll tell you what is a waste of time, my dear friends. A waste of time is your activity and your service and your ministry without God's presence on your life. That is a waste of time. It's never time wasted saying, Lord, I'm here. I'm going to stay here until heaven breaks through anew on my soul. I'm going to stay here until I meet you anew and afresh today.

If you go out before it, before that happens, you're wasting your time.