Are you in?

Venture Church. It is good to be back with you.

Can we take a moment and just give Jesus some

celebration today. He's so good and I hope that you're

going to come back tonight. Here's what I've learned in

my life that one moment in God's presence can do

more than an entire lifetime of your own effort. And

if you're looking for God to maybe just bring some breakthrough,

some transformation, I would encourage you do not miss tonight.

It's going to be incredible. We love Venture Church. My

wife Amber is here with me this morning. Next month

we celebrate twenty two years of marriage. Come on, it's right.

We got married when we were twelve and no, my

gray hairs are kind of revealing that, but twenty two

years of marriage and man, so honored to be back

with you. We absolutely love your pastor's pastor Brandon and

I and the whole team here at Venture Incredible, incredible.

What God is up to amn.

Hey Today, in a moment, we're gonna go to John

chapter fifteen. I hope you have something to maybe jot

a couple of notes down with, not that you would

remember my words, but that you would listen to what

the Holy Spirit wants to say to you and capture

that today, write that down.

I've prepared a message entitled are You In? Are You In?

And we're going to go to John chapter fifteen, which

is I think just timely as we prepare for Easter.

John chapter thirteen through John chapter seventeen is what we

often call the Upper Room Discourse, and scholars believe this

is the last fifteen to eighteen hours of Jesus' life,

and it records his conversations that he has with his disciples.

And one of the things that I think it's important

for us to recognize before we even get there, is

that Jesus is not just sharing information or day with them.

He's actually sharing his heart with them, and I believe

he wants to do the same for us today. A

number of years ago, some studies were done and they

found that between sixty six and seventy seven percent of

Americans took on a new hobby during the COVID pandemic. Well,

how many of you you were one of them? I

would watch online, I watch on social media. I can't

believe how many of my friends decided to learn how

to bake sourdough bread. Well, how many you you're here,

You're here right now, You're like, yep.

I started.

I started baking sourdough bread because what else are you

gonna do during a global pandemic. There was others who said,

you know what, I want to plant a garden. There

was all these people started gardening during the pandemic. There

was those who decided, you know what, I'm gonna get

into mountain biking or cycling. Come on, any cyclists in

the house. And what was interesting during the COVID period,

finding bike components was nearly impossible. I mean everything was

sold out. There was a lot of people who said,

you know what, this is the perfect time to build

out a home gym that we will never use. In fact,

if you ever looked for free weights or hand you know, dumbbells,

whatever it was, you could not find these things. People

were jumping in to new things, they were developing new hobbies.

And today I feel like I can be transparent with you.

I decided I'm going to jump into a new hobby

during COVID. That's right. I decided to take up watercolor painting. Now,

it didn't seem like that far of a stretch for me.

Because I grew up the son of a painting contractor.

My dad owned his own painting company, and from like

fourth grade on, I painted.

Houses with my dad.

And so my thought was, how different could this be?

So I went online amazoned it. You know, had had

the brushes, had the paint show up. And today, listen,

you're this crowd is a special crowd because I brought

one of my treasures with me. Do you do you

want to see the fruit of this new hobby. Man,

You guys are alive well for your viewing pleasure. Ladies

and gentlemen.

Look at that.

By the way, if you're wondering if this is an

authentic or not, you just got to look at the

initials right there.

Ts that's right.

I decided to pull out an index card one day.

I said I'm going to master watercolor painting. And this

was a hobby that I enjoyed thoroughly.

Four times. Yeah, I painted something like four times.

And then then I had just got distracted with life.

And as you can tell, not necessarily a lot of skills.

Some of you are still trying to figure out what

on earth is on the card. Let me describe to you.

I was sitting at my kitchen counter. One day, as

I'm developing this new passion, I said, where in the

world would I want to be right now?

Outside of my.

Home in Tacoma, Washington, I wanted to be on a

beach with a beautiful sunset. Come on, anybody else you

just want to you want to go there right now?

Don't worry.

We're actually in discussion about making some of these prints available.

So if if you're interested in that, but uh, you know,

you can tell like I'm more of an abstract impressionist, right,

not too not too great. But that was one of

those hobbies I jumped into. But it didn't stick. You

ever been there? It didn't stick because, if I'm honest,

I wasn't actually committed.

It was something that I tried.

It was an escape, it was an experiment, It was

an experience, but it wasn't actually something.

That my heart connected to.

And here's why I share that story with us today.

Life with Jesus is more than a hobby.

Life with Jesus is more than just something you kind

of pick up as you see fit, a distraction, an escape,

an experience. You know, as Jesus describes life with him,

he seems to have a radically different paradigm than what

we often show up with. And again in a moment,

as we go to John chapter fifteen, we're gonna see

Jesus sharing with his disciples not just some good information,

He's actually revealing his.

Heart to them.

Starting back John thirteen, Jesus in the midst of the

meal that you as a church are going to celebrate

in a few wednesdays, the Passover meal.

The scriptures declare that.

Jesus gets up from the table and he begins to

do something that was shocking.

He begins to.

Wash the feet of his disciples. And what is Jesus

revealing to his disciples? He asked them, do you understand

what I've done for you? He reminds them, I have

a heart to serve and I want you to have

that heart within you. You go to John chapter fourteen,

he opens up with this statement, don't let your heart

be troubled.

Incredible scripture.

But my guess is, there's some of us in the

room this last year, this last month, this last week,

your heart was troubled. Why would Jesus say that, Because

if he doesn't have the power to do anything about

our troubles, then that seems just like a cruel statement.

You ever had a friend or a family member look

at you and say just don't worry about it, and

you're like, yeah, easy for you to say. But Jesus

here saying, don't let your heart be trouble. Here's why

I'm going to prepare a place for you. What's interesting Thomas?

Many times we call him doubting Thomas, but I like Thomas.

Here's why.

Thomas is just the guy who has the courage to

ask the questions that all of us are thinking. Anyways,

And Thomas looks at him and says, Lord, how do

we know the way? And Thomas is trying to get

clarity on what and where? And Jesus is Saint Thomas

wrong question not what, not where, but who? In John

fourteen six, Jesus says, I am the way, Thomas, I

am the truth.

I am the Life.

And here's why I share that background with us, because

we need to understand connection with Jesus.

It brings life, can you say life?

And evidence that we've received that life is this thing

called fruit. Can you say fruit? You see, Jesus is

very concerned with this subject of light. He said, I've

come that you might have life and habit to the full.

But as we're about to discover in John.

Chapter fifteen, Jesus gives us some perspective of the evidence

that we've actually come to experience that life.

It's this thing that he refers to as fruit. Again.

Jesus says, I am the way, I am the truth.

I am the life. Will look with me to John

chapter fifteen. We're gonna start in verse one. It says this.

This is Jesus speaking to his disciples. He says, I

am the true vine, and my father is the gardener.

Every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he removes,

and he prunes every branch that produces fruit, so that

it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because

of the word I've spoken to you. Remain Can you

say remain? You might be reading the Bible translation that says,

ABYE remain in me and I in you. Just as

a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless

it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you

remain in me.

I am the vine. You are the branches.

I can't tell you how many seasons in my life

I wanted those roles to be reversed.

Right.

I wanted to call the shots, and I wanted Jesus

just to be an attachment to my life, a convenient

sixty five minutes on a Sunday morning, and then, Jesus,

I'll see you next week. I'll let you know if

I need anything between now and then. But Jesus says

something interesting. We got to remember who is who. He says,

he is the vine, We are the brand. The one

who remains in me and I in him produces much

fruit because you can do nothing without me Jesus. He

doesn't say it's going to be difficult, it's going to

stretch you, it's going to stress you out.

He doesn't say that.

He says, apart from me, you can do nothing. If

anyone does not remain in me, he's thrown aside like

a branch, and he withers. They gather them, throw them

into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain

in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever

you want.

And it will be done for you. Verse eight. My

father is glorified by this.

If you want to know the purpose for your existence,

you want to know why you're walking on this earth,

sucking oxygen. You exist. You were designed for the glory

of God. You have a plan and a purpose over

your life, and it's to bring glory to God, not

just to bring glory to yourself. And Jesus says this,

My Father is glorified by this, that you produce much

fruit and prove.

To be my disciples. Again, connection with Jesus, What does

it bring?

It brings life and evidence of that life. Is this

thing called fruit, Jesus. It's not an option. This is

the byproduct of what life with me looks like. I

love this section because John brings us throughout his Gospel

seven different times where Jesus makes an I am statement.

Jesus says, I am the bread of life, I am

the Light of the world. I am the Good Shepherd,

over and over again. And now in John chapter fifteen

we read the seventh and final I am statement.

What is it?

Jesus says, I am the True Vine. At this moment

in the journey towards the Cross, Jesus in John thirteen

and fourteen has been in the upper room sharing a

meal with his disciples. And now they've left the upper room.

We know that because at the end of John chapter fourteen,

John records Jesus saying to his disciples, get up, let's

leave this place.

Well, the question is where are they headed.

They're headed to a garden called Guestsemone, where Jesus he's

going to pray for us, but also he's going to

be betrayed. And so this conversation in John chapter fifteen

is happening somewhere in that journey. Here's why I think

that's important. They're leaving the upper room in the old

City of Jerusalem. They're making their way down through the

Kidron Valley and across to the garden of Guestsimone, which

means the temple would have been in the background of

this conversation. And there on the front of the temple

hung this massive golden vine, which the Old Testament prophets

called God's people Israel, his chosen Vine. And it's in

that space, with the backdrop behind him, that Jesus looks

at his disciples and he says this, I am the

True Vine. In other words, all that was pointing to

this moment has now arrived. I'm the fulfillment of what

God promised through his covenant people Israel.

I am the true Vine.

But now he talks about what this connected heart to

him actually looks like. So he goes on to give

us some pictures of vine branches pruning. Come on, how

many you've loved that part? More on that in a moment.

But then, Fruit, I want you to consider a question

for a moment this morning, and I want you to

make it personal. How do you see your connection to Jesus?

How do you see your personal connection? I'm not asking

you what your parents think, or what your spouse thinks,

your significant other thing, what does your connection.

To Jesus look like?

Some of us we listened to that, and we said, well, Tyler,

I listed out all the pros and all the cons,

and the pros outweighed the cons, and so I just

decided to jump in with Jesus. Some of us, maybe

we say, well, Tyler, this is my current brand of spirituality.

Just you know, it fits, it feels good.

Some of us we might say this, Well, I looked

at all the what ifs in eternity, and I decided, man,

I better have some good insurance. And so I raised

my hand, I prayed the prayer, and so I know

I'm good for heaven someday up there because I said

the words, and I now carry the time. But it

appears like Jesus is describing something radically different than that

or any of those in John chapter fifteen.

It looks like.

Jesus is actually describing a transformational reality. Now, if we

experience life from him, it does something to the life

we now live. I think this is significant because did

you know that sixty two percent of US adults consider

themselves Christians six and ten a little over six and ten.

That means over half the people that you come in.

Contact with at your workplace, in your neighborhood, on your

school campus, they wear the title Christian. And the question

is is this what does that mean? What does it

mean to where the title Christian? What does that actually

look like in our lives?

You see?

According to his words in John chapter fifteen, Jesus seems

to expect more than just a change in our title.

In other words, I wasn't a follower of Jesus, but

now I am. I wear the title. It doesn't seem

like that's what Jesus is describing by itself. I don't

think he's talking about just a change in title. I

think he actually seems to expect transformation.

Transformation.

What's interesting about six out of ten US adults calling

themselves Christian. Did you know that the word Christian shows

up three times? Can you say three? Three times? In

the New Testament? Three twice in the Book of Acts

we're talking about at the city of Antioch. That's where

they were first called Christians. Second time in the Book

of Acts, when Paul is being questioned by a ruler

and he says, Paul, do you think so quickly you

can convince me to become a Christian?

Another time in one of the letters later on.

I believe it's in First Peter where there's this title

given of Christian three times. But there's another phrase that

dominates the pages of the New Testament over and over

and over again, to the point of nearly two hundred times.

This phrase or a variation of it shows up. What

is it to those who are in Christ, those who

are in Him, those who have been saved and have

found life in His name? Two hundred times? There's this imagery,

there's this picture of life being wrapped up in Jesus,

not just simply adding a title to our lives. See,

the key isn't whether someone calls himself a Christian, or

even checks the boxes on some right statements of belief.

He seems to be this from Jesus' words, are they

in Christ?

And is Christ in them?

Go back a few verses in John chapter fourteen, verse twenty.

Listen to what Jesus says.

On that day, you will know that I am in

the Father. You are what in me, and I am

what in you.

Jesus seems to expect this is what a heart that's

connected looks.

Like him and Us, Us and Him. That's that picture

of remaining and abiding.

And here's why I think that's important, because there's a

lot of people who.

Assume, well, Tyler, I'm in I'm in you. See.

The interesting thing about this brick is you can put

it in water and guess what it is.

It's not a truck question. It's in the water, right.

And the amazing thing about the brick, what's inside the

brick brickness. I don't know what you call that. It's

full of brick. And yet here's the dynamic. There's a

lot of people who say, well, Tyler, of course I'm

in Christ, I'm in Church. I've surrounded myself by Jesus.

Activity Tyler, I'm reading through my Bible this year, you

gotta know I'm in because I made it all the

way through Leviticus.

There's some people who are in. I'm in in.

And we can quickly define our connection to Jesus by

Jesus activity that we surround our calendars and schedules and

life within. And here's the interesting thing. You look at

this brick and it's now what. Yeah, it's what. But

here's the other dynamic. Nothing has fundamentally changed about this brick.

In fact, if I leave this brick out for a

couple of hours, what's going to happen.

It's gonna dry out some of you.

That's going to hit you on the way home, because

some of you wonder, Tyler, why is it that I

can be here on Sunday but by Tuesday. I just

I feel, I just it doesn't seem to be working.

This Jesus thing just doesn't seem to be working. I

just I don't get why it's not working. And the

call is not for you to surround yourself with just

more activity. Do we need to meet together as the church? Absolutely,

we need to come together in biblical community. But Jesus

is describing something more than just you surrounding yourself with

more church activity.

You see.

The The problem with the brick and a brick type

faith is you can be in something, but that something

does nothing to actually transform the essence of who you are.

You see, I think Jesus wants to be us. He

wants us to be a little bit more like this.

You see what's inside of a sponge sponginess?

I don't know. And what's interesting The sponge's that's all.

That's all it is.

Until you get it into a different environment and something

something happens to this sponge. Oh, it doesn't lose who

it is, but something transformational is happening. Why because before

it actually had nothing other than itself, But now all

of a.

Sudden what it was in is now what in it?

But not just that what was in it is now

coming out of it. It appears like that's what Jesus

seems to be describing when he says, listen, apart from me,

you can do nothing.

I'm calling you to remain in me.

And here's why I want fruit to come out of

your life. And so the question as we look at

this is is is my life in Jesus? You might say,

this morning Tyler, No, it's not. I'm not yet in Jesus.

Here's the good news. You're gonna have that opportunity to

make that decision to say.

I want to be in.

But there's a second important, critical question. It's not just

as your life in Jesus. The question that we need

to ask is, is Jesus life in me? Is Jesus

life in me? Consider for a moment when when life

squeezes you, come on how you you've been squeezed by

life this last year. When life squeezes you, what comes

out of you? Some of us are like absolutely nothing.

I'm a brick man, a self made man. Nothing gets

to me. It seems like because Jesus said, in this

world you're gonna have trials when life squeezes you. It

seems like Jesus expects his goodness to come out of

our lives, his character, his qualities.

You see that relational connection with Jesus.

He wants it to be so connected where his life

is infused into our life and we find our source

and our strength in him?

Is my life in Jesus? Is Jesus life in me?

Today, before we send you out of this place on assignment,

today I want to give you three thoughts of what

this life in Christ looks like. What does this actually

look like? First, it looks like this. We live lives

that are depending on Jesus. This is so different than

just showing up and getting some Jesus information or engaging

in Jesus activity.

We must live lives. If we're going to be people

who live in Christ. We have to learn to depend

on Jesus.

See, just as a branch depends on the vine, we

must depend on Jesus.

And here's why that's hard.

Everything in your world, everything in my world, says that

the sign of.

Maturity is independence.

Our oldest, our firstborn, is getting ready to graduate from

high school this spring.

And at one point or.

Another, I've looked at each of our three kids, probably

from the time they were four years old. I looked

at them and I said, listen, someday you're going to

grow up and you are going to move out. Come on,

And all the parents said, amen, right, like you are

gonna Why is that? Because I want you to become independent.

That's a sign of maturity. But here's what's crazy. The

Kingdom of God is upside down from that. Because the

more I'm mature as a Jesus follower. The more I

find myself depending on Jesus. I'm never mature to the

point where I'm like, Okay, Jesus, I got today because

I'm good. No, the more we mature, the more dependent

on Jesus we become. So we live lives that are

depending on Jesus. We live lives number two that are

drawing upon Jesus. It's one thing to say, Okay, Jesus, I.

Need your help.

Jesus, I need your help, and you're dependent in that way,

But are you positioning your life to actually draw upon

the life of Jesus. See, we can take this brick,

and the brick can say I depend on you, Jesus.

I need I just need more time around your things.

But that's radically different than a sponge that says, no, Jesus,

I depend on you. But I'm also going to draw

upon you. I'm gonna draw your life up into my life. This, friends,

is what a branch does from the vine. It draws

on the life source that the vine provides. So can

I ask how are you opening your life up? How

are you bringing his life into your life and allowing

him to abide in you, because it's not just about

more activity, it's about drawing His life into your life. Again,

is my life in Jesus? Is Jesus life in me?

And I think Jesus was serious in John fifteen, where

he says, apart from me, you can do nothing. He

doesn't say apart from me, it's gonna be challenging or

stressful or hard or you know, the real disciples, they're

gonna figure it out.

Can I remind you?

Did you know that there's no JV or C squad

in the Kingdom of God?

Did you know this?

Some of you you've written yourself off because you're like, well, Tyler,

I'm not on varsity.

I'm just like no.

Jesus has a family, and if you are in Christ,

you're a part of that family.

We must depend on him.

We must draw life from him, just like that sponge

draws up whatever it is in. We have to learn

to draw in the life of Jesus. But finally, don't

miss this. If we are in Christ, we must recognize

that we develop through Jesus. We live a life that's

developing through Jesus. See here's the key. Only the Holy

Spirit can produce fruit. I can't tell you how many

years of my journey with Jesus, I thought, Okay, I

heard the message.

I raised my hand during worship, I prayed.

Now I've got to figure out how to develop some fruit.

Let me help maybe bring some freedom to some people today.

You can't do that by yourself. You ever heard a

message on the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

self control, and somebody preached on patience, You're like, all right,

I'm gonna go home and be more patient this week.

How did that work out for you? WHI is gonna

be more patient? I'm just gonna make myself more patient.

It's never going to happen. Jesus had apart from me.

You can't do this well, Tyler, This this feels like

a very hopeless message. No, it's it's actually a very

hopeful message. Because the way for your life to experience

the fruitfulness that's evidence of this life in Christ is

we learn to yield to the Holy Spirit.

See John chapter fifteen.

Happens right after John chapter fourteen and right before John

chapter sixteen.

That's mind blowing, isn't it.

Right then, but guess what Jesus talks about in John

chapter fourteen the arrival of the Holy Spirit. And guess

what he talks about and promises in John chapter sixteen,

the empowerment the work of the Spirit in our lives.

This is in the context of you can't do this

on your own, and so I'm sending you the spirit.

How do we do this? So you leave here and say, well,

Tyler said, we have to be more fruitful. So I'm

just going to become more loving.

I'm going to try hard. Good luck.

I'm convinced the key is Holy Spirit. How do you

want to make me more loving like Jesus today?

Holy Spirit?

How do I pause and yield to you in the

midst of my lack of patience? Jesus, how do you

want to cultivate your essence in my life?

Today?

You see, we develop fruit not through our effort, but

through Jesus. And here's the other side of fruitfulness. Jesus

talked about it. He said, because I care about your fruitfulness,

and because your fruitfulness brings glory to God, there's going

to be this thing called pruning.

Can you say pruning? How many of you love it

when you see God's pruning? Cheers coming towards your life. Right.

I used to read this past and think, well, of

course God wants to get rid of the dead, dry

things in my life.

Yeah, God, clip it away.

And then all of a sudden I realize, no, no, no,

there's some branches that he's going to cut back that

actually have some fruit on it. And he's gonna cut

it back. Why because he actually wants more fruit. And

so I remember different times where the pruning cheers are

coming at me and anybody else You've done this like, no, no, no, God, God, God,

have you considered my spouse? God, I don't need print.

And again this isn't amber, this is hypothetical, But God,

have you considered the areas of their life that need

to be snipped?

See?

The reality is God loves you so much that he

will not only cut off the dead, dry.

Things, but he'll even remove or.

Lift up or guide the things that are living so

that they become even more fruitful. See, we have to

live lives that are depending on Jesus, that are drawing

upon Jesus. But we can't do this in our own strength.

Here's why we are not the source of fruit Jesus

is branches simply produce out of whatever they're connected to,

and your life is producing whatever it is that you

are connected to. See four a disciple. Fruitfulness isn't an option.

It's inevitable. Fruitfulness is inevitable for those of us who

who our lives are in Christ and Christ's life is

in us. It's inevitable. It's going to happen. And what

that means is that fruitless discipleship is a fraud. There's

no fruit. We got to check the connection, We got

to check the root. What's going on. Because Jesus says,

if you're in me and I'm in you, you're going

to produce fruit, not through your effort, but through depending,

through drawing, and then allowing Him to develop in our

lives and through our lives. So Venture Church came with

the simple question, are you in?

Are you in?

Maybe you've carried the title, but are you in? Let

me just share a couple of verses two Corinthians five seventeen. Therefore,

if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation,

the oldest gone, the newest come Romans eight, verse one.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are

what in Christ. Galatians two twenty. I've been crucified with Christ,

and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

The life I now live in the body I live

by faith in the son of God who loved me

and gave himself for me Ephesians one to three. Blessed

is the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ,

who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.

In Christ. I could go on.

And on, but for the sake of time, the point

is this. It's not the title that you wear. It's

the life that you are in and the life that's

in you, and Jesus invites us to be connected to him.

Being united with Jesus brings life and remaining in him.

It produces fruit. And so are you depending? Are you drawing?

Are you developing? Can I invite you to bow your

heads with me today? I want to pray for two things.

I want to pray for two different areas. The first

area is this. Maybe you're here today and you say, Tyler,

I'm not in Christ. Maybe you've walked around for years

or decades with the title Christian, but you realize, man,

my life isn't actually in Jesus. He's not my Savior.

He's not my lord. Today, I want to say yes

to life in Jesus. I want my life to be

in him and his life to be in me.

That's you today. Would you just raise a hand, just

hold it up for a moment, say yeah, that's me, Tyle.

Would you pray for me today?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you can put those hands down. Second,

I want to pray for those of us who would say,

Holy Spirit, I need your help to depend I need

your help to draw on the life of Jesus, Holy Spirit.

I need your help to develop what I can't develop

in my own strength. Well, if that's you today, would

you just raise a hand and say, yeah, that's me.

That's me, Holy Spirit, I need your help developing these things,

drawing on the life of Jesus, a life of dependency. Yeah, Father,

I thank you today for your word.

Thank you that it's living an active God.

I pray that each of us we would come to

this place where we recognize that this journey with Jesus

it's about a heart that's connected. It's not simply just

filling our lives with quote unquote Jesus activity. It's actually

having a living, dependent relationship where our life is in

you and your life.

Is in us.

So God, I pray for friends who raise hands today

saying I depend on you, So help me to grow

to a greater place of dependency.

Holy Spirit.

I need to draw on you more, not just on

Sunday mornings, but on Tuesdays I'm commuting to work on

Thursdays I'm home.

With my family.

Let my life draw upon the resources of your presence. Lord,

help us to remember we can't develop this stuff in

our own strength. So Jesus, develop in us and through

us what only you can do.

Father.

I thank you for those who raise hands today saying

that they're ready to be in.

We just read it a moment ago.

God, thank you that your word in two Corinthians five

seventeen reminds us if anyone is in Christ, they're a

new creation. The old has gone, the newest come. So

venture Church. Can we say this prayer out loud together

with those who are making these decisions. Would you pray

these words? Say Jesus, thank you for loving me. I

put my trust in you. Forgive me my sin, Make

me a new creation. Help me to follow you every

day in my life.

Send your name Jesus, I pray amen,