This sermon emphasizes the importance of surrendering to God's power and authority, focusing on the need to ask Jesus to reveal our hearts for full surrender. It discusses the significance of coming to Jesus to receive from Him, the need for repentance, and the power of prayer in tapping into God's authority. The message highlights the impact of preaching God's truth with authority, the necessity of repentance for salvation, and the encouragement to get back on track with God's will despite regrets or setbacks.

Matthew chapter 21 verse 14 and I'm going to talk about the title of the message is he gave them power and authority he gave them power and authority and if you remember some of you have read the Bible many times you know that they challenged Jesus in one of the stories and they said are you or who are you and what are you doing and whose authority are you doing this by whose authority who gave you this power who gave this to you and let's talk about that tonight on this issue of authority and it's interesting because preaching really is God's given authority to proclaim his word to proclaim his truth and I like what Leonard Ravenhill said many years ago probably 40 years ago that we need more prophets in our pulpits and less puppets and what he meant by that is we need more people boldly speaking God's truth and not being puppets about what do they want to hear and this person gives a lot of money I better you know please them and just just what is the Word of God say the undiluted powerful Word of God there's power and there's authority in that and I'll explain why in a minute but Matthew 21 verse 14 then the blind and the lame came to him came to Jesus in the temple and he healed them but when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying out in the temple saying Hosanna to the Son of David they were indignant and they said to him do you hear what these are saying and Jesus said to them have you yes I have have you never read out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise then he left them and went out to the city of Bethany and he lodged there so this is pretty interesting you've got this setting where Jesus is in the temple he's healing people the blind are made to see that death to hear and he's healing people and the Pharisees are getting indignant they're getting upset at what God is doing that how who is look what they're saying to you and you're healing these people how could you and it's an interesting setting there but a few things I want to pull from this number one is we need to come to Jesus to receive from him now nobody's gonna say wow I never knew that you know we all know that but sometimes we forget that that these people had to physically go to Jesus and he healed them and many times as Christians we forget that that Jesus isn't back there up on the cross he's a forefront he's in our lives and if we need something if we it's okay say daddy I need you we talked about a few weeks ago father I need you Jesus I need you and you go to him to receive from him it's that fully surrendered life the more you give the more you gain the more we give Jesus everything the more we gain and I think sometimes we forget that that we still need to come to him don't just grab Tylenol don't just go to the chiropractor don't just do all those things which are good right sometimes we need to do that but first and foremost come to him and receive of him and that was interesting on my way to the first service I stopped by Walmart I had to pick up something that's an interesting store in itself but we're not gonna go there but let's just say there's a lot of ministry opportunities a lot of ministry opportunities so as I was leaving there's a there's a he's a vet you know veterinary veterinary he's a vet from fighting in Afghanistan and and you know people like well they're not legitimate and well I mean let God be the judge you know you got to know you got to discern a little bit so I pulled over and luckily there's a long red light I talked to him for a while and and and kind of discerned a little bit I got him a Walmart gift card and some some shoes and socks and different things but he said oh praise God thank you I said man you got to give your life fully to God he can get you out of this I have been thinking about it I know and I go no really I said you've got to fully surrender your life to God after you leave here tell him Lord I need you get me out of this say fully so you have to come to him to fully receive him he knew it intellectually yeah I know I've been thinking about that I know it's funny you said that no it's not funny I said that that that's the answer and I would submit to you that's the answer to most of our problems is to fully submit to God we have a submission problem in the church we don't know I'm not giving him that I'm not fully submit everything well then I won't have fun anymore no you won't be miserable anymore there's a big difference we think God's gonna take all the fun away from me and really that's not the case he's brings in tremendous peace and joy and contentment long-suffering and gentleness and kind all the things we need so I would just encourage you because we need to go back to the basics sometimes I remember I'm talking about this I'm preaching tomorrow morning too and I've got this good illustration that and that I used to have up on my wall when I was younger but it was a Vince Lombardi many of you know Vince Lombardi the famous Packers coach and I had all his quotes you know any man's finest hours when he lies exhausted on the field to battle victorious I'm like Paul that's really good you know football but he would tell he took the Green Bay Packers when they were bad losing streak he came he came as their head coach and in the first practice he said gentlemen this is a football that's how we like well no kidding but it's back to the basics and many times when you say gentlemen women this is a Bible there's something called prayer there's come something called seeking God with and we go back to the basics because there's no new truth if it's new it's not truth you look for the old paths you go back to and Christ is an all-sufficient Savior he's not a part-time Savior he's not a partial Savior he's an all-sufficient Savior everything we need everything and you must come to him to receive so I don't know who you are what you're dealing with maybe you don't have a relationship with God maybe you've drifted from God all you have to do is come to him to receive him that's it I love that God it's not there's not bells and whistles and seven steps of this and penance and paying he just says come to me I am the great healer I'm the great restore this see this is Jesus healing people in the temple this is the same Jesus we just sang about the waves and the sea will listen to him you can go out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean 40-foot swells and Jesus would walk out there and said peace be still and the whole ocean will come to a calm he would go Jerry's daughter he would rise her from the dead said get up little girl he would go to Lazarus tomb and say come forth he will go to the demoniac on the island over there they would sell to him and the other side of the lake and they would say come out of him you legion of devils you have no power in him I have all authority he would walk through Jerusalem he would blind Bartimaeus his eyes were open deaf were ears were open the lepers who come to him they were made as little baby skin again everywhere he went that's your Savior sometimes we need to remember that that's an all-sufficient Savior every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord there's no question mark there there's no question mark the order the question mark is here's the question mark we limit Christ we limit Christ if you think that through we limit God wants to do abundantly no I have seen nor ears heard nor is it entered even to the hearts of man the things that God wants to do for his children Shane you start to sound like Joel steam now no I'm starting to encourage we need encouragement this is an all-sufficient Savior so I don't care what you're going through you can reach out and call Jesus at 2 in the morning when your kids are sick you're going to the mercy of Jesus I need you when something's falling apart Jesus I need you when your sanity when you're every you're barely holding on Jesus I need you says good that's what I'm here for I'm an all-sufficient Savior and we but you have to reach out if you have to reach in order to receive something you have to can you hand me anything with my arm the hands closed nothing I'll drop whatever you give me and that's a lot of times Christians walk around like that I know all about Jesus I quote scripture and I have a Bible but that's not we have to open our hand really metaphorically speaking open our hearts and receive of him and that's what was happening here they were coming and he was welcoming them it was interesting thing I noticed here to how we act after seeing the wonderful things of God reveals a great deal these people were indignant they saw these wonderful works of God and we said well how could they well it happens in the church we see it I've been guilty of this you'll hear of the church down the street right well they've got a wonderful young adults program young adults are coming Lord yeah but they're soft on this or soft on that you know and but as long as the Bible believing Christ Center Church we should praise God for what they're doing I mean if they're leading hundreds of young adults to Christ I want to live in a valley where hundreds of young adults are coming to Christ because they're about ready to get on the road and date my daughter they're about ready to choose a party or a Bible study so we need to start rejoicing in the wonderful things that God is doing and not get so cynical and down I gotta move out of here I gotta leave I gotta I hate this place and if I hear that one more time I'm gonna have a fit I hate Lancaster I gotta move to you know wherever well it's what what's what you make of it God do you know that God calls people to the inner city in East LA I'd rather be there inside of his perfect will than running perfect praise this is interesting Jesus says out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise basically that is undiluted and unpolluted praise it's praise from a right heart because a lot of people come into church and they oh yeah let me sing those songs yeah it's not coming from a pure heart it's not coming from a right heart they'll be thousands well she did millions of people tomorrow morning all across our nation singing praises to God and they are not worshiping God because they deny his truth they reject his truth yet and they make God into whatever they want it to him to be and then they're gonna worship songs and it becomes blasphemy because you can't have one without the other you can't remove his truth and then sing worship songs if you don't know I'm talking about well I'll tell you it's all over it's been the news many years of Methodist the Episcopalians the Presbyterians the American Baptist all these things are ordaining gay clergy and allow allowing a lesbian to come up and preach God's Word that's blasphemy you cannot sit and then hold it hold hold up holy hands when you're when you're outside of God's will and what the Bible calls sin that's just that's just biblical that's not good so out of the mouth of babes and infants you have perfected praise now this is interesting if you do a little research Jesus is actually quoting Psalm go figure so people say oh you don't need the Old Testament really well Jesus quoted Psalm and he quoted Isaiah and Jeremiah and Deuteronomy and he would bring in the Old Testament to show us how to live Paul actually said that these things were written the Old Testament was written as an example so that you might not lust after evil things as they lusted so that tells me I better read this to see what is going on here it's it's God's full story so don't look at the old new and that's old stuff no that's God's heart of thousands of years of the nation of Israel and Jesus is quoting Psalm Psalm 8 to check this out this is interesting I usually go for the King James or the New King James but this is the NIV so here's the verse Jesus is quoting through the praise of children you have established a stronghold against your enemies to silence the foe and the Avenger so the psalmist is saying out of the mouth of children of babes perfected praise there's more power in that than even their adults and their parents you have established a stronghold against your enemies to silence the foe and the Avenger and I thought of why don't we bring back worship in our homes again have the kids worshiping God instead of Heine Montana turn off Facebook put the frozen DVD in the attic it'll be there next month and start worshiping God and get their children out of the mouth of babes and infants is perfected praise is praised and honors God and that's how the enemy is you're gonna build up a stronghold in your home because when little children begin to praise God it melts the hearts of their parents and the parents begin to praise God and what used to become a stronghold for the enemy now becomes a stronghold for God how do you know it's a stronghold for the enemy watch what people are allowing into their homes look what entertains us now witchcraft and the occult and murder and illicit sex and vampires and all that it entertains the church the church not the world the world's the church entertains the world I mean these things are entertaining us and they shouldn't that they're strongholds that we have to cast down oh I think Paul said that take every thought captive right cast down strongholds and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity into obedience to Christ so does our thought life is their obedience to Christ verse 18 before I keep upsetting you oh he's off of that subject now in the morning as he returned to the city he was hungry and seeing a fig tree by the I'm sorry seeing a fig tree by the road he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves and he said to it let no fruit grow on you ever again immediately the fig tree withered away and when the disciples saw it they marveled saying how did this fig tree wither so soon so Jesus answered and said to them as surely I say to you if you have faith and you do not doubt you will not only do what was done to this fig tree but also if you say to this mountain be removed and cast into the sea it will be done and whatever things you ask in prayer believing you will receive now this was a challenging sermon because that passage I just read right there could take up a sermon or two this could this could be a two-part series just on that on that paragraph but I just want to pull a few things from this he found nothing on it but leaves so he curses a fig tree and you might think well that's a little bit mean but no but see it's not supposed to bear leaves it's supposed to bear fruit the tree the whole point of a fig tree is to bear frigs as they're walking by oh there's some you know 300 grams of carbohydrates to get me through my next 20 mile journey let's oh let's put figs in our pouches and figs and then we have dried figs you know dried fruit and they so they would have so that's the whole point of the the fig tree so it's really it's a fruit that matters so a lot of people we have leaves on we look the part we have a bible we have a bible app we have a little sign the fish on our car but there's no fruit there's there's just no fruit and people say but Shane I want the fruit well guess what there's a growing process and it hurts to produce fruit you have to produce fruit and we wither spiritually when we lack the fruit just like this tree it withered away because it wasn't producing fruit you will die spiritually you will wither away if you're not producing fruit in your life well what that looks what does that look like well a couple things this is why I mentioned often the hospital homes that we have we have four homes throughout the yellow valley where there's patients in there a lot of them many of them die months later and some of them are there for long term and and they just want people to come and read to them the bible or talk could you stop by and talk I mean every time I leave there it's are you coming back right I mean there's just that's fruit you go so if you want to sign up for that if you want to invest in many of you're saying right now oh I know that would be challenging that'd be hard yeah it is fruit hurts it's hard fruit's never comfortable and never comfortable fruit hurts but things like that or if you if you say Shane I want to invest here's my gifting we could get you plugged in with I can list right now on my hand six marriages that are falling apart but we don't have enough people mentoring or to wanting to help I can tell you families in need right now they need might need rides they might need some work done at their house but we just don't have enough see we love to come and sit but it's the fruit that hurts because this is this is pretty comfortable right okay I ate a couple hours ago and a couple songs Shane's not too long hopefully and then we'll go eat and then then there but there's no fruit to that and then we get convicted I need to have some fruit and then when I wake up tomorrow it's this ongoing process so I would just encourage you this is a challenge for all of us even me anybody in this room it's it's challenging but you will wither and die spiritually if you're not producing fruit how do I know this because we were designed by God to minister to others God blesses us so we're a blessing to others that's the whole point if not you become like Mono Lake up there in the High Sierras right you got wonderful gorgeous rivers running in but it's dead there's no life in that because you have to have an outlet there has to be an outlet going out or you just you just die you become stagnant and that's not healthy and then Jesus said whatever things you ask in prayer now we have to be careful here because this is where the hyper Pentecostal camp name it claim it where they'll grab something like this you know you're going to own that Mercedes and Ron's going to give you three Harleys and you're going to have this house up on Corto Mountain all for God's just going to bless you and bless you and bless you and God listen whatever you ask in prayer no but it's whatever you ask in prayer according to his will the Bible also says commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established so the more I'm spending time in God's word the more I'm spending time bearing fruit the more I'm spending time saying Lord I want what you want for me he helps to shape those thoughts so your prayer life becomes a powerful life of prayer prayers that are answered because now you're praying according to God's will and here's a real quick test prayers that are according to God's will usually involve benefiting others not yourself now of course there's nothing wrong saying Lord I need direction here I need income we need this and this we there's nothing wrong with that but make sure you're praying according to God's will by spending time in his in his word and praying and he will direct you you know some of you know exactly what I'm talking about when you commit your works to the Lord your thoughts are established how did I come up with why I don't want to do that why am I being led in this direction why am I being led to pray for that person why am I being led to even consider that ministry why am I being led why because your thoughts are lining up with God God's thoughts without faith as we know it's impossible to please God without faith it's impossible to please God that's why this is interesting when Jesus says if you don't doubt if you don't doubt whatever you ask and at this point many people say well who in the world never doubts well this is different which is important because we we have our English word but if you look up in the Greek you look at something called the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible very thick but you can find online too and you look up what the words mean and this word Jesus is using doubt means if you do not waver and you do not question see there's a big difference between having an attitude of doubt you know that person right maybe you are that person that sometimes yeah I know God could do it but he's not going to do it he could but he's not I'll pray about it but it's not going to happen I'm woes me life stinks he never answers my prayers I know he can't you know that kind of that that's the doubt that Jesus is rebuking but the doubt that's okay and it happens from time to time is the man who prayed and I went to Jesus and said would you heal my my daughter believe it's his daughter's son and Jesus said yes I will if you believe and he said Lord I believe but please help my unbelief see that's very healthy it's very healthy say Lord I believe God I believe you can heal me I believe you can answer these but but Lord there's some doubt coming in there's some fear there's some trepidation could you please help me with that see that's honest and open that's a good that's I wouldn't say a good doubt but it's a healthy doubt that we all deal with because it'll it'll help you get it out of the way Lord I believe but help my unbelief I believe we'll have a building someday but there's some unbelief coming in I believe that we're going to see revival in this church but there's doubt coming in I believe that God's going to answer I know of 20 prayers out there right now but but but but God help my unbelief my sinful nature is causing me to doubt you so I repent of that but that's a lot different you know those people I've talked to them sometimes I want to say no wonder nothing they're just yeah he can but you know it God doesn't bless me and this is I just is this this is my lot and I don't deserve it and you know I'll pray and but he's not going to do that he would never open a door like that for me and I don't know if he can even change my wife's heart and I don't know and just you just get onto this Charlie Brown right this just why God can't why God won't why God shouldn't versus focusing on if you believe and God's going to do something you pray according to his will Jesus says just don't doubt just believe that God is who he says he is and you have to fight against that sinful nature and be very careful because there's a big difference between Lord praying for our needs and praying for our wants let that sink in we all want certain things but God's focused on our knees seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these wants will be added to you later now it's all these needs that what we what we truly need what's interesting about prayer prayer ignites passion prayer ignites power prayer prayer pulls down heaven you engage God's power so we hear Jesus doing all these things but we can engage that same power if we spend time with God I like what R.A. Torrey said we must spend much time on our knees before God if we are to continue in the power of the Holy Spirit you must spend time in your prayer closet if you're to continue in God's power yes it's difficult yes it's challenging but it can be done it's all about prioritizing so when this whole issue of power and authority that's how you get God's power that's how you get his authority that's how you can walk in situations and speak truth because you spent time in the prayer closet I think it was Calvin Miller and he was absolutely right he said really preaching is all preaching is is you're unloading the firearm that God loaded in the prayer closet that's what it that's that's what this is you're unloading that firearm that God loaded in the same with our individual lives you're unloading what God loaded up in the prayer closet that's why I often say you come out a better husband you come out a better wife you come out a better spouse you come out a better child you come out a better Christian because you spent time with the Father if we're too busy for him all we got is pop psychology on or Fox News for the Republicans and CNN for the liberals and you that's all we're watching all the time all the time all the time and that's what we're going to be filled with so we don't have God's power we don't got have God's authority we'll walk around in doubt because we're feeding that verse 23 now when he came into the temple the chief priests and elders of the people confronted him as he was teaching so Jesus is teaching this is the same Jesus the same type of teaching that they said no man ever spoke like this man there's power there's authority that was the the the pharisees we could talk about Gamaliel and the different pharisees and leaders of the day they would sometimes say well such and such says this and such and such says this and such and such says this and what do you think and they they really didn't know but now you have Jesus coming up as it were to the pulpit saying here's what God's word says you brood of vipers you whitewashed tombs you hypocrite and he's just speaking the God's truth they said no man ever spoke like this man why because he had God's authority so they're asking him here by what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority basically who gave you this power lives are being radically changed he's challenging something you don't do he's challenging the religious leaders and it's interesting Jesus's most scathing words were not for the the the the poor the sinner the helpless the woman caught in adultery said just woman go and sin no more his most scathing words were for religious leaders hypocrites and they said why who gave you this authority who gave you this power about and he was preaching and ian bound said this about preaching preaching is God's great institute for the planting and maturing a spiritual life when properly executed its benefits are untold but when wrongly executed no evil can exceed its damaging results that's so true when when preaching is done according to God's word it's powerful lives are changed but when you remove that spiritual authority that power and you come up here like i think you know some of this is true and some's not i'm just going to give you my my thoughts on that uh you just you just created death and not life because the the authority and the power is in God's word and preaching what God's word says that's where that authority and the power comes from so people because people you know they they ask me this sometimes who who in the world do you think you are you know who's saying all this stuff i'm just saying what God's word says see they don't like what the God's word says that's the problem who who gave you the the right to say this where's your master's degree and your phd oh right here i'd rather have a degree from the master than a master's degree no am i going against that no because every time i say that people email me you know it's okay to get education yes i know that i've been studying for 17 years very much and i plan to keep studying but you better know who your power and your authority is it's not in the doctorate degree on my business card it's on as if i had one i don't but it's in the it's in the power of God's that's what changes lives so they're who gave you this power who gave you this authority and there's nothing to fear when preaching the truth with authority God ordained it and he blesses it actually this a matter of fact this is what people this is what gets people upset when you preach God's word with authority i mean i could i could bring in a whole bunch of unbelievers and i could say you know what this this is kind of what i think i mean whatever you always lead to God you know Buddha, Hare Krishna, Mormon, Jehovah Witness, whatever you want to believe doesn't really matter i'm just going to tell you how i feel oh that's okay that's cool man but when you come in you say Jesus is the only way the only truth the only life nobody comes to the father except through him he's the only way then you just upset half your crowd because that's the authority see that's the authority though that's the interest that God's word is authority it's power it can say thus saith the Lord and penetrate the heart and people don't like it who told you to talk like this God's word says that so there's nothing to fear when God gives people authority to passionately and lovingly proclaim his word souls are converted lives are changed and families are restored this is interesting i'm going to go out on a limb here and just give you a little nugget of truth on this when you talk when when when i studied this a lot it was called the emergent church movement back 15 years ago basically it's liberal liberalism repackaged what liberalism is is they don't take God's word as what as the inerrant authoritative word of God they're like well it's kind of i'm liberal about it you know it's it's none of the stuff you will not see souls converted lives changed and families restored by that type of phony preaching you never do lives are not radically changed because they're not seeing Jesus through the right lens they're just talking they're just conversing and this is so serious that if a pastor challenges the authority or authenticity of the word of God they need to step away from leadership immediately they are not God's spokesman they are considered a false prophet if they don't speak God if they if they question and they challenge who God is his very nature and his word they are considered a false prophet i have no problem saying that because that's what it is a false prophet is a false proclaimer of God's truth if you're saying something about God that's not true that's false and a few years back i remember this some of you i've talked about before so i'm not going to go into detail but a few years back uh i remember there's this big movement i talked about but they're wanting to replace the pulpit with a couch they wanted to have a conversation not preaching so they want to remove the whole element of preaching and just have a conversation sit on the couch and i when i asked why they said well shane it's a lot less threatening for the people they don't like preaching okay well who are we listening to here God or man so see trying to change things to fit the masses the book spirit spirit-empowered preaching says this it must be understood that the preacher does not share he declares preaching is not a little talk and it's not a fireside chat to substitute sharing and discussion for preaching is to risk the integrity of the gospel itself and he's absolutely correct i'm not up here sharing i hate to burst your bubble i'm not sharing my opinion and i'm not concerned what other people's opinions are i'm up here declaring what God's word says in certain areas of life it's called practical application and on areas where we don't know it's okay say we don't know i'd rather say i'm not sure how that works for example salvation God's sovereign yet he calls us to repent and believe how does that work i don't know but i'm gonna do both thank God for God's sovereignty but also he calls sinners to repentance the concept of hell i can't i just can't quite grasp that it's a difficult truth but it's a truth no doubt that needs to be preached when Jesus Christ himself said Jesus said this do not fear the person who can kill your body he said fear the person who can cast both body and soul in hell and he preached repentance he preached heaven sweet and hell hot see that's truth we have to tell people oh God would never do that see i i'm but i'm here's what i what i do understand about it is that God doesn't send people there they reject him and they send their self there and this weeping and outer darkness could be the absence of the presence of God when God says you want it you got it you go spend time with your father the devil and you rejected Christ the only bridge the only the only way the only truth the only life you rejected that i can't a holy righteous God cannot dwell with sinful man and you you we go where we want to go it's not me some we don't see a mean God saying ah ha ha i can't believe there goes another one i what i see when i read the bible i see whosoever we see in football games all the time right Tim Deboe got in trouble John 3 16 whosoever believes whosoever God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes shall be saved that's all this is you don't have to march around a city you don't have seven steps of this you don't have to give money to this all you have to do is repent and believe the glorious gospel we sing the song the simple gospel it's so simple a little 10 year old can cry out to God and God can save him and it's so complex and an atheist will go to hell because they want to go to hell over a mystery that's the gospel the good news and all a person has to do is say God i need you this is not cutting it i'm not going to save myself i need you God says good i can save you so that's why people say oh mean God in this he's no you're rejecting him you're rejecting him you don't want there to be a God it has nothing to do with facts it has everything to do with the human heart rejecting God God says that the heart is is prideful it's deceitful it's wicked who can know it that's why God often crushes us in a good way i mean if you do what do you what happened to the olives in order for you to use your olive oil where do you think perfume comes from in the flowers gently just no it's crushed so often God will crush a man or a woman and then get them to fully surrender their life and that's a loving father because i look back on my life i say oh God if you would have kept me wealthy and healthy and things going on i might have rejected you all the way to my grave so sometimes we should pray for the difficult things because they they show us our need for a savior or they should i mean i talk to people so i bet they could i bet they would kill me if they could get away with it atheists just who do you think you are and you have to go okay let's go a little history lesson the sperm and the egg and conception and like who made that and who made this and the skin and the skeletal system and the central nervous system and the brain and the heart that's all it's all like your heart just beats a billion times for your lifetime from some electronical pulse it just kind of started there and your skin texture absorbs and doesn't allow water to come in but keeps you and all that just happened please you've got to be kidding me i've got some areas this is property ocean side property arizona so this is ridiculous but because the human heart is so prideful and so arrogant they don't want to be a god i heard atheist this week he goes you can all rejoice because you have star dust in your hands and they break it down you well we've got this we've got carbon we've got iron we've got zinc we've got all these things in our body that the stars have and i say well so does the soil and god said i will i grabbed he made man out of the dust of the earth and it says he breathed in him and he became a living nephesh which is a living soul in the hebrew language he became a living soul he pulled out of that so yeah you have all those trace minerals that are consistent with the soil huh to me that's it well genesis is right on the money and then they laugh all the colorado river that can never happen oh that's called erosion from a massive massive flood how do you get fossils on the top of some of these highest mountains i mean just think it through just well somebody must have put up there who aliens i mean who put the you just just think god is consistent his nature is consistent this is a loving father jesus gave them authority and he gives us authority as well and i want to encourage you with that he gives you power and authority to guard your home to save your marriage to overcome temptation to protect your children god gives us that authority but here's the key it's not your unlimited power and it's not your unabsolute authority it's god's you have to tap into it see nobody everybody understands plugging in a vacuum to get the power but we don't understand the same concept with god you've got to like paul said to the church in ephesus finally brethren be strong in the lord and in the power of his might okay great can i stop there no so put on the full armor of god that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil that word wiles is trickery it's deceit he's a cunning crafty satan evil slander and you've got to put on the full armor of god the breastplate of righteousness the belt of truth the sword of the spirit the word of god you put all these things on and that's how you tap into god's power that's why i often say everybody's many christians are walking through life unarmed untrained and unprepared they're saying enemy take your best shot and down they go because they're not tapped into god's power and then the closing text jesus said jesus answered and said to them i also ask you one thing and if you tell me then i'll tell you by what authority i do these things so jesus okay you want to know what where i get my authority let me ask you this question the baptism of john where was it from now those of you don't know john the baptist was a forerunner of jesus christ probably three months prior to jesus he paved the way for jesus it's it's almost like back then they would send out a whole uh regiment of people to clean the roads when a king was coming they'd remove the boulders they would remove the ruts they would they would get the prepare the way prepare the way the king is coming so they would go and prepare the roads so john the baptist came in spiritually speaking saying i will he's the forerunner he will prepare the way for the messiah he'll get the hearts of the people right he will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children the children back to their fathers prepare either way of the lord that's what john the baptist was he would he came so the people would repent and be baptized and be ready for the coming of the messiah so jesus asked him this is the ministry of john where was it from from heaven or from men and they reasoned among themselves saying if we say it's from heaven he will say to us then why did you not believe but if we say it's from men we fear the people because they counted john as a prophet and they'll stone us basically these religious leaders would come down to the jordan river john was baptized they'd watch him look at this guy eating locusts and wild honey wearing camel's clothing and oh this guy's and then john the baptist would look up and say you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come bear fruit were bear bear fruit worthy of repentance in other words stop your gimmicking stop your game stop looking at me being a looky loo and condemning bear fruits worthy of repentance you brood of vipers and he said don't say that we are children of abraham because god is able to raise up from these very stones children of abraham because they were trusting and i talked about this a few weeks ago they were trusting we're children of abraham doesn't matter you still will bow to christ and they get caught up in this well we've been raised a christian all of our life mentality and and and so jesus asked them and they said well we don't know what his ministry is from and then jesus said neither will i tell you by what authority i do these things and it was very interesting because what we can glean here is the first step into god's kingdom and this might be for somebody tonight i don't know the first step into god's kingdom was and still is repentance that's if you can take anything from this text john the baptist came to prepare the way of for christ and they rejected him he was just calling the people to repentance to repentance be baptized and repent of your sin so it's still it was and it still is it's the only way to salvation and this is a message that i know people need to hear around our our especially our nation that if you've never repented if you repentance is basically saying god i'm a sinner i need you to save me that the simplest way i can get it i'm a sinner i need you to save me if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that god raised him from his the dead the importance about being raised from the dead is because it says it's who christ says he was i will be risen i will rise again and god raised him up and he died for the sins of the world and that's what that's what salvation is you have to repent of your sin you have to repent and say god i need you i need you lord and you don't want to live your life with a question mark here that's what i always tell people and here's here's the number one or number two reason why people don't do this i'm not going to have any more fun that's what i thought for 25 years right i'm not gonna be more fun so waking up in las vegas hungover not knowing where i parked that's fun i mean it's ridiculous we get caught up in this this mentality buying crystal myth from somebody who could have killed me oh that's not i'm gonna have more fun no this is a genuine relationship with god is where true peace and joy come from the reason a person's denying is because the sinful nature is fighting it the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak the spirit of god convicts and draws but the flesh is nope i don't want that i'm gonna be some weird guy like shane read the bible and all this weird stuff that's not that's you have a wrong that's the enemy planting lies the great deceiver is planting lies here's how i know everybody in hell everybody hell millions billions of people everybody in hell knows this truth that he's a liar and he deceives them and he's a deceiver everybody that you would not interview anybody there say well no i made the right choice nobody and it's difficult to talk about this topic because people don't like to but if you love god's truth enough and you love people enough you'll tell them the truth there there's a heaven there's a hell there's a right there's a wrong there's a good there's an evil and not all little ways are going to lead to the golden gate no matter what i choose as long as i'm sincere you can be sincerely wrong you can be sincerely wrong have you ever heard of anything called isis you think they're sincere oh very sincere so don't judge it by sincerity or he's a good person but it's the heart truly repented has a heart truly truly repented i see this all the time and just a few weeks ago to hospital home maybe a month ago now i just asked the guy he said yeah i know god i pray sometimes when i need him i said but have you ever repented of your sin ever repent of your sin and say god would you save me he said no i've never done that so i was able to lead him through now he wants more of the bible now he's hungry for god's word because he had a wrong understanding of who god was it's not a doting grandfather it's not a cosmic ball of love right i often say that this is a loving father who says child this is what you have to do stop fighting me come home that's a wonderful thing the prodigal son the father was waiting for that son to come to himself and come home and that's that was and is still the way back to god is repentance so even if you've drifted from god repent if you don't know him repent if you're a adult or a little kid all you have to do is repent and say god i need you would you save me that's a prayer god will answer he's i've never seen him turn away anybody he said no no you're not ready you got to find me i'm hiding up in heaven he just he's waiting and that's why that's why i think i get so passionate because people it's this is not an angry god this is not this oh he's got a whole bunch of guard you know you can't do this can't do that yeah it's called protection when i tell my son don't go around the street when that guy's running 60 miles an hour driving 60 miles is that because i don't love my son we're out in the desert playing all right i gave this example a while back oh go put your hand in that snake hole come on dad you just don't want me to have fun no i love you and here's how we know what is the fruit that is being produced by our lifestyle it doesn't lie what is the fruit jesus says wisdom is justified by her children meaning to truly to know what's right what are you producing what's the fruit that's coming from your lifestyle is it depression and and fear and hopelessness and i'm just going to keep hanging on and maybe the next paycheck will help maybe my next promotion will help and that's this is why a lot of people go through relationship through relationship through relationship they're looking for somebody or something to fulfill a need that only god can fulfill and when they finally come to him they understand oh this is what i've been looking for all of my life he's an all-sufficient savior and i'm going to talk about it next week and it's that whole verse where jesus said to the leaders the religious leaders but what do you think a man has two sons and he came to the first and said son go work today in my vineyard and he answered and said i will not but afterwards he regretted it and went then he came to the second and said likewise and he answered and said sir i'll go but he didn't go so jesus asked him so which one of those men did the will of god so the guy who actually said i'm not gonna go and went and regret it went back and did the will of the father that was god's will he went back and was able to do god's will but jesus didn't say they're both jerks he recognized that the humble sinner repented regretted and said god i'm sorry went back and jesus said he did the will of the father he did the will the father so don't allow regret to beat you up don't allow pain to continue to hold you down and i messed up i messed up in god's will in this area in this area and welcome to the club but god just says get back to my will and that's what he was telling the religious leaders he's saying you sons of the devil you brood of vipers god's that's you you're the man you're the man not doing god's will what do you think a father said his only son and they beat him and they killed him and they take let's take the vineyard jesus said you're the men you are the men so turn back to god so no matter what you're going through now if there's regret some of you think there's thank god there's not but if there's tons of regret and oh god if i would have just did this 10 years if i could relive my life over man i know right where i'd start well but see then you think i wouldn't meet my wife i wouldn't have my kids so then you go that wouldn't work so if i could just go back within that wouldn't work how because god works all things somehow for those to those who love him see god's will we think god's will sometimes i got to stay right on and it's very good i love to stay right on god's path and not go off to the right or left but sometimes when we veer we're like i'm out of his will now now i'm a divorce court or now i'm here and i'm now i'm here and i can't the god's will is that we basically the bible says a few things god god's will is that we are holy and set apart for him god's will is that we worship him god's will is that we make disciples that's the will of god that you present your body's living sacrifices so you'll know the will of god so god's will is just about getting back on track as soon as the enemy knocks us off we get back on track and allow pain allow regret to to to be a stepping stone because who doesn't regret their prayer life if anybody's in here say shana i've got the most amazing prayer life it's almost like i'm in heaven every day i'd love to talk to you tell me how do you do that because all of us many times less than one percent that doesn't but most of us feel that i just lord my prayer life is not where it needs to be well you know what you use that to get it where it needs to be so you use that regret i'm not spending enough time in your word i'm not spending enough time praying guess what there's tomorrow morning his mercies are renewed every day so we get up tomorrow morning and we say lord i'm getting back on track and then jesus is almost saying that's the one who did the will of my father because he got back on track i mean this cannot be any more clear he had two sons and he told the son go work in the vineyard and son said nope i'm not going to but then he's probably out back kicking rocks he's like oh shoot i need to do that i need to do what's right so he gets back in god's will that's what i love about god i mean i i can counsel the person and young adults we've talked to they're on the verge of suicide because they're pregnant and they're 17 their parents are going to kill them let me tell you there are circumstances but there's a loving father you can get in the center of his will and he can direct you you'll find yes you'll find tears but you'll find joy you'll find anxiety but you'll find peace because that's a loving god that directs us through our junk that's tremendous hope to me