This sermon addresses the theme of being prone to wander, emphasizing the tendency to stray from God and the importance of returning to Him. It highlights the impact of wandering on families, the need for humility, honest self-examination, and the call to repentance and restoration. The message challenges men to lead with humility, love, and spiritual strength, emphasizing the significance of living out one's faith through actions rather than words.

So I want to speak to you tonight from the subject of prone to wander. Prone to wander, like a bird that wanders from the nest, so is a man who wanders from his place. And this will be a Father's Day message. I'm going to speak primarily to men tonight. One lady came up to me after the first service and she said, can you give a message like that to the women at some point? So I will definitely work on that. But I want to speak to the men tonight because we are prone to wander. What I mean by that is, as you know, as Christians, there's something within us. We have the Spirit of God, but we also have the flesh and we're prone to wander and wander away from God. And like the song we just sang, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above. And this song was written in 1757. And I would say that the same thing applies today in 2014. Lord, I'm prone to wander. Lord, keep me near to you because as a man, when he wanders from his place, it's the same thing as a bird that wanders from its nest. And any of you that are hunters or have been involved in bird trapping, they don't trap them in the nest. What do they do? They get them away from that nest to come down and they wander as a bird that wanders from that nest as a man that wanders from his place. And it's interesting if you study, if you go and you look at that, obviously, the Hebrew language and when this was written in the Old Testament, the word wander there is to depart or stray or retreat. So it's a position. I have this position, but I'm going to depart or I'm going to stray or I'm going to retreat from what I know to be right. That's wandering. It's leaving the place that you don't belong. You're going to a place where you don't belong. And I remember hearing a story a while back of a man who raised his son in the fear and admonition of the Lord. He loved his son. He brought him to church and he did all the right things right. But by the time he turned 21, it was a different story. He had Las Vegas, he had the party scene. And months and months later, he had to go pick up his son on the Nevada border in a jail. And he walked into the jailhouse and his son was laying there hung over. And he said, son, you don't belong here. That's the imagery you need to have. You don't belong here. And when we wander from that place, it's almost as God saying, son, daughter, you don't belong here. Come home. Make decisions that will put you in that right place. You don't belong here. And many times as Christians, we get out of that safety, don't we? And we wander and we wander because it's not that bad. It's not that bad. And then and we just keep wandering. We're prone to wander. There's something inside of me. You pastor? Something inside? Yeah, there's something prone to wander. Why do you think I preach on in the base thing in the Word of God so much in worship and prayer and fasting and humility and gentleness and being filled with the Spirit of God and full abandonment to Christ and the fully surrendered life? You think I just want to say that to say it? That's how you keep the prodigal from becoming a prodigal. That's how you keep the wayward daughter from leaving home. That's how you stay in that place of safety and protection. And the place, wandering from his place, where the enemy seeks to remove you from that place. You see, I believe there's a place that God will have us. There's safety, there's security, there's protection. We stay in that place under his safety and his framework. But when you get out underneath that house and go your own way, hard is the way of the transgressor. And we remove ourself from that place. What I like it too is what the DMV calls a certificate of non-operation. You know what that is? You've got a nice vehicle sitting in the driveway, but you have a certificate of non-operation. That's what the enemy wants to do. As Christians, he wants to go and he wants to remove you from that place. Because in the place, there's anointing. In the place, there's unction. What I mean by that is a Spirit-filled life. In the place, that's where God can move in your life. In the place, that's where peace comes from and rejoicing and worship in that place. So the enemy says, I'm going to take you from that place and get you out of God's will. And that's when we get a certificate of non-operation. Here's what happens. We become ineffective, unproductive, negative, angry, lukewarm. That describe anybody in this room? Might be because you're out of the place. I haven't quit yet. Let me finish the list. Depressed, disgruntled, discouraged, critical, powerless, and lifeless. And that's what happens to Christians when we get the certificate of non-operation. When the enemy takes, listen, you're in this place. Do you ever say, where's that passion at? Where did the passion go? Where did the passion go? The passion I used to have for Christ and his word and fellowship and being filled with the Spirit of God. Where did that go? It went because the wonder within was awakened and he pulled you away, prone to wonder. Lord, I feel it. I feel that prone to wonder. That's what makes me get into the Word of God in the morning in prayer because that wonder needs to be crucified, not coddled, not given space, not given a little latitude. What's the old saying? You give the devil an inch, he's going to take a mile. Prone to wonder. Lord, I feel it. And we become ineffective, unproductive. If you took a survey of most Christians in our landscape, we are ineffective, unproductive, negative, angry, lukewarm, depressed, disgruntled, discouraged, critical, powerless, and there's no spiritual life in us. Why isn't the kingdom of God advancing? Why aren't we winning more people? Well, it's the Spirit-filled life that does God's will. When we're outside of that safety and protection, we're wandering. God's calling the prodigal son home. Listen, come home. Come back to the place where I can use you. I can't use you when you're caught in this rebellion, in this being drifting away from me. So God says, stay in this place. Stay in this environment. Stay in this shelter. The nest was high and protected, right? It's a place of safety and security. But when he wanders from that nest, bam. And that's what the enemy will do in my life and yours. He'll try to get you to wander. And the funny thing is, I don't have to say anything because you already feel it. You're prone to wander. We're prone to sleep in. We're prone to put this to the side. We're prone to click on this and just watch. We're prone to do that. That's why I often say, and I've had to explain to a few people, when I say, if you don't do anything, your flesh will lead you by default. You heard of the default mode? Default just means I'm in default. If I don't do anything, my flesh will lead me. My prone to wander, the wanderer within will lead me if I don't do anything. That's why it's called spiritual disciplines and you're fighting against that current of the culture. So the wanderer within, you might say, okay, well, Shane, I'm a little disheartened now. I'm a little worried. Well, you don't have to be because the wanderer within can be restrained. He can be restrained. I'm a living witness to tell you that badgering little devil can be restrained. Not total victory. Nobody does it perfectly. I've told you before, I'm a prideful man working on humility by the grace of God. I'm a work in progress, just like everybody else. And this message is a little different because I want to preach on my favorite topics, of course, on restraining the wanderer. I want to encourage you to get in worship like you've never had before. I want to encourage you to get into the word of God like you never have before. I want to encourage you to pray and you want to fast. And I want to encourage you in these spiritual disciplines that most people aren't doing. And they truly don't know the power of God in their life because they are neglecting the very thing that they need. But I've already done that on many, many, many different sermons. You can go back on our website, just watch the last year. I've talked about all those things. So I just want to talk to you from not only a pastoral heart, but a man who is a broken man. I am a broken man from a broken childhood, very angry home. Dad wasn't a believer. That resulted in me getting married and then a broken marriage and it led to a broken life. And that's why I often say I should be buried in Lancaster by now. I should be dead or hung over. I should be arrested. I should be on my fourth marriage. But God, you see, you can never forget about that equation. That's why I love to encourage people who are at their, at their, their wits end. They're, they're, they're falling off the rope. They're, they're, they're where they call it the bottom of the barrel. I can't go any lower. That's where I would like to come in and encourage them and say, but God, see, sometimes He can't use you until you get down there. You're like, oh, I'm going through this. I'm losing everything. Now you'll turn to God. Now you'll turn to God. He'll take your health. He'll put you in a wheelchair. He'll take all your finances. Now you cry out to God. Now you can't get enough church. Now you can't get enough worship. Now you can't get enough word. Where, where was this before? It was there, but you didn't want it. It takes broken men to break men. It takes broken prideful. God has to break that pride out of a man and get him in that broken state. So while he's building you up, he's first got to often break you down. You have to take a fraction, right? You break it down to its lowest common denominator before you divide it back or multiply it back up. And I see that. So people get so, oh, I'm going through this. I'm not going to make it. I would say, good. Finally, finally, the God who created the heavens and the earth is not going to let you go sleep underneath the bridge, but he's going to take all that out of you so he can rebuild it. Now you'll call on me. Now you'll cry out to me. Now you'll worship me. Now you'll put me in that position of predominance in your life. Now you'll schedule everything around me. Now I'm the center, now I'm the focus. But he had to get those things out of your life. But woe be to the rich man because it's hard to enter heaven. Sometimes we think our greatest blessings are wonderful, but they can be our greatest curse if they draw us away from God. That's what that scripture means. It's hard for a rich man to enter heaven because riches contend for that relationship. The wealth can compete with God. But when he takes everything away from you, you should sometimes count that as all joy. The Bible says count it as all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that God was building your patience and your faith. But what happens? Most people don't become better. They become bitter. They become sour, disgruntled, discouraged, and then they give up on God. But he's calling us to that place of safety and protection. So the wonder within must be restrained. I'm only going to tell you one way. I'm only going to tell it once, and I hope you get it. Because this is going to be a hard message to hear, but I make no apologies. We need to hear it. Many churches tomorrow are going to encourage men and not challenge them. And we see no change takes place. So I want to do both. I want to encourage, but I first want to challenge. Here's what needs to take place. If you want the wonder within to be restrained, it's very simple. Honest self-examination needs to take place. I say, oh yeah, that sounds good. No, I'm talking about honest self-examination. When you say, Lord, show me my heart. Show me. Is there any wicked way in me? Is there anything I'm wondering? Lord, show me honest self-examination. And I read last night in the study, and trying to get the sermon together, 1 Samuel 15, 23. Many of you are familiar with this, but I'll read it for those who are not. It says, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. What? Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and arrogance is like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you. And you might say, well, that doesn't make any sense. Rebellion is the sin of witchcraft. Well, in Israel's day, witchcraft was up there with the top sin you could name. I mean, they would kill people for that. Going against God, bringing up divination, and today it would be Ouija boards and all this, you know, let me go dabble in the occult. You don't dabble in the occult. It's very scary stuff. But back in Israel's day, they knew that that black magic, that witchcraft, was satanic, was not of God. So God's saying, listen, your rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. So don't be up here rebelling and rejecting my word and saying, oh, look at this, aren't I so special? God's saying, no, that rebellion and that arrogance is the same as witchcraft. It's the same as black magic. It's the same as rejecting God in these areas. That's how serious this issue is. God is not saying that He will reject a Christian when they rebel or we'd all be in trouble. He is saying that disobedience is the same as magic and divination. And the heart of magic is rebellion. And at the heart of false worship is self-exaltation. There is a deeper anointing. Listen to this. There's a deeper anointing, a more powerful place of worship, a more prominent place of service that flows from obedience. See, God often calls us back to obedience, obeying His word, rebelling, rebelling against what God has said is as the sin of witchcraft. When we reject the word of the Lord through disobedience, there is a cost, there is a price to pay. Anytime we reject the word of the Lord, we reject what we know to be true, we rebel against Him, there is a cost, there is a price. God says, I'm not mocked. I'm not mocked. Whatever man sows, that which he will reap. That's it. In case you haven't figured it out, I'm not here trying to win a popularity contest. We're not taking a survey at the end of the door saying, how did you like that sermon today? I'm going to tell you the truth. I'm speaking the truth in love. That God, rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft. The good thing is, I don't have to name all these things because we know in our own hearts, don't we? That I've been rebelling in this area. I've been arrogant in this area. Oh, we have to shake your head. That's what God is convicting us. Here's the problem though. I'll shoot you straight again. Pride blinds us. Pride blinds us to the things of God. That's how powerful pride is. It blinds us like this. Where's the congregation out there? I don't know. It blinds us. Pride just blinds us to the things of God. It makes us real receptive to the things of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. But pride and arrogance and disobedience will actually blind us to the things of God. We can't see clearly. We grope through things like you ever walk into a garage with the lights off, and you're bumping into things. That's what pride does. We think we're spiritual and holy, and we're doing God a favor. He says, no, you're wretched, miserable, and blind. I remember a story I heard a few times about Muhammad Ali when he got on an airplane a while back, a long time ago now. He was sitting there. They were getting ready to take off, and they came over to the loudspeaker, buckle your seatbelts. He said, I'm not going to buckle my seatbelt. Jeez. So the stewardess came up to him, and she said, Mr. Ali, you must buckle your seatbelt. And he looked at her, and he said, Superman don't need no seatbelt? And she looked at him and said, Superman don't need no airplane. Oh, you'll get it when you drive home, some of you. But that's pride. That's pride. Superman don't need no seatbelt. You're in an airplane. You've got to fly for Superman. But that's what pride does. Pride blinds us. I don't need none of that. I don't need to hear what he's saying. This is for my friend such and such. No, this is for you. This is the Father's Day message we need to hear. And I don't know how some of you do it without Christ at the center of your life, honestly. I don't know how. Let me just read from the article. I believe God put this on my heart. It's in your bulletins. We are in desperate need of genuine leadership, broken, humble men, men who are not afraid that they need God, men who are more worried about prayer than about status and recognition, men who petition God rather than position themselves. Men have largely forsaken their God-given role as spiritual leaders in their homes period. Here's some examples. Bible reading and prayer are called fanatical while working 12 hours a day is called success. We build our career. We neglect our marriage. Corporate executives are praised and family men are frowned upon. Pride is considered an asset and humility a liability. We know more about our favorite athletes than our wives and our children. We'd rather be seen leaving a bar than leaving a church. And we praise our favorite team, but we're handcuffed and asleep in church. Men, you're not called to be a passive, weak, indecisive partner. You're called to protect, lead, and guard your family. You are to initiate prayer. You are to defend your wife. You are to shepherd your children. You are to make your home a holy sanctuary, not a breeding ground for Satan. You are called to fight the enemy, not flee from him. I'm tired of weak, passive men who never contend, stand, or fight for anything worth dying for. Our nation is looking for character. Our wives are looking for leaders and our kids are looking for fathers. Men, stop the silly video games. Get off Facebook. Kill your porn habit. Tell your ungodly friends to hit the road. You're called to lead, love, and die if necessary for your family. We are the reason that the nation is deteriorating. We are the reason that the family is breaking down. We must stop blaming everything from God to the government. We are the stench in the nostrils of a righteous, holy, pure God. Men, it's time to look in the mirror. See, you don't get many amens on that one, do you? Because it upsets everybody. That's okay. Sometimes it's good to upset. So change takes place. We need to look in the mirror instead of blaming everybody and everything because of this, this, this, but, but, but. No more buts. When repentance is genuine, rebuts have to move out of the way. If you're truly sorry and asking for forgiveness and a repentant man wanting to work on things, you don't say but this. But this is just an excuse so we can continue on our destructive lifestyle. And I can hear it now. Shane, you're being too hard on the guys. Back off. Back off. I brought my friend. I brought my friend tonight. What are you doing? You're killing me here. Well, maybe there's a reason that they're here. I can hear it now, Shane, but you're being too hard on the guys. Back off. Really? Well, consider this. Often when the father wanders, so does the children. When the father wanders, so does the children. An article in the Christian Post today by Kenny Luck. He says this. Today, virtually every social problem, social injustice, and behavioral abnormality can be traced back to absent, delinquent, misbehaving, drunk, or sexually immoral dads who didn't respect or understand their enormous calling. And he goes on to say 90% of all women want to change at least one aspect of their appearance. Only 2% of women think that they are beautiful because their dads were absent. 81% of 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat. A girl is being bullied every seven minutes. Every 15 seconds a woman is being betrayed. I'm sorry, battered. So they've given men, God has given men this spiritual covering to be protector, to guide the family, to lead the family. We should be holding a family we're beating. One out of four college women has an eating disorder. 50% of music videos portray women as sex object victims or in a condescending way. Girls often find themselves mistreated, miscast, misused, and undervalued. What they need is guidance, esteem, honor, and worth that only a father can give. Same goes for the boys. They just have a different set of statistics. And this week, actually, I pulled over and had an OMG moment. You know what that is, right? Oh my God. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Focus on the family. I did some research. They said that America's divorce rate is the highest in the civilized world. What happened to one nation under God, folks? We've just become one nation above God. And guess what? When a team is doing poorly, guess who gets fired? The coach. When a company's going under, guess who gets fired? The CEO. Men, we've got to wake up and start taking responsibility. See, God can work through a humble, broken person. He can work through a humble, broken man. But a prideful man, he'll push away. He gives grace to the humble. Children of divorce. And again, you know, let me just clarify here. I know there's many broken homes in this church, and people are going to hear it. We've got a lot of listeners that are going to hear this message. And I'm not minimizing the pain of a failed marriage. I'm not minimizing the pain of divorce. Anybody who's been there knows that it's hell. But at the same time, I can't ignore a topic that we need to hear. It's a double-edged sword. We've created the environment that we want to avoid. We've created this environment in our nation, and then we say, but don't talk about it. Don't offend me. Don't upset me. Don't burst my bubble. I was just planning on going to dinner tonight. What's this guy up here trying to do to my world? I'm trying to convict you so the change takes place. Children of divorce are three times as likely as those from intact homes to be expelled from school or to have a baby out of wedlock as a teenager. Six times as apt to live in poverty and are far more likely to be incarcerated. However, statistics do not reveal the emotional pain of divorce, which is always devastating on the children. This is from Michael Reagan, the son of Ronald Reagan and Jane Wineman. He wrote this of his parents' divorce. Divorce is where two adults take everything that matters to a child, the child's home, family, security, a sense of being loved and protected, and they smash it to pieces, leave it in ruins on the floor, and then walk out and leave the children to clean up the mess. They say, Shane, this hurts. Good. Good. Sometimes it needs to hurt. Sometimes it needs to hurt so much that change takes place. That's one of my beefs with some of these TV preachers. They don't hurt a fly. Nothing changes. You're going to get your best life now, and you're just going to be positive all the time, and no change takes place. The dad turns on him, and then he hits his wife. He turns off this guy, and then he goes looking at porn. I'm tired of giving God just ear service, men just hearing and not doing. The Bible actually says, when you hear the Word of God and you don't do it, you live in deception. Everyone in this room, including myself, will live in deception if you hear the Word of God and do not do it. Again, I don't want to come across as a perfectionist. We can't be perfect on this side of heaven, but we can fall forward, and we can say, not on my watch, Lord, whatever it takes, I'm going to worship you. I'm going to be the man you've called me to be. That's a heart on fire for God. Though he falls, though the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and though he falls, he will be upheld by the hand of God, and God will bless him in due time. See, it's about the direction of the heart. It's not about perfection. It's about direction. The problem is, it's the majority of the time, it's the wives who encourage prayer. It's the wives who encourage Bible study. It's the wives who encourage spirituality. Why is Father's Day the most unattended day of church in the whole year? We're definitely light on both services. Primarily the first service, but why is that? Because Dad said, you know what I want for Father's Day? I don't want to go hear that guy. That's for sure, but God is calling us to that place. You know what? Here's why. Sometimes it's healthy to mourn and weep. I wish more men could hear this type of message, because it's not until a man breaks that he changes. And if they never hear difficult things, they'll never change. The wanderer within must be dealt a swift blow. Just as Nathan warned David, Samuel to Saul, me to you. Maybe it's just a pastoral perspective that I just see a lot of this. I see the children. I've talked with a 22-year-old girl a while back. She's still just broken over her felt her dad and mom splitting up as if she was 10. Still crying, still absorbing what happened. So don't tell me they're resilient. They'll just get over it, move on. It's selfishness that is driving divorce. Let me just shoot it straight. It's selfishness that's driving broken marriages. If a man said, listen, I've been wrong. I haven't been loving you. I haven't been leading. I haven't been doing these things. I apologize. I don't know what happened. I'm going to get into God's word. I'm going to follow him with all my heart. And I hope the family comes with me. You think she's going to divorce court on Monday? Now, granted, I know it's hard. There's difficult situations. And the church in America loves to excuse their way out of obedience. There's not a time I preach where somebody comes out up to me and says, yeah, but I'll tell you that there's no hope for that man. Yeah, but you don't know my wife and we're going through. No, I don't. But I know what God's word says. Think about that. So welcome. Let me just bring you into my world for a minute. An email I got out of state. I'm at a loss. My Christian husband is verbally and physically abusive. Ironically, he thinks that I'm the problem. He sees no need to change. He'll quote scriptures about submission while yelling and cursing. His anger is also destroying our children. A home once filled with laughter and joy is now filled with fear and depression. We walk on eggshells and cherish the times when he is gone. Listen, guys, if your wife cherishes the time when you leave something wrong. He is also he also loves his pornography more than his family. I can no longer bear it. I've never thought of divorce, but now it's a daily struggle. What do you what do you do? What do you just email her back? Romans 828. All things work together for good. Just hold on flipping whatever things. How do you handle that? See, we want to mess up our homes. Then we say, you go fix it yourself. And God says, no, you fix it, man. You lead. You lead by example. And I see it all the time, especially in marriage counseling. This is this. This is this. This is this. This is it. And you're going back like ping pong, like tennis. And I say, hold on. Somebody's got to apologize. Somebody's got to repent. Somebody's got to say I was wrong. But you don't want to be the first one. God doesn't say that. God says you do it. You call out on the name that says you repent. You ask for forgiveness, even if you're not the one that's totally wrong. So that's a message for the women and the men. But we go back and forth. I want to shake the guy and say, listen, say you're sorry. Say you're wrong. But she better this. But she better that. Why? What are we here for? This is a secular society. This is the blood bought church of Jesus Christ who should be filled with the spirit of God. We love to quote the scriptures that we obey, but we want to ignore all the ones we don't. These defenders of truth, the love to quote the defenders of truth. They go home and they yell at their spouse. They punch it whole in the wall. Anger is ruling in their house, yet they want to have the audacity to quote scripture to me. Please, sir, I'm calling out your name tonight. Change needs to take place. Listen, I'm not some just here to beat up people. I'm here to help you change. The man I'm talking about, I was in the 1990s. I was that prideful, arrogant man, thought I knew it all, thought I was God's gift, and she better just be happy to be married to me. And when God says, OK, you asked for it, you got it. You sow, you will reap. And life came crushing down. And he broke me. He just continued to break me. It's a continual process. It's a continual breaking process. Every man that is not continually being broken needs to check himself and say, Lord, I want a spirit of repentance. I want to be broken for our families. We do things for our families. We do the hard things for our families. I'm getting up at five in the morning. I'm taking an hour and a half drive for Father's Day. That's my gift by myself to a church an hour and a half from here where nobody knows me so I can just worship and be fed myself. And I'll be home when they're getting up, probably a little bit after. I can't wait because I need that. The wanderer within must be destroyed. You give the wanderer an inch, he's going to take a foot. You give him a foot, he takes a mile. And it's ugly. I mean, what we see, you know, you guys see it too. Husbands leaving their wives, wives cheating. Little kids are left there saying, Mommy, Daddy, what happened? Little girls are saying, Daddy, hold me, love me, teach me. I'm too busy. I'm too busy. Get out of my way. It's your mom's problem. Your mom created it. Really? It's time to look in the mirror. But some of you might say, Shane, I've done too much damage. I've done too much damage. No, you haven't. Nothing is beyond God's redemptive hand. Remember, but God, but God. If you're saying, oh, my God, what have I done? That's what I said for many years. What have I done? But then he says, repent and return to me and let me restore and rebuild you. Let me do that. So it's never too late. You'll be amazed at what God can do with humility. You will be amazed at what God can do, women or men, with humility and humbling ourselves. I believe that many people, the whole list I read earlier, ineffective, unproductive, negative, angry. Our churches are full of these people, depressed, disgruntled, discouraged, critical, powerless, lifeless. Most of that is due to a lack of humility. And I always want to be right. And pride gets in there. Pride's going to do this. And God says, I resist the proud. This is what God does. I resist the proud, but I'll give grace to the humble. He resists the proud. When God resists somebody, that's a serious thing. So men, it falls back to this. Our families would rather see a sermon than hear one any day. You see, this is great preaching, but if it does nothing, who cares? Often I ask my wife, am I living what I'm preaching? But you better be ready for the answer. Because see, if not, I don't want to play games. I don't want to just, oh, look at what he said. Oh, isn't that wonderful? I can go home and nothing changes. You realize my kids care less what I'm saying tonight? They're going to watch. You think I'm going to go home and tell them all this? You guys sit down for 30 minutes. Let me tell you what Daddy talked about tonight. Let me show you. And I can't do it on my own because the wanderer within wants to destroy my family. The wanderer in wants to sleep in. The wanderer in wants to be selfish. But the filling of the Spirit is the only way, the only way you can conquer the wanderer within, to be filled with the Spirit of God. Through everything I talk about, fasting and prayer and brokenness and worship. Why do you think I talk about all that all the time? Because that's the key to Victoria's Christian living, right there. Our families would rather see a sermon than hear one. Sometimes I quote the end of this poem, but I want to read the whole thing to you because it's powerful. Written about a hundred years ago, I think. I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day. I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way. The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear. Fine counsel is confusing, but example is always crystal clear. And the best of all preachers are the men who live their creeds, for to see good put in action is what everybody needs. I soon can learn to do it if you'll let me see it done. I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run. And the lectures you deliver may be very wise and true, but I'd rather get my lesson by observing what you do. For I may misunderstand you and the high advice you give, but there's no misunderstanding, dad, how you act and how you live. I mean, that should be enough to get all the men on the altar weeping before God for the condition of our family. Remember, I said this a couple of months ago, Josh McDowell, when he was interviewing young adults, our young adults, not this church, but throughout the nation. I mean, this just brought me to tears and it's 13 years ago and I cannot get this out of my mind. And I said, Lord, this can't be right. This can't be right. But the question that young adults are asking all the time is how can we live for Christ when we don't want the Christ that our parents have? Jesus is right. If my kids ever said that, that would break my heart. They said, how can we live for Christ when we don't want the Christ that our daddy has? He goes to church, but he yells and cusses at my mom. He owns a Bible, but he throws things at me and beats me and hurts me. How can we live for Christ when we don't want the Christ that our parents have? You might say, well, Shane, I've wandered. I'm right where you're talking. Good. That's the first step. That's all God wants to do is say, acknowledge, acknowledge your transgressions and I will cleanse you. God says, return to me and I'll return. He's like, jump through this hoop, go over this and do this and fast here and do this and go four days later. He just says, return to me. Just return. You don't even have to get up and walk. Your heart has to return. God says, Jesus said, you draw nigh unto me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me. If your heart returns, you'll experience what Acts 3.19 says, repent and you'll experience the times of refreshing from the Lord. That's why I don't want to hurt the men. I want them to go home and cry about it. Then when they go home and cry about it, the Lord does work in their heart. Then they come out loving God and loving their spouse and filled with joy and filled with peace because the surgical knife of the word of God had to do its work. So if you're saying, oh man, I don't like what he's saying, it's because you need to hear what I'm saying. And that's a good first step. See, I mean, it's good to leave here and say, wife, husband, wife can say this too. I've got some work to do. Would you help me? Would you pray for me? You want to know a big secret? They already know it. They know our flaws better than we do because they have to live with them. Wives too, if you've been that, you fill in the blank, nagging, difficult person, begin to break as well and humble yourself. We can't do ping pong forever. Who's going to say, I was wrong. I asked for forgiveness. My flesh doesn't like it, but the spirit of God tells me to do it. So your flesh will never like what the word of God says, never. That's why most people don't fast. Flesh hates that. That's why most people don't worship. Well, that's weird. That's why most people don't read the word of God or I'm bored. I don't like it. Because the flesh hates everything to do with God. So I'll just close on that. That's the first step is you've wandered, just return to him. And if you're unsaved, if you don't truly know God, because many people in church profess to know God, but they deny him by their lifestyle. If their life does not reflect the fruit of God working in your life, you have religion. You don't have a relationship. If you've been having religion, guess what? This is not discouraging either. God says return. Call on the only name that saves. If you confess that Christ is Lord and believe in the heart, your heart that God has raised him from the dead. If you repent of your sin, you will be saved. That's it. I don't have to do this and go here and join your church. No, I don't care where you go to church. I don't care if you give here. I don't care anything. I just care that you repent and return and look to him. Look to the only one that saves. I know the worship team come up. I like what A.W. Tozer said, I want the presence of God himself, or I don't want anything at all to do with religion. I want the presence of God himself. And Ronnie made a good point earlier that during worship, this is a time where we bring in the presence of God. It's not about acting weird or doing things, but if you're bored in a hurry to get out of here, I'm going to tell you right now there's something wrong with your heart. If you don't want to worship God, there's something wrong with your heart. You can get upset. You can never come back, but I'm just here to shoot you straight. God called me to shoot you straight. He didn't call me to tickle your ears. We've got enough guys on TV that can do that. He called me to shoot you straight. Say, listen, here's what the word of God says. He started this church with 10 people over three years ago. Now we're two services. So he knows what he's doing. And that's encouraging because people want to hear that. God's drawing people to hear that word so they can change. This will change you. That's the whole point of messages is to help you change.