Shane Idleman emphasizes the power and authority given by Jesus, as illustrated in Matthew 21:14, where Jesus heals the blind and lame in the temple, showcasing His divine authority. He challenges the audience to recognize the importance of coming to Jesus for healing and support, urging a full surrender to God for true fulfillment and peace. Idleman critiques the modern church's tendency to dilute the truth of God's word, advocating for bold preaching that aligns with Scripture. He highlights the necessity of producing spiritual fruit in our lives and the importance of prayer in accessing God's power and authority. Ultimately, he calls for repentance as the first step towards a genuine relationship with God, reminding listeners that true joy and fulfillment come from surrendering to Christ.

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 please them. Just what does 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, the deaf to hear and He's healing people and the Pharisees are getting indignant. They're getting upset at what God is doing. Look what they're saying to you. 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 going to say, wow, I never knew that. 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 Jesus isn't back there up on the cross, He's at the forefront, He's in our lives and if we need something, it's okay to say, Daddy, I need you. We talked about that 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 it was interesting on my way to the first service, I stopped by Wal-Mart and I had to pick up something. It's an interesting store in itself, but we're not going to go there. But let's just say there's a lot of ministry opportunities, a lot of ministry opportunities. So as I was leaving, it said he's a vet from Afghanistan and people are like, well, they're not legitimate. Well, I mean, let God be the judge. You got to know, you got to discern a little bit. So I pulled over and luckily it was a long red light. I talked to him for a while and kind of discerned a little bit. I got him a Wal-Mart gift card and some shoes and socks and different things. But he said, oh, praise God, thank you. And I said, man, you got to give your life fully to God. He can get you out of this. Oh, yeah, I've 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 to get me out of this. 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'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, 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 going to take all the fun away from me. And really, that's not the case. He brings in tremendous peace and joy and contentment, long-suffering and gentleness and kindness, 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. I've got this good illustration that I used to have up on my wall when I was younger, but it was of Vince Lombardi. Many of you know Vince Lombardi, the famous Packers coach. I had all his quotes, you know, any man's finest hour is when he lies exhausted on the field of battle victorious. I'm like, well, that's really good, you know, football. But he would tell, he took the Green Bay Packers when they were at 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 he, I'm 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 something called seeking God with all. 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 to this and penance and paying. He just says, come to me. I am the great healer. I'm the great restore. See, this is Jesus healing people in the temple. This is the same Jesus we just sang about. The waves in the sea will listen to him. You can go out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 40 foot swells, and Jesus would walk up there and say, peace, be still. And the whole ocean would come to a calm. He would go, Jerry, his daughter, he would rise her from the dead, say, get up little girl. He would go to Lazarus' tomb and say, come forth. He would go to the demoniac on the island over there. They would sell to him in 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 ears were open. The lepers would 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. Do you know where 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 eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor has it entered even to the hearts of man the things that God wants to do for his children. Shane, you're starting to sound like Joel Steen 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 two 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 barely holding on, Jesus, I need you. He says, good, that's what I'm here for. I'm an all sufficient savior. But you have to reach out. You have to reach. In order to receive something, you have to. Can you hand me anything with my hands closed? Nothing. I'll drop whatever you give me. 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, 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. And it was an interesting thing I noticed here too. 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, oh, 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 to the Lord. Yeah, but they're soft on this or soft on that. But as long as it's a Bible believing, Christ-centered church, we should praise God for what they're doing. I mean, if we'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've got to move out of here. I've got to leave. I hate this place. If I hear that one more time, I'm going to have a fit. Oh, I hate Lancaster. I've got to move to wherever. Well, it's what you make of it. 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 to church and say, let me sing those songs. It's not coming from a pure heart. It's not coming from a right heart. There'll be thousands, millions of people tomorrow morning all across our nation singing praises to God and they are not worshipping God. Because they deny his truth, they reject his truth, and they make God into whatever they want him to be. And then they're going to 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 know what I'm talking about, well, I'll tell you. It's all over. It's been the news for many years. The Methodists, the Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the American Baptists, all these things are ordaining gay clergy and allowing a lesbian to come up and preach God's word. That's blasphemy. You cannot sit and then hold up holy hands when you're outside of God's will and what the Bible calls sin. 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 God's full story. So don't look at the old and new. That's old stuff. No, that's God's heart of thousands of years of the nation of Israel. And Jesus is quoting Psalm 8 too. 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, why don't we bring back worship in our homes again? Have the kids worshiping God instead of Heine and Montana. Turn off Facebook, put the Frozen DVD in the attic. It'll be there next month. And start worshiping God and get our children out of the mouth of babes and infants as perfected praise is praised and honors God. And that's how the enemies, you're going to 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, the church entertains the world. I mean, these things are entertaining us. And they shouldn't. 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 there 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, 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 be a two part series just 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 whole point of a fig tree is to bear figs as they're walking by. Oh, there's some 300 grams of carbohydrates to get me through my next 20 mile journey. Oh, let's put figs in our pouches and figs, and then we have dried figs, dried fruit. So that's the whole point of the fig tree. So it's really, it's the 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 you get? 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. 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 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, what could you stop by and talk? I mean, every time I leave there, 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, I know that would be challenging. That'd be hard. Yeah, it is. Fruit hurts. It's hard. Fruits 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 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's but there's no fruit to that. And then we get convicted, I need to have some fruit. And then 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 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 and 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 Quartz Hill Mountain all for God's is going to bless you and bless you and bless you. And 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. 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? 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 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 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's, 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 kill my my daughter, believe is 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 the 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 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. And 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 as 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 on to this. Wow, Charlie Brown, right? This just why God can't? Why God won't? Why God shouldn't versus focusing on if you believe that 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 needs and praying for our wants. But that sink in, we all want certain things. But God's focused on our knees, seek first the kingdom of God. And all these wants will be added to you later. That'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 RA Torrey said, we must spend much time on our 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 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, we 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 will 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 difference that the Pharisees, we could talk about Gamaliel and the different Pharisees and leaders of the day, they would sometimes say, well, such and such as this, and such and such as this, and such and such as 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 poor, the sinner, the helpless, the woman caught in adultery. He 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? 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 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 thoughts on that. You just created death and not life. Because 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 ask me this sometimes. Who in the world do you think you are? You know, who is saying all this stuff? I'm just saying what God's word says. See, they don't like what God's word says. That's the problem. Who gave you 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. Now, 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. 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 power of God's word. That's what changes lives. So 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 bring in a whole bunch of unbelievers and I could say, you know what? This is kind of what I think. I mean, whatever you guys 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. I used to study this a lot. It was called the emergent church movement back 15 years ago. Basically, it's liberalism repackaged. What liberalism is, is they don't take God's word as the inerrant, authoritative word of God. They're like, well, I'm liberal about it. It's none of this 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. 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 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. A few years back, I remember this. Some of you I've talked about before, so I'm not going to go into detail. A few years back, I remember there was this big movement I talked about. They were wanting to replace the pulpit with a couch. They wanted to have a conversation, not preaching. They wanted to remove the whole element of preaching and just have a conversation, sit on the couch. 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 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 to 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 going to do both. Thank God for God's sovereignty, but also he calls sinners to repentance. The concept of hell, 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, but here's what I do understand about it, is that God doesn't send people there. They reject him, and they send themselves there, and this weeping in 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 way, the only truth, the only life. You rejected that. I can't. A holy, righteous God cannot dwell with sinful man, and we go where we want to go. We don't see a mean God saying, I can't believe there goes another one. What I see when I read the Bible, I see whosoever. We see it at 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 to 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. 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 prideful. It's deceitful. It's wicked. Who can know it? That's why God often crushes us in a good way. I mean, 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 know 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 and 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 show us our need for a savior, or they should. I mean, I talk to people so, I bet they would kill me if they could get away with it. Atheists, 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. It's all like your heart just beats a billion times for your lifetime from some electronical pulse that just kind of started there. And your skin texture absorbs and doesn't allow water to come in, but it keeps you. And all that just happened? Please, you've got to be kidding me. I've got some property, Oceanside 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 an atheist this week, he goes, you can all rejoice because you have stardust in your hands. And they break it down, you know, 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 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. To me, that's a 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 that. Well, somebody must have put them 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 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 absolute 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 to see 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 says, 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 regiment of people to clean the roads when the king was coming, they'd remove the boulders, they would remove the ruts, they would, they would get the prepare the way of the prepare the way of 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 the 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, 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 camels clothing, and 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 Lou, 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 talked about this a few weeks ago, they were trusting we're children of Abraham, doesn't matter, you still bow to Christ. And they get caught up in this. Well, we've been raised a Christian all of our life mentality. 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's 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 special 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 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 meth 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, millions, billions of people, everybody in hell knows this truth that he's a liar. And he deceived them. And he's a deceiver, everybody that you would not interview anybody there. So 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'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. I 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? God, would you save me? So 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 young 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. 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. I'll go put your hand in that snake hole. Come on, dad. You saw me 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 know what's right. What are you producing? What's the fruit that's coming from your lifestyle? Is it depression and fear and hopelessness? And I'm just going to keep hanging on and maybe the next paycheck will help. Maybe my next promotional help. And that's 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 going to 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 of 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, that's you. You're the man. You're the man not doing God's will. What do you think? A father sent his only son and they beat him and they killed him and they 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, oh, if I could relive my life over, man, I know where I'd start. Well, but see, then you think I wouldn't meet my wife. I wouldn't have my kids. So there 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, oh, I'm out of his will now. Now I'm in divorce court or now I'm here. And I'm now I'm here and I can't, 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, to be a stepping stone. Because who doesn't regret their prayer life? If anybody's in here said, Shane, 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 1% of the dozen, 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 could not be any more clear. He had two sons and he told his son, go work in the vineyard. And his 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 can counsel the person and the 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.