Shane Idleman delivers an encouraging message emphasizing that God does not forget His promises to us, highlighting the importance of waiting on God's timing and recognizing His voice amidst our doubts. He uses the story of Noah to illustrate how God acts on His promises, even after long periods of waiting, and encourages believers to trust in God's word and remain obedient. Shane reminds the congregation that waiting time is not wasted time, but a period of preparation and growth in faith. He stresses the need for constant communion with God to discern His will and the importance of repentance and obedience in our spiritual journey.

And so this morning, it's going to be an encouraging message for you, God doesn't forget his word to you. Aren't you glad about that? God does not forget his word to you. And this can take on a lot of different meanings, and what it means to a Pentecostal might be different than what it means to a Baptist, might be different than it means from this group or that group. But what I'm talking about, which is thoroughly biblical, is that God can minister to each one of us through his word. And through others, of course, but he gives you what I would call maybe like a promise, or a desire, or a hope, or an encouragement. And it's spoken, usually in his word, I'm going to get to that a little bit as we go on, but in his word, maybe a scriptural come alive, it confirms the situation you've been praying about something God is doing in your own heart. And there's a word that God gives you, I feel this is my calling, or I feel God's leading me here, I feel God is going to save my unsaved loved one, or I feel that the promises of God in this, I don't know if you've ever had that, it can you relate to God giving you something, and knowing that, Lord, I'm holding you to this, because you gave this to me. And so that's what I'm talking about. But what gets challenging is, God, was it your voice or my voice? Because I trust you, but I don't trust me. Is that of you or of the enemy? And there actually is a pretty easy way to discern. I'm going to get to that in a minute. But first, I want to set the stage about God remembering his word. The great flood in chapter seven is where we find ourselves. And the Lord said to Noah, come into the ark, you and all of your household, because I've seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. After seven more days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. That's a lot of water. And it wasn't just in this area. And we know that something changed in the atmosphere and in the situation of the earth. Because technically, it couldn't really rain throughout the whole globe the way we have our system now, where the water evaporated and then turns into snow and rain and back into the ocean from the melting snow and the rivers. But this time, God is going to open the heavens, there seemed to be a canopy about the earth, and open the deep, the waters of the deep. And all of that was just going to flood the earth. And he said, I'm going to destroy everything on the face of the earth. So Noah, last two sentences, and Noah did most of God's will. That just sounded off. But let me tell you, it begins there. It begins there. A lot of people will say, well, yeah, but I can't do it perfectly. Well, neither can I. But there's a desire to do all that God commands us to do. Whether it's financial things or relational things or removing things. And we want to keep on, we want to negotiate with God. And I've learned you can't negotiate with God. It's all or nothing. This is not the price is right. God's not saying let's make a deal. He's saying this is the deal. This is the deal. Beginning with obedience, he did everything that God commanded him. And he was a whopping 600 years old. And again, a couple weeks ago, I talked about the age of the earth, but also age of humans. But I want to stop for a minute, because 40 generally symbolizes testing or trial. That number is very interesting. It's throughout the Bible. The children of Israel wandered 40 years. Moses was on the mountain 40 days. Elisha was on the run there and going for 40 days. Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. Jonah came to Nineveh and said, in 40 days, God is going to judge. And there's more consistency about this. So I don't want to get too deep in it, but it's interesting that it was a time of judgment, 40 days. And also, it was a hundred plus year wait. Anybody been waiting for God? You haven't waited that long. A hundred year wait for God to fulfill what he promised. Now, Noah was 600. So it'd really be like us waiting, you know, maybe 10 years for something or so, or 50 or 10 or five or eight or, you know, the exact numbers aren't sure. But there was a long period there, obviously, to build the ark and do these things. And he said, okay, in seven days, I'm going to cause it to rain on the earth, basically saying, get your house in order. Get your house in order for what I'm about to do. There needs to be order. There needs to be an arrangement of things in an orderly fashion. And then chapter seven, we see his conclusion that Noah, the animals, his family all went into the ark. It says the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were open. The rain was on the earth 40 days and 40 nights and the water increased. So as the water increased, it lifted up the ark and it rose high above the earth. Everything was destroyed. And like I said earlier, there appears to be a water canopy that used to be above the earth and that seemed to collapse. And the caverns underneath the earth, there seemed to be caverns holding water that would feed and come up and those erupted. And so when you have empty caverns of billions of gallons of water, there's going to be a void and you can see the earth settling. You see maybe the deep parts of the ocean are very deep and that water coming in and the mountain where there weren't mountains probably back then. And those were, how were those created? Teutonic plates and the great deeps breaking up and like that noise there. And they're just, here comes Mount Everest. Here comes Mount Whitney. And you see that you can even see the mountain lines are in certain geographical places that would agree with this. And we also find that the flood was not localized. Did you know people believe that the flood was just in that area? Nope, I don't think. But what happens is we try to appease evolutionists or we try to appease science. So okay, okay, we can't really believe that. Like Jonah was just metaphorical. Jesus really didn't, you know, and they try to compromise and you really can't do that with God's word. It lays it out. We don't have to apologize for God's word. It's very clear. Why are there seashells on the tops of mountains? Why is the Grand Canyon have billion, one billion, whatever that term is, fossils throughout its layers? Just something cataclysmic has to happen to lay out a billion fossils. It can't be over billions of years and you'd have layers. It's just something cataclysmic happened. We can also see, it's very evident, the Colorado River didn't start out what it is today. You can see the water move quickly, just like putting a water hose on dirt. You have a little trickle and then you turn up, it's going to cut deeply into the dirt. Same thing when the water began to recede and it's just forming this mighty Grand Canyon. You see the layers, you see everything is very consistent with what happened here. And ironically, where Noah is at is considered the geographical center of the earth. In Turkey there. And then verse 8-1, the exciting part. Then God remembered Noah. God remembered Noah and everything and all the animals that were with him on the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth and the water subsided. Now we have to remember, God didn't forget. Sometimes in translating the Bible, it's hard. That's why I like to look at the original language. You look at the original Hebrew in the Old Testament or the Greek in the New Testament, and you can get a much better understanding of the word. And that's what translators do. There's called dynamic equivalents and formal equivalents, where they will either translate a Bible thought for thought or word for word. And that's why we recommend good study Bibles that are word for word. But they couldn't find really a word, remember, because what we think of, remember, oh, that's right. I was supposed to do such and such. But this word actually means something very interesting. The word in the Hebrew means that God acted. So it basically says, then God acted on behalf of what he promised Noah. So God is acting on his behalf. And there comes a time where God says, you're going to wait, you're going to build 100 years of building this ark, and you're going to build this and keep waiting, keep waiting, it's coming. And then now you're gonna have to go in the ark for a year. Over a year, they were in the ark, that's going to smell pretty bad. You're gonna, because you think 40 days, 40 nights and 40 days were done. No, it took a long time for that water to recede. And, and there was this promise that God said, now you're waiting. Remember, remember, some of you need to remember this this morning, waiting time is not wasted time. Waiting time when you're waiting on God and the promises of God, that's not wasted time. That is a time where you're being conditioned and built and strengthened. What athlete at the Olympics is going to say, I just wasted four years of my life training. But when it comes to Christianity, we want the immediate result. We want all that's what I'm waiting. If I can just get to what I'm what I'm wanting. And then what happens is you get what you want, but now you don't want what you got. Because we're trying to find fulfillment in all the wrong things. Looking at Christianity as a journey, day to day journey with God, I'm not a final destination. Once if I just finally get to this point in ministry, for what God has called me to, if I just finally, finally get there, you miss all the wonderful day to day opportunities. Because we don't know what God is doing other than what his word says and what we believe in our heart. And there are things maybe I can share with the church at some point. I don't know. I don't know if it's me or if I don't know if it's God. What he has, what I believe he spoke into my heart 11 years ago. And remembering that and and at some point though, God is going to say, okay, now it's time to act on my behalf. That that seed I put in your heart, that's been watering that seed and watering that seed and watering that seed and finally it's coming to fruition. You can't tell an apple tree, you can't plant a seed and say, okay, produce an apple next month. It's time. And I remember the type of bamboo, I've told some of you about this before, but there is bamboo. It would drive me crazy. I might have the exact years wrong. But you plant it and nothing happens the first year or two years or three years. I think it's on the fifth year, it grows like 40 feet. Like what happened? Why didn't you grow the rest? Because it's in that time, it's in that nurturing, that development, that essential nutrients that it's receiving, and it's in its timing, how God designed it. And they would just give up. Why even water it? Why even? And then eventually it just shoots up and says, now I'm ready. And it's the same picture of God. Now you've been tried. Now you've been tested. Now the furnace of affliction has brought you to a place of complete brokenness. Now I can use you, son or daughter, because now you can be used by the potter's hands, because now your clay is moldable. So be careful. It's a good thing when God breaks your hard pride and crushes it, now he can rebuild you with moldable clay. Psalm 119, I love this verse as well. And the psalmist is actually in a spot of desperation. Have you been there? He's saying, Lord, remember. Remember the word that you gave your servant. Remember, I'm your servant. Remember, you gave me a promise. And on that promise, I was given hope. But Lord, that promise is waning. That promise is getting different. And hope deferred makes the heart sick. And my heart is getting sick. My heart is getting broken. I'm doubting your promises. My faith is, I'm questioning my faith. I'm questioning, was this really you? Oh God, would you remember the word? Remember, act on my behalf. You gave me this word, and you've caused me to give hope. Lord, would you renew that again in me? And that's one thing about God. He can renew that faith again in you. And then the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was finally restrained. And the water receded from the earth. Again, I believe at a very rapid rate. Actually, if you look at any major river that's old throughout the world, you will see that the water line used to be much higher. You'll see that there was a carving out. It's usually a river, but it used to start like this. Major rivers, you could see that this was happening. Then the ark rested on the mountains of Erat. And that's where they believe, obviously it wouldn't be there today, but a petrified wood or the layout of it, the shape of it, where the dirt and everything was built. And there are stories that people used to see this ark. And maybe when the glaciers, the ice would melt, you actually can't go to this area in Turkey. It's forbidden. That's interesting. They can actually shoot you. You'll die. If I want to go to Turkey, I want to go see where the ark was. No, don't try that. The ark, the word ark literally means steered by God. The other time this word is used is when somebody named Moses was a baby and was put in an ark that was steered by God to Pharaoh's daughter. So God is steering this ark. It's not just a happenstance and going wherever it wants. And again, where it landed, they say, is the geographical center of the earth. And I was reminded like Christ, the ark rested and finished its purpose. Isn't that interesting? As I said last week, wrath was on the outside. The wrath of God was poured out on the outside, but the hope was in the inside. And when it accomplished its purpose of getting the people to safety, it rested, it was finished. And Jesus did the same work on the cross. The wrath of God was poured out and he got that point of finally resting on, finally resting and saying, it is finished. It is done. And he gives up his spirits. It's interesting. That's why they didn't have to break Jesus's legs. Normally they would have to break the legs of those hanging on the cross because they would use their legs to get a breath and they push up on that cross. And so you break the legs and you suffocate. And it's fulfilling, of course, prophecy in Isaiah that no bones would be broken. And it's, I don't need to break my legs. I'm done. The price has been paid. The shedding of blood has been taken place and the wrath of God has been appeased. And so many people get stuck on this point and I understand it and they get mad. They're like, I just don't understand how God could do that. It just doesn't make sense. Well, let me tell you, it doesn't make sense to me completely, but I'm not going to go to hell over a mystery. I don't quite understand why God would do this. Pride, pride, pride. I just prayed for a lady recently, real recently, who said, I don't know what to do. I'm living in darkness. I have no joy. And I presented the gospel. Of course, you have no joy. You're disconnected from the Prince of Peace. Of course, you have no peace because you're disconnected from the fountain of living water. You have to get connected with God via repentance. Listen, I believe all of you, including young adults, adults, older, younger, you're not here just by accident. We come to this church expecting God to move. We don't come bored. We don't come, let's get through this. We come expecting that God is going to heal and God is going to set free. And so you need to hear this this morning. If you don't like what I'm saying, it's because you need to hear what I'm saying. You need to repent of your sin. Like Teresa's dad did at 81. That's pretty difficult at 81. The statistics are not good once you reach 50, 60. And people, I wonder why that is. I can tell you why that is because the human heart gets more, gets harder and harder and harder, set in your ways. Set in your ways. That's great for concrete, but terrible for a heart. We want concrete that's set in its ways. We don't want the human heart. And our pride and arrogance as we get older, we think we know it all. And so verse 13, it came to pass that the waters dried up from the earth and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. But he was over, he was in this ark well over a year. The waiting time must have been painful, but I'm sure, we don't know exactly why, but I'm sure he stayed in the ark because there's no Home Depot, no Walmart, no homes. I mean, this ark was his home. His shelter. And so to go out in good weather and hopefully some vegetation was coming back again, and they would go out and they would be able to move and populate and get outside of this area because he had Hamsham and Japheth, his sons and his wives, and they got out and populated the area. Also, you need to know that the weather was brutal at this point because you have now seasons and hot and cold. And when the heat is rising and, you know, when the winter's coming, you know, here comes the winds, even stronger in this. This is a very difficult time. And then verse 20, then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean animal and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Isn't that interesting? Noah gives of his animals, the clean animals, for a sacrifice. The sacrifice cost a great deal. It's not like he had a lot of animals to spare. And so this cost him something. David said, I will not give God that which costs me nothing. There is a cost of following God. Jesus said, pick up your cross and follow me. Die to self. Die to your agenda. Die to your goals and your dreams. You say, that sounds miserable. No, the fact is most of you are miserable because you're not following God. There's no hope in that. There's no peace in that. We've bought the lie that success satisfies and it doesn't. We bought the lie if we could just make this money or do this or retire at 40. That was my goal for many years. Well, that didn't happen. And so we're focused on the wrong things. And sacrifice, there's a great deal that you give up to follow God, but that what you give up far outweighs the benefits and the blessings of following the Lord. Because what we're really giving up is the lust of the flesh, what the flesh craves, what we want. We give that up. We lay it on the altar and we experience the mighty moving of God's spirit. And many people think that the sacrificial system in the Bible started in Leviticus. It actually started in Genesis. And Leviticus says without the shedding of blood, there is no removal. There is no remission of sin. So take it to God when you see him. I don't know, but he chose to give the shedding of blood in remission of sin. It actually says that the life of the flesh is in the blood and they're going to be required on the altar. So without the shedding of blood, there is no removal of sin. So the animal's blood would be shed temporarily for the sins of the people. Shedding of blood, removal of the sins. Shedding of the blood, removal of the sin. So now you understand Jesus being the final sacrifice. See, they were looking forward to Jesus. Now we look back. So the very first incident we see in the Bible that we can put two and two together with is when God covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve with the shedding of an animal's blood. Because he covered them with the skins of animals. Covered their shame, covered their guilt. And maybe that's for some of you this morning. A lot of people come into the church with a lot of shame and a lot of guilt. Do you know why? Because we know what we should be doing and we're not doing it. And we're filled with shame and guilt. Why can't I get this right? Why can't I do that? Let me tell you, you can leave all of that here this morning. You can leave the shame, the guilt, the heartache, the depression. You can leave it here and get back on track in God's will. That's what I love about God's will. It's not finding this perfect sweet spot, which would be nice, but it's about getting back on the boat when you fall off. It's getting back up when you fall in the race. And although there are consequences, there's safety inside of the arms of God. Listen, you can fall and you get back up and you're back in the center of God's will. But I have consequences. I have circumstances. I'm dealing with depression because of this, but I know I'm back in the will of God. Where else can you find that? In the sacrifice, there's a constant communion with God. It's interesting, and the Lord smelled a smooth aroma. Now we know that God is spirit. Those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And so God wasn't, you know, we have this picture of heaven and God's smelling this aroma, but the Bible will often use imagery that we deal with. The eyes of your understanding, I pray that your eyes of your understanding would be open. What's he talking about? Spiritual eyes. That famous hymn, I was once blind, but now I see. I was once lost, but now I'm found. And eyes of seeing what God is doing. Ears, Jesus said, he who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches. And we pray that every morning on Sundays. Lord, whatever you're saying to the church, let them have ears to hear. Not these ears, spiritual ears, to really hear what God is saying. And often, no, smell is like a discernment spiritually. And all of our senses connected, our senses are touch and see that God is good. Touch and see the goodness of God. And so our senses are engaged here. But okay, the big question, Shane, how do I know it's God's word? How do I know it's God? Anybody been there? Everybody in this room that's a Christian. Oh, I'm going to do that, but is it you? I don't know. Now, of course, there are some things that are clearly, clearly in God's will. I mean, people crack me up when I tell them about our prayer meeting in the morning. Well, let me pray about coming. You don't have to pray about coming to worship God. Now, of course, unless there's other commitments or different things. But here's some things we can do. I'm going to put up 11 things. I could have kept going, but these are important. We don't know how Noah got the word of God. Remember when God says he, God remembered Noah. In other words, he acted upon what he promised Noah. What did he promise Noah? That I'm going to build an ark and the saving of your family, because you look at Hebrews and it says, and Noah being divinely warned by God, moved with fear, moved with reverence to the building of an ark and the saving of his family. So how is he divinely warned? How do we know this is of God? And it does bring up the question, possibly a dream. Now, this is an interesting topic because on one side you can get, because lack of a better word, you can get weird. Have you ever seen those people? Have you been that person? I just had a dream last night and a dream today and a dream tomorrow. And God's speaking to me through dreams and dreams. Be careful. Now, I know we got to be careful too on this side, because God, I believe, does speak to people through dreams. He can do that. There's many biblical examples. But how he's speaking to me, I look at everyone else through the same lens, if we're not careful. Well, he doesn't do that to me as much. Obviously, he doesn't do that to you. Not necessarily. There are people very gifted in a certain area. And God just downloads things and God, you know, begins to seem to speak to them a lot. Why is he not speaking to me? Be encouraged. Abraham went 10 years on one word from God. So you don't need to hear from the prophets every day. You need to hear from God every day in his word. However, so again, this side can get a little confused. What happens if they're not grounded in the word? They can drift off into la-la land. And they start making bad decisions financially, relationally. They get caught up in making wrong decisions. But I have this dream. And then they make excuses instead of owning it. Instead of repenting, they start to make excuses. And so it can be, have you heard the word flighty? You know, kind of flighty, kind of, you know, that's where that saying, too heavenly minded to be any earthly good comes from. Even though heavenly mind is actually good, you'll be really good on earth when you're heavenly minded. But it's that, it's that, and I guess I knew Christians, thank God, God has exposed me to all kinds of Christians, to this kind of group, and to this Bible only group. Bible only. It's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Word. Don't talk about the Holy Spirit. Don't talk about dreams, visions, the gifts of the Spirit. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Right here. But of course, we know that God can warn through dreams, direct through dreams. Somebody's father was given a dream because he was warned of Herod. That person was Jesus. Mary and Joseph were warned in a dream what to do. And they're actually warned again to return or to stay further away. The wise men were warned in a dream. Joseph was a dream interpreter. Daniel had dream. So biblically speaking, this is not beyond the realm of possibility. And what I have found is when it comes to this area, the Word of God is our standard. It's our guide. Nothing comes above it. Nothing supersedes it. Everything sits underneath and submits to the Word of God. But sometimes, Lord, I need a little help. I need a little help. I see it, but I need a little help. For example, when we decided to plant this church, it didn't say John 4-7, you're going to plant a church. So how do we know sometimes some of these things? So that's why we don't want to rule out this area of a dream. A dream to warn, a dream to encourage. There was a dream I had many years ago now. I think I was probably 31, 32. And I had this dream and I walked out much like something like this. I walked out from on my left hand side, walked out. I still remember it. And if I'm ever allowed to share more about this, it'll really kind of blow your mind. But I walked out and I looked out and I'm preaching to just a sea of people. I'm like, what is that about? Well, reading in Billy Graham's autobiography, he would often have dreams like that as well. And God would show, okay, here's, it's kind of you get a glimpse into what God is calling you to do. So again, it lines up with scripture. It's edifying. It's motivating. It gives you hope. You can see God moving in this area. But we have to take a lot of other things in consideration. Number two, what God calls you to do or the word he gives you will not be out of anger, but love, out of compassion, not selfishness. So if God, oh God, is that you? Is that you? Is that you? Do I need to drive to Palm Springs today and get that new Rolls Royce, that new Bentley, that new Lamborghini? Is that you, that Corvette that just is out? I know it's a hundred thousand dollars. I don't have it, but Lord, where it goes, Lord guides. He provides where it's his will. It's his bill. Claim it in Jesus' name. I name it and I claim it. I want it. Oh, you better be careful. You better be careful because selfish ambition. Now, is there anything wrong with a car? No. Pray for a car. I've seen people, the church has actually got cars for people before, half dozen of them or so. People praying for vehicles. That's not wrong, but it's maybe in the type or the mode or beyond our scope of financial responsibility. And look at me, look at me, look at the image. And I confess to the guys, I think, I don't know, maybe it's you guys, but when I was younger, I would buy a truck and I would lift it up six inches and put 35 inch gumbo mudder tires on it. Impress. And within a couple of years, I'm like, this go back to stock. This sucks. It was about impressing. Is it not? Now, I don't want to, I'm not going against guys who lifted trucks. I'm just saying if you really need to lift a truck, it's because you're four by four and you're trying to get over things. But also your axles are still only a height based on the size of your tires. So a lot of the stuff we do for image and why isn't God opening this door? And well, what about out of anger? If you ever prayed those prayers, Lord, go get them. Oh, I hate that person. Go get them. God, would you rain down heaven like Sodom and Gomorrah? Is that really from God? So what it is, it's heart surgery. And God will meet you where you're at. Because I look at my prayer request 20 years ago, it's a little embarrassing. Lord, bring me a beautiful wife. I want this truck. I need this. I need this. And it's, and you look now, as you get older and many of you, you know, your prayers change. Lord, what is your will? I just want to know what you want. Just give me a car that runs, a house that works. And you're starting to pray along according to God's will. And then number three, remember the word. Remembering the word that God gave you is more for your reflection, not God's. The power of remembering. Remember, do you ever remember back? You remember those childhood things, the good things in childhood? Or if you've drifted from your spouse, do you remember when you first met and fell in love? And you remember, oh, I remember. And see, reflecting back is a very good thing. But when we remember God's word, it has more to do for us reflecting on God and his nature. And then four, as I said earlier, it always lines up with the written word of God. Always lines up with the written word of God and obedience to the word. Because many people know the word and they live in deception. Wait a minute, wait a minute. How's that possible? Because knowing is not doing. Actually, I think it's James who says, be doers of the word and not just hearers, or you'll live in deception. And so this key, the obedience is key. And we saw this a lot when we used to do, it's hard to do it now with TimeWise, but marriage counseling and a young couple like, Shane, is this God's will? We just want to know, is this God's will? Do you have a word for us? I do. I do. Where? Right here. Right here. Be sexually pure. Stop living together. Honor God. Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, no, no, no. No, I want a word. Is this God's will? Well, start, start, start with what you do know. See, so many of us want to jump ahead. We don't want to begin with obedience. We look around the pulpit of obedience and we want to see, is this where I'm supposed to go? Get this out of the way. And I'm submitting to you that this would end about 50% of your problems if you just start with obedience. Start with where God wants you to be. And number five, the word that God gives you or the confirmation that God gives you will come without a shadow of a doubt, this is so important, from consistent communion with God. With consistent communion with God. Here's why worship, Jack Hayford said this, I believe, worship changes the worshiper into the image of the one being worshiped. What you worship, Hosea, the prophet Hosea said, they become an abomination like the thing they love. What you love, you will resemble. What you worship, you will reflect that image of what you're worshiping. And so this is, I would say this jumps out as one of the top things, because from constant communion with God, when you're in prayer, at the altar, brokenness, crying out to God, worshiping, you might hit rewind on YouTube a few times to a song, and you're crying out to God, that communion, God begins to say, son, I'm here. I'm here for you. Cry out, Abba, Father, I will confirm the things I has not. I has not seen heart, ears, not heard the good things I have for those whose hearts are set on him. And that communion, you begin to cry out, Abba, Father, and God begins to confirm his will, because now the spirit of God is lined up with the heart of God. And you're crying out, Abba, Father, oh God, not get away from me, Father. And he begins to pour into you and you begin to understand his will. You begin to pray for those who need to hear the voice of truth. You begin to pray for loved ones. You begin to pray for situations. You begin to pray for our nation. You begin to, oh, you might even pray for revival, and God might hear the heart cry, because now you're lining up with the heart of God. And it's through that communion that God begins to speak to you. Without constant communion with God, how are you going to know the will of God? Without your heartbeat beating with his word. Many times I know the will of God because I know the word of God. Number seven, besetting sin pollutes the word. Besetting sin. I prayed for some men yesterday at the men's conference, and it happens a lot. Again, this is not a blanket statement on everyone, but nine times out of ten, I can safely say that those Christians who are the most confused, the most fearful or anxious, or I don't know, what is God's will? What am I supposed? I don't know. They're in that state. It's because of besetting sin. Shane, how do you know? I've been there. Trust me. Besetting sin is sin that is unconfessed. I enjoy this. I'm not giving this up. I don't care what that loud bald head guy says. And you will never change. You'll never go beyond where you are now unless you deal with that issue. Because God doesn't say, okay, all right, you won. You won. Let's make a deal. He says, censor. No. He actually told through the prophet, he said, is my hand not short that I cannot save? Is my ear not heavy that I cannot hear? But your sins have separated you from me and you, so I cannot hear your prayers. They're falling on deaf ears. You need to turn from that. Again, not perfect, but it's a repented heart. David was called a man after God's own heart. He killed people. He committed adultery. He killed the husband. Don't mind what this guy, that's like not God's heart, but see, it's the repented nature. God said, he's a man after he hasn't found it yet, but he's after my heart. So David, he would just repent. He would say, created me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me. My bones have broken. What I did was wrong. I need the savior to return the year, the joy of my salvation to me again. God, I've been wrong. And through that broken dependent relationship, God said, that's the cry I hear. That's the servant that will follow me. I'm not looking at perfection. I'm looking at direction. Where is the direction of your heart? Besetting sin must be repented of this morning. It will crowd God's judgment from your heart. I'm so confused. I don't know what God wants me to do. It's hard because he will not, you cannot proceed past go until this issue is dealt with. Did you know that God won't even hear your prayers, men, if you're treating your wife like garbage? Number eight, God's timetable is not mine. God's timetable is not mine. God's timetable is not yours because I want the timetable. Oh God, you promised this. Can I go get it? He says, no, you're not ready. You're not there yet. It's a process. And thank God. Thank God. What's that country song? Thank God for the broken road that led me straight to you. And I say that to God, thank God for the broken road that led me straight to the cross because it was in the waiting time that I began to be dependent. It was in the waiting time that I began to cry out. It was a waiting time where God takes away everything and everyone and every ray of hope. And he says, now you'll just trust on me. And it's in that waiting time, the compassion and the passion for God is built and sustained. Thank God he doesn't give us it right when we want it. Have you ever seen a little child that's given everything? It makes me sick. You see him in Walmart, mommy, mommy, captain crutch. Okay, let's open up. Mommy, mommy, I want this. Mommy, mommy. And they're running around. They're controlling. She's a mess because little junior is running the house. What little junior wants is what little junior gets. Same thing in the, that's how we would act. Now moms be encouraged. Your dads, I know it's hard. I cave in a lot, baby shark, baby shark. If I got to watch baby shark one more time, just, just, just take my phone. Keep go. Leave me guy. I want to just breathe for a while. I'm going to have to put baby shark on when church is over too. I already know it. I can see it. Just remember there's a period of preparation. You don't eat from the apple tree a week after planting the seed. David had to wait. Think about this mighty man of God. Samuel came to his house to Jesse. He said, one of the sons of yours is the next king. And he tried to, I don't know exactly how they did. There was a horn of oil. It was this, it was this anointing oil and something was preventing him from the, the, the oil is not flowing. Something's wrong. The oil is not flowing. And he says, is there any other person? Oh, well, yeah, David, but he's out there tending the sheep. He's, he's Rudy redheaded, maybe freckled. You know, this is David. He's who knows how old he is. He's just a, this guy go get him. And the Bible says something very interesting. And Samuel took and the, the anointing oil flowed the blessing of God, the anointing of God. He's anointed, but not yet appointed. He was anointed to be God's next king. Rule for 40 years. You see 40 years in Saul, 40 years in David, 40 years in Solomon. There's a number 40 again. That'd be, that's broken up. Rehoboam and Jeroboam and the king's kingdoms are divided. And David is anointed king, but he's not appointed. He had to go back and deal with manure. He had to tend to the sheep, but we want the kingdom right now. And often God will show you here. It's coming. You better get ready. I've given you the vision and the dream to give you hope, but you got to get ready for the purposes. It's a, it's a time of preparation. Esther said, if I perish, I perish. I've been called for such a time as this, not within a week or a day, but a year she was had to go through preparation. And so there's a period of preparation. So just because it hasn't happened, doesn't mean it's not going to happen. As a matter of fact, what I found by about by God, which really burst my bubble is he's not on my time schedule often. It's a much longer than what I think, but he's right on time. Number 10, pray for confirmation as you do heart surgery from within pray for confirmation. Lord, is this your word again? I trust you. I don't trust me. Lord, give me confirmation. I need, Lord, are you calling me to do this? There's a continual, continual desire. This is important. There's a continual desire and prompting by the Holy spirit. So many times I'll say, Lord, I don't know if that's me and my agenda. I'm removing it. But then here it comes. The desire, the Holy spirit's prompting the Holy spirit's leading. There's a, there's a burden that's placed on you. There's a desire. Where's this coming from? Where's this desire, this burden to pray for this? I'm going to get rid of Lord. I don't know if it's you. And it just keeps coming. And it just keeps coming. And that's as you're praying for confirmation, he will give you that confirmation. I could tell you, I could just sit up here and tell you stories about confirmation of God's word. Number 11, peace and godly counsel. When God gives you a word, when he's called you to do something, there will be peace. It might not be easy, but there will be peace. Because the Holy spirit ministers peace to you. There's peace. There's assurance. I feel good about this. And then obviously check with godly counsel. Oh, I know maybe we don't have number 11 on there. Sorry. I added that one. I think yesterday godly counsel, but here's what to remember about godly counsel. They are not God. So I know many people they'll do what godly counsel says, even though God might having them. It's not, it's not a biblical, but God's got you focused here. Godly counsel might sway you off track a little bit because they don't know what God's doing in your heart. However, it's in the multitude of counsel. There's safety. They come alongside and say, listen, scripture, his, I think this, take it for what it's worth. And you use that godly counsel to help direct the correct path down your lane. I mean, for example, many people said when we started the church on a Saturday night, a lot of godly counsel said, I think God's, you know, I think I can see you guys playing church, but I don't, I don't know about Saturday night, Shane. No, no church has ever planted a service on Saturday and started from a Saturday night. I'm sure there are out there, but, and so their advice was good and it was correct. Let's keep praying. Let's see if God opened something for Sunday. But I felt what he was calling us to do. So it took the advice, but ultimately God leaves the decision up to you and you're going to fill in your heart more than they're going to fill it in their heart. John Bunyan said the truths that I know best, I have learned on my knees. I've never known a thing. Well, tell it has burned into my heart by prayer. It has been burned into my heart by prayer. So I will encourage you this morning, pray like David, so you don't end up like Saul. He said, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Is there any wicked way within me? Worship like Isaiah, so you don't end up like Uzziah. He said, woe is me for I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. Fight like Joshua, so you don't end up like the city of Ahai. Intercede like Esther, so you don't end up like Haman. And cry out like Elijah, so you don't end up like Jezebel. Elijah cried out, let the God who answers by fire, let him be God. Let that God who answers by fire, let him be God. So I'll close with this statement. God said, come into the ark for safety. Jesus says the same thing. Come to me all your weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. It's interesting the parallel. God says, come into the ark for safety. Then he says, go out and be multiplied. Jesus says, come to me all her weak and heavy laden, when you become a disciple, go out into all the world and make disciples. And so I want to just encourage you this morning. Do you truly have that abiding relationship with Jesus Christ? Is he truly Lord of your life? Have you made that decision? Have you took that final step? Don't delay another day. I'll end with a poem from Walden Parker. He said, it will not make much difference friend, a hundred years from now, if you live in a stately mansion or on a floating river scowl. If the clothes you wear are tailor-made or pieced together somehow, if you eat big steaks or beans and cake a hundred years from now. It won't matter about your bank account or the make of car you drive, for the grave will claim your riches and the things for which you strive. There's a deadline we all must meet and no one will turn up late. It won't matter when all the places you've been, each one will keep that date. We will only have eternity, what we gave away on earth. When we go to the grave, we can only save the things of eternal worth. What matters friend, the earthly gain for which some men always bow for your destiny will be sealed. You see a hundred years from now. So if God is working in your heart, do not lose this opportunity. Do not let pride come in and stop you from repenting. Pride says, I want to continue having fun. Let me tell you, life without God is not fun. It's miserable. It's depressing. Why is suicide an epidemic? Why is satanism and spiritualism and all those things on the rise? Why are people taking their life and getting hooked to all kinds of opiates to feel better? Because they're looking for everything outside of God and none of that will ever satisfy.