Shane Idleman emphasizes the importance of waiting in the will of God, using Joseph's story as a powerful example of enduring trials and delays. He highlights that waiting often involves discomfort and resistance, but it is during these times that God works deeply in our lives. Idleman encourages believers to remain faithful and humble, reminding them that destiny and dreams come with struggles and delays. He stresses the need for prayer, action, and a heart of repentance while waiting for God's timing, ultimately leading to spiritual growth and clarity. The sermon concludes with a call to recognize God's purpose in our pain and to seek a fresh fire in our relationship with Him.

Waiting in the will of God. Waiting in the will of God. Anybody have trouble with this? Lord, hurry up. Hurry up. Do something. What's going on? My prayers aren't being answered. This is taking too long. Did I make the wrong decision? And what happens is when we wait in the will of God, it can become challenging. Of course, we're talking about Joseph. I left off there quite a few weeks ago now where he was betrayed by his brothers. He was then sold into slavery. Then he went and worked his way up and was really the right-hand man to Potiphar. And Potiphar's wife hit on him. And he ran. And she said, no, he tried to take advantage of me. And then her husband got upset and threw him into prison. Talk about wrongly charged. But you have to remember, with God, it's all about positioning, not comfort and convenience. And I don't like this aspect of God's will, but sometimes it involves being in an uncomfortable spot. And I've noticed that's where God does His deepest work. When I'm in that uncomfortable spot, when I have to cry out to Him, there's no other option. There's no plan B. Kaiser's not going to cover this. Medicaid won't work and neither will Blue Cross. Lord, I need You. Destiny does not come without resistance. Destiny does not come without resistance. Dreams do not come without delay. Direction does not come without a struggle. And finishing does not come without a fight. And with Christians, I've explained this many times before, the enemy uses discouragement. Discourage you in your marriage. Discourage you in your walk. Discourage you in your ministry. Discourage you by reading the news. And He uses that so you'll become unaffected. And then angry, bitter, critical. And we have to realize that God, what He's doing in our life, there is going to be resistance. There is going to be delay. There is going to be a struggle. There is going to be a fight. But don't let your past stop the pursuit. Don't let discouragement get in the way. And so I'm just going to go through Genesis 40 and probably 41 briefly and really paraphrasing. And what happened is both the baker and the butler had dreams. Joseph said to them, do not interpretations belong to God? So Joseph is in prison. The baker's in prison. The butler's in prison. And they had these dreams. And so Joseph said, the interpretation is going to belong to God. So tell them to me, please. Ultimately, the chief butler was restored, but the baker was executed in interpreting those dreams. And a couple of things we can gleam here, humility, Joseph said only God, only God can interpret dreams. And this is what happens sometimes in the, you guys can be the charismatic side and you guys will be the conservatives this morning. But in the charismatic side, right? Dreams, visions, prophetic words, words of wisdom, God's healing, you know, and sometimes we can become prideful. Maybe you've been able to interpret a dream. God gave you that. Maybe you've been able to give someone a prophetic word, but if you don't stay humble, God will humble you. And you'll begin to miss it. You'll begin to think too highly of yourself. And you have to remember, only interpretation comes from God. Only God can do this. I'm His vessel and I'll submit to that, but you have to start giving God the credit for everything we do. And it's interesting, God would use Joseph's gift later. God would use this gift to interpret dreams later. When? Well, when he stood before Pharaoh. And we're going to get into that in a minute. And he was in a prison interpreting dreams. And boy, it's frustrating when you're doing the menial, when you're called to do the mighty. He was using his gifting in the least likely spot. But it's there that God would eventually elevate. And that's why you have to be faithful where you're at. Faithful with what God has called you to do. That faithfulness is rewarded by God. And then verses 14 and 15, Joseph said, okay, you're getting out of here. So would you remember me, please? Tell Pharaoh about me, that I've been wrongly charged. I've done nothing. Get me out of here. And so that's why I want to talk about waiting in the will of God. Waiting in the will of God. And I actually found these in my Bible, I think from 20 years ago. And I want to say it might be, some of you remember David Prather. It might have been when I was under his teachings and wrote those down, I'm not sure. And I have no way of knowing who, so these aren't mine. So what happens when we're waiting in the will of God? And Joseph's in prison. There's a lot of prisoners in prison waiting. Waiting. And I love how we begin with Russell gave his testimony. I don't know if you heard that. Make sure to listen to that. I went three times and visited him down by the Tijuana border. It's an all-day event. By the time you leave here at four in the morning, get home at six in the afternoon. Three times walking into the RJD correctional facility. And that dreams die of ministry. And then Rick was in prison, and Richard, who led worship, and he gave his testimonies in prison. It's like, we've got all these, this is incredible, I love it. And then I see correctional officers at the altar. What an incredible picture of God. It's incredible. And I'm hoping, I don't know, they'll probably be listening later because they follow the ministry, but I'm hoping to get out and visit a lot of the prisoners out there in California City here shortly. I've already filled out the paperwork, passed the training and all of that. We're waiting on some things. And that's a very good spot because God can get your attention. Don't go there. He can get your attention, just take a long drive. But it's in the difficult seasons. And often out of that brokenness, God will bring the beauty from those ashes. Do you ever wonder like, why does God use such broken people? Why am I up here? Because then He gets all the glory. Look at what God has done. Look at what God has done. And it's often, not always, but it's often from that position of humility. If you stay there, God will bless you greatly. And He usually has to humble us before He can use us. But what happens when we're waiting? Help! Well, it redefines. It redefines or it fine-tunes or it clarifies what we've been asking for. How many times have I, okay, Lord, hurry up, hurry up. And then when He doesn't hurry up, through that process, I kind of redefine or I fine-tune what I'm feeling God's calling me to do. He really clarifies things as we wait on Him. Or number two, we just don't see it yet. I live there a lot. I just don't see it yet. Or we just don't see it yet. And so what happens is because we don't see it with our eyes, we begin to doubt God. We get discouraged. Lord, come on. But remember, what is faith? Faith is the evidence of things not seen. It's things we hope for because God has shown it to us. And without faith, it's impossible to please God. So this is actually incredible. Number two, this could be a great way to build my faith and please God. Think about this. If God showed me, if I got my way every time, I'd be a spoiled little brat up here. God uses this time. Now, we do have to be careful because sometimes the waiting time is because of sin. Ouch. Could a blessing be delayed because we're not repenting? Absolutely. I'm here to tell you the truth. I'm not here to build a big audience. Tell you the truth that sin can stop and thwart the plans of God until it's dealt with. Keep sin on a short leash. Humble and repentant. And sometimes over the years, people say, pastor, you're a pastor. Why are you at the altar? Well, I remind them, before you go up, you better go down. God forbid we begin to exalt ourself. God is to be exalted. Listen, don't be fooled by any Christian leader or pastor thinking, oh, look at that. We've been hurt. We've been broken. We've been marred and God has rebuilt us. We're just His masterpiece. Like are all of you. And we're to point you to the cross. Point you to the cross and get out of the way. It renews our fellowship with God. Number three, doesn't it? Oh, this isn't happening yet. I can get discouraged or I can press in. And the more God pressures me, the more I what? Go to the ground and seek Him. Go to the cross. The waiting time is not wasted time. Or number four, be more aggressive. This is so true. Take action. Take action. It's hard to direct something that's not moving. And often I'll pray with people, Shane, I just don't know what to do in ministry. I think God's called me to this. Okay, are you stepping out in faith? Are you serving maybe the kids ministry or the homeless ministry? I remember, I'll never forget a lady who was Lancaster. I hope she's not watching, but it was years ago. And she kind of got an attitude when I said it. She goes, well, I've got a teaching gift. Oh, well, pardon me. Let God promote you. You don't come in here and say, I've got a teaching gift. Let me teach. We'll notice that gifting upon you. And you come in a spirit of humility, whatever it takes. That's why I love our volunteers and staff here. They just, whatever you want me to do, God elevates. God promotes. That's why this is so important. But you can be more aggressive. And what it looks like is stepping out in faith. I tell people often, hey, Shane, I need to get a job. Okay, have you filled out any paperwork? Have you done any job hunting and applications? And oh, not really, I'm just waiting for direction. Well, direction needs feet. And often you've got to be moving and doing things. And some of us, we need to just take action. It was the hardest thing I did yesterday, but I'm glad I did it. I'm not really a protester. You know, out there on 10th Street, busy street for abortion in front of the abortion clinic yesterday, my daughter was kind of heading it up with a group and I said, yeah, I'll go. And I'm so glad I did now. And I only got one middle finger. Man, I'm telling you, the old Shane wanted to say, hey, turn around, buddy. Let's talk about this. See, that old nature wants to rise up. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. So no, Lord, just gonna pray for them, pray for them. But step out. And then I said, and I felt like, man, we can come here any day. You know, I feel like praying. Now, you might not stop something that day, but how do you know you won't stop something in the future? Or people driving by or just God honoring, look at them, they're standing up for those who have no voice. The weak and the fatherless, that's the person I'm gonna bless. You step out and do something. I remember, and it's Hope Chapel now on 60th Street. When I came back to the Lord, I think it was around 1999, 2000, want to get involved? Yeah, be an usher. Walk the parking lot. Clean the bathrooms. That checklist was not very fun. Wait, but I'm called to do the mighty. I'm called to be on radio and have a national voice. That's what I'm called to do. I'm not gonna do that. I said, Lord, whatever you want me to do, whatever you want me to do. And here's the wonderful thing. When He begins to elevate you, you don't have to keep yourself there. Oh, I gotta do this, gotta do this, gotta do this, gotta keep this going, keep this fire going, keep this fire, keep likes and viewers. And this, and I gotta keep the people coming. Lord, you're calling, you do whatever you want. And that's actually what you're seeing in our nation if you ever follow some of them. Not all of them, but some of the bigger, what they call mega church. A lot of the pastors, and I know people actually know them. They text them and they try to encourage them, but they can't get too controversial because they'll lose their nickels and noses. That's just the truth. I'm just telling you the truth. A lot of churches, unless they were built big, like Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills, Jack Gibbs, many of you know I know him, and we talk often, and you built it on the right foundation, or MacArthur's not too far from here, and you built it, they'll come. But a lot of them, a lot of them cannot say exactly what the Bible says. Andy Stanley's in a lot of heat right now because he won't come out and say, is gay marriage a sin? Well, is homosexuality a sin? Well, I'm not going to say anything because I'm trying to reach the lost. So am I, but you can tell them the truth. Hello? The lost need the truth so they can become unlost. And my heart is not to, I don't want to name names. I don't go, let me write this name down. It comes sometimes. And also, if they have the audacity to challenge God's Word, they better be men to be able to absorb the criticism. That's just the way it works. We can't point, Paul pointed out people who are not going in a good direction. And that's what happens though, is we get so worried about keeping our audience. Somebody asked me that, what are you going to do when YouTube shuts you down? 25,000 people. Those who want to truly watch will find us elsewhere. Subscribe to Rumble, by the way. This is a little plug. But I'm not really worried about it. God has the final say. God has the final say in what happens. And what you're seeing, even the last two years and what Elon Musk released, and you're seeing that the chaff and the wheat are being divided. The lines of demarcation have been clearly drawn in the sand, folks. We see what's going on in our nation. We see the satanic agenda. And the church now more than ever before needs to be revived and speak the truth in love. And then number five, oh, I did have it on here, good. Deal with besetting sin. The reason we use that word besetting is, and it's hard as a pastor because on one hand, you want to encourage people, but you don't want to encourage sin. So someone's stuck. And man, it happens. Anybody been there? You go back and the old man calls your name and you answer the door or knocks at the door and you're stuck in that sin. It's besetting. It's unrepentant. Or even if you're repenting, oh Lord, I'm sorry, but you go back to it. Lord, I'm sorry, but you go back to it. That's not really repentance. That's sorrow. And so I look at it as, I heard this story a long time ago where a pig and a lamb both fall in the mud. The pig enjoys it and even leads others in. The lamb cries out and hates its miserable condition and wants out. And so a person can be dealing with sin and repenting of it and God helping them. And it's not about perfection. It's about direction. They're going in the right direction. It's not besetting me. It's not pulling me down. It's not a practice anymore. I might struggle now and then, but I'm repentant. I'm at the altar. I'm reading God's Word and God honors that. But it's the besetting. I want to continue in this. And next week, I think I'm coming out with a podcast. I did an interview with a pastor who was in an affair for a while and came out and had to resign. He's a friend of mine now. And talking to how many people didn't want anything to do with him after that. That's when people need you the most. That doesn't mean you agree with. Do you know that the conviction of the Holy Spirit is so profound and powerful, they don't need negative Nelly coming up alongside of them like Job's friends? Do you know that? I just started reading Job last week. I'm like, I'm going to skip through these jokers. These guys. But we have to deal with besetting sin. We have to deal with it. We have to be accountable and transparent and open. Sin grows in darkness. That's why every night my phone is on the counter, my wife, access to everything. The elders can come up anytime. Morgan, how's the marriage going? Ouch. Well, you know what? He's been a jerk lately. That hasn't happened yet. Praise God. I have been a jerk lately, but not... But see, wanting to deal with that, wanting to be transparent, I don't want anything to hinder the work of God's Spirit. I'll send Abram and Tim and Morgan, like when girls text me on Instagram. I say, oh, deal with this. I don't want even to open that door. Click here for my picture. I don't know you. I don't need to click here for no picture. Delete, delete. It's a very good button. But see, the pursuit of Christ is what keeps you on track. Oh, Shane is so spiritual. No, I'm not. I just pursue Christ and everything else has to fall to the wayside. Oh, as a deer pants, I might go into last night's sermon if you don't stop me, because my heart is still pounding for as a deer pants after that living water. Oh God, we need to pant after you like never before. Where's that thirst? Where's that desire? It has only found one place. Take me into the holies of holies by the blood of the Lamb. You need to be baptized in the spirit of anguish and desperation for God. There is no other hope, folks. When are we going to realize that? Is there any other hope? I don't know if you heard on a radio network yesterday. There was a message, and they were playing clips how kids are learning the gay ABCs. B is for binary. T is for trans, and they went through the whole A, B, and the little toddler. And it does get worse. It does get worse. And when I spoke at the school district last week, I looked at all of them in the face and said this is child abuse. This is mental child abuse. But there is so much going on. Guys, laws are trying to pass. And I will go on record saying this. Somebody just texted me. Randy, you know Randy, he used to go here. He goes, you were right. I didn't believe you 12 years ago when you said what's happening with the gay agenda and stuff, but look where we're at. But you can see the writing on the wall. Legalization of pedophilia is not in the far distance. I just talked to our senator in Washington on email or in Sacramento as well. Scott Wilk's up there and what they would love to get through, it makes me sick. We are depraved. You read about Sodom and Gomorrah. We passed them a long time ago. So it begs the question, where is the desperation? I shouldn't have to remind you every single week about morning worship. You should be wanting to open the doors. No, I'm not angry. I'm just saying it in love. Is that not true? People say, well, I'm not really more in person. Okay, we'll have Saturday night. Do you come on Saturday night? No. Again, I'm just being honest with you to show you what desperation looks like. There's not enough hunger and desire for God yet. And that has to come within. You can't say, okay, I'll just go do all these things. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It has to be a hunger as a deer pants looks for that living water, my soul pants for thee. Oh God, I need to find you. Without that brook, I will die. There is no other hope. I can't eat the rocks. I can't chew on the bark of the tree. I've got to find that living water. And there's a pursuit. There's a hunger. There's a desire. Let me give you some tips as you wait in the will of God. Waiting often involves working. I don't remember who wrote, I just wrote this quote down. I think it could have been Augustine. Pray as if everything depends upon God, but work as if everything depends upon you. And some people have a problem with that quote, and I don't because God blesses discipline. God, go look at the ant, oh sluggard. Read about laziness in Proverbs. You want to get convicted? But it's not I've got to work, I've got to work. No, pray Lord, I'm praying. Okay, but you do what you know to do. Work, how do I work? I seek you with all of my heart, with all of my strength. I cry out to you. I read your Word. I obey your Word. I'm doing these things, and we don't work for salvation, right? We don't work for salvation. I'm surprised at how many people still think we do this. I've got to do these things. Jesus plus this. Jesus, the finish of work on the cross is done. And sometimes I get in little debates, you know, with Roman Catholicism on purgatory. I'd met with a priest down in Santa Clarita, and I said, listen, listen, what's the point of purgatory? And he looked at me and goes, Shane, how do we deal with the shame and the guilt in our hearts? Hello, hello. It's not a almost done work. It's not a half cross. It's not an almost sufficient Savior. It's an all-sufficient Savior who died on Calvary, and we come and we embrace the cross, and we are set free. Whoever said the Son sets free is free. Indeed, you don't have to go somewhere to be punished for your sin. What is the point of the cross? I doubt that man was even saved. We work out our salvation. Philippians 2.12, we work it out. And this is an important point. I hope this helps someone. I just wrote it down yesterday morning. I want to explain fighting from a position of victory. As Christians, it's hard to understand. As a Christian, we say we've already won the battle, correct? Okay, well, sometimes it feels like I'm losing. So here's what this looks like. If you remember in war, especially World War II, beaches of Normandy and what they had to do with overcoming the German occupation up there high, and then the parachutists, like 30,000 parachutists came in behind. But the point was once they took that area, that high, they're up on the hill, they take it. Now they got to hold it. And so that's where many of us are believers. That's what it really resembles. Work out your salvation. Fight, keep fighting, put on the whole armor of God. Okay, God gave me this platform or what He'll give you. There's victory, but now I've got to fight. Here comes this little demon. Here comes this little distraction. Here comes this little compromise. So you're fighting from a position of victory, but you've got to hold the line. And that's why what happens when we allow that compromise to come in. Uh-oh. And then, I'm gonna make the camera guy nervous. They always tell me, don't move six feet out that way. Too late. But, right, I'm supposed to hold this ground. I'm supposed to hold this ground. Well, how'd I get down here? How'd I get down here? One choice at a time, one compromise at a time. One wrong decision at a time. Not hungering and desiring and panting after God. Not seeking Him with all of our heart. That's how you hold the ground. That's how you work out your salvation. You keep doing those things that encourage spiritual disciplines. And don't discourage the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart. And that's why I'm so adamant about revival and seeking God, because that is our only hope. That is our only hope. Christians on fire for God. And a lot of times the term comes up, lukewarm Christian, or I'm a mediocre Christian. That's actually an oxymoron. A true Bible-believing Christian is on fire for God. But be encouraged, it's a battle. It is hard. I know, I have to live it. It's very challenging, but it can be done if we look to God for the strength. So don't just sit back, stir up. Stir up something inside of you. God, I need that. I need that revitalization. I need that revival of my heart. I'm tired of sitting at home, reading the Bible all the time, reading books. I've got a lot of this head knowledge, but not a lot of stuff going on with my feet and active and helping and sharing. God, I need that baptism of fire in my heart. Stir it up in me, God. Stir it up. Verse 23, He did not remember Joseph. He did not remember Joseph. And it's going to go on to say, Joseph sat in prison. How long do you think? Two weeks? Two months? Two more years? Talk about frustrated. Go tell Pharaoh, I'm sure he thought, I'm out of here pretty soon. Pretty soon. Pretty soon they're going to be knocking on my door. Hey, release is coming. You're going home. Weeks go by. Months go by. But here's the key, you see the brackets. Pharaoh wasn't ready yet. God hadn't given him the dream yet. See, it's timing, timing, timing in the will of God. Timing in the will of God. It's just amazing what God does with timing. A lot of what He's doing in our heart here at this church, my wife will tell you, we sensed this 20 years ago. We sensed this 20 years ago. This theme of revival and God working in our hearts in different things. But I wasn't ready. Immature. What about if God promotes us too quick? Immature. Immature and could really do damage. God begins to bless and pride comes in. It's God knows the timing. We'll never be truly ready until on this side of heaven, really, there's always that desire that the enemy comes in and will try to take us out. But it's God's timing. And she remembers, I was getting so frustrated. I'm going out digging ditches. I go out, I've got a round point shovel. You guys know what a digging bar is? About this high. Heavy. And I would go dig up septic tanks because I had to do something to make money. I'm digging up septic tanks. Lord, this is not what You showed me. And I began to have dreams like Billy Graham had where I would be preaching over a sea of people just out there and preaching like, well, that's weird. But after you have those a few times, and I would read that in Billy Graham's biography. I'm like, wow, that's interesting. Well, God, what am I doing here? I'm called to do the mighty, not the menial. Oh, son, let me humble you for a while. And it was embarrassing. People would come up, why are you, Shane? I went from a six-figure income in my 20s. That was a lot 25 years ago. Running 24-hour fitness centers now to digging ditches at some of these houses around here. People would come out and say, why are you here? I gave my life to the Lord. You what? I didn't wanna run into anyone. Humbling. You go from a hard work background and then I end up living with my mom. I had to tell Morgan's dad, hey, can I marry her? I'm living with my mom. What's your plan for the future? Well, I'm writing a book right now. And I live with my mom. Holy smokes. Embarrassed, humbled. 30 years old, but God knew what it took. Then she'd get, I don't care, Lord, anymore. You broke me, you humbled me. Now you're ready. And the first thing I did, first speaking engagement I had, thousands of people, nope. Grace Resource Center, homeless. I'm talking to a homeless group about health and fitness. And it felt great. It felt great. And then the Vineyard asked me to speak on a Wednesday night. Would not happen anymore, but back then, things were different. Jim Gertleston, I believe was his name. And he goes, no, I want you to give your testimony. And the response was incredible. I was not prepared for it. And then a pastor was there and wanted me to speak at his church. And then Promise Keepers in Canada duplicated the message, 10,000 copies of CD and mailed it out to all their guys. And then God began to let me do it. Now let me do it my way. Now that all that, you've been so humbled and broken. Now keep in mind, pride can rise up again, right? We have kids at home, and it keeps you humble. And humility is such an important role, guys. And I say this, please, I work on pride on a daily basis. We've not mastered it. Nobody's mastered it. But when you recognize it, that's powerful. It's powerful when you recognize it. So the chief butler did not remember Joseph. Oh, goodness, I might have to do part two. So he didn't remember. He's sitting there for two years. He had to pass the test of timing. Pass the test of timing. And remember this, being delayed is not being denied. Some of you need to hear that this morning. God delaying something is not denying it. He's getting your heart ready. It's His timing. It could be that He's developing trust. Any men, type A out there? You're like, let's get it done. Let's get it done today. Here's what's gonna happen. No, guys, no, no, no. Hold on, tough guy. You're gonna wait for a while. Wait on my timing. And He uses these things to our advantage. And then the power of pressing in. The power of pressing in. Oh, when I'm waiting on God, and I haven't heard yet, Lord, I need to hear from You. Maybe it'll take a while. Maybe this won't be answered. I don't know, but Lord, because I don't know, I'm going to press in to You. Press in to a deeper relationship with You. But most people, often, they don't. They become bitter and resentful. And I talk to people a lot. They're just bitter that God didn't answer their prayer the way they wanted it to be answered. And I know it's tough. Some prayers are difficult when we don't hear an answer. And then we worship while we wait. That's a profound truth. Worship while you wait. Pharaoh's dream, chapter 41, after two years, Pharaoh had two dreams. He had two dreams. Maybe there's something to that. I don't know. The chief butler told Pharaoh about Joseph, and they brought him from the dungeon. And Joseph said, Pharaoh, there's going to be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. We need to store food. Pharaoh then appointed Joseph over everything. So after two years, Pharaoh finds out about Joseph, brings him up out of prison. Joseph tells Pharaoh the meaning of his dreams. I believe it was seven fat cows and seven sick cows. And then same thing with the weed and the grain. And he said, we're going to have seven years of prosperity and seven years of drought. And we need to be prepared. We need to get ready. And I wanted to spend some time, you know, but I just remembered, I did a whole teaching on dreams a year ago. You can just put it in YouTube. And my name may be with dreams. And I talk about these things because I don't want to spend too much time on it because I already did, but some of you maybe need to hear this. God can use them. I believe that God can use them. Absolutely. The problem is many people get a little carried away. I don't know if he gives you a dream every week. You've got his word. You've got the principles to follow, but sometimes you need a little help. And maybe God used it for Pharaoh. He used it for Joseph and Mary. Wise men were warned. And so sometimes if something isn't clearly portrayed in God's word, but the principle is there, and you're praying, and you're seeking God, and you need direction, you might have this vision or this dream. Ah, Lord, thank you, now it makes sense. And there are people who do not believe that. And that's okay. I'm glad I don't believe that. They say we've got the word and that's enough. Yes, I pour my heart into the word. I study the word. I love the word, but sometimes I need a little help. I can't turn to John 4 and find out if I'm supposed to marry Morgan. Well, you got the principles there, yeah, but I need a little help. I need some direction. So God, that's the Holy Spirit. Why are gifts given by the Holy Spirit for the body of Christ to minister to others? So what the Holy Spirit equips me to minister to you, and vice versa, you are equipped to minister to others. So I believe that God can use dreams and visions as when Peter preached, oh, they're not drunk like you think they're drunk. This is that which Joel spoke of, that in the last days, your son and your daughters will prophesy. They'll see visions. They'll dream dreams. So I think God can definitely use them. However, put a seatbelt on. Be careful, cautious. I don't let them direct me in a direction that I'm not already gonna go, usually. Obviously, I'm not gonna rely on them alone. It has to be anchored in God's word. Doesn't happen very often at all, but I think we need to be open, because here's what happens. If you totally close out what the Holy Spirit can do, you will close it out. You will not experience these things. I remember a famous Bible teacher. He said, I tried casting out a demon earlier on my ministry, and it doesn't work. I don't think we do that anymore. No, just because you're experienced in work doesn't mean we gauge Scripture by that. Our experiences must line up with Scripture. That's why I put number two. Does the dream line up with the word? I've had a few recently, and I might share those in the future. I'm not sure yet about that. I wanna see what God does. And one of them was before I even met Morgan. And hopefully, I don't know if I'll ever be able to go into because I'm still praying and waiting on it, and God showed me some things. But the whole point was not to get me weird. Look at that weird pastor, believes in dreams. No, I believe in the Word of God. I'm grounded in the Word of God. I love the Word of God. I follow the principles of the Word of God. But sometimes He might show you what He's doing in your life. That's really what a vision is. You see something open up, and God gives you direction through that that you've been seeking and looking for. Now, if you're not in the Word, and you're in unrepentant sin, you're not going in a good direction, be careful. Devil can give you dreams too, I'm sure. And so I don't put a lot of emphasis in dreams, but I don't want to minimize them either. I mean, I watched some videos the other day. Here's how you interpret them. Here's what the color red means. Well, how do you know that? Well, if it's in black and white, it's probably not God. If it's in color, how do you know that? You don't know that. Now, maybe you've surveyed 1,000 people, okay, but you can't say things like that. The Bible's not clear on that. But what I found is it's clear. You wake up in the morning, you're like, this is clear. This is vivid. God is using this to wake me up. Or to have me challenge somebody or to challenge myself. And then number three, pray and wait for confirmation. Sift through it. Number four, the exception, not the rule. Dreams are the exception, not the rule. Get direction from God's Word. Get direction from God's Word. I remember one guy, my wife will remember this, I was at a city council meeting actually, talking to our mayor and the council, I remember like now five years ago, talking about why it's not a good idea to bring marijuana here. Hello, I think we see the wisdom in that now, but they didn't want to listen. And a guy came out and said, can I just pray with you? God is just showing me that I see a million cars. I'm like, oh, this guy's off. Man, okay, brother, thank you. I don't know what, and then I don't know what was it, maybe six months later, the radio station came available. And the guy said, Caltrans says you can reach a few million cars a year. And then that just went off. I forgot completely about it, never thought about it again until that moment. Ah, oh, wow, okay. Now would we purchase the radio station on that alone? No, but I'm like, Lord, I need a little help here. I need to know, is this you? What is going on here? And so he'll show you things like that. I remember next door, I don't know if Walt is even here. Raise your hand if you're here, Walt. Oh, you are here. Okay, you remember this. It was a mean greet, I'm driving here, Lord, I need to know, I'm not a radio station manager, I cannot do this, this is ridiculous. Let somebody that I don't know say they've been blessed by the radio program before it went off the air. And Walt, first thing he comes up to me, how'd you hear about it? Oh, I really liked that radio program you had on 91.9, whatever happened to it? Okay, got it, Lord. Was I fully convinced yet? Nope. Lord, you need to keep showing me. And it was confirmation and things like that. That's how it works. See, it already lines up, but I need a little help. Because Shane Idleman makes mistakes on his own. Don't act like you don't either. You know, if you run too quick ahead of God, you're getting financial things you cannot get out of unless God gets you through. You'll make mistakes, you'll text or email or say something like, oh gosh, if I could get that back. We run ahead of God. And I was gonna give examples of, you know, like if you have a dream of moving, you know, does it line up with God's word? Is God already sensing something or is he just trying to get out of California? Dream of a dream job. Okay, I have this dream of this job. Okay, does it line up with Scripture? And you just have to wait on God. Because we have normal dreams as well. Absolutely, but God sometimes during significant seasons might show you something through that dream and that vision. And when God says it's time, no one can stop you. Jesus, I mean, Joseph was ready. And God says nothing is going to be able to stop him. Joseph was prepared. He had faith and he was not discouraged. He had faith and was not discouraged. I want to give you a couple storage rules. But there are something about storing. Don't be greedy for money. So I want to talk about because Joseph wanted to store up. Correct? He wanted to store up. And so that question comes up. I actually wanted to do it on a podcast. People are like, is it okay to store up or should we sell everything and just live, you know, mediocre? And I've known people, solid people, where God has said, I don't want you to trust me. I don't want you to trust in insurance. I don't want you to trust in this. I want you to just follow me. And that was where God had them. But then you also read in Proverbs where a wise man stores up. You have investments. You have something to take care of your kids. You know, I might have a short-term or a term life insurance policy for my family, you know, just in case. You know, you want to use wisdom too. So I think it has everything to do with where's your heart. Where's your heart? And I think, in my opinion, storing up has bailed us out a few times. It's a good thing to do. But here's the key. Don't be greedy for it. Whoever is greedy troubles his own household. God loves a cheerful giver. So if we're just storing, mine, mine, mine, my precious, mine. And he's just holding on to that, mine. That's why God loves a cheerful. That's what giving does. It releases the grip. And you say, we don't pass a plate. I rarely talk about giving. I actually, I believe, I'm convicted, I don't talk about it enough because I don't, money in the church, I don't have any power. We don't need anybody's money. God is from day one, from day one, we've never been in a financial need in 12 years in this church. Beyond blessed, beyond a measure. I can't even tell you how much we are blessed. But I know the hold it can have on people when we don't give. It's stingy. But we live in difficult times. So it's hard. It's really a trust issue, is it not? I can't give because I only make this amount of money. Okay, well, who's on the throne? God or you or your boss? If anything, I would give on, like it says here, first fruits to the Lord. I mean, if you get something extra, an IRS refund, a bonus, something you sell. I mean, maybe something to the Lord. It doesn't have to be here, maybe a good ministry. See, that's why it doesn't have a grip on you. It's got a grip on me. And that's why when we first got married, we decided we'd just take 10% off. Right off the top, it's the number one bill. If we can't get to that, that means we've had to buy a smaller house. Did you know that? You have to live a little bit differently. Oh, Shane, you're not a 10%-er, are you? No? God loves a cheerful giver. But you gotta feel it a little bit. There's a lot of people, they make 100,000 a year, they'll maybe give 100 bucks to somebody a month, and they feel like they're doing... Okay, it's got a... David says, I will not give God that which costs me nothing. So this is from a church, we don't talk about offering. We don't go pushing it. We don't pass a plate. But I can tell you, it is a real test of the heart, what you trust in. It really is. And so there's nothing wrong with storing, but what do you count? What are you storing for? Mine. I wanna hold on to this. Do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted. Giving is a gauge, it's a great test of man's heart. Who does he trust? And I know it's tough, but sometimes this is the best time to give. Lord, I can't give right now like the widow's mite. I can't give. But that's the time to do it because that's actually more trust. I mean, some of these guys make 20,000 a month, they give 2,000. Hey, man, that doesn't hurt as much as the person who is hurting financially. But in that, I think the person needs to use wisdom. God will maybe have you gauge it. Maybe He'll have you, just as long as you make sure your heart's right. That's the key. Am I not trusting God? And I've seen God do amazing things when we start to honor Him and let that tight-fisted, it's really the trust issue. Okay, Lord, I'm just gonna trust you. I wanna give a little bit. You love a cheerful giver. And watch what God will do when that is dealt with. That fear. Joseph was 30 years old and had two sons were born to him. One of them, Manasseh. God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house. And Dennis Prager said this. He said that one of the most important verses in the whole Torah is Joseph willfully forgot his childhood pain. Now, we might wonder why I mention him, PragerU. The reason is the next part. This is a good example of a person who has head knowledge, but not heart engagement. Jesus is not His Messiah. Head knowledge. See, He knows. His commentary in Genesis is pretty amazing. It's really good. But, so it does beg the question, how many people here are watching or listening later, you have head knowledge, but you don't have heart engagement. You've never repented and experienced the wonderful saving faith of genuine faith. Joseph willfully forgot his childhood pain. I think some of you need to forget that pain. Let it go this morning. And the reason I say that is I talk to a lot of people, whether it's alcohol addiction, pain meds, I mean, oxy, fentanyl is just destroying a lot. It's often the excuses are from when I was a child, this happened to me. And if we're not careful, we can allow the excuse to keep us in our addiction. That's genuine pain, but don't let it take you down. Through God, you can become a new creation in Christ. You can be set free from the shackles of past pain. Is your past causing a root of bitterness to grow? Are you thankful? Are you thankful? Let that go this morning. Are you thankful? If you're causing, if there's some bitterness and something gets family members or your past or parents, let it go this morning. You have to be a state of thankfulness. Like Joseph, he forgot his childhood pain. Talk about someone who actually had some pain. They wanted to kill him. But his brother said, no, no, no, let's not kill him. Yeah, let's put him in a pit, that's much better. Sold him into slavery, lied. And we're gonna get into more of the stories. It's gonna be incredible in the weeks to come. But I wanna put one screen up there, the final screen. I want you to know this, with God, with God, there is purpose in the pain. There is direction in the discomfort. There is healing in the hurt. There is deliverance in the depression. There is freedom in the fear. There is hope in the hopelessness. There is joy in the sorrow. And there is breakthrough in the bondage. With God, he can set you free. Who the son sets free is free indeed. We believe in the God who does that. The Bible's not a dead, lifeless book. It's a real book for living people. And it commands us to pray and to seek him with all of our heart and with all of our strength. Bring back that thankfulness. Bring back, some of you, God touched you years ago. And you've been living in a past anointing. You need fresh fire. You need to stop talking about 10 years ago or five years ago or 20 years ago. I remember back in the 80s, I was on fire. No, you need that fresh fire now. A Christian who is not progressing is digressing. They're not going in a good direction. They need that fire back again. Return to me the joy of my salvation. What was David talking about? He repented, created me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit within me. God, I'm tired of going in that direction. I'm tired of living with the pigs, prodigal son. I need to come home to the father.