Shane Idleman emphasizes the significance of hearing and obeying God's voice, sharing testimonies of God's revival in the church and personal experiences of faith. He discusses the importance of stepping out in faith, the clarity that comes from obedience, and the necessity of immersing oneself in God's Word to discern His will. Idleman warns against disobedience and the distractions of the world, urging believers to seek God's guidance through prayer, scripture, and community. He encourages the congregation to be open to God's leading while remaining grounded in biblical truth, highlighting that true clarity often comes through repentance and a humble heart.

God is reviving lives at this church unlike anything I've ever seen before. Every day we hear of people being just rocked by the power and presence of God. And we're gonna talk about hearing and obeying God's voice, part two. Hearing and obeying God's voice, part two. Anybody need help in this area? Why did not everyone say amen? Amen. Hearing and obeying God's voice. Lord. Yeah, this service is pretty fired up, I like that. So I left off last week. Now, I have a disclaimer. This was hopefully gonna end today, but I promised the first service I might turn into part three because I didn't get into other areas about hearing God's voice. I don't wanna rush through it. Or I might just do a podcast and encourage you to listen to it if it's gonna be short. So I'm still working through that. I'm not sure if we'll do part three. But it had more to do with, I didn't get to the part about God can speak to us through visions, or dreams, or His voice in those kind of ways we're not familiar with. People are like, oh, oh. Whew, I thought this church was solid. Well, we are, but we're also biblical. And God speaks to people how He chooses. And He spoke to people throughout the Old Testament and the New, Joseph and Mary. Hello? The wise men were warned, and Peter. But that's not the standard. We don't just, oh, give me a dream, give me a vision. That should follow what we're gonna talk about today. And if you saw in the news, the MVP for the Rams said that God spoke. He had a dream or a vision about becoming the MVP years prior. And people were asking me about that. I'm like, why not? I mean, I don't know. Why would God do that? Because sometimes He prepares you. Sometimes He shows you, this is the plan I have for you. Stay the course so when you get there, you give me all the glory. To say that on major news networks, man, I gotta hand it to that guy. It's incredible. Because they pressure you. They pressure you. Before Fox News started to shift, you can see some of the videos I did with Fox News in their LA studio. And they told me that they really can't, I'm just, I guess, I'm too upfront and bold and they wanted me off of there. But they shifted, but they do pressure. Don't talk about that. Don't mention Jesus too much. And don't, you know, just be politically correct. And they pressure you. The media does. So he did a fantastic job with that. But hearing and obeying God's voice. How do we hear it? How do we obey it? Last week, I left off at Genesis 12. The Lord said to Abram, get out of your country to a land that I will show you. So Abram departed. Basically, he obeyed as the Lord spoke to him. And this was pretty challenging because it would be like telling you, okay, sell your house and I'm gonna tell you where to go from there. I don't know about you, but I'd be, mm, nope, I need to know where I'm going, when I'm going, and how I'm getting there. And it needs to all fall in line. And then I will obey. But that's what he told. So often, though, sometimes you step out in faith, that first step, then God begins to reveal more of his will and more of his will. It actually happened to us. We sold our house a year and a half ago. And don't worry, I'm not moving, I'm aware of. But we felt the prompting, the desire, so much confirmation, and we didn't know where we were going until one week prior to close of escrow. I don't know about you, but I need a little more time. Fourth of July weekend, I believe it was, found something, and they said, oh, we've got 23 other applications on this house to rent. Oh, fortunately, I knew the owner. And he goes, oh, I remember, yeah, we were friends when we were younger, and so that, but it was one week notice. And often, you know, being, sometimes you don't, because I want to plan, do you? Here's what's gonna happen this week, next week, by next month, I can plan all this stuff out. Often, with God's will, it's like, I'm gonna show you what you need to know when you need to know it, so you don't run ahead of me and get into trouble. So the first key we talked about last week, step out in faith. Step out in faith. And when you don't know what to do, Elizabeth Elliot said this, her husband was actually murdered on the mission field. He landed his plane and was speared to death, him and the other missionaries. And she said, when you don't know what to do next, just do the thing in front of you. Of course, if it's according to God's will. So faith is basically, sometimes we think, well, I don't know what to do, I'm just gonna sit at home, prop up my feet, put on Netflix. Not a good idea. Start to do things for God and walk out in faith step by step, and then it becomes more clear. And then the second key we talked about, clarity comes from obedience. The more we begin to obey God's Word, the more clear His will becomes. It's not looking through a glass dimly, or you've got these hands in the way and I can't see. Obeying God makes His will even more clear. So when we're living in disobedience, we know what to do, we're just not doing it. It's gonna be hard to discern His will. And that's why many people get angry. And frustrated, and discouraged, even Christians. You know Christians struggle with that? We struggle with it because often, when we're in disobedience, we don't wanna do what God tells us to do, and we're not happy. Lord, what is your will? I don't know, I'm not happy. And so obedience begins to make God's will crystal clear. Incomplete obedience is not obedience as well. Has anyone kind of ever half followed God? He tells you to do something, you're like, okay, I'll do some of that. And that's what happened last week. I talked about disobedience is as the same of witchcraft, God says in the Old Testament. I actually gave the wrong example last week. I gave the example last week of Saul. Saul rushed the sacrifice, didn't wanna wait till Samuel was there, and he was rebuked for that. And then a couple chapters later, he actually, God said, go and wipe out all the animals. Animals, don't take any of the spoil, just completely annihilate that area. And he didn't. He kept all the good sheep, all the good livestock for himself. But he got rid of the blemished ones. But I thought God would be happy. I did kind of do what he told me to do. And he said, your throne has been removed. Disobedience is as the sin of witchcraft. Basically, witchcraft is rebellion against God. Disobedience is rebellion against God. But be encouraged, you can be back in fellowship with God this morning if you repent and get back into the center of his will. And as you mature, be encouraged in this area. As you mature, God may not direct you the same way as he did years ago. And sometimes I ask God, Lord, you helped me a little bit more when I was younger. But I remember, I don't help my 16 year old the same way I help my eight year old. Come on, let's go, let me show you, let me show you. Now by 16, you know what you're doing. And so when I was new to the faith, I remember dreams I would have God would show me, confirmation, prompting, ah, ah, thank you. And then slowly, kind of withdrew some of these things. You've got my word now, Shane, and you've learned to hear my voice and discern my will and walk in my absolute truth. And God's will is really not that difficult. We make it more challenging than it really is. But be encouraged, sometimes he doesn't show you exactly what to do. He doesn't write it in the sky. He doesn't drop an envelope in your mail. Sometimes there's great confirmation, but often it's walking in faith based on everything we're gonna talk about. So the third key, this is so important. The third key, if you're not in the Word, the Word won't be in you. So as believers, if you, okay, I'm talking to people who seriously want to know God's will. You seriously want to know God's will, you need to live in God's Word. I mean, you need to spend time in God's Word because you understand the nature of God, the character of God. You start in Genesis, you finish in Revelation. Then what? Then you start in Genesis, Revelation. You start, you read the Word of God. You can get through the whole Bible in a year. It's not very difficult, 20, 25 minutes a day. And see, what happens is the thoughts of God, the mind of God, the will of God begins to be departed, I should say. Impartation's a weird word, right? Departed into your mind, and now you're thinking like God, the whole counsel of God. The problem with many of the famous preachers out there on YouTube, and I don't want to name names and things, but they just take out little chunks, or they'll read their daily devotional, God is love. Next week, God is love. Next week, love your neighbor. Next week, go get him, team. Next week, positive thoughts. Next week, you're the head, not the tail. You're above and not beneath. You are conquerors in Christ. And months go by, always positive. But they forget about the Old Testament prophets who would rebuke and exhort and encourage people to turn back to God, so you would love them and encourage them and build them up, but also, you would drop the hammer. Anybody ever need the hammer of God? God told the prophet, my word is not like a soft, gentle pillow or a gentle dove. My word is like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces. Is he referring to a physical rock? The heart is not my word like a hammer that breaks a heart in pieces. It is not my word like a fire that devours. Refining fire of God, and we have to get, you get the whole counsel of God. And your preaching is actually balanced when you're in the Old Testament and New Testament. And so this is so important, Psalm 119, 105. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Here's the critical thing. The lamp was, it's hard for us to relate to some things because we have a flashlight or you turn on a switch, but their lamp was, oh, there's a scorpion. And their lamp was to their feet, but they also had a light to their whole path. They could see where they're going. So God's word tells you for now and also for the future. Whether it's finances, marriage, whatever it is, steps now and steps also in the future. So here's the key I want to give you. Note things and write them down as you read. You hear the word journaling? I mean, after 22 years, I've tried. I'm not a journaler, even though I do journal sometimes. But I'm just, I'm not a journal, but I'm a writer. So I'll put down post-it notes. I'll put down notes. What I believe God is telling me in his word, there's a quiet heart, a quiet hour, and a quiet place. Without that, you will not hear from God. You need to remove the busyness of your day. You need to unplug the TV if you need to or the computer. And you need to search for God with all of your heart and strength. And believe it or not, many of the sermons that you hear are actually my time with the Lord, or notes I've written down and God puts it together. That's really what all this is, is journaling from spending time in God's Word, looking up certain topics. Of course, you look up the Hebrew and the Greek and the commentaries and make sure it's going to minister to people, but it's God really pouring into my heart. God directs us, memorize these last two things. God directs us to make wise. Let's underline that. God directs us to make wise decisions according to His Word. So, so many people are looking for what J.I. Packer said. God is more likely to direct me through wise teaching than through inner voices. Now, J.I. Packer is not discounting the work of the Holy Spirit because I've read his book on the Holy Spirit. What he's doing is backtracking and making sure we're not led astray by inner voice impulses and these leadings that might not be of God. And I've noticed, this is true without a shadow of a doubt, over my life, I have been more directed. I would say, I mean, conservatively, 99% of the time, I've had to make decisions and determine God's will. It's been through His principles, His Word. And then there's the 1% where, Lord, I need a little help. I need a little help. Your Bible doesn't tell me what chapter and verse, if I'm supposed to be a pastor. Doesn't tell me if I should sell the house. Doesn't tell me if we should buy the radio stations. I need a little help here. And so that's where the Holy Spirit will begin to draw and begin to confirm, but it lines up with the Scripture. And you'll hear me often talk about hyper-Pentecostal or hyper-charismatic churches. And I see this a lot. I've probably seen this more than anyone in this whole church because I'm in the mix of all this where people really go south or sideways because of inner voices. God told me. If you have a rebellious, arrogant heart, be careful there, be careful there because He's more inclined to direct you through wise teaching and biblical principles, especially if your heart's not right. And so we can have these inner impulses or God told me, and now He does. Don't miss, I remember buying, when we bought the radio station. I was driving on Lake Elizabeth Road and I'm like, oh, that stinks, they're gonna, we were on the radio station before we bought it and they told me they're gonna sell it and we're gonna be off the air and I'm like, oh, Lord, that stinks. And this thought just came, like, you know, I've had about five or six of these in my lifetime where it's just like, it's not audible, but it's clear, it's like, why don't you buy it? Like, who is that? And a long, long, long story short, so much confirmation, so much confirmation, because I'm scared. I don't trust Shane Idleman. I trust God, but I don't trust, oh, you buy it. I mean, come on, give me a break. And so there was, but see, without Him instilling that desire, I wouldn't even begin to pray. So often He'll, the Holy Spirit deposits something. Oh, is that you, God? And then you begin to, like, planting the church, being a pastor. This isn't, you can't find that in the Bible. So the Holy Spirit will help in these things. I remember one time I shared with you before, but it was just amazing. I was right back there, it was early morning worship, and I have something really hard to say that morning. And I'm like, Lord, this, I think I'm just gonna say this in my anger, I can't do it. I don't know if it's you, because I'm pretty angry. I don't know if this is you or not, so I'm just gonna have to, unless you make it crystal clear. And this old lady, Marilyn Inos, remember her? Man, we need more Marilyn Inos, I'm telling you. So I'm back there, she gets up, she goes over to me, I'm like, uh-oh, what's this about? And she goes, Pastor Shane, God just spoke to my heart. He said, don't hold back a word this morning. Say whatever He put on your heart. And then she comes back down here. So you're gonna tell me that's coincidence? That's not coincidence. And so see, God, He knows the heart of His children. Lord, I need help, I need confirmation here. I need, even right before we bought the radio station, I told Morgan, I'm giving this up, because this is stupid, I've never managed a radio station. Like, I don't have something, more things to do. Right, just add more to Shane's plate. And so I don't know how to manage a radio station was my exact words. That week, a guy comes in from Minnesota, into the office, and says, hey, is Pastor Shane in? And I listen to the sermons, I read the articles. I'm a Christian radio station manager. And I read the email, I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. And so long story short, He got us all set up. They take care of all of it remotely. And so see, there's things that just aren't in John chapter three. Or 1 Corinthians 10, that you need a little help. But that's gotta be your food. That's gotta be your consuming passion. That's the Word of God, and really, it's internalized, and so you understand that, and you do recognize that it's actually not that you recognize the wrong voice from the right voice. Right, because you hear the wrong things. Don't you? What about the voice that tells me, Shane, it's getting bad in California, why don't you move to Idaho? You have a lot of friends up there. Hmm, wonder if that's God. Hmm. Hmm. Sure, just open the radio, open the church, and just head out of town. Dodge, right, got it, sure, that's the Lord. No, but see, these competing voices. These competing voices. But is this self-exaltation? Is it pride? And there are ways to navigate these waters, but I would, so many people that I talk to, you know, I read the Bible last week for a few minutes, but, you know, they're so confused. Of course, I would be, too. If I'm not in the Word, grounded in the Word, what does God say about marriage and raising kids? What does He say about treating other people? What does He say about my finances, about stewarding, about the work environment? What does He say about these things? I'm gonna be confused, too. And a lot of times, the confusion comes from, I know what to do, I just don't wanna do it. I know what God's Word says, but. You ever say that? That's the number one thing I hear when we counsel people in their marriages. Woo-hoo-hoo. And you can tell the man, the veins come out. I know what God's Word says, but you don't know my spouse. You don't know what I'm going through. That preaches itself, because you know the heart's wrong. So just be careful of those inner voices, because the Holy Spirit does guide, but if your heart has become hard, and your heart, and I'm preaching myself, this is where I gotta be, if your heart has become hard, and callous, and cold, and self-righteous, and you think that God speaks to you, and only to you, and that every word you say is from the voice of God, run, run to this altar, because that is pride, that is arrogant, and it's deadly, and it's damning. The new King James Bible, study Bible that I use, gave some very interesting points here on when we need to be very careful when making decisions. In these areas, you don't want to make decisions, major decisions, when there's doubt, discouragement, diversion, defeat, and delay. In other words, doubt makes you question God and His goodness. Do you know how many people I believe personally that make wrong decisions simply because they're doubting God? I don't believe God, I don't trust God anymore, and I make a decision now based on my doubt, or my fear, because fear has caused me to make this decision. Discouragement, it makes you look at your problems rather than God. Is anybody getting discouraged? Hello? Like, I literally can't understand our state. Literally can't understand our state. You're gonna get rid of 4,000 sheriffs because they don't want to get vaccinated. Do you have any idea what that's gonna do? Any clue. And it appears that our district attorney favors the criminal over the victim. And that's just wrong. That's just wrong. We should be able to speak the truth in love. And I also think make a difference, be the salt and the light in our community. I'm concerned with what we're leaving our children and our grandchildren. And there should be a healthy passion to make a difference. That's the salt and the light. We're not just supposed to be a light on a hill. Hello, look at me. Salt makes a difference. Salt is a preservative. And it will impact the lives of many people. Diversion makes the wrong things seem attractive so that we want them more than the right thing. Young adult, you meet someone like, oh, I just like them. I'm in love. No, you're in lust. You're not in love. And so diversion, what the enemy does with diversion, he makes us make decisions based on our lust. The lust of the flesh. The lust of the eye. The pride of life. So I make decisions based on lust. Diversion, he diverts me away from what God really wants to what he wants. Or defeat makes you feel like a failure so that you don't even try. And when I'm defeated, I don't hear the voice of God as clearly because I turn into a grumbler and a complainer. Anybody can relate? Or are you guys good at the nine? You're not, no grumbling, no complaining? Nope, you're good. Makes you feel like a failure. You don't even try. And then delay makes you put off doing something God wants you to do. This is going to hit somebody hard. There are a lot of people in the church, even this church, they are putting off what God wants them to do. God wants me to do this. And I'm putting it off. Whether it's working with the homeless or going to Care Net Pregnancy Center. Men, we need men to counsel other men there. Maybe even once a week. We need people to help with the homeless ministry or the food ministry or mentoring young adults. And something, I know life's busy, hello. But we need, we could be doing a lot more. One of the hardest things that I have to process quite often, and the Lord knows, I know people are busy, but we have so many needs. Let's say a young man needs mentoring. Or this couple needs mentoring. Or a young woman needs mentoring. Like with Kaylee, I'd love to plug her in with a young woman, an older woman. But the availability, it's like everyone is so busy. We don't have time. So are you sure? Are you sure? Because delay, yes, you have to reschedule your day a little bit to help others. You might need to disconnect the Netflix app and turn off the computer. People often ask me, Shane, how have you written 12 books? Well, you don't watch TV. I have the same amount of time as you do. It's what we do with our time. So that's a big need here. Pastor Abrams' burden, Tim and Amy now are burdened. I'm burdened, Morgan's burdened, other helpers are burdened. Levy, Nicole, Phil and Carrie. I mean, I could keep, if I missed you, don't feel bad. We just don't have enough people to help with the need out there. And I talk, Kay, can you help this person? Oh, I'm kind of tied up this week. Tied up what, doing what? I don't say, up here I say it, but not here. But with the average American house having on the television seven hours a day, or the internet, we have the time. We just need to make the time. So am I trying to convict some people today? Yeah, a little bit. So if you can help, let me tell you, this is God's will to help others. And you might be in a cloud, now in a cloud, meaning you can't see God clearly. Step out and say, hey, I would like to help, even if it's a couple hours a week, and I can take a younger couple. We've got marriage couples. I mean, emails every couple days. I need help in my marriage. I need strength. I'm falling back into addiction. Do I have somebody? And I'm sitting there going, what am I supposed to do with these things? Remember, many of you know, even Ree helped out a great deal, too, as well. And then she gets overwhelmed. Others get overwhelmed. And we just need more people. If a church this size, if just 10% would step up, we could really help the people that need it. And let me tell you, you don't have to pray about that. That's God's will. God's will is crystal clear to make disciples. It's really clear. So if you want to hear the right voice, I think this will help. Hearing the right voice, God's leading is calm. It doesn't rush you. Do you ever feel rushed or pushed? Rushed or pushed? God's leading. I'm sorry, God leads. He doesn't push. He calms. You don't obsess about things. He encourages. You don't get discouraged. He reassures you. He doesn't frighten you. He enlightens you. He doesn't confuse you. He convicts, but He doesn't condemn. Condemn is what you feel when you've blown it, when your shame and guilt, whether it's porn, drugs, besetting sin, and you just, shame, and the enemy just beat you. See, you're not really a Christian. You want to start a ministry? You want to help? Look at you. How could you? You're a, God can't even use you now. And we stay in that condemnation, that shame and guilt, and you actually stay in the sin because you're so upset. But God will convict. He'll say, okay, get back up. You blew it. This is not right. You need to repent, but get back up, and out of the ashes, I'm going to rebuild. I'm going to strengthen you. Come on, get up, get up. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and though he falls, the Lord will uphold him with his right hand, a power of strength, and God will pull that person up. See, it's, I'm convicted, but God loves me enough to pull me back up and set me back on the right path. That's not condemnation. And so many people come in under condemnation of the sin and guilt of, the shame and guilt of their sin, and they come in being beat up, and beat up by the enemy, and beat up, I'll never measure up. And that's why I encourage people when I teach, I tell them, listen, I'm not beating you up. I'm encouraging you. Yeah, I'm convicting you. It hurts a little bit, but if you take it to God, he will begin to rebuild you, and then there's joy and peace, and assurance of what God is doing in your heart and in your life. It's amazing. So don't let condemnation knock you off course. And also, try doing this. Instead of asking, why is this happening to me? Anyone ever been there? There are some weeks here, I'm like, Lord, are you sure I'm the right person for this? Why is this happening to me? With what is God trying to teach me? And then we do have, the next slide's gonna be very interesting. God does have a revealed will. Did you know God's will is crystal clear on many issues? So think about this. If you stay in his word, saturate your mind in his word, obey his word, God's will's not that challenging. Because you're going along singles. Hey, I met this person. They're not really a Christian, but I think, no, no, no, no, mm-mm. Get back on track. Hey, I've got this business. I can actually make thousands of dollars here. And I got this partnership on Equally Yoke. This guy's not, okay, get back on track. And see how God's word will get you back on track with what his will and what his ways are. We go sideways because we get off track. And so here's what's clearly revealed in God's will. Are you saved? Are you saved? Do you truly have a relationship with Jesus Christ? Has the cross of Christ set you free? Is there hope and redemption? You know where you're going when you die. You know where you're going. And this is what caused so much, so much fear in our nation over the virus. Most people don't know where they're going. And they are afraid to death of dying. And so we have to be that light. And we have to offer them that hope. So just know this, if you're listening, listening here or you're here, I don't know, a lot of people are listening as well. Are you saved? That's God's will to be saved. But does God choose me or I choose him? I'll let the theologians argue. All I know is the Bible says, whoever calls upon me shall be saved. God says, I'm not willing that any should perish. But that all come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord. And God says, go out, Jesus said, go out and preach repentance. Call the prodigal son home. Tell the wayward daughter there is hope. Go out and preach the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ to all mankind. There his will is to be saved. Did you know his will is also to worship him? So you don't need to pray about next Wednesday night, you just need to be here. Yeah, I tell people, hey, next Wednesday, we got a worship night. Well, let me pray about it, brother. Some of you got to start putting God on your calendar. You've got everything else scheduled in. Your work's scheduled in, your money's scheduled in, but not God. Could that be the problem? I'll just leave it there. To be holy, uh-oh. That means, I'm going to be selective in what I watch, what I view, what I fill my mind with. The Holy Spirit residing in me, I'm going to be, is this holy and set apart for God and His glory? Just think if we use that filter before we go and watch a movie. Is it going to influence me? When I was first saved, you know, and I started dating Morgan, and people, even at churches over the hill, you know, it would make fun. You don't watch those movies. I just, I don't want to lust after someone other than my wife. Call me stupid, but that's what the Bible says. I want to be holy and set apart for God. Now, now, hold on, hold on, hold on. The flesh says, run for it, go watch it. The flesh is pulling, and your choices are never free from this conflict. Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. These forces, these things are pulling on us every day. Do we obey the flesh, or do we walk in the Spirit? And His desire is that we are holy and set apart. His will is that you be filled continually with the Holy Spirit. Many of you know the verse, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, it's interesting, if you look at that verse, and it's interesting, in the Greek language, even in Hebrew, the sentence structure's actually different, and the word is actually a be being filled. It's a continual pattern. If he could say be being filled, continue being filled with the Holy Spirit is God's will for your life. So Shane, what does that look like? It means get your face on this altar. It means get to morning worship. It means get to rend the heavens when we have them. Worship nights in your own house. Get on your face before God. Put on worship, and make choices that honor God, and be repentant, and broken, and humble. And then you come up out of the prayer closet on fire for God. The fire of the Spirit is in your heart and in your life, and you want to just shout on the rooftop the goodness of God, and joy unspeakable is coming from your heart, because you are now filled with the power and presence of God. Oh, if I could get half this church filled with the fire of God, we would not stop worshiping. We wouldn't be bored. King's stomach would not be calling out for In-N-Out Burger. You would humble yourself before God. I'm not angry. I'm not angry. I'm passionate to witness to others. Did you know that's God's will? Are you witnessing to others? I do this too. I pull up and there's a homeless guy. I'm like, Lord, do you want me to go talk to them? Show me a sign. I don't know, I'm pretty busy. It's clear. Now, you have to be careful. I've talked to my wife about it. You don't just get out 5-4 and go in and minister to some homeless guy who could just take the car. There's wisdom there as well, too, so don't misunderstand. But his goal is to witness to others. That just happened, huh? At Starbucks, you say, I'm witnessing this guy, this homeless guy. He's kind of like he's demon possessed. I'm like, where are you at? Get in my car, go find her. Go to the wrong Starbucks. It's on the other side of town. Like, Lord, just come on, help her now. That was just a side note. But God's will is to make disciples. See, that's what I said earlier. We have the people that have the need. We just don't have the people to fill the need. How is that possible, a church this size? Amen, Matthew. If I could get some of the retired folk to step up, that would be helpful. Shame, well, I'm just telling you. And even if you're not retired. I didn't even talk about this at the first service. Not even one ounce. I'm hoping this is helping someone. Now, and then also, God's will is to give, pray, and fast. Matthew 6, Matthew 6. People ask me often, Shane, how do I know to fast? To me, fasting is a lifestyle. You don't give into gluttony all year and then on January 1st start a fast for a week. It's a lifestyle of denying the flesh and fasting and putting God first. Good example this morning, if I wasn't taking my daughter this morning at 5.40, we got here early, I might have stopped and got a donut. But it had to be a good example. Because see, the flesh, right? And I decided, I'm just gonna fast through all three services, I'm not gonna have anything. And it's that commitment to just, God, I'm so hungry for more of you. And his desire is to pray. His desire is to give. To give of our time, give of our resources, but also give of our finances. And we don't preach that very much here. We don't pass around a plate. God has been blessing us beyond measure. But it is his will that we give. And 2 Peter we can put up on the screen. This is so important. Peter might know a little bit about the Christian walk. I'm assuming. He walked with Christ. With all diligence. In other words, you have to be diligent, you have to be disciplined. Christian, guess what? You are in a spiritual battle. There is no room for spiritual laziness. We have to be disciplined and diligent. And then he said, add to your faith virtue, which is moral uprightness. Are you morally pure? Are you morally upright? And then to this, add knowledge. And to the knowledge, add self-control. In other words, I know God's will, and I'm controlling my sinful desires. I don't win all the time. Neither do you, but there's a control. You're controlling them versus them controlling you. That's how you walk in the spirit. Did you know that you've been given dominion over your flesh? Many people live the opposite way. I'm just gonna do whatever the flesh tells me to do, like a robot. You gotta tell, no, no, no. Because you know what the flesh is telling me? Right about third service, it's saying Panda Express. Get out early, the In-N-Out line's gonna be long unless they get over there. Hurry up, get out of the service. And so that, it's always, always, you don't wanna go to church, Shane. You don't wanna go to Wednesday night. You don't wanna go to morning prayer. It's just always, I don't think we realize how much it controls us. And when we listen to it, we don't walk in the spirit, we walk in the flesh. And so he goes on to say, to knowledge, self-control. To self-control, perseverance. Not giving up and giving in and complaining. And to perseverance, add godliness, which is grace and goodness to others. And then brotherly kindness and love and these things we know about. But here's why this is so important. For if these things are in you, basically, if they're in you and they abound in you, you will not be barren, you will not be without spiritual life, nor are you going to be unfruitful in what you do or in how you know Jesus Christ. Because these things are abounding and you see, what I'm learning more and more as I get older, it's not about necessarily trying to figure out some formula. It's about trying to be what God has called us to be. And then from these character traits, from these spiritual disciplines, God begins to lead us from that position. Many times we sit at home trying, oh Lord, what is your will, what's your will, what's your, he says, go out and be my will. And then I can direct you because now you're walking according to my will. How's God gonna direct someone who's not walking according to his will? For example, many times, I used to speak at men's conferences for years before I did this. And it's, boy, you learn a lot with men, I'll tell you what. Most arrogance in the home is from the man. Right, let's just be honest. You can clap. Now, the reason is because God gives a man spiritual leadership of the home and when he is deficit or when he is prideful, it will begin to affect the home. And so, I just don't know what God's will is for my, I don't know. And you find out they're never in the word, they're addicted to porn and they love sports. And if I had a dollar for every time, I would say, listen, you gotta get rid of those things. They would look at me like, are you kidding me? What, that's fanatical. You know what the word fanatical? Obsessed about something. You're either obsessed about Jesus or you're obsessed about the world. You cannot serve two masters. And so, I remember one guy, it happened a lot, I would say, listen, your wife, he said, this is my last chance, he's crying. This is my last chance, my wife's leaving. And I said, he goes, it's my porn habit. And I start watching sports, I start watching ESPN cheerleaders and it just opens this door to this. So I said, well, of course, repentance, accountability, things like that. I go, you gotta get rid of that trigger for a season. Unhook the computer and instead of sports, spend time with your wife. I about fell back or hit him. One of the two was gonna happen. He goes, are you kidding me? Dude, I can't do that, I'm a sports fanatic. Is there any hope for that guy? But you see how we love our sin? And we come up and cry about it. That's why A.W. Tozer said, don't come up here and cry about it, go home and live it out. And many times we cry because our feelings are hurt, especially as men, or our pride has been crushed, or we're embarrassed. That's not true tears of repentance. Because true tears of repentance fix what you damaged. They fix it, that's repentance. I've done this damage, I'm fixing it. I'm not gonna continue in this. I got caught. Most people cry, they're crying, oh, I'm getting divorced, I'm crying, they're crying because they're gonna lose half their income. Listen, I've counted, and that's what I hear a lot, but man, this divorce goes through, oh, she's gonna get 4,000 a month, oh my Lord. What is wrong with these people? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth is gonna speak. You listen long enough, you'll know the truth. Equally yoked, we see. What do I mean by this? Well, when you know God's word, the Scripture says do not be equally yoked. It doesn't say, but in these cases, it's okay. Just says, do not be unequally yoked. And we see it a lot. A young adult meets someone else. Oh, man, I love this guy, it's like a soulmate. We're so connected, what a nice guy. I know he's not a Christian, but you're in lust. Eye candy, you're attractive. Be very careful. And what happens is our feelings supersede God's word. What about business deals? I just talked to a friend of mine, lost about $70,000 because he made a business deal with somebody who's not equally yoked. That applies to all areas of life. And also, we see here, vain glory. Philippians 2, three, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or in vain glory, but let each one esteem others better than himself. Vain glory is excessive pride in achievements. You know that, do you get jealous easily? Like Saul, when they came in from battle, they cried, Saul has killed his thousands. And Saul's okay, until they sing, David has killed his 10,000s. And from that moment forward, Saul decided to kill David. Vain glory, my glory, my achievements. I wanna tell you something that happened this week. I was encouraged by it. But a friend of mine is a pastor at Paul Chapel at Lancaster Baptist Church. Just amazing campus over there. And I was at his office for about an hour and just looking out at all that God has done. And I was just so excited for our valley for that. And people might say, well, don't you want? I want exactly what God's gonna give us. I don't want any more, I don't want any less. I want exactly what God is going to build. And one thing people don't understand about this ministry is we are actually a mega church in reach. The sermons are on over 60 stations nationally, reaching tens of thousands of lives. And so God has chosen to do that instead of what he's done there. He calls different people for different things. And being completely content in that is very freeing. You know why? I don't want this much more than what God wants. Because if I build it, guess who has to maintain it? I built businesses at 24 Hour Fitness. I built Fitness Center. I built things and payroll and money and this, and I built it, built it, gotta keep going, gotta keep the numbers, gotta do this, gotta do this. I built it and Shane had to maintain it. But when God builds it, I will build my house and the gates of hell shall not prevail. When God builds it, you just say, Lord, however you want to use me. However you want to use me. And so we also see a spirit of fear, 2 Timothy. What does that have to do with decision making? Well, you'd be amazed at how many people make decisions based on fear. I'm fearful so I'm gonna make this decision. Be careful because you don't even have a spirit of fear. What comes in is the enemy comes in or our own carnal nature will become fearful. And now we make decisions outside of God's will. So first, get your heart right. Get your heart right, get rid of fear, and then see where God will lead you. And then I think, that's why I might have to get into part three or I might just do the podcast because I was gonna talk about the fourth key that we put up there before I can't get to it is open but not gullible. Open but not gullible. Does God still guide us through dreams and visions? Does he speak to us that way? Well, if he's got a consistent track record in the Old and New Testament, I'm open to whatever God wants to do. I'm just not gullible. That's the key. 99% of the decisions I've ever made have come from his word. But there are times, unless you want to throw Joel 2.28, that God will, and it shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters will do these things. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. That's for us. Peter said, they're not drunk as you think. They're not drunk. This is that which the prophet Joel spoke of in the book of Acts. Peter says, you will see these things. Jesus' parents were led by dreams and visions. And so I don't get caught up in it because it's not healthy. But if the Lord, and there's things I've been praying for that I can't share right now to see if they ever come to pass. But one thing that God, when I was, it was 2001, I moved back home. It was a mess, just, you know, came back to the Lord and God gave me a vision of preaching to a sea of people. Just walking out. Remember, I walked out from the left and I walked out and there's this group of people. God was showing me. I'm digging ditches when this happened. I'm digging ditches. I'm like, what was that? But God began to show, okay, so now I've got to prepare for that. And that was, once I felt that, that's when I started to read systematic theology and pneumatology and eschatology and hermeneutics and homiletics and studying all these great deep theological truths and drawing closer to God and just studying and studying and studying, getting ready for this. And I remember God showed me. I spoke about this before. I had a very, when it's vivid and clear, there's a lot to this, but I had this black panther. It was amazing, this black panther. I was shining a light and it was avoiding the light and coming around me. I wasn't really scared, but it was this black panther like trying to, and that week, I had a Jehovah Witness over for two hours at my house. He was all dressed in black and he was avoiding the truth and light of the gospel. And as I'm talking to him, this just came back. I'm like, oh, okay, okay. Because I was getting mad. You get frustrated when they're like, oh, no, no. I said, can we open in prayer? No, we just can't pray to Jesus. I'm like, what? That was minute one. And I got two hours of this guy? And so I, and I'm like, God just showed, I'm like, oh, mm-hmm, avoiding the light. So see, God can, but see, I don't live off that. I live off the word. I live off what God is speaking through his word, but he's gonna use sometimes, that's why the gifts of the Holy Spirit are so important. They don't replace the word of God. They supplement the word of God. Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14, he's given some the gift of wisdom, the word of wisdom. And that is to, God spontaneously brings something to my mind for you, or you, or vice versa. I think I recorded it. It's funny, an answering machine, I don't even know if he's here today. I invited him, I've never met the guy. He called the church office yesterday, I think, and he said, I can't tell you how much that sermon helped me. Pastor Shane spoke exactly to my situation. He even mentioned the company I work with. Like, when did I do that? And he said he works for the Southern California Gas Company. Something, and the only time I mentioned that is when I mentioned I was, when I was operating heavy equipment and I had to avoid digging around a four-inch or six-inch high-pressure gas main. And how that, and like, that's the only, but how did God prophetically speak to that? So if I can do a preaching, why can't you do it to someone else? What that would look like is you'd say, hey, I don't know your name, but for the last week, this has been on my heart. My name's Chris, or whatever, and I don't know, do what you, but I just can't, I can't let this go. I believe God wants, I just sense it. God wants you to just break away from everything you have here. And whatever he's doing in your heart, just break away from those things, and if it's moving or whatever it is, and it speaks, and you're like, wow, that's exactly what I'm going through. See, that's a prophetic word. God spontaneously brings something to their mind to give to someone else that lines up with Scripture. See, you need a little help sometimes, right? I don't know about you, but I need a little help. I mentioned it a few weeks ago, and some of you laughed at me, but it's true. I need a little help on my bike, so I got an e-bike. I'm never going back. I tell you, I ride with Tim Acker, so he goes 75 miles, and when I go over 15, I'm done. But I turn that battery on, okay, Tim, I'll keep up with you now, let's go, let's go. I got the power, I need a little help. So sometimes you need a little help. Come on, Holy Spirit, give me some confirmation. I know this is you, I trust God, but I don't trust myself. Holy Spirit, show me, guide me, lead me. I'm broken, I'm open on this altar. God, I'll be teachable and use you, but I need to know what you're doing. And God will show you. We have to be open to those things. I mean, I could really just go into a lot here. Maybe I will, I don't know what I'm gonna do, because there's a lot to this. But when we are struggling with selling our house, no joke, should I tell them, yeah, okay. Well, we probably have different views of this, like with everything else. But, because she sees it a different way. You have to, it's an inside joke. But I had a dream of Coldwell Banker having an open house in my house. But me, with a real estate background, you know, I'm thinking, I'm not using agency, I'm gonna do for sale by owner, FSBO. I'm gonna make the commission. Right, because I know what's going on here. And it was a mess, trying to deal with all the people, you know, driving up, I'll offer you this. I'm like, you're, don't, they try to just get you down. It's just like, this is impossible. All right, so, who did I call? Coldwell Banker. What happened? Opened the house. Actually, we didn't even have an open house. They had one day, the house was open for one day, put a sign out front, got the offer the first day, the first person. But the house was open, all these people, here's a sign out front, I'm like, hmm. But see, it helped us make those, so see, it doesn't, I'm not gonna, oh, I had this dream, let's sell our house. No, no, no, God's already working. We're already praying and fasting, asking for directions. But Lord, I need, I think when you pray, Lord, I need a little help here. I need to know what your will is. I'm struggling, I trust you, I don't trust me. You don't think he's gonna go, how dare you? How dare you ask me? I think God's gonna give us some mercy and grace and show us, show us what his will is. Raising kids, who needs a little extra help from the Holy Spirit, right? I need to know, what does God's word say? What does God convict me? And there's other things, I mean, I could go on to so many different things, dreams and visions. I had this idea, this vision, I don't know if I was sleeping, but just, I got my kids off of gaming. You know, the gaming Fortnite and all that stuff, and it's just the night and day difference in their attitudes. But that's not in John four, verse three. Now, principles are there, I got, but sometimes you need that little help. So be encouraged, hopefully I'll do a podcast, I don't know, maybe part four to talk about these areas. Remember the MVP for the Rams said that God gave him a vision or a dream that he would be an MVP many years ago? Did you know that? Viewers say, wow, they're mocking him. I saw sometimes on Facebook, I'm saying, are you sure God can't give him that vision or dream? Because when he finally arrives, now he's giving God all the glory? Are you sure? Are you sure God couldn't give him that vision or dream? Because I'm not on the same page with you. I believe he will prepare people for certain things. Especially if their hearts are on fire. See, so that's the purpose of dreams and visions. What has happened is people get weird. We're like, oh, I don't want anything to do with those guys on YouTube. I don't either. But just because you haven't experienced something from God, make sure you don't mock others who have. God moves. Can he speak audibly? Sure, has he? Not to my knowledge, he hasn't to me, but he's given me some deep impressions that were like, who was that? Many times. Morgan talked about it in her testimony. Is it okay to say it? Too late now? But when we first met, I had my own struggles, trust me. But one of hers, the enemy had her bound in jealousy. And it was so much so that we just broke it off a couple times. I'm not dealing with this, holy smokes. And so I'm up on the aqueduct, up on 70th Street West, up on the hill. I'm just going up and down that hill. It was just like, Lord, what am I supposed to do with this? He says, I want you to work, I want you to help her through this, pray her through it. And I was like, you know when you hit that, there's something just like, boom, that's God's spirit. And what happened is I did that, and then God broke free in that area. Same with buying the radio station. This is ridiculous. And God said, boom, why don't you buy it? So it's not these things, we're going around listening for voices, listening for dreams and visions, but sometimes you need a little help. I need God, I need to know, are you speaking to me? And I remember one time, I was on my chair, I'm praying, it's early morning, my son is sick, sick all the time. What is going on, me and my wife, or a demonic attack, what's going on? And I just had, instantly, go turn the humidifier off. Very strong. And I started to research it, and you can, with the moisture and the air, and as soon as I did that, next day, he's fine. Also, strep throat. A couple kids had strep throat, the stroke's all red, they just got it. The doctor subscribes amoxicillin, but I, with my health background, I know that antibiotics aren't, antibiotic means destroying life, so you actually kill a lot of good bacteria. Long story short, I just had this deep impression to just go and hold them and pray over them, and we used collodial silver and spray, and just praying over them, just had this peace, and just woke up in the morning, and it's all gone. But see, I wanted to run to the physician. Now, sometimes you need to, don't email me, say, you're against my medical, you're against medical whatever. I'm not, I'm just saying, being sensitive to what God wants to do, and allowing open, but not gullible. Does it line up with God's word? Because man, Shane, I had this dream that I'm married to someone else, I think I made a mistake. I've heard that, but this other woman, look at, I mean, she's involved in ministry, everything I've desired, and I had this dream about, and I think I missed it 10 years ago. I know we've got a kid, but could this be God? It could be the devil. It could be, be very careful, there's a famous pastor, I'm not gonna mention his name, but he's just on the news right now and stuff, and he said that demons spoke to him about witches in his church. I'm like, oh, why can't God speak that to you? That just doesn't sound right. Demons are not gonna speak to you truth. God's gonna reveal truth to you. But see, how do I know the truth? Are you grounded in his word? See, that's the anchor, and that's why I said it's not that difficult. It's very easy to know what God's will is if you're in the word. Something happens at home, oh, be quick to listen, slow to speak. Something happens in the workplace, a good reputation is to be chosen over good riches. Why stewardship and finances? Don't put all your eggs in one basket. I mean, God's word is clear on these issues, so with that said, I'm gonna have that, well, right, you know what? Let me just make this point real quick, because this is so important. The fifth key, boy, you guys make me go, wow. This is, I'm hoping this is for somebody, but the only way to get clarity sometimes is through repentance. Clarity through repentance. But your iniquities have separated you and God, and your sins have hid his face from you so that he cannot hear you. Well, Shane, that's Old Testament Israel, right, but the principle still applies. If there's besetting sin, unconfessed sin, for example, we love our porn, we love our this, we have besetting sin, we've got issue, we're not repenting, God is gonna hide his face from you so you feel like I'm distant from God, my prayers aren't getting answered, I don't know what God's will is. You've gotta deal with that besetting sin and bring your problems to the altar and repent and let God cleanse your heart. And the Bible hub, it just talked about in order to awaken us to that sense of our sin, God may pass a cloud across between us and him, hiding from us his smiling face and leaving us in the dark and in the chill. Now we see how in our heedlessness and our willfulness, we may put clouds, even little clouds, into our own sky and hide his face. And what happens is repentance is like an eastward wind that blows those clouds away and you can see clearly the face of God. My flesh is already telling me that wasn't too bad, you can go eat something now. No, no, I committed to three services. Woo, that flesh. I don't like, what's one reason I'm looking forward to dying? I'm just telling, I'm looking forward to dying. Bye-bye, old man. Bye-bye, old nature. Bye-bye, old Shane Idleman. Remember, I see Steve here, my friend from 1990s. Boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. We'll leave that there. We used to drive home from Bakersfield, it's four in the morning. Coming home from Bakersfield, the party life and all that, and just good to see you here, man. This is such a privilege, and he remembers, and I remember the old Steve, it was just that old nature. But it calls you back sometimes, doesn't it? Hey, Shane, remember the good old days? Remember, I still remember Steve's jet skis in Laughlin, in the river. See, where it goes. 25 years ago, where's this coming from? The old man doesn't die. You're dead to sin, you don't have to listen to him anymore, but he still knocks on that door. Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. Remember the good old days? Ah, he'll show you the highlight, but not the hangover. He shows you the party, but not the vomit. Do not listen to the old man. That voice is sent to kill and steal and destroy that relationship from God, and to pull you back into the miry clay, to pull you back eating with pigs. Have you ever been the prodigal son? You came out of that, you're no longer eating with the pigs, and you experience the fullness of God, and now you're going back to the pigs? It's a miserable state. It's a miserable state. I've fallen back that time many times before. You're miserable. So I know it's a little embarrassing for some people and out of the norm. Most churches don't do this, but the altar's gonna be open. The altar's gonna be open this morning. It's humbling even for me, but I admit to you as the pastor, I need to find myself on this altar quite often. I need to humble myself because pride can come in. Remember that old man? Always wants to be right. Pride comes in, you have to break it, you have to crush it at the altar and at the foot of the cross.