Shane Idleman emphasizes the necessity of asking hard questions in our spiritual lives, drawing from Psalms 28, 29, and 30. He highlights the importance of meditating on God's Word and the need for a deep, anguished prayer life that seeks genuine transformation rather than mere routine. Idleman calls for a revival of spiritual fervor, urging believers to intercede for their communities and to worship God with sincerity and holiness. He stresses that true worship comes from a heart that is right with God, and that we must recognize God's sovereignty in our lives, especially in challenging times. Ultimately, he encourages the congregation to embrace a life of prayer, repentance, and praise, trusting in God's faithfulness.

I'm going to talk to you tonight from three different chapters, Psalm 28, 29, and 30, because they really flow together. And we're going to ask some hard questions. And I didn't put the chapter and verses, because when the Bible was written, it was just read like a book. You weren't really designed. I love the chapter and verses, but the downside is we can compartmentalize, and we just take a couple verses here without reading the whole love letter. And so I want to just look at the whole body of 28, 29, and 30. And many of you know a big part of meditating, meditating on God's Word. The Bible talks a lot about meditating, and what meditation is, is to take it in and to ponder it and to absorb it and to let it permeate your life and your spirit, and to just meditate on God's Word as it transforms you. It's not just to read it, because how many of you know you can read something and not quite get it? And I have to repent often, because sometimes I'm just reading as my daily reading. Okay, I got through my daily reading, 30, 40 minutes, and check mark, but what did I read? Because we fail to meditate on it. That's why meditating is so important. And part of meditating, believe it or not, is contemplating. So when we read it, we don't just meditate upon it, we actually contemplate. He's excited, I think. That's okay. I've got five myself, so I've been there many times before. Tons of grace, don't worry about it on our end. But contemplating, contemplating what the Scripture says. In order to contemplate, you also have to ask some hard questions. Psalm 28 begins with an incredible line, really, I think, to you. To you, God, I will cry out. I will cry to you, O Lord, my rock. And that's why I wanted to play that clip before the service, because I don't know how many have heard of David Wilkerson, but it's actually a whole sermon. You should listen to it. I believe it's called A Call to Anguish. And it is, I've listened dozens of times, because there's so much truth in that phrase, a call to anguish. And unless we can get burdened by what God wants to do, we're not going to see a lot of change. Lots of people are busy, but we're not burdened. There has to be a call to anguish, a call to desperation. I'm going to a pastor's conference in Southern California here with my wife in San Diego. Charlie Kirk is putting it on with Turning Point USA, so we'll be meeting him. And Kaylee, President Trump's secretary, or what was she, press secretary, I don't remember her last name. Yeah, there you go. Talk about the hardest job in the world. Man. But anyway, and so I love these events. And I want to be careful here. I've been at the NRB, the National Religious Broadcasters, and a lot of events. And they're good events, but often a good thing, we miss the God thing. Because instead of worship mornings or prayer nights, there's a lot of food. Some people choose to have some drinks later. It's just a get-together. But business as usual is not going to cut it in these dire times. We've got to press in like never before. We've got to prayed up. We've got to be fasted. We've got to be that burden of anguish. And God says, I hear that cry. I feel their burden, their anguish. They truly are praying for this nation. They're truly praying for this state. They're truly concerned about what's going on. And now that baptism of anguish, that's often how God begins a ministry. It doesn't begin off of mediocrity or just complacency. We have to go deeper. And if you read past Christian history, there's something called the deeper life that many people haven't experienced. Many Christians have not experienced that deeper, profound work of the Holy Spirit, where they are literally in anguish over the condition of our nation, in anguish over the sex ed that is being pushed and the LGBTQ agenda that's being perverted and pushed on our children. And there's an anguish. And from that, you want to make a difference. And where do you take this anguish? Well, like the psalmist did, to you, God, I will cry. Lord, you are my rock. And when he wrote this, I don't know if we can think of something stronger now, of course, maybe steel and things. But when they would see a huge rock, nothing was stronger. Nothing had a greater foundation. And so we use these words or they use these words for God that would show strength. Do not be silent to me. In other words, God, don't be silent. If you are silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit. I will be in despair. Hear the voice of my supplication when I cry out to you, when I lift up my hands towards your holy sanctuary. Hey, he's giving you permission to lift up holy hands during worship. Isn't that interesting? I will lift up my hands. And there's nothing special about these things, but what our body language does, it reflects our heart often. You should have seen the people at the Dodger game when I went to that. Talk about raising hands and getting excited because it's a form of expression. It's wow. It's you are awesome. You are holy. You are great. My rock, my salvation. And I put one of the questions up there. Are you embarrassed to worship? Men mainly. I don't know why this is so profound, but I was just during worship. I don't know why God just took me back, or maybe I took myself back to in my twenties. I was going to church in Lancaster, and I remember the pastor up in the front row, and I'd say, what a wimpy guy. That is so silly. Wimpy, weak. Look at that. And look at how the table is turned. But really, I was dying inside. I was not strong spiritually and internally, and definitely embarrassed to worship. You know, I'm not worshiping, but you get a few beers and me and some country music. Wrong spirit. Are you crying out to God? What it is, it's a passionate plea. Are you spending time throughout the week? Are you crying out to God? And if not, why? Usually we don't have a real strong desire for God or the things of God because we're not feeding on the things of God. We're feeding on the things of the world, and therefore our appetite for God has diminished. And this isn't the type of boo-hoo, cry, sit in a corner. I mean, this is a, Lord, you've got to do something. You've got, I mean, I could shock you if I would read the legislation that they're trying to pass in Sacramento. It's just mind-boggling what they're trying to teach the kids, this woke agenda, this perversion. Russell sent me one of the clips too, the news story I just saw. It's been in the news, and I didn't want to, I don't want to make it about that, but there should be a crying out, Lord, enough is enough. I don't care about me, but I've got children and grandchildren, so do you. What are we leaving the next generation? God, they're calling good evil and evil good, and by the grace of God, I want to make a difference. I don't care what happens to me the rest of my life, but I want to expose the unfruitful works of darkness. Lord, would you give this pathetic voice, a bold voice to make a difference, to stand up straight. God, we need you. We are crying out for you. Will you bring revival to our churches? Oh, where is the God of Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? And there's a cry, there's a crying out to God. I'm done with church as normal. I'm done with normal church, I should say, or Christianity, where we just come and we tickle the ears and we say hello, but the power of God is not resting upon that church. Where is the power of God? The New Testament church will come in and go, okay, well, when does church start? Where's the healings and people being delivered and God being lifted up in the atmosphere so thick with the power and presence of God? And so now when we want to get desperate and content for the deeper life, people call us weird and extreme. No, actually you're weird and extreme when you don't have historical biblical Christianity. It's not meant to be dead and lifeless. And so that's my cry, just so you know, for ever since we started the church, God, revive this state, revive this nation, revive this church. Give us a hunger for you. Give us a united front. Give us just such a, we don't even care what time it is. Worship is, we're pulling down heaven and then we leave here able to impact our culture. God is making a difference in our lives. I was honored. I received an email from our Senator who represents us in Washington. He watched Sunday's message and he was so encouraged. And then I'm encouraged by him and see what God does. And God, you know, he says, you guys are making a difference. Keep doing what you're doing. California needs this. And so there's in the midst of, of, of just in the midst of depression and, and you look at where everything is going, there's very, there, there are highlights where God is being, is highlighting things that are going well. And we don't want to just focus on the negative. Please don't misunderstand. But there's a time and a place to have anguish and to cry out. There's a season for everything. And then he goes on to say, do not take me away with the wicked and what the workers of iniquity who speak peace to their neighbors, but evil is in their hearts. You ever meet these two faced? Oh, don't get me started. And you can tell that flowery language, you know, just the wolf in sheep's clothing, but evil is in their hearts. So give them according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of their endeavors, give them according to the work of their hands, render to them what they deserve. It's pretty interesting. I, I, I, I, this is one of the parallels where you'll hear, you know, the God of the old Testament, the God of the new Testament. We know it's the same God. It's just, you know, old Testament written over 1500 years or so many different authors, 40, 1400 years, maybe. And then the new Testament, just a shorter, brief period of time. And it's the same God, but definitely there's a shift. Now I'm supposed to pray for my enemies or in the old Testament was go get them God. Now it's like, Lord, save them. And that's why often, cause you'll see it's not the different God. It's not different testaments. It's not a different, God didn't change, but now we have this, this, the Holy Spirit within us erring on the side of grace and love and mercy and praying for enemies and, and, and those who despitefully use you and giving them more than they request. But do you think that you may be taken away with the wicked? Are you willing to change that today? And I know many of you here already know, and obviously this wouldn't apply, but there are those who listen from all over. I can't believe some of the places that people are watching this, this message and share it with friends and family. And so I want to ask that question. Do you think that you may be taken away with the wicked? Are you willing to change that today? And of course, it's a very simple transition. It's actually a transaction. The debt that is on you, you give it to the, to Jesus. It's a transfer of debt. It's a reckoning. It's accounting. It's a reckoning, reckoning. Jesus reckoned, He took upon Him the debt we owed. And all you have to do is repent and believe. Because they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them and not build them. Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplication. The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped. Therefore, my heart greatly rejoices, and my song, I will praise Him. Now we don't know exactly the time period. You know, he could have wrote this all at once. But I began to think this week, how did he know? Doesn't look like God heard his supplication. How did, nothing really changed, but see, his heart changed. And that's what happens in prayer. You go from, woe is me, Lord, what are you doing? To now you encourage yourself. You strengthen yourself in the Lord. And now your prayer changes from, I don't understand anything, to now God, you're going to answer. And I think it's okay to praise Him. Praise Him before the fruit comes. Praise Him knowing, God, you are going to deliver. Knowing you are going to revive your church. And we praise Him in advance. That's actually an aspect of faith. I believe that you are who you said you are. Does he hear your supplication? Are you humbly asking and pleading for godliness? He said here, he heard my prayer. He heard the voice of my supplication. And that's one good thing about God is He will hear your prayer. He will hear your cry. It might not be yes. It could be no. Or I think what he likes to do with me the most is, maybe, not yet, we'll see. Keep trusting. But I go into prayer sometimes frustrated. And the more worship I put on, the more time I spend praising. You know, 20 minutes later or half hour, you're like, Lord, thank you. God, thank you. I know you've heard my prayer. I know my heart's right before you. I know you're going to do something, even though I might not see it. And now you understand that your heart has been changed. Because we truly believe that prayer is communicating with God. I think most of us do, correct? The most important, powerful weapon we have, that's communicating with God and praying and bearing our heart and confessing and repenting and even talking about things that are bugging us, maybe, or things we don't understand. And as that relationship dynamic is taking place, you begin to change from it. You can't pray and not change. That's why prayer is one of the hardest disciplines you will ever strive to develop. Just me or anyone else relate? The prayer, you get up to pray and, I got this to do. I got that to do. I got to tell Levi this about the sound and Levi this about the media. We got to get this. I remember this. Pastor Abraham's up early. He's texting me at five in the morning and I can't get anything done. And it's just, I'm trying to pray. I'm trying to pray and look at my phone's going off. I think it's the other way around, right? Yeah, okay. But there's so much to do. I mean, how many times you set up, okay, Lord, I'm going to pray and then something happens. You can't. Your schedule is, there's a conflict with your schedule or you sit down to pray with your kids and it's great for a minute. And then there's like little demons that come in and go into their minds and they don't want to pray. That's the greatest weapon. The Lord is their strength. So it's interesting. He said here, the Lord is my strength. And now he's interceding for others. The Lord is their strength as well. In other words, I could pray for myself and say, the Lord is your strength as well. Let me encourage you. It's not just Shane time. It's not about my prayer life. It's your prayer life as a corporate body. You will be strengthened as well. God is your saving refuge. He is for his anointed, like a covering. Save your people and bless your inheritance. Shepherd them also and bear them up forever. He's interceding. And so I threw the question out there since we're asking tough questions. Do you have the heart of an intercessor? And I've thought about just giving so, and you can look, you can just do a word study. You know, scripture is about intercession in the Bible. And I mean, from Moses to Elijah to David, to Nehemiah, to Ezekiel. I mean, it's just like, it's throughout scripture. It was, it really took, took my breath away as far as look at how many people. So if Moses didn't intercede and raise his hands, the army would have been defeated. If, if that, if that didn't, if Esther, if, could it be that we're missing the power of intercession? But when we get in the prayer closet, it's all about me, myself. And I, I want my desires. This inflation is killing me. These gas prices. This is life is not going like I thought anybody under the delusion like I was at well, you know, two years ago when COVID is over in a few months, I mean, I'll be back to normal. That, that is, that was thrown out the window a long time ago. And so we can get delusions sometime. And, but God wants us to intercede for our state, intercede for our school districts and, and things and, and, and begin to ask God to intervene. And I believe he answers those prayers just as much as personal prayers, because that's a selfless prayer where we're going behalf, before God, and we're interceding on behalf of the land or, or our family. He told Ezekiel, I sought for a man from among them, from among the people who would build the wall, not a physical wall, a spiritual wall between me and the people who would, who would stand in the gap as it were. And God wants to judge the people. He's standing in the gap saying like Moses, Lord, don't judge these people. I'm, I'm, I'm interceding. I'm pleading. And God says for that one person, I would, would, would stay my hand of judgment. I will withdraw for a time if my people humble themselves and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. But also if an intercessor humbles himself, if you're praying for family members, the greatest thing a parent can ever do for their children is begin interceding, interceding, praying, praying for their spouse they've never, they haven't met yet. That's a toughie, is it? My wife said, we have four daughters. You're gonna have to start praying for your husbands. No, no, no, no. I'm not going. No, no, no. I, that's not even in my, that's not even my radar right now. But interceding and praying, come on, let's just be honest. And, and, and interceding, how do we intercede for our state? How do we know? I mean, I often wonder, it's safe to assume we, we, we're beyond the levels of Sodom and Gomorrah. I can, I'm, I'm pretty sure of that. What is keeping God from just not spanking us big time? Like that big earthquake everybody's talking about where California is going to go into the ocean. I'm not sure about that, of course. But how do you know we're not interceding and keeping that at bay to, to some degree? How do you, I believe we are. I believe God's remnant, his people are keeping that judgment, full judgment at bay. He hears the cries of his people. There's a grace that comes over. There, there's a, there's a revival that comes over. I'm so encouraged by the churches, even throughout the United States, you know, there are many good churches. Don't, don't believe that there aren't, even in California. And God is raising up these remnant voices that will go out and preach hard truths and love people and contend for revival and preach repentance, the old paths and preach holiness with fire in their eyes, but love in their hearts and seeing people miraculously changed by God. And God has these fires all over there. It's not beyond God to, to bring revival in the midst of darkness and depravity. As a matter of fact, that's often when it happens as his people intercede. And you've heard me talk about it a lot, but with the reason I have such a heart for revival, some people don't like that word. They said, you know, kind of makes them think of weird things. Okay. How about a spiritual awakening? How about, how about being revived spiritually? Let's get away from the term, but something's got to happen to where they're there. God just pours out a spirit on a large group of people. And that happened time and time again. Scotland actually has the most revivals and recorded history. I got a big thick book and it's hundreds of them in there. Amazing. And just about every single one I read about, they started with intercession, two or three people, four people of prayer meeting, contending for a year, new Hebrews revival. I remember two, two ladies, one was blind. One was crippled and they're praying and they're praying and they're praying. God showed them that Duncan Campbell would, would be coming over to, to start this revival. And then you look at the different Evan Roberts in 1904, 1905 Welsh revival, or in Scotland, the Calvinistic fathers, Methodist of Wales. That's a big term, but it was, they were Calvinist and Methodist, I guess. But anyway, these guys would go out, Daniel Rollins, Griffin Jones, Hal Harris. And they would begin with intercession. They would start prayer meetings and begin interceding for an area before the revival hit. I mean, you'll be hard pressed to find one where you just see some church people showing up, a pastor unloads the weapon of God's word, and then revival breaks out without any prayer meetings, without any laboring. And then Psalm 29, give unto the Lord, you mighty ones, give unto the Lord, glory and strength given to the Lord, the glory do his name, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. In this phrase, if you take the Hebrew phraseology of this sentence, it's a beautiful worship ceremony. The person is dressed to worship. And he's not talking about wearing a suit and tie, but there's a, there's a come and worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. In other words, you, you came to worship. There's a sweet smelling aroma about your lifestyle, about your worship. And I don't know about you, but I could have kept going on with the goodness of God for about a half hour, singing that song over and over again, hit repeat, hit repeat, hit repeat. And then the negative Nelly's and judgmental Jerry's will say that's brainwashing. And as I often say, well, wash me then thoroughly with the blood of the lamb, because I need more of the goodness of God, the goodness of God given to the Lord, the glory do his name. Lord, we give you that glory tonight. We want to worship you in the beauty of holiness. There's something, there's something beautiful about holiness. Not that you're perfect, but that you come out from among them and you're, you are separate. I can't watch those things. I can't, I can't go there. I can't hang around with that group. I can't act like Sodom when I want to come out of it. I, there's a difference and I, I want to live that holy life. And as I'm making choices that honor God, I come to a worship service. And there's something beautiful that takes place because I'm not living in besetting sin. I've cleaned my heart and I've cleansed my soul and I lay it bare before God. And there's something sweet about the beauty of holiness. It's beautiful. Have you ever seen a teenager in the innocence of life and, and they're following God and they're innocent. There's something beautiful about that holiness. Come and worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. And that's a command. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. It's an active tense verb in the language, come and worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. I know many people listening or even here, you might say, Shane, I've been dirty all week, even today, but you can change that. Nobody's here, nobody, nobody's here that's perfect. We want people to know you come as you are. Billy Graham would often end his, his, his, his, yeah, messages with that song. Come as you are. And you're, everyone is welcome here. We welcome everyone. We don't affirm. You catch the difference? We don't affirm sinful lifestyle, but we welcome everyone. Everyone is welcome. Do you give God your all? Does your life reflect holy beauty? Do you desire the loveliness of spiritual worship? And guys, I know many people fall short. I don't want you to leave you, leave here discouraged, but you get back up and you fight again. You're saying, Lord, I know you don't want me to watch those things. I know I don't need to listen to that. I don't need to let my mind go there. I don't need to hang around with this negative, gossiping, slandering, backbiting group. I don't need, and you, and you begin to repent and get back on track with God and that, how that holiness comes a beautiful, beautiful sense of worship. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but sometimes we've got to, the choir needs a little preaching too. Haven't you felt, do you feel a difference when you come into worship and your heart is right? I don't know about you, but that, but, but, but when you've been living for God, yes, you've made mistakes, you've, but you've repented. You've cleaned that area up and you're doing good. Maybe you fall, you get back up and you're walking with the Lord and you're repenting and you're, and worship just, just comes alive because it ministers to your heart. But when you're living in sin, like the prodigal son, you think the prodigal son enjoyed worship? Feeding the pigs? No, he's miserable. But again, you can change that today. You repent. Say, Lord, that's not who you want me to be. I stumbled, I fell. I can't continue in this. I want you, Lord, I want you to change my heart, change my life, get this out of me. I want that holy desire. I want, I want what Shane talked about. I want that, I want to love worship. I want to have a passion for you. God, would you, would you create in me a clean heart? Renew within me a right spirit. That's David's prayer after he committed adultery and killed the husband. Now you might be in a pretty bad spot, but I don't think you're up to that part. If so, you probably would be in jail and not here. You just, do you desire the loveliness of spiritual worship? And maybe you're not hungry for worship and you're hungry for God because you're consuming the wrong things. The voice of the Lord is over the waters. This, this, the voice of God is always something, I don't know, maybe some, you know, you know, when you read the Bible, certain things just really resonate with you. Like when I first read, I remember, I think I just put the Bible down and just took it in when the, when the pillar shook and Isaiah had that vision of God. I read it some 22 years ago. I'm like, why have I been reading the Bible since I was 12? What's wrong with me? And the pillar shook. Holy, holy, holy is our God. And the voice of God is like thunder that cracks, that cracks the cedars in Lebanon. I mean, it's just this, how do you explain God? The voice that can just crack Mount Everest. That's power in his name. The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. The voice of the Lord defy, divides the flames of fire. What can stop God's voice? The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bear. And in his temple, everyone says glory, powerful power, the voice of the Lord. And you know what this reminded me of is what is an aspect of God's voice today is me and you proclaiming his truth. So you could, you could theoretically say when we preach God's word or we, or we, we let the truth go out. It is like thunder that roll rolls through the Valley. It's powerful. It's majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedar. The voice of the Lord can break Washington. The voice of the Lord can break the liberal media. The voice of the Lord can break TikTok and Facebook and Instagram. It goes out there. It's thunderous because the word of God is powerful and to make no mistake about it, that voice of God can be carried through us as we proclaim his truth. The word of God is sharper than any double-edged sword. It divides, it cuts, it discerns the thoughts and the intents of the heart. It's powerful. So have you truly heard God's life-changing pride-shattering soul-piercing voice? Do you enter the house of God with fear and reverence? Do you enter the house of God with fear and reverence? You know, it's one thing I hope never happens here. And sometimes I can see that, you know, we have to be careful. But maybe it was just when I was younger. You know, it was definitely a different culture back then. You know, in the public schools, you said the Pledge of Allegiance, you prayed. And I mean, the fear of God was on this place in America. And there was, you know, of course, there was evil going on, but there was just a reverence and a respect for God. And when you would walk, I remember I'd walk into just a church as a kid, you know, my mom or others, the ushers say, boy, take that hat off. This is God's house. Don't talk. Be quiet. Have a respect. How you conduct yourself, and you wouldn't bring your your girlfriend in that you're living in sin with. And because there's just there's just a holy respect for for God's house. And that's how the temple was in the Old Testament. That priest could not go into the Holy Holies without getting his heart right once a year. He would just walk in trembling. Am I holy enough? Am I right enough? And there was a there was a reverence. You'll never be holy enough. You'll never be right enough. Thank God for Jesus. But there should be a reverence and a respect for God's house and how we conduct things, how we do things. And that's why you probably don't see it. But we try really hard here to make sure we're honoring what God would want us to honor that we're trying to steward a very challenging environment, because you don't want to quench and grieve the Spirit. But also, you don't want to let certain things just go haywire. And you don't. Well, if it's odd, it's God. No, we have a biblical mandate to steward what God is doing. If you're not sure what that looks like, just come to one one of the wren the heavens. God just it just people are just broken for some reason at those. The Lord said enthroned at the flood. Isn't that interesting? They mentioned the flood. The Lord said enthroned he was he was still in charge still in command. And the Lord's the Lord sits as king forever. The Lord will give strength to his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace. And so do you recognize God's sovereignty and trust in it? Don't leave here tonight without reminding yourself of God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty is my sanity. I gave a sermon by that title a while ago. And I've had to rest in that so many times. Because we look at what's going on in the news, and you're not going to you're going to go insane without God's sovereignty as your as your anchor, knowing that all hell is breaking loose, but God's sovereignty will prevail. And then Psalm 30. I will extol you it's a pressing in it's a looking to God to answer and I will I will look to you Oh, Lord for you have lifted me up. You have lifted me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. Thank God for that God will lift you up if you look to him, your enemy will not be able they might be laughing at you now. But there will become a time when they will not laugh because every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Lord. And Oh, Lord God, I cried out to you and you healed me. This could be physically could be spiritually emotionally. Oh, Lord, you brought my soul up from the grave. Have you ever felt like you're going down to the grave? Have you ever struggled with that depression or that anxiety or that pressure that begins to push you down? And you feel like you're going to that grad camp take much more of this. I know there's a couple in here that can relate. I know not all of you can, because you haven't been there yet. But some of us can say if it wasn't for the Lord on my side, I would have been buried in that grave. But God pulled me up out of that and he put me back on the right ground. Oh, God, I don't let me go down to the grave. He's not talking about hell and with the demonic ground, but there's a grave, the pit, Sheol, and Gehenna, and all these terms they have for for different things in a holding spot. And Lord, I feel so beaten down. I feel so abused. I feel like I can't keep doing this and everyone's against me. But Lord, lift me back up. That that just preaches itself right there. I cried out to you and you healed me. Lord, you brought my soul up from the grave. You have kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit. That's why I often say if you're barely holding on, make sure it's to the of his garment. Make sure. Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of his. Sing praise to the Lord, even when you don't feel like it. Amen. Even when you don't feel like it. I've learned the better praise and worship where my heart really changes is when I force my flesh to shut up and I praise God despite my feelings. Lord, I didn't come here feeling that great, but but I'm going to I'm going to submit. I'm going to command. I'm going to do what your word commands. And I'm going to praise you. I'm going to sing praises to you. And you're not faking it. What you're doing is you're bringing your flesh into submission. And after a few minutes, something will break. And then that praise you begin to feel. And you said there's those feelings. There's that love of God because I broke through and experienced the power of God for his anger is but for a moment. Here's a famous verse many of us have heard. His anger is but for a moment. His favor is for life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. And that's what we encourage people. Keep moving forward. Keep pressing it because yes, yes, yes, yes, it is difficult. Weeping may endure for the night in the night season, but joy cometh in the morning. God will honor his word. But we have to ask the hard question. Do you thank God or complain regularly? Any complainers in the room tonight? Or just me? Oh, there's four. That's great. Balcony. Any complainers up there? Okay. Oh, the whole balcony. That's good. We have to tell the truth down here a little bit more. Many of us struggle with that. Complaining. Because that's the fleshly nature. It wants to complain. The AC is not cool enough. You know, they never had AC back then, right? They just opened the windows and hoped for the best. I better not stay there too long. I can really convict us. Now, in my prosperity. In other words, when he's wealthy. Now, in my prosperity, I said, I shall never be moved. He's trusting in his wealth. Lord, by your favor, you have made my mountain stand strong. You hid your face and I was troubled. Of course, there is another translation of this. You could say, now in my prosperity, meaning prospering with God, prospering spiritually. I like that as well. I shall never be moved. You have made my mountain stand strong. You hid your face and I was troubled. So, if we take it, the context as his prosperity is making him prideful. God will hide his face. And you will be in trouble. You'll feel like you're in trouble. Anybody ever been there? God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. And he's saying here, maybe saying, I'm trusting in my wealth. I'm trusting in my prosperity. I will never be moved. And you know that that comes in to a lot of us, especially in America, where people can make a lot of money. And man, because when you're doing good financially, I don't know if you've ever been there, you think you can never be moved. Look at my bank account. Look what's coming in. I am set. And then God brings a crash in a housing market or stock or loss of a job. He hides his face and I was in trouble. Do you boast in your prosperity? Are you counting on it? Are you prepared if God strips it away? And I'm in on this issue. I feel so much, you know, a lot of things I would like to talk to the church about in the future, but we have to be prepared for an uncertain future. We really don't know what the future holds. We know who holds the future, praise God. But I've over the years, I've talked to so many people who lost a lot what they were counting on. Like this is my nest egg. This is my retirement. This is my, I mean, I had some good friends in construction that had to go back to work in 2008, I think it was. And they're so depressed and so, and I got it. That would not be fun. But what are we trusting in? Are we prepared? Are we prepared that things might not work out the way we think they're going to work out? Because what happens if we're putting our faith and trust in that, when that falls apart, we fall apart. But if you're trusting in God, you say, oh, that stinks. Well, okay, Lord, you're going to see me through some other way. Because your confidence is in Him. And I've talked to a lot of men, especially when I'm speaking at men's events. One of the biggest thing, I would say up there with divorce probably, that draws men back to God is being hit with a financial hammer, or I should say a loss of finances. They thought they were all that in a bag of chips. And they lost everything, or they lost their job. They're going to lose their home. God got them into a financial crunch, then they cried out to Him. And God often will do that to wake us up. He says, I cried out to you, oh Lord, and to the Lord I made supplication. Here's what He prayed. Supplication is, it's like praying. But supplication is a clear call to action on the part of the Lord, what you're asking Him. Here's my request. What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it declare your truth? And so have we spent significant time praying? Have we reflected lately on the brevity of life? The brevity of life, how precious it is. Every time you do a memorial service, you remember how quick life goes, especially if it's a young person. I remember doing one here for a baby that was in Leona Valley. Very difficult. The brevity of life. And Vinny's here, I just saw him. I did his mom's, had the privilege of doing his mom's memorial on Monday. And 86 years old when she gave her heart to the Lord at JetHawk Stadium. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. I'll never forget that. She wheels up in a wheelchair. She's ready. You ready to accept Jesus now? At 86? Let's do it. And then a couple years later, you know, a year and a half later, just the brevity. How quick things go and missing all these key things that God is doing because we're in a hurry. Hear, O Lord. Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me. Anybody need mercy tonight? The definition of grace and mercy. I mean, many of us know it's, you know, with grace, unmerited favor, mercy is you deserve something, but God doesn't give it to you. Anybody can relate to that? Yes. Thank God. Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me. Lord, I deserve to not have all this. I deserve to not benefit from this wonderful life or all these blessings you've given me. And Lord, thank you for having mercy upon me. Lord, you are my helper. You have turned, you have turned for me my mourning into dancing. You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. To the end, my glory may sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever. So are you willing to ask God to help you today? Will you praise and thank him regardless of what the future holds? That's the power of repentance. Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of action. And when we repent and we get our hearts back on the right page, God begins to really move powerfully.