Shane Idleman emphasizes that nothing is too hard for God, using the biblical examples of Abraham and Sarah to illustrate God's power to fulfill His promises, even when circumstances seem impossible. He encourages a corporate fast to seek God's will and highlights the importance of intercession, urging believers to align their prayers with God's timing and purpose. Idleman warns against the dangers of complacency and the need for a genuine relationship with God, stressing that true faith requires seeking, surrendering, and serving. He calls for a revival in the church and a return to fervent prayer, reminding the congregation that God is waiting for them to seek Him earnestly.

Very, very fruitful. You won't die, right? So, today's 18 days for me, mainly just water, and I lost almost 20 pounds, and I gained a lot of spiritual weight. And people say, you shouldn't talk about that. Well, this isn't a private fast. It's a corporate fast, and I believe God has called me to lead. We've got other places that are getting this information out there, call the nation to a corporate fast. Joel said, call the sacred assembly. Sound the alarm, call a fast, corporate fast. How do we know Jesus fasted? Must have talked about it. How do we know Ezra fasted? Well, he notes it in his book. How do we know Nehemiah fasted? Well, guess what? How do we know Esther fasted? Well, see, it's not that you shouldn't tell people, it's the heart behind why you tell people. That's the whole point. Context is king in Matthew 6. It says you shouldn't talk about your fast, right? If you're arrogant and wanting to boast, absolutely. Keep your mouth shut. But if you want to encourage people, motivate people through brokenness and humility and calling a corporate fast, there's nothing wrong with it. And so I just want to throw that out there for the armchair quarterbacks online. Nobody here, you know, social media is ruthless. That's why I went a year and a half without looking at any comments. And I started to again. I said, now I know why I did that. And then people say, but that's prideful to not take, well, I take constructive criticism from those who love me, but not from some people I don't, somebody I don't even know sitting up in Montana. Upset I'm talking about fasting because he loves his big cheeseburger. You gotta look at who's giving you this constructive, and I've noticed that everyone who criticizes me about fasting has never fasted. Hmm, isn't that interesting? The medical profession thought you'd die after 10 days about 80 years ago. Thought you'd die after 10 days of food. And people like Herbert Shelton and others would challenge that. And people went a long time doing these things. And just, anyway, that was a long rabbit trail. Let's get back on track. Is anything too hard for God? Is anything too hard for God? The power of intercession. We're back in Genesis. I'll tell you this, just the title gets me excited. Just the title, is anything too hard for God? Is there? Is there? My kids will ask me, is there ever a rock too heavy? You know, that God could not, or a planet? It's gonna get silly stuff. There's nothing too hard for God, okay? Now, what happens is we don't align ourselves up with His will, so we get frustrated. I know God can do this, why isn't He? Well, that's a whole nother issue. But I wanna talk about this topic. It's been burning in my heart all week, and that's usually a good sign. Hopefully it'll burn in your heart. That's usually how this works. I have the fire right now, and then I wanna just put the pews on fire, and then I just go home. And then we'll do it again Wednesday. And Wednesday, I'm in Psalm, I think, 19. So make sure you're here Wednesday at six o'clock. We're going through the book of Psalms on Wednesday nights. I'll tell you, you like Sunday morning. Wednesday's unplugged, it's just an incredible environment. What happens, you know, I'm gonna convict too many people. So I'll get back to track here. Genesis 17 through 18. Now, to give you a little backstory, Abram, well, it's not yet Abraham, his name is Abram. And he's approaching 100 years old. And his wife Sarai is approaching 90. So, God wants to establish His covenant with Isaac. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Sarai and Abram said, no, no, that's not possible, we're too old, back when we talked a few weeks ago. But is there anything too hard for God? If God says, this is how I wanna do it, you're not gonna negotiate. You're not gonna change His mind. Now, you might intercede, I'm gonna get into that in just a minute. But this covenant was with Isaac, Abram's son. Abram, Isaac, Jacob, the 12 tribes of Israel. And so Abram is trying to fix the problem, or fix what he sees could be a potential problem. I'm like, I can't have a baby, I'm gonna have to have my maidservant have a child. And God said, nope, nope, I'm gonna still bless you, Abram. There's something about going through Abram's lineage that God wanted to do, the seed would come from Abram. And then also, Sarai was 90 years old. Here's what's interesting, though. I don't think, because I'm paraphrasing a lot of it, it'd take quite a long time to go through each. What I'm doing, going through the Bible, it's not verse by verse. It's principle through principle. And a lot of times, verse through verse, but sometimes it's just getting to the heart of what the context is. And so God said, because of this covenant with you, your name is no longer called Abram. Now your name is called Abraham. And again, if we had time, you could take the ham from the Hebrew, meaning many. And so it means a father of many, or many nations. And then Sarai was changed to Sarah, to be the mother of those many. And here's what's interesting. I read, when I read commentaries, because I always like to check what I'm thinking, I look at Jewish scholars, too, believe it or not, rabbis, I mean, they have some good insight on Jewish history. I don't take it as authoritative, or even up there with Bible commentaries, but they have a good understanding of the Old Testament, wanna see what their view is, and then checking with, obviously, other commentaries, but it's throughout Jewish history. And I think, I guess he still does it today. I didn't know that. I'd have to research a little bit more. But when a non-Jew becomes a Jew, sometimes they'll change their name, or they'll add their name, or they'll add to their name. So the point is, when God gives a new name, it often establishes a new identity, or a change of course for the person. Anybody else you can think of whose name was changed in the Bible? Jacob, that trickster? Saul? You'll no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, Israel. Paul, Saul, now you, so God would change names, because what he's doing is he's changing your identity. And it's kind of, it's pretty cool and significant, because I wish I could kind of change my name back in the 20, oh, that chain idol man? No, no, no, no, I'm, hmm, that's a good one, no. Yeah, because you change that identity, and who God has called you to be. Now granted, it's good to keep our name sometimes, I'm not saying that, I'm just saying it's a cool concept, and so it made me think this morning, and this week, do you need to change course? Do you need to change course? You can't change your name, but do you need to change course? It's very, it's a very simple formula. I talked about it all throughout Ren the Heavens. The formula is the three S's. Always remember these three S's when things get tough. Seek, surrender, and serve. Seek God with all of your heart, surrender everything, and begin to serve. You watch what God does with that type of person. I would say, I would tell you, by the grace of God, I'm up here this morning, but by the grace of God, seeking and surrender played a huge role. Seeking God with all of our heart, and that's why some of us love to worship, and some people don't, because they're not seeking God. I'd be bored to death if I wasn't seeking God, too. When is this over? I did my church for the month, praise God. But see, when there's a seeking, there's a yearning, there's a desire, there's wanting more. Many of us are still wishing we had church tomorrow night. Ren the Heavens would keep going, even though it's exhausting, and so, but see, there's a seeking. Now, I don't often feel like it, right? But feelings are the caboose of the train, not the engine. The engine is perseverance, discipline, focus, fortitude, and then the feelings come. And then when they come, oh boy, do they ever. That's when God begins to pour into your heart. He's a rewarder of those who half-heartedly seek Him. He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And if you look up that word, I believe it's, I don't know the exact passage, but that Greek word, it's like a, have you ever heard of dripping? We're getting it fixed in our shower soon. And you can eventually see what starts to wear in the hardest rock, what starts to wear in there. When I was in construction, I would go on leaks that were going on for a long time. And you could see in the concrete, a divot. How did that little water do that? What about if the first drop of water gave up? And see, God says, I am a rewarder of those who seek me like this. Even when I'm hitting hard soil, even when I'm not seeing the results, that's the person I will reward. And we've been brainwashing, we wanna talk about brainwashing. We've been brainwashing our American culture on immediate gratification. Microwave Christianity, fast food, drive-through. And so when it comes to God, I better get these results quickly. It doesn't happen. So if you need to change course, you know you need to change course, seek, surrender, and begin to serve. What does serving do? It's a step of humility. How can I serve you? And we talk about this a lot. Maybe 20% of this church actually serves. 80% bystanders. And it's just that serving heart will really change you from the inside out. And then chapter 18, verse 13 through 14, and the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh? Shall I bear a child since I am old? Oh, Sarah got caught. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Now I'm assuming maybe God is putting something in your spirit right now, for those of you who this applies to. There's something that you've been praying for. There's something that you've been waiting on God. And He will take Scripture and have it come alive in your heart. And there's something on the brink of happening. I knew this was not possible, but nothing is too hard for God. And then God said at the appointed time, I will return to you according to this time of life and Sarah shall have a son. Incredible. If God wants you to have a child, you're gonna have a child. God can work behind the scenes. So basically when the impossible becomes possible, and listen, I'm careful. I don't like those hype up preachers. They just hype it all up and it's just like everyone's gonna receive a blessing. Your impossible is gonna become possible today, all of us. That's not true. But the concept is very true. When the impossible becomes possible. So here's the key to removing doubt and discouragement in this area. It's always according to God's will, His way and in His time. So if you're wanting God to do something, you better make sure these three line up. Is it according to His will? Because you know not everything we ask is according to God's will, amen. Is it just me who's fallen on my face before on this one? One person, two, okay, three. That's not bad. We know, we've all had to struggle with that. And so if you're thinking God is going to do something impossible in your life, I mean, without God intervening, it doesn't make sense. Have you ever been there? If you hear me talk about how we purchased a radio network, this definitely applies. And other areas and people coming to know the Lord who you thought, it's impossible. Things being restored and renewed that you thought would be impossible. Maybe health issues. And the impossible becomes possible when it's according to God's will. So the first thing I have to do is to determine is this prayer lining up with God's will? Is this what God wants to do right now? And that's why the old timers used to say we were pressing in or we camped out or we held on until God answered our prayers. All night prayer meetings or maybe two, three, four hours in praying and they get up and they say, God has heard our prayers. See, that often doesn't happen after five minutes. I can tell you, as God is my witness, sometimes it takes some pressing in and some persevering and you find out is it lined up with His will? Now, are we going to do it His way? Anybody try to do it your way? Well, what comes up a lot in this church and all other churches, let's say you're trying and you're praying for and you're wanting to, and a lot of us have been here, you're wanting to restore a broken relationship. A broken marriage, a fractured family. Are you going to do it your way? Why isn't this happening? I'm sending flowers. I'm texting verses. Sometimes you need to shut up and leave them alone and go spend time on the mountain with God. His will, His way. How does God want to do it? See, I wish I could get this in the hearts of most Christians. If God wants to do something, He's going to do it. You don't have to help God out. Many times I'm like, well, God's not going to do it and then He just does it. I'm like, how did that happen? He didn't even need me. And so if God wants to do something, your posture is what's important. As you wait upon God, you will renew your strength. Lord, I want this to happen, but I'm not going to bother them anymore. I'm not going to do this anymore. I'm just going to serve you and God. I'll let you fix it. His will, His way, in His time. The difficult portion of that, isn't it? His time. And we believe that God hears our prayers. Family matters. Anybody have those issues? Proverbs 14, 26, in the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence and His children will have refuge. So you can say, Lord, according to your word, I'm going to pray for my family. I'm going to fear you, have reverence for you. And in that confidence, my children will have a place of safety. And then spiritual warfare. Isaiah, when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against Him. So when the enemy's coming in and pushing against you, there is spiritual warfare for where God can raise up that standard. Basically raising up a standard in the Old Testament was like raising up a battle banner. They would lift up the banner. They didn't have cell phones back then. They couldn't contact people. They would lift up a banner high and people would see that would be a call to fight, a call to action. And the Lord will lift up a banner for you. And then there's deliverance. I sought the Lord and He answered me. He delivered me from all of my fears. I guarantee that didn't happen in five minutes. That might not have happened in 50 minutes. That might have been a week or two of travailing and crying out to God and getting up early and putting Him first and making prayer a priority. God became an all-consuming passion. And then at the end of the day, He can say, I sought the Lord with all my heart and He answered and He delivered me from all my fears, all my anxiety, all my discouragement. But it's that seeking. Did you know seeking God is fighting? It's spiritual warfare. You're telling your flesh to shut up and come with you to morning worship or prayer. It's funny. I say, Shane, stop saying morning worship. I don't get up early. Well, we have evening worship. You don't come to that either. Stop making excuses. It's not convenient. The cross wasn't convenient. You need to get convenience out of your mind. Following God is never convenient. It's never popular. There's travail, there's perseverance, there's persecution, there's fortitude, there's strength. They should fast more often, I think. They feel the Spirit of God just pouring into people. It's what we desperately need. What about your calling? Are any of you wondering, Lord, what do you have in store for me? What's my ministry? Are you calling me to make a difference? How? What do you want me to do? Okay, I was Abram, now I'm Abraham. I want to get on the right path. Lord, what do you want me to do? How can I step out and serve? Philippians 1.6, being confident in this very thing. He who began a good work in, He will bring it to completion. But Shane, that's not happening now. Right, are you surrendered to it? Because see, He leads those who are willing to follow. And the picture we have here is, Lord, I'm at Your will, I'm at Your mercy, lead me. And He will finish, and He will direct you what He began in you. But if you're fighting Him, arrogantly fighting Him, and we all know what it is, let's stop playing games. The conviction of the Holy Spirit is a wonderful gift. You're all convicted, I'm convicted from time to time too. We all have things God wants us to change. Remove this from your life. Do this. No, no, no, I'm still going to serve you, God. Show me Your will for my life. You've got to deal with this stuff first. This isn't let's make a deal. God says this is the deal. And I've seen people die on their deathbed fighting the will of God. Very miserable person. Very hard to see that. I knew it at 20, I should have been a worship leader, or I knew I should have went on the mission field. I knew as a teenager God called, and they're 85. How miserable. Can you imagine that? That would break my heart. He will complete it in you until the day of Jesus Christ. But you've got to submit to the will of the Father. Two wills cannot exist in the same body. God's will, what I want. And usually what I want is easy. It's convenient. Get a sleep in. Don't have to stop eating, I just hate that. The flesh does. Right, fasting and prayer, I've got to get here early. And it's this fight that happens within us. Paul says you're never free from those choices. And then health, many people are dealing with health issues. I'm going to talk about the health expo coming up next month if you want to learn. I believe one thing we get a lot of emails is people are thankful that somebody's talking about health, I guess, physical health, because the church is usually, no, no, no, just potlucks, donuts, and coffee. Don't talk about health. The problem is our physical often affects our spiritual. I can tell you I haven't felt this great in a couple of years. And spiritually. Because when you take control over the fleshly appetites, there's a spiritual benefit. And we pray for people, for diet-related illnesses, and I will pray for people, for God to heal them, but how do we know that's not caused by our choices? That's just truth. It's not easy to say. I don't come up here and go, hope everyone comes back and likes what I said. I hope they get convicted by what I said, because conviction causes change. Exodus 23, worship the Lord your God, and His blessings will be upon your food and on your water, and He will take away sickness from among you. Now, you can't just put this verse into your life. You've got to give the context. Is there a sickness in the camp of Israel after they exodus? That means they exited from Egypt. There's sickness in the camp of Israel. Why is there sickness? Disobedience to God. And I'm amazed at how many times we never talk about that either. If you say sickness can be the result of sin, people go, oh, I can't believe you said that, Pastor. Well, it's in the Bible. It's not all the time. I would actually err on the side that it's probably not due to that, because all of us would be sick. Don't go there. But some of us, but sometimes God will use this. Paul said some of you are sick and have died because you take the communion in an unworthy manner. Go to the elders, let them anoint you with oil, confess your sin, and you will be healed. So I would at least take inventory. Is there any sin in my heart? Lord, show me. Am I having not enough faith? Is it just a natural aging process and there's really nothing you're gonna do about it? I'm just according to your will. I mean, some people say, no, he desires all people to be healed. And I don't know, I don't know. I guess the perfect will of God, in a perfect world, but we're in a fallen world. And God often uses sickness or sickness as a result of different things. But it's great to step out in faith and believe and pray for healing, because I believe we don't see enough of it either. We trust in Kaiser, not the king. I watched a documentary recently on just, I don't remember even the name of it. Something about our addicted nation. I could not believe how many prescriptions and things. It was just like, we're like the number one, America's like 70% user of all these different opioids and addictions. And over all countries, even like take 10 countries in total, we're still higher. We think we can medicate. We think we can just fix our problems that way. And again, to put a disclaimer out there, because every time I talk about this, I get emails. I'm not against things that work. So if you need a serotonin uptake inhibitor, great. If you need something and you feel God's leading you, hey, that's up to you and God. But it's always the first resort instead of the last resort. Let me give you proof. Don't raise your hand, but a majority of people in here at the next service are taking high blood pressure medication. I could get them off of that medication within two to three months. Easily. I did 1,000 times over when I worked in the gym industry. It's done. Get off your metformin for diabetes. We're telling our liver to not do this with glucose. Off, done. Why don't they want to do it? It's hard. We've been conditioned. Microwave Christianity. We've been conditioned. How many, look at this, how many people could be off of these things and feeling better? Listen, even blood pressure, you begin to take blood thinners and Coumadin and things like that that, okay, they do, but then it slows you down, lowers your blood pressure. I don't have enough energy. Now I don't feel well. Could it be that we never do anything for God because we don't feel well? And so you tell me physical doesn't affect the spiritual. The problem is nobody ever wants to talk about it. So that was a rabbit trail. I wish this was second service because I got a long ways to go still. I might have to do part two. Okay, in part one we see that nothing is impossible for God. Correct? Now we're transitioning the part of the sermon, the power of intercession, the power of interceding, and we're getting into Sodom and Gomorrah. Let me explain intercession. Sovereignty is when God does something, God's declared it, it's gonna happen. That's sovereignty. Intercession is when I ask God to intercede. Isn't that interesting? You can intercede for something that maybe God was not gonna do. And we don't understand His perfect will and His permissive will. Trust me, I've studied it till I'm blue in the face. I don't know how this works, thank God you do. But you can change the hand of God from time to time. Certain things are His sovereign declared will, it's gonna happen, nope, good luck. He actually told Jeremiah, stop praying for this nation. They are destitute for destruction. So that's what intercession is, when we ask God to intercede. It's basically when we go to battle, when we call down heaven, when we travail, seek, pray, and fast, and God says, I'm gonna honor that discipline in that person, I'm gonna honor that heart, I'm gonna switch and change gears and bless that person for crying out to me. That's what intercession is. It's interceding on behalf of the people. I don't know if I have it, let me see, because I don't wanna forget this. I just wanna give you a glimpse of this, sorry, media. Ezekiel 22, it's in there somewhere. Ezekiel 22, thank God for the media team, we are so blessed here. This is incredible, it parallels America. The word of the Lord came to me, son of man, say to the land, the land, that they are devouring people, they're taking money, and they're taking precious things, and they're making widows within her, basically not caring for the poor, just the rich and wealthy, and just this me, me, me environment. Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things. I just saw on social media that a church, United Methodist something church out of our state is having a drag day, where a drag queen is going to read to the children or do some type of event. Yeah, don't be surprised. A lot of pastors are not believers. Look at the fruit, look at the fruit, and they'll let you know, it's in your face. They'll put a rainbow on their sign out front. And they think people like me are heretics. I don't recommend it, but the name caught me. Yesterday or the day before, I went on, it says American Heretic on Amazon Prime or something. I'm like, oh, that's interesting. Well, guess what, it's not, the heretics are actually the ones giving the movie, coming against conservative Christians. And there's so many lies and deceit in what they're saying. I got maybe 10 minutes, like, this is junk. What a bunch of baloney, a bunch of garbage. They don't know the Word of God. And so it's happening. God's people, God's priests, God's priests who are supposed to intercede on behalf of the people, they were doing violence to my law, violating my Word, they are profaning the holy things. When you come in and have somebody preach that is in sin and happy about their sin and drag queen and all these things, and you bring that into the house of God, there's no reverence, there's no respect. There should be a holy awe that overcomes someone when they walk into God's house. Yes, he's everywhere, but sometimes he decides to visit a group of people and honor a congregation that comes together. Oh, it gets worse, it gets worse. Her officials, her politicians within her are like wolves tearing their prey. Oh, it gets worse. Her prophets, what is a prophet? It's a prophetic voice that warns the people. That's what it is, it's a prophetic voice that warns the people. Show me a prophet that wasn't prophetic in warning the people. Show me one. They were rough, they were hard. And what were they doing? They whitewashed these deeds for them by false visions. Instead of confronting them, they were encouraging their sin. So, the outcome's not going to be good for this type of nation. And I love when people say, well, that doesn't apply to America today. I got it, the context is Ezekiel, a long time ago, but there's principles that still apply. There are principles that still apply. And here's one amazing principle. I don't know if we have it up there, I might just read it myself. Ezekiel 22, 30, after all this, here we go, I could almost come to tears. God said, I looked for a man, I looked for someone. I sought from among them. I looked for someone. Would you stand in the gap? Would you build a wall? Would you intercede on behalf of the people? But I found no one. Does that same call goes out today? I believe it does. That's a driving passion of my heart. I'm seeking the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to him. There is hope for this nation. There is hope for California. Let me tell you, I believe that revival can come from California. Listen, hold on, hold on. You add up Texas, Idaho, and Florida all together, I believe a revival can come more from California. Why? Because the darkest spot is where the light of the gospel penetrates. And God says, I'm gonna take that dark forsaken area and I'm looking for men and women who are crying out to me and calling out to me. They might even fast, they might even seek the heart of God and I will answer that, people. Listen, I don't drive home going, glad they bought that. Whew. That was a good sales pitch. I eat and breathe it. Revival is our only hope. You pray for your children, you better pray for a spiritual awakening. 2022, more red, more red states. That's not gonna change anything. 2024, if we could just get so-and-so back in there. Can't say his name today because then I get hate mail. That's our answer. You actually could cause a lot more friction. And I'm all for the right people. But we've become so arrogant and so haughty. God says, I look, I look, I saw it. I saw it for a man, a woman, among them in California. There's a prayer meeting. There's a prayer meeting. I see it, I hear it, they're contending. They're having church every night. They wanna meet with me. The door, people are coming in before we could even open the doors. There's a hunger. You don't think God hears that? So begs to call, where are you, church? Where are you, church? A lot of us have been doing this for years. Where are you? No, you know, Shane, I'm tired. It's not convenient. Now you know our problem. Am I not just shooting you straight? I know it's difficult. Please don't misunderstand. If I wasn't pastoring in the church, I probably wouldn't be here all the time either. So I have great compassion, but I'm also called to motivate and to shoot you straight. I'm trying to put on a big boy pants to some of you men. Lead your family. Lead your family. See, I'm going. I'm gonna seek God. I might not feel like it, but I don't care what my feelings say. I'm not gonna eat today. I'm gonna tell King's stomach to shut its mouth. As I've been in prayer since eight this morning, Lord, if you want me to say this stuff, please don't let me say it out of anger or frustration. Please, God, I've been pleading. But it's been my heart burning on my heart. I don't know what to do with it. Because it has nothing to do with anger, but pleading, pleading with the people. I'm not upset. I'm broken at the condition of our nation and the church. We act like the remedy costs a million dollars and there's a 50 point checklist I have to do. The remedy is very simple. Now I can understand Jesus crying out. Drink of this water and you'll never thirst again. He who believes on me, he who believes on me as the scriptures say, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. Where are these rivers of living water for most of us? Where are they? You look like Mono Lake, dry and dead, no life. This fresh Owens River or Rush Creek or whatever runs right into it, fresh, beaming with life. Into this dead, barren lake. Where's the living water? Gene, how do I get it? Everything I've just been talking about. You seek God like never before. Not even halfway done. That's okay. This is important. I need to talk about this though. Verses 20 through 21. Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done all of this evil to justify this outcry. And if not, I will know. Now it's interesting, God already knows. If you guys want these images, Laina can get them to you. He knows, but often He sends a witness. So people can see, hey, God validated this. God knows, He doesn't have to come, oh, let me see what Sodom and Gomorrah is doing. Remember in Revelation, come out of her, My people. Come out of you, My people, lest you share in her sins and receive of her plagues. Let me see what's going on in Babylon. And so God will send witnesses. And maybe Lot was crying out. We don't know who was crying out for the inhabitants and what is this outcry? Here's the key. Sin cries when it reaches a gross and perverted state. You think Sodom and Gomorrah is bad. Have you driven to Hollywood? Do you know we have the number one producer of pornography in the world? 45 minutes away. And when I was studying on that topic, I could not believe how perverted it's getting. Father, son, mother, children. What is this? Am I in the twilight zone? See, perversion will grow and grow. You watch those interviews with Jeffrey Dahmer or the guy that Dobson talked to in prison before he's executed, and it all starts something, you know, yeah, this, and then it got more wicked and more perverted. The more wicked, the more perverted. I couldn't satisfy. That used to satisfy. Now it's not. You know what's big now? I mean, don't look into it, but wife-swapping? Partner? What is it? God, I'm surprised a lightning bolt hasn't hit. I mean, it's just because the remnant is holding that line. Holding that line. But I need to talk about this. This might be outlawed in a few years, so save the video. From a liberal pastor. The Bible says that the sin of Sodom was arrogance, overindulgence, indifference, lack of charity, and haughtiness. It was all about self-centeredness, and there's not a word about homosexuality. Now, he's partially right, because the Bible goes on to list the sin of Sodom, and it's no surprise, when God's not there, when perversion takes over, everything is perverted. Haughtiness, arrogance. I will say that that movement right now is one of the most arrogant movements I've ever seen. In your face, sexual sin. Unless your kids embrace it, they'll tell you, parents, they're not, they're our kids. We're gonna indoctrinate. We're gonna get into the schools. It's such a flamboyant, in-your-face arrogance. But the Bible says, when these angels had gone to Lot's house, they had gone to bed, and then all the men from every part of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house, and they called out to Lot, where are the men? Bring them out to us. Doesn't take a rocket science. The perversion, all of it was true. Yes, it's haughty, it's arrogant, it's indifferent, but so were all the other nations. No nation resembled this caring for the poor. Actually, Israel was judged for the same things. So there was something perverted that really struck God's attention. And it's this rape, and it's this sodomy, and homosexuality was part of that, hence the word Sodom, Sodomites. So it doesn't mean we don't love people who struggle with that. We love all people. But we can't dumb down God's Word so it doesn't convict us. It's very clear what this was. Sexual sin is always, always prevalent when sin has reached a very, very grave point. The Roman Empire, before it fell, sin had reached a very, very grave point. And that's why we care about legislation. That's why we care about what Hollywood's producing. That's why we have a heart for these things because when sin... I can't even imagine being a teenager today. Can you imagine just at your fingertips? And sexual perversion, it's reached a very grave point. And here's what you're not gonna hear much. Romans 1.20, for since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen. In other words, hello, there's a God being understood by the things that are made us, us, even His eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse. This is why you can't say, what about the guy in Africa down the jungle, never heard of mission, what about him? He just has to look up. How did I get here? How does my heart know to beat? My livers know to function? Taking oxygen through the lungs? How does that happen? How does my cell, trillions of cells in your body, these little things with microchondria and the nucleus, how does that all work? I guess it all just happened because some atheist said amoeba came out of some slime and I gotta tell you, this is, don't worry. Because I do a lot of research on health and fitness, as you know, and I like to study epigenetics, biochemistry, and things that are just very interesting to me. And fasting is one of those things, autophagy and how your body will break down cancer cells and disease things in your body first. That's a point of fasting a lot of times and for physical reasons. And watching all these guys, they are so smart. Dr. Walter Longo, for example, UCLA longevity, and Dr. Alan Goldhammer, and because of our evolutionary design, I'm like, what? Of all people, of all people seeing how the body works and how intricate and delicate and the balances of growth hormone, IGF-1, insulin-like growth hormone factor and how it affects the glucose. Glucose is stored here in the liver and muscle and then it's depleted, then it turns to ketosis. And now, of all the people, you should say, there clearly, clearly there is a creator. But, what do they do? They have no excuse, because although they knew God, in other words, oh, there's something out there, there's a higher power, the man upstairs, a God that allowed evolution, there's something out there. Of course, there's a God, unless you're an atheist, but they did not glorify him, look at this, as God. What do you mean glorify him as? You can't just say God is what I think. God doesn't want you to say, God is God, I am that I am, sent me. I am the God of the Bible, I am the living God, I am Yalph and Emegah, I am El Shaddai, I am Yahweh, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There is only one true and living God here, oh Israel. Your Lord is one, and you better make sure you know the right God. So, they didn't glorify him as the God, nor were they thankful, but they became futile, futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened, and then Romans 1.22 through 25. Professing to be wise, oh, we're so wise, we know what's right. Bill Gates, George Soros, y'all call it out. Others, the people who had these ungodly movements that are trying to pervert our children, you tell me they don't profess to be wise, they have it all up here. They became fools, and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man. Therefore, when you exchange God's image, here's the true and living God, we're gonna make our own image of it, we're gonna worship idolatry, what does God do? Therefore, he gives them up to uncleanness in the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves. Actually, sexual sin is a judgment of God, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie. And what do they do? They worship and serve the creature rather than the creator. We encourage a person struggling to get back up, fight again, but the person practicing it, we encourage repentance and saving faith in Christ, repent and believe in the gospel. But don't ignore, don't ignore that last sentence, all you quiet people. Especially the, did you know the silent pulpit is not God's pulpit? Pastors who say nothing about this are saying a great deal. They are approving of such things. He's saying, although you don't practice it, you approve of it, hey, I'm not gonna do it, but who am I to say? Who am I to say? I don't practice it, but hey, to each his own. What will be to you that approves sin? And sometimes people ask, what about if my son or daughter, they're gay, what do I do? It's no brainer, you love them. You love them, I'm here for you, whatever you need, I'm gonna pray for you, whatever, I'm your dad or your mom, I love you. But, let me tell you the truth. I love you enough to tell you the truth. And you've seen a lot, I won't name them right now, but you've seen some big names in the Christian community go woke because of their grandkids and their kids. My daughter, she, and I think that's the case with this pastor, another, I don't wanna name names, but they're out, especially 10 years ago, and they're like, but my daughter came to me, and I just wanna love her and create her this way, and who am I to say? No, you love her, but you point her to the cross, you point her to the truth. Honey, I'm sorry you struggle with that. Another, honey, I'm sorry you struggle with Xanax. I'm sorry you struggle with pornography, with this opposite sex. I'm tired you, I'm sorry alcohol's got you bound. I'm tired you struggle with suicidal thoughts and your depression. See, they're struggling, and you love them through it. But you don't confirm, validate. Silence speaks volumes. Does it not? I've even seen people who you wouldn't, maybe not borderline homosexual, but they would change because of worshiping their body and loving the physiques, and it would start to change them, and they begin to have, why am I drawn now to this? Why, because they're exchanging. And the human heart is depraved, and it will go to perversion without God pulling it back. And so, Romans 1.26-27, for this reason, because they exchange the truth of God, they are rejecting God, they're worshiping themselves, and the human body, God gives them over to vile passions. Now, you can take that however you want, but a passion is a good thing. God gave men and women to have a passion for their spouse. I created them male and female, not Adam and Steve. And I created them, and so, as I created them, they had a passion for the right way. So what is a vile passion? It's a twisting of what God, do you know the word perversion? Pervert really comes from something that is straight, and you twist it, you pervert it. And so, that's what's happening in our culture. Likewise, the men, leaving the natural use of a woman, the natural use how God designed, burned in lust for one another. Men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error, which was due. Are you willing to cut out Romans 1? Say, that was Paul's day, that doesn't apply anymore. I've heard that, people say, oh Shane, he was talking about male prostitution. These guys. The defense attorney within us likes to make excuses for our sin. You need to fire the defense attorney and let God Almighty be your defense attorney. So Romans 1.28, and even though they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, there is no God. So God gave them over a judgment of God. God says, okay, you want it, you got it. He gives them over to a debased mind, what we're seeing today. Why is there a huge rise in something you never heard of 30 years ago? Rarely heard of. God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting. Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetous, maliciousness. Who knowing the righteous judgment of God that those who practice such things are deserving of death. Wait, the Bible doesn't sugarcoat much, does it? What does he mean? If we practice these things, that's why someone says I'm a practicing, you fill in the blank. I'm practicing this. There's a judgment for that practice because it reflects the heart. Now here's a big one. Not only do the same, but also to those who approve of their practices. All these people, all these pastors keeping silence, keeping silent, their silence speaks volumes and God hears. God hears the silent pulpit because the silent pulpit is not God's pulpit. Speaking out the truth in love, wanting to help people. Hey, I'm not gonna say anything, I'm just gonna prove. I'm not gonna say anything, it's up to them. You just approved of their lifestyle. You're approving of that. Just because, well, I don't engage in it. Yeah, but you don't think it's wrong. Be careful, it will show where your heart is at. And so next week, I'm hoping we can get back into this whole point of intercession. Maybe it'll be more of a message on prayer next Sunday. Make sure you're here, there's so much here I wanna share on my heart with you. But one thing I do wanna put up is we close Matthew 6.6 from the amplified version. Maybe to encourage some of you at home. Matthew 6.6, but when you pray, but when you pray, what? Go into your most private room, close the door and pray to your Father who is in secret and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you openly. And we know from Jesus's prayer, our Father who art in heaven, what? Hallowed be thy name. Here's what's encouraging this week. I realize in the Old Testament, what did they call God? Elohim, Adonai, Yahweh, El Shaddai, and they call them all these names. But in the New Testament, Jesus says, you go to him and you say, our Father. So there was this distant relationship. El Shaddai, Elohim, Yahweh, and this God up there. And now Jesus says, you come boldly and you say, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth. And you go directly to God. And there is a place where God waits for you. Is there a place where God waits for me? There's a place where God waits for you. Jesus said, when you go in, close your door in that prayer closet. And God says, I'm waiting for you. How many people is God waiting to hear from? But they don't have time for him. They're too busy. See, sin has got them so bound. When you're shut out with man, you are shut in with Christ. The disciples didn't say, teach us to pray form. They said, teach us to pray according to your will and the Father's will. This is hard for intercession. And so I'm gonna put something on the screen. Five areas of intercession. We're gonna do that next week, but just wanted you to see it before we go into worship. And no doubt there's people interceding for you right now. Those watching live or later, or even here this morning, there are people interceding for you, for your salvation. One of the things that shocked me the most, I shouldn't say shocked me, but the first year or so planting the church, did you know, I don't know if you know this or not, but not everyone who comes to church is a Christian. And it's probably more than you think, because so many have religion, not a relationship. This is what good people do. This is what I, I'm American, I go to church. It's like once a month, twice a month, not three times a month, but I go, this is what I do. And so we act sometimes like, oh, obviously we're all on the same page. But that's why you give the gospel call. Charles Spurgeon would always lead people back to the cross, always lead people back to Christ. It's so important because everything I just said is irrelevant if you have no relationship with God. So I just want to throw that out there this morning. If you need to repent and believe in Jesus, don't ride your parents' coattails because you can't. Don't say, well, I go to West Side Christian Fellowship, that doesn't matter. I used to ask my family members after my dad passed away, my uncle and different people, and I'd ask them about this topic. Oh yeah, yeah, we're good, we're Baptist. What does that mean? And usually that's not a good answer because they're counting on what? How they were raised. You'll hear this a lot too. Oh no, I'm Catholic. What did you do with Jesus Christ? Oh, I'm good, I'm good with the man upstairs. Good how? Because I'm a good person. No. Repent and believe. That's the only way to the cross.