Shane Idleman emphasizes the necessity of loving God with all our strength, urging the congregation to move beyond mere words to actionable obedience to God's Word. He addresses the struggles of hopelessness, depression, and family issues, encouraging individuals to seek God's transformative power in their lives. Idleman warns against the dangers of compromise and desensitization to sin, calling for a return to holiness and a genuine relationship with God. He stresses that true obedience stems from love for God, not legalism, and that the church must confront sin to restore spiritual health. Ultimately, he calls for a revival of faith and a commitment to live out God's truth in a world that often rejects it.

Lord, we come to you this morning. Lord, we do ask for direction. Lord, I know people have come in here with no hope. Lord, give them hope. Show them that you're the only answer. You are the way, the truth, the life. Lord, break depression in here. Restore marriages. Lord, we pray for our prodigal sons, our wayward daughters, Lord, that they would come home. Lord, we want you to move in a powerful way. We want to leave this mountain different than when we arrived. Lord, comfort the spouse. Lord, who's been hurt. Unforgiveness and bitterness has set in. Begin to release that. Lord, rebuild marriages. Rebuild the family. Lord, as we look to you and you alone. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You guys can be seated. I've got 30 minutes. I need about three hours on this topic. It's round two. We're not yet done. We're getting close. And this morning, really, what this one's about is, oh, you're a lot closer this time. I thought you'd be farther back. I want to move this back a little bit. I just love the worship, though. You guys are truly blessed. I speak at a lot of different places and hear a lot of different worship. We definitely brag at our church about our worship, but this group here is anointed. They're blessed. And that comes out in their worship. That brokenness and humility we talked about last night, you can tell that in worship, because that's when it's not about entertainment. It's about bringing you in and bringing me into the throne room of grace and filling that powerful worship. Today's part of the whole desperate for more of God theme, loving God with all your soul and mind and strength and heart. Today is focused on loving God with all your strength. And this is really where the rubber meets the road. We can talk a good talk. We can talk about humility. We can talk about brokenness. But this is where we put action to what we're talking about. This is where words like obedience come into factor, words that we don't want to talk about anymore. It's another one you can add to your list of churches that don't want to talk about obedience to God's word. But that's really where the healing takes place. A lot of times when I do counseling with people, one of the things I'll ask is, are you prepared to obey what the word of God says? And you would be startled at how many people say, not really. I know what it says. I've tried all that. But, but Shane, you don't know my situation. But, anytime you put but in there, you're in trouble. Because the word of God is crystal clear and we like to excuse it and say, but this, but that. And I've seen it time and time again. God is faithful. His word will not return void. When we begin, we begin to apply the truth, you see, you see lives being changed. Many times, not immediately. We want to meet, we actually have microwave Christianity now. Come on, seek God, seek God. You know, it's three songs we're done. Actually, it takes me, confession, it takes me two or three songs just to get the junk out of my heart. I'm just ready to worship now, honestly. And then another few songs to get my heart back on track. And then that's why we have our hour and a half worship sometimes and worship nights, because it takes, it takes that time to enter in and to get into God's presence. And I don't want to get sidetracked. But again, on that scripture, you shall love the Lord with God, with the God, sorry, you shall love the Lord, your God with all your strength. And strength is energy, it's obedience, it's action. And I'm going to, again, I'm not going to pull any punches this morning. I hope that's okay. I just need to shoot you straight on this area. And I read a blog a few months ago that I actually began to just, to just tear up on this and think about how many men and women have succumbed to the pull of sin. And let me remind everyone in this room that sin never stands still. It either grows or it withers, depending on whether you feed or starve it. So if sin is growing in our life, it's growing. It's, there's no neutral ground. We think we can just keep it right here. The Bible talks about sin when it is conceived, and it starts to conceive like a baby there, it brings forth death. It's either growing or it's withering, depending on whether we feed or starve it. And Dan Detzel or Delzel, he writes for the Christian Post. I write for the Christian Post once a week too. You can catch some of the blogs on there. The title was, Google Executives' Tragic Death Sends Sober Warnings. And he asked the question, how do you go from being a devoted father of five and a successful Silicon Valley executive into a 51-year-old man convulsing from a fatal dose of heroin on your 50-foot yacht with a prostitute walking over your dying body to take a final sip of wine before leaving you to die? That just happened recently with the Google Executive. And he asked the question, how do tragedies like this take place? How do tragedies like this take place in the church? Guys, this is real life. I'm talking to one lady now, her husband's a pastor, and he won't step down even though he's decided to leave her. We've got another man I talked about before that's decided to leave his family, or a woman decided to leave their family, and they get into this trap of compromise, is what it is. We have become a culture now. We are desensitized to the Word of God. And it's interesting, when I talk about these things, people say, you're radical, you're extreme. No, it's biblical, folks. It's biblical. We've drifted so far that now what's biblical looks odd. Just look at my lifetime. We've went from Leave It to Beaver and I Love Lucy to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and dating shows and reality shows that are a stench in the nostrils of a righteous, holy, pure God, swapping wives, new show, sex box. I mean, are you kidding me? And Christians are putting this on the top of the list. Christians, we've become desensitized. We are a culture adrift. We've rejected, we've walked away from God. And we need to hear that again. We need to hear, come back, come back, church, come back. Because that's why God will often raise up a voice crying in the wilderness, because he had compassion on his people. Right before the fall of Jerusalem, the Bible says that God sent messengers to his people because he had compassion on them to warn them. But they mocked his messengers. They despised his word and they scoffed at his prophets until the anger of the Lord arose against his own people until there was no remedy. Now, you can either cut that scripture out, or you can look at it, say, Lord, help us. And what I mean by desensitized is many years ago, now it's been probably five years, when the summer, it's April or May, my in-laws took their pool cover off. And of course, my kids want to go swimming. And I stepped in there, there's no way in the world I'm getting that. That's freezing. The pool cover didn't work. It's, it's, come on, Dad, let's, and the kids, you know, they're just playing on the steps. Oh, this is freezing. How are you guys playing in that? And then a couple minutes later, I'm down to my knee. A couple minutes later, my waist. Within 10 minutes, I'm swimming in what, in what was initially shocking. Peril that now to what's going on in the church. What used to shock us and amaze us now amuses us. What used to shock us and what we would never allow into our homes now is entertainment. I was counseling one family on a son that's very violent in the home. And I said, have you ever taken a look at that game he's playing? Grand Theft Auto? Your 10-year-old son, sir, can buy a prostitute, kill her, set her on fire, take back the money he gave her on that video game. We wonder why, why is this falling apart? Why is this happening? Church, we've become desensitized. Where's that call to holiness when the Bible says, come out from among them and be holy and be set apart for God. And that's why I often talk about the family, because as the family goes, so goes the nation. We can get as mad, you can get very, you can get mad at this current administration. You can imagine they're not fans of mine. And I'm not here being political, but I am saying that that's not the problem. The problem is the family, the family's deteriorating, the family's falling apart. And let me say right now, I don't care how many laws are passed in favor of same sex marriage, it will not change God's mind ever, ever. Legislation cannot change the word of God. We are now calling good evil and evil good. We have drifted from truth. And that statement right there gets me a lot of hate email. And they say, oh, you just hate, no, I love you. I love them. I love all of us. We're all struggling with sin. All of us. Last week, I just visited a 17-year-old person, a boy who has a boyfriend, and he's in a heroin rehab. And I ministered to him for an hour. I told him about the love of God. We love, we love everybody. But we can't excuse sin in the name of tolerance. Actually, we're not, I'm not called to make the truth tolerable. I'm called to make the truth clear. That's the job of the pulpit. And until we get back to that, people are going to be confused. There's no confusion. God's word is clear. But the church has drifted so far from the truth. Now that they look at the truth, they say, that's extreme. That's out there. We need to kind of back off a little bit. No, sir, you need to come up. And you need to get back on track. And you need to love God with all your strength. The obedience to God's word. When we don't love God with all of our strength, we allow compromise to set in. And let me, you know, this is an interesting topic because on one hand, you have legalism. Do you know what that is? I do this, and I don't go to the movies, and I don't own a TV, and aren't I so spiritual? No, you're arrogant. Legalism. You've got to do all these, you've got to do these rules, guys. But then you have this side. Hey, freedom in Christ, bro, do whatever you want. Really? Well, you better read some scriptures. You have to find the middle. Yes, there's freedom in Christ, but grace. Actually, because of grace, I live under a higher standard. Have you ever thought about that? Because of the grace of God, because he died for me, because he calls me to higher standard. So we've got people getting drunk, looking at porn with their spouse, all this stuff. I'm under, there's freedom, Shane. I don't know what you want to call it, but that's not freedom. That's called abuse. And on this, on this whole issue of obedience, yesterday, I actually tried to take a nap. It didn't happen. I just started thinking of all these scriptures. And I had to finally get up and I wrote them down yesterday in the, where I'm staying. Because so many people have a problem with this word. Just love. God is a God of love. Just love. And just can't we just do that? Well, let's do it. And these are the ones that came to mind. And I didn't put the references down. You know, you have to Google them. Take heed to yourself. Take heed to yourself. Lest your hearts be weighed down with drunkenness and carousing and that day come upon you unexpectedly. So Christ is saying take heed to yourself. Watch yourself. Watch your life and your doctrine closely. Paul says, I hope it's Paul. I'm just, these came off the top of my head. Make no provision for the flesh. Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. That word provision there, if I recall, is pronia. It's a forethought. It's a foreplanning. Don't plan ahead to satisfy the flesh. That's a, that's a obedience. Finally, brethren, put on the whole armor of God. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Paul actually says, flee sexual immorality. What do we do? We feed it. We feed the very thing that is caused to coming to destroy us. Paul says, flee it. Get out of town. Don't even. And we are, we are in our culture. We are confronted by more sexual immorality than any other generation bar none. And all we do is we continue to feed. We say, Shane, why is this thing destroying me? Because you're feeding it. I told a few guys last night, I don't, I don't talk about this too much, but it's, it might be a good help. But on my phone, many years ago, I downloaded software that sends my wife once a week, every single questionable website I visit. People, what? Yeah. And those people don't want to do that. Why don't you want to do that? Well, I don't want it. Exactly. You see where I'm going with this? We need accountability. Accountability in and of itself will not work. The heart and the Holy Spirit and God, that's the main source of accountability, your relationship with God. But you better have safeguards in place because the devil leaves and comes back at an opportune time. He's patient. And Paul says, flee sexual immorality. And we don't flee it. We put, well, you firemen, they know this term, accelerant. What's an accelerant? Makes the fire go a little quicker, doesn't it? You want to go into a house fire and the guy say, listen, all I got in the garage is 55-gallon drums of water. Or do you want to say I've got 55-gallon drums of diesel? Accelerant. That's what sexual immorality, it's an accelerant. That's why Paul says, don't contemplate it. Don't argue. Don't quote scripture. You just flee. Get out of dodge. Flee sexual immorality. That's a word of obedience. What about Psalms 1-1? We talked about this the other day in our early devotional. Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in it he meditates day and night. He'll be like a tree planted by the rivers who will bear its fruit in season. Well, what's the first part of that say? Walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. Most people are getting counsel from ungodly friends. And I'll tell you up front, I tell young adults this all the time, if friendships are pulling you in the wrong direction, I'd rather cut the relationship and be on fire for God. As the old pastors used to say 100 years ago, I'd rather be lonely going up than have company going to hell. And there are friends there that will pull you away. Think about this. Is it easier? And here's what we always say, oh, I'm trying to win them to the Lord. Well, after, you know, two years of getting drunk and partying and all this, you're not winning. They're winning you. So is it easier to, hey, I'll come, I'm shooting you straight today. I play this game. I know. But is it easier to pull that friend up to me? Or is it easier for that friend to pull me down? Listen, I could take my wife half my size and she'll pull me down easier and I'll pull her up. So it's much easier for that influence to pull you down. So Paul says, don't even walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Where are you getting your advice from? Here's where most people are. That's why marriages are falling apart. They look at Kardashians, desperate housewives, sex bog, all this. Look at this. Look at this. No wonder I'm miserable in my marriage. No, look at this. That will lead you astray all the time. I will walk within my heart, David said, with the perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. Paul says, walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Look at all these obedience terms. Make no provision. Don't plan ahead. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So the next time somebody says, looks down on obedience, remind them that the Bible is crystal clear. And actually it's not obedience because of legalism. It's obedience because I love my savior who died for me. And as I obey him, as I follow him, I'm filled with the spirit of God. And that's how you live the victorious Christian life. Willpower isn't going to cut it. You have to be filled with the spirit of God. And actually, I want to talk about that for a minute. I put this this morning, I got up early and for some reason I wanted to share this. Many times when you talk about being filled with the spirit of God, that's a controversial topic. I don't know if you're aware of that. You've got churches on either extreme. And what I like to call, you've got the cemetery or you got the circus environment. The circus environment says, if it's odd, it's God, brother. Anything goes and they look like a drunk sailor on furlough in Hawaii. And it's just, I don't know what that's not, but that's not being filled with the spirit. That's weirdness and that's not of God. Being filled with the spirit of God is boldness and self-control. Now, I'm a student of revivals. I've read the Welsh revivals. I've read the revivals off the islands of Scotland, the First Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening, back even 1800s in Welsh and America and George Whitefield and John Wesley. And I love revivals, but you don't see weirdness. You see people holding on to trees because they think they're falling into hell. And the famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards. You see people crying out for God. You fall under the power of God. You see God changing because repentance is preached. The fear of God is preached. You don't see weirdness. Where all the weirdness, and I don't want to sit here and explain it. You know what I'm talking about. If you don't, good. But the circus environment, the circus environment, I mean, I have people come to my church. They want to, you want to do what? Do cartwheels down the aisle? And what is this? Now, I'm not mimicking. I'm not mocking. I'm saying be very careful because a lot of these people who are acting very weird are not very mature in the faith. They're not filled with the Spirit of God. Their marriage is falling apart. So we want to avoid the circus environment when I talk about being filled with the Spirit. But you better avoid the cemetery as well. The cemetery, you have correct theology, but you're you're as dead as a doornail. You can be straight as a gun barrel theologically, but just as empty. It's the Spirit that gives life. You can have a master's degree, but you better have a degree from the master. See, I love doctrine. I love sound doctrine. I study sound doctrine. I've committed my life to the truth. But the truth without the Spirit of God will fall on deaf ears. You'll be an angry preacher. You'll be an angry husband. I can spot these people all the time. They come up, Pastor, you didn't even turn to your Bible once. Well, it's because I have 50 scriptures written throughout my notes. You don't wear a suit and die. Just all the Word of God. And they're ruling their house with a rod of iron. They've got the truth, but the truth doesn't have them. And the Bible says the knowledge puffs up. And some of the most prideful Christians I know are the Christians with lots of truth. And they're proud about that truth they have. And actually, they don't like this part of the sermon right now. And you know why I can preach to this group? Because I used to sit there. I could put down everybody. I could go in a church and pull it apart. I mean, I had, like I told you last night, I had books on systematic theology, and I had pneumatology, and eschatology, and soteriology, and hermeneutics, and homiletics. And I didn't graduate from any university, but I loved to challenge my friends at the master's seminary or wherever. And come on, guys. You know, in this arrogance, because the Word of God can puff up. And one day, my mom said to me, I'll never forget this, eight or nine years ago. And she said, Shane, nobody wants to be around you. Your family doesn't want to be around you. And it hurt. But it took that piercing. And I had good excuses. I just don't have a lot of friends because I'm bold. I'm passionate. No, it's because I was a jerk. I was angry. I was mean. I could put down all those guys you see on TV. I still put down some of them, but in love this time. But what has to happen is that judge not. I had to be broken. I had to be broken, say, Lord, just use me. I mean, I had dilexia. I was a speech teacher. I barely, I mean, I had all these, you know, so I got pretty proud at my knowledge. And the knowledge puffed up. And it began to, people didn't want to be around me. And she had to bring back that softness. And I got mad at what my mom said. It took a few weeks. So confrontation is very healthy, very healthy. Around the same time, I don't know why I'm opening up to you guys, but hope it helps. My wife left her journal entry out years ago. And I read it. And it just, man, it upset me. It said, I've married a man who will not let me fulfill my dreams. And I will not allow that to happen to our children. I took an hour drive. I was upset. Why? Because the truth hurts. But had God not used these things, it wouldn't have broke me. I said, what are you talking about? And I wasn't doing it maliciously. But okay, we're not going to start this makeup business. We're not going to do this. You're not going to write a blog. We don't have time for this. I got to edit your blog. You know, here's what we're doing. Here's what you know. And I began to control. But as the man, you're not to be a controller. You're supposed to lead your family in the fear and admonition of the Lord and serve them. How can I help you guys? What are your dreams? How can I help you? Do we still have a budget? Yes, of course. But that gentleness, that meekness didn't come out. And that's why I talked last night about brokenness, humility. It won't come out. It won't come out on its own, folks. You're not just going to hear feel good things and leave. You're going, boy, I sure need to humble myself. No, it's not until the olive is actually crushed that the oil comes out. It's not until the flower is bruised and broken until that perfume comes out. That's where that broken has to come from, from confrontation. So be very careful in this area. We can become very arrogant or become very immature with the Word of God. And you need to find the middle ground, being filled with the Spirit of God. What I mean by that is it's a life, not a perfect life, or I wouldn't be up here, but a life that says, Lord, I'm yours. I think somewhere the Scripture says, die to self, follow me, give up your life, bear your cross. Why don't we talk about those things anymore? We talk about abundance and blessing and prosperity. A daughter needs to see her dad be the standard by which she will judge all other men. My son needs to see an example of what he should be. But for the women, a daughter needs her mom to show her how to love a man. She needs to see an example of what she should be. Actions matter, folks. You're the best pastor your kids will ever see. And let me just say something, too, and I should have last night. If you're single, let me drop a huge bomb right now. You will not, you will not walk up on your wedding day and say, I do, and then become a man of character. You will not say, I do, wives, and become a Proverbs 31 woman. Actually, what you bring into the marriage is magnified. You've got a problem with anger now? Guess what? If I had a dollar for every time I heard this, I thought my porn addiction would stop when I got married. No. Multiply it. Who you are now is who you'll be when you get married. If I was single, I would be on fire for God. That's what I did before I met my wife. Three years of in the wilderness, seeking God with all my heart, and he would change me and fashion me. And I tell young adults all the time that are dating the wrong person. I say, here's the secret to dating. Follow after Christ and see who keeps up. That's all you have to do. Just follow Christ with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Just see who keeps up. Stop saying, oh, I got to rescue this person. They're not saying, no, no, no, that's unequally yoked. The Bible warns against that. Follow Christ, who's keeping up. That's all you have to do. Let him bring the person. Because when you bring it, it's always because of this, lust. And then we rush marriage. Why? Because I want to have sex. Let's be honest. Firefighters conference, right? I can't say this at young adults conference. But that's why people are in a hurry. Oh, I like that. Well, don't judge it off emotions alone, ever. Never make a decision off emotions alone. Emotion should not be the engine of the train. They're the caboose. They follow a right decision. But so maybe it just feels right. Oh, you better run for cover. Now, did God give us a chemistry of attraction? Yes. Thank God for it. I'm very attracted to my wife. And thank God for that. But if that's the only thing that's keeping a couple together or dating, you're going to have a rude awakening. Because when that wears away, what's left is what's left the character of the person you married. So think about that. Because I hear that single people say, well, when I get married, then I'll start to know you start to apply the Word of God now. And I'm convinced that God doesn't bring you that godly spouse until you become that. You're praying for something that you aren't. Lord, give me a God, a woman that's on fire for you, loves you, going to church. Well, why don't you do it? Stop going to Vegas and getting drunk and praying for this girl. I'm not going to give this girl to you. Or vice versa. It can work both ways. Girls hit in the club scene all the time. I just need a godly man to lead me. No, you need to become that. You need to become that. I won't even go in that direction. That could be that could be really bad. My wife said, make sure you add a little bit of humor to the message or people are you know, by the way, I don't talk like this and individually, you know, the one on one, it's love and gentleness. But preaching takes on a whole preaching takes on a whole different aspect. And I actually made a confession to my congregation a year ago, I said, Honestly, guys, let me be up front. I'm not a I'm not a pastor. I said, What I said, primarily, I'm a preacher. God has got my heart to preach. I'll travel I'll do I'll preach to souls. I've preached in prisons. I've preached in parks. I am a preacher at heart. Of course, I pastor. But the main goal of my life is to preach. I love this. It's what God's created me to do. To bring me out of that brokenness and now help other people see the light. That's why I don't I honestly don't think these are hard types of messages because the ultimate goal is to get you back into right relationship with God. That's a very good thing. And it doesn't happen. Think about how many people come back to God after a divorce, after a hardship after all these because God because we're it's hard to break a wild stallion, isn't it? He's got to crush us to bring us back to him. And here's why this issue is so I'm gonna have to have half of this for tonight. I'm gonna I've got to hurry up here. Hopefully there's a little bit of liberty but this and I'll try to get through but how serious is this issue? Something that is I don't know why I put it in here. But something that's been on my heart for many years is I heard I read a quote from Josh McDowell. I don't know who you know who that is. He's wrote a lot of good books. And this this question and his answer literally transformed my life in the sense of ministry and books. He said he travels all over the world all over especially now in America. The number one question he gets from young adults, 14 to 24. Anybody can even guess what the number one question he gets is? It's this. Josh, how can we live for Christ when we don't want the Christ that our parents have? I mean, that in and of itself, that statement should cause all of us to get on our knees before Almighty God and cry out. How can I live for Christ when I don't want the Christ my daddy has? I can't imagine that. I can't imagine that. So let the Word of God crush prideful hearts so that obedience takes place. Obedience takes place. How much time do I got? As long as I want. Well, don't. No, that's not good. Let me just go get through this quickly at a quick pace. You know, on one hand, I want to, you know, we got to there's there's time limits. But on the other hand, you know, we don't want to want to be on a hurry. But let me just get to the main point here. Obedience, obedience, loving God with all your strength matters. He who says I know him but does not do his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. The Bible's not me. Don't get mad at me. I'm just reading Scripture. The Bible says he who's they those who say they know him and do not do his commandments are a liar and the truth is not in him. Let me tell you something else about what you're seeing in America and in the churches. Have you ever we talked about a false prophet last night. I'm not going to go into a lot of that. But do you know, we think of false prophets as false doctrine, right? They're removing the inerrancy of Scripture, they're bringing in this or, you know, that's true. But according to the Bible, another form of a false prophet is to say peace, peace, when there's no peace. Jeremiah 23, God says, Woe to these shepherds who are scattering and destroying my flock. He said, they prophesy, they're telling people who are walking according to the dictates of their own heart. They're saying no evil shall come upon you. No evil shall come upon you. It's okay. It's okay, guys, just go team go. And then God says, I have not sent these prophets yet they ran. I have not prophesied to them, but they spoke. But had they truly stood in my counsel, had they truly stood in my counsel, they would have turned the entire nation back to me. Is not my word like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? Is not my word like a fire that devours? But they have perverted the words of the living God. How? By not warning and instructing and confronting sin and getting the people back to obedience. That's a sign of a false prophet is to say peace, peace, don't change. Everything's going great. As we're aborting children, as we're ordaining gay ministers, everything's great, great, great. Don't worry about a church. No, that's not the case. God will not be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he shall reap. And at this current pace, we're going to reap the whirlwind. And I need people on their faces before God fasting and praying and saying, Lord, we're contending, we're strengthening, we're we're here, we're a remnant. Holiness is not there's nothing wrong with holiness. Come out from among them be separate, you're gonna your Facebook page is going to look different. Your TV is going to look different. There's a difference or distinction. Why? Because the Spirit of God is working through you. When you meet when you truly meet God, there's a change. Isaiah man him he said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up the train of his robe filled the entire temple. The angel said, holy, holy, holy is our God, as the whole temple, the post shook. Holy, holy is our God. And Isaiah said, Whoa, I'm a man of undone lips. And I live among the people of undone lips. I've seen the Lord of glory. That's what a real vision of God does for you. It puts you on your face before Almighty God. And we need that folks, we need that. There's nothing wrong with obedience and holiness. Yes, my life looks a little different than the world. That's a good thing. If your lifestyle looks just like the world, there's pause for concern. Because another scripture, the Bible talks about he who loves the world does not have the love of the Father in him. And he who loves the world loves the Father disdains the things of the world. There, if you turn on the news, it should make it should make you sick. If I have to read about more pedophiles being released and, and sexual perversion and, and then direction. Now the White House just installed a transgender restroom and it's like guys, we love sinners, but this is not acceptable. The truth, the truth will not bend the truth. This is not flexible. You don't bend it, you don't conform it, it conforms you. You don't change truth, truth changes you. And until we get back to that, there is no hope. They people ask Shane, is there any hope? Well, I hope so. And I pray for that. But apart from God awakening his people, there is no hope. Is America going down? It's already going down. It's at this point, it's like, let's pray, let's fast. But I'm not negative about, I'm very positive because God does his greatest work in the darkest times. It's going to take something like this to revive his people, to bring revival. Think, think about that. Now we're in a hurry to get through worship. We've got our prayer time down to five minutes and you better have a tantalizing sermon and be out at, not here, but other places, right? At church in general, across our nation, we've lost the fear of God, we lost the seekingness, we lost obedience. All these key factors that play a very vital role in your spiritual health. Now let me, two things and I'll close. Holiness does not mean that you never sin. If that was the case, nobody would match up. Actually, the funny thing is, those who seek holiness realize just how sinful they actually are. The closer we draw to God, the clearer the picture of sin becomes. As I draw closer to him, I realize just how prideful I am. As I draw closer to him, there's a standard I can't hit. But holiness says, Lord, because I love you, because I'm devoted from you, I'm going to come out from among them and be separate. There's a distinction. And a real quick distinction as well. Holiness does not lead to the forgiveness of sin. Good is never good enough. That's the whole point of the cross. The whole point of the cross was because good is good, good is never good enough. I sent the perfect sacrifice to die for you. And because of that, I walk in obedience. I mean, if you can picture Christ on the cross and what he did, he said, because of this, now walk in obedience. I'm going to close with this quote. I would encourage you to get this book on holiness by J.C. Ryle, probably 100 years old now. This really stood out a couple years ago. I highlighted it. I put it in my sermon notes. Holiness will cost a man his sins. He must be willing to give up every habit and practice which is wrong in God's sight. There must be no separate truce with any special sin which he loves. Our sins are often as dear to us as our children. We love them, we hug them, we cleave to them, and we delight in them. To part with them is as hard as cutting off a right hand or plucking out a right eye. But it must be done. The parting must come. And there has to come a point, folks, where we say, listen, I want to love God with all my strength. Because really the fruit is in our strength, what we're doing, how we live our life. There's a very famous poem. It was an old poem. Hope I get it right. It ends with something like this. The lessons you deliver may be very wise and true, but I'd rather get my lesson by observing what you do. For I may misunderstand you and the high advice you give, but mom and dad, there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live. That's really how we walk out our faith, how we live, obedience to God's word, not legalistically, but lovingly. Let me close with that. Lord, I thank you so much again for your word. I thank you for the worship here. I thank you for just the firefighters and their wives and the love of Christ we feel in this place. Lord, I pray that tonight, during the worship concert, during the message on loving you with all of our soul, Lord, that you would be here in a powerful way. Begin to repair marriages now. Lord, show people there is hope. Show them there is hope. You're the only answer, but we need to get back to God-fearing obedience out of a love and a compassion and a relationship for you. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You know, something I didn't, Jason's coming up, something I forgot to mention last night that usually I do after every service at our church, and I kind of forgot because it was natural, is I'm usually after church for an hour praying with people on addictions, healing, marriage issues, and it's exhausting, but it's worth it. And I just want to make myself available afterwards. I'll be up front. If you need prayer for anything, there's many people here that can pray with you. There's people in the back, I know, at the book table, but I just want to be available. If you need prayer, I'll stay here all afternoon if we need to. So thank you.