I Want the Presence of God

I wish I could show you my notes right now. I showed Jason, I got up at 4 this morning and just revamped pretty much everything. But I think God wants to change us this weekend.

And I don't just say that to say that, I honestly mean that. I've seen men change, I've seen angry men change. I've seen addicted men change.

I've seen God release and break and set free. And so I have confidence in that. And just a few things that I always forget to mention is I do have books in the back.

And if you can't afford one, take one. It's not about selling anything. It's really about getting the message out to men to be the difference makers in our nation.

And I think we can make a difference. And I also had a lot of things I was going to just touch base on briefly on pornography, but I saw that that was already hit, praise God. And if you weren't in that session, I would encourage you to listen to the audio.

I believe they'll have the audios uploaded hopefully within a week or so. And people often ask me about this issue. And just as a man, we all know it's a struggle.

God has created us to be attractive visually to hopefully our wife. So that's a very good thing. And then what the enemy does is what does he do? He perverts that.

That's where the word pervert comes from, perversion, pervert. You take something that's straight and good and you pervert it, you redirect it. And God, I've seen that destroy more homes probably than anything else.

I've seen it destroy relationships with our daughters more than anything else. And a lot of men don't realize that as they're giving their heart to pornography, their heart is drifting from their wife. They don't want to touch their wife anymore.

They don't want to talk to their wife anymore. You bother me, get away from me. Why is that? Because it's adultery.

It's adultery of the heart. And I actually have something on my computer, on my phone, on my laptop that sends my wife every single website I visit every week. What? Right, you're crazy.

I'm saying, no, I want to expose, I want to live everything in the light. Here's my phone, here's my, every search. If you search for this, it'll show her the searches.

And people say, man, you're so holy. Shane, I said, no, I'm worried about the enemy within. The struggle of the flesh is a constant struggle.

My flesh wants to stop at one of the old bars I used to hit in Bakersfield 25 years ago on the way home, and reminisce about the good old days. Conway Twitty, Hank Williams, Jr., all that stuff, being a country boy, I can relate. And the flesh is pulling, and that's what this whole battle is, is between the flesh and the spirit.

And a lot of what I'm trying to do, I'd love to give you seven points in strong leadership techniques, but we need men filled with the Spirit of God. That's the key. We need men filled with the Spirit of God.

And I am so glad that this is up here, if you don't mind. This is a wonderful... Oh, it's actually, yeah, it isn't a pump, it's automatic. I grew up on these.

I shot trap. My brother makes duck calls in Idaho. I know all about duck dynasty, duck blinds, 4 for 30 in the morning.

But what happens is men, a lot of men are straight as a gun barrel theologically, but they're just as empty. See, this poses no threat, does it? Chambers open, there's nothing in there. But if I start to grab three, three-inch magnum shells, buckshot, begin to load this, some of you might head for that exit.

And security is going to start, you know, are we concealing? What's going on with this guy? What's the difference? I can walk around with this, no big deal. But when I put that shotgun shell in the chamber and I close that chamber, now it has power, now it has authority. That's the difference.

So many men are straight as a gun barrel theologically. You've got it all down, you're wondering and you're even sizing me up, does he listen to Benny Hinn or John MacArthur? And I want to just take that minute, this minute right now, I have the MacArthur study Bible, just for you if you're curious. But I'm going after the compromiser.

I'm going after men who need to devote their lives to the Lord. But I've seen so many men who are modern-day Pharisees. You're just as straight as a gun barrel, but you're empty, you're dead to the things of the Spirit.

That's what the Spirit does, it brings life, it brings power, it brings unction. As a matter of, can I just hold this whole sermon? This seems, does this add a little bit more credibility? But it feels good, it feels good. I might have to go out to that trap range.

But my dad raised me on that. The whole Hank Williams Jr. song, a country boy can't survive, I've ran the trout line, I've skinned a buck, I've got ahead of four-wheel drive. All these things, and I love America, but America needs God.

America needs God. I'm like Nehemiah, why should I not be sad when the place of my father's tombs lies in waste? And it's not about worshiping a nation, it's about recognizing what God has done in a nation. But what about this, but what about that? Yeah, don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

It's simply a reflection of the character for people. Back on this track though, some people, theologically they are dead. You need a mighty filling of the Holy Spirit.

I'm not afraid to talk about that. And where I, it's interesting, charismatics, man, wish I was more charismatic. And conservatives don't like when I talk about this issue.

But I truly believe it's once my heart finally submitted to the Lord, I sought Him, I prayed, I fasted, I humbled myself, that I was filled mightily with the Holy Spirit. And the books came out of that, the speaking came out of that. Lord, I'm a broken man dependent upon you.

D.L. Moody said, we are leaky vessels. We've got to sit underneath the fountain of life all the time. So as people love to sit around and debate theology and eschatology and pneumatology, I want to know where is the Spirit of God in your life? Because I can have correct theology and thank God for it, but if it's not backed by the power of the Holy Spirit, it falls on deaf ears and you will hear boring sermons.

And we'll say, when is lunch? Because you have to have theology with power. That's preaching, preaching. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones in his book, Preachers and Preaching, said that theology is coming through a man on fire with the Spirit of God.

And it's interesting, I love reading old books about revivals. My Heart is for Revivals, Welsh Revivals, Great Awakenings, George Whitfield, Wesley. I can take you to Methodist Circuit Writers.

I can take you to... No revival, no revival in the history of our nation, Wales, Scotland, was started without prayer and humility and brokenness. Everything I'm talking about. So if we want to revive our nation, we've got to get on our faces before God.

And it's interesting, once they used to call a pastor 100 years ago, they would not ask, where did he go to school? Does he have his PhD in theology and church history? Does he have a master's degree in biblical studies and hermeneutics and homiletics? And can he interpret the Greek and the Hebrew? What they would ask is one question, has he received his baptism of fire? Because you can have a master's degree, but I'd rather have a degree from the master. Now, big disclaimer there, go get an education. I've done enough reading to last me a lifetime.

I've read commentaries from Calvin and Haas and systematic theology by Norman Geisler and Wayne Grudem. I love D.O. Moody and reading biographies of great men. But at the end of the day, it comes down to am I filled with the spirit of God? Or am I trusting in my own strength? Am I trusting in who I am or what I've accomplished or in what God has done? So that's the foundation for this morning, this afternoon, I should say.

I'm sorry, now. I've been up since four this morning trying to harness all of this. And as you know, we talked about last night.

If you weren't here last night, get the audio, please. Because it will begin to transform your heart. We talked about humbling ourselves.

I got into if my people pray, if they seek. And I stopped here for a minute, if my people pray. And I asked you the question to think about.

Hunger is a sign of health. When you're hungry, you are healthy. And if you are not hungry for the things of God, you are dying spiritually.

That's meant to offend. That's meant to be the slap in the face. Is he saying, absolutely.

Tim, if he would have just kept going another hour, I would have been fine. After about 20, 30 minutes, I'd be on my face on these steps saying, God, I need your power. I need your presence.

I need all of you. And I probably should have fixed that charismatic conservative, but I'm right in the middle. I love sound doctrine.

I love theology. I believe that a person needs to be mightily filled with the Holy Spirit. I believe that you have all of the Holy Spirit that you will ever need at conversion.

But the question is, does he have all of you? That's the question. So that's why there's a big debate, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the filling of the Holy Spirit. Does the Holy Spirit have all of you? And Paul said, be filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Greek, the preposition, the wording, everything. Most theologians will tell you that that is a constant being filled of the Holy Spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit. If I would have got drunk last week, looked at porn and watched Fox News and CNN, I would have not preached powerfully today.

I'll tell you that right now. Why is that? Because I'm not filled with the Holy Spirit. I'm quenching and grieving.

I am so passionate about the things of God that I need more of God. As a matter of fact, I was hesitant to say this, but I'm not even eating up here. I brought juice and some nuts.

And I'm going back, oh, that's spiritual. No, I need God. Don't you understand? How do you live with Christ at the center of your life? I have to starve the flesh and be filled with the Spirit.

Have you ever noticed why, boy, I don't really struggle with lust up here. Why is that? All the triggers are gone. All the pornography is gone.

All those images on Facebook are gone. And you're just here to focus on God. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

What you fill your mind with, you will become. Filled with the Spirit of God or filled with carnality. And that's a big struggle, loving the things of the world or the things of God.

That's what pulls us away from God. If my people humble themselves, if they pray. Jesus said my house will be called a house of prayer.

When was the last time the church dedicated as much time to prayer as to preaching? Have you ever thought about that? Prayer's an afterthought. Hey, we preached for 30 minutes. We did worship.

Might as well get a quick prayer in there. The weapons of your warfare. I run people all the time.

That's wonderful. You have AK-47s and ARs and 1,500 rounds of ammunition. Your prayer closets are empty and your gun safes are full.

What's the problem there? Prayer moves the hand of God. It's prayer that's going to bring revival. It's prayer that's going to change this nation if my people humble themselves and pray.

Pray moves the hand of God. Shane, how do you know? Because the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. That's not gonna do anything.

I own it. I own 357. I own lots of rounds.

It doesn't matter. That's not where my trust and my hope and my strength is in. It's in prayer, pulling down heaven, praying for that prodigal son, praying for that 12-year-old daughter before she hits the world.

You better be on your faces before prayer, before God, because there is an enemy sent to kill, steal, and to destroy. That is his mission. In case you think the devil's just some little guy with the little horns and a little pitchfork and all.

No, he is sent as an angel of light often to kill, to steal, and to destroy. Come on in. It's not bad.

Have you ever thought about that? What used to amaze us and we would never allow now amuses us. It wasn't so long ago I was raised on Leave it to Beaver, Little House on the Prairie. Now there are dating shows and reality shows that are stench in the nostrils of a righteous, holy, pure God, and somebody's gotta call it out.

I'm not afraid. If half the room didn't come back in for tonight, that's fine with me, because it's the half that wants God, that will stay. Think of how far we've drifted.

We allow that vampires, the occult, witchcraft into our homes. We watch all this ungodly things into our homes, and we'll squeeze God in on Sunday, and we expect the Spirit of God to move in our homes and moves in our hearts with filling our mind with all that garbage? That's why you don't pray well. You don't live well.

E.M. Bounds said that read any book E. has ever written, E.M. Bounds, and it will convict you to pray. It convicted me. Men do not pray well because they do not live well.

And I made a vow to God many years ago that I would speak the truth. God, whatever you put in my heart, it's underscore with love. I love your grace.

I love your mercy. But I'm often reminded right before the fall of Jerusalem, for 500 years of Jewish history, right before the fall of Jerusalem, God said, I sent my messengers, rising them up early and sending them. But they mocked my messengers, despised my word, and they scoffed at the prophets until the anger of the Lord arose against his own people.

What do you do when God says you want it, you got it? So I love, love mercy and grace. It's a love that I should be buried in Lancaster. I should be dead.

I should be hung over. I should be on my fifth marriage. But it was for the grace of God.

But I believe that grace allows me to live under a higher standard, not lower. Grace doesn't allow me to continue in sin and mock God. Paul says, whoa, be to the man who does that.

But grace allows me to live under a higher standard, to pull people out of the eternal darkness and into the kingdom of God, to love and to cherish, but also speak the truth. Who said we can no longer speak the truth? I'll tell you, if you elect the wrong person, it's coming. And I'm not getting political.

I'm not gonna go there. I promise myself, don't go there. Because I'm concerned.

I look at where we're at, I'm just concerned. I am concerned that we are in a nation on the brink of a tipping point. Everybody's like, Shane, what are we doing? Well, the Titanic has been struck.

The Titanic has been struck. Where are these messages now? Where are they? This is what the church desperately needs. Every time God brings recovery or revival, it's through repentance.

It's through men and women on their faces before God saying, God, we must have you move. Then he answers, will I not hear from heaven and forgive their sins? But your sins have blocked my communication with you. It's very healthy to talk about this thing.

Jesus actually spoke, you ready for a bombshell? Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven. Uh-oh. Jesus began the ministry not preaching the love of God, but the repentance.

Because it's the love of God, here's the truth, it's the love of God that compels me to share the truth. If I didn't love those struggling with same-sex attraction, I wouldn't preach boldly to them. If I didn't love those who've just had abortion or considering abortion, I wouldn't preach the truth to them.

I love people and the truth must be told. Jesus came, the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we behold the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Paul said, Timothy, Timothy, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.

They will not endure it, so what's the answer? Timothy, be ready in and out of season. Preach totality of God's word. Preach love, but preach holiness.

Preach grace, but preach righteousness. Preach heaven, but preach hell. Preach the pleasant things and also the difficult things.

Why? Because the Holy Spirit of God moves through all that to convict and restore and rebuild. That's biblical preaching. And I also shared the hardest part about pastoring, as you know, I talked about last night, is seeing people die spiritually.

Seeing them die spiritually with living water just steps away. Every problem I see as a pastor, more often than not, can be corrected if they would just turn to the living water. Turn to Christ, fully surrender, because see, partial surrender is not surrender.

Well, the Germans in World War II said, well, we're gonna partially surrender. What would have happened? There's no such thing as partially surrendering, and I also wanna be very encouraging at this point, because nobody's gonna do this perfectly. You will not live perfect on this side of heaven.

You have a loving father who wants relationship, who wants to bring the prodigal son home and work with you and help, but there has to be deep repentance. There has to be full surrender. Surrendering our life to him.

I remember hearing, I was at a large pastor's conference in 2008, I think it was Mike Huckabee was sharing how he took his daughter, 12-year-old daughter, to a Holocaust museum, and she could not believe the horrors that were unfolding before her eyes. Many of you have seen the pictures, you know. And he's thinking, oh, have I done it? This is terrible.

What's gonna happen? I can't believe, was she too young for this? Did I do the wrong thing? And he sat in the car with her for almost two hours. All the way home, she didn't say a word. And when she finally spoke, she said, Daddy, why didn't somebody do something? See, that's my concern today.

Okay, we are living in a culture where men and women dressed in black robes can redefine marriage. Really, that's no big deal. We live in a culture where people go on television and actually say, running for the highest office, that it's okay to abort a child after a certain trimester, and you don't wanna know what a partial birth abortion involves.

Shane, why are you talking about this? Because somebody has to, don't you get it? They wanna silence the pulpit. Shut your mouth, truth, church. Just talk about all the good things.

No, the bad things have to be brought to the surface, too, so the deep national repentance will take place. We've got the blood of innocent children on our hands, and who's gonna sit there and not be concerned about it? That's the problem. We're not repenting.

We're not saying, God, I need you. The sex slave trade industry, you know there are 10-year-old and 12-year-old girls in Los Angeles County who are being led into this? A life of prostitution, drugged up? Where's the concern? Where's the passion? We have no problem eating and watching the NFL, but when it comes to the things of God, we've lost our mind. Why? Because we need humbleness and brokenness and humility if my people humble themselves and pray.

Ian Bound said, when faith ceases to pray, it ceases to live. When your faith ceases to pray, you will cease to live. Here's where the rubber meets the road.

Why aren't we praying? As men, why aren't we praying? Very simple, he who loves the world does not have the love of the Father in him. What we're feeding our mind with, where we're spending our time, that's why we don't love prayer, is because we're feeding our mind with the things of the world. See, I remember, do you remember when the hero was the father? I remember when the hero in the family was the father, not some idiot on television, not some athlete who beats his wife, not some entertainer who mocks God.

The hero was the father. And out of that position, we would lead our families in prayer. They don't want to.

No, they don't want to. My kids don't want to either. I've got four under 11, so please pray for me.

And three are daughters. I've already got it planned. We're building three homes in the back and they're never getting married.

I know that's not right, but it's how I feel. Recent statistics show that I think it's 80, 90% of all young men being raised now, even in the church, are hooked to pornography. We are living in some dire times.

I just, about a year ago, there was a man up front. We had a, the altar was full of men just weeping. God was moving in a special way.

It doesn't happen all the time. And this man was weeping unlike anything I've seen before. It was heart-wrenching.

And this friend came up and he told me that recently he had to cut his son down in the garage who hung himself. Can you imagine walking into your garage and seeing that? See, folks, this is the world I live in. This is the world we live in, where strong enemy forces are running wild.

We are redefining truth. We are calling good evil and evil good. We are not praying for a family.

We're hoping they just get through. But you've got to become men and women, when I was preaching Sunday, men of prayer. There might be somebody who'll listen to women later, right? But you've got to become men of prayer to be the hero again, to call your family back.

You cannot be filled with the world and filled with the Spirit. You cannot, choose today, church, choose today. Who will you serve? You cannot serve two masters.

Stop trying. You'll love the one and hate the other or be loyal to one and despise the other. Jesus said you cannot love two masters.

That's why we don't want to pray. That's why we don't want to worship, is we have the love of the world in us. Now the world there, the cosmos is the world's mindset, the way the world thinks, the way the world does business, the thing the world watches.

And entertainment to me is a big deal, because as a man thinks, so is he. What we're putting in, all these images, all these things that are ungodly, and we expect to be filled with the Spirit of God. If you go to bed with a certain image on your mind because of what you just saw, you will wake up not hungry for God.

But if you're in the Word, in prayer, and ambounds, A-W-Ptozer, these great men of God, if you read them before you go to bed, you're hungry for God, you wake up hungry for God. It's an ongoing process to be filled with the Spirit of God. Remember though, the big push right now is to remove anything that offends, isn't it? Remove anything that offends.

So when I start talking about obedience to God's Word, no, no, that's a bad word. Let's put obedience right there with repentance. While you're at it, let's put it with hell.

Let's put it right there with the blood of Christ. There's a church in my valley who instructed their worship leader, a big church, to remove all lyrics from songs that mention the blood of Christ. Why? Actually, it's a growing church because they're telling people what they want to hear.

And the people there, many of them are not converted. Remove all the songs about the blood of Christ. I mean, the last time I checked, that's the point of the gospel.

For God so loved the world. See, we remove these offensive truths, but it's the offensive truths that set people free. Yeah, they might get mad, that's okay.

They might get upset, that's okay. But we've done what God's called us to do. Now, if you just have truth and obedience without the Holy Spirit, without love, it's called legalism, it's called Phariseeism.

And that's a whole nother sermon. If I say I'm doing a message on legalism and Phariseeism, nobody would be here, so I have to sneak it in sometimes. And here's the difference, back to grace.

Grace doesn't relieve me of responsibility. I actually live under a higher standard now. I don't want to view certain things.

Why would I want to view things that are gonna cause me to lust after other women other than my wife? And people ask, Shane, how is it that you, by the grace of God, have not committed adultery or don't even, well, very quickly, this is so easy, it's elementary. I don't even get talk or text or email or build in any type of relationship with a girl who I'm attracted to at all. Well, Shane, that's rude.

You can call me rude, you can call me arrogant, just don't call me adulterer. I'll be nice and cordial and say, my wife would love to talk to you. Be nice and cordial, my wife would love to talk to you.

I got your email, thank you, I included my wife so she can talk. I don't build any relationship that's going to pull me back into that lifestyle I left many, many years ago. You've got the obedience to God's word.

I can give you scripture after scripture after scripture about obedience to the word of God. As a matter of fact, James says we live in deception if we know it but don't do it. James 1.22, be doers of the word and not hearers, only deceiving yourself.

Be not conformed into this certain image but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Be not conformed, do not put on that, put on this. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but he made himself of no reputation so he took on a mind of humility.

Paul said flee sexual immorality. All these things and then when it comes to obeying the word of God, people say that's legalism. No, that just means you want an excuse to continue in your lifestyle.

That's what that means. Why? Because I didn't. See, forget I'm preaching to myself right here as well.

All these sermons, preaching to myself. If it wasn't for the grace of God, there go I. Therefore, having these promises, 2 Corinthians 7.1. Therefore, it's funny, the legalist might even say right now he didn't even bring his Bible up there. He didn't quote a lot of scriptures and do an expositional topic or whatever.

Right, because I'm going after the heart. I love going after heart, I love expository preaching, I love working through your text but there also comes a point in time where most of the messages in the gospel and the Old Testament are topical. To bring the heart of the people back to God, we need expository preaching, sound doctrine preaching in our churches but we also need to rattle the cage of the heart and wake up that sinner and call them back to God.

2 Corinthians 7.1. Therefore, having these promises, beloved. So God has given us promises. Paul acknowledges these promises.

Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. See, I remember when the church feared God. This isn't a fear of an abusive father.

This is a fear of respect. When I was a heavy equipment operator and I was digging right next to a 12,000 volt electrical line that underground services identified for me and if I hit it, I'm dead. I'm very, very conscious of what is right there.

Or in our area, we have a 36 inch gas main from Texas into our area and you're digging with heavy equipment. You are very cautious. I fear with fear and trembling.

That's a good thing because in fear and trembling, I move cautiously, I move carefully. I walk circumspectly, Paul would say. That's the role of a man to fear God.

The beginning of knowledge is to fear God. Somebody else in the New Testament said to fear him. Don't fear him who can just kill your body, ISIS, but fear him who can cast both body and soul in hell.

Jesus said it about God the Father. God, I feel God just wanting to revive us. Wilt thou not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? Guys, our men, men, our nation is looking for character.

Our wives are looking for leaders and our kids are looking for fathers. Stop the silly video games, get off Facebook, kill your porn habit, tell your ungodly friends to hit the road. You are called to lead, love, and die if necessary for your family.

We are the reason the nation is deteriorating. Do you realize the nation is a reflection of the home? As the home goes, so goes the nation. And as men, we've got to get back to that point.

Shane, do you really think we can make a difference? Come on. Really, that's the attitude we're supposed to have? Jesus said, do business until I return. God said, if I can just get a few people, if I can just get a few people, I'm not concerned about big groups as I am good hearts.

He told Ezekiel, I sought for a man from among them. I sought for a man from among them who would stand in the gap and build a wall on behalf of me that I might not destroy the land, but I found no one. Because Shane, oh, destroying the land and God's not happy and all this, what are you doing to me? I'm trying to get you to a point of repentance.

Here's the truth. People who are filled with the spirit of God have no problem with me saying that. They love it.

They're saying, preach it, brother. Scream it from the housetops because we need to hear that again. That's the only thing that'll bring the prodigal son home.

The wayward daughter will come home when the conviction of God falls upon their heart and they said, there is a God that loves me and wants the best for me, but I've got to readjust and I've got to repent and renew my life. That's all biblical. That's all biblical.

Pray as if your life depend upon it. It depends, sorry, tongue tied. Pray as if your life depended upon it because it does.

Your spiritual life will depend on your prayer life. We've heard this so much, it's in one ear and out the next. I'm well aware that pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray.

I got it, got it, got it. No, we don't got it. We don't got it because prayer changes the man.

Guys, I grew up in a very angry home, I said that. I was very angry. I lost, ended in divorce in the 1990s.

People say, you can't be preaching, you've been divorced. Yeah, I can. Because it was biblical, it was biblical divorce.

Adultery, abandonment, everything. And God used that to call me. Had it not been for that, I wouldn't be here today.

That's what God used to break me. What happened? Anger, addiction, and arrogance. I was angry.

I could punch holes in walls and rip doors off hinges. And I realized, as you do too, that it's still in here. It's still in here.

That Adamic nature. Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of sin and death? The things I want to do, I don't do. The things I don't wanna do, I do.

Oh, wretched man, who will deliver me? I thank God it's through Jesus Christ that will deliver me. But here's the thing. Here's what happens.

When I go into the prayer closet, when I pray and God breaks my heart and I begin to pray, I come out of there a better father. I come out a better husband. I come out a better pastor because of prayer.

See, prayer isn't so much we think about changing God's mind. It's changing my heart. It's aligning my heart with God's heart.

I don't want the things that God wants. I mean, I don't want the things that I want. I want the thing that God wants.

It changes everything, everything. And I was gonna talk about this next point. We don't have time, and I bet many of the people wouldn't even be able to handle this.

But when you pray and when you fast. When I was younger, they used to put nitrous oxide onto Mustangs and things like that. Remember those days? That's what fasting is.

Jesus said, when you pray, when you give, and when you fast, fasting is starving the flesh to be filled with the Spirit. Moses fasted, he received the word of God. King Jehoshaphat experienced victory.

Esther received protection. Elijah was restored. Daniel experienced the supernatural.

Ezra received direction. Nehemiah was strengthened. Joel offered a cure for judgment.

If my people call a sick assembly and fast. Jesus was empowered by fasting. Jesus, the Bible says, and he fasted and came out filled with the Spirit.

Paul was called when he fasted. Peter received confirmation when he fasted. Cornelius was saved, his whole household, when he fasted.

Ezra, so we fasted and we besought our God, and this, and he heard our prayers. I mean, I have a whole sermon on that alone. It's convicting, trust me, because we love food.

And enjoy your food this week. I'm not saying that whatsoever. But prayer and fasting go together because as I'm fasting, I'm starving the flesh.

I do not preach while I'm on a full stomach. I don't know why. I'm tired, it's nap time.

Just ate too much. And it's this indulgence, prayer and fasting. I know I'm gonna lose half of you on that, so I'm gonna get back on track.

We're gonna close in just a minute, but I talked to you last night about if my people seek. Pray, humble themselves, seek. And we have a form, here's the problem.

We have a form of microwave Christianity. We have a form of microwave Christianity. And a pastor from Africa just spoke for me Wednesday night.

And he said in Africa, they've got two, three, four hour church services. They don't even look at the, it's just, they're praising God. But now we've got a microwave form of Christianity.

And it was interesting. Somebody asked an African pastor, in America, we counsel. Everybody counsels, and we counsels, and counsels, and we've got therapy, we've got therapy.

And sometimes that's warranted. I counsel often. But he said, but why in Africa do you not have that much counseling? And he said, because in America, you counsel, in Africa, we repent.

Let that sink in, it'll get you a little bit later. Because I've noticed most people in counseling want me to tell them in private what I've already told them in public. And the excuses come in.

Now, my mom is a registered family marriage therapist. We refer people often. So please don't misunderstand.

But I see so many people have their hope in the counseling and not the Creator. Because when your heart's right with God, everything changes. Everything changes when you pray, when you seek His face.

Woe to the church that is in a hurry to burn through a sermon, scurry through worship, and head to the nearest restaurant. But there's hope for you guys this weekend. I love Jeremiah 29, 13.

You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all of your heart. It's interesting. God says, when you seek me, you will find me if you seek me with all of your heart.

That's a lot of seeks in there. Not to mention I grew up with a learning disability, a reading disability, barely graduated high school at the 1.8, didn't go to college. And God used that through that brokenness.

Because I said, God, I can't do this. I can't do this without you. Speaking in front of people never happened in a million years.

It would never happen. So God can use you no matter where you are. I don't care what you say, Shane, it's too late.

It's never too late with God. But God, see, the interesting thing, the more I seek Him, the more I find Him, and the more I find Him, the more I love Him. The more I love Him, the more I wanna seek Him.

It's this ongoing spiritual hunger that can never be satisfied. A.W. Tozer said, I want the presence of God Himself or I don't want anything to do with religion. I want the presence of God Himself or I don't want anything to do with religion.

We don't need another church service. We don't need another conference. We don't need to play church.

We need men on their face before God crying out and saying, God, create in me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit within me. Because He won't relent.

The God I serve will not relent. If He doesn't send me, He's gonna send somebody else to you next week. You've got the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

You've got the conviction of the Holy Spirit. You've got the conviction of the Word of God. You've got your circumstances being orchestrated.

Draw you back to God. He won't relent. But He won't force.

See, that's the difference. He's not gonna force anybody. Well, God, if you would just take away this drinky.

You know how often I prayed that? It's like the guy with the gambling problem. God, take away this problem as he heads to Vegas with his check. God, take away this drinky.

I'll stop at a bar in Bakersfield and just have Old Duels. See, we play games with God. Guys, it's time to get real.

God wants that full heart, a fully submitted heart that says, see, guys don't like to do this. They don't like that word submission. That's another bad word.

Let's go over on this side. But God says, if you come to me all your weak and heavy laden, I will give you rest. The same God who holds the universe, who put everything together, wants a relationship.

Can you imagine this? That God says, seek me and you will find me with all of your heart. I will break you to such a degree that you will come up out of that conference and you will leave a different man. You will love your wife.

You will cherish your children. The word of God will come alive again. Do you remember when God's word was living and powerful and worship was just meant the world to you? Now you're dead and you're dying inside.

What happened? Not God. It's not God. Jesus said, you've left your first love.

See, guys don't wanna talk about loving and raising hands. I used to make fun of people that raised their hands. I used to mimic, oh, you charismatic Pentecostal weirdos.

How good is our God? How many times has he saved you and delivered you? How many chances has he given you? How many times has he built you up and opened doors? I have to worship him. Be careful. Be careful how you judge people when they worship.

You don't know if that person's just been delivered of 20 years of crack addiction or that mom who just got her daughter back after child services took her for six months. See, the problem is we haven't experienced God or you'd be worshiping. If you've truly experienced God, you would be worshiping.

I spoke at a men's conference down in San Diego, the Rock Church up in the mountains, and it's God moved in a powerful way. 330 some guys, 150 were at the altar, and an hour and a half later, I'm still praying and talking to people. And they're crying, they're weeping.

People go, pastor, you gotta do something. No, I don't. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Don't ruin that. No, no, no. I'm like, are you okay? Are you okay? No, let God break your heart.

See, let God break your heart. That's the problem. Weeping and travail were broken before God.

Let God break your heart because a prideful man has to be broken. I'm preaching to myself. Pride is not an asset, it's a liability.

And our country tells you it's an asset. Be proud. God says, no, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and I will exalt you.

Men, you've gotta humble yourself. This morning, I'm gonna have Tim and his team come back up, and they're just gonna do a final song. And I don't know exactly what it looks like, but I know through the ashes, you will rise again.

What meant to discourage will often encourage you because you can feel that hope rising up again. There is a hope. There is a God that loves me.

If I just seek him again, if I reposition myself, if I repent, if I go back different, and God can restore again, yes, he can. He's the God of restoration. So as we sing this song, I'm gonna be in the back this time, the back corner.

I don't care if there's a line of guys out to the exit or five guys. It doesn't matter to me. I'm not worried about lunch.

I'm not eating it. I will pray with you. I will pray with you.

Guys, it's not because I'm holy. It's because I need God. I need God to move through my sermon.

I need God. Can I confess? When I saw that Sean speaking has a PhD, I go, oh, goodness. They're gonna measure me up.

And I would pursue that if God opened that door. I have nothing against any of that. We need to seek God.

We need theology. We need sound doctrine. We need a correct theology about God.

But he's gotta get your heart first. He's gotta get your heart first because here's why. I couldn't put down theology books when God had my heart.

1,200 pages of Wayne Gruden's systematic theology I read in one summer. And I'm not saying, I have to devour. I can't wait to get back and read Tozer.

I can't wait to get back and read the biographies of those. Why, because there's a hunger for more of God. There's a hunger for more of God.

And guys, it starts. How hungry are you for God? That's the question this afternoon. How hungry are you for the things of God? Here's a perfect test.

Oh, Tim's coming back up. I thought it was lunch. You need help.

If you said, oh, I'm so hungry. Why is he doing this? Why is this guy going this long? You're dying spiritually. And I care for you enough to tell you the truth that you are dying spiritually because a heart on fire for God must worship.

They have to spend time with their father. See, I need him. Daddy, I need you.

I know I preach a hard message, but I look at him as my loving father. Daddy, I need you. I need you this morning.

Men don't want to admit that, do they? We're tough. We're tough guys. But I wept before God this morning and I'll weep before God before this weekend's over because I need him.

Daddy, your son needs you. I need to feel loved. I need to feel appreciated.

I need to feel built up. I need your grace. I'm struggling.

I've got these issues. God, I need you. He says, take it to me.

Take it to the cross and I will rebuild your life. But again, we want microwave Christianity. It might not happen right there.

It might take travail of the soul. It might take fighting the enemy, but you will prevail. You will prevail.

I have no problems. As sure as the sun is coming up, God, who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ if we submit to his work. All this is about, don't get me wrong, it's not about doing, doing.

God, this guy's all about doing. No, it's about submitting. Holy Spirit changes me, but I have to submit to his work.

It's not about, John MacArthur would say, it's not about perfection, but direction. I just meant, throw him in there in case you guys are wondering, you know, where's he at in theology? The Bible says that I believe it. That's where I'm at in theology.

You want to narrow down Calvinism, Arminianism, pre-rapture, pre-trib, post-trib, all these different things church loves to argue over, but I've got lost people dying in my valley. And we're going to argue about the sovereignty of God and man's responsibility to repent? My God. Absolutely, actually, both are true.

God is sovereign, he calls us to repent. What that looks like, I'll leave it up to him. So Tim, whatever you want to do, you guys are so gifted with worship, just lead us.

Lead us in the heart of God and restoration and renewal. And I'll be back there in that corner. And I want to pray, I want to pray for a family.

So I've got three little girls, guys, and I don't like them growing up in this culture. I've got a young boy. And I look at the culture, I look what's going around, I say, God, I need you.

Don't get mad and bitter and angry if your person doesn't win on November 8th. Because there is a sovereign God who still holds nations in his hands. He tells Barack and Hillary and Trump what to do.

Nothing is outside of his sovereign hands. But Shane, you just said judgment is coming. I don't know.

I'm going to pray and I'm going to fast for revival and I'm going to pray that that turns the hand of God. If my people, either that's true or it's not. If my people who are called by my name, I don't care what Hollywood's doing or Washington.

If my people humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven. Does that, is that true or not? Amen. And you know, there's motivational speakers.

I got to pump them up. I don't have to pump you up. I got to fill you with the spirit.

Motivational speakers are just whatever. And if I was a motivational speaker, I may not be talking about all this in case you haven't figured that out. Turn on Christian television on Sunday, you hear one thing about sin, repentance or the cross.

And you send me an email, let me know who that was. I'll send them an email thanking them. You've got these big churches, millions of listeners, and you never mention, you never mention the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith, foundational.

And you just avoid them. We wonder why we're not experiencing revival. Let me pray.

If not, I'm gonna preach another sermon. God, we need you. God, I'm the first to admit I need you.

God, I'm broken, I'm shattered. God, self-esteem, everything, God, is hinging upon who you are and what you'll do in our lives. I pray that men will be broken this afternoon.

Broken, their wives will say, what happened? Say, I've been filled with the spirit of God. I'm back, I'm back. But Lord, this is your work, this is your church, this is your service.

Glorify your son, magnify him in our lives. Lord, bring the Holy Spirit's presence in a more tangible way where change takes place. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.