The Foundation That Weathers the Storm

And I'm actually going to do something a little bit different tonight in honor of Jim. I'd like to give the message that I gave at the funeral service this afternoon, actually. And it was a difficult audience because there's probably 70 percent unbelievers.

And I think I saw a lot of people squirming in their seats and not real comfortable. And Linda said, you're just a guy for the job, you know, and right before Jim passed away, I had a chance of talking with him at his house and his health was failing, obviously, pretty rapidly. And it was just sobering for me.

They're wanting me to come over so you can work on your memorial service. You know, Shane, when I'm gone, here's what I want you to say. Here's what I want.

And Mike, it was just overwhelming to carry that weight and just just listen to him. And and as I was sitting next to him and they brought in this bed and it dawned on me and I told him, I said, you know, it's ironic is I'm dying, too. I'm dying, I'm dying right now as I'm sitting here talking to you, my body is decaying.

And what happens is as a pastor, I preach as a dying man to dying men, quoting the famous Richard Baxter, a Puritan author many years ago. And what Jim wanted me to do was give his friends, his co-workers, he's in the construction industry, works with Hathaway, Dinwiddie, and wanted me to just deliver the gospel in all its totality and shake people to the core and give them a wake up call. Because a lot of those people I will never see again, I will never talk to again.

And I thought it would just be not only in memory of him, but just something to do here at Westside. It's good sometimes to put the brakes on. Let's get back to why we're here.

Let's put everything in context and let's basically sit down, buckle up and hold on. So I want to talk to you this evening, I might say this morning because it was earlier today, about the foundation that weathers the storm. And one of the things sitting next to Jim and as somebody's in the final stages, John Bell was actually over there the night before he passed away when cancer took over his body and it begins to rapidly take over.

And how can somebody have that much peace when you're sitting there? And he just said, I know where I'm going. I'm fine, I'm at peace. And it's amazing.

I mean, how many people could really say that? Now, of course, in our frailty and our humanity, we're fearful. You know, fear comes in there, part of that sin nature, what's on the other side, what, you know, we know it, but our sin nature brings in that fear. And just to see him in so much peace was just to me a great testimony.

So somewhat in honor of him, I want to give this message. It's not really long, but I want to talk about the foundation that weathers the storm. And as many of you know, we've been in the book of Matthew.

We've been going through one, two, three, four, five, Matthew. I think we're chapter five still. And at some point in a few months, we're actually going to get to this this chapter.

But at this at this stage, let's look to Matthew seven, Matthew chapter seven, verse twenty four. If you don't have your Bibles, I will read it. I'm not sure if we've got up on the screen at all.

We've had a very busy day. A lot of the families were still there cleaning up when I left around two. So they probably won't join us tonight.

Obviously, Matthew seven, twenty four. Jesus is saying, therefore he's teaching. He's saying, therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

When the rain came down the street, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house. Yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine, which is the majority of people, let me remind you, and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

And the rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house. And it fell with a great crash. And ironically, this whole group was mainly construction workers from concrete, steel, framing, masonry, whatever it is.

So when I'm talking about the foundation, they could all relate to this. And I reminded them, and I want to remind you too, that the foundation supports everything. Everything that you're going through in life or everything that you will go through is not really what you're going through.

It's the foundation on which your life is built. That's what weathers the storm or doesn't weather the storm. And I'm just amazed at how many people, you know, they build a foundation in construction, they build a building, but they don't do it without a set of plans.

Yet we build our lives without the set of plans, without the blueprints. Well, I'll just try this. And can you imagine the concrete guy showing up and putting the concrete wherever? And I think the plumber in the bathroom needs to go over here in the roof.

No, nothing would come together. Why? They all go back to the set of plans. If there's any question, any concerns, they go back to the set of plans.

What does the set of plans say? So many people are building their lives without looking to the set of plans. And what happens, especially in the Church of America, is we hear it so often that we just discard it. Yeah, I know the plans are there, I know it's there, but I'll get to it someday.

And we're not really building our lives on the only foundation that we'll maintain. So it's ironic, too, that Jesus says when the wind comes, the storms of life, when the rain beats on that house, when the floods start to come up, that house will not fall. Your life will not fall apart because it is founded, grounded on the rock, which is a solid relationship with Jesus Christ.

That's the only foundation. As many of you know, I have a background in construction, and ironically, that's what I did. I did a lot of underground construction, bulldozers, excavators, and backhoes primarily.

And they would invest millions and millions and millions of dollars on certain projects. Jim was actually involved in the Getty Center for six years off the 405 freeway. And millions and millions would go in without the first brick even being laid.

Nothing. It's a big old empty piece of land. Oh, you know we just spent six million on that? Where? Where is that from? Removing hundreds and hundreds of tons of dirt and compacting and compacting and compacting.

Surveying, geology, soils testing. Why? Because the foundation is the most important part of that structure. It's not the beautiful architectural design.

It's not even our homes or our roof and our windows. That would just collapse if the foundation wasn't solid. So with that as the background, I talked briefly on three points.

The first one was, where do you build your house? On the solid rock of God's Word or on the sinking sand of man's philosophy? All of us have a choice every single day where we're going to build our life. This isn't something we build. Granted we profess a faith in Christ.

We believe and we are saved, sealed and delivered from the wrath that is to come and we are Christians. So our life is built upon that. But we can make choices throughout the week, throughout the day, that either anchor us to that foundation or can pull us away.

So we want to think about that. Where are you building? And let me draw your attention back to, this is interesting. Anytime Jesus ever says, therefore, you need to find out what it's there for.

So he says, therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a man who built his house upon the rock. Well, what comes before therefore? Jesus says, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, we did all these things in your name. He'll say, depart from me.

I don't know you. That scripture rocked my world in 1999. I'll never forget opening the Bible and reading.

Many will come to me in that day. Many, all across our globe, all across our nation. Many will come to me in that day, that day of judgment.

And say, Lord, Lord, we did all these things in your name. We cast out demons in your name. We did all these great miracles in your name.

We did these wonders in your name. And Jesus will say, depart from me. I don't know you.

I'm talking to you who practice lawlessness. Wow. Is it possible to do things in the name of Jesus and not know him? Oh, yeah.

And I apply that to my own life. And I hope this message is for somebody tonight. When I read that, I'm thinking, Lord, I was pretty much a good person.

I went to church on the days I didn't play golf or sleep in or go to the gym. I owned a few Bibles. I'm an American.

By default, I'm a Christian. Think about that. Many people, many people, and I challenged them.

I said, you can know all about God, but if you do not know him personally, he will reject you. He doesn't want to. This isn't some mean, angry God saying, ha, ha, ha, I told you.

It's Christ saying, I don't know you. Yeah, sure, you used my name. You name dropped, but I don't know you.

I don't have a relationship with you. And I gave the analogy of, let's say Billy Graham was here. And he was sitting in this row, front row.

I'd be first amazed. He's going on his 95th birthday. It's someone I've looked up to for many years.

Controversial things here and there, but overall, the scope of his ministry is amazing. But I would say, Mr. Graham, I know all about you. I've read a few different biographies, 700 pages long.

I know when you were saved, you walked down the sawdust trail. I believe it was Mordecai Ham that was preaching. I know about your first crusades there in Los Angeles.

I think it was William Randall Hearst, the great newspaper writer back then or owner of newspapers, said two things that launched Billy Graham, and it was Puff Graham. And what that means is he sent all his media team down there, and they did all these stories on the crusades, and that's when his ministry... I know all about you. Do you know what he would tell me? Young man, I don't know you.

I don't know you. Sorry. Wait, wait, wait.

I know all about you. Sorry. Stop.

I don't know you. And that's the same scenario. That's what Jesus is saying here.

That's why sometimes when I preach, people say, well, he let him have it. I'm not mad. I'm passionate.

Is it possible that people can name the name of Christ and come every weekend and own a Bible and say the right things but not know Him? Yeah. Many will come to me in that day and say, Lord, Lord, we did all these things in Your name. I had the lingo down.

Hey, Brother Shane, I attended church. I even looked at the worship screen and I sang a few songs. I went to church.

What's wrong here? Because you don't know Him, the heart has not broken and repented and trusted in Him. The only sound foundation, the only solid foundation. I mean, how else do you interpret that? Many will come to me in that day and say, Lord, Lord, we did all these things in Your name and He'll say, depart from me.

I don't even know you, you who practice lawlessness. And you wonder, you turn on the television, you wonder, how many of these guys really know Him? Some? Sure. Absolutely.

Or they're doing all these things as they build mansions and drive jets. They're doing all these things. Just send us this, we'll send you a prayer cloth.

All this money, all this revenue. They're going to stand in judgment, some of them, and He's going to say, depart from me. I don't even know you.

You practice lawlessness. You did all these things in My name but you never had a relationship with Me. So then He says, therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a man who built his house upon the rock and it did not fall.

Therefore is there because, He's saying, if you truly know Me, if you truly have a relationship with Me, obedience to the Word of God is a byproduct. There's no way around that. Genuine faith.

If somebody has genuine faith in their heart, they want to serve God. Not perfectly, but there's a heart after God. And that's why I've talked before in the American gospel is not the real gospel.

Many people know about God, but they do not know Him intimately through a personal relationship based on repentance and surrender life. I like what C.H. Spurgeon said here. The devil can make men dance upon the brink of hell as though they were on the verge of heaven.

Let me say that again. The devil can make men dance upon the brink of hell as though they are on the verge of heaven. And what he's saying there is it's enticement, it's alluring, it's false religions.

They're believing that they're on their way to heaven, but they're on their way to hell because they don't know Christ. And that's what a lot of religions focus on. Religion, religion, belonging to our organization, being baptized in our organization.

You fill in the blank. Anything. I'm Pentecostal.

I'm Baptist. I'm Roman Catholic. I'm whatever.

You fill in the blank. If you're trusting in that, you're not trusting in Christ because there's no denominations in heaven. There's nothing there except that relationship that we have with Him.

Or Jesus is challenging us. Do you really know me? And that was the second point I brought up. How do you build? How do you build on this foundation? Obedience to the Word of God is another cornerstone.

It reveals the heart. And we've talked about this a lot lately, but a lot of what you're going through right now, if you're struggling, if God seems distant, a lot of it has to go back to obedience to the Word of God. Once we begin obeying the Word of God, that's when we'll start to see recovery and restoration.

A lot of times though, we want the blessing, but without the disciplines. And God says, no, you begin to discipline yourself and seek Me with all of your heart. Then you'll find Me.

So it's in the seeking that we find Him. And a lot of those people that were there this morning, there's no obedience to the Word of God. They're not serving Him.

They're serving the God of this world. They're building on the wrong foundation. Perfect example, they'll hear Christ's words, but they won't repent and turn to Him.

And as we know, hearing without doing leads to deception. Does it not? Many people will hear the Word of God. They'll hear it, but they don't obey it.

So they live in deception. We've talked about that a lot here as well. Number three, the third point I talked about, what material do you use to build the foundation? Are you building concrete or using sand? And that's the whole analogy Jesus said of the rock, the foundation, the rock.

There's nothing stronger that He could bring in than the rock. He says, if you build on this rock, your house will never fall down. Doesn't mean you won't go through the storm.

You see the difference there? Both houses encountered the storm. He didn't say the rock was way up here, they didn't experience anything. The rain descended, the floods came, and the wind beat against both homes.

But what was the determining factor? The determining factor was not the type of house, it was the foundation on which it was built. Now you can understand what the Old Testament would say. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Why? Because as the floods come in, they will not overtake me. As I walk through the fire, I will not be burned. I will not be scorched, because the Lord upholds me with His right hand.

Though the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, if he falls, he will not be utterly cast down, because the Lord upholds him. See, it's the Lord doing the holding. It's the foundation.

We're anchored to that foundation. It's not us. It's the foundation we're anchored to.

And this is a good time to remind everybody as I did this morning. If you don't like what I'm saying, it's probably because you need to hear what I'm saying. If this is convicting and challenging, what it means is you need to hear this.

God is tugging on your heart. You're either saying amen or hurry up. Let's be honest.

What about if I start in the first row? Second row. Go through. Are you saying amen? Or are you saying hurry up? Get this guy over with.

I'm hungry. Hurry up, Shane. I don't like what you're saying.

Or do you say, I love what you're saying. Thank God for Christ. Let's bring some more worship back up.

There's two types of people in this room. There are two types of people in this room. Think about that.

That's where the defining factor is. Shut up, Shane, or amen. We should use that from now on.

Or we could say the ones that are smiling are saying the amen. The ones that are not too happy are saying hurry up. Get done with this.

But in all seriousness, I don't say any of this to upset people. Actually, if it were up to me, I would just come in here and tell you God loves you and He does and His mercy and His grace. Just keep on doing whatever you're doing.

Don't worry about it. You're more than conquerors. You're the head, not the tail.

You just go out. Charge team. Go do it.

God will be with you. God bless you. Let's go.

Let's get out of here. Thank God. Everybody loves me.

Wasn't that great? I have no enemies. Nobody's upset at me. That's what the flesh wants.

You think I like upsetting people? Called the Godzilla preacher and all this. Like wow, I just really love that. And then Linda, you know Linda Hearn, she, bless her heart, after the service she came up.

She said, man, people came up to me and said, boy, your pastor really doesn't hold anything back, does he? I don't know if that's good or not. My point is my job is not to disseminate what you want to hear. It's to read the Word of God and say what we need to hear.

Because a lot of times, what we want to hear is not what we need to hear. I saw the same thing in the fitness industry. If I could come in and just say, hey, drink diet Cokes all day, eat a Snickers bar, have a donut in the morning and a 16 ounce cup of coffee.

That's what everybody wants to hear. But I need to tell you what you don't want to hear. Because that's where change really takes place.

When you begin to embrace what you don't want to hear, that's when change takes place. I'm just looking around the room. I could give people the opportunity to give up testimony.

They would say, true change in my life happened when I did what I didn't want to do initially. Could it not? It hurt. It hurts to repent.

It hurts to say I'm sorry. It hurts to love your wives as Christ loved the church. It hurts to say, I'm a prideful arrogant man.

I need to repent. All these things hurt, but that's what God does. He takes that clay and forms us and He starts chipping off all these things.

So back to the third point. The material that we use to build is vitally important. Most people say it doesn't really matter.

All foundations are the same. All foundations support the same structure. It doesn't really matter, does it? Just throw some concrete down.

Same thing today. It doesn't really matter what you believe as long as you believe. As long as you're sincere in your beliefs.

As long as you're sincere as if sincerity has saved anyone. You can be sincerely wrong. Sincerely wrong.

And somehow in our culture, we have this misconception that as long as you have faith, you're good. Well, you have to have faith in the right things. And Jesus would say, you have to build your life on the solid foundation.

He said many times, I tell you the truth. And when Jesus Christ says, I tell you the truth, you can take it to the bank. I'll take that above the sun coming up tomorrow morning.

I tell you the truth. The word was written, Jesus would say that you know the truth. The word is truth.

This is truth. It can't be altered. It can't be moved aside.

It can't be discarded. It can't be hidden. It is truth given to save man from himself.

And I'll tell a brief story that I told this morning because Jim liked this one. And many of you have heard it, but it bears repeating because it's pivotal when we talk about this whole issue of truth. And it's the one about the battleship that was off the shores of Alaska.

They were doing deep water exercises. It was dense out. It was foggy.

It was dark. And this battleship is going along and it sees a light way in the distance. And it signals to that light, listen, change your course.

We're going to run into you. And the light came back. No, you change your course.

And the captain is getting upset. He said, listen, he signaled back, I'm the highest ranking officer in the United States Navy. Change your course immediately.

And the light came back. Captain, the signal came back. Captain, with all due respect, I'm a seaman, first class.

You change your course. And this captain was irate. He threw down his coffee cup.

He said, you signal back right now that I am a battleship and I will blow you out of the water if you do not change your course. The signal came back. Captain, with all due respect, change your course immediately.

I am a lighthouse. Well, is that not what we do with this? Could you please change your course? I don't want to obey this. Get out of the way.

Remove yourself. Get out of here. You change your course this way or that way.

I want to live anyway. Move it. And it says I can't.

I can't move. I've been given to guide you. You will not guide me.

I guide you. I am the lighthouse. Whether you like it or not, whether you listen or not, whether you obey or not, I stand on the edge of the cliff and I say here, warning, turn back.

It is a lighthouse. But we say get out of the way. Get out of the way.

Our entire leadership of our nation needs to hear that. You don't tell this to get out of the way. You get out of the way.

But that's what it is, folks. That's a lighthouse. We don't worship that.

We worship Christ. But it leads us to the cross. It gives us direction in everything.

Finance, stewardship, marriage, abortion, gay marriage, same-sex attraction, stem cell research, all these controversial hot buttons that nobody has answers for. God does. God's Word is crystal clear.

Do not destroy life. I created it. Marriage, man and a woman.

I created it. Sin, hell, damnation, yeah, those are bad things, but there's love, grace and mercy too. And the people were starting to squirm and I could see, oh man, that's a hard group of people, mainly unbelievers.

They're like, who is this guy? And I said, Jim gave me permission to unload all 66 books of the Bible. Say, you better wake up and you better listen. Because his prayers were being answered this morning because many people that he wanted to hear the Gospel message have never heard it.

Or they've mocked it. And now I got them. They can't get up.

We knew the ushers. Don't let them out. Don't let them out.

But if you truly are concerned, people see that. It's not anger. It's passion.

I mean, what do we do when Paul says, Timothy, preach the whole Bible. Preach everything because the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. There will become a time when they don't want to hear this.

Do you know it's interesting that you can go and you can talk about God and a higher power and all these things. Nobody cares. Isn't that wonderful? They're making movies.

You can say all that stuff. But as soon as you say the name of Jesus Christ, oh, you're in trouble. You just killed somebody.

You can't say that name. Why? If it's no big deal. If it's no big deal, why can't you say it? Let me quote Spurgeon here if I can find it.

If there be a man before me who says that the wrath of God is too heavy a punishment for his little sin, I ask him if the sin be so little, why does he not give it up? Ouch! Sometimes I wish I lived back in the 1700s, 1800s. These guys, I mean, they just laid it out. But that's what happens when you preach the totality of Scripture.

Lives are changed. You love a person, but you talk about the wrath of God. You give them mercy, but you talk about the judgment of God.

You show them the way to heaven, but you show them the consequences of hell. That's the gospel, the complete gospel. Jesus came on the scene saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And many in this room, and you're going to hear this later, whether it's radio, internet, need to hear this message. Do you truly know Him? You cannot live your life with the question mark here. If I were to say, do you know Christ? Well, I think so.

I hope so. I said a little prayer. You don't know Him.

Now that might get some people upset at me, but that's the gospel truth, because those who have a vibrant relationship with the risen Savior know Him. This isn't, well, I think so. I mean, I said a prayer when I was 12.

Maybe, I don't know. It's like, are you married or not? Am I? Oh, I am. That was a close call.

I wasn't sure. And my relationship with Christ is just as real, if not more real than my marriage. Because from that foundation is the marriage is built.

From that foundation, life is built. From that foundation, my kids, my father, everything is built on that foundation. So when life is falling apart, and addictions are taking over, or everything's falling apart, go back to the foundation.

Not just hear about the foundation. Not just come on Saturday and think, well, I'm good. Go back to the foundation.

Get your hammer out and get some big nails and start nailing things back into that foundation. Start anchoring and start drilling into that foundation, so you're secure. I can tell you, any time a person is drifting, they have no more prayer life.

They have no more devotional life. They're drifting. They have all this garbage on their radio instead of worship music.

They have all these friends that are pulling them down except they're going in the wrong direction. You need to be anchored back on the rock. It's almost getting it's ironic as well.

I can look when I see, when I hear such and such is going through hard times right now or this, or they've fallen back and sinned. I just look at their Facebook page. Well, I can tell you where that started about six months ago.

Look at all this junk they're posting. Look where their heart's at. Look it.

Out of the abundance of the heart, your mouth is going to speak. Show me Facebook, I'll show you your heart. Think about it.

They used to push worship music. Now they're putting all this garbage. Wholesome pictures.

Now the pictures make a Playboy model blush. What's happening? The drift. You're getting off of the foundation.

You need to get back to that foundation. That's my job. That's one of the reasons I'm called to do this, is to get you back on the foundation.

And I have other people to help me stay on that foundation. Because the enemy likes to knock us off. When the winds blow, we like to kind of blow away.

The rains come, I'm out of here. I'm out of here. And that's so important, the foundation.

Always lead to salvation and I'm a good person are all excuses. Let me say that again. Always do not lead to God.

Well, they lead to the judgment seat, but they do not lead to heaven. All paths, all ways do not lead to God. Because you can't have both things.

You can't have this and the book of other religions. You can't have this and my own thing. Because Jesus said, I am the only way, the only truth, the only life.

You will never get through the Father unless you go through me. So is he wrong or is he right? If he's wrong, why are we here? Really. I mean, we're wasting a lot of time.

Excuses must die at the foot of the cross. All the excuses that I offer to these people, all your excuses, I've heard them all. I'm a good person.

No, there's none that are good. No, not one. Well, I've been a Christian all my life.

No, you can't be a Christian all of your life. You're not born a Christian. There's a point in time where you pence of your sin, you believe in Jesus.

Well, all ways lead to God. No, all religions can be wrong, but all religions cannot be right. Think about that.

All religions on the planet can be wrong, but they cannot all be right. And I didn't have time this morning, but I have a little time now. I want to just tell you why I believe, because a lot of people think, my wife's talked to people, I've talked to people, it's almost like they think Christians just check their brains at the door.

Oh, I believe in God, some cosmic something, and yeah, I just need him. It's a crutch for my life, and I guess, yeah, you know, you just check your brains at the door and walk around like you're just believing in whatever. Actually, Christians do not check their brains at the door.

If you begin to look at everything, the history and archaeological discoveries confirm the biblical record. Over 25,000 sites have now been discovered that confirm the Bible's accuracy. Did you catch that? 25,000 sites all over mainly the Middle East obviously, have been found and confirm what's already been written in the Word of God.

Do you know how many locations mentioned in the Book of Mormon have been found? Zero. Zero. Shane, you should make fun of other religions.

I'm not making fun, I'm just telling you the facts. We don't check our brains at the door. Nothing's been found.

In biblical Christianity, the Bible, 25,000 sites have been found, and Nelson Glewek, I don't know how to pronounce his last name, he's a renowned Jewish archaeologist. The person who digs up dirt and finds things. That's what he does, right? It may be stated categorically that no discovery has ever went against a biblical reference.

People say, oh, there's so many. Show me one mistake in the Bible. Show me where that's at.

Usually they've heard it, or they've heard it, or they don't know. Everything that's been found confirms the Bible. So not only do you have history in archaeology, what about the accuracy of biblical prophecy? There are over 2,000 accurately fulfilled predictions in the Bible, including some 300 specific details about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

No bones would be broken. He would be hung among thieves. Crucified when crucifixion wasn't even invented.

They would cast lots for his clothing, Jeremiah, the prophets, Isaiah. They would write about Christ. How has all this happened? You should read a book by Lee Strobel, Case for Christ.

Full-on atheists begin to invent. If you approach God with an open mind, you will find Him. Let me say that again.

If you approach God with an open teachable mind, you will find Him. That's a prayer that God will answer. What happens is they say, well, I'll seek and I'll find and I'll seek.

In their mind they've got plan B. There's no God, but I'm going to pacify everybody and act as if there is and I'll investigate. They're not seeking Him with a pure heart. Whoever seeks Him will find Him.

That's crystal clear. If you seek Me with all of your heart, Muslim, Buddhist, whatever it is, if you seek Him, you will find Him. But when pride gets in the way and we say, well, I don't think this and I don't think that, I'm suppressing the truth and all these things, you'll never find Him because you're God of your own life.

What's wrong with saying, God, if You're really out there, if You're really, Lord, I want to believe in You, Lord, will You show me? Will You please show me? You don't think He's going to answer that prayer? If you seek Me, you will find Me. There's no, well, I might reveal Myself, I'll consider it. You might wake me up from Heaven someday and while I'm sleeping or on vacation, seek Me with all of your heart, you will find Me.

So we have history, we have archaeological discoveries, we have biblical prophecy. What about the internal consistency of the Bible? It is a truly amazing, consistent document. I don't think people realize it a lot, but because I've written books, I understand how difficult it would be to get all these authors, forty different authors, forty different authors, written over fifteen hundred years in three different continents by many groups of people, priests, kings, peasants, shepherds, all these things saying the same thing, the internal consistency of the Bible.

That doesn't just happen. That does not just happen. You start in Genesis, you finish in Revelation, it's consistent theme, God creating, God saving, God redeeming, it's all about His story.

That's what history is. So when you take all of that into consideration, how in the world could you dismiss it? Because of arrogance only and pride. But the greatest witness I believe is a transformed life.

How can somebody be on their deathbed like Jim was and have total peace? Shane, I'm ready. I've said bye to my family. And I encourage his family that although it's difficult being able to say goodbye for the last few weeks is a blessing.

My dad actually died on a construction site on the east part of Lancaster in 1992 I believe it was, and that was it. I missed his birthday, hadn't talked to him in a while. I had to drive and pick up the large truck, we had a crane, picked up his boots and his pants where they cut his shirt off, and picked up all his stuff on the concrete with his blood and just took it home.

That's it. I didn't get it. Living the rest of my life with regret I just told him.

We just talked a while. So there's a lot of comfort in that. That your dad's there and he's, I'm going to be okay, and he gets all his things in order.

It was quite impressive to watch somebody actually on their deathbed knowing they've got weeks and say, I'm fine. I know where I'm going. And comforting his family.

And that reminded me of the words of John Wesley. A few hundred years ago he said, our people die well. We thought, what does he mean by that? Well, they die well.

They're ready to meet their master. And that's what Jesus was alluding to here. If you truly know me, if you have a relationship with me but the greatest witness is a transformed life.

Not a perfect life. The life that's been transformed by the power of the Gospel. And I did this obviously with a lot of unbelievers.

You know, it might not be as important, but I know that somebody still needs to hear this. So I want to read what I read to them. I started with Romans 3.23 and got rid of all these arguments that I'm a good person this and that.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Everybody has sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none that are righteous, no, not one.

There is none who understands and there is none who seeks after God. See, a lot of times we think, we find God as if He's sitting up in a corner hiding. He finds us just as much as we find Him.

He calls us without that calling of the Holy Spirit, the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the drawing of the Holy Spirit. I don't believe anybody will come to faith in Christ. That's why Jesus said, all other sins will be forgiven you except the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

It's brought a lot of confusion and it shouldn't. If you blaspheme the Holy Spirit it means you are hearing what I'm saying and you're rejecting it. You're hearing the conviction you're the person who wants to get up and go eat right now and get out of here.

You're ignoring that conviction. You're blaspheming the call of God upon your life to turn your life over to Him. That's what He's referring to here.

Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death. This verse is not popular in many churches nor is it preached for many pulpits. Telling others that the punishment for sin is eternal death and separation from God is not pleasant, marketable or palatable.

It doesn't taste good. But it is powerful. Romans 1.16 It is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes.

Again, it was Spurgeon who said, if there be a man before me who says that the wrath of God is too heavy a punishment for his little sin, I ask him if the sin be little, why does he not give it up? So what happens, and you'll see throughout the Old Testament God would do this often. There's this, oh, this wait I'm not worthy, I'm not ready, I'm not prepared. But He doesn't leave us hanging there.

He goes right into Romans 6.23 But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5.8 declares, but God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Now let me tell you what happens right now in America, what happens in this church, what's going to happen in the radio, internet everywhere this message goes, people it's going to be in one ear and out the next.

Because you've heard it so much. You go preach this in another country, people are falling down worshipping God saying I've never heard this good news. Could there truly be a God that loves me and forgives me? Tell me more, tell me more.

They devour the Bible they get arrested for having the Bible they memorize chapters because the Bible's taken away. They can't get enough of this. But we come to the American church, yeah, saved by grace through faith in Christ, in one ear and out the next.

We just keep hearing it so much that we become desensitized. The greatest message ever told and people just are still worried about what's for dinner. Think about that.

While we are yet sinners, Christ died for us. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. People get more excited about the Broncos and the Cowboys.

They'll get dressed up, they'll fly, they'll sit in parking lots at five in the morning. But when you talk about this, it's been said so much that we become desensitized. Just look at man on the street interviews on YouTube.

You know, yeah, some guy died on the cross for my sins. And we wonder why we're in the state that we're in today. It's because we have to hear this message afresh.

And I believe that's one of the important elements about communion, why we try to do it once a month, is because you remember the cross. You remember the blood-stained cross. Why is His blood up there? So mine wouldn't have to be.

The wrath of God was poured out on Calvary. Propitiation. The wrath of God was satisfied on the cross, on Christ.

That's powerful. And sometimes you've got to bring your mind back to that because the enemy takes it away. Yeah, it's no big deal.

Yeah, you'll hear it again. Some people won't hear it again. I guarantee not every one of you will be back here next Saturday.

This is the most inconsistent church I've ever seen. It's like a treadmill. So many new faces, and then they're gone.

So many new faces, and then they're gone. Honestly, we've had about 1,500 1,500 people coming in over the last three years. I guess they don't like what's being said a lot.

But a lot of people are getting revived and challenged and changed and they bring it back to their church and they bring it back to their home. But it's because of this truth that lives are being changed. I could point out marriages here that are being restored because they embrace truth.

Addictions, rehab, all these things, God is working in their lives because they embrace this truth. So the encouragement was that God demonstrated His own love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That's amazing.

While I was still sinning, while I was still getting drunk, while I was still partying, while I was still doing all these things, Christ died for me. He died for me. He took my place and He hung on the cross and the Father and the Son were separated for a point in eternity for me, for you.

Why does that not excite us? Now you see why I have to worship Him? We want 45 minutes of worship tonight. We have to worship Him. And I would encourage you, get here early.

We want to start worship a little early, like 520 at night now and just have people here being praying and worshiping. We don't have to wait for 530. We want to come here a little early and begin pressing in and worshiping.

Actually, I've noticed that moves of God, when God begins to move and break people, it's not from a quick few sets and then a quick message and hurry on to the next service. It's pressing in and I would have to, a pressing in and worshiping and the heart's breaking and mending and repairing and that's when God begins to move in the heart. Because the first few songs, we're just getting all the junk out of the trunk.

All the mentally, my wife said, don't say that too much. I must not know what it means. That's bad English, but it's true.

We're getting all the stuff out of our minds, are we not? Well, I'm bored. Why am I here? I came in a bad mood. Golly, I shouldn't be here.

Me and my spouse just fought on the way here. The kids are acting up. I'm not too happy.

I don't want to see that guy anymore. Oh, they're here. It happens.

So it takes that time to begin to worship Him again. But the hope is this, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Everyone means everyone. There's power in the name of Jesus. Everyone means everyone.

I don't care what your situation is, single mom, hooked on drugs, man hooked on illicit sex, pornography, whatever it is, all means all. All who call upon my name will be saved. So when you stand before God, there's really no excuse because the offer of salvation was given to all.

And I find it ironic that just as Jesus said, just in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. When Christ comes again, people are eating and drinking and marrying and being given into marriage up until the day that Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

Just in the days of Noah means they rejected the warning and the call to repentance just like today. That's all that means. Just like in the time of Noah.

Just like now. There's a call to repentance. Noah preached for 120 years.

No converts. Wow. And that's really what the whole thrust of this message was.

Do you truly know Him? You cannot live your life with the question mark here. And I quoted Psalms 23. Many of you of course know it.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He leads me beside green pastures.

He restores my soul. I said, you don't know Him. You cannot apply that Psalm to your life if you do not know Him.

He's not your shepherd. That's one of the most misapplied verses at funerals that is ever read because so many people, oh, isn't that wonderful? Yeah, that's great. And they leave, but they don't truly know Him as their shepherd.

So you cannot live your life with a question mark here. I want to leave you with that. You know somebody who needs to hear this message.

Get the CD. Get the video. But we want to get this message to people.

It's the call. It's laying out the Romans road. It's challenging.

Do you truly know Him? Do you truly know Him? But before the worship team comes up, I just want to play a quick clip that I saw. Actually, Friday we met with the Billy Graham Association. Time is collapsing on us.

We're like a shadow that's declining. We're all dying. From the moment you were born, you started dying.

How much longer do we have? I remember the first moment when I became completely blown away and intrigued with the idea of being a magician. It all comes down to this moment for Super Bowl 42. The New York Giants drafted me in the 6th round of the 2003 draft.

I remember when I was 14 and I recorded my first song. It was everything that I was looking for. I just enjoyed every moment of it.

I am a master of phoniness. I'm a charlatan by craft. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be a musician for living.

I didn't even think that was possible. Do you number your days? Do you realize how important every single day is? There in my hospital room, this man walks in and he looks at me and he says, if you don't do anything, you're gonna die in two months. Most people would like to think that money would solve all your problems but the money only multiplied the evils that were in my life.

I'll never forget those sirens in my rearview mirror. Being asked to get out that car and them searching the car and pulling out that half a pound of marijuana. I really just felt so empty in everything.

All the highs of life that I tried to experience, whether it was in drugs or sex, it just seemed to all leave me really empty. And since there wasn't anything in life that satisfied the emptiness, I just didn't want to do life anymore. It's been hard to deal with right now.

Peyton is three years old and Gavin is two years old. Our two babies. Should this take my life early? I love you.

Millions are crying, what can I do to be saved from the pressures of life? The pressures are just so great. The things that are broken in your heart and life can be restored in Christ. He wants to give you a peace and joy and assurance that if you died you'd go to heaven.

At that moment nothing else mattered. I just knew I needed something more. Something you just can't explain that you have to experience where I really felt like I was in front of the God of the universe.

I just cried out in desperation and said, God, all I know is I need you. There's a spiritual cancer that's eating us away on the inside and we're all longing we're all begging for someone to step in and to save us. The fact that time is short calls for us to do something about it now.

No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you can still have tomorrow. Wow, it's powerful. We're going to be talking a lot more about this, my hope.

It's just some powerful material that we're going to get out. We're going to have a night in November where we can invite friends and we're actually going to watch these testimonies a little early and then also have a night where we're going to bring people. I'd watch these.

It's powerful to see these lives radically change. Who could preach like Billy? I just should play that one Saturday. Because we're seeing lives radically change and that's what my hope is too.

So it's called My Hope with the Billy Graham Association. We had a meeting with them Friday with a lot of churches in the area that Yvette and you and Ron put together and it was truly a blessing. So we're going to be a part of that.

I'll announce more of that later. The whole object of me is to point you back to Him. The message is to point you back to Him and worship.

Worship, you'll see throughout the Bible, the worship costs us something. David went to worship God but it cost him something. People went to worship God.

You've got to give. You've got to give of God. You've got to seek Him.

Worship is not just sitting there reading the words. It's the heart seeking God and breaking and worshiping Him and longing for Him. It's not popular but it's powerful.

So I'll just ask if you'd all stand. We're just going to do a few songs of worship. I'll come back and release this.

But this is a time to pray with your spouse or exit out the back door if you need to go get your kids. Pray with your spouse. Just pray.

Seek God. We don't need to be doing anything formal. It's just a time to worship and honor Him.

Lord, I just give you this time. Lord, I pray to you to anoint this worship. Lord, Ronnie and Chelsea's words and Emma and the drums.

Lord, everything. Anoint this worship to honor you. Lord, we'll stay here all night if that's what it took to see revival in our lives.

I want to see breakthroughs, Lord. I want to see people restored. Lord, begin to tug on hearts right now.

Release the hound of heaven on this place, Lord. We're broken. This is healed at the foot of the cross.

Restoration is happening right here tonight, Lord. We honor you. We give you all the credit and all the glory.

This is your church, Lord. Have your way in this place. And we pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.