Among The gods There Is None Like You

The message tonight is among the gods there is none like you among the gods there is none like you and just this morning i wanted to keep reminding the congregation i'll probably start doing that more is bringing your bible with you we've kind of got out of that out of that trend over the years and i'm going verse by verse in psalms a lot on wednesdays abram's going through the gospel of john we're going through the the book of acts verse by verse what i've and i even read um recently i think it was october i don't remember the exact date maybe october 1st 2001 and it was talking about um the the harvest jesus was talking about the harvest is truly plentiful there's not a lot of reapers and i i noted in there i felt i feel god's calling me to preach back in 2001 and i was at central christian church and then later that week i was at hope chapel and on that they were teaching on that same verse i had that same that you know what a verse really just wow you get the highlighter out and so what what i think is important is to bring your bible and as we're going through each verse turn to psalm 85 and whatever that that that that point that really pops or that verse that really sticks out it's okay to write in your bible mine's a mess date it journal it you'll go back a years from now and even leaving it for your kids it's a treasure i still have my mom's bible uh so getting back to that you know this bite this bible isn't as good it's okay but it's hard to make notes and things like that so start bringing your bible and even those listening online facebook um uh media social media the radio well maybe not the radio because they're probably driving and we're on we're in the prisons now in the pando app so a lot of the prisoners like to go through it with us um i think many many of you know we've reached about 175 000 views now in the last six months of prisoners watching the sermons uh so it's pretty incredible what god is doing so as we look at psalm 85 it is the prayer of a patriot charles spurgeon said this it is the prayer of a patriot for his afflicted country can you relate in which he pleads the lord's former mercies and by faith foresees brighter days and pray and see there's nothing wrong with praying for our country and and for some way or somehow this word patriot is has taken on this bad meaning when initially it just meant love god love your country love your family and thank god for the blessings he's given us there's there's nothing wrong with that and so we actually see this in psalm 25 it's a prayer of a patriot for his afflicted country and if you ever wonder or consider or maybe not consider but um don't know what to pray for have you ever been there our nation needs your prayers intercession is so important lifting up our leaders it might not be a very smooth transition of power uh in the next what month and a half there might be drones off the east coast that nobody knows about or nobody knows what what's going on out there there might be all kinds of upheaval and and and civil unrest we needed and uh we just saw in new york i think it's new york the uh the man who was found not guilty uh for killing someone on the subway who was actually going to kill others and i just can't believe the other side of that that that just that that is so upset that the verdict was not guilty it's not like you just killed somebody out of the blue this guy he defended others he he took the life that was going to possibly take the lives of others and so we need to lift up our country psalm 85 lord lord you have been favorable to your land amen hasn't he you have brought back the captivity of jacob spurgeon said many a time have we also been brought into soul captivity by our backsliding but we have not been left there god who brought jacob back to his father's house has restored us to the enjoyment of holy fellowship will he not do the the same again let us appeal to him like with jacob like wrestlings in other words even if there's been a drift even if you've fallen off course and that's why we love to get backsliders to come to church you might find that interesting but i run into people all the time out in the community haven't seen you in a while oh yeah i'm back into whatever it is or the debt get come back the the key to backsliding is to begin sliding in the other direction away from the backsliding backslid the backslider is always welcome because many of us can relate we've been there before and it's a hard spot to be um to be stuck in you have forgiven verse 2 you have forgiven the iniquity of your people you have covered all their sin you have taken away all your wrath you have turned from the fierceness of your angry or anger and so i wanted i don't know if it'll apply to anybody tonight but maybe somebody listening has god covered your sin and removed his wrath from your life that that's a that's a plea throughout the psalm psalm of sin they would actually plead and say lord thank you for your mercy thank you for removing your wrath and the only way to get god's wrath removed is because of with jesus christ the cross believing and accepting and repenting and it's not like there's this wrathful god wanting to just throw lightning bolts at you and and smash you at this foot the bible says because of sin we're already condemned because of that sin and so god's wrath is poured out on sin so that's why when we believe and we repent jesus bridges that gap and holds back the wrath of god he actually absorbed god's wrath that big word we read propitiation meant he it means he absorbed that wrath and and so it's a good time to ask has he covered your sin has he removed has he removed his wrath from your life restore us oh i love this this verse verse four restore us oh god of our salvation and you see when he's writing why i love the psalms i love just reading through and going back it's because it's real we can relate it's it's a it's a book of prayers to god restore us and you'll see he's going back and forth and and with hope and and and joy and then and then knowing there's fear and trepidation because of how far israel had slidden past in the past god in the wrong direction so lord restore us you are the god of our salvation and cause your anger toward us to cease will you be angry with us forever will you prolong your anger throughout all the generations will thou not revive us again how many times you've heard me say this it's a prayer it's actually a prayer will you not revive us again why so we can stay sorrowful angry upset worried and fearful no the byproduct of being revived with god's spirit is joy rejoice in the lord and again i say rejoice and we see it a lot prayer team members you know when that people go to prayer next door and they pray that usually what we get to see is that our even though they've kind of already made the decision in their heart we get to see that first step towards repentance towards getting their life back on track they come in how many tears have we seen and they're they're being revived god revive me again that i may rejoice in you and then joy follows those tears it's always repentance is always the first step to finding those tears again maybe you need to find those tears again tonight repent a genuine revival without joy in the lord is impossible it's a it's as impossible as spring without flowers or a day dawning without light when you are revived by god's spirit joy is a byproduct why because now you're in right relationship with your creator now the slate has been wiped clean now you you all those things you've been carrying and that shame and that guilt is just is is there's this it's hard to explain it to people sometimes words don't it's like just uh you are kind of reborn the bible talks about spiritual rebirth being born again spiritually but even for the believer sometimes there's a a rebirth that can take place once we position our hearts again in the right direction what other god can revive and restore us in case you don't know which i'm sure you do among the gods there is none like you the title is kind of a play on words because there are no other gods and it will get to the verse it says there are no other gods there's no other gods there's like well that god is kind of okay that there's nothing there's either god or nothing you either worship god or you're a child of darkness when i talk to people they're not real they're not they don't know this that there's not a third camp if you're not a child of god the one true and living god you're on the wrong team and they're dressed in black and the destination is loss show us your mercy lord show us grant us your salvation i will hear what god the lord will speak guys this is so important we have to be open lord what do you want to say to me what do you want to speak because many times we're so busy that we can't hear god or we don't really want to hear him have you ever been there come on we're praying we're kind of avoiding god because we don't want to hear from him we know what he's going to say whether it whether it spend more time in my word deal with that relationship issue fix your marriage but he will speak peace to his people and to his saints but let them not turn back to folly there's a choice there turn to god or turn back to folly and i was spent a little time in romans 6 this week you should check it out at some point new king james version and i can't how many it's just so incredible the chapter on choose life that you may live right choose this but don't choose this you'll become a become a slave to sin whatever you choose to obey becomes your master choose righteousness it's like there's a choice involved don't return back to folly meaning idolatry meaning drifting from god and we all know that failure is one choice away is it not it's just one choice away sometimes the emptiness of idolatry it's so empty and often one of the hardest things with pastoring of course is you have to guard your own heart but we see you know lots of people over the years hundreds and hundreds and hundreds return back to their folly and to date i've never met anyone that's happier when they return to their folly now they might appear happy right sin feels good for a season but when that season is over heart is the way of the transgressor and so they return to their folly thinking it feels good what actually what actually feels good is there's a temporary relief because sin satisfies there's a temporary high a temporary anybody have you ever experienced like i have where you knew god wanted you to get an area of your life under control maybe too much chocolate too much ice cream and you cave in and it feels good tastes good for a little while until about 20 minutes later like what was that all about okay starting tomorrow or start monday well now we're getting close to january 1st why don't we just wait why don't i just keep caving in until january 1st psalm 16 their sorrows shall multiply whose sorrows are going to multiply those who hasten those who go after another god and as we again i just said there is no other god so you're not going to find what you're looking for you're you're trying to satisfy the flesh and the appetites of the flesh and i've got a short clip here in a minute that's going to really help you out surely his salvation is near to those who fear him in order to be saved you must fear god there's no way around it in order to be saved you must fear god even a christian they should maintain that fear of god i follow some things on social media i won't say the name because i don't want you to follow them but they're not bad they're just kind of like um i don't know how they have so much time but they'll find like the weirdest church services you've ever seen um or the holy nope have you ever seen that guy on instagram the holy nope he'll walk into he'll just see weird things like nope and then close the bible and sit down and um but it's actually i think at this guy's church i mentioned before michael todd and they have like ballerinas and guys in tight pants and you can see their butts like on the stage at a church and they're dancing ballerinas and just there's no fear of god in this place or they'll sing secular weird songs uh one one church i remember during easter they had i'm on a highway to hell by acdc playing well we just want to relate to the to the new people no thank you that's i want to relate to god golly or they'll have i mean there's another one where there's like four guys and they're usually big mega churches that are trying to and these guys guys up they're dancing with their shirts off and they're doing this this song and then they it's just there's just so much um or or the lgbtq with the rainbow and they'll they'll have some of those women pastors on there saying that jesus if he was alive would be for abortion there's no fear of god in this place how many of you date yourself maybe remember jim baker was it tbn was he on tbn way back then and uh got into a lot of trouble his wife had like eyebrows out there with eyelashes and i still remember i remember my mom watching we were in court sale and probably 1980s and some of it i remember jimmy swagger just preaching and but that lady that his i'll never forget that i like scarred to for life even as 12 years old it's like what is that like i don't understand it um but anyway so he he he went to jail for for a while wrote a book about it um but john bevere went and visited him in prison how many of you heard the story a couple of you and uh he's like jim what what happened i thought you loved jesus he said i did john i loved him with all my heart but i didn't fear him john's probably one of the best balanced charismatics of balanced truth and the gifts and all those things john bevere actually just emailed their group yesterday to see if he can come out and speak in 2025 so pray for that um so that was a rabbit trail thank you laurie though good good point let's recommend that book but uh but that's true because oh i love jesus but if you just if you view that as i love jesus because of grace and mercy and and whenever i fall and he'll he'll he'll uh he'll bring me back to him which is all true but we also have to walk in fear and trepidation and we have to fear god and live for the for the beginning of wisdom and knowledge is the fear of the lord so and and it's not you know and i get accused sometimes and people say things and you christians you know this you gotta fear this god and it's wrathful it's like i don't walk around fearing god like he's gonna hit me it's it's a it's a like i'm not gonna drive on the other side of the road other other lane going home i'm not scared of the other lane i'm just not stupid i don't want to get hit by a car it's i mean it's just just there's a reverence there's a respect for who god is and when you when you live like that you you're more careful with what you look at on your phone you're more careful with your relationships you have or how you it's having that lord the lord loves me i love him because he's my savior but i fear him because he is my judge aw tozer would say it's an incredible balance that we must find he is close to those who fear him and i wish you maybe some other time but the hebrew language this is written in the hebrew remember new testament is greek and if you study hebrew like i don't study it but i look up the words and some words have i mean there's just multiple meetings and we try to we try to use our words with what they're saying and sometimes it's but when we think of fear it's it gives a whole new um like almost like um you've those father you know you're you're feared you're feared your father coming home and like oh dad sees this what i did but this fear is more of it's like uh just uh and just being in awe and wanting to honor who god is and because of who he is you don't want to do certain things and there's a respect it's not fear that he's gonna give me cancer tomorrow if i sin it's a it's just a just a a respect for who he is and because of that you live differently and you make different choices that glory may dwell in our land mercy and truth have met together righteousness and peace have kissed basically the sound of war has ceased in the land truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven yes the lord will give what is good and our land will yield its increase righteousness will go before him and he shall make his footsteps our pathway truth affects everything isn't it i love these verses on truth truth shall spring out of the earth and what is the byproduct the land yields its increase when bible talks about the land yielding its increase often it would refer to agricultural uh things the grape vines and the the abundance of fruit the abundance of fig trees the abundance of and what did that represent provision and and wealth abram's case and it has all these um these signs of the blessings of god because when truth is elevated when truth is elevated blessings follow spiritual principles like discipline perseverance all these things are so powerful that even when unbelievers apply them they benefit and that's what a lot of people didn't understand about um the current not the current but the person who's going to become president on january 20th it's not that they look to him and this great character you look at what he's going to do is it going to elevate the truth again by putting people in positions of leadership now school districts and even governors say we're bringing prayer back into schools we're bringing the bible back into schools because it's giving us a little courage now and so see you're elevating truth just because some legislators might be on a highway to hell if they begin to promote the truth and elevate the truth there's still a spiritual covering there you're either promoting satan or you're promoting god's word and so once truth is elevated can you imagine if la county said we're we're going to bring the bible back into our schools we're going to bring the prayer back into our schools well before you bring the prayers back into schools you better bring it back in the churches and people say you know you can't force kids to pray you can't force the bible on no you're not we're not forcing but there's there's something about when you bring god's word into a place and you set a standard how many of you are aware that the school the schools i don't know how many years ago now probably before i was in school but it was not uncommon for the ten commandments to hang on the wall and the kids would you know yes mrs johnson i'll be quiet and now all hell breaks loose it's like a zoo it's like it's like the most asinine thing you've ever seen i talked to public school teachers it's it's in in 40 years we've went from leave it to beaver to queer eye for the straight guy and dating shows and reality shows and and they actually will curse at the teacher and call them or worse if i ever did that my dad will be down at that school in about 20 minutes and i'm going home for the day i i i've had confession i've had soap in my mouth you just see so you guys remember my mom some of you she could get that but it was dove dove soap she could get that bar of dove soap and maybe eight nine you can like in your open your mouth open your mouth did you just you will not talk like that it makes a difference if you allow kids to act like animals they'll act like animals all these gangs and all these breaking into macy's like a hundred kids and stealing whatever they want gas stations and run and there's no the parents are probably like what'd you get and you can look at the destruction of a nation always begins at the deterioration of the family truth affects everything you can never go wrong with right you can never go wrong with righteousness righteousness so if you're wondering about an issue tonight or if you've got questions you can never go wrong making the right decision you might not see results right now you might not feel like doing it things might actually get more difficult but but you'll never go right wrong by going right and then psalm 86 turn to psalm 86 have you been able to jot down anything in the margin of your bible yet highlight it's interesting how it worked huh bow down your ear oh lord hear me for i am poor and needy he's not talking about necessarily physical wealth what's he talking about spiritually and and teach he's he's he's the blessing of the poor in spirit there's a there's a poverty of spirit they're not elevated there there's a poverty there preserve my life god for i am holy and some people might say oh he shouldn't say that well job said it paul said it david's saying it and they're not boasting in their holiness he's just saying lord preserve my life i'm i'm i'm set apart for you i'm trying to follow your word and trying to follow your ways lord i'm i'm i'm wanting to live that standard you are my god save your servant who trusts in you these are beautiful prayers if you is if you ever say you know i don't know how to pray open the psalms and meditate on this there'll be times i'll read a verse like many of you and i'll just i'll just put my pen in the bible shut the page and just just pray on that lord that just was so convicting or so encouraging or so uplifting be merciful to me oh lord for what do i do i cry to you all day long what a baby people say no there's a passion of his heart like that verse pray without ceasing i think that comes up a lot especially when i talk to like in with teenagers well how do i how do i pray all day it's an attitude of prayer you still go to work you're working but you're still it's the attitude of prayer you know your thoughts are either on things that they shouldn't be on or they're on the things of god it's just an attitude of prayer any chance you get in and focusing and meditating on god's word be merciful he i cried out to you all day long rejoice rejoice the soul of your servant for to you oh lord i lift up my soul for you oh lord you are good you are ready to forgive god listen to me god is ready to forgive whoever is listening now or later on god is ready but are you god's ready to forgive do you know that if there's a disconnect with god it's never on god's side it falls directly upon our shoulders we're called to repent and believe we're called to pursue him we're called to seek him we're called to call upon him it always falls on us but we'd like to make excuses have you ever made those excuses i can't believe god did this i can't believe he did that i can't believe he took so and so from my life and then and we'll just stay in this spot of staying upset at god and abundant and mercy to all those who call upon you anybody who calls upon the lord it's like there's this this um i know i use this image before but it's kind of funny because when when i take my kids to the water park they like to stand underneath that that big whatever that thing is like there's 150 gallons or something that all this water falls on them and then it fills back up and it falls on and that's kind of the picture sometimes i i just was looking at all that live that water experiencing the living water and as soon as people call upon him it's like it's not like a portion of god or god says okay just a little bit or maybe next month but there's just the the fullness of god is available that second that god is merciful willing to forgive vocalizing or declaring something with intention that's what that means those who call upon god how many times have we read that in the scriptures in the last year when i was in revelation whoever calls upon the name of lord will be saved or in acts call upon the name of the lord and be saved and what that means to call upon it's vocalizing or it's declaring something with intention and it's where passion meets purpose and i want to just stop here for a minute it's so important because many cry for deliverance and i was going to talk about this on a sunday in the future but i think it'd be great for tonight many people no doubt you're here tonight or you're listening you cry for deliverance and some things we can do nothing about if there's a health issue or sickness or things like that but some people are crying for deliverance and but at other times we keep ourselves in bondage those people crying for deliverance sometimes we keep keep ourselves in bondage and i want to play a clip actually if we have it ready so now let me finish the cigarette story yeah all right and i think it'll make more sense out now after what we talked about so in essence i have a friend his name is tom and he was on the los angeles police sheriff's department and he smoked four packs of cigarettes a day got saved but he couldn't he couldn't shake the smoking of the cigarettes at all so he kept praying praying praying fasting went anytime his pastor called for prayer he went up yeah asked to be prayed for any evangelist any traveling teacher came to his church he'd be the first one in the prayer line saying i want out of the cigarette smoking right he said then john one day i took a friend of mine to my our church service and my friend got saved and my friend smoked two packs of cigarettes a day and on that very night he got delivered from smoking like that he was free from cigarettes he said john i got angry really angry and he said i was angry at god and he said i was in my home i was in my chair at home and he he said i am talking to god because i'm not happy and he said i screamed out god why haven't you delivered me from this sin of destroying my body and god he said john i've never heard the audible voice of god except for this one time he said i heard it come over this shoulder we're sitting in the restaurant he's telling me this this shoulder and when i said god why haven't you delivered me god said because you still like it yeah he had become a slave and he said john i looked i took one look at that winston cigarette and he said i put it out he said i have never touched the cigarette since and he said that was a couple decades ago yeah he made the decision right there i'm going to be set free now he continued in the word of god and i believe that gave him the power to not go back into it so then he was made free i think he was first set free then he got filled up with the word and he was made free and because i know his life and i know he's a pastor now and i know he is so full of the word of god it just comes when you touch tom it just comes oozing out of him right the word of god because he spends so much time in the word of god but a lot of people are slaves because they actually like their master of sin but isn't that a good point it's funny because obviously you know that but until you hear it and you realize a lot of people take this whatever whatever it is away right whatever because whatever it is we like usually lord take this away and you go to the prayer line how many i pray with the same people over and over and over again maybe you struggle with the same and and lord take you come to the i'll take this away and i wonder how many of us are enjoying it a little too much to let god take it away because in romans 6 that i mentioned it says reckon to be dead to sin reckon means put it to death it also says do not let sin reign in your body don't obey its lust so that tells me that i can let sin reign in my body correct and i can obey its lust or i can obey the spirit of god it also says in romans 6 do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin which tells me i can do that so it's encouraging us not to do that and then romans 6 16 you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey so i hope that was helpful and you'll not forget that that sometimes in order to break free of something we have to stop loving it and enjoying it and coddling it right we we've we've we've all been guilty of it but that's my one little vice oh it's quiet now but i think that will help you if there's something that god just maybe you can share this video with others or a spouse or that and i'm not saying this applies to everything because there are some sins that people are struggling with that they don't love they they want complete freedom from and maybe there's a demonic attachment there there's an open door has has taken root and and it's just um john bevere did another good example like but he had a uh i'm showing you all my sunday stuff so it's not gonna work on sunday um it'll be a couple weeks so but he said the demonic is like this let's say this was completely empty good excuse to drink water right so it's empty now but if you put your fist in it then nothing else can really go in but the water can still hit my hand it can still try to try to go in so like the enemy works the same way you're you're you're a child of god so we don't say you can be possessed by a demon because you're possessed by the holy spirit but the enemy can still come in and try let me let a little water in let me try to get in there a little bit harassing oppressing that's why you have to put on the full armor of god and resist the wiles of the devil and same thing when it comes to being set free you have to get to a point where you say you know what i don't want this anymore my flesh enjoys it but god i don't want to enjoy it anymore i don't want to i don't want to look forward to it that's why it says also make no provision for the flesh in other words don't think ahead about how you're going to sin okay i'll get out of that one verse 6 in psalm 86 give ear in other words lord listen listen to my prayer and attend to the voice of my supplications the difference between prayer is in supplication prayer is like requests um we're praying for certain situations supplication is more of a pleading of an intercession oh god would you please do this and it's a kind of a deeper prayer life and so lord hear my prayer but please attend also to the voice of my yearnings and my supplications god maybe for a wayward son or daughter maybe for a wayward spouse in the day of my trouble i will call upon you listen when there's trouble there's no other person to call upon call upon the lord for you will answer me god will answer you i'm here to tell you tonight that god will answer your prayers without a shadow of a doubt okay once you're done clapping let me let me satisfy the uh the the critical thinking people like myself that would probably go i don't know about that well he always does it's either no yes or hold tight hold tight tiger hold tight hold tight so there's always an answer to my prayers always an answer he closes the door thank you or he opens the door thank you or lord where are you i'm obviously i guess i'm in a holding pattern that's your answer for now so you can always rest assured that he hears you and that he will open that door in the right time or he will close the door in the right time or he's using the delay remember i teach often delay is not always deny denial that delay causes you to push in and press in even more among the gods there is none like you hence the title of the sermon among all the gods out there there is none like you name one other god that is like god like jehovah like yahweh like elohim one just one like we said earlier i said earlier there are no other gods there are no other gods we've got great family friends my mom knew them for many years she helped them they helped her love the couple i won't say the name because he's pretty well known in our valley he's a doctor but um they're hindu and they've got millions of gods and i remember we're going into the house there's just like there's an elephant half elephant half half man you know on their right in the front door this big altar gold and it's quite expensive and this elephant sitting there with this what looks like a man and then it's got an elephant head and then they've got the candles and the incense and there's millions of different gods but of course i actually dropped off a book a while back and held it to them about there are no other gods but jesus i never heard back but hopefully they'll read it but there's no there's no hope in that that's what you've been taught or that what they've been taught there's no other gods can answer a man that looks with an elephant head is not going to do anything if anything you're on the side of darkness because there's no other gods and if you're not worshiping the one true and living god you're worshiping false gods and we know that satan is the god of all false gods not equal to god he's actually was a created being but among the gods there is none like you oh lord nor are there any works like your works what other god has created the solar system the milky way what other god has created planet earth have you guys ever dug deep into the chances of planet earth being able to support life like if the hydrogen was just off like one percent we would be dead carbon dioxide the the nitrogen and and just the distance from the sun and the moon i mean all these different it's like your mind will explode when it breaks down all the mathematical equations of if it's just off this and off this and the rotational pull and the gravitation it's like what other gods can do that no other gods all other gods will fail and fall because there are none and then all the nations all the nations you have made shall come and worship before you oh lord and they shall glorify your name for you are great and you do wondrous things you alone are god and as a result he says teach me your way some of you need to pray that tonight lord teach me your way i'm tired of following this flesh i'm tired of being led astray i'm tired of getting involved in the wrong relationships amen i'm tired of going down this road again i'm tired of living with with depression and anxiety i have no no purpose i have no passion but lord teach me your way and if you do i will walk in your truth unite my heart to fear your name there we are again with the fear of the lord i will praise you even in my storm verse 12 verse 12 next slide i will praise you oh lord my god with all my heart and i will glorify your name forever you see once you've been converted and once you've tasted the goodness of god even though you might drift off course even though you might have difficulty in your life you know that your heart is set on him and him alone so you will praise him with all of your heart and you will glorify his name forever even though the road may be bumpy even though there there will be valleys and not just mountaintop experiences you know the god who walks with you through the valley of the shadow of death even through the challenging situations and and the ups and the downs and the fighting and the battling you know the god who will see you through for great is your mercy and you have delivered my soul from the depths of shale oh god the proud have risen against me and a mob of violent men have sought my life and have not set you before them those who are violent do not have god before them but you oh lord are a god full of compassion and gracious long suffering and abundant in mercy and truth oh turn to me and have mercy on me god you give mercy to everyone else would you give mercy to me tonight give your strength to your servant god i need your strength remember when all hell is breaking loose when when things seem to be collapsing when you can't trust in the government or retirement or anything else you will find strength in god and god alone and then in verse 17 he says show me a sign for good i don't know if we have that up there in the next show me a sign for good that those who hate me i like this guy those who hate me will see your sign god and be ashamed because you lord have helped me and have comforted me always remember many will not appreciate god's call in your life how many of you if you've following god you you you have seen this uh not everyone likes what god's doing in your life i think that was one of my biggest surprises when i first i read i surrendered everything 1999 took about a year to get all the junk out was still a battle right we always we're always fighting something and not everyone was excited because misery loves company and when you want to give up that life and start and you want call you i found oh you found god i wonder how long that's gonna last oh shane's is a holy roller jesus freak oh oh yeah you're too good for us oh i heard it all like well wow i didn't realize that this would offend so many people but i just added this slide this morning i want to talk about this just for a second it will help you show me a sign for good he's asking him to show him a sign so i'm going to leave you with just a four conditions before before asking for a sign okay what i mean by that i think personally it's okay to ask god for confirmation from time to time if it's you know biblically based and you're struggling through something but there are some things to consider you can take a picture of if you want the office can get you the screen but if you're asking god for confirmation make sure you realize the confirmation he gives you or a sign if you want to call it that it's a supplement it's not the main dish how many of you take supplements only four out of this many okay everybody most of you what is supplements it's just in addition to it it it it helps it helps the the the meal a little bit for example i mean we're i won't get into all the how the ground's been depleted the vitamins and minerals and when you have to take things sometimes to to make up the difference a supplement and the same thing with asking god for confirmation that's not the meal i'm not going off of confirmation alone but lord sometimes you i need a little help asking for a sign must flow from a powerful prayer life so as you're praying as you're worshiping as you're walking out your faith then lord i need confirmation on this without that you could be led astray lord if the light turns red i'll go left well might turn red or somebody said you know we can really we can mess ourselves up by following all these little silly things i've been there okay lord i'm just gonna open my bible whatever i oh yeah no that's not that's not a good idea because we're so desperate to hear from god but make sure it flows from a powerful prayer life get the heart right first don't harbor unrepentant sin because we're asking god for a sign how many times have we seen this lord show me a sign am i supposed to marry this person have you ever done that yes but you're living together and asking god to show well first get that right or a man praise lord is this give me a sign is this the right investment will stop embezzling money stop being fraudulent and stop cheating on all your taxes and your this and you you gotta you've got to deal with the unrepentant sin first because then often you don't need a sign when you deal with the sin things will become more clear because when we when we're caught in sin life is little hazy we i we don't see as well heart is the way the transgressor there's there's cloud it clouds my vision and we're wanting a sign when god wants you to deal with the sin but let's say you you the confirmation you still need confirmation you're asking for confirmation not because you're rushing but because you're waiting you're waiting for the next step so sometimes people ask lord i need a sign need confirmation i'm gonna hurry let's go let's go let's go usually when you ask for a sign or confirmation you've been wrestling with this for a while and i won't get into all the details again but you've heard me talk about when we purchased the radio stations i needed a sign i need a confirmation but it was after months and months and months and months of praying thanks lord i can't do this and i don't know if it's you or me and see after that after we're praying we want to do the right decision god i'm truly seeking i don't know this could go either way and god in his mercy will often confirm it and he confirmed it in a few different ways see he's he's wanting to help the heart that's pursuing him does that make sense and sometimes i'm like you i don't know is it me that's a good idea but was it god because my ideas don't last god's ideas to do because when you know god is doing it come hell or high water you see it through i can tell you right now i won't be unthankful and i won't be critical about it but had i known how difficult it would be managing radio stations i would have never ever ever ever ever i prayed lord have air one contact us so we can sell it have some other church this is oh my goodness the receiver's out in bishop up in the white mountains rich crest needs this air conditioning's out we got to fix this it's down again then but knowing okay god you did this is not my idea you did this just so you guys know if you didn't hear the story it's real quick i finally gave up after four or five months i told morgan i said i'm gonna stop praying this is stupid i'm not a christian radio station manager i don't even know what i'm getting into i don't know what i was thinking i don't know what the elders were thinking right we made a decision and so that week you can ask suzy she uh emailed me and said hey there's a guy just stopped by he listens uh from minnesota maybe thinking about moving out to california um oh by the way he's a christian radio station manager so i talked to him he's like oh yeah i can do it for you i can manage it remotely did did this just happen and of course i was still chicken so god had to confirm some other things too but see it's it's if he knows your heart and your lord i want to honor you i want to make the right decision i'll make the right financial decision that's what confirmation is for people don't understand it's not like you get okay confirmation today do i do this sometimes you just got to walk out your faith whether you know what to do or not it's called faith for a reason okay lord i don't know i hope this step works oh yeah okay it does good but sometimes you do need that confirmation even with confirmation it's good to wait and pray and seek godly counsel did you catch that even with confirmation even when you feel something might be of god i don't think i'll do tonight i'm still praying but i might tell you about something that how this applies to me fairly recently but there was something it was on my heart for a lord are you doing this oh my goodness this is you know i i don't know if this is you or not and i ran it by a couple people i i look up to and all of them said yeah absolutely not it's not a good idea not a good idea at all it wasn't a bad idea it's just not my you know not my my will house it's not where god would want me but there was confirmation so the confirmation got me thinking the confirmation got me thinking oh lord is this what you want me to do and then i felt like you know how when you kind of you can fire yourself up a little bit you know you say lord is that you are you opening that door but because you need the counsel of other people and the multitude of counsel there is safety isn't that nice to have that safety because you know you know whether god's doing it or not i'm tempted to tell you guys what it was but i have to ask my wife first oh yeah do it that's easy for you to say laura you want me to do it don't you you want here let me pray about it for a minute huh next next slide what's the next waiting for the next step oh yeah yeah next next actually i think that's all the slides well too bad those who hate me may see it and be ashamed because you lord have helped me and comforted me praise god all right i'm gonna do a special thing for the wednesday service i'll tell you it's kind of it's kind of embarrassing it's kind of funny but like many of you i get fired up about things right so i'm not going to go into all the details uh about how what people said what people hinted to me confirmation what i started to do but i felt a very strong desire um our newsome's term is up in two years and so i felt a very strong desire to all right let's see god you want to do this number one i'd be attacked in my family like there's no tomorrow wouldn't it would but i reached out to rob mccoy jack kibbs um jim garlow and our own senator in washington and they all said oh man that's i but shane that's not that's not your i mean your wheelhouse is preaching you you have no clue what that involves the the the democratic machine will just destroy you of course i know if god's in it doesn't matter but use that godly counsel you know to say okay yeah thanks guys that was a close call right but i was i was reading books on the california constitution i was looking into all the like what is it but but some of that came from just a just sick and tired of what we're seeing but it's you know you need a hundred hundred million to win like oh well holy smokes you know and you start looking off but you that's what godly counsel so you can kind of get on the okay lord are you doing this i could see but i don't know i don't i don't but there but then there was also a part torn in me because it's like well that's not i don't that's not really my my gifting that's not my wheelhouse right this is this is what god's call may do but you struggle with these things and i've asked and i've asked and i avoided asking some people i've actually avoided asking a congregation because i know how many of you say yes please please i'd even put stuff on facebook and instagram newsom's terms up in two years who's next you know steve garvey this whoever um what's a sheriff out in blanco and riverside um there's some good people and a lot of people say you should you should eat so i can't listen to those who don't you know who you are trying to tell me what to do because they're excited they want to make a difference but that machinery is is not what we think it's it's it's it's unless god's completely in it you would just be completely devastated if it's you a good idea not a god idea so all those people uh responded back and and and it would just kind of just killed it right there and then because god uses godly counsel and there was a relief it's not just because sometimes godly counsel is wrong correct remember it's kind of embarrassing but my mom said i don't shane i don't think god's going to be a pastor your mom why not and randy you guys should text randy if you know randy he's in colorado now he might listen to this later uh he's like what i don't i don't know maybe you should pray about it for a while because you're you're kind of you know because i remember back then i'm in construction i'm working construction and and just kind of you know just a type a alpha construction male and people like oh i don't know about that you need to pray about it but because they didn't see it doesn't mean god wasn't doing it because god was in the process of breaking and breaking and breaking and breaking that's why it took so long is get that that pride out of of you and it's still never gone you have to until the day you die you're going to be a work in progress so um anyway the wednesday night service you just heard something that i've never told anybody before and it was a hard struggle for a few weeks i mean i couldn't sleep i'm getting up at 2 30 in the morning because they will destroy you he did this in 1990s yeah i did and this came out and this came out and they'll just start making up all these stories all these lies running your family through the mud it's like this isn't i have a hard enough time as it is but again i want to clarify if god's doing something in your life none of that would matter none of that would matter because god would elevate you don't be emailing me saying shame i don't think you should i looked into where to live in sacramento i looked into all that stuff but isn't it kind of cool like like if this guy can do it that's what i'm thinking this guy can do it just show up and do everything i wouldn't do sanctuary city mask up close the businesses run from covid but go eat in a restaurant not not cover up and not just it's the it's it's we are we are we're ran by just lunatics and it's just it's just it's it's it's it's it's disheartening very disheartening and so you want to make a difference right you want to do something and i think so that was that was but i've also seen remember those people ran for like president like pat robertson and or these other people and it's like ben carson and i'm like i don't want to i don't want to just do a good idea i think that's embarrassing but you know god used that godly council to really um help me in that area i hadn't even told the elder so maybe they'll listen to this too because what's the point if you're just wrestling with something that would have been the next step actually um and i actually kind of knew those guys i kind of knew what they were going to say i i kind of already felt it um and also as i was closing out this psalm i wrote um i saw underneath my bible remember have your bible with you the most difficult season of my life and it was during the covet and um it was hard i mean all of us have different stories but especially pastoring you know people leave because we didn't mask up i people mad at me because i didn't promote the job and and i it's like this and now you're closing and when are we going to open and and possibility that was real that some pastors were going to jail and it was just just just just incredibly discouraging time in my life and i wrote it right underneath this psalm and but i was reminded that pressure either breaks us or hardens us it breaks us or hardens us and then i had a reference and i love this verse i know you guys know this verse one thing do i desire one thing do i desire that i may dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life that's all i desire that's all i want lord is to get before you and begin to worship you in your temple in your house and to lay myself bare before you and to hear the voice of the living god and let him restore let him rebuild in the darkest hour he becomes the brightest light and he encourages you and he strengthens you in the lord praise god