Are You Thirsty For Heaven

This morning, the title is Are You Thirsty for Heaven? Are You Thirsty for Heaven? In Revelation 21, all things are made new. All things are made new. So let's reflect on this for a minute.

Revelation is tough. It's not very encouraging. Even though we should be encouraged, right? There's nothing to fear.

We're on God's side. But it's weighty. You start talking about the beasts and the dragon and fiery pits and hell, plagues and sealed judgments and the trumpets being blown.

It was intense. But now, think about this. All things are made new.

And that's why a Christian's faith is so important. Our faith is a belief in something that we can't actually see. Because if you can see it, it's not faith.

If you're trusting for God to open a financial door, Lord, if we don't get this $10,000, our family, we're going to lose this home. Well, if you have the check sitting there from someone, it's already there. But faith believes without seeing.

And without faith, it's impossible to please God. Isn't that amazing? We want the answers now. I want to see the results now.

I want to see the fire sprinklers paid for now. But faith says, okay, God, You're going to get us there. You're going to get us there.

And we need You to get us there. Spurgeon said, I shared this last night, be thankful for the thorns and the thistles which keep you from being in love with this world. And that really stuck with me.

Be thankful for the difficulties in this life because they keep us from being in love with this world. I think I opened up last Wednesday. If you didn't hear the message, check it out.

But I opened up about as I'm getting older, I do not like this world very much as much as I did in my 30s. And you start to get a discontent. Lord, any time now, we're ready.

And the challenges of life, the thorns and the thistles, and many of you have been through a lot more than most of us have. And you know there's a hunger for heaven. And that's what he starts out with in Revelation 21.

Now, I saw heaven and a new earth. So again, John is having this revelation. It's actually called, Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ to John.

It's not John's revelation. It's a revelation of Jesus Christ showing John certain things. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

So after all this destruction, if you haven't been here, go back and listen to the messages. I don't wanna repeat it. But it wasn't good.

It was tough. God was judging. And then so a new heaven and a new earth, John saw.

So that's where that concept comes from. We do believe in the new heavens and the new earth. And I wanted to go into more detail here, but just the time-wise.

But over the last week or so, I watched a few documentaries on how big the universe is. Do you know there's like stars that are, I hate quoting numbers because I'm wrong, but like millions of times bigger than our sun? Well, how did those get there? Where does the universe end? Or is it ever expanding? When God said, let it be. Is it continuing? And just the size and the scope.

And you realize, God is awesome. I mean, it's one thing to have earth, but when you start to add up everything else. And so He actually saw, and we're not sure, is that a new universe? If you studied the word heaven, you know, the first heaven, the second heaven, the third heaven, there's a spiritual realm of heaven.

And so because we don't know exactly, we just know there's a new heaven. Somehow it could be the new heavenlies, but there is a new earth. The one that is corrupt now is exchanged.

And I think it's Peter who talks about things will be burned up as with fire. And that this new earth is here. So I always remember that when I want to hold on to things tightly.

And at the risk for, you know, we hear this too much, but I think it is important maybe for some of the young adults who haven't heard this. There's no U-Haul behind a hearse. I just heard a joke this week.

I think it would be applicable. I can't remember, but this man, very wealthy man told his wife, I want all my money in my casket when I go. And she committed to him.

And he passed away and they lowered the casket. And one of the friends said, I can't believe you did that. And she says, it's okay, I wrote a check.

You'll get that when you're driving home. So she's not putting the cash in there, but if he were to be able to live again, he can write himself a check and then he'll have access to the money. So she kept all the money.

But there is a new heaven, a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea, no more ocean that will be here on the new heavens and new earth.

And I was reminded of a quote from C.T. Studd. Always liked his name. Only one life will soon be passed.

Only what is done for Christ will last. What a good reminder. Even as I was preparing this here, I'm reminded, you know what? All these pursuits, are they really priority number one? Are they really that important? What's going to remain? Investing in others.

Putting our family first and pouring into others the things. And when we do spend financially, I think God has given us a broad range of groups of people. Wealthy and in the middle and people who are not wealthy.

And how do we spend these resources? What do we do? Things that should be God honoring. And then I saw, John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And this is again an interesting concept.

He sees, and I can picture him seeing this new Jerusalem that is huge. I mean, it's the same, it's a cube. It's the same size all the way around.

I don't remember how many miles, but it's like the size of Texas or something. I don't remember. But this big, and it's just as long, it's just as high and just as wide.

And he sees this coming down and it's for believers. Are we living in expectation of His return or living for the world? We cannot serve two masters. So it's prepared as a bride is adorned for her husband.

As the bride is ready for her husband, this new city is prepared for believers. And are we living in expectation of His return or are we living for the world? The reason I say this is I do talk to people who are Christian. I use that term lightly with air quotes, Christian, because we can't judge hearts, but we can judge fruits.

And if there's no fruit, I know people who are not looking forward to heaven. They say they're Christians. What do they say? That sounds boring.

Why don't you just sit on a cloud and play a harp all day? Well, of course, they have a misconception of heaven. I just want to, worshiping God all the time? So you have to wonder, you might have the wrong master in your heart. You might be following, because there should be a thirst.

Not all the time, but you know, because we struggle in this flesh. But are you thirsty for heaven? That's actually a very good indicator that genuine conversion has took place in your heart. And one of the things a lot of people have done a disservice to the church is we don't paint the correct picture of the Gospel message.

It's not that Jesus loves you, just say a quick prayer. Oh, I did that when I was 12, but there's no fruit. It's a repenting of sin and an abandonment of the world.

Do you know the repentance actually means I'm changing my mind and changing my direction. So if we don't preach repentance, somebody pretty popular in the Bible will say go and preach repentance. Your Savior.

So that's the message, repent of the love of this world. Repent from your sin and turn to God. And then when we do that, the true conversion takes place because now we know what we're doing.

We're being rescued from sin. And so it does beg the question, are you living in expectation of heaven and His return? And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. How cool is that? A tabernacle is where God dwells.

And He will dwell with them and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. Again, I wanted to spend like 20 minutes here because it's like, do we see God face-to-face? But we know you can't see God face-to-face and live in our fleshly bodies.

But we also know that Jesus stands there before God. We know the Holy Spirit, the triune nature of God, and what does God the Father, if He is Spirit, there's no actual form, He is Spirit, the Bible says, and those who worship Him, we worship Him in Spirit and truth. So I can honestly tell you, looking at commentaries, I can't solidly say that we see God the Father as some form or image, even in our resurrected bodies.

It could be, but we know we see the Son. The Son is there. And so I saw this loud voice, or heard this loud voice from heaven, and the tabernacle was coming.

He says, behold. It's interesting He threw this word in here, behold. In other words, it's a wonderful biblical word.

Open your eyes and fix your gaze upon God. And that's why sometimes we do get passionate, because we want to say that, and it may be a different words, but behold, behold. John the Baptist, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

It's an open your eyes. Like in Revelation 3, open your eyes. I stand at the door and knock.

Open your eyes. It is the Lamb of God, John the Baptist, who would say, open your eyes, Isaiah. I am doing a new thing.

It's this urgency. It's almost like you are encouraging and motivating the people. Behold, look to Christ and live.

And that's how Charles Spurgeon was saved. In an old Methodist church, an old deacon was preaching. He said, young man, look to Christ.

Behold Him. Behold the Son of God on the cross that paid the price for you. Look to Him and Him alone.

Behold the Son and you shall be changed from the inside out. There should be an urgency. There should be a passion.

As we behold the Son, we behold everything else. Why not behold Jesus Christ? Behold, open your eyes and fix your gaze upon Him. It's a glimpse of the heavenly atmosphere that we are given here.

And that's why sometimes I pray, even with worship, God, give us a taste of heaven here on earth. I believe that's a biblical prayer. We're praying to give us a taste of heaven here on earth.

I guarantee they had a taste of that in the upper room on that wonderful day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God literally blew into that place, the wind of God and tongues of fire, and they were worshiping God and praising God. That was a taste of heaven here on earth. The power and presence of God.

Revelation 5-6 says that in heaven, the Lamb stands in the center of the throne clothed in brilliant white. On the right hand of the Father. So possibly there is the Father.

But to clarify in case some of you don't know, the Bible teaches that there is one God. One God. He reveals Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Try not to get too confused. Try not to explain it because it's hard to explain the Trinity. Some people explain it like an egg.

The shell, the white, the yolk. Let's try not to explain the Trinity with earthly things. All we can do, and the reason you'll hear maybe throughout your walk with the Lord is something like oneness Pentecostalism.

Have you heard of that term? Or Jesus only? The reason is there's a segment of Christianity that believes, if you believe in the Trinity, you're actually worshiping three separate gods. So from their viewpoint, that's why they just say it's Jesus only. But of course, you run into challenges because when Jesus was baptized by John, was He a ventriloquist? And the Father spoke.

Did the Father really speak? And the Holy Spirit descended? And so, they only baptized in the name of Jesus only because of that. It's called oneness Pentecostalism or Jesus only. But when you understand that God says, here, O Israel, I, the Lord your God, am one, He identifies Himself in the Old Testament as Elohim, which is, El is singular, Ella is dual, and Elohim is the triune nature of God.

It's just what the Bible teaches. I can't fully explain it, but I know the Son sits next to the Father because the Bible says, I know that the essence of God, there is one God revealing Himself in those three areas. And just try to stay in that lane.

Because if you go to, you start thinking outside of that or it's, I think Paul even said it's a mystery. The triune nature of God is a mystery. And then, oh, a wonderful verse, God will wipe away every tear.

Who's ready for that? There shall be no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying. There will be no more pain and the former things have passed away. As I talked about last week, there are different views on the millennium, the millennial reign of Christ.

So if there is an actual, literal 1,000 years, this actually won't happen until after the 1,000 years are over. Or some other believe that the parousia, which is the returning of Christ, all this happens at once. And the millennial is more of an allegory.

It's throughout church history. Again, I have problems with that view. I have questions on the other view as well.

And as I stated before, it doesn't change how we're supposed to live. It won't change how you even believe. Because you know He's coming again.

We may rule and reign with Him. The devil's going to be bound. I'm just glad I'm on His side.

That's all I'm glad about. I don't like to argue and debate things that are not crystal clear in Scripture. And so the tears will be wiped away.

There's no more death. There's no more sorrow. There's no more pain.

The former things have passed away. So we see every tear and ounce of depression vanishes. But I wanted to tell you, He can help you even today.

He can help you even today. I've experienced, I'm sure many of you experienced it, but when it comes to pain and sorrow and depression, no, you can't just read Scripture and think positive thoughts. Many times, these are real.

But I do know that the more you draw to Christ, the deeper that relationship comes and the more you hang on to the hem of His garment, the more you press in, that sorrow is actually turned to joy. The peace that surpasses all understanding is turned into joy. I mean, the sorrow that was felt is turned into peace.

It's a struggle because you wake up Monday. Here we go again. That's why it's continually those who seek the Lord, He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

It's a diligent. Guys, are you seeing that the Christian faith is warfare? It's pressing in. It's getting back up and fighting again.

It's getting back into church. It's getting back to the services and to the studies and getting the Word of God out and removing things that are pulling you away and you might fall, you get back up and you keep moving forward in the faith. It's a fight, it's a journey, it's a battle.

Of all the things Paul could describe, of all the things, I mean, there's farming, agriculture, all kinds of things, he said the weapons of your warfare. You put on the full armor of God. Double-edged swords and shields and all these things.

It is warfare, the weapons of our warfare. Your enemy goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Dang it, this is not popular.

I mean, this is not comfortable. That's why we love popular encouraging messages that do not talk about the deep things because it's the deep things that are hard to hear. That the Christian walk, the Christian life is not often a life of enjoyment and prosperity and success, although that can happen.

It is a life of warfare. The enemy's trying to take you out and he's trying to take me out. All kinds of fiery darts of the enemy, marriage issues, health issues, all kinds of family issues, people come against you.

Just when you get back up, you get knocked down again. It is a life of faith and spiritual warfare. But when we're forearmed, or when we're forewarned, we're forearmed.

We're ready when we understand this. And then 21, five through eight, then He who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And He said to me, write, for these words are true and faithful.

So this is application for everyone who will read the book that John is writing over the last 2,000 years. We have to remember that. This is also applicable to the church in the second century, the fourth century, the 12th century.

Now we might have more insight because we see God's plan unfolding. But He said, write these things down. They began reading this hundreds of years ago.

And how we got our Bible, just a rabbit trail here, is the early church was using certain books for 200, 300, let's see when it was written. Yeah, 250, 300 years, using certain books in the church settings. These were only books written by the apostles, those who saw Jesus, the authority, these authoritative words of God.

That's why we don't look to the book of Enoch or the Apocrypha that's in the Catholic Bible because they are not authoritative. And so these books are being used for 250 years, passing to different churches, Paul's letter. So finally, a council got together and said, hey, these are the 66 books.

We can take the Hebrew version of the Old Testament. That's been a lot. Even Jesus used that, the Dead Sea Scrolls.

That's no problem. And then let's take the New Testament books that are authoritative, written by those who actually eyewitnessed Jesus and Jesus spoke to them. Let's take these 66 books of the Bible and they call it the canonization of Scripture.

That's how we got our Bible. 300 and something, 50, 20, does anybody know the exact date? All right. Luke does, he'll tell me later probably when he's done in the camera room.

But that's how we got the Bible. And he said, write these things down for all of our edification. And so that's why I try to be careful that I don't just read it, Revelation through a year 2024 lens and a lens from America.

Because we have to remember, we're not the apple of His eye. Most centers around the Middle East. It doesn't talk about Australia too much.

Or Northern America, Southern, South America. But it is written for all believers. And it's a reminder that God is faithful and true.

He said, write these things down. These words are faithful and true. Do you know how important both of those are? Faithful means if God said it, it's gonna happen.

I bank on that more than anything else. God never fails, His promises never fail. He might not be on my time schedule.

And it might not happen like I think, praying for healing, but I end up dying. Well, I'm actually healed. I thought this, but God's promises are true.

God is faithful. When He says the Holy Spirit is given to you as a guarantee, when you have the Holy Spirit in your heart, God, you are children of God. You will experience He is faithful, but He's also true.

There's no deception. There's no falsehood. There's no second guessing.

There's no games. There's no gimmicks. There's no wavering in the truth.

Aren't you glad God doesn't change His mindset? I know that was a sin, but now it's not. And that's why this month I get worked up because people think the pride month, they think that, well, that was the Old Testament. Paul was talking about something different.

That's different for us today. No, it's not. The moral laws of God have never changed and will never change.

What was wrong then? And that's where people get confused because they say, well, it also said don't eat shellfish. Right, dietary law. Lot different than a moral law.

The moral law doesn't change. The ceremonial laws even change because now we have Jesus. The moral laws of God are foundational and will not, cannot change.

No matter how you sift it and shift it. Well, Paul, that was a culture of the day. Paul was talking about prostitution, but if somebody really loves each other, loving somebody doesn't override God's moral truth.

And so we say these things, not because we're mean and hate people. We actually love people enough to tell them the truth. Think about this for a minute.

If I didn't love them, I would say nothing. I'm like, okay, whatever, have fun. You're going to see God's judgment.

But if you truly love someone, you tell them the truth. Don't you see all these terms to try to silence you? I mean, there's memes of me being a homophobe. No, I love those who struggle with all sin.

See, you love the person, but I will fight the agenda. Isn't that hard? Because those who struggle, always welcome. We will pray for you.

We love you. But when the agenda tries to hang rainbow flags on the top of courthouses and fire departments, it's like you're shaking your fist. Sexual perversion is not something to be glorified.

We will speak out with that. Now, if it hurts the feelings of somebody, I don't know what to do with that. And if the church would just speak the truth in love, the problem is we question the authority of Scripture.

I don't know if it... Paul, you know, I have some problems with Paul. I have some problems with some of the things he said. Well, you're already going in a wrong direction, folks.

It's inspired. It's always truthful. It's always faithful.

Behold, I make things new. He said to me, write these things and they are true and they are faithful. And it's a good reminder from 2 Corinthians.

Are you in or are you out? Are you part of the body of Christ? If anyone is in Christ, He is a what? New creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

He's not a new person, right? This body I still have, that old, old Adamic nature still wanting to cause problems. I wish I could kick him out completely, but that would mean you live perfectly and we don't see that on this side of heaven. But when you're in Christ, you are now new spiritually.

And because of that, all the old things, the old past, the old shame, the old guilt, they have passed away. And now all things have become new as you live for Christ. It's amazing.

And then it goes on to say, and he said to me, Jesus here, it is done. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. The alpha, the beginning of the Greek alphabet, the omega, the end of it.

And then he adds the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of water of life. Jesus, God is saying this.

This is incredible. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. That's the title of the message.

Are you thirsty? There has to be a thirst. There has to be desire. Blessed are those who are bored in church.

That didn't even sound right. Blessed are those who are lukewarm and carnal. Blessed are those who do nothing and say nothing and live a cowardly life in a culture that is hell-bent on rejecting God.

No, it says blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. So see, there's a hunger and a thirst. God, I hate this world.

I hate the sin. I hate the trafficking and taking advantage of the little ones. Oh God, I am so hungry.

I'm so thirsty for your truth. I'm so thirsty and wanting that righteousness that God says that's a person. I'm gonna fill with my spirit.

I'm gonna give them the spirit of boldness and I'm gonna be filled with joy unspeakable and we're gonna do great exploits for God and expose the unfruitful works of darkness because we're hungry and thirsty for righteousness. It's a biblical principle. How important is that? I will give them the fountain of water of life.

And of course, my thoughts immediately go to Jesus in the New Testament. He wasn't quiet. The Bible explicitly says, I'll keep it down for you guys, but he was pretty loud.

It said he cried out on that great day. He cried out, probably an audience, thousands of people back there. He cried out and said, oh, whoever hungers and thirst, come and drink of this living water.

If you drink of this living water, if you're a woman at the well, you will never thirst again. Are you hungry for Christ? Are you hungry for redemption? Are you hungry for the truth? Come and drink deeply in this well. You can almost just hear the passion in his heart.

If you believe on me as the scriptures say, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. And I often throw this challenge out to the church as a whole. Doesn't it beg the question, where are these rivers of living water in the church? Where are they? Think about it, I'll get to church when I can, twice a month.

I don't have time for the Bible. Prayer meetings are boring. Worship, I'll come late.

Six songs, oh my goodness. Pastors, he's already been 45 minutes. Don't they know that in and out line starts pretty soon? But am I not saying what's true? If you believe on me as the scriptures say, out of your belly will flow rivers of living, where's the living water? When was the last time you witnessed to somebody? And got excited during worship? Cranked it up at home and found yourself on your face before God because you're hungry for that living water.

It fills you. And I know it's hard, because you're pursuing that, but here comes the dead water too. It's a matter of just kicking that stuff out of your heart and out of your life.

If you think I walk around with the joy of the Lord all week, you are gravely mistaken. It is a challenge, but I tell you what, I will die trying. I will die focused on Him and seeking Him.

And so he's saying here, God is all from beginning to end. And again, I'm asking the question, are you thirsty? Spiritual desire should always outweigh physical desires. Right? The desire, spiritually speaking, a good example, in the morning, the physical desire to sleep in, the spiritual desire to get up and press in toward God, should outweigh that desire.

Doesn't mean you always do it, but the desire should be there. The spiritual desire should outweigh physical desires, because if not, then your physical, what the Bible calls the carnal man, is actually leading you. Isn't it interesting? We can be led of the flesh, or we can be led of the Spirit.

Look, read Romans sometimes. Those who are led by the Spirit, do the things of the Spirit. Those who are led by the flesh are carnal in their actions and attitude.

It's a choice we make, of what are we gonna be led by? Do we submit? And this is why you have to be careful, because there's so many different ways God is dealing with us. How He wants me to press in might be different than you. What He wants you to give up might be different than what He wants me to give up.

What He's dealing with in your life, it might be different than my life. But there's a choice where we either feed the flesh, and that's why as much as we love the internet, we love all this social media for good, it has an opposite effect, that it pulls us away from the things of God. So remember that.

Spiritual desires should outweigh physical desires. And then God calls you to respond. John 7, on the last day of the feast, that great day.

Oh, see, I knew I read it somewhere. Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

One thing you cannot ignore is God calls us to respond. Because I kind of cringe when I hear this sometimes. People say, well, if God wanted me to do this, He would just show me.

Or He would make me. He draws, He convicts, He calls, He leads, but that final decision is put in the life of your hands. To draw near to God.

Think about all that. Draw near to God, He draws near to me. Seek God, you will find Him.

If you do this, He will do this. And then 21, 5-8, it continues. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

But the cowardly, this is interesting. The cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, sorry, hard ones, murderers, sexually immorals, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. Which is the second death.

An overcomer is in contrast with a coward. Now this can be a little confusing because many Christians are cowardly. The reason is, it's part of our Adamic nature.

It's part of our flesh. I can even not say things and not stand up to things when I know God wants me to. I don't want to deal with that right now.

Right, I want to avoid that. So we can struggle with that, but this is not about a struggle and saying, Lord, I don't want to be a coward in this area. Help me speak boldly to my family.

This is a person. This person here, this coward, a coward does not stand for the things of God. They are weak and they are woke.

They're cowardly, they do not stand for the things of God. Although I'm sure Nike didn't get their name from it. That's actually what, in the Greek, what an overcomer is.

It comes from, it's spelled the same way as Nike. To subdue, to conquer, to overcome, to prevail, to get the victory. So you who overcome mean you conquer, you overcome, you prevail, you get the victory.

Those of us who press in and stand for Christ, they put that in contrast to those who are cowardly and they're unbelievers and they practice all kinds of sexual sin. There's a huge contrast there. So a reminder, without Christ's work on the cross, your works will judge you.

I talked about this, I won't go into a lot of detail I think last week, but the works judge them if they are cowardly. See, these are all outward manifestations of what's already done in the heart. A person that doesn't know God is a coward.

They're unbelieving. Abominable is just completely, just a perverted sexual sin. It's a disgusting lifestyle.

Murders, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, liars. And we see this more as a person is a liar and they're unrepentant. You have to want, is God truly in their heart? Because you can't be a Christian and lie.

Now you might lie, but you're convicted. Oh, dang it. Oh, Lord, help me.

So you're struggling, that's a lot different. And these people are just giving themselves up to a debase and corrupted mind. And then the new Jerusalem, he talks about in 21.

9-13. I'm just gonna paraphrase it instead of read it all, but it shows a new holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. Her light is the most precious stone.

It's like a most precious stone, clear as crystal with high walls and 12 gates. Now the wall of the city had 12 foundations and on them were the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. And I wanted to use this as an opportunity to do something.

It also says, I think we'll get into that, that there's no need for the sun because God is the light. But on the 12 foundation, there's the wall. So the wall, if you ever built anything and you see the wall, it'll have certain foundations holding the structure together.

On them were the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. 12 apostles of the Lamb. So I wanna talk about this just for a minute because it is more and more coming out in Christian news, Christian media, people have more questions.

Are there apostles today? Mm-hmm. If I passed around a sheet of paper, we could have some different opinions. So, are there apostles today? What we have, all we have is the Scriptures and the Scriptures are sufficient.

The Scriptures answer this question very thoroughly. There's actually in my mind, no doubt whatsoever it's that clear. So Ephesians 4, let me read this from the English Standard Version.

And it says that Jesus gave this to the church. He gave apostles, He gave prophets, He gave evangelists, and He gave shepherd pastors and teachers to the body of Christ. What is their role? To equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ.

So, I mean, if you disagree, find some Scriptures and let's talk about in the future. But I do not believe there are capital A apostles. There were the 12 apostles, end of story.

They were eyewitnesses to Jesus. They wrote the Bible, don't even go there. There's not those kind of apostles.

That the 12, the 12, the 12, the 12, the 12, it's clear. But if you take the word apostle, small a, and it says that Jesus gave the church and there were apostles in the book of Acts, apostles, prophet, why did He give the church? They call it the five-fold ministry, right? Why did He do that? Because the body of Christ, to equip the body of Christ, you need all of these. Number one, the word apostle just means sent one.

That's all it means. So are there sent ones? Of course, that's actually a church planter, missionaries. When they go, they're operating in the gift of an apostle.

Where I have problems is when these guys put it on their business card. Apostle such and such. No, no, no, you just, you lost me.

That's arrogant. And every time I say this, I get emails from apostles. So don't email me.

I'm gonna send them to Pastor Abram, he can answer you. I'm apostle such and such from Nigeria. How dare you say that? Well, you don't call yourself apostle.

God calls you an apostle. The people will call you apostle. Take the humble road.

So anytime people have the title prophet this, apostle this, I just cringe. Even those who walk around, pastor this, I'm pastor, I'm pastor, you shouldn't do that. People will call you the pastor.

It's a gifting from God. And then because of this, weird things take place. Weird ceremonies that shouldn't be happening.

Weird, it just, we've elevated, this is an apostle to the nations. He might be going to the nations, but let's downscale that a little bit. Let's humbly approach this and let God position you.

Anytime we come up and we promote a man, I am prophet shame. Watch, that might be turned into a five second, YouTube clip. And if so, I'm going to go after him for copyright.

So that's okay. But can you imagine? What do you do? I'm apostle Shane Idleman. That's all uppity, arrogant titles.

People should not take those titles at all. Now, it is a little bit different because Evangelist Greg Laurie, Evangelist Billy Graham, it kind of identifies what they're doing. And I know what people are, but just the weirdness that goes with it because there's a lot of weird things done in the name of an apostle, especially in Africa too, where they'll come up and the man of God will start blowing on them.

The ushers put them back up. Oh, deep. And then they're like convulsing and you have this Benny Hinn approach with his jacket and just people falling over.

Guys, I'm getting the lines being drawn in the sand. This stuff is ridiculous. And we have to take the humble approach, the humble road.

We don't need huge ceremonies of inducting people because it's all built on pride and arrogance. So that's what an apostle just means a sent one. They have an apostolic type ministry.

They are sent ones, they're missionaries. And he gives some to be prophets. Who do we see prophets in the Bible? John the Baptist.

John the Baptist. Jesus was actually called the prophet. And the prophets in the Old Testament were distinctly different than the priests.

There's a different calling on them. They're like John the Baptist. You can think of A.W. Tozer, look him up.

Leonard Ravenhill, David Wilkerson. You go back to some of the famous preachers. I think Charles Spurgeon was very prophetic.

And John Wesley, George Whitefield. It's a strong message in your face that's not quite normal. It's a prophetic gifting.

That's their calling. They wake up irritated by the things of the world, but loving the things of God. And they warn and they convict you.

That's a prophetic calling. Apostle, the church needs it. Sent one's prophetic calling to convict them and wake them up.

And John the Baptist is one crying in the wilderness. And then you have the evangelist. Because the evangelist's heart is probably more monotone and low key.

You hear Greg Laurie preach, a lot different than me. Way different. It's just monotone, evangelism, reaching thousands of people.

They eat, sleep, and drink, leading people to the Lord. And how God's designed me, I don't eat, drink, and sleep that. That happens all the time.

But my passion is to get the church back on track with God. And then because of that, evangelism follows. Because you can have multiple giftings.

You can be a sent one, and then you can be a prophetic voice, and you can lead people to the Lord. And then he gives to the church shepherds. Those who will pastor and lead.

They don't have a strong gifting in these other areas, but their gifting is they love, for example, they love to sit and meet with people for hours in council. They're shepherding heart. And so that's why Jesus gave these different giftings to the church.

So that answers, are there apostles today? Yeah, small A's. They don't try to be a big A. Oh, did that not sound right? Yeah, I did not do that on purpose. And so what, I'm gonna tie in now.

Again, I'm still on the rabbit trail. The dangers of spiritual abuse. Okay, and this often happens in this type of camp.

Have many of you been following what's happened with IHOP, Mike Bickle, all those things? If you haven't, that's okay. But it happens in other churches too. There's spiritual abuse.

And what happens is, especially in those who claim to be apostles and prophetic voices, in the church there's a lot of God told me. And they're coming to church every week to hear from a prophet versus hearing from Jesus and His word. And so the church is built on a foundation of apostles and prophets.

There's a hierarchy. And you hear something, I actually started to look into, not the National Rifle Association, but the NAR, National Apostolic Reformation. And a lot of these guys, the apostle is a big deal.

They're over the church. They're the main guy. And they actually begin to control people because of their anointing.

Or their perceived anointing. And they quote scriptures like do the prophet of God no harm, do not come after God's anointed one. And they spiritually abuse the people because they use their authority as an apostle or a prophet.

Hey, God said you're out of line and you need to submit. And it's spiritual abuse. So the best way to correct that, one of the things we set up 14 years ago was a plurality of elders.

So believe it or not, I'm not the main guy. I'm not the apostle. I'm a leader among equal.

I'm one of five or six elders of the church. If they all vote, I'm gone. Did you know that? Next week, I will not be here.

If we have a vote and they all say I'm gone. They vote on my pay structure. I have no say.

And so it helps with accountability. If somebody feels they're being spiritually abused, they can go to the elders. It hasn't happened before to my knowledge, but they can go to the elders and you can unpack how they feel they're being spiritually abused.

And it's good for the church to talk about because I see a lot of these hyper charismatic churches who are taking the gifts way too extreme. They're apostles such and such or prophets such and such. You need to submit to me and my teaching and my word.

See right there, that's arrogant and that's prideful. And people get hurt by it and damaged by it and they stay broken and hurt by the church. Most examples of spiritual abuse refer to a church elder or faith leader inflicting abuse on a congregation or on their members.

Often by creating a toxic culture with the church or a group by shaming or by controlling members using the power of their position. That's a stench in the nostrils of God. But we have to remember a few things.

Number one, spiritual abuse is not saying hard things or confronting people. That's not spiritual abuse. That's biblical.

When we go and we have to confront someone and say some hard things because things have come, that's not, we're not manipulating you. We're not coming against you. We have to speak the truth in love.

When you shepherd a church, you also have to talk about the negatives and the positives. For example, someone comes and says, hey, my husband, he's cheating on me. He's hooked to porn.

Can you guys talk to him? He's not gonna like us. But we have to go and speak the truth in love. So it's not saying hard things and it's not confronting people.

That has to happen. What it is is taking Scripture out of context to manipulate or using God told me to control others. I don't know, I'd like to know.

I don't think anybody here has ever heard me said God told me and I go tell you something or at you or attack you. If I believe God puts anything on my heart, I'll usually go and say, hey, this has been on my heart all week, two weeks, do with it what you want, but I feel and then I will share. But they will use it because when you have the God told me card, how do you get out of that one? We've had to wrestle with this over the years.

I've had people come to me and said, Shane, God told me you need to do this. I'm like, oh, he didn't tell me. But does that put you in a pickle? God told you, oh my goodness.

Well, you must be right because God told you. I think we need to be very, very, very careful in the church. We've had people come in here and say, God told me it doesn't happen.

We have to confront them. We will confront false things like that. That's how the church grows.

And a lot of these churches, I'm gonna start throwing names out there, and I don't do it, I pray about it, I don't do it with a negative heart, but it's one of my huge concerns with Bethel Church. There's no accountability. There's just, I mean, even when they teach on prophecy, they just say, hey, try it out.

If it works, it works. That's how you learn. No, that's not prophecy.

That's false prophecy. Now, I understand sometimes people, they're young in their faith. They just wanna share maybe what God put on their heart.

It's hard to discern, is it me? Is it God? And we can help them work through it. But there's just no accountability for these people. They can say and do whatever they want.

The thing right now, I've gotten into it actually with some friends of mine, that at Bethel, they've seen angel feathers fall for years, but can't produce one feather. Where are the feathers? Say at least a couple. See, I'm not mocking.

I'm saying this is wrong in the sight of God. This is not healthy. Where's the accountability? We can't just do whatever we want because we're elevated and we got the name of apostle.

Who, and I don't wanna say anything because I don't wanna offend. I don't wanna upset. But at what point do you say something and go, guys, this is ridiculous.

This is absolutely ridiculous. When do we talk to people like that? I'm broken. I hate bringing this stuff up, but if the church is to be healthy, we need to be on a healthy path, a humble path.

These abusers often protect themselves at any cost and they are not repentant or apologetic. You will not hear, hey, help me understand. I wanna be teachable.

What can I learn? How can I change? You won't hear that. It's thus saith the Lord, God told me, and it's spiritual abuse. They're often self-proclaimed apostles or prophets, like I said earlier, and the main leader is often without accountability.

If you look at the structure of a church, there is congregational rule, which the Puritans actually brought over in the pilgrims, and it was good at that point because you've got 30 people together. Hey, let's have the congregation vote. They're all solid, and that congregational rule of a church, Southern Baptist churches, and now it gets pretty difficult when you have 1,000 people and you gotta all vote on something, and many of those people aren't living for the Lord.

It's like, that's not probably an ideal model, and then you have something called the mosaic form of church government, which would be like Calvary Chapel, Chuck Smith, a lot of those guys, I know Mike McIntosh endorsed my book, Raul Ruiz, and a lot of those guys can handle that well, but they are the, in foursquare, they're the main shot caller. I mean, the board is underneath them, and then what we set up is a plurality of elders, so we have the five governing elders of the whole body, so I can't just go do whatever I want. We'll get people you have to, because it's not one person calling all the shots.

Here's a perfect example, I'll tell you. You ever see those nice, big LED screens? That's what I wanted to do here, but they said no. I go, okay.

Okay. I think it was me and Abram said yes, so we outvoted, though. But is it the best place of money? We wanna keep it the country look, but we just have different preferences, and it's good, there's not one guy running the whole show.

So practical application on that point, if you've been abused, take it to the Lord. Take it to the Lord. Don't get mad at the church because of what someone did.

Never form your opinion of God based on what someone did to you, because He will never let you down. Others will always let you down. I guarantee I will let people down because of expectations we have on each other, but if you are the person who's doing the abuse and you happen to hear this, you must repent immediately.

Humble yourself. Erase apostle and prophet from your business card today. Throw them in the trash.

Just say, Lord, I wanna be a humble servant of you. You might operate in those giftings even more, but don't elevate self. Humble yourself and become teachable.

Trust me, I prayed over this all week. I'm not just coming up here just in emotions. I've been praying over this on what to share.

But then let's pick up Revelation 21. It continues. We're gonna end here.

It gives a measurement of the great city and the beautiful foundation of precious stones. The city has no need for the sun to shine, for the glory of God illuminates it, and nothing shall enter it that defiles it, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. So we'll end with that question again.

Are you hungry for heaven? Are you written in the Lamb's book of life? Are you? If not, if you're not hungry for heaven, here, let me shoot you straight. When I upset you, it's because I love you, okay? So that's the backdrop. If you're not hungry for heaven, you're not hungry for the things we talked about, you're either spiritually sick or you're spiritually dead.

Those are the two options. Spiritually dead means you have no spiritual life, you don't know Christ, you need to repent and believe. Spiritually sick just means, and I've been there, so I can go sit in that audience and preach to me too.

Spiritually sick is when you've grieved and quenched the Spirit of God for so long. Sure, you'll come to church, but it's like the dead going to a cemetery. You'll get here if all the stars line up and you have gas in your car and the parking's good and the weather's good.

Right, I'm spiritually sick. I don't wanna read the Word, I don't wanna worship, I'm into the things of the world. I'm not hungry for heaven.

I think, this might be controversial, but I think legitimate, saved Christians can be in a season where they're not hungry for heaven because they're quenching and grieving the Spirit. They know it, they want it, but like Shane, I don't feel that though. I'm quenching, because when you're stuck in sin, do you wanna come worship? Let me answer that for you.

No, you wanna go to church? No, because when you do go to church, your head's kinda down, you don't wanna look at people because they're shame. They're shame and guilt, you don't wanna, I don't wanna go there. That actually, let me encourage maybe those who are listening that's when you actually need to run to church.

Get to church and say, Satan, you're not gonna keep me down. You're not gonna keep me down. I've got so much shame and guilt, I shouldn't even be up here.

If you watched my life in my 20s, nobody'd be here, I'd be preaching to my family. But the shame and the guilt was dealt with on the cross. You don't go to purgatory for years to deal with it, you deal with it on the cross.

Jesus dealt with it, and because of that, the new life in Christ, there's a hunger now for heaven. Are you thirsty for worship? Are you thirsty for His Word? Are you thirsty for prayer? All that can change today if not. Are you hungry for righteousness? Are you desperate for more of God? Is your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life? Most people will believe anything if it allows them to continue in their sin.

And I read this last night, I wanna close with this, Psalm 107. Oh, that men, think about this. Oh, that word I love in the Bible.

Oh, God, would You rend the heavens. Oh, God, would You move on behalf of Your people. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works.

For He satisfies the longing soul, and He fills the hungry soul with goodness. Thank You, Lord. Did you catch that? He satisfies the longing soul.

You have to be longing. Could that be the problem? Longing is a desire. Oh, I long.

I long for this. I long for retirement, right? I long for vacation. I long for in and out, double double, cheese shake and chocolate chip.

I long. See, there's a longing. How much more to long for the things of God? Oh, God, I don't feel that my flesh is holding me down to shame and guilt, but there's something within inside of me that longs for You and longs for righteousness, and I'm gonna follow that.

I'm gonna cling to the cross. Guys, I wanna challenge you. If you are not thirsty for heaven, and you are a believer, maybe you need to find yourself on the steps here.

Maybe you need to go next door with us in the prayer room. Let us pray with you. Let us pray with you.

Do you know it's biblical to lay hands on you and pray that the filling of the Holy Spirit will come into your heart and come into your life, and you get that joy unspeakable, you get your passion back for God? Guys, there's nothing redeeming about a miserable Christian that's quenching and grieving the spirits.