Asking God For Confirmation

Let me get into the message this morning. And when I talk about things like that, it only offends people who don't agree with my position. They're fine with me speaking about politics as long as I talk about their political hot buttons.

And those who aren't excited about this topic are maybe the ones who need to step out and do something. So I'm gonna put something up from Wednesday in line with what I just said. This is very interesting.

I was coming across, I came across something that I want to share with you. It is from 1849. We the people of the state of California, grateful to who? Wait a minute.

So you're coming after me for pushing my agenda? We're actually trying to go back to what was initially established. They're actually pushing away from God. So you can boldly and prophetically and historically say that God must be foundation.

It's in the constitution right under this. It says the right to life. Unbelievable.

So we the people of California, grateful to God for our freedom. So in order to secure these freedoms and perpetuate, keep them going, the blessings, we establish this constitution. And that's why they're wanting to change a lot of those things.

Here we go on voting again real quick. This was in, I just thought of it. But there's a, right now the constitution says marriage is between a man and a woman.

The reason California allowed same sex marriage is because the United States Supreme Court made the decision. Usually a state constitution falls underneath the federal constitution. But if that's not enough, they want us to vote.

I don't know the proposition. You can find out all this information. To remove, is it three? Yeah, I knew some of you would know for sure.

To remove that marriage is for a man and a woman. And I think something like vague, like marriage is a right. So see with that, you can marry your dog, your cat, and your stepdaughter.

It's a right. So see when you're that vague, the court determines what that means. You can't marry three people.

Oh yes I can. Marriage is a right. Let's go to the judge.

You have a liberal judge. Appointees. Hello? Positions matter.

You guys don't realize how much positions matter. It's not, you look at the person. Oh, I don't like that person.

Well, who are they appointing? That's what matters. And that's what's going to be able to open up a huge can of worms. I don't even know where that can go.

So Christians aren't alarmists, we're realists. And keep that in the dang constitution. It's what it was there in 1849 when they were seeking Almighty God.

So I would say if you don't vote, vote at least for those things. At least vote for those things. So let's go back to Acts.

I left off around chapter one, verse 15. Those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples. There was about 120.

And he said, men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled. Scripture has to be fulfilled. Scripture will be fulfilled.

Scripture has never fallen off on its record of fulfillment. It's always stood the test of time. Which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David, way back through David, concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who were arrested, who those who arrested Jesus, and he was numbered with us and he obtained a part in the ministry.

Let's think about this for a minute. So we know who Judas is. There's not too many kids named Judas.

America. Or Ahab or Delilah. We know who these people are.

Even sinners know who these people are. So Judas, what did he do? He betrayed Jesus. And so now he's gone.

He hung himself. And the Scripture says another will take his place. So, the disciples are saying, well, hey, look it.

The Scripture says another will take his place. Now I find it interesting. I don't know if I'm going to go into part 2 next Sunday, because there's a lot I want to say on this topic and I don't want to rush through it, because we're talking about asking God for confirmation.

The title is Asking God for Confirmation. There you go. Sorry about that.

It's going to go in order next time. Asking God for confirmation. Knowing God's will.

Discerning God's will in our lives. And many people estimate, or theologians I shouldn't say estimate, but their opinion is that the disciples move too quickly. They say, hey, Scripture says this.

We need to fulfill it. Let's do it. Boom, who should we pick? Because we soon realize that who they picked and even the other guy, we never hear from them again.

But we hear from somebody called Paul that Jesus called as an apostle. We believe the 12th apostle to fulfill that position. But it gets interesting here in just a minute on how they determine this.

But what also I want to point out is the last part here. So Judas Iscariot was numbered with us. He was among the disciples and he obtained a part in the ministry.

Isn't that interesting? How can you taste of the ministry and partake of the things of God and still fall away? That's interesting. So let's put up that verse that's questionable in Hebrews 6, 4-6. I'll tell you right up front, I hold my opinions loosely.

People are divided on this. And I'll tell you where I stand on it. It says this, so let me just tell you this up front.

When I read this, I think of Judas Iscariot for sure. And others I've known over the years. For it's impossible.

So when the Bible says it's impossible, it's impossible for those who are once enlightened. My mind is enlightened. I've tasted the heavenly gift and I've become a partaker.

I've shared in the work of the Holy Spirit and I've tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the ages to come. If they fall away, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucified again themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. So many will say, see, you could lose your salvation.

I would say no, that's dealing with a person who was never saved. Because if you can lose your salvation, if this pertains to losing your salvation, then everyone who walks away can never come back. It's impossible to renew them again to salvation.

Now, I know this is gonna rub some people wrong because we have a lot of people here who believe you can lose your salvation and you get it again, lose it and get it again. And I'm not gonna go into all the different. I was happy to hear Greg Laurie talk about it on the radio that he doesn't believe you can and Jack Hibbs, because the Calvary Chapel movement often is known for, one of their distinctives is losing salvation.

And there's verses on both sides and that's why people get confused. But when I look at the Holy Spirit is given to you as a guarantee, it's not a partial guarantee. He guarantees us and then it says, and He seals you up until the day of redemption.

Now, I can already hear all the Facebook posts. Are you telling people once saved, always saved and they can do whatever they want? Of course not. Hello, go back and listen to any one of my sermons.

If you don't have any fruit, you're not converted. Bottom line. So if they're living like hell, they have never received heaven.

So I believe this verse, I mean, look at all the words. You never hear of these types of words dealing with salvation. He's tasted, they were part of, they kind of, they were enlightened, they heard the good news.

If they fall away, they can never repent again. So what about the person who you think is a believer? They fall away, they're living like sin. They're just, man, it's terrible.

They're not even a prodigal. And now they come back to the Lord. That would make this null and void.

That's not possible to do because once they make that decision of rejecting Christ and losing their salvation, according to this verse, they can't come back. And we all have questions. I don't know.

I just know there's a lot of hope in being sealed by the Holy Spirit and being the Holy Spirit is given to you as a guarantee. I don't know how you can undo that. Once you're a child of God, because here's what happens.

Born again is a radical new birth, spiritually speaking. I don't know how you can undo that. What keeps it there? My faith, my belief.

I have to keep, I gotta keep this because if I get dementia later, or what about if I, I mean, you're holding on to Christ or is He holding on to you? And so that's always been my position for years. I've never understood how a person can walk away. And there are verses that I've went over on podcasts before that some people use, but if you look at, to me, if you look at the plethora of Scriptures, a lot of just, I just mentioned, it weighs heavily on the side that God's got us.

And once the Holy Spirit does a work in your heart, you can't undo that, okay? So that's the verse. Judas is a good example. And then Acts 1.18. Now that doesn't mean live however you want, right? Because if you live however you want, you really don't have a love for God or His Word, you're not genuinely converted.

Anytime you're genuinely converted, there's a shift, things change. I like the darkness, no, I hate it, I love the light. God's Word was boring.

It meant nothing to me. Now I want more of God's Word. I want to, I'm convicted now.

I like worship instead of P. Diddy. Boy, that guy's in trouble. Holy smokes.

You don't think I know what's going on, do you? So yeah, let's get back on track here. I don't remember what I was saying. So verse 18, now this man, Judas, he purchased the field with the wages of iniquity and he hung himself, he fell.

It sounds like his intro's gushed out, pretty graphic here in the Bible. And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem so that the field is called in their own language, Echel Dammah, which is the field of blood. What happened to Judas? Well, let me show you a verse we need to be very careful of.

James 1.14, let no one say when he is tempted, I'll get this side now, let no one say when he is tempted, this is important because I've heard a lot of people say, God's tempting me. Let no one say when he's tempted, I'm tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.

He will allow certain things, but that temptation to sin, God's not dangling Delilah. Men, here's Delilah, dang, I'm tempting you. So where does temptation come from? Each one of us is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

So everything can be going good, and here's the pull of the flesh, the lust of the flesh. You're enticed, correct? And if you start to feed the thoughts, think about it, that's why it says you flee. You don't contemplate it, you don't think about it.

Many people make excuses. Just one won't hurt. Just a look won't hurt.

And we start to make excuses on that. But you have to pull away. The door of temptation swings both ways.

You can enter or exit. And that's where temptation comes from. We're led away by our own desires and enticed.

Then, when that desire has conceived, this is the type of abortion we believe in to abort sin. So that desire now, let's say a guy's at work. There's been a desire for a while.

He begins to hit on the secretary or the business co-business worker, whatever you want to call it, or women too. Hello? And you keep fulfilling this desire, or pornography, I mean, you fill in the blanks. And if you allow that desire to conceive, now there's a little sin baby.

It gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. That's the end result of it.

That is the end result of it. I've mentioned to some of you, I think on Wednesday night, it's just so interesting for me to watch A&E sometimes, clips of interventions. And all these people start out, like little pictures of their kids, they're good in sports, and then, what happened? Oh, his teeth are missing, he's 150 pounds, he's like a meth addict, or alcohol, it's like, what happened? This.

Or my 600 pound life. God, my heart breaks for those people. That's got to be one of the most challenging, because you can't just go to 30 day rehab and you're feeling better.

No, this is years of getting that food out, off. What happened? Broken marriage. What happened? That desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

That's why we recommend, when something is in the darkness, that's growing, it's good to expose it. You go to somebody, you go to people, hey, this is a struggle in my life right now. I'm really being pulled in this direction.

You bring it to the light. You open marriages. Can you imagine if the spouse said, listen, I don't know why our marriage is not in a good spot, and I'm feeling drawn to just, I'm looking at more people, I'm like, I don't want this, I can't, would you pray for me? And you open that up.

It might be a little argument for a minute, but at least you aborted the sin. Or how many people struggling with something, if they just bring it up? And say, hey, you bring it to the light. See, sin is growing in darkness.

It doesn't want the light. These little growing, growing in the darkness. And when you expose the light of the Son, say, the light of the Gospel, the light of confession, actually that's genuine repentance is not hiding it anymore.

Now the light comes out, and it can no longer grow. So that's why people are sneaky. Deceptive.

Deceptive. I watched something last night too. He's a nationally known interrogator.

And he gave some tips on how you can tell somebody's lying. So I'm like, I don't wanna be watching. Now I'm on.

Pupils dilate. You can see the white more. Their face, their mouth kind of goes back.

They can see their chin. They stutter or they wait. I mean, there's so many things.

I'm gonna try it out. So be ready. But that's what lying is deceptive because we want to continue in our sin.

And that even has to be brought out before we can see real change. Hebrews 12.1 will really help. Let us lay aside every weight.

I talked about this Wednesday. I wanna bring some Wednesday notes in. Lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us.

I've always been perplexed, I guess, at this because I remember reading it 25 years ago when I first started to read the Bible again. Okay, so weight is different than a sin, obviously. It would just say lay aside every sin.

But there are some things that we carry around that might be okay in moderation or might be, okay, it's not a real big deal. It's not that big, but is it slowing you down in your race? Is it hindering you from doing more for God? Is it hindering you from, I mean, everything from a sports fanatic to a shopaholic to, I mean, I don't wanna go down a huge list here, but we know what our weights are. For me, my weight would be doing too much.

And I upset people sometimes when I say no, but this guy has got to say no. Five kids at home leading this church, leading the radio ministry, doing the podcast, speaking, preparing sermons. The day kind of fills up.

Gotta sleep in there, right? Somewhere, and removing things from our lives. Some of those can be not good things as well. Relationships, oh my goodness, how many people are being prevented from following Christ because of bad relationships? Or friends.

If you have friends and they're pulling you down or pulling you away, that's not a friend. That's a weight. Tell them your pastor said you can cut that weight off.

And I know I had many of those. When I first came back to the Lord, I've talked about this before, 1999 or so, 2000. I really wish I would have journaled more.

But still the same friendships. Those didn't end. And after you keep falling the first year, I'm like, you know what? You guys are not friends.

You guys are not friends. They're wanting you to misery enjoys company. Go back.

I just had to cut all those off and start fresh. And that was a big weight that was hindering me. And even people now, it's hard, if you know somebody and they're always negative.

I know people, they'll put down churches in town. I've been to all these. I used to go to Central Christian.

I've been to Grace Chapel, Paul Chapel, Lancaster Baptist. I used to go to Highlands, Ken Hartley's on Sierra Highway, Hope Chapel, Calvary Chapel. I've been all, I know all these people.

They're not bad churches, but we all like to down talk and put others down. These people I just want to avoid, right? The negative Nellies, Judge Mel Gerry's. And there's other things.

There's some weights that will slow you down. But this is so interesting. The Storm King Mountain in Colorado in 1994.

How many of you have heard of this story? Bill, okay, oh, you guys are here Wednesday. So that's not fair. 14 firejumpers lost their lives with freedom just 200 feet away.

How is that possible? You know what the firejumpers are? That's a job. Let me tell you that you don't, you know, you'd be called to do that, but you're jumping out of an airplane, right? Or helicopter? I don't know, you jump into fires. And the point is to cut a line so the fire doesn't continue.

And they cut the line and the wind shifted or something and got more intense, and it started to come after them. And so if you can get to the edge, there's a rocky ledge where the fire's going to stop. And so they're all going for it.

Some made it, some didn't. What was the final assessment? You can go look this up. All of them had too much equipment on.

They're still holding onto their chainsaw or their shovels or a 30 pound backpack. My equipment. It costs them their lives.

Is that interesting? Run with just your underwear on. Well, maybe not, but you know, get this stuff off and just be able to go, remove. Remove the weight.

What's pulling you down this morning? What weight is hindering reaching that pivotal moment, that pivotal point in your life? And you won't ever get rid of every weight. It tries to latch on often, but you can begin to remove the weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. And ensnare is an interesting word.

Hunters, you might know this word. But as you're hunting, you know, they would put down snares where you'd actually step and it would trigger something and now you're caught or it brings you up and now you're ensnared, right? There were the wolf trap. Those little things that grab your feet.

And now you're ensnared. So the sin, unrepentant sin, that you continue in, you want more of God, but you're ensnared. You're not gonna be able to pursue God because you're ensnared.

You have to remove that ensnarement through repentance, letting the light of the Gospel in, praying and fasting and seeking God. And then you're able to run that race and finish strong. Even with temptation, Paul said, wretched man that I am.

Who's gonna deliver me? I've got my flesh pulling me and I want to serve God. I'm a wretched man. What's this wretchedness inside of me? Even he finished well.

So don't let temptation take you down. Side note, as I was studying the Storm King Mountain, there's another incident, I guess this happens a lot, where the fire shifted and these guys are running and the guy in charge took out his matches and lit all the stuff in front of him. And he's telling his guys, come on, come on, come on, come on.

And they're like, no, you're crazy. They start going the other way. They all died.

But when that fire got out 50, 60 yards, he just walked out into the ashes, put a wet rag on his mouth, laid down, and the fire never came up to him because it hit that. That's smart. Now actually it's a practice in the fire department from the late 1990s.

Wisdom as well. Wisdom. Using God's wisdom, the world will not understand you.

When you make decisions to follow God, when you want to do something for God, worldly wisdom. That's kind of weird. Whoa, this could be a big can of worms, so I won't go too deep here.

Christian parents, what do people say about your parenting? Who aren't believers? That's weird. I'm calling to the Department of Children Services. The world will never understand.

Acts 1.20, for it is written in the book of Psalms. So now he's quoting David, which we read earlier, that somebody else should fulfill his place. So here's what it says in Psalms.

Here's what they're going to fulfill. They think it's their job to fulfill this position. Now I will say maybe it was.

Theologians are divided. It doesn't really say, it doesn't say God said the disciples should not have done that, or Jesus rebuked them. Because what they're going to actually do is, many of you know, right? Cast lots.

Oh, how many of you ever do that? Cast, okay, Lord, if it's two snake eyes, I'm going. It's snake eyes. I'm going.

No, it could just be chance. The devil can maybe turn those too. I don't know if he can control the weather and things like that, according to the book of Job.

So it's written, let his dwelling place, talking about Judas, right? Let his dwelling place be desolate. And let no one live in it. And let another take his office.

And they proposed two people. Joseph and Matthias, or Matthias, however you prefer to say it. And they prayed and they said, oh, Lord.

It's funny though, they read this. They made a decision. It's not like they really waited on God.

They said, okay, we've got to make this happen. Anybody done that before? Thank God, He can take a bad decision and make it okay. Romans 8.28. If not, we're all in trouble.

We are all in trouble. So, they said, oh Lord, they prayed, You know the hearts of everyone. Show us which one of these two You have chosen to take part in the ministry.

And the apostleship from which Judas, by transgression, fell, that he might go to his own place. And they cast their lots. And the lot fell on Matthias.

And we never hear from this guy again. And he was numbered with the 11 apostles. Now, I didn't write it down.

You could do your own study on lots, casting lots. I think it's mentioned over 70 times in the Old Testament. And even seven times in the New.

To where it was a viable way that God would lead the people. I don't know exactly what was involved. But you have to remember, can you imagine living in the Old Testament? Many of them didn't have what we call the Septuagint, right, it was translated later.

The Law of Moses, many of them would probably have to memorize, but they didn't carry around a pocket Bible. And so you're just, you have, you know, God's Word says this, follow the Ten Commandments. The Holy Spirit's not in them.

How are you going to determine God's will? And the priests would wear this vest that would light up. These things would guide them. And so God, I believe, in the Old Testament, maybe even here in the New, it wasn't anything that was necessarily frowned upon.

Possibly God used it. Hey, these people are seeking Me. It's not New Age.

New Age wasn't invented yet. But this is the way my people genuinely want to know if it's God's will. It's okay to ask for confirmation.

Okay, I believe. It's okay to ask for confirmation. Not on things we already know, because that's called, I want to hear something else.

And you know, you all know those people you can ask that will tell you what you want to hear, correct? Okay, well, that's not what we're talking about here. But I like what gotquestions.org said. Now we have the completed Word of God as well as the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide us.

There's no reason to be using games of chance to make decisions. The Word, the Spirit, and prayer are sufficient for discerning God's will, not casting lots or rolling dice or flipping a coin. Okay, and so we do have to be careful in this area.

We have the Word of God. So what I like about the Word of God is that handles about 95% of it, doesn't it? There are some things, I don't want to be repetitive, but a lot of new faces every month as the mass exodus from California continues. We have people still coming that are new.

I didn't know if we should plant a church. I was scared to death. I actually wanted to try it for six months.

And the pastor at the church we were using said, no, you're either doing it or you're not. We're not gonna let you use the church for six months. Oh, hard truth, right? And I didn't know.

Where am I gonna look? Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, do you have a verse for that? Now you could say the principle's there, right? If you desire this position, you desire a good thing, here's the qualifications. Okay, but that doesn't mean we're supposed to, you know, we're even coming up to this location from Lancaster, you know, driving up here back. So many people are like, what are you, back in the rolling hills, away from town.

Why are you doing that? I'm like, I don't know, maybe God's doing it. Right, so some things you just don't know. Should I marry this person? Equally yoked, yeah, okay.

Proper 31 woman, okay, yeah. But what about if it's not the right one? There's a lot of godly women and men. I mean, not as many as we'd like, but there are, right, single people? So, but how do you know? You can't turn to First Thessalonians.

So I believe there are times where God sees our heart, we're seeking, we're praying, we're not caught in besetting sin, and we're waiting on Him, and we're like, God, I need you, when we bought the radio station, you know, I needed lots of confirmation on that thing, three times. I was that naive, I mean, not naive, but I was just not, I didn't trust myself. Even all the elders said, oh, it's a great idea if you can get this price for it, and we're like, oh, but yeah, but Lord, you need to show us, right? And so He, I believe, will answer a genuinely seeking heart.

But if we're not in the Word, you just lost 90% of your decision-making ability. Not only that, as you're in the Word, you understand the heart and character and nature of God. So you can discern His will better because you're like, okay, this will help people.

That's really what the final thing that did it for the church, is I realized that my flesh was saying no, but that it was gonna help a lot of people. And that's not the devil. And that's not myself.

I was very comfortable in construction. Now I was in real estate. One of the top 5% of the agents in the valley making really good money, and had no desire.

I'm comfortable, I'll go and preach when I'm called. But you had to fight against what the flesh wants to what God is doing. And so there's massive amounts of confirmation.

I won't go into all the details on that, but he brought me kicking and screaming. Kicking and screaming. The whole way.

But confirmation after confirmation. From the building we would use. I remember one time I said, Lord, I went and looked at a church, and they said, no, we can't rent it to you.

I'm like, I've tried everywhere, Lord. There's nothing, I tried. I'm off the hook.

Whew, that was a close call. But then I went to lunch with Pastor Sean, and I said, yeah, it's not going to work out, praise God. Dodge that bullet.

And he goes, oh, just use our building free, Saturday nights. Oh my goodness. Because I'm praying, Lord, if you want, you're going to have to open the door.

I opened the account with $100. And said, you're going to have to, there's nothing more I can do. If you want me to do this, you're going to have to open that door.

Give me confirmation. And I think that's an open door. Right? Free building.

We also utilized his worship team and the sound guy, everything. It was already set from day one. From day one.

So, those are times. I've missed God's will before. Okay? So have many of you.

But praise God, He'll get you back on track. How many of us dated the wrong person before we got the right person? Even as believers. Some of you, I still got the wrong person.

No, don't do that here. Don't do that here. I believe once you say, I do, now you have the right person, you've got to make do with what you did.

Okay? I was just reading Jack Hayford's book for this on discerning God's will. And he said something so critical that I remember I used to tell singles. He said, you always put the relationship on the altar.

You don't know if it's God's will until that day you say, I do. Then you know. And like, that's wise.

Because I tell people, oh, this is God's will. This is who I'm supposed to marry. And then all kinds of junk comes out maybe months into it.

You don't have peace anymore. Well, you didn't say I do yet. But once you make that commitment, that, it's sealed.

So I want to share a few principles that will help. Don't rush. Don't rush.

Stay, pray, and obey. When it comes to discerning God's will, I've always remembered these three things. My mom probably told me it years ago.

Stay in His Word. Obey His principles. And pray for direction.

That combination will not fail you. Even because if I'm, Lord, I'm in Your Word. I'm trying to obey Your Word.

I'm praying, God, about certain things. And help me, sometimes He'll kick you. He'll kick you through the door.

He'll have you meet the right person. He'll, come on, come on, you need a little help. Because we're already doing the right thing and we're going in the right direction.

He begins to come along and assist us. And God will keep the burden on you. When it's His will, you're praying, you're waiting, that burden, that burden will be there still.

Because God's laid that burden upon you. He'll lay that burden upon you. And sometimes we just have to trust that it's His will.

So we're waiting on God's direction. I think I can say this now, because it's been a long time. It's confidential.

Now I don't think it matters. But how many of you remember when Dave Prather retired at Central Christian? Bill, you do? We were talking to them about me taking that spot. And our church coming and being part of Central Christian.

Interesting, isn't it? Talk about turmoil. I was like, I didn't have a lot of peace really. But you're like, well, God, obviously this is You, right? I mean, obviously, Lord.

And I didn't know what to do. So, Lord, I don't know what to do. I'm praying for confirmation.

2012 probably? 2013. And I said, Lord, I just have to wait on You. We need a building.

They need a pastor. It's right down the street from where we were, three miles. And so it was a hard time, because I didn't, what do you do? You don't want to say yes to something that's not God.

As I'm praying, I said, Lord, You're going to have to show me. I'm just going to wait on You. And I got the email, I'll never forget.

A guy named Jerry, I won't say last name. And I don't know if I should say this. Just don't tell anybody, okay? We're looking for someone with a degree in theology.

Oh, pardon me. I'll just keep doing my thing. And it was like, I was so taken back.

Like, do you want to at least talk to me and see how many books I've read on theology? I can quote Spurgeon, Calvin, Knox, Wingley. I've read Systematic Theology. I've read the same books.

You want to kind of see, you think I'm stupid? You're right. I'm just going to go start a church. I don't know what the Bible says.

Holy gee whiz. But that closed the door. Slam shut.

Done deal. End of story. That day, that hour, that minute, that email.

And believe it or not, I had such a sense of joy and peace and freedom. It lifted. The burden of, Lord, is this Your will, lifted.

And it felt so, so incredible. So, you'll hear lots of stories if you keep coming. I've got lots of them.

A church pretty close to that church told me, I'm not a real pastor and this is not a real church because I didn't go to seminary. So you see, I'm starting out ministry, hearing all this stuff, it's like, whoa, makes you a little gun-shy, doesn't it? Makes you a little critical if you're not careful. And then God just explodes it.

Now we have 100 times more listeners than both those churches combined. That's what God does. But you have to stay humble.

You have to stay broke. I've waited, what, how many years now? 12 years to even tell that story. Don't say, I know what the Bible says, but... Oh, if I had a dollar for every time I heard this.

Counseling people, I was talking to, Shane, pastor, listen, I know what the Bible says, but here it comes. You just lost me. But you don't know my spouse.

You don't know my situation. You don't know what I'm going through. Well, anytime you say, I know what God's Word says, but, that means I know what I'm supposed to do, but here's why I'm not doing it.

Ooh, this is gonna help some people today. If they repent. I had to repent as I worked on this sermon.

Number three, don't, don't, don't, please hear me loud and clearly here. I've seen just this week, somebody messed up their life or last week. Don't move on open doors, godly counsel and leadings or circumstances alone.

What do I mean by alone? All other factors aren't in play, but here's an open door. If there's an open door, there will be other factors in play. Everything will line up like a lighthouse.

Because you can just, remember I saw this in real estate all the time and I cringed. People, I mean, they're just barely qualifying for a loan, right, just like barely. It's like, guys, live below your means.

Go buy something you can afford. Like, well, we're just gonna put an offer in and if we get it, God opened the door. I'm like, no, you might just, you might get an offer.

I mean, they might accept it. That's not an open door. Now, if you're praying, you're waiting on God, you feel good about this.

Lord, I don't know if this is you. I'm trusting, I'm not rushing. Lord, we're gonna, I don't know what to do with this, but we're gonna put, any investors can relate, okay? We're gonna put this before you.

If you open the door and we get accepted, then great. We did that with the radio station. We low-balled the offer and they got mad, but then they eventually took it.

I said, Lord, if you're really doing this, we're gonna offer this and here's what they'll take. But if you go by the open door alone, I believe the enemy can open doors. He could plan a thought in somebody's mind to go to Target, Target maybe.

He doesn't know the future. Target. And I just ran into, I just ran in like it was God.

Maybe we're supposed to date. He's not a Christian yet, but I bet I can get him going to church once we get married. What do you mean? What are you guys making? Nobody but God.

I mean, the right timing, the right timing. I just saw him at Froyo and he was, frozen yogurt, and he was there and I was there. But the principle of equally yoked.

See, God gives us His Word for a reason. Don't go off godly counsel. Alone.

Just because somebody tells you, hey, here's what I'm thinking, they don't know what God is doing in your own heart. I learned this years ago. Godly counsel is a supplement to what God's already kind of doing, to kind of flesh out.

Lord, is this really you? Let me go, like for example, that's why we have an elder board and I can go to them, you know, if nobody sees what I see, then I'm like, oh, that's probably not a good idea then. But for example, when I ask godly counsel, I ask my mom. I ask my mom about planning a church.

She goes, ah, I don't know if that's, yeah, I don't see you as a pastor. She came around eventually. But, right, godly counsel.

You can ask Randy McMillan. He's in Colorado. He probably listened to this.

He told me, no, I don't think, I don't see that. You're just, you're that bold preacher and you travel and you know, I don't see that. But what's God doing in my heart? Now eventually, as you tell them to pray about it, think about it, here's God opened this door, here's what I'm thinking.

Once you have all the information, then they can kind of see, you know, the decision you're making. But godly counselors don't know what God is doing in your heart. That's why when I counsel people, I can't say, like they say, pastor, what would you do? I'm not telling you what, I don't know what I would do because God might be having you do something different.

And I do have sometimes a biased view on things. Correct? That's why nobody comes and asks me my opinion about them moving out of California. Because I'll say no.

You're staying here with me. I'm miserable. You're miserable.

I'm actually not miserable. We love it. It's worth fighting for.

For sure. But me and Pastor Abram were joking months ago. He'll remember.

Like out of that probably, how many, 300 people who have moved? Nobody, nobody asked for pastoral counsel. That's not good either, I don't think. What that tells me, I'm doing this and I don't care what you have to say.

I can list a half dozen people now who are miserable. Hooked on drugs, family falling apart, divorced. Who moved? But, the point is, godly counsel can help.

But it's not the answer. You're just relying on that only and looking for people to tell you what you want to hear. That won't work.

You can be misled sometimes. But, that's why I said it doesn't bother me too much because I would probably, I'm biased, right? No, don't move. What are you doing moving? Right, stay.

Because God's not dealing with me the same way He's dealing with you. So keep that in mind. Or leadings, how many people are led? I was just led to do something.

And after you were led, you find out it was wrong. Be careful in that area too. If I feel led to do something, it's usually, I mean, of course, there's spur of the moment things.

I've called people. I remember Pastor Abram will tell you, pulled over to the side of the road. I called him to come speak.

The whole, how about, I have no, it just happened like within a minute. Like, I'm getting ready for vacation. Should I speak? He came to mind.

I emailed him. Both him and Eric followed up. And that was just a quick, like, well, that's kind of weird.

So I pulled over by Goaty Hill. And so there are things like that where I believe God prompts and leads. I need to stop for some reason.

There goes a car speeding by. I mean, there are times where that, but what I mean is leadings and a choice you're going to make. And you're not in God's Word.

You may be in some sin. You're kind of letting the world influence you. And now I have a leading.

I'm just led. Be careful, that's probably the wrong leading because the spiritual foundation isn't formed. Because what you feed on, you'll eventually live out.

And so if you're feeding on these things, then you will be led often by your flesh. Right? Because what you feed on leads you. I mean, sometimes, and you guys know me, I try to eat pretty good, but if I see, like, I'm watching, and there's a Carl's Jr. double bacon, double cheeseburger commercial, what do I want to go get? No, I could say I was led to Carl's Jr. I had this leading in my heart.

That's not leading, that's flesh saying, feed me, feed me. So be careful. Look at all the commercials.

Usually, now I want to be careful, a lot of the commercials are meant to, you should avoid what they're promoting, okay? Email us the next time you see an expensive commercial for cut-up organic apples with almond butter. I'll get out of that one real quick here. Also, don't move on circumstances alone.

Look at my circumstances. God will use circumstances. For example, you get a 30-day notice.

They're gonna rent your house. What does that mean? Okay, there's my confirmation to move to Florida. No, not necessarily.

It just means you gotta go find another place. But be careful, because I see so many people just on circumstances. Shane, this is happening to me.

This must mean this. Not necessarily. God's will is a combination.

Let me show you. I wrote this down to try to make a point. Okay, the first step is we have the Word, correct? Then we have prayer and repentance and worship.

Then our motives are sifted. How many changed course after you check your motives? Okay, your motives. Using wisdom, seeking godly counsel.

Okay, I'm waiting. I'm waiting on God. I have peace about everything I just talked about.

Then what faith does, faith steps out and walks in God and trusting that He will lead you. I'm walking. It's a faith walk.

But every step was important, wasn't it? I don't bypass that. I should not. I was gonna try to jump down there.

That might not work. But isn't that what many people do? They jump down here. They bypass all the important steps and now they're walking like, what's wrong with my life? What's going on? This is a mess.

God, where are you? It starts at the very first step. But on this point, this is important to talk about too. What is presumption? Isn't it hard to know? Lord, is this you? Because presumption, what is presumptuous? Well, presumptuous is to act impulsively.

Any type A people out there? Oh, there's a lot more than that. You're just not being honest. Oh yeah? Okay.

Impulse, right? You just act impulsively. That's why anger worketh not the righteousness of God because anger is actually a secondary emotion if you think about it. It comes as a result of something else.

So anger, for example, would fit in here and active impulsively. Okay, they did this to me. I'm doing this.

They made me feel this way. I'm gonna show them. It's impulsive.

And what it often does is it's my plan versus God's plan. Because when I presume something, I step out too quick. And I presume this, okay, God, here's what I'm doing.

You're going to bless me. My plan versus God. When we try to hurry something along, anybody do that? Send out emails, you make comments.

Try to push God along. Hurry God along. Come on, hurry.

I even tell parents, and I take my own advice in the future, right? But if your kid's not doing great spiritually and they already know where you stand, you don't need to be rebuking them on text messages and sending all these Scriptures. If it's just pushing them further away, the best thing you can do is to zip it and pray and fast. That's the best thing you can do.

Zip it and pray and fast. Are there times to send them Scriptures? Yes. If God prompts you or leads you and you feel, man, this is on my heart, I gotta send Galatians, I just want... Of course.

But you know when we're manipulating and pushing, and I want to make this happen quicker. I want my kids to get to church. When we try to hurry something along, we can often fall outside of God's will.

Making emotional decisions, okay? And a decision based on emotion. Not really hearing His voice. When we're not really hearing God's voice, we can act impulsively.

It often fulfills an ulterior motive. Here's a big difference. God's leading.

God often calls us to do things that are not fulfilling to the flesh. Ministering, having a hard conversation with somebody, making some lifestyle changes. Hello? Often, though, when we act impulsively, it's on things that are going to fulfill the flesh.

It doesn't fulfill the spirit, it fulfills the working of the flesh in our hearts. It's ulterior motive. You know what ulterior motives are, right? Doing something.

I shouldn't use this example, but too late now. I don't know if I ever called them on it. It was many years ago.

But these people, they were always on missions trips, right? And I'm like, I never really saw them as a mission trip guy, people. Well, that was their disguise to go on vacation. So I'm like, you went there and you stayed in a five-star hotel and drank wine on the mission field? And so that was their, I'm going on this mission field, I'm going on this mission field, I'm going on this mission field.

But really, it was their go to Mexico and hell. Well, Cancun's just 30 minutes away. Go minister here.

And so it's ulterior motives. Why do we do what we do? Claiming broad promises in the Bible for you. This can be a disaster.

Just because the Bible says it, unless it's a principle to live by, just because the Bible says it, doesn't mean it's a principle for you necessarily. It can be. But I've seen so many people claim a Bible.

They quote Scripture, but yet, they're living in sin. They're quoting this and doing this, yet they're clearly out of God's will. And finally, be careful.

Be careful with God said. If I've ever said this to anybody, come up and let me know. Because I can't recall, and there's no way I want to do this, because we truly don't know many times.

So many people, God said. Unless it's according to His Word, right? I've seen many, many train wrecks with this area here. Presumption acts quickly and often in arrogance.

Faith, however, patiently waits on God and considers the ramifications of their words and their actions, and that also pleases God. I don't want to embarrass people in case they listen to this later, but I can think of a lot of times where people said, God said, and He didn't say. It didn't happen.

Years later. That's dangerous. That's reckless.

We need to be very careful. Those who believe they have that gift thing, be very careful. Really, the best thing to say is, I feel impressed with this, or I feel God leading me to share this with you.

Not God said, okay? That's a very, very important point here. Now, there might be times where God puts on a person's heart, right? It's so, man, God is clearly wanting me to tell this person something. But I'm probably not going to say God said.

Because then also, you come under, like, when people have told me that, it's kind of jacked me up. Even as a pastor, I don't, you know, but it's like, okay, well, is that really what you want me to do? Or God gave me a dream. He said, you're supposed to do this.

Well, that was four years ago, and I'm not doing this. Or some things are going to happen to me during COVID. Guess what never happened? Guys, this is not good.

This is my big concern for charismatic churches and charismatics in general. They're loose with their lips, and it can hurt people. And here's what happens.

Here's why. God will use somebody powerfully, gift them, be able to speak prophetically into the lives of people. Okay, I've done this before.

But then now you start to think you're all that and a bag of chips. You think you're God's man, you're God's woman. Every impulse you have, every thought you have for that person, you're dealing with this, you're dealing with that.

See, now it's arrogance. Now it's all you, not God. The true person led of God to speak to others is humble about it.

They're waiting on God. They're like, Lord, if this is not You, I do not want it. And there's a fear and there's a reverence for God.

Not this, you know, just blatant disregard for the fear and reverence. You're telling somebody what God told you? To tell them? And look at all the so-called prophets over the years who have missed it. It's like we got to re-look at this spiritual gift and be very careful with it, very reverenced with this.

We are to test every spirit, even our own spirit. Ironically, too, when I challenge people in this area, I always look at how they handle the challenge. Are they open and teachable or are they defensive? If they're defensive, that already tells me their heart is not in a good spot.

Listen, when you follow God, you know where you're going. You just don't know the directions, the coordinates. I'm not confused.

I know where I'm going. I know where I'm going. I'm following God's will, but I don't know exactly, am I going to Palmdale? Or am I going to Cascade? Or am I going to Glendale and Pasadena? I don't know.

But I know where I'm going. I'm following His will. I don't know the exact directions of that.

Then Acts 2, like I said, we might need to get to some of this next week, next Sunday. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. I did talk about this a few weeks ago or last Sunday actually, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven.

This mighty rushing wind, and it filled the whole house, and they had these divided tongues, like fire set upon them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. It's in the Bible. And then here's how the crowd responds.

You ready for this one? And there were those dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, right there, they probably heard the sound of rushing wind possibly, and they heard the people coming out, and they were confused, because they knew that these were just local Jews, Galileans, but they were speaking all of the wonderful things about God in a different tongue. And the Bible goes on, you can list all the different ethnicities that were there.

So they're like, how is this person, he doesn't know my language, he doesn't know my language, he's talking about the glories of God, the wonderful works of God. So what happened here, and what still happens with the gift of tongues, is the Holy Spirit in a believer begins to speak forth in this language that you don't know, but you're allowing the Holy Spirit to speak in an unknown language. And we can get into all the different ramifications later in the future.

But they were speaking the wonderful works of God. So think about that for a minute. Nowadays, they'd say, well, if that happened nowadays, they would say that's of the devil.

Well, the only problem is you can't speak the wonderful things of God. The devil's not going to speak the wonderful things of God. He's going to curse Christ.

So if somebody has this incredible experience with the Holy Spirit and they're praising God and they're worshiping and they come out of this prayer closet a better husband or a better father, a better person, a better Christian, how's that of the devil? You make no sense there. So they're all amazed and perplexed and they said what could this mean? What could this mean? Ah, but look at the last sentence here. One group was open, one group was mocking.

Do you know that still happens today? There was a conference in Oklahoma recently that mocked genuine works of the Spirit. They had speakers all lined up and they would mock session after session. God doesn't do that anymore.

Are you sure? Because you're on very dangerous ground if that's not the case. But here's some lessons. Are you open but cautious? I would have no problem approaching God and saying, Lord, maybe you have questions about these areas.

Lord, I don't know. The Bible says it. I don't want to be a Froot Loop.

I don't want to be weird. I don't want to be some extreme weirdo. But Lord, I want all of you.

I want you, would you show me? Open but cautious. That's a very healthy position. Or, do you mock anything that doesn't fit your God-size box? Do you mock anything? I'm going to tell you, over the years, any time something happens in service that's out, you know, that Wednesday we had where somebody was getting delivered to actually a couple different times, and maybe emotional worship and the whole altar's full, every single time God does something out of the ordinary, people mock it.

Many of them don't come here necessarily anymore. But any time, any time it's outside of that box, what's the box? A couple songs. A message.

Don't get too carried away. Don't raise your hands. Another song.

Okay, that's my box. What about if God decides to heal someone or set them free and they begin to cry out and no, no, no, no, no, no, no, that's not my box. That's not my box.

Come on, get back in my box. Hop out of your box. What about, as long as it's not unbiblical, correct? As long as you find support in the Bible.

But see, anything that's outside of their box, they mock it. And it's so sad for me to witness. Because I'm like, dude, the very thing you need is the very thing you're afraid of.

Be careful what you mock. However, as leadership of the church, God has given us, the elders, that's why I'm glad we're in the services too, because we are called to discern what's going on, gauge the atmosphere, and lead the church in a healthy direction, knowing there will be distractions, knowing that God is not the author of confusion. The Bible actually says don't speak in tongues, because somebody's gonna come in, and they're gonna think you're out of your mind.

Or when you do, make sure there's an interpreter, smaller group setting maybe. And so there's so many things we're trying to gauge. I remember one lady, me and a couple elders were next door a couple years ago, and she started just speaking in tongues in the back.

I'm like, oh goodness, I can hear from here. Okay, who is this person, right? Knew the church, never been here before, first time. And so we had a talk with her, just about hey, was she teachable? No.

I'm outta here, this church is not spirit-led. No, ma'am, you're not spirit-led. You're a distraction, you're arrogant, you're unteachable.

Next, the mocker saw the fruit, yet they mocked. This is amazing, they see the fruit. These people are glorifying God, yet they're mocking, yet they're mocking.

They opened a 40, first thing in the morning. They're drunk. Never forget this last one, the Pharisees were so busy trying to pick apart Jesus that they missed His message.

Now these guys, these guys impressed me. Not in a good way, the Pharisees. It's like, you've got to be kidding me.

He just healed a guy. You saw it, but he did it on the Sabbath. By the way, it doesn't say don't heal on the Sabbath.

It says don't work, and they take it and put what, 2,000 regulations on it? You can only go a quarter mile, you can't do this, you can't kindle a fire, you can't heal. Tradition. Some people still in church are so busy picking apart a church or a service or a preacher that they will miss God's message.

It happens all the time. So we'll close out here, I guess I did get through it. Grapefruit juice in case you're wondering.

Unbelievers. Unbelievers who mock. We're talking about mocking God, right? Thomas Paine, he was a leading atheist back when America was first formed.

On his deathbed, he says stay with me for God's sake. I cannot bear to be left alone. Oh Lord, help me.

Oh God, what have I done to suffer so much? What will become of me? I would give the world if I had them. His book, The Age of Reason, he said, I wish it had never been published. Lord, help me, Christ, help me.

Do not leave, stay with me. Send even a child to stay with me for I am on the edge of hell here alone. If ever the devil had an agent, I had been that one.

Mocking, mocking, mocking God all of their life. Think about this, the billions and billions of people who have mocked God, who have died and perished, they are no longer mocking God, they are weeping. They are weeping at their condition.

How many of you have heard of Voltaire? Voltaire, oh, he was nasty. On his deathbed, I've swallowed nothing but smoke. I've intoxicated myself with the incense that turned my head.

I am abandoned by God and man. He said to his doctor, I will give you half of what I'm worth if you'll give me six months of life. When he could have turned to God for eternal life.

When he was told it's not possible, he said, then I shall die and go to hell. His nurse said, for all the money in Europe, I would not want to see another unbeliever die. All night long, he cried for forgiveness.

Last person, I spelled his last name wrong. Anthony Anton LaVey, it's an A, not an E there. You know who this was? Of course, many of you heard the name.

He founded a church. You don't want to find this church. It's called the Satanic Church.

He's the founder. I think he was born 1930s. He wrote the Satanic Bible.

He said, oh my, oh my, what have I done? There's something very wrong. There's something very wrong on his deathbed. Now I want you to compare just to this real quick, the Apostle Paul on his deathbed.

Oh death, where is your sting? King David, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be saved. I will not be saved. No fear, no evil.

See, when you know the Savior, when you know the Lord, there is no fear. Are you going to die like a mocker or be filled with the Spirit of God and turn to Christ completely and have that joy unspeakable? If the living knew what the dead knew, the whole world would follow Christ. Is that not true? If the living knew, if all of the world knew what the dead knew the entire world would repent and follow Christ.

I'm saving this for next Sunday, but I'm excited so I can't. Talking about Jesus. He was a servant, but they called Him Master.

He had no degree, but they called Him Teacher. He had no medicine, but they called Him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He had no castle, but they called Him Lord. He ruled no nations, but they called Him King.

He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He still lives. Christ still lives.

I have nothing else to say, folks. If you don't know Him, what are you waiting for? Who are you waiting on? Those who might be listening later. On radio, all the way from San Diego up down the coast, all the different states.

If you're driving and you're mocking God, He will not be mocked. God will not be mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he will reap.

Look at all the famous athletes, the famous musicians, what comes out years later. God will not be mocked. You mock Him on this side of the grave, you will regret it the rest of your life of eternity separated from God.

Make that decision this morning, or if there's some here, you need to believe in God. The Bible says confess that Christ is Lord. Believe in your heart that God's raised Him from the dead.

Confess that you are a sinner. I need you. Isn't that interesting? That's the only thing God asks.

To be saved, you must see your need. No, no, no. Pride, pride, pride.

We're also gonna do baptism, so if you want to get baptized, maybe you're making that decision for the first time. Maybe you were never baptized, but it's time to get serious about God. I would get baptized.

And people each week say, well, do I have to? I'm like, why don't you want to? Nine times out of 10, it's like, I'm not ready, I'm not sure if I want to get that serious. Listen, let me just tell you, baptism doesn't mean you're getting serious. You've already hopefully got serious when you repented and believed.

And if you don't want to get serious, I doubt if you really repented and believed. Okay, let's just shoot it straight, okay? I didn't come up here to play games, that's for sure. Make that decision.

Say, it actually represents the death, burial, resurrection down in the old life, up in the newness of life. It's a reflection of what has changed in your heart. If you've been a believer for years and you still need to be baptized, we'll be next door.

Let Pastor Abram know as well. I can do it if I have enough time before the second. But guys, we need to really anchor in.

We need to fully surrender our lives to Christ. Stop waiting for the election. Stop thinking, oh, things are going to get better.

All hell's going to break loose no matter what. You realize that? This is not the 1940s and 50s. We are dealing with demonic forces unlike we have ever seen in our life.

Now they're going after kids. The mutilation of their sexual organs. The perversions in six and seven and eight year olds.

And it's okay. We're the bad guy. I'm the bad guy.

Thank God for that verse. Woe be to those who call good evil and evil good. Woe be to those who call good evil and evil good.

And it's going to be a push back against the darkness. You've got to be filled with the light to really make a difference. Make a difference in your home, in your communities, in the school board.

I mean, there's got to be more than just sitting, waiting, watching the stock market. There could be a bubble coming soon that's going to burst. Are we prepared? Are we ready? The only way you get ready is to be filled with the Spirit of God.

Maybe ask God to do something, a deep work in your heart. Maybe you've been mocking the work of the Holy Spirit in your life for a while, just in general for a while. You've been mocking that deeper work of the Spirit.

And be careful in this area, because I've seen it. Even good solid churches, anytime a church is experiencing revival or an awakening, even good solid churches will mock it. Everyone I talk about, you guys hear me talk about John Wesley, Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, John Bunyan, Duncan Campbell, all these guys experience, all many churches mocked them.

Because what happens is you get jealous when God isn't doing that in our church. Why is our church a cemetery? Why are we dying? And they mock a genuine work of God. So make sure you're not doing that personally.