Building a god; Summoning a Demon

The title this morning is a little heavy. Are you guys ready for a heavy title? Are you sure? Building a God, Summoning a Demon. Building a God, Summoning a Demon.

And we're going to get to where they actually, a miracle was performed and they begin to worship the apostles. And when you do things like that, you summon a demon. Have you seen all these transitions in Hollywood, how these people start out nice and innocent and dress normal? And it's like, what happened? Summoning a demon.

And their performances are completely demonic. And we have to be careful, because as you build a God, you can summon a demon instead. And I didn't know to talk about this at the beginning or the end, but I also wanted to have, I wanted to go out as the sermon in this as well, so people know, a lot of veterans listen, and Memorial Day is today.

Well, we're celebrating it tomorrow, right? And I wanted to read something very interesting. Mr. O'Brien wrote this in World War II. It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives us the freedom to demonstrate. He continues, it's the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.

And we celebrate those who gave their lives for what we now enjoy. And most of those people were 18, 19, 20, 21. Abraham Lincoln said, we have forgotten God, and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our own hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

And we just need to remember that. It gets us back to a spot of thankfulness and appreciation and realizing that freedom is never free. And I know it's a controversial topic, but as Christians, you need to realize that the role of the church and the role of government, although they should be interwoven in their core values, they are completely different.

God, it's a function. Actually, the government is to be a tear to those who do evil. That's the role.

So stop telling the government to turn the other cheek. That's not their role. If that were the case, we would not be very happy with the outcome of who might be ruling and reigning over us right now.

But it's also an important day. It's the day the church celebrates. It's the day of Pentecost.

Where, if you don't know what that means, it is the day the church celebrates where the early church met in an upper room for 10 days. And they just prayed. They waited on God.

And that's why in worship, we're not in a hurry. The old saints used to call it travailing, petitioning, warring, laboring. You're seeking God.

I don't know how you can put that in a microwave. Let's get a few songs in. It's a heart cry.

It's a panting after. It's a desperation for. And so the church was waiting.

I'm sure going back to work and things, I'm assuming. But that's when the promise that Jesus said, go and wait until the promise of the Father comes. And what happened is they're praying as they're waiting.

They're Christians. And they're waiting on the Lord. And you know, probably just not going to witness much.

Not real passion. It's probably praying. But then the Spirit, what happened is He came upon them.

And it says, that's when it talks about, it looked like tongues of fire and began speaking in tongues. And the Holy Spirit filled them to capacity. And that's the difference in the church today, honestly.

There's a lot of people who are not filled mightily with the Spirit of God. And yes, you have the Holy Spirit as a believer, if you are a believer. But as I often say, does the Holy Spirit have all of you? That's what tips the scale.

That's why maybe the worship was kind of boring and long this morning. If that's you, you need a fresh feeling of the Spirit. You need to surrender and say, I want more.

You're excited about World Cup. You're excited about MMA. You're excited about hitting Laughlin and the river.

This, I can go there. You want me to go there? Have a sue? Nothing wrong with that, but God needs to be the pursuit. If you have a desire for all that and not God, you're out of alignment.

You need to get to that tire store quickly. The altar. Out of alignment.

It's the day of Pentecost. And I shared right before the service started where it's literally the difference between night and day because as a Christian, you can quench and grieve the Spirit. The more carnal you are, the less you hunger for God.

So if there's no heart for worship, I guarantee, let me see your spiritual diet this week. And I'll tell you exactly what's happening. And then once you surrender, like when it says break every chain, God, break every chain, how do you break a chain? I broke a few where they call them binders.

Men, you know what binders are? You grab the chain and you put a binder and I would actually get a long cheater bar so I could pull it down harder. And the chains would break. Why? Because the strength pulling it was greater than the strength of the chain.

So when we pray that, we need God to break those things. Only God is greater than those struggles, those challenges, those addictions, those strongholds, that fear. And we have to press in like never before.

We have to get rid of the carnality and the lukewarmness and the shallowness and the pettiness and the lack of desire for God. It begins with repentance. I find it ironic that it's Pentecost.

Cost, there's a cost. There's a cost to experience God. And there is.

Every deep level that a Christian goes where they experience the power of God, there's a cost. Something has to die. What is it in your life that has to die maybe this morning? The Bible refers to it as idolatry.

And that's what we celebrate. Many churches, that day that the Holy Spirit came upon the church. And once that happens, it doesn't mean you don't struggle.

It doesn't mean you don't have pride come up. But there's a fullness. There's a filling of the Spirit that takes place.

You want to witness. You want to put God above everything else. You want to worship.

And that's why some of you can't sing that song, I'm a lover of your presence, because you don't know what it means. You've never experienced it. God's presence is throughout Scripture.

His presence would come upon the mountain. His presence would descend upon the holies of holies. Wait a minute, God's everywhere.

Oh, yes. But when He decides to show you a little bit more of His glory, it's powerful. I love that verse that the priest could not continue to minister inside of the holies of holies because the presence of God was so thick.

The presence of God came upon that upper room. You read church history, and the presence of God came upon Savarola or Justin Martyr or Irenaeus or Gnades Augustine later in his life. You keep reading and you read about the White Cliffs and the Tyndales and the Husses and you read about the Welsh revivals of the 1700s.

There's time where the presence of God would come upon places. That's why we sing it because it's thoroughly biblical. Basically, you're saying, I want more of You.

I want more of You. I'm a lover of Your presence. Because something is already presiding in your heart.

Is it the flesh? Is it lust and carnality? Or is there a sensing of God's presence and a drawing near? The more you seek Him, the more you find Him. And the more you find Him, the more you love Him. That's why it's hard for men because they think that's not tough.

Could you go to your work and say, man, I'm a lover of His presence. I'm a fireman. No way.

I'm a policeman. No way. Law enforcement.

Military. Are you kidding me? I work at a business. That's weird.

Really? Okay. Because when you're hungry for more of God and you have that presence and that desire for more of Him, you're not ashamed. Because it's the Holy Spirit flowing out.

No, it's not you. It's not you. It's the Holy Spirit flowing out.

Building a god. Summoning a demon. Back to this topic.

And we are in Acts 14. Beginning in v. 8. And in Lystra, a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting. Okay, remember, I believe I talked about this last week.

A crippled man from his mother's womb. He never walked, and this man heard Paul speaking, and Paul noticed that he had faith to be healed. And so he said with a loud voice, stand up straight on your feet! And the man leaped up and he walked.

So, last Sunday, a fresh perspective on healing. What does the Bible say about healing? Not all these people on YouTube or Christian television. What does the Bible say about healing? And Wednesday, I gave some more Scriptures on that healing part two.

I opened up a little bit more about just what I've been through in my life. So I want to encourage you to check out Wednesday's message. I believe it's just part two of a fresh perspective on healing.

But there's a couple things here. This man was healed instantly. And we see sometimes, many of you can attest to this, sometimes healing is progressive.

Anybody can raise their hand to that? No, there's a lot more. You're just being shy. We know sometimes God takes His time, and we don't like that.

We want it now. And in the book of Acts, in the Gospels, and for us, faith plays a huge role. Faith plays a huge role in this topic of healing.

However, as I said before, God's sovereignty is what brings harmony. So faith plays a role, but as I remind you before, and I'll do it again because it's important, faith does not mean I'm in charge. I'll tell God what to do.

This is why sometimes people will mock those who believe in the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. Well, if God's still here, why don't you go walk into the hospital? Well, there's got to be a level of faith. I can't just go in and do this.

I'm not God. Now, I think that might be a good idea to say, Lord, I'm going to go in there. How do you want to use me today? He might use you because see, He's sovereign.

I'm not. And that's where people get confused. They get this, maybe they see an incredible miracle, and then they get this pride about them.

And they think they're God's man, they're God's woman. As soon as that happens, they're no longer having that strong anointing. They lose that.

No flesh shall glory in My presence. And like Samson, he knew not that the Spirit had departed. As believers, the Spirit won't depart.

Thank God. I thank God weekly on that one. But you can quench the fire and grieve the Spirit to where you no longer feel that passion and desire for God anymore.

It's a sad spot to live. So break out of that this morning if that is you. And Hebrews 12.6, since sanctification is a process, many healings are also progressive.

Sanctification is, did you know that you're being sanctified? I hope you're a little bit closer to looking like Jesus than you were a decade ago. Sometimes I get worried about my, you know, it's like you digress a little bit, but sanctification is a process. And many times, healing is a process too.

Here's a verse we don't like a lot. And I had to be selective because I'd be talking for three hours today. So I had to take some verses out, some notes out.

Hebrews 12.6 talks about God disciplining those He loves. We don't hear that too much, do we? God loves this, He opens doors, blessings. There's a part of God that says, hey, stop it.

And I'm gonna help you stop it. I'm gonna discipline you because we often don't humble ourselves. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and in due time, He'll exalt you.

But if you exalt yourself, He'll humble you. And so God will use situations. He knows what it takes.

Sometimes it's financially. Sometimes it's relationally. Sometimes it's our health.

Sometimes it's different things. It's kind of that God-given wake-up call. And when that happens, sometimes it can be progressive because God's working in your heart.

And that's why I talked about this before. I don't wanna reiterate, but it is important. Sometimes God doesn't heal right away because it's a process.

It's like, hey, I'm not done yet. That tree still needs to grow. There's some lessons that still need to be learned.

There's some things that still need to repented of. There's some growth and character that needs to take place. And sometimes that doesn't happen right away.

We have to remember that and rest. I thank God for God's sovereignty. Honestly, that's the only thing that keeps me going.

Lord, I trust in You. You're sovereign. You're in control.

We'll do all we can do. We'll use wisdom. We'll take care of the temple.

We'll serve God. But Lord, I trust in You. If we don't have that, what do we have? Our healthcare system? And Acts 14 continues.

Now, when the people saw what Paul did, remember, Paul didn't do it. Here's the thing that drives me crazy about some of these people on YouTube and TV and all these things. They think they're God's man or God's woman, apostles such and such, is coming to speak in Los Angeles.

It's hard because I know a lot of the Christian influencers and what's at the top. And you know the thing that happened in Washington, 250 years or so, right? But they go after those speakers, worship leaders who have the most following, followers, so they can get the most impact, the most marketing. They're not truly, if you truly want those anointed by God, they might not be that well known.

And that's why we're not seeing revival break out like we could. Because the superstar is there. Oh, if we could just get this person to speak, this person to lead worship, oh man, revival's in the air, is it really? Might be a great event.

I'm for good events. Amen? But God often works in the least likely. Those who are humble before Him.

Many times I get letters in the mail from apostles such and such and prophets such and such and I just tell them, God told me to speak at your church, I'll be in your area. Well, He didn't tell me. Sit down.

Sit down and be fed. Isn't that true though? I'm just being honest. I'm well aware the more I exalt myself, the more God will humble me.

He must be exalted. He must increase. And when you not just say it, but truly believe it, then God can move in your heart.

Because He knows your heart better than you do. A lot of people say it. Oh Lord, I'm just a humble messenger of yours.

Just any way you want to use me. Any way you want to use me, God. Hey, can you go unplug the men's toilet? No, no, no, I don't do that.

I'm not called to do that. I'm called to teach. And so look at what Paul had done.

By the way, I'm sure I got in here somewhere, I just don't want to forget to say it. Do not elevate man. Do not elevate man.

Do not elevate pastors or worship leaders. We are all broken people, just like everybody else. Do not elevate, do not put on a pedestal, because you will be let down.

When we elevate, if I could just meet such and such. And I've met such and such, and it's disheartening sometimes. And so he said, Paul.

Paul had done this, and they raised their voice in the Laconian language. The gods have come down to us. Oh, the gods are here in the likeness of men.

In Barnabas, they called Zeus and Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker. Let's elevate these guys. The gods have come down.

So a couple quick notes. Building a god begins with approval and applause from men. Watch out.

Watch out when you start to get approval and applause from people. That's how you begin to build that god. Because it's self-exaltation.

You see these people on social media. You know they are so dead wrong. But they got all these followers saying, oh, wow, wow.

I'll call it out. I can't stand to watch Tucker or Candace Owen anymore. I'll call it out.

It's ridiculous. This is what the heck are you talking about? You've lost your mind. Literally.

Literally. But what are they? Well, look at all these people supporting us. Look at this.

You've drifted from the truth. I will not be silent. If they're not silent, who told me to shut my mouth? Not God.

And if you don't know what I'm talking about, that's fine. Just move forward. A God is fed with worship and the intoxication it brings.

A God is fed with worship and intoxication it brings. And you talk to most people, hopefully it's not you, but the people in Hollywood and musicians, there's nothing more intoxicating than being on stage. Have you heard that before from some people? They'll say, you just want country music? Hip hop, rock, whatever it is.

There's nothing more. Why? Because it's worship me. Worship me.

And that's what they're doing, aren't they? Oh my gosh, oh I can't believe it. And it's intoxicating. You're building a God.

And you're actually summoning a demon because there is no God. There are demons. You're opening that door.

That's why these people, you've seen me show pictures before of Sam Smith, right, if that's his name, and Katy Perry, and even Taylor Swift. And again, I'm just telling you the truth. I'm not being arrogant.

But look at how they started, Billie Eilish. Or whatever happened to Hannah Montana? What in God's name is going on? Build a God, summons a demon. That's what's happening.

Because they do become demonic, do they not? That's what it is. Shame be nice, I am, I'm being truthful. Nice means appeasement.

Nice means I don't want to upset people. Look at what they turn to, do they not? Be careful. Be careful that worship, that intoxication it brings.

And what'll happen, a God will take credit for what it doesn't do. A God takes credit for what it doesn't do. Paul didn't do anything.

But others, and not in this situation, but they'll take credit, look at what he's done. God's man, God's woman, let's elevate them. Let's promote them.

And they get credit. I'm well aware, trust me, of everything God has been doing at this church in 16 years. It was not me doing it whatsoever.

I can go to sleep at night saying, I truly believe that. If it was left up to me, we wouldn't have made it one week. God gets all the credit and all the glory.

And that's often why He keeps you humble. There's always that limp, that thorn in the flesh, that reminder. Oh, by the way, a God is high maintenance.

Anybody got high maintenance? Well, let's leave it there. I don't, I'm not saying that. But a God, what is it? It's a false God, by the way.

It's high maintenance. It always requires a disproportionate amount of time. It wants your attention.

It wants your resources. And an effort to manage it and to please it. That's what idolatry is, a false God.

What is zapping your time? What is taking your time and your resources? And it's not of God. And it's being put before God. It's your idolatry.

Maybe they'll come to church now and then. But don't we see it all the time? To me, it amazes me how many idols we have out there. To some, it's called NASCAR.

They know all the races, all this, but they don't know where Matthew is in the book of Bible. Oh, I'm coming after you, hold on. Baseball.

All the stats, I don't care. Do you know what the stats are in the Bible of those who fall away? Football. What's coming up in June, July? I just found out, World Cup.

Nothing wrong with those things and of the selves, correct? But when they become the passion, when they become the focus, and we've seen even when your family becomes, or kids, like that's your idolatry and you're measuring your worth by that and anything that comes between you and your relationship with God, what about pursuing, I love the King James. Filthy lucre. Remember that terminology? Money, it's money.

I think, right? Okay, filthy lucre. There's some good words in there. Go fetch a compass.

Doesn't mean go fetch a compass. Yes, I know. But isn't that idolatry for many men? That's what knocks them off course and knocked me off course in my 20s.

That was my God. Sure, I'll get God in. Of course, I want to go to heaven.

But I want to be successful now. I want people to recognize me now. I want to go up that corporate ladder to show I've arrived.

Look who I am. I can't wait to get that business card printed up. Idolatry.

Be careful even pursuing an education. I hate to go here, but I've seen it. It's nasty.

It's even in the Christian circles. It is. Oh, and Shane, by the way, I'm a doctor now.

I've got my PhD. I don't care. You're Chris.

Whatever. But you've got to put down my book. That's my title.

And now I understand they earned it. They worked hard. I got it.

I got it. I worked my butt off writing 14 books. I got it.

I probably could write a dissertation or two. I got it. It takes a lot of work.

But I got to get this degree and that degree and look at what I've done. It doesn't make you any smarter. It can if you're more disciplined than somebody else.

For sure. Not a bad idea if God's directing you at all. Just don't make that.

Look at what I have. And I've seen pastors elevate. Well, they don't have a degree.

I have a master's or a PhD. It doesn't make... Actually, as a matter of fact, God might use you a lot less. And you'll miss the Spirit's power because you're more interested in education and how smart you are.

God forbid. You can see how idols can be built everywhere, correct? A couple years into the ministry, God convicted me. I wanted to be Greek and Hebrew and quote these words to you and nothing wrong with that.

But I realized I'm trying to build up this Greek scholar, Hebrew scholar, and I'm not. And again, there's nothing wrong. I love learning the language, but I'll remove the word.

You don't need to know how smart I am because it begins to lose the power of the Spirit. He falls on broken, humble vessels, not those focused on self-exaltation. True fact, if what I said upsets you, God's convicting you.

Straight up. And I know it because when people come, they'll come in the prayer room. You know what though, pastor? I need my education for this, this.

Good for you! Why did you feel the need to come up and tell me that? That's my concern. Because of course, go to school if you can. Get two PhDs if you can.

If God's in it. That's not what I'm saying. The reason is you're redirecting it because you're convicted.

I do it too. I redirect things when I'm convicted. Own it.

Do not let it become an idol in your heart. By the way, when we cave into something, there's a continual break every chain and lust is so many. When you keep caving into lust, I think we have a quote up here on this.

I didn't write it down, but I know there's a screen for it. I think I saw it. When we cave in, say Ellen if you could move it to the next one because I don't remember the quote.

Maybe, actually, maybe I'm wrong on that. Well, let me just tell you. Caving in, when we cave in, it's like worshiping.

Oh, there it is. When we cave into a stronghold, it often parallels with worshiping a false god. So lust, the more you're worshiping that false god, the more you cave into those.

That's what false worship was. It's caving into things and giving our worship instead of to God to others. Acts 14 continues, then the priest of Zeus, the priest of Zeus, okay.

Zeus had a priest too, or a priest that would follow after that religion. And they had a temple as well, whose temple was in front of their city. They brought oxen and garlands to the gates intending to sacrifice with the multitudes.

So now they're going to sacrifice to the gods of Paul and Barnabas. We see that also today, don't we? False gods rob you of spiritual and eternal life. False gods rob you of spiritual and eternal life.

Think of the wasted life of these false priests. Think of these false priests. They think these are real gods and they're not gods.

They wasted their whole life if I could just be part of the priesthood. And oh, and little Johnny's going to be a priest. And it's the wrong god.

Think about the wasted life. The wasted life. And following the wrong thing.

My wife told me of an older gentleman, she met at the mall recently, and wanted to talk to him and come to find out he's a Jehovah Witness. Don't believe in Jesus. That's a wasted life.

He's going to go to the judgment seat and find out he's been deceived by something called the Watchtower Society that translates the Bible according to what they believe. Here's all you have to remember in these types of things. Either the Watchtower is correct, or the Bible is correct.

Either the Book of Mormon is correct, or the Bible is correct. Either the Koran is correct, or the Bible is correct. You see? You can't have both.

You cannot have both. Truth is not flexible. Truth is unyielding.

Who is Jesus Christ? Isn't that funny that they're all divided over that? Oh, no, He was the archangel and Jesus and Him were archangels and this. You deviate from the Scriptural course that Jesus was God. He died for the sins of the world.

You have to repent and believe. It's pretty simple. No wonder the enemy wants to complicate it.

False worship appears genuine, doesn't it? False worship appears genuine. They had a temple for worship, and they sacrificed for atonement. It seemed genuine.

So let's remind all of us, don't have the heart of Herod or the arrogance of Pharaoh or the pride of Assyria. All of them challenged God. All of them believed in false gods.

There are no other gods. Remember that. There's no other gods.

That's why it's lower G. There is no other god. It's either God. That's it.

Or demons. Demonic realm. Satan.

So are we building a god and by so, we're summoning a demon? Let me give you a fact from history. The Romans primarily sacrificed to Zeus, whom they equated with and called Jupiter, to maintain the peace of the gods. And so it was a reciprocal agreement and offerings were made in exchange for divine favor.

Sound familiar? That's what every single religion on planet Earth does except for Christianity. I do this. You do this.

I give so that you might give. Sacrificing was a way to guarantee that God support military campaigns, agricultural, and civic life. But God says I gave so you don't have to give anything.

Big difference. I gave, my son, you don't have to give anything. What we do though is we repent, we believe, and the Bible actually says to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

Isn't that incredible? You can sacrifice to God. Did you know that? Not for salvation, but for intimacy. Oh, I'm a lover of His presence.

I'm a lover of His presence. What are the sacrifices of God? It's a broken and contrite heart. The Bible says you can give God a broken and contrite heart, and Paul says present your bodies as living sacrifices.

Lay it on the altar and say, Lord, whatever You want to do with me. Okay, they're getting ready to sacrifice. A very important moment coming up.

Here we go. Acts 14. But when the Apostle Barnabas and Paul heard this, okay, here's a key turning point.

This could go really bad or really good. What about they said, this sounds great, bring on the wine and women. Let's be worshiped.

Who's Yahweh? Let's be gods here. There's a turning point, isn't there? What do you do with praise? What do you do with promotion? Are you always trying to jockey for position? Or is it about you and elevation? Be careful, that's an important turning point. A choice needed to be made here and now.

The choice had to be made right now. And this decision will forever seal their fate and it will dictate their future. They're about ready to make a decision that will seal their fate.

And so here's the right response. What did they do? Well, I'm not going to say anything until you answer. They tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude crying out, saying, men, why are you doing these things? The reason this is pretty incredible is because it shows the magnitude and depth and seriousness of what's happening.

Because they're not trying to, like, no, no, no, guys, no, thank you, but no. It's like, OMG, okay? Can I say it? Every time I say OMG, I get emails from elderly people. And I get it.

I get it. I'm working on it. But, oh, my God, in a good way.

Oh, my God. Their heart is breaking. Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

And that was a sign. It wasn't just like, what does that mean? They ripped like the Pharisees you saw in the Passion of the Christ. It was like blasphemy.

If I just, just blasphemy. No, no, no. And they would run and they tried to tell the people, no, no, no, don't go this direction.

Do not, you see the seriousness and the magnitude of false worship. You see how desperate they were for genuine and true worship. No, men, we are just like you.

Please stop. There was a passion. There was a fear.

There was a reverence. There was a respect for the living God. We should come into the house of the living God with the same respect and the same fear and say, God, get this sin out of me.

I know what I saw last week. I know what I did last night. But, God, I want to come into this place in fear and trembling before you.

The seriousness of sin. Haven't we drifted from that? They tore their clothes and they said, no, men, no. Sometimes I want to run into some churches or parades in L.A. Men, women, this is not right.

This is not right. They understood the seriousness and the magnitude of bowing to a false god. Do you? Because a false god doesn't come and ring the doorbell.

They wait for that opportune time. Wealth and materialism. Social status and fame.

Isn't social status funny? But it's like, look at me. Look where I live. It's like, to me, I get sick.

I love being around the humble, don't you? Just nothing to give you. I don't care where they live. Just sickening.

It's this upbeating. It's this arrogance. It's a fame.

And it's in the Christian circles, the Christian influencers. You see them. You guys watch them.

You follow many of them. As do I. Just to see what's going on. And it's about building a brand.

And you have to be careful because you might be building a god. There's nothing wrong with God opening the door. Praise God when He does that.

But remember, He opened it, not you. You realize He holds your very breath in the palm of His hands. Relentless ambition and career success and things I've already mentioned.

Just be careful. Remember what I talked about in Acts? It was number 51 in the series. No flesh should glory in His presence.

Remember what happened to King Herod? God took him out quickly. And that verse means no flesh should get credit for what God is doing. No flesh should get credit for what God is doing.

No flesh glory in My presence. Again, He must increase, but we decrease. Oh, here's where I remember to say it.

Stop saying that men are amazing. I keep hearing, oh, that person's amazing. Oh, God's amazing.

God's amazing. Such-and-such is just a man, just a woman. If you saw their true character, you would not think they were so amazing.

Many times. And maybe I'm biased. I try to be careful, but I've been in green rooms with people you would know.

And many times, I come away saddened. It's about building their ministry or their name. They don't really care about the people.

We also are men with the same nature as you. So they stop them and say, we're no different than you. And we're preaching to you that you should turn, turn, repent from these useless things.

S's are tough for me. To the living God. So, guys, that's repentance.

That's repentance. That's the theme of my ministry that God has granted us with here at Westside. I should say His ministry, right? Repentance.

To turn. To turn. And I know many of you in this room need to turn from that thing that has captured your heart.

That idolatry that comes in so subtly. It's captured your heart. And it can actually be exercise.

Hello? Idolatry. Idolatry. Anything.

Oh, my goodness. I don't struggle with this one, so I don't remember too much sometimes. But this whole craze of gaming.

People will say, Shane, I don't know if my husband's on video games five hours a day. Playing video games? What in God's green earth is going on? Addiction. Gaming.

Addiction. Anything. Anything.

Now, if you want to sit down and have some fun with your kids, enjoy it, right? See, it's not about that. It's about what am I putting first? What am I putting first? I used to go off on Grand Theft Auto, but I won't today. You can be intimate with a prostitute, take back the money, and set her on fire.

That's what they do in video games. Some of them. Yeah, I see your mouth drop.

Mine too. And I know Christians that do things that they shouldn't be doing. Guys, how is that even a good thing? Well, I'm not really doing it.

Sometimes I just have to leave. I don't know. Because we love making excuses to keep our God on the throne.

I've heard so many excuses for people to keep their God on the throne when it's destroying their family and destroying their life. He said turn from these things. Turn from them.

And do what? Look at the God who made heaven and earth. In bygone generations, He's allowed nations to walk in their own ways. But not now.

Not now. He's calling everyone to repentance. But here's a reality check for us.

I love Luke 17. When you have done all those things which you are commanded, then just simply say we are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.

Can you imagine if we could get that back in our hearts again? And remove the God of self-promotion? And so, Luke is actually writing Acts. He says, nevertheless, He did not leave Himself without witness. Okay, God gave us a witness.

In that He did good. He gave rain from heaven. Fruitful seasons.

Filling our hearts with food and gladness. This is something called, it's a certain type of grace that God has over all of humanity. Raining.

Even countries that reject Him. You can see the rain and the harvest. It's that grace of God that all experience in that way, but it's not the grace for salvation.

And so, he's saying, listen, God, you see there is a God out there. You see that. Turn to Him.

But with these sayings, they could scarcely restrain the multitude from sacrificing to them. No matter what they said, they were still hell-bent on sacrificing to the false gods. Boy, do I see that sometimes.

So do you, don't you? No matter what you say. It's in one ear and out the next. But here's a final thought.

He said, nevertheless, God did not leave Himself without a witness. And I've talked about this before. People say, well, where's... Prove God.

Well, guys, have you seen pictures of the universe? I don't know. You see the sun come up and about 93 million miles away? What about if it was 90 million miles away? You'd be a biscuit cooked in the oven. What do you do with all that? Have you ever just go on and measure? Just go ask how delicate the oxygen balance and hydrogen balance is here on planet Earth.

Just go. Creator, hello! What more proof do you want? He could write something in the sky and say, nope, my eyes are betraying me. That was some alien thing.

Oh yeah, I forgot, now aliens are coming, right? I mean, God, my goodness. I do have a thought on that. Whatever all this comes out, it could be demonic beings manifesting, revealing themselves, but we're not there yet.

It doesn't fit the text. I don't want to go into that realm of topic just yet. I'm sure we will.

But of course, there could be things like that. Demonic beings. I don't know why people are surprised and concerned.

You shouldn't be concerned. God is still on the throne. But that's the point here.

He's clearly revealed Himself. Clearly revealed Himself. You get a cut, it repairs itself.

How did that happen? How's my heart and blood and lymphatic system? It just all kind of happened one day. This little, what do they call those? Amoebas? Single cell, little thing that was crawling on the ground decided to, you know, just... So my question is, okay, did it form a man first? Come on, little buddy. Oh, by the way, you have to form the liver, the kidney, the heart, everything all at once, by the way.

You can't evolve. And then if it's a man, how did he know to go and make a woman? And then now let's get into... I mean, it's impossible. Absolutely impossible.

You are deceived. You are living in deception. And people get so upset about this because you're challenging their God.

And the irony is that there are no gods, lowercase g. There are no gods. There are demons, but there are not gods. There are demons, but there are not gods.

So I have to ask the question this morning, are you ready for this? Are you following a deceiver? Are you believing a lie? Are you enslaved to a master? Are you bound to a death sentence? Are you summoning a demon? We have to be real and honest with people, don't we? This is probably not the sermon I would have chose because we have to speak the truth, especially now. You know what, I'm going to tell you guys something. There's people that were hoping, what's happening to me now, was hoping that it would shut me up.

Go into hiding. Get out of my face. And no, it just reignited a deeper passion to speak the truth.

That's all it did. That's all it did. You think I was bold back then? Listen to the two-minute clip on YouTube where I said the men's breakfast.

Holy smokes, I don't even know where that came from. But we have to start speaking the truth in love and being bold. Being that voice of truth.

And I believe God sustains as long as I'm honoring His Word. Once you get into lazy fear mode and self-preservation, you've got to be willing to lay down your life to receive the power of the Spirit. The time to be bold in so many... You see it in the quiet churches, silent pastors, woke agendas.

It's everywhere. And it's destroying the young. The next generation.

We've got to be that bold preacher again. And maybe not you preacher, but bold out in the workplace. And love the Lord with all your heart and all your strength.

We need to get back to that again. We're celebrating 250 years. Correct.

Has the nation done bad things? Yes! Hello! But any time people say that, they forget about the Christian influence that began to bring correction back to all those areas. And that's why I post on Facebook my favorite clip I think of all time on any movie ever is what George Whitefield said in his first sermon. You guys have got to watch the movie The Great Awakening.

What he said in his very first sermon. They allowed him to preach at a church. And he was never allowed to preach again.

Well, maybe I'll share a little bit with you. He basically said, and I've heard this quoted many times before, actors speak of fantasy as if it were real. But you preachers speak of real things as if they're fantasy.

And he said, I will not be a velvet-mouthed preacher. Do not be deceived. You may have a religious head, but a devil in your heart.

Our Lord speaks the same words to you as He did Nicodemus. You must be born again. He was religious.

He was respected. He was renowned. He was known for being righteousness and still the Master commanded him, you must be born again.

He had a reputation for being alive, but he was dead inside. He was dead inside. How many of our congregations have dead preachers preaching to them? How can dead men beget living children? Oh my goodness, that preaching! Guys, that's Holy Ghost Spirit-inspired preaching.

That's the truth that will wreck a prideful heart and bring it to our knees. Therefore Christ said, if you be lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth. Oh, if we could get back to real Holy Ghost preaching.

God, we need You. God, our families need You. They're falling apart.

Men are walking away. Families are disintegrating. They're callous and cold and I can preach my heart out and it doesn't change the hardest of hearts.

God, grip them this morning. Grip them. Draw them to this altar.

Break their pride, their arrogance. God, do what only You can do. I've lit the match, Lord, but You've got to burn the fire.

I'm a lover of Your presence, God. We love Your presence in this place. Convict us.

Draw us to You. In Jesus' name, amen.