Experiencing God - Don't Ring The Bell - Part 2

Always the light at the end of the tunnel when you're focusing on Christ no matter what you're going through He will be that sure foundation. He will be that rock. He will be that anchor that will never let go One thing that has helped me over the years is sometimes I Lord Lord. I never want to let go of you I never want to let go of you. But even if I do I know you're holding on to me and Thank God our relationship with him does not rely upon what you do Even though it's incredible we have spiritual disciplines we should do we have to abide in Christ We have to seek him we have to persevere but at the end of the day It's not as much about me holding on to him as him holding on to me The enemy will never snatch you out of my hand Paul said where can I go? Actually David said where can I go to escape your presence nowhere? You were always there Paul said nothing can separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus nor height nor death nor principalities nor powers Nor things present nor things to come nor any created thing can separate me from the love of God Which is in Christ Jesus he when you're a son you're a son indeed when you're a daughter You're a daughter indeed and you you rest in that you anchor in that some of you if your faith is wavering and you're not sure I can guarantee it's probably because you're filling your mind with fear and doubt and anxiety You're listening more to social media than Matthew Mark Luke and John and as a result Your mind is going towards those things and not towards the things of God So I'm going to talk to those this morning who might be at a breaking point And I'll just shoot you straight if you're not at one now get ready If you're not going through a storm you've either you're either going through a storm You've went through a storm or a storm is coming. I wish I could be the bearer of good news Say some of you will never encounter a storm Here's some of those guys on TV. You would think that wouldn't you but how do I know if I'm at a breaking point? Well, there's a couple indicators Obviously, there's a scriptural proof for this. But are you focusing more on your burdens and your blessings? That will sidetrack you every The devil sidetracked you every opportunity he gets by focusing on your burdens and not your blessings on what you're going through Not who God is and if we just think for a minute how blessed are we Does anyone hear that air-conditioning? Well, no, there's billions of people who don't even know what that is One of the missionaries we supported a while back came over from Africa And he never put ice in his water when we had lunch and he said we don't have ice in Africa What do you mean? No, I said, no, there's no we don't have ice machines and frigerators and electricity Like really you don't know you I don't like it so cold. I'm used to lukewarm water and and so ice Running water. You can just go you can't just go put hot on your thermostat your in your shower Your home and look at we should we are so blessed and see those blessings should produce thankfulness but often they produce attitudes and pride and and Entitlement we want more we deserve this instead of being thankful and then also are you becoming critical and defensive? Listen the enemy loves a critical heart He loves a critical judgmental heart That loves to critique and criticize and I know it's it's prevalent in the church It's it's obvious, but the person who in this whole congregation who research receives the most criticism is guess who? Yep Yep. Oh, yeah pastor for sure. I hear it weekly. I hear it weekly Some of its valid some of it you learn from But nine times out of ten, it's coming from a critical heart And I will tell people lovingly I can't receive criticism from a critical heart If somebody who truly loves me loves the church, we know them and they're offering constructive criticism. That's gold But if it's just coming from a critical heart You have to just throw that away because that's not of God. That's a critical spirit And the enemy plants the seeds doesn't he I can become critical of other pastors. So I'm sure you can too Now that worship is is too emotional Why are they singing those songs whatever happened the old hymns, where's the organ why she not wearing a suit and tie That better be the King James Version up there Why are they standing why are they sitting why aren't they standing? Why are they raising their hands? Why are at the altar? Why do you pray like that? Why do you say baptism doesn't save you? Why don't you do this? Why do you do this? Where's the discipline classes? Where's the home groups? Why aren't you doing this? Why do you spend that much money on this why is this is never-ending It's a critical factory but hurt people hurt people and Often that's coming from a person who is at a breaking point Their their faith is being challenged they're going through difficulties and Doubt and fear and anxiety begin to rise up in our lives and we begin to think if I just give in if I just ring That bell it will take the pain away If I just ring that bell it will take the pain away and actually many people go back into addiction for that very reason they fall back into addiction because if I could just take that pain away and The enemy shows you How you feel the first few hours of that hit or that pill or that drink? But he doesn't show you the misery that follows he presents the bait But not the hook that's in the bait and we get caught up in those things James 5 10 through 11 James says my brethren speaking to fellow Christians my brethren take the prophets take the prophets as an example Who spoke in the name of the Lord look at them as the example of suffering and patience indeed? We count them blessed who endure This word endurance is throughout all the scripture those who endure to the end will be saved Now this isn't a works-based scripture not this one the other one. I just quoted. It's not about you You know enduring and workspace it shows the genuine followers of Jesus Christ will get up and fight again They will endure until the end Calvinist Calvinism calls it perseverance of the Saints the true Saints of God will Persevere they will finish strong they will endure to the end But then there's a lot of scriptures on warnings that we have to abide in Christ. We have to get back up We have to fight again But it's interesting. He said take the prophets as an example. Did you know prophets are word normally hated? What happened to John the Baptist Manasseh King wicked King Manasseh said that he killed Isaiah what they wouldn't saw The priest of Bethel tortured Amos the Prophet and killed him Micah the Prophet was slain by Joram the son of Ahab the Jews stoned Habakkuk in Jerusalem Why would he mention the prophets because the prophets would come with a prophetic voice? Their words were meant to cut Then they were meant to slice. They were meant to convict And as I don't know if you were there last night or if you heard me say this before but the same Sun outside that melts the wax Also hardens the clay So the same Word of God It's amazing for me one of the most amazing things about pastoring is I can say something It will encourage a whole group of people a single mom somebody in recovery a spouse Oh, but then it upsets others Boy, I just said the same thing. What's the difference the heart and That prophetic voice would come in the prophets would call the people you're in sin You've drifted from God turn back to God and when we're in sin We don't like to be confronted and they would run these prophetic voices out of town They would they would try to get rid get rid of that the conviction of God's Spirit why do you think they want to remove the Ten Commandment monuments out of courthouses and schools and get rid of Jesus Christ and pervert everything that is true and noble and honest and right and bring in Perversion and darkness get rid of the light because it's convicting. I love my darkness I love my sin don't shine the light of the gospel and a purity in my eyes I hate it and I will kill you because of it The same thing happened then it can happen today The prophets were ridiculed and mocked. I remember King Ahab He ran into Elisha out in the field and he said Oh Elisha you Troubler, is that you you troubler of Israel and Actually, it was the king who was the troubler of Israel a wicked king getting the people to reject God But he said you're troubling Israel and that's what they say to pastors like me. Oh Shane you troubler of America Would you shut your mouth and stop pointing out sin? Stop calling out things that are perversion. Let us live in our sin. Can't you tickle our ears? Don't challenge our heart Can't you tell us what we want to hear not what we need to hear and when you begin to convict us We will drive you out. We hate that voice of truth Think about a Planned Parenthood has pastors on their board Did you know that there are denominations ordaining gay clergy and transgender pastors Oprah will have pastors on her show. I don't think I'll ever get that call though. Why is that? And if you go on if you put if you put Shane Eidelman on Fox News and YouTube, I used to go on there regularly And they sent me a private email And said where our headquarters is shifting gears She was concerned You can't go on there anymore and say that this is wrong and this is wrong and that's wrong They don't want to hear that anymore. It upsets too many people What bet it does? When you stir the pot People get upset, but I know as a living witness preaching enough over the years that it's the truth of God's Word Preach not from arrogance not from hatred not from mean spirit But from the love of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit the truth of God's Word and all of its fullness the good things And the bad things that hearts are changed That's how hearts are changed and it happens often people email me sometimes men or they'll run run it to me and They'll they'll be like why are you always so hard on the men? What about the women? I see that tells you everything right there, doesn't it? No, let's be honest that Joker needs to repent. He's abusive. He's mean He's nasty. He's a leader of his house not fulfilling his role yet. He doesn't want to hear it. So I'm the target I'll never forget that Talking to his wife. This man was addicted to pornography even when she was in the same room. He would look at it He was mean he was arrogant. He was nasty and he didn't like me calling out the men. Why don't you call out the women? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh You can learn a lot about the heart by listening to the words people say They don't like the conviction We get letters Maybe I should say that in case you're listening. If you don't put a return address your phone number your name something We are throwing in the trash. I don't even look at it But why don't you just die and go to hell you homophobe? Somebody's upset about something. I have a feeling you know, what's about? But see they don't understand. It's not me. It's the truth. They don't like That it's the truth. It's because it it hits the heart The Word of God is living and powerful it's double it's it's sharper than any double-edged sword it pierces your heart and it discerns the thoughts in the intents of the heart and prideful men and women do not like to be confronted with the truth and That's why he said look at the prophets who spoke boldly But you know the most interesting part about that It's the love of God that compels us to share the truth of God Right before the fall of Jerusalem It's it was it was terrible. You can read about it in Josephus's works. He's an early historian a Jewish historian a million Jews slaughtered Women and what they did to children and Titus came in and conquered the city around 70 AD But before that hundreds and hundreds of years before that thing goes around I don't know 500 BC God said I sent my I sent my messengers. I Sent my prophets to warn my people because I loved them. I Was concerned about my dwelling place my house But they mocked my messengers they despised my word and they scoffed at the prophets until the anger of the Lord arose against his own people and There was no remedy So you can push God To where he says listen, there's no remedy the judgment hand must fall on a disobedient nation But that's why I contend for revival That's why I contend for a spiritual awakening because I believe that God will give us a measure of revival in our bondage His word is crystal clear that if you seek me you will find me if If you turn to me if you if you hunger for me, I will visit you So after that long rabbit trail, let me get to Luke 8. I Don't think any of that was in the second first service. So hopefully that was for someone You might want to listen to the first service Luke 8 this is important story. This will encourage some of you as Jesus walked as Jesus walked Luke 8 43 beginning verse 43. It's good to bring your Bibles. It's great even better to read your Bibles Highlight your Bibles. I know a lot of you like when I pass out the notes of what but it's just sometimes just the time factor my notes sometimes change on Sunday morning as Jesus walked the multitudes of people thronged him in other words They came all about him touching and and there this big stir and he was healing people and they were all around him and now a Woman having a flow of blood for 12 years who had spent all of her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed She came from behind him and touched the hem of his garment. What a wonderful story She's she's sick for 12 years this issue of blood no physician could help her and she comes and she pushes the people away and She just touched the hem of his garment and Jesus said who touched me When all denied it Peter and those with him said master everyone's touching you Why do you say who touched me and he said well, I could feel power going out of me Miraculous healing power coming from me by this woman's act of desperation I Perceive power going from me now when the woman saw that she was not hidden She came trembling and falling down before him She declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched him and how she was healed immediately and He said to her daughter be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well Now I'm gonna pull out some truths here that I know will encourage you this morning First she was disappointed Anyone here disappointed with God Okay to say you have been I have been I Can't believe that you're a pastor. Oh, please actually, what pastoral leadership is its servant leadership and Transparency and struggling with what other people struggle with there's no difference It's just a calling God's called some to be the hand some to be the feet some to be the loud mouth some to be the ear some to be it's all the body of Christ and So she was disappointed a flow of blood for 12 years she spent everything on the doctors Has anyone ever been there? You've been disappointed. You've tried everything. Have you heard that before but Shane I've tried Everything it's not working. I'm disappointed. God is not coming through this person if anyone can relate But James 1 12 says blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial Let me tell you this might help someone today It's not the trial that really matters. It's how you go through it to me. I'm looking now at trials as stepping stones not stumbling blocks It's getting through this trial My faith is being tested the trial is creating endurance in me and in you and he said blessed is that person now? We don't we think because of prosperity preachers or whatever we think blessed financially not necessarily Blessed is the man the woman who remains steadfast meaning they hold the line No matter what comes Jesus Christ, I am following you. I'm building my life on your foundation I'm not moving. My eyes are set on Christ and Christ alone. I will not bow my knee to any other God I will hold the line just like Moses having done all stand I will stand there with my loins gird about with truth the belt plate of righteousness though the storms come Though the wind beats upon my house I will not fall because it is founded on the rock of Jesus Christ and having done all stand there and fight the good fight Of faith Christ is fighting for me If I just hold the ground as long as I don't walk back in fear as long as I don't run and doubt as long as I don't waver and reject him if I just hold the line and all hell is breaking loose But as long as you keep your eyes on Christ, he will see you through So remain steadfast She was disappointed and then she was damaged anybody ever been damaged If not, just keep attending church for a while Her people her people and in this case the church would not let her fellowship with them She was considered unclean in the Old Testament. You couldn't be part of the congregation the temple worship She was unclean like a leper unclean stay out of the temple get away from us. You are unclean. She's damaged Can you imagine carrying that guilt and shame? Many of you have you've been through divorce For was there a season where you felt like you had a big D right here on your forehead big red D Especially in the church. The 9 a.m. Was a lot more honest Balcony, can I get a couple amens? All right, but I want to well first let you know this church Even though we hold to the truth. We preach the truth Everyone is welcome here Everyone is welcome here say those struggling with same-sex attraction Those who are divorced those who are going through a marriage difficulty. Those are said we are not here to cast stones This is a hospital for the hurting. However, we will not Back down and not talk about sin for example those caught Those caught this big movement. You need to understand this big movement with switching identity and transgenderism and he she and Gender fluality and it's from the pit of hell But what those people need is encouragement. You are created in God's image Don't let the culture lie to you for young adults. Now. It's the in thing to do. Can you believe that? It's it's actually cool to be transgender or bisexual At 12 13 4 because it's everywhere tick-tock Instagram Facebook celebrities. Now we have celebrities coming I don't know if my baby when they get older if it's gonna be a boy or girl. I don't know Yeah, I'll let them choose that is that's child abuse and You see this demonic attack so we can say we love you. We're gonna encourage you We all struggle with something but we will not back down from what God's Word says. Oh Shane that's easy for you to say you're not going to prison for saying that you never know where this is going I have to think about that daily or Weekly, maybe I don't worry about too much, but I believe in God's Word. I believe in his truth I believe he's gonna bring revival. We've got people I've been I've been meeting people running for high office in, California And let me tell you there's some godly people some very godly people Disappointed she was damaged She was damaged She was cast out maybe you know in your case divorce This happens to people caught in addiction a lot, too They've let down their family. They've let down People and they're damaged they're hurt and The scripture I want to share with you this morning is Psalm 34 18 The Lord is close to the broken-hearted the Lord is close to the broken-hearted and he saves those who are crushed in spirit So here's the good thing about brokenness. Let it draw you to the cross of Jesus Christ Let brokenness put you down here and find you on the ground find you worshiping Christ And then you'll come out of there Stronger than the person who is arrogant who has never bowed their knee to Jesus Christ You'll come out of there that brokenness will turn into an incredible blessing Disappointed damaged and then she was defeated she could not be healed by any other means Boy, that's difficult to get out of you're disappointed. You're damaged. You're defeated Did you know that most people even Christians stay in that cycle? I'm Disappointed I've fallen I'm struggling with this. I'm caught in this sin. I'm Defeated I'm disappointed. I'm damaged. I'm hurt. There's shame. There's guilt and you just stay right there and You fall back into the bondage that you want so desperately to be out of but don't give up look up There is hope there's tremendous. Hope the reason I this topic I'm so passionate about this topic is because I've seen God Change lives from the inside out. I've seen when there's no light at the end the tunnel when he shows us I've seen in the darkest of hours That he brings the light of the gospel the greater the storm the greater the blessing I don't like this biblical truth But I believe that the greater the pain often the greater the relationship with the Lord The more you've went through the more deeper you appreciate who God is It's those arrogant stiff-necked Pharisees in the church who who lived like leave it to beaver. They've never done anything wrong They've never damaged anything. They've just had this perfect life You don't know leave it to beaver it is you can have Google it I'm not saying they don't know the Lord, but they don't know the Lord I haven't thought of this story in a while, but it fits Maybe some of you've heard it, but it was of that about that a church in this in the Midwest they were having a Contest probably not a good thing to do, but they decided to do it They're having a contest to see who could quote the 23rd Psalm better And so this young man fresh out of seminary well educated in biblical truth He had a big stack of books on theology and pneumatology and eschatology and soteriology and All the ologies and I Memorized that at seven years old I've got it down. Okay. Let you ready for this Comes up and he's the Lord is my shepherd. I Shall not want He makes me lie down in green pastures. It's beautiful beautiful Then the other person didn't show up and And the event organizer said go get go get Dan the janitor, I think he knows a 23rd Psalm and they grabbed this old man And he comes up, you know 70 years old and his voice kind of was cracking and And he began to weep he said the Lord is my shepherd Yeah, I might too But you think about it I shall not want he makes me lie down between green and he and it just couldn't get through it and he was he was broken and And he had to sit down and just it just just in the God's grace and and he fell apart in God's arms of forgiveness and restoration and And what happened that man received a standing ovation and This young kid he was all upset What Are you kidding me? This thing's rigged. I did better. I Did better I know it better And as he was leaving one of the old ushers older deacons grabbed him And he said young man, you know what the problem was Why you didn't get a standing ovation He said you knew the 23rd Psalm But that old man knew the shepherd That's the difference Maybe some of you will get that it when you drive home, but isn't that the truth? so many people people know scripture, but in the church all their life and I'm happy for them, but they don't truly know the shepherd. He hasn't carried them wounded and broken He hasn't grabbed them out of when they were so close to hell their clothes still smell like smoke When they're walking that edge and Christ saved them pulled them back When they were going through tremendous difficulties Christ healed them. He saved them. He set them free open financial doors He repaired marriages. He brought prodigal sons home. See they know the shepherd. That's the problem There has to be a desperation there. And that's what she the next point. She was desperate She was desperate see that's where many people miss it you they get stuck and defeat failure disappointment defeat devalue your failure disappointment But you got to get to your at some point like David. I strengthened myself in the Lord. I was so desperate for him I have to find him no matter what it costs me No matter if I have to pray if I have to fast I got to get to church I got to seek God with all my heart. I might throw out my computer I might change my iPhone in for a old flip phone if it will get me off of pornography and addiction and social media I'm gonna make some radical changes because i've got to seek God with all of my heart and all of my strength And Matthew records hold on Matthew records this Matthew said she said to herself if only if only I may touch the hem of his garment I might be healed some of you've got to say if only I can get back to that altar If I can find my way to that altar again If I can get back to my first love if Christ can become real to me again If I can have that passionate relationship, I am desperate and desperate people do desperate things And I cry out to God I call out to God and I seek him with all of my heart and all of my strength Desperate people do desperate things. I want to encourage you guys to get to 6 a.m. Worship Worship We're here at 6 in the morning on Sundays this altar is full God is changing hearts breaking hearts prayer and prayers are being answered And most people say that doesn't sound too fun, right? Because you're not desperate You're not desperate You go home and you get that call and you no longer are employed And your doctor says and the results don't look good. You will be at this altar See you're desperate Desperate people do desperate things And then she was determined Determined she wasn't this nice polite lady. I picture her i've got to get to Jesus. You're in my way And she would I gotta I gotta touch Jesus and you don't care what people think you're not gonna let the crowd stop you I've got to get to Jesus and if I just touch the hem of his garment I will be made well reminds me of that blind man crying out son of david have mercy on me Son of david have mercy on me and they went over and said be quiet be quiet Jesus is walking by would you please be quiet and he cried out even more son of david have mercy on me Son of david have mercy on me Jesus said who is that man crying out to me because I hear the cries of my children I hear the brokenness and I hear the dependence on me. I cannot that cry. I cannot turn away Parents, you know that one cry You know that one cry most crying whatever but when you hear that cry You get up whatever you're doing you get up I ran so hard out the door once I didn't know the screen door was closed And I knocked that screen door it goes flying. My daughter's caught in something her legs stuck and she's daddy daddy What am I gonna say? Let me go eat first Let me use the restroom. Hold on. I'll get there in a little bit No, the cries of my children how much more god when his children find themselves on the altar and they cry out say lord I need you to save me and set me free if you do not restore my marriage It will not it will not work out if you do not take away this addiction or this stronghold or this bondage I am lost and I cry out to you The bible is clear. If you seek me, you will find me And then praise god. She was delivered She was delivered He said to her daughter your faith has made you well And we believe in faith We try to avoid the extremes of of name it and claim it Have you heard those guys before if you just have enough faith you can have that mercedes Did you know that elgin? Yeah, you want that mercedes that house up on the hill? Just you just have enough faith. You need to have enough faith And you you're you're not you're not healed yet. You're still sick. You don't have enough faith You just have to have enough faith And they they really harm the gospel. They they harm believers But then we have this other side you guys want to be on this side I mean, you don't want to be on this side either. I should say It's faith is no big deal. I mean, I mean whatever god's sovereignty We don't want it. We we put down the the faith side so much that we actually have no faith Faith, it doesn't really play a role But then where's the middle ground? Jesus said I cannot do many great works there because of their Unbelief their lack of faith if you have faith as a mustard seed because of your faith you have been healed so You better believe play faith plays a huge role in who we are as christians But it's not a get me out of jail free card. It's not jesus is a genie in a bottle Can I have my three wishes? It's not god is my butler in heaven We recognize his faith is on the wavering standing commitment on the sovereignty of god No matter what happens i'm going to stand on who god and god is alone I'm going to step out on what I can't see to trust who I can see That being the lord jesus christ and you trust in who god is no matter what comes there's unyielding faith Hebrews 11 6 and without faith it's impossible to please god because whoever draws near to god must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek him Some of you need to diligently seek him Stop playing church Stop coming to church when it's convenient You're putting sports before church. You're putting every other thing before church Sometimes we think it's like a checklist If you don't come to church at least do it at your home At least open the word of god and get into prayer and worship and it's the diligence Did you know if a drop of water could hit my pulpit? For for the next year Just keep dropping Eventually, there would be a big divot What happened? It's that diligence But shane i'm praying I don't see anything. Welcome to the club Welcome to the school of hard knocks. Welcome to perseverance. Welcome to spiritual battle. It's that perseverance It's that even when I don't see it. I believe it The definition of faith faith is the evidence of things Not seen it's the evidence of things hoped for And it's that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him At the first service I was reminded and i'll tell you this again about that There's a particular bamboo. I don't know if you've heard of this bamboo, but you can water it for months A few years and nothing happens. Would you keep watering something if three years later? There's nothing what's going on here? I'm not watering this dirt. I got some bad seeds but five years later It begins to come up and there's you can don't take my word for it. Google it Maybe don't take that word for it either nowadays But it can grow like 30 feet in that in that next year You go from nothing seeing nothing In a short amount of time. It just shoots up And that's the same with this lord. I'm watering. I don't see my children serving you yet or grandchildren. Amen I don't see my marriage being restored. I don't see this happening I don't see anything, but I don't care what i'm going to do is trust your word I live by faith and not by sight a faith in the son of god He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him I'm going to focus on him and him alone though. I don't see anything I know that the story's not over god is as I water and water and water He's saying son daughter keep building up that strength being strengthened and fortified in my word And as that root begins to take shape when you're ready, then I will begin to exalt you. I will build you up I will open that door, but don't give up because as god is moving. So is the enemy The most powerful prayer life you can ever have is to pray in the midst of not seeing anything I'm praying for the prodigal son and I see them home worshiping god, even though they're caught in sin Even though they're caught in addiction, even though they're caught in misery. I see them Following you and i'm going to continue to pray for that I see my spouse here Worshiping with me I see it in the spirit. I see that I have the faith in the son of god And i'm going to keep contending. I really truly believe in spiritual battle And I believe we don't see what's going on Any of you heard of jim simbala in new york the brooklyn tabernacle? Incredible night tuesday night prayer meetings me My wife actually got a chance to meet him a couple years ago when we went to that that tuesday night meeting And he's a pastor mega church pastor and his daughter is on the streets of new york heroin crystal meth alcohol And he had to go and preach every sunday That's faith And he went to a prayer meeting And they said jim we're going to pray for your daughter tonight If you've ever been i'm talking about if you've ever been in a real prayer meeting It's not real conservative Oh lord Bless your people help sister. Sierra get her car fixed Real prayer is travail You're birthing something like a pregnancy When zion travails sons and daughters are born There there's a there's a pulling down heaven there's a anger that you know ain't god unless you move There's no hope have you ever i've prayed like that lord unless you do this there is no hope I'm resting in you it changes your prayer life It changes how you look at things because you don't care. This isn't about About being conservative and quiet and nice, which is great You want to manufacture anything? But there comes a time when you've got to pull down heaven and this church went to praying And for an hour for her and when he got home He told his wife these words if if god does not answer this prayer There is not a god in heaven. You should have heard that place pulling down heaven and praying as if God is hearing because he is and listening And with a short amount of time she was home at the front door she She fell down in the kitchen she fell down the kitchen and began weeping and apologizing She said what happened? She said She said last night were you praying for me dad? Yeah Last night I had the most vivid dream That I was on the verge of hell And if I don't turn back I will be lost You don't think god planted that thought gave her that dream? See that's what praying does and you begin to think what about if I don't pray If you don't ask you don't receive I think we need to be more specific in our prayers too For our kids for others tell the lord exactly exactly what you feel he's put on your heart And she was delivered she was healed But wait a minute this delay jesus delaying his journey cost a 12 year old her life a little 12 year old died right before this They came to jesus running to jesus said hurry. Hurry. Hurry. My master's daughter is sick On unto death and you need to come good teacher. Come please But jesus stopped he healed this woman. Maybe he taught we don't know he took some time there in the city And then the word came To the man whose daughter was sick They said your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher anymore So you see this tremendous victory and also this tremendous defeat And the father was i'm sure just heartbroken and wailing and his wife and this tremendous brokenness Delay delayed if you were only here If you were only here jesus, why did you delay but remember with jesus delay is not deny You can tweet that You can highlight that all with with god delay is not deny. In other words delaying something is not denying it And jesus said just remove everybody remove the doubters Let me have the father the mother peter james and john. Let me know peter james and john I believe what but he said let me just pray with this and he prayed he said child get up and rise again And this family went from grief to tremendous joy because jesus was brought into the picture So I came here to tell you this morning. Don't ring the bell Don't ring the bell Don't give up it's not worth it I'm going to find out soon if I have to do a memorial service for a man who took his life that we prayed for In the prayer room a month ago Oh god, if I wish he was here don't ring the bell No matter what you're going through nothing is greater than christ's power to see you through The problem is we dwell too much On the here and now Too many of you are listening to cnn Fox news All these different reports and news outlets and you're letting fear control you and it's it's hurting your family Did you know fear and faith can't coexist? I can't be very fearful and anxious and and then also have tremendous faith and love and and and full of the spirit One or the other will prevail It's like that old story billy graham told years ago About a young man who came to a pastor And he said pastor I keep making bad decisions. I keep fear anxiety and I keep making all these evil choices. What's wrong with me? It's like I have two dogs fighting inside of me One is evil and one is good And he said the evil dog keeps winning And the pastor looked at him and said then that's the one you need to starve to death You keep feeding him. That's why he's winning The same thing mentally We keep feeding on fear and doubt and anxiety and the things that cause us to lose our faith Don't ring the bell And i'll close with this Jesus said who touched me Who touched me some of you are going to need to make a public declaration of your faith at some point get baptized and stop kind of walking on the fence Especially men we like to go on church on sunday to please our spouse and then live like hell on monday I want the guys to think i'm cool. So I won't post anything about god on facebook I'll post sports and race cars and beer and all these things. You can't live on the fence. You cannot serve two masters You'll either love the one and hate the other Or despise the one and be loyal to the other you can't serve both god and mammon A public declaration doesn't have to be here. It doesn't have to be but there has to be something that says I am Making jesus christ my lord and savior and if you don't know him this morning, the bible is crystal clear Like this lady went from unclean to clean in a moment And a person is unclean when they don't know jesus christ. They cannot stand before an almighty god in their sin and trespasses But when they repent and they believe they go from unclean to clean So I want to encourage you this morning if you need to make that decision during worship, just pray god i've been playing church I don't truly know you. I don't have a relationship with you. I've been going through the motions God, would you save me and there's a promise you never ever forget god says whoever calls upon the name of the lord Might be saved if i'm having a good day Whoever calls upon the name of the lord You might get saved if i'm not on vacation Whoever calls upon the name of the lord if you follow this checklist and you start coming to church for a month Come on, we all know whoever calls upon the name of the lord shall Be saved and either you believe god's word or you don't I believe it I believe whoever calls on the name of the lord with the right heart will Be safe, whoever comes to me all who are weak and heavy laden. I will no way cast them out Jesus said if you believe on me as the scriptures say out of your belly will flow rivers of living water You will be made new again. The darkness will be pushed out and the light of the gospel will shine through But you have to make that confession and say I repent of my sin and I believe in christ as my lord and savior Don't ring the bell amen Amen, listen, there's no new things. There's nothing new under the sun god's word the inerrancy of scripture the application of god's word the worship of his son And the the prayer of his people That's a three cord strand that you cannot easily break Prayer has to be it prayer. It has to be your heartbeat Did you know that we can come and listen to worship hear a message? But if we're not praying when faith ceases to pray it ceases to live Ian bound said that 50 years ago when your faith ceases to pray You will cease to live spiritually faith Prayer is your heartbeat spiritually. It keeps you Living and vibrant. It is like spiritual resuscitation to get your prayer life back