He Set His Face Like A Flint (So Should You)

The title this morning, He Set His Face Like a Flint. I like the subtitle. So should you.

What's very interesting is the verse comes from Isaiah. It's actually Isaiah 57. And it says, I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.

Isaiah 700 years before Jesus. Now, what we celebrate today is what they call Palm Sunday, where Jesus rides in as the king. This king on a donkey.

What happened there? But that sets His face toward Jerusalem for the journey to the cross, to Calvary. So He set His face like a flint. He knew what He was called to do.

He didn't waver. He didn't back out. And of course, back then and even now, flint is a very strong type of rock and metal.

You can look into that, but it's very strong. And it's almost this idea of unmoving, unyielding, unbending. And by the way, that's what truth is for us, is it not? It's unyielding.

It doesn't bend. It's not flexible. And we are in a war with our culture with that very thing right now, aren't we? The truth.

Yes, there is a truth about a lot of things, moral things. It can't bend. It can't yield.

We can't say we're developing now and there's probably three or four genders. I think we missed it. But you see all this trying to give and take a little bit.

Supreme Court justices saying, I'm not sure what a female is. I'm not a biologist. Yeah, exactly.

I think I'm in the twilight zone. So truth is unyielding. It doesn't move.

It does not move. And because it's a whole new crowd, and it's been many years, I think, and I just thought of it, I'll tell you a good story. There are two lights quickly approaching in the ocean off the Atlantic.

And as they get closer, this one says, change your course 10 degrees starboard. And they signal back, no, you change your course. And this one signals back, we are not changing course.

You need to change your course immediately. They're getting closer. And this one says, sir, please change your course.

And he finally responds, if you do not change your course, I'm going to blow you out of the water. We are a battleship. And this guy said, sir, with all due respect, you need to change your course.

I am a lighthouse. Guys, never forget that. We cannot change the course of truth.

We will end up running our vessel onto the shore and destroying ourselves, our family. And that's exactly what we're seeing. All the chaos, all the confusion is because we thought we could tell truth to move.

But what are we celebrating today? It's called the triumphal entry. Jesus comes in to Jerusalem. Knows He's going to be executed, murdered in a matter of days.

Talk about composure. And GotQuestions.org gives a great breakdown. And I just thought, you know what? I'll just borrow theirs.

It says, the story of the king who came as a lowly servant on a donkey, not a prancing steed, not in a royal robe, but on the clothes of the poor and the humble. And that's why this is so relevant, because no king would ride on a donkey. It's that big, powerful... I mean, the biggest horse you could find.

It represents strength. And that's why it is interesting, I think, that when the Bible talks about Jesus coming back, He's not on a donkey. His eyes are like flames of fire.

On His head are many crowns, and no one knows His name except Him. His name is the Word of God. And He rode the white horse, and the armies of heaven followed after Him.

And that sword goes out to judge the nations and rule the nations with the rod of iron. That's powerful. I can imagine, because we're confused in life.

We don't know. We get bad news. We think, hmm, worst case scenario, we don't really know.

I can imagine Him knowing what's coming and just the fear, the trepidation, but also knowing, yeah, Friday's going to be tough, but Sunday's coming. And I know how this story plays out. What confidence He must have had.

And we're supposed to have that same confidence as well. Jesus Christ comes not as a conqueror, but by force He comes, or as an earthly king, but by love, grace, mercy, and His own sacrifice for His people. His is not a kingdom of armies and splendor, but of lowliness and servanthood.

He conquers not nations, but hearts and minds. His message is one of peace with God, not of temporal peace. And that's our message as well.

That's what we live for. That's what we know. That message that I just read, that was for them.

It's for us. It's for now. We live in the present.

But a reminder that later on is quite different. This right here is true temporarily, but when He returns, it's not coming as a lowly servant. He's coming as a judge.

He's not coming to conquer by force, but by love. Oh, the love has already ran its course for God. So love the world.

Now He's coming back as a conquering King with His armies. So don't be confused. This is not going to be forever.

It's a reminder to get our hearts and lives right with the Lord now. I don't know if this is correct, but there's been upwards of seven billion copies of the Bible since 1500s in the printing press and all that. I don't know how they come up with numbers, and how many we don't know about.

So let's just say that's a lot of Bibles. Seven billion? What's my point in saying that? Well, God wanted to get His Word out, and this is the other side of the coin. That's how He came, but this is how He's coming back.

He will tread the wine press and the wrath of Almighty God. That's the verse I said earlier. He's coming back, and He's going to tread the wine press and the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God.

And Isaiah, He will come with fire and He will come with rebuke. Revelation, the great day of His wrath. And that's why I know it's not popular.

I know if you're going to take a class on growing a big church, you're not going to mention those things. You're going to hit a felt need, and you're only going to be an encouragement. But the Bible is full of both.

I need some encouragement, and boy, do I need some conviction. Because without the conviction, you don't get right with the Lord. I'll tell you that right now.

I've seen enough over the years to know if a person's never convicted, they rarely change. That's why the Bible comforts and it divides. It pierces with the sword and it soothes our heart.

It's incredible because when you're right with God, everything else falls into place. And so that's where we're at going into Easter week. Matthew 21, the disciples were told to find a donkey to fulfill what was spoken in the Scriptures by Zechariah, specifically chapter 9. And I'm going to go through Matthew today, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and I can't get through all of it.

There's tons of Scriptures, but I'm going to pull out the main points. And so this is actually to fulfill the Scripture. It said, Zechariah writing, I think Israel was already in exile.

They were judged already. And he's writing this, "...say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey." And I wonder, there's this Scripture and many others. Didn't the Pharisees and the religious leaders, I mean, they knew the Scriptures.

And you see this guy coming on a donkey. Everything it talks about, you see the miracles, you see all these things, but they were so blinded by what they call religiosity. Having religion and not relationship.

And so what happened is most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road. And others cut branches from the trees and they spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, shouting, Hosanna! Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest. Can you imagine that scene? Because they truly believed at this point that their king was coming. This was their king.

They could not believe it. Probably surprised. Again, he's not on a horse with armies.

And so he entered Jerusalem and the whole city, everybody was stirred, saying, who is this? Who is this? And the crowd said, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. And I just put this in yesterday actually, I believe. Remember, God gave us emotions.

And I thought of them. They're excited. They're excited.

They're worshiping. And Hosanna! God is here. Or their king is here.

Maybe they didn't know quite the dynamics, but there was an emotional stirring because God was there. And sometimes many Christians, we think that emotions are bad. Emotions will lead me astray.

And they can if they're the engine of your train and not the caboose. But they follow. They follow a genuine pursuit of God.

They follow God working in our heart. Or maybe when He fails in our mind not to be working, we get the emotions on the opposite side. The depression, the negativity.

And that's why when we do worship, many times people have, what do I have to get done later today? What do I have to do tomorrow? And their mind is not focused on what they're doing, because if it was, you'd realize you are worshiping. You are worshiping God, the Creator of heaven and earth. There's an excitement that should be there.

There's an adoration. There's a thankfulness. That worship is reflected in our heart.

And if we're pursuing other things, and that's kind of boring, I'm not really there, worship is happening, it's just not with God. We've got our minds focused on other things. So remember, it's okay to get emotional.

It's okay to get emotional if God is doing the deep work of the Spirit. After all, that's how we experience Him. That's how we experience life.

I know there's negative emotions, and I try to get rid of those. How about you? But thank God for the positive emotions, the mountaintop experiences, the birth of a child, when you get married, maybe when you get to your vacation spot. Or for many of us, when we worship, when we worship in the morning, there's a yearning, there's a desire, there's an emotional response.

It's an engagement with God. And there's nothing wrong with that. We should want that.

Again, they don't control us. That's the problem when you make emotional decisions, or if you get emotional for the sake of emotions, but it should be a... I mean, you know what? How should you act when you're worshiping the living God? Balcony, you can chime in. Why are we more excited about MMA? Guys, sports.

You take that to the Lord. You're really emotional on some stuff. You can't wait for that next hunting trip, that next fishing trip.

NASCAR, this, that, that. Very emotional, very, very, very excited. But when it comes to worshiping the living God, boy, this went long this morning.

Oh my goodness, 45 minutes of worship. Guys, I'm just challenging you to check your heart. Check your heart.

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. What is in you is flowing out of you. And my job is to comfort, but also to convict.

It's to encourage, but it's also to challenge. I mean, I wish I started keeping a journal 16 years ago. It usually goes like this.

I don't know if I've heard it for a while in the prayer room. Let me think. Recently.

It goes like this. You know, when I first started coming, I don't like what you had to say. And I wouldn't come back.

I wouldn't come back very often. But now, oh, but now, you see the tears, you see them at the altar, you see them in the prayer room. What happened, that heart of stone was broken by the Spirit of the living God.

That's what happened. I see it all the time. Because normally when we hear something and we're convicted, are you like me? You're not very teachable at first? Anybody else? Very rarely do you say, oh, thank you for that constructive criticism.

I will begin working on that immediately. But what happens is you hear that like, man, that guy, who does he think he is? Hmm. Hmm.

And guess what keeps eating at you all week? Because it's conviction from the Word. And God will start bringing Scriptures to your mind. You cannot love both God and this world.

Choose you today who you will obey. Ask for Me in My house. We will serve the Lord.

Seek Me and you will find Me. If you search for Me with all... and they start to get convicted. And so what happens is you see an incredible change, or you don't see Him again.

That's kind of where the rubber meets the road. And it's a beautiful thing. When we listen to the conviction of the Spirit, I have that conviction as well for certain things that God will convict me about.

And so, he gets off the donkey and he enters the temple. First order of business. Is this so cool? Jesus cleans up worship.

Oh my goodness! That just tied in what I was just saying. Jesus cleans house. I love this part of Scripture because it shows, because so many people just use the turn the other cheek verses.

They forget about Him being filled with indignation. Jesus, did you know He got upset? If you never get upset about the godlessness going on, but you get upset when your 401k drops, you get upset at other things, but there should be an anger when God's Word is mocked. And when you look around and what's going on in our world.

There's a holy of holies just where the priest goes once a year. It's where everything is that time with God and sins of the people. And then outside of that, there's some items.

And then there's what they call the outer court where the Gentiles were. And I believe that they used to sell these things even outside of that before people would even get in the temple. And it was actually something that had to happen because they would come and they would have coins and they'd have to give them different coins in exchange.

You're not going to give with Caesar's image on it and things like that. So that exchange had to take place. There's nothing wrong with it.

But it's what they did with it. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And they would start to charge a lot of interest because they could.

Boy, don't get me started on that one. Just for fun someday, look up your charge card interest rate. And I don't think they should have been in where they were.

I think they started, but compromise began. They wanted to be right where the people were at, where the Gentiles were actually allowed. And he drove them out.

How does this guy by himself drive out these merchants? Wouldn't they fight back? Wouldn't they say, what are you doing? Well, not when you make a whip. He made, oh man, zeal for my father's house has consumed me. I don't know if he's making it on the way, like gets off the donkey and grabs me some rope and just this whip to drive them out of what passion for God's house.

Oh, can you imagine if we got that back again today? Don't bring things like that, but bring a heart that wants to fear God again. And that's why many churches aren't experiencing what we experience here and what other churches experience is that there's no fear of God in that place. There's a manipulation.

There's a compromise. This isn't your house. It's God's house.

We don't come in here acting like this is our house. I want new believers to be welcome. So do I, but I'm not going to compromise for them.

They're coming into God's house. I mean, I could spend some time on this. I don't know if he resigned a while back, but this is like, I think even when we started, I think they still do it too.

You'll probably see it come out during Easter. All these weird stunts. Have you ever seen those? One guy thought it'd be cool to play out in the lobby, ACDC, I'm on a highway to hell.

For Easter because his sermon title was something about hell. I'm like, dude, you don't have the Spirit of God in you. You're just trying to entertain the masses.

Don't convict, don't say anything. And I understand, there's a balance there, reaching the lost. But did you know, maybe I should let you in on a little secret too, you're supposed to also reach the lost out there.

Out there. And then we come here as believers and we worship the living God. And of course, we want to be sensitive to newcomers.

We want to make sure. I take constructive criticism all the time and some of it is warranted. And you know, when people say, Shane, when you say things about, let's say, LGBTQ, make sure you also offer hope and don't, yeah, that's a good point, I got it.

And so, you know, there's a balance there that you have to find. Even politically, you know, you don't want to get, and golly, Lord, help me. And so you understand that there's different people inside of the political spectrum and being sensitive to that, but at the same time, you can't silence the truth.

I have pastor friends that can't say a lot of what I say. They say, oh my goodness, the deacon board would meet with me after that. Like, really? I would resign and go get a job somewhere.

Right? That's like, how's that possible? Simply because it's too controversial. Isn't the Bible controversial? I don't know, I mean, last time I checked. And so he also overturned the tables where they had their money and the seats.

Man, he's going, who would have said that that's not a Christian? Wouldn't we? Now, I'm not giving permission to go into places, because most of us would not do that with a perfect heart like he did. Right? If I did that, I guarantee there'd be a little old school mixed in there with new school. But that's not what a Christian does.

The way you talk so boldly and about truth, and you're not being very Christ-like. Where's the love for others? I hear that sometimes if I respond on X or Instagram or something, and somebody's in another religion, right? It's like, people in all these religions don't want to talk about their religion. Like, why can't we all just love each other? Be quiet.

Be quiet, that's Christ-like. Can't we all just get along? And technically, yes, we're supposed to, but also the truth is kind of narrow. Here's something to think about.

All religions can be wrong, but they can all be right. And do your research. Dig, folks.

Know what you believe and why you believe it. Because all these different, well, they believe, I mean, we all are focused on God. Not the same God.

Not the same God. Look what the Bible says and look at what they say. Do your homework.

But I hear that a lot. Why can't we just love each other? Why do you have to say something about that or that or that or that? And I get it, because you don't want to be known as the guy that does that, that, or that, right? We've all seen those mean-spirited, angry people. But by the way, the truth is the truth.

How do you make the truth taste good? I mean, Jesus said He's the only... Well, you know what? He's one of many ways, and so I understand where you're coming... Well, I know the cross, I mean, we probably could still have Christianity without the cross, right? So we don't really... Where do you draw it? You don't! The truth is the truth. And God honors that. You just have to make sure it's coming from a right heart.

And that's where all of us can make mistakes. Sometimes we are too arrogant and bold and we need to put on the brakes. Many others of you are too silent.

And you need to step on the gas and speak the truth in love when God calls you to do that. And so as He's doing this, He said, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. Robbers.

Taking advantage of people. My house shall be called a house of prayer. God said it.

Did you know that's the primary focus of a church? That should be the primary goal of a church. There should be opportunities to pray. It should be the church pressing in.

It's not really a social club. It's a prayer meeting. Granted, it's hard to get people to come to those.

And usually the most important things are the hardest to do, aren't they? The most important things are the hardest to do. Some of you should go home and cut up some broccoli and bell peppers and eat healthy, but you're not going to. You're going to go somewhere because it's the easy thing to do.

And it tastes better. And so we have to fight against, even spiritually speaking, we have to fight against those things. So, again, He set His face like a flint.

And the first thing He did was He cleaned up worship. He cleaned up worship in the house of God. Why wouldn't He just say, okay, well, these guys are lost.

I'm going to the cross in how many days? Five days or so. That was the first order of business coming in. He knows He's going to His execution.

And He establishes, He cleans up worship. It's a reminder that compromise affects worship. Compromise in your heart, compromise in your attitude will affect worship.

Since I've lived it, many times I can say this. I'm not attacking. I'm just trying to help.

Many people come into church and the reason they can't worship is because they've been compromising all week. And compromise dulls your spiritual weaponry. You don't have the sword of the Spirit.

You really don't want to get here. You got here. It might not be good English, but that works.

You really don't want to get here, but you got here. Because it's what we do. We go to church.

And when compromise cuts, when we know all week, I know I've got a gossiping tongue. I know it. I know it, but I love it and I'm not repenting of it.

You think you're going to be able to worship? Slander, backbiting, divisive, critical heart, arrogant heart. You think we'll be able to worship when we've been compromising in those areas? Sexual purity, other addictions, things we come in. Guys, and I just feel for the church today in general, because we come in, it's almost like those zombie movies.

It's like we're coming to church, many, but their heart's not engaged with God. They can't really worship. They're kind of bored.

I just heard a speaker last month who told us, a group of pastors, why we should get our whole service down to one hour. From start to finish? But it's a big megachurch in L.A. We've got to follow his advice, right? And I should say, I don't want to come across cocky or arrogant, because there's good points when people are saying trying to reach the lost. You know, people come in, an unbeliever comes into church, they don't even know what you're singing.

They don't want to be singing it. Why are you singing for 20 minutes on songs? And that would be my reminder. It's like, well, we're here worshiping God.

I mean, that would be so hard for me to tailor everything based on new people coming in and what they might want, because what you normally find is the opposite. They come in, their hearts are convicted, and they want to come back, and something was changed. Their hearts were challenged, because God was honored.

They saw real, authentic ministry and worship. And I love what Jesus said here. My house, God's house, shall be called the house of prayer.

A good reminder for us that the priority must always be prayer. As you set your face to seek Him, He set His face like a flint. So should you.

Meaning, prayer is that focal point. Prayer is that dividing line. It may be a good reminder for some of you this morning and some listening later, that seeking to profit financially from the worship of God is a blasphemous thing to do.

It's very, very sinful. Profiting off the worship of God. Trying to make money off people with the worship of God.

And many of you have been watching things coming out in the Christian news. I'm not going to go into that whole thing. But a lot of what's being exposed, false prophecies, plagiarism, false prophets, worship leaders that are spending money that they shouldn't.

You're seeing all this because of this point. Seeking to profit financially from worship. Now, we do have to be careful because some events and things have to charge things.

Sometimes I have to handle this verse when it's taken out of context. Like if we have a worship leader here who wants to offer his material at a good discount to bless people, people get upset. Didn't you read that? No, no, no, you're out of context.

That's appropriate and the right heart. And it doesn't fit the context. So again, we have to be careful in this area.

But I'm going to read what I read on Wednesday, just the short version, regarding compromise in the church, regarding charging for worship and things like that. David Wilkerson said, I look at the whole religious scene today and all I see are the inventions of ministries of man and flesh. It's mostly powerless.

And I see more of the world coming into the church and impacting the church. Rather than the church impacting the world. I see the music taking over the house of God.

I see entertainment taking over the house of God. An obsession with entertainment in God's house. A hatred of correction and a hatred of reproof.

Nobody wants to hear it anymore. And we do see that even more and more. And I remember even, there was a desire, people would understand conviction in the church.

Now they actually find churches that don't convict them. And then Matthew 12.14. So, I love this about Jesus too. Comes in, fulfills prophecy.

Goes in the temple. Hopefully restores worship. We don't know what happened after that, but if He restores worship, hopefully those guys aren't coming back in.

Hopefully people were convicted because days later, when Jesus was on the cross, God the Father decide to reach down from heaven and tear the veil. This big, thick, four inch, probably to the top of the ceiling here, veil that covered. They could not go into the holies of holies.

Now that worship is restored and God breaks that veil. The Bible says from the top to the bottom. And what does this do? This is so powerful because you had to go in, the priest had to go in once a year and hopefully do everything right to atone for the sins of the people.

The blood of bulls and goats and keep every year, every year. And then God says enough, it is done. The veil is torn and now people can enter themselves boldly into the throne room of grace.

They can go directly to Jesus Christ. They can go directly to Jesus Christ. Folks, this is another one of my beef with my Roman Catholic friends.

You don't go to a priest. Actually, that's not a good idea. That's not biblical.

And there's so many different things because Christ said it is finished. It's done. Just a side note, no need for purgatory.

What sins are you going to pay for that He didn't pay for? Guys, to me, this breaks my heart. And every time I do this, people get upset, but I don't know what to tell you. It breaks my heart.

It breaks my heart to tell people, you know what, you're still going to have to pay for some sins though. Jesus' sacrifice was not quite enough. So when He said to telestai, it is finished, He meant it's partially finished.

Guys, this is serious stuff. But we don't want to offend people. I don't either.

I don't want to offend people. My mom said I was growing up with a people pleaser. I like to please people.

Don't be upset at shame. But when the truth grips your heart, and you can say like the prophets, His Word is in my heart like a burning fire. I have to say what's burning in my heart as long as it lines up with Scripture.

And so after He drove out the money changers, He went and the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple and He healed them. What a contrast. Whipping people.

I don't know if He hit them, but He probably hit by their feet or drove them out. And it goes from that... Now He's back to the mild, meek man of Jesus. Superman.

Back to Clark Kent. And He begins to heal these people, all who came to Him in the temple. So people came to Him.

And so the second point of this sermon, ministry flows from worship. All God-inspired ministry will flow from worship. As you're worshiping Him.

As worship becomes a priority. That is the anchor. That's actually the foundation from which all ministry flows.

You have to have that as the foundation. And also, we often have to initiate the pursuit, don't we? And I hear that a lot. God's pursuing me.

And He is. Thank God for that. And that is true.

That's biblical. But did you know you're also supposed to pursue Him? The verse I use all the time. If you seek Me, if you pursue Me with all your heart, if I become your priority, if I become your passion, if I become your main focus, if I become that love of your life, if you pursue Me, you will find Me.

If you search for Me with all of your heart. What about people? I'm amazed, of course, this isn't always happening, but many of the people that were healed pursued Him. Not every single person.

There's intercessors and different things, but a lot of times, they came to Him. They came to Him. They pursued Him.

They knew they just needed a touch. Their faith drove them to Him. What about the lady? If I could just touch, if I could just get to Him and touch the hem of His garment, can you imagine if we got up and said, if I could just get to church today, or this week, if I could just get into worship, if I could just get into prayer, I've got a busy day, but I've got to touch Him.

I've got to find Him. He set His face like a flint. I need to set my face like a flint as well.

If I could just get to Jesus today, I know my problems would be over, or at least He would hold me through those problems. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, they got mad. There He goes healing people again.

There He goes. And they saw the children crying in the temple. Hosanna! Hosanna to the Son of David! They were indignant.

That word is a strong anger. And they said, don't you hear what they're saying to you? And Jesus said, yes, have you never read? I love how He goes back to Scriptures with these guys. Yeah, haven't you read? You came in on a donkey.

Yeah, haven't you read? You said this. Yeah, haven't you read? You did this. Yeah, haven't you read? Well, did Isaiah the prophet speak of you? Your lips draw nigh unto Me, but your hearts are far from Me.

Haven't you read? And the prophet said, out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes, you will have prepared praise. I think some other translations might say perfect praise in the sense of it's complete. It's lacking nothing.

Have you ever seen little ones truly worship? They don't care what you think. Isn't that amazing? They don't care what you think. They don't care what they look like.

They're not worried. Some of them, sometimes of course, they're shy and things like that, but when they worship the Lord, it's beautiful. Children worshiping highlights God's strength perfected through weak, unexpected sources.

When they're broke in worship, God moves. As much as I would like to see this, it won't happen for obvious reasons, but instead of seeing LeBron, Kobe, and Michael Jordan worshiping, I'd love to see the broken, the hurting, worshiping. That would be like, whoa! But that's worship.

I'm not discounting that. I'm just saying God often uses the lowly and the broken to represent the heart of the Father. Because it's genuine.

Where does this verse come from? Psalm 8. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth. If you don't know why we should worship, just focus on this psalm today. Lord, our Lord, how majestic, in other words, how beautiful, how great is Your name in all the earth.

Who holds a second to God? Nobody. He set His glory in the heavens through the praise of children and infants, You have established a stronghold against Your enemies to silence the foe and the avenger. And when I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon, the stars, which You have set in place, what is mankind that You are mindful of them? Human beings that You care for them.

Again, I spoke on this Wednesday. I threw out the challenge for you guys to look it up as well, but how many galaxies are there? Have you ever looked into that? And then how many stars are in each galaxy? I think that's where words like incomprehensible comes from. Or my brain's going to explode.

Those kind of things. And that's where He says, who are we that You're mindful of them? That You care for them? Shouldn't that get all of us to drop to our knees and glorify the one true and living God? That God. That God wants to be in relationship with you.

That God wants to hear our prayers. Well, He's not answering my prayers. Well, welcome to the club.

Sometimes it's more about pursuit than it is answers. And when I get answers, I stop pursuing. Just something to think about on your way home.

Thank God for unanswered prayers from time to time. Here's these guys again. The chief priest.

They saw the wonderful things that he did and they were indignant. Does anybody else have a problem with these guys or just me? They would see people healed. It's the Sabbath.

Come back later to be healed. Like are you kidding me? You've never healed anybody in your life. And you see all these miracles and that's your attitude? And we do see that in the church.

God could be moving in profound and powerful ways, yet you still have the negative Nellies and the judgmental Jerries. But it shows you the destruction, the pain, and the deception of pride. Obadiah, the pride of your heart has deceived you.

The pride of your heart has deceived you. Writing to the Edomites who were lining up with God's enemies to fight Israel, and God says the pride of your heart has deceived you. The reason I put destruction is because it does destroy families, guys.

It destroys churches. It destroys careers. It's destroying our nation.

And then what follows is pain. Pain. I would need a whole sermon to really unpack what the Bible says about pride.

But it's hard to narrow down to just a few sentences, but you know the look of it and you know the look of humility, don't you? Pride is that self-assertive... you can just listen to the words. Me, me, me, me, me. I would never.

I this, I that. I study the Bible. I. Oh, oh, judgmental.

Oh, oh, how could they fall again? There's a prideful, unteachable spirit. You think you're always right in the home? I feel like crying sometimes because I've seen so much pain. Haven't you too, Tim, from counseling? Destruction in marriage.

It's the most frustrating thing you'll ever witness. You talk to couples, you say, you guys can fix this right now. Right now.

What do you mean? Humble yourself. Now, disclaimer, there are some spouses through no fault of their own are humbly seeking the Lord, and they can't control the choice of the other. I'm pretty sure you know that's not what I'm talking about.

But I have to throw those disclaimers out there because people like to put words in my mouth. I usually say, can you find that sermon where I said that? And I never get a response. Because they make me say things because they're convicted.

But we see that if you humble yourself. This is fixed today. Right now.

Right now. Right? Here we go. Here we go.

I got it. I know. I'm not minimizing anything.

I'm not minimizing anything. Even now, I can think of lots of divorces in this church over 15, 16 years that shouldn't be in the church. I don't want people to feel bad because sometimes it might be warranted and a person's done all they can do.

I got it. But nine times out of ten, the person did all they could do, but the other spouse didn't because of pride. Oh, kids are resilient.

They'll be fine. Oh, let me tell you. What else would make somebody act with that pride? I can't admit that I'm wrong.

And many times you'll see that they never had a relationship with Christ to begin with. Because I'd like you to tell me how two people filled with the Spirit of God can end up divorced. Now again, one person could be quenching and grieving the Spirit.

I got it. I'm not naive. I've got every single scenario ever given I've heard.

But the Holy Spirit, when somebody wants to be filled with the Spirit and the other spouse is filled with the Spirit, that's a very beautiful thing. Doesn't mean it's easy, but that's by far, there's not even a close second. There's not even a close second.

Pride. Pride. Pride.

And here's the danger with pride is it is deceptive. It deceives you, doesn't it? I'll run into some of these people at the store three years later, they're still blaming their spouse. They don't see it.

And I can't slap them or they'll get arrested. Oh yeah, they never understood me. They never listened.

You know, you're deceived, brother. Humble yourself. Humble yourself before God does, but an encouragement, if you've ever wore the big D on your forehead, divorce, God can redeem.

It's not the unpardonable sin. God can do amazing things. If you've done all you can do, you can rest in that.

Don't leave here feeling beat up. You've done all you could do. But if you're listening later on radio, social media, and you haven't done all that you could do, humble yourself.

Humble yourself. I just don't love them anymore, Shane. Right, because you're hooked to pornography.

Of course you don't love them anymore. You've given yourself over to an addiction. Love doesn't leave you.

You leave love. Pride has slain its thousands, but jealousy its ten thousands. And these men were not only prideful, but jealous.

Jealous. Look at all the accolades. Look at what this guy does and their jealousy.

We should be excited for things that God is doing. We should be excited for things that God is doing. Who cares? Who cares if somebody has a bigger Bible study? Who cares if somebody's being used of God more than you want to be? Lift them up.

Encourage them. And then lastly, on this topic of setting your face like flint like he did. We talked about cleaning up worship, removing compromise, and then getting involved in ministry and reaching out to people, humbling yourself.

When it comes to setting your face like a flint, you've got to make sure you get that flint from the solid rock. Isaiah 50 said, why when I came was there no man? Why when I called was there none to answer? Is not My hand shortened that it cannot redeem? Or I have no power to deliver? In other words, God's talking here. He said, indeed, at My rebuke I dry up the sea.

I make rivers a wilderness. I'm actually getting to the last verse, but God's Word is so powerful, I wanted you to hear it in its context. With My rebuke I dried up the sea.

Remember that? When He dried up the sea. I clothed the heavens with blackness and I make sackcloth their covering. The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned that I should show how to speak a word and season to him who is weary.

I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. I gave My back to those who struck Me. Who is He talking about? I was not rebellious.

I did not turn away. I gave My back to those who struck Me. And My cheeks to those who plucked out My beard.

I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help Me. Therefore, I will not be disgraced.

I have set My face like a flint. And I know that I will not be ashamed. Isaiah, 700 years before Jesus, writing this.

Basically saying they're killing Me. They're beating Me up and they're whipping Me. It doesn't matter because I've set My face like a flint.

I'm going to Calvary no matter what. You can't stop Me, devil. It's a good reminder for us.

Philippians 3. Philippians 3. I think I meant to put 14. Philippians 13. Brethren, I do not count Myself to apprehended, but one thing I do for getting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.

Parentheses mine. I set My face like a flint. Therefore, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

And I know that I will not be ashamed. Guys, that's the key to the Christian walk. To set your face like a flint to Christ.

Nothing's going to persuade you. Nothing's going to push you away no matter what's in the news. No matter the financial uncertainty.

No matter your health update. No matter what it is. You set your eyes on Christ and you set it like a flint and nothing's going to move me.

I don't care if they come out with a study next week. We found the Bible to be untrue. Well, join the rest of the club and they've all perished.

And God's Word still stands. So I'll leave you with these keys. How to set your face like a flint.

How to set your face like a flint. What do you gaze upon? Throughout the day, what do you gaze upon? Of course, other things happen, but are you fixed on that cross and Calvary and the resurrection? And I gaze upon Him and taking the sin, the sin of the world, and because of the Father, I fix my gaze, because when you fix your gaze, it's hard to knock you off course. What do you focus upon all week? Where do you focus? What are you standing for and what are you standing on? Some of you that are flirting with the truth, you better get on full board.

Because again, the truth isn't yielding. It doesn't bend. You don't change truth.

Truth changes you. And then, oh, what are you holding on to? What are you holding on to? Like, oh man, if this stock goes through, if this gold and silver and cryptocurrency in my retirement, and this is what I'm holding on to. Many of you know I release that booklet to help a lot of people fighting cancer.

And every day, I've got to remind them, nothing is guaranteed. You can do this and try that. Who are you holding on to? Who are you holding on to? That's the only thing that's going to be able to navigate through the storms of life.

Now God leads us to do other things of course, but that's what I'm holding on to. Do you know why I'm holding on to that? Because it's not going to fail. It's not going to fall.

It's not a corroded foundation that will corrode after 100 years like concrete. This is a rock that will never fail. It will never crack.

So when you're holding on to that, you fix your gaze upon what you're holding on to. What do you do when you fall? You get back up and you fix. You know, that's what people need to do.

They get so discouraged when they fall. I know when they fall, because I don't see them here for a long time. And then they come back crying.

They're up there all day praying. You see it a lot. You have to remind them, get up.

Get right, you fell. Oh, that was close. I did it on purpose.

You fell, but what do you do? You get back up. You get back up and you fix your gaze upon Him. You set your face like a flame.

Don't head for the exit, head for the cross. That's the key. Where do you run when you fell? Where do you run? Who do you run to? The pharmacy? The liquor store? The cannabis factory? Where do you run to? Who do you run to, I should say? Here's what we need to do.

Stand strong when you don't think you can. Men, let me just talk to you for a minute. This is important as you're leading a family or going to lead a family.

You need to stand strong even when you don't think you can. A little secret about boldness and not being a coward. It's not that you don't struggle with fear and doubt.

It's that you don't let them control you. You stand strong. You build hope when all hell is breaking loose.

You build hope when all hell is breaking loose, don't you? You speak the truth in the face of evil. You keep moving forward when the road ahead isn't clear. That's how you set your face like a flame.

I mean, just this week, how many times could Jesus change course? Go find a ship heading to Tarsus. I'm out of here. I mean, the creation? Man spitting on the Creator? As soon as they slap me, okay.

10,000 legions of angels, where are you? Right? Evaporate. Pillar of salt. But all these opportunities, knowing what He's going through, still ministering to the people through this whole thing, set His face like a flame.

I'll leave you with this verse, Psalm 27. One thing have I desired of the Lord. Guys, you need to leave here with this in your heart.

If I could preach louder and more boldly, I would. There's a lot, sometimes I have to contain myself because this is so important. This is church worship for the living God.

To me, there's nothing more important on planet Earth for me than to preach God's Word. For people to come and hear God's Word. To worship the living God.

More important than visiting Trump? Absolutely. More important than that? Absolutely. This never fails.

This never ends. It's the most important thing we can do. And the psalmist says, one thing have I desired.

You need to get this in your heart. Not many things have I desired and I'll try to fit God in. It says, one thing have I desired of the Lord.

And that will I seek. Nothing else, nothing more that I may dwell in the house of the Lord. All the days of my life.

So my career comes after that. My job comes after that. My money comes after that.

My marriage comes after that. My questions come after that. My health comes after that.

One thing have I desired. That will I seek beginning tonight and tomorrow morning. I will seek the Lord.

He is my shelter. He is my rock. He is my Sabbath rest.

He is my everything. He is a strong tower. I run to Him when the storm comes.

He will lead you through. See, the problem with that verse for many people, one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek. They don't desire it.

They don't really desire it. As I'm speaking, they've already got excuses in their head. Well, that's good for Him.

If I had a dollar for every time I heard that, well, Pastor, that's good for you. That's what He's called you to do. No, I was seeking Him when I was digging ditches.

I was seeking Him when nobody listened. I had to. I had to.

And that's my passion for all of you. One thing have I desired. That will I seek.

To dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. And here's the good news. If you don't desire it, all you have to say is, Lord, I repent.

I repent. Please give me that desire. Please give me that desire.

And then maybe you'll agree with Maddie next time she says, we are hungry. We are thirsty for more of You. Many of you are not saying that.

You're like, are you truly hungry? Are you truly thirsty for more of God? And it's okay if you're not. You repent. You repent and you say, God, I'm sorry that my heart is not fully engaged with the living God.

I want that desire. And as you humble yourself, as you humble yourself, a mighty filling of the Holy Spirit comes in. Say, son, daughter, I've been waiting.

I've been waiting.