How Much of God Do You Want?

Let's get started. If you have your Bibles, turn to Matthew 22. Matthew chapter 22, verse 34.

The title of the sermon is, How Much of God Do You Want? How much of God do you want? And I've got good news and I've got bad news. The good news is, I think this can really help a lot of people. The bad news is, it might turn into part two.

So, I just kept putting the sermon together and God just... And you know it's the Lord when you pull over and you write things down and you've got to get those in the notes and then I read something else and it confirms and it's just so overwhelming, the type of message that I believe God wants us to embrace. Because how much of God do you want really is a question that we all have to answer. How much of God do you want? How much of that relationship do you want? Because He's not a puppet master.

You know what that is, right? Somebody with puppets and they make... It's up to us. How much of God... The difference between a person who is on fire for God and loving God and filled with His Spirit and the person who's not and they know it and they're not happy about it, the one difference is this person is seeking God with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their strength. This person is not.

They're living a carnal lifestyle and they're not going to make certain changes. Now that might offend some people, but it's true. Because how much of God do you want depends upon you.

If you seek me with all of your heart, you will find me. And I like what A.W. Tozer said, I want the presence of God Himself or I don't want anything to do at all with religion. Isn't that true? I want the presence of God Himself or I don't want to have anything to do with religion.

And there's many religions meeting and having church tomorrow and different things because they know nothing about the presence of God. And when I talk about the presence of God, it's a tangible presence that you would know. You can sense that God is with you.

And though there's valleys and there's storms, you know that He's the anchor. You know you can feel Him sometimes during worship. And it's not all about feelings, but I do believe that God has given us feelings and thank God for those feelings.

As I've said before, can you imagine not having feelings? There's my kids, I guess, I love them, I don't know, I'm supposed to, but I don't feel anything and that's my spouse and I don't really feel anything and the baby's born and who cares? It's just dead. So feelings can be good and God-given if they're focused in the right direction. But the sad truth is that most Christians are spiritually malnourished.

Are you aware of that? I bet you're not aware of this statistic, but most Americans are physically malnourished. Even though we have an abundance of food, we don't have the right food and we are malnourished physically, we're malnourished spiritually. And that's one of the reasons I wrote the book I released last year, Desperate for More of God, was to help people in this area, to be desperate for more of Him.

And I'm going to read a little quote here from Wilbur Reese that you've heard me read probably last summer, but it ties in perfectly and not everybody heard it, so I wanted to read it again. He said this, I would like to buy three dollars worth of God, please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I want ecstasy, not transformation.

I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy just three pounds of God, please.

And it's true. It's true with many people that they don't want all that God has. They're comfortable with one foot in the world and one foot kind of serving God.

And the dilemma is found in Galatians 5.17. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite of what the sinful nature desires. And these two forces are constantly fighting each other.

So the question really is who do you obey? Do we obey the Spirit, the leading of the Spirit, or do we obey the pulling of the flesh? And that is really what tilts the scale on whether we truly know God and we experience His presence or not. The key is that most people drift from God not because He fails them and not because the Word of God proves to be untrue, but because of the pull of the world. It's like a magnet, and I don't like it.

The flesh, the sinful flesh, it's still here. There's a magnet in the world. It's pulling.

You can feel that pull from what you watch and everything I talk about, right? You don't need to rehash that, but there's this pull, and it's a fight against this pull to do what the Spirit wants us to do. And once we make that decision, that's when the peace comes. That's when the joy comes, when we overcome that magnetic pull and we focus on God.

This person is a Spirit-filled believer, and this is the person who's filled with the Spirit of God. See, so that's the dilemma. We don't feel it immediately.

Sometimes it's after the decision is made to follow God. Then we feel that peace and that joy, and that's why many people are caught in that lukewarm state, and they're desperate for more of God. It's because they've allowed the pull of the world, the pull of the flesh, to pull them away from God.

Think about this. How many people would be better off if they could get up early and read the Bible and worship for an hour? Oh, I hope everybody's shaking their head on that one. But what prevents that? Right? If you snore, if you don't, right? But that's what prevents it.

Let's be honest. This is the honest sermon, right? Every time we try to give the honest sermon, and that's the truth. The flesh doesn't want to get up out of that warm, cozy bed.

And when the time change comes, is it going to be easier to do that or more difficult? You look, and 6 o'clock, no, it's really 7 o'clock. I'm behind, and it's very easy to fix that problem. You go to bed earlier.

But nobody wants to do that because they want to see what's on the news. They want to see this new reality show. So now the flesh is controlling in the evening, and it's hard to get.

So you see how it just controls everything. I know I shouldn't go do that or watch that, but I will just enjoy it. I know I shouldn't hang around with those people, but I enjoy it.

I know I shouldn't spend two hours on Facebook. I'm convicted about shame. So you see how the world pulls us away from the things of God? That's where the dilemma is.

That's where the struggle is. That's why many people, I would bet if we took a poll, everybody in this room would say, yes, I want to be more desperate for God. I want more of God.

I want it. So the problem isn't with want to. It's with have to.

How do I do this? How do I put this all together? And I believe there's hope. But you have to remember this. This is one of the difficult things with modern day Christianity in the church is there's an easy believism.

There's an easy discipleship. It's like following Jesus is cool, and it's a thing to do, and you can put not out of this world shirts, and you can wear this stuff, and nobody's going to know the difference. But that's not the Bible.

It says that there is a cost. There's always a cost. There's always a cost to pay.

Think about retirement. Ask somebody that's getting ready to retire, was there a cost? Yeah, it's called 30 years of work to put away. What about a healthy marriage? Is there a cost? Yes, it's called dying to self on a daily basis and not having to win that last argument.

Raising good kids, is there a cost? Yes, it's difficult. Once that first little tiny baby was born, my life ended. What I mean by, oh, I'm single, or we're just married, I can go play softball on Fridays and Wednesdays, and we can go do this, and we can go do this.

No, not now. There's a cost to raising. So why don't we think there isn't a cost to seeking God? How bad do you want it is what it boils down to.

How bad do you want it? The sad fact also is this, the price we pay reveals the value. The price we pay on something reveals how much value we place on something. So if somebody pays a cost of 30 years for retirement, that retirement has a value to them.

If people aren't willing to pay the price to seek God, there's no value to them, that's why. And yes, it's difficult. Yes, it's challenging.

Yes, you have to fight the flesh, but the fruit of the Spirit. See, I think people understood it better many, many years ago because they understood things like farming. You work very hard for a few months.

You plow the soil. You put things in. You remove rocks.

And then you partook of the fruit months later, not the same day. Delayed gratification is also very biblical. We do things now for the benefit later, and that applies to seeking God.

But as I've told you many times before, the devil tries to keep us asleep spiritually, especially kids and younger folks. Shh, shh, shh. Right, go back to sleep.

He says it's no big deal. Everybody's doing it. People will laugh at you if you seek God.

If you give everything to God, you'll be mocked. Your friends will think you're weird. You can't do that.

Isn't that the thought sometimes that people have? They don't want to get too carried away for God. They've got to keep their image. And the Bible says there's no image.

There's dying to self. There's following him. I'm nothing and you're everything.

You're going to look a little foolish to the world. There's going to be a difference and a distinction. So that's the introduction to Matthew 22, 34.

And I'm going to read starting in verse 34. But Jesus said that this is the greatest commandment ever given. You would think that would cause us to sit up straight and to turn the cell phones off, it's a good reminder, and pay attention to what is Jesus saying? What is the greatest commandment that was ever given? Well, here it is.

Many of you know it, but I think we need to look at it again. But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him and saying, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Which is the greatest commandment? Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

Another translation or another gospel says, And with all your strength. Everything that you consist of, you love him with all your strength. This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Again, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. You know, it's interesting. I looked up that word all, and you know what it means? All.

There's just giving everything there. Now, here's where many people get confused. And this is why I often say it's about your heart, the direction of your heart.

It's not about perfection. Because a lot of people think, Well, I can't give him all my heart and perfect. No, it's not perfect.

Nobody can do that perfectly. But you're giving him all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.

Here's what this looks like. Jesus, I give you all of my. My finances are yours.

They're yours. He knows you need a house. He knows you need a car.

He knows you need food. But when we say, Lord, my finances are yours, but people don't give. Not to the church.

I'm just in general. They don't have a giving heart. Well, then, no, you haven't given God all that area.

Well, yes, I have, I think. I mean, I do things. No, if the pocketbook's still got a hold on us, then we have not given God that area.

When God has given that area, we find, and that's why they talk about tithe or offering or whatever you want to call it, there should be something there where it hurts us financially to some degree. Like David said, I'm not going to give God something that costs me nothing. That's why it's very easy to give goodwill.

Your 25-year-old refrigerator is falling apart, not the new Whirlpool. Have you ever thought about that? If anybody wants this refrigerator, it's free. Just come and get it.

I have such a giving heart. No, you want to get rid of it. Give them the new one you're buying.

Oh, no, I saved up for a year. Right. See, we don't give God all that we think we do sometimes.

So all our heart just means I'm going to put aside a certain amount. Lord, this is for you. I'm giving you my finances.

What about time? Lord, my time is yours. Whatever you want to do, whatever you're calling me to do. No, that's not true either.

Most people aren't serving in church or serving in ministry. Even if it's not here, Grace Resource or Care Net or wherever it is, we should be serving with our time, volunteering our time. And our life is not ours.

So if we look at it closely and we think we're giving God all of our heart, we're really not many times. Again, not perfection, but there should be areas in our life where we're giving, of our time, of our money. What about this one? Lord, I give you my life, but it doesn't reflect it.

If we look at what we watch, what we view, how we spend our time, how we spend our money, everything we do, it doesn't reflect that God is our life. So it's easy to say and very difficult to do. And, of course, my favorite, Lord, I give you my marriage, but I'm not going to treat the spouse like your Word commands me to treat them.

Well, that's not giving God your marriage. So we have many people thinking, I've given God my life and my money and my time and my marriage. No, you haven't.

You've just said it because your actions reveal the heart. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, but the feet also walk. So you can look at, and this isn't meant to discourage, it's meant to encourage, where we can say, oh, I've been not doing good in that area or this area, and here's where I need to start giving back to God, and God will bless that.

So just be careful in this area. On one hand, when we say, give God our whole heart, all of our heart, many people get discouraged because, well, I can never, I mean, who can really do that? It's not about perfection, it's about giving Him. When God says to do something, that means we can do it.

So many of you who've died to self, you know exactly that this can be accomplished. Not perfectly, because it rises up again now in them, but many times we can, Lord, everything is yours, show me what you want me to do, and we respond accordingly. So be encouraged in that area, but also think about this.

When we say we are giving God all of our heart, are we really? Or all of our mind, or all of our soul? Now let me break a few of these points down. You shall love the Lord God. You shall love.

This is a command, and this is very interesting. This means that we have a choice. I will tell you one of the biggest lies that has ever, ever been perpetrated by the enemy is this lie I'm about to tell you.

And you can write it down, you can share it with others, even though you already know it. Love is a feeling. It's not a feeling.

Because when He tells me to love my enemy, I will never feel like it. Ever. Love is a choice.

That's why when people say, if a loving God can, how can a loving God allow those shootings to happen? Because He's not a puppet master. Love is the highest standard we can measure anything by. It demonstrates value and worth.

God has given us the ability to love, and He allows that free will to take course. If He just controlled or removed the gun or took this away, that's controlling actions. That's not allowing this true love and free will to flow.

But love is a choice, and this makes people mad. This is not either. Yes, because you have to choose to love your spouse you don't love anymore.

I can't do that. It's biblical. Yes, you can.

Yes, trust me, I've been there. Not with my current wife, but back in 1998. When I went through a lot, and divorce, and she left, and I've opened up about all that.

And every time I open up about that, I get emails saying I need to repent, and I need to go back to her, and all these things. But let's just say it was biblical grounds for divorce in every single area of Scripture. From adultery, to abandonment, to all these things.

And I had to go and forgive the person, the man, or the few men that she left me for and had affairs with them. Not personally, but in my mind. And I hate it.

Have you ever felt hate and rage? But I had as God was working in my heart. He used that whole time to turn the prodigal son back home. So I thank God for that time, even though it was a difficult time, if that makes sense.

And He used it. But it took months and months of finally saying, Lord, okay, I forgive. And it was a choice.

And I also get to the choice to where, and Morgan knows this, I told her about it. I went three years, and I still contended for my marriage. I prayed, and I waited, and I prayed, and I waited.

For three years after, I still waited. And I waited, and prayed, and the Lord changed it. And I had to go and make love a choice again.

It was really not a feeling because I sure didn't feel it. But as I made that choice, God began to show me and work in my heart. And I felt through counsel, through His word, through confirmation, through the Spirit, through my own peace, that I was set, I was free.

Like Paul said, you're not under bondage in such cases. If somebody leaves, if they depart, if there's ongoing adultery. And that's when I met Morgan.

And I told her, listen, I've got to email my ex-wife and talk to her in a few years and make sure that there's nothing there. I'm released. And it was beautiful.

It was perfect confirmation. She was already living with some guy, and they're getting married. And I was able to move on.

But people, they think that you can't get divorced ever unless your spouse dies. But when we look at the Scripture, we see when Jesus says that except for fornication, except for sexual immorality, there's no release. And then Paul talks to the church in Corinthians.

He says that you're to remain with your spouse even if they're an unbeliever, to sanctify the home. But if that unbeliever decides to leave, you're not under bondage in such cases. It doesn't mean you go find Plan B next month.

Years. I tell people to wait years. You're not going to find somebody next month.

So we're a big proponent of restoration. That's what we promote, restoration. We don't believe in divorce.

God hates divorce. But there's two areas, two areas that you could look at biblically and come up with a case biblically. So I said all that to say this.

None of that was in my notes, but I know it's difficult. And that's why it's called the biggest lie. People believe, they don't believe what I'm saying right now, that true love is a choice.

You will not feel it first. You have to make the choice. Lord, I know this is right.

I'm going to take you at your word, and I'm going to love that person regardless of how I feel. The reason everybody thinks love is a feeling is because Hollywood. Oh, I just love this person.

No, you're in lust with them. They look like a supermodel, or he looks like Hugh Jackman. That's why they love him.

Because, oh, I just feel, and I feel. No, no, no, that's called lust. That's called attraction.

Good things. God gave it for a reason. I mean, can you imagine not being attracted to the opposite sex? Just no attraction.

So God gives us these things. But that's not love. Love is actually a commitment and a choice to remain.

I think there's a vow out there somewhere that says, until death do us part. That's what love is. And people, you know, I don't like this.

Well, if you could just for one minute think of the love of God, and Paul says that, how can you not forgive when Christ Jesus has forgiven you? And that's a reality check. I mean, when I look at God forgiving me, so the only thing that allows me to not release that and give back the love that God gave me is pride. And it's evil, and it's wicked, and it's ugly.

So that's when he says, you shall love God with all your heart. It's a choice. People have a choice to make.

They have to love God with all their heart. And then he says, everything else hangs on this. Hangs on this.

Here's a good illustration. Are you well aware that the clothes in your closet are not hanging in your closet on their own? What are they hanging on? A coat hanger. Hangers.

There's something there. So everything hangs on the everything. Everything in the Bible hangs on these two scriptures.

Because if you're not loving God with all your heart and you're not loving others, I don't care how many scriptures you quote. I don't care if you have a PhD in theology. I don't care if you've read all of John MacArthur's books and Jack Hayford's.

Let's get both sides here. I don't care. That doesn't matter.

Paul said none of that matters. If you have not love, it profits you nothing. So everything hangs on this.

That's why it just cracks me up when people love to quote scriptures and they're modern day Pharisees and they don't love anybody. They're just mean and rude and like, yeah, but I love the truth. No, you're arrogant.

That's a big difference. How we treat others reveals how much we love God. Now that statement's going to hurt, but let it hurt.

How we treat others reveals how much we love God. Because somebody who's in love with God will love others. It's a natural byproduct of a relationship with God.

Now this is interesting too. When Jesus said your heart, your soul, your mind, I'm assuming, I didn't look at commentaries on this, except online when I was putting together through the logo software, I looked at a little thought there that he had that confirmed what I had. But these are not necessarily teachings on certain areas.

Here's a teaching on your heart. Here's a teaching on your mind. You cannot love God with all your heart.

Shane, I love him with all my heart, but my mind is a mess. I'm just lusting in my mind. I'm thinking all these things.

I'm drifting from God in my mind. Oh, but I'm okay with my heart. They go together.

It's completeness. You can't say, man, Shane, my mind is on fire for God. I love God with all my mind.

But my heart is desperately wicked, and it's making me do very bad things. Does he still love God then? So these aren't separate areas necessarily. It's completeness.

Because when you love God with all your heart, your mind comes. When you love God with all your mind, your heart follows, and your soul. And basically the language in the Hebrew, the heart is the center of things.

The soul means possessing life, and the mind is our thinking. It all goes together. There's a famous quote I remember from a few years ago that I want to share again.

It says this, all the water in the world, no matter how hard it tries, can never sink a ship unless it gets inside. All the evil influence of the world, no matter how hard it tries, can never sink a Christian soul unless it gets inside. That's why I often say the battle is for your mind.

Now here's how it gets inside. This is interesting. This is one of the things I wanted to share with you.

Thought it would be part two sermon, because this morning and yesterday I kept going back to Paul, talking about to the church in Corinth, saying that the Old Testament was actually given to us so that we might not lust after evil things like they lusted. So we're supposed to look at the Old Testament and not lust after evil things like they lusted. That's how we avoid allowing this to get in.

So in 1 Corinthians 10 5, Paul says this, Now these things became our example, the Old Testament, that we should not lust after evil things, and do not become idolaters as were some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Nor let us commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in one day 23,000 fell. Nor let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents, nor complaining as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer.

I mean this is strong language. This is wake up language. Wake up.

Paul, this is a very sober warning. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our benefit upon whom the ends of the age have come. So let's look at all three of these real quick.

Idolatry. The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. This is not kids go play in the backyard.

Because that's good play. There's nothing wrong with that. I like when my kids get up and go play.

This is a party lifestyle. This is eating, drinking, and doing. The Bible says debauchery.

It's just a lifestyle. It's filthy. It's just going places we shouldn't go, doing things we shouldn't do.

It's idolatry because we're putting that God, the God of the world, above the one true and living God. And our life is reflecting it. So that idolatry will have a price.

And then also he mentioned sexual immorality. We've taught on that numerous times. This is basically joining themselves to the ungodly.

That's the problem. That's the issue with pornography, with sexual immorality, where men mainly and women have to fight this with all they've got. Because it's the enemy coming in and trying to join, having us join ourselves with something that's ungodly.

And it's a sin against the body, and it affects everything. Here's how deadly it is. I'm going in the next few weeks to visit somebody who used to go here, in jail for the next 10 years.

Where did it start? Sexual immorality. Compromise. Then maybe I can start drinking again.

And then let's get some crystal meth. Let's start shooting up heroin. And now because I'm addicted and I need to feed this desire, I stole thousands of dollars and got caught 10 years.

Maybe out seven for good behavior. But see, we don't see that part, do we? We don't see that part. Or the family that's falling apart, the daughter who wants to kill herself, that started with her dad's affair, that broke down the family.

I mean, folks, I could stay here until the service is over and share example after example after example of why this is so important. Why do you think I have this porn protection on my phone, on all my computers, accountability? Because you've got to be transparent. You've got to be honest.

Check anything, whatever you want. Here's the report. You've got to have it because the enemy doesn't want that foothold.

People say, oh, Shane, you're so spiritual. I say, no, I'm not. I'm not.

I need God. I need His presence. I need that accountability.

I need to be open and transparent because sin loves to grow in darkness. That's how the enemy gets us in this area. He comes in suddenly.

Oh, nobody will know. You know what it reminds me of? You can relate, I hope. But I'm walking through the mall a while back, kind of in a hurry, and this guy goes, oh, come here, come here, come here.

Five minutes. Five minutes. Massage.

On this chair they have out front. That's how he said it. I don't know if it's a reflexology, chiropractic adjustment, I don't know what, massage kind of, you know, that you sit on this chair in there.

He goes, just five minutes. Five minutes. I go, no, I'm busy.

Five minutes. Okay. So I sit down, and an hour later I finally got, because, you know, he's like, no, keep going, 20 minutes.

Okay, let's go an hour. What's it cost you? Because once that, once he, I mean, if you ever felt that, say, oh, I could just go to sleep. Where has this been all of my life? You know, my neck and shoulders and everything, the tensions is gone, you just feel like a rag doll.

So five minutes, see, that's the kicker. He knew, as soon as I sat down, as soon as this started happening, you know, how much is it? How much is it? But if I would have just kept walking, it would have never happened. But that's how he worked.

Just five minutes. You know, and that's, the temptation draws us in. And then once you get there, that's when the pain hits, and that's where the disappointment hits.

But on the other hand, I want to encourage you, many people fall in these areas. The problem is they don't get back up and get back on track with God. Now, I'm not encouraging sin, I'm encouraging repentance, but I'm also letting people know, don't be stuck in that.

This person I talked about that I'm going to visit, I tried to talk with him for two years before this happened. I met with another pastor with him, tried to talk to him, tried, this is not good. Well, the Old Testament says that, you know, as long as we love each other and we come together, we really don't need a ceremony.

Really? Well, what happens, you start to compromise what the Word of God says. And I said, well, have you ever read the word fornication? That's what this is. No, brother, you just don't know, we love each other.

Well, slippery slope. Because once you compromise there and you make excuses for that compromise, what's the next step? And the next step, and the next step. So sexual morality is huge.

Now, number three is we normally wouldn't think of this, but this is really big, and I've been convicted in my life on this area of complaining. Don't nod your head, just look at this. He said thousands fell and were destroyed by serpents.

How is that possible? Remember when they died in the wilderness, Moses made a bronze serpent, whoever looks at the serpent is saved. But do you know the interesting, do you know what happened right before that? Let me read it to you. Numbers 21, the people grew impatient on the way.

The people grew impatient on the way. They spoke against God and against Moses and said, why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There's no bread, there's no water, and we detest this miserable food. He just delivered.

He just delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, opened the Red Sea, parted it, everything. He's bringing food out of heaven. There's water, there's everything, but they're complaining, and they're bickering, and they're complaining, and they're bickering.

And the more I read this, the more I realized that God does not like complaining, because we really have no reason to complain, because who are we complaining against? If you look at most complaining, it's rooted in not getting our way. When I'm getting my way, I'm not complaining. So we're not trusting God.

We're complaining, and it's an affront to God. Look, I mean, we don't, there's no water here, there's no bread. We'd hate this miserable food you gave us.

Food that angels eat, and it just appears, and loves, and tastes wonderful? I mean, they're complaining. So I would just encourage you folks, we've got to get away from complaining. We've got to get away from complaining in the church.

Of all people, we should be those who complain the least amount of the time when we're here. So let's take the hunger test. Remember, I've said this many times before, hunger is a sign of what? Health.

If a person is healthy, they're hungry. Many times a person dying is not hungry. Why is that? Because they're not healthy.

Hunger is a sign of health. So if you're hungry for the things of God, that means you're spiritually healthy. And I will submit to you that the majority of people in churches across this nation are not hungry for spiritual things.

They want to be entertained by a wonderful band with smoke and lights, and they want a quick sermon, 30 minutes, get me pumped up, motivate me, but don't, like he just said, $3 worth of God, please. Not enough to transform me. I don't want transformation, I want ecstasy.

I want the warmth of the womb, I don't want a new birth, I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I just want three pounds of God, please. So if a person's not spiritually hungry for God, and I run into Christians all the time, God is nowhere in their conversation.

They look just like the world, and it hurts, it breaks my heart. Where's the difference there? We should be hungry for God. We should be hungry for his word and truth.

So here's the first test on the heart. Jesus said, love him with all your heart. Are you hungry for humility? Or do you do this to it? I don't need that.

We have to be hungry for humility because the heart is either hard or it is soft. There's your options, your heart is either hard, I don't want the things of God, or it's soft, it's pliable, it's open to what God is saying. A hard heart or a soft heart.

And this would be a good time to remind you of the fact that spiritual pride is deadly. Spiritual pride, because the Bible says that the pride of your heart has deceived you. Spiritual pride is deadly because it's hard to spot.

They come to church, they sit right there, they have their Bible, they know scripture, but they're arrogant. They're spiritual pride. Remember the story of Muhammad Ali I mentioned a few months ago? For those who weren't here, I'm going to say it again, because this is perfect.

It was a time, I think, when he was taking a flight, Muhammad Ali was on an airplane, and the stewardess told him to fasten a seatbelt. And he said, Superman don't need no seatbelt. And then she looked at him and said, Superman don't need no airplane.

Arrogance, right? I don't need no seatbelt. You're on an airplane. What do you mean Superman? If you're Superman, you would fly.

Spiritual pride blinds. Pride is so deadly. You can see a spouse sit there, and they're destroying their marriage, and you point it out to them, and they'll blame everybody.

Or a young adult ruining their life, they'll blame everybody but themselves. Or those in church, they're causing division. Nobody can get along with them.

Nobody wants to be around them. They're just miserable. They just drunk a lot of prune juice, and they're a modern-day Pharisee.

And you can tell them that, but spiritual pride says, Nope, not me. Nope, not me. It's all those people.

I'm the remnant. I'm the one remnant. And you're the hundred deceived people.

That's spiritual pride, and God detests it. Because the pride of your heart has deceived you. It will deceive us.

And people say, Shane, I'm just passionate. No, you're arrogant. I'm contending for the truth.

No, you're fostering division. I'm very serious about my faith. No, you're very prideful.

But they'll hide under those excuses. Because excuses allow us to remove blame shift. Okay, here it's coming at me.

I'm removing it. Well, you're this. No, I'm just passionate.

Well, you're just this. No, I just love my religion. And we just shift it away.

And I read this on Facebook. I couldn't find the author, but I love it. Yeah, we did go on Facebook for a minute, right? He said this, Without brokenness, or she, whoever it is, Without brokenness, we are all a danger to God's people.

I'm almost like getting a little plaque on that one. Without brokenness and humility, we are a danger to God's people. Without brokenness and humility, I'm a danger to you.

I will hurt you. And vice versa. Without brokenness and humility, you will hurt other people.

You're a danger to them. I'm a danger to them without this area. And without humility, I hate to burst your bubble with that, but without humility, you cannot worship God.

Without humility, you cannot worship God. Jesus said, Your words draw nigh unto me. What you're saying, it draws close to me, but your heart is far from me.

And then at the end he says, And in vain you worship me. In vain. You just waste it.

Can you imagine wasting years of worship? In vain you worship me because your heart's not right. So I'm asking you again the question, How much of God do you want? Pride must die in you or nothing of heaven can live in you. Andrew Murray said that.

Pride must die in you or nothing of heaven can live in you. It's interesting, somebody might come up and say, Shane, when are you going to stop talking about humility? Well, when we all humble ourselves. When this church is known as the most humble church in the valley, I will stop.

But it begins with me, right? It begins with all of us making that effort. Isaiah 55, 6 and 7, Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way and the righteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. See, humility returns to the Lord.

Everything I'm talking about, desperate for more of God, hungry for more of God, how much of God do you want? Humility turns back to God. Here's how it looks right now. Humility turns back to God.

People in this service, later today, tomorrow morning, the ones will be saying in their heart, Amen. God, I need to do that. I need to recommit that tonight during worship.

I'm recommitting that to you. The people who are not humble, are not turning to God, are sitting there like this in their heart. Well, that's your opinion, Shane.

Well, no, it's God's opinion. Now you can understand the famous scripture in Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean, not in your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your path.

Now, this scripture might help a lot of people tonight because trust in the Lord with all your heart means that my actions are going to resemble God's wisdom. So you can't trust in the Lord with all your heart if you're not obeying his truth. That's trusting in God.

You can't say, Lord, I trust you with all of my heart, but you don't obey the truth. They go together. And lean, not on your own understanding.

So it's this picture here, if you do a word study, of you can lean something up against the podium, you lean it. So you can either lean, which means I'm going in this direction of God's truth and his wisdom, or I'm leaning on my own understanding and on my own wisdom that is void of God's truth. It's that famous sentence I talk about often, I know what God's word says, but.

I know what God, we actually had, this is a good time to remind you of this story too, I told a few years ago. We actually had, when we first started the church, a woman in her twenties, leaving her husband and her two small kids. She emailed, my wife's trying to, oh my goodness, this is devastating.

My wife's emailing her, and the last email she sent me, I'll never forget, I hope I remember exactly, but she said something like this, I know what the Bible says, but God just wants me to be happy. Right, so one of those. Wait, help me here.

That's deception. That's exactly what I'm talking about. I know what the Bible says, but I'm leaning on my own understanding.

God just wants me to be happy. No he doesn't. He wants you to obey his truth, and then from that will come true happiness and joy.

Of course God wants you to be happy, but not at the expense of disobeying truth. I personally believe that the true happiness and joy and peace are a byproduct of obeying God's truth. And then when we drift from that, that's where despair and misery come in.

So many people, they're in despair and misery, give me the Xanax, instead of give me Ezekiel. That's our answer. Oh, a lot of people are laughing.

I might have struck a chord on that one. But again, not minimizing that, I'm just saying that we have to be careful in this area. Because I know what the Bible says, but God just wants me to be happy is a lie from the pit of hell.

And guess what now? She is not happy. There's consequences for that. So trust in the Lord with all your heart.

If you guys are trying to discern God's will, think about that scripture tonight. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. That means, Lord, I don't know what's going to happen.

I don't have the answers. I can't even take the next step without you. But I'm trusting in you.

I'm not leaning on my own understanding. I want to tell them off on email. I want to force their hand.

I want to take them to court. I want to do this. But I'm trusting in you with all my heart.

I'm not leaning on my own understanding. In everything I do, I'm going to acknowledge you. Is this the way you want me to go? Is this the path? Is this of you, Lord? Give me peace.

Give me confirmation. I'm acknowledging you in everything I do, trusting that you will guide my steps and my path. I mean, that really could be God's will boiled down to one verse.

Because trust, what's the old hymn? Trust and obey. Well, that's very, that's theologically accurate. Can you imagine trusting God but you don't obey him? That's not trust.

That's saying, I trust you because I want to go to heaven. I want to get out of jail, held free card. I'm just saying this thing, but I'm living differently.

That's not trust. When you trust someone, you allow them to guide. And it's interesting too, if you do a study on the word believe, what Jesus said, he who believes in me, that word believe means to put complete trust into.

I mean, we come and sit on a chair knowing that all four legs will hold up. You trust the chair. One of the things I still don't understand is how we can trust airplanes.

What is it? Well, 52 tons flying through the air at 600 miles an hour. People have no, no problem trusting that. When I still, I'm like, how is that even possible? But we don't trust God who puts the laws of gravitational pull and aerodynamics in motion for that to happen.

It's just the trust is so important because really what trust is, a lot of times is trusting God in the midst of the difficulties. Because when things are going good, that's not difficult. I mean, when things are going good, I can trust God, absolutely.

But then when this happens and this happens and that happens, I don't trust you anymore. Now I've got to take over. So let me just encourage you to trust the Lord with all your heart.

Number two, mind. Are you hungry for healthy spiritual food? And you've heard me speak on this topic quite a bit, but I'm gonna take a little bit different angle. Are you hungry for spiritual food? Healthy spiritual food, I should say.

Because if a person's not hungry for things that honor God, if they're not hungry for putting into their mind things that are holy and will keep me on fire for God, they're not hungry for God. Actually, I wasn't sure if I was gonna share this, but I will without mentioning names and different things. But out of the blue, for some reason, and I shared it with my wife.

It was kind of disheartening this week. I went on and I Facebooked. I think I'm on there more than you think, huh? But this person who I know planted a church in this valley, my age, I think, like younger.

And there's quite a few of those people in this valley, so don't just immediately assume it's, because I know about seven or eight people have planted small churches in the valley. And I went on just, man, I haven't heard, I don't know what's going on. And the post was, just enjoyed a great evening watching The Hateful Eight with my daughter.

I thought, well, let me, so I went to whatever the ratings are, and it says rated R for strong, bloody violence, a scene of violent sexual content, language, and graphic nudity. And this pastor took his teenage daughter, and I said, Lord, what's wrong with me? What is wrong? No wonder the church is dying. No wonder pastors are powerless.

No wonder the world scoffs at us. My heart broke. How is that even possible? Can somebody answer that question after the sermon? How is that even possible? I enjoyed a night with my teenage daughter watching this movie.

That tells me the Spirit of God is not in your sermon preparation. He's definitely not in your preaching. You've drifted so far from God in carnality that you know nothing about the Spirit and the power of God, because that should convict you.

You should see what the trailer, or just that and go, no, I have no desire to go there. So where does that come from? It goes from a continual habitual pattern of walking away from God. Now if anybody emails me and says, well, Roman says that all things are lawful, I want to say, well, you know what I want to say.

No, that's heresy. That's blasphemy. How in the right mind can anybody go take their, how could a Christian go and enjoy this? Now somebody sees it and they're like, oh, I really shouldn't.

All right, I have no problem with that. I mean, I do, but to go and actually enjoy it and bring a teenage daughter that the mind is being formed and the Father not leading, it broke my heart. It literally broke my heart.

Without the heartbeat of holiness, the body of Christ will resemble a corpse. Let me tell that to you in your own personal life. Without holiness, your spiritual life will resemble a corpse.

You'll be dead spiritually, dead to the things of God. That's what holiness, it sets me apart. That's really what holiness is.

It sets me apart, come out from among them, be separate. It separates me, so now my heart can be focused towards God. So people think holy Christians have to, no, I want to.

I want to pull back from the world so I can devote everything to God. Not perfectly, but I want to remove the filth because the mind is the battlefield. The mind, and I hope I had time to talk about this, but I might not.

But mind over matter, have you ever heard that before? That's actually biblical. What I mean by that is this, the mind, this is interesting, no matter, I mean, you read a person like Sigmund Freud, I forget his first name, the Freud, right, the psychologist. He'll say, well, your brain is already pre-programmed like a computer, you really can't do much with it.

The Bible says the mind can be renewed, that the mind, as a person thinks so is he, and the mind can actually reestablish and rewire your brain. You're not, people say, the big lie is this, you don't control your actions as much as you think you do. Yes, you do.

You are not a product of your environment. You may be influenced by it, but it doesn't need to control you. The mind, how you're thinking, and it's so, this is probably one of the most interesting things that God has ever designed, the mind, the cognitive behavioral patterns, the thinking of how we think certain ways and how we think can influence us.

How we think can lead us to hell. He who believes on me starts here. And we think the brain sometimes, the brain, the gray matter is just full of sending signals to the body to do what the mind is comprehending.

So if a brain has been damaged, the mind can renew it. The mind, yeah, the mind, how you think. I was reading another book, it's by a Christian author who studies this, and she said that the brain is neuroplastic, meaning it can transform, it can renew.

And I immediately thought of Lamentations 3, the Lord's mercies are renewed every morning. And Romans 12, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This is the warfare is in the mind, the battle is in the mind, everything is in the mind.

Where you put your thoughts on, dictate everything. If we understood just how powerful and life-changing our thoughts were, you would never think another destructive thought again. If you realize just how strong our thoughts are, our thoughts are so strong that they can control everything.

And if we realize that, that they actually renew the mind or you can destroy the mind. And I believe a lot of physical ailment and physical issues is because of the thoughts that we put into our mind. Toxic thoughts, unforgiveness, I think I read somewhere on that too.

Let all bitterness, anger, clamor, evil speaking be put far away from you. Why? Because God just wants you to not have fun? No, because it affects our spiritual life in a deep and meaningful way. Ephesians, that's what I just read for.

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, harsh words be put away from you and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. And I cannot say this strongly or empathetic, or strong, I cannot, I'm sorry. I've got tons of things on my mind right now.

I cannot say this strongly enough that those people who say I don't care about that do not want a relationship with God bad enough. I'm tired of excuses. Yes, it hurts.

Yes, it's difficult. Yes, it doesn't feel good. But you tell the flesh what to do.

You don't let it keep telling you what to do. All those negative thoughts that are swirling around in your mind, that's your responsibility. And that's my responsibility.

That's our fault. We take, another scripture, take your thoughts, captive to the obedience of Christ. And renew your thinking.

And then the final area here. Well, let me say this. Change your mind or it will damage your relationship with God and others and your health.

You've got to change. God's given us a, I mean, that's how we communicate with God, with our mind. And then the third point, are you hungry for heaven? Soul.

Love God with all your soul. Are you hungry for heaven? Why don't many truly seek God? Let's be honest. Why don't many truly seek God? Because they don't want to.

They don't want to. And that's what I hear often. I just don't feel like seeking him.

Well, let me encourage you really quick. I know getting loud and upset is not going to encourage you, but let me encourage you with this. We must first discipline.

Let me put you. You must first discipline yourself before the desire comes. See, I don't want to read the Bible tomorrow.

I'm just telling you right now. The flesh doesn't. But once I discipline myself and do it, then the desire follows.

We must first empty ourselves in order to be filled with God. We must first obey before we receive the blessing. We must first break before there is restoration.

We must first pray before there is transformation. Now this is interesting on this, we must first break before there is restoration. In every single marriage counseling appointment I've ever seen that's been restored, brokenness has to occur first.

And then the restoration. It doesn't happen the other way around. I don't want to do that.

Yeah, really, I know. But you have to break first, and then there's restoration. We must praise Him before there's peace, and we must first seek Him in order that we truly find Him.

So let me end with Isaiah 55 again. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake His way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. So as the worship team comes back up, I just want to ask you that question.

Is it your thought life? Whatever this says here, wicked ways, thought life, whatever it is, or just maintaining. Some people just need to be reignited with God's passion again. Whatever it is, you can do it during worship.

As long as you fix your thoughts on worship. You watch. The real battle for worship is not in the music.

It's not in the old hymns. It's not in the classics. It's not whether the lights are dimmed or the lights are on.

The battle's in your mind. You're going to start thinking about how hungry you are, how annoying this sermon was, how upset you are, how many excuses. Whatever it is, let your mind get focused on the worship and on the Word of God.

And that's what will renew you.