If You Can Keep It

The title this morning, this is going to be an interesting topic because I have to apologize, I promised you the Book of Acts, but as soon as I said it the next day, I knew what I had to do. And we are celebrating 250 years in our nation. So, I won't be here for that 4th of July, and I want to give a 4th of July message, so this is actually technically the Sunday before 4th of July.

And it's okay to go topical because this is important. This is not about glorifying a nation. What it's about is looking at the hand of God, and what God has done, and being thankful.

And if I could get this message out to young adults, I would jump at the opportunity every couple years to have the right information because they are going to universities, and they are learning from revisionists, who like to rewrite American history. And so, why is this so important? Let me tell you why. They're telling kids in the next generation that America is evil and bad, and the whole foundation needs to come down, which is not true.

Now, was there slavery? How did they treat the Native Americans? If you read history, you realize Christians were fixing those problems. Christian leaders were fixing those problems. So, they, oh, let's just throw America under the bus, and it's bad, because they want to rewrite American history.

And so, it's not about draping the cross with a flag. It's about elevating the cross and thanking God for the flag. Big, big difference there.

And so, this information I'm about to give to you has been on my heart for years. I don't know why, but when I fully surrendered to the Lord, and He gave me a couple different desires. One was for our nation and revival, in case you didn't know that, right? And that's our only hope.

So, I read lots of books on revivals. Many of you know David Barton, Wall Builders. They endorsed one of my books.

Actually, I think we're going to be with one of their groups in Texas in Fourth of July weekend. I don't remember what it's called. Patriot Academy? Yeah.

So, I just have a passion for that, because having the right information, and it's okay to be a proud American in the right way. Proud of what God has done. They were proud of Israel in the Old Testament.

Look at what God has done. Now, American pride, that's where we get in trouble. Pride.

Arrogance. But to be proud for what God has done. You see the switch? Everything.

We love immigration done the right way. We love legislation that honors God's Word done the right way. We love all kinds of nationalities.

But we also know what God has done, and it's so important. This information, you're not going to hear a lot, and we need to get it out there. As you've been hearing, one of the greatest threats is, and it's a hard threat, because we're supposed to love all people.

I don't know if you follow what's going on in New York with the elected officials, the Communist Democrat Party and Islam. It's going in not a good direction. That's the plan.

But you don't fight this battle with guns and bullets from the church. We fight it on our knees, asking God for revival, praying and fasting. And that's our only hope is for Him to do that.

So on one hand, yes. But here's where it gets tricky. The Titanic's been hit, so it's hard to pull it out from underneath the Atlantic.

I hope it's Atlantic, was it? Okay, yeah, New York. And that's, oh, we need to fix this in America. Well, you know, it's hard.

For example, as a Christian, loving all nationalities, all religions, you cannot coexist Islam with Christianity. You can't. So when you talk about legislation, you're not open-minded, you're bigoted.

No, you can't. They don't coexist. You can coexist as residents, as neighbors.

But when it comes to legislation, and that's why we can say, we love you, but this is a country built on God's Word, and you cannot bring in things that are destructive to that, are opposed to that. Yes, I realize this topic is putting me on the hit list, but I was on that list 26 years ago, so I have no plan on coming off that list. So the title, If You Can Keep It, If You Can Keep It.

How many of you know where this title comes from? I'm sure there's a few. Well, very interesting. In 1787, I probably should give you some background here.

1776 is where, and again, this is going to be very important information, guys. I'm not going to bore you with American history. I didn't like American history until I became a follower of Christ, and then I love it because there's so much God in it.

What brought slavery to an end? Christians. How many of you have heard of founding fathers who abhorred the practice? Oh, you won't hear about them. And all of this is in my book, One Nation Above God.

Page after page after page after page of founding fathers who abhorred the practice. Everything I'm going to talk to you about is in this, and it's free. So get this information out to people.

It's free on our church website. It's free out front. We're not here to make money.

We're here to get the information out there. So back to what I was saying. 1776, America declared independence from Great Britain, and that was a process.

I'm currently watching the documentary, not documentary, but the show on HBO. It's actually not bad. John Adams.

Jack Hibbs recommended it. And I'm getting a lot of background information on him and Thomas Jefferson in Washington. It's not really biblical in there, but there's a lot of great information on what went down.

So 1776, they declare independence of Great Britain. We should have lost. God's sovereignty.

A whole bunch of stories there. But then they fought over what does this nation look like? I mean, the Continental Congress, they were yelling and this, and it was just like they came from a monarchy and the separation of power. And so finally, they came up with the Constitution at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

And so somebody asked Benjamin Franklin, well, what do we have? He said, you have a republic, if you can keep it. A republic is where we put God-fearing men in office, God-fearing men in office to represent the people. So by the way, we're not a pure democracy.

You don't take 300 million people and vote and whatever. It's a republic. It's a republic democracy, actually, based on the definition of those.

But here's where it's going to get interesting. We have been given a great gift to Stuart. All the prophetic voices, all the prophetic voices in the Old Testament were actually statesmen.

They were reformers. They were preachers. They were, for all intents and purposes, they talked about political issues.

They were next to the king. They talked about the laws. And so you can't separate God's Word from the legal system or the political system.

Now, does it get convoluted? Yes. Do people saying they're Christians and you really question what they're doing? Absolutely. But that doesn't remove the truth that God's Word was the foundation of this nation.

And so we should be saying, thank you, Lord. How can we steward this incredible gift that you have given us? I don't know if you follow legislation in Australia or what just passed in Canada. I mean, it's getting where you can't talk about things that upset the crybabies.

Don't talk about sin. Don't challenge my lifestyle. We're going to have to enact laws to shut you up.

Don't tell people their lifestyle is wrong. But what a bunch of babies. I mean, I'm told I'm wrong all the time.

What's the difference? Because they know they're wrong based on the truth and conviction. And here's the thing. Legislation matters.

Leadership matters. Guys, hello. Hello.

So all you people say, oh, the church shouldn't be involved in politics and shouldn't do, shouldn't say anything. You might want to check yourself because the only reason we're not in North Korea right now is because of leadership. That's the only reason.

You want some Bible on that? I'll give you some Bible on that. Every time Israel fell and was judged by God was because of their leaders. And the leaders influenced the people to worship Baal.

Leadership matters. Now, are we Israel now? No, of course not. America is not Israel.

And does God judge nations differently? I'm not sure exactly how it works. I just know there's principles in the Word of God that we better adhere to. We better adhere to them.

They are so important. I mean, even look at how, look at what God has even, have you been seeing all the things that even the World Cup visitors have been saying about America? It's amazing. We still have a gift from God.

If you can keep it, we still, we haven't, we haven't fallen off that precipice yet. Yes, there's legislation that doesn't honor God. I don't think he's pleased with the abortion legislation.

And I've, I've called out people say, oh, you don't call out Trump. I've called out that administration a lot of times on their position on abortion and the way they handle some of the immigration and those stupid MMA fight at the White House. I, I call them out on that.

And you know what? Let me address it since I get pushed back. You think that God is pleased with guys beating the crap out of themselves and all the girls around with the little things and all these guys, you know, you think, you think that pleases the heart of God? Honestly, a place of respect and moral authority in our nation. Oh, it's cool.

It's cool. Yeah. It's cool to, to, to, to the world.

It shouldn't be cool to a Christian. I got Christians like upset at me for saying that we're really want to put up a tent, have a weekend of prayer and fasting. Like they used to do, like they used to do 1400 proclamations of prayer and fasting in the first 50 or 60 years of our country from the government.

So yeah, it might be cool and you want, okay, I got it. But, but I should be able to come against it and say, that's tacky. That's tacky.

Any spirit filled believer full of the spirit of God is going to say, that's a little tacky. That's not, we could do better. How's that? And if that upsets you, take it to the Lord.

I have no problem saying what I just said. It's tacky. It's not, it's not needed.

Elevating somebody like Dana White, who's a godless man and says godless things and hates God right now. Hopefully pray for him. I pray for these people.

I love these people, but I will not be silent. The people who founded our nation gave all, they gave all. And we have a duty and responsibility to steward what they gave us.

Do we not? They, I mean, if even that documentary, John Adams was home, gone from home like a decade. He didn't even see his kids grow. He was the ambassador to, I believe it was France and the French on our side.

And then he had to go to Denmark and then he had to go meet the King of England and negotiate those things. And then the people who gave their lives actually, actually gave their lives. When they signed that declaration of independence, they signed their death sentence.

That's what the King said. He came back and said, by the sentence of death and hanging for treason. Every single one of them.

What did they die for? Freedom. Freedom to worship God. Freedom to believe in God and not be bound by a king.

And so I want to read this. In July 1776, during what many have called one of the greatest historical events of all time, the Constitutional Congress of the United States of America officially declared independence and its reputation as a great country was born. The founders viewed the revolution as a defensive conflict rather than an offensive war.

After peaceful and legal redress had been exhausted, they moved towards independence from the king and dependence on God. So that's how everything came about. That's what the big deal is at 250 years of celebration.

And it was a bunch of farmers with pitchforks rebelling. It was actually called, if I can remember this, the law of the lower magistrates. Meaning these people were in positions of political influence.

We had elected officials in America and they were the ones who declared independence. And they sought unity. They sought unity time and time again.

So let me put up some quotes for you. This is from the House and Senate Judiciary Committee. Are you ready? Oh my goodness.

In this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity. This was the religion of the founders of the Republic and they expect it to remain the religion of their descendants. Tell that to New York.

In those days, politics were preached in the pulpits and men were led to action on side of freedom by faithful pastors. So what happened? Two main problems. Where are we at? Revisionism and apathy.

You ask most kids and they, oh America's bad. America's bad. Capitalism is bad.

So here's what you need to do with your kids next time. I give them $20, but give them five and give their other siblings the other fives. Dad, that's not fair.

That's socialism. Sorry buddy. That's the way it works.

The hard workers are penalized and the lazy are rewarded. Now that's, let me put a disclaimer. I believe there are some groups, some people that need help, need assistance.

Praise God for that. But it's been abused big time, big time. I love helping those who need it.

I'm glad the government has programs to help those who need it. Praise God. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying.

But for the most part, most people are upset. How many people are they driving? It's ridiculous. They're driving out so many people from California that should be here because they help the economy grow.

It's called the billionaire tax. Have you heard of that? I don't know who thought that was a great idea. Like billionaires are going to pay $18 million a year in tax.

I'll just move to Tennessee. I'll just move to Florida. I'll just move to Texas.

I'll just move to Idaho. I can keep going. And so they're out of here.

That's what has destroyed California is politics. So you don't want to talk about the very thing that is destroying our state, let alone our country. It's ridiculous.

But you're fine when I talk about things on the political side that you agree with. You love when I'm unpolitical about things you agree with. I'm not talking about you guys in jail.

I'm talking about the live stream or when this goes out on radio. Oh my goodness. You ready for this one? Abraham Lincoln.

We have forgotten God and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Guys, we have been given a gift. Shouldn't we be so thankful? Shouldn't we be the most thankful people on planet Earth? I'll never forget when we have visitors from Africa.

It's like you want some ice in your water. They're like, ice? Where do you get ice from? Air conditioning. I've never felt what is this wind coming in? Guys, we are so blessed.

We should be thankful. Yes, even in California. It's okay to be thankful in California.

Go move to the Middle East for a season. There should be a spirit of thankfulness because we've forgotten God. And there's a sense of entitlement has risen up even in adults.

Even in adults. I don't like high taxes. I'm with you.

But do you know you get taxed more than most people in the world make a year? Did you get that? Oh, I'm stepping on toes and I don't care. I'm a toe stepper today. Because we have to get that spirit of thankfulness back.

It hurts us. It hurts the church. Well, Vice President, remember, remember your country was founded by the stern old Puritans whose first act on touching the soil of the new world was to offer unbended knee thanksgiving to Almighty God.

Daniel Webster, there is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter from the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government and from their carelessness and negligence. Hello.

Here we are, folks. These guys are prophetic. It's all about alignment.

Okay, Shane, so what do we do? It's all about alignment, alignment. The Lord will fight for you. The battle is not yours, but God's.

I'm all for voting. I'm all for petition. I'm all.

But at the end of the day, the church has got to be the church. Guys, I try so hard not to not to be too mean and convicting, but it's sad when you have, hey, let's have a prayer meeting for our nation and nobody shows up. Well, what do you think, what do you think, what do you really think is going to fix this? Voting? Trump's going to fix it? He might get us in more trouble.

What's going to, oh, if we could just get the next governor of California, all hell is going to break loose and the democratic system is going to go after him like never before. He'll have his hands tied in a senate that won't vote for anything. Well, our only hope is to get back on our face before God Almighty and cry out and cry out for revival.

That's it. There's no other hope. There's no other hope.

The sign out front isn't just so it looks good. If my people, that's the remedy. That's the remedy.

If my people humble themselves and pray and seek my face. How many of you have ever read Newsweek magazine? Well, let's look at what they said in 1982. Historians are discovering that the Bible, even more than the constitution, is our founding document.

Not me, Newsweek. I don't think they'd say that today, but they got approved in 82. By the way, now the media is owned by mainly six major companies.

You know that? And what you're reading on the media, that's why people are fed all this garbage, all these bullet points. They control how we think. If a proposed article for the constitution that we live by was not supported by or rooted in the Bible, it was not even considered.

It was not even considered. In their early writings, many of the founding fathers quoted or referenced the Bible nearly four times more than any other source. Incredible, is it not? Back then, first introduced in 1766, you've heard me talk about this, William Blackstone's commentaries on the laws of England served as our legal reference, and it quoted scriptures.

It quoted scriptures in our legal system. Now it's unconstitutional for students to see the Ten Commandments, since they might read them, meditate upon them, respect or obey them. I don't remember the court case, but it's in my book, reference footnote, hundreds of footnotes.

Do you laugh or cry? They can't see the Ten Commandments, they might follow them. Oh my goodness. The chief justice of the Supreme Court, unto Him who is the author and giver of all good, I render sincere and humble thanks for His manifold and unmerited blessing, and especially for our redemption and salvation by His beloved Son.

Now, this is back when I wrote the book, 1995, a district judge in Texas decreed that any student saying the name of Jesus during school graduation ceremonies would be jailed. I reference the court case. Now granted, many of you know there's been some forward momentum on Bibles back in school, praise God, and things have loosened up a little bit, but I'm not too excited, because there are so many other things coming against us.

Noah Webster, Noah Webster, anybody have heard of him? Anybody ever use a Webster dictionary? Well, did you know that there used to be Bible verses in it? I've got the big version. It's got all the Bible verses, but now we've got to take those bad scriptures out, those darn Christians. In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children under a free government ought to be instructed.

But now, today, many students are criticized when they read the Bible in public, and in order to be politically correct, Noah Webster's scripture references have been withdrawn from all new editions. Does that make you sad? That makes me angry. The first and primary duty of government is to protect innocent human life.

Nobody has the freedom to choose to do what is morally wrong. Did you know abortion would not even enter the mind of the founding heir? They didn't have to have laws about that. Obviously.

But if all the names of aborted babies were placed on a monument, much like that of the Vietnam Memorial Wall, that monument could span over 35 miles long, and that was 20 years ago. Guys, we've got the blood of innocent children on our hands. We say nothing about controversial topics.

We can love people and still speak the truth in love. The reason that the rainbow flag is all over churches, nobody says anything, is because we don't want to upset. And I get it, we have to be tactful, understand, but you can't say, that's not right.

You will not shut me up. God will shut me up when He's ready, but you will not shut me up. We will speak the truth in love, and we will tell you that's not right.

If more people would say that? Because God honors when the truth is being spoken. God backs those truth speakers. He opened His doors no man can shut.

I don't even know how much of this I should go into with you guys. No, no, no. You don't have to clamp the mess.

But what Morgan will remember, I mean, when we first started, people were like, man, dude, I don't know. Man, dude, you're too... Calm down. Don't offend.

Just preach. Was Joel Steen back then too? Just be like that guy. And here I am, digging ditches, construction, and then God explodes the ministry all over.

Radio stations, 100,000 listeners a week, hearing what you're... Because He honors. Alabama, right? You guys listen to Alabama. Okay.

I mean, Arizona people. Why is that? Not some guy who doesn't have an education and messes up sometimes and lets my flesh come out in my sermons. I got it.

But He says, that man honors my truth. And I will get that message out. I will get that message out.

God does it. You just have to stand. Having done all, stand.

When the criticism comes, just stand. Just stand. When the people want the worst to happen to you, so you shut your mouth, you just stand.

When the critics come, you stand. You learn from it. You grow from it.

But you speak the truth. Actually telling people that their lifestyle is wrong means you love them. I want to help you.

I want to help you. This is wrong. It's a coward that says nothing.

It's a coward that says nothing. Now you need to use wisdom, correct? There's times at Thanksgiving dinner, well, I'll keep my mouth shut. We've got some liberal, are they nieces? Well, I shouldn't say that.

They might watch. We've got liberal family members too. And I know what to say, what not to say.

They know where I stand. They know where you stand. But at other times, you can say, that's not right.

That's not good. Push back. Because you're speaking the truth of love and there's power in words.

Do you realize how powerful words are? You read the word that's powerful, living, sharper than a double-edged sword. It pierces the soul. It discerns the heart.

God honors those who speak the truth in love. Just because somebody, well, I'm going to get in there. Let's put up another quote.

I love this. I love this law. I wish we could do it again.

The old deluder. It actually was called the Old Deluder Satan Act in 1647. It established the first biblically based public school in America.

Now we'll get to this one. This is, okay. Guys, do you understand Harvard University? Do you know how liberal Harvard is? Okay, don't tell me we haven't drifted very far.

This is the, when Harvard started by the Reverend John Harvard, by the way, when Harvard started, was it Reverend John Harvard? I might have missed that. I'm just going off memory. Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and his studies, which is to know God and Jesus Christ.

Harvard. You couldn't even go to Harvard unless you recognize these rules. And that says, and lay Christ at the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.

This is unbelievable. Look at how far, shouldn't that break our hearts? There should be a, oh God, bring back, bring back that sense of revival and awe and awakening. What would those at Harvard say today? They'd say, shut that guy up.

Why do people want to change? It's called revisionism. You can look it up. They rewrite history.

All the founders were evil, all the slavery, all the Native American, and there were some evil things, of course, but they forget to tell you all the other stuff. They forget to tell you about David Brainerd. I've got his journals who would minister to the Native Americans and lead them to the Lord.

Hallelujah. Or the founders that fought for the freedom to people, the Navajo or the different groups to have their own area. And they petitioned for that, but then evil men came in and overruled that.

And so you have to really look at the original intent of the founding fathers and of our nation. It was to build a life on God's Word. Oh, here's a funny one.

This one's thrown at me, so if anybody's thinking it. What about those guys, those founders who said slaves are only like one-eighth of a person or whatever that was. What I did, I read the House-Senate Committee notes and all that.

What they were doing is they were trying to give the states who agreed with slavery less power by doing that. So their motivation was to give them less political power so they could get rid of the practice. Oh, but you're not going to hear that.

You don't hear the true intent behind these things. And it drove me nuts because we're being given false information from people who are God-rejecting and are not God-fearing. And we have to get back to fearing God.

They feared God. The founders introduced approximately 1,400 official prayer proclamations prior to 1815. 1,400.

How about this? 24 of the 56. Are you guys ready? Got your seatbelt on? I think we have the next, put up the next slide. Oh no, okay, I guess.

Oh yeah, no, that's a good one too. Let's go that one. You are not progressing if you are digressing from the truth.

So all these people say we're progressing. I'm a progressive. No, you're not.

You're a digressive. You're leaving the truth. You're never progressing when you're leaving the truth.

Now, one of my favorite statistics, 24 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence received what today would be considered a seminary education. Half the signers of the Declaration of Independence, they wanted God's word so entrenched in society. Remember, that's what started.

1620, the pilgrims come over on the Mayflower, Cape Cod Bay. To what? To start, to the glory of God and to the advancement of the Christian faith. And from that began this incredible, what they called, experiment.

The Supreme Court in the early 1800s ruled that public schools should teach the Bible. No Webster went on to say that education is useless without the Bible. So you may wonder, where am I going with all of this? Glad you asked.

Think of what this will mean to our children and grandchildren. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? And I wish I had like a checklist, do this and do this, do this. The Titanic is sunk.

It's been hit. All I know is to trust God and to see Him like never before. But I do know in the darkest hour, there is often the greatest hope.

And the foundations must be maintained, the foundation of moral integrity and God's word and fearing God. This is a spiritual battle for the very soul of our nation. And it's our choice whether we stand or fall.

Again, I'm not being overly patriotic in what they call Christian nationalism, which is just a way they love to twist terms. You're a homophobe. No, I just speak the truth and love.

You're an Islamophobe. No, it's just you got a lot of terrorists killing people. That's just the truth.

You're a Christian, white, supremacist, nationalist. No, I just want to get back to God. That's all.

I love God. I love our country. You can call me what you want.

You're the liar. You're the deceiver, not me. Again, not you guys, the live stream audience.

I'm being truthful. I don't think there's anybody really here this morning that would disagree with most of this. And I'm going to do this to you again.

I know I'm a repetitive person, but I can't find new hope and new truth. There is hope though. There is hope.

And I'm going to explain this. I'm going to explain this. Praise God.

This is the only thing that keeps me going. 2 Chronicles 7.14 calls out from the past with resounding clarity to America today. Now, let me break down a straw man argument really quick.

A straw man argument is something somebody puts together that really holds no weight. They say this does not apply to America, Shane. And to some degree, they're true.

They're right. Yeah. You can't say, oh, this is just for America.

No, it's actually for Israel. If you want to get technical, it's when Solomon was King. And he prayed this incredible prayer.

And God told him, my people are going to wander, by the way. And when I bring pestilence, when I bring famine, when I bring drought to you, my people, when I bring these things, if my people humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way, then I will heal your land, Solomon. However, the context may not support America, but the principle does.

In other words, does this verse apply to us? Hello. Of course. If you think it doesn't, I've got some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you as well.

What Bible are you reading? Everything is fixed through humility and prayer and seeking God and repenting even a nation. Benjamin Franklin probably wasn't even a Christian. The guys couldn't agree.

And he said, hold on, hold on guys. Hold on. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground with his note without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We need to get back to humbling ourselves and seeking God like never before.

That's our only hope. So you negative Nelly's who say this verse doesn't work. I want to challenge you.

I want to challenge you to get off your high horse and get back to seeking the heart of God. Absolutely. This verse applies.

And by the way, humility, prayer, seek, repent. These are not separate things. This is all one package.

This is all. This is how you change America. Man, humble yourself in your home.

Get back and repent if necessary. Lead your family to the cross. Put on worship instead of the MMA at the White House.

I might, I want you a little in private. I don't know. Just trying to bring some humor in here because I know I'm going to get blasted for that one.

Humility, prayer, seek, repent. How are you guys doing on that area? I want to read just, I've got this in my book just, but I'm going to read just a portion of this from a former chief justice of the great state of Alabama. Guys, good timing today to be here.

I'm glad they're not here with us. Talking about those who gave their lives for our nation. I'm glad they're not here with us to see the mess we're in, how we've given up our righteousness for a life of indulgent sin.

For when abortion isn't murder and sodomy is deemed a right, then evil is now called good and darkness is now called light. But with man as his own master, we fail to count the cost. Our precious freedoms vanish and our liberty is lost.

Children are told they can't pray in school and they teach them evolution. When will they see that the fear of God is the only true solution? Our schools have become battlegrounds while all across the land, Christians shrug their shoulders, afraid to take a stand. And from the grave, their voices cry, the victory's already been won.

Just glorify the father as did his only son. And when your work on earth is done and you've traveled where we've trod, you'll leave the land we left to you, one nation under God. Guys, we have a responsibility.

I don't care if you hate America. I don't care. You have a responsibility to seek God and pray and fast and ask God to revive us.

I don't want to be said of us like in Judges, and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord. You know, too, why I think I get so passionate is other than Scotland, we were, of all nations in the world, we were the land of revival, of revivals. I have a whole list from during the Revolutionary War, the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, all the different times where God revived us.

And that is our only hope, and it still can be that today. We don't have to live in the past, do we? Somebody's got to dream. Somebody's got to dream for, oh God, revive us.

Somebody's got to pray. Somebody's got to contend. Somebody's got to fuel the flames of passion.

Somebody's got to intercede. Somebody's got to cry out and ask the question, where are the weepers? Where are the men and women who are going to find themselves on their face before Almighty God and praying down heaven and not letting go until God answers, where are they, church? Who's going to answer the call? Oh God, we've heard stories of Your glory filling stones and buildings, but God, oh God, would You fill our hearts again? Would You fill our hearts again? I don't want to read in the Old Testament where His glory came and the Shekinah glory covered the entire temple and the mountains shook because of His presence, but we come into church and we're dead to the things of God. God, fill this temple again.

Fill this again. Fill my heart again. Oh God, here's my heart.

Come and seal it. Seal it in my courts above. God, we are here.

We are hungry for Your nearness. God, we need You. God, do something.

Break us. Humble us. Guys, you know, so many people, they get excited and they get motivated, but motivation will be gone tomorrow.

You've got to get disciplined. Discipline keeps the motivation going. Motivation's gone tomorrow.

Oh yeah, I've got to do that. It doesn't get done. We've got to be disciplined, but also we've got to humble ourselves.

At the top of that chart, if my people humble themselves, humble themselves and say, God, I need You. God, I need You. I'm humbling myself.

Humbling is hard, isn't it? We don't like to humble ourselves, but the sad reality, the Bible says, if you don't humble yourself, God says, I will. And trust me. So as we go into worship, again, there's no checklist.

I don't know what to tell you to do. And of course, I always get the critics saying, America's going to hell in a handbasket. We just wait for the rapture.

Well, what Bible verse, what are you using on that one? Because that's a coward. That's an arrogant coward who doesn't want to fight for the next generation. How dare you want to leave this mess for our kids? So when we call for prayer meetings, I would encourage you to be here.

We have morning worship at Sunday mornings every morning for 10 years. 10 years where we pray for our nation, we contend for our nation, 6.30 a.m. right here. And then prayer next door at 7.30. And guys, anytime I say this, my heart is not to make people feel bad.

But over the 10 years, I don't want to point people out, but you guys have told me, Paul has told me, it's like, Shane, why aren't more people here? That's the number one question I get. And I say, I don't know. I don't know.

Shrug our shoulders. We don't care to take it. I'd rather, let's be honest, I'd rather sleep in and be comfortable.

So we will not change this nation with lukewarm, comfortable Christianity. It's impossible. So you need to make it, whether you're here or not, get up at home, whatever, have your own home time.

Because I know you got kids and I'm not saying, but if you're not here, are you at home up praying? Okay, you're not a morning person. Okay. Are you, are you turning off Breaking Bad and opening the Bible? Are you on Amazon Prime and Voodoo and YouTube? Or you're opening the Bible at night if you're a night person? We've got to get back to, if we could do that, could you imagine the worship service? I can tell, I've been to a lot of different denominations churches.

A lot of people are dead in the worship services. I don't think it should be a circus. I don't think it should be crazy.

I want to hear the songs. I don't want it too loud. I got it.

But many people are not excited to be here. Can we, can we shoot? Can I, can I shoot you straight? We roll in, sometimes 10, 15 minutes late. It's my duty.

We're not going to see God move His hand powerfully in our nation with that kind of lukewarm, apathetic attitude. There needs to be a fire for the things of God again. And the reason I say that is to bring out of you what's already inside of you, to be stirred and be convicted, to hear the hard things.

That's how, that's how you get revival. I'd rather have a thousand people upset at me, but 900 come back hungry. I didn't like what you said, but I thought about it.

I heard that a lot too. Oh, you really ticked me off Sunday. But isn't that true? We've got to get back to passionately pursuing God.

And that means removing some things. What a title. It's almost as if God's saying that.

Again, not the flag, not glory, but can you keep the freedoms? God-given freedoms to worship. Because guys, the way things are going, the more Islam and democratic communist party gets into office, trust me, it might be peace now. There may be a time when your kids and grandkids will be forced to bow to Allah.

I'm just shooting you straight. The way things are going, they are praying to Allah in New York. Have you seen the videos? More elected officials.

They just won a whole bunch of offices. Is that our attitude? Doing good. My business is going good.

I'm doing good financially. It doesn't affect me. It doesn't affect you yet.

But it will affect the next generation. What we do now will affect the next generation. And I'm not saying get a full gun safe.

I'm saying get a full prayer closet. If you want to come and just kneel and get that fire back. Guys, that's the key.

Is it not the fire of the Spirit? To get home, you want to put on worship. You want to contend. And we'll have different callings.

Not everybody's like me. You might go to a school board meeting and be very gentle. I might go and I might chew them out.

Right? You might go. I mean, just God's using His people to make a difference. Some of you should be running for office.

Some of you should be noting legislation, writing it, or at least praying interceding. We just shrug our shoulders. It's no big deal.

And here's what happens with all things biblical. When it is a big deal, it's too late. By the time we see it, it's often too late.

Why is it anytime we call for a prayer meeting, worship, we have hardly anybody show up. It's Sunday mornings at 630. We put on worship.

We've been doing it for 10 years. And you know what the number one question I get is? The number one question in the last decade from people, some people that come, Shane, why aren't there more people here? I say, I don't know. I don't know.

I truly don't know. Prayer meetings. Hey, we're going to pray for our nation.

Oh, but we're excited to put on Amazon Prime. What's the new series on Netflix? Christians, we've lost our passion. We've become apathetic.

That kind of Christian doesn't move in the hand of God. They just get through life. Now granted, moms with kids live far.

I got it. But at least get up and pray your house and worship. Join us in spirit.

Well, I'm not a morning person. Okay. Are you a night person? Do you really? Can you do this? We need to get back to seeking God and that hunger, that desire.

God uses the least likely. He uses those who are hungry, hungry for more of Him. You guys know, I'm not going to go into my story.

I should be the last person up here. It's an alcoholic, barely graduated high school, dyslexia, anger, addiction. And then God says, that's a voice.

So he's crying out to me, humbled himself. And I'll get that because he speaks the truth. I'll get it out there for others to hear.

He uses the least likely those who are on fire for him. Those who want more of him, not perfect, but God, we need to hear from you. We need to know you.

I know that fire's lost for many lives. I could go back there and watch just during worship. I can see those who are bored.

I can see those who are callous and hard and arrogant. I can see those who are dragged here or hoping it doesn't go too long. Come as if they're doing God a favor.

You think that's going to cut it? You think that pleases God? What pleases God is a broken and contrite heart. Isn't that amazing? The God of the universe who hung Saturn and the sun. He said, there's something you can give me, a broken and contrite heart.

And I will never, never cast that away. What does that mean? It means, Lord, I need you. I'm broken.

Our nation needs you. I'm interceding on behalf of the innocent blood we shed. Like Daniel did it.

Nehemiah did it. Intercession. I don't know how it works, but God intercedes.

God looks for those who are interceding. He told Ezekiel, I sought for a man. I sought for a man from among them who would stand in the gap before me and the nation that I might not destroy it.

I'm just looking. Is there any gap fillers? I'm just looking. Anybody can intercede like Moses.

Lord, no. Stay your hand of judgment. Let me intercede on behalf of the people.

He says, I found no one. We've got to get rid of this apathy and apathetic approach to Christianity and just pray for that hunger and that desire again. Lord, I pray for that this morning.

God, wake us up. Lord, fill our little ones with your spirit. God, they're going to have to fight this battle.

It's going to be even harder. Lord, I pray that we would see a national spiritual awakening. And I do pray it would start in California.

Lord, it's actually, the odds are impossible for it to start in Los Angeles County. But Lord, I pray you would do that. The city of angels.

God, revive your people. Revive your church. Lord, we are desperate for more of you.

I pray for those who, I don't want anybody to leave discouraged. Lord, nobody's perfect that's here, but we want to be surrendered to you. We want to repent.

If there's things you need to repent of this morning, I would encourage you to do that. Come to this altar, repent to them, deal with them with God. You don't want to hold on to them.

Anger, attitude, arrogance, addiction, strongholds, lay them at the foot of the cross. Let God cleanse your heart. If you don't know him, just repent and believe.

Say, God, I need you. I repent of my sin. I believe in Jesus and God will save you and he will set you free.