No Flesh Shall Glory in My Presence

Not everybody was here Wednesday, quite a few people weren't. And so I did want to let you know, I put a season of prayer into it for about a few weeks, talked to our elders and my wife. And many of you know, we went private about the cancer diagnosis I received about three weeks ago.

I think it's been about three weeks now. But also now going public with it because we have listeners everywhere. And just their prayers are obviously appreciated, being forthright and letting people know.

You know, we all struggle with something. There's people here going through things that are very challenging. And we all go through things.

And so wanted to let people know that publicly. Why bring it up? Because I wanna encourage people not to waste the pain. Let this pain push you to the cross.

Whatever you go through. Whatever you go through, because if not, we can become bitter and angry and resentful. And it can be a wonderful, wonderful, incredible time with the Lord.

If you allow that pain to break you. And then what happened is YouTube decided to remove my announcement. So that fired me up a little bit, just a little bit.

And spent a lot of time. And many of you know, you've probably already seen the text. You can talk to the offices.

If not, I released about a 15 page booklet to help those going through the same type of situation. And I tried to balance it with different things out there. I can't say or we'll be shut down this morning.

But also with just balancing it, encouraging people. But really it was about hope and seeking the Lord. And because the medical industry is not a place of hope.

Let me tell you that right now. Fear, fear, fear, fear, fear. And I wanna encourage people, hey, seek the Lord and he will direct you.

And so that is actually out now. We scrambled, I put about 60 hours in two weeks. Had incredible editors look at Christine Ramsey did.

It's available on my website. And so far the feedback has been overwhelming. Even doctors all over America.

Probably six different states right now. Who have really, they've really been encouraged by it too. So again, I wanna get right to the message.

But this has actually been really, really, really good for me and I hope for our family. You know, I know it's challenging. But it reminds me of 1999 when the Lord broke me.

Sometimes we need those breaking seasons. And you just can get comfortable. And it's been, it's been powerful.

And like I said, Wednesday, the candle was broken, but the flame still remains. That's the key. And there's a tenderness that can't be taught.

You can't teach what I'm about to tell you. And in my sermons, you can teach it, but you won't experience it until you go through that season. There's a deep brokenness that can only come from the wells of desperation.

Pain is the fire that allows the hammer of God to forge hearts and to shape character. What was meant to silence so far has only awakened. And I can hear my enemies jumping for joy over the last three weeks, but I wanna remind them to sit back down because I'm more pumped up than ever before.

Praise God. And when you say, you know what, I don't know what the future holds, we can honestly, I have no clue. You know, people wanna know about the type and the treatment and we wanna keep those things private for obvious reasons.

Many people don't need to know that. Inquiring minds wanna know, but most people don't need to know that. We're trusting God.

Basically, as I said, Wednesday, a preacher has been revived. And so hopefully has this church. And what we're seeing so far has been very, very encouraging.

The valley teaches you what the mountains never can. Thank God for mountains. The mountaintop experiences.

Thank God, but you can't live there. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. And I've realized that the depth of your brokenness will determine the height of your awakening.

Do you know that's the problem with the majority of the Christian church? Is we are not broken. We are not humble. We are filled with pride.

We are lukewarm. We are carnal. There's no desire for holiness and more of God.

And I can say that because I drift just like anybody else. Any drifters out there? God bless the broken road. And I love Psalm 23.

He restoreth my soul. He restoreth my soul. But if you want that soul restored, you gotta make sure you're drinking from the right water source.

Think about without the valley, many of our Psalms would have never been written. Many of the Psalms would have never been written. I mean, I can think of so many right now, but you guys know.

So my point is let the valley that you're going through or may go through, let it transform you. Let it transform you. Let it break you.

Guys, there's levels of pride you're not even aware of until God just breaks, breaks, and breaks. It's a very beautiful thing. Very beautiful thing.

Embrace it. And that's why I said last thing, and I'll get to the message. Man, I was just, Lord, take this away.

Please God, take this away. But then on the other hand, I'm saying, please don't take this away. Please don't take your presence, your power, the joy, the love, the brokenness.

If it took that to have this, what a dilemma. And I'm so glad to be announcing this than a moral failure in the church. I mean, it's like, Lord, just you never know what the future holds.

Don't worry, I wasn't on that course that I'm aware of, but you never know. You know, I mean, just Lord, what are you, the wake, because you can get comfortable. If God is doing, I don't even know how much I should tell you guys, because you know not everybody's a friend that follows, right, you guys, okay.

So I use my words carefully. But a friend of mine who is gifted in this area, September, around my birthday, he goes, I had a powerful dream. You were very skinny.

And God wants to do a new work of the Spirit at your church. And I'm like, okay, well, thanks, whatever. Yeah, I've heard that before.

But boy, when you start to really see that God is preparing. And see, that's what things like that are for. They make you go back and go, Lord, you can rest in that.

You can rest in it. And so what we're experiencing, I had no clue what he was really talking about. And just the deep work of the Holy Spirit that's been going on in my heart, and I know many of you.

I've been hearing from people all over. You know, and the dark night of the soul. You know, I gave that message, quarter million views now.

You know, and all these different ones. And it's like, God is getting this out there. Why is it being transformed? And you have to go through that pain and help people understand it as you preach it.

And so, that is the update. That's what I announced Wednesday. I don't want to keep talking about this.

I want to just get back to preaching and see what God does. And I'm even, you know what, maybe I would tell people individually. Updates and things like that.

I don't know where to go with that either. You know, how vocal are you? There's pros and cons to everything. I'm skeptical to tell you one thing that's pretty amazing, because I don't know what will become of it.

But the limp note has actually been shrinking considerably. Considerably. I didn't say, and I want to say that because of your prayers.

And my dentist even said, he goes, oh wow, that's way down. I'm like, keep doing what you're doing. Right, well here comes me.

Oh, it must have moved somewhere else. Right, that's what John said. You know, doubt and things like that.

See, I struggle too. That's why I bring things up like that. I bring things up like that too.

And you know, of course we're pushing for the PET scan. And I took some time off. I went in for the PET scan last week.

I'm walking in and she goes, sir, I'm so sorry. What? The machine broke. The machine broke.

Like, I'm not in a hurry or anything. So, still waiting on that. But you, oh my goodness, because people are like, oh, you got to get to LA.

You got to get to Valencia. You got to say, like, hold on. Listen to the voice of God.

That doesn't mean you don't use wisdom. I'm a fan of early diagnosis to jump on things quickly. I'm a big fan of that.

Get it while you can. Hammer it down while you can. But again, I go into more of that in the booklet if you want to read about that.

Because if I say things now, it will be canceled. So, how's that for the introduction? And again, I don't know what the future holds. I know who holds the future.

And I praise God for what He's doing. I never, I haven't felt this good in a while. So that's really encouraging.

That's really encouraging. And just so you know, people ask, no, because of cancer, it's not why I'm losing weight. The weight is because every single junk food's gone.

No sugar, no junk, nothing. Just clean, clean, clean, and in moderation. And that's what happens.

You feel better. And so it's a product of that. Now again, I don't know what God's gonna do.

I don't know how much time He has for me. I know something amazing happened on Thursday that I would never do. I'm in a pastor's meeting, about 40 local pastors.

And they say, can we pray for you for this thing we just found out about? And I said, yes. And I said, but before that, I want to apologize to many of you. I can name names right now.

You'll know who some of these people are. Big churches in Palmdale, Lancaster. And I said, I've been holding a lot of bitterness in and resentment from COVID and what you guys called me.

And it doesn't mean, I still don't think we were wrong for opening at all. Asking for forgiveness doesn't mean I was wrong. It means I'm not gonna hold this in anymore.

And man, there's tears. It was so incredible what God did in that moment. And people are like, one of the guys, again, you would probably know this person.

I won't say what he does either. But he's like, I have never seen that before. That radically just changed my life.

And he's a Christian leader in our community. And just what God is doing. And then I opened my email in the morning, and if it goes through, I don't know if it'll go through.

In 2027, possibly one of the biggest speaking engagements of my life out of state, where there'll be senators, governor, different things as the main key speaker. How does that, is there a connection to that? Like I finally feel like the airplane's ready to go. Let's go, God.

We've been waiting, we've been waiting, we've been waiting. And now it just feels like God had to use his final hammer. Because the direction of the shepherd is the direction of the church, often.

And yeah, I won't get into it. That was just so incredible what God is doing. And with that said, though, I want this, my goal is not to just say all that.

My goal is to pray for people after the service. I don't care if we're going, we'll be in the prayer room. Many of you, some of you are dealing with worse things than I am.

And we wanna pray for you. I wanna pray for you. Let the ushers know, front of the line.

I don't have any special power. Ask for anybody on the prayer team. We want this to be a church that prays for healing, for deliverances, for bondages being broken, for strongholds being broken.

Prodigal sons coming home. Wayward daughters coming home. So here we go.

Four Easter services. Maybe I should say something about that too. A lot of people are saying, Pastor, are you sure you wanna do all four? That's my goal.

That would be, I would probably weep because of what, how I was feeling. And when I first found out, I was, I still have the email of making plans of church transition, Easter. Like, I was not in a good spot.

Yeah, I didn't even feel good. I could tell. I asked Morgan, like, last couple years, like, something's going on.

I don't wanna go on vacation. And coming up to the second service, getting up the stairs, and like trying, like, man, something's, for a while, I've been dealing with this. So to me, it just feel like such an accomplishment that what God has done to what the enemy intended for evil, discouragement.

And so it's actually not a pulpit hog. I'm not a pulpit hog. I would ask, I would just have tons of people speak.

But I also realized he's called me for such a time as this. And what he puts on my heart, the message that gets out there, I have to be responsible to the calling that he has given me. I have a whole new, whole new view on that now, too.

But wherever you'll, airplanes don't scare me anymore. There's turbulence, and I'm like, I do not care. That's quicker.

Boom. My daughter wants to go learn parachuting and skydiving or whatever. You know, and you're more bold.

You're more bold. Don't you get bold? A couple people said, when I got back in town, there's like a witch's coffee brewery right down the street. Like, are you going in there? I'm not going in there.

I'm going in there then. Who is Satan to God? They have to bow to the light. Now, we don't bow to the darkness.

Who told you to be afraid? Who told you to be afraid? You walk in there and you tip them, and you love them, and you pray for them, and you invite them to church. Hello, it's not complicated. It's not difficult.

Okay, I'm getting to the message here. Oh, but make sure to check out Wednesday's message, Lessons Walking Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Some lessons I learned through that season.

So the title is, I'm gonna try to get through it. If not, we'll do part two. No flesh shall glory in my presence.

Whew! Do you know God says that? And that's powerful. That really makes you, that wakes you up. And we're in Acts, Acts 12.

And I titled it, When God Stirs the Pot, this kind of section, what we're talking about. I guess I should tell you, it's been a little while. James was killed by Herod, and Peter's in prison.

God releases Peter, but He allowed James to be killed. Probably pretty brutally. And go back and listen, I talked about God's sovereignty.

Listen, that's the only way you're gonna stay sane in this world. God's sovereignty must become your sanity. Because wouldn't you be upset? Well, I guess James is dead.

But if you're James and you knew you're dying, one thing that really blows my mind is John the Baptist. Powerful preacher, and he can't get out of prison. He was probably doubting, wasn't he? Art thou the Christ, or shall we look for another? He said, are you really Jesus? Why am I in here? And I've struggled with that a lot with sovereignty.

But rest in God knows. And it'll give you so much comfort. But then Peter, we talked about a few weeks ago, Peter is released from prison by an angel.

And so when it was daytime, there was no small stir among the soldiers. Ah, yeah, the prisoner's gone. And you know what that means.

Today, the correctional officers will call security and law enforcement, and they'll look for him. Back then, you would die if you were guarding the prisoner. And then when Herod had searched for him, and he didn't found them, he examined the guards, and he commanded that they should be put to death.

And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and he stayed there. So a couple of reminders before we get into the main text. Man can never stop God.

Herod thought he could stop. I killed James, I'm gonna keep Peter. No, you're not, kill Peter, no, you're not.

And just rest in that. Man cannot stop God. What God wants to do in your heart, in your grandchildren, in your prodigals, the enemy can't stop that.

Now, it takes time. It might take prayer. There's a lot of discouragement.

Prayer is wrestling. When I really, I spend a lot of time praying, and I was tired. It's wrestling spirit.

The prayer room, when I leave, I'm like, I'm tired. It's like when I preach a whole Sunday, people don't understand, but it's like I worked a day in construction. It's a different type of tired, but it's still, the exhausting is spiritual battle.

Without God, I'm sorry, with God, delay is never defeat. Anybody waiting on God? I'm sure Peter was waiting on God. But when God delays things, it's never defeat in His eyes.

How many of us have prayed for healing? And many of you can probably look back and say, I'm glad it didn't happen right when I prayed, because I need to learn some lessons. I need to go through some things. He knows His perfect timing.

Good, good Father. That song, Little Lamb, you've got a good, good shepherd. I read a book while I was gone too.

I don't know his name now, but he, like a shepherd, looks at Psalm 23. Like it's a, I'm like, lambs are stupid. Like, like, they follow, the lambs are, boy, what an example that we are lambs.

I mean, every chapter, like he does this, and he does this, he falls over. They fall over, and they can't get back up. And they get parasites, and they can't do this, and they run, and they run where they shouldn't, and it's like every chapter's talking about how much lambs need a shepherd.

And it was so powerful to realize that with God delays never defeat. Man can never stop God. I remember in the Old Testament, Pharaoh boasted against Yahweh.

You remember that? Sennacherib, Assyrian, mocked God. Who is this God who's going to deliver you? Israel. And the Assyrians, they trusted in their brutality.

The Philistines believed in their gods. Dagon, Ashtoreth, Baal, Goliath taunted Jehovah. How many of you get chills when you read that? When Goliath taunts David, who is your God that's going to deliver you from me? The Pharisees tried to silence God.

You cannot silence God. I'm going to tell you something on the next slide here that I hope you always remember. Israel never lost in the Old Testament until they boasted sin and walked away from God.

I look for a scripture. If you can find one, let me know next week. Now Joshua lost a battle because he didn't first inquire of the Lord.

But when Israel's defeated, Assyrians, Babylonians, I mean, you just, this group, the Philistines, it's because they sin and they walk away from God and they walk away from their protection. Boy, there's some practical application there. And then Herod who thought he was in charge, we realize he's not.

And so we keep reading now, Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, but they came to him with one accord, to make him happy with them. You don't want your king mad at you. And having made Blastus the king's personal aide, their friend, they asked for peace because their country was supplied with food by the king's country.

So on a set day, Herod arrayed in royal apparel. So you get this picture, this purple, this royal apparel. He sat on his throne and he gave an ordination to them.

Good people of such and such. And who knows what he said, but I'm sure it was wonderful. And the people kept shouting, oh my goodness, you guys ready for this? I have cringe moments.

There's cringe moments in the Bible. Do you have those? Like, oh, Goliath, Herod, these people, this is the voice of a God, not of man. This is a voice of God, not of man.

Did they really believe that? I don't think so. I think they were trying to appease him. And then immediately, an angel of the Lord struck Herod because he did not give glory to God.

And he was eaten by worms and died, but the word of God grew and multiplied. Did you know that every king will bow their knee to Jesus Christ? Every king, every leader will bow their knee to Jesus Christ. They will realize that they were never really in charge.

And that's where I came up with that title, No Flesh Show Glory in My Presence. No Flesh Show Glory in My Presence. And guys, here's where it also begins.

When you begin to drift away from the Lord and you begin to look for applause from people or you begin to just really not make God the center of your life, you begin to glory in things. I'll talk about that in a minute, what it means. But he no longer becomes a priority.

And you begin to drift and you take, look at what I've done. Oh, business is going good. Yeah, brother.

Oh yeah, I did this. Man, how did you do that? Oh, here's what I did. Here's what I did.

And we begin to, when we begin to drift, we also begin to drift from holiness and God. And A.W. Tozer said, in every generation, the number of the righteous is small. Make sure that you are among them.

Repeat, in every generation, the number of the righteous is small. Make sure that you are among them. In other words, the number of the holiness, the numbers of those who focus on holiness and truly seeking God, it's small.

You realize it's not the whole church. It's not a big portion of the church. That's why they call it a remnant of the church.

The world marks men by apparel and by applause. Doesn't it? What are they wearing? He was clothed in fine garment. What are they wearing? And they look at this, and they also, the applause, and that's what, you know, social media influencers, that's the best, the big thing right now.

If I could just get that many followers, if I could just do that, if I could just, and you have to wear these certain things. It's the applause of men. This applause is fake confirmation.

Because they're only following you because they like something you're doing. The world marks men by apparel and by applause, but God marks them with His presence. And He gives them purpose.

I don't know about you, but I want to know somebody marked by God. Mark, I want to hear from them. I don't want to hear from people with ulterior motives and agendas.

I need, you need to hear the voice of God. Be careful, there's a lot of competing voices, isn't there? Instagram has a lot of ads. You ever hear something, you're like, oh, that's cool, shop now.

And it's gonna take me to a place in China, and my order's gonna take about 42 months to get here. But it's this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and I got a lot of well-meaning people. Can you imagine sending me all kinds of stuff? Have you tried eating lemon pills, and baking soda, and no, I'm sure it's good.

But look at this social media influencer. Are they hearing from God? Because I would hate to boast in something that man is doing and not God. And you have to, He might lead you to certain things.

Of course, because we're prompted, we're triggered. We're triggered by certain things. It doesn't matter what people say, it matters what God says.

Don't you wish you could tell every teenager that? Every teenager, I wish I could tell you that with love. It doesn't matter what people think of you. At a young age, I was called a cross-dresser.

Do you know why? I dared to wear Adidas, Puma, and Nike. I didn't know that was against the rules. Bro, you're a cross-dresser.

What are you talking about? You can't, you go home, you cry, and you gotta wear all Nike. I wouldn't be here if I listened to the opinions of men. You're stupid, you're not gonna amount to anything.

You'll be dead. The opinion, and that's why this bowling's such a big thing, and people want to take the, because they're on TikTok, and how many people are like, and look what they said. Look at their comment, and they're being influenced by the world.

Trust me, you need to take your time, silence. Silence. Teenagers, try one day with no phone.

You'd be amazed at how much better you feel, because you have to get your identity from God. Everyone, every one of my high school friends, the mockers, I could care less. Like two years later, like way a long time ago.

Nowadays, I'm ministering to them. But back then, all these people you were worried about. It doesn't matter what people say.

It matters what God says. Because the people said, the voice of God and not a man. The voice of God and not a man.

And I said, hashtag, give me a break. Give me a break. King Herod was wicked, godless.

But I will say this as well. What do you do with praise? It reveals a great deal about your character. How you handle praise reveals a great deal about your character.

And God has to break this out of all of us. Correct? I mean, would I rather hear after a sermon, great job, pastor, or ah, you convicted me. Now I'd rather hear that one.

And sometimes, you honor people and things like that. But if you're constantly listening to the praise of people and the opinions of people, it can really sidetrack you. And it reveals a lot.

It reveals a lot. I mean, how many, and maybe this will go out, it goes out, if you truly want to pastor or you truly want to preach, why are you doing it? If you think it's, I like people, it's kind of cool, you're gonna be destroyed. It's gotta be a calling of God.

Why do you want to worship, why do you want to be on the worship team? Wow. Why are those people so popular? Taylor Swift, this, this, Billie Eilish, or whatever her name, why are they so, why, why, can you think, why? And if you want praise of people, look what I've done. Look at the business I've built.

No flesh should ever glory in His presence. Do you pursue more of Him, or do you pursue applause? That really is the question this morning, isn't it? Because here's, praise can be dangerous. That's why, like, even politicians, or whoever you're, you know, you got the cheerleaders praising them, and they think they're doing what is right.

You have people that just start out singing. And they begin to get all these praises and accolades in Hollywood. And they, so that's what they pursue, isn't it? It can be intoxicating.

Ask anybody who's ever worshiped, not even worshiped, but a musician, and they'll say it's unlike anything they felt before to be on stage with 50,000 people. Why? Because it's God-like. You're being lifted up.

That's what it is, it's exactly what it is. Now, there's nothing wrong if there's a powerful move of the Spirit, and you're being used by God, and that's exciting. It's very exciting.

It can be, if God, if you don't glory in His presence. But searching, isn't that what destroys Hollywood? And these people, if they didn't have any applause, they would, they'd better go back to being a waitress in Beverly Hills. But the applause, more applause, more applause, more applause, more applause, more applause.

Bigger star, bigger star, bigger star. And then they start to get weird and lose their mind. I have a picture I wanna show you.

Can you imagine little, 12-year-old Katy Perry used to sing in church? She used to sing in church, guys. Can you imagine little Katy walking down, sitting with her mom? Sitting with her, six years old, eight years old. 12 years old.

But what does praise do to you? I think we have one more too. Applause. I will be like God is of the devil.

You start to hear the wrong voice. You start to think this is okay. What changes you? When the Spirit of God is void, maybe I should bring this verse up next week.

That's good, I have enough of this on there. I don't even know if, am I texting them this morning? Should I even put this up? I don't know. But when you're void of the Spirit of God, and I do wanna maybe next week, Romans 1, you suppress the truth.

So the more you suppress the truth, the more vile things you'll be given over to. That's what's happening. They suppress the truth, suppress the truth, and God says, okay, I give you up.

Guys, I don't wanna, you know, I wanna be careful what I say because I know there's, you know, there's good people, there's bad people, I understand, but you've never, you don't know what could be unleashed in a depraved mind. You don't know how depraved you could get. How many remember the name Ariel Castro? Kept three girls locked in his house for over 10 years.

Watch the interview with him, he said, it all started with porn. He says, I'm a monster. Where does that start? Where, the depraved, nobody would ever, anybody listen to those interviews with Bundy? Dobson's interview, was it, I think Bundy? Like it just starts and then more depraved and more, without the spirit of God, there's no regulator.

There's no suppressor. There's no conviction. And you get darker and you get deeper into that sin.

And that's why I said Wednesday, this name will proclaim the name of, this place will proclaim the name of Yahweh in this place. We will look to God to break those shackles of darkness, to break those things in our hearts and lives. 1 Corinthians 1.26, where I got this from as well.

"'For you see your calling, brethren, "'not many of you that are wise.'" I'm summing it up here. "'Not many of you who are mighty, "'the rock, Dwayne Johnson. "'Not many of you that are noble, "'politicians, well-known people.

"'You're not called. "'You're not called. "'But God has chosen the foolish things of the world "'to put to shame the wise.

"'And God has chosen the weak things of the world "'to put to shame the things which are mighty.'" Why does He do that? That no flesh should glory in His presence. No flesh should glory in His presence. As it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.

And you know, aren't you glad when God calls you when you're part of the, any of the no-namers out there? Just me growing up? Many of you. You weren't mighty, you weren't noble. You weren't of great reputation.

Are you aware that I'm not up here because I have a PhD in theology? I'm gonna be very careful here because there are some good preachers, but the most of the ones I listen to have no degree. They've got a degree from their master. Now, of course, a disclaimer, so I don't get people upset.

If God wants a person to pursue things and get degrees, it's absolutely fine. It's encouraged you get a wealth of knowledge. But I've, and I guess I have, I've talked to people like, hey, okay, you know, you see on the, make sure you get my PhD and you announce me as doctor.

What? You wonder why God doesn't use them as profoundly. He blesses the beggars, not the boastful. And I'll say that at a pastor's conference if they give me the chance.

Because it's true, isn't it? But again, I'm not, I'm for education. I'm never against that. It's the attitude behind it.

It's the arrogance. And I've seen the uppity-ness. They actually do think they're better than normal Christians.

I've been to many, many, many, Pastor Abrams as well, many pastor's conferences. They'll look down at you if you don't have the same degree as, no degree, you might as well not be in the room. Like, oh my goodness, poor guy.

I don't know where to find Matthew or Mark. I don't know. They have the truth, but not the Spirit.

Straight as a gun barrel theologically, but they're empty because they're void. Don't you understand? That's where spiritual power comes from church. It comes from the Word into the heart of somebody anointed by God with the Spirit of God on fire for God, broken and humble, emptied of self so God fills in.

God fills them with His Spirit. No flesh should glory in His presence. Glory refers to splendor and magnificent and radiant and majesty and honor.

And that's why I tell you all the time, we're pointing you to Him. We're pointing you to Him. They'll say, oh, Pastor Shane, what? No, no, no, no, I struggle just like everybody else.

The only thing that, the reason the messages speak to your heart, the reason you love coming here is because what God is doing in the hearts of people here and in the church, in my own heart, it's from His Word, it's from His truth. He said, I'll take this basically kid, nobody knows, and then I'll fill him with my Spirit. And some I call to do this, some I call to be a musician, some I call to be a mechanic, some I want to be in real estate, some I want to be a doctor.

Oh, thank God for more Christian doctors, hello, and nurses. But this guy, I'm gonna kind of put him up here because he doesn't know how to speak well because he struggled through school because he knows that every single thing I do in him is because of what I've called him to do. That's why no flesh should glory in His presence because it's God's calling.

He calls you to where you're at. He calls you to where you're at. And I'm gonna quote Spurgeon.

He had a lot of people at his pastor's school and he told them, and I will say this often to young pastors, if you can do anything else, do it. Don't do this. Because if you can do something else, you were never called.

And it also solidifies your calling to know that God's called you. Because many people want to get, oh, I love people and I want to get along. Has God called you? And that's why you see many churches that are like, God hasn't called them.

Or they've been stifling the Spirit. And we pray for them. Remember, God highlights the no name, amen.

He rebuilds the broken. He elevates the humble. He heals the hurt.

He restores the wounded. He finds the lost. Like I said, blessed are the beggars.

Beggars, did you know that Jesus said, blessed are those who beg for they shall be filled. The depth of your repentance will determine the height of your revival, personal revival. I'm gonna close out with this statement.

Many of you coming, many of you listening, we know, we've heard it over the years, are in a prodigal state. For some reason, the prodigals find this church. And I love it, that's what we pray for.

We pray for that this morning. Bring the lost, bring the wounded, bring the broken. Because you know, there's a lot of churches who will turn those away.

Next week, come in your suit and tie. Next, you know, don't sit up, no, no, no, no, no, no. The prodigal, the prodigal carries a lot of pain.

That's why they need hope and help. The prodigal carries a lot of pain. And prodigals, you need to know that we do bury our demons, but sometimes they rise again.

You gotta get back to the foot of the cross. You need to fully surrender, come home. That's what the prodigal had to do.

They had to come home. And in order to do that, it said, come to themselves. You have to realize, I'm done eating with the pig, pigs.

I'm done chasing the world. I'm done chasing more, do you know people get depressed if they lose followers and likes and comments? And I'm just not, I thought God was gonna do this in my life, but he's doing this. And they drift from God.

My God's just come back home, let him rebuild you. Let him rebuild you. And then now briefly, I just wanna mention this to the unbeliever, the person who has never repented and believed.

During the beginning of my journey a couple weeks ago, as I mentioned, the words weren't said exactly like this, but I felt they were saying, you know, you have a death sentence, you need to hurry up. And I was reminded that we all do. We just don't know when that time is.

But for the unbeliever, for us it's a promotion, for you it's a judgment. That's why many believers truly aren't afraid because they know it's a promotion. They're not ready, they love their family, they wanna steal, you know? I'm glad God gave us that too, because if not, we'd all just go jump off a cliff.

Right, we want, but it's a promotion. But for an unbeliever, it is judgment. And this Scripture really stood out in Ecclesiastes.

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone. The living should take this to heart. That's in the Bible.

Think about that. The living means right now, if you're hearing my words, driving on the freeway, different state, here this morning, listening later, you are living, you are responsible, you hear it. I have never been more serious about urgency in all of my, you might hear a little different tone in the preaching going forward.

There's an urgency, there's an alarm bell in the lives of people, because they are the walking dead. They don't know where they're going spiritually. We're going to promotion, they're going to judgment.

And we've got to at least tell them, seek the Lord while He may be found. And through all this, I don't know about you, but I will not be shaken, I will not be moved from the feet of Jesus. I will not be moved from the feet of Jesus' church.

We got to get back to being at the feet of Jesus. Remember when the prayer meeting was a priority? Remember when you wanted to seek holiness and righteousness and follow hard after God? Remember when He was your passion? Remember when worship just felt like you were at home with the Lord and maybe you've drifted, but you need to come back up because He is the resurrection and the life. He will resurrect a dead prayer life.

He will resurrect your life when He speaks, when Jesus speaks, even death must bow at the foot of the cross. Look to Him and Him alone. Again, let the name of Yahweh fill this place.

Let the name of the Lord fill this place. God, we are a hungry church. We are a broken church.

We want more of God. We need more of Him. I am the resurrection and the life, He said.

He resurrects dead things, but He also brings life to dead things. Listen, guys, I've never been more serious and on fire. I mean, I just deal with like, Lord, is that You? Is that me? But church, so many believers are not walking in the fullness of the Spirit.

They're critical. They're arrogant. They're prideful.

There's a lack of holiness. If you lack holiness, you'll never see the Lord in a powerful, profound way. Full surrender.

God, You're my everything. There's not a lot of that. There's not a lot of that.

And I'm shooting people straight more often. Because we can't play games. Because pastors, we don't want to say anything, I don't want to hurt this person's feelings.

You know, we got, but guys, that's why many people are bored during worship. Maybe I'll do it, but why don't we say next Sunday, we're just gonna have prayer and worship for both services. Oh my goodness.

Yeah, 25 out of 400, right? You see my point. I guarantee this place, we won't open the balcony. How desperate, are we coming just playing church? Guys, if you want that passion, you've got to surrender to God and say, Lord, everything, clean out.

Clean out what is ever impure in me. No flesh or glory in your presence. God, is there anything in my heart, pride that's keeping me away from you? So we have the worship team come up and lead us into worship.

And guys, understand my heart. I'm not trying to beat people up and have them leave and say, oh my goodness. But don't you know we need wake up calls? How do we get wake up calls? If it's not loud, it doesn't hurt.

I'm sleeping, I don't want that alarm clock. The majority of the church is sleeping. They're asleep to the things of God.

If we want that fire back, there has to be desperation. Just look at all the people in the New Testament. They were desperate.

If I could just touch the hem of his garment, if I could just get to him, if I could just, there's a crowd, but I've got to get to Jesus. Morning worship, gas is six bucks. Well, I've got to get to him somehow.

The blind beggars, be quiet, be quiet. You're bothering him. And they cried out even more.

The desperate, jarius, coming to him. Oh, my daughter. The woman whose daughter was demon possessed.

They didn't care. They had to find Jesus. That's the only goal.

You see, when that's the only goal, you don't care what people think. You don't care what people say. You've got to find him.

We've got to point people to the truth. This is interesting. A prodigal, I really wish I would have clarified this first service, so you're getting a bonus here.

We think, I've talked to a lot of people, I've thought this myself, is the person, oh, boy, yeah, they're really lost. Oh, man, they're living in Las Vegas on a bench on the street, oh, they're eating with the pig. Prodigal just means lost from the place you should be.

So you can be here this morning and be a prodigal. Lord, I've drifted. I've drifted, I need to come home.

I've walked away from holiness. I've walked away from, I've become complacent and lukewarm and carnal. I've drifted from the place I need to be.

That's a prodigal. Now, there's different stages, of course, but that's what it means, to be away from the presence of the Father. What a new perspective, huh? Because I think that just flies over.

Oh, I'm glad I'm not a prodigal. Are you sure? How's that relationship with God? How's your heartbeat? Is it yearning for more worship, yearning for more prayer, seeking the heart of God? And let me encourage you, we all drift if we're not careful. And the Bible says something very significant.

The prodigal came to himself. What does that mean? He listened to the conviction. That's it.

So you have an opportunity this morning. Do you listen to the conviction? That's why I love what I do, because I don't have to go around and say, you, you, you, you, you, you, you. The Holy Spirit is the master convictor.

He's convicting. He's showing. That area, you need to let it go.

That's why I said critical hearts are big in the church. Lukewarmness. And I know, because I can drift there too.

And it's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing when the prodigal comes. The prodigal comes home.

The father was not in judgment. He ran, he ran and met his son. Wow.

Wow. I see him. I see her.

I see them. Church. I love our nation.

I love our churches, but we are dead to the things of God. The majority of people attending churches are not on fire for God. They lack a holy zeal.

They lack a holy hunger for more of God. They're going through the motions. They're away from the Father, and they don't even know it.

Shouldn't we, the church in America, be the most passionate, the most thankful? Go take this right here. God, plant it somewhere in the Middle East, and all of us will be slaughtered by the time we leave here. I need to stop, because it will be bad.

We're so unthankful. God, help us. God, we're so prideful, arrogant, unteachable.

God, clean our hearts, beginning with me. God, we need more of You. God, pour in Holy Spirit, pour into us.

God, I pray that those who need to repent of apathy, carnality, going through the motions, lukewarmness, pride, we'll do that this morning. The more we seek You, the more we find You. The more we find You, the more we love You.

And I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. It's sad, because the picture I have is of a spoiled little child demanding this and demanding that. The church in America is so far from God.

Guys, you have no idea. No idea. God, revive your churches.

God, revive us back to truth, back to Your Word, back to holiness, back to purity, back to unity. Oh my goodness. The devil loves disunity.

God, fall afresh on us this morning. Lord, people just came expecting a second service. Let them get a renewed fire of the Spirit.

God, we cry out for more of You. We need You. Lord, some have taken pride in their knowledge of the Bible.

They're so smug and arrogant about that. Would You convict them? Me too, Lord. If I go that direction, God, please show me.

Give us a heart. Give us a heart for the least likely. Those who can't give us back anything, they can't promote us, they can't help us.

Lord, but we can help them. Give us a heart of brokenness and humility. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.