Reasons Why I'm Not Panicking God's Promises (Video)

And look at the tornado just went through Kentucky and in that area. And is there so much fear and what is going on? And people are panicking, even Christians are panicking about things. And here's the reasons why I'm not panicking. One reason, God's promise is because there is only one solution, one remedy, one treatment, one cure, one answer, one hope. And that is getting anchor back into the life, our lives back into God's word and anchored into his promises. And I know a lot of people they'll say, but Shane and I get that. I get this sometimes, you know, the Titanic has been hit. There's nothing we can do. Well, you can jump into the lifeboat of God's arms of safety and forgiveness and restoration. You can do something. We're not called to give up and give in. We're actually called to hold the ground. We're called to fight and do business until he returns. We're called to contend for truth in a postmodern culture. We're not called to back up. We're called to push forward. And Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail. It depends. What side of the fence are we on? Are we backing away and panicking and living in fear? Or are we seeking God again with all of our heart, with all of our strength? And listen, the red, white, and blue is not going to save you. Only the crimson blood of Jesus Christ is going to save us in these dire times. I love our country. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But our hope is not in elections and voting and different things, even though it's good to do. We've got to get back to soul-searching, Bible-reading, truth-elevating churches again that proclaim the truth of God's Word and the power of the Holy Spirit, convicting the sinner, encouraging the prodigal, and watch what God does in that environment. So, back to Genesis. And if you're somewhat new, you can start in Genesis 1. When you get home, read up to Genesis 9, and you'll be caught up. We're going through the entire Bible. I'm going, not necessarily verse-by-verse, but chapter-by-chapter, principle-by-principle. We learned about the creation of the universe. Yes, there was a creation. Creation screams Creator. God put these things into motion. There was the fall of man. We talked about the fall of man. You say, well, Shane, how old is the earth? Well, you're going to have to go rewind on YouTube and find that sermon. We talked about that, the age of the earth, the sin that entered in, how sin entered in, the fall of man, all of that. And now, God destroyed the earth with a flood. And only Noah and his family were saved. And I also talked about, if you have skeptics, you can go back to some of those sermons, but how they're finding seashells and mountaintops, and then the archaeological discoveries, and how the Grand Canyon, how would you just cover a billion fossils at once? And there's so much evidence for the flood, that it's actually, it's not people deny God because lack of evidence. They deny God because they don't want there to be a God. I want to do what I want, when I want, to who I want. And I don't want there to be a God. So it doesn't have anything to do with facts. It has to do with the heart, where the human heart is at. And so chapter 9, the ark has landed, the waters have receded. So God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And I just thought of this week. Even 50, 60 years ago, did you know that big families were a blessing? Well, lots of kids. Now, I tell people, I have five, and they're like, whoa. Oh, how? Oh, they lose their mind. Don't you know it's going to hurt the ecosystem? Don't you know global warming and more? Oh, and it's like they forget it's a blessing. Kids are a blessing. Be fruitful and multiply. We talked about that sex was God's idea a month ago. Don't let it corrupt you. That's his idea. He created it. And then what the word perversion comes from, pervert, is to take what is straight and to pervert it off course. And that's what society does. They pervert the word of God. They pervert good things. I can't believe Shane mentioned that in church. Well, I've got a lot of things I'm going to mention, so hold tight. And he said, and the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth. So that is why beasts of the earth fear man. God has put man in dominion over the earth. So a common misconception out there is that we are not good stewards of the environment when actually Christians should be good stewards of the environment. Anybody go hiking in the mountains or the high Sierras? And I always tell the kids, let's take back more than we brought in. Let's keep it cleaner than when we arrived. Let's make a difference. Let's recycle. Let's care about these things. But ultimately, we don't worship Mother Earth. We worship Father God. We put God on the pedestal, not this new age philosophy. And then I'm skipping ahead here to verse 3. Every moving thing that lives. Now, this is pretty interesting, at least to me, with the background and fitness and diet and nutrition and all these things that, you know, the plant-based diet debate with the meat eaters and the vegan and the whole foods and the raw and the keto and intermittent fasting. And what do you do? What don't you do? You can't eat dairy. You should eat dairy. You can't eat fruit. You should eat fruit. And it's, it's confusing. Well, for 1,600 years about, we ate, you ready for this? Plants. You bacon lovers out there? We ate mainly plants. And the reason is because the life-giving food, the nutrients, the enzymes, the vitamins and minerals that actually the plants get from the soil, the carrots, the cucumbers, the broccoli, that is to be taken into the human body. And that life-giving food gives life to the body. So when you eat dead, depleted food that has no nutritional value, you can see why we are reaching an epidemic level of health-related illnesses. So with that said, I did put the books out there for free. Grab a free book on this area of nutrition and health if you need more help in that area. But we learn here, every moving thing that lives now shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as I gave you the green herbs. And God will go on to say later what to eat, what not to eat, the unclean and the clean. You know, you don't want to eat a skunk. You don't want to eat certain animals and the clothes of the hooves and different things. And it's interesting. Even now you look and when God said eat fish that have scales and avoid those who don't because we know that like lobsters at the bottom of the ocean and they're just gross. They're the septic system of the ocean. They clean, they're very toxic. And so when we eat these oysters and clams and things we love, sorry, I'm just, I have to tell you the truth today. God knew what he was doing because those are even not healthy foods as far as from a nutritional standpoint. And so he said now you can eat the food that moves. Now I could go into a long reason why I think and I mean, I don't think it's really applicable. I wrote about it in my books, but obviously something shifted and God now allows it. And so that's my stance on it. I mean if it's allowed in the Bible. No, I mean because you get people hardline on either side of this debate. It's allowed in the Bible, but here's the interesting thing. Verse 4, but you shall not eat flesh with its life that is its blood. Now in Leviticus, Genesis, Exodus, maybe two, Leviticus, we're going to read that God says don't eat the fat and don't eat the blood, these two things. And so that's where that word kosher comes from. You hear in the Jewish community. It's the meat that's properly prepared. And so one of the questions that comes in on this area in my view is obviously, I think plant food should be the primary diet without a shadow of a doubt. And what has happened though, when our meat and dairy now is so processed, and you know, people want to throw scripture at me, but they don't really, they haven't done their homework because the meat now that we're eating is so toxic. I don't even want to make you sick. But the hormones, the antibodies, the way they're, the antibiotics that are shot into them, the growth hormone, the way they're fed, what they're fed, the GMO food that they're fed, the things they shouldn't be eating and consume. And the meat is so dirty that we're consuming it. Dairy that actually should be, could be raw, raw dairy, where all the enzymes and nutritional value is not killed in the pasteurization process, pasteurized. You know, all that was life-giving food, number one. So they eat much cleaner stuff, not McDonald's and Panda Express. Not only that, they moved a lot and didn't deal with obesity. They didn't deal with heart-related issues. And if you're moving, you're active and you have clean food, I think there's some leeway there for meat and dairy. If, but you can't just, you know, I'll look at, I can have all this meat and dairy. Now, I think health-wise, you should really look at that. And the New Year's coming up, you might want to consider that. But according to the biblical standard here, it is, it's allowable. But you shall not eat flesh with its life. That is the blood. It's interesting, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. The life of the body, the life of the flesh is in the blood. And creation.com, I got this from creation.com. Blood provides a coordinated environment for just about everything in the body. You hear the big word, you know, the alkalinity and alkaline in the blood and the body. It provides oxygen. It removes carbon dioxide and other waste products. It carries essential vitamins and minerals. Also, blood has to be in the right place, at the right time, at the right temperature, under the right pressure. And it carries messages between organs via something called hormones. And so, what we're finding is that the more you take care of your body and give it what it needs, your hormone levels balance out, your mental capabilities and your mental health. All that really balances out because now the body can work the way it was designed. And I don't want to say this, not even in my notes, but it keeps coming up. And somebody even actually, it's funny. This is funny. Somebody told me this yesterday and then I heard it last week. It's like, is that the church that you can't have coffee? I've never ever said that, nor will I say that. And somebody, they have a coffee, they hide it from you. I'm like, I don't care what you do. I'm just telling you, if you struggle with anxiety, depression, you can't sleep, well, don't drink caffeine. It's a drug. It is a drug. So take a drug. It's up to you. I'm just going to tell you the truth. It's a central nervous stimulant to put your body in fight or flight and you're irritable and shaky all day. That's just the truth. Now, what you decide, now you're convicted. Don't say you can't drink coffee at that church. I'm just saying the truth and you must be convicted. That's why you don't want to take it or want to hear more about it. So I'm just supposed to tell you the truth and then what you do with it is up to you. So all that is in the books. If you need more information on that, I guess I better drop this bomb as well. Something that really helps in this whole process and what they did earlier in creation, especially Noah, you know, there were seasons of feasts and famine. So fasting was actually a part of how we were designed. We were not designed to eat and consume as much as we consume. The fat is stored in feasting and then it's utilized during the seasons of fasting as they traveled. And so we're calling the church to a fast on January 1st. Many people did fast in October. Fine. That's great. But a lot of people didn't and they're looking forward to starting a fast again, a corporate fast with the church, January 1st. What that looks like is totally up to you. If I were you, I would get off the junk food. So you're ready because when you start to fast on junk food, you feel like you're a heroin addict in recovery because you're withdrawing from all kinds of things. So I'll have more on that as well. But anyway, I want to share this with you too. Processed meats. I forgot to just keep convicting you here. Processed meats, basically luncheon meat, sandwiches, fast food. It's now listed. You can go to the World Health Organization, even though they've lost some credibility in my mind with the recent virus. Processed meats are now listed in the same carcinogen category as alcohol, asbestos, arsenic, diesel engine, exhaust, and cigarettes. Carcinogen is cancer causing. Something as I was researching, what happens is you see the carcinogen enters in and what it does is it begins to affect the cell. And then there's cellular multiplication. There's a genetic change and then it becomes a malignant cell and then the cancer begins to form. So carcinogen is cancer causing. Cancer starts at the cellular level. And so these toxins come in and they affect the cell. And that's why with you've heard of pesticides or Roundup, glyphosate and Roundup can really do damage to those cells. And that's smoking carcinogen because it's affecting the cells and they begin to respond and they begin to multiply. And that's there's your tumor and things like that. So that's what they're finding. So I think it's time to take back our health in many areas and why this passion is a passion for me. And people do say, Shane, just focus on spiritual things. I got it, but we live in a physical body. This is how I live the rest of my life. This is how I lead the church. This is how I raise my family. This is how I lead my family. This is how I have the energy to be productive. This is how I'm in good moods and can minister to others. This affects everything I do spiritually. So you better care about both. Because if we neglect this, we will be running on one cylinder instead of eight, even spiritually speaking. I can't go minister. I don't feel good. I don't want to go do that. I don't feel good. I can't get there. I don't feel good. I'm tired. I just want to watch Netflix all day. Shane, let's just focus on the spiritual. But see your physical is affecting your spiritual. There's no way around that. But it's all true. Is it not? I mean, it's just, let's just be honest. And I know it's difficult. I know it's challenging. I've opened up about this before. For me, I love food. And I eat even good food. And I know it's hard to believe, but I'm what they would consider 30 to 40 pounds overweight. Over my ideal weight. I should weigh about 185, not 225. And I, well, Shane, no, no. But no, I'm talking about ideally how, you know, the body's carrying around all this weight. And as I get older, things aren't like they used to be. It's a little softer. I can tell, you know, might want to make some changes there. So fasting, AIDS, and all that, it's not about the physical, but our physical help affects the spiritual. Let me tell you, when I'm fasting, when I'm eating good, I come and my worship is incredible. If I stop by Dunkin Donuts and grab a venti coffee and ate junk all night and didn't have a good sleep, I'm in a bad mood. It affects me and it affects you. You can ignore it, but it does. Verse 5, surely for your life blood, now he's switching gears here, consuming food. Now he's saying, basically going to talk about an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If somebody kills somebody, they're going to lose their life. So he says here, surely for your life blood, I will demand a reckoning from the hand of every beast. I will require it. And from the hand of man, from the hand of every man's brother. I will require the life of the man. Whoever sheds man's blood, and of course, he's talking here about innocent blood, not self-defense. By man, his blood shall be shed. For in the image of God, he was made. We forget that we are made in the image of God, and this reminds us. And so that's where the capital punishment, when the founding fathers founded our nation, and they looked at Blackstone's commentaries of the laws of England from before the founding of the nation. That's where capital punishment came from. They actually gave scripture references. Did you know that? Early America gave scripture references in their legal system, and on their laws, and Webster's Dictionary, and in the school system. And so this is where the capital punishment comes from. And if you're wondering, why is crime increasing? Hello? Hello? Here's what happens now if you rob a store. Don't do that again. Don't do that again. We've decreased the penalties to such a degree that people don't really care. What about if you got a life sentence, no chance for parole if you're a sex trafficker? You think that would stop a little bit? Think that would back off? They do that to children, they should spend a life in prison. Shame, where's grace and love? That's a Christian. Legal system's different. And see, the penalty matches the action. And then you think before you react. And states have become soft in this area. And now I know sometimes innocent people are tried and convicted. I understand that the system needs a little bit of an overhaul, or looked at closely, and things like that. But overall, we can't dumb down the penalty. We can't dumb down the, and that's when crime increases. Now, of course, there's reform and rehab and things like that. I'm all for changing people and giving them a second chance when it's warranted. But the penalty has to match the crime. And actually laws and policies, laws and policies should be based on biblical principles. That's the foundation of any solid government, is the laws and principles must be based on God's Word. And that's, again, what America did early in her conception. Somebody I was on a conference call with a while ago, his name is Mike Johnson. He's a congressman in Louisiana, has a great website. He talks about how all these political hot buttons, right, where the America is divided. Left, right, progressive, this, Republican, Democrat, independent. All laws could be built on a foundation of God's Word. So technically, technically, there shouldn't be two sides. Technically, it should be what does God's Word say on these critical issues. But right now, we've got a society hell-bent on rejecting God, and you see a huge, massive division in our country. But most laws, and on his website, they said there's human dignity because all men are created equal in the image of God. Every human life has dignity and value, and every person should be measured only by the content of their character. And so see, if your laws, if the laws you're building in the country or wherever, if they're built on God's Word, they'll have a powerful impact. And you'll see how legislation is drifting away from God's Word. Have you noticed that? Calling good evil and evil good. And people will say, but Shane, you can't, you can't change a person's heart by pushing all these laws on them. True, but you can't restrain evil. You can restrain evil and deter wrongdoing, that's why God would say, don't do this, this will happen. There has to be a pushback on our behavior. I shared with you before, and some of you are new, you've probably seen this, but I was in a local store. And these three guys go running in, they grab as much as they can carry. And then they leave. And I asked the person, and he's like, well, we can't really do anything, it's under $1,000. Are you kidding me? You think it's going to stop there? You think it's going to stop there? What is happening? We have kingdoms colliding right now. You have God's kingdom wanting godliness and holiness and purity and honoring His Word. And you have a kingdom that is hell bent on rejecting God. Don't tell me what to do. And those kingdoms are colliding. So we're wanting what is pure and noble and honest and right. They're wanting what is depraved and perverted and trying to push that and legislate that. And our governor came out and challenged the Supreme Court and said, if you go against Roe v. Wade, California is going to be a sanctuary state where you can come here and slaughter your child. Why do you use such strong language? Because it's a horrific practice. God help us. God help us. Chapter 9. I'm just going to sum up verses 8 through 17. In a nutshell, God said, after the flood, Noah is released now with these words. He said, never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. So God said, never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. My rainbow in the cloud shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. So what's interesting is this logo that is used as a logo of pride is actually a reminder that God will not judge based on pride. We kind of missed that there. And so when there is a storm, the rainbow appears and it's a reminder of God's covenant, God's promise that he will not go back on, that he will not judge the earth by a flood again. And that is what the rainbow really is. And taking back the rainbow. But he said here, it's a sign. It's a sign. And God would use signs often. There were signs of his displeasure, but there were also signs that he was with someone or that he would bless someone. In this case, that he would not judge the earth like this again. And to me, this really stood out. This is a reminder. When does the rainbow come? Kind of sometimes during the storm. You ever see it raining and thundering? There's a rainbow out there sometimes after the storm. But it was a reminder to me that the rainbow comes sometimes during the storm or right after the storm. So in other words, as you're going through the storm, especially little kids, they hear the thunder, the lightning. Do you ever see them go screaming and running? They don't understand. You show them the rainbow. And so sometimes you don't see the rainbow until you're going through the storm. Many of us, we're going through the storm, but we've got to see the promise at the end of the tunnel, that rainbow. Yes, we're in the storm, but God will not let us down. And reminding ourselves of that covenantal promise. And so I'm going to get to those. I think this is so important. But I want to talk about that, the rainbow for just a minute. Because many times when I talk on this subject, you know, people say you hate people. You're a hate monger. You're a homophobe. Which none of that's true. We love, we love all people, all individuals. And I don't hate what's ahead of me. I just love what's behind me. So as you're guarding your family, guarding your children, guarding the truth, guarding the church. I love what's behind me. I don't hate what's ahead of me. But in doing that, I've got to stand up for what is right. We've got to say no, not on our watch. We've got to hold that ground. We've got to lift up the truth. That's a big misconception with Christianity right now. We're not called to be arrogant, Bible thumping, arrogant, you know, in your face, preaching. But we're not called to be passive, wimpy cowards that do nothing and say nothing. We're called to be filled with the spirit of God and boldly proclaim the truth and say that's not right. That's not good. That's not edifying. You might not like what I say. You might call me names, but I have a biblical obligation to hold the ground. God said like Moses, having done all, just stand there. Stand there with your loins girt about with truth and proclaim the truth and let the chips fall where they may. It might convict. It might offend. But Shane, don't. That's not your job. Your job is just to preach it and let me handle the details. We're so worried about offending people. Have you ever stopped to consider you might be offending God? This issue, we can speak boldly and clearly. Oh, I hurt their feelings. Yes, you might. You know, it's okay to hurt feelings. We're in the situation we're in because we're not hurting feelings sometimes. We're so worried about what we're going to think and I can't say this and I don't want to do this. Let me just be nice and a motivational speaker and I don't want to upset people. I don't want to upset people. And so people leave here justified while still living in sin. If somebody holding on to sin, rejecting God can come to church week in and week out and never be convicted. You're not having church. You're going to a motivational seminar. There should be a conviction. Not a judgment, not a hatred, but a conviction. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. I think we forget that Jesus said, if the world hates you. Wait a minute, Jesus. Wait, hold on. If the world hates you, know that it first hated me. So if the world loves the way you do church, if the world is not convicted in your church, if the world is not convicted by you or your lifestyle, are you sure you're on the right side? Because just standing up for the truth, the world is going to hate you. Because you shine a light in the darkness. So finally, the part I wanted to get to and it only took 25 minutes. Reasons why I'm not panicking. You can pick up this brochure from gotquestions.org that lists all these in the lobby. It's so powerful to meditate on. The reason I want to bring these up is if you're like me, you forget about the promises of God sometimes. And you get caught up on the headlines. What's Elon Musk doing? What's China doing? What's Russia doing? By the way, my concerns are with those two individuals. They so disrespect Biden. It's amazing. We used to be that the world will look to us for authority and military dominance. Now they laugh at us. Don't worry, I might get political, so I'm going to stay here. I know, me too. People get mad at me. Why are you political? Well, the Bible's political. Did you know the word politics means governing or leading a group of people? And you don't think the Bible has anything to say about that? It has quite a bit to say about leading or directing a group of people. It has quite a bit to say about laws governing a nation. It has quite a bit to say what is good and evil and what is right and wrong. It has a lot to say about that. The problem is it's difficult. And you step on toes. And you have to be a little bold to talk about controversial issues. But the Bible talks about our borders. It talks about the definition of marriage. It talks about how Congress should act, the president. It talks about the things we don't want to talk about, it talks about. Really what they want the church to do is shut their mouth. You shut your mouth, you worry about religion, we'll handle the other stuff. But they're interwoven. Now you don't get on political rants. But if it fits into what God's Word says, it fits into what God's Word says. For example, the founders of America quoted or referenced the Bible four times more than any other source when they put together the founding documents. Did you know that? They referenced the Bible four times more than any other source. You can go back and look, but you couldn't even run for office unless you believed in God and in Jesus Christ. Boy, that's pretty narrow. Separation of church and state. Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. I'm a dreaded sign language guy, crazy, I'll slow down. I'm slowing down for you right now. But that's not true. See, America can't establish a national religion, but we can sovereignly acknowledge the hand of God who has guided us. Acknowledgement is not establishment. Anyway, I better get back on track. I just have a desire for that because we have been so misled that the pulpit is just to focus on these things that have no outward political involvement. Don't step on these toes. Just stay here, and you feed the homeless, and you paint houses, and you just do good things, and you let us handle everything else. The reason that we're in the predicament we're in is because we have done that. We have given up the reins of truth to the culture. So, let's look at these promises. Get back on track. You guys got me off track here. God promised that if we search for Him, we will find Him. Deuteronomy. Now, another translation, your translation might say, if you seek me. It says, if you seek me with all of your heart, you will find me. See, that's a promise, and God isn't like hiding behind the drum set. It's not that kind of hiding. It's a spiritual. You ever feel dry and empty inside? Anybody? Dry, empty, distant from God? Many times, it's not His fault. It's our fault. There has to be a yearning and a desire, and that word seek, I've told you many times before, it's like losing your child in a crowded mall. Has that ever happened to you? I mean, you like, you about go ballistic. Everything changes. You're not hungry. You don't have to go to the bathroom. You don't care what your schedule is. You have to find that child. That's what this is. When you look for God as if He's the priority, when you put Him back on the throne, when He is front and center in your life, when you give Him everything, when you begin to seek Him and search for Him, everything else becomes secondary. He becomes primary. He says, then and only then will you find me. I will rain down from heaven. I will change you. I will direct you. If you seek me with all of your heart, you will find me. And once you find Him, oh, you never want to let go. Church, have you ever been there? When you felt the presence and power of God and He changed you and you just held on to that, I never, never want to let that go. If you seek me with all of your heart, you will find me. And I'm convinced that many of you are bored in church because you're not seeking Him. You're not fully surrendering your lives. You've got one foot in. I like the world, but I like God. And I'm miserable because you cannot serve two masters. You'll either love the one and hate the other or despise the one and be loyal to the other. You cannot serve both God and this world. For years, 11 years, I've mentioned full surrender. Dozens and dozens and dozens of times. And it has nothing to do with perfection. It has everything to do with emptiness. Lord, I give you my agenda, my finances, my children, my mouth, my lust, my desires, everything, God, I give you everything. I need you. I'm emptying myself of everything, God. Would you come and fill me? Because what happens when we hold on to a certain area of life? God, you can have everything except, you know what this is. Don't act like you don't. You know, we hold on to that. Do your kids ever do that? My little two and a half year old had something I wanted. She's like, no. It's mine. Mine. And we don't want God to have that. And so we go through life and we're just miserable. We're not happy. When I do this, I get angry. I'm mad. I'm angry. I'm irritated because I want this. I want this. And when you try to get this, I'm mad. Full surrender is just giving God everything. Your agendas, your desires, your gifting. Say, God, how do you want to use me? Come with your repentant heart. If you seek him, you will find him. God promises protection for his children. God promises protection for his children. Psalm 121, read that today if you need encouragement here. The psalmist says, I look to the hills. Where does my help come from? And during that time, they would be surrounded by armies and maybe Judah or Israel or one of the tribes would come down and say, here comes my help. Here comes my help coming down from the mountains. So the psalmist says the same thing. Where does my help come from? It comes from the hills. Here comes God Almighty. Who can stand before God Almighty? You plus God is the majority. No matter, no weapon formed against you will prosper when God is on your side. He will protect his children and then his promise that his love will never fail. His love will never fail. No matter what you're going through, disappointment, discouragement, they do not fail. You might not feel, fill them all the time. But not feeling is not, feeling is different than failing. Failing is I promised you this and I can't fulfill it. I have failed you. And God's love will never fail you from the day you make that decision to follow him to the day you die. That love is with you, his mercy and grace. And of course, we can look at the New Testament. God promises salvation. He promises salvation to all who believe in his son. He promises salvation to all who believe in his son. That's a promise. All who, all means all. Let me reread that. Maybe I have to look at the Greek. Make sure all means all. That all might mean some. No, all. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And I believe the reference there, Romans 1 is, I am not ashamed of what? Of the gospel. How many of you are ashamed of the gospel? You don't share your faith? You don't want people to know? You look at your social media posts, you would never know. It's funny, I know I've told this story before, but it just cracks me up. Some people come up and they'll be like, oh, pastor, I can't believe that message was just so impactful and it changed my life and I just, I kind of joke around and I want to see where they're at. I go, why don't you share it on social media tomorrow? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. My friends will think I'm weird. See, we have this dichotomy going on here. Who we are here is not who we are out there because we're ashamed of the gospel. And please understand, I can relate. Sometimes I just want to just be quiet, live my life and don't want to talk about, especially on the airplane but there should be, there's a desire to share the gospel if it has really changed your life. See, most people don't share it because it really hasn't changed their life. They haven't really experienced God. Once you experience God, like the disciples, you can't shut up. That's what the filling of the Holy Spirit is. It's a boldness to witness. I have to tell people about my faith. I have to share it. And if that's not bubbling up inside of you, what is inside of you? Are we clenching and grieving the spirit? If you don't have that desire, pray for that desire this morning. There's only two reasons. Two reasons we will not share our faith. Number one, we don't have genuine saving faith. But Shane, we're all in church. Oh, hmm. We can have head knowledge but not heart knowledge. Many people say the right thing. Jesus even said, they draw nigh unto me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. Matthew 7. Many will come to me in that day and say, Lord, Lord, we did all these things in your name. And he'll say, depart from me. I never knew you. You practice lawlessness. Wait a minute. See, so there are a lot of people in the church throughout America that have head knowledge but not heart knowledge. Why are they going to talk about genuine faith, saving faith, when they themselves don't have it? I would bet that there's people here this morning or watching that can relate to this. You know, you don't know the man of salvation but you don't know the man of salvation. Oh, I can keep digging if you want. I don't leave here going, I hope everybody liked my sermon. I leave here going, Lord, did I please you? That's my game. That's my goal. People leave every single week. You don't know about this church. I'll just tell you, every single week, people leave every single week because the messages are too hard. That's what I hear. That's what I hear. But isn't that amazing? What we don't want to hear, we need to hear. That's why I say if you don't like what I'm saying, it's because you need to hear what I'm saying. Or the second reason, the reason a lot of Christians, I'm talking about Christians that don't share their faith, is they're not filled with the Holy Spirit. Because when you're filled, you know, after you're worshiping, you're fasting, there goes that word again, and you're just on fire for God and you're in His word and you're lined up with His will, you're obeying Him, and you're just so excited. I've got to tell people about what God has done when the Holy Spirit came and rocked that upper room and 120 were just filled with the Holy Spirit. They were already Christians. I can go on another topic on this one. They were already believers, but the Holy Spirit came in upon them. He was already in them, but He was not yet upon them. This overwhelming, they go out and tell, can I pray for you? They're looking for these opportunities. That's nowhere to be found in the church. Many of us, we won't talk to a person about Christ for the rest of the year because we're quenching and grieving the Spirit of God. We're not full of the Spirit. And from that reservoir comes witnessing. Think about this verse. I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but Jesus said, if you believe on Me, as the Scriptures say, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. So why are most Christians stagnant and dead inside? Where are these rivers of living water? Either Christ is wrong or something is kinking the hose. Something is kinking the hose. Another illustration I gave about seven years ago, I was out back with my son. He had the water on. He had one of those water faucets where full blast is like hard to hold the hose. And it's just like dripping out and we didn't know what was going on until we researched the kinks in the hose. Full pressure, ready to go, was stopped by the kinks in the hose. We went and did those kinks. He couldn't even hold it. That's what quenching and grieving the Spirit is. Folks, if we could get everyone in this room on fire for God, we would change that community. Everyone on fire for God, filled with God's Spirit, desiring more of Him in His Word, wanting to be holy, wanting to be, but we hold on. Shane, don't take that from me. Don't take that from me. I love my addiction. I love my lust. I love my pride. Don't take that from me and we don't make an impact for God. That's the only two things being filled with the Spirit and ministering to others. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel. Here's a promise. God promises that all things work together for good for His children. Thank God for that one. I don't know how it works, but the example I've heard before is it's like a cake. Do you ever try the ingredients of a cake outside of them being mixed together? You ever try baking powder by itself? Or wheat? Nowadays, it's probably all chemicals, but back when they would really make cakes, you know, the right types of cakes, not sodium nitrates and polycarbonates and food coloring 40 and red dye 60 and monosodium glutamate and partial hydrogenated oils. I mean, like real, real good stuff. It tasted gross until you put it together. Same thing with God and His will. All things will work together, but He says, for good for His children and that means are you in His will? Are you obeying God? See, we can line up with God's will by obeying Him and getting back into the center of His will or we can continue to run from Him. God promises comfort in our trials. God promises new life in Christ. God promises every spiritual blessing in Christ and this is not bling bling. Every spiritual blessing has to do with salvation, knowing God's will, the guarantee of the Holy Spirit. All of these promises, remember, you can take all these promises to the bank. What about the other one up there? God promises to finish the work He started in you. So let me encourage you this morning. If you're distraught, if you're hopeless, if you're a believer and you're quenching and grieving the Spirit, if you align yourself again with God's will, if you repent of pride, repent of arrogance, repent of besetting sin, repent and get back on track, God will complete that work that He has begun in you. It's His job. Did you know His job is to fix you? His job is to promote you. His job is to fill you with the Spirit. His job is to get you on the right track. His job is to grow the ministry. All you do are, all you are is an empty willing vessel to let God do what He will do. Then Philippians, God promises peace when we pray. If you need peace today, change everything in your life and schedule it around this. You ready? Put this on your calendar. You guys got pens out? Can you put your phones out for this? Pray. Put prayer on the calendar. I started that 20 years ago and it's been a wonderful... Pray. This is on my calendar. Four in the morning till seven in the morning. That's my schedule. It doesn't work that way. Sometimes I get interrupted with kids waking up. But that's on the calendar. So what does that mean? I have to schedule it all the time because I have to hit this commitment. Not all the time. There's flexibility, but it's got to be scheduled. If not, what do we do? Oh, I'll get to it when I have some time. We put God on the back burner and here it is, this God who wants a relationship with you to guide you, to direct you, to encourage you, to uplift you. That relationship is right there with the God of the universe. Little specks on the earth here can have a relationship with God. He can actually guide us and lead us and sustain us and encourage us if we take that time and put Him first. It's difficult. Your flesh will fight you every chance it gets. You'll say, I'm going to pray tonight and guess who will start whispering your name? Amazon Prime. What's some other ones out there? Oh, work. Work. Work. What's a profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul? I just saw on the news, Elon Musk is just thinking about quitting. You're a billionaire and you're miserable? Hello. Riches do not satisfy. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul? And the more we actually pursue riches, the more dissatisfied we become. The more angry we become. The more empty we become because we're pursuing that which cannot be pursued. It's an idol. It's idolatry. I'm not saying wealth is bad. I'm just saying, what is your focus? And then finally, Jesus promises, I'll go quickly, He promises rest. He promises abundant life. He promises eternal life. He promises His disciples power from on high. Is that interesting? That's one eight. You shall receive boredom when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You shall receive mediocrity when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You shall receive what? Power. Not the power to go do your agenda. The power of God resting on your life. I mean, call me naive, but I still believe you can pray with people and they'll be healed. I still believe that you can witness to somebody because the power of God is so real and evident on your life. I believe that you can do great exploits like Jesus said, he who believes on me will do these things. And I love, again, our nation. I love, but our blessing has become our curse. Abundance always leads to apathy. And Jesus promises that He will return. The final blessing there in John 14. Jesus promises He will return. This is why I don't get caught up in theological debates on when Jesus is coming. Pre-Trib, Post-Trib, Mid-Trib, All-Millennial, Pre-Millennial, Post-Millennial. Who's the Antichrist? What's this? I just know He's coming again and I've got to be ready and I've got to prepare people to be ready. So I'll close with this. God looks at the heart and I said this, oh, I knew I got it somewhere. We're not saved by the plan of salvation. Did you know that? When I first, I heard it from Adrian Rogers, he said, we're not saved by the plan of salvation. The plan of salvation doesn't save you. The man of salvation saves you. So many people know the plan. We've done a great job in America of educating. Oh, I know that. Oh, I know, I know, Jesus Christ died for me. Yeah, yeah, I got it. What do you mean? Oh, I know the plan, but you don't know the man because if you knew the man, your life would be radically changed. You'd be forever alone. So I'll just put up the scripture since I already said it, Matthew 16, 26. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Or what will you give in exchange for your soul? And I see this a lot now that my kids are in sports. We've made sports idolatry. Whether it's baseball, basketball, soccer, all these things we're pursuing, all these things, if I could just get this, if I could just capture this, if I could just do, what will it profit you to gain all these things but lose your very soul? All this money we pay and invest and yes, your kid can be the best athlete, but what about if they're on their way to hell? What did you accomplish? What does it profit you to gain the whole world but lose your soul? Take inventory of your heart this morning. Do you truly know Christ or do you have religion and not a relationship? Have you bowed your knee to Jesus Christ because there's a day coming where that commitment will be too late on that day of judgment? The Bible is now is the day of salvation. It's always the urgency, the urgency, the urgency. Go and tell the people of their sins urgency, urgency, urgency. Now is the day of salvation. When you hear God's voice three times in the book of Hebrews, harden not your heart, harden not your heart, harden not your heart. The proud, arrogant heart must be crushed under the weight of the gospel and people must repent and believe. So if you need to make that decision today, we'd love to pray with you next door in the prayer room. You don't have to say anything of eloquence and thank God, God doesn't look for eloquent perfect prayers or I'd be in trouble. You know what? He actually doesn't even listen to the words but to the heart. The heart cry, the heart breaks. He says, God, I need you. I'm a sinner, save me. A verse that stood out when I came back to the Lord, I opened the Bible, I'll never forget this verse. If you deny me before men, I will deny you before the Father. And I was a coward at that point. I never talked about Jesus. I was a Christian but you wouldn't know it and that verse I pray, God, fill me with your spirit. I need you. I don't want to ever be embarrassed because I'm a sinner.