The Tree of Physical & Spiritual Health

We're in the book of Revelation 22. The title is The Tree of Physical and Spiritual Health. Don't worry, it'll make sense in a little bit.

This is the last message in Revelation. Can you believe it? Started in April of last year. This is the last message.

We worked through Revelation 1, 2, and 3, the message to the church. We went into Revelation 4 where John is taken up into heaven. We went into 5 and 6 where it said, who is worthy to open the scroll? And Jesus opened the scroll, and then the judgments came following that.

Different judgments, right? The trumpet judgments. It begins with the scrolls being opened, the trumpet judgments, the bulls being unleashed. In the middle there is the woman trying to be destroyed by the beast and representing Israel, the 144,000.

Do not take the mark of the beast. What does that mean? And then it concludes with another set of final judgments, and then we get into Jesus Himself coming down. It says He comes down with the armies of heaven.

You know, out of His mouth goes that sword. He strikes the nation. He rules the nations with the rod of iron.

And we talked about the millennium, and now we're here at the end. So, if you missed any of that, you're going to have to go back to one of our social media channels and get caught up. And I can tell you now, after thoroughly studying it, looking at commentaries, it's still not crystal clear exactly how it's all going to pan out.

But are we ready? Are we ready? That is the key. And God allows post-trib and mid-trib and pre-trib to fellowship together. He allows all millennial and dispensationalism to fellowship together.

He allows rapture now, rapture later. Although, here's what the rapture really meant. I just listened to N.T. Wright.

Somebody sent me a YouTube video on his view of the rapture. I'm like, well, that's another interesting one. It's to say never end.

That's why it doesn't change the way you live. No matter what we believe about revelation, it shouldn't change the way we live. We're always living in expectation.

We're always living with the possibility of going through tribulation and suffering. And it doesn't change how we live. So if you're wanting to fight over the views like I've been there, you might want to check your heart.

It's a heart check. Because pride, the best way to know if you're prideful is you want to be argumentative and defensive. Can anybody relate? Anybody else struggle with pride or just me? Every single hand in this room needs to go up.

How do I know that? Because it's part of the fallen nature. You can focus on humility. You can be so humble.

And then when you start to really, when you really, I've been here, when you really do get humble, you know, and then now you think you're humble, well, here comes pride. It just snuck in there. So the tree of physical and spiritual health, Revelation 22, very interesting topic as well.

It talks about the river of life. Last week, the heavens, the new heavens, the new earth, this temple, the new temple comes down. It appears that we're going to live and dwell with God in this new Jerusalem and with the new heavens, the new earth, how that all works.

Again, we're going to have to see. But apparently, there is a river of water of life. Is it an actual river? Water.

And we know we're spiritual, right? But Jesus' resurrected body actually ate. He ate fish on the shore. And so, again, we'll find out.

We don't know exactly how this is going to all work. And I'm glad I don't know everything, aren't you? A little mystery of God being in charge is much greater than me knowing everything. So Revelation 22, He showed me a pure river of water.

It was clear as crystal. Beautiful. Proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb.

So again, last week, we had this picture of God's throne. And the Lamb, of course, is sitting the right hand of the Father. And from this throne, it appears that there's this river of water flowing out.

Beautiful and crystal. And I just want to stop on that point and remind us of the power of purity. The power of purity.

A pure river. A pure God. A holy God.

Prepare yourself. Sanctify yourself. Because tomorrow the Lord is going to do great exploits.

And we see throughout the Bible that there's this call to purity. A call to holiness. And although we're not going to strive and we're going to reach perfection, there should be a desire for purity.

And so what we see going on in our country should be appalling. The sexual perversion. And although, especially young adults too, and although sometimes we fall, but there should be the pursuit of purity.

Maybe that would have been a better point and even a good topic in the future. The pursuit of purity. There should be something about the purity of God and the holiness of God.

And I know sometimes we can be so corrupted by sin that we lose that anointing. We lose the power of God in our life. And actually, that's how you quench and grieve the Spirit.

It's not just by negative Nelly attitudes and critical Carrie attitudes. Is there a Carrie here? Oh, sorry. Different.

Critical Cathy. Oh, there's a Cathy too. I'll think of something different.

But it's not about attitudes always. Sometimes it's about our hearts and how we live. And that purity is so important.

So I want to encourage you this morning, maybe you blew it this morning or last night, you can get back on track. You say, God, I want to fight for that like never before. And let me tell you, just how you can change a physical appetite, you can change a spiritual appetite.

The more you hunger for the things of God, the more you'll desire those things. Listen, I can tell you, I remember my past. Many of you, when you're bound in sin and you can't break free and your body actually drives you to the liquor store, not physically, but you know, and it drives you to the... I mean, it's like you've got this desire.

You can break free of those things and begin to hunger and thirst for the things of God. It can happen. It is a process though sometimes.

But a verse I came across, I'm sharing it with the men. But I said, it's been on my heart to also share it with you. So if you're coming Saturday, you're going to hear it as well.

1 Corinthians 3.16.17 I thought of this applying to purity. Do you not know that you are the temple of God? And didn't you guys sing about that? I think a couple songs ago. Good confirmation.

Thank you, Lord. I needed that. You are the... And this verse, I mean, I just sat there for probably an hour.

I looked up some words. I said, I've read this dozens of times. Dozens of times.

But when you realize you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in us, that's a game changer. That might affect our choices. This is God's temple.

How I take care of God's temple. How you take care of God's temple. And it's so precious in His sight.

If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. Now before you get too bent out of shape, thank God for the Greek lexicon. I don't know actually why the translators decided to use this word, but it actually means if you begin to defile the temple of God, unrepentant sin, and you're living in defilement, God will injure you.

He could knock you down. He could dismantle your life or impair you from movement, propelling us to repent. And I shared with you, I think at the Saturday, I don't remember, but one of the things looking back, I think God used me getting sick in this way because I was getting pretty critical about what's going on.

Angry. And you know if you focus too much on the media and the news, and don't focus as much on the good news, the bad news can begin to taint you. And it's a way of saying, hey, hotshot, you need to just lay in bed for a while and appreciate these things and get your heart back in a humble spot.

And so it's not that God destroys you, but He injures. Anybody been knocked down by God? Anybody been dismantled or impaired? And that's the way God disciplines. Those He loves, and you hear the word, the King James I think uses chastise.

But again, look, it means He will. Another great sermon title in the future, Spanked by God. Don't you love those? And it's so hard, especially with girls, it was so hard for me to spank.

Stop it. And even with my youngest, I cannot even just... And she'll just start breaking down. Right? Because you love them.

You love them. You can't put the knife in the electrical thing. Right? Who He loves, He rebukes.

So if you're being rebuked by God, and how does He do it? It's endless. I wouldn't even try to... A person could rebuke you. A situation, a conviction.

How many of us have been rebuked by even our kids? By what they said? How they treated us? Those things are powerful. Powerful. I haven't mastered it yet, and I'm working on it, but I'll never forget the day my daughter, my oldest, and I've talked about it before.

I hope she's okay with it now. Too late now, right? But she's, Dad, you always find time to pray for other people, but not for me. Oh, ow! So this morning, up early, praying for all my kids, my wife, I've got the whole list right there.

And making that time. Still need to make more time, but those things are meant to learn and grow, correct? Now, is that the first response, or does my defense attorney come to the stand? Well, you know, I'm busy. I'm a pastor.

I'm a lead pastor at radio. See, defense. Most people don't grow and learn because their defense attorney takes over, and they blame shift.

God is wanting to wake them up, to utilize certain situations, to draw them closer to Him, and they don't progress because we don't allow that hammer of God to break us. That sword of the Spirit to convict us. Thomas Brooks, a famous Puritan said, the world and you must part, or Christ and you will never meet.

That's mainly for the unbeliever. But boy, does that principle overlap a little bit to a believer, doesn't it? You could say the world and you must part, or you will never have that intimate relationship with Christ. Because that pulls us away like a magnet.

The pull of the world. Now we're definitely going to shift gears. If we've ever shifted gears, it's right now.

Verse 2, so in the middle of its street, so you have the street. In the middle of the street, on either side of the river, a little confusing, I wanted to give you a good picture, but couldn't find one, copyright and things, was the tree of life. So is there a tree of life in heaven? Apparently.

What does this tree of life do? It bore 12 fruits. Each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Now, again, you can look at commentary, especially 100 years ago, 200 years ago, current. There's a lot of different views. But it reminds me of Genesis 1. Was it 1? Yeah, Genesis 1, around chapter 9, he created the greens and things.

But here's this tree that you can eat of, the tree of life. Is it possible that these leaves or these nutrients, they gave life to the body? It's very interesting. Did you know that your cells are actually designed to keep replicating and replicating and replicating? If you study biology at a very deep level, the microchondria, the ATP, the energy, you can see.

And so something as we get older, something shifts, it changes. And what usually it is, it's the toxicity that begins to weaken the cells and they can no longer divide as we age. So was it possible that that's how God gave the eternal life and to live eternally? Was to eat and consume these things that would keep the body? And then after sin and now the sin and the curse and now the body is broken? Possibly it's very interesting because also in Ezekiel we see the same type of picture.

The tree, these leaves were given for the healing of the nations. But why do the nations need healing in heaven? I'll let you leave here this morning with that question because I don't have the answer. But I thought this was a great opportunity to remind you often, even now we're either fighting disease or we are fueling it.

Healing even now, healing involves adding and subtracting. So a lot of you, if you want to bring healing to your body, you really have to look at what you're consuming. Did you know that even today, food either gives life or it fuels disease.

Isn't that interesting? Well, what food gives life? Well, did God create it or did a factory? Think about how profound this is. God says, I give you all this food in Genesis. And we know now that this is the food.

So when you eat, so when your parents said, eat your vegetables, those actually give life to the body. The enzymes for digestion, the antioxidants for health, the pectin from the apple, the fiber, all of that. So I'm eating a living food that gives life to my body.

And that's what it's saying here. The leaves of the tree, the life of the body. Or I can choose Captain Crunch.

And I don't want to name your favorite fast food place, but it's junk, junk, junk, junk, junk. I'm getting emails, but it's a Christian company. Well, it's junk, junk, junk, junk, junk.

I'm going to write Chick-fil-A and In-N-Out Burger and their ingredients list. You don't need 55 of them, of which they are chemicals designed to make us crave more. Enjoy it while you can, but I'm just telling you, I've got to shoot you straight, right? And I know many of us will go to those places, but I'm just telling you what's on my heart.

For me, it's about productivity over longevity and being the best that I can. So in taking care of the temple, is it not also required or expected of us to take physical care of the temple? Something to think about. I'll let you deal with God on that one.

I know for me, absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, because when I'm not taking care of the physical part of it, it affects the spiritual. I truly believe that's why Paul said, I discipline my body and I bring it under subjection. I discipline, I control my body.

And as a result of that now, I can control other areas of my life. Paul actually said, if I don't discipline my body, what? I discipline my body, bring it under subjection. Or when I preach, I'm actually disqualified because I'm preaching a message that I myself am not self-controlled in these areas.

There's no other way to put that. He said, or I'll become disqualified. And as a preacher, I know exactly what he's talking about because if I start to give in to the lusts of the flesh and undisciplined and just let go on everything, I will be disqualified.

Because those things lead to not good things. When you're undisciplined, it leads to a very destructive lifestyle. And that's one of my concerns is this concept of discipline and perseverance and commitment and fortitude and strength.

Those qualities are not really talked about much today. They really aren't. So I'm going to just cover these quickly if you want more information.

Ironically, this is just perfect timing. This week, over the next few weeks, I'm putting my health and fitness book on Audible. Finally finding the time to do it.

I'm going to unpack this topic completely. All types of macronutrients, micronutrients, workout. So for those who want more of this, it's going to be coming out on YouTube in the next few weeks, each chapter.

So we'll go deep into those. And God's just, I've got so many notes that I've been sharing on there. So look for that if you need more help.

But I don't want to waste that time on a Sunday morning. But I do want to talk about the four horsemen of chronic disease briefly because we're talking about the healing of these leaves. And the four horsemen of the chronic disease by Peter Atiyah, he said, the causes of death, this is the causes of death in over 80% of people over 50.

Number one, cardiovascular disease. Anybody just see the report that came out on Mendisa's autopsy? This was it. And that broke my heart to see her pass away.

And you do wonder how many more, could we have had 20 more years? 30 more years of Mendisa and that gifting? And any time I say this, let me just handle it right now because I know it will come up. But Shane, our days are numbered. Yeah, but that doesn't mean I go drive off a cliff.

I have responsibility while my days are numbered. And it is hard because, yes, our days are numbered. God knows them.

But also, we have responsibilities on our end. And I do believe in between God's sovereignty and our ability to make choices, somehow our choices have consequences. And so if I were to just let go and get back up to 270 pounds, I might be leaving this earth a little quicker.

A decade or two quicker. Because my choices could have long-term ramifications. We see that throughout the Bible.

Sometime we ever want to go through a study on that, we can't. To show how our choices, and of course, you know, cancer, neurogenerative diseases of the Alzheimer's, and then foundational issues with type 2 diabetes. These are the main, main killers right now taking life.

What's my point? My point is, you ready for the biggie? Most of the things that are happening, most of them are diet related. So these things that a lot of people are dying from are a direct result of how we're taking care of the temple, or not taking care of the temple. What about genetics? Yes, genetics load the gun, but lifestyle pulls the trigger.

I'll let you absorb that for a minute. I know it's a little heavy. Lifestyle, I mean, I'm sorry, our genetics load the gun, but it's a lifestyle that actually pulls the trigger.

What do they mean by that? Because genetics plays a role of about 25%. And then you can study all this if you want. You can look up this term epigenetics.

And they're studying how actually genetics don't play a role like we thought. What happens is the genes express themselves in a certain way. Gene expression.

So I can cause my genes to express themselves a different way based on my lifestyle choices. It's just absolutely amazing. So the healing in these leaves, it is plant power.

Plant power. Genesis 1, Ezekiel 47, Revelation 22. Plant power.

And we even see that today. All these terms you guys know. You've heard of echinacea, elderberry, turmeric, ginger, metformin and rapamycin are actually medications that people are on.

How many are on these medications? If you metformin or rapamycin? Oh, I thought there'd be more. It's diabetes. It's diabetes.

Mainly, I think both are diabetes. And believe it or not, the interesting rapamycin was found on Easter Island, believe in the 1970s, in soil. And they said this is going to make a really good antibiotic or antifungal medication.

And how it affects glucose and different things. And metformin comes from the lilac plant in France. Echinacea, elderberry.

These are all plant-based. So I wonder, are we missing? Are we really missing a lot by not eating more God-given food? The way He designed it? Take it to the Lord. I'm not going to get into all the debates about what diet is best.

I will do that on my podcast. But as we speak, these things are killing our families. And obesity in children.

Folks, we've got to do something. We've got to do something. So I'll leave you with these five biblical tips, and then I will get right back into it.

So in the same way you can change your spiritual cravings, you can change your physical cravings. Like I said, number one, eat the food God created in moderation. Focusing on the low-calorie, nutrient-dense foods.

That's why they say the salads and all these things, all these low-calorie but heavy-dense foods will help. Don't diet, amen? Amen. Don't diet.

If they don't diet, they do not work. And that's actually the name of my book, Why Diets Don't Work, that I'm putting on Audible. The reason is a 30-day or 60-day diet or whatever will never, never solve a long-term problem.

So, man, I'm going to do this for 60 days. Well, what are you going to do with the next 60 years? This has to be some type of lifestyle approach. And that's why even the experts are divided.

You'll see different... That's why here's the key. What does the Bible say? What does the Bible say? You don't have to listen to... Because who else goes insane listening to the different views? Eat eggs? Don't eat eggs. Who's right? Keto, carnivore, whole plant-based foods? This expert, what? We know this for certain.

Then you've got Madugo, you've got Esselstyn, you've got plants over forks or forks over whatever that... And then only, only, only plants. How dare you eat meat? It's like... And then the meat, it's like, Lord, what does the Bible say? This took away all my confusion, made it very clear. What does the Bible say? In the beginning, He created lots of vegetables and lots of fruit.

Very good. It gives life to the body. That should be your main, main staple, and that is not the case for 90% of the people in this room.

What about meat and dairy? What's the Bible say? Abraham actually fed angels meat and dairy. Jesus ate meat. In the Bible, it says, I will bless you with goats and cattle, and you will make curds.

What is curds? Yogurt. What does the Bible say? But if you eat that, it needs to be very clean, in moderation. And they also were very lean, and they walked a lot, and they moved a lot.

So I don't like meat and dairy. Well, if you're just sitting around, you better avoid those things. You better get into the real stuff.

And if I, let's say I'm diagnosed with some type of disease, I will go completely plant-based. Because what happens, let's say what the big debate with high protein is, have you heard of something called mTOR? Mammalian target of rapamycin in the cell. They're discovering this.

Protein elevates mTOR. mTOR is a signaling pathway for growth. IGF-1, Insulinic Growth Factor 1 also brings growth.

Guess what grows cancer? Those. So, yes, I would probably avoid meat and dairy in that case. However, glucose can feed cancer as well.

I've done a lot of research on it, and we don't know. We just trust God. But we can make a lot of better decisions on how we take care of our body.

Of course, wean off addictions. Hello? That's the biggie. Wean off addictions.

Next, move it or lose it is true. Move it or lose it is true. I see all these people trying to get 10,000 steps in a day.

Do you know how hard that is? That's hard. I've got to like park at the mall and walk across the other side of the mall and go walk for a couple hours. But we've got to move more.

It's estimated Jesus walked around 22,000 miles in His ministry. Walked. We have to move more.

And then finally, of course, you've got to try to find a way to relax with stress and sleep. Sleep is so important. People don't realize this is when your body heals.

Sleep. So if you're taking things, alcohol late or caffeine, it really hurts sleep. You're not getting that deep healing sleep.

That's why you wake up feeling worse than when you went to bed. These guys, these are critical. But here's the key.

What does it profit you to gain the whole world and look like a model if you lose your soul? Even as a Christian, it can become an obsession. So be very, very careful. Very careful.

Don't try to force these views on other people. I've seen so many people become so dogmatic, so dogmatic that they actually hurt a lot of people. And they take up their cause.

And you can't, you can't, you can't force it on people. You just have to present the truth and let God deal with them. So that the first couple of sentences are sentences.

Scriptures dealt with this water and the stream. But then in verse three, it says, and there will be no more curse. Praise God.

No more curse. But the throne of God and the lamb shall be in it. And his servants shall serve him.

They shall see his face. Oh, praise God. And his name shall be on their foreheads.

And there shall be no more night. Why is there no more night? Because God Himself will give them this light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

But I love God's Word. It gives one last final warning. Verses 6 and 7, Then He said to me, These words are faithful and true.

And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place. Behold, I am coming quickly. I am coming quickly.

Did you know you can be blessed by keeping God's Word? Blessed is he who keeps the Word of the prophecy of this book. Regardless of the storms and the difficulties, keep the course toward Christ. Keep that course.

And I won't go into another teaching on this because I have many times, but the word keep, if you've been coming here a little while, you remember that it's like a captain navigating his ship in the Pacific. It drifts off course sometimes. It doesn't go a perfect straight line.

It drifts off course, but what is he doing? He's keeping the course. Keeping the course based on the compass. So although you fall off, you get back up and keep the course.

You keep Him in sight. And he who keeps the Word of the prophecy of this book applies to the book. The book of what? Revelation.

Well, what am I supposed to keep in Revelation? Well, tonight, go read chapters 1, 2, and 3. Talks about the lukewarm church, the arrogant church, the loveless church. And these are very important principles. And throughout Revelation, he talks about persevering and committing to Christ and repenting.

And then it goes on in v. 8, 9, Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship Him. He worshiped the angel.

Not good. And the angel said, maybe he's pulling him up, I don't know. See that you do not do that.

I'm your fellow servant. So an angel is considered a fellow servant. And I'm your brethren, the prophets, and of those who keep the word of this book, worship God.

Worship God, not me. And it just really stood out how important it is to worship God. We think we're worshiping God, but are we? Bible study tools is a good resource.

It said, if Christianity is the transformation of rebels into worshipers, oh, I love that, then it is imperative for the Christian to know and understand what is biblical worship. Well, if you look up the word in Webster's dictionary, it's to adore something and to idolize it, to esteem, to make something worthy, to reverence. And you really have to think, what is in our life? What am I idolizing? You know, so many people, they go through life, if I could just be that famous person, or if I could just be that YouTube influencer, or if I'm just looking at what can I wait to get home and watch, and idolizing, and my money, and my pursuit, and where all of this energy is pursuing something, be careful, because that could be a form of worship.

We must pursue God first and foremost, seeking first the Kingdom of God, and then all these other things are added to that. And I can tell you, any time you seek something other than God, it is empty. It is distracting.

It is futile. It is a waste of time. But when you begin to worship God, and adore Him, and idolize Him, what happens? Now you're making choices based on that adoration.

And that leads to an abundant life. Yet truly defining worship proves more difficult, because it is both an attitude, and it is an act. I'm so glad they said that, because I've often thought that as well.

Worship is not just this. How many people come, and they worship with this? They read, and they're like, ah, singing, singing. I'm sounding like the elf.

Yeah, I'm singing in the shower. I'm singing. But I don't know how I thought of that.

But he's singing, right? Singing. They're not worshiping. They're not worshiping, because they're bored to death.

Gosh, Swoop Brown is going long today. Well, I better do this since I feel better. Oh man, later today I've got to be here.

I've got to do that tomorrow. Oh my goodness, I don't know. I'm not going to come for a few weeks.

I made it today. That's not worship. But you're at a worship service.

So you can go through the motions and not be worshiping. It's an action and an attitude. It's where the heart meets the hand.

And there's different postures. There's different ways to do it. But something should grip us, shouldn't it? Something should grip if we're worshiping.

Think of something you'd like to do when you go and do it, you don't just stand there like a statue. Something's engaged. It grips you a different way.

And we all are created differently. We don't have to worship the same way. Worship truly connects the heart with the spirit of worship, with the truth about God.

That's why Jesus said true worshipers worship God in spirit and in truth. Many, and they might even hear this, that's okay, many who belong to a false religion or a cult, and they're going through motions and they're following these rituals and different things, they think they're worshiping, they're not worshiping. They're going through the motions because that worship is not lined up with the true heart of God.

They do not have a relationship with Him. There's no worship outside of a relationship with God. In truth, that's why Jesus said, in truth, I tell you the truth.

God's Word is true. Do you have that true relationship with Him? Then from that is going to flow the worship. And then 22, 10 through 11.

And He said to me, do not seal the words up of the prophecy of this book. Interesting, He told Daniel to seal up the words for later. John, He's saying do not seal up these words.

The time is now. He who is unjust, listen to this, he who is unjust, let him be unjust. That's interesting.

He who is filthy, let him be filthy. He who is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he who is holy, let him be holy still.

And something that's interesting is you study the Bible, you can take the Greek language, they'll structure a sentence in a different way. It doesn't read exactly like ours reads. Sometimes you read this way.

But I've come to the conclusion, of course, looking at commentaries, basically, the spiritual condition that they die in is what they will remain in. If you were to sum it up, if you are unjust and you die, you will live in that unjust state. If you are filthy and you do not repent and let the cleansing blood of Jesus cleanse you, you will die in that filthy state.

But if you are righteous, cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, you will die in that righteous state. He who is holy, let him be holy still. And then Jesus testifies to the churches.

Behold, I am coming quickly. Isn't this interesting? This has always been an interesting thing for many Christians. Well, this is about 2,000 years ago He said this.

Lord, quickly, that's not my definition of quickly. And of course, you remember one day is but 1,000 years is but one day to the Lord. So He's about two days late.

He's two days now. But I love this because this message is timeless. Be ready.

He's saying, I'm coming quickly. And theoretically, when they die, they meet Him immediately. Are they ready? Are they ready for that final state? He's coming quickly.

And my reward is with Me to give everyone according to His work everyone according to His work. And I went off on this a few weeks ago. I don't want to do it now again.

But our works will judge us if you don't know the Lord. Those are the options. If a person doesn't know God, Jesus and repentance, they stand before God and actually the book's open and their works judge them.

Their works judge them. But then if you know God, Jesus' final work on the cross prevents the judgment of God. So see, works are important.

Works judge you and the work of Jesus as long as you're counting on His work. That will save you. But then out of salvation now, you're actually to work out your salvation in fear and trembling.

So now that I'm saved, I don't work for it. I work it out. I live as a redeemed child of God.

Not perfect, but forgiven. I always want to throw that out there because people say, oh, sometimes your message is so heavy. I don't think I'll ever be able to live up.

They're so convicting. Well, I'm also encouraging you, right? Sometimes we need that conviction. Let me tell you, the churches in America, the problem is not encouragement.

That's not the problem right now. The problem is conviction. We need conviction.

Jesus said basically to the disciples, go and preach conviction. Shane, you go look for yourself. He said go and preach repentance.

In order to do that, you have to convict them. When Peter came out on the day of Pentecost, and he said you stiff-necked people, you put Christ on the cross, they were what? Cut to the heart. We need to cut some people to the heart again with the Word of God.

And they said what must we do to be safe? What must we do to be safe? So tell your friends. It's very simple. The Bible says repent.

Repent. Acknowledge your condition and turn to God. I am the Alpha, the Omega, basically the beginning and the end.

I am the first and the last. In other words, what I say will come to pass. Blessed are those, verses 14-15, but lest are those who do My commandments, His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life.

Here's that tree of life again. And they may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie.

Because I don't think here's heaven and then right outside the gate, you're going to see hell. It could be a way of expression. Some people actually say, which I don't agree with, this could be part of the millennial reign.

But all we know is we're on the winning side. That's all you need to know. And again, there is rich theology here.

I just mentioned it from John 14. If you love Me, Jesus said, keep My commandments. Keep My commandments.

And that's why people say, well, you're not to judge. Right, I'm not a judge, but I'm a fruit inspector. There's no fruit.

You say you're an apple tree, but I don't even see a leaf. That's why Jesus said, if you truly love Me, you will keep My commandments. So one sure sign of a genuine believer, notice how it's not a person who's perfect, but they keep the commandments.

So if they fall, they repent, they acknowledge it, and they get back up and they keep the course. They're blown off course. Here comes a gale force wind.

Here comes a hurricane. And they're way off course, but they get back on course. They keep that commandment.

Jesus said it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. Isn't that true? How many people say they're Christians, but do they keep His commandments? And I've been seeing more and more and more famous people say they're Christians on the Internet.

Have you? Or podcasts? It's like, well, that's interesting. You know, you start to watch for a minute, you're like, well, they drop an F-bomb every five minutes. And scotch.

And it's like, I don't know, you can still do those things and be Christian. But is there no conviction there? Is there any fruit at all other than saying you're a Christian? But also, some people are very new in their walk. They're not fully walking with the Lord.

So they're Christian, but they're quenching and grieving the Spirit of God. Is that not true? Have you guys seen that before? But a lot of people are coming around. It's making a difference, making choices.

I mean, just recently, Tucker Carlson talked about his Christian faith. Another podcaster, Navy SEAL, Sean Ryan, talked about how he recently came to know the Lord. And you're hearing Russell Brand.

And it was like, wow, wow, you're watching these people talk about it. Even on X. How many of you know who Patrick Bet-David is with PDD Podcast? And they're blowing up right now. And about his Christian faith.

And it's coming out more and more. Interesting. You know, the OnlyFans model, whoever this person was, and how she now, I saw something on YouTube where she's doing an interview that she's came out of that darkness and now is in the light and excited to... And it's all areas, the music industry, and all these people you would never think.

It's like, wow, this is amazing. And hopefully they keep the commandment because that's how you know. That's how you know.

I was a little excited when Kanye said he was a Christian a couple years ago, but now I'm not real sure where the fruit is at now. All we can do is pray. But see, if there's no fruit at all, and you're wanting to do things that are not good and not godly, and you're not convicted, got to take the fruit test.

Fruit inspector, let me see that orange. Is it real or is it plastic? Revelation 16-17 Jesus sent His angel to testify to testify to the churches. And He goes on to say, and let him who thirsts come.

There's that call. I love that call of God. And this is such a passionate topic for me.

I get excited anytime the Bible mentions it. He who is thirsty, come. And I love that when Jesus said, woman, if you knew who you were talking to, you would ask of water of Me and you would never thirst again.

He who is thirsty, come and drink. He who calls out to Me, I will never let you go. All who hear My voice, out of the abundance of My preaching, Jesus said, if you believe on Me, as the Scriptures say, out of that belly is going to flow the rivers of living water.

And again, He says here, let him who come thirst. And as David prayed the same thing, oh, my soul yearns for you like a dry and parched land as the deer that pants after that water book. Oh, my soul pants after thee.

If we could just get the church panting after God again, on fire for God, that thirst for God, we would see incredible things taking place. Isn't that true? Give me one example where God moved powerfully in a dead, legalistic church. Never.

It's through those who are on fire for God. The fire of the Spirit. And then He concludes with the wake up and the warning in verses 18 and 19.

I testify to everyone who hears the word of this prophecy, if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. Don't add to God's Word. That's why, to be honest with you, I was pretty careful in Revelation.

Where it's not real clear and people are divided, I don't want to come here and say, well, here's what's going to happen, guys. I'm not going to go there. I'm just going to say, Lord, You need to show us.

But it's extremely dangerous to add your opinions and remove truth. Did you get that? It's extremely dangerous, guys, to add your opinions and remove truth from the Bible, especially moral truth. And that's what's happening right now during this pride month of June.

The LGBTQ calendar takes up one-third of the year. Did you know that? Google it. I didn't know it was that much either.

It's amazing. And then they rewrite Scripture. Jesus was bisexual.

God is a mother. All these things that are blasphemous. Completely blasphemous.

David loved Jonathan more than a woman. He was bisexual. You guys, I've lost your mind.

See, when we're in pride and sin, we twist the Scriptures to confirm my lifestyle so I don't have to repent. And they will twist those things and we can no longer do that. A church that affirms sexual sin... Well, hold on, let's see.

We might get kicked off TikTok here in just a minute. A church that affirms sexual sin will never experience the power of God nor the freedom from sin through Jesus Christ. The emptiness will never leave you.

The conviction will never stop. And the hopelessness will never cease. Turn to God and God alone.

When homosexuality defines a society, their sin is very grave. But when repentance defines you, your sin has been wiped away. Guys, do you know how serious this is? Just recently, a state representative in California brought a bill to protect children from pedophiles.

I'm just going to read this. If you're part of this party, I don't know what to say. I'm just reading it.

The Democrats responded by removing him from all committees and they struck down the bill. This is evil. This is perverted.

This is disgusting. And I can hear it now, so I'll just go ahead and answer it. But Shane, that's what sinners do.

Well, let me tell you what spirit-filled preachers do. We call that out. We call out sin.

We say, not on my watch. That is wrong. We will call it out.

We will expose them fruitful works of darkness. That's wonderful. That's what they do.

Let me tell you what I do. I don't shudder back. I don't cower back.

When you've got disgusted, perverted things going on and little children being groomed, little children for being led astray, it'd be better for you to have this millstone hung upon your neck and cast into the sea than to ever lead one of these little ones astray. Guys, that's just the truth. That's not hate.

That's love. That's not love. Yes, amen, amen.

But they will start to define you and I according to words that are not true. Homophobe. How many of you know we just had a former transgender speak on Wednesday night? Oh, you want to hear about that? Because we love those stuck in sin.

Why? Because I've been there. You think me heading to Las Vegas for the weekend at age 22 was okay, but this sin's not? Neither adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor fornicators, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor liars. No sinful lifestyle will enter the kingdom of heaven.

We love them. We give you hope, but we also will stand for the truth. And then in doing so, we will fight the agenda.

And we will be loud. I will be a little righteous indignation. How should I act when a grown man dresses a woman, wants to dance provocatively with a g-string on, and a little two-year-old's watching? How should I act, folks, if I just love them? No, if I just love the little baby, I would hit the guy.

You can't have true love would grab the two-year-old and take it and say, how dare you, you pervert? That's true love. That's true love. And I don't mean to keep saying this, but it's irrelevant in June, and it's becoming more dominant.

It's going to be pushed down your throat even more in California. When you put that rainbow flag over the church banner outside, you just lost the presence and power of God. That's a perversion and it's an abomination.

You just don't love. No, I love you actually to tell you the truth. True love tells the truth.

And so it goes on here. I testify of everyone. If you add, these plagues will come upon you.

Don't take any part of this book away from what is written. Like I said, it's extremely dangerous to add your opinions and remove truth, especially moral truth, correct? Especially moral truth. And here we are in June being bombarded by the flag.

But did you know that the LGBTQ holidays and things like that take up one third of our entire calendar? It's not June. One third. One third.

So when people say, Pastor Shane, you shouldn't push your views on people. Hello, that's a pot calling the kettle black. That's exactly what, there's this push and there's this push, but it is difficult because we love those caught in any type of sin.

But I will fight like you know what against the agenda of going, especially trying to groom children. So I might appear, isn't that challenging? And that's why you have to be careful and not let the, because I'm gonna fight the agenda. I'm gonna say some really strong, hard things to the agenda.

And that might make people think I'm unloving. But I'm not. I'm loving enough to tell the truth, but then the person struggling, struggling, we come alongside and we help.

I don't talk that way to them. You'll see that also throughout Scripture. How Jesus dealt with the individual versus the masses.

A whole new dynamic takes place when you preach. It's a lot different than talking to an individual. A church that affirms sexual sin will never experience the power of God nor freedom from sin through Jesus Christ.

The emptiness will never leave. The conviction will never stop. The hopelessness will never cease unless we point them to the cross.

And during this month, it's a reminder when homosexuality defines a society, their sin is very grave. But when repentance defines you, your sin has been wiped away. I don't know if you just saw the state rep.

One of our state reps brought a bill to protect children from pedophiles and one political party decided to respond by removing him from all committees and even striking down the bill. It's amazing. I'm sure people might say, but Shane, that's what sinners do.

What's your problem with that? That's what sinners do. Well, let me tell you what preachers do. We bring these things to the light and we bring conviction and we call it out and we ask God to redeem and set free and we come with tongues of fire because we've been filled with the boldness of the Spirit and we will confront darkness and perversion and expose the unfruitful works of darkness.

Yes, sinners do that, but let me tell you what bold preachers do. We confront those things. I told you I never come here wanting to win a popularity contest.

It will not work. And Jesus said, I'm coming quickly. Repent.

Repent. He who testifies to these things says surely I am coming quickly. Amen.

Even so, Lord Jesus, come, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will be with you all. Amen. That concludes 14 months of Revelation.

I tell you what, I was worried about it, but I loved the series because so much came out. But the closing point is this, the tree of physical and spiritual health. I'm going to get back to the opening point.

No doctrine is more excellent or necessary to be preached and studied than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. No doctrine is more important. Now, check this out.

Isaiah. We're talking about the tree of spiritual health. Isaiah said, a shoot will come from the stump of Jesse, from his roots a branch will bear fruit.

He's talking from the lineage of David came the Messiah. And then I love Acts 13, and when they have fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree and they laid Him in a tomb. So the tree of spiritual health can be the cross of Christ for many.

The cross, the tree that He was hung on. He was hung on a tree. He died to give us spiritual health and spiritual life.

So if you need to make that decision this morning, repent and believe. Just repent, Lord, I need You. I repent and I believe.

Please, God, save me, redeem me, set me free.