Truth & Deception： When Kingdoms Collide

The title of the message is Truth and Deception When Kingdoms Collide. Truth and Deception When Kingdoms Collide. And if you're not aware, we've been going through the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians, we're in chapter 3, verse 18. And the series is going to be a long series. It's called Answers for a Confused Church. And not unlike Corinthians and the church in Corinth, there are many confused churches today. Are you seeing that? Why are we allowing certain things? Why are they blessing certain things? Why aren't they saying anything? And there's a lot of confusion. In 1 Corinthians, Paul is writing to a church who was very alive spiritually, but also carnal and immature and didn't do things right. So usually what you call the epistles, the Pauline epistles, the epistles written by Paul, they're written to the church for a reason. Many times to encourage and edify, but also to convict and to challenge and say, hey, listen, you've got to do this or change here or change courses once you get here or this stage of life, what you need to do, the church growth, all kinds of things for the church. So we're going to be looking at 1 Corinthians 3, 18. And I didn't get very far. I want to get through a lot more of the chapter. But God usually stops me on certain points. And I want to just hang my hat here for a minute. So read this with me if you'd like. It'll be up on the screen. Let no one deceive himself. Now, isn't that interesting? Let no one deceive himself. We're so worried about others deceiving us. Is this person right? Should I be doing this? And Paul is clear. Do not be led astray by yourself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, he catches the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile. So Paul is drawing in from the Old Testament or different passages of Scripture. And he's reminding people that God will catch those in their own craftiness. But I want to stop here for a minute. Let no one deceive himself. What is deceit? All right, do we ever see that in the media? Daily? Hourly? Well, the definition, biblically speaking, is to persuade someone to go in the wrong direction. So here's the right direction. What deception does is it has you go in the wrong direction. And Paul's saying, let no one deceive himself. So there is responsibility on the heart of the hearer. It's not always the devil's fault, or the fault of the false prophet, or a false proclaimer of truth, or a liberal church, or a liberal media. It's not always their fault. Yes, there's responsibility. But ultimately, the responsibility falls back on the hearer of the truth or the hearer of error. So do not be deceived yourself. And Paul clarifies, if anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool. And initially we think, that doesn't make any sense. Aren't we supposed to be wise? Well, I'm getting there in a minute. But let's talk about this word deception. I just pulled out three verses. I had a whole bunch. But I narrowed it down to three. 1 Peter 2, 1. Rid yourself of all malice and all deceit, of all hypocrisy, of all envy, and of all slander of every kind. It's interesting because there is a growing movement in the church that really wants us not to take responsibility for our actions. It's not your fault. You were raised that way. The culture is changing. The church needs to change. Or another segment of the church where it's all up to the Holy Spirit and not up to us at all. Let the Holy Spirit change you, we say. And that's good. That's biblical. Isn't it true? But the analogy I often use, it's like somebody wanting to lose weight while eating a dozen donuts on their couch watching TV. Holy Spirit, change me. Holy Spirit, change me. Help me in this area. And day by day, praying the same prayer, as the weeks go by, as the months go by, as the years go by, it dawns on the person, hmm, maybe I'm supposed to do something too. And partner with the Holy Spirit. So we can pray, God, take this away from me, but then run back to the bondage. Lord, please take this away from me, but then cave in. And the teaching of scripture is that we work together. We submit to the work of the Holy Spirit. So Peter is telling the listeners as well, rid yourself. In other words, get rid of all malice and all deceit. If there's deceit in your heart, in your mind, in your home, get rid of that. Hypocrisy, envy, slander, put it away from you. And many people say, not Christians, but those who are not Christians, they say, look at you Christians, you're hypocrites. And you have to remind people that we struggle with the same thing that other people struggle with. Sometimes God removes it completely, praise God, but sometimes a little hypocrisy might rise up. Or a little deceit. Why does my flesh want to tell a lie? And we struggle with the same thing. The difference is, because of the cross of Christ, it's been dealt with. The punishment has been paid, we can walk in victory. But it doesn't mean that enticement and that pull of sin isn't always there, ready to take us down. Jeremiah 9.6, you live in the midst of deception. You live in the midst of deception. I wonder if Jeremiah saw the world today, what he would say. The schools, many government offices, movies, the media, we live in deception. Now Los Angeles County has the audacity to not allow people, they don't want people to travel to states that are banning abortion. Or for employees to go there, and we're going to ban it, you can't fly from LAX. Pinch, when am I going to wake up? Deception is all around us. And many times it's because the Christian community is silent. It's okay. Do whatever you want. We're just supposed to praise the Lord. You live in the midst of deception, in their heart, deceit. In their heart, I'm sorry, in their deceit, they refuse to acknowledge Me. Deception is always linked to rejecting God. We could just end the sermon with this sentence. Deceit, when somebody is deceived, it always is grounded. It's always built on what? Rejecting God's truth. Here's what's happening. The farther we get away from God's truth, the more perverted we become. So when we say, how is this happening? We're living in a world that I never dreamt of 30 years ago. Shane, what's going on? The farther you drift from God, the more perverted you become. And the people say, well, it doesn't matter if there's prayers in the public schools or acknowledging God. It might not matter if you have to force it on people. But at least a group, a segment of people can say, we still rely on God. We acknowledge God. It's okay. And that's the big debate. It's okay to acknowledge God. But they say, no, it's not. You know, I've talked to you about this before. Separation of church and state. The constitution says that government shall not make a law respecting the establishment of religion. It's called the establishment clause. But you can acknowledge God. You can acknowledge God. There's nothing wrong with saying, there is a God. We acknowledge Him. He has blessed us. We thank Him. We worship Him. That offends you, you can move. And I'm not being mean-spirited. That's being truthful. God's Word never, never, especially in the Old Testament, never caves into the culture. It fights the culture. It collides with the culture. It doesn't bow its knee to the culture. The culture has to bow its knee to Jesus Christ. The church is not called to be passive and lukewarm and back down. It's called to boldly fight. Not in arrogance. Not in anger. But in submission to the work of the Spirit. James 1.22 I quote this often. Do not merely listen to the Word of God, which a lot of people do, and so deceive yourself. Do what it says, the NIV says. I like the New King James as well. King James. Be not hearers of the Word only, but doers. Why? Because you're living in deception. So many people know the Word of God. But the power is in what? The application. When we apply it. Do not be wise, he said, in this age. Do not be wise in this age. What about if we told our kids, and I told everybody here this morning, don't be wise anymore. Be foolish. You probably think, that doesn't make any sense, Shane. Well, you have to look at the context. It's not good to be wise in the context of what Paul's talking about. That's the whole title of the message. When kingdoms collide, there are two kingdoms. When I embrace God, I appear foolish. And then the world appears foolish to us. Whose fool are you? That's where that saying comes from. If you haven't heard it yet, you will hear it someday. You are so narrow minded. You are so foolish. Christians, those guys are naive, and out to lunch, and some cosmic God, blah, blah, blah. The Ten Commandments, and oh, poor guys. They're so foolish. But God says, in God's word, those who do not believe in God are actually the fool. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. So on one hand, be encouraged. On the other hand, know that this is normal. When kingdoms collide, when truth and darkness, or truth and error hit, when light and darkness hit, it is controversial. There is an upheaval. And that's what I believe Jesus was talking about when he said, the kingdom suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. Not until the days since John the Baptist had the kingdom of the darkness seen so much spiritual upheaval. Jesus said, the kingdom suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. There's a spiritual upheaval. Jesus, it was the first time any man came, the Son of God came, and was able to conquer darkness. They had no authority over him. There's a spiritual upheaval. You're always irritated. Anytime you stand for truth, you're always irritated. Sometimes, when I don't get a negative email for a few weeks, I have to go back and look at my sermons. Nobody was upset this week. What happened? We laugh, but isn't it true? When we embrace God, we are foolish. Local atheist group in town just loves to call me a fool for this very reason. So naive. Oh, he's so narrow-minded. Poor little guy. Has to believe in a God. God must be his crutch. But who's the real fool? I mean to say that all this just happened, by chance, to me is the epitome of foolishness. Is there a stronger word than fool? Because that's what it would be. The foolishness of thinking that there is no God. And that's why we learned a few weeks ago the foolishness of the cross. Who in this room would say the cross is foolish? No one. But the world says the cross is foolish. The foolishness of the cross. So this is what we're seeing today. Two kingdoms are colliding in the government, the schools, the churches, all throughout society. The kingdoms are colliding. Truth and deception. Right and wrong. They're always going to fight. But here's what happens. You ever get tired of the fight and you just want to quit? I'll be honest with you. I think about it often. Not quitting doing this, of course. But you think, well maybe I'll just shut my mouth about some of these issues and people will leave me alone and just raise my family and preach nice Joelstein messages. And nobody will be upset with me. Except people hungry for more of God. Except spiritual believers. Except God Himself. There is a retiring spirit I believe that can come on. I'm not getting charismatic here but there's a sense that, oh let me just wind down. Let me just go at ease here. Let me just back off the throttle. When God actually often says full throttle. When kingdoms collide. Too many are sitting on the fence trying to live in both kingdoms. That's what we're seeing today. Many Christians. Have you ever heard of an easement? There's easement Christians. An easement is where you can go on somebody's property. Because there's a pathway there. There's a road or something. There's an easement. They kind of want to live. I want to just kind of live on this easement or sitting on the fence. You've heard that phrase before. We sit on the fence because it's more comfortable. And one of the prayers we prayed next door this morning was to remove us from that comfortable sense. Let us think of the next generation. Not just now. Many of us have that Hezekiah spirit on us. Oh! We're not going to see judgment in my day. That's what Hezekiah, he prayed for years and God added 15 years. And he said, I'm not going to judge you, the nation now, but I will judge it after you leave Hezekiah. He's like, oh praise God. I missed it. What about for his kids? His grandchildren? We have to contend. And so many people are sitting on the fence and I understand that. I would be a fence sitter if it was just listening to the flesh. Because who wants to upset people? Well maybe some of you do. That's not a good thing. But most of us don't want to upset people. We want to be that peacemaker. But here's what I find. The more I try to be a peacemaker and not upset, and not upset in the culture, I have a deep yearning inside of my heart to do something. And remaining silent isn't fulfilling. Not saying anything isn't fulfilling. And I begin to die spiritually. Oh sure, I'm friends with the world, but I lose that zeal, I lose the passion to read, I don't want to worship as much. I'm dying spiritually. Because I'm fearing man more than God. It'll happen to a believer, it'll zap your strength. Because you can't please both masters. You can't please both. Sometimes we're so worried, I don't want to post a sermon on Facebook because my friends will know I'm serious. I don't want to do this because, and we keep this image up, especially men. We've got this macho image that we want to keep up, and I'm a man, and yeah I'll go to church as long as people don't know. And it's miserable, it's a miserable spot to live. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. Here's the number one reason why many Christians never fully mature or have a deep relationship with God. And like I said earlier, full transparency, this is a struggle for me. This is a struggle for me. The number one reason is we don't want to appear foolish. We fear God. We fear men. Just even reevaluating my own life, the reason I probably don't pray with people in public more, even though I do. I've stopped people a couple times this last week. Or witnessed more is because you don't want to appear foolish. Afraid of what man will think. But I also don't think we should just go bother everybody we see. Do you know Jesus? You're going to hell. I think God puts things on our hearts. I think we should move out more. I think we should talk to a lot more people. Don't get me wrong. But I've seen those people, it's almost like they go too fast. They're trying to get everyone and they miss the relational aspect. I don't think you have to build a relationship like Ray Comfort said. In a year from now, I'll witness to you. I mean, this might be the only time you have with a person. But it has to be strategic. You have to be prayed up. You don't want to cast your pearls before the swine. I think that verse has a lot to do with just casting the pearls of the gospel before anyone. Let them trample you. It has to be targeted. You have to be prayed up. I'll even walk into a grocery store and say, Lord, if you want to use me in this place, use me. Let me know. I've seen people buying food on food stamps and bought it for them. I've ran into, hey, how are you doing? I haven't seen you in a while. I just found out this bad news. Can I pray with you right now? Right there. People are walking by. Look, I don't care when I feel the Spirit. But when you get out of that and the fear of man... And I feel, I trust me on this. I feel for a lot of you. I feel for a lot. Because I couldn't work in some of the places that you do. Where companies that you work for actually support everything that we're against. It's a hard environment. And you have to be strategic. You have to be wise. I don't care. I'll just lose my job. Maybe. But be careful. Take it to God. If you feel strongly, and God wants you... But I don't think we just need to not use wisdom in that area as well, too. Because our employers are looking at our character as well. They're watching us. It's a very difficult environment, isn't it? I mean, just this week I had law enforcement ask me if they've been asked to go work in the Hollywood Gay Parade, what should they do? Oh. I can tell you what I would do if they asked me, but that's different. But what... You've got to take it to the Lord. I can't answer that. Can you decline? Can you take leave? Can you go there and be a witness? I mean, that's a toughie. Everybody thinks they're just clear-cut answers. Yes, I know. Yes, I know. Sometimes you take things to God, and you have him work in that situation. Proverbs says, Fearing man is a snare, but trusting in the Lord brings safety. Fearing man is a snare, but trusting in the Lord brings safety. What's a snare? We don't know. Yeah, trap. Exactly. We don't know that too much today. When I was little, we built a lot of snares in the country. It's something to trap something, a bird, any type of rabbit, or even bear traps. There's a snare. So when we're fearing men, it seems like everything's okay, but oh, what was that? It's a bear trap on my foot. So it appears good, but it's a snare. It catches you up every time. It will drain you of spiritual power. People will look down upon you, family members, maybe children. Mom, Dad, how could you cower back? It's a snare. But trusting in the Lord brings safety. Brings safety. And you might say, well, it sure doesn't bring a lot of safety to some people who are thrown in prison. That's true, but I'd rather be in prison in God's will safety. Have Him looking over my family and the things that we have here than living outside of God's will. Outside of His safety and protection. See, we forget it's not the place where we're at necessarily as much as God's place and sovereignty around us. Well, I'm trying to be careful this sermon. There's so many things this week. It Let me just say it. We thought about in the past, and we may in the future, plant a church east Lancaster, east Palmdale. We were thinking about location on I and 10th Street many years ago. And I had people come up to me, gee, we can't do that. There's homeless people, there's drug addicts and the safety issues. Okay, let's not go where, I mean, where does God call us to? Now, let me make you feel at ease. Yes, you have to have good security. If there's offices there and protection and the kids there. And I got it, but we can't make decisions solely on fear of man. Pastor Abram planted a church east LA. I drove down there to visit. I was a little scared sometimes at the gas stations. Honestly. But where do you, who do you fear? You have to go where God wants you to be. And the big movement right now, big movement right now, is people leaving the state. Just had a person recently, this week, text me, family member. We got it, let's just move out of the desert. I say, no, I'm called to the desert. I'll vacation in the mountains, but I'm called to the desert. See, there's too much fear of man. Look at what California's doing. Yeah, but look at what God is doing. Won't be to the person who bells out when God is doing something. I'm tempted to ask the dozens and dozens and dozens of people who have moved out because of fear, are you growing spiritually? Yeah, you don't have to lock your front door, but are you growing spiritually? Is the fire of God in your belly? Are you serving God and filled with His passion and His word and doing His work? Or are you living like a hermit? See, there's questions we have to ask. Now, disclaimer, God may move people. Go. He does. I would never use this as a blanket statement. We have to be careful, though, what's the motives? Is God doing it? Or is the fear of man doing it? If you're not sure, ask God. He will show you. How do I know? Write down the motives. I hate it here. Higher Texas. Gavin Newsom. The schools. The homeless issue. You know, you have this negative list, and that's a fear list. But it's good to be concerned about where your kids go to school. As parents, we want to have the best environment for our kids. I understand. If my flesh had its way, the kids that we live way up on a mountain, 45 minutes away, right, secluded, nobody there, and I just drive to church. But God says, no, I'm going to put you in a track in Palmdale, just in two years. Two streets over, break in, midday, helicopter. And last August, up the street, shot. And a guy died. And they threw his body in the desert. Right up the street. I understand. But who's your safety? A Glock? If you own one, you know what I'm talking about. Or God. Because fearing man is a snare. I know a lot of people that have moved and they're hooked on Xanax, alcohol, marijuana. Because that fear never leaves you. No matter if you change your location. It's a spirit of fear. It follows you. You have to deal with it at the cross and give God everything. Psalm 111, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. So the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Oh, I should remind you, Jesus said, don't fear man. Jesus said, don't fear man. Why? It changes how you act. It changes everything about your life. And trust me, I'm not saying this with a condescending voice and pointing fingers. I'm right there with you in the pew. Especially as the heat turns up, this type of thing is tested. This is very easy to preach, very hard to live. Because you get the wrong person in office, you'll be looking at what will be considered a felon at some point. I'm well aware that I could go to jail as a felon for doing what we're doing right now. If you don't, you better wake up. Well, that's bad for you Pastor. That's bad for any Christian. Mandatory this. Mandatory that. Mandatory submission to the state. Mandatory your kids have to do this, have to do that. There's statements out there that you don't even own your kids. The government does. By leaders. They're not your children. They're governments and they're going to do what they want. I'm not trying to scare everybody, but at some point we need a reality check. This is what happens when you don't fear God and when you fear man. And you allow people to get into positions of leadership that shouldn't be there. This is why it's a big deal for me. 1,500 years of reading. I haven't read it in 1,500 years. The Old Testament is 1,500 years of history. You see that leadership affects the direction of a nation and its spirituality. You can't get away from that. It just bugs me when people say, Shane, we shouldn't care about this issue. Who cares for the president? Because it sets the tone for the condition, the spiritual health of the nation. What leadership puts in the office, you don't think the Supreme Court is saying, ah, you know what, anybody can marry anybody. You don't think the Supreme Court is saying, ah, you can kill your children. You don't think putting people in positions of office who mock God and put the rainbow colors on the White House is going to bring any type of spiritual ramification? Wake up folks! God says leadership matters. Yes, so does the people, but so do leaders, because they sway the spiritual condition of the people. Do you realize that's why everything's been removed? Did you know there used to be big, huge Ten Commandment monuments in courthouses? What happened? That offends me. Yeah, I bet it does. I bet it does. Thou shalt not have any other gods before me. Because God's word says, put it in front of the people. Shout it from the rooftops. Here's my law. Here's my commandments. Here's what my word says. If it offends them, great. Let it break them. Let it shatter their pride. Let it crush their hypocrisy and let the word of God stand as a beacon of light. Let it proclaim the truth. You don't back down to it. But see, well, let's get it out of there. Let's get it out of there. It offends people. Let's move the cross. It offends people. My favorite is the word Christmas offends people. And a little nativity scene. We have lost our mind. Shane, what would you tell somebody that offends you? I'd say, you know, I'm so sorry to offend you but too bad. We're here to honor God. We love God's word. I'm not being angry and arrogant. I'm being sincere. You don't push God out. He pushes sin out. I could just shock you if I read statements in the 16th, 1700s. I've told you this before. Do you know who started the public schools? Who started the public schools? Christians to teach kids evolution. To read the Bible. There is a huge illiteracy rate in the colonies of America. They didn't know the Bible. So they started the public school system to teach kids the word of God. And that's why I get passionate because they're saying, oh, this is offensive. No. We've been building on the foundation. You've been taking it away. You've been fighting against that. You've been pushing an agenda. We're not pushing an agenda. We're fighting for what was already there. Building the foundation. When kingdoms collide, this is what we see. He catches the wise. Thank God. He catches the wise in their own craftiness. God will catch you skilled in deception. Are you alarmed at all the fake stuff that is out there? The news, the scandals, it's just like he's catching people in their own deception. He's catching them in their own trickery. You cannot defeat God's kingdom. So when kingdoms, there's a collision course, but you cannot defeat God's kingdom. The enemy may silence it in certain areas. They may quench it in certain areas. But he always calls us to fight that fight again. I want to give you an incredible illustration of kingdoms colliding. Many of you are familiar with this verse from Isaiah 61. Jesus actually quoted this verse. That's one thing I would love to see. There's many things you'd love to see, of course. Walking on water. But I would love to see Jesus just get up, open the scroll of Isaiah, and say, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's called me to set captives free. He's called me to open the blind eyes. He's called me to heal the sick. And then he says, today this verse is here. This verse is said in your hearing. It's fulfilled. And then sits down. The Son of God reading the scriptures and saying I am the embodiment of this text. See, this should get you excited about reading God's Word. There's power there. There's truth. So Isaiah wrote this 700 years or so before Jesus. I don't have the exact time, but it's close to there. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. Number one reason. Here's why. When kingdoms collide. When the Holy Spirit fills a person, they see things differently. So Jesus said, the Holy Spirit is upon me. The Spirit of God is upon me. You're always gonna have kingdoms colliding. If a Christian is not colliding with the culture, it's probably because they look more like the culture than the church. There's not a collision course happening there. A person filled with God's Spirit collides with the culture. A carnal Christian embraces it. So that's the first thing. If you want to make a difference, ask God's Spirit to be upon you. But Shane, I'm already a Christian. Yeah, but there's a Holy Spirit upon you. Do you have a deep and abiding passion for the things of God? Do you want to make a difference? Are you sick with the culture and you want to do something? You want to love the culture, but also stand up against it. I mean, just a couple days ago, my wife went into a place and ordered something and there was a boy with tons of makeup on because they have to hire transgenders and just, you know, our heart breaks for that. It should. You shouldn't go, how could you? Oh, gross. What's the difference? I look at them and see myself in my 20s and some other sin. We're supposed to reach out and make a difference and love that person and pray for them and invite them to church. What would you do if that person showed up? I told her, I said, I don't know how many people would accept that person. Many would, don't get me wrong, but I know it would just like Chuck Smith encountered with the Calvary Chapel move when the hippies started coming in with no shoes on and getting saved. You know what the complaint was? They're going to ruin our carpet. He said, take out the carpet. See, we have to be welcoming but not affirming. That's the difference. So that's why I can sit with that person. I might stop by at some point, get lunch, talk to them, love them, but when it comes to preaching the truth and addressing like a man and woman and wanting to change is a sin before Almighty God, I will proclaim it from the rooftops to the masses. But to the individual, you love them. And it's hard to find that balance sometimes. That's why people, I believe I'm often misunderstood in this area. Oh, he hates this group. Hey, he's so mean. Oh no, not talking to the individual. I'm probably softer than you think when I talk to the individual. I'll stop and talk to a gay person for an hour and love on them, hear their story, listen, want to buy them lunch. There's a couple each week I try to talk to and interact with. But when it comes to preaching and God fills a person with His Spirit and His truth, you preach it to the masses. And we also get emails from those in that lifestyle who've come out of that lifestyle hearing the sermons. Understanding this is a sin. Nobody's ever told me it's a sin. Even our church has a rainbow on the front. So see, that's the struggle in our culture we love. If you listen to Fox News interviews, I will say that. We love those struggling with sin. We all struggle with something. But we can't validate it. We can't affirm it. And the new movement now is just because you feel something, now it must be good. Nike was right all the time. If it feels good, just do it. I mean, some of these Hollywood actresses, they have a baby and they're like, I don't know if it's a boy or girl. I'm going to let them choose. What? You... Look! Look! You don't know? But here's the danger. That type of parenting will give that child mixed emotions. And when they're going through puberty at 10, 11, 12, when emotions go, oh, what am I feeling? You're supposed to direct them correctly. Teach a child the way they should go. You'll let them decide. You don't even let them decide what breakfast to eat. You don't let them decide what sex to choose. We have lost our mind because the more you drift from God, the more perverted you become. Just read Romans 1. He gave them up to a perverted mind because they, what, kept suppressing the truth. And then it says here in Isaiah, the poor see their need. The poor see their need. He has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. It's not just financially, the poor who see their need. The world encourages arrogance and self-promotion. This is why kingdoms collide as well. When I was in the business world, did you know something remarkable? Pride was actually an asset. Humility was a liability. Humble, you'll get walked on. Climb the ladder of success as you step on people. Pride. Kingdoms collide. You have to be in the right kingdom. The poor see their need. Do you see your need this morning? Do you see your need this morning? Maybe listening online, maybe listening later. You have to see your need this morning. Let me talk to the, not to the Christian, but those who are not yet believers. They haven't embraced God's wonderful gift of Christ on the cross. You have to be poor in spirit. Do you see your need? Look at your need. The culture's giving you no answers. Now the culture's confused. Psychologists are giving you no answers. Now therapists are confused. The schools can't give you answers. Now they're confused. Everyone's confused. So turn to God who's not confused. See your need for him this morning. And then he goes on to say, he has set me to heal the broken hearted. God's kingdom encourages us. The enemy condemns us. Always remember this. God's kingdom, God's word always encourages you. The enemy will discourage you. And this is, I'm just going to take a little rabbit trail. Just a tiny one. This actually, this blows my mind and my wife. Blows her mind. Every time people say, because people say, you know, that don't like this church. Oh, those messages are too hard. Oh, that guy. Whatever that means. Hail fire and brimstone. I actually don't talk about those very often. I think you're convicted. So, but you have the single mom going through divorce, barely getting through life, and she is encouraged beyond what we could ever hope or imagine. Wait a minute. You'd think they would be beat up. But so many people say, I've been so encouraged. I've been so strengthened. Why? Because they became poor in spirit. They humbled themselves and became poor before God in humility. And God reminds us to remove unforgiveness and bitterness and anger, but the world encourages it. Here, don't we see kingdoms collide? God heals the brokenhearted. But what is a brokenhearted? What does a culture tell you to do? If you're brokenhearted, take them to court and get everything you can. Get them back. Get them back. God says, let it go. Let it go. Kingdoms collide. You see how there's a big difference? To proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of prison doors to those who are bound. The world's kingdom keeps us bound in our sin. God wants to set us free. The world encourages vice, but Jesus obviously paid that price. And then to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn. Did you hear that? Look at that. To proclaim. Isaiah said this. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn. Something very interesting. If you cross-reference this with what Jesus read in the temple, He actually didn't read the last half. It stops. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And He sat down. Because that was fulfilled with that scripture in my opinion. Because I don't think this portion has yet been fulfilled. And the day of vengeance of our God. When God's vengeance breaks loose. When the wrath of God is poured out. It's an interesting topic. People think I take delight in this topic. I actually don't. Every time I see scriptures like this, I'm like, oh Lord. Because I know the perception of people, but I know the heart of God. Wouldn't a father lovingly warn my children? You see that thing over there that's green and rattles? In the desert? Sons, daughters, don't reject God. Don't reject God. There's a warning. Every parent loves his children. Warns. So God what I see in God is pouring out His grace and His mercy. Pouring it out. Whosoever. Whosoever. Jesus even cried out. Whosoever comes to me I will save them. Whoever thirsts among you. Whosoever. His love. His grace. His mercy. His calling of the conviction. Pastors. Preachers. Prophets. Pulling people back. But there is a day of reckoning coming when all that ends and the prideful arrogant man still rejects God. Then the judgment hand of God falls upon a disobedient people. That's biblical. That can't be ignored. That's why many preachers ignore it. Because of fear of man. Shane, if I said that, there goes my nickels and noses. My dollars and people. God forbid that kind of preaching. One thing I thank God monthly. I shouldn't even tell you this but I will. I know a lot of friends that are pastors and they're pastors for hire. Because they're hired by a church board who says here come we'll pay you we'll hire you but you're under our control. We'll tell you what to do, what not to do. This church has been here 85 years and you'll be here a while and then we'll hire someone else. So you're a pastor for hire. And that's why many pastors don't stay at a church more than 5 years. The percentage of them quitting is alarming. I don't want to give you wrong numbers but it's up to 1 out of 10 actually finish. Who start at 25 years old in the ministry. It's one of the highest stress jobs out there. Because you're always pleasing people. So what do I thank God about? That he called us to plant a church based on his word and then we have a board of elders that comes alongside and we're all on the same page in regard to truth. There's constructive criticism often. It's good. The iron sharpens iron. It's good but it's people loving each other. They don't ask, send us your sermon notes. What are you going to preach about? No don't do that. It's just I just love that because God has given us the freedom to proclaim his word and his truth. You're not under restraints. And there's pastors they tell me, Shane I can't do that I won't have a job next month. Thank God. God thank you. Thank you because I couldn't do that. I could not do that. Because what you're doing is you're putting restraints on the Holy Spirit. He will comfort those who mourn. Are you mourning this morning? See your need and turn and be God's fool. There's more I wanted to read but it's good to finish with this. To console those who mourn in Zion to give them beauty for ashes. God will give you beauty for ashes. The oil of joy for mourning. And the garment of praise and the spirit of heaviness. I'm sorry the garment of spirit the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Anyone have a spirit of heaviness? If you live in this culture as a Christian you do. I carry this. Half of my challenge is Lord how do I be joyful like your word says but how do I carry the spirit of heaviness for what is going on in our culture. God show me that and God says I will give you I will give you. I will relieve that spirit of heaviness if you just come in and worship me. That's why I push the 6am worship so much as I know so many people need it to just come and just lay on the altar and sit in the pew and just wait on God. We wait on Cinemark. Why don't we wait on God? God will give you beauty for ashes. Oh I love that verse. I thought I destroyed my life in my late 20s. It laid in rumble. It was crumbled. I said oh God what have I done? Ashes. And he said I will raise out of those ashes you will arise and you will proclaim my truth because God gets all the glory. So here's my question to leave you with. Do you need to switch residency? Kingdoms? Have you been serving the wrong kingdom too long? Kind of living comfortably? Give it to God. Stop following the world's mindset in marriage and parenting and finances and entertainment. All areas where kingdoms collide. And I like where he ended in verse 4. And they shall rebuild the old ruins. They shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repair the ruined cities. Listen this is very important. If you're checking out because of the time, check in to this. If you're getting hungry, that's okay. Tell King's Stomach be quiet. Now I'm all for context of a verse. I know he's talking about the people have been in exile. Rebuilding the city. I got it. But there's a very important principle here. When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon someone a person is doing things for his kingdom I believe they shall rebuild the old ruins. They shall raise up the former desolations. They shall repair the ruined cities. In other words those filled with God's Spirit will always rebuild the foundation of truth that was torn down. That's why you cannot shut up the church in this culture. They're going to try. They're going to push. But as true Spirit filled believer must proclaim truth from the mountaintops. You can't say okay I give up. I give up. I quit. You got me. It's always pushing. Always pushing against the kingdom of darkness. Those filled with God's Spirit will always bring life to dead situations. Those filled with God's Spirit will always repair what is being disintegrated by the culture. See we're not supposed to just cower back and give up and say oh well like a doormat we're called to sometimes be the wrecking ball in love of course and say no that is not happening. We're going to pray. We're going to fast. We're going to contend for truth in this post modern culture whatever that means. And we're to stand up for what God's Word says. Sometimes that means loving people. I don't want you to stand and taco bell and start telling people they're going to hell. I mean it's not like I'm so angry. We're not called to be angry. We're called to be loving and gentle but there comes a time when we say no. No more. No more. I remember we were at East Palmdale a little league game a couple years ago. My son was playing all stars and I saw this guy he was on something. He was just I mean cussing is an understatement. I think he had alcohol. I don't know. He's just doing this. He's walking right to the kids. So I grabbed one of the baseball bats and he got about 10 feet. I said hey you can't go where the kids are at. I'm just letting you know. Hey I'm just telling you. I'm telling you. I'm speaking quietly but you're not going to where the kids are at the way you're acting. I'm holding the line. I love you. I'll give you the gospel after I hold you down and wait for the please. But I'm holding so much love. I love you. I feel for you. I've been trapped in addiction before. I love you but I love them as well. I love the kids as well who don't need to hear that garbage and don't need to see what you're doing. See how can you love both? I love the sinner but I have to protect what was given to me. I want to help you. I want to pray for you but I'm not going to let you continue to hurt and harass this group of people and you hold that ground. But we become so passive that we'll actually go and hide behind the little league team. You go handle it guys. I'm just called to be quiet. I'll just pray for you back here. God calls us to come out from among them. Be separate. Stand in the gap. Guard and love those who disagree. Guard the truth. Love those who disagree but not to back down. We can say with love hey I love you but that's not right. So what we're going to do, we're going to go into a time of communion during worship. Communion is very important. It's for believers who remember what Jesus did for them. They remember and they reflect and there's a song we sang this morning I just hit rewind on it all the time where he says Jesus you don't owe me anything. Jesus you don't owe me anything. In this time of communion remembering Jesus would often say remember your first love. Have you ever thought what that means? Remember your first love. Alright come on married couples. You know. Remember you couldn't wait to get that text or that email. For some of you maybe the phone call. No emails or texts. But you couldn't wait. Let's not joke though. You couldn't wait. I know I couldn't. Did Morgan email me? What are we doing this weekend? What are we doing tonight? Oh it's Monday. I won't see you. It's all returning to that first. Returning. When have we ever done that to God? It's the weekend. I'm going to go and I'm going to worship God on Sunday. It's Wednesday service. I'm going to go. God I remember. Oh. I remember how I fell in love with you and you spoke to me in your word. You brought tears to my life. Worship just seemed to jump out of my heart. I wanted to praise you. I wanted to preach to everyone I ran into. The joy of the Lord was in me. It was my strength. God I want to return to that first love. I've drifted. I haven't heard from you in a while.