Many of us, I've talked to a lot
of people, we are at a broken, humble
state this weekend.
And two things can happen.
What I don't want it to do to
you is you can get very discouraged.
I'm broken, I'm humble, I can never measure
up.
Oh man, I'm worthless.
That's actually not the goal.
The goal of brokenness and humility is to
get you in a position of victory, not
defeat.
See, when we are humble and broken before
God, now we can receive from God.
Now we can understand what his will is.
Now he can say, now I can use
you.
I've been wanting to use you the last
few years, but now I can use you.
So don't let it result in defeat and
discouragement.
Now you're coming from a position of victory.
Okay God, you've broke me, you've humbled me,
now how can you use me?
So it's actually a very encouraging thing to
be humble and broken before the Lord.
And Jason alluded to this earlier, that the
stage up here, what this is all about
with Ahab and kings and reading about Ahab
was a wicked king.
And Elisha came on the scene calling the
whole nation back to God.
And he actually had the people on Mount
Carmel.
He was looking down and he said, how
long will you falter?
Another translation says, how long will you waver
between two opinions if God is God, follow
him.
And he said, let the God who answers
by fire, let him be God.
And God consumed the entire altar.
And Ahab was so upset.
He said, Elisha, oh, you troubler of Israel.
See, anytime you stand for God, they're gonna
think you're the troubler.
I can see it now.
Oh, Shane, you troubler of America.
What are you, why are you waking us
up from our death sleep?
The king was upset at Elisha and he
ran for his life, but God spoke to
him in that still small voice of the
Holy Spirit.
And I was reminded, I wanted to write
it down this morning, I forgot.
Martin Luther King Jr. Said something very interesting.
He said, the church, us, the church must
be reminded that it is not the master
or the servant of the state.
It is the conscience of the state.
And if we lose our prophetic zeal, we
will become an irrelevant social club without moral
or spiritual authority.
See, that's what happens to the church.
We are called to be the conscience of
the state.
We are called to be the conscience of
the nation.
That's one of the roles of the pulpit
is to be the conscience of the nation
and say, not on my watch, not on
my watch.
It's interesting.
Many people celebrate Halloween on the 31st.
You know what I celebrate?
1517, the church doors in Wittenberg, Germany, Martin
Luther nailed the 95 theses to these doors
calling the church back.
And I don't know, it's not 1517.
I'm not Martin Luther and we're sure not
in Germany, but we need to nail those
95 theses back to the church doors and
say, as for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord.
If the world's going to hell in a
handbasket, I will serve the Lord.
Back to prayer, back to fasting, back to
brokenness and humility.
If my people calling the church back.
See, the pulpit used to be powerful, not
wimpy.
We used to proclaim the truth.
Now there's wonderful churches out there doing great
things, but the loss, the vast majority reminds
me of Samson.
He said, I will go out and attack
the Philistines just like other times before.
And the Bible says, he knew not that
the spirit of the Lord had departed from
him.
King James says, he wist not.
He knew not that the spirit of the
Lord had departed from him.
And guys, the main theme of this whole
couple days, at least on my heart, has
been leadership matters.
Leadership matters in our nation.
Leadership matters in our homes and leadership matters
in the church.
Don't you see the enemy going after the
leadership?
Because as the leadership goes, so goes the
nation.
As the leadership goes, so goes the home.
As the leadership goes, so goes the church.
And the last point is interesting.
If my people humble themselves, pray, seek my
face, and the thing we don't want to
talk about very often is, if you're not
popular, this is not gonna win me a
popularity contest, if my people turn from their
wicked ways.
And it's interesting, if you do some research
in the Old Testament primarily on what a
false prophet is, a false prophet often was
somebody who said, peace, peace, when there's no
peace.
Look at Jeremiah 23.
God says, I did not send these prophets,
but they ran.
I did not speak to them, but they
spoke.
But had they truly stood in my counsel,
had they truly stood in the counsel of
God, they would have turned the entire nation
back to me.
God says, is not my word like a
hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?
Is not my word like a fire that
devours?
But you have perverted the words of the
living God by not warning and instructing and
encouraging and calling the people back.
Always a false prophet will tell people what
they want to hear and not what they
need to hear.
They're going, peace, peace, Jerusalem, peace, peace.
I know you're sacrificing your children on the
hot arms of Baal, and you can hear
the screams of your child, you're sacrificing them.
But don't worry, peace, peace.
Don't worry, God doesn't care about your idolatry
and you're walking away from him, there's peace.
Tell us smooth things.
Tell us things we want to hear.
And that's where it gets to this point.
If my people who are called by my
name will humble themselves, pray, and turn from
their wicked ways.
This is an interesting concept.
We can humble ourselves, theoretically.
We can act like we're praying.
We can say we're seeking God's face.
But all this will fall on deaf ears
unless we turn from our wicked ways.
And I did have my testimony interweaved in
here, but I've spoken so much about that
over the last few messages.
I didn't want to spend too much time
on that.
And I don't know, did you guys have
the picture up there in the sound I
sent to Jason?
I might have forgot.
Oh, there we go.
21 years old, 22, steroids, partying, killing myself.
Venice Beach, all that good stuff.
I look at that now and I just
almost cry because that was on the broad
road to destruction.
Thank you guys.
I don't leave up there too much.
But so when I hear about the prodigal
son, when I hear that God reached down
and saved me, see, when I listen to
Amazing Grace, I got to hit rewind a
few times.
It's grace that's brought me here thus far.
I was lost, but now I'm found.
How great, how wonderful that sound.
Amazing Grace, it saved a wretch like me.
It's okay to say that.
See, here's what happens.
When you tell people the truth that we
are sinners in need of a Savior, then
they can better assimilate the information.
But when we make God out to be
a cosmic ball of love and a doting
grandfather that's just winking, he doesn't care, he'd
just do that.
He's a ball of love.
We give people the wrong perception of who
God is.
And it's often, often, here's where my concern
is.
When the father wanders, so will the children.
When a father wanders, so will the children.
And it was the same today as it
was in 1757 when they wrote the song,
Prone to Wander.
Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the
God I love.
Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.
And I have this picture, I read the
story, I couldn't find it to reference in
different things, but it was a man who,
this little boy was raised in church.
He was raised to be a godly man.
He was destined to do great things.
God had a call on his life, but
by the time he was 20, he ended
up drunk and in prison, had a crime
against him.
And he thought, oh, God, what's gonna happen?
What's my father gonna say?
His dad walked into prison.
All he said was, son, you don't belong
here.
And that encouraged him.
That's the word for you guys today.
God is saying, I believe, to many men,
son, you don't belong here.
It's time to come home.
It wasn't until the prodigal came to himself.
Actually ended up eating, spending everything, eating what
the pigs eat, and he finally came to
himself.
And I'll admit to you, I'm a broken
man from a broken childhood that resulted in
a broken marriage that led to a broken
life, but God.
Here's the thing.
We will beat ourself up as long as
we live.
The enemy will come in and badger, and
that's the only reason I bring up my
background with barely graduating high school, reading and
learning disability.
I had a 1.8 in high school.
Pretty good, right?
No, no, no.
And so the books are just, I just
laugh sometimes.
Writing books, I couldn't even spell.
I could barely write, and God, but God.
See, that's the point.
You get to a state of brokenness, and
then you say, but God.
But God can rebuild.
See, he's just looking.
The eyes of the Lord go to and
fro throughout the whole earth to find those
who are loyal to him, whose hearts are
broken before him, a broken and contrite heart.
God says, I will not cast away.
You'd be amazed at what God can do
with humility and brokenness and prayer and seeking
and repentance.
And I really didn't have a long message
tonight, obviously, because I've said so much as
it is.
And I was going back and forth on
when I should throw this in there, but
I think it's important.
It's interesting that Sean McDowell's actually speaking, I
believe, Saturday and Sunday.
And I read an article by his dad,
Josh McDowell.
It was in New Man Magazine many, many
years ago.
And this, you know when you read something,
it just sticks with you?
And you just, it really brought me to
tears that day, and it's something that I
just can't quite get over because it's true.
And he said, you know who Josh McDowell
is probably?
He's written books.
He spoke to young adults all the time.
That's what he did in his ministry, 90s
and 2000, early 2000.
But he said the question that he gets
from young adults more than any other question
is this.
How can we live for Christ when we
don't want the Christ that our parents have?
Let's just change that.
How can we live for Christ when I
don't want the Christ that my father has?
See, that needs to hurt.
That needs to hurt.
That should cause every man in this room
to go home, fall on his face before
God and repent and to restore and rebuild.
Well, that's not me, Shane.
Well, good, praise God.
Praise God.
But the vast majority of people, our kids,
do not want the Christ they see in
us because we're not resembling everything I just
talked about, that humility and that brokenness and
that time of seeking God.
And one thing I learned from that picture
from my life is that many people have
religion but not a relationship.
Do you know you can know all about
Jesus but not know him?
Do you don't have a relationship with him?
For example, a person I followed many years,
Billy Graham, a common name here.
If you were to be here and I
would say, Dr. Graham, I watched many of
your sermons.
I've read your biographies.
I knew when you were here, when you
gave your heart to the Lord, you walked
down that sawdust trail.
I think it was 1934.
I know all about you.
Do you know what he'd say to me?
Young man, I don't know you.
I don't know you.
And that's what's happening in the church is
many people have religion and not a relationship
because religion is comfortable.
If I can make religion out to God
to be whatever I want, whoever I want,
that's comfortable.
But that's not relationship.
And I'm gonna go through a very common
thing here that people call the Romans Road
and it's wonderful for those because I don't
wanna neglect, there are people here, a group
this size, of course, there are people here
you are searching, you are asking questions.
I might have irritated you a little bit.
That's a good thing.
The Holy Spirit is convicting and you're like
this God thing.
I don't know.
And here is the answer.
Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God.
All have sinned and come short of the
glory of God.
Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is
death.
Now that's not very popular, but it is
very powerful.
Telling people the way, can you imagine?
Wages of sin is death, but that's the
gospel.
That's the good news.
And something you have to always remember is
the gospel condemns you before it releases.
The gospel sentenced you before it pardons and
the gospel breaks you before it restores you.
That's what we miss about the gospel.
Yes, it's offensive.
It's absolutely offensive to the sinful, prideful, arrogant
heart.
It's supposed to be.
It condemns me and then it releases me.
What am I gonna, if I don't see
my need for a savior, why would I
even, that's why I don't like the backdoor
approach.
Well, people come to know Jesus someday and
we don't have to tell them all this.
That's the backdoor approach, doesn't work.
Osmosis doesn't work in church.
We've gotta shoot people the truth.
We've gotta tell, Jesus did.
Jesus did.
He would tell everybody their need for him,
their need for a savior.
For the wages of sin is death.
It is the power of God for salvation
for everyone who believes.
Romans 6.23, doesn't end there, but the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ, our Lord.
See, he gives the bad news, but then
the good news.
And he says, 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 you, or depart
from me.
I don't even know you.
See, how can Jesus say I don't even
know you because the relationship is not there.
The relationship is not there.
Romans 6.23 does not end.
The gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ, our Lord.
And Romans 5.8 declares, but God demonstrated
his own love toward us and that while
we were sinners, while we are still sinners,
Christ died for us.
This amazes me, that picture you saw, he
died for me when I was living in
my sin, when I was cursing, when I
was partying, this whole life, he died for
me then.
He died, and I'm teaching on Sunday, we're
in the part of Acts, in the book
of Acts about Peter, coming and calling the
people to repentance.
You know the story if you've been in
church a while, right?
They think these guys are drunk.
The spirit of God falls in this place.
Boom, you see revival, the church is beginning.
They are drunk, oh, they're out of their
mind.
Peter said, no, no, hold on, hold on,
man.
This is that which the prophet Joel spoke
of, that in the last days I will
pour out my spirit on all flesh, your
sons and your daughters will prophesy, your men
will dream dreams, your young men will see
visions, and on my menservants and my maidservants,
I will pour out my spirit on those
days.
Praise God, that's what we need.
I'm not afraid of the presence of God,
that's what we need here.
When true, genuine revival breaks out, you will
be on your face before God.
It's not weirdness, it's not oddity, it's God
breaking his people, that's revival.
Amen.
See, it's interesting on this topic, the very
thing we are afraid of is the very
thing we need, a mighty filling of the
Holy Spirit.
And I alluded to this earlier, and people
like to debate it, and the power of
the Holy Spirit is real.
The Holy Spirit is part of the triune
nature of God.
God exists in one.
We worship one God, careful there, but he
reveals himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and
the Spirit is the Spirit of God, the
Spirit of conviction.
The Spirit is actually enabling me to preach.
The Spirit is convicting, he's drawing the word
of God comes alive, and you know exactly
what I'm talking about.
And we desperately need a revival, but we're
so worried about being weird and odd.
No, no, that's not revival, that's being weird
and odd.
If it's odd, it's God, it's not biblical
necessarily.
But when God brings true revival, repentance is
sought, deliverance is the Holy Spirit is breaking
his people.
Do you know what the sermon title that
would not be popular today, but caused revival
hundreds of years ago?
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.
Oh, you couldn't get away with that.
I don't know if I'd wanna challenge that
one.
That might not be on YouTube.
Nobody would wanna watch that on YouTube, right?
It's gotta have all the good.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.
Now I might have, what was his name?
Jonathan Edwards.
His point was he was just reading a
manuscript.
The Spirit of God fell upon that place.
George Whitfield would preach repentance.
They would preach repentance and men would fall
on their face before God.
That's genuine revival.
So Peter said, repent and be converted because
he said, you put Christ on the cross.
So he's preaching, this is that which Joel
spoke of.
And you by ignorance put Christ on the
cross.
And they said, what must we do to
be saved?
He said, repent.
Every one of you, repent in the times
of refreshing.
If you look up that word, refreshing, it's
revival.
Times of revival will come from the presence
of the Lord.
And as I'm reading that, I can think,
who's in his audience?
Can you imagine who's in his audience?
The Roman soldier?
The Roman soldier that said, but Peter, I
took the five pound sledgehammer and I nailed
him to the cross.
Not me.
Peter says, repent, repent.
But I'm the guy who took the crown
of thorns.
I pushed it on his head.
I could tell it was going into his
skull and blood was coming down.
Peter, not me, yes, you.
So it doesn't matter what's in your past.
It matters what Christ died for.
That's the message of the gospel.
That's the good news.
And so many people, I'll come to God
when I get ready.
That's not how it works.
You'll never be ready.
That's the point of the cross.
Theologians call it propitiation.
It just means Jesus absorbed the wrath of
God on the cross.
And then you can imagine this time in
history, all of sin, all of sin from
Genesis to Revelation was paid at Calvary.
That's why Jesus being close to the father
had said, Eli, Eli, lama zabatchini, my God,
my God, why have you forsaken me?
It's that time when God the father departed
from the son because he absorbed the wrath
of God and paid the penalty.
Oh my God, we'll get more excited at
the Broncos.
Are they even playing?
I don't even know who's playing anymore.
The Dodgers, we see, we get so excited
as men over these things that are trivial.
But when God gets your heart and repentance
takes place and times of refreshing come from
the presence of the Lord, how can you
sing amazing grace and not weep?
I was blind, but now I see.
I was lost, but now I'm found.
He saved a wretch like me.
He reached down into a little country town
and I should be dead by now.
And he said, I'm gonna save that boy.
I'm gonna save him and preach the glorious
gospel of Jesus Christ using the foolish things
to confound the wise.
There are churches in my area that tell
people don't go to my church because I
didn't go to seminary.
That's not a real church.
Confounding the wise.
And on this, I don't know why I
get on this rabbit trail, but it's so
interesting that when God changes your heart, you
love theology.
You love the word of God.
You love worship.
God is changing your heart.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus
Christ is Lord and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you
will be saved.
Be crystal clear on this issue.
Jesus is the only way, the only truth,
the only life, no man comes to the
Father except through Christ.
Won't all roads lead to God?
They'll lead to the judgment seat of God,
but they won't lead to heaven.
All roads don't lead to heaven.
What was the point of the cross?
I had somebody wanna argue with me the
other day about purgatory.
Well, we have to go there because it
wasn't quite paid.
What?
That was the whole point of the cross.
So we rejoice in the cross.
It's because of the cross I proclaim the
need for salvation, but also obedience to God's
word.
Every knee will bow and every tongue will
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
There is no power in any other name.
Why are so many people upset?
The school districts get his name out of
there.
I went and prayed to Mike Katonovich's office.
Don't mention Jesus Christ.
Really?
Did you check out who you're asking to
pray first?
Have you watched any sermons?
Because that's impossible.
Remove him from the courts.
Do you know the entire legal system was
founded on the word of God?
Blackstone's commentaries on the laws of England gave
Bible references to every single law.
The Supreme Court acknowledged our reliance on God.
You couldn't even run for office unless you
profess a belief in God, the Son and
the Holy Spirit.
Oh my God, how far have we drifted?
Yeah, I
think that's enough.
I'll just have Tim come up.
That's it.
I guess it takes some energy for Sunday.
But all joking aside, guys, there's not enough.
You don't have to keep saying.
I got the point across.
You either know him or you don't.
If you don't know him, every knee will
bow and every tongue will confess that Christ
is Lord.
End of story.
You don't get to heaven and debate.
I tell people, tell me, well, get there
and I'll tell God about all my good
works.
No, no, no, you'll be on your face
before God like a little weeping, crying child
saying eternity separated from God.
Why?
Because I didn't bow my knee to him
on this side of Calvary.
I waited and I waited.
Every knee will bow.
Do you understand that?
See, the devil and God are not equal.
The devil and God are not equal.
Jesus has dominion.
Jesus is the only name that's saved.
That's why people get upset.
That's why they want to remove his name
from everything.
Don't pray in his name.
School districts, everything.
Get the name of Jesus out.
Why?
Because that name is so powerful that even
demons tremble.
When you say the name of Jesus, I
love watching his ministry.
He would walk out and the man, demon
possessed, half of us would go, a demon
possessed?
I don't know what to do.
Jesus is out of him.
Out of him.
We are legion.
I don't care who you are.
You're out of him.
Everybody was healed, delivered, set free in the
name of Christ.
Oh, how great that name.
At the sound of your name, at the
sound of your name, the lost are saved
and find their way.
The condemned feel no shame.
Every fear has no place.
The enemy has to flee at the sound
of your name.
People say, oh, you're so passionate.
Why wouldn't I be passionate?
Why wouldn't you?
When God saves you and redeems, he's not
just saving, it's redeeming.
Now he's gonna teach me how to be
a father to my little girls.
Now he's gonna teach me how to be
a, see, I got beat a little bit
when I was growing up.
They call it child abuse today.
And I don't wanna go there.
God, I need you to change me and
break me and restore me.
God, I need you on this side of
the cross as much as I needed you
on that side.
I'm one decision away from ruining my life.
Shane, are you sure?
Yeah, because so are you.
So I'm just gonna have Tim come back
up.
We're gonna do worship.
He's gonna close with a song or two.
And I'm gonna throw three things out there.
If you don't know God, if you don't
know Christ, the Bible is very simple.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus
Christ is Lord and you believe in your
heart that God has raised him from the
dead, you will be saved.
Interesting thing.
Your past is actually forgiven.
Your past is forgiven.
Your present is secure.
In Christ, we are new creations before God.
And the enemy comes in and taunts all
the time.
But if you don't know him, I'm gonna
give you the opportunity to make that decision.
Because we've gotta start being bold in our
faith.
We've gotta say, I don't care who sees.
I don't care.
I'll be the first one up to the
altar.
Actually, there's more room in the back probably.
But I'll be the first one up here
to say, God, create a clean heart.
Renew a right spirit in me.
I've got all this junk that needs to
come out.
I need to be filled again mightily with
the Holy Spirit.
I need to proclaim your truth because I'm
a leaky vessel.
D.L. Moody said, we are leaky vessels.
We gotta sit underneath the fountain of life
every single day.
And that's the second call is to the
prodigal.
It's time to come home.
This isn't a game.
Life is not a game.
As we sleep in slumber, the enemy is
coming in.
He's stealing your children.
He's going after our kids.
He's going after our families.
And I've had enough.
He should have killed me 20 years ago
because I've had enough.
We are pulling down strongholds by praying and
fasting and seeking the heart of God again.
If I can, I don't need this whole
room.
If I can get 10 men on their
face before God, crying out to God, we
can change the culture, change our homes.
God says, just give me one or two.
See, you plus God is the majority.
Have you ever thought about that?
You plus God is the majority.
So the prodigal son, it's time to come
home.
Life is not a game.
And I feel this strongly as well, too.
It's time for the Pharisee to repent.
The person who has sound doctrine, but they
don't have the power of the Holy Spirit.
You are hurting your family.
You are arrogant.
You are mean.
You are condescending.
You have truth, but truth doesn't have you.
You know how I know?
Because I went through this season.
I could put down everybody.
You learn a little Greek.
You learn a little Hebrew, right?
You're well-read.
I quote all the books of Bible.
I quote tons of scriptures, and I would
put down everybody.
And my mom finally said, Shane, nobody wants
to be around you.
I'm representing the gospel, and nobody wants to
be around me?
Because that's what can happen.
Knowledge puffs up.
If you don't stay humble, oh goodness, you're
gonna want to debate everything.
And God, what was Jesus' words to the
Pharisees?
Oh, Lord, if we had time.
So the prodigal, the unbeliever, the Pharisee, we
need to repent tonight.
We need to be filled mightily with the
Spirit of God.
I don't know what that looks like, and
I don't care what that looks like.
But I'm just gonna ask.
I'll ask those who want to come forward,
go ahead and come forward.
Tim's gonna start with worship.
Just come up here.
And if you need Jesus Christ, if you
need that, I'll just come down here.
I like preaching down here anyway.
I'll pray with you.
I'll unhook this microphone.
I'll pray with you.
If you need the Lord, if you need
repentance, you need restoration.
And I know most of the men should
be up here leading by example in their
homes.
Thank you, Lord.
As we close tonight, I pray that you
would convict us and draw us closer to
you.
We would surrender our lives to you and
not be ashamed of the gospel.
In Jesus' name, amen.