Let's get started.
If you have your Bibles, turn to Matthew
22, Matthew chapter 22, verse 34.
The title of the sermon is, How Much
of God Do You Want?
How much of God do you want?
And I've got good news and I've got
bad news.
The good news is, I think this can
really help a lot of people.
The bad news is, it might turn into
part two.
So I just kept putting the sermon together
and God just...
And you know it's the Lord when you
pull over and you write things down and
you've got to get those in the notes
and then I read something else and it
confirms and it's just so overwhelming, the type
of message that I believe God wants us
to embrace.
Because how much of God do you want
really is a question that we all have
to answer.
How much of God do you want?
How much of that relationship do you want?
Because He's not a puppet master.
You know what that is, right?
Somebody with puppets and they make...
It's up to us.
How much of God...
The difference between a person who is on
fire for God and loving God and filled
with His Spirit and the person who's not
and they know it and they're not happy
about it, the one difference is this person
is seeking God with all their heart, with
all their soul, with all their strength.
This person is not.
They're living a carnal lifestyle and they're not
going to make certain changes.
Now that might offend some people but it's
true.
Because how much of God do you want
depends upon you.
If you seek me with all of your
heart you will find me.
And I like what A.W. Tozer said,
I want the presence of God Himself or
I don't want anything to do at all
with religion.
Isn't that true?
I want the presence of God Himself or
I don't want to have anything to do
with religion.
And there's many religions meeting and having church
tomorrow and different things and they know nothing
about the presence of God.
And when I talk about the presence of
God, it's a tangible presence that you would
know, you can sense that God is with
you.
And though there's valleys and there's storms, you
know that He's the anchor.
You know you can feel Him sometimes during
worship.
And it's not all about feelings.
But I do believe that God has given
us feelings and thank God for those feelings.
As I've said before, can you imagine not
having feelings?
There's my kids, I guess, I love them,
I don't know, I'm supposed to, but I
don't feel anything and that's my spouse and
I don't really feel anything and a baby's
born and who cares?
It's just dead.
So feelings can be good and God-given
if they're focused in the right direction.
But the sad truth is that most Christians
are spiritually malnourished.
Are you aware of that?
I bet you're not aware of this statistic,
but most Americans are physically malnourished.
Even though we have an abundance of food,
we don't have the right food, and we
are malnourished physically, we're malnourished spiritually.
And that's one of the reasons I wrote
the book I released last year, Desperate for
More of God, was to help people in
this area, to be desperate for more of
Him.
And I'm going to read a little quote
here from Wilbur Reese that you've heard me
read probably last summer, but it ties in
perfectly and not everybody heard it, so I
wanted to read it again.
He said this, I would like to buy
three dollars worth of God, please.
Not enough to explode my soul or disturb
my sleep, but just enough to equal a
cup of warm milk or a snooze in
the sunshine.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want the warmth of the womb, not
a new birth.
I want a pound of the eternal in
a paper sack.
I would like to buy just three pounds
of God, please.
And it's true.
It's true with many people that they don't
want all that God has.
They're comfortable with one foot in the world
and one foot kind of serving God.
And the dilemma is found in Galatians 5
.17. The sinful nature wants to do evil,
which is just the opposite of what the
Spirit wants.
And the Spirit gives us desires that are
opposite of what the sinful nature desires.
And these two forces are constantly fighting each
other.
So the question really is who do you
obey?
Do we obey the Spirit, the leading of
the Spirit, or do we obey the pulling
of the flesh?
And that is really what tilts the scale
on whether we truly know God and we
experience His presence or not.
The key is that most people drift from
God not because He fails them and not
because the Word of God proves to be
untrue, but because of the pull of the
world.
It's like a magnet, and I don't like
it.
The flesh, the sinful flesh, it's still here.
There's a magnet in the world.
It's pulling.
You can feel that pull from what you
watch and everything I talk about, right?
You don't need to rehash that, but there's
this pull.
And it's a fight against this pull to
do what the Spirit wants us to do.
And once we make that decision, that's when
the peace comes.
That's when the joy comes, when we overcome
that magnetic pull and we focus on God.
This person is a Spirit-filled believer, and
this is the person who's filled with the
Spirit of God.
See, so that's the dilemma.
We don't feel it immediately.
Sometimes it's after the decision is made to
follow God.
Then we feel that peace and that joy.
And that's why many people are caught in
that lukewarm state, and they're desperate for more
of God.
It's because they've allowed the pull of the
world, the pull of the flesh, to pull
them away from God.
Think about this.
How many people would be better off if
they could get up early and read the
Bible and worship for an hour?
Oh, I hope everybody's shaking their head on
that one.
But what prevents that?
Right?
If you snore, if you don't, right?
But that's what prevents it.
Let's be honest.
This is the honest sermon, right?
Every time, we try to give the honest
sermon.
And that's the truth.
The flesh doesn't want to get up out
of that warm, cozy bed.
And when the time change comes, is it
going to be easier to do that or
more difficult?
You look, and 6 o'clock, no, it's
really 7 o'clock.
I'm behind.
And it's very easy to fix that problem.
You go to bed earlier.
But nobody wants to do that, because they
want to see what's on the news.
They want to see this new reality show.
They want to see all this.
So now the flesh is controlling in the
evening, and it's hard to get.
So you see how it just controls everything.
I know I shouldn't go do that or
watch that, but I will just enjoy it.
I know I shouldn't hang around with those
people, but I enjoy it.
I know I shouldn't spend two hours on
Facebook.
I'm convicted about shame.
So you see how the world pulls us
away from the things of God?
That's where the dilemma is.
That's where the struggle is.
That's why many people, I would bet if
we took a poll, everybody in this room
would say, yes, I want to be more
desperate for God.
I want more of God.
I want it.
So the problem isn't with want to.
It's with have to.
How do I do this?
How do I put this all together?
And I believe there's hope.
But you have to remember this.
This is one of the difficult things with
modern day Christianity and the church, is there's
an easy believism.
There's an easy discipleship.
It's like following Jesus is cool, and it's
a thing to do, and you can put
not out of this world shirts, and you
can wear this stuff, and nobody's going to
know the difference.
But that's not the Bible.
It says that there is a cost.
There's always a cost.
There's always a cost to pay.
Think about retirement.
Ask somebody that's getting ready to retire, was
there a cost?
Yeah, it's called 30 years of work to
put away.
What about a healthy marriage?
Is there a cost?
Yes, it's called dying to self on a
daily basis and not having to win that
last argument.
Raising good kids, is there a cost?
Yes, it's difficult.
Once that first little tiny baby was born,
my life ended.
What I mean by, oh, I'm single, or
we're just married, I can go play softball
on Fridays and Wednesdays, and we can go
do this, and we can go do that.
No, not now.
There's a cost to raising.
So why don't we think there isn't a
cost to seeking God?
How bad do you want it is what
it boils down to.
How bad do you want it?
The sad fact also is this, the price
we pay reveals the value.
The price we pay on something reveals how
much value we place on something.
So if somebody pays a cost of 30
years for retirement, that retirement has a value
to them.
If people aren't willing to pay the price
to seek God, there's no value to them,
that's why.
And yes, it's difficult.
Yes, it's challenging.
Yes, you have to fight the flesh, but
the fruit of the Spirit.
See, I think people understood it better many,
many years ago because they understood things like
farming.
You work very hard for a few months.
You plow the soil.
You put things in.
You remove rocks.
And then you partook of the fruit months
later, not the same day.
Delayed gratification is also very biblical.
We do things now for the benefit later,
and that applies to seeking God.
But as I've told you many times before,
the devil tries to keep us asleep spiritually,
especially kids and younger folks.
Shh, shh, shh.
Right, go back to sleep.
He says it's no big deal.
Everybody's doing it.
People will laugh at you if you seek
God.
If you give everything to God, you'll be
mocked.
Your friends will think you're weird.
You can't do that.
Isn't that the thought sometimes that people have?
They don't want to get too carried away
for God.
They've got to keep their image.
And the Bible says there's no image.
There's dying to self.
There's following him.
I'm nothing and you're everything.
You're going to look a little foolish to
the world.
There's going to be a difference and a
distinction.
So that's the introduction to Matthew 22, 34.
And I'm going to read starting in verse
34.
But Jesus said that this is the greatest
commandment ever given.
You would think that would cause us to
sit up straight and to turn the cell
phones off.
It's a good reminder.
And pay attention to what is Jesus saying.
What is the greatest commandment that was ever
given?
Well, here it is.
Many of you know it, but I think
we need to look at it again.
But when the Pharisees heard that he had
silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.
Then one of them, a lawyer, asked him
a question, testing him and saying, Teacher, which
is the great commandment in the law?
Which is the greatest commandment?
Jesus said to him, You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all your mind.
Another translation or another gospel says, And with
all your strength.
Everything that you consist of, you love him
with all your strength.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like it.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
On these two commandments hang all the law
and the prophets.
Again, you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart.
You know, it's interesting.
I looked up that word all, and you
know what it means?
All.
There's just giving everything there.
Now, here's where many people get confused.
And this is why I often say it's
about your heart, the direction of your heart.
It's not about perfection.
Because a lot of people think, Well, I
can't give him all my heart and perfect.
No, it's not perfect.
Nobody can do that perfectly.
But you're giving him all your heart, all
your soul, all your mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
Here's what this looks like.
Jesus, I give you all of my...
My finances are yours.
They're yours.
And he knows you need a house.
He knows you need a car.
He knows you need food.
So, but when we say, Lord, my finances
are yours, but people don't give.
Not to the church.
I'm just in general.
They don't have a giving heart.
Well, then, no, you haven't given God all
your...
That area.
Well, yes, I have.
I think.
I mean, I do things.
No, if the pocketbook's still got a hold
on us, then we have not given God
that area.
When God has given that area, we find,
and that's why they talk about tithe or
offering or whatever you want to call it,
there should be something there where it hurts
us financially to some degree.
Like David said, I'm not going to give
God something that costs me nothing.
That's why it's very easy to give goodwill
your 25-year-old refrigerator that's falling apart,
not the new Whirlpool.
Have you ever thought about that?
If anybody wants this refrigerator, it's free.
Just come and get it.
I have such a giving heart.
No, you want to get rid of it.
Give them the new one you're buying.
Oh, no, I saved up for a year.
Right.
See, we don't give God all that we
think we do sometimes.
So, all our heart just means, I'm going
to put aside a certain amount.
Lord, this is for you.
I'm giving you my finances.
What about time?
Lord, my time is yours.
Whatever you want to do, whatever you're calling
me to do.
No, that's not true either.
Most people aren't serving in church or serving
in ministry, even if it's not here, Grace
Resource or Care Net or wherever it is.
We should be serving with our time, volunteering
our time.
And our life is not ours.
So, if we look at it closely, and
we think we're giving God all of our
heart, we're really not many times.
Again, not perfection, but there should be areas
in our life where we're giving of our
time, of our money.
What about this one?
Lord, I give you my life, but it
doesn't reflect it.
If we look at what we watch, what
we view, how we spend our time, how
we spend our money, everything we do, it
doesn't reflect that God is our life.
So, it's easy to say and very difficult
to do.
And of course, my favorite, Lord, I give
you my marriage, but I'm not going to
treat the spouse like your Word commands me
to treat them.
Well, that's not giving God your marriage.
So, we have many people thinking, I've given
God my life, and my money, and my
time, and my marriage.
No, you haven't.
You've just said it.
Because your actions reveal the heart.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the
mouth speaks, but the feet also walk.
So, you can look at, and this isn't
meant to discourage, it's meant to encourage, where
we can say, oh, I've been not doing
good in that area, or this area.
And here's where I need to start giving
back to God, and God will bless that.
So, just be careful in this area.
On one hand, when we say, give God
our whole heart, all of our heart, many
people get discouraged, because, well, I can never,
I mean, who can really do that?
It's not about perfection, it's about giving Him.
When God says to do something, that means
we can do it.
So, many of you who've died to self,
you know exactly that this can be accomplished.
Not perfectly, because it rises up again now
and then, but many times we can, Lord,
everything is yours, show me what you want
me to do, and we respond accordingly.
So, be encouraged in that area, but also,
think about this, when we say we are
giving God all of our heart, are we
really?
Or all of our mind, or all of
our soul?
Now, let me break a few of these
points down.
You shall love the Lord God.
You shall love.
This is a command.
And this is very interesting.
This means that we have a choice.
I will tell you one of the biggest
lies that has ever, ever been perpetrated by
the enemy is this lie I'm about to
tell you.
And you can write it down, you can
share it with others, even though you already
know it.
Love is a feeling.
It's not a feeling.
Because when he tells me to love my
enemy, I will never feel like it.
Ever.
Love is a choice.
That's why when people say, if a loving
God can, how can a loving God allow
those shootings to happen?
Because he's not a puppet master.
Love is the highest standard we can measure
anything by.
It demonstrates value and worth.
God has given us the ability to love,
and he allows that free will to take
course.
If he just controlled or removed the gun
or took this away, that's controlling actions.
That's not allowing this true love and free
will to flow.
But love is a choice.
And this makes people mad.
This is not either.
Yes, because you have to choose to love
your spouse you don't love anymore.
I can't do that.
It's biblical.
Yes, you can.
Trust me, I've been there.
Not with my current wife, but back in
1998, when I went through a lot, and
divorce, and she left, and I've opened up
about all that, and every time I open
up about that, I get emails saying I
need to repent, I need to go back
to her, and all these things.
But let's just say it was biblical grounds
for divorce in every single area of scripture.
From adultery to abandonment to all these things.
And I had to go and forgive the
person, the man or the few men that
she left me for and had affairs with
them.
Not personally, but in my mind.
And I hate it.
Have you ever felt hate and rage?
But I had as God was working in
my heart.
He used that whole time to turn the
prodigal son back home.
So I thank God for that time, even
though it was a difficult time, if that
makes sense.
And he used it.
But it took months and months of finally
saying, Lord, okay, I forgive.
And it was a choice.
And I also get to the choice to
where, and Morgan knows this, I told her
about it, I went three years and I
still contended for my marriage.
I prayed and I waited and I prayed
and I waited for three years after my,
I still waited.
And I waited and prayed and the Lord
changed and I had to go and make
love a choice again, not a feeling, because
I sure didn't feel it.
But as I made that choice, God began
to show me and work in my heart
and I felt through counsel, through his word,
through confirmation, through the spirit, through my own
peace, that I was set, I was free.
Like Paul said, you're not under bondage in
such cases.
If somebody leaves, if they depart, if there's
ongoing adultery.
And that's when I met Morgan.
And I told her, listen, I've got to
email my ex-wife and talk to her
in a few years and make sure that
there's nothing there.
I'm released.
And it was beautiful.
It was perfect confirmation.
She was already living with some guy and
they're getting married.
And I was able to move on.
But people, they think that you can't get
divorced ever unless your spouse dies.
But when we look at the scripture, we
see when Jesus says that except for fornication,
except for sexual immorality, there's no release.
And then Paul talks to the church in
Corinthians.
He says that you're to remain with your
spouse even if they're an unbeliever, to sanctify
the home.
But if that unbeliever decides to leave, you're
not under bondage in such cases.
It doesn't mean you go find Plan B
next month.
Years.
I tell people to wait years.
You're not gonna find somebody next month.
So we're a big proponent of restoration.
That's what we promote, restoration.
We don't believe that in divorce, God hates
divorce.
But there's two areas, two areas that you
could look at biblically and come up with
a case biblically.
So I said all that to say this.
None of that was in my notes.
But I know it's difficult.
And that's why it's called the biggest lie.
People believe, they don't believe what I'm saying
right now, that true love is a choice.
You will not feel it first.
You have to make the choice.
Lord, I know this is right.
I'm gonna take you at your word and
I'm gonna love that person regardless of how
I feel.
The reason everybody thinks love is a feeling
is because Hollywood.
Oh, I just love this person.
No, you're in lust with them.
They look like a supermodel or he looks
like, what's his, Hugh Jackman.
That's why they love him.
Because oh, I just feel and I feel.
No, no, no, no, that's called lust.
That's called attraction.
Good things, God gave it for a reason.
I mean, can you imagine not being attracted
to, the opposite side, just no attraction.
So God gives us these things.
But that's not love.
Love is actually a commitment and a choice
to remain.
I think there's a vow out there somewhere
that says until death do us part.
That's what love is.
And people, you know, I don't like this.
If you could just for one minute think
of the love of God, and Paul says
that, how can you not forgive when Christ
Jesus has forgiven you?
And that's a reality check.
I mean, when I look at God forgiving
me, so the only thing that allows me
to not release that and give back the
love that God gave me is pride.
And it's evil and it's wicked and it's
ugly.
So that's why he says, you shall love
God with all your heart.
It's a choice.
People have a choice to make.
They have to love God with all their
heart.
And then he says, everything else hangs on
this.
Hangs on this.
Here's a good illustration.
Are you well aware that the clothes in
your closet are not hanging in your closet
on their own?
What are they hanging on?
A coat hanger.
Hangers, there's something there.
So everything hangs on the, everything, everything in
the Bible, hangs on these two scriptures.
Because if you're not loving God with all
your heart and you're not loving others, I
don't care how many scriptures you quote.
I don't care if you have a PhD
in theology.
I don't care if you've read all of
John MacArthur's books and Jack Hayford's.
Let's get both sides here.
I don't care.
That doesn't matter.
Paul said none of that matters.
If you have not love it, profit you
nothing.
So everything hangs on this.
That's why it just cracks me up when
people love to quote scriptures and they're modern
day Pharisees and they don't love anybody.
They're just mean and rude and like yeah,
but I love the truth.
No, you're arrogant.
That's a big difference.
How we treat others reveals how much we
love God.
Now that statement's gonna hurt, but let it
hurt.
How we treat others reveals how much we
love God.
Because somebody who's in love with God will
love others.
It's a natural byproduct of a relationship with
God.
Now this is interesting too.
When Jesus said your heart, your soul, your
mind, I'm assuming, I didn't look at commentaries
on this, except online when I was putting
together through the Logo software I looked at
a little thought there that he had that
confirmed what I had.
But these are not necessarily teachings on certain
areas.
Okay, here's a teaching on your heart.
Here's a teaching on your mind.
You cannot love God with all your heart.
Shane, I love him with all my heart,
but my mind is a mess.
I'm just lusting in my mind.
I'm thinking all these things.
I'm drifting from God in my mind.
Oh, but I'm okay with my heart.
They go together.
It's completeness.
You can't say, Shane, my mind is on
fire for God.
I love God with all my mind.
But my heart is desperately wicked and it's
making me do very bad things.
Does he still love God then?
So these aren't separate areas necessarily.
It's completeness.
Because when you love God with all your
heart, your mind comes.
When you love God with all your mind,
your heart follows.
And your soul.
And basically the language in the Hebrew, the
heart is the center of things.
The soul means possessing life and the mind
is our thinking.
It all goes together.
There's a famous quote I remember from a
few years ago that I want to share
again.
It says this, all the water in the
world, no matter how hard it tries, can
never sink a ship unless it gets inside.
All the evil influence of the world, no
matter how hard it tries, can never sink
a Christian soul unless it gets inside.
That's why I often say the battle is
for your mind.
Now here's how it gets inside.
This is interesting.
This is one of the things I wanted
to share with you.
I thought it would be part two sermon
because this morning and yesterday I kept going
back to Paul talking about to the church
in Corinth saying that the Old Testament was
actually given to us so that we might
not lust after evil things like they lusted.
So we're supposed to look at the Old
Testament and not lust after evil things like
they lusted.
That's how we avoid allowing this to get
in.
So in 1 Corinthians 10.5 Paul says
this, now these things became our example, the
Old Testament, that we should not lust after
evil things and do not become idolaters as
were some of them, as it is written,
the people sat down to eat and drink
and rose up to play.
Nor let us commit sexual immorality as some
of them did and in one day 23
,000 fell.
Nor let us tempt Christ as some of
them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents.
Nor complaining as some of them also complained
and were destroyed by the destroyer.
I mean this is strong language.
This is wake up language.
Wake up.
Paul, this is a very sober warning.
Now all these things happened to them as
examples and they were written for our benefit
upon whom the ends of the age have
come.
So let's look at all three of these
real quick.
Idolatry, the people sat down to eat and
drink and rose up to play.
This is not kids go play in the
backyard because that's good play.
There's nothing wrong with that.
I like when my kids get up and
go play.
This is a party lifestyle.
This is eating, drinking and doing, the Bible
says debauchery.
It's just a lifestyle, it's filthy.
It's just going places we shouldn't go, doing
things we shouldn't do.
It's idolatry because we're putting that God, the
God of the world, above the one true
and living God and our life is reflecting
it.
So that idolatry will have a price.
And then also he mentioned sexual immorality.
We've taught on that numerous times.
This is basically joining themselves to the ungodly.
That's the problem, that's the issue with pornography,
with sexual immorality where men mainly and women
have to fight this with all they've got
because it's the enemy coming in and trying
to join, having us join ourselves with something
that's ungodly and it's a sin against the
body and it affects everything.
Here's how deadly it is.
I'm going in the next few weeks to
visit somebody who used to go here in
jail for the next 10 years.
Where did it start?
Sexual immorality.
Compromise.
Then maybe I can start drinking again.
And then let's get some crystal meth, let's
start shooting up heroin.
And now because I'm addicted and I need
to feed this desire, I stole thousands of
dollars and got caught 10 years.
Maybe out seven for good behavior.
But see, we don't see that part, do
we?
We don't see that part.
Or the family that's falling apart, the daughter
who wants to kill herself, that started with
her dad's affair, that broke down the family.
Folks, I can stay here until the service
is over and share example after example after
example of why this is so important.
Why do you think I have this important
protection on my phone, on all my computers,
accountability?
Because you've got to be transparent, you've got
to be honest.
Check anything whenever you want.
Here's the report.
You've got to have it because the enemy
doesn't want that foothold.
People say, oh, Shane, you're so spiritual.
I say, no, I'm not.
I'm not.
I need God.
I need his presence.
I need that accountability.
I need to be open and transparent because
sin loves to grow in darkness.
That's how the enemy gets us in this
area.
He comes in suddenly.
Oh, it'll just, nobody will know.
You know what it reminds me of?
This is, you can relate, I hope.
But I'm walking through the mall a while
back, kind of in a hurry, and this
guy goes, oh, come here, come here, come
here.
Five minute, five minute massage on this chair
they have out front.
That's how he said it.
I don't know if it's a reflexology, chiropractic
adjustment, I don't know what, massage kind of,
you know, that you sit on this chair
in there.
He goes, just five minute, five minute.
I go, no, I'm busy.
Five minute, okay.
So I sit down, and an hour later,
I finally got, because you know, he's like,
no, keep going, 20 minutes.
Okay, let's go an hour.
What's it cost?
Because once that, once he, I mean, have
you ever felt that?
Say, oh, I could just go to sleep.
Where has this been all of my life?
You know, my neck and shoulders and everything,
the tensions is gone, you just feel like
a rag doll.
So five minutes, see, that's the kicker.
He knew, as soon as I sat down,
as soon as this started happening, you know,
how much is it?
How much is it?
But if I would've just kept walking, it
would've never happened.
But that's how he works.
Just five minutes.
You know, and that's the temptation, draws us
in.
And then once you get there, that's when
the pain hits, and that's where the disappointment
hits.
But on the other hand, I want to
encourage you, many people fall in these areas.
The problem is they don't get back up
and get back on track with God.
Now, I'm not encouraging sin, I'm encouraging repentance,
but I'm also letting people know, don't be
stuck in that.
This person I talked about, that I'm going
to visit, I tried to talk with him
for two years before this happened.
I met with another pastor with him, tried
to talk to him, this is not good.
Well, the Old Testament says that, you know,
as long as we love each other and
we come together, we really don't need a
ceremony.
Really?
Well, you see, what happens, you start to
compromise what the Word of God says.
And I said, well, have you ever read
the word fornication?
That's what this is.
No, brother, you just don't know, we love
each other.
Well, slippery slope.
Because once you compromise there and you make
excuses for that compromise, what's the next step?
And the next step, and the next step.
So sexual morality is huge.
Now, number three is, we normally wouldn't think
of this, but this is really big, and
I've been convicted in my life on this
area of complaining.
Don't nod your head, just...
Look at this, he said, thousands fell and
were destroyed by serpents.
How is that possible?
Remember when they died in the wilderness, Moses
made a bronze serpent, whoever looks at the
serpent is saved.
But do you know the interesting, do you
know what happened right before that?
Let me read it to you.
Numbers 21, the people grew impatient on the
way.
The people grew impatient on the way.
They spoke against God and against Moses and
said, why have you brought us out of
Egypt to die in the wilderness?
There's no bread, there's no water, and we
detest this miserable food.
He just delivered.
He just delivered the children of Israel out
of Egypt, opened the Red Sea, parted it,
everything.
He's bringing food out of heaven.
There's water, there's everything, but they're complaining and
they're bickering and they're complaining and they're bickering.
And the more I read this, the more
I realized that God does not like complaining.
Because we really have no reason to complain,
because who are we complaining against?
If you look at most complaining, it's rooted
in not getting our way.
When I'm getting my way, I'm not complaining.
So we're not trusting God, we're complaining and
it's an affront to God.
I mean, there's no water here, there's no
bread, we hate this miserable food you gave
us.
There's food that angels eat and it just
appears in loaves and tastes wonderful.
I mean, they're complaining.
So I would just encourage you folks, we've
got to get away from complaining.
We've got to get away from complaining in
the church.
Of all people, we should be those who
complain the least amount of the time when
we're here.
So let's take the hunger test.
Remember, I've said this many times before, hunger
is a sign of what?
Health.
If a person is healthy, they're hungry.
Many times a person dying is not hungry.
Why is that?
Because they're not healthy.
Hunger is a sign of health.
So if you're hungry for the things of
God, that means you're spiritually healthy.
And I will submit to you that the
majority of people in churches across this nation
are not hungry for spiritual things.
They want to be entertained by a wonderful
band with smoke and lights, and they want
a quick sermon, 30 minutes, get me pumped
up, motivate me, but don't, like he just
said, $3 worth of God, please.
Not enough to transform me.
I don't want transformation.
I want ecstasy.
I want the warmth of the womb.
I don't want a new birth.
I want a pound of the eternal in
a paper sack.
I just want three pounds of God, please.
So if a person's not spiritually hungry for
God, and I run to Christians all the
time, God is nowhere in the conversation.
They look just like the world, and it
hurts, it breaks my heart.
Where's the difference there?
We should be hungry for God.
We should be hungry for His word and
truth.
So here's the first test on the heart.
Jesus said, love him with all your heart.
Are you hungry for humility?
Or do you do this to it?
I don't need that.
We have to be hungry for humility because
the heart is either hard or it is
soft.
There's your options.
Your heart is either hard, I don't want
the things of God, or it's soft.
It's pliable.
It's open to what God is saying.
A hard heart or a soft heart.
And this would be a good time to
remind you of the fact that spiritual pride
is deadly.
Spiritual pride.
Because the Bible says that the pride of
your heart has deceived you.
Spiritual pride is deadly because it's hard to
spot.
They come to church.
They sit right there.
They have their Bible.
They know scripture.
But they're arrogant.
Their spiritual pride.
And remember the story of Muhammad Ali I
said or mentioned a few months ago?
For those who weren't here, I'm going to
say it again because this is perfect.
It was a time, I think, when he
was taking a flight.
Muhammad Ali was on an airplane and the
stewardess told him to fasten a seatbelt.
And he said, Superman don't need no seatbelt.
And then she looked at him and said,
Superman don't need no airplane.
But arrogance, right?
I don't need no seatbelt.
You're on an airplane.
What do you mean Superman don't?
If you're Superman, you would fly.
Spiritual pride blinds.
Pride is so deadly, you can see a
spouse sit there and they're destroying their marriage
and you point it out to them and
they'll blame everybody.
Or a young adult ruining their life, they'll
blame everybody but themselves.
Or those in church are causing division.
Nobody can get along with them.
Nobody wants to be around them.
They're just miserable.
They just drunk a lot of prune juice
and they're a modern day Pharisee.
And you can tell them that but spiritual
pride says, Nope, not me.
Nope, not me.
It's all those people.
I'm the remnant.
I'm the one remnant and you're the hundred
deceived people.
That's spiritual pride and God detests it.
Because the pride of your heart has deceived
you.
It will deceive us.
And people say, Shane, I'm just passionate.
No, you're arrogant.
I'm contending for the truth.
No, you're fostering division.
I'm very serious about my faith.
No, you're very prideful.
But they'll hide under those excuses.
Because excuses allow us to remove blame shift,
right?
Okay, here it's coming at me.
I'm removing it.
Well, you're this.
No, I'm just passionate.
Well, you're just this.
No, I just love my religion.
And we just shifted away.
And I read this on Facebook.
I couldn't find the author but I love
it.
Yeah, we did go on Facebook for a
minute, right?
He said this, Without brokenness, or she, whoever
it is, without brokenness, we are all a
danger to God's people.
I almost like getting a little plaque on
that one.
Without brokenness and humility, we are a danger
to God's people.
Without brokenness and humility, I'm a danger to
you.
I will hurt you.
And vice versa.
Without brokenness and humility, you will hurt other
people.
You are a danger to them.
I'm a danger to them without this area.
And without humility, I hate to burst your
bubble with that, but without humility, you cannot
worship God.
Without humility, you cannot worship God.
Jesus said, Your words draw nigh unto me.
What you're saying, it draws close to me,
but your heart is far from me.
And then at the end, He says, And
in vain you worship me.
In vain.
You just waste it.
Can you imagine wasting years of worship?
In vain you worship me because your heart's
not right.
So I'm asking you again the question, How
much of God do you want?
Pride must die in you or nothing of
heaven can live in you.
Andrew Murray said that.
Pride must die in you or nothing of
heaven can live in you.
It's interesting.
Somebody might come up and say, Shane, when
are you going to stop talking about humility?
Well, when we all humble ourselves.
When this church is known as the most
humble church in the valley, I will stop.
But it begins with me, right?
It begins with all of us making that
effort.
Isaiah 55, 6 and 7.
See, humility returns to the Lord.
Everything I'm talking about, desperate for more of
God, hungry for more of God, how much
of God do you want?
Humility turns back to God.
Here's how it looks right now.
Humility turns back to God.
People in this service, later today, tomorrow morning,
the ones will be saying in their heart,
Amen.
God, I need to do that.
I need to recommit that tonight during worship.
I'm recommitting that to you.
The people who are not humble or not
turning to God are sitting there like this
in their heart.
That's your opinion, Shane.
Well, no, it's God's opinion.
Now you can understand the famous scripture in
Proverbs 3, 5 and 6.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not in your own understanding, but
in all your ways acknowledge Him and He
shall direct your path.
Now this scripture might help a lot of
people tonight because trust in the Lord with
all your heart means that my actions are
going to resemble God's wisdom.
So you can't trust in the Lord with
all your heart if you're not obeying His
truth.
That's trusting in God.
You can't say, Lord, I trust you with
all of my heart, but you don't obey
the truth.
They go together.
And lean not on your own understanding.
So it's this picture here.
If you do a word study of you
can lean something up against the podium, you
lean it.
So you can either lean, which means I'm
going in this direction of God's truth and
His wisdom or I'm leaning on my own
understanding and on my own wisdom that is
void of God's truth.
It's that famous sentence I talk about often.
I know what God's word says, but I
know what God...
We actually had...
This is a good time to remind you
of this story too I told a few
years ago.
We actually had when we first started the
church a woman in her 20s leaving her
husband and her two small kids.
She emailed my wife trying to...
Oh my goodness, this is devastating.
My wife emailed her and the last email
she sent me, I'll never forget.
I hope I remember exactly, but she said
something like this.
I know what the Bible says, but God
just wants me to be happy.
Right?
So one of those.
Help me here.
That's deception.
That's exactly what I'm talking about.
I know what the Bible says, but I'm
leaning on my own understanding.
God just wants me to be happy.
No, he doesn't.
He wants you to obey his truth and
then from that will come true happiness and
joy.
Of course God wants you to be happy,
but not at the expense of disobeying truth.
I personally believe that the true happiness and
joy and peace are a byproduct of obeying
God's truth.
And then when we drift from that, that's
where despair and misery come in.
So many people, they're in despair and misery.
Give me the Xanax instead of give me
Ezekiel.
I mean, that's her answer.
Oh, a lot of people are laughing.
I might have struck a chord on that
one.
But again, not minimizing that.
I'm just saying that we have to be
careful in this area because I know what
the Bible says, but God just wants me
to be happy is a lie from the
pit of hell.
And guess what now?
She is not happy.
There's consequences for that.
So trust in the Lord with all your
heart.
If you guys are trying to discern God's
will, think about that scripture tonight.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
That means, Lord, I don't know what's going
to happen.
I don't have the answers.
I can't even take the next step without
you, but I'm trusting in you.
I'm not leaning on my own understanding.
I want to tell them off on email.
I want to force their hand.
I want to take them to court.
I want to do this, and I want
to lean on, but I'm trusting in you
with all my heart.
I'm not leaning on my own understanding.
In everything I do, I'm going to acknowledge
you.
Is this the way you want me to
go?
Is this the path?
Is this of you, Lord?
Give me peace.
Give me confirmation.
I'm acknowledging you in everything I do, trusting
that you will guide my steps and my
path.
I mean, that really could be God's will
boiled down to one verse because trust, what's
the old hymn?
Trust and obey.
That's theologically accurate.
Can you imagine trusting God, but you don't
obey him?
That's not trust.
That's saying, I trust you because I want
to go to heaven.
I want to get out of jail, held
free card, and I'm just saying this thing,
but I'm living differently.
That's not trust.
When you trust someone, you allow them to
guide, and it's interesting too.
If you do a study on the word
believe, what Jesus said, he who believes in
me, that word believe means to put complete
trust into.
I mean, we come and sit on a
chair knowing that all four legs will hold
up.
You trust the chair.
One of the things I still don't understand
is how we can trust airplanes.
What is it?
Well, 52 tons flying through the air at
600 miles an hour.
People have no problem trusting that.
I'm like, how is that even possible?
But we don't trust God who puts the
laws of gravitational pull and aerodynamics in motion
for that to happen.
Trust is so important because really what trust
is, a lot of times is trusting God
in the midst of the difficulties because when
things are going good, that's not difficult.
I mean, if things are going good, I
can trust God, absolutely.
But then when this happens and this happens
and that happens, I don't trust you anymore.
Now I've got to take over.
So let me just encourage you to trust
the Lord with all your heart.
Number two, mind.
Are you hungry for healthy spiritual food?
And you've heard me speak on this topic
quite a bit, but I'm going to take
a little bit different angle.
Are you hungry for spiritual food?
Healthy spiritual food, I should say.
Because if a person's not hungry for things
that honor God, if they're not hungry for
putting into their mind things that are holy
and will keep me on fire for God,
they're not hungry for God.
Actually, I wasn't sure if I was going
to share this, but I will without mentioning
names and different things.
But out of the blue, for some reason,
and I shared it with my wife.
It was kind of disheartening this week.
I went on and I Facebooked.
I think I'm on there more than you
think, huh?
But this person who I know planted a
church in this valley.
My age, I think, like younger.
And there's quite a few of those people
in this valley, so don't just immediately assume
it's because I know about seven or eight
people have planted small churches in the valley.
And I went on just, man, I haven't
heard of it.
I don't know what's going on.
And the post was, just enjoyed a great
evening watching The Hateful Eight with my daughter.
I thought, well, let me, so I went
to whatever the ratings are, and it says
rated R for strong bloody violence, a scene
of violent sexual content, language, and graphic nudity.
And this pastor took his teenage daughter, and
I said, Lord, what's wrong with me?
What is wrong?
No wonder the church is dying.
No wonder pastors are powerless.
No wonder the world scoffs at us.
My heart broke.
How is that even possible?
Can somebody answer that question after the sermon?
How is that even possible?
I enjoyed a night with my teenage daughter
watching this movie.
That tells me the spirit of God is
not in your sermon preparation.
He's definitely not in your preaching.
You've drifted so far from God in carnality
that you know nothing about the spirit and
the power of God because that should convict
you.
You should see what the trailer or just
that and go, no, I have no desire
to go there.
So where does that come from?
It goes from a continual habitual pattern of
walking away from God.
Now if anybody emails me and says, well,
Roman says that all things are lawful, I
want to say, well, you know what I
want to say.
No, that's heresy.
That's blasphemy.
How in the right mind can anybody go
take their, how could a Christian go and
enjoy this?
Now if somebody sees it and they're like,
oh, I really shouldn't.
All right, I have no problem with that.
I mean, I do, but to go and
actually enjoy it and bring a teenage daughter
that the mind is being formed and the
father not leading, it broke my heart.
It literally broke my heart.
Without the heartbeat of holiness, the body of
Christ will resemble a corpse.
Let me tell that to you, to your
own personal life.
Without holiness, your spiritual life will resemble a
corpse.
You'll be dead spiritually, dead to the things
of God.
That's what holiness is.
It sets me apart.
That's really what holiness is.
It sets me apart, come out from among
them, be separate.
It separates me, so now my heart can
be focused towards God.
So people think holy Christians have to, no,
I want to.
I want to pull back from the world
so I can devote everything to God.
Not perfectly, but I want to remove the
filth because the mind is the battlefield.
The mind, and I hope I had time
to talk about this, but I might not.
But mind over matter, have you ever heard
that before?
That's actually biblical.
What I mean by that is this, the
mind, this is interesting, no matter, I mean,
you read a person like Sigmund Freud, I
forget his first name, the Freud, right?
The psychologist.
He'll say, well, your brain is already pre
-programmed like a computer, you really can't do
much with it.
The Bible says the mind can be renewed,
that the mind, as a person thinks so,
and the mind can actually reestablish and rewire
your brain.
You're not, people say, the big lie is
this, you don't control your actions as much
as you think you do.
Yes, you do.
You are not a product of your environment.
You may be influenced by it, but it
doesn't need to control you.
The mind, how you're thinking, and it's so,
this is probably one of the most interesting
things that God has ever designed, the mind,
the cognitive behavioral patterns, the thinking of how
we think certain ways and how we think
can influence us.
It can, how we think can lead us
to hell.
He who believes on me starts here.
And we think the brain sometimes, the brain,
the gray matter is just full of sending
signals to the body to do what the
mind is comprehending.
So if a brain has been damaged, the
mind can renew it.
The mind, yeah, the mind, how you think.
I was reading another book, it's by a
Christian author who studies this, and she said
that the brain is neuroplastic, meaning it can
transform, it can renew.
And I immediately thought of Lamentations 3, the
Lord's mercies are renewed every morning.
And Romans 12, be transformed by the renewing
of your mind.
This is the warfare is in the mind,
the battle is in the mind, everything is
in the mind, where you put your thoughts
on, dictate everything.
If we understood just how powerful and life
-changing our thoughts were, you would never think
another destructive thought again.
If you realize just how strong our thoughts
are, our thoughts are so strong that they
can control everything.
And if we realize that, that they actually
renew the mind or you can destroy the
mind.
And I believe a lot of physical ailment
and physical issues is because of the thoughts
that we put into our mind.
Toxic thoughts, unforgiveness, I think I read somewhere
on that too.
Let all bitterness, anger, clamor, evil speaking be
put far away from you.
Why?
Because God just wants you to not have
fun?
No, because it affects our spiritual life in
a deep and meaningful way.
Ephesians, that's what I just read for.
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, harsh words be
put away from you and be kind to
one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another.
And I cannot say this strongly or empathetic,
sorry, got tons of things on my mind
right now.
I cannot say this strongly enough that those
people who say, I don't care about that,
do not want a relationship with God bad
enough.
I'm tired of excuses.
Yes, it hurts.
Yes, it's difficult.
Yes, it doesn't feel good.
But you tell the flesh what to do.
You don't let it keep telling you what
to do.
All those negative thoughts that are swirling around
in your mind, that's your responsibility.
And that's my responsibility.
That's our fault.
We take, another scripture, take your thoughts captive
to the obedience of Christ and renew your
thinking.
And then the final area here.
Well, let me say this.
Change your mind or it will damage your
relationship with God and others and your health.
You've got to change.
God's given us, I mean, that's how we
communicate with God, with our mind.
And then the third point, are you hungry
for heaven?
Soul.
Love God with all your soul.
Are you hungry for heaven?
Why don't many truly seek God?
Let's be honest.
Why don't many truly seek God?
Because they don't want to.
They don't want to.
And that's what I hear often.
I just don't feel like seeking Him.
Well, let me encourage you really quick.
I know getting loud and upset is not
going to encourage you, but let me encourage
you with this.
We must first discipline.
Let me put you.
You must first discipline yourself before the desire
comes.
See, I don't want to read the Bible
tomorrow.
I'm just telling you right now.
The flesh doesn't.
But once I discipline myself and do it,
then the desire follows.
We must first empty ourselves in order to
be filled with God.
We must first obey before we receive the
blessing.
We must first break before there is restoration.
We must first pray before there is transformation.
Now, this is interesting on this.
We must first break before there is restoration.
In every single marriage counseling appointment I've ever
seen that's been restored, brokenness has to occur
first.
And then the restoration.
It doesn't happen the other way around.
I don't want to do that.
Yeah, really, I know.
But you have to break first.
And then there's restoration.
We must praise Him before there's peace.
And we must first seek Him in order
that we truly find Him.
So let me end with Isaiah 55 again.
Seek the Lord while He may be found.
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake His way and the
unrighteous man his thoughts.
And let him return to the Lord, and
He will have mercy on him and to
our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
So as the worship team comes back up,
I just want to ask you that question.
Is it your thought life?
Whatever this says here, wicked ways, thought life,
whatever it is, or just maintaining.
Some people just need to be reignited with
God's passion again.
Whatever it is, you can do it during
worship.
As long as you fix your thoughts on
worship.
You watch.
The real battle for worship is not in
the music.
It's not in the old hymns.
It's not in the classics.
It's not whether the lights are dimmed or
the lights are on.
The battle is in your mind.
You're going to start thinking about how hungry
you are, how annoying this sermon was, how
upset you are, how many excuses.
Whatever it is, let your mind get focused
on the worship and on the Word of
God.
And that's what will renew you.