Caught In The Crosshairs - Pastor Shane Idleman

You guys get that? Okay. All right. Yes, you can use a phony bible. Acts 17, we just started this chapter. I'm praying about different paths to go when Acts is over, what to teach on. So I've been, been, been praying about that. Not, not open for feedback in the sense of all, you know, do what people want to do, but it'd be nice to know, you know, where, where our nation's at, what you'd like to, I mean, Peter, James, a series, a long series on the end times. I did teach a little bit in that revelation. My wife reminded me a couple years ago, but I never did a thorough three month, you know, hey, here's the views, here's what to expect. Here's, here's a lot of different, a lot of different options on that one because everybody's wondering about that, aren't they? The end times, and here's, here's what you need to know about the end times. So you hear a lot of different teachers. What we have to do is you have to take from Ezekiel, and then you take from Daniel, and then you take from Matthew, and then you take from Thessalonians, you know, when the restrainers removed, and then you got to, you know, it's hard to put together an exact, you know, so I, I love Bible teachers. You know, I've listened to many of the same ones you do. Mainly the Calvary Chapel guys, but I just can't for sure say this is exactly how it's going to happen because the Bible doesn't tell us that. And when I started to read different men of God, there's different views with like, no, we will go through the tribulation. Oh, I was never taught that. Where'd you come up with that? And you're like, oh, well, boy, they got some great points. And then a Sam Storms, one of the best teachers I've ever heard, you should read his book on Kingdom Come on the Holy Spirit, too. He believes in the gifts. He is an all millennialist. It means we're currently living in the millennial right now. I don't know about it. And then you read, it's like, whoa, okay, wow. He's got some great, I mean, when he, this book's thick, they go into the Old Testament, all the Old Testament imagery and ties it in. I'm like, man, that's a great point. And then you have Preterist. You know what that is? They believe that Revelation has already been fulfilled. And then they don't all agree. So then there's partial Preterism.

That's partial. And by the way, did you know some of it has been a lot? Some has been already fulfilled when Jesus spoke about certain times and not one stone will be left upon another. That actually already happened. Very clear, AD 70, Titus came in, the Roman Empire, not Roman Empire. He was a general and he decimated Jerusalem. Josephus writes about it. More than a million Jews slaughtered. The blood ran down. And Josephus's language has up to the horse's bridle. And then it mentions that in Revelation, like, whoa, these people, in other words, they have some great points when men of God are divided. You know, and I've always read, ever since I started reading the Bible, I see Christ coming, His second coming, judgment. I see it all as one cataclysmic event. I personally don't see He's coming. We're out of here. We're in heaven. Now we're coming back in seven years. Is that two comings? So again, it's just a way I read it. It doesn't mean I'm right. But when you realize there's lots of different views. And when you start to get dogmatic and say, you know, I remember where a lot of people are actually shifting now. Oh, that's the title of the message, by the way. A lot of people I've seen shift recently, a friend of mine, wrote a book on Revelation. He's actually would change half of it now. He's in Texas and a really good solid theologian. But where they thought what was the 80s, 90s, remember how Lindsey, Lake Great Planet Earth, and that the revived Roman Empire, the Catholic Church. Now they're thinking, wait a minute, it could be Islam. Because it's multiplying and you will be beheaded if Sharia law comes about. And they're disdain for women. Everything it talks about in the one. I'm like, well, that's, wow, that's another good point. And so you see how we're kind of people. So what do we know for certain? Jesus is coming.

He's coming. Are you ready? That's all I'm worried about. I don't get in all these debates. I don't know. I hope I'm raptured. Wouldn't that be awesome? But what about if we go through a period of tribulation? But Shane, God's wrath isn't poured out on us. The Bible says it true. I believe he would protect his people. But also that scripture, God's wrath, is also about his final judgment as well. Again, you put all scriptures in context, so I like to do a series on that. Maybe I don't know if it'd be worthwhile though the point was ten minutes ago I'm praying about the next series So again caught in the crosshairs caught in the crosshairs I already read to you the California bill that probably is going to be passed I don't think it would be a recognized paid holiday off. I think it would be just on the calendar But still nevertheless you realize that both both Islam and Christianity can't coexist you you realize that It's impossible and that's why the whole if you read about and study it The whole point is to get into the government officials to bring mass immigration And and that's why that was one of the big things about open borders It wasn't to be mean people it was trying to guard the sovereignty of the nation And so you you see all this and get in and and elective positions of and and Texas goes from no mosque in 1980 to 360 Texas and These kind of laws in California And then you get people in it's it's not a religion of peace and They can lie to you They can they can lie to you to your face yet Do something completely different so do we love Muslims of course? Many many great incredible people of course, but you cannot coexist and that's what's happening in a nation

We need to be aware of that at least. Well, how do I fight this battle on our knees? That's great if your prayer your gun safe is full, but if your prayer clause, it's empty That's really what matters Is seeking God through prayer and worship so caught in the crosshairs caught in the crosshairs in the book of acts act 17 Oh, by the way, if you're not in the crosshairs, you mean you might be on the wrong side of the scope You know scope is right you're looking through the scope it's crosshairs crosshairs you line up on the target and Christians are in the crosshairs in this world and if you're not If the world loves you you never upset the world We don't want to do that on purpose But just won't that just happen naturally at your workplace certain decisions within friends Why do you do that? Why do you go to their church? Why do you and you're in the crosshairs? We try to speak life into a church I mean into a situation and I know right now. I can't say right obviously because but high of a patrol And fire department who every every June that their their rainbow flag disappears that they're supposed to put up Can you imagine working and you're you're supposed to put the rainbow flag on your computer? If you say oh, yeah, no big deal, uh, you're never in the crossfires I Don't know I don't know we have to really look at this topic and and assess our hearts Again, we don't put ourselves on the crossfire. I don't jump right into hey shoot me Enemy but just just living out your faith it will if you're genuinely living out your faith and Genuinely fill with the spirit of God. There's no way around it There's no way around it You will be in the crosshairs of the enemy and so what happened I talked about last week when they went to Thessalonica There was a synagogue of the Jews so Paul was going into the synagogue And he did three Sabbaths in a row He kept going into the synagogues and they were listening and he was showing this is amazing He was showing that Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead So he took the scriptures and he showed them he said listen the Messiah that's coming

Look here. I mean we could go into Psalms and Isaiah and Zechariah in so many different places that showed the suffering servant. There's a whole chapter on that believe it's in Isaiah 43 or 53 or something and he was showing them All these things he must suffer and rise again from the dead Oh, yeah, that makes sense and then he said Jesus whom I preached to you is the Christ by the way remember that Galilean That they killed in Jerusalem. I Mean this has made your stuff guys imagine They're waiting for the Messiah. He says he's here He was here and we killed him you guys killed him not them per se because he's in Thessalonica But that group of religious leaders the Jewish people killed the Messiah. Can you imagine? And you know that some people it says were persuaded like Man, he's got some grape. How do you how do you? It wasn't his opinion, it was persuaded. And that's why I try to persuade people. Yes, I have motives. By the way, I persuade, try to persuade people to turn their lives over to God and to fully surrender their lives if they're a believer. And that persuade, 'cause either you're persuaded and convicted and do the right thing or you're convicted and you're upset and you're not persuaded. And so as a result of this, there was a great multitude of people that joined Paul and Silas. And so like them, you have a choice to make today, some of you, will you surrender or continue to fight? Will you repent or make excuses? Will you believe or mock God? You have to make a decision.

And then it goes on to say, but the Jews who were not persuaded, here we go, they were not persuaded, and you gotta wonder. I mean, Paul was a Pharisee. So you know his argument was incredible. Probably the people are like, "Wow, this makes complete sense." But there was a group who were not persuaded. So that happens all the time. So don't be discouraged. You talk to somebody and they're excited and they're like, "Okay, I wanna know more." And you kind of persuade them and maybe invite them to church or get them a Bible and you're all excited. Have you been there? Hopefully you have, we'll see this at the hospital homes a lot by the way. And then others know they're, ah, I'm not religious. Get out or they're not persuaded at all. They don't wanna talk to you. And so you have to understand that just goes, that just goes with the territory. Sometimes though people have experienced this a lot and they get frustrated, they get well, forget it. You know, I'm getting exhausted. This isn't working many times. Many times people are not persuaded, but at least you planted the seed that they might come back to later. How many of you came to the Lord because seeds were planted early on

that you didn't feed them water for a while. And so never underestimate the power. Because most people, if they're not ready, they want to argue with you. They're not interested. They don't wanna repent. They don't wanna change. So they argue with you. That's just, it comes with the territory. And so what they did though, they also became envious. So they're not persuaded, but they're envious. Because how are they turning all these people away from what they would consider Judaism back then? And they're following Paul's teaching and now they're becoming very envious because they probably weren't seeing any converts. Probably he was just going through the motions. Dead church. Going through the motions. We call it dead synagogues. And these people now, the whole town is becoming passionate about God. And about Jesus specifically. And so what did these religious leaders do? Some of the Jews too. They took evil men from the marketplace and they gathered a mob and they set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason

and sought to bring them out to the people. Well, now who's Jason? We haven't heard of him before. Well, apparently Paul was staying at his house and Jason's feeling the brunt of it. So how would you like this? Yeah, Paul, you can stay in my house. He didn't do anything. He's just probably quite a guy. You never know. And then the officials and the mob, have you seen those movies where there's a mob? It's hard 'cause you can't control it. Mob is not for fair due process. It's for judgment right then right there. And so they pulled Jason out of his house. That's where it says they dragged him. The Greek word drag means to drag. Kicking and screaming probably. And some of Jason's friends, they took them to the rulers of the city and they said these men have turned the whole world upside down. And Jason has hid them in his home and they're acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar. Here's where they're trying to get them. So Caesar, that's why you see different names. Caesar, Nero, Caesar, whatever. And the Caesar was the title of this, who was in charge in Rome. And they're saying that Caesar is not king,

but there is another king called Jesus. Oh, how can that be? Another king called Jesus. That would cost you your life. That would cost you life, your life back then. There is no other king but King Jesus. And you might see in your lifetime where we get to that point that you will have to make a decision on where your allegiance lies. I believe, maybe do extensive teaching someday on, of course, when they talk about that mark of the beast. the letters, and it's pretty interesting, there's interesting correlations with 80, 70, and what happened with Titus, but ultimately, if you believe it, it could still be coming in the future, which I do because it talks about the knowledge increasing and all these different things happening. There are different views on the end times, but if this happens, and we see this man of lawlessness, and you have to make a choice, that's why the mark won't come, you don't have to worry about, you know, did I take it or not? It will come in, it will trick me, it will trick you if you're carnal and you don't want to live for God, but it will be a clear decision I will about, and that's why AI, wherever it's going is interesting because it's beyond whatever thought would happen this quickly, how it can put things together so quickly, and we just don't know, but this will be, my point is this will be who's God in your life, and millions, billions probably will bow down to this, and the one world type religion would bow to this type of ideology, and those who don't, it talks about, cannot buy and sell and trade, probably by then it will be the cryptocurrency, and it will be really easy to control that, I mean, can you imagine if everything's digital, and I mean it's so, and so you do see things, and I'm not trying to scare, but prepare, and you have to, this is what this will all be over, is there another king, you can, I mean you worship Jesus on Sunday if you want, but you have to say the

state or this authority, whatever it is, you give your allegiance to it, and that will be the defining mark, and the people who, it's interesting too how they say, the, those who don't, talking about being beheaded, and the person who does this, who have a disdain for women, and you can totally see where, if, if Shari law was passed, Texas went from zero mosque in 1980 to now 360, and you see the Islamic holidays, if you, I mean that's their goal by the way guys, is to infiltrate, that's, that's what it is, you see all these people running in the border into Spain, and, and you see come, I mean that, that's the goal, get, get, get them, get them into office, mayor of places, and city council and senate, listen, we shouldn't be scared, we should, God knows, and we trust the Lord, and we, we, we, we vote, hello, start there, and we do the Lord, where do you, the reason is, it's not extreme, you know, people like Pastor Shane's extreme, and voting, and things like, no it's this, the, the problem is a silent church, a complacent church, that's why we're in the predicament we're in, nobody wants to say anything or do anything, and people will come in, and let's say that happens decades from now, and Sharia is passed, and then you will have to, this is, I mean, I just, it chuckles sometimes, but when, you know, you see a lot of the LGBTQ and the gay community, and you know, they're, they're, they're fine with that, do you know what Sharia law says about your lifestyle? They'll throw you off the roof of a house, and stone you, do you, do you realize that? You don't like Christians, but we're not going to kill you, we love you, and we're going to tell you the truth, and we're got, but they, they will literally kill those who embrace LGBTQ, there's no room in there, so it's like, I'm like, people have no clue, no clue, and I have friends, I remember a guy named Abraham and others, and, and that, that, you know, they're nice people, and they are, of course, but at the core of it, to be truly Islamic, you, you have to embrace Sharia law, you have, you know, so the end, and they can tell you one thing, but do another, that's why Trump with Iran, oh my goodness, good luck. You cannot trust a word, there will be no peace treaty, there will be no, it means just that they can do that, lie to the infidel if it pushes our cause. So, I went on a tangent here, now that's in my notes, but it's important because that will be the deciding factor coming up years, years from now probably, depending on how, but who do you bow to? And that's why I often say if you're not willing to live for him now, you will not live, die for him later. And this is where true faith will

be. I personally think when it talks about the great falling away, that that was a Can you imagine if they say, hey, Christians, you can't buy and sell and trade or this is gonna happen? Oh, no, I was just kind of joking. I'm good. It's gonna, you, it's so clear the playing field, it would be a massive, massive falling away of Christians, millions and millions of people. It could be something else. We don't really know. The Bible isn't clear. And that's why on these issues, the man of, the man of perdition and the one world system, the Antichrist and the covenant with his, all these things, you know, it's hard because you gotta take Zachari and then you go grab Ezekiel and then you take some of Matthew and then you go get thessalonians about the, when he is removed and then you go grab this and, and it's, it's like you try to put this puzzle together. And we don't know exactly how all these things are gonna pan out and they troubled the crowd. So they stirred the pot. They said, these people say that there is no other king. But gee, oh no, they said there's another king. Instead of Caesar, his name is Jesus. And so they stirred the whole crowd. And you know how people can go around stirring the crowd, can't they? Little pot stirs.

They're stirring the crowd. Did you hear, look what these guys are doing. And that's why it's so important to be the opposite voice. Words carry, wait, look how many podcasts are famous now. I remember when a guy, I think his name was Daniel in 2017, told me, oh, you need to start doing a podcast, just sit there at the microphone and talk. (audience laughs) Like he took him like a couple. I still haven't done one in a long time. So I need to start doing those again. Because God has really put that in my heart because there's so many just interesting voices now with why, where Tucker Carlson is going and Candace Owen is going and it's, and Steve, whatever his name is with. And all these people, it's like we need to get some other voices out there as well to compensate for that. But voices, words matter. They carry weight, especially when they carry the weight of God's word, and it begins to really affect people. And so they were, they were whipping up the crowd and even the rulers of the city. And they were all frustrated and upset. And so when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Okay, they're gonna be looking for Paul here shortly. But very important lesson. I don't know if you ever been dragged out of your house. Probably not many of us here.

But trials, I'm sure in the life of Jason as well, trials are designed to strengthen our faith. That's what they do. We don't like them. Just like we don't like going to the gym. Maybe some of you actually like it. I mean, I guess you do if you start to feel better in door fins and things. But, you know, the things that doing hard things has incredible results. Can you think most of things financially, relationally, fitness wise, right? Doing hard things eventually pays off. And it's the same thing with our faith. Going through hard things. It strengthens your faith. And so of course, a verse, just listen to these words from James is very important. My brethren counted all joy when you fall into various trials. Now he's not saying to, oh, I'm in a trial. Thank you, Lord, this is so great. The phrase counted as joy means turn it into a joyful. Be joyful about it, thankful about it, versus becoming bitter and angry. Lord, how could you? Anybody been through those times? So when you go through a challenging situation. (sighs) Okay, Lord, I'm gonna try to find hope in this and take joy in it, 'cause I know you're working,

because knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Patience, anybody need more patience. Oh, patience, patience will stop the email before it's sent. Patience will stop the text message before it's sent. Patience will stop the mouth before it speaks. Patience will stop you from being fired. There's so many things. Patience is waiting upon the Lord, responding, not reacting, and you have to go through this testing, this trials to produce that. But then it says something interesting, but let patience, and that really, those words, if you break down the Greek or action words, meaning there's something you have to do. It doesn't happen by osmosis. It doesn't happen naturally. You have to let patience, in other words, instead of getting bitter and angry and upset and digging your feet in, and you say, "Okay, Lord, I know you're doing something here." (sighs) Let this patience do a deep work. You're letting patience have its perfect work in you, which means a complete work, So when you're patient, when you're good with God, many of us can attest to the fact, I'm good. I'm complete. It actually used to work perfect, but it doesn't mean like we think life isn't

without challenges. There's a completeness there. You're not lacking anything. You're right with God. But then it continues. Here's where it gets interesting. And if anybody lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach. And it will be given to him. Don't you love that verse? Hey, Lord, I need wisdom here. I need help here. I have questions here. And wisdom, basically, we know what it is. The practical choices of living out your life according to God's word. It's meaning to live out your life according to God's word. So it says, if you lack wisdom, ask God and he will show you. But here's where it gets interesting. You guys ready for this twist? It's in your, if you got the handout, you've already read it or you'll read it later, hopefully. But it says, but let him ask in faith. Okay, Lord, I lack wisdom. I'm asking in faith. I'm believing you're gonna show me with no doubting. Oh, anybody ever doubt? Let me rephrase it. How many of you here have never doubted? Oh good, okay.

Well, that's a good point. Maybe they're kidding. I had three people at the first service. Oh, I've never doubted. I'm like, okay, can I see you in the prayer room after a service? 'Cause I'd like, how do you master this one? And nobody, nobody came in. So I think they're fooling me. So ask in faith with no doubting. Okay, that's pretty. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let that man or woman, suppose he will receive nothing from the Lord because you are double minded and unstable in all your ways. So I said, well, let me look into this a little bit 'cause that just seems, who doesn't doubt? 'Cause what you're supposed to do with doubt is like, here comes doubt in like, Lord, I know I trust you. This is not your thought. This is me, this is me doubting. Lord, I don't want that. I'm repenting. I'm gonna go in the right direction. God would honor that. That's how you handled doubt. You don't dwell on it though and let it induce fear and anxiety and then you make decisions based on it. Now you're living in this fear and doubt.

You take those thoughts captive. So it's interesting. Once you study, I went and I looked at the original language and how the words are, the verb tense is, what exactly do these words mean? It really means to be divided within oneself. So it says, don't doubt, don't doubt. It actually means to be divided in yourself, to be hesitant or to go back and forth between two opposing choices or views. So here's the key. Here's what the brand.org said that really summed it up. Rather than just a brief mental question or a lack of confidence that we all have, it describes a person with a divided loyalty. Someone trying to hold on to God and his word, but while simultaneously leaning toward the world and sin. So now it makes sense, a little bit more obviously. Double-mindedness occurs when we have knowledge of God's law, yet we deliberately harbor sin, choose to conceal it, repress it, or ignore it. So that's what double-minded doubting is like, Lord, I'm asking for wisdom, you give me wisdom, I know what the right choice is to do, but I'm not gonna do it. It's an active choice to reject wisdom, reject God's law, basically, right? The word, and instead do what I want to do. So that man is unstable in all his ways. And there's lots of verses, I just wanna share one,

Psalm 119. The writer of Psalms says, I hate the double-minded, but I love your law. So the contrast is the double-minded do not obey and follow God's law. They're double-minded in what they do. Now it makes a lot of sense when people are really truly double-minded. They waver, they're not stable. Have you been there? Maybe you're there this morning. Repentance can fix that, praise God. What a beautiful word that is, isn't it? Repent, repent. It stops double-mindedness and gets you on solid footing. Repent, it brings refreshment and revival and thinks the goodness of God to your soul because now you're in right relationship with him. And also actually, I didn't say the first, tour? I don't know. One of those, are we? Holy smokes. I might shed some tears in this place. But anyway, that was just I know. Mount Carmel, Elijah is up there and he, these prophets of Baal, they're cutting themselves and their, their, their, God says, hey, Elijah says, hey, let the God who's really God, not Baal, but God, let him answer by fire. And so they built their altar and it's just like, oh, they're cutting themselves and crying out. And he, he's like, maybe you're God sleeping. Maybe he's using the bathroom. He's just, he's just sitting there. I would love to say, wouldn't you just love to see that? He's just standing there watching. And then he restructures everything. He soaks the altar and water, buckets and buckets and buckets of water, puts a thing, a ring around it. So it's all, and he prayed and God, it's, it's actually the interesting, the Hebrew language says, licked it up. So fire came down, consumed everything. And then they said that, that, that changed the people's from following Baal.

In that moment, and they killed the prophets of, of Baal. But before that, he actually said, how long will you be double minded? How long will you waver? Maybe your Bible says, how long will you falter between two opinions? If God is God, follow him. But if Baal be God, follow him. See what they were trying to do? They were double minded. They're unstable. And that actually doesn't please God at all. Partial obedience is still disobedience. And so what they were doing is, oh, going through the sacrifices, um, you know, doing stuff God said, but their heart wasn't in it. They would sacrifice their children to Molech. They would, they would sacrifice to the other gods, but yet they would, they would come into God's undo God's thing. And how many of you know that doesn't work? But how many of you know Christians still try that today? They still try that today. They love the world and the things of the world, but they also know, oh, but I, I love God too. And I know, I, I lived there for a long time. I think you can be saved and distant from God, prodigal. I don't think you can just disregard God and live a life of sin. And, and you know, there's always that conviction there is my point because you've quenched and grieved the spirit. So you're often convicted. And these are the people who get upset at you when you convict them. Anybody experienced that before? Parents. And that's what double mindedness is. But I want to, I want to just, I'm going to, this, this message isn't too long because once I got back in his ex 17, I got it, it's going to take me a while to impact that. But I want to just, I want to close with a thought or actually this statement when they said that there is another king in addition to Caesar. And I, I wish I could, I wish I could have screamed out to these people. I'm sure hopefully that there is not another king. There is only one king. Caesar's not king. There is only one king. Jesus Christ. There's only one king. That's why I want to read this verse to you in Philippians. God has highly exalted him. This is, this is going to make sense why there's a lot of problems in the world right now. Maybe at your workplace, maybe what we're seeing in California, this is why God has highly exalt Jesus Christ and he has given him the name which is above every other name, not equal to, not in competition with. He has given, he has put his name above every other name that at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee should bow. And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's why, that's why there is a massive upheaval. You've seen it before. You've, you've talked to people and, and, and once they, once they hear that name,

you, you, you spark something, upset something and, and I, I, I, you know what? You know me. I just, this is a fan, it's a fan, it's just the truth. But you're either a child of God or, or a child of Satan. Right? I mean, let's Jesus said, you are like your father, the devil, father of lies, or your child of God. You can't be. And so that's why, like, you watch the new, like, how are some politicians doing this? It's because they're all on the same side. They're all on the same side, child of darkness. And so when we're saying, Hollywood, I mean, you name it. So when you begin to talk about Jesus and the light, the demonic realm knows that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. And they get upset, they hate that. And so the person sometimes doesn't even know what, but they're, that demonic, that darkness is stirred by the light. How many of you saw the picture of the guy in the airplane all duct taped up? And they got his head and his mouth. How many of you don't know the story behind it? Do you know who's sitting next to him? Jonathan Kahn, Christian, evangelist, wrote the harbinger. He's pretty well known. He was sitting next to him. He said the guy was nice for a while until who can get, until guess whose name came up? Maybe he said, I'm working on a new book or G and my laptop and they started to fight over the laptop. And this guy got absolutely crazy and they had to duct tape me. You know what's about when they duct tape you? They just stuck, and he's duct tape in the airplane. Can you imagine? He said, yeah, we're having a normal conversation. This guy seems great and then Jesus comes up.

Now that doesn't happen all the time, but you can, you can see it a lot in people. When I went, the husband, one of my household homes, I went through, everything's fine until I say I'm from the church, even the tone of the voice, he's like, I'm not religious. He's like, I'm not either. Right there's that. That's why. Nobody. I mean, you mentioned Buddha and Hare Krishna and your inner self and crystals and dream catchers and can I pray in the name of Mother Earth? Oh, no, no problem. City Council. Yeah. It's like the Easter Bunny. There's no power. But when you say, can I pray in the name of Jesus or do you know Jesus or you preach Jesus? People get visibly upset. Sometimes they'll, they'll, they'll lash out or they'll, they'll get, they'll curse. They'll get upset and then it gets a demonic realm stirring in up in there. And that guy probably, I feel about for a guy kind of because he doesn't know probably what happened. Maybe he does. I don't know. Hopefully he'll be led to the Lord. That's the goal. All the stories of, of, of things like that where everything's fine and then just, it just, they just, they just fall apart. And so that's why there is only one king and that is Jesus. And I want to remind everybody here. I actually just did a couple of memorials recently and I was remembering about the brevity of life, how short it is, but the permanency of death, they don't compare.

The brevity, we don't, I mean, we don't know. And then the permanency of what happens after that because of the decisions we made now. And if we truly believe in the Bible, wouldn't we be more compelling and convicting people? The short time we have here in the longevity of eternity and just, just, just remembering and thinking about that, there is no other king than King Jesus. You need to submit to that king now. See, here's the deal. Here's the deal. You either bow now and you thank God that you did or you bow later in tears and regret. Either way you bow. Either way you bow. That's a good sermon title. Maybe I'll use that one at the prison. What do you think, Kevin? Either way you bow. So I don't know. I mean, people listen to this on the radio later and the internet, there's some, maybe some here today, make that decision. I would to God like Paul said, the king of grip. I would to God that I would persuade you. You can go from darkness to light. You can go from hell to heaven, wrong to right in a moment. The Bible says it. That's why I get passionate about this. And many of you do too. You've lived it. You've experienced it. You have the Holy Spirit crying out of a father. You know that you know that it's true because he has changed your life.

If it wasn't for the grace of God, there go I. (congregation applauding) I was lost, but now I found I was blind, but now I'm sees talking all about spiritual things. I was lost, I was groping around as it would. Paul would say, in the writer of Amazing Grace, but says, but I was blind. But now I can see, I can see spiritually. I can behold the King. I can say like Isaiah, my eyes have behold, I've seen the King, the Lord of glory. And now I realize just how undone I am. And you can make that decision and you can repent and believe I was lost spiritually. But now I found, oh God, bless the broken road to led me straight to the cross. Make that decision today. Do not keep living against the grain, against him. Ah, but I don't know about this. I read this in the Old Testament. Listen, I don't know everything, but I'm not going to hell over a question mark. Look at these people. Well, why did God do that? Who cares? I don't know, but I'm not gonna let that stop me from a relationship with him. Why don't you ask him? And you'll usually find out they're bitter and they're angry and that's her excuse.

The demonic realm has a hold, a heart, hold on their heart. And it's hard to break that. That's why everybody that will be in hell was led there by pride. Pride doesn't. I don't want there to be a God. I want to be the captive of my own ship. I want to determine my own destiny. I don't want some God telling me what to do. I want to say I can't relate 'cause I want my Creator telling me what to do. Don't you? Here's how you avoid darkness. Here's that light, but here's the guardrails in life. Here's what you want to avoid. Here's what I want. I want God telling me what to do. I want God to show me the light. Show me the right path. Show me, that's why they would pray in the Old Testament. Show us the old past, the past of righteousness and holiness and let it run down like a river again, righteousness like a stream. I want to know God. I want him to tell me exactly what courts to take. That's just pride and arrogance. Humble yourself this morning. Humble yourself this morning and turn to him. (upbeat music) ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ (upbeat music)