When God Speaks Discerning The Voice of God - Part 2 — Shane Idleman

Pressing In to Hear God's Voice

Should we marry someone? Should we downsize? You fill in the blank. Hearing that voice of God, and I've noticed, and I'm sure many of you have, is the more time we spend pressing in, seeking Him, repenting, getting our hearts right, prayer meetings, worship mornings, the more His voice becomes clear.

It actually becomes louder. You turn up the volume on hearing the voice of God because you're pressing in. And it's when we don't, most Christians that are confused is because they're spending too much time doing this.

Or this. What's the news say? Now there's monkey pox. Did you know that? Biden is worried about this new virus. Monkey pox! Is there an election coming up or something? Those darn melon ballots. Shane, don't get political.

I'm not. I'm getting biblical. It's the truth. It's the truth. We're in interesting times right now. We are in very interesting times right now. Elon Musk just switched political parties. I emailed a few people and said, this guy's toast.

They're not going to allow that. The woke culture is going to... and his stock dropped 44%. He's being attacked. He's tweeted out things. Hey, if I end up dead, it's not me. See, this is huge. This is huge, and pastors are silent.

I don't want to talk about that kind of stuff. That kind of stuff is what matters. People are hungry for that kind of stuff. You point them to the cross with relevant things that are going on. So, my tirade's over.

But I saw that come, didn't you? As soon as he announced, woo, boy, oh boy, he's going to have everyone against him. Hollywood, the president, the current administration on all areas. Just the woke culture.

Liberal churches. I mean, it's going to be... Pray for that guy. I think he needs the Lord. And I was reminded, again, studying, and I told you last week, God's will isn't always what we want. Because as believers, we think God's will must be this sweet spot where everything is flowing.

God's Will Brings Spiritual Upheaval

Everything is going good. Man, if I can just get in the center of God's will. It's challenging, actually, in God's will. Because your flesh is protesting. The enemy is coming after you. The world is influencing you.

And being in God's will is you're doing things that God wants you to do. And that always brings spiritual upheaval. And that was a big wake-up call for me when I first came back to the Lord. I'm like, oh, back in God's will.

Now, I had tremendous peace, thank God, but it was not what I thought. It was not the beach in Cancun that I thought would happen. It was very challenging. But thank God we are anchored to the rock. And though the waves beat against that boat, we are anchored to Jesus Christ.

Last week, also briefly, faith must be tested. Your faith will be tested. It will be tried. It will be challenged. And as a pastor, I've seen it many times. I mean, all of us can talk the right talk, correct?

Say the right thing. Things are going good. But it's actually when things go haywire or go the opposite direction. I thought this, but now what's happening here? This is not what I expected. That's where real faith is tested.

And I wish I could report to you that most people finish well. Most people get upset at God. This is not what I was praying for. This is not what I was planning on. And their faith falters because it was built on this idea of God's going to work everything out according to my will, the way I want it done.

And I've seen it. So many people, they get bitter, they get upset at church because really God is showing them what is in their heart. And we were in Genesis 22, this incredible chapter where Abraham, I think it's 22 verse three we left off.

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son. And he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

Now last week, again to get you caught up, God told Abraham to sacrifice his son. And of course that doesn't make sense. We don't understand that. But as in the case of Abraham and the case of Job, thank God, God gave us the hardest examples.

Then we can't say, well, they didn't have it as hard as me in the Bible. Well, Job had it pretty hard. I haven't met anybody, it comes close to what Job experienced or what David went through with Saul or that God gives us these examples for us to follow and be encouraged.

And one of those is Abraham. And God said, take your son. This son of the promise, this impossible thing that happened to give birth at 100 years old and his wife was 90. Now give this up that I gave you.

It's incredible, this miracle. Now give it up and put it on the altar. And a lot of sermons have been preached on that topic. There's wonderful principles in that as well, putting that dream on the altar and giving it back to God.

Surrendering Relationships and Ambitions

And I often tell couples who are thinking about getting married. You know, what do you think God's will is? And we're a little confused and we don't quite understand what's going on. And how do we know exactly, perfectly what God's will is?

And often I tell them, you won't know until the day you say I do. Because you're putting that relationship on the altar. Lord, I'm giving this up to you. And then once you say I do, you're locked and loaded.

Now you can't go back and change your mind. So that's why this idea of marriage is so important. It's the second most important decision you'll ever make. But putting those things on the altar. So many people, they have godly ambition for something.

God has given us ambition to do things for Him. And that's why sometimes I don't mind putting the messages on the radio and promoting it and getting it out there as long as our hearts are right and we want God to get it out there and God gives us that desire for a reason.

If not, we just sit at home all day and do nothing. And having that godly ambition, that godly desire, but also putting that on the altar. Saying, Lord, if you just have me help in children's ministry or nursery or special needs, if you just have me be an usher and clean the parking lot, I'll put all these ideas on the altar and I'm sacrificing it to you.

And God says, oh, that's faith I can use. I often think, even in my own life, how much more could God use us if we completely laid down our agendas and our wants and our desires and if we don't get our way, we get in a bad mood?

Anybody relate to that or that's just me? Every head should be shaking in this room. And so that is important, understanding God's will. But this last verse here, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

He didn't try to manipulate or he didn't try to circumvent. He went to exactly where God told him. And of course, the main thing that jumps out is obedience is essential when you're trying to determine God's will or walking God's will.

The amazing thing about God's will is sometimes, even in myself, we make it harder than it actually is. A lot of things are crystal clear in God's word. Do you know the Bible says, his will is that you should worship him.

His will is that you should pray. His will is that you should make disciples. His will is that you should live a holy life before him. His will is that all come to salvation. And there's clear things.

And you live in those principles. But Shane, what about the things that are gray area? Well, again, God's word offers a lot of principles. It won't tell you the name of the person you're supposed to marry, but it will offer principles.

It doesn't tell you where you should work exactly, but it will offer principles. I'm amazed, especially how many men compromise this area. And I believe unequally yoked applies to business partnerships as well.

Unequally Yoked Relationships and Obedience

Absolutely. The context of Paul is light and darkness and what fellowship has bell with God. And what fellowship has light with darkness. And so business relationships, marriage relationships, any type of relationship where you're linked together, but you're unequally yoked, it's preventing you from doing God's work.

But his word gives us clarity on these issues. So we might not know the exact answer. We know the direction in which to walk. And then that's when we start to compromise is when we run into trouble. So obedience to God's word despite feelings.

Lord, I'm having a real challenging time right now. What am I supposed to do? I know the Bible says forgive, but hmm. Well, until you get past that first point, until you obey that first point, it's hard to get clear direction until you begin to obey that first thing.

Because we often, we know God wants us to do this, but then we're like, well, no, not right now. Lord, show me something else. And you can hang out there with massive frustration if you don't obey the initial thing He told you to do.

How many people have we seen at this altar over the years who just crying because God finally set them free and they feel this breakthrough and they finally let something go? Or they finally obeyed. They finally, and that thing that's been, because God's not like, okay, well, I guess they're not gonna do this.

I guess I better change course. Remember last week, God doesn't say, let's make a deal. He says, this is the deal. And I've seen people go their whole life disobeying what God has called them to do. And it's very sad.

Most follow the wrong voice because they live in deception. Did you know, this is the pastor, I realize this a lot. Did you know that with all the people here today, you can actually leave this service and live in deception even though you heard what I'm saying?

You might say, how is that possible? Because James said, be doers of the Word and not just hearers because if you're just a hearer of the Word, you actually live your life. You make choices, the wrong choices, and you think they're the right choices and you live in deception.

Know of any Christians living in deception? Oh my, my, my. All of us have maybe camped out there for a little while. We know it, but we're not going to obey it. And then we get prideful and we start to make decisions that aren't God honoring, aren't lining up with His Word.

We think, well, look, I'm getting away with it. God's patience. No, His patience is not His approval. And we begin to experience this deception. And the interesting thing about deception is it's hard to spot when you have it.

Others can spot it pretty easily, but it's us, it's our hearts that really can't see that deception. And what's interesting, you can see this quite frequently in when someone is lovingly confronted, are they thankful?

Let that sink in. Are they lovingly confronted? Are they thankful? And man, thank you for caring for me. And I didn't realize that. You're right, I thank you for pointing that out. Nope, it's quite the opposite.

Critical Spirits, Humility, and Spiritual Maturity

Living in deception. And maybe this will apply to some of you here or those listening. If there's a constant attitude of criticism, if there's a constant critical spirit in your heart, it's a good sign often that we're living in deception.

I've been there before many times. When we're constantly nitpicking others. When we're constantly saying, well, I don't know about this. And we have a critical spirit. And a critical spirit, it's hard to hear from God.

Because you know you need to change. You know there's areas in your life, but you're not open to those changes. And you become critical and condescending to others. That's a sure sign of not hearing from God.

Because when we're hearing from God and doing His will, don't we become more gentle and loving and understanding? Doesn't humility permeate from our hearts and our lives? Absolutely. And spiritual maturity comes from humility and obedience.

They grow through difficulties rather than run from them. All these people we look at, especially if you read Hebrews, the race of faith and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the heroes of our faith.

The interesting thing is that they became spiritually mature by obeying God. And I see this all the time as well. Those who are actually spiritually mature, you've heard me say this before, are those who are obeying God's word.

Because we don't mature spiritually, here's this important, chronologically by our age. I know some people who have been a believer for about three years and they are way more mature than those who have been believers for 30 years.

How is that possible? Because they stay stuck in that area of disobedience. Often, I want to be careful here, please understand my heart. And this is not always the case, but often, and I probably have seen it more than, pastors have seen this more than anybody.

Have you ever heard that phrase, church hopping? Let me try this church. Let me try this church. Often, often, those people are not very mature. Now there's times and places to switch and to move. And the pandemic brought out a lot of people out from different churches for good reasons.

And they're mature people. They're saying, man, the truth is not here anymore. There's cowardliness, Romans 13, all these kinds. And that's not what I'm talking about. But I've seen it, I mean, especially when you first started and people come and, oh, I read your articles and I hear, man, you just, you love the truth.

Man, you're just a truth guy. I tell my wife, watch out, critical heart. Six months, they're gone. Come to find out, they're putting down the other church and then the other church before that and then the other church before that.

And they're not the problem. But see, those people from hopping to different churches rarely grow in their faith. Why? Why is that? Because they're running from the challenge rather than confronting it.

I mean, just, I hate being so honest, but I would have left this church a hundred times if I wasn't the pastor. Maybe you too, yeah, Morgan too. Sheep bite. We've had to have meetings and things and problems and you just, as the lead pastor, everything's your fault.

Everything's my fault. I don't even know if something happened, it's my fault. And this kind of stuff and this kind of stuff. And so, man, I would have been out of here. I'm out, I got, I work there, I can't leave, dang it.

But I'll tell you, it's grown us more than anything else is having those hard conversations, difficult conversations, and then you grow stronger from it. You have tighter relationships because you both went to battle together.

I mean, if the person's willing, you know what I mean? There's some people that are just, you know, negative Nelly's and Judge Meljeri's and not much you can do about that. But for the most part, that's, I thank God for allowing us to lead because that's how we've grown a lot spiritually.

You have hard conversations, you grow from your experiences, you become a better person. I mean, if you listen to my preaching 10 years ago, woo-hoo, man, a couple of people have been here a while, said, well, you've changed a lot.

Not in changing truth, but just, you know, you kind of think you know it all and you're bolder and a little bit more arrogant until you get hurt and broken and humbled and it's like, oh man. So the message hasn't changed, but my heart is a lot more tender.

For example, who told me this? Somebody told me, you used to say this, do you remember? And I'm like, oh, you're going way back. You know, and I'm preaching, I'm like, if you don't like what I'm saying, there's the door.

Don't let it kick you on the way out or hit you on the way out. I'm like, ugh, ugh, oof. The difference is now I feel it, I just don't say it. Right, the filter, the filter of the heart, the filter of the heart and just a, you know, just a more, and you gotta have that, but it just, it breaks you.

I remember one girl, she was probably 18 and struggled with same-sex attraction, said the way you preached about that makes me feel so bad and there's no hope. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. How can I help in that?

What can I do better? And so I've learned, okay, come out against the agenda, but encourage the person struggling. And see, finding that balance, because we're, man, you look at the perversion going on in Hollywood and the media and what they're trying to pass in California.

There's a righteous indignation. There's a fire, a fire that's brewing. And so how do you put out that fire? But I'll put out the fire in others. And it's a very challenging process. But just be encouraged.

It does, I would, whether you're listening, wherever you're at, I wouldn't run from fellow believers. I would embrace what God is doing. Let God, if you're going somewhere else, nationally, wherever it is, just make sure God is leading.

And He does do that, absolutely does that often. But for the most part, that's how we grow is to go through those challenges and have those difficult conversations. And you know what else is good about that?

Is you no longer have a root of bitterness. Or you're no longer holding in this hurt because you've talked about it. It's over, it's done with. And that's how mature believers handle different situations.

Abraham's Obedience and God's Provision

And then verse six and seven. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. Now, they're not yet on the altar. Isaac is helping him carry this wood for the offering. And he took the fire in his hand.

They didn't have things that could light the fire easily. They would get the fire started and then carry that with them. And he had a knife and the two of them went together. And now I'm gonna paraphrase the next verse.

Dad, I see the fire. And I see the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham responded, my son, God will provide the lamb for a burnt offering. I mean, I can only imagine what Abraham is going through.

I mean, we read this like, okay, next verse, next chapter. But can you imagine, is God really calling me to do this? Would you question yourself? I would. Is God really, I can't make a mistake here. Lord, is that really your voice?

I can't, I love my son. And you can just, the sweat probably coming down and just, but you can also see, Lord, you'll provide. I'm trusting you. What is all this about? And all these emotions going through his mind.

And it's a good reminder that God's will often involves divine intervention. God's will often involves divine intervention. From finances to open doors or closed doors. As you're trusting God and seeking God, often, let Him maneuver the game of chess.

Let Him open the door for that job or that situation. It's good to press in and do things. I could tell people, you're trying to get a job, put out some applications. Don't just sit at home watching Netflix.

You might not get a job. And so we have to step out in faith and trust God and do these things. But ultimately, how many of us have stories that if God didn't do it, it was absolutely impossible? If God didn't do this at this time, with this situation, with this circumstance, all this is impossible because He's the master chess player.

And often, praying for His will doesn't happen without that happening. And Abraham pondered God's will in his heart. Pondered God's will in his heart. He didn't go, well, you know, you're the sacrifice right at the beginning.

He pondered, and I think that's important. Boy, have I learned this lesson the hard way. Do you know not everyone's excited about what God puts on your heart? Just try it sometime. I've learned now to just, many times, I'm just gonna pray through.

We also see this with Nehemiah. He pondered what God put in his heart about rebuilding the wall. Mary pondered in her heart having the Messiah. Joseph probably should have pondered in his heart that he was the favorite son.

Maybe not, though, of course, God used all that. If that story's amazing, too. Your brothers try to kill you. Instead, they sell you into slavery. You end up becoming second to Pharaoh, but first going to prison because Potter's wife accused you.

God, you see Him in all of that. And so we have to remember that it's not advantageous to tell people what God's will is all the time because they don't always agree with you. Now I'm gonna get into it in just a little bit.

Seeking godly counsel is very important, but when God gives you something, just ponder it for a while because what happens, you start to share it with people and do they encourage you? Some do. My mom did a lot.

But not everyone. It's just, well, you know, I don't know. I don't know about that. Are you sure that was God? No, that's pretty expensive. I don't know. I don't see you doing that. I don't know. That's not really, that doesn't really line up with what I think.

And again, it's good to seek godly counsel, but make sure to ponder something in your heart because people aren't gonna see what God is doing in your life. God's doing something in your life. So you can't say you feel or see that exact same thing because God might be calling you to do something different.

And most people sometimes are biased. They don't want to see others excel or they don't want them to step out in ministry when they're feeling convicted. Has that ever happened to you? It's just interesting.

People, you have to do what God's called you to do. And I've kind of been putting this in check for five minutes, so I just want to make sure I word it correctly. One of my biggest prayers is, Lord, did you want me to say that or did I say that on my own?

But something that discouraged me greatly when I started the church, I met with a few pastors. And it's a well-known pastor in town. I won't mention names. But his exact words were, Shane, if you do decide to pastor, I don't think you should be writing books.

You can't do that in pastor. You have to do one or the other. And so, man, I struggle for like, but what if God told me to do that? What about if... How do you know that's not part of what He's called me to do?

And it was a big struggle for quite a while. Not to mention this guy reads John MacArthur's books and John Piper and all, pastors who write books, but I guess that's a bigger calling. But as long as it doesn't take away from your main responsibility.

And God makes that happen. But see, not everyone shared that joy. Not everyone agreed with it. So I'm like, oh, okay, well, thank you. And then I didn't for a while. I didn't pursue that. Another area, that's why I just did this Saturday, yesterday, and you can watch on YouTube.

I talked about health and our physical bodies and how the physical parallels with the spiritual. When I first began to be a pastor, and that's actually before I became a pastor, my first book was on that.

So I would travel to churches and different places and talk about physical health and how that relationship with God is so important. And people would be discouraging me. They would say, you know, you shouldn't talk about that stuff.

Look at Paul said exercise is important. That doesn't, those things don't matter. Why are you talking about that? I'm like, gosh, yeah, maybe, boy, oh boy. God, I feel you wanting me to do this. And I just, how long was I quiet?

For years, five, six, seven years? Didn't mention anything. Because I let the influence of others get to me. And then I start realizing, you know what, I have to say something because how we take care of this plays a big, the reason people don't come to church, they don't feel good.

The reason they're not, they're still sick is they're not taking care of the body. The reason they aren't productive fathers and having energy is because they let their body go. The reason pastors aren't doing hospital homes and visiting people, and they don't have a lot of energy is because they're not taking, see the physical effects of spiritual.

And so if we can help both, we can be more productive for God, correct? So, even on Facebook, the negative Nellies, you shouldn't be talking about that stuff. Who cares if you're fasting? Well, holy smokes.

Let me bow down to this naysayer in Nebraska. Or wherever they're at. How do you know what God told me to do? As long as it lines up with His Word and helping people, we can have classes on marriage and finances and stewardship, but don't talk about this sacred case.

Here's a cow. And then I begin to see, oh, conviction. Okay, I got it. Because what I would do, don't tell anybody, okay? Facebook will hear. But like when they make these comments, you know, I'm like, okay, who's this guy?

Go to his profile. Oh, he's in Fast Food McDonald's parking lot. No wonder he doesn't like what I'm saying. Or, maybe they're very overweight and convicted. So see, I begin to see the conviction that I want to help.

I don't want to hurt. But because their conviction was spewing hatred out of their mouth, it was causing me to back away. And also, God will keep showing me and confirming it. I can tell you so many ways.

But Paul says, he doesn't say bodily exercise is not important. Don't even focus on it. What's the whole context of the verse, theologians? It does profit you. You better discipline your body. You better take care of it.

But it doesn't come above spiritual health and spiritual exercises. Why do we rarely see that? Every time I would hear it, don't you know the Bible says don't talk about those things? It doesn't even profit us?

Like, well, hold on, let's read Scripture in context. Actually, if you want to get really convicting, Paul is a big guy on self-discipline. I discipline my body and I bring it into subjection. Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust.

Don't allow the flesh to control you. You crucify the flesh. You put to deeds the lust of the flesh. You tell it what to do. It doesn't tell you what to do. With fortitude and strength and perseverance and much travailing and fasting, I pursue God.

That's Paul. And what the church doesn't like, they call legalism. What the church doesn't like, they call legalism. So anyway, another rant is over. Back on track. Believe, yeah, it might happen a couple more times.

Faith Must Persevere Until the End

So ponder God's will in your heart. Believe God until the end. This is a big, this is, if you don't take much away from this morning, take this. Trust God and believe God all the way till the end. Can you imagine Abraham saying nope and turning away from what God called him to do?

Many times we don't see, and I see this, this makes me sad as a pastor. So many people, they're up here, they're praying for, I mean, you fill in the blank, this big prayer request, right? You fill in the blank.

And oh, God, please, and please, God, and oh, would you, God, do this. And then as soon as it's going the other direction, I'm not coming back to church. God didn't answer my prayer and my time. Things are not getting better.

They're getting worse. No, no, no, no, no, that's the time to press in. That's when real faith is being tested. That's when real faith says like, Job, though you slay me, yet will I trust you. Where can I go to flee the presence of God?

I will serve him all the days of my life. Lord, even if you kill me, even if I lose a child, even if this doesn't work out, even if my marriage ends in divorce, I will trust you, I will follow you till the end.

I will finish strong. God says, now that is a faith I am pleased by. That's what Abraham did. He took it all the way to the end. He took it all the way to the end. God will prepare a sacrifice. God will answer.

Even he waited so much to the end where you can see the dagger, and you can see, he's probably, Lord, and he, Abraham, stay your hand, stay your hand. God has seen your faith. He has heard your cry. Check out behind you.

That lamb is caught in the thicket. God will always come on time. Let me tell you, it's not on your time. It's on God's time. But often, it doesn't work out like we think sometimes. Because I want what's comfortable and convenient.

Doesn't hurt my ego too much. Isn't humiliating. God, don't keep humbling me. Hurry up and answer my prayer. And God often used the most extreme examples of obedience, again, to give us hope and trust in him.

And then verse nine and 10, then they came to the place of which God had told him. I don't think the Bible, I don't think any word is by accident. Last week, this week, God told him. He went to the place God told him.

He did what God told him. Are there areas that God is convicting you? And wants you to obey in this area? Maybe it's getting wrong of a critical heart. Maybe it's getting wrong, getting rid of a prideful heart.

Did you know that that can creep in very easily? In my heart too? Those things can creep right in if we're not on guard in this area. And Abraham built an altar there. So here he is, here's the place.

I'm building an altar. This has gotta be the most strenuous ordeal ever recorded in the Bible, other than the cross, I believe. Or the man who prayed a stupid prayer and told God whatever comes out of his house, he'll give us a sacrifice if God will let him win in battle.

And here comes his daughter walking out of the house. And so, you know, theologians are divided on whether he actually sacrificed her or she had to remain a virgin. But anyway, let me get back here. We'll get to that at some point when I get to that chapter.

And so they went to where God told him. He built this altar. He placed the wood in order. And he bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. Most speculate Isaac could have took out Abraham.

You're not gonna put some 16, 17-year-old kid on the altar. And Abraham's 100? What just a step of obedience. And I don't wanna speak into this. I read some commentaries, and you're like, I don't know about that.

You're pulling in there. And that's what I always wanna do with God's Word. I wanna say, here's a possibility. Here's what I think. And we really don't know, other than what Scripture says, that Isaac willingly gave his life.

Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord, what Abraham had to do, he didn't have God's Word like we do. Thank God for God's Word. Psalm 119, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

So stop thinking that God's Word is always a headlight to see the next valley. Or remember those lights that they used to have that shine? Often, it's for my next step. My next step. My next step. My next step.

And it's a light to my path. I can see I'm taking the right course. And it's often day-to-day choices. God's will is hard. Like I said earlier, faith must be tested. And then verse 11, but the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know, now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.

Faith Backed by Action

And I think in our own lives, what is so important, what is so dear that we will not lay down? Do you know how many people do not follow God because of comfort, convenience, finances? They don't want to lay down certain things, not realizing that God can multiply everything or at least the peace of knowing His will.

Faith must be backed by action. We see that here. Faith must be backed by action. True faith, discerning God's will. There is action. There's a, what's that old saying? Pray as if it's all up to God, but live as if it's all up to me.

People might say, oh, I don't know about that. You know, I've thought about that for many years. That's a really good point. Because if all we do is pray and don't do anything, not much will happen. Because prayer often is infused with action.

That's where you see the results. I don't remember who it was exactly, but one of the founders of America during the Continental Congress, and he was saying, he was pleading, yes, men, pray, pray, pray, but by the love of God, would you act?

Also, Edmund Burke said, the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. So do you think what's going on in our nation, just only prayer? Is God ever gonna tell you to act?

Like I saw some of the negative stuff when Sean Foyt, you know, he's been protesting Disney and stuff. I'm like, I wish more people would do that. You shouldn't be doing that. You shouldn't be protesting.

Just be at home and stay in prayer. Well, sometimes you gotta get out of your house and go be the voice of truth. Can you imagine if 10 ,000 Christians showed up in Orlando at Disney's office or headquarters?

That's, because what action does, it's not that the action is necessarily gonna do anything, it's the prayer and the faith that's by action, and you're standing up for something worth fighting for. You're saying, not on my watch.

Can you imagine if just this group of people went to the next school board meeting? Let's be honest. Hey, why is this line of people I can't get? Because you're not gonna teach that perverted garbage in our schools anymore.

You think that might send a signal? Absolutely. Who told you God just to pray and don't do anything? You know what that really is? It's cowardliness. It's comfort. I'll just sit at home and pray. Now, sometimes we should do that.

Sometimes we don't, protesting isn't gonna change things. Prayer is, what about all those people say, it doesn't matter, I'm not gonna vote. Well, if a couple million people say that, yeah. But Shane, it doesn't matter anymore because the things are rigged.

Well, I don't know. We gotta take action. Of course, we know that things are, there's a lot of shenanigans. But there has to be an action. And that's what many of the churches did after COVID became crystal clear on the agenda.