What You Intended for Evil — Shane Idleman

Confronting Evil and Awakening the Church

The message this morning is what you intended for evil. What you intended for evil. And I'm this close to changing the title. Because I had one of the sisters next door, we prayed this morning, and as she was praying, she said, devil, how dare you?

And I'm thinking, I like that, how dare you? I mean, how dare you come into our church? Well, think about it. How dare you come into our church? How dare you come into our families? How dare you come into our state, our government officials, our schools, and you begin to push an agenda that is anti-God?

How dare you? What gives you the right, the authority, to come and do this? And I would say the same thing to assemblymen and assemblywomen. How dare you? How dare you challenge the authority of God's word?

Yes, we wanna love people. We wanna encourage them. And many of you probably don't know what I'm talking about, but there's assembly bills in Sacramento that actually went through that will criminalize anyone that says that homosexuality is wrong or transgenderism is wrong.

If you get paid for that therapy, or if you're a counselor, or if you're selling a Bible or a book that says these behaviors are wrong, you will face lawsuit, possibly jail time. And again, not making this up.

I mean, just saying it's, are you kidding me? And it's actually gonna be passed on Thursday by the Senate in California, in Sacramento. And that's what Christians need to pray. We need to just pray that God's word would go out, that people would have a change of heart, because we can still love people and have compassion for people.

And the big thing is, the big push is, well, these young adults, these people are committing suicide. They're depressed because the church is saying this. Well, that might have been a good excuse 30 years ago, but now the schools, the government, Hollywood and the media are all pushing it.

It's the church, the silent voice of truth that is just saying, hey, you might wanna reconsider your direction. The reason you're confused and depressed and suicidal is because you are rejecting the conviction of the Holy Spirit to repent and to be right with God.

So that's the hope. So they're saying, don't give people the hope. You're upsetting them. So it's just a lot going on right now. I'm hoping people are aware, because if the sleeping church doesn't awake, there is little hope.

If the sleeping church doesn't awake from our apathetic approach to seeking God, there is little hope. And again, preaching to myself here. I'm not condemning, I'm not judging, I'm not trying to be upset at anyone.

I'm just saying, there's a time and a place where we can't just hear sermons. We eventually have to apply them. And that's really where the power is. It's in the application. So for now, I'll stick with what you intended for me for evil, but I like how dare you is a subtitle.

Ponerology and the Nature of Evil

What you intended for evil. You know we're in a series on theology. Theology is a study of God, but it's theology on fire. So how can you know about God, but have practical application? Because you know that the Bible without the Holy Spirit is dead.

Without the Spirit infusing life. So we're talking about theology over the next few weeks, maybe the next few months. And today we ended up on, it's called, it comes from the Greek word poneros, and it's ponerology.

Ponerology, don't worry, you don't have to remember that word. It means the studying of evil. So you have theology, the study of God. Pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit. Soterology, the study of salvation.

And on and on it goes. It's one aspect of theology, because this area of evil is very complexing for many. They don't quite understand it. So all I'm going to do is talk about the nature of evil and the purpose of evil.

Two points, that's it, just a two-point sermon. But long points. But I'm gonna try to shore them up for you. So let's talk about this for a minute. The nature of evil. Why do bad things happen to good people?

Right, that's what many people say. And I'm actually, I just came across a story this week that kind of illustrates this point. It's from a preaching magazine. It says, drugs almost killed the young father of the 10-year-old girl, but he escaped from the lifestyle, and by the time his daughter was in high school, he was completely free, or so he thought.

He recognized the signs and tried to stop her. But when his daughter was a sophomore, filled with beautiful potential, an overdose took her life. He felt the torturous grief of losing a child, the helpless frustration of watching the habit that led to her death, and heavy pain of regret for the example he set for her.

He had been freed from the drugs, but she had been enslaved. Why didn't he die instead of her? Why was he forgiven and given life when hers was taken? And we can give many examples, can't we? Of evil prospering.

How can the wicked prosper? How can we understand evil? Well, the stable answer, the answer, biblically speaking, is because, and many of you know it, we live in a fallen world. We live where sin often rules and reigns, where the prince of darkness is having his way.

We're not free of the consequences of choices. Now, if the stable answer is correct, seek no answer, seek no other answer. People start to, well, what about this, and what about this? All we know is that we live in a fallen world, and we can just look at the Bible to try to get a better understanding of what's going on.

But ironically, here's the irony of atheism. They often use evil to disprove God. How could a loving God fill in the blank? The irony of that is, how can you have God without truth and error, without good and bad, without evil and good?

Because to say there's evil, well, then that means there's good, and then who sets the standard for good? What is your moral gauge, your moral compass? You have to have, who sets that moral standard? God does, so now you have something to compare it against, which is evil.

Because if you just say, well, there's no God, and that's evil, how is that evil? Based on what, based on what gauge, based on what set of truth? Well, it's just not nice to beat people up or kill them.

Okay, I got it, but what is nice? Well, it's opposite of mean, don't you know that? Yeah, but who defines these? If there's no God, there's no moral boundaries, there's no absolute truth, we have no definitions of anything.

Do we actually, are we actually living, or is this 3D dimensional? The matrix, right, am I really preaching? Yeah, I am, let me see. Oh, that hurt. But that's what we do when we try to use evil, say, see, there can't be a God.

But now, that is a good question. How can a loving God allow certain things? And I hope I remember this correctly. I said a few weeks ago, but the only person who was ever really good actually gave up his life voluntarily.

That's the only person who was really good. Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once, and he did it voluntarily. That being Jesus on the cross. And I don't like evil. I don't like the nature of evil.

I don't like the consequences. But we cannot excuse it and then excuse God and say there's no God or become mad at God. See, that's the other danger. You know how many people become mad at God? How could God allow this?

He took my child, he took my mom, he took my, and if you saw God's Not Dead, that movie, that was a perfect portrayal. I think it was God's Not Dead or one or two, where at the end, he got really upset and God took his mother.

There's something, there's always often an anger that's at the root of denying God or being mad at him. So let's talk about evil for a minute. So you better understand it. The nature of evil. Now there's been a big debate going on for 2 ,000 years.

Original Sin and Humanity’s Fallen Nature

So I don't think we're gonna settle it tonight, this morning. Here is the debate. This word, actually two words, original sin. Original sin. Oh good, we have it up there. I'm gonna get to that in just a minute, but we can leave that up there.

Here's where the debate comes in. Original sin means the condition that we all share because of Adam and Eve's fall in Genesis three. I think we can all agree on that, right? Now there's something between original, you can be the original sin side.

Okay, is that good? Think of St. Augustine, that's you guys. And then this side is the other belief that doesn't believe in original sin, they believe in the propensity to sin. So you can be Pelagian.

Can you remember that name? It's gonna make sense in a minute. You might say, what's the difference? Here's the difference. A child is born, they have the propensity to sin, the ability to sin, but they're not yet sinners because they haven't acted out yet on that sinful nature.

So they have the propensity, but they're not yet sinners. Now original sin says, that little cute two-month-old, hate to break the bad news to you. I mean, can you imagine, honey, she turns one tomorrow and she's never sinned yet.

Mine, mine, mm-mm-mm. They take, take, so that's the difference. And it was called Pelagianism, and it's still alive today, Pelagian versus Augustine. And you saw something similar in the Reformation age with Luther debating somebody by the name of Erasmus, and Luther debates it in his book, The Bondage of the Will.

But here's the important thing, and I don't know if you take it out fully where each side would go, but either we're born sinful already, it's in us, or we're not yet sinful until we act out on it. So this side would say, that only seems fair because how can somebody be born, I have no chance.

I have nothing to say about this, nothing to do, I've inherited that. Now I know people on both sides. There are actually people who come to this church on both sides, so I don't, you know, I'm not gonna argue with people because we all agree that people are sinners.

Now the problem, though, that I, again, personally, that I would have with this side is that means, maybe they're one week old, one month old, six months old, at some point in that child's life or that person's life, there's a point where they don't need the cross, right?

They're not yet sinners. So they don't need Christ's imputed righteousness. So they don't need the cross until they sin, now they need it. So that's one of the problems I have. Another is looking at Scripture, but we see that man has fallen, something happened.

Now don't, we know that something happened, right? Because men and women, and when we were created, did you know you were created to just keep living? And we don't know, even, I like to study epigenetics and different medical things, and it's interesting because cells can replicate, your cells, but I think they get to a point of where it's 20 times or so where your cells no longer replicate.

And now disease comes in and it begins to kill the body, mess with the DNA, the genes, and so something entered. See, something entered. But I'm not quite there yet to say sin is in our DNA because sin is a spiritual matter.

Something happens spiritually that affects the physical. But something clearly happened from Adam and Eve that was passed down into man. So that's why people say sin disease, or sin is hereditary, or the curse of Adam, because something, I mean, I think we can all agree something happened, right?

I mean, we're all dying, we're all decaying, there's that sin nature. And it's interesting, without a toxic environment, without the sin nature, man could live, I think as he was designed, could live forever.

And that's how God initially designed us, and that's why you'll go into, when you go to heaven, that eternal state goes back to that original state. And it's interesting, back to this topic, this is a rabbit trail for a minute, epigenetics.

It's actually the study of your genes. And it's not how your genes mutate and change the sequencing in the DNA. It's actually how your genes are affected by the environment, or by your lifestyle, or by the food intake that we take.

And you can affect your genes. Now, there's a big difference. Many of you know in DNA, that your DNA, your coding, do you know you have like 3 point whatever, two billion coded letters in the cells of your DNA?

And those sequencing send certain messages. Don't worry, I'm not getting boring here, I'm gonna get back on track. So your genes are just long strands of that. And your genes can be altered or influenced.

Like people say, cancer runs in my family, heart disease, whatever you could say. So you see something happen in our genetic disposition in the fall of man. And it's interesting how our environment, how worshiping God and being joy-filled can change certain dynamics.

We're being angry and unforgiving and bitter, can change certain dynamics in our genes where sickness is allowed to come in, toxicity of the soul. You see these things, they run parallel. The spiritual and the physical often run together.

And with that said, many of you know I'm working on the book, Feasting and Fasting, what works, what doesn't, and why. It's actually done now. So I'm gonna upload it as a free e-book next week or two.

So be looking on the bulletin, and that will give you a lot more information on this topic of, I believe God has given us a wonderful gift and that we should take care of that gift he has given us. But the reason this fits into the sermon is because it ties right in with evil and our DNA and how things eventually transpired.

Pauline Teaching on Sin and Justification

But let's not look at plagianism or original sin. Let's look at plagian versus Paul. What did Paul say? And we can go back to, oh yeah, there we have it up there. First Corinthians. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

Romans 5 .12, therefore just as through one man, sin entered into the world. So through Adam's sin, sin entered into the world. And death through sin, so that death spread to all men because all sinned.

And then you keep reading in verse 18. So through one act of righteousness, Jesus Christ, there resulted justification for all men. Ephesians 2 .3, among them we too are, we formally lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature, what's it say?

We are by nature children of love? I don't like that. Well, I don't either, but it says it. We were children of wrath. So it's in our nature. It's in our makeup. It's who we are. We are by nature children of wrath that something was being passed down.

And then a couple more scriptures I don't think I put up there, but Psalm 51 says, behold, David says, behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. So there's not really a hint of I was brought forth in purity and righteousness and holiness, but then I detoured later.

There's this I was brought forth. It was already in my Y chromosome from mom, dad, and the other chromosome, and they came together, boom, it was already there. I was already brought forth in iniquity.

Romans 3 .23, for all have sinned, and what? Fallen short of the glory of God. So it's not all have a propensity to sin. It says all have sinned. So that's my, not struggle or dilemma, but my thought is why it would be more on this side where it's original, it's inherited.

It's not, well, something we do later. It's in us. So in short, we lost original righteousness, and God's image became effaced and damaged. So in Adam's sin, we lost original righteousness, and God's image became effaced and damaged.

So the question on the nature of evil, who are you trusting in to restore this? So there's a brokenness. Our relationship with God has been broken. We know it. We can feel it. And that's why, personally, I think why they're trying to push all these laws.

Because if you can silence truth, and more people say it's right, then you feel better about your sin. Doesn't misery like company? So if we get the whole America to embrace sin, now we'll feel better.

Now it'll be right. No, it'll still be wrong. But it does beg the question this morning, who are you trusting in to restore this? I know a group this size, Balcony 2, do you truly know him? Has Jesus Christ, can you truly say he's paid the price for me?

I've repented, and I believe, thank God I'm saved. Because if a person says, Shane, I'm not sure. I think so, that's what they told me in Bible school when I was little. I mean, doesn't that just inherit it with my parents?

I'm saved? No. No. You have to ask that question this morning. Do I have, what we talked about weeks ago, imputed righteousness, do I have, has Christ's righteousness been put on me? Because when you, let me put myself in here so it doesn't hurt any feelings.

If I were to stand in front of God without Christ's righteousness, I would evaporate. The sinfulness, all of the, God can't even dwell with that which is unholy and impure. He can't even set his eyes on things that are evil.

The Bible even says when you commit sin, and it says, I can hear you, my arm's not short to save you, but your sins, your iniquities have separated me from you so that I can't even hear your prayers. So if I were to die and stand before God, I don't even want to experience that because I don't have the righteousness of Christ on if you're an unbeliever.

So that's why this is so important. We can't stop, we can't keep trusting in, well, my parents, well, I own a Bible. Has there become a point in your life where you repented and believed in Christ and you know that you know you've been saved?

Suffering, Kingdom-Mindedness, and God’s Purposes

So let's talk about then briefly the purpose of evil. That was the nature of evil, the purpose of evil. Now this is gonna be hard, I'll tell you up front, because we often don't see the purpose of evil.

Sometimes we do, but often we get a little ticked off, don't we? We get a little upset, that's not fair, and we get mad and we get angry. But I wanna throw this out there this morning. We need to be, on this topic of evil, we need to be kingdom-minded versus comfort-minded.

This is what happens a lot of times. The reason we don't like evil is because it knocks us out of our comfort zone. Those darn guys in California, now I have to come in and pray and fast and really seek God, right?

Gets me out of my comfort zone, because by default, most Christians would not do a lot for God, because our human nature, the sin nature, would take us away from God. So often evil things that are happening, there's a kingdom-minded purpose, not comfort-minded.

And that's why we get upset. How could God allow? Allow what? Something that's painful. Something that gets me out of my comfort zone. Because when we're comfortable, we're not mad, right? Is anybody mad at God when they're comfortable and everything's going good?

It's when the challenges come up. So here's what we do know. There is a conflict that is hard and difficult, amen? There is a conflict that is hard and difficult. God can use evil. And people have a choice.

Many things do not make sense. So that's what we know. There's a conflict. It's hard, it's difficult. God can use evil. People often have a choice, and many things don't make sense. I just read a story this week.

The headline was this. Missionary tortured by ISIS led 40 to Christ. And if the truth be told, wouldn't we say, well, let the 40 perish. I'll stay here in America. I don't wanna go through that. And it's okay not to wanna go through that, because if we wanna go through that, we'd probably just, we'd be annihilated somehow, because we would just be so desiring to die.

I just can't wait to kill myself and be with Jesus, right? I'll go fight ISIS right now with just a fist. And so there's something in our human nature, back to the nature thing, that doesn't want to die, doesn't want to do hard things, but then the Spirit of God often wants us to do difficult things.

But this is amazing. Missionary tortured by ISIS led 40 to Christ. Do you think this person, during the torturing, was probably, during that process, was not very happy? I wonder, what are they gonna think when they're in heaven?

Are they gonna regret it? Of course not. Of course not, because there's a purpose behind the pain. Often, those who deny God because of evil are looking for an excuse. So that's what they'll say. See, how could God allow that?

And really, what they're saying is, I don't want there to be a God, right? I don't want there to be a God. Then I can do what I want, to who I want, when I want, how I want, because there's no God holding me accountable.

So this gives me a wonderful excuse for there not to be a God, because of evil. We have to be careful in this area as well. Could suffering also be conforming us and preparing us? And again, this was difficult this week, because we don't want to look at it this way, myself included.

But sometimes, could suffering be conforming us to the image of Christ? Hello? How else are you conformed to the image of, ah, ah, ah, right, look. No, he just wakes up, and like, I'm making tons of money, everything's going great, everything's fine, and I'm gonna conform to the image of Christ.

I'm so humble, I'm so broken, I'm so, and we just do it on our own. We often don't do it on our own. We have to go through the refiner's fire, the wine press, right, to push out. The olive, what do you think the olive would say about the olive oil?

About how the olive oil was retrieved from the olive. Have you ever thought about that? If olives could talk, that's how they used to do it. Right, you see them in Italy. They're doing great, so for wine.

How would those feel? The perfume you put on, where do you think that came from? Flowers, right, just crushing those things. And that's one thing about Christianity that is difficult but true. It's through the furnace of affliction, it's through suffering, that we're drawn closer to Christ.

Paul said, oh, that I may know him, that I may know him in these wonderful times of just sitting by the beach. No, that I may know him in the fellowship of his suffering. And suffering begins to, you start thinking not so highly of yourself.

Right, Lord, do I have to work on humility? Yeah. Do I have to be gentler and nicer and work on this? Mm-hmm, now you're getting it. I'm suffering in my marriage. Probably, it might be because you're a mean spouse.

Can you say that on Sunday morning? Okay. But see, so if you look at suffering, many times as conforming us to the image of Christ, it will help you get through it. I remember in my life, some of the most challenging things I've ever been through actually prepared me for what I'm doing right now.

Had it not been for that suffering, I wouldn't be up here. Now, there's suffering that I've seen young kids, you know, and you have too, or people that are suffering of cancer and different things. And I remember a pastor I used to listen to lost his daughter, I think at seven or nine years old with leukemia up in Carpinteria.

Just watching the memorial service, that whole thing was just sad. It didn't make sense. So there are things like that. I'm not downplaying that at all. But I also know that the enemy, what he intends for evil, God can make for good and he can change that.

The Eternal Perspective on Affliction and Obedience

Second Corinthians, this is Paul writing. Think of it this way. Paul's saying, for our light affliction, our light suffering is but for a moment. It is working for us. A far more and exceeding weight of eternal glory.

For we look not at the things which are seen, but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporal, temporary. The things that are unseen are eternal. So once we become kingdom-minded, it doesn't mean you have to enjoy your suffering always and say, oh, here comes another suffering.

But you get through it because you're looking at what God has in mind. Kingdom-minded. Hebrews 5 .8 says this, that Christ learned obedience by the things which he, come on Bible students, suffered. Christ learned obedience by the things he suffered.

I like what the New American Standard Study Bible says. Because we need to clarify this. Though he was the eternal son of God, it was necessary for him as the incarnate son to learn obedience. Not that he was ever disobedient, but that he was called on to obey to an extent he had never before experienced.

The temptations he faced were real and the battle for victory was difficult. But where Adam felled, Jesus resisted and prevailed. That's the difference. That's why later in Hebrews, I think it's later unless it's before, the writer will say that we actually have a high priest, which means we have an intercessor that can go before us to God.

And it says of that high priest of Jesus Christ, he was tempted, he was tested in all points like we are, yet he was without sin. Can you imagine that? Just being bombarded by temptation. And all you do is stand there, like Paul said, having done all, stand there with their loins girded about with truth, with the breastplate of righteousness.

Having the helmet of salvation, just standing there. That's your posture in battle. Don't run and retreat and cry and complain. And that's what drives me crazy. Everybody's complaining about the direction of our nation, but very few people want to do anything about it.

Right? We don't want to do much about it. And again, I'm not talking about signing petitions, getting political, doing all these things. I'm talking about men and women fasting, worshiping, broken before their Lord and Savior so they can get up.

Now they're filled with the Spirit of God. That's how you go to battle with anything. Battle, anybody having trouble at work? In your family, all the little ones are obeying just perfectly. No rebellious teenagers?

Right, that's how you go to battle. It's not who's the loudest in the home, it's who's the most broken and humble. And I have not mastered this. Please pray for all of us, right? Because I have people sometimes, oh, if Pastor Shane, he just walks on water.

He's just perfect. No, not at all. I'm the broken mouthpiece. I have my crutches up here saying, guys, here's what God's Word says. This is what we need to do. Wayne Grudem, and I would recommend his very big book, Systematic Theology.

1 ,200 pages, exactly. It is very clear that Scripture nowhere shows God as directly doing anything evil, but rather as bringing about evil deeds through the willing actions of moral creatures. Moreover, Scripture never blames God for evil or shows God as taking pleasure in evil.

And Scripture never excuses human beings for the wrong they do. Here's a very clear example found in the story of Joseph. Scripture clearly says that Joseph's brothers were wrongly jealous of him, correct?

They hated him, correct? They wanted to kill him. Can you relate? There's people out there that want to do this to believers. And they did wrong when they cast him into a pit and they sold him into slavery.

Yet later, Joseph could say the title of the sermon, what you intended for evil, what you intended for evil, God meant it for good by bringing about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.

Joseph, Providence, and the Kingdom Purpose of Suffering

Here's the reality check I got this week. It's gonna be hard to hear. Life isn't always about moi, or you, right? Because don't we live in that bubble? Life is all about me. Comfort, convenience, I mean, we go through life and it's about me.

We want to make sure the day's planned around me. Want to make sure we go to the right restaurant because of me. Want to make sure we get to bed on time because of me. We don't want to get up early and come to the worship morning because of me.

Right, a little conviction here, I'm trying. But I realize that when you look at things, it's not really about me. Could a lot of what I went through and a lot of different things be about helping others?

About our children, next generation? So God cares for us. I believe in the blessings of God. I believe he cares for his children. But sometimes we have to step outside of that and say, Lord, not my will be done, but yours.

Because I guarantee Joseph was not a happy camper all the time. The Bible doesn't tell us exactly what he experienced. But I'm thinking, you go, your brothers, I mean, your brothers sell you into slavery.

You can do that back then. And now you go in, now you're working for a guy named Potiphar and his wife likes you. And you, mm-mm, I'm not going there. You hold on to your integrity. The wife doesn't like that you're saying no to her.

So she makes up something, gets you in trouble. Now you go back into jail. And he wasn't there a couple weeks or a couple months. I think it was a few years. And he told one guy a dream. He said, when you get out of here, please tell them about me.

Did the guy do that? Nope, so he stayed in prison. Can you imagine, I mean, I would be, oh, Lord, what in the world was that dream I had many years ago that my brothers would bow down to me? And if it was legit, why in the world did I open my mouth?

Don't ever tell people you have a dream like that, right? I dreamt last night you are all going to serve me someday and bow down to me. So Joseph, we have this image of Joseph, but then God says, hold on, now my plan's coming to fruition.

Now I'm gonna raise Joseph up from the dungeon to the palace. I'm gonna give him a voice. I'm gonna give him knowledge and wisdom. He's going to be the ruler second under Pharaoh that distributes all my grain.

And here comes the famine that is going to wipe out literally, I don't know how many, I don't wanna say a number, tens of thousands of people, including Joseph's family. So God raised him up for such a time as this.

So it wasn't about Joseph and his convenience in the prison. See, we want out of the prison, but we'll miss the promise. We want out of the difficulty, but we'll miss what God is doing. I mean, how many people have prayed?

They've even prayed in tears. God, would you please? God, would you please? And then a couple of years go by, and you're like, oh Lord, thank God you didn't answer that prayer. Thank you, Lord, you are a good God, because that would have been disastrous.

What was I thinking? Because it's all about me. So when you think of suffering, and always keep in mind kingdom-minded, not about our own comfort. Now comfort can be good, right? Vacation, days off, there's nothing wrong with that.

But we have to remember, it's not about us most of the time. 1 John 5, we know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 1 Thessalonians 5 .22, reject, reject every kind of evil.

Rejecting Evil and Exposing Darkness

See, the more I study this this week, the more I realize this is one reason why Christians can't just be quiet, no matter what issue. I mean, we just can't be quiet about evil what we see in the church, evil that we see in our own personal lives, evil that we see in our families, because we're to reject evil.

Because we have this image on one side that Christians are just mind our own business, right? Peaceable, gentle, loving, all good qualities, please strive for them. But if it's just, golly gosh, you know, what's that guy, Mayberry?

Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do, you know,.

Why don't they make TV programs like that anymore? You know, Opie, and if it's just, well, and just that, you know, but at some point, a Christian has a call to reject evil. At some point, we have to expose the unfruitful works of darkness.

How do you expose the unfruitful works of darkness if you're passive and don't challenge anything and don't say anything? Now, granted, type A personalities like myself have to step on the brake more than put on the gas, right?

But all you type Bs, Cs, and Ds, you need to step on the gas pedal sometimes. You need to, I need to get to that part in theology about the power of the Holy Spirit. That's what we need to get to at some point because that power, that, you have to keep, you have to say something.

Now, there's a time to be quiet. There's a time to be still and wait on God. That's why you have to know, you have to be able to gauge that voice of the Holy Spirit. One thing that's really helped me is to respond, never react.

You know what that difference is, right? React, you get that email, you wanna email right back. That's react. I'm about ready to drive right up to Sacramento, but it's not gonna be pleasant. Right, you have to respond in love and waiting on God.

Then when God opens you that door, he gives you that voice, that's when you speak boldly and clearly. The Bible says reject every form of evil, expose the unfruitful works of darkness, make no provision for the flesh, don't plan ahead to sin, don't entertain evil.

Actually, blessed is the man or woman who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. Who are you sitting next to? Not here, but in life.

See, there's a fight, there's a fight with evil. I guess that's the application I'm trying to get to. We have to reject it, we have to expose it, we have to fight, and we have to conquer. We have to persevere.

You know, I know some of you have heard of Winston Churchill, he's famous for a speech where he came in front of, I think it was a school district, Dave, you probably know, a school, and his speech was very short.