The Prayer That Rips Heaven Open (Video)

It's not an emotion. We don't have to raise our hands and do weird things, but there has to be a brokenness before God. There has to be a desire to want to seek Him, and that's what we're going to be doing over the next few nights.

Tomorrow night as well. Get people here who need to be encouraged and convicted. We're also going to pray for those who are sick. Mark, are you still here? There you are. We're going to pray with you afterwards in the back there.

We're going to have a time of prayer. I don't know about you, but I believe in the God who still heals and sets free. I'm going to read something tomorrow. Pastor Mike's going to bring it tomorrow. It's an excerpt from an article.

And I want to make sure you get here and bring someone who needs to be lovingly challenged, but also maybe a breakthrough in their life. Why can't we experience, I want you to think about this tonight, why can't we experience the same power as the New Testament church in the book of Acts?

Pursuing God With Desperate Faith

Why then do we come to church, sing a few songs, let me get a quick message in here, about 30 minutes, get you out after one song into the buffet line. That's not church, folks. I came here to meet God.

I came here to see people set free. Demonic bondage is broken. And that's what Rend the Heavens is. We do it in Lancaster. We did it about four times over the last year or so. We're going to continue to do it whenever God puts it on our heart.

We go a whole week. The first time we went two weeks. Church every night. And I still hear from people, the testimonies are amazing. Why? Because they were desperate for more of God. They were hungry for more of God.

When God takes center stage, then you'll see breakthrough. But when he's still on the back burner, you're not going to experience much of God. He doesn't force you. He doesn't wait in a corner and you try to go find him.

He says, if you're desperate, you'll seek me with all of your heart, with all of your strength, with all of your mind. And that word seek, if you listen on the radio, you've probably heard me talk about that.

But that word seek, I came across it a couple years ago. In the Hebrew language, it's bakash. And it's very interesting. It means to seek until you find it. It's like losing your child in a crowded mall.

Are you going to go eat lunch? Are you going to run some errands? Are you going to finish shopping? And then you'll look for that child? No, everything stops until you find that child. Now think about if you seek me with all of your heart, you will find me.

And I've heard people say, Shane, I've tried that, it doesn't work. Oh no, you haven't tried it then, my friend. You don't try God out and see if it works. You seek even when you don't feel like it. You pursue even when there is no desire.

Because we've been conditioned to let our feelings lead us. I don't feel it. I didn't feel worship. Every week somebody tells me, I just didn't feel it today. Well, God bless you. The feelings are the caboose of the train.

They're not the engine. So as you pursue God, as you get desperate for God, and you say, Lord, I don't even feel it, but I'm going to pursue you. I don't even want to be here, but I'm going to seek you.

I'm going to put the flesh to the back burner and you on the front burner. Watch out, because when God breaks through, there's seasons of revival and renewing that come into your heart. That dead and barren heart turns into a life-giving soul.

Jesus said, if you believe on me, as the scriptures say, out of your belly will flow stagnant waters like the Mono Lake. Then why are most Christians not experiencing that vibrant living water? John said he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.

That fire's pretty intense. And so what happened in my own life, the reason I have a passion for this topic is I was in my 20s. I was following everything but God. And if you asked me, I would check Christian.

I went to church on Easter and Christmas. Pretty good guy. But God, to be honest with you, God was kind of boring. I'm into weightlifting and making money and partying and used to do a lot up here. Don't tell anybody, okay?

But you get hung over a lot worse when altitude. I don't know if you knew that or not. But in my 20s and pursuing everything but God and God wrecked me. He broke me. He humbled me. And I fully repented and said, God, I give you everything.

And the Holy Spirit came into my life unlike anything I've ever felt before. There's joy unspeakable. The Word of God actually came alive. Reading and reading and reading. I told my mom, where's this been all my life?

Oh, son, it's been there. Thank God for praying moms. But where are the praying dads? And I remember, oh man, she would make me so mad. She would put a Bible on my ACDC albums. Anybody, Judas Priest? I'm on a highway to hell.

And I was. I said, mom, don't pray for me tonight. I wanna have fun. That rebellious, angry man who said I was a Christian. And so many in the church, and that's my heart for the American church, is many will say to me in that day, in that day, Lord, we did all these things.

We went to church. I did these things. And Jesus will say, depart from me. I don't know you. Now, of course, he knows them intellectually, but he doesn't have a relationship with them. That's why when the prodigal son comes home, he runs.

That's why I have to worship God, guys. You can make fun of me. I don't care, but I have to worship God because he saved me and set me free. Can you imagine, have you ever heard about, I visited some prisoners before at different correctional institutes, and many of you have heard the walking dead, dead man walking.

And they don't do it in California as much, but Texas. And as they're walking to their death, lethal injection back when it used to be electric chair. They're walking to their death, dead man walking.

Can you imagine if they come in? Hey, the governor just signed your pardon. Pick up your stuff, go to your wife. You're out of here. You think he'd just go, man, thanks. Where's the exit? Thank you very much.

Fall down on his face. Begin weeping. How much more before a mighty God who saved you and set you free. This lukewarmness and coldness and callousness during worship in the American church, I don't understand.

You want to know why? Because they don't relate to the lyrics. Amazing grace, how sweet that is. It saved a wretch like me. I was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. You might want to worship.

You might get a little bit excited about God. I went to a Dodger game and I did not believe how excited they got. My goodness, it's a home run. The baseballs are probably loaded. These guys are on steroids.

Man, okay, you're excited. You throw your beer and you can't stop. Look at what they did. But when we get to church, we're bored. And so it breaks my heart because you have living water steps away. It's like you're dying on a boat.

You're dying of thirst on a boat in the middle of Crawley Lake. Just dip, just dip and take of the living water and you will never thirst again. So when God put that on my heart with Ren the Heavens, and most of you, maybe you don't know who Westside Christian Fellowship is, but we bought the radio station up here and some other radio stations and 88 .5.

And so we just wanted, talking to Pastor Mike, wanted to just bring Ren the Heavens up here. And I pastor a church in Lancaster, actually Palm, well, Leona Valley, nobody knows where that's at. So we just say Far West Palmdale and a little community tucked back in there.

Sound Theology and the Fire of the Spirit

And many people go, well, okay, what's your theology? What seminary did you go to? Well, I went to the School of Hard Knocks and I love reading theology. I read John MacArthur and Jack Hayford. So how do you like that?

And love theology. And I believe we have to have a strong grounding, a strong foundation in truth. But if you miss the fire of the Spirit, you will die spiritually. And if all you have is emotions and if it's odd, it's God, you will be led astray.

Your theology keeps you grounded. And what's wrong with the pulpits in America is we either have all theology and arrogant men screaming at people, or we have touchy, feely, feel good, I don't wanna say anything offensive.

I don't wanna say anything offensive. Wokeness, that word, you know where it comes from? I don't wanna offend you. So, because I don't wanna, can you imagine preaching and thinking I can't offend? Well, there goes the blood of Christ out the window.

I better not talk about repentance, God forbid. I better not talk about judgment, hail the wrath of God, holiness, anything that's controversial. Unfortunately, that will not change the human heart. John the Baptist started preaching repentance.

Jesus said, go and preach repentance. Repentance is a acknowledgement that I am a sinner and I need a Savior. And that's how you really change a nation from the inside out. And we see what's going on.

I mean, we talk about the Titanic has been hit in America. But I have the audacity to believe in a God that is greater than China, Russia, our economy. And I often, and I'm sure I'll get it this week as well.

Why are you doing this? It doesn't matter. Haven't you read Revelation? But yeah, but I've also read other books in the Bible. If my people humble themselves, what about that one? Oh, but that was for Israel.

So are you telling me that if America doesn't humble herself, America humbles herself and prays and seeks his face and turns from their wicked ways, that he might not give them a measure of revival in their bondage?

Are you serious? And so I just trust God. There's no lazy mode in the New Testament. There's no just sit back. It's actually do business until I return. And that word do business, if you break it down in the Greek language and look at how these words, what they actually mean, it means occupy, occupy, make a difference, expose you in fruitful works of darkness, give a voice to those who have no voice, say something about the sex trafficking, say something about abortion, say something about them perverting the word of God, say something in the spirit of love and gentleness.

And then I took a sabbatical a year and a half ago. It was one of the best things I've ever done. And I realized something because people were getting upset at me sometimes because I'm too political. I don't know whatever that means.

Basically, here's what that means. Don't talk about political hot buttons unless they're ones I agree with. Because if you do, then you're fine. But anyway, so I took it to the Lord like, okay, Lord, help me understand this.

And the more time I spent, I went on a 40 day fast and I fasted and sought God and got in his word. I began to weep. You just put on worship, you begin to weep. The word of God just comes alive. And oh my God, and just the love of God and hours spending pursuing him.

Here's what happened. Are you guys ready for this? The bolder I became. Like, wait a minute here. The more I seek God, the bolder I become. The more I don't seek him, the more I wanna please men and I'm worried about the opinions of others instead of the opinions of God.

And so I haven't gotten to the introduction yet. That's a setup for what Ren the Heavens is actually. What God, I believe, put in my heart. You can actually pick up the books. All the books are free. The church sponsors this whole event.

We spent thousands of dollars to come up here. We don't ask for anything. We're not taking offerings. The books are free. God has blessed us beyond measure. We don't do anything about money. We don't ask for it.

And God just downloads. It's amazing what he will do. It's not wrong to ask, I don't think, but that's just where God has us. So just trust him, kind of like a George Mueller approach. And so all the books are free.

The Prayer That Rips Heaven Open

One of those is on, oh God, would you Ren the Heavens? Isaiah 64, camp out in that verse this weekend. That verse has brought me to tears more than any other scripture in the Bible. 64, probably through, you know, verses one, two, three, four that oh God, it's a cry, oh God, would you Ren the Heavens?

Would you rip open the heavens and come down and let the mountains would shake at your presence, that the enemies would tremble. And he goes on to say, remember, remember when you used to do that? Remember when you moved on behalf of your people?

And then he goes on to say, is there anyone that even seeks you anymore? And I began to just weep for our nation. Weep for the churches. Many churches are not churches. Is the demonic being cast out? Are people being healed and set free?

See, what happens is now when we get like that, people say you're too radical. When I say, well, hold on, that's the New Testament church. What do you mean too radical? We've grown so cold, so lukewarm, so powerless that now we think New Testament Christianity is extreme.

You have extreme snowboarding up there. You have extreme mountain biking. You have extreme makeovers. Can't we have an extreme passion for God? It makes no sense to me. And so we pray that God would Ren the heavens, Ren the heavens and come down and visit your people.

And I will clarify it for the theologians out there because I already know what you're thinking. Well, God is everywhere. Yeah, he is. Did you know that electricity is everywhere in this building? But go grab a knife and put it in the socket and see what happens.

Now you experience it. There's a big difference. There's a big, let me just unscrew one of these lights and stick a knife up there. Whoa, I just experienced the electricity. See, yes, God is everywhere, but have you experienced him?

Because when you experience, when you drink of this water, you will never thirst again. You never wanna go back to the dry well. You want the living will of Christ. Oh, God created me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit within me.

I'm tired of dryness. I'm tired of dullness. I want the fullness of the spirit. I wanna have real New Testament church or I don't wanna have church at all. I truly believe that. I don't wanna come playing games.

I don't wanna come and have a social activity. I wanna meet the risen Savior. Praise God. Gene Easley said this. When there's no communion with God, our lives are spent in darkness. We see nothing. We hear nothing.

We have no answers. And spiritual death sets in. And that's what's happening with our young adults and the next generation. And I found that they are craving the truth. It's like, would you show me something that's true?

And we try the next generation, it's Gen Z or X, whatever they're called. My daughters, I got five kids. They're all, they're hungry for truth. Tell me about the risen Savior. Tell me about solid truth.

But spiritual death sets in when there's no communion with God. And I love, I guess, you know, we're wired differently. People, different pastors and different leaders. You know, some pastors have a shepherd's heart.

Some people have a heart where they go and they plant churches. Others have a heart of evangelists and Greg Laurie, Billy Graham, and you'll see that. And some have a heart for revival, for God, that Isaiah, that Jeremiah, that voice crying in the wilderness.

And when God called me back to Him, He gave me that desire. And I began to study a lot about America in our first great awakening, second great awakening, New Hebrides Revivals, Welsh Revivals, all kinds of, I just couldn't get enough because I would read, I'm like, is that true?

That's unbelievable. That God would change an entire community. A church would be on fire for God. And the Welsh Revival, I don't know if you ever heard of that 1904, 1905, God took a young man by the name of Evan Roberts.

And it was just, what amazed me about it is people would be convicted under the power of God a half block away. Bars would close down. People would be, they'd be drawn to these. They would think that there was like a divine impulse pulling them and they would, the revival was breaking out.

They would have church services throughout the evening. People wouldn't go home. They were hungry for God. They would sit at the altar. Where are we going now? They don't, they lose track of time. You might say that's weirdness.

I say that's the power of God drawing people to himself. You're captivated by the TV for six hours. What's the difference? The less of the, oh, you might not like what I say, but you'll know what I mean, okay?

And if you don't like what I'm saying, could it be that you need to hear what I'm saying? Just, I'm just throwing it out there. So 1904, 1905 revivals is very short. That actually flowed into, you know, what they consider Azusa Street revival and different things.

I've read up on these, so I've got concerns on some things and I don't agree with everything because anytime God is moving, who else is moving? The devil. Anytime, anytime, that's why the Holy Spirit is often, I would say, ridiculed or mocked in many conservative churches because of what they see on YouTube or what they, ah, I don't want to get weird like that person.

Neither do I, but I want to experience the power of God. Did you know you can be straight as a gun barrel theologically, but just as empty? Put a round, put a 12-gauge slug in that round and pull the trigger.

That's the power of the Spirit. Martin Lloyd-Jones, D. Martin Lloyd-Jones said that preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire. You've got to have both of those things. So anyway, back to my story, 1904, 1905, it was kind of short-lived.

Some say he had a nervous breakdown. I can see why. That much preaching, it's very taxing. But they interviewed a man, I believe in the 1950s or 60s, and they interviewed this old man by then. They said, what happened to that revival?

What happened to that awakening? It just seemed to fade away. And the old man, you could tell he had tears in his eyes and he just, oh, he looked at the young interviewer, interviewer, you know what I'm saying, and he said, English is not my strong point, by the way.

He said, young man, when you lay hold of God, never, never, never let go. When you lay hold of God, never let go. Because there is a battle. It is a spiritual battle till the day you die to pursue God, to fight the enemy, to get up and fight again.

And so all of Ren the Heavens is focused on that. Isaiah 64, and the title of the sermon is The Prayer That Rips Heaven Open. Eventually got to the sermon. The Prayer That Rips Heaven Open. I wanna leave you with this question tonight.

We repent enough to be forgiven, but do we surrender enough to be changed? I'm gonna say that in case you didn't get it. We repent, you know, repent enough to be forgiven. Okay, God, I repent, forgive me, thank you.

But do you surrender enough to be changed? And just so you know, give you a little background, what they call pneumatology. It's the study of the Holy Spirit. I don't get weird on this topic. I love conservative theology, of course.

But the study of the Holy Spirit, it's actually profound. You have all of the Holy Spirit at conversion, I believe. But does he have all of you? That's the deciding factor. That's what makes a difference.

And what they would teach in Pentecostal circles years ago, 100 years ago, even, was something called the second work of grace. The baptism of the Holy Spirit. Brother, have you received your baptism of the Holy Spirit?

And often it would happen years later. In the case of D .O. Moody, he was trying to start administering his own flesh, and he repented, and God filled him with the Spirit. I can think of contemporaries, Adrian Rogers, A .W. Tozer, John Wesley, John Bunyan, Amy Carmichael, Hudson Taylor, Oswald Chambers.

You ever read My Utmost for His Highest? Did you know that he was a theology professor? And was dead, dead spiritually, until he received the fire of the Spirit. So in all these cases, it's not a second work of grace where you have to sit and wait for 20 years.

God's waiting for you to fully surrender. If I say, Lord, I'm gonna do ministry my way, I want name recognition, I want to have 100 ,000 followers, me, me, me, look at me, pride, arrogance, God will not fill an arrogant vessel.

And so when you surrender everything, say, Lord, wherever you want me to go, whatever you want me to do, my life is yours, my children are yours, my finances are yours, God, everything is yours, watch out, because the fire of the Spirit will come into your heart.

So you have the Holy Spirit, but He doesn't have all of you. That's why it's called quenching and grieving. Quench is to put out the fire. Grieve is to make sad. So there's many Christians walking around grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit.

And they have no passion, they have no desire, they wonder what's wrong with them. They have to come to full surrender. They have to surrender everything. Now be encouraged, on this side of heaven, you're not gonna do it perfectly.

I haven't, I haven't. Anybody have a hard day today, or just me? Man, I'm not even gonna go to yesterday, I'm not even gonna tell you about yesterday. And it's challenging, life is hard, but Isaiah, it was a, the prayer that rips open heaven is this.

It's a battle cry, it's a heart cry. He cried out, oh God, would you ram the heavens? And I don't think he was quiet. I just got another email from a lady, bless her heart. It's mainly the older women, I understand they're 70, 80.

Why are you so loud? I just like, I like just quiet. I said, I do too, but I'm happy, I'm passionate, I'm on fire, for God, it's kinda hard to just, we're talking about eternal truths. We're talking about a God who sets people free.

We're talking about a God who you came in here depressed and angry and fearful and unfocused. You can leave here with the fire of God. I'd say that's something to get excited about. I think Jesus cried, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

I don't think he was quiet. The prophets would cry out, turn back to God, turn back to God, turn from the wrath that is to come. And so he would cry out, I believe, oh God, would you rend the heavens that you would come down?

And so it does beg the question, why did the prophets capture the heart of God? Did they not? The prophets, you know the prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephani, Zechariah, Haggai.

You know the prophets. I know the prophets. I love their voice of truth. Praise God for them. But why did they, why did they capture the heart of God? Because they knew there was no plan B. Medicare didn't exist.

No PayPal, no doctor down the street, no taking out a loan. God was the plan B, C, D, E, F, G. God was it. He was an all-consuming fire. There's a song Richard does. He's an all-consuming fire, let him burn.

I must have hit the repeat on that thing a hundred times this week. Oh, he's an all-consuming fire, would you let him burn? He is an all-consuming fire, would you let him burn? And then here comes the negative.

Now he's, well, fire's a bad thing. It's a bad thing for the unbeliever. It's a very good thing for the believer. Praise God. You need the fire of God in your heart and in your life. How are you gonna get through what's coming?

You think America's gonna go back to the 1950s? Prayer and school, everything's going great. All hell is breaking loose. All hell is breaking loose. Who are you building your life upon? What rock are you building your life upon?

Sinking sand? He who hears my word and does it, I will liken him to a man who built his house upon the rock, and when the winds came, it's coming. When the winds came, the storm blew. It did not fall because it was founded.

It was ground. It was anchored upon the rock of Jesus Christ. That's the only way to navigate these storms because when you do that, you don't care. My money's gone. Oh, God, your money's gone. This isn't working out, Lord.

This isn't working out. Look what's going on, Lord. You're in control. I'm just your servant. These are your problems, not mine. God's sovereignty is my sanity. In all of this chaos, God's sovereignty is my sanity.

I just made my Calvinist friends happy. Why did they capture the heart of God? Because there's no plan B. There was always, from all of these prophets, there was a desperate prayer of, there was a prayer of desperation.

I can think of even Amos. Like, you know, put away, he would say, put away your instruments, get rid of your music, but let justice run down like a river and righteousness like a mighty stream. Isaiah would cry out.

Jeremiah would say, oh, my soul, for the weeping, I'm weeping over the condition of the people. Ezekiel, God said, Ezekiel, I sought for a man from among them who would build a wall and intercede between me and the people, but I found no one.

Hosea, oh, they were desperate. You'll hear, when your child cries, you know the difference, don't you? Okay, you can just stay in your crib. But when my three-year-old cries, daddy, daddy, daddy, oh, why, that door's coming down.

I don't care if it's locked. Desperation, desperation. God hears the desperate cries of his people. If Hollywood, if Washington humble themselves, 2 Chronicles, is that what it says? I'm trying to see if you're awake.

If my people, if my people humble themselves, did you know that God still answers prayers? I believe in a living God who still answers prayers. I believe a God who can change and transform our nation.

Maybe we're going to hell in a handbasket, but I'm rescuing people as we go down. The power of prayer, the power of prayer would move the early church. That's how they got through life. You look at Justin Martyrs, his journal, you look at Polycarp, you look at Augustine, you go into John Hus, William Tyndale, Whitecliffe, have you heard those names?

Did you know that two of them were burned at the stake and their prayers were recorded? What they said as they burned at the stake. Some of people are ditching God if they don't get the right parking spot.

Give me a break. And then the Reformation, Martin Luther's prayers, who shook Germany, Urich Zwingli just annihilated Switzerland and got people on fire for God. John Calvin in Geneva, what about one of my favorite, John Knox, John Knox, he would cry out, give me Scotland for the cause of Christ or I shall die.

Who's saying give me America for the cause of Christ or I shall die? So powerful was his prayers that the Queen of the Scots feared the prayers of John Knox more than the armies of Europe. Why would she, he's from Scotland, why would she fear his prayers?

Because often the politicians are on the side of evil. Often, not always, not always. I've got friends who are, thank God we need more. Please God, give us more, it's not our hope, but we need more people, school boards, politics, every area of life, we need godly people.

But she would not, she didn't, anytime you're speaking truth, often the government doesn't like you. Ask John the Baptist, Mary the Queen of Scots wanted to kill him. Elisha even, Ahab, Ahab, do you think Ahab, King Ahab liked Elisha?

He should, he's God's spokesperson. So Ahab would go, oh, is that you Elisha, you troubler of Israel? Is that you, Shane Idleman, your trouble of America, Biden saying, Shane, is that Shane Idleman, our troubler of America?

Can't we get away with perversion? Can't we get away with pushing pedophile care? Who are you, shut your mouth, preacher. No, I stand before you as a voice of God's word to proclaim what is truth, and we will not back down.

I love those people caught in sin, but I will not capitulate and allow a society hell bent on sexualizing our children to remain silent. Did you know that silence has a voice? It speaks loudly and clearly, very loudly, very clearly.

But before we get worked up, before there is a battle cry, did you know before there's a battle cry, there's often a heart cry? I mean, I follow a lot of ministries. I might speak with a Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk's group at some point in the near future.

All the conservatives, I know a lot of these people, some of these pastors you see on Facebook that have a million followers and they're, you know, I touch base with these guys. There's a lot of anger, but there's not a lot of humility.

That's my concern. Oh, we can meme with the best of them. You don't know what that is, it's posting something on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, that like, I got him with this one, I got him with this one, I got him with this one.

Conservatives, liberals, liberals, conservatives, I got him, I got him, I got him. Okay, you're angry, you're angry, but I don't see you at the altar. You're upset, look what's happening in our nation, but are you broken, sir?

The broken and contrite heart, I will not cast away. I will lift up the broken, I will restore those who are desperate, but angry, arrogant tirades will get us nowhere. Before there's a battle cry, there's a heart cry.

Matthew 5, many of you know, this blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. And I've got pastors, some of them, after COVID weren't able to stay open. Friends of mine, well, I wouldn't say friends, but knew each other.

And this wokeness is so popular in the churches that they don't want to offend anyone. There's no hunger for righteousness. So they're not blessed. Well, Shane, the government approved abortion. Some pastor told me this.

Hey, the government said, it's okay. I'm not gonna say anything. Who am I? We have to submit to that. Have you read Romans 13? Yeah, but I read a lot of other scriptures too. And in context, sir, that actually says the government is to be a terror to those who do evil.

So when the government goes against God's standard, I've got to take God's side. That's just biblical, that's Bible. I don't want to. But where's the hunger and thirst for righteousness? There's gotta be, Lord, look what's going on.

In Ezekiel, it's amazing. God said, mark those. Go, angel of the Lord, mark those. Go and put a mark on them. Those who groan and sigh for the abominations that are being committed in my place among my people, mark those and spare them.

Do not kill them because they groan against the abominations that are destroying my people. I told you, the more time I spend with God, the bolder I become. We think of people being filled with the Spirit.

We think of love and thank God for love, amen. It's the love, it's grace that's brought me here thus far and it's grace that takes me home. The love of God breaks me. The love of God keeps me humble. The love of God, I want to express to others, but make no mistake about it, a byproduct of the filling of the Holy Spirit is boldness.

Jesus said, go and wait until you receive power and then you'll be witnesses for me. That's why they want to silence the truth. They want to silence the church. They want to silent bold pastors because it's that boldness that radically shakes up a nation and has us look in the mirror.

I don't know if I should tell you this joke, but too late now, right? It's not a joke and I put this out there. I might even raise it up to $25 ,000, but I've made it known I will pay Joelstein 25 ,000 if I can come and preach a message of repentance to his audience.

And again, I'm just saying, is that true? And we need to hear, we've heard enough feel-good messages to last us a lifetime. We need to hear repent for the judgment of God is gonna fall soon. Stop confusing God's patience with his approval.

Turn back to God, church, and that repentance quickens the heart. It convicts and it draws us back to God. And I know at this point, I hear it too, sometimes afterwards. People say, Shane, I'm hearing you.

I'm hearing you, but I just don't have that. I don't have that passion, I want it. But let me tell you, that's a good thing for now because the answer is repentance. You say, Lord, I want that passion, I need that fire.

I want to worship you. I wanna turn off my music that is pulling me down and get rid of the addictions that are destroying me. I want to, I want to, but I can't. I don't have a desire, I don't have a passion.

It begins with repentance. But watch out, I'm gonna tell you, this guy is incredibly deceptive. And I call him the defense attorney within. Do you know all of us have a defense attorney within us? Yeah, but, your honor.

Yeah, that sounds good, Shane, but. You gotta get rid of those buts. The right buts, okay? Yeah, but this, but that's for you, you're a pastor. Oh, if I had a dollar for every time I heard that. And you can tell they come up, it's judgmental Jerry or angry Aaron, or whoever, you know, I'm trying to, if there's any way Jerry or Aaron here, it's not you, I'm just saying.

But they come up, you know, that's good, all that's good for you, all that's good for you, pastor. But I'm a businessman, I'm a, how much more for a businessman? How much more for a mom? How much more, parents, hello?

Would you need to be filled with the spirit of God as a parent? How much more as a teacher, as a leader? This isn't just for a pastor. My job is to ignite a fire, and then you go out and spread it out.