Tested, Tried, Challenged & Changed (Video) — Shane Idleman

You cannot cancel mom. It's not possible. Do you know all the woke agenda? What do they call them now? Birthing people? My goodness, Stephen Miller, the founder of America First Legal said the left's war on womanhood, motherhood, and childhood continues to gather force.

Every one of these brands have been captured by the radical anti-woman, anti-family left. These brands have reportedly sent messengers to all of their customers giving them the opportunity to stay away from any Mother's Day themed content.

People say, well, we shouldn't boycott. Well, come on. Maybe now and then. Kay Jewelers. Cigna Jewelers. DoorDash. Fry's Food Store. Kroger Family Companies. Etsy. Levi's. Strassen Company. Nestle's. Nespresso.

God's Design for Motherhood and Family Leadership

There's a list of people. And my point is, wasn't to necessarily mention them, but you can't cancel mom. It's God's design. What's happening is we're trying to be so... Here's what's happening. Of course, it's a demonic agenda, but they're walking around like, we have to make sure we don't offend anybody.

And in doing that, they offend a lot of people. Christians, primarily. They're not tolerant of anybody. Don't believe that lie. Just be tolerable. Yeah, you want us to tolerate your agenda, but you don't want to tolerate God's Word.

That's not tolerance. That's an arrogant, arrogant heart. And as we all know, what dads can't do, moms nurture, protect, instruct. They give life, not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually.

And it could be a good call to dads today that you have to pick up that mantle at some point and lead your families. And I've expressed this before. I didn't have that in my home. My mom was the spiritual leader.

How many of us can relate to that? And that's not God's design. And that's why God tries to take out the man. Tries to disarm him and think that, well, I'm paying the bills, that's enough. Actually, it's not enough.

What we're supposed to do is be leading spiritually and then have those other things follow. And of course, want to encourage single moms this morning because that is a big portion of our nation. Single moms.

And it's a good reminder that what I prayed earlier, said earlier, you plus God is a healthy home. You plus God is the majority. So all the single moms that feel, there's something missing, of course, when a father's missing.

I'm not gonna downplay that at all. But when God's on your side, I believe He can do just as much, if not more, when there's an ungodly home, an ungodly agenda, you plus God can change this nation. How many of us are up here preaching and leading because the prayers of our mom coming alongside of God, guiding them and directing them.

So I think all moms should be encouraged this morning. And I wanted to do a Mother's Day message and I think this will actually fit right in there. Tested, tried, challenged, and changed. From Revelation 2 .8, it is the persecuted church.

The Persecuted Church in Revelation

Boy, it falls on Mother's Day. Moms, you feel persecuted ever, or challenged? Difficult season? And it doesn't get easier. Sometimes, it's been a while, but if I'm at my in-law's house and there happens to be a little house on the prairie on, my God, just, could you imagine?

No phones, you gotta drive to town to get some milk. Just a slow pace of life. And moms, it was challenging, but what they have to deal with now. And even dads, the internet. I mean, the devil's in your home.

You don't have to go far. And just the over-stimulization of society and socialized and being, there's too much socialization going on. And even the public schools right now, what a battleground. And we forget that the public schools began to teach kids the Word of God.

And the responsibility is the parents to teach the Word of God. And I know that's difficult and there's a whole many different situations. I'm just saying we have to be very involved in these issues. Chapter two, verse eight through nine.

If you're new here or haven't been coming, we're going through the book of Revelation every Sunday. And it's a revelation that Jesus Christ gave John, the Apostle John, and he's writing what he sees. And we talked about the first chapter and we got into the first church last week and what Jesus had some pretty scathing words for them.

But this is the persecuted church. And so he says, and to the angel of the church in Smyrna. And of course, the angel could be the messenger. So there's a messenger who's gonna give this letter to the church in Smyrna.

And I believe, of course, obviously the pastor got this and it was the pastor's responsibility to get this information out to the people. He said this, these things say the first and the last. So again, it's coming from Jesus.

You'll see this on every message to the church, a different form of communication, but it's always, hey, Jesus said this. These things say the first and the last, who was dead and he came to life. So he's reminding them, this is from Jesus.

It's a powerful reminder of the resurrection. Listen to Easter's message if you have questions about that. Everything falls and stands on the resurrection. Jesus is who he said he was. And he's reminding the church, hey, this is coming from me.

I've conquered sin, death, hell, and the grave. And I know your works. This is comforting. Jesus knows what we're going through. But often it doesn't feel like it, does it? Feel just the opposite. I know your works.

I know what you do. I know your tribulation, what you're going through. And I know your poverty, your poverty. But he says, but you are rich. You are rich. And I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

And as I said just a minute ago, God sees us even when others don't. In this world, we will have tribulation. Who does not like that fact? And the reason, the ironic thing is, if you talk to, and many of you might know, or follow the persecuted church, whether it's in China or the Middle East, and the funny thing, well, it's not funny, but the thing that always stands out to me is they're actually prepared for tribulation.

They know that that's part of the faith. So they're not really caught off guard. When they come to Christ, they say, now I might have to go to jail. There's an awareness because they're taught properly that this, hey, this dying to sell stuff is biblical.

Jesus didn't say you're gonna have your best life now. You might not have your best life now, according to whose definition of best, and there's so much teaching out there. I just went to Barnes Noble last week and looked at all the best-selling Christian books, and wow, you know?

But there's a part of me that I understand we need encouragement too. It's not just tribulation, tribulation, tribulation, but if all we're doing is feeding the American church the pleasantries and never the difficulties, then you become very weak spiritually.

How Trials Strengthen Faith

How you grow spiritually is through tribulations and trials. It's like, you know how your muscles grow, right? Muscles grow by, most people know you're lifting weights. What's the weight doing? It's putting a strain and a stress on the muscle more than what it's used to.

You're actually tearing the muscle fibers. And so when you sleep, when you eat, that's when it rebuilds and it restores, so it becomes stronger for the next time. And so what happens spiritually is the tribulation, the trials break us down in order to build us up.

And there's no way I could stand up here and do what I do had I not gone through what I went through. And many of you can say the same thing, or what you're currently going through. It strengthens faith, why?

Because it pushes me to my knees, pushes me to be closer to Christ. Then I understand how He walks through the valley of the shadow of the death with me, or how He comforts me, or how He's a God who heals and sets free.

And some of the struggles you go through, it's a spiritual struggle. Do you ever wonder why God doesn't take some things away? It's a trial, it's a tribulation. Like Paul said, take this away, take this away, take this away.

And God said, nope, my grace is sufficient for you. And tribulation is part of the Christian walk. And I think the better we understand that, the better we're prepared. Because as I've said before, to be forewarned is to be forearmed.

So you're, oh, okay, this is what the Bible says. If I'm not being slandered, or people are not upset about the message, or there's not things on social media that are upset about what we're saying from the Word, you have a problem.

If the world's on your side, you might want to check what side you're on. Correct? Jesus said, if they hated me, they're going to hate you as well. Now that doesn't mean for some of you to get arrogant and angry.

Ah, see, they hate me. Remember, they'll hate the truth, but they should love you, your attitude. The truth will offend, but your attitude shouldn't. Now, I haven't mastered it, but that's the goal. Right, that's the goal.

Spiritual Riches and the Danger of Wealth

And He said here, I know you're poverty, but you are rich. How can He say that? Because spiritual poverty, spiritual poverty is what should be feared. I don't fear financial poverty, because you can have that and have God on your side, and God walking through you.

But spiritual poverty means I'm lacking spiritually. It means I don't have a relationship with God. It means that I'm dying on the vine. And how many people pursue financial prosperity at the cost of spiritual prosperity?

And that's why Jesus said you can't serve both of those. Can you imagine if I've got to pursue wealth? I've got to make a lot of money. And that's what you're pursuing, then that will become your focus.

That will become your goal. That's where most of your energy is spent, pursuing that. And there's another part of it, pursuing God. Even if it means giving that up, I'm pursuing God. Now, God might bring wealth, and I truly believe He does to many people for the purpose of furthering His kingdom.

How do you pay rent on a building? How do you get the message of the Gospel out there? How do you fix things when they break? Like we just had $20 ,000 worth of fire sprinklers break. How do you, it's not that there's been a view over the years of the church that the more poor you are, the more holy you are.

No, actually, the closer to God, the more holy you are. And then if He gives you resources and different things, you better make sure you get rid of those resources to some degree and use them for His kingdom, not hoard, not hoarding.

Have you ever seen those hoarding shows? Man, me and my wife are like the complete opposite. We haven't used this in a year, goodwill. Or trash, I don't want too much stuff. But we begin to hoard things or money because it's fear, and we've gotta let that go.

And that's why we don't pass a plate. I don't talk about it much, but that's why tithing is so important because it helps me serve the right God. If I don't give because I'm fearful, gosh, I can't give because I don't really have a lot, then that is a sign that I'm not trusting in God.

I'm talking about myself here, that I've went through in my past as well. But I think God gives us wisdom, of course, and discernment, but that's what this is all about, spiritual poverty, it should be feared.

Lord, I don't want to be poor spiritually, I want to be rich spiritually. And it's funny, He condemned the rich church and He praises the poor church. We're gonna go on to read, I think it's Laodicea, that you say you are rich, but you are blind, naked, and wretched.

Because there's something about, if you're not careful, wealth can make you put your head up a little higher. Look down on people. Wretched, it's just a stench in God's nostrils. And so, that's why it says the love of money is the root of all evil.

It doesn't say money is the root of all, because God put gold and silver, He put the whole economic system together because you have to have a means of exchange in order to, God rewards the diligent worker, and so there's a means of exchange.

Work hard and you make more. And that's why capitalism, this whole debate over capitalism, socialism, it's grounded. You can look to the Bible and it's very clear. You reward hard work, and God blesses some people more.

You can't have equality across the board. There should be equality of opportunity, but you can't have equality across the board to where you take away from the hard workers and you give to those who are not.

And then you streamline, it's social, everybody throw into the kitty, well then all the people don't wanna work much anymore. Hey, I'm not being rewarded for my efforts at all, I don't wanna work much.

And you would just kill the economy. But does capitalism have its flaws? Of course. That's why I don't think it should be called capitalism. It should be called, what does the Bible say? Proper 31 woman, she makes things from scarlet and sells it in purple and makes them extra money.

Well, should she then just give that to somebody who's just lazy at home watching Oprah? I mean, see, but see, then you encourage laziness. Socialism encourages laziness and it diminishes hard work. And really in socialism, what young adults need to know is there is a rich class, there is a rich upper class and they begin to control everything.

And that's why you see what's going on in our nation is exactly what they're trying to do is reset everything. Reset everything and crumble the economy, crumble what you're seeing at the border. It's all planned, it's all on purpose.

And as I, I don't know if I shared this with you on Wednesday night, but I see the moms walking with their little kids from Venezuela and my heart breaks. I'm like, I wish that, man, we need to have something in place where we can help people.

But you can't, what's it, throw the baby out the bathwater and just, hey, let's, we have a problem here, let's help this mom and little baby so let's let the cartel in. Let's let more fentanyl in. Let's, because when an airplane drops their oxygen mask, guess what?

Did you know the parent puts it on first? First time I heard that, I'm like, well, that's a little selfish. They do that so they can better help their kids. And so see, there's something about, that's why the government is to be a tear to those who do evil or to restrain evil or to administer justice.

And we see biblically speaking that God can reward those who work hard. Or maybe sometimes it's just passed down, of course, but if it's focused on God and it doesn't have control of you, and that's the best way to know if it has control of you.

Are you a giver? Are you a hoarder? Spiritual poverty should be feared. How do you know if you're poor spiritually? It's actually not too hard. Is there a true passion for God? Is there a true passion for God?

Recognizing Spiritual Poverty

After the seventh song that we sang this morning, we were like, oh my goodness, that's too much worship. I wish they would've stopped it at number two. Somebody I know well, I sent them a message from last Sunday, and they're like, sorry, I couldn't get through it, I don't like the worship.

And they say they're a Christian. And it's not preference, it's just they don't want the worship. And now, of course, worship isn't the indicator itself, but you have to wonder, I don't really want to go to church that much.

I don't like worship. I don't read the Bible much. Prayer, yeah, kind of. But I mainly hang out and associate with unbelievers. That's really where I feel kindred spirit. Folks, you're dying spiritually.

You are depleted, depleted. Now, you don't just hang out with Christians, that's not what I do. I'm with unbelievers all the time. But my heart's desire is not to be with them in that lifestyle. My heart's desire is to minister, do what I need to do, and get back in God's house.

So a lot of people, especially in the American church, they are dying spiritually and they don't even know it. And you can take the test. I just gave you the test. Is there a hunger for God? A true hunger and desire?

That's why when I put up there, Seek Him Week, is there a desire or is there, I don't know, it's kind of boring. I want to see what the Lakers, is Lakers over? Is that all over NBA? I don't know. I want to watch the sports.

I want to do this. I don't want to do that. I got to eat. You don't have to eat. Did you know that? Did you know that majority of us have a lot of storage? A lot of storage. God's design. You consume too much, it's turned into adipose tissue, fat tissue.

If you were here yesterday, you heard me talk about this. And then in seasons of fasting, the body uses that reserve. And so if these things are boring to you, and I'm only saying this because I've been there.

I remember my mom dragging me to church. I'm like, oh my goodness. Golly. They worship, they're raising their hands. This is so wimpy. And for women. And then I would go, I've told you guys, I would put on ACD and Judas Priest and all the heavy stuff.

And just, oh, this is, yeah. Well, I was worshiping the wrong God. See, I was worshiping, be clear here. I was worshiping. I was worshiping the wrong God. And I think many times in the church, people aren't given a wake-up call.

They're given smooth words that tickle their heart or tickle their ears, but it doesn't change and grip and pierce their heart. And he's saying here, I mean, if you read Revelation 1, 2, 3 to the churches, Jesus is just, He doesn't hold back.

He's gonna go on to say in the weeks to come that I wish you were hot or cold, but because you're lukewarm, and the word in the Greek is, I'm going to vomit you out of my mouth. Why don't we hear about that, Jesus?

All we hear about is the nice, friendly Jesus who would just accept anybody and they can stay in their sin. I'm just gonna sing hippie songs and peace, love, my friend. Whatever, man, it doesn't matter.

Just do whatever you wanna do. God is love. That's not the Jesus I know that I try to read every day of my life about and hear His words, let them penetrate my heart. Full of love and grace, but full of truth.

And I find it ironic that as He's coming back, His eyes are flames of fire. Out of His mouth goes a double-edged sword. He's gonna tread the winepress and the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God.

Where's that Jesus in our pulpits when we preach? Why don't we talk about that? Because it's not popular. Right, but it is powerful. That's what you need. That's what we need. America doesn't need any more popularity.

We need the power of the pulpit to change the heart and to convict the heart and to change the heart, to challenge the heart. Spiritual poverty should be feared. And I know that there are those who say they are Jews, but they are not.

They're a synagogue of Satan. Jesus said it. It's a good reminder God sees the blasphemous things that are taking place in our nation. Folks, we have reached a tipping point. I mean, it's like some of the stuff I can't even believe.

I was watching something about a hacker. He might be a Christian hacker. Top hacker in the United States, I believe. And he goes into the dark web and exposes these child predators. And gave an example of how he's, hey, I'm 12 years old, and he's on there.

How many chats within 10 minutes come in? And I'm getting sick to my stomach. And what schools are allowing in libraries, I think it was the ACLJ, Jay Sekulow was on the other day, and they were talking about a mom who went to the school board, and she was reading the book, and it was just so perverted.

And the school board stopped her. That's too strong. But it's okay for my 15-year-old? And then another drama class where they had a teenager had to read this pornography and all these things, and her mom, they could not believe it.

We are depraved. Romans 1. We are depraved, and a depraved mind does not stay in the same spot. It gets sicker and sicker and sicker. And we are seeing blasphemous things. But thank God for the remnant.

Thank God for the church, and that's my only hope is God sees our cries, hears our cries, sees our heart. Blasphemy, this word blasphemy, it's an attitude of disrespect that finds expression in an act directed against the character of God.

Have you guys been seeing the clips about that big Satan conference? Where that lady, she's ripping up the Bible and they're hell Satan. They're just throwing the Bible on the floor. And I kind of just, I get sad, like you think that does anything?

Are you kidding me? Your master works for my master. Somebody said that in the prayer room last week, so I can't get credit. Revelation 2. 10 now. So now you have all this context. He's writing to the church in Smyrna.

Do Not Fear Tribulation

These things say, the Lord, I know your works. I know your tribulation. I know your poverty. You're gonna go through hell, but do not fear. Do not fear. I have to tell you a fun fact. I just wrote it down this morning.

I looked it up this morning. Do you know how many times do not fear is mentioned in the Bible? I know some of you know. 365 days. Oh, praise, one for every day. One for every day of the year. Is that just a coincidence?

I don't know. Do not fear. Do not fear. All the scriptures stand. Having done all, stand, therefore, with their loins girt about in truth. Push off the enemy. Let me fight the enemy. Shane, you just stand.

You hold the ground. The battle is the Lord's, not yours. You stand in that. Oh, this topic gets me a little excited. Because who can stop God Almighty? But did you know you can? Slow Him down in your life.

Not do His will. Prevent things from happening in your life because of fear. Every day of the year. Do not fear. Do not fear. Do not fear. Do not fear any of the things which you are about to suffer. I think that's what's the hardest for me on where I see our nation going is for your kids and grandkids and ours.

Kids. And I pray against it. I'm hopeful. I'm praying God brings revival. And He holds off His plans for a while. Maybe, do you know God can change His plans? The Bible uses the word repent, but He doesn't repent in the way we think it.

He'll have a disaster coming against the nation of Israel. And He'll go, because my people cried out to me, because they sought me, I have relented the harm that I was going to do. I have changed course because of the prayers of my people.

Hezekiah, you're dying. Get your house in order. He prayed. God said, okay. I changed my plans. I relented. And of course, we can get deep down the rabbit hole on that. Talk about God's sovereign plans, which I believe, done deal.

You can pray all you want. That's why I even told Jeremiah to stop praying. He did. He said, stop praying, my judgment's coming. And they're sovereign plans. What He wants to do with the nations, what His timing with the end times, and things like that.

It's His sovereign plans. But then there's a permissive will, a perfect will, and these things that can get pretty deep if you start to think about man's choices, God's sovereignty. But we do know that God can change course sometimes based on the prayers of His people.

What about the one we have out front? If my people. It says when I bring pestilence, when I bring famine, when I bring drought. If my people. If they do this, then I will change my plans, and I will begin to heal their land.

I mean, you can just say, ah, I don't know about that. It's Old Testament. I don't know if that applies today. Not me. God's principles are alive and well. Alive and well. And I haven't shared this yet.

And I don't, because I don't know if it's God or me or, but I had a strong, I prayed when we heard six, seven months ago about how bad, because I used to work with the water district. So I understand aquifers and AVEC and public works and Quartz Hill Water District and Palm Ranch Water District.

I understand when they say the drought's getting real severe you have no clue what that means. As if it were to progress and progress and progress. There would be mandatory water shortages and things like that.

And I was praying, and I just, this season of rain that we went in the winter and all the mountains are packed and the Owens Valley there is just flooded out with water. I just sense that God's hearing the prayers of His people.

Because it's not just me. I know other people were praying for, many people understand, because a drought is bad if it continues. Go read Genesis. Go read other, where drought is a really bad thing because you take away the resources.

You take away the life, the life giving. All your landscaping would have been gone. That's first to go. Hope you know that. 80 of water goes to landscaping. So all landscaping's gone. Then they're limiting, you'd have to limit water consumption.

They can slow down your meters, water pressure, from 60, 70 pounds down to 30 pounds. Just enough to, that's where things were going. When I bring pestilence, when I bring these things, when I bring drought, if my people humble themselves and seek their face and turn.

Oh, don't forget that one. Don't forget that one. Turn from their wicked ways. God's people can have wicked ways. Oh, let me tell ya. Let me tell ya. That's the biggest surprise. I've had a few, I should write a book on the biggest surprises of being a pastor.

Is sheep bite. And, well hold on. I'm not rebuking. Pastors bite too. Right, cause people, people hurt people. And we think we go to this church. Oh man, this church. This church is, man, I'm really feeling it.

Well, give it a month or so. Give it a month, start fellowshipping, start doing things with people. And people get in bad moods. People have bad timing. Things are not going good. You rub them the wrong way.

Have you ever rubbed anybody the wrong way by what you said? I have to be very careful with what I say. Cause I can, you know, pastor said this. I'm like, no, I didn't mean that. No, no, no, no, no. I didn't mean that.

And so, you guys got me off track here. Do not fear any of those things which are about to suffer. So we have to remember, any time you're suffering in God's will, you can hold on to that anchor during the storm.

Now that's the key. Many people suffer. No, you're suffering because of these bad choices and you're outside of God's will and you need to repent. But if you've done that and your heart's right and you're seeking God, you can take, you can rest assured that God will guide you.

And he said, indeed the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and that you will have tribulation 10 days. So I want to remind you again, as I have many times before, especially on this day that we're celebrating today, especially for moms, and I know the case with my wife, the enemy's greatest weapon is discouragement in the life of a believer.

And I try to think, oh no, if this happens, at the end of the day, it's discouragement. When I'm encouraged, I want to come to church. When I'm discouraged, nope. When I'm encouraged, you're gentle to your kids or your spouse or your family.

When you're discouraged, ooh, watch that tongue. Ooh, because that pain, that discouragement comes out. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth is going to speak. Discouragement, discouragement. The pulpit commentary that I use, often I use about six different ones.

It said the devil who inspires the synagogue of Satan is allowed to afflict them. That is key. God allows certain things, as in the case of Job. The devil does not defeat Christ or God or come equal, and God's like, oh, what's, oh, I can't believe this is happening to Shane.

I don't, he is allowed. He is allowed. That's why I never, never want to hear in the heavenlies, have you considered my servant Shane? If you don't know what that means, let me tell you briefly. In the book of Job, Job is, I hope I remember this.

I should have looked there. But Job is, there's a dialogue in heaven, so it makes you wonder what the heavenly thing looks like. Now, if Satan's able to go and ask God for permission, and God basically tells the devil, have you considered my servant Job?

Ah, the devil says, I have permission to do this and test him. He's like, you do, but just don't kill him. It's amazing. That would be a whole theological discussion because the weather is controlled by the enemy, it appears.

Our sickness, that's why I do pray against demonic things and sickness. It's not always. He can, maybe he can afflict us somehow. Sickness and affliction, absolutely. And that's a good, yes, sift is absolutely right, Kel.

That is so true. And I saw this, I don't think you can find it now, but it was, I told my wife, she's like, is everything okay when I was in Texas? Because the second service, I've never experienced anything like this, that a car alarm would not stop.

And you know that, how, when you let it run its full course, meep, meep, meep. And I'm thinking, I almost said, or Gracie, go check, is that ours? Because we're, and then I'm thinking, they got it, and of course that just throws you all off, because like, do I stop for a minute?

And so it never shut off, I think like three minutes, and afterwards the usher came up. So we've never, ever had that happen. I've been ushering, I've been here 22 years. And the car was like, it was right there by this side door that was, like if it was out, it was a big church, you know, double the size.

And you're not gonna hear a car like that usually. And then 25 minutes into it, my voice is going out. And it's bad. It's like, I don't know if I can finish. It was hot, this horse and pitch, it's like, this is terrible.

I can't believe it. And at that point, you're a guest speaker, and y 'all, Texas, y 'all, and it's like, what's wrong with this guy? Man. And I stopped and I prayed. And it took about seven, eight minutes, maybe 10, and it just came, voice came back, and I went a whole different direction, and the fire of God fell in that place towards the end.

But it was hard. Now, you might say, coincidence or different things. The problem is, and I was pretty passionate at the first service, and it is, your voice gets hoarse. And any time that's ever happened to me in the past, it's usually towards the end of the second or when I go home, it doesn't get better for a few days.

It has never, in all of my life of speaking, got better, when it's that bad, it got better within 10 minutes. Like, it's gone. Because you strain the vocal cord, that's not possible. And so, it was just a very, very tense time.

You know, I'm looking at the past like, I'm wondering, do you wanna just come take this over? You know, so I just prayed and just kind of fought through it. I should try to find it, see if they have it, and share it.

But I was pretty discouraged. I don't think I've been that discouraged in the pulpit in a while. Because you guys can understand, but if you're a guest speaker in a place you don't know anybody, and you can't, the first service was incredible, and now I can't even get out the sentences.

Encouragement in the Face of Discouragement

Let me tell you about discouragement. And even afterwards, I was discouraged. It's like, dang it. Man, Lord, help me. But then also, I mean, that's minimal compared to discouragement in our families. Or discouragement at work, you just get fired, or you get this bad news.

You get really discouraged. And that can really wear on you. Discouragement, discouragement. I wanna tell you about something. I don't know, it's pretty interesting. I was at a, I mean, it fits in here a little bit.

I was at a place on Thursday, and there's this lady over here, she's crying pretty bad. And I'm just talking to this other guy. And I said, I think the door's locked till they open at 1 .30. And she heard me.

And she goes, me and my husband listen to you on the radio all the time, oh my gosh. You know, I just found out my husband has stage four lung cancer, and he's not gonna make it, they don't think. And oh, gosh, would you come to Palmdale Hospital and pray for him?

Like, yeah, let's go. Don't even know, but now it's incredible. I've been there a couple times, and the family's wonderful. But the discouragement, her and the kids, and you can feel it's like a demonic type of, and that he was very encouraging.

You know, I'm ready, I don't know, pray for my daughter, and praying over her stomach, and just ICU, and it was just like, I'm crying, it's like, God. And just coming out of that discouragement, coming out very encouraged.

Because you put your mind back on Christ, and the family was encouraged. And you remember who God is, and you trust again in his sovereignty. But just watching how discouragement can just take you and break you.

Break you completely. That's what the enemy does. He wants to give you like the DMV does. A certificate of non-operation. A certificate, you ever done that before? My dad, we used to do that. We'd park an old Chevy Blazer in our work yard, and like, just go get a certificate of non-operation.

We'll just use it for parts. That's not going anywhere. And that's what the, just sit there. We'll just use her for parts. Or we'll just use you to fill up the pew. Don't go witness, don't go talk to anyone, don't go encourage your kids.