Are You Ready? — Shane Idleman

The Purpose of a Christian Testimony

And when I was thinking of my testimony, I'm thinking, wow, how do you get 41 years and 41 minutes? I'm watching the clock here. How do you do that? How do you break it down? And my mom would leave me voicemails, my wife would say this, and people would say, you're gonna talk, I mean, there's just so much.

And I was preparing, I would add things, and I would take out things, and I would remember this, and I would forget that. Just, Lord, what do you want me to say? Because giving a testimony isn't about, really, our life, it's about what God has done in our life.

It's not just come hear some story and go home, but what is God? Peter tells us to give every man a reason for the hope that is within you. And on that note, I briefly talked about why I believe. Why do I believe in the inerrancy of Scripture?

Why have I devoted my life to the gospel of Jesus Christ? Why was I snorting crystal myth 15 years ago and up here preaching today? Why do I believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, the sufficiency of Scripture?

I have a CD on that back, you can grab it, they're free, and it talks about why I believe. Because this book, I can show you prophetically, historically, archeologically, scientifically. I can show you from Genesis 1 .1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, to Revelation 22 .21, let the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, amen.

From cover to cover, the consistency, the blood of the Lamb throughout. There is no discrepancy. The problem is people don't wanna hear it. They don't, don't show me that, don't tell me that, because it's convicting, it's challenging, it challenges our lifestyle, it challenges our sinful nature.

So I'm not gonna really delve into why I believe, because I already did that. What I'm gonna talk about is briefly, just kinda my story and what got us really up to this point. Obviously I was born in Lancaster, California, a lot of you know that, at Antelope Valley Hospital, 1969, to Diane Eidelman, who I see there, and I remember that day as if it was yesterday.

I bet you remember it. Before pain medication, and what are the things they stick in your back, and epidural. I was born to Jim and Diane Eidelman, very proud of that family, and just what my mom and dad instilled into me.

And just had a wonderful sister, Meredith, who came 15 years later, and a wonderful brother, Ryan, who came three years later, so I'm the oldest. And it was funny, in Courtsill, growing up in Courtsill, you could look this way down 50th Street, and this way down 50th, you wouldn't see anybody.

Now you can't cross that thing without getting run over. And I miss that, I miss dove hunting, where Rancho Vista is right now, dirt roads, I mean it was fun. My dad was from the farms of Oklahoma, and my mom was from Southern California, and that makes for a very interesting mixture.

Fun, and camping, and different things, and then my dad, hard work. Hard, hard work. I think every young adult should go spend some time on a farm, and see what hard work is all about. I know what digging bars are, and jackhammers, and shovels, and all these things.

It definitely instilled a lot of that perseverance, I think, and now when I see people, you know, and we'll look at our work, and the jobs we have, we're blessed in this nation. I mean, we are truly blessed in this nation, and we've gotta start remembering that.

But as I was growing up, what became, what I'm gonna try to do, is identify different stages, so I can kind of keep track, and keep on pace. With that stage of my life, I identified with baseball, with sports.

My dad bought a batting cage, every night we'd be throwing pitches, I was throwing 63, 64 miles an hour in Little League, and I was just, I was probably in the top two or three of Courts Hill Little League back then, and my dad helped to build that field, and his grandpa, you know, on M4 there, and baseball became my identity.

My identity was in baseball. You said Shane Idleman, you knew he pitched baseball, and hit home runs, and hit. And then at age 13, I think it was, I didn't verify any of this, don't hold me to it, I heard two words, or a couple words I'll never forget.

Bone chips, surgery. Right here, it was over at 13. Going to high school, I can't even throw. Throw like a girl. Not that that's bad, but you don't wanna, when you're a high school baseball player, you don't wanna be throwing like a girl.

I didn't get picked freshman year, sophomore year, and you know, it was hard, I mean you're, I mean I'm going to the San Diego School of Baseball, and here it is, just crushed. And I, but you know, God's humbling, because we don't humble ourselves, do we?

If he doesn't humble us, we will not humble ourselves. And as my identity was in baseball, it's gone. Now I'm 13, I actually entered high school at 14, and graduated at 17, and I think I should've waited a year looking back, because I was not ready for that environment.

And what happened, once I had arm surgery, got into high school, here locally, at Paraclete High School, going back a little bit, became an altar boy, was confirmed, and I still have people say, you know, a lot of times, you know, I'm Catholic, or I'm Baptist, or I'm Presbyterian, and I need to remind them, when you get to heaven, or when you stand before God, he's not gonna ask you what church you went to, not what denomination you belong to, he's gonna say, what did you do with my son?

That is the only question he's gonna ask. What did you do with Jesus Christ? No denomination or religious organization will save you, ever. But as I was going through the high school, and barely getting by, I think I had somebody helping me with speech, when I was younger, I remember her coming into my speech, and it was hard, my mom wanted to do some testing on reading disability and learning disability, because when I read, and still, I do not like to read in public, because my eyes skip to the next sentence, or throw in words that aren't there, or take out words, and it's very hard.

It's funny, he'd have me write books, and we have to edit one book, what, 20 times? I mean, to get it right, because it's just, but God uses that, he humbles you, he keeps you broken, and depending on him.

So high school was very, very difficult, graduated with a 1 .8, is that pretty good? You young guys don't think that's good, that is not good, that's not good, 1 .8's not good. And it was at that time, I definitely met my best friend in high school, who's here today, Mike, and just so glad to have him here, and just remembering all those times.

Partying, Addiction, and a False Definition of Manhood

But it was an identity shifter, you know, you're not Mr. Baseball, Mr. Sports, now you're laughed at for not making the baseball team, so my identity became partying, partying. I can tell you all about schooners at the old location, and all the different clubs, and different things, and that's who I was, I was a partier, this funny, you know, get Shane Eidelman over here, let's start the party now, and that became my identity, you know, beginning to drink at a young age, and now I think that most alcoholics, they link them starting to drink between 12 and 15, those are some crucial years, for sure, so that became my identity in high school, is the partier, that's who I was, that's, you know, who people knew me as, and it was kind of because you want an identity, you know, you wanna be, this is who I'm known as, I'm not a jock, I'm not an intellect, I'm, you know, this is what I did.

Unfortunately, that was a very destructive lifestyle, and not remembering how I got home a lot of those nights, and my mom's patience, and her prayers, and probably remembers me rolling a truck or two, and totaling them, and by the grace of God, I stand here today, Mike was with me in one of them.

He wasn't the bad example, I was, so. Don't think I'm going anywhere with that. And then, after high school, it was very interesting, because I think it was within a week, right after I graduated, went into full-time construction, and you don't know hard work until you do underground construction.

I mean, it was very hard work, and my identity at that point then shifted into weightlifting. Now I'm talking to the guys, you wanna try these little blue pills, Dianabol, started injecting Sustanon, got into Ecopoise, which was for horses, a lot of different steroids, because that was my identity, getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and ultimately a lot stronger.

The problem with that is when you inject yourself with that much testosterone, you become like an animal, raging, roid rage is very real. It's almost like caffeine rage. That's a whole nother topic on fitness.

But with those steroids, began to bench press 400 pounds, and curl 90 pounds in each arm, and just, this was my life, and become really destroying myself, is what, looking back, but that was my identity, was in that, was in weightlifting, and being big, and strong.

I mean, isn't a man supposed to lift all this weight, and drink a 12-pack of beer, and win all the fights he was in? That was my definition of a man, basically. So I found my identity in that, and make a long story short, was probably in the top 5 of the valley again, and just 270 pounds or so, and a lot bigger, a lot stronger back then.

Success, Grief, and the Collapse of Self-Reliance

But when you take those things, it really hurts your immune system. You don't have an immune system. So I got strep throat, and it went to my heart as a viral infection. So I'm sitting there, still remember, like somebody's sitting on my chest.

Oh, geez, I better go to the hospital. So here comes this big guy, sitting in the emergency room, like, you know, I'm waiting, waiting, waiting. You know, and she finally comes in and goes, okay, what's wrong with you?

Yeah, I don't, you don't have easy time breathing? Yeah, okay, whatever. She gets me back in there, and she's running tests, and then she goes crazy. Stat, quick, we need a cardiologist, a stat right now.

And they started wheeling me in this room, and some of you might know Dr. Chowdhury, who's local. You know, he was rushed to the hospital, and I'm just laying there. I was like, what's going on? Well, EKG says you're having a mild heart attack.

At 24 years old? Whoa, that wasn't even a wake-up call. Still rejecting God, still ain't going back into the party when I got out four days later. But to make a long story short, he came in, and he just, you know, we ran all kinds of tests, and the strep throat went to my heart as a viral infection called myopericarditis, I believe it was.

So it really wasn't, I don't know if it was a heart attack or not, I didn't feel like it, I just couldn't breathe. And I mean, but they were, at the hospital, they were going pretty crazy. I mean, wheeling me here and calling Stat, and I mean, he must have got there at 2 .30 in the morning, and within minutes of them calling.

So that was a very scary ordeal for sure. But got out of the hospital, got home, was partying again within a week, you know, just living that very destructive lifestyle. Because without Christ in your life, without God, you'll just keep going from one bad thing to the next.

One wrong decision to the next wrong decision. And once I got out of the hospital, then I had to, you know, obviously my next, so my identity was in weightlifting, and then I had to get a job, obviously.

You know, and I couldn't, I made it through college one month, I said, I'm not gonna do this, this is ridiculous. And, I could not sit there for, and well, again. We don't wanna discourage young adults.

It was great if you can do it. But anyway, with college, I started working with what was called back then as family fitness centers. Right before they were opening here, and I dove right into family fitness centers and became 24-hour fitness now.

So I was instrumental in opening up the Lancaster location in West Palmdale, East Palmdale. Started working hard, selling lots of memberships, and to me it wasn't sales. I mean, somebody $100 down 15 a month for a gym like this, this is unbelievable.

So I was really believed in what I was promoting, and as a result, shot up, shot up the company, number one in the company of family fitness centers and awards and money and, you know, building Custom House at 26 years old.

And, you know, my identity was now in success and recognition and all these things. Problem is, you bring all that with you, the anger, the alcohol, you know, the arrogance, the three A's, those are the three A's I say get me in all the time.

Arrogance, addiction, arrogance, addiction. I'll think of the next one in a minute. What was it? Oh, anger, there we go. So, at the gym, met a girl and started dating, which bringing all this junk from my life, you brought a lot from her life.

While we were engaged, my father passed away, and that was a really hard time for me. You know, I remember, I don't know if Lisa's here tonight or not, but she called me at work and said, hey, you need to get to the hospital.

I'm like, okay, why, what happened? They're trying to resuscitate your dad. And I knew that's not a good thing. Trying to resuscitate, that means he's, you know, he's pretty much has died and they're trying to bring him back or keep the heart going.

The sad thing was, three days earlier, I believe it was, my mom called and said, hey, it's your dad's birthday, you wanna come to the house? And no, too busy, gotta work, gotta make the almighty dollar.

You know, didn't have time to go over there at night and here he is, you know, dead three days later. And walk into the hospital and you know you're in trouble when the cardiologist, Chowdhury, comes in and he's crying and you know, it's over, he's gone.

You know, and this is obviously a hard part to think of things like that, thinking of that moment because he said you can go in and see him, you know what I mean? Who wants to do that? So I did and pretty much lost it, you know, seeing your dad there with tubes in his mouth and just, I mean, he's, just eyes closed and just looked pretty peaceful, but he was, you know, just lost it and I was just thinking, you know, as you think back, you think, you know, the hardest thing is, and my dad wasn't the spiritual leader in the home and you know, and I don't want to candy coat or sugar coat anything and that's just the truth.

He came to know the Lord very close to the end of his life, but it made me realize now and it's given me a passion for godly leadership in the home. It gave me a passion for that because as he's lay there dying or dead, you know, wondering, dad, show me how to be a man.

Show me how to treat my wife. Dad, show me how to love God. Show me, it's too late. He's gone, it's done. And that's what's happening in our nation. We're burying our children, not physically, spiritually, because we have dropped the ball.

We are no longer leading. The reason our nation is the condition it's in today is because of deterioration of the family, period. End of story. The husband has given up their god-ordained role as spiritual leaders in their homes and we are reaping the whirlwind.

It's all linked back to the family, as God designed it. So that was a very hard time for me, you know, going through that. And then my fiance at that time, her dad died three weeks later, so we entered into marriage very broken, very arrogant, still using steroids now and then, alcohol, not much as crystal meth and marijuana as much, but just bringing all that into marriage, and of course, we succeed financially, but fail relationally.

So we're divorced in the late 1990s. And that really, let me just make sure I didn't miss anything there, because it's important. But that, looking back, as funny as it sounds, you know, I thank God for that.

What? I thank God that he allowed that, because I probably wouldn't be here today. I'd be dead, I'd be buried. But he used that to break me, and to mold me, and to shape me. It wasn't until then, until she walked out, never to return, until I was demoted at work, until God, to be able to bring these things out of my life, break me down.

Repentance and Conversion: Turning from Sin to Christ

I finally cried out and said, Lord, I need you. I'm done trying this on my own. It was a TV preacher, I won't name. But it was 1999, and I turned on the TV, and a lot of those guys, I don't really think are, it's a good idea to watch.

But he was at a men's conference, and he was just speaking. I mean, he was telling it like it is. You know, the story of Samson. You know, your eyes have been plucked out. You've lost your vision, you've lost your destiny.

You're on a detour, and you better turn around. And I just began to cry out, and gave my heart to. The funny thing is, at 12 years old, I believe, that at a conference up in the mountains, I professed Christ as Lord.

I said the prayer, and all these things. But you would have never known it. Never known it. The Bible is crystal clear. You'll know it. You don't say a little prayer, and nothing changes. When you truly give your heart to Christ, everything changes.

Everything changes. So that's another passion of mine, is to preach to that complicity that we're seeing today. A lot of people, you don't just raise your hand or go forward, and okay, I don't wanna go to heaven.

You turn from sin. You turn from sin and destructive lifestyle. You turn towards God. There's genuine fruit. Your life is changed. You have a desire for the things of God. You're not walking according to the things of the world.

So it was pretty clear to me, now that I read the scriptures, I get very frightened, because of how I was living is not in alignment with God's word. So as we ended in divorce, and thankfully no kids, went our separate ways, that was what brought me back to the Lord, but he stripped everything from me.

I walked away from 24-hour fitness. The stock, I couldn't even go to work and just focus anymore. I was like, this has been leading me astray. I want the Lord. So I gave it up, all the stock options, 401ks, everything, $100 ,000 a year, and just walked away and moved back home with my mom.

Talk about humiliating. I'm wearing a suit and tie, driving the newest vehicles, and now I'm living with her, digging ditches with my brother, running into people, going, what are you doing doing that?

Well, you know, and just, he just broke me and broke me and broke me, because I believe before God can use a man mightily up here, he's gotta break him greatly. And you come up here in his power, in his strength, not in arrogance, not in pride, but look at what the Lord has done.

Look at what he has done. And I come up here, and people ask, do you get butterflies? I shared this last week, and I don't really. I come up here with the weight of responsibility. When you speak God's word, and you take this, take this and hold it above everything else, there's a weight of responsibility.

We can't come up here and tell jokes. We can't come up here and be politically correct. I must be biblically correct. I must give an account for the words I say, the people I influence. And the weight of that responsibility begins to pull on you, and you've gotta just realize the necessity of relying on God and humility.

And that bringing me back to my mom's house, I've told this story, I think, to the congregation before, but first thing I wanna do is hook up the TV, and she's like, no, we don't have cable, and whoa, what am I gonna do, what?

Spiritual Renewal Through Scripture and the Holy Spirit

Well, that's when I started to get through this, read it year after year after year, Christian biographies, Christian history, systematic theology, church history, and I started to just build and build and build, and it just felt like I was being filled with the Holy Spirit of God and really acquiring this boldness.

And that's why I preach so hard against modern-day entertainment. Not because it's prudish or this, but it influences you. It influences you. Think about that. What you put in comes out. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

And their nation, now, I've talked about this before, is glorifying vampires and the occult and witchcraft. And we wonder why the Spirit of God is not moving among us, because we're filling our mind with filth and junk.

And that was a turning point in my life, being filled with the Holy Spirit of God, reading his word, getting into things, hanging out with those people who built me up instead of pulled me down. And that was a turning point in my life, and that's when I, you know, moving in with my mom was probably the most difficult thing I've ever done as far as it was great, but as far as humbling myself and just the humility, thinking I have nothing, 30 years wasted, but really, was it?

You know, he rebuilt everything, and he restored everything, and that was, living there, you know, I was able to get back in the word, divorce his final years, a few years into it, and then I finally met Morgan at the gym.

The funny thing was, I was really into country music back then, still love it, of course, but, you know, they sing Amazing Grace on one song, and something about Rioted Cowboy on another, and I just, these guys, I mean, it's what the entertainment industry's become, but anyway, long story short, I was watching a Craig Morgan video, and she was on it on something to write home about.

I was thinking, man, Lord, I'd love to marry a girl like that, of course, just looking at looks, and, you know, being selfish in that area, but it was just funny, I said that, and within a few weeks, I saw her at the gym, and she's kind of dating this guy that works for me, I'm like, how did he get her?

Unbelievable, I cannot believe this. And I was just baffled for weeks, but come to find out, they're kind of more friends, and just hanging out, but the funny thing is, she asked me to church, and I said, sure, I'll go, I'm going to church already, actually here, I believe, I was going, and we went to church, and then went out to dinner afterwards, and just did not hit it off, it was bye-bye, I lose my number, and she said the same thing.

She was kind of working still in Hollywood, and my ex came out of that, so it was not a good, I did not have good, well, let's just leave it at that. Me and Hollywood are not very good friends, as you can tell.

But she was growing and learning, too, and becoming a new Christian, and really struggling with, you can't really do anything good down there, or decent down there, so I think a year and a half went by, and I was working outside, digging a block wall footing, Ron, you know about this, right?

No backhoe, though, they just left me there with a digging bar and shovel, and gave me 40 feet of chalk out, and we went 18 inches deep, and we'll be back in four hours. And it was July, I remember that, and I was just hot as could be, and the couple asked me, they said, hey, you want to go to church, Sunday night service over at Central Christian?

I said, sure, because it was a blind date, they wanted me to meet somebody there, and I said, oh, my goodness, so I went there, and that didn't go too well, and I just, really just was struggling with God, and saying, Lord, I want to come to church for the right reasons.

Do you know a lot of people don't come to church for the right reasons? Singles want to know how many singles are there. Multi-level marketing people want to go to big churches to increase their downline.

A lot of people are not here for the right reasons. So I repented of that, and I just came, I walked in, I worshiped, and I left. I walked in, I worshiped and left for about six weeks. But I had this peace of just about, okay, it's time to meet somebody and finally move on, because one of the biggest mistakes you can do, right when we separated, we start seeing other people.

Biggest mistake you can make, ever, when you get divorced or separated, is start seeing somebody. But this other person makes me feel loved and appreciated. So did your spouse when you first met. Be careful, be careful.

Be very careful. So anyway, I let a lot of time pass, maybe two, three years, four years. I met Morgan at the church service. She was walking, I think, down the aisle, and I was walking kind of towards her, and I said, hey, how's it going?

Good, good to see you again. I'm thinking, oh, no, here's this. We didn't hit it off last time. So I don't know what came out, but I said, oh, you want to get something to eat? And we did, we went out, and I was just, I was falling in love as we were talking, because it was inside.

Inside, how you want to raise your kids, the joy of the Lord. See, what I did is I followed wholeheartedly after Christ, and I watched to see who keeps up. When you're dating somebody, you better follow hard after Christ, and if they do not keep up, they will pull you down.

And she was there, she was loving the Lord, and we just really hit it off, and I had to kind of put on the brakes, because I wanted to move so quick, you know, and it was stressful, and because, you know, anxiety, and like, oh, no, what about if it happens again?

So, but it just started to really, really work out, and obviously, we got married, I think a year later, and just the kids that came, you know, with baby Shane, and Aubrey, and Gracie, and just true treasures in life, and I just, you know, I thank her so much for it, too, because it's hard to be married to an individual like me, you know, and I don't say that, you know, in a necessarily negative way, but because of the passion God has given me, you know, it's up at 4 .30 in the morning, and just, I need to pray, and I need to read, and I'm not, I need to spend time with God, and I'm just burdened with this calling, and calling the nation to repentance, and it takes a strong woman to deal with a strong type A personality, to be flexible, yet at the same time, loving and stern.

So God, I could tell from the get-go, it was a perfect, perfect marriage, and it's not perfect, we have our issues, we argue, trust me, usually I'm wrong. I'm trying to gain brownie points. Is it working?

Submitting to God's Call and Waiting on the Lord

So that's, so that's my story in a nutshell, as far as taking 40, 30 minutes, and trying to give everybody, you know, where I came from, living here all my life, not having a desire to move, just wanting to, you know, just really, you know, do what I feel the Lord's called me to do, and that's kind of where this church came about.

I, it was on, it was on my heart for a few years, but I'm like, no, there's no way. No, Morgan remembers, I'm not gonna pastor, there's no way. Dealing with people? I can deal with God all day long, but it's dealing with people that get you in trouble.

And I just finally submitted to the call one Tuesday night, she left for a few hours, it took me about three hours, I just, I'm not, there's no way. I said, okay, well, Lord, I'll do it. I'll do it, I'll do it, I'll do it, if you open the doors, and I said, if you're with me, I do not want to step to this pulpit, unless God, your spirit is gonna be upon me to speak your word.

I do not, you can leave me at work, you can not seem with me at home when I'm eating dinner, but Lord, do not leave me when I step to this pulpit. I need you. I will do it if you will lead me and guide me.

And he began to open doors. You know, Sean allowed us to use this facility, and just, as long as we need it, and just door after door after door after confirmation. But what I really learned from that is waiting on the Lord.

The importance of waiting on him. See, a lot of times in our culture, we want things now. The Bible says those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. That's waiting on the Lord, testing us, and trying.

How do you develop patience if you're never tested? How do you develop forgiveness if you're never wronged? How do you develop the attributes of God if you're never challenged by them? So a lot of times, what we're going through, even right now, what you're going through a lot of times is to mold and shape and conform you into the image of Christ.

Because we won't humble ourselves, will we? We won't forgive on our own. We won't do all these things unless God begins to break and to shape us into the person he's created us to be. And it all starts with submitting.

Submitting to him. I'll tell you one word, one word that'll stop you from truly knowing God. It's pride. It's pride and arrogance. And on that note, I want to briefly shift gears and kind of close out the service with this.

The Gospel's Hard Truths: Sin, Judgment, and Repentance

And it's a burden that's been on my heart. And this is where we get a little more serious. You know, that was a great story. But I want to talk to you just about three things that have been on my heart.

And you don't have to turn there. I'm just going to read from Zephaniah. He wrote in 600 BC. Hope I can find it. Pastor, you can't find it. It's not good. In this, you know what? What we're seeing in our nation today, let me preface this.

What we're seeing in our nation today, not only are we seeing a turning away from God, we're seeing an embrace of relativism, which says what's right for you might not be right for me. Who are you to say?

Who am I to say? We don't want to talk about the difficult truths of the Bible anymore. We don't want to mention hell. We don't want to mention judgment. We don't want to mention the wrath of God. We don't want to mention righteousness.

We sure don't want to talk about holiness. We don't want to talk about the blood. We don't want to talk about the cross. Unfortunately, those are the foundations of the gospel. That's the foundation. You can't appreciate the good news without hearing about the bad news.

And yes, we turn on the TV and you can hear about your best life now, but when do you turn on the TV and hear about the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ that we are sinners in need of a savior? We don't hear that much today.

And we have to, like Amos, I quoted earlier, said, prepare to meet thy maker, O Israel. When do we say prepare to meet thy maker? If I stand up here and do not do that and preach the totality of God's word, I have missed my calling.

I have missed my duty. Paul said, if I was still pleasing men, I would not be a bond servant of Christ. Jesus said, beware when all men speak well of you. Why? Because when you preach the difficult truths of the Bible, lives are radically changed.

That's why we're not seeing people radically change. We're seeing people walk into churches no different when they arrived because they're not being convicted and they're not being challenged. And with that said, I wanna just read briefly from Zephaniah and just think about where our nation is today.

And it says, the great day of the Lord is near. It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter. There is mighty men shall cry out. The day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess.

I will bring distress upon men and they shall walk like blind men because they have sinned against the Lord. Neither will their silver nor their gold be able to deliver them in the day of judgment. But here's the encouraging news.

Gather yourself together, oh undesirable nation, before the decree is issued or the day passes like chaff, before the Lord's fierce anger comes upon you. Seek the Lord now, all you meek of the earth who have upheld his justice.

Seek righteousness, seek humility, that it may be that you'll be hidden from the day of the Lord's anger. Do you ever hear that anymore? Why not? Because we don't wanna hear it. And our nation is conforming to the culture so we don't upset people anymore.

Do you know that the only hope for this nation and the only hope for people who don't truly know God is repentance? When the judgment hand of God falls upon a nation, there is no plan B. There is no second chance.

You don't stand before God and give your, well, I did this and I did that. No, you will fall down on your knees and weep when you stand before a holy, righteous God. But thank God, Timothy tells us, for the eyes of the, or I'm sorry, he tells us that God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Say, Shane, this is depressing. This is bad. It's good news. It's good news. God has created the way. God's bridged that gap through Jesus Christ. Well, boy, you sure feel pretty upset about that, or pretty angry.

Why shouldn't I be? When people are on the broad road to destruction. It's like a pit bull coming at my son. What'd I tell him? Shane, you might wanna consider moving. I don't wanna offend you, little buddy.

Hey, you might wanna get out of the way. I don't wanna upset you. I know you're having a good day so far. Or would I run and grab him as that pit bull launched at him? What would you do? This is the same thing.

We're talking about the eternal destiny of souls. Behold the glory of God. But we don't wanna talk about these things. And that's that first group of people I wanna talk to, those who truly don't know God.

Christ Alone, the Cross, and the Call to Believe