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🎵Music🎵 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Amen. Good to see you brother Alex. Rick, could you open up an order of prayer? Song number 48 satisfied in your blue hymn books. Song number 48 satisfied. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Let's sing it out together on the first. Good morning. Welcome to Church Foundation Baptist Church. Let's take our bulletins and look at some announcements this morning. That's the wrong one. That's the right one. Okay. If you need a bulletin, would you just slip up your hand? One of the ushers will bring you a bulletin. On our front cover, we have our verse of the week. It says, Prove all things. Hold fast to that which is good. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 21. It's a great scripture there. And our service times are Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m. for the preaching service. I just started a new series last week called Issues of the Heart. And I'll be preaching the second sermon of that series this morning. Sunday evening, we are going through the book of Exodus. And we are going to finish off Exodus chapter number 3 this afternoon at 3 30 p.m. And Thursday evening, our Bible study is... We finished 1 Peter and now we're going to move on to 2 Peter chapter 1. And our sowing times are listed below. We have sowing today at 1 15. We meet here in the auditorium. And if you're planning on going, just meet up in here. Or if you have the WhatsApp, you can get the address. If you don't have the WhatsApp, you don't know what I'm talking about, just see Brother Sean Collin. Brother Sean Collin right there. All right. So if you need the address and you don't have it, just ask Brother Sean and he will get it for you. You can meet on location. 1 30. Is that what time, Brother Sean? Okay, 1 30, 1 30-ish. And then our praise report. We've had four salvations this month. And you can see all the rest of the stats down below there, the church stats there. And then our upcoming events. We have... I just want to remind everybody about the family photos. Ms. Annie is doing the family photos. Can you raise your hand, Ms. Annie? All right. She's taking care of that. Is your schedule full? No? Okay. So if you want to schedule pictures, I believe the sign-up is in the WhatsApp group. But can they come see you for a schedule too? Okay. So if you want to get a family photo done, or just a single portrait with the pose or whatever, you're more than welcome to do that. You don't have to be... You can send that picture to your family members. They'd be like, what a cheapskate. No, I'm just kidding. I shared it with you on Facebook. That was the gift. But anyway, so I just want to remind people that this isn't like a multifaceted photo shoot where everybody's dressing up in Western outfits. I mean, you can do that, but it's just supposed to be like a single picture. So whatever single picture takes place, that's the picture. It's not like multiple poses, unless she wants to do that. But please be respectful over time and everybody else's time and just go to your allotted schedule for the family photo. So anyway, with that being said, our next homeschool field trip is November 16th, and that will be a field trip to Pioneer Farms, and you need to be there at 10.15. It's in Eatonville. So Eatonville is about two hours and 15 minutes north. Is it north and then east? North and east or north and west? I can't remember. Have I been there before? I don't even know if I've been there before. That's familiar, okay? But anyway, so be there at 10.15. Remember to pack a sack lunch. And so there's a tour for an hour and a half before the lunch, and then after lunch is an hour and a half also. So that all is going down. That's this Wednesday, right? This Wednesday, okay. So then I'll be preaching in Spokane on November 20th, which is next Sunday, and then we're going to have the holiday season basically kicks off that week. We're going to have on the 22nd, we're going to change our midweek service from Thursday to Tuesday. So I don't want to interfere with ladies cooking. I've done that too many times. Get the death stares, all that stuff, and I'm just teasing. But I am trying to make it easier for you to spend some time with your family during the holiday, and so that is going to be a big change. So make sure you're here on Tuesday instead of showing up on Thursday. If you show up Thursday, the lights are off, the door is locked. You didn't miss the rapture. You just didn't pay attention to the announcements. Okay, and November 27th is the kids' Christmas choir practice, and that will start after the evening service, so they're going to practice some songs. I think Rylan has already kind of sent out messages, and so if you didn't get that message or memo, see Rylan Bender. Rylan is in the booth right now making me mad somehow. No, he's all right. There's Rylan right there. So anyway, so we're going to try to make the practices be fairly short and not take too much of your time. I know a lot of people have to travel home at that time. So just please, right after the service, and that will be the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so please just have your kids ready to go, and then we'll herd them into one area, and they can practice the songs together. And practice at home with them if you have time to do that. That would probably be a good idea, and so that will be great to have them singing for us on Christmas Day. But December 10th, we have a cookie exchange that we always do every year, and that's going to be at 1130 at night at the Bender's house. No, it's going to be 1130 in the morning. All right, I'm just trying to make sure everybody is paying attention. Please bring three dozen of your best cookies. There will be a white elephant gift. Is that what it's called? Okay, my wife picked hers up yesterday. Everybody fights over the ones that she gets for some reason. But hey, the white elephant game is ruthless, so you've got to have a real strategy to do that. But if anybody needs to know where the Benders live, please see Miss Julene or Rylan, and they'd be happy to give you their address where the event is happening. And it's here in Vancouver. So December 25th is, of course, Christmas Day. We'll have an altered schedule. We're going to start our services at 10 a.m., and there will be the children's choirs then singing during that service. We'll have a sermon, obviously probably centered towards the birth of Christ, which is one of the most important days of all history. And then we're going to have a prime rib dinner in between to celebrate the fact that Jesus did eat beef. And no, I'm just kidding. But he did eat beef though. Nay, but thou didst eat beef. Now, he did eat beef with Abraham. Abraham slaughtered the calf for him, but anyway, that's another sermon. But anyway, so prime rib dinner, and it's absolutely free. We are asking for people to bring sides and desserts, and we'll probably have a sign up for that coming up soon. That'll be after the morning service, before the evening service. There will be no soul winning that day. I'm guessing that people aren't going to be very happy about you knocking on their door in the middle of Christmas. So I know that's weird, but they should be just opening their door and getting like Mr. Scrooge when he woke up in the morning. He was all happy or whatever. But I don't think people are going to be happy if we're crashing their family get together. So if you want to go, I'm not going to stop you from going, but it might be a battlefield. I'm just warning you right now. So anyway, I'll give us some time to hang out and enjoy our meal together. So I'm not scaling soul winning back, so don't worry. All right. And Pastor Thompson scaling back soul winning. Also, I just want to remind you to download the Romans Road app, and that has all of our preaching on it. It has preaching from other churches on it. It has a step-by-step process of how to give the gospel in different stages. So if you just go to the Google Play Store, you can download the app. Or I think it's on iTunes for sure. I think the iTunes one is better. Or not iTunes, what is it? Apple what? App Store. Okay, sorry. I'm not an Apple guy, obviously, because Android is better. But anyway, also I just want to remind everybody about the dates for the King James Conference, and that it's going to be May 25th or 28th. I know that's a long ways off. You can see all the preachers that are preaching at it, and we're still putting together all the rest of it. But we'll have some videos coming out and some schedules fairly soon, probably after Christmas though. And then we're a family integrated church. That means the children and infants are welcome during the church services. Please utilize those rooms for your needs, moms and dads. There's a mom-baby room back there, and then the dad-baby room right back there. They do have sound, or they should have sound and comfortable seating. And please take your children in there for whatever you need to do. And if your children are screaming during the middle of the service, please just take them in, or if they won't calm down, take them maybe out to your car or something, then bring them back in when they're not screaming or whatever. But we are family integrated. We don't want to separate you from the church service or from your children for any reason. So the rockers or gliders are for pregnant nursing mothers and elders only. And just a reminder about men not going into the mother-baby room during the church services, and also ladies going into the dad-baby room during the church services. Please watch your children. No unattended children in any area of the building. And I have noticed, and I'm going to be Officer Thompson now for just a second here. I've noticed a lot of children that are just running around and playing tag and stuff like that. I worry about them running into an elderly person like myself and knocking me down, or knocking anybody down. If a kid hits the back of your leg, have you ever done that trick where you kind of hit the back of someone's knee and they fall down? It's a dirty trick. Don't do it. But kids can do that because they're that height, and they can run and hit you on the back of the leg, so knock you down. It's really embarrassing. And it can just get someone hurt. So please just try to stop your children from running in the church. I'd appreciate that. And if you need an escort to your vehicle or you just need help to your vehicle, our ushers are available to help you and assist you in those things. So just ask them, and they don't mind doing that for you. Also, please sign with your cell phones. Online donations are available on our website, and text-giving number is there below, and our offerings for the month of November are at the bottom of the page. And we do have some birthdays we're going to sing for this morning. Kylie, her birthday is actually today. Where's Kylie? Is she hiding? Oh, she's in the mother-baby room. There she is. Everybody wave. Just turn. She's right there. Say hi. It's her birthday today, so happy birthday to Kylie. And then Lydia Alcorta and Robert Alcorta both are having birthdays, and his is on the 17th. He's only 55, but he looks like he's still on her 30, right? So let's sing happy birthday to everybody, all right? Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, God bless you. Happy birthday to you. All right, and then we also have an anniversary coming up for Brandon and Nia. That's the 17th, and so we're going to sing happy anniversary. Where's Brandon? He's right there. You've got to go sit by your wife. You've got all you can. You've got the kids, so anyway. Well, we'll sing happy anniversary. How many years is it now? Four. Are you sure? Oh, man. It might not be five. I'm just kidding. Let's sing happy anniversary. Happy anniversary to you. Happy anniversary to you. Bless you and keep you. Happy anniversary to you. All right, and many more. All right, we'll sing another song, and then we'll receive the offering. All right, our next song is our new song, song number 69 in your blue hymn books, Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee. You don't know it. That makes two of us, so let's try to learn it together on the first, Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee, song number 69. Song number 69, let's sing it out together on the first. No voice can sing, no heart can frame, Nor can the memory find A sweeter sound than Jesus' name Oh, Savior of mankind Oh, hope of every contrite heart Oh, joy of all the me To those who fall, how kind Thou art How good to those who see But what to those who find all this Nor tongue nor pen can show The love of Jesus, what it is None but his loved ones know Jesus, our only joy be Thou As Thou our prize will be Jesus, be Thou our glory now And through eternity And good seeing you, brother Sean, could you bless the offering for us? Thank you for this day, Lord, and I thank you for your stay and gathering. I pray that you bless everything we do today, Lord. Just fill past with your spirit. Please give us the spirit to hear the message, Lord, and I pray that you bless this offering. Bless both the gift and the giver. Praise things in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, Lord, and God bless you. Thank you, Lord, and God bless you. Thank you, Lord. II Kings 10 II Kings 10, the Bible reads, And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria, and Jehu wrote letters and sent to Samaria unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab's children, saying, Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses and fenced city also, and armor, look even out the best and meatest of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house. But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, two kings stood not before him. How then shall we stand? And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us. We will not make any king. Do thou that which is good in thine eyes. Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men of your master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up. And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jezreel. And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering in of the gate until the morning. And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye be righteous, behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him. But who slew all these? Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab. For the Lord hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah. So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab and Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolk, and his priests, until he left him none remaining. And he arose, and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the cheering house in the way, Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah, and we go down to salute the children of the king, and the children of the queen. And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them at this pit of the cheering house, even two and forty men. Neither left he any of them. And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him, and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot. And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. So they made him ride in his chariot. And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake to Elijah. And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu shall serve him much. Now therefore, call unto me all the prophets of Baal, and his servants, and all his priests. Let none be wanting, for I have a great sacrifice to do Baal, whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it subtly to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal. And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal, and they proclaimed it. And Jehu sent through all Israel, and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not. And they came into the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was full from one end to another. And he said unto him that was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments. And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rakab, into the house of Baal, and said unto the worshippers of Baal, Search and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the Lord, but the worshippers of Baal only. And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burn offerings, Jehu appointed fourscore men without, and said, If any of the men who have brought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him. And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offerings, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in and slay them, let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword, and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal. And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal, and burned them. And they break down the image of Baal, and break down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day. Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel, howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel a sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan. And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart, for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel a sin. In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short, and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel, from Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Rabanites, and the Manasites, from Aror, which is by the river Aran, even Gilead and Bashan. Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the books of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria, and Jehu his son reigned in his stead. And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years. Brother Timo will you pray for us? Amen. Alright, we're in 2 Kings chapter 10, and the few verses that I want to focus on are found in verse 15 through 17. Let's read those. 2 Kings chapter 10 verse 15 it says, And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jonadab the son of Rekab, coming to meet him, and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is right with thy heart? And Jonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot. And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. So they made him ride in his chariot. And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab and Samaria, till he had destroyed him according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we thank you Lord so much for this wonderful day, and Lord I just pray that you would just bless all aspects of the service, this morning and in the afternoon. I pray that someone will get saved today, or the seed will be planted or watered while we're out sowing. Lord I pray you fill me with your spirit, and Lord I pray that you give the people ears to hear, and eyes to see what the scriptures say unto the church, and what the spirit says to the church this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So as you know I'm in the second part of my series, Issues of the Heart. The Bible says, Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. And last week I explained a little bit about that. The Bible talks about the heart a lot, and the heart isn't necessarily just the organ that's pumping blood through your body. It's also like the seed of the mind where your emotions and your feelings are, and it's like basically your inner being, who you are on the inside. And so a lot of those things that come from the inside are said on the outside. Obviously when we speak the Bible says that the things that come out of our heart are what we're going to, the things that are in our heart are the things that we're going to speak, and obviously I don't want to give away other future sermons, but I'm not sure how many I'm going to do on this, but I wanted to talk about a right heart this morning, a right heart. And so when I just searched the term, a right heart, this is the scripture that came up. And so I wanted to use these three verses to preach three points this morning about a right heart. And I'll just say this before I get started, that for your heart to be right with God, absolutely right with God, you have to be saved. So I'm preaching this to people that are saved, and obviously if you're not 100% sure that you're saved this morning, we can take care of that before you leave, and we'd love to sit down and show you from the scriptures what the Bible says it takes to be saved. So obviously I'm willing to baptize anybody after the service, and those things always stand. So if you're here today and you're not 100% sure that you're going to heaven, you have doubts about that, don't be embarrassed. We're not going to have some kind of altar call up here where everybody has to come up, and the only way you can get saved is if you bow your knee to me up here. There's no altar because there's no altar in the New Testament. But anyway, so these three points I'm going to preach this morning are found in those three verses that I read, and I want to show what it means to have a right heart from these verses. So, number one, how you treat your fellow believers shows your heart is right. How you treat fellow believers shows that your heart is right. And you know what, how you treat other, just people in general, can show that you have a right heart. So some people have that fake niceness, you know what I'm talking about? Like Mormons, when they come to your door and they're like, Hi, we're from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Join us. Their heart isn't right. Because people can fake being nice or fake treating people well. The Mormons will always try to unload your U-Haul or offer to do something nice for you just as a hook to kind of get you into their church. So, you know, if you accept they're moving for you, then you're saving some money. But, you know, their real hook is trying to get into you so that you can go to their church and believe their trash doctrine. But let's look down at verse number 15 again. It says, And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab, the son of Rekab, coming to meet him. And he saluted him and said unto him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is right with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot. So you have Jehu asking this question of Jehonadab, Is your heart right? And that's a question I want to ask everybody in here today. Is your heart right? Because, you know, your heart can be wrong. And you can, you know, and as you saw at the end of the chapter, if you were paying attention to the reading, there comes a point where Jehu's heart is not right. So someone can have a right heart right now, but then later on your heart can get wrong. And so we don't want to get, you know, we want to always try to have a right heart as much as we possibly can. And so, just, that's why you have to keep your heart. So keeping your heart means that you're tending to it, you're caring for it. And there's a lot of issues that can come if your heart's not right, or if your heart is hardened, things like that. If your heart gets wrong, then obviously you need to try to get it right. And so obviously confessing our sin, if you're saved when you confess your sins to God, He's faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness. So how do we get our heart right? Well, you know, through repentance. You know, through, you know, being sorry. And obviously being sorry isn't what it takes to be saved. So don't get confused here. Repentance, it means a change of mind, but it can mean to repent of your sins. But you don't have to repent of your sins to be saved. If you're saved, you should repent of your sins though. So hopefully that makes sense. But let's turn over to John chapter 13 verse 34. John chapter 13 verse 34. The Bible says in John 13 verse 34, it says, A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Now who's Jesus talking to here? He's talking to his disciples, right? And so he's saying that, you know, I'm giving you a new commandment. Here's the commandment that ye love one another. So is your heart right if you love fellow believers? Yes, because Jesus, whatever Jesus says is right. So if you're doing what Jesus says, then you're doing right. And if you love other believers and treat them well, then Jesus actually says, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples. So, and what does Jehu do? While he's asking if Jehonadab's heart is right, as my heart is right with thy heart, what's he saying? He's trying to, you know, reach out his hand to Jehonadab with the right hand of fellowship. I assume he's right-handed, it could be the left hand. But he's reaching out that hand to him, and you know, we should reach our hands out to other believers also. And not just obviously, I'm going to preach more about people that aren't believers, but one of the signs that your heart is right with God is how you treat fellow Christians. And you know, sometimes we can get upset with each other. We're around each other a lot, and sometimes it's easy to like, you know, when you're around someone, you start noticing all the moles. So, you know, you start noticing the things that might not be 100% right with them, because everybody has flaws in their characters and blind spots. Maybe people are a little too forward to say things that they shouldn't say necessarily. Obviously, there's some things that probably just shouldn't be said. And you know, even if that person is a believer that's in your family, you know, we should still treat believers in our family well too. Or outside, you know, some of the distant family members that are saved. You know, and obviously, sometimes we get the people that we think are saved in our families, and they're like saying that we're in a cult. I mean, if you know that they're saved, they can say whatever they want, but how do you treat them? Because didn't Jesus say to turn the other cheek when someone smacks you in the mouth? Well, what about when someone insults you? What about when someone is rude to you? You know, we should turn the other cheek, and we don't have to address every transgression that a fellow believer does to us. You know what you can actually do? You can actually take that and just say, you know what, maybe they're having a bad day, maybe they're having a bad week, maybe they're having a bad year, maybe they're having a bad moment, and maybe they didn't mean to say it, maybe they didn't mean to come off that way. And you know, a lot of times text messages can come off the wrong way. And so if you think that someone's like, you text someone and then they're like, or you say some kind of private message to them through text, text doesn't give your emotion, how you're feeling at that time. It can just come off as robotic. You know, like, how dare you say that to me? It's like, well, they didn't really say it, they wrote it. But obviously sometimes you can nail down what people are saying through their text messages. But Jehu's asking if this man's heart is right as my heart is right with thy heart. So he had good intentions towards Jehanadab. Not Jehan, yeah, Jehanadab. And so he had good intentions to treat him well. And so what does he end up doing? He ends up having him ride in his chariot with him and to show him his zeal for the Lord. And so it's good for us as Christians to be in church because, you know, we can show other Christians our zeal for the Lord. But let me ask you this question, do you have zeal for the Lord? Do you love God and want to, you know, you're on fire for God? Well, those are good things to be, you know, on fire for God. So if you're a Christian, you're like, hey, I want to show you how to go soloing. I want to show you, you know, what happens when you knock on a door and someone actually gets saved because you guys went to that door and you preached the gospel. So we can affect fellow believers. And I'm going to have you turn to Hebrews chapter 10 real quick because the Bible says we're supposed to be here to encourage one another. And obviously I understand that you're all here this morning, but, you know, sometimes some people aren't faithful to the things of God and that would show that you're not very zealous for the things of God. You know, obviously if you're sick or whatever, I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about, you know, you stick up your finger, are we going to church today? Yeah, I don't know. I don't think so. I mean, that shouldn't be our attitude. Well, look at Hebrews 10, verse number 25. Oh, number 24, excuse me. Verse 24 says, and let us consider one another. Isn't it nice to consider other people? Don't be selfish. Consider other people. Consider other people in this church. Consider other believers. It says to provoke unto love and to good work. So a lot of times people provoke people to try to get them mad, don't they? They provoke people to try to get a reaction from them, but, you know, we should provoke as Christians, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we should provoke unto love and to good work. So what did Jesus say? That you're supposed to love one another, right? And then it also says here in verse 24, unto love and to good works. So what are we supposed to be provoking people? Love, good works. When we love each other as Christians, that's going to help the team and the mission and everything that we do here. Why are we gathered together in the name of Christ? So we can encourage one another, so we can worship the Lord, so we can hear the preaching of God's word, and so we can be sent out to do what Jesus asked us to do. Not so we can play tic-tac-toe at the end of the service. Not so we can have a bingo parlor in here. Not so we can just have, like, some kind of, you know, a country club or something. There are country clubs that exist out there. You don't have to come to church just to be in a country club. You know, obviously it's probably cheaper, but we don't charge admission here or whatever. But, you know, Jesus said we're supposed to love one another. That's a commandment, a new commandment. So if you're not being loving to fellow Christians, you're not being loving to your brethren, then you're not keeping that commandment. And what would that mean? That your heart is not right before God, right? I mean, that just makes sense, doesn't it? Turn to Galatians chapter 2, verse number 7. Galatians chapter 2, verse number 7. Galatians 2, 7 says, But contra-wise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter, for he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. And when James and Cephas and John seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship. So when Paul came, he was like, I'm not really sure, you know, what's going to happen when I go up to Jerusalem, whether their doctrine's going to be right, whether their heart's going to be right, whether I actually have been just wasting my time thinking that these apostles believe the same thing as me. But, you know, when they perceived, you know, it says, When James, Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship. So they shook their hands, or whatever they did back then, fist bump or clap, probably shaking hands, but they gave them the right hands of fellowship that we should go to the heathen and they unto the circumcision. But what were they doing? They're saying, hey, we're with you, Paul. We agree with you, Paul. We believe the same as you, Paul. And so it's encouraging to other Christians that we all believe the same thing and that we all have one mind and one mission at this church. It shouldn't be just everybody having their own agendas, everybody trying to run their own business through the church or anything like that. We should have one mind and one heart and that we should be striving together for the Gospel. We have a mission here. This isn't just some place that we meet up because we don't have anything better to do. We have great things to do for God. And when we're loving each other, when we're treating each other with respect, and we're letting transgressions pass us by, like I said, you don't have to right every single wrong. If someone gives you a dirty look, someone says something stupid to you, someone says something mean to you, you don't have to just fight them back on everything and then there becomes this war of attrition that happens. That's what people that are carnal do. Think about Samson, carnal Christian, very big example of a carnal Christian. And how did he treat the Philistines? Instead of, like Jesus said, do unto others as you would have them to do unto you, Samson's like, I'm going to do unto them as they did unto me. And see, that's the difference between someone that's very spiritual, which is Jesus Christ, and someone that wasn't very spiritual, spiritual Samson. Now was Samson saved? Of course he was. But there was times when he just, he's like, well they did that to me, so I'm going to do it to them. And that should not be our attitude, especially towards fellow believers. Turn to Galatians 6-9, Galatians 6-9. So what am I talking about, having your heart right? One thing you can do to have your heart right is to treat fellow believers right. And that shows that we're keeping that commandment that Jesus gave to us. It shows that we're keeping that, and it's obviously not to be saved. We're keeping the commandments so that, because his commandments are not grievous unto us, and that we, you know, they're not grievous unto us, and that we want to do the things that God wants us to do. So, again, you know, just, and I know sometimes we get in the flesh. You know, we do have a body of flesh that fights against the Spirit, wants to do wrong, and when someone does something that we don't like, our tendency is to just lash out. And obviously everybody has times where they do that, but, you know, what does Jesus want us to do? He wants us to turn the other cheek. He wants us to be good unto our neighbor. And our neighbor, in the context, you know, of the Old Testament, when it's talking about loving your neighbor as yourself, the context is talking about believers, if you go and look at it. But Galatians 6, 9 says, And let us not be weary in well-doing. So we're supposed to do well, right? We're supposed to do good things. For in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. So who are we supposed to especially do good things for? The household of faith. That means people that are saved. It said do good unto all men, right? So there's your, you know, let's help everybody verse, but also it says especially them that are of the household of faith. You know, we're a very small minority of people. You want to talk about people that are minorities, how about Christians today? You know, especially in this country, things have changed, the politics have changed, the winds of change have happened, and obviously we live in a place where the politics are just turned upside down. We got, you know, I'm not sure if I mentioned election fraud, that that's going to get this sermon nuked or whatever, but I don't really care. There seems to be a lot of shady stuff going on in our elections. We can't even trust them. And people are like, how dare you? You know, say something about the election. It's like, didn't you say that it was rigged when George Bush won back in whatever he went against Al Gore? They questioned the election then, didn't they? Yeah. They questioned the election when Hillary lost to Donald Trump, but then when Joe Biden gets 85 million votes, we're not supposed to question that? He got more votes than Barack Obama? Really? I don't think so. Stuttering Joe was in his basement for two years, and apparently he just, you know, I mean, Donald Trump's, you know, selling out, you know, I don't know if he's selling tickets or whatever to it, but whole huge stadiums, and people are just going and thronging and wanting him to be the president. And look, I don't care who the president is really necessarily, but I'm just saying that we live in a corrupted society. And so our limitations as Christians, you know, we should help each other because there's nobody else really helping us. There's the right, the Republicans that supposedly, they want to throw Christians a bone so that they'll keep voting for them all the time, but when it comes down to it, they don't really, you know, there's a constituency that they do not help. And most of the time, that's Christians. And you're like, well, what about the abortion thing? They overturned something that wasn't constitutional anyway, and then everybody just voted in in their state that are a bunch of liberals that you can still kill your babies. So it didn't really do that much of a difference. Obviously, I'm glad that if it did do some kind of a difference, I'm glad for that. But again, they were throwing us a little bit of a bone there, but how long has it taken? How many millions of children have been killed because of Roe versus Wade? Millions of children. And then the United States is also responsible for pushing all that agenda in other places too. So anyway, so as Christians, we're a very small minority, and we should help each other first because there isn't anybody else really that wants to help us for the most part, you know? Number two this morning, your zeal towards God shows your heart is right. Your zeal towards God shows that your heart is right. Number one is that how we treat each other shows that your heart is right because Jesus said, you know, I have a new commandment for you, that you love one another, and so shall you be, people shall know that we're his disciples, right? So number two though, and let's go back to 1 Kings chapter 10, 1 Kings chapter 10, number two is your zeal towards God shows your heart is right. And well, let's just read the verse real quick. 2 Kings chapter 10 verse 16 says, And he said, Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. So they made him to ride in his chariot. So again, Jehu wants to show Jehonadab the zeal that he has. See, you can say you're a Christian, you know, people use the James, you know, faith without works is dead or whatever, but it's still faith, isn't it? So you could be a Christian and not have any works. You can be saved and not do any works at all, but that doesn't mean that you're right with God. You're right eternally with God because you get to have eternal life or believing, but maybe your life on earth isn't right, okay? So the way we show people that we are Christians is that we, obviously we say the right things, but we also have a zeal towards God that people can actually see. And Jehu had a really great zeal, and what was his zeal to do? Wipe out Ahab's whole family. And it's like, well, is that right? That's what God said to do. That's why he was anointed as the king because God knew that he's the guy that's going to wipe out all these wicked people. Well, I'll get to that later. But zeal, what is zeal? Well, zeal is a passion for something that compels you to take action. Zeal is a passion for something that compels you to take action. It's not just, oh, I got a lot of zeal, and then you're just sitting doing nothing all the time. That doesn't really show your zeal, does it? Doesn't really show your good works, does it? Doesn't show that you're on fire for God because really, if you think about it, how is it like shown to us in the scriptures when someone is very zealous? They're on fire for God. It's something that you just can't contain. It's something that you can't stop. You can't shut that off. When you're zealous, you're fired up. And obviously, God is a consuming fire. He can set your soul on fire, obviously not in the way that I'm talking, you know, it's not hell, but he's going to set your soul on fire to what? Be zealous towards him. And when you see zeal being talked about, and sometimes the word zeal isn't even mentioned, but when someone's doing something, what does fervent mean? Well, you talk about fervent heat, heat that just is really hot and fiery, different things like that. Turn to Matthew chapter 9 verse 35. Matthew chapter 9 verse 35. Matthew chapter 9 verse 35. The Bible says, that the Pharisee said, excuse me, verse 35, and Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. Jesus was zealous. It was very easy for his disciples to see. It was very easy for just the random person that showed up to hear and preach or to see him do these miracles. It's very obvious that Jesus had a great zeal about him. In Mark, it kind of portrays Jesus as a very hardworking servant of God to the point where people are like, you're crazy, you need to take a break. Have you ever been around someone that can just work circles around you? And you're like, where are they getting this from? Some people just have a drive to never stop doing stuff, to never stop, ladies, to never stop cleaning their house. I mean, just for men to just not want to stop working because they love working so much, and you're like, well, that's not me. Neither one of those are me. Well, that's because you're just, maybe you're just not wired that way, but if you've ever worked with someone that just doesn't stop, they don't like to take breaks, it can be kind of annoying, can't it? They're like, well, how are you so much better than me? But you know what it does? It helps you if you have any kind of integrity at all in you. It helps you to see someone have a zeal to get stuff done. It helps you to have that zeal, too. It rubs off on you. Because some people are just lazy. But laziness can be overcome by action and by saying, you know what, I don't want to be lazy anymore. I know the Bible says it's wrong, so I'm going to try to take steps to not be lazy. Maybe you're not timely. You're never on time for anything. I'm going to take steps to be on time. And so things like that can be rubbed off on to you, just like zeal can be rubbed off on you. So why does Jehu want Jehonadab to see his zeal so that he'll have the same zeal that he does? And so Matthew chapter 19 verse 35, Jesus is showing that he went to, does it say, let's look at it again. And Jesus went about all the cities. It says all, doesn't it? He didn't say, well, you know what, this is supposed to rain today. We're not going to go to that city. We're going to just take a break. No, he said all cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. So he's just doing everything he can, isn't he? He's working really hard, and it says in verse 36, but when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them. He cared about them. But why was he moved? Because he had compassion. You see the passion at the end of the, in the middle of that word? That means that he had a zeal to take action in helping these people when he saw the multitude because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Jesus cared about them, and you know what? He's the good shepherd. So when people are like sheep without a shepherd, his natural thing to do, because he had such a zeal for the things of God, was to be their shepherd for them, was to be the good shepherd for them, was to help them in any way he possibly could. Verse 37, it says, Then saith he unto the disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. So he's trying to get his disciples to have this passion to help and serve people and it seems like that's what Jesus does a lot when he's dealing with his disciples. He's always trying to get them to do better. He's always trying to get them to do more. I preached about how last week how the disciples' heart was hardened because they didn't get a break. And it was pretty clear there. And they're mad for like three chapters, right? They're mad. And he's like, is your heart yet hardened? So, but what's it saying when it says truly the plenteous, or the, excuse me, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. That means there's not a lot of people that are zealous to save other people, to get other people saved. So a passion for souls is something that we should have and we should be moved with compassion when we see that these people out in our world in a lost and dying world of sinful people, you know, we should be praying for there to be more people out there to give the gospel. It says, pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. You know what we're dealing with? I mean, we already have a small percentage of Christians but then an even less percentage of people that actually go out and labor in the fields and do the work of soul wanting. So if you want to show that your heart is right with God, well, to show your heart is right with God, you're gonna not only care for each other but you're gonna care for other people. You're gonna love other people and that love for other people is gonna turn into action like it did with Jesus. So zeal of works and things of God show a right heart and a zeal for soul wanting. And we should also as Christians have a zeal for the Bible. A zeal for the Bible. What are we here for if it isn't this book? You're like, well, it's just a book, pastor. This isn't a regular book, folks. This is the word of God. This isn't the Odyssey or Plato or some other stuff that is just philosophy. It's not Stephen King. This is the Bible. This is the word of God. It's been preserved for us. It's been faithfully translated for us that speak English here so that we have something that is the word of God. We can trust in it. You're like, well, it's been translated over and over again all these different times. No, it really hasn't necessarily. This book is over 400 years old, not this specific copy, okay? But the word of God in English, the perfect word of God's been around for over 400 years. You're like, well, I just can't get down with the yees and the these and the thows and all that stuff. Let me just make it real simple for you. The is singular. The, thine, those things are singular terms. And ye, you and yours is plural. Oh, wow, it's just so hard. I just don't know if I understand it. Maybe you don't understand it because you're not saved. That could be the possibility. If you're always looking for the easy way out, then get yourself an NIV. But you know what? It takes like thousands of verses out of it. Like thousands of words, not thousands of verses, thousands of words are taken out of it. And the meaning is changed multiple times. And every modern translation is like that. Why do they want to take away from the word of God? Because they just want to be cursed to hell. I mean, that's what the Bible says is going to happen if you add to or take away from his word when you're saying, you know, the people will add to, they're like, well, God told me something today. He didn't tell you anything. If he's going to tell you something, it's going to be in this book right here. And you know what? We should have some zeal for the word of God. Turn to Psalm chapter 119, verse 139. Psalm chapter 119, verse 139. If you try to open up your book in the middle, you're going to come across the book of Psalms. And in Psalm chapter 119, which is the longest chapter in the whole Bible, Psalm chapter 119, verse 139 says, My zeal hath consumed me because mine enemies have forgotten thy words. Thy words, thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it. So we have God's pure words right here. The words of the Lord's are pure words. And that's why David's saying, this is why thy servant loveth it. They're pure words. I can count on them. I can trust in them. I know that they're going to be right. But he says in verse 139, My zeal hath consumed me because mine enemies have forgotten thy words. Because mine enemies have forgotten thy words. And everybody should know what the word of God says. But see, Christians aren't preaching the true word of God. Number one, that's a problem. And number two, they're using the wrong version. So we should have a zeal for the Bible because, and especially the right Bible, and you're like, well, how do you know yours is right? Well, it's translated out of the original tongues from the received text. It's called the TR, the Texas Receptus. And it's basically the Greek in Hebrew that's been passed down for thousands of years. It's not one that they found in some monastery that they were using to start fires. It's not someone that they found in some cave and broke open the clay. Do you really believe that God's word was buried for thousands of years and nobody actually had it? No, he said he's going to preserve it from this generation and forever. So turn to Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 29. Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 29. Jeremiah says in verse 29, he says, Is not my word like a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Remember last week I was talking about the hard heart. Sometimes the Bible says that they had a heart of stone. But what can help that? Well, the hammer of God's word can break that hard heart into pieces if you'll actually allow it to do that, if you'll actually start to absorb the word of God into your heart, into your life, and to actually say, you know what, I want to follow it regardless of whether I agree with it or not. Because a lot of people, they'll come from a church where it's just always feel good, walk out feeling as best as you can, and like Joel Osteen's church, how do you deal with difficult people? Obviously that's not a bad sermon title, but I'm sure the sermon sucks. I'm sure it's like 10 minutes long and he gets paid millions of dollars to preach some lame-o sermon. But the Bible says, Is not my word like a fire? And what am I talking about right now? I'm talking about zeal towards God. When the zeal of God's word takes a hold of you, it's going to set you on fire. So is it important to read God's word? Absolutely. And we should also have a zeal for preaching. And maybe you don't preach, but we should still have a zeal for preaching. Look at Jeremiah 20, a couple chapters back in your Bible. Jeremiah chapter 20, we should have a zeal for preaching. And if you are a preacher, or you want to be a pastor, or you want to be just a preacher, an evangelist, whatever, maybe you just want to be a feeling preacher from time to time. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet to the nations, and he was preaching a lot of negative messages that was getting him thrown in jail. It was getting him beat up. Everybody hated him. Everybody from his hometown hated him. They were trying to kill him. Basically they left him to rot in a dungeon filled with miry clay, which I think some people would say that that's the dung. So he was literally lowered down into a pit where he just left to die. Because why? Because he loved God's word and he preached it. But at one point he says this, Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, but his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. So he says I could not stay. I couldn't stop preaching God's word. Why? Because his word was in his heart as a burning fire shut up in his bones. He's like I'm on fire here and I got to get this out. I'm going to preach the word of God, whether it's harming me or not. You know what? We ought to listen to the word of God whether it's harming us or not, whether it's making us, you know, we need to have this zeal and this fire in our heart from the preaching of God's word and don't ever just discount preaching. And you know what? God can use any person, any dynamics of a person, as long as they're preaching the word of God, then they're okay to listen to as long as their doctrine is right. And, you know, we should have a burning in our heart to not only preach the word of God, and obviously every person in this room can preach the word of God. I'm calling the ladies right now. You can be a preacher. You know, you're preaching at the door. When you're going out soul winning, that's your time, ladies. If you really want to preach the word of God, that's your time to get on your soapbox and tell them how to be saved. And you know what? You can teach doctrine at that point. You want to slip in your doctrine? Go ahead. But I'm just saying, you know, because sometimes people have questions about the Bible. And so, ladies, if you know God's word and they ask you a question, it's okay to tell them. You know, you're not going to be the pastor of the church. You're not going to get up here and preach sermons or whatever. But you know what? You can listen to them and apply them to your life, and you can go to a door. You can go to multiple doors. You can preach to a whole bunch of people. It's just not going to be in the church service. But you know what? You can still preach the word of God. Every single person in this room, even if you're not gifted or talented, maybe you're just quiet. Maybe you're just someone that doesn't like to talk a lot. You're an introvert. And we do have introverts at this church, but you know what? You can still go to the door. You can still boldly open up your mouth and preach the word of God to people. We should have a zeal for preaching. And Jeremiah's like, I tried to stop, but I just can't do it because I'm on fire. That's being zealous, right? And so, do you think Jeremiah had a right heart? Absolutely. But even the person with a right heart can stumble and fall sometimes and be like, man, I'm so tired of dealing with all this persecution. Everybody hates me. Nobody likes me. I'm watching my back 24-7. My family hates me. All the people in Anathoth hate my guts and want me to die and are plotting to kill me. But you know what? He still said, I got to preach the word of God. We ought to be zealous for God's house. This place right here is the house of God. It's the pillar and ground of the truth. We're like, well, it's an old bank building, pastor. Like, is it really God's house? Hey, you don't have to have stained glass windows to have it be the house of God. You know, the last time I checked, stained glass windows are not in the Bible. And look, if you have a nice building, cool. But you know what? That's not the focus of our church. We just want to have a big enough building so that we can all, you know, sit in here together, you know, and be warm and have the heat turned on or whatever. Roasting your pastor out, but no, it's okay. I realize it's cold in here, so you guys, you know, you enjoy. It's like a burning fire in my bones. Anyway, I'm kidding. But turn to John chapter 2, verse 13. See, when, you know, Jesus, of course, had more zeal than anybody. And he, there was a couple different times when he goes to the house of the Lord, to the temple of God to throw out the money changers. He's upset because what? People are buying and selling in God's house. So we don't buy and sell things in this house because it's the house of God. And Jesus, you know, you want to say, well, Jesus would never get mad at anybody. Jesus would never whip anybody. He'd never slap anybody. He would never do any of that. But you know what? You don't know that. And if you haven't read the Bible cover to cover, you might, definitely might not know that. If you only get to Genesis chapter 10 every time you try to read the Bible every year, then you're missing John. You're missing John chapter two. It says in the Jews, verse 13, and the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and changers of money sitting. They're sitting there opening up shop in God's house. It's Amazon.com. It's eBay. They're exchanging money for different animal sacrifices. It's like, well, they're supposed to sacrifice stuff, but yeah, they're not supposed to sell that stuff in God's house. It says that when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers' money and overthrew the tables. He overthrew the tables. What is it like when you overthrow a table? You go, you just throw it, right? You're flipping. He's flipping out. Right? He's flipping out. He's casting people out. It says he's driving people out. And he said unto them that sold doves, take these things hence, and make not my father's house a house of merchandise. So does Jesus get mad when people, when Christians use his house as a house of merchandise? They do. Or he does. He gets mad, but it happens all over this country. You know, Paul Chappell likes to get up and preach and sell his books from the pulpit. That's wicked, folks. You know what? And then his buddies, they preach with them, and people do this all the time, these keynote speakers or whatever. In all manner of churches, they get up and sell their CDs. They sell their DVDs. They sell their songs that they came to sing. They sell everything, all their books and all this other stuff, but you know what? Jesus threw people out of the temple for that. So we ought to have a zeal for the house of God and for the things of God, and we need to make sure that this place is doing things right. And that's just one example. But what's it say? And his disciples remembered that it was written, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. He was ate up. He was tired of it. He was sick of it, and he didn't want to see his house being corrupted. This is supposed to be a house of prayer to all nations. This is supposed to be a place where money is not like some big thing that's talked about every single service. I've gone to Baptist churches where literally every single time they took an offering, the pastor got up and preached a little sermonette about it. It's like, you know, what do people like to preach? A salvation message every Sunday morning, and then the pastor likes to then, so if every time you take up an offering, that's three times a week if you're a Baptist. Three times a week, they're sitting there pontificating about how you need to give more money or whatever. It's like it gets old real quick. So literally they're teaching more about money than they are about salvation. They're teaching salvation from the pulpit way too much. Anyway, we should also have a zeal for prayer. Turn to James 5 verse 13. James 5 verse 13. How do we know we have a right heart? Well, you know, number one, we treat each other, fellow Christians, good, and then we also have a zeal for the things of God. That shows that our heart's right. Was Jehu right when he was in that chariot? What did he do after that? He slew all the prophets of Baal. Like, that wasn't very nice. We shouldn't do those kinds of things. They were devil worshipers. That's what God told them to do. Wipe out all of Ahab's house, and then, you know, just like, well, I'm gonna be so zealous, I'm also gonna wipe out all the king of Israel's house too. So he, you know, that part, did you read the part where he slew 70 of their children and then he put their heads in baskets and then piled them up on each side of the door? 35 over here, 35 over there. But his heart was right, wasn't it? Sometimes God asks us to do stuff that, and I'm not saying he's asking you to cut 70 people's heads off, okay? Let me caveat that. But I'm saying that sometimes God asks us to do hard things. And how we do those things shows our zeal. Look at James 5, 13. It says, Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven. Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. The effectual, what does it say? Fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So fervent indicates heat, right? Something that's passionate. Something that is, you know, you're like, you're literally just like calling out for God to help you. And you know what? Obviously, not all of our prayers are like that, but it should be sometimes. You should have some fervent prayer, things you actually care for. Hey, God, would you please save my children? Hey, God, would you please help my marriage? Hey, God, will you please heal my wife? Hey, God, will you please, you know, make sure my kids are all saved and my family members? Lord, help me to never turn my back on you and to serve you all the days of my life. Lord, I'm in trouble. People are encompassing me about and they're trying to destroy my life. They're trying to destroy my family. Hey, God, will you help me? That's a fervent prayer. That's a fervent prayer. And those types of prayers, God loves those types of prayers. Why? It shows your zeal, doesn't it? Do you think Elijah was a zealous man of God? He was very zealous. He even said, I'm very zealous for the things of God, right? He even thought that at one point he was the only one saved because nobody else was really doing anything. The other prophets are hiding in caves and Elijah's just out there like, let's go. You know, put the water on the sacrifice. Do it again. Pour more water on it. And then it calls down fire from heaven but then, you know, he has a little stumble. See, his heart was right and then it didn't get right but then it got right again. So hey, if your heart's not right right now, try to get it right. How do you do those things? Well, why don't you just start getting zealous for the things of God? You know what, if you're here, you're gonna get more zealous. If you're here in a service where the Bible's being preached, you're being sent to do things, you're like, well, it's kind of cold outside to go soul winning. You know what, it was too hot a couple weeks ago. We can't just whine about it every time we go out soul winning. Oh, but the rain, oh, but the rain, oh, but the cold, oh, but the heat, oh, but the sun. You know, we gotta have a better attitude and a more fervent attitude about those things. But it says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. What does that mean? It gets a lot done. When you got God's ear and you're fervently praying to him, he's going to do the request that you want done. He's gonna do it. He's our father. And if you ask your father, Dad, give me something to eat, please. He's gonna give you something to eat. If my kids came to me, I didn't give them a scorpion. Dad, can I have an egg? No, you can have a scorpion. Nobody's gonna, that's God, when you ask God for things that are right and in the right context and, you know, obviously if you're like, God, please give me a Lamborghini. He's gonna be like, psh. You're trying to consume it on your lust. That's not what you pray to God for for the lust of your heart. You pray for things according to his will. But look what it says in verse 18. And he prayed again, oh, sorry, look at verse 17, I'm sorry. Elias, which is Elijah, was a man subject to like passions as we are. See how it says passions? Means that he was also moved with his zeal. Subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly. That means seriously, right? That it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit. Was he a fervent man? Yes. Did it stop raining for three and a half years? Yes. Were people mad at him? Yes, people were mad at him. But, you know, then he prayed and it rained again. So, you know, but that zeal for the things of God it shows that your heart is right. I mean, obviously if you're zealous for the right things of God, the right things, then God, you know, that's a heart check for you. Hey, am I still zealous? Let me ask you this question. Are you still zealous for the things of God? Or are you just here like going through the motions waiting for me to be done? Some of you are waiting for me to be done. But, hey, get zealous. Get zealous for the things of God. Start loving the people that you're congregating with. Hey, branch out of your own little circles and maybe try to talk to somebody else you've never talked to before. You know, we got new people in our church. Have you talked to them? Because, you know, they matter too. So not just our own little circle. So let's be good to the people that come to our church. Have you given someone the gospel that's new? Have you, you know, have you talked to anybody and just said, hey, how you doing? We should care about everybody here. We should try to get around and at least say hi to somebody and you're like, well, I don't like them very much. But you better love them. You can shake their hand. You can look them in the eyes and say, you know, good morning or good evening. I don't care if you don't like people, but you better love them. Number three, it's the last point. When you obey God's word, it shows your heart is right. When you obey God's word, it shows your heart is right. Not just being zealous, not just loving one another, but how about obeying God's word? Because, you know, he wants us to have faith, most importantly, but with that faith, he also wants us to do great things for him and to keep his commandments. Now, not to be saved. We're not like keeping his commandments so we can keep our salvation because salvation is free. Salvation lasts forever. And don't let anybody ever tell you anything different. Turn back to 2 Kings chapter 10 verse 17. 2 Kings chapter 10 verse 17. It says in 2 Kings chapter 10 verse 17, it says, And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab and Samaria. Well, that's not very nice. You're mean. This guy was mean. That's what he was told to do. Tell he had destroyed him according to the saying of who? The Lord, which he spake to Elijah. So who did he prophesy this through? The prophet Elijah. And we know he was zealous. And God said, you know, anoint this man to be the king. So he sent somebody to anoint him to be the king and then he ran out. He said, go anoint him and then run away. But then basically he ended up taking over, killing all the bad people that were running everything and then he was just fulfilling this mission for several chapters in the Bible. So turn to Matthew chapter 22 verse 36. Matthew chapter 22 verse 36. And you know what? You might not always do every commandment with zeal. You might not always keep every commandment because you want to. But we should still strive to keep God's commandments. And it's not just the ones you like, but the ones you don't like too. And the Word of God has a lot of things in it that are gnarly, that are hard to read, hard to believe. You know, the Bible has things in it that might not strike your fancy. You know, reading about two baskets of heads at the gate and him killing all these people, him tricking the prophets of Baal and then killing all of them. But what he did was good according to God. Because why? You don't want a bunch of people that worship the devil and do human sacrifices and murder children and put them in the fire running your government. Oh wait, I'm not talking about America. I'm talking about something else. But listen, it is true. Matthew 22 verse 36, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. So what is the greatest commandment in the whole Bible? That we're supposed to love God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and all of our mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And you know what? You can hang them all on the same hook basically. Look at verse 40, it says, On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. So everything the prophets said, everything the law, you can just kind of boil them down to these two things. If you love God and you love your neighbor, you're not going to do ill will to your neighbor, you're not going to do things that offend God. And so you can kind of encompass all the commandments that are underneath that with loving God above all else and loving your neighbor like you love yourself. Now, do we always do these things? Of course not. We're sinful. But striving to be the most godly person that we can be is something that we should always be trying to attain to. And if you're in a pitfall, maybe there's something in your life that you're doing, or you're saying, or you're watching, or you're listening to, or whatever it is, there's a lot of things in this world that entice us. There's a lot of things, that's what lust and desire is, and obviously some of these things are pretty harmful. Maybe it's something from your past that you're dealing with and you're just like, I'm just having a hard time overcoming this thing. But the fact that you even think that shows that you are trying to overcome it, doesn't it? If it bothers you, then it's something that you know you need to work on. Those are things, I believe, that's when God is actually trying to move you to, hey, get past this. Let me help you get over this. And obviously we're gonna struggle with certain sins for the rest of our lives, because nobody's gonna be perfect until Jesus comes. And when Jesus comes, we're not gonna have a body of death anymore, we're gonna have a body that has everlasting life, that has no sin. And then so we'll have the mind of Christ at that point. And so we won't have to just go through this life, the rest of our eternity, having this sinful mind, having this sinful flesh, we're gonna have a mind that wants to do the things of God and will do the things of God. All that stuff is gonna be set to the side. But why do we wanna do that? What's the big deal? Why do we wanna keep God's commandments? So our life is blessed while we're here on this earth. Because although we cannot lose our salvation if we're saved, we can be punished by God. And so obviously God has a breaking point. He's very merciful. He's very long suffering. I know people think he's mean, but in reality you're seeing him when it finally gets to a point where he's like, okay, I've put up with enough. I've put up with 400 years of this, or I've put up, I mean, God's timing is way different than ours. And maybe you're getting away with something, you've been getting away, you're like, nobody sees me. God doesn't see me. He does see you. And when you get to that point, that's when you should be afraid. That's when you should be worried. Because if you're gotten to the point where your mind is like, I'm not gonna get in trouble for this, I'm not gonna get punished for this, nobody sees this, it's just me, then that's a dangerous place to be. If you're gonna continue to do the same sin over and over again, at least go to God, be humble, and ask for deliverance. Ask for mercy. Because you know what, he's gonna be merciful to the humble. I talked about this on Thursday night. If you're humble, then God's gonna exalt you. But if you're all puffed up and prideful, then he's gonna abase you. That means he's gonna diminish you, he's gonna lower you, and I don't know about you, but I don't want to be a person that, you know, cause Jesus, you know, in a parable he says, well done, thou good and faithful servant, you know, coming to the joy of thy Lord, or whatever. And so, he's just like, asking all these people, hey you did such a great job, and then, I don't want to be the person that's like, yeah, you did aight. It was okay. You know. Enter into the joy of sweeping the temple for the rest of eternity. No, I'm just kidding. I don't know, I think just the sheer disappointment alone would be enough for us to be like, man, why did I do that? Why did I continue with this? Why did I, you know, why didn't I do more? That's really gonna be the regret of every person, is that why didn't I do more? Because we can't, once we're dead on this earth, we can't do more works here to earn rewards in heaven. Turn to John chapter 15. John chapter 15. I gotta go fast now. So I already kind of read you a scripture talked about loving one another. But, he already said it was a new commandment he was giving, but then he's, you know, a couple chapters later, telling us again, this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. That's a big, tall order there. Do any of you love someone else in this room as much as Jesus loved you? That's the goal to attain to. Is anybody there yet? Please tell me if you are. I want to know your secrets after service. You can just meet me. We'll talk in my office. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You're my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, and whatsoever you ask, you shall ask of my Father in my name, he shall give it you. These things I command you that you love one another. So once again, it's a commandment. And so, how do we know that we are, our hearts are right? Well, we're keeping our, God's commandments. We're getting right with God when we're not. Turn to First Samuel chapter 13. See, because God looks at things differently than we do. Someone could walk in here and they're all dolled up and they got their Sunday best on them. Please, continue to do that. I mean, look nice. Like, we shouldn't look like we just rolled out of bed, obviously. You know, you're coming to God's house. This place is better than the White House. This place is better than the House of Commons. This place is better than any other institution on the planet. So, I mean, if President Biden came to your house tomorrow, would you actually put a jacket and tie on? Probably not. But, Donald Trump? Or somebody, maybe it was just somebody you respected greatly. You know, someone that is a great person. You know, I mean, how much more should we, you know, dress up for a meeting with God? You know, because God's presence is in this place. With us right now. So, you know, I'm not trying to preach about those standards and stuff like that, but I think it's good to dress nice. Because if you do it for somebody else, you don't want to do it for God. I don't understand that. 1 Samuel 13 verse 14 says, But now thy kingdom shall not continue. He's talking about Saul. The Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee. So why did Saul get taken out? Well, because he wasn't keeping that which he commanded, but there is a little more to it. There is a little more to it. Wasn't Saul always making excuses as to why he wasn't keeping it? You know, first he'd say, I did keep the commandment. And then he's like, yeah, but what about these sheep that are bleeding over here? What about these sheep, you know, you're supposed to kill everything. Saul, what happened? And he's like, oh, well, we just saved some of the best to give to God. It's like, yeah, okay. So he always had an excuse of why he was breaking God's commandments, so he wasn't being humble. And actually, Samuel said, when thou wast little in thine own sight. See, there was a time when Saul's heart was right with God, but then he, you know, at one point he's hiding, he's head and shoulders above his head, he's head and shoulders above everybody else, he's hiding because he's so, his heart is so right with God that he just doesn't want to be like some big to-do or whatever. He's being ordained as the king of the people of Israel. And then it comes to the point where he's just making excuses for all the things he's doing wrong. And it says, let's see, turn to Acts chapter 13, I'm sorry. So he's, Samuel said, I'm going to give the people a man after God's own heart, right? And then, so the fulfillment is who? Is David. When Saul was rejected for not keeping God's commandments and making all these excuses, he finds somebody that's better than him. He said, I'm going to find someone better than you. And Acts 13, 22, it tells us who it is. It says, And when he had removed him, talking about Saul, he raised up unto them David to be their king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. Of this man's seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a savior, Jesus. But because of the faithfulness of David, because he was a man after God's own heart, did David sin? David, I mean, in some people's minds, David committed worse sins than Saul. I mean, a lot of people would say, well, that was way worse. But turn to, let's see, Psalm chapter 51. When David sinned, he reacted differently, didn't he? When he numbered the people, he was sorry for doing that. When he sinned with Bathsheba and killed Uriah the Hittite, he was sorry for it. Look at Psalm chapter 51, it says, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden parts, shalt thou make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. So what's the difference between Saul and David? Well, David's like, make my heart right, God. I know I've sinned. I know I've done all this wickedness, but you know what, God? I've got problems. Help me. Forgive me. Cleanse me, and make my heart right. That's why God said, David is a man after my own heart. Are we gonna sin? Yes, we're gonna sin. Are we gonna screw up? Yeah, we're gonna screw up, but you know what? You can go to God and you say, God, would you please make my heart clean today? Would you save, you know, what's left of my miserable soul and save it from the sin and this iniquity that is just bothering me and, you know, more importantly, it bothers God. Last scriptures, I'll have you turn to. 1 Samuel 16, 6. 1 Samuel 16, 6, and I'll be done, I promise. It says, It says, And it came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. So this is Samuel trying to replace Saul. He goes to David, or he goes to Jesse and goes and starts looking at all of his sons and it says, And it came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. What's he looking at? He's looking at what he looks like. He's probably some Adonis, you know, big tall strapping guy or whatever, kind of like Saul. It says, So we're going to look at people, we're going to judge people by our eyes, but God looks at our heart. So is your heart right today? That's the question. Is there things that you need to get out of your life and that you're just really having a hard struggle with? Well, why don't you be like David, a man after God's own heart, and say, You know, God, I can't do this on my own. I need your help. And you know what? God will make your heart right. And then maybe you'll get some zeal. Maybe you'll start treating your fellow believers rightly and letting transgressions pass and being zealous for the things of God and being zealous to keep God's commandments. And even when we don't, we go to him for mercy. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for the Bible. We thank you so much for the scriptures. We thank you so much that we can count on them. Lord, I pray that if anybody's heart is not right and needs help, Lord, I pray that they'd call out with a fervent prayer and ask, Lord, for your mercy. Lord, help us to walk in your ways to be zealous for the things of your word, to be zealous for keeping your commandments, Lord, and that we would be good and love one another like our neighbor. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, our last song is song number 54. Jesus is all the world to me. Song number 54 in your Blue Hymn books. Jesus is all the world to me. Song number 54. Let's sing it out together on the first. Jesus is all the world to me. My life, my joy, my all. He is my strength from day to day. Without Him I would fall. When I am sad, to Him I go. No other one can cheer me so. When I am sad, He makes me glad. He's my friend. Jesus is all the world to me. My friend and child soar. I go to Him for blessings and He gives them o'er and o'er. He sends the sunshine and the rain. He sends the harvest golden green. Sunshine and rain, harvest of grain. He's my friend. Jesus is all the world to me. And true to Him I'll be. Oh, how could I, this friend, deny when He's so true to me? Following Him, I know I'm right. He watches over me day and night. Following Him by day and night. He's my friend. Jesus is all the world to me. I want no better friend. I trust Him now. I'll trust Him when life's fleeting days shall end. Beautiful life with such a friend. Beautiful life that has no end. Eternal life, eternal joy. He's my friend. Amen. Good seeing you, brother Chris. Could you close a word of prayer? Amen.