Again. Blessings to each and everyone here this evening and greetings in the name of Jesus. Jehovah. The Holy One of Israel. We. Are here again. To serve the Lord. To preach his word. honor and glorify him. And, you know, in my flesh, I'm kind of like what Phil said, I want to recoil sometimes because, you know, even after the many years of preaching, sometimes, you know, the knees do shake a little bit behind his pulpit, even now. And so it's the word of God is powerful and it is sharper than any two edged sword. piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and is a, what's that next word? Discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And that's what we're asking for tonight, is the Holy Spirit to help us and to discern our thoughts and our intents. Before we go into the message, I would like to sing a song. In the Christian hymnal. Page number 387, if the song leader would like to start that. Oh, for a heart to praise my God. I want to stand your feet. a heart to praise my God, a heart from sin set free, a heart that's sprinkled with the blood so freely shed for me. heart resigns up, misseth make my dear Redeemer's throne. Where only Christ is heard to speak, where Jesus reigns, the Lord A heart in every thought rebuild not, full of love divine. Perfect and right and pure and good luck, happy Lord of thine. an humble, lowly, contrite heart be living, true and clean, which neither life nor death can part from Him that dwells within. By nature gracious, Lord in part, Come quickly from above. Write Thy new name upon my heart, Thy new, best name of love. Thank you, you may be seated. As I think about this song, it's a song of desire. It's a song of It seems like the writer was reaching out with a heartfelt sense of a relationship and a heart that is pure and holy before God. And I trust tonight that that's where we are, is reaching out in a sense that our heart to praise God, because that is where God wants us to praise Him. And that is where we find the most fulfilling. That's what we find the most fulfilling in life is a heart to praise Him, to glorify His name. And God is so wonderful, so great, and he does so many marvelous things. And have you ever tried to count your blessings? You know, there's a Psalm that says, count your many blessings, name them one by one. And you know, there is, we just can go on and on in counting our blessings of the Lord. And a heart that is How would you say? Set to praise God, a heart in every thought renewed, full of love divine, perfect and right, pure and good. And then the ending phrase of that verse says, a copy Lord of thine. That is such a wonderful, I just thought I had to sing this song because it, The message this evening is a message unlike probably I've ever preached before. Probably touched on it, but I know I did many a time. But to simply set a message on this, and I told the brother here, I said, the message seems like a negative message to me. I don't necessarily like negative messages, but we have to speak the truth. And the title of the message tonight is, you know what I spoke on yesterday, last evening? The heart of God. And the message tonight is the heart of man. And the message tonight may sound very different from the message of last night, because the heart of man, well, let's just begin and read. Let's go to Matthew chapter six. I'm going to read verses 19 to the end. The verse through verse 34. Here it's, and I have chosen verse 21 as kind of a text for the evening message. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let's read. Lay not for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, where thieves do not break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore the eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if the eye be evil, My whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, What you shall eat, what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on, is not life more than meat, is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much more than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. Yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink? Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Mennonite people seek. Is that what it says? Gentiles. Mine says Gentiles as well. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. When we think of these verses, what do we think of? We think of a people that God is reaching out to and saying, trust me, trust me. And I would like to reach into the heart of man this evening and see what is there. The Bible talks much about the heart of man. Jesus talks about the heart of man. And so this evening, as we look at this, and we notice here in verse 24, I think it is, it talks about you cannot serve God and mammon. That is something, in my opinion, it seems so rampant in our society. We have people serving and trying to serve God and mammon. The Bible says, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. So my question, my challenge to us here tonight is, where is our treasure? What are we putting the emphasis of our life on? What are we building our life on? Is it a bank account? Is it acquiring assets? or what are we really building our life on? Jesus challenges us as relates to these issues. This is Jesus speaking on the Sermon on the Mount here. And he says, where are your treasure? And what is the word treasure mean? Treasure is something where the focus of the heart is. It is something that is more precious to us than anything else. And so where is the focus of the heart this evening? We know where God wants our heart to be. In Proverbs 24, verse 23 says like this, keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. For out of the heart are the issues of life. What is God saying through the prophet here? Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. And God does not look, brothers and sisters, at the color of our skin when he makes that judgment. He looks at us. He doesn't look on the outside, but he looks down into the heart of man. And we will be judged by what is in the heart of man. The heart in the Bible is a seat of life or strength. Hence it means the mind, the soul, and the spirit, or one's entire emotional nature and understanding. In Hebrew, the word heart, is lev, I guess that's how you pronounce it, L-E-V, lev. And lev is not a body part. And I believe many times when God talks, and most times when God challenges us as relates to our heart, he is talking about our emotions, our feelings, and the intent of what drives us within. It is not a body part. It is not this thing that we feel. Our heart beats. How many times does a heart beat in a day? If you figure it up, it is right at a little bit over a hundred thousand times in a 24 hour period. It's a lot of times. But I don't believe God is specifically talking about this heart. He is talking about our intentions, our emotions, what drives us. The heart symbolizes a center or core of our being from which moral actions originate. The word core derived from the Latin word C-O-R, core, means heart. You see, the heart has come to stand for the intellectual or the center of the moral, spiritual and intellectual life of a person. It is a seed of a person's conscience and it is very important to us. In Deuteronomy chapter five, it says, oh, that there were such a heart. in them, that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and their children forever." Now here it seems like God, there's a yearning. It seems like God is yearning. Because if you know the history of the children of Israel, You know how the children of Israel many times have failed God. And how that they turned to idols. And I don't understand the heart of these children of Israel. Why did it do these things? And many times it happened in a period of 50 years, 60, 70 years. And so we sit back and we say, well, what's wrong with the children of Israel? Well, I would like to challenge us about something. Where have the churches gone in the last 50 years? Where are we? Where did we come from? And where are we? Where have we gone from the last 50 years till now? And where are we going from here? It's time, brothers and sisters, that we stand up for the truth and somehow arrest the decline of spirituality in the churches. Oh, that there were such a heart that they would fear me and keep my commandments always, that it might be well with them. And then in Matthew 22, it says, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And then in Matthew chapter five, you have the Sermon on the Mount, and you have blessed are, blessed are, blessed are, blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the pure in heart. One time there was a young girl that was asked, if you had to choose one of the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, which one would you choose? And she said, I would choose blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And then somebody asked her, why would you choose that? that one of the Beatitudes. And she said, well, if my heart is right, then everything else will be okay. And so I thought that was good reasoning. That was logical thinking. The heart of man. We know that man's heart is continually evil. And I don't have to tell you, Because we live in a day and time where it seems like the heart of man is, man's intent, what drives men in our day and time has gone to a new low like never before. And it's time that we as a Christian people stand up. And I don't know what we are going to face in the future, but I believe that it's time that we as a Christian church And I don't know by what, shall we fault the church for this decline? I don't know. but certainly is the carnal man. And I think about back in the days gone by, we had Billy Sunday and you had Billy Graham and some of the other evangelists that drew thousands upon thousands of people and filled up stadiums and preached to them the gospel, the pure gospel of God. Where are these people today that filled the stadiums? Where are these people today? Oh, that there was a heart that, how's this? Oh, that there was such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments. Let's go on. The heart is deceitful, it says in Jeremiah chapter 17, verse nine. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins, even according to his ways and according to, to the fruit of his doings." So man's heart is continually evil. And a man left to himself will do evil things because the intent of the heart is evil. The emotion that drives him is not holy, is not just, is not pure. The heart of man is sinful. And David writes and he says, I think it was David. Somebody said they were trying to figure out who wrote the Psalms. He said, behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. When Eve took of the fruit and gave to Adam, he did eat and man said, did separate himself from God. Man lost his, lost his state of sinfulness and purity. I don't know how deep or how much you've ever thought of completely pure, completely holy, completely pure. How would the state of man be in being completely pure? See, we don't know. We can only imagine. Because we are all affected by the carnality and the sinful heart. We are all affected by these things. See, back in the time of Adam and Eve, there were no clothes. They were completely pure. And so, how would it be if everyone, if we were living in a completely pure world, We don't know. We will never know until we get to glory what completely pure really is. In a sense, we can experience complete purity and holiness, but we still contend with the flesh. Brother Paul wrote in his letters, he says, I die daily. What did he mean by saying I die daily? that I take the flesh and I push it under the desires of my flesh, my heart. You know, I want to be somebody that is noticed. I want to be somebody that can do great things. But Paul was a man that probably had the capability, the energy, and the knowledge, the teaching, he might have, could have been, really been somebody. But you know what? Paul really was somebody when he gave himself to the Lord Jesus Christ and he became a new man in Christ Jesus. And he is talked about today because of his commitment to the life of Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus. And so that is the only way, that is the best way to be somebody, is to give our heart and life to Christ Jesus and our testimony and witness, people will talk about. It was not till after they sinned that they noticed that they were naked, and now our hearts are diseased by sin. We are diseased by sin. Let's turn our Bibles to the book of Mark. Mark chapter seven. Just a few verses here. Verses 20 through 23. Here it says, verse 20, and he said, this is Jesus talking, he's talking about what entereth into the heart of man, I mean, whatever cometh out of the man that defiles him. And then he went on to say, that which cometh out of the man defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of man, proceedeth what comes out of the heart of man. Evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murderers, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within and defileth the man. And if you want to read another list, let's go to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, there's another list of the carnality of man. In verse 19, it says, the works of the flesh. They are. Manifest in these, it says, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murderers, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. Of which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Do we want my brothers and sisters to inherit the kingdom of God? Then we must make ourselves free and clear from these sins. And it is, you know, we can hide these sins in our heart. We can be a member of the Messiah church or whatever church you are from. You can hide things in your heart. But you will not hide from God. We will not hide from God. God knows our hearts. It is like an open book before Him. And heart, in Proverbs chapter 16, chapter six, verses 16 through 19, is six things that God hates. And there's one thing in there that God hates. A heart that devises wicked imaginations. A heart that devises wicked imaginations. When I think about the evil and wickedness of man, it seems like there are all kinds of things that we see in our day and time. And I wish that somehow the scriptures could be brought to these people. Who was it yesterday was saying, you know, It was somewhere else I heard. That when you walk down the street, you see these people that have rings in their ears, they've got purple hair, they've got pins in there through their nose, they've got pins through their tongue, they've got pins through their eyebrows, and they wear all different kinds of clothes. What is the statement that these people are making? It's because they have a heart that does not know God. they are trying to draw some kind of attention to themselves. Whereas the Christian does not draw attention to themselves, but focuses upon the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone, because that is where our salvation lies. And so we have these kinds of people around us, and you probably know more about it than what we do down here, being this is a center of Taurus, I said Taurus. This being a center for tourist people, I believe that there are opportunities. And I believe that many of you do take opportunities to witness to these people. because these people have hearts in this life, and it is an eternal life, that being within them, and it is eternal. And so our testimony and our witness may make a difference in the direction of their life. We never know. We never know. And when God speaks to us and gives us these opportunities, we should take them. People do most some of the weird, most weird things, but they're looking for a purpose and a reason for life. And they do not know where to look for satisfaction, for salvation. They do not know where to look. Our society more than ever before is so void of God. And the people are so void of purpose and reason. But God has placed us here as a Christian people to give these people a purpose and a reason. And God has given us a purpose and a reason. And that should be to testify to these people and to glorify His name. And I heard that some of you, the youth, went to, where was it? to Washington, D.C. Was that on a mission to spread tracts, to give tracts out? I don't know what it was, but nevertheless, it was on some Christian mission. God bless you. Even if it wasn't, I'm sure your witness was noticed. Yes. Are you I'm using Southern slang here now, is you. Are you satisfied people tonight in your heart? Is Jesus your rock and anchor tonight? Then we have the moral issues. And it's so sad what we see in our country. Morally bankrupt. And what is so sad is how immorality is not just out there, but how often it is in here. I don't know this church, so I can speak freely. But how often it affects the church. Purity, impure hearts, impure thoughts, pornography, sex, immorality of all kinds, moral issues that mitigate against God's laws. That is, I just, it's sad. It is sad. How many families, how many children are hurting because moms and dads are divorced And there's just no moral compass in this country anymore. But let that not once be named among us. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter five, verse 20, woe unto them that call evil good and good evil. And I believe we are living in a time when people are calling evil good and good evil. And it seems like we are coming closer and closer to the time when our own government is militating against the churches and Christian people of our day and time. And I believe that even in our time, we need to be prepared emotionally and spiritually prepared to stand like our forefathers did in a time of persecution. When they were, as it says in Hebrews, that they weren't worth it to be upon the face of the earth, if you please. And in Hebrews chapter 11, I think it is. They weren't worthy. Is that where we are going to be a few years from now? I don't know, but we need to be prepared. Everything you can imagine in evil, it is there. It is out there. Anything you can imagine. In all reality, man, when you look at the creation of God, man is the most miserable of God's creation. It's because of the sinful hearts. They are also the most unhappy. You know, you see, you hear the birds singing and you see a lot of things going on of nature and they're going about doing what God created them to do. Man is the only creation of God that has rebuilt against him. It's sad what is going on in our day and time. And yet it behooves us as a Christian people and as a Christian church that we stand out stronger for the kingdom of God. And my brothers and sisters, let me challenge you with something else. You cannot be like them to win them. We have to stand for the truth and stand out. In Romans chapter seven, let's turn to that. a challenge to us. Romans chapter seven, beginning of verse 14. He's talking about the law here. And then verse 14, I'm kind of breaking in here, I know, but I would like to bring a point out here. It says, for we know that the law is spiritual and I am carnal soul under sin. For that which I do, I allow not, but for what I would, that do I not. For what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Oh, for a heart to praise my God. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. No good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that, I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. And brothers and sisters, if we're at this point, it's time we take care of the sin problem. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me for I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Then he says a wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Who shall deliver me from the body of this indecisiveness? In other words, powerlessness. Because we all know, and I am sure, that you at some time in your life, you at a point, there was something in your heart, in your life, that you wanted to get rid of, but you didn't know how. And you couldn't, because the carnality within our hearts was stronger than our desire to love God. Once our heart became stronger than the desire to sin, then God could give us the victory. But this is where a lot of so-called Christian people are in our day and time. One reason there is no victory in their hearts and lives is because desire to sin is stronger. May God give us the desire to worship and to praise Him so that the sin that I would not do, but I'm still too weak to overcome because my desire is too great. Let God give us the power and let our desire in our heart for God be greater than the desire to sin. You know what? Sin paralyzes the will. Sin paralyzes the will. But God pondereth the hearts, as it says in Proverbs 21, verse 22. But as a Christian people, God knows our hearts. God knows our hearts. God says, a new heart is what you need. A new heart is what we need, right? And I trust that we have a new heart. In Ezekiel 11 9 and 36 26, it says, a new heart will I give you and I will take away that stony heart within you and will put in there a heart of flesh. And what does he mean by that? It says, it means that when I was in the flesh, I'd done all things contrary to nature itself. I'd done all things contrary to God. My heart was cold and stony and hard. But when I turned to God and committed everything to God, then He took that stony heart out and he put in it a God-filled heart. And that makes the whole difference in the heart of man. How many times have you seen a man that you could see the weight of sin upon his face and upon his soul? And he just walked heavily. And you could see in his walk of life, it just wasn't there. There was no joy there. But when God came in and changed that heart, it gave him a new life, a new outlook in life, and then his face began to shine, and it changed the total character of the man. That's what God does. He takes away that stone that is within us, and He puts in a heart of flesh. I don't think he's taking away that heart in here that is physically beating, but it has to do with the will and the emotions and all the other things that have to do with our character. There are too many secular so-called Christian people. How many times, how many times do we see so-called Christian people? It just seemed like so many people are living with one world, one foot in the world, and one foot in the church. And you know what that means? that in their heart they want enough Christianity to be saved and enough world in their heart to enjoy that pleasure. Brothers and sisters, God says, I want all of you or none. It says in Revelation, that you were cold or hot, not lukewarm. And I call that lukewarmness, a foot in the world and a foot in the church. That is nothing but lukewarmness. God says, I wish you were all in or you were out. Have you ever heard of the American dream? What is the American dream? Can we think about the American dream just a little bit? When we think about our society, what is the American dream? See, we're living in a land of plenty. And in our community, young people are making, they're making more money than ever before. They have the ability to buy things that we would have never thought about buying in our day and time. Plenty of money. You drive around the streets, around the country, you see a Harley Davidson in the garage. Or as you see a motor home sitting under a shed somewhere, under a roof. Or you see a Porsche. There's so many things that pertain to American dreams. Or you might have a seaside home. Or you might have a home in the mountains. Maybe Sarasota, Florida. to fulfill the American dream. Home by the seashore with a yak, ready to go. The American dream. But let me tell you, friends, for most of the American people, the donkey that Jesus rode on to go into Jerusalem just wouldn't be good enough. And this was my Lord and my Savior. And it's because he had a vision. It's because he had a weight on his heart. It's because he cared for the souls of people. He didn't allow the power. He didn't allow the finances. He didn't allow assets to become his gods. Yeah, the Bible says he didn't even have a pillow to his name. And yet, when you look at it, this man had more power over the hearts and lives of men than any man living. But he rode into Jerusalem on a lowly donkey. Where are we in as relates to the American dream? In Hebrews chapter 35, it's chapter 11, I'm sorry. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 35. Here it talks about, and I mentioned this already. This is talking about the heroes of faith Here it says, they quenched, who through faith, in verse 33, subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, women received their dead, to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with a sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promises of God, and God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Just think about it. The Bible says the man counted them not even worthy to live. And in past history, the church, the people of the living God. We're counted not even worthy to live, but we live in such a land of plenty. We live in such a land of so much grace and so much acceptance of the Christian faith. And as I mentioned earlier, I don't know for how long, but we will someday. I'm afraid. I say afraid. Possibly we will one day face things that we have never seen before. But let me mention this. As I look at the scriptures, and I like to do that. I look at the news, and I read the scriptures, and I go to the book of Revelation, I go to Matthew chapter 24, and I'll go into the book of Daniel, and I do that many a time in a year. I will read that maybe several times in a year, just to renew my heart and mind in the fact that God is calling us out, that we should not be part of this ungodly system, but that we should be a part of God's kingdom. Now in closing, let's turn our Bibles to 1 John 2. 1 John 2. I'm going to read three verses here. Maybe I'll read a little farther. Verse 15. What is the first phrase here? Thank you, sister. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the Father, the love of the Father is not... Did I read that wrong? I did. I apologize. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Are these things the Bible gives us a good word about? It says they are not of the Father, but is of the world. Brothers and sisters, God wants us to take the world out of our hearts. God wants us to allow Him to take it out, because it's a matter of our will. It's a matter of our will. And it says, and the world passes away, the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." And I would like to close with this statement. Little children, it is the last time. As you have heard that antichrist should come even now are there many antichrists whereby he know that it is the last time. Brothers and sisters, we need to prepare ourselves for the last days. You know, we have heard from ages past. I don't know who the oldest person is here today, but probably you have heard in your youth that we are in the last days. But when I see things happening in our world today, it seems like to me that things are culminating into the last days. And we need to be prepared. So that when it comes, if it comes in our day, that we will not be caught unprepared. Let us pray.