If you take your Bibles, let's turn to the book of Isaiah, chapter 1. Isaiah, chapter 1. We'll also take a look at some verses from Isaiah, chapter 5. Use this as a springboard for my sermon this morning. The Lord was chastising His people here, verbally, for their lack of considering Him. And you know, we ought to consider the Lord. And the message this morning is, have you considered the Lord? Isaiah chapter 1, verse number 2 and 3, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Look at chapter number 5, chapter number 5 in verse number 12 and verse number 13. He says, and the harp and the vial, the tabret and pipe and wine are in their feast. Notice the next phrase here. But they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands. Therefore my people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge and their honorable men are famished and their multitude dried up with thirst. Now these two scriptures accuse the nation of Judah of failing to consider the Lord and his dealings with them. Their failure to consider the Lord is what caused them to backslide, and they remained in their backslidden condition. They refused to return to the Lord, and it eventually led to their being carried away into captivity. Now, what does the word consider mean? According to Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, he defines it as to view attentively, to view or examine with attention to fix the mind on with a view to careful examination, to think on with care. You've got to have your mind engaged, amen? The Lord wants your mind and your heart engaged when it comes to thinking about Him. So we can say that to consider is to engage ourselves in the proper analysis of something. And I believe with what we are seeing going on in our land, right now, I'm talking about just about on every front, something is going on, whether it be hurricanes, whether it be fires, whether it be floods or whatever, we are, our nation is in a world of hurt. It just really is, and even some of God's people are caught up in this, and we know, if you know anything about God, you know that God is not happy with our nation. Our nation is responsible for killing a bunch of babies, over 69 million babies. That's a lot. And because our nation is in trouble and refused to return to him. And right now he's even considering a candidate who is for killing babies. And it is running on your right to kill your baby. That's what she's running on. That is what she's hoping is going to win the election. is through that very thing. I'm not getting political this morning, okay? I'm just wanting you to understand where God stands on that issue. Listen, when we get into trouble, it's when we don't engage ourselves in proper analysis. I'm talking about when we don't use the Bible. God's given us His Word. I'm glad we got the entire Word of God. We got the Word of God at our disposal. And you know, listen to this, to whom much is given, much is required. And we have more than any generation before us in tools and things that we have access to cause us to consider things. One thing that we have is the entirety of the Word of God. We also, those of us that are saved, if you're saved this morning by God's grace, you have His Holy Spirit living within. And that is a resource that before the church was in vogue, before it came into existence, they didn't have the indwelling Holy Spirit. But we as believers in this age in which we live, the church age, we know that we have the indwelling Holy Spirit. The thing is we have to walk in the Spirit to keep from fulfilling the lust of the flesh. We have our brain. God gave us a brain. But, you know, when you take a look in this day and time, it seems like a lot of folks aren't using their brain. I mean, they're not thinking about the things the way they should think about. The good sense that God gave us, think about it. We have good sense. We do it, but we need to use it when we don't engage ourselves and proper analysis, we can find ourselves in trouble. Number two, when we don't view things attentively or examine them with the attention they deserve. You know, we live in a distracted society, a very distracted society. When we get distracted and don't pay close attention to the reality of what's happening and what we should be doing in light of what's happening, we got a problem. and that's where our nation is right now. I'm talking that a lot of believers have no clue what's going on and are looking at the things that are happening in the world. If you got your eye on the Middle East and the things that are happening with Israel, you know we're right on the threshold of the Lord coming back. Well, if we're on the threshold of the Lord coming back, what do we need to be busy about? There's some things we need to be busy about. I want to read to you from Romans chapter number 13, and verse number 11 through verse number 13, listen to what it says, it says, that knowing the time, we should know the time, amen, that knowing the time, that now it is high time to wake up, awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand, let us therefore cast off the works of darkness. Let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. A couple of things are out of there. We need to wake up. We need to look up. We need to clean up. We need to suit up. We need to get up. And we need to check up, amen. Those are some things that just fall right in line with that passage of scripture. When we get into trouble is thirdly, when we don't think on the most important things with care. There's so much apathy today. So much apathy. People are apathetic about some of the most important things. Understand that if Judah had taken time to properly consider the Lord and his dealings with them, it should have and would have made a difference in how they lived their lives. But they kept turning a deaf ear to the Lord. They kept saying, you know, we're okay. We're all right. And I want to share with you some things today. The scripture says that we are to consider when it comes to the Lord. Yes, we're going to be looking at a lot of Old Testament scriptures, but I want you to consider this one New Testament scripture that comes from the Apostle Paul. In Romans 15 and verse number 4, he said, For whatsoever things were written aforetime, talking about the Old Testament, were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now, just as it was important for Judith to consider the Lord and his dealings with them, it is important for us to do the same thing because these things were written for our learning. The Lord has given us He's given us His Word, including the Old Testament. There are some churches that you'll go to that they forsake the Old Testament and only preach the New Testament because, after all, the New Testament was given to the church and we live in the church age. Well, listen, we were given the Old Testament first. And we need to pay attention to it because the Lord's dealings with Israel and Judah have a lot to do with how we ought to consider His ways. Listen, the areas of shortcoming that we see in Judah are also possible in us, sadly. Just as they fail to consider we sometimes fail to consider. Just as their failure to consider brought about some tragic consequences in their lives, listen, our failure to consider brings about tragic consequences in our lives. When we're just not thinking, they're not properly engaging in considering the Lord. Today the Lord continues to show himself mighty on behalf of Israel. We can see that. He also continues to show himself mighty in our own lives so that we can know that he is God alone. That's the first thing I want us to see. We need to consider that our God, Lord God, is God alone. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 4. Now, I hope that you'll take time to turn with me to as many of these as you can. I've given them there for you to go back and look at and study. In fact, I'm not going to read the whole chapter of Deuteronomy 4, but I suggest that you do that, and you can see the foundation for what He is giving His people here. It's an exhortation for them to be obedient to Him. I just want to look at a couple of verses here. Look at verse number 35. He says, Unto thee it was showed that thou mightest know that the Lord, he is God, there is none else beside him. If Israel and Judah should have known anything, they should have known that our God, he is God. And He is the only God, because He showed Himself mightily in their lives. Look at verse number 39. It says, Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath, there is none else. Now I know that there are some who worship other gods, but they're not gods. They're not even real. They're not gods at all. But the Lord showed himself mighty on behalf of Israel so that they would know that all the gods of the heathen were not gods at all. And the Lord had a history with his people Israel that should have proved to them who he is time and time again. Just the very fact that he delivered them from Egypt with a great, what the Bible calls a strong stretched out arm. He took and delivered them. Today the Lord continues to show himself mighty on behalf of Israel as well as in our own lives so that we can know that he is God alone. Now I want you to turn to the book of Nahum. In the Old Testament there, right after Jonah, Micah, Nahum, if you're trying to look forward, it might be easier to turn to the end of the Old Testament and work your way back. But the little book of Nahum was written actually for the purpose of telling how God was going to judge Nineveh. Remember, God gave Jonah to preach to Nineveh. At 40 days, God was going to give him 40 days, and 40 days God was going to bring judgment. Well, they repented. Well, this is about 100 years later when this was given. It starts out there in Nahum 1, verse number 1, the burden of Nineveh. Why is it a burden? Because it's a judgment. They did turn, and God delivered them from the judgment He was going to give them. This was a Gentile nation. It was a previously very wicked nation. Well, they got wicked again about a hundred years later. Here we see God's mounting anger described, and this is a declaration of God's judgment that He's going to bring upon Nineveh. And it says that the burden of Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkishite. Notice, God is jealous. and the Lord revengeth. The Lord revengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked. Notice this, the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind. What's a whirlwind? hurricane, tornado, storm's got a circular motion to it, typhoon, you call them whatever you want to. He calls them a whirlwind. The Lord has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm. And the clouds are the dust of his feet. Now let's pause right there for a minute. What ought that to tell us about what just happened in our nation? God's got a purpose behind it. Amen? And it had far-reaching, it's having far-reaching effects. It's not finished yet. It's still raining in some areas that's liable to flood as well. But I want you to understand that it's not, when this thing hit, and even now, I saw somebody telling about the storm and they were Climate change, climate change, climate change was everything. Well, the climate change, but who changed it? It's not mankind that changed it. It's not based upon using fossil fuels, which by the way, there's no such thing as fossil fuels, okay. They've discovered that that's not the way, that's not where oil came from. God created oil and put it in the ground, amen. It's not fossil fuels. and they've had to backtrack on that, but they still call them fossil fuels. They say, well, we're burning fossil fuels and that's causing the planet to heat up. I'll tell you what's causing the planet to heat up. It's God. The Lord is angry. He is. Thank God he's slow to anger, but he's great in power, and he's not gonna quit the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. Look at verse four. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and dryeth up all the rivers. Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt. If you notice all the shaking going on in the various states, I mean, some states is not used to shaking. I mean, I've been watching the news, looking at the news accounts on my computer. One of the first things I do in the morning is take a look at what's going on in the world. And there's been places that are shaking, not just in these United States, but really all around the world. God is not happy right now. He's just not. And the mountains quake at Him. and the hills melt. That's volcanoes, okay? A lot of volcanic activity right now. The earth is burned. California needs to take note. And out west, the Lord is not pleased. The earth is burned at his presence. Yea, the world and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? And who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. But notice verse seven, the Lord is good. He said, wait a minute, Brother Jerry, you just thought of a lot of things, and boy, that didn't sound good, but the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knoweth them that trust in Him. You better have your trust in the Lord. Better be clinging to Him during these days of trouble, because it's not over. There's another formation down there right now, in the same area where this one just went through. Okay, and it's got a real good possibility of developing if it hadn't already developed. And what I understand, it's gonna follow about the same path, maybe, very possibly, we don't know. They didn't know. Last week, that thing just sat there and brewed for a while, and they said, well, it could go this way, it could go this way, it could go that way, you know? And until it actually formed, they didn't know where it was going. And after it formed, you just kept changing courses. You can try to run away from them if you want to, but these storms will find you. If the Lord wants you to be caught up in it, you're not going to get away from it. God's judgment was a wake-up call for Israel. God's judgment was supposed to be a wake-up call for Nineveh. But listen, I want you to understand that God's judgment against our own nation is a wake-up call, a wake-up call The Lord woke me up at 4.30 this morning saying, this is what you're going to preach right here. This is not the message I had. I was glad I was still in my series in the book of Genesis and we will get to that. I was going to talk about where did Cain get his wife this morning. I know a lot of you wondered that. Where did Cain get his wife? You know the Bible tells us where Cain got his wife? He said, well, I've never heard where Cain got his wife at. Well, it's a thing that turns a lot of folks away from the scripture when they can't figure out where he can get his wife at. And that's the reason why we're dealing with beginnings. Our series in Genesis is we're dealing with the things in the beginning that people struggle with. They can't get a grip on. Well, that's what I had already, I even had to I even had the handouts on the back table and in the places that I put them. They were out there since yesterday. And I come over here, first thing I did is gather them all back up, go back in there in my office and get going on where the Lord told me to go. And this is where He had us to go here this morning. We need to consider that our Lord is God alone. Number two, we need to consider the great things that the Lord has done for us. 1 Samuel chapter number 12. I'm not going to look at all of this, but let me just encourage you to read 1 Samuel chapter number 12 in its entirety today. The people are being reproved by Samuel for their ingratitude. I mean, God was trying to be the mighty Lord for them. They said, oh, we want a king. We want a king. Like all the other nations, we want a king. Well, the Lord gave them a king. But we understand that the Lord was wanting them to look to Him. In 1 Samuel 12, and verse, let's look at, let's see, verse number 16. Says, now therefore stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call unto the Lord, he shall send thunder and rain that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the Lord in asking you a king. So Samuel called unto the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not, for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king. Verse 20, Samuel said unto the people, Fear not, ye have done all this wickedness. Yet, turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And turn ye not aside, for then should ye go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain. He's talking about idols. Idols are vain gods because they're not really gods. There's no prophet to be found in an idol or in a god other than the Lord. Verse 22, for the Lord will not forsake his people for his great namesake because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. Verse 23, moreover as for me, God forbid that I should assent against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and the right way. And here's the verse, only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart For consider, there's the word, for consider how great things he hath done for you. We need to consider the great things that the Lord has done for us. Isaiah 5, 12 that we read a while ago said, but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands. The song we sang to begin the service this morning, I already had it picked out. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. And we do, we ought to count our blessings. We are fortunate that we got by as light as we did with this past storm. Oh, how prone we are to forget the work of God and the many blessings of God that he has done on our behalf. Sadly, we can get just like Israel and Judah sometimes. God has been and continues to be so good to us, and how do we repay Him? Well, many times it's with a stubborn, rebellious, and ungrateful heart. Think about it. If the Lord has put upon your heart that you needed to do something and you're not doing it, what are you doing? You're rebelling against Him. A stubborn, rebellious, and ungrateful heart many times shows up in unfaithfulness to Him. Living our lives in disobedience, beginning to stray away, getting away from God's house, getting away from God's ways. We need to get back to God. That's what I'm saying. Consider how the Lord knows us, yet He loves us still. Aren't you amazed at that? I am. How God loves us. I mean, Romans 5, 8, but God commendeth his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. What a wonderful thing. You know, the Lord sought us. Luke 19, 10, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. The Lord bought us. 1 Peter 1 verse 18 and 19 for as much as you know you were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold. It goes on verse 19 to say but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. God loved us so much he sent his only begotten son so that we might have salvation. What a wonderful thing. We may forsake him but he never forsakes us. The song Come thou fount of every blessing. Puts it this way. Says, oh grace how great a debtor. Daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Hebrews chapter number 13, verse number 5 and 6 says, let your conversation, that word conversation is talking about more than just our speech, it's talking about our behavior, okay? Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Cling to the Lord. The Lord daily loads us with his blessings. Psalm 68 verse 19, Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits, even the God of our salvation, Selah. Listen to Lamentations chapter number three, verse number 21 and 22. It says, This I recall to mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. You notice of the Lord's mercies that we weren't flattened in the previous storm. It's his mercies. Because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Look at Psalm 103. Psalm 103. And this is another one of those that I don't have time to get into the whole chapter. We're just going to take a look at a few things here, but let me encourage you to come back and look at this. It talks about the mercy of the Lord in our lives. Psalm 103. It's a Psalm of David. David's known as the sweet psalmist of Israel. And he says here in Psalm 103, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. In other words, folks, we need to remember the Lord and all the benefits we have from Him. And he begins to detail some of those. who forgiveth all thine iniquities, we've got forgiveness, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's, the Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. I believe that we're going to one day have the Lord show us the many different ways that His mercies were in our life, keeping us back from the evil that's in this world. I like verse 10. Skip down to verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins. Aren't you glad for that this morning? Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the East is from the West, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust. And that doesn't mean we get a pass, okay? Thank the Lord that He doesn't give us what we deserve, though. Thank the Lord for His mercies. Ephesians 1 and verse number 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ. Listen, we need to consider that our God is God alone and we need to consider the great things that the Lord has done for us. Thirdly, and I move quickly here, we need to consider whose we are. whose we are. Deuteronomy 32 verse 6 and 7 says, Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee? Hath he not made thee and established thee? Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask thy father, and he will show thee thy elders, and they will tell thee. In other words, the Lord's the one that's established us. He's the one that's established this country, with the liberties that we enjoy. Just as one of the songs we sing says, now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me, not for the years of time alone, but for eternity. Aren't you glad you're one of the Lord's this morning, if you are? And if you're not, we can show you how you can be. Israel was the Lord's precious possession. So are we who are his children. Listen to 1 Corinthians 6 verse 19 to 20. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Turn quickly to Ephesians chapter number two. Ephesians chapter number two. Ephesians 2, in verse number 13. Ephesians 2, 13. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Praise God, hallelujah, amen. We're made nigh by the blood of Christ. Look at verse 18. For through Him, talking about through Christ, we both, Jew and Gentile alike, that's what that's speaking of. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore you're no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. Listen, if you're saved this morning, you're part of God's household. and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, and whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into an holy temple in the Lord, and whom ye are also are builted together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. Skip down to chapter number three and look at verse 14. And Paul offers a prayer here. He says, Well this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. and that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth up knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Last thing I want us to see this morning is Not only do we need to consider whose we are, but we need to consider how the Lord deals with us. The Lord deals with us as children. We are his children. He deals with us as children. Deuteronomy 8 verse 5 says, Thou shalt also consider in thine heart that as a man chastiseth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Proverbs 3 verse 11 and 12 says, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. For sake of time, I'm not going to turn to Hebrews 12, but Hebrews 12 quotes this passage right here, okay? It quotes Proverbs 3, verse 11 and 12. And we need to understand that the Lord in the New Testament church, he treats us that are saved as his children, and that includes chastening when we need it. Oh, my friend, are you considering the Lord like you should? If you're here without Christ, all I can think to say is, why is that? Why are you not considering the Lord? If you properly consider who the Lord is and what He has done for you, tell me, how can you continue to reject His mercy and pardon and grace that He has provided for you and His Son, Jesus Christ? It's foolish to forsake the Lord. Believers, And thinking about all that we've said, are you considering the Lord like you should? We need to consider that our Lord is God alone, consider the great things that He has done for us, consider that we are His, and consider how the Lord deals with us. Look at your life. Is the Lord dealing with something in your own life personally? If so, this is the time to get back to Him. Come back to the Lord and allow the Lord to once again shine down on your life with the fullness of His grace. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you today for the words of Scripture.