With All Your Heart

The title of today's sermon is With All Your Heart. With all your heart. We today, across this nation, celebrate the Fourth of July, Independence Day. There will be people gathered. As a matter of fact, usually on this day during the year, many people are sworn in as U.S. citizens on this day, and they will say the pledge of allegiance, at which time they will put their hand over their heart. There's also the Star-Spangled Banner, a national anthem that is played where people put their hand over their hearts. This nation is here because, I believe, and so do so many others, believe it is here because of divine providence, because God has blessed us, He's protected us, He has done His part, and He has left the rest to us with the hope that we would call upon Him. A large price was paid for the freedoms we now have in this country, as I thought today how wonderful it is that we have the freedom of religion. We have the freedom to take this Bible anywhere, any place in this country. We have the freedom to open this Bible in public, not in schools, in public and read it, given that freedom, as it says by our Creator, there are certain inalienable rights we've been given. Our forefathers believed in these freedoms with all their hearts. We see the price that was paid for the freedoms we now enjoy, the freedoms that are slowly being taken away.

We had men, families, who lost everything they had financially. They lost their lands. They lost family members, and some even lost their lives, because they believed in freedom of religion. They believed in freedom to express oneself. Some gave it all because they believed with all their hearts. I ask a question today of us in this room, because of what you believe and who you believe. Are you ready to give it all?

Do you love this way of life and the Creator with all your heart? It's a question we must all come to answer. I'd like you to turn Psalm 119 verse 10. Like you turn to Psalm 119 and verse 10, and I'll read from the New King James Version. It is believed by most theologians and myself also that this was written by David. Some have actually thrown out Ezra and Daniel, but it's very Davidic in its nature and its structure. But in Psalm 119 verse 10, it says, With my whole heart I have sought you. O, let me not wander from your commandments. Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.

But I love that saying, with my whole heart I have sought you. Have we done that lately? Do we do it on a weekly basis? Does this verse describe you and your relationship, your understanding of God, Jesus Christ, and His Word? Is this something we seek?

Have you ever felt dedicated about anything? With all your heart? I'm sure you have.

When you're younger, you think of sports, then it becomes relationships, then it becomes jobs, and it becomes various things in our lives that we do with all of our hearts.

But God has called us to do this with all of our hearts, to seek Him and seek Him through His Word. I'd like to turn over. You were still in Psalm 119. I can get to verse 32. It's interesting here that the heart is mentioned over 800 different times in the Scriptures. 800 times. Verse 32, I will run in the way of your commandments, for you shall enlarge my heart. Do you want your heart enlarged? Doctors will tell you, you definitely don't want to do that. I had a guy that I grew up with in school and later became a tennis pro, and he used to run. Ran long distances. He was a state record holder for a few. He ran so much when he was a kid that his heart became enlarged, causing problems later on down the road. Well, God is talking about something here that is a good thing to have an enlarged heart.

Our hearts are about the size of my fist. Not very large. How large is God's? Very large. Very large. Then he says in verse 34, Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law. Something that David is tying with us about the heart and keeping the commandments and the law. He knew this was the way of life that brings happiness.

Give me understanding, I shall keep your law. Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. David was one whether he was fighting, playing music. Anything he did, he usually was one that was passionate about it. And when it came to God, he was very passionate. It's what these verses should give to us today. Verse 36, Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to covetousness. Let me not be thinking about other things on this earth. Those things that I might want through flesh to covet, to want, to have more than you, God, in my life more than your word. 800 times, 800 plus times. The Scriptures talk about the heart.

This psalm is the longest chapter in the entire Bible. Psalm 119. Don't go into it. It's a total sermon by itself. Talking about how it's structured and put together with eight verses.

But look at the songs being these, so many of these psalms were turned into, put to music, turned into songs, as they call them. But think about our songs that move us. In the 1930s, for any of you that are that old that remembers 1930s music, you might remember the song, Heart and Soul. We are moved by our music, and so many of those lyrics use the heart. One guy talked about leaving his heart in San Francisco. If you remember that from the early 1960s, I think that was Tony Bennett, 1962, something like that. Or maybe you remember Elvis singing about a heartbreak hotel back in the 1950s. Also, Hank Sr. Hank Williams Sr. wrote a song that was covered by quite a few people. Made him his hit called Cold, Cold Heart. There are many others, you might remember some now off the top of your heads, that deal with today. I just brought some of those up. But there are also phrases we use, like, Where your heart on your sleeve. We've known people who do that. Did they take their heart out and leave it on a sleeve? Hope not. She's a real heartbreaker. She's got a heart of gold.

My heart stood still. It's kind of vernacular today that... But in Scripture, the heart is a symbol and more than just an organ that pumps blood to keep us alive. Webster's defines the heart as a disposition of the mind, known as a conscience, a spirit, also referred to as courage. Biblically speaking, the heart is the center or the core of an individual. I think we can all relate to that. But remember, remember the first time that the heart is mentioned in Scripture. Think about it. Anything come to your mind? I quoted it last week. I'd like you to go there, if you will. Let's go back there to Genesis 6. It didn't take long before the heart was actually mentioned from the time of man. Genesis 6.

Genesis 6, verse 5. Genesis 6, verse 5. Said that then the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

So it's showing that man's heart, what's in his heart, kind of controls him. What's in your heart? It's like the old sign, what's in your wallet. I think it's more important about what's in your heart. I had to think about this verse, this chapter in this verse. Think about it. Have you ever thought in your own life, have you ever taken a paper pencil? You might even want to do that today, this afternoon, or some other time. I have done that. Went out by the pool one day, had a piece, a notepad, and I thought about the top 10 times of my life, top 10 moments in my life. It's interesting. It helps you relive your life, see what's most important. For most of us, our birth has to be way up there. Our marriage, our conversion, our baptism. Then you start having to fill in the others. Well, with me, as I looked at this verse and I realized that in God's working with us in the last 6,000 years in mankind, this had to be one of the top 10 moments in His life for those 6,000 years. Just think about it. Because what did He say? After that, verse 6, And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Can you imagine? He makes man, and the fall of man, and Eve was something that had to have been a top moment. Of course, we know Jesus Christ, His Son, being put here and achieving the great job that He was to achieve in 33 years. But this had to be, because He looked down on His greatest creation, and all they thought about was evil in their heart. And it says He was grieved. Grieved He had ever made them.

How did man get that way? Well, like you turn over to Jeremiah. Jeremiah, a unique book in all the Bible. If you haven't read it, you should. It's very deep.

Some consider it to be convoluted. I don't. I think its instruction was written for those people and for us today. I think that's pretty clear. But in Jeremiah 17, verse 9, God inspired Jeremiah to write, The heart is deceitful above all things. Wow! The heart is deceitful above everything. That's a pretty strong statement, isn't it? It says, and it says, and desperately wicked. Desperately wicked, which I find interesting because that phrase actually in Hebrew, and I find it interesting, He uses it with the heart, because it actually means in Hebrew, incurable. Incurable.

I think we understand in the Scriptures that without God, it is incurable. But He is the great healer. He is a great physician. But He is the one that works with us and our minds and our hearts. And He had a plan because He didn't want people to always be this way. I want to read from the New Living Translation, same verse.

Verse 17, verse 9, Said, The human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I will give all people their due rewards according to their actions they deserve.

I actually had a sermon I wrote and gave probably 10 or 15 years ago about the heart. But as I was putting this together a few weeks ago, I looked at it. Basically, I didn't basically, I just wadded it up and threw it in the trash. Because it didn't, there wasn't enough there. I feel sorry for those people who had to sit through it 10 or 15 years ago as I gave it. But I began to realize, boy, my heart really wasn't in that heart sermon. And as I began to study this and meditate on just a few of the verses, because over the last two weeks since Mary's been gone, I've had time, a little more time. Didn't have anybody talk to but God. She was gone, basically, at the house. But I had time to just take one or two of these verses that I read about the heart and just meditated on it for sometimes an hour at a time and had to think about my own life. And I realized, boy, this is really good instruction for us. This gets to the heart of the matter. It gets to the heart of God. And it gets to the heart of us and why we're here. I was very moved by this. And when I read this, the heart is deceitful above all things. And I had to think, well, really, above all things, God? And then it didn't take long before there was an article that hit me in my mind quite a few years ago. Oh, it's probably not been four or five years ago. It's a newspaper article on this terrible thing that happened. And the story was about a 10-year-old girl. And she was pregnant. 10 years old. There was big debate over whether she would make her have an abortion or whether she'd be able to carry the baby to term. And that was sad. But it wasn't the big part of the story. The big part of the story was she was impregnated by a 75-year-old man. 75 years of age. Old enough to be not only her grandfather but her great-grandfather.

That is a wicked, wicked heart.

He was supposed to be taking care of her at times when her mother would be out trying to work. 10 years old.

God is right. The heart is deceitful. Above all things, it can make us think that, well, this is not too bad. Oh, that's not that bad. It's what we have in pornography, these various things that go down. I think it's just a child.

I'd like you to go with me to 2 Chronicles 16.

2 Chronicles 16. Because this also is an incredible verse that I hope you don't forget. I wish the world would not forget this verse.

2 Chronicles 16. Verse 9. Said, For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, the entire earth, not just this little area, through the entire earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those whose, what? Heart. Those whose heart is loyal to him. That's what he's wanting. You take care of that for me. Thank you. What about us? Do we realize that his heart, his eyes, his heart, they're out looking for people who are loyal to him, who actually want, want to show him that they care about him?

Have you ever thought about that? I don't see Olivia here today. Am I missing her? She just stepped out. Oh, okay. She got married a few weeks ago. Okay, can you imagine marrying somebody that they didn't really love you? I actually told you that they didn't love you, but you married him anyway. Crazy, wouldn't you? You know, God, he loves us so much that he wants to see people. He's going to enter in a relationship that will last for eternity, and he is preparing a bride made up of people for his son. Would you want that kind of relationship where it was all one-sided? Quite a few people have gone through relationships in this church that were one-sided. Been divorces. Been relationships, not good. Now, you see what God is going to and fro through the whole earth? Looking at every person is what they say. Every person who is alive. This is saying he goes through looking for those who are loyal to him, and he's going to be strong on their behalf. Well, that's interesting, this in Chronicles, because I'd like you to turn back a few pages to 1 Chronicles 28. He says about the same thing again through David. 1 Chronicles 28. 1 Chronicles 28 and verse 9. David is telling his son. This instruction before David dies. And he says, As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your Father, and serve him with a loyal heart. Loyal heart. And with a willing mind. A willing mind. Amazing how those things are tied together. You know, we can have stuff in our minds, but until it gets in our heart, we usually are not moved or motivated by it. But he said, With a willing heart. For the Lord searches What does he say? All hearts. All hearts. And understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you. But if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

Better make sure we know what we're doing here. But this verse, as I meditated on this verse, these two verses for an entire day. I read other stuff during the day, but I started meditating just on these. Because I was going, All, all, and I went back to look, yes, it's all, Hebrew, all the earth and everyone in it. He's looking for the heart. And then it made me all of a sudden think about, because my wife was gone, I thought about her grandmother who died a few years ago. 15 years ago. 20 years ago, I guess.

Think how long it's been. Seems like I just talked to her a few years ago. But she had such an incredible heart. She was one of the most loving and caring people you would ever meet in your life. And then I thought about my grandfather from my mother's side, who died when I was 13. And I got to spend my last, the last summer he was alive, I went up to Indiana and spent most of the summer with him.

So I really got to know him well before he died in January, December 31st of that year. But he was such a kind and loving and caring person. Totally opposite of my father's father, who was cold and cruel and mean and hard and harsh. And I remember, I asked my father, I came back and I go, man, I just had the best time with my grandfather. He just took me everywhere. I said, you know, when he, even when I got in a little trouble, he just was there to, you know, I said, he goes, yes, he's a special man.

He said, I married your mother. She was 17. I was 18. He said, and I thought I was a tough guy. He said, and didn't take long before, six months into our marriage, we got upset, got mad at each other, and I shook her and slung her over a couch. And he said, she got mad. Stormed out and went back to her dad's house. And my dad said he was at work at this plant, and they were sitting in the back, and here comes her father.

And he drives up, and you had to know my grandfather. Small man, maybe five, six, five, seven, didn't weigh 130 pounds. And so my dad said I was standing there on the dock with four or five other guys about my age, thinking about what I'd done. And he said, trying to be tough, and said here he drove up, and the guy goes, oh, look, her father's coming.

My dad said he looked at the other guys, and he goes, well, guess I'm going to have to beat his butt, too. He said, so I stepped down, went down, and walked, and said he got out of the car. And said he looked over, and he started to put his hand on my shoulder, and I was like, this. He said, Charles, I wanted to tell you, you are grown. You married my daughter. He said, she came home, and he said, I took her back to your house. She's yours. And he said, I'm going to stay out of this. I want you two to work it out.

But you work it out with this. You don't work it out with these. And my father said, boy, did he feel like that tall. And he said, you know, he said, that's the kind of father, that's the kind of grandfather I want you to have.

I want you to spend time with. So he's very... That's the kind of love that I started thinking about. I thought about her grandma. I thought about my grandfather, and I'm going, well, God, why didn't you call them? Why didn't you call them? They had better hearts than I've got. But then I had to think. And you all may know somebody in your family like that. It's very possible that I am here, and she is here, because of their hearts.

Because he searched. He searched all the world. All this time, looking for hearts who would be loyal. And he knew what would be in our DNA. He knew, maybe, I don't see that, but I would have part of that heart in me. And guess what? You probably have part of that heart in you. And it wasn't the best time to call them, but it would be for their descendants.

Made me just meditate on that during the day, and think how blessed I am, and that the reason I've been so blessed in my life, and God has blessed me, is because, it was because of His love for those who had hearts like Him. Pretty big, pretty big statement. Maybe the reason why we're called out of this world. You remember the story in 1 Samuel 16. You don't have to turn there. We know the story as Samuel was going up to anoint the new king of Israel, and he walks there and sees Jesse. Father said, well, I'm here to anoint. I need to see your sons. I'm sure Jesse was like, wow, I'm gonna have a king? There's gonna be a king in this family? Well, there's gotta be! He lived! The oldest son comes forward, and even Samuel looked, and I'm sure he was a good-looking guy. Had everything you could want, probably well put together.

Samuel, when it's paraphrasing, this has got to be him. Oh, bring him on! And God says, nope, it's not him. Oh, it's gotta be the second son. I've been to Dad. Bring him on. I'm a Shemnah, and he went through them all. You remember the story, right? We'll have to turn there, and hopefully you've read it many times. And all of a sudden, send out, get that little squirt out in the... Taking care of the sheep. Little scrawny kid. 15, 16 years old, and he brings him. And he looks, and God says, the Lord does not see as man sees, but God looks at the heart. And he looked, and he found David. And that's why David was able to achieve everything that he achieved. Well, he had a heart. Matter of fact, the Scripture even says that he's a man after God's own heart. Boy, how I would like to have that. It also showed he had weaknesses. But he had weaknesses. Tells us that we can even have the heart of David, and still have problems in our lives. But God will help us through them all.

God looks at the heart. Don't you wish we could see people's hearts? Well, what does he see in us? What does he see in you, in your heart? What does he want to see? Well, that's simple. Deuteronomy 6.5 says what? You shall love the Lord your God with all your... What? Hearts. That's what God's looking for. He's looking for someone that will love him with all their hearts. Not just 90%. Not just 50%. Not just when they want to. All their heart. And then to make sure he gives himself with all your heart, with all your might, with all your being, with all your soul. Everything! Isn't that what we all wanted? When we thought we found our mate, we wanted somebody who would love us that much for 50 years. God says, no! Don't want 50 years! I want eternity! So this has got to be a big heart. With a lot of love.

Guess that's why Christ said in that famous sermon on the Mount, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall do what? See God! You're going to see God! You're going to see Him forever in eternity! Blessed are the pure in heart! I mean pure meaning clean, clear, spotless, genuine, sincere. This is what He wants from us. This is why this is so important.

I would like to turn to the key verse now. So if you get nothing else, I'd like you to turn back to Deuteronomy. 5. Deuteronomy 5. Because this struck me as I was trying to understand God, as I was trying to communicate to God this week at different times, and having to repent of what I've done, and try to get Him to help me understand my heart better. Try to get me to have a heart like His, like His Son. And then this verse came into play. Because you have to understand, Deuteronomy 5, as I've said before, just a quick one. Note, Deuteronomy 5 lists, we all know, the Ten Commandments. But it's the second codified list. The other is Exodus 20. We know that. And the difference is, this is 38 to 39 years later than Exodus 20. This is a list given then and to the children who had lived over as their parents died after 40 years or almost 40 years in the wilderness. So these people had a chance. These young people were 20 at the time they came out, 20 and younger. Those who were born over those 40 years in the wilderness, they had a chance to hear Moses speak for 40 years. But God inspired this to be written. But after he gives those Ten Commandments, he does something else in verse 29. And he talks about their fathers, these people who were given the chance to come out of Egypt and then given the chance to follow God, but they rejected him. And he says in 29, and I want you to see how this is written, because I checked it three or four different ways. And it says, Oh, this is God. Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever. But you can feel God is saying, Oh, oh, that they had such a heart. That they would follow. Brethren, do we have that kind of heart? Do we have that kind of heart that God, Oh, that they had such a heart that they would just follow me?

Why does God speak so much about the heart? Frankly, he has one. Mentioned it many times in the Bible. Oh, you can get into, Well, yes, but that's symbolic. We're made in his image. Let's not argue the point. He has a heart. It says he grieved, as we saw earlier. Grieved in his heart. God feels things. He feels pain and he feels joy. We do, don't we? We feel joy. We feel pain. And we will do a lot of things in our lives. Matter of fact, as one writer wrote, one time we are motivated by either getting pleasure or trying something to avoid pain. Two great motivators in our lives. We will do something to gain pleasure or we will do something to avoid pain. But God feels things. He feels pain. Have we brought God more pain than joy in our lives, working with us? Remember the first time you broke your parents' heart? You remember that?

Now, I'm sure it happened before, but you might remember the first time you really broke your parents' heart. I do. I can't get it out of my head. It's still there. And I've repented for it and everything else, but it's still there. And it's a good thing because I... the lesson was so large, just like for these boys sitting in the back, back there. I was seven years old. I might have even mentioned this before. I can't remember. I mentioned it somewhere. I was seven years old on the Sandlots in northern Indiana. I loved baseball. Everybody was Cubs fans there. So we would get together. The neighborhood kids would get together. And at seven years of age, boy, I just love playing ball. And there was our neighbor. And her name was Laura. And she was 12 years old. And Laura was a very good athlete, even at 12. But at that time, as we were all playing, and all of a sudden, I'd forget what to score, where we were bases or whatever, but Laura backed behind me. And all of a sudden, there were two people on base. It was my time to bat and two outs, and Laura took the bat away from me and said, I'm batting. Well, nobody can sandlot. What do you think? She said, I'm batting. You just strike out, you know. And I remember taking the bat.

And don't remember what she did, because I remember going over and getting another bat. And I picked it up. And I went in, and I hit her in the head with a baseball bat at seven years of age. And she went down like she'd been hit by a baseball bat. And everybody just stood there. And I ran. I threw down the bat, and I ran home. Well, it didn't take long before word got around this little neighborhood, what I'd done. And my parents, they came to get me, and they both said, first I got the whipping. My father just laid it on me. And my mother was so upset. I mean, she wanted to whip me, too. But where I broke their heart, well, I remember it, was that they sat me down after they had whipped me. I was crying. And they told me, why did you do that? We didn't raise you that way. I said, we're going to take you over to Laura's, and you're going to apologize to Laura. And I said, no, I'm not. I'm not sorry. And I'd do it again. She's a bully. She wasn't a bully. She's one to win. And I so remember that story, because they sat me down, and I could tell when I would not go over and apologize, they whipped me again. And I would not. I would not apologize. And that broke their heart. Because they said, we didn't raise you that way. That's not who we want you to be. And I thought about this. You know, when we break His commandments, when we do these things, God wants to sit us down and go, that's not who I want you to be. You remember? You remember the first time? After you were baptized, you broke God's heart? I do. I was 22, 23 years old. Now, I'm sure I sinned. No, I did. Probably the day after, but I remember a week after I was baptized. I did something, knowing it was sin. And I knew it. And I remember having to repent for that, because I knew at that moment, I had broken His heart, because I went against what He had taught me to do, and what I should be doing. So, breaking God's heart, is this something you want to try to avoid?

Probably. Probably. In all reality. Let's look at, if we can, go back to 1 Kings. Much more time. 1 Kings. 1 Kings 4. Here we're back to Solomon, and all those promises. 1 Kings 4, verse 29. It said, And God gave Solomon wisdom, and exceedingly great understanding, and what I like, largeness of heart. Okay? Largeness of heart. Why was that important? He wanted him to have a heart like God, and it says, and that's what I love, He gave enlargeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. I don't know about you, but if you've been out to seashore lately, there's a lot of sand. And He wants us to have that kind of heart. Because, you see, that's what kind of heart God has. We can have all the money. We can have all the intellect. We can have all this stuff. But what's important to God for us is to have this heart, because then He can shape us like Him.

Turn over a couple pages in 1 Kings 11. And we get to here. We get this read about a broken heart.

1 Kings 11, verse 4. For so it was when Solomon was old that his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not loyal. He wasn't loyal to the Lord, his God, as was the heart of his Father. His Father, they believe, did most of His writing at the end of His life the last five years when He was sick and bedridden. He drew close to God. Here we have the opposite. Solomon's getting older, and what does he care about? Certainly not about God. Verse 6. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord. How did that... When I read this verse, that's what flashed me back to that time in the Sandlot baseball field, and Laura and hitting her with the bat, and then not repenting. I'm not being repentant at all. I was glad I did it. And I had to think, boy, did I ever do evil in my parents' sight, because they didn't raise me that way. And you see, if they didn't correct me, I might not be here today. That's why it's important. It corrected me at the very young age. You're not going to be that way.

And did not fully follow the Lord as His Father did. Verse 7. Then Solomon built a high place for commotion. The abomination of Moab on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the people of Ammon. And He did likewise for all His foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because His heart had turned from the Lord, God of Israel, who had appeared to Him twice. Get that? Most people don't understand that. The Lord never appeared to David that we know of. It's nowhere found in Scripture. But He appeared twice to Solomon. And what did He do? He turned against him.

Like He turned to another verse. Let's go back to Psalm. Let's go back to the book of Psalms in Psalm 51. You should know it. For most of us, it's a Psalm we all know, remember. It's written by David.

Psalm 51 says, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness in verse 1. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. But I really want us to go to verse 10. Because this is what's important to us. It says, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Create in me a clean heart. You know what that tells me from studying it? Only God can create a clean heart. Because David had repented, his son out of wedlock died. This is his repentance. He's repented. He's done all this stuff. But he realizes it's not in his heart to do it. That there are parts of your heart, brethren, that you cannot cleanse, you cannot clean by yourself. And it takes God to do it. Create in me. Only God is the great creator. Only he can create a clean heart.

But when's the last time you ask him to clean your heart? To clean your heart? Clean it out! Get in those places that I can't see, I can't find. But they're causing me problems, God.

We are called in Scripture a vessel. We're a vessel. And he wants us to be a clean vessel. But how are we going to be clean if we've got places that we can't clean ourselves? It's by Jesus Christ. He cleanses us with his blood.

But we've all accumulated things. Our nurses here can probably tell you about people who have a heart attack and they get plaque built up in their arteries. And sometimes it's just like a head of nursing, a man I worked for, Vanderbilt University, was telling about one young gentleman came in and he came in so many times he would have stints put in his heart that by the time he was 28, 29, plaque built up so fast that they could no longer put stints in. And he says it's just a matter of time before he does die. We get a lot of gunk, a lot of plaque in our hearts from living in this world, from where we've lived before, before we knew Christ. We, brethren, need to clean that. You know, doctors and nurses will tell you that you need to, those with heart problems, need to start slowly walking, start building that heart because it's like a muscle. We need that with God's truth. We need to build that spiritual heart, that muscle in us with His Word, with prayer, with meditation. It's amazing what meditation does for you. Except now everybody's got headphones and everything else. They can be entertained 24-7. And we get away from what He wants. Psalms actually tell us Psalm 111 that, I will praise the Lord with my whole heart. When's the last time you did that? As I read this verse, I'm realizing I can't because I've still got some things that God needs to clean up in my heart. I can't do it with my whole heart. I need Him to do it. I thought about the mind as He thinketh in His heart, so is He. As I think, that's why it's important that I control what goes in here so it doesn't get in here. Because before I let too much stuff in the world get in here, and it found its way down in my heart. And that's why I need to be cleansed. Mind, your heart, sometimes what's in there stays there. This nation rather needs a clean heart. They don't realize it, but they're on life support when it comes to God. They're just existing because of the way that they're wanting to live. 15 years ago, there was a minister, Phil, 15 years ago, there was a minister. His name was Joe Wright, not to be confused with Reverend whatever Wright he was, that didn't want to bless America. He wanted to damn America. But this was a minister who was asked to open up the new session of the New Testament. The state senate in Kansas, and usually everyone was expecting the same old, same old, same old.

But this minister did something that was right. And I want to read these words. It's very short. But it's so it needs to be done. And you think about where this nation was 15, 20 years ago when he said this prayer, and you think about where we are now. We need people to be saying that now. He bowed his head before all these men, these leaders, these women, and said, Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. Isn't that be nice to hear? We know your word says, woe to those who call evil good. But that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium, reversed our values. We confess that. We have ridiculed the absolute truth of your word and called it pluralism. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it a choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possession and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography, and we've called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of your will and to openly ask these things in the name of your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. That's the kind of ministers that will stand, and I don't know what he believes. I didn't go into research, but at least he knows this is where we get our understanding. Brethren, we need not forget to pray for this nation. We need to be praying for this nation. There are scary days ahead. I'd like you to turn to 2 Chronicles as we begin to wrap this up. 2 Chronicles.

2 Chronicles 7.

I hope it's marked in your Bible, because it isn't mine. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14. Said, If my people who are called by my name...

You got that? That's us. If my people who call themselves by my name... I call myself a follower of Jesus Christ, God the Father. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land. Brethren, there's a whole lot of people out there that haven't read it. They wouldn't do it if it was her. Brethren, we need more time. We need more time. And God will listen to our prayers. It's time we pray for this nation, because we can see time and time again where He stepped in, because there were righteous people who stood. You remember this story? Go back and read it. Genesis were the three beings, angels, messengers, came to Abraham, and they were going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. He said, if there's only 30... Yes, I do. If there were only 10, He would not destroy. I've got family members that need some help. I've got brethren that need some help. I need to pray. It's put on us. We need to pray for this nation. God listens to His people. He says in Jeremiah 31-33 that He will write His mind. He will write His law in our minds and in our hearts. Has He written it in yours?

Jeremiah has incredible things to say. I like to turn back there just real quickly. Jeremiah 24. Jeremiah 24.

Gives an example here, and this is an example for us. Jeremiah 24 in verse 7. He said, Then I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole hearts. You know what's interesting about this? This is prophetic. Did they? No. They did not return to Him with their whole heart. That is yet to be fulfilled by Judah and Israel, and it's talked about in Ezekiel. Turn over Ezekiel real fast. Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36 is talking about the last days before this earth is about to be destroyed and what happens there. He talks about Judah and Israel, how they're going to have to go through terrible things. He says, I'm going to bring them back to their land. Those who survive, other scriptures tell us about one out of ten, maybe.

He who has an ear to hear, let him hear. Do you know who Israel is?

Verse chapter 36 and verse 25. Then I will sprinkle clean water on them, on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. Take the stony heart. And in Ezekiel 18 and verse 30, he says, I will give them and you and me and this world a heart transplant. Well, he says, give you a new heart, but you have to want Him. Our elder brother is ready to be a donor. Our elder brother wants to give you his heart because he can make another. He can do anything because he's God. He wants you to have his heart. Do you want it? How the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks? That would save us a lot of problems, wouldn't it, from what our tongue gets us into if we had that heart? Oh, that they had such a heart!

Brother, and I hope you'll be back here next week on this Sabbath day, back in the same room. Except I hope next week in our conversation, we can all talk about what an incredible week it was because we took Psalm 119 verse 10 to heart and we said, with my whole heart these last seven days, I really sought God. I sought Him with my whole heart.