How Can We Have A More Consistent Walk with God?

Brethren, we are preparing for the Passover, and I appreciate very much the sermon that was given today by Mr. Black. I thought that was very helpful. Last time I was here, we had a sermon discussing a very critical issue in terms of our walk with God as we begin to think about that walk with God, and that is, are we loving people? God is love, and God wants us to be love. And that's something for us to reflect on as we're preparing for the Passover. Today, I have something else I want to discuss, and this is something that comes up quite frequently. As I was making mention, maybe last the time I was with you, but certainly I think in our Bible studies, this coming trumpet solvents in the ministry 34 years. I was ordained as a young 27-year-old back on September 27, 1979, many, many years ago, back in the Detroit area. And since that time, there has been a number of people who have come to me as an elder asking about a certain situation they have, a certain challenge they have, and I want to talk about that challenge today. Brethren, our loving God has called us into an ongoing, loving relationship with Him and with our fellow man. Our Father is very consistent in His walk, in the way He lives His life as God our Father. Let's take a look at 1 John 4 and verse 8. We appreciate God's consistency, don't we? 1 John 4 and verse 8. Where would we be if our Father, God, and heaven above was not consistent? What if He took a day off and didn't uphold the universe? What if He took a day off and all of our hearts just stopped? Or didn't allow us to do other things that are required for us to stay alive? Well, He doesn't do that. He's very consistent in His love for us. He wants us to be consistent in His love toward Him and toward one another. But here in 1 John 4 and verse 8, He says, He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God is love. He's demonstrated that love for us in so many ways we can't even begin to enumerate those. But from a spiritual point of view, we appreciate God's love and that He has given us a holy calling. He's given you and I a very special, personal invitation to a new spiritual life in Jesus Christ. You and I can't put money on something like that. It's something that is a priceless invitation from God Himself to you, very specifically to you, to me. That's one of the ways He's shown His love for us. He's also shown His love for us by providing a church. Didn't have to provide a church, but He has provided us a spiritual home, a spiritual family where you and I can learn of this new spiritual life in Jesus Christ. He also has given us a sacrifice, the sacrifice of His Son, the means by which we enter this new spiritual life. So those are just some of the things, and there are so many other things, physical and spiritual, that we can talk about. Let's take a look over to Mark 12. Starting here in Mark 12 and verse 28.

Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceived that he had answered them well, asked them, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered and said, The first of all the commandments is here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, with all of your strength. This is the first commandment, love toward God. Verse 31. And the second is, like it, it is, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. So again, God has called us into an ongoing, consistent relationship with him, and an ongoing, consistent relationship with our fellow man, a loving relationship, like I talked about last time I was with you.

But we as humans, we have our weaknesses, we've got our flaws, we've got our failings, we've got our warts, and so forth. During this period of self-examination prior to the Passover, I'm sure you've been thinking about what it is that you've fallen short of God's glory, and I've thought about those things in my life as well. And as I made mention, there's one particular aspect that people have brought up to me over the years that they have had a great deal of concern about, and I want to discuss that with you today, and have us reflect on that as we prepare for this year's Passover. I'm going to ask a question, and hopefully during the course of the sermon, answer that question. The question is the theme of what I want to talk to you about today. The question is this. How can we have a more consistent walk with God?

How can we have a more consistent walk with God? Over the years, brother and I have had people come to me, sometimes people have been baptized only a few months, sometimes only a few years, and other times it's been veteran Christians who've been in a church years and years. They say, Mr. De La Sandro, I just have a hard time making sure I've got a consistent prayer life, or I've got a really hard time making sure I've got a consistent study life, or I really don't meditate like I should on a regular basis, or I only fast during the day of atonement. How consistent is your walk with God? How consistent is mine? How do you and I have a more consistent walk with God? What do we do? I think we'd all feel that that is something that's important that we need to have. Chances are everybody in this room to one degree or another has struggled with this over the course of time. I'd like you to turn over to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12.

And I'm going to read this verse. It's verse 11. I'm going to read this in a new international version. I don't typically read the NIV in the New Testament, but this particular passage, it comes across very clearly. This is Romans chapter 12 and verse 11. Romans 12-11. Again, reading from the New International. It says, never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Keep your spiritual fervor. I really appreciated that the way that was put. Your spiritual fervor. That we are to maintain a high level, a high consistent level of walk with the great God. Let's see some examples of where people didn't do that in the scriptures. Let's, by way of contrast, let's take a look. First of all, Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians chapter 1.

This is one of the prison epistles.

Paul was in jail when he wrote this. The prison epistles would include Philippians here. I mean Ephesians here, Philippians, Philemon, and Colossians.

As a note, these books we believe were probably written in the early 60s AD. That's going to be interesting in a few moments as we go through the sermon. This book was written in the early 60s AD. Here in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 15 and 16. So here's a church that was famous for their faith and famous for their love.

So much so, Paul remarked about it to other congregations. He, something that really encouraged him as he needed encouragement, thinking about his ministry and those he had been working with. But now let's take a look at this same church about 30 years later. Let's go to Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2. This is written, the book of Revelation, somewhere between the mid and late 90s AD.

So this is 30 years later. And what do we see? Revelation chapter 2 and verse 4. Writing to the church in Ephesus, Nevertheless, verse 4, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. You've left your first love. So Jesus Christ is saying, you know, you're not consistent in one of the most important things you need to be consistent on. You're not consistent in your first love, in your love for me, in your love of the truth. You are walking away to some degree. You are not as firmly attached to the vine as you once were. In chapter 3 of Revelation, we see the remarks written to the church in Laodicea. Revelation chapter 3, starting here in verse 15. I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish that you were cold or hot. Now, brethren, at one point, I'm sure these people, when they first came into the church, were zealous. They had spiritual fervor. But something happened to them. They were not cold or hot. Nothing wrong with being cold or hot. You know, like I said in the past, if you're out mowing your lawn and it's 98 degrees in the summertime, you want something cold to drink. That's good. But in the wintertime, if you're out running a snowblower or shoveling snow, you want something hot to drink. That's good. So cold or hot either one can be good, depending upon the circumstance. These people were lukewarm. They had lost their spiritual zeal and fervor. They were not consistent in their walk with God. Verse 16. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing. Now, these folks were so inconsistent in their walk with God, they didn't have good spiritual vision. They didn't have good spiritual awareness. And do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. So again, we see not just like the Ephesian church, but the Laodicean church, where an inconsistent walk with God was spiritually hurtful. So we looked at a couple of churches. Let's zero this down and look at a case example of one man. Let's go to Colossians 4. We're going to meet somebody here. We don't see him discussed a great many times in the scriptures, but we see him enough to get a little bit of a view of his life.

Again, remember this is written in the early 60s AD. Colossians 4, verse 14.

Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you. Luke and Demas. Now, in the early 60s AD, Demas stood strong for the gospel. In the early 60s AD, when Paul wrote from a Roman dungeon to the believers there at Colossae, he sent greetings to the most faithful, to the people who stood shoulder to shoulder with him in the faith, who did the work of God. Demas was one of those people. If we go over to the book of Philemon, that little book just before the book of Hebrews, book of Philemon.

Once again, from prison in the early 60s, Paul writes to the faithful five, as they are called at times, the faithful five. Philemon, chapter 20, chapter 1, there's only one chapter here, Philemon verses 23 and 24. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow laborers. So again, we see something very important about this Demas.

He's there with Paul. He's really doing the work and so forth. But now, let's go over to 2 Timothy, chapter 4. 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 9 and 10. This is written in the mid to late 60s. So only about five years or so have come and gone, five, six years have come and gone, since Paul was speaking so highly of Demas. Not a great length of time, but things should happen in a short length of time like this. 2 Timothy 4, 9. Be diligent to come to me quickly, for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world and is departed for Thessalonica.

So something happened to Demas. The man who stood shoulder to shoulder, one of the faithful five, he began, chances are, to have an inconsistent walk with God. Chances are, his prayer life became spotty.

His study life was not what it should have been. And his spiritual disciplines went to the place where the world looked more appetizing to him than the Church of God. And again, brethren, that's something for us to consider. That's something for us to consider. Where are we in our walk with God? How consistent are we? Is this something that as we think about ourselves this Passover season, this is something we need to remedy in our own lives. Over in the Chicago church, we have a parenting class. We've done that in the past, way before I ever became a part of the church there in Chicago.

Back in the olden days, Brian Shaw was the one who conducted that many, many years ago, and we're going through that again. We're reading a book called Parenting from the Tree of Life by Gary and Anne Izzo.

To prepare for the classes, we've decided to have six classes, and each of those classes, the homework is assigned. Prior to the class, there's normally two or three sermons we need to listen to, typically from Bob Faye, senior. And there's two or three chapters of the book we need to read. We get ourselves prepared. We go to our parenting class, and we have six different presenters who, one each, give a class.

My turn is coming up in April. And then after we kind of go through the material, we have very much an interactive session for an hour or so. And then afterwards, we break into little groups, and we have discussions about various things that are of concern to the parents. And some parents find that these are very helpful. I think all the parents find they're pretty helpful.

But sometimes we can kind of get stuck in a rut. And in reading the book, your assigned reading for last time, there was an interesting section by the authors. And they bring up this story, and I've heard this story before. Apparently it's a true story, a true example. And I just quote from the book here, page 82. It says, you ever noticed how circus elephants are tied to tiny stakes? Now, I don't know if you're gonna find many circuses anymore, because I think they've all gone out of business.

But have you ever noticed how circus elephants are tied to tiny stakes? Amazingly, even the biggest elephants who can be up to 12,000 pounds, 24 feet long, 13 feet tall, don't pull up those little stakes. They could very easily do so, but they don't. When the elephant, now why is this the case? When the elephant is a little baby, it is tethered to a small, yet very strong, very sturdy little stake, and the elephant tries to pull away, and all it does is hurt its leg.

Having a great memory, the elephant says to itself, I can't move from that stake. Even though it's grown to be a massive animal, in its mind, it thinks it can't change. It can't pull itself away from that obstacle. If we are not consistent in our walk with God, do you and I have tiny little elephant stakes? We really, with God's power, can so easily pull up, and we don't. Are we suffering at the hands of these little elephant stakes? Now, the elephant could pull that stake up, but because he has set his mind to think that, well, it causes pain, and it did when he was a baby, but not any longer. But it causes him to kind of stay in place and not move forward. Perhaps you and I have come to believe, no matter what we do, we're stuck in a rut, like having those little elephant stakes in our lives. Old habits, old ruts, negative ways of thinking, negative ways of seeing ourselves. They're very much a part of our thinking. We need to get rid of that. We need to make sure that we are remembering that we have God's very spirit in us, and we can overcome those things. Now, let's have a little bit of a definition of terms. What do we mean by being consistent? Where do we see consistency? What is it made up if we look into the scriptures? But what are some of the elements? Let's look at Luke chapter 14. This is a chapter that probably was quoted to you prior to your baptism, when you were being counseled for baptism.

This is the count the cost chapter, Luke chapter 14, and verse 27, And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Who does not bear his cross and implement of death? We are to have things of this world die in us, not live according to the world, and we must come after Christ. You know, very much an unleavened bread, portrayal here, get rid of the sin, bring in the righteousness. So part of being consistent is a solid commitment. We need a solid commitment on our part. God is committed to us. No question about that at all. God is committed to us. Are we committed to Him? If we're not consistent, then that tells us something. You or I.

Take a look now at, let's add to this 2 Corinthians chapter 10.

2 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 3 through 5.

2 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 3 through 5, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. No reason for us to be tied down by little elephant stakes.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God, for the pulling down of strongholds, or the pulling up of little elephant stakes, casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into the captivity to the obedience of Christ. So, what does it mean for us to be consistent? We talked about having a solid commitment in Luke chapter 14. Here in 2 Corinthians, part of that being consistent means that we have a sustained high-level effort over the long term. A sustained high-level effort over the long term. Anybody can do it over a short term, but we want to have a solid commitment, sustained and a sustained high-level effort over the long term.

I'd like you now to turn over to, if you would, to Matthew chapter 11.

There is a scripture here that many find problematic in terms of understanding. How do we understand this scripture?

But this scripture shows how we need to not only have a solid commitment, have a sustained high-level effort over the long term, but it shows we need to be proactive. Proactive in our commitment. Proactive as a hard worker, as a soldier of Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 11 and verse 12. And from the days of John the Baptist, until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. The violent take the kingdom of God by force.

Now, what does that mean? Let me read this same verse to you in the Wesley's New Testament translation. Wesley's New Testament. And from the days of John the Baptist, until now the kingdom of heaven is entered by force, and they would strive with all their might take it by violence.

They would strive with all their might.

In other words, we are in war with Satan. We're in a war against ourself and our human nature. We're at war with the society around us. And, you know, brethren, as you and I look at society around us, it is so clear to any of us who have eyes to see that our nation is unraveling.

Our nation is just unraveling before our eyes.

You notice the story of what's been happening in California, where the ICE agents were wanting to have a sweep and go through the state and pick up something like over 800 different criminals. And the mayor of Oakland gave the criminals a heads up. The mayor said, if these people come knocking on your door, you don't have to answer. And many of them took off and could not be found. Now, the mayor of that city would tell you, you know, we want to keep families together. We want to do right by these people. Well, who are they talking about? Who were the ICE agents after? Well, several of those people were rapists. Do you want to give them a heads up? Is that what we want? Basically, brethren, not only are we a lawless nation because criminals are lawless, we're a lawless nation because we're fighting against ourselves. You know, the federal government can say, we're going to want this to happen. And the state government says, oh, no, you don't. Oh, no, you don't. I mean, it's unbelievable what we see happening in our nation today. And, you know, we stand for something much different. But again, as our nation is inconsistent in its law enforcement efforts, we don't want to be inconsistent with the way we follow God.

So the idea here in Matthew chapter 11 is that there's a mighty struggle as you and I prepare for God's kingdom. It's a violent struggle. We've got to get things out of our life. We've got to put us out in the world out and bring God and Jesus Christ in.

Let's go to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew chapter 7 verses 24 and 25.

In my Bible, this is all red lettering, the words of Christ. Although, in one sense, the whole Bible is inspired by God, but this particular is Christ's words. Verse 24, chapter 7 and Matthew verse 24. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, consistently does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. That rock is Jesus Christ. And rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat on that house. In other words, life's trials came. Satan is going to send things our way. The world will send things our way. We will send things our own way. Sometimes we're our own worst enemies. And it didn't fall because it was founded on the rock. So consistency is about building empowering habits. Empowering habits with our prayers, with our studies, with our fastings, with our meditations, one brick at a time, one day at a time. We focus on our highest priorities and goals one day at a time, one brick at a time. Building on the rock, on the foundation. We hold ourselves accountable every day. Hold ourselves accountable for the daily choices we make. No excuses. No complaints. We and we alone are accountable for what we do. And there's coming a time when we have got to face God and Jesus Christ and give account for what we do. Not our husband, not our wife, not our kids or grandkids, not the best friend and church, but what we have done. Now, it's interesting when you take a look at the end of the story here. Let's go to Revelation chapter 5. For those who are consistent, for those of us who you and I, as we are consistent before God, God offers us tremendous rewards. Tremendous rewards. Eternal life. Tremendous rewards. Eternal life. I mean, I'm sure you ponder it. I ponder it. What will it be like? You know, we know the plan of God right now, but there's coming a time when God is going after the resurrection, when God will probably call all of us together. This is a speculation on my part, but God calls us all together as a family, and He's going to show us the new plan of God. Because we're not going to sit around playing checkers all day long.

Having potlucks. You know, God's going to have something else in mind for us. What that is, I don't know. But whatever it is, it will be fantastic. Whatever it is, it's going to be exciting. Whatever it is, it's going to be something that will stretch a God-level individual.

And all the powers we have as a God, and as we grow in those powers. But notice here, some of what God has in store for us, Revelation 5, 10. And is made as kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. We shall reign on the earth. People say, Mr. Del Sandro, how am I going to learn how to reign? I'm not a king. I'm not a president. Sometimes I don't feel like I'm in charge of my own household. But actually, brethren, all of us have plenty of opportunities to learn how to rule. Plenty of opportunities. As an example, how do you rule your time? How do you rule your time? We all have the same amount.

Not one of us has more or less. We all have the same amount of time. I'm not going to turn there, but in Luke 16, verse 10, it says, if you're faithful in little, you'll be faithful in much. So if we're faithful in how we handle our time, God will give us cities to rule.

You know, I can ask myself, you can ask yourself, how we do with our time?

Do we find ourselves always procrastinating, always being late, never being on time, or too many times not being on time? Another area, we rule over our checkbook and our credit cards.

We rule over our checkbook and credit cards. I remember talking to one individual who was a fairly well-educated individual in another state, and we got to talking, and this individual was telling me that he had credit card debt in the six figures. In the six figures.

I don't know what all the reasons for that was, but I would dare say that's not ruling over your credit card very well. How about your health? Ruling over your health.

I learned a valuable lesson. I remember for years I used to tease people about their eating healthy foods as I would go to McDonald's and Burger King and have all those greasy fries. And then the doctor said, you've got a clogged up system, D'Alessandro. We got to open your chest up and stop your heart and put you on a machine and clean you up because of all your Big Macs. So they had the last laugh on that one. I didn't rule over my health very well. Much more of a change now, but who knows what that did to my life expectancy? Am I going to live as long as I would have had I eaten better? I don't know. Mary hopes I do. I hope I do. But, you know, we rule over our health. We rule over our mind. What do we feed our mind? So those are examples of you want to be consistent in our walk with God. We want to be consistent in what we do with our time and so forth. Now, why do people struggle with consistency? Why do people struggle? Why have I struggled and I have struggled? I remember for it took me a long time to struggle with certain things. Maybe for you, you can pick things in your mind that you struggle with. But so many times, one of the reasons we struggle with consistency is we have just too many distractions. Too many distractions. And we stay inconsistent because we're distracted. When I first gave this sermon, the Winter Olympics were going on over in South Korea. And I watched a little here and there and I read someone in the, not the paper, but on my mini iPad. And there was one story that caught national attention. And I included it in my notes here. We had a very gifted young lady who was a figure skater. We won't use her name. You probably may know what her name is. But a very gifted young figure skater. She had missed the 2010 Olympic team and was determined to make it onto this Olympic squad. And she made it. She was the only American in Olympic history to do a triple axel.

Now, every four years I've got to ask myself, what is that?

You know, it's not something you have in the back of a pickup truck. A triple axel is when you're skating forward, you thrust yourself up into the air, and you spin three and a half times and you land backward on the ice. You go into the activity forward three and a half times, land backward, hopefully without falling. That's a triple axel. This young woman, this American, was the first ever to do it in the Olympics as an American. Only three had done it, two others, beside herself in the Olympics. And so her big day came.

And she didn't do very well at all. Why? She was distracted. Halfway through her program, she let out a big smile. Why? She told the reporters later on she was auditioning for Dancing with the Stars. Now, it's inconceivable. I've played athletics. Some of you have played athletics. You know that when you were in the Olympics, you have your eye firmly on the goal. You aren't distracted by anything. You have really tunnel vision. And yet, this young woman said that she wasn't even attempting to get a medal. She was wanting to look good for the camera.

Let me read something here. We're going to have a first here in church. I'm going to read from ESPN. Her name, this is now a quote from ESPN, became the first US woman to land at Triple Axle at the Olympics. She told the media that her performance was an audition for Dancing with the Stars, not an attempt at a medal. Her statement was a shock and mission from an athlete who doggedly refused to give up after being overlooked for the 2010 Olympic team, but was also fitting. She threw herself into Olympic stardom, courting attention from celebrities on social media and lining up post-Olympic opportunities. Her skating took a back seat. She was distracted. She was not consistent. You know, somebody, if they would have known where her mind was, could have told her the story about Dan Marino. I enjoy watching football. Throw stones at me, if you will. But I remember there's a famous clip. Dan Marino was one of the best quarterbacks that ever lived, ever played the game. He played for the Miami Dolphins for 17 seasons. After his second season, as a relatively young man and is probably about early to mid-20s, Dan Marino led the Miami Dolphins to the Super Bowl. They lost. As Dan Marino was walking off the field, the commentators, and you can still see this clip, the commentators saying, well, don't worry about Dan Marino. He'll be back here time and again.

Fifteen more years came in his career. He never once made it back to the Super Bowl. Not one more time. This girl, who said she was auditioning for Dancing with the Stars, may never make the Olympic squad again, or she could get hurt, or any number of things could happen. She might not be alive. You never know. And yet, because of her being distracted, she wasn't consistent. Let's take a look at 1 Corinthians 9.

Remember earlier on, when I was talking about consistency, we need to have a tremendous, high-level effort over a period of time, a long period of time. Notice what Paul says here in 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 24. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. Run consistently.

You know, this is in my notes, but I remember so distinctly watching the skating in the Olympics. And one of the things that struck me, several things struck me, one, Netherlands, you know, those people in orange? Man, they seem to win everything. They strap on skates. It's like they had jets on their skates. And a number of times, especially some of the longer skating events, you'd have somebody break out to the lead. They're almost half a lap ahead of everybody else. But then they would die. They weren't consistent. They weren't watched. They burned out toward the end, and they ended up well back in the pack. So Paul here is saying, run in such a way that you may obtain it. I would say run consistently. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things, balanced. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty, and thus I fight, not a one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection. Thus when I have preached to others, I myself have become disqualified.

There's every possibility in the world that Paul might have either seen the original Olympics back in his day, or they also had other games every two years. He may have seen some of those games which would have him write what he's writing here. So again, we're not to be in a sprint mode, we're to be in marathon mode. Okay, having given all that as backdrop, let's take a look at the nuts and bolts of having a consistent walk with God. I've got three points here. In Chicago, I got through the first one. I don't know, I've got maybe a little more time here. I don't know. We'll go through the first one and see where we stand. If we want to have a more consistent walk with God, point number one, continually seek God with your whole heart.

Continually seek God with your whole heart. Let's look at Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22 and verse 44.

Luke 22 verse 44. And being in agony, Christ prayed more earnestly, than a sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. It's Luke chapter 22 verse 44. Christ was so intent, he was so zealous, he was so intense, he was so wholehearted, that when he prayed, his sweat became like great drops of blood.

Medically speaking, is that possible? There would be those who would tell you, well, it just looked like blood, or it was just large drops. Well, if you go to WebMD, you know, W-E-B-M-D, WebMD, great source for medical information, I go to it often. Many times people will say, Mr. D, would you pray for me? I've got thus and such. They can't pronounce it. I don't know how to spell it. But I'll go to WebMD and find out what is it they want me to pray about. And it's a very helpful tool. There's a situation that can take place in the human body. Hematidrosis. You'll find it in WebMD. Hematidrosis. Around your sweat glands, you have a network of very tiny little vessels. And they can break. It's a very rare occurrence, but it is known to have happened. It's a scientific fact that those can break, and then they get into your tear duct system and come out as sweat. In your tears or in your sweat itself. So it's not only something that is an analogy here in verse 44. It is medically possible that this took place. But again, showing the great zeal that Christ had, the intensity He had, the whole hardness that He had there. Matthew 13. Matthew 13, verses 44 and 45.

Excuse me, verses 45 and 46. Matthew 13, verses 45 and 46. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who when He had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all He had and bought it. Brethren, we have been given that pearl of great price.

Now this guy, when he found it, he sold everything he had. He wanted to make sure he obtained that. He wanted to make sure that he wanted it so badly. Nothing was going to stand in his way.

And so the question we asked this Passover season, do we want to be so wholehearted with God, so consistent that nothing is going to stand in our way? Nothing.

Colossians chapter 4. We're there a little earlier. Let's go back to Colossians chapter 4.

Colossians chapter 4 and verse 12. Epiphras, who was one of you. He was a local boy. He was from Colossae. Epiphras, who was one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you always, laboring fervently for you in prayers, and that you stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Notice, his prayers were fervent. And notice, he labored. He worked in that. You know, a question for us to ask ourselves as we're examining ourselves this Passover season is, how is our prayer life before the Great God? Are we laboring, working, really tasking ourselves fervently? Not, you know, lazy little prayers, but something that we really are into. We appreciate the fact who we're talking to. We're talking to the Great Being.

I mean, I'm sure that we could probably be pretty fervent if we went to somebody who was in charge of our taxes. You know, one of the things I've got to do tomorrow, I've been talking about doing this for some time, I've done a little bit of, again, needing my taxes out in the mail to my accountant.

Now, if I could talk with the IRS people, I think I could be pretty fervent in discussing with them my case as to what I view as being legitimate deductions. I can make a pretty good case. I could be pretty fervent. Now, if I could be fervent with these human beings, certainly I could be fervent with the Great God. Turn over to 2 Timothy, chapter 2. 2 Timothy, chapter 2.

So we were told to labor fervently in prayer, but notice what it says here. 2 Timothy, chapter 2, and verse 15. Be diligent to present yourselves approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of God. So we are to be diligent in our study.

Fervent as we labor in prayer. Diligent as we labor in the study of God's Word.

Diligent. Consistent. Being about our Father's business. It is the Father's business for us to do these things spiritually. Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse 97.

Psalm 119, verse 97. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation from time to time. No. It is my meditation all the day. When he had spare time, when he had discretionary time, you know, he was thinking about the law of God. He was laboring all day as he had opportunity, as we have discretionary time. Not that all of our waking moments need to be thinking about the things of God, but if all of our waking time is thinking about things other than the things of God, then well, that says something too. We want to be laboring, meditating, thinking about the beautiful thing of God. The reason we love David Psalm so much is he was a man who thought about the things of God. He wanted to know the mechanics of things. How do things work? How does this spiritual principle interact with that spiritual principle? And he put it all together, and he saw this spiritual machinery at work, and he marveled at that. Joel chapter 2.

Joel chapter 2.

This gives you a little bit of a hint as to what I'm speaking about on the last day of Unleavened Bread. One of the greatest definitions of repentance is right here in the Old Testament, right here in the book of Joel. Joel chapter 2 verses 12 and 13.

Now therefore says the Lord, turn to me with all your heart. All your heart. If we want to be consistent with the great God, we need to do it with all our heart. With weeping, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. We're really into it. So, rend your heart and not your garments.

You know, back in the biblical times, you can actually rent people that would tear their garments on your behalf. They would stand outside your door. They would wail. They would cry. They would tear their garments because the idea being, you know, the people inside were deeply grieving. Didn't want to be seen by the public, but they wanted the public to realize that they were really hurting. So, rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God for he's gracious and merciful. Slow to anger and of great kindness, and he relents from doing harm. So basically, verse 13 is saying, you know, we don't want this to be a show. We want it to be the real deal. We want to labor with our whole heart. So, how do we seek God consistently? We labor fervently in prayer. We study diligently the Word of God. We meditate every opportunity we can, and we labor with our whole heart as we fast. As we fast. Do it around in me, chapter 4, verse 29. Looks like I will be able to go a little further with you than I did with Chicago, because this was the last verse I read in Chicago. Do it around me, 4, 29.

Do it around me, 4, 29. But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

If you seek, you will find if you do it with your all.

We can rest in a tremendous promise here that as we are consistent in our walk with God, we will find him, and we will benefit tremendously. So, point number one is, if we want to be having a consistent walk with God, is continually seek God with your whole heart. Point number two, new ground. Point number two, continually ask God to search your heart.

Continually ask God to search your heart. I'm sure we're doing that this Passover season. Second Corinthians, chapter 6. Second Corinthians, chapter 6, verses 16 through 18. Second Corinthians, 6, verses 16 through 18.

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As you said, I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. We are the temple of God's Holy Spirit. God's Spirit lives in us, lives in our hearts, lives in our minds. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I'll receive you. I'll be a father to you. You shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. The Bible tells us that we, that, you know, God is dwelling in us.

We are the house. We are a house for the living God to live in. Now, I don't know about your house. I know that when Mary and I were tapped on the shoulder and told we can move to this area, we had to sell our house in Michigan. And we had a lot of stuff.

We had stuff from Mary's old house. We had stuff from my old house. We had stuff from our current house. We had stuff! A lot of stuff in that basement. Stuff that had to go. Stuff that we had in boxes that, you know, I personally, over the course of time, had moved from one house to another and never opened those boxes. I said, why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? If I've not opened that box in 10 years, pray tell what's in that box I need right now? And so, you know, I'd open those boxes. And it was kind of fun because every week at Sabbath Services, we had a table in the back of the hall there in Ann Arbor. And all these things would appear that were from the dell'esandral house. Things we didn't want anymore. But you know what? Every Sabbath, those things all disappeared. That was treasure to somebody else. It was our junk post. Treasure to somebody else. Things we threw away. In other words, there was stuff we had to get rid of.

Brethren, as we are the house of God's Spirit, is there something in our house that we...is there clutter in our house that we need to get rid of? Do we have an attic or a basement or a clutter room or whatever? Things that just need to go? Chances are that's the case. Let's go to Psalm 139.

Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24. Psalm 139 verse 23. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties. And see if there's any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. So here we're as Christian soldiers. As Christian soldiers, we are in a seek and destroy mission. Let's seek out those things we don't need. Let's get rid of those things. Let's destroy those things. Let's get them out of our lives. Let's ask God to search our heart and tell us what's there that shouldn't be there. Now, a similar scripture is over here in Psalm 19.

You probably know what I'm going to be turning to. Psalm 19 in verse 12.

Psalm 19 in verse 12. The amplified has it this way. Psalm 19 verse 12. Who can discern his lapses and errors? Cleanse me from the hidden and unconscious faults.

So we ask God to search us. We ask God to reveal to us the things that need to go because sometimes we can overlook it. I mean, there's been any number of times in our house, you know, I'm looking for something. I say, Mary, where's this? And she says, it's over here. And I was just looking over there. And it was like it was always invisible. It was sitting right there. A lot of times it's my glasses. Where are my glasses? Well, they're on your head. We've probably all done that from time to time. Where are your glasses? Well, you're wearing them. Age is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

Age is a wonderful thing if you can survive. I think Bob Fay said getting old is not for sissies.

Some of you are shaking your head. You're not even old yet.

Of course, some people would say I'm young. So who knows?

Last scripture for the day. We will get to two of the three points. Let's go to Mark 4.

Mark 4.

Verse 19. Mark 4, 19, And the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things, enter and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. So as we listen patiently to God to reveal where the clutter is in our life, He warns us that we have things, as it says here in verse 19, the cares of this world. In other words, things not of God. We need to be careful to listen to what those things are that God would want to point out to us as He works with our hearts and minds as we study and pray. God will reveal those things to us. Also, as it says there in verse 19, the deceitfulness of riches.

I don't think there's any of us in this room, unless I'm mistaken. I don't know anybody in this room is rich. I've known some people who have been pretty well off, but I don't know if I've known any actual rich, you know, multi-millionaires. But, you know, the way you and I in a church would view this is the deceitfulness of materialism. We can have very little to be materialistic. You know, we, you know, have a nice home, but it's not a great home. We have a nice car, but it's not a great car. We've got a nice wardrobe, but it's not, you know, no one's just walking through and saying, wow, you know, we've got things that cover our nakedness. But, you know, no one's going to put us on some walkway and say, hey, let's make some money by looking at this person's wardrobe. But again, it's a matter of our heart and mind, where we're at. We've got to ask God for those things. So, brethren, today we've asked the question, how can we have a more consistent walk with God? We've looked at a number of ways that we've approached this from a number of angles. Hopefully, I've given you some food for thought. We want to continually seek God with our whole heart and to ask God to search our heart. We want to listen to God, and as He reveals these things to us, we want to take action. We want to get the leavening out of our lives and be more like our great father.