I'm so excited when I can come into the house of God with the people of God and worship the only thing living God The Lord God your whole life is let's get the Lord hand-cutting his place 1% force and for some is not so blessed And you'll just stop and think just a little moment. You are so blessed. I mean We are so glad you are here with us on this Memorial Day We just got a special gift for you. We want to feel welcome.
That's a whale passenger devil leader in the service to say hey And thank you for worshiping with us today. You think that great Sunday to be here. How many of you excited that you're here? I don't find job on it.
Yes, sir. So anyway, we are excited about the day because you know why we are sorry what could be the Very very serious that we've ever done this church is called battle test We're gonna go through the Bible and find a few books or a few battles in two places in the Bible I'm sorry we'll cover every single one of them. Look for the next six weeks. We're gonna cover some battles that take place and I will start with a live today in the proper avail and I'm telling you so it's a real good one that you won't start with And I'm looking forward to it.
I don't know how many of y'all have kids that I did dressed up for the mortar Day holiday because I've seen a lot of kids were wearing all kinds of weird stuff But anyway, God bless them, but they're down there having a good time to give away some prizes and stuff for the kids that address They're all the time doing something good down there next week We've got impact and it now to be coming together at Pastor's house for that and a lot of great stuff happening I've got a big announcement I'll make next week about Father's Day what we'll be giving away this year I think we'll be a little excited about it. So it's gonna be good a lot of great things have just a great time to be a new lighter We've got more bank of dedication is coming up. We got a nice place apart even when it's raining out here at the back You've got a hand for that, right? They put in some hot saw down there at the kids area so they can play it's got sprinklers and all of that's possible because of your flight when it's to give week in and week outside just looks like the bottom of our thank you Thank you so much for giving to be a part of this ministry God continues to bless us and we are blown away leadership I can speak for all of us and say that we are blown away by your generosity for those of you who do you believe for those of you who are supporting the four to three fun and maybe giving that monthly or you gave a one time gift whatever it may be we just want to say thank you because we truly believe that God blesses the cheerful different and we are giving church and I just want to say thank you again for allowing God to use you believe that?
Are you ready? Do you think we can change this community? I mean by Father. Do you think we can change this?
You know when you're walking about there in that mission how it says four to three now if you don't know what that means it means we want churches to know from what they're against and we want to be known for what we were for and we are for Blay Robson of Columbus County. Doesn't it's three counties that surround us and we're for all the southeastern north and south Carolina County but those three counties we really focus in on and we want people to know that we're for them if they need something that we're going to be a church that they can come to and point them to what they really need which is Jesus amen. All right safety's big let's get ready to worship a little bit because here's what I do know okay whether you agree with or not that we live in a world that is surrounded us by enemies there are enemies everywhere we turn and sometimes we can look out and he can sing hopeless sometimes he can sing about we don't have prayer but the Bible tells me that my God's bigger than any of that and he has angel armies that surround him so it may look like you're surrounded but you're really just surrounded by God you believe that church you're my hand kind of praises we sing about that God has us around do we as love the present it's your body might be shut me this is how I'm about we thank you for quoting a rear guard behind us God and we thank you for interceding on our behalf every opportunity that you get about we know that in this life if you say in your word that you will have trouble we will face adversities of any every kind God another any kind but you say in your word God that you're guaranteed to have that trouble but to take heart for you have overcome the world so God we know that the battles that we face are not ours to fight and when we pick them up from where we leave in that calorie God we try to carry that load ourselves we are doomed to fail but God we thank you for standing in the gap we thank you for being the one that takes the weight of the world on your shoulders God it makes it look so easy God I pray that you give all those under the sound of my voice this morning so you have the confidence and the bless of the sure as if they need to lay those battles to lay those burdens to lay those things that keep them up at night God down at the foot of the cross and watch you work God it's so wonderful and so sweet to watch you work when we just give you the surrender that you are so worthy of we give you the praise that you deserve Lord God as we get as we remember all of those that have fought for our freedom God and laid down their lives for our calls greater than themselves we thank you for giving us the blessing of being born in the greatest country on the face of the earth and God you say in your word that as the day comes closer God that you returned that this world will face trials and tribulations that we will be persecuted on your behalf God so as the battles come we pray that you give us wisdom and confidence to fight them by falling on our knees and giving you the surrender that you deserve God because you can take care of it just the way you always do we love you Lord and we thank you so so much and we ask these things in morning and you and me and you. Last bit of the House of Lord today aren't we thanks for those who died so we have the freedom to be here today sir.
So raise the moral day and honor those who died so our calls again greater than themselves giving their lives so you and I could have freedom for a great day in America a great place to live for sure and guess what the one that gave this life so you and I could have eternal life as Jesus Christ as we come to celebrate him today give him a hand-blap of grace, the battle of grace Yes, we thank you for that. This one of those who was on the video, or listening on the video, and watching on the internet, letting them know you love them, and letting them do that. We are starting a new series called Battle of Kesti today. I'm excited about the series, but I'm going to look at it.
A lot of major battles that were fought throughout the Bible, so we can understand it. We're going to learn something about ourselves, we're going to learn something about God through these teachings. So when you think about that, I want you to understand it this way. Battles don't just reveal what's against us.
Here's the deal right here. They reveal what's inside of us. They use its pressure, opposition, conflict, and shape faith. They develop dependence and prepares his people for greater purpose.
Two important things right here when you go into a battle. God's not to show you what's against you, but he's also showing you what's on the inside of you. So with that said, I want to talk about this today, when faith stands at home, because sometimes in battle we feel like we're standing alone, and there's no one else, and God is obviously there with us. But when you look around, a lot of times in a battle, it's kind of you and God, right?
In the physical, it appears that you're all alone in the spiritual force. God is there with you, so I want you to get that, and I want you to get this. And of course you're full of compromise, and that word compromise is so important right here. God is still looking for people willing to stand boldly for him.
One of the greatest things that come against us as children of God, as we try to serve God is the fact that it's easy to compromise. It's easy for you and I to compromise and bend the rules a little bit into our favor. Do things that we normally do, do things that God says we shouldn't do. Do it our way if you will, and compromise what God says and it compromises our relationship.
So we're going to look at first Kings chapter 18. That's what we're going to go today. I want you to hear your assignment this week, just a lot of the encourage you to do. It's to go and look at not only 18, but look at 1718 and 19.
Read those three chapters this week of the Bible, first Kings. And Amma and I, pre-cis as I said, you'll begin to see some of the things I've pointed out, and God will speak to you through that. So I'll give you the context of this chapter so you can understand. I want you to remember two people you lied to and they are very important.
And a third of you will remember is Jezebel. You know who she is, right? You've heard about her, it's not the way she dresses, but the motives of her heart that are important. A lot of preachers over the years have tried to tell us she looks like Jezebel dresses like Jezebel.
The bottom line is it wasn't the way she dressed, and it wasn't the way she looked, and it was all about the motives of her heart and her trying to take control of her manipulate, and it's all about getting this around here how He had, wouldn't do His job as key. So man, here's what I want you to see. Anytime you refuse to do your job that God is giving you to do, whether it be the spiritual head of the home or whatever, then He had thought that Jezebel is going to step in and Jezebel will do it, and things will go real wrong. Man have an important position here.
So when you think about that, I want you to see this as a confrontation of a confrontation between Elijah and Hehab. And it's over the true worship of the true God and false religion. And that'll be our battle every time. That's where the compromise comes.
When we serve the true God, when we honor Him in worship, we worship other things is what we're talking about here. Israel has slowly drifted from God. Anytime He compromises the slow dream, Hehab normalizes compromise. I'll talk about that at home because that's so important.
We need to know how He did that. Jezebel, for a little hour, worship, that's heard to you. The property Elijah confronts Hehab and the property is available in Mount Carmel. Elijah's battle is spiritual compromise.
The whole context, if you will, of this battle is about spiritual compromise. What the problem was, it got so bad that God had Elijah, the property Elijah had him to call a drap, to pray a drap, for fasting, for property, to land Him. He had rain for several years. He was a drap, so Hehab was really mad at Elijah.
He was looking for it, and he wanted to kill it. And that's the whole kind of context of the sword. Three things I want you to learn about this story today, the battle story long before Mount Carmel. Anytime you face a battle in your life, I want you to understand that it started a long time before the battle actually happened.
You can go back to the history and look at your life and you can see where things happen in your life. You can look at the seasons you made, that's when the battle really started. So this battle started long before this confrontation on Mount Carmel, reaching scripture, and then you can see it. First Kings 18, 17, 21 may have sawn hands on by Elijah, he explained.
So as you really use, you troublemaker of Israel. See Elijah had called this drought, prophesied, because he was a bad king. He was a wicked king. I have made no trouble for Israel, Elijah replied, you and your family are the troublemaker.
What do you like to say that to the king? You've got to be a real man of God to say that, right? You and your family are the troublemaker. You've got to be a real man of God to say that, right?
You and your family are the troublemaker, but you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead. What's this now? Now, some of all Israel to join me on Mount Carmel, along with 450 prophecies, Baal, and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who are supported by Jezebel. So they have summoned all the people of Israel with the prophecies, Mount Carmel.
Then Elijah stood in front of David and said, how much longer will you wave? Or here it is, hobbling between two opinions. If the Lord is God, follow him. If the Lord is God, follow him.
But if Baal was God, then follow him. But the people were completely silent. The reason I was silent was because they had to get into compromise and they were worshiping Baal. Now, when you think about Baal, what you think about this way, it's symbolic.
It was very real in that day. It was a false God. But you and I, they're simply like a serving sale. It's symbolic of worshiping something other than God.
It's symbolic of you and I not completely completed the God in compromising. And that could be with anything, a number of things in our life. So why would you understand it? When you think about spiritual collapse, because this is what happened in Israel, it happened gradually.
It wasn't something that just happened just today or in a day's time. It's a gradual thing. So here's the way it works in your life in my life. When we begin to compromise, there's a gradual move away from the Lord.
It seems real good. It doesn't seem real bad. It seems like everything's okay. It seems like God embraces this thing.
It's okay. Compromise. It looks pretty good at the beginning, but it's a very dangerous thing. So you and I have to be careful about that.
So here's what I want to talk about for a moment. How did Ahab compromise or normalize what we call compromise? I want to see it because he defies every one of us. First of all, he gives him some political claim.
He didn't listen to God. You know how God does God has the first answer to every one of us. And God directs our steps. And God has the plan and purpose for our life.
And God helps us find the right person. And we do it according to God. We pray about it and we listen to what God says that we married. But when you see Ahab here, he had a different plan.
He says, Hey, I need some political advantage. Here's what I'm going to marry. He aligns himself with things that fool him away from God. That's the first compromise that we do.
That's the first compromise that we do. We begin to align ourselves with things that take us away from God in his work. Are you hearing me this morning, Church? You have to be very careful about this because he stays because things quite normal in the beginning.
And they can sing like there's no harm at all in it. And it's okay if I do that. But anytime you align yourself with something that pulls you away from God, you can believe that there's a devil behind that thing right there. You can understand that the devil is trying to destroy your life.
Now, what's this right here? He built infrastructure for false worship. Now, here's the thing about it. He didn't tear down God's orders.
He just added to them. And a lot of times in our life, we don't tear down the orders of God. We don't go against that. We say we embrace him, but we add a whole lot of other things to that.
And we begin to show our allegiance to other things. If we don't tear down, we just add too many gods of hate. You got to be careful about that because once you add to that and you get busy doing all the things you're doing, you're in compromise standing your head is on the wrong road. Those are the way he normalize, compromise.
Just let his wife set the spiritual agendas. Now, I want to say something right here. I know you women are much smarter than men. Y'all said.
I know you've worked harder than most men, you said. And I understand you know a lot. But men, listen to men. You are the spiritual leader in the home.
Is that right? And I don't care what society says, men, God said you are to set the spiritual tone in the home. If you're a dictator, it doesn't mean you're smarter than anybody in the home. It doesn't mean you know more.
It has nothing. You better recognize that she's smarter than you. Or she'll make you look real dumb, right? A lot of times they are smarter and can do more.
And without the women we've been told about, here's the deal. The Bible says, and society doesn't buy this anymore, that the man is the spiritual head of the home. He sets the tone for spiritual things. But what happened they have here, and we can see it so clearly, he allowed his wife to run his governorship, if you will.
He didn't run it. He let her take over. And here's where we are today. We come this place where we say, have to lie and delight.
So whatever the wife wants, we go along with that. And I just throw you back in for a moment. It's time for you men to stand up and run your household according to the word of the living God. It's time for you to stand up and be the spiritual leader of your home.
You set the tone, the spiritual agenda, and when it looks like compromise has come into our home, we're to sit down and throw the line and say, hey, it's no, no, no, no. It's for me and my house. We're going to serve the Lord and we're going to do it like God said to it and follow God's instruction. That's your job.
Three men got that. The rest of the spirits say, hey, hey, hey, hey. He redefined faithfulness as a problem. Well, this is a bad thing right here because a lot of times in our life, we'll say, well, if I've got to be faithful to church and I've got to be faithful to serve in ministry, I've got to be faithful to give, that interrupts my life.
I can't do that because here's what he did. He said the prophet was the problem. Remember when I read that he called him a troublemaker. Well, the problem wasn't a troublemaker.
He was a man of God. He was just doing what God said to. And here, what he had to do, he wanted to redefined faithfulness as a problem. And I'll tell you, we're living in a portion of day to where we can't let anything get in the way of what we want to do in life.
You see, we want to say no, being faithful creates a problem in my life. It doesn't let me live my life. Well, I'm going to live my life. It gets as the way.
Well, I want to remind you that the Bible said we are to die to say, oh, daily, is that what it says? We're to lay our life down for a call, straight as ourself. We were both with a price of God loved us, shed his blood for us, gave us life for us, gave us eternal life. He did everything for us as an example.
And he desires us, we would lay our life down for him and his work. And do what he says to say, yes, dear, and know to say, oh, that's the Bible right there. So, see, we compromised because we come to place this as a faithful as you know, it's too difficult. We're not going to do that.
He made coexistence to God. He says, make room for faith. Make room so you can worship other things. Make room so you can give your allegiance to other things.
That's what he did right there. He did not. He didn't take religion. He didn't take God out of the picture, but he added things to it.
And that's what we do. You don't need to be careful because James says this right here. They're loyal to his divided between God and the world. Is that pretty clear right there?
He says, they're loyal to his divided between God and the world. And they are unstable and everything they do. See, here's the problem with you. Divide your loyalty because God is to be the one you worship.
God is what your life is always to be about. That's where our lead just is right there. But when we divide our loyalty, we become unstable and everything that we do. We think we're doing good, but we're so unstable.
We don't even know what we're doing good or not. We're deceived in that. We're in that Joshua. We're treated in place when we can see it right here.
He said, but that's what we in my house. We will serve the Lord. How about that right there? When they be good, if we just sat down as parents today and say, I'm from this home, we're going to serve the Lord.
Not just a little bit of conversation about it. And what we say, but we would really dedicate our house, our home, our life to the Lord and do about God. That's what Joshua said because he understood this when he did it that way. He thinks we're going to go well for him.
When you think about this, we need to know what serve means right here because we will serve the Lord. Here's what that says to me. It means we work for the Lord. Everything we do, we work for the Lord.
Not only we work for the Lord, we worship him. We don't put his name before him. Whatever his desires are, or our desires are. And then we're devoted to him.
In other words, we lay our life down for a pulse greater than ourselves. This is the battle we're in today. See, we got to fight the good fight. If not, these other battles keep our faith.
We're going to be interested in here's your question this morning. And I really can hear the sermon right here. I can stop right here. But I know who gets your Lord.
I want you to ask yourself a question. Here's the deal. Without the aid of the Holy Spirit, you answer these questions wrong. Because you'll think more highly of yourself that you ought to do.
And it's my job to help all of us, including myself. And I'll think that way. So we have to ask the Lord, Lord, show me right here. Really, who is getting my Lord.
When I look at my life, when I look at my checkbook, when I look at my plans, I look at everything I do, who's getting my Lord. Who am I of faith? Who will you obey today? And who does your life really belong to?
That is the end right there. Who does your life really belong to? You see, remember the Bible says we were purchased at a price. That there was a tremendous price paid for our life.
And what God wants to do is He wants Jesus Christ to be the Lord and master of our life and have Lordship over our lives. But you and I have a person to wield and we have to give it over to Him. He won't take it. But He promises that we can go over to Him that life will be much better.
But we try to go out there and make a life and wrong. Second thing, how much is His is? False God's always insulting you. When you start a false God and you follow the amazing soul, because He never brings to you contentment in peace and show a real joy to the dead.
You can have seasons of joy and contentment and as temporary, but God says, I want you to have that inner peace. I want you to have that inner comfort. I want you to have that inner joy. I want you to have all that.
So what's happening right here in 1 Kings 18, 22 through 29. De Laa just said to them, I have the only prophet of the Lord who is left. But Bea has 450 prophets. Now bring two books.
The prophets of Bea will make shoes, whichever one they wish to cut, cut into pieces and lay on the wood of the altar. But without setting fire to it, I won't prepare the other book and lay on the wood on the altar, but not set fire on the earth. Then call on the name of your God. I will call on the name of the Lord.
The God who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God. And all the people agree, did he like to say to the prophets of Bea? You go first, well there are many of you. Choose one of the bulls in the property called on the name of your God, but do not set fire to the wood.
So they prepared one of the bulls in place and on the altar. Then they called on the name of Bea. From Bea was the folk's God now. From morning until noon time shouted.
Oh Bea asked for us. But there was no reply of any kind. Did they dance hobbit around? This is exhausting by the way.
The altar they had made. About noon time they lied to begin mocking them. You have to shout louder. He stopped.
Watch this now. For sure he is a God. Perhaps he is day bringing somewhere or relieving himself. This is a man of God right here, right?
Or maybe he is a way on the trip. Or he is asleep and needs to be awakened. So they shouted louder and followed their normal customs. They cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out.
They raised all after noon until the time of the evening sacrifice. But still there was no sound, no reply, no response. I am telling you right now when you serve folks, God, and you place something before God. It will wear you out.
Day in and day out. You try to accomplish what only God can accomplish in your life. Are you hearing me this morning, church? They will wear you out and get you to a place where you are burned out.
You can't do it. You don't serve God where God needs to be. Here is why I want you to see right here. Folks, God demand more and they deliver less.
You see a false God can be success. Now there is nothing wrong with success because God said I wish that you would prosper and be in good heaven. So I wish that you had success. That is really what I want.
But here is why I want you to understand. When you and I take success and make it a God in our life. And we began to focus on that and see Romeo on that. That is our fortune in life.
That is what we live for every day. That is what we do every day. How many of you know that the problem is that something about the less of the flesh, the less of the eyes and the pride of life. See when you think about that less of something you can't contain.
So the more success you get in your own spring, the more you want. The more you get, the more you want. The more you get. The more you want.
It never sustains us. It never satisfies us. It happens that way we are proof. This can be a false God in your life.
How many of you have a problem with a proof? You would ever like everybody that loves you, right? Listen, as a preacher I would never like me. And I would never like to love me.
And I would never much speak good things about me. I would never do that. But you know what the same commentary is. They don't.
And if you're a leader or person in the community or raising a family or something like that, they're a Muslim. They're a Muslim. They're a proof of you. But we get out of that.
Let me tell you that's the worst sign you can get in because it never is satisfied. You're always trying to get their proof of here, their proof of here, their proof of here. And that we're in the same way, they're in the same way politics and self is the bigger corporate right here all. So you can't satisfy ourselves watching.
These are false gods right here. If you put them before God and you don't worry about his proof, what he says is best like he wants. And money like he wants, the other way, plays like he wants. Politics is self like those for dogs.
So watch what the Bible says right here in Psalms when they're being born. They're always already things of silver and gold shaped by human hands. Watch this now. They have mouths but cannot speak.
And eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear and noses but cannot smell. They have hands but cannot feel and feet but cannot walk and throats but cannot make a sound. Now watch this right here.
These are, how many of you can see the eyes are dead. Eyes are dead things. They can't help you. So you're thinking your mind, they can help you and you're thinking your mind and you're going to get ahead that way.
But God says they can't do anything. They're just dead things and watch this. And those who make eyes are just like them and are all who trust in them. You're dead.
So watch your hands. They're bringing life and bringing death. God says no don't do it that way. He is the living God.
He's the one that can help you. Jeremiah would say it this way. For my people have done teneble things. They have abandoned me.
The fountain of living water. There it is right there. Who is the fountain of living water? God, why should we honor him and worship him and praise him and keep him number one because the living water comes in out of life that way.
He helps us be who we are. He takes us where we can't take ourselves. He satisfies. He gives joy.
He gives content. He gives peace to our life. Nothing in the world can do that. But when we get something out of balance, we become like the owls.
We worship them because spiritually dead. The Bible says right here. And they have to do it for themselves. Crack systems.
That can't hold no water. In other words, what you're doing isn't going to sustain you. What you're doing isn't going to help you. When you put something before God, you sail yourself shorting God's face.
Don't let compromise. Anything that works for the Christ God will eventually drain us. Only God can sustain and satisfy us. Only God.
I don't care what you lay out there. Only God can't fulfill your life. Only God can't fulfill you and sustain you and help you. The last thing I want you to know is this right here.
Before the fire failed, the owner was prepared. There was no merely fire from heaven until the owner was repaired. We'll see that in the clear about 1 Kings 18, 13, 39. They allow us to call the people.
Come over here. They're all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. When you compromise, you don't realize that you're tearing the owner of the Lord's name. What has happened to him is he repaired and has to be rebuilt.
He just 12 stones to represent each of the tribes of Israel. He used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the Lord. He didn't dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold about 3 gallons of water. He piled wood on the altar and cut the wood into pieces, laid the pieces on the wood.
Then he said, filled 4 large jars with water, and 4 of the water over the altar in the wood. After they had done this, he said, do the same thing again. When they were finished, he said, now do it a third time. Was he getting a good wet?
Was he trying to root point right here? So they did, as he said, and the Lord ran around the altar and even filled the trench. As the user thought of the orphaned, the evening sacrifice he lies in the prophet walked up to the door and prayed. O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and the ideal servant.
Prove that I have done all this that you will command. O Lord, answer me. Answer me so that these people will know that you are Lord of God and that you have brought them back to yourself. Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull and the wood and the stone and the dust even licked up all the water in the tree.
And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, the Lord is God. Yes, the Lord is God. What I am going to tell you today is that you have placed something in the Lord's body. We do it all the time.
We didn't place a lot of things before God and we compromise it. We get out of balance and we get out of life. The truth is that we are spiritually dying when we do that. We may be satisfied in the flesh.
If they look good to us, if they feel right to us, but the end of the Bible says it's dead. God is simply telling us today, it's time to get God in His right place. It's time to compromise these things with the Lord. Do His works or Him.
Have a relationship with Him. Do what He says followed His work. Do it like God says to us, but it's all done to start right here in restoration. You and I have to come to the place where we admit that we're wrong and God is right.
You see to get God's help, God's grace is wonderful. And God's grace can help us and God's grace will help us. And God's will find everything we need out of the cross and count. Everything we need for life and Godliness in the Bible says.
But you and I have to come to the place where we take some of these false signs. Where we've compromised God has got to put them in their right place and get God back in his right place. But it starts with restoration. Here's what that looks like.
The order, the reason you re-goat the order first because it represents something. It represents the surrender to God. What God wants you to do is surrender our life to Him. Surrender our family to Him.
Trust Him. And not follow the world and the things of the world. Don't get caught up in all of that. Keep God at the center on top of what's going on in our life.
So we surrender at the order. We worship at the order. We put God first at the order. When you come down here, this is the order.
When you come down here and you begin to seek God and worship God, He's number one in that moment. You're not coming for the preacher. You're not coming for the people. You're not even coming for yourself.
You're coming because you worship all the body God. So you get God in his right place. That's what God is about. Where you accept the covenant of Jesus Christ and you accept the fact that He died with the cross and count for you.
He laid his life down, shed his blood for you. And you accept that knowing the Holy Spirit can provide everything you need for life and God. Then you repent before the body God. And you reded it against your heart to the Lord.
That's why I should be built the order. Because you've represented all of that. There's some people here and even in my own life, there are areas in my life I need to surrender to God and give God back to His right place. Somebody say to me, when He did that, Romans says it this way.
And some of their brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. And then there'd be a living and holy sacrifice. The kind He will find acceptable. This is true to the way you worship Him.
Now here's the thing. We come in here and worship the dog will raise hands, right? We say hallelujah. We say praises to God.
And we look real good. But also this okay, there's a place of time for that kind of worship. He said that the real worship that I designed for you will get this church. Lord, Lord, Holy Spirit give it to your people right here.
He said the real thing to accept, the real worship that I accept is when you do this. When you give me your bodies as a living sacrifice, a holy sacrifice when you give it your life. Now think about what Jesus did. He gave His life as a sacrifice to God.
That was acceptable to God. That was reasonable to God. And you know what God's asking you to earn? That we would give our life to Him.
That we would call it His agenda. We would follow His way and we would worship Him that way. All this other kind of worship is good because if you want the real worship, give me your life. Lay your life down for a call that's greater than yourself.
Lay your agenda down. Lay what you like down, what you dislike down, what you want to do. Your own person will sit, lay it on the down and say, Lord, here I am. That's what God is saying right here.
Now Psalms will say this way. The sacrifice He desires, they broke in the Spirit. You would not reject a broken and repentant heart. He won't reject that at all.
In other words, when He sees they repentant heart, a broken heart. Here's what broken is things. It means when I come to Him, I say, God, I've had this before you met my life. I've had that before you met my life.
I've gone after these things. I've gone off course. I've compromised. Lord, here's my life today.
I want You to use me for a call that's greater than myself. I'm giving you my life today. I'm giving you my family today. I'm trusting in you today.
So here's what I'm asking this morning. You're all gone. Are you compromised? It is dark.
I'm really number one in your life. Now let me say something about that because this is very difficult. It's hard for me to say that God is absolutely number one in every area of my life. That's a fast.
I'm just being honest with you. I believe to be. And it sounds fickle. It sounds fickle.
It sounds fickle. It sounds fickle. It sounds fickle. I say yes.
God is number one. But I know standing before you. There are areas in my life where God is not number one. I know that.
God, I'm asking you today to help me. Reveal that to me and help me. And even though I'm not already know God, help me to place you as number one. I can't do it on my own church.
You can't do it on my own church. You've got to have the Holy Spirit to help you do that. This is not just real easy. But just say, hey, these areas in my life are not number one.
I can see where I place things before God before His Word. You can't separate those two by the way. But God, I don't have to have the power. I don't have the strength.
You don't have the power. I don't have the power. But the Holy Spirit can do that. We get the Holy Spirit to do the Holy Spirit because of what Jesus is doing across the Calvary.
In fact, today is the end. We celebrate the Pentecost. The church will celebrate the Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came, you know, Jesus says, since Jesus is feeding that I go away, so I can see He'll come for a help for all that down in the Southern.
What do they we celebrate that? And when I celebrate about that, Jesus is the only heaven because of what Jesus is doing across the Calvary. And the fact is, I need the Holy Spirit working in my life every day. I need the Holy Spirit when I have the help of my God.
Are you serving in worship in other gods? Or are you serving in worship in God Himself? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Are you giving your allegiance up where worship there means you can give your allegiance to Him?
Who you put first in your life before worship, first in your life. This is so critical. I was talking to someone the other day. This is what is so critical.
Now, God says about widows is about, and this is what He said. He told the widows is about the look. If you can remain a widow and you can serve Me, that's best. He says, because if you marry, you have to give along with allegiance to who you marry.
Now, He wasn't against marriage. That's not what I'm going to want to make. The point I'm making is we have to give along allegiance to our spouses and we're married. Now, God says that's okay, but He says to those who were widows, He says, look, if you remain unmarried, you can dedicate all your time to all the resources to Me.
That's how important this is to God. Now, He gave you the option to get married, and He doesn't seem to do that. But the point is, it's critical, is that God will try to lead you to the most necessary means. He wants us to give Him our entire life, our entire being, our entire time, our money, our health, our region.
He wants it all. He wants to be in the most beautiful God of my life and my God. He's raising so good that if we do it His way, He blesses us. He does things in our lives we can never do.
If we will give it to Him, and they can do it His way, are you fully devoted to God and His work? Do you need to repair the owner today? Is there some repentance in rededication you need to do? So, there we hear about every other guy close.
The big thing in the life of the preacher, we don't tear down the owners of the darkness, likely. We always have a lot of things to do. And we ask somebody who thinks to do things that takes away from our devotion to God. So, maybe you have a torn out of the owners, but you sure they had some things in there that is competing with God.
Maybe you're compromised in an area of your life. Maybe you need to repent for that and be dedicated today. We're in this war with that. We celebrate all of the men and women who have their lives so that you can have freedom.
We also celebrate the fact that Jesus Christ died with us and was so we could have freedom. So, the question is, will you give your heart and life to Him today? Will you repent of compromise? Will you have the courage to hold us free and not pray for us?
I understand how powerful the flesh is. Say, would you help us? Would you give us the courage to just break us a hand? We're wrong, you're right.
We need to make adjustments in these areas. We need to be in tune with God about God. We're living in the last of the last days. The rapture is about to take place, but God's more important than what you're thinking about in our life.
If you need to prepare it all. It's a little compromise in your life. If you raise that hand, I'm not going to call you. I'm going to call you.
I'm going to call you. I'm going to call you. I'm going to call you. Yes, yes.
Come on. Raise that hand. You've compromised the fear of your life. You need to get right into the lower hand all over this field.
The only thing that's working right now, you've compromised an area in your life. Maybe it's more than one area. And look, when you talk about this, I want to say this to you, you have to take a look at your relationship with your spouse. Yes, there's a number one person on this earth that you're going to be loyal to.
I can tell you this, you can't be more dedicated to them than you are to God. You can't do that. You have to look at your children who are gifts of God. All you sacrifice is your relationship with God.
They're relationship with God. By allowing them to take you down places and roads, you don't need to go. Have you placed them upon God in his work? This is a real serious thing.
And can't come to that place again. You're supposed to be able to throw them. You're supposed to be here. But the truth is, my spouse is there.
Children are there. My child, my career is there. My father is there. My father is there.
Lord, would you help me balance this? So I'm going to ask you again. Have you compromised? You need to make things right with the whole day.
Get those hands up and that's you right now. Get them up. Get them up. Yes.
All over the building. I'm going to ask this question today. Maybe you're going to do your own Jesus Christ. It's over the line.
You've never accepted him. It's over the line. You've never made things right with him. But the days are great day.
You want to give your heart and life again and let him work your life out. And here's the deal. Let me say this so you understand. Sometimes we preach it.
It seems like that the life that we're trying to give you is a boring life. And a lot of people with legalistic things and legalism and seducing the adults and all that will let me help you with that. That's a lot of people. What God's trying to do is get you to a shame what you're trying to be able to let him build something better.
Serving the Lord is the greatest inventor you'll ever have. The greatest joy, the greatest peace that you'll ever have in your life, the greatest contentment. If you're not serving the Lord, you're always searching for that. And you know how that works as a life that we live?
We pursue a career, we pursue a job, we pursue a person or whatever you want to go there. You're trying to find the joy that only God can give us. That only God can give us. The peace that only God can give us.
God is sitting in the same day, hey, let me trade you a better way. You're going to get to the Lord, He's trying to offer you that best life in the better life. Would you just raise that hand with your breaker? I'm not going to call you for it, I'm just going to pray for you.
Is there one that will say today's my day? I'm going to trade you this old life and I'm going to accept the life of Jesus Christ. What's the give you? Is there one year today?
You have to say yes to that by raising that hand right now. But you do that. The only spiritual God can tell you nothing. Is there another today?
You're going to say yes to the Lord. This is a great opportunity. Yes God bless you. This is a great time.
We have good intentions. We serve the Lord. We serve the Lord. We serve the Lord.
We're always those things in our lives. We think we're doing all right. Sometimes we don't serve the Lord. We're just trying to have the best life.
We can have God understand that. But what He wants you to understand is you can't have that life in that hand. So He's offering to change and trade that out today. Is there another that will say yes to that?
I'm going to say yes to that. I'm going to be this life you're talking about. I'm going to be this life you're talking about. I'm not a religion for sure.
I don't want that. I'm going to have the real stuff today, preacher. But when you pray God will get that and you'll raise that hand on the Lord. If you ask Him, if you receive it today.
If you ask Him, if you receive it today. Is there another that will just say yes to God today? You say, I'm tired of life. I'm living.
I'm tired of waiting. Things are going to go away. I want to serve the Lord. Would you raise that hand on the Lord?
Would you raise that hand today? Would you raise that hand today? Would you do it today? Would you do it today?
You can walk down here and hear from the magic of this. Not a few for joy. Not out the whole for joy. Not entertainment for joy.
But just have the joy of the Lord in your heart. Would you accept that today's another? Never say yes to the Lord today. It's a great day to do it.
Would you say yes to Him? So far away the name of Jesus today. And Lord, as the pastor of this church, I know I'm compromised in areas. I'm not just saying that, God, because when I repent of that today, Father, and I ask that you help me to keep you to number one, obviously, my life.
Lord, don't allow me to serve to be number one. The new reason for me to be number one, those are good things. But God, not number one, when it comes to my relationship with you. God, not for what I do outside of this church, and I can be the number one.
You have to be number one. So what I pray today for me and every person that raised their hand, that you can help us on this memorial day started. Right now, to prioritize you as the number one person by relationship with you, maybe number one. God, we understand that that will try to be a great computer here.
That families are important to you. And we do have obligations. What we say I do is just spouses. We have cured.
No question about what we have obligations there. And there will be a priority in our life, but not here to you, Father, because the truth is over. If we get you wrong, we get the rest of the wrong. But if we get you right, we can have the best marriage.
We can have the best family. That doesn't mean everybody's going to go away. We're going to go right. We're going to go right.
We're going to go right. We're going to go right. And everything's going to be hunky. We're not talking about that.
Oh, God. But the peace of God that passes under stands. The joy of the Lord becomes our strength. The contempt that comes with that God help us to put you in.
Help us to identify, compromise, quickly. Those who have raised their hand today says yes to you. I pray for them today. God, it's this simple.