God bless you.
Good morning, Times Square Church.
I'm going to share with you this morning
a message.
It's entitled, I Once Longed for New Things
to Obey.
I Once Longed for New Things to Obey.
Second Chronicles, please, in the Old Testament, chapter
15.
And if you go to find the book
of Psalms, you go back five books from
there and you're in Second Chronicles, chapter 15.
I Once Longed for New Things to Obey.
Now, Father, I thank you for the anointing
of your Holy Spirit.
I thank you, Lord, for your strength and
your power to be able to speak this
word today.
Lord, your entire kingdom is not by might
nor by power, but by your spirit.
And so I yield my life and body
and mind into your hands and I ask,
Lord Jesus Christ, that you be glorified, O
God, in everything that's spoken and said and
done today.
Lord Jesus, be glorified.
Thank you for it in your precious name.
Amen.
Second Chronicles, chapter 15, please.
First Chronicles, verse one.
And the spirit of God came upon Azariah,
the son of Oded.
And he went out to meet Asa and
said unto him, Here ye meet Asa and
all Judah and Benjamin.
The Lord is with you while you be
with him.
And if you seek him, he will be
found of you.
But if you forsake him, he will forsake
you.
Now, for a long season, Israel had been
without the true God and without a teaching
priest and without law.
But when they in their trouble did turn
to the Lord God of Israel and sought
him, he was found of them.
And in those times, there was no peace
to him that went out nor to him
that came in.
But great vexations were upon all the inhabitants
of the countries.
A nation was destroyed of nation and city
of city, for God did vex them all
with all adversity.
Be ye strong, therefore, and let not your
hands be weak, for your work shall be
rewarded.
And when Asa heard these words and the
prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage
and put away the abominable idols out of
all the land of Judah and Benjamin and
out of the cities which he had taken
from Mount Ephraim and renewed the altar of
the Lord that was before the porch of
the Lord.
I once longed for new things to obey.
Now, the Lord has had me on a
personal study.
I have been spending some time in the
scriptures studying the lives of those who started
well and finished poorly.
Now, I want to tell you why.
Because when Joshua began to lead the people
of that generation into the place of promise
that was theirs, the Lord appeared to Joshua
in the beginning of this particular juncture in
his ministry.
And in chapter one of verse eight, this
is what God spoke to him.
He said, this book of the law shall
not depart out of your mouth, but you
shall meditate therein day and night that thou
mayest observe to do according to all that
is written therein.
For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous.
Then thou shall have good success.
And the Lord said to Joshua, you're to
take this book of the law.
Now he's in the same place that others
had been.
And you're to meditate on this day and
night.
Now, meditating means you're to read it.
You're to study it.
You're to understand it.
You're to long for it.
You're to let it be part of the
very fabric of your life.
You're not to veer to the left or
to the right of anything it says.
And if you do these things, you will
have good success.
Now, Joshua had just seen his predecessor, Moses,
a wonderful man of God that the Bible
says was the meekest man on the face
of the earth, a man of impeccable courage
and deep-hearted faith.
But he had seen Moses not finish the
course on this side of eternity in the
full measure that God had intended for his
life.
And there had to be something in him
that he said, Lord, I want to study.
Now, folks, I don't know about you, but
I am 57 years of age now.
I started in ministry at around 28.
I was in full-time ministry at the
age of 33.
And it's been an incredible journey.
It's been a marvelous journey.
I know that I have been supernaturally helped
all the way along the way.
We have gone into foreign countries.
We have seen God do the miraculous before
us.
It has been an incredible journey.
But in my heart, a lot of these
men in the scriptures, they didn't really falter
until the latter part of their life in
ministry.
And in my heart, I said, God, I
don't want to finish poorly.
I want to finish.
The cry of my heart is that at
the end of my days, that I'm putting
my feet up into my bed.
It's a prayer I pray constantly.
And like Jacob, I can bless each of
my children, my grandchildren, my heritage, and I
can speak into their lives and I can
raise my hands and shout to God and
give him glory for all that he's done.
I don't want to get to the end
of this journey and look back with regret.
I don't want to be on my deathbed
saying, oh God, oh God, if only I'd
done this, if only I'd done that.
I'd rather look ahead from this vantage point
and do it now and study it now
and know it now and walk in it
now.
If you're fortunate enough to outlive me and
you're at my funeral, I hope that you
can shout with glory and say, God answered
his prayer.
He finished the course.
And I hope my children can stand in
whatever pulpit it happens to be and they
can make a declaration that on his deathbed,
our father was able to reach out and
put his hands on our heads and bless
us.
The glory of God was on him.
It's a cry of my heart to finish
this.
I want to finish like Paul.
I want to finish the race like Peter.
I want to finish like those that have
finished it in victory.
And I don't want to go through the
course or journey for those who didn't.
And one of the ways to avoid the
pitfall is to study the scriptures intently, clearly
with an honest heart.
Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, 16
and 17, that all scripture is given by
inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, to prove your theological viewpoint, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man
of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto
all good works.
Now, the word perfect means brought into that
place of that God would have him or
her to be brought to that, which is
the perfect will of God.
Let's put it that way for your life.
And don't turn there.
But in 2 Chronicles 26, this chapter speaks
about a king, Uzziah, king of Judah.
I'm only speaking about two kings of Judah
today.
And he was marvelously helped, the scripture says,
until he was strong.
This king had such advantage.
He was given, similar to Solomon, he was
given a brilliant intellect.
And he was given the power to lead
people.
He was given the power to see things
and to invent things, instruments of war, for
example.
He was given the ability to prosper and
to lead the people of God into a
tremendous 52-year period.
He was 16 when he began to reign,
and he reigned for 52 years.
And in those 52 years, there was a
tremendous peace and advancement of the kingdom of
God under his leadership.
But when he was strong, the scripture says,
his heart was lifted up to his destruction,
for he transgressed against the Lord God.
He went into the temple of the Lord
to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
Now it's almost unthinkable that this man would
do this.
It's like living your whole life in the
church and then suddenly doing at the end
of your day something so abominable that people
stand back in horror and say, how is
it possible?
How could he get so jaded in his
thinking?
Did he not read the scriptures?
Did Uzziah not know?
Did he not have the history of those
that attempted to offer false fire on the
altar of God and what happened to them?
Did he not understand that there's a place
and a position given by God, and there
are some places and some things that are
forbidden by God.
And he knew, he had to know, as
a king of Judah, he had to know
that he had no authority to go in
to the altar of incense and to, in
a sense, take the office that was reserved
strictly by God for the priesthood.
And yet he walks into that office, and
I don't know how to understand this, other
than he had to have lost the fear
of God.
There's a grave danger, folks.
It's a danger for me, it's a danger
for you, that when you and I have
walked in the blessing of God for many
years, and we've known nothing but the favor
of God, the human heart can begin to
think that God will no longer hold us
accountable for what we do.
That somehow, things we knew in our youth,
and things we fled from in our youth,
and things that we knew were wrong, suddenly
become right.
It's part of the twisted human condition.
It's part of that fallen nature of humanity
that ultimately wants to be its own God,
and wants to be able to say, this
is good, and this is evil, even if
God's word has an opposing view, to that
viewpoint.
Uzziah is the type of somebody here today
with a history of walking with God, worshiping,
yet you're doing something which you clearly know
is a violation of the word of God.
Now, that applies to some people here today.
You have a history.
There's some here you've walked with God 10
years, 12 years, 15 years, and you've known
the blessing of God, you've known the favor
of God, but yet today, you are here
worshiping in this house, and you are clearly
doing something that you know is a violation
of the word of God, but somehow, feel
in your heart, there will be no accountability
for this.
He started out, this particular king, at 16,
he ruled for 52 years, and he ended
up a leper.
He finished his journey in a leper colony,
folks.
With all that God did, and all that
was in his life, and everything, 52 years
of history is wiped out by one foolish
act.
Now, we have the history of it, but
it should have brought him to a glorious
finish.
There should have been a glorious conclusion to
his life.
Instead, he's a leper, in a leper colony.
He's literally put away by the hand of
the Lord.
When he went into the altar of incense
to offer what only the priests were allowed
to do, the Bible says the leprosy rose
in his forehead.
You see, he had a disease in his
mind, and the leprosy on his forehead was
a type of that disease that had gotten
a hold of him, that I can do
whatever I want to do in spite of
what God says, and there will not be
a consequence to it.
Beware of it, beloved.
Beware of it.
Beware when you and I have walked a
long time in the blessing of the Lord.
Beware of this casualness.
Beware of this wrong view that somehow, because
God has been with me for so long,
and he's blessed me for so long, that
now I'm free to do what I once
knew was sin, and somehow not suffer any
consequence.
Now, let's look at Asa, the king of
Judah, that we're talking about today.
This is a king that came before Uzziah.
Chapter 14, verse 2, tells us that Asa
did that which was good and right in
the eyes of the Lord his God, 2
Chronicles 14, 2.
In other words, he started good, and he
started right, just like many here today have.
It's a type of a true conversion, of
coming to Christ and saying, I want to
do this God's way.
I remember when I first got saved, I
said to my wife, Teresa, I said, if
this is the truth, I want the whole
thing.
I want to live it this way.
I want to walk it this way.
Now, Asa started this way.
He did that which was good and right.
Verse 3 says, he wholeheartedly served the Lord.
He took away the altars of the strange
gods, and the high places, cut down the
images in the groves.
And that's the type of those of us
who've come to Christ.
And in those first years, you so longed
for some new thing to obey, didn't you?
And when God spoke, it was just a
given.
When God speaks, that's what I do.
God directs, that's where I go.
God says, this is no good, and I
agree, and it's no good.
If the Lord says, tear this down, I
tear it down.
If the Lord says, put it away, I
put it away.
And there are so many here today that
you can, you can, you remember those altars
that you, the altars of lost, and the
altars of substance abuse, and hatred, and violence,
and bitterness, and all these other things.
And you simply put them away because God
said to put them away.
Verse 4 tells us that he led others
into obedience.
It says, he commanded Judah to seek the
Lord God of their fathers, and to do
the law and the commandments.
And you led your family, you led many
in your sphere of influence into the obedience
of God.
There are people here today that people are
saved in church, in the kingdom of God,
because of your obedience, because you have your
zeal.
You, many brought your whole, you brought your
whole family into the kingdom of God, just
like Asa did.
Verses 5 and 6 says, he took away
all the cities of, out of all the
cities of Judah, the high places, the images,
and the kingdom was quiet before him.
And he built fenced cities, places of protection.
The land had rest, and no war, because
the Lord had given him rest.
And he brought the people into rest.
Do you remember how wonderful it is when
you first came to that place?
Do you remember those early years when you
walked with God and the rest came into
your soul?
And worship was something you just had to
do.
And it wasn't confined to church, was it?
You had to worship on the subway.
You had to worship.
I remember waking up in the middle of
the night and singing sometimes, just, Oh Jesus,
just speaking his name.
The gratitude for what he had done, the
rest that he brings into the heart and
into the soul, the assurance of heaven when
you die and the wonderful future that he
gives to those who belong to him.
Verse 7 tells us in chapter 14 that
the, under his leadership, the people built and
they prospered.
Things began to happen.
People around began to be industrious.
Verse 8 tells us that he knew the
source of his strength and that as with
King David, the people became mighty under his
leadership.
Verse 8 says, Asa had an army of
men that bear spears, targets and spears.
Out of Judah, 300,000.
Out of Benjamin that bear shields and drew
bows, 204,000.
And all these were mighty men of valor.
And there came out against them, Zerah, the
Ethiopian, with a host of a million, actually
a thousand thousand and 300 chariots.
And they came to Mereshah.
Then Asa went out against him and they
set the battle at Nerea and the battle
of Zephthah at Mereshah.
And Asa cried unto the Lord his God
and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee
to help, whether with many or with them
that have no power.
Help us, O Lord our God, for we
rest on thee.
And in thy name, we go against this
multitude, O Lord.
Thou art our God.
Let not man prevail against thee.
So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa
and before Judah and Ethiopians fled.
And the scripture says that they were so
beaten that there was hardly a few of
them left together.
He knew the source of his strength.
He knew his strength was in God.
An army came against him with almost two
to one odds, but he went into prayer
and he said, God, he had that same
spirit that Jonathan had on him.
When Jonathan with just his armor bearer climbed
up onto the top of a cliff to
take an acre of ground from a whole
squad as it is of the enemy.
And he said, Lord, it doesn't really matter
if you're in there.
So God, we're going to win this battle
and we're going to fight it for your
glory.
And that's, that's been the type and the
pattern.
You and I have known this.
We've, we've walked in impossible places.
You've come through some doors.
You've come through some trials in your life
where you knew you didn't have the power
to get out of what held you.
And you went into the prayer closet and
said, Lord, I know I'm weak, but it
doesn't matter because the power of your Holy
spirit is on me.
I have your word.
Oh God.
And for the glory of your name, take
me out of this place and take me
into the place where you want me to
go.
And can't you say today that God did
that?
God opened that door of impossibility.
He said, prospered everywhere.
He went.
Verse 14 of chapter 14 says, they smote
all the cities round about Gerar for the
fear of the Lord came upon them.
They spoiled all the cities for there was
exceeding much spoil in them.
They smote also the tents of cattle and
carried away sheep and camels in abundance and
returned to Jerusalem.
He prospered everywhere.
He went, everything he touched began to prosper.
And if you are walking with God with
a true heart, you know this to be
true.
Now I'm not saying everybody here is going
to become a millionaire, but what I am
saying is that you see the prosperity of
God.
You see the blessing of God.
You see it in adversity.
You see it in the fire.
You see it in the flood.
You see it on the mountaintop.
You see it in the valley.
You see the blessing of God.
Hallelujah to the lamb of God.
Everywhere we go.
And in chapter 15 verse 12, it says
that Asa brought the people into a covenant
to seek the Lord, their God with all
their heart and with all their soul.
Verse 14, they swear to the Lord with
a loud voice and with shouting and with
trumpets and with cornets and all Judah rejoiced
at the oath for they'd sworn with all
their heart and sought him with their whole
desire.
And he was found of them and the
Lord gave them rest round about.
He brought the people into sincere and joyful
worship.
Now, isn't that what we're experiencing today in
this house?
And every time we meet, God is here
with us.
Presence of the Holy Spirit is here and
there is sincere and there's joyful worship.
And do you remember the first time you
experienced this?
Whatever seat you were in, wherever you were
in this house or one that's similar to
it, how that it seemed like nothing when
God asked you to do something, how your
heart burned when the word of God was
preached, how you wanted to honor him and
to glorify him and to see your family
life in God, how you began to move
and you began to see God's power and
God's prosperity at every turn.
In chapter 16, the scripture shows us that
the Northern Kingdom of Israel came up against
Judah and built a fortified city as it
was against one of the areas of Judah.
And suddenly we see this turn in Asa.
All this history, all the faithfulness of God,
all the oaths, all the worship, all the
promises, everything that God has done is now
about to be put on an altar of
testing.
And this king comes up against Asa and
Asa went into the house of the Lord,
but he didn't go into the house of
the Lord to pray.
He didn't go in to the house of
the Lord to seek again that God would
glorify his name in an impossible situation.
He went into the house of the Lord
to go to the treasury and to take
out the treasures that were there and to
hire a foreign army to come and fight
against his enemy.
And you see Asa now, all of the
treasures that have been brought into the house
of the Lord.
And the New Testament typology is incredible.
That all that God had brought into that
house, all that was set apart for the
glory of God, he now comes in and
you can picture him coming into the temple.
He would have had to have most likely
quite a few with him going into the
treasury.
I don't know what he took out gold,
silver, maybe some of the shields of gold
that had been built for the warriors.
He takes all of this out.
He carts it out and ships it off
to Syria and hires the Syrian army to
come and fight against his enemy.
And so the Syrian king came in and
fought against the northern kingdom or in part
of the northern kingdom and caused this northern
king to leave off building of this city
that he would build to starve out some
of the places of Judah.
And he left off building it and retreated.
In verse 6 of 16, that says, then
Asa the king took all Judah and they
carried away the stones of Ramah and the
timber thereof wherewith Bashar was building.
That's the king of the northern part of
Israel.
And he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.
So it looked successful.
It looks like, hey, we won again.
We literally, we outsmarted our enemy.
It might even have given some credit to
God for this.
And we've taken down this fortified city that
we're building against us and we've used the
stones of it to build two more places
of habitation for the people of God in
Judah.
Now, what possible problem could God have with
this?
Verse 7 says, and at that time, Hanani
the seer came to Asa king of Judah
and said to him, because you've relied on
the king of Syria and not relied on
the Lord your God, therefore is the host
of the king of Syria escaped out of
your hand.
Now, bottom line, you've turned to the flesh.
You've turned to human reasoning.
You're no longer trusting in God.
Your reasoning has taken over from the spirit
of God.
We're not the Ethiopians.
That's the army of 1 million.
And the Lubam's a large host with very
many chariots and horsemen.
Yet because you did rely on the Lord,
he delivered them into your hand.
For the eyes of the Lord run to
and fro throughout the whole earth to show
himself strong in the behalf of them whose
heart is perfect towards him.
Herein, you've done foolishly.
Therefore, from henceforth, you shall have wars.
You've done foolishly, Asa.
You started in the spirit and you've moved
to the flesh.
You started with a wholehearted trust in God.
You started with a passionate heart that burned
for the things of God.
You started with a mind that was open
to the word of God.
But now, after this long series of walking
with God, you've now moved to human reasoning.
You're now reasoning your life.
You're reasoning your future path.
You're scheming and plotting and planning about how
you're going to get through.
Then one time it was faith and faith
alone that was guiding you.
And it has an appearance of success.
But the prophet of God said, no, it's
not success, it's foolishness.
You've literally cut off the source of your
own strength.
That was brought you to where you are.
You've cut that source of strength off.
And now the end result is you're going
to have trouble the rest of your life.
You would think the scripture would say, and
Asa fell on his face and said, Lord,
God, forgive me.
That's what Joshua did.
When Joshua made a mistake with the Gibeonites
and actually welcomed into the camp of Israel,
an enemy of the people of God, Joshua
fell on his face and God was able
to speak to him and correct him.
You would think that Asa would have been
able to be brought into a place of
correction.
And I think this is a pivotal moment
in many people's lives.
It says, then Asa was wroth with the
seer and put him in a prison house.
Put him in a prison.
In other words, he locks away the voice
of correction.
And he now holds the key to what
can and cannot be spoken.
He is angry with spiritual authority.
And the scripture tells us, and he oppressed
some people.
Verse 10 says, Asa was wroth with the
seer and put him in a prison house
for he was in a rage with him
because of this thing.
And Asa oppressed some of the people the
same time.
In other words, the people around him started
to become discouraged.
He was once leading them into might.
He was once leading his family into the
glory of God, the strength of God.
But now he's become angry with the voice
of God.
Now he's moved from the spirit to the
flesh.
Now he's locked the voice of God in
a prison.
And that's exactly what people do.
Come into the house, even this morning and
say, well, if pastor Carter or pastor William
or pastor Teresa or Patrick, whoever's speaking, if
they speak this, I'll let them out and
listen to them.
If they don't, I'll lock them up again.
I will choose what truth is.
I will choose when to bend my knee
and when not to bend my knee.
I am the master of my own destiny.
No one has the right to tell me
that what I'm doing is wrong.
After all, I've been walking with God for
30 years.
Who has the right to tell me that
my journey is a foolish one, that I've
turned into a measure.
I know what's right and I know what's
wrong.
We were victorious.
My pathway led to victory.
We were able to build two fortified cities
out of the ruins of this attack.
How dare this prophet of God tell me
that I've done foolishly.
I'll take him and I'll put him in
a prison.
Isn't that what Herod did to John the
Baptist?
He put him in a prison and he
locked him up.
And that's what the backslidden Christian will always
do with the voice of God.
All through history, those that backslide and move
to the flesh will lock away the prophet
of God in a prison and say, I
will call for you when the time is
convenient.
And if you don't speak to me when
I want to hear, then I'll lock you
right back up again in prison.
I will shut you out of my life.
I will shut you out of my mind.
I will shut you out of my family.
God helped me that I never get to
that place.
God helped me.
Angry with spiritual authority.
Angry.
The scripture says he was in a rage.
Now, he probably had a still kept his
smile.
He probably still walked regally and royally.
Probably still very much had the bearing of
a king, but he's got an internal rage
in him now.
He can't get away from the thought that
he was rebuked.
What's wrong with this?
What's wrong with this prophet?
Does he not know all the good things
I've done?
Has he not seen the last 30 something
years that I've been walking and serving God?
Is he unaware of the victories that I've
won?
How dare he take it upon himself to
rebuke me?
And that is the dilemma of the older
Christian folks.
It's never really the problem of the young
one.
It's the dilemma of those who have walked
with God.
And verse 12 tells us, now this is
the Lord's mercy.
And Asa in the 39th year of his
reign was diseased in his feet until his
disease was exceeding great.
Yet in his disease, he sought not to
the Lord, but to the physicians.
I'm not against doctors, obviously, but I don't
think the physicians in those days had a
whole lot of skill.
You see, Uzziah was diseased in his forehead
because his mind had turned against the ways
of God.
Asa was diseased in his feet because he
was pursuing a direction that God was trying
to stop him and get him to come
back.
It was all just really a sign.
Even the psalmist in Psalm 119 says, Lord,
in faithfulness, thou hast afflicted me that I
might not be able to walk again.
God, you've faithfully allowed this into my life.
If something has come into your life that
you don't understand, could you have the courage
to just stop and say, all things do
work together for good to those who love
God and are the called?
So that means if it's something I don't
like, I don't understand, is it possible, God,
you've allowed this into my life to stop
me from something I'm doing, something I'm thinking,
somewhere I'm going, something I'm embracing, something that's
gotten a hold of my life is in
your faithfulness, God.
If Asa would have just stopped and says
he didn't seek God and say, Lord, why
are my feet diseased?
The Lord would have sent a prophet to
him if he couldn't hear himself and said,
because you are walking on the wrong path.
You are walking in the flesh, Asa.
You started in the spirit and you've moved
to the flesh.
You've walked too long in your own strength.
And so Asa slept with his fathers.
Verse 13, he died in other words, and
died in the one and 40th year of
his reign, 41 years in ministry, diseased in
his feet in spite of all that happened.
And they buried him in his own sepulcher
or grave, which he had made for himself
in the city of David.
You know, you can be the whole time
you attend church, you could be making yourself
a grave in it.
And they laid him in the bed, which
was filled with sweet odors and diverse kinds
of spices prepared by the apothecary's art.
And they made a great, very great burning
for him.
Folks, if we ever lose the dependence on
the Holy Spirit, you hear me, here's what
you end up looking like.
You're looking real good.
You smell real sweet, but you're very, very
dead.
One of the churches in Revelation, the Lord
said, you have a reputation that you live
and are dead.
And the word dead means you were cut
off from the enlivening influence of the Holy
Spirit.
It's that simple.
You are now walking in the flesh.
You've learned how to sing the songs.
You've learned how to clap your hands.
You've learned how to shout at the right
time.
You've learned how to attend church on time.
You've learned these things, but you're now cut
off from the quickening influence of the Holy
Spirit.
You smell good, you look good, very, very
dead.
And that's how he ended up.
But go back to chapter 15 now with
me, where we began today.
I want to conclude with what we started
with.
This is close to the middle, roughly, of
his reign in that vicinity.
And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah,
the son of Odin.
I believe the Lord's given me this because
we are 23 years of church now, and
many who are here have walked even longer
than that with God.
And we're at this point of chapter 15,
where the Lord comes.
And he says, he went out to meet
Asa and said to him, hear me, Asa
and all Judah and Benjamin.
The Lord is with you while you be
with him.
If you seek him, he'll be found of
you.
But if you forsake him, he will forsake
you.
Now for a long season, Israel has been
without the true God and without a teaching
priest and without law.
But when they in their trouble did turn
to the Lord God of Israel and sought
him, he was found of them.
And in those times there was no peace.
Now think about our season that we're living
in, in this world.
No peace to him that went out, nor
to him that came in.
But great vexations were upon all the inhabitants
of the countries.
And nation was destroyed of nation and city
of city for God did vex them all
with adversity.
We're seeing that, and it's going to increase
in the coming days.
Be strong therefore, and let not your hands
be weak for your work shall be rewarded.
Now look at the contrast between the middle
of his life, basically in the end of
his life.
And when Asa heard these words and the
prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage
and put away the abominable idols out of
all the land of Judah and Benjamin.
And out of all, out of the cities,
which he had taken from Mount Ephraim.
And he renewed the altar of the Lord
that was before the porch of the Lord.
He renewed the altar.
And folks, what God has been speaking to
my heart, and I'm preaching predominantly to myself
this morning.
This has been my personal study.
What he's been telling me is that you
don't have to finish poorly.
If I can speak to your heart, if
you will go into this book and study
it and let it study you and let
it become part of your life.
When he heard these words, he heard that
the cities were going to be in disarray,
that nation was going to stand against nation,
but God promised to be with them.
And he took courage and put all of
the things that were on that altar that
shouldn't be there.
He took them off, got rid of them,
and he restored and renewed the altar of
the Lord.
That altar that the new Testament talks about
where I should be laying my life down
as a living sacrifice for the purposes of
God.
That altar is the altar I'm talking about.
That altar where it's not my will, but
thine, not my ways, but your ways, not
my thoughts, but your thoughts.
That altar, that altar folks, that altar.
I'm not willing to fail because of success.
I'm not willing to falter because there's been
a history of faithfulness.
It's that altar.
That altar where I am given the privilege
and so are you of laying our lives
down.
That altar where my eyes once filled with
tears at the mention of the name of
Jesus.
That altar.
I remember one time there's a six-hour
movie called Jesus of Nazareth.
As a new Christian, I was invited to
somebody's house and they put it on, the
VCR player, and I couldn't get through it.
I was crying so hard.
I wept and I'm talking, I'm not talking
about just seeing the cross.
I'm talking about just hearing the words of
Jesus and knowing he died for me, knowing
I was called to walk with him.
I couldn't get through it for the tears,
for the gratitude.
And there was this something in my heart
that said, Jesus, all my life I want
to live for you.
I want to walk with you.
I want to glorify you.
Oh God, nowhere you asked me to go
is going to be too great, no sacrifice
too hard.
Getting back to that place where your heart
burned when his word was preached.
I remember hearing elder David's testimony, elder Bill's
testimony about how they sat in the balcony
and cried and their hearts burned when the
word of God was preached.
And the Lord took them from there and
now they're elders in this church, staying at
that place.
I loved the word of God.
I didn't care how long the message was
when I'd go to church, as long as
of course there was, the anointing was on
it.
When there's no anointing, it's a very lengthy
thing.
To get back to the place where my
heart burns when I read this word, because
I know this word is my life.
It's my protection.
It's my hope.
It's my future.
It's what keeps my past from catching me.
Hallelujah.
It's everything to me, old and new Testament.
To get back to the place where I
long for new things to obey.
That was the title of this message today.
I once longed for new things to obey.
I once longed.
God asked me to do something, give me
something to do, lead me, guide me.
Lord, it doesn't matter what it is.
It doesn't have to be big.
It can be a broom.
I don't really care.
God, just give me something to do that
will glorify you.
I want to be at work in your
kingdom.
Guide me, lead me.
I remember when I was asked to be
an elder in the church, I was probably
only five years a Christian then, or maybe
even less.
It was 36 miles to church from my
home.
I would drive home from work, and drive
back to church, and drive home, and drive
back, and drive home, and drive back.
I had to be in church, folks.
I had to be there.
It's what I was called to do.
To get back to a place where we
shunned evil and embraced good, and knew the
difference between the two.
Shunned what was evil, and if it was
doubtful, just put it away.
Shunned it.
I've told you this story before of being
a brand new Christian.
Brand new.
Going home after a night shift.
Stop in my favorite restaurant for bacon, and
eggs, and home fries like you've never seen
in your life, and a pint of beer.
So bacon, eggs, home fries, and a pint
of beer, and my Bible open on the
table.
Love God with all my heart.
Brand new Christian.
I've never heard a sermon on alcohol.
I don't know any of these things, but
I'm reading the Bible where the angel appeared
to Zacharias and Elizabeth and said, you're going
to have a son, and he's going to
be a righteous man.
He's going to be the forerunner of Christ,
and wine will never touch his lips.
I remember reading that, and I thought, huh,
I want to be a righteous man.
I don't want anything to hinder my life,
and so I just put my hand there
and pushed it away, and that was 30
something years ago now.
Where you shunned evil and embraced good.
Put away what you knew was wrong and
embraced what you knew was right.
Getting back to the place where you saw
being a servant as a high calling, not
something to be avoided.
Serving God, serving people, serving his church was
a high calling.
As a matter of fact, you saw it
as the highest calling.
When I was a young pastor, I used
to, after the church would leave, I was
the guy who would vacuum the carpets, clean
the floor, and to me that was as
much an act of worship as preaching the
gospel was.
A servant was a high calling.
I wasn't murmuring and complaining because I had
to do it, and nobody else would.
It was something God gave to me, and
I embraced it as a high calling.
I was called to serve the people, not
serve myself.
He renewed the altar of the Lord.
Took courage.
He put away the idols and renewed the
altar.
That's my altar call this morning, that we
renew the altar.
To get back, let me say it again,
to where your eyes filled with tears at
the mention of Jesus' name, to where your
heart burned when his word was preached, to
where you longed for new things to obey,
to where you shunned evil and embraced good,
to where being a servant was a high
calling.
Get back, folks.
Get back.
Many are at the middle of the journey,
and the voice of God is coming into
your heart and calling you home.
If you have doubtful practices in your life,
put them away.
If you have embraced sin, believing erroneously today
that there'll be no judgment for it, flee
that as quickly as you can.
Walk in what is right.
The new covenant is a wonderful, wonderful truth,
but it's only for the honest Christian.
It is not a contract for dishonesty.
It is not a covering for willful rebellion,
folks, against God.
There is no protection for a Uzziah, and
there is no protection for the person who
willfully embraces wrong.
If you don't believe that, then read Acts
chapter 5 and see what happened to Ananias
and Sapphira.
That was new covenant Christianity, and they died
by the hand of God.
And folks, the fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom.
Don't ever lose the fear of God.
God is wonderful, loving, just, and kind, but
you cannot mock him.
You cannot play games with a holy God.
There has to be an honesty in the
heart.
And I don't know about you, but I
want to finish right.
I want to finish right.
I want to come across that finish line
with my hands raised in the air.
I want to finish it saying like, Paul,
I have run the race.
I have fought the faith.
There is a crown of righteousness laid up
for me.
I want to finish the way Paul finished,
the way many, many saints of old have
finished, the way many leaders in the body
of Christ, many Christian people, good Christian people,
have finished throughout the course of history.
I don't ever want to get to the
place where I cannot be corrected.
Now, Father, I just thank you, Lord.
I know I've delivered your heart, and I'm
asking you in Jesus' name, God, be merciful
to me and be merciful to this church
and help us, Lord, in the days ahead.
Help us to build the right altar.
Help us not to become arrogant or proud
or angry with the voice of God.
Help us not to lock your voice in
a prison.
Jesus, give us the strength we need, Lord,
as a congregation.
And I pray now for those who need
to turn back to you, who need to
hear this voice.
Father, I ask in Jesus' name, give them
the courage to come to this altar.
When Asa heard these words, he took courage,
and he put away all the idols, and
he renewed the altar of the Lord.
That's my altar call today.
If you have something in your life that
you know needs to be made right, if
you're literally dying on the vine, something is
not right.
You have no passion for the things of
God anymore.
Your heart is like stone when the Word
of God is preached.
The only hope is that you come to
the Lord and say, God, help me to
get back to what I'm losing, in some
cases what you've lost.
Jesus, help me to finish the race with
my hands raised and my voice giving you
praise.
As we stand, those who feel that you
want to respond to this, I'm going to
ask you to come to the front of
the sanctuary, and in the annex, you could
stand between the screens, if you will, please.
And after a moment of worship, we're going
to get together, and we're going to pray.
Please, as you do, in the balcony, you
can go to either exit.
As we stand together in the main sanctuary,
just slip out.
Meet me at this altar, please, if you
will.
Let's do that today, and we're going to
pray together.
I felt
the Holy Spirit asking me to do something
a little different this morning.
For those that are at this altar and
those in the sanctuary, I'd like you to
pray for yourselves.
Pray for yourself individually in just a moment.
Just, God, help me.
Help me to deliver me from the sins
of the mind, from the sins of the
flesh.
Keep me in the spirit.
Give me an obedient heart.
Then I also want you to pray for
your pastors, for the elders, musicians, the choir.
Pray for this church body.
Pray for the testimony of this church.
Let's take five minutes right now, and would
you lift your hands to the Lord, and
just begin to pray.
Just begin to pray.
Lord, we just lift up this congregation.
God Almighty, from my own heart, Lord, I
just ask that I may finish this course
with joy.
I'm going to finish it righteously and honestly
in the sight of God and man.
God, deliver us, Lord, from everything, Lord, that
would hinder this journey, that would cause us
to fall short of what you have for
us individually as people and collectively as a
body.
I pray, God, for the leadership of this
church.
Father, I ask you, Lord, to keep our
hearts alive in you.
Keep us on the right altar.
Keep us, Almighty God, the servants to the
body of Christ.
God, keep us alive in your word.
Keep us alive in the prayer closet, Lord.
Keep us alive, O God.
Don't let us die on our watch, Lord.
Don't let us vacate the place that you've
given to us.
Don't let us start in the spirit and
begin to walk in the flesh.
Keep us from despising the word of God.
Help us, Father.
I pray for the musicians, God, in this
church, Lord, for everyone who touches an instrument,
God.
I pray for cleanness of hands and pureness
of heart and spirit, God.
A right motive, Lord, for even being on
this platform, O God.
Lord, just deliver, God, those who need deliverance
set free, those who need to be set
free.
I thank you for the choirs, the various
choirs in this church.
I pray, God, Lord, for a touch of
heaven to come upon all who are losing
heart, Father.
Let the song be renewed.
Let it be new.
Let it be sweet.
Let it be passionate.
Let it be powerful, O God.
Let it be, Lord, as the day of
our salvation, the day of our conversion.
Let the gratitude in us never diminish.
Let our song never become just wrote.
Let it not be something we just do.
Deliver us, God, from a religious spirit.
Keep us alive in the spirit of almighty
God.
Oh, Jesus, the Son of God, the Son
of God, keep us till the end, Lord.
Keep us, Lord, till the last day.
Let this be a place where your testimony
burns, God, where your heart is alive, where
your word is appreciated, God.
Let there be tears of repentance and joy
here constantly, Lord.
God, bring the stranger into this house and
let them find the answer to the deepest
desires and needs of their heart.
Let them not see death and hypocrisy, O
God.
Let this be a house of truth and
reality.
Let there be a genuine love between brethren,
O God.
Oh, Jesus.
We ask you, Lord, for the privilege of
being on the right altar, that altar of
laying our lives down as a living sacrifice
for the purposes of God.
Not for our purposes, Lord, but for yours.
Not our will, but your will, God.
Not our plans, but your plans.
Not our future, but your future for us,
Lord.
God, thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Lord, God.
Thank you, Lord, that you'll send an absolute
revival from heaven into this house and through
this house into the city, O God.
Father, we thank you for this, Lord Jesus
Christ.
My God, keep us, Lord.
Keep us, Lord Jesus Christ.
Keep us, Jesus.
We stand before your throne by invitation this
morning and we acknowledge we can't keep ourselves,
O God.
We don't know right from wrong, Lord, but
you do, and you can speak it into
our hearts.
You can speak it into our minds, O
God.
You can guide us.
You can lead us.
On our part, all we have to have
is the desire for truth, Lord.
The desire to walk in the spirit.
The desire to do what is right.
God, we have that desire today, Lord.
Deliver us from evil.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us
from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory, both now and forever.
There's no other name, no other kingdom, no
other power.
There's nothing else worth living for but you,
Jesus.
My God, deliver us from the deceitfulness of
the human heart.
God, deliver us.
Keep us from it, Lord.
Keep us from it, Lord Jesus.
Your glory has always been in this house.
Let your glory stay in this house, Lord.
Let the glory of the latter temple be
greater than the former.
My God, my God, my God, my God,
my God.
My God, we want to live.
We want to serve you, Lord.
We want to love you, Jesus.
With all of our hearts, we want to
love you, Lord.
We want to love you, God.
We want our worship to be true.
We want our lives to be right.
God, it doesn't matter what men say.
It matters what heaven says.
It matters what you see, Lord.
Help us.
Keep us, O God.
Deliver us from every trap of the devil.
God, deliver us.
Keep us, Lord.
Keep us, Lord Jesus.
Father, we thank you for this, Lord.
We thank you, God.
We thank you, Jesus.
Thank you for these divine moments in your
house.
O Lord, when lives are changed, they're turned,
God.
They're set on an absolutely different course.
Thank you for the hearts that people have
to obey you to hear you, God.
Thank you, Lord, that we're not locking you
in a prison.
Thank you, Jesus, that we can still hear
your voice, Lord.
Thank you that we can hear your word.
Thank you, mighty God.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, God.
We give you praise and glory this day,
O God.
We thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, God.
Hallelujah.
This choir's going to have a new song.
A new song, Lord.
A brand new song.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Lamb of God.
A brand new song, a new depth, a
new passion, a new power by the grace
of Almighty God.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Lamb of God.
We bless your holy name, O God.
Bless your holy name.
We bless you.
Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord.
We bless you, Lord.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, God.
Hallelujah.
Shouts of joy abound in the tents of
the righteous of the Lord.
It's not a flesh-induced joy.
It's a joy of the Holy Ghost.
Shouts of joy abound.
Praise God.