Service Engine Soon!

As Mr. Sidney has already pointed out this morning,

we're going to go over 14 scriptures, Lord willing,

but it's not going to be as bad as you think.

We are not going to do an in -depth study of

all 14, unless you all want to, and we can spend

a little time and break each one down and look

at the Greek and we can see what it says, but

we won't do that this morning. So we'll try to

get through these pretty quickly. That's one

reason I put all of these scriptures in the bulletin.

It's because we are going to go through them

pretty quickly. And you may not have time to

turn to all of them, but I want you to know where

they are. Because maybe there will be some of

these scriptures that we look at today that may

be a good scripture for you to think about. It

may be something that hits close to home. It

may be something that shakes you up a little

bit. So we're going to pray, and then we'll work

our way through some of these things. God, I

come to you today. I thank you for all these

people that are here. I thank you that you let

us be part of this church and this fellowship.

I thank you for being good to us, for providing

for us, for loving us, dear Lord. And I pray,

God, that you just would pour your spirit out

on us today, that we come into this place with

a lot on our mind of things that we have done

or need to do or want to do. A lot of things,

God, that are constantly competing for our attention.

But I pray, God, that in these few minutes that

your Holy Spirit would speak to us, that you

meet us where we are, dear Lord. Maybe there

are some today that are just struggling. There

are some that are seeking. There are some that

just aren't really sure what's going on in life

or what to make of it, dear Lord, trying to find

their way, dear Lord. This is us. This is who

we are as humans. We struggle. And so, God, I

pray that today that you just bring us comfort

and guidance and encouragement, that you would

help us to draw closer to you and that you would

help us to seek Jesus Christ. God, I pray that

you'd be with me, that you'd help me to preach

and teach in a way that brings glory and honor

to you. Take away any fear or pride that's within

me, and let us all seek you in these next few

minutes. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. It is a new year. There's something about

turning that calendar page. It's really January

1st is no different than the last day of December.

But there's something about flipping a page in

a calendar. There's something about going from

a 25 to a 26 that makes us stop for a minute

and think. I want to do some things better. I

want to change some things. And we start out

and we say, I'm going to eat healthier, I'm going

to exercise more, I'm going to read my Bible

more, I'm going to come to church more, or whatever

it is. We have all of these things, and there's

something in our mind that triggers us to say,

there's some areas that I want to do better.

And that's a good thing for us. That's a good

thing for us to recognize those things physically

and spiritually. It's a good time at the start

of a new year for us to examine ourselves. Now,

I'm going to put a picture up on the screen,

and I want you all to tell me, does anybody know

what that is? That's a check engine light. Some

of y 'all are thinking, that's money. That's

what that is. Because that pops up, right? Every

once in a while on your car, you crank it up,

it's been running fine, and all of a sudden,

the check engine light comes on. Service engine

soon. Okay, well, praise the Lord nowadays. Well,

maybe not, praise the Lord. I don't know if it's

better or not. Everything is electronic. And

so back in the day, cars were real simple. They

had to have a spark, some gas, and some air.

And as long as you got that, it was going to

run. And if you didn't have that, you didn't

have much to look at to find a problem. But nowadays,

you've got computers, and you've got sensors,

and you've got all this stuff. But thankfully,

when that pops up on your car or truck, You can

go down to the mechanic shop. You don't even

have to now. You can plug a thing in yourself

and see on your smartphone. But you go down to

the mechanic shop, and they plug something in

under your dash. They plug in a little computer,

and it does a diagnostic test. So it runs, and

it checks all the stuff on your car to see if

it can diagnose what the problem is. Now, sometimes

we know that there's something going on, right?

we feel a vibration or there's a weird smell

or a weird sound. And boy, that's something.

You go to the mechanic trying to explain the

sound and you're like, well, this is squeaking.

And he's like, well, does it sound more like

a cat slimed down a tin roof or like a train

slamming on brakes? And you're trying to figure

out how to describe it to him because your car

will never do what it's doing when you get it

to the mechanic. But we go and they do a diagnostic.

They have to diagnose what the problem is. And

sometimes we have an idea that there is a problem.

We can hear it, we can smell it, we can feel

it. And other times we don't even know that there's

a problem. Sometimes we go in the shop and we

don't even know that there's something going

on and they run that diagnostic test and they

say, hey, you need a new O2 sensor or something,

whatever it may be. And so sometimes in life

when it comes to our vehicles, we have to have

a diagnosis to see what is going on. Well, our

spiritual life is really no different. Because

sometimes there are things in our life that we

know just aren't quite right. They just, they

don't, it don't feel right. There are things

in our life, it just, it doesn't feel right.

It just, we're just not running good, spiritually

speaking. We just, there's something within us

and we... and we feel tension or we feel sorrow

or we feel burden or we feel stress or whatever

it is there, sometimes we feel and we just know

that there's something that's not right. Other

times there are things in our life that aren't

right, and we don't even realize that those things

are there or maybe that we need to change in

those ways. Now, when it comes to our car, when

you start getting those symptoms that something's

going on, you better check it out because it

could. It could be more serious than you think.

And so we have a couple of options when we realize

that our check engine light is on. We can take

our car to the shop because we know something's

going on, and we can get it fixed, or we can

just put a piece of black tape over it. Some

of you have done that before. I'm tired of seeing

the check engine light. How do I make it go off?

Well, you get your little piece of black tape

about one inch by one inch, and you stick it

over it. And you can cover up the check engine

light, but there's still a problem there. And

when you know there's a problem there, you don't

want to cover it up. You need to deal with it

and fix it, or it could lead to a disaster. And

so spiritually speaking, the same is true. Sometimes

there are some things in our hearts, some things

in our souls, some things in our life that aren't

good, that we need to get checked out. And sometimes

we know that those things are in our heart and

in our life. And we just pretend like they're

not there. And that's not good for us. That's

not healthy for us. And so we've got to get it

fixed. We need a diagnostic test run on our heart

to see what's going on in there and what's wrong

and what the problems are and what's needed to

fix it. And maybe, just maybe, it's going to

reveal some things that we didn't even know were

there that need to be addressed. And our diagnostic

test for us to check our heart is the Word of

God. It's our Bible. Now, I want to ask you,

when's the last time that you read your Bible?

You may read it every day. Praise the Lord. You

may read a chapter a day. You may read three

chapters a day. You might read a verse a day.

You might have hadn't picked up your Bible in

a month. You say, well, I come to church. Well,

praise the Lord. That's good. We as individuals,

we need to spend some time in God's word because

that's what we're going to use to check ourselves.

That's the way God's going to speak to us. We're

going to read these words of God and they're

going to begin to reveal things that maybe we

didn't even know were there in our life. It's

going to begin to convict us and kind of show

us, wait a minute, you don't need to be living

this way. You need to change this. And so just

as our cars need to be plugged into that computer,

well, we as Christians need to be plugged into

the Word of God. And what's it going to reveal

to us? Well, it may reveal more than you realize,

more than you know. It may provide the solution

to your problem that you didn't even know existed,

but it's right in the Word of God. We're going

to go through some scriptures real quickly. You

can jot them down. If you want to try to turn,

you can. But I'm going to go through them quickly

just to give you an idea of what I'm talking

about. When I'm talking about the Word of God

is good for us to help repair our problems and

show us our deficiencies and help us perform

up to our full standard that God wants us to.

That's why the Word of God is so important. Here's

something that the Word of God talks about. If

we plug into the Word of God, you may come across

the topic of... Worry. Does anybody in here worry?

You don't have to raise your hand. I know you

do. Every single one of you in here worry. I

suspect that that's probably one of the biggest

things that everybody in the world deals with.

It's probably very few people that don't struggle

with worry. And you might be sitting there saying,

but you don't even understand what I got to worry

about. And some of you, while I've been talking

the last five minutes, are worrying. Some of

you are worrying, I'm going to go through all

these scriptures, it's going to take three hours.

Some of you are worrying about how you're going

to pay your bills. You've got a bill due tomorrow.

You've got your check engine light in your car.

You're worried about how you're going to pay

for that. You're worried about your kids. You're

worried about somebody that's sick. You're worried

about a neighbor. You're worried about a friend.

You're worried about church. You're worried about

something. Well, we plug into the Word of God.

What does it tell us? In Matthew chapter 6, verses

Matthew 6:25

25 and 26, it says, this is Jesus speaking, by

the way, This is why I tell you, don't worry

about your life, what you will eat or what you

will drink, or about your body, what you will

wear. Isn't life more than food and the body

more than clothing? Look at the birds of the

sky. They don't sow or reap or gather into barns.

yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you

worth more than they? That's a pretty good verse.

That's a pretty good verse for us to plug into

the Word of God and say, okay, I'm worrying.

What am I going to do? I have a problem. Man,

things just don't feel like it. I just feel this

stress. What's my diagnosis? Well, my diagnosis

is that I'm worried, okay? We've established

that. So what does Jesus say? Jesus says, take

a deep breath. He says, know this. God loves

you. He cares for you. Look at the way God cares

for the smallest things in the world. The birds

of the sky and the grass of the field, the flowers

of the field. They're here today and they're

gone tomorrow. And yet God provides for them.

They don't worry. How much more so will God?

Provide for you. Now Jesus says here, do not

worry. If Jesus says do not do something and

we do it, then that's a sin. Now we might not

think of worry as a sin. And I'm not telling

you that I have mastered not worrying. I get

it. Because man knows sooner than you stop worrying,

it comes right back. You start worrying again.

But maybe we find comfort in the word of God

today. Maybe you are worried today, and maybe

you just need these words of Jesus of reassurance

that you have to trust the Lord, not depend on

yourself, not get overwhelmed by the things of

the world, but know that God is watching out

for you today. And he may not give you everything

that you want, but he's going to take care of

you. And there are plenty of us in this room.

that could testify to that today. That there

have been seasons in our life that God has taken

care of us. That as a church, that there have

been times that have been tough, that God has

provided and taken care of us. So we plug into

the Word of God, and it helps us to see that

we don't need to worry. If worry is your problem,

this is a good scripture to turn to. Here's another

problem that some of you may face. Anxiety, kind

of in the same family as worry. Does anybody

ever get anxious about anything? Probably all

of us. Boy, we get anxious. We get worked up.

And, man, it's just bad when you have an anxiety

attack. Some of you really had some serious anxiety

attacks, I bet. And, man, that anxiety is overwhelming

because in the midst of our anxiety, we're not

sure how we're going to make it out. What am

I going to do? What do I need to do? And we just

get in this panicked state where we can't do

anything. And we just feel the weight of that.

And some of you come into this building today,

perhaps, and you feel the weight of that anxiety.

Some of you listening online feel the weight

of that anxiety. Here's a great scripture. Okay,

we got a problem. We feel it. We feel, we know

there's a problem. We plug into the word of God.

What does it say? In Philippians chapter four,

verses six and seven, it says, do not be anxious

about anything. Well, that's easier said than

done, right? I can stand up here all day and

tell you don't be anxious, but it's not that

easy. But praise the Lord, not only does the

Bible tell us not to be anxious, it doesn't just

stop there. It tells us what to do. Listen to

what the Scripture says. Don't be anxious about

anything, but in every situation, by prayer and

petition with thanksgiving, present your request

to God. and the peace of God, which transcends

all understanding, will guard your hearts and

minds in Christ Jesus. Man, that's good advice.

Be anxious for nothing, okay? So what am I going

to do, God? You're telling me not to be anxious.

What do you want me to do? Well, the answer is

pretty simple, and we probably know the answer,

but do you do it? Be anxious for nothing but

in everything. Through prayer and supplication,

let your requests be made known to God. Are you

praying to God about your struggles, about your

anxiety, about the things that have you feeling

this way? Well, the scripture, man, this is a

good scripture to plug into. If you got stuff

going on in your heart and your life, man, you

might want to jot this one down. You may want

to memorize it. I don't do good at memorizing

scriptures, but this is one of the first scriptures

I memorized. And maybe it's good for some of

you to think about and bookmark or memorize.

Because that anxiety, man, it comes. It seems

like it just comes more and more often. But the

cure for that anxiety is to take your problems

to God. Say, God, I need you. I just feel the

weight of this situation in my life, whatever

it may be. God, I need you. God, I feel the weight

of my sin. God, I need you to forgive me. God,

I need you to be my strength. I need you to help

me. And what does it say? That if we pour our

heart out to the Lord, if we let our requests

be made known to God, what does it say? That

we'll experience the peace of God which transcends

all understanding. Boy, in the midst of our struggles

and our anxiety, we say, I don't understand how

I can get out of this. I don't understand how

I can get any freedom from this. God can give

you freedom from it. He can give you a peace

that you can't understand until you have received

it from him. You struggle with anxiety today,

plug into the word of God. The scripture may

help you to get through those tough times. Here's

another problem. Maybe some of you in your life,

you got something going on, you plug into the

word of God and you begin to read about fear.

Boy, I bet we've all been afraid before. Sometimes

we are afraid of things that don't really amount

to a whole lot. We're afraid of the monster under

the bed or whatever it may be. But even those

fears are real to us. Sometimes we're fearful

of more serious things. What if I lose my job

and I can't provide for my family? What if something

happens to my loved one who's in the hospital?

I mean, there are real fears that come up in

our life. Okay, God's put something on my heart.

He's kind of put it on my heart that I need to

go talk to a friend or a family member and share

some scripture with them or pray with them. God,

I don't know if I can do that or not. I'm pretty

afraid. I don't know God. And there's a lot of

things in our life that bring about fear. But

we plug into the Word of God. Here's one thing

the Word of God says about fear. Joshua 1, verse

Joshua 1:9

9. God says, Haven't I commanded you be strong

and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged

for the Lord your God is with you wherever you

go. Now that's pretty reassuring. That's pretty

reassuring because the truth is that you and

I are weak. You know you're weak and I know you're

weak. We're strong to a certain extent, but there

is a weakness that is in us. There are things

that we go up against and we say, I don't know

if I can do this. I don't know that I can make

it. with my loved one who has passed. God, I

don't know that I can make it in this marriage.

God, I don't know that I can make it through

this horrible situation. I don't know that I

can do this thing that you're calling me to,

God. I just don't know. I'm too afraid of what

might happen if I do this or of what the future

may hold for me. And there's a fear that just

kind of grips and holds on to us. Boy, those

words that God spoke to Joshua, those are good

words. He spoke these words when Joshua was about

to lead God's people into the promised land.

Moses had got them right up to the doorstep.

And God said, that's going to be Joshua. You're

going to be the one that's going to do it. So

it's your turn now, Joshua. You're going to lead

my people, which probably was a couple of me

and maybe more by this point of God's people.

It probably was a lot of folks. You're going

to lead them into a foreign land. This land ain't

empty, by the way. There's a lot of people living

there, and they're not going to be happy you're

coming. But you're just going to go in, and you're

going to live there. But don't worry. But don't

worry. This was a scary thing for Joshua. I expect

it would have been. And maybe that's why God

tells him multiple times here in this first chapter.

Do not be afraid, because God says, I will be

with you wherever you go. Maybe you need that

reminder today to know that God will be with

you wherever you go. Here's something we struggle

with. We plug into the word of God in our life

and our struggles. And what does it talk about?

It talks about temptation. Is anybody in here

ever tempted? Absolutely. Now, everybody's temptations

are different. We need to realize that. There

are things that other people do and you say,

I don't know how they can do that. They just

need to stop doing that. Well, hold up a second.

There may be some things that you're doing that

you need to stop doing too. But it's a lot easier

for us to tell everybody they need to stop their

sins. Maybe we need to stop our sins. So temptations

are all around us. They're not all the same.

Some of you may be tempted to lie. Some of you

may be tempted to steal. Whatever your temptation

may be. Our temptations are not all the same,

but they are all temptations nonetheless. What's

the Bible say about temptation? In 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 10:13

10, verse 13, it says, No temptation has overtaken

you except what is common to humanity. God is

faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted

beyond what you are able. But with the temptation,

he will also provide a way of escape so that

you are able to bear it. Okay, temptations are

going to come. But praise the Lord for the word

of God because you're going to be struggling.

Maybe this afternoon. Maybe later this week.

Maybe next month. There's going to be a point

in your life where you are going to be tempted

to do something you shouldn't do and you know

you shouldn't do it. You're going to be tempted

when somebody says something to you or does something

to you, you are going to be tempted to open your

mouth and just let them have it. You are going

to be tempted to punch them in the nose. You

are going to be tempted to say something, to

do something. You are going to be tempted in

some way. Them temptations are going to come.

But the Word of God says, look. God's going to

be with you. He's going to give you a way out.

And maybe in that temptation, we need to remember

this verse. We need to plug into the word of

God. We need to remember verses like this and

say, God, I need you to show me the way out.

God, I'm tempted to drive to the bar. God, I'm

passing by. God, I need you to give me a road

to turn off the other way. God, I need a way

to avoid my temptation. God, my mouth is about

to open. God, I need you to help me to have the

strength to walk out of the room. God, show me

the way out. Let me see the way out. Convict

me of the way out. God, I don't want to give

in to this temptation. So God, you need to help

me. And God will help us if we'll seek him. We

don't have to give in to our temptations. There

is a way out. And praise the Lord, we plug into

the word of God and it reminds us of that. How

about freedom? Scripture talks about freedom.

That's something that we probably all seek and

desire. We all have those temptations that we've

given in to just a few more times than we want.

And we just keep giving in to them. And they're

addictions and they're things that we crave.

And it may be a chocolate chip cookie or it may

be that next drink or it may be that next whatever

it is. It may be that thing that we're craving

and that we just keep giving in to that temptation

and it's unhealthy for us in some way, spiritually

or physically, and we just keep giving in and

giving in and giving in and we say, God, I'm

tired of giving in. Well, I want to tell you

today that there is freedom from your sin, whatever

it may be, that temptation, that sin that so

easily ensnares you, there is freedom from that

today. God's Word says in John chapter... 8 verse

36. Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you

will be free indeed. Man, that's a good verse.

You want to be set free today? You can be set

free by Jesus Christ. You don't have to let your

sin get the better of you. You might fail again.

I won't say that you won't give in to that temptation,

but I'll tell you, you can stand up to the enemy.

You can stand up to the temptation with the power

of Jesus Christ, but you cannot do it alone.

But if you will seek him, you will find him.

And you will find freedom that brings a peace

that you have never imagined. There are some

things that some of you may have struggled with

your whole life, but I want to tell you today,

there is freedom in Jesus Christ. And I'm not

telling you it's always going to be easy from

this point forward, but I'm telling you, and

I promise you that if you would seek Jesus Christ

with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength,

that he will give you deliverance and you will

experience a freedom that you have never felt

before. And how do we know these things? We know

them by plugging into the Word of God. And it

reveals stuff to us that maybe we already know

is there, and it reveals other things to us as

we continue to read it that maybe we weren't

aware of, that God said were wrong, or that they

were things that we were doing in our life. How

about depression? Does anybody in here ever feel

depressed? Man, depression's a serious thing.

It gets you down. You don't want to be around

people. You don't want to come to church. You

don't want to read the Word of God. You just,

everybody has given up on you. Everybody's your

enemy. Nothing is going to work out. Your life

is the worst that there's ever been in the history

of the world. And you just, you see no hope in

life. There is no glimmer of hope in your life.

Nobody cares for you. Man, when we get in that

place, that's when depression begins to set in.

Nobody cares about me. God doesn't even care

about me. Well, I want to tell you that's a lie

today. God does care about you. God cares about

you more than you could possibly realize. How

do we know that? Well, we know that when we plug

into the Word of God. 1 Peter 5, 7 says, casting

all your care on him because he cares for you.

There's a lot of cares that we have. Man, there's

a lot of burden in this room. There's a lot of

people in here. And if we begin to make a list

of the cares and the worries and the anxieties

and the burdens that we have, we'd be here all

day writing those things out. And you may say,

nobody cares. But I want to tell you that God

cares today. He wants you to put your cares on

Him. God cares today. He loves you today. He

has not forgotten you today. If you would just

seek Him, I'm telling you that I'm not guaranteeing

you that your life is going to just magically

get better. But I'm telling you when you seek

the Lord, you're going to find a strength and

a freedom and a peace that you never knew existed.

Don't let your depression get the best of you

today. Know that God cares about you. What else

does the Bible tell us when we begin to plug

in? Well, it talks a little bit about greed and

the love of money. 1 Timothy 6, verse 9 says,

1 Timothy 6:9

But those who want to be rich fall into temptation,

a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires

which plunge people into ruin and destruction.

Watch out. Now, Most of us in this room, we would

probably say, oh, we're not rich. Well, hold

up a second. Maybe you're not rich compared to

some of the people you know that have the big

mansions and the fancy cars or the private jets,

but there's a lot of people in this world. And

I would venture to say that most Americans are

probably richer than 95 % of the people in the

world. There's a lot of people in the world that

have not eaten today. They will not eat today.

And I would venture to say that most of you have

something in your pantry and your refrigerator.

It may not be what you want, but you probably

have something in there. And if you don't, just

hit me up after church and we're going to see

that you're took care of. But if we compare ourselves

to the billionaires of the world, then we're

not rich. But when we begin to look in the rest

of the world, perhaps we are richer than we think.

Boy, we begin to accumulate that wealth, and

we begin to accumulate those materialistic things,

and pretty soon we just want more and more and

more, and we become greedy. Boy, people become

greedy. Guess what happens? People start doing

a whole lot of crazy stuff for money. People

do crazy stuff for money. I ain't talking about

just sticking their hand at the cash register

at the grocery store. I mean, people will come

up with plots to kill people for money. I mean,

that's what greed will do. And maybe we don't

realize we have a love of money. But boy, we

plug into the word of God and it begins to kind

of run through our soul. And all of a sudden,

it makes us aware that maybe there's a problem

in our life that we did not know was there. That

error code pops up. Uh -oh, you've got the greed

error going on in your life. You need to fix

this. Why? Because that greed is going to lead

to your destruction. For the love of money is

the root of all kinds of evil. Now, money in

and of itself is not evil. No more than a gun's

evil. But boy, when you begin to use it for evil,

when you begin to use it to do things that are

not what God desires, when you begin to trust

in those things of the world, all of the sudden

we have a problem. So praise God. That if we

would just read the word of God, there is so

much instruction there. Maybe we don't want to

hear it. Maybe we know there's some things in

our life that shouldn't be there, some things

that need to be fixed. And we just take our little

black tape and we just put it right over that

check engine light because we don't want to deal

with it. But the things that we don't want to

deal with will destroy us spiritually. So if

we know things are there, then we need to seek

a solution for those things. And we need to begin

to get into God's word and say, okay, God, these

are the things I know I'm struggling with. Help

me with these things and reveal to me the things

that I'm not aware of. And the moment we plug

into God's word, it begins to diagnose our problems.

And praise the Lord. Here's another one of our

things that we may struggle with. Pride. Anybody

struggle with that? Maybe you do. Maybe you say,

I'm not proud. I'm as humble as anybody in this

world. Well, maybe you need to listen to this

next verse. Maybe you are a little proud. Maybe

pride creeps into our hearts more than we realize.

What does the scripture say? Proverbs chapter

Proverbs 11:2

11, verse 2. When pride comes, disgrace follows.

But with humility comes wisdom. Okay, pride may

pop itself up, but be aware what's going to follow

that pride. It's going to be disgrace. Boy, pride

comes before a fall. So the moment we start thinking

that we are all that and a bag of chips, yeah,

I'm so cool, I'm the best there's ever been,

ain't nothing going to happen to me, you better

watch out because we begin to let our guard down.

We begin to make foolish decisions. We begin

to trust in ourself and not God. And the next

thing you know, we have fallen quick. I mean

quick. So, man. If you've not read the book of

Proverbs, I would encourage you to start 2026

off reading the book of Proverbs. It'd be a great

book to start and read through in the month of

January and February and March and April all

the way to 2027. Because you begin to read things

like that in the word of God and it begins to

reveal things about foolishness in there. And

all of a sudden you realize, wait a minute, I

might be the fool. We don't like to think of

ourselves as the fool, but when we plug into

the word of God, it says the fool does X, Y,

and Z. And you say, wait a minute, I do all those

things. And so the word of God humbles us if

we'll read it. But boy, we don't plug into the

word of God. We don't address our pride. Next

thing you know, we're falling quick. A couple

more. Another. that some of us may deal with

is loneliness. Anybody ever here feel lonely?

It kind of goes along with some of the rest of

the things we talked about, depression and fear.

Those things all kind of go together, but sometimes

we feel lonely. Sometimes we feel like we're

walking through this world on our own. But again,

we plug into the Word of God, we realize that

that's not true. Psalm... Verse 4 says, Yea,

though I walk through the valley of the shadow

of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with

me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Boy,

you're walking through some dark valleys, some

of you. Maybe you are today. Maybe you have in

the past. Maybe you will in the future. Boy,

we walk through those valleys and it feels like

we're a lone wolf. We're on this journey. This

is dark. This is scary. Death is upon me. All

these fears, all these struggles are upon me.

But what does the Lord say in the Psalm? But

thou art with me. David says, thou art with me.

God, I know that I am not alone. I am walking

through this dark valley in my life, but I know

that I am not alone. Man, the Bible is full of

good verses like this. that remind us that we

are not alone, that God loves us, that God cares

for us. But the only way we can know these things

is to read the Word of God, to be plugged into

the Word of God. Here's one some of us may struggle

with, lust. Anybody ever struggle with lust before?

Don't raise your hand. Here's what Jesus says,

Matthew 5, verse 28. But I tell you, everyone

Matthew 5:28

who looks at a woman to lust for her has already

committed adultery within his heart. Well, that's

pretty serious. Boy, we've all probably looked

at somebody, men, women, had an unpure thought,

thought something we shouldn't have thought,

let our mind go a little too far with that thought.

What does Jesus say? He says, if you've lusted,

you've committed adultery in your heart. Well,

what is he doing here? He's saying your sin's

worse than you think it is. You think, boy, I

could do this little thing. This isn't hurting

anything. I'm just looking. I'm not following

through. I'm not touching. But what Jesus says

is your sin is worse than you think it is. And

these little things you do are having more of

an effect on your heart than you realize that

they're having. Galatians chapter 5 verse 16

Galatians 5:16

says, I say then, walk by the Spirit and you

will not carry out the desire of the flesh. All

right, we have these fleshly lustful desires

and fleshly desires to do plenty of other things.

So what does Scripture say? Okay, here's the

problem. You lust in your heart and guess what?

It's worse than you think. But the Scripture

also says, don't walk in the flesh, walk in the

Spirit. Well, how do we walk in the Spirit? Well,

one, we have to accept Jesus Christ. We have

to have the Holy Spirit in us. We have to know

the Word of God. So we have to plug into the

Word of God. And finally, there's plenty of things

we could go through. This is a short list, but

anger. Does anybody in here ever struggle with

anger? Maybe you do. Maybe you don't. Here's

what the Scripture says, Proverbs 14, verse 29.

Proverbs 14:29

A patient person shows great understanding, but

a quick -tempered one promotes foolishness. Are

you quick -tempered? Are you quick to anger?

Are you wise or are you foolish? Proverbs chapter

Proverbs 15:1

15 verse 1 says, A gentle answer turns away anger,

but a harsh word stirs up wrath. Do you struggle

with anger in your life? Well, you plug into

the word of God, those proverbs are pretty good

reminder for us that we need to keep our mouth

shut. Now, this is not an exhaustive list of

all of our sins. And maybe you struggle with

some of these things that we've looked at today.

Or maybe you struggle with other things. But

I want to tell you the word of God is good. If

you would plug into it and just say, God, I need

a diagnostic test. God, I want to open my heart.

up to you i want to read your word i want to

let it speak to me and reveal things that i need

to see god i want to see what's going on in my

heart and we begin to read god's word and it

begins to work on our heart and it begins to

reveal things to us here's what it'll reveal

to us romans chapter 3 verse 10 says there was

Romans 3:10

no one righteous not even one that's the diagnosis

for you and i Is that we are evil and that we

are sinful people. That we have plugged into

the word of God and it has diagnosed that there

is a big problem and that is our sinfulness.

No different than when you go to the mechanic

and they plug in that diagnostic tool and they

come back and they tell you that your spider

valve actuating agitator is broke. You're going

to have to replace it in your car. They come

back to you and they say, we have run this test.

We have diagnosed that there is a big problem

that you have to fix right now. Boy, don't you

love it? You go to the shop. You get your oil

changed or you're getting something done. And

they come in there. Y 'all have probably had

this happen before. They come in there and they've

got your in -cabin air filter. And they're holding

this thing up. Boy, it's covered in dust. And

they're flopping this thing around. And they

say, you're going to have to replace this in

-cabin air filter. You are breathing in this

air. Do you know how dangerous this is? I said,

I wouldn't even put my dog in this car. And you're

probably riding your kids around. You better

change this in -cabin air filter. How much is

it? It's $50. You need to change this thing.

I'm surprised you made it over here today alive,

breathing in this air. Boy, and they come. They

say, you've got a big problem. You've got to

fix this. You've got to fix it right now. And

I say, okay, put it in there. $50 here. Put it

in there. I need it. Thanks for saving my life.

And then they come back and they say. I'm not

making this up. And they say, we've also got

this disinfectant spray that we'll spray on it

for $15 to kill anything that goes through it.

I said, look, here's my card. Take $30. Spray

it twice. Whatever you got to do. Sometimes we

go to the mechanic shop and their diagnosis is

not really too serious. Nothing that we need

to take very serious. But when it comes to the

word of God, And when it comes to our soul, and

God's word begins to speak to us, and we begin

to see the dirtiness and the nastiness there,

it's far worse than our in -cabin air filter.

It's a serious problem that needs to be dealt

with. So the diagnosis is that we are sinners,

that our hearts are evil as they can be. That

we do and we think and we say things that we

shouldn't do. That God does not want us to do.

That God does not approve of. That God says don't

do these things and we do them and we're so full

of evil and sin and it weighs us down. That's

the diagnosis. But here is the fix. Here's the

fix. Ezekiel chapter 36 verses 26 and 27. I will

Ezekiel 36:26

give you a new heart and put a new spirit within

you. I will remove your heart of stone and give

you a heart of flesh. I will place my spirit

within you and cause you to follow my statutes

and carefully observe my ordinances. What's our

diagnosis? Our diagnosis is our heart is horrible.

But what's the fix? Your heart's horrible, but

here's what it's going to take to fix it. It's

going to take a new heart. And that's exactly

what God told his people. In Ezekiel. He said,

I want to take out your heart of stone. I want

to take out your sinful heart. I want to put

my spirit within you. I want to transform you.

I want to make you into a new man, into a new

woman. I don't want you to live in your sin anymore.

I want to give you freedom. I want to show you

love. I want to give you grace and I want to

give you peace. God says, you got a bad heart,

but I want to change that. I want to change that

into something beautiful and something pure and

something that's been washed as white as snow.

And we'll go to the mechanic shop, and they come

back with their diagnosis and the fix. They tell

us, here's what you need, and what's the first

question we ask? How much is that going to cost?

You may be asking that question today. You said,

I get it. I didn't even need to have a diagnostic.

I know my heart is evil. We know our heart's

evil. We know we need a new heart. What's that

going to cost? It's not going to cost you anything.

But it costs Jesus everything. Jesus Christ gave

his life on a cross so that you could be forgiven.

He shed his blood so that if you would Call out

to him if you would seek him, if you would repent

of your sins, that he would forgive you of those

sins, that he would wash those things away, that

the Holy Spirit would come and indwell in you.

If you would just seek him today, if you would

just seek his word today, if you would just plug

in to the word of God today and let it speak

to you, you may find that there's a lot of fixes

for your soul and for your heart. that God wants

to work in your life if you would just let Him.

You may find that there are some things that

God wants to work on that maybe you didn't even

know were there if you would just plug in to

the Word of God and let Him. All you have to

do is follow Jesus Christ. He's paid it all.

He's paid the price. He's covered the cost so

that your heart can be made new. 1 Peter 2, verse

1 Peter 2:24

24 says, He himself bore our sins in his body

on the tree, so that having died to sins, we

might live for righteousness. You have been healed

by his wounds. Have you been healed today? Spiritually,

he wants to heal you. He wants to forgive you.

You don't have to give in to the temptations.

You don't have to be overcome by fear and anxiety.

You don't have to feel alone or afraid. You don't

have to live in depression. You don't have to

live in addiction. Jesus Christ has paid the

price. If you would only ask him for forgiveness

today, he would forgive your sins. Let's pray.

God, we thank you for your good word. We thank

you that we can look at it, that it can encourage

us, that it can correct us, that it can convict

us, dear Lord, that it can guide us. God, we

have to be in your word to be able to experience

these truths. So I pray, dear Lord, that if there

is one here today that does not know Jesus Christ,

that maybe there was a passage we read today.

Maybe there was a truth that was spoken today

that just hit home. Maybe there are some today

that are struggling with their fear and their

depression and their temptations and addictions.

The things that are common to all of us, dear

Lord, we all have these struggles, but maybe

there are some today, God, that are just struggling

so hard they just need some help. And I pray

that they would know that that help comes through

Jesus Christ. I pray that they would seek him

right now. That they would pray to you. That

they would ask for forgiveness today. God, maybe

there are some that have never known Jesus Christ.

They've never trusted him. But maybe today they

realize that their sins need to be forgiven.

Maybe they realize that the peace that they so

desperately seek is found only in Jesus Christ.

God, maybe there's some in here today and maybe

they're yours. But maybe they just hadn't been

in your word. Maybe they've heard it. Now you

know it. But maybe they've been putting a little

piece of black tape over all those warning lights

that's been going off. I pray today, dear Lord,

that they'd rip it off. that they would open

their heart, that they would let your word speak

to them, your spirit would work on them, God,

that they would repent. God, I pray that everyone

in here today will know that you love them, that

you care for them, and that Jesus Christ died

on the cross. So God, I pray that you would help

us to be in your word, and I pray that your word

would do a mighty work in our hearts today and

every day moving forward. And I ask these things

in Jesus' name. Amen.