Spiritual Renewal

Amen.

Amen.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this study as much as I have on Nehemiah chapter 8.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

But let me, before we get started, does everyone have a worship guide?

If you do not, please raise your hand.

Everyone have a worship guide.

And then we have some visitors today, and I want to take this opportunity to welcome our first-time visitors.

If you are a first-time visitor, would you please raise your hand?

First time visitors back here.

Oh man, look here.

Hey, wait, wait, keep them up.

Let's give all our visitors.

Amen.

Amen.

We got a nice free gift for you.

Yes.

And uh, Philip, I was visiting with them and several of you.

And amen.

It's so good to have people come and visit with us.

And I know we got a lot of folks watching online right now.

Uh they've been watching ever since this uh uh coronavirus hit.

And uh thank you, thank you, and uh praise the Lord for our media.

But we've got a very special, very Vista right here, I think, Harry.

Yes.

Amen.

Did every visitor get a gift?

Did every visitor get a gift?

All right.

Well, right over here, we got one over here, Harry.

Make sure we get a gift there.

And by the way, if you did not fill out our registration at the uh in the foyer there, please, we've got a card.

Just fill it out and uh drop it in the offering plate at the end of the service so we'll have a record of your visit.

And not only that, we pray for people around here.

We really do.

And I'm excited about what's about to come up.

First of all, trunk or treat.

Trunk or treat.

Now, let me tell you how you can help us.

We need your trunk.

We need your trunk.

We need at least 20 or 22 trunks.

Okay?

So, and even if you don't want to man your trunk, give us your trunk, we'll put the candy in it, or you can help get the candy.

And uh, it's gonna be an evening to remember.

And I tell you why it's gonna be very special.

You know, we started this.

We were the first church years ago to start this.

The do-it-on trunk or treat.

Now, they would do it on Saturdays before Halloween, but we decided we wanted to do it on Halloween to give our kids an option to come to a safe place.

Can I get an amen?

And it has just been fabulous.

Every year, it's one of our largest outreaches.

So, church, we need you to get involved.

And it looks like we may be the only one doing it this year.

But that's okay.

We've got a big place.

We can definitely stay separated.

So that's not a problem with us.

And we and we're gonna have.

Yeah, yeah, let's pray that overnight we got winter and what it was the coldest.

In fact, we didn't think anybody's gonna show up.

We still had almost 300 folks here, and usually we'll have 500 plus, but but anyway, I was cold.

Yeah, pray for thank you, Dieter.

Pray for that it doesn't freeze.

But uh anyway, it's a very special time.

So, and Anita needs help.

Anita needs help.

She's back there saying, Thank you, preacher, thank you, preacher.

So uh it's fun, it's fun, and then we're gonna start a little early that afternoon.

I think what do we decide?

About 5:30?

We're gonna start at 5.

So it'll be nice.

It'll be, it's, I think it's on Saturday, so it's gonna be a great time.

Uh, and we'll get through by 8 and be home.

And then we have our next weekend, the friend day.

So be thinking about bringing a friend.

That's always it's always a special time.

Starting next Sunday, and you'll have a new graphic up.

The school of prayer.

God awakened me here a few weeks ago, actually, about three weeks ago, after just all the stuff, all the the rioting, all the ungodliness that's going on.

I went back and I studied Nehemiah as we were studying Nehemiah, all the garbage that was going on, attacks coming on Nehemiah, and we see that spiritual renewal broke out, and that's why I'm excited about this message this morning, because we are in a time that we could see spiritual renewal.

We could see revival break out.

Because it's during the worst of times that the setting becomes so, should I say, perfect for God to show up.

When there is no hope, he is hope.

Can I get an amen?

So you'll see that here in a little bit.

But the school of prayer, starting next Sunday, we'll be looking at four to five messages on prayer.

Next week we'll look at James chapter 5, verses 13 through 20.

James 5:13–20

And we're gonna title the message Problem Praying.

Anybody got any problems?

Okay.

Amen.

And we got a lot, and you know that deals with if there's, hey, call for the elders, the sick among you, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman availeth much.

So it's gonna be problem praying.

Then we'll be looking at at other topics on praying leading up to Friend Day, the Sunday right before the election.

And I'll be bringing the message on that Sunday.

What happens when the righteous pray?

And we'll be begging God to just show up in this election.

And boy, does he need to?

Can I get an amen?

So that's where we're going.

But today we're gonna be looking at.

Nehemiah chapter 8.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

You know the story.

So far, we've been preaching on it.

Nehemiah had just finished building the wall, rebuilding, hanging the gates, getting ready now to rebuild the city.

And he knew now that they had had all the hard labor and the physical labor and the teamwork together, they had been laboring.

They had, hey, they had the toll in one hand and the sword in the other.

They were being attacked on every, hey, on every corner, on every avenue, trying to get Nehemiah to come down.

Tobias and his plan were doing everything they could to prevent Nehemiah from completing the wall.

They were lying about him, saying that he really wanted to be the king and take over.

I mean, everything that you're seeing going on in the news today was going on right then.

Rumors and lies and all kind of garbage.

But it didn't sway Nehemiah.

He didn't come down off the wall till he finished his task.

And then he knew, he knew, now that he had rebuilt the wall physically, that they needed now to rebuild the people's lives spiritually.

That he knew the rebuilding now the city would not be physically, it would, well, parts would, but it would be spiritually.

They needed a spiritual revival.

And so that is the text, the context of chapter eight.

Let me just say there's four great lies in America.

Actually, five.

But line number one, I will respect you in the morning.

Hello.

Lie number two.

Checks in the mail.

You ever heard that one?

Lie number three, the deliveries on the truck.

Lie number four.

I'm from the IRS and I'm here to help you.

But then there's a fifth lie.

And that fifth lie is that you and I can have spiritual renewal, we can have a spiritual revival apart from the Word of God.

That is a lie.

The biggest lie that Satan can throw at us.

And with that said, let's see what spiritual renewal consists of.

Chapter 8, verses 1 through 3.

And we'll see the first point.

And all the people gathered themselves together as one.

There was unity.

They had one purpose.

As one man into the street that was before the water gate, and they spake unto Ezra the preacher, the scribe.

Now watch, to bring the book.

The book of what?

The book of the law.

The book of Moses.

The Torah.

The first five books of the Old Testament.

Which the Lord had commanded to Israel.

And then Ezra, the priest, brought the law before the congregation, both the men and women, and all that could hear with understanding.

Upon the first day of the seventh month in October on Sunday, and they read therein before the street that was before the watergate.

Now watch this.

Put a star, or if you mark your Bible, underline this.

From the morning until midday.

Oh my goodness, this is a good indication they were not Baptists.

They started at 6 o'clock in the morning and they didn't finish till afternoon.

I was telling Benji the other day, we do about an hour and a half service, and he said, Well, we got to make sure we get the time-wise here and end this and do this.

And I told Benji, I said, Listen, when God shows up, nobody worries about time.

And by the way, how many of you people that were at watched any of the ball games yesterday, even though it looked kind of uh nobody was there, but but for two and a half hours, because I watched two ball games yesterday, I watched Auburn and watched Alabama, and you know, for two and a half hours nobody seemed to want to get up and leave.

And here in this setting, we had people standing, they didn't have pews, they didn't have these comfortable seats like we have.

They stood up for six hours or more.

That's unreal.

No, that's not unreal.

They had a hunger for God.

They wanted to hear from God.

Let me tell you, when you come on Sunday mornings, you ought to get out of that car or come into you ought to be heaven, like I do my praise music.

I'm praising the Lord coming over here.

I've already been two or two hours with him in the word and praying before I even get here.

And you know what I'm asking God?

I'm asking God, show up and show me what I need today.

Show up and show me what I need for next week.

Do you realize God has something very special for every individual in here right now?

Right now.

So they were eager to hear from the Word of God.

And then look what it says.

And they stood until midday before the men and the women and those that could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.

They did two things.

They asked for the book, and then they were attentive to the book.

So let me share with you this morning.

Number one, spiritual renewal comes when you and I have a desire for the word of God.

When we have a desire for the word of God.

The verse is there.

Jeremiah 15, 16 says, When I quoted this verse, Susan fell in love with me.

Paul, it does matter to memorize scripture.

Jeremiah 15, 16, thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy words were unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I'm called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.

Oh, the Berean Christians, they received the word with gladness of heart.

In other words, with eagerness, with a desire.

And the word desire there means to have a hunger.

It means to have pleasure in something.

It means to delight thyself in something.

And here we see these people had a hunger, just like the Berean Christians.

And it says that they delighted themselves in the word of God and searched the scriptures daily.

Whether those things were so.

So they had a desire.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after God, for they shall be filled.

What's wrong with America?

And thank God for uh Franklin Graham yesterday with the prayer walk.

And uh Elizabeth, were you there yesterday?

And already back here today.

Amen.

That was a quick trip, amen.

But they were there, tens and thousands of people praying for this nation and praying for this election coming up, and and that's what I'm talking about, folks.

What's wrong with America?

We've kicked God out of America.

We need God to come back.

They had a desire.

They had a desire.

Now, watch this.

What does it mean when you have a desire for the Word of God?

B-I-B-L-E?

Come on.

Oh, come on.

That's pitiful.

A lot of people didn't go to Sunday school, I can tell you that.

The B-I-P-L E.

I stand alone.

The B I B L E.

That's the book for me.

And we used to say, Bible! In fact, we're gonna do that.

Stand up.

Here's what?

Hey, hey, Satan's on the roof.

We're gonna knock him off.

He's here just grinning at us.

And hey, here's what we're gonna do.

We're gonna say the B-I-B-L-E.

That's the book for me.

I stand alone on the word of God, the B-I-B-L-E, and then we're gonna say, Bye, bo.

And if you don't shout it, I'm gonna come get you.

Are you ready?

We're gonna knock him off.

The B-I-B-L-E.

I'm standing alone.

The B I B L E.

Blah blah blah! All right, give yourself a hand this morning.

Amen.

Woo! Glory.

So the evidence of that word of God in your life.

Why do we love the book?

Why do we desire the book?

Why do we have pleasure in the book?

Let her be.

It brightens my life.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

Oh, let her eye in the word Bible.

It instructs my life.

It instructs my life.

Thy testimonies, hey, are my counselors.

Psalms 119, 24.

Psalms 32, 8.

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way that thou shalt go.

I will guide thee with my eye.

He says in Psalms 133, that he will direct my steps in his word.

That's good.

Letter B, second letter B in the word Bible.

Not only does it brighten my life, it instructs my life, but it builds my life.

Acts 20, 32, and I commend you to the word of God and to the word of grace.

Now watch, which is able to build me up.

Which is able to build me up, it comforts me, it strengthens me.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

His word is with power.

Luke 4.32.

So it brightens my life, it instructs my life, it builds my life.

Letter L.

It liberates my life.

It liberates my life from two things: from sin and Satan.

Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.

Psalms 119, 105.

And then we see that Revelation 12, 11 says, and they overcame him, who's him?

Satan.

By the blood of the Lamb, and watch this, and the word of their testimony.

So we overcome Satan and sin by hiding the word of God in our lives.

Jesus said it this way in John 15, 3.

Now you are cleansed through the words that I've spoken unto you.

Psalm said, Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to his word.

Psalms 119, verse 9.

Psalms 119:9

So we see it brightens our life, it instructs our life, it builds our life, it liberates us from sin.

And Satan, and lastly, letter E, it's everlasting.

Before anything was, God's word was, and after everything will be, God's word still will be.

Can I get an amen?

He says in Psalms 119, verse 89, Forever, O Lord.

Psalms 119:89

Now watch, thy word is settled in heaven.

Oh, Isaiah 48, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of God shall stand forever.

Oh, listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 24, 35.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall never pass away.

So, why did they desire the word of God?

Because the B-I-B-L-E was the book for them.

It brightened their life, it instructed their life, it would build their life, it would protect them from sin and Satan, and it was everlasting.

It was something that they could count on.

Before anything was, God's word was.

After everything will be, God's word still will be.

Can I get an amen?

You can take it to the bank.

So, secondly, not only did they desire the word of God in verses 1 through 3, but now look at verses 4, 5, and 8.

Well, this is good.

And Ezra, the scribe, stood upon a pulpit of wood.

That's why you'll see this platform elevated, which they had made for this purpose.

For what purpose?

Verse 5.

Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people.

And when he opened it, all the people stood up.

In other words, when he got ready to read the word of God, all the people stood up in honor of the word of God.

Man, that's beautiful.

They respected the word of God, they honored the word of God.

All the people stood up.

And then in verse 8, and it said, and Ezra read in the book, and the law of God.

Now, what's this word?

Distinctly.

In other words, what is written is what is meant.

Hey, the Bible says what it means, and it means what it says.

And they read in it distinctly, and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading.

In other words, the word of God was so powerful that they understood it with the purpose of obeying what God's word said.

Can I get an amen?

In other words, when you're here this morning, you come into this room or you come into a classroom where the Bible's being taught with one purpose to understand it and do it.

James 1.22, be doers of the word, not hears only, deceiving your own selves.

You deceive yourselves when you don't do the word of God.

What do you deceive yourselves of?

The power of God.

Because he says in Luke 4 32, his word is with power.

So when we don't allow the, in fact, let me tell, ooh, that's good.

Thank you, Holy Spirit.

You know what Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 22, I think it's 29?

He says, You do err.

By not knowing the scriptures know the power of God.

He directly related the scriptures to the power of God.

His word is with power.

I believe that with all my heart.

That's why I believe in memorizing the book, keeping it in my heart.

It's the power that liberates me from sin and Satan.

It really is.

So we see this powerful, unbelievable dedication.

Excuse me.

Not dedication, but declaration of the word of God.

Number two, spiritual renewal comes not only through a desire for the word, but a dedication of the word.

In other words, he declared the word of God.

Now what happens when the word of God is preached?

Lives are changed.

Okay?

Your life changes.

But not only does your life change, you know what happens?

You become a tool for the use of an awesome Almighty God.

You take the sword of the Spirit, you become a soldier.

You become a soldier.

Let me tell you, listen to what Paul told Timothy real quick in 2 Timothy chapter 3.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

What a powerful statement he says in 2 Timothy 3, 16.

Listen to what he says.

Here we go.

All scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable.

Now watch, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

In other words, what he says is the word of God is given to us.

And I love this.

Hey, in verse 16, because the word of God teaches us, it rebukes us, it corrects us, it disciples us, and it equips us.

Is that not good?

That's what it does.

Let me repeat it.

It teaches us, it rebukes us, it corrects us, it disciples us, and it equips us in the things of God, putting on the armor of God.

Wow, that's awesome.

Now, when the word of God does all that and it's preached, let me show you what it does for the church.

You got to see this.

Go to Ezekiel 37.

Ezekiel 37.

And the hand of the Lord was upon Ezekiel.

And it carried him out in the spirit of the Lord.

That's the way preachers ought to preach.

They ought to preach in the spirit of the Lord.

If all I do is teach you in the flesh, nothing is accomplished.

But if I teach you through the power of the Holy Spirit, who's our teacher, hey, who is our anointed one when God's word is spoken by the teacher or the preacher or whoever that's anointed with the Holy Spirit of God, it flows through to you through the power of the word, which will do unbelievable, miraculous things in your life that you can't even comprehend.

Oh, it's unbelievable.

And look what happened.

God says, Hey, Ezekiel.

And I love this.

Watch what happened now.

This is getting good.

And he calls me, Ezekiel, to pass by.

He said, Hey, I'm going to send you to the valley of dry bones.

And then notice what he says.

And he said unto me, Son of Man, verse 3, can these bones live?

And I answered, O Lord, thou knowest.

In other words, folks, I've been in some churches when I was traveling for 20 plus years.

Susan will tell you, I could tell you whether or not the church was going to be a great service that day by walking in the vestibule.

I could feel the Spirit of God or I could feel the coldness of the devil.

And I'm here to tell you, listen to me.

I've been in some churches, it was so cold, people were so dead that I'd been preaching and I'd go down and turn around and amen my own preaching.

That's good preaching, Brother Danny.

Have I not done that?

A couple of times.

One lady said, Well, preacher, we just don't like getting excited around here.

I said, It's obvious.

She said, We just like it quite.

And I shouldn't have said this, but I did.

I looked out the window and there was a cemetery.

You know, a lot of churches have cemeteries.

And I said, Well, they like it quite out there, too.

I shouldn't have said it.

I took a baby aspirin and got over it.

But that's what I'm talking about, folks.

Listen, that, hey, he's in the midst of a bunch of dry bones.

I used to say the average church, but anyway, and he said unto me, What are you gonna do?

Watch, verse 4, preach.

And he said unto me, Prophesy upon the bones and say unto them, Oh, ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

Oh, it is the spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing.

These things that I speak unto you, the word, their life and their joy.

John 6, 63.

Oh, and then he said, Lord God, unto these bones, behold, I will cause breath to enter to you, and ye shall live.

It brings life.

Look, it brings life.

And then we see in verse 6 in the tendons upon you and bring upon the flesh upon you and cover you with skin and breath, and in you, and ye shall live, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

Folks, in other words, he took a bunch of dry bones and he started bringing life into them.

He started bringing unity into them.

That's unreal.

Is that not good?

Oh, and then notice verse 7 what I do next.

So he preached as he was commanded, and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

Let me tell you something.

You have a man of God, a woman of God, preaching the word of God, and listen to what you'll have.

Listen to me.

You'll have some shaking going on.

People will be getting right, people will be getting saved.

People will be coming back together.

Oh, God will just move in miraculous ways.

There to be hauled in.

I mean, I could go on and on and on.

There'll be some miraculous things.

The toe bones connected to the foot bone, and the foot bones connected to the ankle bone.

Everybody comes together to do a great work for God.

Woo, that's good.

And then look at verse 10.

So he said, What do I do next?

He says, Hey, hey, it brings life.

Verse 7, it brings unity.

And then look at verse 10.

So I preached as has commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood up upon their feet.

An exceeding great army.

When you preach the word of God, it builds an army.

Can I get an amen?

I meant an army.

I love what it says in Acts 6 about after the Word of God was preached in Acts 6, it says, and the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem.

An army.

You know what we want to create here?

An army.

An army of men and women and teenagers and children that love the B-I-B-L-E.

That's the book for me.

That's why we do I wana.

Approved workmen are not ashamed.

Matt and Gwen back there, hey, a wana.

That's it.

2 Timothy 2.15.

My kids right now will tell you the Iwana program and their youth program indoctrinated them in the Word of God.

That's the greatest thing you can give them, is the Word of God.

And Satan's doing everything he can to keep it from them and from everybody.

So, A, they desired the Word, they declared the Word, and then number three, verses four through six, they were dedicated to the Word.

They stood up, they said amen.

Let's practice Amen.

Can we say amen?

Amen.

Now what does that word mean?

A lot of people say that word and don't really even know what it means.

The word amen shows the intensity of a feeling behind the affirmation.

Now let me repeat that.

It shows the intensity of a feeling behind the affirmation.

In other words, it is so real in your life.

It is so real in your life, you can't help but say, Amen.

So be it.

I know it's real.

I've lived it.

I'm living it.

It's real.

Amen.

Amen.

Or it is so convicting in your heart that you know you're not doing what you're supposed to do.

Hello?

Listen to me.

The word so convicts you of your disobedience that you turn to your own heart and you say, Lord, I am sorry.

Forgive me of this sin.

Cleanse me of this sin and let me turn from this sin.

Amen.

So be it.

Now that's what amen really means.

In the context of spiritual renewal.

And the Bible says, let every hey man say amen.

And praise the Lord.

Amen.

That's what it says.

Well, look at this.

When they were dedicated to the word.

Now flip over a few pages back to Ezra.

Remember that call for Ezra?

I want to show you what dedication to the Word means to you.

Or let me put it another way.

Let me show you an example of a man of God that was dedicated to the Word of God, which produced the fruits of the Word of God.

Now watch this.

One verse.

Ezra chapter 7, verse 10.

Ezra 7:10

Go back a few pages.

Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach it in Israel statutes and judgments.

Now, here we go.

What the Word did in Ezra's heart.

Are you ready for this?

Number one.

Look at it.

Ezra had a prepared heart.

He had a prepared heart.

In other words, he loved the word of God.

Ladies and gentlemen, you've got to ask God to search your heart.

Search me, O God, know my heart.

Try me, know my thoughts.

See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting.

You've got to have a pure heart before you can get the things of God's word into your life.

Remember what Daniel said?

I have purposed in my heart that I'll not defile myself.

Daniel 1.8.

You've got to have a pure heart.

Notice the second thing.

For Ezra had a prepared heart that he might seek the law of the Lord.

In other words, secondly, he had a passion to learn the word of God.

Pathos.

Pathos.

A passion.

Studied.

There's your, a one-verse, 2 Timothy 2.15.

Jeremiah 29.

His word was in my heart as a burning fire, shut up in my bones.

He said, even when I didn't want to preach, I couldn't help but preach.

That's what we're talking about.

That kind of passion for the word.

Notice the third thing.

And then to do it.

To do it.

He lived it.

He lived the word of God.

I love what he says in 1 Corinthians 9 14.

Paul said this.

Any man that preaches the gospel must live the gospel.

Must be real, must be obvious, must be evident.

That's what he's talking about right there.

Oh.

Tremendous truth right there.

He lived the word of God.

Then, number four.

He preached the word of God.

Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering doctrine.

Now I want you to understand something.

I had never seen this before until I exergetically took that one verse apart for these four points.

I want you to notice the progression.

I want you to notice the progression.

First of all, his heart had to be prepared.

Secondly, he had to have that passion of learning the word.

He loved it, he learned it.

Now notice the third thing.

Then he lived it, and then watch.

That qualified him then and then only.

Are you ready?

Listen, that qualified him then and only to be qualified to preach the word.

Is that not good, church?

Come on.

Is that not good?

In other words, if he didn't love it, if he didn't learn it, if he didn't live it, he wasn't qualified to preach it.

Or if you wanted to use all L's preachers, lecture it.

Amen?

Is that not good?

They desired the word.

They declared the word, which brought life, unity, army.

And then they were dedicated to the word, which was seen in their living it out and proclaiming it.

They couldn't shut up.

And then lastly, you ready for this?

This is awesome.

Look at what it did, it brought a demonstration of the word of God.

Look at verses 8 through 12.

Because the word of God was preached wholeheartedly, distinctly.

Look what happened at the end of verse 9.

This day is holy unto the Lord your God.

Mourn not nor weep, for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.

Here was the first demonstration of the Word of God being preached in the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

There was weeping going on, which means there was repentance.

People wept and repented.

Listen, folks, I love you with all my heart.

But this church should never be any better than, hey, or can be any more Christ-like than we are pure.

Not perfect.

I didn't say perfect.

I said pure.

Amen?

We all fail God.

But that's why 1 John 1.9 is so adamant and so precious and so available and so real.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Amen?

Is that not good?

And I mean, it's a daily task, and I it's a daily confessing.

When's the last time you went all day without sinning?

You said, Well, I don't sin.

What kind of attitude do you have?

What kind of bad thoughts do you have?

Hello?

Guard my mouth.

Guard my heart.

Guard my heart.

Proverbs 423, guard my heart, guard my eyes, guard my ears, what you listen to, what you see, what you think, what you say.

Well, I didn't mean it.

Yes, you did.

If you didn't mean it, you wouldn't have said it.

Those things that proceed out of your mouth come forth from your heart.

Don't tell me.

No, no, no, no.

Trying to be sweet.

Be sweet.

I don't know about you.

I have to battle my flesh all the time.

All the time.

Especially when I want to nail somebody.

In love.

And when I mean that, just give it back to them.

No, no.

But there was repentance.

Wow, I love that.

Notice the second demonstration.

Verse 10.

Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat.

Hallelujah! I know a lot of y'all on diets.

I am too.

I try to stay away from the fat.

But you know what?

It's not biblical.

I just read right there, it says eat the fat.

Wait, wait.

And then it says drink the sweet.

That's crispy cream donuts.

That's milkshakes.

And my wife says I'm taking that out of context.

Sounds good to me, Paul.

Amen.

Hey, it says what it means.

Means what it says.

Eat the fat, drink the sweet, and then send portions unto them who have nothing prepared, for this day is holy unto the Lord.

Neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Ladies and gentlemen, when true repentance comes, there's rejoicing going on.

Because the purity in your life, the joy in your life, you've been cleansed, you've been made right with God, you've gotten right with your brothers and sisters.

Everything's peaceful and contentful, and that's the way it's supposed to be.

Why?

Because the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Jesus put it this way: These things have I've spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full.

John 15, 11.

Woo! That's good, preacher.

And then the last evidence repentance.

Rejoicing.

Woo! Now what's this?

So the Levites stilled all the people saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy, neither be ye grieved.

In other words, don't worry.

God's in charge, God's provided, God's built the wall, now he's gonna build us people.

Now look at verse 12.

And all the people went their way to eat and to drink and to send portions and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.

You know what they said?

We are rededicating our lives to the word of the living God.

The Torah.

The law of Moses, the Pentateuch.

And we're gonna live it.

Isn't that amazing?

Fast forward to the New Testament.

John 14.

And Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments.

What a beautiful story fulfilled in Jesus in the New Testament.

And remember what Jesus did to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 27.

People ask me all the time.

I used to teach homiletics for years.

And I used to teach the young preachers, I said, let me show you one verse that shows you how to preach.

In fact, I want you to see this.

Turn to Luke 27.

You've got to see this.

This was my favorite verse to exergetically teach.

Watch this.

Luke 27.

Jesus is talking to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

And they had turned to Jesus and told Jesus, said, Didn't you hear what happened?

Like Jesus didn't know.

Hello?

He's omniscient.

He knows everything.

Oh, they were sorrowful.

They were sad.

Because, see, they thought Jesus was going to come and set up his kingdom and do away with the Roman tyranny and make everything all everybody live happily ever after.

But that didn't happen.

And here's what Jesus said to them.

Then verse 25 said he unto them, oh fools.

I'm in Luke.

No, I verse 24.

I'm sorry.

27.

Verse 27.

Luke 24, 27.

There's only 24 chapters in Luke.

Are you ready?

Are you there now?

I'm sorry.

Luke.

Luke 24, verse 27.

Luke 24:27

So then said unto them, Jesus said, Oh fools, slow to heart.

You know what that means?

You don't want to believe.

You're doubting.

You're pessimistic.

You always see the glass half full.

I meant half empty, not half full.

Instead of being half full, you see it half empty.

You always see the negative side.

He says, Don't you understand?

Now watch, this gets really good.

He said, Why didn't you believe all that the prophets have spoken?

In other words, watch.

Why didn't you believe the word of God?

That's what he's saying.

Why didn't you believe the word of God?

In reality, you know what he's saying?

Why didn't you believe my word?

Why didn't you believe me?

And then watch what he does.

Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into the glory?

Didn't he have to die on the cross?

To take your sins, my sins?

And then didn't he have to go and be seated back at the right hand of God the Father so that he could be our mediator?

Yes.

One God, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy 2, 5.

And then watch.

Here's how you preach.

And beginning in Moses.

And all of the prophets.

He expounded to them and in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

In other words, church, he preached this book.

He preached every chapter, every verse, and it had to do with him.

That's the preaching of the book.

Every verse is about him.

Every chapter's about him.

In Genesis, he's the promised seed.

In Exodus, he's the Passover lamb.

In Leviticus, he's the scapegoat.

In Numbers, he's the brazen serpent.

In Deuteronomy, he's a lawgiver.

Whew! That's what he was preaching right here.

He was preaching all the way through it.

In Joshua, he's prophet, priest, and king.

In Samuel, he's the norner of kings.

King's the king of kings.

Chronicles, the great historian.

Ezra, rebuild of the temple, Nehemiah, rebuild of the wall.

Esther, the Savior of the Jews, Job, the friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

And he went on and on and on.

That's how you preach.

My word will never return void.

Isaiah 55, 11.

But it will accomplish what I want it to accomplish where I send it.

Aren't you glad to be a part of a church that's not ashamed of the gospel?

We're not ashamed of this book.

I never will be.

Never have been.

This book changed my life.

You know what this book did for me?

It turned me into a it took me from being a no-good, rotten, all my righteousness is filthy, rags, self-centered, self-prideful young boy that was out to get whatever I could get and get you for.

I get you for you, get me.

It was all about me.

To a new creation.

Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new.

I ain't the same old man I used to be.

Amen.

Because Jesus Christ changed me.

Made me a little weird.

But guess what?

That's biblical too, just like eating the fat.

Don't you know you're a peculiar person?

A holy nation, a peculiar people?

There ought to be something different about us.

Amen.

And we ought to be positive.

We ought to be joyful.

We ought to be kind.

We ought to be tender-hearted.

And look after one another.

Can I get an amen?

You said, but you don't know my past.

Don't want to know.

Can I tell you something else?

Don't care.

Not interested in your past.

He's not interested in your past.

By the way, he knows it.

He knows your thoughts for you think them.

I don't like that verse.

He's interested in your future.

Amen.

So don't worry about your past.

Don't let Satan beat you up on your past.

You just do what they did.

Repent.

Then you can rejoice.

Amen.

And then there'll be evidence.

Every head bow, every eye close.