Back to Basics: Heart Check - Dr. Mike

Welcome to Life Series, a podcast from King Garden Bay Baptist Church, where we gather together to experience God's love, grow in God's love, and give that love back to each other.

Turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5, verses 8.

Matthew 5:8

Matthew chapter 5 and verse 8.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

And we'll read together in your hearing.

If you ever want to look like a biblical scholar, just go to Matthew and chapter 5.

You could remember several scriptures, J very easily.

Matthew chapter 5, verses 8 from the New International Version of the Bible says, Blessed are the pure in heart.

Matthew 5:8

For they will see God.

Let's do it again.

Blessed are the pure in heart.

For they shall we'll do it one more time together.

Blessed are the pure in for they shall Lord, we thank you for this word.

We pray that we'll go forward and make a difference in the lives of the people that hear it.

Let us seek after you so we can see.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

As you take your seat, I pray, and I know that this word, and I pray that God allows this word to be delivered as powerful to you as much as it was impacted.

No matter what's going on in your life, there's still a place for God to be exalted.

Now, this passage of scripture, as you know, is the Sermon on the Mount.

The Sermon on the Mount is where Jesus now comes and was preaching to these people who have gathered around it.

Now, Jesus now took a posture of sitting down.

Jesus now took a posture of sitting down, and what he was doing, I believe, and which is our sermon title, he was doing a heart check.

If you've ever been to the doctor and they're gonna check your heart, they can't check it from afar off.

Most doctors who now use a stethoscope to be pick up on your heartbeat have to come within one foot of you because the connections to the airs to your heart is close.

Jesus now sat close to these people he was gathered around because he wanted not only just to speak to them, but to pick up on their heartbeat.

It says in the scripture that these people who were gathered were the poor, the broken, the people in society who no one knew, the people who were disregarded.

These were the people who were not allowed in the temple at times.

These are the people who didn't have it all together.

These were the people who were broken and shut out.

These were the people who were having difficulty getting things done because they didn't have all the connections of others.

The people who came to hear Jesus' speak were the people who were actually taking a risk of being locked up or enslaved or cast out of society for following this Jesus and listening to this word that was turning up what was happening and the Jews and in the temples.

He was also making the government upset because he came and turned the government upside down.

Jesus is speaking now to these people who are calling for, as we know, people who are now having their backs against the wall.

These were not the people who were included.

Jesus was speaking to the people who were less than, who didn't have it all together, who weren't perfect, people whose hearts were hurting, and people who were feeling a bit broken.

Life had caught up to them, and life, the weight of life, started to weigh on them.

These are the people who knew what it meant to cry themselves to sleep.

These were people who had lonely nice.

These were people who needed to hear a message of hope.

If you think about it, these people were not the well-to-do in society.

Uh God says, you know, understand that in scripture, in a Jewish scripture right now, at this point in time, that the people who were well regarded in society were the people who had money, the people who had clothes, the people who had houses, the people who were able to follow the rules and send their children to school.

These were the people that you expected Jesus to be talking to.

But no, but Jesus sat down and talked to the people who were less valuable, who weren't dressed that well, who didn't smell that good, who didn't have a good home, who didn't have money to give to the poor because they were the poor, who didn't have livestock and who didn't have land on the thousands of hills.

These were the people who were hurting.

And you have to understand now.

I want to set it up for you.

I want to set it up for you because now at this point, being holy and being pure was eight and equated to being rich and being outstanding in society.

Those who were pure in heart based on the standards of the day were those who were able to follow the most rules.

They they know the Torah back and forth that they obeyed the Sabbath of every letter of the law.

These were the people who look good.

Kind of like you here today.

You you look good, and most of you smell good.

Making sure you're listening.

I'll just make it sure, making sure you're listening.

You know, it's funny uh because every Sunday, y'all know who I am, but y'all get caught off guard.

Because some people looked up and like, am I the one that smells funny, Pastor?

I don't know, I'm not that close to you.

Um just but these were the people who didn't have it all together.

But Jesus now in this verse did something that was very instrumental.

He was making sure that he tied purity not just to actions and traditions and not just to religious piety, he tied purity to something that you can't see.

He wasn't looking at how you dressed and how you spoke and how many scriptures you were able to follow.

He says, I want to tie purity to your heart.

That's what he says, blessed are the pure in heart.

He didn't say, Blessed are the pure who are able to follow all the religious rules.

Blessed are the rich, blessed are the people who are in government, blessed are the priests.

He said, Blessed are the pure in heart.

He now relegates this to me to talk about people about your internal condition.

He's saying, Blessed are those who are pure in heart, blessed are those whose heart is in the right place.

He's saying, I don't care how you look on the outside, I'm concerned about what's going on on the inside.

And the heart in psychology is the basis of what we think, do, and be.

The heart is the basis of our psyche, it's where we are.

The heart is what we come from, it's what we think about, it synopsis all of our emotions, our thoughts, our history, and our future.

It's what's going on in our heart.

The inside of you is what God is most concerned about, not how well you do on the outside.

Because some of us in here, if we could talk back to each other, is some of us in here know some people who are really good at following rules but have a bad heart.

Who are really good at showing up at church, but you don't never want to invite them to your house.

They're really good of pretending like they're good, but when you look deeper below the surface, their heart ain't clean.

Don't look to your left or your right because they may be on your road.

Don't don't look, don't look that just look at me.

And Jesus is now saying, I'm concerned about your heart.

Now you think about in society, everybody is now so even now, 2,000 plus years later, people are still caught up in how people look.

They're religious and being holy is more concerned about what you can say rather than what you do.

People are more concerned about your pretense on Sunday rather than how you live on Sunday night.

And you're wondering, how do you get it?

Jesus said, I'm concerned about your heart.

He says, Blessed are the pure in heart.

But if you think about it, the pure in heart and the spiritual and the practical about being able to talk about pure in heart is that we have to go back to the origination of this.

As you know, Jesus spoke Aramaic and the Bible was first translated into Greek.

And now for be able to understand this pure in heart, we got to go back there.

Look at the neighbor say we got to go back there.

Just go back.

Yeah, yeah, we gotta go back.

So now the Greek word for pure in heart.

Now, if you are a medical student going into science, this will make very much sense to you.

The pure in heart, the first thing is cardia.

Everybody knows cardia?

That's a Greek word for heart.

That's a word where we get cardiac.

And if you understand, that's where you have a cardiac arrest.

It comes from the Greek word cardia.

Yes?

And so day means off.

D E it means off of the heart.

In Greek, it will pronounce T-E with an accent over the E.

It's off heart.

And now the pure, this is where why it's so important because we think about pure to be something that is without perfection.

So your meaning, well, I'm disqualified because my heart is a lot of things and my mind, but I ain't perfect, Pastor.

It's not talking about perfection, it's calling about being undivided.

And this word is Cartharay.

So Carthero means Carthara, Cotharo means pureness.

What it means is now this is where you get the word catharsis.

Cartharsis means to cleanse.

Everybody know what catharsis means?

To cleanse, to move out.

It now means, so now you can interpret the scripture of mean it's not saying blessed are those who don't do dirty things.

No, it's much deeper.

It's saying, Blessed are those whose inner lives are becoming clear, sincere, and undivided before God.

Blessed are those who are going through a process of continually cleaning your heart of the things that could cause you not to see God.

Now, if you think about it, when the scripture says, then they will see God.

Now, and when I was reading this, I was like, see God.

Well, what's what do you mean that because it says not a man will be able to put his face and eyes upon God and still be alive.

So when you're talking about seeing God, but it talks about not just seeing God physically, but seeing God spiritually, being able to experience God, those who are going after God, those who are continually cleansing their heart, cleansing the pure, being able to seek after God, those who will see God.

Blessed are those who their inner lives are becoming undivided.

This is how great Jesus is.

An undivided heart is a heart that's totally submitted to God and a heart that's saying, God, I'm sold out for you 100%.

Do you see how we go back to the basic?

He says, He says, What was the greatest commandment of these?

To love God with all thy heart, meaning, all your heart, meaning my heart is not divided in based on my love.

My heart is purely committed to God.

God is saying that your intention, I love God with all my heart, a pure heart, meaning my heart is not divided in who I love.

I'm not spinning up my allegiance to God with anyone else.

All my heart.

Giving everything you have to God, broken pieces and all.

See, when God cleans your heart, He also cleans your vision.

Something is not wrong oftentimes with your environment.

What's usually wrong is the lens by which you're looking through it.

And most of us need to understand that our heart and our soul becomes the eyes of our life.

And if your soul is undivided, you will be able to experience God in his fullness.

But if you're just under, if you're sitting, tartan, hot and cold, you don't know where you're going, it's gonna have a hard time experiencing God because you're double-minded.

You're not sure if you're following God or doing what everybody else is doing.

And it's gonna be hard for you to experience God because your heart now is divided.

Anybody, not not nobody in here, uh, because y'all are so wonderful and beautiful.

I know y'all never had this go on in your life.

Uh, but if you have, you just bear with me.

You can just wink at me.

Have you ever been in a situation?

Have you ever been in a situation uh where you have found yourself liking in a relationship more than one person?

Have you ever, not I'm all the people before you were married, before you gave your life to Christ, uh before you out there running the streets, a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time ago.

Has anybody in here ever had two people that they liked?

All right, somebody said that a little bit too loud, amen.

Uh, you you you you've had two people you liked, right?

And and here's the thing no matter what, you can't like both of them the same.

Somebody is gonna get the benefit over the other person.

Some of y'all in here ain't celebrate Valentine's Day on the 14th in a long time because you gotta wait till the 15th.

Are y'all gonna be tired of celebrating Valentine's Day on the 15th?

Or Christmas on the 26th, or New Year's on the second?

Because you ain't first.

And when you have a divided heart, guess what happens?

Somebody is gonna lose.

But the person with a divided heart, guess what's gonna happen?

At some point in time, the people who you're trying to please are gonna have such a pull on your life that it's gonna break your heart.

So God is asking you, I want you to be undivided and purely loving me.

It don't have to be perfect, but it has to just be me.

An undivided heart is a pure heart that I'm committing my life, my thoughts, my beings, my actions to Christ.

But I want to tell you, despite what you're going through, the scripture talks about being pure in heart.

The first thing you have to do is have the right intention.

Look at your neighbor and say, You have to have the right intention.

There's so many people here that live their life each day that wake up with bad intentions.

You go to sleep, say your prayers, read your scripture.

But the last thing before you do is have bad intentions, and you wake up with those bad intentions.

You'll be like, Like Dr.

Mike, that's not me.

Well, bad intentions when you grow up, when you wake up, it's saying, Well, I wish that person don't get that job.

I wish that person don't get bad, I wish they don't get that promotion.

That's bad intentions.

Wishing bad on other people is bad intentions.

What are your intentions?

Why are you serving God?

Is it is it because you want to give God the glory, or you just want a platform for people to be able to recognize you?

What is your intention of starting a business?

Is just so you can hate on other people, or just so you can empower someone else?

What is your intention of going back in school?

It's so you can look down on all your friends and family who didn't have an opportunity to get an education or be able to pull them up and educate them once you've been educated.

What is your intention?

What is your intention of becoming wealthy?

Is it to help the poor or just to look down on other people?

What is your intention?

What is your intention for spiritual clarity?

Is it so that you could tell those who are struggling spiritually that they're no good and look down on them and judge them?

Or is it being able to tell somebody how you got over?

What is your intention?

God is saying I want a bunch of people to get together who have the right intention.

That I'm showing up to church on Sunday, not to look down on nobody, not to judge nobody, but just to say, God, I thank you for looking out for me.

I thank you for being here for me.

I thank you for trusting me.

I thank you for giving me another day.

I've come with the intention to give you all the honor and all the glory and all the praise.

That's my intention.

So I'm not worried about who's here, I'm not worried about what you have because my intention is to show up and say, God, I might not have it all together, but I'm purely surrendering my life to you.

What's your intention?

Some of you are allowing people to cause you to stop on your way towards glory because you're making some mess, some mistakes.

I want to tell you, I know people say the road to heaven is filled with good intention.

I'm not, I'm not talking about it.

I'm talking if your mind, what are you intending?

Are you waking up every day saying, God, I want to be more like you, I want to trust you, I want to love you, I want to live for you.

I know I might not have it all together, but work on my heart.

I give my heart totally to you.

Your neighbor said, What's your intention?

Can I can I just can I add this?

Because there's an attack that's happening to families all over the world.

And I want to tell you, I want you to look at your family and ask, what is your intention?

And if you're not married, can I just can I just give you we we're gonna be married now?

We're gonna we've been married now for 19 years.

It's a long time.

We've been married a long time, long time.

Uh we got married when we were six years old.

Who would have been off it?

Uh because we're just we just turned 25.

Um, so we I know we look good for our age.

Uh so what's your intention?

I remember when when we're dating, when we're dating, we were dating at some point in time.

I don't remember when exactly it was.

Uh we we we were broke, amen.

Uh we couldn't, we we we were broke, all right?

I'm gonna say it for this side.

We were broke.

We had a 1998, 97 Mazda 323 Protege, uh white, uh, with cloth seats, uh, with three cylinders.

The fourth one was a little iffy, and we used to be able, we put$20 gas in that thing, and it the needle used to go like pow.

Right now,$20 will get you pow! It won't get you that much.

And we right and we used to go to the diner.

We had this place, it was a 24-hour diner in Adams Morgan in Washington, D.C.

And we loved it because for$15, for$15, uh, we could get a whole meal plus a juice, plus a drink.

And if you were feeling fancy, uh, we'll get ice cream, a brownie that we used to try to heat up at there and run home and eat it at home.

Uh, it never worked out because the car only had three cylinders.

Uh, but here's what happened at that point in time.

I remember my my now wife asked me, What is your intention?

If you're gonna be committing your life to somebody, ask them, what is your intention?

And can I say this?

I'm not out there in the dating world and it looks really scary out there.

I'm sorry for y'all who out there, it's scary.

It wow, jeez, I pray a blessing over you all.

It is tough.

Between Instagram, TikTok, uh, Twitter, and all that, and then you got WhatsApp status.

You don't know if people talking.

You went on a date with somebody, the next 10 minutes you have to drop them off.

You'll be like, the date.

She said, I had a great time.

You check their status, I'm better alone.

What was that for me?

Or what I thought we had a great time.

You God bless y'all.

May the Lord bless you real good on the dating scene.

But at least ask them, what is your intention about me?

Some of us need to be bold about what people are doing in your life.

If somebody comes into your life, ask them, what is your intention?

What is your intention?

What do you have in mind for me?

Stop being connected with people whose pureness of their hearts is corrupt and evil because it's gonna rub off on you.

What is your intention about me?

Stop spending time with people who have to guess if they like you or not.

What is your intention about me?

Are you praying for me?

Are you hoping the best for me?

Are you covering for me?

Would you fast for me?

What is your intention about me?

If you're not bold enough to ask someone what's your intention about me, you should be bold enough to walk away.

Because if they can't answer what their intention about you is, then you shouldn't be spending time with someone who can corrupt the pureness of your heart.

Because if you stick around people with bad intentions, guess what?

Your purity becomes compromised.

Don't catch the contagion of the function fungus of a bad apple in one minute.

It catches it over time.

The minute you see the fungus, say, hey man.

Hey, hey man, you got something on your you got something on your face.

You got something on your face.

You might need to check that.

No, no, it's right here.

It's right here.

It's right here.

And then and then they're looking at, no, it's not here.

And then they take it from here and then smear it to the other side of the face.

No, it's all over your face.

And then you're there trying to tell them, but here's what?

Here's what when you when you try to help them and it stops being helpful, and then it says, which part of my face?

Then they put it on their hands, and then they try to touch you.

Be like, oh, hold on, man.

I know we're cool, but I don't need you to put that in my life.

Because here's what God just delivered me from that thing 10 years ago.

And I'm I I never known how good it feels to be back to myself.

So I'm sorry, I can't go back there with you.

I love you, I pray for you, but your intentions about me will corrupt what God is doing in my life.

I can't ask somebody what's your intention about me.

The second thing is the pureness of your heart, it's not just the intention, but it's a desire.

Why ask someone why?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Huh?

Why?

What's your desire?

What's the reason?

So God is saying now He wants your desire to be to be able to be in a position where your heart and your seeking after God to ultimately give God the glory.

That's the desire.

That your life should be a living testament to be able to draw people back to Christ.

What's your desire?

Now people go around having a whole bunch of desires, but God is saying, I want to have, make sure your desires is to be after me, a pure heart.

Intention, desire.

Your neighbor says, desire.

But the last thing, the last thing is you could have intention about your heart being pure.

You could have the desire for your heart being pure, but you need to not look take some action.

Look at your neighbor, so you gotta take some action.

Look at your neighbor say you gotta take some action.

Purity is not something that you just sit back and hope it happens.

Now, I want to be able to show this to you because I know you all are such an educated crowd and are so filled with anointing.

But sometimes we all need a bit of pictorial example.

As me who struggle with my neurodiversions, uh, I always like to see things done pictorially.

I always like to see things done pictorially.

Now, now we need action.

Now, people, you are some of us are saying, God, you're not showing up in my life, things are not pure.

I'm wondering what's going on.

And we're just saying, God says, it's not me, it's your heart.

That you need to do some things about your heart to purify it.

It's not the world that's all messed up, it's your heart.

Now, imagine now, your heart is this mirror, uh, this handy-dandy mirror here.

Uh, this mirror now has a little bit of spots in it.

And imagine, imagine now, right?

I'm looking in this mirror, and God starts off and having me here pure in heart.

Um, I could see myself clearly.

Uh, but here's what life does life causes, and I know some of the neat freaks in here about life causes us to have smudges.

People come into our life, as much people come into your life, they leave a fingerprint on your heart.

And no matter whether you want it or not, you have to be mindful.

But you, some of us, some people lied.

Ain't anybody anybody lied to you about their intention and desire that they said that my intention is to marry you?

My intention is to make sure you get all things.

And why do you well well?

My desire is to see people, they they talked a good game in relationships, a new job, they talked a good game.

And you're looking around wondering, who is this person?

They left smudges.

Here's what they do they leave smudges, all types of things.

You can see my hands are clean, that's a good thing.

It's hard to leave the smudges on here.

But look, look, look, they're leaving smudges all over your life.

Smudges.

Your life starts to look a little cloudy.

This is what happened.

God told you that if you stay around with these people long enough, it's gonna affect your soul.

And you didn't want to listen.

So here's what happened.

These people said, Listen.

God has given me something over your life.

And then he says, Listen, I'm gonna annoy you.

I'm gonna pray over your life.

Oh, you see it's an image of what you used to be.

Oh, you see the heart that's happened in your life.

Oh, you see the pain of the years, and you're saying, God.

How can I see you when my heart is filled with all this stuff?

God says, I want you to take some action, but you got some cleansing to do.

See, some of you don't want to do the work of cleaning out your heart, and some of you are okay with having all this stuff on your life, thinking that this is what your life should be.

That all the pain and the dirt from all the things that you've been through is now clouding what God says you are.

So y'all you're charging to change what God has told you to be in life to adapt to the mirror image of the dirt and the pain in your life, and this is what you're going through.

I'm looking at my dreams fall away, I'm looking at my faith fall away, I'm looking at my family fall away, and I'm saying, God, how can I see you when my heart is so cloudy?

God is saying, I just want you to take a moment to be able to start to cleanse yourself.

See, there's some things that you want God to do that He's saying that you have to do it.

You're the one that brought them into your life.

So you got to be the one to send them out your life.

I'm not gonna tell people to leave your life that you have power enough to speak over.

So, first of all, you need the courage.

Look at the neighbor says, I need some courage.

I know people are gonna laugh and ask me, says, Why don't you just get a new mirror?

But you know what?

God says, You are good enough.

Stop trying to be somebody else.

I know your mirror is dirty, I know your heart needs bleeding, but you are good enough.

Just do the work.

So God says, I want you to get your handy dandy, Windex.

I hope this is not the one that was recalled.

Amen.

Uh some of you need to be able to say, This is my life.

My relationship with God is too important.

I'm gonna take the time that's needed to cleanse the things.

So some of us need to stop acting holy.

See, stop acting like we have it all together, and be willing to get your hands dirty, to get your heart where it needs to be.

Some of us need to start wiping some of the stuff in our life.

Now we start wiping, you be like, it seems like you're just spreading it.

But just keep wiping, keep going, and then you're gonna need assistance.

Some of you in your life, you've done the best you can, but you don't have the expertise.

That's why you go for counseling, that's why you go for your doctor, that's why you ask your pastor for spiritual intervention.

You need help in terms of purification of your heart.

So that's why God says, You tried it on your own, but now you need to add prayer.

Now you need to add some meditation.

Now you need to be able to get your life.

Somebody said, Don't finish it, Pastor.

Let me just tell somebody this.

In your life, when you're doing work on your life, everybody's gonna have a comment.

This is your life.

Don't worry about how long it takes.

Don't worry about how much ingredients somebody may be able to get that heart pure in five minutes, but you know what?

We're not like the rest people.

The amount of stuff we done did in our life, all the mistakes we need in our life, we need a double dose.

Pastor, when you dip me, dip me three times.

Uh, because I just want to make sure it holds.

So now you start to see.

Now when prayer comes on this, this worked out.

This worked out so good.

I got so happy, Pastor.

You want to hear me what how the Holy Spirit speaks to you when you're up here?

This is what happens.

I saw this.

I asked them to put this together.

They didn't bring Wendix, they brought vinegar.

The same vinegar that they served Jesus, the same purity that was able to cleanse.

So here's what's happening: this thing is starting to clear up even before I wipe it.

That's what prayer and intervention and Christ looks in your life.

Once you apply it, let him do the work.

But you gotta invite God into your heart and let him do the work.

So now what I have to do is just keep wiping.

Let me get the excess off.

Let me get the excess off, and then then now ask for some more clothes.

So we're gonna make sure we keep cleaning.

I'm not worried about what people are gonna say.

I know some of you have some stuff in your life that you gotta get down on this thing and put some effort.

You've been worrying about, stop worrying about what I'm doing.

I'm cleaning my heart.

Oh, this one is done.

It got off some of the stuff, but I needed some more.

Some of you need to get down on your knees and say, God, I need you to clean out all the stuff so I can be able to see you, see you in spite of what's going on, see you in spite of my circumstances, see you in spite of my difficulties, and hear the thing.

Now, people are saying, Oh wow, you got a new mirror.

Oh what God is saying to you all along.

God is saying, This is you after you have the right intention, after you got the right desire, but this is you after you took some action, and here's what now every day, here's what now, every day, you gotta be.

This is what the purity of heart means.

You don't just clean your heart one day and forget it.

The purity of heart is a process that goes on and on.

So let your neighbor know daily I'm cleaning my heart, daily I'm seeking after God.

Because if I leave this alone, guess what?

I'll end back up with some fate.

Oh no, uh, I done work too hard.

And this is how y'all should be walking around with your life and your spirit.

People walk around and your heart, imagine now what everybody sees is a reflection of what's on you.

And now, imagine now somebody comes and tries to touch it the wrong way.

Some somebody tries to move the wrong way and touch his heart.

Look, look, look, you try to touch it.

Don't don't you dare touch it.

Don't you dare put them hands on.

I don't know what's your intention about touching my heart.

What's your intention?

What desire do you have?

Now you have to be in a point where you have to check people before you touch my mirror, before you come into my life, what's your intention?

You have good intentions?

Do you love God?

Are you sure you love God?

You want to give him all the honor and glory?

Yes, you want to give him all the honor and glory.

And here's the thing: you have to be able to talk to people and interrogate them and investigate them.

So before they come into your life, trying to put their fingerprints all over you, are your hands clean, are your intentions clean, are your desire clean?

Because I've spent too much time trying to get this right.

I'm gonna sit and take my seat.

I'm gonna leave you all good people here.

But I can't leave unless I'm able to say this.

It says that you should be able to see God.

I want to thank you, King Art Baptist Church, for always allowing a young man who's on the way of learning to be able to experience the purification of God.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to be your pastor.

It is not something that I take lightly, and it is a consistent process of being pure in heart.

And you have to understand that it comes a daily thing that you're seeking after God.

Uh, but I want to just let you know you might have an intention, you might have a desire, and now you've taken the action, so you're cleansing your heart, and you let God continue to do it daily.

I want you to be able to do it with prayer and meditation.

Uh, that's what God wants-a constant desire to seek after Him.

No more cosmetic looking like you have it all together, but a deep desire of what's on the inside.

Here's what I like about the desire, and here's what I like about this scripture.

It says, Blessed are those who are now in the process of continue to clean their heart.

And when they clean their heart, here's the glory that came over me.

The glory that the scripture says, and they shall see God.

I just want, I know, I know you're thinking that we're just talking about seeing God in heaven.

Uh, but I want you to know that right now, in your circumstance, when you have the right desire, intention, and a pureness of heart, in spite of what's going on on the outside of you, uh, because your condition of your heart happens on the inside, that no matter what you're going through, you can see God because it starts from the inside.

Let me break it down again for you because some of y'all missed that, uh, because you would have been happy if you got it.

The condition of seeing God happens from the inside.

It doesn't matter what's happening on the outside, because my clarity and my relationship with God allows me to see him from a condition of my internal prostitute, my internal situation, my internal circumstance.

So my heart is on the inside.

I've set up barriers around me so I don't get hurt or injured.

So now here's what God is saying.

I've kept you pluring hard so you will be able to see God.

Here's what you look when you see God.

Here's the advantage of seeing God.

You see God, that means that you're recognizing God in the good times and the bad times.

So somebody comes up, you got this fanny-dandy mirror, but you look like you're struggling.

Look, I want you to tell your neighbor, I'm seeing God in your struggle.

I'm seeing God in your struggle, I'm seeing God in your survival, I'm seeing God's peace around you.

I'm seeing God showing up in plans that are changing.

I'm seeing God when things are up and when things are down, when I'm happy and when I'm sad.

I'm seeing God, but I want to be able to tell somebody it's not just, Pastor, as you get older, you start to think about the mortality of life, and you just think about the one day life is gonna be over.

You have to understand the seeing God is not just on this earth, that we as Christians have a holy promise that some glad morning, when this life is over, that you will fly away to a home where God celestial shores and say, I will fly away.

I want somebody in here.

You may not have it all together, but your heart is in the right place, your mind is in the right place, you're constantly seeing God, and here's what God promised.

He said, Blessed are those who are thirsting after righteousness, for they shall inherit the earth.

But blessed are those who I feel like I'm preaching to people who don't understand the glory that's promised to you when you have a pure heart.

I'm sorry, in the in our tradition of uh preaching, uh there is a point where you are able to assist the preacher because we are celebrating.

I'm not telling you, I know if someone in here was somebody was able to tell you that one day you're gonna see your favorite superstar.

Uh that you're gonna be in here like a schoolgirl, just giddy and can't wait for it.

And if I know if I tell somebody in here that one day you're gonna see a million dollars when you walk out, uh, you'll be happy and can't wait to bust the doors.

I know somebody in here who's always hungry and you have food at home, you can't wait to see it.

I know somebody who can't wait to see your friends and family.

Uh, they've been away for a very long, long time, and you can't wait to see them at the airport.

Uh, some of you who've worked long and hard and had some late nights, you're saying, I can't wait to see my bed when I get home.

Uh, some of you can't wait to be able to just see that front door, and you're getting happy, and I can see your face changing.

Uh, but it's so interesting that you're more concerned about seeing the things that God made than seeing the God who made the things.

So I'm gonna do this again.

Let me let me flip the script.

For those of us who are having our hearts in the right place, I want you now that in spite of what you're going through, I want you to keep hope alive.

I want you to keep praying, keep fasting, keep trusting.

In spite of what comes in your life, I want you to keep going because the scripture says, blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they will see God.

And I can't wait, not just in this world, but to be able to say some that morning, when this life is over, I'll fly away to a home with God's celestial sword.

I'll fly away.

But here's the thing, it says, I'll fly away, oh glory.

I'll fly away.

So I wanna let you know, don't let the troubles of this world cause you to lose your faith.

Because one day you're gonna see God.

And when I see God and I come face to face, all problems, all troubles, all anxiety, all depression, all sickness will be removed.

All things are passed away, and all things are new.

I lift my eyes onto him so I can see God.

I trust in God so I can see God.

God wants you to see him.

And when you come close to God face to face and experience the majesty of being communion, and there's no distance, and there's no time, and there's no seasons, and you're just being able to experience God.

God says, I want you to see me.

Because guess what?

After you see God, you're gonna be changed forever.

Let's all stand no matter where you are.

If you're in need of prayer, no matter where you are, you're free to come to the altar.

But if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior, you've never said, I surrender and I give my life to God, right now, wherever you are, this is a moment for you to say, God, I surrender my life to you.

If you want to give your life to Christ, in this moment, you try to do it on your own.

No matter where you are, I want you to raise your hand towards heaven and say, I want to give my life to Christ.

I want to surrender my life to Christ.

And for you, those of you, I see that hand.

We see those hands all over the church.

We surrender our lives to Christ.

We say, God, we give you my entire life.

For those of you who are going through life and life has gotten hard.

I want you to now be able to say, God, I surrender my entire heart to you.

Lord, now I pray for the lifted hands and the lifted hearts.

That we're saying, I surrender it all to you, God.

My heart will no longer be divided.

I turn it over to you.

Heart, mind, and soul.

I give you my heart, I surrender my will.

If it's not your plans, God, I don't want it.

If it's not your will, God, I don't want to do it.

If it's not your desire for my life, take it away from me.

God, you see the hearts that are broken, you see the people that are hurting.

And now I'm asking you, God, to look about our hearts.

Restore our hearts, restore our minds.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.

Everybody say amen.

Everybody say amen?

Thank you for worshiping with us today.

If you'd like to go deeper in your walk with Christ, we invite you to contact us at 284-442-4222.

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