All right, we're here in 2 Kings chapter 10, and we're going to be finishing our series
on the alphabet of characteristics.
We're looking at the letter Z, and we're looking at zeal.
We're being zealous.
And we're looking at the character of Jehu or Jehu, depending on how you decide to
pronounce it.
And let me just show you these couple verses to start off, and then we're going
to look at the life of Jehu and see three points here.
But 2 Kings chapter 10, verse 15, the Bible reads, And when he was departed thence,
he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rakab, coming to meet him, and he saluted
him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?
And Jehonadab answered, It is, if it be, give me thine hand.
And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot, and he said,
Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.
So they made him ride in his chariot.
And this is a pretty famous verse here, 2 Kings 10, verse 16, it's a great phrase
to memorize.
And he says, Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.
Being zealous, having zeal means that you're excited, you're passionate.
It's something that people can actually see and feel and inspire others.
And Jehu was a very zealous character in the Bible.
Now let's go back to 2 Kings chapter 9.
And point number 1 when it comes to Jehu is public feats, public accomplishments.
Jehu did things that were in public, that were seen, and they were known.
Notice what the Bible says here in 2 Kings 9, verse 6, And he arose and went into
the house, and he poured the oil on his head and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, I have anointed the king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel,
and thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of
my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord at the hand
of Jezebel.
For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth
against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel.
So Jehu's being anointed as the king, and he's basically being given a mission by God to accomplish
something, and basically his job is to go to a wicked nation that should be serving
God and just clean house.
And look, you know what?
Our world has become so wicked today that we just get used to it, but I think probably
in any country in the world if a righteous person came and took over and God gave them
direct instructions, it would be like just clean house everywhere.
Every idol would be destroyed, all the LGBT would be destroyed, I mean we've got a lot
of sin all over the world in every country, but see the thing is this was supposed to
be God's nation, and they were filled with wickedness as the heathen nations also are.
Go to verse number 16, the Bible says here in verse 16, 2 Kings 9 verse 16,
So Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there, and Ahaziah
king of Judah was come down to see Joram.
And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he
came and said, I see a company, and Joram said, Take in horsemen and send to meet them,
and let him say, Is it peace?
And so during these times you'd basically have the wall that would guard your town,
and you'd have a watchman, somebody that would be in a tall place, and he would
be looking at a distance to see if there's any enemy that's coming, so if there's
an enemy you see from a long distance away, you could warn the king and warn the leaders,
and they could prepare for battle.
Of course this is very different in today's world because today they just press a button
and a missile just like launches at your country or whatever, but in these days they'd
have a watchman or multiple watchmen that would look from a long distance away and
then just see is there an enemy coming, and so probably most days they're just kind
of sitting around a pretty boring job doing nothing, but they've got to be ready if
an enemy is actually coming, and the king says, I want you to go down and then ask,
Are you here for peace or are you here for war basically?
Are you coming in peaceably or are you trying to start a battle with us?
And the idea would be that they would meet him along the way, so if there's a battle
that's going to take place, they could prepare for it.
So the messenger goes out to talk to Jehu, and it says here in verse number 18,
So there went one on horseback to meet him and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace?
And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace?
Turn thee behind me.
And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again.
And so if you want to get our modern day translation of what this is saying, it's
like, Get out of the way or you're going to be destroyed also.
That's basically what Jehu is saying.
It's like, Is it peace?
It's like, What do you have to do with peace?
Get out of my way is what he's basically saying.
And the idea would be, Hey, if I mess with this guy, he might kill me.
So it's kind of like, Go ahead, I'll just leave, right?
Then it says here, and the watchman says to the king, it's like, Well,
the messenger came, but he didn't return, right?
Of course, that's going to make the king very panicked, very afraid,
because the messenger's supposed to figure out what's going on, and
it's like, Well, wait a minute, he might be here for battle then.
Verse number 19, Then he sent out a second on horseback.
So somebody else is going to meet Jehu, which came to them and said, Thus saith the king,
Is it peace?
And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace?
Turn thee behind me.
So once again, Jehu's like, Get out of my way.
And the messenger's just like, Go ahead, do whatever you need to do,
talk to the king, I'm out of here, I don't want to deal with this, right?
And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and
cometh not again, and the driving is like the driving of Jehu,
the son of Nimshai, for he driveth furiously.
He driveth very angrily, right?
Now, don't use this verse to justify driving like twice the speed limit, and
just weaving in and out of traffic.
I don't think that's the interpretation we're meant to make from this story.
But you can see that Jehu's a very zealous person, he's very excited.
And of course, as he's getting closer, the watchman can recognize and
see who it actually is.
He's like, I think it's Jehu, I think I recognize him.
And his driving, his passion,
it backs up who he appears to be from a long distance away, right?
It says in verse 21, and Joram said, Make ready, and his chariot was made ready.
And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out,
each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu and
met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezrelite.
And it came to pass when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu?
And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel,
and her witchcrafts are so many?
And so, that's a pretty strong opening statement by Jehu.
It's like, how are we gonna have peace when your mom's a whore, and
the whoredoms are left here in the land?
He's like, what peace are we gonna possibly have?
So he's saying, right up front, I'm here for battle, right?
And one thing you can say is, at least Jehu is honest about what he's there for.
He's just open and says, hey, I'm here for war, I'm not here for peace,
I'm here for destruction.
You say, well, I mean, this is strange because isn't God a God of peace?
It's like, God is a God of holiness above anything else.
And Jesus said, he came not to give peace, but division.
And when there's sin and wickedness, you gotta clean house.
And that's the instruction that God gave.
And it says here, in verse number 23, and
Jordan turned his hands and fled and said to Ahaziah, there's Tretrio Ahaziah.
And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength and smote Jehoram between his
arms, and the arrow went out of his heart and he sunk down in his chariot.
Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, take up and
cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite.
For remember how that when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father,
the Lord laid this burden upon him.
Surely I've seen yesterday the blood of Naboth and
the blood of his son, saith the Lord.
And I will requite thee in this plat, saith the Lord.
Now therefore, take and cast him into the plat of ground,
according to the word of the Lord.
But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this,
he fled by the way of the garden house, and Jehu followed after him and
said, smite him also in the chariot.
And they did so at the going up to Ger, which is by Iblion, and
they fled to Megiddo and died there.
Now, we saw in the next chapter, he says, come with me and see my zeal for
the Lord.
And obviously, in the Old Testament, you're seeing physical stories, and
you make applications to the spiritual.
But what we're seeing is that with real zeal, there are public feats.
It's something that's known.
If somebody is extremely zealous, people are gonna be aware of it, right?
And you say, well, I'm a very zealous person to serve God.
But nobody is aware of that.
Well, then you're not.
Because with zeal, it's something that can be seen.
It's something that's known.
There's excitement behind it, right?
And you see the public feats of Jehu in this story.
Now, turn your Bible to Mark 16, Mark 16.
I mean, make no mistake about it that if God were to send someone directly,
as his representative, as a godly representative, and
gave him direct instructions, I mean, they would be cleaning house on
all of the wickedness.
And sometimes I think we just don't realize how bad the world is.
And from my perspective, I see things sometimes, like we don't have a TV,
like I don't watch the news, but sometimes on Facebook, I'll see news pop up.
And if you know the conservative satire, Not to Be and
Babylonian Be, where they give you news that pops up.
And then in some ways, I feel like I'm shocked every day in my life by
the things that come up.
And in some ways, I feel like nothing could ever surprise me.
Like literally, anything in this world could happen.
I'd be like, well, I'm not really surprised.
And it was like right before the services yesterday in Pampanga,
I saw on Facebook, where they popped up on Not to Be,
that at the opening ceremony of the Olympics,
they did a reenactment of The Last Supper with drag queens.
And I'm just like, in some ways, I'm shocked.
And in some ways, I'm like, well, it doesn't really surprise me.
I mean, it's like, you gotta be kidding me.
Because sometimes, I can say this as a preacher,
because you might think sometimes, Pastor,
why do you always preach against the LGBT and the wickedness and the sin?
Can't you be a bit more loving?
And hey, you know what?
I prefer sermons that are a bit more loving.
Sometimes I feel like I'm overboard.
Then all of a sudden, you see on the news,
they're reenacting The Last Supper with drag queens.
It's like, what does the Olympics have to do with The Last Supper?
Why are you even bringing that in?
Like, what's your purpose?
But it doesn't really surprise me.
I mean, I can't really think.
I mean, that's something I wouldn't have even been able to invent up.
Like, what are they going to do with the Olympics?
That would not have even come into my mind.
It's like, you gotta be kidding me.
And yet, it's not really surprising.
Now, I mean, it is Paris, France.
And what I would say about Europe is,
Europe is just like the US just 25 years into the future,
in terms of sin and wickedness.
But it's not just, in France, this is happening.
This is happening all over the world.
Apparently, they felt confident enough
that they could mock Jesus in front of,
because look, besides the World Cup,
the Olympics is probably the most watched event
in the world, I would say.
I mean, probably a billion or two billion people
end up watching the Olympics.
And it's like, they felt confident enough
with 20% of the world watching
to just mock Jesus Christ in front of everybody.
And that's, I mean, there's no way
this would have taken place 20 years ago,
or 30 years ago.
And the speed at which this world
is declining to hell, it's accelerating.
It's not just getting worse.
I mean, it is concave down, my friend.
It is rapidly going and descending into hell.
And it's like, you know what?
In some ways, I'm shocked.
And in other ways, I'm like,
well, it doesn't really surprise me.
I mean, this is kind of just what they do.
They just mock Jesus any chance that they can get.
What would Jehu do
if he got appointed the new leader of France,
and he was there at the Olympic ceremony?
You know what?
Every single one of those drag queens
would be having blood everywhere.
It would not just be symbolic of the blood of Jesus.
There would be literal blood
that would be poured out upon that stage
in front of the world.
I mean, just mocking Jesus Christ,
but people see these things,
and they just get used to it like it's no big deal.
Now, the one good thing
about the world becoming so wicked
is there's a lot of people I used to talk to
10 years ago that thought I was too extreme.
And people that are my relatives,
because I come from a very conservative family,
and now when I talk to them,
they're always just bashing the LGBT to me.
And it's like, you sound just like me now.
Because 10 years ago, you thought I was too extreme,
and now you're just like, it is insane.
It's crazy what's going on.
And yet, it's not really surprising anymore,
because this is just the world that we live in.
And look, I would have never guessed this,
because when I was a kid,
I remember before I was homeschooled,
I was in elementary school,
and I was told by the teacher
to write a sentence on the board.
And so I wrote a sentence with the word gay in it.
You say, why would you do that?
Because it means happy.
I was writing a sentence,
and they said, you're supposed to put new words up there.
So I was like, I just put a sentence that meant happy.
And then the teacher was just horrified.
I'm like, what?
And everyone's like, you know, defending me.
Like, what's wrong, teacher?
It means happy.
We're just like, I don't understand what's going on.
That was just 30 years ago.
Now, though, it's just like,
think about what the world is now.
Imagine in another 30 years,
I have absolutely no idea what will become normal.
My best guess is that in many countries around the world,
pedophilia will become legalized.
And in many countries, it kinda is,
because of the fact that
if you're at the age of like 12 or something,
it's the age of consent, which is perverted,
it's sick, it's gross.
But it's like, it's becoming justified all over the world.
It's getting worse and worse and worse.
And look, the people that are in positions of power,
they allow it.
It really shows you that Satan is the god of this world.
Because this is on the stage.
I mean, the Olympics,
I'd imagine probably a billion people
watched the opening ceremonies.
And what do they see?
They just see them mocking Jesus Christ
in front of the entire world.
When it comes to zeal,
one area where we need to have zeal
is with soul winning.
The Bible says in Mark 16, verse 15,
And he said unto them,
Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature.
See, the Bible commands all of us.
It says, Go ye,
and it's not just into a small area.
It's like, go ye into all the world.
Not just your circle of friends,
or your family,
or those that come to you with the gospel,
or asking about the Bible.
No, go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature.
And it's saying, go up to random people
that have never met you,
you don't know them,
and you just start bringing up the Bible
and try to talk to them about salvation.
That's what the Bible says.
And here's what I would say.
I became zealous for soul winning.
Why?
Because I saw the zeal of other people
that were leading.
And for many of you,
you started coming to this church,
and when you look at our church
and think about our church,
if there's one word
that describes our church,
that word would be soul winning.
The only way you could dispute that
is if you consider soul winning two words.
Because it's kind of a made up term by Baptists.
Winning souls, soul winning.
So whether it's one word or two words,
if you define our church in just one statement,
it is soul winning.
That is what our church is about.
And the great thing is,
when people come and they see that zeal,
they just kind of get on board and do likewise.
It's like, what are the activities
of Verity Baptist Church in Manila?
Soul winning.
That's a big thing.
Yeah, we have Christmas fellowship,
Mother's Day event, Father's Day event,
but it's like 90 plus percent
of what our church is about,
it's about soul winning.
It's about getting people saved.
Go on your Bible to Acts 1.
Acts 1.
Look, I wish that the majority of the world
was saved and on their way to heaven.
And I can say in my flesh,
I wish everybody wasn't going to hell,
but the reality is, I'm not going to lie to myself.
Because around the world,
there are people that are saved all over the place
and they do nothing for God.
They know that people are on their way to hell.
What do they do?
They just consciously don't make it a point
to think about hell.
They know it on the inside,
but they don't want to think about it.
And I get it, because it's kind of painful
where you're out at the grocery store
and then you think and look at the people around you
and you think, man, 95% of these people
are going to die and go to hell.
It's a painful thought.
But it's reality.
And don't be like a little kid
that puts a blanket over their head.
It's like, I don't know if mom and dad can see me, right?
Maybe they didn't catch what I did, now I'm okay.
No, it's like, we still know you're there.
And you can pretend that it isn't real
and not think about it, but it doesn't change reality.
And the reality is, hell is in the heart of the earth
and people that die are going to be tormented
day and night forever and ever.
And look, we need to have zeal till our dying day.
You say, why?
Because the vast majority of people
will always be unsaved.
No matter how many people we get saved,
the vast majority of people are unsaved.
Look, most people I run into in this area are not saved.
And when they are saved, it's usually someone
at our church that got them saved.
Isn't that your experience?
And praise God that we run into people
that are saved, that we got saved.
And look, even above that, hey, praise God
if people are already saved when we talk to them.
That's great.
But the reality is, most people aren't.
Most people don't know they're going to heaven.
And so look, as we are in this area,
it's our job to reach this area with the gospel.
But it doesn't just stop there
because of the fact you reached this area.
What about the areas outside of that little sphere?
Because there's a lot of people
all throughout the Philippines.
What is like 130 million or something people
in the Philippines now, like 60 some million people
in Luzon, there's a lot of people.
We're not gonna be able to reach all those people.
We say, what do you need?
You need to have zeal, not just for soul winning,
but zeal to start churches.
Acts 1 verse 8.
But ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost
has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea
and in Samaria and on the uttermost part of the earth.
How can one small group of people
reach the entire earth with the gospel?
They really can't.
Especially back then when they cannot fly
to the other part of the world.
You say, what do you do?
You gotta get churches started everywhere.
And look, as much zeal as we have
to get people saved in this area,
we also need to get more churches started.
Right, when this church first started,
the first thing I said about the goal of this church
is to get more churches started.
It's the first point I had in the sermon
of the goal of the vision
of Verity Baptist Church Manila.
You say, why?
Because as happy as I am that people are willing
to drive an hour and a half, two hours,
or whatever to come to our church,
I think it's a shame that you have to drive two hours.
I mean, I wish there's a bonafide great church
near where you lived.
And I'm not saying they have to be exactly like us,
but a church that is just very solid on salvation,
very zealous, preaching against sin,
I wish that was the case.
But unfortunately, in most parts of this country,
that's not the case.
And the reality is that our country's very blessed
with good churches compared to other countries.
The reality is, in a lot of countries,
there's no Baptist churches.
Right, probably the big website
that will give you a church directory
for good churches is Military Get Saved.
And they do that for the United States,
all of the states, but also on countries across the world.
And they're not that strict.
I mean, on repentance of sins, they're not strict.
As long as you're somewhat King James only,
and you're IFB or something close to it,
you're on the list.
But I remember looking before, and I hope it's changed,
but I would look at countries in Europe
that have 60 million people and zero churches
that they can recommend.
I mean, in America, they have like 20 churches
they recommend in West Virginia.
But then in Europe, with 60 million people,
it's like zero recommendations.
We don't know of a Baptist church in this country.
It's like, you've gotta be kidding me.
I mean, honestly, we are blessed in this country,
but here's the thing.
If you're thankful for the church that we have,
and you say, you know what, I'm thankful
that Pastor Min is invested in this area,
and your family came here, and we have this church,
and we've gathered these people
and worked hard to build it.
If you're thankful, you oughta repay that gratitude
by helping get other churches started.
And I'm not saying you have to go and become a pastor
or start a church or whatever,
but do everything you can to be a blessing to this church
so it helps us have the ability to start more churches.
Go to Isaiah 58.
Isaiah 58.
Isaiah chapter 58.
Now, when I first started going to church
after I got saved, I was very excited
because every sermon I heard was like brand new.
I knew nothing about the Bible,
and I felt like I was learning so much,
and I was learning a lot of great information.
And eventually it kind of reached a point
as I'm reading my Bible and learning more,
and I heard sermons.
A lot of stuff I felt was kind of repetitive.
I didn't feel like I was learning as much,
and I was trying to get more information.
This is probably the early days.
I don't even know if YouTube was around,
but I remember just searching on Google or Yahoo,
I don't know, 20 years ago,
whatever was big at the time,
just trying to find sermons like IFB preaching.
And I remember I heard preachers that lived in the past.
Like Curtis Hudson was my favorite preacher from the past.
And I would listen, and they were zealous.
They were fired up, and I'm like,
man, this is great.
This is awesome.
And unfortunately, what I often found
with churches in the area,
it's like there was no zeal in the preaching.
There was no passion in the preaching.
And look, I get it,
because when you preach every week,
it's very easy to go through the motions,
to get tired, to get exhausted.
It happens to all of us.
It just felt like a shame to me,
because I was like, man, I want to go to church,
and then get excited.
And I felt like I was going to church,
and I wasn't really learning.
I wasn't being motivated.
And there would be many Sundays where it's like,
oh, man, it's like, time to go to church.
It's like, I don't really expect to learn.
I'm not that excited,
but I'm supposed to go to church, right?
And I wish that weren't the case,
but unfortunately, that's how I often felt.
And many of you have told me the same thing,
where you used to go to church every week,
where you felt obligated to go to other churches you were at,
and it's like, but you weren't that excited about it.
You say, why?
Because you couldn't feel any passion in the preaching.
You couldn't feel any zeal and excitement
in the preaching.
And unfortunately, there's a lot of churches
that have just lost that zeal.
They've lost that excitement.
Now look, it is very possible for me
to lose that excitement.
Obviously, some weeks, I don't have the excitement.
Some weeks, I don't have the zeal.
Some weeks, maybe I'm a bit back-sitting or tired
or whatever, and it's possible
that I could lose the zeal one day.
But it's a shame when you're going to church
and you don't feel that excitement.
You say, why?
Because one area we need zeal is in the preaching.
You're meant to go to church, you hear sermons,
and you're like, man, I need to get right with God.
Really, the way preaching ought to work
is every single week.
It's like at the end of the sermon,
like, man, I'm a horrible person.
I need to start reading the Bible more.
I'm worldly.
I'm back-slitting.
I need to make changes.
I need to be more zealous to get people saved.
I need to do some stuff in my life.
That is the way it's meant to be at church.
Turn your Bible back to 2 Kings 9.
And actually, Isaiah 58, did I even read the verse?
I don't think I did.
I got so excited that I forgot to read the verse.
Isaiah 58 verse 1,
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet,
and show my people their transgression
in the house of Jacob their sins.
Why does Pastor Stuckey have to yell when he preaches?
It's like, why can't you be nice?
Because I saw all those Jesus movies
where he's got the long hair,
and he's like, ye generation of vipers.
Right, you know, sometimes you have those audio,
you know what, one thing that's interesting to me
with all the stories of Jesus that are out there,
all the Jesus movies that have been out there,
it's like John the Baptist is a wild man, right?
I mean, you can't really fake eating locusts
and wild honey.
Oftentimes they do have him having long hair also,
which is not correct.
But I mean, he's hardcore.
I mean, he's crying in the wilderness.
And then all of a sudden, Jesus comes up
very soft-spoken and quiet and shy and not very tough.
It's like, no, obviously Jesus is the Son of God
and perfect, and we get that, but here's the thing.
The prophets in the Old Testament, guess what?
They were pretty hardcore.
They preached against sin.
They cried aloud.
Jesus was not different than all the godly preachers
that came before in that sense.
Obviously he was better and he was perfect,
but he was also crying aloud and preaching against sin.
And look, when you're reading Matthew 23,
how could you possibly read that
and think that he's being quiet and nice?
And it's like, that's ridiculous.
He's getting up, he's preaching hard
because the Bible says, cry aloud.
Spare not.
Look, I'll make an agreement with you.
I will quit yelling when I preach on one condition.
Everybody goes sinless the next week.
If every one of you goes without committing any sins,
I promise I won't preach hard next week.
I'll just be nice and soft
and just preach on love, part one of 75.
But here's the problem.
There's sin to preach against.
There's sin to cry against.
And look, sin ought to make you mad.
That gets you angry.
Like when you see the sin in the world,
it ought to make you angry and mad at it.
And look, when you sin in your life,
you ought to feel mad at yourself.
Now I'm not saying let it beat you down
and never get up, but I'm saying
when you have that guilty conscience,
you should have the feeling in the inside,
man, what is wrong with me?
I gotta make these changes.
Why am I doing this?
I know it's wrong.
We should feel that way.
You should feel guilty.
You should say I've gotta make some changes.
And look, one area we need zeal is in the preaching.
We need excitement in the pulpit.
And look, I'm not saying it's just me.
When we have guys come up and preach on Wednesday,
or guest preach, you see people
that are taking strong stands against sin.
People that are excited.
And look, we need that.
You say why?
Because if the person preaching is not zealous,
why would everybody else become zealous that's following?
It's not gonna happen.
2 Kings 9 verse 30.
And when Jehu was come to Jezreel,
Jezebel heard of it and she painted her face
and tired her head and looked out at a window.
And as Jehu entered into the gate,
she said, had Zimrai peace who slew his master?
So Jezebel basically realizes she's gonna be killed.
And she's saying that, well, you know what?
Zimrai didn't have any peace when he slew his master.
Therefore, don't kill me
because you're not gonna have peace in your life
if you kill me is what she's trying to say.
It's like, can't we just all get along,
just be loving and forgive?
And you know what?
Honestly, when you hear Christianity today,
it's like you wonder, have they ever read these stories?
Who's right in this story?
Jehu or Jezebel?
That sounds like a future sermon, Jehu versus Jezebel.
Because a lot of Christians, if you set up the scene,
they probably don't know who Jehu is.
They'd be siding against Jehu.
Like, yeah, he should be more loving.
And yet the Bible says to Jehu, clean house.
Get rid of the sin.
Look, obviously we understand that's not our place
to go out there and do what the government
should be doing, but you're seeing that Jehu
was specifically appointed by God to clean house
and get rid of the sin.
And if this was God's nation run by God's rules,
you know what would be taking place?
There would be a much different place in another week.
All the idols are being smashed.
I mean, it would be madness in the streets.
People would be shocked.
You say, why?
Because we live in a wicked country.
Well, I mean, aren't other countries in Asia wicked?
Yeah, but who cares?
You don't live in other countries.
Be concerned about where you live
and admit this is a wicked country.
There's a lot of problems in this country
and God's not happy about it.
Says here in verse 32,
And he lifted up his face to the window
and said, who is on my side, who?
And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs,
and he said, throw her down.
So they threw her down.
And some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall
and on the horses and he trode her underfoot.
So basically you see that these eunuchs
get behind Jehu and they do what he says.
And see, point number one was this.
We see the public feats of Jehu,
but we also see that Jehu provoked followers.
He motivated people to follow him.
See, he had the public feats which showed the zeal.
And when you are a really zealous person,
you know what's gonna take place?
You will provoke people to follow you.
You're gonna provoke followers.
You get excited to serve God
and other people see that excitement
and they're like, man, I want some of that.
I wanna get on board with that.
Now go to chapter 10, 2 Kings chapter 10.
2 Kings 10.
Man, I would say one of the big reasons
why I first really got ahold of the preaching
with Pastor Anderson way back in 2008
is that when I was listening
and I saw the zeal for soul winning
and just the passion in the preaching,
I was like, man, I wanna get on board with that
because I had excitement as a young person
and I just felt like it was hard
to find someone that was really trying
to excite you and motivate you
and I just heard the passion in the preaching.
And when I heard it, I was like,
I wanna get on board with this.
And I'm sure that's how many of you felt.
For those of you that listened to sermons online
for a while, that's probably how you felt
when you first started listening to preaching like this.
Like, man, this is exciting.
There's zeal, they're preaching against stuff.
It's like, that's what I want, right?
And what takes place?
It provokes followers.
It provokes followers, right?
Now, look, there's other churches out there.
You know, I was in the old IFB for several years
before I started listening to Pastor Anderson.
I was saved for several years.
And you know what, I did make a lot of great changes
in my life, but honestly, I just felt like I reached
a point where I really needed something
to kinda give me an extra motivation.
And zealous preaching provokes followers.
Zealous soul winning provokes more people
to follow and go soul winning.
Zealous preaching provokes people
to wanna get on board serving God, right?
In any area, if you're zealous
and excited about something,
and look, I'm not saying you should do this,
but if you come to our church
and you're really excited and zealous about a hobby,
you're probably gonna provoke people
to wanna get on board with it too
when they see that excitement, right?
Regardless of what the hobby is,
there are gonna be people that say,
hey, I wanna do that too,
because of your excitement and your zeal.
Well, if there's anything we should be zealous for,
it oughta be the things of God.
Because if there's one area of my life
I wanna provoke followers, it's with serving God, right?
Point number one, public feeds.
Point two, provoking followers.
Notice what it says in 2 Kings 10, verse five.
And he that was over the house
and he that was over the city,
the elders also and the bringers of the children
sent to Jahu, saying, we are thy servants
and will do all that thou shalt bid us.
We will not make any king.
Do thou that which is good in thine eyes.
And they say, hey, we wanna get on board with this.
We're gonna follow you.
Whatever you do, we wanna be on board with this.
And drop down to verse number eight.
And there came a messenger and told him, saying,
they have brought the heads of the king's sons.
And he said, lay ye them in two heaps
at the entering of the gate into the morning.
And it came to pass in the morning
that he went out and stood and said to all the people,
ye be righteous.
Behold, I conspired against my master.
Jahu's like, hey, I conspired against my master
and slew him and killed him, but who slew all these?
And what Jahu's saying is, yeah, you know what?
I did something, I got excited, but wait a minute.
I only killed a small portion.
Who slew all these?
And you know, the application we can make,
think about soul winning.
It's like, with this portion in the bulletin here of,
let's see, we have 7,724 salvations for 2,024.
Some of those are my salvations.
Some are my wife's, but not most of them.
I mean, most of them are you.
It's the people that got excited and are following.
And any good church should be like this.
Most of the salvation should come via the fact
that there's a lot of people going soul winning
and you just kind of add them up.
Look, when we count salvations
during the second portion of the service
during announcements, it'll be like two salvations,
three, four, one, two,
and then you just add it up.
You're like, man, you got a lot.
We have so many marathons,
there's a lot of people doing the work.
Nobody gets all of the salvations.
It's a team effort.
And what Jehu said is, hey, who slew all of these?
So look, don't have this mindset,
well, since I'm not the pastor, I'm not important,
I don't have an important role at this church.
It's like, look, you're on the front lines of battle
to keep people out of hell.
That sounds pretty important.
In fact, what I would say is
the first step of service to God is actually soul winning.
So before I was a pastor, before I preached,
before I knew much in the Bible,
you know what I did know?
I did know salvation.
And guess what?
I could start soul winning
even though I didn't know enough
about the Bible to preach sermons.
You say, why?
Because I knew how to go to heaven.
And maybe you just got saved a week ago
or two weeks ago or six months ago or whatever.
You feel like, I feel like
I'm so far behind everybody else.
Yeah, but you can still be at the front part of battle
called soul winning.
That's the most important thing that we can be doing.
And you know what?
What's great about serving God?
This is not something where you have to be safe
for 10 years and study and get all these degrees.
And I finally reached the point that I can use this.
Because in most areas of our life,
you start heading down a road of studying something.
It's kind of like, if I stay diligent,
in five years I can use this or whatever, right?
But with serving God, it's like, day one.
You just get right on board.
You say, well, don't I have to make
a lot of big changes in my life
before I can start soul winning?
Did the woman in John 4 make a lot of big changes
before she started soul winning?
I'm pretty sure she just jumped right into it.
And look, you might not know everything about the Bible,
but if you know salvation, you can just jump right into it.
A lot of times people are afraid,
well, what if I go soul winning,
and then I run into some upper level Mormon
that gives me all these questions I can't answer.
I don't want to embarrass myself.
Look, if it's an upper level Mormon,
move on to the next door.
Move on to the next person.
Don't waste your time.
What if I run into some Catholic priest
that is asking me all these questions?
It's like, why are you even trying
to talk to a Catholic priest?
It's like, you're not gonna get the religious leader
saved in any religion 99 whatever percent of the time.
But here's the thing about this.
There's nothing wrong with going soul winning,
and somebody asks a question,
and you don't know how to answer it,
and you're just like, I'm not sure about that.
If they're honestly listening and you're new at it.
Look, when I first started going soul winning,
I'm like, yeah, I'm not sure about that.
I just got saved.
There's other people that know more than me,
but this is what I do know.
And you know what takes place?
You realize, okay, well, how do I answer this?
Then you ask somebody else to church that is a soul winner.
So if they bring up this verse, how do I answer this?
And then you know.
Isn't trial and error the best way to learn stuff?
You mess something up, and what happens?
Then you make sure you never mess it up again.
So look, trial and error is how you learn.
It's not a big deal if you don't know everything.
And what Jehu said is, who slew all of these, right?
Now, let me actually go down to verse number 15,
and let me turn to 2 Kings 10 myself.
I want to add this from the story
to give you more context.
And 2 Kings 10, verse 15.
And when he departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab,
the son of Rahab, coming to meet him,
and he saluted him and said to him,
is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?
And Jehonadab answered, it is, if it be,
give me thine hand.
And he gave him his hand,
and he took him up into the chariot,
and he said, come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.
So they made him ride in his chariots.
Now, the next story in the Bible after this verse
is one of the coolest stories in the Bible.
And you know, if you're familiar with this chapter,
you're like, yeah, this is true.
This is a pretty cool story.
If not, you know, this is an exciting story to see.
So let's start here, verse number 17.
And when he came to Samaria,
he slew all that remained onto Rahab and Samaria
till he had destroyed him,
according to the saying of the Lord,
which he spake to Elijah.
And Jehu gathered all the people to gather
and said unto them, Rahab served Baal a little,
but Jehu shall serve him much.
So basically, Jehu is cleaning house,
and the false prophets of Baal
and the worshipers of Baal are concerned.
Like, wait a minute, is he coming after us?
It's like, don't worry.
It's like, the old leaders serve Baal a little bit.
I'm gonna serve him a lot.
It's like, all right, that's great, right?
So the people that are the false prophets of Baal,
they're excited, right?
Then it says here in verse 19,
now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal,
all his servants and all his priests.
Let none be wanting, for I have a great sacrifice
to do to Baal.
Whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live.
But Jehu did it in subtlety to the intent
that he might destroy the worshipers of Baal.
What he's basically saying is,
you have to come, but don't worry.
It's like, you don't come, you're gonna be in trouble,
but you come.
We're gonna be worshiping Baal.
I want all of the prophets of Baal
to come to this great event.
And Jehu said, proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal,
and they proclaimed it.
So he brought everybody in.
He's like, let's be quiet.
Let's take this seriously.
It's a very important moment to honor Baal,
is what Jehu's saying.
And Jehu sent through all Israel,
and all the worshipers of Baal came
so that there was not a man left that came not.
And they came in to the house of Baal,
and the house of Baal was full from one end to another.
And he said unto him that was over the vestry,
bring forth vestments for all the worshipers of Baal,
and he brought them forth vestments.
So basically, they gathered together in a giant stadium
or whatever, a giant building,
just all these people that are worshipers of Baal.
It's a modern day application.
I mean, there's a lot of false religions in 2024.
So gathering all these people that are really worshiping,
these false gods and false religions,
he gathers them all together.
And then here's what it says in verse 23.
And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rakab
entered the house of Baal
and said unto the worshipers of Baal,
search and look that there be here with you
none of the servants of the Lord,
but the worshipers of Baal only.
So Jehu's like, I want to make sure
that there's no servant of the Lord
that happens to be inside that is trying
to get these false prophets saved or whatever.
I don't know, right?
He's like, make sure that they're all gone.
And it says in verse 24,
and when they went in to offer sacrifice
and burnt offerings,
Jehu appointed four scoremen without and said,
if any of the men who might have brought
into your hands escape, he that letteth him go,
his life shall be for the life of him.
And it came to pass as soon as the maiden
ended up offering the burnt offering
that Jehu said to the guard and the captains,
go in and slay them.
Let none come forth,
and they smote them with the edge of the sword,
and the guard and the captains cast them out
and went to the city of the house of Baal.
And they brought forth the images,
so here's the idolatry,
out of the house of Baal and burned them.
And they break down the image of Baal
and break down the house of Baal
and made it a drought house onto this day.
Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
And look, in our modern day,
we need all these false religions
just to be destroyed out of the land.
We are filled full of wickedness
and ungodliness and idolatry.
These images, these idols that they're worshiping,
that's the world that we live in.
I mean, if a modern day Jehu came,
he would clean house on everything.
But we're so used to it
that we just kind of don't think anything of it.
I get it, we get desensitized, I do too.
Right, when I first moved to the Philippines,
every time I would see idols,
it would really anger me.
But now I'm just kind of used to it.
Because you get used to stuff over time.
That's just kind of the way it is.
It's still just as wicked.
But you get, and here's the problem,
if this is filling the land,
even if people realize it's wrong,
when they see it every day, what takes place?
Eventually they just get used to it.
That's the way it goes.
This is why you need preaching like this,
because you get used to this wicked world.
You get used to these cross dressers,
you think it's normal,
so you need like shock therapy.
You come to church, it's like bam, it's like whoa.
You're right, it's wicked, it's wrong.
That's what you need.
Because the world we live in today is insane.
It's crazy, the world that we live in, right?
Now, turn your Bible to 1 Corinthians 11.
1 Corinthians 11.
And one reason why I think our evangelist,
Brother Matthias in Poland,
has been so successful,
because you look at the bulletin at salvations,
and of course it's exciting,
all the salvations we have here.
But then you look at Poland,
and it's like 421 salvations this year.
I don't know about you,
but that's a lot higher than I expected.
Wouldn't you say that?
I mean, this is a country in Europe.
And with a lot of their soul,
what they're doing is, from my understanding,
they go to a lot of different places.
They'll go to public places.
They're by the train stations just talking to people.
They got 20 minutes, they're talking to them.
They're getting right off the trains,
they're talking to them.
They're doing everything they can to reach people
and get people safe.
But it's like, what a high number.
Here's what I think every single person
would say about Matthias.
Matthias and his wife and their family,
they were very zealous.
Is that not true?
I mean, like literally every day,
going soul-winding just very zealously,
and it's just like, man,
they are very, very, very zealous
and devoted to the things of God.
And here's the thing,
if a ministry is starting
and you want to get people excited,
what do you need to do?
You need to be zealous.
You need to be excited.
You're not going to expect the followers
to be more zealous than the leader.
I mean, think about the stories in the Bible
where King Saul is not fighting Goliath.
What's the result?
Nobody's going to fight Goliath.
Now, King Saul is the tallest man.
He should be fighting.
He's the leader.
He doesn't want to do it.
What takes place when David fights Goliath?
All of a sudden, everyone goes out to battle.
It's like, Goliath was only one man.
But they saw the zeal,
they saw the excitement,
and what took place?
They got on board also.
And look, you need zeal
if you're going to be successful at something,
if you're going to provoke followers.
Here's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1.
Be followers of me,
even as I also am of Christ.
And what Paul's saying is this.
I want you to follow me as long as I'm following Christ.
Now, at the end of the day,
the best example we have is obviously Jesus Christ.
And you look at Jesus Christ,
you can look at Him,
you can look at other great characters in the Bible,
you read about Paul the Apostle,
you read about other great characters,
and it can motivate you and can make you zealous.
But the thing is, when you're reading stories,
even though these are true,
when you're not experiencing it,
it's not the same thing.
I'm sure that if you were there
for the parting of the Red Sea,
it's more powerful than if you're just reading about it.
And the story is very cool,
but if you actually experience it,
it's going to be a million times more.
And here's the thing,
I don't believe that Christianity's in retirement
where all the excitement is gone.
No, I think that we can get involved
in that excitement here today.
We need that zeal, we need that passion
to get people saved,
zealously read our Bibles, preach the truth.
We need that zeal.
I need to be zealous, we all need to be zealous.
Now, there's going to be times when I'm not zealous.
Maybe I'm tired or whatever.
But see, the great thing is,
when you've got a church
that is really wanting to serve God,
we all catch that zeal.
Paul spoke about sometimes,
he's like, man, I need you to help me.
Paul was not just some lone ranger by himself,
and even John the Baptist had disciples also.
We look at it as just John the Baptist,
but he had disciples that were there with him,
so guess what?
If he's having a down day,
others excite him, right?
And so it truly is a team effort,
but we see with Jehu that he had public feats,
and he provoked followers.
Go to 2 Kings 10.
2 Kings 10.
Now, I remember I'd been saved for a little while,
I started going to church,
and I was reading my Bible,
but you know sometimes you read the Bible
and your mind just wanders, right?
Like I was reading Jeremiah this morning,
I finished Jeremiah,
and then I'm just like zoned out,
and 10 minutes later,
like what did I read, right?
Sometimes that just happens.
And I just remember,
I never really paid too much attention to Jehu
the first couple times I read the Bible,
but then I remember I was reading
and really paying attention,
and then I remember just being shocked,
like how is it I never hear sermons about this guy?
This is like the greatest character in the Bible.
Because, I mean, he hits the ground running, right?
I mean, it's not like a slow, you know,
a century, no, I mean,
he's just immediately just cleaning house,
and you're like,
man, this is like the greatest character in the Bible.
Why is he not as famous as John the Baptist?
Why is he not as famous as Elijah?
Why is he not as famous as Moses?
Well, here's the thing about this.
Jehu had public feats,
and he provoked followers,
but he had one major problem.
He was a private failure.
In his private life, in his personal life,
he failed at actually serving God.
He was zealous publicly,
but he wasn't really taking heed
to have his personal walk with God.
Notice what the Bible says here in verse 29.
2 Kings 10, verse 29.
Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam,
the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin,
Jehu departed not from after them,
to wit the golden calves that were in Bethel,
and that were in Dan.
And the Lord said unto Jehu,
because thou hast done well in executing that
which is right in mine eyes,
and hast done unto the house of Jehu
according to all that was in mine heart.
Thy children of the fourth generation
shall sit on the throne of Israel.
But, he did good,
but Jehu took no heed to walk
in the law of the Lord God of Israel
with all his heart,
for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam
which made Israel to sin.
You know what the Bible tells us?
That Jehu was very zealous.
He had these public feats,
and people got excited about it.
But in his personal time,
he didn't really take heed to say,
You know what?
I'm going to follow God's law and do right.
Because there's a big difference here.
When it comes to doing something publicly,
here's the thing.
This should not be our primary motivation,
but the truth is,
you know, one thing that can motivate people oftentimes
is other people are seeing what you're doing.
Right?
The thing is, it's like,
even if you don't want to go,
and look, of course,
whatever it takes to get you to go soul winning,
praise God.
But you know, sometimes we don't skip our soul winning
because of the fact that we're around everybody.
It's like, this is what we do.
But in your personal life,
when you don't feel like reading the Bible,
what do you do?
Because Jehu was the sort of person that,
guess what, in his personal life,
he's not reading his Bible.
He's not praying.
He's not memorizing the Bible.
He's very zealous publicly,
but privately, he is not continually renewing himself
and being filled with the Spirit.
And here's the thing about this.
It is very easy.
I don't want to say it's very easy
because serving God is never easy in any area.
But it is easier to just publicly serve God
when you're around other people
and people see these things
and you're excited.
But what about in your personal life?
Are you taking heed to follow what God says?
Because the thing is this,
you come to a church like this,
and I'm preaching against sin,
and you're screaming amen,
and you know what I'm saying is true,
that doesn't mean that you're doing
what I'm saying though,
even though you know it's true.
And the question is, in your personal life,
it's like are you taking heed
to do what God says or not?
When nobody knows,
I don't know what you're doing in your personal life,
nobody sees.
The question is what are you doing?
Right, go in your Bible to Ephesians 4.
We'll close up here.
Ephesians 4.
See, here's the problem with privately failing
or personally failing when no one else sees.
The problem is your zeal is going to die off pretty quickly.
All of us get excited at certain times.
All of us get zealous.
I mean, it's pretty common,
and I was the same way.
You're in church, you hear sermons,
and you're like man, I gotta start doing this.
It's why we don't have an altar call at our church.
It's not something we believe is scriptural,
but there's a reason why churches that have altar calls
like everyone comes down to the front.
Because every single week they're like
I gotta get right with God.
They get excited, they get zealous.
Man, I need to do this.
And then it just kind of dies out.
Because here's the thing about this.
If in our private life we fail,
eventually we're gonna fail in our public life.
It's very common for people to get excited
to serve God, and it just kind of dies out.
And it works that way with all of us.
And look, I'm very guilty of this.
I don't want you to think that I'm standing up here
and saying I'm perfect,
because I'm certainly guilty of this.
But here's what we need to understand.
I've said before that if you serve God your whole life
and draw closer to Him, it's not linear.
It's not a straight line.
It's kind of like this along the way.
But here's the thing about this.
Even though you're gonna have some curves along the way,
the thing is you don't want
your Christian life to be like this.
But isn't that how a lot of people
live their Christian lives?
It's like people are just like,
man, they're not serving God at all.
And then all of a sudden it's like,
man, I'm wicked, I need to make changes.
Then they get really excited,
and then all of a sudden, boom.
Now, you're gonna have ups and downs,
but it's better to have some stability
like we talked about last week
than rather than just being up and down, up and down.
One week you're the happiest person.
You're in a great mood.
The next week you're just really angry
and yelling and mad and everything.
It's like you wanna have some balance.
You wanna have some stability in your life.
You say, well, what can give me that stability?
Because here's the thing,
our emotions are all over the place.
It's like that for all of us.
You say, what gives you stability?
Here's the problem.
Your emotions are all over the place
because that's just the way the old man is.
You say, what's the secret
to make your life not to be like this?
Here's the secret, walk in the new man,
and you know what you're gonna find?
You're gonna find a lot more stability
as you're serving God.
What does that mean?
It means waking up every day
and just reading the Bible, praying to God.
Now, I understand some people have work schedules
or maybe your work schedule,
you don't really start a morning shift,
and that kind of changes things,
and I understand not every situation is the same,
but if you work a job starting at like 7 a.m.
or 8 a.m. or whatever,
I think you should really, really strive
to make first thing in the morning
before you look at anything,
before you get on Facebook,
before you look on whatever,
to just say, you know what,
I'm gonna spend time with God
because that's more important
than anything else going on.
Now, the way I think we can picture this,
because the Bible speaks about Moses in Exodus 34,
how he, and let me just read Ephesians 4,
and then I'll close with Ephesians 4.
The Bible says this in verse 22.
...still have the old man,
and putting off the old man
is a daily thing you need to do.
We're not talking about salvation.
But here's the way you can think about this,
because Moses is told in Exodus 34 to climb God,
and that's where he's gonna meet with God,
and he's physically gonna change,
and when it comes to drawing close to God,
it's an uphill climb,
but here's another thing you can learn from that.
You know, I grew up doing a lot of hiking
and going to the mountains and the woods
coming from West Virginia,
and sometimes you have a very steep mountain
or hill that you're climbing,
and it's not that easy.
It's not something where you just walk and it's easy,
but you gotta get low,
you're grabbing a hold of branches
and slowly getting up,
and when it's very steep, you get tired.
You gotta stop along the way,
and what you would generally do,
or what I would do,
is I would try to make it up a little ways,
and then I would grab a hold of a tree trunk
or something like that,
and you're stopping,
you're catching your breath,
and then you go on a little bit further,
and you're looking for the next branches
to cling to or whatever,
and so here's what I want you to understand.
When it comes to our lives,
essentially every single day,
we wake up and we are in neutral.
We're not going forward.
We're not going back.
I mean, every day's a new day.
His mercies are new every morning.
You've got a new start,
and that can be a good thing or a bad thing,
because if you had a lot of momentum
the night before when you went to bed,
you're not necessarily gonna be carrying that
when you wake up.
I mean, it's still a battle
to put on the new man first thing in the morning, right?
Well, here's the thing about this.
If you've ever seen a car that is stalled along the road,
you'll see a bunch of guys that will push that car, right?
And they're pushing and pushing,
and what happens for the first five seconds?
It doesn't really seem to move, does it?
I mean, they're pushing and pushing, they're like.
And it's like you don't see anything,
but what's happening is the tires are slowly going,
and then all of a sudden, once it starts to go,
it just goes.
Isn't that the way it works?
Here's the thing about this.
You wanna get your momentum going forward
first thing in the morning.
You don't wanna be spending most of your day
walking in the old man,
just being in a bad mood, angry.
I mean, it's like no,
I wanna get in the new man first thing in the morning.
And look, if you have more time to read the Bible later,
praise God for that,
but it's like first thing in the morning,
I wanna start walking in the new man.
You say why?
Because the old man is ugly.
The old man is gross.
The old man is sinful.
The old man doesn't wanna do what's right.
The old man is angry.
The old man is bitter and covetous and prideful.
The old man is not fun to be around.
Look, I'm not a feminist.
The old woman's not fun to be around either, right?
The old man, the old woman,
it's like whether you're a man or a woman,
it's like for none of us, is it a good thing?
And I promise you, for those that are around you,
it's like, do you really want somebody walking in here
just prideful in a bad mood and yelling?
I mean, you'd be like, what's wrong with you, right?
You want people that are walking in the new man,
because the new man is someone that actually loves God.
And you know, when someone actually loves God,
it makes them a better person.
Here's the thing about this.
You need to get that momentum going first thing,
because you know what ends up taking place?
We can easily allow ourselves to do great public feats,
and it sort of is like an excuse
to not privately serve God.
It's like, well, I'm already getting
a lot of people saved.
I'm already making a lot of changes.
It's like, that's already enough.
You say, what's the problem with that?
The problem is zeal is not something
that is always gonna be there.
Zeal and excitement, it comes, and it goes.
But if you really wanna have lasting zeal,
you know what the best secret is and the best plan?
Make sure you're not privately failing.
Making sure every single day
you're putting aside distractions
and putting on the new man
and spending time with God.
Just reading the Bible, praying to God,
and just talking to God.
Anyway, even if it's only 30 minutes
or 20 minutes in the morning,
it has a big impact on you.
And guess what?
Your zeal is here.
You feel like you're gonna have it forever,
but is that the way it works?
No, it's not.
It comes, it goes, it comes, it goes.
But if you really wanna get it
to try to stay for longer
and not have these wild swings,
you say, what's the secret?
Here's the secret.
Put on the new man every day.
Don't be a private failure like Jehu
that did not take heed to walk
in the Lord with all his heart.
Let's close in word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing us to be here today,
and I ask you to help us
to apply this sermon to our lives,
and help me, help my family,
help all of us in this room, God.
We love you, we're trying to serve you,
we're trying to do right.
Help us to be zealous people.
Help us to have great public feats
and provoke followers, God,
but help us not to privately fail.
Help all of us to make it a point
that in our quiet time when nobody knows
and only you're aware, God,
help us to make sure we spend time
reading the Bible and spending time with you, God.
We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.