["Pomp and Circumstance," by Edward Elgar, is played.]
You
This time we'll go through our announcements if you need a bulletin go and slip up your hand and brother Adam will bring
You one as always we have our service times. They're listed on the upper left-hand side
Every Sunday at 10 30 a.m. Again at 5 30 p.m. Thursdays at 7 will be in 2nd Kings chapter number 10
This week and then we've also got the salvation baptisms the offering totals the attendance for both the month and year
I happy birthday to everybody celebrating in the month of November
We had the doughnuts this morning and then don't forget later this month on the 24th Thanksgiving
We're gonna have our annual Thanksgiving dessert social before the service. That's going to be at 6 p.m. And
I'm probably gonna put up a sign-up sheet just so everyone
Can get an idea how much desserts gonna be there so that if people aren't just doing it is they feel obligated
don't feel obligated to bring a dessert there's always plenty and
But do please come in fellowship with us come out and enjoy the day and
Spend that with us also on the back
we've got the home school field trip coming up on Friday November 18th, and you got the details there and
We've also got the home school field trip to the Sonora Desert Museum coming up in December
So that's gonna do it for those announcements before we end though
We'll quickly count up the soul winning going back to Friday if there was anything for Friday
I know the group had one Saturday. Is there anything outside the group on that and then what about today?
All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight
4, 7, 2
Ah, I do know that
Oh 4, 7, 2
This is my father's world
Number 4, 7, 8, 2
This is my father's world
And to my list he bears
All nature sings
And proudly
Brings the music
Of the spirit
So in 1 Chronicles chapter number 22 there
I want to start out by just pointing out something in verse 7 and 8
It's probably pretty obvious as you're reading it
But it says there in verse 7
And David said to Saul and my son as for me
It was in my mind to build a house
Under the name of the Lord my God
But the word of the Lord came to me saying
Thou hast shed blood abundantly and hast made great wars
Thou shalt not build a house unto my name
Because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight
So we see here in these verses
That it was in David's heart to build the house of the Lord
And that's something I can really appreciate about David
David is somebody who when he saw the opportunity to do something great for God
He seized it
He realized that the inhabitants of the land had been given into his hand
That he had this opportunity to do this great work
He had the wherewithal to do it
He had the craftsmen
He had all the vessels
He had all of the gold and all the materials
Everything he needed to do the work
He wanted to do the work
But God had his reasons
And he said look you're a bloody man
You've made great wars
You've shed a lot of blood
You're not going to be the one to build my house
And David was fine with that
He understands
He gets it
But the point is that he saw the opportunity to do something great
And he wanted to do it
It was in his heart to do it
And the thing is a lot of people are presented with opportunities to serve God
And they can't see it
Or they do see it and they could do something great for God
They could do something on behalf of God
Do something that would glorify God
And they just kind of pass on it
They just kind of say you know
It's just not something I want to do
David as the psalm says
Was a man after God's own heart
He was somebody that had a heart for God
He loved the Lord
He wanted to do great things for God
Unfortunately for him
He wasn't able to do this
But he was understanding
And still had the heart to do it
And he passed it on to his son
David wanted to do more
And really that's the attitude that we need to have
As servants of God today
We should be people who want to do more
When we see the opportunity to do more
We should want to do more
We should try to serve God more
Do great things for God
And not just pass on opportunities that are given to us
David there
He wasn't able to do exactly what he wanted to do
But he still
Was prepared so that Solomon could do it
He didn't get bitter and angry
And upset that he wasn't able to do this great work
He said well if I can't do the building
Exactly, if I can't
Do the actual building
Of the temple
I'm at least going to prepare
I'm going to at least do what I can
To lay down that foundation
So that my son can step into that
And build that temple
So David wanted to do more
And that's really kind of what I want to preach about tonight
Is this idea of
We should seek to do more
And if you would look there at verse 19
It says
Now set your heart and your soul
To seek the Lord your God
Arise therefore and build you the sanctuary
Of course this is the charge that David is giving
To Solomon
And he's telling him to set his heart
And his soul to seek God
And not just that but to arise
And build the sanctuary of the Lord
To bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord
To the holy vessels of the house of God
That it is to be built for the name of the Lord
And I just kind of want to look at a few of these phrases here
In these verses and just kind of
Make application here as we go
But the first thing I want to point out is that
You know we've been given a great opportunity
To do things for God
Simply by the fact that we are saved
You know simply by the fact that we are
Dwelled by the Holy Spirit
That we are sealed by the Holy Spirit
You know we have something that the world does not have
You know there's a lot of people out there today
That might want to do something for God
That might be seeking after God
But they can't serve God the way that a saved person can
You know they can't do anything
In their flesh for God
That is something that is unique to us
As believers you know we have
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit
We have our salvation is secured
We have the ability to go out
And do great things for God
If you look there in 1 Chronicles chapter 22
Verse 18 it says
Is not the Lord God with you?
You know that's something that we can ask ourselves
Is not the Lord God with us?
And obviously it's a hypothetical question
The answer is yes
You know the Lord God is with us
You know sometimes we might lose sight
You say why is it that sometimes people just
Pass on opportunities to do great things for God
Maybe it's because they don't understand
That the Lord God is with them
That they have this great ability
That they have the wherewithal
They have the opportunity to serve God
If they wanted to
Is the Lord God with you or not?
The answer is yes
Look the Lord is with us
It goes on and says
And hath he not given you rest on every side?
You know we have rest
We don't have to live the rest of our lives
Wondering who God is
We don't have to live the rest of our lives
Wondering what the meaning of life is
We don't have to live the rest of our lives
Wondering about what's going to happen to us when we die
You know we know these things
You know I remember before I got saved
That night I wanted to know what is the truth
Who is God
What's going to happen
That was something that plagued me
That was something that I had to know
And the Bible says if we seek we shall find
And praise God
I found out
And everyone that's saved in this room
Whether you had that experience before you got saved
Whether you felt that same way or not
The point is that you never have to feel that way
Ever
Because you know who God is
God is our God
And he has given us rest on every side
You know we don't have to worry about going to hell when we die
We don't have to worry
And wonder about what's going to happen to us
We have rest
We have the Lord God
You know David could see the opportunity
That was given to him just by virtue of the fact
That they were with God
You know and that's something that we need to see
We need to see that we have the opportunity
To do great things for God
Simply because of the fact that God is with us
You know we have that opportunity because we are saved
And he has given us rest
You know he's given us rest
On every side
We have perfect peace
We're sealed into the day of our redemption
We don't have to sit here and worry if we're going to lose our salvation
We don't have to worry about whether or not
You know God's going to take that from us
We have been sealed, we have eternal life
That gives us peace
That also gives us the opportunity to move on
To do other things in our life
To move on and actually begin to serve God
You know the natural man
He can't serve God
He can't know the things of God
We, because we are God's people
Have been given an opportunity to serve God
And you know David was somebody
That wanted to seize upon an opportunity
To do something for God
But for other reasons was not allowed to
We have a great opportunity to do something for God
And there's nothing preventing us from doing it
There's nothing stopping us
From serving God with our lives
There's nothing stopping us from
Seeking the Lord and doing great works
The only thing that stops us is us
So David sees this
And that's the application there
Our salvation is secure
The question is
Not whether or not God is with us
The question is
What will we do with the opportunity that we have to serve God in this life
What will we do with it
What are we going to do with the opportunity that we have to serve God in this life
Look if you're saved
You have a great opportunity
You can do something great for God
The question is are you going to
What will you do with it
A lot of people just want to squander
Their lives just doing
Foolish stupid things
People just want to waste their life on just pleasures
And other things and distractions
We have to ask ourselves
What are we going to do to serve God in this life
And that's kind of what I'm getting at here
This is all kind of introduction
But again verse 19 it says
Now set your heart
And your soul to seek the Lord your God
And that's the title of the sermon
That's where I get it is set and seek
Set and seek
You know
If we're going to do something great for God in this life
We have to get a point in our life
Where we just say you know what
I am going to do something for God
I am going to take advantage of this opportunity
I'm going to seize upon the moment
And serve God with my life
What are you doing there
You're setting your heart
There has to come a point in your Christian life
Where you just set yourself
In your ways
You just set yourself to be a person
Who is in church
You just set yourself to be a person who reads the Bible
You just set yourself to be a person
Who wins souls and prays
And studies the Bible
And lives the Christian life
There has to come a point where you set that up
Where you set that down
And then you begin to seek the Lord your God
We should seek God in our lives
We should seek God
And if you would keep something there
Go to Deuteronomy chapter 4
Deuteronomy chapter number 4
Because here's the thing
If we choose not to seek God with our lives
It's not like there aren't going to be consequences
We can't have this attitude
When it comes to serving God
It's optional
I mean obviously it's optional
Obviously we can choose not to serve God with our lives
Obviously we can pass on the opportunity
That we have to do something great for God
But it's not optional to not suffer the consequences
It's not optional for us to just pass on that
And then just everything is going to be honky-dory
Everything is just going to be fine
God wants us to seek Him
There's consequences for not seeking God in your life
There's consequences for not serving Him
You look there in Deuteronomy chapter 4
Look at verse 24
It says for the Lord your God is a consuming fire
Even a jealous God
I mean that right there should tell us something
God is a consuming fire
He is a jealous God
God is jealous
Over where we set our affections
If we set our heart to seek after the things of this world
That's going to make God jealous
God is the one who purchased us
With His precious blood
He's the one that laid down His life
He's the one that has redeemed us unto Himself
We are His workmanship
Created in Christ Jesus
Unto good works
God is going to be jealous
For us
If we choose to say
I'm not going to serve God
I'm not going to do the things that I should
I'm not going to seek Him
You're going to make God mad
Think about a jealous husband
That's not just
He acts on that
He takes action
A jealous husband isn't just going to sit idly by
And let things play out
He's going to say
Hey this is making me upset
He's going to talk to his wife
And maybe somebody else
But that's the same way God is with us
God's not just going to sit back and go
Well it'd be great if you guys would serve me
It'd be great if the people that I died for
Actually wanted to do something with their lives
To serve me
But I get it
It's not for everybody and just let us pass
It's going to make God mad
Because God is a jealous God
It goes on and says in verse 25
When thou shalt beget children and children's children
As ye shall have remained long in the land
And shall corrupt yourselves
And shall make a graven image
Or likeness of anything
And shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God
To provoke him to anger
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day
That ye shall soon utterly perish off the land
Where ye go over in Jordan to possess it
So does it sound like the children of Israel
Could just go into the promised land and just do whatever they wanted?
No, he's saying look, if you don't serve me
If you serve other people
I'm going to destroy you
And I'm calling heaven and earth against you as witness today
He says
Ye shall not be prolonged your days
But it shall be utterly destroyed
Verse 27
And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations
And ye shall be left few in number among the heathen
Where the Lord shall lead you
And there ye shall serve God
The works of men's hands and wood and stone
Which ye neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell
He's saying look, you want to dwell in this good land
You want to dwell in the land that flows with milk and honey
You want to dwell in the promised land
You want to have God's blessing in your life
Well then you have to serve me
You have to serve these false gods
If you do that, I'm jealous
You're going to make me mad and then I'm going to scatter you into all nations
But notice verse 29
But if from thence thou shalt seek
The Lord thy God
Thou shalt find him
If thou seek him with all thy heart
And with all thy soul
So he's saying look, if you're going to seek God
If you're going to try and, you know, when this happens
You want to get right
You can't just have this half-hearted attempt at serving God
You can't just have this, you know, half-hearted
You can't have that kind of attitude
When it comes to getting right with God
When it comes to serving God
He's saying look, if you want to make me mad
Make me jealous and serve other gods
And not serve me
I'll cast you into all the other nations
And then if you come to your senses out there
And you want to come back and serve me here in this land
You know, I'll bring you back
If you seek me with all your heart and with all your soul
If you seek me with all of your strength
And not just halfway
You know, this is the type of seeking that I'm talking about
If we find God with our whole being
With all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength
And then we'll find God
And then we'll have the presence of God
And then we have the blessing of God
You know, God is to be found
Of those that seek Him
You know, it's not like God is hiding from us
You know, God wants to have fellowship with us
God wants to have communion with us
God wants to bless us
But, you know, God is only going to be found by people
That seek Him sincerely
Obviously, you know, that's not going to happen
I'm talking beyond salvation
You know, people, they just believe the gospel
They get saved, that's the easy part
Right? Living the Christian life, that's the hard part
You know, having a walk with God
That's deep and sincere
Requires a great deal of effort on our part
But the good news is
Is that God will meet us
If we draw nigh to God
He will draw nigh to us
Right?
Remember the first part of that equation
If we draw nigh to Him
He is found of those that seek Him
Not those that seek Him
Just kind of, you know, half heartedly
Not just kind of, you know, well
I'll serve God when it's convenient
You know, He's found of those
That seek with all their heart
And with all thy soul
He said, you shall seek me and find me
When you shall search for me with all your heart
That's what He said to Jeremiah
And here's the thing
Go to 1 Chronicles chapter 16
You know, seeking God in your life
Is a constant thing
It's not like you just do that once in your life
You just kind of get serious with God once
You know, you just kind of develop some good habits
And then you can kind of just let it go
You know, seeking God is a constant discipline
It's a constant perpetual habit
It's something that we have to be always doing
Seeking God, seeking God
I mean, that's what I see with David
You know, David is somebody that sat out seeking God
And sat out seeking God
And was found, and found God
Right? But even when things are
He finally has rest in the land
He's reigning over the whole kingdom
You know, all his enemies have been subdued
You know, he continues to seek God
He's like, hey, I want to do more for God
Let me build a temple for God
Let me build him a house
You know, he had this in his heart to do it
You know, David was somebody that continually sought God
He didn't just get to a certain point in his life
And then just say, well, I'm done
Okay? And even after he's told
Look, you're not going to build the temple
He goes ahead and says, well, what can I do?
You know, and he's getting everything together
He's this guy that's always seeking God
That's the type of people that we have to be
That's what it means to seek God
With all your heart, with all your soul
And with all your strength
Not to just seek God when it's convenient
You know, but seek God constantly
1 Chronicles 16
Look at verse 7
It says, then on that day
This is when they brought the ark back
David delivered first the psalm to thank the Lord
Into the hand of Asaph and his brethren
Give thanks unto the Lord
Call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people
Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him
Talk of his wondrous works
Glory he in his name
Let the heart of them that rejoice
That seek the Lord
Let the heart of them rejoice
That seek the Lord
You know why some people have no joy in their life?
It's because they're not seeking God
You know, you'll know people
They'll go through all kinds of difficulty
They'll have all kinds of struggles
They'll have all kinds of trouble in life
And they just go through it with such a great attitude
They go through it, they're able to face trials
They're able to face tribulations
They're able to go to hard things
And it seems like they have such a great attitude about why
Because they seek God
You know, we're all going to have troubles in our lives
You know, some people are going to be able to handle it better than others
You know, and the difference is going to be
Are you seeking God or not?
Because people who don't seek God
Bad things happen
And then it's like
They can't make sense of it
They don't understand
They might get bitter at God
They might get angry
Whereas the person like Job, right
Who continually sought God
Who sacrificed constantly to God
Even on the behalf of his children
You know, he's constantly seeking God
He goes through, you know, some of the worst afflictions
You'll ever read of in the Bible
And yet is blessing God through it
He is not charging God falsely
You know, he says that which is right concerning the Lord
Is seeking God
That wasn't an accident
That wasn't something that just happened
It wasn't just, you know, his character
It's because Job is the type of person
That learned to seek God
Even when times are good to seek God
It's a constant seeking
That's why he says in verse 11 there
Seek the Lord and his strength
Seek his face continually
We should constantly be
Seeking God
You know, always
And, you know, trying to make God
A priority in our life
It ought to be that way
And look, again, I think sometimes
The reason people don't do it is because
The idea of that bores them
It's really that carnal
They just get bored with the idea of praying
They get bored with the idea of reading the Bible
They get bored with the idea of going to church
And I just, I kind of scratched my head and said
What do you think Heaven's going to be like?
I mean, if you're so bored
With the presence of God, you know
Heaven might not be the place for you
Because I have news for you
It's not going to be just a bunch of fun and games in Heaven
It's going to be the Lord
It's going to be seeking, we're going to be looking at him
We're going to be seeing him, singing praises on him
Being taught out of his word
We're going to be serving God in Heaven, I mean, that's what Heaven is
You know, this is just us
Kind of getting a jump start on Heaven down here
You know, so if these things
Bore you, then, you know
The presence of God in Heaven might not be
What you're looking forward to, I don't know
Obviously when you get there, you'll come to your senses
Real quick, obviously
And I'm kind of, you know, being silly about it
But, you know, people
Don't seek God because they just think
Well, there's just so many other more entertaining
Better ways to spend my life
And even that
It's like, really, there's
What's so boring, what's so dull
About coming before the throne of grace
What's so boring, what's so
Dull about speaking to the God of Heaven
And having him speak to you
You know, and what's so dull
About reading the Bible
You know, I mean, 1 Chronicles
Right, right, wrong
You know how I got to this passage?
By reading 1 Chronicles
You know, there's some great stories
In 1 Chronicles
I mean, some of the last
Couple of chapters, you know
Are some of the most moving passages
In the word of God
I'm not going to say in all the word of God
But they are powerful
Life is being wrapped up there in chapter 28
I mean, it's powerful stuff
Makes you stop and just ponder
And think about God
It might even bring a tear to your eye
But you know what, you'll never know that
If you just think, oh, 1 Chronicles is so boring
You know, and I don't know how many times
I've heard people say that over the years
Oh, 1 Chronicles is such a hard book
And I've probably even said
Things like that
And I get it, there's long lists
Of difficult names
And I'm telling you, those lists
Have a purpose
There was obviously a very practical purpose back then
But even in those lists
If we really wanted to
God would probably show us
Great and wondrous things
Even out of some chronology
There's probably some great nugget of truth
In there that we could get out of it
But if our attitude is just, oh, the Bible
Bores me
The church bores me, praying bores me
Well, you know what, then you're not somebody
Who's going to seek God, are you?
And what I'm saying is this
Is that there will be consequences
That God's not just going to be like, oh, okay
Well, I'm sorry I bore you
God's going to say, well, I'm jealous, God
I'm a consuming fire
I'm jealous for your attention
God wants our attention, God wants us to seek Him
So he says there
If you want to go back to 1 Chronicles
Again in verse
19
22
Now set your heart
He's saying now
Set your heart
And seek the Lord your God
You know, this idea of setting your heart
Right?
It's this idea of being determined
It's about this idea of desiring
To seek God
Set your heart
Choose that direction, I'm going to seek God
Desire it
Set out to do it
You know, we need to make
God, you know, a priority
In our lives
And I know I kind of, I feel like I
Probably preach this quite a bit
But we're just living in a world right now
Where it's just, it's so easy to get distracted
It's so easy to get busy and caught up
With all these other things
It's so easy to just get caught up with work
Caught up with family
Caught up with all the entertainment that's out there
That it's real easy
To just not seek God
And to be real busy doing a lot of other things
That's just the nature of our world
Hence why sermons like this must be preached
You know, we have to
Set our heart
And very practically, you know
Meaning, you know, you need to set a time
To seek God
This idea of setting your heart
I don't know about you, but
I'm not the type of person that can just live day to day
Without a schedule
Like, if I were to open up my calendar
And show it to you
Like, literally every minute of my day is accounted for
And I'm not saying that to say I'm some hyper productive guy
Like, obviously, you know, things change
But I'm just saying
I have to live my life that way
Like, I have to have things planned
I'm a person that needs structure
Or else I'll just kind of flounder
And waste time, okay
And probably other people are like that
But, you know, in that schedule
There are set times to seek God
There's a set time for prayer
There's a set time for Bible reading
There's a set time for soul winning
There's a set time to go to church
It's all set, you know
This is what I'm talking about
Seeking God
This is the real practical aspect of the sermon
You know, you need to set a time to seek God
And make it a priority
You know, make it one of the first things you do during the day
To seek God
Or whenever it's convenient, whenever you can
Seek God
Go to Psalm 27
Psalm 27
And again, we need to do this because of the fact that
Jesus gets us so distracted
Life can get us so distracted
We can get so caught up in other pursuits
That we end up not seeking God
You say, what's the big deal about that?
God is a jealous God
God wants to bless us
And if we don't seek Him
He's not going to bless us
But He's actually going to try to get our attention
One way or another
Jesus said, seek ye first the kingdom of God
And His righteousness
And all these things shall be added unto you
You know, the food, the raiment
The cares of this life, all these other things
The things that the Gentiles seek, the things that the world
Naturally just
Concern themselves with
I'm not saying we don't concern ourselves with those things
But if we seek first the kingdom of God
You know, God is going to add those things to us
You know, if we seek first the kingdom of God
God will help us in our finances
If we seek first the kingdom of God
God will help us in our family
God will help us in all these areas
If we're seeking Him
It boggles my mind sometimes
How people can live this life without God
With just no concern about who God is
No concern about the afterlife
Just not even think about it
It's like, how do you even get up and live?
How do you even get up and face the day?
Not knowing where you're going to go when you die
Unsaved
Well, what about the Christian?
What about the Christian who gets up and just
Lives their whole life, goes through their whole day
Goes through their whole week, month, year, whatever
With very little thought to God
We have this promise that if we seek Him first
All these things shall be added unto you
The same things that people bite their nails over
And worry about and stay up at night
And have heartburn and indigestion
And all those other things that come along with
Worrying and caring about things
You know, all those things would be added unto us
And we could stop worrying about them
If we would just seek God first
If we would just put God first
You know, and that would happen
If we would set our heart
To seek the Lord
The Bible says in Psalm 27 verse 8
When thou settest, seek my face
My heart said unto thee
Thy face, Lord, will I seek
You know, that's
That's a pretty good response, isn't it?
And look, the Bible's telling us
I mean, I didn't
There's so many verses about
Seek the Lord, seek the Lord, seek the Lord
Seek the Lord, it's just all over the Scripture
You know, at least here
There's the proper response
When thou settest, seek my face
My heart said unto thee
Thy face, will I seek
You know, but if
If we were to ask ourselves that same question
If that same
If that was proposed to us
If we were told, hey, seek God
What would our response be?
Would it be, thy face, I will seek
You know, would it be something that's from the heart
Notice he said, my heart said unto thee
You know, a lot of times
It's gotta go from just like
It's gotta go from here to here
That's the difference between
You know, a genuine walk with God
Is about this much
Getting it from here to here
It's like, we all know these things
We know we should pray
We know we should read the Bible
We know we should go to church
We know we should go soul winning
We would all agree with that
But it never gets here
That's the problem
It needs to go about 12 inches
We need to understand in our heart that this is something we have to do
From our heart to seek God
And that's all I'm trying to do tonight
Is just try to get it from here
Down to here
That's all I'm ever really trying to do
Is just try to get people to serve God
With their heart
And not just, you know, some intellectual assent
On what it means to serve God
But actually do it from their heart
He said, my heart said unto thee
Thy face will I seek
Go to Psalm 100
Get that down into our hearts
And again, this is something that
I have to constantly remind myself of
This is something I'm preaching to me too
Is that we have to remember
It is our privilege to seek God
It is our privilege to seek and to serve God
It's kind of what I started out saying
In the beginning of the sermon
There's a lot of people out there
That are seeking for God
And they're not finding Him
Because they're seeking for Him in
Allah, they're seeking for Him in Buddha
They're seeking for Him in some false God
They're seeking for
Meaning and some vain pursuit
They're seeking for God in all these other places
They're seeking for purpose in all these other places
And they're not finding it
We have the privilege
To seek God and be found
We get to seek God
We get to seek His face and find it
We get to seek fellowship with God
And have it
We get to seek that and it will be found
And that's a reason to rejoice
That would bring joy into our life
That brings contentment and peace
When we seek God
And we find Him
We find the presence of God
Look at Psalms 100
Verse 1 he said
Make a joyful noise on the Lord
All ye lands
Serve the Lord with gladness
Come before His presence with singing
I mean maybe our prayer life
Would be a little bit more consistent
Maybe it would be a little bit more
I don't know what the word is exactly
Meaningful
It would have some more substance if we understood
That we were coming before God
If we really let it sink in
That when we're praying we're serving to God
We might come with His presence with singing
Sometimes you say
I don't know how to pray
Well you could start with singing
That's what he says here
Come before His presence with singing
That's what we do when we come to church
We don't come here to sing
To impress one another
We come here to sing because we're coming into the presence of God
That's why we sing out
Knowing ye that the Lord
He is God
It is He that hath made us
And not we ourselves
We are His people
And the sheep of His pasture
Think of what he's saying there
What does he say?
We didn't make ourselves into the children of God
He did
We didn't make ourselves into His sheep
He did that for us
We were on our way to hell
When we got saved
And if Christ hadn't come and died for us
That's exactly where we'd be going
We all know that
But sometimes we lose sight of that don't we
Is that you know
It's our privilege to serve Him
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise
Be thankful unto Him and bless His name
For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting
And His truth endureth to all generations
You know we don't want to live our Christian life
And act like every time we pray
Or every time we read the Bible
Or every time we go to church
Or go soul winning or serve God in whatever way
We don't want to have this attitude that
Oh when we do something for God
We're kind of throwing God a bone
So here you go God here's a little bit of my time
You know I'll break off a little bit for God too
You know give Him His fair share
That's a wicked attitude
We need to understand that it's our privilege
To serve God
And when we start to see it that way
When we start to see how privileged we are
To be able to serve God
To come into the presence of God
To have fellowship with God
You know when we see it that way as a privilege
We'll probably be more prone to do it
We'll probably be more prone to go ahead
And seek God's face and serve Him
When we understand that it's our privilege
That He is the Lord God
It is He that made us
And not the other way around
Not we ourselves
And the sheep of His pasture
The other thing I want to draw attention to
Is what happens
When we set and seek God
You know when you set your heart
To seek God
When you say look I'm going to serve God
To the best of my ability
I'm going to have a time of prayer
I'm going to have a time of Bible reading
I'm going to be in church
I'm going to do the soul winning
I'm going to serve God
When you finally set that in your heart
What happens here is giving this charge
In 1 Chronicles 22 if you're still there
And there's things that come as a result
Let me just turn there because I don't think I have it in here exactly
What happens when we set our hearts
And seek God
Yeah he says there in verse 19
Now set your heart and your soul
Seek the Lord your God
Arise therefore what happens
And build ye the sanctuary of the Lord
When we set our heart to seek God
That should lead to action
Right
He said hey set your heart, seek the Lord
Then he says and arise therefore
You know if people are really
Setting their heart to seek God
It's going to come out
It's going to show up in their actions
People that are really seeking the Lord
That want to please God
That want to have fellowship with God
Obviously they're going to do the things
That God asks of them
Believe it or not God asks the things of us
God wants us to preach the gospel
God wants us to be in church
God wants us to serve him
God wants these things from us
And he has every right to ask them
And again I'm preaching this because
That's what people need to understand
It's God that expects this
It's not me
Do whatever you want
And I said this earlier in a previous sermon
Go ahead and disappoint me all day
That's fine
But just understand that you know
Ultimately we're disappointing God
And God has a right to ask things of us
And we set our heart
And we seek God
You know things are going to happen
We're going to build the sanctuary
Hmm I wonder how we can apply that today
It'd be like building the church wouldn't it
You know we would be involved in the program
At the church
Seeking God leads to action in the church
Seeking God also
leads to the presence of God
Because he says there
Set your heart and seek the Lord your God
Arise therefore build thee the sanctuary of the Lord God
To bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord
You want to know why sometimes
God doesn't feel like he's a part of your life
You want to know why sometimes God feels so far away
It's because you're not seeking him
You know if we seek God
What does the ark represent?
The presence of God
You know if we seek God
The more we set our hearts and seek him
The closer we will feel to God
You know isn't it nice
To the idea that you could be close to God
I mean that's a
That's a very comforting thought
I mean that's a powerful thought
To think that someone like me
That someone like you
Could be close to God
They could have a fellowship with the Lord God almighty
They could have a fellowship with the God of the Bible
That they could sense his closeness
And you know if you're sitting there scratching your head
And have no idea what I'm talking about
It's time to set your heart and seek God
You know it would be a real shame
To live your whole life and never know what it is
To have the presence of God in your life
You know but there's plenty of Christians out there
That's exactly what they're going to do
They're going to live their whole Christian life
And never know what it is to have the fellowship with God
In the spirit
You know let it not be said of anybody in this room
You know because God is there to be found
If we will seek him
Set your heart and seek him and what
We'll bring the ark closer
We'll have the presence of God
And he says bring the ark and what else
He said set your heart and seek the Lord
And bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord
And the holy vessels of God
You know we are vessels aren't we
You know there's a lot of vessels out there
In this city
There's a lot of vessels in
You know that surround us
That need to be made holy and brought in
To the house of God don't they
There's a lot of people we need to go out there
And get saved and get in church
They're out there
You know and I'm not saying it's going to be easy
I'm not saying it isn't going to be hard work
I'm not saying that we're going to show up at their door
When they told us that they were going to come
Like they did this morning
And then come to the door and say oh not today
Which was not a shock to me
I just drove away saying there's going to be a lot of that
There's just going to be a lot of it
There's going to be just a lot of people that are going to say
Oh you know I'll come to church tomorrow and then we're going to show up
With the van ready to go and they're going to go oh not today
You know but there is going to be one
There's going to be some there's going to be a few
There's going to be some you know
Rare precious vessels that are out there
Somewhere that if we keep going
If we keep seeking if we keep going after them
You know they will be brought into the house of God
They will get saved
They will come to this church
And they will be used in the house of God
To do great things themselves I believe that
You know that's what's going to keep me going
That's what's going to keep me going back out there
You know week in and week out knocking those doors
Trying to get people saved trying to get in a church
Because why? Because we're seeking God here
We're not just trying to have a social club
You know we're trying to get something done for God
This is a church that has set its heart collectively
To seek the Lord
And as a result we get involved in the work of God
He says you know go out and bring the vessels
And bring them where? Into the house
That's how the church is built
You know and maybe it might not even be
The exact people that we try to bring in here
That end up coming to this church
But you know there might be other
Zealous Christians out there
That see what's going on in this church and say
Man I want to be a part of that
Not people that we've wanted to say
Man they're out there they're doing the work
You know they're trying to get people
They're seeking God they're seeking the holy vessels
They want to get them here I go there
And it's the presence of God is there
There's real genuine servants
In that church and people we don't even know
Might show up here
And that's a possibility
And this is the charge that was given to Solomon
Right this is what he's telling him
Go to 1 Chronicles 28
I'll wrap it up in verse 9
Or chapter 28 in verse 9
You know we need to seek God in our lives
For several reasons
You know one we're missing out on
You know the presence of God
If we're not seeking him
We're missing out on fellowship when we don't read our Bibles
We're missing out on a blessing
That God has for us that day
You know we might turn to a certain passage
We're just making our way through
And God's Spirit will show up and just speak to us
That happens folks
Anyone that's read their Bible faithfully
For any length of time knows what I'm talking about
You know if we seek God
We're going to get down on our knees and pray
And be able to you know pour out our hearts
Before we're going to be able to speak
To God
We're going to be able to you know pour out our hearts before him
We're going to be able to cast all our care upon him
And know that we're heard of God
We're going to be able to get up
Off our knees and back on our feet
And know God heard me
Why? Because I set my heart to seek him
Right
But when we don't seek God
You know we can't say that
We can't expect to have God speak to us
We can't expect to have the assurance that God has heard our prayers
If we're not praying
I mean it just makes sense
But if you look there in 1 Chronicles 28 verse 9
He says
And thou Solomon my son
Know that thou the God of thy father
And serve him with a perfect heart
And with a willing mind
You know this is how
We should want others to serve God
This is what I want
From people in this church
To serve God with a perfect heart
And a willing mind
What does he mean by perfect?
Meaning all of their heart
They want the whole heart serving God
And with a willing mind
You know not because they got browbeat
Into it by the preacher
Because they heard
The preaching of God's word
And were moved to do these things
To serve God
They did it with a willing mind
For the Lord searcheth all hearts
And understandeth all imaginations of the thoughts
This is what he's saying
I mean get what's going on here
He's saying hey Solomon
Know thou the God of thy fathers
Get to know God
And serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind
Why?
Why should I do that?
For the Lord searcheth all hearts
And understandeth all imaginations of the thoughts
Because God knows
Because God knows everything
God knows whether or not we're seeking him or not
Again
And there's consequences for not seeking him
You know we already went over that
And there's consequences for seeking him
He goes on and says
If thou seek him
He will be found of thee
Isn't that great?
I mean that's something that's to Solomon
But you know that's a promise that we have too
You know that if we seek God
We will find him
That if we desire fellowship with the Lord
We can have it
You know if we want but if
But we set our hearts
And we seek his face
You know he will be found
He's saying if thou seek him he will be found of thee
But
So many of us would like to just put a little period right there
And just go
See well if I don't seek him
Then the worst that's going to be happened
Is you know I'm not going to have these blessings
He says but if thou forsake him
Does it sound like there's only two options here?
Seeking God
Or forsaking God
It's not like there's this middle road
In the Christian life
Of well I'm not seeking God
I haven't forsaken him either
Jesus said if you gather not with me you scatter abroad
You know if you're with
You know you got to be on our part
And he's saying here look
If you seek him you'll be found of thee
But if you forsake him
Meaning if you don't seek him
And look that's what ends up happening to people
Who don't seek God
They forsake him
Because if all we're doing in the Christian life
Is just serving out of
You know just because we know
That's what we're supposed to do
If we're not seeking out of
With our heart and out of a willing mind
We will forsake God
Because you know
The Christian life is difficult
The Christian life is hard
The Christian life you know
Requires discipline
And it requires effort on our part
You know what's going to make it all worth it
What's going to make it worth living the Christian life
Besides just the blessings that God gives us
It's the presence of God
And if we're not seeking God
You know that everything else we're doing
Eventually is just going to go by the wayside
If we don't want to have a real
Authentic genuine
Walk with God that is our own
In life you know everything
That we've been taught everything that we've learned
Everything that we even do
Eventually will fall by the wayside
We'll fall out of church
If we're just here serving God
If we're just in church because our parents
Drug us here
If we're just in church because our spouse
Drug us here
If we're just in church because we don't want to
Upset the deacon
If we're just in church because
If for any other reason than for God
Eventually we're just going to quit coming
If we're only reading the Bible
So that we don't have to get nervous
And get sweaty palms every time the preacher
Brings up Bible reading
During the sermon
So we can say yeah amen
Eventually
Eventually we're going to stop reading it
Eventually we're just going to quit
But that's why we need to seek him
Seek him
Seek God
And he will be found but if thou forsake them
Forsake him
Well you know you just won't be blessed
No he will cast thee off forever
Obviously that's very specific
To Solomon
And Solomon was cast off in a sense
The whole kingdom was divided as a result of him
Going after other gods
We get that
But it sounds like God is going to take action isn't it
That God doesn't just sit idly by
And let us just ignore him
God wants our attention
So we might as well just set our heart to seek him
And just say you called Lord
Like David said
When thou said seek my face
Thy face I sought
I know I'm paraphrasing
But that's what we read earlier in Psalms
He said hey when you told me to seek you I sought you
But that's the attitude that we should have
He says in verse 10
Take heed now
For the Lord hath chosen thee to build a house for the sanctuary
Be strong and do it
He's saying get to work
Take advantage of the opportunity
You know David's really emphasizing this
And he's saying look this is something that I wanted to do
But I wasn't allowed to
But you can do this
You have an opportunity to serve God
So do it
And that's the same thing that can be said of all of us
You know we all have an opportunity to serve God
So do it
You know so let's do it
You know we're here we got the church
We got the building
We got the King James Bible
We got the Holy Spirit inside of us
We got a whole city full of sinners
We got a whole city full of unsaved people
There's no shortage of opportunities to preach the gospel
Let's go do it
Let's get it done
We know God let's serve him
You know but we're not gonna do that if we don't what
Let's pray
Dear Lord again thank you for the great opportunity
That has been given to us Lord in salvation
And through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
To serve you in this life
Lord I pray you would help us all
To take full advantage of that opportunity
Lord to preach your word
And to learn more about you
And to grow in the knowledge
And grace of our Lord
We ask these things in Christ's name Amen
Alright we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go
Turn our hands to the song of 246
The song of 246
Redeemed
The song of 246
Redeemed