Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the importance of doing everything heartily as unto the Lord, using Colossians 3:23 as a foundation. He explains that many conflicts in our lives stem from self-assertiveness and a failure to recognize that our actions should be motivated by a heart touched by God's grace. Beach illustrates this with a personal story about caring for his chickens, highlighting that even mundane tasks can glorify God if done with the right attitude. He encourages listeners to seek God's help in transforming their hearts and attitudes, leading to healing and restoration in their lives. Ultimately, he reminds us that our responses to life's challenges should reflect our commitment to serve God rather than ourselves.

Colossians chapter 3, verse 23, Colossians chapter 3, thank you Norman, Colossians chapter 3, verse 23, and whatsoever ye do, that is what we call an inclusive statement, meaning there is nothing outside of that statement. That statement is comprehensive. I would like everybody to please, in your own hearts, read along with me. And whatsoever ye do, everyone together in your heart, and whatsoever ye do, that whatsoever is comprehensive. There's been a wonderful ministry of the Holy Spirit this morning, as each one of us can attest to. A precious ministry of the Good Shepherd in our midst. All that was shared this morning was from the heart of the Lord. Sister Colette and Brother Norman articulated by the grace of God very clearly and precisely what God is speaking to us. Are you thankful that the Lord has placed the members in particular in the body and that each one is able to share and contribute so that the whole is edified and built up in the faith? Aren't you so thankful for each in particular member? One of the signs of growing in the Lord is you become less occupied with yourself and what you perceive to be your gifts and your calling, and you become more amazingly appreciative of others. You're not so concerned about being heard as much as you are hearing. You're not so much concerned about speaking as you are listening. Did you know that a mature relationship is governed by this principle, and therefore there is very little, if any, conflict one with another? Because the root of conflict is 99.999 dot dot dot 99.9 percent self-assertiveness. I want my way. You are preventing me from having my way, and therefore there's going to be a conflict. The conflict the Lord has with his people is rooted in that very problem. I want my way, Lord. The conflicts that we're having in our life today are not the result of the circumstances that you find yourself in, and don't think they are. Don't blame the circumstance that you are currently in as the source of your conflict. Perhaps some of us have said, Oh Lord, the source of my pain is this thing or that thing. This person or that person. This trial, this tribulation, this difficulty. Not so, the Lord would say. Not so. The source of problem, the source of conflict, is the problem that we have with wanting to assert ourself, our will, our desires. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, springing from the heart, as to the Lord and not unto men. There's our problem right there. Some of you may know, some of you may not know, that I have 12 chickens at home, and these 12 chickens require daily attendance. They require water regularly, they require chicken feed regularly, they require gathering the eggs that they lay regularly, and semi-regularly they require the cleaning of the chicken cage. Recently I was aware that my chickens needed water, and frankly I didn't feel like going out and getting them water, which requires going in and taking the water, thank you, dispenser, and going to the pump and cleaning it from the filth that gets on it from the chickens, and filling it up, which takes three gallons of water, and three gallons of water go quite quickly with 12 chickens. Approximately every two days I have to fill it, and then of course when it's cold out, it's almost inevitable that the water is going to get on your hand, and that makes it even more trying, and so out of necessity, knowing that if I didn't do it, the chickens wouldn't get water, and that's not good, because their egg production will begin to slow down if you don't give them water, because as you know, an egg is made of mostly liquid water, so they need that water to produce the adequate fluid for laying good eggs, and we want good eggs, that's why we have the chickens. We average anywhere between 9 and 11 eggs a day, depending on the time of the year, how cold it is, it's a seasonal thing. Well, out of necessity, a few days ago, I went out, just walking very quietly in my heart, got the water dispenser, and did my normal routine, cleaned the filth off of it, and filled it up, and brought it back, and put it on the heater, and the wintertime it has to sit on a heater, or the water will freeze, and after I finished that responsibility, I stepped out of the chicken pen, and closed the door, and proceeded to walk back toward my house, when all of a sudden, the Lord began to speak to me, and he said to me, son, I wouldn't have done it that way. I said, well, Lord, is there another way to put water in a water dispenser? Is there something I don't know? Is there a special way to do it? Am I able to save time? What do you mean I wouldn't have done it that way? And then, very clearly, the Lord began to speak to me, and say, no, I'm not talking about what you did. I'm talking about how you did it, and with those words, how you did it, I saw that the whole process that started, the moment the thought came to me, oh, the chickens need water, to the very end of the process, walking home, that whole act was done in my own strength. Precisely what Norman shared. Precisely. And because it was done in my own strength, the Lord didn't accept it. You say, well, wait a minute now. Don't get weird, Phil. You weren't serving the Lord. You were getting water for chickens. That is where we make the great mistake. We departmentalize our life. We segregate our life. We separate our life. And we, in our own foolish human wisdom, because it's human wisdom that thinks like this, we, in our own foolish human wisdom, make a decision on what we're going to do as unto the Lord, and then we make a decision of, well, what we have to do. But we don't equate it to as unto the Lord. You know, who would consider going into a chicken coop and cleaning chicken droppings off of a water dispenser and filling it up with water and putting it back on as something we do unto the Lord? No. No, we don't do that. We come to church unto the Lord. And as a result of that whole project being done out of the strength and ability of Phil, because you see, any human being is capable of water changing in his own strength. But yet Jesus said, for without me ye can do nothing. And so, even though I was able to go and change the water, the thing that the Lord is most, the thing the Lord is after in our lives wasn't satisfied. And that's the issue of Christianity. That's the crossroads that we're at today as Christians. If, in fact, I take any of the deeds or activities that this scripture, Colossians 3.23, and whatsoever you do, if I take that inclusive statement whatsoever, and by my human wisdom, I delve into some area that applies to that whatsoever, and I take it and I somehow make it something that I'm going to do by my own strength, by my own wisdom, not unto the Lord, but unto men, then what I have done is I have, in the presence of God, robbed him of the glory that he is worthy of and stole it for myself. Because whenever I engage in something, and it is not from the heart that is touched by the grace of God, and being enabled by that sweet grace of God, and you know what I'm talking about, when that grace enables you to do whatever it is with the loveliness and the fragrance of Christ, and you're able to do it because you're doing it out from His resources, when I fail to come into that appropriation in the littlest thing that I'm doing, then I am robbing the glory that comes to God when I am enabled by Christ and stealing it because I'm doing it by my own strength, and my own strength and wisdom always results in a stench that rises up to the Lord. Why aren't things working out in our lives and in our homes and in our families which spreads into our church? No great theological mystery, no great need to come to a deep revelation. It's very simple, because we are failing to see that whatsoever we do, we must do it heartily unto the Lord and not unto men. Now these are things the Lord had placed in my spirit a number of days ago, and then with the testimony of Colette and Norman, it was a marvelous, marvelous confirmation. I want to just put a little title on this. Lord, what are you doing in my life? Listen, you want things fixed in your life this morning? You want things fixed? Ask God to enable you to lay hold of this revelation. You want that relationship fixed? You want that attitude adjusted? You want that root of bitterness to be healed? You want that complaining spirit, that grumbling spirit that's got a hold of you and that's not many people, you want that healed? Whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord. There is healing today, there is restoration today, through coming to see those things that we have laid hold of by our own strength and our own power. Acknowledging them before God, and then asking God, Lord, change my heart, my attitude about this thing that I'm doing. I have failed to see that this thing that I'm engaged in is to be done from my heart unto you and not to men. The reason why, listen carefully, the reason why there is such a mess in my life over this issue is because I have laid hold of it myself. I have got my hands on it, and I'm doing it out from my own wisdom and my own strength, and I'm making a miserable mess. Lord, you've got to stop this pattern in my life. You've got to stop this dreadful pattern in my life before I destroy myself and others. Now, do you believe that Jesus Christ is able to break that pattern of laying hold of something and in your own strength doing it, as Norman said, no matter how small it is, and transform you into a kind of person where no matter how small the task, no matter how apparently humble and of no significance it is, you can do it heartily with a heart touched by the grace of God, with a heart inflamed and energized by the love and the Spirit of God, and you can do it unto the Lord and not to men, and in doing it, the fragrance of Christ, the beauty of Christ, the loveliness of Christ can be seen, and God can be glorified, and you can minister life-changing water in chicken coops. Yes, you can. You can be a minister of life even in the chicken coop. God doesn't want you singing in church and speaking in tongues in church and then cursing the chickens because you don't want to be in the chicken coop. God doesn't want you cursing the cars on Route 80 or Route 78 because they're moving too slow, and then come to church and praise Him. You know why we're cursing the cars and the chickens? Because we come to church with the mindset, I'm here as unto the Lord, and the fragrance of God flows, and then we get into our cars, we get into our chicken coops, and we lose that mindset, and we take a hold of it by our own wisdom and our own power, and we end up blowing it. That's why we do it. James said, these things ought not to be. What's going on in your life now? What's going on? Now listen, listen carefully. The problem and trouble that you are having right now in your life has nothing to do with what you're going through. So I want you to ask the Lord now to help you be delivered from that mindset that makes you think that the current problem in your life is because of something external. Alright? Just ask the Lord, wash that from my mind now. And in its place, I want you to think about Colossians 3.23, and whatsoever ye do. Now that includes your response to what you're going through, because your response is something you're doing. This doesn't only apply to something physical, it applies to your attitudes, it applies to how you respond, how you react to what you're going through. Listen, your problem is not that person that's slandered you. Your problem is you've allowed it to cause your heart to be filled with bitterness toward that person. You think your problem is that person slandered me, and now your life's miserable and you're making everyone else's life miserable. But see, you've got the whole problem wrong. You've got the focus wrong. You're looking at it externally. That's not your problem. Your problem is that slander caught you off guard, and you feel like you failed to quote this Scripture when you found out about that slanderous report. Whatsoever I do, do it heartily as unto the Lord. And you took that report into your own hands, and you failed to trust in the grace of God, and you've allowed it to offend your pride. You've allowed it to offend your sense of dignity. And apart from the Lord, you responded, and now you're reaping the consequences. What have you done? What are you doing? Word, deed, and action, right now. Not what's going on outwardly. The Lord is in control of what's going on outwardly, and the Lord is allowing things outwardly to happen for this precise purpose, to teach us the all-important imperative lesson. Whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, and not unto men. I believe the Spirit of God is speaking to my own spirit to say this to every one of us here this morning. If we will have strong dealings with the Lord over this simple truth, and let this truth penetrate and search every nook and cranny and area of our life, and be subject to God's searchlight, we will experience the most incredible, lovely release of freedom and emancipation from the things that are controlling us that we know are not pleasing to God, and be brought into a life of peace and joy in the Holy Ghost that we've never known before, without even our circumstances changing. Because we always think that the happy life comes when our circumstances are happy, and the miserable life comes because our circumstances are miserable. If I only had more money, if I only had another wife, or another husband, or if I only had a husband, or if I only had a wife, if my boss was only a nice guy, if my car was only ten years newer, then I would be happy. If my nose was just a half inch shorter, if my thighs were just a little smaller, if my hair was just a little longer, if my hair was just a little longer, if I had blue eyes like Sally, or if I had a belt like Tom, if I could preach like T.D. Jakes, you may have heard of T.D. Jakes preach, then I would be happy. Or if I could be a super mom, if only these kids wouldn't drive me crazy. You see, you see the train of thinking that we've entrapped ourselves into? We equate happiness to external things, just like the world does. Aren't we supposed to be different from the world, Gary? Aren't we supposed to be children of the king? Aren't we supposed to, as Alan has shared numbers of times from Romans chapter 12, aren't we supposed to be people who are not conformed to this world, but renewed in our minds? How many times has the brother gotten up and says, I don't know why, but God just won't let me off this scripture. You know why? It's because we need to hear it. That's why. And thank God when a brother will go three or four times in a row and talk about the same scripture and not be intimidated. Well, I spoke about this last week. I need something fresh to appear like I'm really hearing a lot of stuff from God. No, that's not what we need. We need men and women who are sensitive so that if it's two years we're talking about one scripture, so be it. You see the mindset, though? You see the mindset? Now, how many here can see that you've been entrapped with this thinking? You know how? That's rhetorical. That's a rhetorical question. I hope everyone is saying that. Okay? Well, I'm asking the Lord to take all of our thoughts away that are wandering and all of our meditations that have got us somewhere else. If we can focus in on this, this is a word from the Lord. This is addressing issues in your life this morning. Listen, there's some here this morning that have been asking God for years to deal with some areas. You've had no victory. Today is your day. God is speaking to you. Now, I want to invite you to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 8. Deuteronomy chapter 8 captures the spiritual truth that the Lord has communicated to us this morning. Beginning in verse 1. Lord, give us ears to hear all the commandments which I command thee this day ye shall observe to do. This opens up expressing the incredible desire of the heart of God for His people to learn obedience. Listen, the bottom line, the ultimate intention of God's heart for His people is that He would have a people who from the heart obey Him. From the heart walk in His commandments. There is nothing more important to the Lord Jesus than to have a people whose hearts are conformed to His will. Everything that is happening in your life today is intended by God to give you an opportunity to learn obedience from the heart, not outward religion. Outward religion gives the appearance that the heart is alright, but it's not. Outward religion is all outward, but inwardly you're cursing the chickens and you're cursing the cars. You see, outwardly it looks good, but inwardly whatsoever ye do is not happening. There are still areas in your life where the heart is not in obedience to the will of God. And so therefore, here's the wisdom of God. Here's what God does. Now, before we go into it, I want you to turn all the way to verse number 16 of Deuteronomy chapter 8. This is God's ultimate intention. He said, "...who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not, that He might humble thee, and that He might prove thee," listen here, "...to give thee good at thy latter end." God's intention for you is to give you good. But when is this good to come? At thy latter end. Oh, I wish, I pray, I hope the Lord in this few minutes will enable me to communicate the thing that He brought into my spirit through this. As I was reading through this scripture in Colossians during the week, the Lord began to reveal to my spirit that there are many, many, many of God's people who are seeking this end blessing, to do thee good at the latter end, but they're seeking the latter end blessing but they're wanting to bypass the journey that prepares us to be able to receive that latter end blessing. We want to go, and isn't that indicative of the world? Young families want to get married, and in one year they want to own a $300,000 home, they want to own a $40,000 car, they want a salary of $100,000 a year, and subsequent to that each year a 15% raise. They want the nicest everything. They go into a company and they don't want to start at the bottom of the ladder, they want to start at the top. They knock at the door of the CEO and say, hi, I'm here, when are you ready for me to come and be mentored by you so I can take your job over? We don't want to start at the bottom and work our way up. We don't want to go through the process that is necessary, that qualifies us in order to receive this latter end blessing that God has in mind for His people. And I'll tell you in one sentence what qualifies us to come into the place in our life when God can give us that latter end blessing. That is His ultimate intention for us. Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men, and ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance. There it is. Now, listen carefully. How does God get us to the place where inwardly we are doing all things unto the Lord heartily by the Spirit of God and resulting in the fragrance of Christ oozing out of our life when we're changing the diapers, when our wife is telling us to do something and we just don't want to do it? That's what qualifies us. It's not how you look outwardly. Young men think they go to Bible school for four years and they memorize some books in the Bible and they learn how to do it, which is impossible. You can't learn how to do anything except the Spirit of God teach you and bring you through. The only way to learn is to go through something. You can't learn how to be an overcomer going to Bible school. You've got to overcome even as Jesus overcame. That's what He said in Revelation. How did Jesus overcome? Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered. He learned to overcome by suffering, by being placed in situations where He demonstrated the spiritual principle of not trusting in Himself, though He could have, because He was sinless in Himself, yet never relied upon Himself. What a testimony! Anyone who had the right to do what he wanted, it was Jesus. But because He was representative man, He said, I refuse to do my own will, but I seek the will of God. That's how Jesus overcame. That's how you and I overcome. So you don't become a preacher by going to Bible school, getting some theology books, and exercising a gift. There's a preparation that we must go through. And here it is, captured for us in Deuteronomy chapter 8. Hear the word of the Lord this morning. We are almost done. Hear the word of the Lord. This is a healing word, a delivering word. This is a word that if you bring it into your family, your family will be revolutionized. Your home life will be revolutionized. Your attitudes in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening will be revolutionized. You will have praise on your lips. It's not necessarily an emotional thing, but inwardly your heart will be right with God. Listen carefully. God said, I want to give you a blessing in the latter end. The preparation work to get you prepared for that blessing entails a work of grace on the inside of your heart, enabling you to go through life day and night so that whatsoever you do, both in word, deed, action, and thought, you are doing it heartily as unto the Lord and not as unto men. There is a lot that is involved in that one statement. I will leave that to the Holy Spirit to expound on. Verse 2, chapter 8, Deuteronomy. Thou shalt remember all the ways which the Lord thy God led thee forty years in the wilderness. Point one, the pathway to prepare you to receive the full intention of God is a personal wilderness that God prepares for you. Do not despise the wilderness of the Lord. Do not despise that special plan that God has in your life. Do not resent it. Don't miss it. You say, oh, I wish I was different, or I wish I was like so and so, or I wish my life wasn't like this. You're missing it. You're missing it. If you will adjust your attitude and realize that God has especially planned that for you, He has especially brought you into that wilderness, and you realize that it's not that wilderness that has the capability of destroying you, but it's your reaction to it that has the capability of destroying you. You can either react in the flesh, or you can respond from the heart and find grace in time of need and end up demonstrating the overcoming power of God in that wilderness that you are in. Hallelujah. That's refreshing, isn't it? My God. Point one, a personal wilderness. Under that point, A, to humble thee, B, to prove thee, and C, to know what is in thine heart, and D, with an asterisk next to it, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments or not. There you go in one scripture, the eternal, infinite wisdom of God that is currently being exercised in the life of every blood-washed child of God today. Why? Because He doesn't like you? Because He's cruel? Because He's unfair? I say no. Because He loves you with an everlasting love, and He said that He has a good end for you, to prosper you, to bless you, to fill you with the glories of His goodness. That's why He's given you a wilderness. Number one, to humble you. That means to lower every attitude in your heart that exalts itself above the principle of, I'm nothing more than an unprofitable servant. Any attitude that rises up in you that makes you think you're better or you're too high to do something in the name of the Lord needs to be humbled. And let me tell you, you'll be brought down in the wilderness. God, listen, God will search every attitude, every thought, every meditation in your heart. If you are one of His, and if you're set on obtaining the prize and winning Christ, God will not let any stone uncovered in your life, this is a prophetic word now, listen, God will not let any area of darkness in your life be excluded from the light of His Word. And every thought and reasoning and every attitude that exalts itself above the principle of, I am nothing and Jesus is everything and I don't have the right to anything. We exert our rights, I don't have the right. Or, I've got the right to do this, I've got the right to do that, I've got the right to demand your respect. And when you don't respect me, I've got the right to get angry at you. No, you don't. What if God exercised that toward you and said, alright, with that judgment that you are bringing on another, I'm going to bring on you. So now where do we stand? When God comes to you one morning and says, you failed me last night, therefore I have the right to withhold my grace from you for two months, ha ha ha, have fun. Where would you go? What would you do if you experienced that attitude toward you from God? Then why do we think we have the right to exercise that attitude toward one another? Jesus said, as I have loved you, so love one another. To prove thee. That word means to test, and to try, and to scrutinize. Not only will you be humbled in the wilderness, but the very motives of your heart will be exposed. Not what you're doing, but why you're doing it. Why? If you're into anything, whether it's service in the church toward the saints, a secular job, or in church, no matter what you're in, whether it's a marriage, whether it's a secular job, or whether it is serving the saints, serving the church. If you're doing it, why? Remember, to prove you, to test you. The motive of your heart. If you're after something in a selfish way, you are going to fail that commitment, because you're not going to get what you're after. You can't. Selfishness can never be met, because selfishness always wants more, more, more. It's never satisfied. The eye of man is never satisfied. The grass is always greener on the other side. And so God will try your heart, and prove it, and test it, and reveal the motives of your heart. The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and it is a discerner of the very thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4.12. Revelation chapter 3, that all the churches might know that I am the Lord that tries the hearts. Is God trying your heart this morning? Next. To know what is in thy heart. God knows what's in your heart, but you're going to come to know. And may I say to you, when you come to see how crooked your heart is, don't despair. God knew it all along, and He didn't reject you, He saved you. So when you see how crooked you are, repent, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, it says in James. Let your rejoicing be turned to sorrow, but be encouraged, because the Lord has mercy on the humble and the contrite. And He knew you were crooked, He just wanted you to know, so you would cry out to Him for mercy, so you would see the desperateness of your situation. Don't despair, don't let the devil lie to you and say, you see, you're so crooked, you're so corrupt, what would God want to do with you? You just rebuke him and say, God uses the crooked and the corrupt and the sick in order to show the testimony of His grace, devil. Get behind me. Jesus didn't come to call the righteous. If I was righteous, devil, then Jesus would have no need for me. Don't let Him intimidate you. Don't let Him intimidate you. And lastly, and I'm closing, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments. What commandment? Let's capture the whole commandment. Jesus said, the whole law and the prophets hang on what? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, strength, and soul, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. That statement, that statement captures and whatsoever ye do, because the whatsoever you do is going to either be in relation to your relationship with God or in relation to your relationship with others. So to obey the whole law is summed up in one act of grace, a heart, hallelujah, that is able by grace. Whatever it does, it does by grace in the heart from the Spirit unto the Lord and not to men. That satisfies the whole demand of the law. That brings pleasure to God because it is not the work of flesh. It is the work of His Son that is oozing from our life then. And we become a corporate vessel where the fragrance of Christ is rising in the heavens and God is glorified and our lives are filled with praise and glory and honor. Jesus quoted to the devil after his first temptation in the wilderness, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. God is teaching you today to live by His word. What's the end of this? The end is that ye may receive the reward of the inheritance that you might receive at your latter end. That latter end does not necessarily mean when you're 95. Latter end simply suggests that which follows the wilderness, the transformation in the wilderness and the heart that is set aright for God. Are you looking for your latter end? Are you believing God for it? Then don't despise the chastening of the Lord. Neither be weary when you are corrected. For whom the Lord loves He corrects and every son whom He receives He chastens. Now correction is not joyous but grievous. Nevertheless it works the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised thereby. So be encouraged. The Lord is doing a work in your life today. Receive it in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. We want to spend a few minutes before the Lord if you'd like. If you have to go...