This sermon emphasizes the importance of living a life of true devotion to God, highlighting the need to align our motives with God's will in every aspect of our lives. It discusses the eternal struggle between selfishness and devotion, urging believers to constantly seek a state of mind that is focused on God. The sermon challenges individuals to examine their motives, habits, and actions, ensuring that everything is done in the spirit of devotion to God.

From the book the promise of the spirit which is put out by Bethany Fellowship The promise of the spirit is a collection of Charles Finney's writings From his newsletter called the Oberlin evangelist Which he put out specifically because his body was worn out from preaching and his he said his quote organs of speech were worn out He lost his voice he couldn't preach he says and because my organs of speech and body is worn out I intend to come to you through the press so that I can preach to more even so through this way and This is the third chapter of about 25. I remember right maybe 22 on his study of the promise of Jesus of the Holy Spirit and This doesn't really tie in except for the attitude of the heart and that's what in your DTS and in our ICT we're trying to develop is the attitude of the heart that it be proper and and Proper meaning the only attitude that will reach God now let me just say that many of you know me as a piano player musician and Very few of you've ever met me before and you might have trouble You know because of you that's an image of who I am or what I am or whatever Let me just say that that I live in a world where I struggle I live in a world where I'm growing striving Trying to rest in the Lord as much as you do maybe more so because of the pressures put upon me That doesn't mean I achieve more than you do. It means that I might struggle more than you do But You know, God gives a measure of grace to each person as they need it And so I have the same God you do and the same Bible you do That's what Leonard Ravenhill always says, you know one thing about Charles. We always talk about Charles Wesley And I mean John Wesley Charles was there too and Charles Finney and Martin Luther's is but you know what their Bible wasn't any bigger than ours And their God didn't love them anymore and he loves us so we can do things that he did and they did and and that's Something to remember that we think of the great men and those were the good old days and I wish things were like that now Well, you've shared that you sure say a lot to God when you say stuff like that you're saying to him that you don't really believe he's the same anymore and There's some how many people have read Charles Finney before? Okay Some of you might when you read our newsletter, how many people get our newsletter here? Okay, I'll have you sign up at the end here Some people who have been on our mailing list for some time we try to print something by our brother Chuck here. Oh About once every two or three issues mainly because his writings are so archaic as far as the phraseology that he used We try to put them into modern English Because they're hard to read. He was a lawyer This was preached that this was written in 1839 Almost 150 years ago and his language was so And he was considered that he spoke in the common language of the day of the people, but they were so much more Vocal and they didn't have television and radio and a bunch of jive to soak their minds up like pickled prunes That they learned, you know, are the common man's vocabularies today is only 2,000 words, you know And those that in and I haven't read the statistics But I can tell from the words that he preached just to the common people on the street That it had to be at least double that. I mean he uses words that twirl my hair, you know, and You know, I can't even find some look what happened, you know So Another thing is people think we preach and you know live and breathe Finney. We're kind of on a one-string fiddle, you know All I want to say is that this man is somebody we respect that he's not our guru or anything he's somebody that we respect in a way that Well just kind of like kind of like a Spiritual guidance counselor this guy seemed to go places that I want to go and I'm not talking about deeds I'm talking about in prayer. I'm talking about he went he he entered into the Spirit of God he entered into the into the presence of God and got the power of God in such a way that I would like to as Paul said the imitators of him in the sense that he knew something that I don't know and God revealed certain things to him. He wasn't a mystic He wasn't some some great spiritual leader But he certainly loved God and he loved people and he got he came back out of the presence of God with some incredible insight Now how many people here think they know what devotion is? Okay. Good. I'm glad you're out here. I Believe this is from an article just titled devotion by Charles Finney. I renamed it We're gonna put this in the next newsletter Devotions or devotion and we're gonna put devotions in quotes when I forgot to do that on your copy devotions should be in quotes I Love when I hear when I hear people say You know, I did my devotions this morning I don't even use that word after reading this anymore and you'll see why let's go ahead and read through it and we'll discuss it Okay First the scriptures that he uses he always start out with scripture. That's a good place to start whether therefore you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God and Whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks through him to God the Father Whatever you do do it heartily as for the Lord rather than for men For not one of us lives for himself and not one dies for himself For if we live we live for the Lord or if we die we die for the Lord therefore whether we live or die We are the Lord's These scriptures reveal the true nature of what devotion to God really is and discussing this subject I Finish talking here. I propose to show one what true devotion to God is not To what true devotion to God is three that devotion and nothing short of devotion is true Religion that's what the word he used and True Christianity and for several mistakes commonly made upon the subject going back over those four things Finney when he taught about some what something was the first thing he did was destroy every misconception that he could think of What people thought it was that it really wasn't In fact the best thing you can do to find out what a thing is is first to find out what it isn't There's so many people think that love is something for instance, you know In fact, he's got studies on love and he starts out just like this He tells you what love isn't it isn't an emotional gushing of desire for anything, you know And three when he says that devotion nothing short of devotion is true Christianity In his day the word religion had a meaning of the word if you were a religious man You were a Christian in his day and age there weren't Buddhists and Moslems running around in New York in 1830 They you know, they would have Buried him somewhere. I think There was in fact during the American Independent War war of independence I remember reading something that Like Thomas Jefferson or something that there was a group of 70 Jews on the island of the aisle Yeah, the island of Manhattan and that they wouldn't let them vote, you know, they were anathema But imagine, you know today in New York, there's only 70 Jews when the you know, the country became there's there's more Jews And there's more Jews in New York City than there are in all of Israel There's also, you know, I think there's more Italians there than there are in Rome Don't quote me on that last one, but I know the first one is true There's more pizza there Shakies So that's so I whenever Phineas is the word true religion or This man has no religion. He's talking about that. The man is not a Christian But the man is not really serving God and that's when Phineas the word religion is synonymous with being a real Christian. Okay One no true devotion to God is not Devotion does not consist of reading the Bible or praying or attending meetings These may or may not be specific instances of devotion, but are not to be regarded as devotion itself It's pretty clear To devotion does not consist of a private or public commitment of our lives to God These are to be regarded as special acts pledges or promises of devotion, but not as devotion itself now Going over the first one, of course people think that reading their Bible reading, you know five chapters in the morning and and spending five minutes with God and Making sure they go to the prayer meeting on Wednesday and to the morning service and if there's nothing on TV the evening service on Sunday is Devotions, this is my devotions. God knows I mean business Phineas it just destroys that that's not devotion at all. They can be what he calls Instances of devotion or deeds of devotion, but they are in themselves. Do not constitute devotion and in the second one many people think that When a guy in his in his prayer closet goes, oh God, I commit my life to you but that's devotion or they come forward at the at the concert and they come forward at the meeting or at the at the Sermon on Sunday morning and they say and they say who here wants to devote their life to God and five people come forward and they say the old sinner's prayer and They say well, I really made an oath of devotion today. Well, that's true I mean an oath of devotion or a promise of devotion, but that in itself is not devotion Okay, three Devotion does not consist of individual acts or exercises of any kind These may indeed be devotional acts that is acts of devotion But let it be remembered that no acts or exercises in themselves constitute devotion Okay, that's he's pretty thorough to what true devotion to God is Devotion is that state of the heart in which everything our whole life being in possessions Are a continual offering to God that is they are continually devoted to God True devotion must be the supreme devotion of the will Extending out to all we have and are to all times places employment spots and feelings Now here he he does what Jesus does as far as using a parable Let your own ideas of what a pastor ought to be illustrate my meaning You most likely believe that a pastor in preaching the gospel Should have only one purpose in mind to glorify God by the salvation and later the sanctification of sinners Since he professes to be a servant of God you feel that he ought to study preach and perform all his ministerial duties Not for himself not for his salary not to increase his popularity, but only to glorify God Now you can easily see that if he does not have this singleness of purpose or singleness of I his service Cannot be acceptable to God for it is not an offering to God. It is not a devotion to God, but a devotion to himself Now we're not going to just read here. There's somebody thinking well, he's gonna read this I could read this myself We're gonna stop when we get past this and discuss this Devotion then in a pastor is that state of mind in which all his pastoral duties are Performed for the glory of God and where his whole life is a continual offering to God Again, you feel that a minister ought to be is devoted to God in everything else as he is in praying or preaching And in this you are right For he not only ought to be But really is only as devoted in the pulpit as he is out of the pulpit If he is influenced by selfish and worldly motives during the week, then these same motives are surely in his heart on the Sabbath If during the week his thoughts are centered upon his own interests endeavoring to promote himself. You can be sure it's the same on the Sabbath You most likely also feel that if a minister's devotion is merely an outward farce That he preaches prays visits and performs all his duties Mainly for the purpose of supporting his family or to get honor and attention for himself You would say that he was a wicked man and unless he is converted he would inevitably lose his soul If these are your views on the subject, they are undoubtedly correct. Let's stop here The standard of righteousness the standard of truth Is black and white there's two things that are in opposition The Bible says Mercy and judgment right it says that Mercy rejoices against judgment. Why? There the law of God is black and white. The justice of God is black and white The judgment of God is black and white You're either righteous or you're not the love of God is not black and white. The mercy of God is not black and white the kindness of God Behold the kindness and the severity of our God It's in Romans These are things that Christians have struggled with since the beginning days That God has seemingly two ways of looking at you one is through the law and one is through love and That doesn't mean the law came from hatred The law is not necessarily the Mosaic law that you know You're not supposed to eat pork chops, you know and so on the law is Be perfect as my father in heaven is perfect. That's the law. That's a command be perfect and When you're not perfect you fail the law you fail God's standard his standard is that you must be perfect That's a standard You must have a perfect devotion to him a perfect love Perfect love cast about fear it says And here finish talking about to make a point about you He's talking about what you think a pastor should be now in his day. There was the men of the cloth and the laity right, there was The preachers and the people in the pews. I always wondered why they called them pews and I found out when I went to church for a while because the heart character of the Christian stinks in most cases They're waiting for the pastor to do everything They're waiting really they're waiting for the pastor to go door-to-door and lead people to the Lord They're waiting for the pastor to do all the marriage counseling and all the abortion counseling and all solve all the problems of everybody that's not a pastor's job a Pastor job is to be an example of Jesus so that people can be raised up around him Just like Jesus so that the abortion counseling and the opening of the homes to people can be spread throughout the body of Christ Pastors are to be leaders Christians are not not to just be follower There remember it says that I am the door and everyone who comes in through the door becomes a shepherd of the sheep Says that in John 10 Everyone who comes in through the door who enters by me becomes that he becomes a shepherd of the sheep When you become a Christian you instantly become a follower and the leader at the same time If you don't realize that if you think now I know many of you here at DTS and you've paid a good sum of money Which nobody likes to mention But you paid a good sum of money to come here and live and learn about Jesus and learn about what it's like to be A Christian to be and to be a leader to be a disciple discipleship training school Our school is called intensive Christian training. It's kind of like something you put out of a bottle. It's often your hands up I'm I'm sure that you came here most of you thinking that you are going to leave a better person, right? I mean, you know, it's a lot of money. It's a long time Out of your life you want to be a better person you would you'd be an idiot to come here and not think you're gonna Be better because of all the knowledge and all the love and prayers and concern and counsel you're gonna receive here Some of you look bored Some of you look filled up like a sponge that can't hold anything else How many weeks you've been here now? Five weeks some of you feel like man It's filled up to here and everything comes in this area just floats on the top and pours off the other side And I want to say something that's the way knowledge is knowledge pop it up The letter kills It murders the spirit gives life the letter kills knowledge pops up In Ecclesiastes Solomon who I think wrote Ecclesiastes Says excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body When all is said and done, this is what you should know fear God and keep his commandments Well You can all go back home now Then he's using a pastor here because most people think the pastor is supposed to be a different class of Christian That is an insidious thought Now it does say in James be not many teachers knowing that you shall be judged with greater strictness and the King James It says you shall incur the greater condemnation. Well, that's scary That only means one thing knowledge equals responsibility Equals accountability Equals condemn ability the more, you know The bigger your punishment if you don't live up to what you know, or as many Christians like to say nowadays To the light that you have living up to the light that you have Don't get more light Be afraid of getting more light If the light that you have is turned to darkness in you and if the light that is within you is darkness You're in trouble Now I'm not here to condemn you I'm not here to thrust the law down your nostrils I'm here to talk about the standard Because the standard must be kept high we should never ever look even if you know Catherine Booth said I've said since I'm 12 years Old since I'm a little girl. I will never ever lower the standard even if it sends me to hell I will not lower it and that's what happens people invent doctrines because they can't live up to the standard They invent these crazy doctrines You know these these wonderful doctrines that say you can go to heaven though You live a life of sin and you don't have to be changed outwardly as long as you get Stamped USDA choice Christian on the forehead when you say the same prayer Now I'm sure they've dispelled that in the first five weeks of this school the fundamentalist movement in this country, which which Which I'm not against fundamental the word fundamental means basic truths Has got people believing in some cases That you as a Christian can get saved whatever that means I mean my Bible says you're supposed to be saved from what from sin, you know But Z it save which means you you get your brownie stars on your soul but only God can read and from this point on no matter what you do God overlooks it because You know your sins are forgiven past present and future and no matter what you do you can't go to hell anymore Well, I got news for you and this might curl your hair I can go to hell if I want to and God isn't going to stop me unless I ask him to or I Contain and remain in that relationship with him, which he wants me to stay in that relationship with him. He's drawing me. He's keeping me But if I want to go to hell bad enough, he's got to let me or else There's no virtue in being a Christian. There's no virtue in following Jesus. No one would have been lost and This pastor that Vinny's talking about here this pastor that he's talking about this guy has got a standard That's not living up to the gospel the guy that's That's preaching to get support for his family you can't become a Christian to make money Oh God I know people making a fortune off the gospel. I Know people that are living in mansions because they got saved and they found an idea and Christians gullible enough put it on the back of their bumper And they're merchandising Christ Then I know singers and musicians That God gave them a talent God gave him a talent for they even knew Jesus They used it to serve themselves then and they use it to serve themselves now and they build up their own kingdom with it and I'm sure there's people out there that think that I do the same and God knows my heart and and That's I'm not here to defend myself. I'm here to defend the gospel It's hard And it's soft. It's severe and it's kind It's black and white but love goes into the gray to separate out the black from the white I'm trying to make a point if any gives you a standard and you shudder The Bible is too many cases be perfect. There's none righteous not even one All of sin comes short of the glory of God, but thanks be to God through Jesus Christ Here's the thing. Our Savior will not save us against our will one two, he will not Cleanse us against our will He'll he drives us he drives us he wants us And he just talked about and the reason Finney talked about a pastor's because he knows that Christians being you don't remember Jesus called Christians his sheep You know why he called him there. She sheep are the dumbest animals in the animal kingdom. They are there's no Animal in the animal no mammal that has a lower IQ Than a sheep. He didn't say these are my dolphins Behold wash my chimpanzees, you know Keep keep keep my German Shepherds He you know, he could have he could have said anything that would have given intelligence to the creature But he says no these these people are so gullible if you tell them they're a plate of French fries. Don't believe it Really, you know, you must eat my flesh and drink my blood. Jesus. That's hard. I mean, I can't think of eating you You know He tells his disciples, you know, he were of 11 of the Pharisees nobody brought me sandwiches No, not bread Sin sin, you know, I mean he had these people with him Called human beings just like you and me that had thick skulls a mile wide Called him a sheep that was it's pretty good sense of you. I think I I Go all in that cute cheap little wooly bag. She's good. Yeah, I'm dumb, too You know he says, you know, you still don't understand remember how many times you said that you still don't understand Do I still have to explain it to you? She's more that with a problem, man one plus one equals two Parable the sower the sower is me and the Word of God is the seed and dolly can't understand anything I mean, it seems like sometimes he's exasperated doesn't it not in the flesh Just exasperated just kind of fed up that these people who he's remember how many times he says I'm going to die And on the third day, I'm gonna be raised up Right, so he always said it the Son of Man shall be crucified and raised on the third day I think you don't to think the saddest day of Jesus life. It was The resurrection what Easter, you know, we all sing we all sing how glorious and how wonderful that day is That was the saddest day of his life because he told him that he's gonna raise in the third day He got out of the grave that I no one was there All these thick skulls people he told him three days No one was there this one woman who was devoted comes out. She didn't come out to see a risen Jesus She came out to to make his grave nice and smell sweet and you know Annoying his body with you know, she was she believed he was dead and she gets the credit for you know See and she believed it Well, you would have to anybody would have believed it when they saw it I'll even doubting Thomas believed it when Jesus said stick it in my side what I'm trying to say to you is this a Pastor is somebody we expect to be a Christian real good. Look and he's a pastor. Look what he's doing. Hey God says he's a Christian and look what he's doing. That's all God says. I love the thing and well You might be able to find it, but it says You feel that a past minister ought to be is devoted to God and everything else as he isn't praying or preaching In this you are right for he not only ought to be but really is only is devoted in the pulpit as he is out of it Okay You most likely feel That if a minister's devotion is merely an outward farce that he preaches praise visits performs all his duties merely for the purpose of purpose of supporting his family or to get honor or attention for himself you would say that he was a wicked man and He would inevitably lose his soul Those were the days these were the theological days when people were wicked men. They lost their soul If you're a wicked man you lost your soul Today you can be a wicked man and go to heaven Really you get your you get your you join the Jesus Club you get your card in your wallet. You go to heaven doesn't matter God pulls you over for speeding and sending and you can your car. Hey, you know, I got connections, you know If these are your views on the subject they are undoubtedly correct Here where you have no personal interest you form a right judgment and decide correctly concerning the character and destiny of such a man Now remember nothing short of this standard is devotion in you do Bear it in mind that no particular acts or zeal or gushings of emotion or resolutions to change or promises of future obedience constitute devotion For devotion is that state of the will in which the mind is swallowed up in God as an object of its supreme affection In which we not only live and move in God, but for God In other words devotion is that state of the mind in which the attention is diverted from self and self-seeking and is directed to God the thoughts purposes desires affections and emotions all hanging upon and devoted to Him by the way, you can write on these papers. They're yours Should have told you that before you can make notes on the side or underline or circle or make crossword puzzles or whatever you want to Okay Let's read that last paragraph again Devotion is that state of the will in which the mind is swallowed up in God as the object of its supreme affection That's beautiful in which we not only live and move in God But for God in other words devotion is that state of the mind in which the attention is Diverted from self and self-seeking and is directed to God the thoughts purposes desires Affections and emotions all hanging upon and devoted to him Okay, devotion and nothing short of devotion is true religion as many would say is true Christianity devotion and true religion are identical That's quite a statement Devotion and being a Christian are identical One it is impossible for us not to be devoted to the object of our supreme affection read that sentence and look at it It is impossible for us not to be devoted to the object of our supreme affection the word supreme means our highest The one we love the most if we love God the most he will be the reason for which we live If an individual loves God supremely, he will be as conscious that he lives for God as that. He lives at all Nothing short of this can be acceptable to God Unless devotion be a habit or a state of the mind unless the whole being be an offering to God He must have a rival in our hearts This you will not endure and to attempt to please him by isolated acts of devotion When it is not the habit the state of our minds is far more abominable than for a wife to attempt to please her husband With an occasional smile while she lives only to please and gain the affections of another man That means something very look at this To attempt to please him by isolated acts of devotion Is far more abominable than for a wife to attempt to please her husband with an occasional smile When she lives only to please and gain the affections of another man What does that mean? It's far more abominable. That means this if you if your devotion to God is not a habit It's not a state of mind It's not something you live and dwell and have your move you move and have your being in Then to go before God and do your five chapters or one chapter or 20 minutes or five minutes of prayer a day is Abominable to him just as much as if you were married and you knew your wife really loved another guy Or your husband really loved another girl Like they said, I'll marry you but if Fred ever comes back, I'm splitting, you know, or something like that And and and she kissed you and she says dear I love you and she smiled at you and was nice to you You'd hate it. You'd hate the niceness. You'd hate the smiles. You'd hate the kisses You'd hate the hugs if you knew her heart belonged to someone else Wouldn't you I mean it would be sick to you if you knew that she really in her heart wanted to be with another person Beside you and that that was her desire and her motive was to find this guy and win him But yet she did her duty to you as a wife Man it make me want to throw up. I couldn't sleep. I've had the nervous breakdown that's the way it is when our hearts belong to the world or belong to our family or belong to our husbands or wives or Our children or our finances or our education or our ministry Our hearts belong to something even godly on the outside Spiritual that's the worst kind of sickness the Pharisees had that and we still do all the deeds that we think are pleasing God And really we believe in our hearts we fooled ourselves And now we think we can fool God with all these religious deeds and acts and it's sick to him According to Revelations it makes him want to puke. I Wish you were hot or cold, but since you're merely lukewarm I'm gonna spit you out of my mouth the word in Greek ain't spit. It isn't spew. It's vomit. Look it up It's right there in the you have a new American Standard Dictionary. It's it's on the sides a little one of those little footnotes It says literally vomit That means you make God sick to his stomach With your religion with your come with your commitment to him because it isn't real you're sitting on the fence If this is you if you're trying to please him with what's called isolated acts of devotion When it's not the habit the state of your mind okay three a Departure from this state of devotion is heart apostasy the word apostasy means Something that has lost its heat and is now just like it's like waxed fruit You know how good that waxed fruit can look on your fasting, you know, you think it's gonna taste good But it you know, it doesn't so you don't desire it Whatever a man's outward behavior may be the moment he turns aside from sincere devotion to God from the supreme Consecration of his whole being to the service of God he has in his heart pronounced true Christianity he is no longer in the service of God, but is serving the object upon which his heart is set and This is the object of his devotion. That is it is his God Whatever his heart is set upon becomes his God for several mistakes commonly made upon this subject One many imagine that there is a real difference between devotional and other kinds of duties This is really heavy. If you don't get this you're gonna miss the whole study many imagine That there is a real difference between devotional duties and other kinds of duties as if a man could be doing his duty in that Which is not devotion to God duty meaning obligation like a guy that says It's my duty to put bread on the table. It's my duty to to support my family You know, so I'm gonna go do my devotions and then I'm going to go out and support my family The duties of devotion are generally supposed to be prayer and reading the scriptures together We're singing and praying in the fellowship of God's house on the Sabbath Oh God's house on the Sabbath men imagine themselves to be devotional while on weekdays except for those few acts They call their devotions. They are serving themselves and are supremely devoted to their own interests now all such ideas arise out of a total absence of true devotion and Individuals who entertain such views do not yet understand what true Christianity is Nothing is duty if it is not performed for God. That means nothing There's nothing that you have to do if it isn't performed for God and God doesn't isn't pleased that you're supporting your family we're paying your debts or or brushing your teeth if you're not doing it for him a Man that is truly religious is as devotional in his daily business as he is on the Sabbath The business of the world is performed by him with the same spirit and purpose as he prays Reads his Bible and attends worship on the Sabbath if this is not the case. He has no true religion He has no true religion Now there are some people who really live for God. Oh, okay. Let's stop there I want to say that There's the after reading Finney for a while. I never really saw this I thought that there was a religious part of my life and a secular part of my life. I really did I mean, it's it's a common way to think I Thought that my prayer life was was sanctified and my Bible study was before God But you know my brushing the teeth going to the bathroom eating You know, I mean I knew there was a scripture whether you eat or drink you offer the glory of God I had to eat a hot dog for God, you know And I knew there were recreational times played volleyball or ping-pong or God forbid cards and Can you do that for God? You know according according to the Bible Anything that can be done in a right spirit is being done for God For the right motive for the right purpose So we're going to talk more about those things in a minute, but I just want to say it is idiocy And I was an idiot When I thought that there was my Christian part of my life and then my business obligations Ah, ah, if you're a Christian businessman and boy is that word misused today if you're a Christian businessman And you don't do your business as you would do it with Jesus Christ himself You know how if you're your businessman, right and Jesus came into the store. You give him the best deal. I probably wouldn't make a profit You know after a while you'd have to make a little one to support your family. That's God's will for you to support your family But if Jesus came into the store, you wouldn't sell him the crummy tape machine You know, you wouldn't give him the thing with the high markup. So you'd make the biggest profit You wouldn't sell him the day-old bread and not say it was they old you wouldn't do the little tricks that businessmen do to make a little bit extra with him and It says that if you don't do your business as a worship under the Lord, you're just a flaming hypocrite That's what the Pharisees did. They prayed. Oh, man, they prayed. Nobody's prayed as good as them. Nobody They had praying down. They went to prayer 101 and 102 in college. They learned it. They had giving down You know and they'd write their check out I'm giving to God, you know drop it in the treasury they had giving now Yeah, they had prayer down. They had the scriptures down man. They knew it backwards and forwards. It's like the devil But they didn't have Worship down they didn't have devotion now they didn't have commitment to God down I Think it's important that you realize that Christianity you've heard this. I want to be a full-time Christian not just a Sunday Christian There is no such thing as anything else, but a full-time Christian That's like saying I'm gonna be a man on Sunday and then the rest of the week. I'll be a girl That's how stupid it is It's it's idiocy To this is really an important part here, too now there are some people who really live for God and are obviously in a devotional state of mind who do not seem to realize that Every act devoted to God is as acceptable to him as prayer or praise That means that there aren't First class acts to God and second class acts. There aren't two-star activities and three-star activities That means that prayer As itself is not really any more spiritual And taking a bath or playing volleyball Now that doesn't mean you should quit praying and play volleyball Because the Bible commands us to make our petitions known before the Lord and pray without ceasing Obedience is one of the most pleasing things to God But only for the right motives if by necessary responsibilities these people that have a right state of mind Are kept from spending much time in prayer going to a lot of meetings Satan takes advantage of their ignorance and brings them into bondage He tries to persuade them that they're neglecting their duties to God by attending to other things Now you who are devoted to God should understand that if his providence should confine you at home to nurse to sick or Prevent you from observing those hours of secret prayer that you are used to keeping You are not to be brought into bondage or condemnation by this if you are conscious that these other duties are being done for the Lord Whether you eat or drink therefore do all for the glory of God all for the glory of God And you can't be a glutton for the glory of God, but you can eat or drink for the glory of God There's a right way to do something and there's a wrong way Whether I talk about playing volleyball or playing ping-pong you can become in the flesh and competitive and hate the people who win You know, they talk about being a good sport or a bad sport being a good sport. It's just having loving your opponent as yourself It's scriptural You know doing the under them as you would wish they do under you whether they won or lost If they won you don't want them to gloat and if they lose you don't want them to pout So you don't pout and you don't gloat And if the person says that was my point and you thought it was your point and you talk about a little bit He still is firm. I'll give him your quote here have two points Turn the other cheek, you know, the other cheek doesn't mean. All right, will you put it by yourself? What I'm saying is there's a Christian way to do just about everything because nothing in itself is good or evil The Bible says that he says I'm convinced nothing in itself is good or evil But why you do it? He says all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable You know now there are certain things in themselves Literally that are unlawful like adultery or fornication, but really adultery or fornication is sex Okay Sex is not unlawful with the right person at the right time But with the wrong person at the wrong time is what makes it unlawful or the wrong motive and that's the wrong person in the Wrong time is with the wrong motive Did you know that you know rape and incest and homosexual sex and all that other stuff? Is the same act done with the wrong person at the wrong time with the wrong motive as marital sex Which is godly and pleasing in his sight So and a knife, you know you have a knife with the knife you can cut a bread you can prepare a new meal Somebody's all tied up. You can release them from their captor or you can slit somebody's throat The knife isn't evil. The handgun isn't evil. You know that even the abortion operation isn't evil my wife had a tubal pregnancy and They had to go in and that in her case it had already passed through when they went in to take it out It had already passed through she had miscarriage But they have to remove a woman's tubes if her pregnancy attaches to the inside of the fallopian tube It can kill her and the baby can't come to term So in that case abortion is good Because it's not evil because the motive is to save the life of the mother and the baby can't be saved in that case Understand what I'm saying that there's no act. I Had to shoot my dog three weeks ago. He had cancer And he was suffering and I checked into having him put to sleep and two different people told me To two different people we read it somewhere that when they put him to sleep they suffer for a while But it isn't like second. I don't just go to sleep. Their heart doesn't stop but they're actually they have they have Pain in that process and I knew that a bullet through the head was not painful for the dog But it would be painful for me But I wanted to save the dog from pain, so I borrowed a gun and shot my dog of ten years It wasn't easy. It was not murder either Because the motive was for its benefit you understand the motive Made the shooting of a handgun which is now illegal in a city in in, Illinois, and I'm not I'm not for Handgun to people's who have handguns I'm just saying that again the gun which is so used in murder and robbery Wasn't evil in that case the killing of something at that point wasn't evil in that case. Do you understand? So I'm talking again motive sanctifies or defiles any action Motive sanctifies or defiles any action Okay, I killed my dog, but it was good. My wife went in to have a pregnancy removed and it was good Those are evil things in most cases killing and abortion, but the Pharisee prayed and read the scriptures and it was evil Because the motive was wrong So good things become evil and bad things become good because you can sanctify or defile anything by motive Everybody understand that Sorry to gross you out with such heavy illustrations Three others think that devotion can be sincere But yet extend only to certain duties That is that a man may pray sincerely and from right motives and yet be worldly in the transaction of business Now a little reflection a little reflection will convince any honest mind that this is naturally impossible Devotion to God cannot be sincere any further than it annihilates Selfishness what a line Devotion to God cannot be sincere any further than it annihilates selfishness devotion and selfishness are eternal opposites There's a you can you can write that on your blackboard For many mistake the religion of emotion for that of the religion of the will You can see this from their lives. They weep and appear to melt and break down They promise to change and offer entire consecration to God but attempt to do business with them the very next day and you will find Them supremely selfish. They're not devoted to God at all, but to their own interest They're ready to take any advantage even of their brethren to benefit themselves How many people here have known somebody a Christian like that? Honest raise your hand. How many of you've known a Christian like that? Okay, just kind of go around the block a couple more times Attempt to do business with them the very next day and you will find them supremely selfish They are not devoted to God at all, but to their own interest They are ready to take advantage even of their brethren to benefit themselves Now it is obvious in this case that they're melting down and breaking down was merely a gushing of their emotions and not a will surrendered and devoted to God some helpful remarks one a Spirit of devotion will turn the most constant cares and the most pressing labors into the deepest and most constant communion with God That's a beautiful principle Spirit of devotion will turn the most constant cares and the most pressing labors into the deepest and most constant communion with God The more pressing and tedious our duties if they are performed for God the deeper and more continual our communion with him For whatever is done in the spirit of devotion is communion with God Now here's something that's gonna this will this will fry it to they are not Christians Who do not hold communion with God in their ordinary employments? They are not Christians who do not hold communion with God in their ordinary employments If you do not hold conscious communion with God in your ordinary business It is because your business is not performed in a spirit of devotion If not performed in a spirit of devotion it is sin For whatever is not a faith is sin. How you like that for black and white? Three they are certainly not in a sanctified state who cannot attend to the ordinary And lawful business of life without being drawn away from God How many people have thought this way that all right? I said my prayers and I read my Bible and now I gotta go to work and now I gotta go to school Now I gotta go take care of grandma or whatever. I gotta go back to the road If only I could pray more I wouldn't be drawn away from God by going to work only I could serve the Lord full-time instead of work at the stupid bank You know, then I could really love God. Oh what hogwash If God has brought you Even if he hasn't brought you if you brought you into a job and God isn't against you in that job He hasn't said you're not supposed to be in this job. You're supposed to be on the mission field You just will be a four-star Christian not a three-star Christian and you think why you know I really aren't close to God in this job. I wish I could pray more than your prayers are hypocritical. They're stupid They don't mean a hill of beans Unless you can take God with you to work Does God go with you to work? Does he go with you to school? Does he go with you when you go home to visit your nagging mother? There's certainly not in a sanctified state who cannot attend to the ordinary and lawful business of life without being drawn away from God For whatever cannot be done in the spirit of devotion is unlawful If you feel the inconsistency of performing it as an act of devotion to God It is unlawful you yourself being the judge Okay. Now we get back to volleyball cards and so on. Can you play volleyball in spirit of devotion to God? Can you go bowling can you play pinball can you Read the funnies on Sunday Can you jog now if you can't? This is whatever cannot be done in the spirit of devotion for you is unlawful You shouldn't do it You yourself being the judge if you go oh man, this card game draws me from God if it does quit planet You know eating hot fudge sundaes takes me from God. Don't eat them Going over 55 takes me away from God. Don't do it What you can't do in devotion if you go, okay I want to offer this Bible up to God and your conscience says you can't You're supposed to be over here Better stop you yourself being the judge that this can't be at this time in your life or this time of the day or this Time of the week or this time in your responsibilities Cannot be offered to God because your conscience is bothering you because you're supposed to be doing something else quit it immediately but If you're in prayer, I've got to get my hour in today I promise God an hour, by the way, don't ever do that It's a big mistake Don't ever promise God the clock ever. It's a big mistake Don't ever promise God an amount of chapters or an amount of minutes Now somebody else might have told you something different It's a big mistake it will heap condemnation upon your soul until you fall on your face Offer your whole life to God offer every second to God offer every word you read whether it be in the Bible or in Tom Sawyer to God Or you will be crushed You will be condemned by your own conscience and by the devil. So anyway, you're going along and You've got to get your hour in and your friend calls your unsaved friend and says hey, you want to play racquetball? Um I'm serving God brother. I I can't play right now God might say shut your trap and go play racquetball man and be show this person that you got Flesh and blood and a heart and a mind and a body and a soul and in Jesus And then you like to have fun because people like to have fun and God made him that way Not to have too much fun not to have more fun than they work and pray and serve and serve God in the other things But God made us as little lambs He made us that way calls us a sheep You ever seen a little lamb kicking around in the field ever seen a calf running around. We're all children at heart When the children were playing around Jesus Do you think he didn't enjoy it when they were laughing and giggling and tear pulling at his robe and say geez Can I come up? Hey, you know, don't you think he played with them? Oh my children, they think of him as Vincent Price sometimes, you know Don't you think that God enjoys it when his children enjoy the life that he gave them Not an excess. No, no, no You should work more than you play. Of course you should there's only so many hours in a week, but God would like you He doesn't mind you taking some of that for recreation because he put that in our hearts. It's not the devil John Wesley was somebody who was seeking after God. He was trying to find out what was pleasing to God and he thought well, he saw all these kids playing in the street and beating up on each other and being competitive and being Vicious for each other and calling each other names and hurting each other and causing pain and sorrow You know how kids are junior high, right? You know, hey Smitty, you know, you're you're a crummy kickball player, whatever, you know, they hurt each other They call each other names, you know, you know, there's there's a you know, the guy that's always striking out They call him strikeout, you know, cuz I was tracking he's walking around the name all over his face strikeout He can't stand it wherever he goes. He's strikeout So John Wesley had an idea Well, since all this play is causing them so much pain what we should do is start a school and forbid children to play So they can't play anymore and he did it He started a school and the children couldn't play and it was of course a miserable failure The children were so depressed and so pent-up. They couldn't think And he realized it wasn't playing that was wrong. But the motives they needed to be taught sportsmanship They needed to be taught sharing. They needed to be taught goodness towards each other and preferring the other person That wasn't the deed that was wrong again Right you understand So you're praying and you're doing your thing and the guy says can you play racquetball with me? And you know this guy somebody that God wants to lead to the Lord You better go play racquetball with him put your prayer books down put your Bible down and go play racquetball And don't go to play racquetball go to serve God Go to be this is a mischievous word a witness You know, that doesn't mean when you win you go holler your praise God, you know Or you know or you lose while hollering anyway, you know, I mean, that's that's that's not real I mean it can be that if it's really the two gushing forth of your heart, that's okay, but that's not witnessing When it doesn't say anybody's in the Bible that you should go out and witness it says you should be a witness Doesn't say any place in the Bible. You should go witnessing and so you should go into all nations making disciples of men We've got this whole perverted Christianity today that tries to make Everything into a deed a little package thing where we have, you know We have instant Quaker Oats and instant tea and now we've got instant Christian just add prayer and stir You know All you've got everything's instant. We've got instant witnessing, you know, it's the way the thing you wear your Jesus shirt You wear your Jesus bumper thing you wear your Jesus belt you wear your Jesus Underwear and you use your Jesus toothpaste You know it's crazy a Truly devoted person doesn't need the paraphernalia to be a witness He's got the Holy Spirit And if he doesn't have the Holy Spirit then he's got to go down to the local bookstore and buy all this stuff to show He's a Christian I'm not saying that those that have those things don't have the Holy Spirit I'm saying they don't really need them. In fact, some of them are distracting and bring a bad light to the gospel Devotion Devotion means at any time you're ready willing and able to do anything for God Even if it doesn't look spiritual to the world Okay so again for whatever cannot be done in the spirit of devotion is unlawful if you feel the Inconsistency of performing it as an act of devotion to God. It is unlawful you yourself being the judge Anything not right or wrong in itself may be either right or wrong according to whether or not it is done in the spirit of devotion therefore say these are too heavy, but this is these two paragraphs really heavy principles a Selfish mind may condemn a godly man for doing something. That would be sinful if he himself did it Because the motives of his heart are all wrong. The selfish man assumes that the other person's behavior is also wrongly motivated You ever thought of that have you ever Knew that it was wrong for you to eat hot. You're on a diet, right? You shouldn't be eating hot for Sunday's you go out with this guy. Don't you hate these people? You know, they can't eat anything and they stay skinny. I can't stand them I've been struggling with my weight since I'm 16 years old, you know people like Annie Herring, you know Annie Herring can eat a football field and look the same the next day You know, I can't stand that So for me when I eat too much and God wants me to remain Keep my temple in shape and he wants me to be a good witness and not look like the good jubilant Then it's sin for me to overeat Now if she's eating for her flesh, it's in for her to overeat too But if she isn't and she realizes it, you know, God made food and I'm thankful for it I like to eat, you know, yard long pizza burgers, you know, and it doesn't stumble her anybody else or God And she can go right ahead and do it and what sin for me and then I see her doing now what a glutton Because my motive in eating it would be gluttony, but her motive is she's worshiping God. You understand You can you can look through your glasses what you look at the world at every day and think that everybody else is looking through the same glasses and Read into them the bad motives that you have if you did the same thing on the other hand This is great on the other hand a sanctified mind may give credit to a selfish mind when it is not due Taking it for granted that when the act is right, the motive is right That's the exact opposite some evil guy comes to church. Hey, man There was a guy at this church in Sacramento that came to this church and he stayed there for six months He was one of those Christian musicians, you know He was singing for God right and he played the guitar and did all his riffs for Christ Well, he joined one of the local bands and laid low was really praise God Hallelujah taught a Bible study drove people to church Sunday school trusted as can be New Year's Eve comes around and he says he Calls up all the band members Individually and says I have a gig to play tonight. Can I buy your instrument? Each one of them takes the van around Takes their instruments never heard from again steals them not one There wasn't one sign that he was like that Beware People will come into your midst is ravening wolves will slip in. I pray We pray as a ministry all the time because we have people coming and going in our ministry. We pray God don't let a wolf come please because the wolf but guarantee you a wolf will not look like a wolf a Wolf will look like this because you have a godly mind you should as a Christian you think the best And so you might give credit where credit is not due thinking that taking it for granted that when the act is right the motive is right Beware for men beware of men every Jesus said beware of men. That doesn't mean we should be suspicious of people It means we should be careful seven There is no peace of mind, but in a state of devotion No other state of mind is reasonable. I like that in no other state will the powers of the mind harmonize In any other state than that of devotion to God. There is an inward struggle and mutiny and strife in the mind itself The conscience rebukes the heart for selfishness Hence there is no peace sayeth my God for the wicked eight They have perfect peace whose minds are thus stayed upon God in an attitude of constant devotion It is impossible that they should not have peace for devotion implies and includes peace And now beloved do you have the spirit of true devotion? Do not reply. I hope so for nothing, but a conscious awareness should satisfy you for one moment If you are devoted to God, you know it and if you are not conscious of being devoted to God It is because you are not devoted Be not deceived. God is not mocked for whatever a man sows this shall he also reap for he that sows to the flesh So reap from the flesh corruption of he that sows to the spirit shall reap from the spirit life everlasting Okay, somebody just asked how do you get your motive straight and That's the key question that's like but that's like the rich young ruler going up to Jesus and saying what do I do to be safe? It really is Sin is remember it said that selfishness and devotion were eternal opposites by drawing close to Jesus and These are these are cliches. These are cliches, but they're not if you know Jesus repenting Becoming Finding out what holiness is Holiness is is drawing close to God and becoming like him, you know, you always become like the people you hang out with, you know If you hang out in New York, you start to looking like this Hang out in Arkansas start talking like this You know, really if you hang out with hoodlums you become a hoodlum if you hang out with cultured people you become cultured I'm serious And if you hang out with God you become God Hang out with demons you become demonic if you hang out with the Holy Spirit Now these these are all easy answers now There's some things you can't explain to somebody with words Just like if you never taste a chocolate ice cream and you said what a chocolate ice cream tastes like what could I say? It's wet it's brown it's cold Sweet that doesn't tell you anything about chocolate, but brown cold sweet. That's that's snow with sugar in it You know with brown food coloring Or other stuff dirt you've got to come to know the Lord and I know that you know that you believe, you know the Lord and I don't I don't know that you don't but I'll tell you this I Struggle with my motives Peter struggled with his motives and if you believe the interpretation of Romans 7 that half the church believes Paul struggled with his motives and If any struggle with his you read his autobiography he had some he had some struggling times Life's a struggle The flesh and the spirit are a constant struggling in at war with each other. That's a promise by the way Hey, you know everybody likes to talk about the promises of God, you know They they say, you know, God is love and you know, ask whatever you wish it to be done for you What is other promises of God those who wish to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution claim that one The spirit in the war are the spirit in the flesh are at war with each other, you know you get your motives right by examining them, but not too close because you can spend the rest of your life examining your motives instead of God and one by one repenting getting clear Going back to the people that you've offended with bad motives going back to God who you've offended with any bad motive you've had and By the grace of God through the love of God and in the time of God by the way Every Christian virtue takes time to make into a habit What is habit anyway habit is the is? Continually doing something learning to do it over and over and over again till it becomes second nature You know you hear I'm sure in the school you hear about sin nature and all this stuff. Well, this is second nature Habit is second nature takes time. He unbound says it takes 20 years to make a man of God Len Ravenhill who's been a preacher for 60 years now told me when he first heard that as a young man He rebelled against it until he was a Christian 20 years, and then he knew it was true Time takes time Prayer resting in him effort and it definitely takes God and I hope that's not too simplistic answer for you The question was how do you apply devotional state of mind to everything you do? You've got to look through everything to Jesus you've got to see his hand and everything You got to see his hand when you go to work like to see his hand while you're driving You got to see his hand giving you the food. Remember we say grace Okay, that that's that can be a stupid tradition unless we're really thanking God for the food You have to look at him as if he placed the food on the table because he really did there's no food that he didn't grow There's no food prepared that he didn't make the person to prepare it and give him the intelligence and energy to do it So he's actually feeding the whole universe. He's keeping your heart beating, but you've got to Look through everything you do to God and see him in everything and then it's easy to be devoted to him Otherwise if you look at well, I left God back at church on Sunday or I left him this morning when I prayed Then your mind isn't on God and it says whatever is pure. Whatever is worthy of praise set your mind on these things That's making habits to habits of thought Yeah Well as as Finney said about feelings the religion of the emotion It's a fact that God is with you wherever you go David said if I made my bed in hell behold thou art there and that means everywhere you go, you know I Really want to make it clear that That this study isn't giving you any answers It's just telling you what you shouldn't do and what the state of mind you should be in Just like the girl says, how do you get your motives, right? Well When the rich and ruler ran before Jesus Jesus says we'll keep the commandments, you know, he's I've done that well I'm there's one you haven't done. I'll tell you in the other way get rid of everything You don't follow me because you got to cover this spirit Jesus was so practical he could pinpoint now if I knew you I could say what you need to do is quit playing this And quit thinking that's personal, but I can't do that. And all I can say is for myself It's take God with me out of the prayer closet. Let him come with me in my conscious mind Take God with me take him with you When you go when you leave the house when you leave your Bible study when you leave church Make sure you take him with you. I always say that We used to have Bible studies every night in the early community. I used to say when I was done praying I said God now amen is not goodbye Yeah, amen doesn't mean see you later Lord it means I'm gonna quit talking to you now and I'm gonna start talking to the students and You're with me. You're speaking through me if you live in me Hopefully you're speaking through all my brothers and sisters of the Holy Spirit lives in us He should come out through our eyes through our actions and through our words Now this is a high high standard. You get a nosebleed. It's so high. I Reality it's frightening compared to what we're used to You know, it's not hard to become one of the top ten members of your church You can be one of that you can be in the top ten spiritually in your church all you got to do is show up at all the meetings and volunteer to go into the nursery every now and then and You know wiggle your fingers when you worship and Duke, you know know where Habakkuk is in the Bible So when the pastor says you turn there first and all kinds of stuff You can you can be in the top ten and the most spiritual guy in our church today is on the bottom rung of what God really wants for the church, I think and the Potential as we as Christians when those early Christians went out they changed the world They didn't go like we go we go to church people in most cases in America We go to people who are civilized these people went to these people went to people in the same line as today would be going to Mormons or Muslims or or Buddhists or whatever they went to the heathen who were worshiping multiplicity of gods who were burning their children in the fire or were having sex with animals who were doing all kinds of crazy and stupid things and one of the Lord by droves They had power and their power was not their words, but their lives their commitment to God The question is technically when we receive Jesus, isn't it? True our eternal life starts right then This is a great misunderstanding of the modern church What is eternal life? Hallelujah? What is eternal life? What is it to know Jesus? Nope. What is eternal life? Jesus said I am the way I am the truth. I am the life. He said to Martha I am the resurrection and the life guess what eternal life is Jesus is eternal life Jesus himself If you walk with Jesus you walk with eternal life when you walk away from Jesus you walk with eternal life isn't a little bag That God gives you this is here. Don't lose this and You put it in you think that's what people think. This is I will give them eternal life All that means is they will live forever That's what eternal life means. It's literally I will live forever. But Jesus himself is the life of the universe He holds all things together. All things were created for him through him. I am because of him He is the life now when you have eternal life you have Jesus living in you the Holy Spirit dwells within you and Jesus walks with you and the Jesus says That I my father will come and make our abode with you You walk away from God, I mean walk away I'm talking about divorce you turn around say, you know, goodbye I'm split You walk away from Christ you walk away from eternal life Because he is eternal life if you have this view that it's a bag You know, it's like Monty Hall giving you a bag here. You have eternal life You know, if you think in those kind of thoughts, you know kids are like that little kids. They're very geometrical You say Jesus came into your heart. They see a little Valentine with a door down here, you know Watching, you know, they just came into my heart. They see this little Valentine, you know We still being children all of us are just children and older bodies in disguise That you know what that's why when people grow old they get senile I just quit playing the game All of us It's being like children. We think of Jesus says he'll give us eternal life That's just like, you know, the stupid Jews and I'm a stupid Jew Said well, how can we eat your flesh man? I can't bite into your arm You know, they didn't realize he was talking to they didn't realize that he was talking to them about Consuming him having him become part of him. What does food do it becomes part of you? What does drink do it cleanses you out and it becomes part of your very being eat my flesh and drink my blood Let him be consumed by God consume Jesus Let him become part of you so that when food becomes part of your body. It's inseparable from you So you said technically when we get saved when we meet Jesus Would your eternal life starts right there? Yes, technically, you're right, but remember that the eternal life is Christ himself Jesus said I have the life within myself and I give it to whomever I wish