In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of being creative in our daily lives and making each day a sweet and blessed day. He encourages the congregation to search their own lives and find ways to be creative in honoring God. The speaker also highlights the need for godly sorrow and repentance for any abuse of the blessings God has given us. He reminds the audience that living out the principles of the Bible, such as being filled with the Holy Spirit, requires consistent effort and reliance on God. The sermon concludes with a reference to a previous brother's meeting and the speaker's appreciation for the sweet spirit experienced during that gathering.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Amen. There's some powerful songs to be sung this morning. Well, I greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus this morning. I also want to welcome all the visitors that are here with us. I know you're here for many different reasons. Some of you because of baptism. Some maybe you visiting friends and you're here because of that. And some maybe you came from afar just to be here this morning. God bless you all. You're welcome. Come worship with us. Come sit at His feet. Come learn from the Word of God. Come let God direct our feet today. Shall we pray together? Yes, Father. That's what we're going to do, Lord. We don't want to sit at anybody else's feet. We want to sit at Your feet this morning. We pray, Lord, that You'll come. Settle down upon our hearts. Give us the witness of Your Spirit in our hearts, God. As we listen to the Word of God. Oh, Lord. We look away from ourselves this morning. We put our trust and confidence in Thee. Wash us, Lord. Wash us in the blood. The blood of Your dear Son. All of us, Lord, as we sit here this morning. Cleanse us, God. Every attitude. Every thought, Father. Every word. Every action, Lord. Cleanse us in the blood. And fill us. We can't go on, Lord. One step. So fill us with the Holy Ghost, Lord. We trust You for this. We thank You. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, you should relax. This is not an impromptu communion service, in case you were wondering. But simply an illustration. The Lord Jesus taught us very well in the Scriptures how to use simple illustrations to bring forth profound truth. And that's what I'd like to do this morning with what we have here in the front. We'll get to that a little later on in the message. My heart is still savoring the sweet spirit of last Wednesday night's brothers meeting. I know that all of you were not in that brothers meeting. I trust many of you, children and wives, heard about it from your husbands and fathers. But for those of us that were there, that was one sweet brothers meeting that we had. Such an openness. Such a concern. Such a vehement desire to go the right way as a congregation. You know, congregations need that kind of a heart attitude in these days that we live in. We dare not allow our hearts to rise up with confidence and think we know what we're doing. But rather, that we keep ourselves low to the ground pleading with our God that He would lead us by His Spirit through this pilgrim land that we live in, on our way to glory. Well, that was the attitude in our brothers meeting on Wednesday night. And it seems to me that that same spirit prevailed in the prayer meeting here yesterday morning. Some of you were in that prayer meeting. And God blessed us. And I believe God blessed us on Wednesday night. And I believe God blessed us on Saturday morning because our hearts are open and tender and teachable and wanting to be guided. So, I want to be a father to you this morning and provoke your thoughts and maybe challenge some of your actions. And I'm sure I will stimulate some discussion by the message this morning. I tremble in my heart to share some of the things that are on my heart this morning. But as we all know, we ministers, we really don't have a choice in this thing, you know. We are servants of the living God. And God has been dealing with my own heart on the subject of this morning's hour for six months. So, what I share with you, God has also been dealing with me in the early morning hours in my quiet time. I would like to speak this morning on the subject, the Lord's Day. The Lord's Day. God has been convicting me for six months about my view of the Lord's Day and how that view gets worked out in everyday life from one Lord's Day to the next and the next and the next. So, I want you to know that this morning, I'm not just addressing your needs, but I'm also addressing my own needs as God has already done in my heart. The Lord has been convicting me about our family's view of the Lord's Day. So, I started praying about it. As those first impressions came, I started praying about it. Lord, what are You saying here? What is Your heart on this subject? And oh, how gracious God is when you begin to pray a prayer like that and you find yourself going through the Bible over and over and over again, through those verses, through them again, through the New Testament again. God is very gracious to shine His light on His Word and answer the cry of the heart. That's where I'm at this morning. I would like to share some of my thoughts with you which God has shared with me. The Lord's Day. That's not the title of the message. Rather, let me give the title this way. If you take the Greek, that little phrase, the Lord's Day in the Greek, and translate it out word for word into the English, it reads like this. The day that belongs to the Lord. The day that belongs to the Lord. Isn't that beautiful? When you do this from the Greek to the English, you get the possessive nature of this little phrase. The day that belongs to the Lord. And I think for all of us that we hold the Lord's Day as a special day. So, some of what I'm saying is preventative maintenance. It's just simply encouraging us in the direction of that which we already see. But I want to look more deeply into God's heart and maybe challenge some of how we live out this day that belongs to the Lord. You know, as I look at the American church, I think that probably most of them would acknowledge that statement. They would say, yes, this is the Lord's Day. But in reality, if we were to have to give a title to how they live the day, we would have to say they believe in the service that belongs to the Lord. But not in a day that belongs to the Lord. So let's go back to this phrase which we find used in other places in the Scripture. And you can turn there if you want. 1 Corinthians 11 and also 1 Corinthians 10. I'm not going to read the verses, but I want to show you the phrase. It is used several times in the Scripture. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11 we find these words, the Lord's Supper. Or, same thing, the supper that belongs to the Lord. The Lord's Supper is the supper that belongs to the Lord. We are all very familiar with these elements here on the table this morning. We have a communion service planned. I think it's October 9th where we will gather here on a Sunday evening and we will see just what we are seeing right here this morning. We will see a loaf of bread and we will see a pitcher of wine, new wine, which we will pick up in our hands and eat that bread and drink that cup. And we call it the Lord's Supper. Or, going to 1 Corinthians 10, we would say this is the Lord's Table. If we were a small fellowship, like some fellowships do, we might just gather around this table and partake of the Lord's Table. That is the Lord's Table. It is a table that belongs to the Lord. Notice the possessive nature of that statement. The Lord's Supper. We also find these words in 1 Corinthians 11. The Lord's death. For as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He comes. And also, Paul warns us in this Scripture that if we eat of this bread and drink of this cup unworthily, God will judge us because we are not discerning the Lord's body or the body that belongs to the Lord. So when we look at this phrase in other places, it helps us also to understand what the phrase the Lord's Day is and what it means. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul uses the word the Lord's Cup and also the Lord's Table which we have already looked at. Now, it's easy for us to see the possessive nature of these phrases. And all of us, we can clearly understand what God's heart is there. God does not want us to mix anything up with His Supper. In fact, that was what Paul's controversy was there when he said, it is not the Lord's Supper that you are eating when you gather together. You may be gathering together, but you are not gathering together to eat the Lord's Supper. Now, if you will allow me, just for a moment, for the sake of illustration, to help us to understand how different it is if you start mixing other things up with the Lord's Supper. This is exactly what the people were doing in the days of Paul at the Corinthian church. They were just getting together and having a nice meal and eating and having a good time together and Paul had to write them and say, oh my brethren, this is not the Lord's Supper. This is not the Supper that belongs to the Lord. And so we have a children's lesson this morning, all you children. This is not the Supper that belongs to the Lord. Now, there's nothing wrong with a Coca-Cola. I drink Coca-Cola. And there's nothing wrong with Fritos. In fact, I appreciate Fritos. But when you put them into the midst of the other elements that are on this table, we quickly begin to realize they don't fit. We won't leave them sitting there anymore. And I trembled even a bit just to do that. But I wanted you to get the idea because that is the picture that comes to our heart when we see that phrase, the Lord's Day. See, John is the one who made that phrase. And it's only one time in the New Testament John was giving his testimony as he was on the Isle of Patmos and said, I was in the Spirit on the day that belongs to the Lord. Hallelujah. It's easy to see the possessive nature of these phrases. It is also easy to see that the Lord is jealous over the purity of each one of these phrases. Whether it be the Lord's Supper, the Lord's Table, the Lord's Body, the Lord's Death, or the Lord's Day. God is jealous over the meaning of each one of those and He is possessive over every one of them. If we study history, evidence is unquestionable that the early church, that in the days of the Apostle, they kept the Lord's Day. It was a special day to them. They transferred their pure-hearted desire to honor the Lord in one day of every seven into the Lord's Day. In fact, I don't know if you ever thought about it before, but Pentecost was on the Lord's Day. They were in the Spirit on the Lord's Day when the day of Pentecost was fully come and the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them and as far as I understand it, the church of Jesus Christ was formed. That took place on the Lord's Day. There are many, many accounts that we could give and I'm not going to give a lot this morning just to tell you that if you will study it out, you will find out that it's very clear that the early church set aside the first day of the week to honor and bless the Lord Jesus Christ. They did that. Tertullian wrote in 200 A.D., the Lord's Day is the holy day of the Christian church. We have nothing to do with a Jewish Sabbath. The Lord's Day is the Christian solemnity. Eusebius, the historian, wrote in 260 A.D., from the beginning, Christians assembled on the first day of the week called by them the Lord's Day. Many of the early church fathers would not use the word Sunday. That was a word back in those days. But they wouldn't use the word Sunday. They would go like this for them. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, the Lord's Day. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, the Lord's Day. It was that sweet and special to them. It was the day that belonged to the Lord. So what has happened here in America? That's the question this morning. Things have really changed. And there's not too many old ones in this room this morning that could rise and tell us how much things have really changed. But I'm telling you, things have really changed in America. Sixty years ago, you couldn't find a place of business hardly anywhere that was open. There were no sporting events on the Lord's Day. Busy cities were quiet, looked a little bit like ghost towns on the Lord's Day. Highways were deserted and restaurants were empty. Even the people who didn't worship God took a day of rest. God's people so sanctified the nation that even the heathen rested one day a week because there wasn't anything open. Hallelujah! It was the day that belongs to the Lord. But things have really changed. Now, the Lord's Day is a shopping day. The Lord's Day is my day off. Now, the Lord's Day is recreation day. Everybody needs a little recreation, you know. So now the Lord's Day is recreation day. The Lord's Day is a day to go out to eat in the restaurants, which, by the way, are packed full of professing Christians by the millions on the Lord's Day everywhere you go. Most of the people in Christendom today do not have a nice meal at home after church is over and have a family over. They go out for pizza. The Lord's Day, in these days you find the highways are crowded with people. And the Lord's Day is the sports day of the week. Things have really changed, haven't they? How do you think God is looking at all this carnal activity? That's a worthy question for us to ponder this morning. So, what has happened? What happened in the last 60 years that brought us from where we were to where it is today? First and foremost, the hearts of God's people grew cold. You can be sure that that was the beginning of the end of the Lord's Day. The hearts of God's people grew cold. And number two, false teachings have come in to convince God's people in mass that it's just like any other day. In the 1940's, the teaching began to prevail in the Christian church in America. The teaching that I am free from the law because I am now under grace. And maybe that phrase is familiar to you and maybe you even used the phrase. But I would say this morning that phrase needs some definition. I'm free from the law because I am now under grace. What does this mean? Free? Free from what? Free from being justified by the law? Amen! You are! We are no longer justified by the works of the law, but we are justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If that's what you mean when you say you're free from the law and you are now under grace, I say, amen. We are no longer bound to a system of laws and that we must do them all in order to be just before God. Christ has come. He died. He was buried. And He rose again on the third day for our justification and all who look to Him in faith, believing with a repentant heart, receive eternal life. Praise God! If free from the law means I'm free from being bound to keep all the law of Moses, I would say, amen. That's right. But I'm not free from God's moral law. God said, I am the Lord and I change not. Free from the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament, yes. Free from the judicial laws of the Old Testament which God placed upon Israel, yes. We are free from those. Free from the dietary laws which God imposed upon Israel, yes. You are free from those. But you are not free from God's moral law. God's moral law is unchanging. God's moral law, it is the revelation of God's holy, righteous character. And we are not free from that. Christ has come and condemned sin in the flesh. Hallelujah! Why? That the righteousness of the law, God's moral law, might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Isn't that good news this morning? Christ condemned sin in the flesh when He went to the cross. But we see the reason why He did go to the cross. That the righteousness, the moral righteousness of God's moral law might be fulfilled in us, lived out in a beautiful way in all those who walk not after the flesh, but choose to walk after the Spirit. But in the 1940's, a teaching came forth. I'm free from the law because I am under grace. And from that teaching, all kinds of destructive things have been taking place. And you look around you today and see what you have. God's people and the ministers, woe to the ministers, but the ministers began to tell the people that it doesn't matter. We're free. We're in Christ. All those things don't matter anymore. Isn't it amazing how deceitful Satan can be that he can take a people who created a society like I just described to you back in the 1940's and turned it into a society that runs itself like a rat race 24, 7, 7 days a week. And now today, and this is not unusual, you will find them by the multitudes slipping into church at 9 o'clock, staring at the clock till the preacher gets done by 10.30 and out the door they go to get in a good day of play. Because it's my day off. Yes. Oh, wavering church in America. Yes. Okay, so you're going to be free from the law, eh? Well, let's just see where that leads you in 60 years' time. The way that you judge a doctrine is to walk it out a little ways and see what kind of a life it produces. And we all know what kind of a life it has produced. The Lord's day was lost along with many other things in this erroneous teaching. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was alive in the 1940's, who died for his faith in Germany, he called it cheap grace. Men stood up and cried against it. There were men who stood up and cried against it, but it continued to prevail. C.T. Studd, the famous African missionary who was a soldier of Jesus Christ, finally, in despair, wrote letters to the Bible colleges in the United States, and this is what he said to them. Send me no more missionaries who make a boast of being under grace and have nothing to do with the law. I don't have use for any more of them. That's what C.T. Studd said. To take God's unchanging moral law and throw it in there with the ceremonial law and the judicial law, and then to say that I'm free from the law is a grave mistake. But that is what has happened. And undiscerning sheep have looked at it all piled together there and thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Paul said, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. When you read there in Romans 7 as Paul is speaking about all the struggle that was going on inside of his heart, he's not talking about offering the sacrifices and washings and all of those things. He's talking about God's moral law. God's moral law came, sin revived, and I died. Paul said, The moral law of honoring the Lord by setting aside one day in seven has not been done away, brothers and sisters. Let's look at the principle in the Bible now. The principle of sanctifying one day in seven to honor the Lord and to turn our attention away from everything else and on to Him. Our Lord Jesus said some very beautiful words that are worthy for us to meditate upon this morning. He was rebuking the Pharisees. You know, He challenged them about their view of the Sabbath. But in His challenges, He reminded them the perspective of the Sabbath in the heart of God. He said, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Jesus was looking at these Pharisees and saying, You are making man the servant of the Sabbath. You are wrong. The Sabbath was made to be a servant to man. Now that's two totally different views of a day to honor the Lord at every seven. But that is exactly what was happening there. The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. It was instituted by God for the benefit of man. And I want you to notice this. It was not instituted by God for the Jews. It was instituted by God for the benefit of human beings. Long before there was a Jew, it was instituted by God. Just like marriage was instituted by God in the beginning for the blessing of man, so also the Sabbath was instituted by God for the service of man. For man's benefit and man's blessing. Man is not to serve the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made to serve man. If you study the teachings of Jesus, and I want you to note this because many of these teachers have taken the teachings of Jesus because Jesus blasted the Pharisees about their view on the Sabbath. They take that and say, You see there? It's all hogwash. Throw it all away. But Jesus was not telling them that it's all hogwash. He was just telling them, your view of it is totally wrong. He was correcting the legalistic abuses, the strict, overbearing view that the Pharisees had about it. We are told that they had a book this thick of Sabbath laws. Man was serving the Sabbath in the days when Jesus walked upon the earth. And He saw right through it. He saw what they were doing. And He reproved them and corrected them. But He didn't throw the Sabbath out the window. Many have taken those many verses and rested them to their own destruction. Jesus was showing and teaching them three basic things about the Sabbath. One, it is for works of piety. Two, works of necessity are allowed. Remember? If the sheep falls into a hole, you can go and get it out. You know this morning, we have five little calves at our house. We fed them this morning. That's a necessity. We need to feed them. They were fed this morning. The steers they ate this morning. Works of necessity and works of mercy. And this is where the Lord Jesus fired so clearly upon those Pharisees that they, in the blindness of their own hearts, would stoop to take a sheep out of a hole that he fell into, but wouldn't allow the Lord Jesus to touch a man who was wounded and broken and sick and tormented. They wouldn't allow Him to do that because it was the Sabbath day and their view. Let's turn now and look back to creation for just a few moments. Can we go there? If you want to consider this whole subject, you have to go back to Genesis 2. That's where it begins. Chapter 2, verse 1, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them, and on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made, and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made. Now, I don't know how closely you studied the Ten Commandments, but when you come to the Fourth Commandment, where God told the children of Israel, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy or set apart. I want you to also notice there, it's in Exodus chapter 20, we're not going to turn there this morning for time, but if you'll notice there, when God gave those words to the children of Israel and they heard them with their very ears the first time, and it so made them tremble that they went to Moses and said, Moses, we fear to hear God's voice. You go talk to Him. Ask Him what He wants us to do and come back and tell us and we'll do it. But we don't want to hear His voice anymore. But God spoke to the children of Israel there and when He told them to remember the Sabbath day, He also reminded them that He sanctified it back there at creation. That was His purpose and reason for bringing it back up to them and saying, I want you to put this in your moral code. Just like thou shalt not steal and just like thou shalt not commit adultery, I want you to put this in the moral fiber of your life and of your community. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Imagine that first day that the Sabbath served man. Can you do that for just a moment here? Just let your mind go a bit. For Adam and Eve, it's the first day of their life. How many of you think they slept all day? What do you think they did? I can imagine what they did. I think they sat there in that garden and worshiped. I think they sat there in that garden in awe. I think they sat there and looked around them and praised God for everything. I think they sat there and communed with God. I think they sat there in that garden and communed with one another. Maybe they even went for a walk together in the garden that Sabbath day, that first Sabbath day when the Sabbath served man. Maybe they even went for a walk through the garden. Look at that! My! Oh God! So beautiful! And Adam, come! Look at this! Wow! Look at that flower! Lord! You are so good to us! It must have went something like that that day. What do you think? The Sabbath was made for man. And the Sabbath served man that day very, very well. Some would say, Hey! Christ is our Sabbath! Oh, that's a good one today. Christ is our Sabbath! And He is! But then they go on to say, He is our Sabbath rest. We don't need to keep a day anymore. Well, talk to Adam and Eve about that, will you? There they were in the garden, in their perfection, in a perfect environment. There they were. And they kept the day. Oh, but Christ has come now and raised us to a higher level of spirituality! Higher than that? Do you see the deception of that? To take that and throw it in a junk pile, while at the same time we find ourselves many times in carnality, and flesh, and our heart is cold, and all those things, and we say, while we're throwing the whole thing in a junk pile, Christ has redeemed us from all of that! Maybe you needed more than you realized you did. God reaffirmed this principle of taking one day in seven for rest, for worship, and to honor Him when He gave the Ten Commandments there in Exodus chapter 20, referring back to the creation principle. Some would say also, well, God didn't specifically mention the Sabbath in the New Testament. Well, I did some searching. I couldn't find any kind of a verse that looked anything like thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain either in the New Testament. But as far as I understand it, if I understand God's moral code, God feels the same way in the Old Testament, and He feels the same way in the New Testament. He doesn't have to say it again in the New Testament if He said it in the Old. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. He will not hold Him guiltless who does. The Ten Commandments is a declaration of God's righteous desire for man. Amen? And if you don't think there's any power in it, you look and see what happens when somebody tries to stick that thing up somewhere. It just makes a fuss everywhere. And I guarantee you, it goes deeper than just separation of church and state. I'll guarantee it. Turn with me to Isaiah. Isaiah 58. Now, we all know Isaiah to be the evangelical prophet. Sometimes they call Isaiah 40-66 the Gospel of Isaiah. You know, the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Gospel of Isaiah. And if you've ever dug into the depths of the pages of those chapters there in the book of Isaiah, you will say, yea, it is the Gospel according to Isaiah. But here in Isaiah chapter 58, we have a delightfully spiritual law dressed in beautiful Gospel finery. I've said it many times, but let's just say it again this morning. Isaiah chapter 58 is an Old Testament example of a New Testament spirit-filled life. Amen? I mean, you look down through those words. It is an Old Testament example of a New Testament spirit-filled life. So is verse 13 and 14. God is pleading with Israel. And as we all know, God is not just pleading with Israel, He's pleading with any of His people down through the centuries. In verse 13, He says, If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day, notice those words, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and if thou shalt honor Him, the Lord, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. Now there's a lot of people today would just like to take that verse and rip it out and throw it away. Because basically they just, you know, talk about the Lord when they go to church and once they've gotten out of the church service, it's home for the Super Bowl game and shouting for their team and praising those guys that carried that ball around on the field and I mean, it's everything but what we just read. By the way, the only way you can live out verse 13 and 14 is to be consistently filled with the Spirit of God. Amen? Can't do it. Can't do it. Too much. Too high. But not too high for us New Testament Christians. Not too high for us. That little phrase there, turn away thy foot from the Sabbath. It means stop trampling my day under your feet. It says God, stop trampling my day under your feet. The thing I'd like to focus in on here most of all is not the negative, although God has some negatives, but the positive. You know, sometimes I think that's how we look at this whole subject. We just look at it from a negative perspective. We can't do this. We can't do this. Now Brother Denny's saying we can't do this and we can't do this. That's not what God is saying. God is on the can-do side of this whole subject. God is calling us and saying, make my day a delight. Make my day the best day of the week. Make my day the thrill and joy of your heart. That's what God is saying. And yes, that has to be tested. And if we find ourselves running after other things, then we have to say, I'm not making God's day a delight. That's all. We just have to say that. So God has to bring some of the negative in to help us to see whether we are in reality living out the positive plea that He's making to us and that is, make my day a delight. And you know, I thought about it as I was meditating my way through this message and of course I knew I'm going to stand in front of all of you and share my heart. And I thought about it. You know, we do have a grasp of that verse right here. I'm not sure how far it reaches, but I know it reaches to here. I know that. You can see it every Lord's Day morning. You can stand in the back and watch the people coming through the door. You see the joy on their face. You see the anticipation. You can hear the buzz of fellowship in the back. Sometimes it's so bad, so good, however you want to look at it, it's so bad, so good, that you have to call the people to come up in the front. It's a delight! We love it! What a joy! We get to be here! And that's how I feel. I mean, sometimes I get overwhelmed with the joy of it downstairs in the prayer meeting. All God is saying is, I'm not after you to just make My service your delight. I'm telling you, there's a deeper principle in that. You make this day a delight and see what will happen in your life. There are three promises that God gives. Let's quickly look at them. My, that clock goes by fast. God says, if then, verse 14, then, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, or may I say it this way, then you will find your joy, your pleasure, your satisfaction in God and God alone. That's what that phrase means. I've studied it in other places. And I've preached it in revival sermons. That thy people may rejoice in Thee. That thy people will find their joy, their pleasure, their satisfaction in God and God alone. God promises, you make this day your delight. You will find yourself joying in God. He will be your satisfaction. He will be your pleasure. And, I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth. Now that, that is the ancient imagery there, is the picture of a conquering king riding on his chariot. That's the picture. True victorious success is what God is saying in that second promise. True victorious success. A king, a captain, riding victoriously on his chariot. That's the picture. And lastly, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father. And the picture there is feasting and celebrating in the inheritance of Jacob. Abundant spiritual blessings in your life. God is not promising them a good loaf of bread. Amen? The heritage of Jacob is not a loaf of bread. But it's blessings abounding upon them. As God was speaking to my own heart about this subject, and trying to adjust our family's view of this subject, I came to these verses in my Bible reading. And I just read them and they came to me in a fresh and new way as I realized. Could this be some of the reason why we are anemic? Why we are complacent? Why we find ourselves going up and down and up and down? God gives us three beautiful promises here. And finishes with these words. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. In short, God promises us a life filled with joy, triumph, and feasting on the good things of God. And I want you to notice here, it is not a law of do's and don'ts that God is after here. He is going much deeper than that. As we all know, God is concerned about hearts. Hearts produce things. But God is concerned about the heart. It is the outlook of the inner man. The joy and delight of setting aside a day to honor the Lord. That's what God is after. God is not interested in do's and don'ts. God is not interested in us going through the motions of some law that from now on we have to do this, and we have to do this, and we can't do this, and we can't do that. That's not what God is after. We miss the whole thing if we look at it that way. God is calling His people to delight in Him and love Him with their hearts, soul, mind, and strength. That's what God is after. And God says to us, I have given you, I have given you seven days. Now you give Me one back. Imagine walking up to a little child with seven nice pieces of candy and putting them all in their hand and then saying, Oh now, please give Me one back. And the little child goes, No. It's mine. Think about that. Is it mine? God loves a cheerful giver. Amen? We should come with a sense of relish that excites like a courting couple looking toward their date. Amen, Jeremy? Think about it. When do you think Jeremy started thinking about his date today? Do you think he woke up this morning and all of a sudden, Oh yeah! I've got a date with Paige today. Man! How many of you think that's the way it went? That's exactly what God is talking about. Remember, He's God. He sits on the throne of the universe. He reaches out in loving kindness to every one of us every day and gives us life and strength and food and all of that. And He says, I'm God. Honor Me. No one comes before a king sadly. Remember Nehemiah? He stepped in there before the king with a sad face and his very life was on the line. So we should come with joy. But instead, today, the Lord's day, the day that belongs to the Lord is being trampled underfoot by self-centered, man-centered activities because it is of no special worth anymore. There's nothing so special about the day. Oh yeah! I'll go to church. I like going to church. That's fine. Yeah, it's good preaching over there. I'll go. God is after more than that. Let me turn to another Scripture in Jeremiah 17. Can you go there with me? This one shocked me in my studies as I stumbled upon it. By the way, when I stumbled on Isaiah 58, it's a little shocking how I stumbled on it. I was sitting in my chair up in my study, praying, crying out to God for the needs of the congregation. Crying out to God for our complacency. Crying out to God that God would send revival to this place and fire us up and get rid of all the coldness of our hearts and all of these things. And I was crying to God for these things and opened up my Bible. And I go through it systematically. So, the Lord knew, I guess, He can bring all those things together. I opened up to Isaiah 58. It was just like God spoke to my heart. A few days later, I was in Jeremiah 17. And I want you to notice the context here. This is the book of Jeremiah. God is about ready to destroy Jerusalem and wipe out His people and slay multitudes of them and carry the rest of them away into captivity. They have committed all kinds of evils. I mean, the list would be this long if we listed them. But listen to the heart of God. God gets right to the heart of the matter. The people come to Jeremiah and say, Behold, they say, where is the Word of the Lord? Let it come now! Foolish people. They didn't really want to hear what Jeremiah had to say, but that's the right thing to say. So they said to Jeremiah, where is the Word of the Lord? Let it come now! And God could have said many things. He could have said, you are idolaters, repent of your idolatry. You are fornicators, repent of your fornication. You are adulterers, repent of your adultery. But God didn't say any of those things. This is what He said in verse 21 of chapter 17. Thus say the Lord, take heed to yourselves and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it into the gates of Jerusalem. Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day. Neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath day as I commanded your fathers, but they obeyed not. Neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff that they might not hear nor receive instruction. And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto Me..." Look at the promises God is giving to them. This is a corrupted nation at this point. And all God is saying is if you will just keep this one commandment, everything else will take care of itself. "...it shall come to pass if ye diligently hearken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day to do no work therein. Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting among the throne of David." That's strong leaders. "...riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes and men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall remain forever. Zion is established because of it. And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places about Jerusalem and from the land of Benjamin and from the plain and from the mountains and from the south bringing forth bird offerings." There's multitudes of people coming. There's ministry that takes place. Strong leaders come forth. Then Zion is established. Then multitudes begin to come. Then after that follows willing sacrifices and sacrifices and meat offerings and incense and bring sacrifices of praise unto the house of God. And that's the end of it. The house of God is filled with praise. All God asks them to do with all those evil things that they were doing was put this in its proper place. See, God knew. God knew. If I get that, I'll get them. And I just wanted you to notice again the promises that God is giving to them. The promises. As I'm working on my book, The Households of Zion, it's interesting to me, almost every one of those home histories of famous Christians had this principle in place. Every one of them. There was no fooling around on the Lord's day. That day was held in high esteem in every one of the lives of those whom God used powerfully. I just found that interesting. But we American Christians, we've outgrown those things. We've got a better way. Yeah, we've got a better way, alright. Oh, that we might seek to make the Lord's day a delightful day in the hearts of our children. Do you sense the spirit of what I'm saying here this morning? I'm not talking about making a bunch of laws and rules. There will always be some who will make this day a burdensome day of restrictions. I do not agree with that. This is the sweetest day of the week. But it only becomes the sweetest day of the week if our hearts are in tune with God. If our hearts are not in tune with God, yes, it can become the most burdensome day of the week. And the children will look forward to Monday. But God would have us to so raise our children and so live out an example before them that it's the sweetest day of the week. It's not what I can't do, but it's what I want to do, even though there are some can'ts there. But let's get practical for a few minutes here, in closing. Come, let us reason together this morning. All the game playing. All the fun. The competitive sports. Think about it. Father, Mother, does it fit the spirit of what we've been speaking about? Does it fit? Can you go from here having your heart filled with all the blessings of making this service of the Lord a delight and just go into the games and the play and the competition and all those things. Can you hold that which God deposited in your heart and go do that? I'm here to say to you, I think it takes your heart away more than you may even realize. And I'm pleading this morning that we would just consider is that making the Lord's day a delight? Or is it rather recreation, doing my pleasure, doing the things that we want to do, having fun? Come, let us reason together. What about skipping church to go camping? What about that? Oh well, we're going camping. We'll just not go to church. Oh, we'll have a little devotion, you know, in the tent and then we'll be about our day. You know, we'll be about our day. Doing what we want. All of that. Does it fit? What about travel on the Lord's day? What are you traveling for? See? What are you traveling for? Are you going up Union County to preach? You know? Let's just reason together a little bit. Does it fit? Or are we getting caught up in the rat race of our society and this is just one more day to get so much done and to get so far on our way? You know, because we're going somewhere and we have to get there. Which is it? What about fooling around and joking and laughing? Standing around and looking at all the cars, boys? Sunday afternoon, you know, out there looking them over and so-and-so pulls up with his and you're all over there to look them over and ask them about them. What kind of engine does it have in there? Does that fit into what I've been speaking about, boys? Or how about the John Deere tractors? You know? Does that fit? What about business, brethren? And I'm not talking about strict laws. Somebody asks you a question, you know, you answer the question and you go on. But I'm talking about your heart is in that business and you come to the Lord's day that way and you know, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks and you say a few sanctified things and then quick, you're right, into a good long discussion about business and what would be the best and where are the investments and what you could buy and what you could get it for. Does that fit in to what we're saying here today? What is the heart full of? What about shopping? What about it? You know, if you read God's heart there in the Ten Commandments, He says, I don't want you to do any work today. Neither do I want your manservant nor your maidservant nor your ox to do anything today. What about shopping? Is it okay for all those people out there to work today? Are you going to help them work today? I'm not talking, you know, okay, so maybe it's Sunday morning, you get in your car, boom! You're on E. Those things happen. There's freedom. God's not standing around waiting, you know. There's freedom. But the heart should be, I'm going to get all those things out of the way tomorrow. Tomorrow. What about our children? Maybe some of you moms and dads, you think, well, okay, what about our children? Do you just make them sit all day long? You know, sit on the couch. This is the Lord's day. I wouldn't recommend that. It might not be an exciting day to them. But let me give you a few suggestions of things you can do as you are taking those little children from a place. Sure, they've got their wiggles and I know little children, they need to get some wiggles out and I'm not against some little children out there running around a bit to get some wiggles out. But that's for little children. Amen? Parents, here's some things you can do to make the day a special day for your children. And some of these I drew right out of those home histories. Number one, parents, spend more time with your children on the Lord's day. Life is busy, even for us, isn't it? Imagine how that will sanctify that day in the heart of your children. Yes, I grew up in a busy home, but you know, on the Lord's day, we got extra time with Papa. Mama spent extra time reading to us. Oh, the Lord's day, that was a beautiful day in my life growing up. More time with the children. Special snack time. One place, I don't remember who it was, but one of the Christians that I studied, they got apples on Sunday evening. Apples. And that was like, wow! An apple! That was a treasure, they got an apple. But that's what they got. And all in their minds, all the years growing up, that was in their mind. Oh, it's Friday. I sure like to have an apple. We get one on the Lord's day. See, those parents were putting that day up there in the minds of their children. Special times of Bible stories on the Lord's day. Maybe a Bible game or some quiet, other quiet game where you can just sit around and be with your children. How about a nice family walk? Just talking and walking and sharing together, singing. On Sunday evening, fathers used to catechize their children on Sunday evenings. We enjoy gathering together on Sunday evening. And just having a little special snack. And the children always look forward to that. And then, just talk about the sermon this morning. Beautiful discussion. So, what about the sermon this morning? Let's talk. All kinds of discussions. Oh, I think there will be some tonight. Be creative. You know, we get so inventive with earthly delights. You know, it's a birthday or an anniversary. I mean, we can come up with all kinds of ways to make that birthday the best birthday they ever had. Be creative. Stay in the spirit of what I've been speaking about this morning. And in that spirit, search your own life and be creative. God has made us creative beings. We are made in the image of God and God is a Creator. Be creative. How can I make this day a sweet and a blessed day? Here's my plea to you this morning. And this is a challenge to you. Let's, what do you say we just prove the Lord for a year and see what God does. He promised all those promises. Let's prove the Lord for a year. That's my plea to us. And see what God does. In my own life, in the life of my family, in my young people, let's prove the Lord. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, don't trample under feet my day anymore. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shall honor Him, the Lord, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasures, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. And I, God, will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth. And I, God, will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. I'll say this in closing. In my study of revival and the history of revival, I've noticed this in every case in my study of the history of revival. Whenever God's Spirit moves mightily among God's people, His day becomes a delight. God's people revive the Lord's day. They get rid of all the Fritos. They get rid of all the Coke. They put them away. It's not a have-to thing. Nobody's saying, okay, out with the Fritos and away with the Cokes. No, no. It's not that way. They call the Lord's day a delight. In fact, the Lord's day overflows in times of revival to every day of the week. It overflows. My challenge is simply this. Let's prove the Lord for a year and see what happens. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Oh, Father, we want to learn, Lord. We want to learn. Teach us, Lord. Keep us on a right path, Father. I know most of us in this room, our hearts are in that place to a degree already. We understand. Father, I pray that You'll take us onward, upward, forward, deeper into Your heart concerning this principle in the Word of God. Protect us, Lord, and keep us in this present evil world. In Jesus Christ's holy name, Amen. Thank you. Come with me. Let's go there where the milk and honey flows. Let's draw near like John and see the Lord. Shall we? You know, instead of asking, well, what's wrong with it? But what will it do for my spiritual life? Where will it take me? Like our sister said, when you get to where you're going, will you be where you want to be? Will you be where you want to be? Is that where we want to be? Thank you, Brother Denny. I can say amen. I want to go there. This is something the Lord has been laying on my heart for years. I believe some of you remember I preached a sermon on the Lord's Day and trying to find my way and practical application and how do we live it out. I want to go to Hamilton. I really appreciate this this morning again. But what are we going to do with it? Like a brother prayed in the prayer room this morning, we don't just want to be hearers, but we want to do. We want to be doers. I just so appreciate the positive approach that was shared this morning. Have I been influenced by that false teaching? I'm afraid I've been affected. You know, it just happens little by little like we talked in our brother's meeting. You know, just a little drift, just a little change, just a little movement here and a little more there. So I take this this morning as the Lord is just wanting to hedge us in and show us the path, a light unto our path. I want to go to Hamilton. I just want to say amen. I want to go there. And I know I've failed some. And I this morning ask, can you please forgive me where I've failed? You know, in being a clear example to the congregation. You know, I'm sorry. But I want to go there. I want to sanctify the Lord's Day in my own heart. Do we want to go? Are we there? Yes, amen. I see some hands. I'd like to just open it up for some people to share. My heart is full. I could say many things, but let's open it up and let's hear from your heart. Confession, testimony, maybe practical application. There's some things in my heart. I have some thoughts, but let's share together here. We have a few minutes. Raise your hand if God has laid something on your heart that you'd like to share. We can be edified, strengthened. Yes, there's a hand there. Go ahead. And someone else get your hand up so we can move along. Praise the Lord. And thank you, brother, for listening to God and to His heart. I think it's such a joy to be in a fellowship where messages come and you know the elder or the person reading the message has been listening to God's heart. Maybe it's something God's laid on your heart for a while already and you've been just pondering and then the message comes and you find out that God's Spirit's been speaking to the church and Revelation says He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit's saying to the church. And I think this is a message. It's not just our brother opening up the Word of God. It is that. Praise God for that. But His Spirit is prompting us. His Spirit is saying these words to us as a body and saying, if we'll listen, if we'll be not a forgetful hearer, but a doer, we'll reap the blessing and we can have the revival that God wants for us. If we'll listen. But if we refuse, like the people of Israel did in Jeremiah 17. They said we won't listen. And God brought destruction. And I believe it will be for us. As we discussed in our brother's meeting, we're at a bit of a crossroads. We have a chance to strengthen those things that remain. We have a chance to correct our ways. All these little things. But I believe we'll start here. If we'll listen, then God will take care of the rest. Just like we heard this morning. I was so blessed with the thought of comparing this to a date, to a courting man. I think as fathers in our homes, we can set that tenor. Friday evening already. Saturday morning. We're preparing for a special day on Sunday. And I wonder, the Lord's been speaking to my heart a lot of different things. Things in the area of travel and things that we heard. But one thing specifically, me as a man, God's been speaking to me and I don't think I've been listening like I should have. Is working hard. Really hard. All week long. Amen, we should work hard. But right up to Saturday night and then barely catching up overnight Saturday night. Enough that we can stay awake Sunday morning, but until Sunday noon, it's just a great time to lay down and take a rest. And I know it is a day of rest, but I wonder if maybe our wives and our little ones that needed rest could take a rest and us fathers stayed up because we were rested up and prepared our hearts and prepared for the rest of the day. I wonder what God would do if we would lead out that way and yes, make it a day of spiritual rest and a day like of all the other things. And so I'm just so blessed and I think it's like the same way I could just talk probably for another 15 minutes of all the things in my heart like you share, brother. But let's just hear what His Spirit is saying to our heart. And you know, we've discussed many times about the place of play in our young people different times in our brother's meetings or somebody's shared a testimony trying to find their way. And I think that whole thing will find its perfect place when we get this teaching, this doctrine right. The other, it won't even be an issue anymore. It'll just fit right where God wants it to be. Praise the Lord. Amen. Thank you, brother. Get your hand up so we can hear. There's a hand over here. Brother Daniel. I want to express my heart a little bit this morning in relation to the message. I sensed in my heart that God was going to bring a little correction through the message and began to pray earnestly that God would allow the brother who speaks to bring it in an attitude of first love rather than an attitude of ceremony. And I felt like this morning that was so beautiful that it was truly the attitude of first love. And it was given in a way that touched the heart. The true spiritual desires of the heart. And there was not an attitude or spirit of performance in this message. And I believe that the Lord wants to touch our hearts and that it be a true delight. And bless the Lord. Yes. Middle there. Thank you for the message this morning. It's a true blessing. My prayer is that God would show me the error of my ways in this. And I believe that I've heard from the Lord this morning I've been very careless in this area. I've definitely been deceived. I don't want to be deceived. It's not a very happy place to be. I would ask that you would forgive me for just that example. If I've said something that was contrary to this teaching, I would just ask that God would open my eyes and truly reveal to me this secret. And I believe He will. And above that, I pray that God would break my heart over this. Because I need to see the day of the Lord as a sacred day. It's for my salvation. Because in that day, we have that sweet fellowship, that time that we've dedicated to the Lord. And the Lord can speak to our hearts and minister to us those things that we have need of to continue on. And as well, that we would know how to speak to one another and to share with one another. I need that day. I need the day of the Lord and I need to keep it sacred in my heart. Or to make it sacred. I can't say that it's really been that way in my life. So my prayer is just that God would break my heart. And He would give me that godly sorrow for how I've abused that. Amen. You have a microphone over here? Yes, go ahead brother. There's a hand up front here then also. Yes, I appreciated the message very much and especially the emphasis on the heart and not making it a law or a rule. It's something that we get to do and not have to do. And I think we can learn from our unbelieving people around us. You know, I think in my office at work and all week long, people are thinking and planning and talking about what we're going to do in the evening or on the weekend. We're going to go away for the weekend. We're going to have fun. We're going to enjoy. This restaurant, they have great food there and these drinks and we're going to play and watch the game on TV and we're going to play it. They are pursuing. Their pleasure. And we ought to pursue the Lord that way. Amen brother. And I think we can learn something from that. We can learn something from them. Every spare minute that they have, they're thinking about it and talking about it and planning for it. And shouldn't we do that? Every spare moment that we have, we should be thinking about the Lord and planning how we're going to serve Him and what we're going to do and just delighting in Him. Amen brother. I think we can learn a lot. I hear it all the time during the week and I think, that's my heart Lord for you though. That should be our heart for Him. Let us pursue the Lord even greater than the world pursues their pleasures. Amen brother. Yes. Where's the other microphone? Okay. Go ahead Emmanuel. Right here. Front. Front here. You know when I say amen to the message of Brother Denny, I just want to thank you for bringing that to us. I rejoice in it. I think about when I was first converted and what a pleasure the Lord's Day was. I looked forward to that the whole week. I could hardly wait until the Lord's Day came again because I wanted to be together. I wanted to hear the Word of God. And I can say it's been pretty much that way all my life, but I've also seen a few times where I was looking forward to what I could do through the week. And I think we should all evaluate our own hearts in that light and say, what am I looking forward to? Am I looking forward to the Lord's Day and why? Is it for the Sunday afternoon games? Is it just to get together with my friends? Or is it because I really love the Lord that I want to honor Him this way? Or is my week so full? Do I so much enjoy my work? Am I so much involved in my business or whatever it is that I can hardly wait until Sunday's over to get back into it again? And do I come to the Lord's Day morning? Do I come to the worship service in the morning still thinking about my business? Still thinking about what I'm going to do? All those things. That's not the way it should be. The Lord's Day needs to be a delight. And I can say it has been a great delight most of the time of my life. And I rejoice in that. It's a joy. It's a pleasure. I want it to be that way. And I also just acknowledge I've allowed things to slip or go. But it's good to hear this message in my own heart and I say amen. Thank you, Lord Jenny. And the Lord be blessed. Amen. Alright, the one in the back. Go ahead. I just wanted to share this morning. I feel like God has spoken to my heart through this message too. And I just wanted to wish you God's blessing, brothers. You've given us some real meat to chew on this morning and to think about. And it's blessed my heart. It's been somewhat of a thing I feel like God's saying on my heart too. And I don't know how many of the youth have felt the same way, but last Sunday evening we had our youth gathering. We were up front here just sitting, listening to each other share. I just felt so richly blessed as I just heard each other's heart. And I realized, you know, we're all in this life for a good reason. We're all here together. And it was an encouragement. I just like to see more of that. I just like to see each one of us opening up our hearts and growing with God. And so I just want to encourage us as youth. I'm kind of in the same place I'm used to and there are things that tend to draw us away. But I just want to find that more and more of our youth gatherings are spent seeking God, praying together, singing together, and hearing each other's hearts, what God's doing in our lives. So, just thank you, brother. Amen. Okay, up front here. And there's another hand in the back. You know, you've probably all felt the feeling of when there was a truth presented to you and your heart just rose in an amen. When you have come to the Lord and you know He's spoken and your whole heart says, Amen! That's my heart this morning. My heart rises in amen. I believe that God has spoken to us this morning. And I wonder too, if it might not take a little different mindset for some of us to get a hold of this message. For myself as well. It might need to be a little different mindset about what the Lord's Day is all about. And about what God wants for us. And about what God wants to give to us. I wonder if there won't take a little different mindset. You know, Jesus said one time, He said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy soul. I think that's what God is calling us to do this morning. Amen. Amen. In the back there. Amen. I bless the Lord for this message. I think in my life, I've been in different places over this. I can even think of when I was a little boy, maybe six years old, growing up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area there. Even in the middle of a city, I remember this grocery store. On Sunday, they would have this ribbon that would have to be put across everything that wasn't essentials. And if we had to go there, I can still remember the day I was probably six years old. We'd go and there would be the toys. But right before us would be this line that they had to, by law, in the middle of a city, almost 40, and so it's not that long ago, right there across were these toys, but I couldn't go past that. There was a line drawn there. And I think of how quickly now there would be even no hint of that at that grocery store today. But I bless the Lord also for just the idea like Brother Daniel was sharing of this thing being brought to the heart, brought of how God gives this grace in our life. I think again of that passage in Romans 3.31. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. That by God and by Him putting these things on our heart, it becomes a joy and it becomes something that God actually does and we get to see it happen and we get to watch it. I'm blessed by this little thing here in Psalm 119. 159. Consider how I love Thy precepts. And he says, Quicken me, O Lord, according to Thy lovingkindness. Thy word is true from the beginning and every one of Thy righteous judgment endureth forever. I bless the Lord today and I for one want to say this has been something that we as a family have been looking to, but I have not taken it to this point. I have not seen what I've seen today to this level and I want to take that challenge. I want to take that one year challenge and look to the Lord and take this day and I want to come back again and say, what happened? Was God faithful? Was I faithful? And look at these things. I am so blessed today and I want to walk in that. Thank you, brother. Amen. Alright, up front here. I had to think that maybe the challenges are different on this side of the room than they are on the men's side of the room or different than they are with the youth. I think that many times in feeling overwhelmed with the workload I have carelessly put some work in on Sunday that was unnecessary. Back when we first moved into the area here and were being enlightened I can remember washing a couple of loads of clothes in the morning thinking, well, the machine is doing the work. And little by little God has been bringing enlightenment but I want to acknowledge that I have been careless and I want to apologize to my family because I'm just pretty selfish. If we're not having company I have some things I'd like to accomplish and I think I sort of have pushed them off rather than to grab hold of this and think, how can I make this something very positive in their life? So, as I see the principle of not being able to out-give God in every other area of my life then I'm excited and I think, oh Lord, what do you want to do? I think maybe we sisters need to talk about this and encourage each other lend each other some ideas. A few months ago our family instituted a special Sunday morning time where we buy international creamer and we have coffee and 45 minutes of time where we sit around the table with candlelight and we purpose to be a little more quiet in our talk. We pray for the preachers. We pray for our hearts, for the service. Now 45 minutes we used to throw cold cereal on the counter and everybody fended for themselves whenever they came down and were dressed. We haven't missed the time. It's been sweet. It hasn't hindered us getting to church on time. So I'm excited thinking about what can I as a mama what can I organize beforehand and present to the family in a creative way. I just praise God for the message. Amen. Thank you for sharing your heart sister. You know the Lord has blessed me with 19 living grandchildren and I enjoy spending time with them especially on the Lord's Day. I enjoy spending worship time with them but you know there's another side to that that I have a daughter that has 6 children and there's no father in the house. The children go to public school and they're very involved in sports. Pat, you're going to come to my game on Sunday. Well, I established early on no, Pat don't come to games on Sunday. Well, can you come to my game another day? Now we're talking young boys here. To them that's their way of life. That's what they do. They haven't been guided to know the Lord. I love them as much as I love all my grandchildren. I think by my steadfastness of what I believe and how I believe will someday manifest itself in them. You know one of them said to me the other day you know mom got rid of the cable on our TV, Pat you know because we were watching that stuff that you said we shouldn't watch. So when I hear that statement I know that even at their young age they're learning. I need your prayers to discern all those things because my love for my grandchildren is strong. I don't want to be the big discouragement in their life but I want to encourage them with the right things and with knowing the Lord and having the Lord as their idol more than sporting things. I need your prayers. You know my one grandson is 15. He's at that age where he needs guidance. And you know my daughter and my grandchildren and myself we need your prayers. Amen. There's a hand up here on the brother's side. The Lord give you that wisdom brother. Yes, go ahead. Amen. I want to say amen to the message also. I can really relate to where Brother Denny is coming from. That was our background. I grew up, we went to church. First thing we did when we got home we did whatever we wanted to. It was a dreary day. There was a point in time that we went to church and went home, had supper with the family and then we'd go back to church again in the evening. But something along the way happened there and we couldn't wait to get home sometimes. We'd even have our picnic all packed up, ready to go. We couldn't wait to get out of church for a thing. We'd hit the door and run and hit home and we'd change our clothes quick and we'd grab our picnic stuff to go to the lake and that's where we went. We spent the rest of the day at the lake. We spent there what, 30 minutes with the Lord and the rest of the day in the world. It's a real privilege to serve the Lord. But you know we went to church about a month ago and visited this church and this elderly man had a clipping out of the paper and it showed in there that America is known as the number one Christian nation because there's 37% Christians. It showed in that paper. I remember 20 years ago or so a man had a clipping out of a paper and he showed that same thing that America was a Christian nation because there were 62% Christians in America. And now there's only 37. And I think that's true Christians. You know, I can remember the very church that at that time Governor Clinton went to and the Super Bowl was on and to keep everybody in church they pulled down the big screen and showed the Super Bowl on the big screen at church to keep everyone in church and watched the football game. You know, I think maybe is some of this a little bit the reason that Christianity is going down in America? Is this what we heard today? Could that be? Could that be a little bit of this what's happening? A little bit of compromise. You know I think sometimes we say well we're not under the law so we don't have to commit to that. But I think sometimes that saying we're not under the law is a reason and excuse to compromise. And it's led us astray. You know, we're not under the law so I don't have to feel condemned to do it. It makes this an avenue of escape that we can excuse it away and do what we want. I say amen to the message and I say we take on the challenge. Lift up the Lord's name and praise Him on His day. Amen. Right here? Okay. This really has nothing to do with the message this morning but I feel I need to confess something God has been working on my heart. I just want to confess and ask for your forgiveness for the times that I've carried a proud older than now attitude toward some of you sometimes lifting myself up above you. Would you please forgive me? And if I've offended anyone, please come to me. Thank you. Amen, Elam. We forgive you. God bless you, brother. Amen. Bring me now the offerings into the storehouse. Can we do that? Bring the offerings into the storehouse and prove the Lord. You know, I say this morning, let's not just go out the door and say, well, that was a good message. But let's take this, let's take this seriously to heart. Have we bought into the devil's lie? You know, that if we really give everything to God and really serve God, it will be boring and it won't be so full, abundant life, you know. It will be more fun to go do this, you know, or the other thing. But that's a sign of a heart that's growing cool, growing cold. But oh, if we'll delight ourselves in the Lord. I mean, now just imagine, going back to Denny's illustration. Jeremy forgets to put gas in the car. Sunday morning he comes out all dressed up to go pick up his date, go get Paige and the car won't start. Well, what's wrong? There's no gas in the car. Never even thought about putting gas in. I mean, imagine. It won't happen. Right, Jeremy? You know, you prepare, you get ready, you're looking forward. What do our hearts beat for, you know? Oh, let us make the Lord's day a delight. And there's many applications, but we won't take time to talk about those. I think we'll maybe have opportunities for some of that in our Wednesday evening gatherings together and just continuing to seek the Lord and see what God will do.