In this sermon, the speaker expresses his concern that many young people come to church but leave unchanged. He desires that people who encounter him would be inspired to seek God wholeheartedly. The speaker emphasizes the importance of presenting Christ to others and asks when and how people see Christ in him. He references the story of Jacob and his pursuit of the birthright and blessing, highlighting the need for zeal and passion in our Christian lives. The speaker urges Christians to hold fast to their faith and remain faithful until death.

Let us pray. Bless the reading of thy word, Lord. Be in our midst and speak to us that thy name may be glorified. Amen. I would like this morning to ponder about a certain word in the Bible which has touched me of late. And that is that we seek God with all our heart. Because when you look into our lives as Christians, you get the impression that we don't seek with all our heart. We get so used and accustomed to things in this world. And on a Sunday we go to church. Because it's our tradition to go to a service on Sunday. It's my heart in it that I say, I am going there to be blessed, to have a meeting, or to have an ear to hear and allow God to speak to me. That I come into the presence of the Lord expecting him to speak to my heart. And that is my desire and my prayer for us every day. David, in one of the Psalms, I think it's Psalm 69, he says, Because the zeal I have for your house has eaten me up. Now we know the Lord doesn't have a house built with bricks. It is built by you and by me. We who call ourselves Christians. And here David says, oh that zeal is eating me up that the house of the Lord may be complete. And if you are not there, something is missing, the house is incomplete. There isn't that zeal to be together with the Lord's children, to sit at the Lord's feet, or that the Lord is in that house and fully satisfied. That we come together awaiting God to speak to us in such a way that we will be blessed by it. Now only for the Sunday, it is my desire and I seek God with all my heart. That's why I go into a church service that I might find him. When I speak of Sunday, it should be like that every day in our Christian life. But it is an opportunity on a Sunday when there is a service that I have a zeal to go there, that I have a longing, that I want to seek God with all my heart until I find him. And that is my life. Is that your life? Is that my life? That we seek God with all our heart. It doesn't suffice that I come to a church service on a Sunday. I've got to seek him with all my heart and if I go on a Sunday to the service, it must be my aim and my goal, oh Lord, speak to my heart, speak to me in such a way that I might understand. Because it's an opportunity where I can come together with the congregation. And ask God to come down and speak to us in such a way that the congregation will be blessed by it. That should be our aim and goal and our zeal every day for us personally. But I'm speaking for the congregation this morning that I've got a longing to be in the next church service on next Sunday, listening to what God has got to tell the congregation. I want to be in the house of the Lord and if I'm not there, there's something missing. There where God is, there where God is at home, where his house is, that's where I want to be. That I long for the fellowship of my brethren. That I will be together with my brothers and sisters and the Lord dwells amongst us and in us. That is my desire, that's why I go to a church service, that I may be a partaker of that, what God is going to tell us this morning. That I can't stay away from a service, that I've got to be there, I've got to be there, there's something drawing, pulling me and that is the zeal which is in me to be in the house of the Lord. And when I pondered over this I thought, who in the Bible, there are so many whom we can mention who had this zeal in their hearts. And to my mind, when I pondered over it, a certain woman came to my mind. And that is Rebecca. Listen to what she said, when she wanted the blessing for her children or for her child. Something beautiful, that when she heard that her husband is going to bless his oldest son. She said, my son Jacob must have it. He must have that and what did she do? She came to him and she said this. Now therefore my son, obey my voice, according to what I command you. Here is a woman, she wanted the best for her son. And the question came to me, have we got those mothers amongst us that tell their sons, these were grown up young people that said, my son obey my voice, according to what I command you. She commanded her son. She didn't say, you've got to choose whether you want to obey or not. Choose whether you want to follow the Lord or not the Lord. You are old enough, you are of age, you must decide whom you want to serve. Because she had a zeal in her heart, she had a goal in her heart and she said, I command you, listen to my voice, do that what I tell you and he had to do it. When she heard that her husband wanted to bless the oldest son. She immediately said, that blessing must come upon my youngest son. And she said, obey my voice, you've got to obey what I tell you. To what I command you to do. And in my heart I said, oh may God raise mothers again that have the authority over their sons to say, listen to my voice and do what I command you to do. I want to ask you mothers who are here this morning, is that your life? Is that what you do? That you speak to your children and you command them what to do and they do it? Or are you one of those that say, well you've got to choose whom you want to serve? But because of her blessing, she had heard her husband speaking about that blessing, she said, Jacob's got to have that. It's amazing to have such women in God's word in the Bible. Now I'm including everyone this morning. Have you come for that blessing or haven't you come for that blessing? Have you come here this morning to receive a special blessing? That when God speaks, when God blesses, that I am blessed. That my life is blessed and that my life changes into something which will benefit the church, will benefit my life. And Jacob was of that type. He knew that his brother, his elder brother, has a birthright. And he said, I want it. He said, no matter what happens, I want that. And he waited for an opportunity to be able to get that birthright. And when Esau had gone out hunting, working, came back tired, he said, here is my opportunity. He's hungry, he's thirsty. I'll tell him, I'll give him because I've prepared some food. I will give him to eat, but he's going to pay it with the price. And Jacob said, you can have this to eat if you sell me your birthright. And to Esau, it wasn't a problem. Because he was hungry, he was thirsty. And to him, the birthright wasn't something precious. And to him, it was an easy thing to give it away. To him, it wasn't important to have the birthright. As long as I am satisfied and get whatever I need, I'm still the son of my father. And I still keep my mother. I've got nothing to lose. You know, and many of us Christians are like that. If we look at our lives, aren't we like Esau? There is no zeal, there is no fire in us that says, Lord Jesus, I need thy blessing. I'm satisfied, I've got everything. I am a Christian. I'm the son of Isaac. And what more do I need? I've got all the blessings I want. And I'm a Christian. Everything is well. I've got a father, mother, I've got brother, I've got everything I need. And many Christians are like that. That we are satisfied with that. There is no zeal in our lives to get more. No, I'm a Christian and I'm happy, I'm satisfied, the Lord has forgiven me my sins, and I'm satisfied. What more do I need? I become a nominal Christian, with no fire in me, with no zeal in me. I just do what I'm supposed to do. I'm a hunter and I go out hunting and I find meat enough to eat. What more do I want? What more do I need? I get up in the morning, I pray, and when I sit at table, I pray. But there's no fire in me, there's no zeal in me, there's no longing for God to work above what we can ask and think of. I'm not losing anything, I give away my birthright, I sell it to my brother. I've got everything I want, I've got a home, I'm fully satisfied. But Jacob was different. Jacob sought the blessing of God. At birth already, Jacob clung to the heel of Esau, he didn't let go because he didn't want Esau to be born first. He wanted to be born first. There was a zeal in him, there was fire in his bones. All run the race, but only one receives a prize. Jacob was one of those who said, I'm not satisfied to run to be born, I want to be first. I want the birthright, I want the blessing of my father. And he obeyed his mother, and he did what the mother told him. We all know and we all have read the story of Jacob, where he went to his dad, and the meeting with his dad, who was blind, concerning the skin, concerning the smell of his clothes, what Jacob and Rebekah all did to gain that blessing. Jacob was one of those who said, I'm not satisfied to run to be born, I want the blessing of my father. And that is what I tried to aim at in the beginning, to say, what for did I come here today? Just to do something because we are used to it, it's our tradition to go to a service, and we sit there and we walk out, and we miss the blessing. It's that cry in my heart, that I say, oh Lord, if I go to be with my brothers and sisters, come down and work in our midst, that we are blessed, that I am blessed, that my life will change. And that is the danger with us Christians. We get used to things and there is no zeal anymore, there is no fire in us anymore. And that is the danger we Christians are in. There is nothing wrong with the preaching, there is nothing wrong with the Bible, it's become part of us. But there is no life, there is no fire, there is no zeal anymore. David says, the zeal for your house has eaten me up, has consumed me. And that is important. That's why in Revelations 3 we read, hold fast what you have, that no one take your crown away. In Revelations 2 verse 10 we read, be faithful until death, I will give you the crown of life. Oh that we might be faithful to the Lord, that we hold on to that what we have, that we don't lose it. That there is only one desire in my heart, more, more, more about Jesus. That I may be transformed into the image of Christ. That I walk as Christ walked. That I talk as Christ talked. That I have compassion as Christ had. That my whole being reflects the beauty of Jesus. Is that our desire? Is that what we've come for here this morning? That God will speak to me, that he will change my very nature. Oh, but no, we are satisfied. We just live, whether we get angry, whether we get irritable, whether we get unfriendly, oh we just live with it. We come into the meeting and we walk out with the same, nothing has changed. Nothing has changed, the young people are still the same, the way they came in they walk out again. Nothing has changed, we haven't had the blessing of God, we haven't experienced a meeting with the living God. You know, I have one desire in my heart. That whoever sees me, whoever speaks to me, might seek God with all his heart and say, that what that man has, I want as well. How many people have I been able to lead to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? That is my desire. I'm an old man and yet I plead with the Lord every day and I say, Lord, oh let me not waste my time. May I show forth, may I be able to inspire, may I be able to have compassion that people might see Christ and turn to Christ. There are so many in this world that don't know Christ. And God has given us that opportunity to present Christ to others. Whom do I present? What do people see in me? Do they see Christ? That is important to me. What does my wife see in me? Does she see a hard and fast ruler? Or does she see Christ in me? What does your husband see in you? Does she see the glory of Jesus in you? Does he see the beauty of Jesus in you, dear sister? What do the children see in us? What do we see in our children? Oh, I have a zeal in my heart to become like Jesus. That's why I want to seek God with all my heart till I find him. I can't be satisfied before I have received that blessing. Oh, may God help us. May God be merciful to us. We have come here today that God should bless us. May that be so in our lives. And when Isaac sent Jacob to their home country to look for a wife of his kind, Don't get married to one of these women where we live now. And when Esau heard that, Let me read it. Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him and said to him, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. May God Almighty bless you, make you fruitful and multiply you. So Isaac sent Jacob away and he went to Padan-Aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan-Aram to take himself a wife from there. And as he blessed him, he gave him a charge saying, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. If you read Ephesians 2 verse 6, Esau said to Isaac, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. And that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Padan-Aram. Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mehaleth, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebuchadnezzar, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had. And that the daughters of Abraham did not please their father Isaac. Do you see here once again, Esau did his own thing. Instead of going to the father and humbling himself, he never went and repented from his birthright, that he sold his birthright. We don't read anything of it. And now he does exactly the same with marriage. He had wives already, but when he heard what Isaac said to Jacob, that he should go and take a wife from their kind, he said, Oh, I best do something like that as well. And he went and took a wife from his step-uncle. You see how the devil is. He brings Esau to that place where he imitates, he does as if he's fulfilling the law and the requirement of his father. But he takes a woman from the one Abraham had sent away. He was family. It was Abraham's family. It was Abraham's son, Ishmael. And he goes and he sends, Abraham sends him away with his mother. And he goes and he marries one of them. He makes believe as if everything is in order. He's obeying his father. There's no repentance. There is no humbling. Nothing. He just carries on in his own way. No wonder that God hated Esau. It is so important that we have an ear to hear, to listen to that what God tells us. To be able to humble ourselves. To be the least. That we hold on to that what God gave us. So that we don't do our own thing. Although God had told Jacob to go back into the country which he had promised his father, Jacob. And he obeyed God and he said, alright, I'll go back. With a lot of trepidation because he knew Esau was after him. He wanted to kill him. Esau couldn't humble himself when that happened with the blessing that he didn't get the blessing. He wanted to kill Jacob. Instead of humbling himself and say, oh, I'm not worthy to have received the blessing. Do you see what happens to us? If we can't humble ourselves, if we can't be the least, if we can't accept God's ways, if we fight for our rights, hatred comes into our hearts. And here he wanted to kill his brother. Instead of humbling himself right in the beginning, he never did that. He fought for his rights. He fought for that which he thought belongs to him. But Jacob was otherwise. His heart was only set upon one thing, more of Jesus. To fulfill that which he was looking for, he had a zeal, he had a desire, he sought God with all his heart. And he had only one goal, and that was, I've got to get that. I want that blessing. And I take every opportunity where God is, I want to be there. I want to be partaker of that which God has for me. That wherever God comes down and speaks, I want to be there. I want to have that blessing. And that's why I'm going to a church service on Sunday, expecting that blessing which God bestows upon his people. And wherever Christians meet together for a meeting, for a service, no matter what it is, I want to be there. I want to be part of it. I remember in the beginning of the revival in 1966, there was only one desire. I want to be partaker of that revival. I want to receive that blessing. I want to be blessed. I need Jesus in my heart. And everything fell away. We were people that did a lot of sport. There were many things which were so important to us. But there was that in our heart, we want more of Jesus. And all those things became strangely dim. They had no meaning to us anymore. They weren't important to us anymore. We had one desire, Oh Lord, we need that blessing. We want revival. Or better said, I want revival. I didn't have time for my wife. My wife didn't have time for me. We didn't have time for our children or whatever. We didn't have time for the business. We had one thing in mind, and that was we're seeking revival. We're seeking the blessing of God. I remember when she was in her pants, and I was in my skirt and I was wearing short pants, and I didn't know whether I'd be able to walk or not. When she said I was in my pants, I said I don't know whether I'll be able to walk or not. I was wearing my skirt and saying I don't know So what I didn't know, I asked the Lord I asked the Lord to send me to the place Is that fire still burning? Is that zeal still in my life? Where everything else is not important anymore to me. Oh but the fellowship with Jesus, that he can lead and guide me, that I'm obedient when he speaks, that I obey him. The zeal for your house has eaten me up. I don't even know whether that's proper English, but that's how it stands in the Bible. And I seek thee with all my heart. The Lord looks at our heart, not at what we are doing or what we are. He looks at our heart. But he wants to see whether our heart is in it or not. Are we seeking God with all our heart? Young people, whom are you seeking? Are you seeking God with all your heart? And we, old people, are we seeking God with all our heart? Is that our prime aim? Is that our life? To seek God with all our heart? And the Lord said there were 99 sheep. One was missing. It was supposed to be a hundred, but there's only 99. And the Lord left the 99 and he went to look for the one that is lost. And he looked for that lost one until he found it. Is that my life? May God help us that we'll have that same heart as he had. Let us pray. Lord, I want to thank thee for speaking to my heart. And I hope that it spoke to many others here this morning. That we won't be an Esau, but that we'll be a Jacob who sought the birthright, who sought the blessing, who sought the right wife. Be merciful to the generation that follows us, old people, that they will seek God with all their heart. That it won't be a tradition which they follow, but that it will be something which they experience. Revive thy work, O Lord.