A Perfect Heart and a Willing Mind — Carter Conlon

A Perfect Heart and a Willing Mind

Bless the Lord. God bless you this morning. Times Square Church. If you'll just go to First Chronicles 28, please, in the Old Testament. I appreciate it very much, and find that book if you will. I'm going to speak a message to you this morning entitled, A Perfect Heart and a Willing Mind.

Now, these verses of Scripture I'm about to speak from are very precious to me, because in the springtime of 1994, while sitting in my office at the former church that I pastored, the Holy Spirit came to me in a profound way.

I remember telling my secretary, I said, please, I don't want to be disturbed. No phone calls, nothing. I knew that God had come to meet with me. He led me into First Chronicles chapter 28, and spoke to my heart about a commission that he was giving to me.

He said, I'm sending you to a place to help to finish a work that has been begun by another man. And he spoke to me from the verses of Scripture that I'm going to quote to you today, and I was so sure I'd heard from God after an hour or two in the presence of the Lord.

And in prayer, I left my office. I went to the office of my associate pastor at that time, and I told him, prepare to take over the church. I'll be leaving shortly. He said, where are you going? I said, I don't know, but I know the Lord has spoken to me.

I'll be leaving very shortly. That was in the spring of 1994. It was only a matter of a few weeks. Pastor David called, and the rest is history. And so these are very precious verses to me, and knowing that God spoke to me from these verses, there are some great words of encouragement in them, and there are also some great words of caution.

I'm bringing this to you today the way that I feel the Lord is speaking it to my heart. As Pastor Neal said, I believe it was last week, he said, I'm preaching to my own heart first, and to yours second.

But also to this church, Times Square Church, and anybody who is affiliated with this church, even if it's just with the expression of your faith and confidence in God. For those who are online, those who hear these words in the future.

I'm going to speak something so profound that it makes a difference between success and failure in the kingdom of God. It makes the difference as to whether we get to the end with a shout of glory or a sigh of regret.

I want you to give me your best ear today, if you can. The best of your heart. Even if you utter a silent cry and say, oh God, please, would you help me to hear this. Would you help me, Lord, because this is a word for this congregation today.

For me, as your pastor, and for you, as the congregation of Times Square Church, this is a word from God to this church today. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you, God, for your word is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path.

Your word is something that you say that we should hide in our heart, that we might not sin against you. Lord, if any man thinks he stands, your word says, let him take heed lest he fall. Lord, we can't stand in our own strength, none of us, Lord.

We can't stand in our own wisdom. We'll not make it through if we lean on our own resources. God, I bend my knee to you today. I bend my heart to you. I ask you for the grace, not only to speak this, but to live this right to the end.

I ask you, God, that when I get to the end of this journey, I may put my feet up in my bed and bless God with everything in my heart, that I've not gone astray. I've not failed at the grace of God. I pray for this church, Lord.

I ask you, God, that you do something deep and powerful in each of our hearts today. We thank you for it in Jesus' mighty name. 1 Chronicles chapter 28, a perfect heart and a willing mind, beginning at verse 6.

David’s Charge to Solomon

Now, these are the words David, King David, is speaking this. And when it says in verse 6, and he said unto me, this is, he's speaking about a former conversation that he had with the Lord, and God had spoken to him about Solomon, his son.

And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts. For I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. Moreover, I will establish his kingdom forever, if he be constant to do my commandments and my judgments as at this day.

Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the congregation of the Lord, and in the audience of our God, keep and seek for all the commandments of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance for your children after you forever.

And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all the hearts and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts.

If thou seek him, he will be found of thee. But if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever. Take heed now, for the Lord has chosen thee to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong and do it.

Solomon’s Calling and the Believer’s Calling

Now Solomon was set apart at a young age, just as you and I and many here today are. Though you might be young in serving the Lord, still God has appointed you to a specific work that will glorify his name of the earth.

Solomon was young and tender, but called of God, appointed of God. And he had every advantage that you and I have today. It sounds spiritual instruction in the word and the ways and the work of God. Yet a father, a spiritual father, it says in verse 11, David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the ports, the houses, the treasuries, the upper chambers, the inner parlors, and the place of the mercy seat, and the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit.

And folks, if you have attended this church, if you are born again of the Spirit of God, if you have a Bible in your hands, you have every advantage that Solomon had. You have the word of God, you understand the ways of God, and the work of God is in here.

Nothing is hidden from any seeking heart. There's nobody can get to the end of this journey and say, I didn't know, it wasn't clear. If it wasn't clear, you didn't want it to be clear. I didn't want it to be clear.

If we didn't know, it's because we shut our minds to what God wanted to speak. Verse 10, Solomon knew what he'd been called to do. He said, take heed now, the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary, be strong and do it.

Now you know what you're called to do and I know what I'm called to do. You and I are the temple of the living God now in our generation. The Holy Spirit of God and the truth of God has come into these physical bodies and we are called to be a testimony of the reality of God, the life of God, the mercy of God, the power of God in every generation.

We know what we're called to do. Corporately, we meet together to worship as a church body, but individually we are to be so alive in Christ that it becomes a living testimony to those who live in darkness that God is indeed alive and raised from the dead.

God’s Provision and the Ministry of the Body

He had all the provision necessary to fulfill his calling. Chapter 28 verses 13 right through to verse 18 tells us of all the things that David, his father, a Christ type in a sense for us, had provided.

He had everything he needed to build this temple. You and I have all the provision. It's all ours in Christ. There's nothing hindering, there's nothing lacking and don't you ever believe the lie of the devil that you can't become what God has called you to be.

In Christ you have the full resource of the Godhead. You have everything of God inside a physical body and whatever he's called you to be, you will be. Whatever he's spoken to you will happen. Wherever he leads you, you will go.

Whatever he asks you to do, it will be accomplished not by your might or power, but by the Holy Spirit living inside of you and inside of me. And more so than all of this, he was not alone. I thank God.

In verse 21 it says the courses of the priest and the Levites, they will be with you for the service of the house of God and they will be with you for all manner of workmanship, every willing, skillful man for every manner of service and also the princes and the people will be holy at your commandment and we're not alone folks, we're part of a body.

It's the house of God, the testimony of Jesus Christ is alive in you and in me and I thank God I don't have to do this alone. I thank God you don't have to do it alone. We can come together, we can encourage one another and we can realize that everything moves forward by that which every and each one of us is called to do and the testimony that God has given us as part of his witness in the earth.

Leaving a Strong Inheritance

Verse 8, he was told by David his father that if he fully fulfilled his calling he would leave a complete and strong inheritance for those who would follow him. In the sight of all Israel the congregation of the Lord and in the audience of our God keep and seek the commandments of the Lord your God that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance for your children after you forever.

Those who follow God will leave a strong inheritance. I thank God for that with all my heart. There are certain forms of knowledge that God plants in the heart that causes you and I to walk with him. I don't want to leave a weak inheritance after me.

I don't want to leave a weak church when my season in this pulpit is over. I don't want to leave you emaciated and wondering where God is and how to find God. Solomon left a divided kingdom and he left a weakened son and he set the stage for the spiritual declension of Israel and the eventual overpowering and being conquered by its enemies.

You know the story, the Assyrians swallowed the north of Israel, the south lasted a little longer but was eventually swallowed up and taken captive into Babylon. It was Solomon who set the stage for this.

A Perfect Heart and a Willing Mind

Folks, a nation doesn't go into captivity before the church goes into captivity. The church goes first and then the nation follows. Verse 9, he was told what would be necessary to finish his course and he was warned of the consequences if he forsook the ways of God.

And thou Solomon my son, he said, know the God of your father and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind. He said, if for the Lord searches the hearts and understands the imaginations of your thoughts, if you seek him, he'll be found of you.

But if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. He was told what was necessary. He said, Solomon, you need a perfect heart and a willing mind. Now at the beginning of his ministry in 2 Chronicles 1, verses 7 -10, the Lord appeared to him and he said to him, ask what I shall give thee.

Phenomenal. Think about that for a moment. Now in John 16, 23, Jesus said, verily, verily, I say unto you that whatever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. So realistically we're in the same place that he was in.

Ask. Ask what it is that you want and I will give it to you. Incredible. Now this is the first evidence that we have that Solomon had not been carefully listening to what had been told him. Because his response to God, now God came and said, ask.

He could have asked for anything. The Lord said, whatever you ask for, I'll give it to you. It would be to God he had drawn back just for a moment and rethought some things. He said to the Lord, I want wisdom and I want knowledge so I can come in and go out and judge the people.

In other words, I want giftings. It's like the type of a person that God says, ask for whatever you want and says, well, I'd like discernment. I'd like miracles and I'd like to, I'd like compassion. I'd like all of these things and, and, and they're all good in themselves.

He's asking in a sense for the, the tools to do the job without the heart to do it. And David had said to him, you need a perfect heart and a willing mind. Now, if he had drawn back, if he had been really listening, if, when God came to him, what if Solomon had said, Lord, I want a perfect heart and a willing mind as David, my father has told me I need to have, and I would like wisdom and knowledge.

You see, God would have given it all to him, but he wasn't listening. And how many people today in our generation come into the house of God and it's just all about things and accumulation of words as it is and abilities and giftings and such like, but not having the heart for where it leads, not having the mind as it is.

I'll explain this further as we go on wisdom and knowledge without the heart and mind that must accompany it can become a corrupting influence in the life of any believer. If you and I just gather, remember Paul said in the last days, what are the, what's the condition of the church going to be?

Always learning, never coming to the knowledge of the truth. What it actually means is never being brought to the place where all that knowledge is supposed to lead, but just gathering knowledge, more Hebrew and Greek, perhaps than any other generation in church history, more tapes, more conferences, more knowledge, moving farther and farther away from the heart of God.

Every hour having little or no influence in society as the whole of society just travels down a course into ever deepening darkness. And so many of God's people are just gathering and learning, but there's no heart to the learning.

There's no mind that comes with it. These things are missing and they were missing in the life of Solomon. Did Solomon have any idea where wisdom and knowledge without the heart and mind of God, which God provides to undergird, it would lead him.

Did Solomon have any idea? I want you to think of Solomon for a moment on a brazen scaffold. When the temple was built Solomon, this, this, I forget how big this probably five or six feet by six feet.

And he's on this scaffold in the middle of the temple. He's on his knees before God. The people are all gathered around. He prays a prayer that literally touches heaven, brings down the presence of God.

Solomon’s Theological Decline

Did he ever think that one day he would build a heathen temple? Did he ever think that he'd, he'd build a temple where the demonic power of that temple required that people put their sons and daughters in the fire?

Did he ever think that he'd get to the place where in his mind, well, one God is the same as the other. What harm if we just all kind of get together? Ecclesiastes is a tragic book. Right after Proverbs is Ecclesiastes.

I want you to turn there with me just for a moment. I want you to see theologically where Solomon ended up. If you don't have the heart for truth, if I don't have the heart for truth, and if I don't have the mind to be taken where God leads me in that truth, I run the risk, the grave risk of becoming as theologically dark as Solomon.

Ecclesiastes chapter one in verse 10. I want, I'm just going to skim through just a few things because if you want to study it later in greater depth, you can, but it's a very dark book, really. Here are the words of Solomon.

At the end of his life, he said, is there anything whereof it may be said, see, this is new. How he lost sight of what God wanted to miraculously do. In second Chronicles chapter six, when he prayed in the temple, these are the essential elements of his prayer.

That God would respond to the prayers of all people who came into that temple and out of confusion would bring about divine order and justice. That there would be justice. There would be a sense of right and a sense of wrong.

That there would be a new order as it is in people's minds and in their hearts. That every new enemy would be defeated that would rise against the people of God. That God would bring fresh rain in times of drought and new provision in times of famine.

That God would answer the heart cry of every new stranger that came in and was looking for hope and help. That God would answer that cry. That God would give new strength for every new battle because there's a new battle just around the corner.

And by God's grace, you and I need new strength to face. We can't go on yesterday's strength. Morning by morning, there has to be new mercy. We need new strength. We need to be renewed every day in the strength of our God.

We need new strength and to give new freedom from old sin and captivity. Even if God's people backslid, if they've made mistakes, if they tragically found themselves in the enemy's camp, Solomon said, when they come and face this temple, God, give them freedom from their old captivities and their carelessness and their sin.

This man knew this was the heart of God. This man knew that God wanted to work and is a God who creates all things new. Everything is new every day. There's a freshness in God. The glory of God is revealed continuously.

God in Christ is always creating and recreating. That's why when we came to him, he said, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Now Solomon gets to the end of his days and he's so disheartened, he's so lost sight of what the temple was to be.

He says, is there any thing whereof it may be said that this is new? In chapter 2 and verse 21, it gets even worse actually as you go on. He saw it as a great evil to labor for the benefit of those who had not themselves worked for something.

He said, verse 21, he said, for there is a man whose labor is in wisdom and in knowledge and in equity, yet to a man that has not labored therein shall he leave it for his portion. This is vanity and a great evil.

He said, I saw a great evil that a man would work and give it to somebody or leave it for somebody who's not worked for it. I mean, how far can you get from the heart of God? I mean, did you imagine any church that embraces this kind of a philosophy or a theology?

Folks, do we not pray so that God might be glorified through us in releasing other people into the life and freedom of Christ who have not worked for it? Is it not all by grace? Is it not all the goodness of God?

What he began to embrace was so far from the heart of God, he saw no point that others should gain for free what somebody else has worked for. He was, he had an anti-Christ theology in his heart. It was completely the opposite to the heart of God who became a man and walked among us.

Chapter 3, verses 18 and 19 shows how far wisdom without heart had taken him from God. For I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

For that which befalls the son of men befalls beasts, and every even one thing befalls them. As one dies, so dies the other. Yea, they all have one breath, so that a man has no preeminence above a beast, for all is vanity.

What an incredible loss of heart and focus. He saw people as no better than beasts, of no value. He lost complete sight of the value of human persons created in the image of God. From the moment of dedicating that temple, he lost heart.

Chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. So I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter. And on the side of their oppressors there was power, but they had no comforter.

Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. They had no comforter. But isn't that what the temple was supposed to be about? Wasn't the temple to be a place of comfort for the oppressed, and the hungry, and the thirsty, and the captive?

Isn't that what the temple was to be? Weren't people to come in contact with that temple and find they did have a comforter? There was one who was willing to be closer than a brother and relieve them from their burdens and their oppressions.

Wealth, Knowledge, and Selfish Religion

In chapter 6, I'm only skimming this book. You may want to study it as I said earlier. Verses 1 and 2. There's an evil which I've seen under the sun, and it is common among men. Verse 1. A man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor so that he wants nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eats it.

This is vanity, and it is an evil disease. He said, I see one man given great supply, and he gives it to a stranger to eat. He said, I see this is a great disease. Don't think for a second, folks, any church, any Christian who sees coming to Christ and the accumulation of knowledge as only an opportunity to gather wealth unto himself, and his whole focus is a selfish focus, is completely in line with this theology of Solomon at the end of his life.

He said, I see a man being given great resource, and it's laid up for another. I see this as an evil disease. I mean, I'm flabbergasted as I study this book of the transition from this point of dedication and calling to what this man actually became.

Remember that Solomon was given charge of the actual testimony and presence of God on the earth. Think of that for a moment. The temple was where God dwelt, and Solomon was given the charge of that house.

Take heed, David said, the Lord has chosen you to build this place. Take heed, folks, because the Holy Spirit now dwells in us, our physical bodies, and we are given charge as it is of seeing that this temple lives in such a way that it is a place that God has glorified.

The Glory of God in the Temple

In the beginning, when this temple was first established, the glory of God filled the house. Remember in 2 Chronicles 7, 1, priests could not stand to minister. The people shouted, the glory of God had come into the house.

You and I have experienced this here in this sanctuary from time to time when the glory is so thick, you just say, oh, God, I would love to dwell here forever. It would be awesome if I didn't have to go home.

I'd be willing to forsake my car in the parking garage, just give it all, everything, if I could just stay here in the presence of the Lord. The people had experienced that. Solomon knew it. The glory of the Lord had filled the house.

The goodness and mercy of God was revealed. They sang a song, God is good and his mercy endures forever. The trumpeters sounded, the people shouted, and the glory of God came down in the temple. Do you remember the day you first found Christ and the glory filled your physical temple?

Do you remember the day that the goodness of God and the mercy of God was fully revealed to you? You first understood that I don't stand here by works, I don't stand here by merit, I stand here by grace.

You remember the day that there was a shout in your soul, nobody had to crank up the band or the choir to get you to sing, the song was there, the song was in you. You could sing anywhere, you could sing all the time.

You sat on the subway coming to church and you just wanted to burst into song. You sat in the workplace and it was all you could do to contain that song from coming out. There are times you just found yourself having to sing.

How many testimonies have I heard of new Christians? You remember when you first got saved, how you'd do anything to go for a bathroom break, to open your Bible, just to get another verse of scripture.

The glory had come into the house, the mercy was revealed. And there was great sacrifice, folks. There was hundreds, tens of thousands in the day of that dedication of bullocks and goats and sheep and Solomon himself, I forget the number, I think it's 120 ,000 sheep, Solomon himself offered up to the Lord.

There's incredible sacrifice. Do you remember the days where it didn't matter how long you had to drive? It didn't matter how far you had to go. It didn't matter how long the prayer meeting was. There was great sacrifice.

I remember as a young Christian in my heart, I lived 36 miles from the church I attended and I'd drive home after work and I'd change my clothes and I'd drive back to church, driving back home again after church and driving back into work again the next morning.

And I didn't care how many miles I had to put on my car. If a prayer meeting was open, I was there. I'd go to church Sunday morning and stay there the whole day and come back again Wednesday night. And on top of all that, I was asked to be an elder in the church, but it was not a burden to me.

There was great sacrifice in those beginning years when you and I come to Christ and begin to live for God. It seems like no sacrifice is too much, doesn't it? We want to be where God is. We want to be doing what God's calling us to do.

An opening comes in the church to do something and we don't consider it too menial. Whatever was given to do in the church, I was the guy in the back with the one talent that just kept saying, hey, use me.

I'm here. Tremendous worship. The scripture says all the people stood and I couldn't help but think of this church as I was going through these scriptures that we tell you, you may be seated and most of you don't.

What is it in your heart that makes you want to stand? Why do you feel that sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes just sitting down is just not appropriate? I've just got to stand. I've just got to lift my hands.

I've just got to shout out to God. I've just got to praise him. 2 Chronicles 7 verses 15 and 16. Here's what the Lord said to Solomon. Now my eyes shall be open and my ears listening to the prayer that is made in this place.

For now I've chosen and sanctified this house that my name might be there forever and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. I've chosen this house. Now you and I can lay claim to that personally because God no longer dwells in temples made with physical hands.

He lives in me. He lives in you. And the Lord says, I've chosen you. You, you're my house now. And my eyes and my heart are there. I'm waiting for you to ask me for what you need. I'm waiting to give you my eyes.

I'm waiting to give you my heart. I'm waiting for you and I to walk together through this world. I'm waiting for our hearts to be one. I'm waiting as Amos the prophet said, for the two of us to be together in agreement, walking through this world.

God says, I'm waiting. My eyes, my heart are with you. I'm waiting for you and I to walk together as one. What happened to Solomon then? There are a lot of theories and I'm going to add mine to the mix.

Quite simply, I've been reading this and reading this and reading this and reading this and reading this. And quite simply, I believe Solomon got bored with the work of God. He dedicated the temple. The glory of the Lord came down.

The people sang their songs. Morning by morning, there had to be this initial sense of wonderment as sinners came in and seekers came in and God was meeting need. Solomon was given charge of the house and giftings to keep that house alive.

The Warning Sign of Boredom

And he came into the house and you could just see him as he walks in talking to the porters because it was quite a few years actually that he did maintain some form of integrity. But I see him telling the porters, now be careful the way you carry that.

And maybe to the maintenance crew, look at there, one of the chairmen has got a chip in it. Would you mind fixing that? And he's walking through the temple. He's given the charge of the presence of God in the earth and the house where God dwells.

But he was also given giftings and he had a brilliant mind and he got bored. And folks, one of the first signs that something is wrong is if you're in this church, for example, on a Sunday, a Sunday night, a Tuesday night, and you, a hundred people come as have been happening lately to the saving knowledge of Christ at this altar, a hundred strangers, a hundred widows, a hundred people with questions, a hundred coming out of captivity.

And you're looking at your watch and you're wondering if you're going to be the first to get to the parking garage. I'm telling you folks, something is wrong. It's a warning sign. This is the work of God.

This is the house of God. This is what God is doing in the earth. This is what God is all about. This is what, this is the work of Christ. It's the releasing of those who are in prison. It's the healing of those who are bruised in heart.

It's the giving of sight to the spiritually blind. It's that the poor have the treasure of Christ open to them. And everyone has an opportunity to understand that this is the time that God's heart and arms are open to all people.

And God helped me and God help you. If we ever get bored in this house with the work of God, God help us choir. If you get out of bed Sunday morning and go, Oh no, I got to go to church again today. And I got to sit in church all day and I got to sing all day.

Time to go back to the prayer closet. When that starts to happen, folks, time to get back to God. See Solomon had the nose, but I didn't have the heart, the willing heart that says, this is what my life is about.

There will be no plan B, C or D down the road. My life is to be given that God might be glorified, that his church might be strengthened, that his testimony might go forward in the earth. This is what my life is about.

No plan B, C, D is necessary. That's what it means to have a perfect heart. And a willing mind means that I occupy the place that God gives me in his body. And the testimony he establishes in my life in the earth that I say, Oh God, let my heart be in line with yours, your purpose and coming to this world.

May it be fully known and realized in me. Oh God, help me never to turn from it. Don't let me get bored with the work of God. And that's quite often the dilemma that comes to those of us whom God gives giftings to as we walk with him.

Solomon got bored and the scripture tells us he began to build other cities. At the end of 20 years, it says in chapter 8, he built his house, built the Lord's house, and then he began to build other houses and build other places.

Then he began to build vineyards and then he began to build terraces. Then he began to plant gardens. Then he began to farm animals. Then he began, he just began to move because he had this creative ability in him.

And he didn't realize it was leading him farther and farther and farther away from what he had been called to be. Folks, don't ever get bored. If you find yourself ever getting bored with the things of God, just stop.

Stop everything and just go back into the prayer closet again and just ask one more time, God Almighty, please help me. God, please keep me. Give me a willing heart. Give me a perfect heart and a willing mind.

If you've called me to be a doorkeeper in the house of God, let that be sufficient for me. No matter how you gift me, no matter what you put into my life, let that be sufficient, God. I'm only called to be obedient.

I'm only called to occupy what you've given me to do. Don't let me get bored, oh God. Don't let me get bored. There's so many churches in the world today. The people are bored to death. The pastors are bored.

That's why they drift into all this foolishness because they're bored with the simplicity of the work of God and Christ. That's why Paul said, I fear lest having begun in the spirit, you're going to be turned from that simplicity.

You're going to be turned from the simple focus of the work of God, which is the redemption of lost humanity, that people can come to the temple and find Christ the Savior. That's what happened to Adam and Eve.

The Loss of First Love and the Church at Sardis

It's the original sin, folks. The devil came. I still believe he came in a white suit. He's a serpent. I think he came in a white suit. And he said, is this what life is about? You know, here you are down looking after this garden, meeting with God periodically.