Jehoshaphat's Revival — Timothy Williams

Jehoshaphat’s Reproof and Revival

I want to speak to you this morning about Jehoshaphat's revival, Jehoshaphat's revival. I want you to go with me to Second Chronicles, Chapter 19, starting with verse one. And Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem, and Yehu, the son of Hananiah, the seer, went out to meet him and said to Jehoshaphat, shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord?

Therefore is the wrath of God upon thee from before the Lord. Nevertheless, there are good things found in thee that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land and has prepared thy heart to seek God.

And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem, and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim and brought them back into the Lord God of their fathers. And he set judges in the land throughout all the cities of Judah city by city.

And he said to the judges, take heed what you do, for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore, now let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Take heed and do it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord, our God, nor respect of persons nor taking of gifts.

Moreover, in Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat said of the Levites and of the priests and of the chief of the fathers of Israel for the judgment of the Lord and for controversies when they returned to Jerusalem.

And he charged him, saying, Thus shall you do in the fear of the Lord faithfully and with a perfect heart. And what cause so ever shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in these cities between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments?

You shall ever even warn them that the trespass not against the Lord and so wrath come upon you and upon your brethren. This do and you shall not trespass. And behold, Amariah, the chief priest is over you in all matters of the Lord and Zebediah, the son of Ishmael and ruler of the house of Judah for all the king's matters.

Also, the Levite shall be officers before you deal courageously and the Lord shall be with the good. I want to give you the background of what we just read. Second Chronicles, chapter 19. I want to give you the background.

Jehoshaphat’s Godly Beginning

So real briefly, I want you to go with me to chapter 17, verse 117, verse one in Jehoshaphat. His son reigned in his stead and strengthened himself against Israel. And he placed forces in all the cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim, which his father had taken.

And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the ways of his father, David, and sought not to bathe them, but sought to the Lord God of his father and walked in his commandments and not after the doings of Israel.

Therefore, the Lord established the kingdom in his hand and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presence and he had riches and honor in abundance. So we see here in chapter 17, the second Chronicles, that when Jehoshaphat became the king of Israel, he was a godly king.

He said his heart to seek the Lord. The Bible says that he said his heart to seek the Lord, that a revelation, an understanding came in Jehoshaphat's heart, that simply this understanding that what God desires most is that a people that would just walk with him in sincerity and truth.

A people that will seek after his heart and love the Lord and seek the Lord and the desire to live a life that honors the Lord going all the way back to the Garden of Eden. We see the very purpose of man is to walk with God in sincerity and truth and fulfill the desire of God's heart to have a fellowship with his people, to have love with his people, not just to be churchy, not just to be religious, but to have a real relationship with God.

One that walks with God and honors God and seeks after the heart of the Lord. This came into Jehoshaphat's heart and the Bible says that he became a seeker of God, that he began to set his heart on seeking the Lord and in seeking the Lord, he resolved in his heart that he was going to live an obedient life, that he was going to separate himself from the ungodliness of the world and that he was going to consecrate his life to God and live a life that honored God walking in obedience to the word of God.

That was his heart. Now, with this understanding, I want you to go with me to chapter 18 and we're going to look at the first two verses. Second Chronicles, chapter 18, verse one says,. Now, Jehoshaphat had riches and honor and abundance and joined affinity with Ahab.

And after certain years, he went down to Ahab to Samaria and Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance. And for the people that he had with him and persuaded him to go with him to Ramoth of Gilead.

Jehoshaphat’s Alliance with Ahab

So what we see in chapter 18, these first two verses is that somewhere in Jehoshaphat's walk with God and somewhere in his seeking heart, somewhere in his seeking heart, something got into his heart, something got into this man's heart.

When you really look at this somewhere in his place, in his position, what's happening here, Jehoshaphat is becoming a little too comfortable in his position in the Lord. Jehoshaphat is becoming a little too comfortable in the blessings of the Lord.

And the Bible says that something gets into his heart and he does something that is very obviously displeasing to the Lord, very grievous to the Lord's heart. What he does is he strikes up a friendship with the king of Israel, King Ahab, who's a very ungodly man, a very wicked man.

And in this friendship, he makes an alliance with King Ahab to help Ahab defeat his enemies. Verse two in chapter 18 tells us that Jehoshaphat went down to Samaria and there King Ahab made a great feast for Jehoshaphat honoring his coming into Samaria.

And at this feast table, at this banquet table, King Ahab persuades King Jehoshaphat to make an alliance with him to help him defeat his enemies. And whether Jehoshaphat realizes it or not, what he has just what has just happened to him is he has been ensnared by the ungodly.

He comes and he sits down at this banqueting table with this ungodly man. This ungodly man throws his great feast, throws his flatteries upon King Jehoshaphat. And before you know it, he has taught King Jehoshaphat into making an alliance with him.

Now, brothers and sisters here, here's my point. This is what I wanted to say. If Jehoshaphat's heart was at the place where it should have been at with the Lord, he would have discerned that this was grievous to the Lord.

He would have discerned that this friendship and this alliance, he never would have entered into it because his heart was being kept by the Lord. There would have been a discernment in his heart if he had kept his heart in the place where it should have been with the Lord.

If he had been diligent to guard his heart, to allow the Lord to watch over his heart, to keep his heart, he would have never entered into this alliance. You can see by the prophet's reaction, and we're going to talk about this in a minute, that this was very grievous to the Lord's heart.

It dishonored the Lord. And if Jehoshaphat's heart was the place it should have been, he would have discerned this. He would have never entered into this alliance. So he enters into this alliance. And to make this story short, King Jehoshaphat goes to war with King Ahab, and the Syrians, the people they're fighting, begin to surround King Jehoshaphat.

And it's at the place where if Jehoshaphat doesn't get help, he's going to be slain by the Syrians. So he cries out to the Lord. He's in battle and he cries out to the Lord. And the Lord, in his mercy, hears the cry of Jehoshaphat.

And he comes and he delivers Jehoshaphat from his enemies. And at the same time, King Ahab, this wicked king that he entered into alliance with, was slain. He was killed by the hand of the Lord. The Lord ordered the slaying of this very wicked man.

The Prophet’s Reproof and God’s Mercy

Now, this brings us to chapter 19, what we just read. So look with me again at chapter 19, and we're going to read verse 1 again. Chapter 19, verse 1 says,. And Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem.

So Jehoshaphat is returning to Jerusalem from the battle, knowing in his heart that God has preserved him. Jehoshaphat is returning to Jerusalem, knowing that the only reason he is alive and well is because God heard his cry for help and had mercy upon him.

See, what's happening here is Jehoshaphat is returning back to Jerusalem, and there's just a great relief in his heart. He knows he was done for. He knows his enemy was about to slay him, but God had mercy on him.

And he's coming back, and there's just a relief in his heart that one more time, I'm safe. One more time, God has brought me back to my homeland. He's had mercy upon me, and I'm safe. I am in a safe place.

One more time, I'm safe. But as he's coming back to Jerusalem, there's a prophet whose heart is stirred by the Holy Spirit. And before he can get to Jerusalem, this prophet comes out and he begins to reprove Jehoshaphat under the unction and the stirring of the Holy Spirit.

Before Jehoshaphat enters the gates, the prophet comes to him and says, You have done a very evil thing. You have done something that has grieved God's heart. You've entered into an ungodly reliance with an ungodly man, with a wicked man.

And you have brought great grief to the heart of God. And ultimately, what this prophet tells Jehoshaphat is this. You are worthy of the wrath of God upon your life. He's saying, Jehoshaphat, what you have done is not a light thing in the eyes of God.

What you have done is a serious thing in the eyes of God. And you are worthy of the wrath of God to be upon your life. That's ultimately what the prophet is saying here. Now, brothers and sisters. What I want us to recognize, this prophet comes out to Jehoshaphat and he says, this is no little thing that you have done.

It deserves very serious consequences. The reproof of God came upon his life. But what I want us to recognize is that as a result of this reproof, we see in the rest of the chapter, Second Chronicles, chapter 19, that Jehoshaphat gets his heart right with God.

When the reproof of God comes into his life, Jehoshaphat opens his heart to the reproof of God and he gets his heart right with the Lord. He allows the reproof to come and change his heart. And that's why the Lord had such mercy upon this man.

Because he took God's reproof to heart and he changed his heart. He allowed the Lord to change his heart. Now, looking at this story, there's a few things that I want us to see in the first few verses of chapter 19.

So look with me again at chapter 19, verse one. Says in Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. And I really want to emphasize that word peace. It says he returned to his house in peace into Jerusalem.

And in other words, what I'm what I'm bringing out this morning is without God's faithful reproof, the safety without this, this faithful reproof of the Lord, this feeling that that I'm safe and all is well.

It could have led to a false peace in this man's life if God had not brought his reproof. If if Jehoshaphat, he could have left the battle and went back to Jerusalem, feeling that all is well with God.

Yes, I made a big mistake, but the Lord in his mercy, he preserved me. He delivered me out of it. And now I'm safely back in my homeland and all is well with God. But all wasn't well with God. Because something got into this man's heart that led him to do something that was so grievous to this man's heart.

And brothers and sisters, my point this morning is that is that when something gets into our hearts and stays there, when we do things that really grieve the Lord's heart, because some kind of indifference has gotten in our hearts towards the Lord.

If the Lord doesn't bring reproof, then we can come to a place where we take God's mercy for granted. We can come to a place where we adopt this false peace that says all is well with God. We can become more and more tolerant with disobedience in our lives.

If the Lord doesn't bring the rod of reproof and we have disobedience in our lives and we can adopt this mindset that all is well with God, when all is not well with God, this indifference, this tolerance, this disobedience, this foolishness and folly that can get into the heart.

If God doesn't bring his rod of reproof, it can lead you away from the heart of God and bring you into dangerous places. So God brings his rod of reproof because if he doesn't and we allow that disobedience to stay in our lives and we allow that mindset that all is well with God, even though I'm tolerating things in my life that are dishonoring to the Lord.

If we allow that in our heart and our life and God doesn't bring reproof, it will lead you from the heart of God, it will lead you from his heart. God is faithful to bring his reproof when reproof is needed, because if he doesn't, we will fall into this false peace thinking all is well with God and God is saying, all is not.

Well, you have things in your heart that grieve me and that will take you away from my heart if I don't bring reproof. Amen. Amen. Now there's something else I want us to see. Look with me at verse two.

And Jay, who the son of Hananiah, the seer, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord, therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.

In other words, again, he's saying to King Jehoshaphat, he's saying, Jehoshaphat, what you have done is so serious that you deserve being under the wrath of God. Now, here's what I want to bring out, brothers and sisters, as New Testament believers, when we get saved, we become the children of God.

We're not under the wrath of God. We don't have to worry about being under the wrath of God. God's wrath was taken, taken care of on the cross. God poured his wrath out for our sins upon his son, Jesus, on the cross.

And we come into a loving relationship with our heavenly father. It is a parent child relationship. But what I do want to bring out this morning, it says in Hebrews, who God loves, he will scourge who got when you are a son, a child of God, when God sees the need, he will bring the scourge.

God’s Loving Discipline

Now, here are my hearts. The word scourge is a very severe word. We're not talking about a little hand slap on the wrist and we're not talking about a little spanking. What we're talking about is something severe.

In other words, what the Lord is saying is, I love you and I will do whatever I have to do to wake you up. I will allow into your life whatever I have to allow to get your attention, that there's something going on in your heart, in your life.

You should be taking serious and you're not taking serious. God says, because I love you, I'm not going to, I'm not going to let you come into this false peace and tolerate disobedience in your life, foolishness and folly in your life.

I'm not going to allow you to do that because I love you. And these things can take you away from my heart. And as severe as I have to be, I will be that severe if that will wake you up and get your attention.

Not talking about a little spanking here. We're talking about some very serious things that God will allow in our life to wake us up because he loves us. Lord, what I'm about to say, Lord, help me say it with your heart because I don't want people to misunderstand you.

But I have two people I love very deeply right now, love them very deeply. And they're away from the Lord. And just last week, their eight, 10 year old son came down with leukemia. Leukemia is very serious.

And I'm not saying the Lord, the Lord did that. I'm not even saying the Lord thought it in his mind. I'm not saying that, but I am saying the Lord is using it for the good because now mom and dad is beginning to cry out to God.

I'm saying God loves us too much to allow things that can take us away from his heart and not bring some type of reproof in our life and say, you need to wake up. Something you should be taking serious and you're not taking it serious.

And ultimately, it's about your soul, however severe he has to get, he will get. Now, whether we accept the reproof or not and turn our hearts back to the Lord, I guess that's on us. But the Lord will be faithful to do his part.

You need to wake up. There's something else I want us to see. Look at verse three. Verse three says, Nevertheless, there are good things found in thee that thou has taken away the groves out of the land and has prepared thine heart to seek God.

So Jehoshaphat was a man that was seeking the Lord. He was a seeker of God and what this scripture really shows me is that you can seek the Lord and if you're not guarding your heart while you are seeking the Lord, things can get in your heart that dishonor the Lord.

In other words, brothers and sisters, if you're not guarding your heart, things can come in and sit in your heart that don't honor the Lord, even though you are seeking the Lord. There are things that just can come into your heart, and even though you're seeking the Lord, you're not taking it serious when you ought to be taking it serious here at Mount Zion School of Ministry and Mount Zion Church of the Holy Spirit.

We talk a lot about intimacy because that's God's heart. We hear the word intimacy over and over and over again. We hear the phrase seek the Lord, spend time with the Lord over and over and over again.

And brothers and sisters, the thing that I guard my heart for is that I hear intimacy and seek the Lord and spend time with the Lord over and over and over again that it begins to set in my brain and daily I go through the motions of seeking the Lord.

But in reality, there's something in my heart that has become indifferent towards the Lord. So even though I'm going through the motions of seeking the Lord, there's an indifference in my heart towards the Lord.

And because of that indifference, I start tolerating and allowing things in my heart that are displeasing to the Lord. Brothers and sisters, I want to be a sincere seeker of God. A sincere seeker of God is one that loves the Lord with all their heart, daily spends time with God, and at the same time, they watch their heart.

They guard their heart. God, my prayers don't let anything in my heart that will rob me of my affection and devotion for you. I don't want to go through the motions of getting up four thirty five, five thirty in the morning, praying, seeking you.

And all the while my heart is indifferent towards you. I don't want to waste my time doing that. If I'm going to seek God, I want it because because I love the Lord in my heart is right with God. And you can do that.

You can get so much in the habit of getting up early in the morning and spending time in his presence and playing your guitar and singing songs to him and reading his word. And at the same time, there's an indifference in your heart towards the Lord.

We're just in the habit. My heart is God, I want to seek you. With a right heart, a right spirit, I want to just go through the motions. I truly want your you and your will. And your character to be first place in my heart, I want to be I want to seek God with a right heart.

Personal Revival Through Openness to Reproof

Now, here's really the heart of my message. Well, Pastor Tim, that's really some weighty stuff. You mean that wasn't the heart of your message? No, no. Here's really the heart of my message this morning.

A prophet comes to Jehoshaphat with the rod of reproof and Jehoshaphat receives this reproof, this prophet comes and gives Jehoshaphat a severe shaking and a wake up call. And Jehoshaphat looks into his heart and takes a good look and takes serious what is in his heart.

At this reproof, Jehoshaphat takes serious those things that need to be taken serious. And he aligns himself with the word of God and he begins to walk up rightly before the Lord again. And what I want us to see is that a personal revival takes place in Jehoshaphat's heart because he is open to the reproof of the Lord and he takes what's going on in his heart serious.

A wonderful revival takes place in this man's heart. Well, what kind of revival takes place in this man's heart? Well, brothers and sisters, I want to show you what the Lord says he will do when he has a people that take his reproof serious to put a marker.

Second Chronicles 19, go with me to Proverbs chapter one. Look at verse twenty three. The Lord says, turn you at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you, brothers and sisters, this is revival, personal revival.

The Lord says here that when we take his reproof serious and we turn to his reproof, two very powerful things happen. And this is what I call the grace filled life. I call this the grace filled life. First of all, the Lord says, if you'll take my reproof serious and turn at my reproof, I'm going to pour out my spirit unto you.

In other words, when you have a heart to receive reproof and you take reproof serious from the Lord, the Lord says you are going to know the richness of my presence. My presence is going to so dwell in your heart.

My presence is going to so dwell in your life. The Lord is saying here that not only is my presence going to dwell in your life, but you're going to know the pleasure of God. The presence of God is going to be so real in your heart and the love of God is going to be so real in your heart.

You're going to know when you know that, you know, in your heart that I am so pleasing to my father because I have kept my heart right with God. I allow the Lord to reprove my heart when he needs to. The Lord says, I'm going to pour my spirit out unto you.

In other words, in your heart, the most real thing in your heart is going to be the presence of God. I know God is real. I know he's alive because his presence is so real within my life. And not only when he says, I want to pour out my spirit unto you, is he saying my presence is going to be so rich in your heart?

What he's saying is you're going to know the changing, transforming power of my presence. My presence is going to change your heart. My presence is going to transform you. My presence is going to make you into something you could never be in your own strength.

Because you seek me with a sincere heart. You just don't go through the motions of the motions of seeking me, you seek me with a pure heart, a clean heart. The Lord then says, I'll not only pour my spirit out unto you, but I'll make known my words unto you.

In other words, what Lord is saying, there's going to be such an abundance of life in my word. When you open up this word, I'm going to so speak to your heart out of my word and it's going to be so alive within you.

It's going to be as if we're sitting face to face and talking and having that communion together. That's going to be the life that's coming out of my word. And not only is there going to be such life coming out of my word as in communion, but as in changing, you're going to see the power of my word transform your heart, transform your life because you have opened up your heart to my reproof.

You have a heart that can be reproved. You have a heart that says, God, search me and know my heart. Try me. See if there'll be any wicked ways in me, not just praying the prayer of 139, but in reality and truth, you're saying, God, watch over my heart.

If anything's trying to come in that dishonors you and take a root and sit there, God, bring that godly conviction or open my eyes to see it. And I'll get it right. I'll get it right. Because more than anything on this earth, I just want to have an intimate relationship with God.

Not intimacy is just a word. I want the real thing, real communion, real intimacy with God. Lord, watch my heart. So David is saying in Psalm 139, he's saying, God, be a watchman over my heart every day of my life, be a watchman over my heart.

Show me when things try to come in that can take my heart. And by your grace, I'll get it right, because the most important thing to me in this world, the most important thing to me in this world is my relationship with God, not just in word and truth.

That is the most important thing in my life. So we see, because Jehoshaphat receives the reproof of the Lord. He has this personal revival, in other words, the life of God so feels this man, so feels this man, brothers and sisters, reproof can be painful.

But it's very rewarding. When you let it work in your heart, there's such a life that comes out of receiving the godly reproof of the Lord. Now, what happened next? Jehoshaphat has a personal revival.

Revival Extending from Jehoshaphat to Judah

What happens next? What follows? Well, go back to second Chronicles chapter 19. Look at verse four. Verse four says,. And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem, and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim and brought them back unto the Lord God of their fathers.

Not only did Jehoshaphat experience revival. But the nation of Judah experienced revival. Because Jehoshaphat got his heart right with the Lord, it was open to the reproof of God. God could use him as an instrument to bring revival to his people.

And brothers and sisters, this is my point. When you truly love the Lord and your heart is open to the reproof of God, God can do the absolute impossible through your life. Not just talking about revival.

If he wants to bring revival, he can bring revival, but he can do anything he wants to do through your life. When your heart is open to the reproof of God, someone that hears God's reproof and embraces God's reproof and really puts Jesus back upon the throne of their heart, makes him and his will first place in their life.

God can do anything he wants to do through their life. He can take an 80 year old man, put a stick in his hands and say, go to Egypt, the greatest empire on the earth, crush that power and bring my people out.

He can put a trumpet in someone's hand and say, see that wall that's, that's incongruable. March around it seven times, blow that little trumpet. You'll see it fall. He can do anything he wants to do through a heart that's open to his reproof.

Nothing is impossible with God. And I don't want to know about you, but I want my life to be a miracle making life, not for my glory, for the Lord's glory. But it only come through a heart that's open to his reproof.

The Fear of the Lord as Loving Correction

Now here, I want to just end with this truth here in the faithful reproof of the Lord. What did Jehoshaphat learn? Well, look at verse five. And he said, judges in the land throughout all the fence cities of Judah city by city and said to the judges, take heed what you do for you judge, not for man, but for the Lord who is with you in judgment.

Wherefore, now let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Take heed and do it. For there was no iniquity with the Lord or God nor respect of persons nor taking of gifts. Moreover, in Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat said of the Levites and the priests and the chief of the fathers of Israel for the judgment of the Lord and for controversies when they returned in Jerusalem.

And he said to them, saying, Thus shall you do in the fear of the Lord faithfully and with the perfect heart. In the faithful reproof of the Lord, what did Jehoshaphat learn? He learned the fear of the Lord.

He learned the fear of the Lord. In other words, for a child of God, this is why he learned the Lord loves me too much to let me get away with not taking serious things I need to be taking serious. Because the Lord loves me, he will bring the rod of reproof to my life when he sees the necessity to do so.

To me, that's the fear of the Lord. Knowing God loves me too much just to let me wander off and stray or tolerate things in my heart that dishonor him, that will one day lead me on a clear path away from his heart.

He loves me too much for that. And he will bring his rod of reproof, not a wrathful, not the rod of a wrathful God, but the rod of a loving father. And brothers and sisters, that's where the freedom of the fear of the Lord comes in.

When you know in your heart God's going to deal with me as a loving father, that don't bring a tormenting fear. What that does is bring a rest to your heart because it's just another confirmation of the love of God.

Just another confirmation that my God passionately loves me and I can rest in the love of God. Now, whether I receive the reproof, that's up to me. But God will be faithful to do his part. He will be faithful to shake me and say, this is God.

I love you. I'm trying to get your attention. Whether you let reproof work in your heart or not, that's on you. But I'm just here to let you know I love you. And this is something you need to be taking serious.

A Call to Examine the Heart

You're not taking serious in your life because I love you. Now, brothers and sisters, here's I'm just going to shoot straight from the hip to your heart in love, because this is what the Lord is speaking to me very clearly.

And I know it's the Lord. I don't have to go through a list of things. That are dishonoring to the Lord, don't have to talk about your worship, idol worship and what that is and and disobedience and how people are disobeying, I don't have to do that because the Lord told me this morning there are people here you already know in your heart what you're doing.

That's dishonoring the Lord. You already know the things that you're doing and the things that you are saying, not once, but repeatedly in your life. And deep in your heart, you know, it dishonors the Lord.

But as this message was going forth, there's something that that just came up in your heart and you say, you know what? I am doing these things. I'm not doing them once. I'm tolerating it in my life. But more than anything, I do want my walk to be sincere with God.

I don't just want to get up in the morning and go through the motions of seeking God. I want to be a sincere, a real seeker of God. I want to keep my heart right. And I'm going to come this morning and one more time, I'm going to ask God for his mercy, and I know in my heart he's going to cleanse me and I'm going to receive the grace that I need and I'm going to lay those things down.

You know, it's tragic when we seek God, but we don't allow him to keep our heart. And we just indifferent to him. I don't want to be indifferent to the Lord. Do you want to be indifferent to the Lord?

The saddest thing in the world is that you could sit on a message like this and know there's something not right in your heart with God and not take it serious. Just walk out. The Lord is saying, don't waste your time, truly love me with all of your heart.

Get it right, whatever you need to get right, get it right. And let's have the real intimacy that I can have with your heart and my people, not that you're perfect. Not that you're perfect, you'll do everything perfect, but that your heart is open to correction.

When I want to say this isn't right, you say, you know what? This isn't right. By the grace of God, I put it under the blood. And I get rid of it, I'm not going to gossip, I'm not going to slander, I'm not going to talk evil about my brother and sister, I'm not going to justify small disobediences and petting my flesh, doing fleshly things that I know grieves God's heart.

I'm not going to excuse it. I'm going to get my heart right. And for us, for us that here, and I don't say that condescendingly or proudly, I had, I really had to search my own heart before preaching this message for us that we know our hearts are right with God.

I just wanted us to one more time just come before the Lord and say, God, just search my heart. Is anything I'm not seeing anything I'm not letting you deal with? Have I been ignoring a prompting of the Holy Spirit so long that now my heart is just growing callous to it?

God, just search my heart one more time. Stand with me this morning.