How Is Your Heart?

Most of us sitting in the room are used to the typical American greeting, how are you doing. We all respond fine. Number one, we say that because we're American, that's just our response. Number two, the person asking the question really hopes it's what you say, because they're just being kind and probably don't want to know. But um, pretty much without thinking, that's our response. But how do you answer the question, somebody says, how is your heart? How is your heart today?

If you'll turn with me in Second Chronicles chapter 25, we're going to look at a a king that had a heart issue going on, and we're going to discuss that today. Second Chronicles 25, we're going to begin verse 1. Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Jehoiadan of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart. Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, that he slew his servants that had killed the king his father. But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded saying, the fathers shall not die for their children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.

That scripture leaps off the page at me, verse 2, and he did that which was right in the side of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart. If you'll turn II Kings 14 and verse 3, referring to the same king and messiah, this scripture, Second Kings 14 and verse 3 says, and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his father. He did according to all things as Joash his father did. He was the king of Judah here about 200 years after David was king of Israel, and the account of his reign, we we read part there in chapter 25 of Second Chronicles, and you can go back and read the story for yourself.

If you look through scriptures, you you know, when you normally read a biography of a political figure, the count starts with their younger days and leads up through their chronological order of the events of their life. But we see here the Bible introduces msi, it starts right off telling us the condition of his heart. And in the case of Amaziah we see he had an uncommitted heart. Too many times we serve as long as it's convenient, long as it doesn't conflict with with what my agenda for the day is. Okay God, I'm okay with that.

We see according to the text, hammond's eye had his father's murderers executed. He didn't kill their sons, and this was a tactic that was used a lot by a lot of monarchs as a security measure. Let's just go ahead and get all those guys out of the way. If we get rid of all the experience then there's less likely to take me out. But amazon was obeying the law of Moses where it said the sons will not be punished for their father's sins. So we see he was doing what was right in the eyes of God.

Next, we go on and read the story in the account of him preparing to attack the bordering nation of Edom. And in so doing, he wanted to beef up his army, and so he hires a hundred thousand mercenaries from Israel, big, tough, professional warriors. When you go into a fight you want to make sure you got enough on your side. But the problem was that Israel had at this point become unfaithful to God, and God's favor was not with them any longer, and making an alliance with this ungodly nation was against God's law. So he had a prophet that came to him and reminded him, saying, hey it's God who has the power to help you or to overthrow you. It's not in people and men around you. So you better trust in God, get rid of those guys who are not in God's favor.

And we see here, he he paid attention to the words of the prophet, but he had his own self in in mind as well. We read in the scriptures, we see he had already paid in advance for these soldiers to fight. He said, what am I supposed to do with what I've already invested? And the prophet tells him, well, God will provide. God can give you more than you could ever imagine. We see here that amazon was worried about itself. What about my money? I want my money back. I don't want to invest something and not know I'm going to get a return. We see here he wasn't wholeheartedly committed to his own, his desire and his obedience to God. And when you study it out, there was a lot of money invested. It was close to, well, a little over five hundred thousand dollars most likely. That's a big chunk to put in and say, well, that's all gone. But we see his his heart, his intention, was on earthly material concerns. I've got to win, so whatever the cost I'm going to win. I've got to look good. I've got to be victorious. But I've got to make it happen on my own. But God brought the prophet into his life, and he just missed them, about 25 of his army, and they went on. God blessed, and he won that military victory.

But the next thing is just mind-blowing, that he had this response. Second Chronicles 25 and verse 14. It says, now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of — the, the slaughter is a strong word. It doesn't say, man, you just barely squeaked by. No, slaughter insinuates there was a real victory. He just went in and cleaned house, and come on back home. It said, from the slaughter of the, that he brought the gods of the children of sierra, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them.

Now I read that, that was one of those scratch your head moments, like what were you thinking. I've got a teenager at home, so I have a few of those here lately. What were you thinking? But this verse, it tells us that he he takes the idols from Edom that he had just defeated and sets him up at his own house. Not only sets up, but he begins to worship them. He had just defeated his enemy. He had just accomplished a victory, and no doubt God was the one that gave him the victory. Why would you turn your back on God? Why would you serve other gods? But we see here, he turns to the idols. In the eyes of everybody else it seems to be doing right. He's running the good race. But we see this u-turn in his life. Obvious, his heart had suddenly revealed an issue.

We continue on in the story. He doesn't stop there. Verse 15 says, wherefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against amazing, and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand? Why would you serve a god who didn't make them win, and now you've turned and said, yeah, this is what I'm going to serve. And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said unto him, art thou made of the king's council? For bear, why should it thou be smitten? He said, you're not part of the king's council, I'm not listening to you. So just go away, or or I'll have you killed. Then the prophet, for bearing, said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou has done this, and has not hearkened unto my counsel.

He's pointing out his wrong here. He's saying, hey, check your heart. What's going on in your head here today? Why would you serve these idols? But his heart wasn't turned toward God. He was worried only about himself. He had been influenced by this godless culture around him. And in this time, when a nation won a battle, they were assuming that the gods of that nation had turned on them, and now it was on their side. So this was a a practice that took place more than not in those times. By worshiping these idols, Amaziah was thanking them for helping out with the victory. He knew deep down inside God was the one. God had told him, get rid of those extra guys, you don't need them, I'm on your side. But yet he says, well, this is what everybody else does, so this is what I'm going to do.

What's most disturbing about the account is that amazon appeared to be serving God, and the next moment we read that he's bowed down to foreign god, a foreign idol, turned his back on God. You say, well, that's just ludicrous. But how many times have we seen that in our own life? We've seen somebody that's well respected as a leader, seems to be 100 committed, and suddenly it's revealed in the headlines of some public scandal, they weren't truly sold out. Their heart was not totally committed to God. A friend or a mentor who's helped you, and edged you along, and guided you, suddenly you find out that they become angry, and they turn their back on God. Or somebody that's just come into the church, they're on fire, man, they're doing the will of God, it seems everything God is touching and blessing their life, and all of a sudden we see them just walk away. What's the problem? There's a heart issue. There's a commitment issue in their heart, in their life, that they have not settled, and it's suddenly revealed itself inside of them.

See, so many times we see that outward appearance, and everything looks good. Hey, I'm fine, all's good. But inside we're hurting, inside we're lacking. Our heart is not right. We're not committed to what it is God is desiring us to commit to. We have not fully sold out to the will and the purpose and the intent for God in our life. But as long as we've got the outside right, nobody's going to really know. Everything looks good. I've come to tell you, obedience is necessary, and obedience is important, but we've got to do more than just know what it says and obey. We've got to be sold out and committed wholeheartedly to this thing from the day one till he comes back for the rapture of his church. This isn't something that we commit to on Sunday and we'll pick it back up next week. It's got to be a heart settled issue if we're ever going to survive. God's after a heart that's fully sold out and committed to him.

And messiah did what was right, but he never put his whole heart into it. I'll do what's right as long as it's convenient. I'll do what's right as long as it goes my way. He started out with faith, but it was half-hearted, surface only. Even after he had sinned by worshiping the idols, God extended his mercy and gave him another chance. But he rejected it. Doesn't fit my plan. He even told the man of God, the prophet sent to him, just stop talking to me. My way is better. I've got this figured out, and I don't need you in my life anymore. I've come to tell you, you've picked a slippery slope when you decide your way is better than the man of God's way that God's placed in your life. If you're not heeding to the pastor in your life, you've chosen a life of destruction. You say, you can't say that, everything's good. I've come to tell you today, if your heart is not committed, and you're not allowing the voice of God to speak in your life, your heart is beginning to harden.

When we talk about the heart, we usually just talk about our feelings. I'm heartbroke, they posted something wrong about me, and then I'm just whatever. So when we we look in scripture, we see in the Old Testament it talks about the heart, it's not just your feelings. It's talking about our mind, our will, our entire spiritual being. When it references the heart, it's talking about, how are you spiritually? The whole life of a person as an individual is wrapped up in the heart. Jesus tells us in scripture that the greatest commandment, you shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It's got to be a commitment all across the board.

So what caused amazon to suddenly abandon the Lord God Almighty for some pieces of wood and stone? What what turned him aside? We've all been in situations, tempted to do something crazy, when a state of desperation sits in, life has just been thrown off track, you're spinning out of control. God, what do I do? What — and suddenly flesh begins to rise. Well, I can handle this. I've got to do this on my own. Evidently God's not here. Amazon wasn't the first person who had turned to his own avenues outside the will of God to find an answer, because the truth is, we all are sinners. We've all messed up, had mistakes, face regrets. But I'm so thankful his mercy extended to us through all of those opportunities that we avoided. He's calling on us. He's reaching out to us continually. Don't give up on me. Don't sell me short. Come and commit yourself to me once again.

So many buy into a program more than trusting God Almighty. And it's easy for us to point fingers at him, but it's not so easy for us to see that sometimes we're tempted to do something very similar in our own life. No, you may not have a big idol, or a god or a goddess that's a statue in your home, but we bring these idols into our life sometimes unintentionally. We don't even realize it. We just pack them up, and when we get home, we set them up. This is this is what I'm gonna do. This is my plan. This is my goal. Scriptures command us not to have idols, but when we turn to an object or a substance for comfort, or to zone out, instead of going to Christ, the one who can make a difference, we have placed some idols before him.

So many serve the idol of the almighty dollar, whatever it takes to earn another one. Yes, we've got to make a living, but not at the cost of our soul. The idol of comfort, whatever I got to do to be comfortable. You know, I've just got to feel good, and if I if I just miss church one day I'll be okay. What idol are you serving? In the me society, it's all about me. I've got to be all I can be, and preacher, if I'm going to come to church, you got to make me feel good when I leave. What idol are you serving? Where is your heart today?

Some say righteousness isn't as important as it used to be. I've come to tell you, God's never changed, and righteousness should never go away as well. We've got to live a life committed to him. We've got to live a life that is righteous and holy and pure before him. And when we begin to delete righteousness from our life, I've come to tell you, you're about to have some serious heart issues. Well, I can say anything I want to, whatever I think. Be careful, your heart is beginning to expose some problems. James three and six says the tongue is a fire, and it goes on and says it's set on fire by hell. Be careful, tongue will get you in trouble and reveal some heart issues if you aren't careful and checking yourself. I can do whatever I want to. Please, dangerous statement. It seems to be our culture's motto. You can't tell me I can't do this, I can't go there, I can't act this way.

God clearly states in scripture that he does not like liars, murderers, wicked hearts, strife spreaders, and the list goes on. We're all sinners, either saved or lost or working on it. And the truth is, we're never going to be perfected until Jesus transforms us when we walk on those streets of gold. So we've all got work to do. No one in this room stands, this is the role model, this is what you got to do. But we're all working toward that in our life. We've got to work toward that being what God's called us to be, fulfilling his will, his purpose. Our name on a church roll is not enough. I'm glad you're here, thank you for attending. But if you come just so nobody will call you the rest of the week, your motive is wrong, your heart is wrong. We join to strengthen, encourage each other, but we also come in here to worship the one who's worthy. It isn't just a social club, but we're come here to be healed, to be strengthened, to be solidified, because this world's throwing enough garbage at us, and if we're not having our heart inspected, we'll find ourself in the midst of trouble.

What are you looking at in your life? What are you viewing? So many say, well, I can do and watch what I want to without agreeing with the message. The eyes are a window to the heart, and it's a two-way street. What you put in is going to come out. Philippians 4 and 8 tells us what to let our mind dwell on. Be careful what you ingest, because it will it will affect your heart.

Some say, well, I learned about the Bible in in church, so I don't have to read it at home. So sad. If your sweetheart wrote you a love letter, would you just leave it in the envelope? Somebody else can tell me what it says. He's written his word to you and I, not only expressing his love and his adoration and his sacrifice for us, but it's also an instruction manual so we don't mess up. It's an instruction manual so we don't find ourself with a heart that's destroyed, because we have not heeded to his call.

Loving others isn't important. I'll just go my own way, do my own thing. Others can worry about yourself. I'm so thankful God loved me when I was unworthy. God never let me get to the place that I don't love people, because if we're not loving people, we're no better than anybody else that we're trying to lead and guide. We have totally missed the mark in our heart. Be totally dead, because God is love. And if we're going to be anything like God, we've got to love. We've got to love people where they're at. We've got to love people in the condition they are, in the condition that they come to us. God brings them to us to witness to them, to instruct them, to encourage them. And if we're not doing that, we might as well shut the door. We got to love people.

So who's in control of your life? All areas. Who's guiding you? Who's instructing you? What counsel are you listening to, and is it healthy for your heart? Because God instructs us, God guides us, he puts us on the path of righteousness. If we were willing to surrender to his plan, he will provide, he will protect. And he expects us to be obedient to him and to follow his plan, because we are responsible to him. We are accountable to God. And God places those warnings in our life. When heart issues take place, there's always a warning that happens.

I'm aware of heart problems in my family. April last year my dad went in, had several blockages. He, after five bypasses, he was on the mend. August rolls around, my oldest brother suffered a heart attack, four bypasses, he's back up. Mom had bypass surgery a few years ago. I've decided West Tennessee is a bad place to live. So I'm just kidding. But it's it's real thing in my family. My granddad passed away at 54, third heart attack. He lived in West Tennessee too. But I've come to tell you, if you don't have an inspection of the heart, if you don't get the heart checked up, and you just think, I can live any old way I want, I can eat what I want, I don't have to heed what the doctors, you may end up with a bypass or two, or five if you're lucky. But I've come to tell you, your spiritual heart — there's no bypass. There's no bypassing what it is God wants to do in your life.

There are no workarounds. We have one solution, and that's to be obedient to the word of God. We've got to follow it wholeheartedly. We've got to commit to it, sell out to it. And this is the only way. There is no other way. There is no other option. God, I've got to sell out. I've got to be committed to you day in and day out, regardless what comes in my life. I am sold out to you as my savior, because he's the only way out of here. And we've got to take action on our part. We've got to guard against the things that would destroy the heart. And he warns us over and over again about turning to other things, or listening to the wrong voices in our life. We must always remember who saved us, and who takes care of us, and remember who the one true God is, because there's a lot of voices that offer a lot of options. And if you're not careful, you'll be tripped up, and you'll find yourself worshiping those idols that God never intended to be worshipped.

How many remember that first time when you received the Holy Ghost for the very first time, how much love and how much joy just consumed you, and nobody could have offended you in that very moment? Or in those times of great need and desperation, and suddenly God stepped into your life, and he begins to work, and he brings peace and comfort in the midst of your situation. You say, yes, I remember that. Do you still have that in your life today? Because I've come to tell you, God hasn't moved. God hasn't changed. And if something's changed, you better find your way back to God.

We can't go and dictate the rules of our relationship and expect God to just sign off and follow what we want to do. When you go to the doctor, you don't go in and say, okay doc, I've been having this severe chest pain, but I think, um, you know, I'm still gonna drink bacon grease. And now he's probably not gonna sign off on your little plan of a diet. There's gonna be an examination. May be some uncomfortable moments. There may be some procedures that need to take place to correct the heart issue. But in our spiritual walk, we we always seem to think, well, it's going to work different. I'll make the rules. As long as I follow those rules, God will be fine. But I've come to tell you, you can't be more faithful just by simply lowering the standard of faith. Well, we'll just change what the what the protocol is.

The problem with amazon was he lowered the standard from what it had been, what it should have remained at. He changed. Second Kings 14 and 3, we read it, but I'll read it again. And he did that which was right in the side of the Lord, yet not like David his father. He did according to all things as Joash his father did. We can't be guilty of setting our own life standard and expecting God to just come alongside and honor what we have come up with, because that's not our job. It's laid out long before we hit the scene, what we've got to do, what standard we must measure up to, what plan we must follow. The word of God is our standard.

Our heart problems arise when we disregard the warning of the heart and just continue down the path that seems often the easiest. We hear statements when our heart begins to reveal issues, like, church is a priority, so I make it there at least once a month. I want to have a closer walk with God, but I have such a hard time finding the time to do so. The Bible, it's important in my life, I even read it sometimes. I've come to tell you, you know, when your heart's not right, things don't work the way they always worked. You let your heart get out of rhythm, you'll be the first to know. So many times our heart gets out, and we say, I'm fine spiritually. You're dying inside. God is crying out, return to me, find an altar, and pour your heart out to me, so I can do the operation necessary to fix it. And the whole time we stand and say, I'm fine. Bitterness is taking root. Hardness is setting in.

When we sit in our seat, what will they think? I'm sorry, if I'm dying, it doesn't matter what you think. I'm getting the help I need. I'm excited about meeting Jesus, but I ain't signing up for the first bus out. I enjoy life. But God is calling us, check your heart daily. Find time. God, inspect me today. Check, make sure everything's right. Forgive me of all that's wrong in my life. Cleanse me. Wash me. Let me not come to a place where I can't hear your voice and sense your presence leading and guiding me where you would have me to be.

But we see Amaziah, he followed in the footsteps of his father Joash. But as soon as everything seems to go right, he turns from God and relies on his own logic. Well, this is what I think. This is the way it should be. And this is a challenge to us. So many want to run to God when crisis happens, but when God begins to bless and to honor your life, how often do we say, well, look what I did. We want to suddenly take the glory to ourself. The problem is, when we begin to look to the wrong king, we look to this world, and they're acknowledging that, hey, well, I must a success, I've arrived, I've achieved. And instead of him looking to David, who set the standard for a king, we see amazon look to Joash. I've come to ask you, where are you looking today? Where is your standard set today? Are you still aligning with the standard that we must adhere to, or have you aligned to the standard that this world tries to tell you is the way to go?

I've come today to say, if your heart's not right, it's not too late. We must find a place of repentance when we recognize that something's just not right in the heart. Psalms 50 and 15 says, and call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Too many times we're quick to call in time of trouble, but we don't want to give him the glory. Just fix what's wrong, and let me get on my own way. Just put a band-aid on me, and let me keep going. I'm sorry, when your heart's messed up, band-aids don't fix it. When your heart's messed up, you've got to go to the one who knows the heart. And I've come to tell you, if you haven't met the creator of the heart, today is your day. He is waiting for you. He wants to perform a surgery on you that will transform your life into what he desires you to be. So as musicians come, as you stand today, I ask you, what is going on in your life? How is your heart? And I ask this question, how is your heart? I know there's two groups of people here today, two kinds of people. Many of you, you work hard, and you seek to serve God and all that you do. You're diligent. You're devoted in your obedience to God. But I ask you today, truly ask the question, how is my heart? Am I truly still remembering the one that I'm working for? If your heart is found lacking, find a place to get it fixed today.

But there's another individual that I fear is in a very different place. You sit in church because it just worked out. It was kind of convenient. But when you walk out the door, God really doesn't matter very much. Your own plans, your own agendas, your own ideas, are seem to be working out. God doesn't play a part in your real everyday world. It feels good, and we checked the box on Sunday, and even on Wednesday, hey, I was there. But I challenge you today as well, ask the question, how is my heart? If the answer is, uh, I'm fine, don't accept that answer. That's a lie from the enemy that will destroy your very soul.

So I open these altars today, and I invite everyone here today, find a place to seek God. Ask him to do an operation in your own life today, because he wants to touch your heart. He wants to correct anything that's wrong, and it would separate and stop his flow in your life. I beg you today, seek him with your whole heart. Sell out to him today. And if you will find a place to pursue after him, he will take your heart, and create a new life, a new desire. A fresh anointing will rest upon you. I invite you today, these altars are open. God stands ready to heal your heart today, but will you allow him to do so? It's prayer time. Can we find a place to pray today?