 Amen. So keep your place in Ephesians chapter four. So we're continuing our good habit series And we're gonna talk this evening and for the next two sermons in this series We're gonna start talking about spiritual habits. We're not gonna, you know, we talked about some some physical Habits, you know things that you actually do Which of course can be spiritual But we're gonna talk about more things that are just spiritual in nature and this evening We're gonna talk about church attendance and the habit of church attendance So I mean just thinking about good spiritual habits, you know Just think about this as we head into these next few sermons Do you think you have good spiritual habits in your life? You know, we're gonna look at church attendance this evening But we're also gonna look at two to three other areas in your spiritual life and just kind of do a Test and see where you think you are and how maybe we could approve in some of those areas, but look We'll look at that and then see how we measure up to what the Bible says basically, okay? Now look the kicker behind Spiritual things is this all right, and I don't know maybe some of you have noticed This with me but turn to Ephesians chapter four. You're there already and look at verse number 17 The thing about spiritual things is that they cannot be forced You cannot force Spirituality on somebody okay, I can't force Spirituality on you. I can't you know Threaten you to become more spiritual all right? I can't you know hold anything over your head or whatever to get you to become more spiritual why? Well, first of all, it wouldn't be right second of all It wouldn't work it wouldn't work So look at Ephesians chapter 4 and verse number 17 as we're thinking about Spiritual things and we're going to talk specifically about one this evening look at verse 17 where it says this I I say Therefore and testify in the Lord that he henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind Having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them Because of the blindness of their heart now that's I mean there's quite a lot right there in those two Verses I mean but I mean just one thing that I like to point out if you look at just the connecting words the connecting Phrase in between verse 17 and verse 18. There's some irony in this verse It's not the point of the sermon, but there's some irony that basically saying these Gentiles were walking So we have this cultural shift in the in Christianity at this point, right? So Jesus is ascended to heaven and now you know these churches are forming and the Gentiles are being brought in They're having the gospel preached to them and you know Paul is talking here about the Gentiles coming in He's like hey don't walk out of the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their own mind So they're walking in you know this prideful You know the vanity of their own mind what they think is right and all this But the irony is is verse 18 having their understanding darkened So they're walking in their lives with you know this this vain mind that's self-focused and they have no Understanding because there's no you know there's no God there right so I mean But the point I'm trying to make is if we look at the end of verse 18 having their understanding darkened So they're they're foolish. They're not seeing the truth They're not understanding things being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them So the you know the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge Amen the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge so these people don't have that and they're alienated from the life Of God through the ignorance that is in them because of what? Because of the blindness of their heart so they were ignorant of the life of God That's the first problem these Gentiles, okay, and then because why because their heart was blind Their heart was hard towards the Lord Okay, and then you know why if then you can kind of trace it back again to verse 17 and it's because of their walk It's because of how they were living their lives. They were not living for the Lord They were living in vanity. Okay, they were living outside of the Lord so with these things in mind You know spiritual things Spiritual habits or lack thereof what I'm trying to get you to understand before we get started here It's a problem with your heart. It's a problem with the condition of your heart You say well, I'm not you know this unbeliever But you look you could still have a heart problem that could still cause you spiritual Issues in your life. So turn to Hebrews chapter 10. So that's why look That's why it can't be forced because it's a problem that exists in your own heart and Somebody look what do we know about the gospel? I mean why did God make it by belief alone because that's all yours Your belief is all yours. It's a hundred percent yours. I can't force you to believe anything. Look I can persuade you I Can do my best to persuade you using some pretty wise and knowledgeable counsel But I can't force you to believe anything in the same way. I can't force you to be spiritual I can't force you as we're going to talk about tonight to want to come to church that can't be forced So look at Hebrews chapter 10 and look at verse number 24 very very famous verses here talking about church attendance and Fellowship of believers in Hebrews chapter 10 look at verse 24 and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works Not forsaking The assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is as the manner of everyone is now by the way But exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching Hey, let me just say this when you're going out soul-winning. Are you running into anybody that's going to church anymore? No Nobody's going to church No, I mean, how do you think? Well, you know good churches bad churches. We know most of them are not good But here's the thing. How do you think that this is going to go? For most people I mean most people didn't want to be in church in the first place. Otherwise, they would have found a church to go To okay, but look this is talking about not forsaking the assembly This is talking about going to church in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 25 to provoke one another to exhort one another You know, here's the thing about church. I don't want to pressure you to come to church Like I have zero desire to pressure Anybody to come to church look if if if you're somebody who really doesn't come to church that much or sometimes you're in church and then you're out of church and You know because we have people like this You know, maybe you're once a month twice a month three times a month depends on the month Look, I'm not going to hunt you down. I Have zero desire to do that. Why? You say why I mean, I'm not going to be calling you Hey, you know trying to convince you to come back to church and all this kind of stuff Look, I love you. Hope you all come to church, but here's the thing I don't want a church full of people that don't want to be here I don't want a church full of people that I'm pressuring every single week to be here I want, you know, you to find out and what we're going to talk about this evening is I want you to find out What's keeping you from church? I want you to fix that so you can get to church on your own So you can come to church on your own. So let me ask you this evening Just think about this in your minds and I'm going to ask one of the kids a question tonight So the kids better pay attention. Okay, because I'm going to ask and I have not I've not Talked to any of the kids before so I'm taking a risk here because I don't know what they're going to say But here let me ask you everyone in this room tonight. Do you like coming to church and if not if not why? If not, why? So let's do a thought experiment. We're going to look at the kids this evening. Let's do a thought experiment now Look, I'm going to go out on a limb here. Okay, and I'm going to say I'm going to speak for most of the kids here because I think that most of the kids like coming here That's what I think. Okay. Now. I'm going to ask. I'm going to ask Josiah right now All right, I'm going to ask Josiah Josiah and you just I haven't just I have I talked to you before the church service about this Have I talked to you about? You're making me a liar brother. Have I told you that I'm going to ask you a question Before church or well during this or okay. All right. I'm sorry. I'm confusing you All right, Josiah on a scale of one to ten Are you listening on a scale of one to ten with one being I can't stand church This guy's lame. I can't stand listening to this guy It's boring. I just woke up. I'm sleeping most of the time. Okay, that's one Ten is I love church. It's fun. I love coming here fives like yeah, it's kind of okay So on that scale Josiah, what would you say is your number as far as church? ten, okay I'm like this could go really bad Okay, so look but I can tell I didn't even have to ask Josiah because I can tell okay I can tell that the kids in this church like coming to church You know how I can tell because I'm sitting there and I'm watching the security cameras And I'm going over my sermons before you know evening church and before morning church And I can tell what every family's here because their kids are blasting through the door Like two minutes before their parents even come through the door on every family So I can tell that the kids like coming here look and first of all that makes me very happy because it makes me feel like we are Doing something correct Okay, but I want to explain What this means for us? Okay, because look It's not all just playtime here. You say they just like coming here because they get to play with all their friends I want you to think about this for a second Okay, these kids come to church and now most people to you is probably not going to be a big deal But try to remember if you were saved later in life if you used to go to a false church or used to be Catholic or something else Like that I'll give you my own You know experience on this a little bit later But just think about what I'm about to say from that perspective if you can if you can put yourself in those shoes These kids you say oh, they're just having fun And we got all this play stuff and there's toys and they play chess and there's a whole play area back here And I mean look that's all true, but these kids between two services on Sunday and Soul winning these kids are listening. They're sitting in over two and a half hours of church services I mean it's not all just playtime. I Mean look to most people that's extreme To most people outside of our circle. I mean that's extreme, but here's the thing they love it They love it. Why? Why look here's my testimony. I hated church growing up I went to a Lutheran church growing up and I couldn't stand it The church service because it was long it was boring and look whenever we got to stay home for whatever reason from church We were like yes, but look the service itself. I still remember it. It was like torture It was like torture to and I mean if you would have talked about to me as a kid that yeah We're going to go to church for two and a half hours on a Sunday. I'd have run away from home. I Mean I'd have just been like this is enough. I can't do it, but here's the thing. So what's different here? What's different here? Here's the difference folks. Here's what's happening turn to Ephesians chapter 6 Turn to Ephesians chapter 6 what's happening here and the reason it's not like that here. It's a beautiful thing Let's take a look at it Look at Ephesians chapter 6 in verse number 4 probably a verse that you know well but look Look at the look at Ephesians 6 4 and you fathers provoke not your children to wrath But bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord now Look, these kids are being brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Look, that's a beautiful thing You say what does that have to do with the fact that you know, they love church will just stay with me Look no matter how thing how crazy things get out here. No matter how crazy things get out there I told some of the guys it's quite possible that 2021 could get even stupider than 2020 at this point I mean, but look it doesn't matter because at the end of the day, you know We discussed these things but at the end of the day these kids are being brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord turn to Romans chapter 2 and look at admonition means counsel Admonition means instruction They're being brought up in the instruction of the Lord and you see for the kids turn to Romans 2 14 for the kids So we see they're they're being brought up in the nurture and admonition in that instruction of the Lord But here's the difference the kids love it here because their Consciousness the law written in their heart is undefiled It's it's not been messed with It's it's it's pure look at Romans chapter 2 and look at verse number 14 The Bible here talks about that law written in everybody's heart. Remember everybody gets this Everybody starts with this you say it's not fair. Well, everybody starts in their life with the conscience written in their heart What they do with it at that point is is a different story look at Romans 2 14 for when the Gentiles Which have not the law they did not have the oracles of God They did not have the Bible that was the advantage that the Jew had remember what advantage have the Jew Because he had the Bible That's the advantage, but the Gentiles which they have not the law. They didn't have the Bible Do by nature the things contained in the law so it says they didn't they didn't have the Bible But they would still do things they still knew that murder was wrong. They still knew that it was wrong to steal Wow How there's no there's nobody told them. There's no Bible. They didn't have the oracles of God. They weren't Jews They are a lot these having not the law or a law unto themselves which show the work of the law written in their hearts Their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the meanwhile Accusing or else excusing one another so God wrote the law in everybody's heart is what he's telling us here And look he's saying about the actions of the Gentiles. You can see it. You can see evidence of it in the same manner Also these kids love church because as they grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord It matches their conscience you see That key fits perfectly into the undefiled conscience of their heart of that Undefiled law in their heart look to the kids have the knowledge of the law No, they don't have the knowledge of everything, but they're going to grow in the nurture and instruction of the law Right and that key fits perfectly Because there's no there's nothing broken there There's nothing messed up there. The lock hasn't been smashed. It hasn't been you know Torched or anything and nothing's wrong with it. Look so it matches that that's why they like it here and It gives them confidence and it builds It nurtures them and it builds that conscience in it and it it solidifies it It's a beautiful thing. It gives them confidence. It gives them peace and what everybody's happy when they have peace But it's the opposite turn to Psalm 119 Remember what we talked about this morning. We talked about that shipwrecked conscience It's the opposite of that It's the opposite of a shipwrecked conscience. It's a it's a fortified hole We're fortifying the hull of their conscience if we're talking about a ship instead of shipwrecking the thing What turn to Psalm 119? Look at Psalm 19 one says the very first verse of this Massive longest chapter in the Bible talking about the love for the law. Look at verse one Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. That's what's happening That's why the kids like it here because they're because they're blessed Because they're being blessed because they're they're undefiled and what's happening here is matching their conscience It's building them up and they're walking in the law of the Lord and look it's just going to get better They're going to just love it more and more look it's where kids get where kids get messed up is where their consciences are defiled it's where you know through through you know God forbid abuse or wicked influence in their life or you know I mean just think about all the things that are out there like the fornication the drugs the alcohol Terrible sins that you know people could just drag kids and young adults into this is how I mean This is how you end up with you know imagine a teenager that would commit suicide Your whole life's in front of you It makes no logical sense But this is this is how it happens. It's what it's the opposite of what's happening here It's the opposite the world will take the world is it's almost does it almost seem like there's an agenda to defile the conscience of Children does it almost seem like because there is an agenda To defile the conscience. We're building it here. We're strengthening it here because when these young men and These young ladies go out and they leave their parents home and they get married and they go out into the world Guess what? They're on their own Well, hopefully they're still in a good church, but they're gonna have to withstand more than when they're being protected by their parents That nurture needs to turn into strength But look the world is trying to tear all that down constantly They're trying to break that conscience. They're trying to scar it. They're trying to mar it and look That's why you'll see with kids You'll see with kids that have a heavy outside influence in their life. Look Maybe the teenager that has a heavy outside influence in his life and then he gets saved and Then he gets in church It's a more difficult path You'll see that you'll see that I mean praise God that they got saved in no matter what point in their life But look, I mean the church thing and the spiritual life. It just may not stick Because there's been damage there. You see what I'm saying you could look you can damage it You can I mean that's why the Bible says it's been shipwrecked You can shipwreck that thing Try to fix try to fix a boat that's been shipwrecked Difficult it's a great analogy because it's difficult to fix It's the same reason on homeschooling by the way I know we're talking about church But one thing that I've asked for the last 10 or 15 years Whenever and I used to do this when I would go and visit other churches And we got a chance to meet other families and other and you know Most decent churches should have a heavy homeschooling if not all homeschooling because they should be preaching that type of thing But I would always ask homeschool kids, you know, hey, do you like being homeschooled and like a hundred percent they None of them would say I want to go to public school and the only time you will ever Hear that you will ever hear that a kid wants to go to public school Is if they were pulled out of public school and homeschooled when they're like a junior in high school Then they might be like yeah, I don't want to be homeschooled. I'd rather be in school But why is that it's because there's been damage there There's there's been shipwreck happened there So look, it's the same thing with with older kids. It's the same thing with church It just may not it just may not stick there because there's there's already damage that's happened. I Mean the conscience like folks the conscience itself is such I mean think about it. It's such a great gift It's not salvation, but the conscience everybody gets one You could have a conscience and end up not getting saved and go to hell But the conscience is that thing inside you everybody gets a life everybody gets a conscience and Some people with that find the Lord some people don't some people reject it, but look here's the thing It's such a miracle and it's such a beautiful thing that turn to 1st Timothy chapter 1 once it's damaged It's an extremely hard situation It's an extremely hard situation at that point. I can just read it for you It's the verse we read this morning holding faith and a good conscience and a good conscience Which some having put away concerning the faith have made shipwreck So it's saying you know the opposite of a good conscience and undefiled and undamaged conscience is this shipwrecked Conscience like this is why by the way This is why you know, I don't know why this just popped my head But this is why this idea of the helicopter parent is so stupid This is why these people that are they're gonna find out that you homeschool your kids and that you go to church Two or three times a week and you go soul-winning and the kids are in church all day and they're a helicopter parent I mean these people are morons. They don't even know what they're talking about. I mean look look We're not talking about I mean of course. I'm a helicopter parent. I mean what? What it what does it even mean? They're saying oh because here's the thing because their conscience is scarred and their Conscience is damaged to the point where they think it's okay to have nothing to do with their own children So they see somebody that has something to do with their children and is deeply involved in their children's life And they're like, oh, yeah, you know, we're gonna come up with some term that is derogatory towards that Because look they want validation for what they're doing in their life But we're not I mean helicopter parent. I mean look we're involved. I mean we're teaching these kids work We're teaching these kids etiquette. We're teaching these kids character and integrity and honesty. I mean all these things grace Mercy all these biblical concepts. Yeah, I'm hovering over my kids teaching them all these things But you know what helicopter parent really means It really means these people with this stupid idea that you need to expose your kids to the world and expose them So you know what they're really talking about? They're really talking about exposing your kids to sin And if you're gonna sit here and you're gonna tell me that I need to go and I need to expose my kids to sin Hey, burn in hell. You're never gonna be around my family I'm sorry. That's pretty strong language, but I mean what are you trying to do to my kids? You're gonna tell my kids that they need to go out and experience drunkenness They need to go out and experience being a fornicator. Are you crazy? Get out of here Don't ever I mean people like that get them out Get them out Because those type of people I mean they're they're they're wanting to damage your children's conscience. They're wanting to defile What is pure is what they're trying to do they're what it's the exact opposite of what you're trying to accomplish here It's the exact opposite of what's happening here and look once that thing is damaged. It's hard to fix folks It's hard to fix. I mean how many I mean you don't have you could read secular books that tell you people are pretty much set in Their ways once they're 25 or 30 years old It's like a shipwreck on the rocks You know but that look That's all the world is trying to do is pull these children into darkness By what they watch by what they see by what they hear by what they pull them into So yeah, helicopter parent just get out of here with that stuff It angers me just thinking about it. So that back to the whole point of the whole sermon that That's why they love it here That's why they love it here. So the question back at you. Why don't you? Maybe you do but why don't you if you don't and the reason is it's the same reason It's the exact end of sermon. Let's pray. No, I'm just kidding. But look, it's the same reason if you don't love spiritual things It's the same exact reason that we were just talking about. It's a hard issue through what you've done Through what you've seen Through what you've experienced Through what you're doing Through what you're watching Through what you're experiencing Through it's it's through the life that you're living you're damaging your heart and look you can do permanent damage Are you getting it? It's not just this hey, I can do this for a while. You can do permanent damage to yourself You can do permanent damage to yourself that will affect your future. I mean, hopefully you've not damaged it. I Mean for parents here the motivation should be sufficient to get this right I mean because we talked about you know the serious consequences this morning I mean you must keep yourself from sin. Look, I really look forward to Sundays. I look forward to Wednesdays I mean I look forward to all of it I'm not saying I don't have a bad day. Okay. I'm not gonna be some idealistic You know pretend like I'm a superhero But I mean the point is I look forward to Sundays here. I look forward to coming to church Most people can't even imagine this I mean, it's so foreign to people this idea that we're gonna go to church three services a week You know, I'm gonna go soul winning twice a week. I mean most people look at my life From the outside if people are looking at my life from the outside. They're just saying to themselves. Wow, that's sad That's sad that he thinks he has to do all that stuff That's what people, you know, there's people that look at my life and they think that Well, look, I've never been happier in my entire life. I've never had more joy in my life But here's here's the thing. I don't think I have to do these things. I like doing these things and plus It's serving the Lord. That's a bonus That's a bonus. So With that in mind, you know how dangerous it would be for me If I just started getting into some other stuff If I just started, you know, maybe Watching TV shows Maybe I mean you say, what's the big deal? Maybe I started listening to all this just, you know, really Rock music and all that's really all that bad. I just started listening to different music I just started going places. Yeah, I just started enjoying the world a little bit It started to like loosening up my standards You know how dangerous that would be That would that would start I would look I would start, you know, maybe I'm having fun doing that stuff Maybe that stuff's fun But here's the thing I would stop enjoying these things Because the what do we talk about this morning? There's no gray There's no gray area You start moving in some direction You ever you ever heard this analogy that you're never really you never really just on cruise control in the Christian life That is so true You're never just holding steady in the Christian life You're either moving in the right direction or you're moving in the wrong direction and the reason for that is Is because there's no gray area Is because if you start moving in the wrong direction Eventually, you're just gonna be in the wrong place and if you start moving in the right direction Eventually, you're just gonna be in a great place And look there's no limit to the by the way There's no limit to the right direction you start moving in the right direction and getting your heart Right and doors are just gonna be open to you and open to you and open to you and open you And you'll do more for the Lord in your life than you ever thought you could imagine I'm not did I say you're gonna have a Mercedes and be a billionaire? No, I'm saying you would do You'll do more for the Lord that every you could have ever thought you could and that's a hundred percent true But you got to be moving in the right direction So you're never really just flat line in this thing. You can't really find a place I'm gonna put one foot over here, and I'm gonna put one foot here. You're moving in the wrong direction And you're gonna end up in the wrong place So look it's dangerous. I mean what I mean it's not you see it's not about forcing you to come here It's not about you know threatening you with the Bible you ever been in that church you ever been Listen You don't think I'm the best preacher in the world. Are you even saved? What you know you miss church on Wednesday. I Don't know I'm doubting your salvation. Look that this the stupid it's stupid. That's that's That's preschool stuff Because it doesn't fix the problem anyway It wouldn't fix the problem I can sit here and look I could get up Maybe I could maybe I could be that type of Preacher and I could get a church together and I could just scare you to death with your salvation every single Sunday Maybe I'm just lame and that's the only way that I could get people to stay here is I could do that Maybe that works, but look what a terrible church that would be I Mean those I mean a bunch of fearful people did just like you know or just timid and I might even saved I mean you ever these people are like been Baptist for like 15 20 years, and they're like I don't even know if I'm saved. It's like what in the world kind of church are you in? You know what in the world kind of church are you in I? Mean what has that pastor done to you? Where you know, you know am I even saved like well, I don't know if you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, then you're saved That's it Did you ever do that one time probably? So look that that's not what this is about. It's about look. It's a hard issue Turn to Proverbs chapter 28. You're like all right my my heart is hard My heart is hard. What do I do? Like I get it. I understand what the problem is we've identified it I have a hard heart or my heart is you know hardened and it's hardening and I'm just not enjoying these spiritual things anymore What do I do? What's the answer? Well, let's look at solving some problems here look at Proverbs chapter 28 Look at verse number 13 Look what the Bible says I mean the Bible shows us the the problem and it shows us the solution That's the beauty of the Bible look at verse 13. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper But who so confess it confesseth and forsake of them shall have mercy Happy is the man that feareth all way, but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief I'm gonna give you two solutions and they're both right here. The first thing is this get right with God The first thing is get right with God you say I want to have I want to have turned to first John 1 9 You say I want to have a better heart. I want to enjoy coming here. I want to enjoy the spiritual things Well, let me just help you. Let me just help you. I don't want to threaten you. This isn't about look You don't like coming here. It's not about me and you It's about you and your relationship with the Lord. That's what it is. Okay, and look Look at first John 1 9 the Bible says this So it says he that covereth his sins shall not prosper But the opposite of that is this first John 1 9 if we confess our sins He that is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness look Do you let me ask you this do you confess your sins on a regular basis? Do you I mean look We should not let I mean there's a lot of false doctrine. I heard this this verse like maybe 80 million times In the Lutheran church all tied to salvation this verse is not tied to salvation This verse is talking about your relationship with the Lord with your heavenly father It's talking about being right with God. So let's not let these things remember the sermon series things that have nothing good Things that are have nothing to do with salvation. This is one of them Confessing your sins is a good thing. It's not how you get saved, but it's a good thing to do It's a good thing to do look Don't let these things that have nothing to do with salvation give you such a bad taste in your mouth about them that you just don't do them Confessing your sins get down on your knees and confess your sins and then turn from them repent of your sins Everyone's like No, repent of your sins Confess your sins to the Lord and turn from your sins. You want to fix your heart start there Don't come in. What's the opposite of that? The opposite of that is covering your sins It's not admitting that you're sinning. Could you be saved and not admit that you're sinning How many people do you know right now that do that that are saved? I mean everybody knows that people like that the first thing you need to do is stop covering your sins and Then you'll receive mercy and look the opposite of this in Proverbs 28 is that you have a hard heart So you want to soften your heart confess your sins turn from your sins pretty simple the next one is this fear the Lord fear the Lord look folks fear is A decent motivator Fears a decent motivator realize realize that you will pay a price for hardening your heart against the Lord There's my threat But it's in the Bible look you will pay a price for hardening your heart against God So fear the Lord. I mean look you're you're not you're not offending me By not liking coming to church and not you know I mean I told my wife the other day maybe two weeks ago. It was interesting We had this conversation, but I said I think maybe the hardest thing about the ministry is Going to be as I look forward, you know, maybe years forward and how this is gonna go I said I think the hardest thing about the ministry. I told Heidi this I said I think the hardest thing is going to be You're like, what's that going to be the hardest thing is going to be watching people deal with the consequences of What they're doing and The consequences aren't coming from me The hardest thing about the ministry is going to be watching people suffer the consequences Watching people's families suffer the consequences. That's going to be something that I'm not really looking forward to watching My wife she gave me some hope though She said yeah, she's like but Most of those types of people because there is no gray remember most of those types of people will drop out So you won't have to watch and that's true Most of those people will drop out of church. Look at that. She didn't say that it's not going to happen The consequences are coming. It's just that they won't be here anymore for me to see it Because one of the first things or one of the things that happens along the way of that fall Will be that they stop coming to church and then at that point the slope of the hill will go like that Because there's no gray It's not gonna stay gray You may be traveling through the gray zone on the way down and you know you get out of church and you stop Doing spiritual things and then it's just You're gonna be in the wrong place But back to my point the fear of the Lord turned to Psalm 86 The fear of the Lord it should be a decent motivator, right? I mean Well, here's the thing here's here's some irony for you. Everybody's scared of everything now Can't you at least add the Lord to the list? I Mean, okay. All right. All right, so you can't get to the place You're just a huge coward and you're afraid of everything and you can't get to the place where you only fear the Lord and The Lord is the only thing that you fear because that's what the Bible says But you just can't get there because you're afraid of everything. Well, can you at least add them to the list? Can you at least add the Lord to to the list of things that you're afraid of? That's better than not fearing him at all and just being afraid of everything else Look at Psalm 86 in verse number 11. Teach me thy way. Oh Lord. I will walk in thy truth Unite my heart This is the prayer right here This is the prayer Unite my heart to fear thy name Like I'm just I'm not I'm not afraid of God. I'm not spiritual. I don't like coming to church. I'm in all this sin I don't know what to do. Ask God to unite your heart To fear his name Read Psalm 86 11 There's your answer Ask God to unite your heart quit being afraid of all these other stupid things That you have no control of anyway And just say you know what unite my heart Lord? So I fear you and then when you fear the Lord use that as a motivator to get you to do the right things People are so afraid of everything today. It makes me sick. I Mean makes me literally sick to my stomach to see how afraid Christians are of everything if you don't fear the Lord ask God to unite your heart to fear him and Look That's I mean this this isn't this this isn't on me So I can you know, I can just tell you these things. I can just cry aloud and Spare not and the rest is up to you You know, here's you know, here's another little testimonial for you And I'm sure many of you have gone through the same thing, but I remember I Remember so look to end the last point just the fear of the Lord should be something that's kicking you in The right direction. There is nothing wrong with that at all Because it's true if you don't fear the Lord, there's gonna be consequences if you don't do the right things There's gonna be consequences, but here's the thing on This issue of spiritual matters and especially the matter of coming to church I remember the first time that I found a hard preaching that I heard hard preaching Well on audio sermons or whatever I wasn't in a church that had hard preaching look I remember the first time that I heard hard Bible preaching I couldn't get enough of it. I Couldn't get enough of it and I was just I was ODing on this stuff I was just constantly listening to this stuff and it was just you know, I mean, I was just I was I was blown away By it and I mean look, what was it talking about it all this hard Bible preaching? It was talking about me It was talking about me and I guess maybe I was just honest enough with myself to be like Yeah, you know that is talking about me. I Found and started listening to hard Bible preaching before I even got saved and Then that's what led me to seek out the truth in my life and I ended up getting saved I mean look, so what's the next thing you think I did once I found this amazing thing? I mean here. I found this this vault full of diamonds. I mean, I mean, what are you gonna do? You're gonna go tell everybody that you know You're gonna go tell everybody you're gonna be like you guys gotta listen to this You're gonna go tell your family. You're gonna go tell your friends. You're gonna go see this listen to this look at this vault full of diamonds and Now my wife had the same reaction as me Of course you is already saved But I mean she thought it was great too, but here's the thing 90 some percent of all the people that I told about it. They're like me And I And I'm like what I Like what what in the world? I mean, how is this possible? How could I how could I? Want never get enough of it and some people it just doesn't even resonate at all You ever had that experience? Of course you have the problem is the key in the heart He doesn't fit anymore. That's the problem The problem is that there can be damage. They're gonna be shipwrecked to the point where that perfect key No longer fits And I'm not saying that people are you know reprobate if they don't like hard preaching That's not what I'm saying But what I'm saying is is that experiences in our life the world, you know You know people getting defiled by things that they've seen things that they've done things that they've experienced It can make them not even interested in the truth anymore It can make them not even interested in the truth and even if they do get saved if they're if that key can just get in there Enough to to get the gospel and they can get saved there can still be enough damage there where they're just not gonna do anything beyond that And it's because there's been there's been shipwreck There's been shipwrecked there so look church attendance It's a good. It's a good pressure gauge for you It's a heart problem. It's all a heart Problem they didn't like hearing the truth from the Bible because their heart was wrong Their heart was in a bad place their heart was damaged. Hopefully not permanently But in those cases, you know, they just they didn't have that heart They didn't have that perfect pure conscience at that point. They didn't have that I mean the key doesn't fit anymore. So look church attendance for you. Do you like coming to church? It's a pressure gauge. How's your reading? How's your reading? How's your how's your how's your PSI reading? Right here because you're like, you know, I just I'm I used to like it. I used to like it two months ago I used to like it two months ago. Now. I don't like it anymore well Find the problem the root causes your heart The root cause is your heart, you know, unless something happened to you in the church or something But you know, I mean, there's there's ways to get through that stuff, too But the point is that it's always it's in the beauty of it is it since it's a problem with your heart It should be something that you can fix It's something that you can fix So how's your how's your heart this morning or this evening? You know when it comes to at church attendance, just ask yourself that ask yourself that question because look these kids They're they're a great base case for us They're a great base case for us, you know, we know that their consciences are undefiled We know that they're pure and just look at how they react to this type of situation It's be it's a beautiful thing. So if we're not reacting to that We need to find that root cause and it's somewhere in here Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer