South Shore Pentecostal Church

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Apostolic Truth Radio program with Pastor Craig Ouellette, a radio ministry of South Shore Pentecostal Church, located in Whitman, Massachusetts. At a time when many Christians do not know what to believe, South Shore Pentecostal is honored to bring you clear biblical teaching on which you can confidently build your faith. Thank you for joining us.

J. Craig Ouellette: Genesis chapter 6, verse 5 and probably a passage that's familiar to many. Genesis 6:5 and verse 6. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

A little bit further, just a few books beyond Genesis, actually just four books beyond to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 29. This is God baring his heart, this verse here. This is God saying, this is what I would like. So the Lord says, "Oh, that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children forever."

Now there's a lot in that verse and we're not going to cover all the things in it, but God's also saying the reason I give you commandments is so that it'll be well for you and your kids. Living for God will help your kids. Living for God will help the generation to come.

This country is in the state that it's in because we've got a generation of people that do not know what the Bible says. But because they've been raised in a basically Christian ethic country, they have a sense of responsibility and guilt, but since they don't know God, they're trying to assuage their guilt by getting involved in social things that are actually against God.

On to 1st Samuel 16:7. Samuel has been sent to anoint David. He doesn't know it's David, but he's been sent to the house of Jesse. And as the young men parade in front of him, but the Lord said, verse 7, unto Samuel, "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." Amen. God looks on our heart.

Now I will comment quickly here that sometimes people use that as an excuse to dress the way they want to dress. "Well, God's looking on my heart." You're not dressing for God, you're dressing for your fellow man. You are dressing for your fellow man or woman to present a Christian picture and image to them, especially to those that do not know God.

So the idea that God looks on my heart, if your heart's right, God is looking at your heart, but if your heart's right with God, it should reflect to the outside into godliness in our dress. I just failed the popularity rating, but I told you the truth. Amen.

Matthew 5:8. In the Beatitudes on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. If I can get my heart right with God, I've got a promise that I'll see him. That's right.

So we're going to talk about concerning the heart, and I know that back on December 7th, I talked about the matters of the heart, but God impressed this on me that we needed to talk about this, and it'll be a little bit different. So when the Bible talks about the heart, it's referring to our motives, our desires, and our purposes. Our heart is going to direct our motives. Our heart is going to direct our purposes. Our heart is going to direct our desires. And as Jesus said in one place, he said, "Where your treasure is, there is your heart also."

So treasures are not necessarily material things, but wherever our heart is, that's where our treasure is. So now what the world tries to do is get our heart on things down here rather than things up there, the now rather than eternity, what we like rather than what God says. And so again, our hearts, the heart is who I really am. I can dress up, present a certain thing, and you might think something good or bad about me, but the heart is who I really am. The heart is who you really are. Amen.

And so in Proverbs 23:6 and 7, talking about the heart, he says, referring to an evil man in the Bible, says, "Eat not thou the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." So the evil man can act nice. Again, you've got people today. You just watch a little bit of news, read a little bit of newspaper. You've got people that are ignorant. They think because somebody's nice, it's okay. Evil people can be nice.

So just because they do something nice doesn't mean you let them do what's wrong. You don't let them do that. How many remember Whitey Bulger? Anybody remember him? Mobster, Winter Hill Gang, I guess it was, mobster in Boston here, killed a lot of people. Yet he was a nice neighbor. He was a nice neighbor. Yeah, there was a story about him and he went to the neighbors', they didn't have a tool to do something, he went right to his house, got the tool and let them use the tool to do what they needed to do. But he was an evil man. So just because somebody acts nice doesn't mean that's who they are. Our heart is who we are. Our heart is who we are.

The Bible tells us that our own heart will deceive us. We read this, and I know on December 7th, but Jeremiah 17:9, this is usually the first time somebody reads it, it's shocking. You're trying to live for God and you're praying and doing all the things and the Bible says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." In other words, it's saying is I can't even really know my own heart.

God has got to show it to me. And one of the ways God does that is by the Word of God. He looks to see how well am I going to obey the Word of God. Am I going to pick and choose? Am I going to do the things I feel comfortable or the things I understand or the things I like or the things that don't cost me too much? Or am I going to try to do everything that God says, whether it costs or not?

Living for God's got a cost. Pick up your cross daily. Living for God is more than going to an altar one time. It's more than believing in God. You can believe in God and have an evil heart, and we'll show some scriptures on that a little bit later on. So because the sin nature is in all of us, every one of us, because it's in all of us, our heart will desire things that are wrong and sinful. So living for God, to make it all the way, you're going to have to fight a spiritual warfare.

That's why Paul said at the end, "I fought a good fight." It's not just the people coming against him, it's his own self sometimes. Right? Romans 7, "I find a war in myself that when I would do good, I do evil." Now I don't think Paul meant he was going around sinning, but what he's acknowledging is, even though I've got the Spirit of God, I've been born again, I'm called as an apostle, I operate as a prophet sometimes, I still struggle with sin in myself. This is what Paul's saying.

So our heart, the sin nature will cause our heart to desire things that are not of God. Because the sin nature is in our flesh, our heart will provide motives why we don't need to do what God says. I mean you meet people all the time. "Well, the Bible says that. Well, that's okay for you." It's not whether it's okay for me, it's "Did God say it?" If God said it, we've got to do it. Amen.

And so the heart will devise methods. It'll come up with motives of why I don't have to do that. They may have to do it, but I'm different. Oh, my background is different. God's got me in a special place. That's not good for them, but I can slide by. That's our heart making motives. If God said it's wrong, it's not wrong for A, B, C, but D gets through. The heart will make motives, will make excuses. That's just the way you believe. What does the Bible say?

And if it says that and you don't believe it, why? So we'll lie to ourselves. This is what the Bible is trying to say, the heart's deceitful above all things. We will lie to ourselves that it's okay to do what's wrong and think we're going to go to heaven. And it's not going to happen unless we repent.

Because people are made in the image and likeness of God, even evil people have the capacity to do good things. And again, because a lot of times we don't know much about history, we think that outside of Judaism and before Christianity there's no virtuous people, but that's not true. That's not true. You can find virtuous Greeks and Romans who were not born again. They still need to be born again if they're going to heaven. So the point is people can be good and virtuous from our point of view and not be right with God.

So the first place we find the heart mentioned in the Bible was in Genesis 6:5. That's the very first place where God looks down and says the imagination of man's heart is only evil continually. And God repents. It doesn't mean he sinned, but it means God regrets to see what sin has done to the creation that he made that was very good. And so God looks at men's hearts, and judgment comes because of the condition of hearts. Judgment does not come because of economics or politics, judgment comes because of hearts. Judgment does not come because of economic status or our education, what we have or don't, judgment comes because of our heart.

The world was judged with the flood because men's hearts had reached the point that they would not respond to God. The flood's not a myth, it's the truth. And if you study geology, there's more proof for geology of a worldwide flood than anything else you can find. Amen. So the Bible tells us that Noah worked on that ark for 100, 120 years. So he's out there building an ark, 100, 120 years. "Noah, what are you doing?" "I'm going to build an ark." "Why are you building an ark?" "It's going to rain." "What's rain?" "It's going to come water out of the clouds." Because the Bible said it had never rained up to that point, but a mist went up from the ground to water everything. And Noah, the Bible says in 2nd Peter, that Noah was a preacher.

So in other words, people are getting a witness that something is going to happen. They're getting a witness that there's going to be a judgment. And somebody is telling them that God is going to judge. But their heart is at the point that to them it's a joke. They're not responding. Again, you've got people today, even going in church, even praising God. They're on praise teams and they might be preaching and do all kind of things, they're not responding to God. They're saying, "Oh, God's not really going to do that."

But listen, he said a flood was coming and the flood came. He said he's coming a second time, he's going to come a second time. And the Bible lets us know that when he comes he's coming for the church and he's coming to judge those that are not right. God is going to come and judge. And if my heart is not right, I'll be lost. If your heart is not right, you will be lost. And the first thing we've got to think about when I'm saying words like this is, is there something I know about the Bible that I should be doing that I haven't done? And if I haven't done it, why haven't I done it? Does the Bible say I need to do it? Come on. Amen.

So men's hearts had reached the point. When I hear a message and I hear thoughts in myself inside of me going against that message, I've got to get scared. Why? Why am I rejecting it? Is it what the Bible says? If it's what the Bible says, my heart needs to change. I need to accept it. I need to find a place of prayer. I need God to do something inside of me. Because if I'm rejecting what God is saying... again, the Bible does not preach once always saved. You've got people that believe that, but it does not say that.

So again, we're talking about our hearts. Our hearts will deceive us. And when our hearts reach the place that we're not responding to God, we need to be careful. Don't miss an altar call saying, "I'll go the next time." You might not get a next time. Do not miss coming to the altar if God is working on your heart, because you might not make it home today. You might not have next week. Amen. You might make it till next Sunday morning and on the way to church something happens. Don't let your heart get hard against God.

So the story of the Bible reveals that the only way to overcome our sinful nature and deceitful heart is to be born again. That's the only way. You cannot educate yourself enough to overcome your sinful nature. You can't get enough theological understanding to overcome your sinful nature. You can't go to enough church services to overcome your sin nature. You must be born again. And believing in God and repentance is an acknowledgment that God is sovereign. When you repent, you're acknowledging he is God. And what he says he's got a right to say it and I need to obey him. That's repentance. We need to submit to his authority. But baptizing, that's getting an acknowledgment that I need to die to sin. It's an acknowledgment that I need to come under the authority of God, get baptized in his name, get Jesus' name on me and get washed in the blood.

If you're not baptized in Jesus' name, you're not washed in the blood. You might prophesy, you might have gifts, you might be used of God, but you're not washed in the blood. You've got to be washed in the blood. The Bible says water baptism is part of salvation. Doesn't matter what the other churches say, it's what the Bible says. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. If you didn't get baptized in, you don't have them on. And receiving the Holy Ghost is when God gives us a new heart.

So I can repent, I acknowledge that God is God and I recognize I'm doing the wrong thing and asking God to forgive me for my sins, but that doesn't change my heart, that just takes care of what I've done that's wrong. And I get baptized, God washes me and washes away the penalty, but it still does not change my heart. I need the baptism of the Holy Ghost, amen, because it's the Holy Ghost in me that changes my heart.

So look in Hebrews 8:10, so that you can see it, and we could spend the rest of the morning talking about that. But in Hebrews 8:10, he's looking back to Jeremiah 31 and he says, "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." When you get the Holy Ghost, God writes his law in your heart. That means I get a new heart. I get a new heart. Again in Hebrews 10:16, to show you that they repeat it, he said, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them." So God's letting us understand, the Holy Ghost is what changes our heart. Christ in us, the hope of glory.

John the Baptist said, "I indeed baptize you with water, but he that cometh after me... whose shoes I'm not worthy... he'll baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire." What does he mean? When you get the Holy Ghost you get a fire to live for God. You get a fire to change your life. You get a fire to do things God's way. You get a fire to get sin out of your life. You get a fire to have a change of God. The Holy Ghost and fire. The fire will burn up the sin. The fire will burn up the dross. The fire will rearrange your thinking. The fire will make your heart new. The Holy Ghost and fire.

Again, you've got people going to church saying they're born again, they're not born again. They didn't get the Holy Ghost, they didn't obey what God said. You must repent, you must get baptized in water in Jesus' name for the remission of sins, and you must get the Holy Ghost. That's what Peter said, that's what Paul said, that's what the early church said. You've got to do it that way. It doesn't matter what others say, the Bible says it that way. You've got to do it that way. Oh, but they're nice over here too. Remember, nice people can do things even when they're not right with God. People can be nice when they're wrong. You must be born again.

And going back to John 3:3 and 3:5 which most are probably familiar with, he said, "Except a man's born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." You can say you're born again, but if you can't see what church is about, you need to get born again. Then a little further down, he says you must be born of the water and the Spirit. Water means water baptism, not natural birth. You need to get water baptized in Jesus' name, and you need to get the Holy Ghost. Initial sign, speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance.

Why speak in tongues? James says no man can tame the tongue. When you speak in tongues you've got to let go and let God have control. Sign you've let go, a sign you've let God have control, you start speaking what God wants you to speak in a supernatural way. God uses something that the Bible says that no man can tame. So if it's tamed, it means God must have tamed it. Means you got the Holy Ghost. Now he doesn't say believe in the Holy Ghost, he says receive the Holy Ghost. I've got to yield to God. I've got to open the gates to God. I've got to open the door to the Lord. I've got to let God come in and do what God wants to do, not what I want to do. I can't let God come in and say, "Okay, you can only go into the living room and the kitchen but you can't go into the other rooms." I've got to let God come in and have his way. Again, the Bible says they that are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. If I can't let God come in and have his way, how can I let God lead me?

Again, the Holy Ghost gives us a new heart. How do we know that? Jesus told the early church, he told people that had already cast out devils and healed people, "Wait till you get the Holy Ghost. Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses." Amen. That power to witness is not just to talk about the resurrection and give scripture, but it's power to live the way God wants you to live. And when you live holy and righteous in this world, you become a witness to those that are around you. When you're not swearing they know something's different. When you're not getting drunk they know something's different. When you're not getting high they know something's different. When you're not gambling they know something's different. Oh, let's give him praise. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Lord. We thank you. We thank you, Lord. We praise you, Lord God. We give you glory and honor. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus.

Again in Romans chapter 8:12-14, and we're talking about the Holy Ghost gives us power to live for God. Now I'm not talking about getting a touch of the Holy Ghost, I'm talking about getting a baptism of the Holy Ghost. What does that mean? Baptism means you got immersed in it. Immersed. There's a difference between a touch. I can go dangle my feet in the water, I can throw my leg over the side, but if I really want to swim, I've got to jump in. I've got to be immersed to swim. If you're going to swim in God, you've got to get immersed, a baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Romans 8:12, "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die." He's talking to the church now. He's not preaching to unbelievers, he is talking to the church, to people that are already in the church, that have already got the Holy Ghost, and he's telling them you've got to... you can't follow your flesh, you're going to have to follow the Spirit. He says here, "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if through the Spirit, if through the Holy Ghost, if through the Spirit of Christ, you do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." In other words, the Spirit is sometimes going to lead you to do things your flesh does not want to do.

Look over in Luke 4:1. "And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness." What's that saying? That's saying Jesus as a man didn't choose to go there. The Spirit of God said you need to go there. The Spirit of God said you need to go out and fast for a while. You need to go out and confront your own humanity. If you can overcome your humanity by the Spirit, because he's God and man, he's a real man. So he's tempted like we are, the Bible says. So that means he likes to eat like we like to eat. And he likes a comfortable bed like we like a comfortable bed. But the Spirit leads him into the wilderness to be tempted.

What am I trying to say? That we need the Spirit of God in our lives to help us overcome our natural man, to give us the desire to live the way God wants us to live. You must. We don't have the strength. That's why God had to send the Holy Ghost. That's why so many churches are weak and people are weak, they don't have the Holy Ghost. They're told they do. But when you got the Holy Ghost, if God says fast, you'll fast. If God says quit going some place, you'll quit. So the Holy Ghost gives us power to overcome and resist our human natural nature. Amen.

Again, God looks at our heart, and we read in Deuteronomy 5:29 and the scriptures on there on the screen there, God expressed his desire that his people would have a heart to live for him. Not that they're ceremonial and just tradition, but it's in our heart. God is looking for a people that has a heart to live for him. When the rapture calls, it's not everybody's going, it's people that have a heart that live for God. Well, that breaks a lot of books that are out there, but that's what the Bible says.

So he said, "Oh, that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me." In other words, if God says to do it and I don't do it, I need to be fearful of judgment. It's not that I'm walking around every day God's going to smite me, but if I know that I'm not doing something that God wants me to do, then I need to be concerned. I need to be concerned. The fear of God. The fear of God is honoring God according to his word. That's the fear of God.

That they would fear me and keep my commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children forever. If you live for God and you live sincerely, God is going to help your kids live for God. Again, living for God requires our heart to be right. What's the first commandment? Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy mind, all thy might, all thy strength. Heart. Now how can I say love God if I'm not doing what God says to do? Anybody that's married, and if your spouse doesn't do what you would like them to do all the time, you kind of wonder, do they really love me? Right? You've got a boyfriend or girlfriend, same thing, if they never do what you like, you wonder do they really like me? And we're not talking about have it your way, but we're talking about God now. If I don't do what God wants me to do, can I say I love him with all my heart? How can I say that? I can't say that.

And so the heart, concerning the heart, God is concerned with our heart. Now look at the importance of heart again. 1st Samuel 10:9. This is where Saul is chosen to be the first king of Israel. And Samuel gives us a kind of study of contrast of heart. If we look in 1st Samuel, we have a study, a contrast, Saul and David. There's a contrast of hearts. So here in 1st Samuel 10:9 it says, "And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel," and that's Saul, it's talking about Saul, "God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day. And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him," meaning Saul, "and he prophesied among them."

So now Israel has said to Samuel, "Give us a king so we can be like the other nations." And God says, "Samuel, do it. They're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me." So God tells Samuel who the man is. It's Saul. Saul loses his donkeys and Saul's servant knows that there's a prophet in a certain town as they're searching for the donkeys and he says let's go hither to this prophet and that prophet can maybe tell us what's happened to the donkeys. Sure enough he could, God told Samuel the whole story before Saul got there. Saul got there and Samuel said, "You're the one God's anointed. Your donkeys are safe, they're already with your father, and you're going to be here tomorrow, and God's going to make you king."

So God makes him king, and here he's God gave him a new heart. And he's prophesying. And Saul starts out fine for God. But the problem is Saul doesn't do anything to maintain the heart that God has given him. God gives him a new heart. But as he goes along, as he goes along, he becomes more embedded in being king, being the great leader, the warrior, passing on a heritage to his children, and more concerned about what the people think than what God thinks. This is what happens to Saul.

And we get over to chapter 15, and God has given Saul a test. God will give us tests. Why? Because God says, "I search the heart. I try the reins." The reins means whatever controls your motives. God will allow things to come into our lives to see what's controlling us. What's my real motives? What's my real purpose? What are my real desires? Will I give up my desire if it comes into conflict with God's desire for me? Will I change my motive if my motive doesn't agree with God? Amen. We're talking about the Bible now. This is the Bible. This is the way the Bible does stuff.

Will I change my purpose if my purpose does not match God's purpose for me? And remember Paul told Timothy in 2nd Timothy 1:9 that you had a purpose from the foundation of the world. That's why abortion is wrong, because God's already got that purpose. The minute that baby's conceived, the name is written in a book, the members are written in a book, God's got a purpose for that.

Side topic, but when we get involved in abortion, we're overriding, trying to override God's purpose. So here in 1st Samuel 15, God tells Samuel go tell Saul kill all the Amalekites. The reason I want you to do this is when Israel came out of Egypt and God gave water out of the rock, they came and attacked all the weak and stragglers of Israel. And Joshua had to go out and fight them and God told Moses write it in a book of remembrance. So now about 400 years later, God says to Saul through Samuel go kill all the Amalekites, don't take any spoil, kill all their animals, all their kids, all of it. It all belongs to God. So Saul gets up, gets his army together, goes down, and he kills all the Amalekites except for the king. And he doesn't kill all the animals. He lets the people keep the animals. And God tells Samuel, "Saul did not do what I asked him to do." And Samuel cries, he's upset about it.

So Samuel comes to see Saul, and Saul acts like he did what God asked him to do, like a lot of people today. They're acting like they've done what God asked them to do and they haven't. Oh, he killed most of the Amalekites, but he kept the king. So he didn't do it right there. And Samuel says, "If you did the will of God, why do I hear the bleating and these other animals giving sounds?" Oh, the people wanted to keep the best and we're going to offer them up in sacrifice to God. Here's what God says through Samuel. 1st Samuel 15:22, "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice." To obey is better than sacrifice. To obey is better than sacrifice. To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken or to listen than the fat of rams.

In other words, you can come to every prayer meeting, be at every service, be in the song choir, be a Sunday school teacher, but if you're not doing what God has asked you to do, you make all kind of sacrifices, God would rather have you get right with him than being involved in all of that. You can wear yourself out going to church, but if you haven't done what God wants you to do, you're in rebellion. He said that's rebellion. Rebellion. And he said not listening than the fat of rams. In other words, the best animal sacrifice you can give me doesn't count if you haven't done what I told you to do.

Then he says in verse 23, "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king." Saul lost out because he rejected what God said to do. And if you read the rest of the story, you don't find Saul saying, "Oh, you're right, I'm wrong, I repent, I did the wrong thing." We find Saul saying, Samuel starts to walk away, and we find Saul reaching for Samuel, "Please come to the sacrifice with me so the people, the elders can see you worship with me." He's worried about how it's going to appear in front of the other people that are there. He's not worried about that he did not do what God asked him to do. Rebellion. Stubbornness. If you know to do it and you're not doing it, you're being stubborn.

Now don't tell me you put God first when you let all of life get in the way and you only make it to church sometimes when you could have been there more. And I'm saying if you can make a difference. Now I understand that sometimes working schedules, school schedules prevent things, but if God, if you're serving God, there ought to be a priority to be in the house of God. The house of God is not my idea, it's God's idea. There ought to be a priority to be with people of like precious faith, the family of God. This is God's idea, it's not my idea. The church is God's idea. It's his body. And to say it another way, none of us would like it if our arm only showed up once in a while. We'd be hurting. Same thing happens spiritually in church. You got people that only come sometimes. Special speaker, special service, special event. Maybe they're singing in the choir. God knows we got to work. He knows all those things. I worked 40 hours with two kids and still made it to all the services. But I had to prioritize my life. I had to make sure I went to bed at the right time, didn't go some places. But that's because I want to live for God. If I can do it, you can. That's right. But you need the Holy Ghost to put enough in you to make you desire it. It's important that I do it God's way.

So now what the point of all this story is? The point is, even if God comes down and gives us a new heart, if I don't start to cultivate a heart for God's ways, I'll lose the heart God gave me. So then we come to David in 1st Samuel 16:7, we read this start, but the Lord said unto Samuel, "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." And then when we go to the book of Acts in the New Testament, Acts 13:22, we understand that God said this about David. This is Paul preaching. He says, "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will."

God was not saying David was perfect. God was saying David has a desire to do what I ask him to do and to do my will. So because David's got the right heart, he's got a heart that wants to do it God's way, God can work with him. And even though David makes mistakes, when he's confronted he repents because he's got a heart to do it God's way. We're talking about concerning the heart here today. Amen. Saul didn't really have a heart, he didn't really search for God. But David did. If David had never been called into being anointed for king, he still would have been out on those hills playing songs to God and praising God. And he would have been happy. He went into the court and when he got sent back because war came, he went back with those sheep, he was happy to be there. He's not looking for a position, he's not looking for an accolade, he was happy to praise God and do the will of God.

And just so you understand that where it says rebellion is as witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry, witchcraft is getting spiritual power through means that do not come from God. So you're rebelling against God. You're going to get spiritual power from a source that God is not giving it to you. If God wants to give you spiritual power, he'll give you spiritual power. If you'll go to God and submit yourself to God, God will give you what you're supposed to have in due time. Because sometimes he's got stuff for us we're not ready for it and he's got to grow us and change us. But witches, amen, these are people that, whether you're men or women witches, you go for spiritual power that's not coming from God. It's coming from demonic sources. Those are real. Listen, a lot of these trans people are under the influence of spirits. That's why they think this. There's spirits coming around them saying you're not who you think you are. There's spirits making them feel sexual impulses that do not belong to them. Demonic spirits. But you can't say that, even though it's true.

And whatever our orientation is, every one of us has got a weakness in some area. It's not whether we've got a weakness, it's what God says about it. And so what we've got to do is fight the fight by the Spirit according to the Word of God. So again, David is chosen because he's got a heart for God. The Lord and our heart. Sometimes we have a hard time hearing from God because we haven't purified our heart. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Now normally we take that, it means I'm going all the way to heaven, but if your heart's pure down here you start to see God working in this world and life.

When you get right with God you start to see God. When you get right with God you start to hear from God. So sometimes the reason we're not getting an answer to prayer is because we haven't purified our heart. There's things in our heart that are not right with God. Amen. And so we haven't done what God asked us to do and we know deep down. We know deep down that we need to change some things. I know I'm a witness. I lived many years not living for God knowing that I wasn't living the right way, didn't know the truth. But when I finally got to the point where I realized sooner or later I've got to do it God's way, if I'm going to go to heaven I'm going to have to give in and do it God's way. And when I got the Holy Ghost, it changed everything.

I had religious upbringing. Religious upbringing does not give you the power to live for God. You need the Holy Ghost. You must be born again. You've got to obey the Word of God. Amen. You can get a whole nation around you and say you're okay, but God said you must be born again. Jesus said it. And again, when you trust in God with all your heart and you don't lean on your understanding, again that's obeying the Word of God. Well, I would obey that, but I don't understand.

You know, the Bible says that people should pay tithes. That's 10% to the church you go to. And you got people that say, if I pay 10% I won't have enough money. But it's a funny thing, when you obey God in faith, that 90% goes further than the 100% goes. Yeah, that 90% will go further than the 100% because if you're doing what God asked you to do from the heart, God is going to bless you. He's going to bless you so you can bless the church and bless his work and bless his purpose, and God wants your family to be blessed.

So when you do what God asks to do... but we sit there, we sit there in our mind and try to figure out I don't see how this is going to work. Trust in the Lord and lean not unto your own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Now that doesn't mean you won't have any slim times doing the will of God where you've got to watch your money, but you'll make it through. God will help you through. Amen.

And God will give you times of abundance and overflowing when you do the will of God from the heart. Man, you'll have your boss come and give you an extra raise when nobody gets it. You'll have your boss come, give you a week of vacation when other people are not getting it. Yeah, all those things happened to me. That's right. God will bless you. Do God's way. In all thy ways acknowledge him. Not just in church, not just in Bible study night. But when I get up, do I acknowledge him? When I get in my car, do I acknowledge him? When I go to work, do I acknowledge him? When I'm done with work, do I acknowledge him? When I'm sitting by myself, do I acknowledge him? When I'm on vacation, do I acknowledge him?

So notice that God will test our hearts. Deuteronomy 8:2. And we're talking about concerning the heart. The heart. The heart. If your heart's right, you'll see God. If your heart's right, you can love God. Deuteronomy 8:2. And Moses, this is the book of Deuteronomy, God is speaking this, Moses is saying this at the end of the 40 years in the wilderness. That's when the book of Deuteronomy is taking place. So he's speaking to a generation that was raised in the wilderness because the former generation that came out of Egypt, 20 years and older, they all passed away. So now he's repeating the Word of God to this generation that's come through. They're getting ready to go into the promised land.

And in Deuteronomy 8:2 he says, "Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no." God will sometimes lead us through paths to test us. God will sometimes allow things to happen to see, do I really trust him? Or am I only going to keep his word when it's fair weather? Am I only going to keep his word when everybody else is doing it? Am I only going to keep his word because other people agree and understand? Am I only going to keep his word because God's there and everything's going the way I want it? Or am I going to be like Job and say, "Though he slay me, yet will I believe him"?

God will test us. Are we going to be like Joshua? As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord. Have you made up your mind? We're talking about the heart. Our heart. Our heart. In the long term, it's our heart that's going to determine whether I make heaven or hell.

Now let's look just a little bit, we're almost done. Acts chapter 8 verse 12. Now you got a lot of people that think because they believe in the Lord they got the Holy Ghost. But Acts chapter 8's got people that believed and got baptized and don't have the Holy Ghost. And in fact here's one instance here that we don't talk about that much, but in Acts 8:12, it says, "But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and the signs which were done."

So if you read a little bit earlier in the chapter, you find out he's called Simon the Sorcerer. Okay? Now he says he believes. He believed enough to get baptized. He's believing the report. But when we go down to verse 17, it says they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost. Because these people in verse 12, they were baptized in water, but the Bible says they had not received the Holy Ghost yet. Not received. Said that they believed, were baptized, but had not received the Holy Ghost yet.

Now let's you understand, you can believe in Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, you can get baptized in water baptism and not have the Holy Ghost. I'm not reading the whole chapter here, but you back up, that's why they sent John and Peter, they lay hands on them to get the Holy Ghost. A lot of questions there.

So Simon in verse 18, "When Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God." Here's a man that believed and got baptized, and Peter is rebuking him for the condition of his heart. Because he wants to use God's power for his profit.

He says in verse 20, "But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity." He's bound by sin. He believes and was baptized and is bound by sin. His heart was not changed yet. He needed to get a heart change. He needed a baptism of the Holy Ghost. Amen. He needed to get all the way into God. That breaks a lot of theologies. He believed, but his motives were not right with God.

Again, Pharaoh, just quickly we'll go over it. The Bible says when the plagues came that God hardens Pharaoh's heart. But if you read closely, in Exodus 8:15, verse 32, and chapter 9:34, the Bible says Pharaoh hardened his heart. What all that happened was God knew that Pharaoh did not want to serve him. And all God was doing was moving along the natural condition of Pharaoh's already set heart against God. God was not making Pharaoh's heart be anything different than it was. He already had an inclination to disobey God because Pharaoh's hardening his own heart. So it's not God preordaining Pharaoh to be that way, but God will move your heart. Unless you repent, God might move your heart along to hardness that you can't believe him or receive him.

Again in Romans 10:10, the Bible says that we believe with the heart. And if you really believe, you're going to obey. Let's stand here this morning. We're talking about concerning the heart. The question to all of us here today: is my heart right with God? Is my heart right with God? Is your heart right with God? Are there things in your life that God has been talking to you about that you need to change or remove? You need to do that today. If you don't have the Holy Ghost, you need to seek the Holy Ghost today. Like I said, you don't know what's going to happen when you leave. I mean it seems fine here, and the way it seems here, we could all be here next week, but we don't know what is down the road. If you don't have the Holy Ghost, this altar is open. And if you'll pray and believe God and repent and say, "God, I'll do it your way, whatever needs to be done," God will fill you with the Holy Ghost.

Yes, he will. You'll speak in an unknown language, you'll speak in tongues as God gives you the utterance. That's a sign to you, it's a sign to us that you got the Holy Ghost. Remember in Acts chapter 8 they knew that they didn't have the Holy Ghost, so they were looking for something. They were all baptized, that wasn't the sign. They believed, that wasn't the sign. Nobody got the Holy Ghost. They were looking for a sign. And when Peter and John laid hands on them, they got the Holy Ghost. The altar is open. All right, start praying and asking God. Ask God to just do what he needs to do in your life. Give your heart. God, is there something that needs to be moved out of my life? The altar is open.

Come on, if you're in the place of decision, you need to come to the altar. Amen. You need the Holy Ghost to get to heaven. That's part of the new birth. Amen. You need to be born again if you're going to live for God. Hallelujah. That's part of what God is saying. If you'll start to believe God, just open yourself up. Amen. Start to praise God. Amen. You can kneel or you can stand, but if you'll just pray and seek God, God will do a work in you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Maybe you've got family members that you want to live for God, but maybe they're not living for God because you're not doing something that God has asked you to do. Hallelujah. Amen. We're opening up this altar. Believe God. Believe him. Come on, he's not a respecter of persons. He wants us to have his Spirit. He wants you to be born again. He wants you to have joy unspeakable. Hallelujah. Come on, come on. Hallelujah. Oh, in your name.

Guest (Female): Thank you for joining us today as we have studied the Word on Apostolic Truth Radio. My name is Tina Ouellette, wife of Pastor Craig Ouellette, of South Shore Pentecostal Church, located in Whitman, Massachusetts. If you love praise and worship, you will love services at South Shore Pentecostal Church and we invite you to come and worship with us. Sunday school for all ages begins at 10 AM and our Sunday evening service begins at 6 PM. Adult Bible study and children's church is held on Wednesdays at 7 PM.

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