Benefits of Obeying from the Heart
Date: June 24, 2026
And God looks down and His righteousness and holds us and says, “I love that boy right there.” And through the blood of Jesus, I’m perfect because Jesus is perfect. And it’s His blood that covers us.
Good to have you out on a Wednesday, and I’m honored to see every single person here. Good to see Grayson with us tonight, and that’s great. Good to have the Pattersons back with us. Some of them have been in Branson. Good to have them, and Josh. Good to have—I believe it’s Ricky or Rick? Is it Rick or Ricky? Ricky, Ricky, Ricky. Good to have Ricky with us tonight. He went to Franklin Road Christian School years ago, knew him back then. Been a bit, a bit of a minute, but good to see him tonight. That’s awesome. And good to have Molly with us tonight. We’re honored to have Molly.
Molly, do you mind if I give a little story? Just share your story. So, Brother Phil Ramsey, his mom, Miss Billy, is in the hospital. Miss Billy’s in the ICU; pray for her. And Molly was her nurse. And Miss Billy started talking to her about the Lord. And Brother Phil was in there. Brother Phil started talking about the Lord. And the Lord’s been working in Molly’s heart, kind of drawing her. She’s been seeking truth.
And she asked the Lord Jesus Christ to be her Savior. And just was that yesterday?
Monday night, okay. Monday night. That’s awesome. And in church over. We’re thrilled to have it tonight, Molly. That’s awesome. Hey, we’re just—we love to hear about people getting saved. That makes our night, Molly. We’re thrilled about it, happy for you. And that’s just wonderful. We’re so excited for her, and that makes the night special. You know, and I appreciate you being here, Molly.
If you have a prayer request, get one of those cards in front of you there, get that filled out. We’ll get those shuffled over to Brother David McCord. He’ll lead us in prayer over those in just a minute. And Brother Patrick, do you have it? Not tonight. Okay, okay. A lot of times I’ll read a missionary letter. By the way, good to have the Millers with us tonight, and they have been out sick. Brother Adam, Miss Melissa, and Braden, Bradley, I think all of them. And they’ve been passed around. No, no, okay. Man, he’s—look at that, he’s bulletproof. He didn’t get it. What about that, you know? And well, they’ve been passing bugs around. Good to have them with us tonight, back with us, and praise the Lord for that. That’s a good thing. Once you get that filled out, pass it on down the aisle, get those to the ushers, and we’ll get Brother David up here to lead us in prayer.
Continue to pray for Kathy Repass. I know some of you visitors in the hospital. I got to visit her on Saturday. She’s out today. Got out, so we keep praying for her. And Ms. Ramsey, we were mentioning her earlier. I got to visit with her today. She’s in Stonecrest ICU. She has pneumonia in both lungs, and so pray for her. I guess she’s had a couple moments. Just a little touch and go. Seemed a little better today, but pray for her, if you would.
And then pray for Sunday, all out for souls Sunday. That’s an exciting day. We’ll focus on the gospel in the morning message. So if you know someone, you’re not sure of their salvation, or maybe they just need to hear it clear to get assurance, invite them out for Sunday. And then Sunday at 4 p.m., we’re going to meet here. We’ll load up on the bus, and we’ll just go canvas the neighborhood. It’s unique. We do it. It had been years since we’ve done this, and we’re trying to find a good fishing hole for us to go in. And it’s exciting. Get a bus full of people. I love it when they say, “Man, the Baptists are attacking here,” you know. Of course, we’re just going to share the love of God and Jesus Christ with them.
But there’s something exciting about it. I’ve shared this before, but it’s amazing. We’ll have two little ladies get off that bus. We’ll all go out, two-by-twos, whatnot. But I’m seeing it, two little ladies get off that bus, and you’ll see some big old burly guy over there, and he’ll be drinking or something, you know. And, boy, they’re hiding their beer cans and hiding their cigarette burns, their fingers, you know. And it’s two little ladies, you know. But there’s just power in the gospel and representing the Lord. And so I love to advocate. If you’ve never did anything like that, we’ll pair you up with someone that has, and just see what God will do in hearts and lives. You know, somebody’s just got to go reach them in love. We’re not there to argue and all that. Just go love on them, tell them about Jesus. That’s what we’re there for. And so I’d love to have you for that Sunday afternoon. Then we’ll meet back for 6 o’clock for service and just praise the Lord for what He’s done in our lives.
Appreciate Brother David McCord. What a blessing he is. He’s a faithful man. Good to have them back from vacation. Would you come lead some prayers over those prayer requests, please?
Good evening. First, we have Tim and Jennifer. Praises boldness to give the gospel. And prayer request: Tim worked out of town Thursday and Friday, please pray for safety. Teresa Cooper, praises for God’s love. Prayer request: Dave Gackle—is that correct?—her brother-in-law? Okay. Has lost hearing in one ear. They’re waiting for an MRI to check for a tumor. Please pray his work situation through this. Also, Joe Sloiac, brother-in-law going through cancer treatments. Adam and Melissa Miller prayer request: Gary Maltman, encouragement and continued healing. And Chuck Donnelly having surgery Friday.
Please join me in praying for these.
Our Father and our God, we thank You, Lord, for Your loving kindness. We thank You for Your mercy and grace that You show to us each and every day. We sometimes take for granted. Thank You, Lord, for the privilege of prayer. We thank You, Lord, that we can bring our prayers directly to Your throne, Lord, and find help, Lord. Thankful, Lord, for Jesus making a way that we can come directly to Your throne. We’re needy people, Lord, but we’re glad You’re God who can meet these needs. We do lift up these specific prayer requests tonight. Pray for Tim, who’s traveling for work. Pray that You give him safety as he travels. Pray that his job situation would just go well and that he’ll continue to provide. Pray for Dave Gackle, who has lost the hearing in one of his ears. They’re checking for a tumor. We just pray, Lord, that it’s not a tumor. We pray that You’d heal him, Lord, and that You’d just work in that situation, just touch his body, and give the doctors wisdom and just take care of that. We also pray for Joe Sloiac, who is going through cancer treatments, Lord. We pray that treatments would be effective, that You would completely heal him, Lord. We know You are the great Physician and You can heal, Lord. We pray that You would just touch him and heal him completely. Pray for Gary Maltman and just continued healing. Pray that You would encourage him, Lord. Just surround him with people that would be an encouragement to him, Lord. We pray for Chuck Donnelly, who is having surgery Friday. Pray that that surgery would go well. Give the doctors wisdom that they take care of the problem. Pray for quick and complete healing there. Pray for Ms. Ramsey, who is in the hospital in ICU. Pray, Lord, that You would help her, that she would get over this pneumonia, Lord, that You’d just give her strength and heal her. We pray for Ms. Repass, who just got out of the hospital. Pray for continued healing there. Pray that You would just work there, Lord, encourage her. Pray for the service tonight. We pray for Pastor. You both hymns. He preaches Your word. We pray that our hearts and ears will be open to Your word. Pray that the Spirit will work in each of our hearts, Lord. Draw us to You. Pray now for this offering we’re about to take. We pray that You bless it and use it to continue further Your kingdom. Ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
It’s been about two months since I asked you to start praying for us to sell this property and for us to be able to use the proceeds from the sale of this towards the build of the new building before we draw from our loan. And it’s just been amazing how God has really made things happen. We’ve not closed yet, but we have a $2.3 million cash offer. Who in our day and time has $2.3 million cash? And it’s another church. Of course, some of you met some of them. They were not with us this weekend. They’ll be back with us this coming weekend. We’re sharing with them. And God’s been good, but let’s keep praying. It’s not closed. It’s not all done yet. So let’s keep praying for that.
It’s not quite 7 o’clock. We’ve got a couple minutes, but before we start the Bible study tonight, we’re going to ask you to pray. And I’m asking you to add something to that just for the right builder. We mentioned to you Sunday night we’re changing that. And so you pray that the Lord will lead us to the right builder. We had a good meeting this week. We’ll have another meeting next week with different builders. But you pray for that. Would you do that? And we’ll just add that to the 7 o’clock prayer request.
So would you do this? Would you come on down if you can? You can come to the altar if you like to, or the front row if you can’t kneel. And let’s just, as a church family—guests are welcome—let’s just all come and pray. It’s a little unique, a little different, but I also think it’s very special just for the church family to come down and pray together. And we’d love to have every single person come if you can. And we’re just asking the Lord to sell this property and then for the building, God help us build on that. And we have two different men that would lead us in that. And I’m trying to call them the same guy repeatedly. We’ve already used up our first and second time. Brother Marlin, hasn’t been a while. Come on up, Brother Marlon, if you would, please. Brother Rick, has it been a while for you? Come on up, if you will. We’ll get these men to lead us. Don’t just listen to them pray. We want to all go to God’s throne together, and these men will lead us, and they’ll be the ones praying out loud, but inside your heart. I remember my dad so often. Somebody be praying, and Dad sometimes it kind of slip out, and you know, he said, “Yes, Lord, yes, Lord.” And that’s what it is. We’re all praying together. These men are leading us. Let’s pray together that God would hear these requests. Would you do that as these men lead us in prayer?
Let us pray. Lord, we come to You again at the appointed hour, as we’ve been doing for over a month now for the sale of the building, Lord, and it’s progressing. Trying to get it closed by July 31st. I think all the little details, most of them have been worked out, Lord. We just pray for a transition to keep going well, Lord. We just pray that the closing will happen here either July 31st or before that time, Lord. We just have faith that You’ve brought this offer to the table, Lord, and it’s proceeding on. We have faith that You’ll complete it all the way, Lord. Our additional prayers for the builder situation, Lord. We’re looking for a new builder to build the church once we have the loan secured, or not the loan, but the money from the sale of the property, Lord. We just pray that You’ll bring the right builder at the right time, Lord. There will be no great length of time in between the closing and the start of the construction, Lord. Your timing is perfect in everything, Lord. Would just help us to be patient, Lord, and wait on You and know that it’s in Your perfect timing when all this will go forth, Lord, and when the building is complete, we’ll just give You the glory and the honor and just praise You for all that You’ve done all along the way for years leading up to this time, Lord. We just ask this all in Jesus’ holy name. Amen.
Lord Father, as we continue to pray, Lord, just thank You so much for bringing us together tonight, Lord Father. Thank You for Your mercy and in Your grace, Lord Father. And Lord, Lord, just, I want to lift our church up to You, Lord. I want to pray for just all the moving parts, Lord Father. I pray that You just highlight them for the building committee, give them wisdom and knowledge and just to bring just a great unity there. And Lord, just to highlight everything for them, Lord, Father, please. Lord, I do ask You, please, just assemble Your team the way You want it, Lord, Father. And, Lord, we know that You’re going to put all the moving parts together for us, Lord, and we’re just going to depend on You for that. That’s the way we know how. And, Lord, Father, I do want to lift up our church, Lord, and ask for just patience, Lord, Father, and unity as we are just doing our best to serve You, Lord, Father, the best we know how. And, Lord, just with the patience, Lord, Father, please.
And Lord Father, I want to just thank You, Lord, Father, for this church and what it stands for, Lord. And Lord, just to continue praying that when we do move to the new property, we continue just making that stand and to see souls saved and lives changed, Lord Father. And Lord Father, thank You for just allowing me to be part of a soul-winning, gospel-spreading church, Lord Father. Thank You for the Ramseys, Lord Father, and Miss Molly here tonight. Just what a blessing it is for all of us to see that, Lord, Father, You’re still saving souls. No matter where we’re at, Lord, just going to continue just making that stand on You. Lord, I do ask You, please, God, our pastor tonight, giving him liberty to say exactly what You need him to, Lord, deliver the message that You want him to, Lord. Just use him in a great way to speak to my heart, that I can live a better life for You, Lord. And Jesus, we love You, and we pray this all in Your name. Amen.
Book of Proverbs. Wednesday nights, we’re going through the Book of Proverbs. We’re in Proverbs chapter number three tonight. Proverbs chapter number three tonight. And I think we’ve been in the book of Proverbs for a month and a half, two months now. Proverbs chapter three, we are going chronologically through it, but also we’re hitting subjects. I mentioned this at the beginning a couple times, but if you have a subject you want covered, Proverbs really covers just about every subject in the world for the most part. And it’s wisdom to live in this world in our day and time. And so if you have a subject you want covered, write it down or text me that subject, and we’ll try to cover it in while we’re doing our Bible study on the book of Proverbs. For Proverbs chapter 3 tonight, Proverbs chapter 3 in God’s word. If you’re there tonight, would you say amen?
Good, good. Would you please stand? You said, would you just sit down? I think it would be last time for a bit. You stand, but we’re getting your exercise in tonight. And we try to do that and show the word of God respect. Proverbs 3, just those first two verses. The Bible there says, “My Son.” Now this is Solomon speaking to his son, but even more than that, it’s God speaking to you, His children. And He’s working through Solomon, but He says, “My son,” think about God speaking to you, “my son, my daughter.” “Forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments.”
“For length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee.”
Let’s pray. Would you pray that God would just kind of make this thing open up and be real to you and He’d speak to our hearts tonight? You pray that as I pray that. Father, help me to rightly divide Your word. And Lord, I pray that You’d make it real. Lord, apply it to every individual. Would You speak through me to them? And just let it be where You’re sitting down and talking directly to them, Lord. And Father, well, thank You for what You do. And Lord, we’re asking for this in the name of Jesus. We pray. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
I went to school at 7 o’clock. Somebody saying, “It’s time to pray.” I heard that alarm go off there, you know. But I went to school with a boy. It wasn’t—oh, we’ll just put it this way: his dad was a pastor in town, and his dad had sent him to this Christian school that I went to. And so he was at home. He had a pastor, preacher friend, a lad—excuse me—pretty strict at the school, Christian school we went to. It was fairly strict, but you could tell if you got to know this guy very well, we played soccer together, I think basketball together, whatnot. And if you got to know him very well, you could tell that he was just doing what he was doing because he had to do those things. I mean, you know, at home, he didn’t have no choice. And at school, he really didn’t have no choice. And so he was not doing things that he ought not do, and he was doing things that he was making, but he didn’t really want to do it. If you knew him very well, you could kind of tell his heart. Notice that word, his heart was going a different direction.
Now, graduation night, that’s kind of a night that you’re out on your own for many people, you know, you can do what you want to do, type thing. And graduation night, he graduated, and he got in his car, and amongst other things, he drove down the center of town and just did donuts all around town and basically went wild. Now, here’s the thing I’m pointing out: if you knew him, you could see it was in his heart way before. If you knew him very well, you knew that.
Notice what he says in that first verse there. He says, “My son, forget not my law, but let thine what? Let thine heart keep my commandments.” The heart. So, so very—you keep, look, look—your heart, it’s going to come out what’s in your heart. You’re going to keep the commandments by your heart, or you’re going to go wild by your heart. It’s your heart. And praise the Lord for his mom and dad that made him do right, whatnot, but man, you could just see it way before what was going on in his heart.
Your heart is key. Now, let’s just focus on that principle, that truth for just a bit, just a bit tonight. Then we’ll move on, get down to verse number two in just a second here. But your heart, you know, sometimes this is kind of an old saying, I don’t hear much anymore, but you used to hear a lot: “Well, you can’t legislate morality.” Well, you have to, someone. That’s, you know, that’s why we put murderers in jail. That’s legislating morality. You understand? You got to do it somewhat. If you’re not, it’s going to be great. You’ve got to legislate some morality.
And I think the people that use that phrase a lot, they’re like, you know, you can make them do right, and it’s right to make—when I left this afternoon, there was a police officer in our parking lot. No, he wasn’t coming to arrest me, all right now, you know. And I kind of waved everyone says I left. I said, you know, in my mind, “Hey, thank God he’s there.” And I like for them to be around. And we have to have some of that. But you know, if you have to have a police officer somewhere, somebody, mom and dad, an authority, always boom right on top of you, and that gets old after a while. You know, it just—you just—and if something inside them would change their heart, it’s so much easier.
And he said, “You’re going to keep, keep my commandments.” What? “With thine heart, let thine heart keep my commandments.”
Here’s one thing, you know, when someone gets saved. Look, if you will, over in 2nd Corinthians chapter number 5. 2nd Corinthians chapter number 5. And Molly, I hope you don’t think we’re picking on you. It just happened to be that you got saved recently. No, we’re just thrilled with you that you just got saved. We’re so happy about that. But here’s just a brief verse that talks about when someone gets saved, they become in Christ. And boy, the moment you ask Jesus to pay for your sins to be a person to save, the Holy Spirit moves inside of you, He regenerates you. You still got your flesh, but boy, something happens on the inside.
I think about a lady—I think about two different ones—where their countenance just changed so much. And you can’t always see what’s going on inside the heart. I think about a guy; his wife came faithfully. He wouldn’t say, wouldn’t get saved. 30-something years she had prayed for him to get saved. You heard me tell the story before. And her name is Linda. And I remember one service she came down to the altar, and God just—she was so burdened for her husband. And she was—I’ve never, in all my life, I’ve never seen her—I just weep and wail at an altar like her. I mean, she was down here for—remember right? And there was a man back there about where Brother Allen said, I think it was a Sunday morning, remember right? And he was a little bit of a tough kid character, kind of a guy. And because she was weeping and just literally just begging God to save her husband, it was just affecting this whole thing. That man back there, I could see him just tears coming down. I was this lady. And a little while after that, her husband got cancer, but still, he wouldn’t get saved. And she woke up one night in the middle of the night just in time to look over and see her husband in the bedroom on his knees getting saved.
Man, when he came to church, it’s like his total countenance was different. My wife always says she’s never seen a countenance change that much. He’s in heaven tonight. And just the difference when somebody—I think of a lady that used to come, and she always had her head, always had her head down. Never a smile, just doom and gloom. And one Sunday morning, the Lord got a hold of her heart and she got saved. Man, just the difference of night and day. She’d look up, she’d look people in the eyes, she would smile, she’d just be happy. And I’m just saying, when God—when you get saved, God moves in your heart, man, what a difference. And that’s what this is talking about right here.
He says right here, 2 Corinthians 5. Look at verse number 17. Verse number 17. He says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Tell about your salvation. You’re in the body of Christ. You’re a believer. That’s amazing. Now, you can still go do the things you used to do, but it’s not going to be the same way it was when you did it before. You know? And there’s going to be something inside of you, or not as happy, or not. You know, you’re just—you know, the most miserable person is a backslidden Christian. And when God moves in—here’s what I’m getting at—when God moves in, He changes the heart. That’s what He says over here. He said, “Hey, let thine heart keep my commandments.”
I’m trying to get a lost person to keep the commandments of God. It’s like the police officer. We’ve got to stand right over top of somebody the whole time, make him do right, or a mom or a dad, or he just—boom—always. But when God—He changes hearts, it begins at salvation.
By the way, all of us need our heart—God to redo our hearts, man. We backslide and get old, cold, and callous, and we need God to do work in our hearts. But our heart is the issue. And so, I’ve thought about a story. Pastor Carter, he is 90, I think, now, if I remember that right, and he’s a pastor that married my wife and me 33 years ago. Pray, Lord, I found someone that would say yes. Amen. Found the best one to say yes. Amen, you know. But Pastor Carter, he’s just—he’s still preaching, but he’s not pastoring as much. But I remember Pastor Carter used to tell a story about a lady. He, of course, he’d never say her name or anything. But a lady in the church just gave him a hard time and always causing trouble, and man, just trouble, trouble, you know. And he’s like, “Kill this lady,” you know. And lo and behold, one Sunday, God got a hold of her heart and she got saved. He said he never dreamed she was a lost person. But once she got saved, he said, “Man, she became just such a—such a good, godly lady.” Her heart. Heart.
So just salvation changes a heart. And then let me just say this principle here over in Proverbs, as we’re studying, you know, “Let that heart keep my commandments.” Just in dealing with people. Let’s talk about that truth in dealing with people. Let’s talk about for just a minute here in childhood, all right? Just for a minute. In fact, I preached a whole message on this, and there’s probably on YouTube somewhere, but about your child’s heart. So very, very important.
Now here’s the thing: when a child is born, they’re little, man, they automatically want to give their heart to mom and dad. I mean, they’ve been inside Mom’s womb for nine months, you know, and been hearing her heartbeat, and they’re just connected to her naturally. And then, Dad, you know, there’s a Bible verse. I think it’s in Proverbs. Let’s see here. Look over in Proverbs 17. You’re already there. Proverbs 17, and verse number six, it kind of referenced this truth the other day. But Proverbs 17, verse number six, he says, “Children’s children,” that’s grandchildren, “children’s children are the crown of old men.” Brother Marlon, don’t get mad at me. Brother Marlon is not old at all. Amen. But we went to the Braves ballgame, some of us men for men’s activity, and had his grandson with him, and in a good and rightful way, Brother Marlon was proud of that boy and glad to have his grandson with him in a good and right way. And it was awesome. And that’s what he was talking about that first part of the verse here. He said, “Children’s children are the crown of old men.” But watch this: “And the glory of children are their fathers.” Isn’t amazing? Little children, they think their dad can do anything. I mean, we were young. Man, my kids thought—I’m thinking, man, they might think I can do anything, but I sure can’t, you know.
I heard a preacher talking about—he was a guest preacher somewhere else in this church had a gym, and this fellow was over here just lifting big old weights, and he had his two boys with him, Steve Robertson, some of you know him, and his boys, you know, little boys believe their dad can do anything. And they’re like, “Dad, you can lift those weights, couldn’t you?” And Steve Robertson is like, “Well, you know, I’m not sure,” you know, “I don’t feel so good today.” He never did try it, but just children, they think Dad can do anything. And they naturally give their heart when they’re little. I’m talking about to mom and dad.
Now here’s the thing. I mentioned, I preached a message about it: Parents, don’t lose your child’s heart. Don’t make them do right. It’s right to make them do right while they’re in your house, and that’s a biblical thing while that way. But look, what’s going on in their heart is so key, because they’re going to grow up one day, you know. And what’s in the heart is so very—you can lose your child’s heart so many different ways. I’ll just list a couple of those if you have no time for them. You know, you’re liable to lose your child’s heart. Children, you know how children spell love? T-I-M-E. Man, when they’re little, you know, if it’s a boy, you come home, they want to wrestle. You know, and when they’re two, you know, you can just flick them off a little bit, but they’ll get about eight, you’re like, “I’m tired of wrestling,” you know. And by then it’s ball and everything else, but just—you can lose them.
Here’s another way you can lose your child’s heart: no discipline. Man, they just run you over. Discipline in the right way equals love. And it can almost be like a thing. They think, “Well, you’re not worthy of my heart because you never disciplined me,” you know. Just ways. If your child can never please you. It just—they can never, never please you. You can lose your child’s heart. Repeatingly losing your temper on them and just blowing up and not trying to make it right. I mean, you just won’t, you know, just won’t come back and say, “Hey, you know, I was over, you know, over the top on that one,” whatever. But just not—not do it. Repeatingly and never, never trying to make it right. Being a hypocrite. Satan’s always trying to steal their heart away.
Here’s the thing: what you want in a perfect world—and there’s not a—this is what you’re after though: your child automatically gives their heart to you, and you want to try to keep it. And as they grow up, you’re trying to steer their heart to the Lord, because one day, mom, dad, you’re not going to be around. One day you’re going to be, you know, if it’s just natural, you know, you’re going to be in heaven if you’re saved, and they’re still going to be here, or just when they graduate and they’re out on it. And so you’re all the time, “Lord, I’m making them do right. Would You get a hold of their heart?” That’s just key. Just heart. That’s just so very, very important.
It’s an interesting verse. I’ve been referencing it a little bit here lately, just talking over people. I don’t know why. It just came to my heart and my mind. But Psalms 127, verse number four: “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth.” Just like a hunter, he’ll take that bow and arrow and point it all over. And now he’s going to have to release it. You’re pointing that child whatever direction. Now, some arrows are true; they’ll fly straight. Some arrows, you know, you get a bad arrow, it’s going boom, boom. And children have got a mind of their own, and they’ve got a heart of their own. But children of the youth, you’re turning them. You’re steering them in a direction.
Now, let’s keep going. Just talking about this principle here about the heart, about the heart. It is so very, very important. We talk about child room. We talk about salvation. Let me just talk about dealing with people. Maybe you’ve got someone in your neighborhood that you’re trying to win to the Lord. Maybe you’re trying to influence someone for the Lord. And maybe it’s your Sunday school class, your bus route, a Christian school there in your class. Hey, but you’re trying to influence someone, whether be a child or an adult. Here, just if you can get their heart. Now, you can’t always, but if you can get their heart—
Little illustration: We had a boy and his mom bring him for a school tour a couple weeks ago. And he’s—oh, I think around five, six. He’s big for his age. And he just didn’t take to me right off the bat. You could tell it. Then he’s raised by his mom, whatnot. And he had a little chip on his shoulder with me, you know. And I thought, “Well, this is not going to be good,” you know, quote-unquote principle, you know, whatnot. You know, and it’s amazing how the Holy Spirit will speak to you. Now, He doesn’t say, “Hey, Paul,” you know, but it’s just impulse. Someone said, “Obey every impulse of the Holy Spirit,” just a little boom. And if I don’t follow it, I lose a lot of times. And a lot of times I do lose it, unfortunately.
Well, that time I listened to the Holy Spirit, and the mom was over here talking to Sarah. And the boy wanted to go play on the playground. And the Holy Spirit said, “Go play with him.” I don’t want to go play with him. Man, I’m 56 years old. I’m tired already before getting on some sticking playground, you know. I mean, but the Holy Spirit said—as I came over here, praise the Lord—I got to divert him off the playground onto the basketball goal here. That was a good thing, you know. And we played basketball a little bit. And, you know, you could tell, praise the Lord, he gave me his heart, fellow boy. And Mom came over, and I was bragging or he’s a good basketball player and all that. And man, it was just different. By the time it was done, he didn’t want to leave when Mom said to go leave, and I was able to get on that boy, so you better listen to your mom. And if I had done that before, he’d have had an attitude. It’d still be right to do, but if you can get to heart—you can’t always do that. If you get to heart—“My Son,” He said, “let thine heart keep my commandments.”
So very, very important. I mean, there’s going to be—you can’t always do that. You know, a boss, if you get a boss and he’s a little bit got your heart, that’s a good thing. But even if the boss doesn’t got your heart, he’s somewhat got your heart because of a paycheck, you understand? And that’s not wrong. That’s just part of life. But if you have a boss you’re a little bit—you’re a little bit—they’re worthy of your heart a little bit, it’s just so much easier for you, and it’s easier for the ball.
So just some principles about this thing about your heart. And one last thought on this, and we’re done. “Let thine heart keep my commandments.” Well, we’re done with that principle. We’re going to get another one, though, all right, so we’re not going home. So ladies, don’t put your shoes on yet. We’re not going home, all right? Not trying to say that. One more thought on the heart situation: “Let that heart keep my commandments.” How’s your heart?
We’ve talked about, you know, people getting saved, which is what we live for. We’ve talked about influencing others. How about my heart? Man, my heart can get cold and callous. You know, Satan’s always trying to pull your heart. Always. Our society’s got so many things for the eyes. Lamentations over there says, “Mine eyes affect…” You know, when your heart’s on fire for the Lord, man, you’re just loving, you want to serve Him. Nobody has to beat you over the head. You want to please Him. You want to do whatever you can for Him. And our hearts—oh, it’s so very, very important that my heart’s right.
Look over in James. There’s just a neat little truth the Lord showed me a couple years ago. I felt like the Lord wanted me to share this little fault, and we’re going to move on. But James chapter number four. James chapter number four, and look at verse number eight, would you please. James 4 and verse number 8. James 4, verse number 8. You’re there tonight, amen? Come on now. You said amen, but you’re still turning. James 4, look at verse number 8 right there. He says, “Draw nigh to God,” I love this, “and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.”
So here’s the thing: when I get double-minded, you know the root problem? My heart. You see somebody, man, they’re so back and forth, and, you know, right or wrong, they’re in there for the Lord, out for them, and all the rest of it. What’s the problem? Purify your heart. Your heart. You’re double-minded. Oh, our hearts—I don’t know about you, but I have to go to the Lord continually saying, “Lord, clean my heart up. May the Lord get me in tune, get me just on fire and seeking Him.” And boy, my heart just—boom—it’s off here. And, “Lord, get my heart right.” Because “let thine heart keep my commandments.” This is key.
Now, let’s go back to Proverbs 3. Would you please? Back to Proverbs 3. We got verse number one covered. We just really focused on that principle there: “Let that heart keep my commandments.” Let’s go to verse number two, and He gives three benefits of obeying these laws, of the commandments, three benefits of it in verse number two. All right, chapter Proverbs 3.
And look in verse number two. Three benefits He gives here. We’ll go back, rehash verse number one: “My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments.” Four—here it is—three things. What’s the first thing? Four—what’s the next three words? Length of days. Now, He’s not talking about long life because He’s about to say that. Length of days. But what does it mean? You ever feel like you have a day that you just—it just seemed like you got everything done and you’re able to get a lot done? And it just seemed like some days—I don’t know what you—some days I feel like I, man, I’m not getting anything done and just boom, where did the time go, you know? But sometimes when God blesses—I can be too much of a list person. I want to get this, this, this, this, this done, and I don’t get it all done. It bothers me. You don’t have to yield to the Lord on those things. But, you know, when you obey those things, you have—you’re able to get more done. You have length of days. Your days last longer, if you will. God, you know—and by the way, there’s urgent things and there are important things. And I’m not necessarily talking about the urgent things. I’m talking about the important things.
How many have you seen the illustration of the jar and you got the rocks and the sand and the water? You don’t know—talk about, you know. You know, you’ve seen that? Okay, maybe about half of us have seen it, you know. And here’s the thing, you know, if you put the water in there and the sand in there, you’re not going to be able to fit the rocks in there. But if you put the rocks in there, and then you put the sand in there, and it filters around, and then you can put it all in that jar. And if I do the big things—I’m walking with God, spending some time with the Lord, praying—I mean, the husband ought to be to my life, the father ought to be to my kids. I’m taking care of the big things. You know, it’s amazing how the little things you can get them done. And He says, “Look, when you obey my law and you keep my commandments, you have a length of days. You’re able to get more done,” if you will. Just God blesses. And not just necessarily the urgent things, but the important things. I get your priorities right there. My God’s able to get you—you’re able to get the things you ought to get done done.
Let’s look at the next thing. He said, number one, He says, “You obey these commandments.” He said, number one, you have length of days. Then the next thing is, and what? Now, this can be a little confusing, long life. By the way, at the very end of that verse, it says, “will add to thee.” Just a little note about that. It says it’ll add to thee. Now, this can be a little confusing because you’ll say, “Well, if you’re not careful, you’ll say, ‘Well, that person died young, so there must have been, you know, they must not have been obeying the commandments.’” You know, Jesus died, earthly speaking, at 33 years old. He never said—you got to be a little careful with that. You said, “Well, preacher is saying that, how does that—how do you put all these together,” if you will, you know?
Well, look over in Hebrews. You’ll know this for—Hebrews chapter number nine. Keep your finger in Proverbs. We’ll go back there. Look over in Hebrews 9. And many of you will know this verse here. Hebrews 9, and look in verse number 27. Hebrews 9:27. Such a sad story, but a little before graduation would have missed Emily’s classmates. And I was asking Emily. She said it was a good boy, but just a little before graduation, he was a senior in high school, and it was a car accident going to school, and passed away just a month or so ago. And how do you fit that in? He was a good boy.
Well, look at this. Look at this verse here might help us a little bit of understanding the Bible, how it fits together. Hebrews 9, look at verse number 27. He says, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Now here’s the thing I’m getting at: we all have an appointment with death. I was talking to someone the other day, and they said, “Well, I’m limited on amount of time because I have an appointment.” And we were texting, and so we called, and I said, “What kind of appointment you got?” They said, “Going to the dentist.” I said, “Well, let’s talk. You can skip that meeting,” you know. She said, “Well, it’s free.” I said, “Okay, go to it anyway,” you know. But we got appointments, you know, and we all have an appointment with that. And you know, the honest truth is, God, He has a different path for all of us. And I think in Romans, He talks a lot about that in 9 to 11. You know, and God’s got the right to say, “You know what? Your appointment, you’re going to have a short life. You’re going to live to your 40, you’re going to live to your 50,” whatever, you know. Children pass. But we have an appointment with death.
And I was told Ms. Ramsey—Ms. Rans—and Ms. Billy, she is ready to go. She probably told you that, Molly. But she is like—I told her today she’s 90. I said, “Well, we don’t know. You might live to be 100.” Boy, she didn’t want her here. She said, “Uh-uh, I won’t live no 100. I want to go home,” you know. She’s ready. And her son came in, Steve, another one of her sons, and I mentioned it to him when he was there. She said again, “No, nope, nope. I told you already. I won’t live that long,” you know. But, but, you know, she says, “You know, I got an appointment,” and she’s ready for it, whatever it comes. And we all have that appointment.
Now, so we don’t know when that appointment is, but let’s go back over to Proverbs. Look over in Proverbs chapter number nine. We’re turning a little bit more into the Bible, our Bible study, and I—Proverbs 9. And look in verse number 11. So we all got an appointment. We don’t know what that appointment is. Someone today was asking about Brother Frank. And that comes every six months a year. And he says, “Is that Frank around?” I said, “No. Pancreatic cancer.” And it was always a great man. He’s in heaven. And I can’t remember—some of you remember better than me. My memory is horrible. But if I remember, it was about six weeks from what he found out he had pancreatic cancer until the time he was gone. He had an appointment. And Brother Frank was all right with that.
But look at this. Look at Proverbs 9. Look at verse number 11. “For by me shall thy days be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.” Look in chapter number 10, Proverbs chapter 10. Proverbs 10. Look in verse number 27. Proverbs 10 and verse number 27: “The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.”
So if you understand the Bible, you’re saying, “Hey, yes, you’ve got an appointment, but it can be increased.” You know what, Brother Frank? I don’t know how old he was when he passed. Anybody know how old he was when he passed? Eighty-four? Eighty-four. I don’t know. Maybe—maybe, and I’m not saying this is it, I don’t know—but maybe Brother Frank’s appointment was at 70. But man, I don’t know before, but the last 15 years, whatever—what a—he became a great soul winner. He was the best greeter. Brother Joel has said it. He’s over a bigger ministry. And he was just our best greeter. I mean, just never met a stranger. So good with people. He would cut the grass here at church. He was like 80. He was cutting. And I was like, “Hey, you know.” But he just—I mean, when we remodeled this auditorium about 10, 15 years ago, Brother Frank was here every day. Every day. Danny Rogers, we hired him. He did it, but Brother Frank was his helper every day he was here. When it was all done, Danny Rogers wanted to hire Brother Frank as helper. Brother Frank was like, “No, man,” you know. But, but, you know, so I don’t know, but maybe his appointment was at 70, but God said, “You know what? I’m going to increase that.”
Maybe there’s someone they’ve got an appointment at death, and maybe they’re going to live to their 50. I don’t know. That’s God’s business. And they live a wicked life, just a crazy life, and their life is shortened. Overall, you can look at the principle, you know, you live right, the people that just live right, they do live longer. But we don’t know when the appointment is. And the Bible even talks about, “Honor thy father and thy mother,” which is the first commandment with promise, “that it may be well with thee, that thou mayest live long upon the earth.” That would not know what the appointment is. That can be lengthened or shortened, see.
So what’s the benefits? Benefits of keeping these commandments. Number one, we said it’s what? The number one benefit is what? Length of days. This man was on the ball. Of course, he’s looking right at it in the Bible, which is good, you know. Length of days and what? Next thing is what? Long life. And what’s the last thing right here in verse number two? Proverbs 3:2: “And peace.” Oh, wow. Man, how we need peace in our day and time. World of turmoil. I mean, everywhere you look, just problems and situations and anger and violence and war and, you know, people are worried about this, that, other. That’s such a great, great thing. You know, the Bible says—says twice—“There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.” Wow.
You know, here’s the thing: God can give you peace even in the midst of the storm. Peace. And He says, “You keep these commandments. You follow with your heart, follow the—” and God, God said three things it’ll do: It’ll give you length of days, long life, peace. You know, it’s just something peaceful about doing right. So just do the right thing. Let the chips fall where they may. So-and-so is going to come after you. That’s all right. If you’re doing right, you’re in the right, just let the chips fall where they may. Just do right. There’s peace.
I wasn’t planning on telling this story, but I got to tell it. We’ll be done. All right, we’ll be done. You all right? One more story. Thank you. I didn’t hear—I didn’t see her raise her hand, but you said amen, so we’ll take it even.
Years ago, a lady, she had—I don’t know if she got saved here or what—she got on fire for the Lord. I don’t think she got saved here, but she got on fire for the Lord and lived for the Lord. Man, she came, and she just—she just dove in. She was on fire. And, but her husband—there were already major, major problems in the marriage. And she prayed. And he came maybe a time or two, but just, you know, just didn’t want anything to do with it. And she would call, and we would talk on the phone and trying to help her through all that a little bit. And she became a good—you’d be the wife God wants you to be. You can’t change your husband. That’s a long, long road if you’re trying to change your spouse. You just do right. And there’s not going to be—you know, if you’re on their side trying to make them right, you’re not going to have peace over there. Peace is you over here on your side, being the spouse, whether it be a husband or wife, you just do what’s right before God. God’s one of the—peace comes down here, peace of God, which passes—you know. And so she took it. And she was a good, godly wife. He never took it. And in the end, very sad, he had already been off with other people, whatnot. And she, you know, they divorced, and she moved an hour or two away from here to live with her sister.
And um—um—um—and I told her, I said, “Do you know—no matter what,” I said too much about what I said anyway. She called me—she called me a year or so later, maybe even later. I think it was about a year later. And she said, “You know, Brother Paul, I want to call you and tell you. It didn’t turn out the way we wanted it.” And the lady that passed—I don’t think they were related, but just along, you know how people just—it’s a small world. This person knows this person. And so anyway, this couple came in, just a good Christian couple that came in, had some kids, little kids, and that we were talking. And the lady said, “You don’t recognize me, do you?” “No, I don’t.” And she said, “I’m that lady.” She got in church, living for the Lord, found a good, godly husband, living for the Lord, good marriage, kids. And she said, “Had peace.” Peace. You know, you just do the right thing, and there’s peace there. Peace is there.
Let’s bow our heads and close our eyes. We won’t be long. I’m just going to kind of open up the invitation. God’s speaking to your heart. You want to come, you want to be obedient to the Lord. Let’s spend some time. Then would you stand? We’re going to pray, and you just spend some time with Him. Would you do that tonight? Father, thank You for Your word. It’s just packed full of wisdom. Help us to follow it, Lord. Please make my heart—I need my heart. Would You clean it and purify it? Lord, I give it to You again. Please work on my heart, Lord. Well, we thank You for the promises. We’re going to look at that length of days, long life, and peace. We need that, Lord. Help us to obey Your commandments. Bless Your people in this time. In Jesus, then we pray. Amen.
We just spend some time with the Lord, however it calls you. Don’t know old-fashioned altar if you need to, or just where you are. Let the Lord lead you. You just spend some time with the Lord.
Amen, amen. So good to have everyone here tonight. Glad you in the house of the Lord. Pray for Sunday. Pray the Lord just let us see people saved on Sunday. That’s the key. Just bathing without thinking of prayer. Good to have everyone here. Everyone, I appreciate you being here. Molly, good to have you, first time in church. We’re honored to have you. That’s awesome. What a blessing. Ricky, thank you to be with us. And the Pattersons are back, Grayson, and I probably missed it. Little Millers are back. And Brother Adam says, “I feel like I need to go back and sleep,” you know, and there’s getting over all these bugs and everything. So good to see Jennifer slipping back there, too. That’s great. Praise the Lord for it. Brother Robert, would you dismiss us with a word of prayer, please, my friend?
Original File: 2026-06-25 - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Benefits of Obeying from the Heart - Wednesday PM 06⧸24⧸2026