Is Your Heart Fixed Upon Jesus?

[0:00] Psalm 57 this morning, please. Psalm 57. Or if you prefer the 57th Psalm. Either way works. I appreciated that special. I do. I appreciate the singing. I appreciate the willingness.

[0:16] I appreciated the meaning behind the song. I'm always in a danger when we come back to this area because as most of you, or some of you, or okay, whoever just cared to remember my testimony may know, my wife and I grew up over in Shenandoah, which is only about 90 miles from here.

[0:37] And we were living here in Lincoln actually just a few months before we got saved. And if you go down to, I believe it's 56th and A, there is a park on the southeast corner of that intersection.

[0:54] And in that park is a tree. And under that tree, I sat and I tried to commit suicide. My life was a mess. Sin had twisted it, had hurt it, had ruined it. At least I thought at that point.

[1:15] But God in His mercy and in His grace allowed me to survive that. And it was a serious attempt. I was not just trying to get attention. A lot of times people will do that just to get attention, to get somebody to pay attention, and they're not serious about what they're doing. This was a serious attempt.

[1:35] And God in His mercy allowed me to survive that. And just a few months later, led us to a church where we heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. For the very first time in my life, I heard a clear presentation of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ at 24 years old in America, having grown up in the Midwest. So don't tell me that everybody in America heard. It is not so. And it seems to me that even since then, it has become more and more so as we become less and less churched, and as we become less less and less Christian as a nation, there are people out there who need to be reached, and they are the most unlikely people you might think. They're the people that might intimidate you. I will get to my outline here in a minute. Really, I will. When I was reached, I had hair. It was, and not that I, I didn't just have hair. I had long hair. I was a woolly booger. I tell my kids when I, when they were growing up,

[2:38] I would tease my kids. I would tell them, you know why I look like this is because I had long hair when I was young, and you only get so much, and I used all mine up. I was, I was rough. I wore all, I wore my entire wardrobe consisted of jeans of various conditions and black rock and roll t-shirts. If you came to the house, there would be loud music pounding away. It was the kind of place then that I was the kind of person that if you came up and knocked on the door to try to witness to me, you would probably be a little bit intimidated or probably think, oh, this guy, he's a hard rocker. He's a drinker. I can, I can tell already. He came to the door with a Budweiser in his hand. He's not going to listen, and all the time inside, I was screaming, please help me. Oh, your, your family special got me wound up. Please help me. The Lord reached down, and he changed my life, and he changed our family, and he has set me on the path that he has set me on, and I am so happy that he has, and I praise him for what he has done in our lives, and I praise him also that he has allowed me to make friends such as I have here. Thank you very much for allowing us to be with you this morning. I told you I'd get to my outline, Psalm 57 this morning. If you're at Psalm 57, and you're able, would you join me in standing to your feet, please, this morning for the reading of God's Word? Psalm 57, starting in verse number one, the Bible says, Be merciful unto me, O God. Be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. My soul is among lions, and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They have digged a pit before me into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah. Verse number seven is our text for the morning's message, though we'll finish reading the rest of the psalm. My heart is fixed, O God. My heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise. Awake up, my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp. I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people. I will sing unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the earth. Let's pray together this morning. Father, we thank you so much for allowing us to come together here. Lord, we thank you so much for the four part of the service. Lord, for the singing, for the congregational singing, for the special. Lord, I thank you for the blessings we've already enjoyed this morning. And now, Lord,

[6:02] I pray that you would bless in the preaching of your word. Holy Spirit, that you would fill me, that you would use me, that you would control my mind and my words, that you would move amongst the seats here this morning, that you would speak to hearts directly. Lord, that you would strengthen us in you, that you would comfort us in you, that you would challenge us. Father, we pray together, especially if there's anyone here who does not know you as their personal Savior and does not know the joy of sins forgiven. Father, we pray that today would be the day that they accept you as their personal Savior.

[6:34] And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. David is writing in this psalm, as he wrote, so many of the psalms, looking back on his life. And in verse number seven, he uses a phrase and a word that we don't commonly use, perhaps, in this particular kind of context. He said to the Lord, my heart is fixed, O God. My heart is fixed. Now, usually, when we use the word fixed in everyday conversation nowadays, we mean as in to repair something, to make something that was not working or that was broken, to set it right again. I work for a refrigeration service company. People call us up. We send out the technicians. And the technicians find out what the problem is with their equipment. And they pay them to fix it, to make it. It's not working. We're going to make it work again. Now, they do not send me to do this because they know exactly how good I am at fixing things. It is not pretty when I try to fix stuff. It never goes well. We had a problem with the toilet just the other week. And I had to replace something inside the tank. And to replace it,

[7:47] I had to take the tank off the back, off the toilet entirely. And I told my wife, we went to Ace Hardware. We picked up the parts. I told my wife, it should take us about an hour. Seven o'clock that evening, after much trial and tribulation, after trying to get this chubby body around in the different positions needed to get to all the bolts in the toilet and such, seven o'clock in the evening, I finally got that stupid thing all the way back together without leaks. I had it back together within an hour. I did the first time. But you know what? Usually when you have your toilet and you flush it, you do not want water running on the floor. This is generally not considered well. So this is why my company does not send me out to fix things, to repair things, because they want it done. They want it done right. They want it done quickly. But that's not what David is talking here all about here, though there is application. There is application for that use of the word, because does not the Lord, when he saves us, does not he fix what's wrong with us? Doesn't he start working on us and changing us? Part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God in a believer's life is to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. The Bible says to conform us to the image of his son, meaning the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, what God is doing in a believer's life all through their lives after they accept him as their personal savior, God is fixing us. He's working to repair what's wrong with us. And it's a lifelong thing. We are never going to be entirely what we should be down here. And personally, I believe it's going to be an eternity long thing, because we're never going to be completely and totally like the Lord Jesus Christ, because he is unique. He is God incarnate.

[9:30] He is God the Son. There is no one like him. So no matter how close we get to being like him, we are ever able to grow more and more and more and more and more like him. And that excites me entirely. It excites me to the to my marrow to think that I get to spend eternity learning about him and growing closer to him and becoming more and more and more like him. Because to tell you the absolute truth, there's still an awful lot about me I don't like. And I don't mean just the face.

[10:03] There's a lot about me I don't like. And I love the fact that the Holy Spirit of God not only saved me, but forgave me. And he is sanctifying me. He is making me more and more like Christ. And if you're a believer, you're here this morning and you've accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. He is doing that for you also. And the more that we yield to him and the more that we allow him to do that, the more he works in us to become like Christ, to make us like Christ. But that's not the way David is using the word in this psalm. In this psalm, that word fixed means to be settled, established, firm, fast, if you will, stable. As it were a fixed point, a fixed point of reference. My heart is fixed. I am stable. I have made up my mind. This would be the opposite of what James is talking about. In James chapter 1 verse number 8, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Do you know why a lot of folks and even believers are unstable in their lives? It's because our hearts are not fixed. We are trying our hardest to say we're a Christian and to perhaps walk some with God, but at the same time, we want the world. We want the things of the world. We want the toys of the world. We want the, you know, the devil succeeds so often, so easily in our lives just by saying, hey, look at the shiny little thing. Look at the shiny little object.

[11:36] Doesn't this look pretty? Doesn't this look nice? And all of a sudden, instead of over here walking with God, we're over there walking after the world and doing what the devil wants us to do. Oh, we're saved.

[11:46] Now, remember, just because a person is saved, just because a person's sins are forgiven does not mean they're perfect. We can still mess up. We can still fall. That's why John wrote John 1, John 1, 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness because even as a Christian, we're going to mess up and we need to go to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm sorry, I fell for the shiny object. I fell for the distraction. I let the world get in front of my face. Please cleanse me. Please forgive me for that and help me to walk with you. But how much better would it be instead of falling for the shiny object that we stay over here to begin with, that we determine my heart is fixed. It is set. It is stable. Instead of being unstable in all my ways, instead of being double minded, pardon the world, pardon God, sometimes here, sometimes there, sometimes hot, sometimes cold. Instead of that, my heart is fixed. My heart is fixed on God. If you'll notice in all this, in all this Psalm, 11 verses long of this Psalm, God is mentioned eight out of 11 of the verses. When David's talking about my heart is fixed, he's not just talking about I am determined to have, be a person of character. Is that not a one? That's a wonderful thing.

[13:13] We should be determined to be people of character. He's not talking about I'm determined to be intelligent. That's, this is not a bad thing. My heart is fixed on gaining intelligence and gaining knowledge. That's, that's not a bad thing. But that's not what David's talking about. He's talking, not talking about character. He's not talking about intelligence. He is not talking about any other character attribute that we could talk about. He is talking about my heart is fixed on God. He is my goal. He is my target. He is everything to me. Jesus is all the world to me, as the song says. That is what my heart is fixed upon. And because I'm fixed upon him, I am fixed upon the things that he wants in my life. I'm not worried about what's going on around me. I'm not worried about the things that I have to face. Psalm 112, verse number seven says, he shall not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed. Trusting in the Lord. Instead of being distracted, instead of being back and forth, we are fixed. And we are fixed not just on things that are transitory, things that are here and gone, not certainly not fixed on things of the world. But our heart, our intellect, our will, everything about us is concentrated on God. We bring God into every part of our life.

[14:39] You know, society really doesn't have a problem so much with the person who's religious. With the person who, oh, you go to church on Sunday morning, you do your little duty, you do your religious rites, you know, you do this, such. But man, do you have to bring it into work on Monday? Yes, I do. Because my heart is fixed. My heart isn't just fixed on Sunday morning when I'm sitting in church. My heart is fixed Monday morning when I walk into church. And my heart is fixed on Tuesday evening when I'm spending time with my family. And my heart is fixed on a Saturday or a Friday night when I'm trying desperately to see if the Huskers are going to let me down again or not.

[15:19] I don't want to get sidetracked. I really don't. Friday hurt. But my heart, my heart's not fixed on the Huskers, though. My heart is fixed on God. Now, there are people whose heart is fixed on sports or their heart is fixed on entertainment. Oh, they have to have their their heart is fixed on their leisure time. I have to have my time. Our heart is to as Christians, our hearts are to be fixed on God, to be concentrated on, to be stable in God. He is to be the desire of our hearts.

[15:55] And our heart is to be fixed in spite of certain things. Because as I've already mentioned, the devil is going to bring distraction into our lives and the devil is going to bring temptation into our lives. But David tells us in this psalm that our heart is to be fixed in spite of afflictions. Notice in verse number one, he cries out unto God, be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. David, when he was penning this psalm or when he was thinking back to the circumstances that birthed this psalm, was remembering the calamities that he was having in his life, if you will, the afflictions, the hard times, the difficulty, the pain that he was going through at the time that this psalm was birthed in. And even though he was having difficulties, he said, I'm, when he got down to verse number seven, he said, my heart is set on you. It does not matter the hard times I'm going through. Because quite frankly, everybody has hard times. You know, sometimes if we're not careful, it's easy to look at certain people and say, well, they don't know what it's like.

[17:13] You know, they've got plenty of money. They don't know what it's like. Man, must be nice to have a house like that. They don't know what it's like. Wow, must be nice to be able to afford a car like that.

[17:27] You're making some assumptions. We're making some assumptions there. Number one, we're assuming that material things and the things that we can see are what makes a person happy. And that is a false assumption. And number two, when you say, must be nice to be able to afford that, you're making the assumption that they can afford it. This is not always the case. You know, it's easy for us to get bound up looking at somebody else and saying, wow, they're family. They're perfect. But all we see is what's on the outside. All we see is the face people put up, the image that they put forth in the public or wherever they may happen to be. The truth of the matter, the absolute bottom line truth of the matter is everybody has afflictions. Everybody has calamities. Everybody has hard times.

[18:15] And you can put whatever you want to put in there. I'm having a hard time with my finances. I'm having a hard time with my family. I'm having a hard time emotionally. I'm having a hard time at work. I'm having a hard time because I don't have work. Just on and on and on and on. But whatever it is, we need to realize we're going to have these hard times. And we need to resolve that my heart is going to be fixed in spite of afflictions. No matter where this road of life leads me. No matter the trials and tribulations that come into my path. Because remember, Jesus did say in this world, ye shall have tribulation. Jesus never promised us that we weren't going to have a good time. But he said, be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.

[19:05] We're going to have afflictions, but we need to keep our hearts fixed on God because that is where we will find our strength, our comfort, our wisdom, our guidance, everything that we need in the midst of affliction. Not the fact that we don't have affliction, but we have the resources to get us through the affliction. David tells us that our hearts need to be fixed in spite of afflictions.

[19:28] He also tells us that our hearts need to be fixed in spite of adversaries. Notice verse number three. He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up.

[19:42] David knew what it was like to have enemies. Notice, if you will, the title of the psalm. In most Bibles, you're going to have the Psalm 57 in bold print, and then you're going to have probably in italics what is the title of this psalm. It has a couple of words that it says, to the chief musician, and then a couple of words that nobody really knows how to pronounce. So we're going to skip over those.

[20:05] of David when he fled from Saul in the cave. Now this is going to be either in 1 Samuel 22 probably, or in 1 Samuel chapter 24. In both of those times, David was taking refuge from Saul or encountered Saul in a cave. If you'll remember the story of David, David was actually anointed to be Israel's second king. But Saul, the first king of Israel, became intensely jealous. Even though David did not try to take over, he didn't try to depose Saul. Matter of fact, he was very, very respectful of Saul.

[20:42] If you read 1 Samuel 24, which I just mentioned, you'll see that David was actually very respectful of that man, Saul, and very respectful of his authority. Yet nevertheless, Saul hated David. He was insanely jealous of David. He hunted him. He literally hunted him. He literally wanted to kill him. I mean, we've heard people fussing and fighting and just saying, man, I'm going to kill you. And they don't mean it. Okay, nowadays, maybe they do a little bit more than they used to. But you know, the couple of brothers and sisters are fussing, man, I'm just going to kill you. They don't mean it. Saul meant it.

[21:21] Saul tried more than once. David knew what it was like to have an enemy. David knew what it was like to have an adversary, somebody who was set against him. Now, most of us probably do not know what it's like to have somebody that would like to kill us. And as long as I don't go back to Kansas, I should be okay. That was a joke. That was. I can go to Kansas. Mississippi, well, that's a... No. Most of us don't know what David experienced here. But most of us do know what it's like to have people who don't like us. Most of us do know what it's like to have people who don't like what we stand for.

[22:03] Matter of fact, I can just about guarantee you that if you do have your heart fixed on God and you are living for God, that you are going to encounter people who don't like you for no other reason than the fact that you are trying to live for God. That's just the way that the world is. And in spite...

[22:24] And sometimes it can be discouraging. Sometimes it can be disheartening and it can be difficult. It can. But if our heart is fixed on God, we're going to realize that these people are adversaries that are raging against us. They think that they are one thing, but the truth of the matter is, as we keep our hearts fixed on God, we come to the realization that they are nothing more than puppets under the control, under the spiritual control of the devil himself. And he is using them to attack us. And instead of becoming angry or becoming hateful, we will actually have pity on the people who stand against us. We will have pity on the people who treat us unkindly.

[23:05] We will pray for them that they would know the joy of having God as their Savior, that they would be able to break loose of the snares of the devil and be saved themselves because we see the truth of the matter. Because our heart is not fixed on them. Our heart is not fixed on their behavior. Our heart is not even fixed on our hurt. Our heart is fixed on God. David tells us that our heart should be fixed on God in spite of afflictions, in spite of adversaries, and in verse number four, in spite of accusations. My soul is among lions, and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword. If no one has lied about you yet, you probably haven't been around very long. If somebody hasn't misunderstood something about you.

[24:06] If somebody hasn't misapplied something to you. If someone hasn't gossiped about you. And heaven forbid that we, sitting in this room, are among that number that gossip. Heaven forbid that we among this room are among that number that use our tongue unkindly about other Christians, about other believers, or for that matter, about anybody. People are going to say things. I wish I could say it differently. I wish I could say that they weren't. But people are going to say things. And sometimes those things are unkind. Sometimes they are cutting. Sometimes they are downright cruel. And if we allow ourselves, we will focus on the hurt. We will focus on the injustice of it. Well, brother Scott, you don't understand. It's just not fair. I understand. And I agree. It's not fair. But brother Scott, it's just not right. I understand. And I agree. It's not right. I agree. But who are we fixed on? Are we back fixed on them? Are we back fixed on ourselves? Are we back fixed on the injustice of it? Or is our heart fixed on God where I'm going to just let them say what they want? Let them accuse me of whatever they want?

[25:24] Let them lie about me. Let them slander me. God knows. You know, that's where we need to seek our validation. There's a word for you. There's where we need to seek our affirmation. There's a word the world likes a lot nowadays, doesn't it? Affirmation. We need to seek our affirmation from the Lord. We need to seek our vindication from God. We need to keep our hearts fixed on God. When all the world may be gossiping about us, we can look up and say, God, thou knowest. Thou knowest that my heart is right with you. Thou knowest that I am living for you. Thou knowest that they are lying against me, that their teeth are sharp, that their tongues are sharp, that they are cutting against me. But Lord, you know, and my heart is fixed on you because if we're not careful, these sort of things will draw us away from God. We will focus on the hurt. We will focus on the injustice. We will focus on the people. And before you know it, we are drawn away from God because our heart is not fixed in the way it is supposed to be. Say, well, how is our heart supposed to be fixed? Our heart is supposed to be fixed not just in spite of something, but our hearts are supposed to be fixed to do some things. Our heart is to be fixed to pray. Our heart is to be settled on God, to be set on God, to be steadfast on God, so that we can turn to Him at any time in prayer. Notice verse number two. David says, I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth all things for me. And notice that that is sandwiched in between the calamities in verse number one and the reproach of Him that would swallow me up in verse number three.

[27:10] In spite of these things, or maybe even because of these things, David says, I will call unto God. I will cry unto God. Why is he turning to God in the midst of calamities and in the midst of persecutions?

[27:24] He's crying unto God because that's where his heart is. That's where his heart is fixed. He is not to be drawn away by the distractions. Very real distractions and very real pain. In his distress, he does not draw in. He does not draw back. He does not cower and hide, but rather he turns to God and cries out to God in prayer. Our heart is to be fixed to pray. Not only that, but our heart is to be fixed to praise. Again, in verse number seven. My heart is fixed, O God. My heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise. Awake, my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp. I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people. I will sing unto thee among the nations. This seems an odd response to persecution and to troubles and to calamities. And yet, because he has turned to God in prayer, he is able, and his heart is fixed on God, he is able to praise God, even though at this time, in the midst, in the events that this psalm is writing about, at this time, he had not been delivered. This is not a psalm in the events of the psalm. This is not a psalm for the praising, for the deliverance of the calamities, or the praising for the deliverance from his enemies. This is praising God in the midst.

[28:48] Praising God when the storm is raging around him, yet he praises God. His voice is raised in praise of God, even though nothing has changed. You say, well, when God works for me, then I'll praise him. Well, that's a wonderful thing, but that's not sufficient. Well, when I see God answer prayer, I'll praise him, and we should. I agree entirely. When we hear, when we see God answer prayer, that is very praiseworthy.

[29:15] That is something we should lift up in praise to God. But we should always praise God before he answers prayer, before the afflictions are gone, because sometimes the afflictions don't go away.

[29:29] There are two stories about swarms in the New Testament. The first story is Jesus and his disciples in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. Storm comes up. Jesus is sleeping in the back of the ship.

[29:44] The disciples, the apostles, are just frantic. Master, cares thou not that we perish? And what's Jesus do? Gets up, rebukes them for their lack of faith, speaks to the storm, says, peace, be still.

[30:00] And the storm is gone. And sometimes a storm enters our life, and that's what God does for us, isn't it? And praise God for that. In the book of Acts, though, you read about the Apostle Paul.

[30:14] The Apostle Paul is stuck in a storm, and it is a raging storm. It is a storm that went on for many, many days, till all hope that they should survive was taken away. I mean, the experienced sailors, everybody on the boat just gave up. They had not seen the sun nor stars for many days. They had thrown everything they could throw out of the ship to lighten the load to keep on going. God came to Paul, and he said, and he reassured him that he would be delivered from that, and not only he himself, but everyone on the ship. But you remember how, if you're familiar with the story, you remember how he was saved. It was not the fact that the storm went away. It was the fact that the ship broke to pieces, and they swam to shore on pieces of the boat. The storm was not taken away. Sometimes God takes away the storm. Sometimes God brings you through the storm.

[31:11] Sometimes the affliction is not going to go away, and if you wait to praise God till the time the affliction goes away, you're not going to praise God. Sometimes. So that's a downer, Brother Scott.

[31:24] No, that's a wonderful thing, because in the midst of the storm, God is with us. In the midst of that storm that Paul was in, God appeared to him, spoke to him, comforted him, strengthened him. That is a wonderful thing to know. In the midst of our storms, Jesus is there with us. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. It's not just for the sun's shiny days. It's not just for the times we see prayer answered. I will never leave thee or forsake thee. It's a tremendous thing to cling to when the storm clouds are dark, and the wind is blowing, and the lightning is flashing. That's a tremendous promise.

[31:57] Not only is our heart to be fixed to pray, and our heart is fixed to praise, but our heart should be fixed to prevail. Notice in verse number three, he shall send from heaven and save me.

[32:09] From the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. That means stop and think about that for a while. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. David stood firm in the fact that he was going to be delivered, that he, that God was going to work to David's good. You say, well, Brother Scott, you just told me that not every storm God takes away, that sometimes he brings you through.

[32:35] is not bringing through deliverance the same as taking away? Is not strengthening you to be able to stand it deliverance? Is not God's grace sufficient regardless? Is not, is it not the fact that God is with us? Is that not sufficient? God will deliver us. Say, well, Brother Scott, I've been sick for a long time. I've been hurting for a long time. Brother Scott, I know people who were sick and then they passed away. Yes, you're right. God didn't deliver them. If they were a Christian, you're wrong.

[33:17] You know, we, we call, we call it healing when we get up and we walk out of the hospital, don't we? We call it healing when we get a good report from the doctor, don't we? And we praise God for it and we should, and it is healing and we should praise God for that. But when God finally looks at us and says, okay, it's enough. Come on home. You know, I've been with you this whole time and now I want you with me. Even at the best, this body hurts. On the best day, I ache. On the best day, I have to pop pills. And I don't mean non-prescription. I mean the ones the doctor gives me. If your hair is the same color as my beard, you understand what I'm talking about. And there's going to come a day where my redeemed soul is in a redeemed body. No more pain, no more aches, no more pills, no more afflictions.

[34:27] And I don't know what a doctor is going to do for the millennium and eternity. They are just going to be out of jobs and it's going to be wonderful. When he calls a Christian home, is that not healing?

[34:41] Is that not deliverance? Is that not in the midst of our sorrow? And we should be sorry. We should grieve. It's okay. But in the midst of that, is that not something to praise God for when a Christian goes home? Oh, my friend, our hearts should be fixed on God. Our hearts should be fixed on His love for us.

[35:07] Our hearts should be fixed on His return for us. Our hearts should be fixed on our going to be with Him. Always our hearts should be fixed on God so that we can get through the affliction, so that we can face down the adversary, so that we can answer the accusations and we will praise and pray and prevail in Him. But our hearts must be fixed. My heart is fixed. Oh, God, my heart is fixed. Is your heart fixed on God this morning?

[35:48] Let's pray together this morning. Every head bowed. Every eye closed. No one looking around. If you're able this morning, would you join me in standing to your feet, please? Just a couple questions and then we'll have a time of invitation.

[36:05] Is there anyone here would say, Brother Scott, you spoke to start this whole thing off. You spoke about God saving you and changing you, how the Lord worked in your life, how He saved you. Brother Scott, I don't know for sure that I'm saved.

[36:21] I do not know for sure if something was to happen to me today, I'd be going to heaven. But I sure would like to. Please pray for me. If that's you this morning, would you just hold up your hand right now? Everybody's heads bowed and eyes closed except mine. I promise I won't come rushing down to you and I will not call you out.

[36:38] But if you're here like that this morning, if you raise your hand, I promise I will pray for you. Is there anyone like that here this morning? All right. Second question. And for this, you don't need to raise your hand. Did the Holy Spirit speak to you this morning through the preaching of God's word? If he did, I'm going to pray. And after I pray, the music will begin to play and we'll have a time of invitation.

[36:57] If you want to come forward and kneel at the altar, if you want to make an altar out of where you're standing or at your seat, that's fine. But if God is dealing with you, now is the time to respond. Not to push him away, certainly not to tell him no.

[37:10] But now is the time to respond. We'll see you next time.