The Power of God for the Next 40 Years

Turn your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 7. 2 Chronicles chapter 7. We look at verses 1 through3. 2 Chronicles chapter 7. I will say that I have finally given in to old age and I've got a giant print Bible up here now so I can read it. So my I may have a little trouble moving around. I'm not used to this Bible yet, but uh I'll at least be able to read it better. Uh but 2 Chronicles chapter 7. This this message today kind of ties two things together. It ties the the series we did on King Me with our anniversary Sunday next week. In 2 Chronicles chapter 7 and verse number one, it says, "Now when Solomon had made an end to praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house.

And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house." And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement and worshiped and praised the Lord saying, "For he is good, for his mercy endureth forever." And so I want to talk about fire from heaven as we come into our 40th anniversary and as we look forward to the next 40 years as well, we need the fire of God. In Hebrews chapter 12 and verses 28 and 29, the Bible says, "Wherefore we re wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved.

Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptable with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire." And and we need that consuming fire of God. We need that that fire of God in our lives. Folks, we uh try to have different programs here at the church. We try to have different activities. We uh have the tech and the media and all the rest of that stuff, but none of that is going to uh make a difference without the fire of God. We can have all the greatest tech. We can have all the greatest programs. We can have Bible study groups and all the rest of it, but nothing is going to change without the fire of God.

In Acts chapter 2, you remember as they gathered together that that the Holy Spirit came upon them and the tongues of fire were over their heads. And that's what we need. Not not physical fire but we need the fire of God. We need the spirit of God. We need God's power. In Zechariah 4 and verse number six it say then then he answered and spake unto me saying this is the word of the Lord unto Zerubable saying not by might nor by power but by my spirit sayeth the Lord of hosts. And it's the power of God and the spirit of God that is going to make the difference for the next 40 years as well. the the duminos of God.

Uh the word power in Acts chapter one and verse number eight. But you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. And that power that Jesus promised was was the Greek word duminos where we get our word dynamite from. And we need that that dynamite power of God. In Matthew chap 28 and verse 18, it says, "And Jesus came and spake on this, saying, "All power is given unto me in heaven and earth." And he said, "I'm going to give you that power." But the there's a different word here.

The word here is the idea of a a permission. Uh if if you've ever uh on July 4th, if you want to set off fireworks, you've got to go down to the fire station and get a permit in order to set off the fireworks. Now, a lot of people don't do that, but that's what you're supposed to do. And Jesus said, "Listen, I'm going to give you the permission to use my power, Duminos, if you reach the world for Christ." And we need to have that power. Now, I've got an illustration about this morning, but one of the problems of being in a church for 40 years is is everybody knows your jokes and everybody hears your illustrations.

You know, you you they've heard them over before. Uh my kids when they were when they were younger, they would give me a bad time about my dad jokes and they would tell me, "Dad, you need to get some new jokes." And I said, "No, it's easier to get new kids." And uh uh so one of the nice things here is we do have new people coming in all the time. So, some of you haven't heard this illustration or seen it before, but I I want to share with you an illustration using firecrackers and talking about the power of God. You see, in order to have that power, the first thing you've got to do is you got to uh have a fire, but you've also got to have the power as well.

And so, if I were to light this firecracker here and I were to toss it right down here in front of Ricky and let it go, nothing happened. And the reason nothing happened is because last night I poked all the powder out of there and I put glue in instead. And there was no power in that firecracker. There's fire, but no power. And that's the way a lot of people are. They they may have a zeal for God, but they don't have the the knowledge of God. They don't have Jesus Christ as their savior. You need to have that power in you through Christ. In Romans chapter 8, verse number nine, it says, "But you are not in the flesh but in the spirit.

If so be the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. You firecracker without powder is not going to do anything. And and you without Jesus Christ cannot do anything either. You need to have Jesus Christ as your savior. You see it's not your own power. In Ephesians 2:es 8 and 9, it says for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. and and and we cannot do it. We cannot be saved through our own power. Not through our religion, not through our rituals, and not through our own righteousness, but by Jesus Christ, the power of God to save you and to forgive your sins and to give you eternal life.

But you must have that power within you. In 1 John 5 and:es 12 and 13, it says, "He that hath the son hath life. He that hath not the son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the son of God. You see you have to have that power the duminos the power of God within you through Jesus Christ as your savior. The Bible tells us in Romans chap 10 and verses 9 and 10 that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised the dead, thou shalt be saved.

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. In Romans 10:13 it says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." And if you want the power of God, you've got to call upon Jesus Christ as your savior. It's not your religion. It's not your rituals. It's not your own righteousness, but it's a relationship with God through Christ. That's where the power of God comes from. And many of you are like this firecracker. Uh, you may be having a zeal for God, but you don't have the knowledge of God. You don't have Jesus Christ as your savior.

But I've got another firecracker, and this one has gunpowder in it. So, I'm going to toss it out. Everybody duck. I did. You didn't duck. Now, Ning did, but everybody else that kind of Yeah. Why? Why weren't you panicked about that? Because there was no fire. The Duminos is there. The power is there, but what's missing is the fire. In 2 Timothy 3 and:e 5 it says having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof so such turn away. You see you have to have the the power of God but you also have that have to have the zeal as well. You have to have the fire. A lot of Christians here you have Jesus Christ.

You have the power of God within you but there's no fire. You you're you're dead spiritually. There's no fire for God. And we need to have that fire for the Lord. And and so I've got one more firecracker here. And um where'd I put my Here's my fire. And I've got my lighter right here. And so we'll try this one out just to demonstrate. I'll put it back that way instead. All right. But anyway, so that will wake up a church. Now, folks, don't don't get upset with me. I gave you fair warning. This is you knew this was coming. All right. But you know that's what we need. We need the power of God. But it's not from us.

It's from him. Amen. But we can light that match. We can get on fire for God. We can get a zeal for God. A and that's what we need to have is that power. In Ephesians 1:19, it says, "What is exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe according to the working of his mighty power?" And God wants to work his power in your life. But what you need to do is you need to get on fire for God and get a zeal for God as well. You see, fire can do many different things. And first of all, fire can be destructive. The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter 6 and verse 27 and 28, can a man take fire in his bosom?

His clothes not be burned. Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned? You see, you can't play around with fire. When I was a teenager, in our home, we had a gas stove, but uh the lighter didn't work. And so we had to light it with a match whenever we wanted to cook something. And my mom always stressed being careful with that and everything. But being a teenager, you know, I I I thought I'd be cool. And so I decided one day I'm going to I'm going to light the fire and blow it out and throw it in the trash all one motion. And uh so I lit the fire. I blew it out, threw it in the trash, turned back around.

And then a moment later, I heard someone behind me looked around. The fire was going up the wall because I didn't quite blow that match out fully. and and luckily I was going to be boiling some water. I had the water right there and I threw it in the fire and put it out just before it took off and burned down the whole house. You see, you can't play around with fire and you can't play around with sin and you can't play around with this world. And we need Christians that are that are careful and not letting fire bosom, not letting sin get in their life and not letting the world get in their life because it will burn you.

And then there's also a fire of contention in Acts chapter 2 when it talks about how they that this Holy Spirit came upon them, the tongues of fire. It talked about it says this phrase that they were one accord of one accord. You see in Proverbs 26 20 and 21 it says where no wood is there the fire goeth out. So where there is no tail bearer the strife ceases. As coals are to burning coals and wood to fire so is the contention man to kindle strife. You see, when there's strife within Christian church, within the church among Christians, that puts out the fire of God and and and that that causes this this uh dissension and and causes difficulties and challenges.

In Romans 12:20, the Bible says, "Therefore, if thy enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." You know, we we read that verse, we think, "Yeah, I want to burn that guy." But that's not what it means. when it talked about heaping coals of fire, they didn't have matches and lighters back in their day. And so their fire went out, they would go to a neighbor and say, "Can I have some coals for your fire so I could start my fire up as well?" And uh coal was expensive and hard to come by. And so instead of getting, you know, many people would be very stingy with that, but if you really cared about your neighbor, you would pile it up in their basket.

They had these special baskets that were fireproof and they would carry them on their head and you would pile that full of coals and and and that's what that's what we need in the church. We need that that that fire that we share with one another the fire of God and not the fire of contention. You see fire is also something that is uh we we sign we we relate with hell in Jude 1 22 and 23. And as some have compassion making a difference, and others saved with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the car garments spotted by flesh. And you and I, we're called as Christians to care about the unsaved, to care about people that are that are right there on the edge of being burned with the fire of hell.

A and we need to have compassion. We need to care about our neighbors and care about our co-workers and care about others to bring them to Christ as well. But fire is not only destructive but it also can be constructive. It it provides light in Matthew 5 14-16. You are the light of the world. A city is set on the hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and to give light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. You see God wants us to be a candle that is lit.

And as we light that candle, let me go ahead and light it for you. That's great. You did it. All right. Now, my lighter's out here. In a minute. All right. That's good. Not good. But anyways, go ahead. Put the lights back up. My illustration just got blown. All right. But here's the thing, folks. God wants us to be a light unto him. He wants us to be a candle that is lit for him. And And here's the thing. The darker the world, the brighter your light. Sometimes we look at us, well, how can I be a light for God? I I work in such a dark place. I I live around dark people. But the darker the world, the brighter your light.

And if everyone in this room had a candle, we all lit it up. That would also change things around as well. And and so we need to realize that God's called us to be the light of the world. And he's called us to provide heat to one another and strength to one another. In Ecclesiastes chapter 4, he talks about a three-fold cord and how two can stand better than one and three is even better than that. And he goes on to talk about how you find heat in in companionship as well. And and we need to provide that for one another. And and we need to be a cleansing fire. We need that in our lives as well. In Isaiah chapter 6, you remember how Isaiah saw the holiness of God.

I just enjoy singing that song, holy, holy, holy, because we need to see God as a holy God. And when he saw the holiness of God, he saw his sinfulness. And he fell down in his face and said, "How could I even be in the presence of a holy God?" And yet the angel came down with that coal off the altar and touched to to his lips and symbolizing being cleansed from his sin. And fire can be cleansing as well. But what we need is we need to be have that consuming fire of God in Hebrews 12:29. For our God is a consuming fire. In Jeremiah 20 and verse number N it says, ' Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak anymore in his name, but his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forebearing, and I could not stay.

You see, he couldn't hold it in. He said, I is burning within me. I have to let it out. I have to share it with others. And that's the way we ought to be. We ought to be people that are just consumed so much with God that we when we read our Bible and we pray and we come to church and we're so consumed with the blessings of God and the goodness of God that we just cannot hold it within is we got to share it with others as well. We we need to light the fire in our hearts. In Luke chapter 24 and verse number 32, it says, "And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened his scriptures."

And we need that burning fire of God. And I hope when you come to church that God just convicts you and your heart burns with the gospel and with the word of God. But it needs to be every day that we have that fire lit up within us. Turn over to your Bibles to Psalms chapter 39. Psalms chapter 39 and verses 1-3. Psalms chapter 39 and verses 1-3. I said, I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with with a bridal while the wicked before me. I was dumb with silence. I held my peace even from good and for my and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me while I was musing.

The fire burned. that I spake with my tongue. And that's the way it ought to be. It ought to be, folks, that when you come to church and you see other Christians is is you got say, "Sher, let me tell you what I read in my Bible this week. Let me tell you what God showed me in his word this week. Let me show you how God answered a prayer in my life this week." It ought to be that when you leave church that you're just thinking, "Who can I share what I just learned with?" It ought to burn within us. It ought to be a fire that cannot be put out. You see, a lot of you uh you you come to church and and God sparks a fire in your heart, but then you walk out that door and it's like you blew it out.

And and we need to keep that fire burning. And we need to have that consuming fire that cannot be contained, that cannot be held back, but we also need to be careful not to burn out. In first Kings chapter 19 and verse number four talking about Elijah that he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree and he requested for himself that he might die and said is enough now oh Lord take away my life for I am not better than my fathers. Now Elijah had just called down fire from heaven. What an amazing thing to be able to do that. what what it must have been like to watch that fire come down and consume everything.

And you think he would just be on fire for God and he'd be all excited, but he went off by himself and he was discouraged. He was tired and he's wanted to give up. And that that can happen in the Christian life. And the problem is what happens is we burn out. Now, my lighter went out. Let me see if it'll work now. There it was working now. So, I need Kenny and uh Brendan, you guys come up here and help me out. These are two young men that I believe are on fire for God. And so, Brennan, would you stand over here? And Kenny, would you stand over here? And I'm going to give you the lighter. And then I'm going to give you a match.

All right. And uh so I want you to light that lighter for me if you would. No, now it's going to do that. Anybody have a lighter I can borrow? All right. You got one right there. All right. Light that lighter. Thank you, sir. All right. Now you just hold that there for me and we're going to give you a match. So he spent I told this is not going well for me today. But you know what? This is like a lot of Christians, it's hard to get them started on fire for God. All right. Here we'll do it this way. All right. You hold that for me. Don't let it go out. Oh, you let it. See, that's the problem that we we get on fire and then we go out.

We get on fire. We go out. All right. Now, you can hold that for me. All right. So, they're going to stand there holding. They're both on fire, right? But how long is it going to last? I think he can go keep going for quite a while. As long as that gas holds up, that spirit holds up. But, uh, you blew it. Say, did you blow it out? All right. Thank you. You guys can sit down. Thank you. But the point, you can see the point I'm trying to make. A lot of you are like that match. You get on fire for God, but after a while you it stops, doesn't it? It gets blown out easily or you get your fingers burned and you kind of step back.

But what we need to be is like that lighter. We need to be filled with the spirit of God. That my problem with my lighter must not have any spirit left in it. No gas left in it. But you need to be filled with the spirit of God. As long as you're filled that spirit, that fire can keep on going. And and that's what we need to have happen. And we need to keep the fire of God going in our lives. And folks, it's not. See, the thing is, we think, I've got to be on fire. No, it's not. I've got to be on fire. I need the fire of God. I need the power of God and I need the fire of God. It's got to come from God.

But we've got to get on fire for God as well. And so, we need to have that fire that that that doesn't burn out. Going back to 2 Chronicles chapter 7 if you would. Look at verse number four. Then the then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. Skip down to verse number 11. Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of the Lord and his own house he prosper is prosperously effected. You see what happened is they they were giving these offerings to God. And when you're on fire for God, you want to give to God.

Not just financially, you want to give him your worship and your praise. In verse number three again, going back to verse number three, it says, "And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the fa pavement and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying, "For he is good, for his mercy endured forever." And and I want us as a church to praise God for what God has done for the past 40 years. But I also want us to praise God for what he's going to do in the next 40 years as well. That we would see the power of God.

You see in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse1 15 it says by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. You see, you spent time this morning together corporately praising God and worshiping God and giving him the sacrifice of your voice to him and praising his name. And that's what we need to do. We're here to glorify God. And we want to see God's glory. In Psalms 63:es 1 and 2, it says, "Oh God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longest for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is.

to see the power and the glory. So, as I've seen thee in thy sanctuary, you see, we want to see God's power. We want to see God's glory. People often say to me, "Pastor, look what you've done here at Ohana for 40 years." Folks, I've done nothing but be here to see the glory of God. You see, if I hadn't come, God would have sent somebody else. God's going to do what God's going to do. The thing is, when you're where God wants you to be, doing what God wants you to do, you get to see the glory and the power of God. I've gotten to see God's glory in miracles with buildings over and over again. We used to meet down here by Wendy's and Cycle City and that other building over there.

And and if I could tell you, take time to tell you the story of how God gave us that building. We had two years. We never paid a dime in rent. We we we just the glory of God. The building had been uh damaged and destroyed through a fire and other things and and they gave us two years free rent to go in there and renovated. And during that time, two different companies went out of business. We got things in pennies on a dollar. We had people showing up that that just perfect for what needed to be done. A and God provided that building and and he's done that again and again. When we moved in this building, it was a miracle of God.

when just this last year, this year, we saw the miracle of God and how the lease instead of doubling and tripling, they lowered the lease. And that's the miracle of God. And we've gotten to see that. Glory. We've gotten to see lives changed. I've been contacting people that have been here the last 40 years and talking to them and and they would tell me, "I remember how I got saved at Ohana, or how God changed my marriage at Ohana, or how God changed my family at Ohana. And that's not me, folks. That's God. And to see the miracles of God and to see the healings and how we prayed for people and how they were healed and how God provided and that's the glory of God.

And that's what we come together to worship him and praise him and glorify him for what he's done. In 2 Chronicles chapter 5 and:es 13 and 14, it says, "It came even to pass as the trumpeters and singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord. And when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and symbols and instruments and music, and praised the Lord, saying, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever, that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord." So the priest could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord has filled the house of God.

You know folks, I believe in preaching. I believe preaching ought to be the center of everything we do at church. But I also believe in praise and worship. And I believe that God can work mightily long before I ever get up to this podium. I believe that God works when we stand together and we sing songs like holy, holy, holy. We sing songs to the king of and the God of glory. When we lift up our voices together in worship, that is where the power of God. That's when you see God come down upon a congregation is when we are singing to the praises of God. But we also need to bow down to worship. Look at 2 Chronicles chapter 6 and look at verse number 12.

And he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands. For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold of five cubits long and five cubits broad and three cubits high and had set in the midst of the court. And upon it he stood and kneel down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel that spread forth his hands towards heaven. You see and in verse number 14 it said, "Oh Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heavens nor in the earth which keepeth covenant and showeth mercy upon the servants that walk before thee with all their hearts."

You know, one of the things that we've lost in our modern Christianity is how to bow. We've lost the ability, it seems, to get down on our knees before God and to worship him and to humble ourselves and to honor him. And we need to bow down and worship. And we also need prayer. In verse number 19 of 2 Chronicles 6, it says, "Have respect therefore to the prayer of thy servant and to his supplications, oh Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which the servant prayeth before thee." If God is going to bless this church with fire, it's going to be because of the prayers of God's people.

Last week, I challenged you. There's a list out in the welcome center on the table, a directory list, a prayer list that you can pray for all the people of this church. And folks, if we want God's blessings, if we want God's power, then we've got to pray. We've got to pray. And we need to give. In 2 Chronicles 7 and verse number five, 2 Chronicles 7:5, the King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 20 and 2,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. In Malachi, he talks about that. Well, a man robbed God, but you've robbed me of my tithes and offerings. And and God said, "Listen, if you want my blessings, then you need to give."

And giving is an act of worship. You know, I I I'm thankful for all of you that give online and uh and and and some folks who have uh made their their bank sends us a check every month. And that's a great thing to do. But you know what I miss sometimes is that worship of putting that offering in the basket. Because whenever I would do that, I wouldn't do it just as an act of giving. I would do it as an act of worship, saying, "God, you are worthy. You are worthy. You've given me so much. I want to give back to you in worship." You know, we've challenged you for this anniversary Sunday to give a $40,000 offering, $1,000 for every year of God's blessings.

And and I want to challenge you. It's not about it. It's not about you. It's about God. See, let me make this clear. God will not love you more forgiving. And God will not let love you less forgiving. God cannot love you any more than when he gave his only begotten son. He cannot love you more or less. It's not about God loving me more. It's about me loving God more. It's about me worshiping him in my giving. And and and they keep giving. I I'm thankful for this church. I'll tell you folks, we talk to pastors all over and when they come to visit and they say, "How do you do it with the cost of rent and the cost of housing and all the expenses you have, how does your church, how do you pay those bills?"

And I'll say, my answer always is God. And God has been good. And I'm not here to say, I want you to give more because I want more money from you. I'm here because I want more blessings. In Philippians chapter 4, Paul said, "Listen, it's not about fruit to my account. It's fruit that may abound to your account." And when you give, it's an act of worship. It's an act of giving because we love God. I want to close by going back to 2 Chronicles chapter 7 and I want you to look at verse number 14. Very familiar verse to many of you. If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will hear their land.

You see, there's a conditional response here. God says, "If you, then I will." So, what are the conditions? He starts out by saying, "If my people," in Titus chapter 2:14, it says, "Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works." I've always said this church lives up to that verse because a lot of you are very peculiar people in this church. But it means we're unique. We're separated. We're we're the people of God. Folks, we cannot expect our nation to turn back to God until we turn back to God. Amen. God didn't say if America will do this, if he said if my people will do this.

It's got to start with us. The Bible says in se in 1 Peter 4:1 17, for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? Folks, I hear Christians all the time say, "Our country needs to come back to God." Listen, our churches need to come back to God. Christians need to come back to God. We've got to lead the way. That's where the revival is going to come from. We need to start right here, right now. We need the consuming fire of God. We need the power of God. We need to get on fire for God.

It's got to start with God's people. Yeah. He says, "My people will humble oursel yourselves." In James 4 verse number six, "But he giveth more grace, wherefore it saith, God resists the proud, but give a grace unto the humble." In verse 10, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. I believe part of your Christian walk is to is to humble yourself. You say, well, how do we humble ourselves? By saying, "I'm sorry." to ask forgiveness by bowing before God by repenting of our sin. We need to humble ourselves. And then we need to pray. If my people will humble themselves and pray in Jeremiah 33:3, it says, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not."

I believe that one reasons God's blessing this church, especially right now, is because I hear of more and more people that are praying. They're praying for me as their pastor. They're praying for the rest of the staff. They're praying for each other. They're praying for the church. And folks, if we want God's power, we've got to get on our knees and pray and then seek my face. In Jeremiah 29:13, you shall seek me and find me when you shall search with all your heart. Folks, we got to seek after God. We've got to want him. I want to know God. I want to go closer to God. We got to seek after him and turn.

Jeremiah 8:es 5-6. Why then is this people of Jerusalem sitting slitten back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast a seat. They refused to return. I hearkened and heard, but they spake not a right. No man repented him of his wickedness, saying, "What have I done?" Everyone turned to his course as the horse rushes into battle. See, God wants us to turn from our backsliding, to turn back to that path that is the right path, to turn back to where we used to be, to get back where we're right with God. If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I love that word, then.

This is what we can expect. God will hear. 2 Chronicles chapter 6 verse 23 it says then hear thou from heaven look at verse number 27 then hear thou from heaven look at verse number 30 then hear thou from heaven verse 3539 same thing folks nothing's going to happen at ohana Baptist church until we just say God I want I want you to hear I want to hear from heaven I want to hear from God I want God to speak to me I want God to speak to this church in Psalms 145 5 and verse number 18. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. And when we call upon God, God says, I'm going to hear and I'm going to answer.

I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin. First John 1:9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse from all righteousness. I'm thankful for the grace of God. Now, the grace of God is not an excuse to sin. What shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? God says, "God forbid we should not sin, but if we sin, we have an advocate with the father." And if we would just get right with God, what could God do in our lives and through our lives? And he says, "I will heal their land." In Jeremiah 8:22, it says, "Is there no balm in Gilead?

Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? Why are we still sick spiritually when we have the great physician? Because we're not going to the doctor. You a lot of people since I passed out a few weeks ago, everybody's been telling me, "Have you gone to the doctor yet? Have you gone to the doctor yet? Have you gone to the doctor yet?" I did go to the doctor this week. Okay? So, get off my case. But see, but if you don't go to the doctor, nothing's going to change. But I'm afraid what is he going to tell me? Whether he tells you or not is still happening.

You've got to go to the great physician. You've got to call upon him and he will heal. First John chapter 2:es 1 and 2, my little children, these things I write unto you that you sin not. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. God has more grace than you have sinned. And I'm thankful for that. Now, it doesn't mean you have to take advantage of that, but I'm thankful that he forgives and he will heal. And he goes on and ends it there. But the important thing is this.

There's an else. Look at verses 21-22. And this house which is high shall be in astonishment to everyone that passes by. So they shall say, "Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land and unto this house?" And it shall be answered, because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them. Therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them. Folks, I can take you to church after church after church, which were a growing, vibrant body of Christ that are now dead. And why is that? Because they didn't fulfill 2 Corinthians 7:14.

They turned away from the Lord. You know what's sad? It's not three chapters later where they did that. I mean, here they are, guy. They're they're having a high blessing dedicating the temple. God's fire comes down and then three chapters later, they're right back where they were. I don't want to see that happen to I probably won't be here 40 years from now, but I hope on that day we can celebrate God's blessings like we are today.