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[Music] You take me and make me pure as You bring me out of the beautiful [Music] As [Music] for your promise. I'll hide your word in my heart. This truth I'll never depart. Let your power impart the miraculous.
>> You see the journey I take the road. You see my truth is unenable. See the passion inside of my heart and know I will not let go that I take every step that I will never forsake your promise I'll find your word in my heart >> this truth I'll never [Music] will never leave be alone. I am yours forever. You will never leave me alone. I am yours forever. You will never >> never leave me alone. >> I am yours. >> I am yours. >> We'll never leave alone. And I have forever.
[Music] You know the way that I take. >> Every step that I take, >> you will never forsake your >> word in my heart. >> I'll never know the way that I take. Every step that I make, you will never forsake your promise.
[Music] [Music] Every step that I make, you will never forsake your brother. [Applause] [Music] Let your power [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Why don't we all stand and worship as we sing?
[Music] These are the days of Elijah and Mary, the word of the Lord. And these are the days of your servant Moses, righteousness, and resto. These are the days of great trials of heaven and darkness and sword. We all are the voice in the desert crying the way of the Lord.
[Music] on shining like the sun at the trumpet call. Lift your voice of jubile. [Music] These are the days of rece. [Music] These are the days of your servant David prepared in the temple of grace. These are the days of the harvest. The fields are as wide in the world. And we are the laborers endure in your declaring the word of the Lord. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] You sal [Music] the trials become these are the days of your ser. [Music] These are the days of the harvest. The fields are as wide in the world. And we are delivering [Music] it on shining on the sun and the Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Sal. [Music] There's no like to hold. There's no like to hold. There's no like to hold. There's no like to hold. There's no like to hold. There's no like to hold up. There's no like to hold. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. There's no [Music] cloud shining like the sun and the trumpets. Oh I feel [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] There's no heat. [Music] No heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] like [Music] riding on the ground shining like the sun and the trumpet call the year of Jes. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] salted and lifted high. [Music] The one who was dead is now alive. You are at [Music] praise and glory. Tonight, [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. Oh, [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] One who was dead is now alive. You are alive. [Music] Praise the glory. [Music] Joy mag. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] There is no water and power unto you most Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] You are heat. [Music] Can you just slip up your hands to the Lord? Can we do it in the sanctuary tonight? And let's just begin to magnify the Lord together. Let's exalt his name in the sanctuary tonight. God, you're worthy. You're worthy of our praise. You're worthy of the glory tonight. We love you. We praise you. We exalt you. Hallelujah. You're King of Kings. You're Lord of Lords. God, we're so thankful that you're on the throne tonight. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise God. Praise God.
Well, welcome to midweek service. We're so glad to have you in the house of the Lord on this uh beautiful Tuesday evening. Why don't you find two or three people, shake their hand tonight, and tell them it's good to see you in church. [Music] God bless you tonight. The ushers are going to prepare to come to take up our uh midweek um missions offering, but I want to say how good it is to see brother and sister Burchham in the house of the Lord tonight. Brother Burchham, will you mind coming up here and greeting the congregation tonight? We're so happy that you're here. We love the Burchham family around Heritage Church. Why don't you give him a good round welcome, warm welcome? Bless you, brother. [Applause]
Praise the Lord, everybody. >> It's good to be in the house of the Lord. Ain't God good? >> He's not good just once in a while. He's good all the time. Amen. It's good to be here tonight and come to worship the Lord with you and experience what God's going to do in this service. As they were singing that song just a moment ago, my mind began to think about a man that was known by Bishop Polycarp. Bishop Polycarp was a disciple of John, the apostle of John according to history. And they tell the story of this great man that when they tried to get him to recant to deny the name of Jesus Christ. History says that he was approximately in his 80s when this happened. They finally captured him. They took him to an arena. They tried to persuade him. Brother Sandy, denounce the name of Christ. You're owed. You don't have to die like this. You don't have to die of torture. But he was persuaded in the God he served. He knew who his creator was. And he looked at him. He said, "I can't recant. I can't back down. God's done me nothing for good. All these years I've served him. >> How can I quit now? How can I denounce the name of Jesus after all he's done for me? And so history says the crowds began to chant away with him, burn him. So history says they pile the wood around him and they built a fire to burn him alive. Before they built this fire again, they said, "Just announce it one more time. We give you a chance." He wouldn't do it. At 80s something years old, he said, "Hey, God's been better to me than I ever deserved. God's been good to me. Build that fire because I'm not about to recant. I'm not about to give up. I'm not about to throw in the towel." And so, history says they built that fire. And as the fire began the blaze, it instead of consuming him, history says it actually built kind of an arch around him. And I witnesses account says it is almost like a a bread in the oven. He began to glow and a sweet smell began to come from that fire and it made them so angry that the fire would not consume him that a soldier runs up and they pierce him and they and they kill him by a dagger or a sword within him and the blood begin to run down and history says the blood begin to put out the fire and he died there. But the point of all this is is that he knew who his God was. He had a relationship with his God and he was determined. It did not matter what come what went. It didn't matter what they said. It didn't matter how much pain that he would endure here. For this affliction is just for a moment. Don't think not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing has happened to you. God's been good. I said God's been good and I'm looking for that great day in the sky. I'm looking for my reward. I'm not running this race in vain. There's a mark. There's a prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ. And I say, don't recant. Don't throw in a towel. Come on. Put your feet down on this rock. Make up your mind. I'm going all the way. Build the fire. Build the fire. Build the fire. I'll be the sacrifice for the Lord. Somebody shout hallelujah. Amen. Let's stand together and we'll receive the missions offering tonight as you march around this front. Let's give unto the Lord. God bless you.
[Music] How many's falling running over tonight with the blessings of God? Sister Brooke, I have a testimony today. Sister Brooke, woman, I had a test I have a testimony I want to share of what the Lord did. So, as many of you know, back in June, um Noah, he had um an episode where he um began to exhibit stroke symptoms at the dinner table one night and we took him to the hospital to the ER and they quickly got him in running test. He didn't know his name. He didn't know how old he was. He was completely out of it. Um, and so today we went for our checkup, our follow-up appointment. And once again, the doctor comes in just like she did. She was the one that saw Noah at his very worst. And she came in again and repeatedly said, "I just don't know what happened." And I just want to tell God, I told him today, I said, "Lord, I'll never forget what you've done for me. I'll never forget the blessings that I don't deserve. And this song says, I am full and running over. I'm full of the blessings. I'm running over and I'm so thankful today. Hallelujah.
[Music] I am so I'm Oh, I know. I know. I know. Oh, I am I am I am I'm so I would be if it wasn't for the Lord. >> Oh, I don't know where I'd be. Oh, I know where I'll be if it wasn't for the Lord. I know where I [Music] blessed. I'm so bad. [Music] I I'm [Music] going [Music] away. I'm so [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] I'm so sorry. [Music] I am I am so [Music] Anybody know and remember where God brought you from? If it wasn't worth [Music] my overwhelmed and all it's done for I am overwhelmed. >> I'm overwhelmed with overhel. God's been so good to us. He saved us. He delivered us. He's healed us when we were sick. I'm overwhelmed with the blessing. [Music] Heal me. Heal me. Deliver me. Heal me. Heal me. [Music] Deliver me. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] You never me. Sorry. [Music] [Music] save me. Heal me. [Music] >> He healed me. >> Heal me. >> He restore me. >> He's always healing. Restore me. >> Deliver me. God save me. He restored everything the devil stole for me. Me. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] He meow [Music] [Music] me. Me [Music] >> heal me. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Sorry. [Music] [Music] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.
Well, is anybody thankful that the Lord saved you tonight? Is anybody thankful for the times that he's healed your body? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise God. And we have every reason in the world to give him thanksgiving tonight. Once again, God has been so very good to us. And uh he's brought us together once again. And uh what a wonderful time that we have when we come together in the presence of the Lord. Amen. We don't just come to see one another, although that's a big perk of coming to church. Uh but we've come to experience the moving of God's spirit and to glean from the word of the Lord. And I am so appreciative of what we heard from Pastor Julio May on Sunday night. The way that the word of God uh spoke to us so clearly and um I'm thankful for what the Lord has been doing around Heritage Church. Amen. God really has been good to us. He really has and uh we're grateful for it and uh thankful for uh again all of our guests that have joined us tonight. Thank you for being here and we invite you to come back this Sunday, Sunday morning, Sunday night. And we're going to have a wonderful time in the Lord. Lord willing, we'll be having some revival services coming up with Evangelist Carrie Jones. And so we're excited about that. believing that the Lord will give us a great harvest of souls. My prayer is that the waters of baptism will be troubled and that brand new souls will receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Amen. Amen. Somebody shout revival. >> But there is a sound that precedes revival. We see it over and over and over when my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray. Scripture teaches us that when Zion began to travail that babies were born and so it will be around Heritage Church. I pray that we could all amp up our prayer, our consecration and dedication to God and that God would reward our consecration by allowing our f family members to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, our co-workers, our neighbors, our friends, people at the restaurant that we frequent, whoever it may be that walks in these doors in this revival. pray that God would do something great uh in their lives. Amen.
Tonight, I want I want to continue our kingdom culture series that we have been doing. I guess we started it back in the spring and on midweek services. We have circled back uh most every week to it. And um we are talking about apostolic identity. Um, we're talking about holiness. We're talking about doctrine. We're talking about what makes us who we are as one God, Jesus named Christians. And I think that it's so vitally important on a frequent basis to come back to the word and let the word teach us all over again. If we're not careful, we could fall into the trap of having the mentality, well, I've already heard it once before, but the scripture teaches us that iron sharpeneth iron. And I don't know if you're anything like I am, but I can hear something and I can know it. I can believe it. But after a while, I start forgetting it. [Music] Maybe it's just me and brother Herbert here, but the rest of you forget things, too. And so, I'm going to call to remembrance something. It's not going to be new. This is not a new doctrine. Uh, matter of fact, just probably a year and a half, two years ago, I taught on this very subject. uh but I think that it's important in our kingdom culture series uh to visit this subject again and we will be turning in our Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2. [Music]
You know, in scripture, we have the law, and it's one thing to do the law. It's one thing to obey the law, but it's another thing to understand the law, to understand the spirit behind the law. In the ten commandments, one of them is thou shalt not commit adultery. People understood that. But when Jesus come along, he drilled down a little bit deeper and said, "If you even look upon a woman to lust after her in your heart, you have committed adultery in your heart." And so there's the spirit of the law. The Pharisees, they obeyed the law, but they did not embrace the spirit of the law. And so tonight, I don't want us just to look at what the Bible says about a very important subject. Um, and we're going to be talking about jewelry tonight and adornment and outward and inward adornment. But I don't want us just to talk about what the Bible says concerning this subject, but I want to also do my best to dive into the spirit behind it and uh the reasoning that the Lord has for us. Amen. 1 Timothy chapter 2:7 where unto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle. I speak the truth in Christ and lie not a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefaceness and sobriety that means self-control or soundness of mind not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly array but which becometh women professing ing godliness with good works. And I want us to talk about balancing inward and outward beauty. Balancing inward and outward beauty. Amen. Why don't you turn to your neighbor if it's appropriate and why don't you look at him and tell him you are beautiful. I got the young men on this front row. God bless you. Clap your hands to the Lord and give him praise. Amen. You can be seated.
There are a lot of misconceptions concerning the way that we are supposed to dress and certainly of the way that we're supposed to adorn ourselves. Um, and so there's a lot of questions. I know I feel them often as pastor. Uh when I'm teaching Bible studies or new people to the church, uh there's a lot of questions. What should I wear? What should I not wear? What can I do? Where can I go? All these questions just about living for God. A lot of times when a person comes in to the church, uh it's a brand new world. if you've not been raised around the church, it can be a very very new world. And so, it's certainly a new lifestyle. And uh and so there can be a lot of questions associated with that. But I do think that we'd all agree that in everything that we're striving to be, most of all, we want to be children of God. We want God to smile upon us. We want God to be pleased with us. uh we we are after the approval of God. Certainly, we want to win favor with man, but we also want to win favor with God. And so, concerning modesty, we talked about modesty several weeks ago concerning inward holiness and outward holiness. Uh that would include our hair, that would include uh jewelry, um that uh all of this is a big part of who we are. It's a big part of our society. Um especially our western culture that we live in. Uh and and and so what we wear matters to us. Most of you, you paid great attention to what clothes you put on your body this morning when you was getting ready for work. Uh especially if you work in any kind of professional environment, ladies, you might have changed two or three times today before you even walked out the door. Some of you might change two or three times before you came to church tonight. That tells me that it matters to you what you put on your body. And that's the way that we think. We we want to be presentable. We want we want God to be pleased with us and we want others to uh like the way that we look. And uh and and so uh we're conscientious of of all of this. And and certainly we need to be presentable. We are after all ambassadors of Jesus Christ. We ought to look the best that we can uh in a modest fashion. Uh but more than anything, we got to understand that we are uh advertisements. We are walking billboards for uh for God. And so what we put on our body really does matter. Amen. And so concerning jewelry uh the question often times is asked what is acceptable? Well pro Romans chapter 12 verse number one. Let me give you some scriptures here uh to lay a foundation tonight. Uh the writer here said,"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy." Everybody say, "Holy." >> Acceptable unto God. So there is a certain way that we can present our bodies in an acceptable manner unto God. So let's find out what is acceptable. He said which is your reasonable reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable. There's that word again. Acceptable and perfect will of God. And so, so we want uh our appearance to be acceptable unto the Lord. Now, when we're talking about adornment and when we're talking about the wearing of jewelry, uh there are really three different positions that are taken in our society. Um first of all the first position could be uh what we would call full restriction against any kind of adornment. Uh this teaching states that all external adornment is wrong. Now, extremists who hold this viewpoint may even forbid the use of things such as perfume, any kind of uh medicinal creams, hair clips, and even functional accessories that contain precious metals such as gold or silver. These could include eyeglasses, belt buckles, purse straps, wrist watches, buckles on a shoe, you name it. But then another position that a group of people could take is that there would be no restriction at all against adornment. And this teaching states that external adornment is basically of no consequence to God. And I would say that most of uh modern-day Christianity would fall into this category. And extremists who hold this viewpoint teach that it is legalistic to put any restrictions on men or women as to how they appear. But then the third position and this is the one that we espouse here is that the Bible teaches through implicit examples and explicit admonitions that uh and it sets forth clear principles on adornment and how it applies to godly living. There is a balance that we must play and uh decisions on the details of adornment must be based on these larger scripture uh scriptural principles. They are not open to private interpretation. But it's important for us to study the word of God and to see what the word of God would say to us concerning this. Now, anybody can take an extreme position on any subject, but finding the balance is more difficult than taking an extreme position. And so, I want us to find the balance here tonight.
Now before we go into New Testament, our opening scripture tonight was from the New Testament. But before we dive into the New Testament passages concerning adornment, I think it would be important to go back in scripture and look at the history of adornment and jewelry as it relates to God's people in the Old Testament. After all, the things that were written of old were written for our admonition. And so I want us to begin from the beginning. We're going to have a very honest and transparent conversation here tonight from the very beginning. Now, a lot of people say, "Well, there's jewelry mentioned in scripture in a positive manner." You are absolutely correct. In the earliest days, jewelry was given to God's people as a token of blessing from God. The very first mention of jewelry is when Rebecca is being accepted into the family of Abraham. In Genesis 24, we see the servant Isaac reaching into his bag and he pulls out two beautiful bracelets and he slips him slip slips them on to Rebecca's arm. And and uh I'm sure Rebecca uh from what I gather, she was not raised at least to the level of wealth that Abraham and Isaac was used to. And so uh this was a big deal to her. I'm sure her eyes grew uh big and uh as she looked at it glitter and gleam in the sunlight uh and to her and her humble beginnings, she'd probably never seen anything quite like this. And then the Bible says that he pulled out a golden earring of half a shekele's weight. And so it had great value. And uh uh uh the Bible talks about how it was a gold earring. And and uh these were fine jewels. And Abraham is is this is coming from Abraham through his servant I son Isaac through the servant to Rebecca. and he is lavishing these jewels uh to Rebecca to try to persuade her to be the wife of Isaac. Of course, the Bible tells us that Abraham was very wealthy. He had much silver and he had much gold. But little did Rebecca know that these were only tokens of a wealth of fine things that would eventually be bestowed upon her. He was very rich. Abraham was very rich, not just with animals, but with silver and gold. And so he would spare no expense in lavishing his wealth upon the bride of his son. And I could stop right here and I could preach a whole message just on that of how God loves to give good things to his bride. Amen. I'm thankful today that God does not withhold any good gift from us. But as we amen are a spouse to him, he opens up the good treasures in heaven and he opens up the windows of heaven and he uh pours out upon us blessing after blessing uh not just spiritual blessings but also material blessings. And can the church say amen? Amen. >> And so that was the first mention of jewelry in Genesis 24. We see another mention of jewelry a little later when um Abraham's greatgrandson Joseph was selected to be used of God. And it was God himself who uh allowed Joseph to rise through the ranks in uh Pharaoh's court till eventually he is sitting on his own throne and he has much authority and much power that uh uh was given to him. You know the story how his family discounted him. They uh denounced him as a dreamer. But but through God's sovereign arrangement, Joseph eventually would rise all the way to the throne and he would wear Pharaoh's priceless ring and he would put on a golden necklace. That's the second mention of jewelry in scripture. And I believe that this was God's reward to Joseph for serving his purpose. We see jewelry again when the Israelites spoiled the Egyptians of much precious jewelry. This is about 200 years later where when uh Israel's descend descendants numbered in the hundreds of thousands even millions but times had changed and uh uh they weren't they didn't have what they used to have and Egypt had been hard on them but yet they were the people of God and they were under a divine directive and and their future prosperity had been sealed in prophetic guarantees and and uh and So God tells Moses, he said, "Moses, I want you to instruct the people that on the night before you flee Egypt that you will take a spoil of all the jewelry of the Egyptians. I want you to go house to house to your Egyptian friends and I want you to knock on their door and say, "Can I borrow your earrings and can I borrow your rings and can I borrow your necklaces?" And and so the Israelites, they set these people up and God gave them favor in the eyes of the Egyptians just on a temporary basis here. And uh uh and this jewelry would be a sign to them that God really was with them and that God was going to sustain them. Amen. And so here it is. They carry all those jewels out of Egypt across the Red Sea and and you know the story. They're in the wilderness for a while and and uh uh then a strange thing happened. Moses is called up onto Mount Si one day and for days he disappears. Maybe they thought Moses had went on a sbatical. But really Moses had went just to get uh away so that he could have some time with God. And there he was. He's having man one ever more prayer meeting. It was it was incredible. And and uh uh but what he didn't realize that back at the camp uh the people were getting a little impatient. They they hadn't heard from Moses in weeks and they started wondering what in the world was going on with Moses and uh they started murmuring and they started bickering and uh they started talking about all this authority that Moses had and how he was able to get by with anything he wanted to get by with and uh as long as everybody did what Moses had to do then everything was fine but if they disobeyed one little bit Moses' become angry And so there's this this these conversations and these back and forth moments and uh uh uh and and and and at no time would it become more evident that this was the nature of the man of God when he came down from the mountain and he found them partying. It was a big party and it wasn't a Holy Ghost party. >> And they weren't considering when Aaron and all the people when they threw this little party, they weren't considering what God thought of their party. The Bible tells us they started taking off the earrings out of their ears and they put all the joys uh sorry jewels in a fire and they melted the gold down and they began to take that liquid gold and they as it began to harden they formed a golden calf. I don't know how big it was. I guess in my mind in Sunday school always thought the golden calf was about this big. It may have been about big or it may have been about this big. I don't know how big it was. But all we know is that these people, the people of God, they forgot all about God. They forgot all about his great mercy bringing them out of Egypt, bringing them out across the Red Sea and feeding them with mana and all these other miracles. They forgot about God and they said to themselves, "We've got to create another God." And so, Exodus 32:3, I want us to look at it. The Bible says uh people break off the golden earrings which were in their ears and they brought them unto Aaron and he received them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool after he had made it a molten calf. And they said, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." And the Bible says when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord." And so now we're going to mix the jewelry, which has become an idol to us. And you notice what they were doing? They were mixing it in with their worship of God. bring the golden calf in. We're going to dance around it. We're going to sing. We're going to shout, but we're also going to do it unto God. This is going to be our God, but this is also going to be our God. And the Bible says they rose up early on the marorrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Their jewelry became the idols of their families. The most valuable gifts that God had given to them up to this point. They had turned them in to idols. And now they have molded this molded this golden calf out of a large quantity of their jewelry. And they were dancing around having the time of their life, imagining that it was really this golden calf that brought us out of Egypt. The Bible says to God, it was an abomination. The spirit of God was so grieved. He was so greed at their foolishness that that when Moses man Moses it was righteous ignation when Moses walked into the camp. Um, it was a it was quite the quite the moment. Moses, he's redfaced. He's yelling. He's screaming. He's upset. What in the world are you guys doing? Here I am. I go up there for just a few weeks and I come back and this is what I come back to. And so, uh, matter of fact, if Moses hadn't mercifully intervened, God would have destroyed them right then and there. Moses righteous indignation, yes, it was there, but but Moses didn't want them to die because of it. So what Moses did is he made them grind the golden calf to dust and then made them scatter the powder in water and then he made them drink the water that was filled with the golden flakes. Now this is what I believe is that this is symbolic of the fact that the bling bling of God's people is not supposed to be on the outward but it's supposed to be on the inward. I I can talk to you tonight about how our bodies are a temple of the Holy Ghost. >> And you remember in the Old Testament, the tabernacle on the inside it had gold. It had silver. It was decked out. It was it it was beautiful. But the outside, you know what? It was decked of badger skins. It didn't look like much on the outside, but when you got on the inside, Amen. And so that's what the apostle was trying to tell us that it's not with the outward adorning of gold and pearls and costly array. But but what it really should be is what is on the inside of a Christian that matters the most. Amen. And so so it's important. And so, not to be mocked, God then threatened to remove his presence uh uh uh of his cloud by day and fire by night. He he he warned them that if they don't if you don't take off your ornaments immediately that I may just come down and destroy you. Exodus 33. And he he's upset. And when the people, verse 4, Exodus 33 and:e4, when the people heard these things, okay, remember the golden calf happened in 32. In 33, when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned. And no man did put on him his ornaments. For the Lord had said unto Moses, say unto the children of Israel, you are a stiff necked people. I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment and consume thee. Therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee that I may know what to do unto thee. And the children of Israel stripped of themselves of their ornaments by the mount Oreb. Some translations even say from the Mount Orb onward. And so in a dramatic act of repentance, all of Israel, they quickly stripped themselves of all their jewelry. And God took a step back and God was pleased with this. I don't really know the exact answer of why jewelry was so detrimental to their spiritual life. I've got I've got some reasons. I think uh part of that answer is because when we adorn our body with jewelry, it turns the attention from God to us and it promotes this cult of self which is idolatry. And and so the next related incident, I'm just working you through the periods of jewelry that we see in scripture. The next related incident was that God instructed Moses to take up a free will offering for the construction of the tabernacle. And at the top of the long list of items that I want you to bring, I want you to bring gold. He wasn't forcing them out of uh forcing it out of them, but the suggestion was very specific. I want you to bring gold. And they took the hint because every man that offered offered an offering of gold unto the Lord. And this wasn't just portions of what they owned, but the Bible says they brought all jewels of gold to the Lord. And so, uh, if we stopped right there, we might could come up with a little bit of a fuzzy conclusion about the way God feels of jewelry. Here it is. He's giving it to him, and now he's telling them to take it off. And so, where does that all lead? But but then we just if we keep going we see uh that that in the centuries to come uh every time of one of their military victories included the spoils of precious jewelry that God strictly imposed upon them to bring it to him. Numbers 31 and 50 it says, "We have therefore brought uh an oblation for the Lord and every man that hath gotten of jewels of gold chains, bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets to make an atonement for our souls before the Lord." And Moses and Eleazar the priests took the gold of them, even all rot golds. And so even though the men had taken the spoils, taken the jewelry, the gold, the silver, and all that from uh from uh uh the enemy, uh what they collected, they brought uh uh to the Lord uh to the men of God, and they made an atonement for their souls. That's what verse 50 says in Numbers 31. And so we know, of course, that jewelry could not possibly buy our salvation. And so we don't try to deduce that, that their offering was somehow intended to be a reprieve for their past uh uh idolatry of jewelry. But we do believe that God honors consecration. And we do believe that God honors sacrifice. And anytime we give something to the Lord, then certainly he will bless us for doing so. And can the church say amen? >> And so here it is. God at the beginning gives it to them as a sign of blessing. They start misusing it and God backs away from it and then God starts demanding it from them. And and then eventually God declares jewelry an abomination. He eventually verbalized his hatred for the sight of jewelry on his people. He even forbade them to keep jewelry as spoils of war. Deuteronomy 7 and 25. The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire. Thou shalt not desire the gold or the silver or gold that is on them, neither take it unto thee, lest thou be sna snared therein. For it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. Neither uh shalt thou bring an abomination into thy house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it, but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly uphore it, for it is a cursed thing. He tells them, you need to detest it, and you need to abhore it. Uh even the kings, even kings, even people with high position were forbidden to accumulate personal collections of jewelry. Uh in the eventuality that God would set up kings over Israel, each was instructed in advance not to greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. We know that Solomon later would transgress against the word of God in this area and it would cost him uh dearly because of it. It would cost him his relationship with God. In the next generation, we see that Joshua pronounced the sentence of death by stoning and by fire upon Achen and his entire family. Why? because they kept in their possession precious gold and silver instead of turning it over to the treasury of the Lord. We see where Gideon sinned by desiring jewelry. Gideon was a mighty man of valor, greatly used of God. But in his latter years, Gideon made a request of the men of Israel. He said that you would give me every man the earrings of his prey. And so they spread out a big blanket. They threw in golden earrings. They threw in ornaments, uh, necklaces, chains, even the chains from the animals, they threw it in. And Gideon had this priestly vestment. And I don't know if Gideon knew what he was really doing, but he he created this garment and he put it on. And and the Bible says that all Israel went a whoring after it, which thing became a snare unto Gideon and to his house. So the word of God consistently and repeatedly denounces the ownership and possession of jewelry. Every time Israel began to possess jewelry, every time it became an occasion for spiritual decline through some form of vanity, pride, a sensual spirit, idolatry, you name it. It became a downfall to them. It literally turned their hearts away from God. And so as we read from the beginning all the way through, the evidence grows that jewelry became increasingly offensive to God. Now God, I don't believe he ever forgot that moment where, of course, we know God didn't forget anything, but he he he certainly remembered the moment where Moses came off that mountain and and Aaron and the people of God are dancing around that golden calf. And and so it was later in Ezekiel 16 verse number 10 that God starts reminding them that that I have I have put on you fine linen and I have covered you with silk and uh uh but he said I've decked thee also with ornaments and I I put on bracelets upon thy hands. This is verse number 11. and and a chain upon thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead. God is saying this. And I've put earrings in thine ears, and I've put a beautiful crown upon thine head. But listen to verse 15. What happened? He went on to tell them, "But thou didest trust in thine own beauty and playst the harlot because of thy renown." Amen. And so God is upset over the fact that they took what was supposed to be a blessing and they began to use it for their own beauty and they played the harlot and they committed spiritual and physical whoredoms with them. Now he he tells them, "Bring your jewelry. Bring it. Take it off your body and bring it." But I want you to notice, nowhere in scripture did God ever give them permission to take back their jewelry. Nor did he give them any indication that he had changed his mind and that now he approves of them having their jewelry. And so uh God did that. And so throughout the Old Testament, we see where God's approval uh uh increasingly became more so. And and then uh in the New Testament we read in 1 Timothy 2 verse 9 uh Paul speaking here he tells uh the women that in like men are also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamef faceness and sobriety not with braided hair. What is braided hair? roided is braided hair with uh jewels intertwined within the hair. So I I I suppose there could be several different renditions of that in 2025. But sisters, there's nothing wrong with braiding the hair, but if you're intertwining jewels, pearls, gold, silver, so on and so forth in the hair, then that is when you're crossing the line. And he said, "Don't do it with hair or gold or pearls or costly array, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works." Amen. Everybody shout, "Hallelujah." >> Everybody still with me tonight? I hope this is not too slow and methodical for you tonight. Amen. We're just we're studying the word of God. Amen. So the only ornaments we can be sure are allowed are the ones that are spiritual in nature. Even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price. Amen. >> Now there's a lot of conclusions and I'm going to hold you a whole lot longer tonight. But first of all, God originally lavished upon his people jewelry, those that he favored, jewelry. But they consistently abused the privilege by idolizing their jewelry and somehow turning it into an abomination before God. And so therefore, because of that, God turned against them ever owning it with the sole exceptions of it being allowed with some restrictions in the treasury of the king's palace. and with no restrictions in the treasury of the Lord's house where it belonged. And God has consistently ever since the disaster of the golden calf, he's objected to anyone having private possession of jewelry. It can so quickly become a downfall to an individual. Over and over and over and over in scripture, it became a downfall. Brothers and sisters, do we think that we're any better than those great men and women of God of old? If it became a downfall for them, then certainly it could become a downfall for us. And can everybody say, "Amen." >> And so, we've got all this in the Old Testament. When we get to the New Testament, it's like the New Testament is just carrying it forward with the same spirit and same attitude of God's displeasure with jewelry and ornamentation and his pleasure with with with uh spiritual virtue that that spiritual virtue should take the place of outward ornamentation. And I remember years ago I was walking through a mall. I believe it was in Dallas, Texas. And I wanted this certain belt. I went in the store and I paid too much for it, first of all. I knew I'd pay too much, but it was the coolest thing in the world back then. Everybody was wearing these belts and it had a really cool buckle and and I I I thought, man, it's a belt, so it's not jewelry, right? But you know what? I I didn't wear that for too long. And it kept coming to my mind. I'm just going to be honest with you tonight. It kept coming. It kept plaguing my mind. It kept bothering me. Here I was walking around wanting everybody see my belt. You ever meet one of those Texans? He's got the big buckle right here. >> And and you know what? I would pray and sometimes people would make little comments about my belt and I knew how much I paid for it. I could go to a nice men's store and buy four belts for what I paid for that one. And I started feeling convicted. Now, if I would have paid like 20 bucks for the belt, I might not felt so bad about it. But I eventually I took that belt off and I said, "You know what? I'm not going to wear that belt anymore. If it's bothering me this much, then I'm I'm going to push that aside. I I I only say that to say this is if if things like that can happen to Pastor Adams, then certainly that can happen to any one of us. >> Amen. Amen. I remember I was a teenager and I wasn't really even where I needed to be in God, but I got me a big fancy flashy wristwatch. Okay? And I don't think there's anything wrong with wearing a wristwatch except if you buy the kind that I bought. And it it looked it was it was fine. I'm just going to tell you it was fine. All right. Now, listen. I'm preaching to Heritage Church
tonight. I'm not preaching to anybody outside of Heritage Church. Okay? I'm the pastor of Heritage Church and not the pastor at the next church down the road. Okay? It may not bother other people, but I'll tell you what happened is I come up and I'd come to the altar and I'd lift those hands and that watch would slip out of that sleeve and the bling bling would catch the light would catch it and it looks so good. Just lift that hand a little higher. You I started feeling convicted about it.
Occasionally I wear a watch today, but I decided, you know what? If I'm going to wear a watch, it's got to be because it's serving a purpose >> and not because it's jewelry. There are some functional pieces of our wardrobe that if you allow them, they can become jewelry. >> Every one of you got a pair of shoes on your feet. You could go to dealers and probably buy buy a pair of shoes that would be so bling bling >> that it'd be jewelry. Could be some of you, man. You could and some of you ladies, you like good purses. I get it. I like my wife to have a good purse, but it could be so bling bling. That'd be the same thing. You could wear a a dress and man, it to be so bling bling. And so if we're going to say you ought not to wear it in your ears and around your neck, why would we wear them on our feet? >> Or around our waist. I'm preaching to you tonight about having some balance. >> Amen. Balance. Amen.
I have to wear contacts. Most of you probably didn't even know I don't like to wear glasses. I don't like the way they feel on my face. There's nothing wrong wearing eyeglasses. Now, you could get eyeglasses that's got diamonds all the way around them. And you could say, "Well, they're just eyeglasses." Well, it's probably between you and God, but it may it may cross the line. What I'm telling you, you got to be careful. >> You got to be careful. And so when you put things on your body, just ask yourself the question, is this goddy? Is this too much? And a lot of times, you know the answer right off the bat. >> What's that old saying? When in doubt, leave it out. >> Amen. Ladies, you could put stuff in your hair that are it's so bling bling, but you're not wearing it around your finger, not wearing it around your neck, not wearing it in your ears. But if it's in your hair and it's bling bling, what's the difference? [Applause] >>
And so none of us would deny the fact that jewelry is beautiful. What's the old saying that diamonds are girls best friend? Diamonds are a girl's best friend. But it's also to important to remember whose eyes we seek to please. The ornaments that he thinks are beautiful have never been crafted by even the finest jewel. The things that he thinks is beautiful is the condition of the heart. Hallelujah. >> So you don't have to deck yourself with gold and pearls and costly array to catch the approval of God. But what you got to do is have a meek and quiet spirit, a humbleness of heart. That's the kind of ornamentation that God desires out of every Christian. Amen. Somebody shout hallelujah. >> Hallelujah. >>
Musicians come. You say, "Pastor, what about my wedding ring? How will people know if I'm married if I don't wear a ring?" How will I know I'm married if I don't wear a ring? >> Hey, can I let you in a little secret? That may have that may that may have wouldn't work 100 years ago. I don't know. I I didn't live back then. But let me tell you how it works today. A ring versus non- ring when it comes to a wedding band does not keep a person from the opposite sex from flirting with an individual. >> If you will carry yourself with conduct uh with the right conduct and with the right dignity, you won't have any issues at all. >> Amen. Now, I'm sure my wife has to beat people off with a 10-ft stick because she doesn't wear a ring. I'm sure she I've just never had that issue. I don't know what happened.
No, what you can do instead of wearing that ring, you know what you can do is establish some boundaries, physical boundaries, verbal boundaries. And I'm gonna tell you something. This is good. This is good teaching tonight in this aspect is if someone comes up to you flirting with you and it's not your spouse. Now, hopefully your spouse has come up flirting with you. Man, I'll ought to do some marriage counseling here tonight. Ladies, you need to be flirting with your husbands. [Music] Can all the husbands say amen? >> Husbands, you better be flirting with your wife. Don't quit dating her. Don't quit courting her. Don't quit buying her flowers. Don't quit buying her some perfume. Treat her good. The same way you got her is the same way you going to keep her. Amen.
But you know what you can do if someone comes by flirting with you that's not your spouse? Start talking about your husband. Yeah, man. I've been married for 20 years and she's so beautiful. I wish you could meet her sometime. I promise you they're going to back off so fast they're about going to run out the door. You ain't going to have to worry about one thing. Establish physical and verbal boundaries. And you don't have to worry about it, brothers and sisters. I promise you everything's going to be all right. And I promise you, God will be pleased with that kind of conduct. Stand with me all over this house. Stand with me all over this house.
So the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 19, "What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and ye are not your own? But ye are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." And so certainly I don't believe that as a Christian we should use our bodies as a mannequin for all the world's uh ungodly fads and fashions. But instead we ought to present our bodies as a living sacrifice as the temple of the Holy Ghost. Not just to God but to the whole world. Let the world see God in us. Hallelujah. God's people are a different people. God's people are a separated people. He said, "Come out from among them and be ye separate, sayeth the Lord." He said, "If you'll do that, I will receive you." How many wants to be received of the Lord? How many wants God to accept us? Why don't you reach over and join up with the person next to you? Just take it take their hand to the Lord. Stretch it out to the Lord. I just want us to pray. Can we just make this entire sanctuary one big altar for a moment? And I want us to talk to the Lord together. Oh God, we want to please you in every way. God, we want to please you in every way. God, we want you to be happy with us. God, we want to present to you our bodies as a living sacrifice. Help us, oh God. We want to be holy. We want to be acceptable unto you, Lord. We understand that it's our reasonable service. We're not trying to conform to this world, but God, we're trying to be transformed by the renewing of our mind so that we could prove that which is good and acceptable and perfect, your perfect will, the will of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. >>
Come on, let's talk to the Lord together. Why don't we consecrate ourselves to the Lord all over again? Holy life, >> can you let the word of God just begin to seep into your heart and seep into your spirit? >> God, I want your word to make an impact. >> God, I want your word to make the difference in our lives. >> Oh God, help us. Help us. Help us, God. >> In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Oh God, we believe you, Lord. >> I want to be holy. >> We believe you, Lord. >> Holy. >> We trust in you. >> We trust in you. >> In the name of the Lord, we trust in you. [Music] >> We trust in you. >> We trust in you. Oh God, help us to the Lord. >> Help us, God. >> Help us, God. [Music] >> Can you reach over and find somebody different that you can pray with? Find somebody else to link up with. Even if you have to step across the aisle, >> let's join together one with another. >> We love you, Jesus. Come on. Can we just love the Lord together? [Music] >> Let's love the Lord in this house. >> Rightuous. Rightuous like you. I want to be rightous right like you. Holy Spirit purify me and make me new. I want to be rightous righteous like you.
Hallelujah. I mentioned earlier that soon we'll be starting a revival. I don't know if it'll be two weeks or more. We're just going to play it by ear and see how the Lord would do. But I I wonder if I could challenge you tonight that we would all make a concerted effort of coming by the house of God and praying, seeking the face of the Lord, making sure our spirits right. You know, some revivals are just for the church, and that's fine if that's what needs to happen. But I think that if we could all make sure we are firing on all cylinders personally, that when the revival begins and that God begins to use the man of God to minister to us, when the church is clean, when our hands are clean and our heart is right, that it creates a powerful force as we unify together. And I promise you, we'll see a harvest of souls if we'll do that. And so I wonder how many would make a commitment to join with me. If you can come every day, that would be awesome. If you if you miss one day, don't let it keep you from coming the next day. But let's make a concerted effort as much as possible to come by the house of God. Just bend a knee. If it's 15, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, it may turn into an hour. Uh but whatever it is, let's pray. Let's talk to the Lord and let's ask that the Lord would do something special in our church. God bless you. Thank you for being here tonight. [Music]