Amen. It's good to be with you this evening. Where else would we be? Amen. Amen. All right. If you would, I got a lot of passages of scripture to look at this this evening. And like was mentioned this morning, we're going to be taking the next four weeks of Sunday nights and we're going to be going through and specifically looking at music and what makes good music, what makes Christian music because that is a big debate or it was a big debate several years ago. I know in Christian circles Some would say that music is not that big a deal and it's not really in the music itself. Isn't that important? It's the heart behind the music. It's the words in the music and so we're going to be looking at some of those, I don't want to say arguments, but those different points of view. And really what I want us to see is what the Bible says about our music and what we need to do and what we need to institute to have the right kind of music, not only in church, because the right music in church is important, but the right music in our home. is just as important. The right music in our personal life is just as important because music affects every area of our life. And we'll look at all that in the next couple of weeks. And even now in my mind, it's flooded and I want to go 100 miles an hour and I got to restrain myself because I have four weeks to get through this. All right, and so we do have a lot of material this evening. And let me just say off the bat, I've had the opportunity and the privilege to really learn from some of God's, what I would consider God's choice servants in the area of music. Brother Veach, he puts together a couple lessons on music and a couple study sheets and DVDs that I've had the opportunity. Even Brother Frank Garlock, who just recently went to heaven, he put out several seminars, but the one that really changed my life in the area of music was his seminar on the language of music. It's a six-part DVD series. And in our church music class, we still use that today. And I enjoy, every semester that I teach church music, I enjoy sitting down and listening to him just explain what good, godly music is and how it needs to be part of our life. And another series that really helped me was a series by Tim Fisher entitled Noise in the Camp. And a lot of what I'm able to articulate in this series comes from those men. And I think of Brother David Cloud. He has so many articles on music and books written on music. And some books that have really helped me is Why I Left the Contemporary Christian Music by Dan Lucarini, and Music in the Balance, and The Satanic War on Christian Music. And so I'm giving you all that information right here just to let us know and to get us to realize that it's not a mystery. The truth that we're going to look at this evening and the next couple weeks, it's not something that we cannot understand. It's something that we can understand, and we can apply those principles in our life. And that's really what I want us to really grasp, is it's not just left up to musicians to be able to discern what good Christian music is. and what kind of music we need in our life. Sometimes we want other people to make those decisions for us, but there comes a point in time where we need to have our own personal convictions, and we need to look at what the Bible says, study what the Bible says, and then apply the truth of the Word of God to our life, in every area of our life. Not just music, but every area of our life. And so, as we look specifically in the area of music, this evening, I want us to really think about the heart of the matter, or the core problem in our life, in the area of music. So, real quick, like, let's go to 2 Kings 3. Second Kings chapter 3. In the first few minutes here, we're going to be jumping around, looking at various passages of Scripture. I'm not exactly sure when a message was preached, but I'm not sure if it was in this chapter or it was on chapter 2 in my Bible on this page, but something jumped out at me as I was looking through and skimming through this portion of scripture. If we look at 2 Kings 3, verse 13, it says, And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy father, and of the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay, for the Lord hath called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. Verse 14, And Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. And verse 15 is what I want us to rest our attention for a few minutes here. But now bring me a minstrel, one who plays music, And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him. But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him. It didn't say that the minstrel sang. It said the minstrel played with the hand. Amen? And so some would just say that it's the words of the music, the words in the song. And our churches have become so inundated with the contemporary, what they would call contemporary Christian music, where they've taken the world's rock style, the world's popular style, the world's soft rock, the world's swing, the world's jazzy music, And they say, well, the words are good. And I get a blessing from the words. And we see and we hear that argument over and over and over again. But here we see that the music itself ministers, the music itself gives us a message. And so when we look at that, we see the importance. It's not just the words that should be okay. It's the actual music itself, what we listen to, because music permeates every area of our society, doesn't it? You walk into, many people walked into a store yesterday, today being Mother's Day, we thought, man, where has the time gone? I need to get mom a card, right? Okay, thank you. All right, we got one. And so you walk into the store, and what do you hear? The first thing you hear is not just the busyness of people shopping, but you hear the music over the radio. You hear that music. You sit down in a restaurant, you walk into a restaurant, and what do you hear? They have music playing. and if it's a busy time and they want people to get up and you know quickly move and and eat their food and and then get up and get out so the next person can go in they have music designed to influence people not just the words but the music itself influence influences people. And one thing you notice when you're walking through the store, music does affect you. It has influence on you. Not just the words, but the music itself. I had the misfortune of working in public works for, no, I'm joking. It was a blessing sometimes. But when I was working in public works during the Corn and Apple Festival, there were times where I would put 30 plus hours in on a weekend doing on the sanitation crew. What does that mean? We collected the garbage, right? We kept things clean. And it was a great opportunity for 30 hours of overtime. But you know, looking back on that, and in that environment, what happened, I was inundated with the world's music. And what was happening is the world's philosophy was influencing me. The world's philosophy was influencing me. And I look back on those times in a way with some regret, because that influenced me negatively. That had a negative impact on me. And to this day, it has influenced me. And we can get victory over that. But music affects us. Whether we realize it or not, it affects us. Whether you know where middle C is on the piano or not. You say, I don't even know what a sharp is. Is that where you cut your hand? No. All right. Flats usually cause more damage, but we're okay. All right. So we see that in 2 Kings 3.13-15, but we also, let's go to 1 Samuel 16. 1 Samuel 16. Another lengthy passage of Scripture. I'll do my best to cut it out. We could spend a lot of time here as well, but we're only going to be looking at a few verses. 1 Samuel 16 in verse 21, and once I find it, We'll read it. In verse 21 of 1 Samuel chapter 16, it says, And David came to Saul, and stood before him, and he loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. In verse 22, And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he hath found favor in my sight. And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand, so Saul was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him." And so we see the influence, not just of words in the music, but the music itself influencing us. in a positive way. And just as the music can influence us in a positive way, when we hear the song that we sang, our closing hymn this morning, It Is Well With My Soul, what did that do? That did not Stir up emotion, worldly emotions, worldly passions. What did it do? That melody that brought the message of the song, the words, it enhanced the message of the songs. It didn't take away, it didn't do anything in a negative sense in our soul. It ministered to our soul. And so music is important, and what we allow into our lives is important. And so not only is it important to have the right music in the church, but in our homes and in our personal life as well. So with that being said, let's go back to Exodus chapter 32. Exodus chapter 32. And here we're gonna read a lengthy passage of scripture and just get some context for where we're going in this first session of this series. And so Exodus chapter 32, and Moses had gone up to the mountain. He was getting instruction from the Lord and God was dealing with Moses and giving him what he wanted Moses to have. And the nation of Israel was waiting at the bottom. They were waiting for Moses to return to, to receive what God had given Moses. And so here we see in the Exodus chapter 32, it says, For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people break off the golden earrings, which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. Verse four, 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 when Aaron saw it and built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. Verse six, and they rose up early on the morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. That being in a very sensual, in a very sexual way that rose up to play. In verse seven, and the Lord said unto Moses, go get thee down for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. that they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them, they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and I and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation. Let's go down to verse 15. And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand, and tables were written on both their sides. On the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. Verse 18, And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the noise of them that sing, Do I hear? And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing, and Moses' anger waxed hot. And he cast the tables out of his hands, and break them beneath the mount. And he took the calf, which they made, had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did the people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger of the LORD wax hot, Thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. Verse 23, And they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what is become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me. Then I cast it into the fire, and voila! Sorry, and there came out this calf. It just happened verse 25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said who is on the Lord's side Let him come unto me and all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together Unto him and he said unto them I Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And there fell of the people that day about three thousand men." So we see just the just the terrible act, what happened in just a short time, how God's people, Israel, fell into idolatry. Just think about what they had witnessed. Just think about everything that they had come through. Not only had they been in bondage, as we heard this morning, and had to suffer all the persecution from Pharaoh and had gone through hundreds of years of that oppression and being slaves and how God used Moses and Aaron to lead them out of the nation of Israel or out of the nation of Egypt and had done so many miracles. Just think about the plagues that were sent. to the nation of Egypt, and how God used those plagues to really show His power. Not only that He was the supreme God, but every plague that God sent into the nation of Egypt, what was that a symbol of? It was God showing His supremacy over their gods. Because the nation of Egypt, they had a multiplicity of gods that were attributed to fertility, to crops, to the River Nile. One was the guardian of the Nile. And all of those plagues were designed to show God Jehovah's supremacy over the nation, the gods of Egypt. And so when we think about what happened, what caused God's people to move from that point where they were worshiping God, they were doing what God had called them to do, what called them to deviate? What caused them to deviate? And a side note, one of the things, I don't think on top of the hill that Moses and Aaron could discern what kind of words the people were singing. They just heard that they were singing, all right? And it was confusion to them, so I'll move on. I'll let you think about that in a little bit. But as we think about the area of music, It's important that we have this first session down, and we have the right perspective, and we really have the right heart. Because it wasn't just the outside influences, and it wasn't the outside pressure that caused the nation of Israel to dive into idolatry with both feet, if you will. It was a matter of their heart. It was the matter of their heart. Their heart was not set on God and what God had called them to do. And here we see that it was just a very short time before they were waiting for Moses and they were following God. And just think about the presence of God. They had the visible presence of God, the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. that was guiding them and leading them where they needed to go. And God was supplying their needs, giving them everything that they needed. And yet in just a short while, all of a sudden they were involved in idolatry, in wickedness, in sexual sin. What caused that? What caused that? Their music had changed. What caused that? And so what was the sin of Israel? What was the sin of Israel? Letter A, we're gonna see the condition of God's people. The condition of God's people. And number one, under the condition of God's people, they were impatient. They were impatient. The nation of Israel became impatient. If you look at Exodus chapter 32 verse 1, it says, And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron. They were impatient. It reminds me of me. we get impatient with the things of life. And as we study church history, not just church history from centuries ago, but really church history over the last three to four decades, and what happened, it was people that were not willing to wait for God to move. They wanted to manufacture results. They wanted a superficial working, if you will. They wanted something that they could see. And one thing we need to understand in our Christian life and in the life of our church, whether we see Him working or not, God is working. God is desiring to do a work. And so sometimes it may feel in our own life that we go through lulls and we go through times where we're not quite sure what God is doing in our life and we're not sure what the leaders are doing in our life, but we need to be careful that we don't become impatient. We don't become impatient. In Psalm 106, verse 13, talking about the nation of Israel, it says, they soon forgot his works. They waited not for his counsel. They waited not for his counsel. What happens is we hear of maybe a different group or some contemporary Christian group doing this and having some success and some ecumenical group doing this and they have a measure of success and then we think, well, I wonder if we're doing something wrong or maybe we need to start doing something. Maybe we need to start adopting the world styles or the world's philosophies and we we start reevaluating and we get impatient at God. Or maybe He's not working according to our, it's not about us. The nation of Israel became so self-absorbed and so they became impatient. A commentator once said, misinterpretations of our Redeemer's delays are the occasion of a great deal of wickedness. Our Lord Jesus has gone up into the mount of glory where he is appearing in the presence of God for us, but out of our sight. The wicked servant emboldens himself in his impieties with this consideration. My Lord delays his coming. Weariness in waiting betrays us to a great many temptations. So Israel here, if they could but have waited one day longer, would have seen what had become of Moses. If they would have just waited. if they would have just waited. And sometimes we look around and we say, well, God's not working like He used to, or God's not doing this, and God's not meeting our expectations. Wait. You and I just need to make sure that we are where we are supposed to be, doing what God has called us to do. We need to wait. We need to be careful that we don't become impatient. A little while before the nation of Israel was willing, they said they were willing to do anything that God had wanted for their life. In Exodus chapter 24, verse 1 to 3, it says, And God said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship ye afar off, and Moses alone. shall come near the Lord. But they shall not come nigh, neither shall the people go up with him. And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do. This is just what they said. And how many times have we found ourselves coming to an altar or finding ourselves in our prayer closets or our time of prayer, wherever that is, and we find ourself just saying, Lord, whatever you want for my life, that is what I'm willing to do. I want you to work in my life. Whatever I need to get rid of, help me get rid of it. And then we find ourself a day, maybe even just a few hours later, we get impatient with God. and we get doing what we want to do. Many times we can see ourselves in the nation of Israel, but they had become impatient. And we need to be careful that we do not become impatient with our heavenly father. And so not only were the nation of Israel, they were impatient, but they became rebellious. They became rebellious and automatically our mind goes to first Samuel chapter 15, verse 23, where it says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. They used the silence to justify their rebellion. They used the silence to justify rebellion. And one of the things I've seen over the years is that maybe God doesn't speak to us, or even an authority figure in our life doesn't speak to us, so we use that silence as permission to do what we wanna do. What does that reveal? It reveals a heart that is rebellious towards authority. In Exodus, chapter 32, verse 1b, it says, "...up," they're talking to Aaron, they say, "...up, make us gods, which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him." In Psalm chapter 106, verse 14, it says, But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. They became rebellious. Let me ask ourselves, we may get impatient, but are we also rebellious? Are we rebellious? Well, you say, I don't think I am. Okay. When God comes to you, maybe through a preacher or a teacher, and they give us truth, maybe it's a hard truth. Maybe it's a truth that we don't like. How do we respond to that? How do we respond to that truth? That will give us a glimpse of really the condition of our heart. In Acts 7, verse 41, it talks about the rebellion of the nation of Israel, and it says, And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. So they became impatient. They became rebellious and they were sensual. Number three, they were sensual. Exodus 32 verse six, it says, and they rose up early on the morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. Exodus 32 verse 25 tells us that as Moses heard all the commotion that was going on and God said, Moses, you need to get down there. What did he see when he came down? He saw that the people were naked. It was a shameful thing for God's people to be in that condition. because all the other surrounding nations had heard of the righteousness and the holiness and the greatness of Israel's God. And now they were, they had opened their shame to the world and they had become a reproach. And so they were impatient. They were rebellious. They were sensual. They went by what they felt they wanted to do. And then they were worldly. They were worldly. In Acts chapter 7, verse 39 through 40, it says, who, talking of Moses, received the lively oracles to give unto us, to whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them. And in their hearts, what did they do? They turned back again into Egypt. saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us. For as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we want not what is become. We don't know what has become of him. Let me ask you, where is your heart? Where is your heart? What are you thinking about? What do we think about when we come to church here, we may go through the motions, we may sit in a pew, we may stand and sing the songs, but where is your heart? The nation of Israel, it says their heart, their heart turned back to Israel. Where is your heart? Because in the area specifically of our music, it's really about our heart. It's about our heart. And if our heart is impatient, our heart is rebellious, our heart is sensual, and our heart is worldly, we will not have the right music in our lives. We will not have the right philosophy of life. We open ourselves up to shame and we become a reproach to those around us. And so what happened? What happened? We see that there was a compromise of Christian leadership. A compromise of Christian leadership. We see in weakness Aaron succumbs to the pressure of complaining. Aaron succumbs to the pressure of complaining. Now, having six children and one on the way within the month, I know I have a little glimpse of what it's like to hear some complaining. Amen, parents? All right. Or anyone who has done any type of babysitting. You realize, you know, you have that three-year-old, you have the four-year-old, and then they hit that time where it's just question after question after question. And it's like, I love you, but, you know, you just, oh man, it's just like, wow, are they ever going to stop? They're just chatterboxes, right? Yeah, help me out. Don't leave me hanging up here. All right, but you know, sometimes the kids, they just keep pressuring you. I want a yogurt. I don't want that yogurt. I want this kind of yogurt. Can I have a yogurt? I want that. No, you can't have a yogurt. You have to wait to eat like everyone else. Well, I want a yogurt. Can I have a? They keep pressuring, they keep pressuring, they keep pressuring. We all understand that analogy or that illustration, but we need to understand that we need to be careful of the pressure that we put on the leadership that God has given us. You and I need to be careful of the pressure. Everyone likes to be liked, amen? And be careful of your complaining, all right? The pressure you put on leadership to get what you think you want does affect them. It does affect them. And we see the people in the absence of Moses being there, Aaron was left in charge and the people came to Aaron and they just started complaining. Aaron, we want this. We want you to do this for us. And they just kept pressuring and pressuring and pressuring. And many good men of God and many good churches have been compromised in the area of music because they just gave up the fight. Why? Because there were people that just kept pressuring and pressuring and pushing and pushing because they wanted their own way. They were impatient, they were rebellious, they were worldly, they were sensual. And so you need to pray for your preachers. You need to pray for your parents. You need to pray for the leadership that God has established. In weakness, Aaron allows the blending of worship, the worship of Baal and Jehovah. Let's go to Exodus 32 in verse three. Exodus 32, verse three. It says, and the people break off the golden earrings which were in their ears and 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, a symbol of one of Egypt's gods. The God of, I believe it is the God of the Nile River, this particular calf. And they said, these be thy gods, these small g gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. This is who brought you out. This is the one you should be honoring. This is the one you should be singing to. This is the one that you should be bringing sacrifices for. But then Aaron had to throw in some, Compromise here, it says in verse five, and when Aaron saw it and built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. So we see that blending, taking the world's style of worship, taking something from the world and blending it with Jehovah God. There was that compromise that took place, and that blended worship. We say, wow, that's wickedness, okay? Let's put it in context of this series, okay? What are we doing taking the world's music, the world's style, and bringing it into our churches, our homes, and saying that this is okay? It has no place there. It has no place. And so we have to be careful of that blended worship in weakness. Aaron allows the blending of worship of Baal and Jehovah. In weakness, Aaron avoids his responsibility by making excuses. If you look at down in verse 24, he says, whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me when I cast it into the fire. And you know, I don't, I'm not exactly sure of the chemical makeup of all these compounds, but poof. It's in the Greek, actually Hebrew at this time. All right. He says, and there came out this calf. There came out this calf. It just happened, Moses. You need to understand what, you know, it just happened. You know. He avoids His responsibility. And we see the consequences of Israel's sin. We see how many were killed and many were lost friends and relatives. There was immediate consequences to the sin of God's people, the nation of Israel. The immediate consequences was death. And there fell of the people that day about 3,000 men. And then there was long-term consequences. There was that shame associated with what the nation of Israel did. You look back, and I don't want us to look too deep or too far back, but have you looked back on your life and you say, there are some things that I'm ashamed about. You know, maybe it's not really sin, it's just something goofy. Like telling your sister that the bomb that you made was really just apple juice. It wasn't gasoline. Apple juice caused the mushroom cloud in the front yard. Something like that. And she bought it. She was four or something like that. Not my greatest moment, but it was hilarious. We look at times in our life where there's shame, but think about the shame of the nation of Israel, how they were exposed to shame by their sin. The people were naked, not so much because they had some of them lost their earrings, but because they had lost their integrity and lay under the reproach of ingratitude. It was the shame to them and a perpetual blot that they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox." Now, I've got 11 cows at home, and I don't have very many good thoughts towards them. Let alone, I'd like to sacrifice one. I don't want to sacrifice two. You know what I mean? It just goes to show you how quickly, when we don't have a heart for God, how quickly we can get in a mess and we open ourselves up to the shame. Matthew Henry said, those that do dishonor to God really bring the greatest dishonor upon themselves. Those that do dishonor to God really bring the greatest dishonor upon themselves. Psalm 44, 13, it says, They'll make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. And I wonder, as people look at churches around us, the world looks at churches who have adopted the world's philosophy, the world's styles, not only in music, but in dress and in their thought pattern, we're ashamed. It's a shame to us. And so there were the long-term consequences of shame. And what was the core issue here? The core issue is the heart. The core issue is the heart. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4 to 6, it says, Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart." The issue is our heart. If we're going to have the right kind of music, if we're going to worship the Lord, not only in sincerity, but in sincerity and in truth, we need to make sure that our heart is not impatient, our heart is not rebellious, our heart is not full of sensuality, and our heart is not worldly. It's a matter of the heart. Proverbs chapter 28, verse 26, it says, and he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. And that's exactly what was happening in the nation of Israel. In Exodus chapter 32, they started reasoning things out in their own mind. It says in Proverbs 28, 26, but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered. The Bible tells us in Matthew chapter 12 verse 34, for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. What kind of music is our heart leaning towards? What kind of music is our heart leaning towards? That will give us a good indication of really what kind of spiritual condition we're in. Hebrews 3, verse 12, it says, Take heed, brethren, lest there be any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. We need to guard our heart. Guard our heart. So what is the danger for us? There's the danger of impatience, the danger of rebellion, the danger of sensuality, the danger of worldliness. Young people can be godly. Middle-aged people can be godly. Older people can be godly. We don't have to always allow everyone else to set the temperature. All right? We can set the temperature. We can get as close to God as we want to be. We need to be careful that we don't become impatient, rebellious, sensual, and worldly, but then we also need to be careful as leaders in the home, leaders in the churches, we need to make sure that we're not weak in our leadership. You need to pray for your leaders. You need to pray for your leaders, and you need to consider the kind of pressure that you put on your leaders. Aaron was left in charge when Moses went up the hill and the people came and he succumbed to the pressure that the people put on him. Peer pressure is a big deal. And so we may have a maybe a thought of how things ought to be done, or we would prefer things, or we would prefer a different style of music being used, and we may just make those off-the-cuff remarks. But understand, that makes an impact on God's people and God's leadership. So we need to pray for the leaders, and we need to make sure that we as leaders are strong. Be the leader God has called you to be in the church and in your home. Be the leader that God has called you to be in the church. We need to be careful as leaders that We don't have that lackadaisical attitude that this is the way that things are these days. As Aaron said, thou knowest the people that they are set on mischief. Moses, you know how they are. This is just the way it is. And how many times as parents we fight and we argue and the kids keep on putting pressure and it's finally, okay, fine, do what you want. You need to pray for your leadership. And then I cast it into the fire and there came out this calf. You know, these things just happen. Now, backsliding is a process. There is a process that went on in the nation of Israel. So what do we need to be careful of? We need to be careful of guarding our heart. Be careful of that rebellious, the sensuality, the worldliness. the impatience, and then we need to be careful of a lack of prayer, a lack of prayer. Prayer changes things. And one of the greatest things that you and I can do on a daily basis, and sometimes it's several times a day, is where we humble ourselves before the Lord, and we pray, and we submit ourselves to Him, and we pray, and we pray. And what does that do? It tenderizes our heart, it softens our thick skull, and it opens us up to the leading of the Holy Spirit of God. You and I need to pray more and more. In Exodus 32, verse 11, it says, And Moses besought the Lord his God and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak? and say, for mischief did he bring them out to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth. Turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest by thine own self and said unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people." Prayer changes things. Prayer changes things. And we need to be careful that we are praying. And then we need to be careful of the pride of an outward appearance of spirituality. An outward appearance of spirituality. I'm almost done. Let's go to Malachi chapter one. Malachi chapter 1. We may go through all the right motions. We may say all the right things. Verse 6 of Malachi 1, it says, "...a son honoureth his father, and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is mine honour? And if I be a master, where is my fear? Saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priest, that despise my name." And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? He says, Ye have polluted bread upon mine altar. And ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto the governor. Will he be pleased with thee? or accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts." What's he saying? Hey, we need to give our best to the Lord. We need to make sure that we are doing things out of a right heart. So where is our heart? Where is our heart? Have we become impatient? Have we become rebellious? Have we become worldly? Have we become sensual? Let's have our heads bowed, our eyes closed. Let's stand, if you will. Where's your heart? Where's your heart? Could be you've become impatient. Maybe you've placed expectations on God. And He's not moving at the speed that you would like Him to. And it's a point of frustration. I've never made a good decision out of frustration. Don't become impatient with God. Could be that you're, in your heart and in your mind, you're leaning towards the world. Essentially, you're becoming worldly. Say, well, I'd never forsake God. I'd never do some of the things that the nation of Israel did. No, guard your heart. Guard your heart. Where are you leaning? Where are you leaning? As the instruments play, if the Lord spoke to you this evening, do business with Him.