Amen, very good. Let's take the Word of God this evening and go to the Old Testament, to Deuteronomy chapter number 30. Deuteronomy chapter 30, it's a great blessing and a great opportunity to be here. I'm so thankful for your kindness to me and the Lord did a good work this morning and we praise Him for it. I know that sometimes when we come to the very beginning of a week like this, we can almost be a little overwhelmed and maybe thinking about all the week. And I remember a story that I read years ago about two ranchers and they had cattle and for years they were trying to compete with one another on the size of the ranch that they had. And finally, finally, it got to where the man thought, I've got the biggest one. And they met together one day, and he said, well, how's your ranch doing? He said, it's doing good. He said, I've changed the name of it. And he said, now the name of my ranch is the Triple J Flying W Circle C Rainbows Inn Silver Spur Ranch. And he said, wow, that's pretty impressive. And he said, how many head of cattle do you have now? began to shake his head and he said, well, not many, very few survive the branding. All right. Well, when we come to a revival service, we think, Lord, I'm not going to survive the branding that's going to be done. But folks, we need God's word to do surgery. in our hearts. And I want you to know that I'm praying for God to do a work in my heart. I do not come to you as a preacher that has it all figured out. That's for sure. But I come to you as a preacher that is on a journey and the journey is Christ. It is to know him, to love him and to walk with him. Tonight, I want to preach to you on this subject. Choose life. Your pastor spoke, I believe, this morning about what revival is. It is life again. But I think sometimes we have the analogy that revival is so far from where we could ever imagine that it's not possible. But I believe that revival is a choice. In fact, we're going to see in Deuteronomy chapter number 30, where Moses here is speaking to Israel. Now, we understand that the interpretation of Deuteronomy chapter 30 is to Israel, but I believe the application can apply to every one of us in this New Testament age. As we think about the subject of revival, what do you desire in your life? Do you desire to know God and to meet with Him? Do you desire to have His touch upon your life? I think all of us know what revival is. I think we've experienced life again when we are right with the Lord, when we are clean before God, and we are having a personal revival. So tonight, choose life. The Bible begins in Deuteronomy chapter 30. I want to read this entire chapter this evening, and I pray that God would use it in our hearts. Deuteronomy chapter 30, we'll begin in verse number one. And this shall come to pass when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whether the Lord thy God hath driven thee. and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart and with all thy soul, that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whether the Lord thy God has scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the utmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee. And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it, and he will do thee good. and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul. And I want you to notice this, that thou mayest live. Verse 7, And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. And thou shalt return, and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good as he rejoiced over thy fathers. If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to keep his commandments and his statutes, which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul, For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. See, I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil, and that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply. And the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish. And that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live, that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him. And would you notice this? For He is thy life. and the length of thy days, that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord swear unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. Would you notice back in verse number 19 at the very end of that verse where it says, therefore choose life. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Father, I thank you for the privilege to be here tonight. And Father, I ask of you to do your work as only you can do it. Lord, I cannot do the work tonight, but I am simply your messenger. and a voice, but I pray that you would quiet our hearts. I pray that you would bring conviction upon us tonight, that you would convince us of thy word, and that Father, you would bring comfort to our hearts. We need revival. Lord, we ask you for revival this week. We pray you'll do a work in every individual heart here. And Lord, I pray tonight, give us understanding. Open to us the scriptures, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. You know, as we read Deuteronomy chapter 30, we understand that God had promised the children of Israel the promised land, the land of Jordan and a land flowing with milk and honey. But we know that that is a great type and a great spiritual picture of what the Lord has for us in the sense that the promised land was never heaven. The promised land was the victorious Christian life. It is the life of Christ. Let's put it this way. It is revival life, life again. It is abiding in Christ. And that is God's will for each and every one of us here. So tonight, choose life. What do you choose for yourself? What do you choose the kind of life? There are many Christians, and I think all of us have been at this place at time or two in our lives, and maybe many times, where we are defeated. We are discouraged. We are in a state where we know that we are not abiding in Christ. And it is not life again. It is not revival life. But tonight, choose life. Number one, I want you to notice in our passage the conditions for restoration. Now God loved His people, and God wanted His people to return unto Him. In fact, God is pleading, in a sense, with His people to return to them so that He can return to them. In a sense, God says, I desire to bless you. I desire to do good unto you. But they had turned their backs on God. You know, so often we read, passage like this with the children of Israel turning to other gods and other idols. And we almost think that's not us, but it is the same in our lives. We turn to little gods and we turn to idols and we backslide on God. So tonight we see the conditions for restoration. We see a condition followed by a promise. Now go back to verse number two and you will notice something here. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 30, verse two, and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart and with all thy soul. That's the condition. The condition is for them to return unto the Lord thy God with their heart. But look at the promise in verse number three, that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whether the Lord thy God has scattered thee." So the condition was, you return unto the Lord thy God, and the promise was, then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity. Folks, tonight the condition is simply this, you return to God, and God will return to you. James chapter 4 and verse number 8, the Bible says, draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. You see, we think sometimes that revival is so complicated and maybe we've got to, and I'm all for studying revival, but we've got to know every entity of what we think revival may be. But revival is simply returning to the God and God will return to you. We see in verse number 2 that this is not a returning to a system. It is not returning to a list of do's and don'ts. It is not a list of rules and regulations. Although I believe that if you return to God, you will live a separated holy life unto the Lord. But this is a return unto a person. And His name is Jesus Christ. The conditions for restoration. And maybe tonight you may think, well, preacher, I just want you to know that I know that I should return to the Lord, but I'd be lying if I said I wanted to return to the Lord, or that I could return to the Lord. I believe there are some Christians that live with that mentality. Well, Pastor, I just don't even desire to return to the Lord. Well, Lamentations chapter 5 says this, Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned. You know what? I believe there are times in our lives when we ought to come before God and say, God, I don't even have a desire to return back to thee, but Lord, will you turn me back? You see, I think there ought to be two reasons why we come to the altar. When God does speak to our hearts, and when God doesn't speak to our hearts. There have been times when I've come to the altar and said, God, I received nothing out of that message. Something is wrong in my heart. Lord, search me, deal with me, because I want to live the very life of Christ. The conditions for restoration. By the way, maybe some of you are in captivity right now. Do you know that when we choose death over life, we choose to live in a carnal state rather than a spiritual state? When we choose to live in a backslidden state rather than a revival state, it is captivity. It is a life that we are controlled by our sin, we are controlled by the habits of sin, and we are not living free and victorious. I spent 12 years as a youth pastor, and I thank God for that time that the Lord gave my wife and I. And it was always an amazing thing to see young people, and you could see them getting in no doubt into sin in their life, and the countenance changed, and no longer was there freedom. No longer did they want to talk to us. No longer did they have the joy of the Lord upon their life. But I'm going to tell you something, often when we would take them to camp, and you know, Monday night, there was, you know, God began to work. Tuesday, God was doing more work, and they were confessing things. And Wednesday, God began to do a greater work. And I'm going to tell you something, by the time camp was over, you know what there was? There was life again. You know why? Because now they're not in captivity any longer. They're not weighed down with the weights of their sin. And maybe tonight you are chained by a pattern of wrong thinking. It might be some vice or habit that has its grip on you. You are bound. But verse number three says that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity. Folks, when you turn to the Lord, He has promised to turn to you. He will deliver you from captivity. My daughter, who is in Bible college right now, I remember one time I was, I may have been watching an Ohio State football game or something, all right? But I remember she was real little. And I can specifically remember that she was talking to me, and I should have been listening better, but I remember I wasn't paying attention to her. And I can remember that she crawled up in my lap, she took her hands, and she put them on my face, and she, Daddy, pay attention to me, you know? Well, can I tell you something? She got my attention. Can I tell you, listen, I wanted to listen to her. You know, sometimes in life we get so distracted in our Christian life. We turn from the Lord, and often it's not an immediate turn from the Lord, it's little steps that we are taking, and little sins that we are rationalizing in our lives, and little things that we are doing, and little by little we are turning from the Lord. The zeal that we once used to have for Christ is not there. The desire to tell others of Jesus Christ is not there. We have turned from God. But I want you to know tonight that if you will turn to the Lord in faith and in an openness before God, He has promised to turn to you. That promise has helped me in my Christian life. Often God has said, Aaron, turn to Me and I will turn to you. You know, so often we don't turn to God in honesty and we do not turn to God in sincerity. But here he says, if you will turn to me with all of your heart and all of your soul, then I will turn to you. Number one, we see the conditions for restoration. But number two, we notice the comfort. Of God's work. Now, I want you to look at this because this is so important. Revival is God's work. It is the work of God as we turn to Him in faith. Verse number six says this, and I love what the Bible has for us here. And it says, And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul, look at this, that thou mayest live. Folks, tonight the Lord wants us to live and enjoy the Christian life. He wants us to have life again. Your pastor has talked often about him and I, that I believe God really brought us together in Boulder, Colorado when we were traveling neighborhood Bible time. When I came there, I had just been saved just for a few years, and my life was not where it needed to be. I was seeking the Lord, and God had used some circumstances in my life to bring me to Bible time, really. It was almost a time where I was finally surrendered to do really what God wanted me to do, and God put me there. And folks, I want to say this to you. Your pastor had such an influence and still has an influence on my life. I don't think I'd be here today if it wasn't for the influence that your pastor had. But can I just tell you this, I remember going there and listening to the preaching and having to depend on the Lord, I began to experience life, real life. Life that God wanted me to have. You know, sometimes we have the ideal that God wants our lives to be miserable. Folks, that's so far from the truth. We think sometimes that if I sell out and if I turn to the Lord and if I turn from my sin and turn to Him, life is going to be not enjoyable and a lack of adventure, a lack of excitement. Folks, I'm going to tell you something. Life is really found in Jesus Christ in revival. He said here that thou mayest live. I believe that there is a compassion here in God saying, I want you to live. I want you to know what life really is. I we have a Christian school at our church and and often we deal with young people that are just as you know, they're living in a life that is obviously not pleasing to Christ. And I said, I think I said this this morning in Sunday school, my wife and I dealt with a young lady on Friday. And our hearts are burdened about it. And we talked about it today on the phone. And this young lady was saved in our church and came to know the Lord as her Savior. In fact, my wife and I led her mom and dad to the Lord. And the whole family has been saved. And there's all kinds of different circumstances there and kind of a split home and all of that. But this young lady, we knew her when there was life in her. We knew. She used to sing specials in church, and there was a joy about her. She was free. There was a freedom that she knew. Her heart was sensitive to the things of God. But on this past Friday when she was sitting in my office with my wife, there was a captivity upon her. There was something holding her, and we're burdened for her. But I'm going to tell you something, all of us have been there at times when we are in captivity. We need to know tonight that if we turn to the Lord, He will turn our captivity. He does the work. Now, notice this surgery that God does on our heart. Years ago, I was working on our house and I fell accidentally and I dislocated my elbow. And that's not a fun thing, you know. And I remember having to go to the hospital to get it put back into place. And they said, now we're going to put you to sleep. I said, good, but I don't want to be awake, you know. And they said, we'll put you to sleep and we're going to jam your elbow back into place. I didn't sound good to me, you know. And they said, now, look, sometimes this happens where we may break your radial head, the thing that allows your arm to move. And sure enough, it happened. And I can remember that they put me in a cast and, of course, I had to go see a surgeon. And the surgeon said, we got to do surgery. We got to remove all the little fragments of bones. We've got to put in a steel ball and joint pretty much there. And could you imagine me saying, doctor, that's okay. I'll do the surgery myself. I'll do it at home. I got an X-Acto knife. I'll take care of it, you know. My wife, she'll be able to do it on me." No, you say, pastor, you're foolish to try to do that. You'll kill yourself. You'll hurt yourself. There's no way that you could do surgery. But folks, we must understand that it is the work of God that He does the surgery in our hearts. Why do we need God to do the work? Because our hearts are so deceitful. We are so selfish, and as we talked about this morning, we are often like the Pharisee in the attitude that we think of all the great things that we do, and we compare ourselves with other people. We don't see our sin as we need to see it. God wants to do the work of surgery, but we have to allow Him to do the work. You know, that day I went to the doctor, I had to surrender myself to the doctor. I had to say, yes sir, I want you to do this, and I yield to doing this. And folks, revival is when we yield to the comfort of God's work of surgery in our hearts. Folks, God does His work. It is His work. We do not know how to accomplish this work, but it is for the purpose that thou mayest live. Folks, can I tell you something? Real living is when you are living right before the Lord. That's real living. You see, when we access God's love to us and through us, we are accessing His very life. That is what it means to live. Folks, when you allow God to do the surgery in your heart, now you can love people. You know something, we take married couples and, you know, it's so funny to me, and I've been doing some marriage counseling recently. And you know, it's very often that after a couple gets married, after maybe a year or a few months, one day, the husband begins to realize that he has just married the most selfish person he's ever met on the face of the earth. And about the same time, the wife has recognized that she has married the most selfish person on the face of the earth. And both of the statements are true. You see, marriage really reveals a lot about our lives. It puts us to the test. And often in a married couple's life, they have so many things to deal with, and yet God wants to revive them. God wants to do the surgery in their life so that they may grow. Tonight, as we think about the comfort of God's work, this week, will you say to the Lord, God, do whatever you want to do in my life. Lord, do the surgery on my heart that needs to be done. And in order for us to do that, we must come to the end of ourselves. We must come to the place that we are tired of the self-life that we are living, and now we want the Christ life. We want to live. He said in verse number 6, that thou mayest live. Notice here the tenderness in God speaking to His people. Let's go down to verse number 10. Would you notice something here? The Bible says in Deuteronomy 30 and verse number 10, If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul, For this commandment, which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off." Folks, I want to say this to you, and I think that this has been something in my own life that God has really dealt with me about. But the whole ideal of turning to the Lord is near. The whole idea of turning to God is not inaccessible. It is not far off. Some people may think, well, this is just too hard for me and this is something that I do not understand. But it is simply turning to God and letting Him do the work of surgery as we allow Him to do His work in our hearts. Let's go on and notice verse number 12. It says, It is not in heaven that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. Now, I want to look at that verse right there because it reminds me of a verse that we find in the book of Romans. Would you take your Bibles and go to Romans chapter number 10? Now, hold your place there in Deuteronomy chapter 30, but I want to show this to you. The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 10, and I want us to look, if you would please, in verse number 8. Now folks, remember this, you know, I have heard revival messages, and when I was younger, I used to think, Lord, that's just too much, that's too hard, it's too difficult to understand. And God, I don't understand all there is to understand about revival, but revival is life. It is the life of Christ being lived through you. It is not your life. It is the life of Christ enabling you to live the life that is pleasing to Jesus Christ. Deuteronomy chapter 30, the Lord wants them to turn to Him so that they may live. But we think sometimes... Pastor, it's just beyond my understanding. But notice in Romans chapter number 10. Now, we read that verse and let's read this verse. Romans chapter 10 and verse number 8, it says, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith, which we preach. Now, let me stop and explain this to you. We understand that the context of Deuteronomy chapter 30 is revival and it is returning to the Lord. But the context of Romans chapter 10 is the context of salvation. You say, well, pastor, there's no, this does not make sense. It makes perfect sense. Do you understand tonight that in Romans chapter 10, salvation is not too high? Do you know that salvation is not far away? Jesus Christ earned salvation. He paid the sin of debt, and He was buried in the borrowed tomb, and He rose again the third day. And salvation is that Christ has paid it all. All of our sins have been put on Him. All we need to do is trust in Jesus Christ. But the same is true for revival. Do you know tonight that revival is not far off? Revival is the life of Christ. Revival is not something that is too far off for us. It's not in heaven where we cannot reach it. It is not far off to where we cannot understand it. Revival is simply turning to Jesus Christ. You see, tonight, it is the work of God. It is his work. By the way, tonight, if you think that, boy, Pastor, I've really backslid on the Lord and I need to focus on my list. I need to get back to doing this and doing this and doing this and doing that. I'm going to tell you something. You've missed it. You've missed the very ideal of life in Christ. By the way, an unsaved person can obey a list. An unsaved person can say, I'm going to do these certain things. But folks, remember this. It is life in Christ. It is turning to the Lord. And as we turn to Him, He turns our captivity. He gives deliverance in our life. He gives us life again. Oh folks, I know what it is to have revival. I know what it is when God begins to speak to my heart and when the conviction comes, if I yield and if I confess and forsake that sin, can I tell you what happens? I begin walking in the light. And as God begins to show me other things in my life, He begins to show me sins, He begins to show me attitude or a spirit that is not right, and I confess that and forsake it, I continue to walk in the light. But I'll tell you what we do and what I do. We sin a little here and we cover the sin. We disobey God here, and we never take care of that. We offend a brother or sister in Christ here, and we go on, and we build up all this callousness and this hardness in our heart until we are in captivity. There is no life again. Take your Bibles, if you would, please, and go back to the Old Testament, but let's stop off in Jeremiah chapter number 18. Folks, revival is just as simple as salvation. It is looking to Jesus Christ. It is trusting Him. I believe tonight that every single person here could walk out of this building revived with life again. You must simply choose life. Maybe tonight you say, God, I can't. But you can. That's where you will find victory. You know, I used to think so often, you know, here we are, salvation is not of works, lest any man should boast. Salvation is simply trusting in Jesus Christ. It is knowing that He has done all the work, and we put our faith and trust in Him. But then something happens. After we get saved, then we think it's all up to us. then we think we've got to work, and we've got to work harder, and we've got to do this and that, and I'm not saying that the Christian life is some life of just sitting by and never doing anything for Christ. But it is His life within us. It is Christ enabling us. It is Christ in you. It is His life in us, and it is accessing His life. It is yielding to Him and letting Him work through you, letting Him cleanse you. That is revived life. We come to Jeremiah chapter number 18, and I'm going to show you a few verses here, but I find in Jeremiah 18 verse number 1, once again, God's desire to bring life again. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, And behold, he wrote a work on the wheels, and the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter. So he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying..." Now, I want you to listen to this. And tonight, can you read this with knowing this is what God wants to do in your life. Oh, house of Israel, could you put your name there? cannot I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel." Now, don't turn from there because we're going to read more. But here, Jeremiah the prophet was instructed by God to go down to the potter's house. And I grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. Often we would go to Pigeon Forge and you could go there and watch the pottery and them making the clay pots. And it was a very interesting thing to behold. But there as the vessel was in the potter's hands and it is marred, now he makes a new vessel. He gives new life into it. And God says to Israel, I do with you as this potter. Can I tell you something, Mount Zion Baptist Church and everyone here tonight? God desires to give you life again. God desires to turn you unto Him. God desires to give you that life in Christ that He has designed for you to have. Cannot I do with you as the potter? Now here's what's sad. And here is what some Christians choose to do. We read on in Jeremiah chapter number 18 and verse number 12. And here is their response to God. And they said, there is no hope. But we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. Do you know what happens sometimes? We come to services and the Lord begins to work in our heart, but the devil lies to us and says, forget it, buddy. You've tried this before. You've tried to get victory over this before. Hey, there is no hope for you. You might as well just quit. You might as well not turn to the Lord. You might as well just give up. And so often in life, the Lord desires to do with us as the potter. But we say in our heart, there's no hope. There's no hope. I've been a Christian too long, and I'm too old, or maybe I'm too far in my sin. I'm too backslidden on God. But I promise you tonight that if you will turn to God in faith, and you will turn to Him, He will turn to you. And He will do the work of surgery that needs to be done in your heart. I don't know how to do the work. I don't even know all the things in my life that are not right. Oh, how often have you and I read the Bible and the Holy Spirit shed the light of the Holy Spirit upon our heart. And we saw things that we didn't even know was in our heart. We didn't even know that it was there. And we quickly confess and forsake that. And I'll tell you, we are walking in the Spirit. We are having life again. Go back to Wood, please, to Deuteronomy chapter number 30. We notice the conditions for restoration. You turn to the Lord, and God will turn to you. We notice, secondly, the comfort of God's work. I am so grateful to know that God will do His work if I will turn to Him in faith. God will do His work. Now, that doesn't mean I sit idly by, but I turn to Him. I turn to Him. I turn to Him in prayer. I turn to His Word. I turn to the Lord. But thirdly, the choice for everyone. You know, tonight, you're going to make a choice. You're going to make a choice in this message. You're going to make a choice throughout this week. But I beg of you to choose life. To choose life. There's a young man that was in my teen group years ago. And I remember him having a time in his life when he began to get off track. And I cared for this young boy. I mean, watched him grow up. And I went to him one day and I looked at him and I said, Andrew, I'm going to tell you something, buddy. You're off track and you know it. And boy, he was in captivity. No victory in his life. And still going to church, still coming to teen activities. But I said, buddy, listen, turn to the Lord and He will turn to you. He was proud. He wouldn't turn. And you know, God began to do some things in his life to try to get his attention, but he would not turn to the Lord. I remember we had a teen camp, and in fact, at the teen camp, God began to do a work in that young man's life. In fact, he was dating a young lady, and I told him, I said, buddy, this is bad news for you. And this is why you're off track. This is why you're not living for Christ. Well, thankfully, at that camp, that teen girl did not come to camp. I know that sounds bad, but I'm just trying to help you to see something. There at the camp, God began to work in his heart. Now, he wasn't supposed to have a phone, but he did. And you can understand how he was away from the Lord. He called that girlfriend while he was at camp and began to share with her what God was doing in his heart. And she laughed at him. She mocked him. And in that moment. He began to see for the first time what God was wanting to do in his life. And I'm going to tell you something. I remember on the last night, that boy surrendered everything to Jesus Christ. He yielded everything to God. He got up. He began to confess to the youth group that he was not living for the Lord. I mean, he got everything right, got things right with his parents. That young man went off to Bible college after high school. God moved us to Ohio. and he wanted to come and see me, and I was very grateful to have him there. And I remember he came to see my wife and I, and he was just excited. Man, he was on fire for God, winning people to Christ and growing in his Christian life, and we were just thrilled. But when he was there, he saw a young lady that was in our church. a good young lady, probably one of the finest young ladies that has ever come out of there. Then he began to come and see me again, but it was not to see me, it was to see her, you know. But I want to tell you something, that young lady went to the same Bible college that he went to. And then there came a day when I was going to marry a boy that was in my teen group and a young lady that I was her pastor. We were in the side room and we're getting ready to come out, you know, as the pastor and the groom. And he was as nervous as can be. I said, you're going to be okay. You're not going to pass out on me now, you know. But he began to cry. And he said to me, he said, you remember that camp? I said, yeah, I remember that camp. He said, I'll tell you something. He said, if I hadn't turned to the Lord, I wouldn't be here today. And I said to him, you're right, buddy. He's serving the Lord today, he has a family, and he's excited for the Lord, what God is doing in his heart. And I'm going to tell you something, God began to work in that young man's heart, but he had a choice to make. The choice was, do we turn to the Lord, or do we turn to our sin? Do we turn to Christ and what He desires and what He wants to do in our life, or do we turn away from Him? Folks, I want you to note tonight that if you will turn to God, He will turn to you. He will do the work of revival. He will do the work of surgery. He will begin to do the things in your life that you thought never could happen. He will do the work. But it is our choice. That's why back in Deuteronomy chapter number 30, notice what the Bible says in verse number 19. He said, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death. Blessing and cursing therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. Folks, it is a choice for you and I to choose life in Christ. Now, please understand as we read on here, verse 20, that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him, for He is thy life. Choose life, but He is thy life. Let me explain. The Christian life is not a set of morals or a set of lists or doctrines. The Christian life is a life. It is the very life of Jesus Christ. It is turning to Christ. Folks, no one can live the Christian life but Christ Himself, because He is the Christian life. And as we yield to Christ, He enables us to do what we could never do in our own strength. That's why the Apostle Paul said, Yet not I, but Christ. Folks, the Lord Jesus Christ moved in your life, not to live your life, but to live His life. Folks, I'm going to just be honest with you. I don't want to live my life. Because left to myself, I will destroy this life. left to my own devices, my own wisdom, or my own set of what I think is right. Listen, I'm going to make a mess of my life. I remember I used to do this with my children when they were very little. We'd turn into our neighborhood, and I'd say, hey, Abby, you want to drive now? I mean, she's three years old, you know. She'd crawl up in my lap, and of course, I was controlling the brake and the gas. That's very important to do. And she began to drive. And I took my hands off the wheel, and boy, she thought she was so big. And boy, she was driving that, looking around. Daddy, this is fun. until she's getting ready to plow into a parked car. And all of a sudden, I have to say, you've got to turn, Abby. You've got to turn. You've got to turn. But she couldn't turn until I reached up and grabbed the steering wheel and turned it for her. You know what? Sometimes we may say, God, I can't turn. But if you'll turn to the Lord, He'll turn to you. He will do the work of surgery. It is His life. Folks, when you get honest before God, and you confess your sin to Him, I'm going to tell you something, you get filled with the very life of Christ. He turns to you, and He gives you freedom, and He takes away you from the captivity that you've been living in. He gives you life again. Now you have joy. Now, you are choosing life. Years ago, I heard the story about a man by the name of J. Elder Cummings. Back in the late 1880s, he was a pastor, and he was a man that had some difficulty in life. In fact, when he was married and not married very long, his wife passed away. And J. Elder Cummings became a very gruff, rude type of preacher. In fact, D.L. Moody met him one time and called him the most cantankerous Christian he had ever met. How would you like for D.L. Moody to call you that? But that's what J. Elder Cumming was. He lived a flesh-filled life and yet he was preaching the gospel. He used to make fun of people for going to the Bible conferences during those days. And in fact, he said, you know what, I'm going to go to one of them just to see what it's all about. Well, at the conference on Monday, the preacher began to preach about the sins of the converted life. And it made him mad. Tuesday, the preacher preached on God's provision for man's need, and it's Jesus Christ. He became even more angry. On Wednesday, the message was on surrender, and in fact, he began to argue, and he loved to debate. And he began to argue with even some of the preachers, and they simply quoted the Word of God to him, and he couldn't argue the Word of God. On that Wednesday evening, he went back to his bed-and-breakfast hotel, And he got on his knees and he began to seek the Lord. God began to point out sins in his life. And like an onion, layer after layer of sins, and sins of the Spirit, and his attitude, his bitterness, his treatment of other brothers and sisters in Christ. And he had a choice to make. And he chose to confess his sin to God. He wept before the Lord. He confessed his sins to the Lord and he came clean with God. The next day when he went back to the conference, people noticed that J. Elder Cumming was a little different. The countenance upon his face was totally changed. In fact, years after that, D.L. Moody visited the Scotland area where J. Elder Cumming was still pastoring. And he met Mr. Cumming again, the man that he had once called the most cantankerous Christian that he had ever met. And D.L. Moody said this, whatever happened to Cumming? He is a changed man, a man of freedom, a man with the very Spirit of Jesus Christ. Can I tell you what J. Elder Cummings chose? He chose life. Folks, tonight, choose life. You say, Pastor, I don't understand it all. Turn to the Lord and He will turn to you. Let Him do the work of surgery in your life. Let Him change your heart and life. But the choice is really up to us. I can remember a time in my life when God began to really deal with me. And I had some things in my life that I didn't want to yield. I didn't want to give up. I wanted to harbor these things until finally in faith I turned to the Lord. And some of those, you know, in fact, I remember saying to the Lord one day, God, I can't give it to you, but Lord, if you'll take it, please take it from me. And folks, if you will turn to God, He will turn to you. Do you want life? Here God says that thou mayest live And He looks at you as He looks at the children of Israel and He said, cannot I do with you as the potter? But some of them said, there is no hope. Folks, there is hope tonight because you're alive and there is a God in heaven who cares for you and a God in heaven who wants to give you life again. If you'll turn to Him, He will turn to you. Thank you for joining us by way of the internet today. We're so glad that you were able to be with us and we pray that the service was a blessing to your heart. Even though the sermon is over, our service is not over. At the end of our service, we give an opportunity for people to respond and come to an altar and pray over what God dealt with them about. Sometimes people come to call upon Christ and to be saved. Others come to make a decision for Christ regarding their Christian lives. Others come to call out to the Lord about special needs and situations in their lives. Maybe God has dealt with you today about some specific area of your life. I invite you to make an altar right there in your home, a quiet time before the Lord where you pray to Him and respond to Him about what He has spoken to you about. If you made a decision for the Lord today, we would be glad to hear about that decision and or answer any questions you have today about the message that was preached. You can contact us by way of email at info at mountziononline.org or by way of phone at 717-927-9227. Again, we thank you for joining us today and we look forward to you joining us again for our live stream. weekly on Sundays at 10 45 a.m and on Sunday evenings at 6 45 p.m. If we can meet a need in your life please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you and God bless you.