Well, tonight, Proverbs chapter 12. Proverbs chapter 12. We'll begin there in verse 27. Proverbs chapter 12, verse 27. And when you find your place, you can stand with me. We'll read the word of God together. Proverbs chapter 12, verse 27. A real quick verse. It has a lot of meaning to it. Let's see what we can find out about it tonight. Proverbs chapter 12, there in verse 27. The Bible says, the slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting. But the substance of a diligent man is precious. Let's read it one more time. The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is precious. Let's pray. Father, we come to you tonight. We thank you, Lord, for your goodness. So we thank you, Lord, for the time we had in lifting up our prayers to you. God in heaven that cares about our cares. Lord, I thank you, Lord, tonight for all the good singing. And Lord, just pray here this evening as we get into your word that you would speak to our hearts to it as well, and that you would just help us tonight just to glean some things out of your word. We love you and thank you for it all. In this we pray, in Jesus' name, amen, amen. All right, you may be seated. As we look here in our text here tonight, we see here in Proverbs 12, there in verse 27, when it says that the slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is precious. I've entitled this message tonight, The Dangers of a Half-Hearted Man. the dangers of a half-hearted man. We notice here in our text, here tonight, that it seems that we have a man who is described as being slothful. And this slothfulness can mean laziness, it can mean to be apathetic, really can be devotionless, half-hearted, of course, even deceitful. But this slothful man, notice the Bible says there in the text, it says the slothful man roasteth not. I would stay away from any man that don't like roasting. I don't know about y'all, but I tell you what, that's gotta be something. But the slothful man roasteth not, and we can understand that idea to roasteth not means the idea to cook or to burn, something like that. But the Bible says, it said he roasted not that which he took, in hunting. So we see this guy, he gets up and he goes, and he goes hunting. He obviously has a keel, but that's as far as he goes. He doesn't do anything about that which he has. Now he was blessed, I guess, with the hunt. God gave him the provision for it. but that was all that he did. He didn't do anything else. And you know just as well as I do, that whenever you leave something like that off to the wayside or anything for that matter, that what happens is, is sometimes, especially something like this, It'll just kind of decay and it'll rot away and come to nothing. And so we see a man who really only completed half of what he was supposed to do. I imagine we think about this man who maybe perhaps provisions for himself, maybe perhaps provisions for his family or someone else, but we see that he was provided with something, but he only went half the journey. He only went half the way. He had to kill, he went hunting, he received something there whenever he went hunting, but the Bible says that he didn't roast it, he didn't do anything with it, he didn't dress it, doesn't seem like, he didn't cook it. And so in the midst of his apatheticness and his slothfulness, he only went halfway, he was half-hearted about what he was doing. And so he allowed that which he got to rot, as I said, or to decay, in essence, to go bad. He didn't finish what he had begun. The goal was not just to hunt the animal, but the goal was to hunt the animal, to dress it, and then to roast it, and for it to be provisions for himself, and I'm sure for his family. But he didn't do that. He only went halfway. And so to only go half, he only did half of what he was supposed to do. And if he only did half what he was supposed to do, that would mean himself and the rest of his family, of course, would be involved. So with that in mind here tonight, and we think about that, what are the dangers of being half-hearted? What are the dangers of only going halfway? You know, some people say, well, you know, I'll put 50% into myself, or I'll put maybe 70% in, you know, and some people say, well, I'll put 100% in. But what are the dangers of really only going halfway with something? Well, we can see, I think, here in our text, we can see a man who only went halfway of what the job required. He went hunting, he had to kill, but he did nothing for that. And listen, if you're not gonna dress, and you're not gonna roast that which you have killed, then you're gonna go hungry unless you plan on eating it raw. And so we can see that because he only went halfway, that he was, of course, going to be in wall. So what are some things that we can see the Bible says about kinda going halfway? Well, number one, I think that we can see is, and you can just kinda jot these things down because my message is more topical here tonight. But number one, I think one of the things that we can see is, is Revelation chapter three and verses 15 and 16, talks about how really going halfway, makes God sick. The Bible says in Revelation 3, 15 and 16, I know thy works, and thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou were cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. And so, and so the idea of only being halfway, you know, is when we think about our spiritual life and our Christian life, only be being involved halfway, only being in halfway, only going halfway with the Lord. It seems that a half-hearted heart in the service of God is something that the Lord doesn't desire and something that is definitely uncomfortable to the taste. The Bible says that he would, because you are neither cold nor hot, but you are lukewarm. So we can see an individual that is just lukewarm about themselves. They are only in it Half the way, their heart is only in it half way. Now, if we was to examine our hearts tonight, and we was to measure our spiritual temperature with 100 being the most, how many of us here tonight would examine ourselves and say, I'm running a temperature this evening? And so we have to ask ourselves, so listen, am I somebody that's turning the stomach of God? in my service. Am I someone who is with my half-heartedness with the Lord because I'm neither hot or cold, but because I'm straddling the fence, because I'm only giving 50% of myself, because I'm only in this thing halfway, is it something that is distasteful? Is it something that is uncomfortable? Is it something that is unvolting? We see in Revelation 3 that God says, because you're neither hot or cold, but because you're lukewarm, He says, I spew you, I spew you out of my mouth. And so asking ourselves here tonight, if we was to examine our spiritual temperature, where would we be? Would we be running a temperature tonight? Would we be more than 100? Or would we be almost pronounced dead? I mean something we have to ask ourselves here tonight and that's something just for each and every single one of us for to measure our own spiritual Self here tonight. Where would I be on the on the scale of on the scale of? Temperature in our spiritual life because the Bible says that listen if we're only given in essence 50% if we're only in halfway then it's something that seems to be very uncomfortable and and distasteful. Number two, I think it hinders our walk with God. In 2 Kings 10, verse 31, the Bible says, But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all of his heart, for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin. And so the idea that we see here is that Jehu, though God used him in a tremendous way, we see that the Bible says that he took no heed, he took no regard, he didn't pay attention to or had a desire to really live all in. He was a man that didn't mind listening to God, it seems like, when maybe perhaps it benefited him or that he desired to, but the Bible says that he didn't follow God with all of his heart, for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin. And so I think one of the things that we can see in our half-heartedness and our spiritual temperature here tonight, listen, if our spiritual temperature is only 50 degrees, I would say if we're 50, we're dead. And so we can see here this evening that if we're half-hearted and we're not taking heed the things that God has said, and we're not paying attention to how God has asked us to walk, then the Bible, then I think it can definitely hinder us in our spiritual life. And it'll hinder our walk with God. And so walking with God with all of his heart was not something that I think we could see would have been a priority in his life, though God did use him to do some tremendous sayings. God used him in a tremendous way. But it's amazing when you see, when you get down to the very end of it all, And despite all the things that God used him to do, the Bible does say that he did not serve God with all of his heart. And so we wonder why, in the midst of it all, how God was using him before that he would not serve God with all of his heart. He wasn't all in for God. And so I think because of that, it would have been something that would have hindered his spiritual walk. Number three. I think it hinders our service. Romans chapter 12 and verse 11 says this, says not slothful in business, when it's speaking of the Christian way of life, says not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. A small verse there, but it goes to show us many things. And so when the Bible says in Romans 12, 11, when it says, not slothful in business, that word business there describes, of course, being about the work of God. Not slothful in being about the business of the Lord. Jesus said, when he was just a young lad, there in Luke chapter two and verse 49, and I think he was 12 years old, the Bible says, he said to them, how is it that you sought me? Which do you not know that I must be about the Father's business? that I must be. Here he was 12 years old. They had lost him there in the search party. They went back to go get him, and when they get there, he says, I must be about the Father's business. And so we can see that he said within himself, even at 12 years old, he said, it's something that I must do. It was a must thing for him. Listen, Christ wasn't in the Father's business. Christ wasn't in about the Father's business half-heartedly. Listen, he was all-in in what he was doing. And so we can see that in Romans chapter 12 verse 11, when it says not slothful in business, we see that it's something that is a must for the Christian. It was a must for the Lord Jesus, and so it should be a must for us. Christ wasn't slothful or half-hearted. about the father's business, but he says, this is something that I must be in. Something that I must be a part of. There was no negotiation. There was no second thought about serving the father and being all in for God. It was something that he would do and something that he must do. The father's business was something that had to be done. It was something that had to be done. Not only that, but we can see the next part of this verse there in Romans chapter 12, verse 11. The Bible says, not sloth in the business, fervent in spirit. That word fervent, again, has the idea of the temperament of the Christian. What is our temperature, in essence, here tonight? As I said even earlier, if we was to take our temperature, would we be lukewarm? Would our temperature be at a 50 degree spiritual level, or would we be running a temperature here tonight in our service to God? And so the Bible says that, listen, not slothful in business, Fervent in spirit. But you know what I like about Romans 12, verse 11, is it shows us, it shows us that when we're not slothful in our business to God, we see that we are fervent in spirit. It all comes together. Listen, I'll tell you what one of the greatest, what I have often found out, about serving the Lord is the more you get involved in the work of the Lord, the more that really the work of the Lord really grabs a hold of you. As someone has told a long time ago in the part of soul winning, that soul winning is not really something that's taught, it's something that's taught, it's something that's called. You know, you go out, you see people that need Jesus, you see that there's a need, you see they're dying, they're lost on the way to a devil's hell, and you have a, and when you understand it and you see it firsthand, you have a desire, there's a burning on the inside. You want to see those people get saved. But if you're not in that environment and you don't see it, then it becomes an out-of-sight, out-of-mind type process. But when you see it there with your eyes and you have the opportunity there to be able to witness and to show them the right way, it is something that burns within you on the inside. And you're fervent and heart about in that spiritual temperature. within you because you told me about the father's business and what was the father's business to send his son to seek and to save that which is lost. And whenever we're about the father's business, that is one of those things, of course, that we desire in our life. But fervent in spirit, fervent again, the idea of the temperament of the Christian. It has the idea of something that is boiling or something that is seething, like bubbling water over an open flame. The spirit here, there, represented in the text, Fervent and spiritist, your spirit. And so we ask ourselves in Romans 12, 11, is our spirit bubbling? Is our spirit on fire? Is our spirit within ourself, the innermost part of ourself? Is our spirit on the inside? Is it seething like a quadrant that is ready to serve God? Is it keeping things around us warm? And so being fervent in spirit. I think whenever we are half-hearted, what happens is, is we don't become fervent in spirit, and we become slothful about the Father's business. The Bible says, shows us there in the text, not slothful in business, serving, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. And so I think it helps us to, when we're not slothful and we're not and our spiritual temperature is where it needs to be, that we see a well-rounded Christian who is fervent in his spirit, he is serving God. What's the next thing that I think we can see? I think we can see that whenever the dangers of a half-hearted man exist, I think it brings confusion to a person's life. Matthew chapter six and verse 24, the Bible says, listen to this, no man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and yet despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and men, and men meaning money or the riches of this world, having the idea to straddle the fence or try to serve both the world and the Lord at the same time. The Bible notice there in the text, it says in Matthew 6, 24, it says two words, it says no man, and then it says ye cannot. And so no man, no man. Listen, there's a lot of people that would maybe perhaps say within themselves, well, they may say no man, but I'm not that man. Listen, I can do this. And there's a lot of people that would say, well, you know, I can serve the world and I can serve God, but it doesn't work that way. The Bible says no man can serve two masters. He will hate the one, and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. And so we have to ask ourselves here tonight, if we have a half-hearted heart, that means we have one that we have, half of us is over there, and half of us is over there. And listen, if my spiritual temperature over there is 50, and my spiritual temperature over there is 50, then I'm dead on both ends, amen? I'm dead on both sides. And so what God's asking us to do, that's why God said, listen, whether you be cold or hot, Choose one of the two. Don't straddle the fence and don't just be in the middle, but choose your side. Choose where you're gonna be at. And so 50 on this side and 50 on this side is dead on both sides. And so we can see we cannot give our all, we can't be all in if we have two masters that we're trying to serve. And so the Bible shows us here that it cannot be done. And it cannot be done by anyone, no man. He says ye cannot. The idea that he says you cannot serve God in mammon shows that that's an impossibility with man. The man will do the best that he can to try to serve two masters, to try to live for the riches of this world. Now, God's not upset if you're rich. Listen, if God blesses you with it, that's fine. God's not against money, but just against the idea that we would serve the money. Not the idea that he's against possessions, but the idea that he's against the idea that the possessions possess us. And so we have to understand here tonight that the Bible says you can't serve two masters. And so, I think when that happens, what happens is we become split on both sides, and it can be very wearisome in a person's life. Listen, trying to serve the world and trying to serve God at the same time, as I said, makes you dead on both sides, and makes you wearisome, it makes you tired, it brings confusion, and the Bible says you cannot serve God and mammon, and so it shows us that this is impossible to do. Living this double-hearted, double-minded split life is impossible to do. The Bible says you cannot serve God and mammon. I think it brings confusion to a person's life, and not only that, but the people around you. But I think at this point, you see a man becomes very frustrated in how he feels. He becomes very frustrated in his purpose in life because he's divided on both sides. No man can serve two masters. We can see that a half-hearted man is not all in on anything, and the results of that can be very disastrous. And so our main text says tonight, the slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting. And so we ask ourselves here tonight, that which God has blessed us with, that that God has given us, are we making use of that which God has given? Are we using that which God has blessed us with, or are we being slothful in that which God has given? Now, half-heartedness, we see, got this man nowhere. So what is a man to do? Well, I think we can see the second part of this verse. It says, the slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is precious. See, the problem is, I think we see that a half-hearted man, he didn't see that which he has was all that precious. He didn't see that which he had was all that precious, and because he didn't see that that which he had was all that precious, there was no desire in roasting. There was, in essence, he placed no value on that which was given. He placed no value on that which he had. He placed no importance. He placed no value. There was nothing that he, there was no desire to do anything about which he had hunted for because he didn't see that there was any value, that there was no meaning, that there was no purpose to it. If he did, then he would have not just let his hunting price go rot or to decay, but he would have used it, he would have roasted it, he would have done something with it to provide for himself, for his family, or others, but he didn't because there was no value. He placed no value on that which he had, and because he placed no value on that which he had, he did not use it for his self or for anybody else. And so that was part of his problem. It was a heart problem. When something is precious to you, you place value, you place meaning, you place purpose, you place time. The substance that belongs to the diligent man we can see the Bible shows us here in the text, the substance of a diligent man is precious. There is value and there is desire, there is meaning and there is purpose to his substance. The substance of the diligent man, his blessings or whatever it is that he has, while we see the slothful man squanders what he has, the diligent man makes full use of his substance. Whatever it is that he has, he makes full use of that which he has been given. And so to be diligent means to show care. It means to deposit some interest, to deposit some effort into what you're doing, to be energetic, to be steady, to show that you are ready and that you care about that which you have been given. And so the Bible says, but the substance of a diligent man is precious. The diligent man wasn't half-hearted in what he had, but he saw that what he had was precious, and we also see that he was diligent. He was steady. He was ready. He was depositing interest, depositing effort. So what does the Bible say about being wholehearted? Psalm chapter 119 verse 10, 11, I think the very first truth is we can see on this side of this verse is that it keeps us from wandering from God. When we are wholehearted, it keeps us from wandering from God. The Bible says, with my whole heart, there in Psalm 119 verse 10, the Bible says, with my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. Let me not wander from thy commandments. So the Bible shows us that when we are wholehearted, that one of the things that it'll help us to do is it'll help us not to wander from his commandments. Because since we are wholehearted in following God, since we are depositing effort and depositing interest in the things of God and the commandments of God, then what it helps us to do is it helps us not to wander from the direction that God has called us to go. It helps us to Stay on track, so to speak. The psalmist says that his heart is whole and that he seeks the Lord with a whole heart. He is fully committed in following Him. And so we ask ourselves, is my heart fully committed in following Him? What is my spiritual temperature? Would I be running a fever here tonight? And if I'm not, has me not being wholehearted in God helped me to wander away from where I need to be? Because a man that is wholehearted, the Bible says, he says, oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. His idea is that, God, I'm gonna give you everything I have, I'm gonna surrender to you, I'm gonna be wholehearted in this matter, help me not to wander away from you. having a wholeheartedness towards the things of God will help us to stay on track and to keep us from wandering away. I think the psalmist here understood the importance of surrender. Number two, not only does it help us from wandering from God when we have a whole heart, but I think it helps us to consider our time here on earth. Ecclesiastes 9, verse 10, the Bible says, And so I think this verse just simply encourages us here tonight to make the most of the time that we have. And the time that we have as we make the most of it, understand, that you need to use the time that you have as wisely as possible, the best way possible, because there is coming a time which a man knows not his day, when he will be in this life no longer here on this earth, when this body will at some point give up the ghost, and the body will go into the ground, and in the ground when he goes that there is no knowledge, there is no device, there is no wisdom, or there is no work in the grave where he is going. And so we have this moment, we have this time, that God has given us today to do what we're gonna do for God. And so I think when we are wholehearted for God, the Bible says that one of the things that we definitely wanna do is to have the idea that whatsoever you hand find to do, do it with thy might. Do it with everything that you got. Number three, when we're wholehearted with God, not only does it help keep us from mourning from God, not only does it help us to consider our time here on Earth, but I think it helps us to fulfill his commandments for us. Luke 10, verse 27, the Bible says, and he answering said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. And so the Lord commands us here to give him all of our strength, all of our heart, all of our mind. And not only that, but the second commandment, of course, was to make sure that we love thy neighbor as thyself. And so this wasn't a suggestion or just a good idea, this was a command from God. This was a command from the Lord that we should love our neighbor as ourself, that we should put him first in all that we do, that Christ has a preeminence in all things. To love God with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all of our strength. and to love our neighbor as ourself. And this old man says, well, who is my neighbor? Who is our neighbor? Well, the Good Samaritan, Luke 16, the very question that question was asked, Luke 16, 15, the question was asked, who is thy neighbor? And I think the Lord Jesus greatly pointed out in that text, our neighbor is anybody that we come across, anybody that we come across in our life that needs help in any sort of way, they become our neighbor. They become someone that we can witness to, someone that we could help in any way whatsoever. Our neighbor gives us the opportunity to serve and show the love of God too, is not what the Good Samaritan did. He had used the opportunity that he had to show, to demonstrate the love of God in his life as he was there helping the Good Samaritan. Not only that, but I think it gives us victory over sin. Victory over sin, Galatians 5.16. Galatians 5.16 says, This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So in spiritual matters, we see that we can get victory over our flesh and victory over our sin by walking in the Spirit, just as Psalm 119.11 would say, Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. And so we get victory over sin, and we are wholehearted in serving God. When we are placing God first, and He has all of our heart and all of our mind and all of our strength, then it helps us to walk in the Spirit, to produce the fruit of the Spirit. And the Bible also says that when you walk in the Spirit, you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And by hiding God's word in our heart is one of those sayings that'll help us to walk in the spirit and get victory over sin. By being diligent about hiding his word in our heart. And the last thing, number five, it keeps us focused on our priorities. It keeps us focused on our priorities. Colossians 3 verse 23 says, and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men. The Bible says in Colossians 3, 23, let me read it again. And whatsoever, whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men. So here we see that in everything that we do, we do it heartily, with our heart, with everything that we got. With all of our heart, as the Bible says, as we're doing it to the Lord. So in every aspect of the things that we do, we look at everything that we do And we say, and we act like even if it's something out here that's not, if we would say in the church building or a church service that we're doing something here in the church, that even out there we're representing the church. Out there we're representing Christ. And so whatsoever we do, not just in here, but whatsoever we do out there is still a ministry. It's still a ministry that we can represent the Lord by. And so he says, whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord. And so we serve, even out there, like we're serving God. We serve in here, like we're serving God. We serve out there, like we're serving God. Because you know what it does? It opens up the opportunity for people to see, out there, the God that we serve. So the Bible shows us in Colossians 3, 23, whatsoever you do, do a holy as to the Lord. It goes along with 1 Corinthians 10, 31, which says, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all for the glory of God. And so no matter what it is, even from the smallest things, whether we're even serving here in the church or we're just out there representing the church, we serve as we're serving the Lord. And when we serve God with our whole heart, what happens is it becomes an open doorway for other people to see the light of Christ through us. As the Bible would say, let them see your good works that they may glorify your Father in heaven. The idea is not that we are promoting necessarily ourselves, bragging on ourselves, being prideful about ourselves, but that we are just being about the Father's business, and as we are about the Father's business in a dark, fallen world, as we are representing Christ, and that whatsoever we're doing, not just in here, but whatsoever we're doing even out there, whatsoever we're doing at home, whatsoever we're doing at the job, in the workplace, or wherever we go, Whatsoever we do, we do it heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men. And that way we can be an open representation of the light of Christ. And therefore, it may be possible, maybe bring somebody in who doesn't know the Lord Jesus. And so we can be an example to a lost world. And so whatsoever you do, do it heartily unto the Lord. And so, I think in this message, we can definitely see there in verse 27 in our text, it says, a slothful man roasteth not. that which he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is precious. Let's pray. Father, we come to you this evening. We are thankful, Lord, for your goodness. Lord, we are thankful here tonight. God, for your grace. Lord, I pray that you'd help all of us here tonight. God, all of us need help. Lord, in our walk with you, Lord, our spiritual temperament, Lord, help us all to be fervent in spirit and that we'd all be on fire for you, God, and have a desire just to further your kingdom. Lord, I pray that that you just help our church, Lord, to be a light, God, to be an example to a dark world. Lord, I pray that you'd help every single one of us here tonight with all the different talents and abilities that we have, Lord, to represent you well, Lord, in this church, but also outside those doors. so that we can be a light for other people. Lord, help us all in the things that we do, not to do it as we're doing it unto men, but remember that there is a God in heaven that oversees all that we do and knows all that we do, and help us, God, in every aspect of our life to try to strive to do what we do as we're doing it for you. Lord, I pray that you'd bless our night tonight and ask God to keep everybody safe as we go home. Give us a good rest of the week and we just love you and thank you for all that you've done and this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.